WI BIO - Dane Co - VAN SLYKE, Napoleon B.
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, pp 466-467

Napoleon B. VAN SLYKE, president of the First National Bank of Madison [Dane 
County], Wisconsin, was born in Saratoga County, New York, 21 December 1822. 
His [Napoleon's] father, Daniel VAN SLYKE, was born in Onondaga County, New 
York, and the grandfather of our subject, Gerrett VAN SLYKE, was born in 
Herkimer County [probably means Montgomery County*], New York of early 
Holland ancestry. He [Gerrett] was a farmer and spent his entire life in his 
native State [New York]. The father of our subject [Daniel VAN SLYKE] 
adopted the profession of civil engineer and had charge of the construction 
of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, from Georgetown to Harper's Ferry. He was 
also engaged with DeWitt CLINTON, Jr., in the construction of the ship canal, 
connecting Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers in Georgia. He [Daniel VAN SLYKE] 
died in Onondaga County, New York, in 1831, aged thirty-one years. [* The 
following is given in the bio: the subject was born 21 December 1822, the 
subject's father died in 1831, aged 31 (thus born about 1800), and the 
subject's grandfather was born in Herkimer County, NY. Herkimer County was 
created 16 February 1791, thus this is the earliest date on which the 
grandfather's birth could have occurred. If the father was born about 1800, 
it is unlikely the grandfather was born between 16 February 1791 and 1800. 
The conclusion that the grandfather was probably born in Herkimer County's 
parent county, Montgomery County (created 12 March 1772), is further based on 
submitter's knowledge of similar cases in other biographies in this work, 
where a given county or territory name is inappropriate to the time frame of 
the event with which it is associated. More often than not, the biographers 
were correct about the geographic areas where events took place, but they 
failed at times to accurately take into account the evolution of territories 
and counties in the areas where those events occurred.] 

The maiden name of the mother of our subject [wife of Daniel VAN SLYKE] was 
Laura MEARS, a native of Montgomery [p 467] County, New York, who [as Laura 
(MEARS) VAN SLYKE] died in Onondaga County, New York, in 1842, aged 
thirty-eight. The maternal grandparents of our subject, James and Louis 
[Louise? Louisa?] MEARS, were natives of Vermont, who came to Wisconsin [the 
Territory of Wisconsin if they came from 20 April 1836 until Wisconsin became 
a state, 29 May 1848] and spent their last years here, the grandfather living 
to the age of ninety, and the grandmother to the age of eighty-five years.

The subject [Napoleon B. VAN SLYKE] commenced adult life as a farmer from 
1844 to 1850, in Cayuga County, New York, and then engaged in business at 
Syracuse [now in Onondaga County], New York, thence he came to Madison [Dane 
County, Wisconsin], early in 1853, where he organized the Dane County Bank, 
subsequently changed to the First National. When the civil war broke out he 
was Assistant Quartermaster of the State until the Government took charge of 
supplying the army, and was then in the United States Quartermaster's 
Department until the war closed. He was commissioned from Captain to 
Lieutenant Colonel in this department, and had full charge of furnishing all 
quartermaster supplies for the Wisconsin soldiers throughout the State. 
Since that time he has been president of the First National Bank, No. 144, 
the successor of the Dane County Bank. He was Regent of the State University 
for many years and chairman of it executive committee for twelve years. He 
is now the president of the Wisconsin Bankers' Association and an active 
member of the council of the American Bankers' Association. He is also vice 
president of the Savings, Loan, and Trust Company, and president of three or 
four other corporations.

He [Napoleon B. VAN SLYKE] was married in 1844, at Sennett, Cayuga County, 
New York, to Laura SHELDON, a native of New York, and a daughter of Hon. E. 
W. SHELDON, by which marriage there are two children, Laura and S. W. 
Sheldon. He was again married in 1859, to Annie CORBETT, daughter of Cooper 
CORBETT, of Corbettsville [now in Broome County], New York, and by this 
marriage has but one son, James M.

He has been one of the most successful business men of Madison [Dane County, 
Wisconsin] and prominently identified with all the interests of the city, 
county, and State. He was largely instrumental in making the first 
substantial improvements in the city, in erecting the City Hall, and in 
selecting the site for and improving Forest Hill cemetery. For a time he 
engaged in the lumber business in northern Wisconsin. Intelligent, capable 
and progressive, honorable, generous, and courteous, he holds a deservedly 
high position in the esteem of his fellow men.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly