- EDWIN F. CARPENTER has not rounded out the limit ascribed
to middle life, yet he has already
- attained marked distinction in his chosen profession, the
law. He comes of that rugged Green Mountain stock which gave
to the army of the Revolution such men as Ethan Allen, as well
as other heroes, whose names have been forgotten, while their
deeds and achievements live in history.
- Edwin F. CARPENTER was born in Moretown, Washington Co.,
Vt., May 12, 1845, son of Ira
- CARPENTER, who married (second) Rhoda S. SPOFFORD. Both
his parents were natives of the Green Mountain State. The father
tilled the sterile soil of New England, with the average success
attending farmers of his day and generation. He was a man of
courage, enterprise and integrity, and it was, perhaps, these
traits which especially commended him to the suffrages of his
fellow citizens, who elected and re-elected him to the office
of sheriff. He was born in 1798, and died in 1862, with his
physical and mental faculties alike showing but little sign of
impairment. He was twice married, and by his first wife, Annie,
had four children, only one of whom, Cephas W., survives. His
second wife, the mother of Edwin F. CARPENTER, was Rhoda S. SPOFFORD,
who died in 1881, in her seventy-third year. To this union came
six children, three of whom are living, Ira M., Edwin F. and
Albert N.
- The father of Ira CARPENTER, and the grandfather of Edwin
F., was named Cephas. His
- birthplace cannot be definitely stated, but it is certain
that he was born in either Connecticut or Vermont, and came from
rugged Puritan stock. He was a man of rare mental power, as
well as of recognized integrity; a gallant soldier in the war
of 1812, and for many years a justice of the peace. He lived
to be nearly eighty-nine years old, and his death was deeply
mourned by his fellow citizens, who had learned to love him for
his many virtues, as well as to respect him for his sound judgment
and conservative public spirit. The maternal grandfather of
Edwin F. CARPENTER, the father of Rhoda S. SPOFFORD, was also
a Vermonter by birth, and of English descent. He was the father
of a large family and died at an advanced age.
- Edwin F. CARPENTER was born at Moretown, Washington Co.,
Vt., May 12, 1845, attended
- the country schools, and at the age of eighteen came West,
locating at Beloit, Wis. There he entered the preparatory department
of the Beloit College and later matriculated in the classical
department, graduating in 1870. Proceeding at once to Janesville,
he entered the law office of CASSIDY, MERRILL & DIXON as
a law student, and was admitted to the Bar the following year.
In 1873, both Mr. DIXON and Mr. MERRILL, having withdrawn from
the firm, Mr. CARPENTER and Mr. CASSIDY formed a co-partnership
for the practice of law, under the style of CASSIDY & CARPENTER.
Since that date various changes in the firm have taken place.
Mr. CASSIDY was succeeded by Mr. S. J. TODD in 1880 or '81,
and he in turn, the following year, by E. D. McGOWAN, and since
its dissolution our subject has carried on practice without a
partner. He has been eminently successful. He has a keen ,
analytic mind, of a judicial cast, and has for the last six years
ably discharged the responsible duties of circuit court commissioner.
He has been twice elected city attorney, his period of service
covering four years, and at present represents the Third ward
of Janesville in the city council, having been elected on the
Republican ticket.
- Mr. CARPENTER was married, Dec. 18, 1873, to Miss Emma A.
LAPPIN, whose father,
- Thomas LAPPIN, married Mary J. JACKMAN. Two children have
been born to them, Edwin Lappin and Henry F. Mrs. CARPENTER
is a communicant of the Episcopal Church.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 318-319.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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