Portage County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1919 (part 3 of 15)

When he reached the age of seventeen, in the fall of 1861, he was not behind his brothers and other members of the family in taking up arms for their country. He enlisted in Company E of the Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and saw active service for one year, both of his officers being uncles. Captain Bremmer of his company, and Col. James S. Alban of the regiment. The captain was Wil liam Bremmer, who raised 112 men for the Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry and left Milwaukee at the head of his company in March, 1862, and was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. The next seven months he spent as a prisoner of war, and on being released he returned to Wisconsin and raised another company for the Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers. On taking the field he was again wounded at Sailors Creek and the war soon after closed and he returned home, one of Wisconsin's most honored soldiers. Captain Bremmer died in 1880. After a year with the Eighteenth Wisconsin James A. Bremmer re-enlisted and this time was assigned to Company G of the First Wisconsin Infantry. He was constantly on duty until May 30. 1864, when at the Battle of Dallas, Georgia, he lost his right arm. and in the same engagement eight of his teeth were shot away. Thus it was by no means a light sacrifice he made for the integrity of the Union.

After this wound he remained at home at Plover for about six months and then took up the active life which he has followed for nearly half a century, buying forty acres of land in Stockton Township, and subsequently buying out the interests of the other heirs in the old homestead, which gave him a fine farm of 133 acres. There he took up farming, and despite his physical handicaps did much of his own work. Along with business affairs he has more or less continuously been identified with some public office. As soon as he came home from the war he was elected township treasurer of Stockton Township and filled that office eight years. He was also constable and was second deputy sheriff for two terms, at first under David Gcmons and later under W. J. Baker. He also served on the school board, and was the first postmaster of the Village of Arnott, an of- fice he filled seven years. In 1887 Mr. Hremmer resigned the postmastership and came to Stevens Point, where he has had his home ever since. Jn June, 1908, however, he went to Northwestern Nebraska, and in Cherry County took under the Kincaid law a homestead of 640 acres, which he has devoted to general ranching purposes, and which he still owns. On that land he has fed and pastured a large number of stock. Stock dealing and shipping has been a business with him for many years and he has shipped both east and west, according to the changing situation in the stock industry. Recently he has been shipping horses from the West to Stevens Point. Many years ago he acquired a small tract of land of eighty acres in Nebraska, which he used at one stage in his stock business. Mr. Bremmer was also the first buyer and shipper of potatoes at Stevens Point, in which he was engaged for twenty years.

For thirty years his home has been at 136 Plover Street in Stevens Point. Mr. Bremmer is a republican in politics, is affiliated with Plover Lodge No. 80, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is present commander of Plover Post No. 149, Department of Wisconsin. Grand Army of the Republic, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. Me has always been active in [>olitics and as a worker for clean government and progress along general lines. His family attend the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Bremmer is still an enthusiastic follower of the chase and only recently returned from a successful hunting trip for deer.

In January, 1873, he married Miss Emma M. McMillan. She was born in Stockton Township of Portage County October I, 185 1. daughter of Peter and Miranda (Dimond) McMillan. Her father was born at Alburg, Vermont, September 20, 1824, and her mother was born in Canada, October 1, 1820. The McMillans have claims to pioneer settlements and activity in Portage County beginning only a year or two after the Bremmers arrived in this wilderness. In 1849 the McMillans journeying westward by the Great Lakes arrived in Wisconsin, and Peter McMillan walked from the lake shore to Oshkosh and thence into Portage County, joining the pioneer community of Plover, where for a time he was employed as a teamster. In June. 1850, he preempted 160 acres near the farm of the Bremmers and took possession when only three or four other settlers occupied that entire prairie. He built for his humble home a cabin 16 by 16 feet, and at once began breaking his land. He and his wife were married at Plover November 17, 1850, and their first child was Emma. Edith S.. born May 18, 1855. was the second: William P. was born May 18. 1856; Sidney G. was born January 8, 1859: Annie J. was born October 4. i860; and Carrie A., was born May 12. 1S66. Peter McMillan died February 9, i<)o8, and his wife in 1002. He was a republican in politics, and was a man of prominence in Stockton Township, where he served on the school board and as side supervisor. He also made a record as a soldier, enlisting at Plover in November. 1861, in Companv E of the Eighteenth Wisconsin Regiment. He was at the battle of Shiloh and then on account of physical disability was discharged at Corinth. Mississippi, in August. 1862. After that he returned to Portage County and toward the close of the war was drafted, but was exempted on account of ill health. For two years he served as assessor of Stockton Township. His wife was an active member of the Baptist Church. Peter McMillan had a very limited education, and perhaps for that very reason was keenly interested in the welfare and progress of the schools in Portage County. lie was a member of Plover Post No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic. And in this connection it should be mentioned that Mr. James A. Bremmer has attended many national encampments of the Grand Army.

Mr. and Mrs. Bremmer became the parents of four children: Clara Edith, born November 8, 1873. was educated in the public schools of Stockton Township, is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and of the State Normal School of Stevens Point and also of the local business college, and for some years was a teacher in the business school and is now teacher of commercial subjects at Hudson, Wisconsin. James, the second child, born March 2, 1876, died on May 7th of the same year. Charles A., born January 19. 1879, is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and Business College, and is now private secretary to the president of the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company of Chicago, with offices in the Fisher Building. Charles A. married Laura Huntington, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and they have two children, Edith Louise and Geraldine Jane. The fourth and youngest of the family is F.lizabeth M., who was born December 13, 1880, is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School, the Normal School and Business College, and is now employed as teacher in the commercial department of one of the oldest and best township high schools in Illinois, at Princeton.

Fritz A. Kri:mks. One of the substantial business houses of Stevens Point is the Krembs Hardware Company, of which Fritz A. Krembs is president and progressive manager.

Fritz A. Krembs was born at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, June 4, 1873. His father, Alexander Krembs, was an early settler here and was the founder of the business in which his sons are at present interested. Fritz A. attended the public schools here and then was given collegiate advantages and spent three years in the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame, Indiana. When he returned to Stevens Point he entered his father's hardware store and learned the business thoroughly and finally succeeded his father in its management. He applied modern business methods and expanded and in 1911 incorporated under the title of the Krembs Hardware Company, the officials of which are as follows : Fritz A. Krembs, president ; Emil A. Krembs. of Merrill. Wisconsin, vice president; Alexander Krembs, secretary; and Anton C. Krembs, treasurer. This is one of the leading firms in its line in this section of the state and the stock carried includes heavy and shelf hardware, manufactured by the most reliable concerns in the whole country. The business methods of this house have always commended it to careful buyers, and as a concern and individually the company enjoys a reputation for honesty and reliability.

Fritz A. Krembs was married in 1896 to Miss Katherinc Jacobs, of Stevens Point, who is a daughter of N. Jacobs, a well known citizen and substantial farmer in Portage County. Mr. and Mrs. Krembs have six children, namely: Ferdinand. Gretchen, Irma. David. Leona and Robert. Mr. Krembs and his family belong to the Roman Catholic Churrh.

While ever an earnest and active citizen, Mr. Krembs maintains an independent attitude in politics, nevertheless he has been chosen for public office on numerous occasions. Under the new law he was the first controller of the City of Stevens Point, and subsequently served two terms on the board of aldermen, representing the First Ward, was supervisor on the County Hoard, representing the First Ward, and his sound business ideas and his general efficiency make him valuable in civic matters.

Mr. Krembs is a member of a number of fraternal organizations, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Order of Foresters and belongs also to the Rotary Club. He is numbered justly with the representative men of Stevens Point.

Alonzo Myers. This name brings up associations with much older and modern business history in Portage County, where the family has lived for seventy years. The late Jacob L. Myers was one of the most prominent factors in the days before railroads in operating some of the old stage lines that ran from settlement to settlement and town to town in Central Wisconsin. Mr. Alonzo Myers has long been active in business affairs at Stevens Point and among other interests is proprietor of the Myers House, one of the popular hotels of the county.

Alonzo Myers was born in Plover, Portage County, January I, 1858. He is a son of Jacob L. and Mary (Thompson) Myers. His father was born in the Mohawk Valley of New York April 22, 1808, and was a single man when he came into the wilds of Wisconsin Territory. It was in 1847 that he came to Plover and began carrying mail between Berlin and Portage City and Stevens Point. In 1847 he established the first stage line of four horses and rapidly developed that business until he had a hundred and fifty horses doing duty at different stations. It was customary for the stages to change horses every ten miles, and for that reason it required a large equipment of horses to ojierate the business. This was the work and chief interest of Jacob Myers for a number of years. He finally located on a farm in Buena Vista Township, where he died August r, 1884. lie married at Belvidere, Wisconsin. Miss Mary Thompson, who died in i860. Their children were Charles, Henry, Martha, Alonzo and Albert, twins. Jacob Myers had a previous wife, by whom he had four children. Edgar, Sehvyn, Theodore and Oscar. His third wife was Fliza Palmer, of Paw Paw, Michigan. She was born October 27, 1827, and died when past ninety vears of age, on December 13. 1917.

