Portage County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1919 (part 9 of 15)

On December 2, 1903, Mr. Netzley married Miss Catherine Bowersock. She was born in Stevens Point October 22, 1884. daughter of Winfield Scott and Susan (Mess) Bowersock. Her parents came to Stevens Point in 1877. Her mother died there June 15. 191 5, at the age of sixty-seven, and her father is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Netzley, but still owns his home in Stevens Point. Mr. Bowersock is a veteran of the lumber woods and spent twenty-five years in that industry. Mrs. Netzley was one of five children: * Winfield ; Wallace Henry, of Milwaukee; Catherine; Bessie; and William, of Linwood Township. Six children have come into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Netzley, all still living but one. Their names arc Susan, Dorothy,

A. A. Peterson'. The time has long since gone by when the application of science to agriculture aroused doubt, and in no part of the United States has science more thoroughly revolutionized farming and its kindred industries to a greater extent than in Wisconsin. No longer in intelligently settled counties like Portage are the old methods tolerated, but, on the other hand, the wide awake farmers of this section are sending their sons to agricultural colleges and lending them to experiment stations that they may learn and be trained in the new ways of farming and stockraising. The results are apparent; the farmers accumulate wealth from their fields, their high grade stock rule the market and agriculture has become one of the most interesting professions to which men can apply themselves.

One of the modern farmers and well informed representative men of Amherst Township, Portage County, is A. A. Peterson, who resides on the farm on which he was bom September 20, 1856. In the spring of that year his parents, Adam and Anna (Broten) Peterson, came from Norway to the United States, and immediately made their way to Portage County, where Richard Peterson, a brother of Adam, had settled in 1853. The brother was a lumberman but Adam Peterson desired to secure land and found a home. Shortly afterward he bought eighty acres of timber land situated in Amherst Township, and subsequently added eighty acres and on this place he spent the rest of his life engaged in agricultural pursuits with the exception of the period when he served as a soldier in the Civil war, a valiant member of Company B. Forty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He returned to Wisconsin practically unharmed after his military service, and resumed his peaceful life on his farm and here he died in 1913. a highly respected member of his community and a faithful member of the Lutheran Church. To this church his wife, who died in July, 1897, a ' so belonged. Mr. Peterson assisted in the organization of the first Lutheran church in New Hope Township, and later contributed liberally to the church at N'elsonville.

To Adam and Anna Peterson eleven children were born, as follows: Anna, who is the wife of Carl Waller, a veteran of the Civil war; C. R., who is a farmer in Amherst Township; A. A.; Sophia, who is the wife of Edward Braskey, of Florence, Wisconsin ; Emma, who died at the age of fourteen years; Hans, who lives in Portage County; Jennie, who is the wife of John Jacobs, lives in Oregon; Hannah, who never married and died when thirty years old; Clara, who is the wife of L. E. Gordon. Jr.. of Amherst Township; Edwin, who lives in Amherst Township; and Ella, who died in infancy, the death of this babe being the first in the family.

A. A. Peterson attended school in Amherst Township and in the meanwhile helped his father like a dutiful son. In .1879 he started out for himself, going to Winnebago County. Iowa, where he engaged in farming for eighteen months and then returned home, where he spent the winter. In the spring of 1887 he returned to Iowa and bought the Rock Grove grist mill in Floyd County, and operated it very successfully for a year, when unusual weather conditions brought about a flood that carried away the dam. Mr. Peterson subsequently sold his mill interest and for a few months worked in Minnesota, and then

Mr. Peterson worked hard, as do the majority of the sturdy lumbermen, but when spring came once more he resumed farming and this has been his occupation ever since. For the following four years he rented the L. L. Loberg farm in this township, where he has always been best satisfied to live, and then bought 120 acres of his father's farm, and later bought from a brother forty more acres of the old farm, and has resided on the old homestead continuously since 1894. The comfortable farmhouse was erected by his father, but the other substantial buildings on the place he has put up as he needed them, and altogether comfort and convenience prevail. Until 1906 he was quite interested in the raising of thoroughbred stock, but this feature he has discontinued in favor of his sons, who are doing well in breeding Guernsey cattle. Mr. Peterson still manages his farm without any assistance, making use of modern machinery and operating according to improved methods. His dairy interests have long been important and in 1908 he built his fine dairy bam, a substantial structure 38 by 70 feet in dimensions.

Mr. Peterson was married in 1887 to Miss Hannah Waller, who was born in New Hope Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Abraham Waller, a well known early settler. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have five children, namely : Alice Hazel, who is the wife of Olaf Loberg, of New Hope Township; Ella Inez, who is the wife of Harry Rowc, of Scandinavia Township, Waupaca County; Arthur Henry, Elmer LeRoy and Adeline Amelia, all living at home, the last named being a student in the Amherst High School, of which her brothers are graduates. Arthur Henry is a graduate also of the Wisconsin State University, where he completed the short agricultural course, and Elmer LeRoy is a student there at present, taking the same course. They are both energetic, enterprising young men with progressive ideas. Arthur Henry is secretary of the Portage & Waupaca County Guernsey Breeders' Association, and is also secretary of the Cow Testing Association of Amherst and New Hope. Such scientific interest in one of the country's greatest industries is commendable and encouraging.

As a good citizen Mr. Peterson has always kept himself informed concerning public matters but has never been much of a politician and has never accepted any office except membership on the school board. The entire family belong to the Lutheran Church at Nelsonville.

Gf.orgf. Tardiff. A record of thirty years of clean service in the employ of the Wisconsin Central Railroad entitles George Tardiff to mention among the men who have won honorable place for themselves in the various vocations. The life of the railroad man is one which demands the most careful attention to details, absolute integrity, strict sobriety and unquestioning loyalty, and when an individual has proved himself worthy of his superiors' esteem and confidence in these directions he has established a no mean record. Mr. Tardiff started "braking" for the line with which he is now connected in 1888; today he is one of the most popular passenger conductors on the road, with a long list of friendships acquired through daily contact with the traveling public.

George Tardiff is a native son of Portage County, born December 16, 1865, on a farm in Hull Township, his parents being Nicholas and Louise (Lajoy) Tardiff. His father was born in Canada, in which country he was married, and his wife was born in Three Rivers, Lower Canada, June 20, 1835. Not long after their union they came to Portage County, where Nicholas Tardiff followed a variety of occupations, being in turn riverman, sawmill man and worker in the lumber woods, while the family was living at Jordan, and later following the same vocations at McDill, where his death occurred October 4, 1882. Mrs. Tardiff died April 11, 1892, at Stevens Point, at the age of fiftysix years, and in the faith of the Catholic Church. Mr. Tardiff was a life-long republican. There were the following children in the family : Margaret ; two daughters who died in infancy ; John ; Clemencie ; Emma; George, of this notice; Lawrence, who met his death in a sawmill accident ; and Elmer, who was killed while working as a railroad brake man.

George Tardiff was reared in Portage County and was given the educational advantages afforded by the public schools of Stevens Point and the parochial schools of the Catholic Church. When he reached young manhood he began his career as a worker in the lumber woods, but railroading held out greater attractions to him, just as it does to many youths, and in 1888 he sought and found employment as a brakeman on the Wisconsin Central Railroad. Possessed of the attributes of steadiness, reliability, courage and a quick mind, he discharged his duties faithfully and well, and as his fidelity and ability came to the notice of his superiors he was given deserved promotion. After about three years of service on the road he was promoted, September I, 1891, to the post of freight conductor, and not long thereafter was advanced to passenger conductor. During his long years of service he has gained and held the friendship of the traveling public of this section. His courtesy is unfailing and his manner always obliging, and his tact and diplomacy, so necessary in one in his position, have on a number of occasions smoothed out a troublesome situation. Mr. Tardiff is a republican. He belongs to the Order of Railway Conductors, and is likewise popular with his fellow members in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of the Maccabees. With his family he belongs to the Episcopal Church.

Mr. Tardiff was married April 2, 1891. to Miss Mary Sheerin, who was born at Xeenah, Wisconsin, November 9, 1869, a daughter of James and Almira Sheerin. Mrs. Tardiff's parents came to Stevens Point in 1873. and here Mr. Sheerin followed the trade of machinist until his death January 26, i<)02, when he was sixty-three years of age. Mrs. Sheerin passed away July 26, 1891, dying in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she had been a lifelong member. Mr. Sheerin was a democrat. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company G, Third Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of that struggle, establishing a splendid record for gallantry and fidelity and being honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tardiff: A son who died in infancy; and Rose Louise, born November 17, 1893. educated in the public schools, a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and of the Norma! School, and now the wife of James Van Rooy, proprietor of a men's furnish-

Ralph R. Meek. Among the railway men who have their homes at Stevens Point one of the best known is Ralph R. Meek, who a number of years ago began as a brakeman with the Wisconsin Central and then attained to the responsibilities of a conductor. He has his home in Stevens Point and is highly esteemed in the citizenship of that community.

