USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 6
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At the close of the war he was elected president of the Indiana Female College at Indianapolis, in which capacity he served until 1868, when he ac- cepted an invitation to the presidency of Illinois Female College at Jacksonville. His labors in this institution continued, with marked success, until the Ioth of June, 1875, when he was elected superin- tendent of the Wisconsin Deaf and Dumb Institute, a position for which he was most eminently fitted, both by his early experience in teaching mutes, and his later life, in charge of a large boarding school. Mr. DeMotte's success as a teacher is due not only to his superior scholarship and conscientious devo- tion to his chosen profession, but quite as much to his remarkable skill as a disciplinarian. He has always been noted for his promptness and regularity, and knowing thoroughly all the details of his work, has been able to apply his means and resources to the best possible advantage. No railway time-table
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is more carefully arranged or promptly followed than his usual programme of school duties. As a speaker, he possesses a fluency and an ease, coupled with apt- ness in illustration and earnestness in appeal, which render him very effective, especially with the young. As a teacher, he excels in mental and moral sciences.
In his religious communion he is connected with
the Methodist Episcopal church, and is an active, zealous and efficient worker.
His personal qualities are of a high order, and the upright, frank and manly demeanor that has charac- terized his life has gained for him the universal con- fidence of business men, and won for him a high standing in all social interests and local enterprises.
JUDGE LEVI B. VILAS,
MADISON.
EVI B. VILAS was born in Sterling, Lamoille L county, Vermont, on the 25th of February, 1811, and is the fourth son of Moses Vilas, whose character for sound practical sense, strict integrity, firmness of purpose and energy in the accomplish- ment of all laudable pursuits, gave him a command- ing position in the community in which he lived. His mother's maiden name was Mercy Flint, dis- tinguished for all those womanly qualities which adorn the daughter, wife and mother, the counter- part of those manly qualities which adorn her liege lord. Levi received an academic education and ! pursued a partial collegiate course, but was prevent- ed by ill health from graduating. He is by profes- sion a lawyer, having been admitted to the bar in St. Albans, Vermont, in 1833, but has retired from practice. During his residence in Vermont he was the first postmaster at Morrisville, in 1834, which position he resigned in the fall of that year, on removing to Johnson. He was elected to the State constitutional convention from Johnson in 1835, and represented the town in the legislature in 1836 and 1837, and was elected by it, in the latter year, one of the State commissioners of the deaf and dumb and blind. During the same period he held the office of register of probate. He removed to Chel- sea in 1838, and represented that town in the legis- lature in 1840, 1841, 1842 and 1843. During these four years he served on the judiciary committee, and the last year he was its chairman. He was elected State senator from Orange county in 1845 and re- elected in 1846. He held the office of judge of probate for three years in Orange county. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention ; was a mem- ber of the State constitutional convention in 1850, from Chelsea. He came to Wisconsin in 1851, and ·settled at Madison; represented the Madison district in the assembly in the years 1855, 1868, and 1873.
He was mayor of the city of Madison from April, 1861, to April, 1862; was appointed by Governor Solomon and served as draft commissioner during the war for the Union in 1862 ; was a regent of the Wisconsin State University for twelve years previous to its reorganization.
In stature, Judge Vilas is about five feet eleven inches high, has gray hair and beard, bluish gray eyes, florid complexion, and weighs about one hun- dred and ninety pounds. His decided mental abil- ity, his sanguine, bilious temperament, in conjunc- tion with his robust health, strong convictions, iron will and unwavering perseverance in the accomplish- ment of his objects, enabled him, in very early life, to attain remarkable distinction in his profession, and in the various legislative assemblies of which he was a member. The leading principle of his polit- ical life has been and is, that infidelity to public trust was moral treason to the government, and hence his political record is without stain. As the presiding officer of a legislative body he was distinguished for his intimate knowledge of parliamentary rule, for the firmness with which he enforced its observance, and the strict impartiality of his decisions. The same qualities which gave him distinction in legislative halls enabled him to attain, in the prime of manhood, unparalleled success at the bar. Having thus early in the prime of manhood acquired fame and wealth, his first wish was to find a partner who would share his fame and, with him, enjoy his wealth. Such an one he found in Miss Esther G. Smilie, a lady of rare intelligence and accomplishments, scrupulously exact in the performance of all her domestic duties, and yet with such amiable sweetness of temper and gentleness of manner as to diffuse a cheerful air throughout the household. It is not wonderful that he should retire from the vexatious disputes at the bar, and the bitter contests in the political field.
