USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 21
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Concerning the institution of which he is now proprietor and concerning his own later advancement and changes in enterprise, the following quotation states the facts briefly : "This college of commer- cial and technical training was established in 1889 by Mr. A. Rheude. A change of title was effected July 8, 1909, when Mr. Leon L. Hine, who has been connected with the college for over twenty years, be- came a partner. The college was thereafter condneted under the name of Rheude & Hine Business College and Drafting School, Mr. Hine taking an active part in the management of the new institute. On the first of August, 1912, Mr. Hine purchased the remaining interest of his partner, Mr. A. Rheude, and the institution will hereafter be known as the Hine College.
"Mr. Hine, the new principal of this old and well known college, is a veteran educator in the commercial field, and has been connected with this college during the entire period of its existence. It has
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always been his pride and ambition to make this college not only the largest institute in this city and state, but the most thorough in all that pertains to practical education and the preparation of young men and women for large careers of usefulness, hopefulness and hap- piness. He takes personal pride in the achievement of the college in the past and it will be his ambition and constant effort to make it of still greater value to the people of the community and state." Gen- eral information concerning the curriculum and scope of the various departments of this excellent institution may be obtained upon appli- cation to its proprietor. Under the able and zealous administration of Mr. Hine the college which he owns and which bears his name occupies a leading place among similar schools in the northwest, and is maintained in well appointed and ample quarters in Milwaukee. Mr. Hine is a member of the National Association of Business Edu- cators; of the Young Men's Christian Association, the Big Brothers Order of Milwaukee; the Knights of Pythias; in politics is a strict Progressive, and is well known in both commercial and social circles in his home city.
HENRY BAIRD FAVILL, M. D. Wisconsin has contributed many nota- ble men to the efficient citizenship of Chicago, and none among them with broader range of service or with rarer qualities of character and attain- ments than Dr. Favill, now vice-president of the Wisconsin Society of Chicago. In medicine Dr. Favill's ability has placed him in the group of the eminent American physicians of the present generation. As a citizen his services, though less widely known, are an invaluable asset in the struggles of the second city of America for wholesome municipal conditions and civic and social well being.
He is a son of one of Wisconsin's pioneer doctors, and representing one of the old and prominent families of the state. Dr. Favill was born at Madison, August 14, 1860, son of John and Louise (Baird) Favill. In 1880 he graduated A. B. from the University of Wisconsin, then entered Rush Medical College in Chicago, graduating M. D. in the class of 1883, and was engaged in practice in his native city up to 1893. in which year he located in Chicago. Dr. Favill has been professor of medicine in the Chicago Poli-Clinie since 1893; professor of therapeu- tics in Rush Medical College, since 1898; physician to St. Luke's, Passa- vant and Augustana Hospitals, and at present is professor of clinical medicine in Rush Medical College. He was appointed first lieutenant in the United States Hospital Medical Reserve Corps in 1908. He was presi- dent of the Chicago Medical Society in 1907-08 and was a special lec- turer on medical jurisprudence in the law department of Wisconsin University. His other professional associations are with the Chicago Pathological Society, the American Academy of Medicine, the Chicago Physicians Club, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society, and the Amer-
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ican Medical Association. His clubs are the University, the Chicago Literary, Chicago City and Chicago Commercial.
In the broader field of citizenship, Dr. Favill is probably best known for his services in connection with the Municipal Voters League, of which he served as president for three years and has always been an energetic factor in raising the standard of official character in the Chi- cago government. He served as president of the Chicago City Club in 1910-11-12. He is chairman of the Council on Health and Public Instruction of the American Medical Association in Chicago, and from 1906 to 1912 was president of the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. At the present time he is vice president of the Wisconsin Society of Chi- cago. The doctor is a lover of fine stock, and on his farm at Lake Mills, Wisconsin, he breeds a herd of full blooded Holstein cattle. In politics the doctor is Republican.
