USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Of New England birth and lineage, Patrick Henry Smith was born at Royalton, Vermont, September 29, 1827. He was the youngest of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of Colonel Stafford Smith, a man of marked prominence in his home state. Senator Smith grew up in Vermont, had the sturdy discipline of a New England environ- ment and such advantages as were supplied by the common school. His early inclination pointed toward business, and he had some apprentice- ship in that line before coming west.
Arriving in Wisconsin in 1847, he spent one year in Sheboygan, and moved to the little village of Plymouth on March 11, 1848. His brother, H. N. Smith, later of Milwaukee, was a merchant in Plymouth, and the younger Smith took employment in that store, and after one year their relations were reorganized, under the firm name of P. H. Smith & Company. The store in which Senator Smith had his first business experience at Plymouth was the second frame building erected in the town. In 1860, Hon. William Elwell, long a citizen of Sheboygan, suc- ceeded to the interests of H. N. Smith, and the firm became Smith & Elwell. From June, 1867, until March, 1868, Mr. Smith was alone in business, and at the latter date H. H. Huson became associated with him under the firm name of Smith & Huson. In April, 1873, the busi- ness was merged into a new organization, when Mr. G. W. Zerler be- came a partner, the new firm being Smith, Huson & Zerler. Mr. Smith was a natural merchant, a shrewd business man, and when ill health compelled him to retire in April, 1880, he had acquired a generous com- petency for his family.
The death of Senator Smith brought forth many comments, from individuals and from the press of the state upon his character and career, and from one of these the following tribute seems appropriate : "Senator Smith was a pioneer of the county, and one of its leading spirits, and probably did as much for its advancement as any other citi- Vol. VI-13
1574
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
zen. He has always been a gentleman of wide influence, by reason of his mental characteristics, which he always employed for the benefit of his fellow citizens, in preference to his own advancement. During his residence in the county he occupied a number of prominent public positions, and could have held many more, but not being desirous of political distinctions refused to accept them." This comment throws light on his attitude towards public affairs, and though not a politician, he had a worthy record of public service. It was his distinction to have served as the first town clerk of Plymouth. He held the office of post- master in that city from 1853 to 1857. In 1860 he was appointed Dep- uty United States Marshal. In the village he held such other offices as alderman and president of the city council. His entrance into the larger sphere of state polities came about the time of his retirement from mer- chandising. He was a Democrat in which political faith he had been reared, he was elected in 1880 to the state senate, and was re-elected in 1882, his death occurring before the expiration of his second term.
The following brief quotation will indicate some of the more per- sonal qualities of his nature: "Shrewd as a business man, and capable in all the affairs of life, it was as a neighbor and friend and in the house- hold among the family that he appeared to the greatest and best advan- tage. A man of great urbanity and a most genial nature overflowing with irrepressible mirth and wit, he died true to the life he had lived, and smiles and pleasantries characterized the weary weeks and months of his lingering illness, even when undergoing the torments and tor- ture of pain, and so great was his sense of the ridiculous and so over- mastering and exuberant was his joyous nature, that it may almost be said that he died with an innocent jest upon his lips."
In October, 1861, Patrick H. Smith married Miss Clemana Elwell, eldest daughter of Judge William Elwell of Pennsylvania. To their happy marriage were born five children, three of whom died in infancy. Those surviving both their father and mother are Mollie and Lucia, of Plymouth.
