Sauk County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1918 (part 10 of 20)

Mr. Haekett has also been a leader in public affairs. He is independent in politics and is a strong and active force for temperance. For several terms he served as mayor of North Freedom, and was also village clerk and assessor for two years, and assessor of Freedom Township two years. For fourteen years he was clerk of the school board and president of the county board of education two years. Fraternally he is affiliated with North Freedom Lodge No. 284, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America.

On December 28, 1892, Mr. Haekett married Miss Diantha Gertrude Call. Mrs. Haekett was bom in Rock County, Wisconsin, June 29, 1869, a daughter of Charles Frederick and Mary (Sanborn) Call. Her father was bom in the State of Maine in 1840, while her mother was bom in Walworth County, Wisconsin, in February, 1849. Her father died at North Freedom in 1913 and her mother is now living at Rockford, Illinois. Mrs. Haekett is an influence for good outside her own household, and is now serving as president of the North Freedom Library Board and as county "secretary of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. To Mr. and Mrs. Haekett were bom four children : Gerald A. and Harold W.^ twins, were bom in August, 1894. Gerald died at the age of six years. Harold W. is a graduate of the North Freedom graded schools and the Baraboo High School, and then entered Berea College at Berea, Kentucky, where he took his bachelor's degree in June, 1915. He also pursued graduate study at Columbia University, New York City, in 1916. He is still at Berea, acting as cashier of the treasury department of the college. Howard Lloyd, the third child, was born March 30, 1899, was graduated from the Reedsburg High School with the class of 1917, and entered Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, in September, 1917. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the youngest, was born January 1, 1904, and graduated in the eighth grade in June, 1917, entering high school the following fall. He has marked talent for drawing and cartooning and is now taking a special course in that work.

Edward R. Thomas. The career of Edward R. Thomas reflects practical and useful ideals and its range of activities has included the promotion of agriculture, education, politics and insurance. Primarily a farmer, with large landed interests, he has also been prominent in business affairs of the community of Fairfield Township, and for many years has been an active factor in the civic life of the community, having been frequently elected to represent his fellow citizens in official positions of trust and responsibility. Mr. Thomas was born April 27, 1856, in Dane County, Wisconsin, and is a son of William and Lydia (Wineland) Thomas.

removed to Eastern Pennsylvania, where he became a teacher in an academy. While there he married Lydia Wineland, who was born in the Keystone State, and in 1856 they came to Wisconsin and settled on a farm in Dane County. There they made their home until 1881, when they came to Fairfield Township, Sauk County, and began agricultural operations on the farm now owned by their son, B. F. Thomas. William Thomas continued to be an energetic and progressive farmer and highly esteemed citizen here during the remainder of his life, and died in 1894, having rounded out an honorable career of eighty-five years, while Mrs. Thomas passed away in 1895, when eighty years of age. They were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the parents of the following eleven children : Maria, who died in 1915 ; Ann Elizabeth, a resident of Savannah, Georgia ; George, who fought for 41^ years of the Civil war as a member of the Third Wisconsin Infantry, and is now a resident of Taft, Florida ; William, who was a soldier of the Twenty-third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the war between the North and the South ; Charles, who was a member of the Eleventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and met a soldier's death during the Civil war; Martha, whose death occurred in Nebraska; Jefferson, who died when twenty-two years of age ; Emma, who is the wife of James J. Bray, a veteran of the Civil war ; John, who died in infancy ; Benjamin Franklin, who owns the old homestead and resides at Baraboo ; and Edward R., of this review.

The youngest of his parents' children, Edward R. Tliomas received good educational advantages in his youth while being reared on the home farm. He first attended the public schools of Dane County, then went to the Oshkosh and Baraboo High schools, and completed his education at the Oshkosh Normal School, following which for several terms he was engaged in teaching school in Sauk County. In 1880 he began agricultural work on a farm of 113 acres situated in Fairfield Township, to which he has since added 153 acres and on which he has made improvements of a modern character. His farm is one of the model tracts of the community and its buildings are substantially constructed and handsome in appearance. In addition to general farming he gives some attention to the raising of live stock, and has made a specialty of Holstein cattle. For some years Air. Thomas has been identified with important business enterprises. At this time he is treasurer and a director of the Excelsior Co-operative Creamery Company of Baraboo ; for twenty years has been a director of the Baraboo Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, of which he has been president for the past fifteen years ; and is a director of the Wisconsin Tornado Insurance Company of Evansville, Wisconsin. Among his business associates he is accounted a man of shrewd judgment and great foresight, possessing the qualities that make for leadership and executive ability.

Politically Mr. Thomas has always been independent in his views, relying upon his own judgment in the selection of candidates. During the past twenty-two years he has served as township clerk of Fairfield Township, for several years was clerk of the school board, and during the past nine years has been chairman of the township board of trustees. He has always given his best abilities to the discharge of his official duties and has been an important factor in securing numerous improvements for his community. Mr. Thomas attends the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Thomas is a member.

In 1879 Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Carrie F. Ayers, who M^as born in Fairfield Township, Sauk County, January 30, 1857, a daughter of Royal and Amelia (Jackson) Ayers, early settlers of that township. Mr. Ayers, who was a farmer by vocation, was active in political affairs, and was for several years chairman of the township board of trustees. He died about the year 1890 and Mrs. Ayers survived him for six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas the following children have been born : Charles, who died in August, 1914, married Jennie Pinneo, of Baraboo, and had five children, Arthur, Edward, Theodore, Ruth and Bessie, the widow and children now making their home with the family of Edward R. Thomas ; Millicent, who is the wife of George Caflisch, of Baraboo, and the mother of seven children, Roger, Bryan, Robert, Rodney, Donald, Lucille and Wilbur ; Herbert, who married Fern Porter and has two children, Audrey and Donald; Frank, a farmer of Fairfield Township, who married Eva Davis and has one child, Phyllis ; Neal, who died in infancy ; Delia, who is the wife of Harry Filer, of Pipestone, Minnesota, and has two children, Francis and Mary ; Donald, who died in infancy ; Percy, who resides on the home farm and is assisting his father in its operation; and Lucy, who was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Reedsburg, is now the wife of Rollo Webster and lives on a farm in Fairfield Township.

Charles A. Carpenter is one of the veterans in the service of the Chicago Northwestern Railway Company. He has been in the train service for over forty years and for the greater part of that time has had one of the passenger runs as a conductor through Baraboo. He is a popular man in the Order of Railway Conductors and has a host of friends in his home city and among the traveling public generally.

Mr. Carpenter was bom in Westchester County, New York, INIarch 3, 1853. Three years later, in 1856, his parents, Alonzo B. and Phoebe Jane (Smith) Carpenter, came west and located in Richland County, Wisconsin. Their place of settlement was in Ithaca Township on Bear Creek. Here Alonzo B. Carpenter took up a tract of Government land and followed farming actively for a number of years. He also served one term as county superintendent. He had eighty acres of land and was in a fair way to prosperity when his good wife died on that farm February 21, 1865, at the age of thirty-one years, two months, twentyfive days. She was survived by five young children : Charles A., Charlotta, now deceased ; Eugenia, Benjamin F. and Nellie. Charles was then twelve years of age. The father took his little family back to New York State for one year and then returned to Richland County, Wisconsin, and married for his second wife Miss Elizabeth Waterman. There was one child by the second wife, who was born in Iowa. Alonzo Carpenter followed the lumber business in Iowa for a number of years and died there May 16, 1885, at the age of fifty-four years, eight months, seventeen days. He was a well educated man, having gained his education in New York State. He became a pharmacist and was also a skilled accountant. Politically lie was a republican and a member of the Masonic Order. The family on both sides were for generations connected with the Friends or Quaker Church.

Charles A. Carpenter began his education in Richmond County, attending the public schools, and also for one year attended school at Ossining in Westchester County, New York. He returned to Richmond County with his father and subsequently began working as a farm employe in Walworth County. He had a variety of experiences, and from an early age was dependent upon his own resources. During one summer he worked on a Government steamboat running on the Wisconsin River. For one or two winters he was employed in the pine woods.

It was in 1873 that Mr. Carpenter began his service with the Chicago Northwestern Railway and with headquarters at Baraboo. At first he was employed in the bridge department, but in 1876 secured a job as freight brakeman, and in 1881 was promoted to freight conductor. After ten years in that capacity he was promoted to passenger conductor in 1891, and for over a quarter of a century has had charge of some of the passenger trains of the Northwestern Railway.

In 1895 Mr. Carpenter built one of the handsomest homes of Baraboo at 407 Second Street. He and his family have lived there for many years and have surrounded themselves with the comforts and also with many social pleasures. Politically Mr. Carpenter is a republican but has confined his work in politics to voting.

