The Witter-Mead Family of Wisconsin Rapids
Family Research Discovery
Growing up in the small Central Wisconsin city of Wisconsin Rapids, the "Mead" name was the most famous family name in this city on the banks of the Wisconsin River.
The Mead family were the owners of Consolidated Papers, the biggest paper mill in Wisconsin and one of the bigger mills in the United States.
Read on....
As a child I attended kindergarten at "Mead Elementary School" and went swimming at the "Mead West Side Pool". I Ice Skated at both Witter Field and Mead Field Ice Rinks. I went to minor league baseball games at Witter Field.
My Uncle Clyde worked at the "Mead" paper mill as did many of my friend's parents.
The "Mead Inn" Hotel was the grandest hotel in town and myself and my family spent alot of time there in its restaurants and indoor pool and as and adult visiting my hometown I spent many nights there.
While researching some family history a few days ago, I came across biographies of George W. Mead and his wife Ruth Witter.
As I was digging through their family lines I discovered that I and my family were related to Ruth Witter Mead through a shared ancestry from my mother Marlene Dietz Repinski and her paternal line through her father Ray Deitz via a set of 9th Great Grandparents that we share with Ruth Witter Mead......needless to say I was wowed!
So....Ruth Witter Mead is our 7th cousin three times removed.
She and George's son, Stanton Mead, would be our 8th cousin 2 times removed and his son George W. Mead II is our 9th cousin one time removed.
Shared Ancestry
The ancestry that my family shares with George and his grandmother descends from our common ancestors who lived in the 17th century in Colonial New England.
Children of George and Ann
- John bapt 16 June 1646 d. 1698 married Phebe Lay.
- Ann bapt. 20 May 1649 d. 1694 married Gershom Palmer.
- Borodell b. c. 1651 d. 11 Jan. 1702 married Saml Stanton.
- George b. c. 1653 d. 27 Dec. 1711 married Mercy Gorham, a Mayflower descendant
- William b. c. 1655 d. 26 Mar. 1715 married Sarah Prentice.
- Margaret b.c. 1657 d. 5 May 1741 married James Brown Jr.
- Mercy b. c. 1659 d. 10 Mar 1670/1
The Witter-Mead Ancestry from George and Ann Denison
William Denison, the 5th child of George and Ann, would be the line that would descend down to JD Witter and his daughter Ruth who would marry George W. Mead.
William Denison (1655-1715) & Sarah Stanton (1655-1713)
George Denison (1692-1777) & Lucy Gallup (1701-1793)
Mercy Denison (1730-1821) & Elisha Gallup (1727-1800) (first cousins)
Marcy Gallup (1753-1838) & Willard Cotton (1757-1828)
Persis/Percy Cotton (1786-1883) & Joseph Langworthy (1781-1860)
Calista Langworthy (1807-1874) & Josiah Witter (1805-1872)
Jerimiah Delos (JD) Witter (1835-1902) & Emily Phelps (1840-1914)
Ruth Witter (1875-1939) & George W. Mead I (1871-1961)
Stanton W. Mead (1900-1988) & Dorothy Williams (1904-1966)
George W. Mead II (1927-2022) & Helen Anderson (Living)
The Deitz-Repinski Ancestry from George and Ann Denison
Margaret Denison, the 6th child of George and Ann, would be the line that would descend down to myself and my siblings and their children through our mother, Marlene Deitz Repinski.
Margaret Denison (1657-1741) & James Brown (1655-1718)
Dorothy Brown (1694-1738) & Nathanial Medbury (1691-1736)
Deliverance Medbury (1721-1820) & Daniel Brown (1709-1784)
Nathanial Brown (1763-1798) & Hilda Briggs (1764-1825)
Nathanial A Brown (1794-1875) & Jerusha Hutchinson (1776-1860)
Chester F Brown (1824-1897) & Mary E Smith (1822-1913)
Eleanor Brown (1858-1921) & Henry Dietz (1854-1937)
Henry C Dietz (1885-1954) & Grace E Pope (1891-1963)
Raymond H Dietz (1912-1973) & Modesta Kosmeder (1914-1971)
Marlene G Dietz (1936-1999) & Maurice Repinski (1933-2020)
Jane (1962), John (1966) James (1967), Jacklyn (1969), Jeffry (1974) Repinski
&
Children of Jane Repinski: Jennifer Reinert (1980), Ashley Reinert (1984)
&
Children of Jacklyn Repinski Brown: Josh Langmo (1981), Hailey Brown (2001)
&
Children of Jeff Repinski: Nathan, Ethan & Carter
A Brief History of
The "Witter-Mead" Family of Wisconsin Rapids Wis.
