In 1885 President Cleveland tendered him the position of associate justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, but he declined it, as not in any sense more desirable than his large and increasing practice.

In 1870 Judge Jenkins married the only daughter of Judge Andrew G. Miller, who was the first judge of the United States district court of Wisconsin, and their home has been notable as a center of social culture and refinement. The University of Wisconsin, in 1893, and Wabash College of Indiana in 1897, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., in recognition of his attainments as a lawyer and judge.

Judge Jenkins is admirably qualified for the judiciary by education, culture and natural tastes, as his career on the bench thus far has abundantly proved. The United States court of appeals for the Seventh judicial circuit is composed of Associate Justice Brown of the supreme court, Judge Woods of Indiana, Judge Showalter of Illinois and Judge Jenkins of Wisconsin, and the circuit 038 43comprises the three states named. He has heard many cases of importance both from the financial interests and the principles involved; but the case of the Farmers' Loan & Trust company, vs. the Northern Pacific railway, et al., gave rise to a decision, which by reason of the principles announced, has given him a world-wide reputation. The action was to foreclose a trust mortgage for $140,000,000; and, upon application of the plaintiff, receivers of the trust property were appointed by the court, on objection thereto being offered by the defendants. The action was commenced in 1893 at a time of great financial depression, the business of the railroads being reduced by one-half; and the receivers reported to the court that they found it necessary to reduce the salaries of the officers and employes of the company from ten to twenty per cent. This reduction was to take effect January 1st, 1894. Naturally, the employes were opposed to any such reduction of their wages, and threatened to strike if it were insisted upon. The receivers, hearing of the threats, applied to the court for an injunctional order forbidding them “from combing and conspizing to quit the service of the said receivers or doing anything to cripple the property or prevent or hinder the operation of said railroad.” The order did not forbid the employes from quietly, as individuals, or in a body, quitting the service of the receivers, but from doing it as a body in such manner as to injure the operation of the property. The order was issued December 19th, 1893, and three days thereafter a supplemental injunctional order was issued embodying the provisions of the first writ, with an additional clause forbidding the employees “from combining or conspiring together or with others, either jointly or severally, or as committees, or as officers of any so-called labor organization, with the design of causing a strike upon the lines of railroad operated by said receivers.” In short, it was an order forbidding the men to commit a crime against property which was in possession of the court or its agents.

A motion to dissolve the injunctional orders was denied by the court in an exhaustive opinion (reported 60 Fed. Rep. 803) which will stand as a monument to the learning, judicial ability and fearlessness of Judge Jenkins. He defined a strike to be “a combined effort among workmen to compel the master to the concession of a certain demand by preventing the conduct of his business until compliance with the demand.” On appeal from this order to the circuit court of appeals, the order was sustained in its main features, the following clause only being eliminated: “And from so quitting the services of the said receivers, with or without notice, so as to cripple the property or to prevent or hinder the operation of said railroad.” The appellate court, however, directed that the injunction be modified by describing therein the strike as defined by Judge Jenkins in his opinion. The essential part of the order sustained was as follows: “And from combining and conspiring to quit, with or without notice, the service of said receivers, with the object and intent of crippling the property in their custody, or embarrassing the operations of said railroad.” In all essentials the ruling of Judge Jenkins was sustained. The leaders of the organization, however, were not content with the decision of the judge or with the opinion of the court of appeals and took steps looking to his impeachment by congress, but nothing came of it, as the judgment of all unbiased people was in favor of the stand taken by Judge Jenkins.

VINJE, Aad John, a resident of Superior and judge of the Eleventh Judicial circuit, is the son of John Vinje, a farmer in easy financial circumstances, in Norway, who died in 1859, from the effects of an accident. His ancestors for several generations belonged to the well-to-do farmerclass. The maiden name of A. J. Vinje's mother was Ingeborg Klove, who was born in Norway in 1824. On his mother's side he is a lineal descendant of A. 039 44

ADD JOHN VINJE.

A. J. Vinje was born November 10th, 1857, at Voss, Norway. From 1869 to 1874 he attended the common schools of Marshall county when he could be spared from farm work. The family arrived in Iowa from Norway on a Friday afternoon, and the next Monday his mother sent him to school. She is a warm admirer of our public school system. If asked to what he owes whatever of success he has attained, he says that he would unhesitatingly answer: “To my mother and our free public school system—it was she who taught me the value of an education, and our free public schools that enabled me to secure one.” A neighbor had asked her to take her boy out of school to herd cattle for him; and, upon her declining, he remarked: “Your boy will never be anything but a farmer, anyway.” “That may be, sir,” she answered, “but I want him to be an intelligent one.” This ended the argument, and the boy went back to school. In 1874 he attended one term in Iowa college, at Grinnell, and in 1873-6 he was a student in the Northwestern University at Des Moines, Iowa. The next two years he taught school in Marshall county. In 1878, he entered the subfreshmen class in the University of Wisconsin, from the literary department of which he graduated with honors in 1884. His parents lost their property in the panic of 1873, and, as a consequence, he had to pay his own educational expenses, which he did chiefly by teaching school. From the time he entered the university until he graduated he was out, teaching, one year and two terms; and, during the last three years of his college course, he taught four weeks every summer vacation, in the Teachers' Institute at Marshaltown, Iowa. While at the university he was an active member of the Natural History club and the Mathematical society, and for two years was one of the managing editors of the University Press. Philosophy, languages and natural sciences were his favorite studies.

From 1884 until 1888 he was assistant to the state librarian at Madison; and, while occupying this position, he completed the law course in the university, graduating therefrom in 1887. In 1888 he was appointed assistant to the supreme court reporter, and held the position until the spring of 1891, when he resigned to enter the practice of law of Superior in partnership with Hon. L. S. Butler. This partnership was dissolved by mutual consent January 1st, 1895. In August of that year the office of judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit becoming vacant through the resignation of 040 45Judge Marshall, who had been appointed associate justice of the supreme court, the bar of Douglas county unanimously recommended the appointment of Mr. Vinje to the vacancy. He received the appointment from Gov. Upham, and the following spring was elected for the term ending the first Monday in January, 1901.

In politics Judge Vinje is a Republican and in religion a Unitarian.

Judge Vinje was married, in 1886, to Alice Idell Miller, of Oregon, Wis., and they have three children—Arthur, David and Janet.

O'NEILL, James , a resident of Neillsville and judge-elect of the Seventeenth Judicial circuit, was born at Lisbon, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., Sept 3d, 1847. His father, Andrew O'Neill, a farmer by occupation, is also a native of Lisbon, and resides there still. His grandfather, also Andrew O'Neill, the first settler in the town of Lisbon, was born in Shanes Castle on the banks of Lake Neag, in the north of Ireland. Andrew O'Neill, the father of the Judge, is a Republican, was collector of customs in Lisbon for sixteen years, is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has a most honorable record as a good man and a public-spirited citizen. Judge O'Neill's mother, Mary Holliston, was born near Ogdensburg, N. Y., and died in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1852.. Her parents were both from Berwickshire, Scotland. His paternal grandfather's maiden name was Armstrong, and her nationality English.

James O'Neill had his rudimentary education in the common schools of his native town, and began teaching a district school when fifteen years of age and taught several terms. In 1863, at the age of sixteen years, he entered St. Lawrence University, at Canton, N. Y., and was a student therein for three years in all, dropping out occasionally to teach school and earn part of the money necessary to enable him to pursue his studies. In 1868 he entered Cornell University as a sophomore, and

JAMES O'NEILL

Entering the Albany law school in 1872, he graduated in 1873, and came to Wisconsin in September following, on a visit to his uncle, James O'Neill, at Neillsville, who was its first settler, he having located there in 1844, represented the county in the state assembly in 1849 and 1868, and died in 1880. At the earnest solicitation of his uncle, the young man concluded to make his home in Neillsville, opened an office there from the practice of the law, and there he was remained since, steadily pursuing his professional work, first alone, then with H. W.. Sheldon from 1877 to 1879, and again alone until 1890, when Spencer M. Marsh became his partner, under the firm name of O'Neill & Marsh.

