USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 59
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while in this position published the Fond du Lac " Union."
In 1861 Mr. Smith went east, and being an ex- pert in mathematics his services were secured for about two years during the civil war in that depart- ment of the United States Naval Academy located at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1863 he returned to Wisconsin and settled permanently at Appleton, resuming his former position in the improvement company, which was reorganized in 1866, and took the name of the Green Bay and Mississippi Land Company. Mr. Smith retained his position as secre- tary, and also became treasurer of the corporation ; and when, in 1866, its lands were sold to private parties he became their commissioner and agent.
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He is still (1877) acting in that capacity, and ex- hibits a degree of business tact, energy and enter- prise which have done much toward the success of the institution, and gained for him an enviable repu- tation.
In 1870 Mr. Smith established the First National Bank of Appleton, and, becoming its president, still holds that position. It is a well-managed, strong and popular institution.
In 1876 he erected the two-story brick post-office building as his " Centennial " contribution to the growth of Appleton.
In 1866 he was elected State senator, and in the legislature, as in private matters, showed his great business capacities. Among the important measures in which he took a leading part was the reorganiza- tion of the State University, which was effected dur- ing the session of 1867. The committees on which he did the most and best work were education and incorporations. While still a member of the senate, in 1867, Gov. Fairchild appointed him regent of the State University, a position which he held for six years. He was mayor of Appleton in 1870, and has held other positions in the municipality of the city. He has fine executive capacities, and his services are highly appreciated in this adopted home; hence, when in 1875 a Chamber of Commerce was organ- ized, he was placed at its head. He is one of the foremost men to suggest local public improvements, and a leader in starting and consummating them. The Appleton Iron Company was reorganized in 1876, and he was made its president. He takes equal pleasure in aiding to enrich and beautify the city, and in making his own home comfortable and inviting. He has a stately and elegant residence on
the high bank of the Fox river, seventy feet above low water mark, with a verandah facing the stream which may be readily converted into a conserva- tory in the winter, with grounds tastily platted and adorned, and one of the finest views which the Fox River valley presents. He has fine literary tastes, and possesses a large, well-selected library and also many fine pictures, indices of culture, refinement and wealth.
On October 30, 1860, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Edna J. Taylor, then of Chicago, but previ- ously of Madison, Wisconsin. They have two sons, aged respectively fourteen and twelve years old, whom they are educating with great care. Mrs. Smith is a lady of much refinement, and in full sympathy with her husband in all his tastes and interests.
Mr. Smith is a democrat in politics, but has many more personal friends than are included in party affiliations. He has great magnetic power, and when he runs for office runs to win, and never fails. In stature he is about five feet seven inches high, solidly built, and weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds ; he has dark brown eyes, a countenance expressive of firmness, very cordial manners, a gentlemanly deportment, a nervous, sanguine tem- perament, and all the bearing of an earnest, self- reliant business man.
He is a regular attendant at the Congregational church, a trustee of the Lawrence University, a liberal contributor to religious societies and literary institutions, and warmly interested in every organ- ization or enterprise calculated to enhance the social, moral and intellectual, as well as material interests of the city of Appleton and the State of Wisconsin.
LINUS B. BRAINARD, M.D.,
WAUPACA.
T' HE subject of this biography is the son of Sol- omon and Charity (Jaqua) Brainard, and was born in Boardman, Mahoning county, Ohio, October 30, 1805. Although past seventy years of age; he still conducts an extensive medical practice. His father enlisted in the war of 1812, and acted as a scout in Ohio, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, and served until disabled. Linus was raised on a farm, with very poor school privileges, until twenty years old. He then entered an academy at
Worthington, Ohio, but was compelled after a short time, by reason of illness, to leave. His father died soon afterward, and he being the eldest of ten chil- dren, the whole oversight of the farm fell on him, with very restricted means with which to operate. He had a difficult task, but performed it faithfully, until other members of the family were old enough to take upon themselves the responsibility.