Alonzo Myers was reared in Portage County, had a public school education, and as a boy attended some of the old log cabin schools of the county. It was three miles from the home to the school and he walked back and forth practically even- day. He was five years old when his parents moved to the farm in Buena Vista, and there he grew to manhood, acquired a practical knowledge of farming, and took up that vocation for himself. His father had always been interested in livestock, especially good horses of the racing breed. Alonzo inherited tastes and inclinations in the same direction, and for a number of years bred and handled race horses and supervised their performances on the track. His father at one time had two of the finest horses in Wisconsin.

In 1900 Mr. Alonzo Myers retired from the farm and has since lived at Stevens Point. For one year he was in general teaming and contract work and in 1901 he opened a hotel on Water Street, where he was located five years, and since then has been proprietor of the Myers House at 322 Normal Avenue. Mr. Myers is also a licensed auctioneer, and his stock sales held every month at Stevens Point are the medium through which a large amount of livestock and other property change hands. These sales always attract a large number of buyers.

In politics Mr. Myers is a republican. He is now representing the First Ward in the City Council, and for the past fifteen vears has served as deputy sheriff and special police. He is affiliatecf with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modem Woodmen of America, the Royal Neighbors, and for a little over twenty years has been identified with the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

On July 15, 1880, he married Miss F ranees Jones. She was born at Lawton, Michigan, June 4, 1859, daughter of Allen and Susan (Courtney) Jones, of Lawton, both now deceased. Her father died in 1889 at the age of sixty-five, and her mother in 1899, also aged sixty-five. Her father was a cooper by trade and saw more than three years of active service as a Union soldier during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have one daughter. Susie, wife of Henry Kelp. Mr. and Mrs. Kelp reside in the Myers home and they have a daughter, Mary Frances, born August 20. 1905. Mrs. Myers and her daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Joshua J. Normington. A man of good business capacity, intelligent and enterprising, Joshua J. Normington, of Stevens Point, occupies a position of note among the prosperous and respected citizens of Portage County, owning and operating a finely equipped and well patronized laundry. A son of James Nonnington. he was born on a farm in Waukesha County. Wisconsin, June 3. 1874.

Settling in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in pioneer times. James Normington took up a tract of heavilv timbered land, and by courageous and persevering labor cleared and improved a good farm, thus contributing his full share towards the development and growth of the community in which he located. His wife, whose maiden name was Charlotte Cook, died at Green Hay, Wisconsin, in 191 5, and since that time he has lived retired from active pursuits, making his home in Marshfield, this state.

Spending his early life on the home farm. Joshua J. Normington acquired his education in the public schools. In 1900, in partnership with his brother, he embarked in the laundry business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, under the firm name of Normington Brothers, remaining there until 1913. In that year. Mr. Xormington opened a laundry at Stevens Point, and in its management met with most satisfactory results, building up an extensive and lucrative patronage. His constantly increasing work demanding new quarters, he recently purchased the building formerly known as the Racine Knitting Mills, and having removed it to 116-122 Park Street is earning on a substantial business, keeping twenty-three persons busily employed.

Mr. Normington married, in 1896, Mrs. Mamie Johnson, of Milwaukee, and they are the parents of four children, namely: Robert Johnson, Edward James, Lottie Jane and Walter Joshua. Politically Mr. Normington is an earnest adherent of the republican party. Fraternally he is a member of Evergreen Lodge No. 95. Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Stevens Point Chapter. Royal

Arch Masons; of Stevens Point Commandery, Knights Templar; of the Modern Woodmen of America; and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

David Mehne. Among the men of southern Portage County whose well-directed labors in their younger years have made it possible for them to retire while still able to enjoy in the fullest extent the comforts and pleasures of life, one who has been particularly successful is David Mehne, now a resident of the Village of Almond. For many years Mr. Mehne was numbered among the leading agriculturists of Almond Township, where he prosecuted his operations with industry and along the most highly approved lines, and now, in the fullness of hale and hearty middle-age, he is a useful citizen of his community, retired from active business affairs but active in matters that affect the welfare of the locality in which he makes his home.

Mr. Mehne was born on his father's farm in Almond Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, November 7, 1864, and >s a son of Jacob and Mary (Lutz) Mehne, natives of Baden, Germany. In his own land Jacob Mehne was a small farmer, industrious and ambitious, but successful only in a small way. As his family grew larger and his earnings remained about the same he saw only a life of drudgery ahead of him, and accordingly began to make preparations for a change of location in the hope that he might better his fortunes. In 1864, with his wife and eleven children, he left Germany for the United States, arriving here after a long and tedious journey, during which his youngest child died on shipboard. Shortly after the family's arrival in the United States another child died, and the rest of the little party pushed on to Almond Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, where David Mehne was born in the same year. Twelve weeks later, the mother, worn by the long journey and unaccustomed hardships, passed away. The father's early struggles in this new land, where he knew neither the language or the customs, were hard ones, but he was made of strong fiber, was courageous and industrious and determined to succeed, and finally overcame all obstacles and succeeded in the development of a paying farm of 340 acres, lying about two miles north of the Village of Almond. He continued to carry on operations on that piece of property until his retirement, from which time forward until his death, in 1891, he lived at the homes of his children. His contribution to the development of this part of the county included the erection of the first buildings on his land, and he was known as a good, honest and reliable citizen. His twelve children were as follows: Jacob, a veteran of the Civil war, who still survives and makes his home at Stevens Point. Wisconsin; Man,', deceased; Elizabeth: John, residing at Almond; Michael, also of this place; Barbara, deceased; Lena; George, deceased ; Katherine. who died just after the family's arrival at New York City; Christina; David (1). who died on shipboard on the Atlantic Ocean ; and David, of this notice.

David Mehne received a district school education and was reared to agricultural pursuits, his youth and young manhood being divided between the home farm and working out on those of neighboring agriculturists. When he was twenty-two years of age. at the time of his father's retirement, he took charge of the elder man's farm, which he continued to operate for about six years, and then, being ready to enter upon an independent career, bought a farm in section 17, Almond

Township, which continued to be his home until his retirement in 191 2. Mr. Mehnc made many improvements on his property, cultivated it with skill and energy, and became known throughout the neighborhood as a skilled and thoroughly informed agriculturist who was able to get from his land due recompense for the amount of labor he expended upon it. For the greater part he was a general farmer, but also had considerable success as a specialist in the growing of potatoes, and at all times was known as a straightforward and honorable man in business transactions. The farm consists of 120 acres, upon which there are a number of handsome and substantial structures of his own construction, and the property is still owned by Mr. Mehne.

In November, 1886, Mr. Mehne was married to Mrs. Mary Anna (Langbauer) Mehne, the widow of his brother, George Mehne. Mrs. Mehne had one child by her former marriage, Lydia Clara, who is now Mrs. Joseph Christman and has two children, Lilah Marie and Ruth Elizabeth Rosalie. Mr. and Mrs. Christman reside on and operate Mr. Mehne's farm. The members of this family all belong to the German Methodist Episcopal Church, and support it generously.

Arthur H. Shelburne. The people of Portage County know the Shelburne family not only because of their long residence here, but also for their varied and conspicuous activities as farmers, stock breeders, business men and public spirited citizens of that class which gives tone and character to any community.

A representative of the third generation of the family in Portage County is Arthur H. Shelburne, a young stock farmer in Buena Vista Township whose work has made him prominent among Holstein cattle raisers not only in this county but throughout the Middle West.

A special paragraph is due to his grandfather, David Shelburne, who was born near Shelbyville, Indiana. March 3, 1822. In early life he moved westward and was an early settler in the Territory of Iowa. At Warsaw, Iowa, in October, 1852, he married Miss Sarah Woodfolk, who was born in Virginia October 7, 1835. After their marriage they settled at Mosinee. Wisconsin, where David Shelburne worked on the river and in the woods. In the spring of 1853 he came to Portage County, and at that time acquired the hundred eighty acres of wilderness land which is now the perfect and admirably situated farm of his grandson Arthur. Much of this land he cleared during his lifetime, and improved it with good buildings. In 1894 he bought another farm of a hundred and eighty acres in Buena Vista Township, and this is now owned and occupied by his son Walter. David Shelburne and wife both died in Portage County. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Keene. The record of their children is as follows: Laura, who died when twelve years old; Clara, wife of Marvin Rice, a farmer in Plain Grove Township, and mother of Hosea, who has been a teacher in the State Normal at Stevens Point for several years: Carl, who died in infancy; Aiden ; Frances is the wife of Charles H. Bacheler, and she had two children, Frank and an infant, deceased; Lindley; Everet, who now lives in the State of Washington; Cassie. wife of William Prescott, also living in the State of Washington; David, now deceased; Kate, deceased wife of Grant Holloway, of Duluth, Minnesota; Walter H.. a farmer in Huena Vista Township ; Sadie, wife of A. O. Anderson, of Canada ; and two other children that died in infancy.