Judge O'Neill's political record has been that of a consistent and earnest Republican, and an honorable worker for what he believes to be the best public policy. He was a member 041 46of the lower houses of the legislature in 1885, was appointed district attorney of Clark county, by Gov. Rusk in 1887, and elected to the same office in the following year by the largest majority received by anyone on the ticket. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention, and was the Republican candidate for attorney-general in 1890 and 1892, but the party was defeated in those years, and he suffered de feat with it. He was a candidate for judge of the Seventeenth circuit in 1891, but was defeated by W. F. Bailey, who had a majority of 512. He was again a candidate for the same position in April, 1897, and was elected by a plurality of 5412, one of his opponents being Win. F. Bailey, who was successful four years before in the contest for the same office. Judge O'Neil carried every county in the circuit, and the endorsement by the press of his candidacy and of his eminent fitness for the office both as regarded character and ability were unqualified and enthusiastic.

The Judge was baptized and brought up in the Episcopal church—the church of his father. He was married June 6th, 1876, to Marian Robinson of Neillsville, and two children have been born to them—a son, Ernest, twenty years old, now in the state university, and a daughter, Marian, fourteen years of age.

COSSADAY, John B., chief justice of the supreme court of Wisconsin, was born in Herkimer county, New York, July 7th, 1830. His father died some three years after the birth of this boy, and his mother, with her child, removed with her parents to Tioga county, Pa. There the boy began attending the district school, working for his board, as his mother was without means to give him the full advantages which boys of his age usually receive. Before he had attained his seventeenth year he had, in addition to his attendance upon the district school, been on term at the Tioga academy and one at the academy in Wellsborough. During the next four years he was engaged in teaching and in manual labor, and in this way secured the means for the payment of his expenses during a course of study of two terms at the academy in Knoxville, Pa., and two at the Alfred (N. Y.) Academy, from which he graduated. He then spent a year in the University of Michigan, taking a select course. This was followed by a short time at the Albany law school, after which he studied law in an office in Wellsborough, Pa. In 1857 he came to Janesville, Wis., where he entered the law office of H. S. Conger, afterwards judge of that circuit, and studied law for a year or more, when he became a member of the law firm of Benneth, Cossaday & Gibbs. This partnership continued seven years, during which Mr. Cossaday, by his native ability, industry and perseverance, rapidly rose in his profession, until he came to be recognized as one of the ablest members of the Rock county bar. For two years from 1866 he was in practice alone, then in company with Willard Merrill, now of the Northwestern Life Insurance company, for five years, and after that with Ed. F. Carpenter, a half-brothers of the late Senator Carpenter, until he was appointed to the supreme bench in November, 1880.

Mr. Cossaday, both as lawyer and judge, has always been a hard student, with great care for details and methods, a close reasoner, an untiring worker, and unsparing of effort in the preparation of his cases. As an advocate he had few equals, because of the clearness, directness and force with which he presented a case. He was, in addition, the master of an attractive style, which rose to the plane of real eloquence when he chose to indulge in that form of speech. He was successful at the bar from the beginning, and during his twenty odd years of practice was never wanting in clients.

Since the organization of the Republican party there has been no more consistent earnest and zealous adherent of it than Mr. Cossaday. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention in 1864 that nominated Lincoln for re-election, 042 47and was member of the committee on credentials. The same year he was elected to the legislative assembly, serving on the judiciary and railroad committees. The thirteenth amendment to the national constitution was presented for ratification at that session, and he took an active part in the debate on its passage. In 1876 he was again elected to the assembly, was chosen its speaker, and his ability and tact in that position resulted in one of the shortest and most effective session in the history of the state. He was a delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention in Chicago in 1880, and was chairman of the delegation. He presented to the convention the name of E. B. Washburn as a candidate for the nomination for president in a dignified, eloquent and powerful speech; but it was seen on the second day that none of the leading candidates would be nominated, and the Wisconsin delegation, which contained some of the ablest Republicans in the state, decided that at the proper moment the vote of the state should be cast for James A. Garfield, and it was left for Mr. Cossaday to determine when that time had come. On the thirty-fourth ballot he declared to his fellow-delegates that the time had come for breaking the dead-lock, and announced the vote of Wisconsin for Garfield, amid intense excitement. The second ballot thereafter Garfield received the nomination. From the time of his coming to the state Justice Cossaday had taken an active part in all important political campaigns, making able and effective speeches, devoted to the discussion of the questions at issue between the parties, but never descending to mere partisan harangues. Yet he was not an officeseeker, though frequently a delegate to state conventions, and in positions where he might have secured nomination had he so chosen. He declined all offices, however, when tendered, though among them were those connected with his profession, such as attorney-general and circuit judge.

Chief Justice Ryan of the supreme court died in October, 1880, creating a vacancy in

JOHN B. COSSODAY.

Since 1885 Justice Cossaday has been lecturer to the senior class in the college of law of the University of Wisconsin. His lectures on wills have been published and they form the text-book on that subject in the law school. He still lectures once a week during the college year on constitutional law. He has delivered some very able addresses on various subjects—one a memorial address on Gen. Grant—which have been published and highly commended.

Justice Cossaday was married on the 21st of February, 1860, to Miss Mary P. Spaulding of Janesville, Wis., and they have four daughters and a son. The daughters are all married, and are Mrs. Wm. H. Jacobs of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Geo. H. Wheelock of South Bend, Ind.; Mrs. Nathan Clark of Duluth, Minn., and Mrs. Carl Johnson of Madison, Wis. The son, Eldon J., is connected with the legal department of the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe railroad in Chicago.

Justice and Mrs. Cossaday have long been consistent and earnest members of the Congregational church, and four of their children are members of the same organization.

SUTHERLAND, George Eaton , a member of the Milwaukee bar and a lawyer of ability and thorough education, is the son of Samuel Wait Sutherland, who was a well-to-do father and a vigorous opponent of slavery in the stirring times just before the war of the rebellion. His mother was Amy Smith, a daughter of Ezra Smith, a sea captain of New London, Connecticut. Mr. Sutherland's ancestry on his father's side was a Scotch descent, and English on the mother's

He was born in Burlington, Otsego county, New York, on the 14th day of September, 1843. His early education was received in the common schools in his native state and in Wisconsin, to which state he came with his parents in 1855, settling on a farm near Waukan, Winnebago county. His experiences in making his way toward a liberal education did not differ materially from those of other boys with the same ambition. After completing the usual preparatory studies, he entered Amherst College in Massachusetts, pursued the classical course, and graduated therefrom in 1870, standing among the class honor men, and having won a number of prizes for scholarship. After leaving Amherst he took a two years' course in Columbia College Law School, completing it in one year. In September, 1871, he opened an office for the practice of his profession in Ripon. Wisconsin, continuing in business with fair success until 1874, when he removed to Fond du Lac, and entered into partnership with David Taylor, later one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the state. This partnership continued until Judge Taylor took his seat upon the supreme bench, in 1878. Mr. Sutherland removed to Milwaukee in 1886, and at once began the practice of his profession in the city. His principal business is court work, or work in the actual trial of cases; and he is very frequently employed as counsel to assist other attorneys in important actions.

Mr. Sutherland's war record is highly creditable to him as a citizen soldier. He enlisted at Utica, New York, September 30th, 1862, in the First New York light artillery. On the 23rd of July, 1864, he was commissioned, by President Lincoln, captain in the Thirteenth United States colored heavy artillery. On the 12th of October, 1864, he was wounded and taken prisoner at Eddyville, Kentucky. After recovering from his wound and release from captivity, he was made commissary of subsistence at Smithfield, Kentucky, during the spring and early summer of 1865. The remainder of the year, until discharged on the 26th of November, he served as member of a military commission and court-martial at Camp Nelson and Lexington, Kentucky. He was recommended for promotion to the office of major, but no vacancy occurring 044 49the promotion was not made. Mr. Sutherland has been a member of the Wisconsin division of the Grand Army and Loyal Legion, and commander of the latter organization.

