Rock County, Wisconsin - Chapter 5, 1879 (part 2 of 3)

A Memorable Tragedy

The pages of the criminal record of Janesville are remarkably free from blood-stain. Manslaughter is a thing of rare occurrence, while revolting assassinations are matters of a quarter of a century ago. A terrible double tragedy occurred in 1855, without an allusion to which the " History of Rock County," would be incomplete. The tragedy was that of the murder of Andrew Alger by David F. Mayberry, and the subsequent lynching of the assassin by a mob of infuriated lumbermen. Mayberry was a Mormon desperado who belonged to the tribe of Joseph Smith, whose headquarters were at Nauvoo, 111. He had served eight years in the State Prison at Alton for the crime of horse-stealing. At the expiration of his sentence, Mayberry openly asserted that some one would have to recompense him for the time he had lost in prison, meaning that he would be avenged, and make that vengeance profitable. From Alton, he went to Rockford, where he was engaged for a few weeks in a cooper-shop. He had an acquaintance with the family of John G. McComb, a farmer living near Rockford, and paid them frequent visits. On the 14th of June, 1855, Mayberry left McOomb's house, saying he was going to Janesville. While passing through Beloit, he met and made the acquaintance of Andrew Alger, a man fifty years of age, who was engaged in the lumber business. Alger had but recently arrived in Beloit from the lumber regions on Rock River, about 20 miles north of Janesville, where he had employed a large number of men cutting and rafting logs. He had sold a raft of logs in Beloit to S. W. Peck, receiving in pay therefor a horse and buggy, a watch and a check on the bank for $5D8r. It is evident that Mayberry became aware of the fact that Alger was the possessor of a considerable amount of money, and that he also learned it was Alger's intention to leave for the lumber region within a few days, for the purpose of paying off his men. At any rate, he preceded Alger out of Beloit on foot, and, coming to Janesville, awaited the arrival of his intended victim.

On Saturday afternoon, June 16, Alger drove into Janesville with the horse and buggy he had received from Mr. Peck in part payment for his logs, and, after resting for an hour or so, proceeded on his way, taking the road toward Milton. In the mean time, Mayberry had purchased some few articles of clothing from various dealers in town, and also a hatchet of Pixley & Kimball. He left town a short time before Alger did, also by way of the Milton road. Of what transpired afterward there is no other evidence than that of Mayberry himself, as related by John G. McComb, to whom the assassin detailed the circumstances of the murder following the day of its occurrence. The substance of McComb's testimony during the trial is about as follows : On Sunday, June 17, Mayberry arrived at McComb's place driving a horse and buggy, and having on several articles of new clothing. He also exhibited various sums of money, including five $20 gold pieces. He told McComb that he had killed and robbed " a pinery bug" the day before, between Janesville and Milton. He related how he had awaited Alger's arrival in Janesville ; told of purchasing a hatchet ; how he had preceded Alger out of town and loitered along the road waiting for him to come up ; and how, when he was overtaken, the unsuspecting victim asked him to ride. It seems that Alger did not recognize Mayberry as the man whose acquaintance he had made in Beloit, but supposed him to be an entire stranger. After proceeding a short distance, and soon after leaving the prairie and entering the grove on the Spaulding farm, Mayberry, who was in his shirt- sleeves, having his coat on his arm, made an excuse to step back of the buggy seat where he could have room to put his coat on. It was then that he dealt the firs.t murderous blow with the hatchet, striking Alger over the right temple with the pole of the weapon. Mayberry then stopped the horse and kicked the prostrate man from the buggy. Dismounting himself, he took his bleeding victim by the heels and dragged him from the roadside to a thicket of shrubs and grass, where he stripped him of his clothing, and, taking from the pocket of Alger's pantaloons a large dirk knife, cut his throat from ear to ear, and then stabbed him in the back and sides, after which he returned to the buggy with Alger's clothing and money, placed them beneath the seat of the vehicle, got in, and taking the reins, still warm from the hands of his victim, drove back through Janesville on bis way to McComb's.

The witness (McOomb) stated that while Mayberry was absent from the house for a few moments, and during the interrupted recital of this tale of blood, he (the witness) dispatched a neighbor to Rockford for Sheriff John .F. Taylor, and when Mayberry returned he entertained him the best he knew how without arousing his suspicions until between 11 and 12 o'clock, when, greatly to the assassin's surprise, Sheriff Taylor, State's Attorney William Brown and several others from Rockford, stepped into the room. Mayberry was ironed at once, and taken to Rockford the next morning and confined in jail.

Mr. McComb, Mr. Brown, and a Mr. Miller came to Janesville the next day, and informing Sheriff Hoskins of what had occurred, repaired to the spot described by Mayberry as the scene of the murder, and, after half an hour's search, the body was found. Mr. Spaulding, at the request of Sheriff Hoskins, brought the remains into town, where an inquest was held, resulting in Mayberry's commitment on a charge ol murder. A requisition was procured, and the prisoner transferred to the Rock County Jail. The grand jury had but just convened, aind the case was laid before that body at once, with instructions to give it immediate consideration.

As the detailed facts of the horrible deed became known, popular feeling against Mayberry rose to the very highest pitch. The excitement spread throughout the Rock River Valley, and, when the news reached the lumber regions, where Mr. Alger was well and favorably known, work was entirely suspended, and, as if by previous understanding, preparations were made by several hundred of the hardiest and most stalwart "loggers '"on the river, including the rough element, to attend the trial. Mayberry was indicted by the gi'and jury, and on Tuesday, July 10, he was brought before James R. Doolittle, Judge of the Rock County Circuit Court, for trial. The jury impaneled on that occasion were as follows: Levi St. John, Uriah Schutt, George Patchin, Ira Ksh, S. C. Randall, Daniel 0. Rayner, John Alexander, 'George H. Stafford, C. M. Messer, George Sherman, F. A. Humphrey and Samuel Cadwallader.

As the trial progressed, the number of strangers arriving in town became noticeably larger, until Wednesday morning, June 11, when the public square in the vicinity of the jail and Coui-t House fairly swarmed with people, most of them being lumbermen, whose wages had depended upon the m6ney for which Mr. Alger was murdered. As Mayberry was led from the jail on the way to trial, a slight demonstration was made toward him, but the assault, which was greatly lacking in vigor, was repelled by the officers, a large force of. extra police having been appointed for the occasion.

Charge Of The Judge

Gentlembn of the Jury: The prisoner at the bar stands charged with the highest crime known to our laws - with the deliberate murder of Andrew Alger, from a premeditated design, or, in the language of the common law, " with malice aforethought;*' and, if the defendant is guilty, as charged, and as the evidence in the case tends to show, justice compels me to say that he is guilty of murder in the first degree, committed under circiimstances of such cold-blooded atrocity that we can hardly find a parallel in the history of crime. But, gentlemen, however atrocious the deed by which this county has been shocked and electrified, and however desirous every good citizen may be to bring the real offender to justice, yet, courts and juries should not for a moment lose sight of the rules of law which are established to govern the administration of criminal law, and which are the safeguards of the rights and liberties of every individual. It will be borne in mind that the accused, when put upon trial, charged with any offense, is presumed to be innocen', until proved to be guilty. The burden of the proof is upon the prosecution, and the State must convince you, beyond any reasonable doubt, of the defendant's guilt before you are authorized to convict. Vou are to start with the presumption of innocence, and step by step, and inch by inch, the public prosecutor mii»t lead your mind.s by the force of the testimony given by him, until every other supposition or reasonable liypothcsi.s is excluded, except the hypothesis of the defendant's guilt.

To establish the guilt of the prisoner, three things are necessary : 1. To show that a murder has been committed by somebody. The corpus dpiicti, or body of the crime, must be clearly established, and by a weight of testimony which is, in a moral sense, irresistible - that is to say, it must be shown to a moral certainty. 'J'o establish that fact, the prosecution rely upon the situation of the body at the time when found, with the throat out from ear to ear, with the skull broken through to the brain, with a mortal wound in the side, another in the back - wounds which, it is insisted, could by no possibility have been inflicted by his own hands, or any other than a human hand. The testimony of the medical witnesses is relied upon to show that, from the coagulated blood found about the wounds in the back, those wounds must have been received before the arteries of the neck were severed, and that, therefore, those wounds were the cause of death, and not wounds wantonly made by some person after he came to his death. Upon these facts the prosecution insist that, beyond all possibility of doubt, a murder has been committed by some human being upon the person of another.

2. In the second place, the prosecution must show, beyond any resonable doubt, that the person murdered is the same person named in the indictment - in short, that the body found in tlie town of Harmony ia the body of Andrew Alger. To establish that fact, the prosecution rely upon the fact that the body is identified by two witnesses - Mr. (.'onrad and Mr. Fifield ; that a large number of witnesses, with more or less positive assurance, identify the cidthing of Andrew Alger, found with the prisoner; and especially the fact that the white linen coat (the coat which he was seen to put on at Beloit when he left that town with the horse and buggy) was found near the place where the body was found, covered with blood and concealed under some leaves ; and from the fact that Alger, since last seen on his way home, between Janesville and Milton, has no where been seen, unless the body in question is the body of .Vndrew Alger.