Mr. Meek was born at Alma Center in Jackson County, Wisconsin. April 24, 1884. He represents some very early pioneer families of this state. His parents were George and Sarah (Harmer) Meek. His father was born in Wisconsin in 1831, when this was a territory and practically a vast wilderness from one end to the other. Sarah Harmer was born at Rosendale, Wisconsin, in 1849, only a year after Wisconsin was admitted to the Union. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harmer, were natives of England, were married there, and were also pioneers in this state. Mrs. Charles Harmer died in 1857. The Meek family is of old American stock and some of them fought as soldiers in the Revolutionary war. George Meek was an old time Wisconsin lumberman and died in 1896. In 1861 he enlisted in Company I of the Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and was all through the war, doing active duty for three years and eight months. He was at the battle of Shiloh and in many of the important battles and campaigns of that important theatre of* the rebellion. He was always a republican.

Ralph R. Meek was reared and educated at Greenwood, Wisconsin, graduating from the high school there in 1904. The very next year, in 1905, he began railroading as brakeman on the Wisconsin Central, and by his ready, prompt and efficient performance of duty was promoted to the rank of conductor in March, 1909. He is a member of the Order of Railway Conductors, and in politics is a republican.

Mr. Meek and family reside at 328 Pine Street in Stevens Point. November 29, 1906, he married Miss Bertha Masters, of Greenwood, Wisconsin, daughter of R. A. and Lizzie Masters. Her father was a business man at Greenwood and also owned a farm in Clark County. Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Meek have one son, Ralph Gordon, born February 5, 1908.

F. M. Copps. Among the prosperous and able men that have been influential in promoting the industrial and mercantile interests of Portage County especial mention should be made of E. M. Copps, of Stevens Point, head of a company that is carrying on an extensive and remunerative business, being actively engaged in the wholesale grocery trade. A son of Darius and Pamelia (Hollister) Copps, he was born in 1840 in Chautauqua County. New York, and was there bred and educated, his early life having been spent on the home farm.

On April 19, 1861, responding to Lincoln's first call for troops, E. M. Copps enlisted in Company K, First New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three months. At the expiration of his term he again entered the service as a member of the First New Hampshire Battery of Light Artillery, with which he was connected until May. 1862. when he was honorablv discharged on account of illness. Having recovered his health, Mr. Copps enlisted. September

19, 1862, in the Ninety -eighth New York Volunteer Infantry, and served with his company until after the close of the war, being discharged from the service September 15. 1865. Although he enlisted as a private he was promoted, and at the time of his discharge was captain of his company.

Remaining at home but a short time after his return from the field of battle, Mr. Copps started westward, and for a year lived and labored in Indiana. Coming from there to Wisconsin, he located in Marinette, where he found employment in a saw mill. Subsequently working as a millwright, he helped build saw mills in different places. In November, 1874, Mr. Copps settled at Stevens Point, Portage County, and for a score of years thereafter was associated with the saw and planing mill industry. He built the plant now known as the Week Mill, and the one now owned by E. j. Pnffner. at the latter place erecting its present smoke stack, which was the first brick chimney in the county.

In 1894 Mr. Copps began his mercantile career as a dealer in potatoes, establishing a trade that increased with rapidity, finally developing into the wholesale grocery business which he and his sons are now so successfully managing. In 191 1 the business was incorporated, with E. M. Copps as president; Alfred M. Copps, his son, as secretary, treasurer, and manager; and Clinton W. Copps, another son, as a member of the firm.

Mr. Copps married, in 1870, Florence A. Chandler, a native of Escanaba, Michigan, and into the household thus established seven children have been born, namely: E. E., of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Eunice F., wife of H. E. Clatlin : Alfred M. ; Clinton W. ; Dr. Lvman A., a first lieutenant in a medical corps of the United States Expeboth deceased. Although not an aspirant for political favors. Mr. Copps has served a few times in local offices. Religiously he and his family are Presbyterians. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Loyal Legion.

Roiiert Samuki. Sparks. Three generations of the Sparks family have lived in Portage County, and all qf them have been honored citizens, useful workers, and have responded to the opportunities and obligations of life in a most creditable manner. Robert Samuel Sparks represents the third generation and has given his active years to railroading, and is now chief clerk of the mechanical department of the Soo Lines at Stevens Point.

Mr. Sparks was born on a farm in Pine Grove Township of this county December 2, 1877, son of Charles F. and Mary A. (Sievright) Sparks. The family was established in Wisconsin hy his grandparents, Robert D. and Armina (Pickering) Sparks, who were natives of Pennsylvania and about 1850 settled in Washara County, Wisconsin. From there in the early Yos they moved to Pine Grove Township of Portage County, and lived in that community until they died. Robert D. Sparks was both a farmer and a Baptist minister. He served more battle of Shiloh. He died in 19H. at the advanced age of eighty-seven, having survived his wife many years. They had three children: Eugene, Scott and Charles F. Robert D. Sparks married for his

Charles F. Sparks, father of Robert S., was born in Washara County, Wisconsin, in 1858, and his wife was born in the same year in Upper Canada. He was reared on a farm and followed agricultural pursuits until about 1888, when he removed to Stevens Point and for several years was with the Wisconsin Central as a coach carpenter. For the past fifteen years he has been janitor of the Stevens Point High School. He is a republican and he and his wife are active in the Baptist Church. They had five children, all living, named Robert S., Nida, Loron, Lulu and Jessie.

Robert S. Sparks was brought to Stevens Point when about ten years old and finished his education here in the high school and in the State Normal. He began regular employment as a clerk with the Wisconsin Central Railway and for a time had charge of one of its plants at McDill. In 1910 he took his present work as chief clerk of the mechanical department of what is now the Soo Lines.

Mr. Sparks has resided at 1134 Church Street since 1906. He is a republican and has been prominent in city affairs for many years. At the age of twenty-one he was made a member of the school board and held that office until he was elected alderman from the Sixth ward, and has sat in the city council and given diligent attention to all his responsibilities for four terms. Mr. Sparks is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Beavers and his father is also a Beaver. Mr. Sparks is a member of the State Guards and is treasurer of that organization.

February 22, 1906, he married Miss Lulie Todd. Mrs. Sparks was born at Brant in Calumet County, Wisconsin, November 19. 1882, daughter of Simpson and Lulie (Jenkins) Todd, who moved to Stevens Point in 1901 and are still living in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Sparks have three children, Adelaide, Agnes and Roberta.

Andrew S. Anderson. It is coming to be quite generally understood that the important fact in estimating agricultural operations is not the extent of land covered, but the efficient and intensive manner in which the farm work is done. Thus Mr. Andrew S. Anderson on a place of eighty acres in New Hope Township has for many years made a good living, provided for his family, and is in a fair way to accumulate an ample competence aga ; nst all future needs. He has farmed with an active directing intelligence as well as with his hands and manual labor. That is the type of farmer who usually succeeds in whatever state he may be found.

Mr. Anderson was born in New Hope Township September 17, 1868. a son of Sam and Anna (Peterson) Anderson. The mother is still living, making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. The parents came to Portage County about sixty years ago. were pioneers and made their first home in the midst of the heavy woods. The father first acquired eighty acres and later another tract of eighty acres, and in the early days he did most of his farming with oxen. The nearest point at which his produce could be transported to outside markets was a river landing about thirty-five nvles away, and it meant a long and tedious journey to take a wagon drawn by oxen to and from that point. Andrew S. Anderson was second in a family of three children. His sister Emma is the wife of Captain Goodlet, a Great Lakes boat

Andrew S. Anderson grew up on the home farm and for the past thirty years has given his chief energies to his chosen vocation. He owns eighty acres, and has fifty acres of it in cultivation, the rest being in timber. All the buildings were placed here by him and he owns a fine and commodious house and a good group of barns and other improvements. He has a dairy herd of full blooded Guernsey cattle, and for a number of years has used part of his farm to grow potatoes. He is interested in the Nelsonville Creamery and the Farmers Potato Company. He has also begun the development of an apple orchard on his farm. Mr. Anderson recently resigned his positions on the town board and school board, and is ;i member of the Lutheran Church at Nelsonville.

He married Miss Carrie Nelson, a native of Dorr County, Wisconsin. Her father was a soldier in the Civil war. For many years he has drawn a pension, and is now eighty-eight years of age, and has earned the honorable retirement which he enjoys in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Three children have been born to their marriage: Maurice S., Clarence and Luella, the two younger being still at home. Maurice, who was freight agent at Iola, is now in the United States service and is a sergeant at Camp McClellan, Alabama, in the baker's and cook's school.

Chari.es Rath. When Charles Rath first came to Portage County in 1882 he was a young man of twenty-two years with little to assist him in the way of gaining a foothold save a small amount of capital and a large stock of self-confidence, determination and ability of an untrained order. To many this might not seem much upon which to build, but Mr. Rath went to work cheerfully and with supreme faith, and within the period of a few years he had himself substantially settled as an agriculturist who was making a success of his operations. Today he is accounted a well-to-do and capable farmer, and his position is one that gives him the respect and esteem of all who admire the accomplishments of self-made manhood.

Charles Rath was bom in Germany, September 15, 1859, a son of George and Katrina Rath. His parents were honest and reliable people of their community, where the father was a tailor, but were in modest circumstances, and never left their home community, passing away in their native land. They were the parents of seven children: George, Jake, John and Mike, all deceased, the last of whom fought as a soldier during the Franco-Prussian war; David, who is now retired after a long period spent in farming in Portage County; Andrew, who is also a resident of the Village of Almond ; and Charles, of this notice.