Mrs. Clemana Elwell Smith was a woman of many notable graces and accomplishments, all expressing the fine christian nobility and perfec- tion of character, for which she will be long remembered in a large cir- cle of friends. She was born at Towanda, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1838. She received her education at Bacchus Hall, at Binghamton, New York, one of the earliest schools for girls in the country. Her especial talent for music was developed both at home and in school, and at the age of fifteen she became organist in her parish church, and so continued until her marriage to Mr. Smith in 1861. At Plymouth, Wis- consin, she became organist in St. Paul's Episcopal church, and her work in behalf of this church not only in her home parish but in the state was marked not only by individual consecration, but by the extension of many generous contributions to its wider beneficence. At her husband's
1575
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
death she gave as a memorial to the church a beautiful pipe organ, and continued as organist for a number of years, until her place was taken by her daughter, Miss Mollie. The families of P. H. Smith and H. N. Smith were the nucleus of the first Episcopal organization in Plymouth, and the first Sunday School of that denomination was organized in the home of H. N. Smith. For half a century, Mrs. P. H. Smith kept her home open to the many activities of the church, and it was also a center for the finest social life of the community. The Smith families were likewise the organizers in 1869 of the Hub Club, which laid the founda- tion for the splendid public library now established in Plymouth. Mrs. Smith both before and after her husband's death kept up a wide range of cultural interests, traveled much abroad and her devotion to the finer and higher things of life was unceasing to the end. Her death occurred on November 12, 1912. She was one of the charter members of the Plymouth Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her family stock is one of the oldest in America.
HON. WILLIAM ELWELL. Though his career as a lawyer and a dis- tinguished jurist was entirely identified with the state of Pennsylvania, a brief sketch is appropriate here because his daughter, Mrs. P. H. Smith, was for half a century a resident of Plymouth, and a son was at one time one of Plymouth's business men, and he left other descendants in this state.
William Elwell was born October 9, 1808, and when more than eighty-seven years of age passed away on October 15, 1895. For a quar- ter of a century, he was presiding judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, with residence at Bloomsburg in Columbia county. He was for more than half a century a conspicuous man in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in the line of his profession was a peer of any of his contemporaries. He was in active practice for almost thirty years before he came to the bench, and in that time had served as a member of the legislature. Judge Elwell was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania in 1833. At his death more than sixty years later, many tributes were paid by his old associates to the distinguished char- acter and services of Judge Elwell, and from a reading of these expres- sions, it is evident that no ordinary man could have called forth such sincere eulogy and admiration. As was expressed by the president of the bar association, "The study of his character and the example of his life as a judge, as a lawyer, as a citizen, as a man and as a Christian will be and should be the incentive to the constantly higher and higher endeavor to reach the exalted plane on which he stood grandly, and steadily." A large proportion of the members of the Columbia county bar at the time of his death had been admitted before Judge Elwell. Concerning his work as a judge, one tribute was as follows: "The rule of conduct of Judge Elwell, as a minister of justice upon the judgment
1576
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
seat for more than a quarter of a century was righteousness, the subject matter of the profession of the law-nay, more, its principal lesson, and which every member of the profession should prize above honor, suc- cess or wealth, as the rule to guide him in the discharge of his duty. It is, therefore, eminently proper that the profession as a body should by appropriate consideration and resolution, perpetuate the character of Judge Elwell as a minister of justice; not that it will add to his fame, but because it will be so long as time shall last, a teacher to the profes- sion of what constitutes righteousness, and more than that, a teacher that yonder judgment-seat continue as Judge Elwell left it, an emblem of that higher judgment-seat of which perfect righteousness is the habita- tion."
Judge William Elwell married Miss Clemana Shaw. Mrs. P. H. Smith of Plymouth was his eldest daughter. Other children were : Mrs. N. U. Funk of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; E. W. Elwell, of Towanda; George E. Elwell; Charles P. Elwell of Bloomsburg. It may be appro- priately added in conclusion that during Judge Elwell's twenty-six years of distinguished service he never had a decision reversed.
THOMAS HENRY SMITH. It would be a difficult matter to follow the career of Thomas Henry Smith through all his varied and extensive activities, in Wisconsin during the fifty years of his residence. He came to the state as a machinist, by one of those peculiar circumstances which throw men into close association, he became a partner of the late John Leathem, and the firm title of Leathem & Smith has ever since been one of the authoritative and substantial names in Wisconsin commercial affairs. For many years their joint activities were chiefly in lumbering and logging. Mr. Smith at the present time is secretary and treasurer of the Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, and president of the Leathem & Smith Lumber Company. His residence has been at Sturgeon Bay since 1875.