Jeremiah Delos (JD) Witter
(1835-1902)
6th Cousin 4 times removed
When Jeremiah Delos Witter was born on 18 September 1835, in Brookfield, Madison, New York, United States, his father, Josiah Witter, was 30 and his mother, Calista Langworthy, was 27.
He married Emily Leone Phelps on 16 February 1860.
They were the parents of 2 sons and 2
daughters.
1862–1865
1868–1874
1873–1942
1875–1939
JD died on 22 March 1902, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, at the age of 66, and was buried in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States.
The following account of the life of Jerre D. Witter is taken from the Wood County Reporter of
March 27, 1902, almost exactly as it appears in that issue.
Born in New York
Jerre D. Witter was born in Brooklyn, Madison County, New York, September 18th , 1835. His
parents were poor and hard working farmers. His education was that in general received in close
application to the work laid before him on the farm..
In 1850 he came with his parents to the
Town of Dakota, Waushara County, Wisconsin. Here he again helped his father on the farm and
continued until he was eighteen years of age. The boy soon began to feel that his activities
needed a broader field. The same year that he left the farm he entered the law office of his
brother-in-law, W. C. Webb at Wautoma, Wis.
In May 1859 he came to Grand Rapids to be
admitted to the bar, but returned again the same year to Wautoma.
In 1860 Mr. Witter married Emelie Phelps, in Friendship, New York. He & Emelie had two children, Ruth Witter Mead and Isaac P. Witter, both of this city.
Came Here in 1860
It was in December, 1860, the year of his marriage, that he came to make Grand Rapids his
permanent home. He practiced law eight years in partnership with Judge Webb. He served the
people successfully both as District Attorney and County Judge. His extremely logical mind
would have made him prominent in the legal profession, but he saw larger fields in other
directions than law.
He thus gradually took up real estate, insurance, lumber and banking
interests. Thru perseverance, pluck and honest dealings, he soon became interested in various
enterprises in the state, until, at the time of his death, he was known as one of the wealthiest and
progressive men in the Wisconsin Valley.
In 1872 he founded the First National Bank of Grand Rapids, and in 1898 re-organized the Bank
of Centralia. He has always been the executive of these banks, and has at all times been found
conservative and safe to trust. His lumbering interests have been extensive. He has been a
stockholder in almost all the important business ventures in Grand Rapids.
Held Extensive Interests
He has been identified with almost all the paper mills in the Wisconsin Valley. He had extensive
interests in three paper mills at Appleton. At home he was stockholder in the South Centralia
Paper Mill and the Biron Paper Mill.
He also had shares in the Johnson & Hill Co.’s store,
Oberbeck Furniture Co. and the Grand Rapids Milling Co., and the Commercial National Bank
of Appleton. Besides these interests in Wisconsin, Mr. Witter had interests in cattle in Texas, and
rice in Louisiana and some banking interests in Dakota.
Thruout his entire career, Mr. Witter avoided political office, yet his official service to Wood
county, and the City of Grand Rapids was of inestimable worth. He held that any man had a right
to refuse to serve in any public office that paid a compensation, but that it was the duty of every
good citizen to serve so far as he was able in those public offices that yielded no pay.
Thru his generous donations to libraries alone, thousands of souls in this and adjoining counties
have daily drawn and enjoyed an inspiration to higher and nobler life.
Cleared County Government
At an early date in county history, when corruption was ruling our county government, Mr.
Witter was one of the first who dared to enter protest against the rule of dishonesty. He was
elected a member of the County Board by the better element in the community. Largely thru his
influence and by the courageous stand that he and a few of his colleagues took was the county
government vested from the gang that had for years misruled and looted its treasury.
Once the power of corruption was destroyed, he stepped aside and let the others benefit
politically by his work. He sought no city office but at times served on its council and at one time
in the capacity of mayor. His opinion was often desired on important questions of city
management.
For a full quarter of century he served continually on the Board of Education. And on that Board
no member’s opinion carried greater weight than his. He never advocated his opinions with great
ardor, but when his opinion was once formed he stated it with such clearness and dignity that it
was usually accepted as correct without further question. He was always willing to accept good suggestions from others and in passing those suggestions on he was careful to give credit to those
from whom the suggestions came. Briefly stated, in public office Mr. Witter was always found
standing in the position that good judgment and honesty pointed out as right.
Helped Build Library
But not alone did he serve the public in the way already mentioned. Indeed his public services in
those capacities was small compared with his services in molding public character throughout
the influence of our public library.
From the time of the incorporation of the T. B. Scott Free
Public Library on this city, in 1889 to 1901, when he stepped aside to give his son his place, he
served on the Board of Directors of that corporation. From the first he entered earnestly and
lovingly into the spirit of the good work. His judgment largely dictated the character of the first
list of books that was purchased for the Library. We doubt whether a list of purer, more elevating
and more enabling books could be made than that list contained.
When it became apparent that
the $5,000 donated by Mr. Scott was not enough to supply the needs of the public library, he first
saw that fact, and no sooner did he realize that the good influence of the library was limited by
lack of funds, than he donated to the library a sum equal to the original donation by Mr. Scott. It
was suggested at the time of that donation that his name be placed by the side of Mr. Scott’s in
the name of the library. He absolutely refused, however, to permit this, saying that "If the good
influence of the library was increased, the sole purpose of his gift was accomplished."
He also
saw the great need and value of a well equipped reading room in connection with the library.
When the "Traveling Library" idea was new, Mr. Witter at once recognized the vast possibilities
of good lying within the scope of that idea Without waiting for the working out of the details of
the plan, he donated a thousand dollars to equip traveling libraries to circulate in this and
adjoining counties. He continually encouraged its growth and usefulness until today we have
forty-two of these traveling libraries going forth as messengers of good among the people.
Death and Bequests to the City he adopted
Mr. Witter died at the city of Chicago, March 22, 1902, after undergoing a serious operation.
Before he left for Chicago realizing the serious nature of his ailment and the danger of an
operation, he carefully prepared his will in which he left to the schools of the city of Grand
Rapids, $50,000, to each church, regardless of denomination, $1,000, and to the library the sum
on $5,000.
Ruth Witter Mead
(1875-1939)
7th Cousin three times removed
When Ruth Emily Witter was born on 29 October 1875, in Friendship, Friendship, Allegany, New York, United States, her father, Jeremiah Delos Witter, was 40 and her mother, Emily Leone Phelps, was 35.
She married George Wilson Mead on 18 October 1889, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States.
They were the parents of two sons and 1 daughter.
1900–1988
1903–1964
1905–1990
She died on 24 August 1939, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States, at the age of 63.
Mead, Ruth W. (1875 - 1939)
[Source: 100 Years of Pictorial & Descriptive History of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin by T.A. Taylor]
A tribute by Stanton W. Mead -
Mrs. Mead was the wife of George W. Mead and the daughter of the late Jere D. Witter and Emily L. Witter of this
city. Mrs. Mead was born in this city, then called Grand Rapids, on October 29, 1875, and died in this same city
August 24, 1939 at her beautiful residence on The Island.
Mr. Isaac P. Witter is a surviving brother and Mrs. R. F. Johnson is a surviving sister by adoption. The J. D. Witter residence was on Third Street South on the site of the present residence of Mr. and Mrs. I. P. Witter.
{This home on 3rd Street is now the South Wood County Historical Museum}
Mrs. Mead attended the local schools, graduating from the Howe High School, following that was a member of the
Class of 1896 at the University of Wisconsin and finished her education by a year of travel and study in Europe,
at Lausanne, Switzerland, Paris, and Berlin. She enjoyed French literature and French conversation throughout her
life.
