USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 91
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I. A. Lapham
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rope and other countries in exchange. He also made a collection of shells, and sent them by T. H. Taylor to Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, who gave the credit to Mr. Taylor for the new species.
His first scientific paper was published in “ Silli- man's American Journal of Science," in 1828 : notice of the Louisville and Shipping-port Canal, and of the Geology of the Vicinity. This was before the silurian and Devonian rocks were named; and the occurrence of petroleum or rock oil in cavities in the limestone was there first published.
In the catalogue of the Wisconsin historical libra- ry, twenty or more papers, prepared by him, are mentioned; but there are many others not there enumerated. These papers were founded on orig- inal observations made by Mr. Lapham, at intervals snatched from business duties, as a recreation, with- out the hope of reward.
As Mr. Lapham had received only a common- school education, his acquirements are the result of self-culture. Under these circumstances he was greatly surprised to receive a parchment from Am- herst College conferring upon him the honorary title of LL.D. in August, 1860.
Dr. Lapham's studies have been not only pro- fessional, as an engineer, but embrace geology, min- eralogy, botany, meteorology, antiquities, etc.
In 1833 he was appointed secretary of the Board of Canal Commissioners ; and in the performance of duties in the office of the State treasury was intrusted with large sums of money. In 1835-36 he was ap- pointed one of the commissioners to report on the best mode of carrying out the law authorizing a geo- logical survey of the State of Ohio.
In 1836 he came to Milwaukee, where he has re- sided ever since. He has had charge of large amounts of real estate, and has pursued a steady business career; but has devoted a portion of his time to other subjects of importance and interest. He has studied and made known by various publi- cations the physical features, topography, geology, natural history, meteorology, antiquities, etc., of the State. In 1852 Dr. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, in the " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,"entitled " Plantæ Wrightianæ," named a new genus of plants, Laphamia, with the remark : " I dedicate this genus to I. A. Lapham, Esq., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, author of a catalogue of the plants of that State, and a zealous explorer of its botany."
Dr. Lapham's examination of several masses of meteoric iron, found near Milwaukee, detected pe-
culiar markings, which Dr. James Lawrence Smith thought worthy of being named " Laphamite mark- ings." (American Journal of Science, March, 1869.) The animal-shaped mounds of Wisconsin early at- tracted his attention. He made an extended survey of the most noted of these mounds, an account of which was published in the " Smithsonian Contribu- tions " in 1855.
In the early history of Wisconsin he held several important offices, as alderman, school commissioner, etc. He took an active part in securing the organi- zation of the public schools on the basis of free tuition for all. He assisted in the organization of the Young Men's Association and in the Female College, of which he was many years president. In 1846 he made a donation of thirteen acres of land in the second (now sixth) ward to the city for a high school.
Dr. Lapham made very numerous observations on the rise and fall of water in Lake Michigan, by which the highest and lowest and the mean or aver- age stage was determined. These are important in various ways, and were used by the engineers of Chicago and Milwaukee in establishing their system of sewerage, foundation of works and in the water supply. They were also used in the lake survey, while in charge of Captain George G., late General Meade, in fixing the zero for soundings, etc.
In 1849 he made a series of very careful observa- tions, by which he discovered a slight lunar tide exactly like that of the ocean. This important fact was announced in the papers at the time, and the observations were communicated to the Smithsonian Institution. Many years later Colonel I. D. Graham, of Chicago, made a like discovery at that city, the tide there being much larger than at Milwaukee. The irregular fluctuations of the water level is shown by these observations. Since 1859 he has had charge of the self-registering tide-gauge at Milwaukee for the lake survey. This fully confirms his previous discoveries. He has made no discovery of a tide on Lake Huron, as is erroneously stated in. " Apple- ton's Cyclopedia."
In 1869 he sent to Hon. Halbert E. Paine, mem- ber of congress, a memorial representing the duty and necessity of some effort to prevent the loss of life and property on the great lakes; showing the practicability of predicting the occurrence of great storms. The memorial was accompanied by a long list of disasters that had occurred on the lakes in that year, and was the means of securing the adop-
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tion of those measures for weather predictions which have grown to be of so much importance, and will become more important when the people shall have adopted the habit of consulting them.
