Sauk County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1918 (part 1 of 20)

David Myers

David Myers. The distinction of being the oldest man, not only in point of residence, but also in point of age, in Sauk County, is enjoyed by the venerable David Myers of Prairie du Sac. It is now more than ninety-five years since David Myers first saw the light of day. James Monroe was president of the United States when he was born. There was not a mile of railway in the United States, the Erie Canal had not been opened to traffic, and he was a grown man before the marvelous invention of telegraphy was put to practical use. Probably no one in the State of Wisconsin can better appreciate the marvels of the present age than Mr. Myers, who has his personal recollections of the crude times and facilities in the early part of the last century to sharpen the contrast. It was more than seventy years ago that David Myers first made the acquaintance of Sauk County, and here, too, he has witnessed a transformation almost beyond belief.

He was bom in Otsego County, New York, January 10, 1822, a son of Cornelius and Penny (Clark) Myers, his father a native of New Jersey and his mother of New York. David Myers was reared and educated in the East and came West to Madison, Wisconsin, with his father in 1844. For two years he worked as a blacksmith at Madison, and in 1845 came to Prairie du Sac in Sauk County. Here he resumed blacksmithing, and in those early days one of the things most demanded of him was the making or repairing of plows. He handled plows when the old-fashioned wooden moldboard was still a prominent feature. He became widely known as an expert horseshoer. He set a record of making a hundred shoes in a single day, and also of taking off and resetting a hundred shoes on horses. In those times he would be paid a dollar a team for shoeing. Blacksmithing was Mr. Myers' regular vocation and work until twelve years ago. He was more than four score years old when he did his last work in that line. He finally sold his shop to Chris Platts, and in later years has found employment for his leisure in looking after his present little town farm of two acres in the northwest section of Prairie du Sac. He has found both pleasure and profit in raising a crop of tobacco on his land.

Mr. Myers has always been extremely fond of hor.ses, skillful in managing them, and has owned some of the best examples of horse flesh ever sieen in this part of the state. At different times he owned eleven fine stallions. He bought them at high prices, securing a number from New London, Canada, and .some in Michigan and in other places. He bought a fine liorse named Tempest at New London, Canada, which set the county record for speed at I^araboo. He also bought a horse known as Nigert in Michigan, and it was recognized as one of the best horses in America, being of black and tan color. Mr. Myers won a number of first prizes on liis horses in races and exhibitions.

* In 1848 he married Miss Esther Hatch. Six children were born to them. Cornelius, who lives in California, married Sarah Barl. Elihu married for his first wife, E. C. Bush, and for his second wife, Alice Thornhaus; and Elihu is a carpenter by trade and has three children. John is a mason by trade and is still unmarried. Hattie married Bert Hannaman and lives at Beloit. Mary is the wife of Fred Johnson and makes her home in California. Frank is unmarried and lives in Prairie du Sac.

Mr. Myers lost his first wife in 1892, after they had been partners for forty-four j^ears. He married for his second wife Anna Brugger, who was born in Switzerland. She first came to America in 1888, but subsequently went back to her native land and remained there until 1891, when she came to America and soon afterward married Mr. Myers. Mrs. Myers is an artist at needle work and has taken many prizes at county fairs on her bed covers, petticoats, stockings and table spreads.

"When most of Wisconsin was still a wilderness Mr. Myers found a great delight in spending a large part of the winter hunting. He was as accurate and skillful a Nimrod as he was in his trade. In one day during the year 1860 he shot twenty-one deer. As a hunting exploit that stands out all the more remarkable when it is remembered that he did the execution with a muzzle-loading gun. This trusty hunting piece was made by a man named Clark Herford at Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Myers also had his share of Indian adventure when Wisconsin's woods were filled with Indians as well as wild game. The Indians would frequently steal part of the game he shot, and that usually caused some trouble until Mr. Myers had shown the red men his determination and ability to stand by his rights.

Mr. Myers has been a democrat and cast his first vote back in the days when James K. Polk was President and about the time the Mexican war started. However, he has usually exercised his franchise for the best man in local affairs. He is himself of a Methodist family, while his first wife was a Baptist and the present Mrs. Myers belongs to the Reformed Church,

Walworth Delavan Porter. A life long resident of Wisconsin and one who has witnessed and taken part in the development of the southern part of the state, Walworth Delavan Porter is now living in retirement at Baraboo, where he is one of his community's best known citizens. He is a veteran of the Civil war and for some years was engaged in business at Baraboo, in addition to which he spent a long period in the pursuits of the soil, and now, in his seventy-eighth year, is in the enjoyment of those comforts which are attained through a lifetime of industry and well-directed effort.

Samuel Lyman Porter, born at Staten Island, New York, "July 4, 1800, and his mother, Permelia (Clark) Porter, born at Monmouth, New Jersey, March 7, 1805. They were married in the East, and during the '30s came to Wisconsin, taking up their residence in Walworth County, at that time practically a wilderness. They were shortly followed by two of Mr. Porter's brothers, Henry and Selah Porter, each of whom took up a farm in Walworth County and passed the remainder of their lives there. Samuel L. Porter was a carpenter by trade and had followed that vocation while in New York, but on his arrival in Wisconsin took up the occupation of farming on 160 acres of land in LaGrange and Walworth counties. There he continued to be similarly engaged until 1850, when he came to Sauk County, and in the following year bought six building lots at Baraboo. At this city he resumed his trade, and dviring the years that followed built many of the leading residences and frame store buildings erected here. He also made several trips to other states, engaged in carrying on his trade, and was in Mississippi when the Civil war jjroke out, subsequently experiencing some difficulty in reaching the North. While a stanch supporter of the Union, he was past the military age and was not called upon for duty, but always, by word and action, upheld the cause of the North. He and Mrs. Porter were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in that faith he died in December, 1889, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. L. C. Stanley at Chippewa Falls. In politics a republican, while a resident of Walworth County he held several political offices. His fraternal connection was with the Masons. Mrs. Porter died in 1890, the mother of six children : Charles Wesley, Samuel Nelson, Cornelia Ann, Walworth Delavan, Albert Bartlett and Melvin S., all being deceased except Walworth D. and Albert B.

Walworth Delavan Porter received good educational advantages in his youth, attending the early schools of Walworth County, the public school at Baraboo and the old Baraboo Institute, and when his education was completed he entered upon his career as clerk in a store in this city. He later invested his earnings in a small farm, which he cultivated during the period when hops was a leading Wisconsin crop, but his home from boyhood has always been located at Baraboo. He is tlie owner of one of the best brick residences of the city, built by him in 1912 at No. 220 Eighth Street, in addition to which he owns six lots and three buildings which he rents. During his later years he was for a time engaged in real estate transactions, but for the past several years he has been retired from active pursuits, although still active in body and alert in mind.

Politically Mr. Porter is a republican, but pulilie life has never held out any particular attractions to him, In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, a command with which he served for three years during the Civil war, establishing a good record for faithfulness and bravery in action. His brother Charles was a member of the same company and served four years, and his brother Albert belonged to Company H, Seventeenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served three years.

who was born in 1837 in Maine, a daughter of Christopher Atkinson. Mr. Atkinson was born in 1777, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, while his wife was born in 1793 in Massachusetts, and both died at Baraboo, the former in 1872 and the latter in 1878. Mr. Atkinson cast his last presidential vote for Ulysses S. Grant. "Sir. and Mrs. Porter have had two children, Christopher Lyman, who died aged four years, five months; and Cornelia, who is the wife of Rev. Richard Rowley, D. D., of Kankakee, Illinois, a minister of the Episcopal Church, who for fifteen years filled various Chicago pulpits. By her former marriage Mrs. Porter had five children : George, deceased, who married Mary Stevens, of Chicago ; Addie F., who is the wife of R. B. Griggs, of Baraboo ; Albert H., who married Carrie Dickens, of Milwaukee ; Elizabeth A., who is the widow of Robert Bloom, formerly of Kansas City, Missouri ; and Carrie, who is the wife of Dr. B. N. Webster, a practicing physician of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

Henry A. Ociisner, member of one of Sauk County's most distinguished families, has spent liis life steadily on the old homestead farm in Honey Creek Township, where he was born July 27, 1856. Mr. Ochsner is an older brother of the celebrated surgeon. Dr. Albert J. Ochsner of Chicago, who as a methodical and successful operator has few peers in the surgical world anywhere.

The parents of Henry A. Ochsner were Henry and Judith (Hottinger) Ochsner. Both of them were born in Switzerland. Henry Ochsner, Sr., came to Sauk County in 1849 and took up a tract of Government land where his son Llenry A. now lives. He batched on the homestead for one year and for another year worked for Mr. Waterbury. In 1852 he returned to Switzerland, married, and brought his bride to the wilderness of Sauk County, where they endured many hardships in clearing up and developing a farm. The father built a log house, and not a single piece of iron entered into its construction, the timbers being held together with ^vooden pegs. He used oxen in clearing and cultivating his fields, frequently having a team of five yoked together. In the matter of crops he raised wheat as his chief product until in the '60s, when he became a hog and cattle raiser and dairyman. The father lived on the old homestead until 1883, when he removed to Baraboo and died in that city in 1889, an honored and esteemed old resident. His wife died there in 1891. There were five children in the family, Henry A. being the oldest.

