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- HON. ALLEN P. LOVEJOY of Janesville, Wis., the present
- Senator from Rock County, and a leading business man of the
State, is a native of Maine and was born in the town of Wayne,
Kennebe County, on the 20th day of March, 1825. His parents were
Nathan and Temperance (WING) LOVEJOY. The LOVEJOY family is of
English Puritan origin, and boasts among its members some of
the most noted characters in American history. Elijah and Owen
LOVEJOY of Illinois, so prominently identified with the anti-slavery
agitation that preceded the late war, were of the same lineage
as our subject.
- Nathan LOVEJOY, a native of New Hampshire, was a man of well
- developed mental faculties and strong religious convictions,
of the strictest integrity and highly honored man of his day.
He was the son of Capt. John LOVEJOY, an active and valiant soldier
of the Revolutionary War.
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- The whole race is noted for courage, perseverance and unswerving
fidelity to those principles of liberty and truth which distinguished
their Puritan ancestors. Temperance WING, the mother of our subject,
and the wife of Nathan LOVEJOY, a very amiable and estimable
woman, was the first white child born in Wayne, and was the daughter
of Allen WING, an able and influential man, who is well remember
in connection with the building of the first church in Wayne,
in which enterprise he was the chief mover.
- Allen P. LOVEJOY, the subject of this sketch, was reared
on a farm, where habits of industry,
- frugality and self-reliance were inculcated from his earliest
boyhood. His primary education was received in the district-schools,
and he later pursued a course of study at the Maine Wesleyan
Seminary at Kent Hill, Readfield, Maine. At the age of seventeen,
he commenced to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade, at which
he worked in the summer time, while he was engaged in teaching
school during the winter months, beginning the latter occupation
when but eighteen years of age. He continued in that line of
work, alternating teaching and working at his trade until 1850,
when, in the twenty-fifth year of his age, he determined to seek
his fortune in the broader and more promising fields of the Great
West. He reached Milwaukee, Wis., in the early summer of 1850.
From there he journeyed to Janesville, then a thrifty village
of 2,000 inhabitants, making the journey on foot, and landed
at his destination with only a limited quantity of this world's
goods, but rich in energy, pluck and enterprise. He at once secured
work at his trade in Janesville, at which he continued for nearly
two years. In 1851, he went to Beloit, where he was connected
with a lumber firm, first as an employe and later, having an
interest in the business. In 1853, he returned to Janesville
and resumed business as carpenter and builder. Being a first-class
mechanic and a clear-headed business man, he soon acquired capital
with which in 1860, he opened a lumber-yard in this city. He
continued building, however, until 1863, when he devoted his
whole time to the lumber business. In 1870, Mr. LOVEJOY formed
a partnership with J. RICHARDS in the same line at Oregon, Wis.,
and in succeeding years, they opened yards at Brooklyn, Mt. Horeb,
Dodgeville, Blue Mounds, Barneveld, Stoughton, New Glarus and
Argyle. These several yards are conducted under the firm name
of LOVEJOY & RICHARDS.
- About 1868, Mr. LOVEJOY began investing in pine lands, and
since then, in company with
- others, he has engaged in logging on the Wolf, Chippewa,
and Wisconsin rivers. This business they have carried on successfully,
having cut the past season over 30,000,000 feet of logs. Later,
they bought a sawmill on the Chippewa, and subsequently purchased
another mill at Merrill, Wis., where the past season they cut
22,000,000 feet of lumber. Mr. LOVEJOY is also interested in
manufactures. He is quite an extensive stock-holder in the Harris
Manufacturing Company of Janesville, of which he has been president
since 1875; is a stock-holder in the Janesville Cotton Manufacturing
Company; vice-president of the Janesville Machine Company; president
of the New McLean Manufacturing Company; and proprietor of the
Monterey Flouring Mill. He is also director in the First National
Bank; director in the State Lumber Company; and vice-president
of the Merrill Lumber Company. He has a partnership in several
farms in Rock, Dane, and Chippewa Counties.
- Mr. LOVEJOY is a Republican in politics, but is not a politician
in the ordinary acceptation of
- the term, although he has borne a more or less conspicuous
part in local politics. In 1878, he was chosen to represent his
district in the State Assembly by one of the largest majorities
ever given to a candidate for that office. In 1881, he was elected
Mayor of Janesville by a small majority, running against a very
popular fellow citizen. In 1886, he was elected to the State
Senate by a very flattering majority, running several hundred
votes ahead of his ticket. His able and faithful discharges of
duty in all these positions has justified the confidence reposed
in him by his fellow citizens.
- The most important and interesting event in Mr. LOVEJOY's
life occurred at New Haven,
- Conn., on the 29th day of May, 1880, when he was united in
marriage with Miss Julia I. STOWE, a daughter of Henry STOWE
of that city, and a highly intelligent, accomplished and lovely
lady. Mrs. LOVEJOY's father has been an honored member and deacon
of the Baptist Church for over fifty years. He is still a resident
of New Haven and has reached the ripe old age of eighty-three
years. Mr. and Mrs. LOVEJOY have three interesting children,
two sons and a daughter - Allen P., the eldest, was born Jan.
16, 1882; Henry S., Nov. 2, 1885; and Julia, Sept. 21, 1888.
- Mr. LOVEJOY is essentially a self-made man and has achieved
success within the recollection
- of the surviving early settlers of Rock County. Thirty-eight
years ago he began at Janesville bare-handed. His first start
was made with earnings while employed as a carpenter, and his
progress and prosperity since have been steady and sure. Energy,
industry, and integrity have marked his course from the beginning,
and success has crowned his efforts in a marked degree. He would
be recognized in any community as a man of great activity and
power. He is tall and well-proportioned, muscular and capable
of much endurance. The mold of his countenance and shape of his
head clearly indicate self-reliance and unyielding will, and
fixedness of purpose not easily disturbed. His movements are
slow but with precision and forethought. He is logical in all
his methods and has no convictions that have not been reached
by a process of reasoning. His mind is comprehensive, and he
rarely troubles himself with details. With proper training he
would do well at the head of an army, but would make a poor corporal
or even captain. In early life his mind was much exercised on
the subject of religion, he considering a religious life the
chief blessing and duty of man. But not satisfied with any of
the current theories of standard authorities on that subject,
he strove hard and long for a role or creed on which to lean
and follow, and finally adopted one peculiar to himself, more
after the Unitarian model than any other, but he contributes
to the support and occasionally attends the churches of other
denominations.
- A fine steel engraving of Mr. LOVEJOY is shown on another
page.
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- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 243-244; engraving from
same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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