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- TIMOTHY JACKMAN, an early settler and influential business
- man of Janesville, was born in Oneida County, N.Y., in 1800,
and was the son of Stillman JACKMAN. He was reared on a farm,
and soon after attaining his majority, was united in marriage
with Miss Esther COOPER, of Saratoga County. They made their
home at Houseville, Lewis County, N.Y., where Mr. JACKMAN was
engaged in hotel-keeping and farming. Four sons and two daughters
were born of their union. Noyes, the eldest, married Adelaide
LOCKE, and is now engaged in farming in the town of Harmony,
Rock County, Wis.; Mary J., the eldest daughter and second child,
is the wife of Thomas LAPPIN, a retired merchant of Janesville;
Hiram wedded
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- Harriet COATSWORTH, and resides in Chicago; Benjamin, who
went to California during the excitement of the first gold discoveries,
died in that State in 1849; John, the youngest son, was twice
married, his first wife, being Lorinda SOPHER, and after her
death he wedded Sarah ROBERTS; he died in Carpentersville, Ill.,
in 1883; Sarah,, the youngest, died in childhood.
- In 1841 Mr. JACKMAN lost his wife, whose death occurred at
Houseville, in November of that
- year, and the following year, he was again married, his second
union being with Marcia M. SMITH, daughter of Jesse SMITH. They
became the parents of four children, all sons - Fred, the eldest,
married Miss Mary McNEAL, and became a resident of California,
where he made his home until his death in 1884; Clarence and
Claremont S. were twins; the former died at the age of eight
years, and Claremont S., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this
volume, is now President of the Rock County National Bank of
Janesville; Clarence W., the youngest of the family, who was
named for his deceased brother, was joined in wedlock with Leahretta
McDOUGAL, and is the junior partner of the firm of BUCHHOLZ &
Co., carriage manufacturers of Janesville.
- In 1843 Mr. JACKMAN removed with his family to Wisconsin,
and located at Janesville. He
- became the owner of large tracts of land, of which, in the
course of time, he made several fine farms. After his arrival
in this city he also engaged in hotel-keeping, and for a short
time was proprietor of the Stage House. He leased and operated
the Bill Mill for a year, and, finding this profitable, he with
his partner, Shubel W. SMITH purchased the Farmer's Mill, which
they operated for several years. JACKMAN & SMITH also kept
a general store, and did a large freighting business, by team,
between Janesville and Milwaukee. This was before the advent
of the railroad in this city. Their store was the most extensive
mercantile establishment in the county at that time. As he accumulated
capital, he associated himself with other parties and organized
the Rock County Bank, now the Rock County National Bank, of which
he was President during his lifetime. A history of that institution
appears elsewhere in this work. He also built, in company with
Mr. SMITH, what is now the JACKMAN block, one of the largest
and finest business blocks in the city, and erected what is now
the ROGERS House, which was his residence and the old homestead.
Mr. JACKMAN came west with pluck and energy as his means of advancement,
and while his capital was small on his arrival at Janesville,
by his energetic and well directed efforts he soon won a foremost
place among the wealthy men of the city. He was enterprising,
yet conservative, and possessed remarkable business ability and
a genius for seizing a favorable opportunity and making the most
of it. In his day there was not his superior in the city, as
a financier, or one possessed of surer convictions on matters
of business policy.
- In politics Mr. JACKMAN was a Republican and an earnest and
patriotic citizen, yet was never
- desirous of holding public office. His interest in municipal
affairs led him to several times in the Common Council, where
his judgment was much respected, and his influence always exerted
in the direction of wholesome legislation. His success in life
was no accident, but the result of intelligent forethought and
untiring energy. Upright and honorable in his intercourse with
his fellow-men, he commanded the confidence and respect of those
whose good opinion was worth having, and if he made enemies,
it was among the shallow-minded who let their jealously blind
their judgment. Mr. JACKMAN passed away on the 13th of August,
1868, in his sixty-eighth year. His wife survived him, and died
at Janesville on the 23d day of November, 1888, at the age of
seventy-five years. An excellent portrait of this pioneer business
man is shown upon another page.
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-
- Taken from "Portrait and Biographical Record of Rock
County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 343-344; lithograph from same
book
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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