Qass Book. Al 4 a ^ '((?mfmeM^a/<^oit (^/tii^ae/u, <^fCmn. I^ :>i-' MEMORIAL RECORD OF Southwestern Minnesota I I^I^ ILJ STI^ A.TT e: D. CHICAGO : The Lewis Publishing Company, 1S97. no Kit \i; vM T '^^■:^<^t^^.^^' *4r -^w>r' « (^ Vwi- index:. Aagaard, Walter S 170 Aanson, Tobias 126 Abbott, Azro A 188 Adams, F. D 448 Aiken & Schniahl 272 Aitkens, H. B 381 Albrecht, E. H 550 Anderegi?, J. A 331 Anderson, H 487 Andrews, George 429 Apel, Henry 92 Appel, George 391 Arnsdorff, William 504 Arp, Henry 126 Atherton, \' 446 Aufderheide, F 269 Austin, William 127 B Baasen, Francis 205 Babcock, C. W 505 Balbach, Conrad 282 Baldwin, H. A 261 Baldwin, H. D 256 Baldwin, T.J 14 Baldwin, T. P 165 Ball, H. I\l 368 Banker, D. W 486 Barber, Rio D 545 Barnes, George S 493 Bassett, E. H 55 Bates, David 145 Beach, Nathan 71 Bean, Wm. J 420 Beaton, R.J 132 Bedford, Jonas 281 Benham, F. F 342 Bentzin, John 207 Bianchi, Charles 364 Bigelow, Otis 37 Billington, Frank 230 Birkett, Miles 54 Black, J. E 115 Blair, George A 323 Blanchard, Alex 516 Block, Julius H 449 Boesch, Werner 313 Bottoms, W. H 115 Boutelle, C. M 49 ISoutwell, E. E 437 Bowen, J. R 351 Brandt, Ernst 211 Brewer, John 189 Brewster, C. S 387 Briggs, S. H 392 Brown, E. A 112 Brown, E. C 155 Brown, G. W 220 Brown, James E 134 Brown, Philander 509 Brust, Jacob 353 Buck, G. A 527 Buell, O. P 351 Bulick, G. T 194 Burchard, H. M 169 Burmeister. A. C 269 Burrill, L. L 405 C Call, J. H 521 Campbell, William 133 Carey, Rev. Patrick 417 Carpenter, William 384 Case, C. F 177 Ca.ss, J. F 159 Caswell, Wm. R 310 Chace, A. R 517 Chaffer, E. G 276 Chapin, Birch 18 Chapin, S. L 104 Cheadle, Asa 406 Chilgren, G. A 536 Chittenden, A. C 89 Chute, D. W 22 Clark, A. H 36 Collins, D. B 247 Cook, A. M 531 Cook, N. H 142 Cook, N.J 183 Cooper, J. P 315 Cory, Charles M 225 Cowan, Stephen 538 Co.x, James F 297 Craig, J. L 296 Crandall,L.S 17 Crawford. C. H 226 Crawford, Ira 87 Culp, Cornelius 426 Culp, William J 439 Curran, George R 22 Current, Jacob P 94 Cutler, George 555 U Daley, A. J 119 Dannheim, William 502 Darling, E.N 554 Davies, E. W 548 Davis, C.R : 305 Davis, Isaac 414 Davis, S. W 251 Dayton, G. N 332 DeBoos, John 81 Dey, William 88 Dickerson, E. E 304 Dickinson, W. F 288 Dickson, James 236 Diller, John 430 Dittbenner, C. W 498 Dittbenner, H 496 Ditty, William 163 Dock, Frederick 60 Dodge, F. A ... 462 Donahower, F. A 273 Door, H. W 415 Doty, J. H 431 Dunlavy, G. H 424 Dunn, J. B 222 E Eastwood, Carl S 534 Eaton, H.G 373 Ebilsior, G. B 213 Eckstein, A. J 489 Edgar, B. H'. 494 Edgar, Thomas M 559 Edwards, A. E 485 Egan, John 359 IV INDEX. EUithorpe, CM 70 Engel, George J 24 Engesser, Edward 282 Engesser, Joseph 473 Engesser, Matthew 481 Engle, Thomas E 153 Enter, Henry 464 Erickson, L. M 447 Essler, Henry J 254 Everett, J. C 435 Everett, M.R 513 Everett, R. H 409 F Farrington, S. H 390 Fenske, August 383 Fiero, Frederick 241 Firth, Robert 83 Fleischer, Charles 652 Fogartv, Edward 53 Forbes', D. D 167 Fox, Charles J 157 Francois, C. A 553 Frederickson, L 100 French, E. D 198 Friton, German 156 Fritsche, L. A 270 Froelich, Herman 354 G Galagan, Patrick 421 Gamble, M. H 376 Gerber, Joseph 80 Gerstmann, Louis 280 Geschwind, Peter 290 Gieseke, William 149 Giltillan, CD 9 Gillilian, James 203 Gilmore, C W 109 Gish, Jacol) W 445 Glasgow, F~rank 124 Glass, Wm. H 118 Gluth, Julius 224 Goembel, P. 122 Goldsmith, Nelson 468 Golz, John 537 Graf, Emil 217 Green, James J 208 Gresham, Wm. G 202 Griffin, S. H 84 Grimes, Edward 372 Grimes, W. W 349 Grimm, George J 379 Grout, A. H 64 Grout, E. L 67 Gunderson, T 140 Guthrie, C E 75 H Haas, Leopold 558 Hagen, O. W 121 Hansberger, John 193 Hanson, Andrew 148 Hanson, Edmund 190 Hanson, H. J 152 Harden, M.W 20 Harrington, S. X 180 Hartmann, Romanus 219 Heimerdinger, H 329 Hicks, S. P 625 Higgins, J.S 408 Hinkly, 15. H 377 Hinklv, R. B 74 Hier, \V. F 333 Hitchcock, H. M 556 Hoffman, John D 516 Hodgson, L. C 490 Holmen, Ole 114 Hopkins. C H 543 Houghmaster, G 262 Hovev, H. F 376 Howard, O. L 83 Hoy, J. H. P 97 Hudson, A. T 397 Huiras, Michael 231 Humiston, E. R 19 Humphrev, T. R 245 Huntington, G. B 380 Hurst, Wm. H 442 J lacobson. S. A 140 Johnson, B. F 249 Johnson, D. T 298 Johnson, John A 256 Johnson, .Sylvester 38 Johnson, T. L 263 Johnson, W. R 451 Jones, James R 145 Jones, Joseph H 303 K Kelley, George P 204 Kelson, Ole. 176 Kennedv, \. .\ 39 Kennev,' F.' E 369 Kerr, William \W> Kilgore, H. F 107 King, John E 158 Kinman, Wm. E 279 Kinne, W. J 66 Klacv, Thomas 529 Kleiii, Martin L 199 Kletschka, \'incent 368 Klingensmith, C 191 Klossner, Jacob, Jr 533 Knaak, F. W 357 Knoll, Theodore 248 Koch, William 239 Kolbe.J.W 98 L Ladd, Nelson 371 Ladd, Sumner 530 Lagerstrom, R 425 Lambert, F. T 557 Lampman, N. B 340 Landenschlager, J 271 Langland, H. M 166 Larrabee, A. A 478 Larrabee, .Mrs. Amy 46 Lee, Andrew E 403 Leeman, Wm. H 412 Lehrer, Michael 255 Lenz, Nicholas 494 Leonard, G. R 81 Lichter, George 53 Liesenfeld, John 268 Lindeman, A. A 328 Lippman, Charles 471 Livingston, F. A 440 Livingston, Wm 86 Loeffler, J. J 62 Long, F. M 474 Long, Simon 123 Lowe, Joseph 164 Lowe, Thomas 40 Ludcke, Henry J 242 Lugenheim, 295 Lvnch, B. F 117 M Mai^ ^■^^V^fi^ CZ--r^^ /^^.^^i^^, MEMORIAL RECORD. * y ^ ON. CHARLES D. GILFILLAN ■^^^ has made for himself a reputation Jl ^ * in business and political circles that numbers him among the eminent citizens of the state, yet he is one of the most modest men, and anything in the shape of fulsome compliment would be utterly dis- tasteful to him. The work he has accom- plished nevertheless speaks for itself, and the upright, commendable life of Mr. Gil- fillan is so well known in his adopted state that the historian needs but to state facts, and the reader will see between the lines the many points of his character that well deserve eulogy. Mr. Gilfillan now resides at his country seat near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. He was born in Oneida county, New York, July 4, 183 I, a son of James and Janet Gil- fillan, who were born in the historic town of Bannockburn, Scotland, where the Gil- fillans have lived for some centuries. The parents came to the United States in 1830, on a vessel loaded with Scotch families, and settled in Oneida county. New York, where they spent their remaining days, the father following agricultural pursuits. He was a cousin of the celebrated Scotch-Presbyterian minister. Rev. George Gilfillan, whose fame was limited only by the boundary lines of knowledge of the great men of his day. 1 Charles D. Gilfillan was one of a family of four children, three of whom are now living. He spent his early life in a manner similar to that of the average boy who is reared in rural districts, save that he per- haps had better educational facilities. After attending the academy in his native town, at a time when he was seventeen years of age, he entered Hamilton College, where he remained two years. Almost a half cen- tury later, in 1893, this college made him one of its honorary members and conferred upon him the degree of M. A. In the fall of 1850 Mr. Gilfillan went to Missouri and taught school in Washington county. It was reallj' his first independent effort in life, the first step on the road which has brought him honor and fame. In 185 i he went to Stillwater, Minnesota, where, in addition to teaching school, he studied law for two years, and was then admitted to the bar. He began practice in Stillwater, where he remained until the fall of 1854, when he went to the then new village of St. Paul and commenced to practice law, forming three years afterward a law partnership with his brother, James Gilfillan. Becoming in- terested in the political issues and questions of the day which then had such marked ef- fect upon the welfare of the country, he identified himself with the Republican party, 10 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and was one of the young iwen who aided in its organization in that section of the state and labored so zealously for its interests. The law partnership with his brother was continued until 1861, after which our sub- ject practiced alone until 186C. About that time he put in the great water-works in St. Paul, with which his name will be linked as long as the city stands. He also became in- terested in building and real estate dealings, and erected the Giltillan block, which at the time of its completion was the handsomest office building west of Chicago. His busi- ness interests have been extensive in scope and have been of that character which add to the general pro3perit3- while advancing his individual welfare. He has the strictest regard for all that is honorable and straight- forward in dealing, and thus gained the con- fidence of the many with whom he was brought in contact. He is now the oldest bank officer living in the northwest, being at the time of this writing (1S96) vice-president of the First National Bank of St. Paul, and connected with other banking institutions and financial concerns in various parts of the state. He is also an officer in the St. Paul Trust Company, and aided in organizing that important corporation. He is now practi- cally retired from business interests, though he still manages to a degree his magnificent farm of ten thousand acres, which he calls a pork and cattle factory, for on an e.xtensive scale he buys and fattens stock, which he ships to Chicago, where it brings the high- est market price. He has private stock- yards, barns and every convenience which will accelerate his business interests, and ships several train-loads of stock each year. This is probably the largest farm owned and cultivated by one man in any strictly farm- ing community in the state of Minnesota. Mr. Gilfillan was married December 28, 1859, to Miss Emma C. Waage, daughter of Rev. Frederick and Jemima Waage. Her father was a German clergyman of considerable note and prominence. Mrs. Gilfillan died in Philadelphia, September 25, 1S65, at the age of thirty years. By that marriage there was one child, who died in infancy. Our subject afterward married Fannie Waage, a sister of his first wife, and they have four children: Emma K. ; Fred- erick J., who is now a student in a univer- sity of Berlin; Fannie W. and Charles O. Mr. Gilfillan has provided his children with the most excellent educational advantages that wealth can procure, and they have studied in the best schools of this country and in Europe. He believes strongly in the sovereignty of mind, and by advanced mental training has prepared his children for the duties and responsibilities that life may bring to them. Early in life Mr. Gilfillan was a Whig, and cast his first vote for the Whig ticket; but on the organization of the Republican party joined its ranks and has since been one of its stalwart advocates. In the fall of 1864 he was elected to the state legisla- ture, serving one year, and in 1875 was re- elected, while in 1876 he was sent to the state senate, where he served continuously for ten years. He was active and instru- mental in procuring the passage of some of Minnesota's most wholesome and just laws found on the statute books of the state. He was chairman of the committee on rail- roads, and was for ten years on the judici- ary committee. He was the first chairman of the territorial Republican committee in 1855, and in the year 1865 made the can- vass of the state for governor. The char- acter of Mr. Gilfillan is shown by the fact SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 11 that on one occasion he left a sick-bed and was assisted to the floor of the senate in order to secure legislation for a friend who needed help. Mr. Gilfillan drafted the bill and worked for it until it was passed. This fact coming into public notice won him the respect of all, a respect which he has for- feited in not the slightest degree. He is president of the Minnesota State Historical Society, and while abroad with his family on various trips he has purchased many rare and valuable old volumes, which he has presented to the society. He is a man of ripe scholarship, of broad general information, and a deep student who has carried his researches far and wide into the fields of knowledge. His home is noted for its hospitality, where rich and poor alike receive a hearty welcome, and throughout the state he is held in the highest esteem. •^VUDGE ORRIN ELRASED MAX- ■ SON, of Marshall, Minnesota, is one /ft 1 of the most prominent representa- tives of the legal fraternity in south- western Minnesota. In business life one often has the advantage of carrying on a business which another has established. Especially is this true in commercial circles; but in the law one must depend entirely upon his own merits. He cannot advance from a plane which another has reached, but must begin at the bottom round of the ladder and work his way upward to success by his steady application, resolute purpose and unfaltering energy. This Judge Ma.xson has done, and to-day occupies a conspicu- ous place in the history of the legal pro- fession of this section of the state. Our subject was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, March 2, 1862, a son of Arthur W. and Lucy A. (Baldwin) Ma.xson. His grandfather, Joseph Maxson, was a pio- neer of the town of Centerville, Allegany county, New York. Leaving his native place, — Hartwick, Otsego county. New York, — when eighteen years of age, he arrived at Pike, New York, in April, 1808. Two cents in money, a few provisions and a scanty wardrobe constituted his worldly pos- sessions. He exchanged a new pair of shoes for an ax and pushed into the wilder- ness far beyond any human habitation. There he erected a rude shanty and used basswood bark (or bed and bedding. He spent eight months alone in that place, and it is noted on the books in the land office that he had five acres cleared, July 22, 1 80S, at which time he had his land "booked" to him, paying nothing down. The first season he raised a few bushels of corn and potatoes and in the fall sowed two acres in wheat. Success afterward re- warded his efforts and he became an early tavern-keeper and the owner of a large and well-improved farm. He afterward en- gaged in building mills in Wisconsin. He preserved as relics of his early advent on the Holland purchase the ax which he got in exchange for his shoes, one of the pennies which comprised half his capital and a kernel of seed corn which he had procured to plant in 1S08; also an old wooden fan with which he cleaned the first wheat raised in the town of Centerville. Among the representatives of the famil_\' were several who aided the colonies in their struggle for independence, and our subject has now in his possession several commis- sions given them, whereby they were con- stituted officers in the American arm}-. The father of our subject was a farmer by occu- pation, and in 1837 emigrated to the west, 12 Memorial record of becoming one of the honored pioneers of Walworth county, Wisconsin. He built the first mill there and was a resident of the county until 1849, when he joined the emi- grants that sought fortunes on the Pacific slope at the time of the discovery of gold there. The Judge was reared on the old home- stead in his native county and acquired his early education in the district schools, after which he attended the State Normal at White Water and the State University at Madison. He took up the study of law under the tuition of Judge Bennett, of Janes- ville, Wisconsin, with whom he remained two years, then spent a few months in the office of Captain Norcross. fn the spring of 1882 he came to Marshall, Minnesota, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1883. He then entered into partnership with Mr. Mathews, but in October, 1883, removed to Canby, Minnesota, where he was successfully engaged in practice until February, 1890, when he returned to I\far- shall, and was for one year a member of the firm of Seward & Ma.xson. While in Canby he served as village attorney, and in 1 892 was elected judge of the county probate court, which office he has since held, having been re-elected in 1894. His official career has always been marked by the utmost fidelity to duty, his rulings are just, and his decisions are models of judicial soundness. He has also been city attorney of Marshall. Judge Maxson was married December 26, 1883, to Miss Kittie Wildman, and they have one daughter, Ethel A., born October 27, 1887. Their home is noted for its hospitality and is a favorite resort with many friends. The Judge is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity of Marshall, and is now serving as worshipful master. His career in public and private life is untar- nished by shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and he is an honor to the profession, which also honors him. aYRUS P. SHEPARD, one of the prominent citizens of southwestern Minnesota, was born in New York, November 13, 1839, a son of Aaron and Hettie (Parker) Shepard. His great- grandfather was Thomas Shepard, whose wife was Ann. Their children were Thomas Shepard, Jr., Phineis, Aaron, Anne, Judith, Rhoda and Orrel. The grandfather, Aaron Shepard, Sr. , was probably a native of Con- necticut and married a Miss Crocker and located in Hartford county, Connecticut, in 1807. He removed to Georgetown, Afadi- son county, New York, where his death oc- curred when he had reached the age of eighty- four years. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and when a brother of our subject, Myron Shepard, now a leading citizen of Stillwater, Minnesota, was serving in the Union army, in 1 861-5, his i:ncle, Harvey C. Shepard, gave him an old fife which had been carried by their ancestors through the French and Indian war, the Revolution and the war of 1812. This inter- esting instrument was lost in battle, but the fact concerning it shows that the family has been well represented in the country's serv- ice, and that the ancestors must have come to America at an early day in its history. Aaron Shepard, Jr., father of our sub- ject, was a native of Connecticut, and from Georgetown removed to Nunda, New York. He married Hettie Parker, who was born in Naples, Ontario county. New York. Her father died during her infancy and her mother afterward became the wife of Joseph SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 13 Kibbee. Her grandfather was one of the first settlers of Liberty, New York, and was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. He traced his ancestry back to one of that no- table little band of Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower and landed on the rock-bound coast of New England. Aaron Shepard, Jr., died in Livingston county, New York, at the age of sixty- eight; his wife also died at the same place when forty-four years of age. They had nine children, of whom seven are yet living, viz. : Parker, Melissa, Myron, Harvey, Cyrus P., James and Martha. Cyrus P. Shepard remained on the home farm until twenty years of age, at which time he manifested the same loyal spirit that had animated his ancestors in the dark hours when the country was engaged in war. He was mustered into the U. S. service on the 9th of October, 1861, as a member of Com- pany D, Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry, under Captain Polleys, of La Crosse, Wis- consin, and participated in all the engage- ments in his which regiment took part, in- cluding the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, luka, Tupelo, the siege of Vicksburg, Champion Hills, Edwards' Ferry, Nashville, Mobile and many others of less importance. He was mustered out and discharged at Mobile, Alabama, October 11, 1865; for the war was then ended. He entered the service as a private and was raised to the rank of cap- tain of his company at Nashville. In the spring of 1861 he started for Missouri, but on reaching southern Illinois turned back to Wisconsin, and in August joined the " boys in blue." He was ever a loyal and patriotic soldier, a brave and fearless leader, inspir- ing his men by his own example of courage, yet shielding and protecting them from dan- ger as far as possible when not conflicting with duty. He was loved by his men and respected by his superior officers, and his war record was one of which he may well be proud. When the war was over Captain Shepard returned to his old home in New York and rented his father's place. In 1868 he came to Minnesota, locating in Stillwater, where he engaged in merchandising for several years. Removing to Worthington, Minne- sota, he dealt in lumber, agricultural imple- ments, coal, wood, etc., being numbered among the enterprising and progressive bus- iness men of that city for seventeen years. During that period, in 1887, he was ap- pointed register of the United States land office at that place. In 1889 four land offices were consolidated and in 1893, under President Cleveland's second administration, Captain Shepard was again appointed regis- ter and now has charge of all the govern- ment land in southern Minnesota, with headquarters in Marshall, Minnesota, where he now makes his home. He is to-day as true to the government interests as he was on southern battle-fields when he followed the stars and stripes to victory. He estab- lished his headquarters in Marshall, and near this place owns a farm. While in Stillwater Captain Shepard was married, January 12, 1870, to Miss Anna D. Cowan, who was born in Oldtown, Maine. Her grandfather, Thomas A. Cowan, was born in Maine, October 14, 1794. Thomas A. and Clementine (Lovejoy) Cowan, his wife, were natives of the Pine Tree state. The former was born October 14, 1794, and died in Vassalboro, June 16, 1861; the lat- ter, who was born in Vassalboro, July 4, 1800, came to Minnesota, and died in Still- water, January 27, 1890. They were mar- ried April 14, 1820, and had six children. 14 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Stephen L. Cowan, father of Mrs. Shepard, came to this state at an early day and for forty years was a prominent lumberman of Stillwater. He is still a valued resident of that place, but is now living retired. Cap- tain and Mrs. Shepard have five children, and lost one~at the age of eighteen months. Cyrus C, who follows farming, is married, has one daughter and has lost two children; Eugene A. is engaged in railroading; Ernest S. and Anna \'eda are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Shepard attend the Pres- byterian church, of which she is a member. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and to Markham Post, G. A. R., of Marshall. He has always been a stalwart Democrat since casting his first vote for General Hancock, and while in Worthington filled many local offices. Those qualities of integrity and true worth which everywhere command re- spect form an important element in the character of Captain Shepard, and he is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Marshall. 'HOMAS J. BALDWIN, of Mar- shall, Minnesota, proprietor of probably the finest and handsomest dry-goods store in the state outside of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was born in Fillmore county, August 12, 1864, and is a son of Hon. Thomas P. Baldwin, whose family history appears elsewhere in this work. Until fifteen years of age our subject lived upon a farm, obtaining his early edu- cation in the district and village schools. At the age of seventeen he came to Marshall with his parents, where he clerked in the store of E. L. Healy for five years, and for the two years following was engaged in the same occupation at Watertovvn, South Dakota. In 1889, Mr. Baldwin opened a small general store in Marshall, carrying a foiir- hundred-doUar stock; but he now occupies a store forty-four by one hundred and four feet and three stories in height, which was erected in 1895, '^^ S- cost of fifteen thou- sand dollars, and into which he moved February 29, this year. It is doubtless the handsomest dry-goods emporium to be found outside of the two largest cities of the state. Mr. Baldwin has the admiration of all busi- ness men for the way he has built up a trade here in so short a time, from a four- hundred-dollar to twenty-tho.usand-dollar stock in 1896. But a few years back he was only a clerk, but is now at the head of one of the most important business concerns in southwestern Minnesota. Such are the possibilities of men of brain and push in this section, and the mercantile world will in the near future recognize him as one of its foremost members, as the qualities which he possesses make leaders in any walk in life. ' ' On the 2 1st of September, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baldwin and Miss Myra E. Richardson, daughter of C. H. Richardson. They are active and promi- nent members in the best social circles of Marshall, and he has always been foremost in promoting the interests of the city, where they find a pleasant home. His political support is ever given the Republican party, and while caring nothing for office, being strictly a business man, he never shirks his duties of citizenship. A most public-spir- ited and progressive man, he is justly en- titled to the high regard in which he is held by all. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 15 ^^^"^ OBY PARRIOTT, of Luverne, is I /"^ a leading citizen of Rock county, \ W Minnesota, whose birth occurred in Porter county, Indiana, near Wheeler, on the lolh of March, 1840. His father, Roby R. Parriott, was born in Tyler county, West Virginia, on a farm about thirty miles from Wheeling, and was a son of Richard Parriott, who was born in the Old Dominion, and was of Welsh and French descent. The maternal grand- father of our subject, Anthony Howard, was born in Jackson county, Ohio, and was of English lineage. Near Danville, Vermilion county, Illinois, Roby R. Par- riott married Abigail Howard, and later removed to Porter count}', Indiana, whence they went to Stephenson county, Illinois, and subsequently to Butler county, Iowa. The father died in 1S71, the mother in 1864. The subject of this review spent the greater part of his childhood in Illinois, and in 1854 accompanied his parents to Iowa. His education was largely obtained in the schools of Stephenson county, Illi- nois, and after locating in the Hawkeye state he assisted in the cultivation of the home farm until i860, when he went to Oquawka, Henderson county, Illinois, where he remained one year. When grim-visaged war reared its awful front and threatened the safety of the na- tion, he responded to the country's call for troops, and enlisted in Company H, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, at Biggsville, Illinois, No- vember 27, 1861; went into camp at Peoria; mustered into service December 20, follow- ing; February 22, 1S62, marched with the regiment to Benton Barracks, Missouri, ar- riving March 2. When armed with sabers and revolvers, they left there on the 2 2d and reached Pittsburg Landing April 3, where they were engaged in the battle of Shiloh on the 6th and 7th. From that time they were fighting daily in skirmishes until the capture of Corinth, Mississippi, May 28. During the advance from Shiloh to Corinth they made many successful raids. May 15, near Purdy, Tennessee, they cap- tured a train of cars and some prisoners and destroyed the railroad track. After the capture of Corinth they were stationed there until August 15, when Com- pany H was ordered to Kossuth, Missis- sippi, on outpost duty, and remained there till September 25, when it rejoined the regiment. On the same day it was in bat- tle on the Hatchie river, near Pocahontas, Tennessee, with the advance portion of Price and Van Dorn's army. Mr. Parriott was taken prisoner and sent to Holly Springs, Mississippi, thence to Vicksburg and down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While on the rebel boat he was paroled and sent on down by a federal boat to New Or- leans, whence he returned home by way of New York, arriving at Biggsville, Illinois, November 2, 1862. About the 20th of February he was ex- changed, and during the next month he rejoined his regiment at Jackson, Tennes- see. In April and May his company (H) was on outpost duty at Lexington, Jack creek. Spring creek, Brownsville and Den- mark, Tennessee. About the last of May the company rejoined the regiment and marched to La Grange, that state, and during the following summer they were stationed there and at Saulsbury and Grand Junction, that state, making frequent raids from six to ten days into Mississippi after Chalmers and other rebel cavalry, destroy- ing railroads, grain and commissary stores. 16 MEMORIAL RECORD OF June 21, 1863, they were engaged with four Mississippi rebel cavalry, where about sixty of the company charged upon and stampeded them, the federal company "get- ting away " with the loss of twenty men. In September they marched to Memphis, Tennessee, went by boat to Vicksburg, thence across to Black river, near Messen- ger ford, doing out-picket duty and scout- ing throughout a large tract of country, ever and anon taking prisoners. December 20th the regiment re-enlisted as veterans and were mustered into the United States service again February 3d following (1864), and starting with the ad- vance of Sherman's army marched to Meri- dian and Enterprise, Mississippi, traveling four hundred miles and engaging the enemy twenty-two days and capturing many prison- ers, one piece of artillery, an ambulance and some military stores, besides destroying miles of railroad track and a number of bridges. March 3, 1864, they returned to camp, and on the 6th started home on a veteran furlough, — thirty days, — arriving home at Springfield, Illinois, on the i6th. May I, 1864, returned to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where the}' were stationed dur- ing the summer, attending also to outpost duty and picket duty, scouting, etc., around Vicksburg and Natchez, also crossing the river into Arkansas, where they did some skirmishing, picking up prisoners here and there, etc. On the last of November, 1864, they went by boat to Memphis. In December marched across north Mississippi and pro- ceeded on down the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, skirmishing daily with rebel cavalry. At Egypt, Mississippi, they charged a stockade and captured about a thousand prisoners; and about three miles west of Egypt they seized seven hundred and si.xty-eight fat hogs which were being taken to Hood's army. Reached Vicksburg again about January i, 1865, with all the prisoners they had cap- tured. Many of these they caught on their way to Vicksburg, and this journey was in- deed characterized by daily fighting. At Vicksburg General Adams was on their front, and Arends at their flank. For thirty days Mr. Parriott was at the hospital. Then by boat he went to Memphis, where he rejoined his company. During the summer of 1865 he was stationed at Brownsville, and Grand Junction, Tennessee, picking up government property and paroling prisoners. The company was mustered out of serv- ice September 30, 1865, and the men took boat forborne October ist, arriving at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois, where they were paid of? and received their final dis- charge, on October 11, 1865. Mr. Parriott had faithfully served his country for almost four years, as-one of the able defenders of the starry banner that now floats so proudly over the united nation. Returning to his home in Butler county, Iowa, Mr. Parriott carried on general farm- ing there until 1882, when he came to Luverne, Minnesota, where he works at the carpenter's trade. He has erected a number of the best houses in this locality, and enjoys a good trade. He also owns one hundred and si.xty acres of land, which he rents, deriving therefrom a good income. He is known as a straightforward, reliable business man, and in his undertakings has met a merited success. On the 3d of December, 1868, Mr. Par- riott was united in marriage with Miss Mar- tha J. Cable, of Wiota, Wisconsin, a native of that state and a daughter of ^^'illiam SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 17 Cable. They now have five children, as follows: Jane A., wife of John A. Grout, a farmer; Lois E., who is engaged in teach- ing; Sarah E., also a teacher; and William Ray and Philip E., who are attending school. The parents attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Parriott is a member of John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. ^y^R. LEMONT S. CRANDALL I M figures as the oldest medical prac- J^f titioner in Lamberton, Minnesota, ^^^ and dates his identity with the town from the year 1875- His life history is worthy of a place in this biographical record, and will be read with interest by many. Briefly, it is as follows: Lemont S. Crandall was born in Alle- gany county. New York, May 27, 1835, son of Hampton and Sally (Bentley) Crandall, early residents of that county. In 1847 the Crandall family came west to Wisconsin and established their home in Dane county, that being the year Wisconsin was admitted into the Union of states, and there they lived for twenty years. Later in life the parents moved to Rock county, that state, where they passed their closing years, and where they died and are buried. Their famUy comprised three children, — Lemont S., Annie M. and DeForest,— the subject of our sketch being the eldest and at the time of their removal to Wisconsin a boy of twelve years. In Dane county he grew to manhood. During his youth and early manhood he was variously employed, chiefly, however, in agricultural pursuits. From 1858 to i860 he was a resident of Greene county, Iowa, and in i860 returned to Dane county, where he was shortly afterward ap- pointed postmaster of Utica, in which posi- tion he served acceptably until he resigned in 1863. He then came over into Minne- sota, and in Sibley county enlisted for serv- ice in the Union ranks, going out as a mem- ber of Company D, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, and was in the army about one year, after which he was honorably dis- charged. Returning to Sibley county, Minnesota, after his army service, he engaged in the drug business at Alden, which he con- ducted there about two years, and at the same time took up the study, of medicine under Dr. Russell's instructions. Later he attended medical lectures in New York. On his return from the east he en- tered upon the practice of his profession in Mankato, Blue Earth county, where he con- tinued his residence and did a successful business until 1875, when he removed to Lamberton. Here he soon built up a large and lucrative practice, which he has main- tained throughout the years which have in- tervened since then, and in connection with which he conducts a successful business in the drug line. Dr. Crandall has been twice married. His first wife, whom he wedded in Utica, Wisconsin, was Eunice Campbell, like him- self, a native of the Empire state. She died during their residence in Sibley county. Minnesota, leaving three children,— DeFor- est, Marion and William. His present wife, formerly Mrs. Amelia Koenig, a native of Germany, he married in New Ulm, Brown county, this state. During the more than twenty years Dr. Crandall has resided in Lamberton he has been actively interested in all measures in- tended to advance the welfare of the town. He was several years its postmaster, and 18 MEMORIAL RECORD OF has also filled other local positions of promi- nence and trust. Politically, he is a Repub- lican, ever active and enthusiastic in the interest of his party; and, being a veteran of the Union army, is of course identified with that popular organization known as the G. A. R., his membership being in Colonel David Hughes Post, of Lamberton. «>^ IRCH CHAPIN, a popular citizen B/'*^ and energetic farmer of Spring J^^J Water township. Rock county, was born in St. Joseph county, Michi- gan, June lo, 1847, c^nd 's a son of Henry W. Chapin. In the district schools he re- ceived a fair education, and remained at home until his enlistment in the Union army in October, 1864, when he became a member of Company B. Thirteenth Iowa Infantry, under Captain Levi Newcomer. At the close of the war he was honorabl}' discharged in June, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, and was mustered out at Daven- port, Iowa. He participated in several en- gagements, including the battle of Nash- ville. Until his marriage, Mr. Chapin remained upon the home farm, and then rented land in Winneshiek county, Iowa. He came to Rock county, Minnesota, on the 5th of October, 1871, where he secured a farm, and brought his family to that place two years later. His first house was a shanty twelve feet square, his capital consisted of but seventy-five cents, and his stock, of a cow and yoke of oxen. Although starting in this state in such limited circumstances, he has now become the possessor of a hand- some property. About six }'ears ago he erected his present comfortable dwelling, and his fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres is now well improved. He was the first man to locate in Springwater township, and has become one of the most highly respected and esteemed citizens of the county. On the 22d of January, iS/'O, Mr. Chapin led to the marriage altar Miss Alice Webster, who was born in Cass county, Michigan, August 23, 1852, and is a daugh- ter of George W. and Elsie Ann (Hill) Webster, who were natives of New York and very early settlers of Michigan. In 1856 her parents removed to Rockford, Illinois, where they spent about a year, and then went to Allamakee county, Iowa, where the mother died at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving four children, of whom Mrs. Chapin is the eldest. Soon after the death of his wife, Mr. Webster removed to Post- ville, Iowa, where he worked at the mason's trade, and his next place of residence was near Albert Lea, Minnesota, his home being located where the depot at Austin now stands. Three years ago he went to Whiteside county, Illinois, but is now living in the state of Washington. The great- grandfather of Mrs. Chapin was one of the Revolutionary heroes, valiantly aiding the colonies in their struggle for independence. Her education was secured in the district schools, with the exception of one term when she attended the schools of Postville, Iowa. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Chapin, but two are now deceased, one dying at the age of thirteen months and the other when five years old. Those living are George H., who married Miss Jennie Brewer, and has two sons, — Marion E., and Wilbur; Samuel B. ; Bertram R. and Ralph Y. The family, which is one of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 19 prominence, attend the Methodist Episco- pal church. During the years that Mr. Chapin has made his home in Rock county, he has been very influential in public affairs, as by his strong force of character and undoubted in- tegrity he early gained the confidence of the people, who saw in him a man they could trust as a guide a^'nd well fitted to hold public office. For three years he served as assessor, and for fifteen years he has been township .clerk, being first elected in March, 1 88 1. He has also been officially connected with the schools, and has served on the grand jury. His first vote was cast for General Grant, since which time he has always supported the Republican party, with the exception of one year when he voted the Prohibition ticket. He has always manifested a great interest in his adopted county, and cheerfully aids in all schemes for its advancement. eDWIN RAY HUMISTON, a re- tired contractor and builder, of Worthington, was in his younger days a man of great energy and more than ordinary business capacity, his success in life being largely due to his own efforts and sound judgment. He was born at Great Harrington, Massachusetts, May 6, 1827, and is the son of Caleb Humiston, whose birth occurred at North Haven, Con- necticut, in 1779. The founder of the fam- ily in the New World came from England after the fall of Cromwell. Caleb Humis- ton married Miss Polly Todd, also a native of North Haven, and of Scotch-Irish de- scent. In 1833, the father with his family emigrated to Ohio, locating at Hudson, Summit county, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick and also in farming. He died there before the war, in his seventy- ninth year. His wife, however, died in Cleveland, Ohio, at the extreme age of ninety-one years. Our subject is the seventh in order of birth in a family of nine children who grew to maturity, seven sons and two daughters, but only four now survive, — three sons and one daughter. Edwin R. Humiston passed the days of his boyhood and youth in Ohio, where he attended the district schools and completed his education at the college of Hudson. He there learned the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of three years. In 1855 he started westward, lo- cating first at Dubuque, Iowa, where he remained until the following year, when he became a resident of St. Peter, Minnesota. From 1S57 until 1871, he made his home in Lesueur county, Minnesota, and then came to Worthington, where he engaged in contracting and building for a number of years with good success, erecting many of the most substantial and elegant buildings of Nobles county. He was also employed by the Omaha Railroad Company for about ten years. In 1857 Mr. Humiston led to the mar- riage altar Miss Mary A. Davis, of Lesueur county, who was born at Columbus, Ohio, and they are now the parents^ of six chil- dren: Fred L. H., in company with his brother, in the firm of W. S. Humiston & Company, merchants; Willis I., a hard- ware merchant; Henry S., now in the em- ploy of the Omaha Railroad; John D., in the implement business at Worthington; Edwin Ray, a druggist of that place, who is a member of the state board of examiners; and Mary K., at home, who is engaged in 20 MEMORIAL RECORD OF teaching in the public schools of Worth- ington. In 1888, Mr. Humiston was elected reg- ister of deeds of Nobles county, which posi- tion he filled for two years, at the expiration of which time he retired from official duties. While a resident of Lesueur county, he held the office of county commissioner, whicii he resigned in order to go south and enter the United States government service at Little Rock, Arkansas, but was there taken ill and returned to his home. He cast his first vote in support of the Free- soil party, when Martin Van Burcn was can- didate for president, and has been a Repub- lican since the organization of that party, his last ballot supporting Benjamin Harri- son. He and his wife are earnest. Christian people, faithful members of the Congrega- tional church, and have gained many warm friends since becoming residents of Worth- ington, where they have a good home, well and tastefully furnished. During the early days of the settlement of Minnesota, Mr. Humiston witnessed many exciting occurrences and was one of forty men to volunteer at St. Peter, April 12, 1857, to go out and light the Indians who had participated in the Spirit Lake massacre. They traveled on foot, leaving home at eleven a. m., and late that night found themselves forty-nine miles from St. Peter, stopping near a deserted house, which the inhabitants had left for regions safe from Indian depredations. Mr. Humis- ton, who was appointed cook, found there a dishpan full of flour, which he was con- verting into bread, when told that all the food in the house contained strychnine placed there for the Indians when they might chance that way and partake of the provisions. This was a very narrow escape indeed for the entire company, as they would all have been poisoned. Mr. Humis- ton, in order to protect his faniil}' in those early days, built a small stockade in the corner of his garden. He was with a party on Scott's lake at the time when two Indi- ans were killed, one escaping, and during most of the summer of 1862 served as a scout. He was ever brave and fearless and did much toward the protection of the early settlers. YRON W. HARDEN.— Occupy- ing the responsible position of eashierof the First National Bank of Marshall, Lyon county, Minne- sota, enjoying high popularity and main- taining a representative place as identified with the varied interests of his town and county, it is manifestly consistent that in this connection attention be directed to the more salient features in the life history of him whose name graces this article. Mr. Harden dates his nativity in the Empire state of the Union, the state which was for man}' years the home of his ances- tors. He was born in Clinton county. New York, May 6, 1851, son of Halsted J. and Ellen (Willsie) Harden, both natives of Clinton county. In the year 1857 the Har- den family removed to Iowa and located at Burr Oak, where the father of our subject followed farming and also worked at the trade of blacksmith. He is still living at that place. His wife died there, at the age of forty-three years. She was the mother of six children, four of whom are yet living. Halsted J. Harden was a son of John and Sophia (Cook) Harden. Of their history but little is known except that they were New York people, lived first in Washington SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 21 county, then in Clinton county, and that late in life they came west and settled in Burr Oak, Iowa, where he died August 31, 1864, at the age of seventy-nine years, she surviving him until 1872, her death occur- ring at the same place. The old record of the Harden family was brought to Minnesota some years ago by an aunt of the subject of this sketch, and at her death was unfortu- nately lost. lve\'erting to the maternal an- cestry of Myron W., we find that his mother was a daughter of John and Sabra (Hutchi- son) Willsie, both of New York birth, who about I 85 5 came west, settling first in Iowa and subsequentl}' coming to Minnesota and locating in Fillmore counts, where the clos- ing years of their lives were spent and where they died, each at about the age of seventy- five years. Great-grandfather Willsie was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Having thus briefly outlined his par- entage, we turn now for a review of the life of our immediate subject, Myron W. Har- den. At the time the Harden family re- moved to Iowa he was a child of si.x years. He was reared on his father's farm there, and remained at or near home until he attained his twenty-fifth year. At that time he secured the position of deputy clerk of the courts of Winneshiek county, which took him to Decorah, the county seat. He served as deputy there from 1876 until 1880, when he was elected to the office of clerk of the courts, which he filled most acceptably for a term of four years. In June, 1884, he went to Grafton, North Dakota, as assistant .cashier in a bank at that place, and was occupied as such until 1891. Since that date he has been identified with Marshall, Minnesota. On locating here he assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Marshall, of which he was chosen cashier. H. M. Langland being president and A. M. Addison vice-president. Besides his inter- est in this substantial financial institution, Mr. Harden has large real-estate interests, owning over a thousand acres of choice land in Minnesota. Also he owns his pleasant home in Marshall. While a resident of Decorah, Iowa, and serving as clerk of the courts, Mr. Harden was united in marriage to Miss May Stand- ing, a native of that city, an amiable and accomplished lady and a daughter of Leon- ard and Mary (Prothroe) Standing, New York people who located in Iowa about 1856. Her father was a banker and one of the prominent men of Decorah, where he died at the age of about fifty-four years. Mrs. Harden's paternal grandparents were Leonard S. and Sidney (Easton) Standing, who died in Lewis county. New York. Grandfather Standing was one of the pio- neer settlers of that county. Her maternal grandparents were Ira and Zylpha (Will- iams) Prothroe, also natives of New York. Grandfather Prothroe died in Decorah, Iowa, at a ripe old age, and Grandmother Prothroe is still living there. Mr. and Mrs. Harden have two children. Mate and Leonard, aged, respectively, seven and five years. Mrs. Harden is a member of the Congregational church, where both she and her husband regularly attend worship. Politically, Mr. Harden harmonizes with the Republican party and has given it his stanch support e\er since he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant's second term. As a business man he has shown ability far above the average, and in all his dealings, both private and public, he has used only the most honorable and upright methods. An indefatigable worker in what- ever he has undertaken, he has attained not 22 MEMORIAL kECORD OP only a high order of success in temporal affairs, but also the respect and confidence of all who have had the privilege of appre- ciating his sterling character. EORGE R. CURRAN, M. U. Among those who devote their \^^ time and energies to the practice of medicine and have gained a leading place in the ranks of the profession, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is now established at Worth- ington, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice. A native of Minnesota, at Cannon Falls he was born on the 1st of July, 1S63, and is the son of Rev. Charles and Rebecca (Clark) Curran. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the son of Robert Curran, who was of Scotch-Irish extraction. He devoted many j'ears of his life to the work of the ministry in the Meth- odist Episcopal church in different states and places, and died in Minnesota, in 1869. His wife passed away in the same state two years previously. The Doctor is the- youngest in a family of five children, two sons and three daugh- ters, all of whom are still living. He spent his youth in his native place and acquired his early education in the public schools. For a time he served as rodman on the Northwestrn Railroad, and later entered the high school of Hastings, Minnesota, where he prosecuted his studies vigorously for a time, and then engaged in teaching, being- principal of the school at Ironwood, Michi- gan, which position he filled with credit. He then became a student in (Carlton Col- lege, where he received the degree of Bach- elor of Science in 1887, but in the mean- time he taught at intervals in order to pay his tuition. Later he entered the medical department of the State University of Min- nesota, at which he was graduated in 1892. After his graduation Dr. Curran came to Worthington, where he at once began the practice of his chosen profession, and has been remarkably successful. He is well established in his business, to which he de- votes his entire time and energies, and has gained the entire confidence of his patrons. Although he is a general practitioner, he gives special attention to surgery. He is an ardent and devoted student of modern medical and surgical methods and essays, ever desirous of improving with the years his knowledge of his profession. In 1892 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Curran and Miss Kathrina Manson, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and to them has been born a little daughter, — Doris E. The parents are both faithful members of the Congregational church, of which the Doctor is one of the trustees. For the past two years he has served as secretary of the Southwestern Medical Association. Wher- ever he goes he wins friends and has the happy faculty of being able to retain them. His popularity has made him a great favor- ite in all circles. t>^ ANIEL W. CHUTE, of \Vorthing- B R ton, Minnesota, has for a num- Z^,^ ber of years been identified with the agricultural interests of Nobles county and is recognized as one of its prom- inent and leading farmers. To a brief re- view of his life history we would at this point in\-ite attention. Daniel W. Chute dates his birth in Mount Clemens, Michigan, December 23, 1 85 I, and is the eldest of the five children SOUTHWESTERJST MINNESOTA. 28 born to Daniel and Mary (Randall) Chute. Through his father and mother he traces his ancestr}- to England, both his grand- fathers, Daniel Chute and Pharaoh Randall, having been born in England. All his grandparents came in a colony direct from England and were among the first settlers of Nova Scotia. Daniel Chute, the father of our subject, was both a merchant and farmer and was a man whose honorable and upright life won hiui the respect and esteem of all who knew him. About 1854 he moved with his family over into Minnesota and located at Eyota, whence a few years later he went to Freeborn county and set- tled on a farm of six hundred and forty acres. He took atrip to Battle mountains, Nevada, with considerable money and was killed and robbed of all the money he had with him. When he was three years old Daniel W. Chute, the immediate subject of our sketch, was brought b}' his parents to Minnesota, and his life from that early age has been spent within the borders of this state. During their sojourn in Freeborn county he attended school in the town of Eyota, later he pursued his studies at Albert Lea, Free- born county, and for some time went to high school in that county. He remained there imtil 1872, when he came to Nobles county and took up a tree claim of two hundred and forty acres, to which in due time he secured a title and on which he afterward made val- uable and numerous improvements and car- ried on stock-raising and general fanning, making a specialty of grain; and as his means accumulated he handled cattle and hogs, buying and shipping to Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago and Omaha, from time to time increasing his operations. When he first settled on his claim he lived in a little house, 1 2 .\ 16 feet in dimensions, which served him for a home two or three years, then giving place to a larger and more con- venient one. In 1895 he left the farm and moved into Worthington, where he now re- sides in a substantial and attractive frame residence. He owns four hundred and eighty acres of choice land in Nobles coun- ty, well improved and under excellent cul- tivation, which he now rents, while he de- votes his own time to looking after his gen- eral interests. Mr. Chute was married in 1S75 to Miss Emma Howard, a native of Illinois and a daughter of William A. and Sarah A. How- ard. They have no children. OTIS PAPENDICK is pleasantly lo- cated upon a farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 4, Clin- ton township, Rock county, which he has engaged in running since the fall of 1887. The improvements which we see to- day have been effected by his industry and good management, and he has brought the soil to a fine state of cultivation, while the farm buildings are neat and substantial, and with their surroundings present the picture of the complete country home, where peace and plenty abound. Our subject is a native of Illinois, born near Prophetstown, Whiteside county, April 19, 1863, but soon after his birth was taken to Henry county, that state, by his parents, Louis and Sophia (Greenwood) Papendick, who were natives of Germany. In Henry county they spent the remainder of their lives. Of their five children three grew to years of maturity, namely: Carrie, now the wife of John Jaquet; William and Otis. 24 MEMORIAL RECORD OP The last named early became familiar with agricultural pursuits upon the home farm in Henry county, Illinois, and on reaching manhood he was married there, March 23, 1887, the lady of his choice be- ing Miss Anna E. Walzer, who was born in Bureau county, Illinois, May 7, 1866, and is the daughter of Charles and Mary (Kreps) Walzer, now residents of Henry county, in which family are seven children, — Anna, Mary, Sarah, Otto, Jesse, George and Lena. Mr. and Mrs. Papendick have two children, — ^Jessie B. and Arthur E. Upon his marriage, Mr. Papendick emi- grated to Rock county, Minnesota, arriving in March, 1887, and rented land in Luverne township for one year, but in the fall of 1887 purchased his present fine farm on section 4, Clinton township, where he has since successfully engaged in general farm- ing. He ranks among the energetic and skillful agriculturists of this section, is pleasing and intelligent as a conversation- alist, a good business man, and in all re- spects has proved himself a valued addition to the community. I EORGE J. ENGEL, one of the enterprising young farmers of Elk township. Nobles county, Minne- sota, has started out in life with every prospect of success, and while he is too young in years to afford material for a complete biography, yet some mention of him is appropriate in this work, and we take pleasure in presenting here the following brief sketch of him and his ancestry. George J. Engel was born near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, January 12, 1869. His parents, John G. and Eve (Keller) Engel, were natives of Baden, Germany. His father emigrated to this country about 1856, his mother in 1866, and shortly afterward located in Iowa. The paternal grandfather of our subject, also named John G., died at the age ot fifty-four years, and the wife of the latter, Anna M., died at the age of fifty- six years. George J. Engel's mother's father died when fifty-six years old, and his mother's mother at the age of sixty years. All these were born in Baden, Germany. On a farm in that state George J. was born and reared, receiving his education in the district schools and in the Cedar Rapids Business College. In the spring of 1893, at the age of twenty-four years, he left the parental home, came up into Minnesota, and has since been engaged in farming at his present location in Elk township. Mr. Engel was married November 15, 1893, to Miss Margaret S. James, a native of Keokuk, Iowa, and a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth James, natives of Oxford- shire, England. Her father was a soldier in the Crimean war. He first came to America in 1854 and made a settlement in DeKalb county, Illinois, returned to England in 1 86 1, and on coming back to this country in January, 1862, took up his abode in La Salle county, Illinois. There he maintained his residence till 1869, from that time until 1875 was in Kansas, and after another move or two came, in 188S, to Worthington, Minnesota, where he and his good wife still reside. Mr. Engel's paternal grandparents were John and Margaret James, who lived and died in Oxfordshire. In his poliiical views Mr. Engel har- monizes with the Democratic party, having cast his first vote for President Cleveland. He is a consistent and worthy member of the Lutheran church. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 25 *y ^ ON. DANIEL SHELL.— We are l'^'"\ now permitted to touch briefly up- \ ^P on the life history of one who has retained a personal association with the affairs of Nobles county for a number of years, and is now ably representing his dis- trict in the state legislature. His life has been one of honest and earnest endeavor, and due success has not been denied him. He is located at Worthington, where he owns valuable property, and is now engaged in the real-estate business. Our subject was born in St. Lawrence county. New York, on a farm, November 26, 1843, and is the son of David Shell, a native of Canada, but was reared principally in New York. Daniel Shell, the paternal grandfather, was born in that state, of Ger- man ancestry. He was a farmer by occu- pation, owning considerable property, and belonged to one of the prominent and influ- ential families of central New York. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Lavina Iventner, and was the danghter of Conrad Kentner, who was of German descent, and belonged to one of the pioneer families of St. Lawrence county, New York, where he was numbered among the substantial and enterprising citizens. Mr. Shell, whose name introduces this record, was the fourth son and si.xth child in a family of eleven children, and spent his early boyhood in attending school in St. Lawrence county. When only eleven years of age he was taken by his parents to Sauk county, Wisconsin, where they located upon a farm and where he grew to manhood, his educational advantages being such as the district schools of that locality afforded, but later was permitted to attend a high school. On reaching his majority, Mr. Shell started out in life on his own account, being 2 engaged in the lumber business in Wiscon- sin, in connection with two brothers. He went into the pine woods, where he engaged in logging and at the mills converted the logs into lumber. The firm had but little capital other than pluck, but could secure plenty of credit, and in this way purchased eighty acres of heavily timbered land. They began in the winter of 1865. In partnership with his brothers, Conrad and Levi, Mr. Shell established a lumber-yard at Salem, Wisconsin, under the name of Shell Brothers, and continued to do business there until 1871, when he disposed of his interest and came to Worthington, Min- nesota. At this place Mr. Shell became a mem- ber of the lumber firm of Henry Young & Company, and they continued in business for about one year. During that time our subject started a livery and took a contract to run a stage line from Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory, to Worthington and also carry the mail. He had in his employ a number of men and fifty horses, and continued to conduct this stage line until the completion of the railroad to Worthington, when he abandoned it but still remained in the livery business. In 1873 he rented the Worthing- ton House, which was the principal hotel in the place, and this he successfully carried on in connection with his livery for thirteen years. In 1876, Mr. Shell embarked in the in- surance and real-estate business and helped to dispose of much of the land in Nobles county. At present he is handling city and farm property, as a member of the firm of Shell & Mann, having admitted M. P. Mann to a partnership in the business in June, 1895, and are one of the largest and most reliable firms of the kind in this part Jt 26 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of the state. In 1885, with others, Mr. Shell organized the Minnesota Loan and In- vestment Company, which is one of the solid institutions of the kind in southern Minnesota, and has since been connected with it. He also helped to organize the Beaver Creek Bank, in Rock county, Min- nesota, the same jear. In 1867, Mr. Shell was united in mar- riage with Miss Samantha McClintock, of Salem, Wisconsin, a daughter of Hugh McClintock, and they have had three chil- dren, — Winifred, Lee M. and Margorie. In politics Mr. Shell is a pronounced Re- publican, although his father was a stanch Democrat, and has taken an active part in local, state and national political affairs. In 1880 he was elected chairman of the board of commissioners of Nobles count}', which position he filled for si.\ years to the satisfaction of all concerned. He has been mayor of Worthington for a period of nine years. He has served as a member of the high school board for the past seven years, and re-elected to the same position in July, 1896. He was chosen a delegate to the national convention in 1892 which met at Minneapolis and aided in the nomination of Benjamin Harrison, and was a member of the committee that notified him of his nomination. The same year he was nomi- nated by the Republican party as a rep- resentative to the legislature, the district being composed of Nobles, Rock, Pipestone and Murray counties, was elected, and re- elected in 1894. He served on several im- portant committees and took an active part in the work of that body. He is promi- nently identified with the Masonic fraterni- ty, being a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine at St. Paul. A man of unswerving integrity and honor, one who has a perfect appreciation of the higher ethics of life, Mr. Shell has gained and retained the confidence and re- spect of his fellowmen, and is distinctively one of the leading citizens of W^orthington with whose interests he has long been iden- tified. y'"^UGENE M. SWIFT.— Among the B j progressive, energetic and sueces- ^^^ fill farmers of Rock countj', who thoroughly understand the vocation which they follow and are consequently enabled to carry on their calling with profit to themselves, is the subject of this sketch. He is actively engaged in agricultural pur- suits in Beaver township, where he owns eight hundred acres of valuable land, and is one of the wealthiest farmers of the county. Mr. Swift was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, June 10, 1850, and is a son of Henry W. Swift, deceased, whose sketch appears on another page of this work. He was reared on a farm, and in the village and country schools acquired his education. On the 29th of December, 1875, he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Rogers, who was born in Upper Canada, and is the daughter of Reynold and Margaret (Nickerson) Rogers, also natives of Canada, as were her grandparents. Her father died in Minnesota, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years, and her mother passed away in Wisconsin at the age of seventy- nine years. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Swift, four still living, namely: Delia, who was married January 20, 1896, to Ira Sanders, of Rock county; Mamie, Eugene and Ray. For a short time after his marriage, Mr. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 27 Swift remained upon the home farm in Wis- consin, but in 1878 sold out his interests there and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, and for seventeen years that place has now been his home. At one time he engaged in the breeding of Hereford cattle, but now gives his entire attention to general farming with most sat- isfactory results. His family was one of prominence in Wisconsin, and since coming to this state has gained a most enviable reputation, having the respect and confi- dence of all with whom he comes in con- tact, either in business or social life, and nowhere in the northwest is there a more reliable or successful agriculturist. On local matters Mr. Swift votes independently, but at other elections supports the Democratic party, though until lately he was a Repub- lican. t>^ ENJAMIN I. TRIPP.— The flour- I (''^L ishing little town of Bigelow, on the JK.,^J Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad, ten miles south of Worthington, numbers about one hundred and fifty inhabitants, who are noted for their thrift and enterprise, and who take a commendable pride in keeping abreast with the times. Prominent among them, and identified with both farming and merchan- dising, is found the subject of this article, Benjamin I. Tripp, to the principal points in whose life history we here direct attention. Mr. Tripp was born in Montcalm county, Michigan, September 2, 1853, and spent the first seventeen years of his life in that state, thence going east to New York and living in the Empire state until the spring of 1873. At that time he came west and settled in Minnesota. In 1S80 he took up a home-. stead claim of one hundred and sixty acres in section 22, Bigelow township. Nobles county, to the improvement and cultivation of which he at once directed his energies, and with the result that it is to-day ranked with the best farms in the community, well stocked and highly cultivated. After resid- ing on it for about six years he moved into the town of Bigelow and opened up a gen- eral merchandise business, which he has since successfully conducted. He still owns his fine farm and also has property in Bige- low. Mr. Tripp's family consists of three daughters. He was married, April 18, 1877, to Miss Emma M. Cummins, who was born in Iowa, January 30, i860, and who died December 4, 1893, at the early age of thirty-four years. She came to Min- nesota the year previous to her marriage. She was one of four daughters, two of whom are still living, both married, one in Ne- braska and the other in Minnesota. Mr. Cummins, a native of North Carolina, served in the federal army during the late civil war, and died some years after the war from disease incurred during that struggle. Mr. Tripp's children are Ella M., Mj'rtle E. and Emma, aged respectively sixteen, fifteen and three years. eSLER K. SMITH, editor and pro- prietor of the Worthington Herald, of Worthington, Minnesota, was born in Williamsfield, Ohio, March 3, 1867, a son of Samuel M. and Harriet O. (Kent) Smith, both natives of the Buckeye state, while the latter was of English de- scent, and the former of German lineage. The maternal grandfather was one of the soldiers of the Revolution. In 1S72 Samuel 28 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Smith removed with his family from Ohio to Mountain Lake, Minnesota, where he spent two years, and in the spring of 1874 came to Nobles county, living in Worthin;*- ton from 1874 until 1886. The subject of this review was a child of only seven years when the family came to Worthington, and in this city he was reared, acquiring his education in the public and high schools. At the age of thirteen he entered the office of the Worthington Jour- nal, where he served a two-years appren- ticeship. He afterward entered the employ of A. P. Miller, publisher of the Advance, with whom he remained some years. During this time he attended school at intervals. In the fall of 1893 lie took charge of the Worth- ington Globe as managing editor, accepting that position and acceptably filling it until July I, 1895. In November of the same year he purchased an interest in the Worthington Herald, as a partner of T. G. Nicholson, and in July, 1896, purchased the entire plant. It was established by Mr. Nicholson in September, 1894, and is a si.x-column quarto, neatly printed and well edited. It is devoted to the principles of the Repub- lican party, and to the advancement of local interests, the editor being a young man of a progressive spirit, who takes a deep interest in promoting all measures or enterprises that are calculated to prove of public benefit. Mr. Smith was married August 20, 1890, Miss Martha J. McCune becoming his wife. She is a daughter of Rev. Robert McCune, pastor of the First Congregational church of Worthington, and an eminent minister of that denomination, who is most highly esteemed by his parishioners and by all with whom he has been brought in contact. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two interesting children, — Carl Kent and Julia Martina. Our subject is chancellor commander of Okabena Lodge, No. 72, K. P., and also belongs to Worthington Lodge, No. 219, I. O. O. F., and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a typical representative of America's progressive young men, true to his duties of citizenship and honorable in all of life's relations. ENRY E. TORRANCE is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Worthington, a recognized leader of its mercantile interests, has ably served in various official capacities, and during the war of the Rebellion was a val- iant defender of the Union. In studying the lives and character of prominent men we are naturally led to inquire into the se- cret of their success and the motives that prompted their action. Success is not a matter of genius as held by many, but rather of e.xperience and sound judgment; for when we trace the career of those who stand high- est in public esteem we find in nearly every case that the successful men are those who have risen gradually, fighting their way in the face of all opposition. Self-reliance, conscientiousness, energy and honesty are the traits of character that insure the high- est emoluments and greatest prosperity, and to these maybe attributed the success which crowns the efforts of Mr. Torrance. Our subject was born in Arlington, Ben- nington county, Vermont, in 1844, a son of Andrew J. and Ann (Farr) Torrance. The father, a native of the same state, descended from a Scotch family and was a farmer by occupation. The mother was a native of Connecticut, as was the maternal grandfa- ther, Thomas Farr. Henry E. Torrance spent his boyhood days in Vermont, where so UTH WESTERN MINNESO TA . 29 he attended the common schools, and also spent one year in an academy. He re- mained on the homestead farm until he had attained his majority, and in Uecember, 1863, he enlisted in his country's service as a member of Company E, Tenth Vermont Infantry. The regiment, under Colonel Jewett, was sent to Culpeper, Virginia, and afterward participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor and others of minor import- ance. Mr. Torrance was also in the siege of Petersburg, and an engagement at Sail- or's creek, and continued in the service in active duty until 1865, when, in July, he was honorably discharged. Returning to his home, Mr. Torrance assisted his father on the farm until April i, 1866, when he removed to Quincy, Olm- sted county, Minnesota, where he carried on general farming for ten years. In 1S76 he came to Worthington and embarked in the furniture business. Subsequently he added a stock of groceries and later dis- posed of his furniture. He is now dealing in all kinds of general merchandise and is an extensive dealer in grain, shipping to the different markets east and south. He began operations in an old frame building, in which he conducted a successful business until 1892, when he erected and moved into the fine brick building known as the Tor- rance Block, two stories in height and fifty- five by one hundred feet in area. The front of the building is formed of plate-glass windows and it is a handsome modern structure. With dry goods, clothing and men's furnishing goods in the front and a large grocery store in the rear, it is one of the most extensive department stores in the town. In addition to this property Mr. Torrance is the owner of three good farms in Nobles county, all rented, and is a stock- holder and director in the Bank of Wor- thington. In politics, Mr. Torrance is a pronounced Republican, and has held several offices of trust. He was a member of the school board, and for one term was mayor of the city. He is prominent in Masonry, holding his membership in Fraternal Lodge, No. lOi, F. & A. M.; Worthington Chapter, R. A. M. ; Mankato Commandery, No. 4, K. T. ; and has represented the grand lodge of Masons of the state of Minnesota at different times. He also belongs to Stod- dard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. In November, 1868, Mr. Torrance mar- ried Miss Ellen Ketcham, of Olmsted coun- ty, Minnesota, a native of Massachusetts. Two daughters blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Torrance: Ellen, wife of Fred Goff; and Gertrude, wife of Fred Mason, both of Worthington. Mr. Torrance has a fine home, tastefully furnished and with attractive surroundings. (D C. TOWER.— Riverdale Farm, in Eden township. Brown county, Minnesota, is one of the most delightful rural places in this county, and its proprietor, Mr. M. C. Tower, is one of Brown county's best known and most highly respected citizens. Mr. Tower is a native of the Empire state. He was born in Wyoming county, New York, March 27, 1841, the son of English parents who came to America in early life. Bela Tower, his father, was born in Manchester, England, and was just entering manhood when he made the At- lantic voyage and .sought a home in the New 30 MEMORIAL RECORD OF World, his location being in New York. In Wyoming county, that state, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Woodard,- like himself, a native of Manchester. Some years after their marriage they removed to Erie county, where thej' passed the rest of their lives and died. He lived to the ad- vanced age of eighty-two years, and she was seventy-six at the time of death. Both were devoted Christians, differing somewhat, however, in their creeds, he having been a Presbyterian and a deacon in the church for many years, and she a consistent Methodist. To them were born nine children, — five sons and four daughters, — namely: Alonzo N., Warren J., Merritt C, George M., Alerick W. , Phoebe, Amerette, Emily and Savilla. His father a farmer, the subject of our sketch was reared to farm life in his native state, receiving his education in the com- mon schools and at home being surrounded by a refined and Christian influence, honesty and industry being instilled into him in his boyhood days. Thus he grew up, and on reaching manhood was well equipped for the battle of life. He was married in Strykers- ville, Wyoming county. New York, in 1864, to Miss Maryetta Curtiss, an amiable and accomplished lady, and previous to her mar- riage a teacher in the schools of Wyoming county. She is an only child of Freeborn H. and Laura (Cutler) Curtiss, both natives of New York, the former of Scotch-English descent and the latter of English. Mr. and Mrs. Curtiss are now residents of North Java, New York. About the time the civil war closed Mr. Tower was seized with a desire to "go west," and in 1865 we find him locating in Wabasha county, Minnesota, where he made his home one year, at the end of that time coming farther west and settling in Redwood county, across the county line from his present location, where he im- proved a good farm. In i S73 he bought the farm upon which he now lives, moved here in 1875, and has since maintained his resi- dence here, sparing neither time nor means in the improvement of his land and the beautifying of his home. This farm com- prises four hundred and forty acres of choice land and is utilized chiefly as a stock farm, its broad, rich pastures rivaling the blue- grass regions of Kentucky. For years Mr. Tower has made a specialty of fine stock and is at present directing his attention more particularly to dairy cattle of the best breeds, having expended a large amount of money in securing his stock. Formerly he was largely interested in breeding improved Clydesdale horses. His long experience in the stock business and the close attention he has given it have made him an authority on the subject, and he is recognized as such throughout the county, his opinion and ad- vice always being valued by others in this line of business. The residence at Riverdale Farm is a commodious two-story building, beautifully situated on a natural building site, with attractive surroundings, and with furn- ishings that bespeak both the culture and refinement as well as the wealth of the owner and his family. In his farming and stock operations Mr. Tower is ablj' assisted by his son Fred, who is a partner in the firm and has been trained to the business and is fa- miliar with it in its every detail. Mr. Tower has been a Republican until recently, when he espoused the principles adopted b}' the Populists and is now in favor of reform. He has frequently been urged to accept local office, but has always declined the honor, his own private affairs so UTH WESTERN MINNESO TA . 31 demanding his whole time and attention. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. OHN W. WEHRMAN.