.
Sevi Po. Vilas
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He has not been idle in his retirement from the busy scenes of public life. He has superintended the education of five sons, graduates of the Wiscon- sin University, four of whom are now valuable mem- bers of society, and are acquiring remarkable dis- tinction in their professions. A shadow has passed over this bright picture by the death of the second son, who illustrated the axiom that death loves a
shining mark. According to the Roman law a citi- zen who reared five sons to manhood was supposed to have contributed so largely to the wealth of the empire that he was never afterward allowed to pay any portion of its expenses.
This family is peculiarly fortunate in having a daughter to perpetuate the feminine qualities which at present adorn it.
CHARLES D. PARKER,
PLEASANT VALLEY.
C HARLES D. PARKER, lieutenant-governor of Wisconsin, was born on the 27th of December, 1827, near Connecticut lake, Coos county, New Hampshire. His father was an early settler, a prom- inent man, on the border between Canada and New Hampshire, a farmer and merchant. In the spring of 1836 moved to Wisconsin and settled in Mus- kego, Waukesha county, making a claim where the village of Muskego Centre now is. There were no white settlers within three miles. An Indian trail was the only passway to Milwaukee. His father came by land with a two-horse team ; his family came by water ; all poor financially. He was even then a prominent politician ; was a member of the ter- ritorial legislature in 1846; was active and efficient in organizing Waukesha county. Charles worked on the farm in summers and attended the district school in the winter until he was twenty years of age, and then attended the academy at Waukesha ; afterward the academy at New Ipswich, New Hamp- shire. Taught school in New Hampshire and Wis- consin. Married Angeline F. Southworth and went to farming. He was town clerk in Muskego in 1852.
In 1856 he was elected chairman of the town board and member of the county board of supervisors of Waukesha county. In 1859 he moved to Pleasant Valley, St. Croix county ; was elected town clerk three years, member of the county board five years, one year of which he was chairman of the county board. He was elected a member of the legislative assembly in 1869 and 1870; was elected lieutenant- governor in 1873, which office he still holds. He has five sons and two daughters. In politics was a free-soiler until the organization of the republi- can party ; he is now a reformer. He is liberal and tolerant in his religious views, and believes the prin- ciples of the Christian religion necessary to good government. Governor Parker is a plain, practical, common sense man, with sufficient capacity and learning to discharge the duties of any state office with advantage to the State and honor to himself. His integrity is incorruptible, his conduct beyond reproach. Moral dignity and gentleness are most happily blended in him, which, together with his kind heart and affable manner, render him respected by all, beloved by his friends.
ANDREW PROUDFIT,
MADISON.
A NDREW PROUDFIT was born in Argyle, New York, on the 3d of August, 1820. His father's name was James Proudfit, and his mother's, Maria J. Proudfit. His father was a merchant in Troy, and afterward in Washington county, New York. He was a strict disciplinarian.
Andrew was educated at Argyle, in a common school. At the age of fourteen he became a clerk
in a store at Argyle, and was dependent on his own exertions for a living. He came to Wisconsin in June, 1842, and settled in Milwaukee county on a farm at Brookfield with his mother and the children younger than himself. He cleared up a large timber farm, hired men to work the farm, and engaged in keeping books for Shepard and Bonnell in Milwaukee during two years. He then went to Delafield, Wau-
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kesha county, and built a mill and run it for five years. He came to Madison in 1855, and has lived there ever since. He was chairman of the town board of Delafield, Wisconsin, for two years, and was then elected commissioner of the Fox and Wis- consin river improvement, and served two years. He was in the State senate during 1856 and 1859; was mayor of the city of Madison in 1869 and 1870. He built the south wing of the State prison in 1854. He built the north wing of the State capital in 1864. He built the two wings of the insane asylum in 1866 and 1867.
