USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 39
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LUCIEN S. HANKS. The banking interests of a community are neces- sarily among the most important, for financial stability must be the foundation stone upon which all great enterprises are erected. The men who control and conserve the money of corporation or country must possess many qualities not requisite in the ordinary citizen and among these, high commercial integrity, exceptional financial ability, poise, judgment and foresight may be mentioned. Public confidence "must be with them, and this fact has been again and again demon- strated in the United States, when panics that even threatened the stability of the Government have been averted by the wisdom, sagacity and foresight of the men whose whole training has been along the line of finance. A citizen who has been prominently connected with the bank- ing interests of Madison for many years and who has done much in the effective upbuilding and improvement of the city along various addi-
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tional lines, is Lucien S. Hanks, president of the State Bank of Madison. Mr. Hanks was born in Hartford, Connecticut, May 8, 1838, and is a son of Lucien B. and Mary D. (Dexter) Hanks, natives of Connecticut, the former of whom died in 1890, at the age of eighty-two years, and the latter in 1845.
Lueien S. Hanks received his education in the common and high schools of Hartford, Connecticut, and the Mount Washington Collegiate Institution, in New York State. He came to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1860, accepting the position of teller in the State Bank, of which he was made cashier in 1864, appointed vice-president in 1896, and subse- quently elected president of this institution, and still holds the office of president. Through his eminent abilities he has augmented its useful- ness and is active in management of its affairs and has been of great advantage to the institution. It is not alone in the field of finance, how- ever, that Mr. Hanks has been prominently before the public, for he has given of his best energies in publie service, and the cause of education and good citizenship. For something more than ten years he was a regent of the University of Wisconsin, resigning only when he felt he had done his full duty in that capacity, and at this time is treasurer and one of the trustees of the Woodman Astronomical Library Funds, treasurer and a member of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, and was vice-president of the board of commission- ers for the construction of the State Historical Library buildings. He was a charter member of Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Associa- tion, and from the first has been one of its most liberal supporters. In every enterprise having the object of advancing the city's interests as its goal, Mr. Hanks takes a foremost part, while his private benevo- lences are large and the extent of his philanthropie work is known only to himself. Mr. Hanks has supported Republican principles, but has never been a politician, nor has he sought publie preferment. He resides in a handsome home at No. 216 Langdon street.
In 1867 Mr. Hanks was united in marriage with Miss Sybil Perkins, and they have had three sons: Lneien M., Stanley C .. and Marshall.
COLONEL HORACE MARTIN SEAMAN was born in Milwaukee on the first day of October, 1864, ant is a son of Galen Benjamin Seaman and Harriet Caroline (Martin) Seaman. His father was for many years one of the representative members of the Milwaukee bar and resided in that city until a few years ago, when he removed to Daytona, Fla. His mother, a daughter of Stoddard H. Martin one of Milwaukee's first settlers, died in 1880. After completing the curriculum of the high school he was employed from 1882 until 1885 in the offices of the Chi- cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, after which he served as local office manager for the Washington Life Insurance Company until March. 1887, when he identified himself with the Seaman Abstraet Company. of
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which his father was president. He was admitted to the bar in April 1893 and holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws from Marquette Univers- ity. He continued with the Seaman Abstract Company in an executive and advisory capacity until May 1, 1902, when he became secretary of The Milwaukee Title Company and continued in tenure of this position until August, 1903. On October 1, 1903, he effected the organization of the Security Abstract and Title Company of which he became President and Counsel and still holds said offices.
On May 3, 1886, Col. Seaman enlisted as a private in Co. "A," 4th Infantry, Wisconsin National Guard, in which capacity he served dur- ing the labor riots at Bay View, in the same year. He passed in suc- cession through the grades of corporal, captain, major and lieutenant colonel and in October, 1897, he was commissioned colonel of the regiment.
During the woodworkers' strike in the City of Oshkosh, in June, 1898, Col. Seaman had command of the state troops at that point. He was mustered out of the state service on July 11, 1898, and on the 15th of the same month was mustered into the United States service as colonel of the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war.