If you are satisfied, beyond all reasonable doubt, that this was the body of Andrew Alger, you will next i nijuirc (and perhaps that may be the main inquiry), is the prisoner at the bar guilty of that crime ? 3. To establish that fact, the prosecution relies upon three species of evidence - first, circumstantial; second, positive testimony, by the defendant's confessions, and, third, the combined weight of both. »

Independent of the testimony of McComb and his two sons, llalsey and Erastus, the prosecution insist that tlie circumstances in evidence would leave no room to doubt the defendant's guilt. The circumstances relied on are mainly these : that the defendant was seen waiting upon the road where Alger was to pass, and, within twenty-four hours after, he is found with the horse and buggy of Alger, on the premises of iMcOomb, in the county of Winnebago, Slate of Illinois; and, upon being searched, in his pockets were found the papers and wallets of Alger; that the defendant gave a false account of the money in his possession; that the knife of Alger, identified by his son and others, was found in his possession; that he gave a false account of it; that when he left Mr. Rexford's, in Beloit, he hud on a black hat, and the next day had on a white hat, identified, with more or less assurance, as the one worn by .\lger when he left Beloit; the fact that he said he lived and worked at Milton, and was going to Milton, when he was on his way to Uookford, and was living there ; the fact that he left on foot and returned with a horse and buggy ; that he left with one hat and returned with his own black hat, as he said, in the buggy, and a white hat like that of Alger's on his head, when seen at !1 o'clock in the store at Janesville; the falseaccountgivenof his business to Allen, and another false account given to Tracy, the same night, that he had been to Madison and was going to Beloit; and the prosecution insist that these facts are enough of themselves to satisfy the jury, beyond all reasonable doubt, of the defendant's guilt, though the evidence of McComb and his two sons were stricken from the case. In the next place, gentlemen, you will inquire as to what weight should be given to the three witnesses to whom the defendant is said to have confessed his guilt.

'I'he confessions of a party are always to be weighed with great scrutiny. On the one hand, it is of all other evidence the most liable to be mistaken and the most easy to be manufactured; while on the other, if such a confession be clearly proved to have been voluntarily made, by a party in his right mind, it is evidence of very great weight. The counsel for the defendant insists that the confessions made to McComb are so unreasonable, so contrary to the impulses of human nature, that you should wholly disregard their testimony; and, further, that when these confessions were made liy the defendant, he was so far intoxicated that the confessions, if made should have no weight whatever. That, gentlemen, is a question for the jury - whether that confession was, iii fact, made, whether it is wholly irrational and unnatural, or whether it accords with the facts truly, whether it was made with the expectation of being sheltered and secreted by McComb (with one of whose sons he is said to have been imprisoned at Alton) when he would be pursued, or whether it was the result in fact of his being influenced by intoxicating drinks, or whether it was the result of both - or whether, as insisted br the District Attorney, it was the confessions of a soul overburdened with a sense of guilt, stained with a brother's blood, driven almost to frenzy ; the confession of a soul whose terrible secrets it could no longer keep ; which has already become its master ; wliich, in spite of itself, "rises to the throat and demands utterance." .ill these are questi'niq for the jury, as ,well as the degree of weight to be given to them. If the defendant was in fact intoxicated when he made these confessions, they are not entitled to anything like the same degree of weight as if made while in full possession of his mind. .

But the counsel for the defendant, while he admits that there are many strong circumstances tending to prove the prisoner's guilt, insists that they are not sufficiently strong to satisfy you, beyond all reasonable doubt, by evidence so strong as to exclude every other hypothesis except that of his guilt.

The defendant's counsel has correctly stated the law upon the subject. You must be satisfied of his guilt to'a moral certainty. You should extend to the defendant the benefit of every reasonable doubt, upon the hilmane principle that ninety and nine guilty persons should escape rather than one innocent man should suffer. Tn the administration of criminal law, high, responsible and sometimes very painful duties rest upon courts and juries. A responsibility in bearing which the head grows weary and the heart sometimes grows faint ; but it is a responsibility which must be borne. We could not withdraw from it if we would, and should not if we could.

We should extend to this defendant, as to all others charged with crime, the whole charities of the law, and all the presumptions of innocence ; but if, upon the evidence, the mind is convinced bevond any reasonable doubt that he is guilty of this crime, it is your duty to the oaths you have taken, the country in which you live, by all that is sacred to the lives and peace of your community, and, I miy add, your duty to the defendant, painful though it may be, to declare him giiilty. It is duty in administering justice to remember mercy, hut while remembering mercy, not to forget to administer justice. It would be indeed a mistaken sympathy if this defendant is clearly found guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, to acquit him and suffer him to go at large. The great master of poetry, I believe it is, has said that," mercy murders, pardoning crime," and the great philosopher, Sully, once said to the Emperor of France, when about to pardon a great murderer, " Remember," said he. "the guilt of the murder which he has already perpetrated is his ; if you pardon him, the guilt of the next murder will be yours."

The case is with the jury, who are the judges of the law and the fact. Upon the one hand you are to extend to the prisoner every reasonable presumption of innocence - the benefit of every reasonable doubt; but, upon tlie other, if satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt of his guilt, public justice demands a conviction at your hands.

In- twenty minutes, a verdict of murder in the first degree was returned and the jury discharged. Judge Doolittle said he would defer sentence until the following morning, and the prisoner was remanded to the custody of the Sheriff.

Shortly after 7 o'clock, P. M., while Mayberry was being escorted to the jail, which then stood on the public square nearly opposite All Souls' Church, an attempt was made by some one of the large crowd which still lingered about, to throw a rope over his neck. Other demonstrations were made, but the posse with their prisoner succeeded in reaching the jail in safety and locking him up. The G-azette of July 14, contains the following account of what transpired on Wednesday evening :

Messrs. Noggle and Ely, who had conducted the prosecution, addressed th^ crowd in deprecation of any violence, and for a time the excitement subsided, and the assemblage left the immediate vicinity of the building. An inflammatory harangue from the lower part of the square again excited the mob, and the jail was again threatened. Sheriff Hoskins and Mayor Dimock now commanded the aid of ^11 peaceable, law-loving citizens, and a sufficient number responded to the call to frustrate the design to break open the jail and take the prisoner. During another onslaught, the officers and citizens guarding the door were driven from the steps leading to it by a volley of stones, and several panes of glass in the front of the building were broken. Between 10 and 11 o'clock, a long pole was procured, and a large number of persons came down the street from the top of Court House Hill, shouting and declaring a determination to force an entrance. The design was abandoned, however, and by half past 11 all about the building was quiet.

At 8J A. M. pn Thursday, the prisoner was taken to the court-room to receive his sentence. The crowd was quite as great as on the previous day, and the presence of a large number of new faces was noticeable. No outward demonstrations were made toward seizing the prisoner when he was led along the hill to the Court House, but the aspect of the crowd seemed determined and resolute. The Court asked Mayberry if he had anything to say against the sentence of the law being passed upon him, to which he replied, " I know that the evidence is strong against me, but I am innocent of the murder." Judge Doolittle then sentenced him to " be imprisoned at ha.rd labor in the State Prison during life ; " the first twenty days of each year, commencing from the time of his arrival at the State Prison, and the first five days of October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May and June in each year in solitary confinement, with nothing to eat except bread and water.

Mayberry was perfectly composed, receiving his sentence with indifference. He was kept within the court-room for some time after tlie sentence was pronounced, the officers thinking it not safe to attempt to convey him to the jail until the excitement had subsided. An eye-witness of the scene that followed, gives the following graphic description of it :

When the prisoner left the Court House, the mob had apparently dispersed, and the crowd which, in the previous part of the day had been very large and turbulent, became reduced to scarcely one hundred persons. All appeared tranquil and quiet. The Sheriff was advised that this would be a favorable time to take the prisoner to the jail, which wa'*' distant about fen rods. The Sheriff had formed a company of from fifty to one hundred persons, made up of his Under Sheriffs, Constables and a special police, sworn in for the occasion, who surrounded the prisoner as he was taken from the Court House. No sooner had he reached the ground on the outside of the building, than signals were given from the window^s, and the crowd came rushing forward from every direclion, closing around the officers just as they reached the door of the jail. Here, for the first lime, the officers were baffled by the efforts of the mob. The steps leading into the jail had been removed, and the door barricaded with heavy timbers. Stones were freely used upon the officers until most of them were disabled or thrown to the ground, when the infuriated mass rushed over them and seized their victim. Here followed a scene of bloodshed and barbarism which, heaven grant, may never fgain be my lot to witness. The prisoner fought desperately, while his assailants were rushing upon him with yells of wild exultation, uulil a blow upon the head felled him to the ground. Immediately, the cry was " A rope ! " " Hang him ! " '-Arope!" A rope was thrown into the crowd, and, while the prisoner was upon his knees pleading " For God's sake have mercy," the rope was placed around his neck and he was taken to the nearest tree. Here, withconsiJerable difficulty, they lied his hands with pieces of linen torn from his clothing. He was asked if guiliy of the murder of Alger. He could but whisper, " 0 Lord, have mercy," and, in another moment, he was swinging between heaven and earth. But the tragedy did not end here. The knot in the rope had been left under his chin, and he still breathed. He was then let down, the rope adjusted with the knot on the bach of his neck, and he was again drawn up. amid the wild yells of the infuriated mob, who were fixing upon their consciences a stain which time can never obliterate.

