USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 47
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On the maternal side our subject is descended
from James Thompson, a native of the north of Ire- land, of Scotch Covenanter stock, born 1671, who emigrated to America in 1712, in company with his son Samuel, born 1698, and settled in Holden, Mas- sachusetts. The latter was the father of Captain Samuel Thompson, born 1735, who served in the revolutionary war, four of whose sons and two of whose daughters afterward settled in Barre, Ver- mont. The Thompsons also belong to the agricul- tural classes, and were mainly long-lived. The mother of our subject, however, was an exception to the rule; she died at the age of thirty-three, and bequeathed to her son a slender frame but an active nervous organization.
Joseph Thompson Dodge attended the common district school till the age of sixteen. In 1839 he entered Newberry Seminary, where he was prepared for Dartmouth College, which he entered in 1841, but not enjoying the atmosphere of the institution, he was honorably dismissed by letter at the end of one year and admitted to Vermont University, from which he graduated with honors in 1845, ranking the first in his class in mathematics. During the latter part of his college experience he determined to devote his life to the profession of civil engineering, the va- rious lines of railroad then in course of construction and in contemplation seeming to offer an inviting field in this department. The Vermont Central Railroad Company, then being organized, afforded the desired opening, and he served an apprentice- ship of three years as assistant engineer of this road, and until the completion of the work. The build- ing of a railroad through this part of Vermont was perhaps the best school of discipline that an incipi- ent in the art of enginery could have enjoyed, and proved to be an excellent recommendation to him in after life. In 1849 he was employed to make the pre- liminary survey for a projected railroad from Mont- pellier to Bradford, Vermont, via his native town of Barre. Having completed this, he, in the following autumn, removed to the West, and after visiting the
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principal cities of Illinois and Missouri, accepted a subordinate position on the macadamized roads of St. Louis county, in the last-named State, his prin- cipal being J. B. Moulton, Esq., who has since played a conspicuous part in developing that city and the State of Missouri, and for nine months had charge of the work on the St. Charles road. In 1850 he engineered the Illinois Coal Company's railroad, from East St. Louis to Caseyville, Illinois. Soon after the completion of the track, however, all the bridges and embankments were swept away by the high flood of the Mississippi, which occurred in 1851. The disaster proved to be a serious loss to the company, and for a time laid an embargo on the work. In 1852 he obtained a contract on the Mis- souri Pacific railroad, and spent that year in direct- ing the work, but the climate proving injurious to his health, he resolved to move farther northward, and in the spring of 1853 settled in Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, and during the five years following was engaged in engineering on the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- road, having control of the work, first from Stoughton to Madison, and afterward from Janesville to Monroe. During this period he invested largely in real estate in the county of Green and in the city of Monroe, and thereby laid the foundation of the large estate that has so amply rewarded his industry and wisdom.
The money panic which prevailed in 1857 and following years laid a temporary embargo on railroad construction, and Mr. Dodge retired to the then vil- lage of Monroe, and was employed by the corpora- tion to take the oversight of the improvements pro- vided for in the new charter, which he carried to successful completion. In 1860-1 he published a very complete map of Green county and the State of Wisconsin, which has since been the standard authority on matters of geography within its scope. During the last-named year he also served several months as clerk of the mustering and disbursing officer of the United States army at Madison. From January, 1862, to July, 1863, he was principal of the high schools of Monroe, a position for which his thorough education and large experience eminently fitted him. In the autumn of 1863 he was employed on the Minnesota Central railroad and placed in charge of the work between Minneapolis and St. Paul. He also engineered the Winona and St. Peter railroad, from Rochester to Kasson, and made its location through Dodge and Steel counties. In 1866 he made the location of the La Crosse, Trem- pealeau and Prescott railroad, but owing to .a dif-
ference of opinion which arose between himself and the officers of the company, he resigned his po- sition and for a time retired with his family to his early home in Vermont. Returning to Monroe in April, 1867, he bought a three-fourths interest in the Monroe Planing Mill Company, of which he intended to take the management, but receiving an overture from the general government, he spent the following year in making a survey of the battlefields of the Atlanta campaign. For the next three years, ending March, 1871, he was resident engineer of the Winona division of the St. Paul and Chicago rail- road, and during the two succeeding years held the position of chief engineer of the line, completing the work to La Crescent. It is worthy of note here, as illustrating the accuracy of Mr. Dodge as an account- ant, that although during the last named period over a million dollars had been disbursed by him, yet a rigid audit of the accounts failed to reveal an error of even one cent. Subsequently he was chief engineer of the Hastings and Dakota railroad, and directed its construction from Carver to Glencoe. He also engineered the McGregor and Missouri River railroad, from Algona to Spencer, Iowa.
