USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 96
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In all local enterprises Colonel Hancock takes an interest, and is always ready to work for the good of his city. He has been somewhat engaged in real- estate operations, and since the city was burned has erected a fine brick block.
Colonel Hancock began life with no capital, and by his own untiring efforts has worked his way gradually up to his present high professional and social standing. As a man he possesses most excel- lent qualities, and throughout his career has main- tained an enviable reputation and an unsullied char- acter.
HON. SOLON H. CLOUGH,
HUDSON.
S OLON HUNTINGTON CLOUGH, a native of Madison county, New York, was born Au- gust 31, 1828. His father, Hamilton Clough, a merchant and public contractor, was a business man of much note in his locality. Solon attended a common school most of the time in his younger years. He prepared for college at the Fulton Acad- emy, and after completing the freshman year at Hamilton College, spent about three years in the South, teaching a part of the time, but never reën- tered college. In 1850 we find him again in the State of New York. He studied law in Syracuse and Fulton, and after being admitted to the bar practiced in Oswego county until 1857, when he re- moved to Hudson, Wisconsin. It was the year of the great financial crash, and Hudson felt the de- pression in legal as well as other business. Mr. Clough formed a partnership with Mr. H. C. Baker, now of the firm of Baker and Spooner, and although forced to "labor and wait," he patiently toiled and overcame all obstacles, and after a few years was rewarded with a prosperous practice and a good reputation.
In 1864, the eleventh judicial circuit having been created, he was elected as circuit judge, having previ- ously removed at the people's request to Polk county. The district comprised all the counties north of St. Croix to Lake Superior, and Judge Clough had the most extensive circuit in the State. He remained in Polk county five years, and being reëlected in 1869 removed to Superior, at the head of Lake Su- perior, where he remained seven years. He retired from the bench at the end of twelve years, return- ing to Hudson in the autumn of 1876, and is now a member of the law firm of Clough and Hayes.
As a jurist he was noted for the fairness and just- ness of his decisions, for his courtesy to the bar, and his clear-headedness and quick discernment of the legal relations and all bearings of every subject presented for his consideration. As a lawyer he is one of the most thoroughly read in St. Croix county.
In politics he is identified with the republican party. In religious sentiment he is a Baptist.
Mrs. Clough's maiden name was Kate E. Taylor, of Fulton, New York. They have had three chil- dren, two of whom are now living.
JOHN H. HAUSER,
FOND DU LAC.
T' HE subject of this sketch, a native of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, was born in the town of Stroudsburg, September 2, 1836, the son of Jacob L. and Frances (Butts) Hauser. In 1850 the family moved to Wisconsin, and settled at Delavan, where John spent ten years aiding his father on a farm, receiving, prior to 1860, only a common-school edu- cation. During that year he entered the preparatory department of Lawrence University, and in 1861
became a member of the freshman class of that institution. In his junior year he raised a company of students, and as captain of the same joined the 40th Regiment of Wisconsin "hundred-day men." Returning to Appleton he entered the senior class in college in October, 1864; but in the February following, reënlisted for three years, or till the close of the war. He raised a company in eight days, and as captain of the same joined the 49th Wiscon-
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sin Regiment. The members of the faculty were unwilling that he should return to the war, and, although he promised to continue his studies and to faithfully fill out the requirements of the curriculum, they at first voted that they could not graduate him. But after he had gone to the South they reconsidered the matter and decided that he might graduate, pro- vided he would pass an examination in all his studies, and not be a candidate for honors, he being entitled to the valedictory and highest honors of his class. Having his books with him, he prepared for examination in seven studies while among the "bush- whackers" of Missouri. The faculty sent written questions to the colonel of his regiment for him to answer, and he passed a creditable examination, and was graduated in course in June, 1865. In Novem- ber of that year his regiment.was mustered out of the service, and he returned north, and spent a term at the law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Later he continued his legal studies with J. H. Car- penter, of Madison, Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1866. After practicing a short time in Independence, Iowa, he, in August, 1867, settled in Fond du Lac. Here for ten years he has continued the law practice, with a prosperous busi-
ness and a growing reputation. Since March 26, 1877, he has held the office of postmaster, and care- fully attends to its duties. With his daily super- vision the post-office is one of the best managed offices of the kind in the State. At the same time his legal practice in connection with Elihu Colman, a rising attorney, is very extensive, and calls for a great amount of time and hard labor. As a business man Mr. Hauser is industrious, enterprising and energetic, and is widely known for his honorable and upright dealing.
