Term: Choate, Leander 1834 - 1909

Definition: lumberman, businessman, banker, b. Bridgton, Me. He moved to Wisconsin in 1857, and worked as a woods superintendent until 1862 when he formed a lifelong partnership in a lumber firm with J. M. Bray. Choate was associated with the formation of many Oshkosh business firms and helped establish the Oshkosh water works and the Wisconsin Electric Railway. He served as an officer in several banking firms and lumber companies, and had extensive timber holdings on the Pacific coast as well as in the Middle West. Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, Oct. 18, 1909; E. B. Usher, Wis. (8 vols., Chicago, 1914); H. C. Campbell, ed., Wis.... (4 vols., New York [1906]); P. V. Lawson, et al., eds., Hist. of Winnebago Co. (2 vols., Chicago, 1908); Columbian Biog. Dict.... Wis. (Chicago, 1895).