USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 3
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Railroad. Gov. Paine, of Northfield, Vermont, his employer, was considered a tyrant in his demands upon those employed in that de- partment, yet he was not lacking in appreciation of the character and efforts of those who did faithful and effective work. Mr. Dodge at first got only a dollar and a quarter a day, and had to pay his own expenses. After two months he was made assistant engineer, at a salary of forty-five dollars a month. In 1847 he was transferred to the Roxbury and Northfield division of the railroad system, and con- tinued in that service until completing the work in 1849. Later he made a preliminary survey for the people between Montpelier and Bradford, Vermont.
In September, 1849, Mr. Dodge came west. At that time there was not a complete line of railway existing between the east central states and Chicago, and he made part of his journey by stage, a part on steamboat over Lake Champlain, went by canal boat and railway to the state of New York, took a steamboat across Lake Erie to Mich- igan, and journeyed from Detroit or perhaps from Monroe, Michigan, over what is now the Michigan Central, as far as the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and thence arrived in Chicago by way of boat. Con- tinuing his journey to St. Louis, where he arrived December 24, 1849, he found a position as assistant to the county engineer of St. Louis county, S. B. Moulton. Later he became a member of an engineering corps in the service of the Illinois Central Railway Company, and thus continued from September, 1850, until October of the following year. Another point that may be mentioned from his early experi- ence as illustrating the progress of the country and railway construc- tion since those early years. While with the Illinois Central Railway Company he had the supervision of the task of laying the first T-rails ever put to use in the state of Illinois, all other lines in that state still using the primitive strap-rails. Mr. Dodge next became an assistant in the construction of plank roads in St. Louis county, Missouri, and then found service in construction contracts along the line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
On April 5, 1853, Mr. Dodge took the place of assistant to E. H. Brodhead of Milwaukee, one of the leading civil engineers of his time. Later Mr. Dodge became engineer of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company, the line of which had been constructed as far as Milton in Rock county. Under his active personal supervision the line was extended from Stoughton to Madison. In the summer of 1854 he assisted in locating the line from Madison to Prairie du Chien, Wis., a distance of 100 miles. In 1855 Mr. Dodge located the line from Janesville to Monroe, Wisconsin, and in 1856 and 1857 had charge of building the road. From August, 1863, until December of the following year, Mr. Dodge was principal assistant engineer of the same railroad company, located at Mendota, Minnesota, the line
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then being under construction from Minneapolis to Faribault. In March, 1871, he was appointed chief engineer of the system, and early in the following year was made chief engineer of the Hastings and Dakota railroad. All of this service was in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, with the develop- ment of which great system he thus had an important part.
He bought the Planing Mill property in Monroe in the Spring of 1877 and left the property in charge of his brother, A. C. Dodge, and soon thereafter went south to survey the battle-fields of Gen. Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and preparing maps for the War De- partment. For assistance he had a Captain and a squad of soldiers detailed from the regular army, he being the only civilian, and spent a year in making the survey. He possessed the finest qualities of integrity and honor, so that he enjoyed the esteem of his fellow men in every relation of life.
Mr. Dodge was appointed chief engineer of construction of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway in the spring of 1879. The work of this year was the location and construction of a railroad from Alexandria to Barnesville, Minn., a distance of 76 miles. An expensive bridge was constructed across the Red River of the North at Grand Forks, Dakota.
In 1880 Mr. Dodge was appointed by Frederick Billings, the pres- ident of the N. P. R. R., to take charge of the location of the Yellow- stone division, from Glendive to now Livingston, Montana, a distance of 340 miles. The Yellowstone Valley was reached by stage line from Bismarck to Miles City, nearly 300 miles. This time was only four years previous to the Custer massacre on a tributary of the Yel- lowstone. Mr. Dodge made his first examination in February, going by stage, wagon and horseback. In February, Mr. Dodge made his first examination of the route on which he was expected to place engineering parties in the Spring. A report of the character of the work and an estimate of its probable cost had to be made. In March men, outfits and supplies were gotten together and in April Mr. Dodge started across the unsettled country, with nine wagons loaded with camp equipment and supplies from Bismarck to the Yellowstone River, and by the end of the year this 340 miles of the road was located and ready for grading.
