Portage County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1919 (part 2 of 15)

At the age of sixteen years, having acquired his early education on his native isle, Daniel Corlett came to the United States, and for a while was variously employed in Cleveland, Ohio. Leaving that city, he made his way to Sussex, Waukesha County, this state, where he became interested in the mechanical arts, and was also employed as boatman on the Lakes. In 1873 he received his license as an engineer, and during the five years that he subsequently remained in the lake service he worked his way upward until becoming chief engineer on a large boat. Resigning the position in 1878, Mr. Corlett was for five years successfully engaged in the meat business at Edmore, Michigan. Coming from there to Portage County in 1885, he located in Eau Pleine Township and engaged in the lumber business, becoming a partner of his father-in-law, Thomas Petty, who had erected a saw mill there in 1875, and had lived there for twenty-seven years. Mr. Corlett continued in the lumber business until 1909, when the mill was destroyed by fire. In the meantime he had acquired title to several large tracts of land, including one farm of 450 acres, which he sold in 1912. As an agriculturist Mr. Corlett showed excellent judgment and ability. He made substantial and valuable improvements on his farms, and in addition to carrying on general fanning had a large dairy and kept many sheep, in each line meeting with success.

Mr. Corlett married, April 14, 1880, Elizabeth Ann Petty, who was born in England, October 10, 1853. Her father, Thomas Petty, emigrated from England to Canada in 1855, and for several years resided with his family in Hamilton. Coming to the States in 1862, he was engaged in fruit growing at Grand Haven for quite a while. Lured westward by the glowing accounts of the rich and rare minerals to be found in the Rockies, Mr. Petty made an overland trip to Idaho, going by teams from St. Joseph, Missouri, to the gold fields. Stopping en route, he was in Salt Lake City when the foundation for the Mormon Church was laid. Returning to Michigan, and then to Wisconsin, Mr. Petty located in Portage County, where he became an extensive land owner. In 1875. in company with Charles Segelke. he built a saw mill at Eau Pleine and engaged in the lumber business as junior member of the firm of Segelke & Petty. He moved to Eau Pleine in 1880, and was there a resident until his death in 1907, at the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. Petty married, in England, Mary Ann Thompson, who preceded him to the world beyond, dying in 1892. They had but one child. Mrs. Corlett. Mr. and Mrs. Corlett have no children. Politically Mr. Corlett is a republican, and for several terms served as township treasurer. Fraternally he is a member of Evergreen Lodge No. 93, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and is also a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar. Religiously both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Rrayton L. V.\i;r,H.\N. Energetic, enterprising and eminently practical, Brayton L. Vaughan, head of the well-known firm of B. L, Vaughan & Sons, occupies an assured position among the active and prosperous business men of Stevens Point as a house mover, trans- porter of heavy freight and a contractor in excavating and stone work, employing many men and being an important factor in advancing the industrial interests of this section of Portage County. He is a son of the late Eliphalet H. Vaughan, who was born March 21, 1808, in Redford, New York.

His paternal grandfather, Ira Vaughan, was born in New York State, December 21, 1783, and there grew to man's estate. Several years after his marriage he came with his family to Wisconsin, locating first in Dane County. Subsequently he moved to Stevens Point, Portage County, where he acquired considerable landed property, and continued his residence until his death, which occurred at his home on Clark Street July 25, 1871. He married, November 4, 1804, Sarah Boorn, who was bom in New York State, July 31, 1787, and died at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, February 18, 1877. He was a surveyor by profession, and active in public affairs, having held several local offices. To him and his good wife children were born as follows: Ruth, Eliphalet H.. Ira B., Eri F., Sarah S., Eslie W., Eli P., Anselem P., and Levi P. N.

Eliphalet H. Vaughan was born March 21, 1808, in Redford, Clinton County, New York, his birthplace having been located on Lake Champlain. He was there bred and educated, and while yet young was well trained in agricultural pursuits. In 1847, accompanied by his family, he made an overland journey to Wisconsin, settling in Dane County in pioneer times. Not satisfied with the result of his labors in that part of the state, he came to Portage County, rich in its pine forests, and on March 4, 1855, located at Stevens Point. He bought a fourth of a block on Clark Street, establishing his home at No. 1300, and continued as a lumberman and surveyor until his death, February 8, 1890. He was a republican in politics, and served for one or more terms as alderman.

Eliphalet H. Vaughan married at Redford, New York, May 14, 1833, Mary Constant La Fountain, who was born August 7, 181 3, in Canada, her father having been a pilot on a Saint Lawrence River boat. They were the parents of eleven children, namely : Eri, born February 13, 1834; Mercy C, born September 8, 1835 ; Andrew O.. born October 27, 1837; Ezcy, born June 8, 1840; David H., born November 17, 1842, a surveyor at Rhinelander, Wisconsin ; Emeline C, born February 9, 1845 ; twin boys that died in infancy ; Robert D., born November 17, 184)8, lives in Waupaca County, this state; Brayton L., with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned ; and Styles H., born July 10, 1854, is a resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Completing his early studies in the Stevens Point High School, Brayton L. Vaughan became familiar with lumbering wben young, working first in the woods and later as a log driver on the river. Embarking in business for himself, he continued operating as a lumberman until 1914, in the meantime buying and clearing many pieces of valuable timber land. In 1889, in conjunction with his other work, Mr. Vaughan began his career as a house mover, and in the venture has met with pronounced success, at the present time keeping four crews of men busily employed. He also carries on a large business in excavating and stone work, largely in cemeteries, and makes a specialty of handling heavy freight of all kinds. A man of good financial as well as executive ability. Mr. Vaughan has accumulated a substantial property, owning four houses on Clark Street and three on Main Street, everything being in the name of the firm of R. L. Vaughan & Sons. Mr. Vaughan resides at 1403 Main Street, where he has a most pleasant and hospitable home.

He married in 1875. at Stevens Point, Harriet Tupper, who belonged to a distinguished family, her grandfather Tupper having been a brother of Hon. Sir Charles Tupper. She was born in Belmont Township. Portage County, Wisconsin, March 17, 1856. Her father, Thomas H. Tupper, a native of New Brunswick, came to Portage County, Wisconsin, in pioneer days, settling in Belmont Township in 1849. During the Civil war he enlisted as a soldier, and died while in service, in 1863, aged thirty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth White, was born in Maine, and died in Wisconsin in June, 191O, aged seventy-eight years.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan has been brightened by the birth of four children, namely: Arvin L.. born January 30. 1876; David Clyde, born January 4, 1879; Algie P., born December 23, 1882; and Zada Evelyn, born November 29, 1893. Arvin L. Vaughan, the first-born child of his parents, was educated in the graded and high schools of Stevens Point and at the Normal School, and is now a member of the firm of B. I.. Vaughan & Sons. He married Bcatress Georgia Smart, and they have two children. Iris Ianthe and Terrence Gran fall. David Clyde Vaughan attended the local high school, the State Normal School and the Stevens Point Business College, and is now associated in business with his father as treasurer of the firm. He married Rosella May Sutton, and they have three children, Hassell Sutton and Frederick Allen, both students in the high school and Leonora, in the sixth grade of the grammar school. Aglie P. Vaughan, who died December 28, 191 1, married. May 4, 1905, Mary Anna Marx, who was born lX^ccmber 3. 1887. Of the four children born of their union, Richard, the oldest child, died at the age of two years, and three are living, Eugene Henry, Raymond George and Irma Marie, all of whom have been adopted by their Grandfather Vaughan. Zada Evelyn Vaughan. the only daughter of the parental household, completed her early education in the State Normal School, and on October 10. 191 5, became the wife of Edward Steiner, of Elkniound, Wisconsin.

Religiously Mr. Vaughan is an active member of the Baptist Church, and for many years has been a teacher in its Sunday school. He is a republican in politics, and has served as supervisor and as a member of the County Board. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Equitable Fraternal Union and to the Beavers. He was formerly a member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Ernkst E. Ingle. A comparatively recent addition to the progressive class of citizenship at Almond is Ernest E. Ingle, who came here to reside permanently and to take an active part in affairs in 19 13. During the period that has elapsed since his arrival and the present he has been an active factor in promulgating and supporting many things which have worked out for the public benefit, and through the columns of his live and constantly growing newspaper, the Portage County Press, has done much to make outside communities acquainted with what this thriving little city is accomplishing and to spur his fellow-townsmen on to still greater efforts.

Wisconsin, February 9, 1887, and is a son of Charles and Ellen (Van) Ingle, both of whom were born in the East. His father, who was a son of English parents, passed his life in agricultural pursuits, having at different times owned properties in various communities, but did not live to see his industrious efforts bear much fruit, as he passed away when still in middle life, or about 1900, when his son was thirteen years of age. His death occurred on his farm in Waushara County, whence he had removed from Wood County, and at his death he left live children. His widow remarried and survived until 1909, passing away at Stevens Point.

