Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin - Chapter 3, 1880 (part 6 of 15)

some op fond du lac county's illustrious dead. Edwaed Pier was a son of Calvin Pier, a tanner and currier, and later in life, a farmer, and was born in New Haven, Addison Co., Vt., March 31, 1807. The maiden name of his mother was Esther Evarts, and her father was a soldifer a short time in the Revolutionary war. Edward attended school during the winter months after his seventh year, until he attained the age of twelve, when his school days were terminated. He was early and thoroughly trained to work, and probably no young Vermonter ever applied himself with more diligence to any and every task assigned him, or was more faithful in the discharge of filial obligations. When he was twelve years old his family moved to the town of Ripon, in his native county, and there Edward passed his youth and early manhood, the whole household living in rustic simplicity. The house was built in the woods overspread by forest trees, and its chimney was made of boards, and up through it the children could look and see the birds which came to sing their morning songs.

In addition to farming, Edward learned to make and mend shoes, being his own teacher ; for in those days on the Green Mountains, one of the great studies was how to save the hardearned money. Hoping to find land easier to cultivate than the soil of Vermont, but without intending to slacken his industrious habits, Mr. Pier, on the 25th of August, 1834, started for that part of Michigan Territory which is now the State of Wisconsin. Five years before, June 2, 1829, he had married Miss Harriet N. Kendall, of Rochester, Vt., who with courage and a cheerful spirit, went with him to the land of the Menomonees and the Pottawatomies. Two brothers, Colwert E. and Oscar, also accompanied him. They arrived at Green Bay in just four weeks - a remarkably quick trip in those days. In the autumn of that year, Colwert, the eldest of the three brothers, made a prospecting trip, extending into Illinois, and, in the summer of' 1835, Edward made a still longer trip extend into Southern Illinois, where he purchased a herd of cows and young cattle for Charles D. Nash, and drove them to Green Bay - a distance of four hundred miles, much of the way through a country of bridgeless streams.

In February, 1836, the brothers, Colwert and Edward, visited the laid-out village of Eond du Lac, then without a house or a settler. After Golwert had brought his family there, he was visited by Edward, who was accompanied by his father. They left Green Bay on Jhe 20th of June, 1836, and soon after arrived at Colwert Pier's, where they remained a few days and then returned to the Bay. This was Edward Pier's second visit to Fond du Lad. In September, he again visited his brother Colwert. The next December, learning that his brother was nearly out of provisions, he started with a load but came near losing his life while crossing Lake Winnebago, by breaking through the ice with his hor^. He arrived at his brother's on the 21st of December. It was his fourth visit to Fond du Lac in the year 1836.

In March, 1837, he settled near Fond du Lac Village. Fi'om that time forward - until incapacitated by age, Mr. Pier was known as a hard-working and eminently successful man, both in his agricultural pursuits and in his interests in manufactories and as a merchant. During his life, he held several important public offices, which he filled satisfactorily, capably and honorably. He was a member of the first Board of Supervisors (then known as commissioners) of Fond du Lac County, and was President of that body for ten consecutive years. At different times, he was elected County Treasurer, State Senator, and for ten years was chosen Superintendent of the Poor. At one time, he held the important office of Trustee of the State Insane Asylum at Madison. Besides these public offices, he filled the position of President of' two banks with' and scrupulous honesty and fidelity.

On the 21st of August, 1864, his wife breathed her last. Mr. Pier always claimed that whatever he had been to the communify was directly attributable to his excellent companion. He survived her a number of years, his death occurring on the 2d of November, 1877. He left four children to mourn the loss of a kind, indulgent, affectionate and painstaking father - Ann P., wife of J. W. Carpenter ; Kuth R., now Mrs. L. J. Harvey ; Carrie S., wife of H. R. Skinner, and Colwert K., now (1880) President of the Savings Bank of Fond du Lac.

In Edward Pier's death, the people of Fond du Lac County sustained a loss. He closed a life of usefulness and the public were touched when one was taken away who occupied so large a space in their minds. He was a frank, genial man, and a public-spirited citizen. He was prompt in his benefactions ; and when a life like his closes, it leaves a vacancy, not merely in thefjimily circle and among closest friends, but among all those reached by the fame and name of charitable deeds.

was born in the town of Chatham, Columbia Co., N. Y., February 8, 1795. His father, Joel Tallmadge, was a man of sterling integrity and incorrizptible patriotism. In the war of the Revolution, he served his country with fidelity, and was present to witness the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne in 1777. The family is of Saxon descent, as the name (originally ToUemache) plainly indicates. According to Burke, " it has flourished with the greatest honors in an uninterrupted male succession in the county of Suffolk since the first arrival of the Saxons in England, a period of more than thirteen centuries. ToUemache, lord of Bentley and Stoke Tollemache in the county of Oxford, lived in the sixth century, and upon the old manor-house of Bentley is still the following inscription :

At a very early age, the subject of this sketch displayed an earnest desire for knowledge, and a perseverance in its pursuit that stops at no trifling obstacle. While yet at the district school where the family resided, he chanced to get hold of an old Latin grammar and immediately determined to master the language. He subsequently pursued his classical studies under

"the tuition of William H. Maynard, who at length became distinguished as a lawyer and statesman. Young Tallmadge commenced his collegiate course at Williams College, in Massachusetts, where he remained nearly two years, when he removed to Schenectady, and finally graduated with honors in July, 1815. He commenced the study of law in Poughkeepsie, in the oiBce of his kinsman. Gen. James Tallmadge, who then stood in the front rank of his profession. He was a close student, and when other young men, professedly engaged in similar pursuits, were returning home late at night from convivial assemblies, he might be seen alone, by the dim light of his lamp, absorbed in his studies. At the age of twenty-three, he was admitted to the bar. In 1824, he began to take an interest in political affairs, and, in 1828, was a member of Assembly from Dutchess .County. In the same body were Elisha Williams, Erastus Root, Francis Granger, Benjamin F. Butler, Luther Bradish, Ogden Hoffman, Robert Emmett and others scarcely less distinguished. Mr. Tallmadge soon ranked with the most prominent mem-, bers and, during the revision of the statutes, he took an active part, discussing with acknowledged ability the most profound questions of political economy and jurisprudence.

In 1829, Mr. Tallmadge, at the earnest solicitation of his Democratic fellow-citizens, reluctantly consented to be a candidate for the place made vacant by Peter R. Livingston, who had gone over to the opposite political party. He was accordingly nominated and elected to the State Senate without formal opposition. He took his seat in January, 1830, and soon became distinguished as one of the ablest debaters in that body. He had always sustained the canal policy of De Witt Clinton, and when a Chairman of the Committee on Canals was wanted the choice fell on Mr. Tallmadge. At the same time, the subject of railroads began to attract public attention in this country. No man in the State was better informed in respect to the experiments in Europe than Mr. Tallmadge, and his information was embodied in an elaborate report to the Senate, in which he discussed the feasibility of a railroad along the banks of the Hudson, and intimated that travelers, in haste to reach their destination, would soon leave the stream for the shore, and the spectator be " amazed at velocity which only lags behind the celerity of thought." Twenty years elapsed and the Hudson River road was completed.

Before the expiration of his term in the State Senate, Mr. Tallmadge was elected United States Senator for the term of six years, and entered upon the duties of that oflBce in December, 1833. He was the youngest member of that body, but his talents, both as a lawyer and legislator, made him conspicuous even among the eminent orators and statesmen of the generation that has just passed away. He exerted a powerful influence during the slavery agitation in Congress. Mr. Calhoun maintained that the Senate should not receive the petitions for its abolition, either in the District of Columbia or elsewhere. Mr. Tallmadge took a firm stand against him, insisting that the people had an undoubted right to offer any petition to Congress, and that so long as such petitions were couched in respectable terms, the Senate was bound to receive them. The Senator from South Carolina could not let the matter rest, and at length Mr. Tallmadge, in a masterly speech, took occasion to present the subject in its essential principles, its historical relations and its practical' bearings. Mr. Van Buren was in the Chair and the Senate Chamber was crowded with anxious listeners. Mr. Calhoun was not prepared to reply ; many Southern Senators admitted the great force of the argument for the right of petition, and the President of the Senate personally complimented Mr. Tallmadge for the sound discretion and distinguished ability which characterized his speech. When Mr. Calhoun subsequently returned to the subject, he was promptly met and silenced by the Senator from New York.

It was near the close of his first term in the Senate that Mr. Tallmadge felt constrained to oppose certain measures recommended by Mr. Van Buren, which excited the displeasure and hostility of the latter. Mr. Tallmadge was not the man to be intimidated by denunciation or diverted from the purpose inspired by his sense of duty. The controversy was pointed and vehement. The press, in the interest of Mr. Van Buren's administration, charged Mr. Tallmadge with political apostacy. The last personal interview between those gentlemen was characterized by great freedom and not a little asperity of speech. The President insisted that the Senator from New York did not comprehend the spirit and wishes of the people. " I will show you," said Mr. Tallmadge, " that I do understand the people. I am one of them - born in the same county with yourself. But I am much more recently from amongst them than you are. You have been abroad, luxuriating on aristocratic couches, and mingling in lordly associations, until you have forgotten what constitutes a republican people." " Well," rejoined Mr. Van Buren, "we shall see." " Be it so," said the Senator from New York, " be it so, ' thou shalt see me at Philippi.' "

Mr. Tallmadge did not misjudge in presuming that the public sentiment would sustain him. The sympathies of the people were with him ; and on his return to New York from congressional session, he was honored- with a grand ovation. An immense cavalcade met him at the steamboat landing and escorted him thf-ough Broadway to the Astor House. The streets were thronged and his presence excited the greatest enthusiasm. In the evening, he was honored with a public reception- at National Hall.