Her marriage to George W. Mead of Rockford, Illinois took place on October 18, 1899. They resided at Rockford until
the fall of 1902 when they moved to Wisconsin Rapids, Together they planned and built their beautiful home on The
Island in 1912, and in 1930 they acquired and improved their Miami Beach home in Florida where subsequent winters
have been spent.
Mrs. Mead sustained a strong loyalty to Wisconsin Rapids, its institutions and its people, all through life. She
was bound to the community be tradition, by friendships, by having shared in its development, by continued interest
in the pulse of its activity. New generations came under her loving observation from the minute of birth, so there
was hardly a child which she could not identify and place in the pattern of relationships and connections. As High
School graduating classes came on, year after year, her mail box became laden with Commencement Invitation cards
sent by her admirers and each was favored with a remembrance.
Mrs. Mead's choice of friends and appraisal of character was based on what one term true values. She tolerated
no superficiality, hypocrisy, not inconsistency. She believed in the deep, abiding principles of Christianity,
actively, persistently, - by personal example and by encouragement of them in others. She loved people, forming
her friendships among those in all circumstances, and in all fields of endeavor. People loved her, enjoying their
contacts with her and delightful conversations when meeting her.
Mrs. Mead loved beauty in all forms. Her appreciation of it was contagious and inspired others. She expressed this
love of beauty creatively in her home and gardens, she fostered it for others in supporting art and beauty in literature,
music, drama, painting, and architecture. She supported every civic undertaking of this nature and offered her
home on many occasions for concerts and lectures.
Mrs. Mead loved most of all her home and family, fulfilling first her position as wife and mother. Her family life
with Mr. Mead, her three children, her two daughters-in-law and one son-in-law, and her nine grandchildren continued
as a constant course of happiness and inspiration to her. Second only to her home was the interest in the Congregational
church and in the Church and Sunday School activities, which she supported and in which she exercised leadership
and devoted attention throughout her life.
Mrs. Ruth W. Mead is survived by her husband, George W. Mead, by her two sons, Stanton W. Mead and Walter L. Mead,
by her daughter, Mrs. Emily M. Baldwin, and by nine grandchildren.
 |
| The Witter House now Wood County Historical Museum |
George Wilson Mead
(1871-1961)
Husband of 6th Cousin
When George Wilson Mead was born on 22 February 1871, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, his father, Darius Raymond Mead, was 38 and his mother, Abigail Crane Spare, was 34.
He married Ruth Emily Witter on 18 October 1889, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States.
They were the parents of 2 sons and 1 daughter.
He lived in Galena, Jo Daviess, Illinois, United States in 1880 and Grand Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States for about 15 years.
He died on 2 October 1961, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States, at the age of 90, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States.
Source: History of Wood County, Wisconsin (1923) compiled by George O. Jones, pages 603-604
George W. Mead, president and general manager of the Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co., Wisconsin Rapids, was born in Chicago, Feb. 22, 1871, the year of the great fire there.
His father was a lumber merchant and was one of the prominent men who helped to rebuild that great city from its mass of ruins. George W. attended school in Chicago in the primary grades, until the family moved to Galena and from there to Rockford, Ill., where he completed his grade school work and was graduated from the Rockford High School with the class of 1888.
He then entered Beloit College, where he remained for a year, transferring to the University of Wisconsin, where he completed his college course, taking the Bachelor of Arts degree with the class of 1894. He early developed the keen business instinct which has been the guiding power in his career of success, for he chose to earn his way through the university instead of depending on his family for support. College training in those days was regarded more as an individual matter for the student to decide, and the finishing of a man's education with a college degree was not taken as a matter of course, at least not by George W. Mead. Instead of coming out of college owing money he emerged with a substantial bank account of his own, besides being the proud possessor of his diploma which recorded him as one of the best students in his class.
Several years before he actually located here, and years before he ever dreamed of making this place his home, a business trip brought Mr. Mead to Wisconsin Rapids, where he was the guest for a short time of Joseph and Arsene Arpin, college friends. The river was a raging torrent at the time of his visit and he stood on its banks, marveling at the beauty and thrilled by a sense of its great power in its onrushing waters.