He has always attended the Episcopal church.
He has always been a democrat. He is vice-pres- ident of the First National Bank, and has held the position since 1871. He is one of the directors of the Park Hotel.
He was married in September, 1840, to Elizabeth Ford, and has had seven children. The eldest daughter died at the age of twenty. He has five children now living. The eldest son is living in Milwaukee, and is discount clerk in the Milwaukee National Bank.
His grandmother was the first white woman born in the town of Salem, Washington county, New York. She went with two horses during the revolu- tionary war out six miles with six bushels of wheat and fed the army. His grandmother's name was Mary Lytle.
Mr. Proudfit's mental and moral characteristics are those of practical common sense, a clear dis- criminating judgment, a thorough knowledge of men, and indomitable perseverance in the accomplish- ment of the objects of his pursuit. He is patriotic and public-spirited; is willing at all times to contrib- ute his services and his pecuniary means to pro- mote the general welfare. He is charitable to the poor, generous to his friends, and kindly in his sen- timents to all. He has a high sense of the honor- able feelings which characterize the intercourse of gentlemen, and in his pecuniary transactions is a man of the strictest integrity. If all men resembled him the jails would contain no criminals,"and the penitentiaries no convicts. He discharges the du- ties of husband, father and neighbor with scrupulous particularity and affectionate fidelity.
ALEXANDER McMILLAN,
LA CROSSE.
T THE subject of this sketch, a native of Finch, Stormont county, Ontario, was born on the 23d of October, 1825, and is the son of Duncan B. and Mary McMillan, both of whom were natives of Inverness-shire, Scotland, whence they immigrated to Canada in 1815. His father, who was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church at Finch, trained his children strictly in the doctrines of that faith. Alexander passed his boyhood and youth in his native place, dividing his time between study in the common schools and farm work, and at the age of twenty-one removed to the State of New York, where he spent some time, and in the spring of 1850 settled in Madison, Wisconsin. Here he spent one year clerking, and at the expiration of that time went to Portage, at which place, also, he passed one year. In 1852, in partnership with his brother John, who died in 1865, he established himself in the lumber trade at La Crosse, which place he has since made his home. The business is more properly what is known as logging, the timber and logs being cut on the Black river and sold to manufacturers on the
Mississippi. The business is a very extensive one throughout Wisconsin, and especially in this section of the State, and Mr. McMillan is one of its most prominent representatives, being the oldest logger on the Black river. He is still extensively engaged in this business, although largely interested in other enterprises.
He has always held decided,views on the political and municipal affairs of his State and city, and been honored by his fellow-citizens with many positions of public trust. He was for three years a member of the city council, for several years county super- visor, and for two years chairman of the county board, a position to which he was reelected in 1875. He was mayor of La Crosse in 1871, and is now (1876) chairman of the directors of the Board of Trade. In 1873, he was elected to the State Legis- lature on the republican ticket, receiving twenty-one hundred and forty-five votes; and during the same year, it being the year of the great financial crisis, he was president of the First National Bank of La Crosse.
Alex MC Millan 1521480
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Aside from his activity in political matters he has always shown a public-spiritedness and been deeply interested in the public enterprises of his city. In 1869 the McMillan brothers became chief owners of the La Crosse Gas Works, which were incorporated in 1863. Alexander McMillan is now president of the same, and Duncan D. McMillan vice-president. Mr. McMillan is also engaged in the temperance movement ; has always been an earnest supporter of the cause, and in 1873 was president of the La Crosse Temperance League.
He was married in 1858 to Miss Sarah L. Parker, daughter of Mr. Herrick Parker, of La Crosse, for-
merly a prominent citizen of Elyria, Ohio. Mrs. McMillan is a lady of fine native endowments, high- ly accomplished, and has attained local celebrity for her skill in oil painting, many of her pieces having taken premiums at various county and city exposi- tions.
