The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume, Part 66

Author: American Biographical Publishing Company
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Chicago : American Biographical Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1108

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claims of the public, and heartily indorsed and assisted in forwarding all public enterprises.

Mr. Holton married Lucinda C. Willard, cousin of the late Millard Fillmore, on the 14th of October, 1845. They have three daughters-Mrs. O. W. Robertson, Mrs. Robertson James, and Mrs. Cap- tain James Wayne Cuyler, U. S. A.

His ancestors came to this country in 1638, and settled in Massachusetts. Judge Holton, of Dan- vers, Massachusetts, was a leading character in the colonial and revolutionary period. Mr. Holton's paternal grandmother was niece of General Israel Putnam.

HON. JAMES D. DOTY, MENASHA.

JAMES DOANE DOTY, who died at Salt Lake in June, 1865, while governor of Utah Territory, was a very early settler in Wisconsin, when it formed a part of Michigan Territory, and deserves an honor- able mention among the prominent men of the State. He was a native of New York, and was born at Salem, Washington county, in 1799. In 1818 he settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he opened a law office, and was soon after appointed secretary of the legislative council and clerk of the court. In 1820 Gov. Cass made a tour of the upper lakes in five bark canoes, and selected Mr. Doty to act as secre- tary of the expedition, and to command one of the frail crafts; and it was on this trip that Gov. Cass, in the presence of the then unfriendly Chippewas, pulled down the British flag which the savages had run up on the American side of the straits of Mack- inac, and hoisted the "stars and stripes," much to the indignation of the red men.

In the winter of r822-23, Congress passed an act " to provide for the appointment of an additional judge for the Michigan Territory," and to estab- lish courts in the three counties of Michillimacinac, Brown and Crawford, which then included what is now Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and President Monroe selected the young Detroit attorney. At that time the only settlements west of Lake Michi- gan were at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. Judge Doty hastened to the latter place, organized the judiciary of Crawford county, and held court as best he could with half-breeds among the jurors and crude material from which to select clerks, a sheriff,

etc. He removed to Green Bay in 1824 and organ- ized courts in Michillimacinac and Brown counties, and continued to discharge his duties as judge until superseded by Judge Irwin.

Soon afterward he made those famous tours through the southern half of Wisconsin, crossing and recrossing the territory until he was enabled to complete a map, which was afterward used in the war department at Washington. About the time he had completed these long, tedious and perilous journeys through the unbroken wilderness he was sent to the territorial legislature from the upper dis- trict of Michigan, and served two years. In 1831 he acted as one of the commissioners to survey a wagon road from Green Bay to Chicago. In 1836, when Wisconsin became a territory separate from Michigan, and the legislature met at Belmont, Judge Doty appeared there as a lobby member, and it is said to have been through his influence that Madi- son was selected for the capital.

Subsequently, when the Indians in Minnesota (the Dakotas, Sioux, etc.) became troublesome, Judge Doty was sent out as a commissioner, and made treaties with them, which, however, the senate for some reason did not accept.

He succeeded Hon. Geo. W. Jones in congress in 1839, serving one session, and in 1841 was appoint- ed governor of Wisconsin by President Tyler, and served in that capacity nearly three years. He was elected to congress in 1848, and served one term, when he again retired to private life, and there re- mained until President Lincoln appointed him, first

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as superintendent of Indian affairs, and then as governor of Utah Territory. From 1846 to the time of this appointment, he lived at Menasha and was engaged in improvements on the then so-called Doty's Island.

The wife of Gov. Doty was a daughter of General Collins, of New York, commander of the State militia at Sackett's Harbor in the war of 1812, and a sister of Judge Collins, now of Appleton, Wiscon- sin. They were married at Detroit in 1823, and had three children. The eldest son, Charles, was re- cently a paymaster in the United States army; James died in Oregon several years ago, and Mary is the widow of the late Hon. John Fitzgerald, of Oshkosh. She is a woman of fine accomplishments.