The political and official record of Mr. Sutherland is a worthy one, based upon substantial public service. He was city attorney of Ripon for two years, member of the county board of supervisors of Fond du Lac county one year, and member of the state senate for the term of 1880-2. In 1880 he was appointed by Gov. Smith chairman of the committee to investigate the affairs of the state hospital near Madison. He entered upon his work with energy and did it most thoroughly and conscientiously. In the prosecution of this duty he became convinced that the system of governing the charitable, reformatory and penal institutions of the state by unpaid boards of trustees was wrong in theory and unsatisfactory in its results. At the next session of the legislature, therefore, he introduced a bill providing for the placing of all these institutions under one paid supervisory board, and abolishing all of the local boards of trustees. The scheme was a novel one, and met with some opposition at first; but the facts and arguments in its support, as presented by Mr. Sutherland, finally overcame what opposition there was, and the bill became a law with only one dissenting vote. The board of supervision, now called the board of control, was formed and took charge of the institutions in the summer of 1881. The system is still in operation to the very general satisfaction of those who have familiarized themselves with its results. Other states have followed the lead of Wisconsin in this matter, and adopted its plan in whole or in part, as the most efficient and satisfactory system yet found of managing state institutions of that character.

Mr.Sutherland held the position of post-master at Fond du Lac in 1883-4, and made an efficient and popular officer; but was removed in the latter year on account of “offensive partisanship.” In April, 1897, he was

GEORGE EATON SUTHERLAND.

Mr. Sutherland was married on the 4th of May, 1871, to Adela E. Merrell, sister of Dr. Merrell, formerly president of Ripon College. They have two children, Amy Marie and Agnes Madeline Sutherland.

BUNDY, Egbert Bird , for twenty years judge of the Eight judicial circuit, is a resident of Menomonie, Dunn county. He was born in Windsor, N. Y., on the 8th of February, 1833, the son of Oliver T. and Lydia Smith Bundy, whose ancestors for several generations were natives of Connecticut. Oliver T. Bundy was a physician who practiced many years in Windsor, N. Y.

Judge Bundy received his education in the common schools of Windsor and at Windsor Academy. After leaving school he studied 045 50

EDBERT BIRD BUNDY.

Judge Bundy has always been a Democrat and free-trader in politics, and has generally voted the Democratic ticket, and in the presidential election of 1896 voted for Bryan. He is a member of the Masonic order, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Episcopal church.

In 1861 Judge Bundy was married to Miss Reubena Macaulay, and to them have been born nine children, of whom C. T. Bundy is a lawyer of Eau Clair; W. H. Bundy is with the Rice Lake Lumber company; R. E. Bundy is the partner of his father in the law business, in Menonomie; Edward W. Bundy is a lawyer in Ellsworth, Wis., and one of the daughters is the wife of A. G. Gray of Menonomie.

AUSTIN, Robert N., judge of the superior court of Milwaukee county, was born in Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, on the 19th of August, 1822. His ancestry is traceable to immigrants who came to this country from England not long subsequent to the landing of the “Pilgrim” at Plymouth Rock. One of these ancestors, Samuel Austin, settled in Connecticut; and from him Judge Austin is descended. The judge's grandfather was a soldier in the revolutionary war, who, after peace had been declared, removed from Connecticut to Westchester county, New York. Judge Austin's father was the Rev. James Nelson Austin, a Presbyterian clergyman of promise in that region, who died while still a young man, leaving his wife with her less than one-year-old boy in straitened circumstances. The boy was taken and reared by friends, and, as he developed, he showed an unusual taste for learning, which it was not easy in those times fully to gratify. He, however, made such good use of his limited educational privileges that at the age of sixteen he was teaching a country district school. This work was continued for a time, affording the ambitious student not only the means of support, but proving a source of mental improvement. He succeeded at length, in spite of obstacles and many and sore discouragements, in securing a preparation for a liberal course of study, and 046 51entered Union College, Schenectady, from which he was graduated in the classical course in 1845. At the conclusion of his college course he returned to teaching, to replenish his exhausted purse, securing the principalship of an academy in Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York. He is said at that time to have contemplated the study of theology, but a very serious illness absorbed his resources and left him without the means to prosecute his theological studies; he, therefore, changed his purpose, giving up theology and taking up the law as the shorter and less expensive road to establishment in a profession. Accordingly he entered the office of Jabez D. Hammond of Cherry Valley, as a law student, and so rapid was his progress in the study that he passed the examination and was admitted to the bar in 1847.

He did not attempt to establish himself in his native state, but, in May, 1848, set out for Milwaukee, where he entered at once upon the practice of his profession, which he followed without intermission until 1891, when he was elected judge of the superior court. He has had many important suits in the various courts of the city and state, and for very many years he was one of the most familiar figures at the Milwaukee bar. As an advocate he is forcible, often eloquent, handles his cases with skill, and goes directly to the heart of things. Few will question that he is one of the most learned of the Milwaukee lawyers, or that his knowledge of the law was one of the considerations which made for his elevation to the judgeship. He has for many years borne the reputation of being an able criminal lawyer, and has had a large share of that business. His life has been given without reserve to his profession, and in that and the study of literature he has found his chief delight.

He had a natural fondness for the study of languages, and reads German, French, Latin and Greek with facility. Within the last three years he has made and written a translation of the New Testament from the original Greek, which he preserves with great care and devotion.

ROBERT N. AUSTIN.

BARDEEN, Charles Valdo, judge of the Sixteenth circuit, resides at Wausau, Marathon county, Wisconsin, and is the son of Rasselas Bardeen, a farmer in moderate circumstances, and of Maria Palmer Bardeen. Judge Bardeen was born in Madison county, New York, September 23rd, 1850, but came with his parents to Wisconsin when five years of age. The family settled on a farm in Albion, Dane county, and there the boy began his education in the district school, continuing it in Albion Academy and in the University of Wisconsin, which he left admission to the junior class. He helped himself to his education by teaching school, an employment which has, in many cases, paved the way to scholarship and to a prosperous, useful and distinguished career. In 1874 he 047 52

CHARLES VALDO BARDEEN.

The year of his admission he went to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he opened an office for the practice of his profession, and there he has ever since resided. He was appointed district attorney in 1876, the duties of which office he discharged with an ability and fidelity which brought him into public notice, and marked him as a lawyer of more than the usual prominence. His interest in public education, and his efficiency in its promotion, is shown by the fact that he held the position of superintendent of the city schools for ten years.

He was elected judge of the Sixteenth circuit for the term commencing with January, 1892, and was re-elected in April, 1897, for the term beginning with the year 1898. His political affiliations are with the Republican party, but he is not a partisian, and was elected circuit judge without regard to politics, and because it was generally recognized that he was especially qualified for the position. His elevation to the bench was in pursuance of the policy which has generally prevailed in Wisconsin of divorcing the judiciary from everything like mere struggles of party.

Judge Bardeen was married June 17th, 1876, to Frankie H. Miller, and they have three children—a son, Charles V., Jr., and two daughters, Eleanor and Florence.

He is a Mason, being a member of Forest Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 130; Wausan Chapter, R. A. M., No. 51; St. Omer Commandery, K. T., No. 19, and was elected, in 1892, Grand High Priest, R. A. M. of Wisconsin.

RAUSCHENBERGER, W. G., mayor of the city of Milwaukee, resides at 887 Teutonia avenue, and was born in Soldin, Prussia, December 6th, 1855. His father is John Rauschenberger, a cordage manufacturer and woodenware dealer. He is also a native of Soldin, where he followed his business for some twenty years, and where he was long a member of the city council. Mrs. Rauschenberger, nee Amalie Schmieden, died in 1882. The family came to this country in 1860, stopping first in Milwaukee, but finding the conditions unfavorable for establishing his business, and it being difficult to obtain other employment, Mr. Rauschenberger removed with his family to New Berlin, Waukesha county, where he worked on a farm for some two years, and there the boy attended his first school. The family returning to Milwaukee in 1862, the boy continued his studies in the public schools and in the Lutheran school of St. Petrie until 1868, when he left off the study of books for the study of things, taking up his father's trade of cordage making, which he had established in a small way in 1864, and in which the boy had worked in vacation and in other unoccupied times. In this employment he earned his first money, and in the course of a few years he had saved some five hundred dollars, which served as the beginning of his business career. In 1880 he became a partner in his father's business, which was continued in this manner 048 53until 1893, when a corporation was formed under the firm name of John Rauschenberger company, of which the senior member of the firm became president and W. G. Rauschenberger the secretary and treasurer. The business steadily gained in volume until 1895, when it became necessary to open an office and salesroom in the business part of the city, and these rooms are now at 97 West Water street, where is carried a full line of rope, twine and all forms of goods common to this business. The factory is at 887 Teutonia avenue, where, in addition to all kinds of cordage, mats, hair tassels, etc., are made. The business reaches all over the entire western states, and some branches of it over the whole country.