Dr. John Favill, father of the Chicago physician, was born in Her- kimer county, New York, in 1819, and died in 1883. His wife, who was born at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1833 and died in 1911, was a daughter of Henry S. Baird, who gained distinction as first attorney general of Wisconsin territory. The Wisconsin Historical Association has issued two pamplilets on the history of the Baird family in Wisconsin. There are four children in the family of Dr. John Favill and wife, and three are now living. Dr. John Favill was a graduate of Harvard Medical College in 1847, came west to the territory of Wisconsin during the same year, and after spending one year at Lake Mills moved to Madi- son in 1848. He was one of the pioneer physicians, and a man of ability and unusual accomplishments in his profession. He was the first presi- deut of the State Board of Health of Wisconsin, and also served as president of the Wisconsin State Medical Society. In politics during his early life he voted as a Whig, and subsequently became a Republi- can.
Dr. H. B. Favill was married June 17, 1885, to Miss Susan Cleveland Pratt, of Hartford, Connecticut. The one son of their marriage is John Favill, who graduated from Harvard Medical College in the class of 1913, and now represents the third successive generation of the family in the medical profession.
AUGUST RIEBOLDT. A prominent ship builder on the Great Lakes, August Rieboldt is head of the firm of Rieboldt, Wolter & Company, of Sturgeon Bay. This company own and operate an extensive ship yard, and floating dry dock and besides the building of boats they also build dredges and docks. No citizen of Sturgeon Bay stands higher in the business and social community than August Rieboldt. He is known as a man who came up from the bottom through his own industry and integ- rity. In early youth he was trained for the trade of furniture making, but the lines of destiny led him into more active enterprise, and from
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a workman in a ship yard, he gradually advanced to be master of several lake vessels, and finally engaged with Mr. Wolter in an indepen- dent business as ship builder.
August Rieboldt was born in Falkenwalde, Prussia, in the Province of Brandenburg, January 23, 1849, and his family brought him to the United States when he was about two years old. Thus, though of Ger- man birth and parentage, Mr. Rieboldt is in every practical sense a thor- ough American. The home of his youth was the city of Sheboygan, Wis- consin, where he attended the Lutheran Parochial School for a few summers, and was confirmed at the age of thirteen. When fourteen he began to get ready for the serious responsibilities of life when he was apprenticed to a furniture maker. At that time practically all fur- niture was made by hand. He and his first employer did not agree, so at the end of about one year he quit, and began another apprenticeship with Herman Wolter, under whose direction he acquired a competent knowledge of the trade. During the first year his wages were six dollars, were advanced to twelve during the second, and for the third year he was paid eighteen dollars. At that he was more fortunate than many, since in the early days apprentices often paid for the privilege of learning
a trade. A full-fledged journeyman furniture maker, he earned regu- lar wages at that profession for only a short time, before the opportuni- ties of a larger business career opened to him. In 1866, Mr. Rieboldt began work in the ship yards at Sheboygan. From early years he has known the lakes as a practical sailor, and his employment in the ship- yards was varied by work as a sailor on the brig "Sailorboy," and other vessels. He had an interesting career and one of many hardships while sailing the lake. He experienced wrecks, collisions and other adventures and at one time was a member of a volunteer life saving crew, and has many rescues to his credit. It was a rugged life, and one that devel- oped the qualities of his manhood and courage, and the quickness in emergencies. In the fall of 1869, Mr. Rieboldt went south and spent some time at Memphis, Tennessee. In 1870 he entered the Wolf & Dav- idson shipbuilding company at Milwaukee as an employe, and worked in the yards and also as master sailed a boat for that firm during two sea- sons. In 1883 and 1884, Mr. Rieboldt had charge of the wrecking tug boat "Leviathan," and in 1885 was ready by experience and by his accumulations of capital to engage in business on his own account. In that year he and Joseph Wolter, who at that time was foreman for the Wolf & Davidson Company, formed a partnership as independent ship- builders at Sheboygan. Their first boat was the tug "Sheboygan," and since then up to the summer of 1913 their record of building ineludes the complete construction of fifty-five boats, besides extensive rebuild- ing and repair work. Among the various boats that have come out from their yards, and have been well known on the lakes, might be mentioned "The Helena," at one time the largest ship on the lake, the steamer Vol. VII-12
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"Marion," "The John Schroeder," "The E. A. Shores," and many others.
