USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume VII > Part 45
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Quotations from the inaugural address are as follows :
"If I mistake not the signs of the times, and the genius and char- acter of our people, it is on American soil that the three-fold prob- lem, what free institutions can do for education, and what education can do for free institutions, and what both can do for human progress, is destined to be most successfully and most gloriously illustrated. Wherever in our country the principle of free schools has been directly submitted to the test of popular vote, it has been carried triumphantly through. The American mind has grasped the idea, and will not let it go, that the whole property of the state, whether in common or in severalty, is holden subject to the sacred trust of providing for the education of every child in the state. Without the adoption of this system, as the most potent compensation for the aristocratic ten- dencies of hereditary wealth, the boasted political equality of which we dream is but a pleasing illusion. Knowledge is the great leveler. It is the true democracy.
"Wisconsin may have the honor of solving for herself and for man the great problem of the best educational organism for improv- ing, informing and purifying the common mind, . . a problem on which depends, more than on aught else, the progressive civilization of mankind.
"And if this State University be the chosen instrumentality by which Wisconsin shall discharge her duty to man, then shall it indeed accomplish a glorious destiny by ministering in no humble degree to the advancement of the cause of God in this world, which is none other than the cause of human intelligence and virtue-the great cause of an ever progressive civilization."
In the second extract, Chancellor Lathrop closed an appeal to the farmers of the state to rally to the support of the University with these words :
"It is a fact of world-wide celebrity that Wisconsin presents to the settler the physical elements of prosperity in rich profusion and beautiful combination. With its soil and climate unsurpassed-with
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its capacity for rapid settlement and early maturity-with its con- tinned alternations, in just proportion of woodland and opening, of prairie, natural meadow and lake-and with the command of both the eastern and southern markets, it needs but the means of profes- sional culture, thus carried to the door of the farmer through the system of public instruction, to finish what nature has so tastefully and so bounteously begun.
"Agricultural science, like all other sciences, is to be acquired by study and research. The discipline and the instruction of the school are essential to its seasonable and thorough acquisition. Without it the farming processes fall to the low level of routine and drudgery. With it, agriculture vindicates its undoubted claim to stand not only in the first rank of the experimental arts, but to take its position, side by side, with the learned professions in dignity, and honor, as well as in profit.
"Bring, then, the educational agencies of the State into harmony with the great objects of your Association; follow up the auspicious beginnings of this day with ample provision for general professional culture, and you will leave an inheritance to your children, transcend- ing all that you have felt or fancied of the destiny of Wisconsin.
"Education, Gentlemen, is no mendieant. It begs nothing from your charity. Its proclamation to you is, 'Give, and it shall be given to yon again; good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall be returned to your bosom.'"
Chancellor Lathrop's views on co-education, as contained in the third extract, were presented in the following words:
"The completion of the central edifice will open the way to the admission of female pupils to the normal and the other departments of the University. It is a question now much agitated, whether the liberal culture of the female mind is an end most appropriately attained under the existing agency of separate educational establish- ments, doubling the array and quadrupling the expense of the instruc- tion. The entire success which has attended the common education of the sexes in the normal schools and the higher academies of the east- ern states goes far toward settling the question for the University. There is not wanting collegiate experience of some authority in the same direction, and the whole question is now in process of being con- clusively tested at Antioch College, under the presidency of Horace Man. It may be alleged that public sentiment in Wisconsin is not yet ripe for dispensing with separate female schools; still the Board deem it right to prepare to meet the wishes of those parents who desire University eulture for their daughters by extending to all sueh the privileges of the institution. The residence of the families of the faculty in the buildings, and the admirable conduct of the common
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hall, will render the membership of female pupils pleasant, economical and safe."
