Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-10-07
OurCandidate
The Peoples Candidate.
.HAD. c. POUND.
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.


were Quakers. deeply imbued with
the sterling principles taught by the
wise and sagacious Penn; and they
sought to ingraft upon their children
these cherished sentiments Of love.
honesty and goodwill toward man, pre-
eminent among the sect. His parents,
Elijah and Judith Pound. could only
give to their family home Of the
most primitive style, scarcely contain
ing the necessaries of life. In 1888
the family removed to Monroe county,
New York, where, in the following
year, the mother died, leaving to her
sons all that she had to give, the
sacred memory of a mothers prayers
and a loving heart, with the teaching
Of one conscious that
who gives to posterity an illustrious son
Confers an honor upon the State
Four or five years later we find the
family in Rochester, the father and
sons working in a wooden factory,
Thaddeus at first receiving one shilling
a day, his business being the asserting
of wool. the initiatory step to sorting"
on a, larger scale in other branches of
business.
In the spring of 1847 the family
immIgrated to Wisconsin, and shortly
afterward located in Rock county,
renting a farm on Catfish Prairie and
here even amidst the drudgery of farm
and household duties, the boy felt the
glowing inspiration of Western life,
and improved the fragments of time
snatched from labor, having an eager
love of learning, until at the age of
| fifteen he was installed as teacher in
the home district. This experience,
so often a stepping-stone to American
fame and fortune, brought the subject
of our sketch to Milton Academy,
in Rock county, where, between work
ing In harvest fields and teaching dur
ing vacation. he continued several
terms. For the purpose Of securing
better opportunities in his pursuit of
liberal education, he taught, for a
time, high school at Caledonia, Liv-
ingston county, New York, and availed
himself of the superior facilities for
instruction to be had at the Rushford
Academy in Allegheny county, of the
same State. In the spring of 1856
he removed to Chippewa Falls, Wis
consin. Here. starting on the first
round of the ladder, as book-keeper,
he has risen by virtue Of his inherent
powers and perseverance to be the
acknowledged leader in the public en-
terprises and improvements of the
Chippewa Valley. For twenty years
in this his chosen home, while engaged
constantly in numbering and the at
tendant mercantile and agricultural
pursuits, he has found time and means
to forward many public measures
which will ever stand in north Wis
cnnsin as monuments to his sagacity,
zeal, perseverance and liberal hand.
From 1862 to 1869 Thaddeus G.
Pound was the senior partner and
manager Of the firm of Pound, Hal
bert and Co. He is now president of
the Union laundering Company organ
lied seven years ago
Thus far the life of Governor Pound
has been an unbroken series of tri.
umphs. Every move he makes he
makes to win, and he does it. Few
men of his age in the State of Wis
consin have had so many ''blushing
honors" conferred upon them. He
was member of the popular branch
of the legislature in 1864, 1866, 1867
and 1869; was elected lieutenant
governor in 1869, and a member of
congress from the eighth district in
1876, being at this time a member of
the Forty-ffth Congress. In the leg
islature Governor Pound was distin-
guished for his good Judgment and
commanding influence in the committee
room for his GOODNESS, clcarness and
resource in debate on the floor, and
his success in carrying through meas
ures of the greatest Importance to the
State, and especially his part of it.
In 1864, while member, he placed
on record an opinion, in which he
asserted ''that congress was the right
full guardian of all streams open to
Interstate commerce and navigator"
This became the keynote of the most
exciting contests ever introduced into
Wisconsin legislation, and under the
name of the ''Dells bill," it has for
years continued to be the all-absorbing
question.
As the presiding officer of the Wis