In politics he is an ardent republican and one of the leaders of that party in Fond du Lac, and an indefatigable worker for its interests.
Mr. Hauser is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, and has held many high offices in the order.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and usually holds some responsible position in the same. He is one of the editors and proprie- tors of the "Christian Statesman," an undenomi- national paper published at Milwaukee. .
In November, 1868, he was married to Miss Louise Pease, of Milwaukee. They have had four children, three of whom are now living.
HON. WILLIAM C. ALLEN, RACINE.
W ILLIAM CHENEY ALLEN, for many years a leading citizen of southern Wisconsin, was born in the town of Hoosick, Rensselaer county, New York, February 2, 1814, and is the son of Jacob and Lucy (Cheney) Allen. They were both of pure New England (originally English) stock. His father was a farmer, and in early life was in easy circumstances, but unfortunately he entered into speculations which proved disastrous. His mis- fortune preyed upon his health, and the result was that his children at an early age had to struggle for bread and raiment. Both parents were tender, in- dustrious and religious, and discharged their mission in life well. His mother, who was a scion of the old Cheney family of Pomfret, Connecticut, was quite an intellectual woman, and to her training and in- fluence he owes whatever success in life he has achieved. She early imbued his mind with a love of study and an unconquerable desire to obtain an education. To her, also, he owes his first religious
impressions. She was from her childhood a mem- ber of the Methodist church, and continued in the faith till the day of her death. Kinder people never lived than the father and mother of William C. Allen. Their heart and their home were ever open to all, and their bread was divided with the hungry to the last morsel. Their pure and unselfish lives are re- membered by their son with the most lively and tender affection ; and although they had no worldly goods with which to endow their children, yet the legacy of a high and holy example, of deep religious and moral culture which they bequeathed to them was a thousand-fold more precious than all the wealth of the Indies, and will endure when " gold and silver " shall be "cankered," and the most cost- ly garments " moth-eaten."
The ancestry from which our subject is descended settled at an early period in the colony of Massa- chusetts. Many of them became Quakers or Friends, and followed Roger Williams to Rhode Island, in
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order to enjoy religious freedom not accorded them in Massachusetts. From this detachment a branch moved into Dutchess county, New York (to what is since known as "Quaker Hill "), many years before the revolution. The grandfather of our subject, Samuel Allen, was married on Quaker Hill to a lady named Hammond, born in Dartmouth, New Hamp- shire. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war; fought at the battles of White Plains, Long Island, and many other hotly contested fields of that mem- orable struggle. In the year 1793 he removed to the neighborhood of Hoosick Falls, where he took up a six-hundred-acre tract of land, then covered with heavy timber, on which he lived during the re- mainder of his life. He died in the year 1819.