The second in age is Dr. Albert J., who was born in Sauk County in 1858, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1884, and in 1886 took his M. D. degree from Rush Medical College of Chicago. He also studied abroad at Vienna and Berlin and has been in practice at Chicago steadily since 1889, and since 1896 has been chief surgeon of the Augustana and St. Mary's hospitals. Besides his work as an individual surgeon thousands of younger men have received training at his clinics, which are perhaps the chief center of attraction for medical men pursuing their studies in Chicago. He has for many years been professor of clinical surgery in the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a distinguished author and is a recognized authority

The third child, Louisa, is the wife of Fred T. Gratophorst, living in California. Edward H., the fourth child, has also gained distinction as a Chicago surgeon and physician, is a graduate of the same schools as his brother Albert and has a widely extended practice, though his name is not so eminent as that of his distinguished brother. He is married and has four children. The fifth child, Emma, is unmarried, has studied medicine and is a skilled hospital worker and is now connected with a hospital at Los Angeles, California.

Henry A. Ochsner has spent most of his life on the old homestead which his father cleared after obtaining it from the Government. He obtained an education in the public schools and also in the Baraboo High School, and for seven winters he taught in country school districts.

He married Anna M. Weirich, daughter of George and Wilhelmina (Kuehn) Weirich. Mr. and Mrs. Ochsner have two children. Arthur C. is married and lives at home, sharing in the responsibilities of the management of the farm with his father. The daughter Ella is the wife of John B. Luther, a farmer living at Spring Green.

At the time he married Henry A. Ochsner began farming for himself and has kept steadily along this general line with a success that makes him now one of the substantial men of Sauk County. He is a general farmer and stock raiser and also handles considerable dairy stock, being owner of 500 acres of land. Many of the substantial improvements found on the old homestead are due to his constructive labors since he took charge.

TiiOMxVS AV. Claridge. One of the most interesting and valuable citizens Sauk County has ever had is Mr. Thomas W. Claridge of Reedsburg. Mr. Claridge has now attained venerable years. Recently he passed the four-score mark. He and his beloved wife, who had been companions side by side and mutual sharers in the .joys and pleasures of this world, came to Sauk County soon after their marriage in England over sixty years ago, and they are among the very few couples, who have celebrated that most impressive event, a sixtieth anniversary of their weddingday.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Claridge are natives of England. He was born February 2, 1837, a son of Thomas and Mary (Knight) Claridge. His father was born in England March 13, 1818, and his mother in September, 1818. Some time after their son started out to find a home in the New World they .joined him at White Mound in the Township of Franklin, Sauk County, in 1858, and Thomas Claridge, Sr., followed farming there for a number of years. He owned forty acres of land which he developed as a farm, and subsequently he and his wife removed to Reedsburg, where both of them died. They had two sons: Thomas W. and Robert, the latter born March 10, 1839, and died February 16, 1840.

Thomas W. Claridge received his educational advantages in England. In the Cathedral at Manchester on the 20th of August, 1856, he and Miss Anna Pollitt were united in the bonds of matrimony and those bonds have never been loosed in the sixty years that have passed since that

Immediately after the wedding- service in the Cathedral the bride and groom embarked upon a sailing vessel and set out for the United States as a honeymoon voyage, which lasted five weeks and two days. Landing in New York City, they proceeded on their journey to their chosen destination and in the month of November arrived in Franklin Township of Sauk County. Here Mr. Claridge bought 160 acres of raw land. It was a heavy task that confronted him and his young wife. He built a log cabin and they lived to enjoy its simple comforts and gTadually the land became adapted to the uses of cultivation and prosperity began to smile upon their efforts. When his parents came on a year or so later he turned over this first quarter section to them and then bought another 160 acres in the same township. As a result of many years of hard labor so common to the pioneer settlers a large farm was developed by their united efforts and the substantial fruits of their earlier toil and management have sufficed to give them comfort and independence in their later years.

In 1882 Mr. and Mrs. Claridge removed to Reedsburg, and for a number of years he was engaged in the real estate business. His influence has also been uplifting and upbuilding in many ways. He represented the second ward as alderman, and was one of the men who laid the foundation for Reedsburg 's municipal ownership policy. In 1903 Mr. Claridge was appointed postmaster of Reedsburg and held that office for five years. He and his wife now live retired and in comfortable circumstances at their home, 340 Laurel Street.

Mr. Claridge is an honored veteran of the Union army and active in the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1864 he enlisted in Company A of the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry, and served with that regiment during the closing campaigns of the war and was present when Lee surrendered. During the siege of Petersburg he fell unconscious in the trenches and his enemies undertook to end his life. A brother Odd Fellow found some papers in his clothes showing that he, too, was a member of that lodge, and this fraternal brother saved his life though a grave had already been prepared for his body. He saw much active fighting but he was never wounded, although his hat was once shot from his head.

Mr. Claridge arrived in this country during that notable campaign when the republican party had its first standard bearer in the field. General Fremont. He identified himself with this new political organization and has never wavered in his allegiance. Official honors, however, have not been an object of aspiration, though he has done much to keep up the party management and to work for his friends. He has steadfastly favored wise public improvement, and has done all he could for the benefit of his city, state and nation. For a number cf years he was active in the Grange. He is affiliated with Reedsburg Lodge No. 157, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Reedsburg Chapter, Royal Arch Masoiis, St. Johns' Commandery No. 21, Knights Templar, and while the war was in progress he was made a member of Hope Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Madison, Wisconsin. In religious matters his preference has always been for the Baptist Church, though he is not a member. His wife was reared an Episcopalian and still adheres to that faith.

Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Claridge and seven of the children are still living. Sarah Mary, the oldest, married William Claridge, son of William Claridge, another pioneer of Sauk County. Their children are Elizabeth, now deceased ; Lillie, Alvin, Ruble, Pearl, Clarence, Thomas and Albert. John Henry Claridge, the second child, lives at Reedsburg and by his marriage to Eliza Carpenter has five children, named Ralph, May, J. D., Loyal and Ted. Charles, whose home is in Oklahoma, married Emma R. H. Jenson, now deceased, and has one daughter, Eva. The son Thomas is now deceased. Thomas W., a resident of Chicago, married Addie Lane and has one son, Thomas Wesley. George A., assistant postmaster at Reedsburg, married Amelia Essellman and has two children, George and Marion, Joshua, also a resident of Chicago, married Jessie Gayland, of Baraboo, and has two children, Catherine and Gayland. Mary Ellen, now deceased, was the wife of Edward Scheroltz, and left two children, Vera and Milton. The remaining child is Mrs. Laura Townsend.

On August 20, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Claridge celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and on August 20, 1916, there came the even more notable event of their sixtieth wedding anniversary celebration. At each occasion Mrs. Claridge wrote a poem which was read and gave great pleasure to both her family and many friends. At their sixtieth anniversary about 300 relatives and friends assembled. It was an event which because of its unusual character attracted wide attention and it w^as made the subject of a long article in a LaCrosse paper, and a part of that deserves quotation : ' ' An unusual event took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Claridge last Saturday when they celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. The plans for the celebration were all made and carried out by the seven children. The immediate family and near friends were at the home for dinner. The G. A. R. and their wives came in the afternoon, staying to enjoy the fireworks which were displayed in the evening. A treat was planned for all the children of the neighborhood, each child receiving a George Washington hat, a jar of candy, ice cream cones and a toy balloon. The music was furnished by the drum corps, Mr. Tibbetts, Mr. Seamans, Mr. Pettis and Mr. Charles Todd.

"Mr. and Mrs. Claridge have seen a great deal of this world's pleasure as well as sorrow. They returned to England to visit their relatives and friends after they had been in this country several years. Mrs. Claridge has crossed the Atlantic seven times. Their friends all over the United States have remembered them on their sixtieth anniversary, sending them their congratulations and best wishes. Even the soldier boys in Texas remembered them."

Casper E. Accola is a man w^ho has lived in Sauk County for over sixty years, and out of his experiences as a worker and farmer has accumulated one of the most attractive farm estates in Troy Township, his postofifiee being Spring Green.

Mr. Accola, like many other worthy and thrifty citizens of Sauk County, was born in Switzerland. His birth year was in 1845, and his parents were Edward and Dora (Bunder) Accola. His parents were born and married in Switzerland, and all of their four children were born there, namely: Casper E.; Martha, who married C. Kinchi and lived in Baraboo, where she died; Kate, wife of Kasper Accola, living at Black Hawk; and Margaret, who died on the ocean while the family M'Cre coming to America.

The Accola family came to this country in 1855, when the son Casper was ten years of age. They first located in Prairie du Sac Township, where the father bought forty acres and made a very humble beginning with a log home and with very little capital and few instruments to cultivate the farm. At the end of the year he sold out, bought another farm, on which he remained about ten years, and then sold and bought an adjoining place in Sumpter Township, which was his home for about ten years, during which he had greatly improved the land and sold out at greatly increased value. He next bought eighty acres two miles west of Sauk City, and that was his home until about two years before he died, when he sold out and lived with his son Casper. His death occurred at the age of eighty-six.