On February 6, 1879, he married Miss Frances Stone. Mrs. Carpenter was born in Columbia County, Wisconsin, November 13, 1854, daughter of John and Esther (Sharp) Stone. Her parents were pioneers in Columbia County, but subsequently removed to Baraboo, where they spent their last years. Her mother died in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter had one daughter, Perliett C, who was born June 26, 1883, was well educated in the Baraboo High School and was just at the entrance of a beautiful voung womanhood when she was taken away by death August. 22, 1901. '

Rev. Henry Mueller, who is now minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Baraboo, represents a family which have been pioneers in the establishment of the Lutheran religion in Wisconsin and in various other parts of America. The Evangelical Lutheran Church at Baraboo is one of the finest in that city, and it is also one of the largest congregations of religious worshipers. Rev. Henry Mueller has done a great deal of constructive and organizing work in the ministry, and is very pleased with his church and its people and they in turn give much credit to his spiritual leadership in the community.

Rev. Mr. Mueller is a native of Wisconsin, and was bom at Freistadt, Thiensville, June 4, 1865. His parents were Frederick and Julia (Rohr) Mueller, both natives of Germany. The father was born in 1808 and the mother in 1836. The maternal grandfather, Henry Rohr, and his wife Julia came to America in 1841, locating first at Buffalo, New York. Henry Rohr was a minister, but in Germany had served as an officer of the King's Guard. On coming to the United States he brought twelve congregations of people of his own faith and located them in New York and Wisconsin. Frederick Mueller and Henry Rohr organized the first Lutheran churches in Wisconsin, and thousands of Lutheran people came to this state partly under their guidance. Rev. Henry Rohr died in New York in 1876.

Frederick Mueller also came to the United States in 1841, locating at Buffalo, New York, and was a minister for upwards of thirty years. For two years he preached in Canada, then returned to New York, and was active in his profession both in that state and in Wisconsin. He was one of the early settlers at Freistadt, Wisconsin, and served as minister there eighteen years. He and his wife were the parents of five children : Julia, Beata, John, Reverend Henry and Ella. John died in infancy.

Rev. Henry Mueller soon after his birth was taken to New York, where he lived until eleven years of age. In 1876 the family located at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he continued his education in the parochial and public schools. He was also partly educated at Watertown, Wisconsin, and attended Northwestern College there and the Lutheran Seminary, at Milwaukee, from which he was graduated in 1889. For fourteen years he was a minister in Manitowoc County, and while there he erected a fine church. In 1903 he came to his present charge, the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church at Baraboo, and under his leadership the congregation completed in 1914 the handsome church edifice at East Avenue and Fifth Street. This church was dedicated February 28, 1915. It is a fine structure, built of red brick, and with rich and beautiful interior. His congregation numbers about 700 people and 140 families.

Rev. Mr. Mueller was married in 1893 to Miss Emma Buss of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They have one daughter, Adelia, who has been educated in the public schools of Baraboo.

William H. Premo. One of the substantial men of Sauk County is William H. Premo, who is a well-known representative of the farm and stock interests, particularly in Greenfield Township, in which, adjacent to Baraboo, lies his valuable farm of 113 acres. Mr. Premo belongs to an old pioneer family of this county and was born in Merrimack Township, Sauk County, ]\Iay 19, 1867. His parents were Charles and Eliza (Astle) Premo.

Charles Premo was born in 1835, in the State of New York, and died on his farm in Sumpter Township, Sauk County, in 1901. He was a son of Joseph and Melvina (Delergie) Premo, both of whom were born in France. In 1850 they came to Sauk County from New York, and lived for one year in Sumpter Township and then moved to Merrimack Township, and there Joseph Premo bought and improved a farm, on which his death occurred in 1877 and that of his wife in 1880. Charles Premo purchased a farm in Sumpter Township, removing to it in 1877. He married Eliza Astle, who was born in England in 1837, a daughter of William Astle, a pioneer in Sauk County, and she died in Sumpter Township in 1905. Of their family of eight children three survive, namely: Stephen, Joseph and William H., and the following are deceased : Sarah, Elizabeth, Herman, Ada and John.

interested in agricultural pursuits. He attended the public schools during boyhood, is a well informed man along many other than agricultural lines, but he early chose the life and business of a farmer and stockraiser and his success has justified him. He owned the homestead in Sumpter Township and additional land that aggregated 225 acres, and this large property he continued to manage and operate until 1912, when he sold it. On March 7th of the same year he bought his present valuable farm, consisting of 113 acres in Greenfield Township, which adjoins the corporate limits of Baraboo, where he maintains his residence. He devotes his attention mainly to the breeding of Aberdeen Angus cattle, and experts say that his present herd of thirty-five are among the finest specimens of this breed in the state. His farm structures are modern and adequate and all the surroundings- indicate excellent management, resulting in prosperity.

In 1895 Mr. Premo was united in marriage with Miss Nellie J. Shaw, who was born in Sauk County in 1874. She is a daughter of Henry and Mary Shaw, both now deceased. The father of Mrs. Premo served as a soldier in the Civil war for three years, nine months and eighteen days. He came to Sauk County among the pioneers. His death occurred in 1915, at the home of ]\lr. and Mrs. Premo. To them have been born four children : Lavantia, a graduate of the Baraboo High School, is a student in the Platteville State Normal School ; and George, Lilah and Stanley. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Premo is a republican.

Richard B. Griggs is an old business man of Baraboo, having been a resident and merchant of the city since 1874. He had previously been engaged in various lines at Waukegan and Chicago, for several years. Since 1912 he has been retired from the clothing business, his brother and nephew having succeeded him. Mr. Griggs has been prominent in the prohibition movement for many years, and has been a leader in other fields. In 1895 he assisted in the organization of the Baraboo Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was president for some time, and is now its secretary. He also held the secretaryship of the Sauk County Agricultural Association for a time.

Henry L. Hale. One of the best known among Sauk County's citizens is Henry L. Hale, county sheriff, former city treasurer and long a resident of Baraboo. Coming to this city forty years ago, for thirty-three years he was connected in various capacities with railroad work, and whether as railroad man or county official he has always had the esteem and friendship of these among whom his labors have brought him.

Henry L. Hale was born at Easton, Adams County, Wisconsin, February 2, 1857, being a son of Fred L. and Mary E. (Willis) Hale, natives of New York. They came to Wisconsin as a young married couple and settled on a farm in the viciinity of Easton, where Fred L. Hale carried on agricultural operations until 1860. In that year he went to Racine and secured work in a factory and was thus employed until 1863, when he enlisted at Milwaukee in a Wisconsin volunteer infantry regiment for service in the Union army during the Civil war. While wearing his country 's uniform he contracted a disease which necessitated his removal to the army hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, and there his death occurred. Mrs. Hale, who still survives her husband, is a resident of Fond du Lac, and is now in her eighty-third j^ear. There were four children in the family : Henry L. ; Emma, who is the wife of George Vetter, of Racine ; Fred L., also a resident of that city ; and Nettie, wife of Nelson McDonald, chief clerk in the sash, door and blind factory at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Henry L. Hale received a common school education in the rural districts of Wisconsin and has been a resident of the state all of his life. He began his career as a farm hand, but an agricultural life did not appeal to the young man, and at the age of twenty years he came to Baraboo and secured employment as a section hand in the service of the Chicago & North-AVestern Railroad. After one year of this kind of work he was promoted to train service and became a brakeman, a vocation which he followed two years. His next promotion was to the position of fireman, and after fourteen months of firing he was entrusted with an engine and continued to manipulate the throttle until August 5, 1905. Mr. Hale was one of the best liked men on the road, as well as one of the most trusted men in the service, and his retirement as an engineer came only as a result of the loss of sight in his right eye, which incapacitated him for further service in that direction. He did not leave the employ of the company, however, as his past services had convinced his employers of his value, and he was transferred to the round house at Baraboo, where he was put in charge as foreman. He remained in that capacity until May 5, 1910. Following this, Mr. Hale engaged in the insurance business, a line in which he continued for two years. In the meantime he had become interested in politics, and in 1912 was elected on the republican ticket as city treasurer of Baraboo. He served in that of^ce for two years, or until April, 1914, and established a splendid record in the handling of the city's finances. On January ], 1915, he was the successful candidate of his party for the office of sheriff of Sauk County, being elected for a term of two years. In the shrievalty, as in the treasurer's office, he discharged his duties in a highly acceptable and conscientious manner, and no stain or blemish mars his record. While a republican, Mr. Hale is a great admirer of President Wilson and his policies.

Mr. Hale joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in 1886 and is still a member of that great body, and during the past eight years has been secretary and treasurer of the Baraboo Local of the organization. He was one of the charter members of Baraboo Lodge of the Independent Order of Foresters and still holds membership in that fraternity. An enthusiastic motorist, during the past twenty-two months ending in December, 1916, Mr. Hale has traveled by automobile no less than 11,000 miles in Sauk County. While his greatest friendships are probably to be found among trainmen, he is also well known to the people in other vocations and few men possess more friends.

On September 7, 1878, Mr. Hale was united in marriage with Miss Vina B. Hill, who was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, daughter of Thomas B. Hill, an early settler of Wisconsin. To this union there have been born three sons and one daughter : LeRoy W., who is a resident

H. 0. Kleiner. The well-cultivated farm, v/ith its substantial group of buildings, where Mr. Kleiner now lives in Prairie du Sac Township, has been his home since birth and in that one environment he has worked out life's problems and utilized its opportunities.

