USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 34
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was well done. He followed this pursuit until he was of age. Thus brought up to work, his education had been much neglected, yet he had acquired as much as the country schools of New York, at that time, usually taught. But Jerome had a desire for knowledge, and he now toiled with heartiness and perseverance to obtain money to go to an academy. He was now of age and working for himself, and with the profits of the first year he entered the Academy of Mexicoville, New York.
The study of mechanics seemed to come to him naturally; the levers, screws and inclined planes were all familiar to him, they were parts of the threshing machine with which he had become so intimately acquainted. He made good progress in his studies, but they had raised a spirit within him that would not let him rest. Daily over his books, and nightly in his dreams, his inventive genius was busy, and the old threshing machine was ever pres- ent in his thoughts; it seemed to include, or might
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include, all that pertained to mechanics. There were ratchets, clamps, screws, springs, levers simple and compound, wheels beveled and wheels cogged, rollers, belts, carriers, and an infinite variety of con- trivances, which would seem to satisfy even a devo- tee to mechanism. And so thought young Case ; he devoted himself to the improvement of these machines with a success that distanced all compet- itors. He soon found that he had a calling as fixed as even destiny itself could make it - at the end of the term he left the academy to enter upon his life work. He was now twenty-two years of age, with- out capital, but he was known to be smart, and thought to be honest. In the spring of 1842 he obtained six threshing machines on credit, to take to the West. He went to Wisconsin, then a Terri- tory, and located at Racine; it was only a village. He sold all his machines but one, and with that he set out through the country to thresh grain, manag- ing the machine himself, and constantly studying and devising some improvement. In the spring of 1843, finding that his tread machine was much worn, and conscious of his ability to improve it, he set to work, and with the aid of such tools and such me- chanics as he could get he rebuilt the machine, and upon trial found that he had made great improve- ments. His machine did better work than any machine that could be bought East. His success becoming known, he soon found himself able to quit threshing, and turn his attention to the manufacture of machines.
Up to this time invention had only succeeded in making what was called an open thresher, the grain, chaff and straw being delivered together, requiring an after process of winnowing to separate them. In the winter of 1843-4 Mr. Case succeeded in mak- ing a thresher and separator combined, embracing ideas of his own, which upon trial proved a great success, and was probably best appreciated by the man who had devoted so much time and thought to its invention.
He rented a small shop, and determined to build six machines on the new model. One of the most experienced agriculturists of the State, when Mr. Case told him that he was building six machines, said : " If they do the work satisfactorily, there will be more than are needed in the State." Mr. Case had them built, nevertheless.
Mr. Case persevered ; the country was fast devel- oping, the wild prairies were being converted into cultivated farms, the demand for machines increased,
and every year witnessed some new triumph of the skill and thought which was ever active in the in- vention of improvements. .
Mr. Case has ever been impressed with the fact that to be permanently successful it is necessary to maintain surpassing excellence, and at the same time to economize the cost; he has therefore been con- stantly devising new machinery to save labor and effect the highest perfection at the least cost. In 1847 he built the shop near the site of the present extensive manufactory. It was a brick building, thirty feet wide, eighty feet long, and three stories high ; he thought then it would be larger than he would ever need, but he determined to put up a good building, that would be a credit to the town.
In 1855, only thirteen years after his arrival in Wisconsin, he felt that his success was assured; he had triumphed over many obstacles, and realized a perfection of mechanism beyond the dreams of his youth. His manufactory had been extended, from time to time, until it occupied several acres, with a river front and dock for vessels, paint shops, belt factory, furnace and moulding rooms, and vast work- rooms filled with costly and complicated machinery, all systematized and in perfect order, until it stands a monument of the genius and industry of its founder, In 1843 it was a great struggle to build one machine ; in 1863 two hundred and fifty, and in 1875 eighteen hundred highly finished machines were manufac- tured, keeping in active employment a vast amount of machinery and three hundred and seventy-five hands.
In 1863, the business having assumed such mag- nitude, additional talent and business experience was needed, and Mr. Case received into partnership Mr. Stephen Bull, Massena B. Erskine and Robert H. Baker, under the firm name of Jerome I. Case and Co., which remains unchanged to this day.
