William Albert Titus, who was born in the town of Empire, Fond du Lac County, on August 30, 1868, followed family tradition when he practiced farming with his father near the town of Eden, Fond du Lac County until his seventeenth birthday. Desiring a formal education, Titus, along with his mother and the family minister, persuaded his father to permit him to attend Fond du Lac High School between the harvesting and the planting seasons so that his schooling would not interfere with the farming operation. In 1891, Titus graduated from high school.
During the following ten years, Titus taught rural school throughout Fond du Lac County and worked as an advertising agent for the Yeast Foam Company throughout the Middle West. In his unpublished manuscript, “Wisconsin as I Have Known It,” Titus described the advertising techniques that he applied to merchandize his wares during the 1890s, observing,
He [the advertising agent] was to hire two boys in each village or city, one for each side of the street, whose work it was, under the supervision of the agent, to place a wrapped single cake of the yeast against each front door in the town. While the boys were doing this, the agent tacked up waterproof advertising signs wherever he found a place. The agent was to call on each grocer in the town and examine his stock of yeast. If any of the yeast was found to be stale or wormy it was to be taken up and replaced free of charge by fresh stock which was shipped to the agent at designated places. The company employed 'spotters' and if an agent was found to be drinking to excess or otherwise indulging ... he was called in and either reprimanded or discharged, depending on the seriousness of his offense.
In 1892, he was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for Fond du Lac Superintendent of Schools. Following his election defeat, Titus attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chicago studying history, anthropology, commercial law, and Hebrew literature. However, he failed to fulfill the academic requirements for a degree at either institution. Abandoning his studies, Titus became affiliated with a Fond du Lac lime and stone company. In 1902, he helped organize the Standard Lime and Stone Co. of Fond du Lac, serving as its secretary-treasurer until 1920 and then occupying its presidency until 1940. Since this collection reflects Titus' varied interests, his career may be described in four phases.
Politician. During the 1912 presidential election, William A. Titus endorsed Theodore Roosevelt's candidacy, attended the Bull Moose Convention at Chicago, and became Fond du Lac County chairman of the Progressive Party. Implementing Medill McCormick's strategy, Titus enhanced Roosevelt's candidacy when he maneuvered the state Republican convention into supporting Governor Francis McGovern's re-election campaign by preventing an endorsement of any other gubernatorial candidate. McGovern had been one of Roosevelt's original strategists at the national Republican convention. After Roosevelt's defeat, Titus supported every Republican candidate for President from 1916 until his death.
While he always classified himself as a Progressive and praised Governor Robert M. La Follette Sr.'s “constructive and purifying legislation” regulating the railroads, he assailed La Follette's opposition to America's intervention into World War I; opposed the Senator's 1924 campaign for the Presidency; and vilified Governor John J. Blaine's alleged programs enlarging the state bureaucracy, multiplying expenditures, and increasing taxes. During his two terms in the State Senate (1920-1928), Titus denounced the expansion of state commissions, boards, bureaus, and departments, and condemned government spending, earning the title of “Watch Dog of the State Treasury.”
According to Senator Titus, he prepared two constitutional amendments, which the electorate sanctioned by referendum. The first amendment, incorporated into the constitution (section 10, article V), permits the Governor to veto any section of an appropriation measure without vetoing the entire bill. The second amendment (section 10, article VIII) authorizes the state government to raise taxes and appropriate money to preserve and propagate Wisconsin forests. Participating in community politics, he was appointed to the Library Board (1912-1913), elected to the Board of Education (1914-1922), and appointed to the Fond du Lac Relief Board (1932). While he was President of the Board of Education in 1917-1918, Titus initiated the program of supplying free textbooks for Fond du Lac children, and inaugurated a project to furnish separate rooms and special teachers for developmentally and intellectually disabled pupils. He obtained state recognition and support for this new program for teaching disabled pupils.
During World War I and World War II, Titus subordinated his political partisanship and volunteered his talents to the Federal government serving as Fair Price Commissioner under Hoover's Food Administration (1917-1918) and United States Re-employment Committeeman under the Selective Service Board (1942-1947). Titus also was a member of the University Board of Visitors (1913-1923). Besides his unsuccessful campaign for Fond du Lac County Superintendent of Schools, Titus suffered election defeats for a run for congress in Wisconsin's 6th congressional district, and Fond du Lac mayor during the 1922 and 1930 primaries. Titus was prepared to campaign for Governor in 1926 to vindicate his opposition to the Blaine Administration, but he could not mobilize sufficient support to wage a gubernatorial campaign.
Businessman. Following the organization and incorporation of the Standard Lime and Stone Co. of Fond du Lac, Titus expanded his business enterprises, becoming President of the Citizens Loan and Investment Co. of Fond du Lac (1930-1938). He bought farm acreage and real estate property in the Red River Valley (North Dakota), Green Lake County, Sheboygan County, and Vilas County (Wisconsin). Titus records that he also purchased stock in the Copper Belt Mines and the Michigan Copper Mines near Lusk, Wyoming. Buying five hundred and ninety-two acres of marble quarry near Sault Ste. Maria, Titus wanted to develop a marble and Portland cement operation in the region, but the depression of the 1930s prevented the venture. Titus owned the Cass-Wayne apartments (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and purchased additional stocks and bonds in the Founders Security Company, the Emmett Municipal Irrigation District, and the Standard Lime and Stone Co. He organized the Norlake Realty Co. to develop and sell property in northern Wisconsin. Following the depression Titus abandoned many of his business enterprises and liquidated many investments.
Historian. Developing his interest in Fond du Lac and Wisconsin history, Titus was selected Curator of the State Historical Society (1920-1947), serving as Vice President (1938-1940) and President (1940-1946). He wrote books and published articles for newspapers and periodicals regarding local and state history. His published works include “Nils Otto Tank” in the Wisconsin Magazine of History (vol. 22, no. 4) and History of the Fox River Valley, Lake Winnebago and the Green Bay Region (three volumes). Titus' unpublished writings include “Wayside Sketches” and “The Westward Trail.”
Author. Besides his historical scholarship, Titus published a book of poems called Vagrant Verses and wrote a book entitled Wisconsin Writers, Sketches and Studies. Some public schools in the state used Wisconsin Writers as a textbook to familiarize students with Wisconsin authors and their literary contributions.