Mr. Kleiner was born in Prairie du Sac Township in 1872, a son of Samuel and Mary (Sutter) Kleiner. His parents were both natives of the Canton Zurich, Switzerland, his father born in 1830 and his mother in 1832. After their marriage they came to America in 1854 and first located in Sauk City. After four years there they went to Troy Township and in 1873 moved to Prairie du Sac Township and bought the land now owned by their son, H. 0. Kleiner. Twenty-two years ago the parents moved into Sauk City, where they retired and where the father died November 9, 1890, and the mother on December 15, 1898. Samuel Kleiner began life at the bottom of the ladder. In the old country he had taught school for a couple of years, but was a farmer by training and vocation. On coming to Sauk County he secured employment in mills, and he got his real start by farming a place in partnership with William Fisher in Troy Township. In 1863 he bought 120 acres in Prairie du Sac Township and in time he had it all under cultivation except twelve acres. The present buildings on the farm were erected by Mr. H. 0. Kleiner, who has owned and occupied the homestead for the past twenty-two years.

Samuel Kleiner and wife had a large family of fourteen children, and those still living are all married. The names of this family are : Samuel, who lived at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and died at the age of thirty-five ; Jacob and Rudolph, both residents of Eau Claire ; Carl and Anna, who died young; William and Fred, living in Eau Claire; Louisa, Mrs. George Ament, of Chicago ; Emma, twin sister of Louisa, wife of Edmund Tausend, living in Iowa; Charles, a resident of Utah; Mary, who died young; H. 0. Kleiner, who was the twelfth in order of birth; George, who lived in Illinois, where he died two years ago ; and Albert.

Mr. H. 0. Kleiner has made his success as a general farmer and stock raiser. He served fifteen years as town clerk and was clerk of the school board for three different terms. He and his family are members of the First Reformed Church and in politics he is a republican and fraternally is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Equitable Fraternal Union at Sauk City.

He married in 1894 Miss Elizabeth Kleinert, daughter of Henry W. and Caroline (Schoephoerster) Kleinert. Her parents were natives of Germany. Her father was brought to America at the age of seven years. They lived in the Township of Troy, where her father died February 23, 1916. Her mother is still living in Prairie du Sac.

Mr. and Mrs. Kleiner have three children, all unmarried and all were well educated in Sauk City and the township schools. Their names are Nellie, Lillian and Irene.

lived to the verge of three-score and fifteen years is primarily the result of a careful observance of the laws of nature, and to have reached that advanced stage in the earthly journey with all the receding years unmarred by reproach is indeed a consumhiation devoutly to be wished. Crowned with honor and upheld by a sustaining faith is he who can look back over so long a career in the serene consciousness that he has faithfully discharged his duties to his God, his country and his fellowmen. Among the few to whom such a retrospect is possible may be counted the venerable and greatly esteemed Charles C. Allen, one of the best known among Baraboo's retired citizens.

Mr. Allen belongs to an old and honored American family, and is a descendant of the great Revolutionary patriot and hero, Col. Ethan Allen. He was bom in Washington Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1841, a son of Levi and Cynthia Elizabeth (Walden) Allen, the former a native of Massachusetts, bom in 1818, and the latter of Connecticut, born in 1814. They were married in Massachusetts, went next to Erie County, Pennsylvania, then to Chenango County, New York, and in 1847 came to Wisconsin, locating first at Milwaukee. Subsequently they moved into Dane County, at Grand Springs, and in 1849 removed to Washington Township, Sauk County, where they received Government land. This 160-acre tract they later sold and removed to the Township of Reedsburg, where they took the John Babb Farm and resided thereon until 1873. Mr. Allen then took his family to Nebraska, where he took up a farm from the Government and proved up on a homestead, on which he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1900, at Alina, the county seat of Harding County. Mrs. Allen passed away there in 1901. They were the parents of the following children : Charles C, of this notice ; Albert, who was a member for one year of the Fiftieth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and died in December, 1915 ; Myron F., who lived for some years on the old homestead in Nebraska, a part of which is owned by his wife, but who died in Montana; Hiram, who is a retired farmer and lives at Cambridge, Nebraska ; Edward N., who went to Nebraska in 1871 and took up Government land, built a schoolhouse on his claim and was county superintendent of schools three terms, taught school for some years, was a hardware merchant at Arapo, Nebraska, then was sent to the state senate, and finally went to Seattle, Washington, where he died about 1906, and two sons and one daughter who died while young.

Charles C. Allen was reared in Sauk County and secured his education in the Washington and Reedsburg Township schools and the public schools of Baraboo. About the year 1858 he went to Dane County to secure employment, but did not remain there long, but instead took a boat down the Mississippi River. When the Civil war broke out he was on Island 63. He was seized by the authorities and taken to Memphis, Tennessee, but after some examination was allowed to leave the state, and went to Springfield, Illinois, where in 1861 he enlisted in the State Guards. Later he was sworn into the United States Army as a member of Company I, Fourteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which organization he served three years and twenty-six days, re-enlisting in 1865 in the Ninth United States Veteran Volunteer Infantrj'-

Corps. He received his final lioiiorable discharge April 16, 1866, at Detroit, Michigan. After the war closed the brave young soldier returned to Sauk County and located on a 40-acre farm in Excelsior Township, which he had purchased before. This he disposed of in 1872, when he went to Nebraska, in which state he proved up on a farm of 320 acres. Returning to Sauk County in 1880 he bought a farm in Fairfield Township and resided thereon until 1904, when he retired from active labor. He came to Baraboo in that year, purchased a lot, and erected a modern liome at 215 Eleventh Street. Mr. Allen is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Since 1880 his political views have coincided with those of the prohibition party.

Mr. Allen was married September 30, 1866, to Miss Lilah Whitney, and they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary September 30, 1916. She was born at Grafton, Vermont, May 11, 1846, a daughter of Seneca and Charlotte (Lacy) Whitney. The family came to Sauk County in 1852 and settled on a farm in Baraboo Township, but in 1866 removed to Lyons Village, and after some years to North Freedom, where Mr. Whitney died in 1894 and his wife in 1895. They were the parents of four children : Harriet, who is deceased ; Sarah, the widow of A. J. Spahr, of Baraboo ; Lilah ; and Charlotte, the wife of Yoss Harseim, of Baraboo Township. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have had five children: Hiram, who died when four years of age ; Whitney, a farmer of Baraboo Township, married Mabel Thomas and has three children. Myrtle, Cecil and Mildred; Carrie, who died in Nebraska at the age of three years; Edith, who is the wife of James Karns, of Kilbourn, Wisconsin ; and C. Lotta, who is the wife of Roy Steele, of Delton Township, Sauk County, a farmer, and has three children, LaVeta, Dean and Elmer.

GuSTxVV Seils. One cannot follow the long career of Gustav Sells without renewed appreciation of those homely, sterling qualities which, when allied with practical business sense, lift men from obscurity to influence and from poverty to affluence. This Fairfield Township farmer has been a resident of Sauk County for more than forty-five years, and during this period has been a witness to and a participant in the wonderful advancement which has taken place in this rich agricultural community. His own fortunes have increased with the prosperity of the county, and his actions have been helpful in bringing about a number of movements which have added to Sauk's prestige.

Mr. Seils was born in Germany, March 13, 1853, and is a so)i of John and Lena Seils, natives of that country. The family had resided in Germany for many years, and while the name was an honored one the fortunes of the family were not large, and the activities of the members were largely confined to farming on small plots which yielded but a meager living. With a desire to establish themselves in a comfortable home, where they might hope to attain a competence for their declining years and afford their children better educational advantages and other opportunities, the parents came to the United States in 1870 and located in Sauk County, where they settled on a farm in Baraboo Township. Here they spent the remaining years of their lives, both rounding out full and useful careers. John Seils died on the homestead in June, 1894, when seventy-two years old, while Mrs. Sells passed away at the same age in 1896. They were the parents of six children : Gustav, of this review ; Mary, who is deceased ; Lena, Herman, Bertha and John. The parents were good church members of the Methodist Episcopal faith and reared their children to lives of industry and honesty, fitting them as far as lay in their power to take their rightful, honored places in the world. The children have all been reasonably successful and have grown up to be a credit to themselves, to their family, and to the kind and loving training given them in their youth.

Gustav Sells secured his early education in the schools of his native laud and was brought up in a home where industry and economy were considered cardinal virtues. He early learned the value of labor and of honesty and a naturally ambitious nature led him to endeavor to master any subject to which he applied himself. Pie was seventeen years of age at the time he accompanied the family to the United States, and here in Sauk County he attended the public schools and thus secured his education in English. It was twelve years before he was able to secure a property of his own, but in the meantime he was gaining valuable experience on his father's farm and becoming thoroughly acquainted with farming methods, machinery and appliances. In 1882 he bought eighty acres of land in Fairfield Township, where he now resides, as well as fifteen acres in Greenfield Township, and most of this property he cleared himself, putting in modern improvements and erecting good buildings. These latter include a commodious and comfortable residence, a splendid barn and a large up-to-date silo. He has adopted the latest methods of cultivating the soil and is a student of the science of farming, thus being able to make his land pay him well for the labor he puts into its operation. In addition to general farming he has met with success in the breeding of livestock, and his graded Holstein cattle find a ready market wherever shown. Mr. Sells is a stockholder in the Excelsior Co-operative Creamery Company. Politically a republican, he has not taken any particularly active part in the work of his party, but has supported good community movements and has lent his support, moral and financial, to those things which have been promoted for the best interests of the public in general. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Sells was married in 1880 to Miss Rose Laukenberg, and they became the parents of three children, namely : Edward, Albert and Ferdinand. The mother of these children died in 1892, and in the following year Mr. Sells was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Liverentz, who M^as born in Germany, where her parents died. Mr. and Mrs. Sells are the parents of four children, all of whom are living: Otto, Lena, Bertha and Henry.