Lindley S. Shelburne was born in Buena Vista Township on the farm where he had his place of activities and where his son now lives on September 5, 1856. He came to manhood with a public school education and such training as he acquired during his youth on the farm. Farming constituted the business of his active career and he acquired the old homestead of a hundred and eighty acres. Many well cultivated fields at the present time were cleared from the wilderness by his hand and under his supervision, and on the home farm he built a number of substantial buildings, including a barn 36 by 80 feet, a silo 14 by 30 feet, and conducted operations as a high class stock farmer and breeder. He gained no little reputation for his grade Holstein cattle, and he was busied with this varied program until his death on August 19, 1914, one of Portage County's most esteemed citizens. In politics he was a republican and attended the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In Buena Vista Township Lindley Shelburne married Ida M. Stimers, who is still living on the old homestead with her son. She was born at Waupun, Wisconsin, September 13, 1868, daughter of Charles and Kate (Howard) Stimers. both of whom were also natives of the Waupun vicinity in Dodge County. Wisconsin. The Stimers and Howard families were among the earliest settlers of that part of the state. Charles Stimers was born in upper Canada, grew up in Dodge County, and after his marriage moved out to Iowa, about 1873. He finally located at Merrill in Lincoln County. Wisconsin, and was one of the pioneers of that old headquarters of the lumber industry. A carpenter by trade, he built a number of houses there, and bought and sold property on an extensive scale. He has been a resident of Merrill for the past twenty-six years, and has identified himself with the land business and with various other affairs. Some years ago he erected a substantial two-story brick building, on the first floor of which he now conducts an up-to-date book and stationery store, handling all the current literature, including magazines and papers. He is one of the enterprising citizens of Merrill, and has served as supervisor for five years. In politics he is a republican and for some years was a state deputy of the Knights of the Maccabees. He also at one time filled the office of state oil ins|>ector. His first wife, who died in 1880. was the mother of four children: Ida May. Mrs. Lindley Shelburne; Frank and Frances, twins; and Lillian. For his second wife Charles Stimers married Martha Charmley. and their children are Harry. Anna and Ethel.

Lindley Shelburne and wife had five children: Mabel, born February 7. 1886, is a graduate of the rural schools and of the State Normal College at Stevens Point, and is now a successful teacher in the grade schools at Junction City. The second in the family is Arthur H. Shelburne. Eva B.. born January 19, 1889. married Daniel Young, of Pine Grove Township, and they have a daughter, Dorothy Mabel, born May 15. 1912. Charles David, bom October 17. 1891. died June if~>, T908. Lindley, the youngest, was born May 18, 1898. and died July 19. 1900.

Arthur H. Shelburne has had experience in farming and stockraising almost from his earliest recollections. While as his strength permitted he assisted in the work of the farm, he was also given a liberal education, attending the public schools and for one year was a student in the State Normal at Stevens Point and has taken several agricultural courses in the University of Wisconsin. He is now proprietor of 140 acres of the old homestead, and is making a specialty of the same class of stock formerly handled by his father, the Holstein cattle, of which he has some thoroughbreds and a number of high grades. He is also owner of a flock of thoroughbred brown Leghorn chickens.

Mr. Shelburne is a member of the Holstein-Friesian Association, member of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America, and is vice president of the association representing Buena Vista Township. In politics he is a republican.

August Georgk Grekn was the type of citizen whose name deserves a long memory in Stevens Point. He was an intense business man, and during a comparatively brief career accumulated a modest fortune, though he began without a dollar.

lie was born at Kalich, West Prussia, November 1, 1859. When he was about six months of age his parents came to America, spending a short time in Canada and afterward locating at Berlin, Wisconsin, where the father died. When he was about eight or nine years old his widowed mother brought him to Stevens Point, where she spent her last years.

August G. Green had to become self supporting at an early age. In Stevens Point he attended for a time the White School. All the old students of that famous institution have been very proud of their association there, and one of the most prominent social organizations of Portage County is known as the White School Association, which includes a large number of the best people in Stevens Point and elsewhere, and some of those old pupils have since achieved more than local prominence.

As a boy Mr. Green worked as a clerk in the grocery store of Wash Stone and lived in Mr. Stone's family for a number of years. In 1880 he began business for himself in a meat market on Main street. He was in that location a number of years, and it is where John Peickert now has his market. Mr. Green had the ability to handle a number of different enterprises, and his interests rapidly accumulated. He was a lumber and coal merchant, and for several years did light logging. It is said that he traveled as many or more miles with a team as any other man living at Stevens Point. On one occasion while traveling through the sparsely settled district of Wisconsin he was held up by some Indians. He had with him a faithful dog. At his word this dog sprang upon one of the Indians, while Mr. Green whipped up his team and escaped, leaving the dog to fight it out. The next day the animal returned home, badly bruised, and old Doctor Rood, one of the early day physicians, had to take some stitches in his body. Some people who afterward made a re|x>rt after visiting the scene said it showed fragments of torn blankets and much blood, indicating that the dog had put up a valiant fight.

A number of years ago Mr. Green built a fine brick block on Main Street, one of the best in the city, and there he continued to conduct his meat business. About fifteen years ago he built a fine residence at 735 Main Street, where Mrs. Green still lives.

friends to take any public responsibility. He and his wife were active members of the Catholic Church, and he was a charter member of the Catholic Knights and the Catholic Foresters.

He continued active in business until his death on September 12, 1907. He is to be remembered as a man upright and strictly honest in all his dealings, his word being considered as good as a bond. He found his first dollar in the Public Square and that started him in business. It was largely due to the fact that Mr. Green worked so hard and exposed himself so frequently that his death occurred when he was still a comparatively young man.

On June 18, 1885, he married Theresa Peickert. Mrs. Green was born at Stevens Point June 2, 1865, daughter of Emanuel and Elizabeth (Weisen) Peickert. Both her parents were natives of Germany, and on coming to Stevens Point her father took up his trade as blacksmith. He also worked on the railroad at the time it was built to Stevens Point. There were eight children in the Peickert family. Emanuel, Theresa, Theodore, Anna, John, Frank, Mary Elizabeth and William, all living except William. Mr. Peickert, the father, was a democrat in politics and he and his family were active Catholics.

William F. Webie represents one of the families longest identified with the agricultural enterprise of Portage County. The Webies have been here more than sixty years, and his own life began and developed and its best fruits have been represented by his efforts in this locality.

Mr. Webie was born at Stevens Point November 8, 1858. His father, William Webie, was born in Germany in 1822, and died September 24, 1 879. The mother, Ernestine Webie, is still living at the age of eighty-one. They were married in Germany and came to this country and located at Stevens Point in 1857. Their first child, a daughter, was born in Germany and died while the family was coming to this country. William Webie. Sr., was a carpenter by trade and followed that occupation in Stevens Point and later established a sawmill at Owl City. Five years later he returned to Hull Township and bought the farm on which he lived until his death. He and his wife had the following children : William F. ; Edward on the old homestead ; Mary, who died February 16. 1893. at tnc a K e of twenty-five; Gustie, wife of John Waroush ; and Emma, wife of John Greek.

William F. Webie was reared in Portage County, attended the local schools and early in life began fanning, lie has developed a fine estate in Hull Township, 264 acres, and practically every acre has been cleared by him. It represents many permanent improvements, and its value and productiveness stand as testimony to his life of efficiency. Besides his work as a farmer Mr. Webie served as assessor five years, was school board clerk eight or ten years, and for two years was supervisor of his township. He affiliates with the republican party and is a member of the Lutheran Church.

April 22, 1883, he married Miss Elizabeth Rosistzke. For his second wife he married December 25, 1893, Man' Schwartz, daughter of Jacob and Eva Schwartz, of Plover Township. Mr. Webie has nine children named William, Mamie, Clarence. Lizzie, August, Emma, George, Jack and Earl.

Ciecholinski which has developed from a modest beginning as a blacksmith shop into a varied establishment where nearly all kinds of iron work is fabricated and repaired, while one branch of the business is a repair and parage service for automobiles. Mr. Ciecholinski has been a figure in Stevens Point affairs for a number of years, and has made a splendid success though he began life at the very bottom round of the ladder.

He was born in German Poland November 22, 1875, and has lived in Wisconsin since he was five years old. His parents are John and Marcia Ciecholinski, both natives of German Poland. They brought their family to Milwaukee in 1880 and about nine months later came to Stevens Point, where they reside at 307 North Avenue. Both are now well advanced in years, the father at the age of eighty-one and the mother aged seventy-nine. John Ciecholinski gave his active years to the blacksmith trade but is now living retired. He and his wife are active members of St. Peter's Church. They had a family of eight children: Francis, Laura, Joseph, Clara, now deceased, Dora, Helen, John and Verona.

During the brief time the family lived at Milwaukee Joseph Ciecholinski had his first schooling and after that was educated in the parochial schools at Stevens Point. He learned blacksmithing under his father and for nine years was employed by Mr. Hoefler, one of the leading blacksmiths of Stevens Point. In 1895 Mr. Ciecholinski went into business for himself, with a shop for general blacksmithing and repairing. In 1912 he added a line of agricultural implements and began the manufacture of wagons. His plant is still making wagon bodies. In 191 8 he established a garage, and also has the equipment and facilities for cast iron welding and vulcanizing. Mr. Ciecholinski's business has been steadily growing. He built his first plant in 1904, and in 1907 erected another shop and now has three buildings in use, the larger one being 38 by 42 feet and 2^/2 stories high. One other is 24 by 30 feet and another is 24 by 38 feet.