At this point we will make a slight digression, in order to place on record a matter of history, which cannot be otherwise than gratifying to our subject. In the fall of 1871 he had made the location of the St. Paul and Chicago railroad from Winona to La Crescent, and after a careful survey of the river - its banks, channels, islands and bottom lands -for two miles, he made a location of the bridge that was to ~ span its channel at La Crosse and connect that line with the La Crosse division of the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad, which was immediately staked out and has since become celebrated as the location of the La Crosse bridge. The citizens of La Crosse, however, interposed objections to the proposed site, because it did not terminate in the heart of their city, and much local feeling was engendered by the circumstance. The late secretary of war, General Belknap, lent himself to the citizens of La Crosse, and appointed a commission of three government engineers, who twice reported against the location in question. An injunction was obtained from the United States circuit court to restrain the company from proceeding with the construction of the bridge, but the court in rendering the opinion commented so severely upon the injustice of the proceeding, that the opinion itself became one of the strongest grounds for contesting the decision. In the trial of
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the case six of the most eminent civil engineers of the Northwest had given their testimony in the most emphatic manner in favor of Mr. Dodge's location, and their report ultimately proved the turning point in the case. After a flight of years all obstacles were finally removed, and now a magnificent triumph of engineering skill spans the " Father of Waters " at La Crosse, having been completed and put in op- eration during the centennial year of the republic, and the wisdom and skill of our subject have re- ceived the most flattering indorsements and com- mendation from the most eminent engineers of the county. The name of Mr. Dodge is indissolubly connected with that magnificent enterprise.
The panic of 1873 being followed by a persist- ent " granger crusade " against railroads, nearly all public works were in that year suspended, and the year following our subject made an extensive tour in Europe, visiting many of the cities and monuments of art and science in that distinguished quarter of the globe. In November, 1875, he removed his fam- ily to Monroe, from Madison, where he had resided for some years, and took charge of his interest in the planing mill, which he had owned since 1867, and which has since furnished him with sufficient employment.
He has been for many years a distinguished mem- ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and of the Academy of Science, in Wisconsin. In 1 862 his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of M.A., and in 1875 the still more complimentary distinction of Ph.1)., an honor worthily bestowed.
He was raised in the communion of the Meth-
odist church, to which his ancestors for several generations belonged, but his theological opinions having undergone a change, he now attends a Uni- versalist church.
He was reared a democrat, but early in life be- came indoctrinated with anti-slavery principles, and soon after its organization joined the republican party, with which he is still identified.
On the 24th of October, 1850, he married Miss Melissa J. Marble, of North Hartland, Vermont, a member of a family of excellent physical develop- ment and of remarkable longevity. This union has been blessed with a family of one son and three daughters. Their eldest daughter, Marion, is a grad- uate, and their second, Miss Florence, is a member, of the Madison University. They have both spent a year in Germany, returning to America in July, 1876, and also visited and sojourned for short pe- riods in several of the principal cities of Europe. They are young ladies of high literary attainments, as well as of the most amiable and engaging man- ners. The youngest daughter, Miss Mattie, and the only son, Joseph, are at present attending the high school of Monroe.