— On the high- way leading north from Jasper and one mile out from the town are found the pleasant home and broad acres of one of the most -enterprising farmers and respected citizens of Pipestone county, Min- nesota, — John W. Wehrnian. As his name indicates, he is of German origin, and he possesses, to a marked degree, many of the connnendable traits of character which are found in the German people. He was born in Iowa county, Iowa, October 2, 1862, son of Henry and Sarah (Elder) Wehrman. Henry Wehrman is a German by birth. He spent the first thirteen years of his life in the old country, then set sail for the alluring shores of America, located in Iowa, and is still a resident of that state, engaged in farming. The mother of our subject died in Iowa. On his father's farm in the "Hawkeye state " John W. Wehrman spent his boy- hood days and passed into manhood, re- maining there until he was twenty-three. His educational advantages were limited to the district schools, but close observation, home study and actual business experience have broadened the knowledge gained there, and we find him to-day a man well posted and up with the times, especially in his line of occupation. After leaving home he was for a few years employed in farm work in Iowa before coming to Minnesota. It was in 1888 that he came up into Minnesota and located in Pipestone county. On his arrival here he purchased two hundred and forty acres of his present farm, built a house upon it, sixteen by twenty-four feet in dimensions, and went earnestly and per- sistently to work to make a home and farm. For two years he kept "bach" here and then he returned to Iowa, married and brought his bride to his new home, and, aided and encouraged by a loving companion, he has since continued to prosper. He built his barn in 1888, enlarged and re- modeled his house in the fall of 1895, ^"d in the meantime added eighty acres to his farm, making his present holdings three hundred and twenty acres in extent, the same being regarded as one of the finest farms in Pipestone county. Like the ma- jority of agriculturists in this part of the state, he raises a diversity of crops. December 31, 1889, Mr. Wehrman was united in marriage to Miss Anna Schild, a native of Benton county, Iowa, born March 24, 1868, daughter of John and Dorothea (Budy) Schild, both of German birth and ancestry, their home being on their farm in Benton county, where they settled a number of years ago. Mrs. Schild was only nine years old at the time she came to this country. Mr. and Mrs. Wehrman have been blessed in the birth of three children, whose names and dates of birth are as fol- lows: Irene M., born May 16, 1891; lona M., September 1 1, 1892; and Ruth C., Sep- tember 18, 1894. As a citizen of influence and one of high moral and financial standing in his commu- nity, the subject of our sketch occupies an enviable position. He has at heart the best interests of his town and county, is always willing and ready to support any measure or movement intended to promote their welfare, and that he is popular among his fellows goes without saying. He was among those who took the initial steps in 32 MEMORIAL RECORD OF securing a house of worship for the Lutheran congregation in Jasper, of which organiza- tion he is an official member, and it was largely through his personal efforts that the building was pushed to completion. Polit- ically, he is a Populist. He has served effi- ciently in several of the township offices, being commissioner two terms, assessor two terms, and is at present serving his first term as treasurer. IRA B. NEWIvIRK, of Nobles coun- ty, Minnesota, is numbered among those who at their country's call for aid went forth in defense of the Union and on southern battle-fields demonstrated their determined loyalty by a faithful service that happily resulted in victory for the north and proved the country's salvation. He is now living retired, having by well directed business efforts accumulated a comfortable competence. Mr. Newkirk was born in Dutchess coun- ty, New York, October 19, 1S40, a son of James C. and Emeline (Elmendorf) Newkirk. The father was born in New York city, where he grew to manhood, and after his marriage he removed with his family to Be- loit, Wisconsin, where he followed his trade of carriage-making through his active busi- ness life. Later he came to Worthington, where he died April 28, 1874. He also served in the Union army with Company F, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, and was a man whom to know was to respect. He was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having come to America from Scotland about 1700. The maternal grandfather of our subject was one of the heroes of the Revolution and held a captain's commission. Our subject spent the first nine years of his life in his native county, and in his tenth year accompanied his parents to Wis- consin, where he continued his education in the schools of Beloit. Later he was a stu- dent in the schools of Rockton, Illinois, and his summer months were spent at farm- ing. At the first call for troops he enlisted, joining the three-months regiments. His command was not called out, however, and July 13, 1861, he wasmustered into the United States service as a member of Com- pany E, Fifth Wisconsin Infantry, which was conmianded by Amasa Cobb. At Chain Bridge, near Washington, District of Colum- bia, they encamped until orders came to proceed up the Potomac, where they joined the army of General McClellan. They took part in the battle of Bull Run, the peninsular campaign and the battle of Will- iamsburg. Later Mr. Newkirk was in the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg and Rap- pahannock. In an engagement he had a finger shot off and was given a thirty-daj's furlough. For some time he was in Hard- wood Hospital at Washington, District of Columbia, and on recovering from his in- juries rejoined his regiment, then in Virginia. He took part in the battle of the Wilderness, where he was wounded in the head, and other engagements of that campaign, and in August, 1S64, was mustered out, in Madison, Wisconsin. In March, 1865, here-enlisted in Company C, Forty-ninth \^'isconsin In- fantry, and was ordered to St. Louis, thence to Raleigh, Missouri, where he spent part of the summer, while later he did patrol duty in St. Louis. In November, 1S65, he was mustered out, in Madison, having given to his country most faithful and meritorious service. After his return he attended school for a time in Milton, Wisconsin. In 1S70 Mr. Newkirk was united in mar- SOUTH WES TERN MINN E SO TA . 33 riage with Miss Lucy M. Barber, of Milton, a daughter of Alfred B. and Angelina (Burdick) Barber and a granddaughter of Asa and Luanna (Coon) Burdick. She was reared in Little Genesee, Allegany county, New York, and in Centralia, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Newkirk have five children: Ida M., a teacher; Mary G., wife of Harry B. Lewis, of Worthington; Alice V., wife of M. Harding, of Worthington; Carrie M. and Myrtle, in school. In 1872 Mr. Newkirk came to Nobles county and secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, which he profit- ably cultivated for a number of years, and his energetic and well-directed efforts were attended by success. He now has a com- fortable competence thus earned, and re- ceives in addition a pension of thirty dollars per month. After coming to Worthington he served for one year as clerk in the post- office under Dr. Barber, a brother of his wife and a prominent physician. He is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R., and by his old army comrades and all who know him is highly esteemed. fi EZEAU B. PLOTTS, past assist- ant engineer of the United States navy, and one of the influential and prominent citizens of Worth- ington, Minnesota, was born at Mount Holly, New Jersey, January 29, 1S37, and was the son of Rev. Conley and Anna F. (Frankfort) Plotts, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The father, who was a graduate of Princeton College, was a man of considerable prominence in educational circles in the eastern states, for many years was the principal of the schools at Mount Holly, and in Philadelphia was the founder of several educational institutions. Philip Plott, the grandfather of our subject, was born in New Jersey, as was also his father, but the great-great-grandfather was a native of Germany, and became one of the pioneer settlers of that state. John Frank- fort, the maternal grandfather, was born on Long Island and led "a seafaring life. He married Jane Retherford, whose father, Alexander Retherford, was a personal friend of George Washington. The subject of this sketch began attend- ing school at the age of four years, and his younger days were almost wholly spent in obtaining an education. He finished his literary training in the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1853, and his name is now on the roll of honor in that institution be- cause of his gallant service in the United States Navy. The school being of the same grade as most of the colleges of the country, he thus obtained a good classical education. On laying aside his studies, Mr. Plotts commenced learning the machinist's trade in the establishment of Reany, Neafie & Levy, in Kensington, Philadelphia, and re- mained with that firm for four years, on the expiration of which time he was employed as a journeyman machinist whenever he could find work. When not working at his trade he taught school in Iowa and Wiscon- sin, but in the spring of 1859 returned to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to which place his parents had removed while he was learning his trade. On account of ill health he had returned home, where he remained until the early part of i860, working a part of the time in the railroad shops in that city. He then went to Norfolk, Virginia, whence, after remaining a short time, he went to Richmond and made that his abiding place 34 MEMORIAL RECORD OF until the spring of 1861. He left for Wash- ington on the last train for that city before the opening of hostilities between the north and south had cut off all communication. On reaching that city Mr. Plotts went to Williamsport and made application for ad- mission into the naval service. On the ist of July, 1 86 1, he was accepted and ordered to report for dut}' on the steam sloop of war, Richmond. In August this vessel left the Brooklyn navy yard and cruised for about a month in pursuit of the ship Sumter. It then reported for duty at Pensacola and was sent to blockade the mouth of the Missis- sippi river, where it relieved the Brooklyn. For some time the vessel was on blockade duty, and October i, 1861, sailed to the head of the passes, where it remained until the morning of October 12, when it engaged in battle with the rebel ram, Manassas. In this engagement the rebel steamer collided \\'ith the Richmond, and broke a large hole in the side of the ship and did considerable damage. After fighting for about an hour and a half the vessels separated, neither having gained a decisive victory. Mr. Plotts participated in all the hard- fought engagements while on board the Richmond from 1861 until 1863, when he was relieved from duty and ordered to re- port to the commander of the Nipsic. He was with the South Atlantic squadron for about nine months, most of the time lying off Charleston, in the vicinity of which he participated in four engagements. In 1864 he was sent onboard the Octorora, on which he served during two severe engagements, his vessel leading the tight in Mobile bay against Fort Morgan. The squadron con- tinued in that vicinity until the close of the • war, and Mr. Plotts spent a short time in the hospital as a result of hardships and ex- posures through which he had passed. Later he was sent to New Orleans, whence he was ordered north on the sick leave, and returned home, where he remained until 1866. Mr. Plotts was then ordered on duty again in the naval service, and was sent to League Island, Philadelphia, where he was stationed four years, at the end of which time he was detached from the service. On the 6th of March, 1 872, he came to Worthington, Minnesota, and settled on land in Elk town- ship, Nobles county, \\-here he remained un- til February, 1S77, when he removed to the village of Worthington, and has since made that his home. He is one of the most public- spirited citizens, taking an active part in everything for the advancement of his town and county, and has the respect and con- fidence of all who know him. In financial matters, Mr. Plotts has been fairly successful, and now owns valuable property in the city, his own residence be- ing a beautiful Queen Anne cottage erected in 1888, and provided with all modern im- provements. He is still attached to the naval service, being retired on pay during peaceful times, but is liable to be called out for duty at any moment. He has served as deputy sheriff for six years, village recorder seven years, and has held various other of- fices with credit to himself and the satisfac- tion of his constituents. He holds a mem- bership in the Masonic fraternity, the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 34, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and other civic societies. On the 23d of July, 1864, at New Or- leans, Mr. Plotts was united in marriage with Miss Kate Slavin, daughter of Edward and Anna (Davis) Slavin, natives respect- ively of Ireland and England. Mrs. Plotts SOUTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 85 was born at Galvestion, Texas, June 23, 1845, and died at Worthington, Minnesota, April 2, 1885, leaving the following children: Emily C, Martha W., Lillie C, Nellie M., Philip E., J. Manning, and Walter J., who died in September, 1888. The wife and mother was one of the most prominent and highly esteemed of all the old settlers of the county, was also well known for her charity and kindness for those in sickness and dis- tress, and was a charter member of Stod- dard Post Woman's Relief Corps, No. i. She was beloved by all who knew her, and her death was widely and deeply mourned. EON. CHARLES J. SMALLWOOD is now serving as mayor of Wor- thington, and the influence of his individuality on the public affairs of the city has been a potent factor in pro- moting its best interests. He has gained considerable prestige in business circles and to-day is one of the most valued and es- teemed residents of his adopted city. Mr. Smallwood was born in McHenry county, Illinois, near Richmond, September 25,1861. Hisfather, ThomasB. Smallwood, is a native of England, and became one of the early settlers of McHenry county, where for many years he followed farming, becom- ing thereby well-to-do. He married Miss Sarah James, who died in Illinois when Charles J. was a small boy. The father now makes his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is living retired, at the age of sev- enty-three years. His fainil}' included three children, and a son and daughter also re- side in Milwaukee. The youngest of the family, Charles J. Smallwood, was still a mere lad when he went to Milwaukee, where he was reared and educated, attending the public schools and an academy of that city. He then took up the study of telegraphy there, and when he had mastered the art he occupied the position of operator at different points along the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad. His ability and fidelity to duty won him promotion and he was made chief train dispatcher for the same road at Omaha, Nebraska, where he re- mained for fifteen years. A large corporate body requires the most faithful and capable service on the part of its employes, and Mr. Smallwood's long connection with the one railroad company is certainly a high testimonial of his trustworthiness and the confidence which was reposed in him by his employers. He resigned his position to assume the management of the business interests of his father-in-law, Hon. Justin P. Moulton, who at that time was largely interested in real estate in Nobles county, Minnesota. When the estate had been satisfactorily set- tled up, Mr. Smallwood embarked in the lumber business in Worthington, success- fully conducting that enterprise until June, 1895. In January, 1896, he purchased the grocery stock and the brick building owned by W. S. Lewis, taking possession of the same on the 17th of the month. His store is up to date in every appointment, wiih a large stock of staple and fancy groceries, queensware and crockery. He also handles flour on an extensive scale. Mr. Small- wood is a resourceful man of broad capa- bilities and his efforts are not confined to one line of endeavor. At the present writ- ing he is interested in banking, as a stock- holder in the Bank of Worthington, is a stockholder of the Worthington Co-opera-* five Creamery Association, and is a member 36 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and stockholder of the Nobles County Agricultural Association. In addition his real-estate holdings are very large and yield to him a good income. In 1S82 Mr. Smallwood married Miss Flora, the only daughter of Hon. Justin P. Moulton, of Worthington, who was one of the most prominent and influential citizens in this section of the state. They now have an interesting family of three chil- dren, — Justin P., Mamie E. and Charles Moulton. Their home is one of the sub- stantial and elegant frame residences of the town, with attractive surroundings and taste- ful furnishings, and is the center of many social gatherings. Mr. Smallwood has always been a stal- wart Republican, and in March, 1895, was elected mayor of Worthington on that ticket. He has proved an able city execu- tive, and his fellow townsmen feel that the reins of government are in trustworthy hands. He has inaugurated a number of needed reforms and made many excellent improvements, including the establishment of the electric-light system. H H. CLARK, M. D., an eminent physician and surgeon, is engaged in practice at Worthington, Min- nesota, and by his devotion to his work and the careful study and diagnosis of the various diseases that have come under his observation he has been unusually suc- cessful, and has gained a reputation as a skilled practitioner. The Doctor was born in the city of New York, in 1847, and is the son of Thomas M. and Cornelia A. (Bayles) Clark, the for- *mer a native of Connecticut and the latter of New York. Uri Clark, his paternal grandfather, was also born in Connecticut, and died in 1868, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. His ancestors came from Normandy, France, while on the maternal side our subject is of Holland descent. His father, who was born in 1809, passed away in 1878. The mother was the daughter of John and Maria (Swartout) Bayles. Her grandfather, Bernard Swartout, held a captain's commission in the American army during the Revolutionary war. When a child. Dr. Clark was taken by his parents to Brooklyn, New York, where his literary education was obtained in the public school, and on completing his studies he went to Chimbote, Peru, South America, where he remained for four years. On re- turning to Brooklyn, he took a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at which he graduated in 1877, and for a time engaged in practice in that cit}'. On first coming to the west the Doctor located at Osceola Mills, Wisconsin, where he remained until 1890, when he established an office at Heron Lake, Jackson county, Miimesota. In 1893, however, we find him at Worthington, where he has secured a liberal share of the public patronage. He is connected with the Southwestern Medical Society, and in 1894 was made a member of the pension board. While a resident of Osceola Mills, he acceptably served as post- master and a member of the city council, and is now health officer of Worthington. He is local surgeon for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern railroad, and is examining surgeon for the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees, in all of which he holds a membership. In 1870 Dr. Clark was married, the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 37 lady of his choice being Miss Magdelena Fehlman, of Crown Point, Indiana, and they have had two children, — Edith B. and Frances A. The family hold a high posi- tion in social circles, and the parents are consistent members of the Congregational church. The Doctor has won his way to the regards of the people with whom he comes in contact in his daily rounds by his ready tact and kindly sympathy, and it is safe to say that no man in Worthington has more or warmer friends. OTIS BIGELOW, well known as one of the early settlers of Nobles county, Minnesota, and for many years actively identified with its agricultural and stock interests, operating at Worthington, is now retired in this pleasant town. Some personal mention of him be- ing appropriate in this work, we take pleas- ure in presenting to our readers the follow- ing sketch of his life: Otis Bigelow is a New Englander by both birth and ancestry, Colchester, New London county, Connecticut, being the place of his nativity, the date of that event June 4, 1837. The Bigelows are of English origin. As early as 1644 one member of the family left England rii route to America, and on landing here settled in Colchester. He was the progenitor of the American branch of the family, and one of his de- scendants, Jonathan Bigelow, the grand- father of our subject, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Bigelow's parents, Guy and Nancy (Hurd) Bigelow, were both na- tives of Connecticut, and both are now de- ceased, the former having passed away in 1875 and the latter December 25, 1893, in her ninetieth year. Of their family, which was composed of five sons and four daugh- ters, seven reached maturity and are still living, occupying useful and respected posi- tions in life. His father a farmer, Mr. Otis Bigelow was in boyhood familiarized with farm work. He received his education in the district schools and in Bacon Academy of Colches- ter, and after leaving school he learned the trade of butcher under his brother's instruc- tions. For some years he was connected with a meat market in the east, remaining there until 1868, when he came out to Iowa and took up his abode on a farm near Spirit Lake and remained in that state four years. While there he ran a butcher business in connection with his farming operations. In 1872 he came to Worthington, Minnesota, where he has since resided. On locating here he immediately opened a meat market, soon established a lively trade and for twenty years conducted a successful business; and during all this time he also bought and shipped large quantities of live stock. In 1892 he disposed of his market and retired from active business, and since then has been enjoying the quiet of retirement and the freedom from business cares. Mr. Bige- low was one of the first stock dealers and butchers in Nobles county. His long and active business career here was character- ized by uprightness and integrity, he natur- ally came in contact with all classes of peo- ple and made many acquaintances, and by all who knew him he was respected and es- teemed, his word ever as good as his bond. At this writing he owns two valuable farms in Nobles county, aggregating 280 acres, well improved and under cultivation. In political matters Mr. Bigelow has always been Democratic, stanch in the sup- * port of his party, and he has long main- 88 MEMORIAL RECORD OF tained fraternal and church relations with the Masons and Methodists, with whom he stands high. He is a member of Fraternal Lodge, No. lOi, A. F. & A. M., and Wor- thington Chapter, I^. A. M. Both he and his good wife have for twenty-live years been identified with the Methodist Epis- copal church, have given freely to the sup- port of the church, and are among its active workers. He is now one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wor- thington. While in his native town Mr. Bigelovv was united in marriage, in 1859, to Miss Harriet H. Stocking, eldest daughter of John and Frances (Hurd) Stocking, with whose life his has ever since been happily blended. They have no children. Mrs. Bigelow comes of Scotch descent. Her grandfather, Elisha Stocking, was born in 181 5, and was married in Connecticut. Of her maternal grandfather, Samuel Hurd, we record that he was a sea captain on the Atlantic and plied his vessels between Bos- ton and other points. ^"V'YLVESTER JOHNSON, residing •^^^* on section 18, Kanaranzi township, K^^ Ivock county, is a son of the late N. P. Johnson, who was born in Maine, but was reared in Vermont. The grandfather, Thomas Johnson, died in the Green Mountain state. The father of our subject was married there to Loretta Flan- ders, who was born in that state, where they continued to reside for many years. They had a family of five children, namely: Emily, George, Henry, Nathan and Syl- vester. The subject of this review was born in Vermont, on the 20th of June, 1849, and upon his father's farm he spent the days of his boyhood and youth, continuing at home until twenty-two years of age, when he emi- grated to the west, taking up his residence in Clayton county, Iowa. There he lived for two years, engaged in farming. In June, 1872, he came to Rock county, Minnesota, and secured a claim in Clinton township, where he lived until the spring of 1885. He then sold that property, and the following autumn bought the farm in Kanaranzi town- ship, upon which he now resides. He here owns one hundred and sixty acres on sec- tion 18, and has, in addition, one hundred and si.xty acres in Clinton township. He has made excellent improvements upon the place, including the erection of substantial buildings, and now has a valuable farming property. The latest improved machinery is used in the cultivation of the fields and the harvesting of crops, and an air of neat- ness and thrift pervades the entire place. On the 2d of December, 1875, Mr. John- son was united in marriage, in Rock countj', Minnesota, to Miss Mary L. Howard, a daughter of John D. and Matilda (Winchell) Howard, who came to Rock county in 1872, from Chickasaw county, Iowa. Her father was a native of Vermont, and her mother of Cayuga county, New York. They lo- cated in Kanaranzi township, where Mr. Howard carried on agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred April 13, 1885. They had six children living, of whom Mrs. Johnson is the youngest. She was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, May 18, 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of nine children, eight of whom are living, as follows: Gertie L. , Daisy E. , Arthur P., Emma N., May Belle, H. Pearl, Gladdis and Allie Marie. \'ernie L. died SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 39 November ii, 1891, at the age of eleven years. Mr. Johnson has served as chairman of the township board of trustees, and has filled the office of school treasurer for sev- eral years. He is a Ivepuljlican in his po- litical adherency, and is a progressive citi- zen who lends a hearty support and co-op- eration to all measures calculated to prove of public benefit. eL. SCHWARTZ is the efficient postmaster of Worthington, to which position he was appointed October 18, 1894, entering upon the duties of the office on the ist of Decem- ber of that year. It is interesting to note the different elements that have entered into the American nationality and the part which they have played in the development and progress of the country, and it is a note- worthy fact that those of German birth or lineage as a class have ever been law-abiding, reliable citizens. Our subject was born in the fatherland in 1857, being a son of Carl and Henrietta (Bartz) Schwartz, who in 1866 sailed with their family for America. On arriving in New York the}' at once started for Blue Earth county, Minnesota, and there settled on a farm. E. L. S.chwartz grew to man- hood in that county and acquired his educa- tion in a log schoolhouse of the neighbor- hood. Entering upon his business career, he became a clerk in the general store owned by J. N. Chenney, of Madelia, Minnesota, and continued to act as salesman in that es- tablishment for five years. He next went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he secured a situation as night clerk in the Clarendon House. Later he went to Amboy, same state, where he embarked in merchandising on his own account, continuing in that busi- ness for five years. His residence in Worth- ington dates from 1888, and with its busi- ness interests he has since been prominently connected. Here he engaged in merchan- dising on his own account for three and a half years, and then began clerking for H. E. Torrance, one of the leading merchants of the city, being thus occupied at the time of his appointment to the postmastership. In the discharge of his official duties he is prompt and reliable, and his administration of the affairs of the office is highly satisfac- tory to the public. In 1884 Mr. Schwartz was united in mar- riage with Miss Paulina Talbot, of Blue Earth county, Minnesota. The record of his brothers and sisters is as follows: M. W. , Fred M. and Carl, farmers; Edward H., en- gaged in the harness trade; Julius, engaged in farming; and Augusta, wife of Fred New- man, of Wheaton, Minnesota. The mother of these children died in 1892, in her si.xty- second year. T> OHN A. KENNEDY, register of deeds of Nobles county, Minnesota, is one of the distinguished and rep- resentative citizens of Worthington. His birth occurred near Ebensburg, in Cam- bria county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1834.. His paternal grandfather, Charles Kennedy, was a native of Ireland, while his father, Michael Kennedy, was born in the Keystone state, where he carried on the occupation of farming as a life work. The latter wedded Miss Mary Ann Bender, who also was a na- tive of Pennsylvania, but her father, Emer- ecus Bender, was from Germany. Ten children honored this union, — six sons and 40 MEMORIAL RECORD OP four daughters, of whom eight still sur- vive. The education of John A. Kennedy was such as the district schools of his native state afforded, and at the age of fifteen be- gan assisting his fafj^er in the labors on the home farm. Three years later he entered a sawmill, where he was employed until reach- ing his majority. When in his twenty- seventh year he was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary Ann Buck, of Cambria county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Henry Buck. They began their domestic life at Ebens- burg, where for ten years Mr. Kennedy held the position of clerk of county commission- ers, and then served as deputy in the coun- ty treasurer's office for three years, after which he was elected treasurer of Cambria county, and filled that position for the same length of time. It was in the fall of 1885 that Mr. Ken- nedy with his family emigrated to Minne- sota, settling upon a farm in West Side township, Nobles county, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until January, 1892. He is an ardent Democrat in politics, and was elected in the fall of 1890 as register of deeds for two years. On the e.xpiration of his first term he was re- elected and still continues to fill that im- portant position, making his home in the meantime at Worthington, though he still owns his fine farm, which he rents. The record of his life has been an honorable one, having always faithfully discharged his duties, whether public or private, and se- cured the respect and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. His first wife died in 1871, and in the following year, 1872, he married Eve A. Snyder, and to this union have been born six children, four of whom are now living. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are seven children: Alice M. ; Giles C; Ida, wife of Harry Fonks, of Pennsylvania; James G., deputy register of deeds; William N. V., also in the register's office; Mary S., a stu- dent at St. Joseph's school at St. Paul; and A. Germaine, at home. HOMAS LOWE, M. D., a phy- sician and surgeon of Slayton, has won marked prestige as a member of the medical profession in this section of the state. Success in his chosen calling comes only through careful prepara- tion, earnest endeavor and fidelity to the interest of the business, and the high reputa- tion which Dr. Lowe has gained has come through the exercise of these qualities. A native of Canada, the Doctor was born near the city of Montreal, November 8, [858, and is of Scotch descent. His parents, James and Wilhelmina (Schlaberg) Lowe, were both natives of Scotland, but came to Canada when young, and in 1 868 they removed with their family to Bremer coun- ty, Iowa. The father was a farmer by occupation and carried on agricultural pur- suits in Iowa until 1876, when he came to Murray county, Minnesota, and secured a homestead near Hadley, where his death occurred in 1896. His wife passed away in 1883. Our subject is the fifth in their famil}- of eight children, of whom six sons and a daughter are living. He spent his boj'hood on the farm in Canada until nine years of age and there acquired his elementary edu- cation. He then accompanied his parents to Iowa, where he continued to attend school, spending two years as a student in Decorah Institute. For a time he engaged SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 41 in the profession of teaching and later con- tinued his studies in the Decorah Institute of Iowa. For three years tliereafter he fol- lowed the teacher's profession, and then took up the study of medicine, spending one year in the office of Dr. A. M. Tuttle, of Britt, Iowa. Subsequently he graduated at Hahnemann Medical College, of Chicago, in 1885, with high honors. Standing second in a class of ninety-seven members. Dr. Lowe came immediately to Slayton, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, and is now recognized as a lead- ing physician of the place, being well estab- lished in a large and lucrative business. His most excellent preparation, combined with native talent and a deep and sincere interest in his chosen profession, witnout which there is no success, has gained him high prestige as a physician and surgeon. He holds membership in the American In- stitute of Homeopathy, the Homeopathic State Medical Society of South Dakota, and belongs to the Minnesota Homeopathic In- stitute, of which organization he is vice- president. In June, 1887, was celebrated the mar- riage of Dr. Lowe and Miss Sarah South- well, of Wenona, Illinois, a daughter of Captain O. M. Southwell and a native of Wenona. They now have two interesting children, — William and Alice. Their home is a beautiful and commodious frame resi- dence, built in a modern style of architecture, and is noted as a place of hospitality. Dr. Lowe is an esteemed member of the Ma- sonic fraternity and also affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. In poli- tics he is a stalwart Republican, and has been honored with various offices of trust, having served as village recorder, secretary 3 of the school board and county coroner. He is deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of the com- munity, is a stanch adherent of the public- school system, and belongs to that class of honorable, respected citizens who are the true strength of the American republic. (D ARVIN E. MATHEWS.— The task of writing the biographies of the leading representative men of any community is an e.xceedingly difficult one, because of the prevailing mod- esty of the successful business man, who almost invariably manifests a certain repug- nance to anything that partakes of personal notoriety or prominence, and thus discour- ages even friendly attempts to uncover the secret of his success. Genuine success is not likely to be the result of mere chance or fortune, but is something to be labored for and sought out with consecutive effort. Ours is a utilitarian age, and the life of every successful man bears its lesson, and as told in contemporary narration perhaps is productive of the greatest good. Thus there is a due measure of satisfaction in pre- senting even a brief review of the life and accomplishments of such a man. The subject of this sketch is one of the eminent members of the bar of southwestern Minnesota; nor is his reputation limited by the confines of this section. He is one of the popular men of the state, widely known, and his prominence in public and profes- sional life makes him well deserving of bio- graphical honors. Mr. Mathews was born near Jamestown, New York, September 25, 1849. His grand- parents, Caleb and Margaret (Van Salisbury) Mathews, were natives of Vermont and 42 MEMORIAL HE CORD OF Pennsylvania, respectively. His grandfa- ther's death occurred near Jamestown, New York, when he was eighty years of age, and his grandmother died at the age of seventy- five. The parents of our subject were Joseph and Clarissa (Chipmanj Mathews, the latter a daughter of James Chipman. The former was born in Albany, New York, and when five years of age removed with his parents to Gary, that state. For many years he followed farming, but is now living retired in Tracy, Nfinnesota. His wife died in Murray county, I\finnesota, at the age of sixty-four. They had six children, all yet living. Two are mechanics, three are law- yers, and the daughter is married and re- sides in Tracy, Minnesota. Mr. Mathews, the subject of this sketch, removed with his parents to this state in the spring of 1854 and settled on alarm near Rochester. At that time the Indians and wild animals were the sole possessors of this portion of the country, except that here and there a small log cabin marked the coming of civilization. There were no school laws, school-teachers or schools, and it was some years before a school could be estab- lished in that country. At length when this was accomplished the school year was of only a few months' duration. The schools were supported by contributions from those in the neighborhood having children to send, and the school-house was some claim shanty, chosen so as to be as near the cen- ter of the settlement as possible, and fur- nished with seats and desks made by split- ting logs into slabs and placing them on legs at the desired height. The schoolroom contained no floor save that which nature provided, and was heated by an open fire- place built of stone. No certificate of quali- fication was required from the teachers, and very little education. Reading, writing, spelling, geography and arithmetic were the only branches taught in those schools, and consequently those desiring a further edu- cation were compelled to obtain it by their own unaided exertions. Mr. Mathews stud- ied grammar and other branches while working in the fields, and soon made the contents of such volumes his own. He is a master of the English language, and is con- sidered good authority as a grammarian and in many of the higher branches of educa- tion. After leaving the countr}' school he con- tinued his studies in the high school of Rochester. From seventeen years of age he worked as a farm hand by the month, chopped wood in the forest through the coldest winter weather, later taught school, and thus made his way in the world unaided, pushing forward to the goal of success with an ambition that nothing could daunt. He studied law in the office of the Hon. R. A. Jones, at Rochester, and in 1S72 he went to New Ulm, Minnesota, where he ac- cepted the position of teacher in the high school. While thus engaged he also studied law in the office of George W. Kuhlman until the fall of 1S73, at which time he opened a law office and practiced his pro- fession at that place until 1876, when he came to Marshall, where he has continued the practice of law ever since. He grad- uated in the law department of the Univer- sity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in 1S81, and has since been one of the foremost prac- titioners of the state, and connected with the most important litigations in this region. He has an analytical mind which enables him to see and handle all the details of a case, giving to each its proper weight, and, at the same time his comprehensive grasp so UTH WES Tern minneso ta . 43 of affairs enables him to master a subject in its entirety. His argument is clear, forcible and logical, and his deductions follow one another in logical sequence. He has labored earnestly, has made his clients' interests as dear to him as his own, and has steadily worked his way upward until he is to-day enjoying a large and distinctively represent- ative clientage which brings him in a hand- some and well deserved income. Mr. Mathews was married in New Ulm, Minnesota, August 21, 1875, to Miss Minnie Boesch, who was born in Brown county, a daughter of Werner Boesch. She was educated in New Ulm and St. Paul, and is a lady of culture and refinement, presiding with gracious hospitality over her pleasant home. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mathews: Werner B., Logan B. , Sidonia A. and Roland M. Mr. Mathews is a life-long Democrat, is a recognized leader in political circles, and is now prominently connected with the sev- eral Democratic organizations of the state. He has served as county attorney and is receiver of public moneys at the United States land office at Marshall, Minnesota. Socially Mr. Mathews is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Eastern Star; and in Masonry is connected with the council, the consistory and with the Mystic Shrine at Minneapolis. He is the soul of honor in business life, and in social relations his career is alike blameless. He never re- gards lightly the duties of citizenship; for him friendship is inviolable, home sacred and family devotion not simpl}' a duty but the best inspiration and happiness of his life. His home is one of the finest in southwest- ern Minnesota and probably cost ten thou- sand dollars. It is handsome architecturally and the lawn is adorned with the devices of the landscape gardener. But the charm of his residence is the true hospitality which abounds therein. Mr. Mathews is one of the most popular men in this part of the state; his friends are limited in number only by the circle of his acquaintances, and he has the happy facultj' of holding them closer to his heart as the years roll by. HOMAS L. TAYLOR.— From Pennsylvania have come many of the stalwart men and sterling citi- zens that have sought homes in the western states and territories, and promi- nent among the Pennsylvanians who have made settlement in southern Minnesota we find the gentleman to a n-siii/u' ol whose life we would now invite attention, — Thomas L. Taylor. Mr. Taylor was born in Columbia coun- ty, Pennsylvania, son of William and Edith (Colborn) Taylor, both natives of Lycoming county, that state. The venerable father is still living, is now ninety-four years of age, and is a resident of his native county. His whole life has been passed on a farm. His parents, William and Sarah (Hogland) Tay- lor, were of New Jersey birth, in early life made a settlement in Pennsylvania and passed their days in usefulness there, hon- ored and respected by all who knew them, and each living to a good old age. Grand- mother Taylor was ninety-one years and eight months old at the time of her death. Grandfather Taylor was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and was eighty-four years of age when he died. He and Presi- dent Zachary Taylor were second cousins. The mother of our subject died m Pennsyl- 44 MEMORIAL RECORD OF vania at the age of eifjhty-three years. She was a dauf^hter of Robert and Edith (Ship- man) Colborn, natives of the New England states and early settlers of Pennsylvania, where the major part of their lives was passed and where they died. Thomas L. Taylor, the immediate sub- ject of this review, is one of a large family, thirteen in number, of whom five are still living. His boyhood days were spent not unlike those of other farmer boys, working in the field in summer and in winter attend- ing the district school near his home. \\'hen he was seventeen he began working at the carpenter's trade, and has since divided his attention between that trade and agricultur- al pursuits. After his marriage, which took place early in the year 1861, he located at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he made his home for three or four years. The next few years he lived on a farm, and then until 1872 he resided in Muncy, Pennsylvania. In the last named year he came out to Min- nesota, direct to Worthington and from there to his present location in Elk town- ship. Here, March 22, 1872, he took a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres, and as soon as possible set about the work of improving the same and making a home, and here he has lived ever since, farming and working at his trade, with the exception of six years, when he resided in the village and gave his time exclusively to the latter occupation. Mr. Taylor was united in marriage Jan- uary I, 1861, to Miss Almeda Stead, a native of Northumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, born March 13, 1843, daughter of William and Mary (Stead) Stead, who were of English birth and for many 3'ear3 resi- dents of Pennsylvania, where they died, he being seventy-nine and she seventy-seven years of age at the time of death. By occu- pation he was a carpenter and farmer. Mrs. Taylor is one of a family of nine and one of the four of that number who are still living. She and Mr. Taylor have had two children, one having died in infancy, the other being William Clyde Taylor, a car- penter and resident of Worthington, Min- nesota. He was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, November 26, 1861; was married in March, 1884, to Miss Mary Isa- bella Zilphia Darling, and they have four children. Reverting to the early life of our subject, we state that he was among the first to re- spond to the call for Union soldiers when the great war of the rebellion of 1861 broke out. He enlisted April 23, 1861, in Co.m- pany D, Eleventh Penns3'lvania Volunteer Regiment, under Captain W. B. Shant, for three months' service, and at the expiration of his time, in August, was honorably dis- charged. He was in the "Hoke's Run" engagement, and during his service made several narrow escapes. Two of Mr. Tay- lor's brothers also were in the army, and his wife had two brothers in the war, one of the latter having died from sickness while in the service, and the other has since died. Since becoming identified with Minne- sota, Mr. Taylor has been closely associated with the public affairs of his localitj-. He has filled all the township offices. He was the first justice of the peace elected in the township, and filled the office four years, and also he served two years as county commissioner and was chairman of the board of supervisors. He cast his first presidential vote for Millard Fillmore and voted the Republican ticket until Governor St. John came out as the candidate for the presidenc}', since which time he has affiliated SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 45 with the Prohibition party. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church, and church and Sabbath- school work have for years received his earnest support. He is the oldest Sunday- school superintendent in his locality. In short, Mr. Taylor is a man interested in all good work, and one whose influence has ever been felt for good by the people among whom he lives. (D RS. AMY LARKABEE is one of the pioneer ladies of Brown county, and is still living on the old homestead where she took up her residence more than a quarter of a century ago. In the development of a com- munity the pioneer women bear a part, which, though quieter, is none the less im- portant than that of the husbands and fa- thers. In their home life they exercise an influence that does much in shaping the development of a community and promoting its substantial growth. - Mrs. Larrabee, as one of the representatives of this class, is well deserving of mention in the history of southwestern Minnesota. Mrs. Larrabee was born in Vermont, August 30, 1822, a daughter of William and Bettie (Clauson) Humphrey, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Vermont. She was reared and educated in the Green Mountain state, and in 1847 gave her hand in marriage to Alva S. Larrabee, who was born in New York, in 18 16, on the grounds once occupied by the old Indian chief Tecumseh. With his parents he re- moved to Vermont, where he acquired a good academical education, and with his father learned the trade of shoemaking. After his marriage he renioved to Winnebago county, Wisconsin, and located on a farm, which he cultivated in connection with the business of tanning. In 1861 he removed to Albert Lea, Minnesota, where he re- mained until 1864, when he came with his family to Brown county and purchased a farm on the bank of the Cottonwood river, comprising two hundred acres of choice land. Lying along the river and skirted with a good forest, it makes a most desir- able stock farm. Mr. Larrabee successfully carried on general farming and stock-rais- ing up to within a short time of his death, which occurred in October, 1892. He was then in his seventy-seventh year. The characteristics of Mr. Larrabee were such as would commend him to the respect and confidence of all. He was devoted to his family and his home, and was ever true to the duties of citizenship and public life. He held the offices of justice of the peace, township clerk and school director, and was ever faithful to the trust reposed in him. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and took an active interest in the success of his party. Mr. Larrabee was a son of Benjamin Larrabee and connected with an old Amer- ican family that was founded in America by three brothers, natives of France. He was also an own cousin of e.x-Governor Larra- bee, of Iowa. By his marriage to Amy Humphrey six children were born: Eric A., a farmer; Edward H., who keeps the old homestead; A. A., manager of the agri- cultural implement store of Klossner & Mueller, of Sleepy Eye; Edna, wife of L. R. Richardson, of Selma, Cottonwood county, Minnesota; Bert H., a pharmacist of Sleepy Eye; and Laura D., deceased. Mrs. Lar- rabee has also twenty grandchildren. She is still well preserved both mentally and 46 MEMORIAL RECORD OF physically, and is now living in her comfort- able home, one of the substantial residences of the township, surrounded by her children and many friends. EON. H. J. MILLER occupies an eminent position in the political circles of Minnesota, and is now serving his district as state senator. He has long been prominent as a controlling factor in the Republican party, and his connection with journalism has made this service particularly effective. It has long been acknowledged that the press is one of the most important agents for the education of the public, as it largely sways the empire of public opinion, and as editor of the Rock County Herald, published in Luverne, Mr. Miller has labored in the interests of his state for the advancement of many measures that contribute to the public good and pro- mote the general welfare. Born in Deerfield, Wisconsin, July 13, 1855, Mr. Miller is a son of Hon. William H. and Ann L. (Gee) Miller, the former a native of Maine and the latter of England, whence she came with her parents to Amer- ica during her childhood. Her mother was a cousin of Lord Byron. In early life the father learned the trade of tanning and boot and shoe making, and followed those occu- pations until about thirty years of age. In 1852 he removed to Wisconsin, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of Dane county, where he engaged in farming. He was a man of exemplary character and of the highest integrity, and was elected a member of the Wisconsin legislature, serving in the sessions of 1862-3 and 1863-4. He con- tinued his residence in Dane county until 1S78, but in the meantime had removed from Deerfield to the town of Stoughton, in 1 867, opening there a boot and shoe store, which he conducted for eleven years. He then removed to Bronson, Florida, for the benefit of his health, and made that place his home until his death, which occurred in May, 1879. The mother died in Deerfield, Wisconsin, in 1858, as the result of a run- away while riding on horseback. Mr. Mil- ler was a man of irreproachable character, highly esteemed by all who knew him, hon- ored in life and mourned in death. His wife was a lady of high education, and for many years was a correspondent of the Bos- ton Cultivator and other eastern papers. The parents were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which so- ciety they took an active interest, while the father held various offices in the church and contributed liberally to its support. Until sixteen years of age our subject remained on the farm, the last four years being spent on the farms of his brothers in Black Hawk county, Iowa, aiding in the labors thereof, and then entered the high school at Stoughton, graduating at that in- stitution two years later. He next became a student in the University of Wisconsin, pursuing the prescribed studies in the an- cient classical course for four years. For the most part he earned all means required to pay his expenses at college by teaching school, but before completing his course he was compelled by pecuniary reasons to leave the university and engage in newspaper work in Rhinebeck, Iowa. Two years he was thus employed, and in the spring of 1879 came to Luverne, where he has since resided with the exception of six months which he spent on the editorial staff of the Minneapolis Evening Journal. During his entire residence in Luverne he has been SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 47 connected with the Rock County Herald, of which prosperous and popular paper he is the editor and proprietor. It is conducted as the exponent of the principles of the Re- publican party, and Mr. Miller, who is one of the ablest newspaper writers in south- western Minnesota, has built up an enviable reputation for liberal and progressive thought and fearlessness in the presentation of all those matters which he has deemed right and for the public benefit. By careful at- tention to the details of his business he has built up a large patronage, and now has one of the finest newspaper establishments in the state, his office being a two-story brick structure, which he erected. Mr. Miller has been connected with other financial concerns of the city and has served for some time as one of the directors of the First National Bank. He also served for four terms as president of the village. His affiliations with the Republican party have been of the most cordial character and he has been honored by election to various positions of trust and responsibility. He was one of the delegates to the national convention which met in Chicago in 1888, as one of the representatives of the second congressional district of this state, and was a member of the committee on credentials of the national convention. He was also supervisor of the census for the first and second congressional districts in 1890. In the fall of 1894 he was elected state senator to represent the seventh senatorial district in Minnesota, composed of the counties of Rock, Nobles, Pipestone and Murray. He took an active part in the discussion of sev- eral important bills and in the passage of the same, and originated and introduced what was known as the Miller express bill, placing the express companies under the control of the railroad and warehouse com- missioners. Mr. Miller was married in 1880 to Miss Lillian Crane, of Stoughton, Wisconsin, daughter of Edwin and Elzada (Stoughton) Crane. Two children have blessed this union, — Edna Z. and Ella B. His prop- erty, in addition to his business interest, consists of one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land in Mound township. Rock county, one hundred and sixty acres in Miner county, South Dakota, and his fine residence which he has erected in the city, which is a favorite resort of a cultured soci- ety circle. Mr. Miller is loyal and deter- mined in his adherence to the right and to his friends and is one of the most import- ant factors in the development and growth of the social and financial interests in Luverne. EV. PATRICK F. McDONOUGH, rector of St. Catherine's Catholic church of Luverne, was born in Milford, Massachusetts, May 9, 1863, a son of Patrick and Nora (O'Garra) McDonough. Both parents were natives of Ireland, but the father was of Scotch ex- traction. His business for many years was merchandising. Rev. Patrick F. McDonough of this re- view acquired his elementary education in the public schools of Milford, Massachusetts, and subsequently attended the Boston high school. Later he entered Boston College, where he pursued his studies for a period of six years, and then continued his education in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a student in St. Thomas Seminary, of Merriam Park, where he was ordained as a member of the priest- hood by Archbishop Ireland, in 1892. He 48 MEMORIAL RECORD OF then became assistant pastor at that place, where he remained for six months, when he was sent to the county seat of Rock county, Minnesota, to take charge of St. Catherine's Catholic church of Luverne, having since been at the head of this parish. His congregation is composed of about fifty families, mostly farming people of this vicinity. The house of worship is a frame structure, well finished and having good sur- roundings, and the church also owns a good parsonage. In addition to his work in Lu- verne, Rev. McDonough has charge of the Catholic church in Ellsworth. When he assumed charge of the same there was a debt of two thousand dollars resting upon the church, but through his energy and labors this has all been paid off, and the congregation now has a substantial frame church in which to hold their services. Father McDonough is a liberal-minded, public-spirited and scholarly gentleman. He is a strong advocate of total abstinence, earnestly laboring for temperance and on the side of law and order. He is held in the highest regard by his parishioners, and his labors in Rock county have been of great benefit to the church. *-»-» EWIS S. NELSON, of Luverne, I I is a recognized leader at the bar of 1 \ Rock county, Minnesota. There is no profession which demands great- er steadfastness on the part of its adherents than that of the law. It also shows no fa- vors, for if one gains a reputation at the bar he must commence at the lowest round of the ladder and must work his way stead- ily upward by merit, by ability and stead- fast effort. This Mr. Nelson has done un- til he stands in the foremost ranks of the legal representatives in this section of the state. Our subject was born in Grundy county, Illinois, near Morris, November 2, 1850, a son of Seward and Jenn'ie (Hills) Nelson, who were born, reared and married in Nor- way. Emigrating to the United States they settled near Morris, Illinois, where the father carried on general farming and stock- raising until he had accumulated a good property, and was numbered among the substantial citizens of that locality. He was honest and industrious and his straight- forward life won him the respect of all. He died on his farm in Grundy county in 1864. Our subject was the third son and fifth child in a family which numbered five sons and four daughters, eight yet living. He spent his boyhood on his father's farm, at- tended the common schools, and later was a student in a select school. He afterward entered Fowler Institute at Newark, Illinois, where he pursued his studies two years, and then began teaching, a profession which he followed for nineteen terms. He was most successful in this undertaking, and his serv- ices were always in demand. After pursu- ing the study of languages in a college in Decorah, Iowa, he entered the law depart- ment of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in 1873. He began practice in Nevada, Iowa, and thence went to Des Moines, where he practiced until 1878. Next he went to Adrian, Minnesota, where he conducted a law practice until 18S2, when he was ap- pointed county superintendent of schools to fill a vacancy caused by the death of M. A. Doan. On the expiration of his term, he resumed law practice, and in 1891 came to Luverne, where he soon secured a large clientage. In 1884 he was elected probate SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 49 judge of Nobles county, serving for two terms. From 1S78 until 1886 he also dealt in real estate in Nobles county, but his de- votion to theHegal profession has been such as to gain him marked prestige in his chosen calling. In 1877 Mr. Nelson married Miss Cle- mina Chandler, of Cambridge, Iowa, daugh- ter of Sereno Chandler. They have three sons, — Winfield P., Archer L. and Harry C. In politics, Mr. Nelson is a stalwart Republican, deeply interested in the success of his party, and has served as chairman of the Republican central committee. He is prominent in Masonry, a member of Roman Eagle Lodge, No. 175, F. & A. M., and of the Royal Arch chapter. In 1S93 he was state counsel for the Modern Woodmen of America. ,y^ROF. CLARENCE M. BOU- 1 W TELLE, one of the most able J educators in the state of Minnesota, whose prominent position in the ranks of his chosen profession is widely ac- knowledged, was born in Antrim, New Hampshire, on the 23d of July, 1851. The greater part of his life has been passed in this state, whither he came in 1859, loca- ting in Wabasha county, where his father secured land from the government and de- veloped a farm. He aided in the cultivation of the fields and in the other work on the old home place, where he remained until 1870, when, wishing to acquire a more ad- vanced education than the common schools afforded, he entered the State Normal School in Winona, where he was graduated in 1872. Prior to that time he had engaged in teaching and after his graduation he was offered a position in the State Normal School by Professor Phelps. He spent two years in preparation in the Institute of Tech- nology in Boston. He then returned to the State Normal School in Winona and was a member of the faculty of that school for nine 3''ears, acting as professor of mathemat- ics for a time and later as professor of sciences, and State Teachers' Institute con- ductor. In 1883 Professor Boutelle resigned his position and for a time taught in Rochester, Minnesota. He afterward went to Decorah, Iowa, and had charge of the public schools of that city for seven years; in 1892 he re- moved to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and, although he maintained his residence there, he taught for a time in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in a State normal school. In the fall of 1895 he came to Marshall, where he is now residing. He is successfully con- ducting the public schools here, and his superior ability as a teacher has made it one of the best schools in this section of the state. Professor Boutelle seems specially fitted for his chosen calling. A man of broad scholarship and keen analytical mind, he has the happy faculty of readily and clearly imparting to others the knowledge he has acquired; he is also an excellent dis- ciplinarian and he commands the respect and esteem of all with whom he has been brought in contact, while on his pupils he exerts an influence for good that is long and strongly felt. Professor Boutelle was married July 22, 1880, to Miss Fannie C. Kimber, who was born in West Farms, now one of the suburbs of New York city, and is a graduate of the State Normal school of Oswego, New York. They have two children, Anna K. and Louise E. The family is one of prominence and their home is the center of a cultured 50 MEMORIAL RECORD OF society circle. The subject of this review is a Knight Templar Mason and belongs to the blue lodge and Royal Arch chapter of Decorah, Iowa, while his wife belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star. He also holds a membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the Encampment of Decorah. He belongs to the State Teach- ers' Association of Minnesota and he and his wife are members of the Episcopal church. >^OSEPH B. WILLIAMS, one of the m prosperous farmers and respected /• I citizens of Nobles county, Miime- sota, dates his birth in that state which has sent out to the various parts of the Union so many men of sterling worth, — Ohio. He was born in Seneca county, September 26, 1832, his parents being Will- iam and Mary (Burnsides) Williams, both natives of Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer and stock-raiser, and died in Seneca county, Ohio, when Joseph B. was a lad of seven years; his mother died in Nevada, that state, about 1883. In the year 1839 the Williams family removed to Clark county, Ohio, where their home was maintained until 1851, when it was changed to Wyandot county. In the last named county the subject of our sketch was quietly living, giving his attention to agricultural pursuits, when the great civil war cloud gathered and burst upon the country. During the first year of the war he remained on the farm with his family, but as the conflict continued to rage he felt it his duty to go out in the protection of the old flag, and on August 12, 1862, he en- listed as a private in Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, under Colonel W. T. Willson. With his command he at once joined the Army of the Potomac, the fortunes of which he shared, participating in numerous battles and engagements, for a period of three years. To give a detailed account of his army life would be to write much of the history of the late war. Suffice it to say in this connection that in every action in which he took part he showed himself to be a brave, true soldier, one who never shirked a duty or flinched in the face of fire. The only wcjund he received was at Winchester, June 13, 1S63, and he was honorably dis- charged at Columbus, Ohio, June 13, 1865. As he justly deserves, he now receives a pension from the government. The war over, Mr. Williams returned to Wyandot county and resmned farming and stock-raising, remaining there until 1868, when he sought a western location and took up his abode in Marshalltown, Iowa. From 1872 till January, 1882, he lived in Grundy county, and from the latter date until Sep- tember, 1885, in Black Hawk county, that state, — all this time engaged in farming. In September, 1885, he came up into No- bles county, Minnesota, and purchased the farm upon which he has since lived, one hundred and sixty acres on section 2, town- ship 102, range 39, a most desirable farm and one which he has brought up to a high state of cultivation and improvement. His fine grove, which covers several acres, is of his own planting, the buildings were erected by him, and here, as at other places where he has lived, he is giving his attention to general farming and stock-raising. To that page of his history which relates more especially to his domestic life we would now turn. Mr. Williams was first married in Nevada, Ohio, in 1S59, to Miss Mar)' Brown, whose untimely death occurred SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 51 in 1867. She was the mother of three daughters, of whom two are now hving. His present wife, nee Juha Taft, a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, was born August 24, 1850. Their union has been blessed in the birth of nine children, of whom the fol- lowing are living: Roscoe O. , Oscar W., Frank E., Daphne A., Clyde E., Auren J. and Calvin C. , their ages ranging from five to twenty-five years. All are yet members of the home circle with the exception of the eldest son, Roscoe O., who in September, 1895, wedded Miss Nellie Cunningham and is now engaged in farming in Worthington township, this county. Mrs. Williams' father, Calvin Taft, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, in the year 1824, and re- moved to Iowa in 1853 and located in Mar- shall county, where he resided for many years, engaged in the occupation of mill- wright. He is now a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. His wife, whose maiden name was Dolly Oviatt, and whom he married in 1848, bore him eleven children, two sons and nine daughters, of which number eight are living at this writing, all married and settled in life. Their mother died in 1869. Mr. Williams is a supporter of the Re- publican party and its principles. kY^ OBERT SHORE, a retired farmer, I /^ has taken an active part in the \ ^ p agricultural and official life of Nobles county, and his career con- tains much of interest, showing what can be accomplished by a determined purpose, resolute will and untiring energy. He has justly won the proud American title of "self-made man," for at an earl}' age he was thrown upon his own resources and unaided has worked his way steadily up- ward from humble circumstances to afflu- ence. His life contains many valuable lessons that might profitably be followed, and we feel assured that his history will prove of interest to many of our readers, as he is both widely and favorably known. Mr. Shore was born in Rochdale, Lan- castershire, England, November 24, 1828, a son of Charles and Sarah (Hill) Shore. His father was a spinner by trade and spent his entire life in England, after which the family crossed the Atlantic and the mother died in Pennsylvania, in 1875. They had six sons and a daughter, and one brother, James, is still living in England, while two sisters are residents of Pennsylvania. Robert was the fourth in order of birth, and was quite young at the time of his father's death. He very early began work in a cot- ton mill, and when fourteen years of age began devoting his entire attention to this work. He at that time left the day schools, but attended night school until twenty-two years of age. He then married Eliza, youngest daughter of John and Betsy (In- gram) Greenhalgh. After his marriage, Mr. Shore continued his residence in England for a year, when, in March, 1851, he took passage on a sail- ing vessel which left Liverpool bound for New York city, where it arrived after a voyage of six weeks. From New York, Mr. Shore went to Benton, Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and was employed in the lead mines there for fourteen years. Removing to Grant county, that state, with the money he had saved from his earnings as a miner, he purchased eighty acres of land and began farming and stock-raising. In February, 1865, he enlisted in Company K, Forty- fourth Wisconsin Infantry, under Colonel George Symmes, of La Crosse, and went 52 MEMORIAL RECORD OF to Nashville, Tennessee, thence to Paducah, Kentucky, where he did guard duty and served as clerk at regimental headquarters until mustered out in August, 1S65. Upon his return, Mr. Shore resumed farming and stock-raising in Grant county, Wisconsin, devoting his time to those pur- suits during the summer months, while in the winter season he engaged in teaching school for fifteen terms. In the spring of 1873 he came with his family to Nobles county, Minnesota, and secured a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres on section 22, Ransom township, where he still resides. His first home was a very un- pretentious one, but it has since been re- placed by a commodious residence, while other excellent improvements have been added and the farm is now a model of con- venience and of neatness. Like his neigh- bors he suffered greatly from the grasshop- per scourge, but he has ever made the best of his opportunities, and as the result of his weirdirected efforts he has acquired a com- petency that now enables him to live re- tired. Mr. and Mrs. Shore have six children, — Charles, a farmer of Nobles county; Mary E. , wife of Coleman Guernsey, of Ransom township; John E., Robert W., Thomas E. and Henry W. , who also follow agricultural pursuits. Mr. Shore is an ardent Republican, and his fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have frequently called him to public office. In 1877 he was elected county commissioner, for eight years he served as town clerk, was supervisor of his township, and during eighteen years has hardly been out of office. His fidelity to duty is a marked characteristic, and hence his retention in places of public trust. While in Wisconsin, he served as postmas- ter of Harleson, and he was appointed post- master of Ransom in spring of 1896. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church — in which he is serving as trustee — and give their influence to all worthy interests calculated to advance the material and moral welfare. >^AMES WALKER, the efficient and ^ popular postmaster of Ellsworth, A 1 Minnesota, was born in county Don- egal, Ireland, May 24, 1838, and continued his residence in the land of his nativity until i860, when, in the hope of bettering his financial condition in the New World, he crossed the Atlantic to America. His first place of residence was Akron, Ohio, where he remained for a year. On the expiration of that period he removed to Dubuque county, Iowa, and was there liv- ing when the civil war was in progress. W'ith a lo\'e of liberty and prompted by a feeling of loyalty to his adopted land, he entered the Union service .on the 14th of August, 1862, as a member of Company H, Thirty-second Iowa lnfantr\'. He did de- tached duty for about eighteen months, and continued in the service until victory crowned the northern arms, when he re- turned to the north. Locating in Hampton, Franklin county, Iowa, Mr. Walker engaged in the insurance business, and was also employed in the office of the county clerk. About 1873 he came to Nobles county, Minnesota, then a sparsely settled region, and took up a home- stead in Grand Prairie township. With characteristic energy he began its develop- ment, placing acre after acre under the plow and transforming the wild land into so UTH WES TERN MINNESO TA . 53 richly cultivated fields. This work he con- tinued until elected county auditor, in which capacity he served for one term. He then returned to the farm, which he carried on until 1888, — the year of his arrival in Ells- worth. Becoming identified with its mer- cantile interests, he continued his store seven years, and then sold out. On the 1st of January, 1889, he was appointed post- master, and has since held that office, dis- charging his duties in a most prompt and able manner. At different times he has served in nearly all the township offices, was township clerk, and also served as jus- tice of the peace. He is a public-spirited, progressive citizen, deeply interested in the welfare and advancement of his adopted city. While residing in Hampton, Iowa, our subject was united in marriage with Miss Mary Walker, a native of the north of Ire- land, and they -now have three children, — Daisy, Fannie and Osborn. The family are widely and favorably known in this lo- cality, and their home is a favorite resort with many friends. G^DWARD FOGARTY is the genial and popular proprietor of the Cen- tral House, of Ellsworth; also iden- tified with its industrial interests as a grain dealer. A native of the Emerald Isle, he was born near the city of Limerick, Ireland, in the year 1855, but his residence in that country was not of long duration, as his parents crossed the Atlantic to America in 1856. They took up their abode in Kane county, Illinois, where they remained for about two years, when they went to Wal- worth county, Wisconsin, and there resided for two years. On the expiration of that period they came to Minnesota, settling in Olmsted county, where they are now living. Edward Fogarty accompanied his par- ents on their various removals and with them came to this state, remaining under the parental roof until after he had attained his majority. He then started out in life for himself, but continued a resident of Olmsted county until 18S9, the year of his arrival in Ellsworth. Turning his attention to the grain business, he has since dealt in that commodity, and has met with success in his undertakings. At the present time he is also conducting the Central House, which under his able management has be- come a favorite resort with the traveling public. Along the well-defined lines of la- bor he is winning success, and his unabating energy and diligence are important factors in his prosperity. In June, 1894, in Ellsworth, Mr. Fogarty was united in marriage with Mrs. Gertrude Esser, widow of Ferdinand Esser, an es- teemed resident of this place, who died in February, 1890. She had had six children, — three sons and three daughters, — namely: Anna, Frank, Lizzie, Bernard, Henry and Lena. Mr. and Mrs. Fogarty have an in- teresting little daughter, Louisa. The par- ents are members of the Catholic church, and for two years our subject served as justice of the peace, discharging his duties in a prompt and efficient manner. He is noted for his fidelity to all enterprises of public worth. . ^•"■^EORGE LIGHTER.— Classedwith ■ ^T\ the representative^ farmers and \^^ stock men of West Side township, Nobles county, Minnesota, and standing well to the front, is found the sub- 54 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ject of this sketch, George Lichter, whose fine farm comprises two hundred and forty acres and whose identity with this county covers a period of twelve years. Mr. Lich- ter came to his present location in 1884 from Kenosha county, Wisconsin, and has since been extensively engaged in both farm- ing and stock-raising. A single view of his well-cultivated fields, his broad pastures and his fine stock is enough to convince one that intelligence and good management as well as industry enter into his qualifications as a farmer. Mr. Lichter dates his birth in Racine, Wisconsin, February 20, 1859, his parents being Peter and Barbara (Lotz) Lichter, now residents of Kenosha county, Wiscon- sin. His father a farmer, George was reared to agricultural pursuits, and remained on the home farm until he attained his twenty- second year. At that time his ambitious nature led him out to the far west and for about six months he was employed on a dairy farm in California. Next we find him as a member of a surveying party in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, with which he was connected for about a year and a half. Wisconsin, however, still had its attrac- tions for him, and after a few years he re- turned to his old home. He was married in Kenosha, Wisconsin, February 25, 1886, to Miss Mary Soens, a native of Racine, born June 3, 1861, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of four children, — Frank P. , Lena, Rosa and Barbara. Mr. Lichter was formerly allied with the Democratic party, but of recent years has been independent in his political views, vot- ing for men and measures rather than party. He has filled the office of township assessor and for the past two years has been a mem- ber of the township board. He and his family are Catholics; also he is a member of St. Joseph's Benevolent Society of Adrian. (D ILES BIRIvETT, who resides on section 18, Grand Prairie town- ship, came to Nobles county in May, 1 87 1, and took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres as a home- stead, locating thereon the following year. He has since been identified with its agri- cultural interests and is numbered among the substantial farmers of the community. Mr. Birkett was born at Brantford, On- tario, August 2, 1843, and is a son of Will- iam and Margaret (Coleman) Birkett, both natives of England. About 1854 they re- moved with their family to Rock Island county, Illinois, and in 1861 went to Frank- lin county, Iowa, while at the present time they maintain their residence in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa. Our subject accompanied his parents on their various removals, until during their residence in Franklin county he entered the service of his country, enlisting in 1862 as a member of Company H, Thirty-second Iowa Infantry. For three years he re- mained at the front, acting as drummer most of the time. When the war was over he returned to Franklin county, but after- ward removed to Hancock county, Iowa, where he lived one year. In 1872 he took up his residence upon his present farm, be- coming one of the first settlers in the town- ship. He has erected good buildings, mak- ing substantial improvements upon the place, and is to-day the owner of three hundred and twent}' acres of valuable land, highly improved. He planted the first trees in the township, and the neat and thrift}' ap- SOUTH iVES TERN MINNESO TA . 55 pearance of the place well indicates his care- ful supervision. Mr. Birkett was married in Franklin county, Iowa, May 7, 1867, to Miss Martha J. Boots, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, November 13, 1S48, and when about six years of age went with her par- ents to Iowa. Her mother, Mrs. Rebecca (Jones) Boots, died in Franklin county, but her father, Martin Boots, is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Birkett are the parents of twelve children, but Clarence, the eldest, died at the age of ten months; Myrta M. is the wife of E. E. Hallas. Lula G., the first white girl born in Grand Prairie town- ship, is the wife of Rev. M. R. Myers, a Presbyterian minister. These daughters are both successful school-teachers. The other members of the family are Mattie, P. L., Mabel, Gertrude, Vivian P., Lillian L., Miles L., Arthur L. and Francis G. Mr. Birkett has held the office of county commissioner, has also been a member of the township board for several years, has filled the office of justice of the peace, and served in other official positions in his town- ship, wherein his faithful performance of duty has been of material benefit to the locality. He takes a deep interest in local affairs, and gives an active support to all measures calculated to prove of public ben- efit. The first sermon preached in Grand Prairie township was in his home, and the first Sunday-school also was held there. Both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Congregational church, and are very active in the temper- ance cause. They belong to the Gospel Temperance Union of Ellsworth, and Mrs. Birkett is a member of the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union. Socially, Mr. Birkett is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Grand Army Post of Luverne. All who know him esteem him for his sterling worth, his unimpeachable integrit}' and his upright life. eDWARD H. BASSETT, whose identification with Nobles county and its interests covers a period of twenty-one years, is numbered among the valued citizens of the community, and during the late war was one of the valiant heroes in blue who fought for the preservation of the Union. His genuine worth well entitles him to representation in this volume, whose province is the con- sideration of the lives of those who have been active in promoting the welfare and upbuilding of Nobles county. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Mr. Bassett was born December 21, 1842. His grandfather, Henry Bassett, was also born in the same state and was of Scotch lineage. The parents of our subject were Henry and Minerva L. (Linds) Bassett. The former was a cabinet-maker by trade, but spent much of his life at farming. From New Haven, Connecticut, he removed to Bristol, Kenosha county, Wisconsin, where he worked a farm until 1850, when he went with his family to Benton county, Iowa. In 1853 he removed to Morristown, Rice county, Minnesota, where he pre-empted one hundred and si.Kty acres of land, culti- vating the claim until 1865, when he sold out and went to Faribault, Minnesota. His death occurred there January 4, 1878, but his wife still lives on the old homestead. In early life he was a Democrat, but after- ward became a stanch Republican, being a strong anti-slavery man. He held member- ship with the Methodist Episcopal church. 56 MEMORIAL RECORD OE In the family were two sons and three daughters who reached mature years, "while one child died in infancy. George was a soldier in the late war. Alford S. is a prominent attorney of Faribault, Minnesota. Ella is the wife of George Chamberlin, of Minneapolis. Anna Ei is with her mother. Edward H. Bassett is the eldest of the family. He accompanied his parents on their various removals and attended the pub- lic schools until twelve years of age, after which he devoted his entire attention to farm work until his eighteenth year. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted, April 29, 1 86 1, at the first call for seventy-five thousand men, joining Company G, First Minnesota Infantry, commanded by Colonel Willis A. Gorman. The regiment was sent direct to Washington, and was mustered in under the three-years term. Mr. Bassett participated in thirty-four battles of the civil war, a record that is hardly paralleled for arduous service. This included the first battle of Bull Run, the engagements at Fair Oaks, Antietam and Mine Run, and the decisive battle of the war at Gettysburg. When his three years' term had expired he re-enlisted as a member of Battery L, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, and was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee. After partici- pating in the battle of Nashville he was engaged in guard duty, and continued at the front until September 27, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. Such in brief is the record of his military career, but it tells little of the hardships and dangers encountered and only suggests the heroism which prompted him to give so many years to his country at a time when any hour might require the sacrifice of man's most cherished possession, — life. Returning to Faribault, Minnesota, Mr. Bassett assisted his father on the farm for a time. W^ithin that period he married Hattie A., the eldest daughter of Benjamin and Sallie (Norton) King, natives of \'erniont. She was born in Vermont and came to Min- nesota with her parents when a maiden of fourteen years. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bassett located'in Leseuer county, Minnesota, on a farm, and in 1875 came to Nobles county, our subject securing a sol- dier's homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, which he has transformed into one of the finest farms in this section of the state. He planted a large number of trees, and to- day has one of the finest groves in his township, while substantial barns and out- buildings stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. He has been engaged in the breeding of draft horses and has some very fine animals upon his place. Mr. and Mrs. Bassett became the par- ents of eleven children, nine still living, namely: Carrie, Lewis B., Elmer H., George H., Edward N., Lillie A., Bernice A., Morton H. and Marguerite. The eldest son is a student in the agricultural depart- ment of the State University at Minne- apolis. Mr. Bassett believes in giving his children good educational privileges, and has served as school director in his district for some years. He is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. , is esteemed by his comrades, respected by his friends and is well deserving of representation in this volume. ^ AMES H. TAYLOR, cashier of the State Bank of Jasper, Minnesota, is one of the enterprising young business men of the town. He dates his birth in Whitehall, in the i§-%^ •j*OHN J. LOEFFLER.— In a de- fl lightful home on one of the most A 1 prosperous farms in Springwater township. Rock county, Minnesota, lives John J. Loeffler, to whom in this con- nection we take pleasure in referring bio- graphically. John J. Loeffler is a native of the Key- stone state, and is a descendant of German ancestry. He was born in Cainbria county, Pennsylvania, near Johnstown, December 14, 1857, son of George A. and Mary A. (Ansted) Loeffler, who early in life emi- grated to this country from Germany and made their settlement in Pennsylvania. In 1857, t^he same year in which he was born, his parents came west to Iowa and located in Butler county, where they died in middle life, the father at the age of fifty-five years and the mother at forty. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom five are yet living, occupying honored and use- ful positions in life. John J. remained with his parents until their death and continued to live in Iowa until the spring of 1877, when he came up into Minnesota and took a homestead claim, the property upon which he has since lived. In the winter of 1877 he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet B. Gillard, a na- tive of Butler county, Iowa, and their union has been blessed in the birth of five chil- dren. They lost one little daughter, Min- nie M., at the age of two years. Their so UTH WES TERN MINN E SO TA . 63 other children are living, — Cora M , Irvin A., Henry S. and Floyd P. After his marriage Mr. Loeffler built a shanty on his claim, lO x 12 feet in dimen- sions, which he subsequently enlarged and which served as their home until 1893, when he erected their present handsome residence. From time to time he made purchases of land adjoining his original holdings until now his farm comprises four hundred and eighty acres; and this fine farm and its numerous valuable improvements he has made by his own honest and earnest toil. Mr. Loeffler has always been active in Republican politics, and has filled several local offices with honor and credit to him- self and the township. He assisted mate- rially in the erection of the Methodist Episcopal church in his neighborhood, of which denomination he and his wife are active members. BRAHAM OSMUN.— Living in quiet retirement in the village of Beaver Creek, Minnesota, and en- joying the high esteem of the peo- ple around him, is found this honored citi- zen, — Abraham Osmun. More than twenty years of identification with southern Minne- sota and her interests entitles him to spe- cific recognition in this biographical record. The Osmuns are of Huguenot origin, and for many years that branch of the family to which our subject belongs had its abiding place on the Atlantic shores in this country. Abraham Osmun was born in Esse.x county. New Jersey, November S, 1830, son of Adonijah and Polly (Campbell) Osmun, both natives of New Jersey, the father of Morris county and the mother of Esse.x, and in the latter county they lived and died, each be- ing about seventy years of age at the time of death. His occupation was that of a shoemaker. The paternal grandparents of our subject, Abraham and Iveziah (Norris) Osmun, were born on Long Island, but early in life removed to New Jersey and set- tled on a farm, where the remainder of their days were spent. Grandfather Osmun was a volunteer for service in the Revolu- tionary war, but was rejected on account of having one arm shorter than the other. He had a son, Seth Osmun, who was one of the brave participants in the war of 18 12. Turning for a record of the maternal ances- try of our subject, we find that his mother's people, the Campbells, were of Scotch de- scent and sterling settlers of the sterile New England states. His grandparents, Phineas and Jane (Dean) Campbell, were born in New England, but they lived for many years and died in New Jersey. Abraham Osmun is one of a family of eight children, all of whom have passed to the spirit world except himself and one sister. After the death of his parents, which oc- curred when he was about thirty years old, he left home and came west as far as Ohio, where on the first of September, 1861, he tendered his service to the Union cause; and while he enlisted in Ohio, he was placed in the Thirteenth Missouri Regiment, under Captain Homer Thrall, of Company D. Captain Thrall, we state in passing, is now in the ministry of the Congregational church. After a service covering several months and distinguished by bravery of the truest type, Mr. Osmun was honorably discharged at St. Louis, and immediately thereafter returned east and settled down to farming in Alle- gany county. New York. Mr. Osmun was married March 24, 1864, to Miss Alida J. Wilder, a native of 64 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Otsego count)', New York, born August 26, 1824, one of a family of nine children and now being one of the two of that number who are living. Her parents were Charles and Leah (Roman) Wilder, farmers of Ot- sego county, where both died, he at the age of fifty years and she at thirty. The former was of New England birth and the latter a native of the Empire state. Mrs. Osmun's grandparents, Charles and Sarah Wilder, also were natives of New England, and were for a number of years'residents of New York and died there. Grandfather Wilder was a veteran of the Revolution and up to the time of his death was a pensioner of that war, and his son Charles was in the war of 1S12. Mrs. Osmun's maternal grandparents, Cornelius and Catherine Roman, were New Yorkers. Mr. and Mrs. Osmun have an only child, ■ Albert A., born in Brooklyn, New York, and now a resident of Bancroft, Nebraska, where he is doing a successful business as painter and paper-hanger. He was married in De- cember, 1S85, to Mary Carney, and has four children, namely: Millard and Milo, twins, and Ruth and Hazel. As already stated, Abraham Osmun en- gaged in farming in New York after his re- turn from the army. He continued there thus occupied until the spring of 1873, when he sold out, and on the eleventh of April he landed in southern Minnesota. Here he took a homestead claim, which he subse- quently sold, and since 1893 he has been retired. To him belongs the distinction of having built the first house in the village of Beaver Creek. He has aided largely in pro- moting the growth of the town and advan- cing its welfare. For two terms he was president of the village board. Also he has filled nearly all the township offices. Like most of the veterans of the late war, IStr. Osmun is identified with the G. A. R. He is one of the charter members of the John Buford Post, has been honored by his comrades with official position in the same and at this writing is serving as its commander. Religiously he is of stanch old Presbyterian faith and his wife is a Baptist, both being devoted Christians and zealous in church work, having aided materially in the erection of the churches of these denom- inations in Beaver Creek. Mrs. Osmun has been a church member since her eighteenth year. HLDROW H. GROUT is one of the representative and leading citi- zens of Rock county, Minnesota, and has in many ways been identi- fied with its interests and with enterprises of public benefit. He is the owner of one of the best farms in the county, for many years has been successfully engaged in agricult- ural pursuits, and for some time past has been interested in the Beaver Creek Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he is at this time secretary, and to whom as well as to its efficient president, Ira Crawford, is due the present success of this well-known company. On account of Mr. Grout's high standing and popularitj- in Rock county, we feel assured that a record of his life will prove of interest to many of our readers, and gladly give it place in this volume. Mr. Grout was born in the village of Azatlan, Jefferson count}', W'isconsin, the date of his nativity being April 4, 1846. His parents were eastern people. His fa- ther, William Grout, was born in the Green Mountain state, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary A. Hunting, was a SOUTH WESTERN MINNESOTA . 65 native of New York. They came west to Wisconsin about the year 1843, settled first in Jefferson county and t!ie year following the birth of our subject removed to Colum- bia county, where the father took claim to a tract of government land, upon which the family home was maintained until 1872. That year they came over into Minnesota and settled on homestead claims in Beaver Creek township. Rock county, where the parents spent the closing years of their lives and died, the mother being fifty-seven years old and the father seventy-seven at the time of death. Of the three children born to* this worthy couple, one daughter is deceased, and a son and daughter, — the subject of this article and Mrs. Berry, — are yet living. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Grout was Elijah Grout. He was a son of New England parents, born in Vermont and lived to the venerable age of eighty-four years, dying in Columbia count}', Wisconsin. Grandmother Grout, who before her mar- riage was Miss Elizabeth Loomis, died in New York. They were people of industry and honest worth and enjoyed the high esteem of all who knew them, and the same may be said of the maternal grandparents of our subject Jabez and Abigail Hunting, who were natives of New York. She died in New York and he in Columbia county, Wisconsin. Aldrow H. Grout spent his boyhood and youth not unlike other Wisconsin farmer boys of that day, assisting his father in the work of the field in summer and in winter trudging away early in the morning to the district school. He was about fifteen when the civil war cloud gathered and burst upon the country in all its fury, — too young to go out in line on the battle field, as he many times wished to do, but old enough to be of service at home while his father was in the army. His father was a member of Com- pany K, Thirty-seventh Wisconsin Volun- teers, ^vas in active duty three years, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. During his absence the care and management of the farm devolved upon the son, and afterward father and son were en- gaged in farming together as long as the former lived. Our subject also was for a time occupied in teaching school, — teaching during the winter and farming in summer. He taught si.\ terms of school in Wisconsin and four terms after coming to Minnesota, his last school being in the village of Beaver Creek. On coming to Rock county, Mr. Grout and his father took up adjoining homestead claims and built their house so that half of it was on one claim and half on the other, and finally our subject became the owner of both tracts, one of which he subsequently sold. Later he purchased eighty acres adjoining him, and thus his present farm comprises two hundred and forty acres. The first house they built served them for a home twelve years. It was 14x28 feet in dimensions, with six-foot posts, and after twelve years was replaced by one of about the same size. Also they built barns for their stock and grain. Mr. Grout now carries on both farming and stock-raising, has a model farm in every re- spect, and is meeting with that success in his undertakings which is sure to follow earnest, persistent effort. Mr. Grout was married November 9, 1879, to Miss Lizzie S. Marshall, a native of Orange county, New Jersey, and a daugh- ter of Judge James Marshall, honorable mention of whom is made elsewhere in this work. She is a lady of bright intellect and winning ways, and, like her husband, was MEMORIAL RECORD OF formerly engaged in teaching, having taught seven terms of school before her marriage. Having no children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Grout have adopted two little ones, namely: Rose, born February i8, 1884; and Harry A., July 21, 1892. Mrs. Grout is a member of the Presbyterian church, an active and enthusiastic worker inthe same, and both in church and social circles is use- ful and influential. In his political affiliations we find our subject allied with the 1-iepublican party. Such is an epitome of the life history of one of the leading and honored men of Rock county. V^y* * ALTER J. KINNE is one of the Mb I enterprising and up-to-date young «jjl* farmers of Beaver Creek town- ship, Rock county, Minnesota. He hails from New York state, having landed here some twelve years ago, and in this time has become thoroughl}' identified with the county of his adoption and its best interests. Mr. Ivinne was born in Oneida county. New York, August 9, 1863, a son of worthy and highly respected farmers of that state, Nathan and Nancy (Hodges) Ivinne. Nathan Kinne's parents were among the pioneers of New York. He was born in that state in 1 8 10, passed his whole life within its bor- ders and died there, his death occurring in Oneida county. His widow, the mother of our subject, is still living, and makes her home with one of her sons. She had five children, two of whom are now deceased. Walter J. grew up and received his edu- cation in his native state, his boyhood days being spent in a manner not unlike those of other farmer boys, working in the field in summer and attending the district school in winter. Later he took a course in the Utica Business College. He remained in New York until after his marriage, which took place in 1884, and soon afterward he brought hi§ bride to a western home, their location being in Beaver Creek township. Rock coun- ty, Minnesota. Here for seven years he lived on and cultivated rented land. Then he purchased what was known as the old W. O. Crawford farm, a tract of two hun- dred acres, improved with good buildings, etc., which has since been his home. Mr. Kinne wedded a native of his own county, Miss Lenore E. Baldwin, who was born September 23, 1864. Their marriage was consummated September 3, 1884. Mrs. Kinne is one of a family of three children and a daughter of Scotch parents, William W. and Ellen (Craig) Baldwin, who emi- grated to this country from Scotland and settled in Oneida county, New York, where they lived for a number of years. Mrs. Baldwin is still living, and is now a resident of Luverne, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Kinne have two children : Lillian, born October 26, 1887; and Steward B., May 19, 1892. Our subject lends his influence and bal- lot to the support of the Republican party, and in a local way figures somewhat promi- nently in politics. He has been township assessor for the past four years and was re-elected to this position at the last regular election, and he served as a delegate to the convention held in the county seat, March 2[, 1896, the object of which was to secure delegates for the national convention to be held at St. Louis in June. Mr. Kinne is a man whose personality is frank and genial, whose honor and probity are beyond cavil, SOUTH WESTERN MINNESOTA. 67 and who has been accorded the respect and esteem of the entire community in which he hves. eLI L. GROUT.— More than twenty- five years ago the subject of this sketch and his cousin, A. H. Grout, located homesteads in Beaver Creek township, Rock county, Minnesota, and formed the nucleus of a settlement that has for years been distinguished for its in- tellect, morality and thrift. Our subject, while still having large interests here and himself personally superintending the same, has for some time past been practically re- tired. He has in many ways been closely connected with the history of the county and it is eminently germane to the purpose of this work that a review of his life be ac- corded space on these pages. Like many of the leading men through- out the country, Mr. Grout is proud to claim the Empire state as the one of his nativity. He was born in Jefferson county. New York, March 4, 1S31, son of Elijah L. and Eleanor (Poole) Grout, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Johnstown, New York. About 1853 they went to Wis- consin and settled in Columbia county, where the father died, at the age of fifty- seven years, and the mother at seventy. They had four children, one of whom is de- ceased. The maternal grandparents of our subject were John and Ester (Van Antwerp) Poole, of Holland extraction and residents of New York. Grandfather Poole kept tavern in New York state for many years. He died there at the venerable age of eighty-four. Grandmother Poole was about fifty-eight when she died. Eli L. was reared on a farm and received a district school and academic education, and at the early age of seventeen years en- tered the schoolroom as teacher, and for many years followed this noble calling. He taught four terms in New York. In the meantime he married, and on completing his last term of school in New York he moved out to Wisconsin, where he continued teach- ing, being employed in the district and vil- lage schools. He was teaching at Fall river, Wisconsin, during the war, and out of his school a military company was formed which did good service in the Union ranks, its captain — Captain Hobert — also being one of Mr. Grout's pupils. After coming to Minnesota Mr. Grout continued his labors in the educational field for some years. He was the first principal of the Luverne high school, which position he occupied three years, and for three years he taught in the neighborhood where he lived. Also he has filled a number of local school offices in this county, for several years being its effi- cient county superintendent of schools. It was in 1871 that Mr. Grout home- steaded the land upon which he now lives. He and his cousin, A. H. Grout, who set- tled near him, being pleased with this part of the country and its future outlook, in- duced a number of their eastern friends to join them here, and ere long a class of edu- cated, cultured and enterprising people had staked off claims and begun the work of making farms and homes. To-day there is not to be found in southern Minnesota a more intellectual or prosperous community than this. Mr. Grout's first abode here was a sod house, in which he lived for three years. Then he erected a part of his pres- ent residence, a structure 14x20 feet, to which he made subsequent additions until it has assumed its present shape and con- 68 MEMORIAL RECORD OE venience; and to this original homestead tract he added by the purchase of adjoining land, making his present farm two hundred and forty acres in extent. Also he owns twenty acres adjoining the city of Luverne. His land is now devoted to general farming. Seeing, however, the grand opportunities for dairying, and the transition now taking place, he is drifting rapidly into dairy farming. Mr. Grout has been a Republican nearly all his life. He voted for Fremont in 1856 and with one exception, when he supported the Prohibition ticket, his vote has ever since been cast with the Republicans. Both he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, having been identified with it for nearly thirty years, and for fifteen years he has served as Sunday- school superintendent. Reverting now to that part of Mr. Grout's history which is of a domestic nature, we record that he was married January i, 1852, to Miss Mary E. Snow, a native of Jeffer- son county. New York, born December 22, 1833, daughter of James and Mary (Davy) Snow. Her father was a son of James and Mary Snow, was a native of Vermont, and died in New York at the age of seventy-five years; while her mother was a native of Otsego county, New York, and died in Jef- ferson county, at the age of seventy. They were the parents of seven children, two of whom are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Grout have been blessed in the birth of eight chil- dren, two of whom, Ella and Everett E., are deceased, the former dying at the age of twenty-eight years and the latter at twenty-four. Of the living children we make record as follows: Evangeline, born September 4, 1854, is the wife of Charles Walkup and has one daughter, Ella; John A., born September 8, 1865, married Miss Abby Parriott; Julia J., born October 30, 1868, is the wife of Charles Miercort; Thad- deus A. and Elizabeth E., twins, born April 5, 1872; and Willie J., born June 17, 1878. Thus have we epitomized the life his- tory of one who, unlike the prophet of old, is honored most where he is best known. >Y*AMES C. THOM.— The man who m was content to go through the war as f%j " high" private, doing his duty nobly and unflinchingly on the field of bat- tle or in the camp, is the man who to-day is serving to the best of his ability — and that ability is of a superior order — as sheriff of Nobles county; the man who has ever been found in the foremost ranks of citizens who are devoted to their country's best interests and to the welfare of their fellow men; in private life and in official positions always laboring for others with an unselfish devotion that well entitles him to the respect which is so freely given him and to a place among the honored and valued residents of Worthington. Mr. Thom is a Scotchman by birth, but since the age of sixteen he has been promi- nently identified with the interestsof America. He was born October 10, 1840, and is a son of Francis and Margaret (Cragien) Thom, who in 1856 brought their family to the New World, going first to Ontario, Canada, and later to Toronto; Detroit, Michigan; Chicago; Kenosha, Wisconsin, and in the spring of 1858 located in Steele count\', Minnesota, where the father opened up a farm, on which he died in November, 1 895. He became prominent in that county, where he served some time as county com- so UTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 69 missioner. His mother's death occurred in August, 1889. In the family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, of whom eleven still survive, James C. Thoin is the fifth in order of birth. His education was rather limited, as he attended the common schools of Scotland only until nine years of age, when he laid aside his text-books and began to assist in the support of the family. After coming to the United States he re- mained under the parental roof until the dark cloud of war, which had for some time lowered over his adopted country, broke upon our people. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel John A. Davis, who was killed at the battle of the Hatche, in 1862. Mr. Thom participated in the sieges of Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth, and the battles of La Grange, Ten- nessee, and Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 1862 he returned to Memphis, and later went to Bolivar, Tennessee. The command then re-inforced General Rosecrans and took part in the battles of the Hatche. It was a member of the Fourth Division, com- manded by General Hurlburt. It then did duty in Mississippi and Tennessee, partici- pating in the siege of Vicksburg, and after its fall went with Sherman to Jackson, Mis- sissippi. On the surrender of that place the command returned to Vicksburg, later went to Natchez and Trinity, and remained in camp from November 10, 1863, until January 4, 1864. Mr. Thom then re-enlisted in the Forty- sixth Illinois, and after a thirty-days fur- lough passed at home rejoined his regiment, returning to Vicksburg in the spring of 1864. He was then on picket and scouting duty, and on the i6th of Jul}' took part in an en- gagement near Jackson. In April, 1S65, he participated in the seiges of Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort, and remained in the service until February, 1866, when he was honorably discharged, with the commission of second lieutenant, after over four years of arduous and faithful service. He also had served as sergeant and orderly sergeant. Returning to his home in Steele county, Minnesota, Mr. Thom engaged in general farming and "stock-raising for some four years. In 1872 he removed to Nobles coun- ty, buying three hundred and twenty acres of land twelve miles west of Worthington, which he at once began to improve and cultivate, and erected thereon good and substantial farm buildings. He was a suc- cessful stock-raiser as well as agriculturist, and continued to operate his land until his election to his present position. However, he still owns his farm near Rushmore. December 30, 1868, Mr. Thom was uni- ted in marriage with Miss Albina Thornton, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, but born in Illinois. She is the daughter of Myron Thornton, and by her marriage has become the mother of four sons: Harry J , deputy sheriff and jailor; Robert G., a student at Hamlin, Minnesota; Claude, attending school at Worthington; and Myron F., who was killed July 2, 1877. In 1S92 Mr. Thom was elected sheriff of Nobles county, and two years later was re-elected. He has not only made an efficient officer, but is very popular through- out the county, having the esteem of all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. He belongs to Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. , and both he and his estimable wife hold a membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is serving as trustee. 70 MEMORIAL RECORD OF aHARLES M. ELLITHORPE.— The splendid farm owned by this gentleman in Springwater town- ship, Rock county, is a standing monument to his industry, perseverance and good management. He comes under the category of self-made men, having been thrown upon his own re?ources early in life, and has succeeded by the exercise of per- sistent labor, both mental and physical. At the present time he is one of the prominent representatives of the agricultural and stock- raising interests of the county. Mr. Ellithorpe was born in St. Lawrence county. New York, August 22, 1839, and is a son of Ciiarles A. and Lucy (Parkhurst) Ellithorpe. His father, who was a native of Vermont, was a carpenter by trade, and died at Fort Henry, New York, at the age of thirty-nine years. His mother was born in New England, and died in St. Lawrence county. New York, when quite young. Three of their children are still li\ing. At the early age of five years our subject was left an orphan, and for a few years made his home with an uncle. He was then employed by the month until nineteen, when he began the cultivation of a farm in DeKalb county, Illinois, but later went to Carroll county, of the same state. In 1862, prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he en- listed in Company C, Ninety-second Illinois Infantry, under Captain R. M. A. Hawk, and remained in the service until the close of the war, being always found at his post of duty, with the exception of two months spent in the hospital and seventy days passed at home on account of illness. At Chicago he was discharged and mustered out in the fall of 1865. Mr. Ellithorpe went to Butler county, Iowa, at the close of the war, and was there married December 2, 1867, the ladj' of his choice being Miss Mary Searles, who was born near Waterford, Canada, and is a daughter of William and Lurenzo (Ross) Searles, very early settlers of Iowa. Her father, a native of New Jersey, left that state at the age of ten years, and spent most of his life in Iowa, and died in Wash- ington, at the age of seventy years. His wife was born in England, and was the daughter of William and Nancy (Hervey) Ross, also natives of the same country. They both died in Canada, where her father, a mechanic, was overseer and foreman in a factory. At the age of five years Mrs. Searles accompanied her parents to the New World, and died in Iowa, at the age of seventy-nine. She was the mother of eleven children, four of whom are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Ellithorpe have two daughters, to whom they have given excel- lent educational privileges. Bertha L., after completing her education at the high school at Luverne and at college at Fergus Falls, engaged in teaching for seven terms. On the loth of December, i8go, she mar- ried Henry Madison, by whom she has a little daughter, Carrie, now three years old, and they make their home in Lake county. South Dakota. Olive, the younger daugh- ter, after leaving the high school at Luverne, attended college at Wilder, Minnesota. For four years and a half after his mar- riage, Mr. Ellithorpe continued to live in Butler county, Iowa, and then came to Luverne township. Rock county, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land, but six months later sold out and purchased a half section near his present home. On removing to his farm of one hundred and sixty acres, he at first lived in a sod house, and in the summer of 1872 built his first so uTh western MINNESO TA . 71 house, and in the following spring added to that dwelling. For seven years he made his home in a shanty twelve by fourteen feet, and then built a part of his present comfortable residence. In connection with general farming he makes a specialty of stock-raising and ships his own stock. For several years, Mr. Ellithorpe was a member of the board of township commis- sioners and served as its first chairman. He has also been officially connected with the schools of his locality. The family, which is one of the most refined and hospitable in the community, is connected with the Meth- odist Episcopal church, in the work of which both Mr. and Mrs. Ellithorpe take a very active part. His first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, in iS6o, and he has since been a stalwart I^epublican. He is a char- ter member of John A. Dix Post, of Luverne, and now receives a pension in recognition of his arduous service in the civil war. His pure, honorable and useful life, actuated by unselfish motives, prompted by patriotism and guided by truth and justice, has gained him many warm and valuable friends throughout Rock count}'. ATHAN BEACH.— At this point in this series of biographical re- views the writer would call at- tention to the life history of one of the prominent and influental business men of the prosperous town of Tracy, Min- nesota, — Nathan Beach, a self-made man in every respect and one well worthy of spe- cial consideration on the pages of this volume. Mr. Beach comes of Welsh ancestry, his people having long been residents of Amer- ica, and he was born in Randolph county, Indiana, December i8, 1841, son of Milton and Mary (Chandler) Beach. Milton Beach was a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, and died in Olmsted county, Minnesota, at the age of seventy-four years, he having come to this state about 1863 or '4. His wife, whose birthplace was in Washington county, Ohio, also died in Olmsted county, Minnesota, her age at death being about fifty-four years. They were the parents of eight children, six of whom are 3'et living and are occupying honored and useful posi- tions in life. The paternal grandparents of our subject were Timothy and Sarah (Sprague) Beach, the former a native of Rhode Island. Grandfather Beach died in Scotland county, Missouri, at the ripe old age of eighty-six years; his wife passed away in Macon county, Illinois, at the age of fifty-eight. He was a veteran of the war of 1 8 12. Reverting to the maternal grand- parents of Nathan Beach, we find that they were Hiram and Sarah (Humiston) Chand- ler, who doubtless were among the earliest settlers of the Buckeye state. Grandfather Chandler died in Randolph county, Indiana, near the age of sixty years, and Grand- mother Chandler attained the ripe old age of eighty-eight years, her death having occurred in Minnesota. Coming down to the direct subject of this biographical notice, Nathan Beach, we record that he was reared on a farm, and educated at the district schools and in a select school in Salem, Indiana. He re- mained at home until twenty years of age, and August 9, 1862, before he reached his majority, he enlisted as a member of Com- pany F, Sixty-ninth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, under Captain Lew K. Harris, the fortunes of which command he shared until 72 MEMORIAL RECORD OF he was honorably discharged at St. Louis, June 27, 1865. He was at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky', nineteen days after he enlisted. Chickasaw Bluffs was his next battle, followed by Arkansas Post and Port Gibson. At this last named place, May i, 1863, he was shot in the left shoulder, and was laid up practically until the close of the war. After three or four weeks spent in Milliken's Bend Hospital in Louisiana, he went to Benton Barracks Hospital at St. Louis, where he remained until convalescent. Then he was trans- ferred to the Veterans' Reserve Corps and remained in St. Louis until he was honor- ably discharged at the close of hostilities. He has been a sufferer ever since from his army wounds. The war over, Mr. Beach came direct to Minnesota and settled first in Marion, Min- nesota, with his parents, making that his home and carrying on farming operations on a tract of one hundred acres of wild land he bought. In 1871 he exchanged this farm for a stock of goods in Marion, where he was engaged in business for two years and a half. At the end of that time he and his partner divided the stock, and he removed his share to St. Charles, Minnesota, and entered into partnership with his brother- in-law, dealing in groceries, boots, shoes and crockery. In 1878 they divided their stock, Mr. Beach bringing a part of the goods to Tracy, Minnesota, and for three or four years longer the business was conducted in partnership at both places. After that he disposed of his interest in the St. Charles store and became sole proprietor of the establishment here, and has ever since con- tinued in business, carrying a large stock of groceries, hardware and lumber. His every venture and enterprise seemed a fortunate one. He has prospered from year to year, and has accumulated a large property. Be- sides his valuable property in Tracy, his business house and home, he owns a fine country seat and summer cottage at Lake Shetek, and has eighty acres of fine farming land. Mr. Beach was married January i, 1867, in Marion, Minnesota, to Miss Elizabeth Robertson, a native of Sullivan count}'. New York, and by her has had two children, — Mary E. and Jessie A. The former is mar- ried and settled in life, and the latter is a member of the home circle. Mrs. Beach is a daughter of Eli and Eliza I. (Young) Rob- ertson, early settlers of Minnesota, he being now deceased and she a resident of Tracy. Not only in business circles, but also in those political and fraternal Mr. Beach is prominent and acti\e. He is a stanch Re- publican, voted first for Mr. Lincoln's sec- ond term, and has always maintained his allegiance to this party. He has always been active in the conventions and caucuses of his party, and has filled some local offices, but has never been an office-seeker nor has he cared for official preferment. He is a member of Joe Hooker Post, No. 15, G. A. R. , of Tracy, of which he served as com- mander in I 894. His prominence in Grand Army circles is equaled by his wife's popu- larity in those of the W. R. C. Indeed, Mrs. Beach is one of the most enthusiastic and efficient corps workers in the state of Minnesota. For the year 1895 she filled the office of department inspector of the state, and while serving as such showed marked executive abilit}', and by her charm- ing manner and winning ways made hosts of friends. Mr. Beach and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal church. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 73 >^OHN MOCK.— The world pays its fl tribute of admiration and respect to A 1 those men of foreign birth who with- out Icnowiedge of our language or our customs come to American shores and adapting themselves to an entirely new order of things achieve success entirely through their own unaided efforts, working their way up to prominence in the communi- ties where they locate. Such a man is Mr. Mock. He is numbered among the German- American citizens which have found homes in Minnesota and given their strength and influence to the development of her re- sources and the upbuilding of her towns and cities. Mr. Mock is now closely identified with the industrial life of the prosperous new town of St. Kilian. His influence and efforts have materially benefited the com- mercial interests of Nobles county and he is most widely and favorably known in this section of the state. The biographer there- fore finds in him a subject whose life history is replete with interest, and turns to its por- trayal with no little satisfaction. A retrospective glance back to iiis nativ- ity reveals the fact that he first saw the light of day in Bavaria, Germany, on the 24th of November, 1848. His parents, people of intelligence and honest worth, were John Adam and Barbara Mock, also natives of Germany. His mother died in that country, at the age of sixty-three years, and in 1872 the father came to America, spending the remainder of his life in Minne- sota, where he died at the age of si.xty-eight years. They were the parents of eight chil- dren, who with two exceptions are yet liv- ing; three of them are living m this country, in Minnesota. John Mock was reared and educated in the fatherland and learned the trade of brick-mason there. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Bavarian army as a volun- teer soldier and served for two years and three months in the Second Cavalry Regi- ment. On attaining his majority he re- solved to seek a home in the New World and has never felt that he has had occasion to regret the carrying out of this determina- tion, for here he has found the opportunities he sought and has worked his way steadily upward to a position of affluence. Coming at once to Minnesota he located in Carver county, where he worked at his trade from 1869 until 1877, when he came to Nobles county and secured a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres. He also purchased forty acres adjoining this tract, making in all two hundred acres, which he transformed into a richly cultivated farm, the well tilled fields and many substantial improvements indicating the thrift and en- terprise of the owner. When the initial steps in the formation of the town of St. Kilian were taken Mr. Mock abandoned agricultural pursuits and turned his attention to merchandising, opening the first store in the new town and since successfully con- ducting the same. He carries a well assorted stock of goods and his courteous treatment of his patrons and fair dealing has enabled him to command a large share of the public patronage, which he certainly richly de- serves. It was largely through his personal efforts that a post-ofBce was established at St. Kilian, and it is also due to him that in January, 1895, this was made a money-order office. He was the first postmaster, and as such, also on account of his many services in the interests of St. Kilian, his name is intimately linked with its history. In his political adherency Mr. Mock was formerly a Democrat, but the unsettled con- MEMORIAL RECORD OF dition of that party and its attitude on cer- tain public questions has caused him to withdraw his allef,'iance, and since 1895 he has acted with the Repubhcan party. While residino; in Carver county, Minnesota, Mr. Mock was honored with a number of public offices, and since coming to Xobles county he has filled almost every township office, while from 1890 uritil 1895 lie served as county commissioner. During that time the pro- gressive county board erected the fine sixty- thousand-dollar court-house, the sheriff's residence and the county jail. ^^r. \fock was very active in securing these splendid improvements, and his name is nov.- en- graved on the corner-stone of the court- house, where it will stand as a witness of his enterprise and devotion to the public wel- fare through many years to come. Mr. Mock is now serving as supervisor of his township and also justice of the peace. He has several times been solicited to accept the nomination for county sheriff, but has steadily dechned this honor. His name has also been mentioned in connection with some of the state offices, and should he desire further preferment along political lines cpuld undoubtedly secure it. In April, 1872, was celebrated the mar- riage of Mr. Mock and Miss Helen D. Vol- kenant, a native of Saxony, Germany, and a daughter of Frederick William \'olkenant, who in 1862 joined the Union army as a member of a Minnesota regiment and was killed at the battle of Little Rock, Arkansas, while defending the stars and stripes, dying on September 4, 1864. He left a wife and 1 seven small children, Afrs. Mock, the eldest, : being only about eleven years of age at the time of his enlistment. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Mock has been blessed with ten children, eight of whom are living and all at home with the parents save Anna, who is married and resides in Carver count}', Minnesota. Mr. Mock is a gentleman of a pleasant, genial nature, and his sterling worth, his devotion to public duty and to every manly principle has won him a host of warm friends in Nobles county. AY B. HINKLY. — The progress and advancement made by the west have been a marvel to all sections of the country. Its en- terprising citizens have accomplished in a few 3'-ears a work that required decades to complete in the east. This is due to the energetic, well-directed efforts of such men as the subject of this review, — Ray B. Hinkly, — the well-known and popular cash- ier of the Rock County Bank, of Luverne. Our subject is a western man by birth, training and preference, and possesses the typical progressive spirit of this section of the countr\'. He was born in Clermont, Fayette county, Iowa, July 24, i860, and is the eldest son of Dr. Benjamin H. and Emma C. (Bryant) Hinkl}', the former a native of New York. The mother is a daughter of S. S. and Elizabeth Bryant. Dr. Hinkl)' was graduated at the Cleveland Medical College, of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1855, and soon afterward removed to Iowa, locating in Clermont in 1856, as one of the pioneers of that locality. There he contin- ued the practice of his profession until 1876, after which he spent the following year in Lansing, Michigan, and then took a trip through Europe. On his return he retired from the medical profession, and was until his death engaged in the banking- business, being one of the principal stockholders in the Fayette Counts' National Bank, of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 75 Fayette, Iowa. He was also interested in other banking concerns, became a stock- holder in the Rock County Bank on its or- ganization, and was president of the same, making his home in Luverne until his death, which occurred August 31, 1896. Ray B. Hinkly spent the first thir- teen years of his life in Fayette county, Iowa, and attended the district schools. He was later a student in the public schools of Lansing, Michigan, and in the high school of that city, after which he entered Oberlin College, in Ohio, where he vigor- ously prosecuted his studies in 1878 and 1879. Returning then to Clermont, Iowa, he was engaged in the newspaper business for one year with the Hon. H. C. Warner, now a member of the Dakota legislature. Selling his business there he next began reading law under the guidance of the Hon. L. L. Ainsworth. He was admitted to the bar on his twenty-first birthday, but did not at once begin practice, for his financial resources were exhausted, and ready money was needed in order to live. He entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and was soon made foreman of a gang of men, with headquarters at Brain- erd, Minnesota. For six months he acted in that capacity, during which time he saved some money. He then returned to Cler- mont and spent the winter in the Fayette County National Bank, of West Union, Iowa, of which his father was a director, being thus employed until the spring of 1882, when he came to Luverne, Minne- sota, and assisted in the organization of the Rock County Bank, of which his father was president, while he is cashier. They do a general banking business, and their estab- lishment is considered one of the solid finan- cial institutions of Rock county. In 1882, Mr. Hinkly married Miss May Harrington, of Clermont, Iowa, daughter of W. H. Harrington, a prominent pioneer merchant of that place. They have four children, — Laura E., William B. , Harry J., and Bryant Stanton. In 1892 Mr. Hinkly erected his fine residence, built of red stone from the celebrated red-stone quarries which \ produce the finest rock in Minnesota, if not in the west. In connection with his other business interests, Mr. Hinkl}- is vice-president of the Security Bank at Howard, Dakota, also 1 president of the Rock County Banking Com- ! pany at Hills, Minnesota, and is extensively interested in sheep and cattle raising, on the Blue Mounds, two miles north of Lu- verne. He owns there about five hundred acres of fine grazing land among the red- stone quarries and has between five and six hundred head of sheep in the pastures and on the cliffs, the rock bluffs furnishing great protection for the sheep during the winter season. In his business Mr. Hinkly has been marvelously successful, and has accu- mulated a handsome property, all of which has been acquired through the legitimate channels of trade. His political support is given the Democracy on matters of national importance, but at local elections he votes independently, and at all times gi\es a hearty indorsement and earnest support to the measures that are calculated to advance the'general welfare. Q' HARLES E. GUTHRIE, one of the most able educators of south- western Minnesota, is now super- intendent of the Luverne public schools. He was born in Livingston count}'. New York, in the vicinity of York, on the ?6 MEMORIAL RECORD OP 19th of June, 1868, and is a son of John and Alice (Crawford) Guthrie, also natives of that state. His father was, by occupa- tion, a farmer, and died when his son was quite young, and in 1880 the death of his mother occurred, at which time she was a resident of Minnesota. He was the young- est in a family of seven children, all of whom reached maturity, but only four are now living. His brother, J. De Mott, completed the high-school course at Luverne, and in 1895 graduated in the medical department of the State University at Minneapolis. There are two sisters, one of whom is the wife of C. E. Huntington, and the other. Miss Anna, is assistant librarian at the Uni- versity of Minnesota, of which institution she is a graduate. Professor Guthrie's early educational opportunities were somewhat limited, but he was an honest and industrious boy, and when not employed at labor, devoted his time to the reading of good books, thus greatly supplementing the knowledge ac- quired in Lhe district schools. It was in 1879 that he accompanied his mother to Luverne, Minnesota, where he entered the public schools and made rapid progress in his studies. Subsequently he became a student in the State University of Minne- sota, at which he graduated in the class of 1891. After his graduation, Professor Guthrie taught for one year at Clearwater, Minne- sota, after which he was superintendent of the schools at Plainview for two years. In 1894 he became superintendent of the schools of Luverne, of which he has since had charge, and they now take rank among the best graded schools in the state. He has an efficient corps of twelve teachers and an enrollment of six hundred scholars. The high-school department is now in its new building, an elegant structure, which was erected at a cost of twenty-Jive thousand dollars, the architect being Mr. McLaughlin, of Sioux City, Iowa. It is built of stone, quarried north of Luverne, and is heated throughout with steam. It is conveniently located and stands upon a high plateau, from which the scholars have a fine view of the surrounding country. The high-school course, of four years, comprises both Latin and Greek. At the close of Professor Guthrie's second year at Luverne the higii school was placed on the first grade list of state high schools. Professor Guthrie's studious life and painstaking care of such educational trusts as have been under his management have shown him to be a ripe scholar and a wise administrator. He has that love for his work without which there is no success. On the 1 8th of July, 1895, was cele- brated his marriage to Miss Rhoda E. Hart, of Mankato, Minnesota, a daughter of James A. Hart, now of Austin, this state. In social circles they hold a prominent posi- tion and have hosts of warm friends in the city of their adoption. >T^OHN ULVELING is a fair repre- f sentative of the German element that A 1 has found a lodgment in this coun- try and that is everywhere distin- guished for its energy and thrift. He owns and works one of the fine farms of West Side township, Nobles county, Minnesota, and as one of its leading citizens it is appro- priate that his life history be accorded place in this volume. John Ulveling was born in Ln.xemburg, Germany, November 13, 1850, and when SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 11 about six years of age was broufrht by his parents, Peter and Rosa (Besting) Ulveling, to this country, their first settlement being in Washington county, Wisconsin, where they resided until John was about fourteen years old, the family home at that time being changed to Nobles county, Minnesota. The father died some years ago in Nobles county, this state. John remained with his parents until he attained to his nineteenth year. Then he started out in life on his own re- sponsibility and has since made his own way in the world, and farming has been his chief occupation. IniS/i he took a homestead claim in Jackson county, Minnesota, proved his right and owned it two years, and then sold out, after which he went to southern Iowa, where he remained until the spring of 1S76. At that time he came to Nobles county and located near Worthington. Shortly afterward he made a trip to the Black Hills and after his return to Minne- sota spent a short time in Rock county. In the spring of 1879 he returned to Nobles county and settled on a portion of his pres- ent farm in West Side township, his first purchase here being eighty acres on section twenty-seven. To this he has added from time to time until now his holdings comprise two hundred and eighty acres of improved land, under cultivation and with good build- ings thereon. Mr. Ulveling is a man of famil}'. He was married in Adair county, Iowa, Febru- ary 8, 1S74, to Miss Ella M. Newton, a na- tive of New Hampshire, born December 3, 1855, daughter of Mark and Margaret New- ton, residents of Adair county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Ulveling have been blessed in the birth of four children, — Anna E., Katie M., Rosa B. and Margaret E. Mr. Ulveling has taken a fairly active part in local matters and has filled accept- ably some of the school offices of his district. Both he and his wife are identified with the Catholic church. EENRY NOLTE, prominent among the farming interests of Grand Prairie township, is one of its most progressive and energetic men, and from a humble beginning in life has accumu- lated a handsome property. He not only commenced without means, but was obliged to battle with the elements of a foreign clime and the customs of a strange country, as he is of German birth and parentage. He was born on the 21st of July, 1845, in the north of Germany, and remained there until reaching his majorit}'. In the spring of 1866, Mr. Nolte crossed the Atlantic to the New World, and after landing in New York came directly to Ogle county, Illinois, where he made his home for nine years, or until the spring of 1875, when he removed to Franklin county, Iowa, and lived there until coming to Nobles coun- ty in the spring of 1888. The previous fall he had purchased four hundred acres on section 7, and to this he has since added until he now has a valuable farm of seven hundred and twenty acres, which he has placed in a state of high cultivation and im- proved in an excellent manner. In Ogle county, Illinois, Mr. Nolte was united in marriage with Miss Gesiene Ess- man, by whom he had twelve children, nine still living, namely: Louisa, wife of Albert Rust; Henry, Herman, Charles, Minnie, Fred, John, Gesiene and Bernhardt. On the farm in Grand Prairie township, the wife and mother died, December 28, 1893. Mr. Nolte was again married, his second MEMORIAL RECORD OF union being with Mrs. Minnie Krueger, and they have one child, Maria. Mr. Nolte takes an active interest in pubHc affairs, supporting the People's party by his ballot, and has held the office of township assessor. Religiously he is a member of the Evangelical Reformed church. He has watched with lively interest the growth and development of Nobles county, and has contributed largely to its reputation as one of the most desirable farming dis- tricts in southwestern Minnesota. K.J^ UEL W. POPE is ranked among ■ (''^ the prominent and progressive fJ^^_J farmers of Summit Lake township, Nobles county, Minnesota, holds official preferment as one of the commis- sioners of that county, and stands out con- spicuously as one of the most public-spirited and influential men of his part of the coun- try. It is therefore of special importance that the salient points in his life history be touched upon in this connection, and to a brief review of his life the biographer would now direct attention. Buel W. Pope is a native of the Empire state. He was born in St. Lawrence coun- ty. New York, March 3, 1854, and is a son of Marcus and Mary C. (Smith) Pope. In 1858 the Pope family moved west to Wis- consin, where they resided until 1871, when they came over into the neighboring state of Minnesota and settled in Martin county, taking a homestead claim at that place. In Wisconsin and this state the subject of our sketch was reared and obtained his edu- cation. His schooling advantages were not of the best, but he attended the schools near his home, such as they were, whenever he could, spent his leisure UToments in read- ing and study and through his own persist- ent efforts has acquired a large fund of use- ful information. On attaining his majority in 1875, he took a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres on section 30, of Summit Lake township. Nobles county, and here he has since resided, giving his at- tention to the improvement and cultivation of his land. In the meantime he purchased other land, two hundred and forty acres in extent, and is now the owner of four hun- dred acres, two of his farms being leased. He carries on his farming operations by the latest and most improved methods, and his well-cultivated fields and the general appear- ance of his premises all go to show that in- telligence has been back of the means and labor here expended. The first house he built here served as a home until 1892, when he built his present modern residence. The year after he took claim to this land, April 5, 1876, Mr. Pope was united in mar- riage to Miss Nellie E. Dana, a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (McCauley) Dana, and~ to his new home he took his bride. Their happy union has been blessed in the birth of four children, namely: Chester L., Burt, Alice L. and Arthur C. The people of Summit Lake township early recognized in Mr. Pope a man of more than ordinary ability, one in many ways suited for a leader, and have on numerous occasions chosen him to fill positions of local prominence and trust. He has served acceptably in nearl}' all the township offices, is now filling the office of county commis- sioner, and the future doubtless holds in store for him still higher honors. He has always been a loyal and enthusiastic Re- publican ever since he cast his first presi- dential vote for R. B. Hayes, is an active S O UTH WE S TERN MINNE S O TA . 79 worker in local politics, and is ranked with the wheelhorses of his party in Nobles coun- t}'. He is a member of the Farmers' Aid Association and the A. O. U. W. Both he and his wife are church-f;;oing people, are interested in the religious, moral and edu- cational welfare of their community and are esteemed as among its best citizens. BREDERICK H. THOMPSON, of Summit Lake township, Nobles county, is in line with the model farmers of his locality. He is an Englishman by birth. ft was in Middlese.x, England, November 9, 1856, that he was ushered into life, a son of David and Eliza- beth (Powell) Thompson, the former a na- tive of that place and the latter of Somerset- shire. The Thompson family was composed of eight children, si.x of whom are 3'et living, nearly all engaged in agricultural pursuits, excepting one brother in the hardware trade on Long Island, New York. At one time his father and his brothers were largely in- terested in dairying and market gardening near London, and some of them are there yet. All have led honorable and upright li\es, noted for their integrity and respected for their many sterling qualities. The mother died in Middlesex, and after her death the father and four sons, including our subject, came to America, landing here in 1873 and settling on Long Island, where Frederick H. and his father kept a green- | house for several years, their establishment being only forty miles from New York city. In 1878 they sold out and in the spring of the following year the subject of our sketch came west to Minnesota, stopping first in Rushmore, where for some tinie he worked i by the month, and later had charge of the Seney farm for three years, then rented for two j'ears. The senior Mr. Thompson re- mained in the east until 1887, when he too came to Minnesota. He now resides with one of his sons in Ransom township, Nobles county. Reverting to the early life of Frederick H., we find that he had but few educational advantages in his youth. He attended the country and village schools near his home before he was thirteen, and ever since he was fourteen he has made his own way in the world, having started out at that time with only enough means with which to pay two weeks' board. Thus he may rightly be termed a self-made man. Not long after he came to this state he and his brother bought eighty acres of land. Frederick, however, continued in the employ of others for several years. After his marriage, which took place in the early part of 1882, he settled in Rush- more, and lived there seven years, most of that time being employed in overseeing large farming operations, having in charge one of the finest farms in the state and receiving a salary of fifty dollars per month. Nine years ago he purchased his present farm in Summit Lake township, moved here in the spring of 1890, and here he has since lived. Previous to 1890 not a furrow had been made on this land and it had no buildings or other improvements, but as a result of Mr. Thompson's well-directed efforts it is now ranked as one of the best farms in the county. As above stated, Mr. Thompson was married in 1882, April 16 being the day on which that event was consummated, and the lady he wedded being Eliza Nelson, a native of Iowa county, Wisconsin, and a. 80 MEMORIAL RECORD OF daughter of Hans and Caroline (Peterson) Nelson, natives of Norway and now residents of Ransom township, Nobles county, where they settled in 1873. During their residence here her parents have sustained heavy losses by fire and in other ways, but are now in well-to-do circumstances, owning a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres. Mrs. Thompson is one of a family of seven chil- dren, all of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have no children of their own, but have an adopted son, Ernest H., nine years of age. Politically our subject is a firm adherent of the Republican party, and has been ever since he cast his first vote for the late lamented Garfield. He has filled several township offices, and was elected justice of the peace but refused to serve in this ca- pacity. He was reared in the Episcopal faith and his wife was a Lutheran. Recently, however, they have put aside their differ- ences of creed and have both united with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are consistent and acceptable members. >^OSEPH GERBER.--Some time in ■ the sixteenth century there was A J founded by Menno Simonis, in Hol- land, a religious sect which has since been known as Afennonites, and which more than a hundred years later gained a foothold in the United States. To-day the Mennonite church has many thousands of members in this country, settlements of them being found in a number of states, one of which is in Summit Lake township. Nobles county, Minnesota, the leader of this people here being Joseph Gerber, whose name initiates this review. Joseph Gerber was born in Lewis coun- ty, New York, May 4, 183S. His parents, John and Lena (Laftier) Gerber, were na- tives of France, emigrated to this country in 1 83 1, being forty-four days in crossing the Atlantic, and landed at New York city. After some years residence in New York state they removed to Canada, where the mother died, when her son Joseph was only four years old. The father reached the venerable age of eight3'-two years, and he too died in Canada. They were the parents of three children, all of whom are yet living. Joseph remained a member of the home cir- cle until his marriage, F"ebruary 25, 1861, to Miss Lena Brenneman, a native of Upper Canada, and a daughter of John and Lena (Schultz) Brenneman, Germans by birth, who emigrated first to the United States and thence to Canada, where they died, each at about the age of seventy-five years. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gerber, of whom two are deceased, one having died at the age of twenty jears and the other at two. Those living are Johannes, Joseph, Jr., Daniel, Jacob, Christiana, Magdalena, Maria and Feronita. Of this number all are married except one, namely Christiana. At this writing Mr. Gerber's grandchildren number eleven. After his marriage Mr. Garber settled on a farm in Canada, where he reared his fam- ily and maintained his home until 1893. That year he sold out and came to Minne- sota, his being one of eight families, all of the Mennonite persuasion, who emigrated here at the same time. This little colony consisted of Mr. Gerber and his family, five of his married children and two other fami- lies. All settled in the same locality. Mr. Gerber purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, his sons also bought land, and altogether they own several hundred acres. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA, 81 They have erected all the buildings on their land, have made numerous other improve- ments, and have already brought their fields under a high state of cultivation and given their farms the stamp of model ones. They carry on both general farming and stock- raising. Mr. Gerber is self-educated, and is a man well posted and of broad views. More than twenty years ago he was converted and began to preach the glad tidings of salva- tion, has never wavered in his Christian faith and works, and through his efforts many have been brought to a knowledge of the right ways of living and serving God. Since coming to Minnesota he has preached every Sunday in private houses in the neigh- borhood, and hopes this year, with the aid of his people, to secure the erection of a house of worship. This little settlement of Meiinonites is noted far and near for the thrift and piety of its members, their word being regarded equal to their bond, and their credit good wherever they are known. >-T*OHN DeBOOS.— The mercantile in- ^ terests of the prosperous little town /•I of Bigelow, Minnesota, are well rep- resented by this enterprising and re- liable merchant, John DeBoos, whose iden- tity with the county of Nobles covers about twenty-three years and who is well known here. Mr. DeBoos is a native of the City of Brothe^^y Love. He was born in Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1843, a son of James DeBoos and one of a family of seven children, of whom three, two sons and one daughter, are still living. His mother died in Philadelphia in 1869, at the age of sixty-seven years; his father in Bigelow, Minnesota, in 1883, at the age of seventy- three. Shortly after the close of the late civil war the subject of our sketch, like many other ambitious young men, sought a change of location and naturally turned his face westward. In April, 1866, he moved to Iowa county, Wisconsin, and there for seven years he made his home. At the end of that time he came over into the neigh- boring state of Minnesota and took up his abode in Nobles county, where he has re- sided since March, 1873. Here his atten- tion has been divided between agricultural pursuits and merchandising, and here he has all these years occupied a representative position among the citizens of his commu- nity and enjoyed their good will and high esteem. He is now the leading merchant of the town of Bigelow. Mr. DeBoos was married in Iowa coun- ty, Wisconsin, in 1868, to Miss Theresa Gray, a native of England, born in 1848, who came with her parents to this country in 1S59 and settled in Wisconsin, where she was reared. She has five brothers. Mr. and Mrs. DeBoos have four daughters, — Louisa Bessie, Emily O., Mary E. and Ada. The last mentioned is the wife of Mr. Cal- vin F. Modesette and has four children, — two sons and two daughters. ^""^ILES K. LEONARD, a general ■ r7\ farmer and dealer in live stock, \^^^ residing on section 22, Dewald township. Nobles county, secured his homestead from the government in re- cognition of his faithful service as a soldier in the late war. His life record is the story of an upright career, marked by fidelity to duty in all particulars. He was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, August 28, 1843, 82 MEMORIAL RECORD OF a son of Nelson and Esther (Looniisj Leon- ard. His father was a native of Connecti- cut, and one of the pioneer settlers of the Buckeye state. The grandfather, Levi Leonard, was also born in Connecticut, and took up his residence in .\shtabula county, Ohio, in the days of its early development. His ancestors came origi- nally from England. The maternal grand- father, Josiah Loomis, was also a native of Connecticut. The parents of our subject continued to reside in Ohio until called to the home beyond, the father passing away in 1884, the mother in 1855. Giles R. Leonard attended the district schools near his home, and assisted in the cultivation of the farm until his nine- teenth year, when he entered his country's service, enlisting in Company C, Twenty- ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, The regi- ment, commanded by Colonel Lewis P. Buckley, was ordered to West Virginia and joined General Shields. The}' participated in a number of important engagements, in- cluding the battles of Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. The regiment was then ordered to New York city to quell the riot caused by the enforce- ment of the draft. Returning to Virginia it joined the department of the Cumberland, becoming a part of the Twentieth Army Corps, commanded by General Joseph Hook- er. With this army, Mr. Leonard took part in the memorable battles of Douglas Gap, Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Fort Dal- las, Pilot Knob, Lost Mountain and others. On the 20th of July he was in the battle of Peach Tree Creek, in September, 1864, aided in the siege of Atlanta, and later in the siege and capture of Savannah. After participating in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, July 27, 1S65, Mr. Leon- ard marched to Gainesboro, and then on to Washington, District of Columbia, partici- pating in the grand review in the capital city. The regiment then went to Louis- ville, Kentucky, then on to Te.xas, and at length its faithful members were mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in July, 1865. Our subject was made Second sergeant, became quarter-master sergeant August 8, 1864, and first lieutenant May 31, 1865. Returning to Williamstield, Ohio, Mr. Leonard was engaged in clerking in a gen- eral store there for a time, and afterward went to Chicago, where he entered the em- ploy of the American Lightning Rod Com- panv, traveling as their salesman through the states of Indiana and Illinois for twelve years. In 1875 became to Nobles county and located and improved a soldier's claim of one hundred and sixty acres. He after- ward purchased one hundred and twenty acres, and successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He is now ex- tensively engaged in the raising of hogs and cattle, shipping several car-loads to the Chicago market each year. His farm is a highly improved property, his land well cultivated, and a substantial dwelling and good barns and sheds for the stock indicate the progressive methods which he follows in his work. Mr. Leonard was married January 12, 1867, to Miss Ellen S., the youngest daugh- ter of Henry F. and Paulino (Perkins) Black, of Ohio, who were formerly from New England. Our subject and his wife have a son and two daughters: Ida May, now the wife of Ed. F. Whitney; Lee B., who is his father's partner in the shipping business; and Maud E., an accomplished teacher of music. Mr. Leonard has served as town clerk for a number of terms and socially is SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 83 connected with Mortuaiy Lodge, No. 219, I. O. O. F. ; Stoddard Lodge, No. 34, G. A. R. ; and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a wide-awake, progress- ive business man, whose well directed efforts have brought to him a flattering measure of success. RANGE L. HOWARD is classed with the representative farmers of Bigelow township. Nobles county, Minnesota, where he has main- tained his residence since the year 1872. Briefly, a resume o^ his life is as follows: Mr. Howard is a native of that state which has produced so many substantial and sterling citizens, not a few of whom have been honored with high place in the nation, — Ohio. He was born in Cuyahoga county, January 5, 1832, a son of New York parents and one of a family of four children, two sons and two daughters. In his native state he was reared and educated. The year following his birth he removed with his parents to Wood county, in 1840 to Lorain county, and later to Oberlin. He attended school in Oberlin three years, completing his studies there, and in 1857 accompanied the family on their removal to Minnesota, their location being in Roches- ter. The ne.xt 3'ear he went back to Ohio; but in 1859 returned to Minnesota, and has lived here ever since. He was in Rochester until 1 86 1, from there went to Rice Lake, Dodge county, and a year and a half later to Brown county, where in 1864 he took a homestead claim and where he had his abid- ing place until 1872. That year he became identified with Nobles county, and for twen- ty-four years has made his home in Bigelow township, devoting his energies to the devel- opment of the agricultural interests of this place. His farm, which is located in section 6, contains two hundred and ten acres, one hundred and seventy of which are under cultivation and give ample evidence of the intelligent labor expended there. He di- vides his attention between farming and stock-raising. Mr. Howard was married in Lucas county, Ohio, in 1858, to the amiable com- panion and helpmate who has since shared this life with him, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of eight chil- dren, of whom four are yet living, namely: Willis C, Mary E., Fred A. and Alva N. Mr. Howard is a consistent and worthy member of the United Brethren church, and politically is a supporter of the Prohi- bition ticket. Referring to his parents, we would state that about twentj'-two years ago they left Minnesota and moved down into Missouri, locating in Nevada county, where they passed their closing years and died, the father's death occurring at the age of sixty-two years and the mother's at fifty- five. fi OBERT FIRTH.— For a period of twenty-five years the gentleman whose name graces this article has been an honored resident of Lorain township. Nobles county, Minnesota. He is an Englishman by birth but has passed most of his life in America and is thoroughly identified with this country and its interests. A record of his life, in brief, is as follows: Robert Firth was born in the city of Leeds, England, June 21, 1828, a son of English parents. Robert Firth, his father, was born in 1796, and died in 1853, and his wife, born in 1800, died in Nobles 84 MEMORIAL RECORD OF county, Minnesota, in 1882, she having come to this country in 1853, immediately after the death of her husband. Of their large tamil}', which comprised fifteen chil- dren, only three sons and two daughters are now living, namely: David, Robert, Will- iam A., Mrs. Martha Schofield and Mrs. Elizabeth Chadwick, the eldest seventy- three years of age and the youngest sixty- two, and all living in Amsterdam, New York, with the exception of Robert, the subject of this sketch. Robert Firth landed in America in the year 1847, locating first in Utica, New York, and two years later going to Madison coun- ty, that state. He remained in New York until 1862, when he came west to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and in 1871 to Nobles county, Minnesota. Here, October 3, 1871, he entered the land upon which he has since lived, its location being on section 6, in Lorain township. As the result of his well-directed efforts his farm is now nicely improved and in an excellent state of culti- vation. Mr. Firth was married, March 12, 1853, in Cortland county, Nev.' York, to Miss Patience Stephenson, like himself, a native of England, her birth having occurred De- cember 16, 1 83 1. Her father, Robert Stephenson, died in 1S35, when she was only four years old, and in 1850 she accom- panied her mother and other members of the family to America. Her mother, Ann Stephenson, was born in 1807, and died in White Water, Wisconsin, November 19, 1862. Robert Stephenson, brother of Pa- tience Stephenson, was born in Oldham, England, July 16, 1828, came to America in 1850, and died in Lodi, Wisconsin, No- vember 19, 1869. In the Stephenson fam- ily were eleven children, six sons and five daughters, Mrs. Firth being the only one of the latter now living. She has three half- sisters and one brother living in Lodi, Columbia county, \\'isconsin, as follows: Mrs. Matilda Albiston, eighty-six years of age; Mrs. Rachiel Mills, eighty-four; Mrs. Hannah Padley, seventy-three; and Alfred Stephenson, seventy-six. Mr. and Mrs. Firth have had six children, five sons and a daughter, and all are living except one of the sons. Following are their names and ages: Robert A., forty-two; William L. , thirty- six; Joseph S., thirty-three; Arthur S., thirty; and Emily F., seventeen. The eldest son, Robert A., was married in Octo- ber, 1877, to Miss Elizabeth Busby, and has two daughters; and William L. , in Decem- ber, 1887, wedded Miss Emma Vosburg, by whom he has three sons and two daughters. Mr. Firth has long been a supporter of the Republican ticket. During the time of civil war he showed his loyalty to the country of his adoption by going out into the Union lines and rendering valiant service as one of the "boys in blue." He enlisted in Com- pany D, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, and was in active service three years, re- ceiving an honorable discharge August 23, 1865. Among the engagements in which he participated were those of Little Rock and Mobile. £~V'AMUEL H. GRIFFIN is one of >Y^BB|r the wide-awake, enterprising citi- \\^j zens of Rock county, and his iden- tification with its interest dates from 1872. He has been honored with public office, and has been a prominent factor in promoting the public welfare by giving an active support to all measures SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 85 that are calculated to advance the moral, intellectual or material prosperity of the community. Such a man is certainly de- serving of representation in the history of his adopted county, and it is with pleasure that we present this sketch to our readers. Born in Mercer county, Illinois, on the i6th of March, 1842, Mr. Griffin is a son of William Griffin, whose birth occurred in Massachusetts in 181 7. His mother bore the maiden name of Lucinda Hicks, and was born in Monroe county. New York, April II, 1815. In that county they were married and began their domestic life, but subsequently removed to Lockhart, New York, and thence to Mercer county, Illinois. After several years spent in the last named place they went to Crawford county, Wis- consin, where the father died in 185 1. Their children, — two sons and two daugh- ters, — are Joseph, Samuel H., Charlotte and Mary. Our subject was a child nine years old when his father died. As soon as old enough to handle the plow he began work in the fields and assisted in the cultivation of the home farm, and at the earl}' age of fifteen years he began to take charge of the family's support, cultivating the home farm till 1862. The civil war was then in prog- ress and the hopes of the north for a speedy termination of the struggle had not been realized. A loyal supporter of the Union cause, Mr. Griffin enlisted as a mem- ber of Company A, Thirty-first Wisconsin Infantry, and served for nearly three years, when, hostilities having ceased, he was hon- orably discharged. He participated in the battle of Peach Tree creek and the siege of Atlanta, where he was injured in an acci- dent, and afterward went with General Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea. During his military service he sent fifteen dollars home every month. When the war was over, Mr. Griffin re- turned to Crawford county, Wisconsin, where he remained until the summer of 1866; then he went to Franklin county, Iowa, where he purchased a farm and con- tinued its cultivation until 1874, when he came to Rock county, locating in Kanaranzi township. He had secured a claim here in 1872, and on removing to the county at once began its cultivation and development. He now has three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land, which he has so suc- cessfully operated that it has yielded to him a most comfortable competence, and he is now numbered among the substantial cit- izens of the community. He has also in- vested in real estate in Kanaranzi, owning several village lots. Mr. Griffin has served as a member of the town. board of supervisors, has held the ofSce of township treasurer, and has been school treasurer for many years. Prompt and faithful in- the discharge of his duties, he is indeed a worthy citizen of the com- munity. His political support has ever been given to the Republican party. So- cially, he is connected with John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R., and is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity. On the 1st of March, 1866, in Crawford county, Wisconsin, Mr. Griffin was united in marriage with Miss Anglesea M. Wright, who was born in Wood county, Ohio, on the 30th of April, 1844.. Her parents, Asa and Susanna (Harvey) Wright, were both natives of Canada, and the father died in Lebanon, Kansas, while the mother's death occurred in Franklin county, Iowa. They had seven children, namely: Nelson, Lydia, Lucinda, David, Jane, Anglesea, and 8G MEMORIAL RECORD OF Diantha. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are the par- ents of two daughters, — Mary L. and Win- nie L., the former now the wife of William Rowland, of Kanaranzi township. ai * ILL! AM LfVINGSTON has for more than two decades been identified with the agricultural interests of Lyon county, Minne- sota, and he and his sons are prominent fac- tors in their locality, being among its most enterprising and progressive men. As such they should receive personal consideration in this volume. William Livingston was ushered into this life at Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 22, 1 83 I, his parents being Ezar and Elizabeth (Van Ausdall) Livingston, both natives of Schoharie county, New York. At an early day the senior Mr. Livingston came west and settled in Wisconsin, where he was a farmer for many years. By trade he was a clothier, and also for some years carried on that business. He died in Ivock county, Wisconsin, at about the age of si.\ty-two years. His wife also passed away in that county, she being seventy at the time of death. They were the parents of thirteen children, most of whom reached adult age and are now occupying useful positions in life. William, whose name introduces this article, was reared on his father's farm and received a district-school education. He remained with his parents in I^ock county, Wisconsin, until he was nineteen, when he went to Dane county, that state, where for two years he worked out by the month on farms. At the end of that time he came over into the neighboring state of Miiniesota and located near Northfield, when that now prosperous town contained only one house. and there he continued to work by the month until his marriage, which occurred shortly afterward. Then he settled on a farm in that vicinity, which he rented, and also while there he acquired the title to eighty acres of land at that place. In 1873 he sold out and came to Lyon county, here taking claim to one hundred and si.xty acres of land not far distant from the town of Balaton, and to the cultivation and develop- ment of tliis land he has since given his energies. His first home here was a slab and board house, fourteen by twenty feet, eight feet high, and this he and his family occupied until 1S93, when he built his pres- ent residence, at a cost of thirteen hundred dollars; and this property and all he has, he has acquired through his own unaided efforts, and- thus is justly entitled to the place he occupies among the self-made men of his locality. At the age of twenty-seven years Mr. Livingston was united in marriage to Miss Helen Badger, a native of Vermont, whose life has since been happily blended with his. They have had four children, of whom two are living, Charles and Clarence, both unmarried and both prosperous young farm- ers of their vicinity, the former having a farm of his own and the latter assisting in the operations of the home farm. Charles was born September 29, 1863, and Clarence, August 29, 1868. Both are members in good standing of the A. O. U. W. at Balaton. Politically, we find Mr. Livingston allied with the Prohibition party and one of its active and earnest workers. Formerly he was a Republican. In various local capaci- ties he has rendered most efficient service. He has the first chairman of the board of supervisors of Rock Lake township, and has SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. been treasurer of the school district ten 3'ears. Botii he and his family are members of the Presbyterian church and are among its most liberal supporters. IRA CRAWFORD, president of The Beaver Creek Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Beaver Creek, Minnesota, is a man whose business ability and many sterling qualities have brought him into prominence and placed him at tiie head of an institution which figures conspicu- ously in the business supremacy of southern Minnesota. As such his life history forms a link which fits into this biographical chain, and without which link this work would be incomplete. Before presenting a review of his life, however, we would make some general statements in regard to the company with which he is connected. The Beaver Creek Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, of Beaver Creek, Rock county, Minnesota, was organized and com- menced doing business in Rock coimty only, under the statutes of the state of Minne- sota, June 15, 1885, with A. Osmun, presi- dent; C. H. Henton, secretary; and James Marshall, treasurer, — who held their offices until the annual nieeting in 1887, when E. L. Grout was elected president, with the same secretary and treasurer. These were continued in office until 1893, when Thomas Raw was chosen president; A. H. Grout, secretary; and James Preston, treasurer. In 1894 Ira Crawford was chosen president, and in 1896 A. E. Snow was elected treas- urer, which leaves the present officers as fol- lows: Ira Crawford, president; A. H. Grout, secretary; and A. E. Snow, treasLn"er. The company, being a mutual concern, com- menced business with no capital except the honor, integrity and energy of its members, and has without exception paid its losses promptly, at no time deferring payment to exceed six days from date of loss. By its manner of doing business it has steadily gained in reputation and ability until at the present time it carries risks amounting to over half a million dollars, and enjoys a reputation second to no other company; and to the ability and untiring energy of Mr. Crawford is very largely attributed the present high standing of the institution. Ira Crawford is a native of the Empire state of the Union. He was born in the little town of Freedom, Cattaraugus county, New York, November 28, 1830, and is there- fore now in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He is one of a family of ten, six of whom at- tained maturity, and of that number three are still living. His parents, Isaac and Jane (Selfridge) Crawford, were also New Yorkers, the father a native of Washington county and the mother of Clyde, Wayne county. He died in Cattaraugus county, at the age of fifty-seven years, and she lived to be eighty-three and died at the home of her son Ira. The paternal grandparents of our subject were Isaac and Catharine (Mc- Cahren) Crawford, who died in Cattaraugus county; and of the maternal grandparents we record that they were Robert and Mar- garet (UeMott) Selfridge, the former having died at the home of our subject in New York and the latter in Seneca county, that state. Mr. Crawford is the eldest son in his father's family, and was reared in his native state, where he remained until 1872. In the spring of that year he turned his face westward, and on the 20th of May landed at his present location in Rock county, Min- 88 MEMORIAL RECORD OE nesota, and took up a homestead claim. He now owns a whole section of land in this county, and besides has forty acres adja- cent to the village of Beaver Creek, his land being devoted to general farming and stock purposes and he having for several years made a specialty of breeding fine stock. The success he has attained in this line has given him marked prestige among the agri- cultural classes, who regard him as author- ity, and not infrequently seek his counsel and advice. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party, and is an unwavering supporter of its principles; and religiously he and his family are Presbyterians, he be- ing active and influential in church work. Mr. Crawford was married November 5, i860, to Miss Elizabeth P. Priest, a most amiable and charming woman, whose life was blended happily with his for a period of thirty years. She was born in Massa- chusetts, September 15, 1S39, and died at her home in Minnesota, March 25, 1890, leaving a number of children, as follows: Isaac Franklin, born November i, 1S61; James Seth, May 16, 1863; Alice Jane, October 23, 1865; John Welsh, April 2, 1868; William Nathan, January 5, 1871; Samuel Bowden, March 9, 1874; James Renwick, March 29, 1877; Mary Laura, August II, 1879; Ira, September 8, 1881; and Philip Melancthon, December 5, 1882, — the first five in New York and the others in Minnesota. Mrs. Crawford's parents were Massachusetts farmers and were born and died in that state. Her father, Josiah W. Priest, was born May 25, 1802, and died July 4, i860, aged fifty-eight years; and her mother, ncc Eliza Sweetser, was born July i i, 1806, and died November 21, 1845, 'it the age of thirty-nine. Their mar- riage was consummated May 28, 1828. ^ ^^y^ ILLIAM DEY, postmaster of Mm I Golden Gate, is a successful mer- ^^L^J chant of that place and is one of the worthy and reliable citizens that Scotland has furnished to Minnesota. He was born in the "land of hills and heather," August 8, 1850, and is a son of Robert and Ann (Bruce) Dey, both of whom were reared in Scotland. The father is now deceased, but the mother is }et living. They had ten children, four sons and six daughters, all of whom yet survive. William is the second in order of birth, and in his native country he was reared and educated, attending the parish schools until sixteen years of age. In 1877 he was united in marriage with Allison Honeyman, daughter of James Honej'man. He then turned his attention to the dairy business, which he carried on for three and a half years. On the expiration of that period he determined to try his fortune in America, and in April, 1882, he landed in New York city, whence he went to Ohio. In the fall of the same year he came to the Golden Gate, Brown county, Minnesota, and pur- chased the merchandise stock of H. Wear- ing. He also spent four and a half years on a farm north of Golden Gate, and owns and operates eighty-five acres of land, which yields him a good income. He also carries a large and carefully selected stock of gen- eral merchandise, and his well appointed store receives from the public a liberal pat- ronage. In business he is systematic and methodical, and his honorable dealing com- mands the confidence of all. In 1 886 Mr. Dey was appointed to the position of postmaster of Golden Gate and has since held that office. He is also clerk of the town. He served as notary public, and for nine years held the office of district m/Zenc/en, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 89 treasurer. Prompt and faithful in the dis- charge of his official duties, he has won the commendation of all concerned and is widely known as a trustworthy citizen. Socially he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, also A. F. «& A. M. BON. ALSON C. CHITTENDEN has long been one of the most prominent factors in the upbuild- ing and development of southwest- ern Minnesota. In the past ages the history of a country was a record of wars and con- quests; to-day it is the record of commercial activity, and those whose names, are fore- most in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The conquests now made are those of mind over matter, not of man over man, and the victor is he who can successfully establish, control and operate e.xtensive business interests. Our subject is unques- tionably one of the strongest and most in- fluential men whose lives have become an essential part in the history of southwestern Minnesota. Tireless energy, keen percep- tion, honesty of purpose, genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time, joined to every-day common sense guided by resistless will power, are the chief characteristics of the man, and these have been exercised not only for his own benefit but have been an important factor in pro- moting the welfare of the community with which he is connected. Mr. Chittenden comes of a family of long and honorable idefitification with American interests and history. The first of the name to brave the dangers incident to an ocean vo}"age in the early days was William Chittenden, who was born in the parish of Cranbrook, Kent county, England, in I 594. He was married in his native land to Joanna Sheaffe, daughter of Dr. Edmund and Joanna Sheaffe, who were born in Cranbrook. Crossing the Atlantic only a few years after the Mayflower brought the first colonists to Massachusetts, he became a resident of the colony of Connecticut, and died at his residence in Crooked lane, now State street, Guilford, Connecticut, in Febru- ary, 1660. An item appeared in the New Haven Colonial Records, which says: "An inventory of the estate of William Chitten- den, of Guilford, deceased, was presented, amounting to six hundred and seventy-seven pounds, sixteen shillings and seven pence, and proved in court February 21, 1660, on oath of his widow. " William Chittenden was one of twenty-five who left England in 1639 to seek religious liberty in New England. The members of this colony were mostly from the counties of Kent, Surrey and Sus- sex. They sailed May 20, 1639, and were seven weeks on the water, landing at New Haven, July 10, 1639. The progenitor of the Chittenden family was prominent in colonial affairs and was one of six selected to make first purchase of land for the col- ony, and, with Governor Leete and two others, received full power and authority to act for the colony in buying, selling, etc., and in all matters pertaining to "civil gov- ernment of the plantations until a church is gathered among us." He was also the prin- cipal representative of the military forces, bearing the title of lieutenant. While in his native land he had served in the English army against the Netherlands and in the Thirty Years'war, and had reached the rank of major. He was a magistrate of the plantation and a deputy of the general court until his death. Other members of the fam- ily were prominent in affairs of state, and iK) MEMORIAL RECORD OF several representatives of the name proved their valor and loyalty by faithful service in the cause of American independence in the Revolutionary war. The next in the line of direct descent to our subject is Nathaniel Chittenden, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Martha (Fletcher) Stevens. Their son, Nathaniel Chittenden. Jr., was married January 6, 1725, to Lucy Nettleton, who died in July, 1762. His death occurred in Killingworth, Connecticut, in August, 1792, when he had reached the age of si.\ty-one }ears. His son, also named Nathaniel, was the great-grandfather of our subject. He married Mehitable Beebe and died in W'in- throp, Connecticut, June 11, 1820, aged eighty-eight years, while his wife died No- vember 25, 1S05, aged seventy-two. Their son, Cornelius Chittenden, grandfather of our subject, was married December 29, 1 77 1, to Rachel Porter, of Tolland, Con- necticut. He died in Westbrook, that state, — the place of his birth, — December 2, 1858, aged ninety-two years, and his wife passed away November 5, 184S, aged sev- enty-eight years. The father of Marshall's popular mayor was the Rev. Albert C. Chittenden, who was married July 9, 1835, to Miss Lavinia Jones, a daughter of Asa Jones. He aided in organizing the first \\'esleyan church at Westbrook, was ordained elder in 1 847 and served as local preacher until 1859, when he removed to Ripon, Wisconsin, where he joined the Congregational church. Laier he went to Colorado, where he spent his re- maining days, his death occurring in Boulder City, March 13, 1878, when he had reached the age of sixty-si.x years. The Chittenden family is noted for its scholarly tastes and its devotion to literary pursuits. Among the children of Rev. Albert C. Chittenden are several who have contributed to the literature of the country a number of valu- able writings, while others have attained eminence in professional life. One brother of our subject, Richard H., was graduated at New Haven Law School and at the cele- brated Heidelberg University of Germany and now is a leading attorney in California. He enlisted in the Seventy-first New York Regiment, was at the battle of " Bull Run," and afterward went to ihe front as captain in the First Wisconsin Cavalry. He is famed as a campaign orator and has delivered man\' addresses in both English and German dur- ing the presidential campaigns. He also published an exposition of Goethe's Faust, and is also the author of several speeches, essaj's and poems which have been published and wideh' read. Another brother. Rev. Albert J. Chittenden, of the Wesleyan Methodist church, wrote a satirical poem, entitled Candidating Fair. A third brother, Henry N., served through the late war, holding the rank of adjutant, and has since published a history of his regiment. He is now a lawyer of note in California. Rev. E. P. Chittenden, who belongs to the same family, is the author of an eleborate work entitled Pleroma, a Poem of the Christ. He is a very scholarly gentleman and is the present pastor of the Episcopal church in Winona, Minnesota. The preface of this work will show something of his scope, and reads as follows: "The Pleroma is characteristically modern. It may be safely claimed that in no other period of learning could it have been conceived and executed. For the ' materia' of the successive ages and stages of creation, the latest available scientific authorities have been consulted ; and through- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 91 out the drama the principle of evokition has been adopted; with the 'proviso,' however, that Jahveh-Christ shall be regarded as the Beginning and the End of the world-process. A fundamental error of the past has been to regard creation finished at man's appearance upon the earth. In this work, two hemi- spheres, the natural and the spiritual, are seen to evolve concurrently, reaching their fulness and perfection not in the first Adam but in the Second. In a word I have in- corporated ' The Christ ' into the mighty sweep of natural sequences; and the Incar- nation, as potentially hidden from the be- ginning in the Womb of the World. "The poetical form was chosen because it seemed to me that the present stage of knowledge suffers no one to fill out, after the scientific method, a plan so comprehen- sive as is here undertaken. The preparation of this Poem of the Christ has been a holy delight, while unwonted physical health brightened the arduous duties of a pastor and teacher. Some unusual writers will be found, whose design is to e.xpress peculiar notions of natural forces. I would crave indulgence for the form of blank verse which gives more prominence to the sentence than the traditional line permits of. Should my poem find favor among Christian students of science and scientific students of Chris- tianity, my utmost hopes will be realized." The life work of Hon. Alson C. Chitten- den has been no less important than that of his brothers, though in some respects it is less conspicuous; and it is with pleasure that we begin the task of depicting his career and noting the salient points of his character vvhiijh have made him the success- ful business man and honored citizen of his adopted state. He was born in Westbrook, Connecticut, July 29, 1S45, '"^d at the age of twelve years came to the west with his parents, the family locating near Ripon, Wisconsin, where he attended school. At the age of twenty-one he went to Milwau- kee, where he was bookkeeper in a commis- sion house for three years, and in 1869 arrived in Minnesota. For seven years he carried on a general store at Atwater and then went to Boulder, Colorado, where for eighteen months he engaged in the insurance business and in loaning money. Returning to Minnesota he opened a general store in Marshall, one of the first large business houses in the place, and has since conducted an excellent trade here with onl}' a short interruption, when he devoted his time and energies to other enterprises. , In 1885 he sold out and for two years had the state agency for the Grant Memoirs, the sale of the work being in the hands of two hundred agents, of whom he had entire supervision, while the volumes disposed of amounted to two car loads. Mr. Chittenden then re- turned to Marshall, purchased two stocks of goods, valued at thirteen thousand dollars each, and again engaged in merchandising here. Once more selling out, at the end of three years, he spent sixteen months in Cal- ifornia with his family, and while there erected a fine store building in Redlands, which he now rents. When he again took up his residence in Marshall he identified himself with the mercantile interests of the city and is now successfully conducting a large department store. He carries a very complete, extensive and carefully selected stock, which enables him to secure a very liberal patronage, while his honorable deal- ing and known reliability enable him to retain the support of those who once give him their business in his line. He is also a stockholder in the Lyon County Bank. One 02 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of the most active and influential business men in the entire county, his identification with commercial interests has brought to him a handsome competence and at the same time has promoted the material pros- perity of the community. He has always been a stanch Republican in politics. He was married on the ist of June, 1872, to Agnes Hill, who was born in Edin- burg, Scotland, and at the age of nine years, in 1856, came to America with her parents, John and Agnes (Reed) Hill, of Leith, Scot- land. Locating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the father and mother spent there their remaining days. He aided in the organiza- tion of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insur- ance Company of that city and was a promi- nent business man. Both he and his wife died at the age of seventy-one years, and of their family of eight children si.x are yet living. One brother is a retired dry-goods merchant. Mr. Chittenden and his wife are faithful members of the Congregational church, and he is an active member of the Sons of the American Revolution and of the order of Knights of Pythias. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Chittenden number four children: Rodney A., who is in partnership with his father; Walter R. ; Florence, who is receiv- ing a liberal education in music; and Ella A. One of the highest testimonials of Mr. Chittenden's individual worth and the con- fidence reposed in him was displayed in January, 1896, when he was elected mayor of Marshall, in which position he is now most acceptably discharging tlie duties that devolve upon him. Marshall is one of the most beautiful and progressive little cities of the west, noted for its lovely homes, mag- nificent surroundings, its excellent business houses, its industries and its many evidences of culture and refinement. In all its ap- pointments it is entirely up with the times, and few places of its size can boast such advantages, natural and acquired. It is situated on a plateau of rich land on the banks of the Redwood river. — a historic spot which was ravaged by the Indians in 1862. Mr. Chittenden, since taking upon himself the aduiinistration of its public affairs, has been the promoter of many im- provements, and is always an advocate of progress and of every measure that is calcu- lated to advance the educational, social or moral welfare of the community. That he is one of the most popular citizens is evi- denced by the fact that he was elected on a "no license" ticket at a time when there were five saloons in the town, each paying one thousand dollars into the city treasury. They were all arrayed solidly against him, and the contest was one of right against might. Mr. Chittenden won the election by a handsome majority, and his course since taking the oath of office has shown that the confidence reposed in him has not been betrayed. EE N R Y APE L.— The German type is one that has many repre- sentatives in America, and wher- ever found are distinguished for their thrift and enterprise. It is to this type that the subject of our sketch, Henry Apel, belongs. He has for forty years been an American citizen and for the past several years has made his home in Elk township, Nobles county, Minnesota, where he is numbered among the leading and hon- ored residents of the township. Mr. Apel's place of nativity was in Hes- sen, Germany, and the date of his birth was SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 93 January ii, 1S35. His parents, Henry and Anna (Brinkman) Apel, were natives of that same place and were people of high re- spectability. The whole family, consisting of parents and five children, emigrated to America in 1856, Henry at that time being about twenty-one years of age. They embarked in a sailing vessel at Bremen, were thirty-five days in accomplishing the voyage to New York, and after three days spent in that city directed their course west- ward to La Salle county, Illinois, where they arrived in due time and took up their abode. The mother died in that county. The father survived her some years, living to be eighty-si.\, and died in Minnesota. All of their children are still living. 'The subject of this article continued his residence m Illinois until 1888, carrying on farming there and meeting with merited success, then, thinking to better his con- dition financiall}', he disposed of his inter- ests and then came to Minnesota, selecting a location in Elk township. Nobles county. Here he purchased 240 acres of land, im- proved the same by erecting buildings, etc., and here he now has one of the most desir- able farms of the locality. Adjoining it are eighty acres belonging to his son Henry. Mr. Apel has been twice married. At about the age of twenty-five years he was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Gralenga, who was born at his own native place, and who died in Illinois at the age of thirty-seven years and seven months, leaving five chil- dren. Si.x were born in the famil}', namely: Henry, Maggie, Anna, Louisa, John and Adam (deceased), two of whom, Henry and Anna, are married, the others being at home. Henry was married May 31, 1893, to Miss Theressa Kastorf, and they have a child. Sterling, born March i, 1894. In iS8c the subject of our sketch chose for his second wife and wedded Miss Detteroat Fleslaben, likewise of German birth and a member of a family in good standing, mostly farmers. By this marriage there is one child, Lena. On coming to this country Mr. Apel gave his support to the new party which had shortly before been organized on the prin- ciple of resistance to the extension of the slave-holding interest, and cast his first vote for John C. Fremont; and while he has since given his support chiefly to this party he has been somewhat independent in his views and has made it a point to vote always for the best man. He and his family attend worship at the Evangelical church, of which they are consistent members. LE RIAL SON. — Living retired from the cares of active business life, in a pleasant and attractive home in the city of Tracy, Minne- sota, we find the subject of this sketch, who belongs to that honest, industrious and highly respected class of people known as Norwegian-Americans. Mr. Rialson was born in Norway, Sep- tember 24, 1 84 1, the son of Norwegian parents, Riolf and Eliza Rialson, and in 1849 he was brought by them to America, the Atlantic voyage covering a period of eight weeks and two days. From New York they immediately came west to Green count)', Wisconsin, where they settled on a farm and where subsequently the father died. The mother is still living and makes her home in Minnesota, with the subject of this sketch and another son who lives near Tracy, these two being the only survivors of her family of five children. 94 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Ole Rialson was reared on the farm his father took as a government claim, and remained at his parental home until he had attained the age of twenty-one, August ii, 1862, when he severed home ties and joined the Union arm3% going out as a member of Company G, Twenty-second Wisconsin In- fantry, under Captain James Bentlef. For about three years he was in the service, and June 28, 1865, the war being over, he was honorably discharged. Near Nashville, Ten- nessee, he was captured by the enemy, and was sent to Libby prison, but was exchanged a few weeks later and returned to his com- mand. He was with his company and regi- ment in all the engagements in which they participated, except on two occasions, when he was on detached service. The war over, Mr. Rialson returned home and came into possession of the farm, his father having died in the meantime, and remained there until the spring of 1S72, when he came to Lj'on county, Minnesota, and located a soldier's homestead, and in the fall of that year brought his family here. Subsequently he added eighty acres to his original tract of land, and made numerous improvements upon it. His first house was a sod shanty, fourteen by sixteen feet, in which they spent their first winter, and in the spring of 1873 they built a frame resi- dence. This they occupied until 1892, when Mr. Rialson decided to retire from farm life, and accordingly built a residence in Tracy, where he and his wife have since lived. His present residence and barn cost no less than $1,600, and are modern and attractive. Mr. Rialson was married January i, 1866, to Miss Carrie Olson, like himself, a native of Norway, and she has borne him seven children, only one of whom, Robert A., is now living. This son resides upon and has charge of the home farm, is mar- ried and has one child, Otis F. Mr. Rialson first voted for president while in Atlanta, Georgia, during the war, his first vote being cast for Lincoln, and since then he has had no reason to change his political views and has remained a stanch adherent of the Republican party. During his residence in Lyon county he has filled various local offices, such as township supervisor, treasurer, etc. It was at his suggestion that the township was named Monroe, after Monroe, Green county, Wis- consin, the town from which he came. In G. A. R. circles he is prominent and active. He is a charter member of Joe Hooker Post, No. 15, the naming of which was also proposed by him, and which he named in honor of the brave commander under whom he served. At various times Mr. Rialson has been honored with official posi- tion in the post. He and his family attend worship at the Lutheran church at Tracy, to the building of which he contributed lib- erally of his means. He is a self-educated man, his early advantages being indeed limited, and it was not until during his army life that he learned to write. He has, however, by home study and reading and by close observation as he has gone through life acquired a broad fund of useful informa- tion, and is in favor of advancement in educational lines and in giving to the rising generations the best possible advantages. ■^^ACOB P. CURRENT is numbered a among the pioneer settlers of Brown A 1 county of 1864, aind has since been identified with its agricultural inter- ests and with the work of development and progress in this section of the state. He is SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 95 a native of Henry county, Indiana, born September 29, 1835, and is a son of James and Mary (Powers) Current, both of whom were natives of \'irginia. His father, a blacksmith by trade, could do almost any kind of work with edged tools. He was born in 1809 and died in 1895. His wife is still living, at a very advanced age. He was of the fifth generation of a family of Scotch-Irish origin that was founded in America by three brothers, who were Irish sailors. Having located in Virginia they secured twelve hundred acres of land and became well-known planters of that state. Mr. Current of this review was reared in Indiana, and spent his summer months in work upon the home farm, while in the winter season he attended the district schools. In 1857 he went west, visiting Iowa and Nebraska. In i860 he went to Colorado, where he worked for several months in the mines and then returned to the state of his nativity. Since 1864 he has been a resident of Brown county, Min- nesota, and secured a claim, which he at once began to operate. He did an exten- sive business as a surveyor and retraced the government lines of the greater part of the land in the northwestern part of this county, also followed the profession in Nicollet and Redwood counties. Probably no one is more familiar with the early history of this section of the state arid with the develop- ment and progress that have since been car- ried on than he; and in all the work of im- provement he has borne an active part. He is an industrious, enterprising business man and has devoted his energies to the manu- facture of sorghum molasses, to general farming and surveying. He owns a valu- able property of three hundred acres, and the place is in a high state of cultivation, which indicates his careful supervision and earnest labor. Mr. Current was married in 1872 to Miss Elizabeth Krier, daughter of John Krier. She died in 1873, leaving one daughter, Una, at liome. In his political affiliations Mr. Current is a Democrat, and has filled various public offices of honor and trust. He served as supervisor of his township, and is filling the office of postmaster at Home postoffice. Widely and favorably known he well deserves mention among the honored pioneers of the county, and it is with pleas- ure that we present the record of his life to our readers. ARTIN PENNING, one of the leading and successful farmers and stock-raisers of Brown coun- ty, was born in the province of Lunenburg, Germany, September 29, 1S39, and is a son of Mathias and Anna (Hoffman) Penning. His father sailed, in 1846, with his family for the United States, reaching New York after a voyage of forty-six days. He at once resumed his westward journey by land and at length reached Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, where he secured a tract of land and carried on farming until 1868, although he was primarily a blacksmith by trade. In that year he came to Brown county, Minnesota, where he purchased a farm, which he successfully operated until his death in October, 1889, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. His wife survived him some time and passed away April 7, 1896, in her eight3;-seventh year. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom are now living, namely: John P., Martin and Peter, all of whom are farmers of Brown county; John J., who resides in 96 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Sleepy Eye; and Kate, widow of August Steffan. Mr. Penning, of this sketch, accompanied his parents to America and in Wisconsin attended school. He afterward went to Sangamon county, Illinois, where he worked on a farm and attended school. Afterward he returned to Wisconsin, and in 1862 en- listed in Company C, Thirty-fourth Wiscon- sin Infantry, under Captain G. J. Wilmot. The regiment went to Columbus, Kentuckj', and there Mr. Penning was attached to a heavy artiller\', being given charge of one of the guns. He afterward did guard duty in Memphis, Tennessee, for three months, and in August, 1863, he was honorably dis- charged. Returning to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Penning then engaged in a wholesale liquor store until the summer of 1865, when he came to Brown county, Minnesota, and with the capital he had acquired through his own industry purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government. This was then an undeveloped region with few settlements and with but little prospect of rapid improvement, but in true pioneer style he began life in the west. His home was a hewed-Iog cabin, si.xteen by twenty- six feet, in which he lived for twenty years. Earnestly he labored to get a start and soon paid off the indebtedness on his farm, but the grasshoppers afterward took all of his crops and the outlook seemed very dis- couraging. He did not lose heart, however, but with renewed energy began the task of securing for himself a good home and com- fortable living. In addition to general farm- ing, he embarked in stock-raising, making a specialty of hogs and cattle, and from this enterprise he realized a handsome profit. He has now a landed estate of two hundred and seventy acres in a high state of culti- vation. Mr. Penning has been ably assisted by his estimable wife, who has indeed proved to him a helpmeet. He was married in 1867, to Christina, daughter of Anton and Maria (HeppleJ Schmuker, of Brown coun- ty. She was born in Germany, was edu- cated in her native tongue, but after com- ing to America, at the age of twenty-one years, mastered the English language and is an intelligent and cultured lady. The mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. Penning was blessed with four children, but the sons, Robert and Oscar, are both deceased. The daughters are Rosa, wife of Frank Schnobrich, of New Ulm; and Emma M., at home. In 1884 Mr. Penning erected on his farm an excellent barn, thirty-four by sixty feet, with a good stone foundation and a seven- foot basement. It is the best barn in the township and attests the enterprise and progressive spirit of the owner. In 1886 he erected a handsome two-story residence of modern style and the home is tastefully furnished. The farm in its appointments is up to date in every particular. He has made a specialty of the cultivation of plums and small fruit, and has one of the finest plum orchards in southwestern Minnesota, containing over thirty varieties. He is recognized as one of the leading horticult- urists in the state, is a member of the State Horticultural Society, and at its annual meetings his opinions, culled from practical experience, are eagerly welcomed. He fol- lows the most .progressive methods in all departments of his work and is well num- bered among the leading farmers of his county. Mr. Penning is a member of Keystone Lodge, No. 94, F. & A. M., of New Ulm, S O UTH WESTERN MINNESO TA . 97 and of Wesley Green Post, No. 71, G. A. R. He is a broad-minded man, public-spirited, and is as true to all the duties of life as he was to his country in the hour of peril when he followed the stars and stripes on southern battle-fields. "^T^ H. P. HOY, 'the genial and enter- fl prising representative at Evan of /• f the Sleepy Eye Milling Company, is gentleman well worthy of personal a mention in this biographical record. He has held his present position as superintend- ent and buyer for the above named com- pany for eleven years, — ever since their elevator was built at this place, — and has bought all the grain handled here, amount- ing to between thirty and thirty-five thou- sand bushels per year. The capacity of the elevator is eight thousand bushels. Mr. Hoy is one of the early settlers of Minnesota. He came to this state twenty- eight years ago, and during the past eighteen years has maintained his residence in Brown county. Not unlike many of the best cit- izens of the county, he looks to Denmark as the place of his birth and the home of his ancestors. He was born on Zealand island, near the city of Copenhagen, in July, 1845, son of Peter Hoy, an honest and respected farmer and a worthy member of the Lutheran church. His venerable father is still living there, was born in 1818, and is now nearing the octogenarian line. The mother of our subject died at the age of forty-eight years. She left two children, namely: Rasmus Jacobson, who was by her first husband, and was for years an em- ployee of the Great Eastern Railroad Com- pany at Calcutta, India; and J. H. P., whose name adorns this page. J. H. P. Hoy was reared in Denmark, attended school there until he was fourteen years of age, receiving a good education in his native tongue, and after leaving school spent his time in farm work. In 1866 he crossed the Atlantic to America, and his first stopping place was at Racine, Wiscon- sin, whence he went over into Michigan, spending two years in the pine woods and in logging on the Muskegon river. The year 1868 marked his arrival in Minnesota. In this state his first location was at Roch- ester, and later he went to Mankato, at both of which places he worked in a mill. From Mankato he came in 1876 to Brown county and purchased eighty acres of gov- ernment land, which he subsequently sold, afterward buying the one hundred and sixty acres of land he now owns and occupies. This farm is a valuable and well improved one. The residence was built at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars. The barn is thirty-four by forty feet in dimensions, cost five hundred dollars, and the other im- provements are all modern and first-class. Here Mr. Hoy carries on general farming and raises horses, cattle and hogs, a dairy being one of the important features of his farm. Mr. Hoy was married at Rochester, Minnesota, at the age of twenty-four years, to Miss Christena Holm, born in 1845 near Hadersberg, Schleswig, Germany, who came to Minnesota when a girl. They are the parents of two children, — William and Henry. William was born in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1870, and is now in the cream- ery business at Sanborn; and Henry, born in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1873, is on the home farm. The latter married Miss Mag- gie Hoy, a native of Denmark, and they have two little children, Ella and Arthur. 98 MEMORIAL RECORD OF For years the subject of our sketch has taken an active part in the public affairs of his locality, filling most creditably a number of ofBcial positions. For ten years he was township assessor, also he served as justice of the peace and a member of the school board, and has been a delegate to both county and congressional conventions, he being an ardent supporter of the Republican cause. He belongs to the A. O. U. W. , No. 6"] , and is a consistent member of the Lutheran church. Well informed, a pleas- ant converser and alvvaj's approachable, Mr. J. H. P. Hoy has made many friends and receives that confidence and respect whicli are due him. OHN W. KOLBE, as president of the Cobden Co-operative Creamery Company, of Cobden, is at the head of one of the prominent business en- terprises of Brown county, Minnesota. This company was organized in the spring of 1895, a three-thousand-dollar plant was erected and put in operation, and soon the creamery was ranked as one of the best in this section of the country, a reputation it maintains. Mr. Kolbe was one of the prime movers in organizing the company, and it is largely due to his efficient management that the enterprise has attained its present suc- cess. For more than a quarter of a century he has been identified with the interests of this county. During the civil war he served under the stars and stripes and aided in the preservation of the Union; and as a Union veteran, a pioneer settler and an enterpris- ing citizen, his life history is of special inter- est in this connecti(jn, and is as follows: John W. Kolbe is a native of Hessen, Germany, born June 7, 1841, a member of an industrious and respected family, his par- ents being Werner and Elizabeth (Krause) Kolbe, who came to the United States in 1865 and settled in Goodhue countj', Minne- sota; both are now deceased. Their family was composed of seven children, whose names are as follows : Henry, Morten, Dora, Julia, John W. , Elizabeth and Rine- hardt. Two of the sons — Henry and John W. — were participants in the late war, and Henry was accidentally killed shortly after the war, his death occurring in Good- hue county in 1869, the result of an accident with a threshing-machine. The subject of our sketch was reared and educated in his native land, attended school until he was fourteen years old and then learned the trade of shoemaker, at which he worked in Germany until he was twenty. At that age he thought to better his condition by a location in the New World, and accordingly crossed the Atlantic to this country, embarking at Bremen and landing at New York after a stormy voyage of seven weeks. In New York city he ob- tained work at his trade on Water street, where he remained one year, after which he came west to Goodhue county, Minnesota. At Red Wing, Minnesota, in February, 1865, he enlisted in the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, Company I, with which he went south, and was stationed at Chattanooga, Tennessee, until the close of the war. Having received an honorable discharge, he returned to his home in Goodhue county, Minnesota. In 1S69 he took claim to one hundred and si.xty acres of government land where he now lives, near Cobden, and to this tract made subsequent addition, until now his farm comprises three hundred and seven- teen acres. For about seven years he lived SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 99 in Sleepy Eye, where he dealt in farm ma- chinery and grain, and during his residence at that place made the acquaintance of many of the early settlers of the county. Since locating on his farm he has devoted his energies to its cultivation and improve- ment, and with excellent results, his broad acres producing fine crops, his rich pastures dotted over with well-kept stock, and his comfortable residence, substantial and com- modious barn, modern windmill and fine grove all giving evidence of prosperity. An important feature on his farm is his dairy of twenty cows, the milk from which is taken to the Cobden creamery. Mr. Kolbe was married in 1867, in Steele county, Minnesota, to Miss Henryetta Lese- man, whose life was happily blended with his for only a few years, their union being severed in 1873 by her untimely death. She left three children, — John, Emma and Henryetta. The present Mrs. Kolbe was formerly Miss Thesse Mainzer. She is a daughter of John Mainzer, of this county, and is a woman whose amiable disposition and many excellent traits of character have endeared her to all who have the pleasure of her acquaintance. Their union has been blessed in the birth of nine children, their names being as follows: Rinehardt, Henry, Lydia, Hannah, Ed, Arthur, Ella, Eda and Benjamin W. In this time of political divisions and excitements Mr. Kolbe remains firm in the support of the Republican party, with which he has always affiliated, and is regarded as one of the leaders of his party in this locality. He has served as chairman of the township board for years and also for years he has been a member of the school board. At various times he has served as delegate to conventions, ever performing faithfully and intelligently whatever duty devolved upon him. A veteran of the late war, he is, of course, identified with the G. A, R. , his membership being in Wesley Greene Post, No. 71. Also he is a member of the A. O. U. W., No. 67. Religiously he is a Meth- odist, a steward in the church, and promi- nent and active in all good work. EANS P. THARKELDSEN.-^In the subject of this review is found another one of the honored and prospered farmers of Brown county, Minnesota, who dates his birth in Denmark and owes his present success to his own honest toil and good management. Since 1870 he has resided at his present location on section 16, Prairiex'ille township, the lit- tle town of Evan being his post-office ad- dress. Mr. Tharkeldsen was born in the prov- ince of Schleswig, Denmark, in the year 1843, the son of poor, honest and industri- ous parents, and one of a family of three children. He attended school in the old country until he was fourteen, receiving a fair education in his native language, and was employed in farm work there until he was twenty-one. At that time he sailed from Hamburg for America and was thir- teen weeks in accomplishing the voyage to New York. The heavy storms impeded and changed the course of the vessel, which had to retrace its way in order to get into the trade wind, and of the three hundred and thirty-three passengers on board thirty-five died and were buried at sea. From New York the subject of our sketch directed his course westward to Racine, Wisconsin, where he worked on a farm eight months. Next he went to Iowa and secured employ- 100 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ment on the Burlington tS: Missouri River Railroad, where another eight months were spent. From Iowa he went up into the pine regions of Michigan, on the Muskegon river, and in 1 870 came from there to his present location in Brown county, Minne- sota. Here he secured eighty acres of gov- ernment land, with a small house on it, fourteen by eighteen feet in dimensions, and to his original holdings has since added un- til now he is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres of choice land, all well improved. The residence he now occupies he built in 18S8, at a cost of one thousand dollars, its location being on a gentle eleva- tion and with a fine grove near by. Also he has a good barn and other farm build- ings. He carries on general farming, and, like many of the enterprising men of this section of the country, is interested in the dairy business. Also he is a large stock- holder in the Evan Co-operative Creamer}' and is president of the company, this being an enterprise highly beneficial to the locality. Mr. Tharkeldsen has been twice mar- ried. His first wife was before marriage Miss Stine Jensen, and by her he had four children, two of whom are living, Mary and Ida, both accomplished and refined young ladies. Miss Mary is a graduate of the Mankato Normal College, with the class of 1893, and has for several years been a popular and successful teacher, while Miss Ida has had a musical training and is pro- ficient in her art. Their mother died in 1880. The present Mrs. Tharkeldsen was formerly Miss May Anna Saransen. she, too, being a native of Denmark. In local affairs and especially in educa- tional matters, Mr. Tharkeldsen has always shown a commendable interest, freely giving his support to all measures and movements which he believes are intended for the wel- fare of his community. In his political views he is independent, and religiously he is a consistent member of the Lutheran church. In the prime of life, of unbounded generosity and always frank and cordial, he is very popular, having many friends and acquaintances. *^r* ARS FREDERICKSON is entitled I J to rank with the prominent early 1 ^ settlers of Brown county, Minne- sota, he having established his home at his present location in Prairieville township as early as 1868, and here for nearly three decades he has lived and pros- pered. He made the acquaintance of many of the early settlers of the county as well as those who came later, and few there are throughout this section of the country who are better informed as to its historj' or better known by its people than is Lars Frederickson. \\'hile not an American by birth, he is one by adoption and is thoroughly identified with its interests and in harmony with its institutions. Mr. Frederickson was born in Denmark, August 30, 1845, his parents being Fredrick and Christene (Olesen) Peter- sen, natixes of that country. His father was a brickmason and a first-class mechanic, and as such worked in both the old country and this. He died in Brown county, Min- nesota, at the age of sixty-eight years. His widow survives him, still lives in this coun- ty, and has reached the venerable age of eighty-hve years. Their family comprised nine children, four sons and five daughters, whom they brought up to habits of industry and honesty and who are now occupying useful positions in life. Lars grew up in SOUTHWESTERN MINNJSSOTA. 101 his native land, received a fair education there, and was engaged in agricultural pur- suits in Denmark until 1866. That year he sailed from Copenhagen to Hull and thence to Liverpool, where he took passage on the noted steamer City of Paris, which carried him in safety across the Atlantic and landed in due time at Castle Garden, New York. From New York city young Fredrickson made his way across the country to Chicago, Illinois, where he landed without money, his passage to that place having consumed all the funds he had. However, he had plenty of courage and a strong and willing hand, and he soon secured employment on a farm, where he worked fifteen months, receiving good wages. From Illinois he came to Minnesota, at this time accom- panied by his parents and his wife and child, and in Brown county at once selected his present location and established his home in primitive style. His first house here was a sod one, three feet of the earth being scooped out and the rafters made of poles; but in this rude house they lived happily and comfortably, and cheerfully extended hospitality to whomsoever came their way, no matter whether stranger or friend. He was here during the "grasshopper" days and suffered greatly from that pest; but, notwithstanding the discouragements he met he stuck to his claim with a persistence almost unparalleled in this part of the country, he being the only settler on the Burns and Sleepy Eye road who remained. He kept cows, made butter and raised calves, and finally better times came on and he prospered and bought other land, and at one time he had four hundred and forty acres. He has, however, sold off some of his land in order to help his children get comfortably settled, and now his home farm comprises only one hundred and eighty acres. This farm is one of the best im- proved ones in Brown county. The sod house long since gave place to a better one and his present modern residence was erected at a cost of eighteen hundred dollars. The large barn measures fifty-si.x by one hundred and eight feet, a modern windmill is a noticeable feature, and the fine grove of eighteen acres is said to be unsurpassed by any other in the county. Formerly Mr. Frederickson raised large quantities of grain and stock, principally hogs and cattle, but of recent years his operations have not been so extensive. At one time he kept a dairy of twenty cows. He is now giving some attention to fruit-growing, having an orchard of five acres planted to a variety of apples, plums, etc. Mr. Frederickson was married in Den- mark, in 1866, to Miss Maria Sorensen, daughter of Jasper and Martha (Nelson) Sorensen, all natives of Denmark and now residents of Brown county, Minnesota. She is one of a famil}- of three daughters and is a most estimable lady. Their union has been blessed in the birth of five children, of whom the following are living: S. C, who married Miss Hannah Larson, is one of the prosperous young farmers of this township and the owner of eighty acres of choice land; N. P., a jeweler of Minneota, Lyon county, Minnesota; Martha, wife of Thomas Peter- son, of Brown county, has one child, Clif- ford; and Anna, wife of Adolph Anderson, of this county. Their youngest child, Hannah, died at the age of nine months. Mr. Frederickson is a man well posted and one of broad and liberal views. He was reared a Lutheran. Politically, he formerly gave his support to the Republican party, his first vote having been cast for General 102 MEMORIAL RECOkb OP Grant. Now, however, he is a third-party man and believes that the platform he has chosen is the one best suited to the greatest number of people. In various local capaci- ties he has rendered efficient service. For eight years he was chairman of the town- ship board and also for years he served on the school board. Such is a succinct review of the life of this respected citizen. "^ V* P. MADSEN, who resides on sec- f tion 1 6, Prairieville township. Brown A 1 county, Minnesota, is regarded as one of the best farmers in the county and is the owner of one of the finest farms within its borders. Although now onl}' in the prime of life, he is entitled to be ranked with the old settlers of the township, he having accompanied his parents here in 1 868, when a boy. Like many of the prominent and enter- prising men of Brown county, Mr. Madsen was born in Denmark, not far from the city of Copenhagen, April 13, 1856. His father, Madsen Jensen, was born in the same place, and in 1868 emigrated with his family to America, settling in the vicinit}' where our subject now lives and being among the first to locate here. He, however, was not des- tined lO enjoy his new home long, for in August of that same year he was called to his home above, leaving in this then thinly settled district his widow and four children, nameh': Ellen Mary, J. P., Carrie Maria and Nels C. The last named is now a prominent business man of Lake Preston, South Dakota. The widowed mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Nelson, lived to the ripe old age of niuety-three years, dying in 1895. At the time of her death she was one of the oldest residents of Brown county. J. P. Madsen was a boy of twelve 3'ears when he arrived in Minnesota, and with the other members of the family he passed through all the hard times incident to the grasshopper siege and the hailstorms and cyclones which discouraged not a few of the settlers through this part of the state. His early advantages for an education were indeed limited, but through home study, close observation and actual contact with the world he acquired a broad fund of use- ful information, and is to-day one of the most intelligent and well-informed men of his locality; and in his farming operations and business ventures he has been uniformly successful. He located on his present farm in 1879. Here he has two hundred and seventy-two acres of choice land, highly cultivated and with excellent improvements. His residence, the finest one in the town- ship, was erected at a cost of two thousand three hundred dollars, is beautifully located on a natural building site, with a fine grove near by, and is furnished and kept up in a manner that at once suggests good taste as well as prosperity. His barn is twenty-six by fifty feet in dimensions, built at a cost of five hundred and fifty dollars, and he also has substantial and convenient granary, stables and other buildings, — the whole farm being a model one in every repsect. Mr. Madsen married Miss Carrie Maria Christiansen, a native of Denmark and a daughter of Henry Christiansen. Their happy union has been blessed in the birth of the following named children: Jerry E., Adolph, Viola Eleanor, Clifford Victor, and an infant son named Stanley A. Politically, Mr. Madsen is thoroughly in harmony with the Republican party in the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 103 principles it advocates. He is a member of the Lutheran church and the A. O. U. W., and as a neighbor and a citizen he is held in high repute by his fellows. L. TOSCH, of Cobden, Minnesota, is the superintendent and buyer at this place for the Eagle Roller Mills Elevator Company, of New Ulm, and ably represents their business. He was appointed to this position in April, 1895. The Eagle Roller Mills Elevator Company ii one of the most substantial and enterprising firms in Brown county, its busi- ness at Cobden alone reaching no less than fifty thousand dollars per annum, much of its success here being due, no doubt, to the efficiency of Mr. Tosch, whose valued serv- ice is recognized and highly appreciated by the firm. Mr. Tosch has resided at his present location since 1883. He is a native of Prussia, born May 21, 1850, and a son of Fritz and Henrietta (I^aimus) Tosch. His mother died in Minnesota. In their family were si.x children, he being the second born, and as his father was a farmer, he was reared to agricultural pursuits. Until he was fourteen he attended the common schools of his native land, acquiring a fair education, and while yet in his 'teens emi- grated to America, sailing from Hamburg and landing at New York city after a stormy voyage of seven weeks. From New York he came west to Illinois and settled at Nor- wood Park, near Chicago, in 1866, where he was engaged in farming until 1883, when he came to Minnesota and bought a farm near Cobden, five miles west of Sleepy Eye. Here he owns one hundred and fifty acres of good land, nicely improved with com- fortable residence, substantial barn, modern windmill, grove, etc. ; and in connection with his farming operations he keeps a dairy of twelve to fifteen cows, and is a stockholder in the Cobden Creamery Com- pany. Mr. Tosch was married at the age of twenty-two years, at Norwood Park, Illi- nois, to Miss Minnie Schroder, a member of a good family, and, like himself, of Euro- pean birth. They have had four children, three of whom are living, — William, Augusta and Martha. Their daughter Amelia, a charming and accomplished young lady, died at the age of nineteen years. She was a favorite among her young friends and in the home circle and her early death was a source of great sorrow to all who knew her. During his residence in Brown county Mr. Tosch has been honored with election to township office, and has rendered accepta- ble service in the same. His political affiliations from the time he became a voter have been with the Republican party. In religious matters he is prominent and acti\'e, being identified with the Evangelical Asso- ciation and an official in its local organiza- tion. Also he is president of the Missionary Society connected with this church here. Genial and courteous in manner, and with the happy faculty of ingratiating himself with all with whom he comes in contact, he has made and retains hosts of friends both in his business dealings and otherwise. Be. SCHUTT, Cobden, Minnesota, is an all-around business man and farmer, prominently identified with the best interests of his locality, and enjoys the confidence and good will of all. He is probably best known as the su- 104 MEMORIAL RECORD OF perintendent, manager and buyer at Cobden for the Sleepy Eye Milling Company, which trusted position he has filled during the past ten years. His identity with the county covers a period of seventeen years. Like many of the prominent and influ- ential men of Brown county, Mr. Schutt is of European birth. It was in Mecklenburg, Germany, in the year 1840, that he first saw the light of day, and there he was reared and educated, attending school until he was fifteen. At twenty-one he bade farewell to the scenes of his childhood and his native land, and from Hamburg set sail for Amer- ica, landing in due time at New York city. From New York he immediately came west to Milwaukee, where, unfortunately, he was soon afterward taken sick, and for a year was unable to work. Upon his recovery he went to Chicago, and at Maywood, a suburb of that city, he secured the position of su- perintendent and manager of the work of laying out new streets, ditching, grading, etc., which occupied his attention for the next three years. Later he was for a time shipping clerk for the Waterbury Clock Company of Chicago, which position he held until the great fire of 1871. He was an eye- witness to that great conflagration. After the fire he returned to Maywood and near that place became interested in agricultural pursuits. Disposing of his interests there, he came to Minnesota and settled at Golden Gate, Brown county, and in 1884 moved from that place to his present location near Cobden, where he has a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres, one of the most desirable in the township. Here he has good buildings, a nice grove, and every- thing conveniently arranged for carrying on agricultural pursuits successfully. During his ten years' experience in the grain business as the representative of this well-known firm, Mr. Schutt has annually handled no less than fifty thousand bushels of grain, and his dealings have brought him in contact with most of the people of this part of Brown county. Another important enterprise with which he is connected is the Cobden Co-operative Creamery Company, which he helped to organize and of which he is the efficient secretary, J. W. Kolbe being president. This creamery is one of the best in the county. The plant cost three thousand dollars, and the past year the company did a tweve-thousand-dollar business. Mr. Schutt's political affiliations are with the Republican party. He has always taken an active and enthusiastic interest in party affairs, is regarded as one of the wheel- horses of his party in thispart of the county, and has been honored by his fellow citizens with election to local office. For several years he has been township clerk, and he has also served for years as a member of the school board, his public service like his pri- vate business affairs receiving prompt and careful attention. Religiouslj' he is identi- fied with the Evangelical Association. Mr. Schutt was married in Maywood, Illi- nois, to Miss Mifinie Tosch, an amiable and intelligent lady and a member of a good family. They have ten children, — five sons and five daughters, viz. : Anna, Theodore, Herman, Martha, Charlotte, Ed, Lizzie, Adolph, Hubert and Clara; also they have two children deceased. £^>^AMUEL L. CHAP IN, resident •^^fekf manager of the Hubbard & Palmer f\^y Grain Company, at Luverne, Rock county, Minnesota, has held his present responsible position for the past ten ^/^/-l^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 105 years. He was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, June 5, 1861, and is a son of Henry W. and Matilda (Stillwell) Ciiapin, in whose family were eleven children, ten living to maturity, as follows: Birch, a farmer; Louisa, wife of Dennis Harden; Emeline; Zorah L., wife of William Peacock, of Dakota; EvaL. , wife of Edridge H. Noble, of Winneshiek county, Iowa; Southard, who died March 13, 1S88; Grant, a farmer of Spring township, Rock county, Minne- sota; William Clyde, at home; Samuel L. ; and Minnie, who died in 1892, in her twenty- second year. The birth of their father occurred July 3, 1825, in Conesus township, Livingston county. New York, and he is the son of David and Mary (Birch) Chapin. The former, who was a native of Vermont, was of English ancestry, the family being founded at Springfield, Massachusetts. The latter was born in Washington county. New York, and was the daughter of Benjamin Birch, who was of Scotch descent. In 1835 Henry W. Chapin settled in Michigan, where he helped to clear and im- prove a farm. He was married in 1843 to Matilda Stillwell, of St. Joseph county, that state, and the third daughter of Benjamin and Margaret (Birch) Stillwell. Four years later they removed to Dane county, Wis- consin, where they remained until 1859, when they went to Winneshiek county, Iowa, locating upon a farm in Bloom field township. It was in 1878 that Mr. Chapin brought his family to Rock county, Minne- sota, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he success- fully operated until 1885; then he removed to Luverne, where he and his wife are now living retired, resting after many years of usefulness. 7 The education of Samuel L. Chapin was obtained in the , public schools of Iowa, and he came with his parents to Rock county, Minnesota, settling upon the farm in Springwater township, where he remained until he had attained his twentieth year, after which he was employed in a mill for three years by W. H. Wilson. He was afterward with Ezra Rice, of Trosky, Pipe- stone county, Minnesota. In 1885 he came to Luverne, being in the employ of F. H. Peavey & Company, and they were succeeded by Ezra Rice, and later he was succeeded by Furlon & Sanders, who afterward sold out to Hubbard & Palmer, the present grain firm with which our subject is connected. He is faithful in the discharge of every duty devolving upon him and has the entire con- fidence of his employers. In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Chapin and Miss Mary E. Thompson, of Hatfield, Minnesota, daughter of P. B. Thompson, and they now have two chil- dren, — Sprague L. and Barton H. Besides his other interests, Mr. Chapin owns a good farm near Luverne, and is a business man of more than ordinary ability. BRANK J. PORTER, president of the E.xchange Bank of Adrian, Minnesota, has for a number of years been a prominent factor in this town, haviug served in its chief execu- tive office and in numerous other prominent positions. As such his life history is worthy of record and it is gratifying to us in this connection to present the following outline: Frank J. Porter is a native son of the Pine Tree state and a member of one of its distinguished families. He was born in Orneville, Piscataquis county, Maine, Feb- lOG MEMORIAL RECORD OF ruary i8, 1844, his parents being the Hon. William Porter, a native of that same connty, and Persis )icc Hamlin, a distant relative of the late Vice President Hamlin. She died in California, November 24, 1888. Hon. William Porter was a member of the Maine legislature in 1S63-4, and for fifteen conse- cutive years was one of the selectmen of his town. For many years he was engaged in the lumber business in Maine. He is now a resident of California. In their family were si.x children, four sons and two daugh- ters, Frank J., our subject, being the eldest. Frank J. Porter was reared and educated in his native state, and remained there un- til he was twenty-four years of age, up to that timegivinghisattention tolumberingand farming, chielly to the latter. In the spring of 1869, accompanied b\' his wife and only child, he left Maine and sought his fortune in the west, selecting for a location Beloit, Wisconsin, and renting a farm near that city one year. Then he moved over into Iowa and purchased a farm east of the town of Le Mars, settled upon his land and continued his residence there until 1873, when he came to Nobles county, Minne- sota. He farmed in this county till June, 1879, and that year moved into the town of Adrian and engaged in the lumber and fuel business, which he conducted for a period of eleven years, selling out in September, 1S90. He still retained his farm and had from time to time invested in other prop- erty, and after disposing of his lumber in- terests he turned his attention to dealing in real estate, and also gave much of his time to the management of his farming opera- tions. He is now the owner of nearly 4,000 acres of land, most of which is im- proved and under cultivation. In 1890 Mr. Porter was one of the prime movers in organizing the Adrian E.xchange Bank, a .solid financial institution and one that has during the si.x years of its existence been a great benefit to the people of Adrian and surrounding country. Its stockholders represent a capital of $300,000. At the organization of the bank Mr. Porter was chosen its president and still retains this honored and responsible position. Mr. Porter is a man possessing more than ordinary enterprise and public spirit. Wherever he has resided his influence has been felt for good, and especially is this notable at Adrian. Here he has served as a member of the school board and of the city council, filling the office of mayor two terms and city treasurer three terms. \\'hile living near Le Mars, in Marion township, he was school treasurer and a member of the town board, the former being filled without his being asked or required to give bond. In Grand Prairie township. Nobles county, he was chairman of the township board; and in all these positions of trust his service has ever been characterized by the strictest fidelity; and besides the official preference that has been tendered him at home, he has been honored officially else- where. At the annual convention of the American Secular Union held at Chicago in 1893, he was elected vice-president for the state of Minnesota, and that same 3'ear, at the convention of the Free Thought Fed- eration of America, held also at Chicago, he was honored with the vice-presidency of that association for the United States. He also maintains a membership in the A. O. U. W., a'nd his political affiliations are with the Republican party. Turning to that page of Mr. Porter's life which is more purel}' domestic, we find that he was married in Piscataquis county. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 107 Maine, June 12, 1864, to Miss Lucy A. King, daughter of Otis and Patience (Speed) King, both natives of Maine and both now deceased. The father died in Adrian, Minnesota, in 1886, and the mother in Atkinson, Maine, in 1888, she being on a visit to her old home at the time of her death. They were the parents of ten chil- dren, five sons and five daughters, of whom Mrs. Porter is the eldest. She was born in Bradford, Maine, December 29, 1845. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Porter num- ber si.\, namely: Annie C, Winifred R., Alta A., Sumner F., Forest E. and Florence A. All are at home except the eldest daughter, Annie C, who is the wife of R. G. Younsf. GRACE F. KILGORE, a physician and surgeon of Luverne, has at- tained a marked presitige as a member of his chosen profession, and his superior ability has w'on him a large and lucrative patronage. It is always of interest to note the salient points in the character of a successful man and learn of the methods that he has pursued in reach- ing prominence. It is therefore with pleas- ure that we take up the task of portraying the life work of Dr. Kilgore. Our subject was born in Bethel, Maine, May 9, 1835, a son of Phineas and Ann J. (Teissiaj Kilgore. His mother was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his father in the Pine Tree state. He was a con- tractor and liuildcr and removed from Maine to Lake county, Ohio, whence the latter went to Wisconsin, his death occurring there in 1849; his wife still survives him. Their son, Horace F., was a child of only four years at the time of the removal to Ohio, and a lad of eight summers when the family came to Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood. He attended the common schools and at the age of nineteen entered a doctor's office, where he spent his leisure hours in study. He was also a student in the office of Dr. Ritler, of Quincy, Illinois, and after reading medicine there some years went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he en- tered the Missouri Homeopathic Medical College, at which he was graduated in 1856. Dr. ICilgore began practice in Paynes- ville, Missouri, and some time afterward came to Minnesota, locating in Houston, whence he went to Pleasant Grove. In 1872 he arrived in Luverne, and from that time has been a leading representative of the medical fraternity in Rock countv. He is a deep student, and has carried his researches far and wide in the field of medical science until he has advanced far toward the limit of perfection that has been reached. In order to further improve in his chosen calling he took a special course at the Chicago Homeopathic College. He has taken a post-graduate course at the Hahnemann College of Chicago, and two courses at the Chicago Homeopathic Hos- pital. He now owns a good property in Luverne, consisting of a handsome resi- dence, surrounded by a beautiful lawn, his grounds covering five acres. He also has three good farms, two of which are stocked with fine horses, the Doctor being a lover of the noble steed, and keeping his stables in Luverne filled with excellent animals. Dr. I\ilgore was married December 9, 1858, to Miss Isabel Omodt, of Houston, Minnesota, who died March 7, 1871, leav- ing five children: Oscar, a farmer; Martha, wife of O. Grimes; Emma, wife of August Williams; Morris and Amendus. For his second wife the Doctor chose Mrs. Anna C. 108 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Filbrick, the wedding taking place March i, 1873. She also is a successful physician, and has built up a large practice. Our sub- ject belongs to the Masonic Lodge of Luverne. His second wife was the mother of four children at the time of their mar- riage, — two sons and two daughters. The youngest daughter is also a ph^'sician and a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege, of Chicago, and is now the wife of Dr. J. E. North, of I\ock Rapids, fowa. He is a genial, affable gentleman who wins friends wherever he goes, and it would be difficult to find in Rock county a man more popular or widely known than Horace F. Kilgore. AX H. VOELZ is the editor and proprietor of the Rock County News, published at Luverne. This paper was established in 1888, by a stock company, and under that management was conducted until 1891, when it was purchased by F. N. Van Du^ee, who was the editor and proprietor until November i, 1893, when he sold out to the News Publishing Company, of which Mr. Voelz was then secretary and treasurer. The paper was then published under the management of this company until Januarj' I, 1895, when our subject became sole pro- prietor. The News is a si.\-column quarto, well printed, neat in composition, and is a weekly journal with a good circulation in the count)' seat and throughout the surrounding country. ft advocates the Jeffersonian principles of Democracy, and is fearless and outspoken in defense of that party. It is recognized as the official organ of Democracy in Rock county, and has a large patronage from those who adhere to the principles which it advocates. The plant of the News Company is one of the best in this section of the state. The office is equipped with the most modern machinery, and besides his large power press, Mr. \'^oelz has two good job presses, and is enjoying an excellent trade in job printing. Mr. Voelz is a native of Illinois, born in Du Page county, in 1871. He was educated at Lancaster, Wisconsin, where he went with his parents when a child of eight years. He is a son of Gustave and Wilhelmina (Wachs) Voelz, natives of Germany. Our subject learned the printer's trade in the Lancaster Teller, of Wisconsin, and be- came a proficient workman, mastering the business in all its details. He was after- ward employed on the Minnesota Tribune, of Morris, Minnesota, for eight years, and later entered the office of the St. Paul Globe, of St. Paul, Minnesota. In Novem- ber, 1893, he came to Luverne, and has since been connected with the News. He is a practical printer, and his thorough understanding of the business in every department makes his management very efficient. On the 3d of Octol)er, 1895, Mr. Voelz was united in marriage with Miss Louise Emaleon Moreaux, of Luverne, Minnesota. Although their residence in Luverne covers onl}' a short period, they have won many friends and occupy an enviable position in social circles. ^-r* EE H. WAY, the popular post- I t master of Luverne, Minnesota, is I \ one of the honored sons of Ohio, and now a most distinguished resi- dent of his adopted city. He was born near New Portage, Summit county, Ohio, Jan- uary 20, 185 1, and is a son of Levy and SOUTH WESTERN MINNESOTA . 