Mr. Case was married in 1849 to Lydia A., daugh- ter of DeGrove Bull, Esq., of Yorkville, Wisconsin, a lady of whom it is sufficient to say, that in the practice of the domestic virtues which grace the wife and mother, and in that open-handed charity which adorns the female character, she is an orna- ment to the social position which her husband's eminent success has called her to occupy.
It is not to be supposed that so eminent a citizen should not have been pressed into the service of the public. He has been three times elected mayor of Racine, has served two years in the State senate. There are many industries in the city of Racine in
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which Mr. Case has a personal and pecuniary inter- est. He is a member of the State Agricultural Soci- ety of Wisconsin, president of the Racine Agricul- tural Society, was one of the founders and life mem- ber of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters.
Mr. Case attributes his success to a strict observ- ance of two principles : first, he must himself be sure that the article he made was needed; second, that the article he made should be as perfect as pos- sible. These are noble principles, and well deserve success. They cannot be too widely adopted.
STEPHEN BULL,
RACINE.
T HE elements of a nation's greatness are the growth of her industries and the development of her natural resources. These produce individual wealth, and the aggregate of the wealth of individ- uals constitute the wealth of the nation. Those who have taken an active and successful part in these important branches of human progress rank among the eminent men of the land, as they have contrib- uted to both the wealth of the country and also to its renown. Stephen Bull, of Racine, has been an active worker and is now a partner in an important manufacturing concern, perhaps the greatest of its kind in the world, and hence is entitled to a place among the great men of the West.
Stephen Bull was born in Cayuga county, New York, March, 1822; son of Degrove . and Amanda M. Bull, respectable farmers. Stephen received his education, as is usual in country places, by attending school in winter and doing at all times what he could to help his parents on the farm. He left home when he was thirteen years old and worked on a farm until he was seventeen ; he then went to New York city, and engaged as clerk in a grocery store, where he remained to years. He then started a store on his own account and remained five years, when he concluded to go west. In October, 1845, he ar-
rived at Racine, Wisconsin, where he remained two years, and then moved to Spring Prairie, Walworth county, and engaged in a mercantile business, where he remained ten years. In 1858 he sold out and entered the threshing machine manufactory of J. I. Case, of Racine, and in 1863 became a partner in that extensive and well known concern. This business is so extensive that it requires all the time and attention of those interested. They have not only an Ameri- can demand but have furnished machines in Europe and Asia. Mr. Bull is a thorough business man and is indefatigable in his labors.
In 1849 he was married to Miss Ellen Kellogg, and has a family of six children, four daughters and two sons. Mr. Bull is a member of the Universalist church, and in politics has belonged to the republi- can party since its organization.
Mr. Bull owns a farm within the city limits, on which he has raised some very fine blooded horses. He is the owner of the celebrated horse Phil Sheri- dan, which has a record of two-thirty. Mr. Bull is a man of great public spirit ; is a director of the First National Bank of Burlington, and has fine social qualities. He is always ready to give a helping hand where help is needed. He is highly respected, and one whom the city could ill afford to lose.
ROBERT H. BAKER,
RACINE.
A S an example of energy, enterprise and manly effort, he whose name heads this sketch is worthy of most honorable mention. His life-career thus far, full of varied experiences, has been marked with that success that invariably follows persevering and honorable endeavor, and he now stands among the front ranks of the prominent business men of
his State. A native of Geneva, Walworth county, Wisconsin, he was born the 27th of June, 1839, and is the son of Charles M. and Martha L. Baker. After completing his primary education in the pub- lic schools he pursued a collegiate course of study in Beloit, and in March, 1856, first engaged in busi- ness on his own account. Going to Racine he ac-
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cepted a clerkship in a hardware store where he remained two and a half years, and at the expiration of this time spent one year in the employ of Thos. Falvey, reaper manufacturer.
In 1860 he became general agent and collector for J. I. Case, in which capacity he continued to act until the Ist of January, 1863, when he purchased a one-fourth interest in the business, an interest which he still holds, taking a most active part in the entire management of the concern.