The tree upon which Mayberry was hanged stood near the center of the lower square. It was cut down early on the morning after the hanging, by Mr. Uriah Schutt, one of the jurymen who convicted Mayberry, who declared he would put an end to the daily pilgrimages which would necessarily be made by the morbidly curious to the gloomy spot. The limb from which Mayberry was suspended was sent to Madison, where it has ever since remained on exhibition in the Museum of the Historical Society. The balance of the tree was carried off by different ones and made up into canes, sleeve-buttons, etc.

And thus ends the bloodiest chapter in the history of Janesville, but it must not be recorded that the citizens acquiesped or took any part in murdering a man who, though his crime was atrocious and his guilt undisputed, was still in the hands of the law.

A census of Rock County was completed in June, 1846, and the following schedule, published on the 27th of that month, gives the whole number in each town :

Values Op Real And Pebsonal Property

The following is a statement showing the number of acres of land in the several towns in Rock County, the assessed value of real estate, the aggregate value of real and personal estate as assessed, the equalized value of real estate and the aggregate value of all property as equalized in the several towns. Also the number of mills tax on the dollar, for State, county and county school purposes, and the whole amount of delinquent county tax. /Published by order of the Board of Supervisors, in December, 1851 :

State tax, 3 mills on the dollar ; county tax the same ; county school tax, 2 mills on the dollar ; total amount of delinquent county tax, $573 15.

Vote on State Constitutions. - At the election held in Rock County, on the 6th of April, 1847, to vote on the adoption of the Constitution of the State, formed by the Convention that met October 5, 1846, the vote was - for the Constitution, 987 votes, and against the Constitution, 1,977.

The vote on the Constitution, formed by the Convention that met December 15, 1847, was as follows : For the Constitution, 1,243 votes ; against the Constitution, 512 votes. At this election a vote was taken on " equal suffrage to colored persons." On this question the vote stood, in favor of suffrage, 858 votes ; and against it, 994 votes.

Vote for Circuit Judges. - At an election held August 7, 1848, Edward V. Whiton was chosen Judge of the First Judicial Circuit by a vote of 2,304, against 2,001 for David Nogglo. June 1, 1853, Judge, Whiton became Chief Justice, and Wyman Spooner was appointed June 14, to fill the unexpired term. At the ensuing election, held September 26, 1853, James R.

Doolittle received 2,883 votes, and Wyman Spooner 2,460. Judge Doolittle resigned, and Charles M. Baker was appointed, March 7, 1856, to fill the unexpired term. At the next election, held April 7, 1856, John M. Keep was chosen, by the overwhelming majority of 6,483 votes. On the 14th of July, 1858, Judge Keep tendered his resignation, to take effect on the 17th of August; and, on the 27th of July, David Noggle was appointed to fill the vacancy. Judge Keep was, however, a candidate at the ensuing election, held April 5, 1859, and was defeated by Judge David Noggle, who received a majority of 3,693 votes. The next election occurred April 4, 1865, when Judge Noggle was in turn defeated by William P. Lyon, who received a majority of 744 votes, holding the judgeship until the formation of a new Judicial Circuit.

The first election for Judge of the then newly created Twelfth Judicial Circuit, was held April 5, 1870, when Harmon S. Conger received 7,634 votes, against 138 sc^tttering.* The last election took place April 4, 1876, when Judge Conger was re-elected by a vote of 10,454, to 77 scattering.

was. born in Old Saybrook, Conn., February 19, 1815. His name (Jackson) records the thrill that passed through the country as the slow communications of those days carried the news of the victory of New Orleans in the preceding month - a victory which secured to the country the great valley to which the manhood of the man was devoted.

In childhood, he received the Christian consecration whicbj in his case, pervaded all the life, so that it was a rare example of a life full of practical business energy, but directed by simple love to God and man.

Dependent upon his own resources, he was minded to work out the best life in his power. He would have a liberal education, and be a minister of the Gospel. Service in youth as clerk in a Connecticut country store was for him, as for so many others, an education in business activity, energy, tact and truth, which were of no less value as a preparation for 'his life than the liberal culture which he added to it. Securing such preparation as he was able, he entered Yale College in 1837, and though he had the advantage of but a single year of preparation, he maintained throughout his course a place in the front rank of his class. At the same time, he supported himself by his own exertions. Such an education laid the foundation for the peculiar efficiency of his life. Then, as in all after life, all work and all study were earnestly and honestly done. Economical but never close, self-reliant but always helpful, if business occupied both his hands and half his mind, it never got possession of a corner of his soul. In his last sickness, when worn out by the manifold cares of his later life, when his mind wandered, it wandered on science, and when it rested, it rested in Christ.

After leaving college, in 1841, Mr. Bushnell spent a few months in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., and several years in connection with the Western Reserve College as instructor, or as financial agent. On the 27th of April, 1848, he first came to Beloit, and entered upon the work of his life. That work was to enter into the plans and aspirations of such men as Stephen Peet and Aratus Kent for a Christian college, as a center of good for this region and for all men and all time. He said, " We can have a college here if we will make one," and so he set himself to the work of making a college, devoting to it not only his scholastic but his practical abilities. He applied himself not only to instruction but to agency for the college. He loved to suggest liberal things to a liberal man. but it chilled his soul to meet a selfish man. He loved to give better than to beg, and would rather earn an endowment for the college than to ask it. As other men apply themselves to get private fortunes, so he had an ambition to acquire resources to use tor the public good. Thus, in his life, as in his education, his fervent spirit was always diligent in business. But all his business plans were full of his public spirit. As he identified himself with the college, so he identified the college with the community. Whatever would build up Beloit as a thriving and Christian place, concerned the college and concerned him, whether it were a Sabbath school or a church or a bank, a railroad or hotel ; and so the city is full of the monuments of his energy and self-sacrificing public spirit. It should be added that it is no less full of the memories of that helpfulness in which his kindness was continually doing for all that had need.

His public enthusiasm repeatedly led him into enterprises commended rather as needed for the public good than as promising individual gain, and the crises which swept over the business of the country fell upon him as upon others, and his sense of justice and duty sometimes compelled him to put himself in controversy with many men ; but it is rare to find in such a life a man of such transparent truth that no man ever impeached his motives.

He was elected to the chair of mathematics in the college, May 23, 1848. His business afiairs compelled his resignation in 1858. He was re-elected in 1864, and continued in the dis^arge of his duties until March 8, 1873, when an attack of pneumonia removed him to a higher sphere of light and life.

The city, as well as the college in which he spent the last twenty-five years of his life, and indeed all places that had known him, are the monument of an earnest, a vigorous, a true and a faithful life.

one of the pioneers of the anti-slavery, temperance and kindred reforms, and, for half a century, a zealous and laborious promoter of them as a public speaker, writer and executive office-bearer of voluntary associations, was a son of Frederick and Rhoda Goodell, and was born in Coventry, Chenango Co., N. Y., October 25, 1792 - probably the first white child born in that vicinity. He was descended on his father's side from Robert Goodell, who came from England in 1634, and settled in Salem, Mass. Of the same ancestry are A. C. Goodell, Clerk of the Court of Salem, Mass., a man of rare antiquarian learning ; the late William Goodell, D. D., missionary of the American Board, and one of the translators of the Scriptures at Constantinople ; and Capt. Silas Goodell, of the Revolutionary war. His mother was Rhoda Guernsey, a daughter of John Guernsey, of Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y. She was one of fifteen children, who all lived to have families, so that the grandchildren of John and Azubah Guernsey numbered ninetv-one. Of the brothers of Rhoda, was Peter B. Guernsey, one of the pioneer settlers of Norwich, Chenango Co., N. Y.

When the subject of this sketch was five years old, his parents removed to Windsor, Broome Co. (then Chenango, Tioga Co.), N. Y. In his early childhood, William suff"ered a severe sickness, which left him for some time lame, so that he was confined first to his bed, and afterward to his chair, and it was some years before he recovered the use of his limbs. This long confinement fostered habits of thought and study which doubtless contributed largely to mould his character and shape his future. Debarred from childish sports, his mind was occupied with the study of such themes as the limited library to which he had access suggested to him. His mother, a woman of rare qualities of mind and heart, was his almost constant companion, and made an impress on his character that future years could not efi"ace. Religious thought and feeling were stimulated, and aspirations and hopes inspired, which found expression only in the life of earnest activity which followed. His principal reading at this time consisted of the Bible, "Watts' Psalms and Hymns," "Hart's Hymns," "Methodist Pgcket Hymn-book," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Writings of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe," "Wesley's Sermons," " Fletcher's Appeal," and some odd volumes of the Spectator and Gruardian. Religious services in those primitive days were a rare luxury, and families frequently trudged through the woods on foot, or rode with ox teams for miles to hear a Methodist circuit preacher in a log schoolhouse.

