Bio: Badeau, Charles H. (Commemorative Bio - 1895)

Poster: Crystal Wendt

Charles H. Badeau

Charles H. Badeau, one of the prominent and highly respected citizens of Merrill, Lincoln County, is now foreman of the Weidans Sash and Blind Manufactory. He was born in Westchester County, New York, October 5, 1853, and is a son of Hanford S. Badeau, born in the same place in 1818. As the name would indicate the family is of French origin, the grandfather of our subject, Zebediah Badeau, having been born in France. He came to America, however, when a young man and here married Elizabeth Seely, a native of New York, and a daughter of Albert and Elizabeth Seely. By this union four children were born – Alfred, Hanford, Mary and Catherine. The father of this family, who was a carpenter by trade, died in New York in 1877; the mother had passed away some time previous.

Hanford Badeau is a well educated man, and in Westchester County has held several offices, including that of sheriff, which he filled for eight years. He is still a resident of the county, where he is widely and favorably known, and is one of the leading agriculturists. He became a member of the Union Army during the Rebellion, and served with distinction for a year and a half. He was married in 1840 to Miss Anna E. Smith, also a native of the Empire State, and a daughter of Peter and Eliza (Haight) Smith, who were farming people. She is one of a family of five children, the others being Rufus, Henry, Eliza and Mary. Her father was a very prominent man in the vicinity where he resided, and held a number of county offices. He was born in 1800, and during the Mexican War he served first as a private and then as an officer. Both he and his wife died in New York.

The primary education of Charles H. Badeau was obtained in the common schools, but he completed his literary course in Crystal Academy at New Haven, Conn. At the age of seventeen he learned the trade of a machinist, which he followed for a number of years. He came west in 1877, going to northern Manitoba on the government survey, where he remained about eighteen months. He then came to Wisconsin, locating at Oshkosh in 1879, and there operated an engine for some three years, at the expiration of which time he entered a sash and blind factory, beginning as a repairer. In the spring of 1890 he removed to Merrill, where he received employment with the Central Manufacturing Co., serving as superintendent until the plant was destroyed by fire in May, 1894. He now holds the responsible position of foreman of the Weidans Sash and Blind Factory. He has always been faithful to the interests of his employers, and deserves the high estimation in which he is held.

In October, 1877, in Oshkosh, Wis., Mr. Badeau was married to Miss Emma Reed, who was born in Omro Township, Winnebago Co., Wis., in March, 1862, a daughter of James and Eliza (Laning) Reed. She is one of a family of six children, who in order of birth are as follows: Esther, Louise, Emma, Robert, Albain and Albertina. Her father was a native of Scotland, where his birth occurred in 1806, and in that country his parents both died. He had two brothers, Robert and Charles, but he was the only one of the family to come to the United States, where he arrived about 1842. By occupation he was a farmer. His wife’s birth occurred in Ireland in 1830, and she came to the New World with her parents. She had two brothers and four sisters—William, John, Esther, Jane, Fannie and Emma. Mrs. Reed died in 1888, Mr. Reed in1894. He was one of the honored pioneers of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The union of Mr. and Mrs. Badeau has been blessed with seven children –Robert, James, Forrest L., Eva E., Walter R., and Rubie, living, and one son, Charles, deceased in infancy. The parents have many friends in Merrill, and their genuine social and moral worth gives them a high place in the regard of their fellow citizens. Our subject is a member in full standing of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he was formerly a Republican, but now casts his ballot with the Populists, and was elected on that ticket mayor of Merrill in 1892, in which office he served for one year, proving a popular executive.

---Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin Counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano. publ. 1895 by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago 1110 pages, illustrated; Page 1081-1082