Mrs. Doty was inured to the hardships of frontier life. On her wedding tour, early in 1823, she was twenty-one days in going on a schooner from Buffalo, New York, to Green Bay. During that year she went with her husband and some Indians from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, in a bark canoe, up

the Fox river and down the Wisconsin, subsequently returning by the same conveyance. In those days at Green Bay there was little more than Fort How- ard ; at Prairie du Chien, simply Fort Crawford and a few huts; and the country between them was in all its primitive wildness. On the death of Gov. Doty at Salt Lake, his widow returned to Wisconsin, and died at the residence of her daughter at Osh- kosh in February, 1871.

General Ellis, the oldest journalist in Wisconsin, who knew Gov. Doty both at Detroit and Green Bay, and who furnished some of the material for this sketch, says he was a self-made man, vigorous in mind, eminently practical, possessed of a com- manding figure, an open and pleasing countenance, and a winning address. "He was true to his friends and peaceable and courteous to his enemies. As a public man he was equally approachable and digni- fied, neither sycophantic to the influential in power, nor repulsive to the humble. He had in a most eminent degree the good will of the masses."

PETER VAN VECHTEN, JUNIOR,

MILWAUKEE.

P ETER VAN VECHTEN, a native of Cats- kill, Green county, New York, was born on the 15th of April, 1827, the third son of John Van Vech- ten. His father, a farmer and surveyor, was at one time associate judge of Green county, New York, cir- cuit court, and is still living, at the advanced age of ninety-two years, in the enjoyment of good health and all his faculties. Peter attended the common school of Leeds, New York, until fourteen years of age, when he became a clerk in his brother's store at Catskill. He early formed a desire to go west, and in October, 1845, removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which has since been his home. At the solicitation of his brother he engaged in the mercantile business, a move which he has always had occasion to regret. On the 21st of September, 1849, he entered the wholesale and retail hat, cap and fur house of Throop and Bailey, and remained with the same through all its changes, as book-keeper and manager, until May, 1861. During this time he was an active member of the Milwaukee volunteer fire department, com- posed of some of the best business men of the city, and originated and drew up many laws for the man- agement of this branch of the city government. In

1852 he joined the Independent Order of Odd-Fel- lows, and having passed all the chairs of honor on merit, was, in January, 1861, elected deputy grand master by the Grand Lodge of the State of Wiscon- sin. At the session of the Grand Lodge in 1862 he declined to accept any office, by reason of the pressure of other business (being then special mail agent of the post-office department). In 1867, how- ever, he again entered the Grand Lodge, and in 1871-2 was chosen grand warden. In 1873 he was chosen deputy grand master, and in the following year, by an almost unanimous vote, grand master. In 1875 he was elected grand representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States for two years.

In April, 1861, he was appointed special mail agent of the post-office department for Michigan and Wisconsin, and in the following May, by reason of impaired health, withdrew from the firm of B. Throop and Co., and entered upon the duties of that position. The change of occupation proved very beneficial to his health, and he had a very suc- cessful term, and displayed great skill in the man- agement of his duties; however, not being in sympathy with President Johnson's administration,

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he resigned his position in October, 1866, much to the regret of the postmaster-general and many others in that branch of the government. So high, indeed, was his record that in May, 1866, he was promoted to the position of chief of the postal detective service for the Northwest. Notwith- standing his resignation the postmaster-general, in 1868, called his services into requisition to inves- tigate some difficult cases in Denver City and Cheyenne.

In politics, Mr. Van Vechten was formerly a whig of the Webster and Clay school, and cast his first ballot for President Taylor. Since the organization of the republican party he has been identified with that body ; and while he sees in it many things that might be improved, he believes that it embodies the principles calculated to purify and perpetuate our government. He was reared under the influence of the Dutch Reformed church; and although not a member of any religious body, he believes in God

and the punishment of sin and the reward of the just, and accepts as his rule of action the principle involved in the golden rule.

He was married in Cleveland, Ohio, June 22, 1854, to Miss Arvilla M. Bancroft.

In all matters pertaining to the welfare of his city Mr. Van Vechten has taken an active interest. Since the organization of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company he has been identified with it, and is now one of the trustees of that institution. As a man, he is firm in his convictions, just in his purposes, faithful to his friends, and forgiving to his enemies. Although his financial plans have not in every re- spect been successful, he has yet accumulated a considerable property. Never having fixed upon wealth as the great source of happiness, he has found enjoyment in doing for others, and to his generosity and open-heartedness may be in a meas- ure attributed the fact that he is not possessed of a larger share of this world's goods.