Rhoda Goodell died in 1803, at the' early age of thirty-seven, leaving five sons, of whom William was the second. With the breaking-up of the little family of motherless boys, William was transferred to the old Guernsey homestead in Amenia, where he attended the common school, and assisted in light labor on the farm. A year later, he was sent to the Goodell homestead in Pomfret, Conn., where his widowed grandmother and her sons and daughters were living. His father died in 1806. At Pomfret he remained five years, attending the common schools, and working on the farm in vacation. Two good public libraries afforded him reading during the long winter evenings, but perhaps his highest educational advantage was the society of his grandmother, Hannah Goodell, a woman of unusual mental ability and rare culture. She had been educated at Boston, was a convert of Whitefield, and a hearer of Revs. Nehemiah Walter, of Roxbury, and Thomas Prince, of the "old South;" of Byles, Davenport and Edwards. In matters of history and general literature, she was a living and speaking library, with an exhaustless fund of original anecdotes, particularly of the Revolutionary times in which she lived, and with some of the prominent actors of which she had been personally acquainted. She had decided opinions on all theological, ethical and political topics, and, indeed, was one of the strong-minded women of her times.

Being unable to obtain a collegiate education, William, in 1812, went to Providence, R. I., where he entered mercantile life as a clerk, and, rising rapidly in his new employment, he received and accepted, a few years later, an offer from a prominent firm to sail as assistant supercargo in one of their ships hound for India, China and European markets. He set sail January 1, 1817, and in the two years and a half of voyages and of business transactions in foreign countries, learned much of mercantile life in foreign lands. On returning, in 1819, he engaged in mercantile enterprises at Wilmington, N. C, at Providence, R. I., and at Alexandria, Va. ; sometimes by himself, and sometimes on a larger scale in partnership with a capitalist of abundant means. At the South, he had ample opportunity to study the workings of the slavery system.

He first commenced writing for the press in 1820, in the Providence G-azette, in a series of articles against the then pending Missouri Compromise, which attracted general attention. From that time onward, he wrote for various periodicals, as he felt constrained to do, on the living issues of the day - religious, moral and political. A residence in New York City two years, from 1825 to 1827, compelled him to witness the controlling prevalence of vice, lawlessness, crime, .and commercial and banking frauds, sustained by bribery and corrupt political " rings," as in latter times, until, under judicial authority, it was decided that " a conspiracy to defraud is no indictable offense." Lottery gambling (under legislative charters, to build bridges, erect meeting-houses, endow colleges, establish schools, etc.) was everywhere popular and unquestioned. Then it was that he discovered his heaven-appointed life-work to be an uncompromising warfare with such gigantic public evils.

He commenced to edit the weekly Investigator, at Providence, in 1827. Two years later, he removed to Boston, connecting his Investigator with the National Philanthropist. In June, 1830, he removed to New York, where he continued his paper under the name of the Genius of Temverance. Here, also, he afterward edited the Emancipator. At Utica and Whitesboro', N. Y., he edited the Friend of Man, from 1836 to 1842. Here, also, he issued his monthly, Antislavery Lectures, for one year, and commenced his Christian Investigator. Continuing the latter publication, he removed, in 1848; to Honeoye, Ontario Co., N. Y., where he acted as Pastor of an Independent Reform Church for several years. In connection with these different periodicals, he spent much of his time traveling, lecturing and holding conventions - sometimes on his own responsibility, at other times in the employ of some organization.

Returning to New York in 1853, he successively edited the American Jubilee, Radical Abolitionist and the Prinoipia, the latter of which was continued, in connection with Rev. George B. Cheever, D. D., during the war of the rebellion and until after the death of Lincoln. After the abolition of slavery, he resumed his temperance labors, writing for different journals, to the time of his death. After residing in Lebanon, Conn., five years, he removed to Janesville, Wis., in June, 1870.

Besides writing pamphlets, essays, and tracts, in large numbers, he wrote several volumes, as the "Democracy of Christianity," in two volumes; "Slavery and Anti-Slavery," a history of the struggle; "American Slave Code" and " Our National Charters," showing the illegality and unconstitutionality of slavery, and the power of the National Government over it ; besides several volumes on religious and ethical subjects, still in manuscript, lie assisted in organizing the American Antislavery Society, at Philadelphia, in December, 1833 ; the Liberty Party, at Albany, N. Y., in 1840; the American Missionary Association, at Albany, in 1846; the National Prohibition Party, in Chicago, in 1869 ; and participated in the re-union of Abolitionists at Chicago, in June, 1874 ; also, assisted in preparations for organizing a Wisconsin State Prohibition Party, at Ripon, in October, 1874. His mental faculties remained unimpaired until his death, which occurred February 15. 1878. His wife died in the following April.

Their children are Maria G., wife of Rev. L. P. Frost, and Lavinia Goodell, attorney ac law, of Janesville. One daughter died in infancy. They have four grandsons, of whom the eldest is Professor of Greek in Oberlin College, Ohio.

What Mr. Goodell's views were on reformatory subjects are, perhaps, sufficiently indicated in this sketch. It may be well, however, to add that he was, like most of the surviving Abolitionist's, in hearty sympathy with the " Woman Suffrage" movement. His religious views were those commonly known as Evangelical, and he was a member of the Congregational Church in Janesville.

was born at East Haddam, Conn., July 22, 1820, and removed with his parents, in 1828, to Strongsville, Cuyahoga Co, Ohio. He entered Western Reserve College at Hudson, in 1887, and pursued his studies two years, when he left on account of ill-health. He then engaged at teaching, which he followed at Nicholsonville, Ky., and subsequently was a tutor it Woodward College, Cincinnati. After two years spent in the latter position, he came on Kenosha (then Southport), in this State, and there opened an academy in December, 1841. Two years after, he added to the calling of a teacher that of editor of the Southport American. During the administration of President Tyler, he held the office of Postmaster at that place. In 1847, he married Miss Cordelia Perrine, and removed to Clinton, Rock County, where he purchased the water-power, built a flouring-mill, and engaged in merchandise, continuing there four years. He then removed to Shopiere, where he made his residence during the remainder of his life, engaging actively in mercantile and other pursuits.

His first advent into public life was as a member of the Constitutional Convention, which framed the State Constitution in 1847, and, although one of the younger members, he took an active part in its deliberations, and assumed a leading position. In the fall of 1858, he was elected a State Senator of the Southern District of Rock County, the Eighteenth District of the State at that date, and continued in that position four years, having been re-elected in 1855, and the last term of which he was President pro tern. In 1859, he was elected Secretary of State, which office he held two years, and was a member of the Board of Regents of the State University, from 1860 to 1862, and was ever'found a true friend , to the cause of popular education. In 1861, he was elected Governor of the State by a large majority, entering on the duties of his position on the 6th day of January, 1862. On the receipt of the news of the battle of Shiloh, Gov. Harvey felt it to be his duty to repair at once to the scene of action, and to do what was in his power to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded Wisconsin soldiers. His mission was eminently successful, and, after having faithfully performed this duty, he repaired to a steamer in the harbor of Savannah, April 19, 1862, to await the arrival of another that was soon expected, and which was to convey him and his friends to Cairo on their homeward trip. It was 'late in the evening, and the night was dark and rainy. The boat soon arrived, and, as she rounded to, the bow touching the one on which he stood, he took a step, as it would seem to move out of danger, but, by a misstep, or, perhaps, a stumble, he fell overboard between the two boats into the Tennessee River, where the current was strong and the water over thirty feet deep. Everything was done to save his life, but to no purpose. His body was subsequently found and brought to Madison for interment. His remains are deposited in the Forest Hill Cemetery. Gov. Harvey was in the forty-third year of his age.

The subject of this sketch, who was the second son of Gen. Martin Keep, was born at Homer, Cortland County, in the State of New York, on the 26th of January, 1813.. His parents were both from New England, and among the first settlers of Cortland County.. After obtaining the rudiments of education at the district school, he at an early age entered the Cortland Academy at Homer, where he pursued the usual routine of academic stpdies, and prepared himself for college. He entered Hamilton College in 1832 and graduated in 1836, and was one of the first members of the Alpha Delta Phi Society in that institution. The same year, "he commenced his legal studies with Augustus Donnelly, a distinguished counselor at law at Homer, N. Y., and completed them with Horatio Seymour, Esq., at Buffalo. He was duly admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Westfield, N. Y., and, jn the year 1845, he removed to Beloit, in the State of Wisconsin, then a mere settlement, where he continued to reside until his death. Here he engaged, not only in a large law practice, but also took a very active part in all the enterprises that promised to promote the growth of the place and enhance the welfare of society. In the purchase and sale of lands, in the erection of buildings, in the promotion of institutions of learning and the construction of railroads, he took an important part, and in many of these enterprises was the animating spirit.

