USA > Wisconsin > Washington County > Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Hans Balatka
Hans Balatka was born March 5, 1826, at Hoffnungsthal, near Olmütz, in Moravia, Austria. His family, being musical through generations, instructed him on the piano and the violin and in singing. His father played a string quartette with his three sons. In his twelfth year young Balatka was sent to the grammar school at Olmütz, where his fine alto voice and remarkable faculty of reading music at sight secured for him the position of alto soloist in the ca-
181
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
thedral. About this time he began studying harmony and composi- tion with Ritter von Dietrich. In his sixteenth year he commenced taking lessons on the violoncello. He entered the University of Olmütz to study law, and was but eighteen years old when he was unanimously elected conductor of the Academical Musical Society, which position he held for two years, conducting each season a regular series of concerts with marked success. He then removed to Vienna to become tutor in the family of a wealthy Hungarian noble- man and to complete his studies in that university. Here he studied harmony with Sechter, composition with Proch, and voice-culture with the famous Gentiluomo. When in 1848 the revolutionary wave swept over Germany and Austria, Balatka did not escape its tremen- dously agitating influence, and when it fell flat he chose to leave his country and look for his adored ideal of liberty in America. We now come to the time of his sailing for New York, together with several companions, as related in the chapter on "The Latin Settle- ment." They left Hamburg April 24, 1849, and arrived in New York, June 2 following. For his first experiences in this country the reader is referred to the chapter aforesaid. After his agricul- tural scheme in Washington county proved a failure, he settled in Milwaukee and took up the teaching of music. The large German population of that city contained elements of the highest culture and excellent musical ability. From the start he assumed a prominent place in musical life, and in 1851 organized the famous Musical So- ciety, a society which up to this day is one of the most prominent and flourishing musical organizations of the country. An excellent string quartette, the first in Milwaukee and the western states, was also organized by him. He produced works of the best composers of chamber music, symphonies, overtures, oratories, operas, and cantatas. In 1853 he produced "Czar and Carpenter," by Lortzing-the first operatic performance in the Northwest. During the next few years at least one opera was produced annually. In 1860 he was intrusted with the performance of Mozart's "Requiem" in the cathedral of Chicago. This pleased the music-loving public of that city so well that they united their efforts to induce him to settle there, in which they were successful. In Chicago he reorgan- ized the Philharmonic Society and held the leadership until they dissolved in 1868. During the eight years he brought out musical masterpieces like the opera "Semiramide," the oratorio "The Mes- siah," "The Creation," and others. In 1862 he became leader of the Musical Union, and in 1867 director of the Germania Männer-
182
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
chor. In 1868 he conducted the great orchestra of the Sängerfest at Chicago, and in 1869 commenced his symphony concerts in which he produced music entirely new to the Chicagoans. In 1869 he organ- ized the Chicago Oratory Society. After the great Chicago fire he went to Milwaukee and in 1871-72 again directed the Musical So- ciety of that city. He then returned to Chicago, where, with the exception of a short residence in St. Louis, Mo., in 1878, he resided until his death. In 1873 he organized the Liederkranz Society, and later the Mozart Club and the Chicago Music-Verein. The Sänger- fest at Chicago in 1881 was one of the greatest musical events con- ducted by him. In 1879 he founded the Balatka Academy of Mu- sical Art. As a composer Balatka was not fertile, but all of his com- positions bear the stamp of high artistic feeling, and of mastery of technical detail. They include a grand aria for soprano with or- chestra accompaniment; a quartetto for the piano, dedicated to his son ; a sonata to his daughter, and a number of songs. He also com- pleted Chopin's "Funeral March," by adding a suitable climax, in- stead of the abrupt ending in the usual scores, and arranged many pieces for orchestra and choirs. He had a remarkable memory for music and operatic parts, and on one occasion, in Milwaukee, when the entire score of an opera was stolen, he rewrote it verbatim as he recollected it. He wrote on musical matters for several publica- tions, and is the author of "A Condensed History of Music," and "A History of Orchestra Music in Chicago." On March 5, 1855, he was married to Hedwig Constance, daughter of Dr. Christian Gottlob Fessel, of Milwaukee, Wis. (This date does not correspond with the time given in the chapter on the "Latin Settlement," and, moreover, his biographies, as far as the editor has seen them, do not tell anything of his experience as a settler.) They had four sons and two daughters, all of whom became thorough musicians. Hans Ba- latka died in Chicago, Ill., April 17, 1899.
