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Biography For Walther McIndoe

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Author:
Bill Hart

Background:

Walter McIndoe was born on March 28, 1819 at Holdens Mill, Dunbartonshire, Scotland to Hugh and Catherine (McRae) McIndoe.  At age fifteen, he emigrated to the United States, living first in New York City where he worked as a clerk in a large mercantile house.  He was later employed as a salesman in Charleston, SC, and then St. Louis, MO.  On February 20, 1845, he was married in Florisant, MO to Miss Catherine Harriet Ann Taylor, daughter of John B. and Catherine (Spaulding) Taylor.

Accomplishments:

Shortly after his marriage, Walter made his first trip to the pineries of northern Wisconsin.  Returning to St. Louis, he stayed there for two years. In 1847, he once again left with his wife and established a home in Wausau.  He devoted all his energies to the development of the lumber business.  His operations soon became quite extensive and he became well-known to the people of Wisconsin as one of the most enterprising and prosperous men of the State. As a lumberman, he was known by all those in business circles in Wisconsin.  More than anyone else, he was responsible for turning a small collection of mills at Big Bull Falls on the Wisconsin River into a growing town.  He would even give it the new name of “Wausau.”  He was, then, in two senses, the first citizen of Wausau.  He was the first to come to the place with the idea of making it a home, and the first and driving figure behind the effort to make it a community.

Mr. McIndoe was as prominent in politics as in business life.  An energetic man of strong convictions, he was a force in shaping the political status of the infant State of Wisconsin.  In 1848 he actively pushed for statehood for Wisconsin.  In 1849 he was elected to the State Assembly as a Whig, and was a prominent member of that body in the 1850 session.  He was instrumental in adoption of the bill which set off Marathon County from Portage County.  After its passage in 1850, he chose the name Marathon for the newly-created county and Wausau as the name of the county seat.  In 1857, Walter was a prominent candidate for governor before the State Republican Convention.  In 1862 he was elected to Congress, re-elected in 1864 and served until 1867.  There he worked diligently to represent the interests of central Wisconsin and introduced the legislation that was responsible for the construction of the Wisconsin Central Railroad Line to Lake Superior.

 

While still in the prime of his life at age 52, Walter McIndoe passed away on August 22, 1872 and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau, WI.   

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Other Information

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Date of Birth: 3-28-1819

Place of Birth: Scotland

Date of Death: 8-22-1872

Place of Burial: Pine Grove Cemetery Wausau, WI

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