Edwin J. Farr. Whether it was chance or fate that led the parents of Edwin J. Farr to Prairie du Sac in 1856, it is certain that the little growing Wisconsin city gained thereby one who was to prove a valuable citizen, and at the same time in the little village there came to the youth excellent business opportunities, the improvement of which brought him to a prominent position among the successful business men of the locality.

The period of Edwin J. Farr 's residence here has covered sixty-one years, during which time the little straggling town has been converted into a live and thriving commercial center. For many years he kept pace with the business development of Prairie du Sac, and it has only been within recent years that he has partially retired from active participation in affairs. But while as a busine&s man he has won and deserved success, he is also known as one who has helped to secure things of material benefit to the community and as a public official who has always merited- the confidence of his fellow citizens, as evidenced in his quarter of a century of incumbency in the office of justice of the peace.'

Edwin J. Farr was born in 1849, at Corinth, Orange . County, Vermont, a son of Amos and Sally (Taplin) Farr, natives of the Green Mountain State. His father was a carpenter by trade, and followed tliat vocation throughout the period of his active career. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Unitarian Church, and in polities was a whig until the formation of the republican party, after which he gave his vote to the latter organization. Born in 1811, he had reached the advanced age of ninety-one years, lacking eleven days, when he passed away in 1902. Mrs. Farr's people had resided in New England for many years, where the family was principally engaged in the pursuits of agriculture.

Edwin J. Farr was about seven years of age when he came with his parents to Wisconsin, arriving at Prairie du Sac July 1, 1856. At that time the town covered about half a mile square, and, approximately, there were sixty houses and five barns, with one schoolhouse and one church. While growing to sturdy young manhood Mr. Farr attended the first school, and when ready to enter upon his own career chose the hardware business as the medium through which to work out his success. He was twenty-two years of age when he embarked in this venture, conducting a store for four years with a moderate measure of success, and then disposing of his interests to turn his attention to the poultry business with his father and in connection with his uncle, J. F. Lamson, of Boston, Mr. Farr bought the poultry in the surrounding countr>^ and shipped it to Boston, and while during his first year he secured less than a ton all winter, during the latter part of his experience in this business he shipped his product in carload lots. When he embarked in this line poultry was worth about eight or nine cents per pound, with ten cents for turkeys; it is interesting to compare these prices with the ones of today. After fifteen years spent in this field of endeavor Mr. Farr transferred his energies to participation in the implement business, which at that time offered a much broader and more remunerative field than at the present. He remained identified therevidth for something like six years, and then disposed of his holdings and became connected with the creamery business, one of the first ones opened in the village and owned by Bickford & Lampson. His identification with the creamery covered a period of five years, and at the end of that time he bought out the hardware business of J. A. Moore, which he can'ied on successfully for five years and then sold to Stoddard & Fay. At that time Mr. Farr took up the fire and life insurance business, with which he has been connected more or less actively to this time.

Mr. Fair has been connected with the official life of Prairie du Sac for many years and in a number of capacities. For twenty-five years he has served as justice of the peace, and during this time has been the means of satisfactorily adjusting countless disputes and controversies, many of which have come to a conclusion even before they reached the court. His first case was tried before him September 21, 1892, Judge Farr has also been president of the village seven times, giving its citizens a good and clean administration each term, and has been on the board of trustees several times. He has shown himself one of the most useful and energetic workers in the cause of securing local improvements, and was a member of the board at the time the first cement sidewalks were laid in the city, an improvement which necessitated a hard fight to land. He has been a. steadfast republican from the outset of his voting career, and in religious matters is a Universalist. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons, having held the office of worshipful master in the lodge at Prairie du Sac for eight years; and is a member of the Woodmen, the Royal Neighbors and the Eastern Star.

Judge Farr Avas married January 10, 1872, to Emma L. Dodd, daughter of Garrous and Emeline (Baldwin) Dodd, natives of New Jersey. Her father was engaged in farming until twelve years prior to his death, at which time he took up work as a toll-keeper. Mrs. Farr died in February, 1916, leaving one daughter, Sarah Evelyn, who was born in October, 1874. She was educated in the public schools, and in 1895 was married to A. E. Fey, by whom she had four children: Berenice, Raymond, Alice and Winifred, who have enjoyed good educational advantages at Prairie du Sac and Viola, and the last two of whom are now going to school at Monroe. Mrs. Fey's first husband died, and she married for her second husband Henry E. White, of Monroe, Wisconsin, a cement contractor and well known business man of that place. They are the parents of two children, Mary Emma and Henry Edwin.

William H. Aton. A business career which has always been looked upon as an important asset to the City of Baraboo is that of William H. Aton. Mr. Aton is progressive, enterprising and industrious from youth up and has developed one of the leading musical instrument houses in Sauk County.

His family is of old American ancestry and dates back to early days in Sank County, through Mr. Aton himself is a native of Michigan, in which state he was born August 10, 1870. His parents were James G. and IMarietta (Spencer) Aton. James G. Aton was born in Pennsylvania in 1844, and when a boy came to Sauk County, Wisconsin, with his uncle, John Aton, who was one of the pioneer farmers. James G. Aton grew up in this county, and developed and for many years operated a fine farm on Sauk Prairie. In 1885 he moved into the City of Baraboo and became identified with the sewing machine and organ business and gradually concentrated all his attention on piano selling, which he continued until his death in 1900. His widow, who now lives in Sioux City, Iowa, was born in New York State in 1846, a daughter of Thomas Hardy and Nancy (Maynard) Spencer. Thomas H. Spencer was born at Saybrook in Middlesex County, Connecticut, in 1813, while his wife was born in Lennox, Madison County, New York, February 15, 1819. Three Spencer brothers came from New England in the year 1640, one of them settling at Saybrook, Connecticut. Thus this branch of the family history goes back for nearly three centuries in America. Marietta Aton 's greatgrandfather, Samuel Spencer, was a faithful soldier in the Revolutionary war. Thomas H. Spencer was married at Brownsville in Jefferson County, New York, in 1841 and in 1849 came to Waukesha County, Wisconsin, and soon afterwards to Baraboo Township, where he located on a farm. His wife died there in 1887 and he died in Baraboo in 1900. He was a republican and he and his wife were both Methodists, and they reared a family of eleven children, eight of whom are still living, as follows : Charles, who was a soldier in the Civil war ; Julia, deceased ; Mrs. Marietta Aton ; Louisa, deceased ; Jane ; Laura ; Cynthia ; Martha ; John and Milton, twins, the former deceased ; and Mary.

James G. Aton and wife were married in Sauk County August 23, 1868. They had four children : William H. ; Belle, wife of George Munderloh, of Chicago ; Robert, of Sauk Prairie ; and Lewis, of Sioux City, Iowa. The father of these children was a republican in politics, and both parents were members of the Methodist Church.

William H. Aton grew up on a farm in Sauk County, attended the public schools, and in 1885, at the age of fifteen, came to Baraboo, and after a course in the high school, engaged in business with his father under the firm name of James G. Aton & Son. AVhen his father died he continued the business and in 1911 organized the W. H. Aton Piano Company, which continued very successfully for five years. Since then Mr. Aton has associated himself with the Marquette Piano Company of Chicago. He has offices and salesrooms at 1118 Oak Street.

Mr. Aton is a republican, and is affiliated with Baraboo Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Maso«s; Baraboo Chapter No. 49, Royal Arch Masons ; Baraboo Commandery No. 28, Knights Templar ; and with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

He has been happily married for many years. He was married February 19, 1891, to Martha 0. Bishop. Mrs. Aton was born near Reedsburg in Sauk County January 8, 1871, a daughter of Thomas Keyes and Catherine (Vemoy) Bishop, both of whom were natives of New York. Her father settled on a farm west of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, about 1854 and lived there until his death in 1878. His widow spent her last years with Mr. and Mrs. Aton and died at their home in May, 1916, at the age of eighty-four. The children in the Bishop family were five in number : James, of Reedsburg ; Naomi ; Helen ; Effie, deceased ; and Martha O. Mr. and Mrs. Aton have four children : Elsie, after completing her education in the local gram.mar and high schools married Hallet Wickus, who died in May, 1916, leaving a son and daughter, James William and Elsie Elizabeth ; Catherine C, who has finished her high school course at Baraboo ; and James Keyes and Elizabeth Ross.