It was a strange coincidence that he should visit here, little thinking that he should return some day to build a great industry on the site of that great falls which should make this city famous as a producer of paper. Following his graduation from the University Mr. Mead engaged in the furniture business with his brother in Rockford, Ill., where they had developed a splendid business.
Mr. and Mrs. Mead made their home there until early in 1902, when he was called to this city to assist in the business affairs which were left unfinished by the untimely death of J. D. Witter. That visit here in 1902 was only a temporary one, as far as the ideas of Mr. Mead were concerned.
The death of the elder Witter had made necessary additional management of the affairs of the Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co., which was then in its very infancy. Mr. Mead knew very little about paper manufacturing, but he was keen in his desire to solve the company's problems, put it on the path of success, and then return to the Illinois city.
The unexpected death of Nels Johnson, president and executive head of the new company, in the East, where he had gone to purchase paper-machinery, completely altered the situation, and from then on George W. Mead realized that he had a man-sized job to perform and knew full well that it was not a matter of a few months of assistance but years of work to advance the company to the place it was designed to occupy.
Thus was a young retail merchant forced by circumstances into an unexpected position, which resulted not only to his own advantage, but also greatly to the advantage of the community in which he took up his new home.
Stanton Witter Mead
(1900-1988)
8th Cousin Twice Removed
When Stanton Witter Mead was born on 2 September 1900, in Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois, United States, his father, George Wilson Mead, was 29 and his mother, Ruth Emily Witter, was 24.
He married Dorothy Elizabeth Williams on 1 September 1926, in Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States.
They were the parents of two sons:
1927–2022
1930–2007
He died on 11 November 1988, in Marshfield, Wood, Wisconsin, United States, at the age of 88, and was buried in Wisconsin Rapids, Wood, Wisconsin, United States.
Brief Biography of Stanton Mead
Stanton W. Mead (1900-1988), the former president and chairman of Consolidated Papers Inc. in Wisconsin Rapids was born in Rockford, Illinois. His early education was in Wisconsin Rapids schools. Leaving the city, he attended Hotchkiss Preparatory School prior to enrollment in Yale University. Following his graduation from Yale in 1922, Mr. Mead began his career in the paper industry when he joined Consolidated Paper, Inc. He was elected a director in 1927 and was in administration as treasurer, vice president, and president at Consolidated papers until his retirement in 1971.
Mead emphasized sustained yields on company managed lands. He encouraged the initiation of an industrial forestry operations program within the company and hired their first forester in 1930. Mead believed that trees used by the company should be replaced, not only as a wise business practice, but also because it was an obligation toward the land and its people.
Throughout his career, Mead took a keen interest in conservation progress in Wisconsin, particularly in the field of forest management. He was instrumental in the founding of Trees for Tomorrow, Inc., a nonprofit organization of Wisconsin paper and power companies dedicated to the advancement of reforestation in Wisconsin. He was a director of this organization for many years
During his years as a paper manufacturer, he gave time and energy to the successful development of the Wisconsin River to control flood waters and secure an even supply of water for power purposes. He served as director and president of Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company, the company which developed the reservoir system on the Wisconsin River, and which regulates the river’s flow.
Mead was active in pollution abatement programs of the former Sulphite Pulp Manufacturers’ research league, an organization of United States pulp mills which was organized to find economic, non-polluting uses for by-products of the sulphite pulping process. He was a trustee of this organization when it was organized in 1939 and served as its president from 1954 to 1965,
He was the motivator for the gift to the State of 20,000 acres of land in central Wisconsin. Now known as the Mead Wildlife Area, this gift came about largely as a result of Mead’s interest in conservation and the enthusiasm he developed for the project when he discovered the potential value of this area to the entire State. His conservation efforts were recognized in 1968 when he received a special conservation award from the State of Wisconsin
Stanton Mead had a great interest in education and youth projects. He served as trustee for Lawrence College and the Institute of Paper Science, and as a director, vice president and treasurer of South Wood County YMCA.
