USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 77
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In politics, Mr. Sawyer was originally a “barn- burner " or free-soil democrat, but since 1856 has
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acted with the republican party. During the rebel- lion no man in Oshkosh gave more time or money · to aid in carrying on the war than he. He labored with untiring zeal and patriotism, and his earnest pleas and generous contributions swelled the volun- teer bounty funds. In promoting religious and be- nevolent causes his donations are always generous. In many ways he has contributed and is contribut- ing to the prosperity of this city.
Mr. Sawyer and his son have a heavy interest in the Sawyer Manufacturing Company, which is en- gaged in the manufacture of threshing machines,
his son having full charge of their interests in the enterprise. He uses his money freely for the de- velopment of local interests, and no man here is more public-spirited. He has an interest in the Menomonee River Lumber Company, which has a yard and office in Chicago.
In 1842 Mr. Sawyer was married to Miss Malvina M. Hadley, of Essex county, New York. They have had five children, three of whom, the son al- ready mentioned and two daughters, are now living. The elder daughter, twenty-one years of age, was educated at Vassar College.
HON. JOSEPH GOODRICH,
MILTON.
H J ON. JOSEPH GOODRICH, the founder of the village of Milton, and of Milton College, was born in Goodrich Hollow, near the town of Hancock, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, May 12, 1800. His father, Uriah Goodrich, was a lineal descendant of John Goodrich, who emigrated from Gloucester, England, and settled in Weathersfield, Connecticut. He was related to the Gillette family, which resided in the same State, and from which several distinguished men have sprung. The cele- brated " Peter Parley," a writer for the youth, was a member of this Goodrich family; and Professor C. A. Goodrich, another member, was long engaged as a teacher in Yale College, and assisted his father- in-law, Noah Webster, in the preparation of his dictionaries of the English language.
The mother of Joseph Goodrich was Mary Car- penter, descended from English ancestors, who were members of the Seventh-day Baptist churches of London city, nearly two hundred years ago. A mem- ber of the family came to this country and settled at an early day in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The Rev. Solomon Carpenter, D.D., who has labored many years as a missionary in Shanghai, China, is a nephew of Mr. Goodrich's mother. Through both parents he was connected with a very wide circle of relatives in the New England States and in New York. One of his sisters, Mrs. Deborah Carr, was the mother of the Hon. Solomon C. Carr, a promi- nent citizen of Milton, and of Professor Ezra S. Carr, formerly in the State University of Wisconsin, and now superintendent of public instruction in California.
At the age of twelve our subject went to live with his maternal uncle, Deacon Sylvester Carpenter, at Stephentown, Rensselaer county, New York. Here he was trained in the avocation of husbandry, and received a limited education in a district school. During a residence of six years with this uncle he developed a vigorous physical constitution, an act- ive, self-reliant and enterprising character, and very industrious, honest and religious habits. At sixteen years of age he experienced a change of heart under the operation of the Holy Spirit, and united with the denomination of Christians called Seventh-day Bap- tists, in the faith of which he remained until his death, exemplifying his religious profession in a con- sistent and useful life. He manifested those other traits which made him a trusted leader in after life -a practical sense, a sprightly and happy nature, great courage, and an indomitable will.
At the age of seventeen, he launched out in sup- port of himself, and early in the spring of the year, with a small pack on his back which contained his scanty wardrobe and a new axe, he arrived at Alfred, Alleghany county, New York. He at once made a selection for a future home, and began operations (with only fifty cents in his pocket) toward clearing away the forest and breaking up the new ground. He afterward chose another farm in the same vi- cinity, and brought it also under cultivation.
On the 22d of December, 1821, he was married in Petersburg, Rensselaer county, New York, to Miss Nancy Maxson, daughter of Luke and Lydia Max- son, a young woman of great industry, close economy, and sterling Christian culture, who proved a help-
Joseph Goodrich
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meet in the fullest sense of the word. A few days after their marriage they settled in their humble home in Alfred, and commenced house-keeping in a small log-cabin. Here they struggled under the privations of poverty and a pioneer life, laying the foundations for a most successful career and an abundant competence.