Dr. Lapham assisted in the organization of the signal service, having his office first in Chicago, and in making up the results of observations, on which the first storm predictions or probabilities were based. All those who have availed themselves of the advantages of the daily weather probabilities as a guide to their action owe this advantage to Dr. Lapham.
In 1873 he was appointed State geologist, and organized and conducted the survey for two years, during which time mnuch valuable work was done and reported to the governor. From his first arrival in Wisconsin Dr. Lapham has given much of his time and attention to its geology, examining its quarries, rocks and cliffs. He published many papers on the subject, and also geological maps of the State. His observations have been quoted in the scientific works of this country as well as in Europe, and thus have been brought into notice the physical features, geology, mineralogy, botany, antiquities and natural history of the State.
Dr. Lapham was born among the Society of Friends, and has never seen good reasons for changing his views.
He was married in October, 1838, to Miss Ann M. Alcott, who died in Milwaukee, February 25, 1863, since which he has remained unmarried. He has five children still living.
Dr. Lapham's works are numerous; a list of the titles and a list of the names of the societies, literary and scientific, of which he is a member, fills six folio pages, to enumerate which would far exceed our limits. Sufficient has been said to show that Dr. Lapham occupies a very distinguished position ; that his life has been spent in a career of usefulness, and that knowledge and honor have been more highly valued by him than gain; and his life pre- sents a wonderful example of how much may be done by self-culture.
Dr. Lapham's family record has been carefully kept for two hundred and fifty years. His ancestors were of English origin, but settled in this country in the early part of the seventeenth century. The rec- ord is too long for insertion here.
Since the above was written the tidings of the death of Dr. Lapham has reached us. He died suddenly on Oconomowoc Lake, Wisconsin, Septem- ber 14, 1875, at the age of sixty-four years and six months.
The death of Dr. Lapham is a loss to science. He has been a laborious worker, and all his studies and researches have been directed to some useful end. The bent of his inquiries was eminently prac- tical, as the storm signal system, of which he is no doubt the father, bears record.
Dr. Lapham has left a name that will have rank among the illustrious dead, and share their honors.
He was a man of rare integrity ; his whole life ex- emplifying the saying, "An honest man is the noblest work of God."
JOHN J. BROWN, M.D.,
SHEBOYGAN.
JOHN J. BROWN was born in Toronto, Canada, January 24, 1819; and is the son of John Brown, a native of New Hampshire, and Mary Skeldon, of England. The family went to Buffalo, New York, when John was an infant, and there he spent his early boyhood. Later they settled on a farm in the town of Darien, in Genesee county; and the son received an academic education at the Alex- ander Seminary, in the same county.
He began the study of medicine with Dr. Long, of Corfu, near Darien, in 1841; later, attended lectures at the Geneva Medical College, and gradu- ated in 1845. After practicing one year at Clarence,
in Erie county, New York, he, in 1846, removed to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he practiced his profession until the opening of the rebellion.
In 1862 he was appointed examining surgeon, but preferring to go into the field, he enlisted as a private soldier; he was afterward promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the 27th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. He remained in the service until the spring of 1864, when, by reason of a severe illness and general debility, he was honorably dis- charged. The year before going into the war Dr. Brown was appointed postmaster by President Lincoln, and resigned while in the service.
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After leaving the army he assisted Professor Blaney two years in the laboratory of Rush Medical College, Chicago; was chosen professor of natural sciences in the State Normal School at Whitewater, Wisconsin, in 1868, and held that position one year. He spent the following year in Florida, in the study of botany and other branches of natural history. In 1872 he visited St. Thomas, St. Croix and other West India islands. He was sent out by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, with Dr. Velie and W. W. Calkins, on a scientific expedition to Florida, in the winter of 1874-75; and spent the winter of 1876-77 on the Bahamas, engaged mainly in the study of conchology and botany. He has a fine
collection in natural history, and in conchology has probably the best collection in the State.
