USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 37
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On February 27, 1889, Mr. Haney was married to Miss Laura Grimmer, daughter of George Grimmer, deceased, who was a pioneer sawmill man of Kewaunee, where he settled in 1858. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Haney: Olga and Ruth. Mr. Haney enjoys membership in the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
MARTIN FLADOES, vice-president of the Bank of Menomonie, at Menomonie, the beautiful and progressive little city of Dunn county, has been a resident of this county since his boyhood days and here has found ample opportunity for the achieving of definite and worthy success in connection with normal lines of productive enterprise, be- sides which he is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of the county and a representative of that sturdy Scandinavian element which has played a most important part in the development and upbuilding of the Badger state. Mr. Fladoes is now one of the foremost business
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men in Menomonie, and the high estimate placed upon him in the section which has long been his home is shown by the fact that he was chosen register of deeds of Dunn county, a position of which he con- tinued the valued incumbent for four terms or eight years and in which his administration was of admirable order.
Martin Fladoes was born in Norway, on the 23d of January, 1860, and is a son of Sever J. and Marie (Overbee) Fladoes, members of old and sterling families of that far Norseland, where they continued to maintain their home until 1875, when they emigrated to America, and established their home near Menomonie, Dunn county. Here the father purchased a tract of land and reclaimed a productive and val- uable farm, his inflexible integrity and loyalty as a citizen having gained to him secure place in the confidence and esteem of the com- munity in which his earnest and well directed efforts conserved both civic and industrial progress. He was a pioneer of Dunn county and lived up to the full tension of the arduous toil and many vicissitudes which ever fall to the lot of settlers in an undeveloped section. He was a Republican in his political proclivities and both he and his wife were consistent members of the United Norwegian Lutheran church. Mr. Fladoes was summoned to eternal rest in 1904, honored by all who knew him, and his devoted wife passed away several years before his death. Of the three children two are living, the subject of this sketch being the younger; Andrew J. has been a resident of Ransom county, North Dakota, for the past thirty-five years, is there the owner of a large and well improved landed estate, and is a prom- inent and influential citizen.
In his native land Martin Fladoes gained his early educational dis- cipline and he was a lad of fifteen years at the time of the family emigration to the United States. After the home had been estab- lished in Dunn county, Wisconsin, he almost immediately assumed the active duties and responsibilities of life, and his advancement to his present position of success and prominence has been the result of his own energy, ability and well ordered endeavors. Soon after his arrival in Dunn county and while still but fifteen years of age he entered the employ of the representative lumbering firm of Knapp- Stout & Company, and it will be recalled that at that early period the lumber industry formed the principal medium of productive enter- prise in this section of the state. Mr. Fladoes had his full share of experience in connection with the arduous work in the lumber camps of the state and remained in the employ of the firm mentioned for a period of ten years. After his marriage, which occurred in 1886, he resumed his association with agricultural pursuits, to which he continued to devote his attention for five years, as the owner and operator of a farm in Dunn county. His character and ability were such as to give to him impregnable vantage-ground in popular confi-
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dence and esteem, and in 1894 he was elected register of deeds of the county, an office of which he continued the efficient and popular incum- bent until 1902. Upon his retirement from public office he assumed a clerical position in the First National Bank of Menomonie, with which he continued to be thus identified for three years. Ilis former em- ployer in the lumber business, Mr. Stout, then purchased the business of the Bank of Menomonie, in 1906, and showed his appreciation by securing Mr. Fladoes as cashier of the institution. In this executive office the latter continued his earnest and effective service from 1906 until 1911, when, after the death of Mr. Stout, he purchased an appreciable amount of the stock of the institution, of which he then became vice-president, the administrative office of which he has since continued in tenure and in which he has had a distinctive influence in ordering the policies and system on which the affairs of the substantial and popular institution are conducted. In the building now occupied by the Bank of Menomonie S. B. French established a private bank on the 27th of May, 1868, and this was virtually the first bank in Dunn county. Mr. French served as cashier of the institution until 1883, and the business was owned by the firm of A. Tainter & Son. Mr. French continued to hold the office of cashier until the death of A. Tainter, and in 1903 he organized, under the state laws, the Bank of Menomonie, which was incorporated with the following as its execu- tive corps : Louis S. Tainter, president; Mrs. Fanny McMillan, vice- president; and F. T. Watson, cashier. Under such control the bank continued operations until 1906, when its stock was purchased by Mr. Stout, as previously noted. The present officers are as here noted: Lorenzo D. Harvey, president; Martin Fladoes, vice-president; and Ole Nesseth, cashier, individual mention of the president of the in- stitution appearing on other pages of this work. The bank has a capital stock of $30,000, and its surplus and undivided profits now aggregate nearly $8,000, with deposits, as shown by its official state- ment of April 4, 1913, of $155,658.36. Mr. Fladoes is not only one of the principal stockholders of this flourishing financial establishment but is also similarly interested in the Menomonie Milling Association and is the owner of valuable real estate in Menomonie, as well as else- where in the county.