In politics Mr. Rauschenberger has always been a Republican. In 1880 he was elected alderman from the Tenth ward for the term of three years, and in 1883 was re-elected for a similar term. In 1886 he was appointed school commissioner for the ward, was reappointed in 1888, and in 1889 was elected president of the board, and served for one term. In 1892 he was elected alderman from the Tenth ward, and re-elected in 1894, receiving the largest majority ever polled by a candidate for that office—over 2,000. When the new council was organized in 1894, he was made president, and held the office for the full term of two years. In the spring of 1896 he was nominated for mayor and elected by a large majority, and this office he now holds, the term being two years. He was nominated by the Republicans for register of deeds in 1882, but his opponent having the Democratic nomination and that of the Trades assembly, he was defeated—the only time in his political career when he had this experience.

He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has held every official position in the lodge. He is also a member of the National Union and of the North Side Turnverein, of which he has been speaker and trustee for several terms.

He was married to Ida Anger of Milwaukee on the 15th of July, 1883, and they have two children, Ida and Reinhold; a third daughter died several years since.

Mr. Rauschenberger is a typical man of business, combining the progressive spirit with that conservatism which, while it does not hamper enterprise, is a guarantee of security against sudden and unforeseen disaster.

LEWIS, James T.—Among the men who have been prominent in the state there are few, if any, who have a record that exceeds that of ex-Governor Lewis in the extent and value of the public service rendered, or the unselfish character of his public life.

James T. Lewis was born in Clarendon, New York, on the 30th of October, 1819, and is the son of Shubael Lewis. His paternal ancestors were early settlers of New England, and his father was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born on the 27th of February, 1783. He was a boy poor in purse, but rich in those qualities which command respect and insure financial success. By industry and 049 54

JAMES T. LEWIS.

James t. Lewis, the third son of this family and the subject of this sketch, after passing through the common schools, took a course in English and the classics in Clarkson Academy and Clinton Seminary, New York; and, in 1842, he began the study of law with Governor Selden of Clarkson, N. Y. Declining flattering offers if the would settle in Clinton, and begin the practice of law there, he removed to Wisconsin, and took up his residence Columbus, which has ever since been his home. In 1845 he was admitted to the bar in the United States district court, and subsequently in the state supreme court. The same year he was married to Miss Orlena M. Sturgis, daughter of a prominent merchant of Clarendon, N. Y., who bore him four children, one of whom died in infancy. The three living are Seldon J., Charles R. and Annie L.

Possessed of a good education, well versed in the law, having executive ability of a rare order, Mr. Lewis was not long in impressing his individuality upon the community in which he had taken up his residence, and in demonstrating his fitness for public station. He was successively chosen district attorney, county judge and member of the second constitutional convention, which met on the 15th of December, 1847. In 1852 he was elected member of the legislative assembly, and in the following year, a member of the state senate, which became historic as the body before which a circuit judge was tried on articles of impeachment—the only trial of the kind in the history of the state. He held the office of lieutenant-governor for two years from January, 1854; was secretary of state for the years 1862-3, and governor for the two years beginning with January, 1864. In all these official positions his administration was characterized by ability and faithfulness in the discharge of duty that unfortunately is rare in official life. His popularity at home, one of the best tests of a man's real worth, was shown when he was candidate for secretary of state by his receiving every vote cast in the city of Columbus. When elected governor, he received a majority of 23,664, the largest ever given on that office up to the election of 1896.

Gov. Lewis' administration of the gubernatorial office covered the closing years of the 050 55war, one of the most trying times in the whole history of the state government, and he set himself with all his vigor of mind and body to the discharge of the duties of his responsible position, feeling that his first obligation and that of every citizen was to do all in power to maintain the integrity and honor of the national government. The principle which governed his administration is embodied in a declaration of his at the time: “He who is not a faithful friend to the government of his country in this trying hour is no friend of mine.” He was indefatigable in forwarding troops to the front, and in looking after the soldiers of Wisconsin when at the theater of war. He visited their camps and hospitals, and finally secured from the surgeon-general of the United States an order transferring sick and wounded Wisconsin soldiers to hospitals within the state. By this measure many a soldier languishing in the rude hospitals at the front was placed where he could be more comfortable and where in recovery was more probable. Thus the lives of many were saved, and health fully restored. He was active in establishing a home for soldiers' orphans, by which many a child whose father sacrificed his life for his country was brought up in comfort and given a practical education. He secured the correction of an error in the states quota of soldiers by which it was reduced some four thousand, and successfully prosecuted claims against the general government to the amount of half a million of dollars. He declined the usual appropriation of a governor's contingent fund, and this was an example of the great economy which characterized all his administration. All his official acts were marked by strict justice, yet he was eminently a man of generous impulses.

As his term drew to a close he let it be understood that he would not accept a renomination, and finding that his decision in this respect was unalterable, the convention adopted resolutions expressing regret at this decision, and cordial appreciation of the vary great efficiency and excellence of his administration.

In all his career he has maintained a character above reproach. Unostentatious and faithful to the last degree in the discharge of duty, he has been an official who might well be taken as an example for those who follow him. He has taken great interest in education and has given liberally of his means for that purpose; and it was in recognition of this fact, as well as because he was worthy of the honor, that Lawrence University bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D.

HOARD, William Dempster, ex-governor of Wisconsin, a leading dairyman and able writer and speaker on subjects connected with that industry, was born in Stockbridge, Madison country, N. Y., October 10th, 1836, the son of Rev. William B. Hoard, a Methodist clergyman, for several years in active connection with the Oncida conference in central New York. He retired from the active ministry in 1842, settling upon a farm in Stockbridge, N. Y., where he resided until his death in 1883. He became known as one of the most skillful dairymen of his region. His father was Enos Hoard, who came from Taunton, Mass., to Stockbridge, New York, about the year 1800, and became a prosperous farm. Gov. Hoard's mother, whose maiden name was Sarah C. White, daughter of Benjamin and Betsey Sawyer White, was born in Eaton, N. Y., in 1809. Her material grandfather, Captain Jesse Sawyer of Vermont, commanded a company in Col. Ethan Allen's regiment in the Revolutionary war. Her father was a soldier in the war of 1812-14. Her brother, Rev. W. W. White, was a noted pulpit orator in the Oncida conference. J. S. Hoard, a paternal uncle of the governor, was lieutenant-colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment during the war of the rebellion.

Gov. Hoard's early education was obtained in the district school, but he was obliged to leave it at sixteen to work on the farm. One of the most potent influence in his education was the district school library of a hundred 051 56

WILLIAM DEMPSTER HOARD.

In October, 1857, he came to Wisconsin, stopping a few months with a cousin in Dodge county. The following winter he taught a singing school, and continued that occupation winters, working as a farm hand summers. In May, 1861, he enlisted in company E, Fourth regiment, in which he served as private during the summer of 1861, the regiment being engage in the East Shore expedition in Virginia, guarding the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and also in the expedition against New Orleans, which resulted in its capture under Gen. Butler. In July, 1862, he was discharged at New Orleans, because of disability, and returned to his native town in New York; where, recovering his health, he again enlisted, this time in Company A, First New York Light artillery. This battery saw service in the Army of the Potomac and in the Department of the Shenadoah, under Gen. Sheridan, and was mustered out of service July 4th, 1865. In the following autumn he returned to Wisconsin, took up his residence in Columbus, engaging in the nursery business and hop culture. March 17th, 1870, he commenced the publication of The Jefferson County Union, at Lake Mills, and three years later removed the paper to Fort Atkinson, which has since been home, and where the paper is still published. In the same year he also received the appointment of deputy United States marshal and took the federal census of several neighboring towns. In 1872 he was elected justice of the peace, and the same year sergeant-at-arms of the state senate.