August Platt. Prominent among the business men of the leading cities of Sauk County are found many who had their earliest training on the farm, and whose agricultural experiences formed the foundation upon which has been built the successful structure of their commercial operations. In this class is found August Piatt, of Baraboo, who for more than two decades has been the proprietor of a thriving ice business, but who prior to that time was a farmer of Sauk County. The character of a town or community depends almost, wholly upon the standing of its business men, their degree of reliability, push, enterprise, integrity and fidelity to contracts and agreements being, in most instances, a measure of the prosperity of the town. It is generally found that the men who have had their upbringing among agricultural surroundings form a class of men who do their community proud, and in having a number of such men included in its business class Baraboo is decidedly fortunate.

August Piatt was bom in Baraboo Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin, March 5, 1864, being a son of Henry and Catherine (Bender) Piatt, natives of Germany. The grandfather of Mr. Piatt, Andrew Piatt, after losing his wife by death in Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1849 and settled in Baraboo Township, where he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred about 1871. While he was past the age of- military service, he fought for the land of his adoption during the Civil war, and always showed himself a good and public-spirited citizen. He was the father of the following children: Jacob, who died while wearing the Union blue during the Civil war; Conrad, who also met a soldier's death during that struggle ; George, who met an accidental death in California, being killed while operating a threshing machine ; Louis, who died at Baraboo ; Andrew, who was killed in a runaway accident ; and Henry.

Henry Piatt was still a youth when brought by his father to the United States, and his education was secured in the primitive schools of his day and locality, while he was reared amid agricultural surroundings and to the hard work of the farm. He grew to manhood on the home place, in the ownership of which he succeeded his father, and continued to be a farmer throughout his life and one of his community's highly-respected citizens. He was a republican and he and Mrs. Piatt belonged to the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which she died in 1895 and he March 18, 1915, aged eighty-one years, ten months and eleven days. They were the parents of nine children, namely : Lena, George, August, Charley, Emil, Minnie, Mary, Ida and Adolph. All the children are still living.

August Piatt was reared on the home farm in Baraboo Township and educated in the public schools. As before noted, his earlier years were passed on the farm, he continuing as an agriculturist until 1891, in which year he came to Baraboo and established himself in the ice business, an enterprise in which he has been very successful. While he gives the greater part of his attention to the business which he has so laboriously and painstakingly built up from small proportions to an important commercial asset of the city, he has been variously interested in other directions and is a well known figure in business circles of the city, where he bears an excellent reputation for fair dealing and honorable conduct. Politically a republican, he served two years as alderman from the second ward. With his family he belongs to the German Methodist Church.

who was born at Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, March 12, 1865, a daughter of John C. and Fredericka (Wedewart) Link, natives of Germany. Mr. Link was eighteen years of -age when he located in Sauk County, while Mrs. Link came here when a girl of twelve, and here they met and married. In 1874 they went to Juneau County, Wisconsin, but in 1879 returned to Sauk County and located at Baraboo. Here Mr. Link died in his seventy-ninth year, December 25, 1914, Mrs. Link having passed away in 1898, when fifty-seven years of age. They were the parents of the following children, all of whom are still living: Augusta, John, William, Lena, Frank and Charley. Mrs. Piatt was given good educational advantages, attending the Prairie du Sac public schools and the Baraboo High School, and for several years prior to her marriage was one of the popular teachers of Sauk County. She and Mr. Piatt have had the following children : Lydia, a graduate of the Baraboo High School and now the wife of Paul Bittrich, of Freedom Township ; Alfie, who died at the age of three years; Fern, a graduate of the Baraboo High school ; Harold, also educated in that institution ; Viva, who is a student in the eighth grade ; and Cecil, who is in the second year of high school.

Nathaniel Darrow, now a retired citizen of Reedsburg, was county surveyor for many years. His father, Henrj^ A. Darrow, settled with the family (Nathaniel was then ten years old) in Winfield Township during the year 1851. He improved his property, became locally prominent and named the township after it was organized in honor of Winfield Scott. He died on the old homestead in 1887, and in 1902 his son, Nathaniel, sold it and retired to Reedsburg.

Leonard C. Roser. The growth of intelligence and sound optimism has advanced farming to a combination of science and vocation, the profound possibilities of which can be but imperfectly mastered by one man during his comparatively brief span of years. With his faith pinned to the soil, and with delight and reward using its stored fertility for the most enlightened needs of civilization, man has brought agriculture to a stage of usefulness unequaled in any other walk of life. To such must come the greatest material satisfaction also, as witnessed in all prosperous farming communities, of which Sauk County is a good example. Since the early history of this part of the state certain families have been connected with its continuous advancement, lending color and enthusiasm and splendid purpose to its unfolding prosperity. Of these one of the best and most favorably known is that which is represented by Leonard C. Roser, a resident of Sauk County for sixtytwo years, and now living in Baraboo Township, where he still pursues the vocations of farmer and stock raiser.

Mr. Roser was bom in Germany, May 10, 1849, a son of Christian and Louise (Welcher) Roser, both of whom were natives of that country. There they were educated, reared and married, and there several of their children were bom, the family living on a small farm which the father cultivated with only medium success. Like many others of his countrymen, he became convinced that in his native land he could only hope for a life of hard work, without much chance of the attainment of success, and finally decided to risk his capital in a trip to America in an endeavor to find prosperity. Accordingly, in 1855, he brought his family to this country and settled in Sauk County, investing his remaining means in forty acres of land in Freedom Township. The first several years of liis residence here were very hard ones, as he was unfamiliar with the customs of this country, the methods used in agriculture, or even the language, but he was persevering and thrifty, economical and industrious, and as he saw his prospects brightening visibly before him he was stimulated to renewed effort that eventually brought success. Mr. Roser spent ten years on his original farm in Freedom Township, but in 1865 disposed of that land and moved to Baraboo Township, where he purchased eighty acres. This he cultivated and improved, established a more comfortable home for himself and family, and by adding to his acreage eventually became the proprietor of a valuable and handsome country estate. There he passed the remaining years, of his life and died in 1884, at the age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Roser, who was born June 16, 1821, survived until September, 1903, being also eighty-two years old at the time of her demise. They were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Roser was a republican. While he took no active part in public or political life, he was a man of influence in his community, and his sober judgment and intelligent views were frequently relied upon in movements of importance affecting the welfare of the community. By his first marriage, to a wife who died in Germany, he had three children: Christian and Gottlieb, who are deceased ; and Henry, who is now a resident of Baraboo. Five children were born to him and his second wife : Frederick, Leonard C, John, Louisa and Samuel, the last named of whom is now deceased.

Leonard C. Roser was a lad of six years when he accompanied his parents on the long and perilous journey across the Atlantic and the subsequent trip across this country to Wisconsin, and his boyhood experiences included all of the hard work and harder play incident to life in a new farming community. He found his education in the country schools of Freedom Township, but his career as a farmer, for which vocation he had been carefully trained, began in Baraboo Township, where his entire career has been passed since 1865. At the present time he is the owner of the old homestead, a tract of eighty acres, which boasts numerous modern improvements and a set of substantial and attractive buildings, and in addition to carrying on general farming operations, he is also a skilled and successful breeder of Aberdeen- Angus, cattle. For several years he was a stockholder in the Sumpter Creamery Company. Politically he is a republican and has taken an active interest and participation in the work and government of the community. For a long term of years he served in the capacity of supervisor of Baraboo Township, was a member and clerk of the school board for a long period, and is now a member of the board of school directors. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

March 29, 1864, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Brenner) Arnold, natives of Germany. As young people they came to the United States and were married in New York, from whence they came to Sauk County, where they took up Government land in Baraboo Township, later buying forty acres, which they cleared and improved. Mr. Arnold was a republican, and he and Mrs. Arnold belonged to the Lutheran Church. He was born in 1824 and died in November, 1908, and she was born in 1832 and died in November, 1897. They had four children : George, Adam, John, deceased, and Mrs. Roser. Mr. and Mrs. Roser are the parents of two children : Bernice, born November 19, 1891, a graduate of the Baraboo High School, who taught one year in Sauk County and one year in North Dakota, and is now the wife of Walter Rodewald ; and Howard, born August 18, 1899, who was educated in the public schools and is now engaged in assisting his father in the work of the home farm.

Henry Koenig was one of the liberal minded and progressive business men and industrial factors in Sauk County for many years. By trade he was a millwright, an expert in mill construction and other lines as well, and spent the hest years of his life as an owner and operator of flour and saw mills.

He was born in Germany and came to Sauk County at the age of thirty-two. He was first identified with the lumber business, running a sawmill. From that he got into the flour and feed mill business and for twenty years was the leading miller at Leland. He sold out there in 1882, and for fifteen years lived at Sauk City, and from there bought the Lodde Mills, now owned and operated by his widow. He and Mr. Pagel conducted a sawmill at Leland for ten years and then converted it into a flour and feed mill. Mr. Henry Koenig died in 1907, and besides the substantial fortune he left he also left an honored name in business and civic affairs. For twenty years he served as school clerk at Leland and was a member of the village board at Sauk City. Politically he was a republican.