Our subject was early impressed with a deep sense of morality, the observance of the Lord's day, a reverence for the Holy Scriptures, ministers of the gospel, and old people, which he has never forgotten. He never went fishing or hunting, or engaged in any of the common sports or amusements, on the Sab- bath. He received the rudiments of his education in the common schools, and remained under the parental roof till the age of seventeen, when, owing to the misfortune above alluded to, he was obliged to launch out in support of himself. He was em- ployed as a "hand " by a neighboring farmer named Wheeler, at a salary of ten dollars per month. His employer was a college-bred gentleman, of large heart and great benevolence, who proved as kind as a father to the hapless youth thus placed in his care. He took great pains to encourage young Allen in a course of study, and gave him free access to his large and well-selected library. Among the first volumes which he read was Paley's "Natural The- ology," from which he first learned how to frame an argument. Here he also read Milton's " Paradise Lost," Good's "Book of Nature," Volney's "Ruins," " The Spectator," "Rambler," and some volumes of history. He worked nine months for this gentle- man, commencing on the 20th of March, 1831. He afterward attended for four months a select school, taught by a graduate of Union College, where he commenced the study of the Latin language and the higher mathematics. He also kept up a course of miscellaneous reading, still having access to the library of Mr. Wheeler. When the school closed in the spring he resumed his engagement with his former master at the old figures, ten dollars per month. The latter continued the kindly interest which he had previously manifested, taking special
pains to encourage him in his studies, and explain to him things that seemed incongruous. Among the volumes which he placed in his hands was " Jo- sephus," explaining at the same time who the author was, and many things relating to Jewish history. He also gave him " Rollins' History " to read. He thus became fascinated with the histories of the Medes, Persians, Babylonians, Greeks, Egyptians and Romans, and when at work he was always thinking or talking of them with some one. The knowledge thus obtained became indelibly fixed upon his memory, and the names, dates, characters and battles are all as fresh in his mind to-day as on the day they were read. Through the influence of his employer he was appointed to teach the district school during four months of the succeeding winter. After this he put himself under the tuition of a learned mathematician, where he rapidly gained an idea of numbers and magnitudes. He next entered an academy at Jefferson, Schoharie county, New York, in which he continued for two and a half years, studying natural and moral philosophy, his- tory, Latin, algebra and the higher mathematics generally. The curriculum, however, did not in- clude Greek, a circumstance which has since been a source of deep regret and disadvantage to our subject, as the want of a knowledge of this ancient tongue, through which the Greeks still preside over human action as its nomenclators, is a serious pri- vation. In the opinion of our subject a thorough knowledge of the old classics cannot be over-esti- mated. During all these years of struggle and adversity his excellent and pious mother was his guardian angel and best counselor. She always encouraged him to persevere, telling him the clouds would sometime break away and a brighter light would shine upon his pathway. She told him of many poor boys who, in spite of more adverse cir- cumstances than those with which he had to con- tend, had attained to learning, wealth, eminence and usefulness. Among the many illustrations which she named was the case of Benjamin Franklin, whose life he read and reread, so that the compositor who brought down fire from heaven became his beau ideal. Her advice and counsel were always wise, as though spoken by an angel of God. The memory of this sainted parent is still cherished with a deep religious affection, and is among his best enjoyments in his declining years.
His original purpose was to go through Union College, but having had a great love for the exact
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sciences, in the study of which he had spent con- siderable time, and being now twenty-one years of age, he was advised to give up the idea of a univer- sity course and enter at once upon the study of the law, which he had determined to make his life work. He accordingly entered the law office of Cornelius H. Putman, Esq., in Montgomery county, New York, where he remained four years, and was admitted to the bar in 1840.
On the 7th of October of the same year he mar- ried Miss Mary A. McConkey, a daughter of John McConkey, of Voorheesville, Montgomery county, New York, who has since been his faithful com- panion, friend and counselor, sharing his trials, no less than his triumphs, throughout his long and cminently happy life. In the following year he moved to Wisconsin and settled at the town of Delavan, Walworth county, where he resided for twenty-nine years. The town then consisted of only a few rude houses partially completed, while the surrounding country lay in its primitive state, as it came from the hand of the Great Architect of the universe, save here and there a rude beginning at the border of some timber patch. The entire coun- try was an open wilde, and yet marvelously beautiful, unmarred by roads or fences. The prairies adorned by a profusion of wild flowers, which perfumed the summer air with their fragrance, while the groves of giant oaks seemed to furnish a suitable dwelling place for the gods. All around was a solemn still- ness,
= - sublime, but sad. The loneliness Loaded the heart; the desert tired the eye, And strange and awful fears were wont to press The bosom with a stern solemnity."