Mr. Hoard's somewhat remarkable career really had its beginning about 1871, when he commenced to devote especial attention in his paper to dairying. He had studied the subject carefully, and believed that there was a great future for it. He had a practical knowledge of dairying in all its branches, and was thoroughly prepared to be a leader in the business. He organized the Jefferson County Dairymen's association, and also the Wisconsin State Dairymen's association, in 1872, of which he was, three years, the secretary; and was chosen president of the Northwestern Dairymen's association in 1878, and continued at the head of that organization for several years. The influence of these associations, of which Mr. Hoard has throughout been the practical leader, has been remarkable. Before their formation, the total value of the annual milk product of the state was only about $1,000,000, and that of an inferior quality. Within a few years thereafter the quantity and quality had vastly increased, until in 1895 the value had reached the enormous sum of $30,000,000, or about double what it was a few years before, while in the quality of the product Wisconsin was on a par with the foremost states in the Union. AT first Mr. Hoard's advocacy of th dairy interest was 052 57carried on in The Jefferson County Union as an incidental of newspaper work, then a separate department was demanded by the growth and importance of the industry; but at length, it demanded a separate paper, and “Hoard's Dairyman” was launched, which was a success from the start, and has now grown into a twenty-page, four-column quarto, with the largest paid subscription list of any dairy paper in the world, and its name and fame are not confined to America. For years Mr. Hoard has been the leading lecturer on dairy matters before farmers' institutes, and has spoken forcibly and eloquently on his favorite theme all over the United States and Canada.

His prominence in this great reform in matters pertaining to agriculture, and the practical good sense displayed in his public utterances led to the suggestion of his nomination by the Republicans, in 1888, as candidate for governor. The suggestion was received with favor, his nomination followed, and he was elected by a large plurality. His administration was an excellent one, exhibiting a comprehensive grasp of public affairs and of the responsibilities of his position that inspired confidence and respect. His message showed that he had been studying the important questions relating to citizenship, and that he was not afraid to make suggestions. Among the subjects which especially engrossed his attention was that of popular education. It had been reported that hundreds of children in the state were being educated solely in a foreign language, and he did not hesitate to say that this was contrary to the spirit of American institutions, and he recommended that a law be enacted requiring that reading and writing in English be taught each child. In pursuance of this suggestion, a law was passed which required that each child between the ages of seven and fifteen years be instructed, somewhere and somehow, in the English language at least sixty days in each year. The law passed without objection; but soon the cry was raised that the law aimed at the destruction of the patochial schools, and through appeals to religious prejudice, Gov. Hoard was defeated in his candidacy for re-election, and a worthy man and able and efficient official was relegated to private life. He retired gracefully to the promotion of his dairy interests, which had become extensive.

He was married February 9th, 1860, to Miss Agnes E. Bragg, daughter of William Bragg of Lake Mills. They have three sons—Halbert L., Arthur R. and Frank W., all associated their father in his business.

Gov. Hoard has served as president of the village of Fort Atkinson, member of the board of supervisors of Jefferson county, and member of the Republican state central committee. He is the president of the National Dairy Union, which is composed of leading dairy societies of the states and boards of trade of cities, having for its object to secure legislation against the sale of counterfeit butter and cheese. He is a Mason—member of the Billings Lodge, Janesville commandery, and the Milwaukee consistory, member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the United Workmen.

A student of the leading industrial and political questions of the times, Gov. Hoard has risen to prominence because he has had a message for his fellow men. He was also a prominent candidate for the position of secretary of agriculture in President McKinley's cabinet.

TAYLOR, William Robert. —Wisconsin has many strong characters who stand out among their contemporaries endowed with a personality, rugged strength and vigor peculiarly their own. These qualities were the product partly of inheritance and partly of a condition of affairs which has forever ceased to exist.

When Wisconsin was invaded by the pioneer, when society was scarcely organized and there were no graded schools in which the minds of the genius and dullard could be brought to fill the measure of mediocrity, there was room for development of a type of men 053 58

WILLIAM ROBERT TAYLOR.

Of all the various characters which have come to Wisconsin to assist in developing her matchless destiny, there is none stronger in native force, richer in solid self-acquired learning, or endowed with a greater versatility than Hon. William R. Taylor, better known from one end of Wisconsin to the other as the “Farmer Governor.”

Though born in the United States, and in all his actions, sentiments and feelings a typical American and a most patriotic citizen, he, nevertheless, is of pure Scotch blood and possesses the sterling qualities of that hardy race. He was born in Connecticut, July 10, 1820. His advent into this world was particularly sad, for he was but three weeks old when his mother died. Thus, bereft of all maternal care, he reached the edge of six years, when his father, a sea captain, was lost on the ocean. Left entirely to strangers, his guardianship was entrusted to a family of pioneer farmers who moved to Jefferson county, New York, at that time a wild and sparsely inhabited section. Mr. Taylor spent his boyhood years there, under the care of unsympathetic strangers, who treated him with a degree of harshness that denoted an absence of love or sympathy.

The entire educational advantages of our subject consisted of the limited instruction obtainable in the district school, whither he daily walked during the severe winter months two miles distant. Without money, relatives or friends, his life was one of bitterness and cheerlessness, but the spirit which forfeited his efforts encouraged him to better his condition by leaving his unhappy surroundings and starting to make his own way in the world. Before reaching his sixteenth year he awakened to the necessity of an education, and for several years he alternated at chopping wood and working in the harvest field to obtain the requisite means to attend school. This unceasing effort resulted in his securing a certificate of admission to the third term of the sophomore class of Union College, at Schenectady, New York. But, thought he had secured a good academic education, he was not financially able to enter upon a collegiate course. On the day that the class of which he was a member left for college to complete its studies, Mr. Taylor went into the sugar bush, and, with his own hands and a team to haul the wood and sap, produced during the season eleven hundred pounds of sugar and two barrels of molasses, with which to pay tuition and board bills already contracted. Soon after he began teaching a select school, and later on an academy.

In 1840 he went to Elyria, Ohio, where he joined a class of forty-five young men who were purchasing themselves to teach school. 054 59At that time the school authorities of La Porte, Ohio, offered an extra price for any teacher who could manage their public school, it having become notorious for disorder and violence. The previous winter three teachers had undertaken the task and failed, so that the school was entirely broken up. This was an opportunity young Taylor coveted. During the third winter under his management it became the premium school of the county.

We next find him running a grist mill, a saw mill and cupola furnace, and he was regarded the best moulder of the foundry. Failing health from overwork caused him to devote his spare time to reading medicine, and in the winter of 1845-6 he attended a five months' course of lectures and clinical instruction in the medical college at Cleveland, Ohio. During his residence in Ohio he was elected captain of a company of Ohio uniformed militia, receiving every vote of the company. Later he was elected colonel. In the fall of 1848 Mr. Taylor came to Wisconsin and settled on a farm in Cottage Grove, Dane county, where he still resides. His life was for many years one of great activity and incessant toil.

Not content with the ordinary labors of the farm, he resorted to the pineries during the winter months, and as a workman became identified with the hardships of that enterprising class of our population, which has contributed so much to the wealth of the state. The result of the severe experience we have narrated is manifest in the whole character of the man.

During his boyhood and early manhood he was a pupil, teacher, miller, foundryman, raftsman and lumberman by turns, and, for nearly a third of a century a practical farmer; therefore his sympathies for the laboring classes and his interest in the prosperity of the industrial communities is intuitive and sincere.

Soon after Governor Taylor located at Cottage Grove his neighbors recognized his ability and began to bestow official favors upon him, and for forty years he has hardly been without some public duty to perform. At times he has received nearly all the votes cast, and twice all the votes for chairman of his tow. He has been superintendent of public schools; several times chairman of the county board of supervisors; for seventeen years was county superintendent of the poor until he resigned; was appointed deputy internal revenue collector, and was trustee, vice-president and a member of the executive board of the State Hospital for the Insane from the time of its reorganization in 1860 untill he became governor in 1874. He has been a member of both branches of the legislature of Wisconsin. He was for seven years president of the Dane County Agricultural society; eight years chief marshal, and two years president of the Wisconsin State Agricultural society; and during the late war was the first man in Dane county to offer a bounty to volunteers for enlistment, which bounty secured four enlistments.

Although a Democrat, and but recently a member of the senate as a representative of that party, Mr. Taylor came out openly for a vigorous prosecution of the war for the Union upon the secession of the southern states, and he was appointed by Governor Randall as a special agent of the state of visit, St. Louis and confer with General Fremont, who was in command of the Department of the Missouri, with respect to raising and equipping troops to be sent from Wisconsin. His mission was entirely successful, but before the plans agreed upon were put into execution General Fremont was removed from command and a new order of management instituted by the general government.