The following year, 1881, Mr. Dodge was put in charge of the location of the Rocky Mountain division, over the main range of the Rockies and some fifty miles down the western slope, and covering about two hundred miles, and the most difficult to locate and construct of any part of the N. P. R. R. There were two mountain ranges to cross and three tunnels to go through, Boseman, 3,610 feet long, through the Belt range, and Mullan, 3,885 feet, through the Main
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range, and "Iron Ridge," 640 feet, and many trestles (one 98 feet high) were built.
In 1885 Mr. Dodge was made chief engineer of the Montana Central R. R. The location and construction of this road between Great Falls and Butte, 171 miles, was in some respects Mr. Dodge's greatest engineering work. That Mr. Dodge had great engineering skill and ability is demonstrated by the great problems he so bril- liantly solved, and his genius as an engineer was known and appre- ciated by railway men of affairs.
RENSSELAER L. MEADER. As a business builder few Eau Claire citi- zens have a record that compares favorably with that of Mr. Meader. In a number of ways his name is identified with the business history of this section of Wisconsin, where he has spent the greater part of his active career. Mr. Meader is a man of self-attainments, who began at the bot- tom in business and by his industry and applied ability has fought his way to recognition as a leader and has acquired all the elements of sub- stantial support.
Rensselaer L. Meader was born in Hesper, Winneshiek county, Iowa, October 30, 1871. He was the third in a famliy of four children born to August H. and Abbie L. (Lamb) Meader. The father was a native of Indiana and from that state, when he was a young man, located in Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising, and subsequently moved to Mabel, Minnesota, where he spent his last days retired. He was a substantial business man and a good citizen, whose public spirit was always manifest when required for united helpfulness in his community. The mother was born in New York state, and is now living at the age of sixty-four years. The parents were married in Hesper, Iowa, and of their four children the first two were twins, Margaret and May, the first dying in infancy, and the latter in 1907, as the wife of Edward Johnson. The third child was the Eau Claire business man, and the youngest was Lucy, the wife of Ray Harvey.
Mr. R. L. Meader attained his education in the public schools of Hes- per, and when still a young man obtained a place as clerk in a general merchandise store at Bloomer, Wisconsin, where he spent one year and then moved to Drummond in this state. In 1892 he became shipping clerk for the Eau Claire Grocery Company, and was connected with that firm for a number of years, during which time he laid a solid foundation for his subsequent business success. In 1896, he resigned his position as traveling salesman for the company, and located at Neillsville, Wis- consin, where he established a retail grocery business of his own, and conducted it with fair success until 1898. He then transferred his busi- ness enterprise to Eau Claire, where he resumed the retail grocery trade and conducted a prosperous store in this city, until 1904. At that date
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he established the wholesale confectionery business with which his name has since been associated.
Mr. Meader has been honored with election to the city council from the Third Ward for one term, and fraternally is affiliated with the Mas- ons, the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican. On December 18, 1900, he married Miss Louise E. Eilert, who was born in Neillsville, Clark county, Wisconsin. The three children born of their marriage, and now comprising the happy home circle at Eau Claire, are John Lawrence, Ernest Eilert and Rensselaer.
AUGUST. FRIEDRICH FRANK. The late August Friedrich Frank, in whose death, November 26, 1886, the city of Milwaukee lost one of its most successful drygoods merchants, was born May 7, 1821, in Ober- gimpern, Province of Baden, Germany, as the son of the Lutheran min- ister, Johann Heinrich Frank. After a thorough education in the parish school of his native town under the guidance of his father he entered the mercantile calling as apprentice in various cities of his native state, until he received a good appointment as "commis voyageur" in the firm of August Knapp & Sons, Reutlingen, Wurtemberg, well-known manu- facturers of cloths, where he remained five years. In this capacity he gained an enviable reputation as a commercial traveler, laying the foun- dation for his future successful career in America.
