D. E. Hatlestad came to Viroqua on the 16th of July, 1880. He was a native of Norway; had been educated at the Norwegian school at Decorah, Iowa, graduated from the law department of the Iowa State University, and was admitted to practice before the courts of that State. Upon his arrival at Viroqua he at once became the partner of H. C. Forsyth. This relation continued until October, 1881, when Mr. Hatlestad went to Crookston, Minn., where he is still in practice. He was a steady, industrious fellow and a fair lawyer.

R. J. Chase was brought up in Vernon county from boyhood. He read law with Terhune & Graham, went to Madison, and for several years was the law partner of J. H. Carpenter,

becoming a successful practitioner. He now

lives in Sioux City, Iowa, Iraving become quite

wealthy, and retired from practice.

returned to Illinois after a sojourn of a few years.

THE PRESENT BAR.

W.

In 1883 the bar of Vernon county was composed of the following named gentlemen: F. Terhune, James E. Newell, C. M. Butt, H. P. Proctor, L. J. Rusk, C. W. Graves, O. B. Wyman, H. C. Forsyth, C. A. Roberts, W. N. Carter, L. Tollefson and W. S. Field, of Viroqua and G. L. Miller, of De Soto.

Hon. James Evans Newell is the second oldest attorney at law, in point of practice, in Vernon county. He came to Viroqua, Oct. 21, 1854, and during his long residence in the county has possessed the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. He is a worthy representative of the pioneer element of Vernon county, who are rapidly and quietly passing away from

short time later went to Dakota.

E. J. Steele read law in the office of Rusk & Wyman, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1883. He is now in Dakota.

Addison A. Hosmer, a graduate of the law school at Cambridge, Mass., was the first practicing lawyer to locate at De Soto. He settled there in 1857. In 1860 he returned to Massachusetts. During the war he served as an officer in one of the Massachusetts regiments, and became quite distinguished. After the close of the war he was made judge advocate, and it was he who sentenced the notorious Wirz of Andersonville infamy to death.

David Briggs located at De Soto as a Congregational preacher shortly after the war. He came from Illinois. He had been licensed as a lawyer some years previous to his coming, and finally gave up the pulpit for the bar. He was somewhat unfortunate in the profession, and

mont Co., Ohio. In 1822 they located in Morgan Co.,Ohio, where James E. was reared to man hood. In early life he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, but commenced reading law at the age of twenty-three, with John Welch, Esq., of Athens, Ohio. In 1854 he came to this county, and the following year was admitted to practice at the bar. lle thinks he was the third attorney to locate at Viroqua, and from that time to the present has secured a goodly share of practice. In 1856 Mr. Newell was elected a justice of the peace, and with the exception of two years has since officiated in that capacity. The same year he was elected judge of Bad Ax (now Vernon) county, and held the office four years. He has served in various local offices in the village, town and county, and represented his district in the State Assembly during the session of 187576. During the war he was a first lieutenant in a Wisconsin regiment. Judge Newell has been

three times married. His first wife, Ann Wood, was a native of Ohio, also the second wife, who died in Viroqua. His present and third wife was Matilda Longmere, a native of Newfoundland. Eight children were born to the first union, six of whom are living-William, in Missouri; Isaac, in Iowa; Ann, in Kansas; David, in Iowa; Kate, in Fargo, Dak., and Martha W., in Kansas.

W. N. Carter is an attorney at law of Viroqua. He was born at Catskill, on the Hudson, in New York, in 1845, and passed the first ten years of his life among the scenes of Rip Van Winkle's legendery exploits. His father, W. N. Carter, Sr., was a native of Green Co., N. Y., born in 1811, at Durham, and his mother, Mary Mac Farland, was also a native of Green county, having been born at Catskill in 1813. In 1854 his father, with his family, removed to Illinois, and in 1855 he removed his family to Vernon Co., Wis., settling at Readstown, in the town of Kickapoo. He was a cooper by trade, but owned a farm and tilled the soil during a goodly portion of his life. He died at Readstown Dec. 6, 1880, and his beloved wife followed him to the great beyond, Dec. 10, 1882. When the civil war commenced the Carter family were among the first to respond to the call of duty, although having passed the age in which a man may enlist as a soldier. W. N. Carter, Sr., became a sergeant in the 18th regiment, Wisconsin Vol unteer Infantry; was promoted to a lieutenantcy, but forced to resign from ill health, before the war closed. There were four sons in the family, and three of them, all that were old enough, entered the service. Sherwood E., was a member of an Illinois regiment, and served four years. He now resides at Lanark, in Illinois. W. N., Jr., enlisted Nov. 22, 1861, at the age of sixteen years, in the 18th regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers, and served till Aug. 1, 1865. He was in active service during the whole period of his enlistment, and was promoted to sergeant, lieutenant and captain, holding the latter rank at the time of his discharge. Charles A. en

