. , °-*- * ■■ - " ' \^^ , . „ o'' ■' ' ^ A v*~^C)^ ^°..- %'°^„,:*^^ ^^'-v-vv^ '\^'„,.*\o^' : "'^.^ : %^- /: '^^~<^ %'^- '"'^-.^ :^ ,'^/.;^<;-.% /..v:«;i%°-' >°\-'i;;;;-:\- /\ ■'- . . ,®B^^ ■ CO. _ _ T^ment wliich insure durable results. His organizing and executive abilities are of the first order. He inaucrurated the movement for a conference of governors at Omaha, which Ictl to the creation of a national commission of scientists for the- investigation of the o-rasshopper question. He ascertained the dire condition of the grasshopper sufferers by personal visits to their destitute homes in mid-winter, issued eloquent appeals to public charity in their behalf, and organized an efficient plan of volun- teer aid, through which more than six thousand persons were rescued from a sit- uation verging upon starvation. He will be distinguished as the most paternal of all the governors of Minnesota, as well as one of the ablest, and his name is destined to be cherished in the hearts of a grateful people for his thorough devo- tion to their interests during one of the most trying periods of their frontier ex- perience. Governor Pillsbury's last formal inaugural took place in the opera house at Saint Paul, on the i ith of January, 1878. From the masterly address of the Gov- ernor on that occasion, we make the following extracts, as showing the position he occupies on a few of the leading questions of importance to the state, and his radical views concerning the payment of the state bonded debt. After making a gratifying comparison of the present with the previous year, and noting the vari- ous causes for renewed confidence and the great natural resources of the state, he says : To gratefully recognize the bountiful agency of .almighty God in such numberless' blessings is not less the duty than the wholesome impulse of an appreciative people. Indeed, considering Na- ture's first munificence of .climate and physical attributes, and the subsequent success which has marked the formation and growth of our state, a cheerful and frequent reference to such advantages is but the healthful exercise of that ready and sober good sense which becomes a rational and happy people. Glad and hopeful, however, as we should feel in view of the prosperity of the present and the prospects of the future, thoughtful men will feel not less deeply the responsibilities imposed by them. So rapid and energetic is the recuperation of our people from a prostrate industrial condition, that the lessons of the past are prone to be overlooked. Recovery from business depression, for this reason, is never unattended with serious danger, and it may indeed be questioned whether seasons of excited activity, all things considered, are not really more detrimental to a durable public welfare than those marked by slower and more cautious movements. Hap[)y the people who may prove sufficiently wise THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 9 to profit b)' both — to reap victory equally from adversity and from prosperity, and with whom the bright promise of hope shall prove a guide rather than a snare. With such a people the worthy use of what has been already gained is at once an acceptable offering for the past and an inviting guar- antee of the future. * * * * * * These considerations impel me to warn my fellow-citizens against a repetition of those errors of the past with which we are all too familiar. It is obvious to all persons of even casual observation that the most fruitful source of the wide popular distress from which we in Minnesota are happily emerging has been the over-indulgence of the universal propensity to incur debt. ****** It is not claimed that the purposes for which much of this indebtedness has been incurred are not desirable or worthy objects. They attest indeed the characteristics of enterprising and high- toned communities, and when kept w'ithin judicious bounds, the means thus resorted to in furtherance of these objects are effective aids to commendable public progress. But the eagerness with which both private and public debts are incurred without due consideration of the time or needs of the sit- uation or the adaptation of means to ends, is unquestionably the crying evil of the period and the most potent cause of financial disorders. ****** In view of the disasters which have manifestly resulted from these causes, I feel it my duty to appeal earnestly to all classes of our people to heed the costly lessons of the past. Let us, with one accord, turn to simpler and nobler ways. Let us endeavor to correct that grow- ing aversion to manual labor which is making effeminate idlers of our young men. Let us vindicate the dignity and manful status of patient toil. I,et us show the false attractions which tend to over- crowd our cities, and expose the flimsy glamour which lures honest labor from manly self-support to a condition of beggarly dependence. Let us frown upon senseless extravagance in public and private affairs, and attest the character of rational economy as both an essential condition of solvency and an attribute of a higher civilization. Let us be superior to that flattery of a shallow local pride which induces struggling communities to oppress themselves with the cost of premature improvements. Let us discourage the ruinous disposition, especially of small and poor townships and counties, to burden themselves with debt in aid of visionary railroad schemes. Let us resolve to pay as we go, and dis- continue the seductive expedient of escaping present difficulty by the easy postponement of solemn obligations ; and above all, let us resolve not to afford the humiliating spectacle too often presented by communities which rush into debt with a precipitancy equaled only by the disgraceful expedients with which they seek to escape its honest payment. Every consideration of expediency and honor should impel us to seek that profit from experience without which the advent of special fortune may prove a curse rather than a blessing. The measure of our success shall attest our progress toward a deserved and enduring prosperity. ****** I feel impelled by the convictions upon the subject expressed in my preceding messages to renew my recommendation for an early settlement of the indebtedness represented by our dishonored rail- road bonds. The measure proposed for this purpose by the last legislature, and submitted to the peo- ple in June last, was rejected, as you are aware, by an overwhelming popular vote. This resulted, I am persuaded, from a prevalent misapprehension respecting the real nature and provisions of the pro- posed plan of adjustment. I should be sorry indeed to be forced to the conviction that the people, by this act, intended other than their disapproval of the particular plan of settlement submitted to them. For, in my opinion, no public calamity, no visitation of grasshoppers, no wholesale destruction or insidious pestilence, could possibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our state as the deliberate repudia- tion of her solemn obligations. It would be a confession more damaging to the character of a gov- ernment of the people than the assaults of its worst enemies. With the loss of public honor, little could remain worthy of preservation. Assuming therefore, as I gladly do, that this vote of the people lO THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. indicated a |nirpose not to repudiate the debt itself, but simply to condemn the proposed plan for its payment, I shall be happy to co-operate in any practicable measure looking to an honorable and final adjustment of this vexed question. The questions that remain are rather tliose of expediency than of principle. They are more or less connected with measures of finance and the currency, and with the honest exercise of conceded functions. In the settlement of these, let the voice of Minnesota be heard for honest money, for re- demption of the nation's pledges, and for that just administration of the government which consults the exigencies of the public service in preference to those of political parties. Whatever may be thought of particular means used for the purpose, the sincere efforts of a patriotic president to attain these ends deserve the hearty support of all good citizens. In my judgment, our danger lies in too much rather than in too little congressional action. Experience disproves the efficacy of financial pana- ceas. Untampered with, monetary disorders work their own wholesome adjustment by a law as uner- ring as that by which unhindered water finds its level. Adherence to well-tested laws of trade, and honest persistence in the better conduct of affairs, cannot fail to save the credit and eventually win the applause of the nation. Governor Pillsbury i.s not a communicant of any church, but is a member of the First Congregational society, Mrs. Pillsbury being a member of the church. He was married in Warner, New Hampshire, on the 3d of November, 1856, to Miss Mahala Fisk, daughter of Captain John Fisk and Sarah, his wife, nee Goodhue. Mrs. Fisk is one of the descendants of Rev. John Fisk, who emi- grated from Suffolk, England, and settled in Windham, Massachusetts, in 1637. The fruits of the Governor's marriaye are four children, as follows: Ada, born on the 4th of October, 1859; Susie May, born on the 23d of June, 1863; Sadie Belle, born on the 30th of fune, 1866; and Alfred b'isk, born on the 20th of October, 1868. CHARLES W. W. BORUP, SAIXr PAUL. CHARLES WILLIAM WULFF BORUP, deceased, was a native of Den- mark; born in Copenhagen, on the 20th of December, 1806. His father was Marcus Wulff, — (by a law in Denmark a child must bear his stepfather's in con- nection with his father's name) — whose family was of high social distinction, its members being among the dignitaries of the kingdom. The subject of this brief memoir received a thorough classical and mtxlical education, intending to be a physician. At twenty-one years of age, left his native country ; went to the Danish island of Saint Thomas; remained there one season, an tl, on account ot the cli- mate, concluded to pass the summer in New York city, intending to return to the tropical island ; but he liked our countrv and people so well that he always THE UN J JED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. II remained here. He tarried in New York city nearly two years, when, being fur- nished with letters to Robert Stuart, an associate of John Jacob Astor in the American Fur Company, and stationed at Mackinac, Michigan, he, in 1829, went to that place, and became attached as a clerk to so-called "Northern Outfit," which comprised the district of trade with the Chippewas between Lake Superior and the Mississippi river, and as tar north as the line ol the British possessions. He was placed in charge ot trading posts on Rainy Lake and other points, and by his business tact and talents he steadily advanced until he became chief agent of the F"ur Company on Lake Superior, with his residence at La Pointe. In 184.8 he removed from La Pointe to Saint Paul, and here formed a busi- ness connection with P. Chouteau, junior, and Co., of Saint Louis, — a connection which lasted six or seven years. On settling here with his family, he found society in a rough state, and very little regard paid to the Sabbath, except on the part of a small number of people. As it respected the business under his control, he established a new order of thinos not allowing; the boats of his com- pany to load or unload on Sunday, and teams coming in on Saturday night or Sunday, to receive merchandise or articles of any kind, had to wait till Monday morning for the transaction of business. Steamboat captains and others com- plained of this regulation of his, and undertook to break it up, but failed. Mr. Borup believed in the sanctity ot the Sabbath, and so tar as he had control of matters, would not allow it to be violated. In 1854 the banking house of Borup and Oakes was established in Saint Paul, the first institution of the kind in the territory of Minnesota ; and in 1857, when the financial crash came, commencing with the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, and which tailure caused this bank to suspend, its owners pursued a very honorable course. After being closed a short time, the bank was reopened, and Messrs. Borup and Oakes paid every dollar of their liabilities, — an act which established the credit of this house on the very firmest basis. Dr. Borup died of disease of the heart, on the 6th of July, 1859, but the bank- ing business was continued in the old firm-name until 1866. A neighbor of his, who had known him long and intimately, thus spoke of Dr. Borup at the time of his demise : He was a Ivind and affectionate husband and a fond and indulgent fatlier. A friend to the poor, his contributions were liberally but unostentatiously bestowed; a firm believer in the doctrines of Christianity, he was ever among tine first to furnish means for their dissemination. As a citizen, he was irreproachable; an ardent republican and lover of liberty, he delighted in depicting the favora- 12 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ble contrast presented by the United States, when compared w itii the freest form of European gov- ernment. The " Old Settlers " have lost one of their number, who has manifested a lively interest in the association, and at least one vacant seat will be found when they next meet, and many warm friends will mourn the departure of Dr. Borup. He was a warm friend of the young people, antl did all he could to encourage them in the line of social and mental improvement. He was a great lo\er of music, and, believing in its refining influence, did ;dl he could to stimul;ite the cultivation of this science in others, and especialK' in the young, who never had a truer friend in .Saint Paul. Dr. ]5orup was married at Mackinac, on the i /th of July, 1832, to Miss Eliza- beth Beaulieu, daughter of Bazil Beaulieu, a French trader, formerly of the Ameri- can Fur Company. The fruits of this union were eleven children, nine of them yet living. All are married but the youngest son, Harold, who is with his eldest brother, Theodore, the latter being a post trader. Sophie, the eldest daughter, is the wife of General J. H. Simpson, of the United States Engineer Corps ; Vir- ginia is the wife of Richards Gordon, merchant of .Saint Paul ; Gustav is an agent of the Erie and South Shore Railroad line, with residence in .Saint Paul ; Marion is the wife of Lieutenant C. T. Hutchins, of the United States navy ; Julie is the wife of Captain Hartley, of the United States army ; Marcus is a traveling agent, residing in Saint Paul; and Henry Dana belongs to the United States army. Marcus was the fourth American child born in Saint Paul, and the first, accord- ing to the Historical Society's records, to celebrate his twenty-first birthday. Mrs. Borup is a member of the Episcopal church. She was left in very com- fortable circumstances, is surrounded by .several of her children, and to all of them she has been a true mother. W\ %^^ GENERAL HENRY H. SIBLEY, / SA/NT PAUL. THE man the most early, most fully ami most honorably identified with the histor\- of Minnesota is Henry Hastings .Sible\-, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 20th of P'ebruar)-, 181 i. His father, Solomon .Sibley, a native of Massachusetts, came to Ohio in 1795 ; settled in Michigan in 1797, and was a member of the first legislature of the Northwest territory ; was a delegate to congress in 1S20, and judge of the supreme court of Michigan territory from BKIG. GEN, THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 15 1824 to 1836. In 1802 Judge Sibley married, at Marietta, Ohio, Miss Sarah W. Sproat, daughter of Colonel Evenezer Sproat, a distinguished officer of the revo- lution, and granddaughter of Abraham Whipple, the oldest commodore in the revolutionary navy. The Sibleys were originally fri)m England, and among the early settlers in the old colony ot Massachusetts. Judge Sibley commanded a company of militia in Detroit at the time of Hull's surrender. He was one of the first two lawyers who settled in that city, and was desirous that Henry should follow that profes- sion ; but the son, after spending two years in studj'ing the English branches and classics in private with Rev. R. F. Cadle, of Detroit, and one year in his father's office, found that the law was not a congenial occupation, and, by his father's permission, abandoned it. This decision of the parent, as a writer has well remarked, "gave to Minnesota her honored pioneer; one whose history is so interwoven with her own that to write the one is also, ipso facto, to record the other." The Sproats were pioneers in Ohio, and the Sibleys in Michigan, and young Henry, as some writer has suggested, seems to have inherited a love of frontier life, he having from boyhood a strong predilection for field sports, hunting beincr his choicest recreation. His adventures in the chase of the buffalo, elk, bear, deer, and other animals, in company with the Dakota or Sioux Indians, would suffice to fill a volume. At seventeen years of age he went to Sault Sainte Marie, and was employed as clerk in a store ; the next year connected himself with the American Fur Company at Mackinac; in 1834 became a member of that company, of which Ramsey Crooks was then president, and Hercules L. Dousman and Joseph Ro- lette, junior, with young .Sibley, were joint partners. Mr. Sibley's more immediate connection in business was with Mr. Dousman, who was located at Prairie du Chien. Mr. Sibley made his headquarters at Mendota, five miles west of Saint Paul, reaching that place on the 7th of November, 1834. He came all the way from Prairie du Chien, a distance of nearly three hundred miles, on horseback, passing only one house inhabited by white people on the route. Besides the ofarrison at Fort Snelline, a few fur traders and French-Canadian voyaeeurs con- stituted the whites then found in what is now the State of Minnesota, with its area of eighty-three thousand five hundred square miles and its population of seven hundred thousand souls. Over this vast territory roamed the Chippewas I 6 TJIR UNITED STATES B/OGRAPH fCAI. DICTIONARY. and the powerful Ijanils ot the Dakotas or Sioux, with whom the American Fur Company carried on the trade in turs and pehries, and for that purpose had es- tablislied posts not only throughout Minnesota, Init in the eastern and northern parts of what is now Dakota territorw The subject of this sketch was in partnership with Mr. Dousman nearly twent\- years. During the first two \ears in Minnesota Mr. Sibley lived in a log house at what is now known as Mendota; in 1H36 he built the first private dwelling-house of stone in Minnesota. This is still standing, and is used tor the home of the sisters of one of the orders of the Catholic church, and also as a school-house for the children of the village, who are taueht by these ladies. The buildiuir is solidly constructed, is in a orood state of preservation, and, being the oldest prixate residence in Minnesota, is in- vested with more than ordinar\- interest. Before leaving Mackinac, Mr. Sibley was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Porter, ot Michigan territory, and in 1 838 Cio\ernor Chambers, of Iowa territory, appointed him to the same office ; all the territory west of the Missis- sippi being then included in that territory. He was subsequently appointed, by the same official, captain of the tirst company of the 1st Regiment of Iowa Cav- air)', and he raised and drilled a body of seventy-tive men, all of whom were thor- ough horsemen and sharpshooters. In 1848 Mr. Sibley was elected a delegate to congress from Wisconsin terri- tory, the state of that name having been previously admitted into the Union, lea\- ing some of the organized counties outside of the prescribed boundaries. After SOUK; discussion and dela\' he obtained his seat ; represented the territor\- one term; secured during that term the organization of the Territory of Minnesota, the act pa,ssing congress on the 3d of March, 1849; was elected a delegate from the new territory in 1849; re-elected in 1851, and served in all nearU' live years. While in congress Mr. Sibley was a liberal contributor to the newspaper press, and diil much to enlighten congress and the countr\- in regard to the cli- mate, soil and material resources of Minnesota, and was thus enabled to secure larger appropriations tor the territor\' than would otherwise have been granted. lie was a member of the territorial legislature in 1855, rejiresenting Dakota count)-. In 1857 he was ])resident of the democratic branch of the convention which framed a state constitution. During the same year he was elected gov- ernor ; and there being some delay the next year in the admission of the state into the L'nion, he did not take his seat until the 24th of Ma\-, 1858, his term of THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 17 office expiring on the 1st of January, i860. The change from a territorial to a state government necessarily devolved upon the first governor of the new oroan- ization and other officials a great amount of labor and the exercise of a wise and intelligent judgment, and it is not too much to say that these responsibilities were met and discharged with diligence and success. Since 1862 Governor Sibley has been a resident of Saint Paul. In Auoust of that year the Sioux outbreak commenced in Meeker count)-, and on the 19th of that month Governor Ramsey appointed him to the command of the state troops dispatched to subdue the hostile Indians. He immediately took the field, met and defeated the savage Sioux ; wrested from them two hundred and fifty white captives, mostly young women who had been brutally maltreated ; took two thou- sand prisoners, and had more than four hundred of them tried by military com- mission. About three hundred were condemned, and would have been hanged but for the intervention of the President of the United States. By his order thirty-eight were subsequently executed at Mankato. After the decisive victory over the Indians at Wood Lake, Mr. Sibley was made brigadier-general b}- Presi- dent Lincoln ; placed in command of the military district of Minnesota, and with such gallantry did he prosecute the war against the savages, and with such expe- dition and brilliant success did he bring it to a close, that in November, 1865, he was breveted major-general. He had command of the military district of Minne- sota until August, 1865. At that time he was detailed as a member of a commis- sion to negotiate treaties with the Sioux and other hostile tribes on the upper Missouri river, and this duty was successfully performed, the treaties negotiated being confirmed by the senate at its subsequent session. In the winter oi 1870-71 we find General Sibley once more in the legislature, performing valuable service to his constituents and to the state. A little later he served one year on the National Board of Indian Commissioners appointed by the President under an act of congress, the board having supervision of all In- dian affairs in the country. -So much time was required in attendance upon the meetings in Washington city and elsewhere, that General Sibley was compelled to resign as a member. The General has had honor alter honor heaped upon him at home, where he is thoroughly known, and where his worth as a citizen has been most full)- tested and is heartily appreciated. He has been president of the State Normal School board, and is now president of the board of regents ot the .State University, of 1 8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. the Saint Paul Gas Company, and of the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce. He has served as park commissioner; is now a director ot the F"irst National Bank, and of the Saint Paul and Sioux City railroad. General Sibley has been a lifr-lonor democrat, but is not a bitter partisan. On the 2d of May, 1843, Miss Sarah J. Steele, sister of Franklin Steele, be- came the wife of General Sibley, and died in May, 1869, leaving four children : AutjLista, the eldest child, is the wife of Lieutenant Douglass Pope, of Spring- lield, Illinois; Sarah is the wife of Elbert A. Young, of Saint Paul, and Frederic and Alfred are being educated in local schools. From a brief memoir of Gen- eral Sibley, written by Mr. J. 1*". Williams, secretary of the State Historical Soci- ety, wc learn that Mrs. Sibley was a "lady of rare virtues and accomi)lishments." She was a member of the Episcopal church, where the family attend worship. The city of Hastings and the count)- of Sibley were named for the General, and all over the state, for nearl\- forty years, his name has been a " household word," endeared by the jnirity of his life and the great services which he has ren- dered the commonwealth. HON. MICHAEL DORAN, LE SUEUR. MICHAEL DORAN, state senator from Le Sueur county, and one of the most successful business men in the count)', was a son of James Doran and Bridget McGuire, and was born in the county of Meath, Ireland, on the 1st of November, 1829. He received very little education before coming to this country; left his native land in 1850, landed in New York city, and after remaining in the Empire State about one year, working on a farm, he removed to Norwalk, Ohio. He attended a country school about two years while in Huron county, farmed some, and subsequently ke])t a grocery store In 1856 Mr. Doran pushed westward once more, crossing the Mississippi river, settling in Le Sueur, and engaged in tilling lantl. Four years afterward he was elected count)- treasuriT, and by repeated re-elections held that office eight years, dealing, meanwhile, (]uite successfully, in real estate, and establishing a reputa- tion for shrewd business management, as well as for official faithfulnes.s. Since 1870 Mr. Doran has been in the banking business, at first in partner- ship with the late George D. Snow, and since the ist of August, 1878, with Edson THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I9 R. Smith. The Bank of Le Sueur, under their management, is a prosperous insti- tution. They also own the steam flouring mill and the elevator at Le Sueur. Mr. Doran has three farms under improvement, and about two thousand acres of wild, all in Le .Sueur county. Besides his buildings, etc., in the village of Le Sueur, he has property in and near Saint Paul, and is a marked example of energy well expended. Mr. Doran was a member of the state senate in 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, and again in 1877 and 1878, and in the last-named year was chairman of the special committee appointed to investigate the management of the Institution for the Insane, at Saint Peter. He is a life-long democrat, and a very influential man in his party. In 1864 and 1876 he was a delegate to the national democratic convention which nominated General George B. McClellan and Samuel I. Tilden for the Presi- dency, and in the autumn of 1875 was nominated by his party as a candidate for state auditor, but declined to run. Senator Doran has had two wives. The first was Miss Ellen Brady, of Norwalk, Ohio; married in May, 1855. She died on the i ith of March, 1863, leaving five children, four of them yet living. His present wife .was Miss Cath- arine J. Grady, of Le Sueur; chosen on the loth of February, 1864. He has seven children by her. HON. CYRUS ALDRICH, MINNEAPOLIS. CYRUS ALDRICH was born on the iSth of June, 1808, in Smithfield, Rhode Island. His father was Dexter Aldrich, who was engaged in shipping and merchandising. His mother's maiden name was Hannah White, a lineal de- scendant of Perigrrine White, who was the first male child born after the landine of the Pilgrim Fathers. Cyrus attended the common schools of his native place, and worked with his father until he arrived at the age of eighteen ; then, having an ambition to fol- low the sea, he shipped on a voyage to South America. On his return trip the vessel lay becalmed for weeks off the Carolinas, and he returned home thor- oughly cured of all taste for sailor's life, but with health impaired, and the effects 20 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. of this voyage was to place him under a doctor's care for five or six years, during which time he visited Niagara, the mineral springs, and many other places re- puted to be efficacious in restoring health. In 1835 Mr. Aldrich came to Alton, Illinois, where he took a contract on the Illinois and Michigan canal. In 1841 this terminated disastrously for him, and in the following spring he removed to Galena, Illinois, where he entered the firm of Galbraith, Porter and Co., and engaged in staging and mail-carrying. In 1845 h^ ^^'^s elected to the Illinois legislature, and re-elected the following year, serving with prominence ami distinction. On his return home, the people, meeting him at the depot, expressed a general desire to take him by the hand and say " well done." In 1847 he was elected register of deeds of [o Daviess county, and filled the office for two years. Early in 1849 President Taylor ap- pointed Mr. Aldrich receiver of the United States land office at Dixon, Illinois, in which position he served faithfully for four years. In 1852 he was the whig candidate for congress from that district, with " Long John " Wentworth, of Chi- cago, for an opponent. Mr. Aldrich ran over fifteen hundred votes ahead of his ticket, yet was defeated, through a liberal democratic use of money, by a small majority. In 1854 he was elected chairman of the board of supervisors of Dixon, and a member of the board of commissioners for the county of Lee. During this )-ear he visited Minnesota, and being so well jjleased with the then small \'il- lage of Minneapolis, h(; moved thither in the spring of 1835. Here he engaged in real estate, soon becoming quite popular, especially in the republican party; and in 1857 he was elected a member of the state constitutional convention, in which body he took a prominent and leading position. In 1856 Mr. Aldrich was a delegate to the national republican convention at Philadelphia that nominated General |ohn C. Fremont for the Presidency, and was one of the committee appointed to wait on General Fremont and intorm him of his nomination. During this same year he was nominated tor territorial dele- gate to congress, but deleated by what afterward prox'cul a trauilulent \ote. In 1858 Mr. Aldrich visited Washington as a witness in the Fort Snelling case, that being one of the military posts wliich the then secretary of war, Jeffer- son Davis, had unlawful!) disposed of During the same year he was nominated for congress by the republicans, and elected by a large majority. In the national house of representatives he was an untiring worker and a faithful representative of his constituents. Whenever he spoke it was always to the point, and in a THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 21 Style, though plain, yet so thoroughly in earnest, that his opinions created a deeper and more lasting impression than a more brilliant orator would. He was one of that determined committee that waited on President Buchanan and re- quested him to sign an order for the troops to protect the government ; and when the poor weak man said that if he signed it he was afraid the southern men would shoot him, it was Mr. Aldrich who exclaimed, " If you don't sign that order I'll shoot yott noiv "/ The order was signed. In i860 Mr. Aldrich was renominated without opposition, and elected by a larger vote than Abraham Lincoln received for President on the same ticket. This was a trying term, but he took the same prominent position he held before. He was very decided and patriotic in all his actions, and unusually successful in the introduction of his bills, all of which were passed. During his stay in Washington the ist Minnesota regiment was quartered near the capital for several months, and his loving attentions to their wants is thus mentioned by a previous writer: He felt a peculiar interest in the regiment and its welfare, and he was with them whenever his duties at Washington permitted. The poor, sick or wounded soldier found in him a sympathetic, active friend, always ready with cheering word or liberal purse to minister to his wants. He would patiently frank "soldiers' letters" by the hundred, or write letters for the invalids in the hospitals, and in a hundred ways bestowed on them those gentle and tender benefactions that only a generous heart could have conceived and exectited, but which were of priceless value to the poor, despondent, suffering soldier. He seemed never to tire in his devotion to the "boys " of the ist regiment, and it is undeniable- that this devotion to them seriously injured his health and perhaps shortened his life; it is equally true that his unceasing generosity impaired his fortune and produced embarrassment that compelled him to sacrifice valuable property at home. The gratitude of the soldiers was manifested in their unanimously electing him an honorary member of the regiment. This, perhaps, seems a small return for all he did, but Mr. Aldrich accepted it at its true value — a tribute of their heartfelt appreciation of his unwavering kindness to them. In 1862 he declined the nomination for a third term, and in the following year he reluctantly allowed himself to be a candidate for the United States sen- ate, but was unsuccessful. Soon afterward. President Lincoln, who was a warm personal friend of his, appointed him a member of the " indemnit\' committee," to examine claims of settlers who had suffered during the Indian war of 1862, and in this arduous task he performed his duties to the eminent satisfaction of all the parties interested. Mr. Aldrich was one of the projectors of the Northern Pacific railroad, and devoted much time and labor to get it started. 2 2 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In 1865-6 he was a member of the state legislature, serving with his usual zeal and energy. In 1865 he was also elected chairman of the board of super- visors of the towrf. In 1S67 he was appointed postmaster of Minneapolis. As he had made no effort to obtain this office, it was quite unexpected. He served in this capacitN', with his usual faithful devotion to the public, for a term of four years. After leaving the |)nst-office, his health being feeble, he retired from active business, and sought in llie quiet of his home that rest his heart so longed for, after a long and bus\- life spent mostly in the public service. Always an inde- fatieable worker, his iron constitution had been overtaxed, and the chances of recuperation alloweil him came too late. In spite of the physician's skill, the loving attentions and hopes of relatives and innumerable friends, his health grad- ually failed until the final dissolution, on the 5th of October, 1871. The follow- ing Sunday, October S, the funeral services were held in the Universalist church, of which he had previously become a member, and the remains were followed to Lakewood Cemetery by the largest concourse of people ever gathered together on a similar occasion in the state. I'^rom the address of the Rev. Dr. Tuttle, who conducted the services, is taken the tollinving touching tribute, paid to one universally loved and respected: Colonel Aldrich was, during most of his years, a puljlic man, and in contact witli a large number of our most distinguished men, he became thoroughly conversant witii nearly all the measures and interests which agitated courts, legislatures and the United States congress. His opportunities for doing good, then, for serving the institutions for which he always cherished a patriotic pride, were exceedingly great, and he used these opportunities with conspicuous fidelity. . . . The deeds which longer than all others, perhaps, will keep his memory fresh in the hearts of his surviving fellow-citi- zens, and which will embalm his name in loving gratitude among the people of this state, are those which he performed in aid of our soldiers during the late rebellion. .Many, very many, are the touching incidents which might be related of his true, earnest, patriotic devotion during those peril- ous times; of the way he emptied liis pockets to aid the cause. . . . He was unusually tender- hearted, sympathetic and generous. He was quick to perceive the wants of his fellow-men, and ever ready and willing to render all the aid in his power. . . . Perhaps there was no one in our city, of his means and of his cares, who listened more attentively to tales of poverty and suffering, and made greater sacrifices to afford the relief that was asked. It was a pleasure for him to do his neighbors a kindness; indeed, his every-day life was filled with kindness, with loving words, and with all those genial manners and easy courtesies which mark a noble and generous mind. At Galena, Illinois, on the 26th of May, 1S45, Mr. Aldrich was married to Miss Clara A., daughter of Cyrus Meaton, of La Porte, Indiana. Mrs. Aldrich resides with the other surviving members of the family, a son and daughter, in II THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 23 Minneapolis. The eldest, Villa, was married in this city on the 26th of May, 1869, to D. H. Wright. Henry is studying medicine and dentistry, and attends lectures in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. HON. WILLIS A. GORMAN, SAINT PAUL. WILLIS ARNOLD GORM.A.N second territorial governor of Minne- sota, was the only son of David L. and Elizabeth Gorman, and was born near Flemingsburg, Fleming county, Kentucky, on the 12th of January, 18 16. He received a good literary education; moved to Bloomington, Indiana, in Au- gust, 1835, and there graduated from the law department of the .State University the following year. Without mone)', and with only the few friends made in one year's residence in Bloomington, he began to practice, and in three years, in spite of embarrassing obstacles, he had gradually risen at the bar and become so popu- lar as to be nominated and elected to the state legislature. He served the county so faithfully as to be repeatedly re-elected, serving five or six terms. On the breaking out of the Mexican war, in 1846, Mr. Gorman enlisted as a private in the 3d Indiana regiment, and on the election of officers became major. He, with tour hundred riflemen, had the honor of bringing on the famous battle of Buena Vista, he making the assault upon the enemy's flank, by order of Gen- eral Taylor. During this battle the Major's horse was shot, and fell with its rider in a deep ravine ; but although receiving an injury by the fall, so severe that he never fully recovered from it, he retained the command of his battalion until the enemy was beaten and dispersed. At the end of one year, when this regi- ment's term of enlistment had expired, Major Gorman returned to Indiana; aided in raising the 4th regiment of Volunteers ; was elected its colonel, and served till the close of the war, his regiment being in the battles of Huamantia, Atlixco, Puebla, and two or three others. During the entire campaign in Mexico Colonel Gorman showed himself a brave, gallant and dashing officer. On his return to Indiana, Colonel Gorman resumed the legal practice, and in the autumn of 1848 was elected a representative to congress; two years later was re-elected, and served till the 4th of March, 1853. The next May, under appoint- ment of President Pierce, he became governor of Minnesota Territory, and set- 24 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. tU.'tl at Saint Paul, the cajjital, which was his residence until his death, May 20, 1876. It was while he was in the sjubernatorial chair that the exciting;' land-grant question came up for discussion and was settled. While favoring the granting of lands to railroad companies, he recommended that the state should reserve at least three per cent of the gross earnings of the railroads, instead of general tax- ation, and he vetoed the first railroad bill which passed the legislature, because, as he thought, it did not full\- protect the interests of the people. The present income of three per cent from all the land-grants in the state is owing, in no inconsiderable measure, to the wisdom and firmness of Governor Gorman. Dur- ing this period, by order of the general government, he made several treaties with the Indians, accomplishing his work of this character in a peaceful and sat- isfactory manner to all parties. In these several treaties it is averred that he disbursed more than a million dollars, without the loss of a dollar to either party. In 1857, his term of office as governor having expired, he was elected a mem- ber of the constitutional convention, and was subsequently a democratic candi- date for United States senator, but was defeated by a division of his party. In the spring of 1861, when the stars and stripes were lowered at Fort .Sum- ter, Governor (jorman immediatel}- offered his services to his country, and on the 29th of April was ap|)()int(-d colonel of the 1st regiment Minnesota Volun- teers. Subsccpiently, on tlie recommendation of General .Scott, for intrepidity and coolness shown at the battle of Bull Run, he was appointed a brigadier-gen- eral of volunteers. He served between three and four years, being mustered out late in the year 1864. From that period to his tlemise General Gorman was engaged in the business ol his proiession, in i)arlnershi|} with Hon. C. K. 1 )a\is, late governor of the state. He i)aid especial attention to the criiuinal branch of his profession. The man)- parts which, in his time, General Gorman. ]jlayed, necessarih- broke that continuity of devotion indispensable to the making of a great lawyer, but his native powers did murli lo clisenil)arrass him in this respect, for his view ot jjrin- ciples was very clear. His forensic efforts were always adequate, and in many cases exhibited remarkable power of analysis and deduction. In summing up questions of fact to juries his ability was most forcibly tlisplayed, and it is with them that liis reputation as a lawyer is most intimately connected and will be longest remembered. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 25 In 1869 he was elected city attorney and corporation counsel for the city; was re-elected two years later, and held that office, with the additional office of attor- ney for the board of public works, until his death. General Gorman had two wives. The first was Miss Martha Stone, of Blooni- ington, Indiana; married in 1836. She had five children, and died on the ist of March, 1864. Two of her children are also dead: James W. Gorman, who was assistant adjutant-general on his father's staff during the civil war, and who died of disease contracted in that war, on the 19th of February, 1863 ; and Louisa G., first wife of Harvey Officer, attorney, of Saint Paul, she dying of consumption, on the 4th of March, 1870. The three living children are Richard L. Gorman, secretary of the Saint Paul board of public works ; Ellis Stone, an attorney-at-law in Saint Paul; and Martha B., wife of B. F. Wood, of Evansville, Indiana. The second wife of General Gorman, she still surviving him, was Miss Emily New- ington, of Saint Paul; married on the 27th of April, 1865. HON. DANIEL A. MORRISON, ROCHESTER. DANIEL ALEXANDER MORRISON, state senator from Olmsted coun- ty, is a son of Ananias and Mary Gaston Morrison, and was born in Frank- lin. Venango county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of November, 1842. Paternally, he is of Scotch descent ; maternally, Irish. John Gaston, his grandfather, was wounded in the second war with England, the wound eventually causing" his death. Both of his parents were born in Pennsylvania. In 1846 they moved to Elmira, New York, and in 1852 to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where the son re- ceived a common-school education, and learned the printer's trade in "The Com- monwealth " office. In 1859 and i860 he published the "Journal " at Markesan, Green Lake county, Wisconsin, — the first enterprise of the kind in that town. He started it before he was eighteen years old. In 1862 Mr. Morrison enlisted in the 32d Wisconsin Infantry, and served until the close of the war. In April, 1866, he settled in Rochester, where he has been engaged in the mercantile trade, and has shown himself a straightforward, energetic and success- ful man. His business talent, and the high esteem in which he is held, are seen 26 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in the positions which he has recently occupied. He has been at the head of the miinicipaHty of Rochester three terms, making an efficient and popuhxr executive, and is now in the state senate, serving in the session of 1878 on the committees on hospital for insane, state library, engrossing, and internal improvements, being chairman of the last named committee. He was re-elected state senator in the autumn of 1878. The politics of Senator Morrison are strongly republican, and he is one of the leading men of the party in Olmsted count)-. He is a Master Mason, and in 1877-78 was grand master of the Odd-Fellows of the state. In Iul\-, 1865, Miss Sarah M. Beeton, of Rochester, became the wife of .Sen- ator Morrison, and of four children, resultin"' from this union, three are livine. The subject of this sketch is below the average height, being five feet six and a half inches tall, and weighing one hundred and thirty-five pounds. He has deep blue eyes, an open countenance, a pleasant address, and all the elements of the frank and prompt business man. As such he is a success. HON. ALEXANDER RAMSEY. SAINT PAUL. ALEXANDER RAMSEY, first territorial governor of Minnesota, is a native ^ of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and was born near Harrisburg, on the 8th of .September, 18 15. He is of Scotch-Irish descent on his father's side, and German on his mother's. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Kelker) Ramsey. His grandfather, Alexander Ramsey, was born in eastt;rn Pennsylva- nia; his father, near the town of York, in York count)', on the 15th of June, 1784, and was an officer in the war of 181 2- 15, dying when the son was ten years old. Left an orphan, Alexander was assisted in his education by a grand-uncle, Fred- eric Kelker, in whose store in Harrisburg young Ramsey assisted as a salesman. Subsequently, for a short time, when about twelve years of age, he found em- plo)-ment in the office of the register of deeds of Daui)hin count)', niainh' tor the improvement of his penmanship. At eighteen years of age he attended school at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania; comnienced reading law in 1857, with Hon. Hamilton Alricks, of Harrisburg; went thence to the law school at Carlisle, and was admitted to practice in 1839. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 29 The political life of Mr. Ramsey commenced in 1840, the year of the Harrison campaign, when he was quite active in the whig cause, and was made secretary of the Electoral College, which cast the vote of the state for the hero of Tippeca- noe. The next year Mr. Ramsey was made chief clerk ot the house of represen- tatives of Pennsylvania. He was in the lower house of congress from 1843 to 1847, the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth congress, and during those four years he exhibited those quali- ties of mind which gave him much prominence and a high reputation throughout the state. So much confidence had his political confreres in him, that in 1848 he was made chairman of the whig state central committee. The campaign of that year resulted in the election of General Zachary Taylor to the Presidency ; and immediately after his inauguration he appointed Mr Ramsey governor of the Territory of Minnesota, the commission dating April 2, 1849. He moved to Saint Paul, the capital of the territory, the next month. When Governor Ramsey took his seat as the e.xecutive of the territory, then embracing all of the present territory of Dakota to the Missouri river, it con- tained less than five thousand white people ; he has lived to see it expand into a sovereign state of seven hundred and fifty thousand in a little less than thirty years. The territorial government was organized on the ist of June, 1849, '^"^1 eleven days later the Governor issued his proclamation establishing three judi- cial districts, and providing for the election of members to the first legislature. This body met on the 3d of the next September, using the dining-hall of the Central Hotel, Saint Paul. In his message the Governor asked congress to e.xtend the pre-emption laws to unsurveyed lands, and to limit the sale of public lands to actual settlers, to which the national legislators gave a prompt and favorable response. Thus Minnesota has been measurably free from the curse of non-resident ownership of her lands. During his administration the Governor made several important treaties with the Indians, — Sioux half-breeds, Dakotas and Chippewas, — by which the Indian title to large tracts of land was commuted, and these lands were open to white settlers. In his last message to the territorial legislature, the Governor predicted great progress for Minnesota, in the way of settlement, railroads, etc., and time has shown the correctness of his predictions. He was succeeded in the gubernatorial chair in May, 1853, by Willis A. Gorman, elsewhere sketched in this volume. 30 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Governor Ramsey was mayor oi Saint Paul in 1855 I '^^'^'^ ^^^^ republican can- didate for governor in 1857, and by a fair count of the vote was believed b}' his friends to have been elected, and two )-ears later was chosen by a majority of nearly fcnir thousand votes, in a total vote of less than fort)' thousand. He was re-elected in 1861. Durino his administration he promptly responded to the call of the United States Government, made? in Aijril. 1861, for one thousand men to aid in putting down the rebellion, and to subsequent calls, amounting to near twenty-hve thousand in all ; and he speedily quelled the outbreak of the Sioux Indians in 1862, showing great executive ability in the discharge of all his duties. By his prudent forethought and sagacity he rendered invaluable service to the state in suggesting the best methods for disposing of the school lands, thus saving for educational purposes hundreds of thousands of dollars, which have been largely squandered in one or two other states. No man ever looked after the interests of Minnesota with greater vigilance. In January, 1863, before the expiration of his second term, Governor Ramsey was elected United States senator, and re-elected in 1869, serving twelve years. He heartily supported all measures for the prosecution of the war against the southern insurgents ; warmly advocated, as chairman of the committee on post- offices and post-roads, the abolition of the franking privilege, an act effecting that end becoming a law on the ist of July, 1873; as a member uf the com- mittee on railroads, assisted in securing aid for the building of the Northern Pacific railroad, which now stretches across the northern ]jart of Minnesota; favored the project for three trunk lines between the Mississippi antl the Pacitic states, and the general i)lan of aiding lines of such thoroughfares by donating alternate sections ol public lands tor thi-ir use. He was especially active in securing the survey and improvement of the ui)per Mississippi river ami branches by the general government. He labored earnestly and continually for the inter- ests of the great northwest, and his services to this section, and to the country as a whole, will be gratefully remembered long after he has passed away. On the loth of September, 1845, Miss Anna Earl Jenks, a daughter of the late Hon. Michael H. Jenks, a judge lor man)' years of Bucks count)', Pennsylva- nia, and at the time a member of congress, became the wife of Senator Ramsey, ami the)' have hatl three children, two sons and one daughter; the sons, Alexan- der and William Henry, dying in infancy. Marion is the wife of Charles Eliot Furness, of Philadelphia. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 31 Senator Ramsey resides in the western part ot the city, and has one of the most elegant mansions in Saint Paul. Jts surroundings are tasteful and very inviting; he is living at his ease, and apparently free from political aspirations; is the very impersonation of health and good cheer, and the mellow autumn of his lite seems to be flooded with Q-olden sunshine. HON. NATHAN M. D. McMULLEN, SHAKOPEE. NATHAN M. D. McMULLEN, eighteen years a justice of the peace in Shakopee, and one of the most respected men in the city, is a Pennsylva- nian by birth, born in Franklin county, on the iiSth of September, 1806. His father, James McMuUen, a carpenter 'and cabinet-maker by trade, traces his ancestry back to Wales, though both father and grandfather of our subject were born in the State of Delaware. The maiden name of Nathan's mother was Mar- garet Skilton, also a native of Delaware. After receiving an ordinary common-school education he learned the trade of a woolen manufacturer ; worked at it six or seven years, then became a merchant at Janesville, Somerset county, Pennsylvania; and in 1844 removed to Mansfield, Ohio, where he followed the same business for eight years. While in Richland county he was very active in politics, having for one of his associates and co- workers Samuel J. Kirkwood, then a democrat, since governor of Iowa, and now United States senator from that state. At one time Mr. McMullen was at the head of the municipality of Mansfield. In 1852 he pushed a little way westward to Van Wert, in the same state, where he was a hotel-keeper and merchant; taking another western stride in 1856, and settling in Shakopee. Here he opened a hardware store; at the end of two years was succeeded by his son, John McMullen, who still manages it ; became a justice of the peace shortly afterward, and still holds that office. He is one of the most popular and highly esteemed citizens ot Shakopee, respected no less for his excellent business qualifications and moral qualities than for his age. Though past seventy, he has an active, clear mind, and makes an accurate and judicious official. 32 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. McMullcn was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in the session held in the winter of 1862-63, and the extra session of the latter year. He has always been a democrat. Mr. McMullen has been a member of the Presbyterian church more than forty years ; is a man of humane feelings and liberal impulses, and a consistent christian. He has been married since October, 1833, his wife being Miss Isabella Deni- son, of Jennersville, Pennsylvania. They have had twelve children, seven of them living, and all married but one son, Columbus, who lives in Shakopee. Gaylord lives in Polo, Iowa; Edwin at Heron Lake, Minnesota; John, as we have stated, is a hardware merchant ; Mary is the wife of Stephen Reed, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lucy, of Joseph Newton, of .Shakopee, and Maria, of George H. Kunsman, of Shakopee. HON. ABNER C. SMITH, IJTCIIFIEI.n. ABNER COMSTOCK SMITH, one of the leading men in Meeker county, >- Minnesota, was a son of John Smith, a native of Rockingham, Vermont, and a pioneer in Brookfield, Orange county, Vermont, dying in 1S63, in his eighty-third year, and of Eunice Davenport, his wife, of Petersham, Massachu- setts. The Davenports are a conspicuous lamily in some parts of the country, and its genealogy is about to be published by Dr. H. V . Davenport, of Boston, Massachusetts. Abner, who was born on the 14th of February, 1S14, received an academic education at Randolph, in his native state ; commenced reading law at twenty years of age in the office of Marsh and Swan, of Woodstock, V^ermont ; finished readino- in Washincrton citv with Hon. W. L. Brent, once a member of cono^ress from Louisiana; and on the 14th of b^ebruary, 1838, was admitted to the bar at a term of the supreme court of the United States, on examination by Chief Justice Taney, and on motion of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, United States senator from Missouri. Before being admitted he was a clerk under Hon. Levi Woodbury, secretary of the treasury for President \'an Buren, holding that position three years, resigning in May, 1839, and settling in Mount Clemens, Michigan. There he resided for fifteen \ears, engaged, the greater part of the time, in journalism THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 33 and the practice of his profession. He pubHshed the Macomb county " Gazette," a weekly paper, four years, and, during most of this time, a monthly called " The Ancient Landmark," a masonic periodical. He was on the bench, serving as a district judge three years, his term expiring about 1854, and a member of the Michigan state senate in 1845 ^"d 1846. In 1855 Judge Smith removed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, published the daily "Free Press" six months, and then took a thirty-thousand-dollar contract for improving the levee of that city, being engaged in this business a few months, and having, at times, more than a hundred and fifty men working for him. He introduced into Minnesota the first rolling-stock of any kind ever used in the state, consisting of an invoice of gravel cars, purchased in Dubuque, Iowa. In the spring of 1857 Judge Smith was appointed register of the United States land office at Minneapolis, and went with it to Forest City, Meeker county, the next year; leaving that office in the autumn of 1858, and engaging in the practice of law and general collecting business. The celebrated Indian outbreak and massacre of 1862 commenced on the 17th of August in the town of Acton, Meeker county, fourteen miles from Forest City, and three days afterward Judge Smith sent the following letter to the governor of the state : .,.„,,, „ r^ 1 Forest City, Aiiscust 20, 6 a.m., 1S62. His Excellency Alexander Ramsey, Oovernor, etc. ! o 1 Sir, — In advance of the news from the Minnesota river, the Indians have opened on us in Meeker. It is war ! A few proposed to make a stand here. Send us, forthwitli, some good guns, and ammunition to match. Yours truly, A. C. Smith. This missive, taken to Saint Paul by Jesse V. Branham, then sixty years of age, brought forty-four stand of Springfield muskets, and " ammunition to match," to Forest City before noon of the 23d. There were thirteen men and three women on the site of the village to use these forty-four guns. On the 24th a military organization was effected, and the next day more than thirty other men came in and joined the company. Through all the bloody massacre Judge Smith never retreated an inch from Meeker county. In 1876, the centennial year, he wrote, by request ot President Grant and the recommendation of the two houses of congress, the history of the county ; and tVom it we learn that a report came one day that the Indians were coming into Forest City, when about a dozen men and boys, — all there were in town, — hastily armed themselves as best they could, and, led by the Judge, marched out to meet the enemy. He himself, 34 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. though captain, had no sword, but armed himself with "a double-barrel bogus stub-and-twist shot-gun, and three butcher knives under the waistbands of his pants." The enemy did not meet him ; he had no victory to win, and we believe never boasts of his military exploits. In 1S69, when the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad came through Meeker county, and the village of Litchfield, the county seat, began to grow, he opened a law and land office here, but did not move his family until 1874. He is a sound lawyer, a careful business man, strictly honest, and has the unlimited confidence of the community. The Judtre was a democrat in politics until the civil war commenced, and has since been quite independent, heartily supporting the government in all war measures, and voting the republican ticket most ol the; time for the last fifteen years, though taking very little interest in politics. He was the father of Masonry in Michigan, and grand secretary and grand lecturer for the order from 1842 until he left the state. At one time he held the office of junior grand warden of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota. He or- ganized and was worshipful master of the first masonic lodge " west of the Big Woods." The wife of Judge Smith was Miss Elizabeth D. Buck, eldest daughter of Hon. Daniel Azro Ashley Buck, at one time a member of congress from Ver- mont, and at the time f)f their marriage, May i, 1839, chief clerk in tht; Indian Bureau, Washington, District of Columbia. She is the last survivor of this branch of the Buck family, once so conspicuous in the Green Mountain State; her father, mother, and only brother and sister, lying in the congressional bury- ing ground. Mrs. Smith is the mother of four children, three of them yet living. Carrie L. is the wife of Edwin S. Eitch, of Hastings, Minnesota; Ella Belmont is the wife of Laban B. Di.\on, of Chicago, and Henry Ledyard is an architect, whose residence is also in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are attendants at the Presbyterian church. The [udge has one of the best residences in Litchfielil; he is not wealthy, but lives in easy independence, anil in a quiet way is doing all he can to advance the interests of his prairie home. He was one of the foremost men in building the large masonic hall in Litchfield, and has as much public spirit, probably, as any man in the county. He is of a kindly, charitable disposition, and has tested the blessedness of giving. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 35 He has a law and miscellaneous library of about three thousand volumes ; contains many valuable works, — amony them the Massachusetts and Vermont historical collections, and something- like three hundred volumes of executive documents of the United States, embracing the history of the government for nearly thirty years. His history of Meeker county is an interesting little volume of one hundred and sixty pages, rather spicy withal, with an admirable litho- graphic map of the county, drawn by his son, Henry L. Smith. HON. WILLIAM MITCHELL, WINONA. WILLIAM MITCHELL, judge of the third judicial district, and son of John and Mary Henderson Mitchell, is of pure Scotch blood, both parents being born in the old countr)', and connected with a long line of agriculturists. William was born on the 19th of November, 1832, a few miles from Drummond- ville, in the county of Welland, province of Ontario ; prepared for college at private schools in his native count)' ; entered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1S48, and graduated in 1853 After teach- ing two years in an academy at Morgantown, West Virginia, he read law with Edgar C. Wilson, of the same place, and was there admitted to the bar in the spring of 1857, settling in Winona during the same spring. Here he was in constant and successful practice until he went on the bench in January, 1874. He had held other offices long prior to that date — was a member of the legisla- ture in the session which was held in the winter of 1859-60, and subsequently was count)- attorney for one term. His judicial tern-i runs for seven years, ex- piring with the year 1881. He was elected without opposition, and the selec- tion was no doubt as good as could be made. The ludee has thorouu-h literar\' as well as legal culture, an abundance of broad common sense, and all the elements which constitute a first-class district judge. In nioral character he stands in the front rank. He is interested directl)- or indirectly with local enterprises calculated to build up Winona, among them the Winona and .Southwestern Railway, of which company he is president. He is also president of the Winona .Savings Bank. Judge Mitchell was originally a republican ; became dissatisfied with some 36 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. of the reconstruction measures of the party during the administration of Presi- dent Johnson, and since that time has been independent, acting largely, though not wholly, with the democratic party. His religious leanings are towartl the Presbyterian church, in which he was reared, but of which he is not a member. Judge Mitchell has been twice married: the first time to Mrs. E. Jane Smith, of Morgantown, West Virginia, in September, 1857. — she dying ten \ears later, leaving four children ; the second time to Mrs. Frances M. Smith, daughter of Jacob D. Merritt, of Dubuque, Iowa, in July, 1872,— two children being the fruit of this union. HON. CHARLES D. GILFILLAN, SAINT PAUL. CHARLES DUNCAN GILFILLAN, member of the state senate, is a native of Oneida county, New York; a son of James and Janet (Gilmer) Gilfillan, and was born in New Hartford, on the 4th of July, 1831. His father, who by occupation was a weaver, came to this country from Scotland in 1830, and settled in Oneida county, where Charles lived until eleven years old, when the family moved to Chenango county. There the son remained for hve years, attending school in the winters, and working on a farm and in a saw-mill during the other seasons. Subsequently he spent three years in Homer Academy and Hamilton College; then went to Missouri, and remained there one year, and in 1 85 1 located at Stillwater, Minnesota. There he read law with Michael E. Ames, and was admitted to the bar in 1853, remo\ing to Saint Paul in Novem- ber, 1854. Here Mr. Gilfillan was in the practice of his profession about a dozen years, and since the close of that period has been engaged in various public enterprises. He is now president of the Saint Paul water-works. Mr. Gilfillan was the first recorder of .Stillwater; was a member ot the house of representatives of the legislature in 1864, 1865 and 187(3, and is now, as already mentioned, in the senate. At the session hekl in 1878 he was chairman of the railroad committee, and on the committees on the judiciar\' and education. Senator Gilfillan is an able, e.xperienced and efficient legislator, looking well to the interests of his constituents and of the state. THE UNITED STATES BIOGBAPHICAL DICTIONARY. t,"] Since he has been a voter, he has acted uniformly with the republican party. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity. Senator Gilfillan was first married, in [859, to Miss Emma C. Waage, of Montgomery county, New York, she dying in 1S63, leaving no issue. His present wife was Miss Fanny S. Waage, sister ot his first wife ; married in 1865. They have four children. HON. WILLIAM H. YALE, MI NONA. WILLIAM HALL YALE, son of Wooster and Lucy Hall Yale, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on the 12th of November, i8;i, he beine the sixth child in a famil)- often children. His ancestor, Thomas Yale, came to America in 1637, and settled in New Haven. He was one of the leading men in the colony, a signer of the "Plantation Covenant," ol New Haven, filling vari- ous offices of trust and honor. Captain Yale died on the 27th of March, 1683. It was his son, Elihu Yale, for whom Yale College was named. Born in New- Haven, he was educated in England; at the age of thirty years went to India in the service of the East India Company, remaining there twenty years ; amassed a fortune; married a native ot that countr)'; returned to London, and became governor of the East India Company. A namesake and descendant of his, Elihu Yale, compiler of the "Yale Genealogy" (New Haven, Connecticut, 1850), states that Governor Yale introduced auctions into England about 1700, he causing some "'oods which he had broug-ht from the Indies to be thus sold. His munih- cent gifts to the college at New Haven, caused its name to be changed to "Yale." The following epitaph is recorded on his tombstone at Wrexham, in Wales: " Born in America, in England bred, In Africa travell'd, and in Asia wed. Where long he lived and thrived, at London dead, Much good, some ill he did ; so hope that all's even, And that his Soul, through Mercy's gone to Heaven. You that survive and read, take care For this most certain exit to prepare; For only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust." Captain Thomas Yale, son of Captain Thomas Yale, senior, and brother of Governor Yale, whose epitaph we have just recorded, was one of the small com- 38 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. nany of adxcnturcrs who, under the direction of llie New Haven Committee, removed to W'allinoford in that state, in 1670. He was one of the most public- spirited and i;nlerprising men in that littk' band, — ^justice of the peace, " captain of tiu; train banil," and moderator of the town meetings. He died at Walhng- ford in i 736. On the farm orioinally opened b\- Ca])tain Thomas Yale, junit)r, in 1670, Wooster Yale, the father of our subject, frnalh' settled, and there died on the 27th of March, 1842, aged fort)-tive years. He was at one time an extensive shoe manufacturer in his native town of Wallingfonl ; later in life had an exchange office in New Haven, of wliich county he was deputy sheriff for several years, re- turning to Wallingford a little while before his demist!. William was then about nine vears ohl, aiul from that age until fourteen, he was put out on a tarm, with such opportunities for education as the winter term of a district school afforded. Subsequently he spent three years at the Connecticut Literary Institute, Suffield, taking a full course, including the classics. At eighteen Mr. Yale commenced teaching at Norwalk, in liis native state, foUowino- that profession there for two or three years, reading law also at the same time. After ending his teaching, and giving his whole time to legal studies for a short period, he became cashier and bookkeeper of the Sharp's Ril]e Manu- facturinL,^ Compan)', at Hartford, holding that position between two and three years, and leaving it for the west. Mr. Yale located at Winona in the spring of 1857, resumed his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar early in the autumn of that \ear. lie practiced alone until 1867; was then the partner of Judge William Mitchell till January, 1874; was alone again in the practice for three or four \ears, and is now ot the firm of Yale and Webber, his partner being one of his former law students, Mr. M. B. Webber. Mr. Yale; is of a studious cast of mind ; ])repares his cases with much care, and is regarded as a good pleader and an excellent business man. He is eminently reliable and trustworthy, and has an honorable standing in the legal fraternity. Mr. Yale has been in some civil or political office more than two thirds ot the time since settling in Minnesota. He was elected police justice in 1858, holding that office two years ; before the expiration of the term was elected judge of pro- bate ; was subsequently prosecuting attorney for two terms; was a state senator in 1867 and 1868; lieutenant-governor from 1870 to 1874, and senator again in THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 39 1876 and 1877. Each time that Mr. Yale was elected lieutenant-governor he had the largest majority of any man on the republican state ticket, and the last time he was chosen senator he had a handsome majority in a strongly democratic district. As a politician, he has always affiliated with the republicans, and in 1876 was appointed a delegate to the republican national convention at Cincinnati, but owing to sickness in the family was unable to attend. During the four years that he presided over the state senate, he won golden opinions for the prompt- ness and impartiality with Avhich he discharged his official functions. As a parlia- mentarian, he has few equals in the state. Governor Yale, as his neighbors all call him, has a second wife ; his hrst was Miss Sarah E. Banks, of Norwalk, Connecticut ; married in 1851. She died in 1871, leaving one child, Charles B.Yale, a law student in the office of his father. His present wife was Miss Mary L. Hoyt, also of Norwalk; married in October, 1872, and having one child. Governor Yale is a member of the Episcopal church, and senior warden of the same. So far as we can ascertain, he has always borne the character of a christian gentleman. He is active in church and benevolent enterprises, and one of the leading Episcopal laymen in southern Minnesota. JOHN S. IRGENS, SAINT PAUL. JOHN S. IRGENS, secretary of state, and one of the solid farmers of south- ern Minnesota, is a son of Ole Irgens, paymaster at the mines at Modum, Norway, and Henrietta Christina Calmeyer, and was born in Christiana, Nor- way, on the nth of February, 1832. The Irgens, from whom he descended, are an old and influential family, many members of it having held high positions in the Lutheran church and in political life. The subject of this notice was educated by private tutors, and was thorouo-hly fitted for business. He speaks four languages. He came to this country in 1848 ; was a clerk for two years in a mercantile house in New York ; then came as far west as Chicago, clerking there awhile, and then going into trade for him- self In 1857 he removed to Adams township, Mower county, Minnesota; was station agent there for three years, and engaged also in agriculture, which has 40 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. since been his leading business. He resigned liis station agency to accept the office of county treasurer, which otiicc he hild lor tour )'ears. On the 1st of I-'elMniary, 1862, Mr. Irgens enlisted as a jirivatc in the i5tli Wisconsin I nfantr\', and was promoted to second Heutenant tlie |une toHowing. At the awA of one )ear, having nearly lost his hearing, he resigned, and returned to Minnesota. He was a member of the lower house oi the legislature in 1S75 ; in Novem- ber of that year was elected secretary of state, and was re-elected in 1S77, having a majority of more than eighteen thousand votes over his competitor. The state, it is ocnerally conceded, never had a better officer of the kind. He evi- dently believes in undertaking notliing which he cannot do well. In politics, he has acted uniforml)- with the republican party. Mr. Irgens has long been a member of the Lutheran church, antl has held at different times the offices of trustee, treasurer, etc. The wife of Mr. Irgens was Miss Louisa P. Arentz, of .Stavanger, Norway, their union taking place in Chicago on the iSth of December, 1853. They have had seven children, and lost two of them. Ole Henry de Schezoulx, the eldest son, has a family and lives at Lyle, Minnesota; Henrietta Maria is the wife of Frank Jerabek, of Lyle ; the rest are unmarried. HON. RENSSELAER R. NELSON, SMXT PACL. RENSSELAER RUSSELL NliLSON, United States district judge since Minnesota became a state, was born in Cooperstown, Otsego county. New York, on the 12th of May, 1826. He is of Irish descent on his father's side, and of English and Irish on his mother's. His paternal great-grandfather, John Nel- son, came over from Hallibay, Ireland, in 1764, when his grandfather, John Rogers Nelson, was a child, and settled in Washington county, New \'ork. There the father of Rensselaer, Samuel Nelson, late associate justice of the United States supreme court, was born on the loth of Novemlxr, 1792, dying in Cooperstown, in Dcccinbcr, 1873. He was in the war of 1812 -15, and his son, the subject of this skt'tch, located his land warrant in Minnesota. Some of the family spell the name Nc-ilson, Judge Neilson, of Brooklyn, New York, before whom the case of ^^fySS&B^<,-„ USxrcUxStlfT THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 43 Rev. Henry W^ard Beecher was tried in 1875, being a second cousin of our sub- ject. The mother of Rensselaer was Catherine Ann Russell, a descendant of Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, Massachusetts, in whose house the regicides, Goffe and Whalley, were concealed for years, and where they died. Rensselaer prepared for college in his native town ; entered Yale College at the age of si.xteen ; graduated in 1846; read law at first witli Hon. (Tieorge A. Starkweather of Cooperstown ; finished his legal studies in New York city with James R. Whiting, once on the supreme bench of New York, and was admitted to the bar at Cooperstown in the spring of 1849. Alter practicing there a short time, Mr. Nelson moved to Saint Paul in 1850, here continuing in practice three or four years, then removing to the head of Lake Superior, in Wisconsin, where he was district attorney of Douglas county from 1854 to 1856. Returning to Saint Paul in 1857, he was appointed one of the territorial judges by President Buchanan, and in 1858, on the admission of Minnesota into the Union, he was appointed United States district judge, and still holds the office. Dating from his appointment of judge of the territory of Minnesota in 1857, Judge Nelson has since that time exercised judicial office over a jurisdiction commensurate with the state. His ciuties have been, especially for the last ten years, of a very arduous and complex character. The criminal laws of the United States have been almost exclusively administered in the district court. The pro- ceedings in bankruptcy have necessarily been carried on in the same court, and he has also, by reason of the great extent of the judicial circuit to which Minne- sota belongs, presided alone at many of the terms of that court. He is a work- ing judge, attending daily at his chambers, with very rare intermission. His judicial tendencies are the result of thorough training in the doctrines of the common law as it was expounded before the days of innovation, and his great familiarity with the statutory and reported jurisprudence of the federal govern- ment is conceded by the entire bar. Long judicial experience in Minnesota has given him a thorough acquaintance with the laws of that state, which, as to prac- tice in many respects, and as to property, are the laws of the federal courts. He has always, while asserting the powers of the United States courts, been duly appreciative of the rights of the state, and has never brought his court into that region of conflicting jurisdictions created by a duplex judicial system. He pos- sesses that judicial instinct whicli makes its way quickly through immaterial de- tails to the essential points upcjn which the determination of a cause must turn, 44 THE UNITED STATES B/OGRAPII/CAL DICTION A K Y. and lu' therefore charges juries with great distinctness, and, in cast;s decided by him, ])hices the results upon i)lainly discernibhj principles. He enjoys the un- (jualilied confidence and r('spect of the l)ar and people of the state. In [)olitics, [udge Nelson has been a lifolong ilcniocrat, but he is not a strong partisan. The wife of Judge Nelson was Mrs. Emma F. Wright, a daughter of Wash- ington Beebee, of New York State, their marriage occurring November 3, 185S. They ha\'e had two children, both daughters, orily one now living: the elder, Emma Beeloee, is at home; the younger, Kate Russell, died in 1869, aged eight years. The family attend the Episcopal church. [udge Nelson is five feet and six inches tall, and usually weighs about one hundred and ninct\- pounds. He has l:)lue eyes, a light or florid comjjlexion, and a sanguine-bilious temperament ; is dignified yet familiar, and easy in manners, cordial in his address, and a pleasant converser. He has made law and jurispru- dence his lift- study, and hence his high standing as a jurist. A state is honored by keeping such men on the bench. HON. JOHN S. PRINCE, SAINT PAIL. OKYL of the most striking examples of a self-made man in Minnesota is John Stoughtcninirg Prince, who never went to school a day in his lift- alter he was eleven years old, and who has earned his own living since that early age. There is a lesson in his life which it will be usefid for young men to study. He was a son of Joseph and Charlotte (Osborn ) rrincc, and was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 7th of May, 182 i. He is a desceiulant of Rev. John Prince, rector of East Shefford, in lierkshire, England, and is the eighth John Prince in regular succession from this clerical progenitor. The fourth John Prince, great-great- grandfather of our sul)ject,was born in Barnstable, England, in 1677, and died on Long Island, New York, 1765. Th(; fifth John Prince was born in Barnstable, Eno-lanil, on the loth of August, 1716, ami elit-d in liosion, Massachusetts, on the 2^1 of |uly, 1786. The grandfather of our subject was born in Boston, on the 22dof July, 1751 ; his father was a native; of the same cilw and died at Men- don, Massachusetts, on the 24th of November, 1828. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 45 When ten years old, the sul^ject of this sketch went to Mendon and spent a year or more with his grandparents, there finishing his school education ; at eleven was put in a shoe store in Cincinnati, and received two dollars a week for his services. About 1836 Mr. Prince commenced an apprenticeship at the commission busi- ness, acquainting himself in a tew years with its minutest details, and by the con- sultation of text books at his leisure, treated himself to a good practical business education. In 1840 Mr. Prince entered the American Fur Company at Evansville, In- diana, and when, two years later, the compan)' suspended operations, he engaged with Pierre Chouteau, junior, and Co., who assumed the business, he becomino- the purchasing agent of the company for the states ol Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, and the Territory of Wisconsin. In the interest ot the tur company, he located in Saint Paul in 1854, his lead- ing business at first being to look after the property of the company in this city. At the same time he operated a saw-mill, having charge of it about fifteen years. Outside the tur company's property, he dealt largely in real estate on his own account, and by the exercise of good judgment and business tact, he accumulated much wealth, placing him on a very solid financial foundation. Mr. Prince was one of the original corporators of the Saint Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and of the Saint Paul and Sioux City Railroad Com- pany, and still holds the position of stockholder and director in these institutions, both of which are identified with the interests and advancement of the cit)-. He has also been instrumental in the erection of many fine stores and dwellings in Saint Paul, his latest achievement in that direction beings the completion, on his own private account, of a block of five fine brick residences, equal to any in the city. Of public enterprises of a benevolent character, he is always among the most liberal supporters, and the poor, irrespective of race or color, can always rely upon the sympathy and generous aid of himself and his estimable family. When the Savings Bank of Saint Paul was organized in 1867, he became its cashier, and is now its president. It is very carefully managed, like everything" else under the eye of Mr. Prince, and is regarded as one of the soundest institu- tions of the kind in the state. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1857, and was one of Governor Sible)'s aids, with rank ot colonel ; was mayor of the city of Saint Paul 46 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in I S6o, 1 86 1, 1S62, 1865 and 1866, being elected tlie last time without opposi- tion, and has hail much to do in shapino- the municipal regulations of the city, having been ]jresident of the commission of assessments one year and president of the boartl of pul)lic works three years, lie is a man of great local influence; is public-spirited and energetic, and looks well to the interests of his adopted home, lie is proud of tlie city of- .Saint Paul, the great railroad center of the state, and the heart of commercial traffic; and the city, in return, may well be proud of such men as Mr. Prince, who, with a lew score of faithful co-workers, have made Saint Paul what it is. In politics, Mr. Prince is a democrat of the Jeffersonian school, but he is quite independent, pa\ing great regard to the character of candidates ; he votes tor the best men. Mr. Princes ami his family belong to the Catholic church. His wife was Miss Emma .S. Linck, of ICvansville, Indiana, thc-ir union taking place there on the 2d of Mav, 1844. They have had twelve children, of whom seven are living. MARTIN S. CHANDLER, RliD WIXC. MARTIN SPENCER CHANDLER, son of Woodley \V. and Phebe W'insor Chandler, anil for the last twenty )'ears sheriti ol Goodhue counlw Minnesota, was born at Jamestown, Chaulautpia count)-. New York, on the 14th of PY-bruary. 1824. Ht- is of New England stock. His maternal oreat-frandfather was an officer in the first war with England, and his grand- father, on the same siile, was in the second war. Woodley W. Chandhn- was a woolen manufacturer and an t:xlensivc; farmer, and for man)- )-ears one of the leading nic;n in Chautaucpia county. His brother, .Spencer ChandUtr, for whom our subject was named, was city niarshal of Naslnille, 'Pennessee, for twent)'- three )-ears, and when the civil war broke out, was one ot the few men in that city who stood l)ra\-(d)' b)- the old Hag. Martin was educatetl at the Jamestown and I'redonla acadeniies ; learned the taniier aiid currier's trade, but preferred larming, which he tollowed in his nati\-e town until 1856, when he came to Minnesota, and openetl a larni at Pine Islanil, (ioodhue county, thirty miles from Red Wing. s THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 47 During- the first year he was in this state he was elected one of the three county commissioners, serving until 1858; in the autumn of which year he was elected sheriff of the county, taking the office on the ist of January, 1859, ^'""^ in July, 1878, was nominated for his eleventh consecutive term. He is no doubt the most popular officer oi the kind in the state. He has all the elements of the faithful and true man, and is well known in the state. Mr. Chandler has always been a staunch republican, and is one of the leaders of the party in the banner republican county. He was a presidential elector in 1872, and was elected messenger to carry the vote of the state to Washington, but declined in favor of Wilforcl L. Wilson, of Saint Paul. His name has fre- quently been mentioned in connection with the office of congressman, but he has sedulously refused to let it go before the nominating convention. He is a man of a good deal of ability. His (the second) district is strongly republican, and a nomination has always been equivalent to an election ; but Washington seems to have no attractions for him. In Goodhue county, and wherever known, he is highly esteemed. Mr. Chandler has taken the fifth or scarlet degree in Odd-Fellowship, and the first degree in chapter Masonry. On the 14th of February, 1849, Mi^s F"annie F. Caldwell, of Jamestown, New York, became the wife of sheriff Chandler, and of three children, whom they have had, two died in infancy. Florence C. is the wife of Ira S. Kellogg, of Red Winof, one of the oldest drucroists in the state. HON. THOMAS P. KELLETT, ZUMBROTA. ONE of the prominent members of the Stafford Western Emigration Com- pany, and a leader in founding the town of Zumbrota, was Thomas Pear- son Kellett, a native of the parish of Leeds, England, dating his birth on the ist of August, 1814. His father, Samuel Kellett, was a woolen manufacturer, the son early learning that trade, and having charge of his father's business at eighteen years of age. He left school when only twelve or thirteen, and the rest of his education was acquired by economizing time. At twenty-one years of age, having a desire to seek his fortune in the new 48 THE UNITED STATES BlOGKAl'lUCAL DICTIONARY. world, Mr. Kcllett crossed the ocean, and spent two years in the manufacturing business at Laurel, Chester county, Pennsylvania, going thence to Lowell, Massa- chusetts. There he acted as overseer in thc! woolen mills of the Middlesex cor- poration until 1856, when he joined the Stafford Western Emigration Company, and with lialf-a-dozen other men came to Minnesota to select a site for a town, locating at Zumbrota in the summer of that year. In September he aided in surveyino- and plotting the village, naming it Zumbrota, adding one syllable to Zumbro, the stream on which the town is situated. Two months later (November, 1856,) Mr. Kcllctt opened a general store, 19 by 2S feet, in a shanty made of boards and batten; lias here been in trade for tw(,'nty-two years, and is now in a store 24 by 76 feet, with a wing 16 by 20 feet, and has the largest stock of general merchandise, probably, in the place, there being half-a-dozen houses of the same class. Mr. Kellett has seen Zum- brota grow from a houseless site of a town to a lively village of a thousand people or more, two railroads entering it in 1878 — a town which never had a saloon, and is full of the indices of sobriety, industry and thoughtfulness for the young — good schools, churches, etc. The founders of the town were a considerate, high- mincU'd class of people, and the impress of their sound judgment is stamped on everything. While engaged unremittingly in .mercantile pursuits, Mr. Kellett has held many positions of honor and trust. He was president of the emigration company a few years; was justice of the peace for six years, with little to do in a temper- ance town ; was chairman of the board of supervisors one or two terms; is now on his third term as notary public, and is president of the school board of the independent district of Zumbrota. Mr. Kellett was a member of the house of representatives from Goodhue count)- in 1872 and 1873, and was connected prominently with the bill releasing the towns in Goodhue county, so far as the legislature coidd do it, from the obli- gation to the l)ubu(|ue and Saint Paul Railroad Company, voted three )-ears be- fore; also with the Ijill to abolish the fence law, so far as it relates to the same county, thus releasing the f- is now Wisconsin and Minnesota fifty years ago, is Charles Henry Oakes, a pioneer Indian trader and fur dealer, an account of whose adventures and hardships would fill a volume. He is a clear-headed, sprightly old gentleman, very cordial and communicative, and the statements contained in this brief memoir may be regarded as strictly reliable. He was the son of a Vermont merchant and manufacturer, David Oakes, at one time sheriff of Windham county, and for many years a judge of Saint Clair county, Michigan, and was born in the town of Rockingham, Windham count)', on the 17th of July, 1803. 68 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. His moilicr's name, before her marriage, was Sarah Marsh. His paternal great- grandfather came over from England long before the revolution. Charles received only a common-school education ; at twelve years of age went into a store in his native town, and clerked until eighteen ; in June, 182 I, came as far west as Chicago, and remained there from Jul)- to December of that year, he being a clerk for a sutU-r. He was in Chicago whi-n General Lewis Cass matle a treaty with the Pottawatomie Imlians for their lands in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. At that time all the white inhab- itants there; were two traders, Mr. Kinzie and Mr. Beaubien, and part of a com- pany of soldiers in old Fort Dearborn. In the spring of 1822, after visiting Detroit, Mr. Oakes went to Sault Ste Marie with troops whose mission there was to build I'Ort Brady. There he was in the mercantile business two years; then engaged voyageurs and commenced trading with the Indians, spend- ing his first winter in that calling in the Lake Superior country, on the Yellow river, Wisconsin. After two or three years' operations alone he connected him- self with the American Fur Company, and continued in this business steadily until 1834, spending his time in Wisconsin and Minnesota, that is, what is now these two states, the greater portion of his time in the latter state. Previous to 1835 all goods for the Indian trade were transj)orted trom Mackinac in what were called Mackinac boats, usually from seven to nine voyageurs constituting a crew, to the head of Lake Superior, where the goods were transferred to birch-bark canoes, and transported in this waj' all through the interior to the several trading posts. Whenever there were portages to be made, the goods and other baggage were carried by the men upon their backs with a portage collar, made for the purpose, of strong leather, the whole weight resting upon the head. Men have been known to carry si.x or seven hundred pounds at a time in this way, but the usual load for each man was one hundred and htty to two hundred pounds. Now and then Mr. Oakes experienced very severe hardships and perils from cold and hunger. The winter of 1825-26 he passed on the shore ot Leech Lake, now in Cass count)-, northern Minnesota, and one day in March, after having been out trading with voyageurs and negotiating for some provisions, he started for his trading post just at sunset with his snow-shoes on. He soon struck the lake, which he had to cross ; the weather grew colder and his moccasins began to freeze to his snow-shoes when in the middle of the lake. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 69 He knew there was danger of his feet freezing, but he could not get the snow- shoes off Pushing on as rapidly as his strength would permit, he began to feel sleepy and was tempted to lie down, but knowing that death was certain if he did so, he continued to move on. Just as he reached the shore of the lake, only a short distance from the post, he finally sank down. At that moment he became fully conscious of the perils of his situation, rose and made one more effort to reach the house, and succeeded. He did not, however, dare to go near a fire, for both feet were frozen solid to the ankles. Calling for help, from within doors, it soon came ; he went to a store-room where there was no fire, had the men cut his snow-shoes and moccasins off, ran a pen-knife into his feet in several places, without feeling it, in order to let out the bad blood when they should thaw ; put both feet into alcohol, and kept them there until the frost was entirely out, they bleeding freely meanwhile. They felt a little tender that night as he drew his socks on, and, strange to say, that was the end of his sufferings. Had he thawed his feet out by a fire, they would have had to be taken off, and there was no surgeon within four or five hundred miles ! Death, in that case, would have ensued. At another time, when all his men were absent, about a dozen Indians, with their faces blackened with charcoal, came into his cabin, said they under- stood he had "firewater," and they wanted some. He handed them tobacco, which they threw on the fioor, and afterward one of them gave it a violent kick. Their principal speaker told him they did not come ior that, they wanted the "firewater" or his life. He then told them that he had, by permission ot the United States government, five kegs for the use of his men and to procure his winter supply of provisions; that when he came to that section the Indians had eone to their huntinsj-srounds ; that he buried the keos in the ground; that it should there remain until spring or until the Indians and voyageurs returned ; that they might take his life, but that would do them no good, as no one but himself knew where the "firewater" was concealed. He told them he had promised the Indians, who were hunting, that they should have some of it on their return if they brought him all their furs ; that he could not and would not break his word with them ; and that if the Indians then present would go peaceably about their business, they should have some too when the proper time came. By thus talking to them they became satisfied, smoked the tobacco and went away quietly. Mr. Oakes faithfully kept his promise ■JO THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. made to them, as he ahvays did with the red men, and rarely had any difficulty in getting along with them. Usually Mr. Oakes tared well as it regarded provisions, having tea and coffee, tlour, pork and wild game, but during part ot the winter of 1827-28 he fared rather hard, getting out of everything except deers' hides ! These, for awhile, he boiled very tender, cut them into little strips three or four inches square, and pickU;tl them in vinegar. When the vinegar and butter gave out he roasted the slices to a crisp, and they relished well while warm. In a short time, however, he replenished his larder with hsh, game and maple sugar, and again fared sumptuously. During this time ot extreme destitution, for the sake of a lilth- \ariety in diet, the voyageurs dug away the deep snow under the oak trees and picked, thawed and ate the acorns. Scores of anecdotes of adventures and perils experienced by Mr. Oakes could be given, had we space. His life, fully written out, would fill a volume. From 1834 to 1838 Mr. Oakes was in Michigan, speculating on Grand river, near where the great city of Grand Rapids now stands. During that time he had loaned parties in Chicago five thousand dollars, and they, failing to pay, offered him "red dog" money or a block on Clark street, but the mud was so deep and the whole city so unpromising, that he said he would not give five thousand cents tor all Chicago. He chose the "red dot: " monev. In the latter year just mentioned ( 1838) he resumed his connection with the Pur Company, continuing it until 1850, when he located permanently in .Saint Paul. In 1853 Mr. Oakes, in company with his brother-in-law, Charles \V. \V. Borup, opened a bank here, under the firm name of Horup and Oakes, continuing busi- ness in the same name until 1866, although Mr. Borup died in 1859. .Since clos- ing up his banking business Mr. Oakes has lived a retired and (juiet lite, having a competency and contentedness of mind, with sense enough to know how to enjo)' it, he having traveled in Europe with his tamil)-, and stored his mind with useful knowledge. Mr. Oakes has never been much of a politician, and has never sought office of any kind. When General Sibley was in the gubernatorial chair he appointed Mr. Oakes colonel on his staff, and that was the cmX of his military career and preferments. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and a man of very |iure character, generous to a fault, and in whom the needy never lack a friend. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ;i The wife of Mr. Oakes was Miss Julia Beaulieii, of Sault Ste Marie ; married on the 29th of July, 1S31. She has had five children, only one of them, Julia Jane, the widow of the late General Isaac Van Etten, now living. One of her sons, George Henry, was in the civil war, connected with the sutler department, and died of disease there contracted, two years after leaving the service. The other son, Charles William, died at the age of twenty-three years. By a previous wife, Mr. Oakes had four children, only two of them, both daugh- ters, now living. Sophia is the wife of Hon. Jeremiah Russell, of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and Eliza is the wife of Colonel George W. Sweet, of Bismarck, Da- kota Territory. Lieutenant David O. Oakes, a deceased son, was killed while skirmishing at Farmington, just before the battle of Shiloh. He left a wife and three children. The other child died in infancy. Although Mr. Oakes spent much of his early and middle life out-of-doors, traversing the wilderness from port to port, he is well preserved, weighs two hun- dred and five pounds, is five feet eleven inches tall, and stands perfectly erect. He has the vigor and elasticity of ordinary men at fifty. HON. DORILUS MORRISON, MTNNEA PQLIS. AMONG the many self-made men of Minnesota, none are more deserving of ^ the appellation than the subject of this sketch. Thrown early upon his own unaided resources for support, he began without hesitation at the bottom of the ladder, and worked his way steadily toward the top ; and, through the exercise of industry, sagacity and business enterprise, he can to-day look down the ladder up which he climbed, with the quiet satisfaction of knowing that his life has been an eminent success. Dorilus Morrison is of Scotch ancestry, and a native of Livermore, Oxford county, Maine. The record of his birth bearing date December 26, 1816. His parents were Samuel Morrison, a wheelwright by trade, and Betsey, his wife, nk Benjamin. Dorilus received a 'common-school education, and spent about three months at Kent's Hill Acadeni)-, town of Redfield, and afterward taught school in the country and " boarded round." He next, while yet in his eighteenth year, engaged with one William H. Britan, a merchant, farmer and general trader, to 72 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. work for seven dollars a month and hoard ; at this rate he worked one year, when his wages were raised to ten dollars, for which he worked the second year; on demanding an increase to twelve dollars a month for the third year, and being refused, he turned his attention elsewhere. Three months afterward his old employer offered him twenty-five dollars per month if he would return ; he accepted the offer, and at the end of one year became a partner in the busi- ness ; continued as such for live years, enjoying good success. Then removed to Bangor, 1842, with about four thousand dollars, where he entered into mer- chandising and lumbering, which business he pursued prosperously until the spring of 1853, when, having saved about twenty thousand dollars, and teeling possessed of cpiite a fortune, he joined the tide of emigration, then pouring toward the west, and started lor Minnesota, which he reached ere the spring had wholl)' gone. He landed at Stillwater first, where he made the chance acquaintance of a young lawyer named McMillan, who at that time was almost unknown, but who is at present in the United States senate from Minnesota. (The moral is, Cjo West.) Mr. Morrison pushed on and settled at Minneapolis, where he invested in real estate, chietly pine lands. He is largely interested in manufacturing lumber from his pine lands, of which he owns nearl)' one hundred thousand acres; from 1855 to 1868, at which time the lumber business was turned over to his sons, he manufactured from ten to twent\' million feet of lumber yearly. In 1856 he, with others, jnuxhased the land and water-power, and formed what is now known as the Minneapolis Mill Company, — he being one of the principal pro- jectors of the dam and canal, the building of which has made Minneapolis what she is, and justlv entitles her to the name of the city of mills and manufactories. At the close of 1879 there will be in operation about three hundred run of stone, besides numerous other mills and factories, which produce nearly all con- ceivable manufactured articles, all of which are operated by this immense and inexhaustible water-power; yet competent judges estimate that only ten per cent of the power will be utilized. The Minneapolis Mill Company, which is composed of Mr. Morrison, ex-Governor C. C. Washburn, of Wisconsin, and W. D. Washburn, of Minneapolis, owns all of this water-power upon the west side of the river, the large elevator that bears their name, the North .Star Woolen Mill ; and besides their great milling interests, Mr. Morrison is com- pleting a fourteen-run tlouring mill. Mr. Morrison, in addition to his many THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 73 Other enterprises, built and invested one hundred thousand dollars in a cotton mill, of which he is sole owner; was also engaged with others in building the Northern Pacific railway, from 1869 to 1873, and had exclusive control of the construction of the last two hundred miles. He is president of the Minneapolis Harvester Company, and has about seventy-five thousand dollars invested in the agricultural works ; their various implements are enjoying a deserved popu- larity, which demands a production during this season of three thousand ma- chines ; he is also president of the Minneapolis gas company. In 1867 Mr. Morrison became the first mayor of Minneapolis, an office to which he has been twice elected since; in 1863 was elected senator to represent Hennepin county in the state legislature, and was re-elected for the following term ; served on various committees, taking an acti\e part in all legislative affairs, and rendering faithful and satisfactory services to his constituents. As a member of the board of education he has been prominent, active and energetic for many years ; being much interested in all matters pertaining to the welfare of schools, he aids the cause and advancement of education to the best of his ability. Politically, Mr. Morrison was originally a whig, while that party was in ex- istence, and since its dissolution has been a conscientious member of the repub- lican party ; and, while not being a partisan to any great extent, he still believes in atlhering strictly and firmly to the principles of old' republicanism, and with many others — and the number is increasing — he regrets that the Hon. James G. Blaine was not nominated at the Cincinnati convention, honestly believing that such a result would have been for the best interests of the country. Religiously, he is a Universalist, and for thirty years has been a consistent member of that denomination ; the societ}' possesses one of the finest churches in this city, and, socially and financially, is one of the strongest associations in the northwest. In May, 1840, Mr. Morrison was united in wedlock, in his native town, to Miss Harriet Putnam Whitmore, a descendant of General Israel Putnam, of revolutionary fame, and only daughter of Joel Whitmore, of Harrison, Maine. They have children living as follows : Clinton, born on the 5th of January. 1842, and married to Miss Julia K. Washburn, relative of the noted political famil)- of that name, of Cambridge, Ma.ssachusetts, on the 21st of February, 1873; George Henry, born on the 27th of November, 1844, and married to Miss Ella 74 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Bicknell, of Hnston, Massachusetts, on the ist of October, i86S; Grace E.. born on the 2.Sth of March. 1848; now the wife of Dr. II. II. Kimball, a prominent physician of this city, to whom she was wedded on the 28th of March, 1870. The two sons are largely engaged in hmibering in Minneapolis, under the firm name of Morrison Brothers, and bid fair to follow in the successful path of their worthy progenitor. JOHN H. MURPHY, M.D., SA/.YT PAUL. JOHN HENRY MURPHY, the oldest medical practitioner in Minnesota, is a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, a son ot |ames Murphy, shipbuilder, and .Sarah Allen, and dates his birth the 22d of January, 1S26. His father came from Ireland when about fourteen years old ; located in New Jersey, and was an officer in the second war with Englantl. The Aliens were an early New Jersey family. James Murphy moved to Ouincy, Illinois, in 18,34, where lohn farmed until al)Out eighteen, finishing his literary studies in the high school of Ouincy. He read medicine with Dr. Abram Hull, of Lewiston, Fulton county, Illinois; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and graduated in 1850. The year previous he hail located at Saint Anthony, Minnesota, and commenced practice, and made that place, now a part of the city of Minneapolis, his home until near the close of the civil war. In the summer of 1861, when Dr. Stewart, surgeon of the ist Minnesota In- fantry, was captured at Bull Run, Dr. Murphy took his place and served in that capacity for six months. He then became surgeon of the 4th Infantry, which was connected with the seventeenth army corps. General McPherson commander ; served as division surgeon most of the lime; had a sunstroke in the summer of 1864 and was obliged to return to the north; became surgeon of the 8th Minne- sota Infantry, operating against the Indians; accompanied it to the western plains and served until the close of the war. During the latter part of this period his family was living at Saint Paul, which has been his home since 1864. Though doingNi^eneral practice, he makes sur- gery a specialty, and does an extensive and lucrativeSiitsiness. His rides extend over a large territory, and his skill and services are thoroughly appreciated among THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 75 his wide circle of acquaintances. He is a man ot a genial and kindly disposition, whose very presence is a comfort to the sick. Dr. Murphy has held several civil offices, and could have had more if he would have accepted them. He was a member of the territorial legislature in 1S52, and of the state constitutional convention in 1857. He is president of the city school board — an earnest worker for the cause of education, and has held other civil offices in the municipality of Saint Paul. Dr. Murphy has been surgeon-general of the state for the last eight or nine years, and is president of the pension bureau. The Doctor is a member of the American Medical Association, and of the State Medical Society, and was the first delegate from the territory of Minnesota to the former, and has been vice-president of the latter. His standing in the medical iraternity is highl)" honorable. In politics, he was first a whig; since 1856 has been a republican ; is a Knight Templar in Freemasonry, and an Odd-Fellow, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His integrity and the purity of his life, we believe, have never been questioned. His wife was Miss Mary A. Hoyt, of Fulton county, Illinois; married on the 28th of June, 1848. They have had seven children, and lost two of them. Emma is the wife of Davis Blaisdell, of California. The others are single. GEORGE L. BECKER, SAINT PAUL. THE following sketch of George Loomis Becker is from the graceful pen of Mr. J. Fletcher Williams, secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society. It was written three or four years ago, and we have changed a few words in order to make it conform to the present date. Mr. Becker was born on the 4th of Februar)', 1829, in the town of Locke, Cayuga county, New York. His father, Hiram Becker, a native of Schoharie county. New York, was a descendant of the early Dutch settlers of the Mohawk valley, who came to America long prior to the revolutionar)' war. His mother's name was Sophia Millard, a native ot Vermont. Mr. Becker obtained his early schooling in a district school in his native j6 THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. town, and afterward more tulK' at tlie academy at Moravia, in tlie same county. Subsequent!)- lie attended the preparatory department of Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. His parents havinj^-, in the meantime, remo\ed to Auburn, New York, he returned home and completed his preparatory course at the Auburn Academy, then in charge of William Hopkins. In 1841 Mr. Becker's father removed to Ann .Arbor, Michigan, and he en- tered the freshman class of the .State University in 1842, and graduated in 1846, in the Seconal class graduating from that university, indisputably one of the best collecjes of America. Immediately after graduating he studied law with George Sedgwick, of Ann .Arbor, and remained with him until October, 1849, ^vlien he emigrated to Saint Paul, arri\ing here on the 29th of that month. He at once commenced the practice of law, and soon alter formed a copartnership with Fulmund Rice and Ellis G. Whitall, under the firm name of Rice, Whitall ami Becker. About a year afterward Mr. Whitall withdrew, and William Hollinshead, one of the best lawyers who ever lived in the state, joined the firm, which then became Rice, Hollinshead and Becker, one of the most successful and widely known law firms in the territorial days of Minnesota, continuing to transact a large and important business until its dissolution in i8;6. Mr. Rice retired durine that x'ear, and Messrs. Becker and Hollinshead continued the business for another year, when Mr. Becker withdrew, and soon after ceased the active practice of law. In 1855 Mr. Becker was married at Keeseville, New York, to Miss Susannah M. Ismond, a lady of rare accomplishments and beauty, and well fitted to pre- side over the comfortable home where so many visitors have received its gen- erous hospitalities, dispensed with a grace and kindness that render all " at home." Pour promising boys complete Mr. Becker's household. During the last sixteen years Mr Becker has been actively engaged in the important work of forwarding the railroad interests of the state. In 1862 he was chosen huid commissioner of the Saint Paul and Pacific railroad. Upon the organization of the first division of that road, on the 6th of February, 1864, he was elected president, which position lie has held ever since. Untler his able management, and largely by his efforts and influence, tour hundred miles of road have been constructed, connecting the navigable waters of the Mississippi with those of the Red River of the North. Foreign capital has been enlisted to the extent of millions, thus proving a source of wealth to THE UN r TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. -j-j our state, opening a vast region liitherto a wilderness, now hlled witli pros- perous towns and fertile, well improved farms. In the discharge of his duties, Mr. Becker has performed an immense amount of physical and mental labor, making frequent journeys east and to Europe, besid-es carrying on his large office business at home, and filling responsible public offices at the same time. Fortunately he possesses a robust physique, or he would have broken down under such a pressure. The high, and we may say, in candor, the iully deserved, popularity Mr. Becker has always enjoyed in this community, where he is best known, is well evinced in his repeated nomination and election to important offices. In 1854, at the first municipal election under our city charter, he was elected an alder- man, and in 1856 mayor of the city. In 1857 he was elected from Ramsey county one of the members of the constitutional convention, and soon after elected one of the three members ol congress to which it was supposed our state, when admitted, would be entitled. During the delay which attended its admission, it became certain that only two members could be received, and Mr. Becker at once resigned. In 1859 he was unanimously nominated, at a convention of his party, for governor, but the opposite side gained the day. In 1867 he was elected a member of the state senate from Ramsey county, and re-elected in 1869, serving four sessions. Such was the confidence reposed in him by both parties, that, at his last election, no nomination was made against him on the opposite ticket, and he was unanimously chosen. In 1872 Mr. Becker was again nominated for congress, but his party was not successful in the contest. Mr. Becker is one of the three original members ot the Presbyterian Church of Saint Paul, organized on the ist of January, 1850, and is still a member. He is also a member of the Old Settlers' Association, ot which he was president in 1873, and of the Minnesota Historical Society, of which he was president in 1874. Mr. Becker has aided all the benevolent, literary and educational institutions of our city with generous hands. The difficulty of speaking of a living person in suitable terms prevents us in a great measure from doing full justice to the character of the subject of this sketch, than whom perhaps no gentleman in Minnesota stands higher in every 78 THE I'M TED STATES BIOGRAJ'JIJCAL DICTIONARY. respect, and more Inlly enjoys the* conlidence, esteem and lo\e of a host ot friends ; one who, in a word, is tlie true t\|)e of the uprij^ht man, the high-minded anil h()noral)le advocate, the laitlilul public officer, the generous and hospitable friend, ami the public-spirited citizen. HON. CHARLES E. VANDERBURGH, MINNEAPOLIS. CHARLES EDWIN VANDERBURGH, judge of the fourth judicial dis- trict, son of Stephen and Maria (Calkins) Vanderburgh, was born at Clifton Park, Saratoga county. New York, on the 2d of December, 1829. His father's ancestors came from Amsterdam, Holland, and settled in Dutchess county, New York, more than a generation before the old French war. His grandfather (also named Stephen ), who was a soldier in the revolution, soon after the war removed to Saratoga county. New York, where his father was born, in 1800. In 1S36 his father removed from Saratoga county to Marcellus, Onondaga count)-, in the same state. Charles Edwin worked on his lather's tarm, attendinof the district school dur- ing the winters, until he was seventeen years old, when he engaged in teaching school during the next two winters, meantime preparing for college, pursuing his studies by himself at home, and a portion of the time, from 1846 to 1849, at Courtland Academy, Homer, New York. In the fall of 1849 he entered the sophomore class of Yale College, and graduated in 1852. In the following year Mr. Vanderburgh became principal of Oxford Academy, at Oxford, New York. In 1853 he commenced the study of law in the same town, in the office of Henry R. Mygatt, Esq., one of the foremost lawyers in the state. Was admitted to the bar in January, 1855, remaining in Mr. Mygatt's office till the following autumn, when he came to Chicago and spent the winter. Mr. Vanderburgh came to Minnesota in April, 1856, in quest of a suitable location for starting business. He decided on Minnesota in preference to any other state he visited, and settled in Minneapolis to practice his profession. Shortly after coming here he formed a law partnership with Judge Cornell, and they did a large business, both in the United States land office and in the courts. This firm continued until the fall of 1859, when Mr. Vanderburgh was elected THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 79 district judge, a position which he has retained to the present time. His district at that time extended north and northwest of Fort Snelling to the boimdar\- of the state, and out of which several districts have since been apportioned. When Judge Vanderburgh first came to Minneapohs he obtained a situation in the reg- ister of deeds' office, where he worked about three weeks, earning forty dollars, at the end of which time he entered into business with Mr. Cornell, as above stated. This was the first money earned by him in the state, and very acceptable under the circumstances he was then in. The records then made by him fre- quently serve to remind him of early struggles, and of the kindness and assistance of many of the early settlers of Minneapolis. The simple fact of Judge Vanderburgh being continued on the bench for more than eighteen years is a high compliment to his judicial qualifications, and ren- ders comment thereon superfluous. Prominent members of the bar speak in the highest terms of his ability and judgment, especially in cases in equity, and of his happy faculty of commanding such language in his decisions, and also in charges to a jury, as renders them clear, concise and easily understood. Judge Vanderburgh, in his political associations, is a republican, being elected as such, but he pays little attention to, and takes no active part in, politics. The Minnesota bench, as remarked in Judge Young's sketch, are happily free from all such proclivities. Judge Vanderburgh was first married at O.xford, New York, on the 2d of Sep- tember, 1857, to Julia M. Mygatt, daughter of William and Caroline Mygatt. She died on the 23d of April, 1863, leaving two children: William Henry, born on the 15th of July, 1858, and Julia M., born on the i6th of October, 1861. The lat- ter was accidentally drowned at Minneapolis, on the 12th of September, 1871, while the Judge was absent at court. William Henry is at present a member of the freshman class at Princeton College, New Jersey. On the 15th of April, 1873, Judge Vanderburgh was again married, to Miss Anna Culbert, daughter of the late John Culbert, of F"uIton county. New York. They have one child, Isabella Mclntyre, born on the 6th of August, 1874. The Judge has been a member of the Presbyterian church since 1862 ; is an elder in the church, and has been for many years a superintendent and teacher in the Sabbath-school, a work in which he is deeply interested. He has made it a cardinal principle never to miss an engagement. He has never been detained from his post of duty by personal ill-health, and scarcely ever by accident or storm. 8o THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. He has had the privilege and responsibility of organizing courts in a number of new counties, and an opportunity of witnessing an extraordinary development and growth in population, wealth and intelligence in this state, and it is his testi- mony and belief that there is no part of our country where life and property are more secure, or the devotion of the people to law and order greater, than here. HON. CHARLES H. BERRY, WINONA. CHARLES HENRY BERRY, one of the first lawyers to locate in Winona, and the first attorney-general of the State of Minnesota, is a native of Wes- terly, Rhode Island, and was born on the 12th of September, 1823. His parents were Samuel F. and Lucy (Stanton) Berry,' both of Huguenot stock, their ances- tors leaving the old world during the last persecution of Protestants in France. Samuel F. Berry moved with his family to Steuben county, New York, in 1828, there settling on a farm, engaging to some extent, also, in the lumber business ; the son remaining at home until about sixteen years old. In 1839 he went to Maine, Broome county, New York, and attended an academy, Professor W. Gates, i)rincipal, until 1843. Subsequently he spent nearly the same period in a similar institution at Canandaigua. His attendance at these institutions was not without interruptions. He was wholly dependent upon himself for the means of support, and filled in the intervals of stud\- by teaching district or graded schools, and occasionally, when the water was at " rafting stage " in the Chemung and Suscjuehanna rivers, by trips down those streams to the lumber markets, on or near the Chesapeake bay. When his school was closed, or a rafting trip was ended, he resumed his studies with renewed strength, zest and determination. He received his diploma from the Canandaigua Academy in 1S46, having completed the full course of studies laid down; and at the same time he was awarded the annual prize of twenty dollars, provided by the founders of the institution, tor the best essay " On the Excellence of Republican Ciovernment, effectually securing Equal Liberty, founded on the Rights of Man." On leaving this school, Mr. Berry read law in Canandaigua, entering the office of Hon. E. G. Lapham, closing his studies with Hon. .\lvah Worden, and was admitted to the bar at Rochester, in October, 1848. a^^pyf'c^^ THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 83 Mr. Berry opened an office at Corning, in the same state, and there practiced until early in 1855 ! '" May of that year settling in Winona. His law partner in Corning, Hon. C. N. Waterman, accompanied him to this place, and they were in company from May, i85i,to December, 1871, — a period of nearly twenty-one years. Mr. Berry is still in practice, and is the longest at the Winona county bar of any man now living there, he having engaged his office on the 17th of May, 1855 ; three weeks afterward returned, took possession and opened business. When Minnesota became a state, in 1858, Mr. Berry was elected attorney- general and held the office two years ; he was state senator in 1874 and 1875, and has been a United States court commissioner since 1873, still holding that office. One of the oldest residents of Winona, and heartily identified with edu- cational and other interests, Mr. Berry has been, and still is, one of its most public-spirited and useful citizens. He was the president of the city school board for eight years, is now a director in that board, and takes great interest in the intellectual progress of the place. He was instrumental in securing the location of one of the state normal schools at Winona. The graded schools have lono- been regarded as among the best in Minnesota, and the literary status of the city is owing, in large measure, to the enterprise in this direction of a few such men as Mr. Berr)^ He has always been a democrat, and was a member of the national demo- cratic conventions in 1864 and 1872. As an explanation of his advocacy of the nomination of Horace Greeley, in the latter year, it is enough to say that Mr. Berry then believed, and still believes, that that peerless journalist understood better than most of his contemporaries the problem of the war of secession, and was honest enough, and sufficiently bold, to declare his convictions. Hence he thought Mr. Greeley peculiarly qualified for the office of President, in the unset- tled state of the country incident to the war. In 1848, when the famous proposition of David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, known as the " Wilmot Proviso," after its brief but stormy life in congress, was before the people, and while the exciting presidential election of that year was pending, Mr. Berry was found earnestly advocating the cause of " Martin Van Buren." He was enthusiastic in support of what he deemed natural justice, and of those anti-slavery principles which were then taking so deep a hold on the public mind and heart. This continued until the conflicting elements in the democratic party, in New York, came in collision, and to a final rupture, at the 84 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. State convention held at Syracuse in 1853. Though an anti-slavery man, Mr. Berry chose the democratic party, because, if we fully understand him, he thought it the only possible national party ; and when the convention to nominate state officers, which had assembled in " Brintnell Hall," Syracuse, was taken lorcible possession of Ijy wliat was called the "Soft" or "Barn-Burner" wing, he, as a member of that convention, went over to the "Adamantines," and took part in that wing, which met at the " Globe Hotel." He took his place in that party, as many thousands did at that time, from like motives, under the lead of Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson. The wing of the party to which he adhered proved to be in accord with the national democratic party. Mr. Berry has adhered to it in all its fortunes. It should be added, however, that latterly, except in a few instances, he has not taken an active part in politics. He is one of the charter members of Winona Lodge, of F..A..M., No. 18. He became a Freemason in 1852, in the Montour Lodge, of the State of New York, and is still a member of that order. He attends the Episcopal church with his family. His wife was Miss Frances E., daughter of Philo P. and Eliza Hubbcll, of Corning, Steuben county, New York; their union occurring on the 14th of November, 1850. They have one child, Kate Louise, wife of Charles A. Morey, principal of the First State Normal School, located at W'inona. Mr. Berry is interested in the Merchants' National Bank, of Winona, and has been a director of the same since its organization. Financially, as in other respects, he has made his profession a success. HON. CHAUNCEY N. WATERMAN, U'/NONA. CHAUNCEY N. WATERMAN, who died in Winona on the i8th of Feb- ruary, 1873, and while on the bench in the third judicial district, was a native of New York, his birth dating at Rome in 1823. His early years were spent in a farm-house, and his intellectual and moral, as well as physical, constitution was early and strongly developed. He early exhibited a thirst for knowledge, in which he was encouraged at home, especially by his mother and sisters ; prepared for college at Rome; entered Hamilton College, and graduated in 1847, with the THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 85 highest honors of his class. Having decided to become a lawyer, and wishing to avail himself of the best helps in the profession, he entered the law school at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and after graduating, and teaching a short time in Cincinnati, he commenced practice at Corning, New York, there forming with Hon. C. H. Berry, now of Winona, a partnership, which lasted more than twenty years. He came to Winona in May, 1855, ^.nd was in the practice of his profes- sion until he went on the bench, on the ist of January, 1872, thirteen months before his demise, which was caused by pneumonia. He left a wife, who followed him the next year, and four children, the youngest dying before the mother. The other three are living; the eldest, Henry E., being now a cadet at West Point. At a meeting of the Winona county bar, held soon after the death of Judge Waterman, his partner for many years, Hon. C. H. Berry, made a lengthy and feeling address in regard to his deceased friend, thus speaking of the esteem in which the Judge was held : He had more objects to love than fall to the common lot of men, and hence he had more to re- gret at his parting. Besides the circle of kindred, friends, acquaintances, his profession, the duties of his office, the duties of every-day life, science, literature to him in all its rich and varied beauties, even the common-places of the world at large, were, each and all, to him objects of real love. But however keen the pang of separation, no word of repining escaped his lips. It was to him simply a duty from which he might not be excused. Mr. Berry spoke as follows of some of the traits of the Judge's character: He loved truth in the abstract, — for its own sake, or simply because it is truth. He believed that reason is the natural guide to it; that law is the way over which reason leads to her object, and hence that law and reason are one, each the counterpart and synonym of the other. Believing that law is the surest guide to the right in adjusting the conflicting interests of men, he embraced it with his whole heart, to the e.Kclusion of other devices by which the end is sometimes sought to be attained. Force, fraud, covert deception, or indirection, found no toleration in his mind. Recognizing the intricacies in which the fallibility of human nature, or evil design, necessarily involve the affairs of men, he gave great space to the law of equity, and no man was more keenly alive to the merits of an equitable principle. In the same speech Mr. Berry thus spoke of Judge Waterman's traits of char- acter as a jurist, and of his literary as well as legal attainments : On his election to the bench his convictions in this regard necessarily came forward for practical recognition. The critical observer must have remarked, in his charges to juries, critical analyses of the respective relations of the bench, bar, jury, suitors and witnesses; in liis informal e.xpositions of law in civil and criminal cases, more frequently in the latter, the germs of a liberal and humane administration ot the laws, the tendency of which cannot be mistaken. Could it have matured and developed into results, the impress upon our judiciary would have been as deep and lasting as its causes were quiet and unobtrusive. I believe that while novelties would have received no unde- served favor, the administration of justice would, in some degree, at least, have been improved. His conceded ability would have secured that deference which only positive error could forfeit, and that 86 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. error he was too good a lawyer to commit. But unfortunately our light from that source is extin- guished, and we turn to others for the favor we had a right to expect from him. No estimate, however careful or extended, will do iiim justice, that fails to take in the broad field of general and specific learning of which he had made himself the master. I use the expression that "he had made himself the master" advisedly, for no one with greater truth, not even the old warrior in whose mouth we find the expression, could have said so truthfully, " by my head and shoulders I have gotten all this." There is little ancient literature, worth reading, which he had not read ; and of the great writers of modern time, there are few, the merits and demerits of whom he had not scanned with a critical eye. If there be subjects too abstruse, or too high for him to reach, or too minute or attenuated for him to comprehend, they escape the observation of less gifted minds. And yet the greater part of this was pastime, — tlie recreations and amusements of a mind that glided over and among created things at ease where other minds would flag, like those birds which are said to be ever upon the wing. But the albatross, however lofty and long sustained its flight may be, must finally come to its rest. It must fold its broad wings, and mingle its bones with the common dust. So, his labors are brought to a close. The vacant chair, the funereal drapery, declare the end. But his life, by the measure adopted by himself, has been a success, and so surely as the works and influences of the good live after them, so surely will that life be a profit and consolation to those he has left behind him. HON. JAMES SMITH, JR., SAINT PAUL. THE family from which the subject of this sketch descended, settled in Rockingham county, Virginia, some time during the first half of the eigh- teenth century, the great-grandfather of James tlying there. From Virginia, mem- bers of the family spread into Ohio and other central western states, and other southern statc;s. James Smith, junior, was born in Moiuit W-rnon, Kno.x county, Ohio, on the 29th of October, 181 5. James Smith, senior, a physician by pro- fession, was for twenty-five years clerk of the court of common pleas and supreme court for Knox coimty. The maiden name of his wife was Rebecca Emmett. In his youth James was greatly afflicted with a weakness of the eyes, caused by sickness, yet by great perseverance he succeeded in obtaining a good prac- tical education in common schools and by private study. He read law three years with J. T. Brazee, in Lancaster, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. For a few years he was the law partner of Colonel J. W. Vance, who was killed during the civil war, while with General Banks on the Red Ri\er expedition. In 1856 -Mr. Smith left Mount Vernon, where he had been in stead)' and successful practice for seventeen years, and camt! to Saint Paul, which has since been his home. At an early day here, he was in i)arlnership with Judge La- ^ 7ruary, 1S56, Mr. Snow was united in marriage with Miss Harriet C. Knifiin, ot Iloosac, New York, and of five children, the fruit of this union, four are living. Fannie T., the older daughter, is the wife of Arthur B. Moffatt, miller, of Le Sueur, and other three, Hattie K., William C. and Charles D., are living with their mother in Le Sueur. As may be inferred from what has already been written, Mr. Snow was an eminently successful business man, and left the family in independent circum- stances. They cherish his meinor}' with the utmost sacredness, and it will be long before the name of Mr. Snow is- ft)rgotten by the citizens generally of Le Sueur. OTIS AVER, M.D., LE sunrii. OTIS AYER, one ol the oUlest medical practitioners and surgeons in the Minnesota valley, is a son of John and Judith (McCutchen) Ayer, and was born in New Ilampton, Strafford, now Belknap county, New Hampshire, on the 19th of June, 1S17. He was reared on his father's farm until eighteen years of age; received a thorough academic education in his native town; read medicine with Dr. [olin A. Dana, of New Hampton ; pursued his medical studies in the medical department of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hamp- shire, and at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; graduating trom the former in November, 1841, and from the latter in March, 1842. Dr. Ayer jjractictxl in his native? town alnnit eleven j'ears. In 1853 removed to New Lomlon, in the same state, and tliree years later settled in Le Sueur. The vallev of the Minnesota was then v(M-y sparsely settled, and had but tew physicians ; his rides were necessarih' (juite extensive, ami his practice has always been general. In the outset he took especial jjains to lit himself tor the practice of both medicine and surgery, and in both has an e.xalted standing. He has performed numerous capital operations in surgery. In every branch of the healing art his skill is unquestioned. He is surgeon for the Saint Paul and Sioux City Railroad Company. Dr. Ayer is a member of the Minnesota State Medical -Societ)', and was its llrst vice-president in 1875, •"'"-1 '^^ president in 1877. Prol)al>l\- no medical man in the state, outside of -Saint Paul, is more widely known or has more gen- erally the confidence and esteem of the profession. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 91 While civil war was raging at the south Dr. Ayer was appointed surgeon, and from April to December, 1863, served in that capacity with the 2d Min- nesota Volunteer Infantry, resigning because of ill-health. From 1865 to 1875 he was an examining surgeon for pensions, resigning at the end of ten years. He is gradually working out of practice, or trying to, but many of the older settlers in and near Le Sueur will call no other physician. Dr. Ayer has been a professor of religion for forty years, holding his church connection with the Baptists. He was for ten years a trustee and the treas- urer of the New Hampton Academic and Theological Institution, and left his native town in 1853 because of the removal of that school. On the 27th of January, 1845, Miss Narcissa V. Smith, a native of Shore- ham, Vermont, and a .sister of Rev. Eli B. Smith, D.D., many years principal of the New Hampton Institution, became the wife of Dr. Ayer. She died at Le Sueur, on the ist day of June, 1873, creating in female society a vacuum which has never been tilled. Mrs. Ayer was for many years connected as a teacher with the female department of the New Hampton Institution, was the principal of that department when it was removed to Fairfax, Vermont, and was a woman of rare accomplishments, alike of mind and heart. The writer of this sketch was associated with her as a teacher between two and three years, and has no hesitation in saj'ing that ladies of a more amiable disposi- tion, and purer and more winning moral qualities, are seldom found. " None knew her luit to love her, None named her but to praise." HON. JAMES B. ATKINSON, FOREST CITT. NO man in Meeker county, Minnesota, knows more about " roughing it " west of the " Big Woods" than James Benton Atkinson, who first represented this county in the legislature after Minnesota became a state. He is a native of the Dominion ot Canada, and was born near Kingston on the 13th of Novem- ber, 1822. His parents, John and Ann (Atty) Atkinson, were English, both be- ing from Yorkshire, near Doncaster. When James was about six months old the family moved to Pennsylvania, and the son, taking a fancy to the printing 92 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. business, commenced learning the trade at Freeport. Armstrong county, finished it at Pittsburgh, and subsequently worked at it in Wheeling and Cincinnati ; in 1844 commenced farming, thirty miles above Pittsburgh, in Armstrong county; three years later engaged in buying and slaughtering cattle, continuing that business for five years, meantime also carrying on a tannery. About 1853 Mr. Atkinson took a contract on the Alleghany Valley railroad, Pennsylvania, and still later, a contract on the Iron Mountain road, Missouri. Returning to Pennsylvania, he traded a short time at Freeport ; in the autumn of 1855, coming west again, he prospected in Iowa and Missouri, and in the spring of 1856 strayed northward into Minnesota. After halting a short time at Minneapolis he came out through the "Big Woods" to Forest City, Meeker county, the " city" then consisting of one dwelling-house, made of logs, and one general office. There he opened a store and hotel, and soon afterward bought some land. He merchandized and entertained strangers steadily until the Indian massacre commenced (on the 17th of August, 1862) in his county, only fourteen miles from Forest City. He raised a company of cavalry and participated awhile in the campaigns on the frontier in 1862 and 1863; in 1864, raised a company and went into the service as captain of company H, ist Minnesota Heavy Artil- lery, and was in the army at the south until the rebellion collapsed. Returning to Forest City, he resumetl the mercantile trade, cultivating, at the same time, more or less land, and latterl\- he has taken to larming altogether. He owns two or three thousand acres in Meeker and other counties in Minne- sota ; has between four and five hundred acres of it improved ; has also lands in Missouri, and owns an elevator and several other buildings in Litchfield, being in independent circumstances. When in the legislature, in the winter of 1857-58, he represented Meeker, Stearns and Benton counties, and the country at the north to the British Posses- sions, but not a very large constituency. He was county commissioner several years; was sheriff ot the county three years ; has been a justice of the peace for twenty years, and assessor for seven- teen years, being a man of great business dis])atch, as well as competency. Captain Atkinson was married on the 20th of March, 1845. his wife being Miss Abigail A. Sholes, of Alleghany City, Pennsylvania. They have eight chil- dren : Hannah Elizabeth is the wife of J. W. McKean, of Minneapolis ; Charlotte M. is the wife of Henry Clinton, of Los Angeles county, California; Abigail A. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 93 is the wife of Edwin H. Hull, of Minneapolis ; Clara H. is the widow of the late Wm. L. Leslie, killed in the mill explosion at Minneapolis in the spring of 1878 ; and Kate, Jessie B., Charles H. and James Benton are single. ELI M. MOREHOUSE, M.D., OWATONNA. ELI MARTIN MOREHOUSE, state senator from Steele county and a successful physician of Owatonna, dates his birth at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 2d of March, 1S33, his parents being Nelson and Sarah Johnson Morehouse. His father, Levi Morehouse, was a mill owner. His grand- father, Eli Morehouse, participated in the second war with England. Dr. Morehouse received an academic education in Warren; commenced read- ing medicine when a mere lad, his preceptor being the celebrated Dr. William Paine, professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the University of Medicine and Surgery, Philadelphia; at eighteen years of age commenced prac- ticing at Warren, and two years later received his diploma from the above named college. In 1853 Dr. Morehouse crossed the Mississippi river; practiced two years at Independence, Buchanan county, Iowa; in 1855 removed to Owatonna, being the pioneer physician, and has here been in practice since that date, having an extensive ride for many years. In 1864, in order to have a respite from severe labors, he took a trip to Montana and other territories, not without a very mild run of the gold fever as well as some taste for adventure. He was absent two years, in practice part of this time at Virginia City, Montana. At times he has been in the drug business and other trade. In May, 1871, he led off in the formation of the Minnesota State Eclectic Medical Society, of which he was the first president, and again holds that office ; he being one of the leading men in the. state in that school of medicine. He is also a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association, and has received diplomas from the New York and Cincinnati eclectic medical colleges. The Doctor has a vivid recollection of Owatonna and the surrounding country in the territorial days of Minnesota, his rides not unfrequently extending over roadless prairies and across unbridged streams. He was one of the first jury- men impaneled in Steele county. 94 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. He was chosen a member of the state senate in 1877, and in the session held in the following year was on seven committees, including those of public lands, Indian affairs, State Universit\- and Library. He was a republican before the civil war, has been a democrat since. The Doctor belongs to the camp in Odd-Fellowshi];, and is a Knight Templar among the Masons. In September, 1868, Miss Lorinda A. .McCorosty, of Steele count)-, was mar- ried to the Doctor, and they have four children. Since locating in Owatonna Dr. Morehouse has been quite active in advanc- ing its interests, and in local enterprises has been among the foremost men. In 1867 he built the Morehouse block, with two fine large stores, and an opera hall overhead. He has three improved farms and considerable unimproved land. The farm on which he lives, adjoining the town, has four hundred acres, and the surroundings of his home are tasty and pleasant. He has a competency — the proceeds of his professional labor, coupled with shrewd investments, — yet is in the prime of life, and so busy that nobody suspects there was an)' laziness in the Morehouse family for him to inherit. HON. JAMES McHENCH, PLAIN VIEW. THE older settled counties in the southern part of Minnesota have a large representation of thrifty farmers. Coming into the state early, before, indeed, it was a state ; making a good selection of lands, and being men of enterprise and push, they have opened large farms ; have them well improved and thoroughly stocked, and are now in independent circumstances. This class of men are numbered by the thousand, most of them being not onl\' begin- ners here, but poor, twenty and twenty-five years ago. Among these enter- prising and prosperous agriculturists, who commenced opening a farm in the Territory of Minnesota a little more than twenty )'ears ago, with but little capital save a good constitution, two hands alread\- toil-hartlcned ami an innate disposition to work, is the present senator Irom Wabasha county. James McHench has none but Scotch blood running in his veins, both parents, William and Ann (Ferguson) McHench, being of that descent. John THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 95 McHench, the grandfather of James, came from the "auld" country and settled in Massachusetts, where his son William was born; and afterward moved to Broome, now Gilboa, Schoharie county, New York, where the grandson, the subject of this brief memoir, was born on the loth of March, 1824, and where, on the same farm, both his father and grandfather died. All the mental train- ing James ever had, besides that obtained by himself in private, was that ob- tained in a district school before he was seventeen ; at which ao-e he be^an teaching, and he followed it for fifteen consecutive winters, farming the rest of the time. In May, 1856, Mr. McHench came to Wabasha county, Minnesota, pre- empted a quarter-section of land on Greenwood prairie, opened a farm, and added to it from time to time until he has six hundred acres in Wabasha county, five-sixths of it improved, and eight hundred acres of wild land in Martin county, purchased in 1878. His farm on Greenwood prairie is one of the best in tlic county, and on it he usually has from forty to eighty cattle, fifty to seventy-five hogs, and a dozen horses ; he being a stock-raiser and stock- dealer, as well as a farmer, and reads and experiments and puts science into all his business. He has an abundance of small fruits of every kind that grows in the state, and a few of the large kinds, the cultivated crab-apple, etc. He has extraordinary foresight in anticipating the market price of cattle, grain, etc., and selling at the right time. Mr. McHench has served at different times on the board of supervisors of his county, part of the time as chairman ; was on the executive board of the State Agricultural Society for seven or eight years, and takes great interest in anything that tends to encourage the development of the wealth of the great "North Star State." He is liberal in the giving of time to public enter- prises, and in every other respect. Mr. McHench began his labors in the state senate in the session held in 1877, when he was chairman of the committee on agriculture. In the session following he was chairman of the committee on Insane Asylum, being also each time on two or three other committees. His judgment in legislative matters is excellent, and he attends very closely to his duties. Senator McHench voted the whig ticket in 1852, and has since acted uni- formly with the republican party, being both active and infiuential in local politics. 96 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. While in Xcw York state he was a member of the Christian church, but there is no such relicrious orcjanization in Plainview. He cherishes his faith most sacredly, is a church-goer, and a \ cry liberal supporter of the gospel. Senator McHench was married in September, 1845, ^'^ Miss B. Ann Coonley, of Ciilboa, New York. They have had two children, and lost both. HON. ANDREW McHENCH. FARGO. ANDREW McHENCH, many years a resident of Minnesota, and at one ^ time a leading man in Sibley county, and now (1878) a member of the territorial council of Dakota, is a native of Schoharie county. New York, being born in Gilboa, on the 12th of November, 1832. He is a younger brother of the senator from Wabasha county, Minnesota, Hon. James McHench, in whose sketch the parentage and pedigree of Andrew McHench may be found. Andrew worked on his father's farm and attended a district school during the winters, until about nineteen ; after which age he spent a year in Rich- mondville, Schoharie County Academy, and about two years in Antioch College, Ohio ; purposing, at one time, to take a full college course, but finally abandon- ing the plan, pursuing such studies as he thought would be most beneficial to him in lite. In the autumn of 1856 Mr. McHench came to Minnesota, and, after pros- pecting a short time, in the following spring settled at Henderson, the seat of justice of Sibley county, teaching one term after coming west. He traded at Henderson four or five years, filling some office most of the time while in that county. He was township supervisor one term, justice of the peace awhile, county commissioner and chairman of the board one term, deputy assessor of internal revenue, and postmaster, about three years each, resigning both offices when he left the county. In 1866 Mr. McHench removed to Minneapolis, where he engaged in the business of kiln-drying lumber, a scheme not attended with the most brilliant success. In the autumn of 1870 he removed to Fargo, his tamily following him the next spring. There he has a farm of more than three hundred acres near town, about one hundred and thirty acres of it improved, he being a thorough- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 97 going practical farmer. His land is in the valley of the Red River of the North, one of the best wheat growing sections of the country, and he usually sows a hundred acres or more of this cereal. He has an orchard of crab-apples,, which do admirably in that latitude. Besides farming, Mr. McHench also deals in agricultural implements, having a warehouse in the city of Fargo. His busi- ness capacities are excellent, as is also his standing in the community. When Cass county, Dakota territory, was organized in 1873, Mr. McHench was appointed county superintendent of schools, and was afterward elected to the same office. He was a member of the territorial council in the winters of 1874-75, ^'""^1 •" 1876-77, the sessions being biennial. He is a staunch republican, and in 1876 was a delegate to the national convention which nominated R. B. Hayes, his first choice being James G. Blaine. The wife of Mr. McHench was Miss Helen Stanton, of Middleburah, Scho- harie county. New York; married on the 24th of October, 1864. They have two children. GEORGE R. PATTON, A.M., M.D., LAKE cnr. r^ EORGE RANDOLPH PATTON was born in Allenville, Mifflin county, VJ Pennsylvania, on the 16th of August, 1834. His parentage is American; the ancestors of his father (who is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) being Irish, and those of his mother (who is a native of New Haven, Connecticut) English, who settled in Connecticut in 1867. His parents, yet in vigorous health, celebrated in Lake City, Minnesota, their golden wedding on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1878. The subject of this sketch removed with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio, in April, 1845. He spent four years in the old Cincinnati College, now merged into Herron's Classical Seminary, and subsequently graduated A.B. at the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, after pursuing its four years' course of study. During his first college year he carried forward at the same time the studies of both the Ireshman and sophomore classes, entering the junior on a grade of ninety-seven and two-thirds at the end of the first year. One of his achievements in the university was a literal translation, in book form, of the odes, satires and epistles of Horace; also the " Greek Antiquities" of Thucydides, Plato, Contra, Atheos, and the Prometheus of .T^schylus. gS THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Dmiiiij;- the last year of his college course he pursued the study of Hebrew in the Associated Reformed Theological Seminary, with the view of the ministry. After studying theology one year in the Western Theological Seminary, then located in Cincinnati, he turned his attention to medicine; entered the office of Professor Geo. Mendcnhall, and graduated M.I). at the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, in February, 1855. From February, 1854, to his graduation, he served as the outdoor physician of the city dispensary, affording a wide scope of clin- ical observation. He established himself in practice in Cincinnati in 1855, occupying an office with I'rofessor jolm V . White, of the Miami Medical College, until 1S56; after thai, until March, 1857, he was associated in the same office with I'rofessor E. Williams, the celebrated oculist, professor of ophthalmology in the Miami school. I le then opened an office in his own residence, corner of Fourth and John streets; removed to No. 241 West Seventh street in i860; to 360 West Eighth street in 1867, and remained there till 1872, when ill-health, superinduced chiefly by over- work and an unfortunate post-mortem wound, compelling the relinc]uishment ot a large and lucrative practice, he retired to Lake City, Minnesota. His contributions to the public press and medical literature have been volu- minous. Among those of note ujjon medical to|)ics may be mentioned an article on "Elephantiasis Arabica," in the "Cincinnati Medical Observer," March 1856; the following in the "Cincinnati Lancet and Observer": "Contributions on Helminthology," June 1862, January 1863, and Februar)- 1864; "Phlegmasia Dolens," |unt; 1863; " Hai'morrhagic Diathesis," December 1867; "Antagonism of Aropia and Mor|)hia," June i86q; "A New Instrument for Urethritis," De- cember 1869; and in the "Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter," Febru- ary 1870 ; articles on the " Treatment of Urethritis," in the " Cincinnati Lancet and Observer," 1870; " Hepatitis," ibid., March 1S70; on " Insomnia," in the " Cincin- nati Medical Repertory," February 1870; "H)podermic Injections and Treat- ment by Atomization," in " Medical and Surgical R(>porter," March 1870. He is the inventor of a large number of surgical appliances, the most noted ot which is known as " Patton's reverse-llow fenestratetl injecting canula antl catheter"; also an apparatus for Colle's fracture ot the radius. In 1857 he was lecturer on materia medica and thera])eutics in the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati; in 1856 was elected physician of Lick Run Lunatic Asylum, declined ; was physician and surgeon to Saint John's Hospital during THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 99 1855 and 1856; surgeon of the Seminary Hospital, 1862; surgeon of the United States Marine Hospital in 1863 ; the surgeon-in-chief of the Greenup Street Mili- tary Hospital during the war; city physician of Cincinnati from 1858 to 1865, and for a number of years consulting physician of the city dispensary. In 1867 he was proffered the professorship of anatomy in the Cincinnati Dental College. From time to time since graduation he has spent, in the aggregate, over two years in special studies, under specialists, in the colleges and hospitals of New York and Philadelphia. He is a member of, and has held many offices in, vari- ous medical associations. Durincr the Crimean war he received a sureeon's com- mission in the Russian army for three years, but had it canceled at his own re- quest, on account of the war terminating as he was about to sail for Europe. He has performed about all the capital operations in surgery. The degree of M.D. ad eundem was conferred upon him by the Medical Col- lege of Ohio, Cincinnati, in 1858 ; and the degree of M.A. by the Miami Univer- sity in 1857. Among his published addresses may be noted the " Medical Pen- dulum," delivered before the Alumni Association of the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, at the annual meeting on the 28th of February, 1876. He is a very fluent and effective speaker, and has never used at any time either notes or manuscript. On the 26th of March, 1857, he married Frances Mary, daughter of A. J. Pat- terson, Esq., of Cincinnati, and has had two children, a son and a daughter. The former, Edward A. Patton, is now M.D. ; graduated in the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio. EDWARD W. DURANT, STILLWATER. EDWARD WHITE DURANT, one of the leading lumbermen of Min- nesota, is a son of William W. and Susanna L. (Marsh) Durant, and was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 8th of April, 1829. He is of Huguenot descent, and about the sixth generation from Captain Edward Durant, who moved from Boston to Newton (Cambridge), Massachusetts, in 1732, and who, two years later, was refused the privilege of building a pew in the meeting-house. He owned a great deal of property, including three slaves. His son, Edward Durant, junior, was one of the leading and patriotic men of Newton, strongly lOO THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. opposing the arbitrary measures of tlie British goveniineiit for several years before the revolutionary war commenced. He was chairman cjI a committee in 1765 in op])osition to the " Stamp Act," ami chairman of the committee of cor- respondence in 1774, and a delegate to the provincial congress in 1774 and 1775. He died in 17CS2. One of his sons, Dr. Edward Durant, was a surgeon in the navy during the strife for independence, and was never heard of after going to sea. The Durants seem to have been a very patriotic family. This Dr. Durant was the great-grandfather of our subject, whose grandfather, Jackson Durant, commanded a fort near Thomaston, Maine, in the second war with England. William W. Durant moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, when Edward was about nine years old, and there the son attended a boys' academy one year, the famil\- then pushing westward to Whiteside county, Illinois. After spending about four years there on a farm, the famil)- moved into the little village of Albany, in that county, in 1844, the educational privileges of the son being limited to the winter term of a district school. Up to nineteen years of age farming was the occupation of Mr. Durant, but it was not, at that period, the most congenial to his taste, and leaving home he came to Stillwater; worked three seasons on the river, rafting lumber, etc.; then became a pilot between Stillwater, Saint Paul and Saint Louis, following that business for fifteen years. Meantime he had a half interest in a store at Albany, Illinois, owning at one time a warehouse and other property at that place. During the latter part of this piloting period, and for two years afterward, he was general manager for Hersey, Staples and Co. along the river. For the last thirteen or fourteen years Mr. Durant has been in the general lumber business, being of the firm of Durant, Wheeler and Co. since 1872. They buy and sell lumber, making advances, and handling about forty-five million feet annually, having half-a-dozen tow lioats of their own. They have a boat yard and saw-mills at south Stillwater, and their whole transactions amount to about five hundred thousand tlollars per annum. Mr. Durant is one of the busiest men in Stillwater, never neglecting his business, yet managing in such an e.\peditious way as to get time to attend to municipal and other jniblic matters. He has been a member of the city council several terms ; has served twice as mayor, and has represented the city of Still- water two sessions in the legislature. In any position placed, he shows great business capacities, and fine executive talents. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. \o\ In politics, he was a republican until 1872, when he voted the liberal ticket, and has since acted with the democrac}'. In 1874 he was the democratic can- didate for lieutenant-governor, and in 1876 was president of the democratic state convention. He is Grand Master of Masons of the State of Minnesota. He is a liberal supporter of the local christian churches, and a true friend of the poor and unfortunate. Tire wife of Mr. Durant was Miss Henrietta Pease, of Albany, Illinois; their marriage dating on the 29th of December, 1853. They have three children, and lost their first child. HON. ZIBA B. CLARKE, BENSON. PROBABLY no man of his age, living in Minnesota, is better acquainted with its history, resources, public men, etc., than Ziba Burt Clarke, banker and journalist at Benson, and the first man to represent Lac-qui-parle county in the legislature. He is a son of Joseph and Julia Dunaway Clarke, and was born in Licking county, Ohio, on the i8th of October, 1844. His ancestors on his father's side were Pennsylvanians ; on his mother's, Virginians. His maternal grandfather, Joseph Dunaway, was in the second war with England. Joseph Clarke moved with his family to Greene county, Wisconsin, in 1849, ^"^1 there lost his wife a year or two later. He is still living, being a resident of Dakota Territory. In 1855 he removed to Winneshiek county, Iowa, settling on a farm on Washington Prairie. The subject of this sketch, having a step-mother, and there being two sets of children in the family, did not live at home after he was seven or eight years old. He had only three months' schooling after he was ten. Up to 1859 he lived with different farmers; that year came into Olmsted county, Minnesota ; the next season went into a store at Pleasant Grove, and sold goods until the civil war commenced. In October, 1861, he enlisted as a private in company C, 3d Minnesota Infantry, and served till September, 1865, one month less than four years, the regiment then being mustered out. He was In many skirmishes, and a few battles, but never received a wound. During the last two years his regiment was fighting guerillas in Arkansas. I02 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. After returning from the south, Mr. Clarke was clerk of a steamboat two sea- sons on the Mississippi and Chippewa rivers, plying between La Crosse and Eau Claire, being at this period in a store at Rumsey's Landing, Wisconsin, while navigation was closed. Subsequentl)- he shipped lumber one season from La Crosse to Rushford and Houston, then new towns on the Southern Minne- sota railroad. From 1S67 to 1869 Mr. Clarke was in a hardware store as salesman and bookkeeper at Rochester, Minnesota. In the spring of 1870 he settled in Lac- qui-parle, then a part of Redwood county, locating where the village of Lac-qui- parle now stands, there being then no building of any kind on the site of the town. There he made a tent ot his wagon cover, and li\ed in genuine bachelor style for si.x months, turning between fifty and sixty acres of sod the first year, and drawing twenty thousand feet of lumber from Benson with two yoke of oxen. He made the first traveled road .between I^enson and the village of Lac-qui- parle, a distance of thirty-five miles ; merchandized there two years, and then retired from trade. He was the first clerk of the district court of Lac-qui-parle county, appointed by Judge Hanscomb, and afterward elected by the people, serving in all three years, and then resigning. In 1874 he rei)resented Lac-qui-parle and six other counties in the legis- latLU'e, being the member from the thirty-seventh district. The next year he was appointed enrolling clerk ot the house. In the autumn of 1875 Governor Davis appointed Mr. Clarke to investigate the extent of the grasshopper devastations in the northwestern part ot the state. After doing his work thoroughly, he made a careful report to his Excellency, on which report, in his next message, the governor recommcMTded the appropriation of seventy-five thousand dollars to aid the sufferers. In October, 1875, Mr. Clarke removed to Benson; dealt in hardware one year; bought the Benson "Times" and conducted it awhile; disposed of his interest, and in Septemlicr, 1877, founded the "Advocate," of which he is still editor and proi)rietor. In November, 1877, he organized the Swift County Bank, which he also man- ages. He is one of the most efficient businc;ss men in the county, — prompt, expe- ditious, reliable, and possessing the same energy and push that he exhibited when plowing and drawing lumber barefooted in 1870, and camping out "wherever nioht overtook him." THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 103 Mr. Clarke has uniformly affiliated with the republican party, and both in pri- vate and through his newspapers has much political influence in this part of the state. He is a third-degree Mason. On the gth of January, 1872, Miss Dora C. Eaton, of Mankato, Minnesota, became the wife of Mr. Clarke, and they have two children, Nellie F., aged five years, and Fred Blaine, aged three. HON. FRANCIS M. CROSBY, HASTINGS. FRANCIS MARION CROSBY, judge of the first judicial district of Min- nesota for the last seven years, dates his birth at Wilmington, Windham county, Vermont, on the 13th of November, 1830. His parents, Eliel Crosby and Grateful ncc Allen, belong to the agricultural class, his father descending from an old Massachusetts family. Francis received his education at the Wilmington high school and the Mount Caesar Seminary, Swanzey, New Hampshire; teaching winter schools after he was seventeen, until he had completed his literary and part of his legal studies. He read law at VV'ilmington with Hon. Oscar L. .Shafter, since chief justice of Cali- fornia, and at Manchester, Bennington county, with Hon. Daniel Roberts; was admitted to the bar at Bennington in December, 1855, and practiced at Wilmino-- ton until May, 1858, at which date he settled in Hastings. Before leaving his native state he served two sessions, 1855 and 1856, in the legislature. Since coming to Minnesota, Mr. Crosby has been interrupted more or less in his legal practice, serving in i860 and 1861 as judge of probate, and having been on the district bench since the ist of January, 1872, his term of seven years expir- ing with the present year (1878). He was re-elected for another term of seven years, at the election held in November, 1878, without opposition. Judge Crosby is not only an able, but a very laborious jurist. He is distin- guished for his urbanity and courtesy to both lawyers and laymen who have occasion to come before him. Judge Crosby has been city attorney of Hastings two or three terms, and was on the school board in some capacity from 1866 until he went on the bench. In politics, the Judge was originally a free-soiler, voting for John P. Hale for 104 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. PresideiU in 1S52. On the formation of the republican party he joined it, and has never wavered in his support of its measures. Judge Crosby was first married on the 30th of May, 1S66, to Miss Helen Mar Sprague, of Cooperstown, New York. She died on the i6th of November, 1869, leaving ont: child, P'rank Noble, now aged eleven years. His present wife was Miss Helen S. Bates, of Cherry Valley, New York; married in October, 1872. By her he has three children, Howard Walworth, Marion Emma, and Helen Bates. HON. HENRY M. RICE, SAINT PAUL. HENRY M. RICE, an early delegate to congress from Minnesota territory, and afterward a United States senator, is a native of Vermont, and was horn in Waitsfiekl, on the 29th of November, 1816. Hjs parents were Edmund and Ellen Durkee Rice. His grandfather Durkee was in the French war of 1755. He was educated at the Burlington Academy, in his native state ; read law two years with Hon. William P. Briggs, of Richmond, \"ermont, and in 1835 came to Detroit, Michigan, with Hon. Elon Farnsworth, then a resident of the Peninsula State. Two years later he was employed by the state engineer who located the Sault Ste Marie canal and other works. In 1S39 '^^ came to what is now the State of Minnesota ; spent the winter at Fort Snelling, and the next spring was ap- p<)int(-d sutler at Fort Atkinson, in what is now Winneshiek county, Iowa; soon afterward became connected with the fur company, and had charge of the trade with the Chippewas and Winnebagoes, under the general direction of Pierre Choteau, junior, and Co., who had numerous trading posts between Lake Superior and Red Lake, and thence northward to the British possessions. Mr. Rice became early and thoroughly acquainted with the Lake Superior country and the region to the westward, and with the habits of the tribes with whom he had to deal. In 1846, when a delegation of Winnebagoes went to Washington, and their principal chief Watch-ha-ta-kaw was detained by sickness. Mr. Rice was desig- nated to take his place, and aided in negotiating a treaty with the government, disposing of the lands of this tribe in northern Iowa. He also officiated in four THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 105 or five other treaties. On tlie 2d of August, 1847, he and Isaac Verplanl<;, Indian commissioners, purchased from the Cliippewas of Lake Superior and the Missis- sippi, the country lying on the Mississippi and Long Prairie rivers. On the 2 1 St of the same month they purchased from the Pillager Indians, at Leech Lake, the country lying between Otter Tail, Long Prairie, Crow Wing and Leaf rivers, for a Menominee reservation. In 1854 Mr. Rice aided in making a treaty with the Chippewas, extinguishing their title to lands lying between the Missis- sippi and Lake Superior ; and the next year made a treaty with the Chippewas and Pillagers for part of their lands extending from the head-waters of the Mississippi to the British possessions. In 1863 a treaty was made through Mr. Rice with the tribes just mentioned and the Lake Winnebagoshish Indians, for various reservations on the upper Mississippi. In 1853 Mr. Rice was elected a delegate to congress, and by re-election served two terms. During his first term he secured the passage of a bill, extend- ing the pre-emption laws over the unsurveyed lands of Minnesota territory, thus legalizing all settlements made in advance of public surveys. In 1857, during his second term in congress, he procured an act authorizing the people of the territory to form a state constitution. During the same session of congress he secured the land grant for the principal railroads now running through Min- nesota. He also procured the passage of an act making Minnesota a surveyor- general's district, and securing the removal of the surveyor-general's office from Detroit to Saint Paul. In the autumn of 1857 Mr. Rice was elected to the United States senate, and served six years. He was a member of the peace committee, which met just before civil war burst upon the land. His best work in the senate was done in the committees on finance, military, public lands, post offices and post roads. His affiliations have always been with the democratic part)-. The wife-of Mr. Rice was Miss Matilda Whitall, of Richmond, Virginia; mar- ried on the 29th of March, 1849. Mr. Rice was not only one of the founders of Saint Paul, but the founder of Bayfield, Wisconsin, on Lake Superior ; and he selected and purchased the site of Munising, on Lake Superior, in Michigan. It is said that he lived in Michi- gan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, both when they were territories and after they became states. He has been a resident of Saint Paul since 1849, ^"^ to the original plat of the city made an important addition. Rice Park, in front I06 THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. of the city hall, was donated by him ; and to Rice county, named for him, he donated a very valuable political library, consisting of more than five hundred volumes. He donated lots in Saint Paul for churches, public institutions and to private parties, all to encourage settlement and worthy enterprises. He also built warehouses, business blocks and hotels, and has ever shown a great degree of energy and public spirit. His name is indelibly and honorably woven into the history of Saint Paul and the state. SAMUEL C. GALE, MINNEAPOLIS. THE Gales of the United States are mostly of English, or rather Scotch, origin. For many centuries iamilies ot that name have lived in Yorkshire, Devonshire, and other parts of England. The name was originalh- spelled in various ways : Gall, Galle, Gail, Gale, and Gael, — the last being the most usual method of spelling it, until within a hundred and fifty years, and is still adhered to by several of the English branches of the family. The word is of Celtic origin, and signifies a stranger, or wanderer, and from a very early date was used as a general name for the inhabitants of the Scottish highlands. Individuals of this people descended into England, most likely, early in the middle ages, and were naturally designated b)- their race name. The " Domesday Book," compiled near the close of the eleventh century, under the direction of William the Con- queror, mentions the estate of "Gale's Shore," in Devonshire, as being in the possession of one Count Moriton. This estate had doubtless been confiscated by the Conqueror, and given to his follower, the Norman count. In the "Hun- dred Rolls," of 1273, the Gales are again mentioned as having some landed estates. In the seventeenth century several of this name became honorably distinguished. Rev. Theophilus Gale, born in Devonshire in 1628, was a noted Nonconformist minister, and wrote several books. At his death he bequeathed his large library to Harvard College, Massachusetts. Dr. Thomas Gale, who lived about the same time, was an eminent divine and antiquarian, and wrote the anti-papal inscrijjtion on the London Monument, which Pope says " Like a tall bully lifts its bead and lies." From this Devonshire stock, unquestionably, came the Richard Gale who set- tled on a •• honiestall" of six acres in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1640, and THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 09 who is the ancestor of most of the American Gales. Before his death this six acres had widened into two hundred and fifty acres, upon which a part of the village of Watertown now stands. This tract remained in possession of the family until about 1854, when it became the homestead of Major-General N. P. Banks. Richard's name is not found among the members of the Watertown church, and so for this reason, if for no other, he never was allowed to vote in the affairs of the town or hold office ; and notwithstanding the town could boast of a school-house " twenty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide," which was robbed by an Indian of "seventeen Greek and Latin books " in 1664, Richard himself, it appears, never mastered the art of writing, for his will is signed with his mark. The inventory found recorded with this will affords some quaint and curious information as to property and values in that ancient colony just two hundred years ago (1679). We reproduce some of the entries, preserving their ancient orthography : Six acres of upland upon the great plaine joyning to ye farme, three pounds. Three acres of meadow lieing upon stonie brooke, six pounds. Two Oxen, five cows, two heifers of a year and van- tage, twenty-five pounds. His wearing cloths, both woolin and linin, one pound five shillings. A peuter plater, a peuter bason, a peuter quart, 6 spoons, six shillings. 2 iron kettles, one iron pot, a pair of pot hooks, a trarnell, one pound one shilling. An old spinning wheel, a small parcel of wooUin yarn, a paire of cards, seven shillings. Eight bushels of rye, a small parcel of salt meat in ye tub, two pounds four shillings. A firelock musket, a spit, a smoothing iron, sixteen shillings. An iron gripe for a plow, a barking iron, a cross cut saw, 4 old hows, 2 old sickles, other old iron, fourteen shillings. 12 yards of woollin home-made cloth, one pound four shillings. Richard Gale had five children ; among them, Abraham. This Abraham, " selectman " in i 706, left sixteen children, every one with a good old bible name, and among them another Abraham, "selectman " in 1718. Isaac, a son of the latter, removed from Watertown to Sutton, in the same state. From here he marched with a company of men into the French and Indian war in 1757. He valued his military achievements so high that at his death he bequeathed his sword to the successive Isaacs in his family line. In 1864, the last Isaac being dead, this sword was presented to Galesville University, Wisconsin, for preserva- tion. His son, also named Isaac, removed from Sutton to Royalston, in the same state, in 1770. He served as sergeant in the campaign of 1776, in the northern army, at Ticonderoga. Jonathan, son of the last named Isaac, and one of thir- teen children, was also in the revolutionary war, member of the 3d regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, though at the time but sixteen years of age. Jona- than's son Isaac, also one of thirteen children, and the eldest, served fifty-six days 13 no THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in the war of icSi2, for which service his surviving widow draws a pension. He occupied, with his father, a rocky, sterile farm in the west part of his native town. In 1813 he married Tamar Goddard, whose father, Samuel Goddard, a tanner, shoe-maker and farmer, with his eighteen children, lived one mile away. To Isaac and Tamar were born ten children, the eldest of whom was Rev. Amory Gale, mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and the seventh of whom is the subject of this sketch. How subsistence for two such large families, embracing twenty- three children, was wrung from such a patch of unpromising soil, is a marvel, yet it was done, and respectably, too. The old red school-house, a mile and a half distant, saw all this array of young folks, duly equipped, filing in through its door every day in the year when that door was open, and on Sunday the same procession was started off just as promptly to " meetin'." The father, Isaac, died in 1838, after a lingering illness of six years, leaving the chief care and support of the family upon the mother. Her remarkable spirit and energy entitle her to special mention in these annals. .She was of that God- dard family whose English ancestor was Edward Goddard, a wealthy farmer of Norfolk, who, taking the parliament side in the civil war, was reduced to poverty by the Cavaliers. His son, William, "citizen and grocer," of London, in 1666 "embarked for the Amc^rican wilderness with his wife and children, and landed in Watertown, settling on a small farm directly opposite the meeting-house," almost in sight of the " homestall " of Richard Gale; though the two family streams did not unite until they had Bowed, after that, a long time and a long way, separately. Here are some curious e.xtracts from the record of this William, in the ar- chives of the town : Admitted to full communion January 8, 1677; adinitted freeman (voter) December, 1677. March 27, 1680: Tliese are to certify that Mr. William Goddard, whom the said town, by cov- enanting, engaged to teach such children as should be sent to him to learn the rules of the Latin tongue, hath those accomplishments which render him capable to discharge the trust confided to him. (Signed) John Sherman, Pastor. His son Benjamin, "admitted to full communion July 31, 1687," lived in Charlestown. A second Benjamin, son oi last named, a " housewright," settled in Grafton, Massachusetts, whence his son Samuel, Ijefore mentioned, removed to Royalston, and .settled upon a tract of wild land, about the year 1780. His was a representative household of the old Puritan stock ; prayerful, persistent, hard- working, faithful, unlovely, and ambitiou.s. Most of the children inherited unusual intellectual ability, and, in spite of scanty means, several of the eleven sons acquired THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Ill a liberal education. They all reached maturit)' but three, and were intelligent men of high character. The eldest, Samuel, was a Congregational clergyman ; settled at Norwich, Vermont, and widely known throughout that state. Colonel Salmon Goddard succeeded his father at the old homestead, and was a man of decided mark and influence. A son of one of the daughters (Elizabeth) is Judge Asahel Peck, late governor of Vermont. The daughter Tamar, though married young and denied opportunities for education and culture, and compelled, moreover, to walk through many laborious, anxious years, carrying her fatherless young fam- ily, still through it all she maintained such hopeful vigor of body, of understand- ing, and of religious principle, as could not be overcome. Though in her eighty- filth year, she is still living, and in possession of all her faculties. She resides with her son in Minneapolis. Samuel Chester Gale was born on the 15th of September, 1827. At five years of age he was apprenticed to his mother's brother, Salmon, to learn the tanner's trade. It soon appeared that he had more aptitude for books than for tanning, so the tanning was dismissed when he was seventeen years old. From this time he set about preparation for college, supporting himself meantime by farm labor and by teaching, contributing also toward the support of his mother's family. This compelled a broken course of study at the several academies of that region — New Salem, Shelburne Falls and West Brattleboro. He finally entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1854, in a class of ninety-seven members. Toward his support in college he received kindly aid from his uncle, Benjamin Goddard, of Worcester, Massachusetts. In college Mr. Gale held a leading position in his class as an independent thinker, and especially as a de- bater. At graduation he was elected class orator by his associates. He then attended Harvard Law School for one year, and the next two years taught schools at New Haven and Worcester, in the meantime continuino- to read law. In May, 1857, moved by that impulse which sends half of young New England to the west, he emigrated to Minneapolis, where, in the succeeding fall, he was admitted to the bar. After a year or two of law practice, he found himself so much engaged in real-estate transactions, as well as in loan and insurance broker- age, that law practice in court was no longer attempted. This business has been ever since continued, and has proved successful. For a considerable portion of the time his younger brother, Harlow A. Gale, and Geo. H. Rust, have been associated with him, the style of the firm being Gale and Co. Mr. Gale has been 112 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. prominent and influential in aiding to shape the policy and character of the young city of his choice, having for several years been a member of the council, board of education, and president of the board of trade. His tastes and habits are scholarly, being especially fond of historical and scientific studies, and is, on occasion, an effective writer and public speaker. In politics, he is an independent republican ; in religion, a rationalist. Mr. Gale was married on the 15th of October, 1861, to Miss Susan A. Damon, of Holden, Massachusetts, who was educated chiefly at Maplewood In- stitute, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She is a descendant, in the lifth degree, from Deacon John Damon, who emigrated from Reading, England, to Reading, Mas- sachusetts, as early as 1645. Their home in Minneapolis is a spacious and attractive one, abounding in books and children. Their eldest son, Edward Chenery, is at present a freshman in Minnesota University. REV. AMORY GALE, MINNEAPOLIS. THE following necessarily brief sketch of the Rev. Amory Gale has been obtained from different articles, written subsequent to his death, and from living relatives : Our subject was born in Royalston, Massachusetts, on the 21st of August, 18 1 5. The names of his parents, the genealogy of his family, and items of interest relating thereto, will be found in the sketch of his brother, S. C. Gale, elsewhere printed in this volume. He spent his early youth on his father's farm, where, under the influence of a devout christian mother, was laid the foundation for that after-life which was so nobly devoted to his fellow-men. When nineteen years of age he became a member of the First Baptist Church, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Feeling that his true field of labor was in the ministry, he began his studies in the Worcester Academy, where he graduated in 1H39; he then entered Brown University, and graduated in 1843. From there he went to the Newton Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1846. Through all this course of study Mr. Gale almost wholly provided his expenses by teaching and preaching. His first sermon was preached in Worcester, in August, 1837; from that time forth his pulpit labor increased, until, during his THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. II3 last year at Newton, he was preaching, on an average, three sermons a week. He was 'ordained on the i ith of November, 1846, at Ware, Massachusetts. Here, and at Lee, he labored successfully for ten years. In the spring of 1S57 he re- moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he accepted the call of the First Baptist Church, remaining its pastor one year. In 1858 he received the appointment of general missionary for Minnesota, and for sixteen years he faithfully devoted his time, talents and ability to the service of the state convention and to the Ameri- can Baptist Home Mission Society, with an earnest, energetic, active wisdom seldom equaled. During this time he preached, in round numbers, five thousand sermons, made sixteen thousand family calls, sold or donated twenty-five thou- sand volumes, distributed two hundred and fifty-six thousand pages of tracts, and traveled one hundred thousand miles. His only respite during this time was five weeks, and even then he was not idle, for in that time he prepared and delivered a centenary address in his native town. The great element of vital force in his character was his persistence in the accomplishment of any purpose. Nothing daunted him, and difficulties but in- creased his exertions. This from an address of Rev. F. K. Roberts, whose impression of Mr. Gale was the same as hundreds of others : I was impressed with the strength of his ardent temperament ; he was enthusiastically in earnest. His labors show that difficulties did not appall him. He could ford a river, walk a trestle, go through mud and rain, sleep on the prairie, under a tent, in a log school-house, or on the cabin floor, the com- mon bed of the family, and yet work on. What an immense vital force there must have been in the man, which propelled him on against wind and tide, disposition and will ! In the spring of 1874 Mr. Gale resigned the general agency of the Baptist Home Mission Society, on account of declining health, and soon after departed on a tour to the old world. He had long cherished a desire to visit the Holy Land and the many places of historical and sacred interest, and he undertook it now, in the vain hope that it would restore his feeble health. He visited England and Scotland, from there to the continent and the Holy Land, writing from many places very interesting descriptive letters to the home papers, under the nom-de-plume of " Minnehaha." His party reached Jerusalem about the 20th of November, and there Mr. Gale's failing health became quite prostrated. His indomitable energy refused to succumb, however, and he pushed on to Joppa, a two days' journey thence, with the rest of the party. During the last day out he had to be supported in his saddle by an attendant until their arrival at Joppa. 