Samuel S. Barney
"I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error. His service to us is of like sort. It costs a beautiful person no exertion to paint her image on our eyes; yet how splendid is that benefit! It costs no more for a wise soul to con-
183
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
vey his quality to other men. And every one can do his best thing easiest-'Peu de moyens, beaucoup d'effect.' He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others." This is Emerson's conception of a great man, and when I compare it with the subject of this sketch, I cannot help to find striking similarities.
Samuel S. Barney was born in the town of Hartford, two miles west of the southern end of Cedar lake, on the 31st of January, 1846, a son of John and Adeline A. (Knox) Barney. His parents were New Englanders who came to Wisconsin in 1842, locating in Prairie- ville, now Waukesha. In October, 1845, they removed to the town of Hartford. He was the first white child born in that town. In his early youth the boy saw more Indians than white men, and more deer than sheep. He knew the forest primeval, in which one could hardly see a hundred feet in any direction, teeming with big and small game; he was yet a contemporary of the passenger pigeon, now most likely extinct; and he saw Cedar lake in its original beauty, its crystal waters yet free from encroaching plants, its shores hemmed in by an edge of cedars and over-shadowed by magnificent trees. He saw Solomon Juneau stopping at his father's house, who had come to persuade the Indians to return to their reservation in Kansas, where they were to live after they had sold their land to the Govern- ment in 1838, but whence many of them returned to their cherished old hunting grounds. And he witnessed the great change in the population, when the Yankees sold their land to the incoming Ger- mans who willingly paid four times the original price of fifty dol- lars for forty acres, and once more moved westward.
The boy received his elementary education in the public schools of his native town, and later in Lombard University at Galesburg, Ill. After completing his studies in 1867, he took up pedagogy as his oc- cupation and taught at Hartford until 1872. In his last year as a teacher he began the study of law with the late Attorney General Leander F. Frisby at West Bend, pursuing his studies during vaca- tion and in leisure hours. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, and has ever since resided in West Bend. In 1874 he was admitted to pleadings in the Supreme Court, and from that time dates his part- nership in the law firm of Frisby, Weil & Barney, which lasted until October, 1879, when he withdrew and formed a partnership with Y. N. Frisby, under the firm name of Frisby & Barney. In the fall of 1880 this partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, and De- cember 1, 1881, he entered a partnership with G. A. Kuechenmeister under the firm name of Barney & Kuechenmeister. In 1872 and 1873
184
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
he edited the Washington County Republican, now the Hartford Press, at West Bend. He was superintendent of schools of Wash- ington county for four years, beginning January 1, 1876. He en- tered upon his political career in 1884, when he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for congress against General Bragg, Demo- crat, in the old Second district. Ten years intervened before he again entered the political arena. In 1894 he was elected congress- man for the old Fifth district, receiving 18,681 votes against Henry Blank, Democrat, who received 13,057, and Fred C. Runge, Popu- list, who received 3,794. In 1896 he was elected to the Fifty-fifth congress, receiving 26,613 votes, against 16,492 for George Wi- nans, Democrat, and 557 for Henry Mensing, Socialist labor candi- date. He was re-elected to congress in 1898, receiving 17,056 votes against 13,233 for Charles E. Armin, Democrat; 997 for William B. Rubin, People's Party; 1,088 for George Eckelman, Social Demo- crat ; 342 for Albert F. Hintz, Social Labor party; and 228 for Wil- liam Nethercut, Prohibitionist. He was elected into the House of Representatives for the fourth time in 1900, receiving 23,089 votes, against 18,066 votes cast for Charles H. Weisse, Democrat. When in 1893 the Legislature redistricted the state and produced what was considered a gerrymander by the constituents of Mr. Barney, he declined to be a nominee again.