On October 5, 1876, August Rieboldt and Mariah Davidson were united in marriage. She was born and reared in Milwaukee, and her father was one of the pioneers in that city. Mrs. August Rieboldt was a woman of much culture and social charms, did her work as a mother and wife with a quiet efficiency, and was deeply mourned at her death on No- vember 8, 1905. Her children are mentioned as follows : Edward; Henry L., who married Iva McMillen; William A .; Frederick H .; Arthur D., who married Jessie Bachelor; Mabel; and Clarence E.
His business as a shipbuilder by no means is inclusive of all the busi- ness and civic activities of Mr. Rieboldt. He is prominent in fraternal circles, and it was remarked that "no local order feels complete without his name among its members." His chief affiliations are with the Masonic Lodge, Chapter and Council at Sturgeon Bay, and with the Knights of Pythias. He is vice president of the Twenty Club, a social organization of prominent Sturgeon Bay Citizens. For nearly all the years of his adult life, Mr. Rieboldt was a staunch Republican, but in 1912 cast his vote for Woodrow Wilson, and is now counted as one of Door county's leading Democrats. His public service has been in keep- ing with his record as a successful business man. He has served the city as alderman, as supervisor, and in other offices, during his residence in Sheboygan, and has been likewise honored since his home was trans- ferred to Sturgeon Bay. Mr. Rieboldt is a stockholder in the Bank of Sturgeon Bay, a stockholder in the Wisconsin Dredge & Dock Company a fifty-thousand dollar incorporation and has various other interests. His handsome residence on Cedar street, near the Rieboldt, Wolter & Company's ship yards, is a matter of special pride to him, owing to the fact that it was built from his own design, and in many ways reflects his skill as a builder, and his sense of what a residence should be.
JACOB E. FRIEND. The citizenship of Milwaukee has been adorned by many men of distinction in the different walks of life, and those familiar with the city's history readily refer to prominent names that have been associated with sterling civic qualities and large achieve- ments in affairs. One who had spent many years of his life here, aud had attained this ready recognition, was the late Jacob E. Friend, who was born in Milwaukee, December 6, 1857, and who died at Perugia, Italy, April 20, 1912. The family to which he belonged was one con- spicuously identified with the manufacturing and commercial, as well as the social history of Milwaukee, and had a large number of well known connections and relationships. Its founders in Milwaukee were the brothers Henry and Elias Friend.
The late Jacob E. Friend was the only son of Elias and Rosa (Stern) Friend. The father was born in Bavaria, Germany, August 20, 1824,
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and the mother in Albany, New York, March 1, 1839. The paternal grandfather, Louis Friend, was a member of the body-guard of the King of Bavaria, and fought under Napoleon against the Austrians in the war which began in 1805, Bavaria, at that time, being an ally of France. The maternal ancestors came from Germany to the United States about 1839, where the maternal grandfather successfully engaged in the business of a coal merchant.
Elias Friend, the father, came to America, in company with his brother, Henry Friend, in 1840, and together they shared the hardships and privations, and the many obstacles which confront every young for- eigner, striving for success. He first located in Pennsylvania, later went to Alabama, and came to Milwaukee in 1847, among the pioneers of this city. The two brothers engaged in the retail drygoods and cloth- ing business, and in 1848 were joined by another brother, Meyer Friend, when the firm of H. Friend & Brothers, was established. Their indus- try, integrity, and business ability brought them assured success, and in 1868 the business was removed to Broadway and Michigan street, where larger and more spacious quarters gave them an opportunity to meet the needs of the business, which has grown to large proportions. They then devoted their entire time to the wholesale clothing business, which developed into one of the largest clothing establishments in the west. It is still in existence and is one of the largest corporations doing business in the city of Milwaukee.
During his lifetime Elias Friend was always ready to assist and lend his aid to any worthy cause. He was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him, and his honorable career is an heritage of which his grandchildren may be proud. He died on November 5, 1890.