Mrs. Henry Koenig is a daughter of Martin and Christiana (Zeh) Lodde. Her parents were both born in Germany and, coming to America, loeating in Milwaukee in 1850, where they were married. The father was nineteen and the mother was thirteen years of age when they came to America. Her father was born in 1824 and died in 1903, and her mother was born in 1836 and died in 1905. After a brief residence in Milwaukee the parents removed to Sauk County and became residents of Sauk City. Per father was a millwright and built many mills in this county and elsewhere in Wisconsin. In 1872 he bought the water rights and constructed what was known as the Lodde Mills, now the Sauk City Mills, which he operated until 1897, when he sold them to Mr. Henry Koenig. After that he retired from business.

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Lodde had the following children: Henry, who lives in Sauk County ; George, a resident of Louisville, Kentucky ; Anna, Mrs. Dr. Von Hiddessen, who died at Sauk City in December, 1916 ; Mary, wife of Walter Taylor, living at West AUis, Wisconsin ; Christina, Mrs. Henry Koenig; Katie, unmarried and living at Sauk

Mr. and Mrs. Plenry Koenig were married in Sauk City in 1893. Mrs. Koenig is the mother of four sons: Ernest, twenty-two years old, who is unmarried and is manager of the Bank City Rolling Mills for his mother; Henry, nineteen years of age, who conducts the home farm and is also in the mill and is living with his mother ; Herbert, seventeen years old, a student in the University of Wisconsin in the civil engineering course ; and Gerhard, thirteen years old and attending township school.

Julius Hoppe. The qualities of energy, adaptability, perseverance and integrity have combined in the character of Julias Hoppe in such a manner as to ensure him success in business life and to give him standing among his fellow citizens. He has been a resident of Baraboo for thirty-three years, a period in which has occurred the greatest growth and development of the city, and in this time he has built up the leading merchant tailoring and clothing business here, while at the same time doing his part to aid the city's progress.

Mr. Hoppe was born in Germany, November 11, 1851, being a son of Carl and Wilhelmina (Cline) Hoppe. His father passed his entire life in the country of his birth, dying when his son Julius was but four years of age, but the mother survived for many years, and in the evening of life came to the United States and settled at Chicago, where her death occurred in 1905. Julius Hoppe, as noted, was but a small lad when he lost his father by death and his education was only the ordinary one obtainable in the public schools. He had hardly left boyhood behind when he assumed man's responsibilities, becoming apprenticed to the trade of tailor, a vocation which he thoroughly mastered. For some years he worked at that occupation as a journeyman in Germany, but in 1872, at the time he attained his majority, crossed the Atlantic to seek his fortune in America, believing that in this country he could find more and greater opportunities to satisfy his ambitions than in the fatherland. His first location was in Chicago, where he spent some hard years while learning the manners, customs, language and business methods of this land, but through perseverance and industry he won through to success. He established his own shops for manufacturing clothing. By the year 1884 he had decided to find a smaller town, where he could establish himself in a retail clothing business. In the meantime he had prepared himself thoroughly and was the possessor of some small capital, saved through frugality and hard work. Accordingly, in looking about for a location, he saw an opportunity in the growing city of Baraboo, and, coming to this place, established himself in business as the proprietor of a clothing store and as a merchant tailor. Since locating here he has moved but once. His present location he has occupied for the past twenty-four years. He has always maintained the same policy, that of fair dealing and honest treatment. His present place, at No. 518 Oak Street, is a commodious store, with a large display of up-to-date goods, and is the center of a most representative and lucrative trade. It is the leading establishment of its kind at Baraboo and deserves to be, as a reward for Mr. Hoppe's years of faithful work and undeviating integ^rity. His handsome residence is located at No. 739 Fifth Street. Mr. Hoppe has a numer of other business connections and is a director of the First National Bank. Fraternally, he is connected with Baraboo Lodge No. 34, Free and Accepted Masons; Baraboo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and Baraboo Commandery, Knights Templar. With his family he belongs ^o the German Lutheran Church,

Mr. Hoppe was married in 1875 to Miss Augusta Schroeder, who was born in Germany, June 12, 1857, a daughter of Daniel and Henrietta (DeBall) Schroeder. Mrs. Schroeder died in her native land in 1860, and in 1869 Mr. Schroeder came to the United States, settling at Chicago, where his death occurred in 1892. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hoppe : Anna and Julius, both deceased ; Henrietta, bom at Chicago in 1880, and now the wife of Raymond McCoy, who, with Peter Lind, assist Mr. Hoppe in the clothing store, Mr. and Mrs. McCoy being the parents of two children, Roger and Kathleen; Wilhelmina, born at Chicago in 1883, is the wife of Peter Lind and has three children, Genevieve, Audrey and Elizabeth Jane ; Julia, born at Baraboo April 13, 1888, and a graduate of Baraboo High School and of Beloit College, is now a teacher in the public schools; and Emma, born at Baraboo July 29, 1893, is graduate of the Baraboo High School, and now the wife of Henry L. Block, an engineer on the North Western Railroad. They had one child, Henry Julius, born November 29, 1916, who died in infancy.

Herman Schubring. There are a few of the pioneers of fifty years back still remaining in Sauk County but many have passed out of life. Some left behind them, together with an honorable name, material proof of their industry and good management during life in the shape of extensive farms that they literally had earved out of the wilderness. When such people as the Schubrings and the Kruegers first settled in the county there was great need of such men as they, men of industry, resourcefulness and perseverance, and the county in general profited by their example. One of the finest farms in Greenfield Township belongs to Herman Schubring, who is a worthy representative of a sturdy old pioneer family.

Herman Schubring was born in Merrimac Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin, March 16, 1871. His parents were August Herman and Minnie (Krueger) Schubring. The father was born in Germany, September 17, 1836, and there his father died. In 1859 he came to the United States and to Sauk County, Wisconsin, with his mother, Mrs. Sophia Schubring. who died in Merrimac Township, Sauk County. August Herman Schubring was married in 1863 to Minnie Krueger, who was born in Germany September 17, 1842. She was eleven years old when she accompanied her parents, William and Augusta Krueger, to Merrimac Township, Sauk County, and there her mother died in 1857 and her father many years later. William Krueger lived for one year at Chicago and then went to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where he was in the business of tanning hides and traded with the Indians for furs. These he manufactured into mittens. After he settled on a farm in

Merrimac Township, Sauk County, Mr. Krueger continued his fur business and further developed it and made in addition to mittens hand-, some robes and fur coats. He was a man of a great deal of enterprise.

August Herman Schubring served for six months during the Civil war as a member of the Forty-fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, but the rest of his life was spent as a farmer. When he came to Greenfield Township he bought eighty acres of wild land and immediately began to clear it off, no light task in those days, as it was done without tlie help of machinery that would be available today. Later he bought a tract of 160 acres, to which he subsequently added another eighty acres and still later an additional eighty, aggregating 400 acres by that time. During his lifetime the greater part of this land was cleared and he put up substantial buildings. His death occurred on the farm owned by his son Herman in 1912. He was a fine man and was universally respected. His children were : Minnie and Amelia, both of whom died in infancy; Frances, who married Peter Kramer, and they have had four children, Irvin, Oscar, Dora and an infant deceased; Herman; and Fred William, who is a farmer jn Greenfield Township.

Herman Schubring obtained his education in the public schools and ever since has been engaged in farming and stockraising on the land once owned by his father, 240 acres of which is now his own. This land is well adapted both for cropping and stockraising, and in both industries Mr. Schubring has proved himself very capable. He has always taken a good citizen's interest in public matters because that is right and sensible, but he has not desired public oiSce and has never united with either of the great political parties. He is a man of intelligence, and when he casts his vote it is for a candidate that has proved acceptable in his own judgment. Like all other members of his family, he belongs to the Lutheran Church.

Louis Ulrich has spent his life since childhood in Sauk County^ and owns one of the many excellent farms found in Freedom Township. While he never attended a scientific school of agriculture, he has made a thorough study of agricultural methods and in a successful practical fashion has adapted himself to the environment and has made every year's results a lesson for the next following.

Mr. Ulrich is a native of Germany, where he was born, August 23, 1877, a son of Rheinholt and Augusta Ulrich. Six years after his birth, in 1883, the family crossed the ocean and settled in Sauk County, at first at Ableman, then lived four years at North Freedom, and then on a farm in Freedom Township. The father subsequently sold that place and is now living retired in North Freedom. He came to Sauk County with practically nothing, and by industry and good judgment has come to be rated as one of the well-to-do citizens. He and his wife had six children : Louis, Richard, Frank, William, Meta and Ella. All are living except Frank.

Louis Ulrich grew up on his father's farm in Freedom Township and secured his education in the local schools. In 1900 he bought a hundred and sixty acres in Freedom Township, and for the past seventeen years that has been the scene of his progressive enterprise as an agriculturist. He has made many improvements, including the erection of a fine barn, 32 by 60 feet. He combines the raising of crops with livestock and with a man of his substantial character every year leaves something to his profit and advancement. He is a republican and a member of the Lutheran Church at North Freedom.

Mr. Ulrich married April 5, 1900, Miss Mary Voss. She was born at North Freedom October 20, 1883, a daughter of Christ Voss, one of the early settlers of Sauk County. Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich have four children, Walter, Rheinhart, Arthur and Lawrence.

