USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 68
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REUBEN D. SMART,
MANITOWOC.
R EUBEN DUVAL SMART, the present dep- uty collector of customs for Calumet, Manito- woc, Kewaunee and Door counties, is a native of St. Patrick, New Brunswick. He was born December 24, 1832, of William Smart and Ann née Brockway. His father, a farmer by occupation, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland. His maternal grandfather served in the war of 1812, on the American side, the Brock- ways being residents of Bath, Maine.
Reuben remained in his native province, farming most of the time, until 1854, when he removed to Wisconsin. Stopping one year in Oshkosh, he en- gaged in lumbering, then settled in Manitowoc, and,
with the exception of one year spent in the grocery trade, was for fifteen years a lumberman.
In 1873 and 1874 Mr. Smart served as sheriff of Manitowoc county, and in 1875 was a member of the general assembly, doing most of his work in that body on the railroad committee, being faithful in every trust confided to him. He assumed the office of deputy collector on the Ist of February, 1876, and is performing his duties with entire satisfaction. Though having only a common-school education, he possesses fine natural talents, and continued his studies after he was of age. He has always been a diligent reader, and keeps himself well posted on
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the news of the day, paying special attention to cer- tain branches, and, intellectually, is a growing man.
In politics, he has been a republican since he had a vote. Although he has always lived in a demo- cratic county and district, he has been twice elected to political offices, a fact which well indicates his popularity among the people.
Mr. Smart is an Odd-Fellow, and has taken the scarlet degree. He attends the Presbyterian church.
He has had two wives. The first was Myra Whit- ney, of Oshkosh, their union taking place in 1855.
They had three children, one of whom is now living. She died in March, 1859. His present wife was Nancy Bacon, of Manitowoc. They were married November 3, 1862, and have had two children, one of whom is now living. The daughter, Estella, by his first wife, is a graduate of the high school of Manitowoc, and a member of the freshman class in the State University.
Mr. Smart is a warm friend of education, and an encourager of every enterprise that will advance the interests of the people.
JAMES . T. REEVE, M.D., APPLETON.
JAMES THEODORE REEVE, son of Daniel and Mary (Valentine) Reeve, was born in the town of Walkill, Orange county, New York, April 26, 1834. His father was a farmer and died when James was about six years old. His mother soon afterward moved to the village of Goshen, in the same county, and there he was educated at Farmers' Hall Academy, and there also commenced the study of medicine with Dr. G. P. Reeve. He took his first course of lectures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a second course at Castleton, Ver- mont, where he graduated. Subsequently he took a third course at Jefferson Medical College, Phila- delphia, where he again, in 1855, received the degree of M.D. Thus fitted for his profession, Dr. Reeve removed to Wisconsin. He spent four years at De Pere, Brown county, and afterward removed to Green Bay, in the same county, and there practiced until the opening of the rebellion. He joined the army in 1861 as second assistant surgeon of the roth Regiment Wisconsin Infantry; became surgeon of the 21st Regiment in 1862; subsequently was bri- gade surgeon, and at the close of the war was act- ing medical director of the first division fourteenth army corps, from which position he was discharged, June 8, 1865, to be mustered out with his regiment in the following complimentary special order :
Surgeon Reeve, 21st Wisconsin Volunteers, acting chiet surgeon of first division fourteenth army corps, is hereby relieved from duty at these headquarters, with the full assur- ance that he has discharged his every duty honestly, faith- fully and industriously.
At the battle of Chickamauga, Dr. Reeve was in charge of the hospital of his division, which fell into the hands of the enemy, but not until after the
wounded had all been removed to a place of safety through his exertions ; but he, finding many wound- ed men without surgical attendance, voluntarily and humanely remained with them, and was captured and held a prisoner for nine weeks, seven of which he spent in Libby prison.
On being mustered out of the service Dr. Reeve returned to Wisconsin, choosing the picturesque and thriving city of Appleton for his future home. His thorough education at the start, and his four years' experience as a surgeon in the army, enabled him to take a high position among the profession, not only locally but in the State. He is a member of the Wisconsin State Medical Society ; has been one of its officers during the last seven years, and was offi- cially at its head in 1875. He is also a member of the State board of health, and its secretary, an office which requires a great amount of work and no in- considerable degree of responsibility.
