USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 38
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appearance. They are ready at all times to do any work within their power."
Mr. Termaat manifests a lively interest in all things that tend to advance the civic and material welfare of his home city and is known as one of its loyal and progressive business men. His political allegiance is given to no specific party and he gives his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, without reference to partisan dictates. He is an appreciative and popular member of the Oshkosh lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
COL. WILLIAM J. BOYLE. Milwaukee has been the home and head- quarters of many able railroad men of the country, and among these have been none better known than Col. Boyle for a quarter of a century repre- senting the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, as general agent of the passenger department. Col. Boyle has been in the active railroad serv- ice since 1868, a period that includes the most notable advances made in the history of American railways and transportations. It may serve the better to indicate the length of his service if the fact is recalled that in 1868 the first transcontinental line of railway had not been com- pleted between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast, and trans- portation in nearly every state west of the Missouri river still depended upon the wagon and pack horse. In the middle west and east, where there was one mile of badly equipped railroad, there is now fifty miles of the finest equipment and service known in the world.
Col. Boyle whose splendid services as commander of the states troops during the calamities in the iron-range district of upper Wis- consin some years ago further serves to distinguish him in Wisconsin citizenship, was born at Chatham, Ontario, August 10, 1846. His par- ents were John and Rebecca (Marsh) Boyle, substantial farming people who lived and died at their home near Chatham, Ontario. The mother was born in Toronto, and the father was also a native of Ontario.
William J. Boyle, after attending the schools in his native village at the age of fourteen went to Detroit, where he entered the employ of a large lake transportation company as clerk. A few years later he returned to Ontario, locating at Dresden as a clerk for the same Detroit company, and continued in this line of service until he took up railroad- ing in 1868. Since then he has been continually engaged in railroad work and has had steady advancement and success. His first experience was at Boone, Iowa, where he was cashier in the freight office of the North- western Railroad, a position he filled with credit until 1871, when he was transferred to Cedar Rapids as ticket agent of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. Four years of efficient service in that capacity was followed by a brief time of leisure and travel, and then on May 1, 1875 he arrived in Milwaukee, where he began duties as assistant ticket agent of the Northwestern Road. In the September following,
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he was appointed freight contracting agent of the same railroad in Milwaukee, and a year later became Milwaukee agent of the Blue Line, and after a year returned to the Northwestern as city passenger agent. The next change in his service occurred a few months later when he was appointed general agent of the Blue Line on the Canadian Southern, an important responsibility, which he carried until he joined the busi- ness department of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. On Octo- ber 1, 1888, he was appointed general agent of the passenger depart- ment, in Milwaukee, sueeeeding Mr. Ingersoll in that important office, and he now has almost completed a record of a quarter century in this position, the duties and scope of which have of course enlarged many fold since he first took charge.
During the administration of Governor Peck, Col. Boyle was hon- ored by appointment to the governor's staff, a distinction which was entirely unsought and entirely unexpected, since Mr. Boyle had always been a Republican in politics, though never a partisan. Governor Upham reappointed him, and it was during the Upham administration that the opportunity came for General Boyle's valuable services. During the suffering in Phillips and throughout the iron-range as a result of the big fire and the miners' trouble, Col. Boyle had complete charge of the State Aid Quarters and the distribution of funds and provisions, clothing and other supplies. He acted in fact as quarter-master gen- eral throughout the trouble. The official record duly audited, shows that not a dollar was wasted or carelessly expended in that long siege, although Col. Boyle was continually subject to importunity for assist- ance from hangers-on, as well as from the real sufferers, and it was with consummate skill that he received and properly handled all applicants and finally became understood that there was no use trying to bulldoze Col. Boyle, and yet while a strict disciplinarian and refusing to be im- posed upon, he possessed the rare ability of never having neglected the proper claims when rightfully entitled to the aid and help of the state de- partment. When Col. Boyle and his forces had finished their work in the northern iron range, he was able to turn back to the state treasurery about five thousand dollars of unused funds, and that money was sub- sequently distributed among several state charitable institutions. Gov- ernor Scofield honored Col. Boyle for the third time with appointment as colonel on the staff. Since then he has held no political office and has only taken the part of a good citizen and voter in political affairs.