, Mr. Tallmadge proceeded to organize the Democracy of New York with a view of preventing the re-election of Mr. Van Buren. This purpose was fully accomplished and in the succeeding national canvass the latter was defeated. Gren. Harrison was the Presidential candidate of the Whigs, and Mr. Tallmadge would have been the choice of the nominating convention for Vice President,^ but he declined the nomination. Had his personal ambition been equal to his ability, he would doubtless have numbered among the Presidents of the United States. In January, 1840, he was returned to the Senate of the United States from New York^ and his re-election was regarded as a triumph of principle over partisan restraints and the unscrupulous exercise of executive power. " We hail," said an influential paper, "the return of of Mr. Tallmadge - the great conservative chieftain, who refused to quail beneath executive denunciation and party ostracism - to the Senate of the United States, with the most profound and heart-felt joy. It bespeaks the vitality of principle and the triumph of a righteous cause in the land." Mr. Tallmadge was ofiered a seat in Gen. Harrison's cabinet, and subsequently a foreign mission, both of which he declined. At the close of the session of 1844, Mr. Tyler nominated him for the ofiice of Governor of Wisconsin Territory. He had just purchased; lands near the village of Fond du Lac, with a view of making it a permanent home ; and, after mature deliberation, he resolved to resign his seat in the Senate and accept the place offered him by President Tyler. His nomination was at once unanimously confirmed by the Senate. During his Senatorial career, he served on the committees charged with management of the public lands, on the Committee on Naval Aff"airs, and on that of Foreign Relations, on all of which he displayed the same industry and ability. With the acceptance of the Governorship of Wisconsin Territory and the entering upon the duties of that office, ended his career in the political arena, outside of Wisconsin. In the United States Senate, he deserved arid was accorded an eminent position. " His style," says a writer of the day, "is lucid and classical - he reasons with force and energy. His language is copious, and his powers of illustration always apparent. His speeches are frequently interspread with poetical allusions, which appear - not like awkward strangers - but fitting with ease the context * * *- g^jj^ ^]jg subject-matter to which they are applied. This is a legitimate exercise of the credit system in letters. Scholarship and literary attainments are evident in everything that escapes him."

When he came to Wisconsin, the country well understood that some of the most important reforms had received from him an earnest advocacy. It well knew that he was one' of the first to urge a reduction in the rates of postage ; and that every beneficent measure - whether designed to check executive usurpation, to enfranchise labor, 'or otherwise to guard the liberties of the people and the sanctity of the law - received his cordial support. It could not forget his indignant condemnation of every form of injustice, and his supreme devotion to principle ; nor could it be unmindful of the intelligent and liberal influence he had exerted in public affairs, and the large place he occupied in the public confidence and esteem.

" I find in my account-book," writes Gustav de Neveu, " that I commenced giving French lessons on the 5th day of December, 1844, to a class composed of Miss Laura Tallmadge, John Tallmadge, Mary and James Doty, and Fanny and James Conklin, at their respective homes.

alternating each week from house to house, and three times a week, teacher and pupils meeting at the appointed house for the purpose. The three families lived about one and a half miles apart, the house of Col. Conklin northernmost, on Section 7, Township 15, Range 18 ; Gov. Doty, on south half of the same section, and Gov. Tallmadge, farther south, near the north line of Section 19. The house of Gov. Doty, being in the middle, was about half a mile from that of Col. Conklin, and not much over a mile from Gov. Tallmadge's.

" It is my impression," continues Mr. de Neveu, " that the family of the latter came here in the summer of 1844, but that neither he nor his son Isaac, then unmarried and who was secretary to his father during the latter's brief office as Governor of Wisconsin, were there at the time.' The family occupied a large and, for that period, elegant and convenient log house, built in anticipation of their coming by Harry Giltner. Grier Tallmadge was at West Point ; Miss Louisa Tallmadge, afterward Mrs. Boardman, was at a female seminary. East (I think Mrs. Willard's, at Troy, N. Y). There were then in the family Mrs. Tallmadge, nee Smith ; Miss Laura, Miss Julia, afterward Mrs. A. G. Ruggles ; William and John. William died in that house a year or two afterward, and was buried on a mound visible from his bed, and belonging -to' the estate, in accordance with his request. This was the origin of the beautiful Rienzi Cemetery. William was its first occupant. The Governor then generously donated ten acres for the purpose of a burying-ground, to a company who were to expend all the receipts for the sale of lots in adorning and beautifying it. Accessions have been made by purchase since, both from Gov. Tallmadge and from other parties, and the cemetery now contains, I think, about fifty-five acres. It is beautifully located, commanding an extensive view of lake and prairie, as well as of the city, to which it is easily accessible and about three miles distant.

" Mr. E. Beeson, who lives in Fond du Lac, tells me that he thinks Gov. Tallmadge's family came in the spring or summer of 1844. They stopped at his house, then four miles south of the city, on a Saturday evening, staying over night and the next day. The two boys took down their guns in the morning, and Mrs. Tallmadge, who was then knitting, said to them : ' Do you know, boys, that you are going to break the Sabbath ?' to which Mrs. Beeson remarked : ^ Why, Mrs. Tallmadge, what are you doing yourself?' This was a surprise, and Mrs. Tallmadge, who had mechanically taken up her knitting without thinking of the day, put it by in a hurry.

" I believe that Governor Tallmadge spent much of his time in Washington in the early years of his settlement here. Some seventy acres of prairie had been broken on the farm, the fall preceding the arrival of the family, by his brother, William R. Tallmadge, and Cornelius Davis, who afterward built a mill on the creek that runs through Section 7, near what was J. D. Doty's residence. Gov. Tallmadge was considered a resident of this county to the time of his death, in November, 1864. He died at his daughter's house, in Michigan. His remains were brought to Fond du Lac, and he was buried by the side of his son and wife in the family lot in Rienzi Cemetery."

Mr. Tallmadge reared a large family, consisting of Isaac S., W. D. (deceased, and the first buried in Rienzi Cemetery, near Fond du Lac), Grier (who died a Captain in the rebellion), Mary, Louisa, Laura, John, James, Julia T. (Mrs. A. G. Ruggles, of Fond du Lac) and Emily. His wife, ' Abbey Smith, daughter of Judge Isaac Smith, of New York, was one of the first women of Wisconsin. She was a lady of culture and breadth, but gave a large share of her time to doing good. Her charity was like rain - descended alike upon the just and the unjust. She loved hospitality, too, nearly as well as her husband, and for some years joined Mr. Tallmadge in the strife to see which should entertain most liberally and cordially - his own ample house or that of his near friend and neighbor, John B. Macy.

The last few years of Gov. Tallmadge's life were spent in feeble health; and he resided some of the time among his friends in the East. Just before he died, a visitor to his "forest home," the Ledge in the town of Empire, remarked that one who possessed such a home, ought to live forever to enjoy it. " Oh," replied the Governor, " I have no idea of remaining here, I am only pKeparing this for some one else, who has no better situation. I understand that up there (looking toward heaven), where I am going, they have much finer places than this." He died at dusk after a beautiful sunset, while the leaves were falling from the' forest trees that shaded his pleasant home, on the 2d of November, 1864, in the seventieth year of his age.

Before his death, Mr. Tallmadge prepared the manuscript for a biography of himself, sufficient to make a large volume, and entrusted it to S. B. Brittain, of New York. It has not yet been published.

The ashes of Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge rest on the top of the hill in the "old grounds" of Rienzi Cemetery, about foUr miles from Fond du Lac, in a spot chosen by himself, when he gave, free of cost, that portion of his farm for cemetery purposes.

was a native of Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., where he was born in 1799. In the year 1818, he settled at Detroit, Mich.; and, a young lawyer of good repute, he was the next year admitted to the Supreme Court of that Territory, and was the same year promoted rapidly to places of public trust, being appointed Secretary of the Legislative Council, and Clerk of the Court.

Gov. Cass, in 1820, made his famous tour of the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi to its source, traveling a distance of 4,000 miles with his party, in five bark canoes. Doty was selected by the Governor to command one of the birch flotilla, C. C. Trowbridge and John H. Kinzie each, having charge of another. The trip from Detroit to Mackinaw and the Sault Ste. Marie consumed nearly ninety days, and was one of great difficulty and peril. It was on this occasion that Gov. Cass, supported by his assistants and canoe-men, in the presence of the assembled dignitaries of the fierce Chippewas, and in defiance of their menaces, pulled down the British flag, which those Indians had displayed on the American side of the straits on his arrival, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes in its place. Doty was present, and aided with his own hands in displaying the American flag. The party left Detroit early in May, traversed thelaikes, and reached the source of 'the Mississippi, held conferences with various Indian tribes, and returned the last of November. Doty, besides having charge of one of the canoes, acted as secretary of the expedition.

