- PETER J. MOUAT is editor and publisher of the Janesville
Recorder, which paper he has
- controlled for more than a decade, bringing to its management
sound practical business sense. Both his parents, Jeremiah MOUAT
and Robina (HALCROW), were natives of the Shetland Island, Mainland,
setting in America in 1855. The father was for many years a
merchant in his native land, also following the sea as a fisherman,
with its always uncertain results and sometimes great hazards.
Both he and his wife were stanch Presbyterians, as well becomes
those of Scottish birth and ancestry. They were the parents
of ten children, four sons and six daughters, two of whom are
deceased. Those yet living are Laurence; Peter J.; Thomas J.;
John J.; Robina, who married Malcolm HARPER, of Magnolia township,
Rock County; Margaret C. and Elizabeth A., who are unmarried
and live in Chicago; and Jessie H., a teacher in the schools
of Minneapolis. On coming to America Jeremiah MOUAT settled
on a farm in Rock County, Wis., afterward residing in the city
of Janesville until his death, in 1887, at the age of seventy-nine
years. His widow still survives, at the age of eighty-five,
her home being in Chicago.
- Peter J. MOUAT, was born in the Shetland home June 15, 1854,
being scarcely a year old when
- his parents crossed the ocean. The first sixteen years of
his life were passed upon the farm, and he obtained a good fundamental
English education in the schools of Rock County and Janesville
graded schools. It was not until the winter of 1874-75 that
he really began to battle with the vicissitudes of life, beginning
his business career as a shipping clerk in the wholesale grocery
and tea house of Roe Brothers, in Chicago. Not finding his position
and surroundings wholly to his liking he returned to Janesville
in the spring of 1875, was clerk and bookkeeper for five years,
and for the next five years was manager of the Janesville Vinegar
and Pickling Works. During this period he bought the Publishers
Commercial Union, a mercantile agency for reporting the commercial
standing of newspaper advertisers. The venture was original
and new, proved successful, and in 1886 Mr. MOUAT disposed of
it to a Chicago stock company, in which he held an official position
for a year, being himself located at Chicago. In the spring
of 1888 however, he once more found his way to Janesville, and
for twelve months held the position of assistant postmaster.
Not long after the resigning of this office he became connected
with the Recorder Printing Co., as manager, and subsequently
became owner of a majority of the company's stock. At present
he is both publisher and editor, and under his judicious business
management the plant has become a valuable one. He is a Democrat
in politics, and his paper ably and strenuously supports Democratic
doctrines and policies In the councils of his party his voice
is potent and his influence pronounced . For two years he was
a member of its State central committee, while he has long held
the position of chairman of the Democratic city committee of
Janesville. Personally he has never sought office, yet his well-known
interest in educational matters, joined to his conceded well-recognized
qualifications for the position, has led to his filing a seat
on the board of education for many years, serving as president
of that body one year. He has also filled the office of vice-president
of the Janesville Business Men's Association, and is at present
vice-president of the Rock County Loan, Building and Savings
Association, and one of the directors. Mr. MOUAT is a genial
gentleman, popular with all. He is a member of the Janesville
Country Club, the Sinissippi Golf Club and the Caledonian Society;
also belongs to Oriental Lodge, No. 22, K. of P.; the Press Club
of Chicago, and the Wisconsin Press Association.
- On Dec. 24, 1879, Mr. MOUAT married Miss Charlotte E. WILKIE,
whose native State is
- New Jersey. Their union has been blessed with three daughters,
Lillian Sturges, Margaret Frances and Charlotte Gertrude. Mrs.
MOUAT is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 200-201.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|