During the Spanish-American War he was with his regiment first at Camp Douglas and later at Camp Shipp, Anniston, Alabama, where his regiment was assigned successively to the 3rd, 4th and 2nd Army Corps, with which he continued until mustered out of the U. S. serv- ice at Anniston February 28, 1899.
On April 6, 1911, he was commissioned Colonel and Aide de camp on the staff of Hon. Francis E. McGovern, Governor of Wisconsin which position he now holds. Colonel Seaman is a member of the Wisconsin Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the U. S., in which he served two terms as commander and of which he is now secre- tary; he is also a member of the Military Service Institution of the U. S., and in 1912 was President of the Wisconsin Society and of Sons of the American Revolution of which he had previously been secretary and a member of the board of managers.
In the time honored Masonic fraternity his affiliations are as here noted: La Fayette Lodge, No. 265, Free and Accepted Masons; Calu- met Chapter, No. 97, Royal Arch Masons; Wisconsin Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar; Wisconsin Corsistory, S. P. R. S., of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite; and Tripoli Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
At St. Paul's Church, on the 3rd of May, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Colonel Seaman to Miss Mary Alice Mooers, of this city.
JOHN C. DICK. The rectitude, the optimism and the large and definite achievement of the late John C. Dick gave him a place of promi-
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nence and influence in connection with the productive activities of life and made him worthy of the unqualified confidence and esteem reposed in him by his fellow men. He played a large and benignant part in connection with the civic and material progress of Milwaukee, in which city he maintained his home for more than sixty years and in which he was summoned to the life eternal on the 19th of December, 1910, at the patriarchal age of eighty-seven years, and known and honored as one of the sterling pioneers of the Wisconsin metropolis. His char- acter was the positive expression of a strong and noble nature and the story of his long and useful career offers both lesson and incentive. One of the representative citizens of Milwaukee from his ambitious young manhood till the time of his death, he left a definite impress upon its history, and it is in justice due that this publication give place to a tribute to his memory.
Born and reared in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, and repre- senting in his character the best of the traditions of his fatherland, he was one of those broadminded, self-reliant and ambitious young Ger- mans who assimilated rapidly and effectively into the citizenship of our great American republic, to which his loyalty was of the most intense type and in which he became an honored and valued citizen. Mr. Dick was a vigorous young man of twenty-three years at the time when he severed the ties that bound him to home and native land, to set forth for the United States, which about that time was gaining a large and sterling element of immigration from Germany. He landed in the port of New York city in August, 1846, and remained in the national metropolis abont nine months, at the expiration of which he came to Wisconsin, where many of his fellow countrymen had established homes. He arrived in Milwaukee on the 13th of May, 1847, and this city con- tinued to be his place of residence thereafter until he was summoned from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, in the fulness of years and well earned honors. Soon after his arrival in Wisconsin Mr. Dick. assumed a position as clerk for the pioneer firm of Jennings & Com- stock, the principals in which were Robert D. Jennings and Cieero and Leander Comstock. He remained with this firm for a period of five years, as a trusted and valned employe. A man of marked initiative and executive ability and of great circumspection, he could not long remain in a subordinate position, and early in his career in Milwaukee he became prominently identified with the insurance business, as a stockholder in the Milwaukee Mechanies' Insurance Company among the first established in his home city. With this corporation he became associated soon after its organization, in October, 1856, at which time it was a small company operating on a modest scale under the mutual form. On the 5th of October, 1857, he became a director of the com- pany, and of this position he continued the incumbent for more than half a century, during which he was actively concerned in
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directing the policies and general affairs of the company, there- by contributing in large measure to the upbuilding of its extensive and substantial business. He resigned from the directorate in 1909, only a short time before the close of his life. He was vice-president of the company for several years and from 1860 to 1871 was its general agent, a position which he had previously held for a time shortly after identifying himself with the corporation. He also served with marked discrimination as a member of its executive board and he continued one of the most active and honored factors in the affairs of the same after its reorganization as a stock company, in 1884.
Mr. Dick was one of the organizers of the Milwaukee Fire Insur- ance Company and early became a member of its board of directors, a position of which he was in tenure at the time of his death, besides which he served for varying intervals as vice-president of the company. At the time of his demise Mr. Dick held the distinction of being the oldest notary public and also the oldest insurance agent in the matter of continuous service in the entire state. He received his original com- mission as notary public from Governor William A. Barstow, under date of January 3, 1856, and thereafter he was reappointed to this office by each successive governor of the state until the close of his life.