114 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Here everything possible was done to rally his worn-out constitution, but all in vain. He continued sinking rapidly, becoming partially paralyzed, until the fourth day after reaching Joppa, when he peacefully closed his eyes forever — Thanks- givino- day, November 25, 1874. His remains were interred in a cemetery at Joppa, set apart for the burial of English and American people djing there. The announcement of his death reached his family and relatives while they were cele- brating the Christmas festivities, turning their joy into sorrow, and causing universal sadness wherever his name was known. Mr. Gale's widow and two children survived him. The daughter, Lucy Maria, wife of Samuel P. Putnam, of Boston, Massachusetts, has died since the death of her father. His son, A. F. Gale, resides in Minneapolis. His widow's maiden name was Caroline E. Goddard, daughter of Deacon Daniel Goddard, of Wor- cester, Massachusetts. She is a lady of rare culture and ability, and proved a worthy companion for one of the noblest of men. HON. LUTHER M. BROWN, SHAKOPEE. LUTHER MONTRAVILLE BROWN, son of Luther and Sophia (Morse) ■t Brown, is a native of Rutland county, Vermont, where he was born on the 1 8th of February, 1823. His father was drowned when the son was five years old, and his mother moved to her native town of Newbury, Merrimac county, New Hampshire, where Luther was put to work on his uncle's farm, where he remained until eighteen years of age. He was educated in the district schools and New Boston Academy, teaching during the winters, from the age of eighteen years, to defray expenses. He read law in Manchester, New Hampshire, for three years ; taught school in western New York and in Detroit, Michigan, and in the summer of 1853 came to Minnesota. He was admitted to the bar at Saint Paul on the 9th of September following, and immediately opened an office at Shakopee, where his home has been to the present time. On the organization of Scott county, in 1853, Mr. Brown was appointed the first county attorney. He was a member of the last territorial legislature (in ■ '857); was appointed the first judge of the eighth judicial district, and was a member of the state legislature in 1874. On the death of Judge Chatfield, in THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 115 October, 1875, Judge Brown was again appointed to the district bench, there sitting fourteen months. Judge Brown was originally a democrat, but became a republican on the formation of the party, and has acted with it since 1856. At an early period in this state he was quite active in politics, but latterly has taken less part, if not less interest. His wife, who was Miss Eliza J. Woodbury, a native of New Boston, New Hampshire, was a niece of the late Judge Levi Woodbury, who was secretary of the navy in President Jackson's cabinet. They were married on the 28th of Feb- ruary, 1850, and have four daughters. Ora M is the wife of H. J. Peck, city attorney, Shakopee ; Carrie W. is the wife of Orestes S. Brown, also of Shako- pee, and Eva E. and Hattie H. are single. The Judge has a pleasant home, with sixty acres of land, half a mile out of town, though in the city limits, and does but little practice. He is the oldest settler among the lawyers in the State, west of the Mississippi river. HENRY C. BUTLER, ROCHESTER. HENRY CURTISS BUTLER, register in bankruptcy, and a resident of Minnesota most of the time since 1850, dates his birth on the 25th' of Jan- uary, 1828, at Perry, Wyoming county. New York, his parents being William and Hannah Curtiss Butler. His branch of the Butler family were early settlers in Connecticut. William Butler was a farmer, but his son's taste inclined less to the plow than to books. He entered the old and excellent academy at Perry Center, Charles Huntington, principal, and at sixteen years of age was prepared to enter Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, graduating in July, 1848. He read law two years with Taggart and Wakeman, of Batavia, Genesee county; early in the year 1S50 came to Saint Paul, Minnesota ; in the autumn of the same year went to Beloit, Wisconsin, and for two years was in the law office of Keep and Todd, being admitted to the bar at Janesville, Wisconsin, in March, 1852. For three years he was engaged in speculating and miscellaneous business, and in 1855 opened a law office at Carimona, the old seat of justice of Fillmore coun- ty, Minnesota. Four years later he removed to Chatfield, in the same county, Il6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. where he practiced until 1864, when he settled in Rochester, his present home. Here he has attended very closely to his jjrofession, being in partnership until 1871 with Richartl A. Jones, the firm name being Jones and Butler; latterly he has been alone. His business is large, and very few lawyers in southern Minne- sota are in their office during more hours of the day. He is thorough, prompt and reliable ; a man of fine mental culture and polished manners, and, in the best sense of the term, a gentleman. In 1866 Mr. Butler was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for Olmsted count)-, holding the office until 1869. Three years later, on the recom- mendation of Chief Justice Chase, he was appointed, by the United States dis- trict court, register in bankruptcy, an office which he still holds. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Olmsted county in 1S75, his term expiring with the year 1877. Mr. Butler was elected judge of probate in the fall of 1878. Mr. Butler was originally a republican ; followed the lead of President John- son on the reconstruction measures, and since 1867 has voted with the democ- racy. He is not a strong partisan, nor an office-seeker, the official positions which he has held being few and unsought, Mr. Butler is an Episcopalian ; has been junior warden of Calvary Church, Rochester, since the year after locating here, and is a man of uncpiestioned integ- rity and purity of life. He is a blue-lodge, chapter, commandery, and council Mason, and is at the present time (summer of 1878) grand warder of the Grand Commandery of Min- nesota. On the 30th of November, 1858, Miss Martha J. Ward, of Oshkosh, Wiscon- sin, became the wife of Mr. Butler, and they have had three children, losing one of them. HON. LKWIS MAYO, SAUK RAP IDS. LEWIS MAYO, state senator in 1876 and 1877, and now clerk of the district -^ court, is a son of Nathan and Mary Carleton Mayo, and dates his birth at Hampden, Penobscot county, Maine, on the 14th of August, 1828. The Mayos were originally from Ireland, and first settled at Cape Cod, spreading thence into Maine and many other states. Nathan Mayo was a farmer, and the son early THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 117 acquainted himself witli agricultural pursuits. He was not very robust in youth, and, having a fondness for intellectual pursuits, he intended to take a thorough course of studies. With this object in view, he prepared for college at a local institution ; entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1850, and on account of failing health, left at the close of the sophomore year. Dur- ing the next three or four years he was clerking and teaching most of the time. He had had the ministry in view while in college, and, entering the circuit, was pastor of the Methodist church at Patton for eleven months, when his health again gave out, and he was compelled to abandon his chosen profession. In 1856 Mr. Mayo went to Iowa; studied and practiced dentistry about two years in Poweshiek county; in the spring of 185S located at Winterset, Madison county, in the same state; was elected county superintendent of schools in 1859, and served two years, and then took the office of county judge, and held it till the spring of 1863. During this period he had given his leisure time to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar at Winterset on the ist of January, 1862, practicing awhile at that place. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Mayo came to Minnesota, and after spending a few months in East Minneapolis, located at Sauk Rapids in the autumn of the same year, being a druggist from that date. Since a resident of this place he has held several political offices, in all cases performing his duties with scrupulous regard to faithfulness, and in a most trustworthy manner. He was treasurer of Benton county from January, 1870, to January, 1874, and has been clerk of the district court since the latter date. During the two sessions that he was in the state senate, being a democrat, he had the chairmanship of no committee, but was on the committee on edu- cation both sessions, and was on the railroad committee during the last. He served also on two or three other committees, and made a useful member of the upper house. Mr. Mayo is a Master Mason ; has been a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church since the age of fourteen years ;' is steward of the .Sauk Rapids church, and a man of untiring zeal in the service of his Master. On the 1st of September, 1856, he was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Stetson, of West Sumner, Maine, and they have had three children, all dying before they were two years old. They have had great afflictions, and have the grace of God to aid in sustaining them. Mr. Mayo is a quiet, unobtrusive man, 14 Ii8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. of great firmness of character, and persevering in any praiseworthy undertaking. He is an extensive reader, has a fine literary taste, and is one of tlie best in- formed men in Sauk Rapids. HON. JAMES MCCANN, AXOKA. FEW men now living in the Rum River valley, Minnesota, it is probable, had a harder task than James McCann in childhood and youth, or performed it with a more manly and cheerful heart. His father died when he was only seven years old, leaving the widow nothing but a house to live in, and bequeath- ino- to the son nothinc!' but a good constitution. From his mother he inherited a resolute heart and habits of industr\-. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Eastman) McCann, and he was born in Saint Andrews, province of New Bruns- wick, on the 6th of July, 1814. William McCann was a native of Scotland. His wife was a daughter of David Eastman, who fought for the independence of the American colonics. James received such education as the common schools of the province af- forded, being compelled, however, by the straightened circumstances of his mother, to leave school entirely at an early age. When only ten or eleven years old he often went to the woods, two miles oft, cut wood and drew it home on a hand-sled. The season he was twelve he spent in working on a rigging-loft and aboard ship in the harbor of Saint Andrews, filling, part of the time, the position of steward. The next winter his mother married, and the family moved thirty miles from .Saint Andrews, where James farmed in the summers and lumbered in the winters, doinof a man's work and receivino' a man's waoes when only sixteen. In his seventeenth year he moved to the " Disputed Territory," on the line of Maine, working between one and two years for other parties, and at nineteen for himself lumbering and farming. In 1839, in company with two or three others, he took up a mill site on the Great Machias river, in Aroostook county, the site being a gift of the state. There he manufactured lumb(>r, ran a grist mill and farmed, until the gold fever began to spread over the land, reaching Maine very early in the year 1849. ^^^- McCann was one of the first persons in that commonwealth to catch it, and he made a prompt start. His route was THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. II9 over the Alleghany Mountains, and down the affluents of the Mississippi and the Mississippi itself to the Cxulf of Mexico. It was just after General Taylor had been inaugurated President, and the democracy were making their hegira from the city of Washington ; and among his traveling companions, part of the way, were Cave Johnson, Jefferson Davis and Lewis Cass. From New Orleans Mr. McCann went to Vera Cruz, through the city of Mexico, and struck the Pacific coast at San Bias, — a novel route in those days to the then new Eldorado. He was in California from July, 1849, to Novem- ber, 1S51, mining part of the time with rather poor luck, and trading the last fifteen months with much better success. He returned by the Nicaragua route, sold his property in Maine, and in the spring of 1S52 came to Saint Anthony, now East Minneapolis, Minnesota; and after lumbering there between two and three years, took up a claim at Champlin, across the Mississippi river, one mile from Anoka. In the spring of 1856 Mr. McCann settled in this place, built a dam for Caleb Woodbury that year, bought the water-power a 3'ear or two later, manufactured- and sold lumber till 1870, and sold out to W. D. Washburn; since that date Mr. McCann has devoted himself exclusively to agriculture. He has a farm of a little more than two hundred acres, half a mile north of Anoka, most of it under excellent improvement. He uses a gang-plow with four horses, does all his own plowing, seeding and cutting of grain, being almost as sprightly as when working in a rigging loft a little more than fifty years ago. He has lived a temperate life, has been a teetotaler for twenty or thirty years, and regards it as a privilege rather than a curse that he has been obliged to earn much of his bread with a moist face. He is a hard-workinsf, straightforward man, and ' full of public spirit. Mr. McCann was one of the very early commissioners of Anoka county, was a town supervisor quite recently, and in 1873 was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives. He has been offered other offices, but has declined them. He was an old-line whig till the party disbanded, and has since been a republican. He has had two wives, and is now a widower. He was first married in 1842, to Miss Abigail Brackett, a native of Kennebec county, Maine, she dying child- less in less than two years. His second marriage was in December, 1845, to Miss Ruth S. Abbott, also of Kennebec county, she dying on the 3d of June, I20 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1877. She had ci^ht children — only two, both daughters, and both married, surviving her. Ella R. is the wife of D. C. Thurston, of Murray county, Min- nesota, and Ada F. is the wife of C. T. Sowden, of Anoka. Mr. McCann is in independent circumstances, and all he has is the fruit of his untiring industry. He has usually been favored with excellent health, and evidently believes that laziness is no part of a man's duty, even should he inherit it. HON. OZORA P. STEARNS, DULUTH. ABRAHAM STEARNS, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Ozora ^ Pierson Stearns, served in the army through the revolutionary war, and at its close settled at Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Here he married Esther Warren, a daughter of Captain Daniel Warren, who commanded a company under his cousin. General Joseph Warren, at Bunker Hill. Asaph Stearns, son of Abraham and Esther Stearns, married Lovisa Smith, of Bennington, Vermont, and settled as a farmer at De Kalb, .Saint Lawrence county, New York. Here their son Ozora was born, on the 15th of January, 183 1. In 1833 Asaph Stearns removed with his family to Madison, Lake county, Ohio, where he continued the avocation of a farmer. But Ozora never took kindly to farming. When but a lad, he secretly resolved that he would acquire an education and study a profession. Though his parents were unable to aid him in his efforts to obtain an education, they gave him his time and left him to work out his own career. At the ao-e of seventeen he tauorht a district school, and was thus eneaofed for several winters ; studvino- in the meantime at Grand River Institute, in Austinburgh, Ohio, and at Kirtland, Ohio. In the fall of 1852 young Stearns went to California, by the way of the Isthmus, where he worked in the gold mines about seven months, when, having met with fair success, he returned home to pursue his studies. He spent two years at Oberlin, Ohio, and from thence went to Michigan University, where he gradu- ated in the literary department in 1858. He then studied law with James B Gott, of Ann Arbor; attended the first course of law lectures at the Michigan University, and graduated from the law department in i860. The same year he commenced the practice of law at Rochester, Minnesota. Being a ready THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 121 speaker, he entered actively into the political campaign of that year, which re- sulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. In the fall of 1861 he was elected county attorney of Olmsted county. In August, 1862, he recruited a company, which became company F, gth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and of which he became first lieutenant. He served with this reo-iment, beino- most of the time detailed on staff and court- martial duty, until April, 1864, when he was commissioned colonel of the 39th regiment. United States Colored Infantry. Three days before the battle of the Wilderness Colonel Stearns took command ot his regiment, at Manassas Junction. With his regiment he participated actively in the campaign that fol- lowed. His regiment suffered severely at the mine explosion before Petersburg, on the 30th of July, and although among the very last to leave the field, he escaped without a wound. Colonel Stearns accompanied General Butler on his Fort Fisher expedition, and was with General Terry at the capture of that fort. He remained with his command in North Carolina till December, 1865, when he was mustered out and returned to Rochester on the ist of January, 1866. In the fall previous to his return, he had been again elected to the office which he resiened on enterino- the service. While he was a student at Ann Arbor, Miss Sarah Burger made application to the board of regents for admission to the university. A lively discussion arose among citizens and students as to the propriet}' of admitting women to the classes in the university. Mr. Stearns championed the cause of the women, and urged their immediate admission to all the privileges of the university. Under these circumstances an acquaintance was formed which resulted in the mar- riage — at Detroit, Michigan, on the i8th of February, 1863, — of Lieutenant O. P. Stearns, to Miss Sarah Burger. On returning from the army. Colonel Stearns entered again upon the practice of his profession, and, as a member of the firm of Stearns and Start, soon had a large and lucrative practice. In 1867 he received an appointment as register in bankruptcy, which added largely to office work, yet he was also activel)- inter- ested in the political contests of the times. In 1868 Colonel Stearns was a candidate for congress before the republican convention. The contest was triangular, and resulted, on the forty-fifth ballot, in the nomination of Hon. M. S.Wilkinson. In 1871 Colonel Stearns was appointed United States senator, for the unexpired term of Senator Norton, deceased. In 122 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. the spring of 1872 Senator Stearns removed with his family to Duluth, and formed a law partnership with Mr. J. D. Ensign, who had already entered upon an extensive practice. The legislature of 1874 created the eleventh judicial district, and in April following Colonel Stearns was appointed judge of the new district, and was after- ward elected to that ofifice without opposition. He has since performed its re- sponsible duties to the full satisfaction of those who elected him. As a judge, he has the reputation of being eminently impartial, patient to listen and prompt to decide. He is spoken of as having a clear, logical mind, that readily apprehends a legal proposition. Since going on the bench, he has been more than ever a diligent student of the law. Judge Stearns believes. in and advocates the right of women to a voice in the election of their rulers and law makers. In this he seconds his wife, who is recognized as a leader among women, who seek to have eliminated from the law all unnecessary and unfair discriminations on account of sex. In Frank Moore's "Women of the War," a sketch appears of Mrs. Stearns. From it we learn that while her husband was in the army Mrs. Stearns devoted herself earnestly to explaining, illustrating and recommending those magnificent systems of usefulness known as the "Sanitary and Christian Commissions." While she fully appreciated the value of unselfish workers, she felt that tlie example of that noI)le corps of co-laborers ought to be made a power to incite to blessed acts of charity those who were taking no part in the work ; and, therefore, she took upon herself the task of arousing the indifferent and employing the inactive, through the influence of lectures upon our ' Soldiers' Aid Societies,' and upon the United States 'Sanitary and Christian Commissions.' Without pecuniary recompense were her labors, but not without rich reward. She so fully appreciated the soldier's brave devotion, that it was ever a joy to her to oft'er him her tribute of praise, and a double joy to find her zealous and loyal words inciting others to generous gifts and abundant labors in his behalf. In Michigan — where these lectures commenced, and in most of the large towns of that state where they were delivered — Mrs. Stearns was known as a highly accom- plished and earnest young woman, who had made special efforts to secure for herself, and others of her sex, the advantages of a complete classical course of studies in the State University of Michigan. Since residing in Minnesota, she has become each year better known through- out the state as a philanthropic worker in behalf of woman. The Judge is in hearty sympathy with the efforts of President Hayes for the pacification of states, and the purification of the public service. The Judge is liberal in his religious views; is not a member of any chtu'ch, but in belief and .sympathy is a Unitarian. He is a Master Mason, but since THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 123 going on the bench has ceased to be an active member of the fraternity, lest his relations to some, as a brother Mason, might seem in some degree to interfere with preserving strict impartiality as a judge. HON. JAMES N. STACY, MONTICELLO. JAMES NEWTON STACY, member of the Minnesota state senate in 18-76 and 1877, is a son of Ezra and Clarissa Gleason Stacy, and was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, on the lotli of March, 1839. His ancestors early settled in the State of New York, his grandfather, John R. Stacy, moving thence into Windham county, Vermont. Ezra Stacy moved with his family to Virginia, now West Virginia, when James was about six years old. There the son received a common-school education, and aided his father in farmincr and lumberine- In 1856 the subject of this notice came to Minnesota with the family, and settled in Franklin township, in the southern part of Wright county. The coun- try was very new then, and during the first three years of pioneer life James spent part of his time in exploring and in improving his claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he afterward pre-empted. In 1859 he engaged in the business of surveying, following that up to the commencement of the civil war. In 1862, during the Sioux Indian massacre in Minnesota, he enlisted for one year in the ist remment Mounted Rangers, beine sergeant of company C, the regiment serving on the frontier of the state ; re- enlisted, a few months after the term had expired, in the i ith Minnesota Infantry, holding a lieutenant's commission in company F, and serving at the south until the regiment was mustered out, in July, 1865. Returning to Wright county, he located at Monticello, then the county seat, in May, 1867, and engaged in mercantile trade for ten years, closing out in Feb- ruary, 1877. He is now in the real-estate, money-loaning and insurance business. He married, in February, 1872, a daughter of John Granger, of Naperville, Illinois. She is an active and efficient woman, nobly filling her place in society. Mr. Stacy has held several important offices, being now president of the vil- lage council. While representing his county in the state senate for two sessions, he served on several important committees. During the first session he intro- 124 ^'^^^ UNITED STATES BIOGRAPUICAL DICTJONARY. duced the bill, subsequently becoming a law, for equalizing the salaries of county officers. He has acted uniformly with the republican party, and has usually taken a deep interest in its success and welfare ; often represents his county in state and other conventions, and is an influential man in the community. His impulses arc all in the right direction. He is a Master Mason; a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; a superintendent of the Sunday-school, and a tireless worker In every good cause which calls for his assistance. HON. JOHN R. JONES, CI I A TFIELD. JOHN ROBINSON JONES was a pioneer in Fillmore county, building the ' third shanty at Chatfield, and hanging out the first "shingle" in this part of the state. He practiced here when his field of legal conflict extended from fifty to one hundred miles in all directions, and when there was not a bridge spanning a stream in southern Minnesota. He early and thoroughly studied by observa- tion the geography of this part of the commonwealth, and probably no man in Fillmore county is better acquainted with its "nooks and corners," while its his- tory he has at his tongue's end. Mr. Jones is a native of Champaign county, Ohio, where he was born on the 1 8th of May, 1828, his parents being Stephen and Isabel (Robinson) Jones. His father was of Welsh and his mother of German-Irish pedigree. His"" grandfather, Justus Jones, was a lieutenant in the revolutionary army, and his maternal grand- father was in the war of 1812-15. Stephen Jones was a Protestant Methodist preacher, moving to Indiana when the subject of this sketch was ten or twelve years oKl. He usually owned some land, which his sons worked. About 1843 '^'''^ family removed to Wisconsin, and John received a good academic education at Watertown and Milton. He read law at Beaver Dam with George W. Green ; early in the year 1853 went to Du- buque, Iowa ; finished his preparatory studies, and in the spring of that year was admitted to the bar at Delhi, in that state. Mr. Jones practiced in northern Iowa until March, 1855, and then found his way over uninhabited prairies, and through wild and desolate ravines and wood- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 125 lands, to the new town of Chatfield. His law library he brought with him in a small trunk, soon enlarging it, and now having a choice and generous selection of legal works. Settlers began to pour in, business grew, and in two years he had an exten- sive and highly remunerative practice, which he still continues, operating, from the start, more or less in real estate. He has a high standing at the Fillmore county bar. In 1856 he built a flouring mill, which is still standing, in the south- ern part of the village, and he has always been one of the enterprising men of the place. He was prosecuting attorney of Fillmore county at an early day, holding that office two years, and then resigning to accept the office of state senator, to which he was elected in 1857. In the upper branch of the legislature he was chairman of the committee on state prison and a member of the judiciary committee. In August, 1862, when the Siou.x outbreak occurred, he was colonel of the 3d Minnesota Militia, and took that regiment to the frontier. Two months later he enlisted as a private in the volunteer service ; received a lieutenant's recruitino- commission ; was mustered in as captain of company A, 2d Minnesota Cavalry ; was promoted to major, and was mustered out in 1865. The regiment did ser- vice on the frontier, fighting the belligerent Sioux, and Major Jones was in sev- eral battles, among them those of Tah-kah-O-Kuty, on the 28th of July, 1864; Little Missouri, on the 8th of August, 1864; and the battle between the Bad Lands and Yellow Stone. One of the camps was named " Camp Jones," where the Indians came in the night and killed some pickets. Major Jones is a democrat in politics, and a Royal Arch Mason. He has been master of the local blue lodge (Meridian) and high priest of North Star Chapter. He is also past noble grand in Odd-Fellowship. Mr. Jones was the democratic candidate for secretary of state in 1865, and for attorney-general in 1877, being very prominent in his party in southern Min- nesota. He is a member of the Reformed Episcopal church, holding his con- nection at Minneajjolis, there being no church of that order in Chatfield. Miss A. D. Crawford, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, became the wife of Major Jones on the [5th of October, 1851, and they have two adopted children. The Major was one of the state directors of the Central Pacific railroad, ap- pointed by act of congress, and is now a director of the Chatfield railroad, which was built by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company, and completed IS 126 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in November, 1878, from Chatficld to E)'ota, 011 the W'inona and Saint Peter railroad. No enterprise tending to promote the interest of this place has ever been projected in which Major Jones has not IkuI a hand. He is not only a town builder, but freely expends his energies and his money in advancing the social, educational and moral welfare of the community. HON. NATHAN R BARNES, SAINT CLOUD. NATHAN F. BARNES, son of Nathan and Lois (Jackson) Barnes, was l)orn in Portland," Maine, on the 26th of June, 181 7. The Barneses were English, his branch settling in Massachusetts; another in V'irginia. His grand- father, Elias Barnes, was a soldier in i 775-1 782. Nathan F. was educated in the graded schools and academy of Portland ; in 1834 was appointed midshipman in the navy, and served five years. The hrst voyage which he made was to the island of Madeira, sailing thence to the Cape de Verd islands and the coast of Brazil, between the Amazon and La Plata rivers. Another trip took him to the Gulf of Mexico and the West India islands, a'nd for nine months he was in the South Sea exploring expedition, under Commo- dore Thomas Ap Catesly Jones. In 1839, at the request of his mother, Mr. Barnes resigned his place in the navy; read law in the office ot Hon. Joseph Howard, afterward judge oi the supreme court of Maine, and Henry B. Osgood, in Portland; was admitted to the bar of Cumberland county in 1843, ^''^^ practiced several years in Conway, New Hampshire. In 1854 Mr. Barnes became mail agent on the isthmus route from New York to San Francisco; resided awhile in California, and in 1S58 came to Minnesota, locating at Alexandria, Douglas county. He farmeil there for six or seven seasons, and when the .Sioux massacre commenced in Meeker. count}-, in August, 1862, he and Andreas Darling were the only two persons who remained there, the rest fleeing for safety to Saint Cloud, Minneapolis and other points. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Barnes removed to Saint Cloud; purchased the " Times" and conducted it one year; was then elected city justice and city clerk, and these offices he still holds. II THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 127 In 1866 and in 1874 Mr. Barnes was a member of the house of representa- tives of Minnesota, and during the first session, on the 2d of March, 1874, niade an able plea for normal schools, and was instrumental in securing the location of one of the three state normal schools at Saint Cloud, — regarded by him, we believe, as one of the best public deeds of his life. Certainly his constituents in Stearns county, and in northern Minnesota, must set an equal value on these services, so important to the educational interests of more than half the geograph- ical area of the state. Mr. Barnes was a member of the state normal board for several years, and consequently aided in supervising all the schools of this class, the location of the other two being at Winona and Mankato. Mr. Barnes is a democrat of the Jeffersonian (more properly, perhaps, the Jacksonian) school, and has never forsaken his first political love. He was united in marriage with Miss Mary Pepperell Sparhawk, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 24th of April, 1844. She is a descendant of Sir William Pepperell, the only man who was ever knighted in this country. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have had seven children, and lost four of them. Three of them died of diphtheria in nine days, in 1853; and a son, Percival S., died in Salisbury (North Carolina) prison during the civil war. The only livino- son, Frederic P., is a student in the Saint Cloud Normal School. The two daughters, Margaret S. and Elizabeth W., are graduates of the same school, in the first graduating class, and are finely educated ladies. The three living children are single. The family attend the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Barnes is a member. Few men in Stearns county have a better standing or are more highly esteemed than Mr. Barnes. GUSTAVE KRAYENBUHL, CHASKA. /~^ U STAVE KRAYENBUHL, eighteen years clerk of the district court, ^^— ^ Carver county, is a native of Switzerland, and was born in the city of Yverdun, Canton de Vaud, on the 22d of August, 1822, his father beino- Francis Krayenbuhl. He received sufficient education to become a bookkeeper, and filled that place in a forwarding and commission house for eleven years. In 1847 he left his native land, came to the United -States, and, after spend- ing eight or nine years as a farmer and storekeeper in Lewis county. New 128 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. York, he came to Chaska. Here he spent a year or more in mercantile trade, then became a member of the Dakota Land Company, went to the Sioux valley in that territory, and, after being absent a year and a half, returned to Chaska in 1858. Mr. Krayenbuhl became county treasurer in 1855 I '■"-''•-' that office one year by appointment and two years by election, and has been constantly kept in some office for twenty years or more. A short time after leaving the county treasur\' he was elected register of deeds, and for eighteen years has been clerk ol the court and deputy auditor, he being a clear-headed and accurate accountant, and one of the most reliable and efficient officers whom the county has ever had. When his present term of clerk of the court shall have expired, it will make twenty years that he has held the office. Mr. Krayenbuhl is a democrat in politics, a Master Mason, and an attend- ant at the Moravian church. His moral character is above suspicion, and he is generally and highly respected. In December, 1851, Miss Constance Gebner, a native of Switzerland, became the wife of Mr. Kra)enbuhl, and of eleven children, the fruit oi this union, seven are living. HON. NATHAN RICHARDSON, LITTLE FALLS. ONE of the early settlers in Morrison county, and its first register of deeds, the county being organized in February, 1856, was Nathan Richardson. He is a native of Wayne county. New York, the son of Martin and Candace (Comstock) Richardson, and was born in the town of Cl)-de, on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1S29. His grandfather, [onathan Richardson, came from England, and settled in the Empire .State. When Nathan was five or six years old his parents moved to Michigan, and settled in lh(- town of Commerce, Oakland county, taking up government land and opening a farm. As soon as he was old enough Nathan aided his father, remaining at home until of age. He received his education at the district school and at the Romeo Academy, teaching school five winters before leaving Michigan. In the autumn of 1854 Mr. Richardson came into the territory of Minnesota, and after sojourning a short time in Sainl I'aul, went into the valley of Rum THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 29 river, and spent the winter in lumbering. In the spring of 1S55 he located at Little Falls, then containing little more than the site of a town, three families being there, living in log houses. A saw-mill was in operation, but Chippewas were much more abundant than white people. The first work Mr. Richardson did here was to go into the woods, cut the trees, and hew and haul the timber for a hotel, which he and his cousin, Lewis Richardson, erected. At the organization of the county, Mr. Richardson was elected register of deeds, and was therefore cx-officio clerk of the board ol county commissioners, which included also the duties of county auditor and treasurer. At the same time James Fergus was elected county judge ; Jonathan Pugh, sheriff ; and W. B. Fairbanks, district attorney. Mr. Richardson held the office of register of deeds between seven and eight years; then engaged in mercantile trade, and continued it till 1871, dipping into law books now and then, as he could command the time, hi 1872 he commenced legal studies with more earnestness; was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1876, and is now engaged in the practice of law. For several years he has done more or less surveying, and holds the office of county surveyor. Mr. Richardson was a member of the legislature in 1867, 1872 and 1878 ; was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs during the second session ; of the committee on towns and counties during the third; and was also on the commit- tee on public lands and several special committees. He attended faithfully to the wants of his constituents. He is a republican in politics, and has been postmaster at Little F'alls for ten or twelve years. He is quite active in politics, and is usually a delegate from his county in district and state conventions. The wife of Mr. Richardson was Miss Mary A. Roof, of Morrison county. They were married in June, 1857, and have five children, Clara, Martin M., Ray- mond J., Francis A. and Mary A. Mr. Richardson inclines to corpulency; is five feet and ten inches in height, and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds. He has light brown hair, a light complexion, bluish gray eyes, and a sanguine lymphatic temperament. He is of a cheerful disposition, quite social in his habits, but can easily content himself with a book when he has no one with whom to converse. He is no stranger to the pen, and during the centennial year, by order of the county commissioners, he wrote a long, interesting and highly valuable history of Morrison county, pub- I30 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. lishino- it in about a tlozen chapters in the Little Falls "Transcript." Some por- tions of it arc (luite rac)-. By this means, and even without these annals, the name of Nathan Richardson is pt-rinancntly ^nd creditably associated with the history of the county. HON. WILLIAM R. KINYON. OWATONNA. WILLIAM RILEY KINYON, speaker of the Minnesota house of repre- sentatives in 1875 and 1876, is a son of Samuel and Dolly (Wheelock) Kinyon, dating his birth at Mann\ illc, Jefferson county, New York, on the 3d of February, 1833. He comes from an early Rhode Island famih'. His grand- father, Joshua Kinyon, was in the war of 1812-15. The VVheelocks are traced back to Vermont ; hence his ancestors on both sides are New Englanders. Samuel Kinyon was a farmer, dying when William was seventeen years old. The latter hail to work hard in his youth, being part of the time in a dairy. He had a strong thirst for knowledge, and gave to books every hour of time at his command. He supplemented a few terms at the Union Academy, Belleville, with much hard study in private, with almost every conceivable disadvantage; ami yet at the age of twenty-one ( 1854) entered the junior class of Union Col- lege, Schenectady, graduating in course and delivering the valedictory of the Adelphic Society. The two winters before entering college, and the winter before graduating, he taught school, following the college curriculum all the time, and keeping up with his class. Soon after closing his studies Mr. Kinj'on came as tar west as Juneau, Wis- consin, where he taught a graded school one )ear, and subsequently spent seven or eight months in the office of the clerk of the court, reading law all the time he was at Juneau. He was there admitted to the bar in the spring of 1858 ; came thence directly to Owatonna ; was here readmitted to practice, and continued it until 1870. I'"our )ears earlier, in company with Jason C. Easton, he opened a private bank, under the firm name of Easton and Kinyon. In 1871 the institu- tion was changed to the First National Bank of Owatonna; Mr. Kinyon was elected president, and he still holds that office. He is a prudent, cautious, relia- ble and successful busine.ss man. He was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in i 868 ; chief THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 131 clerk of the house in 1869 and 1870, and again a member and also speaker in 1875 and 1876. He was an excellent presiding officer. Mr. Kinyon was originally a Douglas democrat, voting for the " Little Giant" in i860, and the republican ticket since the old flag was dishonored by rebel hands at Fort Sumter. He is commander of the Commandery in the Masonic order. Mrs. Kinyon was Miss Mettie Gillett, of Juneau, Wisconsin ; their union tak- ing place on the 31st of December, 1857. They have one son, George R., who is pursuing his studies at the Owatonna Academy. The family attend the Con- gregational church, ot which Mr. Kinyon is a liberal supporter. ORVILLE BROWN, MANKATO. ONE of the older class of Minnesota journalists is Orville Brown, postmaster at Mankato. He comes from Puritan stock, his pedigree being traced directly back to Peter Brown, of the Mayflower. His great-grandfather was Phineas Brown, of whose history nothing is known. His grandfather, Ebenezer Brown, was in the strife for independence. Orville is a son of Joel and Nancy (Allen) Brown, and was born in the town of Ellisburgh, Jefferson county. New York, on the loth of November, 18 12. He finished his school education at an academy at Belleville, in his native county; clerked in a store and farmed until 1842; then left Jefterson county, and went to Elyria, Ohio, and in that state and Indiana was engaged in railroading for several years. In 1856 Mr. Brown came to Minnesota; edited the Chatfield " Republican" a few months ; then purchased the Faribault " Republican," and conducted it for ten years; sold out, and in December, 1868, removed to Mankato. Here he resumed journalism, by purchasing the Mankato " Record," which he still man- ages, aided largely by one of his sons. His talents as a political writer have long been recognized in the state. In April, 1S73, Mr. Brown became postmaster, and still holds the office, the only one, we believe, that he would ever accept. He is a republican, of whig antecedents, true and staunch, working zealously for more than twenty years to promulgate the principles of his party. He is a conscientious and consistent, as well as able, politician. 132 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Brown has been twice married: first, in October, 1834, to Miss Rutli Earl, of Ellisburgh, New York, she bearing him four children, and dying in 1846 ; the second time, in June, 1852, to Miss Carrie C. Condit, of East Cleveland, Ohio, she also having had four children. All the children by his first wife are married, and none of those by the second. Nancy, the eldest of the eight children, is the wife of H. P. Nichols, of Elyria, Ohio; Pardon and Oren are living in Luverne, Rock county. Minnesota; and Christojiher C. is associated with his t'atlu^r in the newspaper, ha\ ing its chief management. The other four children, F"rank O., Arthur II., Theodore Winthrop, and Clarence C, live in Mankato. GENERAL ROBERT N. McLAREN, SAINT PA UL. ROBERT NEIL McLAREN, United States marshal, is a son of Rev. Donald C. McLaren, D.D., (a United Presbyterian clergyman, who is liv- ing at Geneva, New York, being in the eighty-third year of his age,) and of Jane Stevenson McLaren. Both parents are of Scotch descent. Mis grandfather, Finley McLaren, came over prior to the revolution, and settled near Syracuse, New York. Robert was born in Caledonia, Livingston count), New York, on the 8th of April, 1828; prepared for college at Cambridge Academy, Washing- ton county, and graduated from Union College in the class of 1851. In the autumn of the same year he went to Portland, Oregon ; became a partner of Hon. Henry W. Corbett, ex-member of the United States senate from that state, in the mercantile trade ; was a member of the common council of Portland in 1853; remained there in trade until 1836, when he returned to the east. Earl\- in the spring of 1857 he moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber, in the firm of Densmore, McLaren and Co., and in the forwarding and commission business, in the firm of Mersole and McLaren. While there he represented Goodhue county in the second and third legislatures, held in 1S60 and 1861, serving as chairman of the committee on banks and banking, and on other committees. When the outbreak of the Sioux Indians occurred in Minnesota, in August, 1862, Mr. McLaren, with a lieutenant's commission, raised a company for the 6th Minnesota Infantry, Colonel Crooks, commander ; was made captain of company CuKiA^ THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 135 F on the organization of the regiment, and before reaching Fort Ridgely was appointed major by Governor Ramsey, serving in that capacity about eighteen months. On several occasions, by order of General Sibley, he was detailed on im- portant expeditions during the campaigns of 1862 and 1863; was in the battles of Wood Lake and Birch Cooley, and aided in taking a number of Indian camps. When the 2d regiment of Minnesota Cavalry was organized by the war depart- ment for the defense of the frontier, Governor Swift appointed Major McLaren colonel of the regiment. He was in the service during three summer campaigns, two under General Sibley and one under General Sully, going out the last sea- son as far as the Yellow Stone valley. Li May, 1866, he was breveted brigadier- general by President Johnson. Not long afterward he was sent by the interior department as one of the commissioners to treat with the Sioux at P'ort Laramie, Nebraska, and spent most of the summer acting in that capacity. On his return to Minnesota, General McLaren was appointed United States internal revenue assessor for the second Minnesota district, and when the offices of assessor and collector of internal revenue were consolidated he was appointed by President Grant to his present office in May, 1873, ''^'^'^'^ reappointed by Presi- dent Hayes in November, 1877. General McLaren has always been an ardent republican, and quite active in the politics ot Minnesota. He was secretary of the state central committee for several campaigns, and in i860 was a delegate to the national convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln. In May, 1857, Miss Anna McVean, of Livingston county, New York, became the wife of General McLaren, and they have three children, Archie, Jeannie and Robert. HON. PHILO C. BAILEY, WA.SECA. PHILO CALVIN BAILEY, late state senator from Waseca county, is a native of the Empire State, and was born in the town of Pompey, Onondaga county, on the 15th of October, 1828. The Baileys were from Rhode Island; his grandfather was in the revolution. His parents, George and Olive (Madison) Bailey, belonged to the agricultural class, giving their son such an education as a country school could furnish. 16 136 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Philo learned the trade of a tinsmith, and worked at it until 1S56. when he came to Minnesota and settled at Wilton, Waseca county. He was in the hardware trade there for ten years, removinir to the new town of Waseca, on the Winona and Saint Peter railroad, in 1867. Here he opened the tirst hardware store in the place, and is the leading merchant in that line of merchandise. He has attended closely to his business, onl\' turning aside now and then, for a short time, to serve his constituents in a legislative or some other capacity. While a resident of Wilton he was county treasurer one term, and was a member of the popular branch of the legislature in 1862, and of the senate in 1877 and 1878. In the latter body he was chairman of the committee on corporations, and was on the railroad and some other committees. He is now president of the village board of trustees, is active in all local enterprises of importance, and one of those citizens who seem indispensable to the prosperity of a town. Mr. Bailey was originally a whig, and cherished the principles of the re- pul)lican party at least a year before it was organized. He has firmly adhered to the tenets of the party. He is a Knight Templar, and was at one time master of the masonic lodge at Wilton. Mr. Bailey has a second wife. His first was Miss Avis Slocum, of Syracuse, New York, a sister of General Slocum. They were married in 1857, and she died in 1865, leaving two children, who are yet living. His present wife was Miss Lurinda Dodge, of Waseca; chosen in 1867. .She has two children. ANDREW C. DUNN, WINNEBAGO CITT. ANDREW CLARKSON DUNN, one of the first settlers in Winnebago *- City, and the jjioneer lawyer in Faribault county, was born in New York city, on the gth of October, 1834. He is a son of Nathaniel Dunn, for forty years an eminent educator; the first principal of Wilbraham Academy, Massachusetts, and for many years professor of chemistry in Rutger Female College, New York city. The Dunns are an old Maine family. The maiden name of Andrew's mother was Charlotte Tillinghast, the family being quite prominent in Rhode Island. The subject of this notice was educated by his father; commenced reading law when about fifteen years of age, with Edward .Sandford, of New York city; THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 137 came to Minnesota in A|)ril, 1854; was admitted to the bar in the autumn of that year at a term of the territorial supreme court, held at Saint Paul ; practiced a few months at Sauk Rapids ; then located in Saint Paul, and was there in practice between one and two years. Having an interest in a saw-mill on the present site of Winnebago City, in 1856 Mr. Dunn came here to look after it, and to found a town, building the first house in the place. At that time there were not a hundred people in Faribault county, and only one house between this prairie and Albert Lea, a distance of forty miles. Strolling Indians, — Sioux and Winnebagoes, — were much more numerous than wdiite people. The nearest post-office was at Mankato, thirty- five miles north. Directly west, the nearest post-office was on the Pacific coast. Provisions were drawn from Independence, Iowa, a distance of one hundred and forty miles. Mr. Dunn gradually built up an extensive law practice, and has long stood at the head of the Faribault county bar. Mr. Dunn stands among the first in his profession in this state. Thoroughly learned in the law ; always a student, as well as a practitioner; of not only a quick, but a comprehensive mind; earnest in his convictions, and bold in his assertion ot them ; devoted to the interests entrusted to his keeping ; he has few superiors as a well equipped practitioner, an able advocate and a thorough lawyer. In speech, Mr. Dunn is ready, forcible, and yet graceful ; not only entertaining his listeners, but impressing upon them his own convictions. Mr. Dunn was secretary of the first state senate, which convened on the 2d of December, 1857, and finally adjourned on the 12th of August, 1858, having, in the interim, a recess of a few weeks. This position brought him in contact with the leading men of the state at that period, and he is well posted on the status of Minnesota statesmen twenty years ago. There were, no doubt, a few block- heads in the upper branch of the legislature at that time, but a large number of the members of that body have since made a highly honorable record in the his- tory of the young commonwealth. Mr. Dunn was chief clerk of the house in 1864, 1865 and 1866, and has held a few local offices. He was county attorney two or three terms, and has done much valuable work on the local school board. In politics, Mr. Dunn was a democrat in early life ; was a war democrat while civil strife reigned at the south, and since then has acted with the republicans. l-,8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a trustee and steward of the same, and superintendent of the Sunday-school. On the 1st of January, 1859, Miss Diana Jane Smith, of Blue Earth county, Minnesota, became the wife of Mr. Dunn, and of si.x children which they have had, only two are living, Mary Tillinghast and Alice Hope. ASHLEY M. TYRER, ALBERT LEA. AMONG the most prominent lawyers of the younger class in southern Minne- ^ sota, is Ashley Macomber Tyrer, a native of Erie county, New York. He was born in the town of Concord, on the 16th of August, 1843, his parents being James and Susan C. (Gates) Tyrer. His great-grandfather came to America as a British soldier; deserted, and not long afterward joined the Conti- nentals, never returning to England. The Gateses were also English, and settled in Vermont at a very early day, his maternal great-grandfather being one of the " Green Mountain Boys," aiding, firelock in hand, to gain our independence. Captain James Tyrer, senior, grandfather of our subject, had command of a company in the war of 1812-15, and was on his way to Buffalo, from the southern part of Erie county, when that city was burnt, about 1813; meeting fugitives from the destroyed village, only one dwelling-house, that of Mrs. .St. John, being left standing. Captain Tyrer was a very tall and powerful man ; could lift as much as two men ot ordinary strength, and when past eighty years of age, at wrestling, could ]a_\- the cluim[)ion athlete of his neighborhood (jn his back, James Tyrer, junior, was a Union soldier, till his health failed. He was a farmer, and tin; son worked very hard most of the time in )()uth — aiding his iatluM", attcmding, mc-anwhilc, a graded school in Buffalo, a year or two in all, and a few terms at the .Springville Acadeni)-, now known as the Griffith Institute. Our subject read law with Judge Abner Hazeltine, of Jamestown, Chautau- qua county; was admitted to practice in 1868, and the same year opened an office in Albert Lea. For nine years he was ol the well-known firm of Stacy and Tyrer, and was then alone till the autumn of 1878, when John Whytock became his partner. No man in Freeborn count) has a more extensive? ])ractice than Mr. r)'rer. He has a good legal mind; grasps at once all the |)()ints in THE UN f TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 139 a proposition, and upon investigation, as a rule, finds himself sustained by the authorities. He is a safe counselor and energetic in professional business, a good advocate before a jury, and makes a strong argument upon all points of law involved in a case. Mr. Tyrer was clerk of the village of Albert Lea most of the time, till it received its city charter; was judge of probate two years; town attorney awhile, and the first attorney under the special enactment, extending the powers of the supervisors, etc. Mr. Tyrer is a New York or hard-money democrat, not over-zealous in politics, and letting nothing interfere with professional duties. His habits are very studious, and he is a growing man. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian church, of which he is a trustee. In his professional business, as in the other relations to society, he takes good care not to compromise his christian character, in which he stands high. Miss Fanny E. Healey, of Westfielcl, New York, became the wife of Mr. Tyrer on the 8th of October, 1867; and they have had two boys, only one of them, the elder, Arthur James, aged ten years, now living. HON. GEORGE W. SWEET, • BISMARCK. GEORGE W. SWEET was born at Ellington, Connecticut, on the 20th of September, 1823. His father was Amasa Sweet, of Uxbridge, Massa- chusetts, a descendant of John Sweet, a shipwright, who settled in Boston in 1640. The mother of George was Ruena Walling, born in New Hartford, Con- necticut. He was raised on a farm and received his education in a common school, except one year in the academy at Elyria, Ohio. At the age of sixteen his father sold his farm and started for Ohio, intending to settle in Geauga county. After traveling with a team to Manlius, near Syracuse, New York, he, becoming fatigued with the tedious trip, disposed of his team and took pas- sage with the family on the Erie canal. Taking the steamer Michigan at Buffalo for Cleveland, they encountered the equinoctial storm after leaving Erie, and came near being shipwrecked about five miles from Fairport, being forced to put back for Erie. Abandoning the idea of going to Ohio, they settled about I40 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. eighteen miles east of Erie, at Ripley, New York, on a farm. At the age of eiehteen Georee commenced teaching school in northeast Pennsylvania. From Ripley the family removed to Ohio, and lived near Bellevue; and after the death of his mother, which occurred in 1844, George went to White Pigeon, Michigan, and thence westward until he reached the Mississippi, in the winter of 1846-7, at Rock Island. Illinois. in the summer of 1 84S he came to .Saint Paul, which then contained only about half-a-dozen small buildings, principally built of logs. Pushing farther up the countr\- in i S49, he went to the Winnebago agency and engaged in the construction of some of the agency and traders' buildings. In the s[)ring ot 1850 he visited Sauk Rapids, where he met his present wife, the daughter ot Charles 11. Oakes, and was married on the ist of August, 1851. About this tim(' he pinxhased the present site of the town of Sauk Rapids at public sale, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. In March, 1853, Mr. Sweet was appointed register of the United States land office, which office he held for four years. In 1857 he was admitted to the bar, and in 1859 was elected a member of the house of representatives of Minnesota, and was a memljer of the judiciary committee. In 1859 he was appointed bri- o-aile inspector of the militia, and soon after tin; breaking' out ot the war became recruiting officer, and recruited for the 2d, 3d, 41I1, and other regiments of Min- nesota Volunteers. On the breaking out of the Indian war, in August, 1862, he was sent by General Dole, commissioner of Indian affairs, to open communi- cation with Hole-in-the-Day, who had assembled about three hundred warriors near Gull Lake, in a cam]) hostile to the wliites. Mr. Sweet successtully accom- plished the mission, and agreed to a truce with the Indians, they releasing the white prisoners tlicn held by them, among whom were Arthur Garden and Major Whitehead, afterward agent of the Chippewas. This was a very danger- ous enterprise, and its successful performance kept the Chippewas trom joining the Siou.x in the terrible Indian war, where more than (wc hundred ot the peace- ful citizens of Minnesota were murdered and horribly mutilated. In 1870 Mr. Sweet became the attorney for the land department of the Northern Pacific railroad, which position he held until the transfer to the receiver, after the failure of jay Gooke. Mr. Sweet has been a democrat from his \()uth, but was a war democrat and a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, being on the electoral ticket for I )()uglas THE UNITED S7\4TES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 141 in i860. The prohibitory law, prohibiting the sale of liquors within five miles of the Northern Pacific railroad during- its construction, was drawn up by him and passed by his exertions. He became a member of the Episcopal church in 185 i, and took an active part in church matters, until about February, 1874, when he became convinced of the truth of .Spiritualism, and openly espoused the cause. He took the lead- ing part in ousting J. F. Potter from the position of state lecturer among the Spiritualists of Minnesota in 1876. He joined the Odd-Fellows in the spring of 1848, at Rock Island, Illinois, and the Masons in 1858. Mr. Sweet is five feet eleven inches in height, weighs one hundred and si.xty pounds, has florid complexion, long, heavy sandy beard, auburn hair, hazel eyes, and is rather abstemious in his habits. He is active and enereetic, with oreat powers of endurance, and in early life was very agile and fleet of foot, having, in more than one instance, made six miles per hour on a snow track for five to eight hours consecutively, leaving behind the best Indian runners in the county. He is affectionate and mild in disposition, unless aroused, when all fear leaves him. He has a remarkable control over Indians and the domestic animals. We close this brief memoir of Mr. .Sweet with one of many remaflcable in- cidents which opponents of .Spiritualism fail to explain satisfactorily, and which probably had its influence in changing the religious belief of our subject. We give it as related to us by the gentleman himself: While acting as attorney and agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, the latter a land company connected with the management of the former, many conflicts arose in relation to lands at the various town sites. At Bismarck, Dakota Territory, the feeling was carried to such an extent that several plans were laid to assassinate me, and one night it came near being accomplished. At that time I was staying with a son-in-law, who lived about half a mile from town ; one evening, being in town, I was invited to spend a few hours at the house of a friend. I staid until between nine and ten o'clock, when I arose and, bidding my friend and his wife good evening, was about to depart, when suddenly the lady sprang between me and the door, and raising her hands, exclaimed: "Stop! I see five men," naming the persons, "who are secreted in a stable to shoot you as you pass them. If this man goes with you," pointing to her husband, " there will be no danger, as they will not attack two." While she was saying this, her voice and manner were entirely changed. As soon as she had delivered the warning, she recovered her normal condition, and said: "What foolish stuff have I been saying.''" The husband, however, went with me, and no attack was made. Some- thing over a year after this, one of the five would-be assassins became (piite friendly with me, and in a conversation between us I suddenly made the remark : " I knew all about the plan you and four others concocted to assassinate me, and at the very time." He replied: "It was a very foolish 142 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. thing, and I am glad we failed; I advised against it, but the others overruled me." I know that the lady was not privy to the plot, and she believed it was a sort of phantasm, until I informed her that one of them had acknowledged it to me. The same man is now serving a term in the peniten- tiary for a felony. WILLIAM W. SWENEY, M.D„ RED wi.yc. Wri'Il ;i single excepticMi, the oldest plnsician in Minnesota, still in i)rac- licc, is William Wilson Sweney, who locatetl in Saint Paul on the iSth of April, 1S50, Dr. Murphy having settled there the year before. Dr. .Sweney was a son of Alexantlcr M. and Mary M. Kehr .Sweney, and was born at Milton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the iSth of December, 18 18. II is father was of Scotch-Irish and his mother of Piedmontese-Huguenot descent. She is still living, aged eighty-four years. When William was eighteen years old he moved to Indton county, Illinois, having previously obtained an academic education in his native town. He read medicine with Dr. Abrani Hull, of Marietta, I*'ulton county; prac- ticed in connection with him in 1848-9, and in P'ebruary, alter settling in Minne- sota, oi-aduated at Rush Medical College, Chicago. In May, 1852, Dr. Sweney removed to Red Wing, on the Mississippi river, then an Indian town, with an Indian farmer, John Bush, and an Indian mis- sionary, Rev. Joseph Hancock, — the latter still residing in Red W^ing. As settlers multiplied, Dr. Sweney's professional business increased, and tor a quarter of a century he has had as many and as long rides as any one man could reasonabl)- desire. He has always had the confidence of the people — never more, probably, than at the present time. Although he is just numbering his three-score years, he is well preserved, and is a hale, companionable old gentle- man, standing high as a ph)sician, a surgeon and a citizen. Dr. Sweney is a member of the Goodhue County Medical Society and of the State Medical Society; was president of the former in 1872 and of the latter in 1873. He has -written more or less on the " Climatology and Diseases of Min- nesota " ; a prize essay on the " Epidemics and Endemics of Minnesota" ; a prize essay on " Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis," and a few other subjects. In 1857 the Doctor was elected to the territorial legislature, serving in the last session before Minnesota became a state. He has also held office several terms THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 143 in the municipality of Red Wing. His politics are "state rights" democratic, yet he is no disunionist. In his younger years he was quite active as a politician. Dr. Sweney has been married since the 29th of December, 1841, his wife being Maria, daughter of Richard Freeborn, of Fulton county, Illinois. They have two children, Mary E., wife of Benjamin B. Herbert, an attorney of Red Wing, and William M., a graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and a partner of his father in the practice of medicine and surgery. HENRY SHAUBUT, MAWKA TO. IF anybod)' in Mankato is self-made, so far as a business education is con- cerned, and business talent is developed, it is Henry Shaubut, who never went to school more than eighteen or twenty months in his life, and that was in the mountains of Pennsylvania, at a period when the schoolboys had to chop the wood for the school, and thus consume no inconsiderable part of the time that should have been given to books. He was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of March, 1822, his parents being John and Elizabeth (Kegerreice) Shaubut, both of German descent ; the name was originally spelt Schaubhut. When he was about fourteen the family moved to Richland county, Ohio, settling on a farm near Petersburg, now in Ashland county. In 1841 the family made another move westward, locating at North Manchester, Wabash county, Indiana, where the son aided his father in clearing a farm. While there he also worked for other farmers at seven and eight dollars a month ; and tradition makes no record of his gnmibling because of low wages, or fourteen hours constituting a clay's work. There were no "eight-hour laws" in those days, and the fare was pork, hominy and corn-bread without butter. During one spring he cut and split five thousand rails, but, unlike Abraham Lincoln, who at one time did the same kind of work, Mr. Shaubut has never been Presi- dent, his aspirations not being in that direction. In 1854 he came to Mankato, completed a public-house which had the frame up, opened it the next year as the Mankato House, was its landlord four years, rented it to other parties, and became a merchant; moved into the hotel again in 1864, and soon afterward sold the property. Its present proprietor is Grover C. Burt. 17 144 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Shaubut moved on a farm near town, which he still owns; worked it two or three seasons, and in 1867 opened the city bank, in company with Dr. William 'F. Lewis. Banking has since been his main busi- ness. He has half-a-dozen farms or more in the state, and in all about three thousand acres of land, improved and unimproved. Whatever he has, his own hands earned. He is a very active, shrewd, reliable business man. In politics, Mr. Shaubut was originally a whig, and joined the republican part\- when it was organized. He has a repugnance to office-holding, — leaves such business to persons who have a taste for it, better relishing, himself, the quietude of private life. He is a chapter Mason, and has passed the chairs in Odd-Fellowship. While a resident of Indiana — December 24, 1S46, — Mr. Shaubut took to wife Miss Hannah Collett, a native of Maryland, and they have lost three children, and have seven living. Benjamin 1\, the eldest son, has a family and lives in Mankato, and Viola is the wife of Frederic H. Samborn, of Janesville, Minnesota; the rest are single, — their names are Lizzie, Harry, Luella, (irace and Corry. Mr. Shaubut has light blue eyes and a ruddy comple.xion ; is five feet and eitrht and a half inches tall, and weighs two hundrijd and twenty pountls. In a double sense he is a " solid man." HON. JACOB A. KIESTER. BLUE EARTH CITV. JACOB ARMEL KIESTER, a very early settler in Blue Earth City, and one of the leading men in Faribault county, was born in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of April, 1S32. His par(-nts were David and Lydia (Armel) Kiester, who still reside in his native town. His father is a farmer, and was for many years chief burgess and justice ot the peace of the borough of Mount Pleasant. The subject of this brief menujir is of German lineage, as the name indicates, his great-grandparents coming from the old world and settling in this country before the revolution. He was edu- cated at Mount Pleasant and Dickinson colleges, Pennsylvania, pursuing the usual course of college studies, but not graduating. He commenced reading THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 145 law in his native state; soon afterward moved temporarily to Madison, Indiana, where he continued his legal studies nearly two years, under the direction and in the office of Hon. S. C. Stevens, formerly one of the associate justices of the supreme court of Indiana, and was admitted to the bar at Madison in 1854. Returning to Pennsylvania, Mr. Kiester continued his .legal studies, having, meantime, his eye on the west as a promising opening for a young attorney. About that time the o-reat "tidal wave" of immioration was directed toward Min- ts o nesota, and in March, 1857, he came to this territory, designing to locate at Saint Paul. The capital removal bill passing just before that time, removing the capi- tal to Saint Peter, he went thither; but the removal bill proved a failure, and finding that property at Saint Peter was held at exorbitant figures, he concluded to visit the Blue Earth valley. Arriving at Blue Earth City, where he found only a few log houses, he located here and made this his home. Mr. Kiester engaged in the practice of law, being the second attorney to settle here. His fitness for office was soon discovered, and the county has had use for his services much of the time for the last twenty years. He was county surveyor for several years ; was register ot deeds eight consecutive years ; was a member of the legislature in 1865, and for the last nine or ten years has been judge of the probate court, receiving these several positions unsought, and performing their duties in a manner entirely satisfactory to his constituents. He has been re-elected judge of probate three times without opposition. He was for two years president of the board of education of the Blue Earth independent school district. Mr. Kiester's military connection has been limited to local companies organ- ized for temporary defense against the belligerent Indians. In early life he pur- sued a course of military studies one year, purposing to enter the military acad- emy at Drenen Springs, Kentucky, but the institution was moved to Nashville, Tennessee, about that time, and he abandoned the idea of going there, and went to Dickinson College, as already mentioned. Mr. Kiester was made a Mason in the Blue Earth Valley Lodge, No. 27, in March, 1859, and became a member of the Blue Earth City Lodge, No. 57, in 1873, of which lodge he was worshipful master in 1876 and 1877. On retir- ing from that position he was presented by the brethren with a valuable tes- timonial in the shape of a past master's jewel, in silver, set on a gold keystone. He was mainly instrumental in securing for this lodge the largest masonic library 146 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in southern Minnesota, — a library of purely standard masonic works, of which iic has been a diligent student, being well read in masonic history, philosophy and jurisprudence. Mr. Kiester is also a member of the Grange and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His religious connection is wiili the Protestant Episcopal church; his jiolitical, with the republican party. He was one of the prime movers in initiating and perfecting the organization ot this political party in Faribault county, consulting with Hon. |. H. Wakefield, now lieutenant-governor of the state, and then writing and distributing a call for a county convention which met in the autumn of 1857, and thoroughly organized. From that date to the present time he has been one of the leaders of the party in the county, and is now a member of the state central committee. Mr. Kiester is, however, far from being a partisan. He was an earnest supporter of the Union cause during the rebellion. He follows fearlessly the dictates of his own conscience, and gives to religious, educational and fraternal institutions his hearty support. The first teniperance society in Faribault county was a Good Templar's lodge, organized at Blue Earth City nearly twenty years ago. Mr. Kiester was chosen its first worthy chief, and held that office several terms. On the 2d of December, 1859, Miss Caroline Billings, daughter of Levi Bil- lings, one of the early settlers in Faribault county, became the wife of Mr. Kies- ter, and they have five children living, and have lost one child. He has always taken an active part in public enterprises in this locality, and especially, with a few others, in trying to get a railroad to this village. Their plans have been defeated more than once, but he has never " bated one jot ot heart or hope," and is about to see his long and tu'ml)- cherished hopes realizt-d, as a railroad is graded from Winnebago City on the .Southern Minnesota road to Blue Earth City, — a road eventually to connect this plact; with Saint Paul on the north, and Des Moines, Iowa, on the south. The disposition of Mr. Kiester has always been of the quiet and reserved type, which rather prefers that others should lead. His tastes have always been of a literary character, and in addition to his professional studies he is a diligent reader of the current sciences and literature of the times. Since early manhood he has been a contributor to various newspapers and periodicals, usually under some no)it de plume, and for a number of years has been engaged in writing a history of F'aribault county, to be made complete for the first quarter of a cen- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 47 tury, and to be finished in 1S79. It will no doubt be a valuable work, and meet with a ready sale. One of the townships ot Faribault county was named for Mr. Kiester. TEUNIS S. SLINGERLAND, MANTOR 1 'ILLE. TEUNIS S. SLINGERLAND is a good example of what self-help can accomplish. Losing his mother when he was only eleven years of age, he relied on his own little hands after that date for his support. He worked on a farm, in a livery stable, — in short, did any kind of work that "turned up," and never lacked for food or clothing. He spent no money foolishly, husbanded his early dollars, took care of his property after he had accumulated it, and to-day is one of the most extensive real-estate owners and most prosperous men resid- ing in Dodge county. He was born in Cobleskill, New York, on the 2 2d of March, 1823, his parents being Jacob and Sophia Butler Slingerland. His paternal grandfather, Aaron W. Slingerland, born in Albany, New York, was of Holland descent, and a member of the Albany militia in revolutionary times; his paternal grand- mother was of German descent. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Butler, born in Connecticut, was of Irish pedigree, and his maternal grandmother, Eliza- beth Dana, was a daughter of General Dana, of Connecticut, an officer of revo- lutionary fame. Teunis received his education at the Clinton (New York) Grammar School. He never had a dollar, after eleven, that he did not earn. He commenced teachino- at sixteen, and tauo-ht three w^inters. Farming has been the leading occupation of his life, he following that busi- ness since of aee. For fourteen years, before bringing his family west, he spent his summers in Minnesota, buying lands and opening farms, largely in Dodge county. He has more than ten thousand acres, one-third of it or more under cultivation, and is increasing his improved land every year. In 1S77 he cut wheat on thirty-three of his farms. He has a joiner who puts up three or four farm-houses every year. In 1870 he brought his family from his native town to Wasioja, a little west of Mantorvllle, removing to the latter place two years later. His wife was Miss 148 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Catherine E. Bouck, of Cobleskill ; married in July, i!^53. She was the mother of five children, and died at Mantorville on the 20th of January, 1877. Only two of the children, Tennis and Elbert, are living. The former is a member of the State University, Madison, Wisconsin ; the latter, a junior in Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. Mr. Slingerland became president of the First National Bank of Kasson in February, 1878, and that office he still holds, giving, however, most of his time to his real estate. At one time he had lands in ten Minnesota counties. There is no better business man in Dodge county. Mr. Slingerland held a few civil ofifices while in New York, Ijul nothing except notary public in this state, giving his time c.\clusi\cl)' to his own aftairs. He is the wealthiest man in the county, yet is plain and devoid of outward show, and has a kindly heart and an open hand for the unfortunate and suffering. REV. AARON H. KERR, ROCHESTER. AMONG the pioneer preachers and pastors in the valley of the Minnesota, is ^ Aaron Hervey Kerr, the progenitor of whose family came from Scotland near the close of the seventeenth century, and settled in New Jersey, the native state of both parents of our subject, Aaron and Sarah (Peppard) Kerr. When their son Aaron was born, on the ist of April, 1819, they were living in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there he spent his youth in securing a liberal educa- tion, graduating from Jefferson College in 1843. Three years later he received his diploma from the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; was pastor of Presbyterian churches at South Bend and La Grange, Indiana, from 1846 to 1852; then of the First Presbyterian Church, Dubuque, Iowa, until 1856, when he settled in Saint Peter, Minnesota. There he organized a Pres- byterian church, anil was its pastor twent)'-t\vo years. During that period he aided in organizing several other churches, and did no inconsiderable missionary work. P^om 1867 to 1872 he served as superintendent ol public schools for Nicollet county. When Mr. Kerr commenced his labors at Saint Peter, the village, now a city of thirt)-five hundred inhabitants, had not more than two hundred; he organized I THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 149 the church with twelve members, and it now has about one hundred and forty, and one of the best houses of worship in Minnesota, outside the laro-e cities, a stone structure, costing about fifteen thousand dollars. When the Hospital for the Insane was located at Saint Peter, in 1866, Mr. Kerr was appointed a trustee and secretary and treasurer of the institution, and still holds these offices. At the time of writing (August, i8;S), hehas change of the construction and financial department of a, second hospital of this class, located at Rochester, Olmsted county. He has very much of a business turn of mind, and no inconsiderable knowledge of mechanics, being an eminently prac- tical man and useful citizen. He was chaplain of the 9th Minnesota Volunteers for three years, — the first year on the frontier, and two years at the south. Mr. Kerr has a wife and three children living, and has lost four children. Mrs. Kerr was Elizabeth Craig, of Cross Creek village, Washington county, Pennsylvania, their wedding occurring on the 25th of October, 1847. Effie, the oldest child living, and Henry, the youngest, are at home, and Walter Craig is in the senior class of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Mr. Kerr is a stout-built man, with a ruddy complexion; is five feet and ten inches tall, and weighs two hundred pounds. He has a genial disposition, a good fund oi knowledge on general subjects, and is a pleasant converser. VINCENT P. KENNEDY, M.D., LITCHFIELD. VINCENT PELLETT KENNEDY, a resident of Meeker county, Minne- sota, since 1856, and the leading physician in this part of the state, is a son of Martin and Eleanor ( Pellett) Kennedy, of the farming class, and dates his birth on the iith of July, 1824, in Butler county, Pennsylvania. His ances- tors on both sides were from Ireland, his great-grandfather, Kennedy, beino- an early settler in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Martin Kennedy, senior, served in some capacity in the war of 18 12. His maternal grandfather, Francis Pellett, came to this country when about thirty years old and settled in Ohio. When Vincent was three years old the family moved to Parke county, In- diana, where the son commenced teaching at eighteen years of age. Havin^r thus supplied himself with funds, he connected himself with the Asbury Univer- 150 THE UNITED STATES B/OG/iAPH/CAL DICTIONARY. sity, at Greencastle ; remained in that institution till tlic close of the sophomore year; taught a few more terms in ortlcr to replenish his exchequer; read medi- cine with Drs. Allen and Weaver, of Rockville, the seat of justice of Parke coun- ty ; attended a course of lectures at Louisville, Kentucky; practiced between one and two years at Kickapoo, Peoria county, Illinois; attended another course at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and graduated in February. 185 1. Dr. Kennedy practiced five years in Greencastle and Bowling Green, Indiana ; and in 1S56. thinking his lungs were diseased, removed to Minnesota, settling at Grecnicaf, in the southern part of Meeker county, practicing there steadily until the south took uj) arms against the Union. On the 22d of April, 1862, Dr. Kennedy was mustered into the service as assistant surgeon of 5th Minnesota Infantry; on the 3d of September following was promoted to surgeon of the same regiment, and served until May, 1865, when the rebels had laid down their arms. The Doctor's health was very good most of the time, and at one period, for fifteen consecutive months, he never failed to respond to a sick call. No surgeon could be more attentive to his duties, or be more generally respected alike by officers and privates. On his return to Meeker county Dr. Kennedy was appointed physician to the Indian post at Red Lake, in the northern part of the state, acting in that capacity from [une, 1865, to March, 1867. On his return, he continued in practice at Greenleaf six years longer, operating a flouring mill which he then owned, and a farm which he still owns — a farm of something like one thousand acres, nearly one-third of it under cultivation. In March, 1873, the Doctor removed to the county seat, where he is still in practice. The next year he attended a course of lectures at the Bellevue Hos- pital Medical College, New York city, and received the ad eundeni degree. There are few better educated i)h)-sicians and surgeons in the state, and proba- bly none more popular where known. The Doctor is a member ot the State Medical Society, chairman ot its committee on medical jurisprudence, and very well known in the state among the medical fraternity. He was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1861 and 1862. and on the adjournment of the latter session went directly intt) the army. He was a republican vintil 1872, and has since been independent, with strong "greenback" leanings. He is a Master Mason, and a scarlet-degree Odd-Fellow, rarely, however, meeting with the latter craft. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 15 1 Dr. Kennedy was first married on the 19th of July, 1849, to Miss Julia A. Rudisill, of Greencastle, Indiana. She died on the 13th of July, 1854, leaving two children, one of whom, Julia A., is the wife of Nimrod Barrick, of Meeker county. He was married the second time on the 2d of July, i860, to Miss Caro- line Rudisill, sister of his first wife. She has had four children, all living but the second born. HON. CHARLES McCLURE, RED WING. CHARLES McCLURE, district judge in Minnesota for seven years, and register of deeds for Goodhue county since January, 1873, i^ a native of Greenbriar county, West Virginia ; a son of Charles McClure, senior, and Martha VValkup, and was born on the 20th of February, 1S04. His father died in Mc- Henry county, Illinois, a few years ago, aged eighty-three years. His branch of the McClures is old Virginia and Kentucky stock. The Walkups settled in cen- tral Virginia. Judge McClure was educated at Lewisburg, Virginia, in an institution of a high order, under the management of Rev. John McHeleny, graduating in 1827. He read law with Addison McLaughlin, at Summerville, Nicholas county. West Virginia; was admitted to practice in 1829; remained in Nicholas county, follow- ing his profession, until 1833, when he moved to La Porte, Indiana, purposing to make that place his permanent residence, but continued sickness, on account of the peculiarity of the climate, compelled him to leave. In 1840 he removed to McHenry county, Illinois, remaining there, engaged in his profession, till 1856, when he settled in Red Wing. In 1864 he was appointed judge of the first judicial district; Judge McMillan going on the supreme bench, was elected to the same office the same year, and served the full term, resuming practice on leaving the bench. He is now filling the office of register of deeds, as already intimated. Judge McClure was originally a whig, and as such represented his party in the Indiana legislature in 1837 and 1838. Just before the organization of the republican party, he edited a paper called "The Republican," at Woodstock, Illi- nois, the aim of the paper being to effect such an organization — the "party of freedom." He was for two years treasurer of McHenry county, Illinois. He iS 152 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. was a member of the constitutional convention of Minnesota in 1857; was> a presidential elector in i860, and state senator in 1862 and 1863. He still sup- ports with zeal the republican party. He has been a communicant in the Methodist Episcopal church smce 1833, and is a man of unquestioned purity of character. Judae McClure was f^rst married in 1830, to Miss Sarah Gibson, of Hunters- ville Vrrcinia. She died in i854> leaving f^ve children, four of them yet hvmg. His present wife was Mrs. Helen Adams, of Red Wing, daughter of John Bowen, of Michigan, this union taking place in 1868. John C, his only son living, is pros- ecuting attorney and state senator; Martha A. E. is the wife of Sidney W. Park, of Red Wing ; Sarah" Agnes is the wife of Alvin Wagner, also of Red Wmg ; and Catharine is single. HON. JOHN C. McCLURE, RED WING. TOHN CHARLES McCLURE, state senator from Goodhue county, is a son J of Judae McClure, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, and was born at L^ Porte, Indiana, on the ist of March, 1838. When he was two years old his parents moved to McHenry county, Illinois, and he received his educa- tion in the araded schools and Clark Seminary at Woodstock; learned the art of printing at Woodstock, and came with his parents to Red Wing in 1856. Mr McClure read law with his father in 1858 and 1859, and was admitted to the bar in October of the latter year, but did not commence active practice until the autumn of 1864, being engaged in printing-offices at Red Wing and Saint Paul Since entering upon the legal profession Mr. McClure has closely applied himself to it, and has risen steadily, his standing at the Goodhue county bar being highly creditable. He is an excellent counselor, a strong pleader, a hard student, and a growing man. Mr. McClure was engrossing clerk of the state senate in 1862 ; has been pros- ecutino attorney of Goodhue county for eight or nine years, and a member of the senate since January, 1878. The place assigned him on committees is the judiciary, state university, and federal relations. He attends very closely to his legislative duties, and probably no young man in this part of the state is more highly esteemed. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 153 The affiliations of Senator McClure have always been with the republicans, and he seems to be a pet of the party in its banner county in Minnesota. Much as he is engaged in politics seemingly, he lets nothing interfere with his profes- sional business. He was married on the ist of August, 1868, his wife being Miss Mary F. Phelps, of Pine Island, Goodhue county. They have one child, Charles B., nine years old. HON. EDWIN C STACY, ALBERT LEA. EDWIN CLARK STACY, one of the commissioners to organize Freeborn county, and its first judge of probate, is a native of Madison county, New York, where he was born, in the town of Hamilton, on the 6th of September, 18 15. His parents were Nathaniel and Susan (Clark) Stacy. His grandfather, Rufus Stacy, a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and at Cherry Valley when it was ravaged and burnt by the combined forces of the tory, Butler, and the savage. Brant. Nathaniel Stacy, a Universalist minister, was chaplain of a regiment in 1814, stationed at Sacket's Harbor. He wrote the memoirs of his own life, — a work of more than five hundred pages, published- in 1850, — and in it gives a pretty full account of the rise and pro- orress of Universalism in the State of New York, a movement in which he was very prominent. The volume is written in an easy, familiar style, veined with humor, and is decidedly readable. The author died about ten years ago. Edwin received an academic education at Hamilton, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania; the family moving to Warren county, Pennsylvania, when he was fourteen years old. He farmed more or less till of age ; teaching winter schools, and securing his education entirely with his own means. In 1836 he came west- ward to Ann Arbor, Michigan; read law awhile with Miles and Wilson, of that place; finished with a cousin, Consider A. Stacy, at Tecumseh, Lenawee county; was admitted to the bar at Adrian, in 1840; in the autumn of that year returned to Warren county, Pennsylvania; practiced there (at Columbus) and at Erie till 1856, and then came to Minnesota, locating at Geneva, Freeborn county, farming there for four years. The year Mr. Stacy settled in this state he was appointed by Governor Gor- 154 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. man one of the commissioners to organize Freeborn county, and was made its first judge of probate. He was a member of the constitutional convention. In i860 Mr. Stacy removed to Albert Lea, the county seat, and when not in .some county office, has been engaged in the practice of his profession and the real- estate business. He does a good deal of collecting for commercial, agricultural and other houses, being a prompt and reliable man. Several years ago he served as county auditor three terms, and county superintendent of schools one term. No man in Freeborn counl\- is better known than Judge Stacy, the title which he has had since judge of probate. He is among the leading men of the older class in the county, and greatly esteemed b\- all who know him. He has always affiliated with the democratic party ; has been quite active and prominent in county and district politics, and was the candidate of his party for congress in 1876. He is an Odd-Fellow; holds the office of noble grand in the Albert Lea Lodge, and is a member of the Universalist Society. judge Stacy was married on the 2 2d of February, 1842, to Miss Elizabeth D. Heath, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and of four children, the fruit of this union, two .sons are li\^ing. Both are married and reside in Albert Lea. Uorr K. is a member of the city police, and Day F. is a printer and surveyor. JACOB K. SIDLE, MINNEAPOIJS. ( JACOB KOONTZ SIDLE, president of the First National Bank of Minne- apolis, and one of the few bankers who survived the great commercial crisis of 1857, and the subsequent panics, is a native of Dillsburgh, York county, Penn- sylvania, where he was born on the 31st of March, 182 i. He is the son of Henry Sidle, a prominent and successful merchant of Dillsburgh, and .Susanna ;/<;y' Koontz. His paternal forefathers emigrated from Germany man)' years ago, being among the earliest settlers in Perry county, Pennsylvania, from where they afterward removed to York county. His grandfather Sidle was a musician in the conti- nental army during the struggle for independence. The Koontz family were also among the early German pioneers in Pennsylvania. The educational advantages enjoyed by Jacob consisted of what the district THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 155 school of Dillsburgh afforded, and about six months at an academy in York. Leaving the latter when about twenty years of age, he entered his father's store and assumed charge of the business, managing it successfully for a period of eight years. The knowledge he acquired during this time, the business ex- perience he gained, were ample compensation for any loss of schooling, and laid the foundation of his subsequent successful career. In 1S46 he and his brother Henry succeeded to their father's business, and continued in the same place until 1857. As they were both steady, industrious, honest men, possess- ing good business qualifications, they were of course fortunate in their enter- prises, and accumulated considerable wealth. In 1857 Mr. Sidle's health becoming somewhat impaired, he took a trip through the western states. Visiting Minneapolis during this trip, he was very favorably impressed with its appearance and future prospects. Although but then a small village, in comparison with Saint Paul, yet Mr. Sidle was sagacious enough to see that it possessed all the natural advantages necessary to make it a city in the near future, and its almost unparalleled growth and present prom- ising outlook prove the wisdom of his calculations. He determined to cast his lot with this western town, and soon made arrangements which resulted in start- ing the private bank of Sidle, Wolford and Co. in 1857. Soon after, the o-reat financial crash of that year swept across the country, stranding some of the oldest banking institutions of the country, but through it all the house of which Mr. Sidle was the head stood firm and survived the shock. To euide the affairs of a young bank not yet firmly rooted in the commercial world, through such a financial storm as wrecked old and long established houses, required qualifi- cations of no mean order. Fortunately Mr. Sidle possessed these abilities, in- herited from his father, and strengthened by his mercantile experience in his native town. In 1861 Mr. Sidle, in company with his brother, who had finally consented to come west, started a bank of issue ; this, when the national banking law was passed, was merged in the First National Bank, with Mr. Sidle for president and his brother for cashier, and a capital of fifty thousand dollars. Under his able management and personal supervision, this institution has enjoyed great prosperity; its capital is now six hundred thousand dollars, and it transacts the largest banking business of any house in the city; it does all the business of the Millers' Association, paying out from thirtj'-five to forty thousand dollars 1^6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. daily f(ir wheat alone; and under the presidency of Mr. Sidle, it enjoys the confidence of the whole community. Since coming here he has occupied a prominent position in commercial circles, and his reputation for high character, integrity and uprightness in all transactions are above reproach. In addition to banking, Mr. Sidle is interested in other enterprises, and is connected with the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company, a corporation which is doing a very large business and a successful one. Politically, Mr. Sidle is democratic in his views, but he takes no active part in politics, preferring to give his personal attention wholly to his business. He is a trustee of the Presbyterian church, and a member of the society. He was married an the 26th of .September, 1846, -at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, to Miss Margaret B., daughter of Henr}' De Huff, Esq. This union has been blessed with five daughters, all of whom are living. HON. MARTIN J. SEVERANCE, MANKATO. MARTIN J. SEVERANCE, a resident of Minnesota since 1856, comes from an old family, who settled in Shelburne Falls, Franklin county, Massachusetts, nearly a century and a half ago. Martin Severance, senior, his great-grandfather, was in the French and Indian war (1754-60), and in the war for independence; and his grandfather, Martin Severance, junior, was in the second war with the mother country. The parents of our subject, Asa and Calista (Boyden) Severance, both natives of Franklin county, were living at Shelburne Falls when he was born, on the 24th of December, 1826. He received a thorough academic education in his native town, and at East Hampton, in the same state; giving in all about eight years to literary studies in these two institutions, and then commencing law studies in 1849. He read at first with Hon. John Wells, late supreme judge of Massachusetts; finished with Beach and Bond, of Springfield, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. After practicing between two and three years in Chicopee, Mr. Severance left his native state; located at Henderson, Sibley county, Minnesota; was in practice there from 1856 to 1862, serving most of the time as county attorney, and in the summer of the last named year enlisted as a private in company I, THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 157 loth Minnesota Infantry. After serving twenty montlis he was promoted from private to captain of the same company, and served three full years, being mus- tered out with the regiment on the i8th of August, 1865. His regiment was in the sixteenth army corps, General A. J. Smith, commander. Mr. Severance lost two brothers in the war, but never received, himself, anything more than slight scratches. On leaving the service, Mr. Severance located at Le Sueur, Le .Sueur county, five miles from Henderson; practiced there till 1870, and then removed to Man- kato, where he is still in practice, standing very high at the bar of the state, especially as a criminal lawyer. His oratory is of a high order, and he is very powerful before a jury. Few lawyers in the state practice in as many counties as Mr. Severance. He was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1859 ^"*^ 1862, attending two sessions the latter year. He had just enlisted when the Sioux outbreak occurred, and attended the extra session of the legislature while a private soldier. He was one of the first to arrive at Fort Ridgely, in August, 1862, to defend its inmates from the Sioux. Mr. Severance is a very independent politician. He voted for Franklin Pierce (1852), James Buchanan (1856), Stephen A. Douglas (i860), and Abraham Lin- coln (1864), and latterly has voted for the best men, irrespective of party name. His preference in the presidential contest of 1876 was Samuel J. Tilden. On the i6th of June, 1858, Miss Elizabeth P. Van Horn, of Chicopee, Massa- chusetts, became the wife of Mr. Severance, and they have three children. HON. JOHN C. STOEVER, HENDERSON. JOHN CASPER STOEVER, son of John Stoever, merchant, and Susan E. Stuckert, was born in Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia, on the 5th of January, 1824. His maternal grandfather and paternal great-grandfather were from Germany. In his boyhood he attended a select school, his studies being confined to the elementary branches; but subsequently educated himself in a printing-office, learning that trade with the publishers of the Germantown "Tele- graph," commencing at sixteen, and remaining in that oflfice till twenty-three I5unici- palitv of Saint Peter he has done much valuable work for the city, and is i)rized as a very useful citizen. In politics, he is democratic. In Masonry, a royal arch: he started Nicollet Lodge, No. 54, and was its master two jears. .Mr. Randall has been married since the 2Sth of b'cbruary, 1854, his wife being Miss Wilhelmina Helena Lange, of Ouinc\', Illinois. They have eight children: Mary Louise, the eldest daughter, is the wife of George H. Noble, of bort Ridgely ; the rest are single. Frank L., the eldest son, is superintendent of schools in Nicollet county; Benjamin M. is studying medicine in Saint Peter; William E. is at the Milwaukee College; and the others. Henrv R.. Richard A., Agnes and Helena, are pursuing their studies at home. Note. — Among tlie very earliest settlers in Saint Peter was William B. Dodd, a native of New Tersey. He came to this state about 185 i. The site of Saint Peter was owing to his sagacity, and the establishment of the town, to his enterprise. In the battle at New Ulm, on the 22d of August, 1862, he served as lieutenant under Judge Flandrau, and was killed by the Indians while defending the town. . _ GENERAL JAMES H. BAKER, MANKATO. J.AMES BEATON BAKER, surveyor-general of Minnesota, and son of Rev. Henry Baker, a Methodist preacher, and Hannah Heaton Baker, was born in Monroe, Butler coimty, Ohio, on the 6t1i of May, 1829. His father was a ph)- sician, as well as a minister, and practiced the former profession during the major part of his mature years. He was a gentleman of gciod literary attainments, and died at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1864, while serving as chaplain of a regiment. The grandfather of James was a Protestant minister, and left Germany on account of his religious views. His maternal great-grandfather, David Heaton, fought tor American independence, and was in the battles of Germantown, Princeton, Tren- ton and others. His maternal grandfather, James Heaton, was a cpiartermaster, serving with General Harrison in the second war with the mother country. When James was about two years old the family moved to Lebanon, in an adjoining county, where, in due time, he prepared for college, entering the Ohio THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 167 Wesleyan University, at Delaware, in 1847, 'I'ld graduatino- with the class of 1852. Before entering the university, and while pursuing his studies, he exhibited talent and scholarship of a superior order, and on finishing his studies at the uni- versity he received the Latin honors of his class. He now engaged in teaching, and for a short time was at the head of a female seminary in Richmond, Indiana. In 1S53 Mr. Baker purchased the " Sciota Gazette," at Chillicothe, one of the oldest newspapers in Ohio, and had the exclusive management of the paper. So strong and forcible were his editorials, that a year or two later, on the organiza- tion of the republican party, his writings contributed materially to the growth and interests of the infant party in southern Ohio. .So thoroughly were his ser- vices appreciated, that in 1855, when only twenty-six years of age, he became the republican candidate for secretary of state, Hon. -Salmon P. Chase heading the ticket, the two canvassing the state together, and winning at the October election. At the expiration of his term of office, in 1857, Mr. Baker executed a purpose long entertained of removing west, and came to Minnesota. The next year he was the successful republican candidate for the same state office that he had held in Ohio. He was reelected, and was still serving as secretary of state when civil war broke out at the south. Feeling it his duty to go into the military service, he resigned; enlisted, and received a colonel's commission from Governor Ramsey, took command of the loth Minnesota Infantry, and served under General Sibley in the campaigns of 1862 and 1863 against the Sioux. On returning from the campaigns on the frontier, Colonel Baker was ordered to the south ; reported at Saint Louis, Missouri ; was assigned to that post by General Schofield, and so faithfully and with so much executive ability did he dis- charge his duties, that his command was soon enlargred to that of a district. He was subsequently appointed provost-marshal of the department of Missouri by Secretary Stanton, and in that responsible position he served until the close of the war. For his fidelity in this important trust, which virtually made him mili- tary governor of Missouri, he was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers. Peace being restored, General Baker was mustered out of service on the 31st of November, 1865, and appointed register of the consolidated land offices at Booneville, Missouri, and at the end of two years resigned. He returned to his farm in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, intending to enjoy the ([uiet of rural life ; but in 1 87 1, after declining to accept public positions of trust offered him, Presi- dent Grant tendered him the imiiortant office of commissioner of pensions, and loS THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. he entered upon its duties on the first day of June of that year. " To the dis- charge of these duties," said a writer for an eastern periodical in 1874," he brought all the forces of an energetic nature, and the powers of a well-balanced, vigorous and analytical mind, with a steadfast devotion to his trust. A soldier himself, in a.ssuming the chair of commissioner of pensions he felt that every disabled soldier, and ever\- widow and orphan of a deceased comrade, became his ward, whose interests, under his oath of office, he was not only to protect, but to care- fully watch over." I hrouL^h tile instrumentality of General Baker, the pension laws, formerly scattered here and there through different volumes of the statutes, were compiled in one law and ver}- much simplified. He resigned this office on the 31st of May, 1875, having served a full term of four years, and President Grant tendered him the office of surveyor-general of the state, which he now holds, having his home in Mankato. While holding this office, General Baker has contributed more largely than all other influences to bring into notice the north shore of Lake Su]jerior. His letters from that region have attracted wide attention. On tlie 25th of .September, 1852, Miss Rose R. Thurston, daughter of Reu- i)en H. Thurston, then of Delaware, Ohio, now of Mankato, Minnesota, became the wife ot General Baker, and they have two sons, both promising young men. Arthur is in the ])ost-office department at Washington, and Harr)' E. is a student in the law department of the Michigan State University. Mrs. Baker died in Washington cit)-, on the 21st of March, 1873. She was a woman of the noblest qualities, and in the dedication to a poem entitled "A Song of Friendship," pub- lished in book lorm in 1877, the General lJa\'s a beautiful tribute to her worth and memor\-. The dedication opens as follows: " To thee, bright captive of the sky. To thee these lines belong; I'ull oft I waft to thee a sigh. And now ascends my song. ^Vhen first we met, there in thine eyes One path before us lay ; We trod its tnrf, till to the skies Vour feet were turned away. You took that light which made us glad, That heart which we adore ; And yet the loss which made lis sad Illumined heaven more." THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 169 The dedication ends as follows — lines not unworthy of Tennyson : " Shod with the sandals of the morn, She crossed the blooming sky, And on the hills where love was born She rests her feet for aye. Vein well with fire these lidded eyes, O Lord ! that I may see Through all the radiance of the skies That soul which lived for me ! " The poem here mentioned, and so sweetly and tenderly dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Baker, is an elegy on the death of a very dear friend — a poem full of pathos and warm with poetic fire — probably the finest contribution to this department of literature yet made by a Minnesota minstrel. We make a single extract : "And now no longer comes my Grecian friend, In high dispute, a sullen day to end ; The winter sharp is doubly now a-cold, And dead delights tell how the heart grows old. No more those grand repasts, with Attic fire; No more those dreams which all good hearts inspire; That cheerful hour hath heaven put away. And I must reck my life some other way. But yet rejoice ! my friend, he is not dead ; Like Lycidas, he lifts his drooping head, 'And tricks his beams ' in some new fountain high, And ' flames in th' forehead of the morning sky.' His lordly life went out with calm content ; On glory's hills he pitches now his tent. The lusty passions of this wayward world. Like captured flags, around his feet are furl'd ! O noble heart, arise ! teach me the ways That gave you strength, and won enduring praise." We find in the published proceedings of the grand lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons oi Minnesota, that during the session a "lodge of sorrow" was held in January, 1877, and an address was delivered by General Baker on the death of Adjutant J. C. Braden, of the loth Minnesota Infantry — adjutant while General Baker was colonel. Captain Braden was the grand master of the Ma- sonic fraternity of Minnesota. From this beautiful tribute to the memory of a brother Mason we make a very brief extract, to show the compactness and terse- ness of the General's prose style : I/O THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. A dying friend can leave no treasure more sacred than a spotless reputation ; and if I were asked to-night to name one in our midst who combined within his personal character all the graces of truth, sincerity, toleration, honor and personal inirity which enrich true manhood, I could mention no one who excelled our deceased grand master in them all. Without ostentation, without fame, he moved in the circle in which his life was cast, with that distinctive character, and those personal (|ualities of unfeigned honesty and incorruptible integrity, which mark the upright man. That spirit of friendship and that love of virtue which made him the embodiment of the best ideal of Masonry, were the principles which formed and dominated his life. T/ie character of a good man and a true Mason grows, like the Temple in Jerusalem, without the sound of a hammer. Character is a house not made icith hands. A good life forms and expands as noiselessly as a flower unfolds in its beauty and fragrance. At the conclii.sion of his eulocry on this occasion he read an original poem, which has been copic;d into most of the Minnesota papers, and has had a wide circulation in otlier parts of the country. It opens as follows: " To one by one we wave the last adieu. And one by one we hear the last tattoo; No morn shall come tasbring again the day That breaks thy sleep with ringing reveille ! No trumpet's clang the marshall'd ranks shall call, Till from the sky that trump that summons all ! No more the guard his weary rounds shall tread. For angels watch the bivouac of the dead ! " General Baker is a liberal contributor to the newspaper and periodical press, especially of his adopted state, treating of literary subjects only, and always writ- ing with marked elegance, as well as vigor. On the " stump" he is very forcible ; there only he " meddles with politics," and there he has but few compeers in the state. In the campaign of 1877 he made many most popular speeches on the republican side, and of one of them fifteen thousand copies were circulated as a campaign docinnent. He is a " liard-money " man, and to show the richness and beauty ol his illustrations, we make an extract Irom the speech just referred to, showing the value of coin as money: Let me illustrate the value of coin as money. A few years since, my friend, Bishop Whipple, wiio had just returned from Spain, presented me with a silver Moorish coin. It had been issued more than a thousand years ago. It bore upon it the faded stamp of a sovereign and the insignia of an empire, which alike had been dead for a thousand years. Ten centuries have come and gone since the authority which issued that coin had an existence in Spain ; their very names have ceased to be recorded, and every insignia of their authority has mouldered into the dust of oblivion ; and yet that coin is just as good, and has just the same moneyed value to-day, as if the most potent government on earth was behind it. Who would care to know of the numberless floods of paper money which have come and gone through that period of a thousand years, like leaves upon the trees.' But while these rags have rotted, my Moorish coin survives with the almost conscious immortality of honest money. w THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 171 The writer already quoted thus speaks of the appearance, etc., of our subject : In person. General Baker is about six feet in height, and symmetrically proportioned. He moves with a quick, nervous, soldierly step, indicative of his character, — courteous in demeanor, affable in conversation, giving close attention to the minutest detail when business is introduced. He is some- what incisive in his speech, and im]:)ulsive in action. His head is small and well proportioned, and is lield firmly erect. His quick-moving hazel eyes betoken restiveness, and his countenance, when ani- mated, indicates great intelligence. In repose, his face has a quiet, thoughtful, scholarly appearance. HON. HORACE EVERETT BARRON, FARItSAVLT. THE Barron family settled in New England during the early part of the eighteenth century. William Barron, the great-grandfather of Horace Ev- erett Barron, was a scout during the French and Indian war, and commanded a company from Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, in the revolutionary war. The roll of his company, who first used their flint-locks at Bunker Hill, is now in the archives of the state department at Concord, New Hampshire. He lived and died at Lyndeboro. His family originated from Chelmsford, Middlesex county, Massa- chusetts. Micah Barron, his eldest son, born at Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, adjoining Chelmsford, in 1763, moved to Bradford, Orange county, Vermont, in 1788; was an enterprising lumberman and farmer, and for twenty-three years was deputy sheriff or sheriff of Orange county. He was the man who was sent to Canada to arrest Stephen Burroughs, the notorious counterfeiter and desperado. Micah Barron was at one time colonel of a regiment ot the state militia, and rose to the rank ot briCTadier-ofeneral. William Barron, son of Micah and father of Horace, was less than a year old when his parents moved to Bradford. The maiden name of his second wife, mother of Horace, was Hannah Davis Brooks, whose eldest brother, Samuel Brooks, died while a member of the Canadian parliament, and his youngest son is now a member of the same parliament. William Barron, like his father, had a taste for military affairs, and rose to the rank of colonel. He died in Hartford, _ Connecticut, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, as we gather from the " History of Bradford, Vermont," whence other facts are derived. President Harrison ap- pointed Colonel Barron United States marshal for the district of Vermont. 172 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Horace M Barron was born in Bradford, on the 21st of Marcli, 1826, spend- ing his boyhood on his father's farm, and completing his education at the Brad- ford Academy. When about eighteen he joined an engineering party, which made the first survey of the railroad from White River Junction to Derby line, and was thus engaged for four years, or till the road was completed and the cars ran from White river to W^ells river. In October, 1850, Mr. Barron pushcni westward to Chicago, and for five years traveled for wholesale houses in that city, Ills trips extending over Illinois and portions of Michigan and Indiana. In October, 1855, he came to b'arlhaull, tlien an embryotic village, with several log cabins and two or three frame houses. During the winter following he purchased the site on which his hotel now stands, and made preparations to build, which he did the next spring. Here, with the exception of two years, he has been the lamllord of the Barron House since 1856, and is one of the best known men of his class in the state — best and favor- ably known, being kind, obliging and considerate, and regardful of the comforts of his guests. His elder and only brother, William Trotter Barron, a graduate of the University of Vermont, and a lawyer in Cliicago for several years, and judge of Cook county one or two terms, was killed in 1862, b)- a collision on the railroad at Kenwootl station, near the southern line of Chicago, and for two years our subject was engaged in looking alter his property, returning to his hotel in 1864. In 1870 Mr. Barron built the stately stone addition to his hotel, forty-four by eio'hty feet, and three stories above the basement, leaving the old frame building- still standing, using it for office, sample-rooms, wash-room, etc. He now has one of the most spacious, airy and inviting public-houses in central Minnesota. Mr. I>arr(Mi has held a few offices in the municipality of Faril)ault, and in 1874 was a meml)cr of the legislature, being chairman of the committee of ways and means. He has been a director of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, located at Faribault, for ten or eleven years, and has been president ot the board most ot the time. In politics, he was formerh' a whig; latterl\- has been a republican, occasion- ally attending congressional and state conventions — more to oblige others than to please himself He is a strong partisan, more ready to work for the official elevation of friends than ot himsclt. Mr. Barron lived a single life till the 22d of b'ebruary, 1876, when he became THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 173 the husband of Miss Kate W. Gray, daughter of the late James L. Gray, many years a merchant on North Clark street, Chicago. Tliey have had three children, (one pair of twins,) and lost all of them. They attend the Episcopal church. FRANCIS H. MILLIGAN, M.D., WABASHA. FRANCIS HENRY MILLIGAN, twenty-five years a practicing physician and surgeon in Minnesota, is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; a son of Edward and Louisa Fisher Milligan, and was born on the 8th of December, 1830. He is of Irish and Pennsylvania-German descent. When he was five years old his father moved to Saint Louis, and founded the Missouri "Democrat." Francis received his literary education in the graded and select schools of Saint Louis; read medicine with Francis G. Smith and James M. Allen, Philadelphia, and received his diploma from the Jefferson Medical College, of that city, in the class of 185 I, a few months before he was of age. Dr. Milligan practiced in Saint Louis from May, 185 i, to September, 1853, ''■'''cl during the autumn of the latter year settled in Wabasha, practicing here steadily except when in the service of his country. In 1861 he was appointed assistant surgeon of the 3d Minnesota Infantry, and served in that capacity in Tennessee and Kentucky, resigning the ne.xt year. In 1864 he was appointed surgeon of the loth Minnesota, and was- mustered out with the regiment at Fort .Snelling in September, 1865. .Since the close ol the civil war, though doing general practice, the Doctor has made a specialty of surgery, often going a great distance to attend to difficult cases, in Wisconsin as well as Minnesota. He was the first surgeon in Minne- sota to perlorm the ex-section of the hip-joint, and twice has performed gas- trotoni)' for intestinal obstructions. His reputation as a surgeon is extensive and excellent. Dr. Milligan is one of the original members of the Minnesota State Medical Society, and was its president in 1876. He also aided in organizing the Waba- sha County Medical .Society, in 1870, and has been president one term. For twenty-eight years he has been a contributor to medical periodicals, mainly on surgery, and some of his papers have been copied into the British periodicals. 174 '^^^^^ UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In 1876 he wrote, for the centennial 4th of Jul\-, a neat little history of Wabasha village. The name is Indian — a Sioux chief — meaning Yellow Leaf, and should be spelled with a hnal w. In the territorial days of Minnesota, when people and patients were scarce. Dr. Milligan served one term as sheriff of the county, under appointment of his political as well as personal friend, Governor Gorman. The Doctor assisted in oro-anizing the first school district in Wabasha county, and served several years on the school board. He is quite public-spirited, and makes himself useful in many of the relations of life, being a highly respectable citizen. He grew u[) in the Protestant Episcopal church ; is still a worthy member of that body, ami lib- eral in church and benevolent matters. Dr. Milligan has had two wives. His first wife was Miss Lucy A. Bailly, of Wabasha, daughter of Alexais Bailly, an old Indian trader; married in 1853. She died childless, in 1865. His present wife was Miss Sarah D. Abrahams, daugh- ter of William C. Abrahams, of Steubenville, Ohio; chosen in 1866. She has had four children, only two of them now living : Dora Belle, aged ten, and William Francis, aged eight years. HON. ROBERT I. SMITH, AUSTIN. ROBERT ISAAC SMITH, late state senator from Mower county, is a native of Rensselaer county, New York, and was born on the 17th of November, 1838, his parents being Robert and Millison (Townsend ) Smith. He is of remote German descent, and has good patriotic blood in his veins, his great grandfather, Jacob Smith, being a lieutenant of dragoons under Cieneral Gates, during the revolution. Robert Smith was a builder in earl\- life;, and is still living, being engaged in farming and the real-estate business, his residence being near Mendota, Illinois. The subject of this notice was educated at Sand Hill Academy, New York, under Professor Schram, of Yale College, and after leaving school was engaged for five years in teaching at Ripon, Wisconsin, and Mendota, Illinois, and in 1857 came to Rochester, Olmsted county, in this state, devoting some time to real estate. In i860 Mr. Smith went to the mineral regions in and near Denver, and spent a year or more in mining; returned in 1862, and enlisted in company F, THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 175 9th Minnesota, as orderly sergeant, and gave one year to the service of his coun- try. At the end of this time he returned to Minnesota; settled in Austin, and has since been engaged in real estate and photography. He is a successful business man, and in independent circumstances. He was a member of the state senate in 1876 and 1877, being chairman of the committee on internal improvements, and served also on the committees on railroads and insane asylum. The politics of Mr. Smith are republican, and he is among the leading men ot his party in Mower county. He was a member ot the state central committee in 1877, and is known among politicians all over the state as a straightforward, upright man, of sound judgment and good business capacities. The wife of Mr. Smith was Mary A. Piper, ot Austin ; married in September, 1868. DAVID A. SECOMBE, MINNEAPOLIS. DAVID ADAMS SECOMBE, lawyer, is a native of Milford, New Hamp- shire, and dates his birth on the 25th of May, 1827. His parents were David and Lydia (Adams) -Secombe. The first of the Secombe family, in this country, was Richard, who emigrated from the west of England, and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1660; his third son was John, whose third son was Simmons, whose first-born was called John; this John, the grandfather of our subject, in 1762 removed to Amherst, New Hampshire, where was born David, in 1787; the latter afterward moved to Milford, where he enofag-ed in farmino-. David A. attended the public schools of Milford, and later fitted for college at the academies of Hancock and Pembroke, New Hampshire. In 1847 he en- tered Dartmouth Colleee, but did not graduate, as he discontinued his studies while yet in his junior year. Leaving college, he went to Manchester, New Hampshire, and studied law during the next year with the Hon. Daniel Clark, ex-United .States senator, and at present United States district judge. Being dependent upon his own resources, Mr. .Secombe did not attempt to practice in his native state, well knowine it would be useless to contend against the old fogies, who at that time did not believe in giving a young man a chance, until 176 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. death made room for him in their ranks ; he concluded the west was the only place for him, and he immigrated to this land of promise in June, 1851, settling at Saint Anthony, Minnesota. Here he was admitted to the bar in July, 1852, since which time he has followed his profession in this ]ilace — now Minneapolis. Mr. Secombe has practiced alone, with the e.xception of about two years, when he was in company with John \V. North. He was elected a member of the state constitutional convention which met at Saint Paul in 1S57; was a Tepresentative from Hennepin count)-, in the state legislature, in 1859 and i860, and was a delegate to the national republican con- vention which n(jminated the immortal Lincoln, at Chicago, Illinois, in the latter year. In 1871-72 -he was county attorney of Hennepin county. Since the formation of the republican party Mr. Secombe has acted with them; during the first years of its existence, and through the war, he took an active and interested part in politics, but of late years he has held aloof as much as possible, being much averse to the system of machinery now in vogue. With the excep- tion of the time spent in performing his duties in the offices mentioned, Mr. Secombe has devoted his whole attention to his profession. He has had a large experience, and is well informed on all (piestions oi law ; stands high at the bar, and enjo\'s an enviable reputation for honesty and integrity. He was married at Saint Anthony, on tlie 27th of February, 1855, to Mrs. Charlotte A. Eaton, daughter of \Vm. K. Eastman, of Conway, New Hampshire. They have three children, one daughter and two sons. NATHAN M. BEMIS, M.D., farhlwi.t. NATHAN MARVIN BEMIS, the first physician to permanently settle in Faribault, was born in Whitingham, Windham county, Vermont, on the 25th of March, 182 1, his parents being James Gilbert and Stata Smith Bemis. His paternal great-grandfather came from England, and his grandfather, Edmund Bemis, was an officer in the continental army. James G. Bemis was a farmer, with whom the son remained until eighteen \ears of age. At this period in life, with his heart set on biding a physician, and with his father's consent, he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Horace Smith, of Wil- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 1 mington, a town adjoining Whitingham, in the same county; attended lectures at the Vermont Medical College, Woodstock; graduated in May, 1842 ; practiced three years at Shutesbur\\ Franklin county, Massachusetts; nine or ten at Cum- mington, Hampshire county, same state, and in May, 1855, settled in Faribault. At that date only one frame house — that of Alexander Faribault, for whom the town was named — was completed; others were rising, and a few log cabins had been up a short time. Indians were abundant, and Dr. Bemis was the physician ot two chiels of the Si(jux nation, Papa and Red Legs. His rides, especially dur- ing the hrst ten or fifteen years, extended up and down the valley of the Cannon river and up the Straight (which here feeds the Cannon) a long distance. Proba- bly few men ot his profession in the state have ridden more miles than he. In the territorial days of Minnesota, road or no road, regardless of the state of the weather, he promptly obeyed every summons, near or remote, whether to a wig- wam or a white man's cabin, facing the perils of swollen streams, blinding snow- storms, or a fearfully depressed thermometer. Latterly his professional circuits have ordinarily been limited to the city and adjoininL;' towns, younger men taking the longer rides. He has been successtul pecuniarily as well as professionally, and fortunately can aflord to curtail his business. Though quite elastic for a man approaching his three-score years, and though having no deep wrinkles on his face, yet his long, almost snow-white beard, and rapidh' whitening head, indicate that "sap-consuming winter's drizzling snows" are not only falling, but thicken- ing in their fall. He does just enough business to aftord him a healthful amount of exercise. His spirits are buoyant, and his social habits admirable. In early manhood Dr. Bemis was an abolitionist of the milder type, casting his first presidential vote in 1844, for James G. Birney. Of late years he has voted the republican ticket ; has never been an office-seeker, and has strictly re- fused to accept anything of the kind of a political nature. Among the Freema- sons he is a Knight Templar, and has been master ot the Blue Lodge twice, and a noble grand in Odd-Fellowshi]) three times. Dr. Bemis has been married since the loth of Februar\-, 1842, his wife being- Miss Emeline H. Adams, a native of Barre, Massachusetts, living at the time of her marriage at Heath, in the same state. They have had five children, all yet living but George O., who died when only three years old. The four living are all married but Ella j. ; Augusta E. is the wife of William T. Kerr, a commercial agent, residing in Davenport, Iowa; Joseph G. is a physician, educated in the I/S THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION Ah College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, and practicing m laribault ; and Mary C. is the wife of Henry C. Prescott, agent for Seymour, Sabin and Co., manufacturers of the " Minnesota Chief" threshing machine at Stillwater, Minne- sota, their home being at Faribault. COLUMBUS STEBBINS, HASTINGS. COLUMBUS STEBBINS, twenty-one years a journalist in Minnesota, be- longs to the class of self-made mtn. With a very ordinary common-school education, at twenty-one he entered a printing-office as its proprietor; learned the art of printing; edited his own paper from the start, and for thirty-two years was a publisher, never missing a week's issue in that period, except during the three or four weeks that he was engaged in moving his newspaper from Indiana to Minnesota. Mr. .Stebbins, a son ge, taking special studies, such as he deemed of most importance, and not graduating, teaching school one or two terms, but never designing to follow that vocation. He read law at Meadville, with Joshua Douglas; came to Minnesota in 1856, and practiced three years at Marion, Olmsted county, representing that county in the legislature in the session of 1857-8. In 1859 Mr. Lord removed to Mantorville, Dodge county, where he was in practice, except when on the bencli, until 1876, when he removed to Faribault, his present home. He was a meml)er of the state senate, representing Mower and Dodge counties in 1866, 1867, 1870 and 1871, being chairman of the judiciary committee during three of these sessions. His standing in the upper branch oi the legislature was highly creditable. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 193 Mr. Lord was elected judge in the autumn of 1871 for a term of seven years, and reelected in November, 1878. He is learned in the law, and a man of liberal culture ; is patient and pains- taking in his official duties, cool in his deliberations, strictly impartial, and a man of the highest integrity. Such men honor the ermine. Judge Lord has always affiliated with the republican party, to which he owes the repeated honors conferred upon him. In June, 1855, Miss Louisa Compton, of Erie county, Pennsylvania, was united in marriaoe with Tudoe Lord, and thev have five children living, and have lost two. FRANKLIN STAPLES, M.D., WINONA. FRANKLIN STAPLES is a practicing physician and surgeon, and for the last four or five years a member of the state board of health. He is a son of Peter and Sarah (Maxwell) Staples, and was born in Raymond (now Casco), Cumberland county, Maine, on the 9th of November, 1833. The Staples family is of English descent, and early settlers in Kittery, Maine. The family of Peter Staples, during Franklin's early life, resided in Buxton, York county, Maine. He received a thorough academic education at Limerick, Parsonfield and Auburn, in his native state, and began the study of medicine with Dr. Charles S. D. Fessenden, of Portland, in 1855, and was subsequently a student of Drs. W. C. Robinson and I. T. Dana, of Portland ; attended lectures in the medical department of Bowdoin College and in the Portland School for Medical Instruc- tion, and in 1861 entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, and was graduated in March of the following year. On receiving his diploma, Dr. Staples went directly to the Maine Medical School, as the student and assistant of the late Dr. David Conant, having been appointed demonstrator of anatomy there for that year. The following summer (1862) he settled in Winona, associating himself in the general practice with the late Dr. John D Ford, the originator of the normal-school system of this state. In the Winona Preparatory Medical School, established in 1872, he occupies the chairs of physiology, and of obstetrics and diseases of women. In 1 87 1 Dr. Staples was elected president of the Minnesota State Medical '94 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Society, and in 1874 was appointed a member of the State Board of Health, and reappointed three years later, still holding this office. Dr. Staples is a member of the American Medical Association, ami was elected one of its judicial council in 1S75, which position he still holds, and was one of the vice-presidents in 1877. The Doctor is a frequent contributor to medical periodicals, writing more or less every year. Among his more elaborate essays are those upon "Catarrhal Inflammation in Uterine Diseases," which was a prize essay of the Minnesota State Medical Society in 1871; " Influence of Climate on Pulmonary Disease in Minnesota," published in the transactions of the American Medical Association in 1S76; and " Troatment of Fracture of the Shaft of the Femur, the American Method," a paper read before the Minnesota State Medical Society, at Saint Peter, on the i8th of June, 1878. Dr. Staples is a member of the school board of Winona, and quite active in educational and other local enterprises. In politics, he is a republican, but will accept no ofhce. Nothing is allowed to interfere with his professional practice and studie.s. He has a large medical library, ami all the facilities for progress in the knowledge of his profession. His favorite department in practice is surgery, — his standing being very high in this department. He is a Royal Arch Mason. Dr. Staples was married on the 4th of June, 1863, to Miss Helen M., daughter of Ezra Harford, Esq., of Portland, Maine ; and of four children, the result of this union, three are living. HON. DAVID B. LOOMIS, SriLIAVArEli. DAVID BURT LOOMIS, one of the oldest settlers in StilKvalcr. a son of Hubbc'l and jerusha Burt Loomis, was born in Willington, Connecticut, on the 17th of April, 181 7. The Loomis famih" is of German pedigree, earl\- set- tling in New England. Hubbel Loomis was a Baptist preacher, and later in life a teacher, being president of Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, Illinois, for several years, there dying in 1874, in his ninety-ninth year. In 1830 the family moved from Connecticut to Kaskaskia, Illinois, where THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 195 David attended a district scItooI. Wlien about fifteen lie went to Alton, and at seventeen became a clerk in a store, holding that situation four or five years. He was there in 1837, when Rev. J. C. Lovejoy had his anti-slavery press de- stroyed, and his own life taken by a pro-slavery mob, Mr. Loomis standing within two feet of the martyr when he fell, and- aiding to lay him out. Shortly afterward he went to Hurricane, Montgomery county, Illinois, and clerked there and at Greenville, same state, till 1842, when he returned to Alton. Spending another year there, in the autumn of 1843 '^^ came to .Stillwater, and worked among the lumbermen in the woods. Two years later, in company with Martin Mower and others, he built the Areola Mills, part of the time William H. C. Folson and James Brewster being in the company. In 1847 M""- Loomis became surveyor of lumber for the first district, holding that position two years. In 1853, in connection with Socrates Nelson and others, built the mills at Baytown, now South .Stillwater, running these until 1859, when he disposed of his interest. In 1861 Mr. Loomis went into the army as first lieutenant company F, 2d Minnesota Infantry, serving three and a half years, being in many engagements, yet receiving no injury. He was mustered out as captain ot the company. Latterly Captain Loomis has held a clerkship in the office of Durant, Wheeler and Co., one of the leading lumber firms in Stillwater. He was a member of the territorial council from 1849 to 1853, and president of the same during the third session. He was in the lower house ot the leois- lature in the session of 1874. In politics. Captain Loomis was originally a whig, and has been a republican since 1855. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, and belongs to the Independent Order of Sons of Malta. In religious sentiment, he is a Universalist. When Captain Loomis came here, late in 1843, the first saw-mill on the pres- ent site of the city was not completed, and Stillwater was hardly out of the embryotic state. He has lived to see it expand into a thriving city of seven thousand inhabitants, taking no small part in building it up. His reminiscences of Stillwater are clear and full of interest. At an early day there was only one public hall, and that one not very pretentious in size. On one occasion it was engaged for a " hop," and a Methodist minister came into town late in the afternoon, and wanted to preach that night. The proprietor told him that he could use the hall before the dancing began. Before commenc- 23 196 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ing his sermon he was kindly requested by some of the young people to be brief. He was. and so impatient were the dancers to commence, that before the minister had reached the bottom of the stairs the fiddlinLj began. SOLOMON P. STEWART, N(nnHFIElJ). Tl IK siil)j(:ct of this sketch is of Scotch descent, his great-grandfather coming to this countr)' some time prior to the revolution, and settling in western Massachusetts. Thfe father of .Solomon Prindle .Stewart was Thomas Stewart, a farmer, residing in W'illiamstown, Berkshire county, when the son was born, on the 28th of August, 1823. The maiden name of the mother was Rachel Prindle, whose ancestors were very early settlers in Connecticut. \\ hen our subject was twelve years old, the family moved westward into W'illiamstown, Oswego county. New York, where he finished his education in a district school, farming in the busiest season of the year. At seventeen he went into the woods, and from tliat age lumbering was his business tor three or four years. In the spring of 1S44 Mr. Stewart took another western stride, locating at Racine, Wisconsin, then a village of pcM'haps six hundred inhabitants. He went there in company with Jerome I. Case, now one of the leading manufacturers in Wisconsin, and was with him several )ears in the machinist business, subse- quently running a livery and sales stable. In May, 1857, Mr. Stewart made a third push westward, settling in North- field, and being in the dr\'-goods business here until 1866. .Since that date he has been in the lumber trade, selling, on an average, about two and a half million feet per annum, being the largest dealer ot the kind in the city, il not in Rice county. In a business line, he is a man of strict integrity and a success. Since locating in the city of Northfield, Mr. .Stewart has taken a deep interest in its progress, and shown himself behind none in public spirit. He has served six years on the city school board, and has been mayor two years, making an efficient executive. Northfield has a first-class trraded school, owin*/ to the enter- prise of a few such men as Mr. Stewart, and two colleges, — one Congregational, the other Scandinavian. It is becoming very much of a literary town, and having a pleasant, health)- location, is a very desirable place in which to live. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 197 In politics, Mr. Stewart was reared a whig, casting his first vote for President for Henry Clay in 1S44. On the disbanding of that party, ten years later, he joined the republican, to which he still adheres. Mr. Stewart has a second wife. His first was Miss Mary Allen, of Geneva, Wisconsin, to whom he was joined in October, 1849. She had two children, and died in January, 1861. The elder of the children, Granville W. Stewart, is a lumber dealer in San Francisco, California ; the younger, Mary Belle, is in Albert Lea, Minnesota. The present wife of Mr. Stewart was Miss Emily S. Tuttle, of Northfield, chosen on the loth of April, 1863. By her he has three children, — Carl Lyndon, Carrie E. and Mary B. HON. ERASMUS D. WHITING, M.D., TArLOR'S FALLS. ERASMUS DARWIN WHITING, a native of Oneida county. New York, was born at Vernon Center, on the 19th of December, 181 1. His father, Selah Whiting, a merchant, was of English, his mother, Sabra Abernethy, of Scotch, descent. The Abernethys are a prominent family in Scotland, some of them being quite eminent in the medical profession. When Erasmus was three years old his parents, both natives of Litchfield county, Connecticut, returned to New Hartford in that county. Selah was captain of a militia company when the second war with England commenced, and he and all his company offered their services, but, at the persuasion of his wife, he obtained a substitute. The subject of this brief biography was educated mainly at a private school, taught by the Rev. Mr. Cooley, at Granville, and in the Westfield (Massachu- setts) Academy; at sixteen commenced reading medicine with his uncle. Dr. Andrew Abernethy, of New Hartford, and finished with Dr. O. K. Hawley, at Austinburgh, Ashtabula count)', Ohio ; attended lectures first at Fairfield, New York, and then at Cincinnati, graduating from the Ohio Medical College early in the year 1832. Dr. Whiting practiced two or three years in Wayne, Ashtabula county, Ohio; a little more than twenty years at Atlas and Rockport, Pike county, Illinois; being at Atlas also postmaster several years, and in 1855 removed to Taylor's Falls, retiring from practice except in consultation. Here he was engaged in igS I'HE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. the mercantile trade and lunil)crintj until 1867, being very successful in his opera- tions generally. Winding up his business, he attended the Paris exposition in that year, being absent in Europe about eight months. Since returning to this country, the Doctor has done little more than take care of his pine lands and other propert)'. lie was a member of the legislature in 1S60 and 1861, attending two regular sessions and one e.xtra session. He was chairman ol the committees on printing and state prison, and was on other committees, being a diligent worker. In politics, he was originall)- a whig, since then a republican, and has long- been a man of inlluence in the ])arty. Dr. Whitins-- has had two wives, neither of them now living. His first wife was Miss Emily Bradley, of Fairfield, New York, chosen on the 2d of November, 1837. She died on the 20th of February, 1866. His second wife was Mrs. Fannie L. Smith, widow of Dr. Lucius B. Smith, of Taylor's Falls ; married on the 2d of June, 1869. She died on the i6th of July, 1872. Dr. Whiting is a remarkably well preserved man, looking much younger than he really is. He has always had sense enough to take good care of his health, and bids fair to spend another score of useful years among his fellow-men. HON. JOHN B. H. MITCHELL, STILLWATER. JOHN BYRAM HOWARD MITCHELL, one of the founders of the Saint J Paul " Dail}' Times," in 1854, is of Scotch pedigree, several relatives ol that name coming over about 1748, locating at first in Pennsylvania, and spreading thence into different states. The progenitor of our subject, Moses Mitchell, set- tled in North Carolina, and fought for independence under Generals Sumter and Marion. Before the revolution he accompanied I^aniel Boone to Kentucky. The wife of Moses Mitchell was Mary Grant, whose father was one of the few Scotch Presbyterians who joined the Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, in 1745, and soon after the battle of Colloden was taken prisoner, confined in the Tower of Lf)ndon, and sentenced to hv beheaded. He finally had his sentence com- muted, on condition that he would leave the country, which he did, settling in North Carolina. He was the father of six sons, five of whom were killed in bat- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 199 ties with the Indians and in the second war with England. The sixth and young- est son was in the same war, and fought at the battle of the Thames, Canada. The family of Mitchells were Scotch Covenanters, who freed their slaves at an early day and moved to the northern states. The parents of John were Israel and Elizabeth Howard Mitchell, living at the time of his birth, on the 26th of November, 1820, in Monroe county, Kentucky. Israel Mitchell was a frontiersman, delighting in adventure and in pioneer life. He was one of the early settlers at Galena, Illinois; opened a farm in Linn county, Iowa, when it was a territory, and in 1846 took the first overland train to Oregon, dying in 1874 while returning to the "far west" from a visit to his son. The subject of this sketch received his education almost entirely in a printing- office, learning the trade at Galena, Illinois, with Horace H. Houghton, and then, for ten years, alternating between working at the case and in the mines of Jo Daviess county, Illinois, and Grant county, Wisconsin. While a journeyman printer he worked in Dubuque, Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; Nashville, Tennessee, and other places, writing more or less, all the time, for newspapers on which he worked, and others abroad. Printers grow into journalists almost as naturally as legs grow on tadpoles. Mr. Mitchell was in Nashville in 1849 ^"^ 1850, and reported the proceed- ings of the secession conventions tor the local and some of the northern papers. It soon became too hot for him there, and he left. In 1852. he came to Saint Paul, Minnesota; worked two years in the office of the " Pioneer," and in 1854, in company with T. M. Hewson, Colonel Alexander Wilkin, Martin J. Clum and George W. Farrington, started the Saint Paul "Daily Times," disposing of his interest in the paper in December of the same year. He was an independent, fearless writer. Since 1855 Mr. Mitchell has been farming and lumbering, with his home, most of the time, until quite recently, at Baytown, now called South Stillwater. He disposed of his farm four or five years ago, and is in the employ of Isaac Staples, the head lumberman in the valley of the Saint Croix, Mr. Mitchell having charge of certain branches of the business. He is a competent man in almost every department. While his home was at Baytown he was town clerk for a dozen years or more, and county commissioner a few terms. In 1863 and 1866 he was a member of the legislature, serving both sessions as chairman of the committee on printing. 200 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Mitchell early imbibed the political principles of Henry Clay; was a strong- whig while that party was in existence, and on its demise joined the re- publicans, with whom he still affiliates. Years ago he was a very active politician, attending congressional, state and other conventions, and doing effective work for the party. He is a Master Mason. Mr. Mitchell was married in October, 1850, to Miss Marianna I!. Fiske, a native of Boston, Massachusetts. She died in 1852, leaving him one son, William B. Mitchell, at present a resident of Washington county, Minnesota. HT)N. SOLOMON G. COMSTOCK, MOORHEAD. SOLOMON OILMAN COMSTOCK, late representative in the Minnesota legislature from the forty-first district, is a son of [ames Madison Comstock, fanner and lumberman, and Louisa M. ("rilman, and was born in Argyle, Maine, on the 9th of May, 1S42. The branch ot the Comstock family from which he comes early settled in Rhode Island and New York, his grandfather, Solomon Comstock, being the pioneer of the family in the Pine Tree State. Three great- grandsires were in the seven years' war for independence, the fourth being a Quaker, and hence refusing to shoulder a musket. The subject of this notice was educated at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kent's Hill, and the Hampden Academy; commenced reading law in Bangor, Maine; attended the law department of the Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor; was admitted to the bar at Omaha, Nebraska, in 1869, and practiced there one year'; removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and resumed his legal studies in the office of D. A. Secombe, Esq., and in November, 1S71, settled in Moorhead. where he is opening two or three farms by proxy, while diligently pursuing his professional labors. His practice is large and remunerative, and he stands at the head of the bar in that part of the state, having come up very rapidly since locating in the Red River valley. His practice is on both sides of that stream, he doing as much business at Fargo, Dakota Territory, only half a mile ofl, as at Moorhead. In either city he is employed in nearly all the impor- tant cases. As a pleader, he is candid, sound and logical, and never fails to gain his case when lie has law on his side. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 20I Mr. Comstock was county attorney from 1872 to 1S77, and a member of the legislature in the sessions of 1876 and 1877, representing ten counties in the northwestern part of the state, and more than one-fourth of its area. He was on the judiciary committee during both sessions, and chairman of the committees on roads and bridges and taxes and tax laws. On the floor of the house and in the committee rooms probably none of his associates were more industrious than Mr. Comstock. He was sent there by his constituents to work, and he did not disappoint them. Politically, he has always belonged to the republican party, and is unwavering. On the 27th of May, 1874, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Sarah A. Ball, of Minneapolis, and they have one child. WILLIAM H. SMITH, M.D., ALBERT LEA. WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, a physician for nearly forty years, and an army surgeon four years, was born in Denmark, Lewis county. New York, on the 9th of March, 1815. His parents, Selah and Catherine (Tisdale) Smith, were classed amongf agriculturists ; the father, being one of the first settlers in that part of the Black River country, dying when William was thirteen years old. From that date the son took care of himself He was educated at com- mon and select schools ; commenced teachinsJ winter terms at nineteen, receiv- & ing eight dollars a month and board the first season, and taught six winters, working on a farm and attending select schools the rest of the time. At twenty-four years of age Mr. Smith commenced reading medicine with Dr. Elkaner French, of his native town ; attended the last course of lectures held at Fairfield, Herkimer county, before that medical college was moved to Geneva; received from the authorities oi Jefferson county a certificate permitting him to practice ; followed his profession four years at Permelia Four Corners, in that county; in 1846 removed to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and was there in practice twenty years, except when in the army. In 1856 he took a course of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he received his diploma. In 1 86 1 Dr. Smith went to the south as surgeon of a Wisconsin artillery regiment ; at the end of one year was transferred to the same position in the 202 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 28th Wisconsin Infantry, and served three more years. During nine months of this time he was post-surgeon at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He is a kind-hearted man, and was very attentive to the wants of the sick and wounded. While at the south the Doctor contracted a disease from which he suflered more or less for a long time; and in 1866, thinking a change of climate might be beneficial, he went to I'ulton, Missouri, ])racticing when he had sufficient strenuth ; and in 1873, much imi)roved, returned to the north and settled at Albert Lea. Here he has a good run of business, and an excellent standing. He holds the office of county coroner. While in Beaver Dam, during the administrations of Presidents Taylor and Fillmore, he held the office of postmaster. A whig in early life, with free-soil tendencies, he naturally drifted into the republican ranks, where he is still found. For the last twenty-five years he has paid very little attention to politics, except to vote. His leisure time is given mainly to medical studies. On the 2 2d of February, 1843, he received the hand ot Miss Louisa M. Stevens, of West Martinsburgh, Lewis county, New York, and they have three children living, and lost a son, Selah H., by accident on a railroad at Cherokee, Kansas, in January, 1874. Mary is the wife of Jasper J. Bond, of Albert Lea, and Frances E. and Charles Henry are single, — both residing in Albert Lea. HON. FRANCIS R. E. CORNELL, MINXEAPOLIS. FRANCLS R. E. CORNELL, associate justice of the supreme court of Min- nesota, is a native of the Empire .State. The branch of the Cornells from which he sjjrang early settled in Rhode Island. He was a son of Edward and Lovina (Miles) Cornell, and was born in the town of Coventry, Chenango coun- ty, on the 17th of November, 182 1. He seems to have had a strong relish for books and study ; at fourteen years of age commenced teaching, and continued this calling for seven or eight winters. During this period he prepared for col- lege at the Oxford Academy, in his nati\e county; entered Union College in the third term of the sophomore class in 1839, and was graduated in 1842. Soon afterwanl Mr. Cornell commenced reading law in the office of Judge Thomas A. Johnson, of Corning, and was examined and admitted to practice at THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 203 a term of the supreme court held at Albany in 1846. Opening an office at Addi- son, Steuben county, he continued in practice there until 1854, when he left his native state and settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is still his home. Before leaving New York, in the days of the " old-hunker " and " barn-burner " democrats, and the "silver-gray" and other whigs, Mr. Cornell was elected to the state senate, in 1852-53, as a barn-burner or free-soil democrat, representing Steu- ben and Chemung counties; and since a resident of Minnesota he has been kept in office more than half the time. He was in the lefjislature in 1861, 1862 and 1865 ; was attorney-general of the state for six consecutive years, his term of office e.\piring in December, 1873, '^''"^1 ^^s been on the supreme bench since January, 1875. Since becoming a voter in Minnesota, the affiliations of Judge Cornell have been with the republican party. In religious belief, he is a Universalist. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, but pays little attention to its meetings. His wife was Miss Eliza O. Burgess, of Coventry, New York. They were married in November, 1847, and have had three children, only two of them, Frank B. and Carrie R., are living. The son is an attorney-at-law, residing in Minneap- olis ; the daughter is with her parents. HON. JARED BENSON, ANOKA. \''. AMONG the prominent men and leading iarmers, stock-raisers and dairymen i- of Anoka county is Jared Benson, (four/sessions speaker of the Minnesota house of representatives. He is living a very quiet and industrious life on his farm, one and a half miles southeast of the city of Anoka, breeding short-horn cattle, Poland-China hogs, and Cotswolcl and Lincoln sheep. He has tried other breeds, — Devon and Ayrshire cattle. Merino sheep, and Chester-White and Berk- shire hogs; likes the Devons for their kind disposition and beauty, but thinks the short-horns are much the best for beef and milk ; prefers sheep with a large bociy and long wool, and regards the Poland-Chinas as par excellence the swine for Minnesota farmers. Mr. Benson was the son of Jared and Sally Taft Benson, and was born in that part of Mendon, Worcester county, Massachusetts, now known as Black- 24 204 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Stone, on the 8th of November, 1S21. The farm on which he was born, and which was purchased of the Indians by his great-great-grandfather, is still in the hands of the Benson family. His paternal great-grandfather, Benoni Benson, and his maternal grandfather, Ebenezer Taft, were in the revolutionary army, the former serving as a lieutenant. Jared Benson, senior, was in the second war with England. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of his native town, and a sinule term at the Manual Labor Academy in Worcester. Farming was his occupation until 1844, when he joined the corps of engineers who were locating the Providence and Worcester railroad ; was afterward agent for the company, stationed at Blackstone, and subsequently was superintendent of trans- portation for the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company, residing in Worcester. In April, 1856, Mr. Benson came to Minnesota, and located at Anoka, and for twenty-two years has been steadily engaged in agricultural pursuits. His homestead consists of about two hundred acres, lying on the old military road from Point Douglas to Fort Ripley, and most of it is under excellent improve- ment. He pays a good deal of attention to stock raising, and has more than one hundred head of graded cattle, and makes Irom three to four thousand pounds of butter annually. He is well-read on agricultural subjects, and is often con- sulted as good authority. He has about seventy acres of land in the city limits of Anoka, with buildings on some of it. While in Blackstone, Massachusetts, Mr. Benson held the office of justice of the peace, under appointment of the governor, and various other offices in the town ; and since coming to Anoka he has also been justice of the peace, together with county commissioner and town supervisor, and is now chairman of the town board. For six years he was a director of the Saint Paul and Pacific railroad, and in man)- ways his Ijusiness capacities have been tested, and found eminently practical and serviceable. In the session of the Minnesota legislature, held in the winter of 1859-60, Mr. Benson was chief clerk of the house of representatives, and for three years afterward was a member and speaker of that branch of the legislative body, serv- ing as speaker four sessions, including the extra session of 1862. It is a rare thing for a new member to be elected speaker, but while acting as chief clerk Mr. Benson developed rapidly, and exhibited great familiarity with parliamentary rules. That the house made a wise choice in the first place, is seen in the fact THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 205 that Mr. Benson was repeatedly reelected. He is the onl)- man in Minnesota who has ever held the office of speaker four sessions. He was revenue collector for his district in 1870-72. At the election held in November, 1878, he was again elected to the leoislature. Mr. Benson was originally a democrat, with strong free-soil leanings; in 1848 joined the " party of freedom," going for free-men and free-speech, as well as free-soil, and has been a republican since there was such a party. He often at- tends district and state conventions, and is greatly interested in the issues of the party. In his religious sentiments, Mr. Benson would be denominated liberal. His wife was Miss Martha Taft, of Mendon, Massachusetts; married on the 5th of February, 1843. They have had seven children, two of whom have died. HON. LEWIS L. WHEELOCK, OWATONNA. LEWIS LOZENZO WHEELOCK, son of Lewis L. Wheelock, senior, and ■^ Mary Howe, was born at Mannsville, Jefferson county. New York, on the I 2th of November, 1839. The Wheelocks were English, settling in Massachu- setts, whence the father of our subject moved to Vermont, and then to New York. Lewis lost his mother when he was only three years old, and his father when ten, rowing- his own boat after that age. He lived awhile with his paternal grandmother, working at farming eight or nine months in the )'ear, and attending a common school the rest of the time. just before he was seventeen he com- menced teaching a district school in Orleans county, New York, and after being thus employed three winters he became connected with the Macedon Academy, Wayne county, New York, where he continued to instruct till after civil war had burst upon the land. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the i6oth New York Volunteers ; was mustered in as first lieutenant company B ; was subsequently promoted to captain company C, same regiment, and served a little over three years. At the battle of Opequon, near Winchester, on the 19th of September, 1864, he was wounded in the right arm below the elbow, and was laid up for one month. The regiment was mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, in November, 1865. The colonel of this regiment was Charles C. Dwight, of Auburn, since a judge of the supreme court of New York. W^ith this gentleman Captain Wheelock 2o6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. re.ul law; came to Owatunna in Scptcinhcr, 1866, and was admitted to the bar the next year; went to Georgia, and lor eijrht or nine months was connected with the Freedman's P>ureau ; returned to the north, and in 1868 attended a full course of lectures at the Albany Law School, and then opened a law-office at Owatonna, here being in practice since that time. He is studious in his habits, thorough in his legal studies, and sound as a lawyer and as a man. His standing in the pro- fession, as well as in the communit\', is e.xcellent. Since locating in Owatonna \\v. has held several ci\il and political offices; was for awhile a member of the school board, and city attornc\- ; was judge of probate three years, and a member of the state senate in 1S76 and 1S77. During both sessions he was cTiairman of the committee on educalion, and served on the com- mittees on railroads, judiciary, university, and one or two" others. His modest worth in that body was well appreciated. In politics, Mr. Wheelock trains with th<^ republicans; in Masonry, is a knight templar ; and in religion, a Congregaticjnalist, a deacon of the Owatonna church, and superintendent of its school. The purity of his life is not questioned. On the 25th of |ul\-, 1S71, Miss Adalinc Burch, of Hillsdale, Michigan, became the wife of Mr. Wheelock, and they have three children. CHRISTOPHER CARLI, M.D., STILLWATER. CHRISTOPHER CARLI. thirty-eight years a resident of Stillwater, is a son ()t an Italian merchant, who lived in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, where the son was born on the 7th of f^ecember, 181 i, the mother being Catha- rine I^hamant Carli. The \-outh of Christopher was de\oted entirely to study; at sixteen he went to Heidelberg, liccaine a student in the Gymnasium, and afterward in the University, giving the best years of his life to literary and med- ical studies, leaving Heidelberg in October, 1831. A few days afterward Dr. Carli embarked at ISrcinuMi for America, in the Constitution, a sailing-vessel, and was eight\'-eight da\s on the voyage, reaching New York on the 8th of b'ebruar}-, 1832. Two months afterward, on the open- ing of navigation on the Erie canal, he started for Buftalo, New York, where he practiced till December, 1835, when he returned to Europe, and was absent from this country nearly two years. THE UNITED STATES BJOGRAPIIICAL DICTIONARY. 20 7 (^n returning-, in 1S37, he wcnl to Chicago, and practiced there one season; visited New Orleans, Louisiana; returned to Chicago in 1839 ; came to Wiscon- sin Tc^rritory, now the State of Minnesota, reaching Great Cloud Isl;uul, on the Mississippi river, on tlic 13th of May, 1S41, and on the 29th of next month moved up to the head of Lake Saint Croix, t(_) the present site of Stillwater, lie and Major J. R. Brown Ijuilt, of tamarack logs, the hrst dwelling-house here, known far and wide, for twenty or thirty years, as the " Old Tamarack House." The logs were long; the house was two stories high, and large for those days; and a little later, the one solitary fiddle at times callctil a great many nimble chop- pers and other workmen, thoroughbred white people and half-breeds, to their feet in that old house. It was the scene of much innocent hilarity. Here Dr. Carli has jjracticed medicint" most of the time since the summer of 1841, making, in the interim, two short lri[)s to "fatherland." At an early period his professional visits were often made to high families and to remote points. One ol his patients was a princess, daughter ol Little Crow, chief of the Sioux nation, his " head center" being sometimes in Washington, sometimes in Ram- sey, and sometimes in some other couniy. The Doctor has taken professional circuits which led him a hundred and hlty miles from home, though never that ilis- tance to save the life; ot any member ot a royal family. On one occasion he went to Red Wing, thirt\' miles of the distance on skates, to see a patient, an Lidian running ahead to see if the ice was safe. Dr. Carli opened the first drug-store in Stillwater; was in its f'lrst council, and was an early city and county physician. He opened the first bank in .Stillwater. The Doctor is .an inveterate democrat, of the Calhoun or states-rights school. 1 le is a member of the Saint Croix and of the Minnesota State Medical Societies, and president of the former. Li 1859 Governor Sibley appointed him ijrigade ■ surgeon of a brigade of the state militia. L^r. Carli was married cjn the 12th of March, 1847, to Mrs. Lydia Ann Carli, widow of Paul J. Carli, and hall-sister of Major Joseph R. ISrown, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr.s. Carli has had seven children by her pres- ent husband, only two of them, Socrates and ChristopIi(;r, junior, are living. Both are married, and their home is in Stillwater. Mrs. Carli is one of the best posted women on the "olden times" to be found in the Saint Croix valley, and decidedly a racy converser on the fashions, the amusements and the trials of frontier life. That famous " Old Tamarack House," 2o8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. where she spent many days, had none of the stylish touches of modern art ; it was plastered with mud, and on whichever side of it a rain-storm beat the plas- tering disappeared, and had to be replaced when the storm was over. When she settled here with her first husband, in 1841, there were not a dozen white women in the whole present State of Minnesota. She sometimes passed six months without seeing an unadulterated Caucasian, and but for the excellent library of Major Brown, and that mirth-inspiring fiddle, there were snatches of time which would liavc dragged a very " slow length along." The raftsmen at an early day — called "water-rats" — were not very polished in manners, and did not suffer from extra culture of any kind, but the\' were good-natured, whole- souled, very respd?:tful to Mrs. Carli, and full of cheer ; and as at one period there was no white woman within four miles, she was glad to have the assistance of these jolly men in banishing "dull care," and verifying the adage of Cowper, that " Variety's the very spice of life, And gives it all its flavor." HON. LEONARD B, HODGES, SA/NT PALL. LEONARD BACON HODGES, secretary of the Minnesota State Forestry ^ Association, and a purely " self made man," in the common understanding of the term, is a native of Ontario county, New York, and was born in the town of West Bloomfield, on the i 5th of July, 1823. He was a son of Lewis L. Hodges, a physician and surgeon in the war of 1812, who died in W^est Bloomfield, 1834. His mother was Susan Dunham Bacon, a sister of Leonard Bacon, D.D., and was born at Macinac, where her father was a missionary to the Indians, in 1803. -She received from the government a one hundred and sixty acre land warrant for services rendered by her husband in the war of 181 2. She died in Asiatic Turkey while a missionary, in 1857. The progenitor of the Hodges familv came from England to this country in 1636; settled in Taunton, Massachusetts, and the original homestead and farm is in the hands of one of his descendants. Jonathan Hodges, the grandfather of Leonard, and tour or live brothers, were in the long struggle for independence, entering at Bimker Hill, and most of them participating in the battle ot York- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 209 town. Earlier generations of tlie family were in the French and Indian wars. Good fighting blood has had an extensive circulation in this family. At thirteen years of age the subject of this sketch, believing himself capable of fighting his own battles, struck out for himself; went to New Haven, Con- necticut, and spent about eighteen months as clerk in a book-store ; did miscella- neous work until about seventeen ; then, feeling his need of more education, and being desirous of perfecting himself in the science of civil engineering, entered the English department of the Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts ; left at the end of about three months, and spent three or four years in surveying, teaching and farming, mainly in Saratoga county, New York; in 1845 came as far west as Rockford, Illinois, where he bous^ht a farm ; sold it in two vears and soueht the pineries of Wisconsin ; at the end of one season went into the mines of Grant county, in the same state ; in 1849 crossed the Mississippi river and settled on the " New Purchase," on the southern boundary of Allamakee county, Iowa; laid out the village of Hardin, partly in Clayton county ; was appointed United States deputy surveyor in 1851, and did considerable government work in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota; in March, 1854, being smitten with the natural advantages and soil of Minnesota, he removed to Olmsted county and opened a farm, and started the town of Oronoco, his nearest neighbor being twenty-five miles away. During the Sioux outbreak in 1862 he raised a company for the Minnesota Mounted Rangers, but he was himself rejected on account of defective eye-sight, occasioned by too great a strain on them in surveying. Mr. Hodges continued to farm extensively and quietly until 1870. In that year, feeling outraged by the exorbitant freight charges of the Winona and Saint Peter Railroad Company, and believing there was remedy to be had through legislation, he consented to be a candidate for the state senate. He was a demo- crat, living in a republican district of fourteen hundred majority, and ran as an antimonopolist, against a very prominent man on the other side, and was elected by more than two hundred majority. On the " stump," during that memorable canvass, he took the position and ably advocated the doctrine that the people have absolute sovereignty over all corporations. He was the first man to pro- mulgate such political ethics in Minnesota, and won his victory on that ground. The victory was completed in the courts, after a severe fight of seven years' con- tinuance, the supreme court of the United .States deciding that the people are sovereion. o 2IO THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In 1872 Mr. Hodges moved to Saint Paul, and since that date has been en- gaged very extensively in forestry. He is secretar\ of the State Forestry Asso- ciation, organized in January, 1876, and with remarkable energy and zeal is pros- ecuting his noble work. It seems easy and natural for him to fulfill the scriptural injunction to do with his might whatsoever his hands fmd to tlo. Whether sur- veying, school-teaching, lumbering, mining, pioneer town-building, farming, law- making, or tree-planting, he prosecutes his work with unremitting vigor, and does nothing in a slip-shod style. Mr. Hodges was first married in January, 1S49, to Miss Elizabeth Collins, of Iowa, she dying the next June. He was married the second time, to Miss Mar- garet B. RogersTof Saratoga count)-, New York, on the 27th of August, 1856, and of four children, the fruit of this union, only one child, Margaret Elizabeth, aged fifteen, is living. A brother of our subject, David ISacon Hodges, volunteered in defense of the American flag during the Mexican war ; was mustered in a Louisiana regiment at Baton Rouge, and was with General Z. Taylor on the Rio Grande; was hon- orablv discharged, and received a land warrant for his services. Mr. Hodges has spent no inconsiderable part of his life on the frontier; has had some hard battles with fortune ; but he started out with a liberal endowment of pluck, and the stock has never been exhausted. He has a man's head and a woman's heart, and in kindness and lil:)eralitv is a model neighbor. HON. T. H. ARMSTRONG, ALBERT LEA. THOMAS HENRY ARMSTRONG,lieutenant-governor of Minnesota from 1866 to 1870, and one of the most prominent men in the southern part of the state, was born in Milan, Ohio, on the 6th of February, 1829. His father, Augus- tus Armstrong, a farmer, was from Connecticut ; his mother, whose? maiden name was Phebe Higbee, was born in the territory of Michigan. Thomas prepared for college in his native town; entered Western Reserve College, Hudson, in 1850; graduated four years later; taught one year in an academy at Berlin Heights, Erie county ; read law with Judge S. F. Tayler, of Milan ; attended the law school at Cincinnati in 1854-55 1 received a diploma from the same in the early part of ^'^■^■$.^SS^^^ Syis'if 11 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 213 that year; in May of the same year came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and opened a law office ; the next autumn crossed, the Mississippi, and hung out his "shingle" in the embryotic town of High Forest, then in Mower, now in Olmsted county, and was there engaged in law and land business until about 1870, when he dis- continued legal practice. In 1873 Augustus Armstrong, a brother of Thomas, and a prominent citizen of Albert Lea, died, and the next year the subject of this sketch removed to this place and established the Freeborn County Bank, which he still manages, — one of the soundest institutions of the kind in this part of the state. As a business man, Mr. Armstrong is noted for his promptness and integrity, as well as brilliant success. His reputation in these respects is not only praise- worthy, but almost enviable, in these times of bankers' and other defalcations. He is a careful, far-seeing, shrewd operator. Mr. Armstrong has had a hand in no inconsiderable part of the legislation of the state, being a member of the house in 1864 and 1865, and presiding officer of that branch in 1863 and of the upper branch the four next succeeding years. As speaker of the house and president of the senate, he won the encomiums of all parties for his excellent parliamentary qualifications — thorough knowledge of rules, readiness, expedition and impartiality. He has a dignified appearance, much personal magnetism, and made a very popular presiding officer. He has represented Freeborn county in the state senate during the last four years, being one of the foremost men in that body ; was chairman of the judiciary committee. Mr. Armstrong was a democrat until i85i, when a blow was struck at the union of the states; he followed the lead of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, of whom he was a great admirer; gave his influence and his money to aid in putting down the rebellion ; and for the last seventeen years has been a firm republican, active in district and other conventions, in furthering the interests of the party. Mr. Armstrong is a church-goer, and liberal in his support of religious and benevolent institutions, but is connected with no christian organization. On the 1st of April, 1868, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Butman, daughter of John Bur- gess, of Cleveland, Ohio, became the wife of Mr. Armstrong. She is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Armstrong has a florid complexion, blue eyes, and a stout build ; is five feet six inches tall, and weighs two hundred pounds. He is polished in manners, as well as in mind, and has all the qualities of the true gentleman. 2S 2 14 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. His brother Augustus, of whom we have already spoken, settled in Freeborn county in 1857, and, like our subject, was noted as an excellent lawyer. He was a member of the Minnesota legislature, and was influential in getting the South- ern Minnesota railroad to Albert Lea. He was United States marshal of Min- nesota, appointed in 1869, holding that office four years. He died at Delavan, Wisconsin, on the iSth of August, 1873. Moses K. Armstrong, late delegate in congress from Dakota Territory, is also a brother of our subject. Edward G. Armstrong, another brother, is a lawyer of considerable distinction, residing at Bon Homme, Dakota. The family possesses more than an ordinary deiijree of talent. WILLIAM L. LINCOLN, M.D., WABASHA. WILLIAM LEAVITT LINCOLN, a physician and surgeon of long prac- tice and high reputation, was born in West Townsend, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, on the 5th of August, 1824, his parents, Leavitt and Sybil (Heald) Lincoln, moving to Ashby, in the same county, before he was a year old. Leavitt Lincoln was a farmer, and is still living, now in his eighty-thinl year, his residence being in New Ipswich, New Hampshire. He is a distant relative of Hon. Levi Lincoln, once governor of Massachusetts, and a cousin of Solomon Lincoln, United States marshal under appointment of President \'an Huren. The Healds were a New Hampshire family, the maiden years of Sybil Heald being spent at New Ipswich, Hillshoro county. Her father was Colonel josiah Heald, a prominent man of llial town. William was reared on his father's farm in Ashb)', and received his literary- education at New Ipswich. He read medicine with Dr. Alfred Hitchcock, of Ashbv; attended one course of lectures at the Berkshire Medical Colleee, Pitts- field, and three courses at Harvard University, receiving his diploma of doctor of medicine in 1850. After practicing three years at Winchenden, Massachusetts, being in very poor health, Dr. Lincoln started for the west, and after traveling a little, and then prac- ticing between two and three years in the Hospital for the Insane in Callaway county, Missouri, came to Minnesota, reaching Wabasha on the 4th of Jul)-, 1857. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 215 Here he entered immediately on the general practice of his profession, continu- ing It constantly ever since. He came to the west nearly thirty years ago, to die, and has lived to prolong the lives of many others. Wabasha is directly on the western shore of the Mississippi river. The country on either side of this great stream was sj^arsely settled twenty years ago, and the rides of Dr. Lincoln were very long in those days, extending quite as far in Wisconsin as in Minnesota. Many a time he has gone from thirty to forty and a few times fifty miles, fording bridgeless streams and finding his way by Indian trails. He has always had an open ear to the calls of suffering humanity, and promptly responds, with little regard to pecuniary recompense. The Doctor is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, and has been president and vice-president of the county society, and vice-president of the state society. He was a member of the school board of Wabasha for several years ; has been mayor one term, and has held other offices In the municipality of the city. He Is faithful in the performance of every duty, official or otherwise. His politics are republican, but in that line he does little more than vote. His main study is given to medicine, he having a good library and a rich supply of fresh medical periodicals. He is a deacon of the Congregational church at Wabasha, and a man the purity of whose life is unquestioned. Dr. Lincoln was married on the 17th of October, 1855, to Miss Sarah P. Cut- ter, of Winchenden, Massachusetts, and they have one son, William H., a student in the State University at Minneapolis. She died in 1857. His present wife was Miss Elizabeth Baldwin, of x'\uburn. New York; married in 1861. HENRY G. SIDLE, MINNEAPOLIS. HENRY GODFREY SIDLE, cashier of the First National Bank of Min- neapolis, was born on the 31st of July, 1822, at Dlllsburgh, York county, Pennsylvania. His parents were Henry and Susanna (Koontz) Sidle. His ances- tors, emigrating from Germany, were among the earliest settlers In Perry county, Pennsylvania, from where they afterward removed to York county. His grand- father Sidle was a musician In the American army during the revolutionary war. The Koontz family were also among the very early pioneers of Pennsylvania. 2l6 THE UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Henry G.,when old enough, attended the district school at Dillsburgh, but, as the educational advantages of the common schools in those early days were rather limited, he was afterward placed in a private academy in York, Pennsylvania, where he finished his school-days, as he did not attend college. After leaving the academy, he entered the store of his father, who was engaged in the mercan- tile business in Dillsburgh, and remained with him for fourteen years, after which he eno-ao-ed with his brother in the same business. As an evidence of the steady, industrious disposition of Mr. Sidle, it is worthy of mention that he was engaged in the same business, in the same store, for a period of twenty-seven years. Of course in this instance, as in all others where business ability and ijrudent habits are applied to one purpose, they were very successful in their enterprises, and amassed considerable wealth. In 1857 his brother, whose health had become somewhat impaired, returning from an extensive trip through the western states, very favorably impressed with the attractions of Minnesota, tried to persuade him to give up the old business, and embark in a new enterprise in the west. But Henry G., loath to leave the old home where he had become so firmly established, told his brother to go and try it alone for a few years, and then if his glowing anticipations were fulfilled, he would join him. His brother — Mr. J. K. Sidle, who is elsewhere sketched in this volume — firmly believing in the future pros- pects of the country which had so aroused his admiration, removed to Minneapo- lis, Minnesota, and established himself in the banking business. In 1861 Henry S., becoming convinced that the Utopian promises of the west were real, sold out his mercantile interests, and joined his brother in Minneapo- lis. Here he entered the banking business with his brother, and at the present time no one is better satisfied with the opportunities of Minneapolis, or more sanguine of her future prospects, than Mr. Henry G. Sidle. He has great faith in the resources of the state, likes the country, and likes the energetic spirit of the people. In 1869 he was one of the originators of the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company, a corporation which has proven very successful, and is now doing a large business, recpiiring from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand bushels of seed yearly. Mr. Sidle has been identified with the educational interests of the city, as a member of the .school board, for seven years. He has been connected with the Masonic fraternity since 1867. Is a member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his wife, and has been one of its trustees for the past eight years. Mr. Sidle was married at York, Pennsylvania, on the 30th of March, 1852, to THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 217 Catherine S., daughter of Charles and Julia Kurtz. They have four children liv- ing : Hattie, born on the 21st of May, 1855, and married to Edward Barber, of Minneapolis, in 1874 ; Henry K., born on the 17th of January, 1857 ; Charles K., born on the 3th of August, 1859; '^'"'c' Susan, born on the 28th of May, 1862. SAMUEL S. WALBANK, M. D., DULUTH. ONE of the oldest physicians in the Lake Superior country, and one of the most thoroughly educated men of this profession in Minnesota, is Samuel Seddon Walbank, a native of Devon, England. He was a son of Mathew W. Walbank, who was educated as a barrister, but never practiced, and Susan Ann Keen, and was born in Moreton Hampstead, on the 3d of April, 1825. The Walbanks are an old Norman family, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror. When Samuel was nine years of age his father took the family to France, in order to educate the children, and there, in Saint Servans, the subject of this sketch remained until seventeen, giving his entire time to studying the ancient and modern languages, the mathematics, etc. In 1839 he crossed the ocean, and spent two years at Peterborough, in the province of Ontario; went to New York city in i84i,and articled himself to Dr. Otto Rotton ; read medicine and studied chemistry and other physical sciences with him for three years ; in 1845 returned to Canada, and articled himself to Dr. John Ardagh, of Holland-Landing, north of Toronto ; attended lectures in the Medical College in Toronto ; received his diploma in 1848; practiced two or three months at Holland Landing, and then received an appointment as surgeon of the Bruce Mines Mining Company on Lake Huron, Canada, where he remained three years. In 185 I Dr. Walbank located at Ontonagon, Lake Superior, Michigan; prac- ticed steadily until 1854, when he visited the old world, and spent a year or more in the hospitals of London and in attending medical lectures in Paris. Return- ing to the United States, he resumed practice at Ontonagon, and continued there for ten or eleven years, spending two or three winters, meantime, in the hospitals of New York city. In 1866 he removed to Brooklyn; practiced there a short time, and removed to Ingersoll, province of Ontario; in 1869 came to Superior 2l8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. City, opposite Duluth, and in 1872 located in this city, where he is now the lead- ing practitioner, and where he also carries on the drug business. While in Ontonagon Dr. Walbank was county physician for fourteen years, and holds the same office now in Saint Louis county. He accepts no civil office except such as is connected with his profession. He belongs to the Minnesota .State Medical .Society. Dr. Walbank is a member of the Episcopal church ; was warden for some time at Ontonagon, and has been vestryman in different places. His wife was Miss Kate Elems, a native of Ireland; married at Bruce Mines, on the 27th of May, 1850. They have had ten children, only four of them now living, — Kate, Emma, .Samuel .Seddon, junior, and Edward Henry. While a diligent student of medical science, and painstaking in his efforts to keep pace with its progress, the Doctor also devotes some time to other branches of science. While in the mining regions of Michigan he became much interested in mineralogy and geology, and pursued these studies to a considerable extent, still dipping into them when he can command the time. He has also much taste for music, and especially instrumental, he being a skillful player on the violin. His daughters are experts at the piano, and the Doctor's is quite a musical family. WILLIAM H. LAIRD, WINONA. WILLIAM HARRIS LAIRD, of the firm of Laird, Norton and Co., extensive lumber manufacturers and dealers, is of .Scotch-Irish descent. His great-irrandfather, Matthew Laird, emio-rated from Ireland to this countrv in 1765, and settled in Cumberland count)-, Pennsylvania. The grandfather of William, Moses Laird, married Jane Hayes, whose grandfather came from Ireland in I 730, and after living awhile in Chester county, Pennsylvania, moved to North- ampton county, in the same state. William is the son of Robert Hayes Laird, farmer, and Maria Nevius, and was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of Februar_\-, 1S33. He worked on his lather's farm until about seventeen, attending a district school during the winters, at this period, and also a few terms at the Lewisburgh Acad- emv. He commenced his business life at the age of seventeen, as a clerk in a THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 219 general store, at Clintonville, Clinton county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for five years. He came thence to Minnesota in 1855, reaching Winona on the 1 8th of May. He with two brothers, John C. and Matthew J. Laird, opened a lumber of^ce. The next year James L. and Matthew G. Norton joined them, and from that date to the present time the firm name has been Laird, Norton and Co. The brothers of our subject withdrew from the firm some years ago. Matthew G. Norton, one of the leading- business men of the city, was treasurer of Winona county froni 1862 to 1868. In 1857 the firm built a saw-mill, with the capacity of about three million feet annually, enlarging it from time to time. In the winter of 1877-78 they tore down the old mills and rebuilt on a very large scale, their present mills having a capacity for twenty-five million feet. Minnesota has as fine saw-mills as the west affords, and we know of none more complete in all their parts than those of Laird, Norton and Co. They are the most extensive manufacturers of lumber in Winona, and their sales amount to from four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars annually. Other parties in the same city are doing nearly as much business in the same line ; in fact, the lumber dealers of Winona are much the heaviest mercantile dealers in the place, and among its most solid men. The firm of Laird, Norton and Co. belong to the Mississippi River Logging Company, which is composed of fourteen or fifteen saw-mill and lumber firms on the Mississippi river between W'inona and Saint Louis. These firms represent a large amount of capital, and are probably doing the largest joint logging busi- ness in the United States. This company also own a controlling interest in the stock of the Beef Slough Booming, Log Driving and Transportation Company, the booms being located at Alma, Wisconsin, the mouth of Chippewa river, where the logs are assorted, sealed, and claimed by their various owners. The firm of Laird, Norton and Co. are large owners of pine lands on the Chippewa river, in Wisconsin, whence their extensive mills are supplied. Mr. Laird is a thorough-going business man, — a republican in politics, yet keeping out of office as much as possible, and giving to his business his first and prime attention. He is one of the trustees, and is vice-president, of the Winona Savings Bank. He is a member of the Congregational church, a deacon of the same, a trustee of the society, and very active in religious and benevolent, as well as public enterprises of a strictly secular kind. The poor find a warm friend in him. 2 20 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Laird has been married since the 25th of March, 1856, his wife being Miss Mary J. Watson, of Lamar, Clinton county. Pennsylvania. Three of the four children, the fruit of this union, are living-, and are being educated, mainly in the excellent graded, high and normal schools of Winona. HUDSON WILSON, FARIIiAULT. HUDSON WILSON, banker, son of Orrin and Harriet (Winchel) Wilson, was born in the town of Concord, Lake county, Ohio, on the 10th of November, 1830. The Wilsons and Winchels arc Connecticut families, of whose pedigree beyond that but little is known. Orrin Wilson was a farmer, and reared his son in a knowledge of agricultural pursuits until sixteen years of age, when Hudson went to Painesville, the county seat, and became a clerk in a general store. He finished his education at tlie Kirtland Academy before entering the store, clerking till of age. In 1855 Mr. Wilson went to Madison, Wisconsin; for two years was there engaged in the hardware trade, and early in March, 1857, settled in Faribault. Here, in company with a cousin, Hiram Wilson, he opened a private bank, the firm of H. Wilson and Co., continuing for seven years without change of parties. In 1864 Hiram Wilson withdrew, and Zenas S. Wilson, a younger brother of our subject, took his place, the firm under the same name continuing seven years more. In 1871 the bank was changed to Citizens' National Bank of Faribault. IL Wilson, president, and Z. S. Wilson, cashier. Two years later the brother left the bank, and Charles H. Whipple is now cashier, the subject of this sketch still retaining the presidency. It is a wc-U-manageil, popular and very sound institution. Mr. Wilson has had more tliaii tw^mty years' experience in hanking, and is one of the best business men of his class in this part of the state. He is also a large stockholder in, and a director of, the First National Bank of Northfield, in the same county. He was chairman of the board of county commissioners for nine years, and is, and has been for some time, a trustee and the treasurer of the Institution for the Fducation ol the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, a state school, located at Faribault. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 22 1 His politics are republican, strong and unwavering. He is a member of the Congregational church, and a trustee and treasurer of the society. The wife of Mr. Wilson, who was Miss Sarah B. Pease, of Painesville, Ohio, was chosen on the loth of January, 1855. They have three children, all daughters. The eldest, Lizzie L., graduated from Lake Erie Seminary, Painesville, Ohio, in 1878, and also attended one year at Wellesley College, Massachusetts ; Hattie is a student in Saint Mary's Hall, Faribault, and Carrie S. is attending the graded schools at home. JOHN H. MCKENNY, '^CHATFIELD. AMONG the older class of journalists in southeastern Minnesota, and a "man ^ of mark" in this part of the state, was John Llarrison McKenny, who died at Chatfield, his home for twenty-two years, on the 23d of Maj^ 187S. He was a man well known in Iowa as well as Minnesota, having held positions of trust and honor in both states. He was born in Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of October, 1813, his parents being Spencer and Sarah McKenny. Seven years later the family moved to Winchester, Virginia, where the father died in 1826, leaving the widow with seven children, — the youngest an infant. Two years afterward she took her family to Staunton, in the same state, there dying in 1829, when the subject of this sketch was sixteen years old. Up to this date he had had, in all, six months' schooling, and Vv'as now apprentice to Kenton Harper, of the Staunton " Spectator," to finish his education in a print- ing-office. He was to have worked for Mr. Harper five years, but in [833 was released from the contract and furnished with a good outfit. He worked at Marysville and Augusta, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio, and Saint Louis, Missouri, until 1837; in July of which year he went to Burlington, Iowa, and assisted Hon. James Clark — afterward governor oi that territory — in getting out the first number of the Burlington "Gazette." In 1839 '^^ became a partner in the publication of that paper. In October, 1842, Mr. McKenny was elected sheriff of Des Moines county, and by reelection served four years; 1846 was appointed ist lieutenant of a com- pany of volunteers to be stationed at Fort Atkinson, Iowa, during the Mexican war, he acting as quartermaster and commissary of the post till May, ieginning on a small scale, and doing, perhaps, five thousand dollars the first year, the busi- ness has e.xtended from year to year, until he is now doing more than one hun- dred thousand dollars, he being alone in business since 1875, and having one of the largest and finest book-stores in the state During the }*ars 1873 '^o 1876, inclusive, the people of the state, through their representatives in the legislature, struggled to free themselves from the excessive burden of high-priced text-books, and finally, in 1877, a bill was intro- duced, creating a bureau of publication to prepare school-books. The senate committee to whom this bill was referred called on Mr. Merrill, as a man of great experience in this branch ot business, and asked his assistance in devising some plan which would accomplish the desired object, without the necessity of the state investing large sums of money in creating a printing and manufacturing estab- lishment, in order to secure school text-books at the least possible cost to' the people. Mr. Merrill, recognizing the importance of this measure of relief, ad- dressed himself to the duty assigned him, and after man)- consultations with the committee, the bill for "uniform and cheap text-books" was agreed upon. The committee named Mr. Merrill in the bill as the man to carry out the plan adopted in the law, which plan secured to the people their books at less than one-half the price they had been paying. The agents of the various school-book publishing houses endeavored in every way to defeat the passage of the bill, but it became a law, and is a matter of national notoriety. During the next year some of the book publishers and their agents made the most strenuous exertions to prevent the operation of the law, and at the session of the legislature in 1878, on Mr. Merrill's asking lor a slight technical amendment of the law, a concerted and desperate effort was made to defeat him and destroy the grand measure which saves hun- dreds of thousands of dollars to the people. They owe this great saving, in a very large measure, to the perseverance and tireless energy of Mr. Merrill. He was a member of the school board of Saint Paul three or four years, — the only civil office of the least importance that he would accept. In politics, he is a republican, cherishing his political and religious sentiments with et]ual sincerity. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. !25 yet giving religious duty the precedence over every other. Me is a member of the First Baptist Church, Saint Paul ; deacon of the same, and a man of the very best moral standing in the city of his adoption. His zeal in every good cause knows no abatement. The wife of Mr. Merrill was Miss Alice A. King, of Medina, Ohio ; married on the 20th of October, 1859, '^'""^^ ^^ '^^'^ children, the fruit of this union, four are JOSEPH K. MOORE, SAINT PETER. JOSEPH KNIGHT MOORE, publisher of the Saint Peter "Tribune," and J postmaster for many years, is a son of Levi and Sarah (Fisk) Moore, and was born in Enfield, Massachusetts, on the 17th of February, 1S28. His mother was a daughter of Captain Zedekiah F"isk, of Wendell, Massachusetts, he obtaining his title in the revolutionary war, entering it at sixteen years of age. Joseph received a common-school education, principally in Greenfield, Franklin county ; commenced learning the printer's trade in the office of the " Gazette and Courier," of the same place, in July, 1842, being in his fifteenth year, working at that busi- ness on the start steadily for ten years. In May, 1852, Mr. Moore started tor California, going from .Saint Joseph with ox-teams, there being-seventeen persons in the party; reached California in Sep- tember; worked a few weeks in minino- at Downieville ; was a short time in Nevada county, Nevada ; spent the following winter in mining at Grass Valley ; the summer of 1853 in Marysville, as foreman of the "Daily Herald"; in the autumn returned to Grass Valley, and purchased an interest in the Grass Valley " Telegraph," a weekly paper ; remained there about a year ; sold out and went to Georgetown, and there superintended the publication of the " Georgetown News" for six months, returning by the Nicaragua route, and reaching Massa- chusetts in May, 1855. The next three years Mr. Moore spent at Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he published the Norristown " Republican," and owned a book-store. Concluding to come west and continue the printing business, a slight incident brought him to Saint Peter, in the last of March, 1859, and he purchased a half interest in the Saint Peter " Free Press." In December following the office o and all the material were destroyed by fire. On the 8th of February, i860, he 2 26 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. started the Saint Peter " Tribune "; sold the office to Williams and Henderson in November of the next year; purchased it back in June, 1869, and has continued its sole proprietor to the present time. Connected with the office is a fine job and book department. Under Mr. Moore's able management, for the last ten years the " Tribune " has been one of the most influential papers, outside the large cities, in the state. It is dignified and candid in tone, careful in its state- ments, and an excellent family newspaper. In the spring of 1861, a few weeks after Mr. Lincoln had become President, Mr. Moore was appointed postmaster at Saint Peter, and with the exception of three years, durin*^ President Johnson's administration, he has held the office con- tinuously until now. Mr. Moore is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically, he was a whig in early life, transferring his con- nection to the republican party at the date of its foundation, and he has never wavered in his advocacy of its tenets. If we are correctly informed, Mr. Moore received a careful religious training in youth, but has never connected himself with any church. His moral character stands high, and as a citizen he is warmly esteemed. On the 1st of January, 1851, Miss Clara L. Hosley, of Greenfield, became the wife of Mr. Moore, and they have four children : Frank Leander, Fred Still- man, Flora Knight and Harry Edwin. The course of life of our subject was largely determined, no doubt, by the desire of his mother expressed on her death-bed, she wishing him to be placed in a printing-office. It was only a few months after her death that he commenced learning the trade. To him a sort of sacrcdness attaches to the business, while he owes to it his industrial discipline, most of his education, and, in a large meas- ure, his success in life. Mr. Moore had an elder brother, Edwin Luther Moore, who was a man of considerable prominence, and whose widow and three children reside in .Saint Peter. He was principal of Mount Joy Acadeni)-, Penns\l\ania, ten years, and went thence into the civil war as paymaster of volunteers, with rank ot major, receiving his aijpolntment through the influence of his friend Hon. Thaddeus Stevens. In October, 1864, Major Moore was captured by General Mosley while en route to Winchester, Virginia, to pay troops, and was robbed of sixty thousand dollars and his watch and clothing. He was released In the spring of THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 227 1865, in impaired health, and never recovered. He was made lieutenant-colonel by brevet in 1867, being at that time engaged in settling soldiers' claims. He died in April, 1874. ULYSSES BISHOP SHAVER, KASSON, EDITOR of the Kasson (Dodge county) " Republican," was born in Craw- ford county, Ohio, on the 28th of November, 1827. When only eight months old his parents emigrated to Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo county, Michi- gan, and settled on land unredeemed from the wilderness, and surrounded by hordes of swarthy natives of the Pottawatamie tribe. Engaged as the sons of pioneers usually are, the subject of our sketch sprang up into a strong, hardy youth, amid savages and a few scattering pioneers, surrounded by the wild and luxuriant scenery of that rich and fruitful region. His father soon discovered a taste for books in his son, a love of the sublime and beautiful, and a thirst for knowledge ; he therefore did all his circumstances would allow to encourage and gratify those youthful longings. Though necessarily engaged during the vernal season with his father on the farm, yet during the winter months he was sent to school, until the age of sixteen, when the pupil was considered a better scholar than the teacher. While on the farm, he wrote poems and essays, which were sought after by the village publisher, and praised as good productions. Soon after he had attained his majority he obtained instructions in a commercial college ; took Horace Greeley's advice and went west. He was married in Dubuque, Iowa, to Miss Mary Anna Beach, of Brooklyn, New York, on the 1 ith of October, 1850. There he resided for several years, working at government surveying, summers, and winters in a printing-ofifice, but rarely at the case. In the month of June, 1853, he removed to Hudson, Wis- consin, and commenced his labors as a journalist. In August, 1856, he disposed of his paper, " The Hudson North Star," which he had conducted with marked ability and success, and removed to Pepin, Wisconsin, where he engaged in sur- veying and real-estate business ; and during his residence at that place he con- tributed many articles of real merit and beauty to the leading periodicals of the day, among which were a number of poems that would do honor to poets of a national reputation. 228 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. When the war of the rebellion broke out Mr. Shaver enlisted, but was rejected by the examining surgeon. He closed up his business, went to Minnesota, and took charge of the Wabasha " Herald," and wilh his pen did more for the cause of his country than he could have done with a sword. Soon after the close of the war he removed to Kasson, and engaged in the newspaper business, where he has re- mained sole editor and publisher of the Dodge county " Republican" ever since. His editorials are terse, polished and vigorous. He is a man of amiable temper, fine feeling, and possesses a well stored mind antl cultured imagination. Although a republican in principle, from old-line whig stock, his political articles have always been characterized with liberality, and fairness and courtesy to his opponents. He has never sought office, and during his career as a journalist has accepted but few positions of emolument and honor. He was postmaster at Pepin, Wisconsin, for a term of two years, and held the same position in Kasson a little less than six years. The former position he re- signed ; the latter he was removed from through the influence of Hon. M. H. Dunnc-ll, member of congress, — a salary-grabber, whose course Mr. Shaver would not indorse. He has also held two county offices in Wisconsin — clerk of the county board of supervisors and district attorney of Pepin county. He is an Odd-Fellow and I\.oyal Arch Mason, and an active worker in every benevolent and humane cause. THOMAS WELCH, IIENDERSO^'. THOMAS WELCH, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, and a son of Patrick Welch, a car[)enter, was born in 1S30. Losing his parents while he was quite \'oung, he came lo this country when about fifteen years old. He brought with him a resolute heart, hands ready for any honorable work, and a disposition to save his earnings. He worked a few years at farming in McHenry county, Illinois, and in 1S53 visited Saint Paul, Minnesota. Being aciiuainted wilh Joseph R. P)rown, one of the energetic town platters, at his suggestion .Mr. Welch came to Henderson, whose town site Mr. Brown hatl made, aiul here he has remained for twenty-five years, applying his great energies to building up the town and securing a competency for himself At first he dealt in cattle, and filled contracts with the United .States government for supplies and transporta- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 229 tion for troops on the frontier. Mr. Welch has been quite successful in his operations, commencing without a dollar, managing economically and prudently, and accumulating a handsome property, including three farms in Sibley county, which he cultivates by proxy. On the ist of January, 1875, he opened the Sibley County Bank, of which he is president, Hon. Henry Poehler being cashier. It is one of the most solid institutions of the kind in this part of the state, and has, as it deserves, the unlimited confidence of the community. Mr. Welch has served many years on the school board of Henderson, and has taken much interest in educational matters and other local enterprises, doing what he can to advance the welfare of the place ; but he has never, so far as we can learn, sought political preferment. He will work for others, if good men, but not for himself He is classed as a democrat, but will vote for no man whom he deems unfit for office. Mr. Welch is a Master Mason, and has held one or two offices in the order. He attends the Episcopal church, and socially and morally has a commendable position in society. On the 19th of February, 1856, Miss Susan S. Segar, of Maine, was joined in marriage with Mr. Welch, and they have nine children, — eight daughters and one son. Carrie, the eldest child, is the wife of Orrin Kipp, and Ida is the wife of William Komnick, both residents of Henderson. The others are single. AURORA W. GIDDINGS, M.D., ANOKA. THE oldest medical practitioner in Anoka, and a man of excellent standing in the profession, is Aurora W. Giddings, a son of Aranda P. and .Sarah Ives Giddings, who dates his birth at Williamsfield, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 2d of November, 1830. Both the Giddings and Ives families originally set- tled in Connecticut. Some of the Ives participated in the struggle for American independence, and the uncle of Aurora, Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, was in the second war with the mother country, enlisting at sixteen years of age. Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in securing an education, having, at times, a hard struggle to keep along and meet current expenses, paying, part of 27 230 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. the time, his l)oanI and tuition by solid work on a farm. When about seventeen he began to teach during the winter season, and thus supphed himself partially with funds. He ])reparcd for college in the schools at Jefferson, in his native county; spent two years in pursuing select studies in Allegheny College, Mead- ville, Pennsylvania; read medicine with Dr. C. Hamilton, of Williamsfield ; at- tended one course of lectures in the Buffalo Medical College; another at Albany, New York, and graduated in June, 1854. Dr. Giddings opened his first and only office at Anoka, reaching here on the last day of November, 1854 ; that office he has never closed. Twenty-three years ago Anoka hadj)erhaps ten families. The Mississippi valley above Minneapolis and the Rum River valley were very sparsely settled, and it was not an uncom- mon thing for the Doctor to ride from forty to sixty, and sometimes seventy and even eighty, miles. After a few years, as other towns sprang up, and other phy- sicians came into the country, his rides became shorter and less tedious. A few of the earlier settlers are still in the country; their partiality for Dr. Giddings continues, and though other men of skill have settled near them, a ride of thirty miles for him is not a very rare occurrence. No man of his profession in this part of the country attends more closely to his medical studies and his business, and no one enjoys a better reputation, either as a medical practitioner or sur- geon. He was selected by the governor as draft-surgeon during the rebellion, and for pension surgeon since. Dr. Giddings is a member of the Minnesota State Medical Society. The Doctor is a stanch republican, but very rarely accepts a civil or political office, having a plenty of work to do in his profession, and evidently believing that to do his work well, it must have his undivided attention. Medical science, like many other branches of science, is growing, and to keep pace with it, all the spare time at a physician's command must be given to it. Without constant study, the mind, in any profession, will gradually become dry and unfruitful, and yield but [)oor returns of thought or capital to its possessor. On the 19th of September, 1857, Miss Mary E. Simons, of Williamsfield, Ohio, became the wife of Dr. Giddings, and of seven children, the fruit of this union, six are living. The Doctor is six feet tall, stands perfectly erect, and has a cast of coun- tenance indicative of hard mental labor. Nobody would take him for anything but a scholarly and polished gentleman. In religious belief, he is an Episco- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 231 palian, though not, we believe, a communicant. Those who have known him most intimately for nearly a quarter of a century, hold him in the highest esteem, alike for skill in his profession and the purity of his character. HON. W. H. GREENLEAF, BENSON. WILLIAM HENRY GREENLEAF, a pioneer in Meeker county, Min- nesota, and for whom one of its townships was named, was born in Nunda, Allegany, now Livingston, county. New York, on the 7th of December, 1834, his parents being William and Almira Sanford Greenleaf. The Greenleafs were French Huguenots, the progenitor of the family in this country coming over from England a few years after the Plymouth Colony, and settling in Massachusetts. In 1843, when William was about nine years old, the family moved to the west, settling on a farm at Koskonong, Jefferson county, Wisconsin, the son aid- ing to clear and improve the land, and supplementing a district-school education with an attendance of two or three terms at the Fort Atkinson Academy, in the same county. After leaving the farm, about 1853, Mr. Greenleaf followed surveying a couple of seasons ; was then employed as an assistant engineer on the Wisconsin Cen- tral railroad one year, and on the 21st of June, 1858, reached Meeker county, Minnesota, which was his home until a year or two ago. At that date there were about two hundred and fifty voters in the county, and but few of the towns were laid out. There were but two families in what is now Greenleaf township, which he assisted in laying out. He built a saw-mill, and operated it for three or four years ; then opened a store, and continued in mercantile business from 1864 to 1877, moving from Greenleaf to Litchfield, the county seat, in 1872. Mr. Greenleaf was county treasurer in 1860-62; was county surveyor from 1864 to 1870, and a member of the legislature in 1870, 1871 and 1872. In Feb- ruary, 1874, he was appointed receiver of public moneys of the United States land office at Litchfield, and when, two years later, (October, 1876,) the office was moved to Benson, Swift county, fifty-five miles west, he accompanied it, his family, however, remaining- In Litchfield until the spring of 1878. 232 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Greenleaf has always been a firm republican, taking a deep interest in the welfare of the party, believing that in its continued success lie the best inter- ests of the country. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Pres- byterian church. On the 27th of September, 1859, ^''•^ married Miss Cordelia Delong, of Cold Spring, Wisconsin, and they have two children living, antl have lost two. Mr. Greenleaf has some unimproved lands in Meeker count)', a house, a store building, and other property in Litchfield; and notwithstanding the "set-backs" which Minnesota has experienced since he settled in the state twenty years ago, with prudent aij^l wise management he has been moderately successful in his business operations, all of which have been conducted on the strictest principles of rectitude. LUKE MARVIN, DULUTH. AMONG the residents of this state, since about the time it became the Terri- *- tory of Minnesota, is Luke Marvin, now postmaster at Duluth. He is a native of Hinckley, Leicestershire, England ; a son of Luke Marvin, senior, a wholesale shoe merchant, and was born on the loth of June, 1820. His mother was Mary McArthur, and both parents were members of Robert Hall's church, Leicester, when that eloquent Baptist divine was in the height of his fame as a pulpit orator. The Marvins are an old dissenting and radical family. Mrs. Mar- vin was baptized by William Carey, the "consecrated cobbler" and pioneer Prot- estant missionary to India. The subject of this notice received only a common-school education ; aided his father in trade until of age ; then emigrated to the United States, and worked with an elder brother in the shoe business, at Danville, Kentucky, between three and four years; went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was foreman in a shoe manufac- tory a year or more ; then engaged in the same trade for himself, and in that city and in Madison, Luliana, continued the business until 1850, when he settled in Saint Paul. There he was in the shoe and leather business eleven years, having a large trade, most of the time, for those days. While a resident of Saint Paul, he was a member of the city council three years, and its president the last year. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 233 In 1861 Mr. Marvin was appointed register of the land office at Duluth and served eight years. During all this period, and for another year, he was auditor of Saint Louis county. He was a member of the legislature in 1871, represent- ing between twenty and twenty-five counties, his district being divided that ses- sion into six districts. Mr. Marvin was land and emii^rant agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company one year; was subsequently in the furniture business two years, and in September, 1875, was appointed postmaster. In politics, Mr. Marvin was originally a strong anti-slavery man, a disciple of Hon. Salmon P. Chase, and since 1855 has been an ardent and very active repub- lican. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and has been an elder for several years. The purity of his life is above questioning. On the 22d of October, 1856, Miss Mary A. Collins, of Cincinnati, Ohio, became the wife of Mr. Marvin, and they have had ten children, eight of them yet living. The eldest son, Richard F., was postmaster at Duluth five or six years, and is now in the Cincinnati post-office. Luke Arthur, the next living son, is an assistant in his father's office. Mr. Marvin is noted for the interest he has taken in Duluth, and the influence he has exerted in building up the place. He is one ot the four or five men who were mainly instrumental in getting the railroad from Saint Paul to this point, the strife being between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth. The head of the lake is the natural site for the city, and the resources of the country to the west and northwest will force Duluth into a grand future. HON. ALONZO C. RAND, MINNEAPOLIS. ALONZO COOPER RAND, mayor of Minneapolis, son of Charles T. and k- Deborah F. (Sprague) Rand, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, on the 31st of December, 1833. The Rand family originally came from England, and Charles T. Rand was a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford, of Massachu- setts. He, in 1838, removed from Boston to Buffalo, New York, where he en- gaged in his occupation of blacksmith. Here Alonzo attended the graded schools, and afterward the Gowanda Institute, thirty miles south of Buffalo. After leav- 234 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ing the latter school he engaged in tlie mercantile trade, in the employ of S. Dudley and Sons, at Buffalo. In i860 Mr. Rand entered business for himself at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, where he erected the first works put u\) in that state for making refined oil. He remained there seven years operating in oil, and was very successful in his undertakings. In 1867 Mr. Rand removed to New York city, and while there he discovered the new process of manufacturing gas out of petroleum and its distillates — a kind of gas that is now being used by many of the large cities in this counlrw It is certainly one ot the most useful of recent discoveries, and one that has proved very beneficial to Mr. Rand, as well as to the people, for-it greatly widened the base of his prosperity. Futile attempts having been made to burn smoke, Mr. Rand, by a peculiar process, succeeded in not making any smoke, and therefore had none to get rid of. A company in Saint Louis are making his stoves; and a large manufacturing- company are preparing retorts for burning soft coal under steam boilers, both stationary and locomotives, in same place. In 1873 he removed from New York city to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he has since resided, and busied himself in building tras-works in various cities and towns, conducting his works largely through his elder sons. When Mr. Rand came to Minneapolis it was his intention and desire to live a quiet, easy life, unconnected with any public office, and succeeded in doing so until the spring of 1878, when, during his absence in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, his fellow-citizens elected him mayor. Mr. Rand carries the same prudence, activity and energy which has characterized the management of his private business affairs, to the mayoralty, making an unusually efficient heatl of the municipality. He is one of the best business-men in the state; makes a splendid officer, but thinks it was rather cruel on the part of his friends to drag him from retirement and place him in the maj'or's chair, with all its perple.xing duties. Mr. Rand is, politically, a consistent believer in the doctrines of the repub- lican party. He has been connected with the Masonic fraternity for several years- Was married in September, 1853, to Miss Celine M., daughter of William John- son, of Buffalo, New York. Their union has been blessed with eight children, all living at present, with one exception. Mayor Rand stands six feet high, weighs two hundred and eight pounds, and possesses as fine a physique as one rarely meets. He has blue eyes, a sanguine THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 235 temperament, and a fair complexion ; these attractions, combined with a very cordial address, make him withal a desirable friend and a deservedly popular citizen. HON. SOCRATES NELSON, STILLWATER. SOCRATES NELSON, a very early settler in Stillwater, and one of the town-builders of Minnesota, was a native of Conway, Franklin county, Mas- sachusetts, where he was born on the iith of January, 1814. He was a son of Socrates Nelson and Dorothy Boyden, honest and industrious people of Puri- tanic stock. His grandfather was Jeremiah Nelson, of whose family history nothing further is known. The subject of this sketch received a partial academic education at Deerfield, adjoining his native town, and became a merchant at Conway about the time he became of age. In 1839 he came to Illinois, prospecting and buying furs; the next year went to Saint Louis, where he sold goods and collected furs until the spring of 1844, when he came up the Mississippi river as far as the foot of Lake Pepin, opposite Read's Landing, where he had a trading-post at the mouth of the Chippewa river. It was long known as Nelson's Landing, since washed away. In the autumn of the same year he removed to Stillwater, still operating at the post below for several years. Mr. Nelson was in the mercantile trade here for ten or eleven years ; then changed to the lumber business, becoming jDart-owner, in 1853, of the saw-mill at Baytown, now called South Stillwater, three miles below the city, one of his asso- ciates in business there being Hon. D. B. Loomis. No inconsiderable part of Stillwater stands on lands which he entered and purchased of the government nearly thirty-five years ago. He was a county commissioner several times ; did more or less valuable work for the city in its council, and was a member of the state senate in 1858 and 1859, serving on the committee on state prison, and other committees. He worked well for the interests of his adopted home and the young commonwealth. His politics were democratic. On the 23d of October, 1844, Mr. Nelson was married, at Hennepin, Illinois, to Mrs. Betsey D. Bartlett, of Conway, Massachusetts, two daughters being the 236 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. fruit of their union. Ella A. died on the 23d of October, 1849, aged one year; Emma A. is the wife of Fayette Marsh, an attorney-at-law, of Stillwater. When Mr. Nelson came to Stillwater he built a house on Main street, using it at first for a store and residence. In that house he lived till his death, on the 6th of May, 1867, the cause being consumption. He left his widow, the associate of his youth, and his companion for twenty-three years, in very comfortable cir- cumstances. Three or four years ago she and her son-in-law built a large and eleeant house on the bluff at the south end of the citv, with most delisjhtful sur- roundings, and there, with her daughter and family, she has her home. Mr. Nelson w^s public-spirited as well as enterprising, and, a few months before he died, tlonated to Washington county his half interest in the block on which the huee brick court-house now stands — an ornament to Stillwater. His energy, his counsel and his contributions contributed in no small measure to make Stillwater what it is, financially the most solid of the smaller cities of Minnesota. HON. WILLIAM D. WASHBURN, MINNEAPOLIS. WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN, a native of Livcrmore, Androscoggin county. State of Maine, was born on the 14th of January, 1S31 ; the son of Israel Washburn and Martha B. 7iee Benjamin. He is a member of the widely known Washburn family whose history is so intimately associated with the polit- ical history of our countr), and whose first representative in America canie from England in the Mayllower. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the revo- lutionary war, while his maternal grandfather was a lieutenant, and during that struggle served under Washington the greater part of the time, and was with him at Yorktown at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The father of our subject was the sixth son, and eldest born, in direct line, who bore the name Israel. He was a farmer by occupation. The Benjamin family, of which his mother was a member, came originally from Scotland, and early settled in the State of Maine, where it is widely known. William lived at home until he was twenty years old, working on the farm during summers and attending school during the winters. After leaving the dis- trict school he attended Gorman Academv ; later, he studied one term at South THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 239 Paris, and finally completed his preparatory studies at Farmington Academy. In 185 1 he entered Bowdoin College, and graduated in 1854. While pursuing his studies in college he was almost entirely dependent upon his own efforts, and defrayed his expenses by teaching, winters, and working during vacations. During one vacation he was clerk of the house of representatives, under General Cullom. Having decided to enter the legal profession, Mr. Washburn spent the year and a half following his graduation from college with his brother Israel, at Orono, Maine, in the study of law ; later, completed his studies at Bangor, under the Hon. John A. Peters, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1S57. Availing himself of the opportunities which the then growing west offered to young men of enterprise, he removed to his present home, Minneapolis, and at once established himself in the practice of law. In the fall of 1857 he was appointed agent of the Minneapolis Mill Company — a corporation under the chief control of Governor C. C. Washburn, of Wiscon- sin ; during the following four years attended to the duties of his appointment, in connection with his law business. He afterward became more directly interested in the business of this company, and at the present time (1878) is a part-owner and director of the same. In 1861, having been commissioned by President Lincoln surveyor-general of Minnesota, Mr. Washburn removed to Saint Paul. Four years later, at the close of his term of office, he built a large saw-mill at Minneapolis, and engaged in the lumber trade, which has ever since continued, in a great measure, to engage his attention. A man of diversified attainments, fine executive powers, and untiring enter- prise, he has been satisfied to confine his energies to no single line of business, but instead has been and now is a leader and moving spirit in various public and private enterprises. In 1870 he was the chief mover in projecting and construct- ing the Minneapolis and Saint Louis railroad, the success of which is largely due to his energy and skill. Upon the organization of the company he became its vice-president; in 1875 he became president, which office he now holds, being also the largest stock-owner of the corporation. Mr. Washburn has, besides, been interested in other railroad enterprises, and at one time was a director of the Sioux City railroad. In 1872 he built at Anoka the finest lumber-mill in the state, and is now its 28 240 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. sole owner. In the following year he, with others, built the Palisade Flouring Mills, at Minneapolis, and is at present a part-owner of the same. He was one of the originators, and also a stockholder and director, of the Minneapolis Harvester Works ; is largely interested in planing-mills, and in fact, since his advent into Minnesota, has been either intimately associated in, or thor- oughly in sympathy with, many of the various projects whose end has been to develop the resources and increase the wealth of the state. In the growth and development of his own city he has taken special priile, and in matters of local interest has ever been ready to extend a cordial support. In apprecisition of his many services, and by reason of his peculiar fitness, his fellow-citizens have honored him with various positions of trust, and in 1S71 elected him to the state legislature. Two years later, at the earnest solicitation of friends, he allowed his name to be used in connection with the governorship of the state, and although he was not given the nomination, his friends claimed that he was fairly entitled to it, and that his defeat was owing solely to an irregu- larity in counting. Mr. Washburn, however, was not disposed to investigate the matter, and it was allowed to drop. In his political views, he has always been a republican, and in all questions and matters touching the interests of the people, takes a deep and active interest. On the 5th of November, 1878, he was elected by three thousand majority to represent the third district in the national congress. This district embraces Min- neapolis and Saint Paul, and the entire northern portion of the state, making it the most important in Minnesota. In religious belief, he is a Universalist, but cheerfully allows to others who may differ from him the enjoyment of that freedom of thought and liberality of sentiment which he claims tor himself. In church matters, as in everything else, he is esteemed as a liberal, generous, "broad-gauge" man. He is also a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Washburn was married on the 19th of April, 1859, to Miss Lizzie L. Muzzy, daughter of the Hon. Franklin Muzzy, of Bangor, Maine. Of eight chil- dren that have been born to them, four sons and two daughters are now living. Such, in brief, is an outline of the life-history of one who, by his own business energy, integrity, and force of character, has risen to a place of honor and esteem. Upright in all his dealings with his fellow-men, he has won the unbounded con- fidence and respect of all with whom he has had to do, while his frank, generous THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 241 and gentlemanly deportment has drawn around him many true and devoted friends. Mr. Washburn lives in the enjoyment of an ample fortune, surrounded by the comforts and pleasures of a happy home, and is a fair example of that success which is the result oi true, conscientious and persevering' effort. FRANK BELFOY, LITCHFIELD. FRANK BELFOY, lawyer and journalist, is a son of Frederic Belfoy, con- tractor and builder, and Mary Rodier, both natives of Canada, and of French pedigree, and was born in Prescott, Province of Ontario, on the ist of November, 1827. He received a common-school education in his native town, and there, at an early age, commenced reading law in the office of Read Burritt, afterward on the bench. About 1843 Frank went to Detroit, Michigan ; became an apprentice at the printing business in the office of the " Daily Advertiser," Morgan Bates, proprietor; left Detroit in 1845; worked a short time in printing-offices at Niles, Michigan, and Notre Dame, near South Bend, Indiana, and in 1846 located in Chicago, working at first in the office of the " Evening Journal," R. L. Wilson and N. C. Geer, proprietors. Subsequently he was" connected with the office of the " Daily Tribune," and still later with the " Daily Press," J. L. Scripps and William Bross, proprietors. Mr. Belfoy was one of the founders of the Chicago Typographical Union, its secretary at a very early clay, and its third or fourth president, presiding at the printers' festival the last time in 1855. After residing nine years in Chicago he went to Elkader, Iowa, in 1855 ; founded the "Tribune," the first paper published there, and the next year sup- ported the republican nominee for congress — Hon. Timothy Davis, of Elkader. Subsequently Mr. Belfoy edited papers at Waukon, McGregor and Decorah, Iowa, practicing law more or less at the same time, being admitted to the bar in 1858. In the spring of 1862 he came to Henderson, Sibley county, Minnesota ; prac- ticed there four years, holding, also, most of this time, the office of prosecuting attorney; published the "Cataract" at Minneapolis one season, as a speculation; 242 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. sold out to eood advantaee, and in 1868 located at Forest City, then the seat of justice of Meeker county. In the autumn of that year he established the " News," editing it in connection with his lecjal practice. In 1869, when Litchfield became the county seat, he came with his paper to this place ; sold out soon afterward to Frank Day^gett and \\'. D. fourbcrt; gave his undivided time to his profession until Mr. Daggett dictl, in 1876, when lie bought back a half interest in the " News Led(i-cr," and is now of the firm of Belfoy and Joubert, Mr. Belfoy attending to the editorial department. It is an inlluenlial republican paper. At the same time he has a remunerative law practice, and a good standing in the profession. It is almost suqirising that, with his multiplied cares as a journalist, he has been able to reach his present position as an attorney. He excels as a criminal lawyer on the side of the defense, having masterly skill and great success in managing such cases. His law library, though not large, is well selected and choice, and he makes good use ot it. While a resident of Chicago, in |anuary, 1848, Mr. Belfoy married Mrs. Octa- via A. Beers, a sister of Professor H. B. Gatchell, of Ann Arbor, Michigan ; she died at Litchfield, on the 3d of August, 1874, leaving one child b)' her first husbanil. REV. DAVID BURT, SAIXr J'AUL. DA\'in BURT, state superintendent of public instruction, son of John Burt, a builder of cotton-factory machinery, was born in Munson, Massachusetts, on the 2d of August, 1822. The maiden name of his mother was Rachel Burden, who was of Welsh pedigree. The Burts were from England, and settled in Ran- dolph, Massachusetts, the subject of this sketch being about the fifth generation born in this countr)'. When this son was about si.x years of age, his father, with a view to the welfare of the family, abandoned his occupation as a machinist, and settled on a farm in Worcester county, Massachusetts. It used to be said of the boy that he ilid with his might whatever he undertook ; and those acquainted with the man affirm that he has not outgrown this characteristic. Early in life he determined to secure the best education within his reach, and was distin- guished as a faithful and proficient scholar while a mere boy. In the common school of his district he studied algebra, and obtained considerable knowledge of THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 243 Latin eranimar. At the aoe of nineteen he was encraaed to teach this school, in which he had been a pupil, and success attested the respect in which he was held by his young associates. From that time he taught school every season for ten years. In the spring of 1843 he entered Wilbraham Academy, Massachusetts, where he prepared for college. He entered the junior class of Oberlin in 1846, teaching two winters in Ohio, and graduating with his class in honorable distinc- tion. During- his student life he succeeded in securing o-ood wacjes as a teacher. In this capacity he earned about five hundred and fifty dollars while pursuing his academic and college studies. During the last year at Oberlin he was tutor in mathematics in the young ladies' department, teaching at least an hour each day. After receiving his collegiate degree he spent three years in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 185 1. In the autumn of the latter year he married Fanny B. Rice, and became pastor of the Congregational church of Raymond, New Hampshire. Their first child is buried in that place, another at Winona, Minnesota, and two are still living. In the spring of 1855 he resigned, on account of bronchial difficulty, purposing, on the recommendation of his physician, to try the inland climate of the west. After a brief respite from labor, having occasion to supply the pulpit of the Congregational church at Rutland, Massachusetts, a few Sundays, he was persuaded to remain until the autumn of 1S57. The next winter he taught a select school in Chicago, designing to go farther west in the spring. In May, 1858, Mr. Burt removed to Winona, Minnesota, under call of the Congregational church. Soon after he was appointed superintendent of the pub- lic schools in that city. In 1859 he was made a member of the prudential board of the State Normal School, located here. He also served as a county examiner of common-school teachers, and was an original member of the State Teachers' Association, organized about that time. In August, 1866, Mr. Burt was appointed by General Howard on the staff of General Clinton B. Fisk, commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau at Nashville, Tennessee. The duty assigned him in this position was that of general superin- tendent of the colored schools of the state, which schools were then under the charge of the bureau. The climate of the south proving unfavorable to his health, he resigned after about two years of service, and returned to Minnesota. In the autumn of 1868, and the winter following, he supplied the Plymouth Church of Minneapolis, in the absence of its pastor, then in Europe. While on 244 1'^^ UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. a visit in Massachusetts he was prostrated, in the autumn of 1869, by a severe hemorrhage of the hmes. While in that condition Mr. Burt was informed that he had been appointed superintendent of schools for the county of Winona, Min- nesota. In the spring of 1870 he entered upon the duties of this office, with slowly improving health. In 1875 he had so far recovered that he accepted the office of state superintendent of public instructions, to which he was appointed by the governor. His fitness for this position is genf'rally recognized. He suc- ceeds as a lecturer upon education, and the teachers' institutes and the schools of the state are improving under his management. Earnest in purpose, and with no high(-r ambition than to advance the schools under his charge, Mr. Burt de- serves the general confidence and respect which he has secured in his present office. HON. JOHN A. REED, STILLWATER. TOHN ABBOTT REED, warden of the Minnesota prison, and a native of ' Grafton, Grafton county. New Hampshire, was born on the 25th of Decem- ber, 1831. His parents, John P. and Clementine (Abbott ) Reed, belonged to the farming community, the father dying when the son was about seven years old. He then went to live with his grandfather in -Sutton, Merrimac county, remain- ing there until of age; engaged, most of the time, in agriculture. He received his education at the Andover (New Hampshire) Academy, spending, at sundry times, about three years there in study, teaching in the winters. About 1854 Mr. Reed immigrated to Iowa, settling at Monona, Clayton county, still engaged in teaching in the winter season, and tilling land the rest of the time. In 1858 he moved northwestward into Sterling, Blue Earth county, Min- nesota, where he bought land and farmed steadil)- until November, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in company I, 5th Iowa Cavalry, afterward detached and known as Brackett's battalion, Minnesota Cavalry. He served three years at the south, and between one and two years on the western frontier, having been pro- moted from time to time, and being mustered out as cajjlain in June, 1866, having been nearly four and a half years in the service. On returning to Blue Earth county. Captain Reed resumed farming ; was elected to the legislature the first autumn that he was at home, and by reelections THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 245 served three consecutive sessions. He was on important committees and at- tended very faithfully to his legislative duties, none being more industrious than he. On the 16th of July, 1874, he was appointed warden of the state prison, still filling that office very much to the satisfaction of the people. He is a man of a kindly disposition and treats the inmates humanely, yet discreetly. It is doubt- ful if a better man for the office he holds can be found in the state. Warden Reed has always been a republican, and usually quite active in poli- tics. He is a man of a good deal of magnetism, and has much influence in political as well as other circles. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity. His wife was Miss Rachel France, of Hudson, La Porte county, Indiana; chosen in March, 1856. They have four children living and have buried two. DR. GEORGE H. KEITH, MINNEAPOLIS. GEORGE HACKETT KEITH, postmaster of Minneapolis, is a native of Randolph, Orange county, Vermont, and was born on the 4th of May, 1825. His parents were Bethuel and Mary (Pearson) Keith. Though there are no reliable family records from which to gather details, data, etc., yet the Doctor knows that his forefathers immigrated to this country very early in the seventeenth century, and that he is the seventh generation descended from " Priest" Keith, who was a noted Presbyterian preacher in .Scotland at an early day. The family first settled in Massachusetts, from whence Bethuel Keith moved to Vermont, when he engaged in the occupation of farming. The Pear- son family were also among the very early pioneers of the new world, and both families are remarkable for extreme longevity, attaining usually from eighty to one hundred years, unless attacked by some fatal infectious disease. Among the earliest recollections of George H. is hearing his grandfather Pearson relate in- cidents of his service in the continental army. George H. Keith derived what benefits were to be obtained from the district school of Randolph until reaching his sixteenth year, when he struck out to win his way in the world. His first move after leaving home was to hire out to a farmer for seven dollars a month ; worked tor him one season and then went to Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden, New Hampshire, where between study- 246 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ing and teaching' he spent about four years. Having a desire to visit the west, whither emigration was fast flowing, he came to Indianapolis, Indiana, and en- o-ao-ed in teaching a private school for one year. At the end of this time Mr. Keith received the appointment of superintendent of the preparatory department of Franklin College, situated at Franklin, Indiana, — a position which he filled for one year. He then returned to the east and began the study of medicine with his brother Bcthuel, at Dover, New Hampshire. Mr. Keith continued his studies, attending lectures and practicing more or less, until iSs2, when he graduated from the medical college at Woodstock, Ver- mont, and removed to the city of New York, where he began to practice, in the meantime pursuing his studies, paying considerable attention to dentistry. After livincT in New York about two years, he, early in 1855, decided to emigrate and settle permanently in a western home. Having two brothers residing in Min- neapolis, Minnesota, he made that his objective point ; but for the benefit of his wife's impaired health they traveled through many of the southern and western states on their way thither, landing at Saint Paul on the loth of August, and immediately proceeding to Minneapolis by stage. Here Mr. Keith has continued to reside with the exception of 1859-60, when, owing to the ill-health of Mrs. Keith, he again accompanied her on a southern trip. They were in Mississippi when the act of secession was passed, but finding the climate altogether too warm for the Doctor's politics, they returned home at once. In Minneapolis Dr. Keith commenced the practice of dentistry and medicine, but devoted his attention almost entirely to the former. Was a member of the first state legis- lature of Minnesota, which met in 1858-59. During the Indian war in 1S62 he was appointed surgeon of the Indian expedition sent to the relief of Fort Aber- crombie. In 1S63 he received the appointment of provost-marshal for the second district of Minnesota, — a jjosition which he retained until the close of the war. He then resumed his practice, which continued until he was conunissioned post- master by President Grant in May, 1871. and reappointed in 1875. In ot'fice, Dr. Keith conducts the affairs of the public in the same spirit of prudence, energy and activity that he would his private business, and consequently makes a post- master against whom there are no complaints. In politics, he was originally a whig, and afterward a strong republican, always taking an active interest in political matters. He has been connected with the Masonic fraternity for twenty years, and is at present a Knight Templar. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 247 The Doctor and Mrs. Keith are both members of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis. He was married on the 2d of July, 185 1, at IndianapoHs, Indiana, to Miss Anna Judson, daughter of Dr. Jonathan Going, D.D., president of Granville College, Ohio; she died on the 28th of August, 1862. At Minneapolis, on the 30th of June, 1863, he was wedded again, to Henrietta P., daughter of S. A. and Dora P. Jewett. Dr. Keith has three children living, as follows : Walter J., born on the 17th of August, 1866; Mabel C, born on the 30th of October, 1870, and Max Le Roy, born on the loth of June, 1S73. PROF. DAVID L. KIEHLE, A.M., SAINT CLOUD. DAVID LITCHARD KIEHLE, principal of the Saint Cloud Normal School, is a son of James Kiehle, tanner by trade, and Elizabeth Litchard, and was born in Dansville, Livingston county, New York, on the 7th of Febru- ary, 1837. His paternal great-grandfather came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, and his grandfather was a short time in the continental army. Professor Kiehle spent his youth in the graded schools of Dansville ; began to teach at sixteen years of age, attended the State Normal School at Albanj', and graduated in 1856; taught three years in the Canandaigua Academy, entered the junior class of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1859, and graduated in 1861, one of the "honor" members of the class. While in college, in addition to the classical course, he connected himself with the laboratory and took a special course in chemistry. Professor Kiehle taught a graded school in Monroe, Michigan, during the year 1862 ; then took a full course of studies in the Union Theological Seminary; was graduated in 1865 and ordained to the Presbyterian ministry. While pre- paring for this work he taught in the Polytechnic and Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, in all nearly three years. In 1865 he came to Minnesota, organized a Presbyterian church at Preston, Fillmore county, became its pastor and remained there ten years. During the last six of those years he was county superintendent of schools, driven into that work on account of poor health. By riding on horseback from school to school, 29 248 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. and from town to town, he gradually improved, and was able to fill the require- ments of the office. During five of these years that he was superintendent he preached once a day on Sunday, simply supplying the pulpit without doing pastoral work. The last three years that he was at Preston he was one of the directors of the state normal schools; in 1875 was appointed by the board to take charge of the normal school at Saint Cloud, and is now in the fourth year of his labor here. He has all the elements of a successful teacher, — thorough scholarship, good organizing faculties and executive qualities, kindness of heart, yet firmness of purpose, and the happy faculty of encouraging students in their intellectual wofk and making them self-reliant. He has the warmest esteem of the communit)- as well as the students. While perfect master of every branch taught in the school, Professor Kiehle's specialties are mental science, school economy and Latin. The subject of educa- tion seems to be the one absorbing theme with him. His best thoughts, his time, his energies, are devoted to the questions. What is modern education, and how can it be made available and practical in the philosophy and theories of the day? He is a very "hard student" and a progressive man. On the 25th of July, 1864, Miss Mary Oilman, of Dansville, New York, was married to Professor Kiehle, and they have three children. Mrs. Kiehle is a lady of fine culture and thorough education, and in a very quiet way is doing some literary, and her share of christian and benevolent, work. J HON. JOHN H. BROWN, WILLMAR. OHN HARRISON BROWN, judge of the twelfth judicial district, is a son of Luther Brown, farmer, and Sophia Morse, his wife, his birth dating at Mount Holly, Rutland county, Vermont, on the ist of May, 1824. He comes of good fighting and patriotic stock, his grandfather, William Brown, being in the first war with England, and his father in the second, the one fighting for independence, the other for " sailors' rights." Luther Brown died when John was about four years old, and the widow moved with her family of five children to Fishersfield, now Newbury, Merrimack county, New Hampshire, and the subject of this brief sketch spent most of his boyhood on a farm, earning his own living THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 249 after reaching his ninth year, with no educational privileges but those of a district school, until of age. He then attended a private or select school in Manchester, New Hampshire, two or three terms, at the close of which period he commenced teaching, at the same time studying law. He read in the office, first, of George Barstow; then of A. F. L. Norris, both attorneys in Manchester; in 1855 immi- grated to Minnesota; was admitted to the bar at Carver, in June, 1856; prac- ticed at Shakopee until 1871, and then settled in Willmar. He established the Willmar " Republican," and conducted it three years, being engaged, also, at the same time, in legal business, and here, as at Shakopee, having a good practice. In 1864 Mr. Brown was appointed assistant quartermaster, with the rank of captain, serving two years, with headquarters at Madison, Wisconsin. During most of the time that he was a resident of Shakopee (1855 to 1871) he was in the school board, doing good work for the cause of education. He was also attorney for Scott county in i860 and 1861, and another term in 1869 and 1870. He has likewise been attorney for Kandiyohi county one term ; in March, 1875, was appointed, by Governor Davis, judge of the newly created twelfth dis- trict, and at the general election in November following was elected for the full term of seven years, which will expire with the year 1882. He possesses those qualities which make a good jurist, — a thorough knowledge of law, candor, con- scientiousness, coolness, impartiality and honesty. A lawyer in his judicial dis- trict remarked, not long ago, that Judge Brown has two sons practicing before him, and yet, said this gentleman, " I would just as soon appear against them as against one of his most bitter enemies." The Judge has the respect of every honorable member of the bar in his district, which is large. It embraces ten counties, with courts held in eight of them, and he travels about twenty-five hun- dred miles a year, one-fourth of it on carriage roads. Judge Brown was originally a democrat, with free-soil leanings, following the lead of John P. Hale until the great party of freedom, with Fremont and Dayton for banner-bearers, was fully organized in 1856. The Judge still trains in that party, being careful, however, not to soil the ermine by blind zeal for its interests. He was made a Mason in 1856; is now a Royal Arch; was master several years of the lodges at Shakopee and Willmar, and has been senior deacon of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, and district deputy grand master of the eighth dis- trict of the state. The wife of Judge Brown was Miss Orissa Maxtield, of Goshen, New Hamp- i50 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. shire, their union taking place on the 5th of February, 1850. They have seven children, all single but the eldest son, Horace \\'., who lives in Willmar. The names, of the other children are Frank Kossuth, aged twenty-seven ; Calvin Lutlier, twenty-five; Emily Idella, twenty-two; Dorrie F. S., twenty; Jenny Liona, eighteen; and Mattie A., sixteen years. HON. B. A. LOWELL, -5L WASECA. BENJAMIN AVER LOWELL, son of Rufus and Rachel (Ayer) Lowell, and a native of Waldo county, Maine, was born in the town of Freedom, on the 25th of November, 18 18. Both of his grandparents were in the war for independence, and his father was in the second war with the mother country. Benjamin was the eldest of three children, and lost his father when the son was eight years of age. He was reared on a farm, and subsequently learned the trade of a ship-carpenter, at which he worked in the summer season for many years. He finished his education at the Freedom Academy; taught district schools twenty-two terms (often two in a year), and a year and a half as an assistant in the Freedom Academy. He was for years one of the most suc- cessful and popular teachers in Waldo county. In 1858 Mr. Lowell came to Waseca county, Minnesota; was a merchant two years at Wilton, the old county seat; moved on a farm in the spring of 1861, in the town of Otisco ; improved it until the spring of 1876, and then settled at Waseca. Here for two or three seasons he has cultivated a market orarden and filled the office of village justice, being a very industrious, correct and trust- worthy man, respected by all who know him. Mr. Lowell was chairman of the boartl of county commissioners two terms, while on his farm, and was state senator, representing Waseca, Freeborn and Steele counties in 1866 and 1867, his being the sixteenth district. He was chairman of the military and towns and counties committees, and on two or three others, doing much more work than talking. He was strongly in favor of the measure requiring railroad companies to pay taxes on their lands as soon as the title was received from the state, and used his best influence to get the normal schools located at Mankato and Saint Cloud. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 251 He was originally a whig, and cast his first vote for General Harrison for President in 1840. Since 1856 he has been a republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and steward of the same, being an active christian, a man of the purest character, and one of the best citizens of Waseca. Mr. Lowell was first married in April, 1842, to Miss Martha A. Webster, of Unity, Maine. Her father was a cousin of Daniel Webster. She had seven children, and died in June, 1858. Only two of her children are living. The eldest child, Alvano V. Lowell, became a lieutenant in a colored regiment at New Orleans before he was eighteen years old, and was mustered out as major. He afterward fitted himself to enter the junior year in college, and then died of disease contracted in the army. He was a noble christian man, preparing for the Methodist ministry. One of the two surviving children by the first wife, Lizzie, is the wife of Samuel H. Glidden, of Waseca. The other child, Ida, is sinole, and livino- in Boston, Massachusetts. His second wife was Mrs. Sarah A. Lincoln, of Otisco; married in November, 1859. He has had five children by her, only two of them now living, — Benjamin A., aged seventeen, and Sarah M., aged eleven years. HENRY J. HORN, . SAINT PAUL. HENRY JOHN HORN is of Swiss descent on his father's side, his grand- father coming over from that country when a young man, and settling in the " Keystone State" probably before the American revolution. The parents of Henry were John Horn, in early life a carriage-maker by trade, and Priscilla Fentham, who was of English pedigree. John Horn was a man of considerable influence, a prominent democratic politician, a good deal in public life, and at one time the naval officer in the custom-house, Philadelphia. A brother of his, Henry Horn, was a member of congress from Pennsylvania some time during the administration of General Jackson, and at one time collector at the port of Philadelphia. The subject of this brief sketch was born, reared and educated in the city of Philadelphia, his birth being dated March 25, 1821. After receiving a good 252 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. knowledge of the common English branches and the classics, he entered the law office of Hon. Henry D. Gilpin, attorney-general of the United States, under Mr. Van Buren ; read law diligently for about three years and was ad- mitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1849, ^'"^d practiced there till June, 1855, when he settled in Saint Paul. Here at one time he was the law partner of Reuben B. Galusha, at another of W. W. Billson, now United States district- attorney, but for the greater part of the time has been alone. Of late years he has made a specialty of real estate and railroad practice, and has always done a remunerative practice. He has long occupied a place in the front rank ol the Minnesota barr By the breadth of his professional learning, by his conscientious fidelity to court and client, he has, by common consent, earned the high reputa- tion which he enjoys. He has, no doubt, exercised a wholesome and lasting influence upon the jurisprudence of the state. In the thoroughness of his learn- ing in the law of real estate, he is regarded as second to none ; yet the character- istic in which he is even more distinguished is the ready and impartial skill with which, in his usually varied practice, he ranges through all the different depart- ments of law. Mr. Horn is a good example of the success which attends untiring industry, unswerving rectitude of purpose, and studies directed to a single end. He is one of the closest students in the city of Saint Paul. He went into the law from a love for the profession, and that love does not seem to have abated. When not otherwise engaged, he is poring over his books. He has a taste for classical studies, in which he freely indulged at one time in the Philadelphia schools, and occasionally consults Homer and Virgil, in order to keep the dust off his literary wardrobe. Mr. Horn was a democrat until the civil war commenced, and is now what would be called an independent republican. He has held but few civil offices, and these mostly during his earlier years in Saint Paul. Something like twenty years ago he was city attorney for several terms; was subsequently county attorney and corporation council; has had much to do with amending and model- ing the city charter at different times, and has done good work in the city school board. Mr. Horn is a member of the " House of Hope," a Presbyterian church, and an elder of the same. He is a conscientious, kind-hearted christian man, always ready to assist a destitute neighbor, or aid in lifting up sin-stricken humanity. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 253 His wife was Miss Fanny Banning, a native of Delaware, their union takino- place on the ist of September, 1859. They have had seven children, and lost three of them. REV. JOSEPH W. HANCOCK, RED WING. THE oldest white settler in Red Wing, still living here, is Joseph Woods Hancock, a teacher among the Dakota Indians at this point as early as 1849, — the year that Minnesota took its separate territorial name. He is a descendant of the old Massachusetts family of Hancocks, and was born in Or- ford, Grafton county, New Hampshire, on the 4th of April, 1S16, his parents being Joseph and Lydia Peck Hancock. The Pecks also were from Massachu- setts. His father served a short time in the second war with the mother country, being at the battle of Plattsburgh. He was a blacksmith by trade, and also had a farm, on which the son was reared. The latter prepared for college at Brad- ford, Vermont, purposing to take a liberal course of education, but, his health failing, he taught more or less in New Hampshire, Vermont and western New York until 1840, when he came as far west as Ouincy, Illinois, where he taught a select school, and studied theology in an institution which was closed in a few years. In the spring of 1849 Mr. Hancock came to Red Wing, then an Indian town, as a missionary teacher among the aborigines. At that time there was one white man, John Bush, an Indian farmer, and the family of Rev. John Alton, who had been sent here the year before and was about leaving. In 1852 Mr. Hancock was ordained to the christian ministry by the Dakota Presbytery; organized a Presbyterian church here in January, 1855, and was the pastor of it until 1861, preaching occasionally at the same time in the country. A little more than four years of this period he also served as register of deeds, being the first officer of that kind in Goodhue county. He was also the first postmaster at Red Wing, being appointed about 1851, and holding the office only a short time. In 1864 Mr. Hancock aided in organizing a Presbyterian church at Goodhue Center, thirteen miles from Red Wing, and preached there one half the time, and the other half at West Florence, where he also organized a church about the same time. In April, 1S64, Mr. Hancock was appointed county superintend- 254 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ent of schools, and by elections has held that office, off and on, in all at least ten years, being now in that position and doin^- a thorough work. He is a man who keeps steadily at his labor, whether it be secular or religious, and does every- thing in a very satisfactory manner. Probably no more useful man lives in Goodhue county. Mr. Hancock has a third wife. His first was Miss Maria M. Houghton, of Dana, Massachu-setts, chosen in 1846; she died in 1851, leaving two children, one of them since dying; the other, Marilla P., is the wife of William Holliday, of I'lorence, Goodhue county. The second wife of Mr. Hancock was Miss Sarah Rankin, of MiTinesota, married in May, 1S52 ; she died in March, 1859, leaving two children, Stella and James Otis, — the latter is a student in the State Uni- versity, Minneapolis. His present wife was Miss Juliet Thomson, daughter of Rev. James Thomson, who was the first pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mankato ; they were married in October, i860. HON. AARON GOODRICH, SAINT PAUL. THE first chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Minnesota was Aaron Goodrich, appointed by President Taylor in 1849, 'i''"-^ '^ resident of Saint Paul since that date. He is a native of the Empire State, was born in Sempronius, Cayuga county, on the 6th of July, 1807, and was a son of Levi Hamilton and Eunice (Skinner) Goodrich. He comes from the Connecticut branch of the Goodrich family, and his Saxon ancestors have been traced back to a period in English history prior to the advent of- William of Normandy. But Judge Goodrich builds no hopes of personal honor on any family tree, however tall : he believes that every man must climb for himself if he would rise at all. His mother was a sister of Dr. John .Skinner, once ma)or of New Haven, an'd who married a daughter of Roger Sherman. In 1815 Levi H. Goodrich moved to western New York, and the son spent his minority on a farm, receiving his education partly in district schools, but chiefly at home by the aid of his father, who was a scholar and educator, assist- ing six sons in that direction. After readinyf law awhile, he moved to Tennes- see; finished his law studies and commenced practice in Stewart county. In <^ir. -^-f^ Wtb . THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 257 1847 and 1848 he was a member of the Tennessee legislature, — the only whig that ever represented his district, — and the historian credits him with being an active and efficient member of that body. In the spring of 1849 ^"'^ ^^'^^ appointed to the supreme bench of Minnesota Territory; arrived here in May of that year, and served some three years, show- ing, by his ability as a jurist, the fitness of the President's selection. He took a prominent part in the new organization. Having been a close student and suc- cessful practitioner, he was competent to perform the labors of his new position. His personal and official integrity was never questioned. In 1858, when Minnesota became a state, Judge Goodrich, with a majority of the legislature opposed to him in politics, was appointed a member of a com- mission to revise the laws and prepare a system of pleadings and practice for the state courts. Two years later, by a legislature of the same political com- plexion, he was made chairman of a commission for the preparation of a system of pleadings and practice. Judge Goodrich has always opposed what is known as the " code " system of practice, and gave his views on this subject fully and clearly in the introduction to a minority report, which he made to the legislature in 1858. The legal student will find it worthy of consultation. In March, 1861, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, secretary of lega- tion at Brussels, and served in that capacity a little more than eight years. During that period he had an excellent opportunity to gratify his literary, and more especially his antiquarian, tastes. He has many valuable tokens of his research while in the old world, consisting of rare and singularly illustrated books. He visited most of the public libraries in the great cities of Europe, and gathered much of the material for a work which produced quite a sensation, — "A History of the Character and Achievements of the so-called Christopher Columbus," a work of four hundred pages octavo, published by D. Appleton and Co. in 1874. He is now preparing a carefully revised edition, which may not, however, appear for some time. The real name of Columbus was Griego, whom he shows to have been a pirate of forty years' standing, getting possession of the log-book of a dead mariner, and setting up for a discoverer. In politics, the Judge was originally a whig, and was a presidential elector in 1848. On the demise of that party he joined the republican, and was a delegate, in i860, to the national convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln, Judge Goodrich voting for William H. Seward. We notice, by the files of the 30 258 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Saint Paul " Daily Times," of i860, that, in reply to a letter from Judge Good- rich, Governor Seward signified his readiness to speak to the citizens of Minne- sota on the absorbing political topics of the day; that on the 17th of September, "as soon as the uproar had in a measure subsided. Judge Goodrich appeared on the balcony of the ' International,' and, in one of the best speeches ever made by that gentleman, introduced to the people the man who for nearly half a century has espoused and advocated the cause which was dear to every lover of humanity and freedom." That address of welcome and introduction has become historic, and we hazard nothing in pronouncing it one of the finest specimens to be found in- our annals. He was a delegate to the liberal repub- lican convention which met in Cincinnati, in 1872, and which nominated Horace Greeley, he voting for Judge Davis, now United States senator from Illinois. Latterly the Judge has acted with the democratic party. He is a PVeemason — is past deputy grand master of the grand lodge of the state, and has written no inconsiderable quantity of masonic literature, some of which has attracted much attention. He was one of the corporate members of the Minnesota Historical Society, of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, and of the Old Settlers' Association of Minnesota, acting for several years as secretary of the latter society. Among the pioneers in this state few have made a more commentlable record. Judge Goodrich, as before intimated, is anti(]uarian in his tastes; fond of old and curious books, of which he possesses some rare specimens ; is pos- sessed of fine conversational powers ; original and forcible in the expression of his thoughts and opinions, yet possessed of a kindh' nature ; is unselfish and strong in his attachments ; devoted to the men and measures of his choice, and was personally known to, and possessed the confidence of, three of our Presidents, — Taylor, Lincoln ami Johnson. The good opinion which he most prized was that of the late William H. Seward, who said and wrote many flatter- ing things of him, among them the following: "The tour which I made in the year i860, in the western states, was undertaken at the instance of several political friends, among whom none was more earnest or influential than Judge Goodrich, — his good nature induced him to attach himself to me as a com- panion. Much of the enjoyment I found on the journey was ilue to his geniality, and if there was any inspiration in the speeches I made, I should attribute it to his profound, yet sparkling and humorous, conversation." THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 259 He was one of the founders of the republican party in Minnesota. In Sep- tember, 185.7, as chairman of the committee on resolutions, he drew and pre- sented to the first republican convention ever held in the state a "platform" remarkable for its terseness and adaptability to that period in our political his- tory, the "squatter-sovereignty" and "border-ruffian" times. It was adopted amid acclamation by a unanimous vote. Of this production Mr. Seward, one of the founders of the republican party, wrote : " I have rather a prejudice against than favor for political platforms, yet yours is sufficient to redeem the multitude of platforms from censure or reproach.- May I not, then, hope that the free- men of Minnesota will boldly mount upon and never leave it." In the campaign which followed, Judge Goodrich, though not a candidate for office, took an active part, and he, with Governor Ramsey, Hon. I. Donnelly and others, "stumped the state." There were incidents in this campaign which will long be remembered. Stump-speaking was, perhaps, the oratory in which he most excelled. In 1870 he was united in marriage with Miss Alice Paris, of Bogota, New Grenada; they have one child, a daughter, five years old. Mrs. Goodrich is a descendant of the old Castilian family de Paris, ennobled in the time of Charles I, of Spain ; the elder branch of which moved to Columbia about a century ago; her father, Don Enrique, being during his life-time the head of the family. Her grandfather, Don Pepe Paris, was the friend of the liberator .Simon Bolivar, to whose memory he reared a bronze monument in the principal square of Bogota. This statue, cast in Italy, is regarded by connoisseurs as a work of art. Don Pepe Paris was owner of the celebrated emerald mines of Muso. Mrs. Goodrich was educated in Brussels. She speaks half-a-dozen of the lead- ing languages of modern Europe, and is one of the most accomplished ladies in Minnesota. HON. LUCIUS W. DENISON, M.D., FARIBAULT. LUCIUS W. DENISON, twenty-four years a practicing physician in Fari- ■^ bault, and at the present time a member of the legislature from Rice county, was born in the town of Brookfield, Madison county, New York, on the 17th of December, 1819. His parents, Joseph and Desire (Wilcox) Denison, were natives of Stonington, Connecticut. A maternal aunt of his, Mrs. Patty 2 6o THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAFIIICAL DICTIONARY. Wilcox Stanton, is still living, being in her one hundredth year. Lucius was the youngest child in a family of twelve children. His eldest brother, Joseph Denison, junior, was in the second war with England, and his grandfather, George Denison, was in the first. Young Denison completed his literary education at the W'hitestown, Oneida county. Seminary, where he attended two years; immediately afterward taught one year in Rhode Island ; then read medicine awhile witli Drs. Thomas and Gardner, of W'hitestown ; finished reading with Dr. Bailey, of Clarksville, a vil- lage in his native town, in which he was born ; attended a course of lectures in the medical department of the University of New York, in the winter of 1846- 47 ; a second course at Castleton, Vermont, where he received his diploma in the autumn of 1S47, and few months afterward a third course in the Buffalo Medical College. In the autumn of 1849 Dr. Denison located at Jefferson, Wisconsin ; two years later went to California ; employed several men in mining, while he did a little practice, such as he could not avoid doing; remained there until the spring of 1855, and then returned to New York. In October of that year he visited Faribault; was favorably impre.ssed with its site and prospects, and here made a permanent settlement. He has not been disappointed in the growth and history of the place, and has always had a fair share of business in his profession, in which he has a good standing. In a land of threshing-machines, he has had his share of limbs to amputate. He has been pension surgeon since the rebellion closed. Dr. Denison has been chairman of the school board of the cit\- of l*"aribault for the last twelve years, during whicli time its large and substantial houses tor eraded schools have been built; he is now chairman of the board oi countv com- missioners, there being five districts in the county, and has been a member of the legislature the last two years. During the session of 1S78 he was chairman of the committee on the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Pilind, and was on the conuiiittee on education, and one or two other committees. At the time of writing this sketch the session of 1S79 has not convened. The Doctor is a practical business man, and makes a valuable legislator. He voted for General Harrison for President in 1840, was a liberty party man in 1844, a free-soiler in 1848, and has been a republican since 1855. His relations to the party are seen in the place he occupies. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 261 In September, 1855, just before starting to make his home in Minnesota, Dr. Denison was joined in wedlock with Miss JuHa Franklin, a native of Madison county. New York, and they have had four children, losing one of them. Ger- trude, educated in the excellent public schools and Saint Mary's Hall, Faribault, is a teacher in one of these graded schools ; La Motte L., educated in the Shat- tuck School, Faribault, is a merchant in this city ; and Merton is attending the local schools, being only fifteen years old. HON. ROSCOE F. HERSEY, STILLWATER. ROSCOE FREEMAN HERSEY, state senator from Washington county, is a son of Samuel F. and Jane A. (Davis) Hersey, and was born at Mil- ford, Penobscot county, Maine, on the i8th of July, 1841. He is descended from an old revolutionary family, many members of which are living in Oxford county, Maine. The great-grandfather of our subject was a colonel in the army that fought for the independence of the colonies. James Hersey, grandfather of Roscoe, and a resident of Sumner, Oxford county, was a colonel of the Maine State Militia. His son, Samuel Freeman Hersey, also a native of Sumner, and born in 181 2, after receiving an academic education at Hebron, moved to Milford, and subsequently to Bangor, Penobscot county. He was a merchant, a banker and a lumberman, early and wisely invest- ing in timber lands in his native state, and later in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, — more than two hundred thousand acres in all. He was a man of remarkable foresight, tact, energy and prudence, his investments everywhere and in all ways yielding rich returns. For many years he was president of one of the state banks of Maine; was in the legislature in 1842, 1857, 1865, 1867 and 1869, and when he died, on the 3d of February, 1875, he was serving his second term in congress, from the fourth, or Bangor, district. He died at home, in the bosom of his family, and members of congress, in both houses, paid fitting tributes to his masterly business capacities, his high social and christian standing, and his worth as a legislator and statesman. Among those who pronounced eulogies on him in the house was Hon. Mark M. Dunnell, who is still a member of congress from Minnesota. In the course of his remarks he said : 262 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Maine has not alone witnessed his achievements. In 1854 he commenced the purchase of timber lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and with others erected a mill for the manufacture of lumber at Stillwater. Since that time he has had large interests at that point and elsewhere in the state. His money has aided in the construction of at least two railroads in our state. He owned at the time of his death not less than seventy-five thousand acres of timber lands in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and no inconsiderable amount in Michigan and Maine. Though a non-resident of Minnesota, Mr. Hersey did nuicli to advance the interests of the state, and especially of .Stillwater, and we make no apology for the amount of space here given to a record of his lite. He was thrice married, and of four sons hy his second wife, Roscoe was one. When he was six years old the family moved to Bangor, where he was educated in the graded schools ; then clerked in his father's store till of age. In luly, 1862, he raised a company for the i8th Maine Infantry, and was appointed state mustering officer. He was elected second lieutenant of company A; in August, 1862, was promoted to ist lieutenant, and in November, 1863, to captain. On the 19th of May, 1864, he was severely wounded in the left ankle at Spottsylvania Court House, and after being laid up and confined to crutches for nine months, was discharged. He was breveted colonel before leaving the service. Colonel Hersey spent two years in New Orleans, Louisiana, being engaged in the shipping and commission business. In the spring of 1867 he came to Still- water, and proceeded hence to Lake City, Minnesota, where he had charge of the mercantile house and lumber interests of Hersey, Staples and Bean tor five years, returning to Stillwater in 1872. He is of the firms of Hersey and Bean and Hersey, Bean and Brown, the former eneacred in timber and farmini'' lands ; the latter in loys, lumber and mer- chandise. His associates are Charles and Jacob Bean, long the associates of his father here in business, and Edward S. Brown. The firm of Herse)' and Brown is the largest owners of timber lands in the state, having more than one hundred thousand acres. Mr. Hersey devotes his time largely to looking after his father's estate, the property being scattered and requiring much attention. Colonel Hersey is vice-president of the Lumberman's National Bank, Still- water ; secretary of the Stillwater (tlouring) Mills, and director of the Saint Paul, Stillwater and Taylor's Falls railway, the Saint Paul and Sioux City railway, the H udson and River Falls railway, and of other corporations of minor consequence. Still in middle life, his history, though brief, especially in connection with this THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 26 o commonwealth, is remarkably successful and decidedly praiseworthy. He puts his shoulder to every wheel of commendable enterprise, and very few lift harder than he. In him are combined the elements which make a truly valuable citizen — enterprise, public spirit and liberality. Mr. Hersey was elected state senator in the autumn of 1S77, — an office which was forced upon him, — and in the session of 1878 was placed on several impor- tant committees. He has a wife and three children, his wife being Miss Eva C. Wardwell, of Bangor, Maine, their marriage dating January 4, 1864. HON. WILLIAM W. BRADEN, PRESrON. WILLIAM WALLACE BRADEN, a native of Iberia, Ohio, is a son of Walter Braden, merchant, and later in life a farmer, and Margaret Bodley, and was born on the 3d of December, 1837. The Bradens were originally from Ireland, and settled in the Keystone State ; the Bodleys were early settlers in Ohio, and are numerous and prominent in some parts of that state. The grand- father of Margaret Bodley was in the continental army. William received a very ordinary education in the district school, and was reared at farming, which has always been his business. In November, 1854, he came to Fillmore county, Min- nesota, with his father, who is still living here, his age being seventy-eight. The mother also is living, being several years younger. Fillmore county was very sparsely settled twenty-four years ago, the Bradens being among the pioneers, settling at Lenora, in the southern part of the county, where our subject has a large farm, well improved. He has other lands in the county, and is indeed a well-to-do farmer; has always been a hard worker, and owes his accumulations solely to his industry and careful management. He has never found time to suck his thumbs, that being a doubtful method of support. Industry to him, like virtue, has been its own reward. Mr. Braden was a member of the legislature in 1866 and 1867, and is serving on his third term as county treasurer. He is one of the most popular men of the younger class in the county, being eminently trustworthy, and true alike to his friends and the interests of the county. 