In the autumn of 1823 with the assistance of his father, he erected a saw-mill on the Vandermark creek in his neighborhood, and in this he commenced work the following winter. In the succeeding year he began the erection of a two-storied frame house on his farm, but was not able to finish it until 1827. This house, when completed, was the largest in that section, and was employed for town elections, school district meetings, and religious worship on the Sab- bath. He aided largely in the erection of the first school-house in his neighborhood and in starting a school in it. In addition to his other labors, he kept a small store and a temperance hotel; manufactured potash, and purchased lumber and rafted it down the Susquehanna river to market. He had some military instincts, and was honored by his fellow- citizens with the position of major in the militia.
In the summer of 1838, he again removed still farther westward, with the view of making a home somewhere in the prairie country, having become weary of living in the midst of the steep hills and surrounding forests. He had met with some re- verses in his business, and had listened to glowing accounts of the beautiful and fertile lands in southern Wisconsin; and, in company with a few friends, he made a tour of observation to the West, and landing in Milwaukee, then a small village, proceeded at once to the valley of the Rock river, with a pack on his back, taking this time a spade, instead of an axe, to test the soil. After traveling a few days, he de- cided to settle permanently upon a small prairie then known as Du Lac. The quiet beauty of the scenery, the rich alluvial soil and the superior loca- tion determined his choice; he was delighted in the highest degree with the location.
Thus, contrary to the practice of the earliest set- tlers, he located on the open prairie, not even near a lake or any water-course, nor in the timber. The spot was selected with rare foresight. He drew on a map straight lines from Chicago to Madison, the capital of the Territory, and between two eastern bends in the Rock river at the points where Fort Atkinson and Janesville are now located ; and at the place where these lines crossed each other on the
prairie he erected his house- a frame structure, the first of the kind in the section. This was the beginning of Milton. The public roads between the cities above named, when subsequently laid out, intersected at a point not more than ten rods dis- tant from his home. On the prairie where he settled, and within a short distance of his residence, have been constructed three lines of railway.
He occupied the summer in preparing a home for his family, and in laying plans to induce his friends to settle in the vicinity with him. Those who accom- panied him settled near him. Many of his relatives found homes subsequently in his neighborhood. He attracted from societies in the East many prominent men and women who were characterized by indus- try, intelligence, enterprise and piety. Some of them have since acquired large fortunes and attained to prominent positions in the country. A large church of his own denomination grew out of the efforts of himself and his noble wife; and a most thorough temperance sentiment, controlling for a long time the whole town, was created by him. Every genuine reform in our government, in society, or in the church, has had his most hearty cooperation and aid. Excellent public schools have been fostered, and a flourishing college has been established, in the town which he started. But we anticipate.
Having made all the preparations possible for the reception of his family, he returned to his New York home, disposed of his property and came back with his family to his Wisconsin home in the following spring. The journey was made by land and with four teams, one being a single-horse. He was accompanied by several of his neighbors, some of them with their families. The difficulties of the journey tested in the fullest degree his courage and sagacity. During the first day's travel, the vehicle in which his family were riding tipped over, and the collar-bone of his wife was broken; and the con- sequent pain and discomfort which this devoted woman experienced in this long journey can hardly be realized by those acquainted only with the mod- ern mode of easy travel. This route lay through snow and mud, the country sometimes being over- flowed with water. The weather was stormy, and the route was generally through a sparsely settled country. The family arrived at their small home on the bleak prairie during the cold winds of early March. They settled down, twelve persons in all, without a chair, table or bedstead. On the Sabbath day following their arrival they, together with their
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friends from the East, met for worship in their humble abode, and after divine service organized themselves into a religious society.