Aside from his business relations he is an influen- tial man and has held many positions of honor and public trust. He was elected school commissioner in 1867, alderman of Racine in 1868, and reëlected in 1871. In the following year he was elected to the State senate of Wisconsin, and in 1873 was candidate on the republican ticket for lieutenant- governor, but defeated in election. In 1874 he was elected mayor of the city of Racine, and in Novem- ber of the same year to the State senate. Besides, he is a director of the Racine Hardware Manufac- turing Company, a director of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Racine, also of the National Iron
Company of De Pere, Wisconsin, and a director in several other manufacturing institutions, and presi- dent of the Hampton Coal Mining Company. He also takes an active part in the Centennial work, as is shown in the following appointment :
JUNE 14, 1875.
OFFICE OF THE
WISCONSIN STATE BOARD OF CENTENNIAL MANAGERS.
R. H. Baker was appointed sub-committee to supervise and arrange for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, the products or interests specified in class 16 of the classifica- tions herewith inclosed, to wit: Agricultural machinery and implements.
(Signed) J. B. PARKINSON, President. W. W. FIELD, Secretary.
Personally and socially Mr. Baker possesses most excellent qualities, and having traveled extensively throughout the United States he has gained a fund of information that renders him a most agreeable companion.
Though not a member of any church, he believes in the truth of Christianity, and is a regular attend- ant upon the Episcopal service.
He was married on the 20th of December, 1859, to Miss Emily M. Carswell, by whom he has one daughter and four sons.
WILLIAM GOODELL,
JANESVILLE.
O NE of the pioneers of the anti-slavery, temper- ance and kindred reforms, and for half a cen- tury a zealous and laborious promoter of them as a public speaker, writer and executive office-bearer of voluntary associations, was a son of Frederick and Rhoda Goodell, and was born in Coventry, Che- nango county, New York, October 25, 1792 - prob- ably the first white child born in that vicinity. He was descended on his father's side from Robert Goodell, who came from England in 1634 and set- tled in Salem, Massachusetts. Of the same ancestry are A. C. Goodell, Esq., clerk of the court of Salem, Massachusetts, a man of rare antiquarian learning ; the late William Goodell, D.D., missionary of the American Board, and one of the translators of the scriptures, at Constantinople; and Captain Silas Goodell, of the revolutionary war. His mother was Rhoda Guernsey, a daughter of John Guernsey, of Amenia, Dutchess county, New York. She was one of fifteen children, who all lived to have families, so that the grandchildren of John and Azubah Guern- sey numbered ninety-one. Of the brothers of Rhoda
was Peter B. Guernsey, one of the pioneer settlers of Norwich, Chenango county, New York.
When the subject of this sketch was five years old his parents removed to Windsor, Broome county (then Chenango, Tiogo county), New York. In his early childhood William suffered a severe sickness, which left him for some time lame, so that he was confined first to his bed and afterward to his chair, and it was some years before he recovered the use of his limbs. This long confinement fostered habits of thought and study which doubtless contributed largely to mould his character and shape his future. Debarred from childish sports, his mind was occu- pied with the study of such themes as the limited library to which he had access suggested to him. His mother, a woman of rare qualities of mind and heart, was his almost constant companion, and made an impress on his character that future years could never efface. Religious thought and feeling were stimulated, and aspirations and hopes inspired which found expression only in the life of earnest activity which followed. His principal reading at this time
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consisted of the Bible, Watts' Psalms and Hymns, Hart's Hymns, Methodist Pocket Hymn Book, Pil- grim's Progress, writings of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, Wesley's sermons, Fletcher's Appeal, and some odd volumes of the "Spectator " and "Guardian." Re- ligious services in those primitive days were a rare luxury, and families frequently trudged through the woods on foot or rode with ox teams for miles to hear a Methodist circuit preacher in a log school-house.