At the age of twenty-seven he began the study of medicine under private instruction, at Windham,
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Portage county, and continued the same three years. After practicing awhile at Bedford, he attended two courses of lectures at the medical college in Cleve- land, and took his degree about 1838. Continuing in practice in Cleveland until 1845, he then removed to Wisconsin Territory. He tried the Fourierite sys- tem at Ceresco a short time, at the urgent request of President Parsons. After a few months he removed to Fox Lake, where he practiced six months and then went to Sheboygan and practiced three years. Having received the appointment of deputy collector of customs he removed to Green Bay, and acted in that capacity during President Fillmore's adminis- tration, but being rotated out of office by President Pierce in 1853, he removed to Waupaca, where he still resides.
In June, 1862, Dr. Brainard was appointed assist- ant surgeon to fill a vacancy in the 7th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers ; operated in the field until April, 1864, when, being unable to follow the regi- ment in its marches, he was put on duty in the City Point Hospital, Virginia, where he remained until the close of the rebellion ; and after sojourning awhile in the eastern part of Maryland, returned to Waupaca. Dr. Brainard makes no specialty of any
branch of the healing art, but has an excellent repu- tation, both as a medical practitioner and surgeon.
In politics, he was a whig in early and middle life, with strong free-soil proclivities, and naturally grav- itated into the republican ranks, where he has been for twenty years. He is master of the Waupaca Union Grange, No. 332, and an earnest worker in the interests of that order. He lives on a farm one mile from the center of the city, but within the cor- poration limits.
Mrs. Brainard was Miss Huldah R. Bradley, of Ravenna, Ohio. They were married November 13, 1839, and have had five children, of whom three, two sons and one daughter, are living. The eldest child, Charles Rollin, is married and is a lawyer, living in Boston, Massachusetts ; the other son, Linus Henry, lives at home ; the daughter, Alice Elvina, is the wife of David Odam, of Springfield, Illinois.
Both physically and intellectually Dr. Brainard is a man of excellent parts. He is five feet ten and a half inches in height, and weighs two hundred and thirty pounds ; his eyes are light blue ; his hair is as white as the newly fallen snow ; his complexion is very ruddy, and the expression of his face indi- cates a well-wisher to his fellow-men.
HENRY FRIEND,
MILWAUKEE.
H ENRY FRIEND, deceased, late of Milwaukee, was a native of Autenhousen, Bavaria. He was born December 13, 1821, the son of Louis and Helen Friend. His father was a man of rare busi- ness capacity, and his example exercised an impor- tant and beneficial influence upon the character and lives of his sons. His sons and danghters were Henry, Mayer, Elias, Isaac, Michael, Samuel, Eman- uel, Lewis, Eva, Regina -seven sons and two daugh- ters. Henry received a common-school education in his native country, and in 1840, accompanied by his brother Elias, sailed to America to seek his for- tune in the new world. They landed in New York, remaining there but six weeks, proceeded to Penn- sylvania, where, with varied and doubtful success, they remained three years and then proceeded to Alabama, remaining there also three years, when the climate affected the health of Henry so seriously as to compel their removal to a healthier region. The two brothers came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
engaged in the dry-goods and clothing business on East Water street. In 1848 their brother Mayer was received into the firm, which received the name of H. Friend and Brothers. Industry, integrity and gentle- manly deportment characterized the members of the firm and success crowned their efforts. Finding in 1868 that their increasing business required more ex- tensive accommodations, they removed to the present building on Broadway, now occupied by the firm. The business of the firm until 1854 was exclusively retail, but now a wholesale trade was commenced, still, however, continuing the merchant tailoring business. The number of hands then employed was one hundred. The amount of sales the first year was fifty thousand dollars. Their business increased steadily till 1869, when the number of employés reached four hundred, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars. In 1874 the capital exceeded half a million of dollars.