Concerning the scholarship and character of Dr. Lathrop it is perti- nent to quote the following sentences from an article in the "National Cyclopedia of American Biography :"
"Dr. Lathrop possessed a clear, logical mind, capable of broad generalization and disciplined by years of critical study, his grasp of any subject being thoroughly comprehensive and exhaustive. He was an extensive writer, communicating with the public in lectures, pamphlets, addresses and the daily press upon a variety of subjects for which his varied learning and sound philosophy especially fitted him. Education, finance, free trade, international improvements, agri- culture, besides the philosophies of his class lecture room, were some of the matters of general importance that engaged his pen from time to time. He carried on a large literary and social correspondence, and his letters might be taken as models of their kind. During his long and varied professional life, he filled every chair of instruction common to the universities of modern times, showing a rare extent and versatility of learning. His favorite department was the philosophy of morals. His lectures on ethics were an original and forcible devel- opment of the subjects combining and harmonizing the advanced views of modern thinkers with the fundamental proofs and faith of Chris- tianity. It is to be regretted that in the busy routine of his life he failed to carry out his intention of editing in book form his system of ethics and other valuable knowledge to which he had given much thought and research. He held many advanced views, some of which were later sanctioned by the logic of events. Early in life he took the then startling position that there was no necessary connection between the professions of teaching and theology; that either the one or the other should absorb the entire energies of the man, as in law or medi- cine; the subsequent distinctness of the profession of the educator proving this view of the case to have obtained general recognition. He was of the opinion that no restrictions should be put upon the instruc- tion or vocation of woman, and his belief that the higher institutions of learning would be thrown open to all who could pass the examina- tions acceptably was sustained by future facts. Dr. Lathrop had no sectarian bias, though late in life he was confirmed in the Episcopal church, having long had a preference for its mode of worship. In an address delivered upon his installation as Chancellor of Wisconsin University, he gave his conception of the ideal professor as one 'too intensely American to be partisan, too profoundly Christian to be sectarian,' and this description might well have been applied to his own character."
In 1833 John H. Lathrop married Frances E. Lothrop. She was born in Utica, New York, January 30, 1809, and died October 18, 1893.
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She was a niece of President Kirkland, of Harvard College. Mrs. Lathrop is described by those who remember her as a lady of unusual vivacity and charm,-her rare social gifts aiding the cause so ably served by her husband.
Seven children were born of their marriage, four sons and three daughters. Two died in infancy. In the cemetery at Madison is a monument commemorative of the two who died in early manhood. Three are still living, Mrs. William Medill Smith and Mrs. Charles C. Ripley of Kansas City, Missouri, and Gardiner Lathrop of Chicago.
GARDINER LATHROP. The only surviving son of the late John H. Lathrop, Gardiner Lathrop honors Wisconsin as his native state, though throughout the greater part of his life his home has been in the states of Missouri and Illinois. Gardiner Lathrop attained promi- nence in the law, and for a number of years has been general solicitor for the Santa Fe Railroad System.
Gardiner Lathrop was born at Waukesha, Wisconsin, February 16, 1850, spent about the first nine years of his life in Wisconsin, and grew to manhood at Columbia, Missouri, where his father died when the son was sixteen years of age. He graduated A. B. from the Uni- versity of Missouri in 1867, and took his Master's degree in 1870. In 1869, just fifty years after his father's graduation he received the degree of A. B. from Yale University, and also like his father was the salutatorian of his class. The same university gave him his Master of Arts degree in 1872, and in 1873 he graduated LL. B. from the Harvard Law School. In 1907 the University of Missouri and Wash- ington University at St. Louis conferred upon Gardiner Lathrop the honorary degree of LL. D.
Admitted to the bar in 1873, Mr. Lathrop engaged in practice at Kansas City, Missouri, and from 1885 was senior member of the firm of Lathrop, Morrow, Fox & Moore. In 1905 he was appointed general solicitor for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System, with headquarters in the Railway Exchange Building at Chicago.
Gardiner Lathrop has taken much interest in affairs of his alma mater, the University of Missouri, and was at one time president of its board of curators. For eighteen years he was a member of the Kansas City School Board, and its vice president several years. Mr. Lathrop is a member of the University Club of Chicago, the Chicago Club, the Kansas City Club, the University Club of Kansas City, has membership in the Sons of the American Revolution and belongs to the Wisconsin Society of Chicago. He was at one time president of the Kansas City Bar Association, has membership in the Missouri State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. In politics Mr. Lathrop is a Republican.
At Kansas City, on January 16, 1879, Mr. Lathrop married Eva
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Grant. She was born in Missouri. To their marriage have come five children, four daughters and one son, namely: Franees E., Jessie, John H., Louise, and Lothrop.
JOHN M. HOLLEY. As president of the State Bank of LaCrosse, John M. Holley is one of the prominent representatives of financial inter- ests in Wisconsin. His rise to his present responsible position has been a gradual development, in which he has thoroughly mastered every task that he has undertaken and in each forward movement he has gained a broader view and a wider outlook. The elemental strength of his char- aeter was early shown forth in the determination and ready adaptibility which he displayed and as the years have gone by he has risen superior to every difficulty and obstaele that he has encountered, thus making his business career a successful one.