Mr. Dick placed high estimate upon the duties and privileges of citizenship and manifested this in loyalty and earnest stewardship. His political convictions were well fortified and led him to accord unequivocal allegiance to the Democratic party, of which he was a prominent repre- sentative in Milwaukee for many years. In 1856-7 he was alderman from the Second ward, and in 1878 he represented his district in the assembly, or lower house, of the state legislature. He was a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and as a man of clear and compre- hensive vision he was well informed in connection with matters of gov- ernmental and economic policy. He took the deepest interest in all that concerned the well being of his home city, was liberal in his sup- port of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community, and, as a pioneer of the state, he was familiar with its his- tory. It may be noted that he was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of Solomon Juneau, the first settler of Milwaukee.
Within the sixty-three years of his continuous residence in Mil- waukee Mr. Dick occupied only three houses, and for forty-six years he occupied the spacious and attractive old homestead which he erected at 279 Eighth street. In this home, long known as a center of most gracious hospitality he continued to reside until his death. Six of his grandsons officiated as the pallbearers at his funeral, and his remains were laid to rest in beautiful Forest Home cemetery. He was identified with various social organizations of representative order, including the leading German societies in his home city.
Reverting to the scenes and conditions of the early life of Mr. Dick,
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it may be stated that he was born in Bavaria on the 12th of January, 1824, and that he was a son of Andrew and Wilhelmina Diek, both of whom passed their entire lives in their native land.
On the 12th of January, 1853, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Diek to Miss Marguerita Salfner, who survives him, who celebrated her eighty-second birthday anniversary in September, 1912. Her gentle personality and unfailing kindness have gained and retained to her the affectionate regard of all who knew her. Also surviving him are eleven of their thirteen children, namely : Mrs. Louis D. Biersach, Mrs. Joseph Clauder, Mrs. Oscar A. Kropf, Mrs. Albert Hantzen, and Adolph C., Edward C., Christian H., William G., Paul F., Gustave A., and Louis.
EDWIN F. CARPENTER. Since 1871 a member of the Wisconsin bar, Mr. Carpenter is one of the oldest practicing lawyers of Rock county and the city of Janesville. He has been a resident of the state for more than fifty years, having come here alone when a young man, and having been educated chiefly in the Wisconsin schools. He has enjoyed many distinctions during his long practice, has served the publie efficiently, and is one of the honored men of Janesville.
Edwin F. Carpenter was born in the state of Vermont at Moretown, in Washington county, May 12, 1845. He is the only survivor of ten children born to Ira and Rhoda (Spofford) Carpenter. He was about seventeen years old when he came out to Wisconsin, alone, and entered upon his career without special influence or aid outside of his individual ability.
In his native state he had received a common school education, and on reaching Wisconsin entered the Beloit Academy. After the academic course he took the classical course in the Beloit college, he was graduated in the class of 1870. In 1871, following a course of law reading, he was admitted to the bar, and carned his first fees as a lawyer in independent practice. In 1873 he became an associate in practice of J. B. Cassoday, one of the eminent members of the older Wisconsin bar. This partner- ship continued until Mr. Cassoday was elevated to the supreme bench of the state, the firm being known as Cassoday & Carpenter. The latter's next association was with S. J. Todd, under the name of Todd & Carpenter. After the dissolution of their partnership he was an associate with Mr. E. D. MeGowen under the name of Carpenter & McGowen, a relationship which continued until 1884. Subsequently Mr. Carpenter was in practice by himself, and his name has been asso- ciated with a great mass of important litigations in the Rock county bar and also in the higher courts. The firm name at this time is Car- penter & Carpenter.
For two terms Mr. Carpenter served as eity attorney of Janesville. He is circuit court commissioner of Roek county, for more than nine- teen years. In polities he has been a staunch Republican since the
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sixties. Mr. Carpenter married in Janesville, Miss Emma A. Tappin, daughter of Thomas and Mary Jane Tappin. The two children born to their marriage are as follows: Edwin Tappin, born September 2, 1875, and Henry F., born October 11, 1879. Henry is a graduate of the high school at Janesville, of the State University of Wisconsin and of the Law School of Wisconsin.