The public schools of Plainfield, Wisconsin, furnished Ernest E. Ingle with his early education, and he was brought up on the farm, but the agricultural life did not appeal to his energetic nature, and in casting about for some more congenial vocation settled upon the printer's trade. He was about eighteen years of age when he started to learn this occupation, in an office at Plainfield, and when he had once mastered his trade he became a journeyman printer and for some years went from place to place, as is the wont of most young printers during the early years of their allegiance to this business. Finally, after he had gained much experience both profitable and otherwise, he and his partner started a newspaper in North Dakota, which was known as the Slope County News, but his connection with this sheet did not last a long time, when he sold out to other parties, the paper still being in existence there. On January 1. 1913, Mr. Ingle came to Almond, where he purchased the stock and good will of the Press Publishing Company, which had been established at this point some years before. Since that time he has been engaged in a general printing business, and also prints the Portage County Press, of which he is editor and publisher. This is a weekly publication which has a good circulation at Almond and in the southern part of Portage County, as well as in other communities, and is a neatly printed sheet, well edited and including live news matter and numerous interesting features. Mr. Ingle has kept his paper clean and reliable, and in this way has attracted the confidence and appreciation of the public, as well as of the advertising men of this community, the Press being well supported in the latter direction by merchants and professional men.

Mr. Ingle was married September 26. 1909. to Miss Ethel Elwood, of Almond, daughter of Charles H. Elwood. They have no children. Mr. Ingle is active in various avenues of affairs at Almond and is a man who touches life on many sides. He is interested fraternally in the Modern Woodmen of America and the Masons, and he and Mrs. Ingle are popular members of the Order of the Eastern Star and supporters of movements in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has accepted his share of the responsibilities of citizenship and has served faithfully and capably as a member of the village board for two years and as clerk of the school board for four years.

Frank M. Gi.ennov. The mercantile interests of Stevens Point are important and they etigage the attention of business men of keen intellect and sound financial understanding. ( >ne of the leading merchants here is Frank M. Glennon. whose impressive business house is situated on Main Street, a fine building 30 by 180 feet in dimensions, with ground floor space covering Xos. 436 and 438. Mr. Glennon is a

Frank M. Glennon was born at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, September 25, 1869. His parents were James and Julia (Fleming) Glennon, and farther back the ancestry belonged to Ireland. In early boyhood he attended the parochial school and later, while partly providing for his own necessities by selling newspapers and making himself generally useful, he completed the public school course. He then accepted a position as clerk in a dry goods store and continued as such for seventeen years, during this time securing a sound understanding of merchandise values and business methods. In 1903 Mr. Glennon bought the interest of John Rothman in the dry goods firm of Moll & Rothman, since which time the style has been Moll Glennon Company, and since its incorporation Mr. Glennon has been secretary and treasurer of the firm, Mr. Moll being president and Charles E. Blodgett, of Marshfield, Wisconsin, being vice president. This firm is one of the sound and representative business houses of Portage County, both collectively and individually, and its standing in the general commercial field ranks it with concerns in much larger cities. An extensive business is done in dry goods and ready to wear garments, the choice and selection of which are guided by ripe mercantile experience.

Mr. Glennon was married in 1902 to Miss Anna Plicka. who was born in the City of Chicago, where her father died. Her mother, Mrs. Anna Plicka, resides with Mr. and Mrs. Glennon. They have two children, a son, Kenneth, who is seven years old, and a daughter, Florence, who is five years old. The family home is the handsome residence standing at No. 639 Main Street, Stevens Point. A member of St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church, Mr. Glennon is a liberal contributor to its many branches of benevolent work, is not only helpful in this way but is ever ready to assist in furthering humanitarian movements that concern the whole world.

In political sentiment Mr. Glennon has always been a democrat but has never had any desire to hold public office, although from many standpoints no more effective training for public usefulness can be found than in the business field. He is an active member of the Commercial Commerce Club, the Retail Merchants Association and the Rotary Club, and fraternally is identified with the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Knights of Columbus.

Gutmorm J. Olstad. Within the past thirty-three years, a period covered since (iuthorm J. Olstad, one of Alban Township's representative men, first came here, wonderful changes have come about in the development of Portage County, not only in agricultural but along other lines, indicating an intelligent and substantial citizenship. Great tracts of land then covered with forest trees are now productive farms to which the eyes of the nations of the earth are hopefully looking for sustenance in time of dire need; the few specimens of common, almost wild, cattle have given way to costly herds of high grade Holsteins or Guernseys ; churches in every hamiet open their doors offering religious help and teaching; schoolhouses on the cross roads are well equipped and as well built as the comfortable farmhouses from wh'ch come hundreds of happy pupils, and substantial business enterprises offer here safe investments and profitable returns. Undoubtedly

Portage County is the home of a peaceful, industrious, contented people, and many of them are of Norwegian birth or ancestry, both of these distinctions belonging to Guthorm J. Olstad.

Mr. Olstad was born February 28, 1865, in Norway. His parents were John and Ingeborg (Gaphol) Olstad, who were born, reared and married in Norway. They were farming people there. They had eleven children, and the parents spent their last years with those settled in Alban Township, Portage County. Of the above family, Guthorm J. was the youngest, the names of the others being as follows: Ole, Martha, Peter, Sophia, Martin, John, Gustav, Ida, Lewis and Guthorm (1), the last named with Martin and Gustav, being deceased.

Guthorm J. Olstad was nineteen years old and his school days were over when he came to the United States and to Alban Township, Portage County, Wisconsin. For a number of years afterward he was a lumber man, working in the woods and grading lumber in the saw mills, at different points, in fact continuing lumbering to a great extent until his marriage in 1905. In th? meanwhile, however, as early as 1894 he had purchased his present farm, on which he has resided' for the last fourteen years and has successfully carried on farm and stock industries. Mr. Olstad has seventy-eight acres, well situated as to markets as it lies only one mile east of Rosholt, and one of the profitable features of his farm is the breeding of Holstein cattle, having a large herd at the present time of these fine animals. Mr. Olstad has improved his property, building additions to his barn as they have become necessary, and building one of the finest residences in the township and equipping it with many comforts and conveniences.

In 1905 Mr. Olstad was married to Miss Helen Oas, who was born in Alban Township, Portage County, and is a daughter of Ole J. and Turina (Hansen) Oas, both of whom were born in Norway. All of the grandparents of Mrs. Olstad died in Norway except her paternal grandmother, who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Oas when they came to the United States in 1865. Some years later she died at the home of a daughter in lola Township, Waupaca County. Wisconsin. During the first year after Mr. and Mrs. Oas came to Wisconsin the father of Mrs. Olstad worked on a farm in Scandanavia Township. Waupaca County, and then came to Portage County and bought a farm of eighty acres in Alban Township, adjoining that of Mr. Olstad, and later bought forty additional acres. He not only cleared the land but erected the first buildings on it. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Oas, namely : Emma, John, Dena, Henry, deceased, Hans, deceased, Helen, now Mrs. Olstad, and Olivia. The mother of this family died on the old farm in 1882, and the father died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Olstad in 1914. He was a man of large importance in Alban Township and prominent in politics, serving many years as township chairman and as township treasurer, and at the time of his death was filling the office of township assessor. He was one of the organizers of the Alban Norwegian Lutheran Church, the first church in the entire township.

Mr. Olstad, like his late father-in-law, is one of the township's leading men and at times has served in responsible offices, such as on the school board and as township treasurer. He has shown his public spirit and enterprise in giving encouragement to home enterprises that can not fail of benefiting the farming community, and was one of the organizers of the Rosholt creamery, which has proved a profitable

Gkorge L. Barrows. When a citizen of any community has lived to the age of more than three score and ten years, maintaining through all vicissitudes an unblemished character, faithfully meeting the obligations incident to his lot and discharging with manly fidelity the duties incumbent upon him in all the relations of life, it is a pleasing task to place the story of his career in an enduring form. The possession of such a record by the family which he has toiled to reaj-, and its transmittal to their posterity, is not only a boon to them but the narrative of his worthy life, preserved in the permanent characters of a book, serves as a wholesale incentive to all others who may chance to peruse the pages containing it. The foregoing lines pertain with obvious pertinence to George L. Barrows, one of the highly respected residents of Stevens Point, now living in retirement after many years passed in railroad work.

Mr. Barrows was born at Calais. Washington County, Maine, August 23, 1845, a son of Allen and Sarah (Faunce ) Barrows, who passed their lives in that, their native state. He was reared in Maine, where he received his education in the public schools, and when he left home went to Massachusetts. His father was a minister of the Baptist Church and held a number of pulpits in Maine, working faithfully as a preacher of the Gospel until his death in 1870, Mrs. Barrows surviving him for about two years. They had six children : Aurilla ; William and Sarah, who are deceased; Harris, who is a Baptist minister; Frank, deceased; and George L.