Mr. Ciecholinski and family are members of St. Peter's Catholic Church. He owns two dwelling houses at Stevens Point, one at 305 Portage Street and the other at 300 Portage Street. In January, 1897, he married Miss Rose Koslowski. Mrs. Ciecholinski was born in Poland in 1879, daughter of Michael and Catherine Koslowski, who a year after her birth came to America and after a brief sojourn in Chicago came to Stevens Point. The family soon settled on a farm in Eau Pleine Township, but her father is now living retired at Junction City in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Ciecholinski became the parents of fifteen children, seven of whom died in infancy. Those to grow up were : Emma, who was educated in the parochial schools and the Stevens Point Business College and is now bookkeeper for her father; Leonard, who was educated in the parochial schools and the State Normal, is a painter by trade and assists his father in the business; Lillian and Mamie, both students in the high school ; Lawrence and Bessie, in the parochial schools ; and Pearl and Anselm.

Oscar F. Seamans. For fully sixty years a resident of Portage County. Oscar F. Seamans is known to the people of this section as a man who did his brave duty as a soldier in the Civil war and since then as a carpenter and builder, surveyor and owner, and one who in all the relations of a long and busy life has lived up to the best standards of citizenship. Mr. Seamans is now living retired and makes his home wth his daughter Mrs. Fred Athrop, just over the line from Linwood Township in Wood County, Wisconsin.

Mr. Seamans was born at Auburn in Geauga County, Ohio, May 12, 1839, a son of Joseph and Catherine (Sweet) Seamans, both of whom are natives of Xcw York, in which state they were married and were pioneer settlers in Geauga County, Ohio, in 1835. 1° practically all the wars in which this nation has been engaged some members of the Seamans family have been participants. Mr. Seamans' paternal grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812, and the greatgrandfathers on both sides were soldiers. The father of Oscar Seamans was a soldier in the Mexican war while Oscar and two of his brothers were soldiers of the Union. A son of Mr. Seamans, Raymond, was in both the Spanish-American and Philippine wars, and for five years was in Government service engaged in work on fortifications. A grandson of Oscar F. Seamans was in the draft for the present World war.

It was in 1856, when Oscar F. Seamans was seventeen years old, that his parents came to Portage County, Wisconsin, then an almost unbroken wilderness, and acquired forty acres of land in Stockton Township opposite the present home of James McCue. Here they built a humble home, but later sold and in 1861 Oscar Seamans bought the East or Mill Creek Ferry farm on which his parents spent the rest of their days. His mother died there February 8, 1863. at the age of sixty-two years and four months, while the father passed away September 4, 1882, aged eighty-one years. Joseph Seamans was also a carpenter and builder. He was a republican voter and in Ohio had affiliated with the Free Will Baptist Church, but in Wisconsin was a member of the United Brethren denomination. The mother joined the Christian Church when fourteen years of age. They were the parents of four children : Orange, born April 25, 1823, and died March 25, 19x19; Orville, born January 16, 1827, now .deceased ; Ruth Ann, born June 26, 1830, died April 23, 1918 ; and Oscar F.

Oscar F. Seamans was educated in the public schools of Ohio, attending one of the high class preparatory schools of that state, Hiram Institute. After coming to Portage County he worked with his father at the carpenter's trade. He also acquired a practical knowledge of surveying, and did much work with Gen. A. G. Ellis, who was deputy surveyor general of the United States. Mr. Seamans ran a large number of early survey lines in Portage County.

In February. 1863, he responded to the call of patriotism and enlisted in the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, and did his duty as a loyal Union man until the close of the war. After the war until recent years he was engaged as a carpenter and millwright and has done construction work all over this section of Wisconsin. As already noted he has acquired considerable land in Linwood Township, but most of the clearing and development was left to the family. He also owns land in Plover Township. Mr. Seamans is a republican voter and at one time served as clerk of Linwood Township and for many years was a member of the school board. His wife was actively identified with the Church of Christ.

Noveml>er 4. i86f>. he married Miss Jane A. Morgan, who was born in Waukesha. Wisconsin, July 6, 1845. She died January 7, 1916, only a few months before the date on which they would have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Mr. and Mrs. Seaman s became the parents of nine children. The oldest, Catherine E., born at Plover October 19, 1867, is the wife of Mr. Fred Athrop, of Wood County. They have the following children : Jesse Arthur, deceased ; Hattie, wife of Charles Gaelke and the mother of two children, Lee, deceased, and Roger; Ruth and Emma, twins; Dorothy, John, Hope, Heulah, Ray, Glenn and Everett. The second child, Frederick Oscar, born March 11, 1869, married Jennie Bovard and has three children, Lois, Jane and Kenneth. George, born December 21, 1870, married Flossie Case, and also has three children, Florence, Georgie and Hazel. Raymond W., born December 28, 1874, married Ethel Dunham, who is now deceased. The fifth child, Robert, died in infancy. Merton David, born December 30, 1878, married Emma Staringer and has two children, Theodore and Virginia. Joseph Henry, born June 8, 1881, died December 25, 1887. Abbie, born April 22, 1883, married James Stafford, and of their eight children only three are living, Hattie, Ruth and William Henry. The youngest of the family. Enoch Clinton, was born December 21, 1885, and he and his wife, Lula, have one child, Raymond Oscar.

John Hebal came to Portage County when an infant more than half a century ago, was formerly a successful teacher but finally became started on a business career through a clerkship at Wausau and now for a number of years has been one of the substantial business men of Stevens Point.

Mr. Hebal was born in Austria August 7, 1863, son of Wensel and Theresa Hebal. In June of 1864. the little family started for America and arriving in Portage County settled on a farm in section 2 of Amherst Township. The place where they settled could hardly be called a farm, being a tract of new undeveloped land, but it became a farm under the labor and industry of the Hebal family, who lived there for about twenty-three vears. Wensel Hebal then sold his Portage County property, went out to South Dakota, but after an experience of a few months returned to Wisconsin and settled at Wausau. He lived there 4'/j years, until his death in December. 1895, at the age of seventy-two. His wife had died on the old homestead near Amherst in 1889. Wensel Hebal was a democrat and a member of the Catholic Church. There were five children : Joseph, of Goodwin, South Dakota ; Rosa, who died at Wausau in 1894; Pergrin, of Goodwin, South Dakota; John; and Mathias, who died in 1889.

John Hebal grew up on the old farm near Amherst. When old enough to make his strength count he was set to various tasks about the home and farm and acquired a rather practical knowledge of farming, though he has never utilized it in his mature career. He attended the country schools and also a business college at Wausau and for two years was a teacher in Marathon County. His brothers Joseph and Mathias were also teachers. After leaving the schoolroom Mr. Hebal accepted an opportunity to become clerk in the store of Mrs. Trowbridge at Wausau, where he remained 2j4 years. In 1896 he came to Stevens Point and went to work for Mr. Henry Hoefler. one of the old time and highly regarded merchants of that city. He remained in his employ as a clerk for twelve years, and then was promoted to a partnership under the name Hoefler & Hebal. This business was continued under that firm name until the death of Mr. Hoefler in 1913. Mr.

Hebal then bought Mrs. Cutting's business at 328 McCuUoch Street, and has since conducted it as a general merchandise emporium with stock and service suited to all the demands made upon it by the city and country trade. The store is located in a building 80 by 20 feet.

Mr. Hebal is independent in politics and has never sought any of the honors of office. The only thing approaching a public office which he ever held was from 1881 to 1886, when he was assistant to his father, who served as postmaster of New Hope postoffice for 4^ years.

In 1895 Mr. Hebal married Miss Johanna Ingwersen. She was born in Waupaca County, but was reared and educated in Portage County. She is a daughter of Emil and Johanna (Blaske) Ingwersen. Her father passed away September '8, 1918. Five sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hebal: Emil, a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and now a student in the State Normal ; Lawrence, in the sophomore class in the high school ; William, Frank and Frederick, who are in the grammar school.

Orun and Dr. Galen Rood. The Rood family, through the parents and the grandparents of the generation now living in Stevens Point, has intertwined its history with the patriotism and the industrial and professional development of Northern Wisconsin. Dr. Galen Rood was especially identified with the intellectual and religious growth of Stevens Point, as will gradually and forcibly appear in the course of this sketch.

The name frequently appears in the old New England records, which have been so carefully preserved, especially in the archives of Connecticut and Vermont; the "Vital Statistics" of Norwich are particularly rich in this lore. From them it appears that the Roods were numerous in the ranks of the Revolutionary patriots and those of 1812. The latter conflict drew upon the services of the grandfather and father of Dr. Galen Rood, Thomas D. and Orlin Rood, respectively. Thomas D. Rood and his son Orlin, then a mere lad, served in an ambulance corps and drove the teams that carried the wounded back to safety from the shores of Lake Champlain.

In later years, when Orlin Rood had reached manhood, the father of the doctor, then residing in Vermont, engaged in farming and shipping produce north into Canada and to the Massachusetts coast. In 1838 lie came west as a contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The State of Illinois failed and all the contractors engaged in the development of its great system of internal improvements were compelled to accept state script worth twelve cents on the dollar. After Orlin Rood had paid his employes and all his other debtors he had nothing left. He therefore sold his home and 160 acres, which tract today covers some of the most valuable residence property on the south side of Chicago, for $2.50 per acre, and moved his family to Madison, Wisconsin. That was in 1840. While he was farming in that locality Mr. Rood became interested in the shipping of supplies to the Pineries. Later he built the Rood Lumber Mills at the mouth of Pine River, fifteen miles above Wausau. Naturally his business called for much teaming, and young Galen, then only ten years of age, became well known for his unusual ability in this line.

