USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 97
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" showman " under more favorable auspices, namely, as manager of a panorama of the revolutionary war, lecturing upon each scene exhibited. He continued this business with satisfactory financial results until the outbreak of the late rebellion, when, on the 19th of April, 1861, he enlisted in a Cleveland regiment, and went with his command to Clarksburg, Virginia. Here his excellent business qualifications and pecu- liar training were soon brought under contribution, and he was accordingly placed in charge of the transportation department at General Mcclellan's headquarters. He continued in this capacity until the end of the year 1861, when he was appointed wagonmaster of General Terril's brigade of artillery, then stationed at Mumfordsville, Kentucky, with thirty days' leave of absence. Meantime he re- turned to Ohio, and on the 20th of January, 1862, married Miss Lizzie C., daughter of the Hon. John A. Ackley, who for many years was superintendent of public works of the State of Ohio. He left for the front two days after his marriage, and was after- ward promoted to the position of master of transpor- tation, twenty-third army corps, commanded by Gen- eral Schofield, in which he remained until the close of the war, rendering invaluable service to his coun- try, and earning for himself an enviable reputation as a patriot and soldier. It is worthy of record that he was first a sergeant in the regiment of which President Hayes was colonel, and that he is now among the most enthusiastic admirers of our chief magistrate.
At the close of the war he organized a variety theater company, and for a time gave entertainments in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, continuing the same with fair success until 1867, when he settled at Paw Paw, Michigan, and engaged in merchandising; which he continued for about a year, and until the death of his wife, which occurred on the 23d of July, 1868. He then sold out and lived retired until December, 1870, when he again ventured be- fore the public as manager of the National Panorama of Paintings, of the celebrated Bill D. T. Travis. This business he pursued until June, 1871, at which time he purchased a small tent show, which he ex- hibited at towns in Indiana and Michigan for several months with considerable success; and in the spring of 1872 he organized the circus and menagerie with which his name and fame have since been connect- ed, and which has proved a grand financial success, and given him renown second only to that of Bar- num. In 1874 he purchased the beautiful farm and
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buildings formerly owned by the County Agricultu- ral Society, located one mile south of the city of Janesville, Wisconsin, on the Rock river, where he has made a home of rare attractions. Here he has parks for his deer and suitable winter accommoda- tions for his large stud of horses and great variety of wild animals. He has over one hundred thousand dollars invested in wild quadrupeds and birds alone, while his entire stock in trade is not far short of a million dollars. All this Burr Robbins has accumu- lated in a few years by his talents as a caterer to the public appetite for recreation, and by his sterling integrity and uprightness of character. He is known everywhere as a man of his word-whatever he promises he performs. He is a shrewd financier, generous and noble-hearted, a kind and indulgent master, a true and fast friend. When he travels through the country, the thousands flock to greet
him, because, as the proverb is, his is the "most respectable " as well as the largest "show " which travels in the West. His reputation has been won and his success achieved by honorable means-in- dustry, energy and unflinching integrity.
In December, 1871, he was married to Miss Nett Webster, of Lawrence, Michigan, a lady of refined tastes and high culture, who generally spends the summer in traveling with her husband. As an indi- cation of the esteem in which this lady is held by the citizens of Janesville, it is proper to mention here that in June, 1875, she was presented by them with a splendid silver tea set, water pitcher and coffee urn, while Mr. Robbins was himself the re- cipient of a gold-headed cane from the same source. Two children are the fruit of this marriage-a son, born December 14, 1872, and a daughter, born January 18, 1876.
JOSIAH W. SEELY,
WAUPUN.
JONAS SEELY, from whom a large branch of the Seely family in this country sprung, came from England in 1690, and settled in Stanford, Connecti- cut. Other branches of the family spell their names differently. The parents of Josiah W. Seely, the subject of this brief biography, were Henry and Clarissa (Lyon) Seely, residents of Bainbridge, Che- nango county, New York, at the time of his birth, December 10, 1819. His grandfather, Eli Seely, was a soldier in the revolutionary war.