Charles Rath received only an ordinary education in the schools of his native land and much of his youth and young manhood were spent in various occupations which did not advance him materially, either in the way of position or financially. However, he managed to save enough from his earnings to e<juip himself sufficiently for a trip to the United States, the opportunities of which country he had heard spoken of so highly, and when but little past his majority he arrived at his destination, the agricultural community of Portage County, Wisconsin. Here he purchased land on June 15, 1882, in section 21,

Almond Township. This farm had been improved in a small way, and an old barn still stood as evidence of its former occupancy, but it was practically a new contract to make it a paying property. Mr. Rath had had very little experience as a farmer, practically none according to American methods, and during his early years there were times when it seemed as though his many discouragements would dishearten him completely. Perseverance and continuous labor, however, finally won out in the end, and today he is the owner of a splendid eightyacre farm, upon which stand substantial buildings of his erection, with up-to-date improvements to be found on every side. Mr. Rath is practical in his views, although progressive in his ideas. He has engaged for the most part in raising potatoes and grain, but has also followed general farming, and has had some success as a stock breeder. As a citizen he assists all good movements in his community, and among his neighbors he is known as a man of marked integrity whose standing in commercial circles is of the best.

In 1888 Mr. Rath was united in marriage with Miss Amelia Young, who was born in Almond Township and was reared on a farm, and to this union there have been born four children: William, who is married and engaged in teaching school; and Ella, Ezra D. and Mcna. who reside with their parents. The members of this family belong to the German Giurch at Almond.

Norman C. Parsons. The Parsons family has been a factor in, the prosperity and development of certain favored sections of Portage County for a long period of years. The founder of the family here was the late Oscar N. Parsons, and his old homestead in Plover Township is now occupied by his son Norman C. Parsons.

Oscar N. Parsons was born in Ohio June 28, 1837. He married in that state in 1863 Miss Jerantha Jordan, who was born in Hamilton County, New York, September 10, 1842. Oscar N. Parsons during the war had a service for three months with a national guard regiment and was stationed at Washington helping guard the capital.

On December 17, 1882, Oscar X. Parsons and family arrived in Portage County, and in February of the following year moved to the farm in Plover Township now occupied by Norman C. Parsons and his mother. Oscar X. Parsons died here June 29, 1900. He first bought sixty acres and later had 120 acres and gradually added to his accumulations until he had 200 acres under his ownership. He began farming with only twelve cleared acres and gradually expanded the area of his fields. Norman C. and Ralph W. Parsons since their father's death have added to the farm until it comprised 300 acres, but has since cut it down to 200 acres. It is one of the good farms of the county and is improved with excellent buildings.

Oscar N. Parsons was a democrat in politics. While living in Ohio his home was about ten miles from the City of Cleveland. While there he held school offices and the office of constable. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Six children were born to Oscar N. Parsons and wife. Dora, born November 14. 1864. is the wife of W. Gillman, and to their marriage have been born Chester W., Harry, Carl and two that are now deceased. Floyd and an infant. Three of the Gillman children are married. Chester Gillman married Merle Harroun. William married Edna I.awton, daughter of Charles Lawton. of Amherst.

Wisconsin. Harry Gillman married Anna Walters, and they have one child, Donald Harry, who is therefore a great-grandchild of the late Oscar N. Parsons.

Walter Parsons, the second child, was born October 28, 1866. He married Mabel Alair, and their two children are Harold and Mildred. Mabel L., the third of the family, is the wife of Max Erler, and has two children, Lois and Norman. The fourth of the family is Xorman C. Parsons. Grace D., born July 12, 1874, died in 1899, wife of Rev. Newell Chapman, by whom she was the mother of one child, Donald Paul. Ralph W., the sixth and youngest of the family, was born May 7, 1879, and died May 7, 1913, at the age of thirtyfour. He married Mabel Voigt and had two children, Oliver Nathan and Wade Ralph.

Norman C. Parsons was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, not far from the City of Cleveland, August 3, 1871, and has lived in Portage County since he was eleven years of age. He was educated in the public schools, and grew up to the life of a farmer and since attaining manhood has done a great deal to clear up and develop and extend the farm property which now constitutes the home of himself and mother. He is now a general farmer and some years ago made a specialty of pure bred Poland China hogs. In politics he is a democrat.

Edwin Ransi.ear Parks is a native son of Portage County and is manifesting the commendable virtues of his ancestry as a farmer and sturdy and thrifty citizen and is rapidly getting ahead in the world - as an agriculturist in Plover Township.

He was born in that township February 19, 1882. His father is Ranslear W. Parks, an old and prominent citizen so well known as to require hardly any introduction and concerning whose career a number of paragraphs are dedicated in other portions of this work.

Edwin R. Parks grew up on the old homestead farm and after his public school education took up agriculture as his permanent vocation. He began farming as proprietor of a hundred acres which his grandfather, Silas Parks, had acquired in the early days of Portage County. To that he added seventy-seven and a half acres and now has one of the larger farms of Plover Township and is showing his capabilities in handling his crops and good grades of livestock.

Mr. Parks has taken an active part in local affairs, especially in behalf of good roads. He has served as road commissioner three years and is now one of the five road patrolmen in Portage County. In politics he is a republican and is a member of the United Brethren Church.

Mr. Parks married in March. .1902, Miss Rose Mathewson, of Linwood Township, daughter of Henry and Letta Mathewson. Her parents were early settlers in this county and from Plover Township moved to Linwood Township. Her father died at Stevens Point in 1910, and her mother is now the wife of Rev. Mr. Bryan of Stevens Point. Mr. and Mrs. Parks have six children, all living, named Edith, Cecil. Darrell. Orville, Etta and Rubie.

son of William and Sarah Ann (Womble) Moxon. Both parents were natives of England and there spent all their days. The father died in 1916, at seventy-eight, and the widow is still living at seventythree. Their children were named George, James W., Alice, Walter, Luke, Martha and Edith, all living, showing the vitality and vigor of the stock and race. James W. Moxon was reared and educated in his native country and in 1888, at the age of twenty-one, came to America. He had learned the trade of iron moldcr in England and found employment in that line in New York for a short time, afterwards spent a few weeks at Niagara Falls, went on to St. Thomas, Canada, where he worked a year and a half, and going still farther west to Chicago took service with the Postal Telegraph Company in their construction department. Beginning work at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he helped build a line clear through to Espeming. Michigan, working both winter and summer and part of the following winter. Returning to Oshkosh, he took charge of the Star Foundry Machine Works for J. A. Barns. Later he was with the D. J. Murray Manufacturing Company at Wausau.

On August 24, 1893, Mr. Moxon married Mrs. Louis Butter, whose maiden name was Barbara Steller. Mrs. Moxon was born in Weston Township of Marathon County. Wisconsin, April 9, 1864, daughter of Nicholas and Magdalene (Kolter) Steller. Her parents were both natives of Germany, her father born in 1830 and her mother in 1834. Her mother came to this country when eighteen years of age in 1852. Her father reached New York in 1850, and they were married in Brooklyn and after about two years came west and settled in the wilds of Wisconsin. Nicholas Steller worked in a mill at Scofield and accepted land in payment for his services. He improved this land and began farming, and his old farm is now part of the city of Wausau. He died in 1894 and his widow in 1906. Their children were: Elizabeth, Catherine, now deceased, Charles, Barbara, Caroline. Bertha. Magdalene. Marie and Ida. Mrs. Moxon by her first husband had two children, Adolph and Arnold. Adolph married Florence McClarey, is now living in Chicago and has four children, Margaret. Catherine, Carl and Fred. The other son of Mrs. Moxon, Arnold, is living at home in Stevens Point and is a brakeman on the Soo Railroad.

In 1894 Mr. and Mrs. Moxon located at Stevens Point, but after a year he returned to Oshkosh and took charge of the Star Foundry Machine Works. In April, 1898, he returned to Stevens Point and this has since been his permanent home. For a time he was with the Rice Brothers Foundry on Clark Street, but after about two years went with the Central City Iron Works. He finally took charge of this plant, and kept it in active operation until 1904. Since then he has been a general contractor, making a specialty of cement work of all kinds. In 19 1 4 Mr. Moxon erected a substantial two-story cement home for himself at 902 Normal Avenue.

Mr. Moxon after getting citizenship as an American voted the republican ticket steadily for a number of years, but latterly has inclined to independence in the choice of his candidates. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 225. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Stevens Point and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Moxon have six children. Earl, who graduated from high school and normal at Stevens Point, and afterwards taught one year at Manawa and in the high school at Elroy. is now doing his bit for the Government as a member of the Ordnance Corps, sergeant and inspector of construction, stationed at Sheffield, Alabama. The second son, George, a graduate of the high school and State Normal at Stevens Point, is in the Hospital Corps and stationed on the battleship Arkansas. Magdalene is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School and is now taking a training course in the State Normal. James and Esther, twins, and the youngest daughter, Ruth, are all high school students.