But man, civilized man, entered and overturned the fair but hitherto unproductive face of nature, and where the buffalo and the red man ranged uncon- trolled, towns, cities, farm houses, school houses, churches, factories, railroads, fences, etc., are now to be seen, presenting a striking contrast to that which met the gaze of the traveler forty years ago. Our subject has seen the growth of it all, and borne his full share in bringing about the wonderful change.
In 1842 he was elected probate judge of Walworth county, and was reëlected for three consecutive terms, making six years in succession. During the same period he practiced his profession, and always had his full share of the business of the courts. In the winter of 1849 he was appointed by the legislature as a member of a committee of lawyers to codify the statutes of the State, and bore a conspicuous
part in that important work. In the autumn of the same year he was elected county judge of Walworth county for a term of four years, the title and dura- tion of the incumbency having been changed in 1848. In 1853 he was elected to a second term of the same office, but after serving two years of the last named period he was induced to resign the office in order that he might devote his whole time and energy to the building of the Western Union railroad, an enterprise of which he was one of the originators, and of which he continued a director and vice-president until the road changed hands in 1869. In 1866 he was elected a member of the lower house of the Wisconsin legislature, and was appointed chairman of the committee on railroads, a very responsible position, in view of the fact that a large land grant was to be disposed of by that legislature, and there was great rivalry among com- peting companies ; but Judge Allen was found equal to the emergency, and so well did he act his part that he was reelected in the following year, and served as chairman of the still more important com- mittee on federal relations. In 1852 he was one of the charter members of the State Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, and con- tinued a member of its board of trustees for nine- teen years-serving as chairman most of the time - when he resigned. In 1850 he organized the Wal- worth County Bank, of which he continued the president until its dissolution and reorganization under the banking law of 1863. He removed to Racine in 1870, and was soon after appointed a member of the board of State charities and reform, which position, after four years of faithful service, he was obliged to resign on account of failing health.
Soon after settling in Racine he became impressed with the necessity for a larger volume of capital to accommodate the business men of the city, and after securing the concurrence of several of the leading citizens, he obtained, through Senator Car- penter, a charter from congress for the organization of the Manufacturers' National Bank at Racine, of which he was made a director, which position he still retains. This is one of the most substantial and useful monied institutions of the State.
He was raised under Methodist training, and in early life was a member of that church, but on settling in Delavan he united with others in the organization of a Congregational society ; aided liberally in building its first church in 1843, and was a member and trustee of the congregation for
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twenty-eight years. On removing to Racine he united with the Presbyterian church, of which he has since been a member and an officer.
His political views may be inferred from his rec- ord. He was an abolitionist from the outset, and the first newspaper he ever subscribed for was the "Emancipator." The sentiments he then imbibed elung to him through life, and he is thankful to God that he has lived to see slavery overthrown; for while he does not believe that the African is in all respects the equal of the white man, still his inferi- ority is no reason why he should be enslaved. Con- sequently he gave his whole influence and support to the cause of the government during the late slave- holders' rebellion, and was among the foremost of the loyal citizens in his district in every work for the aid of the government and the benefit of the fight- ing soldiers and their dependent families.
He is a strong advocate of a metallic currency as a basis, and paper money only when on par with gold. He is an ardent believer in free trade, low rates of interest for money, and the enactment of such laws as will give every man a full share of the profit of his toil. He is not a believer in caste, save only such as God has made among men in brains, virtue and the various factors which make up a good character.
For many years past he has been a sufferer fromn a painful malady that has somewhat circumscribed his usefulness and activity. Yet, notwithstanding
this very serious disadvantage, he has always been a gentleman of a genial and social spirit, bringing sun- shine into every circle which he enters, and com- municating the same spirit to others. It has been a cause of surprise to his friends how he could gain such mastery over pain, and in spite of it maintain such cheerfulness and equanimity of temper. This characteristic, together with his conversational pow- ers, renders him always a most welcome acquisition to any social circle. He is a man of wide and varied information, which, by constant study, he keeps within practical reach, and is therefore able to make it of value to himself and those with whom he asso- ciates.