The wife of Orlin Rood (nee Abagail Gear) died in 1831, before the husband and father came West, After building the mills at the mouth of Pine River in the early '40s Mr. Rood himself moved to Ohio, and thence, years afterward, to Missouri, where he died in March, 1880, in his eightieth year.

Galen Rood early evinced a persistency in whatever he undertook, which held him to his studies in the midst of any labor. He was first trained in the district schools at Madison, then pursued his studies for several years at the University of Wisconsin and finally entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. In the midst of his medical course occurred the severe cholera epidemic of 1855. In the following year he graduated from the Ohio Medical College, and his course was supplemented by an interne's practice in the Marine Hospital at Cincinnati.

Immediately after his graduation Doctor Rood chose Stevens Point, the heart of the Wisconsin Pineries, which his father had done so much to introduce to the East, as his home, and in April, 1856, opened his office as one of the first physicians of the place. On Thanksgiving day of 1857 the young physician, then twenty-seven years of age, married Nancy J. Sylvester, daughter of William and Nancy (Allen) Sylvester. Her father was a soldier of the War of 1812, who moved with his family to Fort Howard in 1835 a "d afterward became a leading citizen of Fort Winnebago. He was the first mayor of Portage City. Mrs. Sylvester died at Grand Marsh, Wisconsin, in 1848, and Mr. Sylvester, at Ripon, that state, in 1875. Both are buried in the military cemetery at Portage, where the Daughters of 181 2 have recently placed a tablet over his grave. Mrs. Galen Rood died at Stevens Point on October 19, 1906.

Doctor Rood did as much as any one man to found Stevens Point on a firm sanitary basis. Preceding the granting of the city charter in 1858 he held the office of physician for the town, and in 1859 he was appointed city physician. With the exception of two years he held that office for twenty-nine consecutive years. Doctor Rood not only faithfully protected the sanitary interests of the city, but by becoming a self-appointed employment bureau (without salary, commission or any monetary compensation) threw work in the way of many who would otherwise be idle and perhaps a public expense. He offered himself for service in the Civil war, but was rejected on account of ill health. Although very frail, he took upon himself the responsibility of sending a substitute to the front, who. after faithful service, returned safely. He also assumed the professional care, gratis, of all families in his clientele whose heads had enlisted during their service for the Union. Doctor Rood was a devoted republican from the organization of the party in the years of his coming to Stevens Point until his death sixty-one years later. The doctor was born in Jericho. Chittenden County. Vermont, on January 14, 1830, and died April 4, 1917. He stood high not only in the community in which he had so long resided, but with his professional brethren, who for five years elected him president of the Portage County Medical Association. His office was never closed during those sixty-one years of varied and faithful service in Stevens Point. To quote from Rev. R. J. Mc- Landress, of the First Presbyterian Church, of which the deceased was for many years a devoted trustee and supporter: "The history of

Doctor Rood's life, through sixty years of practice and service as health officer, is intimately interwoven with the unwritten history of this city. Such a life is not a Private Practice, but a Public Institution. His life exemplified the best traditions of the healing profession and of his doctrine of brotherly love ; and so the passing of Doctor Rood is not in defeat but in victory."

Dr. and Mrs. Galen Rood became the parents of four children : Myron G. Rood. M. D. t a practicing physician of Stevens Point for thirty years; Robert D. Rood, D. D. S., who married Kthel Kirwan, of Stevens Point, and practised his profession in the home town for sixteen years, is now a resident of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the father of three children: Price \V. Rood, D. I). S., who married Helena Heyd, of Milwaukee, and who lives in the Cream City practicing his profession, the father of two children ; and Miss Katharene A. Rood, widely known as a musical educator and one whose interests are alert in matters pertaining to the Public Library, the Woman's Gub and religiously the Presbyterian Church of which her parents and grandparents were devoted and prominent members.

As to other relatives of Doctor Rood it may be said that Capt. Anson Rood, of the Thirty-Eighth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in the Civil war, was a brother. Among his cousins were : United States Senator J. H. Gecr. of Iowa, and Ogden N. Rood, professor of physics at Columbia University for thirty-eight years; Heman Rood, D. D., Hanover, New Hampshire, prominent as an educator of Greek and Biblical literature, was an uncle : also, Anson Rood, D. D., of Philadelphia, whose granddaughter, Dr. Carolina Hazard, was former president of Wellesley College.

Thomas E. Caulev. Portage County has always been known as "the good roads" county of this part of Wisconsin, and the responsibility of maintaining that reputation and keeping it fresh and green has largely devolved upon Thomas E. Cauley in recent years as county highway commissioner. Mr. Cauley is an expert on good roads, both making and maintenance, and has perhaps as wide an experience as any other citizen of the state in the administration of local and county highways.

Mr. Caujey was bom in Stevens Point November 30. 1857. and belongs to a prominent old family of the county. He is a son of Michael and Ann (Nevens) Cauley. His father and mother were both natives of County Mayo, Ireland. They came to America about the same time, 1849, but before their marriage. They were married at Portage, Wisconsin, and from there drove as their honeymoon trip to Plover. Michael Cauley bought a tract of government land in Plover Township of Portage County, lived there eight years, for a time had his home in Stevens Point, and then moved to Linwood Township of this county, where he cultivated a farm until his death. His wife died at Stevens Point. They were the parents of ten children, named William, Thomas, Mary, Margaret, Jane, Kate, Michael, John, Nell and Alice, all of whom are living except John, who died in infancy. The family were reared as loyal Catholics and Michael Cauley was one of the men who organized the Catholic Church at Stevens Point.

Thomas K. Cauley during his boyhood received his education in large part from the ''Old White School." In later years he was an active member of the social organization known as the Old White

Schoolhouse Association. After completing his schooling he worked as a lumberman for fifteen years and since then has given his attention almost entirely to public road work. For seventeen years he was in the employ of Stevens Point as highway commissioner and city engineer. In 191 1 he took up his present duties as county highway commissioner, and has held that office ever since except one year when he was with the Wisconsin State Highway Commission.

April 22. 1887, Mr. Cauley married Miss Jessie Thompson, a native of Neenah, Wisconsin, daughter of George Thompson. Three children were born to their marriage : Grace, Bcrnice and Marie. Marie is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Cauley and their family worship in the Episcopal Church. He is a democrat in politics and has always been a leader in his party in Portage County.

John J. Kolinski is one of the practical business men of Stevens Point, but his activities during the larger share of the years since he attained his majority have been spent in farming. Mr. Kolinski still owns some of the good land of Portage County, but for the past four years has been in the retail meat business at Stevens Point.

He was born at Ellis in Portage County January 20, 1882, a son of Frank and Catherine (Glinecki ) Kolinski. Mis parents were both natives of German Poland. His father came to Portage County in 1861, and his first employment was in the days when all this region was devoted to the lumber industry. He followed the river as a raftsman and also worked in sawmills. Later he bought and occupied a farm near Polonia, and for twenty-five years had his home in Stevens Point, where he owned the Star saloon. His home in the county seat was at 718 Fourth Avenue. His last days were spent on the farm, where he died January 17. 1904. at the age of seventy. His chief business was farming and at it he was very successful. At one time he acted as head sawyer in the mills of William Campbell. He was a democrat in politics and worshiped in the Catholic Church at Polonia and also in St. Peter's Church at Stevens Point. He was twice married. His first wife was Mary Konapacki. Of their children only one is now living, Frances, wife of John Kiedrowski, of North Dakota. Catherine Glinecki, second wife of Frank Kolinski, is still living. They were married at Polonia and of their large family the following grew up: Antonc, now deceased ; Dora ; Felix, who' lives with his mother ; Mary, who lives in Los Angeles, California; Joseph, who died at the age of eighteen ; and John J.

John J. Kolinski spent his early life on the farm near Polonia. He was educated both in the parochial and public schools at Stevens Point. When he was eight years old his parents moved to the county seat, and here he grew up and married and after his marriage he rented a farm for three years and then bought a place of a hundred sixty acres in Huena Vista Township. That was his home and the scene of his activities for seven years. On selling out he returned to Stevens Point in 1913 and bought the property at 307 North Second Street, which he has well improved and utilized for the purposes of conducting a meat business. In 191 5 Mr. Kolinski bought an eighty acre farm in Rosholt Township, three and a half miles from the town, and he gives it some of his careful supervision. Mr. Kolinski and family reside at 309 North Second Street. He is independent in politics and is a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church.

February 18, 1903, he married Miss Rosa Kulwikoski, of Rosholt Township. Her father, Frank Kulwikoski, had a farm in that township, lived there for twenty-five years and was one of the first settlers and died in July, 1912. Her mother is Anastacia (Jaseske) Kulwikoski, and she is still living at Stevens Point. Mr. and Mrs. Kolinski have five children, all living, named Alvin, Frances, Louise, Clarence and Morris.