Dr. Reeve has been examining surgeon for the United States pension agency for about eight years past ; was a member of the International Medical Congress, which met in Philadelphia in September, 1876; and has several times been elected a delegate to the American Medical Association, of which he became a member in 1872. One of the most promi- nent physicians in Wisconsin, an associate of Dr. Reeve during the last fifteen years, both in the army and in the State Medical Society, in a private letter thus speaks of him :
The medical and social standing of Dr. Reeve in this State is excellent. He possesses, in a great degree, those qualities of mind and heart which help to make the good physician. Conscientious, modest and unassuming in every walk of life; courteous and kind in his manner toward all,
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he endears himself to his patients, and by honorable and upright conduct toward his professional associates, has their confidence and high esteem. During the several years that he was secretary and the one year that he was president of the State Medical Society, he discharged the duties of those offices to the entire satisfaction of the society. As secretary of the Wisconsin State board of health, which office he now holds, his usual energy and good judgment are displayed, making his services almost invaluable to that board and to the State.
Dr. Reeve is a republican in political sentiment. In religious belief he is a Congregationalist.
On November 26, 1857, he was married to Miss Laura Spofford, of Essex, Essex county, Massachu- setts. They have had six children, three of whom are now living.
Dr. Reeve has an exalted idea of the mission of the medical fraternity. He believes, with Dr. Willis, that "the servant of religion hath not more of true sanctity about him than the good physician." His estimate of the worth of medical science and the importance of popularizing it, may be gathered from the following extract, taken from the concluding part of an address which he delivered before the Wisconsin State Medical Society on leaving the presidential chair, June 1, 1875 :
To popularize medical knowledge is one of the pressing duties of the day. The field for legitimate medicine in
this direction is broad, and too largely uncultivated, yet we rejoice that here and there the good work has been begun. The interests of humanity, the interests of scientific medi- cine, the thirst of the people for knowledge, all speak to us a lesson - that we give to the people in suitable language pure and healthful medical literature : thus may we save them from many a snare, and from many a destructive pit- fall. If we believe our science to be true, let us so present it to the public mind that its truthfulness will be appreci- ated, and its practice honored and trusted. If there is aught in it incapable of bearing the closest scrutiny, let that part of it fall, however venerable its usage or however largely supported by authority. Legitimate medicine claims for itself no exclusive privileges ; it seeks to conceal nothing, as it needs to conceal nothing; it shrinks from no scrutiny, but ever courts an investigation of its principles and its practice, of its science and its art. In all ages it has been " the hope of the diseased throughout the world." Chiefly through its instrumentality have its great hospitals, insane asylums and other charitable institutions of every kind been founded, and to-day it is the custodian of the chief of them throughout the world. So active has it ever been in these works of practical benevolence, breathing the spirit of the Divine Master. himself the great Physician, that one has termed it Clinical Christianity, and another has spoken of it as Christ's Physical Gospel. Who can estimate its services to the world? Who can compute the value of the discovery of Jenner which has robbed the world of the terror of one of its greatest pestilences? Who can put a price upon the relief from pain secured by chlo- rolorm? How will you estimate the value of life pro- longed and sickness prevented? The health of the people is both the wealth and the safety of the nation, and in the preservation and prolongation of this are being achieved, and in the future are yet more to be achieved, some of the " surest and most glorious triumphs" of medicine.
EMIL SCHANDEIN,
MILWAUKEE.