109 Anna (Holmes) Way, natives of Connecticut and Ohio, respectively. The maternal grandparents were early pioneers of the latter state. Ezra Way, the paternal grand- father, was born in Connecticut, and was of English descent. Both of the parents of our subject died in Ohio, the father in 1866 and the mother some time previously. The early education of Lee H. Way was obtained in the public schools of Sum- mit county and later pursued his studies at Baldwin Universitj', of Berea, Qhio, being a student at the latter place for two years. On coming west he first located at Mc- Gregor, Iowa, where he engaged in the drug business from 1876 until 1S80. In 1882 he arrived in Rock county, Minne- sota, and has since made his home at Luverne. He first clerked in a drug store for R. O. Crawford, and in August, 1887, was first appointed postmaster, the duties of which office he assumed on the 1st of the following September and faithfully exe- cuted for four years. In June, 1894, he was again appointed to the same position and took charge of the office on the ist of August. He discharges his duties in a prompt and capable manner, which wins the commendation of all. On the 2d of October, 1876, Mr. Way was united in marriage with Miss Estella Knapp, of McGregor, Iowa, and eldest daughter of B. Knapp, and they now have three children: Buell K. , a graduate of the high school of Luverne, who assisted his father in the post-office for one year and is now in the First National Bank as assistant bookkeeper; Karl L. , a student in the high school ; and Ivan M. Mr. Way is a pronounced Democrat in his political views, and takes an active part in furthering the cause of Democracy and the success of his party. Socially he holds a membership in Myrtle Lodge, No. dj , I. O. O. P., and for the past three years has served as district deputy grand master of this district of the state of Minnesota. Also he is a member of the Encampment in this order, and of the Modern Woodmen of America. As an energetic, upright, con- scientious man, and a gentleman of attract- ive social qualities, he stands high in the es- timation of the entire community. a LARK W. GILMORE is one of the leading attorneys and older mem- bers of the Pipestone bar. He came to this state in 1874, loca- ting at Mankato, where he remained until 1882, in which year he came to Pipestone county, since which time he has been num- bered among the most prominent represent- atives of its legal fraternity. Mr. Gilmore is a native of St. Lawrence county, New York, his birth having oc- curred in the town of Potsdam, on the 8th of July, 1852. His parents were William and Mary (Sheldon) Gilmore, the former a native of New Hampshire, and the latter of the Empire state. His father was a farmer by occupation through the greater part of his life. He was the son of Robert Gil- more, who was born in the old Granite state, and the great-grandfather of our sub- ject was a native of Scotland. The Shel- dons were among the early settlers of New York, and were a prosperous and respected people. Clark W. Gilmore, whose name intro- duces this sketch, spent his youth on his father's farm, where he assisted in the labors of the field and in the other work which forms a part of the life of the agri- 110 MEMORIAL RECORD OF culturist. His elementarj' education, ac- quired in the district schools, was supple- mented by stud}' in the State Normal School, at Potsdam, New York, where he prepared himself for teaching. He then followed that profession in his native state and in Lenawee count}', Michigan. He afterward went to Wisconsin, where he was also engaged in teaching, and later he came to Minnesota, where he followed the same pursuit. It was his desire, however, to enter the legal profession, and to this end, while teaching, he devoted his leisure hours to pe- rusal of the text-books of law. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar in Dodge county, Minnesota, and soon afterward established an office in Mankato, where he remained until 1S82, when as before stated he came to Pipestone. He has here built up a good practice in the local, state and superior courts and is now well established in his profession. In i S92 he was elected county attorney of Pipestone county for a term of two years, was re-elected in 1894, and is now acceptably filling that office. He is well informed on the science of law, and his ready application of its principles to his clients' interests has gained him a high rep- utation. He has also won a financial suc- cess, and is now the owner of some valuable property, including his pleasant home in Pipestone and a farm of one hundred and si-xty acres in Pipestone county, which he now rents. In 1878 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gilmore and Miss Carrie, the eldest daughter of F. L. V. Mount, of Dodge county, Minnesota. They have three chil- dren, — Fred, Flora and Charles R. Mr. Gilmore is an esteemed member of the Masonic fraternit)', belonging to Quarry Lodge, No. 14S, F. & A. M. ; Triune Chap- ter, No. 51, R. .\. M. ; and Luverne Com- mandery, K. T. .ANS J. THOMTE.— Rock coun- ty has many well-to-do and suc- cessful citizens, who have accumu- lated what they have of this world's goods through individual effort. Among this class the name of the subject of this sketch is entitled to a place. He is now a leading merchant tailor of Luverne, where he has made his home since 1S78, and is a valued and highly respected citizen. Mr. Thomte is a native of another hemi- sphere, born in Norway, August 8, 1842, and is a son of John and Ingberg (Eversen) Thomte, farming people, who have spent their entire lives in that country. In their family were eight children, five sons and three daughters, all still living, and of whom our subject is fifth in order of birth. He attended school at Christiania, and during his youth served a four-years apprentice- ship to the tailor's trade, on the completion of which term he was examined and given a certificate signed by an alderman, which shows that he served for four years and was now qualified to perform any work along his line. In 1869 Mr. Thomte bade good-bye to home and friends, and taking passage on a vessel at Christiania sailed for Leeds, En- gland, whence he went by rail to Glasgow. There he re-embarked and after a voyage of about a month reached the harbor of New York on the 6th of May. He pro- ceeded at once to Lansing, Allamakee coun- ty, Iowa, where he worked at his trade. In .April, 1878, Mr. Thomte arrived in Luverne, Rock county, Minnesota, where SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. Ill for two years he was employed in the tailor- ing establishment of Nelson Brothers, and has since been in business for himself. He has succeeded in accumulating some valu- able property, including a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he rents, and two dwellings in Luverne, which he also leases. He began business on a very small scale, but by rising early and working late and the exercise of economy and sound judgment, he has secured a handsome com- petence, so that when he reaches old age it may be passed in ease and retirement. At Lansing, Iowa, Mr. Thomte was married, in October, 1871, to Miss Carrie Hansen, a native of Norway, who died on the 3d of January, 1896. To them were born ten children, five sons and five daugh- ters, of whom nine still survive, namely: John, who is now assisting his father; Her- man, a farmer; Charley; Edith; Inge and Clara, twins; Adolph, Matilda, Georgia and Agnes. Political! \', Mr. Thomte has always affiliated with the Republican party, and has been called upon to fill several positions of honor and trust, serving as a member of the city council and also of the school board. \\'ith his family he attends the Lutheran church of Luverne, and socially is connected with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. aHARLES EDWIN McMILLAN is one of the most trusted and faith- ful employes of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha rail- road, having for the period of nineteen years served as general foreman. He was born in Clarksfield, Huron county, Ohio, December 7, 1849, and is of Scotch ances- try. His grandfather, John McMillan, was born in Scotland and belonged to one of the old families of that land. When a child of five years he came with his parents to the United States, locating in Washington county, New York. He was married there to Rachel Morrison, who died in that county in December, 1799, while his death occurred in Monroeville, Ohio, in 1824. Dr. Andrew McMillan, father of our subject, was born in Cambridge, Washing- ton county. New York, April 14, 1798, and was graduated at the Ohio Medical Col- lege of Cincinnati, in 1827. He then en- gaged in practice in northern Ohio, until his death, which occurred in Clarksfield, April 18, 1849, in the fifty-second year of his age. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church from 1825. In Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, on the 19th of November, 1822, he married Effie D. Wheeler, who was born October 18, 1S07, in Bloom, Fairfield county, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Drake) Wheeler. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, in January, 1857, and his parents were natives of England. He was one of the heroes of the Revolution, and died in Ohio, in June, 1818. His wife was of Holland ancestry. Their marriage occurred in Pennsylvania, and they had ten children, four of whom were in the war of 1812, and one in the Mexican war. Mrs. Wheeler, who was born in the Keystone State, May 7, 1764, died in Ohio, Decetnber 12, 1847. Dr. McMillan and his wife spent their married life in Ohio. The latter joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1825, and remained a faithful member until her death, which occurred July 18, 1889, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. M. A. Sneathen. 11; MEMORIAL RECORD OF Our subject is the youngest of a family of fourteen children, of whom four are yet living. He spent the first five years of his life in his native village, and the succeeding se\ en years on a farm in Wisconsin. At the age of fifteen he began earning his own livelihood and also contributed to the support of his mother. For twelve years he was employed in a store at Sparta, Wisconsin, and during that time cared for his mother and sister. In 1875 he came to Minnesota and spent two years as a salesman in a store in Minneapolis. He then began work for the railroad company, with which he has been connected for nineteen years, being first employed in Nobles county, whence he came to Luverne in 1883. He is most prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duties, and has theiunqualified confidence of his superior officers. Mr. McMillan was married in Sparta, Wisconsin, January 22, 1874, to Miss Lois \ . Richardson, who was born in Hanford, Ontario, July 16, 1854, a daughter of Rev. Isaac Brock and Emma C. (Miller) Richard- son. They removed with their family to Sparta, September 28, 1866. Her father was born in Crowland, Ontario, October 1 1, 1 8 14, and after coming to the United States acceptably served as pastor of some of the best churches of the West Wisconsin con- ference. He was also presiding elder of the La Crosse district for four years. On account of his health he removed to Buchan Mills, Alabama, in 1885, and still makes his home at that place. He was married Feb- ruary 22, 1847, to Emma Carson Miller, who was born in Ancaster, Ontario, Novem- ber 17, 1825. They had ten children. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McMillan are Charles Edwin, who was born in Sparta, Wisconsin, September 23, 1875, and died September 20, 1876, in Minneapolis; Fran- ces Ethel, born in Sechlerville, Wisconsin, May 12, 1877; John Herbert, born in Min- neapolis, January 7, 1S79; Franklin R., born in Worthington, Minnesota, October 7, 1882; and Effie Ellethere, born in Lu- verne, June 2, 1886. A brother of our sub- ject has become very prominent as an author, and has published two works,— one, Myra Mordaunt, being a story of the war, while the other, Zelda, is a society novel, treating of society in the Twin Cities, the writer being a resident of St. Paul. Our subject has been a stalwart Repub- lican since casting his first presidential vote for General Grant in 1868. He has gone two hundred miles to attend the caucuses and has been present at the conventions of his party since attaining his majority. He has been secretary of the Rock County Re- publican Club since its organization in 1890, and does all in his power to further the in- terests of his party. He belongs to the An- cient Order of United Workmen, and with his family attends the Methodist church. They are most highly esteemed residents in the community, having a large circle of friends. eDWARD A. BROWN, a resident of Luverne, is one of the leading business men of southwestern Min- nesota. His operations as a grain dealer are extensive in their scope and he belongs to that class of representative Amer- ican citizens who promote the general wel- fare while advancing their individual pros- perity. He has for more than a quarter of a century been identified with the interests of Minnesota, and the connection has been as honorable as it is long. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 113 Mr. Brown was born in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, October 15, 1856, his father, W. W. Brown, a native of New York, having been one of the early settlers of Winnebago county. Our subject spent the first fourteen years of his life in his na- tive county and there laid the foundation for a successful business career by acquiring a practical English education in the public schools. In 1872 the family came to Rock county, Minnesota, locating on a farm at Ash Creek. There our subject remained for a short time, when he entered into partner- ship with his father and brother William and took up a tract of land as homesteaders. This they cultivated and improved, and to it added other tracts until they were among the most extensive landowners in the coun- ty, his possessions aggregating more than one thousand acres. The partnership con- tinued up to the time of the father's death, which occurred in 1882. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Susan M. Apple- ton and was a native of New York, still sur- vives her husband and is now making her home in Ash Creek. W. W. Brown was a prominent actor in public affairs as well as in business interests, and for a number of years served in office. The business career of the gentleman whose name introduces this record demon- strates what can be accomplished by perse- verance, enterprise and well directed efforts. As opportunity has offered he has extended his field of operations. In 1885 he began dealing in live stock, shipping to different markets hogs and cattle, and realizing a good return on the investment. Subse- quently he began dealing in grain, and from the beginning has prospered in this under- taking. He now handles all kinds of grain, and is the owner of the Luverne elevator and has fifteen others on the line of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Rail- road. These are located at Hardneck, Trosky, Pipestone, Cazenovia, Altoona, Ward, Elkton, White, Jasper, Ash Creek, Kanaranzi, Bruce, Plills and Ellsworth, all in Minnesota; and he has four in Iowa — one each at Ocheyedan, Alvord, West Bend and Little Rock. In 1883 he became interested in the banking business, being connected with others in the organization of the Citizens' Bank of Ellsworth. He is also vice-presi- dent of the First National Bank of Luverne, which was organized in 1884, while his official connectiontherewith dates from 1S93. His real-estate holdings are extensive, ag- gregating ten hundred acres of choice land in high cultivation, this property being lo- cated in Ash Creek and Clinton tosvnships, Rock county. In 18S4, Mr. Brown was united in mar- riage with Mrs. Jennie E. Olds, of Rock county, a daughter of Joseph Knight, one of the honored pioneers who aided in the organization of the county. The lady had been previously married, being the widow of G. H. Olds, by whom she had two children, Charles and Alice, both students in the State University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By her marriage to Mr. Brown she has three children, — Flora A., Edward W. and Susan K. In politics, Mr. Brown is a stanch Re- publican, unswerving in his loyalty to the interests of his party. Socially, he is con- nected with Ben Franklin Lodge, No. 114, F. & A. M., and he and his wife are mem- bers of the Congregational church. He is devoted to all interests that are calculated to advance the welfare of county, state or nation, and has done much for the upbuild- ing of the community with which he is now 114 MEMORIAL RECORD OF connected. He is a man of remarkable business qualities, resourceful and energetic, and the scope of his operations and the va- ried interests show that a master mind is in control of his affairs. With a strict regard for business ethics he has won the confi- dence and esteem of all, and is to-day one the most honored citizens of his county. EON, OLE O. HOLMEN.~The name of this gentleman is indelibly engraved on the scroll of Minne- sota's prominent citizens. He is now representing his district in the house of representatives, and in the discharge of the important duties devolving upon him has manifested a loyalty to the best interests of Minnesota that has awakened the respect of men of all political preferences. He is an active factor in the commercial interests of Slayton, where he makes his home, and his career, both public and private, is a credit to the land of his birth and the land of his adoption. Mr. Holmen was born on a farm in Nor- way, December 21, 1S64, a son of Ole and Ellen Holmen, who crossed the Atlantic to the New World in 1871, landing at New York city, whence they went direct to Iowa. They nsade their first location upon a farm in Winneshiek count}', and four years later removed to Chickasaw coinit)', Iowa. In 1880 they came to Murray county, Minne- sota, locating in Leeds township, where the father carried on agricultural pursuits until iSgG, since which time he has lived retired in Slayton. His life has been tjuiet and unostentatious, but such as to win the re- spect and confidence of those with whom he has been brought in contact. The gentleman whose name introduces this review is the fifth of seven children who attained maturity in his father's family. He was a lad of seven at the time of emigration to America, and in this country he acquired his education in the district schools, and in Augsburg Seminary, of Minneapolis, Minn. On completing his education he returned to his parents' home in Murray county, and then went to Hadley, where he entered the employ of F. H. Peavey & Company, deal- ers in grain, remaining with that firm for three years. On the expiration of that period he came to Slayton and acted as a salesman in the store of his brother Ed- ward, with whom he continued until Janu- ary, 1896, when he entered into partnership with John Christianson, under the firm name of Holmen & Christianson. They deal in all kinds of general merchandise, carr\'ing a large and well-selected stock of goods. They are now enjoying a fair trade, their business constantly increasing, In politics Mr. Holmen is an advocate of Republican principles. While living in Hadley he served as a member of the town board, and in the fall of 1892 he was elected to the house of representatives from the seventh legislative district, composed of the counties of Rock, Nobles, Pipestone and Murray. During his four-years term he has acted on several important committees, including those on railroads, courts, insur- ance and public lands. He makes personal interests and personal ambition subservient to the public good, and is a valued member of the lower branch of the legislature, So- ciall}', he is connected with Murray Lodge, No. 196, F". & A, M., of which he is past master ; also belongs to Charity Lodge, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand, and to the Knights of Pythias lodge, of which he is past chancellor. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 115 -* H. BOTTOMS.— On the roster of Murray county's officials is the name of this gentleman who is now serving as register of deeds. This is an important and responsible posi- tion, for upon the care and precision of the incumbent may often rest questions which involve the disposal of property, frequently of great value. Mr. Bottoms was born in Freeport, Illi- nois, September 12, 1862, a son of James and Anna (Farrell) Bottoms, the former a native of England and the latter of Ireland. Both came to America in early life, and after their marriage located in Freeport, Illinois, where the father resided until his death, which occurred during the early childhood of our subject. His wife, who survives him, has been a second time mar- ried, and is now living on a farm in Murray county, Minnesota. Our subject is the first child of the first marriage. His younger brother, John, is still living, and is now a resident of Minne- sota. When W. H. Bottoms was still a young lad he went with his brother to Elkader, Clayton county, Iowa, where he continued to reside until May, 1S75, when with relatives and friends he came to Murray county, Minnesota, where he has since made his home. After his mother's second mar- riage he went to live with her and continued to make his home there for ten years. On attaining his majority he started out in life for himself, and naturally turned his atten- tion to farming, with which he was familiar from boyhood. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of choice land in Lime Lake township, Murray county, which he still owns, and which by him has been highly cultivated and improved. He transformed the wild prairie into rich fields, and contin- ued his farming operations until called to public office. In 1892 Mr. Bottoms was nominated for the office of register of deeds of Murray county, and was elected for a term of two years. Such was the capability he displayed in the discharge of his duties that he was at once re-elected for a second term, and is therefore the incumbent in the office at this writing in 1896. His official career is with- out blemish, and reflects credit upon the constituents who called him to office. In November, 1885, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Bottoms and Miss Mary Kiernan, a native of Wisconsin, where she was reared and educated. For several terms she was numbered among the success- ful school-teachers of Murray county. She is now the mother of an interesting family of two sons and three daughters, and Mr. Bottoms with his wife and children resides in the pleasant home on Fourth street, in the village of Slayton. Socially our subject is a valued member of the orders of Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. AMES E. BLACK is the efficient sheriff of Rock county, Minnesota, and belongs to that class of reliable and trustworthy citizens to whom may be attributed the stable welfare and prosperity of a community. Such is his fidelity to duty in his official capacity that his name brings a sense of security to the law-abiding citizen and a feeling of terror to the evil-doer. Born in Huron county, Ohio, Decem- ber 3, 1844, Mr. Black is a son of Elam and Amanda (Harrington) Black, both na- tives of New York, where they grew to ma- 116 MEMORIAL RECORD OF turity and were married. His father was a distiller by trade, but for many years fol- lowed farming^. He is now living in Waba- sha county, Minnesota, in his eighty-seventh year; but his wife died in 1894, at the age of seventy-nine. The grandfather of our subject was Joe Black, a native of Pennsyl- vania. Our subject was the third in a fam- ily of four sons and three daughters, all yet living. One brother makes his home in Luverne; and Davis was in the United States mail service. James E. Black was reared at the pa- rental home and acquired his education in the common schools. In 1S62, when only seventeen years of age, he joined the coun- try's service, enlisting in Warren, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, as a member of Company K, Ninety-sixth Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Thomas E. Champion. He was with his regiment in many important en- gagements, including the battles of Chatta- nooga, Atlanta and Nashville. W'hen the war was over he recei\ed an honorable dis- charge at Nashville, on the iith of June, 1865. He was wounded at Fort Shaler in 1863, a shell striking him in the right knee, and was again wounded at Chickamauga, September 20, 1863. When the preservation of the Union was assured, Mr. Black removed to Wa- basha county, Minnesota, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until October, 1878, when he took u]5 a home- stead on section 8, Denver township. Rock county, and was successfully engaged in the cultivation of that farm until 1890. He was then elected sheriff of the county on the Republican ticket, and has since con- tinued in office. So faithfully has he per- formed his duties that he has been retained in the shrievalty through six years, and no higher testimonial of his ability could be given than the fact of his re election. Mr. Black was married March 22, 1869, to Miss Almira Savage, of Goodhue county, Minnesota, a daughter of Rufus Savage, a native of Pennsylvania. They have three children, — Edna, Roy and Jessie. iV(r. Black is a member of Mjrtle Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. He is public-spirited and progressive, and faithfully discharges every duty of citizenship with the same fidelity that he displayed when on southern battle- fields he followed the stars and stripes to victory and thus aided in the perpetuation of our glorious republic. ARRY MORELL, M. D., C. M., is a prominent young physician and surgeon of Slayton, Brown county, and his native talents and acquired ability are rapidly winning him a place among the leading members of the profes- sion in southwestern Minnesota. He was born in Toronto, Canada, February 5, 1869, and is a son of Samuel and Georgiana Morel!. His father was a leading business man of Toronto, and died in Canada some years ago. The mother is still living and yet makes her home in the British province. They had eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whoni are yet li\'ing. Tne Doctor is the fourth in order of birth and his boyhood days were spent in his native city, where he attended the pub- lic schools for a time, and afterward became a student in a private school. In 1887 he was enrolled among the students of Trinity Universit)' and soon afterward entered Trinity Medical College, where he was graduated in April, 1892. The same year SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 117 he was also graduated at \'ictoiia University, having therein devoted considerable time to the inastery of the science of surgery. Not long after, by examination, he was admitted a Fellow of Trinity Medical College. Dur- ing 1892 he served by appointment as as- sistant physician in Mimico Asylum, and while in college held various infirmary ap- pointments. In tlie fall of 1892, Dr. Morell came to Slayton, Minnesota, where he embarked in general practice, and is now well established in his profession, having a large and lucra- tive practice. He is a close student, keep- ing abreast with the progress that is con- stantly being made in the sciences of lioth medicine and surgery. His broad and com- prehensive knowledge of both departments and his application of his learning to the needs of mankind has been SLich as to win him marked prestige, and although one of the younger representatives of the medical fraternity he is also one of the most able and honored in Murray count}'. Dr. Morell is a licentiate of the state medical examining board by examination, a member of the Minnesota State Medical Society, and a member and treasurer of the Southwestern Minnesota Medical Society. He is now a health officer of the village of Slayton, and in 1896 was appointed physi- cian of Murray county, while for the Chi- cago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad he is now serving as local surgeon. On the 29th of January, 1896, the Doctor led to the marriage altar Miss Eu- phemia Richardson, of Slayton, a teacher in the Minneapolis schools and a daughter of Robert Richardson. Socially, he is con- nected with Murray Lodge, No. [99, F. & A. M., of which he is secretary, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. He was elected and served as justice of the peace of Slayton, and is a prominent and respected young physician of the county, who undoubtedly has a bright future before h i m . F. LYNCH. — In the business in- terests which have added to the material welfare of Slayton is in- cluded the Slayton Roller Mills, owned by the prominent and well known firm of Klingler & Lynch. Their business is one of the leading industrial concerns in the county seat of Murray county, and the owners are men of known reliability, whose progressiveness and enterprise have been of great benefit to the town. The mill was erected in 1886 by J. P. Smith of Kasota, Minnesota, — a roller mill with a capacity of forty barrels. It was operated by Mr. Smith for one year, and then sold to Foster & Dinehart. In March, 1S90, it became the property of the present proprietors, since which time the capacity has been increased to seventy-five barrels per da}', and many improvements have been made. A seventy- five-horse-power Corliss engine has been put in operation, together with a ninety- horse-power boiler and the finest machinery of other kinds. A new fire-proof building for the engine and boiler . house has been erected, making one of the most thoroughly equipped mills in this section of the state. The products of the mill are of the best possible quality and find a ready sale on the market. They manufacture a number of fine brands of wheat tlour, together with corn, rye and buckwheat products, and do a general exchange business as well as selling direct to various markets. The firm also buys, sells and ships all kinds of grain, and 118 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in connection witii the mil! lias a large ele- vator with a capacity of ten thousand bush- els. The business has now assumed exten- sive proportions, and the thoroughly reliable methods and the well known integrity of the proprietor have secured for them a most excellent trade, from which they derive a good income. The leading citizens of a town are the promoters of its commercial enterprises, men who by their well directed efforts in business advance the general prosperity. To this class belongs B. F. Lynch; and it is with pleasure that we present a record of his life to our readers. He was born in New York city, May 21, 1863, and is a son of Philip and Ann ( Barnard ) Lynch. When a child of two years he was taken by his parents to the town of Hudson, on the river of that name, where he remained for fifteen years. Our subject attended the public schools, and subsequently spent two years in the Litchfield Academy, of Litch- field, Connecticut, thus acquiring a good practical education. In the year 1880 he accompanied his parents to Adrian, Nobles county, .^linnesota, where he worked on a farm for a year; later he was employed in the Adrian mill for a year, and subsequently went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he was engaged in the same business for a year. On the expiration of that period, Mr. Lynch took up his residence in Luverne, and accepted a position in the flouring mill owned by W. H. Wilson, where he remained as a trusted and efficient employee for six years. He mastered the business in every detail, and for four years had complete charge of the mill. In the fall of 1887 he came to Slayton and served as manager in the mill, of which he is now proprietor, then owned by Foster & Dinehart. Forming a partner- ship with \'ictor Klingler, in March, 1890, they purchased the mills, which they have since made so famous throughout the north- west. In August, 1892, occurred an important event in the life of Mr. Lynch, — the cele- bration of his marriage to Miss Louise Shepard, of Slayton, the youngest daughter of the late Dr. N. P. Shepard, a prominent physician and influential citizen of Murray county. They now have two interest- ing children, — Marie Bernice and William Francis. In his social relations, Mr. Lynch is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He has been honored by local office, having served for two years as a member of the village council, where his fidelity to duty and marked devotion to the best interests of Slayton made him a valued official. His business integrit}' is above question, his pri- vate life is pure and honorable, and to-day among the most esteemed residents of Slaj-- ton is numbered B. F. Lynch. SI *ILLIAM H. GLASS.— The fitting reward of a well spent life is an honored retirement from busi- ness, in which to enjoy the rest that should always follow a period of labor and the fruit of his former toil. This gen- tleman was for many years connected with the mercantile interests of Luverne, but has now withdrawn from commercial circles. Our subject was born in the city of Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1841, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Gray) Glass. His father was engaged in the manufacture of various articles from sheet iron in Pittsbursr, so UTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 119 but subsequently turned his attention to farming, — for some time in Ohio. Both he and his wife were natives of Scotland, but emigrated to America in early life and were married in Pittsburg, where for a number of years they continued to reside. On remov- ing from that city they emigrated svestward, locating in Luana, Clayton county, Iowa, where the father began general farming, a pursuit which he continuously followed to the time of his death in 1875. His wife passed away the following year. William H. Glass of this review was tfie fourth in order of birth in the famil\' of eight children, — five sons and tiiree daughters, — six of whom reached years of maturity. He spent the first thirteen years of his life in his native city and in Ohio, then accompanied his parents to Iowa. Previous to that time he had attended the public schools in the neighborhood of his home, but afterward re- moving westward his services were greatly needed on the farm, and he had little op- portunity to continue his education. He gave his father the benefit of his services until he had attained his majority, when he went to Parkersburg, Butler county, Iowa, and entered into partnership with Wilmot Whitfield, under the firm name of Whitfield & Glass, druggists. On the expiration of nine months, he purchased Mr. Whitfield's interest, and continued in the drug trade for two years, when he sold out. Mr. Glass has been a resident of Liuerne since 1S72. On coming to this cit\' he em- barked in general merchandising, carrying a line of dry goods, clothing, general hard- ware, groceries, and in fact nearly every- thing demanded by a general country trade. His well-selected stock, his honorable dealing and his courteous treatment of his patrons soon secured to him a good patronage, which he enjoyed until 1894, when, wishing to retire from active commercial pursuits, he traded his stock of goods for lands in Dakota and Minnesota. His farms are now rented. In December, 1875, Mr. Glass was united in marriage with Miss Martha Adams, of Luana, Iowa, daughter of Kimball Adams, a prominent farmer of Clayton county. Mrs. Glass was born in the Empire state, and during her girlhood accompanied her parents to the west. Our subject and his wife have two sons: Clifton, a student in the State University at Minneapolis, preparing for the profession of civil engineering; and Thomas Cortney, a student in Luverne liigh school. The family is widely and prominently known in this locality. Mr. Glass is a stalwart Prohibitionist and has served for two terms in the city council. His identification with the business interests of Luverne has been honorable and has resulted in prosperity for himself, at the same time proving of mate- rial benefit to the communitv. HNDREW J. DALEY.— The name of this gentleman occupies a con- spicuous place on the roll of lead- ing men in Rock county, Minne- sota. He is engaged in the practice of law in Luverne, and possesses many of those salient points that belong to the successful attorney. He is recognized as one of the representative members of the bar, and the part which lie has taken in public affairs ranks him among the leading citizens of Luverne. Mr. Daley is a native of Wisconsin, born in the town of Ridgeway, Iowa county. May 25, 1857. His parents were John and Mary 120 MEMORIAL RECORD OF (Ness) Daley, both natives of Norway, where they were reared and married. In 1847 they crossed the Atlantic and became residents of Dane county, Wisconsin. The father was a contractor and builder, carry- ing on that business for many years. His death occurred in 1865, and his widow, who still survives him, makes her home in Madi- son, Minnesota. Our subject is the second in their family of six children and was principally reared in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he attended the district schools, while later he pursued a commercial course in Madison, Wisconsin. For some time afterward he engaged in teaching in Minnesota, and at intervals read law, while in 1890 he came to Luverne, where he was admitted to the bar the same year, and where he has since maintained his residence. He has devoted himself assidu- ously to his chosen profession and is now well established in general practice, having a distinctly representative clientage in the local, state and federal courts, his specialty being civil cases. In 1886, Mr. Daley married Miss Nellie Knudtson, of Beaver Creek, Rock, county, Minnesota, a native of Iowa and a daugh- ter of K. N. Knudtson. They now have one son and five daughters, — Walter O. , Sylva, Ethel, Maud, Mabel and Grace. In politics, Mr. Daley affiliates with the Re- publican party, but has never sought political preferment. He takes a deep interest in public matters calculated to advance the general welfare, was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, and has held several offices in the church which he attends. He has a comfortable residence in Luverne, which is the center of a cultured society cir- cle, and his friends in the community are many. HUGUST RATHJEN is one of the leading citizens and substantial business men of Kanaranzi. He is now enjoying a good trade as a dealer in grain, coal, lumber and building materials. A definite purpose, resolute en- ergy and unabating perseverance, — these are the salient points in his character, and have been the means of bringing to him a well-deserved success. Mr. Rathjen was born in Scott county, Iowa, May 7, 1865, and is of German line- age. His parents, John and Helena (Lerch) Rathjen, were both natives of the father- land, and in the early '50s they bade adieu to friends and country, sailing to the New World. Taking up their residence in Scott county, Iowa, they have since made it their home. Mr. Rathjen was a farmer by occu- pation, and was long identified with the agricultural interests of that community, but for several years now has lived retired. To him and his estimable wife were born eight children, — four sons and four daughters, — of whom five reached years of maturity. Our subject was the seventh in order of birth, and in his parents' home he spent his boyhood and youth, early familiarizing him- self with the labors of the farm and gaining a practical training that has been of much use to him in his own career. His early educational training, received in the com- mon schools, was supplemented by a course in the Davenport Business College. He lived with his father until his marriage, which important event in his life occurred in Scott county, Iowa, May 19, 18S4, the lady of his choice being Miss Catherina Nissen. She was born in that county, May 18, 1864, a daughter of Peter and Mary (Eichner) Nissen. Her mother died in Scott count}', but her father is still living. mU. ^/Cufs^ '^:?^^— =-7^^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 121 Mr. and Mrs. Rathjen are the parents of five children, — Willie, Emma, Meta, Hil- dah and Hattie. Our subject has been an important factor in the business interests of his township. He has erected a number of good buildings in the village of Kanaranzi, and now has a liberal patronage in his lumber and coal yiird. His honorable business methods commend him to the confidence of all. In addition to his other property he owns two good farms, — one, comprising one hundred and sixty acres in Rock county, and an- other of one hundred and twenty acres in Scott county, Iowa. In the spring of 1896 he erected a fine new dwelling in the village, which is the best in the township. He dis- posed of his coal and lumber business in June, and now buys grain and carries on general farming. Mr. Rathjen's political support is given the Democracy, and on that ticket he was elected treasurer of his township in the spring of 1895, and re-elected in the spring of 1896, so that he is the present incum- bent. Socially, he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. OTTO W. HAGEN, the one-third owner and cashier of the State Bank of Sleepy Eye, was born in Silesia, Germany, on the river Oder, August 10, 1851. His parents, Jules and Sophia (Schmidt) Hagen, were both natives of Germany, being born near the place where our subject was born. His father, a blacksmith by trade, died when he (Otto) was four years of age. His mother again married, and her second husband squandered all of their means. The grand- father of our subject took part in the battle of Waterloo, and was with Napoleon on his famous retreat from Moscow, Russia. He held the office of captain of a companj', and finally died in his native land. The father of our subject was compelled to support himself from the time he was able to work, and followed his trade in Germany until 1855, when he came to America and followed it here until 1870, — most of the time in Dodge county, Wis- consin. He was the father of nine children, five sons and four daughters, — all living. He and wife are now living at Sleepy Eye, coming here in 1891. He has been retired from business for a number of years. Otto W. was but four years of age when they came to America, and was educated in the schools of Wisconsin, attending Horicon high school. He first began business as a clerk in a drug and grocery store at Horicon, and continued there for a number of years. Part of the time he was interested with his father in general merchandise at that place. During the years 1873-4 h^ was engaged in the drug trade in Chicago as prescription clerk. He returned to Wisconsin in 1875, and remained there until April 15, 1877, when he came to Brown county, Minnesota, and for si.x years was employed by the Eagle Roller Mill Company of New Ulm, holding the position of secretary and cashier. In 18S4 he resigned his position there and accepted one in the employ of F. H. Dyck- man, as cashier of the State Bank of Sleepy Eye, of which Mr. Dyckman was then owner. In May, 1888, the bank was in- corporated, and Mr. Hagen was given a one-third interest in the business. Mr. Dyckman. the president, removed to Orange, New Jersey, where he now resides. Mr. Hagen is also president of the State Bank of Morgan, Minnesota, which he assisted 122 MEMORIAL RECORD OP in organizing in November, 1893. The banl<, under the tirin name of F. H. Dyck- man & Company, are agents for the Scottish- American Mortgage Company (Limited) of Edinburg, Scotland, and also other foreign companies. They do a business of over $1,100,000 annual!}' for foreign companies, and have over one-half a million dollars now loaned in Minnesota. In 1 88 1 Mr. Hagen married Miss Bertha Sentzke, who was born at New Ulm, Min- nesota, September 4, 1861. Her father, Leopold Sentzke, was killed by the Indians in August, 1862, while defending the town of New Ulm against their attack. He was among the first settlers of Minnesota, com- ing here about 1S58. His name appears on the monument erected to their memory at New Ulm. His wife is still living. Mr. Hagen is the father of six children, four sons and two daughters, of whom one son, Walter C, is now living, and is attend- ing school at Faribault, Minnesota, and one daughter, Martha O., is now at home. Mr. Hagen is a member of Keystone Lodge, F. and A. M., and also of Albert Chapter, R. A. M. He has never taken any active part in politics, but is an ardent Republican, casting his first vote for Gen- eral Grant. <>^ETER O. GOEMBEL came to 1 W Rock county, Minnesota, in 1886, t arriving here on the 13th of March and locating upon a farm on section 8, Magnolia township, where he still lives, and which he had purchased the previous fall. He is a man of great energy and per- severance, and has effected many improve- ments upon his place since taking posses- sion. He was at once recognized as a valued addition to the community, a man possessing excellent judgment and giving his support and encouragement to those enter- prises calculated for the general welfare. Mr. Goembel was born March 6, 1853, in Yorktown township, Henry county, Illi- nois, and is the son of Jacob and Louisa (Luther) Goembel, the former a native of Germany, and the latter of Pennsyl- vania. They are still residents of Gene- seo, Henry county, Illinois, and are the parents of five sons and four daughters, of whom our subject is the fourth in order of birth. He was reared in Yorktown town- ship, and remained at his parental home until attaining his majority, when he learned the carpenter's trade in Tazewell county, Illinois, which business he followed for four years. While a resident of Tazewell county, Mr. Goembel was married, January 16, 1877, the lady of his choice being Miss Christina Rapp, of Lorain township, Henry county, where her birth occurred September 10, 1S54, and to them have been born six chil- dren, fi\e of whom are still living, as fol- lows: Olive A., Arthur B., Jesse L., Perry C, Edith v., and one who died in infancy. Mr. Goembel began his domestic life in Tazewell county, Illinois, where he remained for two years after his marriage, and then removed to Geneseo, that state, where he was employed as foreman in a lumber-yard until coming to Rock county, Minnesota, in the spring of 18S6. Since living here he has turned his attention exclusively to agri- cultural pursuits, and now has a fine farm of six hundred and forty acres of rich and arable land in Magnolia township, which he has transformed into one of the most highly cultivated tracts in this section of the state. In performing the duties of an American SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. t23 citizen at the polls, Mr. Goembel votes the straight Republican ticket, and has been called upon to serve in several local offices, including that of supervisor of Magnolia township. Both himself and wife are con- sistent members of the Evangelical Associa- tion, and are widely and favorably known. ^"^ IMON LONG has for the last twelve •^^^^ years been successfully operating h<_y five hundred and twenty acres of land on section 13, Kanaranzi township, Rock county, with most excellent results, having now a fine body of land un- der a good system of cultivation. The farm, with its tasteful and substantial buildings, its neat fences and its general air of thrift and comfort, forms one of the most attractive spots in the landscape of the township, and to this place has been given the name of Pleasant Hill farm. As a citizen and busi- ness man, Mr. Long stands high in the es- teem of his neighbors. He was doom in Allegany county, Mary- land, August I, 1851, and is a son of Perry and Sevilla (EngleJ Long, both natives of Somerset, Pennsylvania. Perry Long was the son of John Long and Sarah (Broucher) Long, both natives of Pennsylvania. He was a cooper by trade, came to Fillmore county, Minnesota, and followed his trade there until his death; his wife died there also. His mother's people were also natives of Pennsylvania. Her father, Samuel Engle, moved from Pennsj'Ivania to Alle- gany county, Maryland, and died there. He was engaged in the stock business and milling and merchandising and died wealthy. Both the Longs and the Engles were of German descent. In the fall of 1854 the Longs emigrated to Minnesota, locating in Fillmore county, whence they went to But- ler county, Iowa. After a few years passed there they removed to Day county, South Dakota, where the father's death occurred. May 16, 1890. In their family of five sons and three daughters, four sons and the daughters are still living. Simon was the second in order of birth, and he remained at his parental home until his marriage. In Franklin count}', Iowa, on the 31st of December, 1876, Mr. Long wedded Miss Mary E. Boots, who was born in Delaware county, Indiana, October 26, 1853, and is a daughter of Martin and Rebecca (Jones) Boots, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. Mrs. Long is the fifth in a family of eight children, and by her mar- riage to our subject has became the mother of five children, — Ethel A., born March 28, 1879; Martin E. , born October 5, 1881; Ralph W., born April 26, 1883; Verne A., born January 26, 1885; and Harold S., born October 9, 1894. Upon his marriage, Mr. Long settled up- on a farm of eighty acres which he had pur- chased in Butler county, Iowa, and continued to live there until March, 1883, when he sold out and removed to Nobles county, Minnesota, renting a farm there for a year. At the end of that time he located upon his present valuable farm on section 13, Kan- aranzi township. Rock county, where he is extensively engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He also owns twenty acres in Luverne township, of the same county. In the various enterprises inaugurated for the advancement of the community he has been a cheerful and ready assistant, and takes a lively interest in the progress of the people around him. He is a stalwart Re- publican in politics, always supporting that party by his ballot, and socially is connected 1-24 MEMORIAL RECORD OF with the Modern Woodmen of America. Both Mr. and Mrs. Long take an active part in advancing the moral and religious welfare of the connnunity, and are earnest members of the Congregational church, which they regularl)' attend. They enjoy the friendship of a large circle of acquaint- ances, and by all are held in the highest regard. BI^ANIC GLASGOW, superintendent of bridges and buildings on the Sioux City division of the Omaha Railroad, is one of the most enter- prising and progressive citizens of Worthing- ton, Minnesota, and has filled the responsi- ble position that he now holds for many years. He was born at Constantia, Oswego county, New York, on the 17th of August, 1843, and is the son of John and Eliza (Buckley) Glasgow, both natives of the Emerald fsle. When young the parents both emigrated to the United States, and in New York their marriage was celebrated. The father, who was a contractor and builder, died at Worthington, in January, 1888. His wife had preceded him to the other world, passing away in Wisconsin, in 1866. In their family were eight sons and three daughters. Three sons are now living, the brothers of our subject being W^illiam H., a resident of Siou.x county, Iowa; and Philip H., of Worthington. At the age of ten years Frank Glasgow accompanied his parents to Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood, in the mean- time obtaining a good education in the com- mon and high schools. On laying aside his textbooks he began learning the carpenter's trade with his father and worked at his chosen occupation in Wisconsin until the fall of 1870, when he removed to Mankato, Minnesota, where he engaged in contracting and building. In 1878 he came to Worth- ington, where he entered the employ of the Omaha I'iailroad in the construction of bridges and buildings, and two years later was promoted superintendent of the Sioux City division, with headquarters at Worth- ington. He has charge of a section of the road covering two hundred and sevent^'- five miles, and has constructed the bridges, depots and all buildings along the line. During the summer season he has charge of from thirty to forty men, while in the win- ter months the corps is reduced to ten or twelve. His long service plainly indicates his faithful discharge of all duties and the confidence his employers repose in him. In 18S3 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Glasgow and Miss Mary A. McHale, of Mankato, Minnesota, who was born in the Empire state, and they now have two chil- dren, — John F. and Edith. Mr. Glasgow is the owner of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres, of which one hundred and sixty have been placed under a high state of cultivation, but he makes his home in Worthington, where he has a substantial residence, well and tastefully furnished. In 1864 our subject became a member of Company D, Fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, serving under Colonel Thomas S. Allen, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. On being sent to the front he participated in the battles in and around Petersburg, and was with his command until after the surrender of General Lee, "having served his country faithfullj' for eighteen months, when he was honorably discharged, in June, 1865. Socially he is connected with Stoddard SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 125 Post, No. 34, G. A. R., of which he has served as commander for four years, and Okabena Lodge, No. 72, K. P. He is one of the most pubhc-spirited citizens of Worthington, where he has served for six years as a member of the city council, and his courteous, genial manner has gained him a host of friends. In his private and public relations his influence is ever given for social progress and for the elevation and welfare of mankind. *w ^ ON. H. C. SHEPARD has been a lf\ resident of Worthington, Minne- M. . r sota, since 1878, and is one of its most reliable and valued citizens. Go into any village, town or city in this great northwest of ours, seek out the men who are the leaders in spirit, thought and action, learn the history of their li\-es and you will find that nearly all of them are self- made men who have risen by their own efforts to positions of prominence and pros- perity. This fact illustrates most aptly one of the salient features of our American civil- ization. There is an opportunity offered here under our emblem of liberty for every human being to work out and develop the best there is in him. To this class of self-made men belongs Mr. Shepard. He was born in Livingston county. New York, in the vicinity of Gene- seo, and acquired his early education there. He first attended the district schools, and later pursued an academic course. In 1857 he came to Stillwater, Minnesota, and resided there until 1878, following civil_ engineering, and also he served as city en- gineer of Stillwater. He was also engaged on the old Minnesota & Pacific railroad, and in the employ of the government in survey- ing land. In 1861 he enlisted in the serv- ice of his country, in the First Battery, Min- nesota Light Artillery. For three years he " wore the blue " as a faithful defender of the Union, participating in a number of im- portant battles and skirmishes, but fortu- nately he escaped being wounded or captured. After his discharge from the army, Mr. Shepard returned to Stillwater, Minnesota, where he was employed by a lumber firm in cutting pine logs, which he furnished to a sawmill. He also operated a lumber-yard for a time and in 1878 came to Worthing- ton, Minnesota, where he embarked in the fuel and lumber business; also dealt in farm machinery. The triple store he carried on for some time, doing a successful business, but after several years he disposed of his store and lumber-yard, but still continues to deal in agricultural implements and carries a large and varied stock of the best manu- facture. He is enjoying a most liberal pat- ronage in this line, and his success in busi- ness has been such as to enable him to accu- mulate some good realty, being now the ovvner of three valuable farms in Nobles county, which he rents. Mr. Shepard is an advocate of the prin- ciples of the Democratic party, and attests his allegiance thereto by casting his ballot for its nominees. He has been called to public office by his fellow townsmen who recognize his worth and ability, and for two terms he was the efficient mayor of Wor- thington, while in the office of county treas- urer he also served two terms. Socially, he is connected with Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R., with the Knights of Pythias, with Fraternal Lodge, No. loi, F. & A. M., and with the Royal Arch Chapter, in all of which he has been honored by official preferment. 126 MEMORIAL RECORD OF *w ^ ENRY ARP, who resides on sec- |f\ tion [4, Kanaranzi township, Rock M. . r count)', has spent his entire life west of the Mississippi, and the enterprise and progress which dominates this section of the country forms a part of his character. He was born in Scott county, Iowa, June 20, 1S61. His parents, Peter and Minnie (Fellner) Arp, were both natives of Germany, and emigrated to ihe United States before this event occurred, stopping at St. Louis, Missouri. They then removed to Scott county, Iowa, where for many years the father carried on agricultural pur- suits. They are now residents of Daven- port, Iowa. Of their family of seven chil- dren, — five sons and two daughters — those yet living are Emma, H°nry, William, John and Lizzie. The subject of this review was reared upon his father's farm, working in the fields during the summer and attending the dis- trict schools in the winter. He continued at his parental home until his marriage, which was celebrated in the county of his nativity, June 19, 1884, the lady of his choice being Miss Elizabeth Petersen, who was born in Scott county, Iowa, February 20, 1862. Her parents, Paul H. and Chris- tina (Hagga) Petersen, were both natives of Germany, and after their marriage they located in Scott county, Iowa, where they spent their remaining days, the father carry- ing on the occupation of farming there. They had three children, two of whom are living, namely, Minnie and Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Arp also have two children, — Mary M. and Paul P. In March, 1889, Mr. Arp brought hi* family to Rock county, Minnesota, and lo- cated on section 15, Kanaranzi township, where he lived for three years. He then rented his property and returned to Scott county, Iowa, where he remained until March, 1894, when he once more located on his farm here. He lived on section i 5 until March, 1896, when he removed to section 14. Here he owns four hundred and eighty acres of valuable land. Through- out his entire life he has followed agricult- ural pursuits and there is little about the business that he does not understand. His fields are well tilled, his property well im- proved, and he is regarded as one of the most substantial and representative farmers of the locality. Mr. and Mrs. Arp are members of the Lutheran church. In his political adher- ency he is a Democrat, and on that ticket has been elected to several offices. He served as school clerk for two years, and in the spring of 1895 became chairman of the town board of supervisors and was re-elected in the spring of 1896, so acceptably had he filled the office. He labored earnestly for the best interests of the community, for the advancement of the moral and material welfare of his township, and is regarded as one of its most valued citizens. iQBIAS AANSON.— Among the finest specimens of the hardy yeo- manry of our country, there are few that can be termed the peers of the representatives of the Norwegian race, who are so materiall}' helping in the development of this state. Mr. Aanson, who is now the owner of a fine farm on sec- tion 4, Clinton township. Rock county, Min- nesota, was born in Norway, July 22, 1852, and is a worthy son of Aanen Aanson, who not only engaged in farming in that country SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 127 but was a lay preacher in the Lutheran church and "a most devoted and untiring worker in his Master's cause. He was also a member of the Norwegian Bible Society, and died in his native land in the latter part of December, 1865. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Engeburg Syrenson, still survives her hus- band, and is now residing in Christiansand, Norway. Tobias Aansbn is the youngest son in the family of eight children, — six sons and two daughters, — and remained upon his father's farm until thirteen years of age. On leaving home he followed the sea for two years, and in 1871 sailed for America. After reaching New York he went to Con- necticut, where he was employed in a stone quarry for five years, and then emigrated to Luverne, Rock county, Minnesota, purchas- ing one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 4, Clinton township. On the 5th of November, 1877, Mr. Aanson was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Adamson, who was born in Sweden, February 24, 1857, and eight children now bless their union, ^William, Alice, Albert, Agnes, Sarah, Fred, Clarence and Ruth. Upon their marriage they located upon the farm where they have since continued to reside. As his financial resources have in- creased .Mr. Aanson has added to his orig- inal purchase, until he now has an excellent farm of four hundred acres, which is entirely free from mustard seed and in a high state of cultivation. He takes considerable in- terest in fruit culture, and noNV has a fine orchard of one hundred and fifty trees in ex- cellent condition and some bearing. Upon his place he has erected good and substan- tial buildings, and its neat and thrifty ap- pearance plainly indicates the owper to be a man of progressive ideas and industrious habits. Mr. Aanson takes a deep interest in the progress and welfare of his adopted country, and on account of his views on the tem- perance question is a stanch supporter of the Prohibition party. Both himself and wife are faithful members of the Lutheran church, and like his father he devotes much of his time and attention to missionary work, always refusing to accept pay for his service in the Master's vineyard. He is found true to every trust reposed in him, and takes as his guide through life the pre- cepts of the scriptures. ^ILLIAM AUSTIN is one of the most genial and whole-souled a\ \jLj\ '"en of Rock county, whose pos- sessions have been accumulated by his own thrift and industry. He now turned his attention chiefly to his farming interests, which find in him a most able rep- resentative. He was born in Cattaraugus county. New York, December 5, 1835, and is the son of William and Rebecca (Dow) Austin, also natives of the Empire state, where the father carried on farming as a life work. Both parents died in Cattaraugus county. In their family were six children, — two sons and four daughters, — of whom William was the youngest. Until nineteen years of age our subject remained upon the home farm, and then began the battle of life for himself. Going to Monroe county, Wisconsin, he worked there at the trade of carpenter and joiner for about sixteen years, during the latter part of which time he purchased a farm, which he also operated until coming to Min- nesota in the early '80s. Here he pur- 128 MEMORIAL RECORD OF chased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 2, Magnolia township, Rock count}', on which he has made all of the improvements and erected good buildings, which stand as monuments to his industry and perseverance. Two }'ears after his ar- rival the family came to the county and took up their residence at their new home in Magnolia township. On the 20th of December, 1861, in Monroe county, Wisconsin, Mr. Austin mar- ried Miss Phoebe Isham, who was born in Scoharie county, New York, March 2, 1843, and is a daughter of Abner H. and Sabrina E. (Smith) Isham. Her father was a shoemaker by trade but later in life turned his attention to farming. The Isham fam- ily emigrated to Rock county, Wisconsin, in 185 I, but four years later went to Mon- roe county, the same state where the mother died December 31, 1895: but the father is still living. There were four daughters, of whom Mrs. Austin is the eld- est. Two children were born to our sub- ject and his wife: Estelle E. , now the wife of Charles E. Kleine; and Hattie v., wife of Henry Kleine. Though quiet and unassuming in manner, Mr. Austin has made many friends since coming to this state, and his upright, honorable life justly entitles him to the high regard of all. YRON J. PHINNEY, a leading business man and prominent farmer of Magnolia, Rock county, located permanently in the county in May, 1872, at which time he purchased a farm, which he still continues to manage, but is also extensively engaged in the grain business, which has proved a profitable source of income, He was born at Chester, Geauga county, Ohio, August 17, 1850, and when about four years of age was taken by his parents to Logan county, Illinois, where the following two years were passed. They then removed to Columbia county, Wiscon- sin, where he grew to manhood, and was later a resident of Butler county, Iowa, un- til his removal to Magnolia. During the civil war his father. Philan- der Phinney, enlisted in Company A, Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, with which he served until the battle of South Mountain, where he was wounded and was soon after- ward discharged, but re -enlisted in the Fif- tieth Wisconsin Regiment, and was commis- sioned captain of his company. In the fall of 1872 he came to Magnolia, Minnesota, where he still resides. By his marriage to Miss Fannie M. Cady, he had four sons and three daughters, of whom three sons and two daughters still survive, namely: George D., Myron J., Emma D. , Ella and Fred. On coming to Rock county, our subject took up a government claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Magnolia township, upon which he made his home until 1885, since which time he has resided in the village of Magnolia, but still continues its cultivation and improvement with good success. He is numbered among the wide-awake and pro- gressive citizens of the county, and is up- right and honorable m all his dealings. On the 22d of September, 1872, in But- ler county, Iowa, Mr. Phinney led to the altar Miss Minnie A. Walker, daughter of Henry Walker, of that county, but a native of Delaware, her birth having occurred at Wilmington. Two children honor this union: Mary L. and William H. Mary L. is now the wife of John Kuhn, by whom she has a daughter, named Esther L. For several years Mr. Phinney has ac- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 129 ceptably served as assessor of Magnolia township, and has ever taken an active part in all local affairs tending to promote the welfare or advance the prosperity of the community in which he has found a pleas- ant home. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and in religious matters is in- dependent. He is one of the prominent and representative men of Rock county, and is looked up to and esteemed by the entire community. >rr*AMES PRESTON, at present one ^ of the county commissioners of Rock A 1 county, is a well known and promi- nent citizen of Luverne township, having a goo^d farm of three hundred and twenty acres on section i8. He was born in the north of Ireland, March 4, 1847, and, when about five years old, was brought by his parents, Anthony and Margaret (Thomp- son) Preston, to the New World. The parents were also natives of the same sec- tion of the Emerald Isle, and, on their arri- val in this country, settled in Wyoming county. New York, where the father's death occurred soon afterward. The mother came to Rock county, Minnesota, late in 1884, and passed away at Luverne, in 1895. The family included four children: Maggie, James A., W. O., and Samuel, now deceased. Until 1864 our subject continued to make his home in Wyoming county. New York, learning the trade of carriage-making at Warsaw; but, in the sunimer of that year, he enlisted in Company M, Thirteenth New York Heavy Artillery, with which he served until the close of the war, when he returned to Warsaw, but soon afterward enlisted in Company C, United States Engineers, and remained in the regular army for three years, being stationed on Long Island. On leaving the service, Mr. Preston went to Corning, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for two years, and in February, 1872, came to Rock county, Minnesota, pre- empting one hundred and sixty acres, and also taking up a homestead of a like amount on section 18, Luverne township, on which he has since resided. He gives his time and attention exclusively to his farming in- terests, and the improvements upon his place are such as are found upon the model farms of the latter part of the nineteenth century. At Corning, Iowa, on the 24th of March, 1874, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Preston and Miss Emma L. Neill, whose birth occurred in Burlington, Iowa, and they have become the parents of seven chil- dren, — William E., Jessie G., Homer N., Arthur B., Herbert L. , Florence M. and Paul J. In the fall of 1892, Mr. Preston was elected county commissioner, and is now efficiently serving as a member of that board. He has always taken an active interest in political matters, supporting the candidates and measures put forward by the Republic- an party, and has filled a number of local offices, including tnose of assessor and town- ship supervisor, while at present he is jus- tice of the peace. In the discharge of his official duties he is prompt and faithful, and always to be relied upon. Fraternally he is connected with Ben Franklin Lodge, No. 114, F. and A. M., in which he has served as an officer, and is also a member of John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. For three years he was commander of the post, and filled nearly every chair in that body. Mr. and Mrs. Preston are faithful members of 130 MEMORIAL RECORD OF the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they take an active part, and since the organization of the church at Luverne he has served as trustee. V ^ - •' ILLIAM O. PRESTON, an agri- ■ ■ B culturist residing on section 17, \jjL« Luverne township. Rock county, comes of substantial Irish ances- try. He combines in his nature the ele- ments which constitute him an honest man and a good citizen, prompt to meet his ob- ligations and straightforward in his business transactions. His father, Anthony Preston, was born near Belfast, in county Antrim, Ireland, and his mother, who had the maiden name of Margaret Thompson, was also a native of the north of Ireland. In the early '50s they brought their family to America, locating in Wyoming county. New York, where the father's death occurred a little later. The mother passed away on the 7th of May, 1895, at Luverne, Minnesota, having come to Rock county in 1S84. They had four children, of whom the youngest, Samuel, is now deceased. Those living are Maggie, James A. and William O. The birth of our subject also occurred near Belfast, in county Antrim, Ireland, on the lOth of June, 1849, and he was but two and a half years old when brought by his parents to this countr}'. He remained in Wyoming county. New York, until sixteen years of age, when he went to Racine, Wis- consin, where he finished learning the jew- eler's trade, which he began in the Empire state. In the spring of 1871 he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked at his trade until 187S, when he came to Rock county, purchasing one hundred and eighty -seven acres on section 17, Luverne township. To its cultivation and improve- ment he has since devoted his time and at- tention, and has added to his original pur- chase until he now has two hundred and si.xty-seven acres of fertile and productive land, which yields him abundant harvests. His dwelling is neat and tasteful, and his barns and outbuildings are models of con- venience. At Racine, Wisconsin, September 27, 1876, Mr. Preston was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Smith, who was born in that city June 20, 1855, and is a daughter of the late John C. Smith, whose death oc- curred at Racine, in December, 1895. They have three children, — John C. , Charles E. and Harold W. Socially, Mr. Preston holds a member- ship in Ben Franklin Lodge, No. 119, F. & A. M. ; is a stalwart Democrat in poli- tics; and is liberal in his religious views. He has served as a member of the township board, and is a public-spirited and enterpris- ing citizen. Wp^ ILLIAM WARD.— Among the ■ ■ I energetic and enterprising agri- %j1jB culturists of Rock county whose names are scattered through the pages of this volume, none is more worthy of mention than the gentleman whose name heads this biographical notice. He was born in Michigan, November 12, 1S35, and is the son of John and Maria (Bouser) Ward, both natives of England, who on coming to the New World first located in Canada, where they remained for a time. In the early '30s they removed to Michigan, but after two or three years went to Wis- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 131 consin, settling in Crawford count)', where they spent their remaining days. Our subject is the second in order of birth in the family of five children, three sons and two daughters, and in Crawford and Grant counties, Wisconsin, grew to manhood. From 1855 until 1863 he trav- eled through the different states, but in the fall of the latter year he enlisted in Com- pany D, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the surrender of Lee and hostilities had ceased. He took part in many important battles and skirmishes, including those at Atlanta, Georgia; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Peach Tree Creek and Savannah, Georgia, and was with Sherman in his grand march to the sea. On being mustered out Mr. Ward re- turned to Crawford county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in farming until the spring of 1871, when he came to Rock county, Minnesota, pre-empting one hun- dred and sixty acres of land on section 34, Mound township, which he has since con- tinued to develop and improve, transform- ing it into one of the highly cultivated farms of the locality. In Clayton county, Iowa, March 11, i860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ward and Miss Catherine Campbell, who was born in that county, October 31, 1837, and is the daughter of Ivobert and Hester Ann (Griffith) Campbell, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Illinois. She is the oldest in their family of three children, having a sister and a brother. Two chil- dren have been born to our subject and his estimable wife: Bertha S., now the wife of William Bower; and William L. They also lost two others, who died in infancy. For several years, Mr. Ward has been chairman of the township board, and has filled riearly all the township offices with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. He is an ardent Republic- an in political sentiment, and his support is always given to those measures which tend to benefit and upbuild the community. He holds a membership in John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. of Luverne. (D ICHAEL SULLIVAN, M. D.— Nobles county has its full quota of well-posted and up-to-date physicians, conspicuous among whom stands the subject of this sketch. Dr. Michael Sullivan, of Adrian. Dr. Sullivan is a New Yorker by birth. He was born on a farm near Whitehall, Washington county. New York, July 10, 1852, third in the family of nine children, — seven sons and two daughters, — of James and Bridget (McDonald) Sullivan. When he was one year old his parents emigrated with their family to Wisconsin and settled in Rock county, where they maintained their home for a period of fifteen years. At the expiration of that time they moved over into the neighboring state of Iowa and lo- cated in Dallas county, where the parents still reside. His father a farmer, the subject of our sketch was reared to agricultural pursuits, but early determined upon a professional life and studied with reference to the same. After completing his studies in the common schools and taking a course in the Iowa State Agricultural College, he in 1875 en- tered the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Keokuk, Iowa, where he graduated in 1878. Subsequently he took a post- graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic. 132 MEMORIAL RECORD OF In 1878 he came up into Minnesota, located at Luverne, and there began the practice of his profession, continuing at tliat place for two years, and in April, 1880, removing to Adrian. Here he has for sixteen years been in active and successful practice, and does a large and lucrative business; and all these years he has figured as an enterprising and leading citizen as well as a prominent phy- sician, his influence being felt for good in many ways in the town. He has served three terms as mayor of the city and four years as its postmaster, his appointment to the latter position being made by President Cleveland. He was appointed pension ex- aminer by President Hayes, and served as such eight years; and all his public service has been characterized by promptness and efficiency and performed in a manner that has given general satisfaction to all con- cerned. Dr. Sullivan is prominently identified with numerous fraternal organizations. He is a member of the Southwestern Minnesota, the Minnesota Valley of Mankato and the Minnesota State Medical Societies, and the Tri-State Medical Society of Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. At one time he was president of the first-named association. Also he maintains a membership in the local K. of P., I. O. O. F. and M. W. Person- ally, he has a genial and pleasing address and the happy faculty of making friends with all with whom he comes in contact. He is a well-read man, not only in the line of his profession but also 'on all general topics, and in his religious views is broad and liberal. Dr. Sullivan is also a success in a finan- cial way. He has from time to time made profitable investments in property. He was married at Luverne, Minnesota, January 7, 1880, to Miss Catharine Devy, a native of Canada, and they have an inter- esting family of three children, — Albert H., Catharine L. and Doris. ^>^ ODERICK J. BEATON owns and 1^^ occupies a fine farm of one hun- \ . r dred and forty-six acres in section 25, Hersey township, Nobles county, Minnesota, and is classed with the leading and representative farmers of his community. Some personal mention of him is appropriate in this connection, and we take pleasure in presenting here a sketch of his life. Roderick J. Beaton is a native of the isle of Cape Breton and dates his birth August 14, 1850. His parents are still liv- ing there and his father is now over seventy years of age. Of their family, which was composed of five sons and five daughters, five are yet living, namely: The subject of this sketch, Malcom, Mary, Katy A. and Mary A., all married and all residents of Cape Breton with two exceptions, — our sub- ject and Mary A., who is the wife of Mr. John Folly, a machinist of North Cambridge, Massachusetts. The parents reside with their son Malcom, Little Judique, in Inver- ness county, Nova Scotia, being their post- office address. His father a farmer by occupation, the subject of our sketch was reared to farm life, and remained on his native isle until 1873, at which time he went to Boston. He remained in Boston till the spring of 1884 and then directed his course west- ward to Ashton, Iowa, subsequently went from there to Sheldon, that state, and from the latter place came to Nobles county, Minnesota, where he shortly afterward in- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 133 vested in propert)-, at first buying one hun- dred and nine acres of partial]}* improved land in Hersey township. This land is now all under cultivation, and he has added to it until, as above stated, his present farm comprises one hundred and forty-six acres. Also he is the owner of three valuable lots and a hotel in the town of Brewster, he hav- ing built the hotel. Mr. Beaton has a wife and daughter. He was married in Boston, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary 2, 1876, to Miss Mary McCarvel, a native of Ireland, born in 1853. She came to this country with her brother, landing in New York and later going from there to Boston. The only child of this happy mar- riage is now the wife of Mr. Jerry Sullivan, their marriage having been consummated in January, 1896. Mr. Sullivan is a young farmer of Jackson county, living near Heron Lake. His parents died on the Emerald Isle. ■^T^^^ILLIAM CAMPBELL, who re- m §L I sides on section 2, Luverne town- %jL^ ship. Rock county, belongs to that class of reliable and sub- stantial farmers who promote the material welfare of the community and secure its stable prosperity. Widely and favorably known throughout this section of the state, he is well-deserving of representation in this volume, and with pleasure we present the record of his life to our readers. Mr. Campbell was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, June 20, 1825. His father, Charles Campbell, was born in the same county, November 6, 1796, and hav- ing attained to years of maturity married Rachel Campbell, who was born near Lex- ington, Fayette county, Kentucky, March 4, 1800. They were married and began their domestic life in Bourbon count}', liv- ing there until 1850, when they removed to De Witt county, Illinois, where the father died, December 27, 1856. The mother died at the home of our subject, August 10, 1890. They had a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters. William Campbell, the third in order of birth, was reared in his native county, on his father's farm, and with his parents re- moved to Illinois in 1850, continuing to live at home until his marriage. On the 6th of February, 1854, he wedded Louisa Kyle, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, April I, 1830. They became the parents of five children, — Laura E., who was born in De Witt county, Illinois, February 20, 1855, and died there July 28, 1874; Charles F., who was born in the same county. May 30, 1856, and died February 23, 1859; Mary E., who was born in De Witt county, Jnly 25, i860, and died on the 3d of September of that year; Anna L. , who was born in De Witt county, April 5, 1863, and is now the wife of Frank Langharn, of Luverne, Min- nesota; Joseph K., who was born September 29, 1866, and is now farming at home. The mother of this family died in De Witt county, Illinois, February 28, 1874. Mr. Campbell was again married there Septem- ber 6, 1876, his second union being with Mrs. Caroline G. Bisbee, widow of William H. Bisbee, and daughter of Rodolphus and Sarah (Babcock) Fearing. Her parents were natives of Ohio, and her father died in Harmar, that state. The mother afterward married Rodolphus Berry, and died in Bloomington, Illinois. Mr. Bisbee died in Columbus, Ohio, September 15, 1874. His children were: Sarah who was born in Harmar, Ohio, June 15, 1859, and there 134 MEMORIAL RECORD OF died September 8, 1861; Delia E., whose birth occurred in the same place, July 29, 1 86 1, and who died April 4, 1864; and Lucy C, who was born at Farmer City, Illinois, January 26, 1866. Mrs. Campbell was born October 27, 1835. After their marriage our subject and his wife continued to reside in De Witt county, Illinois, until March, 1884, when they came to Rock county, Minnesota. Here Mr. Campbell purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 2, Luverne town- ship, and transformed it into valuable prop- erty, having set out many trees, erected good buildiugs and made other substantial improvements. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and since 1854 has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. >»Y*AMES E. BROWN, an enterprising ^ agriculturist who resides on section A 1 20, Kanaranzi township. Rock county, is one of the native sons of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in South Rutland, Jefferson county, New York, February i, 1840. The family, of which he is a representative, has long been established in America. His grandfather, James Brown, was a native of New Eng- land, and died in South Champion, New York, in the latter part of the '50s. The father of our subject, Orville Brown, was born in South Champion, and when he had arrived at years of maturity married Lovica Phelps, who was born in Jefferson county, New York, June 22, 181 2. Her father, Erastus Phelps, was born in South Hamp- ton, Massachusetts, August 6, 1782. Mr. and Mrs. Orville Brown began their domestic life in South Champion, New York, but after two years removed to South Rutland, where they spent their remaining days. They had six children, — Adeline M., Ellen E., May M., James E., Apalonia H. and Alice H. James E. Brown, whose name begins this sketch, was reared in his native town and made his home there until his emigra- tion westward with the exception of three years spent in the service of his country. He was reared to agricultural pursuits and has always followed that occupation as a means of livelihood. In September, 1862, he felt that his country needed the service of all her loyal sons, and never slow to respond to a call of duty he enlisted in Company A, Tenth New York Heavy Artillery, serving for nearly three years. Mr. Brown came to Rock county, Min- nesota, in November, 18S3, and in March of the following year located on the farm where he now makes his home. The tract comprises two hundred and eighty acres of land, and he has made many improvements which add to the value as well as the pleas- ing appearance of the place. Good build- ings stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise, while well tilled fields yield to him a comfortable income. Mr. Brown was married in South Rut- land, New York, January 30, 1866, to Miss Sarah C. Welsh, whose birth occurred in that place, December 17, 1845. Her par- •ents were Nathaniel and Wealthy (Skid- more) Welsh, the former a native of Pitts- field, Massachusetts, born May 12, 1772, and the latter born in Pinckney, Lewis county, New York, August 22, iSio. The father died in Jefferson county. New York, August 18, 1854, and the mother died in Kanaranzi township, December 8, 1886. Their only child was Mrs. Brown, who is also now the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 135 mother of one child, Jay W. , who was born May 21, 1S73. Mr. Brown has been an active supporter of the men and measures of the Repubhcan party since attaining his majority and keeps well informed on the issues of the day. He has been township clerk for more than twelve years, and has also served as school clerk, discharging his duties in a most prompt and capable manner. Socially, he is connected with John A. Dix Post, G. A. R. , of Luverne. *^-^ ENRY ROHLK.— The farming in- b''^^ terests of Rock county are well M. , r represented by this gentleman, who is an industrious, energetic farmer and has through resolute purpose and ca- pable management acquired a comfortable property. He resides on section 28, Kana- ranzi township, where he has made his home for the past eleven years. The homestead comprises one hundred and si.xty acres of rich prairie land, which he has transformed into highly cultivated fields, raising thereon the various cereals adapted to this climate. Mr. Rohlk is a western man by birth and possesses the true western spirit of enter- prise and progress. Onthe2istof January, 1863, he was born, in Scott county, Iowa. His parents, Joachim and Bertha (Arp) Rohlk, were both natives of Germany and came to America before their marriage. They located in Scott county, Iowa, where they were married and for many years made their home, the father dying there on the 1 2th of September, 1882. Their family numbered eight children, four sons and four daughters. Henry Rohlk, of this review, is the eld- est of the family. He was reared in the county of his nativity, and made his home with his parents until the spring of 1886. He attended business college at Davenport, Iowa. On the 8th of December, 1885, he was united in marriage with Miss Paulina M. Bauer, who was born in the same county. In the spring of 1886 they came to Rock county, and have since resided on their present farm in Kanaranzi township. Their home has been blessed by the presence of two interesting children, — Walter H. and Viola P. Their friends throughout the com- munity are many, and their home is noted for its hospitality. Mr. Rohlk has served as a member of the town board of supervisors for several years, and in his official capacity has largely aided in the material advancement of the community. He is deeply interested in all matters pertaining to the ^velfare of his town and county, and is recognized as a valued citizen. APTAIN WILLIAM WIGHAM, one of the well-known and highly respected citizens of Nobles county, Minnesota, resides in Adrian. His identity with this county reaches over a period of twenty-three years, and his life af- fords ample justification for biographical mention in a work of this character. Captain Wigham was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1837, and in his native county passed his boyhood days up to the time he was thirteen, when his father, William Wigham, moved west to Wisconsin, locating in Iowa county. There the father died February 21, i860. Our subject was the only child his parents had. He continued to reside in Iowa county until 1862, when his patriotism asserted itself and 136 MEMORIAL RECORD OF led him to take active measures in defense of the old flag. In August, 1862, he raised a company known as Company G, Twenty- seventh Wisconsin Infantry, of which he was commissioned captain and with which he served as such until near the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. He was a participant in numerous battles and skirmishes, prominent among which were those of Vicksburg, Yazoo Valley, Little Rock, Jenkins Ferry and smaller en- gagements. On his return from the army, the sub- ject of our sketch resumed farming in Iowa county, and was thus occupied there one year. In 1866 he was elected sheriff of that county, served one term of two years, and in 1870 he went to Kansas, where he was engaged in the cattle business until 1872. That year he went back to Iowa county and in the spring of the following year came over into the neighboring state of Minnesota and located in Nobles county. Here he took a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres and a tree claim of equal size, the former being on section iS, of Little Rock township, where he settled and spent the next three years. In 1876 he erected the second business building in Adrian and his son. Earl C. , was the first male child born in the village. From 1876 to 1880 he was engaged in a mercantile and grain business in Adrian, and in 1880 he disposed of his interests there and returned to his farm. In April, 1896, he rented his farm and moved to Adrian, where he now resides. Captain Wigham is the inventor of the best four-horse equalizer in the market for reapers and self-binders, perfect in all its requirements and relieving all side draft. Being very simple, any farmer can attach it to a binder in a few moments' time. In compan}' with another gentleman he manu- factures this attachment at Adrian. It is truly an apparatus of great merit. Three years he filled the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in the fall of 1882. Besides this office he has filled numerous other local ones of promi- nence and trust, among which have been those of justice of the peace and judge of the probate court. He was appointed by the governor of Minnesota to fill an unex- pired term as judge of probate. Of his po- litical affiliations, we state that he has ever been a strong and ardent Republican and in local politics has figured prominently. Also in church circles he is an active and efficient worker, having been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since Decem- ber, 1888, and having occupied official po- sition in the same. He has fraternal rela- tion with the Masonic order and A. O. U. W. Captain Wigham was married in 1867, in Iowa county, Wisconsin, to Miss Sybella E. Bishop, a native of that county, born in August, 1844, and they have had nine chil- dren, namely: William M., a Methodist minister of St. Paul, Minnesota; Mary C, wife of Charles Woombill; Ina, wife of Arthur Barker; and Charles, Earl and Edith, at home. Nellie died at the age of five years and they lost two children in infancy. BRANCIS W. THOM is another one of the prosperous and respected farmers of Olney township. Nobles county, Minnesota, his identity with this county dating from March, 1S76, when he came hither from Steele county, this state. On his arrival here he took up a homestead claim of eighty acres, and the ^e/el <^e/eUon. SOUJ'HW E S TE A'.V .UJA jS'B SO 'J 'A . followiiifj }ear purchased one hundred and sixty acres, the tract upon which he now re- sides and whcrc-he has since then carried on farming; operations successfully. He is now the owner of three hundred .-w^i] twenty acres. .\lthou,i;h lint a nati\-e of this connlrx, Mr. Thoni was reared here and is a loyal American. He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, June ii, 1S51, and in 185G, at the a.ge of five years, accompanied his father, Francis Thorn, and faniilj' on their emigration to this country, their thst loca- tion here being in Racine conntw Wiscon- sin, where they resided for two years. From Wisconsin they came over into the neighboring' state of Minnesota, tiiis state having that year been admitted into the Union. Tlie}' settled in Steele county, and there he continued to reside with his parents until 1876, when he came to Nobles county, as above recorded. Their frontier residence in Minnesota during his boj-hood days gave little opportunity for schooling, but he made the best of his advantages and received as good an education as the commr)n schools of the new state afforded. He was trained to farm pursuits and to this business he has gi\'en his whole attention. Mr. Thorn was married in Larkin town- ship, Nobles county, Minnesota, December 29, 1887, to Miss Laura Forder, who was born in England, and their happy union has resulted in the birth of four children, as fol- lows: Richard F., I'Idgar K.. Herbert and Arleigh K. Mr. Thorn is a public-spirited man, in- terested in all that pertains to the welfare of his community and ever ready to gi\e his support to all worthy causes. He has been chairman of the township board of trustees and is at present the township treasurer. 9 fn politics he is a stanch Republican, and in his religions views he is broad and liberal and adheres to none of the great creeds. EON. FKThlK PETERSON, treas- iner of Miu'ray county, is num- bered among the prominent resi- dents of Slayton. His life has been well spent, and the higii regard in which he is held makes him well deserving of representation in this \olumc. fn a brief sketch of an}' living citizen it is diffi- cult to do him e.\act and impartial justice,- not so much from lack of space as for want of the perfect and rounded conception of his whole life, which grows, de\'elops and ripens, like Irnit, to disclose its true and best flavor only when it is mellowed b\- time. Daily contact with the man so fa- miliarizes us with his many virtues tfcal we ordinarily overlook them, but it is the province of this \olunie to set forth in true light the life of the best citizens of south- western Minnesota, and such a volume would be incomplete without .1 record of Mr. Peterson. He was born in Waldres, Norwa}', De- cember 17, 1846, a son of Iver and Gertrude (Ingebretson) Peterson, also natives of Nor- way. During his infancy his parents crossed the Atlantic to the United States and lo- , Gated in Wisconsin, where they spent three and a half years on a farm. They then re- moved to Winneshiek count}", fowa, where the father secured land from the govern- ment and established a home among the pioneer settlers of that localitj, there being not more than a dozen faniilies in the county at the time of his arrival there. Oin- subject remained at his parents' home until the war, attending the district lys MEMORIAL RECORD OF schools of the neighborhood through the winter and aiding in the de\elopnient of the farm during the sunnner. On the 7th of June, 1863, he enlisted at the country's call for volunteers as a member of Company H, Seventeenth Iowa Cavalry, and served for two 3'ears and eleven months. He was a member of that division of the army which operated in the expeditions against the In- dians throughout Kansas and Nebraska, par- ticipating in man}' engagements with the red men. It was arduous service, often- times fraught with great peril, but he re- mained faithful to his post of duty until mustered out of service at the close of the war. On receiving an honorable discharge, Mr. Peterson returned to his parents' home in Winneshiek county, Iowa, and thence went to Freeborn county, Minnesota, but in the following autumn removed to Jack- son county, where he located a tract of rail- road land. There he continued to make his home for four years, when he came to Mur- ray county in connection with his father and his brother Albert. They located hen- forty- eight hundred and sevent}' acres of land in various claims. Mr. Peterson of this review continued to reside on his farm until 1885, when he sold and removed to Slayton, where for one year he was engaged in the real-estate business. The following year he purchased a stock of general mer- chandise, and continued in that line of trade until the fall of 1889, and in the fall of 1890 he was elected treasurer of Murray county. He entered upon the duties of his office on the 1st of January, 1891, and has since served in that capacity, having been twice re-elected. In June, 1875, Mr. Peterson married Miss Thea Christiansen, who was born in Norway, Februar\ 4, 1855, a daughter of C. and Caroline Christianson. They now have se\en children : Ignatius Conrad, de- ceased, Ira Curtis. Ernest Dean, Clara Gertrude, Nora, deceased, Florentia, Ida Maria and Peter Murray. Nora. li\- her death, left five children. Mr. Peterson is a stalwart advocate of Populist principles, and on the Republican ticket was elected register of deeds of Mur- ray county for one term. He also served for three terms as count}' commissioner, and in 1 886 represented his district in the state legislature. He is an esteemed mem- ! j ber of the Masonic fraternity, the Modern I Woodmen of America ami the Grand Army ! of the Republic, and is one of the most i prominent and influential citizens of Murray county, whose business, political and mili- tary record is one that reflects credit upon ! him. ILLIAM KERR. —In the subject of this sketch Larkins township. Nobles county, Minnesota, has an enterprising and successful farmer of the Scotch type. For nearly a quarter of a century he has made his home in this county, and for a number of years longer he has been a resident of Minnesota. I It was in June, 1872, that he landed in Nobles county, having come hither from a place near Caledonia, Houston county, this state, his first location here being on a claim in Olney township. In March, 1882, he removed to Oewald township, where he rented land four 3'cars and continued his residence a year longer. From there he came to Larkin township and settled on a farm on section 36, where he has since had his abiding place and where he is now so U TH WES TERN MINNES ( > TA . l:{'.t pleasantly situated. His whole life has been given to farniino- operations, his efforts have been attended \vith success, and he is to-day the owner of four hundred acres of line land. Mr. Kerr was married in Steele county, Minnesota, fanuaiy 3. 1S71, to Miss Mar- f^aret Thoni, like IninseU, a nati\'e of Scot- land, his birth having occurred in Millport, .\ugust \(i. 184S, and hers in Leslie, Feb- ruarj- S, 1849. They are the parents of eight children, namely: Daniel \\'., Robert F., Helen L., Jessie B., Winnifred, Wil- fred, Raymond and Bryce. \\'innifred and Wilfred are twins. All the children are at home and the sons are assisting their father in till' farm work. Mr. Kerr is interested in all that per- tains to the upbuilding of his community, takes an active part in all local affairs, and has filled se\eral township offices since his location here. Both he and his wife are identified with the Methodist Episcopal chnrch, having their membership at Rush- more, and he is one of the trustees of the church. Also he is a member of the .\. o. u. ^^'. W;y y * I 1. 1 , 1 .V .M T H O M.— Nearly a Mm I quarter of a century ago, in May, «jL^ 1872, to be e.xact, there landed in Olney township, Nobles coun- ty Minnesota, the gentleman to a brief re- \ iew of whose life we would now invite attention. Here he took claim to eighty acres of go\ernment land, as soon as possi- ble made impro\ements ujxjn the same, and early in the summer of 1874 moved his fam- ily here, and here he has since lived and prospered. As the years passed by his earnest efforts were attended with success, he inxested in more land from time to time, and at this writing we find him the owner rif no less than 1.200 acres, most of which is improved. Mr. Thorn is a Scotchman b\ birth and possesses many of the sterling characteris- tics peculiar to his countrymen. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, September 9, 18^4, and in his nati\e land was reared and educated, remaining there until 1854, when he severed home ties and sought his fortune in the New World, landing in America in the spring of that year, an ambitious j'oung man of twenty, without means but with plenty of pluck and energy. Thus equipped, he at once directed his course westward to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was em- plo\-ed on a farm and worked by the month for three years, fn the spring of 1857 he came to Minnesota and in Steele county pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, upon which he settled and where he made his home until 1865, that year dispos- ing of his land and removing to Houston countv. where he purchased a farm and lived till the summer of 1874. At that date, as al>ove stated, he took up his abode at his present location. In Houstiju count}', this state, March 20, 1865, Mr. Thom was united in marriage to .Miss Eliza Mitchell, like himself a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, the date of her birth being May 20, 1848. They are the parents of eleven children, namely: Annie M., Frank \., |ames .\., William C, John D., Arthur ('.., Koy C, Bertha M., Lilly B., Robert .\. and Pearl E. All are living e.K- cept the eldest, Annie M.. ;ind Jolm D., who died April 10, 1896. During his residence here Mr, Thorn has taken a commendable interest in all local affairs, directing his influence along the line K) MEMORIAL RECORD OF of pinf^ress and Inr the i^ood of tlie criininn- iiit\, and himself serving; in a inindnT nf tiiM nsliij) olTires. Int'iiuicli wmk alsn.fie is [iriiniinciit and active. l'"(ii many years l\c has liecn an rlilri \\\ \\v l'rcsl)\ Icrian rhnri'h. •"^^ 1:\1:R a. JACOHSON. — For two «^^^^ d( rados the siibjerl of this re\ iew r\^^J ha^ mainlaiiKNliiis aliidmj; phu^c on his jMcscnt farm iiiOlnev townsinp, Nobles coiiiit\', Minnesota, and is ranked with the leadint^ citi/ens of his community. He belongs to the Norwegian-American element which has entered so largely into the make-up of our commonwealth, and his life has been such that it justifies biograph- ical mention in this work. Mr. Jacobson was born in Norway, .April 28, 1852, son of Andrew and Inger (Sever- son) Jacobson, both natives of that country, the former born January 12, 1804, and the latter March 10, 1 S24. Andrew Jacobson died in his nati\e land Januar}- 12, 1871. Their family was composed of six children, namel\-: Maria, Sever A., Carrie, Emma, Lena, and Karstie, all reared in Norway. Sever A. grew up on his father's farm and in 1872, the year following his father's death, left the old home and sought his fortune in America, landing here in the spring and coming west as far as La Fayette county, Wisconsin, where h: foimd employment as a farm hand and where he worked by the month for four years. At the end of that time, in March, 1876, he came to Minnesota, accompanied hither by his wife, he ha\'ing married in Wisconsin. Arrived in Nobles county, he settled on section 28, of Olney township, where he has since lived and devoted his at- tention to the cultivation and improvement ol his land, his holdini;s comprising one hundred and sixty acres. He has heri- erected good buildings, has a pleasant home and is nicel\' situated, enjovin^ the condorts which ha\"e come through his years of honest and earnest toil. -Mr. jacobson was married in La F'ayette County, Wisconsin, March 22, 1875, to .Nfiss Mary Johnson, like himself a nati\-e of N'or- wa\-, her birth h.iving occurred fanuary 7, I S3 I. She is a daughter of |ohn Johnson, who dieil in Norwav . Mr and Mrs. J.acob- son ha\e si.x children, as follows: .\lbert J., Samuel E., Charles O., .\nna S., Minnie J. and Edwin L. As has already been stated, Mr. Jacob- son is regarded as one of the leading citizens of his community. He takes an active and enthusiastic interest in all that pertains to • its welfare. He has been a member of the township board for several years, has served as school director and has also filled other I township offices. His political views are those advanced by the Republican party. Fraternally, he maintains membership in both the A. O. U. \\'. and the M. W. of A., and religiously he and his wife are Lutherans. For years he has taken an active part in church work, contributes freely of his means to the support of the same, and has held several important offices in the church. HOMAS GUNDERSON, one of the representative farmers of Olney township, Nobles ceunty, Min- nesota, is the son of a well-known and highly respected Norwegian, now de- ceased, and a rqember of a family w^hose identit}- with this state and county covers a number of years. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 141 Ole Guiideison, his father, was born in Norway, December ro, 1820, and in 1848 emigrated with his wife and one child to America, landing here in due time and mak- ing settlement in Iowa county, Wisconsin. There he maintained his residence for nearly a quarter of a century, until the spring of 1872, when he came to Nobles county, Min- nesota, and settled on a farm in Olney township. Here he spent the remainder of his life, and died at a good old age, his death occurring June 13, 1892. His wife, whose maiden name was A'hiel Klerrued, was also a native of Norway, the date of her birth being September 22, 1824. She died in Olney township, August 9. 1874. They had a large number of children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Julia, Gilbert, Thomas, Lillie, Eliza, Car- rie, Ole and Jennie. All are living except Gilbert, who died in this township a few years ago. Thomas Gunderson, whose name initi- ates this brief review, was the second of the family born in this cuuntry, and first saw the light of da} in Iowa county, \\ isconsin, January 7, 1S51. In that count}' he grew up, receiving a conimon-school education and early becoming familiar with all kinds (if farm work. He remained with his par- ents and accompanied them in the spring of 1872 to Nobles county, Minnesota, where he has since given his undivided attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he has been fairly successful. His farm comprises three hundred and twenty acres of as good land as is to be found, in his vicinit\-. Mr. Gunderson has at heart the best in- terests of the conmiunity. has filled the offices of school clerk and treasurer, and rendered faithful and acceptable service as such. Ill church circles also he is promi- nent and active, being identified with the Lutheran church and having served officially in the same. HICHARD O'DAY, a skillful and reliable agriculturist of Lismore township, Nobles count}', was born in Chemung county, New York, in 1853, and when quite young accompanied his parents, Michael and Mary (Nugent) O'Day, to Wisconsin, locating in Waushara county, where the father is still living, but the mother departed this life in i860, in that state. At the early age of seventeen years our subject left home and started out in life on his own account, his capital consisting of a pair of willing hands and a determination to succeed. He worked at different occupa- tions, but was principally employed at farm- ing and lumbering until locating in Nobles count}', where he had purchased eight}' acres of land in the summer of 187S. In; October, 1879, he came to the count}', re- maining about si.\ weeks, but in the spring of 18S0 located ill Lismore township, where soon afterward he purchased another eight} - acre tract, on section 36. Since his settle- menl here he has turned his attention e.x- clusively to agricultural pursuits, and now has four hundred and eighty acres of valu- able land in Lismore and Leota townships, which he has placed under a high state of cullisation. Besides looking after his own landed interests, he superintends the man- agement of a farm of fifteen hundred acres for Dennis 15o}'le, of Stillwater, Minnesota. On the 27th i'v 2g, i860, rind is n daugh- 14i MEMORIAL RECORD OF ter ijf jolii" :iih1 Mary ( Fiunugan) Sands. Her father is iiuw deceased, having died at Adrian, Minnesota, in the spring of 1891. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. O'Day, namely: Nfabel, who died in Jatuiarv', 1S91, at the age of si.\ years; Alice, \\'ho died in 1S86, when abont si.\ months old; Charles, born [nly 15, iS.S-; Grace, born Novendier 8. 1S89; Richard S., born ^Ja\■ 4, 1892; Louis, born Deceniber II, 1S93: and Helen F. , born December 16, 1S94. The hrst \ote oi Mr. U'I)a\ was cast in support of the Democratic part}-, but he is now an ardent l-'opulist, and although he cares nothing for pul>lic office, he has filled a number of minor positions in his township with credit to himself and to the satisfac- tion of all concerned. With his familj' he holds membership in the Cathcjlic church, and is an honored and \alued citizen of the community Q ELSON H. COOK. The name which initiates this review is one well known throughout Nobles county, the bearer's extensi\e farm- ing operations and the interest he has taken in the stock business basing brought hitn into prominence. In this connection there- fore it is well to consider some of the salient points in his life history. Nelson H. Cook was ushered into this wiorld in Somerset county, Maine, Jul}' 14, 1844, and traces his ancestr}' back to Eng- land and Scotland, his forefathers, how- ever, for Several generations ha\ing been residents of .\merica. His parents, Ralphus and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Cook, natives re- spectivel}- of St. John. New Brunswick, and Eastport, Maine, both died in >faine. the lather ill ICa.stport, at the age of fortyyears, anif the mother in Dover, at the age of sev- ent}'. He was of Scotch descent and she of English. tn their famihwere si.x children, five of whom are still living, occup}ing hfju- orable and useful positions in life. Earl}' losing his father, and his mother being poor, Xelsoii H. was at the age of four years bound out. 'I'he restraints placed about him, however, in his new position as "bound boy" were not the most desirable, and when he was ten years old he returned to his mother, with whom he remained un- til he was tw'ent\-one. He attended the dis- trict schools, worked in the lumlier camps and was otherwise emplo}'ed, and thus passed his boyhood and }'outh. His father had been a lumberman and farmer, .\fter he grew up the subject of our sketch came west and was employed in lumber camps in Michigan and Wisconsin for se\eral years, and in the spring of 1875 came from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to southwestern Minne- sota, wliere for three \ears he worked l)y the month as overseer. In the meantime he took up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres at his present location on section 8, I^eota township. Nobles county, and as soon as practicable erected a small house upon it and began to make other im- provements. Eater he enlarged his house and from time to time has made additions and improvements until at this writing his farm buildings are among the best in this section of the country. To his original holdings Mr. Cook has added until his farm now comprises four hundred acres, and he and his son together cultivate twice that amount of land. While he carries on gen- eral fanning, he is making a specialty of tlie stock business and directs his attention chief!}' to hogs, buying, raising and ship- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 143 ping. Mr. Cook owes his start in life and his present prosperity to his own efforts. He has all his life practiced honesty, indus- try and frugality. He has worked early and late. For fifteen years he made it his habit to breakfast between two and three o'clock A. M., and for twenty years he was foreman of logging camps. In this way he got his start. In 1892, when he began dealing in stock it was on a small scale, but he soon enlarged his operations, from the first tak- ing a pride in keeping only the best stock, and in 1894 his sales amounted to no less than fifteen hundred dollars. Mr. Cook was married while in Wiscon- sin, October 20, 1866, to Miss Martha N. Adams, a native of Piscataquis county, Maine, and daughter of Joshua and Adubah (Higgins) Adams, both natives of Pittsfield, Maine. Her father was a farmer and drover, which he followed all his life. In August, 1869, he moved to Wisconsin and settled in Dodge county, where he resided for a num- ber of years, removing thence to Chickasaw county, Iowa, and locating on a tract of wild land which he purchased. There he died Maj' 6, 1884. His widow survived him until October 20, 1890, when she died in Nashua, Iowa, at the home of her daughter Mrs. Spalding. Mrs. Cook is one of a fam- ily of nine, five sons and four daughters, si.x of whom are living, all farmers. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Cook were Benjamin and Margai^et Adams. Her great- grandfather, John Adams, was a son of the original .Adams who came to this country from Scotland. Benjamin Adams was one of the valiant soldiers of the Revolution. Both he and his wife died in Pittsfield, Maine, at the home of their son Joshua, the former being fifty-five and the latter fifty- four at thr- time of death. Of the mater- i nal grandparents of Mrs. Cook, we record that they were Ephraim and Phoebe Hig- gins, both natives of the Pine Tree state, and in that state passed their lives and died, each dying at the venerable age of eighty- four years, Mr. Higgins passing away at Abbott and his wife at Pittsfield. The Hig- gins family also were of Scotch origin. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Cook,, five in number, are as follows: Charles M., born in Abbott, Maine, April 20, 1868, is now a prominent and respected citizen of Leota township and is serving as township assessor; Alvin A., also a native of Abbott. Maine, was born July 3, 1869; Alton H, , born in Dodge county, Wisconsin, January 10, 1871 ; Elsie C, born in Nobles county, Minnesota, February 5, 1884; and Sidney H., also a native of this county, born Sep- tember 21, 1886. Mr. Cook is fraternally associated with the K. of P., M. W. of A., and the A. F. & A. M., his identity with the last named order covering a period of twenty-two years; and politically he is a firm and consistent supporter of the Republican party. He had the honor of helping to elect the famous Lincoln for a second term in the president's chair. Further, we would state that Mr. Cook and his family are church-going people, move in the best circles in the com- munity in which they reside, and are justly entitled to tlic high esteem in which they are held bv all. BREDERICK PANK, Jk. -We now direct attention to one who stands conspicuously as one of the repre- sentative and influential farmers of Nobles county, — one who was born in a foreign land, but whoso identification with 144 MEMORIAL RECORD OF thu United States dates from liis teens, and whose residence in Nobles county, Min- nesota, covers a period of nearly twenty years. ISoth he and his estimable wife may vvell be termed self-made, and a i-csiiinc of their lives cannot fail Ui of^er Iioth lesson and incentive. It was in Germany that these worthy jieople were ushered into this world. Mr. Pank was born July J 7, 1850, a son of Ger- man parents, Frederick, Sr. , and Caroline (^Metz) Pank, still residents of their native land. The senior Mr. Pank followed the trade of brick-mason until 1868, and since then he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits. Frederick is one of the three children now living. He spent his boyhood days in his nati\e land, received a fair edu- cation there, and, under his father's direc- tions, learned the trade of brick-mason. In 1 868, at the age of eighteen, he severed home ties and pushed out to make his own \\a}' iir the world, embarking for America and in due time landing in New York city. After a sojourn of three years in New York city, during which time lu; was employed in work at his trade, he came out west to Minnesota. He spent one year in St. Paul and six years at Stillwater, all the while working at his trade, and from the latter place came, in October, 1S77, to his present location in Wilmont township. Nobles coun- ty. Here he purchased eighty acres of land, later took up a tree claim, and, by subse- i]ueut purchase, ac(]uired one hundred and sixty acres more, making m all f(jur hundred acres, which he has brought up tu a high state of cultivation, sparing neither labor nor means in its dexelopnient. His first home here was of meager proportions, being only twelve by fourteen feet, and it in time ga\c way to a larger and more comforlable abode. Mr. Pank erected his present mag- nificent residence in 1893, at a cost of sev- eral thousand dollars, has it finished and furnished in modern style, and both its exterior surroundings and interior are in- dicative of the culture and good taste of the owner and his famii}' as well as of his wealth. His broad acres are devoted to general i farming, and everything about the premises, ! from the buildings and fences to the well- . cultivated fields, shows that intelligence of a high order has directed the labor here expended. ^^'hile living in Stillwater, Minnesota, Mr. Pank was married, March 24, 1873, to Miss Catharine Rehater, who was born in Holstein, Germany, June i, 1851, daughter of John and Dorothea (Korturie) Rehater, their emigration to the United States being in 1866, and their first settlement on a farm near Stillwater, where the parents still re- side. Mrs. Pank is one of a family of six children, six of whom arelivingand all mar- ried. When fifteen years of age she left home and secured employment as a domes- tic, and worked and went to school, and in this way educated herself, bravely meeting and overcoming the many obstacles that naturally present themselves in the pathway of a poor girl who starts out to make her own way in the world and better her condi- tion. Of her grandparents, we record that on the paternal side they were Nicholas and Dorothea Rehater, natives of German}'. Mr. and Mrs. Pank have four children, viz. : Rosa J., Edward H., Martha C ami Flor- ence. Miss Rosa J. attended the NormaJ School at Mankato, Minnesota, has taught school several terms, and is one of the most popular and intelligent >'oung ladies in the county. Politiiall) , .Nil. Tank is a supporter of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 145 the People's part}'. He has always taken a deep interest in local affairs, has served for fifteen years as treasurer of his township, and as one of the leading men of his localitj- is not infrequently looked to for counsel and advice. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal church. t V ^"^ A\'IU BATES, a prosperous and I ■ progressive farmer residing on sec- /<^^_^ liun ^4, Dewald township, No- bles couuty, is numbered among the pioneer settlers of the locality, having come here when this region was a fron- tier settlement. In the work of advance- ment and development he has ever borne his part, supporting all measures for public impro\enient, and is one of those who should be gratefully remembered in years to come on account of what he has done for the material vvelfare of the county. He was born on a farm in England, in jS46,and is the \oungest of the eight children of William and Elizabeth (Smith) Bates. His parents, now deceased, spent their en- tire lives in England. Our subject was edu- cated in the common schools of that coun- try, and was reared in the usual manner of farmer lads, but he possessed a desire for knowledge and spent his leisure hours in reading, — a practice which he has since con- tinued until he is now a man of broad gen- eral information. At length he determined to tr\' his fortune in America, and in 1870, in company with his brother Sanmel, em- barked on an ocean steamer, the City of Washington, which sailed from Liverpool to New York. On their arrival in the latter place the brothers proceeded directly to Utica, New York, and secured employment in the service of the Erie Canal Compan}-, being thus engaged for two years. On the expiration of that period they went to Ohio, spending two years in Lorain county, when they returned to New York. After a short time spent in the Empire state, how- ever, they came to Nobles county, Minne- sota, and secured a homestead on section 34, Dewald township, comprising one hun- dred and sixty acres of wild land. This Mr. Bates at once began to plow and plant, and for eighteen years he there engaged in farming and stock-raising. He also took a timber claim of one hundred and sixt}' acres adjoining his homestead. Here he went through all the experiences and hard- ships of pioneer life. His neighbors were Jonas Bedford, Thomas Jay, F. C. Bur- dett, Aaron Lambert, A. B. McChord and Robert Dougherty. Mr.' Bates persever- ingly continued the cultivation of his home- stead, and to-day has one of the fine farms of Nobles count}', its well tilled fields yield- ing to him a good return for the care and labor he bestows u[ion them. >»Y*AMES R. JONES, president of the C Bank of Adrian, Adrian, Minnesota, /© 1 is a prominent and well-known fig- ure on the streets of this prosperous town, and has been identified with its history for a number of years. He came to Nobles county in March, 1876, from Iowa county, \\'isconsin, and first located at Bigelow, where he spent three years in mercantile business. Then he removed to Adrian, and since that date his name has been closel}' associated with many of the leading enter- prises that have contributed to the upbuild- ing of the town. On locating in Adrian he engaged in the mercantile business with his brother, John 146 MEMORIAL RECORD OF K. Jones, w hich they cuiiducted suceessiully until 1894. He began his banking career in 1880, when the Bank of Adrian was or- ganised. His father, Roger Jones, was the first president of this bank, and ser\ed as such ftjr seven or eight years, when he re- tired, and James R., who had up to that time been cashier, succeeded to the presi- dency, which he has since filled. The bank is now owned by the two brothers, Jatnes R. and John R. Jones, the latter being its pres- ent cashier. Also they ha\e other business interests in common. They own three thou- sand acres of land in Nobles county, and in Adrian they own and operate a grain ele- vator, the capacity of which is twenty thou- sand bushels, and which is run by steam power. Together they laid out what is known as the Jones addition to Adrian, now valuable propert\ . b'or some years Mr. James R. Jones dealt extensively in lumber in connection with his other inter- ests, and also at one time he was in part- nership with Mr. A. M. Becker in the'creani- ery business. Re\erting to the nati\ity and earl)- life of our subject, we hnd that he was born in Brecknockshire, South Wales, November 22, 1838, son of Roger and Christina (Evans) Jones, the former a nati\e of England and the latter of Wales. In 1848 the father came over to America, and the following year was joined here b\ liis famil}-, their settlement being in Dodgeville, Iowa count}-, Wisconsin. .-Vbout 1884 the parents came to Adrian, their sons, as aboNe stated, hav- ing located here some years previous to that tiuie, and here the mother died in 1S93. The venerable father is still living. They had twelve children, of wliom janies R. is the eldest. James K. Jnni-s leinanicd a nienilier of I the home circle until he was twenty years of age, when he pushed out in life on his own responsibility, and for some time was variously employed. He learned the trade of wagonmaker and also that of carpenter, and after working as a mechanic for a while turned his attention to merchandising. He was engaged in mercantile business in Dodge- ville, Wisconsin, some two or three years. i up to 1862, when he crossed the plains to ; Oregon and Idaho and tried his fortune in the mines. Also he worked at the carpen- ter's trade in the west. After a sojourn of five years and a half in the far west, where he met with fair success in his undertakings, he returned to Wisconsin, resumed the mer- cantile business, and came to Adrian as above stated. Mr. Jones was married in l)odge\-ille, Wisconsin, March 2, 1870, to Miss Annie Higgins, a native of Ireland, born in count} Waterford, Jul}- 14, 1842. To them six children have been given, namely: Mar\, who died September 16, 1872; May, wife of Julius C. Becker; Edwin J.; William A., who died August 19, 1878; Pearl E. and Ethel A. Mr. Jones early became identified witii the Republican party, and has ever since been a stanch supporter of its principles. He has always taken an active interest in local politics and municipal affairs, was one of the incorporators of the village of Adrian, and has served on the board and been presi- dent of the council. Eraternall}-, he affili- ates w ith the Masonic order, — Eagle Lodge, Xu. 119, v. & .\. M.. of which he was a charter member, and in wliich he served as master one year. Thus brief!}- is outlined the life histor}- of one of .Adrian's i:)ldest and most esteemed citizens. S O UTH WES TERN MINNESO TA . 14 4( HSBURY B. McCHOKD is u worthy representative of the farming inter- ests of Nobles county, and in all of Hfe's relations has been known as an honorable, straightforward man. He was born near the county seat of Preble ' county, Ohio, December 15. 1841, and from Scotch ancestry is descended, althcjiit:h the family has long been established on the American continent. Ilis grandfather, John McChord, was a native of Pennsylvania, and held a captain's commission in the war of 18 13. The father of our subject, Robert McChord, was born in the Buckeye state, and durmg his early life learned and followed the cooper's trade, but afterward gave his attention to agricultural pursuits. He mar- | ried Sarah Wolf, also a nati\e of Ohio, and a daughter of John \\'olf, one of the pioneer ; settlers of that state, who settled there in the torest at a \ery early daj'. He was also of German descent, and served his country in the war of 1S12. In 1856, Robert Mc- Chord removed with his family to Lee ; count}', Iowa, where he spent his remaining ! days, his death occurring in 1873. Our subject was the third in a family of nine children, all of whom reached mature years, while seven are yet living. Chalmers was a member of Compan}' B, Third Iowa Cavalrw during the war of the Rebellion, and is now a resident of Lee county. One brother resides near Rushmore. Mr. Mc- Chord, our subject, spent his bo3'hood at his parents' home, working on the farm and at- tending the district schools. He w as also a student in a select school lor a time, and later taught a country school in Lee county for one term. To his father he gave the benefit of his services until August, 1862, when, feeling that his dut_\ was to his coun- try, he joined Comp.niy ^^ Third Iowa C;i\- alry, connnanded h\ Colonel Cyrus Bussy. The troops were sent to Helena, Arkansas, and Mr. McChord participated in a number of battles, but was largely engaged in gar- rison duty in the southwest. He faithfully performed every task allotted to him during his three years' service, and was honorably dischiirged at Atlanta, Georgia, in August, 1 80 5. When the country no longer needed his services, Mr. McChord returned to Lee county, Iowa, and afterward engaged in stock-raising. He resided in Nebraska, — Otoe and Cass counties, — and in the spring of 1872 came to Nobles count}', Minnesota, where he took up a soldier's homestead of I one hundred and sixty acres, making not only the necessary improvements by which ; to hold his property, but adding many others which have largely increased the \'alue and attractive appearance of the place. Good buildings have been erected, the fields are well tilled, and all the accessories of a model ; farm are there found. The owner has also ! successfully engaged in stock-raising, making a specialty of sheep. Mr. McChord was married, in 1876, to Miss Margaret A., daughter of Jonas and Lydia (Bears) Bedford. They have four children, -Hannah, Robert Otto. John J., and Guy Boyd. In his social relations Mr. McChord is connected with F"raternal Lodge, No. 101, F. & .\. M., and Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. He has served for three years as assessor of his township, for four years was supervisor, and was chairman of the board. His official career gave the ut- most satisfaction to his constituents, and his labors while in office materially promoted the welfare of the count}'. His life is not marked by events of thrilling interest, but contains \'aluable lessons of trusts faithfulU' I-J.s MEMORIAL RECORD OF performed and of work well done, for, he has ever been true in his duty to his coun- try, his neighbor and himself. HNDREW HANSON.— Among the jirosperous and respected farmers of Little Rock township, Nobles county, Minnesota, are found many who trace their origin to Norway, and of this class none are more worthy of personal consideration in a work of this character, than the subject of this sketch and his hon- ored father, Edmund Hanson. A biography of the latter inaj- be found on another page of this volume. Andrew Hanson was born in the eastern part of Norway, April 25, 1859, and in 1S69 at the age cjf ten years, was brcnight by his parents to America. They landed at Quebec, came from there across to the States and settled first in Wisconsin, whence in the summer of 1873 they came to Nobles county, Minnesota, where the mother died shortly afterward. He remained with his father until he attained to man's estate and married; and with the exception of one year and si.\ months spent in California, where he worked at the carpenter's trade, he has since boyhood lived in Little Rock town- ship, and has given his attention almost exclusively to agricultural pursuits, the occupation in which he was reared. His present farm comprises two hundred acres. In April, 1896, he purchased a one-third interest in the Adrian Roller Mills, and since that time has given his attention to the mill. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Hanson has been twice married. His first marriage was in November, 1877, to Miss Ellen h.. Wetherb\', whose life was blended with his until her death, which oc- curred during their sojourn in California, October 29, 1888. She left one daughter, Ellen W. May 3, 1891, Mr. Hanson was again married, in Nobles county, Minne- sota, to Miss Flora J. Prideaux, a native of Dodgeville, Iowa county, Wisconsin, born August 13, 1867. Their union is blessed in the birth of two children, viz. : Mabel F., born April 23, 1892; and Raymond P., June 18, 1894. In his political views Mr. Hanson is a stanch Republican, and in all matters per- taining to the welfare of his community he takes an active and commendable interest. EORGE W. SOMERVILLE.— "Biography is the most univers- ally profitable and pleasant of all studies," wrote Carlisle. It sets forth man)' valuable lessons, showing how others have achie\ed success, what methods they have pursued and what plans they have followed in attaining prosperity. Mr. Somerville is a representative of the legal profession and in no calling does advance- ment depend more upon individual effort. Natural and acquired ability, earnest appli- cation and careful labor are the important factors which insure success in his calling, and by the exercise of these elements he has risen to a prominent position at the bar. Mr. Somerville was born in Ripley county, Indiana, June 3, 1855, a son of William and Rachel (Cunniiighamj Somer- ville, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Virginia. They early lo- cated in Indiana. In i860 the father came to Minnesota and soon became a leading farmer and fruit-grower nf Olmsted cuuut}'. sou TH WES TERN MINN ESQ TA . L49 He is a nicniher of the State Fiorticultiiral Society, takinj^ threat interest in the cultiva- tion of cherries and choice fruits, and in tliis Hne has attained a state reputation. The grandfather, John SomerviHe, was of Scotch- Irish extraction, and the Cunninghams were of Scotch Hneage. The subject of this review was the fourth in a family of two sons and three daughters, all of whom reside in Minnesota. He was in his fifth year when the family located in Olmsted count}', this state, where his father is still living. He is one of the most prom- inent horticulturists in Minnesota and prob- ably no man within its borders has done more to introduce and cultivate fine fruit. His wife died on the homestead farm in 1888. Under the parental roof George W. was reared and his literary education was completed by his graduation at the high school of Rochester, Minnesota, in 1876. He afterward studied law with the Hon. H. C. Buttler, of Rochester. Minnesota, for a year, and subsequentl)' entered the law de- partment of the State University of Michi- gan at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in the class of 1879. Mr. SomerviHe came at once to Sleep}' Eye and opened an office. He is a general practitioner and is an able representative of the profession. In the fall of 1882 he was elected county attorney of Brown county and filled that position for si.\ years, when he declined a renominatilanche. Mr. Gieseke and his faniil}' attend the Congregational church, to which he is a liberal contributor. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, and strongl}' favors sound money as interpreted by that party. EON. JOHN C. ZIESKE. -The fit- ting reward of a long and straight- forward business life is an honor- able retirement, when one may lay aside all cares and enjoy the rest which should ever follow earnest labor. For many j'ears prominently connected with the com- mercial interests of southern Minnesota, Mr. Zieske is now living in his pleasant home in Sleepy Ej'e, burdened with no business cares save the management of the property that he has acquired. A native of Prussia, (Germany, born December 25, 1S42, he is a son of Michael and Anna (Shult/?) Zieske, also natives of Prussia. In 1852 the father emigrated with his family to New York, whence he went direct to Marquette county. Wisconsin, and took up his residence near Princeton. In | 1863 he removed to Nicollet count}', Minne- sota, where he resided for several yeai\s, and in 1878 came to Sleepy Eye, where his death occurred in 1886. His wife is still living in this place. Mr. Zieske of this review remained in \ his native land until twelve years of age and j attended its schools until the emigration of the family to America. He acquired a fair English education after his arri\al in Wis- consin, and ill his fourteenth year he en- tered the employ of a nurseryman, with whom he remained eight years, thoroughly learning the business. In 1862 the patriot- ism of his nature was aroused by the con- tinued efforts of the south to destro\' the Union, and he enlisted in Company H, Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry, under Colonel Alvin l^ouch and Captain Riley P. Colt. With his regiment he was ordered to Pittsburg Landing, where he arrived two days after the battle. His regiment was in the fight and lost a large number of men. From Pittsburg Landing they went to Cor- inth, Mississippi, and was in that battle. They then proceeded to \'icksburg and aided in besieging that city until its fall, July 4, 1863. At Huntsville, Alabama, the regi- ment went into winter quarters and the fol- lowing spring proceeded to Chattanooga, later participating in the siege of Nashville and the Atlanta campaign. At Huntsville, Alabama, the regiment veteranized and was given a thirty-day furlough after the fall of Atlanta, at Atlanta, Georgia, and on its expiration proceeded to Kingston, North Carolina, where he joined his regiment. He afterward went to F)eaufort, North Carolina, Fortress Monroe and Ale.xandria, Virginia, then on to Washington, District of Columbia, where he participated in the grand review. .At Louisville, Kentucky, he was honorably discharged In |uly, 1865, v\'ith the rank of second sergeant, having faithfull}' defended the Union through three long years of the bitter struggle. Mr. Zieske then returned to Wisconsin, and in 1 86u removed io Cortland, Minne- sota, where he followed general farming un- til 1872. In that year he opened a harness shop in Sleepy Eye and began the manu- MEMOh'/AL RECORD OE facture of double and single harness, carry- ing on a profitable business along that line until 1.SS3. He next became a dealer in farm machinery, and was connected with that line of commerce until his retirement from business. In 1867, Mr. Zieske wedded Miss Mary Strasburg, of Nicollet county, Minnesota, a native of Prussia. The}' have two sons and two daughters: J. Henr}', an operator on the Northwestern Railroad at Winona; Emma, wife of W. H. H. Cutler, operator for the Winona & Western Railroad; and Chloe, wife of Ira \\. King, of Sleepy Eye. In politics, Mr. Zieske is a pronounced Republican, and during several years' serv- ice on the school board greatly promoted the interests of education. In iS.Sr he was elected to represent Brown county in the state legislature, where he served on a niun- ber of important committees, and took part in the discussion of several bills. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Arm\' of the Re- public. He and his wife hold a member- ship in the German Evangelical church of Sleepy Eye. Their home is a handsome residence situated in the midst of a beauti- ful lawn, adorned with magnificent trees and lovely flowers. There they live in the midst of many friends, for throughout the com- munity they arc held in high esteem. EJ. HANSON is one of the chief promoters of the commercial inter- ests of Sleepy Eye, and the firm of Hanson & Goettsche own and con- trol a well appointed hardware store, deal- ing in all kinds of shelf and heavy hardware, tinware and stoves. Their carefuUv selected stock, their courteous treatment of their patrons and their straightforward dealing ha\e secured them a good business which the}- justly deserve. Mr. Hanson was born in Denmark, Ma_\- 21, 1853. His father. Hans Larson, brought the family to America in 1866, landing at Boston, Massachusetts, whence he went to Racine, Wisconsin, where he spent two years. In 1868 he came tn Brown county, Minnesota, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he cultivated for some years, following gen- eral farming and stock-raising. In 1873 he remo\ed to Sleepy Eye, where he has since maintained his residence. H. |. Hanson is one ofafamiljof eie\en children, six sons and fi\e daughters, of whom nine are now living. He was four- teen years of age when he left his native Denmark and with his parents came to America. He attended the public schools of Wisconsin for a time and in Brown count}' assisted in the operation of the old homestead farm until 1873, when he en- tered the employ of D. I. Kendall, a lumber merchant of Sleepy Eye. with whom he re- mained for three and a half years. During that time he mastered the business and then purchased a lumber-yard in Sleepy Eye, associating with himself in the business John Moore, under the firm name of Moore & Hanson. This partnership was continued two years and b}- mutunl consent dissolved, Mr. Moore taking as his share of the busi- ness the yards in Canby, while Mr. Hanson ! became proprietor of the yard in Sleepy : Eye. He is still interested in the lumber business and is also connected with the commercial interests of Sleep}' Eye as a hardware dealer. In 1881 he purchased the hardware stock of Moll & Mauk, and in SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 153 both the lumber and hardware business he is now enjoying a profitable trade. His store is twenty-four by eighty-four feet, and the two stories and basement are all util- ized in the handling of his large and well assorted stock. In 1880, Mr. Hanson married Miss Emily Dittbenner, of New Ulm, and they now ha\e three sons and a daughter, — George, William, Mildred and Clifford. Their home is one of the finest residences in Sleepy Eye and is noted for its gracious hos- pitality. Mr. Hanson also owns other real estate in the city and is recognized as one of the most wide-awake and enterprising residents of the place. A prominent Mason, he holds membership in Keystone Lodge, No. 94, F. & A. M. ; Albert Chapter, No. 31, K. A. M. ; Mankato Commandery, No. 4, K. T. ; and the Mystic Shrine of St. Paul. He has served as treasurer of Sleepy Eye for four jears, and is deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare and advance- ment of the town. IHOMAS E. ENGLE. — Among those who after many years of dili- gent and earnest labor are enabled to lay aside the cares of active business life and rest in the joyment of pros- perity which they have gained, is the subject of these paragraphs, — a retired farmer of Luverne, Rock county. He was born on a farm near Morristown, New Jersey, within nine miles of the Pennsylvania line, Decem- ber 29, 1824, and is a son of Joseph and Hannah (Burr) Engle. His father, who was also born in the same neighborhood, was an agriculturist, and was of English lineage, while the Burrs were of Scotch descent. The maternal grandmother, Rebecca Burr, 10 was a preacher in the Society of Friends. The father of our subject spent his entire life in New Jersey, and after his death the mother removed to Whiteside county, Illi- nois, where her death occurred about 1843. They were parents of four sons and three daughters, namely: Charlotte F., Mary, Hudson, Charles, Thomas E., John, who was killed by lightning in Plainfield, Illinois, and Rebecca, who also died in that state. Upon his father's farm, Thomas E. Engle remained until si.xteen years of age, and during that time acquired a good prac- tical English education in the common schools. He then began learning the tailor's trade, serving a two-years apprenticeship under Samuel Wishum, of Morristown, New Jersey. On the expiration of that period he started westward, visiting Rockford and Rock Island, Illinois, and finally located at Como, where for a time he was engaged at his trade. He next removed to Craw-ford county, Wisconsin, settling in an opening of oak timber, where he cleared and improved a farm of three hundred acres. He made that a valuable propefty, and continued its cultivation until 1882, when he came to Rock county, Minnesota, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 24, Denver township. Giving his attention to general farming and stock-raising, he con- ducted a successful business. At length he sold his first farm, but is now the owner of considerable valuable land, including a quarter section in Clinton township, which he rents, and another farm of sixty-three acres. This is also rented, and from the two tracts he derives a good income. In 1846, Mr. Engle married Miss S. T. Perry, of Como, Illinois, daughter of Peter Perry. She died in February, 1874, leav- mg four children, — Hudson B., Martha M., 154 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Howard L. and May A. On the 4th of February, 1875, Mr. Engle was again mar- ried, his second. union being with Jane C. Brewer. She was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, September iS, 1827, and is a daughter of Isias and Charlotte Brewer, and a distant relative of the noted Brewer of Kansas fame. She was reared in Stockton, and for a number of years was successfully engaged in teaching. At the age of fifteen she was united with the Congregational church, and was one of its consistent and faithful members. She died June 21, 1896. Mr. Engle made for himself an honor- able military record during the civil war as a defender of the Union, following the starry banner on many a southern battle-field. He enlisted in 1862 as a member of Company A, Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry. The regiment, under command of Colonel Mont- gomery, went from Sparta, Wisconsin, to Columbus, Kentucky, and with his company Mr. Engle participated in the siege of Vicks- burg until the surrender of that city on the 3d of July, 1863. He then went with the Union troops up the Tennessee river and took part in the battles of Snake Creek Gap, Big Shanty, Buzzard's Roost and Missionary Ridge. He was then on detached duty for a time, and afterward returned to his regi- ment, which was with the Sixteenth Army Corps, under command of Generals McPher- son and Schofield. For two years and ten months he remained at the front, and was then honorably discharged, in July, 1865. Always found at his post of duty, he belongs to that band of valiant men who deserve the praise and thanks of a grateful nation, whose honor they upheld in the dark hour of civil war. The regiment also did service in Minnesota in quelling the Indian outbreak of 1862. aSALKOWSKE, a dealer in cloth- ing and furnishing goods in Sleepy Eye, was born in Prussia, March 2, 1844, and is a son of M. and Louisa (Krause) Salkowske. The father was a farmer, and remained in his native land throughout his entire life. The family was of Polish ancjestry. Before coming to America Mr. C. Sal- kowske attended the public schools until fourteen years of age, and then pursued his studies in a private school. At the age of sixteen he entered an Aspourt school, set apart for teachers and similar to our normal schools, where teachers are prepared. There he studied and also taught. He afterward served a two-years term with a merchant, that he might thoroughly learn mercantile business, and then spent two years as a clerk. In 1865 he sailed for New York, and, on reaching his destination, started at once for Chicago. He sought employment in a store in the latter city, but, not secur- ing it, he earned his living by sawing wood. The following winter was passed in Mar- quette county, Wisconsin, where he worked for his board and attended school. He next removed to Markesan, Wisconsin, where he was employed on a farm for nearly four years at eighteen dollars per month. His industry and his fidelity to dutj' attracted the attention of his employer, and, during the last two years, he was made overseer, with an increased salary. In 1869 Mr. Salkowske came to Brown county, Minnesota, and after a short time spent in New Ulm, went to the town of Eden, in the same county, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land and built a log cabin fourteen b}- sixteen feet, operating his farm until 1871. He then entered the service of the German SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 155 Methodist Episcopal church as a missionary, his territory being Brown, Watonwan and Cottonwood counties. After a year he was transferred to Washington county, Minne- sota, in the same work, which he continued until failing health and the partial loss of his voice necessitated his retiremeitt from the mission field. Returning to his farm in Brown county, he operated it until 1876, when he rented his land and established a feed store in Sleepy Eye, with a capital of twenty dollars. He met with success, and a year later opened a mercantile establish- ment, with a stock of dry goods and gro- ceries valued at seven hundred and fifty dollars. In 1883 he admitted into partner- ship C. Forth, and under the firm name of Salkowske & Forth, business was continued until January i, 1S85, when he bought out his partner and has since been alone. In 1S86 he erected a fine two-story brick block, into which he moved his store. In March, 1889, he sold his stock, rented his store and accepted a position with a boot and shoe house, traveling in Minnesota until January, 1890. He then entered into partnership with L. F. Jensen and A. Durbahn, under the firm name of Salkowske, Jensen & Dur- bahn, dealers in clothing and furnishing goods. The senior partner is also inter- ested in a clothing store in Tyler, Minne- sota, which is conducted under the name of the Jensen & Company Clothing Store. In I S69 Mr. Salkowske married Miss Wilhelmine Heine, of Marquette county, Wisconsin, and a native of Frussia. In 1884 they made a trip to Europe and visited the old home, spending three and a half months abroad. Mr. Salkowske is a mem- ber of Sleepy Eye Lodge, No. 92, F. and A. M., and Albert Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M. He and his wife are consistent mem- bers of the Methodist church, in which he is serving as steward and trustee, and, as opportunity offers, he still does some work as a local minister. eC. BROWN. — In this connection we are pleased to revert to the life history of one of the old settlers and best known citizens of Leav- enworth township, Brown county, Minne- sota, — E. C. Brown, who resides on his farm on section 1 5 of this township, Sleepy Eye being his post-office address. Mr. Brown is a native of Watertown, New York, born January 20, 1830, son of Asa and Louisa (Allen) Brown, both natives of the Empire state and members of promi- nent families of the east. Mrs. Louisa Brown was born in St. Lawrence county, and her father was a veteran of the war of 1 81 2. Asa and Louisa Brown were the parents of a family of ten children. At an early day they left their New York home and came west, locating first in Illinois and later near Decorah, Winneshiek county, Iowa, where the family home was main- tained for some time. Decorah could then boast of but one plank building, which was used as a store and post-office. Still imbued with the spirit of emigration, the Browns sought another location, this time coming up into Minnesota and taking up their abode at Rochester, where they lived for several years. Thus the boyhood days of the sub- ject of our sketch were passed on the frontier, where he early showed a love for his gun, became an expert hunter and trap- per, and was familiar with all the wa}s of the wild animals that roved through the forest and over prairie; and this hunting 156 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and trapping he kept up for a number of years. Until 1861 he resided near Roches- ter. He was here in Brown county and had a good claim before the Indian massa- cre of 1862, and at that time he and his brother George and some of their neigh- bors started for New Ulm with the families of the neighbors and some stock. Before they reached their destination, however, the red men got all the stock that belong- ing to our subject, amounting to four horses, eighteen head of cattle and a number of hogs. After this Mr. Brown was for two years in the eastern part of the state, re- turning to Brown count}' at the end of that time. He came to his present location on section 15, Leavenworth township, in 1884, where he has one hundred and twelve acres of rich land, supplied with tine water and some timber, the improvements being first- class and the land in a high state of cultiva- tion. Mr. Brown was thirty-four years of age when he was first married, the lady he then wedded being Miss Angeline Allen, his cousin, and b}' her he had ten children. Subsequently he was united in marriage to his present companion, ncc Mary Frederick- sen, a daughter of C. Fredericksen, and their union has been blessed in the birth of four children, three of whom are living, — Charley, John and Martha. One son, Har- mette, is deceased. Although now si.\ty-si.\ years of age, Mr. Brown appears much younger, he lieing a man of fine physique and well preserved. His is one of those genial, cordial natures that always makes friends, and few there are throughout this part of Brown county who do not know and highly respect E. C. Brown. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. @ ERMAN FRITON, one of the pros- perous farmers of Stark township. Brown county, Minnesota, and president of the Stark Mutual Fire Insurance Company, owns and occupies a delightful rural home not far distant from the town of Sleepy En'c, his post-office ad- dress. To a brief review of his life we would at this point invite attention. German Friton was born in Wurtem- berg, Germany, November 16, 1834, and is a son of John and Ana fSmith) Friton. He received a liberal education in the schools of his native land, attending school from the age of si.\ years to that of fifteen, and in 1858, when a young man of twenty-four, he bade adieu to the scenes of his childhood and the place where his people had lived for generation after generation, and at Havre de Grace set sail for New York city, which port he reached in due time, and whence he immediately directed his way to Brown county, Minnesota. Here he first located at New Ulm, where he lived Jor thirteen years. He had learned the trade of woolen weaver in Germany, but after coming to this country he was for some years variously employed, workmg at what- ever honorable emploj'ment offered, and from the first made it a practice to save a portion of his earnings. In 1858 he came to Brown county, Minnesota, and remained one year. In the spring of 1859 he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and in the spring of i860 returned to Brown county, and has resided here ever since. His first land pur- chase here, in 1869, was three hundred and twenty acres of his present farm; and to the improvement and cultivation of this tract he devoted his energies, meeting with marked success in his undertakings until the memo- rable grasshopper years. At that time many SOUTH WESTERN MINNESOTA . 157 became disheartened and left their lands and sought other locations. He, however, was not so easily discouraged. He remained on his farm, kept it under cultivation, and turned everything to the best possible ac- count, and soon brighter and more pros- perous days came and he again began to accumulate. As he was able he purchased more land, and to-day his holdings include no less than five hundred and si.xty acres of choice land, well stocked and in a high state of cultivation. His buildings are all first- class, including his residence, barn, granar}', outbuildings, etc., and he has a fine well and windmill pump. In short, the farm and its improvements are model in every respect. On his broad acres he raises large quantities of grain, his yield being in the neighborhood of three thousand bushels of wheat, four thousand bushels of oats, and three hundred bushels of fla.x. Mr. Friton has a most estimable wife and large family of children. He was mar- ried in 1S65 to Miss Barbara Nein, of New Ulm, Minnesota, daughter of C. M. Nein, of that place. Their three sons and five daughters are named as follows: Hugo, Otto, German, Louisa, Amelia, Bertha, Clara and Emma. Mr. Friton has taken an active part in all public enterprises tending to the welfare of his community, and is recognized as one of its most public-spirited citizens. He was the prime mover in the organization of the Stark Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which has been so beneficial to the people of this locality. It was largely through his personal influence that his neighbors were brought to see the advantages to be derived from such an organization, and were in- duced to take hold of the same, and in 1S83 the company was organized on a solid basis and at once began operations. Its first officers were as follows: Fred Benham, president; Henry Platner, secretary; Ger- man Friton, treasurer; the original office being at Iberia. Two years later the com- pany moved its quarters to Sleepy Eye, where they have since been maintained, and since 1894 Mr. Friton has been president of the company, performing the duties of his responsible position with utmost efficien- cy. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Warehouse Company, at Sleepy Eye, of which he was treasurer. The build- ing was erected in 1891. At the time of the Indian troubles dur- ing the early settlements here Mr. Friton was among the brave men who went out in defense of the community and put a stop to the raids of the red men. He wp.s a mem- ber of the first mounted rangers of Minne- sota, under Captain Ni.\ and Colonel Pfaen- der, and rendered good service in those try- ing times. Politically, he is independent in thought and action, casting his vote for the best men and measures, irrespective of party lines. aHARLES J. FOX. a retired farmer of Rushmore, Minnesota, is a na- tive of the Empire state. He was born in the town of Mendon, Montgomery county. New York, October 25, 1832. His father, John P. Fo.x, was born in the town of Palestine, Montgomery county, and wedded Mary McKay, who was born in Herkimer county. New York, in 1798, a daughter of William and Margaret McKay, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Holland descent. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Peter Wermoth Fox, was born in Holland, and in 158 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1784 came to America with a colony that settled in the Mohawk valley. In his youth our subject attended the district and graded schools, and on entering upon his business career became connected with merchandising, being employed as a salesman in one store for five yeai»s. He afterward served as constable and was ap- pointed deputy sheriff .acting in that capac- ity for four years, when he resigned his position. In the spring of 1856 he emi- grated to Wisconsin, and near Watertown purchased a farm of eighty acres, which was heavily timbered. He at once began to clear and improve this place, and made it his home until 1866. On the 4th of January, 1864, Mr. Fox enlisted in Company D, Thirty-fifth Wis- consin Infantry, and with his regiment un- der command of Colonel Henry Orff, went to St. Louis, Missouri, thence to the mouth of the Red river, and on to New Orleans. They also went to Port Huron, and en- gaged in the pursuit of General Price. In the spring of 1865 the troops participated in the battle of Duvall's Bluff, were then or- dered to Fort Morgan, and on to Spanish Fort on Mobile Bay, where for eleven days they were under fire. After the surrender of Lee, Mr. Fo.x was engaged in doing guard duty in Brazos, Te.xas, and while in that state was stricken with the Texas fever and sent to the hospital. On the ist of August, 1866, he received an honorable dis- charge. Mr. Fox returned to his Wisconsin home greatly broken down in health, and in 1866 returned to New York, where he remained until June, 1872, — the date of his arrival in Nobles county, Minnesota. Here he secured a soldier's homestead on section 26, Olney township, and transformed the wild land into a good farm, which he continued to im- prove until 1895, when he removed to Rush- more, where he has since lived retired. On the 4th of January, 1854, was con- summated the marriage of Mr. Fox and Miss Rose Forncrook, of Montgomery county, New York, eldest daughter of William L. and Sarah (Waterman) Forncrook. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters: Mary, who died in childhood; John A., now of Adrian, Minnesota; Charles, at home; Martha E., a dressmaker; Ivan, who died in 1891; Flora, wife of C. B. Andrews; and Cora B., at home. In politics, i\Ir. Fox is a stalwart Re- publican, having supported that party since casting his first vote for Fremont, while his last ballot was for Benjamin Harrison. He has served as supervisor, school director, pathmaster and justice of the peace, and in all these offices has discharged his duties with a promptness and fidelity that has won him high commendation. He is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. , and receives a pension of twelve dollars per month. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are people of the highest respectability. After an active and industrious business life Mr. Fox is now enjoying a peaceful retirement from labor, which is the fitting crown for his industry. 'JTt'OHN E. king, postmaster of Adrian, m Minnesota, and editor and manager rtl 1 of the Nobles County Democrat, has been identified with the interests of this city since the fall of 1891, and during the past five years has figured as one of its leading and influential citizens. Mr. King dates his birth in the Hoosier SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 159 state, being born in Laketon, Wabash count}', Indiana, August 27. 1870, the eld- est child and only son in the family of four children of Daniel J. and Mary (Grisso) King. His parents are still living in that county, and his father is one of its respected farmers. John E. spent his first twelve years on his father's farm, and at that early age started out on his own responsibility. He learned the printer's trade at Laketon, and followed that occupation in different places in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, work- ing for a time as journeyman printer, and ere long becoming editor and owner of a paper. It was at Larchwood, Lyon county, Iowa, that he made his first newspaper ven- ture. There he established The Larchwood Leader, which he successfully conducted one year, at the end of which time he sold out and removed to Rock Rapids, the county seat of Lyon county, where he leased an interest in The Rock Rapids Review, with which he was connected until the fall of 1 89 1. At that time, as already stated, he became identified with Adrian, Minne- sota, and, immediately after locating here, he established what has since been known as The Nobles County Democrat, which has since been under his able management. This paper has a circulation of one thousand three hundred, is bright and newsy, and is found in the best homes in the county. As its name suggests, it is an advocate of the principles of Democracy. Mr. King, while yet a young man, has already made rapid strides toward advancement in his profes- sion. At this writing he occupies the hon- ored position of president of the South- western Minnesota Press Association, com- prising the second congressional district. As a worker in political circles Mr. King is active and efficient. In the fall of 1894 he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for the state legislature, and, although de- feated, he received a most flattering vote. His appointment as postmaster of Adrian was made in October, 1894. In December following he assumed the duties of the office, and has since efficiently performed the same. Fraternally, he is associated with the K. of P., has served officially in his lodge and has also been a representative to the grand lodge of Minnesota. Mr. King was married in Laketon, In- diana, June 12, 1895, to Miss Georgia Dun- can, of that place. ■^^UNIUS F. CASS.