Here are more biographies to add to your collections... John E. Stillman settled in Eau Claire in its earliest days. He was the first teacher in the first public school. The building was erected in the village of Eau Claire in the winter of 1856-57. It was of green, rough boards, located on what is now Barstow street, near Grand avenue, East, and in dimension was 16 by 24 feet. As schoolmaster Mr. Stillman was succeeded the following summer by Miss Mary Arnold. At that time there were fifteen pupils. Later Mr. Stillman engaged in the practice of law. Served as county judge from 1863 to 1865. In 1860 he married Miss Mary Lashier, of Fall River, Wis., to whom there were born three sons and two daughters. In 1872 he was practicing law under the firm name of Stillman & Edwards. In 1873, on account of ill health, he removed to Florida where, with other Eau Claire men, he helped establish the town of Orange City. In 1882 Mr. Stillman moved to Washington, D. C., where he resided for one year, then returning to Orange City. He died in 1883. Horace W. Barnes was born in the town of Colesville, Broome county, New York in 1818. His boyhood was spent in the family of an uncle who settled in a dense beech and maple forest in Medina county, Ohio, where he lived a life of constant toil, without one day's schooling until his majority, and Shakespeare's line would then forcibly apply to the youthful Buckeye: "This boy is forest-born, and hath been tutored in the rudiments of many desperate studies.: How many men famous in American history have laid the superstructure of their education and built up an honorable name for such rough materials as poverty and the adverse circumstances that pioneer life always impose! There seems to have been something inspiring in the grand old woods where the early days of many of our most distinguished men first saw the light; and in overcoming the many natural obstacles always encountered in new districts, high aspirations and a determination to achieve grander results take possession of the hardy backwoodsman and frequently leads to victory, honor and fortune. These feelings inspired Mr. Barnes, and with indomitable energy he set himself to earn the means to education himself. By the most rigid economy and assiduous attention to his studies, he acquired a good English and mathematical education and considerable proficiency in the classics at Oberlin Institute, Ohio, acquisitions that he utilized in teaching and surveying until 1852, when he commenced the study and practice of law in which he soon won distinction as a sound legal adviser and laborious faithful advocate. As a pleader, Mr. Barnes displayed qualities which, if not always insuring his own success, were well calculated to quench the ardor and paralyze the force of his adversary. Carefully noting as the cause proceeded, the points which his antagonist intended to make, he would anticipate him and tell the court and jury precisely what his opponent would say, frequently using the exact language in which it would be clothed, and emasculating the argument of all points of power before it was uttered. He felt defeat intensely and seemed to suffer even more than his client the loss incurred by any want of skill or foresight in managing a suit, and hence in all civil suits was wary and cautious, always exacting a full, impartial statement of the case from his client before taking it, and not then unless the evidence, justice and a reasonable prospect of success justified it. In serving the public, no matter in what capacity, his industry and perseverance were untiring, and he shares with Mr. Thorp the honor of exposing frauds in the accounts of the Eau Claire county treasurer and of restoring the credit of the county. Mr. Barnes came to Eau Claire in 1858 and was elected district attorney the next year, 1859, and county judge in 1865; was a member of the legislature in 1861 and 1867. In politics, was a steadfast republican, and during the war zealous and active in carrying forward any and every measure for its prosecution. In his friendship he utterly ignored position or caste, and wherever he found what he considered a true man, he was his friend, but scorned obsequious or patronizing airs, and was sometimes so impolite as to prefer blunt honesty to assumed gentility. In 1872 he removed to Oswego, Kans., with his family, where he now resides in the practice of his profession. Abel Davis, who was one of the early settlers of Eau Claire, was born January 16, 1842, in the town of New Portland, Maine. He spent his early life on a farm, receiving a common school education, and in January, 1862, enlisted in the Fourth Maine Battery, serving until August 9, 1862, when he was wounded at the battle of Cedar Mountain, for which he received his honorable discharge. Returning home he resumed his former occupation, at which he worked until the spring of 1868, when he came to Eau Claire, Wis. and from that time until 1872 labored in the saw mills and woods. In the last named year he commenced the study of law in the office of J. F. Ellis and later entered the law department of the Wisconsin State University, from which he graduated in 1874. Returning to Eau Claire he engaged in practice with J. F. Ellis, remaining in that firm for five years, when, on account of ill health, he retired from active practice and returned to Main in 1888. He resumed the practice of law in Pittsfield, Maine, where he died on October 12, 1905. Loren Edwards, formerly a prominent attorney of Eau Claire and now a resident of Oconomowoc, this state, was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, on September 7, 1843, the son of David and Margaret Edwards. His father was born in New Haven, Conn., and of the same family ancestors as Jonathan Edwards. Loren Edwards received his early education in Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until 1865. He attended the Waterford Academy there, supplementing that with a course in the Lawrence University, Wisconsin, and was graduated with the first class in the Law Department of the State University at Madison, after which he studied law for a time in the office of Gregory & Pinney in Madison. In 1871 he removed to Sacremento, Cal., and practiced law there for two years, then came to Eau Claire and practiced until 1878, thence to Milwaukee, where he continued until 1881, and from that date until 1886 he practiced in Allegany county, New York He went from there to Kansas, where he practiced for ten years and in the meantime served as County Judge of Barber county. In 1896 he moved to Oconomowoc where he has since resided, and enjoys a lucrative business. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme courts of Wisconsin, California, New York and Kansas, and to the United States Circuit courts in Wisconsin. With the exception of his partnership relations with Mr. Stillman, of Eau Claire, and with Mr. Westover, in Oconomowoc, he has practiced alone, and while in Eau Claire he held the office of District Attorney, and for some time was Municipal Judge of the Western District of Waukesha county, this state. He served in the United States Navy during the civil war, and is a bachelor, a Mason and a republican. Andrew Judson Sutherland, one of the well known lawyers of Eau Claire, is a native son of Wisconsin, having been born in London, Dane county, this state, April 28, 1856. His parents, Andrew and Catherine (McVicar) Sutherland, who were natives of New Brunswick, Canada, settled in Eau Claire county in 1856, the same year our subject was born, and located in the town of Union, where the father purchased 240 acres of wild land, which he cleared and improved, making one of the banner farms of the township. He lived to the ripe age of 87 years, and died in 1909. His widow, mother of our subject, is now (1914) still living at the age of 90 years. They reared a family of nine children as follows: Christinia, married Angus McVicar; Peter, George, Charles, John, Andrew J., Flora M. (became the wife of Austin H. Langdell), Margaret and Neal Sutherland. Mr. Sutherland was reared on the homestead farm, spending his boyhood days in much the same way as do most farmer boys, attending the district school and assisting in the farm work. Deciding to enter upon the career of a lawyer, he entered the law department of the State University, at Madison, and was graduated with the class of 1884. Soon after his graduation he opened an office in Eau Claire for the practice of his profession, in which he has since successfully continued. On November 30, 1884, Mr. Sutherland married Mary Brown, daughter of Henry and ? (Baker) Brown, of Cambia county, Pennsylvania, and has four children, Mary Elsie, wife of Rollen Alcott; Laura Edith, Bessie Irene and Judson Clair. Mr. Sutherland is a member of the First Baptist Church, of which his mother is the only survivor of the original members. Politically Mr. Sutherland is a democrat. He was a candidate for Congress on the democratic ticket in 1914 for the tenth district. +++++++++++++ That's if for today and for this week! Have a great weekend everyone, and I'll see you on Monday! -- Nance mailto:nsampson@spacestar.net