In 1873 Governor Taylor was by acclamation placed in nomination for governor by a convention composed of “Democrats, Liberal Republicans and other electors favorable to genuine reform through equal and impartial legislation, honesty in office and rigid economy in the administration of public affairs.” The state was strongly Republican, and his opponent was C. C. Washburn, then governor. He ws elected by a majority of 15,411. The 055 60popularity of Mr. Taylor as a political candidate is best demonstrated by the fact that he was the candidate of a minority party when elected chairman of the county board of supervisors, and also when elected member of the assembly, state senator and governor.

Mr. Taylor performed the duties of governor with remarkable skill and ability. He has rare qualifications for the executive function, coolness, courage and an underlying foundation of common sense and devotion to what he believes to be right. His appointments in respect to the educational-reformatory and penal institutions under the care of the state were more nearly non-partisan than it has been the good fortune of Wisconsin ever before or since to secure. His high aim was to secure men of peculiar fitness for the management of public affairs, particularly the educational institutions, and thus some of the best men in both parties, independent of pressure, importunity or attack, were commissioned by him. The appointment of the Hon. E. G. Ryan to be chief justice of the supreme court will forever redound to his credit. The action of the governor in the matter of this appointment will appear the more praise-worthy when the history of that eventful time is recalled. Then nearly every eminent lawyer in the state was under retainer for some one of the great railway corporations. This was especially true of most of the prominent attorneys whose personal and political relations to the governor caused their names to be generally regarded among the probable recipients of the executive favor. The great struggle for legislative control of the railways all foresaw must soon be carried upon appeal to the highest courts, state and national. Throughout the entire country all eyes were turned upon Wisconsin, under its granger governor, the conceded battlefield of the momentous conflict already begun. From the circumstances of the situation, the governor had an important, yet very delicate, duty to perform. He at once saw, however, that in his appointment of a chief justice he must find some one whose legal attainments, whose personal qualifications and whose high character would at once defy criticism. After long and mature deliberation, meanwhile keeping his own counsels, even from his most intimate friends, the appointment of Mr. Ryan was announced. The selection was universally commended in all quarters. It was hailed with expressions of general satisfaction by all parties whose interests were involved in the great legal conflict then coming on. In the subsequent opinion of the great chief justice sustaining the principle of legislative control of railroads, an opinion afterward affirmed by the supreme court of the United States, the wisdom of Governor Taylor's appointment finds fullest vindication.

As just indicated, the most important work of Governor Taylor's term was the enforcement of the so-called “Potter Law,” which aimed to place the railways under state control, limiting charges for transportation of passengers and freight and the classification of freight.

At the outset the two chief railway corporations of the state served formal notice upon the governor that they would not respect the provisions of this law. Under his oath of office to support the constitution and to “take care” that the laws be faithfully executed, he promptly responded to the notification of the railroad companies by a proclamation, dated May 1, 1874, in which he enjoined compliance with the statute, declaring that all the functions of his office would be exercised in faithfully executing the laws. “The law of the land,” said he, “must be respected and obeyed. While none are so humble as to be beneath its protection, none are so great or so strong as to be above its restraints.” The result was an appeal to the courts, in which the governor and his advisers were forced to confront an array of the most formidable legal talent of the country. Upon the result in Wisconsin depended the vitality of similar legislation in other states, and Governor Taylor was thus compelled to bear the brunt of a controversy 056 61of national extent and consequence. The contention extended both to state and United States courts, the main question involved being the constitutional power of the state over corporations of its own creation. In all respects the state was fully sustained in its position, and ultimately judgments were rendered against the corporations in all the state and federal courts, including the supreme court of the United States, and establishing finally the complete and absolute power of the people, through the legislature, to modify or altogether repeal the charters of corporations.

It might be stated in this connection that Governor Taylor personally induced Judge David Davis, a member of the United States supreme court, to come to Wisconsin and preside at the trial of a test case. And thus was settled by Governor Taylor and his administration a momentous issue between the people and the corporations—an issue vitally affecting all the commercial and agricultural interests of the state.

Among the creditable acts of his administration were those securing $800,000 from the general government for the Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvement in the interest of commerce and navigation; dividing the state lands into districts, and making each timber agent responsible for his locality, by which he recovered largely increased sums to the trespass fund; compelling the Wisconsin Central Railway company to give substantial assurance that the promised line from Stevens Point to Portage should be constructed; and, by taking such prompt and decisive action against what he believed to be a fraudulent printing claim, that there was saved to the taxpayers of the state more than $100,000. Furthermore, in view of the recent important litigation on behalf of the state against the ex-treasurers for the recovery of interest money received by them from the banks, the wisdom and foresight of Governor Taylor are shown in a recommendation contained in both of his annual messages to the legislature favoring either the collection of taxes semi-annually without additional cost to the people, or providing for the loaning of the surplus in the general fund, obtained by taxation, at a fair rate of interest, thereby giving some compensation for advancing the money so long before needed in the public business. Had Governor Taylor's suggestion respecting the investment of the public funds been followed by the treasurers of the state, much individual mortification and public scandal would have been avoided during subsequent years. He was an active promoter of the agricultural department of the state university, and an ardent advocate of farmers' institutes—the educational benefits of which cannot be estimated.

In his last annual message Governor Taylor recommended the passage of some law rendering railway companies liable for injury to their employes resulting from the negligence of co-employes. His recommendation in this regard was embodied in a bill subsequently passed and known as the “Co-employe law,” a wholesome measure designed to afford greater security to the lives of the railway employes and of the traveling public as well. He also recommended that in large cities the polls of election should be held open longer in the evening, so that working men could vote without much loss of time.

Governor Taylor instituted suit against a multi-millionaire lumber company to recover damages for its trespasses upon the public lands, and his agents secured proof which was deemed by able counsel ample and positive to recover several hundred thousand dollars; but the six years statute of limitation had already run against all but about $250,000. This great company, with its 2,000 employes, more or less, put forth strenuous efforts to prevent his re-election; that result having been attained, the suit was so defaulted and frittered away that little or nothing was ever realized by the state from the litigation. Within this time the conflict between Wisconsin and Minnesota as to the inlet to Superior harbor reached a crisis, and under his direction the suits involving certain rights in dispute were successfully prosecuted 057 62in the federal and supreme courts, but the advantages gained for the state were subsequently lost by compromise or neglect after the close of his term. All these are conspicuous examples of vigor and efficiency in the administration of public affairs during Governor Taylor's term, rarely equaled and never excelled in the history of the state.

His administration was a reformatory one. Its members started in by paying their own inauguration expenses—a privilege not exercised before in many years, if ever, in the state. Governor Taylor set another example by accepting no railroad passes or telegraph deadheads during his term of office. During his incumbency, and at his earnest recommendation, appropriations were cut down, the rate of taxation diminished, the number of department employee lessened, the expenses of government curtailed in many ways, and the total disbursements for state purposes reduced by many thousands of dollars below what they had been in many years (by careful computation, all other conditions being equal, the legitimate amount, from the records, was about $270,000 during his term), and yet no public interest suffered for the want of an expenditure of money.

It remains to be said that Governor Taylor devoted his undivided attention and energies to the public service, attending personally to minute details and the manifold labors of his office—he was governor in fact, not merely in name; and among the long roll of governors, none brought to the discharge of official duties a clearer integrity of purpose or more sturdy devotion to the public welfare than W. R. Taylor, the “Farmer Governor.”

In 1842, he wedded Miss Catherine Hurd, by whom he has had three daughters, one of whom died at the age of four years, and another of whom became the wife of ex-State Senator Robert M. Bashford. The third daughter, who is still living, is the wife of I. W. Kanouse. Mrs. Taylor died some years ago. July 1, 1886, Governor Taylor married Viola Titus, a native of Vermont, but then living in Madison. They are the parents of one child, William Robert, Jr.

