SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Eusebius Bassingdale Garton, Page 725

EUSEBIUS BASSINGDALE GARTON, the President of the Garton Toy Company, of Sheboygan, was born near Toronto, Canada, August 16, 1843.  His parents, John and Mary (Bassingdale) Garton, were natives of Yorkshire, England.  In 1830 they emigrated to Canada, where the father carried on a farm, and also served as a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years.  His death occurred in 1876, he being about seventy-five years of age.  His estimable wife, who is now in her eighty-seventh year, still lives near Toronto, being quite hale.  Of their ten children, four sons and six daughters, seven are living.

    E. B. Garton is the seventh in order of birth in the above family.  Until twenty-three years of age he gave his father the benefit of his services.  The district schools furnished him all the educational privileges he ever enjoyed.  When nine years old, he began to work in the fields, and five years later took charge of the farm.  His eldest brother having left home to learn a grade, and the next elder being lame, young Eusebius was the main dependence of the family.  Having remained in his native land until 1864, Mr. Garton went to Sheboygan Falls, and for a time was employed in a sawmill.  The succeeding ten years he was employed by Mr. Zufeld in the manufacturing of hubs.  For four years he worked for the Sheboygan Manufacturing Company, acquiring in the mean time some interest in the plant.  But as an attempt was made by the large stockholders to "freeze out" the small ones, Mr. Garton traded his stock for a planing-mill, at the foot of Eighth Street, and in connection with its operation manufactured cigar-boxes.  The second year, he took up the manufacture of boys' wagons and wooden toys.  In 1891, the plant burned, incurring a loss of $40,000, half covered by insurance.

    Four years previous, in 1887, the Garton Toy Company was incorporated, with a capital stock of $50,000.  The officers of the company are:  E. B. Garton, President; C. C. Ladenberger, Vice-President; and W. E. Zimmermann, Secretary and Treasurer.  The company employs about one hundred hands.  The establishment and success of this enterprise are mainly due to the industry and business ability of Mr. Garton.

    On the 11th of January, 1865, was celebrated, in Sheboygan Falls, the marriage of Mr. Garton and Miss Nancy Goodell.  The lady is a native of the Badger State, a daughter of Newton Goodell, a pioneer of this State, and a niece of William Goodell, the noted missionary of Constantinople. Of this union five children have been born, three of whom died in childhood.  The living are Edith May and Clarence E.

    Mr. Garton is Steward and Trustee in the Methodist Episcopal Church, where he and wife have been faithful workers for many years.  Politically, he is a Republican.

    Even-tempered and genial in his intercourse with his fellow-men, Mr. Garton makes friends readily, and holds them by the attractive force of Christian manhood.