Charles A. Engstrom was a railway conductor with the Wisconsin Central until an injury forced him out of that business, and with the best years of his life still ahead of him took a business career at Stevens Point, and has gained a high degree of success. He owns his place of business and is a man whose industry and ambition give every assurance of the future, as they have provided so liberally for him in the past.

Mr. Engstrom was born at Iron Mountain, Michigan, October 29, 1882, son of Andrew and Mary Engstrom. His parents were both natives of Sweden, where they married, and on coming to America located at Iron Mountain, Michigan, where they still live. His father for a number of years was identified with the mining industries of Iron Mountain, but is now a fanner. They had eight children: John, Carrie, Louis, Charles A.. Oscar, Edith, Violet and Herbert. Herbert, the youngest son, is now with the Engineering Corps of the United States Army, located at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Charles A. Engstrom grew up at Iron Mountain, attended the grammar and high schools there, and in 1903, at the age of twentyone, went to Chicago. There he began railroading as a switchman with the Pennsylvania Railway Company. In 1904 he transferred his services to the Wisconsin Central at Abbotsford, Wisconsin, and in 1908 was promoted to conductor. As conductor his headquarters and home were at Ashland. He was one of the good and reliable men of the service until injured in an accident in 1914 and obliged to give up the work. I le was secretary of the Order of Railway Conductors for some time after leaving his regular position.

In 191 1 Mr. Engstrom came to Stevens Point and opened a bowling and billiard hall located at 11 14 Division Street. For the past three years he has also engaged in the manufacture of extracts, and is rapidly building this up as an important local industry.

Mr. Engstrom and family live in one of the comfortable homes of the city at 315 Center Avenue. In politics he is a democrat and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Mystic Workers. His church home is the Presbyterian. In 1910 he married Miss Elsie English, of Ashland, Wisconsin. They have four children. Charles Herbert. Marvin, Howard and Elsie.

Emil W. Neumann has lived a career that entitles him to a place of honor and respect among the citizens of Portage County. He was born here, grew to manhood here, and his active life has beeji one of capable industry and business activity at Stevens Point.

Mr. Neumann was born in Stevens Point October 16. 1867. At the time of his birth his parents. Philip and Amanda (Timm) Neumann, lived on North Third Street. Roth parents were natives of

Germany. His father was born November 20, 1840, and his mother May 23, 1844. Philip Neumann was about fourteen years old and had just completed his education in the German common schools when he set out for America in company with an uncle, Adam Kuhl. A few years later, in the '50s, he came to Stevens Point, and on October 25, 1861, went forth from this locality as one of the new recruits to fight the battles of the Union. He was enrolled in Company H of the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry, and was in active service from the fall of 1861 until December 3, 1864. In 1863 he was promoted to sergeant, and in one battle he was wounded and was in a hospital. From the war Mr. Neumann came back to Stevens Point, and resumed work at his trade as a cabinetmaker. From that he soon went into the meat business. After about six years he removed to Oshkosh and with his brother-in-law, Gottlieb Ecke, engaged in the brewing business. That was only a temporary occupation, however, and in a few years he returned to Stevens Point and resumed the meat business, having charge of the Benjamin Burr meat market on the south side. He kept up his work there steadily until his death on April 8, 1891. He was one of the highly honored and respected citizens of Stevens Point both for his army record and his record as a private citizen. On February 7, 1865, Philip Neumann and Amanda Timm were united in marriage. She had come from Germany to the United States when about ten years old in 1854, her parents.. Paul and Marie (Krysin ) Timm, first locating at Oshkosh, and then on a farm near Weyauwega, where they spent the rest of their days. Her father died May 13. 1873, when seventy-one years old, and her mother, on November 10, 1866, when sixty-one years old.

Philip and Amanda Neumann had a large family of children. The oldest, Otto Neumann, was born December 22, 1866, at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He married Flora Opperman, and their children are Raymond, Myron A., Beulah, Thelma and Lucille. Emil W. had a twin brother, Oscar, who died November 5, 1889, at the age of twentyone. The next children. Paul and Olga. were also twins. Thev were born August 14, 187 1, at Oshkosh. Paul, who was with the United States Army in the Spanish-American war, is now a resident of Eldorado. Kansas, and by his marriage to Theresa Podach he has two children, Janet and Franz. Olga, twin sister of Paul, was educated in the Stevens Point High School and is now living with her mother at 210 North Third Street in Stevens Point, the home in which the family have resided for over thirty-five years. Edwin, the next in order of birth, was born April 14. 1874. at Oshkosh and is now connected with the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Works at North Milwaukee. He married Angeline Cronkhite and has two children. Ruth and Philip. Alma, the youngest of the family, born March 28, 1879, at Stevens Point, is the wife of W. E. Gilkey, an oil man at Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Mrs. Gilkey is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School, 1895, and also a graduate of the Stevens Point Business College.

Emil W. Neumann was reared and educated in Stevens Point, attended public school here, and as a youth did his first regular work as a teamster and employe of the livery firm of Ball & Finch. For the past twenty years he has been in the transfer and livery business for himself, and' for eleven years of that time has also conducted an ice storage and distribution business. About 1908 the firm became Read- ing & Neumann, and they have a large amount of capital and facilities invested in general storage, transfer, moving and in handling and storage of ice. Their headquarters are at 210 North Third btreet. Mr. Neumann resides at 410 Normal Avenue and has one of the modern homes of the city there.

He is independent in politics. He has served as undersheriff of the county and at one time was chief of the fire department of Stevens Point.

November 12, 1910, Mr. Neumann married Miss Bertha Lee, who was born in Norway June 11, 1872. Her parents died in the old country and she was brought to Portage County, Wisconsin, when only eight years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Neumann have no children.

George B. Nelson. During his membership in the bar of Portage County George B. Nelson has won an enviable reputation not only for his careful and able handling of the various interests entrusted to him in general practice, but also through his vigorous official record while district attorney and in various other positions of trust and responsibility.

He was born at Amherst in Portage County May 21, 1876, a son of James J. and Juniata P. (Andrews) Nelson. His father was bom in Norway and his mother in Janesville, Wisconsin. James J. Nelson, who came to the United States in 1857, served in the Civil war, and afterward, in 1866, located at Amherst and for thirty years was a prosperous general merchant of that town. He retired from business in 1899, but he and his wife arc still living there, enjoying good health and are most estimable members of the community. They have three children: Herbert S., George B. and Laura P. Kellogg.

George B. Nelson had his early education in the public schools of Amherst. He is a graduate of the Stevens Point High School, completed his literary course in the University of Wisconsin with the class of 1898, and from there went east and combined the advantages of life in the national capital with those of the splendid law school of George Washington . University at Washington, from which he graduated in 1902 with the degree LL. B.

Mr. Nelson began practice at Stevens Point in 1904. Early in his career as a lawyer he was elected district attorney and filled that office six years. It was a valuable experience to him, but an even greater source of value and benefit to the entire county since the office in his hands became an effective instrument for the meting out of impartial and vigorous justice. Mr. Nelson is now senior member of the firm Nelson & Hanna, and besides general practice they represent some of the leading corporations and business houses of Portage County. Mr. Nelson is a director of the Citizens National Bank of Stevens Point.

On April 16. 191 2, he married Miss Ruth Weller. daughter of Bishop R. H. Weller, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They have one child, James J. Mrs. Nelson's father, Reginald H. Weller, was born in Missouri in 1857, received his literary education in various institutions of the South and in 1884 graduated from the Nashotah Theological Seminar)' in Wisconsin. He was ordained a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1880 and a priest in 1884, and during his long service as a pastor he was in charge of the Stevens Point Episcopal Church from 1890 to 1900. In 1900 he was consecrated coad-

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active members of the Episcopal Church, and he has served two terms as a regent of the Stevens Point Normal School and is now president of the Board of Regents. Mr. Nelson is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, member of the Elks and Modern Woodmen of America, belongs to the Rotary Club, and is affiliated with the Theta Delta Chi college fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi honorary law fraternity.

August A. Ki.uck, Jr. One of the good farms of Sharon Township has received the care, cultivation and diligent labor of the Kluck family for about half a century. This farm is owned by August A. Kluck, Jr., who grew up there, and has supplemented the diligence of his father in perfecting arrangements and equipment until he now has a place that affords the maximum of returns for the labor involved.

On this farm August A. Kluck, Jr.. was born in December, 1875. He is a son of August and Mary (Esker) Kluck, both natives of Poland. His father was born February 27, 1840. and the mother in 1848. The paternal grandparents, Andrew and Annie Kluck, immigrated to America and arrived in Canada July 24, 186 1. In November of the same year they removed to Milwaukee, the grandmother following her husband in 1862. She died in Milwaukee in 1862, when about sixty years of age. Andrew Kluck then came to Portage County and died here about 1880. at the age of eighty-four. Their children were John, Leonard, Vincent, Michael, August, Julia and Paulina. The only two now living are August and Paulina." The son Michael died in Poland.

August Kluck, Sr., accompanied the family to America and about three years after locating at Milwaukee he enlisted and fought for the Union cause. His enlistment was on October 28, 1864, and he served until the close of the war. In 1865 he returned to Milwaukee, married in the same year and took his bride to Portage County in the fall of 1865. His wife was a daughter of Peter and Agnes Esker, who located at Milwaukee in 1862 and in 1865 came to Portage County, buying a farm in Sharon Township. Both lived there until the end of their fives. The children in the Esker family were Nick, Mary, Annie and Paulina.^ Paulina is now deceased.

