USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 29
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On August 1, 1912, Mr. Jolivette was married to Miss VanNetta McDonald, of Dane county, Wisconsin, a graduate of the DeForest (Wisconsin) high school, class of 1906.
HENRY J. GODDARD. Among the Wisconsin families few have been more conspicuous in public and business affairs nor borne the responsi- bilities of citizenship with greater dignity and social service than has the Goddard family during its residence in this state from pioneer times down to the present. Mr. Henry J. Goddard, the present postmaster of Chippewa Falls, was the pioneer druggist of that city, was a soldier during the Civil war, and in many ways has been prominent during the life of the state for the past half century.
Henry J. Goddard was born at Almond, Allegany county, New York, on November 3, 1844, being the oldest and the only survivor of four children born to Nathaniel and Lucinda (Peck) Goddard. The father, a native of Massachusetts, died in 1875 at the age of eighty-four years.
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The mother was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, and died in 1880 at the age of eighty-three years. The father, who was a farmer and mer- chant, was in business in Massachusetts, whence he removed to York, Livingston county, New York, where he was a farmer, and in 1850 came west and located in Rock county, Wisconsin, where he was among the pioneers. He located in Beloit, then a village of small proportion and importance, and there engaged in the merchandising business until his retirement. He was also honored with various distinctions in this Wisconsin city, having held the office of city treasurer for several terms. He was a deacon in the Baptist church and an active member of the Republican party.
Henry J. Goddard was six years of age when the family moved west to Wisconsin, and he was reared largely in pioneer surroundings. He attained his early education in the common schools of Beloit, finishing at the high school there, and subsequently pursuing a commercial course in Bryant & Stratton Business College at Chicago. He had begun the drug business at Baraboo, this state, about the time the Civil war came on. The war disturbed all his plans, and under the impetus of patriotism he enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin Battery. His father was too old for service, and inasmuch as another brother was already in the army, the father requested that this son should remain at home, which he did for a time. Then in 1864 he enlisted as hospital steward in the regular United States army, and gave three years of service. He was on duty at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, at Hampton, Virginia, and Richmond, that state, also at Fredericksburg until ordered to the surgeon general headquarters under General Otis, spending the latter part of his service in compiling the medical and surgical history of the war.
On his return to Baraboo, Wisconsin, he resumed the drug business with his brother-in-law, Dr. B. F. Mills, and in October, 1874, became one of the pioneer settlers in the new town of Chippewa Falls. There he became the pioneer druggist and was actively connected with busi- ness affairs up to September, 1899. He has for a number of years been active in public life, and in March, 1900, President Mckinley appointed him postmaster at Chippewa Falls, and he was reappointed, May 17, 1904, by President Roosevelt, April 20, 1908, also by Mr. Roosevelt, and April 17, 1912, by President Taft. In 1885 this district elected him to the House of Representatives, and as a member of the legislature he served as chairman of the railway committee. For twenty years he has given his counsel and direction to the affairs of the school board, of which he has been a member continuously for this period of time. He also served as city treasurer for some time and he is president of the Wisconsin Association of Postmasters.
Mr. Goddard has long taken an active part in Grand Army affairs of this state. He has his local membership in the James Comford Post,
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No. 68, G. A. R., and has served as quartermaster and commander of this post. He has also been chief of staff for the Grand Army in the Wisconsin Department. At the last state encampment held at Antigo, he was presented with a beautiful jewel by the deputy commander, Hiram Smith, and comrades of the Wisconsin Department. Mr. God- dard was made a Mason in B. B. French Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M. at Washington, D. C., and from there demitted and joined the Chippewa Falls Lodge, No. 176, A. F. & A. M. He is also affiliated with Chippewa Falls Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M., and with Eau Claire Commandery, No. 8, K. T. Subsequently he became a charter member of Tancred Commandery, No. 27, at Chippewa Falls. He has attained the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is a member of the Wisconsin Consistory, and the Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is an active Republican.
Mr. Goddard, on June 22, 1871, married Adele Grover, who was born in Lima, Livingston county, New York, and whose death occurred April S, 1900. The three children born of their union were: Frank Mills, who died in infancy; Arthur G .; and Jennie E., the wife of John A. Brooks, and they are the parents of one daughter Mary Adelle Brooks.