During the summer after their arrival Mr. Good- rich erected another house, and also a frame barn, the first one, it is believed, in the county. He began at once, with great energy, to lay the foun- dation of a village. He gave twenty acres for a public square, on which are now located the rail- road depot and the graded school building; he do- nated building-lots to mechanics, and assisted them in the erection of their houses and shops; he kept an open house of welcome to very many of the early settlers, and gave the use of lands to the district school, to the church of which he was a member, to the cemetery of the village, to the Academy when it was first erected, and to the railroad which passed through his village. His home was used for religious worship on the Sabbath, and a public school was taught in it a portion of the time. He started a hotel, a store, and the post-office of the place; lie aided many of his neighbors to secure good loca- tions of land and to begin life, and assisted largely all the public enterprises of his section, and among them the railroad from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien. He invented the mode of building houses with gravel cemented together with lime,- a method which became quite common in the county after- ward. He built, at his own expense, an edifice in which he started the Academy, from which has grown the magnificent college of the place. This institution was the especial object of his life. His donations to it were constant and munificent, and he had the satisfaction of seeing it grow to the proud distinction of a leading institution in the State. He erected other buildings, which have been used as a hotel, stores, and private residences, now known as the "Goodrich block."
He received many marks of the esteem- and con- fidence of the people. He held for some time most of the local offices of trust and responsibility in the town ; was president, a long time, of the trustees of the Academy; director in the company which con- structed the railroad through the place, and a mem- ber of the State legislature in 1855; and to the last named position he was chosen by the unanimous vote of the district. He was consulted in almost every enterprise of any value in his section of the country.
On the 30th of October, 1857, he lost his faithful and devoted wife, her death, which was quite unex-
pected, resulting from heart disease. The loss was an irreparable one to the family, to the church of which she was a "mother in Israel," and to the entire community. Two children were the fruit of their marriage, a son and a daughter; the former, Ezra Goodrich, resides on the patrimonial estate, and the latter, Jane G., is the wife of the Hon. Jeremiah Davis, of Davis Junction, Illinois, a lady of great moral worth and superior social qualities.
Mr. Goodrich was married again on the 24th of February, 1859, to Mrs. Susan H. Rogers, widow of the Rev. L. T. Rogers, and a native of Rhode Island. She proved a valuable aid to him on account of her large experience, her intelligence and her Christian worth.
He died October 9, 1867, after a three days' ill- ness, of congestion of the brain. His funeral was attended by a large concourse of people drawn from great distances. The old pioneers came from the surrounding country, and carried his body to its final resting-place amid expressions of the most pro- found sorrow, the universal refrain being: "How greatly he will be missed !"
In personal appearance he was large sized, with a heavy head, small grayish eyes, broad shoulders, and rugged constitution. His step was very elastic, and all the actions of his body were quick and vigorous. He was endowed with a remarkable trait of humor, and his narratives of personal adventure, his ready and witty repartee, and his own rousing laughter, made his company the most genial and entertaining ; to this he added a warm and generous heart, which attached to him hosts of friends. He executed all his plans with great promptness and uncommon energy, and hence he seldom failed in his enterprises. He was positive and fixed in his views, political and religious. He was for many years a decided anti-slavery man, a member of the old whig party, and, after it, a consistent member of the republican party. His home was a refuge for the fugitive slave. He labored constantly to promote the temperance reform, and to aid the inebriate to abandon his cup. He held, as has already been stated, the peculiar views of the Seventh-day Baptists, and he embraced all proper occasions to propagate those views. He was a man of great hospitality; thousands have "cut their notch at his table." His large soul welcomed every new truth, every discovery in science, every practi- cal invention, as something added to the general stock of wisdom and usefulness. His apt sayings
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would pass from mouth to mouth, and be quoted in sermons and public addresses. He lived emphat- ically in the present, using all his powers and the outward means at his command to promote what he considered the best interests. He was a man of the sternest integrity, and of the most hearty devotion
to the Christian religion. The fruits of his labors survive him in the morality of the place, in the reformatory tendencies of the people, in the busi- ness enterprises which he carried to completion, in the church which he organized and fostered, and in the college which was the hope and pride of his life.