George L. Barrows was variously employed in Massachusetts without making much headway and eventually decided to try his fortunes in the West. Accordingly, in 1872. he came to Wisconsin, and at Stevens Point secured a position as a brakeman on a freight train. He was industrious, faithful and efficient, performing his tasks in an orderly and systematic manner, and won a firm place in the esteem and confidence of his employers who in 1882 advanced him to conductor. Soon thereafter he was again promoted, this time to passenger conductor, and during the thirty-three years that followed he continued with his daily duties, becoming one of the best known and most popular conductors on the line. He was widely known to the traveling public, and because of his unfailing courtesy and obliging spirit made friendships that have lasted and strengthened with the passing of the years. In 1915, after forty-three years of devoted and loyal service, he was % pensioned by the coni|>any and retired to his comfortable home at Xo. 1 109 Shaurette Street, which he erected in 1903, and which has been his home since that year.

Mr. Barrows is a republican in politics, but the nature of his employment made it impossible for him to ever engage in public affairs as a contestant for honors. Tie belongs to the Baptist Church. In 1882 Mr. Barrows was married to Miss Olive Bancroft, who was born at Ashland, Wisconsin, a daughter of Warren G. Bancroft, one of the pioneers of Ashland and a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Barrows died in the faith of that church, having been the mother of six children, of whom three survive: Leda, who is the wife of Smith Murrish. principal of the Stevens Point High School: Georgia, the wife of Fred Pitsch. of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and the mother

John J. Hf.ffrox. A worthy representative of the keen, clearheaded and progressive business men of Stevens Point, John J. Heffron, an extensive dealer in real estate, has been a conspicuous factor in the upbuilding of this part of the state, having bought, platted and built upon lands in both Portage and Marathon counties, his operations in that direction having been extensive and of benefit not only to himself but to the communities wherein he has labored. A son of the late Matthew Heffron, he was born in Portage County, Wisconsin, April n, 1865, coming from honored Irish ancestry.

Born in Kilkenny, Ireland, Matthew Heffron came to Portage County, Wisconsin in 1848, poor in pocket but rich in energy and ambition. He began work as a farm laborer, and being industrious and thrifty was enabled ere many years had passed to buy a tract of land in Portage County. Very successful as an agriculturist, he bought more land from time to time, at his death having a wellimproved farm of 340 acres, lying in Stockton Township. He married in Portage County Katharine Regan, who was born in Cork, Ireland, and as child came with her parents to Wisconsin. Children were born of their union as follows: Martin; Kate; Daniel W. ; Xora ; John J.; Bridget, deceased; Mary, who died at the age of five years; and Lizzie. Bridget, the sixth child, married, and died in A1>erdeen, South Dakota, leaving one son, who is living with his father, W. McHugh. in South Dakota and three daughters. One daughter, Agnes, teaches in the State Normal School and another daughter, Mary, is a teacher in the schools at Grand Rapids, this state.

Brought up on the parental homestead. John J. Heffron was educated in the public schools, and under his father's tutelage acquired a practical knowledge of agriculture. As a young man he attended the State Normal School at Oshkosh, and later taught school for a year. In 1891. preferring an active rather than professional career, he embarked in the real estate business, making his first sale of farm land in October of that year. Encouraged by his first attempt in that line, Mr. Heffron continued his operations, and since that time has, perhaps, sold as many pieces of farm property as any real estate dealer in Portage County. He established the Village of Heffron in Belmont Township, Portage County, erecting 1 25 houses in the place ; he also built forty houses in Knowlton, Marathon County; and in addition to those mentioned has put up about forty houses in Portage County. Mr. Heffron came from his farm to Stevens Point in 1900, opening an office at 313 Clark Street, and. as can be judged from his extensive real estate dealings, has built up a profitable business.

Mr. Heffron married, November 10, 1892, Miss Mary E. McHugh, of Stockton Township, and they have had three children, namely: Harold, deceased ; Pearl M. ; and John ].. Jr. An active and influential member of the democratic party, Mr. Heffron served two years as alderman. Religiously he is a member of the Catholic Church. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Columbus and to the Catholic Order of Foresters.

constantly in demand by the lumbering industry, and among men now past middle age it is exceptional when some portion of their younger years was not spent in the lumber woods or on the rivers, or in some employment connected with the converting of the great lumber resources of Wisconsin into manufactured products.

One of the veterans of the forest and one of the oldest residents of Portage County is Mr. Robert B. Wilson, who lives at Stevens Point and is now foreman in the employ of the State Highway Commission. Mr. Wilson was born in Chemung County, New York, May 9, 1851, a son of William and Phoebe (Fleming) Wilson. His father was born at Wells, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1826 and his mother was born at Trenton, New Jersey, December 7, 1824. The paternal grandfather, Estill Wilson, was born October 20, 1796 and married Mary McCurter, who was born July 18, 1795. They were pioneers of Portage County, Wisconsin, but did not remain long, returning to the State of Pennsylvania, where Mary Wilson died May 27, 1855. The grandfather subsequently came back to Portage County and died here at an advanced age, on May 25, 1875. His children were Sarah, Lydia, Robert, William and James.

In October, 1853. William Wilson brought his family to Portage County and in the fall of that year secured a farm in Amherst Township. For more than forty years he went regularly about his tasks of clearing away the woods, cultivating his soil, and keeping up all the duties and responsibilities of a good citizen and good home maker, and he died in this county honored and respected on December 30, 1898. His widow survived him and passed away at Stevens Point on May 14, 1916. She had continued to live on the old homestead until April, 191 5. Her father was Thomas Fleming. Thomas and Rachel Fleming were also among the pioneers of Portage County, Wisconsin, and spent many useful years there. Their children were Hannah. William, Maria, Phoebe, Harriet, Permclia and Benjamin Fleming. The seven children born to William and Phoebe Wilson were : Robert B. ; Estill ; Thomas; Mary, wife of James Fowlie; Richard; Henry; and Edith, wife of Carl Hartel. The father of these children was an active republican and for seventeen years filled an office in the township board of Amherst and for most of that time was chairman of the board. He and his wife were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the latter was active in church from the age of twelve years.

Robert B. Wilson was only two or three years old when his parents came to Portage County, and his first conscious recollections are of the woods and log cabin homes and other sparse improvements in this county sixty years ago. As he grew up he developed his strength on the old homestead, and acquired a knowledge of the fundamentals in the local schools. He was only fifteen when he was entrusted with the responsibilities of a regular job in a logging camp, and from that time on he continued in the woods until he had passed forty winters all told as a woodsman and part of the time was in business for himself. In 1902 Mr. Wilson moved from his home in the country to Stevens Point and here has invested in considerable real estate, owning four modern homes and one other dwelling. He lives at 537 Ellis Street. He now finds ample employment for his years of semi-leisure in the office of foreman of state roads. Mr. Wilson is an active republican and he and his family are members of the Episcopal Church.

June 29, 1875, he married Miss Emma D. Warren. Mrs. Wilson was born at Stillwater, Maine, March 22, 1854, daughter of Aaron G. and Matilda Jane (Whitney) Warren. Only a few weeks after her birth her parents came to Plainfield, Washara County, Wisconsin, but after living there seven or eight years moved back to the Pine Tree State in 1863. When they came again to Wisconsin in 1864 they located in Portage County, where they had their home for nearly half a century. In 1909 Mrs. Wilson's parents moved out to Anacortes, Washington, where her father died in 1914, at the advanced age of eighty-one, and her mother in 1909, aged seventy-three. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Clyde, Chester, Earl and Myrtle. The latter two are still at home. Chester died in infancy. Clyde is the wife of William Gilden, of Anacortes, Washington, and has three children, named Sylvia, Chester and Edith.

Rev. James Blake is one of the distinguished Baptist ministers of Wisconsin and has proved his ability not only as an eloquent preacher but as a successful organizer and executive. He is very popular in Stevens Point, where he has been head of the Baptist Church for a number of years, and has brought his church to a point where it is at once one of the most prosperous and most influential in the entire county.

Rev. Mr. Blake is a man of wide experience and has seen a great deal of the world in his life. He was born in Suffolk, England. May 20. 1863. and commenced his literary and theological education in Mulme Cliff College in Derbyshire. His first important work in the ministry was as a missionary to Africa. After that he returned to England, and in 1893 came to the United States, where for a quarter of a century he has been identified with the work of the Baptist denomination. On coming to America Rev. Mr. Blake entered the newly established Divinity School of the University of Chicago, and was the forty-fifth to register as a student in that school. He graduated in 1895, and his first pastorate after leaving university was at Kendall, Wisconsin. In March. 1898, he took up new work at Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where he remained until August 15. ifry). The next five years he spent at West Allis, Wisconsin, in April. 1904, went to Plainfield, Wisconsin, and on December 5. 1904, became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Stevens Point. His first pastorate here continued until 1910, when he accepted the pastorate of Grace Baptist Church of Milwaukee. On April 15, 191 2, Rev. Mr. Blake returned to Stevens Point and has since been active head of the First Baptist Church. His congregation has made wonderful progress, especially in the last five years. A fine new brick edifice was dedicated October 29. 1916. Mr. Blake is very popular in the city, a man of liberal views, and has been able to exert a great influence for good in the community. On December 27, 1899. he married at Kendall, Wisconsin, Miss Thema E. Dunlap of Kendall. They have two daughters, Frances Ethel and Florence Guinness.