Charles H. Cashin. Though one of the younger members of the Portage County bar Charles H. Cashin has signalized his work by influential relationships in his practice and a degree of skill and ability that augurs well for rising and continuing success in many years to come.

Mr. Cashin is a native of Stevens Point, and was educated here in the St. Stephen's parochial school. He graduated from high school in 1899. He graduated from the law department of the University of Wisconsin with the degree of LL. B. in 1902, and since then for fifteen years has been a member of the Stevens Point bar. He practiced with different firms and is now member of the firm Fisher & Cashin. For one term he held the office of city attorney. Mr. Cashin is active in the Benevolent and Protective Order of K.Iks and the Knights of Columbus.

His father is Patrick H. Cashin, one of the oldest and best known citizens of Stevens Point. He was born in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, April 4, i85r, son of Patrick and Catherine (Kelly) Cashin. Both parents were natives of Kilkenny, Ireland. When Patrick Cashin, Sr.. arrived at Milwaukee that settlement contained only three houses. In a short time he took a claim of a hundred twenty acres in Granville Township in Milwaukee County and he lived there from log cabin days until the surroundings were transformed into a rich and populous district where both he and his wife died. They had six children: Margaret, who died young; Mary. Elizabeth, James, Michael and Patrick H.

Patrick H. Cashin acquired his early education in the district schools of Milwaukee County. As a boy he served an apprenticeship to learn the carpenter's trade. He worked in Milwaukee until about 1878, when he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and was in that city three years. Returning to Wisconsin, he located at Stevens Point and with the exception of two years as a general merchant at Johnson's Creek in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, his home has been continuously at the county seat of Portage County for over thirty-five years. For about fourteen years Mr. Cashin was in business at Stevens Point, but is now living retired.

His name has long been prominent in local politics. The first political office he ever held was on the school board of Granville Township in his native county. For twenty-four years he has been a member of the city government of Stevens Point, six years as mayor and the rest of the time as a city councilman. For two terms he was in the State Legislature, and the' county never had an abler representative at Madison than Patrick H. Cashin.

In 1878 he married Miss Mary E. Hayden, a native of Milwaukee and a daughter of John and Bridget Hayden. Her father was a boot and shoe manufacturer at Milwaukee, and later retired to a farm in the Town of Granville in Milwaukee County. Patrick H. Cashin and wife had four children: Charles H. ; George W., a traveling salesman; James A., in the grocery business at Stevens Point ; and William Roy who is a dental surgeon by profession and gave up his practice at Stevens Point to serve as captain in the Dental Corps of the United States Army.

The Cashins are active members of the Catholic Church and Patrick H. is affiliated with the Catholic Foresters. One point in his career that should not be overlooked in a work that is essentially a historical publication is Mr. Cashin's efforts to place a suitable memorial to one of the old time citizens of Wisconsin and of Portage County. Some years ago Patrick H. Cashin discovered that the burial place of Isaac Ferris, a pioneer pilot on the Wisconsin River, was about to be forgotten because of no permanent marker. This old river man was buried in Plover Township, just south of the city limits of Stevens Point and across the river from the main part of the town. Mr. Cashin circulated a subscription list, and through his diligent efforts secured enough money to erect an appropriate monument over the grave of a man who in his time was regarded as a leader and a distinctive figure all up and down the Wisconsin River.

Ai.c.ie E. Bourn. Courteous, accommodating and painstaking, Algie E. Bourn, of Stevens Point, is one of the best clerks Portage County ever had. and its clerks have always been capable and efficient, the affairs of his office being administered wisely and conscientiously. He was born December 24. 1862, in St. Joseph County, Michigan, a son of the late Henry H. Bourn.

A worker in metals during his active life. Henry H. Bourn came from Michigan to Plover, Portage County, in 1876, and with his sons established a foundry, with which he was connected until his death, the business being carried on under the name of A. H. Bourn & Company, his eldest son having been at the head of the firm. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Angeline Woodward, five sons were born, one of whom died in infancy, and four are living, as fotlows: A. H., now a resident of Elkhart. Indiana ; Algie E. ; E. E., of Cumberland, Wisconsin : and L. E., of Plover. The father was for several terms chairman of Plover Township.

Acquiring his early education in Michigan, Algie E. Bourn was graduated from the Mendon High School, after which he took a course of study at the Kalamazoo Business College. He began work as a wage earner in his father's foundry in Michigan, and continued with the firm for awhile after coining to Plover, this state. Changing his occupation, Mr. Bourn opened a hardware store at Plover and built up a substantial business, managing it alone the greater part of the time, having had but one or two partners.

While living in Plover Mr. Bourn served as township chairman and as county chairman, having been active in public life, and later was elected to the position of sheriff and moved to Stevens Point, which has since been his home. In May, 1904, he was appointed county clerk to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles A. Lane, and has filled the office by election and successive re-election ever since, his retention in the position bearing evidence of his ability and fidelity as a public official.

On April 26. 1883. Mr. Bourn was united in marriage with Alice Marlatt, who was born in Portage County, of pioneer ancestry. Her father, Elias Marlatt. an early settler of Portage County, enlisted as a soldier in the Civil war and was killed while in the service. Five chil- dren have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bourn, namely: Forest H., third assistant superintendent of the Northern Express Company, with headquarters at St. Paul ; Grant E., a prominent farmer of Cumberland, Wisconsin ; Florence, a graduate of the State Normal School, is teaching in the public schools of Bancroft, Portage County ; Leslie E., now serving as a corporal in Battery E., One Hundred and Twentieth Light Field Artillery, Fifty-Seventh Brigade; and Raymond, a pupil in the high school. Fraternally Mr. Bourn belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, to the Modern Woodmen of America, and to the Knights of the Maccabees.

Silas R. Schenck. The thriving and prosperous Village of Bancroft includes in its citizenship a number of men who, having passed the active portion of their lives in industrious agricultural labors, are now living in retirement, having transferred the responsibilities of soil development on to the younger element. Many of these men have participated in the development of this part of Wisconsin from nearly primitive conditions to a state of rare fertility, and in this class is found Silas R. Schenck, whose entire career has been passed in Wisconsin, and who is now a member of the retired colony of Bancroft.

Mr. Schenck was born February 16. 1854, in Steuben County, New York, a son of William and Emmeline ( Rowley ) Schenck. His parents, natives of New York, were married in that state, where they owned a farm, but disposed of their land there and moved to Portage County during the early '5°s. settling on a new property about five miles from the Village of Bancroft. Here they passed the remainder of their lives, devoting their energies to the tilling of the soil until their declining years, when they gave their land to their youngest son, and it has now passed out of the family possession. Both parents are now deceased. They had a family of seven children : Susan, who is deceased ; Mrs. Angeline Spade, a resident of Stevens Point. Wisconsin ; Lydia, who is now Mrs. Hutchinson, of Bancroft: Silas R.; William, a resident of the State of Washington: Mrs. Nancy Kellogg, of Bancroft; and Lawrence, who lives in Washington State.

The boyhood of Silas R. Schenck was passed amid rural surroundings and his time as a lad was divided between working on his father's farm and attending the district school. He grew to manhood as a farmer and when he left the home place it was to engage in agricultural work on his own account, his labors resulting in the accumulation of a good farm situated in sections 21 and 22, Bancroft Township. He was industrious in his work, operated his property intelligently and according to the most highly approved modern methods, and developed a valuable farm, erecting substantial buildings and in other ways adding to the value and attractiveness of his home place. W'hen he had reached a position of independence he sold his land and removed to the Village of Bancroft, where he is now the owner of a comfortable home and eight building lots. He still has various business interests, among them being stock in the cheese factory at Bancroft, which has just been completed. Mr. Schenck. like all good and public-spirited citizens, has participated to some extent in civic affairs, and has been chosen by his fellow-citizens as the incumbent of several public offices, having served satisfactorily as supervisor of his township and as a member of the village board and the school board. He has always been content to make his home in Wisconsin, and has left the state only on one occasion, when he made a trip to Chicago and on to the State of Washington.

Mr. Schenck was married in 1879 to Miss Emma Ellis, who was bom in Wisconsin, and to this union there have been born six children: Arthur, of Washington; Mrs. Edith Bender, of Bancroft; Mrs. Cora Sparks, of this place ; Mrs. Dora Bender, also of Bancroft ; Kay, who is married and a resident of Stevens Point ; and Warren, married and a resident of Bancroft.

Alhert William Max lev is a business man and citizen around whom revolve many of the most substantial achievements in the Bancroft community of Portage County. Mr. Manley began his career in the woods a number of years ago, with practically only the resources of his hands as his credit and capital. He developed a good farm, gradually reached out to acquire other interests, became a merchant at Bancroft, and now has a splendidly prosperous general merchandise establishment there and is also president of the only bank of the village.

Mr. Manley was born in Wood County, Wisconsin, May 20, 1861, son of Samuel Monroe and Irena Marie (Markham) Manley. His father was a native of Xew York State and his mother of Illinois. Samuel M. Manley came to Wisconsin and settled in the vicinity of Keene in Portage County as early as 1854. He was well known and honored among the early settlers of the county. His wife came to the same neighborhood still earlier, in 1849. Her parents, James and Adelia (Boyne) Markham. were pioneers and long identified with the agricultural element of Portage County, first in the vicinity of Keene and later at Meecham Station.

