USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 81
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ous system had been so great that an entire change of occupation and circumstance were deemed essen- tial to his restoration. Accordingly on arriving in America he moved to what was then the western frontier and settled on a farm in Kane county, Illi- nois, where he remained till 1856, entirely regaining his health .:
At the last named date he disposed of his farm, moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and became one of the proprietors and editor of the "Racine Advo- cate," one of the oldest papers in the State. This was the memorable year of the Fremont campaign, during which Mr. Tapley began his editorial efforts, furnishing weekly his full share of pungent and tell- ing reading-matter for the paper. He continued to wield a trenchant pen in the cause of freedom dur- ing the ensuing four years, contributing in no small degree to the success of the republican party in 1860. His services were recognized by Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him postmaster of Racine, a position which he retained during the following eight years, serving the second term rather at the earnest solicitation of his fellow-citizens without re- gard to party than as the result of his own personal inclinations.
He sold his interest in the newspaper in 1863, and during the continuance of the war divided his at- tention between his official duties and the Soldiers' Relief Society, of which he was always an active member and for a long time president. During the early part of the war he was appointed, by Governor Harvey, State agent to visit the Wisconsin sick and wounded at Vicksburg, when an order from the war department prohibited the entrance of civilians within the military lines other than those authorized by the secretary of war.
Retiring from the post-office in 1869, he was ten- dered by Messrs. J. I. Case & Co., of Racine, the largest manufacturers of threshing machines in the world, an appointment to travel for them, making collections a specialty. During a period of four years following he visited, in the interest of his em- ployers, nearly all of the Western States, extending his trips from the Red River of the North to the Gulf of Mexico. The arduous duties incident to this department of the business so taxed his ener- gies as to make a change desirable, and he was ac- cordingly, in 1873, tendered by the same firm the position of superintendent of agents, together with the oversight of the printing, a line of duty for which his previous connection with the press emi-
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nently fitted him, to which was added, on the retire- ment of Colonel John G. McMynn from the position, the supervision of the annual sales. In 1858 Mr. Tapley was commissioned by Governor Randall as captain of the 13th Regiment of State Militia. He was an active instrument in the formation of the Racine County Agricultural Society, of which he was twice president.
In his religious views he is of the Baptist faith, and was for many years a trustee of the First Bap- tist Church of Racine.
In politics, he was formerly an anti-slavery demo- crat, but his connection with that party terminated with the repeal of the Missouri compromise, from which period until the close of the rebellion he was an active an earnest republican. The reconstruc- tion measures of the radical wing of the party,
including the immediate enfranchisement of the blacks and the remanding of the conquered States to a territorial condition, with other extreme meas- ures, were at variance with his views, and he was obliged, from conscientious convictions of duty, to sever himself from such leadership. He now calls himself a conservative democrat republican, and votes for those whom he considers the best men, re- gardless of party ties.
Possessing much business energy, unswerving in his personal attachments to friends, unyielding in his convictions of right, public-spirited and very generous, he is classed among the most influential, popular and useful citizens of Racine. Eminently self-made, his example cannot fail to have an inspir- ing influence upon some poor but aspiring youth on whose ears may fall the life-story herein portrayed.
GEORGE MURRAY,
RACINE.
G T EORGE MURRAY was born at Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, July 27, 1823, and is the son of John and Ann (Pirie) Murray, natives of the same place. The ancestors of the family from time immemorial had belonged to the cele- brated. " Clan-Athol," the present head of which is the "Duke of Athol," a very amiable and courteous gentleman, greatly beloved and respected by his tenantry and retainers. The Murrays were among the oldest and most distinguished members of this clan. The father of our subject, like his ancestors, was a tiller of the soil, a man of sterling principles, unflinching integrity and unswerving loyalty to his country. He was, moreover, a pious and zealous member of the old "Kirk," and a man of much in- fluence in his community. He died in 1859 in the seventieth year of his age. His mother, who is still living in her native Scotland, is a woman of superior gifts and attainments, an earnest, humble Christian, awaiting patiently the call of her Master. They had a family of ten children, eight of whom survive, namely, two sons and six daughters, of whom our subject is the eldest. His only brother, John, is settled in Africa, some five hundred miles distant from Port Natal, where for sixteen years past he has carried on an extensive farming business, and where he is likely to found a dynasty. The sisters reside in the mother country and are comfortably settled.
