USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 34
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the stockholders decided arbitrarily to go into the general electric field in competition with companies which had been in the business for many years and which had unlimited means and resources, both financially and otherwise. In spite of the pleadings of Mr. Christen- sen that the policy was obviously suicidal, his advice was not heeded. At this juncture Mr. Christensen resigned as general superintendent of the Christensen Engineering Company on September 1, 1902. The business was then reorganized as the National Electric Company. Mr. Christensen's prevision was to a large extent correct. The principal stockholder of the new company in 1905, at that time presi- dent of a Milwaukee bank, was found to be involved in financial diffi- culties, which led to the appointment of a receiver for the National Electric Company, though the company itself was still solvent and in a fairly good financial state. At the bankruptcy sale the assets were bought by one of the companies which had been trying for many years to drive the pioneer Christensen air-brake out of busi- ness by underselling, by infringing and other notorious methods. When this company failed to make an arrangement for the legiti- mate use of the Christiansen air-brake patents, of which there were something like sixty to sixty-five in number, a license agreement was made with the Allis-Chalmers Company for the manufacture of the Christensen apparatus. The company, which bought the assets of the National Electric Company proceeded to manufacture and mar- ket the air brake apparatus as deliberately and openly as if the Christensen patents had never existed. The infringement proceed- ings which were instituted against this illegal use of patent rights are still pending in the courts. Similar proceedings were brought against the branches of the same aggregation and judgment obtained in the courts of Italy under the Italian patents on the Christensen air brake and in the courts of France under the French patents.
During 1907 Mr. Christensen engaged in the manufacture of gas and gasoline engines and is now operating a company known as the Christensen Engineering Company of Milwaukee. During the last two years he has developed a thoroughly reliable and practical self- starting apparatus for internal combustion engines, such as are used in automobiles, motor boats and the like. This apparatus is founded on new principles, not heretofore employed and bids fair to reach a suc- cess similar to that accomplished by Mr. Christensen in the air brake field.
Mr. Christensen is a staunch Republican and a public spirited citi- zen of Milwaukee. He served on the Milwaukee Harbor Committee, and made plans for the proposed outer Milwaukee harbor in 1899. The present outlook is that those plans will be substantially realized. A member of the English Lutheran church, he has assisted by money donations, but otherwise has not been prominent in religious or char- Vol. VI-19
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itable affairs. In the Masonic Order he has taken all the degrees in both the York and Scottish Rite except the Thirty-third. Mr. Chris- tensen is a member of the Milwaukee Club, the Town Club of Mil- waukee, and of the Royal Auto Club of London, England.
On August 19, 1894, Mr. Christensen married Miss Mathilda Thom- messen. Her parents were Eilert Hagerup and Oline (Borum) Thom- messen, her father a landowner, ship owner, merchant and operator of fishing expeditions. The family is one of the oldest noble families in Norway, its founder having been knighted by one of the Danish Kings in 1435 for exceptional courage and valor in saving the royal person from murderous enemies while hunting in a dense forest. Mem- bers of the family include many famous men, statesmen, authors, navigators, military and navy officers, including Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, the arctic explorer. Mrs. Christensen was educated in one of the colleges at Nordland, Norway. To their marriage has been born one child, Esther Marie Christensen, at Milwaukee, on May 10, 1895.
JOHN N. COTTER. One of the pioneers of Lincoln county, Wisconsin, and a man who is known not only in the section where he lives but all over the state, is John N. Cotter. He has had a very active part in the advancement and growth of the city of Merrill, and of the surrounding region, not only through his commercial successes, but also through his activity in civic and social work, and his broad-minded public- spiritedness has always shown itself most strongly. Mr. Cotter, like so many of the pioneers of this section, attained his worldly prosperity in the forests and lumber yards, but his worldly success has never won for him the popularity which his generosity, high-minded integrity and love for his fellow men have brought to him.