The unbearable political conditions of the revolutionary period in Germany induced him to emigrate to America in July, 1850, accompanied by his married sister, her husband, Edward Barck, and an unmarried sister. They had been advised to settle in Michigan on a farm ten miles west of Saginaw City. Like thousands of their countrymen they were called upon to lead the strenuous life of the pioneer, bringing the virgin soil under cultivation, a life full of hardships; not much to the taste of the cultured European. Discouraged by the unaccustomed manual labor, the young German-American eagerly accepted an opportunity to engage in the mercantile vocation in Milwaukee, entering into a partner- ship with Mr. Julius Goll, of the dry goods firm of Goll & Stern, Mr. Henry Stern, the former partner retiring. This was the foundation of the firm of Goll & Frank, July 3, 1852, which was to develop into one of the largest establishments of its kind in the Northwest. On July 18th of the same year, Mr. Frank was married to Veronika Kerler, of Mem -. mingen, Germany, who had emigrated to America with her father in 1849, residing on a farm nine miles west of Milwaukee. The result of this union was eight children, three of whom are now living: John H., Dr. Louis Frederick, both of Milwaukee; and August, Jr., of Racine. After the death of his first wife, February 28, 1864, Mr. Frank was mar- ried to Bertha Hueffner, of Racine, and one child of this union still sur- vives, Julius O., vice president of the Goll & Frank Company.
The young firm of Goll & Frank began to thrive from the very begin-
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ning, this being due to conservative methods, careful utilization of advan- tageous opportunities, close application and economy. The partnership was a most harmonious and well-matched one, Mr. Goll being well known as an excellent, far-seeing financier and Mr. Frank as a keen observer of human nature and applying his thorough knowledge of business methods acquired in Europe. Not inclined, like the American business man, to attempt to win a fortune at one stroke by hazardous speculation, they followed the long, but reliable course which offered no chances of sudden fluctuations or reverses.
The new firm of Goll & Frank located at what is now 447 East Water street, and occupied the first floor of the 20x100 ft. building, the upper floors being used by Mr. and Mrs. Frank as their home. The firm owned a horse and wagon and frequent trips into the neighboring counties were undertaken by the young partner. In 1855, to accommodate their in- creasing trade, the store known as No. 463 East Water street was rented. In 1860 they moved into their third store, No. 443 East Water street. With keen foresight, the advance of the markets at the breaking out of the Civil war was noted and heavy purchases made, a venture proving judicious and profitable, establishing a good credit and reputation for sound business discretion. The retail portion of the business was now separated from the wholesale and placed in charge of Mr. J. H. Hantzsch, at the corner of Third and Prairie streets. Again the rapidly increasing business compelled the firm, in 1863, to purchase the store building known as Nos. 261 and 263 East Water street. In June, 1872, this build- ing was struck by lightning, causing so much damage that the store had to be rebuilt with increased accommodations. Gradually more ground was added until 1896, when all the buildings were torn down and the present massive, ornate and excellently appointed structure known as Nos. 255 to 265 East Water street was erected. This plan was devised and carried out by the junior members of the firm soon after the death of Messrs. Julius Goll and August Frank, during a time of general depression, when it took courage to put money into any undertaking. But they placed faith in the growth and future of Milwaukee and the great Northwest and the building will long stand as a fitting monument to the founders of the firm.
On January 1, 1885, the firm was changed into a corporation, under the name of the Goll & Frank Company, with a capital of $250,000, which in 1897 was increased to $500,000. The present directors are as follows : Fred T. Goll, Julius O. Frank, Oscar Loeffler and Dr. Louis F. Frank.
Mr. Julius Goll died January 1, 1896, of heart trouble, and. Mr. August Frank suddenly of apoplexy, November 26, 1886, on the North German Lloyd steamer Aller, as he returned from a European trip with his wife and two sons. In summarizing this short biographical sketch of Mr. August Frank, it is fitting to include that of Mr. Julius Goll, his
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friend and faithful co-worker for thirty-five years. Neither of them ever aspired to political honors, attending strictly to business and refraining from speculation. They were endowed with a liberal spirit, ever ready to contribute to all charitable and educational work. Their family lives were exemplary. As men of culture and refinement they delighted in literary pleasures, especially Mr. Goll, whose linguistic attainments enabled him to read the best treasures of the English, Ger- man and French literature in the original, while Mr. Frank's jovial nature inclined more to sociability, love of nature and German "Ge- muethlichkeit," which made him "a prince of a host."
"Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances ;
"Strong men believe in cause and effect."