George received a very thorough English and mathematical education, together with a fair knowl- edge of the Latin language, at the parochial schools of his native village, and from the age of fifteen to twenty-five years devoted his attention to farming. The glowing reports, however, that were constantly reaching him from America, of the larger possibil- ities of the land beyond the ocean, made him dis- contented with his monotonous and unpromising Scottish life, and wish for the wider and more fertile fields of the western continent. Accordingly, in 1850, he immigrated hither and settled in Racine, Wisconsin, then a very small village, where he has since resided. His first employment on reaching his new home was a clerkship in the establishment of Hill and Durand, wholesale grocers and general merchants. Here he remained eighteen months, when he transferred his services to Pendleton and Taylor, lumber merchants, with whose establishment he has since been connected, the firm meantime changing to Taylor and Slauson, and afterward to Taylor and Co. In this last organization Mr. Mur- ray became a partner. The business, which had now become quite extensive, was conducted under this name for a few years, when a new organization was effected under the style of Murray and Kelly, which has since been changed to that of Murray, Slauson and Co., the present name of the firm,
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The firm have also a manufacturing branch at Ke- waunee, Wisconsin.
The success of Mr. Murray amply attests his business capacity. He is perhaps as fine an ex- ample as may be found of the sagacious prescience, the careful prudence and the stern persistence of his race, which has raised numbers of them to high positions and to great and deserved eminence in America. In addition to his lumber business he also carries on an extensive farm in the neighbor- hood of Racine, where his finely cultured taste is displayed in his magnificent residence, his beautiful and ornate grounds, and in his unsurpassed herd of short-horns, the pride of the neighborhood.
Mr. Murray is a gentleman of the highest moral integrity and business uprightness. In general and business conversation his words are few but pointed. He keeps his own counsel, and yet is frank and free, leaving no impression of a disposition to overreach or defraud. He is ingenious, sincere and honor- able, and is, besides, a man of great generosity, gives liberally and cheerfully to the needy. As a
citizen he is public-spirited and foremost in enter- prises that have reference to the general good. In · society he his genial and companionable. He loves company and entertains admirably. He is·a man of excellent judgment and large common sense, but modest and simple in word and manner; his counsel is often sought and his advice generally followed.
Above all he is a Christian man whose daily walk attests the genuineness of his faith. He is a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church, of which he has been for many years a valuable and active member, regular and prompt in his attendance at church. Indeed, these two words may be said to characterize his whole life - regularity and promptness.
In politics he is a republican.
He was married in March, 1855, to Miss May Slauson, only daughter of Daniel Slauson, Esq., and sister to I. R. and Geo. W. Slauson, lumber merchants of Racine, a lady of great energy and force of character, possessing many excellent traits and a leader in many good works. They have no living issue.
JOHN S. ROWELL,
BEAVER DAM.