In concluding this biography, a brief history of his election and administration is proper. The contest in which his party was victorious and the criticism to which the election was subjected properly belong to history. It was indeed one of the most remarkable victories ever won in the state. On his election the Republican press of the state was, with few exception, exceedingly fair. In conceded his ability and disposition to make his administration an able one. But there were here and there, in this regard, exceptions that arose entirely from partisanship or personal interest. In the midst of this criticism there was a powerful current of public opinion which found expression alike in both Democratic and Republican newspapers in able support of the governor. Colonel C. D. Robinson, former secretary of state, the able editor of The Green Bay Advocate, made the following remark upon the election of Governor Taylor: “No man in the state exceeds him in personal independence, in ability to determine his own line of conduct on any question and in the sturdy determination to act according to his own judgement. It has been our good fortune to be connected with him in official service for many years—that of the management of the State Hospital for Insane. At Madison—and we have learned long ago to admire him for these qualities. That board consisted of fifteen members, a majority of whom were of opposite politics, and we do know that every one will endorse what we say of him. In practical ability, thorough honesty, steadiness of character and native independence, Governor Taylor will prove the peer of any governor which Wisconsin has ever had, and that is saying a good deal; for looking along the list of our chief executives since this state has had a being, it shows a record second at least to no western state, if indeed in the Union. He loses nothing in comparison with Dodge, Dewey, Farwell, Barstow, Bashford, Randall, Harvey, Salomon, 058 63Lewis, Fairchild or Washburn. Most, if not all, of these are illustrious names, remarkable, perhaps, more for their practical executive ability and sterling worth than exalted learning and brilliant attainments, and they form a record of which any state might be proud. When William R. Taylor's name shall have gone into the past with them, it takes an honorable place and second to none in the assembly.” And now that the record has been made, what may we say of the emphatic prediction of Mr. Robinson? Have not all his words been more than fulfilled? and does not the name of William R. Taylor take an honorable place in the impartial history of Wisconsin? These questions may be best answered by the following editorial from The Milwaukee Daily News: “Parties and men of all opinions at Madison agree that Governor Taylor has made one of the best governors Wisconsin ever had. Called to the office in a great crisis in politics, at a time when a party, after being in power for more than fifteen years, had retired and a new party had taken its place, he was surrounded by obstacles, embarrassments, conflicting interests and novel situations from which the highest political skill and adroitness could hardly extricate him without his falling into some error or mistakes. But Governor Taylor, with a readiness, adroitness, adaptability and force hardly to be expected of one in his place, and surrounded by circumstances like his, has developed an executive of rare capacity, with an understanding of the most intricate public interests, and with grasp and comprehension of all the matters vital to the people, which shows a mind of the highest order and practical ability equal to that of the most distinguished of his predecessors.”

Such is the life of one of Wisconsin's most illustrious men. His honorable enterprise and unselfish devotion to every public and private duty have wonderfully impressed the people of Wisconsin. When his term of office expired he was accorded a unanimous renomination by acclamation from the convention of his party. Through the efforts of the combined railroad interests, the corporate powers of the state acting with the opposite party, he was defeated at the polls by a bare plurality of a few hundred votes; but no one familiar with the history of that time will deny that the strength and popularity of his name among the people were the efficient means of electing his associates upon the Democratic ticket. The governor, however, retired from office with manifold assurances of the confidence and love of the common people, for the establishment of whose rights he had bravely fought and nobly won. It is meager praise to say, that no Wisconsin governor ever accomplished more for the people than he, and this, too, amidst the most adverse circumstances. More enduring than monumental brass or marble, his complete vindication can be read in the opinions of every court, state or national, that during those eventful years passed upon the question of the people's right to control the corporations they had created.—Columbian Biographical Dictionary.

UPHAM, William H., ex-governor of Wisconsin, was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, on the 3rd of May, 1841. He traces his ancestry back in direct line to John Upham of Somersetshire, England, who came to this country in 1635, and settled in Weymouth, Mass. W. H. Upham received his primary education in his native village, and when eleven years of age came west with his father's family to Niles, Michigan. There his father died, and the family came on to Racine. In the last named place young Upham continued his studies until the outbreak of the civil war, when he became a soldier in the Second Wisconsin infantry. He took part with his regiment in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, was shot through the lungs and left for dead on the field of battle. The report of his death reached his home, the papers published eulogies of him and an eloquent funeral sermon 059 64

WILLIAM H. UPHAM.

Almost immediately upon returning to civil life he became interested in the lumbering business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, built a saw-mill, and later established a furniture factory, opened a large general store, and was one of the organizers of the First National bank, of which he was chosen president. In addition to these he operates a large planning mill, a machine shop, and a very extensive flouring mill. June 27th, 1887, Marshfield was almost entirely destroyed by fire, and the homeless inhabitants were in despair. Though the heaviest loser, Major Upham was not discouraged, but announced that the little city should be rebuilt; and by the first of January following sixty-two substantial brick blocks were built and occupied, and the city was again started on a career of industrial progress. His work in this dark hour in the town's history shows most clearly the courage and unconquerable spirit of the man under the most adverse circumstances.

Major Upham married Miss Mary C. Kelley, an accomplished and benevolent lady of Quaker ancestry, and they have two daughters.

He has retained a lively interest in military affairs, is a member of the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, has been commander of the latter for the Department of Wisconsin, and was once a member of the board of visitors to the naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

He has been long an active and earnest Republican, and has rendered his party great service in its campaigns. He was the Republican candidate for governor in 1894, and was elected by the then unprecedented plurality of 53,869. His popularity among his neighbors was shown by the fact that although his county. Wood, gave a Democratic plurality in 1892, of 441, in 1894 it gave Major Upham a plurality of 1,123.

Toward the close of Gov. Upham's term he made public announcement that he should not be candidate for renomination, and this the nomination went to Major Scofield.

Upon the expiration of his tern of office, Gov. Upham cheerfully retired from his official duties to resume again the active control of his extensive business at Marshfield.

SAWYER, Philetus. —Of the men who have risen from comparatively humble station to the most exalted positions, and whose influence in many of the walks of life has been commensurate with official station, there are few, if any, who have been so conspicuous as the man whose name stands at the head of this sketch. Philetus Sawyer was born in Rutland county, Vermont, September 22nd, 1816. When this boy was only about a year old his father removed with his family from Vermont to Essex county, New York, locating at Crown Point, the place made historic by the exploit of Ethan Allen in 1775. The elder Sawyer was a farmer and blacksmith of very scanty means, who had become impoverished by endorsing the notes of men of small resources and less honesty. This man, however, had no inconsiderable resources in the form of five muscular boys, who became a source of revenue to their father rather than a burden. One of these, Philetus, was a vigorous, ambitious young fellow, who early made himself useful about the farm. He made the most of his meager educational opportunities, consisting of a three months' term of a primitive school in winter, but it laid the foundation for solid work in after years—work which lifted its possessor to seats beside the ablest and wisest in the councils of the nation.

When a mere youth young Sawyer worked in summer for six dollars per month. In the Adirondack woods near his home he worked at lumbering, and in the rude saw-mills of the region he got his first ideas of the business from which he afterward won his great fortune.

At the age of seventeen young Sawyer was a strong and vigorous youth, ambitious and self-reliant, and anxious to begin the making of his own way in life. So he bought his time of his father for the remaining four years of his minority, borrowing the money therefor, $100, from an older brother. Before the time had expired he had paid the borrowed money and given himself two more terms of the district school from his savings as a mill hand. His

PHILETUS SAWYER.

In 1847, with his family of wife and two sons, he came west, purchased a farm in Fond du Lac county, and settled upon it with the purpose of becoming a farmer. But he was not destined for a farmer; two years of short crops changed his course. He saw the promise of the great pine forests on the Wolf river, and his mind was made up for the other work. The farm was sold, and Mr. Sawyer, in 1849, took up his residence in Algoma, now in the city of Oshkosh. He plunged at once into the lumbering business, first running a mill on a contract, then purchased it, formed a partnership with Messrs, Brand & Olcott, lumbermen of Fond du Lac, and so on until he was the chief man in the business. His operations in lumber extended over all the northern part of the 061 66state, and he probably owned more pine lands than any one man in the country. His business sagacity never failed him, and his energy and enterprise were unexcelled. The details of his business are too extensive to be incorporated in this sketch; suffice it to say that he never made a serious mistake in all his operations.