He was a long time leader in the Boy Scouts and President of Samoset Council, Boy Scouts of America from which he was awarded the America Silver Beaver Award. Mead also received the Region 7 Boy Scouts of America Silver Antelope Award for outstanding service to boyhood in the community, state and nation. He was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Wisconsin Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce in 1959 and the Wisconsin Rapids Rotary Club named him a Paul Harris Fellow in 1981.
George W. Mead II
(1927-2022)
9th Cousin Once Removed
 |
| Stanton Mead and Father George Mead II |
When George Witter Mead was born on 11 October 1927, in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, his father, Stanton Witter Mead, was 27 and his mother, Dorothy Elizabeth Williams, was 23.
He is the grandson of George Wilson Mead and Ruth Witter Mead; and the great-grandson of J.D. and Emily Witter, all of Wisconsin Rapids. During his college years, he married Helen Anderson in Connecticut. He later married Susan Feith in Wisconsin Rapids.
At the time of his death, he continued to serve as chairman of the Mead Witter Foundation, Inc., a family philanthropic foundation. George was the motivating force for the Foundation's recent gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which created the Mead Witter Foundation concert hall in its new performance building on University Avenue, and for which the University conferred the honor of naming the music school the Mead Witter School of Music. He also founded the Wisconsin River Papermaking Museum in Wisconsin Rapids and often personally conducted tours for school children who visited the museum.
Mead was chairman and CEO of Consolidated Papers, Inc., from 1971 to 1993. He continued to serve as chairman until 2000 when the company was purchased by Stora Enso, Oyj, a paper company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. He was then invited to serve on the Stora Enso board of directors, a position he held until 2004.
George joined Consolidated in 1952, the company his great-grandfather started in 1894. He began as a chemical engineer and progressed to production manager and quality manager before becoming vice president of operations in 1962. He was elected a corporate director in 1963. In 1966, George became president and chief executive officer, the position he held until 1971 when he was named chairman and CEO. Under Mead's leadership the company grew to nearly $2 billion in sales, was designated a Fortune 500 company, and became known as the world's leading producer of coated printing papers for magazines, catalogs and annual reports. The company was valued at $4.8 billion at the time of its sale.
Throughout his career, George took a keen interest in business affairs. He served on a variety of corporate boards including Snap-on Tools Corporation, Kenosha, Wis.; Soo Line Corporation, Minneapolis, Minn.; Thiele Kaolin Company, Sandersville, Ga.; Firstar Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis.; First Wisconsin Bank of Wisconsin Rapids; and Mountain National Bank, Woodland Park, Colo.
More locally, following in the tradition of both the Witter and Mead family support of community, George worked his entire life to improve and preserve open park space for public use along the banks of the Wisconsin River. On the day of his death, a new park funded by the Mead Witter Foundation opened in downtown Wisconsin Rapids overlooking the river he loved. He had quietly toured the park several weeks before.
George's other local involvement included service on the library board, providing leadership during construction of the current community library; leadership to the local Riverview Hospital Association; terms on the local chamber of commerce board; time as trustee of the First Congregational Church; and membership in the Wisconsin Rapids Rotary Club from 1958 until his death.
George was an accomplished downhill skier, a sport he continued until well over 85 years of age. He skied the Colorado mountains with hometown friends, business friends, but was especially happy to be on the slopes with his grandson and other family members who skied.
Dixieland jazz was George's favorite music. He enthusiastically supported the Madison Jazz Society and also assisted in the archiving at Stanford University of the Jim Cullum Riverwalk Jazz concerts long aired on Wisconsin Public Radio. George personally sponsored or recruited many musicians to perform in the local McMillan Library, a building he guided through construction in the 1970s. He could often be found on concert night in the back row of the theater thoroughly enjoying the music. Concert goers, most of whom he knew by first name, often came to shake his hand as they left. He also saw to it that the Mead Witter Foundation subsidized concerts through the recent years of national economic recession, when free library concerts provided an evening of entertainment for community residents.
