Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-01-02

chief counsel of the Union Pacific rail
road. His first ambition was long
since attained. He has now for the
first time realized his second ambition,
as the representative of one Of our
greatest states in the United States
Before l give you the story Of his life
as he told it to roe let me describe his
looks. Picture to yourself a slender
studious-l looking man of about six feet.
Let him be we'll dressed and well
groomed. His black silk hat is the
latest block. His Prince Albert coat
was evidently cut by a Broadway
tailor and his pantalOons show a de-
cided crease. His hair is as black as his
polished boots. 1t is cut long, and is
combed rather carefully across his
scalp above a high, full forehead, with
just a suspicion of badness. Let this
man have eyes Of the deepest blue and
let his long, thin face be intellectual
in it's cast. Let his complexion be
dark and rosy, and let the face make
you think more of a college professor
than of a great lawyer and of the chief
representative Of the politicians of one
Of the liveliest and toughest states Of
the union, and you have fairly good
idea Of John NJ Thurston, the new
United States senator from Nebraska
If you could chat with him you would
find him a man of much personal mag
netism. He has a melodious voice and
a good, healthy laugh. He talks freely
and he tells a good story. He is a
man of ideas, and after he has passed
through the apprenticeship which the
older senators make all young men I'M
de1go before they are permitted to do
much in the senate chamber, he will
probably show himself to be one of the
ablest and most influential men of that
body.
I asked Senator Thurston to tell ME
something about his ancestry. and es-
pecially as to where the name Thurs
ton came from.
He replied: Il don't care much
about genealogy. 1 think it is more
important to know what man IS than
what his ancestors have been. AS for
Thurston, the name is Scandinavian
1t originally meant Thorsten, which,
translated, is, I believe, the son OF
Thor. My ancestors came from Scan
dinavia to England. They emigrated
to America about 1886 in the little
ship Mary Anne and the first Thurs
tons landed at Newburyport. Some
of the family took part in the reyClu-
tionary war, and they were, l believe,
very respectable people. By the time
my father appeared on the scene they
had drifted as far west as Vermont,
and it was in that state that I was
born
What did your father do, SENATOR"
I asked
He was a farmer, as his father and
grandfather had been before him.
There were, in fact, seven genera
tons Of farmers in my line before my
father tried to make living out of
the poor land on the Vermont noun
tains. He added, however, the tam
ming of leather to the tiIlirg of the
SOIL and in time he saved few thou
sand dollars. This he took with him
and went west to invest it in real es-
tate and to grow up with the country.
was just years old at the time We
left Vermont. We first settled at
Madison. Wis, and thence went to
Beaver Dam, where by a series OF IN
successful investments my father lost
all he had"
Where did you go to school. SEN
ator?"
'I had a hard time to get an educa-
ton" replied Senator Thurston. 4
went to the common schools at Madi-
son and Beaver Dam, and afterwards
worked my way through a small col
lege in Wisconsin. The most Of my
schooling was during the spring and
fall. My summers and winters were
devoted to work"
What kind of work, senator?"
"All kinds, was the reply. l did