Mr. McMillan possesses excellent personal quali- ties, social and genial. He is a most agreeable com- panion. By promptness and industry he has gained the reputation of being a thorough business man, and as a reward of his honorable and fair dealing has the respect and esteem of all who know him, and lives in the enjoyment of an ample fortune.
NAPOLEON B. VANSLYKE,
MADISON.
APOLEON B. VANSLYKE was born in several of the best residences now remaining in the Saratoga county, New York, December 21, city.
N 1822. His father's name was Daniel Vanslyke, a civil engineer, and his mother's name was Laura Mears; both of them born, lived, died and were buried in Onondaga county, New York.
He was an orphan in very early life, without brother or sister, and dependent solely upon his own exertions for the means of living. He received an academic education at irregular periods and ; places; was married to Laura Sheldon, of Cayuga county, New York, daughter of E. W. Sheldon, judge of that county. He was twenty-one years of age at the time of his marriage, and commenced farming, in which occupation he continued seven years, in the meantime acting as superintendent of common schools.
Abandoning the farm, he engaged in the manu- facture of salt at Syracuse, whence he removed to Madison, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1853, where he formed a partnership with James Richardson in the business of banking and of buying and selling real estate. In 1854 he organized the Dane County Bank under the State law; was the first cashier, and afterward president during five years.
The city of Madison organized under its charter in 1856, and he was a member of the first common council; was largely instrumental in making the first substantial improvements in the city, in erect- ing the city hall, in selecting and improving Forest Hill Cemetery, in procuring all of the then fire engine apparatus, and during the same period built
In 1859, desiring a change of occupation, he abandoned banking, and engaged in the more active pursuit of manufacturing lumber in northern Wis- consin, and continued it until the outbreak of the rebellion in 1861. He then entered the State service as assistant quartermaster-general. In 1862, when the general government was prepared to fur- nish the troops with the necessary materials for active service, he was placed in charge of the quar- termaster's department for the United States, and commissioned by the President as assistant quarter- master with the rank of captain, subsequently to that of major, and afterward to that of lieutenant- colonel. During the war till its close he acted chiefly under orders direct from the quartermaster- general of the United States army. He had un- usual discretionary powers, and from the beginning of 1862 to 1865, the close of the war, he furnished all the soldiers that went from Wisconsin with everything pertaining to the quartermaster's depart- ment. He resigned his position in 1865, and re- turned to his former business of banking. In the summer of that year he became president of the First National Bank of Madison. His business has always been moderately but steadily successful.
In religion and politics he is neither a sectarian nor a partisan; he has no extreme views in any- thing, but is conservative in all things. He is naturally averse to public notoriety.
Without having held any very distinguished posi-
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tion, he has during the last nine years been chair- man of the executive committee of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin, and has manifested a deep interest in all educational mat- ters. He is earnest and active in all enterprises calculated to promote the general welfare, works from ten to twelve hours a day, seldom taking recre- ation. He is methodical in his habits, and finishes whatever he undertakes. He arrives quickly at
conclusions, and is very determined in their accom- plishment. He has traveled much in his own coun- try, and especially from ocean to ocean, as business or pleasure dictated. In all his relations to men he is always willing and ready to say yes or no, an evidence of the very highest order of moral courage, the rarest quality in man. He is a lover of the fine arts, although his opportunities have not allowed him to gratify his taste.
SAMUEL D. HASTINGS, JUNIOR,
GREEN B.1}.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, was born on the 19th of June, 1841, and is the son of Samuel D. Hastings and Margretta née Shubert. His father, a promi- nent and influential man, was formerly engaged in mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia, and in 1844 removed to Wisconsin and settled in Walworth county. In 1857 he was elected State treasurer, and held that office during a period of eight years. He has been engaged in the interests of the temperance cause for several years, and has been during the past eighteen months traveling in foreign lands advocat- ing the cause which he has espoused.