John M. Holley was born at Lyons, Wayne county, New York, June 12, 1845, and is a son of John M. and Mary (Kirkland) Holley, and a member of an old and honored family of that county, his father having been an eminent attorney and member of Congress. He passed away at Jacksonville, Florida, whence he had gone for his health, in 1848. John M. Holley attended the public schools of Lyons until he was sixteen years of age, at which time he entered Hamilton College at Clinton, Oneida county, New York, and there spent three years. While still a student in that institution, in September, 1854, he became imbued with patriotism and left school to ship on the U. S. S. "Vanderbilt," spend- ing an entire year in the service of his country, the greater part of the time being spent in cruising in northern waters in search of the Confed- erate privateer, Florida, although the vessel also participated in the siege and eapture of Fort Fisher. On receiving his honorable discharge in 1865, Mr. Holley returned to Hamilton College, and there was grad- uated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1866. During that same year, Mr. Holley came to Wisconsin and for a short time acted in the capacity of messenger for the Columbia County Bank of Portage. In January, 1867, he went to Milwaukee, where he entered the employ of the First National Bank of that city, and during the fall of the same year resigned his position and came to LaCrosse to become teller in the First National Bank of this city, a position he held three years and which he resigned to become teller of the Batavian Bank, remaining in that capacity nine years, during the most of that time being in the com- panionship of Mr. Borresen who was serving as bookkeeper in the same institution. The banking house of Holley & Borresen was organized in July, 1879, by John M. Holley and Emil N. Borresen, and continued to carry on a successful business until 1883, when it was reorganized as the State Bank of LaCrosse, with a capital of $50,000, and officers as follows : D. D. MeMillan, president ; E. N. Borresen, vice-president; and John M. Holley, cashier. In 1896 Mr. George H. Ray succeeded Mr. Mc-
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Millan in the presidency ; upon Mr. Ray's death, in 1910, Mr. Holley came into that office, in which he has since continued. Mr. Borresen served as vice-president until 1898, when he resigned to go to the Pacific Coast, on account of his wife's ill health, and Mr. Platz, long connected with the David, Medary & Platz Company, tanners, was elected his suc- cessor. In 1908, when Mr. Platz died, Mr. Holley succeeded to the vice- presidency, in which he continued until becoming president of the insti- tution as before mentioned. The offiers at the present time are as fol- lows: J. M. Holley, president; John C. Burns, vice-president; J. M. Holley, Jr., cashier; and Paul T. Schulze, assistant cashier, with a directing board consisting of the following: A. Bellerue, Joseph Miller, J. M. Holley, John C. Burns, L. H. Martin, H. A. Kroner and James Thompson. The State Bank of LaCrosse conducts a general banking business and is regarded as one of the safest and most reliable money concerns of the state. Its president is classed with the prominent and representative men of LaCrosse, being recognized by his associates as possessing keen discrimination and sound judgment, while his executive ability and excellent management have brought to the concerns with which he has been associated a large degree of success. The safe, con- servative policy which he has followed in his banking interests com- mends itself to the judgment of all and has secured to the bank a pat- ronage which has increased the volume of business transacted over its counters in material manner. An idea of the business carried on by, this institution may be gained from a perusal of its statement, issued at the close of business, June 4, 1913, in which it was stated that the resources were as follows: Loans and Discounts, $890.197.73; Over- drafts, $974.12; U. S. Bonds and Other Securities, $291,162.36; Bank- ing House, Furniture and Fixtures, $13,204.16; In Reserve Banks, $268,355.02; Cash in Vault, $95,184.35; Total, $363,539.37; Total Re- sources, $1,559,077.74. The liabilities are stated to be: Capital, $100,- 000.00; Surplus, $50,000.00; Unlivided Profits, $9,353.79; Reserved for Interest and Taxes, $9,000.00; Deposits, $1,390,723.95; Total, $1,559,- 077.74.
Mr. Holley is known as one of the most public-spirited citizens of LaCrosse. He served the city as alderman of the Fourth Ward for four years, being elected on the Republican ticket, the principles and policies of which party he has ever stanchly supported. As one of the pillars of the Congregational Church, he is now acting in the capacity of dea- con, and for more than forty years was superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Holley was one of the organizers of the local Young Men's Christian Association, and at the present time is secretary of both the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the LaCrosse Pub- lic Library.