John N. Cotter was born at Fort Covington, Franklin county, New York on the 11th of April, 1847. His father was John Cotter and his mother was Prue Nagle before her marriage. Both John Cotter and his wife were natives of Ireland, the former being a tanner by trade. They spent the greater share of their married life in New York state, but late in life, many years after their son had come to Wisconsin, they also came to this state and here they died. Both of them lived to be over eighty years of age.
John N. Cotter spent his boyhood days in Fort Covington, New York, where he attended the public schools. He left school at the age of six- teen and started out for himself. His first work was in the lumbering field, and for two winters and one summer he worked in the forests along the Racket river, in the state of New York. He then went to Troy, New York, where he remained for a year. His next move took him to Toledo, Ohio, and he went thence to Erie, Pennsylvania. During this period, being only a boy of eighteen or nineteen, without any trade, he worked at whatever was offered to him, getting more good from traveling about
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the country than from any actual experience in any one form of work. From Erie he went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and here he secured a permanent position, working in the oil fields. He did not care for the work, however, and shortly afterwards returned to New York state.
In the fall of 1867 he once more decided to go west, and on Decem- ber 25, 1867, he arrived in Merrill, Wisconsin, or as it was then known, Jenny, Wisconsin. It was then a little village, in the center of the lumber region of the state, and the name was not changed from Jenny to Merrill, until 1881, the year that the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad laid its tracks to the city. Then the town was christened Merrill, in honor of S. S. Merrill, who was at that time the general manager for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul.
Ever since coming to Merrill John Cotter, or Jack Cotter, as he is widely known, has been identified, with ever increasing prominence, with the lumber trade. He has become one of the most prominent men in the lumber business in the Wisconsin valley and he started his career in the woods near Merrill, as a "stump" man. From this humble posi- tion he rose to one higher and so step by step until his ability gave him a place as foreman. He was a man whom his employees invariably recognized as one possessing courage and determination and a mastery over men, such qualities in the lumber business bring rapid promotion. In 1877 he was able to leave the employ of others and go into business for himself. In company with the late James O'Connor, Mr. Cotter en- tered the logging business, the firm being known as Cotter and O'Con- nor. This firm continued to do business until shortly before Mr. O'Con- nor's death, which occurred in 1885. When the partnership ceased, Mr. Cotter bought Mr. O'Connor's interest and continued in the logging business until 1911. At this time he practically closed up the business, although he still does a little logging.
Although it is with logging and lumbering in its various phases that Mr. Cotter has been most closely identified, he has taken an important part in other enterprises in Merrill. He was one of the promoters of the Merrill Railway and Lighting Company, and has for many years occupied the position which he holds at present, that of president of this concern. The Merrill Railway and Lighting Company were among the first street railways in the state of Wisconsin to operate an electric street railway. He is a director of the Citizens National Bank of Mer- rill and is also a director in the Grandfather Falls Company, the impor- tant paper manufacturing concern which is located at Merrill. Mr. Cotter is the owner of much valuable real estate, both in the city and in the county. In company with L. N. Anson, he owns the Lincoln Hotel of Merrill, one of the finest hotels in northern Wisconsin.
. In politics Mr. Cotter is a member of the Democratic party, and he has taken a prominent part in politics, not so much through his interest in politics as through his interest in civic and social questions and his
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keen desire to improve and advance conditions in Merrill and in Lincoln county. He has served as mayor of Merrill for one term, taking office in 1888, and he has been alderman of the city many times. He has also served many terms as president of the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors, and in this position has accomplished much work that has been of incalculable benefit to the county. The greatest fight which he has made in behalf of the citizens of Merrill has been to get a court house and locate it in the position which it now occupies. He met with much opposition but he was untiring and determined and the same quali- ties which brought him personal success made him successful in this instance. The courthouse is considered one of the very finest in northern Wisconsin and is located on East Main street. Mr. Cotter was a member of the Building Committee, and chairman of that committee when the courthouse was in process of erection, and it will always stand as a monument to his perseverance and courage in the face of many difficulties. Although not an old man Mr. Cotter was a pioneer of Merrill, and with few exceptions, he has been a resident of Merrill longer than any other citizen. He and his family are all members of the Roman Catholic church. In the fraternal world he is a member of the Knights of Columbus and is a Grand Knight in the local chapter of that order.