listed when but sixteen years of age, in company I, 17th regiment Wisconsin, Volunteer Infantry. He was severely wounded at Atlanta, Ga., and died of his injuries. W. N. Carter learned the cooper trade, as did his brothers, with his father, but after the war taught school for some years in Vernon county. He commenced the study of law in 1872, and three years later, entered the law office of Judge Terhune. He was admitted to practice in 1875, and was a law partner of H. C. Proctor until November, 1877. He then went to Readstown, but returned to Viroqua in January, 1883, and has since resided there. He has held the offices of town clerk, treasurer and chairman, in the town of Kickapoo, and was in 1880, the nominee of the democratic party, for State senator in the district composed of the counties of Vernon and Crawford, and in 1882 ran as an independent democrat for the Assembly, in the second assembly district of Vernon county, but the senate and assembly districts being largely republican,he was defeated in both instances.

Walter S. Field, a practicing attorney of Viroqua, is a life resident of Vernon county. He was born in Hillsborough town in the fall of 1856. His father, Albert Field, was a pioneer of that town, locating in 1851. Walter was graduated from the Wisconsin State University, at Madison, in the class of 1878, and from the law department of the same institution in the spring of 1880. In the October following he came to Viroqua, and became associated in the practice of his profession with A. W. Campbell, under the firm name of Campbell & Field. The former is now in Aberdeen, Dak., and a member of the law firm of Harris & Campbell. Mr. Field has been alone in the practice of law since March, 1883. He married Emma Tourjee, a native of Lafayette Co., Wis. Her father, Charles Tourjee, is deceased, and her mother is the wife of H. D. Williams, of Viroqua.

O.B. Wyman, of the firm of Rusk & Wyman, attorneys at law, Viroqua, has been a resident of Vernon county for over a quarter of a cen

presiding. In August, 1879, Mr. Forsyth came to Viroqua, as before stated, and was in partnership with Judge William F. Terhune for about six months. On July 16, 1880, he formed a co-partnership with D. E. Hatlestad, which was dissolved in October, 1881. Mr. Forsyth is now alone in the practice, and has been a justice of the peace since August, 1878.

H. P. Proctor is a member of the law firm of Procter & Tollefson, and is one of the most promising legal lights that luminate the bar of Vernon county. He has been a resident of Viroqua since 1869, and from Jan. 1, 1876, to Jan. 1, 1882, served the people in the responsible position of district attorney. He has been three times honored with the presidency of the village board, a position which he was satisfactorily filling in 1883. Mr. Proctor was born in Franklin Co., Vt., in 1843, and in 1862 accompanied his father's family to this county. They located in the village of Newton, where they still reside. In 1864 Mr. Proctor enlisted in company D, 43d Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the various fortunes of that regiment till the close of the strife. After returning home he entered the law office of R. C. Bierce, and afterward that of Judge Carson Graham. He was admitted to practice Dec. 13, 1871, and a short time afterward formed a partnership with his legal preceptor. This relationship continued until 1876, and since that period he has been successively in law partnership with the following named attorneys: W. N. Carter, C. N. Harris and Louis Tollefson, the latter co-partnership being formed Oct. 1, 1879. The firm of Proctor & Tollefson are found in the front ranks among the business firms of the county, both in point of legal business and deserved esteem. Mr. Proctor was united in marriage with Augusta, daughter of the late John W. Allen, ex-county treasurer, who died Aug. 31, 1881. Of their four children, three are living-Walter S., Harold P. and Celia M. Their second son is deceased.