In the winter of 1822-23, Congress passed an "Act to provide for the Appointment of an Additional Judge for the Michigan Territory," and to establish courts in the counties of Michilimackinac, Brown and Crawford ; these counties embracing, besides much other territory, all of" what is now the State of Wisconsin. Prom the numerous applicants for the place. President Monroe selected Doty for the new Judge.

Doty lost no time in entering upon his duties as a Judge of a country sufficient in extent for an empire. He repaired forthwith to Prairie du Chi.en, organized the judiciary of Crawford County, and opened court. It was no easy task to inaugurate justice in these wilds, to create sheriflfs, clerks and jurors out of half-breed Indian traders, voyageurs and couriers du hois but the tact, talent and perseverance of the young Judge prevailed. Doty had thought to make- Prairie du Chien his resting-place, his home, but finally determined on a permanent residence at Green Bay, where he resided twenty years.

The Judge proceeded to organize courts in Michilimackinac and Brown Counties, where he found the inhabitants generally disposed to render every assistance in bringing a wild country subject to law and order. The terms were held with regularity throughout the whole district. Hecontinued to discharge his onerous duties for nine years, and until superseded by Judge Irwin, in 1882. Relieved from the cares and responsibilities of the judgeship and courts, he immediately commenced, on his own resources, a personal examination, by repeated tours, of the country that now constitutes Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. It was then inhabitied and possessed. largely by the aborigines. He visited every village of note, madetimself acquainted with, and. gained the good will of, the chiefs, and contributed in no small degree to the good understanding which followed between the Government and these savage tribes.

In 1830, Congress made an appropriation for surveying and locating a military road from Green Bay to Chicago and to Prairie du Chien. Doty and Lieut. Center were appointed Commissioners to survey and locate these roads.

Doty's talents for usefulness were now conceded and appreciated by all. The people of the District of Michigan, west of the lake, elected him to the Legislative Council in 1834, in which he served with marked ability for two years. It was while he was a member of that Ijody that the policy of a State government began to be agitated. This he favored and he was the first to introduce a measure looking to its accomplishment, which finally prevailed. Returning from the Legislative Council, he became an active operator in the public land sales, which were opened at Green Bay in 1835-36.

The rapid settlement of the country beyond the Great Lakes called for a new Territorial government - a separation from Michigan. Congress passed the act creating the Territorial government of Wisconsin in 1836. Henry Dodge received the appointment of Governor, and assembled the first Legislature at Belmont. One of the most important matters brought before that body, and to be settled by it, was the location of the seat of government. Doty, though remaining in private life, had not been idle, and especially was not uninterested in this matter of a capital for Wisconsin. There was great excitement over the matter in the Legislature. While others were planning. Doty was acting. He appeared at Belmont as a lobbymember; and almost before the Solons knew of it, by his superior tact had brought about a vote fixing the seat of government at Madison. There was a good deal of sparring and faultfinding with Doty and his management at the time, but all agree now that it was then, as it has seen to be since, just the right place for the capital.

Wisconsin, as an organized Territory, had now a delegate in Congress. Doty succeeded George W. Jones in 1838, and served till 1841, when he was appointed Governor of Wisconsin by President Tyler, serving nearly three years, and was succeeded by N. P. Tallmadge. While Governor and Superintendent of Indian Afiairs, the Indians in Minnesota - Sioux and Chippewas - began to be uneasy and troublesome. The War Department instituted a commission for conference with them. Doty, on account of his known acquaintance with Indian character, was selected as Commissioner, and made two highly important treaties with the Northwestern Indian tribes, which, however, were not accepted by the Senate.

He was a member of the first Constitutional Convention in Wisconsin in 1846 ; was elected to Congress from the Third District under the State organization of 1848, and re-elected in 1851, and procured by his industry and influence important legislation for the State and his -constituency.

In 1853, he retired once more to "private life," to be recalled by President Lincoln in 1861, first as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and subsequently as Governor of Utah; holding this last appointment at the time of his death, June 13, 1865. He lived in Fond du Lac County, town of Empire, for two years - from 1844 to 1846 - when he removed to Menasha^ on Doty's Island, his last residence.

Maecellus Kent Stow was a prominent and respected citizen of Fond du Lac County. He came from a stock famous in Northern New York, in the early part of this century, for learning, wit and hospitality. His father was Judge Silas Stow, of Lowville, Lewis Co., N. Y., one of the most brilliant men of his day, an able lawyer and judge, and elegant classical scholar, a member of Congress in 1812, and the friend and compeer of Chancellor Kent, De Witt Clinton, Gen. Brady, Judges Cowen, Carnes and other luminaries of that period.

" One of .the most hospital and generous of men. Numerous were the guests that thronged the old ' Stow mansion ; ' the quiet village, nestled there in the north, and fringed with the woods that inclosed Black River, was often graced with wit, learning and beauty that even a metropolis might have envied. Fine equipages swept along the old ' State road ; ' song and wine and wit and eloquence sparkled and flowed ; men of rank from Europe came there ; scholars' from University halls; statesmen from the national councils ; soldiers who had gallantly fou^t; women who had reigned as belles in brilliant circles far away."

"In such an atmosphere the subject of this sketch was born and reared, and he inherited and bore through life, the high traits and characteristics of a noble sire.

There were three brothers of them, all distinguished for great native talent, high culture, eloquence, judicial ability and integrity and eminent social gifts.

Hon. Horatio J. Stow was for many years a distinguished lawyer and Jiidge of the Recorder's Court of Buffalo. He was a meml)er of the Constitutional Convention, and a State Senator of New York in 1857.

Alexander W. Stow, many years ago Chief Justice of Wisconsin, and a resident of Fond du Lac County, was, despite his eccentricities, a man of most wonderful mental powers and attainments, a scholar and lawyer almost without a peer in our State annals, of the soundest judgment and unblemished integrity.

Marcellus Kent Stow was, like all the sons of the " old Judge," educated to the legal profession, and was for several years an able and popular member of the Lewis and Jefferson County bars, and Judge of the Jefferson County Court. Afterward he became actively -engaged in shipping, banking and real-estate operations at Sacket's Harbor, then in its palmy days.

Some curious old documents preserved among his papers, while contributing facts to his biography, illustrate strikingly the dignity of old-time ways as compared with our ''Young American " idea of things.

One of these is an elaborate and formal military commission issued and signed by De Witt -Clinton, Governor, sealed with "our seal for military commissions," the device of which is a wonderful spread eagle perched on a globe, with the legend ''Excelsior " inscribed about the margin. This document appoints and constitutes " Marcellus K. Stow, Judge Advocate of the Twenty-sixth Brigade of Infantry of our State," and bears date April 12, 1825.

Another is a parchment diploma " by the Hon. John Savage, Chief Justice of the State of New York," with the seal of the Supreme Court artistically attached by and on a white satin " tag," and bearing date the 26th day of October, " in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America." This document authorizes and licenses the said Marcellus K. Stow to appear and practice in the Supreme Court as an attorney.

This is followed ten years later by a like parchment, dated April 4, 1837, " by the Hon. R. Hyde Walworth, Chancellor of the State of New York," admitting and licensing Marcellus K. Stow as a solicitor and counselor in the Court of Chancery of the State of New York.

These diplomas or licenses were only issued upon most rigid examination and proofs of several years of professional study and prepariation. Now-a-days, the sweeping of a lawyer's office for a few months, the exhibition of requisite " cheek," and subscription to a dog-eared roll of attorneys in the Clerk's office develops a full-fledged barrister, authorized to practice in law, chancery and all courts short of the high court of heaven.

Judge Stow married, at Brownville, Jefferson Co., N. Y., in October, 1837, Mary W., the daughter of Gen. Thomas Loomis, then and since a prominent man in the Black River section of New York, and, in the year 1852, came with his wife and children to the city of Fond du Lac. He purchased several tracts of land in Section 11, and erected the Stow homestead in the oal^ grove on East Division street, where he resided continuously until his death in June, 1871. His widow, loved and respected by all, with two of the children. Miss Anna and James W., yet occupy this old homestead.

He brought with him here and ever maintained the character of an able, upright, enterprising business man. His acquaintance was co-extensive with the population of this city and county. Every one. knew him then and remembers him now as an exceptionally generous, genial and hospitable gentleman.

He was an honored member of the bar of Fond du Lac County, and, in 1865, was elected Judge of the County Court, which position he filled with marked ability, dignity, integrity and promptness, until his failing health compelled his resignation in 1868.

Then for four long weary years, cheered only by the devotion of a noble wife and loving children, and the general friendship and sympathy of our community, he gradually but surely failed in body and mind, lingering in the valley of the shadow of death until that evening in June, his life went down with the sun as peacefully and gently as an infant falling asleep in its mother's arms. He died June 10, 1871.