In 1856 his political career may be said to have begun; in that year he was elected to the legislature on the Republican ticket, although prior to that he had been nominally a Democrat. In the business of legislation he at once showed the same comprehensive grasp that had characterized his business career. As a legislator he was influential and popular from the start, so much so that this constituents wished to re-elect him; but he declined the service on account of the pressure of his business. In 1860, however, he was again elected, and showed that he was possessed of first-class legislative ability and was a man for the troublous times then approaching. In 1863-4 he was mayor of Oshkosh, and was instrumental in compromising the railroad indebtedness of the city on very favorable terms, and in other ways rendered the public great service. Meanwhile he had been repeatedly talked of for representative in congress, but he refused the position until 1864, when he accepted the Republican nomination, was elected and took his seat December, 1865; and was four times re-elected. During this long service in one of the most exciting times in the history of the country he was one of the wisest and most influential representatives in congress. James G. Blaine, in his “Twenty Years of Congress,” speaks of him in the highest terms, and so did every one who knew of his labors and their value. At the end of his fifth term Mr. Sawyer voluntarily retired from the position which he had so long honored by close and self-sacrificing labors. In 1880 he had designed going to Europe with his family, but it became evident that he was wanted in the United States senate, and he gave up the trip, and was elected with comparatively little opposition, and re-elected in 1887 with no opposition whatever. In the senate he soon assumed the same influential position that he held in the house. Not a speaker in any sense, he came to be known as one of the best-posted men in that body on legislation, and one whose influence was unquestioned. When he made a positive statement as to the character of a bill and its effect if passed, it was conclusive, both for the men of his own party and for his political opponents.

Many anecdotes are told if his kindness to those who were long in his employ, of his generous and unselfish devotion to his friends, his readiness to yield what were his rights to congressional associates and friends, and of the great service rendered worthy applicants for legislative recognition in those channels where wearisome work is done and of which the public knows little, and for which there is no reward save an approving conscience.

Mrs. Sawyer, a true partner of her distinguished husband for forty-seven years, died, after a lingering illness, in 1888. Kind and benevolent, she was her husband's wise and ready almoner of many of his bounties, and his counselor through all his marvelous career. Of friends she had many in all the walks of life, for she was not ostentatious in any of her relations to them.

A son, Edgar P. Sawyer, long associated with his father in business, and a daughter, Mrs. W. O. Goodman of Chicago, are Mr. Sawyer's only surviving children. A son and daughter died in infancy, and a married daughter, Mrs. Howard G. White of Syracuse, New York, died a few months ago.

Mr. Sawyer has in all his relations to his fellow-men been a most useful citizen, as may be gathered from this rapid sketch. His benevolences have been almost numberless, embracing religious, educational, social industrial objects, to say nothing of those of a merely personal character. He is one of the rare men whose life work has been most useful to his fellow-men and whose deeds will live to bless long after he has passed away.

CASWELL, Lucien Beal, for fourteen years member of the National House of Representatives, and known throughout the state as a leader among our public men in a critical time in our national history, is the son of Beal and Betsy Chapman Caswell, and was born at Swanton, Vt., November 27th, 1827. The Caswells have been more or less conspicuous in New England for generations. His father was a farmer, and died when the son was but three years old. His maternal grandfather was a soldier in the revolutionary army. His mother married for her second husband Augustus Churchill; and, in 1837, the family moved to Wisconsin and took up their residence in Rock county, when Indians were more numerous than white people, and Mr. Caswell, though not yet an aged man, has therefore seen the whole of the marvelous development of the state, in whose public affairs he has been so conspicuous a figure. Coming to this new country when he was but 9 years of age, the boy acquired a thorough knowledge of work, but had scanty opportunities for securing anything like a liberal education. By persistent efforts of self-culture, however, he entered Milton academy, and afterward was a student for a few terms in Beloit College, which institution has since conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. At the age of twenty-three he began the study of law with the late Senator Matt. H. Carpenter, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. In the following year he began the practice of law in Fort Atkinson, which has ever since been his home. His practice has extended to the various courts of the state, and to the district, circuit and supreme courts of the United States, embracing many and varied cases of importance.

In 1855 and 1856 he was district attorney, and in 1863 he became a member of the lower house of the legislature, in which there was but the meager Republican majority of three, and the progress of legislation in aid of the national government in its struggle with the rebellion was slow and beset with difficulties;

LUCIEN BEAL CASWELL.

In local affairs he has been an active, enterprising and most useful citizen. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Fort Atkinson, in 1863, of which he was for twenty-five years cashier, and is now vice-president. He organized the Northwestern Manufacturing company, which now has a capital stock of $200,000, and the Citizens' State Bank, which was opened in 1884. These institutions have been of great benefit to the citizens of Fort Atkinson and vicinity, and his active part in their creation shows his public spirit and business sagacity.

Mr. Caswell was married on the 7th of August, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth H. May of Fort Atkinson, who died January 31st, 1890. Six children survive her: Chester A., cashier of the Citizens' State Bank; Isabelle, wife of Guy L. Cole of Beloit; Lucien B., Jr., cashier of the First National Bank of Fort Atkinson; George Walter, book-keeper for the Northwestern Manufacturing company; Elizabeth May, married to Dr. F. J. Perry of Fort Atkinson, and Harlow O., recently graduated from Rush Medical College of Chicago.

Mr. Caswell has traveled extensively, having made several visits to the Pacific coast, and, in 1891, in company with his sons Chester and Harlow, he visited Europe and made an extended tour of Great Britain and the Continent.

BUCKSTAFF, George Angus, speaker of the legislative assembly, is a native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he was born December 22nd, 1861, and where he has lived all his life. His father, John Buckstaff, is a retired lumberman, in good financial circumstances, who came to Wisconsin from New Brunswick in 1849. His first winter after reaching the state was spent in making cedar shingles by hand in a swamp in what is now Washington county. His winter's work was one hundred thousand shingles, for which he received four hundred dollars. He then returned to his New Brunswick home, and, in 1851, removed to Oshkosh, where he has since resided. The Buckstaff's, or, as the name was originally spelled, Bickerstaff, are of English ancestry. John Buckstaff, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, fought on the English side in the war of 1812-14, and was wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane, and carried a Yankee buckshot in his leg all the rest of his life. He was a resident of Oshkosh from 1851 to 1884, when he died at the age of eighty-seven. Mr. Buckstaff's mother's maiden name 064 69was Sarah Hopkins, of the same family as Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The family is an old New England one, connected with another one of note named Bartlett.

G. A. Buckstaff was educated in the public schools of Oshkosh, the University of Wisconsin, and in the Columbia Law School of New York. He speaks of the educational influence of Dr. John Bascom, president of the university when he was there, and of Dean Theodore Dwight of the law school, as more powerful than any other which he has experienced. The former was aggressive, had no tact or policy—he hewed to the line and expected every one else to do the same. Prof. Dwight, he says, was the greatest teacher of law that this country has ever had. His fine exposition of law questions and the principles underlying all law were impressive, and had much to do with shaping the young man's views of many of the vital questions of life. Mr. Buckstaff took a two years' course in the state university. Graduating from this, he went into the law department and completed that course in 1886, and thence to Columbia Law School, where he finished the course the same year.

Upon leaving college he became connected with the Buckstaff-Edwards company, which is engaged in the manufacture of furniture, etc., and in this business he is still engaged.

He is also interested in dairy farming.

Mr. Buckstaff is a Republican, but never held an office until he was elected to the Wisconsin legislature, in 1894, from the Third district of Winnebago county. The last reapportionment put him into the First district, from which he was returned to the assembly for the session of 1897. He received the Republican nomination for speaker over a number of other able men, and was elected, the Republicans having the largest majority ever sent to the legislature. His interest in legislation is general, but educational, municipal and the game bills have received his special attention.

He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a Hoo Hoo, Elk, and of the college society Phi Delta Theta. He was married to Florence Tyng Griswold of Columbus, Wisconsin, May 8th, 1888, and they have three children. Mrs. Buckstaff graduated from the Wisconsin University in 1886, taking the first honors. She afterward took post-graduate work at Harvard College, and was awarded the degree of M. A. by the University of Wisconsin.

ANSON, Frank Amos, one of Milwaukee's wholesale merchants, who owns and occupies a pretty residence at No. 1621 Grand avenue, was born in Peru, Clinton county, N. Y., March 8th, 1844. His father, Edward Anson, a steamboat pilot in moderate circumstances, married Helen M. Hayes, and the ancestors of both families are traceable to the first settlers of the New England states, and embrace those who were valiant soldiers in the wars for securing and maintaining the liberties of the country. Young Anson received his education in the little red brick school-house, and, from the age of thirteen to sixteen was a 065 70

FRANK AMOS ANSON.