Col. Boyle has for many years been well known in civic and social cireles in Milwaukee. He is a bachelor and for thirty-two years his home was in the old Plankinton House, which is soon to come down to make room for a large modern hotel. He left the Plankinton in 1907 and now resides on Belleview Place. Col. Boyle has for many years pos- sessed one of the best private libraries in Milwaukee, and his taste for books is one of varied accomplishments and interests in life. He is one Vol. V-21
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of the oldest members of the Merchants & Manufacturers Association of Milwaukee, and also belongs to the Citizens Business League. Although he has not owned any horses for the past ten years, Col. Boyle was formerly credited with driving the handsomest and best carriage teams in the state, and has always been a lover of fine horses.
MILO MUCKLESTON. One of Waukesha's able barristers of the younger generation is Mr. Milo Muckleston. The energy and reserve force for which Mr. Muckleston is noted, both physically and intel- lectually, are the heritage of the mingled Welsh and Scotch lineage of which he is a product. His rather unusual surname is one distinguished in Scotch tradition, with which legends of his father's progenitors are intertwined. In his mother's line, Milo Muckleston is a lineal descend- ant of that Cheirog Hughes, who was a conspicuous figure in the national revolution of Wales and one with whom all students of Welsh history are familiar. These two races were prominently represented in the pioneer days of life in this part of the United States and the grandparents of Mr. Muckleston were among the makers of Wiscon- sin, where they settled as early as 1840. Waukesha was the home of John Muckleston and his wife, Jane Davis Muckleston, who gave to the world four sons of fine physique and competent mind. All of these are college graduates and all of them have exhibited athletic prowess in marked degree.
One of the four sons of John and Jane Muckleston was named Milo ; and it is he in whose honor this biography is offered. His birth- place was in this community to which he has ever since been loyal, and the date of his nativity was April 8, 1877. For him was destined the invaluable bequest of a good education. After his preliminary study in the public schools of Waukesha, he pursued courses in St. John's Military Academy at Delafield, in Carrol College at Waukesha and in the University of Wisconsin. In the latter institution, he first entered upon a special course, later registering in the College of Law. The last-named stage of his education was deferred while he gave three years' pedagogical service in the schools of Waukesha county. In 1903 his period of preparation was complete and he was graduated from our State University as a Bachelor of Laws.
Mr. Muckleston's professional career is one for which sineere con- gratulation is due. He is a member of the law firm of Muckleston and Thomas, which is one of good report in the courts of this county. Milo Muckleston's combined ability and geniality makes him not only a worthy but an approachable counselor, in a perhaps unusual degree. He was district attorney for four years of Waukesha county, and in April, 1913, he was elected municipal judge which office he now fills.
Financial success early rewarded the young man, who has become variously prominent in commercially important concerns of the city.
milo mucklestan
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He is connected as a stock-holder with three of the banks of Waukesha and is prominent as a direetor in the Farmers' State Bank; in the Waukesha Motor Company he is also a director. He has furthermore become connected with numerous fraternal organizations, including the Masonic order, in which he has passed the thirty-second degree; the Knights of Pythias; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Muekleston married in June, 1905, Miss Mary J. Wilkins of Waukesha, daughter of Joseph Wilkins, who came to Wisconsin from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in an early day.
MILTON A. SPRAGUE. President of the Northern State Bank of Washburn, an institution which he organized eighteen years ago, Mil- ton A. Sprague has been identified with the lumber industry of the west almost half a century, and during the greater part of this time his home has been in Wisconsin.
