- EUGENE F. WARREN, one of the most prominent, successful and
progressive business men of
- Albany, Green county, was born in Fort Covington, St. Lawrence
Co., N.Y., on June 30, 1833, a son of Lemuel and Betsy (RICHARDSON)
WARREN, the former a native of Montpelier, Vt., and the latter
of Washington county, N.Y. Three of their five children still
survive: Dr. John H., of Cincinnati, Ohio; Lemuel H., of Albany,
and our subject.
- Lowell WARREN, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was
born in Marlborough, Mass., on
- Oct. 23, 1764. The family can be easily traced to the coming
over of the "Mayflower." Lowell WARREN was a blacksmith
by trade, was in the battle of Quebec, and died at the close
of the Revolutionary war. His son, Lemuel WARREN, was a farmer
who came to Janesville, Wis., in 1838, taking up 200 acres of
land, which he afterward sold to the father of the late Frances
E. WILLARD, it being her old home. In 1840, Mr. WARREN removed
to Union township, Rock county, and there took up 160 acres of
land, five miles east of Evansville, which he improved and added
to until he possessed about 400 acres. He died on the old home
farm, Sept. 13, 1846, aged fifty-five years and ten months. His
wife died in 1874, at Albany, Wis., aged seventy-seven. They
were most worthy people, well-known and thoroughly esteemed,
and belonged to the Universalist faith. Mr. WARREN had been a
soldier in the war of 1812, and was present at the battle of
Plattsburg, and his widow received a land warrant for his services.
The government in 1840 made him one of the first justices of
the State, which office he held until the time of his demise.
- Eugene F. WARREN was five years old when his parents came
to Rock county, Wis., where he
- grew to manhood. During his childhood and youth Indian boys
were his play-mates, and they taught him to swim and to use a
canoe. His educational advantages were limited, his sister being
his teacher, she being the second one to fill the position in
Rock county. Remaining on the farm until twenty years old, Mr.
WARREN then entered in the employ of a grain firm in Janesville,
remaining with them for one year and a half, spending the same
time in the employ of the American Express Company, as its messenger.
On July 5, 1854, he came to Albany, where he engaged in general
merchandising, which he combined with milling, remaining in the
former line for twenty-three years, and continuing the latter
to the present time, with the exception of three years of army
service.
- On Aug.. 13, 1861, Mr. WARREN enlisted in Co., E, 13th Wis.
V.I., assisting in recruiting the
- company, and was made its first lieutenant. In 1862 he was
in the Army of Kansas, where there was severe service - no battles
which stirred the country to enthusiasm, but the hardest kind
of military duty, long marches over ice, and snow-covered prairies,
often short rations and sickness. The following year he was transferred
to the Army of the Tennessee, where his regiment engaged in fighting
what was denominated "bushwhackers," and scouting,
but was present at the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson. While
there our subject was detailed as a judge-advocate of a general
court-martial which continued in session for a period of three
months, fifty-two cases being tried, and five of this number
receiving the sentence of death. In the fall of 1863, Mr. WARREN
was ordered to Huntsville, Ala., thence to Stephenson, Ala.,
where, after a long and weary march, on short rations, he remained
until November when he left that place to encamp in the village
of Edgefield, opposite Nashville, Tenn., remaining there until
the summer of 1864, when he returned to his home and business
- at least, that is what he intended to do, but a week later
he received from the secretary of war an appointment to a captaincy
in Maj.-Gen. Hancock's corps. As one of his brothers had accepted
an appointment as U. S. revenue collector, and the other brother
was in very poor health, Mr. WARREN felt it wise to decline the
flattering offer. His business needed his watchful eye, badly,
and he decided to remain in Wisconsin.
- In 1869 Mr. WARREN built the flouring mill known as the mill
of WARREN & TOMKINS, and
- in 1881 purchased the Albany Woolen mill, in 1896 adding
an electric light plant, and now furnishes that necessity to
the village. Among the business enterprises successfully managed
by our subject, was that of the mail and stage business, which,
in connection with his brothers, was conducted as long as no
railroads connected the Great Lakes with the Pacific slope. This
gave employment to hundreds of men and horses, and was a public
enterprise of great magnitude.
- On Sept. 9, 1855, Mr. WARREN was married to Miss Sarah S.
GLEASON, a daughter of
- Robert and Nancy (JONES) GLEASON, and five children were
born of this union: Mary E., now engaged in millinery business
in Elgin, Ill.; Nellie, who married Frank SMITH, of Madison,
S. Dak., and has one daughter, Genevieve; Grace, who married
Harry HILL, since deceased, lives in Elgin, with her sister,
and has one daughter Genevieve; William G., who died at the age
of four; and Charles, who died at the age of twenty-two at Los
Vegas, New Mexico, after having been in the employ of the U.S.
Mail between Chicago and St. Paul, since he was sixteen. Both
Mr. and Mrs. WARREN are members of the Universalist Church, where
they have the esteem of everyone. Socially, Mr. WARREN is a member
of Albany Lodge, No. 36, F. & A.M.; and Evansville Chapter;
also of Erastus Hoyt Post, No. 69, G.A.R. A very ardent Republican,
Mr. WARREN has been called upon to fill various offices, was
chairman of the town board for twenty-seven years, and of the
county board for one term. With his brother, Dr. WARREN, he was
among the founders of the village of Albany, and the family has
always been prominent in its commercial, social and educational
affairs. Mr. WARREN owns his own handsome residence, and also
much other real estate in the town. A man who can be trusted,
upright, honorable, progressive and energetic, Eugene F. WARREN
possesses the characteristics which make him a fit representative
of this community. With a war record for gallantry and endurance,
combined with the elements of a judicial mind, he well deserves
the honor which his fellow citizens delight to render him.
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 319.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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