Mr. Fladoes is recognized as one of the progressive and public- spirited men of the county in which he has long maintained his home, his political allegiance is given to the Progressive Republican party, and he is an active and valued member of the Menomonie Commercial Club. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and the Independent Scandinavian Workmen's Association, and both he and his wife are zealous and liberal members of the United Norwegian Lutheran church in their home city.
On the 16th of January, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
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Fladoes to Miss Anna Mitlyng, daughter of A. A. Mitlyng, an honored pioneer of Dunn county. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Fladoes six are living and their names, with respective dates of birth, are here noted : Sever N., November 6, 1887; Alice M., October 5, 1889 ; Karen J., January 6, 1891; Clara M., December 23, 1894; Martin A., May 17, 1896 ; and John A., February 19, 1898.
HON. CHARLES E. ARMIN. In legal, judicial and political life, Hon. Charles E. Armin has become a notable figure in Waukesha and throughout the state of Wisconsin. Well fitted by birth and edu- cation for positions of responsibility, he is a product of the English race, plus an unusually practical development of his native gifts. The Armin family of England, traced back to the sixteenth century, in- cluded among its representatives one Robert Armin, whose "golden tongue" added its quota of charm to the immortal dramatic presenta- tions of William Shakespeare's company of players. The founder of the American line of this family was the grandfather of Charles E. Armin. That progenitor was a resident of Watlas, near Beadle, in Yorkshire, England, from there he came with his family to the United States. His son Lott W. Armin, who was then in his boyhood, grew to maturity and became a farmer on property near Potsdam, New York. Is the autumn of 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil War. Joining a New York regiment, he served for two and one- half years, taking part in fourteen engagements. Twice wounded, he had played a gallant part in his share of the struggle and was mustered out with the rank of sergeant. After the close of the war, Lott Armin returned to his family and followed the useful pursuits of stock- raising. Mrs. Lott Armin, neé Abbie Eldridge, was a descendant of the English family of Eldridge which had settled in Massachusetts in pre-Revolutionary days. In her character were therefore combined the elements of sturdy Scotch nature and the frugal virtues of New England. To her and her husband three children were born. The second, Charles E., is the special subject of this account and of specific narrative in the following paragraphs; the first, Florence Armin, be- came Mrs. Freeman H. Perry, the wife of a descendant of Commodore Perry, the honored victor of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812; and Wilbor H. Armin, the younger son and youngest child of Lott and Abbie Armin is a lumber merchant at Sibley, Iowa.
Charles E. Armin, first-born son in the above named family, was born at De Kalb, in St. Lawrence county, New York, on the twenty- seventh day of December, 1853. In the public schools he found the usual resources for mental development during his youthful days. When he had reached the age of fifteen or sixteen, his impulses toward finan- cial independence led him to enter a drug store, where he devoted his energies to learning all the necessary points fitting him for work
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as a pharmacist. In this work he remained remuneratively active for several years. This vocation, however, fundamentally scientific though it was, failed to satisfy the vigorous intellect of the young man, who presently turned his attention to further studies of a more broadly erudite nature.
Entering the State Normal School at Potsdam, New York, at the age of twenty, he there pursued for three years the prescribed course of study. During his student activities he attracted considerable at- tention as a debater and went on record as one of the strongest orators of the somewhat noted Baconian society of the pedagogical institution. This period of intellectual preparation was followed by a season of activity in the teaching profession. This, too, was one of the vocational "stepping-stones" which Mr. Armin used, with benefit to himself and others, on his way to his ultimate professional goal.
Again becoming a student, Charles E. Armin entered upon the study of law. One stage of his plans in that direction was his coming westward to enter the law offices of his mother's brother, Attorney Charles A. Eldridge of Fond du Lac. A change in his arrangements, caused by the removal of his uncle's seat of practice to Washington, led Mr. Armin to engage again temporarily in his earlier work of pharmacy. This he carried on for a brief time in Milwaukee and in Waukesha, presently engaging once more in pedagogical activities and during the three years of his service in that line in Wisconsin, Mr. Armin pursued the desired law studies. He thus well prepared him- self to take up regular work as a student in the office of P. H. Carney of Waukesha. During this period, Mr. Armin turned his scholarship to financial account by working for Chicago and Milwaukee newspapers, thereby supporting himself as well as broadening his knowledge of life. .
On February 7, 1883, after an examination in open court, Mr. Armin was admitted to the bar. In May of that year he opened an office in Waukesha county, and in the following September he was admitted to practice in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In the spring of 1891, he formed a partnership with Vernon H. Tichenor. In the autumn of that year he was elected district attorney; on the expiration of his term he declined to serve for a second, preferring to devote his time and attention to his private practice. He has, nevertheless, been the object of signal advancement, both professional and political.