Dr. Brown was married to Miss Hadley, of Darien, New York, in 1845; who died in 1868, leaving five children. In 1871 he was married to Miss Gallup, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He is a thorough student, and is passionately fond of scientific studies in certain branches, and his collections already made are very valuable. Since the close of the war he has never resumed his profession, but devoting his chief attention to scientific study and investigation, has · contributed in no small degree to the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
HON. HUGH CAMERON,
LA CROSSE.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Living- ston county, New York, was born at Caledonia, June 29, 1815. His parents, Duncan A. Cameron and Sarah (McColl) Cameron, were from Scotland ; the father coming to this country in 1802, and the mother a few years later. The Camerons are of the Lochiel branch, Lochiel, the chief, being, according to custom, of the Queen's household. Hugh spent his youth on his father's farm. He prepared for college in the institutions at Middlebury and Lima, in his native State, and entered the University of Vermont in 1834, and graduated with honor four years later, excelling particularly in German meta- physics, then taught by Professor James Marsh. Returning to western New York, Mr. Cameron taught in the Avon Academy in 1838 and 1839, reading law at the same time with Amos Dann. He finished his law studies with Hastings and Hus- bands, of Rochester, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1841, at the first term of the supreme court ever held in that city. After practicing a few years in Livingston county, he removed to Buffalo in the spring of 1847, and there built up an excel- lent law business as a member of the firm of Wads- worth and Cameron, but seeing openings of great promise farther west, in the spring of 1858 he re- moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, his present home, and has there become widely known as a skillful and successful attorney.
During the first six years in Wisconsin, Mr. Cam- eron was in partnership with his brother Alexander,
who went into the army as first lieutenant Ist Wis- consin battery, in 1861, and died in 1864. He was district attorney at the opening of the war, having been elected two years prior to that time, when only about twenty-two years old. Alexander Cameron was a young man of much promise.
In 1865 Hugh Cameron was elected county judge, and held that office four years and declined a re- election. The law has been his life study, his life pursuit, and he has no higher ambition than that of excelling in his profession. A prominent journalist, and neighbor of his for the last twenty years, in a private note says of him :
Few men have such complete mastery of literature in all its departments as Judge Cameron. His mental grasp, acquisitions, acumen and discrimination, invest his utter- ances, in genial conversation or legal arguments, with strength and richness of thought and language, which are best appreciated by those who have the greatest opportunity to test and verify his powers and counsel, in which capacity he is employed by many professional confrères in western Winconsin and southern Minnesota, such persons consider- ing their cases not only thoroughly prepared, but fairly tried, after having undergone his scrutiny and investiga- tion, as the court seldom "overrules his decisions."
Judge Cameron has not only a very fine literary taste, but- what is not generally known -has written many able critiques and other articles for the periodical press. But such intellectual labor he does simply for recreation after more severe studies connected with his profession.
He is of whig antecedents, and for the last twenty years he has usually voted the republican ticket.
So thoroughly has Judge Cameron been wedded
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to the law, that for many years it seemed doubtful if he would ever form a more tender alliance; but, on the 2d of December, 1875, he was joined in wed- lock with Miss Caroline D. Starr, daughter of W.
/ H. Starr, an early settler and prominent citizen of Burlington, Iowa, and a graduate of Yale College. Mrs. Cameron is a well educated and highly accom- plished lady.
GERRIT T. THORN,
APPLETON.