In 1885 Mr. Cotter was married to Miss Dora O. Smith, who was born in Jenny, now Merrill, Wisconsin. Mrs. Cotter is a daughter of the late O. B. Smith, who was one of the early pioneers of this section. Mr. and Mrs. Cotter have four children, as follows: Prue, who is the wife of Leon Avery, of Detroit, Michigan, and has one child, also named Prue; Dora A., who is married to F. C. Wise, of Thief Falls, Minnesota ; John N., Jr., and Gordon.
WALTER B. CHILSEN. The power and influence of the journalists of the country was never in evidence more than it is today, but men are not as credulous as they have been in the past, on account of changed conditions, therefore a successful editor or newspaper man must be more than a brilliant writer. He must be a keen student of conditions, civic and social as well as political, he must be a business man, a man whom other men like, and one whom the general public can trust. A man of this type is Walter B. Chilsen, managing editor of the Merrill Daily Herald, of Merrill, Wisconsin. He has reached his present posi- tion from a place at the very foot of the ladder, and years of experience with every phase of newspaper work have prepared him for his work as an editor of one of the most prominent papers in this section of the state.
Walter B. Chilsen was born in Merrill, Wisconsin, on the 22nd of June, 1885, the son of A. S. Chilsen. The latter was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1853, and lost his mother at the time of his birth. Shortly
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afterward his father, who was a ship owner, went down with his ship on the North Sea, as he was returning to Norway from Italy with a heavily laden ship. Being thus made an orphan, at the age of a year and a half, the baby was brought to America and was reared by rela- tives in Dane county, Wisconsin. Here he grew up and learned the trade of a mechanic. He later went to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he lived for two or three years. In 1881 he removed to Merrill where he became foreman of the round house of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. He held this position until he was injured in 1904 and since that time he has been retired, and now makes his home in Merrill. Mr. Chilsen spent practically all of the years of his active life as an employee of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company, for before he lived in Wausau he worked for this corporation in Tomah, Wisconsin, and he was transferred by the company from there to Wausau, and later, when the line was extended to Merrill, to the latter place. Mr. Chilsen married Miss Alvina Nelson, of Newport, Columbia county, Wisconsin. Mrs. Chilsen was born and reared and married in Newport and for several years after their marriage they lived in Columbia county, prior to their removal to Tomah.
Walter B. Chilsen grew up in Merrill and at the age of fifteen, in 1900, began his career in the newspaper world as a printer's "devil" in the employ of the Merrill News, remaining with this paper for two years. He then went to the Merrill Advocate, as a pressman in the composing room where he was employed until 1905. He was an ambitious boy and his ambition caused him to overwork and ill health that ensued forced him to give up the newspaper work for a time. Eight months of out- door life as a mail carrier enabled him to go back to the paper, and he became a reporter on the Merrill Advocate. About a year later he resigned this position and went to work for the Stubbs Construction Company. He only remained with them for a short time before going back into newspaper work again. This time, going into partnership with a Mr. Johnson, under the firm name of Johnson and Chilsen, he took over the management of the Merrill Herald. The two men ran this paper from 1909 to 1913, when the Merrill Publishing Company was organized, with A. H. Smith, president; F. J. Smith, vice-president ; W. B. Chilsen, secretary, and J. A. Chilsen, treasurer. All of these men are members of the board of directors also. As managing editor Mr. Chilsen's influence over the policy of the paper is by no means small, and the financial success of the paper has been greatly due to his ability.
Mr. Chilsen is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Maccabees. In politics he is a member of the Republican party.