Valloo V. Moore has lived in Sauk County all his life, for over 'sixty years, and is bound by many ties of loyalty to this section. His father was one of the real founders of Baraboo as an industrial center, and Mr. Moore has always endeavored to follow the worthy example of his sire and assist in every undertaking that would increase Baraboo 's advantages as a residence and business center.

Mr. Moore was born a mile east of Devil's Lake in Sauk County, September 23, 1855. His parents were Levi and Deborah (Stevens) Moore. His father was born in New York State in 1807, while his mother was a native of Indiana, where she was born in 1828.

Levi Moore left New York State in early life and went to Ohio. He married there for his first wife a Miss Titus, and about 1838 he came into the wilderness of Wisconsin Territory, first locating at Portage. His first wife died there, and only one child grew up, Erastus, who lost his life while a Union soldier in the Civil war. Levi Moore became one of the very first settlers of Sauk County. He came into that vicinity in the early '40s. He and Abe Wood were long associated in their varied enterprises. They established the dam and built the mill in Baraboo on the present site of the McFetridge factory. That was about 1842. Levi Moore was engaged in the sawmilling business the greater part of his active career. As early as 1850 he also became interested in brick making and was associated with Mr. Case in a brick yard near Baraboo. About 1855 he built a mill on Black River and gave it his personal supervision for several years. On returning to Baraboo in the fall of 1860 he reconstructed the dam above the McFetridge dam and used the power for the operation of a lumber mill. About 1866 he also started a brick yard, which he operated for some six years. He and Mr. Griswold later operated a brick plant about two miles west of Baraboo. Another business to which Levi Moore's attention and capital were directed was the growing of cranberries when that was an important industry of this section of Wisconsin. He acquired several hundred acres of land notheast of Tomah, Wi-sconsin, and developed it as a cranberry marsh.

Levi Moore was a true New Englander in his spirit of enterprise. He was always working and always had his mind intent upon some enterprise that meant more than his individual prosperity. While in Ohio he had learned the ship carpenter's trade, and he built several boats. He was also a sailor and became captain of his own vessel when about nineteen years of age. During that period of his career he took a cargo of lumber to Chicago. After selling it he found opportunity to make some good investments, but like many others he could not foresee the destiny of the great metropolis of the West. He was also much interested in early affairs in Sauk County and was one of the men influential in securing the location of the- court house at Baraboo.

The death of this honored old timer occurred at Baraboo November 17, 1899. For his second wife h*e married Deborah Stevens, who died October 4, 1916. Her father, James Stevens, married a Miss Watts, who died when Deborah was a small child. James Stevens afterwards came to Sauk County, owned a farm and died there about 1865. Levi Moore and his second wife were married at Baraboo in the fall of 1847, and they lived together to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary and then for two years longer. They were the parents of six children: Jeanette, deceased; Eugene, who was drowned in the Baraboo River at the age of four years; Margaret, now Mrs. Charles Williams; Valloo v. ; Carrie, wife of F. F. Slocum ; and Edith, who died in 1893. Levi Moore was a democrat in politics and he attended the Unitarian Church.

Valloo V. Moore, who has never married, grew up in close associa- . tion with his father and the latter 's varied interests smd acquired his education in the Baraboo public schools. When about twenty-two years of age he left home and took up a homestead claim in Pipestone County, Minnesota. He lived there and farmed for eleven years, but returned to Baraboo, since his parents were getting old, and took a lively interest in the various investments of his father. He also did some farming near Baraboo and has wisely conserved his father's estate and has turned it to excellent usage in the community. His father and Abe Wood at one time owned 150 acres of land in what is now the City of Baraboo, and Mr. Moore has cleared up part of this estate and developed it for farming and other purposes. For the past eighteen j^ears his home has been at 625 Second Avenue, not far from his father's old place. He built the house in which he now lives. Mr. Moore is independent in politics, and is a man of genial disposition with a host of friends and admirers.

William L. Frese is one of the principal farmers and stockraisers in Merrimack Township, and his home has been in this county throughout his life. His parents were among the very early pioneers of Sauk County.

Mr. Frese was born May 28, 1863, a son of George and Johannette (Goette) Frese. Both parents were born in Waldeck, Germany, and arrived in this country in October, 1850. They soon afterwards settled in the Township of Sumpter or Kingston, as it was then known, and here George Frese bought forty acres as the nucleus of his homestead and subsequently acquired through the profits of his work and his farming enough to give him a farm of 140 acres. That old homestead George Frese occupied as a place of residence from 1852 until his death in 1910. He was born in 1824 and lived to be eighty-six years of age. His wife died in November, 1875. George Frese was a carpenter by trade, having learned that art in Germany, and he followed it until coming to America. While he was a practical farmer in Sauk County he also did ear- pentry work at odd times and combined the two Yoeations until about fifteen years before his death. He was a hard worker and continued diligently at his business as long as he was able. He was also a man of influence in the community, served as a member of the town board for about eight years and also as treasurer of the school board for a long time. He was a democrat and a member of the Lutheran Church.

He and his wife have five children, William L. being the youngest. Christina is Mrs. Charles Graff, living in the village of Merrimack, and they have three living children and one deceased. Bertha is a widow, Mrs. Herman Roick, living at Prairie du Sac. She has no children. George is a farmer at Nora Springs, Iowa, and is married and has five children, named Fred, George, Ruby, Dora and Margaret, all single except Fred. Ida is Mrs. John Hartwig, and they have four children, Herbert, Lola, John and Cora, all of whom are unmarried and living with their parents on a farm at Nora Springs, Iowa.

William L. Frese was married in 1896 to Ella Steuber, daughter of John and Louisa (Schwartz) Steuber. They have two children: Louis, bom in 1899; and Mabel, born in 1903. Both are still at home and Louis is attending the high school at Prairie du Sac, while Mabel is still in the district school.

Mr. W. L. Frese grew up on a farm, learned the vocation very thoroughly before he took it up as an independent occupation, and for the past eight years has owned the old homestead of 120 acres in Merrimack Township. It has responded to his efforts as a practical farmer and for three years he has given his entire time to its management. He is also a member of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Frese gets his profits as a general farmer, stockraiser and dairyman. His family are all members of the Methodist Church and he is a democrat in politics.

Herman Schlag. Among the retired agriculturists of Sauk County, one who has won success and independence through his own industry is Herman Schlag, now a resident of the thriving little city of Prairie du Sac. Mr. Schlag has passed his entire life within tlie limits of the county where he now lives. Here he was educated, here he received his training as a farmer, and here he prosecuted his labors to such good effect that he is able to pass his declining years in quiet and comfort, secure in the knowledge of a life well spent and of a re-spected name in the community.

Mr. Schlag was born on his father 's farm in the Township of Sumpter, Sauk County, Wisconsin, in 1852, being a son of John G. and Wilhelmina (Stiedtman) Schlag. His parents were born in Germany, and in' the year 1844 left their land for the United States, making a long and perilous voyage across the Atlantic in a frail sailing vessel. Arrived in this countr5% they made their way to Milwaukee, from whence they came by wagon to what is now the town of Sauk City, then a little settlement of but a few houses. In that community they remained while the father completed negotiations for the purchase of government land on Otto Creek, in Sauk County, to which they soon removed. Several years later they went to Sumpter Township and again took up land from the- government, and there continued to be engaged in agricultural operations until 1870. In that year they took up their residence at Baraboo, where John G. Schlag died in 1895, the mother surviving until 1900. Mr. Schlag was a republican, although not a politician, and he and Mrs. Schlag belonged to the Lutheran Church. They had six sons and three daughters, of whom two daughters are living in Baraboo and one is deceased, while two sons are deceased, and Herman, Paul and Alexander survive.

Herman Schlag was given his educational training in the country schools of Sauk County, and was reared to the vocation of farming, which he made his occupation throughout the active period of his career. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age, at which time he was married, started housekeeping and commenced operations on his own account. He proved a good and industrious tiller of the soil, used modern methods in his work, and brought his land to a high state of development, so that in later years he was able to retire from active labor and since that time has been living in quiet retirement at Prairie du Sac. In 1877 Mr. Schlag was married to Miss Dell Elizabeth Vandemark, who was born in 1857 in Freedom Township, Sauk County, a daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Odell) Vandemark. Her parents came from New York to Wisconsin in 1854 and settled in the Township of Freedom, but later moved to the Town of Baraboo, and lived there until 1878, when they went to Minnesota. There, in Big Stone County, Mr. Vandemark carried on farming until his death in 1895. Mrs. Vandemark met her death during a cyclone which struck her home near Clinton, Minnesota, in 1908. There were the following children in the family : Erwin and Ella, of Minnesota ; Dell Elizabeth, now Mrs. Schlag ; Myra, of Minnesota ; Kate and Marie, decea.sed ; and Will, of Minnesota.

Mr. and Mrs. Schlag have three children : Wilhelmina is the wife of Robert Aton. Dr. Rex Alexander, who graduated from Baraboo High Scho,ol, attended Rush Medical College, Chicago, for three years, completed his medical preparation at Denver, Colorado, where he remained for two years, commenced practice at Monroe, Iowa, and there continued about four years, and in 1909 opened an office at Prairie du Sac, where he has since had a large and constantly increasing practice. He married Louise Swanson, of Cambridge, Nebraska, and has one son, ten years of age. R. H. Schlag graduated from the Baraboo High School and for five years has been a railway mail clerk running out of. the offices at Chicago. He is now in the marine service for the Grovernment.