Josiah was kept at school during the first eighteen years of his life, finishing his literary education at the high school in his native village. In 1837 he commenced studying law in the office of Henry A. Clark, of Bainbridge, and finished with Love and Freer, of Ithaca; teaching school, meanwhile, three winters. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, at the January term of the supreme court, held at Albany, and practiced three years at Ithaca. He was at Bainbridge from 1847 to 1858, practicing law and attending to a farm which his father, who died in 1848, left him. He then spent a year in Nebraska, and in 1859 settled at Marquette, Green Lake county, Wisconsin. There he was in legal practice and land speculation until 1863, when he removed to Waupun, his present home. He prac- tices in all the courts of the State, but for years has
given his attention largely to collecting and real estate operations. At one time his collections were second to those of scarcely any lawyer in the State. They became so large and so burdensome, that a few years ago he was obliged to throw a part of them off. He now has a partner in the law and collecting business, N. W. Frost, who attends to the collections, which are rapidly growing on their hands.
Mr. Seely has two excellent farms, one in, the other near, Waupun, with an aggregate of four hun- dred acres, lying in Dodge and Fond du Lac coun- ties. The one in town is one of the best in the State. He also owns a block in the village of Wau- pun, and other property; and has large tracts of land in Nebraska, Minnesota and Missouri. As a business man he has been eminently successful, and is known for his skill and tact. On his farms, to which he gives all his leisure time, he has full- blooded stock of various kinds, cattle, sheep and horses. He has three or four spans of carriage horses, all for his own use, some of them difficult to match in the State. They are of his own raising. Mr. Seely has ample means for his comfort, ample facilities for his pleasure, and is living at his ease, as any sensible man, in similar circumstances, can afford to do and will do.
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In politics, he was formerly a whig, and is now a republican, but has never accepted an office of any kind.
He attends the Episcopal church, of which his wife, who was Miss Susan Maria Humphrey, of Hart-
ford county, Connecticut, is a member. They were joined in wedlock March 10, 1856, and have had four children, three of whom, Henry A., Clara M. and Amelia H. are living, and receiving the advan- tages of a first-class education.
JOHN B. A. KERN,
MILWAUKEE.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of the king- dom of Bavaria, was born on the 29th of Sep- tember, 1829, the son of John B. and Mary Kern.
His father, being himself a thorough business man, trained his son to correct business habits, and it was thus early in life that he laid the foundation of that success which has attended him. He received a thorough common-school education in the public schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after closing his studies, desiring to become a tobacco -. nist, at once learned the trade and turned his atten- tion to that line of business. He continued in this business during the next eight years, in which time he traveled over the greater part of the United States, selling the goods which he manufactured. The business proved very successful, and yielded him a handsome fortune. He next purchased 'an interest in the Philadelphia Print Works, an invest- ment which proved unfortunate, and cost him the fortune which he had gained in the tobacco trade.
In 1859 Mr. Kern settled at Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, and began milling in an old frame flouring-mill situated on Poplar street. His business, begun thus on a small scale, gradually increased from year to year, until it has assumed immense proportions. Beginning with a capital of less than two thousand dollars, he employed, during the first year, twelve hands, and produced one hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of flour. To-day he owns a mill with a frontage of one hundred feet, one hundred and
forty feet deep, and six stories high, and his busi- ness employs about one hundred hands, and yields an annual product of two hundred thousand barrels of flour.
In all his dealings with his customers Mr. Kern is characterized by fairness, frankness and unswerv- ing integrity. In all his business matters he is prompt and energetic, and it is to these qualities, together with the superior quality of his flour, that is due the great success which has attended him in his milling enterprise. His motto through life has been, that success must come through honest, per- sistent, continuous effort ; and following this he has, even in times of misfortune and reverses, made the highest use of his powers and opportunities.
In politics Mr. Kern is not bound by party ties, but disregarding all prejudices, supports for office him whom he deems most worthy the place.
In religious sentiment he is free from all sectarian- ism, and holding to the principle laid down in the golden rule, exercises toward all men that charity and liberality which he claims for himself.
In February, 1856, he was married to Miss Lena Bertsehy. Mrs. Kern is a lady of most admirable qualities, and has been to her husband a true helper and adviser, and to her influence is due much of his success.