Mr. Dodge's course of life has been marked by an unswerving fidelity to the soundest principles of morality and economy. His transactions and business relations have ever been marked by scru- pulous integrity and the highest sense of honor. His property, which is principally in real estate, is ample, and he occupies a leading position, not only in the city of his adoption but throughout the Northwest.
HON. HIRAM BARBER,
HORICON.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Hebron, Washington county, New York, was born January 25, 1800, and is the son of David Barber and Hannah née Baker. His father, a farmer of Hebron, took part in the war of the revolution, and received a pension from the government in compen- sation for his services. As his place of residence was convenient to no school, Hiram was obliged to pursue his studies at home, with the exception of one year's attendance at Fort Ann. When he had reached his nineteenth year, having become fully competent to teach school, he devoted the winters
of the four following years to this employment, the summers being occupied with farming. Subsequent to this he became one of a firm engaged in a general mercantile business in Queensburg, New York, and continued in this business for the period of twelve years. Meanwhile he had become interested in the lumber trade, and, upon his withdrawal from the mercantile business, gave it his exclusive attention for the period of eight years. On the 10th of Octo- ber, 1843, he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and subsequently traveled over several of the Western States for the purpose of examining lands, since
Your Respectfully Ho Barken garten
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he had resolved to follow the real-estate business. While thus engaged he located a farm in the vicinity of Juneau, and afterward settled upon it, making it his home for eighteen years. Upon the marriage of his eldest son, however, he gave it to him to take charge of, and, in 1863, removed to Horicon, Wis- consin, to engage in speculations, for which he had quite a taste. Here he became a member of the firm of Van Brunt and Co., manufacturers of agri- cultural implements, and after continuing in the firm for seven years, conducted the business alone for three years, after which he sold it to his son. In his : religious views Mr. Barber sympathizes with the Pantheists, believing as he does that the universe, taken as a whole, is God. He was formerly a mem- ber of the democratic party, with which he acted until 1856, having voted for General Jackson, but since that time he has been a republican, casting his first vote in this party for General Fremont. Among the many important positions of public trust which he has held is that of justice of the peace, to which he was elected in 1826; county judge of the courts of Warren county, New York, to which he
was appointed by Governor Van Buren in 1829, and which he held until 1844, when, wishing to re- move to Wisconsin, he resigned it. In 1846 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and as- sisted in framing the constitution of Wisconsin. Two years later he was appointed by Governor Dewey one of the board of regents to organize the State university, a position which he held for six years. In 1849 he was a member of the State assembly, and in 1874 was republican candidate for Congress in the fifth congressional district. Judge Barber was also a member of the first board of directors of the Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad, a position which he held for three years and then resigned.
He was married on April 8, 1824, to Miss Salome Seelye, by whom he has had three sons and three daughters,-the eldest son being a farmer, the second a successor to his father in his manufactory, and the third a lawyer in the city of Chicago. The various positions of trust to which Mr. Barber has been called, only serve to give us additional proofs of the many social, business and moral qualities of which his character is made up.
JAMES M. BRACKETT,
EAU CLAIRE.
T HE history of James Miller Brackett furnishes another illustration of the service of journal- ism as an educator. He is a native of Ohio, and the son of Joseph Warren Brackett and Lydia Mil- ler Brackett, and was born at Huntsburg, Geauga county, July 16, 1831. Some of both his paternal and maternal ancestors were engaged in the revolu- tionary struggle. His father, formerly a farmer, was later in life a lawyer. He moved with his family to Wisconsin in 1842, and settled near Milwaukee, where he opened a farm. He was a member of the first Wisconsin State legislature, and was one of the three democrats who, in 1848, protested against the political doctrines advanced in Lewis Cass' Nichol- son letter, and left the party at that time. He was an original, independent thinker, and a prominent man in Wisconsin during its early history as a State. He died while on a visit in Eau Claire, in 1873.