Milton A. Sprague was born at Newark, Wayne county, New York, October 29, 1843. His parents were Lowell and Hephzibah (Flint) Sprague, both natives of New Hampshire. Lowell Sprague died at the age of forty years, while his widow survived until sixty. Two of their six children are still living, the sister of the Wisconsin banker being Mary, wife of Peter G. Lamoreaux. Milton A. Sprague had a common school education in New York State, lived there until he was seventeen, and then went west to the state of Minnesota. At the age of twenty his career as a lumberman got its first impetus in the northwest. in Idaho. Four years later he returned to the middle west locating at Osage in Mitehell county, Iowa, where several years were spent in the lumber trade, and at Minneapolis he engaged in the manufacture of lumber. His experience has covered all details of the business, not only as a practical himberman, but also in lumber dealing. From Minne- apolis, he transferred his operations to Barron county, Wisconsin, which at that time was one of the largest centers of native timber in the state. In the course of his lumbering and milling operations in that county. a town was established which received the name of Sprague in his honor. That was his home and the center of his business operations for about ten years. In 1890 Mr. Sprague moved his business headquarters to Washburn, and his home has been in that eity since 1895. At the pres- ent time his business as a lumberman has been transferred to younger hands, his son Monroe H. Sprague having taken the active manage- ment of the M. H. Sprague Lumber Company.
In 1895, the year in which his home was located in Washburn, Mr. Sprague organized the Northern State Bank of Washburn, Wisconsin. It has been chiefly due to his efficient administration of this bank, that it quickly attained and has since been one of the strongest financial institutions of the county. For many years Mr. Sprague was associated
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with the late H. C. Akeley of Minneapolis in the lumber trade, and they did a large business dealing in timber lands.
Mr. Sprague is a Mason, his lodge membership being at Osage, Iowa, and he has taken the work in the York Rite up to the Knights Templar degrees. His politics is Republican. On the first of December, 1875, Mr. Sprague married Hattie H. Graves of Mitchell county, Iowa, where she was born and reared. They are the parents of two children, Monroe H., who has succeeded his father as active manager of the lumber busi- ness at Washburn; and Miss Alice.
ALVIN H. HULETT. One of the oldest residents of Southern Wis- consin is Alvin H. Hulett, who now lives retired in the City of Racine. In Kenosha and Racine counties, he has spent nearly seventy years of his life, practically, since his birth. He was an honored soldier of the Civil War, and after returning from the south engaged in farming and mercantile business, and was for many years a livestock dealer and shipper. Most of his career was passed in Kenosha county but for the last twenty years he has been a resident of Racine where he is connected with business affairs, though in latter years he has largely retired from active supervision of business.
Alvin H. Hulett was born in Oswego county, New York on the thirty-first of July, 1843. New York State was also the native home of his parents, Cornelius and Mary (Montague) Hulett. When Alvin H. was a few months old, they finally came west, and located in Kenosha county, in the territory of Wisconsin. There the father contended with pioneer conditions, and developed and improved a farm. For many years he was engaged in general agriculture and stock raising. He was also an auctioneer, and it was during a sale that he died suddenly. His farm was situated in the townships of Paris and Brighton, Kenosha county. Finally he sold his interest in that county and moved to Racine county, where his death occurred in 1875. His wife survived him and was eighty-seven years of age at the time of her death in 1907. During the Civil war Mr. Hulett acted as a secret service man.
Mr. Alvin H. Hulett was reared on a farm, and largely amid the circumstances and environments of a pioneer country, since Wisconsin had only a small share of the facilities of civilization which it possesses in later days. During the winter season he attended the district school near his home, and early learned all of the varied occupations and hard labor of the farm. He was twenty-one years of age, when, in August, 1864, he enlisted in Company H of the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. The commanding officer of this regiment was Colonel Messervi of La Crosse. The regiment was sent into Virginia, where it was chiefly employed in guarding points and stations already in possession of the Union army. After one year of service, Mr. Hulett was honorably dis- charged in the fall of 1865, and then returned home to Racine county.
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His independent farming career began in Brighton township, Kenosha county, where he remained four years, at the end of which time he became elerk in a general store. And for five years traveled as a shoe salesman for John Beek of Racine. For seventeen years Kansasville, Wisconsin, was his headquarters as a eattle and hog dealer, and shipper, and during that time he was one of the most enterprising men in this business in southeastern Wisconsin. Mr. Hulett in 1893 moved to Racine, and since that time has given only a limited supervision to his business interests. Besides his other relations with business, he is a director of the Commercial and Savings Bank of Racine.
