Series:
Stephen Martindale III (1823-1906). Papers, 1836-1906: Stephen Martindale III, who is considered the patriarch of the Wisconsin Martindale's, was horn at Tinmouth, Vermont, 9 June 1823 and grew up in Wallingford, Vermont. He attended school in Wallingford and later in Manchester, Vermont at the Burr Seminary. In 1847 he was graduated from Middlebury College, his father's alma mater. His brother-in-law, Daniel Roberts, in Manchester and the Hon. Harvey Button in Wallingford tutored him in law and he later graduated from the National Law School of Ballston Spa, Now York, in 1849. In the same year he joined his older sister, Lucinda, and her husband, I. M. Hill, in Racine, Wisconsin. Here he worked for the Durand and Hill Company in their lumber and real estate interests and in 1850 opened a “Select School for Young Gentlemen.” In 1854 Stephen moved to La Crosse. Here and in Black River Falls he was involved in lumbering and merchandising with I. M. Hill and A. W. Pettibone for approximately five years. In the fall of 1866 he returned with his family to Vermont, probably to help settle his father-in-law's estate. Returning to La Crosse in the spring of 1869, he became partial owner of the C. R. Montague Insurance firm which he probably worked for prior to his 1866 departure from La Crosse. Later he became manager and full owner, and the firm's name was changed to the S. Martindale Agency, the fire and life insurance business which Stephen IV and Katharine later operated. Stephen III was a loan and real estate agent as well as an insurance agent. Like his wife, he was active in the First Congregational Church of La Crosse. He died on 9 February 1906.
Stephen III's Personal Correspondence, which is outgoing except for two folders, deals with college experiences, family matters, personal business transactions with family members and friends, and the ordinary affairs of daily life. The correspondence to Stephen from W. W. Webb and miscellaneous friends, relatives, and associates concerns the same matters. Included here is a letter signed by Booker T. Washington requesting a donation to the Tuskegee Institute.
Business Papers comprise the largest group of papers in Stephen III's series. The General business papers, which are arranged chronologically by month, trace much of Stephen's business career. There are receipts, orders, and manifests from the different firms for which he worked as well as for his own businesses, and papers related to his insurance company. The latter document his insurance business and dealings with different companies including Northwestern Mutual. There are letters to and from home offices, district agents, policy holders, and insurance boards and associations; doctor's forms; receipts; accounts; policies; contracts; etc. Other papers found among the General business papers are deeds, contracts, loan notes and related correspondence, and miscellaneous correspondence concerning Stephen's other scattered interests, especially his land dealings. It should be noted that from around 1885 on Stephen IV was working with his father and therefore some of the papers are his. The two can sometimes be distinguished when Stephen III is addressed as “Esquire” and Stephen IV as “Junior.” Since this is not always reliable, Stephen III's and IV's papers are arbitrarily divided by the 9 February 1906 death of Stephen III. The Martindale-Pettibone Company papers include receipts for goods and services, bills, loan notes, correspondence, lists of financial obligations and taxes, deeds, contracts, legal documents, and other papers related to the company's lumber and land interests. There is also a reprint of an 1848 article about the Black River Valley which briefly discusses the company's history. Business Literature and Bank Papers generally contain the same types of materials as these same divisions in Stephen IV's papers. Estate Papers include receipts for funeral expenses and debts, telegrams, and papers concerning the final settlements for both Stephen III and his wife, who preceded him in death by less than two months.
Household Bills and Receipts reflect the daily life of a moderately well-to-do family during the last half of the nineteenth-century. There are bills and receipts for food, furniture, appliances, clothing, material and notions, home improvements, druggist and medical supplies and expenses, food and board for horses, coal, ice, lamp oil, subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, membership dues for societies and churches, and other expenses.
School Papers date mostly from Stephen's years at Wallingford and at the Burr Seminary. Included are numerous essays and compositions on such topics as patriotism, the influence of education on society, intemperance, the pleasures of memory, hospitality, and many others. There are also debate papers, Greek exercises, handwriting exercises, copies of poems and selected prose passages, translations, a letter of recommendation, bills, receipts, and miscellany. These papers, complimented by his correspondence from these years, provide an interesting account of the activities and pursuits of a student during the period.