His surviving children are William L. Stow, Greneral Agent at Toledo, Ohio, of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company; Mary E., wife of W. D. Conklin, of Fond du Lac ; Fred D. Stow, General Central Agent of the Merchants' Dispatch Transportation Company, at Buffalo, N. Y.; Miss Anna P. Stow, and James W. Stow, Corresponding Clerk of the First National Bank, at Fond du Lac.

The career of John B. Macy in Fond du Lac County was brief, if measured by years, but it was rich in great events and colossal in work for the public. He was born in Nantucket, R. I., March 25, 1799, and, after finishing the liberal education which all New Englanders in easy circumstances receive, embarked at once in a series of heavy business transactions, contracts and speculations, which ended only with his tragic death.

At the sale of the Fond du Lac Company's lands, Mr. Macy came to Wisconsin and made heavy purchases of real estate, and, in 1850, moved with his family to the town of Empire, near de Neveu Lake. He began building at once on a large scale, and although he soon had a magnificent place, with stone archways, handsome drives and a large yard shaded by all the trees common to Wisconsin forests and nurseries, continued the erection of buildings until his death.

He was all activity and enterprise - a leading spirit in all the great undertakings of the day. Perhaps no man did so much for the city of Fond du Lac, in the way of advertising the location, wealth, health and future prospects of the place, as John B. Macy. Wherever he went, he talked enthusiastically of the Fountain City, and always declared that before he reached his hundredth birthday, it would contain 30,000 inhabitants and a half-dozen railroads. He cer- -tainly did more than any other man to attract capital to Fond du Lac County, for it was through his repeated visits to the East, and by virtue of his enthusiastic persistency that Robert J. Walker and other heavy capitalists were induced to invest liberally in what is now the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, which had its beginning in the city of Fond du Lac. One great scheme no sooner neared a successful consummation than he rushed into another. He planned and handled the largest enterprise as easily as ordinary men do their most trivial every-day affairs.

In 1852, he was sent to Congress in order to be in a position to more rapidly help on his railroad schemes and the Fox River improvement, but was defeated in 1854 for re-election on account of what was termed his " un-Democratic action" on the Kansas-Nebraska bill.

Notwithstanding his large and perplexing business affairs, Mr. Macy found much time for social gatherings. He loved whole-souled generosity, and his house was the scene of more hospitality - dispensed with a peculiar aristocracy that showed a proud family and a good breeding, at the same time with that cordiality and indiscrimination that made everybody, whether rich or poor, not only welcome, but perfectly equal and at home - than any other in the county, not excepting that of N. P. Tallmadge's.

Mr. Macy was drowned from the burning steamer Niagara, about one mile from Port Washington, on Lake Michigan, September 24, 1856. His body was never recovered.

He was a man of extraordinary physical development and of commanding presence, being considerably over six feet in height, elegant in carriage, perfect in address and entertaining in -conversation. He had two children - John B., who died in 1850, and Elizabeth B., who married M. J. Thomas,. only to be left a widow in November, 1859, by reason of the Bellville disaster, where Mr. Thomas, then United States Marshal, was killed. She' now resides in Buffalo, N. Y., but without any relatives belonging to the Macy family.

The quaint but ample homestead erected by Mr. Macy is now owned and occupied by David Giddings. It is but a few rods from de Neveu Lake and attracts the attention of all visitors and travelers.

was born in Amherst, Mass., in May, 1801, of old Puritan Yankee stock. His family settled in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He graduated at Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, and practiced in Greenwich, Amherst and adjoining towns.

In 1823, he married Naomi Ingram, of Amherst. He was sent for several terms as Representative to the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1837, beitig obliged to quit practice, on account of ill health, he emigrated to Sheboygan, Wis., where he held some lands and interest in mill property, in connection with R. B. Marcy (now Brigadier General of United States Army). In 1838, he exchanged his property at Sheboygan, with J. D. Doty, for property at Fond du Lac, Wis., and settled there in 1838 ; his family arriving there in June of the same year.

At Fond du Lac, his property was south of and adjoining the old Fond du Lac Company plat, and he owned also an interest in the Fond du Lac property. He platted his land, built upon it, gave away lots for schoolhouses. Court House site and grounds, churches, for merchants, mechanics, lawyers and doctors, and, in the course of a few years, he found a thrifty village growing around him. Meantime, he practiced medicine, kept a public house for travelers, entered lands for settlers, built houses and stores for citizens and business men, gave away much of his property to induce settlers and improvements, and lived to see his village grow into the city of Fond du Lac.

He Was a man not without faults, but with many excellent qualities. He had his friends and enemies, as all men of positive qualities will have.

From 1840 to 1847, he was chosen a member of the Territorial Legislature. In 1846-47, he was chosen Speaker of the House. In 1847-48, he was elected to the Council of the Territorial Legislature. In 1848, he was elected a member of Congress from the Second District of Wisconsin. He was the first Mayor of Fond du Lac.

In 1864, he removed io Chicago, where he had business and investments, and, in 1866, he died' there of diphtheria, and was buried in Bienzi Cemetery, Fond du Lac, in sight of the city which he had founded. For a number of years before his death, he was a member of the Congregational Church at Fond du Lac, and was A consistent member of it at the time of his death.

Whether wisely or not, the inception, the start and growth of Fond du Lac as it is, was due largely to the shrewdness, vigor, energy and watchful care of Mason C. Darling. But for his gifts of lots for various purposes, the city, would possibly have been built at Taycheedah.

was born in 1794, near Poughkeepsie, Dutchess Co., N. Y. He received a common-school education, commenced business as a merchant at Poughkeepsie, and soon after became proprietor of the Main Street Docks and engaged extensively in the forwarding and shipping trade on the Hudson River. He was the cotemporary and friend of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the- North River steamboating and transportation enterprises of fifty years ago. He was one of thefounders of the " up-river" whaling trade, and built the first (and we believe only) three whaling-ships, with their apartment docks, oil-houses, etc., at Poughkeepsie. He also developed the iron-ore beds at Bbekman and Amenia, organized companies, built furnaces and inaugurated and carried on, at that day, an extensive shipping trade in pig iron, etc., with the old Albany and Troy stove and iron manufactories.

He held several local ofiices, and represented Dutchess County in the New York Legislature several terms, as a Henry Clay Whig. The anti-tariff disturbances and financial crashes of 1838-40 shattered the handsome fortune his energy and enterprise had built up, and led him to- seek new fields in the Far West. After spending the summer of 1841 in prospecting the wilderness of the Northwest, he, in the fall of that year, gathered together the remnant of his fortune, his family and household goods, and emigrated to this, the spot he had selected for his future home. We thought then that "out West" was easily accessible, compared with the means of transportation within the reach of our grandfathers. Yet, the subject of this sketch, with ample means to use the fastest lines, by steamboat to Albany, by canal to Buffalo, by " the stanch and fast upper-lake steamer Columbus," to Green Bay, by Durham boat up the Fox River and Winnebago Lake, only got his family and " plunder " into their " diggins " after a month's toil and travel.

Col. Conklin, as he was then, in accordance with the custom of the country, called, and which title he bore and was always known by, brought with him his indomitable pluck, enterprise and business habits, together with perhaps more capital in cash than was then possessed by the whole county besides. He settled first at the big spring, under the Ledge, where Sherift Colman now resides, built the old log house, since moved and now standing on the west side of the highway just beyond Colman's. This house was a palace in those days. The first house with real shingles, with pine floors, board partitions and " pinted-up " with real lime mortar - luxurious materials, all carted from Green Bay or Fort Howard, over the old military and Doty road.

He entered large tracts of land in Empire, Byron, Oakfield and on Calumet prairie ; started several farms, built the first grist-mill, the " Mountain Mill," three miles east of the city of Fond du Lac, and afterward built the Oakfield Mills. He drove overland from Ohio the first large flock of sheep to this county, and distributed them amongst the few farmers then settled and settling here.

He stocked and fltted up the first extensive dairy farm in this part of the county, each 1,000 acres of land with fifty to one hundred cows ; three barrel churns, worked by machinery with horse or dog power, after the old style, before cheese and butter factories were dreamed of.

Ever liberal, active, sanguine, he invested his means in, or lent a helping hand to, many of the pioneer exterprises of our county, connected with farming, milling and stock-raising on a large scale - eschewing his old ventures in the mercantile and city lines of business. His ideas were, like those of many pioneers, in advance of his times. With the then limited markets, machinery and transportation, a successful Dalrymple wheat farm or Colorado stock ranche was impracticable if not impossible.

His Whig principles found no congenial clime in this red-hot Loco-foco section, and it is believed he never, after an early day, aspired or interested himself, much in politics.

He was, with his good wife, a faithful, consistent Christian, and member of the Baptist denomination, and prominent among the founders and supporters of the first Baptist Church of Fond du Lac.

After about 1856, he lived a quiet, retired life, in the city of Pond du Lac ; suffered long from ill health, culminating in paralysis and softening of the brain, and died in the year 1868, aged seventy-four years.