For a number of years he has been one of the influential Republicans, although he has never aspired to any office, except where he could give some specific service to the publie welfare. He served a term as town clerk of Brighton township. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Racine Lodge No. 92, A. F. & A. M .; Orient Chapter No. 12 R. A. M. : and with Governor Harvey Post No. 17 G. A. R.
In 1876 he was united in marriage with Miss Alice Asby of Racine, a daughter of William and Mark (Clark) Asby. both of whom were old residents of Racine county. The two children of their marriage are: Roy G. of Racine: and Elsie May, wife of II. D. Williams of Racine.
CHRISTOPHER C. GITTINGS is a native of Racine county. was reared in this vicinity, and entered the legal profession after a thorough apprenticeship and hard work, part of which was spent as a Western pioneer homesteader. Besides a position of leadership in the bar. he has enjoyed many public honors, as a former postmaster of Racine, and has long been a prominent man in the Republican party of the county.
Christopher C. Gittings, whose father William Gittings, was one of the early settlers of Racine county, was born in Caledonia township on the 29th of October, 1862, and was reared on a farm until 16 years of age. During that time he learned all the varied labor of the country and acquired his education in the country schools. Subsequently. he was a student in the Raeine academy, where he was graduated in 1981.
Though at this carly period in his life, the legal profession had attracted him, and it was his ambition to enter the law. yet for some years his energies were directed into another line. In 1883 he became a homesteader on a claim in Faulk county. South Dakota, during the territorial days of the Dakotas. His summers were spent in the hard labors of a pioneer homestead, and during the winter seasons he taught school in Racine county. He obtained a position of prominence among the early settlers of Faulk county, and was honored as a delegate to one of the first county Republican conventions in that section. It was by means of this varied form of ocenpations that he advaneed to mem- bership in the bar. He began reading law with the firm of Fuller & Fuller. While pursuing his studies, he spent a year in Raeine college.
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and was finally admitted after examination to the bar in December, 1889.
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At the beginning of his practice in 1890, Mr. Gittings became asso- ciated with the well known law firm of Fuller & Fife, of Racine, con- tinuing that relationship until January 1891, at which time, a partner- ship was formed with Walter C. Palmer, and the firm of Palmer & Gittings then established continued until January 1, 1914. This was one of the strongest combinations of legal talent in the Racine bar and was in existence for more than twenty years. In that time it had a generous share in the higher class practice of the courts and office in Racine county. Mr. Gittings is also interested in business affairs in Racine, and is president of the Gold Medal Camp Furniture Company, in which he owns a half interest, and he also owns farm lands in both Racine county and South Dakota, having acquired the latter during his early experiences as a homesteader in that state.
As a Republican, Mr. Gittings has been honored with various offices, having served as city attorney for five years, was for many years a member of the State Central Committee; a delegate to different State conventions; chairman of the Republican County Central Committee ; Treasurer of the Republican State Central Committee, and for several years held the office of Postmaster in Racine. His residence in Racine is at 1303 Main Street, where he owns a fine home. On May 16, 1901, Mr. Gittings married Miss Laura A. Jones, a daughter of Captain John W. and Jane Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Gittings are members of the Plymouth Congregational Church, in which he has served as Treasurer and Deacon. His fraternal affiliations are with Racine Lodge Number 18, F. & A. M. and the Milwaukee Consistory and for many years he has been a mem- ber of Lodge No. 32, Knights of Pythias.
GULLICK N. RISJORD. As an example of what a man coming into this country as a foreigner and stranger can accomplish if he has cour- age and the willingness to work, the life of Gullick N. Risjord, of Ash- land, Wisconsin, may give encouragement to others. He is one of the best lawyers in this section of the state and has recently been elected district judge, an office which he won through sheer weight of intellect and ability. Possessed, as are so many of his countrymen, of a cool head and keen logic that is capable of reaching the true inwardness of a question his success as a lawyer has been undisputed from the very beginning.
