USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 4
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Milo Jones was a man of distinctive energy, circumspection and
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ability, and he played a prominent part in connection with the devel- opment and upbuilding of the county in which he thus established his home fully a decade before Wisconsin gained place as one of the sover- eign states of the Union. He reclaimed much of his land to cultivation and became one of the most progressive agriculturists, stock-growers and dairymen of this section of the state, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1893, at the venerable age of eighty-four years, his loved and devoted wife, who had shared with him in the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer life, having been summoned to eternal rest in 1871, she hav- ing been a consistent member of the Congregational church. Of their eight children only four are now living, and one of the youngest, who were twins, is he to whom this sketch is dedicated. Milo Jones was one of those who took advanced ground in the developing of the dairy indus- try in Wisconsin, a line of enterprise which has given the state national prestige. He carried on in the later years of his life an extensive dairy business, with an average herd of about sixty high-grade cows, and the cheese and butter manufactured on his farm found ready demand at the highest market priees, his annual shipments having reached large volume. He also gave attention to the general raising of live stock, and he was an extensive dealer in mixed stock. Through early advan- tages and, effective self-discipline he gained a liberal education, his character was the positive expression of a strong and loyal nature, and thus he was well equipped for leadership in thought and action. He took a lively interest in public affairs and, with naught of solicitation on his part, he was called upon to serve in various important public offices. He was a member of the second constitutional convention of Wisconsin and wielded much influence in the formulating of the eon- stitution adopted at that time. He was the first mayor of Fort Atkin- son and the growth and upbuilding of the city was a matter of great interest and pride to him. The names of both himself and his noble wife merit enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of Wisconsin.
Milo C. Jones was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and was favored in having the influences and associations of a home of distinctive culture and refinement. He gained his early education in the publie schools of Fort Atkinson and. at the age of seventeen years he entered Beloit Academy, where he continued his studies two years. He then entered the celebrated University of Michigan, where he was a student a short time, and prior to this he had gained excellent knowl- edge, both technical and practical, of civil engineering work. under the able direction of his honored father. For a mumber of years he found much requisition for his services in connection with surveying work. He has continuously been identified with agricultural pursuits from the days of his youth and of the original homestead farm he now owns a traet of 220 aeres, constituting one of the best improved and most val-
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uable farmsteads in this section of the state. He has maintained his residence in Fort Atkinson since built. In connection with the widely extended enterprise built up by Mr. Jones in the manufacturing of fine old-time country sausage, his sales of which now extend to the most diverse sections of the Union, no better description can, perhaps, be given than through the reproduction of a most genial and pertinent article that recently appeared in the little periodical known as Readable Write-ups, under the title of "Do it Right:"
"Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, is a pleasant place where there is neither poverty nor riehes. The town is tidy, homelike, and its population seems made up of people who appreciate the fact that there are a few simple virtues that can not safely be shelved, pigeonholed or waived. In short, it is just like hundreds of other busy little centers of industry and light, all through the middle west,-eenters that every now and then supply Chicago, Boston and New York with the Big Boys who do things.
"But when I think of Fort Atkinson I think of just one man, and that man is Milo C. Jones. Jones is a farmer, plain, simple, unpreten- tious, healthy. Just why the strongest people get sick first I might here explain if I had the time, but let it go at this,-rheumatism laid Jones by the heels and suddenly. He was tied up in knots, and the pain- devils in relays siezed him and danced at his bedside night and day. Doctors were vain ; baths were naught; specialists gave it up. Jones was flat on his baek, praying for death. So he lay for a year,-two years; five; seven. Dragging, dull, dead years when only pain was supreme. Jones saw his surplus money go-his farm was mortgaged. Jones prayed for death, but as his prayers were not answered he tried another taek. It was fall. The frost was on the pumpkin, the fodder in the shock. The boys were butchering hogs. He thought that if he could only taste sausage like that his mother made he would get well! He would make sausage for his neighbors! He could not walk; he could not use his hands, but he could think and he could show others how. And so, on that bright October morning, just to humor him. the farm- hands carried him down to the kitchen. You know the rest. The man got well! It wasn't exactly the sausage that cured him,-it was work, ideas, an animating purpose. Jones does not run foot races nor chase the pleasures of past years, for the moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on, nor all your tears shall blot a line of it. But every day for ten years Jones has been at work, and from supplying his neighbors with dainty eatables, he has built up a family trade that covers the entire United States.