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HON. JOSEPH S. KONKEL. On April 3, 1912, when the citizens of Superior elected Joseph S. Konkel to the office of mayor, the commission form of government, in the interests of which he had labored assiduously for five years, went into effect. A champion of progress along all lines, Mayor Konkel has made his influence felt in various ways since coming to Superior in 1890, and in his executive capacity is giving the city a clean, progressive and businesslike administration. He has been widely known in newspaper circles, having been connected with several of Su- perior's leading publications, but since assuming his official duties has retired, at least temporarily, from journalism.
Joseph S. Konkel was born March 10, 1862, in Page county, Iowa, and is a son of William and Anna (Beery) Konkel, natives of Pennsyl- vania. His father spent his boyhood in Knox county, Ohio, and in young manhood moved to Fairfax county, that state, where he was mar- ried. In 1856 he went to Page county, Iowa, where he resided until 1870, and in that year moved to a farm in Crawford county, Kansas, there dying in 1876, at the age of fifty-five years. He was a farmer by occupation, was a minister in the Church of God, and a stalwart Demo- crat in his political views. His widow survived him for a long period, passing away in 1906, when seventy-nine years of age. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom Joseph S. was the eleventh in order of birth, and of these nine are still living.
The educational training of Joseph S. Konkel was secured in the schools of Crawford county, Kansas, and on completing his studies he was engaged in teaching there for about five years. He subsequently removed to Boston, Colorado, where he followed the real estate business with some degree of success, but returned to Lyons, Kansas, where he received his introduction to the newspaper business, conducting the Cen- tral Kansas Democrat for one year in partnership with his brother. At the end of that period he came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where for six months he was connected as reporter and editor with the Daily Press, and on December 25, 1890, came to Superior to attach himself to the staff of the Daily Leader. In 1892 Mr. Konkel leased a job printing office, and succeeding this established the Clarion, a weekly newspaper, conducting both enterprises until 1903, in which year he merged the Clarion with the Daily Leader, under the new name of the Leader-Clar- ion, of which he was the publisher until April 15, 1912. At that time he gave up his journalistic activities to devote his entire time to the duties of the office of Superior's chief executive.
A stalwart Democrat in politics, for five years Mr. Konkel had been a stanch supporter of the principles of the commission form of govern- ment, under which the voter wields a greatly increased power, as he casts his ballot for all the commissioners instead of for one or two of a large number of aldermen, thus electing better men. Ample powers are conferred upon the commission, in that it exercises not only the
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usual ordinance making power, but also oversees the administrative de- partments of the city and appoints the officers. Probably to Mayor Konkel as much as to any other man is due the credit for the adoption of this form of government, and it was but a just reward for his signal services that he was elected to serve as the first mayor under the new regime. His administration has been characterized by a number of municipal reforms, he proving one of the most popular officials the city has known. He is widely known in Odd Fellowship and is also identified with other orders of a fraternal nature.
On April 3, 1888, Mr. Konkel was married to Miss Lydia A. Wilson, who was born in Minnesota, and eleven children have been born to this union, of whom ten are living: Grace, Fred, Joseph S., Jr., Frank, Graham P., Otis K., Cecil G., Anna Olive, Edith E. and Jennie.
JOHN R. MATHEWS. As mayor of the attractive little city of Me- nomonie, Mr. Mathews has given a most progressive administration and has been indefatigable in his efforts to advance the civic and material interests of the community. He is not only one of the liberal and loyal citizens of Menomonie, but is also one of the representative members of the bar of Dunn county, and is a scion of a family that was founded in Wisconsin in the early pioneer epoch of the state's history. A man of high professional attainments, of inflexible integrity of purpose and of broad and well fortified views, Mr. Mathews stands exemplar of the most progressive citizenship and in his home city and county his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.