CHRISTIAN WAHL. A noble, earnest, philanthropic citizen was the honored Wisconsin pioneer to whom this brief memoir is dedicated. He came with his parents to this state when he was a young man and here the family home was established prior to the admission of Wis- consin to the Union. He was a fine representative of that sturdy and sterling German element which has played a most important part in the development and upbuilding of this favored commonwealth and while he was ever appreciative of the traditions, achievements and history of his German fatherland, he was intensely loyal to America and to the nation's institutions, with a patriotism unexcelled by that of any person of native birth. The life of Christian Wahl was an eventful one, marked by many adventures and manifold experiences in his earlier years, and by large and worthy achievements during later years of close and influential associations with business activities. Though he lived for a term of years in Chicago, where he had business interests, he ever looked upon Milwaukee as his home, and here he resided for many years prior to his death, revered and loved by all who knew him with aught of intimacy and honored as one of the repre- sentative pioneer citizens, as well as one of the most generous and public spirited of the Wisconsin metropolis. He was seventy-two years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in Milwaukee, on the nineteenth of October, 1901. His exalted character and worthy services render most consonant the tribute that it is possible to pay to his memory in this history of the state that was long his home and the center of his interests.
Christian Wahl was born at Pirmasenz, a town on the Vosges river, in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, on the 12th of February, 1829, and was a son of Christian and Elizabeth Wahl, who were numbered among the pioneers of Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, where they continued to reside until their death. In his native land the subject of this memoir was afforded most liberal educational advantages, which were supplemented by a two years' course of study in the city of Paris.
In 1846, when seventeen years of age, Mr. Wahl accompanied his parents on their immigration to the United States and they arrived in Milwaukee in May of that year. The family settled on a farm in the township of Lake, Milwaukee county, and there endured the full ten- sion of life on the virtual frontier, as Wisconsin was not admitted to statehood until two years after the arrival of the Wahl family within
Christian Wahl
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its borders and Milwaukee was still but an embryonic city. Young Christian Wahl, with characteristic energy and buoyancy of spirit, did not flinch in the least from the arduous toil and endeavor inci- dental to the development of the pioneer farm, and in later years he often reverted with words of deep appreciation to the conditions and experiences of this period of his life. Frequently he and his father found relaxation and diversion by walking from the home farm to Milwaukee, five miles distant, for the purpose of attending the musical gatherings through the medium of which was eventually evolved the Milwaukee Musical Society of the present day.
The radical change that has been made by Mr. Wahl in leaving the older civilization of his native land and forthwith becoming identified with pioneer life in America doubtless quickened his spirit of adven- ture, which found definite exemplification at the time the gold excite- ment was still at its height in California. He was one of the hardy and valiant young men who made the long weary journey across the plains to the New Eldorado, in 1851, and he had his due quota of experience in the quest for gold in the camps of the frontier. Remain- ing in California but a short time, he set forth for Australia, and, his financial resources being limited, he worked his passage on a vessel which finally landed at Sydney. Then he set sail for Melbourne, on the ship "Baltimore," which was wrecked off Cape Howe, the extreme northeast point of Australia, when it encountered a terrific storm. All on board escaped in small boats, and after remaining for some time in Melbourne, Mr. Wahl took passage for South America. He landed at Callao, Peru, and thence proceeded to the headwaters of the Amazon River, still in quest of the elusive gold. His success was of definitely negative order and he gradually made his way back to New York City, from which point he soon afterward returned to Milwaukee. A short time thereafter he went to Chicago, where he became associated with his brother Louis in the manufacturing of glue, and where they built up a large and prosperous industry in this line. During the time of the Franco-Prussian war, Mr. Wahl served as United States vice consul in Berlin, Germany. While a resident of Chicago he served several terms as a member of the city council and he was also a valued member of its board of education. He was a representative business man and honored and influential citizen of Chicago during the years of his active business career in the western metropolis, and after dis posing of his business to the late Philip D. Armour he returned to Mil- waukee, which city he had ever looked upon as his real home and to whose every interest he was significantly loyal. Through his well ordered endeavors he had accumulated a substantial fortune, and he made judicious investments in capitalistic interests. During his long period of residence in this city he was called upon to serve in various positions of honor and trust, including that of member of the board