REV. JENKIN L. JONES, JANESVILLE.
T HE subject of this sketch was born at Blaen- cathal, Llandysul, Cardiganshire, South Wales, November 14, 1843, and is the seventh child of Richard Lloyd Jones and Mary née Thomas, both descended from sturdy Welsh families, whose tend- encies were to independence of thought in matters of politics and religion. The first Unitarian church, known in the parlance of the times as Socinian, was built in South Wales in 1780, under the direction of Rev. Jenkin Jones, from whom our subject receives his name. His father, Richard Lloyd Jones, was a hatter by trade, conducting a prosperous business in that line; but the larger possibilities of the land across the sea induced him, more for the sake of his family than his own, to leave his native shore, and in 1844, with the entire family (our subject a boy in his mother's arms), made the journey to America, and in the following spring settled in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, in the midst of a dense wood, where they had to cut down a tree to make an opening skyward. Here the family settled on one hundred and twenty acres of government land, and after purchasing a yoke of oxen and a cow, had remaining a solitary gold sovereign as their stock- in-trade. Here they remained for twelve years, then moved into Sauk county, where they sojourned five years; thence they removed into Iowa county, where the father still resides with most of his chil- dren, being now in his seventy-sixth year. The mother, a most excellent and exemplary woman, to whom our subject owes many of his best traits of character, lived to see her youngest and eleventh child attain to his seventeenth year, when she died, in August, 1870, in the sixty-fourth year of her age, and is buried in Spring Green, Sauk county, one of her children only having preceded her to the "farther shore."
Our subject grew up on the farm. He commenced attending the log school at the age of five years, and
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continued to alternate between school in winter and farm work in summer till the age of eighteen. In the last named year he spent nearly two terms in the Spring Green Academy, and at the end of that time was well grounded in all the English branches, was somewhat advanced in algebra and geometry, had some acquaintance with the Latin language, and was contemplating a course in the State Uni- versity when the war of the rebellion broke out. After a severe mental struggle, in which the various self-interests and aspirations of youth were opposed to patriotism and love of country, finally the scale turned in favor of the latter, and on the 14th of August, 1862, in his nineteenth year, he enlisted as a private in the 6th Wisconsin Battery of Light Artillery, and served in the western army till the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Corinth, the Holly Springs campaign, the Yazoo Pass expedition ; took part in the campaign against Vicks- burg, the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill, Black River; forty-seven days in the advance line of artillery in the siege, and in the autumn of 1863 marched to the relief of Chattanooga, took part in Sherman's assault on Mission Ridge and in the advance on Atlanta, and in the defense of Nashville in the winter of 1864-5, serving through- out in the ranks. Having neither sought promotion nor furlough, he never fell back from the front.
During the winter of 1865-6 he taught the public school at the village of Arena, Iowa county, and spent part of the following summer on the farm. But the hungry religious isolation of his home, and the voice of conscience crying in his blood, impelled him toward the liberal ministry. The influence of his home had always been of a deeply religious character; and accordingly, in September, 1866, he entered the theological school at Meadville, Penn- sylvania, where he heard the first Unitarian sermon of his life. In this institution he remained four
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years, devoting the first year to the preparatory study of Greek, Latin and Philosophy.
In the summer vacation of 1868 he preached his first sermon in the school house near his country home, where his parents and family had the privi- lege of listening to the first Unitarian sermon ever heard by them in America, preached by him whom they had brought hither a babe in arms twenty-four years previously; and it was to them a season of peculiar joy and gladness.