John R. Mathews was born in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, on the 4th of December, 1849, and is a son of Andrew T. and Matilda A. Mathews, who were numbered among the honored pioneers of that section of the state and who continued their residence in Wisconsin until the time of their death, the greater part of the active career of the father having been devoted to farming. The present mayor of Menomonie is indebted to the common schools of his native county for his early educational discipline. In preparation for the profession
which his ambition had prompted him to adopt as his life work Mr. Mathews entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and his initial work in his profession was not unmarked by the vicissitudes that attend the average tyro in this exacting vocation. He engaged in practice at Menomonie and has been a valued member of the bar of Dunn county since 1878, when he established his residence in Menomonie, the judicial center of the county. Here he has long controlled a substantial and repre- sentative practice, the extent and nature of which offer the most effective evidence of his sterling character and his ability as an
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advocate and counselor. He has been closely identified with the development and progress of Menomonie, where his influence and co-operation have been given to the furtherance of measures and enterprises tending to advance the social and material welfare of the community. He served as the first city clerk of Menomonie, and for six years held the office of city attorney. His public services proved so effective and loyal that he was naturally looked upon as a most eligible candidate for the office of mayor, to which position he was first elected in 1904. In 1910, after the adoption of the civic form of municipal government, he was again called to the mayoralty, and his aggregate term of service as chief executive has thus covered a period of seven years at the time of this writing, in 1913, his present term of office expiring in April, 1920. Service of equally zealous and benignant order has been rendered by Mr. Mathews as a member of the board of education of his home city, and that popular apprecia- tion has not been lacking is shown by the fact that he has contin- uously held this position for the past twenty-three years-a period within which has been compassed the advancement of Menomonie to a secure vantage place as one of the prominent educational centers of the state. In his profession Mr. Mathews has been concerned with many of the most important litigations in the courts of this section of the state, and he has at all times been an exponent of the highest of ethical ideals in the work of his chosen calling, so that he has gained and retained the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his confreres at the bar of his native state.
Mr. Mathews was married in 1876 to Miss Mary J. Robertson. They have four children : Nina V .; Rena R .; Leita W .; and John R., Jr.
EDGAR P. SAWYER. A son of Hon. Philetus Sawyer, honored pio- neer and distinguished citizen of Wisconsin, Edgar P. Sawyer has well upheld the prestige of the name in Wisconsin. Succeeding his father in a large measure in the conduct and management of a vast business, Edgar P. Sawyer was called upon in his young manhood to assume large and exacting responsibilities. To lay the foundation of a fortune, to set in motion the wheels of industry, to establish the agencies which promote progress and developments,-all these require special type of genius. To care properly for a fortune already acquired, to add to its legitimate increase, and to keep the wheels of industry in motion requires also a fine business ability. For the pioneers and self- made men of the northwest, the general public has always had a pro- found admiration. In the sons of these sterling pioneers and empire builders, the same public always feels a peculiar interest and observes with pleasure the fact that an honored and useful citizen has been able to commit to safe hands the interests with which he has been identified.
Edgar Plauger
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Edgar Philetus Sawyer, the eldest and only surviving son of the late United States Senator Philetus Sawyer, was born at Crown Point, Essex county, New York, on the fourth of December, 1842, and was five years old when the family removed to the territory of Wisconsin. Thus he is essentially a man of the vigorous west. He was seven years old when the family home was established at Oshkosh, which was then a mere lumbering town in a typical frontier community. Several years elapsed before definite prosperity attended his father's ventures, and he grew to maturity without advantage greater than those of the average Wisconsin youth of that pioneer period. His industrial and economic training was not unlike that which his father had received, and the same practical ideas of the duties and responsi- bilities of life were early instilled into and developed by his recep- tive mind. His early advantages came from the public schools of Oshkosh, and a course in the Milwaukee Business College. At an early age he became associated with his father's lumbering operations, which were beginning to assume considerable proportions. His prompt and efficient discharge of the duties assigned to him in this connec- tion, soon gained to him the confidence of the firm in which his father was an interested principal, and prior to attaining to his legal major- ity, he had become an important factor in conducting and manage- ing a rapidly expanding enterprise.
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