Casper E. Accola grew up on the farms of his father in Sauk County and acquired most of his education in Wisconsin. In 1875 he married Sola Rothenberger, daughter of Henry Rothenberger, also a native of Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Accola had seven children : Dora, who is married and living in Black Hawk ; Lizzie, who died at the age of twentynine years; Eddie, married and working his father's farm at Black Hawk; Selina, wife of George Gasser, living at West Point and the mother of two children, named Verna and Irene ; Margaret, Mrs. Erwin Litcher, living in Sumpter Township ; Arthur, who is unmarried and lives with his father on the farm ; and one that died in infancy.

Casper E. Accola made his independent start in life as a farmer in Sauk County, purchasing eighty acres of land. After keeping it for ten years and making a living and increasing its value he sold out and then acquired a farm of 120 acres in Honey Creek Township. This was his home for only two years, when he removed to Black Hawk, and has lived in that community ever since. His home place comprises 110 acres. Mr. Accola has found his profits as a general farmer and stockraiser and dairyman, and his success is such as to give him a position among the most substantial citizens of Sauk County. The family are all members of the Evangelical Church, and Mr. Accola and his sons vote as republicans.

Professor Wilbur Eugene Smith. A man of high intellectual attainments and of practical ability, Professor Wilbur Eugene Smith, principal of the Training School of Sauk County, at Reedsburg, is one of the best known educators of this part of the state. Professor Smith's entire career has been devoted to educational work, and while he is still a young man his experience has been broad, comprehensive and diversified. He is a native of Wisconsin, having been born March 20, 1879, near Appleton, Outagamie County, a son of John and Eliza Ann (Greenfield) Smith.

and perilous journey across the plains to the treasure fields of California. A short experience satisfied him that gold mining was not his forte, and he soon returned to his home in the East. However, he had seen much in his travels and decided that the West offered him opportunities such as could not be found in his home community, and accordingly he came to AVisconsin and settled in Outagamie County. There he met and married Eliza Ann Greenfield, Avho had been born in 1844, in St. Lawrence County, New York, a daughter of Harvey and Amanda (Cobb) Greenfield, ihe former born in New York and the latter at Sheldon, that state, March 30, 1822. Mr. and Mrs. Greenfield came to Wisconsin and settled at Dale, Outagamie County, in 1850, Mrs. Greenfield being the first teacher in the school at that place, while her husband engaged in farming and during the early days conducted a tavern on his property. There he died in 1904, aged about ninety years, Mrs. Greenfield having passed away August 18, 1880. They were the parents of three children: Frank W., who is engaged in farming in Michigan ; Eliza Ann, who became Mrs. Smith ; and Charles W., an attorney of Chicago. The Cobb family traced its ancestry to England, from which country its earliest members came to America in 1635, making a settlement at Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts.

John Smith spent many years in the logging business. For some years he had charge of lumber camps on Wolf River, but about 1883 or 1884 went to South Dakota, where he took a homestead. After several years he returned to Wisconsin and settled at Sherry, Wood County, v/here he again entered the logging business, handling logs and conducting camps for some years. In later life he went to Manawa, Waupaca County, and there his death occurred February 6, 1905, while his widow still survives and makes her home at that point. Mr. Smith was one of the substantial citizens of his community, a Free Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and Mrs. Smith were the parents of three chib dren: Dexter B., of Kaukauna, Wisconsin; Linda, who is the wife of A. N. Hilton, of Symerton, Illinois; and Wilbur Eugene, of this notice.

W^ilbur Eugene Smith was still a child when the family moved to South Dakota, and there in the pioneer schools of the frontier he received his preliminary educational training. He was twelve years old when he accompanied his parents to Sherry, Wood County, where he was further trained, and subsequently graduated from the Little Wolf High School at Manawa. At that time Mr. Smith began teaching school, but later took a complete course at the Stevens Point State Normal School, from which he Avas graduated in 1904. In that year he became principal of a ward school in Chippewa Falls, and after about two months was appointed superintendent of the Waupaca county schools and held that position for four years. Subsequently he went to Wautoma, Waushara County, where he established the Waushara County Training School and was principal for three years, and in 1911 came to Reedsburg, where he has since been principal of the Training School of Sauk County. Professor Smith is a leader not only in the field of his profession, but his familiarity with the conditions and needs of Reedsburg and his natural initiative force, have brought him into prominence as an enterprising and pushing man of affairs. While at Wautoma, as chairman of the Advancement

Association, lie was one of the strongest factors in the section identified with the general welfare of the public interests of the community. His political support has always been given to the republican party.

On December 20, 1905, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Margaret Lindsey, who was born in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, October 27, 1879, a daughter of Arthur and Lettie (Ritchie) Lindsey, natives of Ireland and of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. Lindsey was born in 1843 and Mrs. Lindsey November 18, 1843, and both came to the United States when five years old and located with their parents in New York, although Mrs. Lindsey 's parents later went to Ohio. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Smith were George and Isabel (Wallace) Lindsey, who settled in Waupaca County, Wisconsin, in 1855, and there both died, the grandfather in 1879 and the grandmother in 1891. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Smith were George and Margaret (Carroll) Ritchie, who came from Ireland to the United States, lived for several years in Ohio, and were pioneers of Waupaca Count}^, where both died, the grandfather in 1883 and the grandmother in 1912, at the advanced age of ninety years. Arthur and Lettie Lindsey were the parents of the following children: Jennie, George, Wallace, Arthur, Margaret and Robert, of whom Wallace is deceased. Mr. Lindsey engaged in the logging business at an early day and for about thirty years has been a member of the Hatton Lumber Company. He is now one of the prominent citizens of Manawa, where he is president of the First National Bank, is a leading democrat and former postmaster, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mrs. Smith was graduated from the Manawa High School, following which she attended Lawrence College, of Appleton, Wisconsin, and then accepted a position as stenographer in her father's lumber business at Manawa, retaining that post until her marriage to Professor Smith. They are the parents of two children : Eleanor Eliza, born November 18, 1906 ; and Arthur John, born December 26, 1908. Professor Smith is justly popular with the people of his adopted community, where he has steadfastly sought to elevate educational standards. He has won the right to stand with the few who combine a natural aptitude for teaching with the executive force necessary to energize a body of teachers.

Levi Cahoon. The Cahoons are a family of pioneers. They have been identified with Sauk County since wilderness days, more than sixty years ago, and the pioneer spirit which caused them to come to this new locality had in a previous generation actuated them to remove from the Atlantic seaboard into the wilds of Northern Ohio. The family history is an interesting one and deserves to be carried back beyond the date of settlement in Sauk County.

The original American seat of the family was in Massachusetts, Berkshire County, where Wilber Cahoon was born December 27, 1772. He married Miss Priscilla Sweet, of Rhode Island. For a number of years they lived in Herkimer County, New York, where all their children but one were born. It was in the year 1814 that these worthy people, participating in that great westward movement which began about the close of the second war with Great Britain, left New York State for the far West. Wilber Cahoon traded his 100 acres of land in Plerkimer County for a tract of 800 acres, all covered with heavy forests, in what is now Avon Township of Lorain County, Ohio. Arriving there with his family he established such rude accommodations as conditions permitted for his first home. In 1825 he erected the first frame house in Avon Township. The tract of land owned by the Cahoons in 1814 was so isolated that a trail for eight miles had to be cut through the woods to make it accessible. At the time there was not a single settlement between the Cahoon habitation and the little village of Cleveland, Ohio. Wilber Cahoon possessed the character and the energy which would have made him influential in any country. He was a whig, was the first justice of the peace elected in his part of Lorain County, and he and his wife were charter members of the First Baptist Church at Avon. Wilber Cahoon played a prominent part in Lorain County, though he died twelve years after his coming, on September 27, 1826. His wife, Priscilla, died May 2, 1855. Their descendants are still numerously represented in Lorain County. Of their eight children one was Wilber Cahoon, Jr., father of Mr. Levi Cahoon, first noted above. Wilber Cahoon, Jr., was born in Herkimer County, New York. He became a farmer and miller, operating a lumber mill in Lorain County, and subsequently went to California as a gold seeker and died in that state September 9, 1852. He was married April 6, 1826, to Thirza Moore, whose family was also identified with the early settlement of Sauk Count3^

A son of Wilber Cahoon, Jr., and wife, Mr. Levi Cahoon was born in Lorain County, Ohio, June 2, 1834. Thirza Moore, his mother, was a daughter of Joseph ]\Ioore, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war and was with General Washington throughout that struggle. Mr. Moore subsequently moved to Ohio and was also a pioneer in Lorain County.