August Kluck, Sr., on coming to Portage County bought eighty acres as the nucleus of the farm which has been above described. Later he acquired 120 acres and ten acres of this have since been sold, leaving the present place of 190 acres. Only eleven acres of the ground had been cleared when the senior Kluck acquired it, and he brought his family to live in a log house. The land for cultivation has since been widened over most of the farm, and the buildings are all first class. Mr. Kluck, Sr., is a democrat and he and his family are members of the Polish Catholic Giurch at I'olonia. Fourteen children were born to him and his wife named : John, Nick. Alexander. Frank. Anastasia, Helen, August, Mary, Annie. Joseph. Leo. Maggie, Martha and Veronia. All are still living except John, the first child. August Kluck. Sr., in the early days served as side supervisor of the township, and later for about thirteen years was chairman and director of the School Board.

in parochial schools. In 1903 he bought the old homestead from his father and now has the responsibility of looking after 190 acres devoted to general farming and stock raising. He is a democrat in politics and a member of the Polish Catholic Church at Polonia. In 1903 Mr. Kluck married Miss Josie Wanta. She is a native of Sharon Township, born in 1880, daughter of Joseph and Kate Wanta, who are still living on their home farm in Sharon Township. Mr. and Mrs. Kluck have a bright and interesting family of eight children, named: Frances, Georgiana, Richard, Alphonse, John, Margaret, Stancye and Louise.

Christian Hanson*. There is hardly any name more closely associated with the larger interests of Portage County than that of Hanson. As a family the people of that name have lived here from the days of pioneer beginnings and have always borne a most sturdy and responsible share of duties, whether as developers of the soil, as lumbermen, as business men in general or as good and faithful citizens.

In the shadow of his eightieth year Christian Hanson, founder of the family, passed to his final reward, dying on the 18th of April, 1918. He lived in close touch with rural conditions and environment at Amherst Junction, and for upwards of half a century he carried on his activities as a farmer in New Hope Township.

Mr. Hanson was born at Hillested, Denmark, April 17, 1839, a son of Hans and Christian (Jorgenson) Jorgenson. His parents were both born in the same locality, his father in 1786 and his mother in 1803. His father spent most of his life as a farm hand in Denmark and died there in 1852. His wife died in 1843. In the family were five children: Jorgcn, who died in Denmark at the age of fourteen; Anna and Else, both of whom died young; Christian; and Anna, second of the name, who became the wife of N. Rasmuson and came to America in 1868, settling at Farmington in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, where she died in 1869.

Christian Hanson had a good common school education according to the standards of the time in which he was reared. His school days were ended about the time he reached his fourteenth year. After that he became self supporting, hiring out to work as a farm hand and getting two dollars a month for all the varied duties he performed. The wages were never an important asset measured by modern wages, but the eight or nine years he worked on farms in Denmark constituted a splendid apprenticeship and gave him a thorough mastery of the fundamentals, though he had to apply them on a vastly different scale when he came to Wisconsin. At the age of twenty-three he was only getting five dollars a month for his services, and with no brighter prospects ahead he determined to seek the big opportunities concerning which he had received such glowing reports as found in America.

In 1863, inspired with the hope of better things and with the zest of the explorer who desires to know and conquer new fields, Mr. Hanson came to America, leaving Hamburg, Germany, on a merchant vessel bound for Hull. England, proceeding across England by railroad to Liverpool and there taking passage on the steamship Bohemia of the Montreal Steamship Company line. This landed him at Quebec and four weeks after leaving home he arrived in Waupaca County, Wisconsin. He reached here with twelve dollars in his pocket. The day of his arrival was the sixth of October, and almost immediately he established a connection with the employing class and engaged to work as a farm hand at fifty cents a day. After two weeks he went to Lind Township of Waupaca County and put in a couple of weeks working for his board, cutting wood and doing other chores for the privilege of attending school. Later his wages were advanced to thirteen dollars a month and board at farm labor, and as a farm hand he worked in Waupaca and other localities until coming to Stevens Point.

Here Mr. Hanson was entrusted with the responsibility of taking a raft of lumber down the river from Wausau to St. Louis. On reaching Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, the timbers became wedged and he was compelled to abandon the raft and return home. Later he worked in a sawmill at Port Edwards, Wisconsin, for a couple of summers and spent the winters in the woods.

In the meantime he was picking up knowledge rapidly of American life and customs and was getting into a position where he could realize upon the varied experience he had been through. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Hanson moved into New Hope Township of Portage County, and bought the land which constituted his farm. Of the 120 acres only twenty-seven acres had been cleared and put into cultivation, and the work of further improving it received his attention and labors through all the half century that elapsed. All the present commodious buildings were erected during the ownership and under the direct supervision of Mr. Hanson. The farm is pleasantly situated on the border of a beautiful lake, and its attractiveness as well as its productivity and value can hardly be surpassed by any farm in the neighborhood or in the entire county.

On April 13, 1866, at Waupaca, Christian Hanson married Miss Frederica Behm. She is also a native of Hillested, Denmark, where she was born September 29, 1840, daughter of Ludwig and Margaret (Paulson) Behm. The Behm family immigrated to America and traveled on the same vessel across the ocean which brought Mr. Christian Hanson, and it was during that voyage that the two young people developed the romance which later united them as man and wife. The Behm family located in Lind Township of Waupaca Countv. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Hanson are : Paul, Frederick, Christian, Marcus, Christina, Hannah and Maria.

Mr. and Mrs. Christian Hanson became the parents of six children: Hans Christian Ludwig, born February 25. 1868, who went to Alaska in the spring of 1895; Maria Sophia, born April 20, 1870, wife of John Hanson, a farmer near Waupaca; Marcus Knute, born December 6. 1872, mentioned elsewhere in this publication; Anna Margaret, born May 27, 1878; Olive Christine, born February 6, 1880; and Nels Peter, born August 11, 1883.

After acquiring American citizenship Mr. Christian Hanson was always a sound republican in political doctrine. He served six years as township treasurer, township clerk ten years, and as township chairman two years. He was assessor one year and for twenty-four years was justice of the peace. He was also one of the organizers of The New Hope Norwegian Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1886 and was its secretary for twenty-three years. This is a splendid public career, none of the offices having given him state wide prominence, but all of them constituting real honor and indicating the esteem in which his worthy citizenship was held in his community. Mr. Hanson

Marcus K. Hanson. Hardly any of the important activities and organizations of New Hope Township could be mentioned with which the name Marcus K. Hanson is not connected in some important way. Mr. Hanson is a successful and thrifty fanner, but has shown unusual business capacity and it is only necessary to mention his varied interests to indicate the substantial position of esteem he enjoys in this county.

Mr. Hanson was for two years township clerk, then for two years township chairman, and later was again elected township clerk and has held that office continuously for a number of years. For a time he was also a justice of the peace. He is now secretary of the Portage County Co-operative Society, an organization which has done much to promote the interests of the producing farmers of the county and has secured many satisfactory adjustments of market and buying conditions. Mr. Hanson has been secretary since the organization. For twelve years he was treasurer of the New Hope Norwegian Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in 1917 was elected its secretary. He was also one of the first subscribers to the Amherst Telephone Company and has always been a director of the company and for two years was its president. For some time he was director of the Security Bank at Amherst Junction, and is now president of that substantial institution.

Mr. Hanson was born in New Hope Township December 6, 1872, a son of Christian and Fredericka (Behm) Hanson, both natives of Denmark. Mr. Hanson grew up in his native county, and besides the local public schools he attended Scandinavia Academy. Farming has been his regular vocation since early manhood, and in partnership with his father-in-law, Hans P. Johnson, he now has the active operation of 240 acres. He and his family are members of the old New Hope Lutheran Church.

December 22, 1895, Mr. Hanson married Miss Ivanna Johnson, who was born on the farm where she still lives October 24, i8f>8, the only daughter and child of Hans P. Johnson.

Hans P. Johnson has for upwards of half a century occupied a substantial position in the community. He was born in Norway June 18, 1845, a son of John and Mary (Anderson) Johnson. In 1854, when he was nine years of age, the family came to America and in August of the same year located on the farm now owned by Hans P. Johnson in New Hope Township. John Johnson at that time entered 160 acres from the Government. There were no improvements and no buildings, and in fact the Johnsons were members of practically the first colony to come into the township and establish permanent homes. Two other families had preceded them a short time, and the Johnsons with Thomas Onland made the third and fourth families in the township. John Johnson was a fine type of the sturdy pioneer, and his industry enabled him. to clear away some of the land for cultivation and he erected the first buildings. However, most of the clearing was left to his son Hans, who also is responsible for the group of modern building improvements that now lend attractiveness and value to the farm. The year following the advent of the Johnson family to this locality Hans P. Johnson, then a boy of ten years, put his strength to test in breaking up a considerable acreage, which he sowed to wheat, and later on in the same season harvested the grain with a cradle. John Johnson and wife remained on this farm the rest of their years. The mother died about thirty years ago and the father twenty years ago. His name is on the list of organizing or charter members of the old New Hope Lutheran Church. In the family were six children: John A. Walding, Caroline, Anna Maria, Voleta, Hans P. and Severina. They are all still living, and all reside within a few miles of each other.