In congress Mr. Barney proved himself worthy of the confidence of the people. Through his ability and integrity he rose in the course of the years to a position not often reached by congressmen. He guarded the interests of his constituents in a straightforward man- ner, but never losing sight of the larger national field. As chairman of important committees he filled positions of honor and trust most creditably.
As a lawyer he ranked among the best of the state. His clear in- sight into the essential points involved in a legal controversy, his ability to clearly and concisely state his arguments to court and jury, and above all, his obvious fairness, at all times, toward his opponents have earned for him the esteem of all who in the courts came in con- tact with him.
Mr. Barney is perhaps the ablest speaker this county has ever pro- duced. It was in the '70s when this natural gift of his first attracted attention in state conventions. Without recourse to oratory, he has a happy way to express his thoughts, that is both refined and palatable to the popular mind. He is an amiable and interesting talker, broad- minded and big-hearted. Whenever he spoke-the occasions were
185
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
manifold-he filled the halls, regardless of the political or religious creed of his listeners.
In December, 1905, he was appointed judge of the United States Court of Claims in Washington, D. C., by President Theodore Roose- velt, in recognition of his eminent services and signal ability. He holds that high position ever since. Soon after his appointment he dissolved his partnership with Mr. Kuechenmeister, his son succeed- ing him in that law firm.
Judge Barney was married May 18, 1876, at West Bend, to Miss Ellen S. McHenry. Four children, John M., Sarah C. (Mrs. Carl Rix), Sybil, and Marion, were born to them.
Albert J. Earling
This is the story of a Richfield boy who rose from humble sur- roundings to the presidency of one of the greatest railway systems of the world. Albert J. Earling was born in Richfield, January 19, 1849. His education he received in the common schools of his native town, which could furnish him with but a mere foundation of knowl- edge. His real school was the world, and he himself was his severest school master. He was ambitious and hard working, and formed a predilection for railroading. At the age of eighteen years he entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (at that time the Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry.) as telegraph operator. After a service of nine years as operator and train dispatcher, he was ap- pointed assistant division superintendent. In 1882 he was promoted to the office of division superintendent, later to that of assistant gen- eral superintendent, and in 1888 was made general superintendent. In 1890 he became general manager and in 1895, second vice-president. In September, 1899, he was elected president.
The most noteworthy feat Mr. Earling was instrumental in accom- plishing as executive officer of the railway was its extension to the Pacific coast. It had been his favorite idea for some time, as he believed it to be for the best of the road. From the first he foresaw that traffic and commercial conditions would inevitably demand for his line an independent western outlet. He had seen it grow from a "jerkwater" bantling of 105 miles of track in 1863 to a very respect- able looking railway system, but he also saw that there still was plenty of room for growth, and that it would have to reach the great estuary of the Pacific coast, Puget Sound, to insure the greatest efficiency.
186
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
President Earling was most active in the construction of this ex- tension. Years of serious study, and the most exhaustive investiga- tion of the country west and northwest preceded the final selection of the route. In these preparations no effort or time was spared, so that when the final word was spoken for the building of the railroad, no false moves were made and no time lost discussing alternatives. Fol- lowing such painstaking detail, the actual building of the line stands without an equal for rapid and substantial work in the world's history of railroad construction; and thus far it is the greatest achievement in the records of such construction. Mr. Erling did much personal supervising of the work. He made frequent trips over the new line, and many visits to the western terminals. By this means, he was at all times fully informed of the progress, and while he was on the ground he was able to decide important matters of action and policy which obviated the necessity of consuming valuable time in preparing elaborate reports and their transmission to him for decision. Those engaged in the active work have unanimously pronounced this one of the greatest factors in the unusually rapid progress made.
The great work is briefly sketched in the following synopsis: The definite location of the line having been completed westward from the Missouri river and eastward from the Puget Sound terminals, in the late winter of 1906, the first spade struck ground for its con- struction at Glenham, S. D., in April of that year. At about the same time work was started near Seattle, and from that time two great armies of workmen marched steadily from east and from west until they met in successful accomplishment on May 19, 1909, in the valley of Hellgate river, Montana.