264 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In lune, 1862, Mr. Braden enlisted in the 6th Minnesota \'ohinteers ; became 1st lieutenant company K, and was promoted to captain in 1863. Before the retjiment had received marching orders southward the Indian outbreak occurred, and in the autumn of 1862 it accompanied General Sibley to the western plains, and afterward went to the south, beinjf in the service till September, 1865. Dur- ino- these three years, though in several fights. Captain Braden never received a wound. He was provost-marshal a long time in southwestern Missouri, with headquarters at Springfield. In politics, he is a republican, straight, unwavering, and often attends congres- sional, state antl other conventions as a delegate, being quite prominent in the party, and a conscientious as well as earnest worker for its interests. In the Masonic fraternity he is a Knight Templar, and is high priest of Preston Chapter, No. 32. Captain Braden has a wife and three children, his marriage taking place on the 7th of March, 1866. His wife was Miss Addie Griswold, a native of Penn- sylvania, and living, when married, at Spring Valley, Fillmore county. They lost their second child. HON. JOHN H. CASE, FARlBAirLT. JOHN HIGLEY CASE, son of Jairus Case, a physician, is of very early Connecticut stock, his ancestor in this country, John Case, being a pioneer at Windsor, in that state, and only a few years behind the Plymouth Colony. The Higleys also were early settlers in Connecticut. The subject of this brief sketch spent his youth in securing a liberal education, working at times on a small faim which his father owned and cultivated, partly that his sons might learn to work and develop their muscle. He prepared for college at Willislon Seminary, East Hampton, Massachusetts, and Sufheld Literary Institute, Con- necticut; graduated from Yale College in the class of 1855, studied in the law department of the same institution, and was admitted to the bar at New Haven in the spring of 1858. Mr. Case opened a law office at Faribault in November, 1858, and has been in steady practice here for twenty years. He is a man of studious habits, well read, thoroughly posted in the statutes, and excels as a court lawyer. He at- /U/l^t^o? '^ y^L ^O THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 347 On settling in Minnesota, Mr. Merriam became a partner of J. C. Burbank and R. Blakeley in the stage and express business, and at the same time engaged with J. C. and H. C. Burbank and A. H. Wikler in the forwarding and commis- sion business, and In wholesale merchandising in Saint Paul and retail at Saint Cloud. When the .Saint Paul Foundry and Manufacturing Company was formed, he became a stockholder, and for years has been engaged in making all kinds of heavy machinery, such as engines, car wheels, etc. When the First National Bank of .Saint Paul was incorporated, Mr. Merriam became a stockholder, and now holds the same connection with the Merchants' National Bank of this city. He has also had considerable to do with railroad enterprises; was one of the originators of the -Saint Paul and Sioux City railroad, and is vice-president of the company; is also a director of the Sioux City and Saint Paul Railroad Company; the .Saint Paul, Stillwater and Taylor's Falls company, and vice-president of the Worthington and Sioux Falls Railroad Com- pany. His heart and his best energies are promptly enlisted in any enterprise that tends to develop the wealth of the state and increase the growth and prosperity of his adopted home. Mr. Merriam was a member of the legislature in 1S71 and 1S72, being a re- pu.l)lican, and elected in a strongly democratic district, thus indicating his great popularity. What is unusual, he was elected speaker the hrst session, and he did so well, though fresh at the business of presiding over a legislative body, that he was reelected, making a popular presiding officer, being courteous, prompt and a good business dispatcher. Mr. Merriam has been a republican since the demise of the old whig party, in which he was reared. He was a delegate in 1876 to the national convention which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler. Mr. Merriam is somewhat active and influential in his party. He is a. Knight Templar in the Masonic order; the junior warden in Saint Paul Episcopal Church, and a man of very pure character. Mr. Merriam was first married in January, 1S48, to Miss Mahala K. De Lano, of Westport, New York. She died in February, 1857, leaving one son, William R. Merriam, now cashier of the Merchants' National Bank, Saint Paul. Mr. Merriam's present wile was Miss Helen Marion Wilder, of Lewis, Essex county, 4° 348 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. New York, and a sister of Amherst H. Wilder, of Saint Paul; married in No- vember, 1858. She has had six children, four yet living, — Jennie E., John W., Robert H. and Alanson Wilder. J JAMES M. COLE, M.D., WINONA. AMES MONROE COLE, the oldest physician in Winona, located here two years after the first squatter, and when there were not more than twenty-five families in the place. He has seen it grow from a few shanties and one-story frame houses, without church or school-house, to a city of twelve thousand inhab- itants, with fifteen or twenty houses of worship, three large brick buildings for <-Taded schools, and one of the best normal-school buildings west of the Missis- sippi river. Dr. Cole early became a member of the city school board ; identified himself at once with public enterprises tending to advance in any way the inter- ests of the place, and had from the start bright hopes of the future of his adopted home. Those hopes have not been blasted or disappointed. Dr. Cole belongs to an old Connecticut family, his grandfather, John Cole, moving thence into Montgomery county, and later to Onondaga county, New York. The parents of the Doctor, Moses and Sophia Clink Cole, were living at Fayetteville, in that county, when the son was born, on the 4th of February, 1824 his father being a judge of sessions and Justice of the peace for several years. He received an academic education in his native village; at sixteen years ol age com- menced aiding his father, who was a builder and contractor in some public works; in the summer of 1S43 visited Chicago, worked on the harbor improvements, and the next winter taught a district school in Du Page county, thirty-five miles west of Chicago. The next spring he returned to New York, read medicine with Dr. Horace Seaman, of Millport, Chemung count)-, teaching one more winter; at- tended lectures at the Geneva College, antl finished his medical education in 1846. Dr. Cole i)racticed about two years in company with his preceptor, at Mill- port, six years at Waverly, Tioga county, in the same state, and in June, 1854, settled at Winona, following his profession constantly from that date, except at short periods when in the service of the state. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 349 He. has been city physician and county physician ; was a member of the state legislature in 1877 and 1878; has held a few offices in the municipality of Winona, and in all positions has proved himself a trustworthy servant of the people. Dr. Cole has acted uniformly with the democratic party, being formerly of the Douelas wingr and has been a Freemason and Odd-Fellow since a resident of this state. He was the first noble grand of the Odd-Fellows' lodgre at Winona; has taken the thirty-second degree in Scottish-rite Masonry, and was at one time grand commander of the Knights Templar of Minnesota. At an early day Dr. Cole was familiar with every Indian trail in southeastern Minnesota, and found many of his patients by the name of the trail. People, however poor, could and still can count on his prompt and careful attention. On the 17th of March, 1847, Miss Mary Wheeler, of Chemung county. New York, became the wife of Dr. Cole, and of nine children, whom they have had, six are still living, all in Winona. The two eldest, George M. and Alice, are married; the former is a carriage trimmer, the latter is the wife of W. H. St. John, jeweler. The other children are James B., William A., Jennie and Harry J., most of them graduates of the Winona high school. HON. IGNATIUS DONNELLY, NININGER. IGNATIUS DONNELLY, for four years lieutenant-governor of Minnesota, for six years a member of congress, and for the last five years a member of the state senate from Dakota county, is of Irish descent, his progenitor in this country coming over from Tyrone county, Ireland, about 1817, and settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The subject of this sketch is a son of Dr. Philip C. and Catharine (Gavin) Donnelly, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 3d of November, 183 1. He was educated in the graded schools and high school of his native city; graduated from the latter in 1849 ; was made master of arts three years later; read law with the celebrated Benjamin Harris Brewster; was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1852 ; practiced there until 1856, and then came to Minnesota and settled at Nininger, Dakota county, where he pur- chased from time to time nearly one thousand acres of wild lands and opened a farm. 350 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Donnelly was elected lieutenant-governor in 1859, when only twenty eight years old; was reelected in 1861, and served tour years. In 1S62 he was elected to congress from the second district, and was twice reelected, serving in the thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth and thirt\-ninth congresses. While in congress he championed the cause of education, and was the first to advocate the establish- ment of the department of education, now a permanent part of the general gov- ernment. He was also the first to advocate in congress the necessity of laws to encourage the raising of trees and groves upon the [niblic lands, antl was much ridiculed at the time for so doing, but events have justified his foresight. He also sought to amend the laws as to railroad land-grants, so as to nnpiire the huuls to be sold in a reasonable period, and at low prices. While absent from congress, in the State of New Hampshire, making speeches for the republican party, he was made the subject of a violent attack in the Saint Paul " Press," by Elihu B. Washburne, then a member of congress fr(Mn Illinois. On his return, Mr. Donnelly replied to Mr. Washburne on the floor of the house, in a speech that has become historical. He fully exculpated himsell fi-om the charges [ireferretl by Mr. Washburne, and then assailed the record and character of his traduccr. In 1868 Mr. Donnelly was a candidate for congress for the fourth time, but was defeated by lion. Eugene M. Wilson, democrat, through the machinations ol the Washburne family, who hired General C. C. Andrews to run as a bolting candidate against him, and drew off enough of the Scandinavian republican vote to give the district to the democracy. Andrews was rewarded by being appointed, through the instrumentality of Elihu B. Washburne, minister to Stockholm. Since first entering congress, Mr. Donnelly has entirely abandoned the legal practice, and is now devoting himself to farming and journalism. He has several farms in Dakota county, and in 1875 he purchased three thousand acres ot land from the .Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad Company, situated close to " Donnelly .Station," in .Stevens county, in the western part ot the state, where he has about four hundred acres under cultivation. He is one of the large farmers oi Minnesota. On the i6th of July, 1874, he started the "Anti-Monopolist," an independent weekly paper, the circulation of which ran u[) to more than twelve thousand copies in a few months. Its circulation is probabl)' the largest of an\- weekly gazette in the state. It is conducted with great ability, and wields a powerful influence. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 351 Mr. Donnelly was married in Philadelphia, on the loth of September, 1S55, to Miss Catharine McCaffrey, of that city, and they have had four children, all yet livino- but the youngest child. HON. JAMES E. CHILD, WASECA. TAMES ERWIN CHILD, editor and proprietor of the Minnesota " Radi- J cal," and an early settler in the Territory ot Minnesota, is a son of Zabina and Orrilla (Rice) Child, and was born in Jefferson county, New York, on the igth of r^ecember, 1833. His grandfather, Daniel Child, moved into .Saint Law- rence coimty irom Vermont when northern New York was very sparsely set- tled. The Rices were early settlers in Jefferson county. The father of Orrilla Rice was a revolutionary soldier. Zabina Child moved with his family to Lake county, Ohio, when James was about eleven years old, and two or three years later to Dodge county, Wisconsin, remaining there about seven years. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, which he worked at himself, but purchased land for the sons to improve. By the time he was eighteen years old James had fitted himself to teach, and for two or three winters thus devoted his time. He went from Dodge to Outagamie county when about twenty, and in 1855 came into the Territor\- of Minnesota, and located at Wilton, then Blue Earth, now Waseca, county. There he farmed awhile, read law and was admitted to the bar in 1862. The next year he became the editor of the " Wilton News"; purchased it a year or two later; conducted it there until 1868, when, on the completion of the Winona and Saint Peter railroad to Waseca, he removed to this place ; changed the name of his paper to the " Waseca News," and in January, 1874, called it by its present name. It is a general newspaper, thoroughly devoted to the interests ot the family, with prohibition as its leading feature. This question Mr. Child discusses with much earnestness and ability ; at the same time he devotes a lib- eral space to county and general news, and thus makes a popular paper. Mr. Child has never wholly abandoned the law, and latterly has paid consid- erable attention to it. .Since locating in Waseca county he has held a variety of county, legislative and other offices, faithfully discharging his duties in all of them. Several years 352 THR UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. aojo he was county attorney two terms; was afterward judge of probate one term; was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1861 and 1874; of the state senate in 1872; was county superintendent of schools one term (1868); was employed to take the census of half the county in 1870, and was deputy United States marshal during part of the time that the rebellion was in progress. He is one of the best known journalists in the stale, and respected for his sincerity and his rectitude of purpose, as well as for his talents and uprightness of character. In his younger years Mr. Child was an anti-slavery man ; joined the republi- can party on its formation, and still belongs to it, witli prohibition attached. He is a positive man, outspoken and fearless in advocating what he believes to be right. He is a Master Mason. On the iQth of April, 1856, Miss Justina Krassin, of Saint Mary, Waseca county, became the wife of Mr. Child, and they have had eight children and buried two of them. Walter, the eldest son, is foreman in his father's office, and the seconil son, S. Melvin, is opening a farm in Jackson county, Minnesota. The rest of the children are at home. Annie E. is a graduate of the Norman School at Mankato, antl a teacher. The rest are i^ursuing tlieir studies at home. HON. LIBERTY HALL, GLENCOE. LIBERTY HALL is a son of Jeremiah and Sarah (Knight) Hall, and dates ■^ his birth at Peru, Oxford county, Maine, on the 27th of Jul)-, 1826. His grandfather Liberty Hall, for whom he was namc-d, and who was a soldier in the second war with England, had nine children, all sons, and died, together with his wife, when ])oth were about forty \-ears old, leaving their sons a legacy of a robust constitution and a good stock of virtuous principles. They were all l)orn in Readfield, Kennebec county, Maine, grew to a goodly height, and lived to old age, — two of them, including Jeremiah (now seventy-eight), yet living. All but one exceeded six feet in height, and their aggregate height was fifty-six feet. Three of them were ministers, four mechanics and two farmers, Jeremiah being, in fact, both mechanic and farmer. The subject of this brief memoir was reared on the farm until eighteen years THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 353 of aoe, receivine, meanwhile, an academic education at Monmouth, in his native state. He taught school during the winter months from eighteen to twenty-one years of age, doing different kinds of work the rest of the year; then traveled four years for Dr. Colvin Cutter, the famous writer on physiology and hygiene, and subsequently twenty-five years for the great publishing house of D. Appleton and Co. During that long period of a quarter of a century he was traveling- most of the time, visiting nearly every state in the Union east of the Mississippi, and two or three west of it. His home, during the last Fifteen of those years, was at Rochester, New York, where he served several years on the school board, of which he was president one term. In 1866 Mr. Hall came to Minnesota to die. He has lost four sisters by con- sumption ; his own lungs were affected, and he was growing weaker from year to year. On reaching Glencoe he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, cultivated it four seasons; purchased the Glencoe "Register" in 1873, and is still conducting it in company with his elder son. To the publishing business he added books and stationery in 1875, and since October, 1877, has been of the firm of Hall and Greaves, druggists and booksellers. As a journalist, he looks for the abstract right of a (|uestion, and advocates it with great power. His political leaders in the " Register" have repeatedly found many inlluential factors in the public sentiment ot the state. Soon after settling here Mr. Hall was elected county superintendent of schools, holding the office four years, and performing its duties in a most satisfactory man- ner. Probably no man in the state has given more attention to the subject of school te.xt-books, and the general wants of institutions of learning of all grades, than Mr. Hall. It has been, in fact, his study for more than thirty years, and he has done a noble work in assisting to raise the standard of the public schools of McLeod county. While a member of the legislature in the session of 1873 he did his best work on the committee on education. On every cpiestion to which he gives his thoughts his mental insight seems to be not only clear, but instanta- neous. Mr. Hall has always been a republican, and is the most prominent man of his party in the county. In 1874 and 1876 his friends insisted on presenting his name to the convention tor nomination for congfress, and on both occasions he received the vote of several counties. In 1877 he was the republican candidate tor state senator, running in a district 354 THE UNITED STATES BJOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. which usually gives six hundred democratic majority, yet coming within less than one hundred and hfty votes of an election. He is a strong political canvasser. In his earlier life he enjoyed the confidence oi many men whose lives have since become a large part of history ; among them was notably the late Salmon P. Chase. In his religious views, .Mr. Hall would be classed among the liberals. In June, 1S54, Miss Maria Cobb, of Rochester, New York, became the wife of Mr. Mall, and they have lost two children and have three living: Clifford 1'"., aged twent)'-four, is a i)artner of his father in the printing business; Harry L., aged sixtec-n, and Maria L., aged nine years, are attending school. HON. THOMAS J. HUNT, DODCE CENTER. THE subject of this sketch is a triplet, the middle one of three boys: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The )'oungest, James Madison, died at two \ears of aye, and Georye Washington is a orraduate ol the medical department of Harvard University, and practicing in New Hampshire. The three sons were born at Georgia, Franklin county, Vermont, on the 20th of May, 1829, their parents being Harry and Mary (Staples) Hunt. The father, a soldier in 1812-15, is yet living, being eighty-eight years old; the mother died in 1876, aeed eiehtv-two years. Both were born in Connecticut, and were of old Puritanic families. Thomas |efferson spent his boyhood on his father's farms in Georgia and New Haven, Vermont; received an acatlemic etlucation in the Troy Conference School at Poultncy, Vermont ; fitted himself lor a surveyor; came to Wasioja, Dodge county, Minnesota, in the spring of 1S57; took a subcontract lor govern- ment surveying, and has done more or less of that business, though not lor the government, for twenty years. He is now engineer antl surveyor for the corpora- tion of Dodge Center, where he has lived since 1872. In August, 1862, at the time of the Indian outbreak, Mr. Hunt enlisted as a private in company B, loth Minnesota Volunteers; was on the frontier a little more than one year, and then went south with his regiment. He was promoted to first sergeant and second lieutenant, and was part of the time on the stafi ot THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 355 General Scofield, and later on that of General Rosecrans. He was wounded in the face at the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, having five teeth knocked out, and draws a small pension. His military record is in every respect highly creditable. He was a member of the legislature in 1S59, 1S60 and 1870, doing much more work than talking. In 1872 he left farming, opened a store at Dodge Center, and has since been in the mercantile business. He is a republican in politics, a Master Mason, and a deacon in the Congrega- tional church; an upright, high-minded, active and very useful citizen. He has held various town offices, and has shown his public spirit in many ways, takino- great pride in the growth of the young railroad town where he resides. Miss Mary M. Langdon, of New Haven, Vermont, became the wife of Mr. Hunt, on the i6th of February, 1853. They have three children living, and lost their fourth child in infancy. Ella, the elder daughter, is the wife of James C. Miller, of Ellino-ton, Minnesota; Jessie M. is a student at Carlton Colleo-e, North- field, Minnesota, and Harry Hamlin, the only son, is pursuing his studies at home. PROFESSOR DAVID C JOHN, A.M., MANKA TO. DAVID CLARKE JOHN, principal of the normal school at Mankato, is of Welsh descent, being about the seventh generation from the progenitor of the family in this country. He is a son of Isaiah John, farmer, and, later in life, manufacturer and merchant, and Mary Bitler. and was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of February, 1835. He was reared on his father's farm until sixteen years of age ; then prepared for college at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pennsylvania ; entered the sophomore class of Dickinson College Carlisle, in September, 1856, and was graduated in 1859. Young John had been converted at twelve years of age, and joined the Meth- odist Episcopal church ; at seventeen commenced exercising his gifts as a local preacher, and immediately after leaving college went on the circuit, continuing his theological studies in private, — in other words, educating himself. He preached one year at Carlisle, two years at Baltimore, Maryland, two years at Bloomsburgh, and one year at Lewisburgh, in his native state, and at the end of six years in the 41 ■356 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. pastorate, his health, which had Ijcen gradually failing, gave way, and he was almost completely laid aside from lal)or for three years. The main trouble was with his voice, which he could not use in addressing a large congregation, but at leno-th could use it in a school-room, so he commenced teaching. He was con- nected in that vocation one year with the State Normal School at Bloomsburgh, and was four years at the head of the high school at Milton, Pennsylvania, hav- ing Pfreat success as a teacher. In the summer of 1873 Professor John accepted an in\itation to become prin- cipal of the State Normal School at Mankato ; reached this city on the 21st of Au'"^ust, and has since been at the head of this institution, the second (jf the kind establislied in tliis state. The first was started at Winona; a third is in opera- tion at Saint Cloud. In the year 1866 the legislature of Minnesota appropriated five thousand dollars for erecting the necessary buiUlings and paying the profess- ors and teachers of the Second State Normal .School, provided the city of Man- kato should donate an equal amount for the same purpose. The city complied with the condition, and the school was opened in the basement of the M. E. Church, on the ist of .September, 1868, under the superintendence of Professor Georsfe M. Gaye. On the 26th of October following it was removed to the sec- ond story of J. |. Shawbut's store, corner of Front and Main streets. The school continued there until the 26th of .April, 1870, when the Normal building was for- mally opened and occupied, about one month previous to the graduation of the first class. Professor Gage continued in the principalship until June, 1872, when he was succeeded by Miss Julia A. Sears, who served in that capacity for one year. She was succeeded by the present incumbent, on the 22d of July, 1873. Professor John is a very genial man, courteous and pleasant alike to teachers and pupils, and impartial to all associated w-ith him. He has a rare fund of good humor, and marked felicity and fertility of illustration, which makes him very agreeable in the recitation room, as well as in private circles. He is one of the most accurate thinkers and best educators in the state. He has had peculiar difficulties to overcome, growing out of the condition of the school before he took charge of it, but by firm, judicious management he has placed the Mankato institution in a most tlourishing comlition. While he is firm and rigid in his dis- cipline, few teachers secure the respect and affection of students more than Pro- fessor John. He has secured, since coming into the state, a tine position aniong its educated men, ranking very high as a scholar. He is well read in philosophy, THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 357 as well as theology, and is a rich sermonizer. He preaches occasionally, and has a cordial welcome to the best pulpits in the state. Professor John is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, and while in Pennsylvania was at one time eminent commander of Crusade Commandery at Bloomsburgh. He is also an Odd-Fellow, and a member of the Order of United Workmen. On the 23d of August, i860. Miss Adaline Emily Wells, of Wellsville, York county, Pennsylvania, became the wife of Professor John, and they lost one child in infanc)', and have four children living: Anna Miriam, aged fourteen; James Wells, twelve; David Clarke and Willie Nelson (twins), aged seven years. In 1872 Professor John published " The Guiding Star," a collection of Sunday- school music, three-fourths of the music and about a dozen of the h)'mns being of his own composing. He has written a few poems, which have had an extensive circulation through the newspapers. JAMES DOUGLAS, MOORHEAD. TAMES DOUGLAS, one of the first men to locate at Moorhead, Clay county, J on the eastern shore of the Red River of the North, is a native of Roxburo-h county, Scotland, and was born on the 13th of March, 1821. His parents were John Douglas, a miller, and Mary Hood. He comes from one of the branches of the old Douglas family, so noted in Scotch history, but has paid more atten- tion to his own individual concerns than to the pedigree of his ancestors. He evidently believes that one's claims to attention and respect are limited to him- self. James crossed the ocean to Montreal with his parents in 1832, the year that the cholera first found its way into the new world, and there he was educated in private schools, attending to the elementary branches only, but laying the foundation of a good business education. He learned the carpenter's trade when a young man, and as soon as he was "out of his time" commenced carrying on the building business, pursuing it for many years, usually having from eighty to ninety men working for him. In 1S52 he built saw and planing mills at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, selling out at the close of 1870, his health having been 35^ THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. poor for some time; and a change of climate being deemeil necessary. The mills arc still known as the Douglas mills. In February. 1S71, he started for the Red River country, and reached Moor- head before the close of that nKjnlh. A single claim had been made by a man of the ubiquitous name of .Smith, and one house stood here — put up by a stage company before the Indian outbreak of 1862. The Northern Pacific railroad was not located here until six or seven months later — -September, 1S71. Mr. Douglas started the lumber and hardware trade, bringing his nails, etc., from Saint Paul. He commenced trading in a temporary shed, ten by twelve feet; soon afterward erected a frame building, twenty-lour by lorty feet, and in 1876 put up the elegant brick store, thirty by seventy feet, which he now occupies for a hardware and grocery store and post-office, he being postmaster since 1871. At an early day here Mr. Douglas sold Hour and feed, as well as lumber and hardware, he supplying contractors, his entire business amounting to from forty thousand to seventy-five thousand dollars a year. He brought the first load of lumber, one hundred thousand feet, to Moorhead, drawing it all the way by teams from Morris, a distance of one hundred miles. He also brought the first steam thresher into the Red River valley, purchasing it for the use of the farmers, wlien the)' hatl no means of tlieir own. In 1875 Mr. Douglas Ijuilt the Manitoba and Minnesota, two steamers, for the Merchants' International line, which he organized, the steamers to ply be- tween Moorhead and Winnipeg. Subsequently he sold them to the Kittson line. Through his inlluence the Moorhead Manufacturing Company was organ- ized, in 1874, its first step in the way of improvements being to put up a fiouring mill with four run of stone, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars ; other ad- ditions have since been made to the mill at an expense of several thousand dollars. In 1878 Mr. Douglas built a steamboat ;ind three barges for the contractors of the Canadian Pacific railroad — Pembina branch — an enti-rprise which is to connect at \\'inni|ieg with the Saint Paul and Pacific railroad. Mr. Douglas has but little to do with politics, Init his s)-m|)athies are with the re|)ublican pari\-, h<' being an intimate as well as political friend of Senator Win- dom. Mr. Douglas was judge of probate for Clay county in 1872 and 187,:;, and is chairman o{ the school board of the city of Moorhead. He is a christian man, his connection here beino; with the Presbvterian church ; is very active in the temperance cause, having been a teetotaler from THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 359 boyhood, and his sympathies are with every enterprise having for its aim the social, mental or moral good of the people. Mr. Douglas was married on the 24th of August, 1853, his wife being Miss Wilhelmina Squire, of Montreal, a daughter of Rev. William Squire, many years superintendent of Wesleyan missions in Canada East, and well known as an eloquent preacher, and a zealous, untiring christian worker. Mrs. Douglas has had five children, and lost two of them. She is a worthy descendant of a noble sire — an affectionate and true christian mother. NATHANIEL S. TEFFT, M.D., PLAIN VIEW. NATHANIEL STACY TEFFT, many years a physician in Wabasha coun- ty, Minnesota, and repeatedly representing his county in the legislature, was born in Hamilton, Madison county. New York, on the i6th of July, 1830. His parents, Jeremiah and Sarah (Sweet) Tefft, were descendants of early Rhode Island families. His father was educated at Newport, in that state, and was a classmate of Commodore Perry. When the subject of this notice was about five years old the family moved into Chautauqua county. New York, settling on a farm four miles from Mayville, the county seat. The son received an academic education at Fredonia, Mayville and Panama, attending at the last named place a private school of the normal character. Mr. Tefft commenced reading medicine in 1848 with Dr. James Fenner, of Sherman, Chautauqua county; attended lectures two sessions, in 1851-52, in Cin- cinnati; there received his diploma in the latter year; practiced four years at Sherman, and in 1856 pushed westward across the Mississippi river and located at Minneiska, Wabasha county, sixteen miles from his present home, there prac- ticing for five years. During most of this period he also served as justice of the peace and postmaster. Postoffices were scarce in Minnesota, off the river, twenty- two and twenty-three years ago, and the Minneiska office supplied the country for a radius of twelve or fifteen miles, in some directions twenty miles. In 1861 Dr. Tefft removed to Plainview, and has here been in active practice to the present time, having a good reputation alike as a physician and surgeon, standing in the front rank as an operative surgeon. 360 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Dr. Tefft was a member of the first state legislature of Minnesota, being elected in the autumn of 1857; was in the same body again, lower branch, in 1861, and in the senate in 1871. In the first session he strongly opposed the loan bill of five million dollars for railroad purposes; went before the people and canvassed aoainsl it, and for this act became so popular that when he went to the leo-islature the second time he received every vole in his town. The politics of the Doctor were originally democratic, with a strong tincture of free-soilisni, and lu- naturally became a republican when that party was formed, his sentiments in this respect remaining unchanged. His name not unfrequently appears in th(; list of delegates to state and other conventions of his party. He is an inlluential man in the community in more than one respect, being among the foremost men in furthering local enterprises. He is a member of the order of Odd-Fellows, having passed all the chairs; is a member of the Minnesota State Medical Society, and was a trustee oi the Hospital for the Insane, at Saint Peter, for four years, his term expiring on the 1st of January, 1878. He is well known among the medical fraternity ot the state, his long and successful practice commanding their high regard. The Doctor has cpiite a mechanical turn of mintl, and discovers the beauties or deformities of a piece of mechanism at the glance of the eye. He invented the first automatic binder that made all the motions in binding grain by machinery. The wife of Dr. Tefft was Miss Hattie S. Gibbs, daughter of Dr. G. F. Gibbs, of Plainview ; they were married on the loth of November, 1866, and had one child, losing it in infancy. LEONARD DAY, MINNEAPOLIS. FEW of the pioneers of Minnesota are more entitled to be called self-made men, or have been more honestly or industriously successful, than the subject of this brief memoir. Leonard Day is a native of Leeds, Kennebec county, Maine, and dates his birth the 6th of May, 181 1. He is the son of a farmer, William Day, and his wife Lucy 7tce Thompson. His great-grandfather Day came from England at an early day and settled in Massachusetts, whence the grandfather of our subject moved to Georgetown, Maine, where was born Will- iam Day, who afterward removed to Leeds. The Thompsons were also from THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 361 England and settlers of Monmouth, Maine, which was the birthplace of Lucy Thompson. The grandfather of Leonard was a soldier in the continental army ; his father was in the war of 18 12-15. The early years of our subject were spent in working on the farm during the summers and attending the common schools through the winter months. His educational facilities ended in these district schools, and they were common, indeed, when compared with those of the present day. When eighteen years old he engaged in lumbering and farming. In this business he continued for twenty-five years, and they were long years of hard, rugged labor, such as but few outside of Maine can appreciate. In 1S54 Mr. Day made up his mind that he had lived in Maine long enough, and that there must be better opportunities in the western country for attainino- success for himself and family. He therefore joined the emigrants then crowd- ing toward the west, and came directly to Minneapolis, which was then but a small village. Here he at once engaged in lumbering, principally, but also opened a farm. In this business he has continued ever since, and, although he has lost in the aggregate about one hundred thousand dollars, yet he has been very successful. By incessant toil and earnest, energetic attention to his business, being fortunately possessed of e.xcellent business qualifications, he has been en- abled to attain a handsome competence, and to give his family a far different start in life than what he enjoyed himself About 1S70 he extended his field of action to include the Hour manufacturing. He is the head of Leonard Day and Sons, Day, Rollins and Co., and Leonard Day and Co., — all large and promi- nent firms, and doing an extensive business. In their lumber business all the timber is cut from their own lands, brought down the Mississippi river and sawed at their own mills, averaging from ten million to twenty million feet yearly. In politics, Mr. Day was originally an old-line whig, until the dissolution of that party, when he joined the republican party, of which he has been a staunch supporter ever since. In 1872, 1S73 and 1874 he was a member of the city council, against his desires, preferring rather to attend to his private affairs than to bother with public office. On the loth of May, 1832, Mr. Day was married at Wesley, Washington county, Maine, to Miss Lois Averil, who died in Minneapolis on the 31st of January, 1873, leaving six children: John Wesley, Lorenzo D., Augustine A., William H. H., Emma M, and Lois Anna ; the four sons are all married, and 362 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. engaged in business with their father, from whom they inlierit steady, industrious habits, that insure them successful careers. Mr. Day was married the second time, at Minneapolis, on the 15th of February, 1874, to Miss Etta Robinson, by whom he has one child, Leonard I)a\-, junior. AMHERST H. WILDER, SAIXr PAUL. AMHER.ST HOLCOMB WILDER, the subject of this brief biography, is ^ of English descent, and the grandson of Amherst Wilder, a tanner and currier, who moved from Vermont and settled in Lewis, Essex county, New York, in 182 i. He is the son of Alanson Wilder, also a tanner and currier, and later in life a merchant, who married Evelina Holcomb, who had two children, Amherst H., born on the old homestead of his grandfather in Lewis, on the 7th of Jul)', 1828, and Helen Marion, now the wife of John L. Merriam, one of the leading business-men of Saint Paul. Amherst spent most of his )outh in securing an education, finishing his school studies at the West Poultney (\'ermont) Academy; at twenty commenced busi- ness for himself, engaging in the manufacture of iron, and merchandising at Lewis in company with his father, continuing that business till the spring of 1859, when we find him at Saint Paul, in the firm of J. C. and H. C. Burbank and Co. The business of this^iouse was merchandising, commissions, storage and forwarding, — a house whose trade soon spread over a wide territory, and which showed a strong disposition to "push things" with remarkable enterprise. It put in opera- tion the first line of steamers that ever ran on the Red River oi the North. Mr. Wilder continued in this Ux\x\ until 1866 ; a little later was in the whole- sale grocery business one year, in compan)- with Channing .Seabury, since which time he has been engaged here in government contracting and transportation, in connection with [ohn L. Merriam ; and in connection with John H. Charles, of Sioux City, Iowa, he has a steamboat line on the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. He is also connected with the post-traders at Forts Keogh and Custer, and in a merchandising and outfitting house at Miles City, near Fort Keogh, Montana. Mr. Wilder is a stockholder in the Saint Paul Foundry and Manufacturing Company, and by investing in such enterprises is aiding to build up the capital r »^ f t Mif'irSlMMUASi'T: sISS^^cltfSRFY THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 365 of the " North Star State." He is also a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Saint Paul, and the Merchants' National Bank of the same place. For years he has taken great interest in the several railroads centering in Saint Paul or tending to further the interests of this city. He is a director of the Saint Paul and Sioux City, the Sioux City and Saint Paul (being vice-presi- dent of the latter company), the- Saint Paul, Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, and the Hudson and River Falls Railroad Companies. His funds, energies and solid judgment are enlisted in whatever is likely to promote the welfare of this young commonwealth. Mr. Wilder is not, we believe, a communicant in any religious denomination, but he is a church-goer, a liberal supporter of the gospel, and a vestryman in Saint Paul's Episcopal Church. On the i8th of September, 1861, Miss Fanny Spencer, daughter of Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, of Utica, New York, became the wife of Mr. Wilder, and they have one child, Cornelia Day, born at Saint Paul on the 24th of June, 1868. GEORGE W. MOORE, SAINT PAUL. GEORGE WILLIAM MOORE, deputy-collector of customs at Saint Paul since 1861, and a resident of the city since 1850, is a native of Pennsylvania, being born in Wells, Bradford county, on the 28th of May, 1824. His father, Israel Moore, was a son of William Moore, who was in the continental army from New Jersey. His mother, before her marriage, was Julia Ann Pettingell, whose grandfather was born in Providence, Rhode Island. From five to fourteen years of age George attended school about six months in a year, in a log-house in his native county; in 1S3S crossed the line to Elmira, New York, and learned the printing business, after which he attended the academy at Chester, Orange county. New York, at sundry times, in all perhaps two years, teaching also at intervals during the same period. Subsequently he worked in the book office of John F. Trow, of New York city, leaving there when twenty- six years of age, and reaching Saint Paul on the i6th of May, 1850. On locating here Mr. Moore became foreman of the weekly " Pioneer" office; in January, 1852, joined Colonel J. P. Owensin publishing the " Minnesotian," a 366 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. weekl\- at lirst ; started the daily of the same nann- in 1854, and was connected with it until 1S60; Dr. Thomas Foster purchased the interest of Colonel Owens in 1857. During this period, in 1859, ^he "Times" was united with the "Min- nesotian," and the firm of Nevvson, Moore, Foster and Co. was elected to do the legislative printing in 1859. Mr. Moore received his appointment of deputy-collector of customs in April, 1861, and is chief of the office here, the collector being stationed at Pembina, Dakota Territory. By virtue of his office he has also been custodian of the custom- house and postoffice building since its completion in 1874. Latterly Mr. Moore has not had very good health, and has had to be absent occasionally from the city, always, however, leaving a careful manager in charge of his business. When at his post he is very faithful and prompt in the discharge of every duty. He has held a few offices in the municipality of Saint Paul, and has guarded with vigi- lance the interests of his adopted home. Mr. Moore has been identified with the republican party from its inception ; was chairman of the republican county committee for more than a dozen years, and has been an indefatigable worker in its interests. He has been a member of the Ancient Landmark Lodg^e of Freemasons since 1854, the year it was organized. Mr. Moore was married in Saint Paul to Miss Julia Tuttle.a native of. Maine, on the 2d of June, 1859, and they have one child, Callie, aged twelve years. Mrs. Moore is a daughter of Colonel |. T. Tuttle, of Mercer, Maine, whose ancestors settled in Dover, New Hampshire, before the middle of the seventeenth centur\-. HON. LUKE HULETT, FARIBAVLT. LUKE HULETT, who opened the first farm in Rice county, Minnesota, and ' is still living on it, is a native of W'allingford, \"ermont, his ancestors being from Massachusetts. He was born on the i6lh of Januar)-, 1803, his parents beino- Asahel and Olive Goodell Hulett, both born and reared in Belchertown, Massachusetts. Mason Hulett, the grandfather of Luke, was a captain in the French and Indian war, commissioned by George \\\, and his eldest son, Nehe- miah, was in the revolution, entering near its close, at sixteen years of age. At i THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 367 twenty our subject left his father's farm; went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; be- came a contractor on the internal improvements of that state, thus operating for three or four years; then removed to Elkhart county, Indiana, and built the first house where Goshen, the countj' seat, now stands. There he farmed for eighteen years ; subsequentl}' spent four or five years in cultivating land in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, and in 1852 came to Saint Paul, Minnesota. In May, 1853, Mr. Hulett visited the place where Faribault now stands, three months after the Wapacoota band of Sioux Indians had disposed of their lands to the United States crovernment. The Indians had not left, and their wicrwams were abundant. There was no sign of civilization between Mendota, near Saint Paul, and the mouth of Straight river, where it unites with the Cannon at this point, and nothing of that kind here except Alexander Faribault's old trading- post. There was no frame house in the place. Mr. Faribault commenced his soon after, and had broken some ground years before, but never fairly opened a farm. Mr. Hulett made a claim under the territorial claim law, built him a cabin, commenced farming in earnest, and now resides only a few rods from the original cabin, one mile west of Main street. Levi Nutting, since surveyor-general of the district of Minnesota, accompanied him and made a claim, but did not settle here till two years later. About 1862 Mr. Hulett built a grist-mill, in company with Mr. Halsey M. Matteson, on the Cannon river, disposing of his interest in it two or three years later. He has lived a very quiet, unobtrusive and industrious life, devoted exclusively to agricultural pursuits. He was many years ago chairman of the board of county commissioners, and a member of the legislature in 1859-60. He was an old- line whig till the demise of that party, and has since been a republican. He has voted at every general election ever held in Rice county. In September, 1827, Miss Matilda Waldsmith, of Clermont county, Ohio, was joined in wedlock with Mr. Hulett, and of twelve children, the fruit of this union, only seven, all daughters and all married, are living: Clarissa J. is the wife of John Evans, of Missouri ; Caroline P., of Robert Smith, of Faribault ; Esther M., of Solomon Atherton, of Faribault ; Mary Ellen, of Emmons P. Taylor, of Dodge Center, Minnesota; Harriet Eliza, of Frank Carrier, of Iowa; Olive, of Orlando Johnson, of Medford, Steele county, Minnesota, and Frances Emma, of Austin Miller, of Faribault. Mrs. Miller was the first pure American child born in Faribault. 368 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mrs. Hiilett is ten years younger than her husband, and quite active. Mr. Hulf'tt feels very sensibly the infirmities of age, and does very little work. His mind is active and his memory quite clear. His home and farm are in the corporation limits, which are three miles scjuarc, and in twenty-five years he has seen spring up a city of six thousand inhabitants — the handsomest city of the smaller class in the commonwealth of Minnesota. HON. WARREN SMITH, WASECA. AMONG the residents of Waseca county in the territorial days of Minnesota ^ is Warren Smith, its present treasurer. He has held \'arious offices of trust and honor, and has uniformly discharged their duties in an acceptable and satisfactory manner. He is a native of Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 15th of November, 1821, his parents being Amasa Smith, a ship- carpenter, and Hannah Sturgis. He lost his father when he was eight years old, and earned his living after that date, the widow having eight children and no property. Warren was the seventh child. At sixtt-en he became an apprentice to the boat-building trade at Provincetown, on Cape Cod, and worked at it in his native state until thirty-three years of age. In 1855 Mr. Smith came to the Territory of Minnesota, locating at first in Faribault, Rice county, where he trafficked in general merchandise two years, and then removed to .Saint Mary, Waseca county. There he was engaged in mer- cantile business when the .Sioux outbreak occurred, in the summer ot 1862 ; be- came sutler of the loth Minnesota Infanlr_\-, and accompanied General Sibley to the i)hiins. The next season he went to .Saint Louis with the regiment ; soon afterward returned to Waseca county, and became a merchant at Wilton, then the county seat, trading there four or five years. In 1870 Mr. .Smith removed to Waseca and engaged in the lumber busintiss. In 1S73 he was elected county treasurer, and by reflections still holds the office. He is a man in whom the citi- zens of the county have implicit confidence, being perfectly reliable and always at his post. While a resident of Saint Mary Mr. Smith served as postmaster, justice of the peace, and county commissioner, antl while at Wilton was county audiltir. He was a nn;mber of the legislature in i 86g. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 369 He is a republican, with whig antecedents, a third-degree Mason, and past- grand in Odd-Fellowship. Miss Susan E. Johnson, of Provincetown, Massachusetts, was married to Mr. Smith at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 9th of October, 1853, and of five children, the fruit of this union, four are living: Minnie M., Mary L., George W. and Charles A., all residinu- at home. HON. GEORGE B. KINGSLEY, BLUE EARTH CITT. GEORGE BRADFORD KINGSLEY, a pioneer in Blue Earth City, and a native of Delaware county, New York, was born in the town of Deposit on the 2 1st of March, 1832, his parents being Isaiah C. and Catharine (Nutter) Kingsley. His grandfather, Bradford Kingsley, was from Connecticut. George received a common-school education; learned the carriage-maker's trade, the trade of his father; worked at it seven or eight years, and in November, 1854, came to Minnesota and became a clerk in a drug store at .Saint Paul. He afterward spent a short time in Red Wing, and in March, 1856, settled in Blue Earth City, purchasing an eighth interest in the town. At that time there were not more than a dozen families in the county. Mr. Kingsley aided in laying out the village, and dealt in cabinet-ware for a few years in company with another man. Prior to and during this period he read law more or less, and about ten years ago was admitted to the bar, the law now being his profession. He has near town a farm of two hundred and forty acres, which he is opening, working it, however, by proxy ; he has also property in the village, and is in comfortable circumstances. During the territorial days of Minnesota Mr. Kingsley received from Gov- ernor Gorman the appointment of justice of the peace ; was afterward elected to the same office, and held it several years. He was clerk of the court at an early day. In 1857 he was elected to the legislature, being in the first session held after Minnesota became a state. He has been a member of the board of super- vi.sors of the county, and is now its chairman ; is also city and township justice, and in many ways has made himself a very useful citizen. He has always been a diligent reader, is well posted on current events and general history, and has a good literary taste and much polish of mind and manners. 370 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Kingsley has always belonged to the democratic party, and is often sent as a delegate to district or state conventions, holding a prominent place in the party. He has repeatedly been the candidate of his party for the state senate or house, and, though living in a strongly republican district, has come within a few votes of being elected. He is past-master in the Masonic order. On the 23d of October, 1862, Miss Adelaide D. Nichols, of Lockport, New York, was married to Mr. Kingsley, and they lia\-e one child, h'rank Clinton, aged fourteen ; he is a student in the graded schools of Blue Earth Cit_\-, ami lias an excellent standing. Mrs. Kingsley is a member of the Presbyterian church and very active in religious and humane enterprises, 'being secretary for Blue Earth City of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and county secretary for the Minnesota Sunday-.School Temperance League. Her heart is in every good cause; she has a hand ready for every good work, a well cultivated mind, and decided literary talent ; her pen as well as her hand is used in philanthropic work, and her arti- cles-, both prose and poetic, are highl\- meritorious, alike in sentiment and hnish. HON. EDWARD THOMPSON, }IOI<. I //. EDWARD THOMPSON, a pioneer in Houston county and the leading citi- zen of Hokah, was born near Jordan, Province of Ontario, Canada, on the 8th of March, 1S27. His father, James Thompson, went from Massachusetts and settled at the falls of Twenty Mile creek, Ontario, and there built a woolen-mill. His grandfather fought for the independence of the American colonies. The mother of Edward was Sarah .Snure, she being of German extraction. The Thompsons were English. Edward was educated in private schools in Canatla; moved with the family to Roscoe, Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1842; studied natural philosophy, chem- istr)', engineering, and some of the scientific l)ranchcs ; learned the trade ot a ma- chinist, and worketl at it in different places until 1S51, when he pitched his tent at Hokah, and is the oldest settler in the coiuit}' now living here. This part of the territory was then neutral ground, and Indians were much more abundant than white men. Job Brown, of Brownsville, was Mr. Thompson's nearest neigh- bor on the west side of the Mississippi river. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 01 Here, in 1852, Mr. Thompson built a saw-mill on Thompson's creek, and run it three or four years, — the first mill on the west side of the river north of the Iowa line. In 1853 his brother, Clark W. Thompson, joined him, bringing ma- chinery for a flouring-mill, which was at first put up in the saw-mill, and which made the first flour in southern Minnesota. Three or four years later Mr. Thompson visited the city of Washington and aided in securing a land grant for a railroad, and grading was commenced in this vicinity a short time before the crash of 1857, and after that the work was soon suspended. It was commenced again in 1865, and Mr. Thompson became master mechanic of the road, holding that position until 1870, when the road was com- pleted to Faribault county. Since that date he has been in the lumber or milling business, running a saw- mill until 1874, and then a flouring-mill, rebuilding the latter in 1877, and since leasing it for a term of years. It has four run of stone and all the modern im- provements, being one of the best mills in Houston county. Mr. Thompson was originally a whig, and joined the republican party in its earliest incipiency, presiding over the flrst meeting of the kind in this part of the territory ; his brother, Clark W., was nominated at the same convention as a can- didate for the territorial council. The convention was held at Caledonia, the county seat, under an oak tree. It was the year before the republican party was organized in the territory under that name. Mr. Thompson was the first postmaster at Hokah, receiving his appointment from President Pierce ; he was also the first justice of the peace at this place, and the first treasurer of Houston county. The latter office he held but a few months, and less than twenty-five dollars passed through his hands. He was a member of the state senate in 1873 '^'''tl 1874, and is now county commissioner. He is a man of much enterprise and a good deal of force of character, and thoroughly identified with the history of Houston county. He is a Knight Templar among the Masons, and was one of the charter members of Hokah Lodge, No. 17. Mr. Thompson has a second wife ; the first was Miss Susan M. Jenks, of Ros- coe, Illinois, chosen in July, 1849 ! she died in September, 1862, leaving four chil- dren, two previously dying in infancy: Alice M. is the wife of Eugene G. Perkins, of La Crosse, Wisconsin ; Clark J. has a wife and lives in Hokah, and James S. and P^-ank E. are single. His present wife was Mrs. Orinda Hulbert, of Ogdens- 372 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. burgh, New York, and daughter of Alfred Baldwin ; they were married on the 25th of September, 1865, and have three children: Charles Edward, Susie Agnes, and Sarah Genevieve. The family attend the Presbyterian church. Mr. Thompson's first wife saw the face of no white woman, outside of her own famil)-, for more than a year after settling in Hokah. The town he gave that name because it is the Indian name oi the river (Root) on which the village is situated. We made an effort to secure material for a fair sketch of Clark W. Thompson, but failed. He is an older brother of the subject of this sketch, being born on the 23d of July, 1825. He was educated at the seminary at Mount Morris, Illi- nois; went to California in 1849; there superintended the construction of a quartz- mill ; returned in 1852, and went to Hokah, Minnesota, in 1853, and erected a tlouring-mill. He built a large part of the Southern Minnesota railroad between the Mississippi river and Wells, his present home, and was president of the com- pany some years. He is now engaged in milling and the dairy business. He was in the territorial legislature, the territorial council, the constitutional convention (1857), and the state senate in 1871 and 1872. HON. WILLIAM P. MURRAY, SAINT PALL. WILLIAM PORTER MURRAY, city attorney and for twelve or thirteen sessions a member of the legislature, first of the Territory and then of the .State of Minnesota, is of Irish pedigree; his grandfather, William Murray, coming over during the latter part of the eighteenth century, settling in Pennsylvania and participating in the second war with P3ngland. The father of William was John Murray, a jirinter by trade, who died in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1830. His mother, Jane W. McCullough Rowan, is still living. William was born in Hamilton, Butler, county, Ohio, on the 21st of June, 1827; at fifteen years of age moved with his mother to Centreville, Wayne county, Iniliana; there finished his educa- tion in the common school, then connected himself with the law department of the State University, at Bloomington, and graduated in 1849. Mr. Murray came immediately to Saint Paul, and has been in practice here for thirty years. Probal>ly no man in the state has had an ecpial share in its legislation. //^y^;^^ B£aS. &.S»'ulW»Ttlt.rST^-i- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. m He was a member of tlic house in 1852, 1853 and 1857; was in the territorial council in 1854 and 1855, being president of the council the latter year; was a member of the constitutional convention in 1857, of the house in 1863 and 1868, and of the senate in 1866, 1867, 1875 and 1876. When the democratic party was in the ascendancy in the state, prior to i860, Mr. Murray, as the records show, was usually placed at the head of one or more important committees, like the judi- ciary or railroad committee; and since the republicans have ruled in the legisla- ture, while he has been chairman oi no committee, he has usually occupied positions indicating that his legislative experience, sound judgment and mental resources, were fully appreciated by those opposing him in politics. Mr. Murray has served sixteen years in the common council of Saint Paul, and was its president six terms. He is now city attorney, an office which he has held since June, 1876. He is a member of the board of managers of the State Reform School, an institution which owes, in a cTeat measure, its existence to his efforts while a member ol the legislature. The county of Murray was named after him. Mr. Murray has always been a democrat, and, as a politician, has usually been cpiite active. His constituents in the city oi .Saint Paul, as is shown by this brief sketch, have kept him in office much of the time, and he has been a faithful worker for the interests of the city, the county and the state. As a lawyer, his standing at the Ramsey county bar is highly creditable; and as a man, he commands the warm esteem of a large and widening circle of friends. He is a Freemason, and past master in the order. Mr. Murray was married to Miss Caroline S. Conwell, of Laurel, Indiana, on the 7th of April, 1853, and they have had eight children, burying five of them. Mr. and Mrs. Murray observed their silver wedding on the 7th of April, 1878. DEXTER J. MALTBY, M.D., DETROIT. THE pioneer physician at Detroit, the seat of justice of Becker county, was Dr. Dexter j. Maltby, a son of Calvin Maltby, farmer, and Minerva Wood- ward, and a native of Watertown, Jefferson county, New York. He was born on the 25th of April, 18^3. The Maltbys early settled in Rhode Island, and the 43 374 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. great-grandfather of Dexter was in the rc\ olutinnary war. His lather went into the second war willi the mother country at the age of seventeen, and was in the battle of Sacket's Harbor. Dexter was eehicated in the graded schools of Watertown, and had begun the study of medicine when the civil war commenced. In the autumn of 1861 he enlisted as a ])ri\ate in the 94th New \'ork Infantry, serving much of the time, the first two and a half years,- as a hospital steward. He was in eight pitched battles, and received onl\- one or two very slight woumls. At the battle of Gettysburg!! he was taken piMsoner, paroled, and released at the end of three days. In April, 1S64, Mr. Mallb\' went before General Casey's military ex- amining board, and was commissioned lieutenant, but before the papers reached him hc' was taken jjrisoner at the battle of W'elden Railroad, Petersburgh, \'ir- ginia, and spent six months in Libl)y Prison and at .Salisbury, North Carolina, being finally released and reaching our lines at Wilmington, North Carolina, on the ist of March, 1865. He was sent directly to the camp Parole Hospital, near Annapolis, Maryland, where he had the typhoid fever, and where he remained until after Lee's surrender. On leaving the service Lieutenant Maltby returned to Watertown, resumed his medical studies, continuing them until early in 1S71, when he received a certificate from a medical examining boanl, auel came directly to Detroit, reach- ing here on tlu; rglh of April ol that year. At that time th(;re were tour tents, a frame store and a log hotel in the place, and but few settlers in the vicinity. His practice, the lirst season, was largely among railroad men and at Oak Cut, foiu' miles west. -Since locating here Dr. Maltl)y has attended two courses of lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa, and there graduated on the 5t]i of lune, 1S74. In the autumn of 1877 he went to New York, and took a partial course of lectures in the B(;llevue llos[)ital Medical College, one of the best institutions of the kind in the United States. The Doctor has an excellent medical education, and hjs reputation as a practitioner and surgeon stands high. His rides extend over Becker and into adjoining counties, — htty miles east and thirty west. Dr. Maltby is a republican in politics, but lets nothing of that kiutl interfere with his practice and medical studi(^s. He has written a little for medical period- icals, and still more for literary, such as the "Atlantic" and " Scribner's Monthly." THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 375 He has quite a literary taste and fine talents for writing', ornithology being a favorite subject tor his pen. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His religious connection is with the Baptists, he being clerk of the Detroit church. The Doctor has been married since February 22, 1866, his wife being Miss Lizzie H. Hayes, of Watertown, New York. They have three children. VESPASIAN SMITH, M.D., DULUTH. DOCTOR SMITH, son of James and Rebecca Emmet .Smith, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, on the 21st of October, 1818. He was educated in the common and private schools of his native town ; early had an inclination to the medical profession, and commenced reading medical works in private, teach- ing at the same time. Subsequently read about two years with Dr. J. N. Burr, of Mount Vernon ; practiced a few years at New Carlisle, Clark county, Ohio ; attended lectures in Cleveland, anil graduated from the medical department of Western Reserve College in March, 1S51; returned to New Carlisle and practiced there and at Mount Vernon until 1857, when he came to Superior, on Lake Superior, Wisconsin, and practiced there three years. iM'om i860 to iS'70 he was located at Bayfield, Wisconsin, following his profession, yet holding several offices. He was superintendent of schools for Bayfield county awhile ; was on the board of supervisors two or three years; was government physician to the Chippewa Indians from i860 to 1865, and was register of the United States land office, resigning that position in 1870 to remove to Duluth. On settling here, Dr. Smith resumed medical practice, and at an early day, as at Bayfield, had very extensive rides, extending now ami then a hundrc^d miles or more from home. In July, 1876, he was appointed collector of customs tor the Port of Duluth, and is now performing the duties of that office, wholly aban- doning his profession, except as consulting physician. He has had large ex- perience as a physician, and has a wide and excellent reputation tor skill, and all the kindly offices connected with the healing art. He continues to prescribe for the poor gratuitously. Dr. Smith is a member of the State Medical Society, and is serving his second T,-]6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIIfCAI. DICTIONARY. term on the state board of health, an office whose membership is filled by the governor with a ^'xvwV deal t)f care. The Doctor is a ri;publican, with whii( antecedents, and has much intkience in the narly. In religious sentiment he is a Unitarian, and in Masonry he stamls one degree beU)w royal-arch. His wife, chosen on the 9th of June, 1S46, was Miss Charlotte Neeley, of New Carlisle, Ohio. They have had four children, losing the first-born, Charles Emmet, in March, 1868, aged twent)'-one years; Louisa E., the only daugliter, is the wife of Dr. S. C. McCormick, ot Duluth ; b'rank B. is a druggist in Dululli, and Willie Neeley is comiileting his education in the local graded schools. Dr. Smith was mayor of Duluth in 1873 and 1874, chosen both times without opposition. Probably no man in Duluth stanils higher in the esteem of this community He has a good deal oi the true nobility ot nature, and belongs to that class of whom a commonwealth may be prouil. HON. LOUIS A. EVANS, SAiyr ciJH'D. LOULS A. EVANS, twenty-thrc^e years a resident of Minnesota, is a son of ■^ Levi Evans, who was a lieutenant in the war of 1812, and was born in a place now called Conshohocken, near l'liiladel|)hia. on the 21I ol November, 1822. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Wills; she is still living, her home being in Philadelphia. His father died about 1826. Mr. Evans's forefather came over with William Penn, anil bought a township of land in Pennsylvania of him, on pari of which land members of the family still live. Louis was educated in the graded schools of Philadelphia; there ser\'ed an apprenticeship in a piano-torte manulactory; worked in such a factor}, in that city and New York, until about 1 85 i , when he started a manufactory for himself in Cincinnati ; two or three years later was burnt out ;uul lost about six thousand dollars; went to CHnton, Mississippi, and became connectetl with a music store, a branch of a New Orleans house, and sold and tuned pianos. In 1856 he came to Minnesota, prospecting awhile, and in December of that year settled in .Saint Cloud. Here Mr. Evans opened a grocery and provision store; the ne.xt spring became a clerk in the United States land office; held it, and soon afterward the THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 2>77 office of postmaster, until iS6i, when he was elected clerk of the district court and judge of probate. He was admitted to the bar on the 27th of October, 1866. The office of clerk he held twelve years, and that of judge continuously to the present time, except in 1876 and 1877, when he was dealing in land and filling the office of city justice. During the earlier days of his judgeship he was editor and pro- prietor of the Saint Cloud " Times " for several years. His term of office of judge of probate will expire on the 31st of December, 1879. Judge Evans was in the Minnesota house of representatives in 1865, and in the senate in 1867. While in the legislature he introduced and secured the pas- sage of some important bills, and rendered good service to his constituents. In November, 1872, while he was judge of probate, his office and all the papers were destroyed, and, by an act of the legislature, February, 1873, '""^ was author- ized to restore all the records, unlimited powers being granted him. It was a hard task, but he finally accomplished it. Mr. Evans has always acted with the democrats, and several years ago was their candidate for auditor of state, but with no expectation of being elected, Min- nesota then, as now, being strongly republican. He was the first mayor of Saint Cloud, and has held this office three or four terms. He was a member of the council three years, and its president all the time, making a good executive officer. Mr. Evans has been married since June, i87i,his wife being Mrs. Elizabeth U. Libbey, of Saint Cloud, daughter of Hon. John K. Damon, of Maine. She is a member of the Congregational church. JAMES A. GARVER, M. D., DODGE CENTRE. JAMES ALEXANDER GARVER, a settler in Dodge county while Minne- sota was a territory, and a physician and surgeon of e.xcellent reputation, is a native of Butler county, Ohio, being born at Hamilton, on the 19th of March, 1 8 14. His father, Leonard Carver, was a millwright, and early taught his son the use of tools. The maiden name of his mother was Katharine Fisher. His grand- father and great-grandfather on both sides were in the revolutionary war, the latter at the opening, the former entering toward the close, not being old enough in 1775-76. His maternal great-grandfather was a captain, and fought under Gen- eral Gates. / 3/8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Dr. Garver Iiad in Ix^N'hootl only \cr\" ordinary school jjri\ileges, but tlid much studyinj; in private; at twenty years of age (1834) commenced reading medicine with Ur. Arbuckle, of Millville, in his native county ; attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, in 1839 and 1840; practiced in Hamilton until 1852; four years in Noblesville, Indiana, and in 1856 came to Dodge county, Min- nesota, locating at Wasioja, remaining there until 1875, when he removed to his present home, five miles south ot Wasioja. He has always been in general prac- tice, and successful l)oth in medicine and surgery, doing most of the latter business in this part of the country, especially since the civil war. Just after the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, Dr. Garver became assistant-sur- o-eon of the 39th Indiana Inlantry; served in that position two years; resigned and returned to the north, intending to remain out of the service, but at the so- licitation of Governor Morton, accepted the position of surgeon of 136th Indiana, holding it until the war ended. He is a kind-hearted, self-sacrihcing man, and made an eminentl\- useful surgeon. The experience which he had in hospitals and on battle-fields has since been of great service to him, and increased his pro- fessional reputation. Dr. Garver seems to W\ lully aware that medical science has constant growth ; he aims to keep up with its progress, antl to this end goes to the east, now and then, and visits the hospitals and lecture-rooms ol the medical colleges, thus brushing up his knowledge of the healing art. Dr. Garver was reared in the democratic school of politics, and still adheres to it, bein the British Possessions, having; that office two or three years. At a later period he served as city clerk one or two terms. Mr. McComb was a whig while there was such a jnirty, and has since been a republican, formerly very active, and still c]uite inlluential. He has passed all the chairs in Odd-Fellowship. His wife was Eliza |. McKusick, of Stillwater; marri('d on the; 4lh of March, 1854. They have four children and have lost two, — names of the living: Charles F., Mamie A., Edgar J., and Carrie Belle. GEORGE PATTON, LAKE CITT. THE subject of the following sketch is a nati\c of the ' Keystone State," and was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 24th of August, 1802. He was the only child of George Patton, senior, a professional and successful teacher for twenty-eight years, and Jane Humphreys, his wife. When George was in his ninth year he was deprived of the loving guidance of a mother's hand, and had a truly providential escape from death himself At that time the family were resid- ing; at Williamsport, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania: one morning before day- light his mother left home in the stage for Pennsborough, and, while fording a swollen tributary of the Susquehanna river, the stage, with its only occupant, was swept tlown the stream and lost. Her son was to have accompanied her, but happening to fall down and soil his clothes, just as they were about to enter the stage, he was sorrowfully left behind. Surely "There's a divinity which shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we may." In his fifteenth year our subject entertnl the store of Robert McClelland, Lew- istown, Mifflin coimt\-, Pennsylvania: remaini'd in this place five years, ami thcMi accepted a situation in the store of James Kellogg, in tlie same town ; remained in the employ of Mr. Kellogg nine years, hax'ing in the meantime married his eldest daughter. In 1831 Mr. Patton engaged in the mercantile business on his own accoiml in Allenville, Mifflin county, where he laid the foundations of his subsequent i)ros- perous career. In May, 1846, having secured a comfortable competence, and an :^^^^^^^^ Snf'irSSMaiASBT^USB-clarSe^T THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAFHICAL DICTIONARY. 39 1 addition of six sons and one daughter to his family, he decided to remove to Cin- cinnati, Ohio, where his children could enjoy improved educational facilities, and during nine years' residence in that city he did all in his power to add to their in- tellectual advancement and improvement, engaging in no business. In May, 1855, impaired health induced him to travel through the northwestern states. After a tour of several weeks, chiefly through Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Territory of Minnesota, he returned to Cincinnati, highly impressed with the climate, scenery, and future prospects of the latter. Selecting Winona, Minnesota, as the site of his new home, he removed thither with his family (except James E., who was then a merchant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Georoe R., then the resi- dent surgeon to Saint John's Hospital, Cincinnati,) in July, 1855. During the winter of 1855-56 Mr. Patton was informed by Benjamin C. Bald- win and Abner Tibbitts that they were about to survey a town site on the Min- nesota side of Lake Pepin, on land claimed by Samuel Doughty and Abner Dwelle, as soon as navigation opened, and invited him to visit the location ; he did so, and was delighted by the beauty of the present site of Lake City ; to as- certain its natural advantages, and the country tributary, he made a trip on foot, accompanied by his son-in-law, the Rev. Silas Hazlett. They traveled through the Sioux reservation, which was then an unbroken prairie as far as Mazeppa, where they remained over night ; the second night they spent at the house of one Ira O. Seely. Becoming satisfied with the natural advantages of the location for a town, Mr. Patton made a proposition to the claimants of the site for certain proprietary interests, which were acceded to. Returning to Winona, he, with his famil}', removed to Lake City in May, 1856. They arrived at their destination in the night and during a severe storm ; as he expresses it, they were hastily dumped upon the shore from the steamer, with their 'nousehold effects and stock, the latter consisting of one cow, to be transported to a shanty near the landing, which was the only shelter procurable ; on reaching it and finding the floor soaked with the rain, and having to put up a stove, cook supper, and arrange bedding on the wet floor, they experienced a literal realization of pioneer life. Mr. Patton desired to build, but it was no easy matter to do so, in this embryotic town, at that early day ; all supplies, even lumber, had to be secured abroad, and a day-laborer could not be had ; he however persuaded one A. V. Sigler, who is still a resident of Lake City, to bring a raft of lumber from the Saint Croix river; after getting the lumber he erected a kiln to dry it, then he fortunately procured the services of a good car- 4.S 392 THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. penter named E. M. Rider, a very worthy man, to work for him, who l)iiilt the house now occupied l)y tlu: family ; doors, sash, hardware, paints, etc.. liad to be l)roui;ht from Duhutiuc, Iowa; no (|uarries were opened, and stone had to be pried loose with crowbars and rolled down the bluffs; the cellar wall was built by one Seth Disdale, and, in order to hurry the completion of the house before winter set in, Mr. Patton attended him personally, making mortar, painting, and doing all kinds of manual labor, and by November the building was advanced sufficiently for occupancy. The following spring a store was built, and occupied b)- Mr. Patton and .Son until 1872, when they erected the store which they now occupy. Lake City was at that time rather an isolated place, and, with but few exceptions, steamboats were not willing to land there. Mr. Patton, however, was satisfied that the future would justify him in l)uilding, though the title to the reservation was not at that time settled, and the outccjme has fully attested his good judgment. New settlers soon came in quite rapidly, and by the first fall quite a goodly number of people had gathered there. Soon after Mr. Patton's advent. Judge Stout and H. F. Will- iamson arrived, the latter with a small stock of goods; at present they still reside there. Since coming to Minnesota our subject has been engaged in the mercantile business; is eminently content with his success and life here, and thinks it has been the means of lengthening his da)'s. Three of his sons, all W(;ll-to-do in lite, also reside with their iamilies at Lake City. Mis other son, the eldest, has resided for the last twenty-four years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, being a prosperous and wealthy merchant and manufacturer there. Few men are more deserving of being called selt-made than Mr. Patton. Cer- tainly he has been the architect of his own fortune, having received no outside assistance ; and not onl\ has his lite been a success financially, but he has also won the love, respect and esteem ol a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Eliza Kellogg, his wife, was born at Phmoulh, near New Ha\(-n, Connc^cticut, on the I 2th of August, 1808. In 1821 her father and family removed to Lewis- town, Penns\lvania, where she resided until after her marriage. Her father, James Kellogg, was quite wealthy for tho.se days, and was instrumental in building the Episcopal church at Lewistown, in which his daughter and Mr. Patton were mar- ried,- it still stands, an elegaat structure and a monument to his munificence. After fifty years of wedded life Mr. Patton and wife celebrated their golden THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 393 weddincr on the 31st of December, 1878, and, in closing this brief memoir, we tliink it fitting" to add a few extracts from a newspaper account of that happy event : The wedding chimes that rang out ro merrily in unison with the joys and hopes of EHza Kellogg and George Patton fifty years ago, in the sequestered village of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and annually clanged their weird echoes to those whose destinies were then happily interwoven, burst forth anew in the celebration of one of the most pensive, tender and holiest occasions that can occur in the life of any person, a golden wedding. On Tuesday, toward the close of the last day of the expiring year of 1878, the persons above named, in the parlor of their pleasant residence in Lake City, in the presence of children, grand- children and friends, who with themselves rejoiced in their prosperity and wonderful escape from many of the tearful ills that flesh is heir to, feelingly exchanged the sacred sentiment so confidently given in the long, long ago, when existence was but a charming dream and its realities failed to cast dark shadows for them. A short address was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Wyckoff, and a poem com- posed and read by the Rev. Mr. Fisk. Among other good things Mr. Wyckoff said, addressing the bride and groom ; " Permit me, in behalf of the citizens of Lake City, together with all your kindred and loved ones here gathered, to express to you, upon this rare and happy occasion, their and our most sincere and hearty congratulations. " Fifty years of wedded life ! What a boon to mortals, having their existence where '"Dangers stand thick thro' all the land. To hurry mortals home ; And fierce diseases wait around. To push them to the tomb.' * * * * * * % » "You may be assured, honored and venerated friends, that it gives us very great pleasure to know tlial you have been dwelling amid and gleaning from this rich harvest for Fifty Years; and be assured, also, that we esteem it an honor and an high privilege now to congratulate you upon this happy occasion, when you stand before us with these dear ones as so many golden sheaves around you. " Doubtless you have found the thorn and the briar here and there, but you have, nevertheless, stored well the garner with goodly wheat. The prick of the briar and the sting of the thorn you now forget. " Here are your children to the fourth generation, honored, respected and prospered of heaven. To stand as you do at this hour, the parents, the grand- and great-grandparents of such a group, is the lot of few, and an honor which I am sure you appreciate and highly esteem. "All the living (with one exception) are with you to-day, gladly doing you this honor and happily and joyfully sharing these chaste and proper festivities. Three are not, for God has taken them, yet living and happy representatives of two of them are with you — how dear they are! — and may we not think that the ministering angel of the little five-year-old may also be here on soft and silent wings .^ Be this as it may, the tender memory of him, doubtless, you fondly cherish. So we may say, 'All are here.' " For these your loving hearts and willing hands have planned and toiled. Heaven's benediction has attended and crowned those plans and toils with a goodly measure of success. Hand in hand you have been climbing life's rugged way, and now, upon yo\ix Fiftieth Anniversary, you stand side by side u|)on this beautiful and very pleasant eminence to which God has led you. " Here you may pause for a little time and view the landscape o'er. In the retrospect, doubtless, 394 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. many very interesting, instructive and pleasant reminiscences rise before you. As you wander back along that path you iiave trodden, how many tilings you can recall with deep, and some with even thrilling, interest. "Not only the past, with all its interest, comes before you from this pleasant outlook, but also the present. With what projjer pride and high satisfaction it must be to you, as you now stand under your own comfortable and pleasant roof-tree, with tiiis goodly measure of healtii and vigor, sur- rounded with a plenitude of the good things of this life, respected, honored, and highly esteemed by the citizens of tliis young city you helped to found, together with the people of this common- wealth. And iiere are gathered around you those dear ones, whom it is your honor and your joy to call your own, in like condition. Surely, happy is the man who is in such a case I "It now only remains to turn your eye to the rest of the journey, 'What shall its harvest be.'" Only a few more months or years shall roll on their silent, tireless wheels. " May the descending grade be gentle, the silvery sun soft and golden, your journey pleasant and peaceful, your last pillow downy, and when your sun is set, and the twilight comes on, may the blue arch over you be brightly sprinkled with 'the shining dust of His way,' fit symbol of those crowns of glory which may God place upon your redeemed and glorified brows." * * * * ** * * The reception lasted from two to six in the afternoon, and was largely attended by those from both city and country, who showered the venerable host and hostess with warmest congratulations, and regaled themselves with the elegant collation of most everything tiiat culinary skill and the products of the tropics could suggest. Invitations to the festive occasion had been given through the news- papers, so that no friend, however slightly associated, should be omitted through inadvertence; and a noticeable feature in it was that, in the invitation, gifts were respectfully declined in advance. In the evening a family reunion was held, when many valuable golden-hued presents were made, but the details of which are not for the public gaze. There were in attendance, except Dr. E. A. Patton, of Cincinnati, all the descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Patton, viz: James E. Patton, of Mil- waukee; Dr. (r. R. Patton, H. T. Patton and Nate Patton, of Lake City, their wives and children; the children of their deceased son, Aug. M. Patton; Mary J. McLean, only child of their deceased daughter Eliza J. Hazlett, and Eliza McLean, their great-granddaughter. COLONEL WILLIAM H. H. TAYLOR, SAINT PAUL. WILLIA.M HENRY HARRISON TAYLOR is a grandson of John Tay- lor, who came from Scotland prior to the American revolution, and settled in Hanover county, X'irginia, and son of Thomas Taylor, a merchant, of Rich- mond, X'irginia, where the subject of this sketch was born, on the 2Sth ot November, 1813. The maiden name of his mother was Lucy Singleton. .She was a daughter of Anthony -Singleton, who was a captain of artillery in the revo- lutionary war, and her mother was Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley, Virginia, one of the signers of the declaration of independ- ence, and sister of President Harrison. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 395 William was educated in Richmond academies ; clerked several years in a dry-goods house there, and afterward managed the Black Heath coal mines in Chesterfield county, Virginia. In 1835 he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio ; two years later became chief clerk in the clerk's office of Hamilton county, under his uncle, General William Henry Harrison, serving in that capacity until 1841, when Gen- eral Harrison became President, and Mr. Taylor one of his private secretaries. On the demise of the President, in 1841, Mr. Taylor was appointed postmas- ter of Cincinnati by President Tyler; held the office until 1845, when, being turned out by President Polk, he retired to the old homestead of President Har- rison, at North Bend, Ohio, where he farmed until 1S58, when the log cabin of 1840 notoriety was reduced to ashes. At the Qpening of the year just mentioned he entered the office of the clerk of Hamilton county once more ; served as dep- uty until January, 1861, when he was made chief deputy in the sheriff's office of the same county, and there remained only six months, exchanging civil for mili- tary duties. In July, 1861, he entered the Union army as colonel of the 5th Ohio Cavalry, and from December, 1862, to August, 1863, by appointment of President Grant, was president of the military commission of west Tennessee. At the close oi his services in this capacity the bar of Memphis passed the following resolution : We have witnessed with pleasure the fairness and inipartiahty with which you liave administered the duties of your high office, and freely testify that you have been guided by a sense of justice to all, enforcing the law when demanded by the public exigency, while at the same time you have shown a regard for the constitutional rights of the citizens, alike honorable to your head and heart. On account of ill health Colonel Taylor resigned his position, his resignation beinof dated August 11, iS6^. Returnino- to Ohio, we see him once more at the old North Bend farm. In 1866 he was appointed by President Johnson postmaster of Cincinnati, but rejected by the senate on false charges made by Ben. Eggleston — charges of dis- loyalty to his country. In 1867 Colonel Taylor came to Minnesota in pursuit of health; settled on a farm in Brooklyn, Hennepin county, where he was residing when, in 1871, Gov- ernor Austin appointed him a commissioner-at-large for Hennepin county, he holding that office about six months. In August, 1877, he was appointed state librarian by Governor Pillsbury, and still holds the office. He is a member of the Presbyterian chinxh, has lived an unblemished life, and is a pure, kind-hearted, hospitable gentleman of the olden noble type. 396 THE UNITKD STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Colonel Taylor was married on tin- 22d of June, 1836, to Miss Anna Tiithill Harrison, youngest daughter of President Harrison. They have had twelve chil- dren, and ten of them are still living. All are married except one son, Edward Evertt, a farmer in Minnesota, and two daughters, Bessie Short and Virginia Berk- ley. Captain W. H. H. Taylor, junior, is a farmer in Minnesota ; Captain John T. Taylor, who was on Cieneral Sherman's staff in 1861-63, is a traveling salesman, living in Bloomington, Illinois; Lucy Singleton is the wife of H. Scott Howell, of Keokuk, Iowa; Anna Cleves is the wife of George H. Comstock, of the same [ilace ; Mary Thornton is the wife of George A. Plummer, of Brooklyn, Minne- sota ; Fanny Gait is the wife of Charles F. Hendryx, of Minneapolis, and Jane Harrison is the wife of Edward J. Davenport, of the same place. HON. THOMAS SIMPSON, WINONA. TH P2 subject ol this brief memoir is of Scotch parentage, of Lanark, though born in Yorkshire, England, on the 31st of May, 1836. His parents, An- thony and Elizabeth Bonson Simpson, emigrated to America when Thomas, the fourth child in a family of five children, was quite young, settling in Dubuque county, Iowa. Thomas was educated in the common schools of that place, and aided his father, who was a miner, smelter and agriculturist, having a farm at Pilot Grove, nine miles from the city of Dubucjue, long known as the " Pilot Grove Farm." Thomas studied engineering and surveying with P2. S. Norris, of Dubutjue, and, after considerable experience in the field, took of the United States govern- ment the contract for running the meridian and parallel lines in Minnesota Ter- ritory, stretching, in fact, the first government chain in this commonwealth. He was engaged in government surveys from 1S53 to 1S56, a period ot about three years, and on the ist of January, 1856, settled in Winona. Here Mr. Simpson opened an office for the sale of land-warrants and the loan- ing of mnn(;y, and resumed law studies, whicli he had commenced three or tour years betore and had continued at intervals of leisure. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar at Winona, forming a law partnershi]) with Judge Abner Lewis, the firm being Lewis and Simpson, and has been in practice ever since, doing, also, THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 397 considerable business in the line of real estate and money loaning, being quite a successful operator. He is at present the senior member of the law firm of Simp- son and Wilson, the latter, George P. Wilson, being attorney-general of the state. Mr. Simpson was one of the organizers of the Second National Bank of Wino- na, was its president for seven years, and is still one of its principal owners. He was one of the originators and original owners of the Winona, Trempeleau and Prescott railroad, the link between La Crosse and Winona, being a director of the same for several years. The road is now owned and operated by the Chicao-o and Northwestern Railway Company. He is secretary of the Winona and South- western Railway Company, whose road, when completed, will connect Winona with central and western Iowa. Mr. Simpson is one of the stockholders of the Winona Carriage Works, an extensive and highly important manufactory, and he has been for two years past president of the corporation. There is hardly an interest of the least consequence to Winona with which Mr. Simpson has not been identified, and a foremost man in pushing it forward. He was the first president of the board of education organized in Winona, holding that office for a number of years, and has been at the head of the State Normal School board since the death of Dr. Ford (the first president), in 1867. Few men in the state have been more active in educational matters than Mr. Simpson. He was elected justice of the peace in 1857 and served two years, and subse- quently held other offices in the municipality of the city. He was in the state senate in 1866 and 1867, and secured the passage of the bill for the first apportionment for erection of the normal-school buildino- at Winona. While in the legislature he was chairman of the committees on federal relations and claims, and on the committees on railroads and the judiciary. His sounil judgment and thorough business habits made him a very useftd member of the legislature. Mr. Simpson was a Douglas democrat until the civil war burst upon the nation in the spring of i86i,and has since affiliated with the republicans. He was a dele- gate to the republican national convention in 1864 at Baltimore, Maryland, and chairman of the Minnesota delegation, — the convention which renominated Mr. Lincoln, — and four years later was a delegate to the convention which nominated General Grant. During the four years intervening between these conventions 398 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Mr. Simpson was the Minnesota member of the national rcpubhcan executive committee, and was an efficient worker in the interests of his party. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since youth; su- |)crintendcnt of llic Sunday-school at Winona for the last twenty-three years, and is a live man in every good cause. The moral as well as material interests of his adopted home lie very near his heart. On the 30th of October, i860, Miss Maggie Holstcin.of Lewisburgh, Pennsyl- vania, became the wife of Mr. Simpson, and they have three boys, George T., James K. and Earle S., all attending the model schools of Winona, preparatory to the normal school. REV. EDWIN C. SANDERS. LE SUEUR. AMONG the early preachers in the Minnesota valley was Edwin Curtis San- 1- tiers, pastor of the Baptist church at Lc Sueur. His parents were James and Anna (Wiley) Sanders, who belong to the agricultural class, living, at the time of his birth, in the town of Ashford, Cattaraugus county. New York. His maternal great-grandfather was a soldier in " the times which tried men's souls," and aiiled in gaining the independence of the colonies. Edwin spent his boy- hood and youth on the farm three miles from Springville, Erie county, where he received an academic education and prepared for college, teaching district schools meanwhile, antl subsequenth' in all ti\e winters. He was converted at the age of seventeen, and, feeling that he had a call to preach, studied theology in private with Rev. E. W. Clarke, of Arcade, New York; commenced preaching while thus studying, at twenty years of age, having previously intended to take a thorough college course, but was prevented by failing health; early in 1852 went to Wis- consin and spent two years or more among relatives, trying to regain his health ; and in 1S54 it was so much improved that he ventured to assume the pastorate of the Baptist church just formed at Oshkosh. There he labored two years, and during his ministry the young church was much enlarged. In June, 1856, Mr. Sanders came to Le Sueur, hoping to strengthen his constitution by doing out-door work ; soon afterward purchased a farm and immediately commencetl iuiproving it, beginning to preach before he had made his purchase. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 399 In 1858 a Baptist church was formed, — a meeting-house was built (the first in Le Sueur) and Mr. Sanders was pastor until after the civil war began. In August, 1862, he became captain of company G, loth Minnesota Infantry, which was engaged the first year in fighting the Sioux Indians on the frontier. Captain Sanders was wounded in the battle at New Ulm, and in the official report of that battle, made by Colonel Flandrau, Captain S. was commended for cool- ness and courage on the occasion. In 1863 the regiment went to the south, and was there in the service two more years. Captain Sanders was promoted to major in the early part of 1865; was in several battles on southern soil (Tupelo and Oxford, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; .Spanish Fort, Alabama, and others), but received no injury. While captain he was in command of the regiment a short time, and while major for a few months. Major Sanders returned to Minnesota in August, 1865, nearly worn out in his country's service; preached one year to the church in Le Sueur; went to Blue Earth county and opened a farm, working on it for nine months, gaining consid- erable strength ; became pastor of a church at Garden City, in the same county ; had there a successful pastorate of five years, witnessing the quadrupling of the membership of the church and building a house of worship, and in February, 1874, returned to Le Sueur and again became pastor of the church here, still holding that position. His health may now be called robust, and he does no inconsiderable labor outside the direct pastorate. He came into this valley at so early a day, and has so extensive a circle of acquaintance and friends, that he is often called to preach funeral sermons at a great distance away, in Sibley, Nicollet and Scott counties, as well as Le Sueur. At an early day he aided in founding several churches outside his own charge. He has always given what strength he had to the Master, and at times has no doubt worked beyond his strength. Major .Sanders was chaplain of the state senate in 1876, 1877 and 1878. He is a strong, outspoken republican, cherishing his political convictions with the same sincerity that he does his religious, and evidently believing he serves his God and his country while serving his party. He is a practical, whole-souled man, mingling with the multitude, like any other sensible citizen, never compromising his christian character, and always appearing perfectly guiltless of clerical airs. The wife of the Major was Miss Minerva Hopkins, a native of New Bruns- wick, Dominion of Canada. They were married at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 46 400 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I /th of April, 1855, and have two children : Walter Alfred, aged seventeen, and Essie Hopkins, aged twelve years. Mrs. Sanders is a woman of more than ordi- nary ability, and an earnest and efficient cooperator with her husband in all his christian and benevolent labors. HON. PETER GEYERMANN, SHAKOPEE. PETER GEYERMANN, son of Henry Geyermann, weaver, and Christine Knell, was born in Waldesch, near Coblentz, Germany, on the 13th of De- cember, 1825. He received a meager education ; learned the trade of a nail-maker, worked at it until twenty-five years of age, and in 185 1 came to the United States, landing at the port of New York on the 7th of July. He proceeded directly to the west, spent a couple of months in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between one and two years in and near Chicago, and then located in Aurora, Kane county, Illinois, being in the grocery trade there for three years. In 1855 Mr. Geyermann came to Minnesota, made a claim of one hundred and si.Kty acres of land in Carver county, sold out in 1S57, settled in Shakopee, built a store, filled it with general merchandise, and for twenty-one years has traded in that building, having a fine stock and doing a remunerative business. Like many other merchants he has had his " up and downs," but on the whole has been a successful man, beins: noted for his straightforward and honorable dealings with his customers, and for his high standing in the city. He is not only at the head of the municipality at this time, but has been at least four terms, and he held other offices prior to being mayor. He was justice of the peace in 1859-60 and 1864-65 ; was court commissioner three years, and has been a school trustee nine or ten years. Probably no man in Shakopee takes a deeper interest in educational matters than Mr. Geyermann. In youth his own opportunities for accjuiring knowledge were very limited ; he has long seen the value of it, and is doing all he can to educate his own children and to secure the education of all others in the city. By his own efforts, in private, after coming to this country, he acquired a good business education, and makes a very popu- lar executive in the city government. In jjolitics, Mr. Geyermann is democratic, and in Masonry, a royal-arch. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 401 His wife was Miss Amelia Berreau, of French blood, yet born in Germany, and married at Waconia, Carver county, on the 2d of June, 1863; they have three children living and have lost three. Mr. Geyermann was born and reared a Catholic, but at present has no con- nection with any church. His moral as well as business standing is good ; his habits are plain, frugal and industrious, and he is a valuable citizen, with worth well appreciated. DANIEL W. INGERSOLL, SAINT PAUL. DANIEL WESLEY INGERSOLL, one of the most successful merchants of Saint Paul, comes from New England stock. His father, Gilbert Inger- soll, a farmer, living at the time of the son's birth, on the 12th of June, 18 12, at Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey, died in 1859, at the advanced age of eighty- four years. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Predmore. Daniel received an ordinary common-school education. When about fourteen years of age he became a clerk in the store of John S. Potwin, of Newton ; about two years later accompanied Mr. Potwin to Burlington, Vermont. During the interval of the change of Mr. Potwin's business from Newton to Burlington, Daniel attended the academy at Newton for about nine months. This ended his school education, to which he afterward added by private study and historical reading. He familiarized himself with the principles of law to such an extent that some time alter his removal to New York cit)- he was offered a partnership by Archibald Hilton, Esq., then a prominent lawyer in large practice, since deceased. When almost twenty-one years of age he became a partner with Mr. Potwin in business, and continued in trade at Burlington until about 1836, when the firm was dissolved and business closed, Mr. Potwin retiring entirely. Mr. Ingersoll removed to New York and commenced the wholesale dry-goods trade, remaining there and trading until the close of 1S53, when his health failed and he was obliged to relinquish the business to his partners, who purchased his interest, Mr. Ingersoll giving bonds not to enter into the business in New York. In the autumn of 1855 ^^- Ingersoll was sent out to Minnesota for his health by the celebrated Dr. John F. Gray, of New York. He came to Saint Paul and spent some weeks with great benefit. In the summer of 1S56 he returned to 402 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Saint Paul and spent several months, returning to New York in the winter. In the spring of 1857 he moved his family to this city, having commenced the dry- o-oods business here the autumn before, and still continuing it. No merchant in Saint Paul has made a more honorable record. He began on a moderate scale, and his business expanded with the growth of the place. He has a double store in his own, the "IngersoU" block, one of the first large stone structures for business purposes erected in this city, it being put up in i860. Other blocks of similar material have since overtopped it, but eighteen years ago it was regarded as a bold as well as " new departure" to put up such a costly building in a city then numbering, perhaps, seven or eight thousand people. While steadily following the mercantile trade Mr. IngersoU has usually had an interest in other enterprises. He is president of the Saint Paul Warehouse and Elevator Company, a corporation which has an elevator witli a capacity of five hundred thousand bushels ; and he has long been an active cooperator in move- ments tending to build up the state as well as city. He is an officer of the State Agricultural Society, and has freely given his time to advance its interests. He has been president of the Minnesota State Reform School board since it was organized, and was for many years on the school board of this citv, and its presi- dent for some time. Few citizens of Saint Paul have been more useful in more spheres. He has been a membi^r oi a Presbyterian church for more than forty years ; the superin- tendent of a Sunday-school something- like three-fourths of this period, and was several years president of the Minnesota State Sunday-school convention. For the last three or four years he has been a member of the executi\c committee of the International Sunday-school Association, and one of its vice-presidents. He has been an elder in some church, east or west, most of the time since about 1842 ; has been a decided temperance man for the past thirty-five years, and for two years president of the Minnesota State Temperance Society. In politics, he was originally a whig; latterly has been a republican. Mr. IngersoU was first married in April, 1836, to Miss Harriet Smith, a daugh- ter of the late Truman Smith, of Brooklyn, New York. She had ten children, and died in September, 1857. P'ive of her children are now living. Mr. Inger- soU was married the second time in March, 1859, his wife being Miss Marian M. Ward, a sister of Professor Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, New York. He has had six children by the present wife, all yet living but one. II THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 403 Mr. Ingersoll has a pleasant residence on Nelson avenue, in the northern part of the city, and is surrounded by all the comforts secured by an industrious and eminently successful life — successful in the best sense of that word. This is owincj, no doubt, in a great measure, to his manner of starting- off as a clerk. The writer once heard him remark, incidentally, that when in his fourteenth year he beo-an to sell "oods for Mr. Potwin, he had five or si.x dollars of his own money. That loose change he put in the money-drawer of the store, credited himself with the amount, and never used money afterward without debiting him- self with the amount, thus acquiring the habit in early life of keeping a strict account of all moneys received and expended. HARRISON J. PECK, SIIAKOPEE. HARRISON JAY PECK, one of the leading lawyers in the Minnesota val- ley, and the son of a Vermont farmer, Lewis Peck, was born at Clarendon, Rutland county, on the 23d of November, 1842. His mother, before her mar- riage, was Harriet Brown. His branch of the Peck family spread into Vermont from Rhode Island, all the people of the former state of that name being related to each other. Judge Peck, late chief justice of V'ermont, is of this branch of the family. Noah Peck, grandfather of Harrison, a very young man at the opening of the revolutionary war, was at the battle of Ticonderoga,but how long he served we are unable to state. The subject of this notice was reared on his father's farm, and educated at the New Hampton Institution, Fairfax, Vermont. After preparing for college, teach- ing meantime to defray expenses, he spent another year at that school, intending to enter the sophomore class of Middlebury College ; but the civil war had broken out, and in September, 1861, five months after our flag had been disgraced at Fort Sumter, he enlisted in company F, ist regiment Berdan's Sharpshooters, and served nearly two years. He enlisted as a private, and was promoted through every grade to first lieutenant of his company. Returning to Vermont, he read law at Rutland with David E. Nickerson, at that time state's attorney; entered the Albany law school in the autumn of 1863 ; came to Shakopee in September, 1864, and was here admitted to the bar in April, 1865. f 404 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. After practicing in Shakopee two years Mr. Peck made a trip to Montana, parti)- for his health and partly to prospect, and on his return stopped at Chaska, in the adjoining county of Carver, and remained there from 186S to 1873, serving whilf there for one term as county superintendent of schools. In 1S73 he re- turned to Shakopee, which has since been his home, and where he has built up a practice second in extent, probably, to that of no man in the eighth judicial dis- trict ; he has also considerable business in the United States courts. Judging from his success before juries, his argumentative powers and forensic efforts are of a high order. He is evidently ambitious to excel in the profession, and that is the way to grow. Mr. Peck has been city attorney during the last three years, and county attor- ney since January, 1877. His politics have always been democratic. He is a third-degree Mason. On the 1st of February, 1870, Miss Ora M. Brown, daughter of Hon. L. M. Brown, of Shakopee, became the wife of Mr. Peck, and they have one child. GENERAL ALONZO J. EDGERTON, KASSON. ALONZO JAY EDGERTON, state senator from Dodge county, and a gen- ^ eral in the late Union army, comes from strictly Puritanic, patriotic and fighting stock, both of his grandfathers being in the bloody struggle for inde- pcmlenci.;. His maternal grandsire was taken prisoner by the British, and held two years in the city of Montreal. His ancestors, both paternal and maternal, were natives of Connecticut. He was born in Rome, New York, on the 7th of June, 1827. His father, Lorenzo Edgerton, was a farmer. The subject of this sketch prepared for college at Lowville, in his native state; entered the sophomore class of Wesleyan University, Middletovvn, Con- necticut, in 1847; was graduated three years later; taught three years in order to su[)i)ly hiiiisell with tunds with which to complete his legal studies, which he had i)ursued during his last )-ear in college, and which he continued while he was teaching. In the summer of 1855 Mr. Edgerton located at Mantorville, the seat of jus- tice of Dodge county ; was there admitted to the bar at that time, and there THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 405 practiced for twenty-three years, except when hi the service of his country. In 1862 he entered the army as captain of company B, loth Minnesota Infantry; was promoted to colonel in February, 1864; breveted brigadier-general in the summer of 1865, at New Orleans, and for two years had command of the north- ern district of Louisiana, with headquarters at Baton Rouge, being mustered out in March, 1867. We learn from a subordinate officer, who was with him nearly two years, that he was not only cool and courageous in the hour of danger, but very popular with the soldiers under him, his kindness to them being shown uniformly and to a marked degree. Soon after settling in Dodge county, General Edgerton was elected prosecut- ing attorney, serving one term. He was elected to the state senate in 1858 and 1876, serving two years each time. In January, 1878, he was unanimously elected president pro tem. of that body. In 1 871 General Edgerton was appointed by Governor Austin to the newly- created office of railroad commissioner, — a position which he held for tour years, during which period he was the people's commissioner, guarding with the utmost faithfulness their interests, without doing injustice to the railroad corporations. In the spring of 1878 the General moved from Mantorville to Kasson, a rail- road town, three miles south, in the same county, where he is diligently pursuing the legal profession. He is a well-read lawyer and a good advocate. His dig- nified presence, and his easy and conciliatory manners, combined with great earnestness and sincerity, strongly and favorably impress a jury ; hence his suc- cess as an attorney-at-law. In politics, the General was a democrat until the south undertook to destroy the Union, acting with the republicans since that reckless, movement was made. He was a member of the democratic national convention held at Charleston, South Carolina, in i860, and one of the presidential electors on the republican ticket in 1876. He is a Knight Templar among the Masons, and has held offices in both the Grand Chapter and the Grand Lodge. On the 8th of October, 1850, Miss Sarah Curtis, of New Britain, Connecti- cut, became the wife of General Edgerton, and of nine children, the Iruit of this union, seven are yet living. The new home of the General at Kasson, a hundred rods west of the post- office, is an umbrageous and cozy retreat from the dust and din of town, where 4o6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. lie can exchantre his law-books for the Entjlish classics and the best of Ameri- can authors. He has a well-selected miscellaneous library of perhaps ten or twelve hundred volumes, among thtmi several artistic works of great richness and value. EDWARD L. BAKER, RED WING. EDWARD LARRABEE BAKER is a native of Hubbarton, Vermont, where he was born on the Sth of September, 1836. He is son of Hon. Charles M. Baker, who was born in New York city on the iSth of October, 1804; studied for the legal profession and was admitted to the bar at Troy, New York, in 1829, and practiced at Seneca Falls, New York, with eminent success until 1S34. He was an early pioneer in Wisconsin, whither he removed on ac- coimt of declining health in 1838, settling at Geneva Lake, in Walworth county. During his life he held many offices of public trust and honor, — was chosen a member of the territorial convention in 1842, and served until 1S46; was a mem- ber of the first constitutional convention, and one of the three commissioners appointed in 1848 to "collate and revise all the public acts of the state, of a general and permanent nature"; was appointed circuit judge of the judicial dis- trict in which he lived in 1856, declining afterward to be a candidate for office before the people. He died at his home at Geneva Lake, on the 5th of Feb- ruary, 1872, of apoplexy, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. The maiden name of Edward's mother was Martha Larrabee, a lady of French descent, who died when he was about five years old. His great-grandfather Baker, of Elizabeth- town, New Jersey, was a captain in the continental army, and served throughout the revolution. His grandfather was James Baker, who served as a captain in the second war with England. o Edward was sent to Beloit College, Wisconsin, when he was about fourteen years old; spent three years there, when he went to Racine, in the same state, where he studied one year. During his course in these colleges Mr. Baker had fitted himself for a civil engineer, and in 1855 he went to the Lake Superior regions, where he spent three years, engaged in surveying. After being there two years he took a government contract for surveying, being at this time only THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 409 twenty-one years old. Mr. Baker mentions with pride the fact that at the ao-e of twenty, and in the winter of 11^56-57, he, as a United States deputy surveyor, with a party of half-breed Indians for assistants, surveyed the group of islands in Lake Superior, known as the Apostle Islands, on snow-shoes, the snow being four feet deep, and the weather unusually cold even for that northern region. For three weeks of the time the thermometer was hardly above zero at any time, ami often down to forty below, the party camping out nights without tents, under the evergreen balsam trees, in ravines sheltered from the winds. In the spring of 1858 he visited I)ulnu[ue, Iowa, then the headquarters of the surveyor-general, on business pertaining to his contract. While there he determined on a trip to Saint Paul, Minnesota, the result of which was that his whole business, and probably his whole after-lile, was changed and diverted into an entirely different channel than that which he had anticipated. On the trip up the river he became quite well acquainted with a gentleman from Red Wing, Minnesota, and as Mr. Baker had some friends living there he de- cided to stop off and visit them. This almost chance visit resulted in his relin- quishinsj- his trovernment contract and settlino- in Red Wine, where he eno-ao-ed in the hardware business, a branch of merchandising in which he has been interested ever since. After running the business about one year alone, he formed a partner- ship with his brother, Charles H. Baker, which continued about two years, when his brother retired, leaving him aeain alone. In 1 861, when the country was precipitated into civil war, Mr. Baker at first felt disposed to leave the controversy to the politicians for settlement, believino- that it was unnecessarily forced upon the country by hot-heads upon both sides ; he was inclined to let the abolitionists and fire-eaters fight it out, but after the first battle of Bull Run he saw that if the Union was to be maintained it must be by force of arms, and he hesitated not a moment in his choice. Though a sincere democrat in politics, he was an ardent Union man, inheriting from his patriotic ancestors, who fought for it, a love of country which in the time of peril rode superior to any question of politics. Sacrificing his business interests, which had become quite large, placing the management of it in the hands of an employe, he entered the military service in September, 1861, commissioned as first lieuten- ant of company E,3d Minnesota Volunteers ; was afterward promoted to captain, serving in all three years. In 1865 Captain Baker returned to Red Wing and resumed charge of his mercantile business, which had suffered considerably during 47 4IO THE UNITF.D STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. liis long absence. He has been very successful in this line- of trade, as in all others in which he is interested. In 1869 the Red Wing Mills Company was organized. With a capital stock of two hunilrcd and fifty thousand dollars, this is about the second largest milling interest in the state. Their two large flouring mills have a capacity of one thou- sand barrels daily, and their lumber mills, of five million feet yearly. Mr. Baker owns a controlling interest in the stock, is president of the company and gives his personal supervision to the management of the mills. As before stated, Mr. Baker is a democrat, antl never has been an)thing else ; never aspired to political office however, preferring rather to attend to his large business interests, and has been fortunate (Miough to hold no offices oi an\ im- portance other than being mayor of Red Wing a couple of terms, and for several years a member of the state board of trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. His life, since he was eighteen years old, has been one of ceaseless activity, and he is, as one may well suppose, a thorough-going, energetic business-man. In 1878 he visited Europe in company with his brother, R. H. Baker, of the firm of J. I. Case and Co., of Racine, Wisconsin. They visited the great Paris Exposition, and about all the principal cities of Europe, partly on business and partly for pleasure. On the 24th of May, 1859, in Dalton, Massachusetts, Mr. Baker was wedded to Miss Rosamond E., daughter of Harrison Rich, of Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. They have two children, Charles M. and Mary F. WILLIAM F. LEWIS, M.D., MANKA TO. WILLIAM FRISBIE LEWLS. banker, and son of Dr. John and Ann I'^liza (I'risbie) Lewis, dates his l)irth at Clyde, Wayne county. New York, on the 3d of October, 1S29. His branch of the Lewis famil_\- were from Schenec- tady and its vicinity; the Frisbies were from Vermont. Dr. John Lewis died when thr- son was about four years old, and the latter then went to Phelps, Onta- rio county, where he received an academic education and prepared for college, but did not enter. He came as far west as Wisconsin in 1849 I commenced read- ing medicine with Dr. Thomas Spencer, of Milwaukee; attended two courses of THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 41 I lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago ; a third course at the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, New York city, and there received his diploma about 1854. After practicing in New York cit)' for more than a year Dr. Lewis went to Europe, where he spent the major part of the years 1855 and 1856; visited the principal hospitals, and spent considerable time in the medical department of the Univer- sity of Edinburgh, Scotland, and at the College of France. In 1856 he came to Mankato, and in a short time went to River Falls, Wis- consin ; was in practice there about two years; then returned to Minnesota; halted in Medford, Steele county, and farmed and carried on the mercantile busi- ness till 1864, returning that year to Mankato. Here for two years he was in the firm of Lewis and Frisbie, druggists, his partner being William Frisbie, a cousin of his wife. In 1866 he went into the banking business in company with Henry Shaubut, theirs being the City Bank, a solid and thriving institution, both ener- getic, straight-forward, prompt business-men. The integrity ot Dr. Lewis is unquestioned. He was the first president of the village of Mankato ; has been in the council six years since it became a city, and its president part of the time, and has had much to do with the shaping of its laws and regulations, and the furthering of its general interests and enterprises. He is a stockholder and director of the Mankato Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in making plows and other agricultural implements. He was also a director of the Central Minnesota rail- road, and identifies himself with the movements generally that are likely to de- velop the country and that tend to the prosperity of his adopted home. He has been president of the Mankato board of trade for the last six or seven years. Early in the spring of 1857, when the Ink-pa-du-ca war opened, and forty- nine persons were murdered by the Sioux at Spirit Lake, just over the line in Dickinson county, Iowa, and other savage butcheries were committed, Dr. Lewis raised a company in Mankato, then a small village with less than two hundred men fit for military duty, became its captain, and for some time was engaged in protecting the frontier settlers. His company had one fight with the Indians, but lost no men. Besides his interest in the bank and his pleasant home in the city of Mankato, Dr. Lewis has about ten thousand acres of improved and unimproved land in Minnesota, and a farm of six thousand acres in Dickinson county, Iowa, he being an eminently successful business-man. 412 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. The Doctor is a republican in politics, and a Royal Arch Mason. He attends the Presb\terian church with his family, his wife and elder children beiny mem- bers of the same. Miss Alb(-rtina E. Cowham, of Rochester, near Burlinj^fton, Wisconsin, became the wife of Dr. Lewis, on the 15th of June, 1857, and of five children whom they have had. four are living: Bertina, aged twenty; Willard F., eighteen ; Irving C, si.xtcen, ami John M., aged seven years. WILLIAM LEE, SAINT PALL. DURING the nine territorial years of Minnesota, from 1849 ^o 1S58, and the first year or two of its history as a state, a large number of first-class busi- ness and professional men settled in Saint Paul, and have been eminentl)- success- ful. The brief history of more than twenty of them is recorded in this volume. Among them are men who have been governors, supreme and district judges. United States and state legislators, United States officers of various titles, pro- fessional men of every name, railroad buiklers, Indian traders, merchants, etc. Among the last-named class, conspicuous for his brilliant business talents and success, is William Lee, ex-mayor of the city, a resident of Saint Paul since 1859. He comes from an old Pennsylvania family, who originally emigrated from Eng- land ; is a son of Reuben and Clarissa Wetherill Lee, and was born in Hunterdon county. New Jerse}-, on the 14th of April, 1822. He received a common-school and academic education in his native county ; at seventeen years of age went on a farm with his fath(-r, and subse(iu('ntly was a clerk in a store in Easton, Penn- sylvania, New York city and Philadelphia, gaining a good insight into the mer- cantile trade. In 1850 Mr. Lee returned to Easton, where he had commenced his clerkship, and then traded for himself for nine years, being quite prosperous in mercantile opera- tions. In October, 1859, ^""^ settled in Saint Paul, beginning on a moderate scale and gradually enlarging his premises and his trade. He now has a double store, lilt) by one hundred and twenty-five feet, three stories above the basement, and is doing about hve hundred thousantl dollars annualK', his business being exclu- sively wholesale. There are older jolibers in the citv, but none of fairer charac- ter. -Saint Paul is well represented in "merchant princes" like our subject. I THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 413 Mr. Lee was mayor of the city of Saint Paul for two terms (1870 and 1871), and made an efficient and highly popular executive officer. He is a democrat, unwavering and active ; has been chairman- of the demo- cratic state central committee for the last seven or eight years, and was a delegate to the national conventions in 1872 and 1876, working hard for the success of his ticket in both campaigns. He seems to have no political aspirations, does not neglect his business for politics, and when he does engage in a political canvass, does it good-naturedly, and makes it a species of recreation. Mr. Lee was married on the i6th of June, 1853, to Miss Kate Wallace, a native of Easton, Pennsylvania. They attend the Episcopal church. GENERAL JUDSON W. BISHOP, SAINT PAUL. JUDSON WADE BISHOP, general manager of the Saint Paul and Sioux J City, the Sioux City and Saint Paul, and the Worthington and Sioux Falls railroads, is the eldest of a family ol ten children, nine of them now in active life • one, the wife of Hon. T. J. Bidwell, of Arizona, having died in 1876. His father. Rev. John F. Bishop, for many years a Baptist minister of more than ordinary reputation and ability, died in 1859, '•'' Jefferson county, New York, where his mother, Mrs. Alena Brown Bishop, is still residing. His grandparents. Rev. Luther Bishop and Hon. Aaron Brown, were among the earliest settlers in that countv, and, thouoh dead several years, are well and favorably remembered by the residents there. Judson was born at Evansville, Jefferson county, New York, on the 24th of June, 183 1. He received an academical education at PVedonia Academy, Chau- tauqua county. New York, where his father was settled as pastor for several years, and later at Union Academy, Belleville, Jefferson county, after the return of the family to that county. Leaving school at sixteen years of age, he was until twenty-one successively engaged in the same county as clerk, and book-keeper at Belleville, Adams and Watertown ; taught school two winters, one at Woodville and one at Clayton, and spent the last year of his minority in charge of a farm then owned by his father. Civil engineering had been from boyhood his choice among the profes- 414 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. sions, and as soon as he was of age he commenced a thorough course of study for it, embracing the regular curricukun prescribed for graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, of Troy, New York, — then, as now, the leading engineering school in this country. He obtained employment in 1853 as draughtsman and computer in the office of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, at Kingston, Ontario, where, by diligent use of his evenings for study, he completed the course, earning meantime his own support and assisting the younger members of the family in their education. He remained at Kingston during the surveys, location and construction of the Grand Trunk, and was assistant engineer in charge of work during- the last year of service there. On completion of the road, in March, 1857, he came to Minnesota, and was immediately engaged in the preliminary surveys of the (now) Winona and Saint Peter and the Southern Minnesota railroads. These were suspended by the financial crash in October, when he settled in Chatfield, Fillmore county, where he spent a year as local surveyor and engineer, publishing meantime a map and pamphlet history of that county. In September of 1858 he opened (as principal) the ChatfieUl Academy, re- sio-ning the following spring to take a contract in government surveying in the now well settled county of Cottonwood, then far beyond the inhabited limits of the state. Returning to Chatfield in October, he purchased the Chatfield "Democrat" office, and as editor and proprietor published that paper until the fall ot Fort Sumter, in the spring ot 1861. On the first call for troops he sold the newspaper office and recruited a com- pany of volunteers, which was among the first tendered and accepted for the ist regiment. That, regiment was, however, completed by the subsequent acceptance of other companies more conveniently accessible to Fort Snelling, and Captain Bishop and his compau)- were comiielled to wait the call for the 2d regiment, in which they were the: first mustered in on the 26th of [une, 1S61. For about four mouths thereafter the regiment was on dut\- in the state. Cap- tain Bishop with two companies being stationed at Fort Ripley, but in Octol^er the regiment was assembled and forwardc!d to the grand theatre ol the war. During the next four years he was constantly on duty with ami in his regiment, or had it as a part of his larger command. For gallant and soldier-like conduct THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 415 no reeiment has ever made a better record, and to have been, as he was, the first man mustered into it and the last man mustered out of it, is a military history that he may be proud to leave to his children to read and emulate. Honorable mention was repeatedly made of him and his regiment in the official reports of division and corps commanders, and especially by General George H. Thomas, under whom they served for more than three years, commencing with the cam- paign that culminated in the victory at Mill Springs. Captain Bishop was promoted to major by commission dated March 21, 1862; lieutenant-colonel, August 26, 1862; colonel, July 14, 1864, and "for gallant and meritorious conduct" breveted brigadier-general on the 7th of June, 1865, and was finally mustered out with his regiment on the 20th of July, 1865. The autumn and winter of 1865 he spent in surveying and locating the line of the (now) river division of the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul railroad between Saint Paul and Winona, and in preparing estimates, etc., for its construc- tion. In the spring of 1866 he took a large contract for government surveying in the southwestern part of the state, which completed, in November he located the line (constructed twelve years later) for a railroad from Chatfield to a junc- tion with the Winona and Saint Peter railroad, and spent the subsequent winter at Galena, IlHnois. The next spring (1867) he was appointed chief engineer of the .Saint Paul and Sioux City railroad, and placed in charge of the extension from Belle Plaine westward. Forty-seven miles had then been built from Saint Paul. Under his supervision this road was completed successively to Le Sueur in 1867, to Mankato in 1868, to Lake Crystal in 1869, to Saint James in 1870, and the Sioux City and Saint Paul road to Worthington in 1S71, and to Sioux City in 1872, General Bishop residing at Le Sueur until the autumn of 1868, and thereafter at Mankato. On the 1st of January, 1873, he was appointed general manager of both com- panies, and in May of that year removed to Saint Paul, where he has since then resided. The Worthington and Sioux Falls road has since been constructed under his supervision and placed under his management. His large responsibilities and exacting duties as railroad manager leave him little tiiue for other matters. He is, however, vice-president and director in the Citizens' National Bank of Mankato; director in the Saint Paul chamber of com- merce, and manager of four grain farms comprising about six thousand acres under cultivation. 4l6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. •* He was marrictl on tlie iith of January, 1866, to Miss Nwlie S. Husted, the only ilaughter of Lyman Husted, then a leading merchant at Galena, Illinois. Her affectionate sympathy anti discreet counsel through all their married life affirmed the wisdom of his choice, and her memory is held in blessed reverence by her husband and her children. She died on the 19th of .September, 1878, leav- ing three sons, Charles Husted, Edwin Judson and Robert Haven. JOHN S. PROCTOR, STILLWATER. JOHN SMITH PROCTOR, mayor of Stillwater, is a son of John and Sarah Smith Proctor, and was born in Cavendish, Windsor county, Vermont, on the 26th of February, 1S26. This branch of the Proctors were English, settling first in Massachusetts. John Proctor was a merchant, but the son was reared to farm- ing, working very hard through all his minority. He had about three months' schooling annually till fifteen ; then attended the Black River Academy, Ludlow, Vermont, one autumn ; taught the following winter, and one season a little later; went to Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1846, and was a clerk in a wholesale dry-goods store three years, and in Ajjril, 1 849, settled in Minnesota, just belore it took that territorial name. He was first employed by Churchill and Nelson, lumber- men and merchants, Stillwater; was elcxted register of deeds in the autumn oi the same year, holding the office four years, and was postmaster under President Fillmore. In 1852 Mr. Proctor formed a partnership with Andrew J. Short and Oliver Parsons, under the firm name of .Short, Proctor and Co., for the sale of general merchandise, the firm dissolving at the end of four years. From 1856 to i860 Mr. Proctor was in the hardware business with his brother. Baron Proctor. In the spring of i860 he was appointed warden of the state prison, located at Stillwater, and about the same time became secretary and treasurer ol the Saint Croi.x Boom Corjjoralion, holding the former [position (Mght )'ears ; the latter to the present time. He is a thorough-going business-man, eminently trustworthy, and greatly esteemed by his fellow-citizens. He never pushes himself forward, and rarely accepts political office. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 417 Mr. Proctor has been a member of the local school board, and in the city council a few times, and is now at the head of the municipality, — an office forced upon him. He is a republican in politics, is a third-degree Mason, has been noble-grand among the Odd-Fellows, and holds his religious connection with the Universalist church. The purity of his life is unquestioned. Miss Caroline M. Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, became the wife of Mayor Proctor in October, 1854, and they have one son, Levi C. Proctor. MARTIN HAGAN, M.D., SATNT PAUL. MARTIN HAGAN, one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Minne- sota, was a son of Charles and Margaret (Bailey) Hagan, and was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, on the 28th of December, 1832. His grandfather, John Hagan, came over from Ireland before the first war with England, and set- tled on land in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was a poor man, and his son Charles, who also became a farmer, had to early start out in the world for himself. Martin received his literary education in Columbia College, New York city ; attended lectures in the Medical University, New York, and Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from the latter in 1855. After practic- ing eight years in Port Washington, in his native state, in August, 1861, he was appointed by Governor Dennison surgeon of the 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and two years later, after a respite of a few months, surgeon of the i6ist regi- ment, and served until the autumn of 1864. The 51st regiment participated in the battle and capture of Fort Donelson,and in the fights at Stone River, Nash- ville, and other engagements; the 16 1st was in the Shenandoah Valley, part of the time under General Sheridan. While in the service, Dr. Hagan acted as brigade surgeon ;abo\i*-"six Wojith-s.A'frv' C^'^-aJT^ ^T^.^>-*^ On returning to Ohio he was elected, in 1864, treasurer of his native county; served his term out, and in 1866 attended the hospitals and a course of medical lectures in New York city, graduating from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in February, 1867. With his professional knowledge thus burnished. Dr. 48 4iS THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Hagan came to Saiiu Paul, arriving on the 29th of August, 1867, and has here followed his profession very closely and with eminent success. Without spending much time outside; of it, he has handled considerable real estate with a crood deal of caution and shrewdness, and has been fortunate in such operations, placing him in independent circumstances. -,^^ y^rPyr^ ^ .SSf^t-Oc-t.-^^ In Ijoth branches of his profession Dr.'Hag^'s reputation is high. He is a ) diligent student, and evidently believes in progress. He is a member of the Minnesota Medical .Society, and has been its vice- ^ president ; is also a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, and of the Ramsey County Society. In 1878 he was a delegate from Minnesota to the American Medical Association. He was city physician of Saint Paul one term ; is now one of the school inspectors of the city and a member of the State His- torical .Society, and of the .Saint Paul Academy of Science. He has written numerous articles for medical journals. The Doctor is a tliird-degree Mason and an Odd-Fellow. In his religious views he is undecided. His wife was Miss Rose Armstrong, of Port Washington, Ohio; they were married in October, 1S61, and have two children. Dr. Hagan is about the average height, beinti- live feet and eioht inches tali, and weighing one hundred and sixty-two pounds. He has a good deal of per- sonal as well as mental polish-; is easy and agreeable in manners, very cordial, a pleasant converser. He is modest and unassuming, and has risen purely on his own merits. THOMAS C. McCLURE,. S.I/NT CLOUD. THOMAS CLARENDON McCLURE, son of Thomas and Betsy (Ar- mour) McClure, is a native of Waldo, Maine, and dates his birth March 1 7, 1827. The McClures were Scotch-Irish; his greatgrandfather, James McClure, came from the north of Irelantl and settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was ont' of the pioneers in that place. A brother of his aided in destroying the tea in Boston harbor. James McClure, junior, the grandfather of our subject, was a captain in the revolutionary army, and in several battles: the father of Thomas C. was in the second contest with the mother country. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 419 Thomas McClure was a farmer, and his son worked with his father and at- tended and taught school until of age and past. He prepared for college at Waterville, beginning to teach at nineteen, and continuing, in all, in that calling for twenty-two terms, commencing with district and ending with high schools. In 1853 Mr. McClure went to Millbury, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and engaged in the leather business until the spring of 1857, when he visited northern Iowa and Minnesota, and after several months' careful explorations located at his present home. He had paid some attention to the law before leaving the east, and here formed a partnership with an attorney, Henry C. Waite, the main business of Mr. McClure, however, at first being the dealing in lands and land-warrants. In 1859 he started a private bank; in 1861 was appointed register of the United States land office, located at Saint Cloud; held the office until 1865, and then resumed banking, which business still occupies a small part of his time. In 1866 Mr. McClure engaged in milling and the lumber trade at Sauk Center, in company with Mr. A. Moore ; two years later bought out Mr. Moore, and con- tinued the business alone. From 1871 to 1875 he was receiver of the land office. He is still in the lumber trade, being of the firm of Clark and McClure. They have lumber-yards and manufactories, at Minneapolis and Saint Cloud, and have also yards at Manitoba, and a saw-mill on the Otter Tail river, two miles from Perham, which is a station on the Northern Pacific railroad, in Otter Tail county. Mr. McClure is not only a banker, miller, lumber manufacturer, lumber dealer and land operator, but an agriculturist. He has a small farm at Sauk Center and one of about two hundred acres near Paynesville, and one which he leases, located near Morris, Stevens county. He has also a great deal of unimproved land in the upper part of the state, covered with timber, largely pine. In business, he is far-seeing, reliable, untiring, and attentive to details. He has an extraordinary faculty for acquiring wealth, and is probably the wealthiest man in the state north of Minneapolis. In politics, Mr. McClure is a republican, with whig antecedents, and his name is sometimes mentioned in connection with the office of congressman, his friends urging his nomination ; but he is more wedded to business than politics, and does very little to encourage such a movement. He was elected to the legislature in 1858, but it did not convene. In religious sentiment, he is a Universalist, being quite " liberal." 420 THE UXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In Ucccmber, 1859, Miss Clara C. Clark, then a resident of Saint Cloud, and a native of Worcester county, Massachusetts, became the wife of Mr. McClure, and ihcy have had five children, all yet living but the hrst-born. HENRY POiHLER AND CO., IIENDERSOX. HEN RY IHKH LER, a native of the principality of Lippe Detmold, Germany, and son of Frederick and Wilhelmine ( Kaiser) Pcehler, was born on the 2 2d of August, 1833, and educated mainly by his father, who was a teacher, add- '\n- born on the 8th of December, 1830, at Fredonia, Chautauqua county. New York. His parents were Abijah Young and Rachael his wife 7icc Hill. Abijah Young was by occupation a cabinet-maker, and died in February, 1837. Austin H. attended school in his native town, and afterward at Waukegan, Illinois, where he completed his academic studies. He did not attend college. While in Waukegan he studied law in the office of Ferry and Clark, one of whom (Mr. Ferry) is at present governor of Washington Territory. Leaving Wau- kegan in April, 1854, he removed to Prescott, Wisconsin, where he remained about twelve years ; was elected clerk of the circuit court, which office he THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 437 retained until May, i860, wlien he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of the law, forming a partnership with M. H. Fitch, which continued until the latter entered the army. In 1862 Mr. Young- was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Wiscon- sin, and during the same year was elected to the office of district attorney, serving- four years in that capacity; was elected to the state senate in 1863, and held that office for two years. From the fact of Judge Young obtaining these respon- sible positions of trust in a comparatively short time after arriving there, a briefless lawyer and a stranger, the conclusion is naturally adduced that he must have pos- sessed excellent and commendable qualities to so soon command the respect and confidence of the people ; and it but adds one more to the innumerable exam- ples of what a man can do, even without a collegiate training, if he but be made of the right material, and possessed of a determined energy and perseverance. From 1855 to 1858 Judge Young was also interested in the mercantile trade, whereby he obtained an experience in commercial and business matters which he has found of much available value since occupying the judicial bench. In 1S66 Judge Young emigrated to Minnesota and settled in Minneapolis, where he has since resided. Arriving here he began the practice of his profes- sion in company with W. D. Webb, under the firm name of Young and Webb. Mr. Webb leaving soon after, he continued in practice alone until 1870, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Thomas Lowry, which continued until the ist of June, 1872, when Mr. Young received the appointment of judge of the court of common pleas. He also at this time resigned his position of city attorney, to which ofiice he had been elected in 1871. In 1877 the state legislature consoli- dated the court of common pleas and the district court, giving this district two judges, the statute also making the judge of common pleas one of the district judges. At the following election Judge Young was elected to retain the office for the full term, expiring- in 1884. His associate in this office is Judge Vanderburgh. The political proclivities of Judge Young are in favor of republicanism, being nominally elected as such to his present position. But in respect to politics, the bench of Minnesota is commendably unlike that of most other states, — the judges are apparently entirely uninterested in all political questions, holding themselves aloof from participating or actively sympathizing with either party, and in doing so they command the respect and admiration of all good citizens. Judge Young was married in April, 1854, and lost his wife by death in 1868 ; 438 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. was married again, and again death claimed his wife. His present wife was Miss Leonora Martin, dauofhter of Milton Martin, of W'illiamstown, Vermont ; married on the 9th of April, 1872. He has three children living, all by his first wife: Edgar A., born on the 19th of February, 1861; Nellie, born on the 19th of March, 1863, and Alice M., born on the 1 ith of June, 1866. Judge Young attends and is a deacon in Plymouth Church, of which Mrs. Younpf is also a member. As a lawyer, Judge Young achieved deserved success: able, courteous and honorable ; a fluent speaker, possessing quick perceptions, a logical mind, and, more than all, a sort of indefinable earnestness and firmness in manner and ap- pearance, which seemed to impress men with a conviction of his perfect candor and integrity, he made rapid progress, and was, when called to the bench, enjoy- ing a lucrative practice. Upon the bench he has demonstrated that he also possesses in a marked degree those peculiar qualities which constitute a judge: fearless, independent and prompt, his decisions, quickly given and unmistakably uttered, whether right or wrong, possess that certain clear and clean-cut quality which is eminently satisfactory to the profession ; and it is also certain that he satisfies and enjoys the general confidence of the people whom he serves. CAPTAIN JOHN P. OWENS, TAYLOR'S FAf.LS. JOHN PHILLIPS OWENS, one of the patriarchal journalists of Minnesota, and now register of the land office at Taylor's Falls, was born in Dayton, Ohio, on the 6th of January, 1818. His father, William Owens, was a native of North Wales, and came to America when a youth of eighteen years. His mother, Elizabeth Mulford, was a native of Cape May county, New Jersey, and accompa- nied her brother's family to the Miami valley in 1806, this being one of the first families that migrated thither under the patronage of those enterprising "Jersey- men " who did so much toward the early settlement of that fertile country, Jonathan Dayton and Daniel C. Cooper. William Owens was a carpenter and builder, and erected many of the resi- dences, business houses and churches which formed the first structures in the now flouring city of Daj'ton. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 439 The first recollection of his existence that the subject of this sketch has, was that his parents were residing on a farm three or four miles east of that city, in Montgomery county, and adjoining the Shaker village of Watervliet. This land his father had purchased of Jesse Hunt, maternal grandfather of Hon. George H. Pendleton, United States senator from Ohio, and was eneaoed at the time here alluded to in clearing it up for cultivation. Having served in the disastrous campaign of Hull in 1812, and suffered the privations of the Maiden (Canada) prison, after the surrender of that unfortunate general, this task of clearing heavily-timbered land proved too much for him, and he died when his son John was seven years old. A younger brother died a few months afterward, leaving the widow with only one child. She subsequently married an old New Jersey acquaintance, Christopher Leaming, a farmer, of Madisonville, Hamilton county, eight miles east of Cincinnati. Mr. Leaming was a model farmer in his neigh- borhood, and there his stepson received the rudiments of an agricultural educa- tion, which has since been of vast benefit to him as a journalist. After receiving a commourschool and academic education, the tastes and habits of young Owens led him, like many other youths, to ignore the desires of his mother, who wished him to receive a college training in order that he might be- come a member of one of the learned professions. He preferred to be a "roller- boy " in a printing-office, passing thence to the " case," to the front of the old Washington hand-press, and finally to the book and job room, graduating on his twenty-first birthday a complete and thorough printer, such as we too rarely find about printing-offices these "degenerate days." Like most young printers, being now ambitious to become an editor, and hav- ing some means by the sale of the Montgomery county farm, inherited from his father, he embarked in a foolish newspaper enterprise in Cincinnati, and lost all he had. With pockets far from plethoric, he started out as a " traveling jour, printer," visiting and working in the offices of the Louisville "Journal," George D. Prentice, editor, Vicksburgh "Whig," Natchez "Courier," and New Orleans "Bulletin" and "Picayune." During the presidential campaign of 1840 he re- turned to Cincinnati and connected himself with the " Republican," the immediate organ oi the whig presidential candidate. General Harrison. A series of sketches, being burlesque reports of democratic meetings in the city and vicinity, written by Mr. Owens, and published under the nom-de-phime of Joe Daviess (borrowing the name from one of General Harrison's heroes of Tippecanoe), attracted the 440 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. attention of the general and the whig leaders, and set Mr. Owens up as one of the most promising young writers of the party. After being connected as reporter and associate editor with various news- papers in Cincinnati, Mr. Owens formed a business connection with Major Na- thaniel McLean, of Cincinnati, in May, 1849, ^^ establish a newspaper at Saint Paul, the spring that Minnesota took her territorial name, reaching the capitol on the 27th of that month. He came from Prairie du Chien on the same boat with Hon. Alexander Ramsey, the newly-appointed governor. In July the publication of the Minnesota " Register" was commenced by Mc- Lean and Owens, there being two weekly newspapers already in existence there, the "Pioneer" and the "Chronicle." In th(- following October the "Register" was united with the "Chronicle," and the publication continued by the same firm until July, 1S50, when the paper changed hands and soon after died. In the autumn of 1851 Mr. Owens, in connection with George W. Moore, now, and since the first inauguration of President Lincoln, deputy collector of customs for the port of Saint Paul, established the weekly " Minnesotian," which paper they successfully published, starting a daily and tri-weekly edition in 1854. Three years later broken health compelled Mr. Owens to dispose of his interest in the concern and engage in some other pursuit. The " Minnesotian " was regarded in its day as the leading republican paper in the territory and state. In October, 1862, Governor Ramsey appointed Mr. Owens (piartermaster of the 9th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, with which regiment he served against the Indians on the frontier until the autumn of 1863, when he accompanied it to Missouri. In May, 1864, the command went farther south, and was at Memphis attached to the second brigade, first division, sixteenth army corps, Major-General A. J. .Smith, commander. Mr. Owens served as regimental and brigade quarter- master until the close of the war, being present at the battle of Tupelo, on the 14th and 15th of July, 1864; at Nashville, on the 15th and i6th of December, 1864, and at the siege of the Spanish Fort, Mobile Bay, April, 1865. He came out of the war with the rank of captain and adjutant-quartermaster. In April, 1869, Captain Owens was appointed register of the land office at Taylor's Falls, which place has since been his home. His politics are ultra re- publican, and he has done a great deal to strengthen the party in Minnesota, still having much influence. He is past-grand master of the Grand Lodge, Inde- pendent Order of Odd-Fellows, of the state. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 441 Captain Owens has a second wife. His first was Miss Helen J. McAllister, of Oxford, Ohio ; married in November, 1848. Six months afterward she accom- panied her husband to Minnesota, and bore him a daughter and a son, the latter dying when ten days old. The mother speedily followed the little one to the world of spirits. The daughter, Mary Helen, is unmarried and resides with her father. His present wife was Miss Frances M. Hobbs, daughter of John W. Hobbs, a celebrated musician and composer, of London, England, where he died in 1877; they were married in New York city, on the 26th of October, 1853, and have no issue. Captain Owens has written a " Political History of Minnesota," which we understand will make a volume of four hundred or five hundred octavo pages, and which will probably be published during the ensuing year. He is thoroughly conversant with his subject, and the work will no doubt be very valuable. Cap- tain Owens is familiar with the political history of the nation as well as his adopted state, and is a rich converser on general topics. HENRY J. YOUNG, M.D., WASECA. HENRY J. YOUNG, a native of Rochester, Windsor county, \"ermont, is of revolutionary stock, his great-grandfather, Henry Young, being a cap- tain in the continental army. His parents were Reuben and Hannah (Austin) Young, members of the farming community. Henry, the first child in a family of three children, was born on the 9th of June, 1831, and reared on the farm until seventeen years of age. He received an academic education at Springfield, in his native county; studied medicine at that place with Dr. E. A. Knight, com- mencing in 1850; attended his first and third courses of medical lectures at Woodstock, Vermont, and his second at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and received his medical diploma at the Vermont College in 1854. After practicing one year with his preceptor at Springfield, Dr. Young came out as far westward as Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, and there practiced twelve years, except when in the service of his country. In 1S61 he became assistant- surgeon of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry; served one year, and resigned on account of physical exhaustion. A little later he was commissioned surgeon of the 37th 442 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Wisconsin Infantry, but was immediately transferred to the 47tli, and served till the close of the rebellion, having', during; the last four or five months, charge of the United States General Hospital at Tullahoma, Tennessee. In 1867 Dr. Young located at Waseca, where he has been in general practice and has an excellent business. His experience in the field and in hospitals dur- ing the rebellion was a source of great discipline to him, and added much to his reputation as well as skill in the healing art. He does most of the surgery in these parts, and has a high standing alike in his professional, social and moral character. He is a member of the State Medical Society. His religious connection is with the Congregationalists. The purit\- of his life is un(]uestioned. Humane movements have his warm sympathy and hearty support. He has had a wife since the 12th of January, 1S56. .She was Miss Lucia H. Preston, of Pittsheld, Vermont. They have two sons, Carl H., aged eighteen, and John C, aged fourteen years, both being educated at Carlton College. Mrs. Young, like her husband, is quite active in the Congregational church and society, and is a woman of generous impulses. In the temperance cause she is one of the leading women in the state, being grand worthy vice-templar. She does her work in a quiet, unostentatious way, and is very successful in organizing chil- dren's temperance societies, and in stimulating other women to work in the good cause. She is assistant general superintendent of juvenile tcmj)lars in the state. HON. GORDON E. COLE, FARIBAULT. GORDON EARL COLE, for six years attorney-general of the State of Minne.sota, is a son of Lansing J. Cole, a physician, and Laura Brown ; his parents living at the time of his birth, ]une iS, 1833, at Cheshire, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His great-grandfather was an early settler at Saybrook, in that state, and moved thence into the western county. Gordon received his literary education mainly at the Suffield Academy, Con- necticut ; read law in the office of Governor Briggs, at Pittsfield, and then with Gammell and Adams, and graduated from the Dane Law School, Harvard Uni- versity, in 1854. He practiced two years in his native town ; came to Minnesota ^^^^^y-,^^-z West, was born J in Greene county, Ohio, on the 13th of December, 1832. His father, a cabinet- maker by trade, was from Connecticut. When Josiah was about six years old his parents moved to Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, where they both died when he was twelve years of age. On meeting with this great loss he returned to Greene county, lived with an uncle a short time, and then went into a woolen factory at Spring Valley, same county, spending two years in learning to manufacture cloth. At fifteen he became a clerk in a store at Logansport, Indiana, laboring in that capacity there until nineteen, with only a common-school education, and in 1851 he went to Bloomington, Illinois, continuing the business of a salesman for two years. In 1S53 Mr. West came to Saint Anthony, in this state, ran a bakery and restaurant there one season, and in the autumn of 1854 settled at Saint Cloud, then a village in an embryotic state, with not more than twenty families. He worked in a saw-mill the first winter; the next spring started a store in company with Mr. Horine, and sold goods until the autumn of 1857, the last \ear in com- pany with J. N. Mason. About this time Mr. West took up a claim six miles from Saint Cloud, culti- vated it one season ; made up his mind that farming was not his specialty ; dis- posed of his land; commenced the manufacture of brick and lime; followed that business two years; commenced building in 1861, and continued it until August, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company I, 7th Minnesota Infantry. He served three full years, and was promoted step by step till he had command of the company. He was in many battles, and never received a wound. In the autumn of 1865 Captain West resumed the mercantile business, adding insurance, discontinuing the former branch in 1874 and still continuing the latter. 47''^ THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL B/CTIOiVARY. He was appointed postmaster by President Grant in 1S69; was reappointed in 1873 and 1S77, and is now serving his third term. In politics, he has alwaj's been a republican, and has much influence in the party. He makes a popular government official. He is a third-degree Mason ; in religious sentiment, a Baptist, but a member of no church. Captain West has been identified with all local improvements of importance, and in a double sense has been efficient in building u[) this city. At sundry times he put up at least half-a-dozen dwelling-houses and three or lour stores, including the postoffice .block. In 1875 he built the " West House," a cream-colored three story brick structure, which is an ornament to the city. His public spirit and enterprise have done their full share in adding to the beauty and thrift of Saint Cloud. JAMES P. SQUIRES, M.D., AUST/N. JAMES PHINEAS SQUIRES, a physician and surgeon of twenty-eight years' experience in the profession, was born in South Dansville, New York, on the 22d of August, 1825. His parents, I'hineas and Jane (Buchanan) Squires, belonoed to the farming communitw His maternal great-grandfather was a short time in the iM-ench and Indian war (1755-60), and all through the revolutionary struogle. James received his literary education at the academy in Dansville, and farmed more or less until of age, teaching one winter. He read medicine at first with Dr. Ackley, of South Dansville, and then with Dr. Hovey, of Dansville; attended lectures at the Buffalo Medical College; graduated in 1850; practiced two or three years at Greenwood, Steuben county, and in 1S53 settled in Marke- san. Green Lake county, Wisconsin. Ten )ears later he removed to Waterloo, Jefferson county, same state; early in the spring of 1865 became assistant sur- geon 48th Wisconsin Infantry, which regiment was about starting for the south- west when Lee surrendered. It went as far as Fort Scott, Kansas, and was then divided, doing frontier duty at different points. In the spring of 1866 Dr. Squires returned to Markesan, and practiced there and in Columbia county until the spring Of 1870, when he left Wisconsin and came to Blue Earth, Faribault county, Minnesota. Two years later he settled in Austin, where he has a large practice and an e.xct'Uent standing. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 479 The Doctor has had very little to do with poHtics or office-holding; has run off into none of the isms in theolog)' or social or physical science ; has made medicine his sole and close study, and hence his reputation and success in the healing art. He has good social qualities, and avoids adding gloom to a sick room. He is a Royal Arch Mason. Dr. Squires has a second wife, the first being Miss Mary Gertrude Albright, of Dansville, New York; married on the 28th of February, 1851. She had four children, and died in 1867 ; only one of her children, Charles P., a student, is now living. His present wife was Miss Emily Frances VVeller, a native of Livingston count)', New York, and living at Rochester, Minnesota, when married, on the 27th of November, 1868. She has two children, Helen Edith, aged nine, and Alice May, aged five years. JUDGE JOHN P. REA, MINNEAPOLIS. JOHN PATTERSON REA was born in Lower Oxford township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of October, 1840. His father was a woolen manufacturer. He passed the greater part of his time until nineteen years of age at work in his father's factory. In September, i860, he left home, and was engaged from that time until April, 1861, teaching school in Miami county, Ohio. On the i6th of April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the iith Ohio Volun- teers, and served until August of that year, when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the ist regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. He served in the latter regiment without interruption until mustered out, on the 23d of November, 1864. Was promoted to first lieutenant, March, 1862 ; to captain, March, 1863, and breveted major, for gallantry in action, November, 1863. Participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Cumberland, and in Sherman's Atlanta cam- paign ; took part in over fifty engagements ; during three years and four months' service in the ist Ohio Cavalry, was absent from his command altoeether but ten days, seven of which he was a priscMier. He entered the sophomore class of the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, January, 1865, graduating from that institution in class of 1S67. Durino- the summer vacation of 1866 he was enrolled as a student of law in the office of 480 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Hon. O. J. Dickey, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Resuming his studies with Mr. Dickey in the summer of 1867, he was admitted to the bar in August, 1868. In November, 1868, he was commissioned by Governor Geary one of the three notaries pubhc of Lancaster. Pennsylvania. In April, 1869, he was ap- pointed, by President Grant. United States internal revenue assessor for the ninth Pennsylvania district, — a position he held until the 20th of May, 1873, when the ofhce of assessor was abolished. P^-om 1S66 to 1875 Mr. Rea was actively engaged on the rcpul)lican side in Pennsylvania politics. He stumped the state for the ticket of his i)arty during each of those ten successive years. In November, 1875, he visited Minneapolis, ami, impressed with its beauty and promise, determined to make it his future liome. He bought an interest in the Minneapolis "Tribune," and took editorial charge of it in January, 1876. After the consolidation of the " Morning Tribune" with the " Pioneer Press," in the following May, he remained on the editorial staff of the paper until May, 1877, when he resumed the practice of his profession, forming a partnership with F. Hooker, Esq. In NovembcM", 1877, Mr. Rea was elected judge of probate of Hennepin coun- ty by a majority of fifteen hundred over the opposing candidate. That position he now holds. He is a member of the law firm of Rea, Hooker and Woolley. GENERAL CHARLES P. ADAMS, M.D., HASTINGS. CHARLES POWELL ADAMS, the first practicing physician to settle in Hastings, dates his birth at Rainsburgh, Bedford county, Penns)lvaiiia, on the 3d of March, 1831. His father, William Adams, a farmer and mill-owner, is residing at Southampton, Bedford county, now in his seventy-seventh year. This branch of the Adams family came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1645, and moved thence to Fairfax county, same state. Jacob Adams, grandfather of our subject, served five years under General Washington, coming out of the arm)- in 1783 as captain, and dying at the age of ninety-eight years. The wife of William Adams was Nancy Powell, whose father, George Powell, came from Scotland and settled in Loudon county, Virginia. fflAy-u^ y/'O'c^ ^^2^^/i-^ THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 483 At fifteen years of age Charles went to Ohio and attended the West Bedford Academy for three years, there finishing his literary education. He there read medicine with Dr. William R. Waddell one year; then with Drs. Crumley and Pierce, of Amity, Ohio ; attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincin- nati; received his diploma in 1S51; practiced a short time at Amity, Knox county; then at Waymansville, Bartholomew county, Indiana, until the ist of October, 1854, on which date he started for Hastings, reaching here on the 9th of the next month. There were then but four buildings in the place, and not a dwelling house, except where the horses were changed on the old stage route from the Iowa line to Hastinos. o Dr. Adams here practiced steadily until the spring of 1861. On the 22d of April of that year he enlisted as a private in the ist Minnesota Infantry; was elected captain of company H ; was made major on the battle-field of Antietam; lieutenant-colonel after the first battle of Fredericksburgh; was breveted colonel by the war department at the second battle of Fredericksburgh, and brevet brigadier- general after the battle of Gettysburgh, and confirmed by the United States senate on the 2 2d of March, 1865. General Adams commanded the regiment from the 12th of December, 1863, until mustered out at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on the 6th of May, 1864, and was in every battle from Bull Run to Gettysburgh. He was slightly wounded in the arm at Bull Run, on the 21st of July, 1861; severely in the left groin at Malvern Hills, on the ist of July, 1862; severely at Antietam, on the 17th of the following- September, and at Gettysburgh, on the 2d of July, 1863, in five places — through the left chest and lung, in the left groin, breaking femur, in the left thigh, above the lower third, and in the right side of the abdomen. He was left for dead, and lay five days on the field. He was finally found and cared for, and had to use a crutch eighteen months. He still carries two balls and one buckshot. On being mustered out of the first three years' service, at which time he had partially recovered from his wounds. General Adams was recommissioned, on the i6th of June, 1864, as major of the Independent Battalion Minnesota Cavalry, which was stationed at Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory. In September of the same year he was made lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of the battalion, and was also appointed commander of the third subdistrict of the dis- trict of Minnesota. On the 9th of January, 1866, he started on his first expedition against the 484 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Sioux, in a deep snow, and the second expedition was undertaken on the 22d of the following month, during which expeditions one hundred and seventy-eight hostile Indians were captured. During that winter the soldiers suffered at times fearfully from cold, the ther- mometer often standing at thirty and forty and sometimes fifty degrees below zero. On the two expeditions his command was out forty-three days and nights, and were the first of the kind, establishing by their success the feasibility of such expeditions. Few men in Minnesota have a more brilliant military record than General Adams. In his report of the battles of Gettysburgh, Major-General Hancock speaks in strong terms of praise of the gallantry of this officer. The battalion was mustered out on the i6th of June, 1866, and since that time the Doctor has been engaged in his profession. He has a farm six miles from the city of Hastings, which he superintends, but is seen in town every day busy among his patients. Dr. Adams was a member of the territorial legislature in the regular and extra sessions of 1856 and 1857, and was chairman of the committee on incor- porations. He was mayor of the city in 1872. The Doctor has always affiliated with the democrac)- ; was publishing the Hastings " Democrat" when the civil war commenced, and, on enlisting, closed his office with the announcement that it would not be reopened until the rebels had laid down their arms. He was the only member of the Union army in his father's family, and had seven cousins who were officers on the confederate side. The Doctor has been king of the masonic chapter at Hastings, and is a Knight Templar, belonging to Damascus Commandery. No. i. Saint Paul. He was first married in February, 1852, to Miss Mary Florence, daughter of Rev. Alvin Buxton, of Waymansville. She had three children, and died in 1858. Two of her children. Flora J. and William H., are still living, — the daughter is a teacher in the Hastings high school, and the son is just finishing his education in the law department of the Michigan State University. His present wife was Mrs. Mary S. Pettibone, of Vermilion, Dakota county, Minnesota; married on the 30th of November, 1873. She has had two children and lost them. Dr. Adams is a member of the Dakota County Medical Society, and of the Minnesota State Medical Society; has been its vice-president, and was for eight THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 485 years chairman of the executive committee. He is also a member of the Ameri- can Medical Association, and has been a delegate several times to its annual meetings. He is also a member of the Rocky Mountain Medical Association, and an honorary member of the California State Medical Society. HON. BENJAMIN D. SPRAGUE, RUSHFORD. BENJAMIN DEXTER SPRAGUE, one of the enterprising millers of Fill- more county, and tor four sessions a member of the Minnesota legislature, dates his birth at Bedford, Merrimac county, New Hampshire, on the 6th of December, 1827. His father, Lowell Sprague, was a farmer and speculator, and a son of Benjamin Sprague, one of the volunteers who fought for the liberty of the American colonies. The .Spragues moved into New Hampshire from the old Bay State. When Benjamin was three years old the family moved to western New York, and settled at East Newark, Wayne county, where he attended school three or four months in a year till nearly of age, farming usually the rest of the year. He subsequently worked three or four years at pattern-making in a ma- chine-shop at Newark; took a trip to California in 1851, and a second one in 1853, mining most of the time with excellent success, returning to East Newark in 1855. There he was engaged in the hardware trade for three years, then read law for eighteen months, and in December, 1859, settled in Mower county, Min- nesota, farming for several years. While in that county he represented it one year in the house of representatives and two years in the state senate. About that time a railroad was projected by him and others, and while in the legislature he aided in getting the charter for the Southern Minnesota railroad, now com- pleted to Jackson, the seventh county in the southern tier from the Mississippi river. He was one of the parties who, .in 1864, organized the company for the building of this road, and was appointed the land commissioner of the company. He had his office at first at Hokah, near the eastern end of the road; as the road progressed, removed it to Houston, and finally to Rushford, resigning the office in 1867, soon after the road reached this point, and here made his home. Rushford is located on the Root river, which here forms a first-class water- power, which Mr. Sprague and others Improved, he launching out into the milling 486 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. business with as little delay as possible, and is now manufacturing about fifty thousand barrels of superb merchant flour yearly. lie is one of the most reliable business-men in this part of Fillmore county, energetic, public-spirited, and much respected. Since settling in this county he was in the state senate one session, filling a vacancy, and is now mayor of the city. Mr. Sprague began political life as a democrat, voting for Franklin Pierce in 1852. Being of the "barn-burner" or free-soil branch of that political family, he naturally dropped out of its ranks before the end of Mr. Pierce's administration and became a thorough-going republican, the name by which he is still known. Mr. Sprague joined the Baptist church many years ago, but there is no organi- zation of that name in Rushford. He is a member of the Temple of Honor, an efficient worker in the temperance cause, and does much to elevate the tone of society in Rushford. On the 28th of April, 1858, Miss Lucy Ann McCall, of Rushford, Allegany county, New York, was married to Mr. Sprague, and they have lost two children and have five living, — Katie I., Gertrude, Loui D., Milton M. and Bessie. May L., the first-born, died when three years old, and Will M. when less than two. WILLIAM SCHIMMEL, SAINT PETER. WILLIAM SCHIMMEL, merchant in Saint Peter since 1856, and presi- dent of the First National Bank since it was organized, is a native of Westphalia, Prussia, where he was born, on the 19th of May, 1S22. His father, Frederic Schimmel, was a cloth manufacturer. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Danzberg. William was educated at the higher schools, next below the university ; at fourteen commenced learning the printer's trade ; worked at it as an apprentice and journe)'man in the old country until 1850, when he came to the United States, and located at first in Detroit, Michigan. There he worked three years as a journeyman printer; in 1S53 established the Michigan " Volks- blatt"; conducted it three years, and in 1856 removed to .Saint Peter, here estab- lishing himself in the business already mentioned, and making a success of it. To merchandise he added, many years ago, general produce, and his business transactions, as a whole, have been attended with good luck. In 1871, when the THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 487 First National Bank of Saint Peter was ready to open, he was selected as its president, he being one of its heavier stockholders. In social standing-, as in finances, he is classed among the solid men of Nicollet county. Mr. Schimmel has been mayor of Saint Peter two terms, making an efficient executive, and for eight years was a director and the treasurer of the school board. He was treasurer when the substantial brick school-house was built, nine or ten years ago, and was a leading- man in putting through that noble enterprise. He is full of public spirit, and takes great pride in working for the interests of his adopted home. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Asylum for the Insane, located at Saint Peter, and a warm friend of the unfortunate. Mr. Schimmel has been a republican since the incipiency of the party ; often attends state and other conventions, and has a powerful influence in political cir- cles. He is a member of the fraternity of Odd-Fellows. The wife of Mr. Schimmel was Miss Lina Lottmann, a native of Westphalia, Prussia, their union taking place in September, 1853. They have lost three chil- dren and have two living: Anna, aged thirteen, and Rudolph, aged eleven years. COLONEL GEORGE H. JOHNSTON, DETROIT. GEORGE HENRY JOHNSTON, the founder of the town of Detroit, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and was born on the 5th of May, 1834, his parents being William and Susanna Caines Johnston. His grandfather, George Johnston, came from Scotland about 1810, and settled in Boston. His maternal grandfather, Thomas Caines, came from England, and introduced the manufac- ture ot flint glass in this country, starting the enterprise in south Boston, when that part of the city was largely devoted to cow pastures. 'I he subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of Boston ; in 1850 commenced to learn of his father the trade of a glass manufacturer; worked at the business till of age ; clerked a few years in the Boston post-office ; in 1855 started the Suffolk Glass Works, and in 1861 sold out to his father-in- law, Joshua Jenkins, who still carries on the business, — the only works of the kind now in operation in that city. In May, 1861, Mr. Johnston entered the army as first lieutenant of company 488 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. E, ist Massachusetts Infantry; was promoted to adjutant after the first battle of Bull Rvui ; in 1862, by appointment of the President, was promoted to captain and adjutant-general, and a little later was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and adjutant-general, " for gallantry at Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks, Glen Dale and Mal- vern Hill." He was in thirty-two engagements, and received only two very slight wounds ; was honorably mentioned four times by the commanding.officer for bravery and skillful manoeuveringon different occasions, and was breveted colonel at the close of the war. He resiened a short time before Lee's surrender, on a surgeon's cer- tificate of disability. After recovering, Colonel Johnston was in trade a short time at Norfolk, \'ir- oinia; then returned to Boston, and em/aged in the building and real-estate busi- ness ; in 1871 came to Minnesota to select lands for the New England colony, and after extensive observations, selected twenty thousand acres in Becker coun- t\-, buying all the odd sections in one of the finest tracts of country in the state, right in the heart of what is known as the " Park Region." The company for which he acted represented a capital of one hundred thou- sand dollars. About three years ago he bought out its interest, and still has about five thousand acres to dispose of. He is still connected with the emigrant agency business, there being a bureau in Boston, and especial favors in transpor- tation, etc., are shown to parties coming here to settle. Detroit is delightfully located on a high point of land, with very pleasant sur- roundings. Detroit lake, three miles long and two miles wide, is a charming sheet of clear, cool water, abounding in fish of various kinds, and there are five other lakes in the township, averaging a mile square. This is the shire town of the county; has a land office, and is a central point for the Indian agencies and mail distribution. The village of Detroit has nearly one thousand inhabitants, and is growing rapidly. The fertile country around it, and its healthful climate, will be likely to make it become a large city when the country bi-comes thickly settled. People come here from the south to spend their summers. The mineral springs here, known to the Indians from time immemorial, are still visited by them, as well as by white people. In 1874 Colonel Johnston built a flouring mill on Pelican river, one mile from town, and is still running it. He was in mercantile business about one year THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 489 here, selling out in the autumn of 1877. His mill and his landed interests absorb his whole time. When in Boston, Colonel Johnston was in the city council several years, but in Minnesota has kept out of political ofifice. For two years he was department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, resigning in 1877. He is a Baptist, and trustee of the Detroit society. His wife was Miss Amanda M. Jenkins, daughter of Joshua Jenkins, already mentioned. They were married in February, 1859, and have five children. As one of the town-builders of Minnesota, Colonel Johnston deserves great credit for his public spirit and enterprise. His name is indelibly and honorably inwoven with the early history of Becker county. HON. EDSON R. SMITH, IE SUEUR. EDSON ROLLIN SMITH was born in Shoreham, Vermont, on the 8th of April, 1836. He worked on his father's farm until seventeen years of age, and then in a store at Shoreham between two and three years, finishing his education at Newton Academy, in his native town, where he studied in all about two years, attending to English branches, having especial reference to business. In 1856 he left his native state; came directly to Le Sueur; formed a part- nership with his brother Henry; remained in trade with him until 1859, when he went into the county auditor's office, serving one year as deputy and two years as auditor of the county. In 1863 he resumed the mercantile business in com- pany with his brother, continuing in that relation until the ist of August, 1878, when he became a partner of Hon. Michael Doran in the banking business in Le Sueur, — an institution established by other parties in 1869. Messrs. Doran and Smith own the Le Sueur steam flouring mill and the elevator, and are men who push business. The village owes, in a large measure, its growth and thrift to a few such men as the members of this banking house. Mr. Smith was a state senator in 1868 and 1870, and was chairman of the committee on state prison one year, and of the committee on enrollment the other year, being also on the committee on towns and counties both sessions. He has been in the town council for the last five years; was a member of the 490 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. local school board seven years, and its treasurer most of the time ; and is a trustee, and secretary and treasurer of the Le Sueur Mound and Cemetery Asso- ciation. He is a sharp business man. His political associations are with the republicans, and few men in Le Sueur county have a better standing with the part)-. He is a Knight Templar, and has been master of the Le .Sueur Lodge three years, and its treasurer eight or nine years. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian church, of which he is an elder. His moral character is uncjuestioned. On the T,i\ of November, 1859, Miss Mattie A. Pierson, a native of New Hampshire, and residing at the time in Le Sueur county, became the wife of Mr. Smith, and they have three boys, — Lewis Orville, Rollin Edson and Fred Pierson. LIEUTENANT AXEL H. REED, GLENCOE. AXEL HAY FORD REED, son of .Sampson Reed, farmer and drover, and 1- Huldah Bisbee, was born in the town of Hartford, Oxford county, Maine, on the 13th of March, iiS35. His grandfather was from Groton, Massachusetts. His motlier descended from Charles Bisbee, of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and his maternal great-grandfather, Elisha Bisbee, senior, was lieutenant of a corps of blacksmiths in the revolutionary army. A.xel spent his youth in farming and driving cattle for his father, attending a district school in the winters, and one term at a normal school at South Paris. Maine. At nineteen years of age he went to Rochester, New York, and worked two seasons for the Rochester Brick and Tile Conipany, attending school one winter at Shelby Basin ; pushed westward in September, 1855 ; spent that autumn in the employ of Joel S. Sherman, proprietor of the Northwestern Nurseries, Rockford, Illinois ; came to Minnesota just as winter was setting in, and in the spring of 1856 located at Glencoe, taking up a preemption claim near town. He here engaged in brick-making that summer, in which enterprise he lost all he had worked hard for. During the next three seasons he was foreman In the brick- making business at Carver and Belle Plaine, in adjoining counties. During the winters of 1859-60 and 1860-61 Mr. Reed was engaged with C. Preble, John McEadden, Stephen D. Damon and H.Wilson, well-known tra])pers v&c THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 493 in those early days, in trapping round Yandiyohi lake and the Chippewa river. While hunting and trapping in the wilderness of Minnesota he experienced near- ly every phase of hardship. The Indians stole their traps and furs, and at one time broke into their camp and carried off all their pork, flour and furs. This robbery was committed by a portion of Little Crow's band, who, in 1S62, partici- pated in the massacre of the whites. Mr. Reed and two of his party followed them by tracks in the snow, and found them, but the Indians denied the theft ami refused to give up anything, but some of the traps were found and taken from them. Some of these Indians were afterward hung at Mankato for the part they had taken in the Sioux war. While camped on the Chippewa river in i'^13Bo-t!<^r^:^'^ Jnf^lrSJ. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 513 determined to continue his studies and secure a liberal education. He connected himself with what was called the Teachers' Seminary, at Andover, at the head of which was Rev. Dr. Lyman Coleman, and the principal of the preparatory de- partment was Professor William H. Wells, author of " Wells's English Grammar." There he spent three more years, working on the farm in the summer season and teaching each winter, and then spent three years in Phillips Academy, under Dr. Samuel H. Taylor. After ending his academic studies he taught one year in Andover; entered Yale College in 1848; graduated in the class of 1852, and immediately entered on an engagement to teach in the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, in Philadelphia, simply to procure funds for liquidating debts contracted while in college. He found the profession a useful and pleasant one, — an intimation, as he thought, from Providence that he should make it his life-work, — and this, thus far, he has done. He taught six years in Philadelphia, two years at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, six years in the American Asylum in Hart- ford, Connecticut, and moved thence to Faribault in 1866, to take the superintend- ency of the Minnesota Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind. During that year the foundation of the north wing of the present state building for the deaf and dumb was laid on the high bluff on the east side of Straight river ; five years later the foundation of the south wing was laid, and in 1878 the main building was completed, the whole grand structure built of blue limestone, in the Erench style, being two hundred and sixty-six feet long and three stories above the basement, and surrounded by fifty-four acres of land do- nated by the citizens of Faribault. It is modeled internally according to the taste and judgment of the superintendent, with almost every conceivable convenience for such a school, and is the finest building of any kind owned by the State of Minnesota. Its whole cost was about one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Half a mile south, on the same side of the river, is the Institution for the Blind, under the same superintendent and board of trustees, in a large new brick building, standing by the side of Alexander Faribault's late residence, in an in- closure of ninety-seven acres of land, — the property of the commonwealth. Dur- ing the year ending in June, 187S, there were fourteen pupils in the Institution for the Blind, and one hundred and three in the Deaf and Dumb department, — all under most excellent management. Professor Noyes left a very pleasant and desirable situation at Hartford when he came to Minnesota, but it is to be hoped that he has never regretted the step .?8 514 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. which he took in cominy to this young state and taking an active part in the found- ing of this institution. He brought with him large experience in teaching and man- aging such schools, and the best of executive abilities, and it was fortunate for the state that such a man was secured at that particular juncture, before the first stone was laid for the first wing. He is a man of most tender feelings, heartily sympathizing with the unfortunate, and striving with the utmost diligence to se- cure to each pupil in the institution not only a good educaticMi, luit knowledge of a useful trade. The citizens of Faribault, the trustees, and all ha\ ing a knowledge of the management of this institution, speak in very strong terms of commenda- tion of the superintendent. Professor Noyes is a christian gentleman, as well as a good scholar; a mem- ber and deacon of the Congregational church, and a man of the highest standing in the community. On the 2istof July, 1862, Miss Eliza H. W^adsworth, of Hartford, Connecticut, became the wife of Professor Noyes, and they have one daughter, Alice Wads- worth, aged fifteen years. Mrs. Noyes is a descendant of Colonel Jeremiah Wads- worth, who hid the charter in the oak tree, known for more than two centuries as the "Charter Oak." Mrs. Noyes was a teacher for seven j'ears in the American Asylum, and was the first teacher of articulation in that institution. She is a lady of fine taste and culture, an earnest christian worker, an adept in reading human character, and profoundly sympathizing with her husband in his noble work. COLONEL EDWIN A. FOLSOM, STILLWATEli. EDWIN AUGUSTUS FOLSOM, son of Nicholas D. Folsom, merchant and lumberman, and Celina Blake, dates his birth at Exeter, New Hamp- shire, lune 30, 1833. When he was seven years old the family moved to Ban- gor, Maine, where he was educated in the graded schools. At sixteen years of age he conimenced labor as a clerk in a store at Bangor; two years later did office work for another mercantile house, and in the spring of 1856 came to the west, settling in Stillwater. Here he gave six years to bookkeeping for Hersey, .Staples antl Co., continuing in that position until the second year of the civil war. In .\ugust, 1862, Mr. F'olsom raised a compan\- and went into the THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 515 8th Minnesota Volunteers as captain of company C, serving first two seasons on the frontier, battling with the Sioux Indians, and one year at the south. During the last year he was on staff duty most of the time, first with General Ruger, then with General Schofield. He was promoted to major and lieutenant-colonel, and before being mustered out, at the end of three years, was breveted colonel. He made a good record as a military man, but nobody ever hears him boast. On returning to Stillwater, Colonel Folsom was elected treasiu'er of Wash- ington county, and served six years, leaving a clean and satisfactory record. He discharges every duty with scrupulous regard to taithlulness, and the people have great confidence in his integrity. For the last seven or eight years he has been in the logging and general mer- cantile business, in company with David Bronson, the firm name being Bronson and Folsom. They have a highly reputable name, and are doing about one hundred thousand dollars per annum. The politics of Colonel Folsom are republican, and at times he has been quite active, Latterly, business seems to absorb his attention, though he cher- ishes his political principles with the utmost sincerity and tenacity. He is a Knight Templar among the Freemasons, and an attendant at the Protestant Episcopal church. Miss Frances E. Staples, daughter of Samuel Staples, of .Stillwater, became the wife of Colonel Folsom on the 12th of October, 1862, and they have two children livino'- WILLIAM S. WELLS, FOREST MILLS. WILLIAM STEWART WELLS, son of Henry and Cassy Stewart Wells, and one of the most enterprising business-men in Goodhue county, Minne- sota, was born in Elmira, New York, on the 26th of June, 1839. His grandfather was a seafariu"- man of Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather was in the second war with the mother country. William remained in Elmira until sixteen years of age, receiving such mental discipline as the graded schools of that city afforded. In 1855 he came as far west as Illinois; worked at farming two seasons in Du Page county, and in the spring of 1857 walked from Naperville to Minnesota, after a drove ot cattle, at 5i6 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. twelve dollars per month, holding up at Zumbrota, ready for any kind of decent work. He made a claim, broke land, split rails and taught school at ten dollars per month, and was engaged in farming and teaching when the civil war broke out. In September, 1861, he enlisted as a private in company 1, 2d Minnesota In- fantry, and in that capacity accompanied that gallant regiment through all its fortunes ami misfortunes, from Mill Springs to Chickamauga, receiving a few sli"'ht wounds. At the last-named place he was shot almost to pieces, having a fearful wound in his right thigh which shortened liis limlx He was wounded on the 19th of September, 1863 ; lay a prisoner on ihc ballle-field ten days, without suro-ical assistance and suffering the pangs of hunger, yet too pluck)' to die on a rebel battle-tield. He was paroled, taken more dead than alive to Chattanooga, and remained there until the 9th of March, 1864, not being able to walk for a year after receiving this wound. At the date just mentioned he was discharged, and after visiting his native state, returned to Minnesota in June, 1S64. In 1868, in connection with H. H. Palmer and \V. B. Dickey, he built the Forest Mills, one and a half miles east of Zumbrota, on the north hrancli of the Zumbro river. The niills have five run of stone, and a capacity for thirt\- thou- sand barrels of merchant Hour per annum. .Subsequently Mr. Palnu'r disposed of his interest to L. F. Hubbard and William P. Brown, of Red Wing. Mr. Wells has an interest, also, in the Mazeppa Mills, which were built entirely under his supervision, and contain nine run of stone. Mazeppa is east of Forest Mills, on the same stream. Mr. Wells has a livery stable at Benson, Swift county, — the largest in the state west of Minneapolis, — and other property scattered widely over the state. He was a jjrimi; mover in bringing the Minnesota Midland railway to Zum- brota in the spring of 1878. In pushing tlirough this enterprise he showed a degree of cm^rgy and tact not often witnessed in the valley of the Zumliro. He put both mont;y and muscle into this enti-r[)rise, and has a hand in nearly every work that tends to develop the commonwealth. Mr. Wells has never held a political, civil or military office, and never would accept one, contented to be an independent " private" in all the relations of life. He came into the state on foot with his worldly possessions, including heredita- ments, in a small carpet-sack; all he has is of his own hands' earning, and he is now among the leading business-men of Minnesota, regarded as the peer oi the best. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 517 On the 3d of July, 1864, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Dickey, of Goodhue county, and of five children, the result of this union, four are still livine. HON. ALPHONSO BARTO, SAUK CENTER. ALPHONSO BARTO, lieutenant-governor of Minnesota in 1874 and 1875, ^ is a native of Chittenden county, Vermont, and was born at Hinesburgh on the 27th of May, 1834. His parents, William R. and Mary (Gage) Barto, be- longed to the agricultural class. The family is of French descent, and the name was originally spelt Barteau, the great-grandfather of Alphonso coming to this country before the colonies struck for independence, and engaging in that bloody and successful struoorle. The Gages were English. William R. Barto moved with his family to Ferrisburgh, Addison county, when our subject was three or four years old. The son farmed in Ijoyhood, finishing his literary education at a select school taught by Professor B. B. Allen at Vergennes, being a student under him three or four years, and teaching six winters, commencing at fifteen. In 1855 Mr. Barto came as far west as Elgin, Kane county, Illinois, and, after farming awhile, read law with Mayborne and Brown, of Geneva, same county. In August, 1862, Mr. Barto enlisted as a private in company K, 52d Illinois Infantry; was promoted from time to time till he became captain of the com- pany, serving a little more than three years, and being in sixteen or eighteen engagements, yet never receiving a wound. He was mustered out on the 25th of October, 1865, at Rome, Georgia. On returning to Elgin, Captain Barto was elected treasurer ot Kane county; served his term of two years, and in December, 1869, settled in Sauk Center, where he has since resided and been in the practice ot his profession. P'or some time he was in the firm of Miner and Barto ; was alone a year or two, and since the 1st of September, 1878, has been of the firm of Barto and Calhoun, his part- ner being David T. Calhoun, late of Pierce City, Missouri. Captain Barto is a sound lawyer, has a dignified and impressive presence, and, being a good advocate, uniformly has a favorable influence on a jury. He has a remunerative practice. Captain Barto was a member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1872 and 1873, and in the autumn of 1873 was elected lieutenant-governor on the 5l8 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DJCTJONARY. ticket with Cashman K. Davis. He presided with dignity over the upper house oi' the legislature. Lieutenant-governor Barto is an out-and-out republican ; has never wavered an iota in his political faith, but seems to be rapidly working out of politics, evi- dently determined to make the law his special life-work. He was made a Mason in 1 86 1, and is a Knight Templar and Sovereign Prince of the Royal Secret, Scottish Rite Masonry. He was tirst married on the 13th of October, 1854, to Miss Harriet E. Hitch- cock, of Shoreham, Vermont. She had three children, and died on the i ith of October, 1865. Only one of the children, Lyman R., aged twenty-two, a drug- gist at Fargo, Dakota Territor\, is living. His second wife was Miss Lottie A. Allen, of Elgin, Illinois; married on the 171I1 t)f October, 1866. He has one child by her, William Allen, aged seven years. HON. JEREMIAH RUSSELL, SAVK RA/'//>S. ONE of the frontiersmen of what is now the State of Minnesota, and a [)rom- inent man in Benton count)', is Jeremiah Russell, one of the founders of Sauk Rapids. He was born in Eaton, Madison county, New York, on the 2d ot February, 1809, and in his infancy his parents, Arnold and Hannah (.Stanley) Russell, moved to l*"ri.;donia, in the western part of the state. His father was a joiner by trade, and a musician in the second war with England. Jeremiah was educated in the district school and academy at Fredonia, learning also, when quite young, to set type in the office of the Fredonia " Gazette," the first paper started in Chautau(|ua county. In his seventeenth year Jeremiah returnt;d to central New York, worked in a printing-office at Geneva and other places, and taught schools, in all. a little less than a year. Subsecpiently he was a clerk in a store at Palmyra, Wajne county, several years; in the spring and summer of 1835 traveled o\cr the Territory of Michigan and the State of Indiana ; visited Chicago and Milwaukee in the latter part of the same year, and then went into the Lake Superior countr\-, and for two years was superintendent for a mining company, w'ith his stations at Left-lland river, near the head of the lake, and at a point near Iron river. In 1S37 he went I THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 519 to Saint Croix, Wisconsin, and made a claim with Franklin Steele and others; in 1839 had a contract for doing the blacksmithing, etc., for the Indians at Lake Pokagoma, Minnesota, and still later at La Point, on Lake Superior. In 1848 Mr. Russell came to Crow Wing, Minnesota, acting as agent for C. N. W. Borup and C. H. Oakes, Indian traders and fur dealers. The next 3'ear these parties became associated with P. Chauteau, junior, and Company, in the American Fur Company ; and in the autumn of 1849 Mr. Russell went to a point two miles above Sauk Rapids, where this company established a trading-post, and made their headquarters for transporting articles into the Indian country, he hav- ing charge of their store. While there, he also opened a farm of one hundred and thirty acres, the first enterprise of the kind in this vicinity. He also estab- lished the Sauk Rapids " Frontiersman." At the end of about four years he moved down the river opposite the present village of .Sauk Rapids, made a claim, including the water-power on the west side of the river, and there worked his land and edited his paper. During this period, in 1854, he aided in surveying and laying out the present village of Sauk Rapids, there beine at that time only two or three families here. He had an interest in the water-power on the east side at that time, and others were beginning to be attracted by this power and the promise of the town. About 1857 Mr. Russell located on the east side of the stream, and Sauk Rapids proper has since been his home. He disposed of his interest in the paper soon after crossing the river. Mr. Russell retains most of his property on the west side of the river, all excepting the hydraulic privileges, in which he retains only a three-twentieth in- terest, having disposed of the rest to a company seven or eight years ago. He has a pleasant home in the northern part of the village, is living somewhat at his ease, and has the warmest esteem of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Russell was treasurer of Benton county for several years at an early day, when it was much larger than it now is ; he was also auditor one term, and has served as justice of the peace at sundry times. He was a member in the first territorial legislature ( 1849), but spent only one week in that body, going to the capitol to cast a vote for a single measure. He told his constituents, when nomi- nated, that, if elected, he would not attend the session, and he was very reluctant to spend even a week there. He was a democrat till the ci\il war commenced; has been a republican since. 520 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. He was a member ot tlic Episcopal church in early life; is now connected with the Congregational church, being one of its deacons ; also a trustee of the society. Though exposed to the temptations of a frontier life, he has always pre- served an untarnished name. The wife of Mr. Russell was Miss Sophia Oakes, daughter of Charles H. Oakes, whose sketch appears in this volume. They were married on the 20th of September, 1843, and have had seven children, losing three of them: Stanley, the eklest child, has a family, and lives in Sherburne county, Minnesota; Mary M. is the wife of William L. Nieman, [)OStmaster and proprietor of the " Sentinel" at .Sauk Rapids ; the other two, Jerry A. and Julia A., are single. HON. ABRAM M. FRIDLEY, BECKER. FEW men in Minnesota, outside oi Saint Paul, are more fully identified with the early history of the state than Abram McCormack Fridley, who was born on the ist of May, 181 8, in the town of Painted Post, now Corning, Steuben county, New York. His parents, John and Catherine Heckcrt Friillcy, were Pennsylvanians, whose parents immigrated from Germany to this country. John Fridley was a hat manufacturer, and in his youth the son lumbered, receiving such an education as the common schools of New York afforded forty and fifty years ago. At twenty-one years of age he became deputy-sheriff of Steuben county ; afterward was appointed collector of canal tolls at the port of Corning, an office of great responsibility at that time. In April, 1 85 1, Mr. Fridley arrived in Minnc^sota Territory as agent for the Winnebago Indians, then located at Long Prairie, Todd county, that office giving him the title of major. That year he was admitted to practice law in all the courts of the territory, having read law in Corning, New York, with Judge John- son. Two years later he moved to Saint Paul, and that year (1853) was elected sheriff of Ramsey county. The next year he removed to the Falls of Saint Anthony, and was elected to the territorial legislature. A little later he moved foin^ miles above the falls, where he farmed several years, — while there, represent- ing tlu' district twice in the state legislature. He afterward moved into the village of Manoniin. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 52 1 In 1869 Major Fridley settled at Becker, Sherburne county, on the Saint Paul and Pacific railroad (branch line), where he is engaged in farming, having six hundred acres in crops in the season of 1878. Since becoming a resident of this county he has been in the legislature twice, being a member of that body the last time in session of 1878. He is a good worker in such a body, and always has the interests of the state at heart. He was a regent of the State University four years, and has been a member of the executive committee of the State Agricultural Society the last five years. Major Fridley was a whig while there was such a party, and since its dissolu- tion has acted with the democracy. In i860 he was a delegate to the national democratic convention held at Charleston, South Carolina, and also of the one held at Baltimore. He has been an influential man in the party. His religious views are rather liberal, and have been subject to frequent changes. HON. CHARLES E. FLANDRAU, SAINT PAUL. CHARLES EUGENE FLANDRAU, son of Thomas Hunt and Elizabeth (Macomb) Flandrau, is a descendant of the Huguenots, his ancestors once residing in La Rochelle, F"rance. They were driven out of that country about the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; came to America in com- pany with others ; purchased a large tract of land at a place which they called New Rochelle, in Westchester county. New York, and opened many fine farms. Thomas Hunt Flandrau, who was born at New Rochelle, and, when a young- man, moved westward as far as Oneida county, graduated irom Hamilton Col- lege, read law with Nathan Williams, of Utica, and subsequently practiced law with Colonel Aaron Burr in New York ciiy. Later in life he returned to Utica, and there died in 1855. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Alexander Macomb, a native of Belfast, Ireland, coming to this country about 1760. He was for many years a merchant in New York, and died in Georgetown, District of Columbia, in his eighty-fifth year. One of his sons was General Alexander Macomb, who was commander-in-chief of the United States army immediately preceding General Scott. $9 522 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. The subject ot" tliis sketch was born in New York city, on the 15th of July, 1828; was educated in private schools in Cieorgetown and Washington, District of Columbia, and at thirteen years of age applied for a midshipman's warrant in the United States navy. He had sufficient influence to secure the appointment, but was one year too young. At that age he seemed to have an unconquerable desire to f^o to sea, and shipped before the mast in the United States revenue cutter Forward ; was aboard her one year, and then shipped on the revenue cutter V^an Buren, where he remained another year. He then made several coastino- voyages on merchantmen, spending in all about three years on the sea ; attended school a short time in Georgetown ; became restive and went to New York to seek his fortune, and was there about three years, learning and working at the trade of mahogany sawing. When about nineteen he went to Whites- boro, Oneida county; there read law and attended to other studies in his father's office, and on the jlh of January, 1851, was admitted to practice, going into part- nership with his father. Two years later, in November, 1853, in company with Horace R. Bigelow, Mr. Flandrau came to Saint Paul, and very soon the "shingle" of Bigelow and Flandrau was hung out on Third street, about where Dawson's block now stands. The following winter Mr. Flandrau was employed by a company ot men to go uiJ the Minnesota river and explore the country, with reference to the purchasing by them of a claim at the [ioint then known as Rock Bend, now Saint Peter. After makino- the required explorations he decided to remain there himself, and went first to Traverse des Sioux, the only settlement near there, antl which was com- posed of a few Indian traders, their attaches, and a number of missionaries. Nicollet county was new then, and he and a friend of his, with whom he officed that winter, amused themselves in shooting wohes out of the back window of the oflice, the animals being attracted l)y a dead pony which they placed at a con- venient distance. The\' shot a large number, and received seventy-five cents of the traders for each pelt. In June, 1854, the tirst house was built in Saint Peter, and Mr. Flandrau continued to reside there, practicing law, for several years. In March, 1854, Governor Gorman appointed him a notary public; in Octo- ber of the same year he became deputy clerk of the district court, and a little later was elected district attorney for the county. In 1855 he was sent to the territorial council or senate ; served one session, and resigned on account ol other duties. D-0 On the 1 6th of August, 1856, President Pierce appointed Mr. Flandrau United States agent for the Sioux of the Mississippi, and after serving one year he re- signed. In 1857 he was a member of the constitutional convention, serving in the democratic wing of that body, presided over by General Sibley. In fuly of that }ear he was appointed, by President Buchanan, associate justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Minnesota, and filled that office until the ter- ritorial government was superseded by the state. In the interim (on the 13th of October, 1857) he was elected to the same office in the state for a term of seven years, he resigning on the ist of June, 1864. During this time, in October, 1858, he was appointed, b)' Governor Sibley, judge-advocate-general of the state, hold- ing that position during that administration. In August, 1862, on the outbreak of the .Sioux, judge Flandrau was chosen captain of a company of volunteers; went to New Ulm, and there mustered in, in all, nearly three luindred men, and he had command of them, defeating the Sioux in two spirited attacks on the town, and holding that position till they evacuated New Ulm. After these forces were disbanded he recruited a much larger force, and occupied stations extending from New Ulm to the Iowa line, with advanced posts on the Cottonwood river and at Clam lake. On the 29th of August Governor Ramsey sent him a roving commission, giving him power to take such measures as he deemed best tor the defense of the frontier. A few days later (on the 3d of September) the governor sent him a colonel's commis- sion, together with a letter from General Pope, of the United States army, dated about the same time. On the 25th of September Colonel Flandrau turned his command over to Colonel Montgomery, of the 25th Wisconsin, and was relieved from duty. In 1864 Judge Flandrau went to the Territory of Nevada, spending a year in Carson City, and a winter in Kentucky. In the spring of 1856 he went to Saint Louis, and practiced his profession a short time in company with Colonel Rich- ard Musser. In the spring of 1867 Judge Flandrau returned to Minnesota and opened an office with Judge Isaac Atwater, in Minneapolis, and in March of that year was elected city attorney, holding the office one term. He was chosen president of the first board of trade ever organized in that city, and represented it in the great commercial convention held in Saint Louis in 1868 to advance the improve- ment of the Mississippi river. 524 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. In 1870 the Judge removed to Saint Paul, and is in the law practice with Bioelow and Clark, the firm being Bigelow, Flandrau and Clark. Judge Flan- drau has been a life-long democrat, and as such was nominated for the position of crovernor of Minnesota in 1867 ; in 1869 he was the nominee of the democracy for the position of chief-justice of the state. The ixilitics of the state being over- whelmingly republican, he was not elected. In 1868 he was chairman of the state central committee, and as such attended the national con\ention which nominated Horatio Seymour. He was first married on the 14th of August, 1859, to Miss Isabella Dinsmore, of Kentucky. She died in 1866, leaving two daughters, Martha Macomb and .Sarah Gibson. His present wife was Mrs. Rebecca B. Riddle, daughter of Judge William McClure,of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania; married on the 2Sth of February, 1874. Two boys, Charles E.and \\ illiam B. McClure, are the fruit of this second marriage. HON. ORVILLE D. FORD, MAZEPPA. OX PI of the pioneer settlers in Wabasha county, Minnesota, was Orville D. Ford, who with his father, Joseph P'ord, came to Mazeppa in the spring of 1855, and both are yet living here. At that time there were no settlements in this part of the state nearer than the Mississippi river, though Zumbrota was started that summer. Orville was born in Lebanon, Madison county, New York, on the 26th of August, 1831, his mother being OHve Lindsay Ford. The Fords were a Connecticut family, moving thence into the State of New York. Joseph Ford was in early life a clothier by trade, and later a farmer, rearing the subject of this sketch in agricultural pursuits. He received a common and select-school education ; commenced teaching at eighteen years of age, and followed it five winters, doing a good deal of studying at the same time. When he started for Minnesota, early in the year 1855, he had no idea where he should locate. He had heard of Faribault among the towns, and reaching Reed's Landing by steamboat, at the foot of Lake Pepin, in the month t)f April, and fimling the lakc' still frozen and navigation obstructed, he and his father took an Lulian trail at Reed's Landing and started westward up the valley of the Zum- bro, intending to go to Faribault. Reaching the spot where Mazeppa now stands. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 525 and being pleased with the site, and especially its waterfall, they concluded to remain here. They made a claim of four hundred and eighty acres for a town site, preempted one hundred and sixty acres more, built a log house, and com- menced improving the land, farming having since that date been the leadino- occupation of our subject. He has done a liberal work in developino- the agri- cultural wealth of the Zumbro valley. The winter of 1861 and 1862 Mr. Ford spent at the capitol of the state, rep- resenting Wabaslia county in the lower branch of the legislature. In February, 1864, he went into the army as first lieutenant of company G, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery, which did garrison duty at Chattanooo-a, Tennes- see, and was mustered out in October of the same year. In 1865 Mr. Ford was elected registrar of deeds for Wabasha county, and served in that position five years, making a faithful officer. He is a stockholder in the Mazeppa Mills, which were built in 1875 'ind started the February following, — mills costing sixty thousand dollars, and con- taining nine run of burrs, with a capacity for one thousand bushels of wheat per day. The other members of the company are L. F. Hubbard and \V. P. Brown, of Red Wing, and W. S. Wells, of Forest Mills. The flour is shipped over the Minnesota Midland (narrow-gauge) railroad, which was opened from Wabasha to Mazeppa in May, 1878, and which enables this company to compete with other millers in reaching a market. In politics, Mr. Ford has always been a republican, and takes a deep interest in his party. He is a chapter Mason. The wife of Mr. Ford was Miss Orrill A. Day, of Lebanon, New York ; chosen in September, 1852. They have two children: Edwin L., who is a merchant in Mazeppa, and Addie M.,who is pursuing her education at Red Wing. ABNER DWELLE, LAKE CITT. ONE of the earliest settlers in the picturesque valley of Lake Pepin is the subject of this brief sketch, who located on the present site of Lake City while the surrounding country was yet inhabited by Indians. He is a native of Greenwich, Washington county. New York, and was born on the 2d of January, 526 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION AkV. i8os. His parents were Abner and IMariam (Martin) Dvvelle, members of the ap^ricLiltural class. He comes of patriotic proorenitors, as both his father, who was a native of Massachusetts, and grandfather fought for American independ- ence in the continental army. Mr. Dwelle had six brothers and three sisters : .Sanuicl, Jedediah, Moses, Alphonso, Nelson, Mariam ; Betsy, .'Mmia, Lydia. Abner rccei\'ed a common-school education in his earl)' youth, and when ei^diteen years old was apprenticed for three years to learn tlu! clothier trade. His parents Ijcing in moderate circumstanci-s, and well knowing he would be dependent on his own resources tor support, he faithlully devoted the recpiisite time to learn the trade of manufacturing cloth ; afterward spent a year in his native town working at his trade; then went to Onondaga county, where he s]jent about ten years in the same business. In 1837 Mr. Dwelle became ambitious to try his fortune in the far west, to whose broad fields so many young men were hastening from their eastern homes. After prosi)ecting awhile he decided to make his home on a Michigan farm, and, buy- ing some- land, he engaged in tilling the soil, a pursuit which he followed there until 1S54; in this year he removed to Minnesota, where he secured a three- (luarter section of half-breed reservation, in what is now Wabasha county. Here he resuincil his occuijation of farming, and, with his sons, has successfully carried it on ever since. At that early day the country was wild and the Indians were plenty. With the latter Mr. Dwelle never had any trouble, and has often seen three or four hundred of them encamped in front of his door over night. Part ot the present site of Lake City was laid out on his land, and with others he laid out the town. He has lived to see the streets marked out on land which he re- claimed from the savages, lined with elegant dwellings, and become a part ot a thriving city noted for its handsome appearance and the wealth ot its citizens; and it is with pardonable pride that, in his old age, while enjoying the' fruits ot his industrious lite, that he beholds the |)rosperity and improvement of the city which he helped to make and build up. In politics, Mr. Dwelle was originally anti-slaver)', and since the tbrmation of the republican party he has been connected therewith. In religious views, he is a .Spiritualist. He was first married in Onondaga county, New York, on the 8th of Janu- ar\-, 1829, to Miss Electa C, daughter of Gad M. Lawrence. She died in Kala- mazoo county, Michigan, on the 13th of December, 1847, leaving eight chiUlren, THE UAITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 527 five sons and three, daughters ; one of the latter, Electa, has since died. Of the others, Caroline, Elijah, G. Merrill, Henry, Thos. L. and Jane, all reside in Lake City. Albert A. is engaged in the livery business in Chicago, Illinois. Moses M., twin brother of G. Merrill, died at the age of two years. Mr. Dwelle was married again in South Bend, Indiana, on the 17th of Febru- ary, 1849, "^o ^\\''s>- Zilpha Knapp, daughter of Seth Chase. JUDGE EDWIN S. JONES, MINNEAPOLIS. EDWIN SMITH JONES, president of Hennepin County Savings Bank, was born on the 3d of June, 1S28, at Chaplain, Windham count)^ Connec- ticut. He is of English ancestry, and son of David and Percy (Russ) Jones. His father, who was a farmer, served as a soldier in the war of 181 2. Edwin S. received such education as could be afforded b\' the district schools in his native town, and afterward attended two terms at the Monson Academy, Massachusetts. On completing his academical studies he determined to follow the practice of the law for a profession, as offering the best opportunities for a successful career, and in pursuance of this object he began the study of law in the office of the Hon. J. H. Carpenter, at Willimette, Connecticut. In 1854 Mr. Jones came to the conclusion that a young man just starting in Hie should not remain in the eastern states when so many broad attractive fields of the west were waiting to reward the energy and industry of all those not afraid to work, and he decided to seek his home and fortune in Minnesota. Find- ing Minneapolis a desirable place to locate, he entered the law office of Hon. Isaac Atwater to complete his reading. Being admitted to the bar in 1855, he continued in practice with Mr. Atwater until 1857, and afterward alone. In 1858 Mr. Jones was elected probate judge, and continued in that position until 1861. In 1863 he entered the Union army, and was commissioned captain and C. S. in the Department of the Gulf, an ofifice which he retained to 1866, when he returned to Minneapolis and resumed the practice of his profession. Judge Jones was chairman of the board of supervisors during the years of 1866-67. He con- tinued his practice of law until 1S70, when he accepted the position which he now holds, as president of the bank. In 1873-74 he was a member of the city council. 52\\\. up in great haste. Mr. Moore went to Saint Paul and asked Governor Ramsey for a company ot soldiers, and Colonel Barrett was sent out with a hundred men. and soldiers were stationed here three or four \ears. The horse which brought Mr. Moore through with such lleetness in a hot August day died a few years ago, at the age of twcnt\-one years, and had a respectable burial. He lies in the village grave-yard, near the family grounds ot Mr. Moore, with a picket fence around his grave, and is soon to have a suitable epitaph. Mr. Moore built a llouring-mill in 186;,, another in 1865, and at one time owned two saw-mills and one tlouring-mill, two of them in the timber. One of the saw-mills, for ;i period of three \-ears. gave employment to more than a hun- dred men. He lost both saw-mills in the limln-r b)- fu^e, and had the bad luck to lose six mills in as many \ears. In one niglu he lost, by water, a saw-mill, tlour- ing-mill, mill-tlam and three million feet ot [)ine lumber. \ahK:d at fort\' thousaml dollars. At times he has done a \ery hc'avy business at milling, merchandising and grain-buying. His cash receijUs in one )ear amounted to two lunulred and seventy-eight thousand dollars. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 567 He now has a nourino-niill in Todd county, which he rents, and does but very Httle work, except to dispose of some of his real estate, being ahnost bHnd. Besides property in town, he has about ten thousand acres, mostly wild lands, in different parts of the state. His liomestead lies in a lot of six acres, and he has pleasant surroundings. In his orchard are seven hundred apple trees, which are doing well. Adjoining his homestead are seven hundred acres, only partl\- inipro\-ed. Mr. Moore was a member of the first board of commissioners for Hennepin county, and held, at one time, a similar position in Stearns county, but has avoid- ed office-holding as mucli as he could consist(Mitl\- with his duties to the public. He was reared in the whig school, and lor more than twent\- years has been a staunch republican. In a democratic district of eighteen hundred majority, he once came within tourteen votes ot an election to tlie legislature, being nominated against his wishes. He is a third-degree Mason. On the 2ist of Ma}', 1841, Miss Lovicy C. Perham, oi Chautauqua county, New York, became the wife of Mr. Moore, and they have lost four children and have four livino-: Triijhena A. is the wife of George M. Bennett, of .Saint Paul; Lindley B. has a family and lives in Sauk Center ; Clare M. is the wife of Ira M. Johnson, of Saint Paul, and Jessie Fremont is single and lives at home. HON. WILLIAM S. HALL, SA/NT PAUL. WILLIAM SPRIGG HALL, first judge of the court of common pleas organized in Minnesota, and who died on the 25th of P'ebruary, 1875, was one ot the best literary as well as legal scholars ever connected with the .Saint Paul bar. He was born near Annapolis, Maryland, on the 9th of July, 1832, and was the only son of William and Margaret Hall. He graduated at Saint John's College, in his native state, before of age; admitted to the bar in 1854; soon afterward came to Saint Paul, and his scholarly attainments being discovered by Governor Goriuan, in 1855, he was appointetl superintendent of public instruction for the territory. After the territory became a state he was elected to the senate, representing .Saint Paul several years, and ranking among the ablest men in that body. 56S THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAI' H ICAl. PICTJONARY. In 1S67 he was elected juclge of the court of common pleas, and in 1.S74, on the rfcommendation of the entire liar of Ramsey county, he was renominated, anil was reelected without a dissentiny xote. A day or two after the burial of Judge 1 lall, on the 2d of March, the bar of Ramsey count\ lickl a meeting, and Judge Flandrau, chairman of a committee a])[)oint(d for the jjurpose, made a touching and graceful report, presenting the sentiments of the bar in regard to the deceased, and jjaying a fine tribute to his worth as a man, his ability as a lawyer, his dignity, patience and wisdom as a judge, antl his spU-ndid scholarship. On the same occasion ex-Go\'ernor CJor- man, after giving some details ot \\\v. lite ol the decea.sed, added : 'I'lie judge whose deatli we iiu)urn held the scales of justice so even and true that his name will always be mentioned with lienor. His judicial career verified this truth, that " Honor and shanie from no condition rise; .\ct well your part, — there all the honor lies." He has passed beyond the reach of hiniian praise, and his adopted city has nothing left but his memory. To this we will cling with sincere affection, and kind memories will cluster around his tomb. HON. JOHN g. FARMKR, .S7V.'/A(- VM.LEr. JOHN (jUINCY 1'.\RMP:R, once s])eaker of the .Minnesota house of repre- sentatives, and still later a member of the state senate, is a native of Caledonia county, Vermont, having been born in the town ol Burke, on the 5th of August, 1823. His parents were lliram and .Sclina (.Snow) I'armer, the father belong- ing to the hardy yeoman of the " Oreen Mountain State." Ihe grandfather of oiu' subject, Ijcnjamin FaniK^r, who was earl\' in the struggle for American independence, was among the pioneers in Caledonia count)', being ol Knglish descent. I'lie .Snows were originally Irom .Scotland. When John was nine years old the famil)' moxcd to the Western Reserve, Ohio, settling on a farm in Madi- son, Lake county, on which the son lived till about nineteen years old. Not satisfied with the crdiication which hi- had received in a district school during the winter terms, he now s|)ent |)ortions of three or four years at academies in Paines- \ ille, 'l\vinsbtn-gh and .Aiistinbin-gh, teaching five or si.\ winters. He su[jporli-d himsell enlirel)' while engaged in seciu'ing his edtication. Mr. l'"armer read law with Perkins antl Osborne, of Painesville ; attended the :.-n^I3Bvei^&.yS THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 5/1 law school at Ballston Spa, New York, one year; was admitted to the bar at Painesville in 1851 ; practiced law at Conneaut, Ohio, six years, and the same period at Ashtabula, in company with L. S. Sherman, now judge of the court of common pleas in Ohio, and in 1864 removed to his present home, coming here on account of tlie poor health of his wife. In compan\' with his younger brother, James Duane Farmer, he has had a law office ever since settling at Spring Valley. Here, as he had in Ohio, Mr. Farmer has an extensive practice. He is well read in law, a candid and strong reasoner, and has great influence with a jury. In addition to law, Mr. Parmer has done considerable farming, largely, how- ever, by proxy. He has sixty acres well improved in Spring Valley, and farms at Grand Meadow and Austin, west of his home, — in all, five hundred or six hundred acres. As a business operator, he is a success. He is president of the Minnesota Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Associa- tion, and is well known all over the state for his superior business talents and his strong mental qualities. While a resident of Ashtabula county, Ohio, Mr. Farmer served one term as county attorney ; was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1866, 1867 and 1 868, and speaker the last two years, and was a member of the state senate in 1870 and 1 87 1, being chairman of the judiciary committee both sessions. Intellectually, he. was a tall man in either branch of the legislature. He was originally a whig, and since 1855 has been a republican. He would not be called a bitter partisan, and has striven to keep out' of politics as much as he could. Office has sought him, not he office. Mr. Farmer is deeply interested in school matters, and is president of the Spring Valley board of education. In all that pertains to the best interests of the village he is a leading man. He is a blue-lodge Mason, — in religious sentiment, is quite liberal. Mr. Farmer has a second wife. His first was Miss Maria N. Carpenter, of Painesville, Ohio; married on the 17th of November, 1852. She died of con- sumption, on the i8th of March, 1866, leaving two sons, — George R., who is in the law office with his father, and Charles J., a student in tire graded school of Spring Valley. The second wife, who was Miss Susan C. Sharp, of Fillmore county, and a native of Ohio, was married on the 13th of January, i86g. She has five children, all sons, — John Frederic, John Coy, Dan, Earnest and P>ank. Mr. Farmer is a disciple of Isaac Walton, being one of the most noted anglers 64 5 72 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in suulhcrn .\Linnesota. He has done a urcat deal loward r(_i)lenisliiii;^ the local streams with the choicest kinds of fish, and drew the hill tor the present fish law of the state, which hill passed in the session of 1877. HON. WILLIAM R. MARSHALL, SAINT PAIL. WILLIAM RALNEY MARSHALL, state railroad commissioner, is of Scolch-Irish descent, and of good righting slock, both of his grandparents participating in the struggle for American independence. His father, Joseph Marshall, a farmer, was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and his mother, Abigail Shaw Marshall, was born in I'cnnsyhania. W illiam was born in ISoone county, Missouri, on the 17th of October, 1S25; was educated in the schools of Ouincy, Illinois, and spent some ot his younger years in mining and surveying in the lead regions of Wisconsin. Li .September, 1S47, after spending three months at Saint Croi.x Falls, Wisconsin, he visited the Falls of .Saint Anthony, staked out a claim, cut logs for a cabin, but had no means o) hauling them, ,ining December was made postmaster of that place. Though his prac- tice was rapidly increasing, he attended another course of lectures at Chicago, graduating from Rush Medical College in February, 1845. ^'"' May and June, 1847, made a professional visit to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washing- ton, Cincinnati and .Saint Louis, visiting all the hospitals, and deriving great benefit from the trip. In 1849 'I's practice at Roscoe had so increased that he had to relinquish some of it to others. During this year he was elected'to the state senate, overcoming a whig majority of twelve hundred, and running five hundred votes ahead. At Springfield, Governor French commissioned him pay- master-general of his staff In 1850, owing to his faithful devotion to the inter- ests of his constituents, he was reelected to the senate. In October, 1851, he went to Saint Anthony, Minnesota, in quest of a new home, and in November located a claim and built a shant)- on the present site ol Minneapolis. Forming 5-6 THE UNITED STATES BJOGRAmjCAL DICTIONARY. a partncrshi]) with Dr. I. II. Murphy, he began the practice of medicine at Saint Anthony, now east Minneapolis. In the spring of 1852 he brouL;ht his family to their new home. During this year he was surgeon at Fort Snelling, and on the 2 1st of October he was elected to the territorial legislature from Hennepin county. On the loth of October, 1854, he was elected probate judge. In [anuary, 1856, Dr. Ames drew the bill for incorporating the village of Minneapolis, and on the 2ist of April was appointed postmaster of this ])lace. On the isl of June, 1857, he was elected a member ot the constitutional convention, in which boil\- he was chairman of the committee on school lands and university, and in i860 was a member ol the state normal scliool board, serviuL: durini-- the organization of that system. In 1862 he visited the hospitals in the principal eastern cities, and returning home, resumed his practice. In 1868 Dr. Ames took a trip east, visited Boston and his native place, and on the ist of May embarked at New \'ork city for California, whither he was absent several months. From this time to his death Dr. Ames continued to reside here and practice medicine. In addi- tion to his practice and the other duties mentioned, he served the public in many capacities ; was a member and nearly always a leader of all the medical societies, state and local, and also actively interested in all matters pertaining to educa- tional interests. In tact he was never idle, and scarcelv ever allowed to remain in private lite. During the summer of 1874 his health began to fail him, and lie gradually grew worse, in spite of the most skillful care and tender nursing, until the 24th of September, when he peacefully passed away. His funeral took place the following Sunday, the 27th of September, conducted Ijy Dr. McMasters, of .Saint Paul, and was attended by nearly all the Masonic bodies in the state. The remains were followed to Layman's Cemetery by as large a concourse of mourn- ing tViends as ever gathered together on a similar occasion in the state. Dr. Ames was an enthusiastic worker in the cause of Masonry, and probably did more for that botly in Minnesota than an)- other man. Man_\- lodges ihrouL;)!- out the state were organized and instructed by him, and ln' has been justh' callcil the father ot Masonry in Minnesota ; was first grand master and organized first grand lodge in the state. He was also known beyond his own state as a promi- nent member of the fraternity, and had attained that exalted station to which many aspire but few can reach, namely, the thirty-third degree. He accepted anil taught its doctrines, in their best and truest sense, and few men ever become as well versetl in matters pertaining to the craft, or respected them more. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^ 1 1 Dr. Ames was a member of the Episcopal church. He was married on the 28th of September, 1836, at Geneva, Ohio, to Miss Martha .A.. Pratt, daughter of Captain Alfred Pratt. By this union they had seven sons, five of whom, with their mother, survive him. Such is the brief record of one of Nature's noblemen, whose long' life was one of busy usefulness to his tellow-men ; and to all who desire a successful career, we commend his energy, industry and integrity as eminently worthy ot emulation. ALBERT A. AMES, M.D., MINNEAPOIAS. ALBERT ALONZO AMES, physician and surgeon, was born at Garden ^ Prairie, Boone county, Illinois, on the 18th of January, TS42. His parents were Dr. Alfred Elisha and Martha A. (Pratt) Ames. His father was, in many respects, a remarkable man, and from his biographical sketch, which is elsewhere printed in this volume, a most excellent lesson may be gleaned. When Albert was about ten years of age the family removed to Minneapolis, which, at that time, was but a mere hamlet. The educational facilities of this time being rather meagre. Dr. Ames engaged a private teacher tor his boys. They afterward attended the public schools of the cit)-. When Albert was six- teen he graduated from the hioh school, and immediatelv commenced the study of medicine with his father. The winters of 1860-61 and 1861-62 he spent in attending lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois, under the tutor- ship of Professor Daniel Brainerd, being his assistant during the last term, and enjoying unusual facilities for studying surgery, which soon afterward proved very serviceable. On the 5th of February, 1862, less than one month after his twentieth birthday, he graduated M.D., and returned to Minneapolis. On the 2ist of April he was married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Captain Richard Strout, of Minneapolis. The following August Dr. Ames helped raise company B, of 9th Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, himself and brother enlisting. During the same month he was commissioned assistant-surgeon of the 7th Minnesota regiment, and at once departed for duty on the frontier, where the Indian war was then raging. Here he was engaged with his regiment in nearly every battle with the bloody Sioux 37S THF. UNITED STATES BliHiRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. duriin' the ensuing year. In tlic fall of x'&dx he went south with his reyinient, where he was eneaeed in active field service until the close of the war. Here the division suryjeon soon became (|uite interested in the young surgeon with such a l)o}ish face, yet who performeil ditficult ()])erations so skilllulh'. ami he afforded him such oi^portunitics tor experience as quick))' made him one ot the best surgeons, though the youngest, in the army, in Jul)-, 1864, Dr. Ames was commissionctl surgeon of his regiment, and served in that capacity until mustt-red out of the service at k^^ort .Snelling, on the iKth of .August, 1865. Returning to Minneapolis, he entered into partnership with his father for practice of medicine and surgery. In Novemljer, 1866, he was elected a nu-mber Irom.l Icnnepin county to the state legislature. On the 1 6th of March, 1868, he started for California, going by way of the Isthmus. Arri\cd at .San brancisco, he entered into the newspaper business, encraaine as local reporter on the " Daily Times." Active, energetic, and i)os- sessing more than average ability, he soon worked his way up from this position to that of managing editor of the " Daily Alta California." In September, 1874, Dr. Ames returned to Minneapolis, being summoned by tele. ^-^>^1^-^J^ 6/ S^-bfMSM»P.iSm^i3SareUY SzXT THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 585 of many good qualities, deserving and possessing the confidence of his fellow- men ; was twice honored with a seat in the New Hampshire state senate, and for many years held the responsible office of high sheriff The mother of our sub- ject was Abigail S. Copp, daughter of Robert Copp, and sister of the celebrated physician and surgeon, Dr. Robert S. Copp, who married Mary A., sister of C. H. Rooers. With the exception of one year at the Thetford Academy, the subject of this sketch derived his education from the common schools, as many of our best and most successful citizens have done before and since. In 1849 he left home to engage in the battle of life on his own responsibility; went to Lowell, Massachu- setts, and remained there, clerking and book-keeping, until 1854, when he went to Boston and engaged in the clothing business for himself; finding rents and other expenses rather too high for his limited capital, he soon afterward removed to Nashua, in his native state. A few years later he made a move which he had long desired to, and came west, arriving at Chicago in the spring of 1857. The general depression of business, which culminated in the great financial crash of that year, offered him no opportunity for employment, and after many fruitless endeavors to obtain work he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, spending the suc- ceeding three years, there and in Columbus, same state, engaged in clerkino-. In August, i860, in company with Mr. Horace C. Cooper, of Columbus, the wealthi- est dry-goods merchant in Columbia county at that time, Mr. Rogers opened a mercantile business at Lake City, Minnesota, where for thirteen years he success- fully carried on the dry-goods trade; he also engaged in the agricultural implement business, a branch of trade which still claims much of his attention. By judicious and persistent effort in the management of his business enterprises, he has ac- quired a handsome property, with a good prospect of increasing wealth before him. He is one of the directors and a stockholder in the First National Bank of Lake City. In 1858 he became a member of the Maso-nic fraternity at Columbus, Wiscon- sin, and was one of the organizers of the Lake City lodge. In politics, he affiliates with the republican party, and is quite liberal in his views. In 1878 he was the candidate of his party for the state legislature, but was defeated by a small majority. In religious sentiment, he inclines toward the Congregational church, of which his wife is a member. Though not a member himself, he is a reliable and liberal supporter of the church. 586 THE UNITED STATES BWGRAPIJJCAL DICTIONARY. On the 1st of November, i860, at Columbus, Wisconsin, he was married to Miss Ahce R., daughter of Horace C. and Julia A. Cooper. Three promising daughters, named respectively Julia, Josie and Ktta, have blessed their union, and add brightness and joy to their spacious and elegant home in Lake City. Mrs. Roc-ers is a well educated and accomplished lady, and by her many acts of courtesy and kindness, especially to those who have enjoyed her gx^nial hospitality, has endeared herself to a large circle of iricnds and accinainlances. In 1876 Mr. Rogers and wife, in company with Mrs. Willard Scott, junior, of Naperville, Illi- nois, attended the Centennial, visiting some oi llu' principal cities of the eastern states. Mr. Rogers is a good financier, a man of progressive ideas, and liberal in devising for the interests of the community in which he lives. He has the confi- dence and respect of those with whom he comes into business relations; has seen much of the world; is wide awake to all matters of public concern, and has done as much or more than any other man to develop and build up the city in which he resides. HON. JOHN M. OILMAN, SAINT PAUL. JOHN MELVIN OILMAN, son of John Oilman, senior, a physician, and Ruth Curtiss, was born in Calais, Vermont, on the 7th of September, 1824. His pro- genitors in this country came from England and were early settlers in Massachu- setts and New Hampshire, one or two towns in those states being named for this family. Dr. Oilman died when the subject of this sketch was only six months old. The orphan boy spent his earlier years mainl)- in receiving an education, graduating from the Montpelier Academy in 1843. He read law with Hcaton and Reeil, of Montpelier, and was there admitted to the bar in 1S64. During the same year he moved to New Lisbon, Ohio, and was there in the practice of his profession for eleven years, serving one term, in 1849-50, in the legislature of that state. In September, 1857, Mr. Oilman took another western stride, bringing up at Saint Paul, then the northwestern suburbs for attorneys wishing to keep within the bounds of business and civilizations. Red Indians never going to law, and the Sioux but a few miles away. He reached Saint Paul just as the financial mon- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 587 soon ot that year had swept over the country. Nothing daunted, he formed a partnership with Hon. James Smith, junior, and has never taken down his sign. He is now at the head of the firm of Gihnan, Clough and Lane, one of the lead- ing law firms at the capital. In spite of more than one moneyed crisis, through which he has passed since he landed here twenty-one years ago, Mr. Gilman has been, on the whole, a thrifty attorney. Mr. Gilman has served four terms in the Minnesota legislature, and has always been on the judiciary and other important committees. His experience in two states of the Union has made him a valuable legislator. His abilities have been put forth to good advantage in the house of representatives, where his services have been truly valuable. His affiliations have always been with the democratic party, of which he is one of the leaders in Ramsey county. He has twice been the democratic candi- date for congress, but as his party was greatly in the minority he, of course, was not elected. He has also been chairman of the democratic state central com- mittee. Mr. Gilman was married to Miss Anna Cornwell, of New Lisbon, Ohio, on the 25th of June, 1857. HON. LEWIS H. GARRARD, LAKE crrr. THE subject of this sketch was born, June, 1829, in Cincinnati, Ohio; of Ken- tucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, New Jersey stock, — all of active revolu- tionary antecedents. On account of delicate health he left school and passed a year (1846-7) in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, with the Indians and fur-traders. A narrative of this trip, entitled " Wah-to-Yah and the Taos Trail," was published in 1850. Graduate, in 1853, of the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania. In 1856 wrote a memoir of Charlotte Chambers, for family circulation, the prefatory sketch to which, under the title of " Chambersburgh in the Colony and the Revolution," was published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Of this society, and those of Ohio and Minnesota, he is a member. In July, 1854, he came to Minnesota, remained a few months, returned to Ohio, and then went to Europe for two years; and in August, 1858, settled at 588 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. the picturesque locality of Frontenac, on Lake Pepin, Goodhue county; bought five thousand acres of land, and sought, — in turning over the virgin prairie, the breedino-of Devon cattle. Southdown sheep, and other useful fancies which ample pecuniar}' resources enabled him to gratify, — the aesthetic pleasures of rural life in \\w\\ latitudes. He also claims the gentle distinction of being the first person in the state to introduce the cultivation of orchard grass, which, for graz- ing or hay, is without equal. Was, in 1859, elected a county supervisor, and subsequently was several times chairman of the township board. Was a member of the republican state convention of 1S59, '^^^ same year was chosen member of legislature of 1859-60. Was draft commissioner for Goodhue county. Of four brothers, the other three of whom were brigade and division commanders, he was the only one whom continually recurring obstacles kept at home. In 1862 he married Florence Van Vliet, of Lake City; of their several children, two, Edith and Anna, are living. Moved to Lake City in 1870, and in that year organized witli others the First National Bank, and was its president for three years, when he sold his interest in il. In April, 1876, was chosen mayor of Lake City as the " License" candidate, and the following year reelected as the exponent of law and order. Was in the legislature in 1876-77. HON. LAFAYETTE EMMETT, FARIBAULT. LAFAYETTE EMMETT, seven years on the supreme bench of Minnesota, -^ is a son of Abraham and Sarah Zerick Emmett, and was born in Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, on the 8th of May. 1822. He was educated in the common and select schools of Mount Vernon ; commenced reading law at seven- teen, with Columbus Delano, late of President Grant's cabinet, supporting him- self by teaching during the winters ; read four \cars, the law not allowing him to practice till of age ; was admitted to the bar at Mount \'ernon ; remained in the same law-office two years ; was then elected prosecuting attorney, serving one term, and continuing in practice at Mount Vernon until May, 1851, when he set- tled in Saint Paul. Mr. Emmett served as attorney-general of the territory during the terms of THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 589 Governors Gorman and Medary; was a member of the constitutional convention in 1857, and elected chief-justice of the state in 1858. In 1872 he removed from Saint Paul to Faribault. He is a pronounced demo- crat ; has never voted any other ticket, and is a Master Mason and a communicant in the Episcopal church. JEREMIAH E. FINCH, M.D., HASTINGS. JEREMIAH ENGLIS FINCH, president of the Minnesota State Medical J .Society, is a native of Woodstock, Province of Ontario, Canada, and born on the 22d of November, 1829, his parents beiny Titus and Leah (Drake) Fincli. His p-randfather, Titus Finch, senior, came from Enoland and settled first in Nova Scotia, afterward immigrating to what is now the Province of Ontario. When the subject of this sketch was quite young, the family moved to Long Point Bay, Norfolk county, in the southern part of the Province, on the shore of Lake Erie'; and there he was reared on a farm, receiving his literary education at the Brockport Academy, New York, where he spent two years. He read med- icine at Toronto with Dr. John Rolfe, once a member of the Canadian parliament ; attended medical lectures in the same city, and was graduated M.D. in 1854. Dr. Finch practiced a few months in Du Page county, Illinois ; between one and two years at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and in November, 1856, settled at Hastings. Here he has been in constant practice, except during one year's ser- vice in the Union army. He was appointed surgeon of the 7th Minnesota In- fantry in 1862, and losing his first-born child a year later, he resigned and hastened home. In his studies, the Doctor has confined himself to his profession and its col- lateral branches. He is a close student and well posted, being an expert both in medicine and surgery, yet very modest and unassuming. At a meeting of the .State Medical Society, held in June, 1878, he was unanimously chosen president of the society, an act clearly indicating his standing among the medical fraternity of the state. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and was a delegate to its annual meeting held in Philadelphia in 1872. His standing in the medical fraternity of the country is highly respectable. 66 5 go THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. He has been a frequent contributor to medical periodicals, and some of his papers have been reproduced in British journals. The Doctor was mayor of the city of Hastings one term ; has been president of the local school board for the last eight or nine years, and always stands ready to lend a hand in advancing the educational interests of the city. He sometimes lectures to the students of the high school on anatomy, physiology, hygiene and physics, thus making himself especially useful. The unusually high grade of studies in this school is owing largely to his influence. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, and was grand lecturer one year, — all the time he would consent to serve in that capacity, though he was elected for a term of five years. He has been married since the loth of May, 1858, his wife being Mrs. Mary E. Holmes, of Hastings. They have had three children, only one of them, Albert Ames, is now living. HON. DANIEL A. DICKINSON, MANKATO. DANIEL ASHLEY DICKINSON, judge of the sixth judicial district, is a native of Hartford, Windsor county, Vermont, and was born on the 28th of October, 1839, being one of the youngest men on the Minnesota bench. His father, Wright S. Dickinson, was a farmer, and afterward a merchant, the family beingrfrom Massachusetts. The maiden name of the mother was Martha jennison. When Daniel was six or seven years old the family moved to Boston, Massachu- setts. He lost bolli parents when he was young, and spent his youth under the guardianship of his grandfather, Gideon Dickinson, at West Lebanon, New Hamp- shire. He prepared for college at Mereden, New Hampshire; entered Dartmouth in 1856, and graduated in i860; read law with Smith M. Weed, of Plattsburgh, New York; was admitted to the bar in that state in 1862, but before commencing practice, entered the naval service as acting paymaster, and served in that capac- ity till the spring of 1865. Mr. Dickinson practiced his profession at Plattsburgh until the spring of 1868; then came to Mankato, and here practiced until he went on the bench, in February, 1875, his term expiring with 1881. He is a man of great application, a thorough lawyer, and, as a judge, is thoughtful and considerate, weighing evi- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 591 dence with much care. He is not crotchety, has a perfect command of his tem- per, all the urbanity of a gentleman, and the utmost confidence of the legal fraternity. Politically, Judge Dickinson affiliates with the republican party. He is a Master Mason, and a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, being warden of the same. The wife of Judge Dickinson was Miss Mary E. Weed, a sister of Smith M. Weed, of Plattsburgh, New York. They were married on the i ith of June, 1867, and have three children. HON. T. G. MEALEY, MONl'ICELLO. TOBIAS GILLMOR MEALEY, state senator from Wright county, and a leading merchant at Monticello, is a native of the Province of New Bruns- wick, Canada, and was born in Penfield, on the 5th of August, 1823, his parents being Malcolm and Delia Woodbury Mealey. His grandfather, James Mealey, came from Dublin, Ireland. His mother belonged to the New England branch of the Woodbury family, and was distantly related to Hon. Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, secretary of the navy during the administration of President Jackson. Tobias was reared a farmer, the occupation of his father; received only a common-school education ; in 1845 opened a country store in his native town ; in 1849 went to California, and did a contracting and lumber business for three years with fair success ; returned to New Brunswick, and was in the mercantile and lumber trade until 1855, when he settled in Monticello. Mr. Mealey has held the offices of justice of the peace and judge of probate awhile since locating in Wright county; was a member of the house of represen- tatives, representing his county in 1873, and a member of the state senate in 1874, 1875 ^nd 1878. In the upper house he usually served on the most impor- tant committees — finance, railroad, towns and counties, taxes and tax laws, etc. During his first session in the senate, according to the biographical historian of that body, he was " the prime mover and leading spirit in pushing through the legislature what is known as 'the Iron-Clad Tax Law.'" He was reelected state senator in 1878. Mr. Mealey acted with the republican party until 1872, since which date he 592 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. has affiliated with the liberals and democrats. He was a delegate to the national convention which met at Saint Louis in 1876; was one of its vice-presidents, and heartily supported Samuel J. Tilden for President. He was married in 1855, his wife bein_i; Miss Catherine J. Trescolt, of New Brunswick, a distant relative of the historian, William H. Prescott, her father beim-r a Maine man. Of six children, of whom she has been the mother, hve are livino-. Mr. Mealev early learned to work; has been in lousiness for himst-lf mort- than thirty years; has been a man of most e\eini)lary habits. He is one of the best preserved men in Wright county, and it is doubtful if any man here is more highly esteemed. He lives in a republican county, and always succeeds when a candi- date for office, — an indication of his standing among his constituents. MAJOR JOSEPH R. BROWN, SAINI' PAUL. FOR a large portion of the following brief sketch of one of Minnesota's greatest pioneers we are indebted to the graceful pen of J. F"letcher Will- iams, having taken it almost entire from an article written b\- him shortly after Major Brown's decease. Joseph Renshaw Brown, an ex-editor ami ijublisher of Minnesota, one of the most widely known public men of the statt-, and at his death its oldest white set- tler, was born on the 5th of January, 1805, in Hartford county, Maryland. When about fourteen years of age his father apprenticed him to a printer in Lancaster, Penns\lvania, but being treated with great harshness and injustice by his em- ployer, he soon after ran away. He came to what is now Minnesota, with the d(;tachmcnt of troops that built Fort .Snclling in 1819, and remained a rcisiilent from that linn- until his death, a period of (jver fifty years. On leasing the army, about 1825, he resided at Mendota, Saint Croix, and other points in the state, engaged in the Indian trade, lumbering and other occu- pations. He accpiired a perfect acquaintance with the Dakota tongue, anil at- tained an inlluence among that nation (being allied to them by marriage) which continued unabated while he lived. He was elected a member of the Wisconsin leo-islature from Saint Croix county in 1840, 1 84 1 and 1842, taking prominent THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 593 part in those sessions. He was also a leading member of the famous " Stillwater convention " of citizens, held in August, 1848, to take steps to secure a territorial organization of What is now Minnesota. He was secretary of the territorial councils of 1849 and 1851, and chief clerk of the house of representatives in 185^, a member of the council in 1854 and 1855, and of the house in 18^7; was terri- torial printer in 1853 and 1854. He was also a member from .Sibley county in the constitutional convention of 1857. In August, 1852, he purchased "The Minnesota Pioneer," and edited and published it under his own name for nearly two years. In 1857 he established at Henderson, a town founded and laid out bv him a short time before, a journal called " The Henderson Democrat," which soon became a prominent political organ, and was continued with much success until about 1 86 1. In the Indian war, which broke out in 1862, Major Brown took an active part. He also figured somewhat as an- inventor. He had a force, originality and oenius of invention in him which was always impelling him in new paths. It was a favorite project of his to build a wagon propelled by steam, which would travel at will over the dry, hard road of our prairies. While perfecting this invention he died in New York city, on the 9th of November, 1870. HON. JOHN L. MacDONALD, S//Ah'OPEE. JOHN LEWIS MacDONALD, judge of the eighth judicial district, is a native of Glasgow, Scotland, where he was born on the 22d of February, 1836. His paternal ancestors were Highlanders of the clan " MacDonald of the Isle." The parents of our subject. Dr. John A. and Margerey MacDonald, crossed the ocean when he was five or six years old ; lived a few years in Nova Scotia, and in 1847 located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the son received an academic education. In 1855 Mr. MacDonald settled in Scott county, Minnesota; read law with Judge Andrew G. Chatfield, of Belle Plaine ; was admitted to the bar at .Shako- pee in the spring of 1858, and the law was his main business until he went on the bench. He removed from Belle Plaine to .Shakopee, the county seat, in 1861. While residing in the former place, in addition to practicing law, Mr. MacDonald 594 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. published and edited the Belle Plaine " Enquirer" from 1859 to 1861, and served as judge of probate during the same period. In 1862 he established the Shakopee "Argus," conducted it between one and two years, and sold out, in order to give his time more fully to the law. Soon after locating at the county seat he served two years as prosecuting attorney for Scott county; then four years as county superintendent of schools, and still later as prosecuting attorne\- another term. He was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in the sessions of 1868-69 and 11X69-70 ; represented his county in the state senate in 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875 and 1876, and went on the bencli in January, 1877, for a term of seven years. He is a studious man, well posted on law points, clear, conscientious and impartial. The political affiliations of judge MacDonald have always been with the democratic part)'. In 1871 he was the democratic candidate for attorney-general of the state. HON. JAMES GILFILLAN, SA/iVT PALL. TAMES GILPILLAN, one of the members of the supreme bench of Minne- J sota, is a son of James Gilhllan, and was born in Bannockburn, Scotland, on the 9th of March, 1829. Before he was a year old his parents immigrated to the United States, settling at New Hartford, Oneida county. New York. James worked on a farm, and attended a district school three or four months annually, until sixteen or seventeen years old ; then read law in Chenango county ; subsequently attend- ed the law school at Balston Spa, and was admitted to practice at a term of the supreme court held in Albany in December, 1850. Mr. Gilfillan then went to Buffalo and continued his legal studies with H. N. Walker, Esq.; commenced practice in that city in 1853, and was in partnership with josiah Cook three or four years. in the spring of 1857 Mr. Gilfillan settled in .Saint Paul, and soon had a remunerative practice. In 1862 he enlisted in the military service, going in as captain of company H, 7tli Minnesota Infantry; served the first year on the frontier, it being the time of the Sioux outbreak; went south in 1863; served fifteen months longer in the 7th regiment ; then became colonel of the i ith Min- nesota, and in that capacity remained until the rebellion collapsed. f . THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 595 Since the close of the war Colonel Gilfillan has been in the steady practice of his profession, except when on the bench. In July, i86g, there being a vacancy on the supreme bench, caused by the resignation of Chief-justice Thomas Wilson, Governor Marshall appointed him chief-justice, and he served till the January following. In March, 1875, a vacancy occurred the second time, on account of the resignation of Chief-justice S. J. R. McMillan, and by appointment of Gov- ernor Davis, Judge Gilfillan again became chief-justice. In November following he was elected by the people for a term of seven years, which term will expire on the 1st of January, 1883. As a jurist, he stands high; is profound, clear in his charge to a jury, and impartial — a credit to the young state on whose bench he sits. Judge Gilfillan was originally a whig, and has voted with the republican party since its formation. He is not an active politician. He is a member of the Christ Episcopal church. Saint Paul, and senior warden of the same. On the 4th of June, 1867, Miss Martha McMasters, of Saint Paul, became the wife of Judge Gilfillan, and they have six children. HON. PATRICK H. RAHILLY, LAKE cirr. PATRICK HENRY RAHILLY, one of the heavy farmers and stock-raisers of Minnesota, was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in Limerick, Ireland; descendant of two old Irish families, his parents being Mathew and Mary (Linch) Rahilly, vi^ell-to-do farming people. Our subject received an academic education in the old country, where he spent the winters attending school and the summers on his father's farm until he was about seventeen years old, when, owing to ex- isting "hard times" at home, the family immigrated to the new world. They settled on a farm in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. After spending one year here, with the rest of the family, Patrick " struck out" for himself, going to Cayuga county, New York, in 1852, where he spent two years engaged as a farm hand. Mr. Rahilly was entirely dependent on himself for support, and when he started in life on his own account he did so amono- stranoers, and without a dollar 596 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. in his pocket, but he had the abihty and inclination to work his way to success. These two years in New York, and the succeeding two in Minnesota, whither he went in 1854, were hard, toilsome years, spent in working on farms by the month, with small wages and long hours. His first two years in Minnesota were passed in the employ of Hon. W. D. Lowry. of Rochester. The next two years were spent in Mr. Lowry's banking-office. Mr. Rahilly laughs now when he recalls that time, when outside they had a sign which indicatc-il a general hanking antl exchange business, and inside they only hail fifty dollars. ProhabU' that was only their paid up capital, however. In 1858 he preempted a cjuartcr-section of land in Wabasha county, his present home; returned to Rochester, where he had entered into a partnership with Mr. Lowry, and remained two years longer there ; superintended Mr. Lowry's business, including banking and a large farm, having one-half interest. In i860 Mr. Rahilly removed, with his newly-wedded wife, to his previously preempted farm in Wabasha county, where he built him a comfortable home, and where he still lives. His quarter-section has e\[)anded into a vast farm of nearly two thousand acres of land, all under cultivation, wheat being the principal prod- uct. He has been honestly industrious, and certainly most successful, and if he adds much more he will soon be able to say, like Robinson Crusoe, that he is monarch of all he survcvs. His dwelling and tenant-houses are situated about the center of the farm ; he employs about fifteen men steadily, and during harvest and threshing seasons this number is increased to about one hundred. He is also interested in raising thorough-bred stock, short-horn and jersey, intending to make it an important branch of his business. Mr. Rahilly gives to the man- ao-ement of his farm and business his personal attention, and to that tact he doubtless owes his gratifying success. But he has not been allowed to devote his whol(> time to his own aflairs. The pulilic have recognized in him fine execu- tive- ability, and have fretpiently called him to fill imixirtant offices of honor and trust. Wo has always been democratic in politics, antl in 1S74 that [)art\- elected him to the; lower house in the state legislature, and again in 1877. In 1878 he was elected to the state senate. In 1875 he was nominated for state auditor, and although he ran fiir ahead of his ticket he failed of election, his party being an almost hopeless minority. In the legislatiu'e Mr. Rahilly takes an active interest in all (luestions of public importance, and zealously ami faithtulK- works for the oood of his constituents. THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 597 Religiously, he is a member of the Catholic church, and one of its most influ- ential supporters. On the 23d of August, i860, he wedded Miss Catherine Norton, at Winona, Minnesota. She is a daughter of James Norton, of county Galway, Ireland. They have six children living, — four daughters and two sons ; the two eldest (daughters) are being educated in Saint Paul, and the others are at home. HON. HORACE B. STRAIT, SHAKOPEE. THE biographical history of the larger part of the public men of this country, and more particularly of western men, shows that they were self-reliant and self-educated, and worked their way up to their positions of trust and honor solely by their own inherent powers and perseverance. The subject of this sketch received no mental training in boyhood beyond what an ordinary district school afforded ; after that period attended to his own education ; fitted himself for business ; worked his way up gradually, and at the age of forty-three is run- ning for a fourth term in cong-ress. Horace Burton Strait comes from a patriotic old Virginia family, the progeni- tor of it in this country settling in the Old Dominion long before the colonies thought of independence. His great-grandfather and eldest son of the same were in the first war with the mother country, and his grandfather in the second. Horace was born in Potter county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of January, 1835, his parents being Samuel Burton Strait, merchant and farmer, and Emeline Benson. In the spring of 1855 ^Ii"- Strait came to Minnesota; opened a farm in Scott county, ten miles west of Shakopee ; improved it himself till i860, and then moved to the county seat, and here engaged in mercantile business. Two years later, on the call for six hundred thousand men to finish up the work of restoring the Union, Mr. Strait enlisted as a private ; raised a company ; was made its cap- tain — company I, 9th Minnesota Infantry; was promoted to major in 1864, on the death of Colonel Wilkin, and was mustered out with the regiment at Fort Snelling, in August, 1865. During the last year that he was in the army he served on the stafT of General McArthur as inspector-general of first division, sixteenth army corps. 67 598 THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Since the rebellion closed Mr. Strait has been engaged in milling, banking and farming, being one of the most energetic, efficient and successful business- men in Scott county. He Is president of the First National Bank of Shakopee, which he helped organize in 1866. Mr. Strait was mayor of Shakopee in 1870, 1871 and 1872. On the formation of a third congressional district in Minnesota, in 1872 Mr. Strait was selected by the republicans of the second district for tht-ir candidate for congress. It was reo-arded b)- his political confreres as the onl\' doubtful district in the state, and many democrats expected their party would carry it; Ijut Mr. Strait was elected, and it lias had no other representative at the national capitol,and seems to want no other. In the forty-third congress Mr. Strait was on the committee on public build- ings and grounds, and in the forty-fourth and forty-fifth congresses on the com- mittee on military affairs. He is known as a worker, rather than speaker, and stands well before the country, as well as in his own state. Some of his reports made to congress displayed marked ability, especially the one on "equalization of bounties," made on the i 7th of June, 1S78 ; it breathes a generous, patriotic spirit. He has always been a republican ; is a Master Mason, and an attendant at the Presbyterian church. Mr. Strait was first married in January, 1867, his wife being Miss Helen Par- sons, of Troy, Pennsylvania. She died in May, 1872, leaving one child. His second marriage was in March, 1877, to Mrs. Jenny Antibus, of Toledo, Ohio. HON. MORTIN S. WILKINSON, WELJ.S. MORTIN SMITH WILKINSON, son of Alfred and Susan Smith Wil- kinson, was born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county. New York, on the 22d of January, 1819. He received an academic education in his native town ; taught school six months; read law at Skaneateles ; was admitted to the bar at .Syracuse in 1842 ; moved to Eaton Rapids, Michigan ; practiced there till 1847. In 1849, when the Territory of Minnesota was formed, Mr. Wilkinson was elected to the first legislature, which met in the autumn of that year. He made Saint Paul his home from that date, remaining there, in the practice of his pro- THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 599 fession, until 1857, when he settled in Mankato. He was soon afterward selected by the legislature, in connection with others, to draft a code of laws for the state, which work he performed in 1859. In 1859 Mr. Wilkinson was elected to the United States senate, and served for six years. After his time had expired in the United States senate, Mr. Wilkinson was elected (1868) to the lower house of congress, serving one term. He was a member of the state senate in 1874, 1875, 1876 and 1877. HON. DAVID OLMSTED, WINONA. DA\'ID OLMSTED was born in Fairfax, Franklin county, Vermont, on the 5th of May, 1822. In 1840 he settled upon a claim in Iowa, which he worked until the fall of 1844, when he embarked in the Indian trade, near Fort Atkinson, Iowa. In the autumn of 1845 he was elected, from the district in which he lived, as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for a state eov- ernment. The convention assembled in May, 1846, at Iowa City, and consisted of thirty-three members. We might mention, as a fact showing the primitive mode of traveling in Iowa at that early day, that a prominent citizen of Min- nesota (Hon. L. B. Hodges) saw Mr. Olmsted on his way to the convention, riding a bare-backed mule, with a rope halter. In the spring of 1854 Mr. Olmsted was elected the first mayor of Saint Paul. In 1855 he removed to Winona, then a village of a few houses, and devoted his energies to building up that now flourishing city. In the fall of 1856 his health began failing him, and he was advised to spend the winter in Cuba, which he did, but it failed to check the progress of the dis- ease which was consuming him. His strong constitution and tenacity of will resisted the rapid inroad of the destroyer somewhat, but he felt that his end could not be far off He returned, therefore, to Minnesota, and after visiting his relatives at Monona, Iowa, and Winona, Minnesota, came to Saint Paul to see his friends here. It was his last visit, and was taken advantage of by his friends to secure the portrait which now hangs in the city hall. He then re- turned to his old home in Franklin county, Vermont, to remain at his mother's 6oo THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. house until the final summons should come. After long months of suffering death came to his relief, on the 2d of February, 1861. The news was received with sincere regret by his friends in Minnesota, and the press paid warm tributes to his worth and integrity. On the map of the state his name is well bestowed on one of the most flourishing and populous counties. HON. WILLIAM F. DUNBAR, CALEDONIA. WILLIAM FRANKLIN DUNBAR, the first auditor of the State of Minnesota, traces his pedigree back to Scotland, whence his ereat-erand- father came prior to the American revolution. He was a son of John and Eliza Green Dunbar, and was born in Westerly, Rhode Island, on the loth of Novem- ber, 1820. When William was two years old the family moved to Connecticut, and two or three years later to Massachusetts, living first at Chester and after- ward at .South Hadley Falls. William received onl)- a district-school education, but subsequently did a great deal of studying out of school, acquiring a good knowledge of all branches necessary for business purposes. At twenty-two years of age Mr. Dunbar went into the mercantile trade at South Hadley Falls, continuing it thert: lor seven years. Mr. Dunbar visited Caledonia in 1853, and the next \ear made a permanent settlement, opening a farm of one hundred and sixty acres near town. In the autumn of 1857 he was elected auditor of the state ; spent three years in Saint Paul, and in 1861 returned to Caledonia. Mr. Dunbar was in thu territorial legislature in the winter of 1855-56; was county commissioner from 1862 to 1867, and has held other local otfices. He is a public-spirited man, and likes to "push things," — all enterprises that will inure to the good of the place. Mr. Dunbar is a Master Mason. His wife was Miss Lucretia P. Rice, of South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts; their marriage taking place in August, 1843. They have had eleven children, and lost four of them. INDEX. Adams, Gen. C. P., M.D . . Adams, Hon. Samuel E . . . Aldrich, Hon. Cyrus Ames, Albert A., M.D Ames, Alfred E., M.D Ames, Hon. Jesse Archibald, Edward T Armstrong, John A Armstrong, Hon. T. H. . . . Atkinson, Hon. James B.. Ayer, Otis, M.D Bailey, Hon. Philo C Baker, Edward L Baker, Gen. James H Barnes, Hon. Nathan F. . . Barron, Hon. Horace E . . Barto, Hon. Alphonso..-. Batchelder, Hon. Geo. VV . . Beaupre, Bruno Becker, George L Beebe, Franklin Behnke, Henry Belfoy, Frank Bemis, Nathan M., M.D. . . Benson, Hon. Jared Berry, Hon. John M Berry, Hon. Charles H. . . . Bigelow, Horace R Billings, Hon. Harrison A . Bishop, Gen. Judson W. . . Black, Capt. Mahlon Borup, Charles W. W Braden, Hon. William W . . Brill, Hon. Haskell R Brown, Major Joseph R. . . Brown, Orville Brown, Hon. Luther M.. Brown, Hon. John H . . . . Buckham, Hon. Thomas S Burrows, Hon. Randall K Burt, Rev. David Hastings 480 Monticello 429 Minneapolis .... 19 Minneapolis .... 577 Minneapolis.... 573 Northfield 87 Dundas 434 Fairmont 432 Albert Lea 210 Forest City .... 91 Le Sueur 90 Waseca 135 Red Wing 406 Mankato 166 Saint Cloud. . - . 126 Faribault 171 Sauk Center. ... 517 Faribault 334 Saint Paul 318 Saint Paul 75 Minneapolis .... 533 New Ulm 314 Litchfield 241 Faribault 176 Anoka 203 Faribault 280 Winona 80 Saint Paul 60 Spring Valley . . 315 Saint Paul 413 Minneapolis .... 457 Saint Paul 10 Preston 263 Saint Paul 579 Saint Paul 592 . Shakopee 114 .WiUmar 248 .Faribault 183 .Pine City 279 Saint Paul 242 Butler, Henry C Butterfield, Marcus Q.... Butters, Hon. Reuben Cady, Resolvo O., M.D... Cameron, Hon. Daniel. . . . Campbell, Hon. Samuel L. Capser, Hon. Joseph Carli Christopher, M.D Case, Hon. John H Chandler, Martin S Chatfield, Hon. Andrew G. Child, Hon. James E . . . . Clarke, Nehemiah P Clarke, Hon. Ziba B Clement, Hon. Thomas B. Coggswell, Hon. Amos. . . . Colburn, Hon. Nathan P.. Cole, James M., M.D Cole, Hon. Gordon E Colvill, Col. William Comstock, Hon. Solomon G Cone, Royal D Conkey, Hon. Charles H.. Cook, Major Michael Cornell, Hon. Francis R. E . Crosby, Hon. Francis M.. Cross, Edwin C, M.D Curtis, Gold T Davis, Hon. Cushman K. . Day, Leonard Denison, Hon. L. W., M.D. Dickinson, Hon. Daniel A. Dike, Major William H. . . - Dobbin, Rev. James, A.M. Dodge, Levi P., M.D Donaldson, Hon. N. M Donnelly, Hon. Ignatius.'. . Doran, Hon. Michael Douglas, James Dunbar, Hon. Wm. F Dunn, Andrew C Rochester 115 Anoka 286 Kasota 421 Buffalo 55 La Crescent .... 342 Wabasha 339 Sauk Center. . . . 554 Stillwater 206 Faribault ...... 264 Redwing 46 Belle Plaine. ... 557 Waseca 351 Saint Cloud .... 449 Benson 10 1 Faribault 343 Owatonna 319 Preston 323 Winona 348 Faribault 442 Red Wing 268 .Moorliead 200 Winona 49 Preston 321 Faribault 543 Minneapolis .... 202 Hastings 103 Rochester 475 Stillwater 496 Saint Paul 158 Minneapolis .... 360 Faribault 259 Mankato 590 Faribault 62 Faribault 381 Farmington .... 313 Owatonna 317 . Nininger 349 Le Sueur 18 Moorhead 357 Caledonia 600 Winnebago City . 136 6o2 INDEX. Dunnell, Hon. Mark H...Owatonna 272 Durant, Edward W Stillwater 99 DuToit, Hon.'F. E Chaska 270 Dwelle, Abner Lake City 525 Easton, Jason C Chatfield 326 Edgerton, Gen. Alonzo J . . Kasson 404 Edson, Col. James C Glencoe 325 Ellison, Hon. Smith Taylor's Falls. . . 322 Emmett, Hon. Lafayette . .Faribault 588 Evans, Hon. Louis A Saint Cloud 376 Farmer, James D Spring Valley . • 474 Farmer, JHon. John Q Spring Valley . . 568 Finch, Jeremiah, E., M.D .Hastings 589 Flandrau, Hon. Chas. E . .Saint Paul 521 Folsom, Col. Edwin A Stillwater 514 ••■■ 555 Ford, John D., M.D Winona Ford, Hon. Orville 1) Mazeppa 524 Frankenfield, Hon. Jacob. Henderson 505 Fridley, Hon. Abram M . .Becker 520 Frink, Frederick W Faribault 546 Gale, Rev. Amory Minneapolis 112 Gale, Samuel C Minneapolis 106 Gardner, Stephen Hastings 528 Garrard, Hon. T,ewis H. . .Lake City 587 Garver, James A., M.D . . .Dodge Center . . 377 George, Col. James Rochester 385 Geyermann, Hon. Peter. . .Shakopee 400 Giddings, Aurora W., ^LD. Anoka 229 Gilfillan, Hon. CD Saint Paul 36 Gilfillan, Hon James Saint Paul 594 Gilman, Hon. Jno. M Saint Paul 586 Gilman, Hon. Charles A . .Saint Cloud 336 Goodrich, Hon. Aaron Saint Paul 254 Goodsell, Charles Howard Lake . . 428 Gorman, Hon. Willis A . . .Saint Paul 23 Greenleaf, Hon. W. H . . .Benson 231 Grinager, Mons Worthington . . . 289 Griswold, Hon. Henry S . .Chatfield 271 Hadley, Elbridge D Luverne 446 Hagan, Martin, M.D Saint Paul 417 Hahn, William J Lake City 450 Hall, Hon Wni. S Saint Paul 567 Hall, Hon, Liberty Glencoe '. 352 Hancock, Rev. Joseph W . . Red Wing 253 Harwood, Avery A Austin 431 Hersey, Hon. Roscoe F. . .Stillwater 261 Hodges, Hon. Leonard B. .Saint Paul 208 Holley, Hon. Henry W. . . .Winnebago City . 290 Horn, Henry J Saint Paul 251 Houlton, Horatio Elk River 306 Houlton, Hon. William H.Elk River 307 Hubbard, Gen. Lucius F. .Red Wing 308 Hulett, Hon. Luke Faribault 366 Hunt, Hon. Thomas J . . . . Dodge Center . . 354 IngersoU, Daniel W Saint Paul 401 Irgens, John S Saint Paul 39 John, Prof. D. C, A.M Mankato 355 Johnson, Hon. Harvey H. .Owatonna 459 Johnson, Asa E., M.D .... Minneapolis .... 453 Johnston, Col. George H . . Detroit 487 Jones, Judge Edwin S . . . . Minneapolis .... 527 Jones. Hon. John R Chatfield 124 Jordan, Hon. Chas. B Wadena 54S Keith, George H., M.D. . . . Minneapolis. . . . 245 Kellett, Hon. Thomas P..Zumbrota 47 Kennedy, Vincent P., M.D.Litchfield 149 Kerr, Rev. Aaron H Rochester 148 Kiehle, Prof. D. L. A.M . . .Saint Cloud 247 Kiester, Hon. Jacob A. . . .Blue Earth City. 144 Kingsley, Hon. Geo. B. . . .Blue Earth City. 369 Kinyon, Hon. William R. .Owatonna 130 Kirby, Joseph P Henderson 537 Krayenbuhl, Gustave Chaska 127 Laird, William H Winona 218 Langdon, Hon. Robt. I!. . .Minneapolis. .. . 551 Lari)enteur, Auguste L. . . .Saint Paul 50 Lee, William Saint Paul 412 Lehmicke, Rudolph Stillwater 455 Lewis, William F., M.D. . .Mankato 410 Lincoln, William L., M.D.Wabasha 214 Livermore, Rev. Edward . .Saint Peter 5 i4 z . z ' ,0^ * ' " ° ' 'c- vV ,\* ^ ■■' '•' '" "^'^ x^ ,^^ 4- ;