Thus has industry, integrity and gentlemanly de-
Henry Friend
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portment been rewarded with wealth, honor and the esteem of the community in which the members of this firm reside. In political sentiment Henry Friend was a democrat until the war of 1861, since then an independent, never a zealous partisan. In 1850 he was married to Miss Frances Samuels of New York, and is the father of eleven children. In May, 1875, he, with his wife, went on a pleasure trip to Europe, and were lost on the ill-fated ship Schiller, near the
Scilly Islands. Their bodies were found, embalmed, and sent to America. They were buried on the 2d of June, 1875, in Greenwood Cemetery. Mr. Friend was a member of the Reformed Jewish church, believing in the common fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. In him "death has loved a shining mark." Ten of their surviving children reside in Milwaukee; the eleventh, a daughter, is married to Mr. Solomon Friend, of New York.
SYLVESTER MORGAN,
JANESVILLE.
S YLVESTER MORGAN, one of the self-made men whose energy, talents and sterling princi- ples have done so much to develop the resources of the West and stamp a character upon her institu- tions, was born in the town of Scott, Courtland coun- ty, New York, January 10, 1828, and is the son of Horatio N. and Minerva (Hardy) Morgan, both of whom were natives of New York State, and of Eng- lish descent. He was early thrown upon his own resources by the death of his father, which occurred when Sylvester was three years old. His mother inherited but little means, and with three small chil- dren to provide for (the eldest a boy two years old, and the youngest a boy two years younger than our subject), was barely able to find bread for them. At the age of four years he commenced attending the district school, which he continued during the win- ter seasons until the age of seventeen, working in the summers to aid in support of the family. At this period he entered the Courtland Academy, a private educational establishment of a high grade, in which he remained for one year. In the autumn of 1846 he obtained a certificate authorizing him to teach a common school, and during the winter of 1846-7 taught the Homer School in Courtland county, New York. With the money he thus earned he continued his studies at Courtland Academy, and again taught in the winter of 1848-9. By earnest effort he be- came a fair English scholar and an expert mathema- tician, being a deep student of the exact sciences, algebra, geometry and trigonometry; to which was added a practical knowledge of chemistry. In 1849 he was elected superintendent of schools for the town of Scott, a position which he held for two years, also teaching during the winter months. His original intention was to prepare for the bar, a pro-
fession for which he entertained a strong admiration, but his mother disapproving of his purpose, he aban- doned it, and devoted himself to agricultural pur- suits.
In the month of April, 1852, he was married to Miss Sarah M., daughter of Rev. Henry Anthony, a Baptist clergyman of his neighborhood, and soon afterward settled upon a farm, to which he devoted his undivided attention for three years, with encour- aging results. Induced by the greater possibilities of the West, however, he made a prospecting visit to Wisconsin in the spring of 1854, and purchased a quarter-section of land in the town of Lema, Rock county, to which he removed his family in the au- tumn of the same year, and which has since been his home, "the wilderness and solitary place," under the transforming power of his strong hand, guided by an artistic taste, having been made "to rejoice and blossom as the rose." In 1857 he was elected by his fellow-citizens to the position of justice of the peace, and since then he has never been a day with- out office; not that he was ambitious for public employment, but being a gentleman of more than ordinary capacity and education he was selected by his fellow-citizens to fill positions of trust and honor, the duties of which he always discharged in a manner that not only justified the wisdom of those who made the selection, but brought credit and honor to himself. In 1859 he was elected superin- tendent of schools for the town of Lema, a position which he held for two years. In 1865 he was elected chairman of the supervisors of his town. He was again elected to the same position in 1870, and re- elected five times in succession, holding that office six consecutive years, and in all seven years. He was elected president of the Lema Mutual Fire In-
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surance Company, at its organization in 1872, and held the office till January 1, 1877. In the autumn of 1876 he was elected clerk of the county of Rock for a period of two years, and is now the incumbent of that office, bringing to the discharge of the respon- sible duties a ripe experience, sound judgment and fine executive abilities. He is a gentleman of re- fined tastes, which are displayed in the adornment and embellishment of his home; social in his habits, courteous and affable in his manners, making for himself many and devoted friends; upright and hon- orable as a citizen, thorough and enterprising in business; open-handed and generous, he has by his industry and practical wisdom attained to an envia- ble position of influence and competence.
