History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties

"History of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties Wisconsin"

Compiled by George O.Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others. Printed in 1924 by H.C.Cooper. Jr. & Co., Minneapoli-Winona MN. ill. 787 pages. The first two hundred pages are history of the three counties, the remainder of the book is biographies.

Biography

Rumery, Chas. M. proprietor of a fine summer resort at Hazelhurt and owner of other valuable property, and who for a number of years has been prominent in town and county affairs, was born at Oshkosh, Wis., July 8, 1860, son of John P. and Margaret (SMITH) RUMERY. The father was a native of Calais, Me., and the mother was born at St. Johns, N. B., in which locality her brothers were prominently connected with the ship building industry for many years. Mr. and Mrs. John P. RUMERY were married in the East and started their trip to Wisconsin immediately after the wedding ceremony, Mr. RUMERY having visited this state previously and decided to make it his permanent home. He first located at Oshkosh, where he purchased two acres of land now included in the city limits and extremely valuable. He was engaged in lumbering until about 1872, and he then took a farm five miles north of Oshkosh, which he operated for some time. After selling this property he moved back to Oshkosh, and he and his wife both died in that city and were buried there. Seven children, as follows, were born to these parents: George L., now of Rhinelander; Wilmer, of Fresno, Calif.; Charles M., subject of this sketch; Robert E., living at Oshkosh; Walter, also of Oshkosh; Arthur D., who is conducting an extensive automobile business at Sandusky, Ohio; and Mayme, now Mrs. John UMLAUF of Oshkosh, Wis. Chas M. RUMERY for several years attended a ward school in Oshkosh, and afterwards a rural school, he being 12 years old when his parents moved to the farm. Later he studied two years in the normal school at Oshkosh, and then took a course in Daggert's Business Collee in the same city; in the meantime he was working with his brothers on the home farm to some extent. At the age of 26 he came to Gagen (then in Lincoln County), and after working for two years in Crane Bros.' sawmill there he removed to Rhinelander, where he was engaged for some time in handling and grading lumber for the Soo Lumber Co., as well as for Wixson & Bronson and the Rib River Lumber Co. (Flanner, Brown & Smith), being shipping clerk for the last mentioned concern. From Rhinelander he came to Hazelhurst in the fall of 1897, entering the employ of the Yawkey Lumber Co. (later the Yawkey-Bissell Lumber Co.), which had a large plant here. He was placed in charge of their yard work, having 160 men under him and superintending all shipments and everything connected with the yard work. About 1911 this company's logging operations in this locality came to an end and a year or two later they moved away, leaving Mr. RUMERY in charge of their yards to dispose of the remaining stock and clean up generally. The mills and machinery were taken down and moved to other localities, some being shpped as far as the state of Mississippi. With the exception of a year spent at Beaudette, in northern Minnesota, in the employ of the Engler Lumber Co., Mr. RUMERY has since remained in Hazelhurst. In addition to the large hotel he has four cottages for rent to summer visitors, large numbers of whom spend the summer months here, attracted by the fishing, boating and beautiful scenery, Lake Katherine being one of the most beautiful lakes on all northern Wisconsin. The Rumery Hotel stands on the west shore of this lake and commands a wonderful new of its clear, sparkling waters and wooded shores. The resort is on State Highway No. 10 and is only about 40 rods from the C. M. & St. P. railroad station at Hazelhurst. The hotel has accommodations for about 35 people, and the service and cuisine are of the best. Lake Katherine is tributary to the Big Tomahawk Lake chain, being connected with it by a canal, and boating parties thus have available a continuous water thoroughfare with a shore line of some 80 miles. The water connection extends to Minocqua, and the muskellunge fishing in Big Tomahawk Lake is particularly noted. Fish of various kinds abound in all the surrounding waters, and diversion is at hand for the enthusiast in every form of outdoor sport. The shores of all the lakes in this vicinity are dotted with beautiful summer homes, among the noted summer visitors at Lake Katherine being Judge A. H. REID, who built a cottage here in the flourishing days of the lumber industry; C. C. YAWKEY, and Judge BUMP, now assistant attorney-general at Madison. Mr. RUMERY'S place has achieved a high degree of popularity, and he enjoys a fine patronage during the vacation season. Besides his resort he owns a farm of 111 acres at Hazelhurst, just across the road from his hotel, and he has 32 acres of this land cleared. He also owns a citrus fruit and cane sugar plantation of ten acres at Columbia, Cuba. He has taken a prominent and useful part in the public affairs of his community, and is now serving in his ninth year as township clerk; he served in the office of assessor for some ten years, and for the past seven years he has been a member of the county school committee of common schools, being now in his third year as chairman of this committee. He also served formerly for some years on the local school board, commencing when the new school house was built, about 1916. Mr. RUMERY was married in the town Omro, Winnebago County, Wis., Sept. 1, 1886, to Ida M. DOOLITTLE, who was born at Suamico, Wis. (new Green Bay), April 6, 1867, daughter of Hamilton and Levantia (CORNELL) DOOLITTLE. Mrs. RUMERY'S father, orginally a carpenter by trade, later took up farming. He is now living with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. RUMERY, and though he was 91 years old June 12, 1923, and is partly crippled as a result of a fall some years ago, he is still active in light tasks about the house and garden, and retains his mental faculties to a remarkable degree. His wife, Mrs. RUMERY'S mother, died here in October, 1921. Mr. and Mrs. DOOLITTLE came to Wisconsin from Broome County, New York; Mrs. RUMERY, their only child, was educated in the schools of Oshkosh, leaving normal school there when she was about 17 years old to accompany her parents to their farm at Omro, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. RUMERY have no children of their own, but their home is brightened by several young children who are attending the Hazelhurst school and who board and lodge with Mr. and Mrs. RUMERY because of their homes being too far from the school to allow of their going back and forth each day.

Transcribed by Susan Swanson, from pages 331-332, History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties Wisconsin; Compiled by George O. Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others 1924, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.

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