Jacob Elias Friend received his early education in the public schools of his native city, and later attended the Milwaukee Academy from which he graduated in the class of 1874. He then began the study of law, and after due preparation matriculated at the Columbia University college of law, in New York City, and graduated in 1878 with the de- gree of LL. B. He began the practice of law in Milwaukee, soon after his graduation, being admitted to the bar in 1879. His first associa- tion was under the firm name of Dey & Friend. By the addition of a third partner, the firm was styled Chapin, Dey & Friend, but later Mr. Friend joined the firm of Williams, Friend and Bright, continuing in that connection until 1892, when he engaged in practice for himself, and established a large business. His active legal practice continued over a period of twenty years, but after 1899 he gave the greater part of his attention to his extensive business interests outside of the field of law.
In 1895 Mr. Friend became president of the Nordberg Manufactur- ing Company, which he had assisted in organizing in 1890. He was very active in the upbuilding of this company, which manufactured
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engines and mining machinery. He had various other important inter- ests in the larger affairs of business. He was vice-president of the Friend Brothers Clothing Company, manufacturers of clothing; and was also director and chairman of the executive committee of the North- western National Insurance Company of Milwaukee; was director of the National Exchange Bank of Milwaukee, and served as vice-president and president for a number of years of the Greenwood Cemetery. He was a member of the Federated Jewish Charities.
In municipal and state affairs, Mr. Friend was always an interested worker, and was sent to the lower house of the state legislature in 1883, and returned in 1885. In the house in 1885 he introduced the bill tak- ing the Milwaukee Fire and Police Department out of politics, and plac- ing them under civil service rule. While he was in public life he never had any private interests to serve, and worked generously and broad- mindedly for the welfare of the whole state and community. In poli- ties he was a Republican. He served from 1902 to 1905 as a member of the board of police and fire commissioners of Milwaukee.
The late Mr. Friend was a man cultivated and cultured both in mind and heart, aud his loss was felt throughout a large circle of ad- miring acquaintances and friends. In religious affairs, he was a mem- ber of the Jewish church, and was intensely interested in all Jewish institutions, both religious and charitable. He was a member of the University and Deutscher Clubs of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Bar Asso- ciation, the Queen City Club of Cincinnati, and the Engineers Club of New York. He was an enthusiastic golfer, and was one of the best known members of the Woodmont Country Club. His home was at 657 Astor street in Milwaukee, and he owned a beautiful summer home at the north end of Pine Lake.
On April 29, 1885, he married Miss Alice, daughter of Albert and Julia (Friese) Levy, of Cincinnati. Their three children were Robert E., Margaret A., and James A., and these with Mrs. Friend survive the honored husband and father.
HON. SIMEON MILLS, early Madison pioneer, was born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, Conn., February 14, 1810, son of Martin Mills, a sol- dier of the Revolutionary War; his mother was the daughter of Clement Tuttle, also a Revolutionary soldier. In 1811 his grandfather moved to Ohio and was one of the pioneer settlers in the northern part of that state. Here Simeon Mills was inured to farm labor in a new country, and received a good common-school education. When twenty he taught school for a brief period and then engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was married in 1834, to Maria Louisa Smith, daughter of Church Smith, a native of Berkshire county, Mass. After making his first jour- ney west to Chicago, in 1835, he located the following year in Wiscon- sin. and when the territorial capital was finally located at Madison, in
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the Four Lakes Region, he decided to make that point his home. On the morning of June 10, 1837, the capitol building commissioner, A. A. Bird, with thirty-six workmen, among whom was Darwin Clark, arrived from Milwaukee. Says. Mr. Thwaites in his "Story of Madison": The late Simeon Mills, long prominently identified with the educational inter- ests of Madison, arrived in the afternoon of the same day. having walked out of Chicago, via Janesville and Winnequah. Mills began serving as deputy postmaster on the Fourth of July, conducting the office in con- nection with a general store which he had opened on his arrival." He secured the contract for carrying the mail between Madison and Milwau- kee until July 1, 1842, and is said to have performed the difficult serv- ice without the loss of a single trip during the term of his contract, employing a man to do the work, on horseback. In August, 1837, he was appointed justice of the peace of Dane county, probably the only one at that time between Milwaukee and Dodgville. When Dane coun- ty was organized in 1839, he was chosen one of the county commissioners and appointed clerk of the