Samuel, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Beloit College, and after his graduation began the study of law in the Albany Law School, from which he graduated in 1865. Returning to Wisconsin, he was admitted to the bar at Madison, to practice in all the courts of the State, and there began his prac- tice, continuing it for two years. At the expiration of this time he removed to Green Bay, his present home, and entering into partnership with Judge
Ellis conducted a successful practice till 1871, when the firm was dissolved and he associated himself with his present partner, Mr. Green. Their practice has been general, and they have become well known as careful and successful in the management of their cases.
Mr. Hastings has always been republican in his political views, though he has never found time to mingle in political matters. He has found in his professional work ample scope for the exercise of his best talents, and being eminently fitted for it, both by his native inclination and thorough prep- aration, is contented and happy in it. He is charac- terized by a spirit of enterprise, energy and perse- verance; and though still a young man, has attained to a high degree of success, and gives every promise of a bright and prosperous career.
Mr. Hastings has been twice married : first, on the 9th of July, 1863, to Miss Mary C. Kendell, who died November 24, 1868, leaving two daughters; and secondly, on the 25th of December, 1872, to Miss Hetta Sue Clapp, by whom he has one son.
DUNCAN D. McMILLAN,
LA CROSSE.
D UNCAN D. McMILLAN, a native of Finch, Ontario, was born on the 20th of June, 1837, and is the son of Duncan B. McMillan and Mary née McMillan. After receiving an ordinary English education in the common schools of his native place, he engaged for a time in lumbering, in Canada West. His natural tastes inclined him toward mechanics, but his circumstances were not such as to allow him
to gratify his desire. In 1859, being then twenty- two years of age, he removed to the West and made a permanent settlement in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where his two elder brothers had previously estab- lished themselves in the lumbering and logging trade. At once entering their employ, he continued with them until 1861. Finding the business ill suited to his taste, he abandoned it at this time, and enter-
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ing the office of another brother, E. H. McMillan, a lawyer of La Crosse, he began the study of law, and applied himself with diligence till his admission to the bar, in the following year. He did not, how- ever, enter upon the practice of his profession, but a few months later accepted a clerkship in the quar- termaster's department at Memphis, Tennessee, un- der Colonel A. R. Eddy, a position which he held during portions of 1863 and 1864. Returning to his home, he purchased an interest in the lumber- ing business of his brothers, and has continued in the same up to the present time, 1876. Upon the death of his brother John, in 1865, the firm name changed to A. and D. D. McMillan. His attention, however, has not been wholly confined to the lum- bering trade, but being a man of enterprise and thorough business qualifications, he has employed his capital in other enterprises, not only remunera- tive to himself, but also tending to, and directly connected with, the welfare of his city. He is vice- president and, with his brother, one of the largest stockholders in the La Crosse Gas Light Company. His political sentiments have always been repub- lican. When he first began to be interested in
political affairs, slavery was the great issue between the different political parties, and naturally a lover of freedom and equal rights he, from the first, cast his influence on the side of liberty. His first presi- dential ballot was cast for Abraham Lincoln. He is not, however, a partisan, but independent in his habits of thinking, always exalts the man above the party, and supports for office him whom he con- siders most worthy and best qualified. In 1872 he became identified with the reform party, and has continued with it to the present time. His ambition has not been for political honors, finding in his reg- ular business ample scope for the exercise of his best talents. The only official capacity in which he has served was as member of the board of supervi- sors, during 1873 and 1874. Mr. McMillan's parents were devoted members of the Presbyterian church ; and the principles and doctrines which they instilled in his early life have been strengthened and con- firmed as he has grown older, and he is now an active and worthy member of that body.
He was married in 1866, to Miss Mary J. McCrea, daughter of Stephen McCrea, Esq., of Huntingdon county, in the province of Quebec.
JAMES B. HEMENWAY, M.D.,
DELAVAN.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Shrews- bury, Rutland county, Vermont, was born on the 7th of March, 1820, and is the son of Sewel Hemenway and Polly née Bullard. His father, a farmer, was killed by the kick of an ox, and left his family in poor circumstances. He was a good pro- vider, but had always been very liberal with his money. His ancestors were among the early settlers of the United States, and his grandfather, John Bullard, served in the war of 1812.
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