T "HE subject of this biography, a native of On- ondaga county, New York, was born at Lafay- ette, July 20, 1832. His parents were Jehiel and Sarah (Houghtaling) Thorn. His paternal grand- parents were Quakers, and hence were neutral dur- ing the struggle for American independence, but his father and also an uncle were soldiers in the war of 1812. After attending public and private schools, giving especial attention to mathematics and civil engineering, Gerrit, at the age of eighteen, went to Rome, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and be- came a clerk and book-keeper in the employ of Hon. Henry W. Tracy and Judson Holcomb. In November, 1851, he commenced teaching a select school in the village of Town Hill, Luzerne county. In the spring of 1852 he went to Towanda, and soon afterward, hearing of the illness of his father, re- turned to New York, and was present at the death of that parent, which occurred on the 8th of May. He next spent one year at Yates Polytechnic Insti- tute, at Chittenango, Madison county, under the charge of Professor William Velaskow, and soon afterward commenced the study of law. During the winter of 1853-4 he taught the public school in the same district in which he had received the first rudiments of his education. Being in poor health he resolved to abandon the law for a time, and early in the spring of 1854 removed to Wisconsin, reach- ing Watertown during the latter part of April. He spent the summer following on a farm in Dodge county, and taught during the next winter in the village of Columbus, and a ward school in the city of Watertown the next summer. Resuming the study of law with Hon. Samuel Baird, of that place. He continued the same a few months later with Hon. Charles Billinghurst, of Juneau, Dodge county, then a member of congress. In 1857 went to Beaver Dam, and completed his legal studies; fin- ished reading with Smith and Ordway, and was ad- mitted to the bar at Juneau, September 27, 1858. In January following Mr. Thorn opened an office
at the last-named place, and four months later, May, 1859, went to Jefferson, Jefferson county, and prac- ticed law there for ten years, making for himself a good reputation. During the time of his residence there he aided in founding the " Jefferson Banner," a democratic paper, and continued its political ed- itor for about three years. This he did purely for mental recreation, and did not allow it to interfere with his legal pursuits.
August 30, 1862, after spending a short time in recruiting soldiers, Mr. Thorn enlisted, and went into the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 29th Reg- iment Wisconsin Infantry, which was, stationed the next winter at Helena, Arkansas. During that time his wife was on her death-bed, his only child was dangerously ill, and he himself being in poor health, and unable to obtain a furlough, resigned on the 3d of February, reaching Jefferson two weeks after his wife's demise.
Colonel Thorn was one of the leaders in founding the Jefferson Liberal Institute, he drawing up its charter, delivering an address at the laying of the corner-stone of the Institute building, and serving during the first two years as president of the board of trustees.
In 1867 and 1868 he represented Jefferson county in the upper branch of the State legislature, and was an industrious member, doing most of his work on the committees on federal relations, railroads and claims.
.In January, 1869, he removed to Fond du Lac, and entered into the law practice with General E. S. Bragg, and while a resident of that city was sent to the general assembly, and was on the judiciary committee and the joint committee on charitable and penal institutions.
In August, 1874, he settled in Appleton, where he is devoting his attention exclusively to the law, having an extensive practice in the several courts. He is a close student, is thoroughly posted on legal questions, has splendid logical powers, is a strong
Gerrit J. Horn.
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man before a jury, and has few peers as a court law- yer in the tenth judicial circuit.
Colonel Thorn was a presidential elector on the democratic ticket in 1864, and voted for General McClellan, and was a delegate to the national con- vention in 1868, which nominated Horatio Seymour.
He has been twice married : his first wife, whose death is mentioned above, was Miss Maria Bicknell, of Chittenden county, Vermont. She was a teacher in the Fox Lake High School and a lady of rare acquirements. They were married in May, 1859, and had one child, a son, who soon followed his mother to the spirit-land. March 7, 1864, he was married to Elizabeth Clark, of Prince George county, Maryland, who was then visiting an aunt in Madison, Wisconsin. The wedding was celebrated at the house of Hon. Harlen S. Orton. They have had seven children, six of whom are living at the present time (1877).
Colonel Thorn has fine literary tastes and talents in that line of no mean order. His address deliv- ered in Jefferson, at the laying of the corner-stone already alluded to, was published at the time, and is full of wholesome thoughts on what a literary insti- tution designed for all classes of people should be. His address given on Decoration-day at Fond du Lac in 1871, and which was published, is marked with striking pathos and rhetorical beauties, and an oration which he delivered on the Centennial Fourth . at Chilton, Calumet county, was an elaborate pro- duction, eloquently portraying the beauty of free institutions, showing that Christianity is the founda- tion of true liberty; that it introduced into our world the seed of genuine democracy, and that on the promulgation by Christ of the doctrine of equal- ity before God, it became only a question of time when man's equality before the law should be uni- versally acknowledged.