GENERAL JAMES BINTLIFF,

JANESVILLE.

J AMES BINTLIFF, the son of Gersham and

Maria (Hanson) Bintliff, was born at Salter- habble, near Halifax, Yorkshire, England, on the Ist of November, 1824. Both his paternal and ma- ternal ancestors always evinced a strong military instinct, and at various times distinguished them- selves as soldiers ; one of them, his maternal grand- father, fought under Wellington at Seringapatam.

Our subject is eminently self-made, having re- ceived but little school education other than such as could be obtained at the parochial schools of his native place, and even this ceased when he was twelve years of age. His mind, however, was lib- erally endowed by nature, and gifted with a robust frame and rugged constitution, he has made the most of his talents and opportunities.

At the age of fifteen years he became a clerk in a lawyer's office at Halifax, and subsequently served as book-keeper for the Halifax and Wakefield Canal Company. He remained in this employment until the year 1842, when, with a younger brother and sister, he immigrated to America ; his father, mother and four other children having preceded him by one year. The family were again united in New York State, where our subject worked for some time as a

day laborer. He was next employed in a woolen factory, first as wool-sorter and afterward in various departments of the establishment, where he gained a general knowledge of the manufacturing business, and became so proficient in the art that he was afterward intrusted with the superintendence of a like establishment at Skaneateles, where he con- tinued until the year 1847, when he then married Miss Harriet, daughter of John Snook, Esq., a native of Somersetshire, England, and from that time until 1851 was a partner in his father-in-law's business, which was that of raising teazles for cloth manufacturers, and farming.

In the latter part of the last named year he re- moved to Green county, Wisconsin, and purchased a farm in the neighborhood of Monroe, and pur- sued the business of husbandry for about two years. Not liking the occupation, he relinquished it and en- gaged as book-keeper in a dry-goods store, in the city of Monroe, and afterward as cashier of the Bank of Monroe, which was then organized. In 1856 he was elected registrar of deeds of Green county for a term of two years; after this he occu- pied himself with the preparation of an abstract of title to all the lands in the county, a work of consid-

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erable magnitude, which has since been adopted as a standard authority on the subject of land titles. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar of Green county, having been engaged in the study of law during the two preceding years, though he never engaged in the active duties of the profession.

In 1860 he purchased an interest in the Monroe "Sentinel," the leading newspaper of the county, and two years later became the sole proprietor of the same; soon afterward, however, he sold an in- terest in the business to Mr. E. E. Carr, and in July of the same year (1862) he recruited a company, which was assigned to the 22d Regiment of Wiscon- sin Volunteers, then organizing at Racine, under command of Colonel Utley, and was commissioned as captain. In September following, the regiment was ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, that city being under martial law, and threatened by the rebel Gen- eral Kirby Smith. On the expulsion of the rebels from the neighborhood, the regiment followed into Kentucky, where, during the ensuing winter (1862-3), it constituted a part of the army of Kentucky under command of General Q. A. Gilmore, United States Army. In March, 1863, he participated in the bat- tle of Thompson's Station, where a large portion of the regiment was captured by the rebel General Vandorn. A few days later, while guarding the railroad at Brentford, our subject and a handful of his men were surprised and " bagged " by the rebel General N. B. Forrest. He was consigned to Libby prison, where he was held until the month of May following, when he was exchanged. He then joined his command at St. Louis, Missouri, where the regi- ment was reorganized, and whence it was sent to Franklin, Tennessee, and from thence to the forti- fications of Murfreesboro'. In December, 1863, Captain Bintliff was appointed by President Lincoln a commissioner on the board of enrollment for the third congressional district of Wisconsin, in which capacity he served for three months.

In March, 1864, he was commissioned by Gov- ernor Lewis as colonel of the 38th Regiment Wis- consin Volunteers, then recruiting at Madison. In July he sent five companies of his regiment to the army of the Potomac, and followed, himself, in Sep- tember, with the other five. Upon his arrival he found the army engaged in pushing back the rebel forces from the Weldon railroad to Poplar Grove Church, in which his command participated. After the completion of this movement the Union lines were considerably extended. In November follow-

ing Colonel Bintliff succeeded General Hartranft in command of the first brigade, first division, ninth army corps, and continued in front of Petersburg, being under continual fire, both from artillery and musketry, through the entire winter.