They have an interesting family of three sons and three daughters, all of whom, except the eldest, are now attending school.
HENRY L. BARNES, M.D.,
RIPON.
H ENRY LINZEY BARNES, son of Jehiel S. and Sarah Ann (Cole) Barnes, was born at Mexico, Oswego county, New York, April 16, 1835. His father's family was of English descent, and
settled in this country long before the American revolution. His grandfather participated in that struggle. Rev. Albert Barnes, the biblical scholar and annotator, belongs to one branch of this family.
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Jehiel S. Barnes, a farmer, moved to Wisconsin in 1846, and settled near Markesan, Green Lake county. There Henry spent five years, employed in farm work ; he was then sent away to school, and finished his literary education at the high school in Ripon. He commenced studying medicine with Dr. A. W. Hewitt, of Ripon, in September, 1854. He attended lectures one term at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and spent a year with Professors Thayer and Webber, of Cleveland, Ohio, giving special attention to surgery. He graduated from the Cleveland Medical College in March, 1858, and thereupon settled in Dartford, Green Lake county, in which place, and in Ripon, his present home, he has since continued to practice with constantly growing success.
In January, 1865, Dr. Barnes went into the mili- tary service as assistant surgeon of the 21st Wiscon- sin Regiment, which had just joined in the march from Atlanta to the sea with General Sherman's grand army through the Carolinas. He remained with the regiment until it was mustered out in the
summer of that year. His studies while with Pro- fessors Thayer and Webber were especially adapted to fitting him for an army surgeon, so that he filled the position with marked credit. The amount of practice in this line, in a small city like Ripon and the surrounding country, is limited, though Dr. Barnes has his full share of it, and is gaining in popularity both as a surgeon and as a general prac- titioner; and in medical skill his reputation is an honor both to the profession and to himself. He is a member of the county and State medical societies.
Dr. Barnes is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, and was master of the lodge several years, and is now high priest of the chapter.
In politics he was a Douglass democrat in 1860, but since that time has usually voted with the re- publicans. Finding, however, work and study suf- ficient to employ all his powers in connection with his profession, he devotes little attention to politics.
Dr. Barnes was married on the 3d of January, 1861, to Miss Nelly Cody, of Dartford, Wisconsin, and by her has had four children.
JOHN DICKSON,
RACINE.
J
OHN DICKSON was born in Chautauqua county,
New York, in what is now the town of Ripley, on the 8th of September, 1814, and is the son of John and Elizabeth (Sutphen) Dickson. His parents were natives of Somerset county, New Jersey. His father was descended from original Scotch ances- tors, who emigrated to the north of Ireland and set- tled in Londonderry, whence they emigrated to America. His mother was of Holland-Dutch ori- gin, of the same stock that settled New York and Albany. After their marriage in 1796 they moved to Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York, which was then a wilderness. In 1810 they removed still farther westward and settled at the place where our subject was born, and where his childhood and early youth were passed. He still entertains the most kindly feelings toward the place of his nativ- ity, calling it, in fond remembrance, "Old Chautau- que." His early education was obtained mainly from private schools, for the district school was not as yet either a regular or permanent institution. While a pupil his great ambition was to "graduate," as he facetiously termed it, at the head of the first
class in spelling, a distinguished honor, in those good old primitive days, at a country school. The geographies in use in the schools at that time had no maps, and it was not easy to locate and describe the boundaries of the different geographical divi- sions of the earth, so that the students of those days labored under very great disadvantages as compared with those of the present day. Our subject com- menced his business life at the age of fourteen as clerk in a "country store " in the village of West- field, Chautauqua county, New York, where he re- mained about six years, when he obtained an ap- pointment as cadet in the Military Academy at West Point, which institution he entered in June, 1834, remaining until December, 1835, when his mind having undergone a change in regard to his purposes in life, he resigned. In after years, how- ever, he deeply regretted this step, and in his dreams has many times been reinstated in the academy, and spent long nights of laborious study to make up for lost time, but awoke only to find that it was but a dream. At that time there was a mania for busi- ness speculations in the country, and as he already
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had some business experience as a clerk he thought it better to renounce his profession, enter at once into business and get rich, than to "bone " those knotty problems, as the expression was, and, after spending years in study, to live on a lieutenant's pay of seven hundred dollars a year, with prospects of slow advancement. On resigning' and quitting the academy he supposed that his connection with the institution was severed, but a considerable time after he had entered into business he received a remittance of a sum of money for back pay, his res- ignation not having been accepted when tendered, and the place being held open in the expectation that he might wish to return, his pay had been running on.