PROFESSOR L. D. ROBERTS. Since 1888 Professor Roberts has been continuously county superintendent of schools in Shawano county, and is one of the oldest, and probably the oldest in point of actual service since with the ending of the present term he will have twenty-six years six months to his credit in this capacity. He has made educa- tion his life's work, and for nearly a half century has been closely identified with school management. By virtue of his own ability, and by his position, he is the leading man of his profession in Shawano, and also one of the prominent educators of Wisconsin. Having the spirit of service characterizing the modern teacher, and working con- stantly for progressive measures, he has won a worthy place in his life work and profession, and has many admiring friends among his old pupils, all of whom regard his character and service as useful parts of their own lives. Previous to his election as county superintendent in 1888, Professor Roberts had been a teacher in high schools, spend- ing two years in Stoughton, and eight. in Shawano. He was the first principal of the Shawano high school, which was the pioneer school of this rank to be established in Shawano county.
Mr. Roberts was born on a farm at Macomb, Illinois, May 15, 1844, a son of Ira Norman and Margarite (Dailey) Roberts. Reared on his father's farm, he attended district school, and later completed his preparation for teaching by regular and post-graduate courses in study at the old institution known as Albion Academy and Norman Institute, from which he received the degree of Ph. B., upon graduation. Early
La. D. Roberts.
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in his career he went to southeastern Kansas, where he took up land, but as the climate did not agree with him he returned to Wisconsin and soon afterward became principal of the Stoughton schools.
Professor Roberts, outside of his promotions and distinctions as an educator, has for many years been noted for his ability in general mathematics. Out of his long experience he has invented a very ingenious calculating machine on which he now has two patents. This machine computes percentage with readiness and absolute accuracy for any number from one dollar to one hundred million, whether the rate be one or ten places. The device in its general form is a multiply- ing machine, but is especially designed for those who have charge of making out tax-rolls. Through its use it is possible to calculate in almost an instant the amount of taxes to be assessed on any piece of property running out to ten decimals.
Professor Roberts is a member of several educational associations among which are the following: The Wisconsin County Superintend- ents' Association, of which he has been twice elected president; the State Teachers' Association on the programs of which he has appeared from time to time, and he has also been an active member for many years of the National Educational Association.
His educational activities have not prevented his affiliation with local interests that tend for the uplift and general betterment of society. As member of the Board of Directors of Shawano Public Library and periodic president of the same, as a church trustee, as a member of the Masonic fraternity, he has received the recognition that public senti- ment invariably accords intelligent and progressively inclined citizen- ship in civic affairs.
WILLIAM KING COFFIN. Among the representative men of Eau Claire mention should be made of William King Coffin, for he is not only one of the prominent men in a business way, but also socially and in affairs of general public interest. His business interests lie chiefly along the lines of banking and lumbering, but he is always to be found interested in any good business proposition. He is a modern and up- to-date thinker and has as firm a grasp on his business affairs now as he had twenty years ago, with the added advantage that those years have given to him.
William King Coffin was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, on the 9th of August, 1850. He was named for William King, the first governor of Maine, for his grandfather, Nathaniel Coffin, and the governor were warm personal friends. His father, William Coffin, was born in Maine in 1822, a son of Nathaniel and Mary (Porter) Coffin. When William Coffin was quite a little fellow his parents came west to Illinois, and here he grew up, his youth being spent among the pioneer scenes of that time. He received his education in Illinois College and Andover
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Seminary. After his graduation he became professor of mathematics in Illinois College. In 1853 he gave up this profession and locating in Batavia, Illinois, went into the banking business, and was thus engaged until 1880, when he retired from active business. In politics he was a Republican. His wife, Mary (Lockwood) Coffin, was born in Illinois, and died in the year 1877. She was a daughter of Samuel D. Lockwood, who was one of the first justices of the supreme court, Abraham Lincoln having been a law student in his office. William Coffin died in 1890, at the age of sixty-eight years. Seven children were born to him and his wife, five of whom are now living.