Rhoda Goodell died in 1803, at the early age of thirty-seven, leaving five sons, of whom William was the second. With the breaking up of the little fam- ily of motherless boys, William was transferred to the old Guernsey homestead in Amenia, where he attended the common school and assisted in light labors on the farm. A year later he was sent to the Goodell homestead in Pomfret, Connecticut, where his widowed grandmother and her sons and daughters were living. His father died in 1806. At Pomfret he remained five years, attending the common school and working on the farm in vacation. Two good public libraries afforded him reading during the long winter evenings, but perhaps his highest educational advantage was the society of his grandmother, Han- nah Goodell, a woman of unusual mental ability and rare culture. She had been educated in Boston, was a convert of Whitefield, and a hearer of Revs. Nehemiah Walter, of Roxbury, and Thomas Prince, of the "Old South "; of Byles, Davenport and Ed- wards. In matters of history and general literature she was a living and speaking library, with an ex- haustless fund of original anecdotes, particularly of the revolutionary times in which she lived, and with some of the prominent actors of which she had been personally acquainted. She had decided opinions on all theological, ethical and political topics, and indeed was one of the strong-minded women of her times.
Being unable to obtain a collegiate education, William, in 1812, went to Providence, Rhode Isl- and, where he entered mercantile life as a clerk, and, rising rapidly in his new employment, he re- ceived and accepted, a few years later, an offer from a prominent firm to sail as assistant supercargo in one of their ships, bound for India, China and Eu- ropean markets. He set sail January 1, 1817, and in the two years and a half of voyages and of busi- ness transactions in foreign countries learned much of mercantile life in foreign lands. On returning, in 1819, he engaged in mercantile enterprises at Wilmington, North Carolina; at Providence, Rhode
Island ; and at Alexandria, Virginia ; sometimes by himself and sometimes, on a larger scale, in partner- ship with a capitalist of abundant means. At the South he had ample opportunity to study the work- ings of the slavery system.
He was married, in 1823, to Miss Clarissa C. Cady, daughter of Deacon Josiah Cady, of Provi- dence, Rhode Island.
He first commenced writing for the press in 1820, in the "Providence Gazette," in a series of articles against the then pending Missouri compromise, which attracted general attention. From that time onward he wrote for various periodicals, as he felt constrained to do, on the living issues of the day, religious, moral and political. A residence in New York city two years, from 1825 to 1827, com- pelled him to witness the controlling prevalence of vice, lawlessness, crime, and commercial and bank- ing frauds, sustained by bribery and corrupt political "rings "- as in later times-until, under judicial authority, it was decided that "a conspiracy to de- fraud is no indictable offense." Lottery gambling (under legislative charters, to build bridges, erect meeting-houses, endow colleges, establish schools, etc.) was everywhere popular and unquestioned.
Then it was that he discovered his heaven- appointed life work to be an uncompromising war- fare with such gigantic public evils.
He commenced to edit the weekly "Investigator," at Providence, in 1827. Two years later he removed to Boston, connecting his "Investigator " with the " National Philanthropist." In June, 1830, he rė- moved to New York, where he continued his paper, under the name of the "Genius of Temperance." Here, also, he afterward edited the "Emancipator." At Utica and Whitesboro, New York, he edited the " Friend of Man " from 1836 to 1842. Here, also, he issued his monthly "Anti-Slavery Lectures " for one year, and commenced his " Christian Investiga- tor." Continuing the latter publication, he removed in 1843 to Honeoye, Ontario county, New York, where he acted as pastor of an independent reform church for several years. In connection with these different periodicals he spent much time traveling, lecturing and holding conventions, sometimes on his own responsibility, at other times in the employ of some organization.
Returning to New York in 1853, he successively edited the "American Jubilee," "Radical Abolition- ist," and " Principia," the latter of which was contin- ued in connection with Rev. George B. Cheever,
BAYPackers
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D.D., during the war of the rebellion, and until after the death of Lincoln. After the abolition of slavery he resumed his temperance labors, writing for dif- ferent journals, to the present time, March 10, 1875. After residing in Lebanon, Connecticut, five years, he removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, his present res- idence, June, 1870.