During the last days of March, 1865, General Grant commenced his operations in front of Peters- burg, Virginia, which resulted in the evacuation of the whole line by the rebel army, from Richmond to Hatcher's Run. Sheridan's cavalry was directed to turn the right flank of Lee's army. For several days he was manoeuvering for a position. Grant had in reserve near Fort Fisher the sixth army corps pre- pared for attack, and in the immediate front of Petersburg a portion of the ninth army corps. On the Ist of April General Sheridan had secured his position and was ready; orders were accordingly issued for the attack to commence at four o'clock on the morning of the 2d of April at the three points : Sheridan on the flank, the sixth corps on the rebel lines near the center, and the ninth corps on the right, near the town of Petersburg. The attack was successfully made; Sheridan routed the enemy at Five Forks; the sixth corps carried the width of its front of the enemy's lines, opposite Fort Fisher, and the third division and first brigade, first division, of the ninth army corps carried the enemy's lines op- posite its front under the immediate command of General Hartranft. In this attack General Bintliff was given the command of three regiments and ordered to take a fort of five guns, known as " Reeves' Salient." He accomplished the capture gallantly, but his own regiment which led the col- umn suffered heavily. On the evening of the same day General Bintliff was placed in command of the third brigade. During the succeeding night Lee's army evacuated the lines, and next morning General Grant commenced the pursuit which ended in the surrender at Appomattox. For his gallant services on this occasion he was commissioned brigadier- general by brevet, the terms of the document being, " for conspicuous gallantry in the assault on Peters- burg, Virginia."

He continued to take part in all the movements of the troops till the close of the war, and was finally mustered out of the service in June, 1865, having achieved a record for valor, skill and assiduity not less brilliant and honorable than the most distin- guished of his cohorts.

At the close of the war he returned to Monroe, and having sold his interest in the "Sentinel " there,

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established himself in mercantile business, which he carried on successfully until July, 1870, when he purchased an interest in the Janesville "Gazette," and removed thither with his family. He still con- tinues his editorial work in that city, and holds a prominent and influential position, being highly re- spected for his genial social qualities, his eminent abilities as a writer, and his strict integrity and uprightness as a citizen. As intimated at the open- ing of this sketch, the General is eminently self- made, and has worked his own way entirely unaided to his present enviable position among the worthies of his adopted State. He is an untiring student and has contributed largely to the elevation of the stand- ard of literature in his adopted city, being one of the leading members of two flourishing literary societies in Janesville, " The Round Table " and "The Mu- tual Improvement Club."

He has always taken an active interest in political affairs, and was a delegate from the State of Wiscon- sin to the national republican convention in Chicago in 1868, which nominated General Grant for the Presidency, and also to the national convention of 1872, which renominated him at Philadelphia, and to the national convention which nominated Governor Hayes, at Cincinnati.

During the past six years he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin Soldiers' Orphans' Home, and for the past three years presi-

dent of the same. In the spring of 1877 the State of Wisconsin organized a State board of health, of which he was commissioned a member, being the only lay member on the board.

In religion he adheres to the Unitarian faith. He has been for many years an Odd-Fellow, and was for some time deputy grand master of one of the districts in southern Wisconsin.

The fruit of his marriage with Miss Snook is four children, two sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Edward Hawkins, is foreman in his father's printing office ; the second, James Wilkins, is book-keeper in the Merchants and Mechanics' Bank of Janesville. The daughters, Ida and Helen, are very promising young ladies, the eldest being an accomplished musician - a trait of the entire family.

The family, of which General Bintliff is the oldest member, consisted of three brothers besides himself and three sisters. Each of the brothers entered the Union army immediately after the opening of the re- bellion. Alfred joined the 5th Wisconsin Battery ; served in the Western army through the entire war, closing with "the march to the sea," and thence to Washington and Louisville. Gersham was a mem- ber of the 38th Wisconsin Infantry, and served till the close of the war. Thomas was first lieutenant in the 20th Wisconsin Infantry, and ·was killed at the first battle in which he was engaged, that of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, in the autumn of 1863.