Levi Cahoon during his youth became a sailor on the Great Lakes and in 1855, at the age of twenty-one, he came to Baraboo and joined his uncle, Capt. Levi Moore. He acquired land, cleared up a good farm and became a widely known and prominent citizen. He served in a number of town and county offices in the early days. Mr. Levi Cahoon married Willie Ann Wells, who was born at Whitewater in Walworth County, Wisconsin, July 4, 1846. She died at Baraboo June 13, 1915. Her father, William Wells, was a native of Nova Scotia and a pioneer in Wisconsin. Mrs. Levi Cahoon was a school teacher before her marriage. She and her husband had six children: Wells, who was killed on a railroad in Montana at the age of twenty-five ; Wilber, reference to whose career appears on other pages; Lee, a rancher in Missoula, Montana; Paul, a farmer ; Doctor Roger, who was born in Baraboo March 2, 1877, is a graduate of the Louisville Medical College and has for fifteen years been in active practice at Baraboo ; and Ora, a graduate of the Wisconsin State University in the engineering department and now located in Chicago.

Hon. Wilber Cahoon, a former representative from Sauk County in the state legislature, has for years been a successful farmer and business man and has lived up to the worthy traditions of the Cahoon family for public spirited activity in behalf of everything that promises good to the community. ,

Mr. Cahoon was born on the old homestead of his father in Baraboo Township March 22, 1868. He is a son of Levi Cahoon, elsewhere referred to in this publication. He grew up on the home farm, attended the public schools, and for thirty years has steadily pursued his basic industry as a farmer. In 1896 he bought eighty acres of land in Baraboo Township, and he also still owns twenty-one acres of the former tract of forty acres, from which a portion has been sold to constitute the property known as the Cahoon Mines. He is also owner of another farm in Baraboo Township eomprising eighty-two and a half acres. ]\Ir. Cahoon is a general farmer and has long been active in the dairy industry and as a breeder of registered Jersey cattle. He is a stockholder in the Excelsior Co-operative Creamery Company of Baraboo and hauled the first load of cream to that plant. He was a member of the building committee which established the first dairy plant.

Mr. Cahoon is a progressive republican. He has served as treasurer of Baraboo Township and was elected a member of the legislature in 1906, serving one term. For two years, 1915-16, he served as supervisor of Baraboo Township and in 1917, was elected chairman of the board. He is vice president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Baraboo. For twenty years he has been a member of the local school board and is also a member of the Sauk County Board of Education. Mr. Cahoon is president of the Skillet Falls Telephone Company. He is quite active in fraternal matters and is affiliated with Baraboo Lodge of Masons, and also the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Order of Beavers." In religious faith he is a Unitarian, but Mrs. Cahoon is a member of the Episcopal Church.

In 1890 he married Miss Ella Davis. Mrs. Cahoon was born in Philadelphia in 1869, a daughter of Thomas L. and Mary (Thompson) Davis. Her parents were very early settlers in Sauk County, but subsequently removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1880 they returned to Sauk County, where Mrs. Davis died in 1906. Mrs. Cahoon 's father is still living in Baraboo. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cahoon. Leelyn T., bom September 5, 1892, was educated in the public schools and the Baraboo Business College and is a successful young farmer of this county. He married Martha Bittrich, and their three sons are named Ralph, Wells and Elmer. Wilber Davis Cahoon, the second son, was born November 20, 1895, and since completing his public school education has lived at home. Ivan W., born May 22, 1900, is a student in the Baraboo High School. Ora B., the youngest, was born January 26, 1907, and is attending the grade schools.

Martin Hickey. One of the largest and wealthiest business firms of Reedsburg is Hickey Brothers, livestock and commission dealers. It is a business that has been growing steadily for upwards of forty years, when Martin Hickey moved into Reedsburg and began employing his energies on a limited scale in the livestock business.

The firm now consists of Mr. Martin Hickey and his younger brother, John E. Hickey. Besides livestock the firm handles an extensive produce business. They own a large warehouse and every year buy immense quantities of the products raised in the surrounding country district and market them at a distance. Martin Hickey now has the active superintendence of the produce end of the business and also the general office, while his brother John is usually in the field looking after the livestock interest.

Martin Hickey was born in Dellona Township of Sauk County December 16, 1854. His parents, Patrick and Catherine (Crowley) Hickey ,^ were both natives of Ireland. Patrick Hickey came to Sauk County in 1846, when it was a completely pioneer district and two years before Wisconsin became a state. Locating in Dellona Township, he acquired a tract of Government land and in time developed a 320-acre farm. He lived there in substantial comfort and prosperity until his death in 1903, at the venerable age of ninety-five. His wife passed away in 1886. Patrick Hickey was a democrat in politics and was quite active in local affairs, holding several township offices. He and his wife were members of the Catholic Church and reared their family in the same faith. They were married in Sauk County and their six children were named : Mary ; Catherine, now deceased; Martin; Michael; John, and Anna.

Martin Hickey grew up on the old home farm of his father in Dellona Township. He attended the public schools there, and was a young man about twenty-five years of age \vhen he came to Reedsburg and began ha'ndling live stock. From live stock the scope of his enterprise was extended to the produce commission business, and since 1894 his brother John has been associated with him under the name Hickey Brothers. Mr. Martin Hickey is also a director in the State Bank of Reedsburg.

Politically he is a democrat and for the past five years held the position of alderman in the city council. He and his family are Catholics. He was married in 1895 to Miss Ellen Newman, of Ironton, Sauk County, daughter of Patrick and Catherine Newman. Her parents were also natives of Ireland, and on coming to this country first settled in New York and later moved to Ironton. They spent their last days in Superior, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Hickey have three children. Catherine is a graduate of the Reedsburg High School and is now a student in the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. Rolland M. is a junior in the Reedsburg High School, while Agnes is in the eighth grade of the public schools.

Philip Grubb. It might surprise some people, who still have in mind the old-fashioned farm when agriculture is mentioned, if they could have the opportunity of visiting a first class, modern dairy farm such as is owned by Philip Grubb and lies in Freedom Township, Saukr County. Modern and substantial buildings, the best improved machinery and sanitary conveniences and equipments in the farm buildings throughout would be seen and with other indications of thrift might be noticed a fine automobile. With the passing of old time methods the old time farmer has gone also, and there is no class more awake to present opportunities than is the intelligent and progressive Wisconsin farmer in the year in which this is recorded of him.

Fortunately it is possible to tell the story of the Grubb family somewhat in detail, and that story is valuable in the strong light it throws upon the pioneer life and times of Sauk County.

His father, Philip Peter Grubb, was born in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, November^ 28, 1824. In 1848, when Germany was in a state of revolution, he left the Fatherland and came to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At Pittsburg he married Philopena Rumpf, who was born in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, January 25, 1832. She died October 7, 1904, while Philip Peter met an accidental death May 22, 1881, at the age of fifty-seven.

Philip Peter Grubb had a good education. While living in Germany he followed the business of teamster. In 1856 or 1857 the Grubb family migrated to Wisconsin. A steamboat carried them down the Ohio River from Pittsburg and thence up the Mississippi and up the Wisconsin River to Sauk City. From there they traveled by wagon and team to the Town of Freedom in Sauk County. On this part of the journey as they came to Zimmerly's in Freedom Township Mrs. Grubb was taken very ill with cholera morbus. As soon as possible they moved to the eastern part of the Town of Westfield and remained there until a log hut had been built and some trees cleared away from their permanent home in section 5 of Freedom Township. All of that region was then a forest of heavy timber. There were no roads, and the only method of conveyance was with ox teams and lumber wagons. In the absence of fences it was possible for the people to drive in any direction where they could get through. Philip Peter Grubb and family lived in their log house until 1870, when they constructed a new frame building. Toward the close of the '50s and the beginning of the '60s two settlements of German people from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, were made in Sauk County, one in the western part of the Town of Baraboo, including the Nippert and Hishinger and other families, who organized a Methodist church or society. The other colony located in the western part of the Town of Freedom and East Westfield and they constructed a log church for the Methodist denomination. These families included the following names: John Werron, Henry Faller, Peter Stachhouse, Christ and George Mook, Henry Herbel, Henry Shuts and others. They were all very sociable and neighborly, and as greed and jealousy were things unknown in those early days social communion was an undiluted joy. These families saw much of each other during the protracted and quarterly meetings of the church, and attended those meetings by going on foot or in wagons drawn by ox teams. It is said that these old time congregations sang and prayed with such fervor that the church benches vibrated. In 1860 a Sunday School picnic was held at Ableman, at Gust Pifron's Hill. The children walked four miles from the Methodist log church to Ableman, John Faller carrying the banner at their head. Henry Faller, father of John, and George Mook were Sunday School superintendents for many years.

In 1861 the war broke out and many of the local boys and men went into the army, including most of the able bodied. Some of them never came back, their bodies resting on the battlefields where they fought so valiantly. Others came home sick and died of disease contracted in the army. All of these old timers have since passed away. In the Town of Freedom only one man was drafted during the war. He was Ab Densloy, a neighbor of the Grubb family.

It is recalled that in the pioneer days when no roads had been constructed two early settlers in West Freedom, named Mike and John Hanely cut out and blazed a road so that the other settlers eould find their way. They put the letter H on the trees to mark this trail. John Werron was fond of telling the remark of a neighbor's son, named Mike Hafer, who when he saw the letter H carved on a tree would always remark "here the Hanelys have been."