Hans P. Johnson had a little schooling in his native land, and after coming to Portage County he attended a neighborhood school in which his father had a part in the organization. While his acquaintance with books was limited, Mr. Johnson has always been inured to the value and necessity of honest toil, and has used sound intelligence in all his work so that his enviable prosperity is not to be accounted for by chance or luck. He has always lived on the original farm and increased its size by the purchase of twenty acres, so that the place now has 180 acres.

December 22, 1867, Mr. Johnson married Miss Oline Berge. She was bom in Norway, daughter of Peter and Ingeborg (Hanson) Olson Berge. Her family came to America in 1857, locating in New Hope Township after spending about two years in Scandinavia Township of Waupaca County. They located in Portage County about 1859 and her father bought eighty acres of Fox River land. The last thirty years of their lives, however, were spent on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, where a house was built especially for their convenience and comfort. Her father died there at the advanced age of ninety- four. After settling in the county her father cleared up about thirty-five acres of his eighty-acre farm, and erected the first building improvements on the wild land.

Mr. Johnson has taken an active part in local affairs, has served as township supervisor and for about thirty years was path master. He also assisted in organizing the local Co-operative Company.

Marion A. Fleming. Farming and stock raising in Portage County have proved very profitable to men who have given intelligent attention to these kindred industries, and it is not unusual to find evidences of this in many sections. One of the enterprising agriculturists of Amherst Township, who owns a fine body of well cultivated land and a magnificent herd of sleek Jersey cattle, is Marion A. Fleming, who is a representative of one of the old pioneer families that came here in the early '50s.

Marion A. Fleming was born in Amherst Township, Portage County, Wisconsin, July 9, i860. His parents were Benjamin and Anna (Loing) Fleming, who were born, reared and married in Pennsylvania. From that state they came to Portage County in 1855 an< ^ Benjamin Fleming took up Government land in Amherst Township, which he cleared and developed, and this remained the permanent family home. He was an industrious, self respecting man and proved his loyalty to his country by enlisting for service in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company B, Forty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He survived the war and carried on farming until his death. Rut one of his five children grew to maturity.

his life. He received his educational training in the public schools and from youth has been interested in farm pursuits. He owns a valuable tract of eighty acres, which adjoins the village of Amherst on the south. Mr. Fleming carries on his farm operations according to modern methods, with the sensible idea of meeting modern demands, for at no time in the world's history have farm products been held so indispensable. It is his judgment that Jersey cattle are the most profitable in this section of the country, and his herds are in prime condition.

Mr. Fleming was married in 1899 to Miss Mary Smith, who was born in Amherst Township and is a daughter of Casper and Amelia (Vehmeir) Smith. The mother of Mrs. Fleming was born in Germany and came from that country to America in 1853 and to Portage County in 1865. The father of Mrs. Fleming is a substantial farmer in Portage County and is one of the honored veterans of the Civil war. In the early days of the rebellion he enlisted at Lake Mills, Wisconsin, in Company D, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in which he served with conspicuous bravery for three years. He escaped all serious injury and after the war returned to his home in Amherst.

Mr. and Mrs. Fleming have had children as follows: Florence Joy, Francis M., Benjamin G, Florence A. and Mariorie. Of this family the eldest and youngest are deceased. Fraternally Mr. Fleming is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Equitable Fraternal Union. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

While farming has always been Mr. Fleming's main business, he has additional interests which claim a part of his time and attention. For the last fourteen years he has been engaged in selling life insurance as a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company of New York, an organization that offers, because of its high commercial standing and vast assets, very superior advantages to those it insures, and Mr. Fleming is highly regarded by the company for his success in this field. He has been active also in politics in the township and since 191 2 has been township clerk. Few citizens of Amherst arc better known over the county and none are held in higher esteem.

Sylvester W. Andrews, a retired resident of Stevens Point, has had a long and notable life, is a veteran of the Union Army, and has lived in Portage County since earliest pioneer times.

He was born in Schoharie County, New York, October 9, 1840, son of Paul and Elizabeth (Shumway) Andrew. Both parents were natives of New York State. It was in 1842, when Sylvester was two years old, that the Andrews family journeyed west through the avenues of the wilderness until they arrived in Wisconsin. Their first settlement was near Janesville, where they spent one winter, and in 1843 moved to Sauk Prairie in Sauk County. There the father rented a farm, but subsequently moved to Richland County, Wisconsin, and bought 120 acres of land. This he developed as a good farm and lived on it for nine years, when, selling out, he came to Stevens Point in 1854. From that time forward he spent most of his time on the river, and was well known among all the old lumbermen, river men and as well among other classes of citizens in Portage County. The death of this honored old timer occurred in April, 1903, when* he was eighty-two years of age. His wife died in 1900, aged seventy-eight. Their children were Sylvester W., Jeremiah, James and Elizabeth, the

In 1864 he enlisted in Company D of the Fifth Wisconsin Infantry, and was a fighting soldier of the' Union until the close of hostilities. In early life he had been a Methodist, but later was a United Brethren in church faith.

Sylvester W. Andrews had his educational advantages in the primitive log schools of the '40s and '50s in Wisconsin. He grew up as a frontiersman and when only a boy developed a singular skill in piloting boats and lumber rafts down the rivers. On November 2, 1856, he came to Stevens Point, and for many years followed the river as his regular vocation. Mr. Andrews has had his home in one location at Stevens Point. 110 Algona Street, for the past thirty-two years and built the comfortable home there himself.

In the flush of young manhood he joined the same company and regiment for service in the Union Army as his father, and both of them went out together and came back together after having loyally served their time. A brother of Sylvester, Jeremiah, had enlisted in 1 86 1 in Company E of the Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and was a soldier for more than three years, being at the great battle of Shiloh as well as many others. The Civil war record of the family would be incomplete without reference to the wife of Sylvester W. Andrews, whose brother, John Topping, was in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Rappahannock. Virginia.

Besides his work on the farm Mr. Andrews has had numerous business interests to look after and claim a share of his attention. For several years he conducted a moving picture show at Superior, Wisconsin. He owns some valuable real estate, including two acres of land well within the city limits of Stevens Point and also three city lots where he lives. He is an active member of the prohibitionist party and is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the Knights of Malta. He and his family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Januarv 8, 186}. Mr. Andrews married Miss Lucy Topping. She was" born m New York State July 15, 1840, daughter of Richard and Hannah (Shufelt) Topping. Her father was a native of Galloway. New York, and her mother of Schoharie County. New York. Her father died in New York State at the age of seventy and her mother passed away in Stockton Township of Portage County aged seventysix. In the Topping family were ten children: Sanford. John. James, Fay. Catherine, twin sons that died in infancy, Lucy Ann, Tryphcna and Yolney.

It remains now to note briefly the six children who comprise the family of this honored old time resident of Stevens Point. Rita, the oldest, is the widow of Eugene A. Sherman, of .Stevens Point. Ida married Bert Skalityky. and their family of seven children, all living, are named Lizzie. Arthur, Evan, Leonard, Robbie. Edna and Ethel, twins. The third child of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews is Minnie, wife of W. S. Lewis and her five children are Walter. Raymond, Catherine and Lucy, twins, and Willie. Annie, the fourth of the family, married Henry Macklin, and her children are Angie. Ruth. Harry. Lee and Marjorie. The fifth is Clarence, who married Beulah Hall, and had five children. Ivan, now deceased. Lawrence. Leora. Jean, and Ethline

Rev. Stanislaus A. Elbert has been an effective worker among the Catholic churches of Central Wisconsin for twenty-two years, is the beloved pastor of St. Peter's Church, one of the largest congregations in Stevens Point, and has distinguished himself as a man of exceptional enterprise, business judgment, administrative power and one whose influence has been effective among all classes of people, not alone in his own church.

Father Elbert was born in Prussian Poland January I, 1869. His parents died in their native land, and the boy was left practically resourceless as well as an orphan. In 1880, when eleven years old, he came to the United States with a friend. In this country he attended public school in Baltimore, Maryland, and was finally initiated in St. Charles College of Maryland, from which he graduated, and on December 19. 1896, finished his theological course in St. Mary's Seminary at Haltimore. For one year he was assistant pastor in Baltimore, and in 1898 came to Wisconsin, being assigned as pastor of St. Bronislaw Church at Plover in Portage County. He was there until 1902, when he became pastor of St. Michael's Church at Wausau for a year and a half, was pastor of the Sacred Heart Church at Marinette four and one-half years, in May, 1909, returned to Portage County, located at Faucher, and on December. 12th of the same year took up his present responsibilities as pastor of St. Peter's Church.

His administration here has been one notable in many ways. He has been especially efficient in handling the finances and making material improvements in the parish property. These improvements have aggregated a value of $30,000. They include the pastoral residence, the painting and improving of the church, addition to church, establishment of heating facilities, and the purchase of twenty acres, plotted and fenced, for a new Catholic cemetery. Father Elbert is one of the most enterprising men of Stevens Point, is very liberal in his work, and has made friends throughout the entire county.