William King Coffin was next to the eldest of his father's children, and he grew up in the state of Illinois, where he received his education, his college training being gained in Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, from which he was graduated in the class of 1871. It might be said that he began the banking business when he was fourteen years old, for it is a fact that as a boy he entered his father's bank and early learned the, details and routine work of the institution, becoming cashier of the First National Bank of Batavia, Illinois, before he was nineteen, his father being president of that bank.
In 1871, when he was twenty-one years old, Mr. Coffin entered the First National Bank of Chicago as a clerk, and he was with that con- cern in the years 1871-2-3, the first being the year of the great fire, and the last the year of the panic. In 1874 he was with a transportation company running barges between Green Bay Points and Chicago in the conveying of lumber, and this has been his sole digression from the banking business since he commenced his financial career. In 1874 he was employed in Batavia as cashier of the Coffin & Young Bank and he made his first trip to Eau Claire in 1881, coming here to look over the Pioneers Lumber Company. While his interest was taken by the possi- bilities of the lumber business, Mr. Coffin decided that banking was his forte and did not invest at the time. In the spring of 1882 Clark & Ingram, bankers of Eau Claire, invited Mr. Coffin to come to the city and associate himself with them in business. He accepted, and soon after the bank was reorganized as the Eau Claire National Bank, Mr. Coffin becoming its cashier, a position he held for many years and later be- came president of the institution, in which important capacity he is yet serving. He is also president of Eau Claire Savings Bank and vice- president of the First National Bank of Fairchild, Wisconsin.
Since settling here Mr. Coffin has interested himself widely in other lines, mainly in the lumber interests, a number of well known lumber and timber concerns claiming a share of his notice.
Mr. Coffin has held a number of positions that have shown the respect
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and esteem his associates in the business world have held for him, and the warm personal popularity he enjoys. In 1903 he served as president of the Wisconsin Bankers' Association, and he is president of the Eau Claire Public Library. He is an enthusiast on all out of door sports, and is president of the Eau Claire Automobile Club.
Being descended from one of the old pioneer families of the Mis- sissippi Valley, his interest in all things pertaining to the history of the valley is natural, and he is a life member of the Wisconsin State His- torical Society, being one of its present curators. Mr. Coffin has always taken a deep interest in religious and social questions and is a member of the Congregational church and one of the directors of the Young Men's Christian Association.
In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Elks.
In October, 1872, Mr. Coffin married Miss Mary G. Burrouglis, who is a native of the state of Illinois. To them have been born two daugh- ters, Mary E., who is the wife of B. G. Proctor, of Eau Claire, Wis- consin; and Grace B., who married F. R. Bates, of Seattle, Washington, and one son, Lester B. Coffin, who died in 1888.
WILLIAM IRVINE. The great lumber industry of Wisconsin during the past thirty years has known no more conspicuous figure than William Irvine, now and for many years a resident of Chippewa Falls. Mr. Irvine was a former president of the Mississippi Valley Lumber- men's Association, occupied a same position for two years in the National Lumber Manufacturer's Association, and has had practically every honor and distinction afforded by the great organization in the lumber industry of this country.