JOHN B. COLE, .

SHEBOYGAN.

O NE of the oldest railroad conductors in the United States, now living, is John Beekman Cole, who for thirty-two years past has been a resi- dent of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. He is a son of Nathan and Chloe (Rowley) Cole, and was born in Schenectady, New York, November 27, 1817. Both of his grandfathers participated in the war for American independence.

John spent his boyhood, till fourteen years of age, in Schenectady, receiving an ordinary common- school education. Later, he lived three years in New York city, with an uncle, who was a steamboat agent. At the age of seventeen he returned to his home, and acted as steward on a packet plying between Schenectady and Utica, until August, 1836, when, the railroad having been completed as far as

Utica, he commenced running as a conductor be- tween Schenectady and that point, and on the 3d of July, 1839, ran the first passenger train into Syra- cuse. In 1842 he was conductor from Auburn to Rochester. In 1844, 1845 and 1846 he ran a packet from Syracuse to Rochester, moving his family, meantime, to Sheboygan, in 1845. At the close of navigation in 1846, he himself made a permanent settlement near Sheboygan. On reaching his new home he immediately built a saw-mill at Pigeon River, two and a half miles northwest of Sheboygan, and, about three years later, erected a grist-mill at the same place. He remained at that place, engaged in the milling and lumber business, until 1861, when he moved into Sheboygan. During the next three or four years he was engaged in buying and selling

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wheat, and at the expiration of that time started a boot and shoe store, and operated in that line until June, 1868, when he opened the Beekman House, which he conducted for seven years.

At an early day Mr. Cole was chairman of the Sheboygan town board for a year or two, but has evaded office holding as much as possible. In polit- ical sentiment he is a republican, and formerly was a Seward whig. He is a member of the blue lodge in the Masonic fraternity.

On the 5th of November, 1838, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Trow, of New Hampshire. They have had five children, three of whom, a son and

two daughters, are now living. The son is unmarried, and lives in Sheboygan. The elder daughter, Alice E., is the wife of James L. Mallory, a native of 'Niagara county, New York, but a resident of She- boygan for thirty-two years. He is express agent, telegrapher, and deputy collector of customs, and in business circles is known as a young man of marked ability. The second daughter, Mary L., is the wife of Edgar A. Hill, merchant, of Chicago.

As a man, Mr. Cole is energetic and public spir- ited, and has taken part in most of the enterprises which have made Sheboygan what it is- a thriving city of eight thousand inhabitants.

JAMES COLEMAN,

FOND DU LAC.

JAMES COLEMAN was born in the county of Schoharie, in the State of New York, on the 29th of June, 1836. His father is the Rev. Seymour Coleman, a Methodist preacher, formerly of Troy conference in that State.

The subject of this sketch received an academic education, read law for three years in Troy and Albany, and graduated at the Albany Law School in the spring of 1856. He was admitted to the bar in the same year, and in 1857 commenced the prac-

tice of the law at Fond du Lac, where he has since resided.

Mr. Coleman was elected district attorney for Fond du Lac county, in 1860, and reelected in 1862. He has twice represented the city in the legislature, was register in bankruptcy in 1868, which position he resigned, and was appointed postmaster in 1869. He has acquired distinction as a lawyer, and has discharged the duties of the several positions of honor and trust held by him faithfully and well.

HON. SAMUEL RYAN,

APPLETON.

T THE subject of this biography, Samuel Ryan, son of Samuel and Martha (Johnston) Ryan, is a native of Sackett's Harbor, New York, where he was born, March 13, 1824. His parents were natives of Ireland and members of the Methodist church. His father, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, re- moved with his family to Green Bay in 1827. He was United States receiver at the land office in Menasha for several years, and died there, in his eighty-seventh year, in April, 1876. Young Samuel received the rudiments of his education in an ordi- nary common school, and afterward turned his at- tention to printing. At seventeen he commenced at the case in Green Bay, where he remained till 1847. Later, he worked three years in Fond du Lac; next engaged in Milwaukee, and there set up the first

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The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume, Part 66

Author: American Biographical Publishing Company Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Chicago : American Biographical Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1108

Author: American Biographical Publishing Company
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Chicago : American Biographical Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1108