James worked on the farm and attended school three or four months in a year until he was nine- teen, when he attended an academy a short time at Waukesha. He then taught during one winter, and
afterward spent one term in a college at Davenport, Iowa. His father had a small, well selected library - large, for those days, in a new country - of which, when not engaged in teaching or attending school, James made free and liberal use, having from an early age a passion for books. Happily, his taste was for solid works, historical, scientific and legal, and he read with considerable care Blackstone, Kent, Chitty, and other law books.
During the seven years next following his return from Davenport he was engaged in farming during the summer months, and in teaching during the win- ters, and at the expiration of that time for about three years he gave his entire attention to farming.
In March, 1861, he removed to Alma, and there organized the "Buffalo County Journal," and after conducted it for nearly two years, and sold out and went into the army as second lieutenant of Com- pany A, 20th Regiment Volunteer Infantry. At the end of one year, by reason of impaired health, he resigned, and returning to Alma again took charge of the " Journal," and conducted it until April, 1865,
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when he went to Chippewa Falls, purchased the | "Chippewa Valley Union " and " Times ;" consoli- dating the two papers under the name of " Union and Times," he continued its publication until De- cember, 1869. At that time he bought the "Eau Claire Free Press," in company with Rodman Palmer, since deceased, and on the first day of Jan- uary, 1873, began issuing it as a daily, and still edits it. The paper is published by a stock company, of which Mr. Brackett is president. It was the first daily started in that part of the State, is republican in politics, and edited with care and ability.
After returning from the South and while at Alma Mr. Brackett was appointed deputy provost marshal, and served in that capacity for two years. While
at Chippewa Falls he held the office of assistant assessor for about four years. In June, 1873, he was appointed receiver of the United States land office, and still holds that position.
He was married on the 19th of March, 1854, to Miss Lucina A. Hamilton, daughter of Elisha C. Hamilton, of Joe Daviess county, Illinois, an early settler in that county, and for years one of its lead- ing men. The fruits of this union have been ten children, eight of whom are living.
Mr. Brackett is justly regarded as the leading journalist in his part of the State. He is an inde- fatigable worker and thinker, and through his paper exerts a powerful influence throughout the Chip- pewa valley.
HON. WILLIAM P. BARTLETT,
EAU CLAIRE.
A BOUT the year 1635 there came from England two brothers, John and Richard Bartlett, who settled at Newbury, Massachusetts. They came from a family of high standing, some of their relatives about that time being members of par- liament, and some of their ancestors long before having shared the same distinction. The Bartletts in England held other responsible positions also, and were men of learning and wealth. They were a leading family, at an early day, in this country, and did much to mold and elevate society and shape the government of New England, where the descendants of John and Richard Bartlett, for three or four generations, settled. At the opening of the revolutionary war the family had scattered all over the New England States, and without excep- tion were found arrayed on the side of the colonies. John Bartlett, called "John the tanner," being of the fourth generation from Richard Bartlett, settled at Eliot, Maine. Of his descendants was John H. Bartlett, the father of William Pitt Bartlett. He was born at Eliot, January 9, 1789, and at about the age of twenty-five married Phebe Burbank, of Freeport, Maine, and in 1833 moved to North New Portland, Somerset county. The northern part of Maine, at that time, was sparsely settled, and presented few educational advantages. Mr. Bartlett was a clothier by occupation, and proceeded to erect, at his new home, a clothing and carding mill, a saw-mill, a grist mill and a clover mill. Some of these mills, built
more than forty years ago, are still standing, and are owned and operated by his sons.
William Pitt Bartlett was born at Minot, Septem- ber 13, 1829, and was next to the youngest of twelve children (seven boys and five girls), eight of whom are still living. His educational privileges in early life were limited to the winter months in the district school, but being of a studious turn of mind he improved his spare hours while out of school in study, and at fifteen years of age obtained a certifi- cate and began teaching. At nineteen he entered Waterville College and graduated four years later. He at once thereafter began reading law, supporting himself, meantime, by teaching, first as principal of an academy at Anson, and then of the Hallowell Academy, the oldest in the State.