His mind seemed to grasp every subject, and his enterprise embraced every occupation. Though a lawyer by profession, and otherwise engaged in a variety of pursuits, agriculture did not escape his attention, or want his fostering care, for he knew that upon it depended the wealth, independence and morality of his adopted State. Whatever was good or useful, what- -ever tended to elevate human nature or ameliorate the condition of mankind, was sure to find in him cordial support and efficient aid. The value of his labors is to be estimated chiefly by the results flowing from his great and active mind - a mind rich in the possession of every moral and intellectual quality. In the young and growing State and city of which he was a resident, no man impressed his name on more enterprises of private munificence or public utility.

In the spring of 1856, he was elected without opposition Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of the State of Wisconsin, but, at the end of two and a half years, he was compelled to resign this laborious office on account of the loss of health, and the pressure of his private business. It soon became evident that consumption had fastened itself upon him, and from this time, the wasting of his bodily powers went on gradually, although he retained to the last moment of his life the full vigor of his mind.

Upon the death of Judge Keep, meetings of the bar were held at Beloit, Janesville and also of the. First Judicial Circuit, and appropriate resolutions passed and eulogies pronounced upon the life and services of the deceased. At the meeting of the bar of the Circuit, the Hon. H. S. Conger, the present Presiding Judge, on taking the chair, said : " Judge Keep, however regarded, was no ordinary man. As a citizen, he was generous, benevolent and publicspirited ; of great firmness of character, untiring resolution and indomitable energy. He was bold, fearless and independent in thought and action ; more resolute in the accomplishment of whatever he regarded his duty than solicitous to win praise or favor at any sacrifice of principle, however small."

As a lawyer appreciating the responsibilities and duties of the profession, no man had a higher regard for its honor or reprobated more earnestly its prostitution to base purposes.

Elected Circuit Judge in 1856, and holding the office for two years, until impelled to resign on account of the pressure of his own private business, he carried to the discharge of the important duties of that office great ability, unwearied industry, and honesty and integrity never assailed. In the language of another who knew him well, " he dignified the bench, rather than received dignity from it."

The death of Judge Keep was a great loss, not only to the profession, but to the community at large. Calm, courageous, hopeful and trustful, he died as he lived, confiding in a faith that had never forsaken him, resigned to that Providence in whom was his trust, in the full possession of all his mental faculties, vigorous even in death, and meeting the great change with the courage of a philosopher and the hope of the Christian. As much as there was in his life to emulate, there is in his death found instruction equally valuable.

In religion, Mr. Keep was a Congregationalist, having united with that denomination at the age of sixteen years, and, like it, he was liberal and tolerant respecting the tenets of other denominations. He would tolerate every class of sincere professors, and protect them in their ideas of divine worship. In all the relations of life and the connections which he formed with various classes of people, he preserved unblemished his Christian character. His charities more than kept pace with his ability, and his pecuniary aid and legal advice were ever at the service of the poor and unfortunate.

Perhaps no better perspective of his life and character can be given than is contained in the following extract from a letter of recent date, from the pen of Hon. S. J. Todd, of Beloit, a long and intimate friend of Judge Keep :

"As long as his health would permit, his life was a very busy one, and unlike most men of active habits and whose mental processes are rapid, he had the faculty of steady, untiring perseverance. When he began to do anything, he never relinquished it until he had completed it, or until it became impossible. This faculty I have usually found to exist only in slow men, which John M. Keep was not. When I first knew him, he had been a resident of Beloit for six years. During this time, he was engaged in the practice of the law, and in the purchase and sale of real estate ; consequently a very large number of men in Rock County and the adjoining counties of Boone and Winnebago, III., were living upon lands which they held under contract of purchase from him, and very many of these men - I think a majority of them - were always in arrears in the payment of principal and interest. He never declared a contract forfeited, and never brought suit against one of these purchasers so long as they stayed upon the land and exhibited a willingness to pay ; but, on the other hand, whenever they had been unfortunate from the loss of crops, or sickness, they were sure of substantial sympathy, which did not consist wholly of kind words, and he had the rare faculty of being charitable without assuming the air of patronage. These charities were large and manifold, yet they were given with so little ostentation that no one, however proud or sensitive he might be, was ever embarrassed or humiliated by receiving aid at his hands ; and, more than this, he never spoke of these things.

" And this reminds me of another peculiarity in his character. He was the most reticent, self-reliant, self-controlled and the bravest man I ever met, without a single element of fear or diffidence, and, at the same time, he was the most truly modest mani have ever known, never exhibiting vanity or egotism, and consequently no man ever heard him exalt or speak boastingly of himself, or what he had done or intended to do.' In this regard, he came fully up to Curran's description of .Grattan, in his reply to Lord Brskine's question : ' What does Henry Grattan say of himself?' 'My Lord,' says Curran, 'Henry Grattan never speaks of himself. You could not draw an opinion out of him on that subject with a six-hors^ team.' Further, as a rule, he never spoke of his enemies nor of his controversies with them. No matter what the gravity or magnitude of their charges or accusations might be, he was too indiflferent to them, or too proud, to condescend to make any reply or explanation. The consequence was that he sometimes suffered in the public estimation, and his best friends were often embarrassed by the contemptuous silence with which he treated the ground of these accusations. It is hardly necessary to speak of him as a Judge, a position he filled with such eminent ability. As I remember him, he nearly realized my ideal of a Circuit Judge. There, as elsewhere, he was composed, patient and impartial, always easy of approach by every one, quick in his perception of every case presented for his decision, and never too proud to reconsider his own decisions when he found that he was in the wrong."

He died with the same steady composure that characterized him through life, thoughtful and considerate of those about him, until his last moment of life, when he closed his eyes in aeatn, ,, j^jj^^ ^^^ ^-^^^ wraps the drapery of his couch

That Mr. Keep had enemies, no one is asked to doubt. All public men must have them, and the greater the man the more bitter and powerful his enemies, as a rule. The collision of claims and the collision of interests, an ardent zeal on one side or the other of a question, political antagonisms - all conspire to create opposition, denunciation and ill-will. He was not one of those who feared to do anything, lest he might do something wrong. He acted from principle, and when fully persuaded of the correctness of his position, never wavered or faltered in his course. If difficulties increased, his energy and resolution increased with them. If the circle of his confidential friends was contracted, it was not because he discarded friendships when they ceased to be profitable, but because he was reticent and self-engaged. He was never very compromising or conciliatory in his deportment. There was austerity as well as frankness in his manner, that sometimes made him bitter opponents, but he had the happy faculty of retaining through life a host of warm friends, whose ardent love was proof of his private worth - more honorable to his character than even the prominence of his great abilities

As a writer, he was clear, terse and didactic. His great endowments of disciplined thought imparted to his hastiest compositions elaborate force and the grace of perfection. Bold in his propositions, clear in his statements, rapid in execution, complete in demonstration, he was inexorable in his conclusions. Grant him his premises, and the result was as inevitable as fate. He did not fatigue himself with delicate metaphysical abstractions, nor bewilder his mind with speculative theories, but like an arrow impelled by a vigorous power, he shot directly to the mark. In all his qualifications as a Judge, it may be said without questioning, that he had few equals, and no superior in the State. The dignity of the Circuit Court, while he presided over it, is still spoken of as a model of excellence, and his judicial opinions have established for him the reputation of an able lawyer.

As a public speaker, he was direct and logical, addressing himself to the reason and understanding, rather than to the passions and prejudices of men, and his conversational powers when interested vrere of the highest order. Before a deliberative body, he was a man of great influence, but he was too much of a mattor-of-fact man to indulge in popular harangues. His early political preference and party association were with the Whigs, and later, with the Republican party ; but he displayed at all times great independence and high-mindedness, never yielding his own deliberate judgment to popular applause, or sacrificing his own convictions to the prevailing sentiments of the day, nor was he ever a candidate for any political office.

During his last days, the excitement growing out of the disloyal and belligerent position of the Southern States became more and more intense, yet, notwithstanding his enfeebled condition, he watched with unusual interest all the proceedings in Congress until his feelings were roused with all the ardor of intense patriotism, and he frequently expressed a great desire to be restored to health that he might participate in the impending struggle on the part of the Union.

In person, Mr. Keep was tall, erect and rather slender ; his manner dignified and graceful ; his eye large, black and penetrating, and his whole countenance expressive of great energy and determination. His speech was pleasant, and all his motions seemed to partake of the unceasing activity of his mind, and the. most casual glance upon him in action or repose never failed to impress the beholder with an instinctive sense of his superiority.

He was married, in 1839, to Cornelia A. Eeynolds, daughter of John A. Reynolds, of Westfield, N. Y., a lady of rare culture and Christian virtues, who still survives him.

In the family circle, the place of all others to test genuine worth, Mr. Keep was tender and affectionate, very anxious for the welfare of his children, and particularly solicitous about their education. He left four children, two sons and two daughters. He died on the 2d of March, 1861, aged forty-eight years, and, although but in middle life, few men have left such a record of private Worth and public usefulness.

His death was a very remarkable one. In fact, death in its usual form never came near him. As said by Judge Conger, his end was indeed that of a philosopher, and his death the death of the Christian.