Always a Democrat of clearly reasoned principles, Mr. Armin was a particularly staunch supporter of William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Appreciating his political strength, Mr. Armin's party in 1898 made him their candidate for Congress and he lost that race against S. S. Barney, the previous incumbent of that office from this district. On April 2, 1907, judicial honors came to Charles E. Armin, who was on
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that date elected municipal judge of Waukesha county. This position Judge Armin has since continuously held.
The family of Charles E. Armin was established in 1880. On Febru- ary 15 of that year he married Miss Flora Butterfield, daughter of Charles and Anna Wheeler Butterfield. They are the parents of a daugh- ter and a son. The former, Cora A., is well known as Mrs. Armin Tooker ; the latter, Reginald Kenneth Armin, is now a student in the Waukesha high school. In the Judge's home, his father, Lott W. Armin, is now living at the advanced age of 88 years.
Fraternal organizations claim Judge Armin's membership in sev- eral different societies. He has been a past chancellor and district deputy of the Knights of Pythias; a member of the Modern Woodmen of America; of the Woodmen of the World; of the Order of Foresters; and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also affili- ated with the Equitable Fraternal Union and the Sons of Veterans. Judge Armin's prestige in Waukesha is one requiring no complimentary reminders on the part of the biographer. His position is, moveover, one that is based upon character and ability, as distinguished from the rank that is borrowed from personal influence or purchased with money. That fact makes a perusal of his successful life more than ordinarily worth while.
CLARENCE HILL. The president of the Port Washington State Bank has gained distinct prestige in financial circles in his native state and has shown marked discrimination and administrative ability in the directing of the executive policies of the substantial and popular in- stitution of which he is now the head and which owes its organization principally to his initiative and well ordered efforts. Virtually his entire active career has been one of close identification with banking in- terests, and Mr. Hill may consistently be designated one of the rep- resentative figures in the financial circles of eastern Wisconsin, as well as one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Ozaukee county, of which his home city of Port Washington is the judicial center and metropolis.
Clarence Hill was born on a farm near the village of Rosendale, Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, on the 2d of September, 1868, and is a son of T. Cooper and Mary E. (Scribner) Hill, who still maintain their home in Fond du Lac county, with whose industrial and civic development the father has been closely identified, as one of the sub- stantial and representative agriculturists of that section of the state. Under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm Clar- ence Hill waxed strong in mental and physical powers, the while his ambition was quickened and his self-reliance effectually developed. His preliminary education was acquired in the district schools and was supplemented by the curriculum of the public schools of the village of
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Rosendale, where he completed a course in the high school. At the age of seventeen years Mr. Hill entered the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, as a laborer, and while he then, as now, had a deep appreciation of the dignity of honest toil and endeavor, he was ambitious to find a field of activity in which were afforded better opportunities for advancement through personal ability and application. He soon retired from his association with railway work and secured the position of messenger in the First National Bank of Ripon, a thriving little city of his native county. Mr. Hill was diligent and faithful in the discharge of his duties and was alert to every opportunity afforded for the gaining of knowledge of the details of the banking business, with the result that he won promotion and gained the unqualified confidence and esteem of the interested prin- cipals in the bank with which he was identified. He was finally ad- vanced to the position of bookkeeper of this institution, and of this executive office he continued the incumbent until 1894, when he assisted in the organization of the National Bank of Manitowoc, at the county seat of the county of the same name. Of this institution he served as cashier until the spring of 1899, when he removed to Port Washington, where he gained the best of co-operation and effected the organization of the Port Washington State Bank, of which he became cashier at the time of its incorporation. In this executive office he had ample scope for the exercise of his administrative powers and constructive ability, and it is largely due to his progressive and well directed policies that this institution has become one of the substantial and popular banks of this section of the state. Mr. Hill continued in tenure of the position of cashier until 1910, when the stockholders of the bank gave emphatic evidence of their confidence and high appreciation by electing Mr. Hill to the presidency of the institution. As chief execu- tive he has ably carried forward the policies which were devised by him while serving as cashier and he has made the bank one of conserva- tive order and impregnable strength. The stockholders of the Port Washington State Bank are numbered among the representative citi- zens of Ozaukee county and bring to the institution ample capitalistic reinforcement. The bank bases its operations upon a capital stock of $50,000 and its deposits are now about $350,000. Mr. Hill is an active and valued member of the Wisconsin Bankers' Association. He is a thorough business man, discriminating and far-sighted, somewhat reserved and entirely free from ostentation. He is firm in his convic- tions and broad in his views concerning matters of public import. Distinctly alert and progressive in his civic attitude, he is at all times ready to give his influence and tangible co-operation in the support of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community, and he has won impregnable vantage-place in the confi- dence and esteem of the people of his home city and county.