William Irvine was born at Mount Carroll, Illinois, October 28, 1851. His father was John Irvine, who was born in Pennsylvania of Scotch-Irish stock in 1790 and was old enough to give service to this country in the war of 1812. The mother was of New England ancestry and was a native of New York State. The father, for a number of years, prior to 1858, had a saw-mill at Savanna, Illinois, and sawed logs that were floated down the Mississippi River in that period. His equipment for milling was a rotary and sash saw, an almost typical out- fit for the times, but not one that would place his plant in serious com- petition with the great lumber manufacturing centers. William Irvine was about seven years old when his father abandoned this enterprise and turned his attention to merchandising in Mount Carroll. The son Wil- liam attended local schools until he was sixteen years of age, and then
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began work in 1867 for Captain George Winans, who was pilot for the steamer Union, and engaged in towing lumber from Reed's Landing to St. Louis and other down river markets. William Irvine had position of watchman on the Union and also on other boats engaged in towing lum- ber for the Chippewa Falls mill. At the end of two years he was pro- moted to a position of a clerk. After continuing in that way until 1875 he took a place as lumber salesman for the Union Lumbering Company, a concern which at that time owned the plant at Chippewa Falls, Wiscon- sin. It is a matter of interest that Mr. Irvine has had something to do with the Chippewa Falls Mills or its product ever since he was sixteen years of age. He first worked on the boats that towed the lumber to mar- ket, then sold the lumber, and subsequently became manager of the busi- ness. While acting as salesman he became familiar with grades and manufacturing methods, as he was about the mill more or less dur- ing that time. During the winters of 1870-71-72, while not employed on the boats, he had worked as a scaler in the woods, thus acquiring a knowledge of timber and logging. He remained with the Union Lumber- ing Company and its successor until Mr. Weyerhaeuser and associ- ates bought the Chippewa Falls mill in the spring of 1881. He then be- came secretary of the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company and in 1885 succeeded Mr. E. W. Culver as manager of the company. Mr. Irvine remained as active manager of the Chippewa Falls plant until 1912, at which time the local industry was closed down because the supply of lumber available had at last been exhausted. Mr. Irvine is also sec- retary of the Northern Lumber Company of Cloquet, Minnesota. He is vice president of the Lumberman's National Bank of Chippewa Falls, is a director of the Wisconsin Central Railway Company, a trustee of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, a member of the board of governors of the National Lumber Manufactur- ers Association, of which organization he was president during 1907- 08. He is also president of the American Immigration Association. Fraternally Mr. Irvine is affiliated with Chippewa Lodge No. 176 A. F. & A. M .; Chippewa Chapter No. 46 R. A. M .; Tancred Commandery No. 27, K. P., and having attained thirty-two degrees of Scottish Rite belongs to the Wisconsin Consistory. Mr. Irvine was married at Mount Carroll, Illinois, October 8, 1873, to Miss Adelaide Beardsley, who was born in Pennsylvania.
Though for many years one of the largest manufacturers of white pine lumber in the United States, Mr. Irvine's name probably became most familiar with lumbermen and all engaged in the lumber business through his connection with the Mississippi Valley Lumbermen's Asso- ciation. This organization embraces within its membership or affiliated
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bodies, about nine-tenths of the manufacturers engaged in the produc- tion of white pine lumber in Wisconsin and Minnesota outside the mills on the great lakes. Mr. Irvine first became actively identified with the Association at its organization in 1891. In 1896 he was made vice presi- dent, serving through that year and 1897, and on March 1, 1898, was elected president to succeed W. H. Laird. He served three years as president and gave much of his time to the organization. Without doubt the successful position of the association among national lumber organi- zations was largely due to the earnest work of Mr. Irvine while presi- dent and he has ever since retained an active part in the association's affairs through his individual membership.
DAYTON E. COOK. In sixteen years of active practice at Chippewa Falls, Mr. Cook has distinguished himself for a solid ability as a lawyer, and at the same time had devoted much of his time and energy to the public welfare. Mr. Cook has for some years been known as one of the leaders of the local bar, and the community has often looked to his inter- ests and support for many enterprises and movements for the advance- ment and general upbuilding of this city.
Dayton E. Cook was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, December 14, 1873, and was second in a family of four children born to Sylvanus H. and Nellie (Reese) Cook. The father was born in Hornellsville, Steuben county, New York, in 1846, and the mother was born in the same year in Eastern New York State. The parents were married in Dane county, Wisconsin, and their children are as follows: Dr. F. D. Cook, a dentist at Chippewa Falls; Dayton E .; Pearl; Effie C., wife of T. W. Ainsworth, now a resident of Alberta, Canada. The father who is still living, is a veteran of the Civil war, and saw much hard service for the Union. He enlisted early in the war in the First Regiment of New York Cavalry, known as the New York Dragoons. His term of service continued for nearly four years, and he participated in twenty-nine major engagements. At the close of the war he came west, locating in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he was one of the substantial farmers until 1880. In that year he removed west, fol- lowing the pioneer line and located at Aberdeen, Brown county, South Dakota. There he has for more than thirty years been engaged in wheat raising, and is one of the largest crop producers in that sec- tion, cultivating each year a thousand acres of land. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Dayton E. Cook was about seven years of age when the family moved out to South Dakota, and he was reared in that almost frontier community, attaining his education in the common and high schools at
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Aberdeen. After completing the courses in the local schools, he was sent back to Wisconsin and entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, where he was graduated in the class of 1895. He continued his preparation for his career by a post-graduate course in the same university. In 1896 he located at Chippewa Falls, and has since been attending to the demands of a large and increasing gen- eral practice. For six years he served as district attorney, and was city attorney for four years.