"Jones is not rich,-not absurdly rich, but he has all the money he needs. His little plant is a very model of sanitary and convenient per- feetion. He raises his own pigs, or depends upon his neighbors for supply. Every animal he himself inspects. Even our Semitic friends
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do not draw the line at Jones' little-pig sausages. Jones makes me think of Dr. Maurice Burke, who was bowled over by fate and lost his feet, and who then set to work cultivating his sky-piece. Jones achieved an education in bed. Calamity gives heroism opportunity. Jones got on good terms with Herbert Spencer, Balzac, Emerson, Thoreau, Tenny- son and the great men in art and literature. They came and ministered to him. In any company Milo C. Jones would be a distinguished man. His reserve, his kindliness, his appreciation, his honesty, his poise, his sympathy, his knowledge, are unique. So, see what pain does for a man. It gave Milo C. Jones an understanding mind and a receptive heart. It also gave him business success. Great is the man who can cash in his disabilities. Life supplies the lemons,-all we have to do is to furnish the sugar."
In 1889-90 Mr. Jones manufactured his fine sausage in only sufficient amount to supply a practically local demand. The fame of the product grew apace, and from a modest inception, in the kitchen of the home, there has been built up a business of great volume, the same extending not only into the various states of the Union, but also into the Canadian provinces. All sales and shipments are made direct to the consumer, and who has once tasted the Jones farm sausage, toothsome, clean and unrivaled, can not be satisfied with inferior products. Mr. Jones has carried on judicious advertising through leading periodicals and through other approved mediums, and it can not be doubted that his business enterprise has done more to make Fort Atkinson known in the homes throughout the land than has any other one industry here centered.
A man of well fortified opinions and broad views, Mr. Jones is essen- tially and emphatically loyal and progressive as a citizen, and he takes specially deep interest in all that touches the welfare and advancement of his native city and county, which are endeared to him by many hal- lowed memories and associations. He served two terms as city super- visor and as city treasurer for one year. His business is conducted under the title of the Jones Dairy Farm, and is incorporated under the laws of the state. He is president of the company ; his son Philip W. is secretary, and his daughter Mary P. is vice-president. The manufactur- ing plant is a large building of three stories, with every facility and the most perfect sanitary provisions. The business now requires the reten- tion of a large force of employes and is one of the important industrial enterprises of Jefferson county.
Mr. Jones has for many years been aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party, but, with characteristic indepen- dence and firmness of conviction as to economie measures, he did not approve the attitude of either the Republican or the Progressive party in the national election of 1912, with the result that he cast his ballot in support of the Democratic presidential candidate, Woodrow Wilson, in whose ability and integrity of purpose he has the fullest confidence.
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He is affiliated with the Fort Atkinson Lodge of Knights of Pythias and in his native county his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.
On the 26th of October, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Jones to Miss Mary F. Cole, daughter of Ichabod and Sarah Cole, who were at that time residents of the city of Jackson, Michigan, and in whose home the marriage ceremony was performed. Mr. and Mrs. Jones became the parents of three children, of whom two are living,-Philip W., and Mary P., both of whom are associated with their father in busi- ness, as previously noted in this eontext.
JOHN O'DONNELL. For many years a Kenosha eitizen and business man, representing one of the pioneer 'families of that city, the late John O'Donnell spent the greater part of his life in Kenosha, and was actively identified with the retail coal trade. In fact, his last mortal eoneern was some details of his business. His death occurred on Oeto- ber 8, 1913, as a result of an accident, when he fell into the hold of a coal barge at the O'Donnell docks. He was walking along one of the beams of the boat, and losing his balance fell fifteen feet to the bottom, his head striking on a heavy timber, and he never regained conscious- ness. In Kenosha Mr. O'Donnell secured a firm status as a successful business man and loyal and progressive eitizen. He passed a number of years in the west in the pioneer times, and upon his return to Kenosha took up retail coal dealing.
