From: Mikki Maddox <mmaddox@necedahschools.org> Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2019 12:32:37 -0500 Message-ID: <CADSqQZA7NFUP2qT9gBR9t2p+8zCyBV4cZ0Abs=Zj+y2PaQcsSw@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Looking for more info and a picture of Thomas Weston
Hello, group, Mikki Maddox again.
Thanks to so many of you for your suggestions. I will be following up on
some of them to be sure.
I am wondering for those in the central, north central part of the
state--Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point, and surrounding area if you have
any primary source information for Thomas Weston. In particular, I am
looking for a picture of him.
He started the Necedah Lumber Company and by all accounts was a pretty
great man. I have information on his house being on the historic places
register and have read biographies in books of northern Wisconsin pioneers
and great men, but none have a picture of him or anything other than
generic basics. I do have a signature of his on a document and possibly
some notes that he wrote to John T. Kingston about the dam they were
looking to put in around Kilbourne (Wisconsin Dells), but not much other
than that and nothing in his own words. I know he did some trade in
"Grand" (Wisconsin) Rapids, and was into the lumber business up there
before he ventured south to start his own business.
Maybe some of you in that area know or have come across his name? Thanks
so much, m2
Here's a bio sketch of him
Deceased. There are always a few noble men and women in the world who by
pre-eminent ability so much surpass their fellows that the finger of
Providence seems to point them out as leaders in all great and good works.
Like the sun, they sweep along in might, shedding warmth and light on all.
Such, in an exalted degree, was the man whose name heads this sketch. His
plans were conceived with grandeur and executed with force, while the
sunlight of his countenance illumined all, reviving the faint-hearted and
sustaining the oppressed. His birth place was in the historic State of
Vermont, whose green hills and fertile valleys are largely peopled by the
descendants of the Puritan race, which south a wider religious and
political liberty on the shores of a new world. In Rupert, Rutland county,
of this State, on January 22, 1818, he was born. When a child, he removed
with his parents to New York State, where he received a common-school
education. At the age of fifteen years, he commenced to work in a woolen
mill, where he remained for three years. In the meantime many glowing
reports had reached the East of the wonderful resources of the golden West,
of the marvelous opportunities for advancement offered by this new country;
until, fired by these reports and a spirit of adventure, inherent in all,
and particularly dominant in the young, our hero determined to visit this
land, and accordingly turned his face toward the setting sun. Arrived in
Illinois, which was then very new and sparsely settled, he assisted for
some time in superintending the construction of the National, or
Cumberland, road. Next, we find him in Missouri, where for one year he
supplied the river boats with wood. In 1841 he came North, locating in
Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, where for three years he pursued the logging
business during the summers, spending the winters in the South. At the end
of this time, he formed a partnership with Jesse Helden, and they together
leased a saw-mill, located about three miles north of Grand Rapids, and
which was afterward known as Biron Mill. This they operated successfully
for two years, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Weston then engaged
in buying lumber, which he ran down the Wisconsin river, finding a
remunerative market for it at Galena, St. Louis, and other points on the
Mississippi river. He continued alone in this business until 1848, meeting
with gratifying success. In the winter of 1848-49, he came to Necedah, when
the firm of T. Weston & Co. was organized, which was composed of Mr.
Weston, Hon. J. T. Kingston, and John Werner, Jr. A year later Mr. Werner
disposed of his interest to the late E. S. Miner. This was the first
business enterprise of any kind ever started in Necedah and its founders
were the first white settlers in that locality. In 1881, this firm was
succeeded by the Necedah Lumber Company, of which Mr. Weston was a
stockholder and director. Both as senior member and manager of the former
firm, and as director in the company which succeeded it, he was largely
instrumental in the successful conducting of the business infusing his
energy into every department of the work, and governing the whole with
marvelous executive ability. His conservative methods were a great
safeguard, while his reputation for business integrity inspired all with
confidence. He assisted in the up-building of Necedah, in the growth and
development of which he took a deep interest, and was for many years the
most prominent man on the scene of that locality.
He married on May 7, 1852, at Randolph, Columbia county, Wisconsin, to Miss
Elisabeth Dawes, an estimable lady, and a native of Maine, whose parents
were Charles and Anna (Dowling) Dawes. They had nine children, seven of
whom are still living: Helen, Mrs. Owen King; Hiram, May, Emma, Laura, Mrs.
C. M. Hutchinson; Elizabeth, Mrs. Louis Reichel; and Dollie, Mrs. G. H.
Parkham. In his political affiliations, Mr. Weston, is a Democrat, being a
great admirer of Stephen A. Douglas, and was extremely loyal to the Union
cause at the time of the war. Unable to go as a soldier himself, the
cheerfully supplied a substitute; and contributed much substantial
assistance to the families of those who had gone to fight the battles of
the country. His many acts of charity were performed in a most
unostentatious manner, the approbation of his own conscience outweighing
the plaudits of men.
He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, a Knight Templar, and
belonged to Fort Winnebago Commandery, No. 4.
He was so widely known and universally esteemed that his death was mourned
as a public calamity. A cloud of sorrow enveloped the little city, which
had been for so many years his scene of action, while a personal sorrow
oppressed each quivering heart. Thus should all men live, that like a happy
stream carrying bloom and verdure in its path, they may revive the sick of
heart and raise the drooping head of sorrowing humanity. [Source:
Biographical History of La Crosse, Monroe and Juneau Counties, Wisconsin
1892]
-- Mikki Maddox Social Studies/English Teacher Necedah High School 1801 S Main St. Necedah, WI 54646 608-565-2256,x230 mmaddox@necedahschools.org