Cutler, Lysander, 1807-1866

Cutler was born in Royalston, Massachusetts, the son of a farmer. Despite objections from his father, he desired a better education than the rudimentary courses he received in the local school, so he studied surveying and then began a career as a schoolmaster. Moving to Dexter, Maine, at the age of 21, he was forced to confront unruly pupils who had "flogged and ejected" the last several teachers who had attempted to discipline them. Cutler established his reputation by spending his first day in the "thorough flogging of every bully in the school."

Although he received some military experience fighting Indians as a colonel in the Maine militia in the 1830s, the majority of his time before the Civil War was engaged in a variety of business pursuits. He started a woolen mill, a foundry, a flour mill, and a sawmill, becoming very wealthy in the process. Cutler invested in various factories and in tenement housing. He was prominent in civic affairs as a selectman, director of a railroad, trustee of Tufts College, and a member of the Maine State Senate in 1841. Cutler's woolen mill, built in 1843, burned to the ground in 1853, causing him to lose his entire investment. The financial panic of 1856 and depression of 1857 ruined him financially and he decided to leave Maine and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to restart his career.

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