Louis Tollefson, junior member of the law firm of Proctor & Tollefson, Viroqua, was born in Norway, in 1851. In 1861 he accompanied his parents to America, and to Allamakee Co., Iowa, where they made a settlement. In 1868 Mr. Tollefson went to La Crosse, Wis., where he was employed as a clerk for five years, and also took a full course in the commercial college. In 1874 he came to Viroqua and obtained employment as a clerk with J. Henry Tate, with whom he continued one year. The following summer he went to Lansing, Iowa, and was engaged in the lumber trade with a brother for a short time. Returning to Viroqua he embarked in the mercantile trade, which he continued till the spring of 1880. He then entered the law office of H. P. Proctor, was admitted to the bar in October, 1881, and has been a partner with his preceptor since that date. Mr. Tollefson is the only Norwegian attorney in Vernon county, and the firm enjoy an extensive and lucrative practice. Mr. Tollefson married Celia, daughter of J. W. Allen, ex-treasurer of Vernon county. She died March 12, 1883, leaving one

son.

Charles W. Graves is the pioneer member of the law firm of Butt & Graves, and located here for practice in May, 1879. His father, Lewis W. Graves, Esq., was for twenty-five years a prominent member of the bar of Monroe Co., Wis. Charles W. was born at East Aurora, in Erie Co., N. Y., Nov. 29, 1854, and was a law student under his father for many years. He also studied a short time with A. E. Bleekman, Esq., of Sparta, Wis., and was admitted to practice in the circuit court at Sparta, Jan. 5, 1876. He there formed a law partnership with Fred T. Condit, which continued through 1876, and afterward with A. E. Bleekman. This latter tie was severed in 1879, and Mr. Graves came to Viroqua, where he has been in active practice since. His wife was formerly Ida Rea, a native of Oshkosh, Wis. They have two children-Earl W. and Ray.

Before entering upon a consideration of the part taken by the citizen soldiers of Vernon county, in the great contest between the slave owners of the south and the lovers of freedom in the north, it is proper to dwell for a brief period upon the causes leading to the conflict of arms and the incipient steps taken by the general and State governments in arousing and marshalling the hosts of liberty-loving men who afterward so grandly kept step to the music of the Union.

WISCONSIN'S FIRST EFFORTS.

When Wisconsin was first called upon to aid the general government in its efforts to sustain itself against the designs of the secession conspirators, the commercial affairs of the State were embarrassed to a considerable degree by the depreciation of the currency. The designs of the secessionists were so far developed at the ending of the year 1860, as to show that resistance to the National authority had been fully determined on. It is not a matter of wonder, then, that Gov. Randall in his message to the Legislature, early in January, 1861, should have set forth the dangers which threatened the Union, or should have denied the right of a State to secede from it.

"Secession," said he, "is revolution; revolution is war; war against the government of the United States is treason." "It is time," he continued, "now, to know whether we have any government, and if so, whether it has any strength. Is our written constitution more than a sheet of parchment? The Nation must be lost or preserved by its own strength. Its strength is in the patriotism of the people. It is time now that politicians become patriots; that men show their love of country by every

sacrifice, but that of principle, and by unwavering devotion to its interests and integrity." "The hopes," added the governor, most eloquently, "of civilization and Christianity are suspended now upon the answer to this question of dissolution. The capacity for, as well as the right of, self-government is to pass its ordeal, and speculation to become certainty. Other systems have been tried, and have failed; and all along the skeletons of Nations have been strewn, as warnings and land marks, upon the great highway of historic government. Wisconsin is true, and her people steadfast. She will not destroy the Union, nor consent that it shall be done. Devised by great, and wise, and good men, in days of sore trial, it must stand. Like some bold mountain, at whose base the great seas break their angry floods, and around whose summit the thunders of a thousand hurricanes have rattled-strong, unmoved, immovable-so may our Union, be, while treason surges at its base, and passions rage around it, unmoved, immovable-here let it stand forever."

These are the words of an exalted and genuine patriotism. But the governor did not content himself with eloquence alone. He came down to matters of business as well. He urged the necessity of legislation that would give more efficient organization to the militia of the State. He warned the legislators to make preparations also for the coming time that should try the souls of men. "The signs of the times," said he, "indicate that there may arise a contingency in the condition of the government, when it will become necessary to respond to a call of the National government for men and means to maintain the integrity of the Union, and to thwart the designs of men en