court, holding the latter office for about nine years. In 1846 he proposed to the new village trustees of Madison, to lease the water-power at the outlet of Fourth Lake for a period of sixty years; the proposition was accepted, but he soon abandoned the enterprise. He was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Argus, his associates being at first, John Y. Smith and Benjamin Holt, and later, Horace A. Tenney, David T. Dickson, and S. D. Carpenter. He was territorial treasurer at the end of the territorial era, and was elected the first senator for Dane county, when the state government went into operation in 1848. He then introduced the bill, enacted into law, which became the charter of the University of Wisconsin, and was a member of the first board of regents of the institution, being instrumental in purchasing the site and superintending the erection of its first buildings. In 1860 he became a member of the board of trustees of the State Hos- pital for the insane and served in that capacity for seventeen years, being a very active and useful member. During his long life he was identified with many public improvements, and was a large factor in the prosperity of Madison. He invested his accumulations in lands and buildings, and their care and improvement constituted his chief private business. When the Civil war broke out, he was active in the enlistment of troops, and was appointed paymaster-general by Governor Randall, disbursing more than $1,000,000 the first year of the war. He was prominently identified with the growth and development of the ' State Historical Society, one of Wisconsin's most noted institutions. In 1893, he published a neat little volume, entitled "Readings from the Book of Nature," which attracted much attention in the scientific world, by reason of the law advanced for determining matter from sensation. General and Mrs. Mills were the parents of five children, only one of whom is now living,-a daughter, Genevieve M. His death occurred
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June 1, 1895. Mrs. Mills died in 1884. The beautiful old homestead on Monona Avenue, now occupied by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Arthur C. Mills, is one of the stately homes of Madison.
BURTON HANSON. Born in Wisconsin, the year the state's first mile of railroad grade was undertaken between Milwaukee and Prairie- ville, now Waukesha, and made assistant general solicitor of the Chi- cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway System, in 1883, when the entire system comprised but about 3,000 miles of railroad, Mr. Bur- ton Hanson enjoys, the unique distinction of being today general counsel of this system, which still includes that first mile graded in 1851. Today this is one the great railway systems of the coun- try and represents, in round figures approximately 10,000 miles of railroad, reaching from the Great Lakes westward to Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, and traversing twelve of the most important states of the Union.
When Mr. Hanson was born there was not a mile of railroad grade west of the Mississippi River and the entire railway mileage of the " country did not exceed, by 100 miles the total mileage of the System for which he is today chief legal adviser. When he became connected with the St. Paul System as assistant general solicitor, in 1883, the railway mileage of the United States was about 90,000 miles. Today it is 240,000.
Statements of this sort, remarkable as they are, do not distinguish Mr. Hanson as a patriarch; far from it. They merely illustrate the marvelous development of the country west of the Alleghany Moun- tains, and the swift mastery of steam in the field of land transporta- tion. What was then a weary, tedious, dangerous, journey of weeks by team or on foot, across plains and over mountains beset with perils and savage Indians, to reach the Pacific Coast, is now traversed in four days by the luxurions passenger trains of this pioneer railroad of Wisconsin.
The best point of these historical suggestions is in their applica- tion. Of this remarkable development Mr. Hanson has been a part, and he has been found quite equal to both the increasing burdens and to his rapidly expanding opportunities.
Burton Hanson, now of Chicago, stands among the first men of Wisconsin in his chosen profession and in his especial field he is con- ceded very high place among her native sons. No Wisconsin man out- ranks him as a railroad lawyer. His peers are found only among the ablest lawyers of the land. This is not written in flattery but because it is true. The record is worthy and deserving of preservation.
Like many another Wisconsin boy who has now reached middle age and eminence, Burton Hanson, was born on a farm, and his educa- tion, procured in the district schools, and at the State Normal School
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at Whitewater, was driven deep and well "set" by several years of teaching in the district and graded schools of his native state. If he did not have all the "modern improvements" in his education, he knew what he learned and knew it well, so that when he began to prepare for the law he already had a well drilled mind and a studious habit, and he was born with ability to analyze and make knowledge practically available.
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