Thomas Henry Smith is of New England birth and ancestry, born at Stowe, Massachusetts, June 21, 1842. His parents were John and Mary B. (Whitney) Smith, the former a native of Utica, New York, and of English parentage. John Smith was a wool-dyer by trade, and his father before him had followed the same vocation. John Smith had stock in the establishment where he was employed, and during his business career acquired various interests, but died a comparatively young man, after moving his family to Norwich, Connecticut. The mother was born at Stowe, Massachusetts, and the Whitney family goes back in Massachu- setts history to the year 1635, and many prominent men bore that name in the early colonial era, and in the later epoch of statehood. John and Mary B. (Whitney) Smith were the parents of the following chil- dren : Thomas Henry ; Marietta, wife of George B. Merrick of Madison, Wisconsin; and Caroline, who died when quite young.
1577
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
When Thomas H. Smith was about a year old, the family moved to Norwich, Connectieut. That was the city in which his youth was spent, and his early training in schools and in practical vocational preparation received. The death of his mother when he was fourteen years of age left him an orphan. Thus he was thrown largely on his own resources and with considerable prior inclination entered work at the machinists' trade, which he followed closely until the breaking out of the war. That found him still in his minority, but at the first call of Lincoln for sev- enty-five thousand volunteers in 1861, he responded and enlisted in Company C of the Second Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, under Cap- tain Henry Peele. That was a three-months' regiment, and as among the first volunteers each recruit received a medal. Mr. Smith fought in the first battle of Bull Run. With the expiration of his term of enlistment, he returned to Connecticut, and applied himself energet- ically to his trade. About that time he was awarded a contract for the making of ninety thousand pairs of ice skates, that being practically his first independent business venture.
Mr. Smith was introduced to Wisconsin through his uncle, John Whitney, who was at one time proprietor of a machine shop at Green Bay in this state. He induced his nephew to come out and take employ- ment with him in 1864. It was during his work in this shop that John Leathem, who was then conducting a mill at New Franklin, ten miles from Green Bay, made a visit to the shop to get some shingle saws set on collars. Mr. Leathem was a practical lumberman, knew every detail of the outside phases of the industry, was very capable in the handling and leading of men, but was handicapped in his progress by lack of means with which to finance his undertaking. While at the Whitney shops, he explained to its proprietor his desire to find a partner with some money. Whitney then pointed out his nephew as being just the man for his purpose. Leathem explained his proposition to Mr. Smith, who at once became interested, and promised to investigate the situa- tion. A little later Mr. Smith decided to look over the Leathem plant, and when about half way met Mr. Leathem and his men returning to the city of Green Bay. The workmen had become tired of promises instead of actual money, and refused to remain longer in the work. Mr. Smith has always been a man of quick action, and it was characteristic of him that he went back to the mill and wrote out for each of the men a check for his pay, and thus having satisfied the discontented ones the force returned and took up their work with new vigor. That was the beginning of the partnership and life long friendship of Leathem & Smith. Mr. Leathem, as an experienced lumberman, looked after all the outside work, while Mr. Smith took charge of the business end. They conducted the mill at New Franklin until 1867, and it is worth while to recall that shingles in those days sold for six dollars a thousand. In 1867, their enterprise was moved to Red river, on the shore of Green
1578
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
Bay. The late Charles Scofield, about that time took a leading financial interest in the concern, and the business was conducted for some years under the title of Scofield & Company. In 1875, Leathem & Smith moved to Sturgeon Bay, building a mill there while Mr. Scofield re- mained to conduct the milling preparations at Red River. In 1881 Mr. Scofield withdrew from the firm, and Leathem & Smith then continued together in various lines for several years. The death of John Leathem, whose name ranks high among early Wisconsin lumbermen, occurred in 1905, in San Diego, California, where he had spent the last ten years of his life in poor health.