HON. WINFIELD SMITH,
MILWAUKEE.
W INFIELD SMITH, attorney and counselor, was born at Fort Howard, Wisconsin, August 16, 1827, and is the son of Henry Smith and Elvina née Foster. His father was a captain in the United States infantry ; born at Stillwater, New York, in 1798, and graduated at the United States Military Academy, Westpoint, in the year 1816. He was for five years aide to General Winfield Scott, for whom our subject was named; fought in the Blackhawk war in 1831-2; was afterward placed in charge of the United States government works at the harbor of Monroe, Michigan, and subsequently placed in charge of all the government works on Lake Erie, in which he continued until the veto of the River and Harbor Appropriation Bills by President Polk. Meantime he resigned his position in the regular army, though he was still retained as engineer of the works and improvements alluded to. At the out- break of the Mexican war he reëntered the army as captain in one of the new regiments organized by President Polk, and was soon afterward promoted to the rank of major on the general staff, and at Vera Cruz was placed at the head of the quarter- master's department, where, in the midst of his ardu- ous and responsible labors, he was smitten down by an attack of yellow fever, from which he died, i
after a week's illness, on the 22d of July, 1847. He was an able and accomplished officer, understood thoroughly the details of his profession, was gov- erned by a high sense of honor, frank, generous and upright. A gentleman of fine talents and varied information, agreeable in society, and had many warm friends among the leading men of the nation. He was ardent in his family attachments, constant and devoted in his friendships, an exemplary mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal church, of spotless reputation, esteemed and respected by all who knew him.
He was the elder brother of Colonel Joseph R. Smith of the 2d Infantry, who was twice wounded in the battle of Churubusco, Mexico, by which he was permanently deprived of the use of his left arm. His son, Dr. Joseph R. Smith, was acting surgeon- general for several years during the late war, and is now United States post-surgeon at Fortress Monroe, Virginia.
In politics he was a Jeffersonian democrat, and during his interval of civil life served two terms in the Michigan legislature, namely, in 1838 and 1841.
In July, 1826, Captain Henry Smith married Miss Elvina Foster, eldest daughter of Jabez Foster, then
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a resident of Watertown, New York; a lady of su- perior education and excellent judgment, of ami- able disposition and engaging manners, accustomed to mingle much in the best society, and loved and admired by all who knew her. She was born in September, 1804, and still lives in the enjoyment of moderate health, at Watertown, New York, in the family of her eldest daughter, and frequently visited by ber other children. They had a family of eight . children born to them, of whom our subject was the eldest; one of whom died in infancy, and seven lived to maturity.
The infancy and juvenile years of Winfield Smith were passed in the various military headquarters and encampments at which his father happened to be on duty, but chiefly at Jefferson Barracks, Mis- souri, and at Monroe, Michigan. At the latter point he pursued his academic studies and was fitted for college, being well up in Greek, Latin and the higher mathematics. He entered the University of Michi- gan in the spring of 1844, from which he was gradu- ated in the spring of 1846 with honor, being facile princeps in mathematics, and in Greek, Latin and other studies, equal to the best. He had, in 1839 and 1840, attained a thorough knowledge of the French language in a private school in Watertown, New York, and afterward in Milwaukee studied German, both of which he still speaks with con- siderable fluency.
After leaving college he taught for a year a private school at Monroe, and then gave private lessons in Greek and Latin, at the same time pursuing the study of Blackstone, Kent and other works on the principles of jurisprudence. In 1848 he entered the office of the Hon I. P. Christiancy, afterward judge of the supreme court of Michigan, and pres- ently United States senator from that State, where he was a diligent student for some months. From this he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Oc- tober, 1849; entered the law office of Emmons and Vandyke, of that city, where he remained a year in study and practice. He was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Wisconsin in 1850. In 1851 he commenced practice on his own responsibility, and continued till 1855, when he became associated with the Hon. Edward Salomon, afterward governor of Wisconsin, and now practicing law in New York city. This partnership continued some fifteen years, and terminated in December, 1869. Early in the year 1870 he became associated with Joshua Starr, Esq., of Milwaukee, which continued until No-
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