In 1855 Mr. Bartlett removed to Wisconsin, and spent nearly two years at Watertown, and in May, 1857, settled permanently at Eau Claire. He imme- diately began the practice of his profession, to which he has closely devoted himself until the present time (1877), practicing not only in the courts of the State but more or less in the United States circuit and supreme courts. He is now a member of the firm of Bartlett and Hayden, and has a wide reputation for his legal attainments, sound learning and eminent success, and lives in the enjoyment of a liberal com- petency.
When Mr. Bartlett came to Eau Claire there was no lawyer in the county, and he is properly regarded
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there as the pioneer in the profession. His wise counsel and assistance are often sought outside his profession. In educational matters he has always been a leader, and is the Nestor of the school board. He had been in Eau Claire scarcely two weeks when he was placed on that board, in district number two, and has not been off the board or off duty a day since. The school then numbered about twenty scholars ; now it has six hundred, and is among the best in the State, and owes its high standing largely to the untiring vigilance of Mr. Bartlett. His labors in this department alone will entitle him to the grateful remembrance of the citizens of Eau Claire in coming generations as well as the present.
Aside from his professional duties Mr. Bartlett has held many positions of honor and trust. He was six years district attorney of Eau Claire county, two years county judge, a member of the legislature in 1860 and 1873, and in April, 1875, was appointed by President Grant Registrar of the United States Land Office, a position which he still holds. In
connection with every office which he has held he has an unblemished record.
Mrs. Bartlett is a daughter of Edward W. Hart, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, formerly of Akron, Ohio. She is a woman of fine accomplishments, both of mind and manners, and in full sympathy with her husband in his educational and other laudable work. They were married August 15, 1861, and have four children - a daughter fourteen years old and three younger sons.
Mr. Bartlett is of whig antecedents. He aided in organizing the republican party in Wisconsin, and has been one of its steady and influential sup- porters.
He has always been a man of industrious and excellent moral habits. He has taken the best of care of himself - of his person as well as character -and as a result is in the full vigor and strength of manhood, and his days of usefulness, it is to be hoped, are far from ended. Such men cannot well be spared from any community.
DANIEL SHAW,
EAU CLAIRE.
D ANIEL SHAW is the son of Daniel and Mehitable (Gilman) Shaw, and was born at Industry, Franklin county, Maine, March 30, 1813. His parents were natives of Tamworth, New Hamp- shire. They were as firm in character as the granite of their native State, and it is no exaggeration to say that the son inherited their best qualities. A neighbor of his in Eau Claire, one who knew the whole family forty years ago in their eastern home, states that "the Shaw family were and are an indus- trious, plucky race, with no word like failure in their vocabulary."
Daniel Shaw, senior, was a farmer. The subject of this sketch grew up under the parental roof, with very few school privileges, his school days ending when he was about seventeen. In the autumn of 1833, in his twenty-first year, he began lumbering during the winters in his native State, and in 1851 went to Alleghany county, New York, and there continued the business for five years, with fair suc- cess. The field of operations, however, was too narrow, and with a view to finding a wider scope for the exercise of his powers he removed to Wisconsin in 1855, and having thoroughly explored the Chip-
pewa valley, selected it as the field for his future operations. One year later we find him at Eau Claire, the half owner of a large tract of pine land on the Chippewa river and its tributaries, and here we still find him in the lumber, merchandise and milling business, other parties being in company with him. For many years the firm was Daniel Shaw and Co. January 1, 1875, the firm name was changed to the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company, Mr. Shaw being president, and his son, George B., secretary. The company is one of the largest of its kind, and most enterprising in the Chippewa valley, and cuts about twenty-five million feet of lumber annually. The gross amount of its sales of all kinds exceeds five hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Shaw has voted the republican ticket since there was such a party; prior to that time was a whig; has often been urged to accept office, but uniformly declines nomination.
In a private way, no man living in Eau Claire has done more for the place than he. When he first looked upon the site of this city, in 1855, the sound of the axe had hardly disturbed the solitude of the forest, and in twenty years he has seen the place
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