Before the days of manufacture of artificial ice on an extensive scale, the Hammond Packing Company of Hammond, Indiana, had built several large ice houses at Sturgeon Bay. The firm of Leathem & Smith took a large contract from this company to transport its ice in a fleet of boats, and after the icehouses were abandoned, the boats were employed for carrying stone. In the early days the only way to get across the bay from Sawyer to Sturgeon Bay was by ferry. Mr. Smith often was obliged to remain in Sawyer all night, separated from his family, on account of the gorge of ice. To obviate this too frequent condition, he conceived the idea of building a bridge, and in 1886 obtained from the county board a twenty-five year charter, and with John Leathem and R. B. Kellogg under the name of Sturgeon Bay Bridge Company, con- structed a bridge at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. That was when first built only a wagon bridge, and later when the railroad began oper- ating across the bay the railway company put in a draw costing ten thousand dollars, and from that time forward the railroad company paid half the expense of maintenance, and one hundred and fifty dollars a year to the Sturgeon Bay Bridge Company. The company's charter expired November 2, 1911, and at that date the city of Sturgeon Bay took over the bridge. This was and still is operated as a toll bridge.
The firm of Leathem & Smith has done no sawing at Sturgeon Bay since 1892. They formerly owned twenty-four thousand acres of fine timberland in Louisiana, but that has since been sold to the Day Broth- ers Lumber Company. Leathem & Smith at one time owned large and valuable tracts of Michigan timber. After the abandonment of the Sturgeon Bay sawmills, Mr. Smith and John Hunsader, who had long been with him as a valuable employe, opened a machine shop in Stur- geon Bay. Mr. Hunsader having practical charge of its operation. This business is still a flourishing concern and supplies facilities for general repairing.
The Leathem & Smith Towing & Wrecking Company, was incorpo- rated in 1892, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. The president is Leathem D. Smith, a son of Thomas H. Smith, while the latter is secretary and treasurer. The Leathem & Smith Company's boats, tugs, and other apparatus and appliances for the business, are to
1579
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
be found all over the great lakes. The Leathem & Smith Lumber Com- pany was incorporated in 1894 with a capital of one hundred and sev- enty thousand dollars, and of this Leathem D. Smith is president and Thomas H. secretary and treasurer. Another important line along which Mr. Smith's business energies have been directed with much ad- vantage has been the development of Sturgeon Bay stone quarries. Mr. Smith was the first to recognize, at least in a practical sense, the possi- bilities of these quarries, and with his son Leathem he has since de- voted much of his time to the business of quarrying stone. Their quarries are supplied with all the modern machinery and methods for blasting and getting out stone for all commercial purposes. This is the only firm in Sturgeon Bay engaged in the crushed stone business, and during the past year it has become necessary to more than double the capacity of the plant. Leathem D. Smith has active charge of this industry.
In December, 1874, Thomas H. Smith married Anna Dailey. The children of their marriage are as follows: Mande, now Mrs. Fred Walters, of Shelby, Ohio, and their children are Thomas Smith, Mary Collier and Winifred E .; Sidney T. is interested with his father in the ownership of eight sections of land in Fresno county, California, where they raise vast quantities of alfalfa; Winfred is the wife of J. G. Os- borne of Milwaukee, and they have five children; Marietta is Mrs. Carl Dreitzer, of Milwaukee; Leathem is the present head of the Leathem & Smith business interests, and has proved himself a worthy successor of his father. from whom he has gradually taken the weighty responsi- bilities of business affairs; the youngest child is Miss Theresa. Both Mr. Smith's sons are graduates of the University of Wisconsin, and the daughters are likewise educated. Mrs. Smith and her daughters are all prominent socially. Their Sturgeon Bay home is a fine resi- dence on Cedar Street. Mr. Smith has had a long and busy career, has had too many practical responsibilities to consent to run for office, and has performed his share of community life by originating and car- rying to a successful conclusion, various large undertakings that con- stitute important assets in the state's commercial prosperity.
URIAS J. FRY. The late Urias J. Fry, for years superintendent of the telegraph system of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, closed a long and a successful career in the railroad business after a short illness from pneumonia. his death occurring on February 22, 1913, at his home on Newhall street, Milwaukee. He had been a resident of this city for thirty years, and was well and favorably known in railroad circles, as well as in social and fraternal centers. His connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in Milwaukee began in 1884, when he came here as an operator for the road. Soon thereafter he became chief operator, a position he continued to occupy
1580
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
until 1888, when he was promoted to the office of telegraph superin- tendent, which position he was the incumbent of when death claimed him.