On October 12, 1869, at Niles, Michigan, Mr. Holley was united in marriage with Miss Orilla A. King, and to this union there were born Vol. VII-25
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three children, namely : John M., Jr., a graduate, class of 1898, from Hamilton College, and now cashier of the State Bank of LaCrosse ; Alexander H., who graduated from Hamilton College in 1908, and is now in the employ of a large Chicago investment company; and Hor- ace K., who graduated in 1908 from the same institution, now engaged in the insurance business in LaCrosse and is secretary of the LaCrosse Trust Company.
WILLIAM E. WEHR. Among the younger industrial enterprises of Milwaukee, none has more promising prospects for a great future than the Wehr Steel Company. Four brothers occupy the executive offices in this business, and their ability and genius as organizers and tech- nical intelligence are the elements conspiring to assure their success. The president of the company is William E. Wehr, the first vice-pres- ident is Edward R. Wehr, the secretary and treasurer, Henry W. Wehr, and the second vice-president is Fred C. Wehr. All belong to a fine old Milwaukee family, their father having been a resident of the city for half a century.
William E. Wehr, the president of the company, was born in Mil- waukee December 25, 1883, and is one of the youngest industrial executives in the city. His parents are Henry and Barbara E. (Hub- mann) Wehr, both of whom still live. The father, a native of Germany, came to this country when a young man, and has lived in Milwaukee for more than fifty years. The mother was born in Milwaukee, but her parents came from Germany. For many years Henry Wehr kept a German cafe on the river front where Gimbel's store now stands, or where the east part of the building stands, next to the Grand Avenue bridge. Mr. Henry Wehr still owns the river frontage on which a portion of the Gimbel store is located. Henry Wehr retired from active business on May 1, 1895, after many years of success. He has always been a man of retiring nature, very popular among his large acquaint- ance, but has never affiliated with lodges or clubs. His chief delight has been his home and garden and lawn, where he may be found almost any time working and keeping his flowers and grass in a state of beauty. The family homestead is at 3018 Grand avenue. There are eight chil- dren in the family, five boys and three girls, mentioned as follows: Henry W., secretary and treasurer of the Wehr Steel Company; Mrs. Louis W. Falk, widow of the late Louis W. Falk, whose career is sketched elsewhere in this work; August E., a silk broker in Chicago ; Mrs. August M. Grau, of Milwaukee; Louise at home; Edward R., vice- president of the Wehr Steel Company; William E .; Fred C., second vice-president of the company. All the children were born and educated in Milwaukee, and Frederick is a graduate of Cornell University with the class of 1912. The daughters attended St. Mary's Academy at South Bend, Indiana. Henry and August were students at Marquette
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University at Milwaukee, while the others were educated in the local high school.
The Wehr Steel Company was established by William E. and his brother, Edward Wehr, in 1910, and the other two brothers entered the firm later. They have a fine plant located on the Chicago & North- western Railway, at Forty-fifth and Gordon avenues in West Allis, and are continually enlarging and improving. They have the quality of energy and geniality which would make them successful in any enter- prise, and the history of their business has only begun. The Wehr Steel Company are manufacturers of high grade steel castings.
Mr. William E. Wehr and his brothers are members of the Deutscher Club of Milwaukee. Henry Wehr has membership in the Chicago Ath- letic Club of Chicago.
Mr. William E. Wehr was married October 7, 1911, to Miss Loretto Madeline Smyth of Chicago, a daughter of the late John M. Smyth, who died at Chicago November 4, 1909. Her father was one of Chicago's big retail merchants, his store in West Madison street, the John M. Smyth Company, having for many years stood as one of the best popular emporiums on the west side. Mrs. Wehr was born and educated in Chicago, and also attended a school for girls in the east on the Hudson river. Mr. Wehr has a fondness for all outdoor sports, especially foot- ball and baseball, and finds much of his pleasure in the use of his automobile.
JAMES A. HOSCH. In the death of James A. Hosch, at his Milwaukee home, November 8th, 1905, there was removed from this city one of the most upright, energetic and lovable of the local merchants and business men. The late Mr. Hosch had been a resident of this city for thirty-five years, since childhood, became associated with his father in fur manu- facturing, and retail business, was for many years senior member of the firm under its management by the sons of the original founder, and had already attained the summit of the high road to success, when death called him. He was a man of even and gentle disposition, thoroughly alert in business matters, and public spirited in his attitude towards citizenship and towards the larger social life of his community. He was a valuable factor in the modern growth and enterprise of Milwaukee. James A. Hosch was born in New York state, and was fifty years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of the late Adolph L. Hosch and his wife, Isabel (McHenry) Hosch, the father a native of Germany, and the mother of Scotch ancestry. The parents moved to Milwaukee in 1870, and the father established a fur and hat business, which today is conducted under the name of Hosch Brothers Company, hatters and furriers, at 92 Wisconsin street. James A. was the oldest of the broth- ers in this firm. During his boyhood he had spent some years at Roches- ter and New York City and attained his education there and in Mil-
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waukee. He entered the store kept by his father at its original location, 414 East Water street, where the business was continued until April, 1904, at which time it was moved to its present location.