For two years, his strength wasted gradually until he had not sufficient left to draw a breath, and so he ceased to breathe. The morning on which he died, he was dressed and occupied liis easy chair, on which he had reposed during his sickness, looked over some papers from his safe, gave directions in regard to their disposition, conversed with his friends and neighbors, and the several members of his family separately, taking affectionate leave of each, but still, though his pulse had long ceased to beat, he was not ready to go, for he was waiting the expected arrival of his 'sister from Jancsville, Mrs. Graham, who had been summoned to his side, and looking at his watch ;ind noting the time of the arriving of the cars, he remarked, " I fear she has not come;" but watching the window, in a moment he said, " Indeed, she has come." After a few minutes' conversation with his sister, he said, " I am now ready to depart," and

This brief sketch of John M. Keep will be barely sufficient to give the reader a bird 's-eye view of the excellency of his life, but the more secret and minute peculiarities which most endear him to his friends, can never be known, save to those whose personal relations to him Avere such as to enable them to form adequate estimates of his private virtues.

His chief qualities of natural greatness were moral courage, great energy, ready decision, and an indomitable will. Few men possess these qualities in so remarkable a degree as John M. Keep, because few men are so profusely endowed with the omnipotence of genius. Systematic in the employment of his time, he was capable of doing rapidly and well what most persons could not perform without much time and great labor. Bred to the bar, his mind was too original and of too broad a cast to be bound by those narrow and confined views which bind the mere lawyer to former precedents and adjudged cases; he combined the more noble properties of justice with legal adjudications, commingling the principles of equity with legal rule, thus mitigating the too oft severity of legal despotism.

a native of Augusta, Me., was born on the 16th of December, 1832, and was the son of Thomas Littls and Elizabeth P. Howard. He traced his ancestry back to the Plymouth Colony, when one Thomas Little married the daughter of Richard Warren, who came over in the Mayflower. Always of a quiet, studious disposition, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1855 with honors, and, soon after, accepted a position as teacher in the high school at Gardiner, Me. One year later, turning his steps westward, he was providentially drawn into a work which, though he then regarded it as , only temporary, so engaged him that he afterward resolved to devote his life to it. Arriving at Columbus, Ohio, he engaged to teach in the Institution for the Blind. Remaining till 1859, he accepted a similar position in Baton Rouge, La., but, owing to the troubles in the South, he remained but one year, and returned to Columbus, where he taught until August, 1861. at which time he received a call to the superintcndency of the Institution for the Education of the Blind at Janesville, Wi«., a position which he accepted and filled till his death, which occurred on the 4th of February, 1875.

He was married, in 1862, to Miss Sarah F. Cowles, daughter of Rev. Henry Cowles, D. D., of Oberlin, Ohio, and became the father of four daughters.

Mr. Little was thoroughly and conscientiously devoted to his work. By close study and careful observation of institutions for the education of the blind in our own and other countries, he became master of the most advanced theories of his profession, and gained such a reputation that when the Institution for the Blind in Batavia, N. Y., was opened in 1868, he was invited to its superintcndency. He declined the offer, however, feeling that he could accomplish more where he was. By constant work and close application to study, he so overtasked himself, that, in 1873, by the advice of his physician, he took a sea voyage and spent several months in Europe, visiting different institutions and conferring with the most experienced educators of tlie agje. The relief from care and labor so improved his health, that he returned with renewed vigor and enthusiasm and an added experience of great value to his work.

Upon the destruction of the main building of the institution by fire, in April, 1874, in his forgetfulness of self and devotion to his pupils and the interests of the State, he periled his own life, receiving injuries from which he never recovered, and which probably hastened the termination of his life. An intimate friend has written of him as follows: "As a private citizen, he was quiet, unassuming and upright ; as a public officer, he was thorough, untiring, efficient and jealously watchful of the interests committed to his care ; as an instructor, he was a recognized leader in his profession, a disciplinarian who knew how to govern without seeming to govern at all, and who was to his pupils far .more like a kind and wise father than like a superintendent, and, as a Christian, he was manly, generous, humble, full of faith, given alike to prayer and good works, seeking to know and do his Master's will, and trusting for salvation only in the merits of a crucified and personal Savior. In his death, the community has lost an upright and useful citizen, the State has lost a faithful, honest and valued servant, the Church has lost an exemplary, prayerful member and efficient officer."

The following tribute was paid to his memory by the Trustees of the institution : "The Board of Trustees desiring to place upon the record a simple and affectionate testimonial of their appreciation of Thomas H. Little, M. A., do unanimously adopt the following resolution :

' Resolved. That in the death of .<?uperintendent Little, our institution has lost its best friend, the State an eminent Christian citizen, and the cause to which his life was dedicated one of its foremost men. He was a man of varied and extensive learning, of great executive ability, of indefatigable industry, and his daily life was a conlinued testimnnial of the f^iith that was in him and the motives that governed him '" was born in Franklin, Franklin Co., Penn., October 9, 1809, and was the son of Joseph and Mary (Duncan) Noggle, natives of the same place. His father belonged to that class known as Pennsylvania Dutch, while his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. When he was sixteen years old, with his father's family he moved to Greenfield, Ohio. Here he experienced, as a farmer, the hardships and privations of frontier life. His educational advantages had been limited to a few weeks of each winter spent at the district schools of his.native State, before the age of sixteen, where, however, he developed a taste for literary pursuits and a controlling desire to become a lawyer ; but, owing to the limited means of his parents, he was somewhat discouraged in his ambitious desires. At the age of nineteen, he left home in quest of more remunerative employment, and was for four years employed in a manufacturing establishment at Madison, N. Y. In 1834, he returned to Ohio. With a younger brother, he assumed the liabilities of his father, who had become embarrassed in his financial matters, and the brothers improved a water-power by the building of a saw-mill that proved a success, furnishing the means for more extended operations.

On the 15th of October, 1834, he married Miss Anna M. Lewis, of Milan, Obio, and, two years later, he moved with his wife to Winnebago County, 111., making the long journey with an ox team. Here they made a home in the wilderness, and made the preparation for the profession he so ardently desired to pursue as a life's calling. In 1838, after a rigid examination by the Supreme Court of Illinois, he was admitted to the bar of that State, without liaving spent an hour in a law office or having received direction in his studies from any member of the profession. In 1839, he sold his farm in Illinois and removed to Beloit, Wis., where he opened a law office, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession, and enjoyed from the outset the patronage of a large clientage in the counties of Winnebago and Boone, in Illinois, and in Rock, Walworth, Green and Iowa Counties, in the then Territory of Wisconsin. In 1840, he was appointed Postmaster at Beloit, a position he retained some five years. In 1845, he removed to Janesville, and, in 1846, he was elected a member of the first Constitutional Convention, and was recognized as among the leaders of that body. He stood with the progressive elements of the Convention in favor of homestead exemption, an elective judiciary, and the rights of married women. In 1854, he was elected to the State Legislature from the Janesville district, and at once took a leading position in that body. He was again elected in 1856, and was emphatically the leader of the House during the session of 1857.

In 1858, he was elected Jtidge of the First Judicial Circuit of Wisconsin, composed of the counties of Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock and Green, and held the office for eight years, discharging its duties with acceptability and establishing for himself an enviable reputation as a sound jarist and an impartial administrator of the law. He retired from the bench in 1866, and, for a short time, resided in Iowa, where he was engaged as attorney for the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. He afterward returned to Beloit, where he purchased an elegant home and built up a lucrative practice. In 1869, he was appointed by President Grant to the office of Chief Justice of the Territory of Idaho, a position he retained until 1874, when failing health obliged him to resign. For a time, in search for health, he resided in San Francisco. Cal., and returned to Wisconsin in the 'autumn of 1875, to his old home in Janesville, where he resided until his death, which took place on the 18th of July, 1878. He was in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

In politics, Judge Noggle was identified with the Democratic party, until the organization of the Republican party. In 1'844, he was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated President Polk, and, in 1852, to the Convention which nominated President Pierce. He was likewise a delegate to the Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and was ever after an uncompromising Republican.

The name of Judge Noggle is indissolubly connected with the history and progress of Wisconsin. He was a gentleman of fine presence and commanding appearance, earnest and impressive as a public speaker, possessing great natural force and mental power. His life illustrates what can be done by a well-directed purpose, by a determined will, even thou^gh one be thrown upon the world in early manhood without influence, friends or pecuniary resources.

a native of Sandgate, Vermont, was born on the 20th of February, 1797. During the following year, his parents I'emoved to Lee, Mass., where he passed his boyhood, and at the age of sixteen united with the Church. Soon after, he went with his family to Ohio, and there, by the death of his father, was, at the age of seventeen, thrown upon his own resources, and thus early in life he developed that independence of character which so signally marked his subsequent career. Although dependent upon his own exertions for means, he resolved to enter the ministry, and, after his primary education, completed his preparatory course of study at Norfolk, Conn., under the tuition of Rev. Ralph Emerson. He entered Yale College in 1819 and graduated with honor in 1823. His theological studies were pursued partly under the direction of Rev. Mr. Emerson, and partly at Princeton, New Haven and Auburn Theological Seminaries, and on the 22d of February, 1826, he was ordained Pastor at Euclid, Ohio. During the seven years of ministry in this place, his work was greatly blessed, and one sermon especially is said to have been the means of numerous conversions, including five prominent lawyers. While here he became deeply interested in the sailors on the Western waters, and the work so grew upon him that he resigned his pastorate and devoted himself exclusively to it.' While engaged in the Bethel cause, between 1835 and 1837, he resided at Buffalo, N. T., and, in addition to his other duties, edited the Bethel Magazine and Buffalo Spectator, a religious paper, after ward merged in the New York Evangelist.