Albert William Manley as a lx>y attended a district school east of Bancroft. His parents were by no means wealthy, and at an early age he exerted his physical strength either at home or in outside employment sufficient to support himself and gain that modest capital with which he started an independent career. He worked on the farm, in the lumber woods, and at other employment. Finally he bought a tract of wild land 1 "vj miles southeast of Bancroft, and went diligently and vigorously to work clearing and improving and was there as a practical farmer until about 1909. In the meantime he had become associated with his brother Martin in a general store at Bancroft, and in 191 5 he embarked in business under his individual name, establishing his stock of merchandise in a fine store building 40 by 64 feet. In 1912. when the Bancroft State Bank was organized, he became its president, and has directed the affairs of that institution most creditably ever since. Mr. Manley has filled some of the positions of trust and responsibility in Pine Grove Township, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1888 he married Miss Anna Elizabeth Wilson, who was born near the City of Milwaukee, daughter of Samuel Wilson. Five children have been born to their marriage: Lottie, Ella, Lucy, Harry and Ralph, but two are deceased, the oldest and youngest, Lottie and Ralph.

George W. Pratt. Much of the business prosperity and prominence of Bancroft is due to its location in the great potato producing district of Wisconsin, and it is one of the main potato markets in Port- age County. A factor in the prosperity of the village is George W. Pratt, who for many years has been a potato buyer and has a personal acquaintance probably with as many potato producers in Central Wisconsin as any other man.

Mr. Pratt is a native of Portage County, born in Pine Grove Township May 26, 1865, son of Nelson and Anna (Abbott) Pratt. His parents were both pioneer farmers in Pine Grove Township, where his father bought land in the wilderness and undertook to clear it up and develop a farm. His father was a native of New York State and his mother of Pennsylvania. His mother is still living, residing with her bachelor brother George. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom are still living, named in order of birth: Mary, Charles H., Byron, Fred E., Albert J., George Warren and Cora.

When George W. Pratt was four years of age, in 1869, he was adopted by Mr. James Sample, a prominent old time resident of portage County, and from that age he was reared on the James Sample farm half way between Bancroft and Plainfield. He grew up there, attended the district schools at Spirit Land, and after starting for himself became interested in the potato business and for a number of years has been one of the principal buyers for the potato market at Bancroft, with William Carley.

In 1897 Mr. Pratt married Miss Henrietta Herbert, a native of Springwater Township, Waushara County, Wisconsin, and daughter of Samuel Butler Herbert. Her father was a soldier of the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt have four children: Ernia G.. a graduate of the Plainfield High School and a student of the State Normal at Stevens Point; Lula M., member of the senior class of the Stevens Point High School ; Edith L., of the Plainfield High School ; and Warren C. The family arc members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Pratt about ten years ago served as deputy sheriff of Portage County.

Gust a v Wesley Andrae. For many years the name of Andrae has been prominently identified with the mercantile interests of Stevens Point. Well directed energy, business enterprise and local pride contributed to the successful upbuilding of one of the largest mercantile houses in this city, conducted under the style of G. F. Andrae Company, of which Gttstav Wesley Andrae is sole proprietor.

Gustav Wesley Andrae was born in Stockton Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, March 14, 1890. His parents were Charles Wesley and Sophia Anderson. On July 5, i8qo. occurred the death of the mother, Mrs. Sophia Anderson,' and on September 22, 1890, Gustav Wesley Anderson was adopted by the late Gustav F. and Ada F. Andrae. The father G. F. Andrae was born in Germany, December 1 1, 1849, and when sixteen years of age came to the United States, and here, in time, became a man of large business affairs and an honored and valued citizen. Landing in New York City in 1865, he spent little time in the great metropolis, his intention being to establish himself in Wisconsin, to which state many of his countrymen had emigrated. He made his way to Mayville, Wisconsin, where he worked for a few years for his brother Julius Andrae who was in the dry goods business, but finding no permanent position there, walked the entire distance to Stevens Point and here entered the employ of Henry Hoeffler as a clerk in his store. It was not long before Mr. Hoeffler recognized the business qualities of his young assistant and offered him a partnership and soon the firm of

Hoeffler & Andrae became a strong factor in the town's business life. The partnership continued from 1870 until 1874, when Mr. Andrae became sole owner. For thirty-six years Mr. Andrae was the leading merchant at Stevens Point and was also one of the material upbuilders, for he acquired much realty here, in business sections, all of which he improved. In consulting newspaper files during the period above mentioned it will be found that he was constantly bemg named in connection with the construction of substantial buildings or the expansion of his own business enterprise, and was ever credited with being a leading and representative citizen. His death occurred October 15, 1910.

Gustav Wesley Andrae attended the public schools of Stevens Point, had one year in high school, and spent one year in Ripon College. Upon the death of his father, G. F. Andrae he took charge of the latter's business interests, and although not brought up in the dry goods business, has adjusted himself and is proving to be an able and judicious business man. In 1885 tne business was carried on in a new brick block erected by his father in that year and was continued there until 1892, when it was moved into the present commodious one on Main Street. This location is excellent and the store is well lighted from both front and rear and is equipped with all the conveniences usually found in modern stores of this kind. Mr. Andrae's father set a high standard both as to completeness and quality of stock handled and to honorable business methods employed, and the same policy is continued by the present owner, who numbers among his patrons customers who dealt for a quarter of a century with his father. Mr. Andrae took entire charge as proprietor on June 6, 191 1, renaming the firm G. F. Andrae Company.

At this point should be stated some further particulars regarding the wife of the late Gustav F. Andrae. On April 14, 1875, he married Ada Frances Anderson, who was born at Oak Grove, Dodge County, Wisconsin, November 19, 1854, a daughter of Thomas Wesley and Lucy Bottle Anderson. Her father was born near Pcterboro in Ma< lison County, New York, March 30, 1828, and her mother in the same county September 18, 1832.

Thomas W. Anderson was a son of Holbrook Anderson, who was born in Madison County, New York, in 1806, a son of Thomas and Susanna Anderson, an old New England family. The Andersons were among the first pioneers to develop Madison County, New York. Thomas and Susanna had the following children: Joseph, Loyal, James, William M., Holbrook, Nancy, Polly, Abigail and Lucy. All of them spent their lives in Madison County. New York, except Holbrook and Nancy. The latter married a Mr. Harkness and died in New York City. Holbrook Anderson married Arvilla Avery, a native of Madison County. The name of Holbrook Anderson is connected with some of the pioneer things in Portage County. He and his wife came to this county in 1857 and he established a sawmill on Plover River, but did not operate it, selling the machinery to Belsmar & Goodhue. Holbrook Anderson died in this county March 18, 1892, and his wife on March 3, 1879. They were members of the Methodist Church and he was a whig and republican.

Thomas Wesley Anderson and wife were married in Madison County, and in May. 1852, arrived in Dodge County, Wisconsin, and in 1857 removed to Portage County, locating on Plover River, about two taiiles east of Stevens Point. Later they had a farm of 320 acres in Stockton Township and for about twenty years Thomas W. Anderson lived retired at Stevens Point. He also spent about twelve winters at Biloxi, Mississippi, where he died December 18, 19,16. He and his wife had two children: Charles W. Anderson, of Stevens Point, and Ada Frances Anderson who married the late G. F. Andrae.

Gustav Wesley Andrae married at Stevens Point in 191 2 Miss Genevieve Glinskt, who was born in this city, a daughter of Joseph Glinski who came to the county in early manhood and is a well known citizen of Stevens Point. Mr. and Mrs. Andrae have three children: Ada Genevieve, Gustav Ferdinand and Anita Frances. Their hospitable home is a fine residence situated at 541 Clark Street, Stevens Point. Mr. Andrae has always given his political support to the republican party.

David E. Hetzel. At present a retired citizen of Almond. David E. Hetzel has been one of the industrious men of Portage County, linking his name with all that is admirable in farming and wise and progressive in individual life. His career has been passed amid agricultural surroundings, where his industry and good management brought him material success, while his sterling qualities of character, as evidenced in his straightforward business transactions and his loyalty to friendships and fidelity to engagements, won him equal prosperity in his fellow citizens' confidence and esteem.

Mr. Hetzel was born in Germany, June 30. 185 1, and is a son of John and Barbara (Gaybert) Hetzel. In his native land John Hetzel followed the trade of a weaver, and while he worked hard and economized could not seem to make satisfactory progress. His ambition and desire for a home of his own led him to face unknown conditions in the United States, and during the late '50s he came to this country with his family and settled in Portage County, in the locality known as Hetzelville. Here he acquired a small property which he developed and cultivated and after years of hard work had accumulated 160 acres, which he gave to his son. John Hetzel met a tragic death when still active and with apparently many more years to live. Always an energetic man, when there was work to be done, he was always eager to take part, and it was in this way that he died, being crushed while engaged in cleaning a well on the home farm. He was the father of the following children: Barbara, who is now Mrs. Kifner, of Almond; John and Mike, who arc deceased ; David E. ; and Mary, who resides in Clark County, Wisconsin.