In May, 1881, Philip Peter Grubb, while removing a large double log barn to make room for a frame barn 34 by 60 feet, was struck by a falling timber and killed. He had a family of nine children, whose births are recorded as follows : Philip, born February 12, 1852, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; George, born at Mount Washington in Pittsburg March 16, 1855 ; Wilhelmina, bom May 31, 1857 ; William, born November 18, 1858 ; Charles, born August 30, 1860 ; Franklin, born February 4, 1863 ; Sophia, born October 24, 1864 ; Edward, born May 1, 1867 ; John, born January 25, 1869. Mrs. Philopenia Grubb, being left a widow, in November, 1883, married August Filter, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and after living at Manitowoc several years returned to a farm in the Town of Westfield, Sauk County, where she lived happily with her second husband and where she died October 7, 1904, at the age of seventy-one.

As he was only about five years old when the family came to Sauk County, Mr. Philip Grubb remembers none of the incidents of that journey. But of his environment and of the incidents of life in this frontier community he has many interesting memories. He recalls the little log house and its surroundings, where a small area had been cleared of trees and brush, while the large trees had been girdled, the bark being cut off at the bottom so that their shade would not interfere with the growing of crops. His father would cut down many of these trees in the winter, would roll the logs together in heaps by means of chains and skids and then the entire heap would be burned. As a boy he often crossed the country without restriction in every direction, where now progress would be impossible except by climbing over fences and crossing tilled fields. A special place in his memory was the steep hill across W. C. T. Newell 's land on the way to Werron's place, where the religious meetings were held. He recalls when the log church was built on the boundary line between the land of I. Werron and George Mook, and how full the woods were of animals, game, birds and snakes. Many times he saw deer running past the house. Rattlesnakes were a constant pest in those days. Sometimes they even entered the house, and one of these reptiles was found in the basement of the Grubb home. Other animals of destruction were the chicken hawk, which many times invaded the Grubb poultry yard. His parents claimed that they killed more than sixty rattlesnakes the first year of their residence. Close to the log house was a shed which sheltered the two oxen and the cow, constituting the family live stock. Mr. Grubb 's father spent many days mowing marsh hay for the cattle, and he recalls how Adam Shuster, Henry Shuts and Jake Balloon assisted his father in mowing this hay with the scythe. Philip himself as ting hay and the cradle in mowing grain. His father at one time went to Gen. A. W. Starks' place to mow hay with a scythe so as to get a little money for the necessities of life. About the time the Civil war began was a scene on the Starks place when five or six men were cutting hay with scythes and following each other in a row.

General Starks had a son named John who went into the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment, was wounded in battle and died. Mr. Philip Grubb has always been a good church member, and as a boy he regularly attended Sunday School. One spring Sunday morning he set off for this school, and was accompanied on the road by two neighbors, Adam Waltz and Dave Conely. They soon came to what was known as the Rattlesnake Den, half way between the Grubb farm and the church. Here a heap of sandstones furnished a favorite covert for the snakes. The men cut sticks, some of them with prongs on the end and others with a sharp hook on the end. A stick with a prong was used to hold the snake down while its head was cut off with a pocket knife. The other sticks they would use to reach down into the crevices between the rocks and draw the snake forth, after which it would flop and fly around and rattle its tail until the men could capture it and dispatch it. After witnessing this snake killing Mr. Grubb himself did the same thing a number of times until he had experienced several close calls from getting bit and he gave up the sport as too dangerous to practice.

Many of his memories center around the old schoolhouse which stood on the line between Freedom and Westfield and half a mile east of the present cheese factory in that neighborhood. This schoolhouse was built of round logs and the clapboard roof came down very low, so that the larger boys could touch it with their hands around the eaves. There was a door on the south side at the gable end, a stove in the center, and a window in the west, north and east sides. As the roof was so low the windows were set in horizontally. Around the walls on three sides desks for writing were fastened by pins. There were also three seats or benches around the sides and three other benches around the stove. These benches had no backs, and when the boys stood up on them they could reach the ceiling in any part of the room. The ceiling was made of rough boards. On the south side was a blackboard, and at various places wooden pegs were driven into logs where the scholars hung up their hats and caps. The boys of course played ball, chiefly "Andy Over," and the memories of the games they played are perhaps more strongly impressed than the things they learned out of the books. One of the teachers while Philip Grubb was a student in that old time schoolhouse was Kazie Faller. She afterwards married Philip Cheek who went to the war with the Sixth Regiment. At the beginning of the war one of the boys of the school named Levi Waltz joined the army. At that time the teacher was Numan Pitts from near Logansville. After the close of the term be joined the Nineteenth Regiment, was captured and put in Libby Prison, where he died. John Faller was also captured and sent to Libby Prison, but at home the report came that he was dead. The German Methodist preacher. Rev. Mr. Backer, was preparing to preach his sermon when a letter arrived from ^Ir. Pitts saying that Faller was with him a prisoner of war at Libby. John Faller came home a wreck after the war, and died of disease contracted in the army, and thus Rev. Mr. Backer was able to use the sermon he had prepared.

Philip Grubb, it will be understood from this brief reference to the early school he attended, had little opportunity to secure a good education. His father was a man of letters and learning, and Philip's three brothers all went to school and college anS all of them were teachers. The Grubb home entertained most of the local school teachers as boarders during the term. His brother, George, after teaching for a time, became president of the Juneau County Bank. His brother, William, was also a teacher and was studying medicine in Rush Medical College at Chicago in 1883, when he was stricken with smallpox and died. His brother, Frank, made a record as a school man, was school superintendent of Waupaca County three terms, six years, and afterwards served as mayor of Stanley in Chippewa County.

Until the end of the Civil war Philip Peter Grubb was unable to afford anything better than an ox team. The son, Philip, several times accompanied his father to Baraboo for the purpose of getting the grist ground, and going to mill afforded the boy one of his most appreciated pleasures. At the same time the mother carried eggs and butter to the county seat, selling them for 10 cents a dozen and butter for 10 cents a pound. It was eleven miles from home to Baraboo. The father and son frequently walked this distance, especially during the war, and one of the sights to be seen was the drilling of the soldiers at the county seat.

When the war was over the growing of hops came into the high tide of its popularity in Sauk County. Mr. Grubb recalls his own part as a hop picker during several seasons, in the field three miles the other side of Ableman. He boarded at home and walked back and forth every day to his work. It was the practice for the pickers to put the hops in a box containing about seven bushels, and the wages for picking was 25 cents a box.

Prior to the war there was no postoffice and the mail was sent to Baraboo in care of S. V. R. Ableman, who would make periodic trips to the county seat and bring the letters and papers back to Ablemanfor distribution. At that time there were three prominent men in the community. Gen. A. W. Starks, Col. S. V. R. Ableman and Maj. Charles Williams. When hop growing became a flourishing industry Mr. Ableman enjoyed much prominence, built and conducted a saw and grist mill at his place and was a popular man throughout the state. Then prices of hops took a sudden fall and Mr. Ableman failed. He had seventeen acres in that crop and two large hop houses. He lost practically all of his possessions in that crash.

The hop industry was also participated in by the Grubb family. Philip Peter Grubb in 1867 had II/2 acres in hops and w^as paid $1,500 for his crop. In 1868, thus encouraged, he put in more than four acres and had hop pickers from Madison and LaCrosse. Prices went down and he sold the crop at a big loss.

his place as a wage earner in the harvest field and contributed his earnings to the family. In 1874 Philip Peter Grubb bought eighty acres of land and sold forty acres of it to his son Philip. On this forty acres Philip erected in 1876 a house for himself. Mr. Philip Grubb had his own share of hard work. For eleven seasons he did harvesting in four different states, going three times to Minnesota and remaining there until late in the fall. He was on the Mississippi River two terms, and in 1869 helped grade a portion of railroad line.

In February, 1881, Mr. Philip Grubb married Dora C. Klipp, of Westfield. Her father, William Klipp, now deceased, was a farmer in Sauk County. To their marriage were born four children, two sons and two daughters, named William, Mary, Ida and Fredie. Fredie was accidentally drowned in a pond on his father's farm.

The son William is at home with his father and together they own a place of 137 acres, a large part of which was cleared by Mr. Grubb 's individual efforts and has been brought under a tine state of cultivation. There are good buildings and an ample supply of farm machinery, including a four-roll McCormick shredder. Some years ago he built a large tile silo. They have also a silo tiller, plenty of good horses, forty-five head of cattle, a drove of hogs, and hardly a season comes and goes without excellent crops from their fields. A fine Buick automobile is a source of great pleasure to the entire family. The daughters, Mary and Ida, are married, both of them have families, and live witli their husbands on farms in Northern Wisconsin, and are on the road to substantial prosperity. Mr. Philip Grubb and his son carry more than $5,000 of fire insurance on their homes, and Mr. Grubb also has $3,000 life insurance. He has been a lodge member for a number of years, being affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Mystic Workers. He also owns an interest in the public hall, in which the lodges meet at North Freedom. In politics Mr. Grubb is not as much interested as he is in matters pertaining to agriculture, on which subject he is well posted. He has always kept alert concerning improved methods, and with industry and good judgment has made a success of his undertakings.