Mr. Cook was married October 21, 1896, at Lodi, Wisconsin, to Miss Florence Stanley, a daughter of Daniel and Augusta F. (Wilkins) Stanley. Her father, who died at the age of thirty-eight years was a soldier in a Wisconsin Regiment during the Civil War being captain of his company. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of two children, Mabel and Maurice. Fraternally Mr. Cook is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of America, the Macca- bees, and he and his family are prominent in the social affairs of Chippewa Falls.
HON. ANDREW GALBRAITH MILLER served as territorial judge from November 1, 1838, succeeding Judge Frazer in that office, until he was appointed district judge of the new district, upon the admission of Wisconsin into the Union; and thereafter and for twenty-five years discharged the functions of the Federal judiciary in the state.
Judge Miller's paternal ancestors came from the North of Ireland and were of Scotch-Irish stock. His mother's maiden name was Jane Galbraith, and she was a woman of English ancestry. Both families emigrated to America in Colonial days and settled in Pennsylvania on lands which they bought of William Penn, and they were active in the struggle of the Colonies for independence, men of both houses participating in the activities of the Colonial army during the long struggle. Matthew Miller, the father of Andrew J., served with the Pennsylvania Militia in the Niagara campaign of 1814.
Born near the present site of Carlisle, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on September 18, 1801, Andrew G. Miller was the eldest of ten children of his parents. He prepared for college at an academy in his native town, matriculated at Dickinson College, went from there to Washington College of Pennsylvania, and graduated from the last named institution on September 19, 1819. He thereafter read law in the office of Andrew Carruthers of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in 1822. Soon after his admission to the bar his father died, and as the eldest of the family, the care of the home largely devolved upon him. He practiced law in his own and ad-
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joining counties with success until 1838, and for three years held the office of Attorney General. On November 8, 1838, President Van Buren commissioned him associate justice of the supreme court of Wisconsin, to succeed William C. Frazer, deceased, and he thereupon came to Wisconsin. He reached Milwaukee after a long and tedious journey of a month and took the oath of office on December 10, 1838. Upon the admission of Wisconsin to the Union in 1848, President Polk appointed him judge of the United States district court for the Wisconsin district, which then comprised all the territory in the new state and so continued until 1870, when the state was divided into the Eastern and Western districts.
It was then that Judge Miller was assigned to the Eastern dis- trict and there he continued his service, giving honor and dignity to his office and to his profession until the close of his long and eminently useful life. After filling his office for a period of thirty-five years, Judge Miller, on November 11, 1873, announced his determination to retire from the bench in the following language: "Two years ago, then of the age when Federal Judges are allowed to resign on a con- tinuance of their salaries, I was inclined to accept the terms of the law, but being blessed with good health and not having the plea of infirmity, in response to the expressed wishes of numerous highly respectable and influential gentlemen of all parties and professions, to retain my place, and not believing it proper to retire immediately upon arriving at the specified age, I concluded to continue in office until the expiration of thirty-five years from the date of my first commis- sion. The time set for my resignation has arrived, and I make the announcement to the president of the bar association that this day I resign the office of district judge of the United States for the Eastern district of Wisconsin, to take effect on the first day of January next. An earlier day for my retiring would be agreeable to me, and should have been set but for an amount of business pending, or submitted and not disposed of, which requires my attention in the meantime. I am the oldest Federal judge in commission, and the sole surviving judge who administered the bankrupt act of 1841. As judge of the territorial su- preme court, I attended its annual terms at Madison, and held the district courts in the third district of the territory, which before the admission of the state into the union, was composed of nine counties, and also the terms of the district court as judge of the United States without missing a term from sickness or any other cause.
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