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of trustees of the Milwaukee county insane asylum. His most en- thusiastic, liberal and constructive service was in connection with the development of the park system of the city, as president of the board of park commissioners, and relative to his efforts in this line more specific mention will be made in later paragraphs. Mr. Wahl was a man of fine mind, large heart, and high ideals. Himself gifted with an unusually fine tenor voice and a talented singer, he was a connois- seur in music and a critical authority in judging the interpretations of its highest form. His delightful home on Prospect Avenue, with his devoted wife as its gracious chatelaine, was known for its gener- ous and refined hospitality and was long a favored rendezvous for the music-loving people of the city. Mr. Wahl manifested the deepest interest in all pertaining to music and art, and was one of the most liberal patrons of the same in Milwaukee, where he served at one time as president of the Arion Club, a representative musical organization. He was genial, considerate and kindly, was generous and charitable, and ever ready to aid those in affliction or distress. He was one of the originators of the annual charity balls in Milwaukee, through the medium of which from two to three thousand dollars are turned over to the cause of charity each year. He was always zealous in the for- warding of movements for the civic and material advancement of his home city, especially in the matter of making it a sanitary, healthful and attractive place of residence. While president of the board of park commissioners he practically superintended the details of con- struction and beautifying of the city parks, and his deep personal interest gained to him the consistent designation of "father of parks." It is said that he felt deeply the deplorable conditions of municipal government which brought about his retirement from the board of park commissioners several years prior to his death. But for his gen- erous contribution of time, talents and experience has not been denied a due popular tribute of affection and honor. He was a useful, earnest and noble citizen who for many years gave freely of his time and wealth for the betterment of Milwaukee, especially in the providing of pleasure resorts for the poor and the best of musical entertain- ments for the cultured and appreciative citizens. He enjoyed the close friendship of a large number of the leading citizens of Milwau- kee, and in fact it may consistently be said that his circle of friends was limited only by that of his acquaintances. He was a Republican in his political allegiance. The following quotation, from a Milwau- kee daily paper, is self-explanatory, and is well worthy of perpetua- tion in this more enduring vehicle :
"On July 11, 1903, at Lake Park, in the presence of a vast num- ber of people, the bust of Christian Wahl, 'Father of the Parks' was unveiled by his grandson Cyril Gordon Weld, and was formally turned over to the city. Lake Park was Christian Wahl's pride and glory ;
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it was there he labored early and late, in season and out of season, to make it a model. The pavilion also was dedicated and formally opened to the public at the same time. It stands upon the bank that leads down to the shore of the lake, and from it may be had a magnifi- cient view of the bay. The site was the one chosen by Mr. Wahl. The building is classic in style of architecture, one hundred and forty- five feet long by forty-five feet wide, and one story in height, with basement on the lake side. Extending out from the main building at the north and south ends are porticos, twenty-five by twenty- five feet, the roof being supported by Ionic columns. These por- ticos, with the main building form a court, in the center of which is the bronze bust of Christian Wahl, mounted on a granite block about eight feet high. It is an excellent reproduction of the face and features of the kindly old gentleman, as he is remembered by those who were wont to see him, day after day, making his way to Lake Park, where he spent a large portion of his time, giving per- sonal superintendence to the work that was being carried forward. Some idea of what he accomplished may be judged from the faet that it was just twelve years from this time (July, 1903.) that IIon. George W. Peek, then mayor of Milwaukee and later governor of the state, signed the order which enabled the park commissioners to make the first payment on 'Luedemann's on the Lake,' then a beer-garden. and farm, take possession and begin the work of transformation. The inscription on the face of the granite pedestal is as follows: In memory of Christian Wahl, born February 12, 1829: died October 19. 1901.' On the reverse side of the pedestal is this inscription: . He gave his ripest years and study to the parks. Rewarded alone by grateful remembrances.'
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