Although not a member of any church, he is a believer in the doctrines of Christianity, of the Prot-
estant faith, and a liberal contributor toward the institutions of religion and benevolence.
In politics, he was originally a whig; has been a republican since the organization of that party, and has frequently served as delegate to the different conventions of his party, in which he wielded con- siderable influence.
His union with Miss Anthony was blessed with two children, sons, the eldest of whom, Willis Benton, born April, 1853, graduated at Milton Col- lege (classical course), and is now (1877) attending lectures in St. Louis, Missouri, with a view to enter- ing the medical profession; while the youngest, Harold, born in April, 1856, is conducting the farm in the absence of his father; both are young gentlemen of fine abilities, high moral character and much promise.
ELIAS FRIEND,
MILWAUKEE.
E LIAS FRIEND, one of the partners in the house of Henry Friend Brothers, came to the United States in 1840 with his brother Henry, and, engaging with him in business, shared with him as well his difficulties, his privations and his hardships, as his successes and his enjoyments. Receiving from their common father wise counsels and a noble example of a useful and honorable life, he could scarcely fail to follow in his parental footsteps, and be a worthy associate and companion of his brother Henry. His connection with the firm rendered it necessary that he should travel extensively in the United States, which furnished him a wide field for
observation and study of the manners and customs of the people with whom it was his destiny to live. He has traveled also extensively in Europe, being enabled thereby to compare the national character- istics, and to form a more just estimate of each.
He was married, in 1855, to Miss Rosa Stern, of Albany, New York, and has one son, now eighteen years old.
The sad fate of his brother Henry, in consequence of their long, intimate and affectionate relationship, fell upon him with crushing severity, and will doubt- less cast a shade of melancholy sadness over his future life.
PHILIP BEST,
MILWAUKEE.
PHILIP BEST, late of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was born September 26, 1814, at Mettenheim, Germany, son of Jacob and Eva Best. He received a common-school education in his native town. After leaving school he learned the business of brewing, and traveled through Germany and France, working at the business. He came to America in 1844 and located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where, together with his father and three brothers, he engaged in
brewing, deriving considerable profit from this occu- pation, and laying the foundation of the large wealth the company have since accumulated. It is known as the Best Brewing Company.
He was taught the doctrines of Luther in his youth and retained them during his life. His polit- ical opinions were democratic, and he sympathized with the masses of the people. He was appointed major-general of the Wisconsin State militia, and
Philip Best.
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retained the office many years after his appointment in 1857. He was one of the stockholders of the Second Ward Bank. He was president of the South Side Savings Bank in 1865. He made a trip of pleas- ure to Europe in 1859, and again in 1869 he visited Europe for his health, where he died July 16, 1869.
He was married in 1842 to Miss Anna Maria Muth, by whom he had seven children, three of
them are now living. The eldest is the wife of Captain Frederick Pabst; the second is the wife of Emil Schandein. The youngest son, named Henry, is connected with the brewing company, and has charge of several of its departments. Charles, the nephew of Philip Best, is the secretary of the company, is an able and efficient business man and an agreeable gentleman.
ANSON ROGERS,
JANESVILLE.
A MONG the emphatically self-made men of Wis- consin few deserve a more honorable mention than the subject of this sketch. Raised literally in the " backwoods " or pine regions of northern New York, before the advent of public schools, so that his opportunities for study were exceedingly brief and extremely rare; but possessing a vigorous un- derstanding, he supplied his deficiencies of instruc- tion by an assiduous and persevering devotion to the acquisition of knowledge, and has so educated and disciplined himself as to be one of the best informed men of his day. Nor has his success in a business point of view been less remarkable ; start- ing in the world with absolutely nothing, he has attained to a degree of wealth and affluence which falls to the lot of but few men under the most favor- able circumstances.