In the spring of 1836 he entered into partnership with an old niercantile establishment, under the firm name of Camp, Dickson and Co., in Mayville, the county seat of Chautauqua county, New York, and remained in business there for five years. He was one of the first, if not the first, to purchase the dairy products of that now famous dairy county for shipment to the New York and Boston markets. But during these years his mind yearned for the great West and its larger possibilities. He had been for a considerable time a reader of the "St. Louis Republican," and had become familiar with western business.
Accordingly, in the year 1841, Oliver Lee, Esq., a banker of Buffalo, New York, desiring to establish his nephew, the late Alanson H. Lee, in business, requested our subject to unite with him and estab- lish a business somewhere in the West, stipulating at the same time to take a third interest in the con- cern, and if necessary to advance capital; and as he (Mr. Oliver Lee) was largely interested in vessel trading on the lakes, and as Wisconsin had just commenced to ship her surplus wheat to the east- ern market, and Racine had been the first port to engage in this trade, they chose that city as their location, and soon after established the firm of Lee, Dickson and Co., which during its entire existence was the leading one in Racine; it is no exagger- ation to say that this establishment exercised a most important influence upon the future growth and prosperity of the city. They gave tone and char- acter to its business, while their capital and influ- ence were generously given toward the promotion of every enterprise for the public good. They were the leaders of public sentiment, and their opinion was sought and their example followed generally.
What they indorsed was sure to succeed, and what they discountenanced was just as sure to fail, but no worthy object ever sought their aid in vain. The business of Lee and Dickson was continued until the death of the former in 1861, altogether for a period of twenty years of the most happy relations that could be desired; the testimony of Mr. Dick- son in regard to his late partner being that Alanson Henry Lee was "An honest man, the noblest work of God."
In the early days before the advent of railroads, and previous to the establishment of manufactures, towns upon the lake shore were in a great measure dependent for success upon the lake commerce, and this of course was largely contingent upon the char- acter of the harbor accommodations. With a lively appreciation of the importance of this feature in the development of the city, an appropriation had been asked from congress for the purpose of improving the harbor of Racine, but after waiting patiently but con- fidently for several years, the citizens were not only disappointed in their expectations but chagrined to find that their more sturdy rival on the north, Mil- waukee, had been preferred before them and had re- ceived the aid which Racine so much needed. This was a heavy blow and sore discouragement to the cit- izens, whose hopes and aspirations were all centered and exhausted in their city; but though cast down they were not in despair, neither did they waste time in useless regrets. They saw that the time to either " do or die " had come, and they accordingly as- sembled in mass meeting and resolved to build a harbor with their own means. To this end they asked the legislature to authorize them to levy taxes on the property of the village for that purpose. This, with subscriptions from some of the more wealthy citizens, was applied under the direction of the board of trustees of the village, and the result is that Racine has a harbor second to none on Lake Michigan, and to this circumstance is due, in no small degree, the success of this beautiful and flour -. ishing city. In all the struggles and efforts con- nected with this enterprise and its successful com- pletion, Mr. Dickson bore a leading part. He was a member of the board of village trustees, and an indefatigable worker in the cause both in season and out of season, and he now looks with pride and satisfaction upon one of the most beautiful and prosperous cities of the West.
In 1848 he was one of the promoters and a char- ter member of the Racine and Delavan Plank-road
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Company, a road about forty miles in length, and costing the company about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars; and although it was soon after, in a great measure, superseded by a railroad, yet it was for several years a very great accommodation to the public trading between the cities which it con- nected. In 1852 he was one of the organizers, a charter member, and for many years after a director and vice-president of the Racine and Mississippi Railroad Company, now the Western Union Rail- road Company. The labor of all these years, to- gether with a large sum of money, was bestowed for the benefit of Racine. He was also a commissioner and charter member of the first railroad company organized in the Territory of Wisconsin, the Lake Michigan and Mississippi Railroad Company, sub- sequently changed to the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad Company, but he has never held and never expects to hold an office not accom- panied by hard work and pecuniary loss.