In October, 1887, he removed to Green Bay, Wis., and became Pastor of the oiily Presby-. terian Church then existing within the present limits of the Sate. Two years later, he secured the erection of a house of worship at a cost of $3,000, and heard the tones of the first church bell in the State, it being the gift of John Jacob Astor, and valued at $500. In 1839, he made a tour through the Territory in the interests 'of the American Home Mission Society, seeking out its moral destitutions and wants, preparatory to establishing churches. In this tour he traveled five hundred and seventy-five miles ; visited sixty-four families and thirty-one different places ; preached fourteen sermons ; delivered one temperance address ; attended one funeral ; organized one church ; administered the communion three times and baptism twice ; attended the meeting of the Presbytery, and distributed many Testaments, tracts and children's books. In 1839, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, and there labored faithfully till 1841, when he was appointed general agent of the American Home Mission Society for Wisconsin. The good resulting from his work in this capacity can never be estimated. Possessed of energy and decision, connected with business tact, zeal, indomitable perseverance and devoted piety, he was pre-eminently suited to the work, prosecuted it with an ardor most creditable to himself, and with a success which entitled him to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of the State. He aided in organizing a large proportion of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, and was influential in forming the Convention in which the Churches of these two denominations were harmoniously united. In his repeated journeys across the prairies and through the forests, he was often subjected to perils and selfdenials, yet he was cheerful and happy in the work of preaching the Gospel to the scattered sheep of Christ's flock, of comforting the lonely, rejoicing with the strong and helping the weak. Though the full results of his work can never be known here, enough have appeared to attest his eminent usefulness as a faithful servant of God, destined to be crowned with honor in the great day of the Lord's appearing. Not only was his heart engaged in the work of spreading the Gospel and establishing churches, but he was also deeply interested in institutions for Christian education. He was an early supporter of the Western Reserve College, and furnished from his church one of the three members of the first graduating class, who is now a minister of the Gospel. More fitly than any one else, he may be called the father of Beloit College. Resigning his agency for the American Home Mission Society, after some eight years' service, he labored nearly three years as financial agent for the College, and was successful in securing a large portion of its early endowments. The first subscription of |1,000, from Rev. Henry Barber, came through his agency, and was followed by $7,000 from the citizens of Beloit, $10,- 000 from Hon. T. W. Williams, a relative of his family, and $10,000 from the self-denying missionaries of the Northwest. On the foundation, thus laid in faith and prayer and self-denial, the college has been built up and made a blessing to both Church and State.

In 1850, from overwork he was prostrated by an illness that seemed his last His physicians despaired of his recovery, and he had even given directions for his funeral. At his request, he was left alone, and prayed till he became impressed with the conviction that he should recover. Calling his physicians, he said, " Gentlemen, I have all confidence in your judgment, but I am assured that the Lord has yet four or five years' work for me to do," and, to the surprise of all, he at once began to mend. His next field of labor was at Batavia, 111., where he preached for nearly three years to the Congregational Church, and, during that time, initiated and carried to success, a plan for an academical institution as a tributary to Beloit College. The crowning effort of his his life was yet to be undertaken. He had long cherished a desire to establish a theological seminary, through whose graduates he should continue to preach the Gospel after his death. With his characteristic energy he entered upon the work. Within one year, the plan of the Chicago Theological Seminary had been matured, the Board of Trustees appointed, the charter secured and the subscription raised to the amount of $50,000. But he was not permitted to see the accomplishment of his purpose. Returning March 14, 1855, from the East, where he had been laboring in the interests of the institution, he called a meeting of the Directors for the 27th, to organize, elect professors and transact any necessary business. On the following day, he was attacked with chills and fever, which resulted in inflammation of the lungs, of which he died at 3 o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 21st. His work was done, and peacefully and gently he entered into his rest. His funeral, which occurred on Friday, the 23d, was conducted by Rev. J. C. Holbrook, who preached from John, xvii, 4 - " I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do." His body found its last resting-place in the cemetery at Beloit, within sight of the college he had loved and labored for.

Thus ended the life of a true man. He is gone, but his work still live?. The train of those who perpetuate his work is still moving on ; the churches which he planted in the wilderness, the sermons which he preached, the schools established, the acts of charity and deeds of love, all live to commemorate his name, and their influence will be ever expanding with the lapse of time.

died in Janesville April 21, 1878. He was born in Northumberland, Saratoga Co., N. Y., February 25, 1802. In early life, he worked on his father's farm, receiving the benefits of good public and private schools, and was, when quite a young man, a school teacher for a year or more. Entering Union College, Schnectady, N. Y.,"at the age of twenty-two he graduated, after pursuing its full course of study, with high honors, and taking therefrom the degree of Master of Arts.

In 1830, he became the successor of Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fiske, as Principal of Wilbraham Academy, in Massachusetts, and, two years afterward, was appointed President of the Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, N. Y., which position he filled for a period of four years, when he resigned.

In 1836, he was ordained a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and soon after became the Rector of Christ Church Parish, of Sherburne, N. Y. In 1839, he was called to the rectorship of St. John's Church, Marcellus, in the diocese of Western New York. In addition to his pastoral labors, he had charge of the academy there for a period of five years. In 1844, while in attendance at the General Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, inthe city of New York, he was introduced to Bishop Jackson Kemper, whose diocese then included the States of Indiana and Missouri, and the Territories (now States) of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. The Bishop urged Mr. Ruger to remove into his diocese and become a helper in the Master's work. Accepting this invitation, he removed in that year, with his family, to Janesville, which then was an humble place of only 200 population, and Rock County contained only 2,000.

Church Parish, of Janesville, was organized in September, 1844, Mr. Ruger being its first Rector. He ofiiciated, also, at Beloit and Milton, holding missionary services at those points for a year or more ; at the same time, the regular services at Trinity were not intermitted. In this field he labored faithfully, and with a great degree of success, for more than ten years, and built up a large parish. Commencing with not to exceed ten members, the parish increased to the number of about two hundi-ed communicants within a period of ten years. In 1855, he resigned the charge of Trinity Parish, and retired from the active ministry. He continued, however, to be a member of the diocese of this State, ar.d officiated in Trinity and Christ Church Parishes, Janesville, occasionally, at the request of the Wardens and when either parish was without a Rector, until the last few years.

Mr. Ruger organized a school, of a high grade, in this city, not long after he settled here, which was called the Janesville Academy. It oifered opportunities for acquiring a thorough education in English, the classics and mathematics, and did a great amount of good and was largely attended. After relinquishing the charge of Trinity Parish, he engaged actively in the work pf cultivating and improving his farm, and continued in this occupation of his youth to the time of his death, with the exception of four years, during which he was Postmaster of Janesville.

All his domestic relations were exceedingly and uninterruptedly happy. His social relations were also pleasant. His manners were without ostentation ; the " daily beauty of his life " was such as to draw around him, from the ranks of the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the simple and the wise, men, women and children who loved and reverenced him, and who will honor and cherish his memory.

Mr. Ruger was endowed by nature with a mind of great vigor, and became proficient in the exact sciences and literature, and gave much study and reflection to the immediate subject of his profession. As an orator, many of his clerical compeers were superior to him ; but as a writer and a reasoner, few, if any, of them surpassed him. His sermons were practic;il rather than doctrinal ; and while he believed in the creed of his church, and was ready to maintain it on every proper occasion, and to give a reason for his belief, yet he chose rather, as a means of greater good, to lay before his hearers those truths and principles which were delivered by the Master during the period of His ministry, and which, by the generations of men who have since lived, have been regarded as divine.

Mr Ruger spent -little time in recreation, rarely wearied and never rested. During the active period of his clerical life, the " summer vacation " had not come to be an incident of the clerical ofBce, and he wrought on, through summer and winter, heat and cold, seeking to perform the trust of his high office acceptably to Him whom he served, and to the spiritual welfare and advancement of the people.

The respect and affection cherished for him and his kindly ways have been most pleasatitly and delicately shown by the frequent requests made to him by " contracting parties " to join them in marriage ; by the desire of many parents that he should baptize their children ; by the many requests of the sick and the afflicted that he should visit them, and by the many invitations he has received to come to the house of mourning, and help to bury the dead.

Father Ruger filled his place in the hearts of his children in the church so acceptably and fully that all regarded his ministrations with favor, and his benedictions as blessings. Thus, for many years, he lived and worked in Janesville, beloved and respected as a man among men and as a minister in the Church.

The Ruger family in America, from which the deceased sprang, came, in the seventeenth century, from Holland to New York, then New Netherland. The paternal ancestors of jMr. Ruger, for three generations back, were born in Dutchess County, N. Y. His mother was Jane (Jewell) Ruger, of a Puritan family from Connecticut, of English ancestry. His grandmother, Katherine (LeRoy) Ruger, was of a French Huguenot family.