Mr. Schlag is a republican, and while he has not sought preferment in his community in the way of public office, has always taken a prominent part in movements for local improvements and the general welfare of his town and county. He fraternizes with the local lodge ofthe Modern Woodmen of America and has numerous friends and well wishers in the community.

of some of the finest farms and some of the most prosperous communities in the State of Wisconsin. He has borne his own share in that development and for many years was an active farmer and is now living retired at Baraboo.

Mr. Hoover was born in Sumpter Township of Sauk County May 16, 1847, a son of John and Arietta (Releford) Hoover. His father was a native of Ohio. The. parents came to Sauk County when Wisconsin was still a territory and acquired a tract of Government land 200 acres in extent in this county. A log house was the first home of the Hoovers, and John Hoover went ahead improving and clearing his land and lived there the rest of his days. His first wife died in 1847, her four children being named Hulda, Marion, Almira and Mortimer. For his second wife John Hoover married Rosalind Jackson, of Sauk County, and by that marriage there were seven children : Rogene and Josephine, both deceased ; Gertrude ; Ida, deceased ; May ; Sigel ; and Eva. John Hoover was a republican from the organization of that party. He was a good, hard working citizen and at one time served as overseer of the West Sauk Road. A Methodist, he assisted in building the church of that denomination in Sumpter Township.

Mortimer Hoover grew up on the old homestead and lived there until he was fifteen years of age. He attended the public schools and he gave up the comforts of home life and the advantages of school to carry out his ardent desire to become a soldier.

Though only sixteen years of age at the time, he enlisted in 1863 in Company E of the Forty-first Wisconsin Infantry. He served the hundred day period for which he enlisted and then re-enlisted in Company G of the Forty-seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and was with that organization through all its campaigns until the close of the war.

Having thus fulfilled his duties to the nation in time of her need, he returned home and began working on a farm. He had to make his oWn way in the world, and it was through hard work that he earned his financial independence. He finally bought a farm of eighty-five acres in Sumpter Township, improved it with good buildings, and the farm is still in the family. Afterwards he bought a place of eighty acres at Kings Corners, in Sumpter Township, which is also still in the family. On the second farm he lived and prospered for many years until 1903, when he came into Baraboo and bought his home on the south side, on Second Avenue. He now enjoys the comforts of a substantial brick house and has all that a man of his quiet and simple tastes could desire for a happy old age. He sold his farm to his son Roy.

Mr. Hoover is a republican but has never sought any official distinction. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Guardians of Liberty. February 12, 1871, he married Miss Sarah J. Francis. Mrs. Hoover was born in Bennington, Wyoming County, New York, April 26, 1853, daughter of Charles and Cynthia (Hemstreet) Francis, who camie to Wisconsin in 1862, first lo'cating in Dodge County, and in 1865 moving to Sumpter Township in Sauk County. Her father bought a farm at Kings Corners and that farm was subsequently acquired by Mr. Hoover and is now owned by Roy Hoover.

Charles Francis and wife spent their last years on the old homestead. They had five children : Zina, John, Oscar, Sarah and Elmer, all of whom are deceased except Mrs. Hoover.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoover now enjoy the solace of both children and grandchildren. Their oldest child is Blanche, wife of George Weidenkopf, of Baraboo, and their two children are named Vane and Arlene. Eoyden J., the second child and only son, has the old homestead farm, and by his marriage to Myrtle Kellogg has a daughter, Lucile, now a student in the Baraboo High School. Maud, the third child, is the wife of Archie Cook, a farmer of Greenfield Township.

Albert Koerth. A fine family are the Koerths of Sauk County, and they have lived here for almost a half century. They have been agriculturists in the main and through their excellent farming methods and careful stock selection have become some of the most substantial people of the county and have added to its agricultural wealth in no small degree. Albert Koerth, one of the younger generation of farmers, and who has recently purchased his father's fine homestead in Greenfield Township, was born on this place July 16, 1886. His parents are Louis and Annie (Putz) Koerth.

Louis Koerth was born in Germany, September 1, 1843, a son of Michael and Wilhelmina Koerth, who immigrated to the United States and settled first in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, and in 1870 came to Sauk County. They both died on the farm of their son Louis in Greenfield'Township, the father in 1888 and the mother in 1889. They had two children, a son and daughter, Louis and Amelia, the latter being the wife of William Putz, who is a farmer in Greenfield Township. Louis Koerth attended the public schools in Germany until old enough to enter the army, in which he served the number of years required by law. His desire was to become a farmer, and thus he was led to come to America, where farm land could be secured for a moderate price. In 1868 he reached Waukesha County, Wisconsin, and from there in 1870 he came to Sauk County and bought the farm which became the family home and which is now the property of his youngest son. For fortyseven years ]\Ir. Koerth has successfully carried on his agricultural operations in Greenfield Township, in the meanwhile making excellent improvements on his property. Mr. Koerth is one of the township 's most respected citizens, a man of upright character and good intention. He is one of the leading members of the Lutheran Church, in which faith his family has been reared. In politics he is a republican.

Louis Koerth was married in 1869, in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, to Miss Annie Putz, who was born in Germany in 1.844. Her mother died in Germany but her father, Christ Putz, came to the United States and to Wisconsin, and after coming to Sauk County lived with his son, Michael Putz, until his death. Ten children were born to Louis Koerth and wife, as follows : Emma, Minnie, Otto, Edward, Hulda, Matilda, Rose. Lena, Albert and Hannah.

Albert Koerth attended the public schools through boyhood and had excellent training for his life business under his father. He assisted on the homestead and has always lived here and in 1917 purchased the property from his father. He is a capable general farmer and gives a great deal of attention to growing fine Shorthorn cattle, his herds making an excellent showing in any stock exhibition. Interested intensely in his farm enterprises, Mr. Koerth keeps abreast of the times in relation to newly discovered methods on the farm, and makes use of the best machinery that can be procured. His is a model modern farm and his undertakings are proving very profitable.

Albert Koerth was married in 1908 to Miss Lena Neuman, who was born in Greenfield Township, Sauk County, in 1884. Her parents, Carl and Helena (Zuch) Neuman, came from Germany to Waukesha County in 1869 and to Sauk County in 1871. The mother of Mrs. Koerth died here in October, 1915, aged seventy-six years. She was a kind and careful' mother and a good neighbor. The father of Mrs. Koerth resides in Greenfield Township and has reached his eighty-fourth year. His children are : Minnie, Gustav, Amelia, Charles, John, Jacob and Lena. Mr. and Mrs. Koerth have two children, a son and daughter, John and Adeline. Mr. Koerth has no political ambition but is a good citizen and ever ready to help in public movements needful or beneficial in his township, and casts his vote with the republican party. He and wife are members of the Lutheran Church.

Louis Schreiber. The fine farms and general prosperity noted in Sauk County proves that there are capable farmers in this section of Wisconsin, and one of the representative ones of Greenfield Township is found in Louis Schreiber, whose well improved farm of 109 acres is situated here. He has been a farmer and stockraiser during all his business life and the result of his experience is evident in his productive fields and his healthy stock,

Louis Schreiber was born in Germany, June 10, 1845. His father died in Germany and his mother, Mrs. Mary Schreiber, married John Kelinow and in 1873 they came to the United States and to Waukesha County, Wisconsin, where he died three days later. After that the mother of Louis Schreiber came to live with him and continued a member of his family until her death on September 22, 1899. Mr. Schreiber attended school in his native land and was a farmer there. On account of better opportunities being offered in the United States in the way of securing land and founding a home, he came to the United States and in 1871 to Waukesha Comity, Wisconsiii, and from there in 1886 to Sauk County. Here he decided to locate permanently and with this end in view purchased 109 acres of land situated in Greenfield Township. This farm through his industry and efficient management has become one of the best in the township and his improvements in the way of substantial buildings have added still further to its value. He raises a good grade of stock, which command high prices when marketed. His cattle are kept in sanitary surroundings and he can sell all the milk and cream his cows produce to the Excelsior Cooper Creamery.

In Waukesha County Mr. Schreiber was married on February 3, 1878, to Miss Anna Ludwig, who was bom in Germany in 1859, and their children have been as follows : William, August and Kate, both of whom are deceased ; Regina, Louis, Annie, Amanda, Amy, Minnie, Esther and Lucy.

The parents of Mrs. Sehreiber were John and Mary Ludwig, who were born in Germany and came to the United States and to Waukesha County in 1872. The father was an industrious and successful farmer and died in "Waukesha County in 1889. The mother lived until March, 1906. Beside Mrs. Sehreiber they had four children, namely: Christ, who lives in Lyons, Wisconsin ; Hannah, who is deceased, was the wife of John Lange ; Christina, who is deceased ; and August, who is a farmer in Burlington Township, Racine County. Mr. Sehreiber was the only child of his parents, but two children were born to his mother's second marriage, John and Christ, both of whom are deceased.