-Emerson.
LOUIS FREDERICK FRANK, M. D. It is not usual for one to find, in a city as full of men ambitious to reach still greater successes, whether in business or in public or professional life, as Milwaukee undoubtedly is, one who is content with the rewards which years of assiduous endeavor have brought him in respect to fortune, and is willing to devote a large portion of his energy, while yet his powers are undimin- ished, to the cultivation of music and literature for the perfection of his own life and for the welfare of the community in which he has made his home. Yet rare as is the combination, it is exemplified in the career of Dr. Louis Frederick Frank, which it is the intention of the biographer briefly and all too inadequately, to sketch.
Doctor Frank is a native son of Milwaukee, and was born April 15, 1857, a son of August and Veronika (Kerler) Frank. A member of a pioneer German-American family, he is descended from Pastor Frank a wise, broad-minded, strong and lovable man, a veteran of the German struggle for freedom in 1814, and a graduate of the University of Jena. After serving as vicar in various parishes, Pastor Frank accepted a call to Dietlingen, in 1840, and there continued to live and to labor until his death in 1864. Two of his daughters continued to reside in Germany, one, Bertha, becoming the wife of Pastor Foerster, at Ittlingen, and the youngest child, Mathilde, marrying a Mr. Seyffardt, a wealthy merchant at Crefeld on the Rhine. Two daughters came to America, and with their husbands, Barck and Seyffardt, led the life of actual pioneers on the Titibawassee river, near Saginaw, Michigan. August Frank, the second son, accompanied his sisters to the United States and became the father of Dr. Louis F. Frank; Ernst, the youngest son, came to America and was engaged in business in Louisville, New York and Milwaukee, and was a resident of Bay City, Michigan until his death in December, 1913 ; while Heinrich Frank, the oldest son, after twelve years of advent- urous life in strange lands, came to America and settled on a Michigan farm, spending the closing years of his life on a farm near Milwaukee.
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August Friedrich Frank, son of Pastor Frank, and father of Dr. Louis F. Frank, was born May 7, 1821, in Obergimpern, Province of Baden, Germany, and there received a thorough education in the parish school under the preceptorship of his father. He entered the mercan- tile trade as an apprentice, and when he had thoroughly mastered his vocation secured an excellent position as "commis voyageur" in the firm of August Knapp & Sons, Reutlingen, Wuerttemberg. The strug- gle for political independence in his native land in 1850, caused Mr. Frank to seek a new field of endeavor, and accordingly in July of that year he landed in the United States and came directly to a Michigan farm, ten miles west of Saginaw City. With the life of an agricultur- ist, however, he was not satisfied, and when the opportunity came he again entered mercantile life, this time as partner with Mr. Julius Goll, of the firm of Goll & Stern, Mr. Henry Stern, the former partner, retir- ing. On July 3, 1852, was formed the firm of Goll & Frank, which was destined to become one of the largest establishments of its kind in the Northwest. Beginning in a humble manner, it grew steadily until the outbreak of the Civil war, when, through the foresight of the partners the business leaped into the forefront of Milwaukee establishments, establishing a reputation that has been sustained to the present time. While returning from a European trip with his wife and two sons, Mr. Frank suddenly expired of apoplexy, on the North German steamer Aller, November 26, 1886. His partner died January 1, 1896, but the business that they founded, now known as the Goll & Frank Company, Inc., still lives. This business was capitalized in 1897 at $500,000, and its present directing board consists of the following members: Fred T. Goll, Julius O. Frank, Oscar Loeffler and Dr. Louis F. Frank. Mr. Frank was essentially a business man and never sought the doubtful honors of the political arena. A man of jovial nature and genial person- ality, he made friends wherever he became known, and his death was widely and sincerely mourned. He was married (first) July 18, 1852, to Veronika Kerler, of Memmingen, Germany, and eight children were born to their union, of whom three are living: John H. and Dr. Louis F., of Milwaukee; and August, Jr., of Racine. Mr. Frank's second mar- riage was to Miss Bertha Hneffner, of Racine, and one child of this union still survives : Julius O., a resident of Milwaukee.