John* J. Bukoet. Any individual with sufficient money can, if he so desires, dispense charity and thereby secure public applause whether his alms are really beneficial or, as sometimes, quite unwise. How much more, however, to be commended is the man who bravely struggles through earlv handicaps and later misfortune to succeed in estab- lishing industries which give profitable employment, not charity, to hundreds of self-respecting workers. This thought comes in considering the career of one of Stevens Point's enterprising and successful business men, John J. Bukolt. His has been an interesting, busy and useful life and illustrates the value of supplementing natural talents with persistent effort and unfailing courage.

John J. Bukolt is a native of Wisconsin and was born January 20, 1869, at Northeim in Manitowoc County. His parents are Ignatz and Tekla (Frosina) Bukolt. They were born in Prussia and after coming to the United States reached Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, in 1865 and have lived there ever since, first clearing up a farm and slowly improving it, but since old age has come upon them they have been comfortably established in the Village of Northeim. Although octogenarians, the father being aged eighty-two years and the mother eighty-four years, they have preserved both physical and mental health, enjoy neighborly life and are faithful attendants to the services of the Polish Catholic Church. They have had five children, namely: Anna, John J., Lucas, deceased, Ladislas, deceased, and Rosa.

Until he was eighteen years old John J. Bukolt remained at home and gave his father assistance on the farm. In the meanwhile he attended the public schools. In 1888, realizing that a knowledge of business methods should be very useful in whatever line of work he should engage, he came to Stevens Point and took a course in the Stevens Point Business College, and worked through the summer for the Stevens Point Manufacturing Company. Finding himself possessed of mechanical talent, Mr. Bukolt selected a vocation in which this could be utilized and developed. For one year he worked in the wood turning department of Rice Brothers' foundry and then went with Calvert & French and remained two years.

From boyhood Mr. Bukolt had shown inventive genius and in 1893 he built a shop of his own and continued his experiments together with his foundry and manufacturing business and carried on work in his own shop until 1896, when he went to Buchan, Michigan, where for one year he was superintendent for the National Manufacturing Company. The failure of this company in the following year was one of the misfortunes that business men must steel themselves to meet, although they often must suffer considerable loss. In 1897 Mr. Bukolt returned to Stevens Point. He had invented an automatic cradle and was determined to manufacture it himself, hence he invested his own means and interested others and the manufacture of this invention was continued until 1904. under the manufacturing name of the American Novelty Company, the plant being at Stevens Point. Business had become congested in the first factory and Mr. Bukolt realized that with the prosperous outlook he would be justified in large expansion. Hence incorporation came about, new capital came in. the manufacturing name became the Automatic Cradle Manufacturing Company, John Jozefkowig became president. Frank Derezinski, vice president, and Mr. Bukolt, secretary and treasurer of the company. To accommodate his business enterprises Mr. Bukolt has erected immense buildings, one of these being 100 feet wide and 132 feet long, three stories, and and another, four stories in height, of brick construction, has dimensions of 80 by 200 feet.

this company he is president and general manager. The Automatic Cradle Company affords constant employment to 140 people and the Bukolt Manufacturing Company employ sixty, therefore fully 200 individuals, all fine workmen, are in the employ of Mr. Eukolt in his industries at Stevens Point, contributing not a little to the city's prosperity. These valuable inventions have a wide sale and a busy section of the manufacturing district is Mr. Bukolt's plant at Nos. 231-235 Third Street, Stevens Point.

While Mr. Bukolt is recognized as an able business man, he is also acknowledged a good citizen. He is independent in politics and has no desire for public office, but he is interested in the affairs of his city and endeavors to have a reliable city government and substantial reforms when they are needed. He belongs to the Elks and is also a member of the Rotary Club.

John R. McDonald for forty years or more has been one of the staid and responsible citizens of Stevens Point. His name is associated with all around substantial character and efficiency and ability in the prosecution of his affairs, and he is a respected as well as the best known citizen of Portage County. But few residents of the county have seen and lived in more diverse parts of the world during their early lives than Mr. McDonald.

His birthplace is of itself a place of special interest. He was born on the Island of St. Helena, where Napoleon was a prisoner. His birth occurred in that outlying part of the British possessions July 16, 1838. His parents were George and Sarah McDonald. His father was a British soldier and spent twenty-five years in the service. When John was a small child his parents were transferred to Grahamstown, Africa, where the mother died in 1845. ' ne next p' a ce of service to which the soldier was called was Colesburg, Africa, and it was there that John R. McDonald received his first schooling. Later he returned to Grahamstown and continued his education there. George McDonald served as a non-commissioned officer throughout the Kaffir war in Africa. After that war he returned to England and received his discharge, and then went back to his native City of Edinburgh, Scotland. He died at the Village of Lasswade, Scotland. August 20, 1881. He was born December 17, 1809. For his second wife he married Ruth Stewart, who survived him many years and passed away in 191 5 at the age of eighty-eight. By the first marriage there were three children: John R. ; George, who died in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1903, at the age of sixty-three, after having served twenty-one years in the British Army : and Eleanor, who married and went to Australia to live. By his second wife the father had three children: Ruth Stewart, Clarence and Ronald.

After his father returned to Edinburgh, John R. McDonald continued his education until he finished the course of the Normal School. The influences of his early boyhood were well calculated to inspire in him a desire for adventure and seeing the world, and at the age of twenty he left home and came to Canada. He lived in Canada about eighteen years and while- there laid the foundation of his business

Mr. McDonald came to Stevens Point in 1876 and that city has been his home ever since except one year spent on a farm at Auburndale. In 1871 he had returned to Scotland for a visit. At Stevens Point he assisted Judge Almanson Eaton for three years in preparing abstracts. Then, in 1879, he became a clerk in several of the county offices and in 1880 was appointed deputy county clerk and in the fall of the same year was elected chief of that office and was re-elected county clerk in 1882. In 1884, °n retiring from office, he set up in business as an abstractor and conveyancor and continued that work on a very successful scale until 1915, when failing health compelled him to withdraw and he was succeeded by his son. He owns a beautiful residence on St. Louis Avenue, where he has lived for about thirty years.

On December 25, 1867, he married Miss Annie Kay. Mrs. Mc- Donald, who has been a kind and faithful wife and a greatly beloved member of the Stevens Point community for many years, was born at Stratford, Ontario, Canada, September 18, 1846. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have enjoyed a marriage companionship for over half a century, having celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on Christinas of 1917. Her parents, Robert and Barbara (McKwen) Kay, were natives of Scotland and came to Canada, where her mother died in 1856. The last years of her father were spent in Stevens Point with Mrs. McDonald, and Mr. Kay died here in 1897. at the age of eighty-seven. He was survived by five children: Mrs. McDonald: Robert K., now deceased; Mrs. Gibson, of Port Huron. Michigan; James, who died at Stratford. Canada, in 1917; and William of Port Huron, Michigan.

August Miuf*. While not a native of Portage County, practically the entire career of August Milius has been passed within its borders, and here he has received his education and training and secured his success. His life has been devoted to the pursuits of agriculture and his well-directed and industrious labors have resulted in the accumulation of a valuable property and in the gaining and retaining of a place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens.

August Milius was born on a farm in Franklin Township. Milford County, Wisconsin. March 10. 1852, and is a son of Michael and Barbara (Ferber) Milius, the former a native of Alsace-Lorraine and the latter of Baden, Germany. After the death of his wife, the paternal grandfather of Mr. Milius brought his family to the United States and located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, where he passed the resr of his life as a pioneer farmer, experiencing many of the hardships of participation in the events of his day and locality, but working energetically toward the establishment of a home for his family. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Milius, Philip Ferber, came to America in 1850, locating with his family in Almond Township, near the Village of Almond, where he passed the remaining years of his life in the pursuits of the soil. Michael Milius and Barbara Ferber grew up and were educated in their respective communities, and were married in Milwaukee County, shortly after which they moved to Milford County, and for a time resided in Franklin Township. That community they left in 1854 to come to Portage County, Mr. Milius pre- empting land in Almond Township, the same property now owned by his son. Like the other early farmers, he was compelled to overcome many obstacles during the early years and to do without any of the conveniences and comforts of life, as well as many of the things that are considered necessities, but his hard and persistent labors won success for him in the end, and he not only cleared and cultivated his original property, upon which he erected good buildings and made other improvements, but also added considerably to his holdings and at the time of his death was the owner of 400 acres of valuable land. He became one of the well known and influential men of his community, serving for some years on the township board, and was active in the various affairs of his locality, particularly in church matters, he and his father-in-law having been largely instrumental in the establishment of the early church at Almond. When he died his community lost a valuable and highly respected citizen.

August Milius, the only child of his parents, was educated in the district schools of Almond Township, whence he was brought as a child for two years, and has always made his home on the old place. He was thoroughly trained in all the arts and devices of the farmer, and early in life began to look upon his vocation as something to be studied, so that he has always endeavored to keep himself fully abreast of the advancements made in agriculture and has been a devotee of modem methods and improved machinery. His finely developed 360 acres are devoted to general fanning principally, although Mr. Milius has had much success as a specializer in the growing of potatoes, the soil of his farm being particularly and peculiarly adapted for the cultivation of tubers.