Many an old settler is indebted to the kind heart and open hand of the " old Colonel " for a quiet lift or a fair start in life here, and the memory of his genial disposition and manly character is green in the hearts of all our surviving pioneers, as well as many of the later generation.

was born in the city of Fond du Lac February 10, 1850. She was the only daughter of Leonard and Lucy Arnold. Her life measured but a brief space in years. It is seldom one meets a person who combined so many noble qualities, and who possessed no bad ones. She was respected and loved by, and had the confidence of, all classes. The poor man, woman or child received a greeting as cordial as was extended to the rich and refined. , Nothing could induce her to utter a word or do an act that would wound the feelings of any one. Nothing gave her more pain than to think that a word or deed of hers could be construed as conveying a slight offense. She was a pure-souled, tender-hearted, sweet-tempered, large-minded, noble woman. No one could become acquainted and converse with her without feeling that he was in "the presence of a person far above the average. Modest, unassuming, great - great in intellect, goodness of heart, purity of character, and in all that goes to make up a perfect type of a woman.

She graduated from the high school in 1867, with the highest honors. It was about this time that one of her essays attracted general attention, and was pronounced by many as one of the best written papers that had come from the pen of a Wisconsin student. She had written many poems previous to that, some of which were published and well received. F^om the date of her graduation up to within a month or two before her death, she wrote a great deal, both prose and poetry. Commencing with the Fond du Lac press, it was but a short time until she was requested to write for some of the foremost papers and magazines in the country. Her productions always commanded a good price. During the three last years of her life, she was a regular contributor to the Christian Union, the Qhristian at Work, Harper s Weekly, the New York Independent, the Chicago Advance and various other papers. Her "Easter Mornipg," published in Harper's Weekly, was highly praised by some of the best authors in the country. Had her physical strength equaled her mental, and had her life been spared, Mrs. Crawford would have become one of the very first among the long list of lady writers in America. Her loss to the home circle, the social and literary world, and to humanity, was very great. She died at Traverse City. Mich.

The words " Allie Arnold is dead," sank deep into the hearts of every man, woman and child who knew her. They felt that they had met a great loss. Never was sorrow more genuine. One of earth's purest gems had passed over to that other and better world.

Mrs. Crawford left a devoted, grief-stricken husband, mother and brother to mourn the loss of one they loved with all their hearts. Mrs. Arnold, her mother, was at her bedside for months, ministering to her every want as only a mother could. She left one child, a beautiful little girl six months old.

" She was," says a writer, "at a very tender age deprived by death of her father's guardianship, and early became to her widowed mother and younger brother, not only the loving daughter and affectionate sister, but their counselor, comforter and sustainer.

" As the truest instincts of the human heart, either in individuals or as public sentiment, demand ' honor to whom honor is due,' so, at school and in social life, the highest honors were royally and gratefully accorded to her. Her marriage to Mr. Charles A. Crawford, of Traverse Citys Mich., took place on September 8, 1872. From this time until her death, two years later, Traverse City was her home. The transfer of homes brought no loss to the flower, and friends, new and old, wondered at the marvelous florescence of brain and heart.

" But it was through her graceful and gifted pen that the light from her beautiful soul-life went gleaming away in every direction beyond the circle of those who could receive the inspiration from personal association. She seemed to have divined - perhaps unconsciously - that our ideals must be, to a great extent, personally incarnated in order to accomplish the greatest good upon human heart ; so brain and heart were mutual helpers, and the young life was full of promise and prophecy, the fulfillment of which was growing daily more beautiful until the steps began to falter, and even then the life-work went on, for the true 'Allie ' - the clear mind and pure, loving heart - did not falter.

" The amount of work she accomplished was something marvelous. She was, for years, a regular contributor to the Fond du Lac papers, also a frequent contributor to Harper's Weekly, the Advance, the Christian at Work, the Christian Union, and other prominent papers.

" The numerous regretful and appreciative press notices of her death, in these and other papers, attest the high esteem in which her writings are held.

"Among the many beautiful poems found in her published volume, 'A Few Thoughts for a Few Friends,' all deserving of high praise, we may name ' Blind Handel,' ' The Gates Ajar,' ' The Forest Easter,' and 'After the Storm,' as having received special commendation and fulfilled a special mission. Her writings are truly a precious legacy to her little daughter.

" The praise which was most grateful to her was not admiration of her genius ; it- was to know that her words had quickened lives to higher and purer purposes, and that she had inspired others to 'make stepping-stones of their dead selves to better things.' "

The subject of this sketch was a native of Harrisburg, Lewis Co., N. Y., where he was born April 12, 1825. His father, Charles Galloway, was a farmer by occupation, and ranked high as a citizen and neighbor. Edwin, in his younger days, was sent with the other children to the district school, but subsequently finished his studies at the Lowville Academy. At the close of school, he entered the employ of a merchant of Lowville, where he remained two years. At the age of twenty-three, of slight physical build, with poor health and with money capital hardly equaling his necessary traveling expenses, he started westward, locating at Fond du Lac in the spring of 1848. The place then was but a small village, known to but few, but speedily destined, with such citizens as yoiing Galloway, to develop its resources - to spring forth into prominence, prosperity and importance. Recognizing at a glance the natural advantages surrounding Fond du Lac, he commenced early to operate in real-estate, and followed it successfully for many years. A short time only he tried the mercantile business, dropping it to take up lumbering in all its various and extensive branches. In this and his real estate business he continued until 1866, when by reason of poor health, which forbade the active employment necessary in carrying on a business embracing numerous large enterprises, he commenced gradually to withdraw his investments and reduce his aifairs to within the limit of his physical strength. For ten years previous to his death, he was a large stockholder and one of the managers of the Savings Bank of Fond du Lac, of which institution he was Vice President at the time of his decease.

Although for nearly twenty-five years, Mr. Galloway ranked among the most active and successful business men of the State, his well-known social qualities - his good nature and uniform gentlemanly deportment, seem never once to have left him. In this particular he was quite remarkable; Always kind, considerate and attentive, rich and poor alike sought his counsel and aid, and they never sought in vain. His genial temperament could never be destroyed by the annoyances or cares of business strife. He was peculiarly a domestic man - devotedly attached to home and family. He was always to be found at his office or at the family fireside, the only exception to his rule being on occasions when, having accepted some of the numerous public positions so continually urged upon him, the performance of official duties necessitated his absence from both - a condition requiring the keenest sacrifice on his part. He served two terms in the Legislature ; several terms as Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors ; was City Treasurer of Fond du Lac and its Mayor ; and served the public in various other capacities. In 1871, he was strongly supported for the Republican nomination for Governor, but peremptorily declined being a candidate. A leading, and perhaps the leading characteristic of the man was his almost unlimited benevolence and seemingly unbounded charity to the poor. During a quarter of a century at Fond du Lac, whenever any society, enterprise, or project having in view the wellbeing of the community, needed aid or encouragement, it always found a ready and bountiful friend in Mr. Galloway. Toward the poor, toward those in trouble, those sick or in distress, his action and sympathies were like a father, intent in doing all that lay in his power to relieve and make happy. He was married, November 5, 1850, to Maria H. Adams, whom he left a widow (and who still survives him) with four children - a son and three daughters. He died in the town of Fond du Lac May 7, 1876. His memory is cherished as one of the oldest, most respected, and best-loved citizens of Fond du Lac County.

was born in Wyoming County, N. Y. He studied law with John C. Spencer, in Canandaigua, and afterward practiced his profession in Buffalo for many years, winning, on merit, a fine reputation as counselor and pleader. He came West with J. R. Doolittle in 1850, choosing his location at Fond du Lac, which was afterward his residence to the time of his death. Doolittle, as is well known, settled at Racine. Mr. Flint had determined to make the West his home because he liked the enterprising character of its people, and for the benefit of his health. Asthmatic difficulties had already interfered greatly with his public speaking, and the disease had obtained too firm a seat to be removed. He finally practically abandoned the practice of so much of his profession as demanded argument, but always kept an office and conducted business in the other departments of his calling.

In 18^^, Mr. Flint entered into the contest for the Circuit Judgeship, but was beaten by a small majority. In the spring of 1860, he was elected County Judge, and, four years after, re-elected, serving with great satisfaction. Throughout his whole life he was very studious, and this is true not only as to matters of legal information, but in regard to scientific, historical, and other subjects. He read extensively and took notes of suggestions and impressions thereby derived during his lifelong application. It was a pleasure that never grew dull for him, to delve for riches of knowledge among books. He had a fine library in the line of his profession ; and so generously did he appreciate its worth that he kindly invited young attorneys whose legal books were few, freely to refer to his large collection. Many of the lawyers of Fond du Lac will ever remember the cordial welcome given them by him when they most needed encouragerpent and advantages which they did not possess.' A large number were once students in his office.

The health of Judge Flint had been broken for some years - numerous physical afflictions taking, successively, a hold upon him, and finally conquering his powerful constitution. In the accident on the North-Western Railway occurring to the first through train from Fond du Lac, he sustained severe injuries to one of his limbs. Some two years before his death, he was severely hurt by falling down a flight of stairs, and this was the initial trouble to those which followed. He belonged to a long-lived family. His father had been dead only two or three years, when,- on February 17, 1877, he departed this life. He was buried in Rienzi Cemetery, near the city of Fond du Lac. He was a man honored and respected as a citizen, worthy as a lawyer, and valuable as a friend.