Louis Frederick Frank attended the parochial schools of Grace church and the Markham (Milwaukee) Academy, from the latter of which he was graduated in 1875. IIe began the study of medicine at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he remained two years, following which he passed one year in the medical department of the University of the City of New York, being graduated therefrom in 1878. Following this, Doctor Frank continued his studies for two years in Europe, attending the universities and clinics of Wuerzburg, (where he received the title of Doctor of Medicine) Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Lon-
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don. Returning to his native city in 1880, he entered upon the general practice of his profession. He was married to Miss Emily Inbusch, daughter of John D. Inbusch, in 1881, and to this union there were born three children : Edwin, Elsa and Emily. In 1890, during the severe epidemic of influenza in this city, his wife died. Doctor Frank then left for Europe to take up the special study of dermatology with Dr. Paul Unna, at Hamburg, Kaposi at Vienna and Fournier at Paris, returning to Milwaukee in the fall of 1891 and devoting his professional duties to the practice of dermatology. In 1892 he was united in marriage to Miss Ella Schandein, and their children are Armin and Louise.
Doctor Frank is a member of the Milwaukee Medical Society, the Mil- waukee County Medical Society, the State Medical Society of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association. In 1893 he served as president of the Milwaukee City body. He was first president and one of the organizers of the Johnston Emergency Hospital, and in 1900 was a del- egate to the Pan-American Medical Congress at Havana, and numerous other honors have been conferred upon him by his professional brethren. He is a man of studious habits and is universally respected for the breadth as well as the accuracy of his knowledge. His learning is pro- found and copious, and the powers of his mind are admirably balanced and have been severely disciplined. While the prospect of inheriting a liberal fortune frequently saps the ambition of young men and turns their thoughts toward self-indulgence and idle luxury, here is one born to wealth who has applied his vigorous powers to a laborious and respon- sible profession, and, not content with such abundant labor, has inter- ested himself in the welfare of his kind, in stimulating a taste for art and literature. Aside from his professional duties, Doctor Frank is especially interested in the art of music, being a member of the various musical organizations of the city and president of the flourishing Wis- consin Conservatory of Music. An amateur musician and author of a number of widely-copied articles on various musical subjects, his home is adorned by an artistic music room, containing a pipe organ and grand pianos, in which eminent artists are welcomed on their visits to Milwaukee. He served four terms as president of the Milwaukee Mus- ical Society, and was its honorary president at its semi-centennial cele- bration in 1900. Doctor Frank is widely known in literary circles, and at the present time is writing a history of the Milwaukee medical profes- sion from its very beginning. Of his comprehensive work regarding the pioneer history of his parents, a contemporary critic has written : "The book is unique. It touches a phase of European history which must ever stir the heart of any descendant of the men of '48, for that year marks the stormy insurrection in Baden and the Palatinate. A volume had 'swam into my ken' that must be prized and cherished as a worthy memorial of German labors and idealism in this part of the world. This 'liber epistolarum' is in many respects a literary and historical treasure. It is a veritable chapter of what the Germans call 'culture-history.'"
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HON. WILLIAM PITT BARTLETT. Now living in Eau Claire at the age of eighty-four, Mr. Bartlett is one of the remarkable pioncers still sur- viving the passage of many years and many fruitful experiences in this state. He was one of the first settlers at Eau Claire, which has been his home for more than fifty-five years. He is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, representative of Masonry in this state.
Few men, even in so long a lifetime, have greater opportunities for disinterested service in behalf of the public welfare than have come to Mr. Bartlett, and very few indeed have improved such opportunities with greater advantage to the community and state, and with more honor to themselves. A sketch of his career serves to exemplify the best qualities which have characterized the oldest citizenship of Wisconsin during the past half century, and among the older citizens none more properly deserve a place in this present work than the Eau Claire pioneer.
William Pitt Bartlett was born at Minot, Maine, September 13, 1829, being the eighth in a family of eleven children, six sons and five daugh- ters, whose parents were John H. and Phebe (Burbank) Bartlett. John H. Bartlett, the father, was born at Elliott, Maine, January 9, 1789, and in 1833 moved to New Portland in that state. He was a clothier by occu- pation, and erected a clothing and carding mill, a saw-mill, a grist mill and a clover mill in New Portland. For a number of years, however, he devoted most of his attention to lumbering interests.
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