E MIL SCHANDEIN, of Milwaukee, was born April 16, 1840, at Obermoschel, Rhenish Palat- inate, in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany. He is the son of Joseph William and Louisa Schandien. Joseph William was in the royal service as collector of the revenue of the department of the Palatinate. Emil was in early life educated in the place of his nativity, in private and select schools; afterward graduated at the academy and commercial college at Kaiserslantern. He desired to qualify himself as civil engineer, but was prevented by the reaction in the times following the revolution of 1848. After closing his studies he remained in his father's office about one year, when he emigrated to America, landing at New York in 1856. From thence he went to Philadelphia, and was employed as a book- keeper in a large importing house, where he remained two years. After that time he traveled to sell goods for the same house and continued one year, at the expiration of which he was employed by several
houses to sell goods throughout the United States, which he continued for several years, principally with the view of learning the customs of the country. At the termination of this engagement he settled at Belleville, Illinois, still engaged in commercial busi- ness. In 1863 he went to Wisconsin to accept a situation offered to him by a firm at Watertown ; after which, in 1866, he went to Milwaukee and became a member of the firm of Philip Best and Co. Uniform success has attended all of his busi- ness enterprises. He has been not less successful in his social relations.
In May, 1866, he married Lizette, the daughter of the late Major General Philip Best, a woman of edu- cation, of refinement, of graceful manners and of personal beauty. From this union have resulted three daughters and one son, the pride of their parents and the ornaments of the household. -
He is free from bigotry in his religious sentiments and liberal and tolerant in his political views.
OmieSchandein
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He was a director of the Northwestern Life Insur- ance Company for four years. Is a stockholder in the Brewers Insurance Company, and is interested in the Second Ward Savings Bank. He is the presi- dent of a brewing company styled the Milwau- kee Brewing Association, and the secretary of the Brewers' Association of Milwaukee.
In 1869 he went to Europe for the purpose of taking care of Philip Best, who was an invalid seek- ing health from the mineral waters and baths of the old country. He was disappointed in his hopes of Mr. Best's recovery and of accompanying him to his
home in America. A few days after his arrival in Europe Mr. Best died, and was buried near his father's grave.
Nature gave Mr. Schandien a very perfect phy- sique, a vigorous mind, which he has cultivated by study, by reading and by thought, a love of plants · and flowers, and under proper influences might have become distinguished as a botanist. He has been almost wholly occupied in practical matters of busi- ness, and has reaped large rewards from his labors. He commands the respect and the esteem of all with whom business or pleasure brings him in contact.
CARL ZILLIER,
SHEBOYGAN.
T HE subject of this biography, a native of Prus- sia, was born in Halberstadt, April 18, 1838, his parents being Andrew and Julia (Franke) Zil- lier. His father, formerly a miller by occupation, immigrated to America in 1849, when Carl was eleven years old, and bought and settled on a farm two miles from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he died in 1859. The son attended school most of the time until fifteen years of age, and then spent one year as clerk in a store in Sheboygan Falls; at six- teen went into a printing-office at Carlinville, Illi- nois, and afterward aided in starting the first news- papers published at Petersburg in the same State. Returning to Wisconsin in 1857 he purchased the " Wisconsin Republikaner," changed its name to the " National Demokrat," and has continued to con- duct it to the present time (1877), making it an in- fluential journal among his countrymen.
During the years 1863-4 Mr. Zillier was a mem- ber of the general assembly, and there served on the
committees on printing, the State prison, and one or two others, making himself especially serviceable on the first named committee. He served as county clerk for six years, his term of office expiring De- cember 31, 1876, since which time he has served as school commissioner. He is a faithful worker for the interests of his adopted home, the beautiful city of Sheboygan.
Mr. Zillier is a member of the Odd-Fellows frater- nity, and has been district deputy grand master. In politics he has always been identified with the dem- ocratic party.
On the 23d of November, 1859, he was married to Miss Julia Freeman, of Sheboygan. They have had seven children, six of whom are now living.
In stature Mr. Zillier is a man of solid propor- tions, being five feet eleven inches tall, and weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He has a full, round face, with a kindly expression and the appear- ance of a man who is on good terms with the world.
HENRY C. MEAD,
WAUPACA.
H ENRY CLARK MEAD is the son of Shadrach Mead, a farmer, of Chester, Warren county, New York, and was born in that town on the 2d of May, 1827. His mother's maiden name was Phebe Lake, and her father was a soldier in the revolution- ary war. She is still living. Shadrach Mead died at the old homestead in Chester two years ago.