The late Mr. Hosch was unmarried and lived in the old home in this city. Besides his mother there survive four sisters, namely : Mrs. Charles E. Goodhue of Hemet, California; Mrs. H. S. Roraback; Mar- garet and Martha Hosch; and three brothers, J. P., A. S., and John J. Mr. Hosch was well known both in social and business circles, was a member of the Wisconsin Consistory in Scottish Rite Masonry and of the Mystic Shrine. He had membership in the Milwaukee Athletic Club, and in the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association and belonged to the Emmanuel Presbyterian church in this city.
JOHN J. HOSCH. In the large and important field of life insurance one of the ablest men in the state of Wisconsin is John J. Hosch of the Wisconsin branch of the New York Life Insurance Company. Mr. Hosch is one of the leaders in the force of men who are recognized as among the most aggressive in any line of business, and whose work in the aggregate has been the principal factor in making the New York Life one of the two or three world's greatest life insurance companies. Mr. Hosch is one of the prominent business men of Milwaukee, and has come up from the ranks in the local force of the New York Life, as a result of hard and intelligent work, and upright methods of doing busi- ness.
Mr. Hosch entered the service of the New York Life in a clerical capacity in December, 1892, and in 1896 took up field work. During his connection with the company, he has paid for more than $5,000,000 worth of business, a record of which any agent might feel justifiably proud, and which has easily made him one of the leaders among his associates in Wisconsin. He is one of the oldest and best known mem- bers of the Wisconsin branch, and his name is known throughout the entire agency force of the company. Mr. Hosch has a number of the honors which are accorded to success in the insurance business, and all insurance men will at once recognize the significance of these honors and membership. He is now a third degree Nylic, and also a $200,000 club member. For years his name has regularly appeared upon the leaders' list of his branch, division, department, and home office, and he has a number of times occupied first place among the leaders of his branch, a distinction which he earned six times during 1911. Hard and persistent work, coupled with a winning personality has rapidly widened his circle of acquaintances in the practice of his business, so that almost from the beginning of his connection with the New York Life he has shown large returns for his energies. During 1899 and 1900 he gained membership in the $100,000 Club and in 1900 his field record
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brought him into the $200,000 Club, a place which he has retained each year since.
Mr. Hosch represents one of the old and well known families in busi- ness and social life in Milwaukee. He was born in Rochester, New York, July 16, 1869. His father, Adolph L. Hosch, was a native of Germany, and his mother, whose maiden name was Isabel McHenry, was of Scotch ancestry. The parents came to Milwaukee in 1870, where the father established a fur and hat business, an establishment which his sons run today under the name of Hosch Brothers Company, Hatters and Fur- riers, at 92 Wisconsin street, one of the largest and best equipped con- cerns in the city. Adolph L. Hosch is president of the company, John J. is vice president and J. P. Hosch is secretary-treasurer. The father had for a number of years conducted a similar business in Rochester and New York City before he moved to Milwaukee, and continued as the active head of the store in this city until his death in 1893. His mother is still living and makes her home in Milwaukee. There are three sons and four daughters living, and one son, whose death occurred in 1905, is sketched on another page of this work.
John J. Hosch received his education in Milwaukee, and left the high school, of this city, in order to take up work with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Having been attracted at this early time to the insurance field, he has never quit it, and has made a brilliant record, such as only the leaders in the business anywhere in the country have equaled. He was with the Northwestern for five years, after which he became cashier in the Wisconsin office of the New York Life, and his subsequent record with that company has already been described.
Mr. Hosch is prominent in Masonry, having attained the 32nd degree, and being a member of the Wisconsin Consistory of the Scottish Rite, the Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and other local bodies. He has membership in the Blue Mound Country Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Milwaukee Art Society, the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Asso- ciation, and the Emmanuel Presbyterian church. Mr. Hosch is the youngest of the brothers, and besides being vice-president of the Hosch Brothers Company, already mentioned, is vice-president of the Darling Land Company. He is unmarried and resides at the old home, in Mil- waukee.
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