John O'Donnell was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, June 27, 1847, a son of Patrick and Deborah (Collins) O'Donnell. The O'Don- nells came to America in 1849, and lived in Kenosha, where they were among the early settlers. Patrick O'Donnell was for a number of years connected with the flour and feed business in Kenosha, where he died in 1894. John O'Donnell, the youngest of four children, had limited educational opportunities in Kenosha, became a hard worker in boy- hood, and during his early career went west, following telegraphing, and for several years was agent for the Overland Express, and was at one time county clerk in Nevada. He also followed mining and prospect- ing in Nevada, and other western and northwestern states. In 1881, Mr. O'Donnell, after all his young manhood spent in the west, returned to Kenosha, and was thereafter identified with both business and civic affairs. From 1884 to 1886 he held the office of eity treasurer, and on leaving that offiee started on a modest scale as a retail coal merehant. For the first year or so he distributed only about five thousand tons of coal a year among his customers, but the trade was developed until its annual volume reached about twenty-five thousand tons. And in con- nection with his coal trade he also for the past two years handled lime, cement, briek and building material, with his sons. In politics Mr.
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O'Donnell was a Republican, and he and his family were communicants of the Catholic church.
In 1879 he married Miss Mary O'Brien. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters, and four of the children are still living.
RAY PALMER. Wisconsin men are now conspicuous in every large cen- ter of human affairs and in every field of enterprise. A native son from an old family, a graduate of Wisconsin University with the class of '01, and still loyal to his home state, Ray Palmer has already conferred distinction on his commonwealth and alma mater by distinguished and expert service in electrical engineering. His recent appointment as city electrician and recently changed to Commissioner of Gas and Elec- tricity of Chicago was the more notable since it was a selection based not on political expediency, but on capability and fitness. As was stated in a recent issue of the "Electrical Review and Western Electrician," -"the office of city electrician places its incumbents at the head of the municipal department of electricity, which has charge of the inspection of all electrical wiring, takes care of the fire alarm and police telegraph and of all public lighting, and looks after any other matters of an elec- trical nature, with which the city is concerned. The department now includes some four hundred offices and employes." The salary of the present position is $8,000.
Ray Palmer was born in Sparta, Wisconsin, March 29, 1878, a son of George Hageman and Mary Delemar (Canfield) Palmer. The family was established in Wisconsin by the grandparents, Hageman and Mary (Potter) Palmer, the former born in Johnstown, N. Y., in 1815, and the latter in Yorkshire, England, in 1821. They located at Sparta among the pioneers of 1856 and during the early days Hageman Palmer was an extensive operator in timber lands and lumbering. His death oc- curred September 12, 1905, and his wife died August 23, 1894. The paternal great-grandparents of Ray Palmer were David and Catherine Palmer, the former was born in 1773 and died in 1848, and the latter. born in 1776, died in 1856.
Hageman Palmer was the father of twelve children, the fourth of whom was George Hageman Palmer, who was born in New York State June 11, 1850. On June 17, 1876, he married Mary Delemar Canfield. who was born in Falls Village, Conn., November 11, 1850, and died September 3, 1901. Her father Edward Canfield, born in Salisbury. Conn., in 1822, moved from Falls Village, Connecticut, to Sparta, Wis- consin, in 1855, making the journey before the construction of the rail- roads to Wisconsin, and traveling from Chicago by ox-team to Sparta. Edward Canfield built one of the first flour mills in Wisconsin, and be- came a prominent business man and citizen in that locality. among other interests having been closely identified with banking affairs there. He married Abigail Goodwin, born in 1830, and both died in Sparta. Wis ..
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the former on October 12, 1889, and the latter April 27, 1907. They had a family of ten children, among whom Mary Delemar Canfield was the third. She was a cultured and educated woman, a graduate of Ripon College. George Hageman Palmer was educated in the public schools at Sparta, and his first occupation was farming and stock raising. Later the range of his operations extended to the breeding, buying and selling of live stock and he became well known in this business. Since 1895 he has lived retired in Sparta. The senior Palmer is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, and in politics is a Democrat. Three children were born to George Hageman and Mary Delemar Palmer, namely : Edward H., Ray, and Bessie A.
