CAPT. EUGENE H. FREEMAN


From History of Dane County, Wisconsin, publ. by Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1880, page 988-989

CAPT. EUGENE H. FREEMAN, proprietor and Captain of the steamer Mendota; residence, Gorham Street; was born in Boston, Mass, in 1839; is the son of John D. FREEMAN, a prominent printer of that city; was educated in the public school of Boston, and graduated at Bridgetown Academy, Maine, in class of 1854; in July 1855, he began his seafaring life "before the mast," on a clipper ship, around the Horn to San Francisco; afterward for several years on Pacific Mail steamships, whence his practical knowledge of engineering, having previously acquired the theoretical; was then a while engineer of American Grist Mill Co.; when the war began, in spring of 1861, he immediately engaged as engineer on Government transports, and at the close of the war was chief engineer on the United States steamer, Admiral Porter; in 1866, he put in the engines in the new Walter Baker Chocolate Mills, in Dorchester, Mass., and had charge of same for nearly four years; was then eight years engineer in the Boston Fire Department, and received veteran's certificate in 1877. He was married in November 1860, to Miss Julia F. LEWIS, of West Cambridge, Mass., daughter of Samuel LEWIS, a prominent fur dealer and manufacturer of that city; they have three children - Elizabeth H., Eugene F. and Louise I., at school and home. Capt. F. came to Madison in the spring of 1877, and built the steamer Mendota, the largest on the Madison Lakes, and in connection established a line of row and sail boats. Captain FREEMAN is a Knight Templar, and has taken all the degrees in Odd Fellowship; family are connected with Unitarian Church. The Captain and Mr. McLEOD, a partner in boat-building, spend the winter in building to order row and sail boats; the captain is authority on all nautical and sporting matters.

Transcribed and contributed to this site by Carol

 

 

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