- ALVIN B. CARPENTER, a prominent capitalist and retired businessman
of Beloit, Rock county,
- has led a long and active life full of lofty motives and
noble ambitions, and is now passing the sunset hours of his days
on earth amid the scenes of former activities, for he has always
been an exceedingly busy man. He has worked diligently in a multitude
of enterprises, and, whether they have hit or missed the mark,
he was never discouraged, but kept on working with all the dynamic
forces of a mighty nature, and at last the day dawned, as soon
or late it surely does to all great souls.
- Mr. CARPENTER was born in Stratford, Orange Co., Vt., July
17, 1812, a son of Willard and
- Polly (BACON) CARPENTER. His parents were natives of Connecticut,
and had twelve children, of whom our subject is the only one
now living. Willard CARPENTER, who was a farmer, moved from Connecticut
into Vermont very soon after his marriage, and the journey was
made so far back in the history of New England that the way was
indicated by blazed trees. In Vermont he hewed out a farm, and
the family for a long time lived in a log cabin. All the children
were born in the same house in Vermont, and all grew to maturity
before a death occurred in the family. In later times more prosperous
conditions permitted the erection of a frame house. Here Willard
CARPENTER lived and reared his large family, and here he died
when eighty-seven years of age. His wife lived to be ninety-one;
with her husband she was a member of the Congregational Church.
Ephraim CARPENTER, the father of Willard, is supposed to have
been a native of England, settled near Woodstock, Conn., and
served in the Revolutionary war. He died in the East. Alvin BACON,
the father of Mrs. Polly CARPENTER, was born in Connecticut,
of English descent, and lived to old age. He was the father of
several sons and daughters.
- Alvin B. CARPENTER was only seven years old when he left
home to earn his own living; his
- father giving him his time, and saving for him all he could
earn. His first money was a dollar, as a compensation for a week's
work. This he changed into one hundred pennies, with Senator
MORRELL, and felt richer than he ever has since. Three or four
years later his father gave him a hen, and promised him all he
could make out of it. The hen raised thirteen chickens, from
which he made ten dollars. While still a mere child he was taken
sick with St. Vitus' dance, and for three years had to lie in
a cradle. When about fifteen he had recovered so that he was
able to shift for himself. Accordingly he went to Troy, N.Y.,
and entered the employment of his brothers John and Willard,
as chore boy in their store. He earned a little extra money selling
boiled chestnuts and clothes-pins, and finally accumulated five
hundred dollars. He put this in the bank, and after a time bought
a horse and wagon, and peddled tinware and notions through Washington,
Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, N.Y., and then sold dry goods
in the same way from house to house, his brothers furnishing
him goods to sell for a certain profit. Before he was twenty-three
years of age Mr. CARPENTER had earned ten thousand dollars as
a peddler from house to house. In 1835 he came West, and established
a prosperous general store at Evansville, Ind., in partnership
with his brothers. He purchased an extensive stock of goods in
New York and shipped it to Evansville by water, that being before
the day of railroads. The three brothers about 1838 saw large
opportunities in Indiana real estate, and made extensive investments
in farm properties throughout the State, which yielded rapid
and enormous profits, and all became very wealthy. His brother
Willard gave half a million dollars in money and land to the
city of Evansville, personally superintending the building and
furnishing of the library.
- Alvin B. CARPENTER lived in Evansville ten years, and then
moved to Galena. There he
- remained only a year, and then went to Chicago, where he
started a man in business, which cost him ten thousand dollars
in a very little time. In 1846 he came to Beloit, and engaged
in business as the proprietor of a general store, which he conducted
for some years. He had a branch store at Cambridge, Dane Co.,
Wis., which he founded and named in honor of Cambridge, Mass.,
and another store at Delavan, and laid off the town of Avon,
Wis., in partnership with a man whose interest he afterward acquired,
having a small store there also. He closed up all these mercantile
establishments at the time of the gold excitement in California,
intending to go West, but his wife prevailed upon him to abandon
the idea, and his home has continued to be in Beloit to the present
time. He has never wholly lost interest in Evansville, and for
a period of two years did a wholesale merchandising business
there since his settlement at Beloit; and from time to time he
has also taken part in several important business enterprises
in that city. Mr. CARPENTER still looks after his property interests,
though he is eighty-eight years of age. He comes of a sturdy
stock, and feels that he is good for a long stay yet on earth.
- Mr. CARPENTER and Miss Almira DUTCHER, daughter of Simeon
DUTCHER, were married
- July 6, 1839. They became the parents of one son and five
daughters, James M., Mary, Hattie, Anna B., Adeline and Cornelia.
(1) James M. first married Hattie ROOT, of Mohawk, N.Y., who
died shortly after, and he then married Miss Louisa INGLE; they
had two sons and three daughters, and three of these are now
living, Alvin B., Ingle and Isabel. (2) Mary married Alonzo GREEN,
and is the mother of two daughters, Lulu, wife of Walter BOWEN,
of St. Paul, Minn., and Florence Elizabeth, wife of J. W. CAMPBELL,
of Peoria, Ill.; the latter has two daughters, Gladys and Marie.
(3) Hattie married William M. SEARING, of Saratoga, N.Y., and
they had one son, Alvin, who died when seven years old. Mr. SEARING
died in Philadelphia in 1884, and his son's death occurred ten
months previously. (4) Anna B. is the widow of Jeremiah LAWRENCE,
of Chicago; she has two children, Jessie C. and Willard C. (5)
Adeline married C. B. SALMON, of Beloit, and is the mother of
five children, three of whom are now living, Edward, Cornelia
and Loretta; Edward is a miller in Beloit, and a capable business
man. (6) Cornelia married F. D. CALDWELL of Evansville, Ind.,
and is the mother of one child, Mary S. James M. CARPENTER was
a partner with his father in the Evansville business, a merchant
in Beloit, and had numerous interests in that city. He died in
April 1899. His son Alvin B. lives in the City of Mexico, and
is in charge of valuable gold mines in that country. His son
Ingle is a prominent lawyer in New York City. Both graduated
from Beloit College in the same class, in 1893. Both are unmarried.
- Mrs. Almira L. CARPENTER was a native of Castleton, N.Y.,
where she passed her girlhood
- days, and died in Beloit Feb. 9, 1890, when seventy-five
years old. The Golden Wedding was celebrated the summer before,
a thousand invitations being issued. Among the presents received
on that occasion were a gold-headed ebony walking cane, presented
by fifty ladies, and a fine gold-headed parasol presented by
fifty gentlemen. Mrs. CARPENTER was a Congregationalist, as is
also her husband. In early life he was a Democrat, but for forty
years he has been a Republican. He lives at No. 416 College avenue,
where he built a fine home about 1885. It is said of him that
he has put up more houses than any other man in Beloit, and that
on every occasion he has paid one hundred cents on the dollar.
All his life has been inflexibly honest, and met every agreement
to the letter.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901; pp. 33-35.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|