Harry L. Slack. Around the Village of Plover may be found some of the most progressive and reliable farmer citizens of Portage County. One of these is Harry L. Slack, whose life has been almost entirely spent in this locality, and who as a hard working young man has been successful beyond his own expectations. He has relied chiefly upon himself, has made opportunities when none presented themselves, and is accorded a high standing in his neighborhood. Everything he does he does well.

Mr. Slack was born in Buena Vista Township of Portage County August 6. 1882, son of Perry and Jennie (Crary) Slack. His parents were both natives of Broome County, New York. His father was born there in January. 1843, and his mother in October, 1853. His mother is a daughter of Abe and Catherine Crary. who came from New York State to Portage County and settled on a farm in Buena Vista Township. Abe Crary died in the Village of Plover in 1891 and his wife is also deceased. Abe Crary saw four years of active service as a Union soldier in the Civil war.

Perry Slack, on coming to Portage County bought a farm in Buena Vista, and later acquired 140 acres in Plover Township. He sold that vol. n - is place and bought eighty acres where his son Harry now lives, and somewhat later moved to McDill, where he owned a small farm of forty acres for several years, but is now living retired in that village. He is a republican and a member of the United Brethren Church. Perry Stack and wife had a large family of children named as follows: Sarah, Charles, Mary, Harry L-, Lucy, Ralph, Wallace, Ida, Edward, Myrtle, Clayton and Earl. There were thirteen altogether and those now deceased are Mary, Ralph and Wallace. There were three chilren named Wallace, the first dying in infancy. The son Clayton is now in the National Army and at this writing is in training at Camp Grant, Illinois.

Harry L. Slack grew up on his father's farm and had a country school education. He has given the best of his energies to fanning for the past fifteen years and in 1910 he bought the farm in Plover Township from his father and has done a great deal to improve the land and make it productive and valuable both as a farm and a home. He cleared up fifty acres from a wild condition and has erected a splendid group of farm buildings. His barn is 30 by t;o feet with i6-foot posts, and another notable feature indicating his progressiveness in agricultural matters is a large silo 10 by 30 feet, five feet being underground. Mr. Slack does general farming and stock raising. In politics he votes as a republican.

November 25, 191 5, he married Miss Nettie Clussman, who was born in Plover Township June 22, 1896. daughter of William M. Clussman, of Plover Township. Mr. and Mrs. Slack have one daughter. Trelma, born August 28. 1917.

Reton Brothers is one of the oldest and best known mercantile houses of Stevens Point. It was established in 1886, and the business has been constantly growing and expanding. Both brothers, Niels and John, are practical jewelers and opticians and optometrists, and they began business here chiefly as jewelers. From time to time they have added other departments to their business until they now handle china ware and sporting goods, talking machines and records, and have all the facilities for thorough prompt service in these various lines.

The brothers arc sons of Ole and Gunield (Fng) Refon, both natives of Norway. The father was born there in 1837 and the mother in 1 852. they were married in Norway and in i8f»8 came to Portage County, Wisconsin, locating on a farm in New Hope Township, where they remained a short time and in 1870 moved to Stevens Point, which was their permanent home. The mother died there in 1896. From 1883 to 1885 Ole Reton spent in Bcllingham, Washington, where he took up a homestead. He went to Norway in 1898, and again in 1902 went back to his native country and spent about two years. 1-ater he removed to California, where he died May 21, 1907. He was a highly esteemed citizen of Portage County, and in the early days his home was headquarters for nearly all the newcomers from Norway and he cheerfully gave his experience, judgment and other forms of helpfulness to them in getting started and in accommodating themselves to American conditions. He was exceedingly kind and very liberal, and he put himself out for the benefit of many people at considerable sacrifice to himself. He and his wife were active members of the Lutheran church. Their children were: Niels;

Niels Reton was born in Norway October 15, 1865. He was only three years of age when his parents came to America, and at Stevens Point he received his early education in the grammar and high schools. When only fifteen he began learning the jewelry trade and at the end of four years bought a small stock and started in business for himself. Then, in 1886, his brother John joined him in the firm of Reton Brothers. In 1892 they built a brick building 100x28 feet at 439 Main Street, and on the lower floor they have the headquarters of their business, which has been carried on very successfully. On the second floor is what is known as Reton's Hall, a well known place of assemblage in Stevens Point. Niels Reton is a republican in politics and a member of the Lutheran Church. He is unmarried.

John Reton was born in Norway September 16, 1867, and was brought as a small infant to Portage County. He was educated in the public schools of Stevens Point and was also thirteen years old when le began learning the jeweler's trade. In 1895 he married Elizabeth Malone, of Wausau, Wisconsin. Their only child, Mabel, was born August 7, 1896, graduated from the Stevens Point High School and from the State Normal School in 191 7, and is now doing special work in normal school. John Reton is a republican in politics.

Moritz Krembs, D. D. S. A member of one of the most prominent families of Stevens Point, Dr. Moritz Krembs has spent nearly all his life in that city and returned here ten years ago to take up the practice of dentistry, for which he was thoroughly trained and qualified, and has carried on his profession with a high degree of skill and success ever since.

Doctor Krembs was born at Stevens Point December 23, 1885, a son of Alexander Krembs, a citizen whose career is mentioned elsewhere. Doctor Krembs was educated in the grammar and high schools of Stevens Point and took his literary education in Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana, and in 1908 graduated from Northwestern University Dental School of Chicago. Since then he has been giving his services to an ever widening group of patrons at Stevens Point. He has a large circle of friends, and has taken a considerable interest in local politics as a democrat. At one time he represented the Fifth Ward in the City Council. He is a member of the Catholic church, the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Loyal Order of Moose. In 1909 Doctor Krembs married Hazel Clark of Stevens Point.

Linus Myron Sherman. Some of the earliest settlements of Portage County were made in Buena Vista Township, and it is one of the oldest families there that is represented by Linus Myron Sherman. Mr. Sherman is himself a native of Portage County and is now living on part of the old homestead where he was born.

He was bom January 13, 1862, son of Augustus and Almira (Webster) Sherman. Wisconsin had been a state only a few years when the Sherman family came here. His paternal grandfather. Harvey Hatch Sherman, was born at Knox in the State of Maine December 27, 1809. He married Eliza Didley Dola, who was born November 11. 1814, and died April 20, 1865. Harvey H. Sherman first came to

Madison, Wisconsin, in 1855 and established a store there. Later he went back to Maine, and then returned to Dane County. Wisconsin, where he lived until his death at Windsor on April 19, 1888. Augustus Sherman was born at Knox, Maine, February 2, 1836, and had not yet attained his majority when he came with his parents to Wisconsin. He spent a few years in Dane County, and from there came to Portage County when it is was largely a wilderness and acquired eighty acres in Buena Vista Township. He was one of the successful men of his day in agricultural operations, and acquired a fine estate of 330 acres. He was always an ardent republican in politics, and in 1863 enlisted in the Union army and saw eighteen months of active service before his discharge. At one time he served as assessor of Buena Vista Township and was a member of the Grand Army Post of Plover.

His wife, Almira Webster, was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, May 14, 1838, daughter of Linus and Sophia Webster, an old family of Portage County elsewhere referred to. She died March 14, 1903, the mother of nine children : Linus and Harvey Byron, twins, Porter Ebenezer, Solon Hatch. Eliza Sophia, Heman. Fannie Jane, Hattie Jane and Berton Leon. Fannie Jane married Walter Haroun, and both arc now deceased. One of their two children, Violet, married Lem Burke, now living at Stevens Point. Harvey William, the other son of this sister, has always lived with his uncle, Linus M. Sherman, who is a bachelor. Mr. Sherman's brother, Solon Hatch Sherman, served as a soldier in the Spanish-American war and is still living in Buena Vista Township.

Linus M. Sherman grew up in Buena Vista Township, attended the public schools, and aside from about two years of work on the county roads has always been a practical farmer. His energetic operations arc now conducted on a place of 252 acres, a portion being land owned by his father and the rest the old Jacob Meyers estate. Mr. Sherman is a republican voter, but has never sought office. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Henry Anton Wimme. The career of Henry Anton Wimme, of Nelsonville, has been one in which his energies have found an outlet in various lines of endeavor, and in which he has shown his versatility by making a success of a number of occupations, some of them widely separated in their form. Whatever he has set out to do he has done with his whole heart, and this energetic and persistent application of his abilities has resulted in the attainment of a satisfying success when still at an age when many men are just getting under way in their struggle for independence.

Henry Anton Wimme was born on a farm in New Hope Township. Portage County. Wisconsin, in 1872, and is a son of Gunder Olson and Bertha Helen (Ramhcck) Wcmme. The original family name was spelled Wcmme, but has been changed by the subject of this review. The paternal grandfather was Ole Wemme, who, after the death of his wife, Jngeborg, in Norway, immigrated to the United States and located in Portage County, where he passed the rest of his life in farming. His son. Gunder O. Wemme. was born in Norway and accompanied his father to this country, and after an experiment in farming turntd his attention to the plastering business, which he followed with success for a period of forty-five years. Mrs. Wemme was also born in Norway and came to America as a young woman with her parents.

