Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-05-25
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
0fthe Lately Deceased Statesman. Ex-Governor
Washburn.


0fthe Lately Deceased Statesman. Ex-Governor
Tashburn.
Governor Wash Durn was born in Liv-
ermorc, Maine, in April, 1915, and was
% years old. He was one of four BROTH
ers, two of whom have been governors
of different states, and four of whom
have represented four different states in
Congress. Israel Washburn, Jr, from
Maine. Elihu r., from Illinois. Cadwal-
lader c., from Wisconsin, and William
d., from Minnesota. He left Maine in
the spring of 1889 to seek home in the
then far west. He made his first stop at
Davenport, then very small town in
the newly constituted territory of Iowa,
and kept private school for three
months. He then joined the geological
survey of Iowa territory, under David
Dale Owens, which was ordered by
Congress. After that was finished he
took up his residence at Stevenson, now
Rock Island, Illinois, and entered upon
the study of law with Joseph Il. Wells,
afterward Lieutenant Governor of the
state. In 1871 he was elected county
surveyor of Rock Island county, and in
the spring of 1912 removed TO Mineral
Point, Wisconsin, was soon after adj
mittcd to the bar, when he entered up
on the successful practice of his pro-
fessiOn, and in year afterward associ-
ated himself with Cyrus Woodman. The
law practice was gradually abandoned
and the attention of the firm given to the
entry of public lands and the location of
Mexican war land warrants and agri-
IN l., &, bo
of Washburn IL Woodman, which had
become known rs the strongest firm in
southwestern Wisconsin, established the
Mineral Point bank, which stood against
all reverses of the times and never sus-
pended specie payments. From Mineral
Point he went to La Crosse, but when
elected governor took up his residence
at Madison, and for many years his
home was at his country seat ut Edge
wood. He subsequently returned to La
Crosse, which was his home at the time
of his death. He was first elected to
Congress in 1854 serving six years, and
when the war broke ont he entered the
service as colonel of the I'd Wisconsin
cavalry, and served until the end of the
war, coming out with the rank of major
the southwest and gained great credit
while in command of the department of
the Tennessee, and was governor of
Memphis after the war closed. He was
again elected to Congress from Wiscon-
sin, and served four years more, and
till 1869, and in 1871 was elected GOV
ernor. He served two years. After the
expiration of this term he returned TO
private life and devoted himself to ex-
tensive business affairs. He was large
owner of pine lands in Wisconsin and an
extensive manufacturer of lumber
He was one OF the projectors and build
ers of the Minneapolis and St. Louis
Railroad, hut the great work of his life
that which has made his name widely
known in Europe as well as in this
country, was the erection and operation
of his vast Touring mills in Minneapolis
He was the first man in the United
States to introduce what is known as the
patent process of manufacturing flour,
and also the Hungarian roller system OF
manufacture His mills are the most
extensive of any mills in the world and
are capable of turning out between 1000
ana 5000 barrels of flour daily. No man
lived who was so thoroughly versed in
milling or had so complete a knowledge
of every detail in the manufacture of
flour. Within the last few years he has
erected an observatory at Madison, and
after providing it with one of the finest
telescopes in the world, presented it to
the state Of his adoption. He was strick-
en- with paralysis Feb. 3, 1880. A few
months after that event, though strong
Protestant, as a token of his respect for
the unselfish devotion of the sisters of
charity, he presented to them his SPLEEN
did country place, Edgewood, on the
shore of Lake Wingra, near Madison,
for the purpose of establishing a branch
OF the Saint Clair Academy, of Consum-
nation Mound, Wis. MI Washburn
leaves two married daughters, Mrs. w,
Kelsey, and Mrs. Payson, wife of the
late Third Assistant Secretary of State,
and United States Minister to Denmark.
His fortune is estimated at between two
and three million dollars.