Mead received his early education in Wisconsin Rapids and then attended Hotchkiss Preparatory School, Lakeville, Conn., prior to enrolling in Yale University, New Haven, Conn. After graduation from Yale in 1950, with a degree in chemistry, Mead went on to receive an M.S. degree from the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wis., in 1952.
Gilbert Dunbar Mead
(1930-2007)
9th Cousin Once Removed
 |
| Gilbert Mead and wife Jaylee |
Background
Mead, Gilbert Dunbar was born on May 31, 1930 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Stanton Witter and Dorothy Elizabeth (Williams) Mead.
Education
Bachelor of Science, Yale University, 1952; Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1962; Juris Doctor, U. Maryland., 1991.
Career
Physicist theoretical division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland., 1962-1974; head geophysics branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland., 1974-1979; geophysicist crustal dynamics project, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, 1979-1987. Board directors, member nominating committee Consolidated Papers, Inc., Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, since 1974.
Achievements
Works
Membership
Trustee Beloit College, 1976-1987, Mead Family Foundation, since 1989, Arena Stage, Washington, since 1991, Levine School Music, Washington, since 1996, WashingtonChamber Symphony, since 1996. Member Maryland. Bar, District of Columbia Bar.
Connections
Married Jaylee Montague, November 18, 1968.
Children: Elizabeth, Diana, Stanton, Robert.
The Rise of The Consolidated Power & Paper Company
Consolidated Papers
It was the most important development in city history.
“A new move has just been made by a number of the leading business men of the twin cities [Grand Rapids and Centralia] which cannot fail to be of the most beneficial and far reaching consequences upon the growth of the twin cities. It is a move which has been hoped for and talked of for years and years.”
The sentiments from both the Centralia Enterprise and Grand Rapids Tribune in August 1894 celebrated the beginning of the Consolidated Water Power Co.
After fighting in court for years to consolidate the several smaller sites along the river’s edge, one of the visionaries wouldn’t see his dreams become reality.
That was Jere Delos (J.D.) Witter who died in 1902 following a failed operation for Bright’s disease. Witter’s final moments were spent surrounded by his family: his wife (Emily Phelps Witter), son (Isaac, who later built the house that became the South Wood County Historical Museum), daughter (Ruth Witter Mead) and son-in-law (George W. Mead, a furniture dealer in Rockford, Ill.)
It would be left to Witter’s partner, Nels Johnson, to keep the project going.
Johnson turned to J.D.’s son, Isaac, to aid in continuing his father’s dream. But the more cautious Isaac asked his brother-in-law, George Mead, to stay “for a week or two” and help out.
In 1902, with investments from locals and a loan from the Wisconsin National Bank of Milwaukee for at least $150,000, “Consolidated Water Power” added “Paper Co.” to its name and over a century of papermaking began.
Dreams Become Reality
As Consolidated was moving along in its plans for a paper mill, dam and a power house, another tragedy befell the company when Nels Johnson died.
Following the Johnson funeral, the Witters turned to George Mead again. After all, he had experience constructing a large building and running a business in Rockford, so, would he stay with Consolidated until a paper man was to be found? He agreed and his first task was the building of a dam. His daughter, Emily Baldwin Bell, related that Mead would wake up in the middle of the night and go and sit on the rock by the rapids, planning the all-important dam.
It was completed in March 1904 and the mill in April of the same year. In June, Consolidated shipped the first carload of newsprint to the Los Angeles Times. The Grand Rapids mill had made history as the only paper making operation which used electrically-powered machinery.
Continuing Growth
In 1911, the Grand Rapids Paper Co. mill at Biron was acquired, followed by the Interlake Pulp & Paper Co., Appleton, and the Stevens Point paper mill and hydroelectric plant. In 1920, through their Newaygo Timber Company, the company purchased timberland acreage in Ontario, Canada, that led to building of a paper mill in Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay.
In a stroke of good luck, Consolidated sold the Thunder Bay mill just before the Great Depression of 1929. While the rest of the country struggled with unemployment, Consolidated changed to a four-day work week, which allowed them to continue with no layoffs to their employees.
Also, during the Depression years of the 1930s, Consolidated adopted a new process that produced coated paper in a single, high-speed operation, in coordination with the company’s largest client, Life Magazine. The big, fast, new Number 5 paper machine overlooking the Wisconsin river carried the motto “Built for Life-Operated for Life.”