Henry Anton Wimme received his education in the district schools of Portage County, and as a youth devoted himself to learning the plasterer's trade under his father. When he was twenty years of age he left the parental roof to strike out for himself, at that time going to Hamlin County, South Dakota, where he started fanning. In iffy) or 1900 he went to Racine, Wisconsin, where he secured a position with the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Comjany. and for nearly a year was employed in the shops of this concern, thus becoming thoroughly familiar with the mechanism of this kind of machinery, a knowledge that was extremely valuable to him in later years, for he spent nineteen profitable fall' seasons in the threshing business. For eight years he also worked in the lumber woods and sawmills during the winter months in the vicinity of Xelsonville, traveling back and forth between Wisconsin and the Dakotas. In 1907 he went to Grand Forks County, North Dakota, where he engaged in threshing, and in 1908 went to Canada and homesteaded 160 acres of land in Kuroki, Saskatchewan, living there for four years and going hack to North Dakota each season to operate his threshing outfit. In the spring of 191 1 Mr. Wimme proved up on his claim, and in that year came to Xelsonville, where he engaged in the hardware business in partnership with his father-inlaw, George S. Diver, under the firm style of Wimme & Diver. Mr Wimme has continued his energetic methods of procedure in his work, and his enthusiasm, spirit, initiative and resource have done much to make this business the big success that it is. A handsome, well-selected and complete stock of shelf and heavy hardware is carried, and a large and representative patronage has been secured among the people of this part of the county. Mr. Wimme is what is known in business and civic circles as a "live wire." In spite of the fact that his business interests are large and take up a large part of his attention, and that he has also devoted a part of his leisure to learning the tinning trade since entering the hardware business, he takes an active part in matters pertaining to the public welfare and is a good supporter of public-spirited movements.

Mr. Wimme was married in the fall of 1909 to Miss Eva Pearl Diver, daughter of George S. Diver, and they are the parents of live children: Gilford Henry, Evelyn Harriet, Helen Roscll, Lelah Elvira and Bernice Aline. Mr. and Mrs. Wimme and their children belong to the Lutheran Church.

Frank J. Spalenka is a member of a family that has been well known in Portage County for over thirty years, and during his own comparatively brief active career has developed an extensive business as contractor and architect at Stevens Point. He has a natural ability plus the thorough training and experience in technical and practical lines, and those who have required his services have felt thoroughly satisfied with the reliable and efficient manner in which he performs every commission.

Mr. Spalenka was born in Bohemia May 31, 1883, son of John and Anna (Adams) Spalenka. both natives of the same country. The father was a contractor in Bohemia and had a rather extensive business, which took him to various large cities, including Vienna and Prague. In 1884 he brought his family to America, locating at Chicago for a year and a half, and about 1886 moved to Stevens Point, where he continued in business until his death in 1907, at the age of sixty- four. His chief business at Stevens Point was as a mason contractor. He built a good home at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Meadow Street, where most of his children grew up. This house has since been sold and Mrs. Spalenka, his widow, aged sixty-seven, now lives with her son Frank. John Spalenka after acquiring American citizenship voted as a democrat and was an active member of the Catholic Church. There were six children: Mary Anna, Emily, Louise, "Frank J. and Julia, all of whom are still living.

Frank J. Spalenka, the only son, was educated in Stevens Point in the grammar and high schools. While preparing himself for his profession he spent about four years in travel, working as a draftsman and also taking technical courses in Columbia College. He then returned to Stevens Point and has rapidly been accumulating a satisfying business as a general contractor and architect. Mr. Spalenka in 191 3 built one of the artistic homes of the city at 426 Normal Avenue, and he lives there with his mother and sister Louise. He is unmarried. In politics he is independent and is a member of the Catholic Church, lie also belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of America.

His oldest sister, Mary, married A. J. Kujawa, of Stevens Point, and they now live at Rudolph, Wisconsin, where he is engaged in general mercantile business. Mr. and Mrs. Kujawa have two children. Anna, the second daughter, married Frank Ollmann, of Stevens Point, and they now live in Chicago, where he is a mail carrier. They have five children. Emily, unmarried, is a graduate of the State Normal School of Stevens Point and of the Chicago Art Institute and Columbia College of Music at Chicago, and is a teacher of wide experience and has made a splendid record in her work. At the present time she is superintendent of drawing and music at Elko, Nevada. She holds a teacher's certificate in Wisconsin. Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and the State of Washington. Louise Spalenka, who lives at home with her brother and mother, finished the elementary course in the State Normal School and has been a bookkeeper at Chicago and Grand Rapids and Rhinclander, Wisconsin, and has also been a teacher of special courses in the business college at Stevens Point. Julia, the youngest daughter, attended the Stevens Point High School, was in Chicago for about two years, and is now the wife of John Wilkins, formerly of Waukesha but now living at Rudolph, where he is associated in business with his brother-in-law, A. J. Kujawa.

Ludwig H. Johnson. In financial circles of Portage County the name of Johnson is one that is well known. This family has been connected with business and banking interests here for many years, and one of the representatives of the present generation who is sustaining the reputation of the family for soundness and ability is Ludwig H. Johnson, who has been cashier of the Bank of Nelsonvillc since it was founded in 1003. Mr. Johnson is one of the live and energetic men of this thriving little community and is always to be found connected with movements calculated to advance the interests of the village and its citizens.

Ludwig II. Johnson was born at New Hope, Portage County. Wisconsin. September 22, 1867. and is a son of Hans and Matilda (Stianson) Johnson. Hans Johnson was an early settler, coming to Portage County a number of years before the Civil war and commencing his career as a pilot during the days when they were floating lumber down the river. He was energetic and enterprising and a man of marked ability, and by investing his earnings wisely was able to accumulate land and timber interests and subsequently to build several sawmills, in which he manufactured lumber. As his interests grew and developed he turned his attention more and more to the banking business and became the owner of three institutions, one at Fremont, one at Ogdensburg and one at Nelsonville. In his later years he settled permanently at Nelsonville. where he lived with his daughter, at whose home he died. Mr. Johnson was a man who had received only ordinary advantages as to education and who acquired success through his own efforts and the profitable and intelligent use which he had made of his opportunities. He and his wife were the parents of the following children : Julius, a resident of Iola. Waupaca County. Wisconsin; Nels, who is cashier of the Bank of Fremont; Theo, president of the Bank of Nelsonville and agent for the Ford automobile at this place ; Ludwig H.; Hans, who is cashier of the Bank of Ogdensburg; Mrs. Hannah Olson, whose husband is a farmer of Portage County; and Minnie, who is a widow and resides at Nelsonville.

I.udwig H. Johnson was educated in the public schools and was reared to habits of industry and integrity, being given a good business training by his father. He continued to be associated with the elder man and with his brothers in various business enterprises until the founding of the Bank of Nelsonville, January 19, 1903, at which time he was made cashier of this institution, a position which he has retained to the present time. His capable handling of the funds entrusted to his care has been largely responsible for the success of this bank, which is accounted a safe and reliable one and which has honestly gained the kind of confidence that is absolutely necessary for the success of any monetary enterprise. In addition to owning stock in the bank, he is interested financially in the local creamery and the telephone company, and in various other ways is identified with the business interests of this locality. Of a progressive nature, anything that promises advancement along material, moral or civic lines appeals to him and finds in him a ready and generous supporter.

Mr. Johnson was married September 20. 1893, to Miss Caroline Bronstad. They have a summer cottage at Onneland Lake, which by many residents is called Johnson Lake. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson: Hjalmar. who was connected with Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis ; Minerva, who is working in the Bank of Nelsonville with her father; Luella, who is attending the normal school ; and Palmer, attending the graded school. Mr. Johnson's elder son has shown remarkable talent as a vocalist, and it depends upon his further advancement whether he will adopt singing as a career instead of the more prosaic banking business. He has made a very large strike of oil at Irvine. Kentucky, the output of which is of great value. He was drafted June 28. 1918. in the mustering office at Fort Riley, and he was taken by the Government from the Federal Reserve Bank at Minneapolis.

Frank F. Shippy is one of the enterprising merchants of Stevens Point and is a son of John and Josephine Shippy, his father's place in both civic and public affairs of this county being well known and prominent and the subject of mention on other pages.

Frank F. Shippy was born at his father's home in Hull Township Portage County, October 14, 1878. He was educated both in the parochial and public schools of Stevens Point, including high school, and during the four years his father was register of deeds was employed in that county office. He then became clerk in his father's store and at the time of his father's death took charge of the family interests in the grocery business. He was thus occupied for four years, for another four years was in the real estate and loan business, and in 1913 entered his present line as a shoe merchant at 310 Main Street under the name Kilowski & Shippy. On May 1, 1917, Mr. Shippy acquired the entire business and has one of the best stores of the kind in the county.

In politics he is a democrat, and quite active in party affairs. He is a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church. In February, 1909. he married Miss Lillian Sobish, who was reared and educated at Stevens Point. She is a daughter of Joseph and Juliana Sobish, early settlers of this county. Her mother died in 191 4 and her father is still living