J OHN S. ROWELL, a native of Livingston county, New York, is the son of John and Sarah (Moore) Rowell, and was born in the town of Springwater, April 1, 1827. Five of his paternal uncles, all mit- sicians, were drummers and fifers in the second war with England. The subject of this sketch spent the first fifteen years of his life on his father's farm. Later he worked two years in his native town in the moulding-room and wood-shop of a plow factory, and when about seventeen years old removed as far west as Goshen, Indiana, where his older brothers were living, and there spent several years in manu- facturing plows. In 1855 he made a permanent settlement at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He started in business in a little old foundry, in which two or three parties had made a failure, and manufactured during the first year or two a few plows to supply the local demand. As his business gradually increased he enlarged and multiplied his shops as necessity required, and finally began to build threshers; and since 1862 has manufactured his famous broad-cast seeders, all the while furnishing plows and thresh- ers, and latterly a few fanning-mills, for the local
trade. He now (1877) has two sons and a nephew in business with him, the firm being J. S. Rowell, Sons and Co. Their business usually employs from sixty to seventy workmen, and yields an annual product of from one hundred thousand to one hun- dred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Rowell has a liberal supply of mechanical talent, and has invented several parts of the broad- cast seeder, some of which are used by other par- ties, who pay a royalty on them. He has taken out no less than fifteen patents on different machines which the company is now manufacturing. Mr. Rowell has had nearly thirty years' experience in manufacturing agricultural implements and ma- chines, and is well known among the farmers of Wisconsin and adjoining States. His " Tiger " sep- arator especially is a favorite among them. It is the result of many years of careful study, and works with unqualified satisfaction, and is very durable. Some of his threshers have been in use eighteen seasons and are not worn out. The Rowell seeder, with its slip-tooth, has had an immense sale.
Mr. Rowell exercises careful oversight of the
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work in his shops, and builds all his machines with « a view to durability as well as utility, and has se- cured for himself an enviable reputation for the ex- cellence of his handiwork. He is thoroughly ab- sorbed in his business during about eleven months in the year, and gives little attention ordinarily to outside matters, except what good citizenship re- quires of him. He has served in the council and been at the head of the municipality of Beaver Dam, carrying into office the practical good sense shown in his own private matters
Since he settled in Wisconsin he has acted with the republican party, but was a democrat prior to that time. He is an Odd-Fellow, and has been through the encampment. He attends the Congre- gational Church.
The wife of Mr. Rowell was Mary M. Ball, of Goshen, Indiana. They have had six children, five of whom are living. The two sons, Theodore B. and Samuel W., are members of their father's firm. Two of the daughters are married; the other is at school in Milwaukee.
Mr. Rowell has quite a taste for blooded stock, particularly horses. He and his nephew, Ira Row- ell, who constitute the Company in the firm, own the celebrated mare "Badger Girl," for which they have been offered thirteen thousand dollars.
For many years Mr. Rowell has been a noted hunter. Long before Wisconsin became a State, and while he was a resident of Indiana, he used to have his annual deer-hunt, and this sport made him familiar with the territory and finally brought him to the State to settle. He has long been known as one of the best shots in his part of the country, and without his annual excursion into the populous do- mains of the deer and the fox life would become stale enough to him. To such amusement he de- votes the least hurried season, when he can best be spared, and thinks he is thus prolonging his life as well as multiplying its charms.
He has a ruddy face, a healthy countenance, a light-blue eye, a solid build, and is five feet nine and a half inches in height and weighs two hundred and ten pounds.
DR. WILLIAM M. ORMOND, V.S.,
MILWAUKEE.
W ILLIAM M. ORMOND, a native of South Wales, was born on the 16th of March, 1829, and is the son of John and Elizabeth (Codd) Or- mond. His father was a small farmer in Pembroke- shire, in humble circumstances, but a man of great moral worth, influential and highly respected in his community. He still lives in his native Wales, being now in his eighty-third year. He is a distant rela- tive of the distinguished family of that name, the present head of which is the Duke of Ormond, one of the most wealthy and influential nobles of Eng- land.