After completing his educational training in the district schools of Almond Township, David E. Hetzel turned his attention seriously to the business of farming and applied himself assiduously to assimilating the teachings of his father in methods of farming. \Yhen ready to enter upon his own career as an agriculturist he took up unbroken land in section 16, where he eventually cleared 120 acres, and following this added to his property by clearing forty acres in section 21. This property comprised the farm on which he worked out his success, and for many years he was numbered among the most successful tillers of the soil of this region. He also accumulated eighty acres of land in the vicinity of Bucna Vista, which he still owns, but this is practically all in timber, only four acres having been broken at the time of this writing. When Mr. Hetzel retired from active labor he turned the management of his farm over to William Tess, who is now carry ing on successful operations there. The property is graced by good buildings erected by Mr. Hetzel and also boasts of other valuable improvements installed by him. On coming to Almond he purchased a home and lot, and since that time has invested in other village property, in addition to which he has an interest in the produce and warehouse company at Almond. As a public-spirited member of his community, Mr. Hetzel always aligns himself with constructive forces, and while he has not been desirous of a place in the limelight as a public official has been ready to discharge his duties of citizenship and has served capably and conscientiously as road commissioner and treasurer of the school board.

In 1876 Mr. Hetzel was married to Miss Lena Mchnc, who was born in the same part of Germany in which his birthplace was located. To this union there were born the following children : William, who is engaged in farming in Portage County; Martha, who is the wife of William Tess and resides on her father's farm in Almond Township; Ed, a resident of Almond ; Emma, now Mrs. Tess ; John, a farmer of Almond Township; Albert, of Almond; Laura, who resides on a farm; Fred, who is proprietor of a store at Almond ; Oscar, a resident of Duluth, Minnesota ; Henry, a farmer of this county ; Walter, of Duluth ; and Ezra, the youngest, and the only child now at home.

William E. Ule. While Mr. Ule has spent most of his life as a resident and citizen of Stevens Point, his business relations have taken him over many of the states of the Union. He is one of the most extensive contractors in the country in the building of power plants and factories for paper mills. For a quarter of a century he has directed most of his energies to the construction of water dams and other work connected with paper manufacture, and has used his organization and expert services for handling some of the biggest contracts of this kind in the west and south. He has made a great success of his business, and is one of the well to do and highly esteemed residents of Stevens Point.

Mr. Ule was born in Illinois April 7, 1865. a son of Peter and Evangeline (Hopt) Ule. His parents were both natives of Germany, his father coming to the United States at the age of nineteen and his mother at seventeen. They married at Belleville. Illinois, where their son William was bom. In 1865 the family went to Missouri, where the father followed his business as a contractor. In the early part of 1876 they came to Portage County, where the parents spent many years, but the father died at Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, in 1912, at the age of eighty-eight, and the mother passed away in 1897, aged sixtyseven. Peter Ule was also a well known contractor and at one time had business associations with Mr. Vetter at Stevens Point. Me was a republican, and at one time served as a member of the City Council. He was reared in the Catholic faith, but finally left the church. He waa affiliated with Evergreen Lodge No. 93 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

William E. Ule was educated in the parochial and public schools of Stevens Point and was not yet twenty years of age when he began the business of general contracting. He came to manhood at Stevens Point and this city he has always regarded as his home and place of residence, though his work has required absence for extended periods in other cities and states. He has developed a large organization and one of

In politics he is a republican voter and is a member of St. Stephens Catholic Church. He is affiliated with the Rotary Club of Stevens Point and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

February 28, 1891, Mr. Ule married Miss Emma E. Longavan, of Stevens Point. She was born in this city, daughter of Peter and Mary Longavan, early settlers here. Mr. and Mrs. Ule are the parents of five children: Carl W. has already distinguished himself as the soldier representative of the family. He is a graduate of Stevens Point High School and was formerly engaged in the manufacture of soft drinks at Stevens Point under the name of Plover Springs Bottling Company. Harold E., the second son, is also a soldier. He is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and Normal and was also connected with the Plover Springs Bottling Company until September 2 3. '9!7. when he enlisted for service in the Aviation Corps. He is located at Gerstner Field, Lake Charles, Louisiana. The three younger children are Mamie, Madeline and William E.. Jr. Mamie is a graduate of high school and is a student in the State Normal, while Madeline is in the grade schools.

Arthur J. Clement. The real pioneer element of Portage County has some of its best personal representatives in Arthur J. Clement and his venerable father, William P. Clement. The latter has been a resident of this portion of Wisconsin for more than sixty years. He knew Portage County when it was an unbroken forest, and when Indians, bear and deer were as familiar as automobiles are today. Arthur J. Clement has spent his life in the county and is now one of Stevens Point's leading business men, conducting a garage and repair shop.

William P. Clement was born at Thackford, Vermont, October t6. 1834. He is one of the last survivors of that group of early settlers who came into Portage Countv more than sixty years ago. When a young man he moved to New York State and in 1856 married for his first wife Sarah Warner. In the same year they came to Portage County and established their first home in Eau Pleine Township. Acquiring a tract of land that had never known the uses or practices of civilized men, he developed a good farm there and kept up its cultivation and management until April 1, 1892. He sold it at that date and moved to Wausau, Wisconsin, and on September 19, 1892, returned to Stevens Point and this city has been his home now for over a quarter of a century. For all his eighty-four years he is still remarkably strong and active and has a memory that includes personalities and events making almost a complete authentic record of the early days in this section of Wisconsin. His first wife died in Portage County in 1863, leaving three sons, William H.. Frank and Alonzo. lie married for his second wife Caroline (Otis ) Beedle. widow of Tacob I. Beedle. who was killed as a Union soldier in the Civil war. Mr. Beedle left two children, Edward and Jennie. Mrs. Caroline Clement was born in 1835 and died June n, J873.

Arthur J. Clement, only child of his father and mother's second marriage, was born in Fau Pleine Township of Portage County, May 8. 1870. He was reared on the farm where he was born and he too has some interesting memories of this part of Wisconsin when it was by no means so far advanced as it is today. When he was a boy the denser portions of the uncleared woods still contained a few deer and bear, and some of his first efforts as a hunter were in pursuit of this large game. His education was limited to the advantages afforded by the schools of the locality, and on leaving home he went to work for the Wisconsin Central Railway. He began railroading when a mere boy, was brakeman and fireman, and for three years worked in the shops of the Wisconsin Central. This experience in the shops gave him the foundation of his more permanent career. He opened a shop of his own at Stevens Point for the general repair of implements and other machinery, and in 1905 he established one of the very first garages in the city. His place of business and also his home are at 216 North Second Street. Mr. Clement is independent in politics.

February 1, 1895, he married Mary J. Seeber, who died in 1905, leaving one daughter, Mabel Caroline, who is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and of the State Normal School. In 1907 Mr. Clement married Pearl A. McKillets, widow of James McKillets. By her first marriage she has one daughter, Myrtle, who is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and now a student in the State Normal.

Mr. Clement's maternal grandparents deserve some special mention as having been pioneers in Wisconsin, coming here when Wisconsin was still a territory. They were Andrew and Exey (Storrs) Otis, of old New England stock. Andrew Otis was born in Connecticut in 1800 and his wife in New York State in 1805. They came west to Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1844, four years before Wisconsin was admitted to the Union. Later they removed to Burnett County, Wisconsin, where Andrew Otis, who was always a farmer, died in 1883. His widow died in 1888 at Stevens Point, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Arthur Benjamin Redfield. Andrew Otis was regularly a democrat, but broke the continuity of his party allegiance when he voted for Lincoln. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church and for many years he was a deacon. They had five children : Phoebe, Caroline (mother of Mr. A. J. Clement), Henry, Amanda and Dirwin.

Clarence W. Whittaker's chief work in Portage County has been as an unusually competent and capable farmer. It is one of the larger and better managed places in Buena Vista and Plover townships, where he has put into practice the accumulated wisdom and experience of many years as an agriculturist and stockman.

Mr. Whittaker was born in Plover Township of this county October j8, 1867, son of Alphonzo and Bell (AJtenburg) Whittaker. His mother was a native of New York State and a daughter of that well known Portage County pioneer John Altenburg, to whom several references are made on other pages. Alphonzo Whittaker after his marriage settled in Buena Vista Township on forty acres of the land now owned and occupied by his son, having acquired this land from John Altenburg. The parents spent the rest of their days there. The father was a republican, served as a member of the school board, and both were active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had only two children, a son, Garcnce W., and a daughter, Iva May, now wife of Anthony Prain.

Clarence W. Whittaker grew up on the farm where he now lives and all his associations and interests have been identified in that one locality from boyhood to the present time. A public school education gave him his book training for life. He has done much to extend the property and interests acquired by his father. To the old homestead he added ten acres, giving him a farm of fifty acres in Buena Vista Township, while in Plover Township he owns 120 acres, all devoted to farming and stock raising. Mr. Whittaker has one of the conspicuous barns of the township, erected in 1907. It is a structure 36 feet wide by 96 feet long, while the posts are 18 feet from the sill to eaves. He has also made a practical demonstration of the benefits of a silo, and has one of the well constructed silos to be found in the county.

Mr. Whittaker was for three years a member of the school board of his district, being associated with Fred and Will Taylor on the board when the new schoolhouse was erected. In politics he is a republican.