In their progress they had conquered in this incredibly short space of time the high crest of the Rocky Mountains, the Bitter Root Range, and the Cascades; they bridged the Missouri with the heaviest struc- ture that had ever been thrown across the "Big Muddy," and the Columbia with one equally a monument to bridge engineering, and nearly one mile in length; they built bridges in three places across the Yellowstone river in Montana, and spanned many smaller streams with substantial steel. In the Musselshell valley, Montana, the course of that wandering stream was turned away in many places from the line of the railroad and made to flow in new channels in order to give the rails right of way in the old river bed. In the mountains they crossed countless creeks and deep ravines on steel viaducts, many of them close to 200 feet in height, their foundations of masonry resting on the bed rock.
187
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
They pierced the mountains with scores of tunnels which they lined with concrete wherever the bore did not drive through solid rock, and they completed a substantial, well ballasted roadbed which had all to be tested by time and the elements before the line was considered ready to throw open to fast passenger traffic.
Low grades and easy curvatures prevail the entire distance. The continental divide is passed at an altitude of 6,322 feet, where a tunnel one-half mile in length reduces the climb several hundred feet. The elevation at the pass of the Bitter Root Range is 4,125 feet, with a tunnel two miles long, 1,000 feet below the summit of the mountain.
The Cascades are crossed without a tunnel at 3,010 feet above sea level, and the low grades are maintained throughout. This fact demonstrates the thoroughness of the surveys, as these favorable mountain passes were found available at the expense of only slightly added mileage, and the line is the shortest by many miles between Lake Michigan and Puget Sound.
President Earling this year (1912) completes his forty-sixth year of continuous service with The Milwaukee. He has always been a strenuous worker, a close student, and a keen judge of men. He is exceptionally popular with the rank and file, and it is said of him that the door of his office swings in as readily to the humblest of the com- pany's employés whom business may bring to him as it does to those holding some office. After he had been promoted to the administra- tive offices of the road, he removed to Milwaukee and lived there until the offices were removed to Chicago, where he since resides. His daughter, Mrs. Lawrence Fitch, lives in Milwaukee.
The many and varied positions which Mr. Earling has held, coupled with his keen insight into the details of railroading, have made him thoroughly conversant with the duties of the lowest as well as the highest of the employés of The Milwaukee. But his success has not been confined to railroad work alone, as he is high in the execu- tive circles of several large financial institutions, notably the Con- tinental Commercial National Bank and the Central Trust Company of Chicago, being a director in each. While his active life has been spent in Chicago for the last twenty-two years, he is still very loyal to his native state, and was the first president of the Wisconsin Society of Chicago and a member whom they delight to honor.
Mr. Earling has four brothers who all have reached prominent stations in life. They are: Herman B. Earling, general superin- tendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, Chicago; Jacob Earling, mine owner in Escanaba, Mich .; Emil J. Earling,
188
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
president of the Central Coal Company, Milwaukee; and Peter R. Earling, retired, in Chicago. One trait of the Earlings, which shows their character to the best advantage, is their yearly visit to the graves of their parents at Rugby, in the town of Richfield, on Me- morial Day. On that day they arrive with their wives from different parts of the country to decorate with fragrant wreaths the last resting places of those who gave them to life. The touching custom has been followed for years by these exemplary five brothers.
Leander F. Frisby
It inspires young men of limited means and opportunities with hope and courage to read the life-stories of men who at the outset of their existence have been placed in very much the same conditions as the readers, and nevertheless have achieved remarkable things. Our dem- ocratic country is rich in such instances, but every time they occur, they arouse new interest. The desire to know how others have done it is always alive, especially in those whom fortune, in their opinion, has jilted. The career of Leander F. Frisby began with daily chores on the farm. It led him through the wagon maker's shop, school teach- ing, the law office, political distinction until he was elected attorney general of Wisconsin. He was the most distinguished man of the county in his days, a noted jurist, and a very prominent politician of the state. His life was a fine illustration of Emerson's saying that "out of a pine log a Western man can whittle a judgeship, a seat in Congress, and a foreign mission."