Mr. Ray Palmer has had an active and varied career, with much practical accomplishment to his credit, as a young man of thirty-five. His studies in the public schools of Sparta were completed, with gradu- ation from the high school in 1897. In the following fall he entered the University of Wisconsin, where his studies were early directed along scientific and technical lines. In May, 1898, he was one of the University men to enlist for service in the Spanish American war, joining Company L of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers. He was corporal in his company and received his honorable discharge in September, 1898, by cablegram from the Secretary of War, Mr. Alger, while at Coamo in Porto Rico. This discharge was in the nature of a special permission granted in order that the young soldier might return to the University and not lose a year's time from his studies. At that time, as will be remembered, hos- tilities were ended in Cuba and Porto Rico. Mr. Palmer was graduated from the University of Wisconsin, with the class of 1901. On the eleventh of December in the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Daisy Wentworth, who was born in Milwaukee, a daughter of Dr. Charles Chester and Annie (Llewellyn) Wentworth. The father, a native of Milwaukee, was one of the old settlers and a prominent man in his profession of dentistry in the state of Wisconsin, having served as a member of the State Board of Dental Examiners for several years. To their marriage three children have been born: Chester W., Delemar, and Ray Jr. Mr. Palmer is a member of the Wisconsin Society of Chicago, of the Kappa Sigma college fraternity, and the City Club.
As an electrical engineer, Ray Palmer began his career with the well known engineering and contracting firm of J. G. White & Com- pany, in whose services he was assistant superintendent in the in- stallation of street lighting in New York City. One year was spent in that work, after which the company sent him to London as one of its engineers in that city. With three years' experience in Eng- land he returned home and took a place as electrical engineer for the Union Traction Company in Chicago, a company that controlled the bulk of the traction lines on the north side of the city, property which has since been incorporated in the ownership of the Chicago Railways
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Company. In 1906 Mr. Palmer resigned from the Union Traction Com- pany, and opened offices as a consulting electrical engineer in both Chi- cago and Milwaukee. His aetive practice continued until his appoint- ment as city electrician of Chicago. This appointment was made by Mayor Harrison in the spring of 1912, and was based neither on per- sonal favoritism nor on politics, but on the thorough qualifications of Mr. Palmer for the post. Besides his work as consulting engineer in connection with the traction companies, Mr. Palmer had added to his reputation through his services as an electrolysis expert in the employ of the city. Quoting again from the "Electrical Review and Western Electrician," with reference to his special experience and qualification. before he hecame head of the department of electricity, "Mr. Palmer had already gained recognition as a specialist in problems concerning electrolysis, and perhaps his most notable work for the city up to the present time has been in connection with securing adequate protection of water pipes and the like from the destruetive effects of stray electric currents. His activity in this direction caused him to meet arguments of some of the best engineering ability to be obtained and his method of handling the matter showed him to be master of the subject in hand. This was a piece of work which was given considerable prominence in the Technical Press at the time the electrolysis ordinance framed by him was pending before the city council last summer (1912). He has also been very active in carrying out improvements in the lighting of the streets of Chicago, and in efforts to secure changes in and additions to the city fire alarm system." Mr. Palmer had been in office only a few weeks when the new ordinance came before the city council requiring the, traction companies to install a system, which had been in practical use by foreign eities, and which would materially reduce the damage done by electrolysis. The ordinance was adopted by the Chicago council in July, 1912, after a contest which had been going on for months, and which, in the words of the local press at the time was "Regarded as a sweeping victory for Ray Palmer, who has been city electrician less than six months, and who made the fight for the ordinance practically single- handed."