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In politics, though never imbued with any ambition for public office, Mr. Hill accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Episcopal church. He is one of the loyal supporters and most zealous members of the Port Washington Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association, of which organ- ization he served as president in 1910-11 and with whose high civic ideals and progressive policies he is in full accord. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and several fraternal insur- ance orders. He holds membership in the Port Washington Business Men's Club, and his civic pride and liberality were significantly shown in his erection of the attractive club building, which he turned over to the organization at a nominal rental and which is a source of pride to the citizens of Port Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are valued factors in the leading social activities of their home community, and here their circle of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
In the year 1896 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hill and Miss Caroline B. Mendlik, of Manitowoc, and they have one son, Donald.
ANDREW G. NELSON. One of the most substantial business men and citizens of Waupaca, Wisconsin, is Andrew G. Nelson, a resident here since 1871, in which year he migrated from his native land and took up his residence here, where his brother had already become established. No better citizens will be found anywhere in the United States than Sweden has contributed to the population of this country, and Mr. Nelson is not behind the best of his fellow countrymen in civic and national loyalty and pride. Like most of his countrymen, he is a business man of excellent capacity, and he has made a success of his business enterprise in Waupaca that is most pleasing to contemplate.
Andrew G. Nelson was born in Sweden on June 15, 1849, and is a son of Nelson P. and Catherine Nelson. The father was a farmer, auc- tioneer and lawyer in his native community and was there a man of power and influence. He passed his entire life there, as did his wife, and their children were seven in number, named as follows: John P., A. G., Anna, Frederick, Joseph H., August and Mary. Mary, August and Anna, it should be stated, are still residents of their native land, all the others having emigrated to America, in the wake of Andrew G. and N. P., who first started the ideas of the family America-ward.
Andrew G. Nelson spent his boyhood on his father's farm, attending the schools of the home community and in his youth taking up car- pentry. He was nineteen when he entered a Military and Agricultural School, Sweden, at that time being considerably in advance of the United States in respect to her Agricultural schools, and when he was twenty-one he came to the United States. He was thirteen days in crossing, and when he reached New York he struck out immediately Vol. VI-21
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for Wisconsin, where his eldest brother was located at Waupaca, em- ployed as a carpenter in the shop of Jordran & Ilolley, who ran a planing mill. The training he had received in the carpenter trade in Sweden made it possible for him to obtain immediate employment in the same shop with his brother, and he continued with them for two years, in the spring of 1873 he and his brother pooling their savings and going into a business enterprise of their own. They bought a small steam power mill at Waupaca, and the Nelson Brothers ran in double harness until 1886, when A. G. bought out his brother's interest and thereafter continued alone for several years. Later he bought the water power and built his present grist mill, adding an immense lumber yard and planing mill. The A. G. Nelson Lumber Company thus came into being, with himself as president and his son, E. W. Nel- son, as secretary and treasurer. In later years, however, Mr. Nelson has practically retired, and his son is the active head of the enterprise, which is one of the flourishing and prosperous ones of the city. The firm was incorporated in the year of its organization with a capitaliza- tion of $50,000. The plant is located on the Waupaca river, with un- limited water power at its command, and the firm deals in lumber shingles, sash and doors, building material of all kinds, as well as flour, feed, grain, coal, etc. They are distributing agents for the Wash- burn-Crosby Company's products, as well.
Mr. Nelson has been an uncompromising Republican all the days of his American citizenship, and is known as one of the old line "stand patters." He has served the city faithfully and well as supervisor and alderman, and was mayor of the city for four terms, as well as repre- senting his district in the Legislature one term. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and his religious prin- ciples are manifested in his membership in the Episcopal church.
Mr. Nelson has been twice married. His first wife was Hilda Brown, and he in later years married Anna S. Beardmore. One child was born of his first marriage,-Edwin Wilfred, who has been his father's right hand in business, and is now secretary-treasurer and active manager of the Nelson Lumber Company. He married Catherine Murphy, and they have one child,-Josephine. Van Andrew Nelson is the only child of his father's second marriage. He is prominent in this city as an automobile dealer, and is married to Nellie A. Gordon. They have one child,-Gordon V. Nelson.
Mr. Nelson is regarded in this city as one of the most successful men of the community, and it is undeniable that he has been the archi- tect of his own fortunes in a remarkable degree. Coming to America without money or experience, he entered the lists against men who had everything in their favor,-and he has passed them on the road to business prosperity and well-being. His educational advantages, it is true, were in excess of those of the average foreigner, but were not
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Phil Lingelunch
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better than those of the average American youth, and he might well feel a certain pride in his achievements.
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