Leander F. Frisby was born at Mesopotamia, Trumbull Co., Ohio, June 19, 1825, the son of Lucius Frisby who, in 1817, moved to Ohio from Vermont. His grandfathers on both the paternal and maternal sides served as officers in the revolutionary war. Young Frisby worked on his father's farm during the summer, laying the founda- tion of his education in the winter school. When 18 years old, he left home to learn the wagon-maker's trade, pursuing his studies at odd times. After he had become a good wheelright, his thirst for more knowledge drove him to enter the Farmington Academy, in his native county. By working at his trade Saturdays and in vacations, he was enabled to save enough money to pay his way until he had completed the academical course. In September, 1846, he followed the tide of the pioneers to the territory of Wisconsin. In Fond du Lac he fell a victim of the ague, so common in parts of Wisconsin at that early day. After recovering, he worked in a cooper-shop, to pay the debts
189
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
into which his sickness had brought him. In March, 1847, he started afoot for Beaver Dam upon learning that there was an opening in his trade. His funds-fifty cents in all-were spent for supper and lodging at a country hotel. The next morning, without breakfast, he continued his journey, a distance of ten miles. In Beaver Dam he worked until July, thence went to Janesville and worked until October, and then accepted a position as school teacher in Spring Prairie, Walworth Co., holding it till the fall of 1848. In September of that year he opened an academical school in Burlington, Racine Co., which he conducted until 1850. Meanwhile he had turned to the study of law, and during the vacation of his school became a disciple of Blackstone in the office of Blair & Lord at Port Washington. In 1850 he was admitted to the bar and in October of that year removed to West Bend, and in connection with his practice, which had not yet assumed large proportions, also taught the village school. In politics, Mr. Frisby was an outspoken anti-slavery man, and in his first appear- ance as a candidate he was defeated in 1852, having been nominated for clerk of the court. On the division of the county, he was elected the first district attorney of the new county of Washington, which office he held for two years. In 1853 he was elected superintendent of schools for the town of West Bend, and in the spring of 1854 he formed a law partnership with Jacob Mann, which lasted until the spring of 1859, when Mr. Mann was elected circuit judge. In the first Republican State Convention which assembled in Madison July 13, 1854, Mr. Frisby was chosen one of the secretaries. In 1856 he was appointed county judge of Washington county to fill a vacancy, which position he held one year, and in 1860 was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. In the fall of the same year he was elected to the Legislature in a district that had heretofore gone Democratic, by a large majority, and was made chairman of the judiciary commit- tee at the special sessions called in 1861 to consider war measures. In 1860 he formed a law partnership with Mr. Paul A. Weil, which con- tinued twenty-one years. In 1868 he was the Republican candidate for Congress in the fourth congressional district, and was the only Repub- lican candidate in the state who ran ahead of Grant on the ticket. In 1872 he was delegate to the Republican National Convention that renominated U. S. Grant for President. He was the Republican candidate for attorney general in 1873, and, though defeated, like the other nominees of the party, he had the satisfaction of leading the ticket throughout the state, while in his own county he received a
190
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY
majority of 627, when the balance of the Democratic ticket, except the attorney general, received a majority of 1,871. Such a home en- dorsement at once established Mr. Frisby's popularity, and placed him among the leading men of his party in the state. About 1874 Mr. S. S. Barney was admitted as a partner in the law firm of Frisby & Weil, and the firm name was changed to Frisby, Weil & Barney; four years later Mr. Barney retired and the former firm name was re- sumed. From 1876 to 1879 Mr. Frisby was president of the Wash- ington County Agricultural Society, and by judicious management brought the affairs of the society into a healthy condition. In 1878 he was the Republican candidate for member of Congress in the Fourth District, and was defeated by only 135 majority in a district that had two years before given a Democratic majority of a few votes less than 6,000. This result attracted attention throughout the country. At the National Republican Convention of 1880, he was the first to suggest the name of James A. Garfield as a candidate to the Wisconsin delegates. Judge Frisby was, in 1881, elected attorney general for the state of Wisconsin, he was re-elected twice, holding the office till 1887. The duties of this high office he discharged with marked ability, and withal faithful to the trust placed in his hands by the people. He was married in 1854 to Miss Frances E. Booker of Burlington, Wis. Five children were born to them: Alice F., Almah J., Marion C., L. Frank, and Ralph Eugene. Judge Frisby died April 19, 1889.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.