During World War II, Consolidated developed a laminate sheet utilized in the production of aircraft equipment, later called “Consoweld” and used mainly for countertops.
Glory Days
The 1960s began with the production of a lightweight coated paper for magazines and catalogs and in 1962, the corporate name change from Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company to Consolidated Papers Inc. Towards the end of the decade, the $37 million Kraft pulp mill and power complex was constructed.
Growth continued into the 1980s as paper sales were temporarily boosted by the increasing use of personal computers and copy machines. As CPI coated papers thrived in direct-mail advertising and color inserts in newspapers, the company celebrated the River Block, a new office building in Wisconsin Rapids that, by the mid ’80s, housed the world headquarters of the planet’s largest producer of enamel papers.
Among the further acquisitions of the 20th Century were Wisconsin River Division, Castle Rock Container Co., the Niagara, Wis., paper mill, Lake Superior Paper, Superior Recycled Fiber and “Repap USA.” Major improvements and expansions were made to the Biron and Stevens Point mills. The big #16 machine in Rapids became one of the world’s largest. Consolidated at its peak was listed as a Fortune 500 company and owned over 600,000 acres of forest land.
For stockholders, employees and townspeople alike, nothing seemed more secure. Nearly 30 percent of the employees had been with the company for more than 20 years and their children had the privilege of continuing the tradition. Continuing as a family-run company, CPI was able to keep up with the times while pursuing a conservative fiscal course and for the most part avoiding debt.
In the early 1990s, an economic recession facing the industry foreshadowed tough times to come. For the first time, Consolidated would accrue long-term debt.
In 1993, George Mead II stepped down as CEO while remaining chairman of the Board of Directors. His replacement, Patrick F. Brennan, was the first chief executive from outside the Mead family.
As the nation’s economy recovered in the mid-90s, Consolidated once again began expanding. Like the $150 million that went to improving the mill in Stevens Point in order to produce 64,000 tons of specialty paper to be used in food and consumer packaging. Over the next few years, the company surpassed the $1 billion revenue mark. As the new millennium approached, Consolidated was enjoying the last days of glory.
Sold
In 2000, Consolidated was acquired by Stora Enso Oyj., of Helsinki, Finland, for $4.8 billion, making Stora Enso the world leader in coated paper. While the sale was meant to bring the Wisconsin Rapids paper mill along with the Scandinavian company’s other holdings to a global market, the plan never reached its potential, due to a worldwide decline in paper demand, competition from Asian paper manufacturers, an “overconfident management” and a weak U.S. dollar.
During the Stora Enso era, the local paper mill celebrated its centennial.
After seven years, Stora Enso operations in Northern America were sold to NewPage Corporation, Miamisburg, Ohio, for $2.1 billion. NewPage soon filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging in restructured form.
In 2014, NewPage was acquired by Verso of Memphis, Tennessee (they are currently based out of Miamisburg, Ohio), for $1.4 billion.
The new owner would continue to employ 1,700 workers spread between Wisconsin Rapids, Biron and the Steven Point mills.
In 2016, Verso filed for bankruptcy protection after falling $2.4 billion in debt. The company owed around $14 million to nine Wisconsin companies, including Sparhawk trucking in Wisconsin Rapids, Plum Creek timber in Tomahawk (which had purchased 309,000 acres of Stora Enso owned forest in Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan), deBoer Transportation in Blenker and Corenso North America in Wisconsin Rapids.
What Next?
Now comes the news that signals the end of an era.
For the first time in its history, the landmark original Consolidated mill will have a full shutdown.
Verso said paper demand has declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result its Wisconsin Rapids and Duluth mills will be indefinitely closing at the end of July. This action will lay off 902 employees here.
After 116 years, the dream of a prosperous “consolidation” on the river is coming to an end. Only time will tell what will become of what was the world headquarters. Who knows, maybe somebody will be walking along the Wisconsin River and they too will have a dream of what the city will be, what our new identity will become.
No comments:
Post a Comment