Henry was raised on the farm, attending an ordi- nary district school each winter until about eigh- teen; he then spent two or three terms at a private school, and taught four winters in Warren county. In 1846 he removed to Michigan, and taught a school at Branch, in Branch county, during the winter of that year, boarding around, to his great en-
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joyment of frontier literary life. He visited Chicago and Milwaukee the next spring, and stopping at Sheboygan worked awhile at the joiner's trade, which he had picked up on rainy days and during leisure intervals while living in his native State. After prospecting somewhat for lands he concluded not to invest, and returned to New York State and aided his father on the farm and taught another winter. He returned to Michigan in 1849 and taught the school which he had taught three years before, and afterward went again to Wisconsin, set- tling in Sheboygan in the spring of 1850. He solic- ited for insurance, and appointed agents for the same business, and engaged in merchandising during 185 1 and 1852, and then returned to Chester, New York, to visit a dying sister. In the spring of 1853 he went to Buffalo, and acted as clerk in the insurance and agency office of his uncle, Samuel Lake, doing also something for himself as a pension and bounty agent. In the autumn of 1854 he returned to Wis- consin and settled some old pension claims, and during the next two years conducted a successful notion and jobbing trade, driving a wagon through the country from Sheboygan as his radiating point. In the autumn of 1856 he explored the States of Iowa and Minnesota, looking after lands and land claims, and in the next spring went to New York and worked one year in a jobbing house. He set- tled in Waupaca in the autumn of 1857, and has
since made it his home. At first he acted as agent for Mr. Lake, who had large investments, principally in Waupaca county lands, and gradually worked into a business of his own.
At the opening of the rebellion Mr. Mead had most of his means in the Waupaca County Bank, a State institution with southern securities, and it failed, leaving him to resort to a lawsuit to recover his funds. In 1863 he organized the exchange and savings bank of H. C. Mead and Co., a thriving and popular institution, of which he has the sole man- agement.
Mr. Mead attends the Methodist church, and is a liberal contributor to the support of the gospel. In politics he is a strong republican, but has uniformly declined to accept nomination for any office, prefer- ring the quiet of his legitimate business to the turmoil of political strife. He has thus far remained single.
Mr. Mead has always been prudent, carefully hus- banding his means, and owes his success and com- petency to industrions and economical habits early formed and steadily practiced. During the rebel- lion he was an active home-worker, aiding to fill up the quota of soldiers. He lent a willing hand in bringing the railroad to Waupaca, and in other en- terprises tending to benefit the city has been heart- ily enlisted. He is a man of fine business qualifica- tions, and with his intimate friends is very sociable and companionable.
THOMAS M. BLACKSTOCK,
SHEBOYGAN.
TI HE subject of this biography, a native of Ar- magh county, Ireland, is the son of Thomas and Sarah (Martin) Blackstock, and was born in 1834. His father died when the son was three years old, and he received no education in his na- tive country other than that obtained in a Presby- terian Sunday-school. In 1848 he came to the United States in company with an aunt and three sisters, his mother having preceded. He spent one year as an errand boy in a Sheboygan hotel, and at fifteen years of age went into the drug store of Dr. J. J. Brown, who not only taught him how to sell drugs and mix medicines, but encouraged him to study during his leisure time, and sent him, during one term, to the seminary at Lima, Livingston county, New York, where he improved his time.
After being with Dr. Brown about six years, on account of failing health he was compelled to seek out-of-door employment. He superintended the plank road between Sheboygan and Rosendale for a few years; was in the employ of A. L. McCrea about four years, managing his wood and brick business, three miles north of Sheboygan. In 1863 he purchased Dr. Brown's interest in drugs and medicines, and has continued the business since that date. Aside from his regular business, he is president of the Merchants' Wheat Association and of the Phoenix Chair Company, and to the latter or- ganization gives a large share of his time.
Mr. Blackstock is one of the leading men in en- couraging home manufactures and everything which, in any way, will advance local interests. As a busi-
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ness man he is thorough-going, eminently practical, and untiring in whatever industrial pursuit engages his attention.
He was a member of the general assembly in 1869, and later was mayor of the city for three consecutive years. In political sentiments he is a republican.