To this substantial degree of prosperity he has come not without many narrow escapes. He has been kicked by a horse, has had numerous runaways, has just missed falling timbers, the accidents of drowning and other mishaps. But it is a long look backward to the time of his boyhood when all this region was an alteration of hill ground and swamp, crooked roads and other inconveniences that a modern community would consider intolerable. In the list of evil things there have also been human factors to deal with. Mr. Grubb 's father many times suffered wrong at the hands of his fellowmen. There has also been loss and inconvenience due to the slowness 6f the public to take up undertakings. Mr. Grubb recalls that in the October when he bought his homestead a new road was laid out over the bottomlands toward North Freedom. As the land was very swampy the town was unable to work the road and it ceased to exist merely through lack of use and improvement. After the road had thus lain practically forgotten for twenty j^ears an agitation was begun in 1891 by petitions and otherwise to get the road opened. The town board was in favor of the improvement, and after much strife it was jjut through, and everyone has agreed that it is a great blessing to the community.

Mr. Grubb has always lived peaceably with his fellowmen and has desired to do right to others as' he would be done by them. But even to the innocent injury sometimes comes. In 1903 Mr. Grubb found his old log barn too small, its dimensions being 24 by 60 feet. Though he was somewhat in debt, he determined to build a new barn on credit, and he put up a splendid one, with a foundation wall 11 feet high and 36 by 60 feet and with 20-foot posts. In that summer the mining boom broke loose in Sauk County and Mr. Grubb was persuaded to entertain in his home a number of mining prospectors. All kinds of men made up this party and some evil-minded persons* took advantage of his good nature and for several years made him serious trouble, financial and otherwise. From his long and varied experience Mr. Grubb is almost of the opinion that where there is a will power to do wrong, the church, bench, pulpit and all the forces of good cannot prevent it.

Henry W. Sorge. An example of self-made manhood that should be encouraging to the youths of today who are starting out in life to make their way without financial resources or influential connections is the career of Hon. Henry W. Sorge. While he is now one of the most substantial business men of Reedsburg, identified with large business operations as the head of the Central Wisconsin (-reaniery Company, when he first came to Wisconsin, in 1868, he had neitlier means nor friends, nor had he even a working knowledge of American business customs or methods. Solely through his own initiative and persevering industry he has steadily worked his way upward not alone in a business way but in the confidence of his fellow citizens, whom he has represented in legislative halls as well as in other positions of honor and trust.

Mr. Sorge was born March 18, 1852, in Germany, a son of Joachim and Dorothea (Hoeverman) Sorge, natives of that country, where lioth passed their entire lives, dying about the year 1869, when well advanced in years. The public schools of his native land furnished Mr. Sorge with the rudiments of an education, and in May, 1868, when he was just past sixteen years of age, he immigrated to the United States and took up his residence in Reedsburg township, Sauk County. Here he secured employment as a farm hand, and what time he could spare from his agricultural duties he devoted to the gaining of an education in the English language in the countrj^ schools. It was a difficult proposition for the young man to face, but he was earnest in his efforts and determined to make a success of his life, and slowly he amassed the means with which to establish himself as the proprietor of a property of his own. Eventually he became the owner of a farm, to the acreage of which he added from time to time and continued to carry on his agricultural activities until 1901. In the meantime, in 1898, recognizing an opportunity, he embarked in a modest way in the creamery business. His first venture was known as the Narrows Prairie Creamery, and this proved so successful under his wise and energetic management that he was encouraged to open other enterprises of the same kind until he was at the head of thirty creameries, the M'ork of which finally became so great as to necessitate his giving his entire time to their management. In 1901 he left the farm and came to Reedsburg, where, in 1902, the business was incorporated under its present name, the Central Wisconsin Creamery Company. The compan}^ manufactures fancy Elgin creamery butter and Sorge's ice cream, and the product has a fine market all over this part of the state, where it is known for its parity and wholesomeness. The officers are : Henry W. Sorge, manager ; A. 0. Sorge, superintendent ; and H. A. Sorge, secretary. In recent years several of the plants have been sold, but the largest and most important have been retained.

Politically a democrat, at an early time Mr. Sorge became interested in political and 'public affairs, and soon became recognized as a man of Avorth and executive ability, the kind of material needed to straighten out civic entanglements and to govern the affairs of his fellow citizens. For twelve years he served as chairman of the Reedsburg Township Board of Supervisors, and in 1910 was elected mayor of Reedsburg, a capacity in which he served for four years, his administration being characterized by a masterly handling of the city's municipal matters and the installation of improvements which contributed materially to Reedsburg 's welfare and advancement. In 1895 he was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature, in which body he gave universal satisfaction. AVhiie a Lutheran in his religious belief, he is now attending the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Sorge is prominent in fraternal affairs, being a member of Reedsburg Lodge No. 157, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Reedsburg Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; St. Johns Commandery No. 22, Knights Templar ; Milwaukee Consistory, thirty-second degree ; and Tripoli Shrine, Milwaukee, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ; and of the Knights of Pythias, Reedsburg. He joined the Masonic Consistory at the Golden Jubilee, fiftieth anniversary, at Milwaukee.

On March 4, 1874, Mr. Sorge was married to Miss Rosetta Andrus, who was born in Ohio in September, 1852, daughter of Edwin and Macena Andrus, who in 1854 came to Reedsburg Township and purchased the farm which their son-in-law later owned, and on which they spent the remaining years of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Sorge became the parents of two children. Estella married Louis Hyzer and died, the mother of three children, Arthur, Harold and Kenneth, the last named deceased. Albert, educated in the public and high schools, the dairy schools at Madison, and the school of practical experience, was elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature in 1911, and is now superintendent of the Central Wisconsin Creamery Company. He married Miss Emma Wheelei^, of Reedsburg, and has three children, Rolla and Rolland, twins, and Rosetta. Mrs. Sorge died in 1881, and in 1883 Mr. Sorge married Miss Elizabeth Heffel, who was born in England, daughter of James Heffel, who was an early settler of Sauk County and died in Winfield Township in 1914, aged eighty-one years. Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sorge. Harry H., bom in Reedsburg Township April 14, 1885, was educated in the public schools, in the Reedsburg High School and LaCrosse Business College. He has been for several years engaged in the creamery business as secretary of the Central Wisconsin Creamery

Company. He married Florence M. Cooper, who was born in Troy Township, Sauk County, and has one daughter, Elizabeth Mildred. Ralph F., born February 1, 1891, was educated in the public schools, in the Reedsburg High School and the Milwaukee Business College, and has also been identified with the creamery enterprise during his business career. He married Miss Icle Crall, and has one child, Ellen. Mrs. Henry W. Sorge died February 7, 1898, and in 1901 Mr. Sorge married for his third wife Miss Nellie Rowe, of Washington Township, Sauk County. The Sorge home is at No. 500 South Park Street.

William Gall has become a well-to-do citizen of Sauk County through his continued enterprise spread over a period of years in the quarry industry. He operates a large business at Ableman, and for years has furnished much of the building stone, crushed stone and similar materials used in that section.

Though a resident of Wisconsin over thirty-five years, Mr. Gall was born in Germany December 3, 1862, son of Daniel and Paulina (Keller) Gall. His parents came to America and arrived in Sauk County March 17, 1881. They located near Ableman in Excelsior Township, where the father bought a small tract of land, and subsequently sold that and bought another place in the same township. He lived there as a contented and fairly prosperous farmer until his death on February 3, 1901, at the age of seventy-one. His wife is also deceased. Their living children are William, Augusta, Ida, Daniel, Hulda, Julius, Pauline, August, Martha and Minnie.

Mr. William Gall was nineteen years of age when he came with his parents to America. He received his education in Germany and his principal capital on starting life was a capacity for hard work. After coming to America he spent one year working in a quarry in Iowa, and then continued his experience as a quarryman with the Northwestern Railway Company. In 1889 he bought the place he now owns at Ableman, and he and his brother Daniel leased a quarry in Excelsior Township several years. About six years later Mr. Gall bought a quarry near where he now lives, known as the Gall Quarry, and has continued its operation to the present time. In 1914 he bought a gravel pit near Ableman, but sold three acres of the gravel right to Sauk County. The rest of it he still owns and operates, and in 1916 he installed a stone crusher. These three branches of his industry give him a very large and extensive business. He employs a number of men, and has facilities for furnishing road and building material in almost any quantities.

Mr. Gall is also a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Ableman. In 1908 he built one of the finest homes in that village, and has much to show for his years of industry and well-directed efforts.

Politically he is a republican. For some years he has been a member of the town council and its president, and was also trustee of the village.

In 1887 Mr. Gall married Miss Johanna Steinharst, who was born in Germany but lived in Sauk County some time before her marriage. Eight children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Gall: Walter, William, Clara, Otto, Emil, Selmer, Hilda and Raymond, the last dying in infancy. The mother of these children died February 1, 1909. On June 12, 1910, Mr. Gall married Miss Anna Meyer, who was born in Washington Township of Sauk County September 15, 1877, a daughter of Henry and Dorothy Meyer. Her parents came from Germany to Sauk County during the decade of the '60s, and located on and developed a farm in Washington Township. They both spent their last years there, where her father died in 1909 and her mother in 1907. Mrs. Gall was one of a family of eight children, named as follows: Dora, Henry, William, Fred and John, twins, the latter now deceased, August, Anna and Sophia. Mr. and Mrs. Gall have one daughter, Olga Dorothy, who was born August 29, 1913.