He has never associated himself with any religious denomination, but regards religious associations as organizations of great value in connecting and bind- ing society together, and in securing associate ac- tion upon any desired object. He believes that there is a governing intelligence in the universe which he calls God, and with whom he holds direct relation, but he has adopted no creed, nor does he observe any formularies in his worship.
He was so deeply absorbed in schemes for the public benefit and the general welfare that for many years he had not time to bestow a thought upon himself. He was, however, one day startled and brought to a realizing sense of his situation by read- ing a carefully-prepared table setting forth the ages at which it was most probable men would marry, and beyond which the probabilities of matrimony diminished at a large percentage. He concluded that the time for action had come, and that he
would disarrange the figures in the table referred to by taking to himself a wife. Accordingly, at the age of forty-three, on the 4th of August, 1857, he mar- ried Miss Helen, daughter of the late Seth W. Holmes, formerly of Mayville, Chautauqua county, New York, then a resident of Paw Paw Grove, Lee county, Illinois, a very worthy and accomplished lady, several years his junior. Their union was blessed with a family of three children, all boys. The eldest, a very promising lad, died at the age of six years. The survivors are being carefully edu- cated for lives of usefulness and honor.
From an early period Mr. Dickson has taken a deep interest in political matters. At the age of ten he was an enthusiastic admirer and supporter of Andrew Jackson for the Presidency. On coming of age he voted with the democratic party, which in those days had an honorable record. He gathered his political inspiration largely from the New York " Evening Post," edited by the venerable William Cullen Bryant, and deeply did he sympathize with that noted philanthropist when the arrogant de- mands of the slave power became so exorbitant as to make it necessary for him to break away from former associates and declare for freedom. He joined the free-soil party at its organization, and re- mained with it till it merged into the republican party, with which he has since acted. He is in ac- cord with the policy of President Hayes as devel- oped in his southern measures, and considers it in harmony with the eternal fitness of things that the South should make terms with the republican party rather than regain power under the old Bourbon banner. He considers that the South, in its inner- most heart, must feel thankful that it was not per- mitted to consummate the terrible crime of breaking in pieces this glorious country, and must fecl like the prodigal son when he was restored to his father's house.
JOHN LOWTH,
JUNEAU.
O NE of the early and most respected citizens of Dodge county, Wisconsin, is John Lowth, a native of Ireland. He was born in the county of Meath, June 6, 1822, his parents being James Lowth and Marcella née McGuirk. His parental grand- father was a noted classical teacher in a seminary in
that county. His father immigrated to America in 1827 and settled at Pittsford, Rutland county, Ver- mont, and there engaged in farming. At the age of sixteen John went to Castleton and devoted four years to literary studies, paying special attention, during the latter part of this time, to chemistry and
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physiology. At the age of twenty he returned to Pittsford and married Miss Sarah C. Loring. After reading law a few months he, in June, 1843, moved to East Troy, Walworth county, Wisconsin, and was greatly encouraged by the opening in this, then new, unsettled country. He taught school for a time and then resumed the study of law. In March, 1845, he settled at Clyman, in Dodge county, and engaged in farming a short time. Soon afterward, however, he disposed of his farm and completed his legal studies, and in 1852 was admitted to the bar at Juneau, the county seat, and to the supreme court of the State in 1855. He practiced at Lowell, in the same coun- ty, for several years, and in 1866 moved to Juneau. During a period of nearly thirty years he has been in office much of the time. He was elected clerk of the board of supervisors in 1847, and held that office four years. He was a member of the general as- sembly in 1850, 1851 and 1859. He was deputy warden of the State's Prison from January 1, 1854, to January 1, 1858. In 1866 he was elected clerk of the court, and by reelection still holds that posi- tion. As a business man and public officer he is very careful and correct, while as a lawyer he is one of the most successful and popular in his county,
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