Gullick N. Risjord was born in Norway on the 4th of December, 1866. His parents were Nels and Sonnef (Pollag) Risjord, both of whom are now dead. Five children were born to Nels Risjord and his wife, all of whom are alive, and of these children, Gullick Risjord was the next to the eldest. He attended school in Norway until he was eighteen years of age at which time he came to the United States and
Bart. C. Throwson
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coming to live in Dane county, Wisconsin, continued to go to the com- mon schools there. Then thinking that he might go into business he attended the Northwestern Business College at Madison for a time and was also a student in the high school at Blackearth, Wisconsin. Being prepared for entrance to the University, he now matriculated at the University of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897, having taken the literary course. He then entered the law department of the University of Minnesota and was graduated from the department in 1900. He was older than the average student and the acquisition of knowledge came harder to him but nothing could discourage him. He was determined that he would have an educa- tion and that he would accomplish whatever he set out to do, and his success has been due in no small measure to this characteristic in him, that will not admit defeat. He located in Ashland, Wisconsin, as soon as he was admitted to the bar, and was there successfully engaged in general practice until his election as district judge in the spring of 1911, taking his seat on the bench on the 1st of January. 1912.
Judge Risjord is a member of the Republican party and is a staunch party worker. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
The judge was married on the 2nd of June, 1904, to Josephine Quammen, who was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Two children have been born to the judge and his wife, Norman and Isabella by name.
BARTHOLOMEW C. THRONSON. For a period of nearly forty years Mr. Thronson has been engaged in the furniture and undertaking busi- ness at Racine, being now one of the oldest, as well as one of the most prosperous business men of this city. His own establishment is the oldest concern of the kind in the city, and has been built up largely through his own ability as a business man.
Bartholomew C. Thronson is a native of Norway, born in Porsgrund, on July 3, 1860. His parents were Charles and Kersten Thronson who were both natives of Norway, and subsequently immigrated to America and became thrifty and sturdy settlers of Wisconsin. Charles Thronson, the father, was by occupation a sailor, and for a number of years was captain of an ocean going vessel. About 1867. he estab- lished his home at Racine, where he was engaged in the painters trade, until two years before his death, which occurred February 20. 1904, when he was eighty-two years of age. He was survived by his widow, who also attained to advanced years. The family were members of the Methodist church. The children were seven in number, and the five who attained to adult age, are as follows: Louis, of Burlington, Iowa, Christian and Bartholomew C., of Racine: Dietrich of Dixon, Illinois, and Caroline, wife of C. Johnson of Raeine.
Coming to Racine when he was seven years of age. Bartholomew C.
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Thronson grew up in this city, and attained most of his education in the public schools. When he was a boy he began clerking in a furni- ture store, and it was through this avenue of experience and efforts that he finally became independently established in business. His career in connection with the business may be said to have begun in 1875, in which year, he first became connected with his present line of business. Mr. Thronson is a graduate of the Cincinnati School of Embalming, in 1883, and has taken other courses to prepare himself for his profession. The business which he finally organized was known as the Thronson-Hansen Furniture Co., of which Mr. Thronson was president and manager until 1903, at which date he purchased the entire establishment. He had one of the finest stores of the kind in southern Wisconsin, and it so continued until it was burned in 1910. Since which time he has given all of his time to undertaking, having the most complete establishment of its kind in Wisconsin. Mr. Thron- son is a member of the Wisconsin State Undertakers Association, and of the Wisconsin Furniture Association, and of the Racine Retail Mer- chants' Association. On September 29, 1881, Mr. Thronson married Miss Ellen Gunderson, a daughter of Gouty and Betsy Gunderson. They are the parents of four children : Edna J., Clarence J., Florence and Arthur, the last two of whom passed away while children. Mr. Thronson is especially prominent in Masonic Orders. He has attained 32 degrees in Masonic rites, and is affiliated with the Consistory of Milwaukee, and is a member of Racine Lodge, No. 18, A. F. & A. M .; Racine Commandery No. 7, K. T., and Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His other fraternal affiliations are with Racine Lodge, No. 32 Knights of Pythias; Racine Lodge of Odd Fellows; the Fraternal Aid Association of Racine, and the Royal League. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Thronson's residence is at 1428 College Avenue, a beautiful and attractive home, which was built by him in 1892.
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