Our subject received such education as was im- parted by the parochial schools of his native shire, until the age of twelve years, when he was thrown upon his own resources, and since then has earned his own support. He was taken into the office of Dr. Fields, at Milford Haven, where for three years he served in various capacities, his attention being divided mainly between the office and the stable. He was a bright and active lad, and the Doctor found him useful in compounding and putting up prescriptions, and he sometimes accompanied him
in his visits to patients, and often witnessed the per- formance of surgical operations. In this way he acquired a strong desire to become a physician, which was encouraged by his master. He next found a position as surgeon's boy with a Dr. Davis, at Merthyr Tydvil, Glamorganshire, where he re- mained some two years, increasing his stock of knowledge and becoming more deeply interested in the study of surgery. He was next received as a student in the office of his former master, Dr. Fields, where he acted as assistant for nearly two years more. Meantime he had devoted considerable at- tention to the study of the diseases of horses, and had gained much insight into the veterinary science. At this period an unaccountable freak entered his head and he enlisted in the 36th Infantry Regiment under command of Colonel Trollop. He soon at- tracted the attention of his commander, who found his skill in the treatment of his horses of great im- portance. So great was the interest which this excellent gentleman took in young Ormond, that after three years he procured his discharge from the army, and sent him to the Royal College of Veter-
Jours. Jenly M.M. Command
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inary Surgeons, London, providing for the expense of his education. After passing through the regular course of study at this celebrated institution, he graduated with the highest honors in 1849. He then retired to his native village in Wales, where he established himself in business, and for two years carried on a farriery, bought and sold horses, etc. Meantime, however, he had been hearing and read- ing much of the great country west of the Atlantic ocean, and for some years had yearned for the wider field and larger possibilities which the United States offered to aspiring young men. Accordingly, in 1853, he sold out his business in Wales and emi- grated to America. He first stopped at Manchester, New Hampshire, where his reception was not as flattering as a fond fancy had anticipated. After seeking employment in his profession for some time without success, and being reduced to great ex- tremities, he was at length offered a job to cut wood at the rate of forty-eight cents per cord. This was a new field of industry to him. He had never been accustomed to the use of the ax, and after three of the most laborious days of his life he found that he had earned about twelve cents. At this juncture his heart was made glad by an intimation that a valuable horse belonging to one of the neighbors was taken suddenly ill. He was called to treat the animal; brought all his skill to bear on the case, and in three days restored him to perfect soundness. He received a fee of ten dollars for this service, which was the first money he earned in America (he never called for the twelve cents he had earned at wood-cutting). From this beginning he gained a reputation, and practice soon followed. In 1854 he became associated with the celebrated Dr. George H. Dadd, that noted farrier, in the preparation of his work, since widely and favorably known as "The Modern Horse Doctor." In this connection he not only established a professional reputation, but accumulated some property. At this period, however, he wisely decided that the West, which was then in its infancy, offered a more promising field for his professional skill, and accordingly, in 1855, removed to Wisconsin and settled in Milwau- kee, where, with the exception of two years spent in St. Louis, Missouri, and three years in the army, he has since resided. Soon after the opening of the late rebellion he went to Washington and offered his professional services to the government, but was in- formed that, notwithstanding the importance of the matter, no provision had as yet been made for any
such functionary in the army, and was advised by Secretary Cameron and General McClellan that the only way to compass the result desired was to enlist in some of the regiments from his own State, from which he could be detailed as a veterinary surgeon. Accordingly in the spring of 1862 he entered in the 24th Wisconsin Volunteers, and was detailed as wag- on-master by Colonel Lorabee, and afterward placed on duty at Nashville, Tennessee, as veterinary sur- geon, where he remained about one year. During this time he had over fifteen thousand horses under his charge, the greater number of which he success- fully treated, and in that way saved to the govern- ment many thousands of dollars. In July, 1863, he was transferred to the command of General Stanley, who commanded the cavalry of the army of the
Cumberland. In this connection he participated in the battles of Chicamauga and Resaca, being severely wounded at the latter engagement. He was sent to Madison, Wisconsin, to be treated for his wounds, and, after sufficient recovery, was ap- pointed dispensary physician of the Harvey Soldiers' Hospital at the State capital, which position he re- tained until the close of the war. He was honor- ably discharged on the roth of May, 1865.
