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- GARRETT VEEDER, the earliest resident of Janesville, Wis.,
and
- now proprietor of the Janesville Signal, was born in the
city of Schenectady, N.Y., on the 10th day of July, 1821, and
is a son of Nicholas S. and Elizabeth (FALING) VEEDER. The family
dates its origin in this country back to 1646, only twenty years
after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth Rock. Nicholas
VEEDER was born in Schenectady, N.Y., and was descended from
Holland and English ancestry. His wife was a native of England.
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- While our subject was a lad, the family emigrated from his
native town to Ogdensburg, St.
- Lawrence Co., N.Y., the journey being made in a covered wagon.
Garrett was there reared to manhood, making his home in that
place until twenty-eight years of age. When a lad of thirteen
years, he began learning the printer's trade with Judge A. B.
JAMES, and worked in that line for two years, when he abandoned
his trade in order to secure an education. He entered the Ogdensburg
Academy, where he took the higher branches and having successfully
passed the examination received a teacher's certificate when
eighteen years of age. He then taught school for four succeeding
winters, and in 1843, again followed his trade, securing employment
in a printing office at Rochester, N.Y. Later he was employed
at Syracuse, afterwards at Utica and subsequently in New York
City.
- While residing in Ogdensburg, on the 1st day of October,
1850, Mr. VEEDER was united in
- marriage with Miss Elizabeth BURKE, who was born in St. Lawrence
County, and was a daughter of John BURKE. They became the parents
of six children, three sons and three daughters: Elizabeth married
Willis LAKE, and died in 1883, at the age of thirty-two years;
Charles G., who learned his father's trade and was a first-class
printer, wedded Miss Ida LAMPMAN, and died in 1880, when twenty-seven
years of age; John died in 1881, aged nineteen years; William
died at the age of six years; and two children died in infancy.
On the 17th day of February, 1884, Mr. VEEDER was called upon
to mourn the loss of his wife. He was again married in October,
1884, to Mrs. Emma P. OTIS, widow of the Rev. I. N. OTIS, and
daughter of Dr. Clark PEASE, an early settler of Janesville.
Mrs. VEEDER has three children yet living by her first marriage
- Newton Murdock, Willis Clark, and Sarah Lillian. By the present
marriage there is one son, Garrett V., aged three years.
- Mr. VEEDER dates his residence in this city from 1856, when
he left his Eastern home and
- emigrated to Rock County, Wis., locating in Janesville. For
two years he was engaged in the shoe business with J. C. ECHLIN,
when he went to Hanover, Rock County, and operated a store of
general merchandise for a period of three years. At the end of
that time he returned to Janesville, purchasing an interest in
the job office of Ellis DOTY, with whom he continued in business
from 1863 until the spring of 1871, when, in connection with
S. S. ST. JOHN, he began editing the Rock County Recorder, a
weekly newspaper. In the month of December, 1881, Mr. VEEDER
formed a partnership with T. S. NOLAN and W. H. LEONARD, and
the firm became incorporated under the name of the Recorder Printing
Company of which Mr. VEEDER was elected President and with which
he continued his connection until the spring of 1883. He then
sold out his interest, and one month later purchased the interest
of W. H. TOWSLEY in the Times job office, then located in the
Lappin Block. In April, 1888, he moved the office to its present
location in the Jeffris Block at the west end of the Milwaukee
street bridge. In September, 1886, Mr. VEEDER began editing his
present paper, the Janesville Signal, which is a bright, newsy
sheet, published weekly. It is independent in politics, gives
the latest news of county and nation, and is especially adapted
to the families of the vicinity. In connection with the paper,
Mr. VEEDER operates a job office which turns out as fine work
as is done in the county. He has mastered the printing trade
in its every detail, and as an editor ranks among the best. He
started in Janesville with a cash capital of $700, but with a
strong determination and energy to succeed, he has accumulated
a handsome property, his real estate in Janesville consisting
of his residence, office and two other buildings. He is now the
oldest resident editor and publisher in the county.
- Mr. VEEDER is a genial, whole-souled man, kind-hearted and
benevolent, and has won hosts
- of friends who have learned to respect and esteem him for
his manly integrity and many excellencies of character. Religiously
he is a member of the Congregational Church, while his wife belongs
to the Presbyterian Church. For the past eighteen years, he has
been a member of the Odd Fellows, and now holds membership with
Wisconsin Lodge, No. 14, I.O.O.F.
- We are much pleased to present an excellent portrait of this
veteran newspaper man, which
- appears upon the opposite page.
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-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 839-840; lithograph from
same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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