Mr. Milius was married in 1877 to Miss Minnie Edler, who was born on a farm in Plymouth Township, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, a daughter of Henry Edlcr, an agriculturist of that locality. To this union there have been born seven children, all of whom arc living: Henry, George, Marie. William, Alfred, Wesley and Alice. The members of this family belong to the German Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally, Mr. Milius is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and takes an interest in the meetings of the local lodge. As a citizen he has taken an active part in township affairs, having served as a member of the board for some time, and the capable manner in which he has discharged his duties as treasurer of the school board, which position he occupies at this time, has retained him in office for many years, lie is known as a progressive, thorough going citizen, reliable in business and loyal in his friendships, and as an agriculturist whose modern methods exemplify the awakened spirit of this fertile agricultural region.

Hon. Orestes A. Crowki.i.. In business circles of southern Portage County there are few names which are better or more favorably known than that of Orestes A. Crowcll. Successively as merchant, banker and agriculturist he has been identified with the interests of this locality, and particularly at Almond, in such a prominent and honorable way that there are few enterprises with which he docs not come into touch. Not alone in business matters is he a leader, but also in the public life of the community, having been twice a member of the State Legislature and filled other offices with honor and ability. In both financial and civic affairs his record is an exceedingly creditable one,

Hon. Orestes A. Crowcl] was born at Almond, Portage County, Wisconsin, October 5, 1872, and belongs to a family which has been located here for more than half a century. His father was George G. Crowell, who was born in Maine and came as a single man to Almond, Wisconsin, in 1867, in November of which year, in partnership with John M. Smart, he started a general store at this point under the firm style of Smart & Crowell. The partnership was a successful and mutually agreeable one, both men being industrious, progressive and possessed of modern ideas, and the association continued until 1888, a period of twenty-one years, when it was dissolved. Mr. Crowell from that time forward carried on business alone, and was active almost until the time of his death, in 1891. Mr. Crowell was an active republican, but was more of a worker for his friends and his party than in behalf of any personal ambitions, his business activities occupying his attention to such an extent that he did not care for the added responsibilities of public position. He was a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Almond and continued to be connected with that order during the rest of his life, taking much enjoyment in its meetings and features. He was married at this place to Miss Hannah Ix>uise Achilles, who was born in Canada, a daughter of the late Alvaro Copp Achilles, a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this work, and they became the parents of five children : Orestes A., Edna L., Lula, Elbridge G. and George, of whom Edna L. and Lula are deceased.

Orestes A. Crowell attended the public schools of Almond, from which he was duly graduated, and then took a course of two years in the University of Wisconsin, pursuing a classical course. His college career was brought to a sudden termination by the death of his father, and he at once gave up his studies to return to his home, where with his younger brother, Elbridge G. Crowell, he took charge of their father's business. The young men made a success of their operations, both being possessed of much of the elder man's ability and following out his policies of honesty and straightforward dealing, and continued the business until 191 5, when they disposed of their interests therein. In the meantime, in 1901, Orestes A. Crowell had become definitely interested in finance, having been one of the organizers in that year of the Portage County Rank at Almond. He was elected at the time of the organization of this institution and still continues to direct its affairs and polity from that position, having succeeded in making this one of the substantial institutions of the county and one in which the general public has every confidence. In 1908 the institution erected its present banking house, an edifice which does credit to the thriving little city in which it is located. Mr. Crowell 's abundant energies and fine abilities also find an outlet in general farming and stockraising on his well-cultivated and valuable property located not far from Almond, but across the line into Waushara County. For a number of years he has been interested in politics and has been one of the most influential men of the republican party in the southern part of Portage County. He was the first president of the Village of Almond, serving in that capacity for three consecutive terms, during which time the community grew and prospered and benefitted by a number of greatlyneeded improvements. From 1896 until 1901 he served as postmaster, and for thirteen years he demonstrated his friendship for advanced educational facilities by his work as a member of the school board. In 1908 he was elected to the State Legislature, and in 1910 succeeded himself as a member of that distinguished body, his work in which was decidedly beneficial to the interests of his district and his constituents. He is now acting as a member of the local exemption board. Mr. Crowcll is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. With his family he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Crowell was married in 1899 to Miss Genevieve Webster, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, daughter of Charles E. Webster, and at her death she left one child. Webster. Mr. Crowell was again married in 1906, when he was united with Miss Anna Bell McGregor, of Hancock, Wisconsin, daughter of Donald McGregor. Mr. McGregor, who was a pioneer of Michigan, died in 1917, at the age of eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Crowell are the parents of two children, Kenneth and Kathryn.

Alvaro Copp Achilles. Among the men who came to Portage County during the '50s there were to be found many of sturdy and venturesome nature. The condition of a large part of the county at that time was not encouraging to those who were not willing and able to furnish hardships, and the necessary labor for a man to win success did not prove attractive to any save the ambitious and industrious, who were glad to accept the opportunities offered for the hewing out of a home and the establishment of a business or starting of a farm. Those who were not willing to work hard and to face conditions with courage and faith soon found that this was no place for them and accordingly withdrew and returned to the more settled communities, to await such time when their more sturdy and industrious brothers would have effected changes more to their liking.

Prominent among the men who came at that period in the history of Portage County, who came to remain, and who had the courage, strength of character and industry of spirit to assist not only himself but those about him and the community in general was the late Alvaro Copp Achilles. Mr. Achilles did not come here in the untried flush of early youth, but as a man who had much experience and whose life had known well much of hard work. He was born in Canada, in 1824, and was only eleven years of age when his father died, so that he was early called upon to fend for himself and his education was somewhat limited, although he attended the public schools and later, through observation and intelligent reading, managed to make himself a well informed man. Me was married in his native country to Miss Drusilla H. T raver, also born there, and for some time was engaged in farming and other pursuits, with but indifferent success. When gold was discovered in California in 1849 he contracted the fever and was one of those to make the weary, perilous journey across the burning prairies to the promised Eldorado. Mr. Achilles spent several years in the Golden State, but like many others found that it was a land of largely unfulfilled promises, and he accordingly sought his Canadian home again, making the return journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Upon his arrival he resumed his fanning operations, but became dissatisfied with his lack of progress, and accordingly decided to seek a new field in which to center his activities. In 1855, therefore, he came to Portage County, Wisconsin, making the journey principally by ox-team, and shortly thereafter located on a farm on the Stevens Point wagon road in Almond Township, which he purchased from the United States Government. Here he set to work to make improvements, and after many hardships and discouragements eventually managed to clear up and cultivate his land, to the successful operation of which he devoted the remainder of his life. His death occurred in 1902, after he had rounded out a worthy, honorable and useful career. Mrs. Achilles, who was born in 1826, passed away on the farm when sixty-eight years of age. They were the parents of seven children, namely: Winthrop, whose death occurred before the family left Canada : Harrison, who died in Portage County ; Ezra, who passed away on his farm, which just adjoined that of his father in Almond Township; Hannah Louise, who became the wife of George G. Crowell, and was the mother of Hon. Orestes A. Crowell, the Almond banker and former member of the Legislature; Emma J.; Almira E. ; and Ella Luella, deceased.

During the early days Mr. Achilles did the greater part of his trading for merchandise at the store of a Mr. Samuelson, who conducted the establishment at Almond where later Mr. Achilles' grandson was to be so successful as a merchant. For the most part Mr. Achilles was a general farmer, although during the great boom in hops, and until this boom ended in disaster, he, like many others, planted his land to this product. While he was a man always busy with his own important affairs, he could always be relied upon to assist movements for the general welfare, and much of the mad work during the early days in this section was the handiwork of his strong and capable muscles. He was a republican, and while he did not care to pose as a public figure, he did his share in shouldering the responsibilities of service and acted as township clerk and school officer on several occasions. He was a charter member of Plover Lodge of Masons, and as a religious man he belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his worthy wife was also a consistent member and generous supporter.

Hon. William L. Abxott. A life of distinctive usefulness to Portage County was that of the late William L. Arnott. who for many years was one of the most influential citizens of this community. One of the villages of the county bears his name. He was a member of the Legislature, filled other official stations, and was a highly successful farmer.

He was born in Yates County, New York. September 5, 1832. and died at his home in Stevens Point in 1007, at the age of seventy-five. He was educated in public schools in his native state, and in 1856 he married at Bath, Steuben County, New York, Miss Mary J. Walker. She was bom at Bath, March 25, 1832, and now attained the venerable age of eighty-six years.

In 1864 Mr. and Mrs. Arnott came to Portage County and in Plover Township located on a farm. I^atcr a railroad station was established there and a little community grew up which was named Arnott. Mr. Arnott in 1876 was elected a member of the Legislature, and for a number of years served on the county board. He was an active republican.