Besides writing pamphlets, essays, and tracts too numerous to mention, he has written several vol- umes, as the "Democracy of Christianity," in two volumes ; " Slavery and Anti-Slavery," a history of the struggle ; "American Slave Code," and "Our National Charters," showing the illegality and un- constitutionality of slavery, and the power of the national government over it ; besides several volumes on religious and ethical subjects still in manuscript. He assisted in organizing the American Anti-Slavery Society, at Philadelphia, in December, 1833 ; the Lib- erty party, at Albany, New York, in 1840; the Amer- ican Missionary Association, at Albany, in 1846; the National Prohibition party, in Chicago, in 1869, and participated in the reunion of abolitionists at Chi- cago, June, 1874 ; also assisted in preparations for
organizing a Wisconsin State Prohibition party at Ripon, in October, 1874.
The wife of his youth is still living. They cele- brated their golden wedding, July 4, 1873, their two children and three of their grandchildren being present. Their children are Maria G., wife of Rev. L. P. Frost, now of Raymond, Racine county, Wis- consin, and Lavinia Goodell, attorney-at-law, of Janesville. One daughter died in infancy. They have four grandsons, of whom the eldest is being educated in Oberlin, Ohio.
Mr. Goodell's views on reformatory subjects are perhaps sufficiently indicated in this sketch. It may be well, however, to add that he is, like most of the surviving abolitionists, in hearty sympathy with the " Woman Suffrage" movement. His religious views are those commonly known as Evangelical, and he is now a member of the Congregational church in Janesville. The good old-fashioned doctrine of the millennium is one of the articles of his creed, has been largely the inspiration of his labors, and is the source of much of his present cheerfulness and hope- fulness for the future.
ANSON P. WATERMAN,
BELOIT.
A NSON P. WATERMAN, a native of Ballston, Saratoga county, New York, was born on the 15th of January, 18rg, and is the son of David Waterman and Phebe W. née Hollister, both of whom were devoted Christians, and much beloved by a large circle of friends. The father, a farmer by oc- cupation, had command of an artillery company during the war of 1812. His paternal grandfather, a soldier of the revolution, was commissioned lieu- tenant-colonel by Governor George Clinton, of New York, June 16, 1778.
Anson spent his early boyhood on his father's farm, receiving his education in the common schools, and at the age of twelve years accepted a clerkship in a store and laid the foundation of his subsequent business career. Having spent about five years in a country store, and a few months in school, he became a clerk in a hardware store at Schenectady. After four years, having then attained his majority, he engaged in business on his own account at Phelps, Ontario county, New York, and remained there until his removal to Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1854; soon after
which he took the entire charge of the hardware business in which he had been associated with his brother for several years, and has continued it with uniform success up to the present time, 1876. Aside from his regular business, he has held many promi- nent and trustworthy positions. He has been one of the trustees of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company during nearly its entire history, having been elected to that position in the year 1860, and for a number of years one of the board of trustees of the State asylum for the insane. In his political sentiments he was formerly a democrat, but upon the organization of the republican party, in 1856, be- came identified with that body. During the year 1857 and 1858 he was mayor of his city, and for the last twenty years has been connected with the board of education of the city, and a member of the board of trustees of Beloit College. In all his official ca- pacities he has worked faithfully and effectively for the interests of his city and those whom he has rep- resented. His religious training was under Presby- terian influences, and he is now, and has been for
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many years, a leading member and prominent officer of the First Presbyterian Church of Beloit, in con- nection with the Presbytery of Milwaukee.
Mr. Waterman was married on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1840, to Miss Jennie A. Hubbell. Of their three daughters two are married and living in St. Louis, and the other is still at home.
Such is a brief outline of the life-history which has been marked by many and varied experiences, and in all a gradual growth. Beginning life with no means other than his own native powers, he has, by his own effort, built up a successful business, attained a worthy place in public esteem and drawn around himself a large circle of true and devoted friends.
JACOB OBERMANN,
MILWAUKEE.
T HE life of Jacob Obermann is remarkable for persevering industry, and an energy which has overcome many obstacles, and, after struggling against adverse circumstances, has achieved success. Such experience is exemplary, as it serves to give encouragement to those who have yet to fight the battle of life.
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