As a Christian he is thoroughly sincere and ear- nest. Indeed, earnestness and sincerity may be said to be the leading traits of his character, but they show their greatest development in his religious life. He has been for years, in a marked degree, a growing Christian, putting on the mellowness and flavor of ripeness, a man not living for himself but for others, and evidently striving to imitate his Redeemer in daily life -his christianity having the breadth which springs from large intelligence, broad charity, and an extensive intercourse with mankind.
The even balance and steady onflow of Judge Allen's character renders it the more difficult to portray, and makes his excellencies less striking. In a word, he is not a man of protuberances of char- acter, but a well-rounded and full-orbed man.
BURR ROBBINS,
JANESVILLE.
A COMPLETE history of the adventures, experi- ments, trials and ultimate triumphs of him whose name heads this article would occupy more space in these columns than we could afford to it ; hence we must content ourselves with a brief out- line.
Burr Robbins, the most successful showman in the West, and second only to the redoubtable Bar- num, was born on the picturesque banks of the Susquehanna river, in the village of Union, Broome county, New York, October 13, 1837. His parents were Isaiah P. and Lavinia (Day) Robbins, both natives of Wooster county, Massachusetts, and de- scended of English ancestors, who settled in the Bay State several generations ago. They were,
moreover, possessed of more than average intelli- gence, and sustained the very highest character for uprightness and moral worth; so that the early training of our subject was of the most exemplary character. Soon after their marriage his parents moved to New York, and founded the village in which he was born, where his father was for many years a successful merchant. In 1848 he gave up merchandising and removed to the neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, where he purchased a large farm and carried on the business of husbandry success- fully during the remainder of his life. Our subject received his elementary education in the village of Brooklyn, Ohio, and spent the years 1852, 1853 and 1854 in the Baldwin University of the same State,
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becoming a superior English and mathematical scholar, and being also well versed in history and in several of the ancient languages.
In the spring of 1855, possessed of a spirit of ad- venture and a desire to hew out his own way in life, he left his home, with no capital or stock in trade aside from his brains and the clothing which he carried on his back, and worked his passage on a steamboat to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and thence went into the country some distance to seek em- ployment on a farm; but he was so young and frail looking that no one would employ him. He next turned . his face toward Racine, which place he reached hungry and penniless, and sawed wood to pay for a supper, which was the only meal he had that day. His next objective point was Chicago, which he reached by "stowing " himself on board the old steamer Traveller, and giving his only coat to pay his passage. In Chicago he was taken charge of by a poor sailor, who generously fed him and supplied his wants until he procured employment at a lumber yard, at a compensation barely sufficient to pay his board. He continued at this business several months, and in the autumn of the same year went to Corunna, Michigan, where he had an older brother in business. Here he found employment in the hardware store of Eli Moore and Co., where he remained one year, and accumulated a small capital together with some valuable experience. In the autumn of 1856 he obtained an appointment as civil engineer on the Detroit, Saginaw and Pere Mar- quette railroad, which he held until the enterprise was. temporarily abandoned, owing to the financial panic of 1857. He next moved to St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he procured employment in Wood's museum, which he retained for some months. Here he conceived the idea of entering upon the career in which he has been so signally successful. In 1858 he associated himself with a certain " Profes- sor " C. C. Pratt, a Boston singer of some reputation, and invested his little savings in a concert company and commenced a professional tour through the in- terior towns of Illinois. But the times were very stringent, and at one place they failed to pay ex- penses, had no surplus on hand and were yet in debt. The situation was critical, but the young artist was equal to the emergency. Instead of leav- ing in the night and repudiating the debt, as many would have done, he went to work in the harvest- field until he earned money enough to pay his bills ; and in the same fall entered upon the business of
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