Mrs. Arnott, though in advanced years, has many interesting recollections of early days in Portage County. She was well educated, attending school at Bath in Steuben County, New York, and for some years was a teacher. She and her husband on coming to Portage County traveled by stage coach from Berlin, Wisconsin, there being no railroad in those days. She went through many pioneer experiences and did her part as a housewife and mother toward the building up of the community. The Arnotts are members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Arnott had two daughters, Lillian and Grace. Lillian was educated in the public schools, graduated from the Stevens Point State Normal School, and for many years was a successful teacher. She taught in the eighth grade of the Stevens Point schools for seventeen consecutive years. For a number of years she has been a member of the Progressive Club of Stevens Point. The daughter Grace attended high school and the State Normal School, taught for some years, and for five years she took personal management of the homestead farm, which was later sold. After that she did office work in Minneapolis, but her home is at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, with her mother and sister at 120 Reserve Street. The mother and daughters erected one of the comfortable homes of the county seat in 1914.

Henry Anderson. One of the families that is well and favorably known in agricultural circles of Portage County is that which bears the name of Anderson and which has been represented in Alban Township for more than a half a century. One of the present generation who is representative of the class that has spent its entire life on the farm it now occupies is Henry Anderson, a general farmer and stock raiser and a man of broad and comprehensive knowledge of agricultural matters.

Mr. Anderson was born on the farm which he now owns in Alban Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, November 24, 1869, and is a son of Hans Peter and Dorothea (Klinkee) Anderson, natives of Denmark. His paternal grandparents were born in that country, and as they never came to the United States but rounded out their careers in the land of their birth he knows but little of them, save that they were fruit growers by vocation and honorable and upright people. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Anderson, Hans and Bodil Klinkee, were also born in Denmark, and had been married for some years when they came to the United States in 1857. From New York they made their way to Gills Landing by boat, completing their journey by foot and team to Scandinavia, Wisconsin, but remained at the latter place only a short time before continuing on to Alban Township, where they settled among the Indians. Here they went through the usual experiences and hardships incidental to the life of the pioneer upon the front, and Mr. Anderson's mother, who was then a child of nine years, well remembers her father setting off with his butter and eggs to market at Scandinavia, making the journey on foot and returning with a sack of flour on his back. For the family's first clock, a huge, old-fashioned affair, he walked to Stevens Point and back, twenty miles distant. Mr. Klinkee passed the remaining years of his life in agricultural pursuits. In his later years he went to live with a son at Neenah, with whom he spent two years, then returning to the

Hans Peter Anderson was a youth when he immigrated to the United States, coming here to join a sister, Mrs. Carrie Anderson, in Alban Township. After some years of work and saving he bought "Pox River" land, the same property that his son now lives on, this continuing to be his home from the time of his marriage until his death in 1906. Mrs. Anderson still survives and resides with her son on the home place. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had two children: Henry and Samuel J. The latter, whose death occurred when he was fortythree years of age, was always a resident of Alban Township, where he was engaged in farming and was a successful business man. He also wielded influence in his community and held a number of township offices, including those of treasurer, chairman and clerk. His farm was located in the same vicinity as that of his brother.

Henry Anderson received his education in the home schools and grew up amid agricultural surroundings, so that when he came to man's estate he chose farming as his life work. He worked with his father, clearing and improving the home place and has to his credit the clearing of about what is now done in this direction. The farm is a tract of ifo acres, consisting of fertile and productive soil, which under proper scientific treatment yields large and full crops. Mr. Anderson is a farmer who understands his business and who is capable of combining scientific agriculture with good business management, the whole forming conditions under which he has grown prosperous. He is interested in the creamery at Rosholt, of which his father was one of the organizers, and has other interests. In business circles he bears the reputation of being a man of sterling integrity, while as a citizen he has shown himself to be public spirited.

Ot.K J. Olstad. It has taken many years of hard work and careful management to bring about the fine agricultural condition found all over Portage County, and no one knows this better than Ole J. Olstad, one of Alban Township's pioneer settlers and' substantial farmers. When he came to Portage County heavy timber covered acres and' acres of land that is now richly cultivated and only here and there had enterprising settlers yet made much headwav in clearing and breaking up their land, the latter work being mainly done with oxen. Mr. Olstad was born in Norway, July 5. 1848, and came to America in 1881. He was the oldest of eleven children born to his parents, who were John and lngeborg (Gaphol) Olstad. who came to Portage County. Wisconsin, in 1886 and died in Alban Township.

In his native land Ole J. Olstad wont to school and helped his father on the home farm, but the family was large and his services were not really necessary and «s he grew older and from time to time heard much of the wider opportunities to be secured in the United States he determined to leave Norway and seek a home across the ocean in the section where many of his countrymen had already become well established. Therefore in 1881 he made the journey and located first in Minnesota, but the farming prospects there did not entirely satisfv him and he came to Wisconsin and soon afterward bought a tract of eighty acres of wdd land situated in Alban Township, which acreage he has since doubled and now has a fine property of 120 acres.

days, but even now only a specially designed tractor would probably surpass the working strength of the great oxen with which Mr. Olstad cleared his first land purchase and put his acres under cultivation. For about eight years he depended largely on his ox-teams for farm work, but then supplanted them with horses, and with the help of farm machinery that was not invented when he was a boy now operates his land without undue labor. He devotes his cleared land to general farming and is interested to some extent in dairying. He has greatly improved his property, gradually putting up all the substantial buildings and has everything very comfortable around him.

Mr. Olstad was married in 1884 to Miss Carrie Lee, who was born in Norway and died in Wisconsin. She is survived by the following children : John, who resides at home ; Ida, whose married name is Kjer; Olga, who is Mrs. Rusta; Augusta, who married a Mr. Dalan; and Ingomand, who lives with his father. Mr. Olstad and his family belong to the Alban Norwegian Lutheran Church, the oldest in the township, which was established when but few Norwegian settlers had located here and has always been well supported. Mr. Olstad is one of the stockholders of the Farmers Produce Company at Rosholt, Wisconsin, and also of the Rosholt Creamery. He has never taken a very active part in politics but is capable of doing a large amount of intelligent thinking and casts his citizen vote accordingly.

Isaac O. Brekke. Among the men of industrious habit and peaceful intent, who came with his family from Norway, to Wisconsin in 1873, no one is more kindly remembered in Portage County than the late Ole A. Brekke, the father of Isaac O. Brekke, who is one of Alban Township's substantial farmers and representative citizens.

Isaac O. Brekke was born in Norway, March 26, 1858. His parents were Ole A. and Mary (Hobelstad) Brekke, who were born, reared and married in Norway. Seeking better industrial conditions and wider opportunity for securing a comfortable and permanent home, they came to America in 1873, with the intention of settling in Wisconsin, where many of their countrymen were prospering. After reaching this state they came directly to Waupaca County, and after a short time to Sharon Township in Portage County. By 1874 Ole Brekke had found land that suited him as to location and price, and in that year he bought 160 acres in Alban Township, which is a part of his son Isaac's farm. The pioneer hardships that the family encountered they bore patiently, for they had been expected, and each succeeding year found them fewer and the time came when their industry and thrift were rewarded. Although the present scientific methods of farming had not been adopted, the persevering industry and natural good sense of farmers like Ole Brekke soon changed the wilderness into productive fields and comfortable homes. In many ways Ole Brekke was a fine character. Not only was he honest and upright in his business undertakings, setting an example of prudence and industry, but he was concerned about the establishment of schools and churches in this pioneer region, and was one of the organizers of the first church in Alban Township, one that is still in existence, and was one of the small body of leading men that worked together and secured the proper adjustment of school districts. He was the father

Isaac O. Brekke was fifteen years old when he accompanied his parents to the United States. After the family settled on the pioneer farm in Alban Township, Portage County, he gave his father assistance but also endeavored to further his education and during the first years walked three miles in the morning in order to reach the nearest schoolhouse and three miles in the evening to his home, where, doubtless, tasks awaited him that would have discouraged many youths less ambitious and industrious. He has always lived on the old place and to its original too acres has added and now has 180 acres, a finely cultivated and well improved farm. Mr. Brekke has kept himself well informed as to the value of new methods, but his soil has needed little stimulating and under his experienced care is satisfactorily productive. He has taken much interest in the growing of good stock and makes a specialty of Guernsey cattle.

Isaac O. Brekke was married in 1893 to Miss Mary Iverson, who was born in New Hope Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Simon Iverson, who was an early settler there. Mr. and Mrs. Brekke have had three children : Alger, Myrtle and Irvin, the last named being the only survivor. Mr. and Mrs. Hrekke are members of the Alban Lutheran Church that his father helped to found. While not particularly active in politics, Mr. Brekke is an earnest and intelligent citizen and at all times is ready to co-operate with others in sound and sensible undertakings that promise to be beneficial to all alike in the township, but has never accepted any political office except that of township assistant supervisor. When the project of organizing a creamery at Rosholt was broached Mr. Brekke considered it a wise movement, one that would be helpful to the farmers in this section, and he assisted in getting it started and is one of the stockholders.