Mrs. Samuel W. Beall, nee Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, was born at Cooperstown, Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1814. Her father, Isaac Cooper, was the son of Judge Cooper, the founder of the place to which his name was given, and brother of James Fenimore Cooper. Her mother was Mary Morris, grand-daughter of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and niece of Gov. Morris, of Morrisania. ^

Her youth was passed at her native place, which, even at that time, by its natural beauty and picturesque surroundings, gave promise of the exceptional place it now occupies among the most beautiful of American cities, fully justifying the good taste and foresight of the clever and cultivated pioneers in choosing such a spot for a home for themselves and their descendants.

In June of the same year, she came to Green Bay, Mr. Beall having been appointed Receiver of Public Moneys at the Land Office., Green Bay was at that time in the Territory of Mushigan and little more than a military post, and had few attractions to ofier to a young, delicate and tenderly reared lady, like Mrs. Beall. But, during her residence of about four years in the society which began to gatiier about the fort as a nucleus, she was both its inspiring and presiding genius, and displayed from the beginning a rare ability in devising and pushing to success the charitable purposes of her life.

She was chiefly instrumental in founding the first Christian society, the church known to-day as the First Episcopal Church of Green Bay. She wrote the first New Year's address, and with her pen helped sustain the first newspaper.

The advantages for rapidly amassing a fortune having enabled Mr. Beall to retire from business, Mrs. Beall with her husband and children, returned to Woodside, on the shore of

Otsego Lake, near Cooperstown. Here the lavish hospitality of Mr. Beall and the graces of Mrs. Beall, attracted to her elegant and spacious mansion Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and whatever was best in Eastern New York.

But, the financial crisis of 1837 having made great inroads upon the ample fortune of Mr. Beall, he accepted a lucrative Government appointment and returned to Green Bay, and thenceforward Mrs. Beall identified herself for life with the interests of Wisconsin, easily resuming in the then thriving Western town the social position she was wont to fill so well in the small circle about the old fort, and, applying herself anew and with added interest to her many charities ; and the incidents of her social life and her works have been among the pleasantest reminiscences of the older inhabitants of " The Bay."

Mrs. Beall was a few years at Green Lake, where Mr. Beall was engaged in agriculture upon some of his lands. And when, in 1847, she removed to Taycheedah, at the southern extremity of Lake Winnebago, her family contained seven children, three sons and four daughters. Here she organized and superintended a Sunday school, and, mainly by her personal efibrts, kept up public religious services, and devoted much of her time to works of active Christian charity.

But, to the demands upon her patriotism during the great civil war, she responded with her all. Her husband and sons were in the army, and Mrs. Beall herself by the bedside of the soldiers in the military hospital.

Upon her removal to Fond du Lac in 1-867, she began her great work of building up the Home for the Friendless, and was its President until her failing strength made it necessary to resign that position and accept the Vice Presidency. At the time of her decease, in February, 1879, she was one of the Trustees of this benign institution, which she had placed upon a secure foundation.

He was educated and brought up in Amsterdam, Holland. He left there as recorded above, landing at Boston July 1, 1827. In 1829, he moved to Orleans County, N. Y., and engaged in farming, teaching and clerking. In 1839-40, he was Collector of canal tolls at Brockport, N. Y., and later, cashier in Buffalo and Albany of the Western Transportation Company. In 1845-47, he was clerk and then Master of the fine steamer Wiskonsan, plying between Buffalo and Chicago. From this he obtained the title of" Captain, by which he was always afterward known. In 1847, he settled at Fairwater, Fond du Lac County, where he thereafter lived and accumulated a competence. Be was Supervisor of Metomen many years. Chairman of the County Board in 1857, Town Clerk some years, and a member of the Assembly in 1875.

He is well remembered in Fond du Lac. His slow, steady walk, as with hands clasped behind him he carefully scanned many times over the architecture, signs and features of every building as he passed, marked him at once with every person. He loved to take dinner at the American House, and when he visited his niece, Mrs. James Spence, which was often, he hardly ever failed to spend a day at the residence of Mrs. Keyes Darling, being an old friend to both Mrs. Darling and her husband. He was a great lover of bezique, and loved to visit those who played his favorite game.

Singularly enough, he returned to Boston to die, the place where he first set foot upon American ground. He loved America and praised her people and Government wherever he went. While returning from a concert in Boston on the evening of December 11, he fell while on a street car and died without speaking, December 20, 1878.

His will was remarkably clear and concise, and written in that elegant hand which, even after three-score years had passed, was the pride of the " Captain." The special cash legacies of the will amounted to about ^6,000, and the remainder of his large property was divided ratably among his sisters and brother, or their heirs. The special legacies were, however, to all appearances, bestowed upon faithful servants or cherished frienda - no one whom he loved being forgotten.

To R. C. Kelley, of Brandon (whom he paid the high compliment of making his executor without bond). Harper's Monthly, bound, from the beginning.

To James Spence, of A. Spence & Son, Fond du Lac, husband of his niece Cornelia,^ Harper s Weekly, complete; London News, complete, and numerous rare novels collected,, arranged and bound by him.

To Cornelia Spence, "above named, the same," in addition to other things, a peculiar and valuable silk quilt, wrought in ancient times in an Italian nunnery. This quilt was the gift of a priest whom Mr. Plocker had befriended.

"This will was published, sealed and signed. By the testator in his right mind ; In presence of us who at his request Have written our names these facts to attest."

In one clause of the will is disclosed a bit of the tenderest romance, strongly characteristic of the fidelity and constancy of the man, which, as the party interested is now living in the county, will not be mentioned further. Suffice it to say it furnishes one of the reasons why he lived and died an old bachelor.

His collection of stereoscopic views number over five hundred, and covered the places most interesting to him in Europe and America. Many of them were very fine.

The Nuremberg Bible, bequeathed in the will to the State Historical Society, is a book about 18x12 inches, and six inches in thickness. It is heavily bound in what appears to be thick, whitish hog-skin, and is in perfect condition, although printed in 1710. It is in good German, printed on thick, yellow paper which looks as if it might have been made of wheat straw and water - the straw not finely cut - as it undoubtedly was. The title-page is in glaring red ink, which has not faded, apparently, in the least. All the principal events are finely but quaintly illustrated by steel engravings. Many of the passages are greatly dissimilar from the corresponding ones in modern Bibles, the fault, probably, of translating into German.

His scrap-book is of absorbing interest. On the first page is a yellow leaf of paper on which is written in brown ink and in the " Captain's " clear hand, the following :

" Left Amsterdam on the 5th of April, 1827, at 7 o'clock in the morning. Left the Helder on the 8th of April, 1827, at 4 o'clock in the morning. Arrived in London on the 12th of April, 1827, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Left London on the 13th of May, 1827, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Arrived in Boston on the 1st of July, 1827, at 4 o'clock in the morning."

Everything he ever did is thus accurately noted down. His father paid his passage money for the trip here mentioned, -ijut in order to gratify his desire for information, he worked before the mast as a common seaman. This " scrap-book " contains all the notes he ever gave and receipts for all the money expended by or for him. He must have been an honest man, or he would not have dared thus to preserve for the public the record of every act of his life ! Among other receipts is one for board, washing, room-rent and fires at the Park Hotel, Madison, for $129.70 in full, and signed by M. H. Irish. This amount included all his expenditures while in Madison as Assemblyman from the First District. This was the only time the Captain ever was in the Legislature. On the middle pages of the book, which is a large one, are bills of various denominations of all the insolvent State banks, as well as counterfeit bills on those and other banks - each marked " fraud," " failed," or " counterfeit," as the case might be, with the date of issue or failure. Among these - and there are very many of them - is a counterfeit on the Wisconsin Fire and Marine Bank, of Milwaukee, dated July 4, 1847, and signed by Alexander Mitchell. It must have cost some time and money to collect even these bank bills. Further on may be found page after page of signatures. These comprise almost all the prominent men of the county and State - many of them marked, as is the signature of Gen. Halbert E. Paine, " a good friend of mine ;" or " an honest man," or " good business man," as he might know the different men. He has also at least a thousand signatures of such persons as Jeff Davis, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, Lincoln, John G. Saxe, Fillmore and the leading authors, statesmen and poets, beginning from the earliest colonial times. When or how he became possessed of them he left nothing to indicate. The signatures of the prominent county and State men were evidently clipped from business or other letters received during the last twenty-five years. Further on in this scrap-book, appear to be all the letters he had ever received, many of them fifty years old and written in various languages. Also all the receipted bills of expenses in his European travels. These bills are all modest.

The manuscript book of " Anecdotes and Comicalities," mentioned in the will, is one of the most interesting in the whole collection. All the incidents, stories, jokes, anecdotes and peculiarities of all he ever knew, are recorded in his own hand in the quaintest, drollest manner imaginable. Sometimes an anecdote is written in the form of a snake, or like a triangle, or a house, parallelogram, crescent, full circle, star or whatever at the time seemed to strike his fancy. Every letter and mark of punctuation is perfect throughout. Probably no other book was ever written like it in the worldl It is quaint, interesting and valuable. He had also a large number of Chinese and Pacific Island curiosities, some of them not to be duplicated in any antiquarian in the country. He saved, arranged systematically and properly marked, everything coming into his possession. All his newspaper, secret society and other receipt papers were arranged in groups, and all the papers received from the federal Government, and so on, in other groups.