Mr. Palmer's services to the city of Chicago have been important in many other ways; largely under his supervision was conducted an in- vestigation of the business records of the Commonwealth Edison Com- pany for the purpose of obtaining information by which the city might fix fair and reasonable maximum electrie rates to the private consumers of electricity in the city. His report, made in May, 1913, recommended the reduction of electric lighting rates to the extent of over six hundred thousand dollars a year. Mr. Palmer has also been vigilant in looking after violations of the electrolysis ordinance, has vigorously pushed the extension of the city's public lighting system from power derived from the sanitary canal, as a result of which thousands of high-power electric
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lights are being installed in various parts of the city to replace the old and flickering gas lamps, and many improvements are being made in the electric fire alarm system. Lately he has been called into consulta- tion by the municipal authorities of Philadelphia to help solve their lighting problem.
Mr. Palmer has membership in various engineering socicties, includ- ing the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Electric Club, and the Western Society of Engineers. As to some of his per- sonal characteristics, this brief article concerning one of Wisconsin's able young men will be concluded with the following estimate taken from the journal already twice quoted :- "It may be well said of him further that he is a public official who does not allow any exag- gerated notions of the dignity of his position to interfere with his helping any person whom it is his place and opportunity to assist. It is an asset of no mean value to the public. He impresses one as being peculiarly fitted by temperament, as well as by professional training for the duties of the responsible office which he holds."
THE MILWAUKEE AUDITORIUM. One of the finest commercial and civic assets of the city of Milwaukee is the auditorium. No one institu- tion or establishment has done more in recent years to concentrate and maintain the reputation of Milwaukee as a commercial center than this splendid building. The large commercial organizations of every prom- inent American city have recognized the imperative necessity of provid- ing such a meeting place and building which would serve not only for the entertainment of all local organizations, but also of the many visit- ing conventions which every progressive city must invite and provide for in the course of a year. Aside from its practical utility as a great commercial and civic center, the Auditorium also represents a monu- ment to the liberality and the co-operation of Milwaukeeans, and in its construction the real quality of local public spirit was best tested. A descriptive account of the Auditorium in its inception and construc- tion has already been deemed necessary by the governing board of the Auditorium, and from the handsome publication issued under the aus- pices of the governing board, the following paragraphs of description are adapted in order to afford a reliable history of the institution for this permanent history of the state.
The beginning of the enterprise came on July 28, 1903, when a com- mittee of business men was appointed by the Merchants & Manufactur- ers Association to consider the general subject. Up to that time the old Exposition Building had served in a more or less inadequate way the general purpose of a convention and assembly hall. This Exposition building was destroyed by fire on June 4, 1905. Thus there was thrust upon the business and civic community the absolute necessity of a new structure. The conditions which confronted the so-called committee on
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convention hall were somewhat complicated. A portion of the site occupied by the old Exposition Building had originally been deeded to the city by Byron Kilbourn, an early pioneer, upon the condition that the same be used for market purposes. The balance of the site belonged to the city. The Exposition Building had been erected by private subscription, and had been conducted without profit, and in the interest of the community as a whole. The first step was to establish the legal status of the site question, and it was found that the city could not be dispossessed of the site provided it was used for public purposes. It was also a difficult proposition to erect a convention hall such as was needed involving an expense upwards of half a million dollars. The solution of the difficulty, it was believed, could be found in some arrangement by which the municipality and the public could join hands in providing the necessary means. A measure was framed under the direction of the committee, and enacted into law by the legislature in June, 1905, authorizing "eities of the first class to provide for the erection and maintenance of auditorium and music halls by co-operat- ing with private associations or corporations." It was resolved to raise the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars by private subscrip- tion and ask the municipality to vote an equal sum, thus providing a total building fund of five hundred thousand dollars. A campaign committee consisting of twenty active citizens was chosen to secure the subscription fund, which was completed by the fall of 1906. The bond issue, providing for the city's portion of the fund was voted, and the common eouneil perfected the jointure with the so-called Auditorium Company, which had been organized in the meantime, and which rep- resented the citizens who had subscribed to the private fund. The law under which the jointure was made provided that the construction, maintenance, and management of the auditorium should be entrusted to five directors representing the private corporation, and six city officials, representing the municipality, constituting a governing board of eleven members.
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