He graduated in 1870, and was married on the following day to Miss Susan C. Barber, who for several years had been the amanuensis of Professor F. Huidekofer, of the Divinity School, and for three years she had been associated with him in the superintendency of the Unitarian Sunday-school. She is a lady not only of very high literary attain- ments and social accomplishments, but has proved herself a helpmeet in the truest sense. She shares with him the burdens of the study, conducting much of his correspondence, transferring most of his thoughts to paper by dictation, and is almost as widely known in the denomination as her husband, whose good work she so ably seconds. She has been secretary of the Wisconsin Unitarian Confer- ence for three years; and as a parochial worker she is an indispensable adjunct and coadjutor of her husband.
Previous to graduating he had received invitations for settlement from two western congregations and one eastern, but accepted a call to the pastorate of the Unitarian Church at Winnetka, a small sub- urban village near Chicago, Illinois, the smallest place and the lowest salary that had been offered him. Here he remained one year, when, feeling the need of more room and more work, he removed to Wisconsin, and for one year operated as State mis- sionary under the auspices of the State Unitarian Conference, with headquarters at Janesville, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of All Souls Church, of that city, which position he now occupies.
In May, 1875, he was elected corresponding sec- retary of the Western Unitarian Conference (then in session in Chicago), with an arrangement with the parish in Janesville that he was to spend a fourth of his time in the field. In the discharge of the duties of this position he has traveled during the last two years about twenty thousand miles, having visited a very large number of the families of that faith in the valley of the Mississippi, and spoken in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana,
| Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massa- chusetts and Wisconsin. For three years he pub- lished a series of Sunday-school lessons, the first ever published, in the Unitarian denomination, and were widely used. He has also been secretary of the Western Unitarian Sunday-school Society from its inception to the present time, in the organization of which he was mainly instrumental in 1873.
Mr. Jones belongs to the radical type of Unitarian thinkers, of the school of which Rev. O. B. Froth- ingham, perhaps, is a leading light, but with more warmth and glow of emotive religion than many of that class possess. He is full of the roseate glow of tender, enthusiastic feeling, and a greater sense of the nearness and reality of Divine love. He is sympathetic and tender as a woman, and every idea distills through his heart before it reaches the out- side world. He is emotional rather than logical, and, while he possesses unusual breadth of thought, he could never elaborate a system of theology or philosophy. His system is so broad that he would, if he could, accept the creed of every human being as his own; but in default of this, contents himself with accepting all he can of each, and remaining open to conviction as regards the remainder. He is enthusiastic, energetic and hard-working, a man who will be more likely to wear out than rust out, and yet a thoroughly healthy man. He has great faith in and hope for humanity, believing that man contains within himself the germ of a far greater development than he has yet attained. He is intent upon giving him plenty of air, sunshine and growing room, with no fears of the result. He cares more for generosity than formal justice, insisting that justice is only found in the former. In a conflict between his heart and his judgment he would give the looser reign to heart, and let it drive ahead, while the judgment meekly followed behind with excuses. He has a hearty love of freedom, born of the bold hills and rugged fastnesses of his native Wales; and his love for humanity prompts him to demand the same rights for all others which he claims for himself; hence he is an ardent advocate of the equal rights of women. He is also an active, pronounced and radical advocate of temperance principles, enlisting boldly in favor of total absti- nence and prohibition. He goes to the roots of subjects, and spends but little time on the branches.
In style he is fervid, eloquent and enthusiastic, but rarely systematic. He throws out ideas as they come to him, and leaves his auditors to arrange and
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reconcile them as best they can. Although well read, he is more practical than distinctively scholarly. He has much of what phrenologists call ideality, and yet a sufficient amount of every-day common sense to relieve him of the charge of being visionary. It is difficult to conceive of his having fought in the army, or of his ever feeling inclined to fight any- body, or being able to imagine the existence of an
enemy. If he feels a grudge toward anything in this mortal world it is toward what he characterizes as "that gloomy Calvinistic theology," at which he never loses an opportunity to deal a sturdy blow.
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