The Fort Wilkins Agate, one of the greatest newspaper curiosities extent, was found carefully preserved. The first copy is dated July 4, 1846. It is a folio, and all printed with a quill pen. It is as fine as ordinary bourgeois type. The name of the editor and printer could not be learned, but from the peculiar expressions it may be presumed to be the work of the Captain. He had also carefully preserved his first commission as Postmaster of Fairwater, which is signed by Cave Johnson as Postmaster General, and dated July 1, 1848. His collection of postage and revenue stamps was also large and valuable.

William K. Tallmadge was born in Schennectady, N. Y., February 12, 1800. He went with his father to Tioga County, N. Y., then a wilderness, in early boyhood, where he grew to be a man and engaged in business. He was first a farmer and then a lumberman, and one of the most energetic and extensive dealers of that day. He remained in business in Tioga until the crash of 1837, when he failed. Two years before he made the West his home, he came and looked over the ground, and, in 1844, came directly to Fond du Lac County, which has ever since been his place of residence. He was married first to Miss Laura, daughter of Russell Gridley, a prominent man of Tompkins County. The fruits of this union were three children - Russell Gr. Tallmadge, of Fond du Lac ; Kelsey D., who died some years ago, and Sarah, now Mrs. Robert Conklin, of Peebles Corners. The mother of these children died about forty years ago. Several years after, he married Sarah T. Reeve, of Goshen, N. Y., by whom he^had four children; three are still living - Helen, now Mrs. W. Northam, Calumet ; and Mary and William, both single and living at the old homestead. Maj. Tallmadge had some distinguished brothers - N. P., was Governor of Wisconsin when it was a, Territory, and was fourteen years United States Senator from New York ; Daniel was one of the best lawyers in New York City, where he was afterward on the Supreme Bench ; the other members of the family were Joseph, Dr. Joel, Sutherland, Franklin, Mary and Hannah.

Dr. Joel, Gov. N. P., Franklin and Maj. W. R. settled near Fond du Lac, in Fond du Lac County, and all raised large families. A quarter of a Century ago, almost every other man met in the vicinity Fond du Lac was a Tallmadge.

Among the more prominent nephews and nieces, as they can be easily recalled, are : Mrs. A. G. Ruggles, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Tallmadge, Mrs. Delany and William Tallmadge, of Fond du Lac; J. J. Tallmadge, Calumet; Mrs. Laura Galloway and Henry Tallmadge, Eau Claire; L S. Tallmadge, New York City; Mrs. Mary L. Baldwin and Mrs. Emily Tallmadge, Chicago; A. Horseheads, New York; Eric, Elkhart Lake, Wis.; Franklin, Los Angeles, CaL; Butler, San Francisco, and Mrs. Francis Campbell, Winona, Mi'nn.

The Major first broke ground near Rienzi Cemetery, the original plat of which was a gift to Fond du Lac by Gov. N. P. Tallmadge ; both were buried there. Next, he and Conklin bought and inclosed 1,200 acres wherfe J. C. Lyons now lives, in Empire. From this place, the Major, moved to Calumet and purchased a large farm. On it he lived and labored, building a large house and enjoying fruitful, well-tilled acres. About thirty years ago, he sowed 600 acres of winter wheat - a great undertaking for that time - which proved from cold weather a total failure. This, with the death of his son Kelsey, a stirring, energetic man, was a blow from which he never fully recovered. He was the projector, of the Green' Bay and Taycheedah plank -road, a portion of which he built., He and J. R. Tallmadge also built the Empire Cemetery and Milwaukee gravel roads under contract, losing some money by the operation.

If Maj .' Tallmadge had been endowed with many unpleasant faults, he lived long enough in Tond du Lac to have them thoroughly found out. But he was not thus endowed. He was a .man of the greatest charity, broad, liberal views and unbounded hospitality. He loved a full house and a bountifully spread table, and generally had both. He was in no sense an "old fogy," but read the latest literature and embraced the freshest and most progressive ideas. Few men have taken part in more or greater changes in Wisconsin than Maj. Tallmadge, and few left a cleaner record. He died January 2, 1879, at his home in the town of Calumet.

"was born at Le Roy, N. Y., April 21, 1821, in a country beautiful and wild with hills and rich with orchards and vines. He went to a common district school, and at EUicottville, then as now the county seat of his native county, until he was thirteen years of age. Thereafter, he worked summers and taught school winters, often teaching branches he never had studied himself, working pights to keep ahead of his classes. He became a successful teacher in this way, at the same time beginning to read law from borrowed books. At about the year of his majority he visited St. Louis, where he continued the business of teaching, but the climate did not suit, and he returned to New York and entered the law office of Hon. Maurice Brown, at Hammondsport. Here he was a remarkably thorough student, and became at once noted for wonderful clear-headedness, honesty and proficiency. In due time, he passed a creditable-examination and was admitted to the bar. He soon after married, at Penn Yan, Miss Emmiline E. Smith, who joined her destiny with his on the 9th of September, 1845. She shared his sorrows, lightened hfs burdens and rejoiced in his pleasures for thirty-three years ; nursed him tenderly in his long sickness ; was present to close his dying eyes, and survives to mourn the loss of a loving and noble-hearted husband. A year after his marriage, Mr. Gillet drove to Wisconsin with his own horse and buggy, leaving his young wife to follow by water and stage, which she did shortly after. He came as a lawyer to Fond du Lac, when both were young. He found but little law practice at first, being a stranger. He therefore thought a newspaper would pay better than a law office ; so on Monday, the 14th day of December, 1846, he published the first number of the Fond du Lac Whig, a paper which might be called the foundation of the Commonwealth. His paper, printed by his own strength thirty-three years ago, was a five-column folio, of perfect respectability and cleanliness, and showing a mind of no small force and independence. The second number was issued with one side printed. The reason for this does not appear anywhere in the yellow volume of the Whig. His salutatory was characteristic and manly. He closed by declaring: " We shall do what shall seem right to. us ; and if we err, let it be remembered that it is but human. We do not expect to be without faults ; and only ask the same candor in criticism of our course which we will cheerfully extend to others. Our course will be independent." And it was. At the head of the paper was "J. M. Gillet, editor and proprietor. Published every Monday, at Fond du Lac by the editor and proprietor." Thus, during the first year he devoted his time to the Whig rather than to law. He finally took an important case, and in its trial made a reputation which placed him at once in the front rank as a lawyer, a place he maintained for a third of a century - until failing health drove him inch by inch from his business. After he once secured a reputation as a lawyer, he never lacked for business, money or friends. He lent and gave to whomsoever asked, as freely as though he could dip gold like water from the ocean. Notwithstanding this generosity that amounted to a fault, he at one time had accumulated a large property, either in real estate or encumbrances on land, which the shrinkage of hard times, with one or two dishonest clients, almost entirely used up. But this did not matter so long as he had his health, ' for he could earn abundantly. He ran for State Senator once, but was beaten, as he had not the faculty to command political workers, and did nothing, allowing people to vote for him or not, as they pleased. He was glad he was beaten, and never dabbled in politics again.

The fatal sickness was brought on by catching cold. In the fall of 1878, he went to Michigan and afterward to Colorado, from which he received great benefit. His business and finances suffering from his long sickness made him uneasy, and he returned home to work. This was his fatal mistake. He died May -31, 1879.

He was one of a family of five children. George M., the eldest, very well known in Wisconsin, died in 1852. B. S. and W. B. reside in Fond du Lac. Erastus J. lives at Buffalo, N. Y., and lone A., first wife of Judge W. D. Conklin, died in 1867. His children were George Finley, who died in 1860 ; Maria Corinne, wife of C. V. Pettibone ; Morrison M., who has adopted his father's profession ; Miss Mary Inez and Louis H. Gillet.

J. M. Gillet was no politician, no intrigue, no trickster. He was an open-hearted, generous, talented man, who loved his friends and loved to show, in some material way, his regard for them. He might have been the ideal for the poet's

The character and qualities of a man like him cannot be described in a few brief moments. They are best understood and appreciated by those who have seen them unchanged and undiminished in all the intricacies of business for himself or others, and the innumerable changes of life.

An intimate friend bears this testimony to the excellency of his life : " Take him all in all, he was a noble specimen of a man. Learned and wise in his profession, his mind well stored with a knowledge of the world and of man, affable, courteous and a gentleman in all his associations ; neither improvident nor parsimonious ; a strong friend but a weak enemy ; neither a bigot nor an iconoclast ; one who rejoiced with the prosperous and sympathized with those in affliction ; neither brilliant in intellect nor wanting in judgment, wit or imagination ; neither ostentatious in dress or deportment, nor without care for appearances ; neither a worshiper of the learned or great, nor one who despised the poor and ignorant, but a sound, sagacious, wellinformed, able and conscientious man, ever ready for his task, and able to perform it well. Such in brief, were some of the traits, in our judgment, of our deceased friend. He possessed the elements of true greatness. Such traits as became more apparent, the nearer you approached the individual. Not those which dazzle from a distance and captivate the crowd, not those which bring a man into notice without merit and keep him there without ability. In the true sense of the word great, he was a great man, and yet many of the great men of earth fall to dust and are soon forgotten.