Returning to Milwaukee he resumed his practice as veterinary surgeon, which he has followed ever since, with eminent success. During the prevalence of the "epizootic " he, at one time, treated as many as seventeen hundred horses within three weeks, with extraordinary results. He has long since taken rank at the head of the profession, and his skill has brought the most substantial reward- an ample fortune. He is, what all professional men should be, an enthusiast in his profession. A profound thinker, a diligent student, an accomplished and successful practitioner. He is, moreover, a regular and able contributor to several periodicals devoted to the interests of the horse, and especially to the "Spirit of the Turf," where his articles always attract attention. He is a smooth and easy writer, erudite and practical, often throwing a vein of humor into his articles which tends to render them amusing as well as instructive. His reputation has gone far beyond the bounds of his adopted State, and he is frequently called upon to make professional visits in adjoining and distant States. The Doctor is also conceded to be the discoverer of chloroform as an antidote for strychnine in animals generally, a fact which should be more widely known.
Besides his regular professional business he has
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for a number of years past conducted an extensive stock farm in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, and is the owner of some of the finest samples of blood- ed stock in the West, among which may be named the celebrated stallion " Jackson," of the "Bashaw" breed, with a record of 2.2734 on the turf, besides several very fine brood mares not less distinguished. He has also a very fine herd of "Short-horns," of the families known as the "Duchesses," "Airdries," "Gwynnes," "Frantics " and "Mazurkas," not a few of which are valued at ten thousand dollars each, and some of which have been sold for that figure. He has also given attention to the raising of Berk-
shire pigs and Cotswold sheep with very great suc- cess, his herds of these animals being among the best in the Northwest.
Mr. Ormond was married on the 2d of August, 1856, to Miss Ann Kilroy, by whom he has had three children, namely, William, Charles and Ellen. He was legally separated from his wife in 1868, and on the 2d of October, 1875, was married to Miss Mary Dewey, a native of Milwaukee, by whom he has had one child, a son, named Frederick FitzClarence, after Lord Fitz-Clarence, late commander-in-chief of the Bombay army, from whom our subject received im- portant favors while in the British military service.
JOHN S. VAN CLEVE, A.M., GANESVILLE.
A LTHOUGH the subject of the following sketch has not yet arisen above the horizon into the firmament of literary fame, yet in the scope and brilliancy of his intellectual powers and attainments he is indeed a marvel, and shows in many essential points a very striking resemblance to the sublimest of England's poets- Milton ; and every ' augury from the achievements of his first twenty-five years warrants the expectation of many great and endur- ing works from his pen, if his life is prolonged and health support the enormous overweight of his brain work.
He was born on the 30th of October, 1851, at Maysville, Mason county, Kentucky, and is the son of Rev. Lafayette Van Cleve (who has been for thirty years a clergyman of the Methodist Episco- pal church, and is at present in connection with the Cincinnati, Ohio, conference, in which he holds a high rank), and grandson of John Van Cleve, a small farmer near Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother, Elizabeth Smith, who was a woman of remarkable force of character and high intellectual and religious attainments, was the daughter of Reuben Smith, a man of much natural intelligence and large read- ing, though a stone-mason by trade. The paternal ancestors of our subject were Hollanders, while those on his mother's side were from England.
During all his childhood he was frail and sickly, and an attack of whooping-cough determined an inherited taint of scrofula to his eyes, which, after eighteen months of excruciating torture, left him en- tirely blind; his health soon after began to amend,
and at the age of eight years he began to attend school in company with seeing boys, studying his lessons by having them read aloud to him, and soon developed a great fondness for language, re- ceiving at nine years a prize for excellence in spell- ing. At the age of eleven he was sent to the Institute for the Blind, at Columbus, Ohio, then presided over by Dr. Lord, a man of most exalted Christian character, and a most excellent instructor. From this gentleman he received his first impulse toward the memorizing of poems and fine passages of prose literature, an exercise which has since proved a source of never-failing delight to him. He developed a quick grasp of abstract studies, and took an elementary course of psychology and ethics in his thirteenth year. He completed the curric- ulum of the school before sixteen, and then spent five years at various schools,- one at Urbana; two at Woodward High School, Cincinnati; one at the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and one at the Divinity School of the Boston University. He graduated at Woodward High School in 1870, with the prize for general scholarship, and the vale- dictory oration. He took the degree of A.B. at Delavan, Ohio, in 1871, and A.M. in 1874.
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