L. S. Drew for many years a resident of Sauk County, is member of a notable family in this state. Practically all the wholesale drug houses in the country know Mr. Drew under the familiar name '^Wormwood" Drew. The wormwood oil industry has been a business of the Drew family for several generations. The Drews were from England originally, several brothers of the name having come from that country and located on Long Island about four generations ago. They began making distilled oils from various vegetables and attempted to secure a market for the product in New York. But because the manufacture was a home industry it had to encounter much prejudice. The objection was made that the oils were too weak. Similar oils had been coming from England, and the Drew brothers finally resorted to selling their products abroad, and some of the very oils manufactured in Long Island were subsequently imported to this country bearing the stamp of English manufacture and M^ere readily accepted and pronounced adequate for their specific purposes.

L. S. Drew was born in New Hampshire August 18, 1841, a son of Dr. Leander and Almira (Shattuck) Drew. Dr. Leander Drew was a graduate in medicine from Dartmouth College. He practiced medicine in New Hampshire, and in 1848 brought his family to Wisconsin, locating at West Point in Columbia County. There he acciuired 400 acres of land from the government, though more of his time was given to the practice of his profession than to farming. He was the only physician at West Point for a number of years and as a pioneer doctor traveled over a large scope of country. He brought most of his drugs from Milwaukee. At that time it was customary for the doctor to mix his own medicines, since there were few drug stores where prescriptions could be filled. Dr. Leander Drew had the distinction of starting the first distillery in Wisconsin to manufacture oil from wormwood. He continued that business actively until his death in 1858. The manufacture was then continued by his son, L. S. Drew, for half a century. Mr. Drew still owns the building and the principal stock in enterprise.

L. S. Drew engaged actively in the wormwood business immediately after his marriage, and he kept his home on the old farm until thirteen years ago, when he sold out to G. A. Gannon, who continued the same business for several years. Mr. Drew then removed to Lodi, and after three years to Prairie du Sac, where he still has his, home.

His father was a very influential character in his pioneer localit}^ in Wisconsin. He was liberal to a fault and while he dispensed large sums of money he was never oppressive in demanding payment when the notes came due.

L. S. Drew was married in 1866 to Miss Hattie Riddle, who was born in Ohio. There were two children of that marriage.- Harry G. Drew and Louise. Louise is now Mrs. Steuber and lives in Prairie du Sac. Harry G. Drew still runs the wormwood business for the manufacture of oil. Mr. Drew's first wife died in 1886. He then married Irene Ringsdorf, daughter of Philip and Martha (Bartholomew) Ringsdorf. The one child of this marriage is Elizabeth, who was partly educated at Prairie du Sac and for one year was a student in the University of Wisconsin, but withdrew on account of ill health. She is now at home with her parents.

Mr. L. S. Drew sensed six years on the school board and has made himself a factor in the general improvement of his home community. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

John Riggert, merchant, banker and public spirited citizen, has been accumulating interests and responsibilities that make him an important citizen ever since coming to Sauk County over thirty years ago. The center of these interests have been at Loganville.

Mr. Riggert was born in Germany December 13, 1868, son of Henry and Catherine (Marquard) Riggert. His father was born August 5, 1826, and his mother June 15, 1828.' They were married in Germany and they reared in that country a family of eight children, noted as follows : William, born March 13, 1852 ; Herman, born March 29, 1854 ; George, born May 20, 1856 ; Adolph, born February 1. 1858 ; Otto, born April 8, 1860; Ernest, born November 26, 1861; May, born April 20, 1864 ; and John, born December 13, 1868.

Mr. John Riggert acquired most of his education while a boy in Germany. In 1883, when he M'as fifteen years of age, he left the Fatherland, crossed the ocean and came to Sauk County, Wisconsin, where he joined some of his older brothei's. For one year he attended school at Loganville and acquired a familiarity with the English language. He then entered the store of his brother William as a clerk at Reedsburg, and remained steadily in his employ for nine years.

During this time he had familiarized himself with business, gained the confidence of people and was well prepared for embarking in business for himself. In February, 1893, he and his brother William established a store at Loganville, and it was started under the name John Riggert & Company, a title which remains to the present time, though after four years, in 1897, Mr. John Riggert bought the entire establishment. For nine years the store was in the old Trexler Building, but in 1902 Mr. Riggert erected a store building of his own, 32 by 80 feet, two stories, and thoroughly stocked with merchandise of every description suited to the trade of that locality.

From handling this business Mr. Riggert 's interests have gradually been spread to other affairs. In 1907 he started the Loganville Telephone Exchange, continued the management of the business until it bad gained

275 subscribers and in 1917 sold out to W. H. Wheeler. In 1915 Mr. Riggert organized the Loganville State Bank, an institution that furnishes adequate banking facilities to that section of Sauk County. William Riggert is president, Charles King is vice president, while Mr. John Riggert gives his personal superintendence to the bank as cashier, the assistant cashier being Conrad C. Wiesler,

Mr. Riggert in politics is a republican and for the past fifteen years has consecutively held the office of township treasurer of Westfield Township. He and his family are active members of the Lutheran Church. On March 3, 1897, he married Miss Elizabeth Schuette. She was born in Westfield Township of this county March 30, 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Riggert had two children, Lavita, who died at the age of two years ; and Valera, born August 5, 1906.

Mrs. Riggert is a daughter of John William and Dorothy (Reinecke) Schuette. Her grandfather, John Schuette, brought his family from Germany and settled on a farm in Westfield Township in pioneer times, in 1863. He and his good wife lived out the rest of their industrious lives in this community. Their children were Catherine, deceased, Elizabeth and John William. John William Schuette was born in Germany March 31, 1849, and was fourteen years of age when brought to Sauk County. He had attended the common schools in Germany and for a short time was a student in Westfield Township. On reaching manhood he bought sixty-three acres of land where his son Henry J. now lives. His success as a farmer enabled him to increase his holdings by the purchase of 160 acres adjoining, and most of this was cleared up while he occupied it and some good substantial buildings erected. In 1905 he retired from the farm and he and his wife have since lived at Loganville. He is a democrat and for a number of years was side supervisor, and for four years assessor of the township. He and his wife are active Lutherans. October 24, 1869, John William Schuette married Miss Dorothy Reinecke, who was born in Germany in 1848, daughter of William and Margaret Reinecke. She was twenty years of age when in 1868 her parents located in Sauk County and found a home on a farm in Westfield Township. John William Schuette and wife have six children : Amelia, wife of Edward Luhrsen, of Reedsburg ; Henry J., owner of the old homestead, married Augusta Bargwart, of Jefferson County, and their three children are Arold, Harold and Arciena ; Elizabeth, wife of John Riggert ; William, of Phoenix, Arizona, who married Tina Kry and has children named Helen and William; Annie, who died in 1916, was wife of Henry Steckelberg and was the mother of four children, Elva, Herbert, Arnold and Evelyn ; Albert, a resident of Columbus, Wisconsin, is married but has no children.

Henry G. Tible. An ever increasing prosperity has rewarded the efforts of Henry G. Tiele since his arrival in Sauk County in 1872. To the then fast growing community he brought an earnest purpose and strong physical equipment which counteracted in large degree the disadvantages of speaking a foreign tongue, of customs with which he was unfamiliar, and of agricultural methods which were better suited to the old world conservatism of Germany than the awakening vigor of the

Central West. At the time of his arrival his chances for success did not seem bright, as he was without capital or friendly influences, but his sturdy nature, his faith in himself and his determination overcame all obstacles, and with these assets he won his way to the achievement of deserved prosperity. He is now the owner of a valuable farm in Baraboo Township and accounted one of his community 's substantial men.

]\Ir. Tiele was born in Germany, January 14, 1853, and is a son of Henry and Christian Tiele. The father passed his entire life in Germany as a small farmer, and there passed away when in middle life, in 1874, following which his widow immigrated to the United States and joined her son, with whom she continued to make her home during the remainder of her life, her death occurring in Baraboo Township in 1909, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. She became well and favorably known in the vicinity of her son's farm and was highly esteemed for her many sterling qualities of heart and mind.

Henry G. Tiele was reared in a home where a modest income necessitated the practice of economy, and as he was reared to manhood he was taught lessons of frugality and thrift. His education was secured in the public schools of his native land, and his early training was along several lines, so that he was prepared to give a good account of himself Avhen he engaged in his battles with the world. He had seen his father's struggles in trying to gain a competency for his family, and early determined that he would find a locality for the display of his abilities where opportunities were more prolific than those of which his native community could boast, and by the time he was nineteen years of age, in 1872, had saved sufficient funds from his earnings to carry him to America. After a voyage on a sailing vessel he arrived at New York City, and from the metropolis made his way to Sauk County, which community has continued, almost uninterruptedly, to be his home to the present time. On certain occasions he has made short visits to Minnesota and the Dakotas, but each time has returned to Sauk County.