William Mom.. When William Moll became one of the leading merchants at Stevens Point he brought to his own business the deep knowledge of mercantile affairs that he had gained through a continuous experience of fifteen years in this line. Mr. Moll, who is president of the well known firm of Moll & Glennon, and at the head of the largest mercantile establishment in this city, has really been a merchant since he was eleven years old. and this commercial talent, developed through exercise, has made him in spite of early handicaps one of the big merchants and prominent men of this part of Portage County.

William Moll was born at West Rend in Washington County, Wisconsin, October 4, 1873. His parents were Jacob and Anna (Abberderies) Moll, the former of whom was born in Austria in 1830, and the latter in Germany in 1834. They were married in the latter country, and in 1863 came to the United States to better their condition and lived for a number of years on a farm near West Hcnd. Wisconsin. In 1874 the family came to Stevens Point and here the father died in 1875, leaving a tract of land, unproductive at that time, that he had acquired in Portage County. The mother was left with six children. Although she had to contend with many hardships in those early days, she was a strong and resourceful woman and her children remember her with the deepest affection and appreciation. Her death occurred

William Moll attended the parish school until he was ten years old and then ended his book education. In his older brother, Luke, he had an industrious example and as soon as an opportunity came he went to work with a will, not only to provide for his own necessities but to assist his brother in taking care of the family. Both he and Luke became clerks in the mercantile house of the late Gustav Ferdinand Andrae, where they had methodical training. Through provident saving William Moll accumulated capital and in 1902 entered into a partnership under the firm name of Moll & Rothman, which was conducted as a general store for one year, when Frank M. Glennon bought Mr. Rothman's interest and since that time the style has been Moll & Glennon, and since the incorporation Mr. Moll has been president of the company.

The Moll & Glennon dry goods house is located at Nos. 436-438 Main Street, Stevens Point, in a commodious building with dimensions of 30 by 180 feet, fitted up in modern style, and the firm carries the most complete as well as the largest stocks of ladies' ready to wear garments and fine dry goods in the city. Their trade extends all over the county and their reputation for reliability, seasonable goods and honorable business methods cannot be excelled. Mr. Moll has additional interests and is a stockholder in the Citizens National Bank of Stevens Point.

In politics Mr. Moll is a democrat. He has never served in any public office because he has no taste for political life, but is loyal in his support of others who come up to the measure of his judgment. He was reared a Catholic and is a faithful member of St. Stephen's Catholic Church at this place, lie is a member of the fraternal order of Catholic Knights and belongs also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In addition to his Stevens Point residence Mr. Moll has a beautiful summer home, situated on the bank of the Wisconsin River in Carson Township, three and one halt miles from this city, where he has made improvements and has two cottages. He stands high in general esteem as an honorable as well as successful business man and loyal and trustworthy citizen.

Hugh C. Elliott is a railroad man, young in years but a veteran in experience, and in the performance of his duties as a locomotive engineer on the Soo line came to Stevens Point two or three years ago and has made himself an interested and public spirited factor in that community, where he is well known.

Mr. Elliott is a native of Wisconsin, born in Eau Claire August 14, 1882, son of Hugh M. and Olivia (Curtis) Elliott. His maternal grandmother, Isabel Curtis, a second time a widow, is still living at the age of ninety years, a resident of Chippewa Falls. Hugh M. Elliott was born in New York State in 1847 an( l n ' s w, 'f e was oorn l &5 2 - When a young man he moved to Wisconsin and settled at Eau Gaire, clerked in a store there, married, and for many years had charge of

Hugh C. Elliott was educated in the public schools of Eau Claire and from high school went to w,ork as an employe of the American Express Company in the Eau Claire offices. He was with the express company about seven years. His ambition was to get into the active operating department of the railway, and his first experience in that line was as fireman for six months on a railroad running out of Omaha. Then for a year and a half he was connected with the John S. Owen Lumber Company, and in June, 1910, became connected with the Soo line as a locomotive fireman, and in 1916 had the satisfaction of promotion to the post of engineer and is now driving one of the leading trains on the Soo out of Stevens Point. Mr. Elliott resides at 446 Church Street in Stevens Point. He is affiliated with Eau Claire Lodge No. 112, Free and Accepted Masons, is a republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In March, 1909, he married Miss Cressie Carter, of Owen, Wisconsin. They have one son, Hugh Carter Elliott, born April 24, 1910.

Andrew Magnus Nelson. When the Nelson family set sail from Port Porsgrund. Norway. April 20. 1857, the seas were comparatively safe even for a slow-going sailing vessel, and their friends at home had no fears as to their safe arrival, after thirty-eight days on the water, in their port of destination, the Harbor of Quebec. This little party was made up of Andrew Magnus Nelson, then a youth of fourteen years and now one of Portage County's capitalists, and his father and brother, James J. Nelson.

Andrew Magnus Nelson was born April 14, 1843, near Porsgrund, Norway. His parents were Nels A. and Ingeborg (Toldnes) Nelson. His mother died when he was three years old. He had a brother, Isaac N., who was born in Norway in 1827, became a sailor and in 1849 immigrated to Wisconsin and became a farmer near Scandanavia in Waupaca County, where he died at the age of eighty-eight years. The Nelsons landed safely at Quebec after a voyage of about five weeks, and there took a boat to Montreal and Toronto, from there went by rail to Detroit and from there to Chicago, reaching that place June lb. 1857. They were bound for Scandanavia to join their kindred in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, and from Chicago they yet had a long journey before they ended their travels. The contrast between transportation facilities in the old days and now is interesting. By boat from Chicago they reached Milwaukee, where they again took a railroad train, on the newly built Northwestern, to Fond du Lac. which was then the terminus, and then reached Oshkosh by boat and on another boat reached North Port on June 13, 1857, when they found themselves within thirty miles of Scandanavia, Waupaca County, which distance they covered on foot.

The father of Mr. Nelson subsequently bought a farm in the vicinity of Scandanavia and built a substantial log house, a very comfortable dwelling, and here he spent the rest of his life engaged in cultivating and improving his land.

Before leaving Norway Andrew Magnus Nelson had attended school and for his age was well informed, and after coming to Wisconsin he took advantage of even,' opportunity to improve. He remembers attending a school kept by a Mrs. Inwerson, between Scan- danavia and Iola, later attended in New Hope Township in Portage County and other schools, and in the meantime, in 1858 taught school and one of his pupils was Judge Murat, a well known citizen of Portage County. He was very ambitious and in spite of difficulties managed to attend the W aupaca High School in 1862 and 1863, when Duncan McGregor was his teacher.

In the spring of i860 Mr. Xelson came to Amherst and entered the store of John C. Crawford as a clerk, the owner of the store being Abram Gorden, of Waupaca, and in a short time Mr. Nelson became a clerk in Mr. Gorden's establishment in that city, and later was a clerk for Sorenson & Stetson. On May 28, 1866, Mr. Xelson came back to Amherst and bought the Gorden store there that was situated on the present site of the International Bank, and was associated in business with his brother, James J., until 1870 under the firm style of A. M. & J. J. Xelson, when the partnership was dissolved, A. M. retaining the old store and J. J. having bought a store of his own. Mr. Xelson continued in the mercantile business until 1880. when he rented his store property and embarked in the real estate business, having his offices in the store building. In 1893 Mr. Xelson, with Benjamin and Emmons Burr, organized the International Bank of Amherst and served as vice president until the death of Mr. Burr, after which he served as president for the ten succeeding years, when he resigned, as he had removed his residence to Stevens Point in the meanwhile.

On August 1, 1895, Mr. Xelson came to Stevens Point and bought his fine residence at Xo. 912 Clark Street. He then transferred his real estate office to this place and has continued to handle realty ever since and now owns about 3,000 acres in Portage County, 150 being in the vicinity of Stevens Point, and he estimates that he has bought and sold during his business years from 30,000 to 40,000 acres of land and in many sales has brought a large amount of capital into the county.

In politics Mr. Xelson has always been a republican. In 1883 he was elected chairman of Amherst Township, and was made treasurer of the Portage County Kair Association. He was serving as clerk of the Amherst School Board when the new schoolhouse was built that subsequently was destroyed by fire. In 1884 he represented the Town of Amherst as chairman and a member of the County Board of Supervisors at the annual meeting in November. He was appointed chairman of the committee on illegal assessments and also a member of the committee on equalization. He still owns property at Amherst.

Mr. Xelson was married in January. 1865, to Miss Isophene H. Smith, who died on the birth of their son, Henry I., July 20, 1866. The mother was reared at Buffalo, Xew York and her mother was a sister of Victor M. Rice, who was once superintendent of public instruction in the State of New York. Henry I. Nelson attended the public schools of Harvard. Illinois, while living with his maternal grandmother, and afterward the Amherst High School. He then entered his father's real estate office and remained for a time and then had charge of the job office of the Vermilion Iron Journal, a newspaper published at Tower. Minnesota. Later he became associate editor in name but editor in fact. He then went to New Orleans and in January. 1894. accepted the superintendency of the Bradstreet Agency at Mobile. Alabama. He was a young man of brilliant parts and succeeded in everything he undertook, but illness fell upon him in the

Mr. Nelson's second marriage was to Miss Agnes Boss, of Lanark, Wisconsin. Her father was* a native of Boston and it is claimed that that great city was named in honor of his forefathers. Mrs. Nelson died March 14, 1875, having been the mother of three children, namely: Elizabeth Maud, who married Christian Houff, of Seattle, Washington, and they have one son, Harold Allen; Nellie Ernestine, who married W. L. Bullock, of Valier, Teton County, Montana, has one daughter, Marjorie; Agnes, who was reared by her aunt, Mrs. Fenton, died at Amherst in early womanhood. In 1882 Mr. Nelson was married to Julia Nelson, and the children born to this marriage are as follows: Beulah G., who died November 17, 1918, was the wife of Benjamin Hughes, and left two sons, Donald Loomis and David A.; Minnie E., who is the wife of F. H. Hughes, and they have three children, Eleanor, Nelson Edgerton and Robert Francis; and Winnifred Rosamond, who is a teacher in the State Normal School at Stevens Point.