Mr. Ruger was married soon after his graduation at college, to Miss Maria Hutchins, of Lenox, Madison Co., N. Y. She is still living. The issue of the marriage was. four sons and three daughters, in all of whom Mr. and Mrs. Ruger have been greatly blessed. Thomas H., the eldest son, is a Colonel and Brevet Brigadier in the United States Army. Edward held the rank of Colonel in the war, and was in command of the Topographical Engineers of the- Army of the Cumberland, and is now devoted to his profession as a civil engineer in Janesville. William, also, has held a responsible position in the army, and is now engaged in the practice of the law in Janesville, with his brother-in-law, J. J. R. Pease. Dr. Henry H. is a surgeon in the United States Army. Of the three daughters, two are married - Cornelia M., tlie eldest, to Mr. Pease, of Janesville, and Addie to Rev. George W. Dunbar, a chaplain in the United States Army. Augusta is the youngest daughter of the family.

Few men were better or more favorably known in Rock County than was Joseph Spaulding, whose death took place at his residence, three miles north of Janesville, August 12, 1877. For over forty years had Mr. Spaulding been a prominent resident of Rock County, and it would be difficult to find a person who ever uttered a disrespectful word in regard to him ; and certainly no act of his ever justly deserved censure. He was one of the best men in the world : ever kind, ever just. Ho was born in Bradford County, Penli., August 23, 1812, and resided there till 1836, when he sought a home in the then Far West. After a brief stop in Racine County, he finally made a permanent location in Rock County in the spring of 1837, on the farm where he ever after resided. In 1839, he was married in Berlin, Conn., to Miss Lydia S. Ellsworth, who survives him. They have four daughters living, all being settled in life. They are Mrs. N. C. Dow, Mrs. J. B. Cassoday, Mrs. E. D. Coe and Mis. G. M. Hanchett.

Mr. Spaulding occupied a prominent position in his county. He was deeply interested in religious and educational matters, and active and liberal in patronizing these interests. In

1853 and 1863, he represented his district in the Assembly, and no constituency had a more faithful or conscientious representative. In politics, he was a Republican, never faltering in his faith in the principles of that party.

The deceased was a man of strong and active nature, energetic, self-reliant, prompt to decide and act, and clear and fixed in his opinions. He was also a man of perfect integrity, and in all his dealings with others, an honorable regard for his obligations was one of his most marked characteristics. Without making any pretensions to superior excellence, he lived far more closely in accordance with the requirements of the Golden Rule than many succeed in doing. He was of an exceedingly happy di.sposition, and his hearty, genial ways made him a most popular companion and associate. He was warm-hearted, charitable and social. His home was the abode of hospitality, and neighbors and friends can testify to his kindly and generous spirit. In his family, he was a most affectionate and indulgent husband and father, and his death has removed the head of one of the happiest households in our community.

[t is easy to speak words of eulogy of such a man as Joseph Spaulding, for his life was one in which good purposes and good principles combined to produce an abundant harvest of good works.

died May 13, 1878, at his residence in Janesville, having reached the age of sixty- nine years and eleven months. Mr. Tallmafti had not been blest with very robust health for some years, but no immediately alarming disease attacked him until the 1st of April. A month previously, he started on a trip for pleasure and health. He reached New Orleans in safety, and, after spending a short time there, went to Washington, where he was enjoying himself in greeting friends and sight-seeing, when a cold which he had, became aggravated and increased greatly his asthmatic difficulties, and finally reached his henrt. He hastened to New York, where he was cared for at the residence of his bro-ther. His oldest son hastened from Janesville to his bedside, the best medical aid and the most careful attentions Were given him, but the disease refused to give way. He gained sufficiently, however, to be removed to his home before death put an end to his sufferings.

Mr. Tallman was a native of New York, being born in Lee, Oneida County, June 13, 1808, his parents being Davi'd and Eunice Tallman, both natives of Woodbury, Conn., whence they removed to New York in 1806. Ten years later, the family removed to Brooklyn, where Mr. Tallman, in 1821, began the study of law in the office of Hon. N. P. Talmadge, on the old site of the Astor House. Deeming it advisable to secure a better preliminary education, he went, the following year, to an academy in Norwalk, Conn., and, after four years' preparation there, entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1830. After a two-years' course in the Yale Law Sfthool, he was admitted to the bar in New Haven. During his course in the law school, in 1831, he married at New Haven, Miss Emeline Dexter, of that place, and, at the end of his course, commenced practice in New York, in the office of Hon. James Talmadge & W. H. Bulkley. In 1833, he removed to Rome, N. Y.,. and continued there in the practice of law until 1850, when he removed to Janesville, where he continued practice until 1854, and where he has resided till the time of his death.

In October, 1818, two years before coming West, he purchased at public auction, large tracts of laAd in Green, La Fayette, Grant and Iowa Counties, in this State, and soon after added other large purchases in those counties, and also in this county. He did hot deem it desirable to pursue the practice of law, but, though he dropped that profession in 1854, he has been always since actively employed, but wholly with his own enterprises. He has devoted muc]i time to developing, improving and disposing of real estate, and these improvements were on property in Janesville.

Although he never deemed political distinctions nor official positions desirable objects of pursuit, or congenial to his tastes, and in spite of his persistent declinations of such proffered distinctions, he was induced by the solicitations of many friends in both political parties, to occupy during a considerable portion of ten or fifteen years, the positions of Alderman and County Commissioner, that the interests of city and county, in which he was largely concerned, might be duly cared for and protected.

Although in no sense a politician, his feelings and sympathies were with the Whig party from 18-33 to 1838, and he was always an outspoken and enthusiastic Abolitionist, and since the organization of the Republican party in Wisconsin, in 1854, he acted with it. He was at one time an active co-worker with Rev. W. Goodell, both of whom were mobbed at one time in Utica, N. Y., for fearlessness in uttering their convictions. He worked earnestly but unostentatiously for the establishment of the principles of his political creed, and deemed himself sufficiently rewarded by seeing these principles triumph, without seeking any further reward by political honors or official positions. He left behind him a wife (since deceased), and two. sons, William H. Tallman and Edgar D. Tallman, both of whom are well known and highly respected residents of Janesville. His only daughter was married to Mr. John P. Beach,, in 1865, and settled in Chicago, where she died the following year.

Mr. Tallman was a member of the First Congregational Church of Janesville, and was an exemplary and honored member. In his personal habits, he was pure, in his business enterprises, straight-forward and energetic, and his labors were crowned with success.

He has always occupied a prominent position in social and in business circles, although naturally of a retiring disposition, and having a strong distaste for any ostentation. He was always deeply interested in all that concerned the growth or prosperity of Janesville and county, and "coupled cautiousness with wise counsel, and an industrious persistency in pushing forward all enterprises which he deemed wise and expedient, and of benefit to the public,

Few Methodist ministers -were better known in Wisconsin than Rev. Hezekiah C. Tilton, and the announcement of his death carried sorrow to many hearts. He had been quite ill for nearly a year, and for many months there had been but little, if any, hope for his restoration to health. He died at his residence in Janesville on the 26th of March, 1879. His naturally strong constitution battled nobly against the grim messenger, but it finally had to succumb, and after many months of severe pain, through all which he bore up with Christian fortitude and hope, he peacefully passed from time to eternity, and his spirit is at rest.

Rev. H. C. Tilton was a native of the State of Maine, and was born August 30, 1818. Heprepared for the Methodist ministry, and entered the Maine Conference in 1841. He remained in that State till 1857, and, during his ministrations there, was stationed at Mount Desert, Deer Island, Steuben, North Penobscot, North Bucksport, Frankfort, Hampden, Bangor, Rockland and Damanscotta. In 1857, he came to Wisconsin, and at once took prominent position as an able pulpit orator, and in this State has been stationed at Suramerfield and Asbury Churches, Milwaukee ; at the First Methodist and Court Street Churches, Janesville ; at Fond du Lac, Appleton and Whitewater. He became Presiding Elder of the Racine District, and, in 1864, represented a district in Walworth County in the Assembly, in which body he became a leading and influential member. In the fall of 1861, Mr. Tilton was commissioned as Chaplain of the Thirteenth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, but failing health compelled him to resign his place in August, 1862. He contracted disease during his service, from which he never fully recovered. We clip the concluding paragraphs of a notice of Mr. Tilton, from the Janesville Gazette, with which a son of the deceased is editorially connected:

His last appointment in the ministry was at Whitewater. He had served his allotted time, and was urged to g"* to Oshkosh, but his declining health admonished him that it was best to cease from his labor awhile, at least, and having assumed a superannuated relation, he removed to Janesville in 1876, and in the spring of that year was appointed by Gov. Ludington a member of the State Board of Charities and Reform for the term of three years. He was not only an active member of the Board, but a very able one, Among all the officials connected with the institutions of Wisconsin, there were none more devoted to the welfiire of the State, or more thoroughly identified with the interests of our institutions than Mr. Tilton.