On his arrival in Sauk County, Mr. Tiele first secured employment in the butcher shop of Charles Hunt at Reedsburg, but after several months thus spent turned his attention to farming. At first he worked by the day and month, later was able to set himself up as a renter, and through hard and industrious work finally achieved his ambition and bought a farm in Baraboo Township, the property which is now owned and operated by James Bonham. This was an eighty-acre tract, which Mr. Tiele cultivated for a number of years, and on which he erected all the buildings and made the other improvements. When he sold this land he purchased the farm which he now owns, a forty-acre property^ also in Baraboo Township, which has been brought to a high state of cultivation and is a profitable investment. In addition to this the Tiele property includes forty acres of timber land which is the property of his second wife, who was Mrs. Southard. Mr. Tiele carries on general farming and the raising of stock, and has been successful in both departments. He has made his own way in the world, and the success that has come to him has been gained not through outside sources but as a result of his own hard work, ability, resource and initiative. In politics he is inclined to be independent in supporting candidates, although, perhaps, he has demo-

-eratic leanings. For himself he has never sought office, having been content to play a good citizen's part in the life of the community and to discharge his civic responsibilities by helping to advance good movements, education and morality. Mr. Tiele is a consistent member of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Tide's first marriage was to Miss Mary Monti, daughter of Carl Monti, one of Sauk County 's pioneer residents. Two children were born to this union, namely : Lena, who is the wife of Jesse Reel, a farmer of Baraboo Township, and has one son, Teddy ; and Erna, who is engaged in teaching in the public schools of Sauk County. The mother of these children died in 1898, and in 1907 Mr. Tiele was united in marriage with Mrs. Jennie (Stelting) Southard, widow of Harry Southard, of Baraboo Township. Mrs. Tiele belongs to one of the early families of Wisconsin. Her parents, originally from Indiana, came to Vernon County, Wisconsin, - where they were engaged in agricultural pursuits for a number of years and where both passed away.

James Anchor. Among the retired residents of Fairfield Township one who is accounted a- substantial and representative citizen is Capt. James Anchor, the owner of a farm of sixty-seven acres situated in the northwest part of the township. For thirty years, from 1872 until 1902, he sailed the Great Lakes, rising from ordinary seaman to master, and abandoned the calling only when, through energy, industry and integrity, he had accumulated a moderate fortune.

Capt. James Anchor was born in Norway, October 30, 1840, and was a son of Hans and Mary Anchor, both of whom passed their lives in that country and died there. They had four children: Katrina, who died in Norway ; James ; Anna, who died in Milwaukee ; and Mary, who died in infancy in Norway. The education of James Anchor was secured in the public schools of his native land, and with a youth's love of adventure became a sailor on ocean-going vessels, his first few trips determining his vocation in life. In 1872 he crossed the bar at the entrance to Chicago Harbor and at once entered upon a career that brought him to the forefront in his calling. He rose rapidly from position to position until he became captain of the Arndale, and remained as master of that sturdy vessel for fifteen years. In 1885 Captain Anchor purchased a farm of 156 acres in Fairfield Township, upon which he located his family, but continued to sail the Great Lakes until 1902, when he bought his present farm of sixty-seven acres, upon which he has since lived retired, the farm being operated by his son Carl. Captain Anchor's character is one admirably adapted to the work in which he spent his active life. Of uncompromising honesty and fearless courage, he was a rigid disciplinarian, yet his sympathies were broad and easily touched. During his experience as a lake captain he had frequently to encounter men whose inflamed passions impelled them to deeds of violence to enforce the demands of those who denied others the right to fix their own valuation upon their own labor. To such malcontents he exhibited a firm front. Thovse who were willing to work he was always willing to protect, and the turbulent spirit of their persecutors was awed and controlled hy Ms simple word, backed by the expression of a purpose which the dis- orderly, riotous crowd knew would be carried out to the letter. In the relations of domestic and commercial life he has always been a man to be trusted. Among his business associates his oral promise is considered as good as a bond. He votes the republican ticket, but political matters have held little interest for him, save as they have affected the welfare of his country or his community. Both he and Mrs. Anchor were reared in the Lutheran faith, but now attend the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Captain Anchor was married in 1876 to Miss Katrina Petersen, who was bom January 14, 1851, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, daughter of Abraham and Sophia Petersen, natives of Norway and early settlers of Milwaukee, where the father died in 1917, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and the mother in 1869, when thirty-nine years old. They were the parents of six children : Katrina, Lena, Josephine, Edward, Paul and Olaf, of whom Mrs. Anchor is the only survivor. Captain and Mrs. Anchor are the parents of five children: Norman, formerly a sailor on the Great Lakes, who secured his first mate's card before taking up farming, is now the operator as a renter of the Ringling farm in Fairfield Township. He married Miss Etta Anchor. Alfred, who is engaged in farming in Fairfield Township, married Hattie Martina, daughter of August Martina, she being now deceased. Carl, operating his father's farm, and supervisor of Fairfield Township, married Lottie Lamar, and has two children, Dazie James and Charley Marion. Hans is unmarried and an agriculturist in Fairfield Township ; William died in October, 1913, aged twenty-four years.

Henry Schlickau. One of the fine farms of Westfield Township is that owned by Henry Schlickau, and it has repaid his industry and intelligent management throughout the thirty years he has lived there, giving him prosperit,y and an envia,ble position among the representative citizens of Sauk County.

Mr. Schlickau was born in Hanover, Germany, March 20, 1862, a son of Henry and Mary (Hams) Schlickau. When he was seven years of age he came with his parents to America. The family arrived in Illinois in May, 1869, and, the following August went to Westfield Township of Sauk County. His parents bought 120 acres of wild land. It w'as a tremendous task to cut down the trees and only gradually was the change made from the wilderness into settled conditions of agriculture. The fathet- lived a long and industrious life and passed away in May, 1901, while his wife died in February preceding his death. Henry Schlickau, Sr., was an active member and an official in the Lutheran Church. Their children were Henry, William, Annie and Lizzie. The son William married Katherina Filing and now lives in Kansas. Annie is the wife of Carl Stoletie of Hill Point, Sauk County. Lizzie married Charles Giffert. of Westfield Township.

Mr. Henry Schlickau married. March 2, 1887, at the age of twentyfive. Miss May Hahn, daughter of George and Dorothy Hahn, of Westfield Township. In the same year of their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schlickau located on their present farm, and here they have reared their family and while making ample provisions for their training and comfort they have still been prospered and find themselves in a comfortable and valuable home and surrounded with all the comforts and good things of life. Mr. Schlickau is a progressive farmer, using the silo system of feeding, and has made many improvements on the farm by his own hands. He is a republican voter and an active member of the Lutheran Church.

Mrs. Schlickau 's brothers and sisters were: Catherine, now deceased ; Henry, also deceased ; Anne ; and Dora. Anne is the wife of Fred Reincke, of "Westfield Township. Dora married Christ Yenke, of Honey Creek Township. Catherine became the wife of Chris Neinmann, and he now lives in the State of Washington.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schlickau have a bright and interesting family of six children, all of them still at home and unmarried. Their names and dates of birth are : August, 1888 ; Lizzie, 1889 ; Mary, 1894 ; Annie, 1898 ; Dora, 1901 ; and George, 1904. These children were well educated, in the local public schools and also attended a school conducted by the Lutheran Church.

Emanuel Lorenz Philipp, the present governor of Wiscon.sin, is a native of Sauk County, where he was born March 25, 1861, a son of Luzi and Sabina (Ludwig) Philipp.

Governor Philipp had only a common school education, and his early life was spent as a farmer, school teacher, telegraph operator, railway station agent, and train dispatcher. He achieved eminence as a factor in the business and industrial life of Wisconsin long before his name was considered in polities. From 1893 to 1903 he was engaged in the lumber business at Philipp, Mississippi. For a number of years he gave his time to developing transportation interests and in 1897 was elected president of the Union Refrigerator Transit Company, and has been proprietor and manager of this business since 1908.

For many years his business interests have required his residence at Milwaukee. He has served as president of the Humane Society of that city, as regent of Marquette University, was police commissioner from 1909 to 1914, and in 1914 was elected, after a strenuous campaign, as governor of Wisconsin for the term from 1915 to 391 7. Governor Philipp is a prominent republican and was a member of the Republican National Committee in 1908.

He is known as a forceful speaker and has done some vigorous writing, being author of the "Truth about Wisconsin Freight Rates," published in 1904, and the article "Political Reform in Wisconsin," published in 1908. He is a member of the Masonic Order and the Milwaukee Athletic Club. On October 27, 1887, he married Miss Bertha Schweke of Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

Herbert W. Dano, now living retired at Reedsburg, is a native of Wisconsin, and has found his life crowded with opportunities and has used them with discretion and ability. His chief work has been as a farmer, and for a number of years he has been one of the extensive cranberry growers of Central Wisconsin. His name is one that well deserves mention in any history of Sauk County.