ยท Urias J. Fry was born in Urichsville, Ohio, on April 28, 1848, and was the son of Daniel and Mary Ann (Bingham) Fry. Both parents were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and natives of Ohio. The mother died a few years after Urias was born, and in 1849 the father moved to Indiana, where he remained until 1895. In that year he came to Milwaukee, here spending the latter part of his life, and he died here in 1905. His father was a gunsmith by trade, and an especially enterprising man, and at different periods of his career conducted a cooperage factory, a match factory, a blacksmith shop, and also owned a farm at one time. In 1854 he married, as his second wife, Mrs. Delia Rumsey, who died in 1893, leaving two children, Alta L. and Ellsworth J. Fry.
Urias J. Fry, the subject of this biographical review, was thirteen months of age at the time of his mother's death. He was placed in the care of his grandmother at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he lived until he was of school age, when he returned to his father's home at Lowell, Indiana. There he attended the common schools, and in March, 1874, he began his career as a telegraph operator, his first assignment to duty being at Washington Heights, Illinois. With skill as an operator he combined an efficiency of service that put him in the way of steady promotion. IIe was with the Pan Handle Rail- road at first and was promoted from Washington Heights to Dalton, Illinois, and then to the C. B. & Q. railroad as operator at Aurora, Illinois. In 1884 he entered the service of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Milwaukee as an operator, being advanced from that position in September of the same year to that of chief operator. Four years later, on October 1, 1888, he was made super- intendent of telegraph over the entire system of the company, a position which he filled in the most capable and efficient manner, and in which he was serving at the time of his death.
One of the best known telegraphers in the country, he made many improvements in the application of the relay idea in railroad work, and was known to be an expert in telegraphy and telephony. He served as president of the Superintendents of Telegraphers Associa- tion, and also as president of the Old Time Telegraphers Society, and was always prominent in both societies. He was active in fraternal societies, and was a member of Colfax lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Lowell, Indiana, and Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 24, Knights Templar, of Mil- waukee; the Knights of Pythias, and Wisconsin Council, No. 197, of the National Union of Mutual Insurance. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, as was also his widow, who died June 3, 1913. His two sons survive him.
C
Nostry.
1581
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
Mr. Fry was married on November 9, 1869, to Miss Emile L. Chap- man, who was born in Madison county, New York, and came to Indi- ana with her parents when a child, they being among the earliest settlers in the northwest part of that state. The two sons are Rupert F., who is given distinct mention in this work as president of The Old Line Insurance Company of America of Milwaukee, and Justus W. Fry. The latter was born in Chicago, Illinois, and educated in Milwaukee. He has followed the vocation of his father in railroad telegraphy and is chief lineman of the Milwaukee road at Seattle, Washington, on the Puget Sound Branch.
RUPERT F. FRY, founder and president of The Old Line Life Insur- ance Company of America, is one of the best known insurance men of the middle west and has been actively identified with the business, from solicitor to company executive throughout most of his entire career. Mr. Fry was born in Lake county, Indiana, June 10, 1871, but has been a resident of Milwaukee for the past twenty-five years. He is a son of Urias J. and Emile L. (Chapman) Fry of this city, who have separate mention on other pages of this work.
Rupert F. Fry completed his education in the Milwaukee schools, after which he followed in the footsteps of his father by acquiring the art of telegraphy and practicing it as an operator for several years at various points through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and other states. His inclinations soon led him into another sphere, and in 1895 he took up life insurance, in that field finding the opportuni- ties for conspicuous achievement. During his career in insurance he has represented some of the world's best companies, and it was his study of insurance as a business science, together with his thorough practical experience, that enabled him in 1910 to complete the organ- ization and launch under such favorable auspices The Old Line Life Insurance Company of America, and the success of that company is due to Mr. Fry's executive management.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.