His practical good sense, his unquestioned integ- rity, and his watchfulness in looking after the inter-
ests of the place, make him very popular with his fellow-citizens.
Mr. Blackstock was religiously educated a Pres- byterian, and attends the church of that name in Sheboygan. He is, however, quite liberal in his views, and is inclined toward Unitarianism.
His wife was Bridget Denn, of Sheboygan. They were married in 1860, and have no children.
EMORY STANSBURY, M.D.,
APPLETON.
T `HE subject of this sketch, a native of Mary- land, was born in the city of Baltimore, An- gust 29, 1839. and is the son of Daniel and Gertrude R. (Milliman) Stansbury. His father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and removed to Wisconsin in 1850, holding his first pastorate at Sheboygan. He was subsequently stationed at Por- tage, Janesville and other points, and at the time of his death, in October, 1860, was presiding elder of the Janesville district. During this last named year Emory graduated from the high school at Janes- ville, and in the following winter taught a district school.
In August, 1861, he entered the army in the ca- pacity of a hospital steward, and after thirteen months of service, spent mostly in hospitals at St. Louis and Bloomfield, he was discharged on account of disability. That autumn he resumed the study of medicine, which he had begun shortly before the opening of the rebellion, with Dr. A. M. Dodson, of Berlin, Wisconsin. He attended lectures at the Long Island Medical College, Brooklyn, and after- ward returned to Berlin and practiced two years with his preceptor. He then attended a course of lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, and received his diploma March I, 1867.
Dr. Stansbury practiced a short time in Berlin and Winneconne, and in February, 1868, settled in Appleton, his present home. There he has built up a wide and remunerative practice, and stands among the leading physicians of Outagamie county. He is a constant reader, a rapidly growing man, and a member of the State Medical Society, with few peers in the State under forty years of age.
Dr. Stansbury is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and president of the board of trustees of that body in Appleton. He is a Freemason, but finds but little time, aside from his professional du- ties, to attend to the claims of the Order. He votes the republican ticket, but is not strongly partisan.
On the 13th of June, 1872, he was united in mar- riage with Mrs. Mary A. P. Humphrey née Phinney. She has a son by her former and a daughter by her present husband. Mrs. Stansbury is a graduate of Lawrence University, and has received, in course, the degree of A.M.
In stature Dr. Stansbury is nearly six feet tall, weighs two hundred and ten pounds, and is solid, without being corpulent. He has bluish-gray eyes, a ruddy complexion, an open, frank expression of countenance, and an appearance of good living, good cheer, and perfect freedom from the ills to which flesh is heir.
JOHN PROCTOR,
NEENAH.
T THE subject of this sketch sprang from good New England patriotic stock. His grand- father, Elisha Proctor, commanded a company in the Concord fight, April 19, 1775. Mr. Proctor has
in his possession the sword used on that day; it was made in England in 1745. In form it is per- fectly straight, and runs almost to a point, and is an odd-looking implement of death, compared with
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swords of modern manufacture. The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, Colonel Gage, was a prominent officer in the French and Indian war.
John, the son of Benjamin and Anna (Lambert) Proctor, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 30, 1818. His father, a student of the celebrated Dr. Waterhouse, of Cambridge, was an eminent phy- sician of Rowley, and was succeeded in the medical practice by his son Charles, the two practicing in that town for eighty-five consecutive years.
John was educated at Dummer Academy, New- bury, the oldest institution of the kind in the State, being incorporated in 1756. He commenced teach- ing in his eighteenth year, following that profession for twenty years. During the last five, he was at the head of the old West Honesdale Academy, Pennsyl- vania, an institution which he found in an attenuated state, and which he raised to a high degree of popu- larity. By reason of impaired health he was obliged to leave it, and in December, 1856, removed to Wis- consin, purposing to go upon a farm; but in Febru- ary following he settled at Neenah, forming a part- nership with Edward Smith in the manufacture of flour. For twenty years they have been operating the Winnebago Mills- there being six other mills of the same kind in the same city -and have done a steady, reliable and remunerative business, no firm in Neenah having a more honorable reputation.
In his younger days Mr. Proctor was a very active politician. In sentiment he was a conscientious and
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