'' True glory is duty fitly and faithfully fulfilled. Mr. Gillet remained to the day of his death a private citizen. He never held, that I am awate of, a public position either by election or appointment. That he would have graced such a position, and discharged its duties with honor to himself and usefulness to the public, no one will deny ; but he was too modest to reach it. In these times the man seeks the position, not the position the man, and he was not one to ask for place or power. If such came to him at all, it must come to him unasked. He was twice a candidate for State Senator, but others outstripped him in the race. He could not, or did not, condescend to buy or ask for votes. I say could not, for all presume he acted his nature, when he remained quietly at home at work, and let his fellow- citizens act their pleasure. He would not stoop to ask for place, nor belittle himself by advocating a faith in which he did not believe. This was clearly shown when he was offered the place of Postmaster here. He could not bend to the powers then in control, so he had to step aside for others. Thus never asking for place or position, he remained a private citizen, and it is as a private citizen we know him. and must honor him. Aside from the influence he had on his immediate associates, he made his mark in life in his profession as a lawyer, and the records of the court bear the memories of his "greatness.

" The deceased practiced in all the courts of the land, from that of a Justice of the Peace, to that of last resort - the Supreme Court of the nation - and the records of his work are to be found in the reports.

" He never resorted to a trick to gain a point, but waiving many technical questions to ge^ at the merits of the controversy between the parties, he was anxious that the true issue might be determined, and litigation cease. Not only was he a peer among the ablest at the bar, but in social life he was pre-eminent. He was not a great 'conversationalist, but having traveled much, and being well posted in the literature and knowledge of the day, he was a desirable and entertaining companion. He was never morose, crusty or absent minded; always cheerful, ready to listen or be listened to ; to communicate or receive communications, and to join in any amusements in which his companions might be engaged at the time.

" His life-work is done, and as we recall to mind his traits, his virtues and his failings, may we not hope the good he did in life will live hereafter ?"

" It is unnecessary for me to speak of Mr. Gillet's standing as a lawyer. We have often listened to his eloquence - an eloquence which appealed to the intellect. We have often witnessed his masterly handling of important cases and his display of legal learning. He was a self-made man. His success was the result of his own vigorous intellect and of his untiring industry. He loved his noble profession.

" The edifice of public liberty is erected upon the administration of justice, and to stand, as he stood, pre-eminent among those who have beautified and adorned the temple of justice, is among the loftiest positions allotted to man.

" To many who knew him, Mr. Gillet will be remembered only as a great lawyer. By some, however, his memory will be cherished for his character as a man and as a friend. They will remember him as one of Nature's noblemen. They will think of him as he appeared on those occasions when all care was thrown aside and he became the genial companion.

" He was generous to a fault. He never turned a deaf ear to the cry of poverty. He never refused to give to any one who asked. He never seemed to realize that money had any other value than to alleviate suffering or to contribute to the happiness of friends. His largeheartedness was displayed in other ways. He was always courteous to members of his profession. He was ever ready to grant a favor. Many a young lawyer at this bar can remember the assistance and counsel so freely given by our departed friend. Among all the older members of the bar, he was the one to whom the younger members went with the most freedom for advice. They always saw in his grave but pleasant face a welcome. He always gave credit and encouragement to others. He never pushed a young lawyer into the background when associated with him in a cause, but rather encouraged him to take a leading part in the trial or argument.

" Mr. Gillet died before the measure of his years was full. His intellect was in the prime of its vigor. Old age had not yet abated its force or dimmed its clearness. In the very meridian of his manhood, in the very midst of busy, useful labor, his rugged constitution and physical frame'of power was compelled to yield to the destroyer."

" He arose from the ranks, and early taking an advanced place, as well in the practice of his profession as in the hearts of his fellow-men, he grew more and more in the respect of the (sommunity and the admiration of his friends, until his labors were brought to a close by his mortal sickness and untimely death.

"There was nothing in the early life of Mr. Gillet, so far as I have learned, that marked him for especial prominence. But he had energy. He had industry and perseverance. He had application to his business and a single purpose to be faithful to his clients, and successful, in his practice, and, above all', he had that personal character and honor which gained and the confidence of his associates and those with whom he transacted business."

known in Wisconsin, since 1851, as "Governor Beall," was born in Montgomery, Prince George Co., Md., in the year 1807. He descended from families of note on both sides ; on his father's, his lineage could be traced through men of great physical power, and, through marriage, with such families of note as the Randolphs, Stewarts and Johnstons, of Virginia, the Carrolls, of Carrollton, and the Singletons of South Carolina. His father married a Miss Wotton, niece of the great Dr. Wolton, who came over with Lord Baltimore, being Lord Baltimore's first cousin, and a descendant of the old poet Wolfon, famous in Queen Elizabeth's time.

Samuel W. Beall was educated at Union College, under Dr. Nott, where he took the highest honors in Greek and Latin ; afterward he studied law at Litchfield, whence so many famous lawyers have been admitted to the bar. He married Miss Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, in 1827, and, through the influence of a close friend of his family, old Chief Justice Taney, received the appointment (at that time of great responsibility) of Receiver for the sale of public lands of the Northwest, what is now Michigan and Wisconsin. He took his young and charming wife and started for his home in the far West. He located at Green Bay, then a small fort, and, from the Land Office established there, sold for the Government most of th,e lands now in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. Here, on the 4th of July, 1828, his first child was born (a man now well known in Washington Territory), christened Singleton Wotton Beall. Mr. Beall returned to Cooperstown in 1834, where he and his lovely wife enjoyed a most luxurious life, he having bought one of the most beautiful places in the whole town^ called "Woodside." Here, for some years, they gathered about them a circle of cultured, refined society, of whom Mrs. Beall's uncle, the world-renowned J. Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Watson Webb, and others formed the center, while Russell, the noted English-ballad singer, added to the circle the charm of his remarkable voice. Several children were born to them in this beauful home.

The results. of the terrible crisis of '37, in the failure of one for whom Mr. Beall had indorsed generously, forced him to surrender all his means to pay the debts of others, and 1840 found him with his wife and now large family; again domiciled at Green Bay, henceforth tobe identified with the growth and progress of the then far West. Soon after his return, he moved on to land on the banks of the beautiful Green Lake, where he improved and cultivated a farm. He was the first to introduce blooded cattle into the Northwest, the well-known shorthorn bull " Major Star," being one of his importations. While here acting the part of Cincinnatus of old, his beloved mother died in Maryland, leaving him over thirty slaves and a certain amount of bonds and mortgages. Southerner though he was, and straitened in circumstances (as compared to his previous life), the spirit of the free West and a noble heart moved him to liberate his slaves, and, what was wisely and well done, to devote the entire proceeds of the sales of the bonds and mortgages to the support of these slaves for two years, and as long indeed as the means lasted and long enough for the slaves to learn what liberty meant, and how to earn a living for themselves - an act truly worthy of record in any man's life.

While carrying on his farm, he was chosen among the first delegates to the convention at Madison, to draw the form of a State Constitution, which Constitution, however, was not accepted at Washington at this time. Shortly after this, he came to Fond du Lac County, leaving his oldest son. Singleton, to carry on the farm. Building a home in Taycheedah, then far more thrifty and promising than Fond du Lac, he devoted himself to his old profession, the law. A year or two afterward, he was chosen Delegate from Fond du Lac County, to draw up another Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, which was accepted, and Wisconsin became a State.

When Mr. Dewey was elected Governor, Mr. Beall was chosen Lieutenant Governor, and his Presidency of the Sen^-te, during the term of his office, was noted for unusual dignity, order and just ruling.

His term expiring, he was appointed Indian Agent, and was among the first, as Agent for the Government, to take to Washington chiefs of tribes under his care. Of these were the sachems of the Munsie and Stockbridge tribes. One chief of the latter tribe, John Quinny, created much interest and wonder by the delivery before Congress of a most erudite and. eloquent speech, now recorded in history as a sample of remarkable power and pathos. This speech was written by Mr. Beall, and taught word by word to the chief, even to the gestures; who proved an apt scholar to so brilliant a teacher. The original manuscript is still in thehands of the family. So much for the romance often connected with Indian history, and as often misleading.

On the settlement of the Stockbridge Indians on their reservation, he gave up the Agency and devoted his time to his profession. As a criminal pleader, he was noted far and wide, and he swayed juries as he only can whom Nature has intended as a leader of men.

In 1859, impelled by that spirit of Western enterprise to which it had become the habit of his life to yield, he led a party to Pike's Peak. While on this expedition, he, with some others, located the city of Denver. This place immediately started into rapid growth, and, the following winter, Col. Beall was sent to Washington to obtain a charter for the city- - a journey in those days of danger and long duration.