For several years Mr. Nelson was manager and vice president of the Arkansas Land Company of Wisconsin, a syndicate that controlled 90,000 acres of land in Arkansas. In his large realty dealings Mr. Nelson has shown great business ability. His transactions have resulted in many changes of ownership but in no case have questionable methods ever been employed and as a general proposition Portage County has greatly profited through his enterprise and business activity. While Mr. Nelson is thus widely known and deemed trustworthy, he also is held in esteem as a good citizen, one who has always lent his influence to promote worthy enterprises in the county and has given hearty support to all measures designed to assist the public schools.

George Henry Altenberg, After years of hard work in any industry it is very comforting to feel able to voluntarily retire from business cares when one so desires, and this state of ease is often a well earned recompense for a long period of both body and mental strain that was endured in order to secure a competency. Many of the retired residents of Portage County are old lumbermen who spent years of their earlv manhood in the woods. They were young men of physical vigor and endurance, else the logging industry could never have become such an important one in Wisconsin as it long has been and still is, although conditions are somewhat different in modern days. One of the well known retired lumbermen now residing in his comfortable home at Stevens Point is George Henry Altcnberg, who is also an honored survivor of the Civil war.

George Henry Altenberg was born at Allegany in Cattaraugus County, New York, January 27, 1843. His parents were John and Isabel (Arthur) Altenberg. The father was born in Genesee County, New York. August 12, 1810. and the mother in the same state in 1820. At an early day the paternal grandfather of Mr. Altenberg left Germany for the United States. He was accompanied by a brother, who died during the voyage and was buried at sea. The grandfather reached New York and later settled in Genesee County and reared his family there, the names of his sons being: George. William, Henry, Daniel and John.

John Altenberg grew up on his father's farm and later went to work in the lumber regions on the Allegany River. In 1856 he brought his family to Wisconsin. They settled in Portage County on a farm he bought in Plover Township, situated about two and a half miles from the village of Plover. It was wild land at that time but he was strong and industrious and in the course of time, despite many unavoidable pioneer hardships, he managed to clear his land and with the help of his sons subsequently put it under cultivation. He spent the rest of his life on that farm and died in 1895. He was an honest, hard-working man and was respected by all who knew him. Politically he was a republican and both he and wife were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had the following children : John, Isaiah, George Henry. James, Isabel, Daniel, Bragg, Worth, Scott, Ross, Charles and Frederick, the two last named dying in infancy.

George Henry Altenberg was thirteen years old when he accompanied his parents to Wisconsin and he had some schooling after the home was established in Plover Township. He remained with his father until he was seventeen years old and then started out for himself, as there were other sons to give the father assistance on the farm. Being strong and sturdy, the prospect of working hard as a logger pleased him, for the wages were good and he was accustomed, as farm youths were then, to out-door life in all kind of weather. Mr. Altenberg worked for the Hutchinson Brothers in the lumber business in Eau Pleine Township, Portage County, and continued to work on the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers until 1875, variously engaged, however, and after leaving the employ of others was in a logging business for himself for some years, and in 1887 engaged in the manufacture of lumber and continued in business until 191 1, when he retired. In 1871 he settled in Eau Pleine Township and worked with the surveying party for the construction of a branch of the Wisconsin Valley Railroad, and he and wife had the honor of being the first passengers that boarded the train that made its first trip out of Dancey.

Air. Altenberg was married in 1866 to Miss Erminda Whittakcr, who was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1849. Her parents were Allen and Sarah ( Snyder) Whittakcr. who came to Portage County, Wisconsin, in 1863 and settled in Plover Township in 1864. The father of Mrs. Altenl>erg was born August 13, 1810, and died in Plover Township in June. 1895. the mother of Mrs. Altenberg dying in 1889. To Mr. and Mrs. Altenberg three sons were born: Miner H., Charles W. and Holmes A. Miner H. Altenberg is one of the leading business men of Dancey, Wisconsin, is the owner of the creamery there and a prosperous merchant and produce buyer. He was married to Miss Jennie ConofF, and they have the following children: Gladys. George John. Marian. Allen. Harold. Edith, Madge, Margaret and Lucile. The second son, Charles W. Altenberg. is a substantial farmer of Portage County and resides two miles south of Dancey. He married Miss Nettie Ryan and they have had four children : Fern. Earl, Bernice, deceased, and Doris. Holmes A. Altenberg. the youngest son. is a resident of Eau Pleine. where he has been more or less associated with his father in the retail lumber business and which he has continued alone since his father's retirement. He married Miss Maud Calvert, and they have one child. Vivian.

tinued in the Union Army until the close of the Rebellion as a member of Company I», Forty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry. He went through some of the hardships and dangers that face soldiers but was fortunate enough to escape all serious injury. He is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic and when possible attends the meetings of his post. He has always been a republican in his political views but has never been anxious to hold office. At one time, while living in Marathon County, Wisconsin, he was elected chairman of the Bergen Township Board. Mr. Altenljerg has been a resident of Stevens Point since 1902 and owns his residence at No. 637 Strong Avenue.

James A. Bkemmer. A resident of Stevens Point more than thirty years, and of Portage County for seventy years, since early childhood, in fact, James A. Bremmer would in many ways constitute an ideal representative both as an actor and a witness of the history of Portage County through all its varying changes and developments from pioneer days to the present. His own career has been an exceedingly creditable one, but much also must be said of other members of his family, including his parents, who were among the first pioneer settlers of this wilderness region and also of his brothers and of his own children, who are now bearing worthily their responsibilities in life.

Before the family came to Wisconsin the old home was Fort Covington, New York, where James A. Bremmer was born February 16, 1843. His parents were George and Nancy M. (Danforth) Bremmer. The father was born at Alburg, Vermont, in January, 1800, and the mother was born at Fort Covington in Franklin County, New York, in 1808. They married in Franklin County, and in May, 1847, came west to Plover, Portage County, Wisconsin. George Bremmer con-

Plover and the old structure is still standing and today has the distinction of being the oldest frame house in the entire county. This old homestead, surrounded by twenty acres of land, was the home of George Bremmer and wife during all their remaining years and their children grew up in the same locality. He also took a claim in Stockton Township, pre-empting there before the land was put on the market and about 1848 he bought it from the Government. He was able to pay for this land from money he made as a surveyor. His farm comprised 133 acres in Stockton Township, and farming was his chief pursuit. Politically he was a whig and republican, and always took a great deal of satisfaction in having been able to vote for and help elect both Harrisons to the presidency. He was active in the Baptist Church, but late in life both he and his wife joined the Methodist Church. The first Sabbath school in Portage County was organized by Mrs. George Bremmer in her home. That was in 1849. The pioneer minister of those days was a Rev. Mr. Hyde. Mrs. George Bremmer was an exceedingly devout Christian, and while busied with the cares of her large family and with making a home in a new country she never forgot her obligations to the church. George Bremmer died in 1890, lacking only a few days of his ninetieth birthday. His wife passed away in March. 1884. Their oldest child, Delia, died when four years of age. The second, George D.. became a pilot on the Wisconsin River and was drowned in August. 1856, at the age of twenty- four. Wallace was also a river pilot, and died in the spring of i860, at the age of twenty-six, a victim of consumption. Sheridan, in 1861, enlisted in Company E of the Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry and was in active service till the close of the war, was captured at the Battle of Altoona Block House, and endured the hardships of a southern prison for seven months, and after the war returned to Wisconsin and died at Appleton in this state in 191 2, at the age of seventytwo. Clara, who was born in 1841, died in Nebraska in the spring of 1912, at the age of seventy-one, the wife of B. F. Felch, a pioneer of Portage County. James A. was the sixth of the children. Helen Elizabeth died in May, 1906, at the age of sixty -one. The two youngest were Juliette and a son, twins, the latter dying in infancy and the other at the age of two years.

James A. Bremmer was just four years old when the family came to Plover. Wisconsin. Two or three years later he went to school at the first school established at Plover or in the entire county. His teacher there was Mary J. Wiley and he afterwards had instruction from Fannie Waterman. Later for one summer he was a student in the Township of Stockton and spent a winter term in the Town of Stockton. In the meantime he was developing his strength by work on a farm, his principal duties being driving oxen.