Anson Rogers was born in Jefferson county, New York, August 14, 1821, and is the son of Daniel and Fanny (Taylor) Rogers. His father was born in the same place January 22, 1793, and still lives on the old homestead. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he was conspicuous for gallantry and the finest soldierly qualities. After his mar- riage he settled on a pine tract bordering on the. Black river, on which he erected a saw-mill which did a large business and kept a number of hands in steady employment. He also gave some attention to farming, and at one time kept a country hotel, and was, at various times, honored by his fellow-cit- izens with local positions of trust and profit. He served for some years as sheriff and collector of his county ; he was a man of liberal natural endow- ments, a great reader, and was particularly well versed in the common law of the land, and although not a professional advocate, has often defended his neighbors in the local courts, where he demon-
strated such talents as made him anything but easy to deal with. He was a man of great benevolence ; hospitable, generous and kind to the needy - shar- ing, to the last cent, with the unfortunate. He was, moreover, a man of fine business qualifications and of the highest type of moral character; he was never known to utter a profane word or to drink a drop of intoxicating liquor. He was reasonably successful in a worldly point of view, but with a family of eight children to provide for, and all the poor and unfor- tunate of his neighborhood as "wards," he had but little to distribute among his sons at their majority.
The grandfather of our subject, William Rogers, was a native of the north of Ireland, of Covenanter stock, who immigrated to America prior to the rev- olution, and took part in the struggle for independ- ence.
His mother was the daughter of Jonathan Taylor, Esq., of Connecticut, of English ancestry. She was a woman of fine natural gifts and great force of character- a lady of the "olden time." She was a devout member of the Baptist church, and set a good example and gave good advice to her chil- dren and household. She died, in the hope of a blessed immortality, in the year 1872.
Our subject was reared on the homestead and worked for his father at his various industries till the age of twenty-two. There were no public schools or facilities for teaching in his day, and the only education which he received was imparted by his excellent mother. He has, through life, how- ever, been a great reader of newspapers and books, and also a close student of men and things, and in this way has come to be one of the most intelligent and successful men of Wisconsin.
In 1835 he commenced boating on the North river and Erie canal, carrying wheat and produce
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to New York city. This he continued for ten sea- sons, occupying his winters in lumbering in his father's woods, and giving the proceeds of his labor into the common fund for the support of the house- hold. Leaving home in 1845, he started for the West via the lakes, and landed in Milwaukee, Wis- consin, in the autumn of that year, with two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket, with which to begin life. After spending the night at a hotel and pay- ing his bill in the morning he was the owner of one dollar and fifty cents. Proceeding to Janesville on foot, he was there employed in a hotel at ten dollars per month, and remained one year. He worked in various capacities - for he could turn his hand to anything - until 1848, when the Illinois and Michi- gan canal was opened. He was then employed by Gurnsey, Hayden and Co. to command a boat run- ning between Chicago and Peru, at one hundred dol- lars per month, with a commission to purchase grain along the Illinois river. His transaction in this line during the summer netted his employers the hand- some sum of seventeen thousand dollars over and above his own compensation. Finding the climate injurious to his health he returned to Janesville after the first summer, and clerked in the " Stevens House " during the winter of 1849-50, then the best hotel in the State. In the following year he formed a partnership with Charles Stevens, his employer, in a saw-mill, and continued in that business until 1853, with very considerable success. He was also the lessee of the American House for one year. Mean- time he had entered and broken a farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in Rock county, on which he had built a house and barn. He lived on this farm till 1856, when he moved into Janesville and commenced operations in real estate, a business which he carried on exclusively till the spring of 1861 with very great success. In that year he be- came half owner of an extensive brewery, which he conducted in partnership with a man named Buob until 1868, when he became sole proprietor. He is now (1877) the owner of a large amount of real property in Janesville, and is still an active and prosperous business man, one of the largest tax- payers in the county and a recognized capitalist of the State.
Although he has not traveled beyond the limits of the continent of his birth, he has visited and so- journed in every State of the Union and throughout the British American possessions, and is thoroughly posted on all questions of local government as well
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