— The subject of ■ this sketch furnishes an excellent f% J illustration of what a young man can accomplish in this country with no other capital than energy, perseverance and good management. He began life for himself in early boyhood and since that time has been dependent entirely upon his own resources. By honest toil and econ- omy and the careful saving of his earnings he has won the proud position he now occu- pies as one of the leading and influential farmers of the community. Mr. Cass was born on his father's farm at Bowen's Mills, Richland county, Wiscon- sin, May 14, 1855, and is a son of Hiram O. and Chloe (Manley) Cass. His paternal grandfather, James M. Cass, was born in Stanstead, province of Quebec, Canada, March 24, 1808, and his grandfather was a native of New Hampshire, whence he emi- grated, in company with eight others, to Stanstead, at which time all the country in that region was an undeveloped wilderness. In 1835 James M. Cass removed from Can- ada to Ohio, and in 1847 went to Wiscon- 100 MEMORIAL RECORD OF sin, locating in Sauk county. Four years later he went to Richland county. Hiram Osman Cass, the father of our subject, was born in Barnston, Canada, January 27, 183 1. He married Chloe Manley, who was born in Ellington township, Tolland county, Connecticut, and they began their domestic life at Bowen's Mills. For many years the father carried on farming but spent his later years in operating a sawmill in Lloyd, \\"is- consin, where he died April 26, 1896. His wife also is deceased. Junius F. Cass, whose name introduces this review, spent his boyhood days in the county of his nativity and attended the dis- trict and village schools, to which he is in- debted for the educational privileges he en- joyed. In 1872, when seventeen years of age, he bade adieu to home and friends and came to Minnesota. Here he found em- ployment as a farm hand and for seven years worked by the month in that capacity. In 1S78 he came to his present farm on section thirty-four, Summit Lake township, Nobles county, and began the arduous task of developing the wild land into rich and fertile fields. He worked from early morn- ing until late at night and his labors were crowned with a high degree of success. His farm, which comprises one hundred and sixty acres, is well improved, and its gen- eral appearance gives every indication of prosperity. After living alone on his farm for five years Mr. Cass was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Soule, January 26, 18S4, and she has since presided over her home, prov- ing herself a helpmate in every sense of the word. She also is a native of Richland county, Wisconsin, born December 9, 1859. Her parents were James J. and Fan- nie (Thompson) Soule, The former was born in Illinois, February 2, 1828, and was a son of John J. Soule, a native of Dutchess county. New York. On the 18th of No- vember, 1 85 1, he married Miss Thompson, who was born November 2, 1833, and was a daughter of Aaron Baker and Lydia (Hamil- ton) Thompson. The former was born in Surrey, New Hampshire, and was a son of William and Betsey (Baker) Thompson, the former born July 13, 1776, the latter on the day of the nation's birth, — July 4, 1776. Mr. and Mrs. Cass became the parents of five children: C. Grace, born January 23, 1885; Fannie M., born May 16, 1886; Leona M. and Fred J., twins, born May 18, 1888; and George Lee, born October 27, 1S93. Fred J. died at the age of four weeks. Mr. Cass is one of the most popular and highly esteemed citizens in his township, and the confidence which his fellow towns- men repose in him is indicated by the many times they have called him to positions of public trust, he having filled every office in the township. For six yearS' he has been township clerk and in that capacity is still serving, also acting as justice of the peace. In his political views he is independent, thinks and acts for himself and votes for men and measures rather than party. Thus briefly is outlined the life history of a most prosperous and respected farmer of Nobles county. ^V^ENJAMIN F. THURBER.— The 1/'*^ thanks of a grateful nation are due J^^J to the heroes who in their coun- try's hour of peril went forth in defense of the Union, and on many a south- ern battle-field displayed their loyalty to the old flag, — that is, the cause it repre- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 161 sented. Man's most precious possession is life, and to risk this is no small sacrifice. The f:;entleman whose name introduces this review belonged to that gallant army that proved the country's salvation, and well does he deserve a place on the pages of its history. Mr. Thurber is now a valued resident of Worthington, Minnesota, but is a native of the Empire state. He was born in Corn- ing, Steuben county, New York, March 20, 1838, a son of Hezekiah and Phoebe (Calk- ins) Thurber. The father was born in the state of New York, the mother in Vermont, and the grandfather, Amos Thurber, was also a native of New York state. Our sub- ject was one of a family of nine children, — five sons and four daughters — seven of whom reached maturity. He spent the greater part of his youth in Corning, and after attending the public schools of that place entered the Auburn high school. On the 19th of September, 1861, Mr. Thurber enrolled his name as a member of Company A, Seventy-fifth New York Infan- try, under Colonel John A. Dodge. On the organization of the company he was made second lieutenant, later was raised to the rank of first lieutenant, subsequently became captain, and in August, 1S64, was commissioned major of his regiment. He participated in a number of hotly contested battles, including the engagement at Port Hudson, a siege of forty days, where he was wounded on the 14th of June, 1S63; the campaign through Virginia; the battle of Winchester on the igth of September, 1864; and was under General Sheridan at the time when the commander made his famous ride from that town October 19, 1864. His three-year term having e.xpired, he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Auburn, New York, November 26, 1864. He also served seven years in the state militia. Major Thurber was at the time much broken down in health, owing to his ardu- ous service. When he had sufficiently re- covered he turned his attention to farming in New York, and was thus engaged until 1872, when he came to Worthington, Min- nesota. He homesteaded one hundred and si.xty acres in Worthington township, near the city limits and improved there a good property, erecting substantial buildings and carrying on general farming until he had made the place one of the most desirable farms in the locality. It continued to be his home until 1885, when he removed to Worthington, and after two years he sold his farm. For the past ten years he has served as street commissioner of the city and is now acting in that capacity, dis- charging his duties in a most acceptable manner. On the 14th of November, 1873, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Thurber and Miss Jane M. Bear, of Bigelow, Minne- sota, who was born in Ohio and in her early girlhood came to this state with her parents, Rev. William M. and Mary Bear. Of this marriage were born four sons and two daughters: William L., a student in Hamline University, of Minnesota; Harry A., Bessie Anna, Barlow J., Benjamin L. and Julia E. The mother of this family died on May 20, 1888. She was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and had many warm friends. Mr. Thurber is a valued member of Fraternity Lodge, No. loi, F. & A. M., and served as master for four terms, and he also belongs to the Veteran Association of the Masonic fraternity of Minnesota. He 16-2 MEMORIAL RECORD OF has also taken the Royal Arch degrees, and served as high priest, and in Stoddard Post, No. 7, G. A. R. , he holds membership. For the past twenty years he has been a faithful member of the Methodist church, doing all he can to advance its interest. He has served as a member of the school board, and in all his official relations he discharged his duties with the same loyalty that he displayed when he followed the stars and stripes. ^^AMUEL F. PEPPLE, who main- •^^^kT tains his residence in Worthington, f\,^J being numbered among the leading citizens of that place, is a native of the Buckeye state, his birth having occurred in Columbiana county, on the 7th of January, 1S43. The Pepple family is of German origin, and was established in America at an early day. The grandfather of our sub- ject was Simon Pepple, and the father, John Pepple. The latter was born in Penn- sylvania, and throughout his life followed farming as a means of livelihood. He wed- ded Miss Mary Groner, a native of Mary- land, and a daughter of William Groner, also of German descent. She is now de- ceased, but the father is still living, and makes his home in Hancock county, Ohio. Samuel F. Pepple spent his youth in Hancock county, whither he accompanied his parents during his childhood. He early became familiar with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, aiding in the work of the fields as soon as old enough to handle the plow. To the common schools he is indebted for his educati6nal privileges, and to-day, as the result of reading and ob- servation, he is a well-informed man. Mr. Pepple enrolled his name among the I "boys in blue," February 23, 1S64, becom- ing a member of Company H, Twenty-first Ohio Infantry. The regiment, under com- mand of Colonel James M. Neibling, was ordered to Columbus, thence to Chatta- nooga, Tennessee, and joined Sherman's army at the front. Mr. Pepple participated in the Atlanta campaign and the memorable march to the sea, then took part in the campaign in the Carolinas, and afterward marched with the victorious army in the grand review at Washington, the most bril- liant military pageant ever seen in the west- ern hemisphere. He next went to Louis- ville, Kentucky, where he was mustered out of service in July, 1S65. Returning to Hancock county, Ohio, Mr. Pepple engaged in farming, which pur- suit he followed until 1S67, when he was united in marriage with Miss Clara S. Owen, daughter of Jesse and Susan (Snyder) Owen. The young couple removed to Callaway county, Missouri, where the husband en- gaged in farming for three years. They then returned to Ohio, where they spent eighteen months, and in April, 1872, they came to Nobles county, Minnesota, where they have since resided. Mr. Pepple se- cured a homestead on section 14, Dewald township, and immediately began its im- provement, transforming the grassy prairie into richly cultivated fields. For eight years he lived on his farm, and then re- moved to Worthington, where he was en- gaged in the sale of school supplies for A. H. Andrews, of Chicago, from 18SS until 1892. In January, 1893, he was appointed deputy sheriff, serving under James H. Thom. The pension he receives affords him a comfortable income. His social re- lations are with Stoddard Lodge, No. 34, G. A. R. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 163 Mr. and Mrs. Pepple have an interesting family of three sons and three daughters, viz. : Jesse, who is station agent on the Chi- cago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Rail- road ; John W. , telegraph operator at Worth- ington, Minnesota; Ransom F. , a phar- macist; Emma S., Laura G. and Mary H., at home. They have a pleasant residence in Worthington, which was erected by our subject in 1893. He is a man of sterling worth, straightforward in all business rela- tions, genial and pleasant in manner, and well deserving of the high regard which is entertained for him by his many friends. ^y^ILLIAM DITTY, late a retired mm I farmer of Nobles county, who ^jL^ served his country during the dark days of the Rebellion, making a record honorable and glorious, made his last earthly home at Worthington. He was born at Roxbury, Washington coun- ty, Vermont, July 29, 1832, the son of Will- iam and Emily (Chaffee) Ditty, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Connect- icut. Henry Chaffee, the maternal grand- father, was also born in Connecticut and was of English descent. Our subject had the advantage of a good common-school education at Brook- field, Vermont, where he completed his lit- erary studies in the high school and assisted his father in the labors of the home farm during the summer months until eighteen years of age. He then entered the employ of the Vermont Central Railroad, and was later with the Boston Main Line Railroad, altogether being in that service for three years. He then came west in the winter of 1856, locating on a farm near the village of Oniro, Wisconsin, where he worked by the month until 1861 . On the 9th of September of that year, Mr. Ditty joined Company C, Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, Colonel John Wood, of Fond du Lac, commanding the regiment, which was organized by Governor Randall and ordered into camp at Fond du Lac, where the time was passed in perfect- ing the regiment in camp and guard duty. Upon receipt of orders they broke camp on the 8th of March, 1862, and took the train for St. Louis, Missouri. On the 23d of the same month they left that city with orders to report to General Grant, at Savannah, Tennessee, eight miles below Pittsburg Landing. Our subject took part in the memorable battle of Shiloh, which lasted two days. On the second day he was wounded by a spent ball, striking him on what is known as Adam's apple, and broke it in, so that it was with great difficulty he could breathe. The ball glanced and fell down between his body and clothing and was taken out from the top of his shoe. After remaining in the hospital for four weeks he rejoined his regiment at Nashville, Tennessee, and took part in the battle of Franklin. After the battle of Nashville his regiment became a part of the Si.xteenth Army Corps, and participated in the battle of luka and the siege of Vicksburg. After the surrender of the latter, Mr. Ditty was granted a thirty- days furlough, and after its expiration rejoined his regiment and took part in the engagement at Fort Pillow. He continued in active service until October 9, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. Returning to Wisconsin, Mr. Ditty en- gaged in farming until the following spring, when he removed to Minnesota, locating in Blue Earth county, where he carried on ag- 164 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ricultural pursuits for six years. Coming to Nobles county, he took up a homestead in Hersey township, which he at once began to improve and cultivate, erecting good build- ings, and was engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Although in poor health he continued the working of his land until 1 88 1, since which time he lived retired in Worthington, where he had a pleasant home, and disposed of his farm in 1895. At the time of his death he drew a pension of seventy-two dollars per month. In 1864 a wedding ceremony was per- formed which united the destinies of Mr. Ditty and Miss Susan Nott, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Hull; Nott. Her father died in 1878, but her mother, who was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, Janu- ary 30, 1 8 19, long survived him, passing away in February, 1S96, at a ripe old age. Mrs. Ditty's birth occurred near Elgin, in Kane county, Illinois, November 18, 1842. She was reared and educated in Wisconsin, and later taught two terms of school in Blue Earth county, Minnesota. One daugh- ter honors the union of our subject and his wife, — Alma, now the wife of Allen White, of Worthington, by whom she has five chil- dren. Socially, Mr. Ditty belonged to Stod- dard Post, No. 34, G. A. R., and took great interest in the meetings of the "boys in blue." He died May 19, 1896. >-j»OSEPH LOWE belongs to that class ■ of enterprising, progressive citizens A 1 whose energy and business activity is an important factor in producing the stable prosperity and advancement of the locality with which they are connected. He is numbered among the merchants of Worthington, and is a representative of the best interests of the city. A native of Maryland, he was born at Lowe's Mill, in Frederick county, a place which was named in honor of his family. The date of his birth is April 26, 1838. His parents were John and Mary (Glisson) Lowe, the former a native of Wilmington, Delaware, the latter of Maryland. The grandfather, \\'illiam Lowe, became the owner of Lowe's mill in Frederick county in 1802. John Lowe followed the same pur- suit (milling), and his death occurred in Maryland in 1864. Our subject was one of a family of six daughters, five of whom reached mature years. Joseph spent his boyhood days at his parents' home, and began his education in the district schools, after which he was in- structed by private tutors. He entered upon his business career as an apprentice to C. A. Beavans, of New London, Maryland, a miller with whom he served for three years. After a time he removed to Jefferson county, Virginia, where he remained until 1861, when he returned to Maryland and engaged in milling on Grape creek. From the latter place he went to Jones Mill at Linganore, where he remained one year. In 1864 he bought the New London mill and success- fully operated the same until 1873, when desiring to establish a home in the west he emigrated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there followed his trade until 1876. In the latter year he came to Worthington, where he operated the mill owned by Sutton & Carlisle. After being connected with sev- eral different mills in this locality he went to Sheldon, Minnesota, where he remained for fifteen months. In 1888 he abandoned the occupation which he had so long followed and embarked in general merchandising, es- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 165 tablishing a good store in Worthington. He now has a well selected stock of goods, and is enjoying a lucrative patronage, both in his general store and in his restaurant, which he is conducting in addition to the other departments of his business. In January, 1863, Mr. Lowe married Miss Susan R. Albaugh, of Maryland, the eldest daughter of Lewis Albaugh. In his social relations, our subject is connected with Worthington Lodge, No. 219, I. O. O. F. , and has been a member of the order since 1S64. He has filled various offices therein, and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His life has been crowned with a fair degree of success, which is justl}' merited. In addition to his merchandising interests he owns a good farm just outside the city limits of W^orthington, comprising eighty-seven acres of well im- proved land. His strict regard to business ethics and his straightforward dealing has won him the public confidence, and friends and neighbors esteem him highly. ON. THOMAS P. BALDWIN. Prominent among the more Intel- T5 \^r ligent and active citizens of Mar- shall, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. Besides being a most worthy citizen, he has to his credit an unblemished war record. He was born in Yates county. New York, May 27, 1836, and is a son of Asa and Laura (Grain) Bald- win. His father, a native of Vermont, was reared on a farm, and throughout life fol- lowed the occupation of farming. He al- ways lived upon the frontier, and died in Fillmore county, Minnesota, at the ripe old age of eighty-four. He was born in 1790, and on attaining his majority led to the marriage altar Laura Grain, whose birth oc- curred at Bennington, Vermont. She passed away at the home of our subject in Fillmore county, at the age of eighty-two. In the family of eight children only three are now living, — Thomas P. and two sisters. His paternal grandparents, Benjamin and Ruth Baldwin, were natives of Gonnecticut, and died in Vermont, the former at the ad- vanced age of ninety-si.\ and the latter when about ninety years of age. The ma- ternal grandparents, David and Phebe Grain, were also natives of Gonnecticut, and spent their last days in the Green Mountain state, the former dying at the age of eighty years and the latter when in middle life. Our subject was reared in the usual manner of farmer boys, receiving a district- school education and early becoming famil- iar with agricultural pursuits. He remained at his paternal home until his marriage, which was celebrated in December, 1861, Miss Sarah L. Bird becoming his wife. She was born in Michigan, and by her mar- riage is the mother of four children, three yet living: Thomas J., whose sketch appears on another page of this work; Ella M., wife of H. Robinson, by whom she has two sons; and Ray D., foreman in the News-Messen- ger office. At the time of his marriage, Mr. Bald- win was located in Fillmore county, Minne- sota, where his family had removed in 1856, and as his mother was in poor health he cared for his parents until his enlistment in the Union army during the civil war, in July, 1864, but previously he had been commissioned first lieutenant in the state militia in 1862. Although he could have remained on frontier duty in the state and 166 MEMORIAL RECORD OF held his commission, he joined the Fourth Minnesota Infantry as a private on the 3d of September, 1864, at Altoona Pass, Georgia. He participated in several im- portant engagements, including the one at Altoona Pass, October 5, and Nashville and Franklin on the 15th and i6th of Decem- ber, I 8C4. He was ordered back to Nash- ville on Sherman's detached service, and took part in the battle at Kinston, North Carolina, near Jackson's Mill, in March, 1865. He was • honorably discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, in July, 1865, and was never off dut\' with the exception of about ten or twelve days spent in the hos- pital at Nashville on account of illness. When hostilities had ceased, Mr. Bald- win returned to the old home farm, which he worked until 1879, when he sold out and purchased one hundred and si.xty acres of land in L3'on county, fourteen miles from Marshall, which he exchanged in 1882 for property in that city. He has since taken an active part in public affairs, serving as deputy postmaster for six years, after which he was elected county auditor for four years, is now serving his second year as county commissioner for Lyon county, and in 1893 and 1894 was again in the post- ofSce. While away from home, in January, 1896, Mr. Baldwin was elected justice of the peace, without his knowledge, his son Ray engineering the election, and he is now till- ing that position with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned. While still a resident of Fillmore county, he served as a member of the general assembly in . 1872-3. Socially, he affiliates with Mark- ham Post, No. 7, G. A. R., in which he has filled nearly all the chairs. His upright, honorable life has gained him the respect of all, and he has many stanch and admiring friends among all classes of men. The family attend the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, and hold a high position in social circles. EELGE M. LANGLAND, president of the First National Bank of Mar- shall, and also at the head of the largest general store of southwest- ern Minnesota, located in Marshall, was born in Voss county, Norway, January 30, 1845, and when three years of age was brought to America by his parents, Magne M. and Gertrude (BjGrgo) Langland, whose birth occurred in the same locality as that of our subject. They took passage on board a sailing vessel at Bergen, and after four- teen weeks spent upon the ocean landed safely at New York. They made their first location in Dane county, Wisconsin, where the family engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1853, when they sold out and removed to Winneshiek county, Iowa. There the father still lives, a prominent and highly respected citizen, widely and favorabl}' known. He was one of the first to assist in the organization of the Norwegian Insur- ance Company of the west, an association which has expanded to every township and count)' where Swedes or Norwegians have settled, and which furnishes fire insurance at actual cost. The record of this insurance companj' will forever be a monument to the memory of Magne M. Langland, Sr. He was a pioneer of two states, materially help- ing in the development of the two great commonwealths of Wisconsin and Iowa. His wife died in Winneshiek county, at the age of seventy-eight years. In their family SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. IG? were eight children, five of whom still sur- vive. Until twenty-five years of age our sub- ject assisted in the work of the farm, receiving the average education afforded farmer boys. He attended school in the winter, while the summer months were de- voted to work in the fields, but other busi- ness had charms for him, and at that age left the plow for mercantile pursuits, for a few months serving as clerk in a general store at Decorah, Iowa. While there he was appointed deputy sheriff for Winne- shiek county, which office he filled for four years, and then opened a general store of his own at Decorah in connection with a partner, conducting the same from 1875 until 1880. The capital he had invested he secured through his own earnings. He sold out in the latter year and for two years served as clerk in a post-office. On the 1st of June, 1876, Mr. Lang- land was united in marriage with Miss Ger- trude Iverson, who was born in Winneshiek count}-, Iowa, and died three years after their marriage, at the age of twenty-six years. He was again married in 1882, Miss Alice Sloan becoming his wife. She is a native of Indiana, and by her union with our subject has become the mother of three children, — George S., Louisa G. and Helga. In 1882, Mr. Langland was elected sheriff of Winneshiek county, which office he acceptably filled for eight years, and for the following two years led a retired life while looking up a wider field for his busi- ness propensities, which he found in Mar- shall, Minnesota. In connection with M. W. Harden, he started the First National Bank at this place in 1891, becoming its president, which office he has held ever since, while Mr. Harden is cashier and the other officers and directors are among the solid financial men of southwestern Minnesota. It was in the late fall of 1894 that Mr. Langland, with two others, opened in Marshall the largest general store in this part of the country, and outside of three or four large cities it doubtless carries the largest stock of goods in Minnesota. The firm was Langland, Arvesen & Company, but Mr. Arvesen died in 1895. Besides these largest business enterprises, of which Mr. Langland is at the head, he also owns one thousand five hundred acres of fine land, and his handsome residence. Like his father, our subject has always been very liberal, assisting in the erection of schools, churches, etc., and while he is a conservative business man he is progressive and abreast with the times. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, while his wife is a Congregationalist. His life furnishes an excellent example for young men starting out on a business career, show- ing to what an industrious young man with economical habits may attain in this glori- ous country of ours. He attends strictly to his business interests, yet takes an active part in political affairs so far as assisting to nominate good men for office, and has served as a member of the city council. He has always been a Republican, voting for the first time for General Grant. ^V^ AVID D. FORBES.— Canada has I I furnished to the United States /f^^J many bright, enterprising young men who hav« left the Dominion to enter the business and agricultural circles of this country with its more progressive methods, livelier competition and advance- ment more quickly secured. Among this 168 MEMORIAL RECORD OF number is Mr. Forbes, who was born in Ontario, January 9, 1856, and is a son of Alex, and Margaret (Dundass) Forbes. His fatiicr's birtli occurred in county Tyrone, Ireland, March i, 182 i , his parents being John and Mabel (Wilkin) Forbes, in whose famil)- were live children, two yet liv- ing. The grandfather, who was also a native of county Tyrone, died there, but his wife passed away in county Armagh, Ireland, at the age of si.vty-nine years. In 1840 the parents of our subject left their native land, going from I'elfast to LiN'crpool, where they boarded the John N. Robert, bound for the New World, and were six weeks and three days in reaching Quebec. Having received an excellent education the father began teaching school in Canada, for ten j;ears being thus employed in Quebec and for twenty-five and a half years in Ontario. For that service he now receives a pension from the Ontario government. In 1880 he came with his family to Lyon county, Min- nesota, where for ten years he engaged in farming, but is now living retired, enjoying a well earned rest. He has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died July 24, 1892. She was the daughter of Robert and Ellen (Kerr) Dundass, who were also natives of county Tyrone, Ireland, and emigrated to Ontario, Canada, where the father died at the age of eighty-four years, and the mother at the age of eighty. In their family of five children, one son is still living. Our subject is one of seven sons and four daughters, of whom one died in infancy. His brother, Hon. Andrew C. Forbes, is a graduate of the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, and represented his dis- trict in the Minnesota legislature in 1888. Until twenty-four years of age David D. Forbes remained upon the home farm in Canada, being reared to agricultural pur- suits, anil in 1879 came to Lyon county, Minnesota, taking up a homestead in Fair- view township, on whicii he erected a frame house twelve by sixteen feet. He made his home there until his marriage, which im- portant event in his life was celebrated No- vember 2, 1883, Miss Elizabeth A. McNiven becoming his wife. She was a native of Bruce, Ontario, and by her marriage to our subject became the mother of four chil- dren, — Malcom C, Gordon A., Harold H. and Bruce V. She was a most estimable lady, beloved by all who knew her, and her death, which occurred September 14, 1895, was widely and deeply mourned. Malcom C. McNiven, the father of Mrs. Forbes, was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, May 20, 1818, and was a son of Collin and Flora (Campbell) McNiven, also natives of Argyleshire. In 1822 they emigrated to Nova Scotia, where the grandfather's death occurred, and in 1852 'the family removed to Canada, where the grandmother also passed away. In their family were eight children. The paternal great-grandparents of Mrs. Forbes were James A. and Julia (Campbell) McNiven, the former the son of Archie McNiven. The maternal grandpar- ents of Malcom McNiven were Collin and Catherine Campbell. On the 7th of Au- gust, 1843, was celebrated the marriage of Malcom McNiven and Mary Mclntyre, who was born in Nova Scotia, August 21, 1820, and to them were born eight children, six yet living. She was the daughter of Ar- chibald and Margaret (Jackson) Mclntyre, who emigrated from England to Nova Scotia in 18 19, and there spent the remain- der of their lives. Her paternal grandpar- ents were John and Nancy (Campbell) Mc- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 10'.) Intyre, while her maternal grandparents were John and Nancy (Mclntyre) Jackson. The "McNiven family were mostly seafaring people, a number of the name being prom- inent naval officers, and a brother of Mal- colm was for twenty years a captain on the high seas. While \'oung he also followed the life of a sailor. In 1868 he brought his family to Redwood county, Minnesota, where he rented a farm, but since 1888 has made his home in Marshall. For one year after his marriage, Mr. Forbes remained upon his farm and then removed to Marshall, being for the first five years in tlie emploj- of Warden, Bushnell & Glenner, selling machinery through the northwest. He then opened a real-estate, Inan and insurance office, in connection uitli his brother,, and owned five thousand acres, mostly improved, they giving their atten- tion to the cultivation of one farm of two hundred and sixty acres. Since voting for James G. Blaine in 1 884, Mr. Forbes has been an unswerving Ivcpublican, and takes a prominent part in local political affairs, now serving as a member of the city council. Religiously he is a member of the Presbyterian church. I'ublic-spirited and progressi\'e, he takes a deep interest in the advancement and pros- perity of his county and state, and does all in his power to promote the general welfare. ON. H. M. BURCHARD.-— The name of this gentleman appears T5 I , r conspicuously upon the pages of Minnesota's history as a leader in political circles and a citizen whose devotion to the public's welfare has made him a most valued resident of his adopted state. He is a man of broad scholarship, and in all of 11 life's relations has displayed those qualities which mark the honorable man, — qualities which everywhere command respect and admiration. Mr. Burchard comes of a familj- long identified with American history. He is of the seventh generation in direct descent from Thomas Burchard, who came to America on the ship True Love in 1635 and settled in Norwich, Connecticut. His pa- ternal grandparents were Jonathan and Beulah (Ely) Burchard. The former born November 14, 1759, was one of the heroes of the Revolution, and died June 10, 1836. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Henry and Margaret (Simmons) Mc- Neil. The former was a man of prominence in Oneida county. New York, in the early part of the century, served in the state legis- lature for seven years, was major general of cavalry in the state militia, and also served as Indian agent. He was born in Union, Connecticut, in 1763, and died in Clinton, New York, May 16, 1844. In July, 1779, he became a private in the Connecticut state troops under Captain Thomas Lawson and Colonel Chapman, serving two months. He also served for one month as a private in Captain Amadown's compan}-, and later was a private for six months in Captain Webb's company and Colonel Durkee's reg- iment. He was placed on the pension roll in 1833. The military record of the pater- nal grandfather of our subject was made in Captain Hawes' compan}', under General Benjamin Lincoln. He enlisted in Feb- ruary, 1783, and served for seven and a half months. The father of our subject, Ely Burchard, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1 788, was graduated at Yale College in 1 8 1 1 , and became a prominent educator and min- 170 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ister of the Presbyterian church. He mar- ried Harriet McNeil, who died Ma}' 30, 1845, while his death occurred in Clinton, New York, Februar}' 4, 1 866. Henry McNeil Burchard, whose name introduces this sketch, was born in Paris, New York, November 18, 1825, and was graduated at Hamilton College, of Clinton, New York, in 1847. He then entered the Harvard Law School, where he pursued a two-years course. He was married No- vember 18, 1850, to Eliza H., daughter of Jeremiah and Betsj- (Tower) Clark. They have three living children: James C, who is assistant manager in the office of his fa- ther: he is married and has one son, Simeon J. ; Elizabeth is the wife of D. B. Woodbury, a Chicago merchant, and has two children; and John E.. is an attorney of Marshall, and is married and has one child. Mr. Burchard was admitted to the bar in 1850, and practiced law in Clinton, New York, until 1855, when he was elected sur- rogate of Oneida county, serving eight years in that capacity, during which time he also conducted a private bank. Ill health com- pelled his retirement from active business from 1863 uutil 1866. In the latter year he removed to Winona, Minnesota, where he also lived retired on account of his health. In the fall of 1871 he was elected on the Republican ticket to represent Winona county in the state legislature, and in the fall of 1872 was again elected to that office, as a Democrat, and was the Democratic candidate for speaker of the house. He is an excellent parliamentarian, a statesman who has studied thoroughly the questions of the day, a logical reasoner and an orator of superior ability. In January, 1876, Mr. Burchard received the appointment of general land agent for the Winona & St. Peter Railroad Company, with headquarters at Marshall, Minnesota, and has since served in that capacit}, hav- ing charge of the land grant of that com- pany in this state and in the Dakotas. So- cially, he is connected with the Sons of the American Revolution. His well spent life has won him the highest respect of all. gl ALTER S. AAGAARD, who is engaged in the real-estate busi- ness and is also proprietor of a livery stable in Worthington, is one of the adopted sons of America. It is often remarkable to what success one can attain when he starts out to make his own way in the world and is familiar with the customs and methods of the country in which he resides, but when one of foreign birth seeks a home in the new world and by his efforts rises to a position of prominence and prosperity, he is deserving of still greater credit, for then he has the addi- tional task of adapting himself to American ways. This, however, Mr. Aagaard has done. Our subject was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 22, 1853, his parents being Enoch and Caroline Aagaard. His father was a man of prominence and influence in that city and for many years was connected with its banking interests, thereby accumu- lating a considerable property-. He died in Copenhagen, in February, 1886. His grand- father was a general in the Danish army, and was a man of recognized ability as a military officer. Walter S. Aagaard passed his boyhood days in his native city, attended its public schools, and at the age of eighteen entered the University of Copenhagen, where he SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 171 pursued a two-years course. He then en- tered his father's bank, where he was em- ployed for four years, after which he was sent to Sweden as an inspector of a large estate. In 1876 he took passage on an ocean steamer at Copenhagen bound for the har- bor of New York, and on reaching this country went direct to Chicago, and thence to Yorkville, Illinois. At the latter place he opened a general meat market, which he conducted with success for several years. Returning to Chicago he engaged there in the real-estate business and soon became director and general manager of an immi- gration company, being engaged in securing homes for immigrants in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, making his headquarters in Spirit Lake, Iowa. From that place he came to Worthington, Minnesota, where he remained five years, when he was sent by a company to Kansas and located settlers in a section of the state on a tract of forty thousand acres of land. That service being ended, Mr. Aagaard once more came to Worthington and opened his real-estate office here. The upbuilding and prosperity of a community largely de- dends upon its real-estate dealers, and in this respect our subject has been an import- ant factor in the upbuilding of the city. He has been prominently connected with vari- ous enterprises here. For a time he was proprietor of the Lakeview Hotel, and in 1893 he purchased the business and livery stock of Hon. Daniel Shell, and is now con- ducting one of the best stables in this part of the state. He has a fine and \\ell equipped liver}- barn, and his real-estate office occupies a commodious and pleasant room in the front part of the building. He owns in Nobles county a considerable tract of land, which he rents, a good residence in Worthington and other valuable city property. In 1885 Mr. Aagaard married Miss Lou- isa W. Wagner, of Morris, Illinois, daugh- ter of Conrad Wagner, a prominent citizen of that place. They have three children, — Tenny W. , Walter Scott and Hazel Z. In Masonic circles Mr. Aagaard is a leader, holding a membership in Fraternal Lodge, No. loi, F. & A. M., Worthington Chapter, R. A. M., and has represented his lodge in the grand lodge of the state. Mrs. Aagaard also is a member of the Eastern Star, a branch of the Masonic order, and has filled nearly all the offices in her home lodge. Mr. Aagaard is interested in all political matters as affecting the welfare of the nation, but is not bound by party ties in the exercise of his right of franchise. A public-spirited citizen, he gives his support to all improvements of a substantial nature, and is one of the most valued residents of Worthington. m ICHAEL SULLIVAN, who is liv- ing in Marshall, is one of the prominent business men of south- ern Minnesota, a leader in his line of trade in this section of the state. To the commercial interests of a city its pros- perity is due, and the man who successfully conducts such an enterprise may well be numbered among the valued citizens of the community, for he promotes the public in- terest while advancing individual prosperity and lends life and activity to the city which is his home. Such a man is Michael Sulli- van, a lumber merchant of Marshall. He was born in Saratoga county. New 17l' MEMORIAL RECORD OF York, Ma}' 12, 1842, a son of Michael and Julia (O'Connell) Sullivan, who were natives of Ireland and came to America about 1830. They located in Saratoga county, where the father died at the age of eighty years, while the mother passed away at the age of fifty. He was a, gardener by occupation. Our subject spent the first sixteen years of his life in his parents' home and then started out to make his own way in the world. His education obtained in the dis- trict schools was supplemented b}- six months' attendance at an academ}-. For a time he worked by the month as a farm hand. On emigrating to Minnesota he lo- cated in Winona and in this state became interested in the lumber business, which he has. since followed. He worked for one year for the firm of Youmans & Company and was- then made resident manager of their business in St. Charles. When they estab- lished a yard in Marshrdl he removed to this place to assume the management of the same and became a half owner in the busi- ness. Mr. Sullivan was married on the 25th of November, 1865, to Miss Sarah M. Frink, a native of Saratoga county. New York. They attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Sullivan cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, but since that time has unswervingly supported the Democracy. He served for about ten years as president of the village board. He served as post- master under President Cleveland's first ad- ministration and has for a number of years served as president of the school board. He has been particularly active in promoting the school interests, being a warm friend to the cause of education, and the present ad- vanced condition of the schools in Marshall is largely due to his efficient efforts. He is pre-eminentl)' a business man and is a worthy representative of Marshall's com- mercial interests. *-w"^ ON. JAMES W. Wn^LIAMS is now ■"^^ one of Lyon county's wealthiest \^r and most influential citizens, re- siding in Marshall. The spirit of self-help is the source of all genuine worth in the individual, and is the means of bring- ing to man success when he has no advan- tages of wealth or influence to aid him. It illustrates, in no uncertain manner, what it is possible to accomplish when perseverance and determination form the keynote to a man's life. Depending upon his own re- sources, looking for no outside aid or sup- port, Mr. Williams has risen to a place of prominence both in the social and business world. He was born at Burnett. Wisconsin, May 26, 1847, and is a son of James A. and Polly (Turney) W'illiams, who were natives of Con- necticut and were of English ancestr}'. The father's birth occurred on the 25th of May, 181 1, and he was the -son of James and Susan (Forbes) Williams, the former a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and the latter also of the same state. The grandparents both died at Fox Lake, Wisconsin, at about the age of ninety-five years. It was in 1832 that the parents of our subject came to Wis- consin, and they are now living retired at Fox Lake at about the age of eighty-five years. Of the nine children born to them, four are still living. One son, Charles H., is a merchant of Clear Lake, Iowa, and another son, .Artemus, operates the old homestead farm in Dodge county, Wisconsin. Mary J. is the wife of August Milband, near Austin, Minnesota. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 173 Until reaching his majority. James W. WilHams remained upon the home farm, attending the district schools when the op- portunity was afforded. He then started for California, by way of New York and the water route, but a year later returned to Wisconsin and began merchandising in con- nection with a partner at Fox Lake. On selling out at the end of two years, he went to Windom, Minnesota, where he opened a general store, which he conducted from No- vember, 1 87 1, until 1872, when he disposed of his interest and came to Marshall in the spring of that year. He began dealing in hardware and farm machinery, which busi- ness he has conducted at intervals ever since. He also owns five thousand and two hundred acres of valuable farming land, of which thirty-five hundred acres are highly cultivated. He rents much of his improved land and also hires niQn to work a part of his vast estate.- On the 1 8th of October, 1877, Mr. Will- iams was united in marriage with Miss Ada F. Webster, who was born near Farming- ton, Minnesota, and they have become the parents of three children, namely: Roy W., James Von and Helen A. Her father, Solo- mon Webster, was born in Ashtabula coun- ty, Ohio, October 20, 1823, and is the son of Ferris and Adeline F. (Mitchem) Web- ster, the former a native of New York and the latter of Vermont. She died in Ohio, but his death occurred at Webster, Minne- sota, which town was named in his honor. His father, Daniel Webster, served in the war of 1812, while his great-grandfather, Michael Webster, was one of the Revolu- tionary heroes. Solomon Webster was reared in a hotel, and on reaching manhood was united in marriage with Miss Frances D. Humphrey, who was born at Hunting- ton, Lorain county, Ohio, and died at Mar- shall, Minnesota, at the age of fifty-two years. Three children were born to them, the oldest in Rice county, Minnesota, and two are yet living. Mrs. Webster was the daughter of Harry M. and Elector (Wads- i worth) Humphrey, eastern people, who became pioneers of Ohio, and died at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her grandfather Humphrey also was a soldier in the war of ! 1812. At Webster, Minnesota, in June. 1863, Solomon Webster enlisted in Com- pany D, Eleventh Minnesota Infantry, and faithfully served until the close of the war. He then returned to his home in Rice county, where he had settled in 1855, and remained there until i 866, when he removed to Farmington. In the spring of 1872 he came to Marshall, taking up a soldier's claim in Lyon county, and in the fall of that year was appointed sheriff, to which office he was later elected and served for four years. He then engaged in mercantile pur- suits until eight years ago, since which time he has practically lived retired, but still buys and ships stock, being the largest dealer along that line in Marshall. He is one of the prominent and charter members of Markham Post, No. 7, G. A. R., which he helped to organise, and served as its second and fourth commander. Politically, Mr. Williams is a stanch Democrat, his first presidential vote sup- porting Seymour. In 1872 he was elected county treasurer, which position he filled for two years, and in 1877 was elected to the legislature, where he efficiently served on several important committees, giving the best of satisfaction to his constituents. He is a progressive, liberal man, never failing to respond to calls made on him for public enterprises, churches, etc. Besides his 174 MEMORIAL RECORD OF large real-estate interests in farm lands, he also owns valuable village propert}', includ- ing a building block, mill and many lots. He and his wife attend and support the Episcopal church, of which she is an ear- nest member, and they hold an enviable position in the social circles of the com- munity, where thev have gained hosts of warm friends. H NTON STEFFEN, proprietor of the Sleepy Eye Brewery, established business here in 1888, upon a small scale, but his energy and capable business methods soon enabled him to com- mand a good trade; and as his patronage increased he enlarged his facilities, con- structing a commodious plant, which is thoroughly equipped with the latest im- proved machinery and improved appliances for the manufacture of a pure and high-grade beer. He now does an annual business of two thousand barrels and his trade is stead- ily increasing. Mr. Steffen is a native of Germany, born in 1S44. He was a child of two years when brought by his parents to America, the family locating at Port Washington, Wisconsin, where he spent the greater part of his boyhood. He began his education in the common schools, and later attended the parochial schools of the Catholic church, his parents being devout adherents of that religious denomination. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a carpenter in Mil- waukee and served a three-years term, be- coming a proficient workman. He then entered the carpentry department of the Minneapolis & Milwaukee Railroad Com- pany and remained in that employ ten years. He was afterward in the service of the Northwestern Railroad Company for four years, and in 1887 he came to Hrown county, Minnesota, and established his pres- ent business, which he has since prosecuted with skill and energy, winning success in the undertaking. His brewery has a capac- ity of five thousand barrels a year, and he ships annually about eleven hundred barrels. In 1871 Mr. Steffen niarried Miss Lizzie Reefer, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a daughter of John Reefer, who was born in Germany, and resided in Wisconsin before locating in St. Paul. Their children are Charles, Mary, Barney, Lucy, Leona, Lend, John and Annie. Mr. Steffen and his family are members of the Catholic church of Sleepy Eye. >-j*OHX M. W.\RI)ELL.- The sub- J^ ject of this sketch is thoroughly a /• J self-made man and is one of the most enterprising and highly re- spected citizens of Tracy, Minnesota, with the interests of which place he has for years been identified. .-Vs a well-known and lead- ing citizen it is of special importance that an outline of his life be presented on these pages, and to such a sketch the biographer now reverts. John M. Wardell was born in St. Law- rence county. New York, November 20, 1839, and is a son of William and Anne (Todd) Wardell, people of honest worth and high standing. William Wardell was born in Little Fenton, Yorkshire. England. August 7, 1809, and in the year 1831 emi- grated with his parents and two sisters to this country, landing in New York. For several years he worked as foreman of some of the best farms in St. Lawrence county. January 28, 1839. he was united in mar- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 175 riage to Miss Anne Todd, of Depeyster, and a few years after their marriage they pur- chased a farm in St. Lawrence county, upon which they lived and toiled together for over fifty years and where Mr. Wardell died at a ripe old age. Mrs. Wardell is still living, at about seventy-nine years of age. She retains the mental and physical vigor of her youth to a remarkable extent. They were the parents of eight children. On his father's New York farm John M. Wardell was reared, growing up with but limited educational advantages, attending only the district school and that during the winter months. In the fall of iS6i, when civil strife was abroad in the land, he en- listed in the strength of his young manhood, in Company F, Sixtieth New York Infantry, and served one year on guard duty. At the end of that time he was laid up with rheu- matism and was honorably discharged. In the fall of 1863 he again entered the army, and was in the construction department until the close of the war, when he received a second honorable discharge and returned to his home in New York. July 5, 1865, he left the Empire state to make his home in the west, starting out with about one thousand dollars he had saved. The fol- lowing winter he spent in Waverly, Iowa, where he worked at his trade, that of car- penter, and in the spring of 1 866 he came to Faribault, Rice county, Minnesota. Here he confined to work at his trade and also for si.x years was engaged in the lumber business. In May, 1S73, he came to Tracy, or, rather, where Tracy now stands, for there was then no sign of the prosperous town we see here to-day. He took a home- stead claim two miles from the present town site, and on it built a house sixteen by twenty-four feet in dimensions, where he made his home for several years. In 1873 he began selling lumber at this point, when for want of depot facilities the railroad men had to throw the lumber off upon the ground near the main track, while the loco- motive waited. But the erection of station facilities at Tracy in 1875 gave a new turn to his business operations. He opened shortly afterward the first lumber-yard in this part of Minnesota, and in 1878 or 'g established the first furniture store, and the only one for several years in this locality; and in connection with his other business he for ten or twelve years dealt in farm machinery. As the years passed by and prosperity attended his various business ventures, Mr. Wardell invested in land until now he is the owner of one thousand and forty acres, used chiefly for stock purposes. About 1890 Mr. Wardell became inter- ested in the breeding of fine trotting horses, to which business he has given special atten- tion and in which he has met with marked success. That year he brought to Lyon county a thoroughbred trotting colt, and at this writing he is the owner of six registered horses, his partner in this business being Mr. McArthur. In this connection we would refer briefly to their fine stallion, H. M. French. He was sired by Baron Wilkes in 1 89 1, is black, sixteen hands high and weighs one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. He has a fine, intelligent head, plenty of natural speed and a perfect dispo- sition. In short the equal of H. M. French has never been produced by breeding through any strain of blood. Mr. Wardell is a man of family. He was married in Faribault November 30, 1868, to Miss Lucy Moses, who was born in Maine, August 17, 1847, and who died in Tracy, December 26, 1894, at the age of 170 MEMORIAL RECORD OF forty-seven years. She was a most estima- ble woman and was the mother of seven children, tive of whom are yet living, namely: Samuel T. , Ezra S., Florence, John M., Jr., and Bessie. Mrs. Wardell's parents were Shepherd and Sarah (Herring) Moses, prominent early settlers of Lyon county, Minnesota, they having settled here about 1S75. Mr. Wardell attends worship with his family at the Presbyterian church. He maintains a fraternal relation with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the G. A. Iv, , his membership in the latter order being in Joe Hooker Post, No. 15, of which he served as commander one term. He was one of the first G. A. R. men in this locality. On attaining his majority he cast his franchise with the Republican part}', voting first for Lincoln when he ran the second time, and ever since then has been in thorough harmony with the Republican party and its. principles. In a local way he has figured prominently, filling at differ- ent times most of the township and munici- pal offices. He was president of the first village council and was honored with the official position of mayor when Tracy was made a city; and in all of these positions it has been his earnest endeavor to render prompt and faithful service which he has done, and in a manner that reflected credit alike upon himself and those whom he served. From 1S75 to 1S78 he was cap- tain of the local guards of Tracy, which company was organized for protection against the Indians. Thus in many ways is his name closely linked with the history of this place. Few there are, if any, who have a larger circle of friends here than he, and those who know him best esteem him most. OLE KELSON is acceptably filling the position of count}' auditor of Lyon county, and is one of its representative citizens who by the faithful discharge of the duties of public life has become a valued factor in the commu- nit}'. A nati\e of Norway, he was born on the 20th of June, 1S47, the eldest child of Kel and Elena (Erickson) Olson. His father was a farmer and spent his entire life in "the land of the midnight sun," where his death occurred at the age of sixty-five years. His mother is still living and is yet a resi- dent of Norway. No event of special importance marked the passing of the boyhood and youth of Ole Kelson. He assisted his father in the culti\'ation of the home farm and gained that practical knowledge of farming methods which well fitted him for his own labors in that direction in later life. He acquired his education in the common schools and remained with his parents until he had at- tained his majority, when he determined to try his fortune this side the Atlantic, having been fa\orably impressed with the reports he had heard of opportunities in America. Accordingly he severed the ties which bound hiui to the land of his birth and bidding adieu to his family sailed from Christiania to Liverpool, thence to Quebec. He was seven days in crossing the ocean. He did not tarry long in Canada, but came at once to the United States, locating in Adams county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in carpentering for a time and then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. Pur- chasing a tract of land he followed farming in Wisconsin until i 878, when he came to Lyon county, Jilinnesota. Here he resumed work at the carpenter's trade, which he successfully followed until 18S0, when he SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 177 pre-empted a homestead and at once began the development of the wild land, trans- forming the tract into rich and fertile fields. He also made excellent improvements in the way of substantial buildings, and is to-day the owner of a valuable farm of two hundred acres, the greater part of which is in a high state of cultivation. He continued his farming operations until 1S92, when he was elected to his present position of county auditor and removed to Marshall. On the 2 1st of July, 1S71, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Ivelson and Miss Ger- trude Rierson, a native of Rock county, Wis- consin, and a daughter of Rierson Knutson, who came from Norway to the United States in early life. Mr. and Mrs. Kelson are the parents of eight children, namely: Charles H., born October 8, 1872, now serving as deputy county auditor; Richard, born September 24, 1875; Clarence E., born September 27, 1880; George, born Decem- ber 19, 1S82; Nora A., born November 9, 1S84; Oscar A., born July 9, 1888; Almar, born April 13, 1890; and Walter, born June 14. 1893- While in Wisconsin Mr. Kelson served as town treasurer and was clerk of the school board for many years. Soon after his removal to his Minnesota farm he was elected town clerk, in which position he served until elected county auditor, and was also justice of the peace two terms. In 1892 he was elected county auditor of Lyon county for a term of two j'ears, and in i 894 was re-elected, so that he is the present in- cumbent. His duties are faithfully per- formed with the greatest regard to the in- terests of the county, and his public record is above reproach. In politics 4ie is an un- compromising Republican, giving an unswerv- ing support to the party that stands for sound money and the protection of America and American industries. He belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. The success which Mr. Kelson has achieved in life is all due to his own un- aided efforts. The spirit of self-help is the source of all genuine worth in the individual; it is that which overcomes obstacles and difficulties and enables one to push on to the goal of prosperity. Though he came to America empty-handed, Mr. Kelson hastaken advantage of every opportune moment to advance his financial condition, and to-day an excellent farm property attests how earnestly and well he has labored. His many excellent qualities command the con- fidence of the public and the regard of manv friends, and Mr. Kelson is both widely and favorably known in his adopted county. aHRISTOPHER F. CASE, editor of the Lyon County Reporter, is one of the infiuential and wide-awake citizens of Marshall. He was born at South Manchester, Connecticut, Novem- ber I, 1839, and is a son of Ashbel W. and Eleanor (Hollister) Case, also natives of the Nutmeg state. On the paternal side he traces his ances- try back to Richard Case, who was a free- man of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1671. His son, Ashbel Case, was the grandfather of our subject. He married Dolly Spencer, daughter of Rev. Thomas and Dorothy (Hill) Spencer, of East Hartford. The maternal ancestry of our subject has been largely rep- resented in the military history of this country and of England. The first of the name of whom we have record is Lieutenant John Hollister, who was born in England, 178 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in 1612, and became an extensive land- holder in Wethersfield, Connecticut, and Glastonbury. His son, Thomas Hollister, was a lieutenant in the colonial militia, and died in 1 70 1. Gideon Hollister was also a lieutenant of the militia and died in 1736. Asahel and Jonathan Hollister both died in the Revolutionary war. Elihu Hollister was captain of militia in Glastonbury, Con- necticut, in 1764. Timothy Hollister was killed by the Indians in 1763, while his son Isaac, at the same time, was captured and held prisoner by the red men for several years. This occurred near Rochester, New York. Gideon Hollister was captain of the militia, holding a commission from the Eng- lish crown, and represented his district in the legislature in i 780-1. Lieutenant John Hollister, who was born in 17 19, had eight sons in the Revolutionary war, and six were killed in the struggle which brought to America her independence. Elijah Hol- lister served in the legislature in 1775-6 and was inspector of troops. Eli^ia Hollister was also a captain in the American army during the Revolution, and Francis Hollis- ter was a sea captain and died in Havana in 1770. Josiah Hollister served under Gen- eral Washington in the Revolution and died in 1844. Another member of the family of the same name was taken prisoner by the British, and held captive in Canada for two years, after which he wrote a book descrip- tive of his war experience. Abner Hollister was with Arnold in Quebec. It will thus be seen that the family is noted for bravery, and that its military record is most hon- orable. Ashbel W. Case, father of our subject, spent his early life in farming and school- teaching, but in 1 8 54 removed to Rockton, Illinois, where he engaged in the manufac- ture of paper for about two years. In 1856 he went to Waterloo, Iowa, where his death occurred at the age of fifty-four years. There the mother also died, at the age of fifty. Of their six children four are still living. Until fifteen years of age our subject re- mained upon the home farm in Connecticut and then accompanied his parents on their re- moval west, remaining with them until their death. He then lived with a brother on a farm until attaining his majority. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism he enlisted during the dark days of the rebellion in the one- hundred-days service, becoming a member of Company B, Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry, with which he served about five months. For one winter he had attended Beloit Col- lege, at Beloit, Wisconsin, and after being discharged from the army at Madison, Wis- consin, he entered the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated with the class of 1868. After leaving school Mr. Case went to Clarksville, Iowa, where he established a paper in 1869, which he conducted for five years. The following year he passed in Cali- fornia, after which he returned to Waverly, Iowa, where for two years he had charge of the Republican. While at that place he was married, November 6, 1873, Miss Caroline F. Waller becoming his wife. She was born in Mercer county, Illinois, a daughter of Professor William A. Waller, a native of Virginia, who became an early settler of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Case have three children, namely: Frank W. , Fred H. and Dorotha A. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Case located at Marshall, Minnesota, where he purchased a paper called the Prairie Schooner, but changed the name to the Messenger. This he conducted until 1885, when he sold to so UTH WESTERN MINNESO TA . 179 C. Whitney, and for some time was in the south. It was in 1890 that he started the Lyon County Reporter, which he has since conducted with signal ability and success. It is a well-edited sheet and justly deserves the liberal patronage w'hich it receives. Be- sides his fine residence, Mr. Case has erect- ed several good business blocks in Marshall, the Case block being one of these, and has done much toward the development and progress of the town. He has taken a lead- ing and prominent part in public affairs, effi- cientlv serving as mayor in 1894, has been president of the school board, and for five years served as postmaster. For the first year it was not a presidential office, and after his appointment by R. B. Hayes he filled the position for four years to the sat- isfaction of all concerned. Socially he is connected with Markham Post, No. 7, G. A. R., and the Knights of Pythias fraternity. In religion his wife is a member of the Con- gregational church. They have gained many friends since becoming residents of Lyon county, and in social circles hold an enviable position. ^^^^ILLIAM H. MORGAN has for ■ ■ I some years been identified with ^J^^a the agricultural interests of Lyon county and is one of its farmers of honest worth and high standing, his loca- tion being in the vicinity of Tracy, his post- office address. Mr. Morgan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, December 24, 1843, a son of Thomas and Maria (Roberts) Morgan, both natives of Wales. Thomas Morgan was born in Morganshire, Wales, and there spent the first eighteen years of his life, then, in 1825, emigrating to America and locating in Connecticut. He was employed in the ironworks of Connecticut until 1851, when he came west to Wisconsin and set- tled in Waukesha county, on a farm, where the rest of his days were spent and where he died at the advanced age of seventy-six years. His wife was twelve years old when she accompanied her parents from Wales to the United States, their location also being in Connecticut. Her parents, Samuel and Ann Roberts, passed the remainder of their lives in the old Bay state and died there when well advanced in years. She came with her husband to Waukesha county, Wisconsin, and shared with him the toil and privation incident to life on a frontier farm, and died on the old farm at the ripe age of seventy-five years. They were the parents of seven children, of whom five are yet liv- ing, all farmers except one. William H. Morgan, the immediate sub- ject of this review, had not yet entered his 'teens when he was brought by his parents to Wisconsin, where he was reared to farm life and was educated in the district schools. On reaching his majority he went forth in the strength of his young manhood to help put down the rebellion and maintain the Union. It was November 30, 1864, and as a member of Company A, Seventeenth Wis- consin Infantry, under Capt. Thomas Coonan, that he enlisted, and for nine months he was on active duty, at the end of that time being honorably discharged in New Jersey. The war over, Mr. Morgan returned to his home in Wisconsin, where he remained until he was twenty-seven, then, in June, 1870, coming over into Minnesota and loca- ting in Blue Earth county, where he rented land one year. In May of 1871 he came to Lyon county and took a homestead claim 180 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of one hundred and sixty acres, and after his niarriasje, which event took place in the spring of 1S72, he brought his bride in an ox wagon to the home he had prepared on this claim. Here he had a Httle cabin, fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions, which was their abiding place for four and a half years. .Vt tlie end of that time he returned to Wisconsin and located on a rented farm; but after six years and a half more in Wisconsin he was again ready to come back to Minnesota, and since tliat time he has occupied his present farin, not far distant from the prosperous town of Tracy. Here he built a comfortable frame residence, planted all the trees and shrubs that arc on the place, and made various other improvements; and here by honest toil and good management and witii the aid of his companion and children he has se- cured a nice home and is pleasantly situated. Mr. Morgan was married March 2, 1872, to Miss Frances E. Browne, an educated young woman who was for live years previ- ous to her marriage engaged in teaching school. She was born near Toronto, Can- ada, daughter of Frederick B. and Eliza- beth ^Husband) Browne, both natives of England, the former born in Berkshire and the latter in Devonshire. He emigrated to America in 1 843 and settled on a farm in Canada; lived there until 1S50, when he moved to Rochester, New York, as agent for a publishing house. Later he located in Buffalo and in 1S56 came out to Wisconsin, sojourning for a time in Waukesha and Mil- waukee and finally settling down to farm life at Oconomowoc, where he died, at the age of sixty years. His wife died in Buf- falo, New York, at the age of thirty-two. She was the mother of nine children, all now deceased except two. The pa- ternal grandfather of Mrs. .Morgan was Frederick Browne. He lived and died in England. Her Grandfather Husband was a captain in the English army and was killed in war in India. His widow, whose maiden name was Jane Farley, lived to the advanced age of ninety years and died at the home of Mrs. Morgan's father. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have four children, — Frederick H., Marie E., Thomas E. and William B. Mr. Morgan, is a Republican, a public- spirited man, and is especially interested in all that pertains to the welfare of his local- ity. He served as township clerk eight years and took the last census of the town ship. ^~^1L.\S N. HARRINGTON.— No •^^^k* man in southwestern Minnesota is r-s^^y probably more worthy of repre- sentation in a work of this kind than he whose name stands at the head of this sketch. During the civil war he was one of the "boys in blue," aiding in the de- fense of the Union, and since a resident of Marshall, Minnesota, has taken a prominent part in public affairs, now serving as register of deeds for Lyon county. A native of New York, Mr. Harrington was born at Delta, June 7, 184S. and is a son of Nelson and Nancy (Stedman) Har- rington. His father, a native of \'ermont. was a carpenter by trade, and removed to Syracuse, New York, at the age of nineteen, but two years later became a resident of Delta, that state, where he passed his re- maining days, djing at the age of sixty years. His wife, who was born in Delta, died there at the age of seventy-three years. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. ISl Of their seven children only two arc now living: Silas N., of this review; and Frank, who is living upon the old homestead in the Empire state. The paternal grandparents of our sub- ject were Silas and Betsy fDickinsonj Har- rington. The former was born in Rhode Island, June i6, 1775, and is deceased. His wife was born August 25, 1785, and died June iG, 1854. She was the daughter of Thomas Dickinson, whose birth occurred at Nine Partners, Dutchess county. New ■ York, March 5, 1756. On the iith of No- vember, 1779, he wedded Mary Nobles, and died at Weybridge, Vermont, September 18, 1845. He was a man of great energy and force of character, impulsive, excellent business ability and unquestioned integrity, whose word was as good as his bond. His business interests were extensive, chiefly en- gaging in the manufacture of iron, and be- came the owner of much real estate, includ- ing mills at ^^'eybridge, Middlebury, New Haven and other places. He continued actively to engage in business until finally the infirmities of age compelled him to re- linquish those cares, and after passing the evening of life in quiet he died at the ad- vanced age of almost ninety years. When a young man he had removed to Massachu- setts, living in various places in that state, among which were Lenox, Great Barring- ton, Sheffield, New Marlboro, Stockbridge and Adams, and finally located in Vermont, about 1804. He served with the Massachu- setts troops through a great portion of the Revolutionary war, participating in the bat- tles of Stillwater and Saratoga, and wit- nessed the surrender of Burgoyne. During the latter years of his life he was pensioned by the United States government. In re- ligious belief he was a Universalist, very strict in morals and religious observances, a great student of the Bible, and died enjoy- ing the respect of all who knew him. One of his sons was in the war of 1812, serving as body guard to General Scott, and took part in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. Our subject remained in his native village until thirteen years of age, when he went to work by the month for a brother-in-law. ' At the early age of fifteen he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-second New York Cavalry, under Colonel S. J. Crook, joining the regiment December 21. 1863, and served until the close of the war, receiving an hon- orable discharge at Winchester, Virginia, August 9, 1865. The first battle in which he participated wa.s that of the "Wilder- ness," when his regiment served as the rear guard for the army, and was next on the Wilson raid. His regiment, which started out with about nine hundred men, had only one hundred and twenty-five left by the 2d of July, 1864, most of the missing having been taken prisoners. At one time he was slightly wounded by a shell, but was never of? duty for a single daj-, and his army rec- ord is one of which he may be justly proud. His half-brother, Henry Harrington, also aided in the preservation of the Union. When the war was over, Mr. Harrington returned to his home, where he remained until 1867, or until after the death of his father, and then began the manufacture of cheese in New York, which business he carried on for about six seasons. The following twelve years he traveled for a patent medicine j house at Rome, New York. On the 3d of April, 1872, Mr. Harring- ton was united in marriage with Miss Jennie \'. Sheldon, a native of New York, who died ■ in March, 1873. He was again married 182 MEMORIAL RECORD OF December 19, 1878, his second union being with Miss Etta Davis, who was born in Os- wego county, New York, and is a daughter of Seymour C. and Mary Davis, who spent their entire H\es in the Empire state. By occupation her father was a farmer. Two children grace this union, — Mary and Fran- cis, botli at home. In October, 1883, Mr. Harrington came to Marshall, Minnesota, and for six months clerked in the store of John B. Schutz. For the following two years he was similarly employed by Hon. A. C. Chittenden, after which he returned to Mr. Schutz, becoming a member of the firm. Two years later, however, he again entered the store of Mr. Chittenden, where he remained for the same length of time. By President Harrison he was appointed postmaster of Marshall, which position he filled for four years, and in 1894 was elected register of deeds. So faithfully has he performed the duties of that office that there is little doubt of his re- election in the fall of 1896. Socially, Mr. Harrington is a member of D. F. Markham Post, No. 7, G. A. R., of Marshall, in which he served as adjutant general for seven years, and as commander in the year of 1893. He became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1895, and is also connected with the Masonic fraternity, the Eastern Star, the Royal Ar- canum and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. Since casting his first vote for General Grant he has been an ardent Republican, and besides the offices already mentioned he acceptably served as county recorder two terms and assessor for two terms. Upright and honorable in all things, he has gained the confidence of all with whom he has come in contact, and there is no more pop- ular or highly respected citizen in I^yon county than Silas N. Harrington. The family attend the Congregational church and hold a prominent position in social circles. ai fLLIAM B. STINE.— The office- holders of a communit}' are in more than one respect the repre- sentative men of that localit}-. To their care is largely intrusted the wel- fare of their fellow men, and upon the faith- ful discharge of their duties depends in no small measure the advancement and best interests of the county in which they make their homes. William B. Stine is one of those representatives of Murray county, made so by the vote of the people, who in 1886 called him to the office of clerk of the district court. He is now serving his sec- ond term therein, and his re-election was a tribute to his abilit}', his prompt and faith- ful service and a testimonial of the regard in which he is held in the county. Mr. Sline was born in Greeneville, Ten- nessee, July 27, 1856, a son of Christian and Mary A. (Brown) Stine. His paternal grand- parents were John and Phcebe (Bower) Stine, and his maternal grandfather was William Brown, a native of Greene county, Tennes- see. The latter wedded Nancy Kidwell, of the same county, who is now living in Kankakee, Illinois, with her daughter, Mrs. William Martin. The Brown family is of Irish origin, and the family was founded in America by ancestors from Ireland. The Stine family is German. The grandfather, John Stine, a man of fine physique and pow- erful build, died in 1882, at the extreme old age of one hundred and three years, having served eight years in the regular army and lost his right eye at the battle of New Or- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 183 leans. Christian Stine, the father of our subject, was a tanner by occupation, and became a resident of Murray county, Min- nesota, in 1883, locating in Lowvilie town- ship, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1893. The efficient clerk of the district court of Murray county spent the days of his boy- hood and youth in his parents' home, at- tending school through the winter season, while in the summer months he became familiar with the labors of field and mead- ow. He assisted his father until twenty years of age in the development of the home farm, and then learned telegraphy, which he followed as a vocation at various points until called to public office. He was elected in 1886, but did not enter upon the dis- charge of his duties until 1888. He then served for a term of four years, after which he was re-elected, and January, 1891, was appointed by the judge of the district court to fill a vacancy for one year, so that he is now the incumbent in the office. In addi- tion to his official duties he does considerable business as a real-estate dealer and notary public, and has a good knowledge of law. Mr. Stine gives his political support to the Republican party, is widely informed on the issues and questions which mark the differences between the political organiza- tions, and has become prominent in the local affairs of his party. As an officer he merits the trust reposed in him, and as a business man he ranks among the leading citizens of Murray county. Mr. Stine came to this county in Novem- ber, 1880, and while serving as station agent was located at Hadley. There he formed the acquaintance of Miss Minnie Lowe, and on the 28th of May, 1882, this estimable lady became his wife. f >^^\ J. COOK. — There is perhaps not I A ^ better known or more highly re- Jl \ spected citizen in the township of Mulligan, Brown count}-, Minne- sota, than is found in the subject of this re- view, N. J. Cook. He has resided on his present farm on section 2 for a period of eighteen years, and during all this time he has figured conspicuously as one of the lead- ing men of his locality. Mr. Cook is a native of Canada West, born in North Williamsburg, February 25, 1847, son of William A. and Sally (Cas- selian) Cook, the former of English descent and the latter of German, both representa- tives of highly respected families. His mother died in 1865, and his father is still living, at the age of eighty-five years. He was by occupation a lumberman and was engaged in that business the most of his life. The church of his preference, and to which he belonged, was the Methodist Episcopal, while his wife was a devoted member of the Lutheran church. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living, namely: Catherine, Caro- line, Maria, Daniel, John, Norman J. and George. Those deceased are Simon and Sarah, the former having died at the age of fifty-one years and the latter at eighteen. Norman J. Cook was reared on a Cana- dian farm, received a fair education and was taught habits of honesty and industry and surrounded with a Christian influence. He enlisted in the British army in 1866, at Masonburg, Canada, for service in the Fen- ian war, and went out as a member of Battery No. i. Heavy Artillery, in which he rendered valiant service for one year and nine months, at the end of which time he was honorably discharged. In 1867 he came over into the "States" and located 184 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in Wisconsin, where he remained one year, cominf^ thence to Northfield, Minnesota, in the vicinity of which place he continued to reside ten years. In the year 1878 we find him locating on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Mulligan township, Brown county, the same upon which he has ever since maintained his home. At the time he settled here fifteen acres of this land had been broken, this work constituting the chief improvements upon the place. Here he at once went earnestly to work to develop a farm and make a home, and the success he has achieved is evident on every hand. He has added to his land until to-day it comprises three hundred and t\vent\' acres, two hundred and fifty of which are under cultivation, wheat and corn foruiing his principal crops. He has a modern resi- dence, erected at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars, situated on a gentle elevation and furnished in a manner that suggests good taste as well as prosperity. His large barn cost seven hundred dollars. Also he has other farm buildings, bountiful sup- ply of water and a fine grove. He has for years given considerable attention to stock- raising, keeping a large quantity of horses, cattle and hogs. Mr. Cook was married at New Ulm, Min- nesota, April 24, 1878, to Miss Mary Keegon, a woman of rare accomplishments and a member of a good famil}-, her parents being James and Eliza (Cherry) I-Ceegon. Her father was a native of Ireland, was one of the early settlers of this county, and here passed the greater part of his life and died. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have four sons, --Will- iam James, Harry Francis, George Theodore and Roy Willis. Politically, Mr. Cook has long been an enthusiastic worker in the ranks of the Republican party in his locality, and has time after time been honored witli official preference. For nine years he has been on the board of supervisors, — one year as chairman, — has been on the school board nine years, and for years has served as a justice of the peace, performing efficient and appreciated service in ever}' place to which he has been called. A man of broad and progressive views, strict integrity, and genial, jovial disposition, he has many warm friends and enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him. ST II.LIAM H. SANDEN.— A large number of the leading and prom- inent citizens of Lyon count}' are of alien birth, and ha\e transported to this land of fertility and plent}' the thrifty habits of their native countr}'. Among these there is none that is better known or more widely respected than the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch, who now owns one of the largest and best farms in the county. He was born in Holland, April 25, 1841, and is a son of Henry and Mar\' Barbara Josephine Sanden, who spent their entire lives in Holland, the former dying at the age of si.xty-eight years and the latter when fortj'-seven. Of their nine children, si.\ are vet living. At the age of twenty-three years in his native land, ^^'illiam II. Sanilen married Miss Marj' H. Vassen, and with the exception of the j'oungest all of their fourteen children were born in Holland. j Of the nine still living, one is married and has a pair of twins. In the spring of 1S83, hoping to better I his financial condition, Mr. Sanden with his ) family left the province of Limburg for the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 185 United States, and on landing in this coun- try came direct to Lyon count)-, Minnesota, where he purchased eighty acres of land in Westerheim township. He now has a valuable farm of twelve hundred and fort}' acres, which he mainly leaves to the man- agement of his sons and two hired men, whom he always has employed, while in the harvest season he is compelled to hire sev- eral. He and his sons rank among the best class of agriculturists in the count}', and are also extensively engaged in the buj-ing and shipping of stock. On coming to this country, Mr. Sanden was in limited circum- stances, but by his persistent and well di- rected efforts he is now the owner of one of the largest private farms under the man-' agement of one man to be found an\'where in this section. The family are members of the Catholic church, and have the re- spect and confidence of all who know them. Politicall}', the father and sons support the Democratic party. ^"V'AMPSOX S. START.— The subject e^^fci* of this personal history is a resi- [\^J dent of Vienna township, Rock county, Minnesota, residing on sec- tion 30, and is well esteemed as a man of industry and enterprise, besides being a worthy citizen and having to his credit an unblemished war record. He was born in Devonshire, England, September 22, 1828, and when between five and six years of age was brought to America b}' his parents, Robert and Mary Ann (Si'mons) Start, the former a native of Lancastershire and the latter of Devonshire, in the the same coun- try. In the latter county they were mar- ried and continued to reside until coming to America. In their family of ten children, — 12 I five sons and five daughters, — Sampson S. [ is the eldest. On their arrival in the New World, the famil}' located in Oneida county. New York, where our subject was reared and continued to live until the latter part of March, 1859. There he was married, on January 2, 1854, to Miss Catherine White, who was born at Yorkville, Oneida county, July I, 1 83 1, and was the second child in the family of eight children. — three sons and five daughters, — born to William and Mar}- (Ballantj'ne) White, both natives of Scot- land. After their marriage, her parents lo- cated at Paisley, in that country, where they remained until their emigration to America, when the)' also took up their residence in Oneida county. New York, where the mother died. The father later purchased a farm at South Albion, Oswego county, that state, on which he made his home for thirty years, or up to the time of his death. Six children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Start, but Robert William, the third, died in infancy. Those living are Jennie L. , now the wife of C. F. Townsend, of Rock county, Minnesota; May A., the wife of D. M. Johnson, of Luverne, Minnesota; Sampson S. , who married ^fiss Gay I. Bryant; Fred W., and Louis H. In March, 1859, ^fr. Start with his little family, then consisting of his wife and one child, emigrated to Rock county, Wiscon- sin, but at the end of a year removed to Dane county of the same state, where they also resided for a year, and then went to Green county, Wisconsin, purchasing a farm on which he lived until 1864. While calmly employed in the peaceful vocation of a farmer's life, the storm of war which had been gathering for so many years over our beloved country broke, and bidding adieu 18(3 MEMORIAL RECORD OF to his home Mr. Start enlisted, in August, 1864, in Compan}- H, Thirty-eighth Wis- consin Volunteer Infantr}', with which he served until the close of the war, and met with several narrow escapes in front of Petersburg", \'irginia. He was discharged June 2, 1865, with the rank of corporal. Returning to Green county, Mr. Start remained there until 1876, when he removed to Cherokee county, Iowa, where he rented land until coming to Rock county, Min- nesota, in 1S83, at which time he purchased one hundred and si.xty acres on section 30, Vienna township. He has made manj' use- ful and substantial improvements upon his place, including the erection of good build- ings, and has his land under a high state of cultivation. In politics he is a firm believer in the principles of the Democratic party, and socially is connected with John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. For several years he filled the position of township treasurer, and is a most reliable and worthy citizen of the community. Mr. Start's eldest son, Sampson S., Jr., served four years as county superintendent of schools, and is now superintendent of the Luverne Gold Mining Compan}- of Bourne, Oregon, of which his father is now one of the directors, and also served as vice-presi- dent for some time. aHARLES A. SUNDBERG, a farm- er and stock-raiser of Nobles coun- ty, lives on section 2, Dewald town- ship. For almost a quarter of a century he has been identified with the ag- ricultural interests of this locality, coming to the county in 1872, at which time he se- cured a homestead of one hundred and si.xty acres and also a tree claim of like amount. He planted a good grove upon the latter, and now has one of the finest timbered tracts in this vicinity. His other land he plowed and planted, and in course of time abundant harvests were gathered, although he met with the usual hardships and diffi- culties in improving a new farm. To his property he has added until he nov.' has three hundred acres. He has been success- fully engaged in the raising of grains, also in the cultivation of small fruits, being one of the most extensive small-fruit growers in this section of the state, while on all horti- cultural matters he is considered authorit}'. He has been instrumental in introducing several fine varieties of fruits, speciallj' adapted to the soil and climate of south- western Minnesota, and others have bene- fited by the knowledge he has gained b\- experience. He planted an orchard, and is also engaged in stock-raising. His progress- ive methods and his well-directed efforts have brought to him success, and have numbered him among the leading farmers and fruit-growers of southwestern Minne- sota. Mr. Sundberg was born April 25, 1841, in Sweden, and his parents, Jonas and Anna (Anderson) Sundberg, were also natives of that country. The father followed farming and worked in the copper mines in Sweden, and both he and his wife spent their entire lives there. Oar subject attended the pub- i lie schools until thirteen years of age, and he too began work in the copper mines, being thus employed until June, 1S64, when he came to the United States, landing in Boston, Massachusetts. He went thence to the copper mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, working in Houghton county for two years and Marquette county two and one-half years. He then removed with SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 187 his family to Jasper county, Missouri, where he enga,s;ed in farming until 1S72, the date of his arrival in Nobles county. Here he has continually devoted his energies to grain and fruit farming and stock-raising, and has attained a degree of success that numbers him among the substantial citizens. In September, 1865, Mr. Sundberg was united in marriage with Miss Joanna M. Wallin, of Houghton, Michigan, who \\'as born in Sweden, and came with her brother- in-law to the United States when seventeen years of age. They have eight children, — a son and seven daughters, — namely: Anna S., wife of S. Call; Frank W., a clerk in St. \'incent Hospital; Ellen, a teacher; Minni W. , Josepliina, Amanda, Selma and Ester. Mr. Sundberg and his wife are members of the Lutheran church in Worthington. For eight years he has been an active and prominent member of the State Horticult- ural Society, doing much to promote its interests. For a period of sixteen years he has served on the school board, and is a warm friend of the cause of education, while to every measure that is calculated to prove of public benefit he gi\es a hearty indorsement. K./^ ERNHARDT SCHELLENBERG l(''^ is one of the worthy citizens that J^^_^ Germany has furnished to Murray county. He wasborninSaxe Alten- burg, of the fatherland, on the 22d of Septem- ber, 1844, and is a son of Gottfried and Anna (Kratsch) Schellenberg. The mother died in Germany about 1850, and the father aft- erward married again and emigrated with his family to America in 1855, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, which was fifty- four days in making the voyage of Bremen to New York. The father proceeded at once to Wisconsin, where he had friends liv- ing, leaving his wife and four children in New York. The stepmother there deserted the children, who were sent to an orphans' home on Ward's island, where they remained for two years. During that time our sub- ject worked in a cigar factory in New York for two years, for his board and clothes. The father had lost ail trace of the children, but continued his search until at length, through advertising, he found them. Send- ing money for the trip the children then joined their father in Ozaukee county, Wis- consin, where he was emplo3'ed in making shingles. He died in that county, in 1887. The children were Herman, who became a prominent citizen of Wisconsin and served in the general assembly in 1894; Bernhardt; Frank, who is a member of the wholesale company of Felix & Marston; and Emma, wife of Fred Arndt, of Welcome, Martin county, Minnesota. Mr. Schellenberg, whose name heads this sketch, was employed by the man for whom his father worked in Wisconsin, and during the first two years received only his board and clothing in compensation for his services. During the third year he was given three dollars per month. In 1859 he went to the copper regions of Lake Superior and worked in the mines for six years, during which time he saved from his earnings suffi- cient capital to purchase sixty acres of land, — a tract in Washington county, Wisconsin. He operated that farm for two years, and then sold out, purchasing sixty acres of land of his brother. This second tract he con- tinued to cultivate until 1887, when he again sold, and in March of that year came to Murray county, Minnesota. Here he bought 188 MEMORIAL RECORD OF two hundred acres of land on section 36, Slaj'ton township, nearly all of which was in its primitive condition, with not a furrow turned or an improvement made thereon. He plowed and planted the land and in course of time richly cultivated fields were yieldinj^ to him a golden harvest. He now has two hundred and forty acres of land, upon which he has planted a fine grove, and erected buildings, modern in appearance and substantial in structure. His methods of farming are progressive and up to the times in every particular, and he is recog- nized as one of the leading agriculturists of the community. Mr. Schellenberg was married in Ozau- kee county, Wisconsin, to Mrs. ^^ary ( Boehm ) Stazenberg, who was born in Austria, in 1S36. They have eight children, seven of whom are living, namely: Hugo, Otto, Ida, Frank, Amelia, William and Anna. Our subject is a member of the Lutheran church, gives his political support to the Republican party, and is a public-spirited, progressive citizen, deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the com- munity. HZRO A. ABBOTT figures as one of the representative farmers and stock men of Indian Lake town- ship. Nobles county, Minnesota, Round Lake his post-office address. His history covers si.xty-odd years replete with honest and earnest endeavor, crowned with a fair degree of success, and includes an fionorable war record. As such it is worthy of a place in this biographical work. Azro A. Abbott is a native of the Green Mountain state. He was born January 25, 1834, and in Vermont was reared and edu- cated, remaining there until 1868. Justin Abbott, his father, was a \'ermont farmer, was born in that state in 1807, and there passed nearly the whole of his life. In 1 S90 he came to Minnesota, and died shortly afterward, at the home of his son, our sub- ject. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah A. Gibbs, was born in 1818, and died at her home in \'ermont in 1872. They were the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter, the latter being now de- ceased. The Abbotts are of English origin. The great-great-grandparents of Azro A. came from England to this country at an early day and settled in Vermont. The mother of our subject was descended from the noted Israel Putman. In 1868 Mr. Abbott came west and lo- cated in Butler county, Iowa, where he car- ried on farming three years, and thence he came up into the neighboring state of Min- nesota and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Nobles county. This land is located on section 28, township 10 1, range 39, and here since the fall of 1870 he has lived and prospered. To-day his farm takes rank with the model ones of the town- ship, both in improvements and cultivation all being due to the intelligent and well directed efforts of Mr. Abbott. Mr. Abbott was married in Vermont, October 25, 1856, to Miss Ellen A. Greene, a native of that state, born in August, 1834, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of si.\ children, two sons and four daughters, of whom one of the former and three of the latter are living, viz.: Elsie A., born in Vermont, February 25, 1867; Laura L., in Iowa, February 4, 1870; Rob- ert W., November 7, 1871, he being the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 189 first white male child born in Nobles county, Minnesota; and Minnie S., April 4, 1873. Politically, Mr. Abbott casts his fran- chise and influence with the Democratic party. During his residence in Nobles coun- ty he has acceptably filled various local of- fices. He was the first treasurer of Indian Lake township, and he has also held the offices of justice of the peace and township supervisor. During the civil war he was one of the most valiant soldiers that donned the blue. He enlisted in August, 1862, in Company E, Fourth Vermont Infantry, for three years, and served until the close of the war. His regiment was a part of the Sixth Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac, and participated in many of the most prom- inent engagements of the east. After the battle of Gettysburg, in which he took part, he went to New York, where he helped to enforce the draft which was made in Au- gust of that year. In 1864 he crossed the Rapidan, in General Grant's command, and was in the Wilderness campaign. At the Wilderness his regiment went into camp with seven hundred and fifty men and came out with its number reduced to eighty-four! Subsequently Mr. Abbott was in the Shen- andoah Valley, at Fort Fisher and at Sail- or's Run. He continued in active duty un- til the war was over, when he was honor- ably discharged and returned home. His brother. Albert E. , still a resident of Ver- mont, was in the same company and regi- ment, was discharged in 1864 on account of disability, but re-enlisted the same year, in the same company, and remained with it until the war closed. Mr. Abbott is a mem- ber of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R., of Worthington and the A. O. U. W. Such is an epitome of the life history of one of the sterhng citizens of Nobles county. >^OHN BREWER.— Like many other M residents within the bounds of Rock ^ 1 county who started out in life with naught but an abundance of deter- mination and indefatigable industry and a strong and healthy constitution, and who have succeeded through their own diligence, energy and economy, we classify the gentle- man whose name stands at the head of this sketch. He is actively engaged in agricult- ural pursuits on his farm, which lies on sections 22 and 23, Springwater township. Mr. Brewer was born near Dover, Canada West, on the 31st of May, 1844, and is a son of Richard and Eliza Brewer, both of whom were born in Cornwall, England, in 1818. The father died in Wisconsin, at the age of seventy years, but the mother is still living, making her home with a daughter in Grant county, Wisconsin. They came to the United States in a sailing vessel by way of the lakes, in 1849, and in this country the father mostly engaged in farming, but in England had followed the occupation of a brewer. His wife's people were miners of Cornwall. The education of our subject was ob- tained in the district schools, and he re- mained at home until the 8th of October, 1863, when he enlisted in Company I, Sec- ond Wisconsin Cavalry, under Colonel Washburne, but the regiment was subse- quently commanded by Colonel Stevens. After the close of the war he received an honorable discharge at Austin, Te.xas, in November, 1865, and was mustered out at Camp Randall, Madison, Wisconsin, with an honorable war record. He participated in all the engagements and skirmishes in which his regiment took part, with the ex- ception of the time when he was off on a thirty days' furlough, and was ever found at 190 MEMORIAL RECORD OF his post of duty. For seven years he has now been a niciiiber of G. A. Uix Post, at Luverne, and subsequently belonged to Har- vey Post, No. 45, G. A. R. , of Darlington, Wisconsin, and was a charter member of John Buford Post, of Beaver Creek, Minne- sota. On returning home after the close of hostilities, Mr. Brewer rented land in Wis- consin near the old homestead, where he engaged in farming for some time. On the 20th of February, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Ida E. Rockwell, who was born in Grant countv, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Rockwell, the former a nati\'e of Ohio and the latter of New York. Her father died in Wisconsin, but her mother is still living. Ten children were born to our subject and his worthy wife, two of whom are now de- ceased. Those living are as follows: Jen- nie, who is now the wife of M. E. Chapin, and has two children; Lydia, Inez, Mary H., Arthur, Ida Myrtle, Edith and Jessie I. Mr. Brewer continued a resident of Wiscon- sin until 18S4, when he came to Rock county, Minnesota, and for four years rented land in Bear Creek township. Since that time he has made his home upon his present farm, having purchased one hun- dred and si.xty acres on section 23, Spring- water township, in 1883, and has later added forty acres more on section 22. At the time of his purchase it was all wild land, but he has now placed it under a high state of cultivation, and rents one hundred acres to his son-in-law. He has a pleasant dwelling sixteen by twenty-four feet, and the entire place denotes the thrift and en- terprising spirit of the owner. Politically, Mr. Brewer casts his ballot in support of the men and rneasures of the Republican party, is now serving his third term as justice of the peace, for two years was township treasurer, and has also held the office of school clerk. He is one of the best posted men of the county, and in official positions has served with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all con- cerned. The family hold a membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and are widely and favorably- known throughout the community. eDMUND HANSON, Little Rock township. Nobles county, belongs to that class of thrifty Norwegians who have sought homes in this American commonwealth and selected loca- tions in Minnesota. Abrief review of his life gives the following facts: Edmund Hanson was born in the east- ern portion of Norway, October 25, 1835, and was reared and educated in his native land, having been brought up to farming pursuits, in which he was engaged there un- til his emigration to this country' in the spring of 1869. Landing at Quebec, he made his way direct from there to Iowa county, Wisconsin, where he secured em- ployment as a farm laborer and where he was occupied as such until his coming to Nobles county, Minnesota, in the sunmier of 1873. In West Side township, this county, he took claim to a tract of govern- ment land and with his family settled upon it, he having been married in the old coun- try. But after a few months' residence on this place his wife sickened and died, his home was broken up, and he afterward lost his land. Later he took a tree claim on sec- tion 6, Little Rock township, where he afterward settled and where he has since re- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 101 sided, dcvotitif;; his attention to the improve- ment and cultivation of his land, among other improvements being the substantial and convenient buildings he has erected. He has since acquired otiier lands and is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres in Little Rock and Wilmont town- ships. Mr. Hanson's first marriage was in Nor- way, to Miss Lena Anderson, a native of that country. She accompanied him to America and, as above stated, died shortly ! after their settlement in Minnesota. The children of this union are two, Andrew and Caroline, the latter now being the wife of Andrew Lund. For his second companion Mr. Hanson wedded, in Minnesota, Miss Maria Anderson, also a Norwegian, and they have one daughter, Lena P. Mr. Hanson is a member of the Lu- theran church. aYRUS KLINGENSMITH, a pros- perous farmer and one of the pioneer settlers of Worthington township. Nobles county, was born in Leechburg, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- vania, April 25, 183 1, his parents being Henry and Fannie (Hickman) Ivlingensmith. His father was born on a farm in the Ivey- stone state in 1 801 and the mother was born in Pennsylvania in 18 10 and is still re- siding on the old homestead there in her ninety-sixth year. Mr. Klingensmith died on that farm in 1890. He was a son of John Klingensmith, also a native of that state, while his ancestors came from Hol- land. Our subject was reared in the usual manner of farmer lads, working in the fields through the summer months and attending school in the winter. He also pursued his studies in a select school and in his parents' home resided until his twenty-first year, when he began farming on his own account. In the winter of 1854 he removed from Pennsylvania to Stillwater, Minnesota, and went into the pine woods on the St. Croi.v river in the logging districts. For four years he was in the employ of one lum- ber company, after which he went to Red Wing, Minnesota, and took up a claim, where he raised wheat and carried on gen- eral farming until 1862. In August of that year Mr. Klingensmith joined the "boys in blue" of Company D, Tenth Minnesota Infantry, under Colonel Baker, and with his regiment was sent to the frontier to fight Indians and guard the settlers from Indian outrages. In the fall of 1863 the order came to proceed to St. Louis, thence to Island No. 10, where they were at the time of the surrender of the rebel forces there. Proceeding to Mem- phis, Tennessee, they took part in the pur- suit of Price and for a time were stationed at Helena, Arkansas, and then at Benton Barracks, St. Louis. At the battle of Nash- ville they were under command of General Thomas and later took a part in the battle of Mobile. Mr. Klingensmith remained with his regiment as one of its faithful and val- iant members until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in July, 1865. Returning to Red Wing our subject fol- lowed farming until the spring of 1872, when he came to Nobles county and took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Worthington township on section 10. With characteristic energy he began its development and has since transformed it into a valuable property. He removed from 192 MEMORIAL RECORD OF there to his present home, where he owns a quarter section of valuable land highly cul- tivated and well improved with the modern accessories and conveniences which indicate the owner to be a progressive man. His buildings are substantial and commodious, his fields well-tilled, and in addition to the raising of small grains he makes a specialty of the breeding of Poland-China hogs. In 1867 Mr. Klingensmith married Miss May J., the eldest daughter of Daniel and Lydia (Snow) Alley. She was born in Jef- ferson county, New York, and with her par- ents removed to Wisconsin. They have one son, Archer J., who married Miss Lou Kasdorf. Mrs. Klingensmith's father was a native of Canada and her mother of Ver- mont. In 1852 they went to the Badger state. They were acceptable members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were highly esteemed by all who knew them. Mr. Klingensmith is a member of the Lutheran church, and in politics is a pronounced Re- publican. His time is given to his business interests and thus is he meeting with good success in his undertakings, while among the substantial and leading farmers of this county he is numbered. aHARLES WILKINSON figures as one of the representative farmers of southwestern Minnesota. He looks back to the Buckeye state as the place of his birth, where he spent his early life and where his ancestors resided for many years, their identity with that state tracing back to the early part of this century. It was in Muskingum county, July 10, 1S36, that he was born, son of James and Maria (Thomas) Wilkinson, who had located there in 1 8 19. Grandfather Wilkinson was an Englishman. He brought with him to this country eight thousand dollars in gold, which he invested in large tracts of land, and gave to each of his chil- dren a farm. His sons were all farmers, men of sterling character, and were ranked with the leading citizens of their communi- ties. James Wilkinson was born in 1804 and died at about the age of seventy years, and his wife was seventy-five at the time of her death. The subject of our sketch, Charles Wilkinson, was reared on his father's farm, early becoming inured to all kinds of farm work, and dividing his time between assist- ing his father in the fields and attending the district schools. About a year after his marriage, which event transpired October II, i860, he removed west to EfBngham county, Illinois, but after a residence of six- teen months in that state he returned to his old home in Ohio. The war was then in progress, more men were needed to don the blue and swell the Union ranks, and in the spring of 1865 he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Infantry, under Captain Van Horn and Colonel Ban- ning, and was on duty for ten months, at the expiration of which time he was honor- ably discharged at Alexandria, Virginia, and mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Wilkinson continued his residence in Ohio until the spring of 1872, when he again came west, this time to Nobles county, Minnesota, where he selected a homestead claim of one hundred and si.xty acres, in Elk township, and where he has since maintained his home. At the time of his arrival here he had but little means, all of which he spent in getting settled on his land. The house he built that first year served him and his family for a home until SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 193 1892, when he erected his present residence. All the trees and shrubbery surrounding it are of his own planting. In the years that have intervened since his settlement here he has suffered many losses and hardships, has toiled early and late, but has nt^ver given way to discouragement; and as a reward of his earnest and persistent efforts he is now in comfortable circumstances, owning one of the finest and best improved farms in his locality. On the date mentioned Mr. Wilkinson married Miss Susie J. Lane, a native of the same county in which he was born and a pupil of the same district school in which he learned the "Three R's." She was a daughter of Richard and Grace (Sunder- land) Lane, the former a native of Zanes- ville, Ohio, and the latter of England. Mr. Lane lived out the usual threescore and ten, and died in Macomb, Illinois, at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Lane was only forty when she died, her death occurring in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1847. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Wilkinson were John D. and Elizabeth (Pritchard) Lane, the former dying in middle life and the latter living to the advanced age of ninety years. Grandfather Lane was a veteran of the war of 18 1 2. After the death of her mother Mrs. Wilkinson went to live with grand- mother Lane, by whom she was reared and with whom she remained until marriage. The Lanes, like the Wilkinsons, were a family of fanners, and people of high re- spectability. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have had si.x children, namely: Grace, Ernest J., Anna D., L. May, Florence I. and Charles Z. Two of the daughters, Grace and Anna D., are married, and pre\'ious to their marriage they were engaged in teach- ing school, being among the popular young teachers of the county. All their children e.xcept the two youngest were born in Ohio. Charles Z. died at the age of fifteen years and two months. He was a bright and promising boy, and his early death brought the first real grief and sorrow into the Wil- kinson home, — a sorrow that was shared by the entire community, for his sweet disposi- tion, sunny smile and manly ways made him a general favorite with all. Mr. Wilkinson has always shown a coni- mendable interest in all local affairs, and has done his part to advance the welfare of the community in which he lives, serving officially in various township offices. For a number of years he was chairman of the board of township trustees. Ever since he cast his first vote for Lincoln he has been steadfast in his support of the Republican party. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist and Congregational churches. >VOHN HANSBERGER is one of the m leading farmers and well-known A J stock men of Lorain township, Nobles county, Minnesota, he having set- tled on a homestead claim here nearly a quarter of a century ago. Mr. Hansberger is a Fennsylvanian by birth. He was born in Berks county, De- cember 18, 1838, and his parents, Joel Hansberger and wife, were natives of that same county, the former born in 1808 and the latter in 1812. When John was a boy his parents left their old home in Pennsyl- vania and sought a location in Ohio, stop- ping first in Pickaway county, subsequently going to Fairfield county' and finally to San- dusky county. Our subject accompanied his parents on their several moves and re- 194 MEMORIAL RECORD OF niained in Ohio until 1872, when he came out to Minnesota and took a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 20, township 102, range 39, and settled down to the work of developing a farm. That he has succeeded in this un- dertaking is evidenced by the fine appear- ance his farm presents. Among its valu- able improvements are a commodious and attractive residence, large barns and a fine grove of several acres. And all these years he has been interested in general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of short- horn and Holstein cattle and Berkshire and Poland-China hogs. Mr. Hansberger has been married nearly thirty years. In November, 1S67, he wed- ded Miss Hannah Catherine Myers, in Fair- field county, Ohio, and to them were born six children, five of whom are yet living, namely: William L., who was married in icS94 to Miss Carrie Payne and has one son; Lizzie H., who in February, 1894, became the wife of Edward Wilson and has one child, a son; Ella C, Clyde and James A., —the three younger children at home. Mrs. Hansberger through her father is of German descent. Both her parents, however, were born in I^ucks county, Pennsylvania, her father in 1804 and her mother in 1808, and the latter was reared a Quaker. Both died in Fairfield county, Ohio, he in March, 1S90, and she in 1868. The Hansberger family was well repre- sented in the Union army during the civil war, the father and two sons, John and Joel, being in the ranks. The father en- listed in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and died in Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, while in the service. The sons served side by .side throughout nearly the whole of the wax. They enlisted Sep- tember 7, 1 86 1, in Company K, Seventeenth Ohio \'olunteer Infantry; were discharged December 25, 1863, at the expiration of their term, and immediately re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, in which they served until the war was over, their final discharge being dated at Louisville, Iventucky, July 16, 1865. Among the en- gagements in which they took part, we note the following: Mills Springs, Corinth, Stone River, Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Savannah, Goldsboro, and Raleigh. Mr. Hansberger is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. His brother is still living, a resident of Fairfield county, Ohio, and is engaged in the milling business. Both gentlemen vote the Republican ticket. % EORGE T. BULICK.— The gen- tleman to a review of whose life the biograplicr takes pleasure in reverting at this point, stands out conspicuously as one of the wealthy and in- fluential farmers of southern Minnesota. His historj' is that of a self-made man and a veteran of the civil war, and as such he is worthy of specific consideration in this volume. George T. Bulick is a native of the Key- stone state. He was born in Center countj', Pennsylvania, September 2, 1S48, son of Joseph and Maria (Pugh) Bulick, and traces his origin back to England and Wales, his great-great-grandfather Bulick having been born in Scotland, and the Pughs having come to this country from England. Joseph Bulick was a nati\'e of New Jersey, was by occupation a lilacksmith, and died in Penn- sylvania at the age of seventy-five years. His wife, iicc Maria Pugh, who was a native SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 195 of England, wedded when she was twenty- two, and she lived to the advanced age of eighty years. She bore him nine children, of whom three died in infancy and three in later life, and three are still living. Grand- mother Pugh died in Wales, and subse- quently grandfather Timothy Pugh moved to this country with his family and located in Pennsylvania, where he lived for a num- ber of years, and died at a venerable age. He was a man of deep piety and was an enthusiastic Methodist. Returning to the life of our immediate subject, George T. Bulick, we find that in boyhood he had only limited advantages for obtaining an education. At the age of fif- teen years he left home to make his own way in the world, and the following year, September 29, 1864, he tendered his serv- ices, and his life if need be, to protect the old flag. He went out as a member of Company L, Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania Reg- iment, was subsequently transferred to Company A, One Hundred and Ninety-ninth Regiment, and was honorably discharged at Philadelphia, January 28, 1865. He was with his command in all the engagements in which it participated up to the battle of Petersburg, where he was wounded, and it was after this that he was transferred to Company A. His whole service was char- acterized by true bravery. He never shrank from duty nor flinched when in the face of fire, and at the close of the war, yet a boy in his 'teens, he returned to his home a vet- eran and a victor. Mr. Bulick's first employment after his return from the army was in a sawmill. A year later he began peddling vegetables and poultry, which he found a profitable busi- ness and in which he was engaged for six years at his home in Pennsyhania. In the spring of 1873 he came out to Minnesota and settled on section 22 of Summit Lake township, Nobles county, taking a home- stead claim to one hundred and sixty acres at this point and making a "dugout" which served him for shelter. That same sum- mer he went to Rochester, this state, and worked for his uncle, and in the winter he did a prosperous business as a feather ren- ovator, having purchased machinery for the purpose. At the opening of the following sprin*j he bought teams and returned to his claim and went to work in earnest to de- velop a farm, and the next spring he built a house, only twelve by sixteen feet in dimen- sions, but better by far than the dugout. This shortly afterward gave way to a larger and more comfortable house, and in 18S5 he built his present commodious and attract- ive residence on his tree claim. As winter has succeeded summer and as year after year has come and gone, Mr. Bulick has made numerous improvements upon his original holdings and has also acquired other lands, — now being the owner of no less than nine hundred acres, seven hundred and fifty of which are under cultivation, — and is regarded as one of the model and most extensive farmers in his locality. He carries on both general farming and stock- raising, making a specialty of the latter. Although he had but meager advantages for schooling in his youth, Mr. Bulick has through his home reading and close obser- vation acquired a large store of useful knowl- edge, and keeps himself well posted and fully up with the times. Politically, he is an ardent supporter of the Republican party, and has been ever since he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant. Mr. Bulick has served officially in nearly all the offices of the township, has served as a 196 MEMORIAL RECORD OF member of grand and petit juries, and has by his honorable and upright life given dig- nity to whatever position he has been called upon to fill. At this writing he is a member of the school board. Mr. Bulick is the re- cipient of a pension for services rendered in the late war, and like most old soldiers of that war, is a member of the G. A. R. , his membership being in Stoddard Post, No. 34, at Worthington. He was married August 2, 1S73, to Miss Mary E. Kinch, a native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John and Eliza (Leathers) Ivinch, natives of Pennsylvania, where they passed their lives and died, his death occurring at the age of seventy-eight years and hers at sixty-seven. In the Kinch family were seven children, three of whom arc living at this writing. Mr. and Mrs. Bulick have had ten children, of whom si.\ are living, namely: Anna E., Emma J., Ida M., Frank G., EfTie M. and William J. Miss Anna E. is one of the popular and successful young teachers of this county. QORMAN H. STARR.— Occupying a representative position among the substantial farmers and ster- ling citizens of Lyon count}-, Min- nesota, with his post-office address at Tracy, we find the gentleman to a brief review of whose life we here direct attention, — Nor- man H. Starr. Mr. Starr is a native of the old Bay state. He was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, April 28, 1S34, and is a son of Ebenezer and Cyntha L. (Liscomb) Starr, both natives of Vermont. His par- ents lived for many years in Franklin coun- ty, Massachusetts, and died there, each at a ripe old age, he being seventy at the time of death and she eighty-two. In their fam- I ily were seven children, four of whom are yet living. Their son Norman H. was reared on a farm, and remained at home until he was nineteen, when he started out to make his own way in the world. .\t West Meridian, Connecticut, he secured a position in a hardware establishment, where he remained five years, in that time becoming thoroughly familiar with every detail of the business. The west at that time, — as it always has, — offered superior inducements to ambitious and enterprising young men, and in 185S we find him seeking his fortune in the new state of Minnesota. His first location here was in White Water Falls, Winona county, where he was employed as head clerk by a hardware firm, and where he was occupied as such for several years. During the year 1864 he had charge of a branch house in Decorah, Iowa. In 1878 he purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and since 1881 has maintained his residence upon it and devoted his energies to its cultivation and improvement, raising a diversity of crops and giving some atten- tion also to the stock business. Mr. Starr was married at White Water Falls, Minnesota, in 1S61, to Miss Martha L. Welch, daughter of Henry H. and Lucy L. Welch, natives of Vermont. Their happy union has been blessed in the birth of four children, one of whom, a tvvin, died at the age of ten months. One son, Fred P., is in a railroad office in Tracy; another, Sam- uel H. , is running on the Northwestern road; and Herbert L. is at home and his father's assistant in the farming operations. The family attend worship at the Presbyterian SOUTH WES TERN MINNESOTA. 19? church, of which Mrs. Starr is a consistent member. Of Mr. Starr's political views we would say that in them he is somewhat independ- ent. His franchise is always cast for the man he believes best fitted for the office. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont. While a resident of White Water Falls, Mr. Starr was elected treas- urer of the town, recei\'ing all the votes cast with one exception, and served a term of four years, rendering the best of satisfac- tion to all concerned. He, however, has never cared for official position, and has never sought honors in this line, but has quietly attended to his own business affairs and let others seek and fill the places he might have had. In every respect he is a self-made man. He earned every dollar with which he purchased his farm, and it is due to his honest toil and good management that it has been developed into the fine property it is to-day, ranking with the best in this localit\'. >pj*AMES SMITH is one of the leading a agriculturists of Murray county and /• 1 possesses the sturdy, reliable charac- teristics of the Scotch race, together with an energy and enterprise that has brought him success in his business career. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland^ January 3, 1835. His father, James Smith, Sr., emigrated with his familj' to the United States when our subject was a child of only four years, and took up his abode in the western part of Massachusetts. He was a weaver by trade and removed to various places in order to secure employment. He died in Waverly, Iowa, in the latter part of the '50s. His wife, Mrs. Margaret Smith, was born in the Highlands of Scotland, and died in Marshall county, Illinois, in 18S5. Mr. Smith, of this review, has spent the greater part of his life as an agriculturist, but in his early years followed \arious occupa- tions. He was reared principally in New York, and when about twenty-one years of age removed to Cleveland, Ohio, after which he was engaged for sometime in sail- ing on the lakes during the summer season. Subsequently he removed to Chicago, where he followed teaming until 1865, when he went to Marshall county, Illinois, and rented a farm. He made it his home until 1886, when he came to Murray county and pur- chased three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 3, Slajton township. The buildings which he has erected are modern in style and substantial in structure, and stand as monuments to his thrift and enter- prise. The place is now highly improved, and the well tilled fields yield to him a good return for his care and labor. He votes with the Republican party, but has never sought or desired public office, preferring to give his attention exclusively to his business interests, in which he has met with signal success. Mr. Smith was married in Chicago, Illi- nois, on the 23d of January, 1853, to Miss Nellie De Rider, who was born in Holland, February 17, 1837, and was a child of nine years when she came to America with her parents, Peater and Keatherine (Defust) De Rider. Her parents were natives of Holland, and on coming to this country located first in Buffalo, New York, but spent their last days in Rochester, New York, where the mother died in 1874, the father in 1889, — both members of the Presbyterian church, as are also their children. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of seven children, but 198 MEMORIAL RECORD OE William died in Murray county, February II, 1890, at the age of thirty years and seven days. Those still living are Angus J., a farmer of Custer county, Nebraska; Charles F. , who resides in Texas; Frank H.. who is living in Montana; Mary J., wife of George W. Bishop; and Leroy and Ccdit, farmers of Murra}' county, Minnesota. EON. E. D. FRENCH.— In study- ing the lives and characterof promi- nent men, we are naturally led to in- quire into the secret of their success and the motives that prompted their action. Success is a question of genius, as held by many, but is it not rather a matter of expe- rience and sound judgment.' For when we trace the career of those who stand high in pubhc esteem, we find in nearly everj' case that they are those who have risen gradually, fighting their way in the face of all opposi- tion. Self-reliance, conscientiousness, en- ergy, honesty, — these are the traits of char- acter that insure the highest emoluments and greatest success. To these may we at- tribute the success that has crowned the ef- forts of Mr. French and given him a place of prominence among his fellow citizens. Born on the 17th of February, 1843, in the Empire state, he is a son of E. D. and Sylvia C. (Markham) French, natives of Maine and New York, respectively. The paternal grandfather, Ozias French, was born in Massachusetts, of Welsh ancestrj', while the maternal grandfather, David Markham, was of Scotch descent. The father of our subject, who was a farmer by occupation, was born in 1801, and is still living, at the advanced age of ninety-five years, making his home with a daughter, Mrs. John Wood, in Redwood county, Min- nesota. The mother's death occurred in 1885, at the age of seventy-five years. Our subject was principally reared in Cattaraugus county, New York, where he began his education in the district schools, and was later a student in the Ellicott\'ille Academy. Prompted by a feeling of patriot- ism, in 1 86 1, he enlisted in Company I, Sixth New York Cavalry, Colonel Thomas E. Deven commanding the regiment, and with the Army of the Potomac participated in many engagements, including the battles of Chancellorsville, South Mountain, An- tietam, the Wilderness, and others of less importance. He faithfully served until honorably discharged, at Alexandria, \'ir- ginia, in June, 1864, after which he returned to his home in New York. The same year Mr. French came to Min- nesota, locating in Sibley count}', where he purchased five hundred acres of wild land, and there engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1S76. Going to Story county, Iowa, he carried on agricultural pursuits there for several years, and in 1881 removed to Monona, Iowa, where he en- gaged in the real-estate and abstract busi- ness until 1 88 5, at which time he came to Redwood Falls. Here he also engaged in the real-estate business, associating himself with George Houghmaster, and they con- tinued business together^ until the partner- ship was dissolved in 1894. Mr. French was married on the 6th of May, 1864, the lady of his choice being \ Miss Susanna A. Kelly, a daughter of George W. Kelly, of Great Valle}', Cat- taraugus county. New York, and they now have two children: Blanche S. , wife of E. A. Lyman, of Redwood Falls; and George H. , at the same place. On the Republican ticket, Mr. French SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. \m was elected judge of the probate court in 1877, which responsible position he accepts ably filled for six years, and in the fall of 1894 was elected state senator to represent the ninth senatorial district of Minnesota, comprising the counties of Redwood and Brown. At this time he was also the Re- publican candidate. He served on several important committees, including those on manufactures and judiciary, being chairman of the latter, and his course in the senate gave the ntniost satisfaction to his constit- uents and the district which he represented. Fraternally, he is a prominent Mason, hav- ing taken the Ivnight Templar degrees, is a member of John S. Marsh Post, No. 88, G. A. R. , and the Rnights of Pythias. Personally he is a man of affairs, reliable to an eminent degree, enjoying to the fullest extent the confidence and esteem of all, and we take pleasure in preisenting this sketch of his life to our readers, knowing that it will be received with interest. (D ARTIN L. KLEIN, junior mem- ber of the firm of I\lein & Corn- pan}-, manufacturers of and deal- ers in furniture in St. Peter, Minnesota, is a representative of one of the old families of this city. He was born in his father's home here on the 28th of Feb- ruary, 1868, a son of William and Eliza- beth (Schwarts) Klein. The father was a native of Germany, born in 1830. He re- mained in that land until twenty-two years of age, when he determined to seek a home and fortune in America and crossed the At- lantic in 1852. He spent four years in the east, engaged in the manufacture of furni- ture in New York, and in 1856 remov- ed to Minnesota, where he embarked in business for himself along the same line. Here he built up an extensive trade. He began operations on a small scale, but steadily increased his facilities to meet the growing demand and annualh' turned out a large amount of work. Employment was furnished from sixteen to twenty hands and the factory became one of the leading industrial concerns in this section of the state. In addition to the factor}- Mr. Klein established and conducted a large re- tail furniture store and thus placed his goods on the market, besides shipping to many foreign points. He also owned and operated a sawmill in Cleveland, Lesueur county, and was an important factor in the development and promotion of the indus- trial and commercial interests of southwest- ern Minnesota. In 1887 he erected a large brick business block, forty-five by one hun- dred feet and two stories in height. The entire building he utilized in his business. He also carried on an undertaking business and in the various departments of his trade he received a liberal patronage which at- tested his thorough reliability. He died in St. Peter April 9, 1888, and the community thereby lost one of its most valued citizens. Mrs. Klein still survives her husband. She is a native of Pennsylvania and in that state was reared, educated and married. She now occupies the old home in St. Peter and owns a large interest in the business of the firm of Klein & Company. By her mar- riage she became the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters, four of whom are yet living, namely: Henry W. ; Martin; William; and Anna, wife of Joseph Enges- ser, a wealthy brewer of St. Peter. Martin L. Klein has spent his entire life in St. Peter, began his education in the 200 MEMORIAL RECORD OF common schools and afterward pursued a four-years course in the high school, being thus thoroughly equipped for the practical duties of life. On leaving the school-room he engaged with his father in business and worked in the various departments of the factory and store, mastering every detail of the business and thus becoming thoroughly prepared for the management of the busi- ness which he assumed two years after his father's death. He has entire charge of the business. He is most systematical and methodical in his work, energetic and enter- prising, and is possessed of the true western spirit of progress. He conducts all trans- actions with the strictest regard for the ethics of commercial life, and his thorough reliability and known integrity have won for the house a high and well deserved rep- utation, which ensures it a liberal patron- age. His parents were among the first mem- bers of the Catholic church of St. Peter, and the family has long been one of prom- inence in southwestern Minnesota. (D .\TTHEW RYAN.— This well- known pioneer of North Star township. Brown county, Minne- sota, landed here forty years ago and has been an eye witness to the changes and developments which have been wrought here during these years. As one of the sterling citizens of southern Minnesota, it is eminently fitting that his name appear in the work now under consideration, and some of the salient points in his life historj' are herewith presented. Matthew Ryan is a native of the Emer- ald Isle. He was born in county We.xford, Ireland, March 21, 1830, the son of indus- trious and respected parents, Martin and Catharine (Brennan) Ryan, whose lives were passed on a farm in that county, where each died at an advanced age, he being eighty and she seventy-five at the time of death. They were the parents of five sons, one of whom remained in their native land, and of those who came to America we re- cord that John died in Lee county, Illinois; Thomas is a resident of the same county; William resides in St. Louis, Missouri; and Matthew is the subject of this article. Matthew Ryan, the eldest of the chil- dren, was reared on his father's farm in Ire- land, was brought up to habits of honesty and industry, and at the age of nineteen bade adieu to home and friends and child- hood scenes and set sail for America, the land of which he had heard so much and in which he was eager to try his fortune. After a successful voyage he landed at New York harbor, whence he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he remained till 1856, and that year came west to Minnesota. This trip west he made in company with a pioneer surveying party, under Colonel Nobles, the object of which was to survey a road across the continent to the Pacific coast. The enterprise, however, was aban- doned on account of the lack of government appropriation. At Shetek Lake the party of which our subject was a member had some trouble with the Sioux Indians, anil went no further west. Not long after this Mr. Ryan decided upon locating in Minne- sota and took claim to a tract of land on section 36, in Home township, Brown coun- ty, which he improved to some extent and subsequently sold to Mr. Henry Mej'er, now of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. In 1862 he went to New Ulm with a part}' for refuge from the Sioux Indians, was there eight days and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 201 resisted the attack of the red men, and from that place he went to Mankato and later to St. Paul. Finall}' he returned to Brown county and in 1876 located on land he has since owned and occupied. This farm, comprising two hundred acres, is on section 8 of North Star township, and as the result of his well-directed efforts here it is nicely improved and under an excellent state of culti\ation. He has a modern cottage home, located on a natural building site; large barn, forty by fift}' feet in dimensions; granary, eighteen bv twenty-four feet; a five-acre grove that can be seen for miles in all direc- tions; and a fine orchard. In short, the whole farm is in the best of order and gives e\'idence that intelligence has directed the labor here expended. Mr. Ryan was married in 1859, at Man- kato, Minnesota, to Miss Mary Schmitz, a native of Luxemburg, Germany, and a daughter of Joseph Schmitz, one of the early settlers of Brown county, Minnesota, his. home near New Ulm. Their union has been blessed in the birth of a large family of chil- dren, of whom we make record as follows: Lizzie McMasters, Gettysburg, South Da- kota; Katy, wife of Lewis Matter, of North Star, Minnesota; Ellen, wife of A. Karch, of Springfield, Minnesota; Mary, wife of C. J. Flaig, Marshall, Minnesota; Annie, wife of August Matter, North Star; Maggie, wife of Ed Egan, North Star; Emma, a Sister in St. Joseph Hospital at St. Paul; Lena, wife of George Flogg, Redwood count}', Minne- sota; John, who married a Miss Flogg and lives in this township; and Joseph, who married a Miss Donaho, also lives in this township. Mr. Ryan's recent and saddest loss was in the death of his wife, July 13, 1S96, after thirty-seven years of happy wed- ded life. She was a most estimable woman 13 and had the esteem and love of all who knew her. In his political affiliations Mr. Ryan is a Democrat. "^rj^OHN P. PETERSON, the efficient ■ and popular treasurer of Nobles A 1 coinit}', who makes his home at Worthington, is a native of Iowa, born near Lansing, in Allamakee countj', on the 25th of August, 1859, and is the son of John and Johanna Peterson, whose births occurred in Sweden, where they attained maturity and were married. Emigrating to the United States in 1840, they stopped a short time in western Illinois, and then re- moved to Allamakee county, Iowa, where the father followed the trade of a carpenter and cabinet-maker and also farming, be- coming one of the most prosperous citizens of the county. He died on the old home- stead near Lansing, in 1864. His wife is still li.ving, at the age of seventy-five years, and finds a pleasant home with her family. Mr. Peterson, whose name introduces this review, is next to the youngest in a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom are still living. He was principally reared upon a farm, se- curing his primary education in the district schools, and in 1872 came to Worthington, where he attended the graded schools two temis. He then began his business career as clerk in a general store for L. E. Kim- ball, a dealer in dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, and later was employed in the grocery of C. J. Humiston. For two years he was then engaged in teaching school in the country, after which he went to Wis- consin, spending a year in the pineries, in the logging districts. Returning to Nobles 202 MEMORIAL RECORD OF count}', he engaged in farming for a couple of years, and then went to MinneapoHs, where hs was employed in the real-estate office of L. Franklin & Company for the same length of time. On coming again to Nobles county he was employed as general manager in the store of H. E. Torrance, at Ellsworth, which position he held for two years, and then started in the general grain business on his own account at that place and later at Worthington. He has still an interest in a mercantile companj-, together with other valuable property in the city, including a pleasant residence in a good neighborhood. In 1889 Mr. Peterson married Miss Alma Turner, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, a daughter of J. K. Turner, and they now ha\e one son, Rolland. In the fall of 1894 Mr. Peterson was elected treasurer of Nobles county, on the Republican ticket, for a term of two years, taking charge of the office on the ist of Jan- uary, 1895, and is now most capably serving in that responsible position, giving general satisfaction. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternit}-, has rare social quali- ties, delights in good fellowship and lacks none of those personal traits of character which are indicative of the warmhearted and hiijhminded gentleman. Wt-w'ILLIAM G. GRESHAM, one of ■ ■ I the prominent and representative ^J^J citizens of St. Peter, is num- bered among the honored early settlers of Nicollet county. No state in the Union can boast of a more heroic band of pioneers than Minnesota. In their intel- ligence, capability and genius the}' were far above the pioneers of the eastern states and in their daring and heroism they were equal to the Missouri and California argonauts. Their privations, hardships and earnest la- bors have resulted in establishing one of the foremost commonwealths of America. Since 1S55 Mr. Gresham has been prominently identified witli the interests of Nicollet county, during which time he has most creditabl}' filled several important official positions. He was born near Lanesville, Harrison county, Indiana, July 31, 1835, and comes of a family of note, one of his brothers being General Walter Q. Gresham, secre- tary of state under President Cleveland. His father, Colonel William Gresham, was a native of Kentuck}', and an early settler of Harrison county, Indiana, where he mar- ried Miss Sarah Davis, who was also born in Kentucky, but when quite j'oung was taken to Indiana by her father, John Davis. Our subject is the youngest of five children, three sons and two daughters. The boyhood and youth of William G. Gresham were passed in his native county, and in its public schools began his education. Later he was a student in the Corydon Academy, and completed his literary training at New Albany, Indiana, after which he engaged in teaching for a time. In 1855 he emigrated to Nicollet county, Minnesota, taking up a claim at Swan Lake, and to ag- ricultural pursuits devoted his time and attention until the breaking out of the civil war. He still owns a well improved farm, which he rents. The dark cloud of war, which had for some time lowered over our beloved coun- try, broke upon our people, and patriotic men from all the walks of life thronged to the front in reponse to the call of the gen- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. WA eral government to defend our national life. Fired by the spirit of patriotism, Mr. Gresham, in 1862, enlisted in Company I, Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Slauj^hter and Colonel Crooks, and for the first year was on the frontier defend- ing the settlers from the red men. He was commissioned second lieutenant, and after serving as such for a year was promoted as first lieutenant. In the second year of his service he was sent south to Helena, Ar- kansas, and later to New Orleans under General Canby. He participated in many important engagements, faithful!}' serving until honorably discharged in 1865. Soon after his return to Nicollet count}', Mr. Gresham was elected judge of probate, which position he acceptably filled for four- teen years. He was then elected county superintendent of schools, and so faithfully did he execute the duties of that office that he was four times re-elected, re- signing at the end of his fifth term. Sub- sequently he was appointed postmaster of St. Peter, holding that ofihce for seven years, to the satisfaction of all concerned. His political support is ever given the Re- publican party, and socially he affiliates with A. K. Skaro Post, No. 37, G. A. R., of St. Peter. He is one of the most re- spected and valued citizens of the commu- nity where he has so long made his home, possessing the confidence and esteem of all who know him. In i860 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gresham and Miss Mary E. Hoffman, of Nicollet county, a daughter of John K. Hoffman, and to them were born six chil- dren, three sons and three daughters, name- ly: Frances E., wife of Albert Olson; Eugene E., agent for the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad at St. Peter; Maud, at home; William H., deputy post- master at St. Peter; Grace, at home; and St. Clair. *w ^ ON. JAMES GILFILLAN, de- ■'^^ ceased, occupied the eminent posi- M. . r tion of chief justice of the state of Minnesota, and his name is insep- arably connected with the history of juris- prudence. There is no profession that has a greater effect upon the welfare and public life of a community than that of the law, and the man who occupies a position on the bench stands for that justice and liberty which are the inherent rights of every indi- vidual. These principles were well repre- sented by the late chief justice of Minne- sota, whose abilities ranked him with the prominent representatives of the legal pro- fession throughout the country. The high standing of James GilfiUan at the bar was recognized by all. He was particularly fit- ted by the gifts of nature for his chosen calling, and he strengthened his abilities by the keenest exercise in legal encounters, by close application and by unfailing industr}-. His mind was comprehensive in its scope and keenly analytical, enabling him to grasp a situation in its entirety and at the same time not to lose sight of any of the details which might have a bearing on the case. He seemed to know almost intuitively what weight each fact would have on a case. The rulings of a chief justice in the early development of a state had bearing on its future jurisdiction that only time can meas- ure, and the decisions of Mr. GilfiUan were such models of judicial soundness and of fairness that the precedents which he estab- lished will long endure. His legal attain- ments and superior qualities as a judge 204 MEMORIAL RECORD OF were only equaled by his faithfulness to every trust confided to his care. His home life was particularly exemplary, ami he had the happy faculty of drawing his friends nearer and nearer to his heart as the years r(.)lled by. 'OL. GEORGE P. ICELLEY, com- mander of the Sons of \'eterans, District of Minnesota, and belong- ing to Camp No. 15. Tracy, Min- nesota, is one of the prominent young men of the southern part of this state. He comes of a family that has been represented in nearly all the wars of this coimtry, and himself has the distinction of being one of the \'ery youngest soldiers that fought in the Union ranks during the late war. His his- tory is replete with interest and is as fol- lows: George P. Kelley was ushered into life at Meadville, Erie count}', Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 19, 1850, and is a son of James and Sally A. (Gibson) Ivelley, both natives of the same county. James Kelley is now living retired in ^farquette county, Wiscon- sin, and is seventy-five j-ears of age. Until recently he continued work at his trade, that of blacksmith. He is a veteran of the civil war. I-^e enlisted in December, 1863, as a member of the Eighth Wisconsin Bat- tery, and was on duty until the close of the war, when he was honoral)ly discharged. His wife died in ^farquette county, Wis- consin, at the age of si.xty-eight years. She was a most estimable woman, a devoted wife and loving mother. Of her eight children, only three are now living. I^ooking back still further to the ances- try of om' subject, we find that the Kelleys originated in Ireland and emigrated to America shortly before the opening of the Revolutionary war, and that the Gibsons, his mother's people, were of Scotch ex- traction and came to this countrj" from Scotland about the time the I\elle\'S landed here. Grandfather William J. Kellej' was a mail-carrier in the Revolutionary war, serving under General \\'ashington, and lived to be over ninety-nine j'ears old. Grandfather Gibson was also a mail-carrier in the same war; and in this connection we further state that our subject had an uncle, a Doctor Gilison, who served in the late war. George P. Kelley was reared in the vil- lage of Fordham, \\''isconsin, where the family settled about 1855. \\'hen the great war cloud gathered and burst upon the country he was but a child. He had, how- ever, the patriotism of his forefathers, and boy as he was he was impatient to go out and fight for the preserx'ation of the Union. Twice he offered to enlist and twice his youth and his parents' objections kept him from being accepted; but October 17, 1864, at the age of fourteen, when he a third time tendered his service, he was enrolled as a member of Company D, Nineteenth Wis- consin Infantry, and was with his command until the war was over. He was with his regiment at the capture of Richmond, it being the first regiment to enter the cit}'. He was honorably discharged at Fredericks- burg, Virginia, J^uly 8, 1865. Among the engagements in which he participated was the battle of Fair Oaks, he being one of the sixteen out of tu-o hundred and forty who came out of that battle alive, but he came with a wound in his leg, from the effects of which he was confined in the hospital three weeks. A braver, truer soldier bov than SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. L'05 Geor^'^e P. Kelley never marched beneath the stars and stripes. The war over, young Kelley returned to his Wisconsin home, and from that time until 1 8/8 was variously employed along the river. In 1878 he came over into Minne- sota and took claim to a tract of land in Holly township, Murray county, the same upon which he has since lived and pros- pered. His first home here was a shanty, twelve by fourteen feet, in which he and his family lived until he was able to build a more comfortable and convenient house. Later he added to his original tract by the purchase of forty acres adjoining it, and from year to year he has made improve- ments until he has now one of the most de- sirable farms in his locality; and here he divides his time between general farming and stock-raising. In 1895 he aided in the organization of the creamery which is lo- cated half a mile from his home, was one of its first officers and is now a director in the company. Mr. Kelley was married December 18, 1876, to Miss Mary Cross, a native of Utica county. New York, and a daughter of Ches- ter and Mary Cross, both now deceased, her mother having died at McGregor, Iowa, and her father at Fayette, that state. In fraternal circles Mr. Kelley has long been prominent and active. He is identi- fied with the G. A. R., S. of V., and I. O. O. F., being now vice grand of the lodge. His G. A. R. membership is in Joe Hooker Post at Tracy, in which he has served offi- cially, and in the Sons of Veterans of that place, as stated at the beginning of this sketch, he is presiding officer. For four years he was captain of the company to which he belongs and recently he was elected colonel of the division, an honor fit- tingly bestowed. During the past four years he has organized eight new camps in southwestern Minnesota, has given his time freely to the work of the order, and has rendered most efficient service. Mr. Kel- ley's identity with the I. O. O. F. covers a period of twenty-two years. Politicallj', he is a Republican. He has filled various of- fices of local prominence and trust. He ran for county sheriff in 1894, and not long since was asked to allow his name to be used as a candidate for the state legislature. EON. FRANCIS BAASEN, a lead- ing and prominent attorney of New Ulm, is one of the pioneers in his profession now practicing at the bar of Brown county. He was born in Lu.xemburg, Germany, October i, 1829, and is a son of John F. Baasen, who was also a lawyer, practicing in that city until 185 1, when with the remainder of his fam- ily he crossed the Atlantic to America. From Nevt' York they went direct to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, where the father re- mained until his death in 1874. The mother, who bore the name of Mary Gretsch, departed this life in Milwaukee, in 1878. Our subject is the eldest of eight chil- dren still living. He was educated in the schools of Freiburg, Switzerland, and was nineteen years of age when he came to the United States, in 1849, in company with his brother. He took up the study of law under Messrs. Silkman & Gunnison, of Mil- waukee, and after his admission to the bar came to New Ulm in 1856, being the first lawyer to settle at that place. He made a claim near the village, and at once opened a law office, but as may be expected his clientage was rather limited the first few 206 MEMORIAL RECORD OF j'ears, as the country at that time was but sparsely settled. In August, 1 86 1, Mr. Baasen laid aside personal interest and enlisted in the First Minnesota Regiment, remaining in the serv- ice until honorably discharged in May, 1864. He participated in many of the im- portant engagements of the war, including those at Ball's Bluff, Berryville, the siege of Yorktown, West Point, Fair Oaks, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Newtown Farm, Malvern Hill, the second fight at Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, the first and second battles of Fredericksburg and Haymarket. He had commanded the New Ulm volunteers when they went out against the Inkpadutah Indians in 1857, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and was afterward made regimental quarter- master. When the war was over he re- turned home and resumed the practice of law. In 1857 Mr. Baasen was a member of the territorial legislature and served as a delegate to the state constitutional conven- tion of the same year, and of the state legis- lature in 1S73. He had the honor of being the first secretary of state of Minnesota, and has held the office of county attorney in Brown county. From 1871 until 1876 he made his home in Nicollet county, Minne- sota, during which time he served as county commissioner and was chairman of the board. In all the various and responsible positions he has been called upon to fill he has ever discharged his duties with prompt- ness and fidelity, winning the commenda- tion of all concerned. In i86g, Mr. Baasen wedded Miss Mary Martcll, of Minnesota, and to them have been born the following children: Louis, Frank H., Richard V., John B. and Ger- trude. The family is one of prominence in the community, where its members are so well and favorably known, and they belong to Trinity Catholic church, whfle socially Mr. Baasen is connected with Heckcr Post, No. 48, G. A. R. He ranks high among his professional brethren. (D ICHAEL MULLEN, president of the Citizens' Bank, is one of the most energetic and enterprising men of New Ulm. He is a na- tive of Vermont, born at St. Albans, March 12, 1839, and was taken to Freeport, Illi- nois, in 1843, by his parents, Peter and Catherine (Falton) Mullen, who were na- tives of the Emerald Isle, but as children were brought to America, where they were educated. After their marriage they located in the Green Mountain state, where the fa- ther engaged in general farming. The early life of our subject was mainly passed at Freeport, Illinois, where he at- tended the common schools, and being of a studious disposition acquired an excellent education. He remained in that \icinity until he had attained his twenty-fourth year. In 1865 he embarked in business on his own account as a hardware dealer at St. Peter, Nicollet county, Minnesota, being associated with A. G. Miller and Joseph Mason, under the firm style of A. G. Miller & Company, which connection lasted five years. During that time the firm established a branch store at New Ulm, of which Mr. Mullen became sole owner on the expiration of the five years. He successfully conducted the same until 1884, when he sold out to Hon. Jacob Klossner, who still continues the business. On retiring from the hardware trade, Mr. Mullen assisted in the organization of the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 207 Citizens' National Bani<, which opened its doors for business in February, (875. In 1884 it was changed to a private bank and is now known as the Citizens' Bank. He was elected its first president and has since con- tinuously filled that responsible position. The other officers are as follows: J. H. Vajen, vice-president ; W. F. Seiter, cashier; and W. E. Koch, assistant cashier; and its stockholders are many of the most substan- tial business men of New Ulni. Previous to the organization of the bank, Mr. Mullen had served as president of the Brown Coun- ty Bank at New Ulm, but he sold his inter- est in that institution on becoming connected with the Citizens' Bank, to which he now devotes most of his time and attention. Mr. Mullen also owns a fine farm of five hundred and forty-two acres of well im- proved land in Brown county, situated near Sleepy Eye, about twelve miles southwest of New Ulm. Although the place is oper- ated by hired help it is under his own per- sonal supervision and is highly cultivated and improved with good buildings. He is extensively engaged in stock-raising, having a fine grade of Poland-China hogs upon his place, and annually fattens and ships from two to three hundred. He is also con- nected with the Citizens' State Bank of Canby, Minnesota. In 1869 Mr. Mullen was united in mar- riage with Miss Eleanor O'Brian, of Gouver- neur. New York, and they now have one daughter, Eleanor B., who is attending school. The family are consistent members of the Catholic church and hold a high posi- tion in social circles. Politically, Mr. Mul- len is a pronounced Democrat, and was a presidential delegate to the national conven- tion held in Chicago, in 1892, which nomi- nated Grover Cleveland. He has made good use of his opportunities throughout life, steadily working his way upward to a position of wealth and affluence, and to-day is numbered among the most substantial and highly respected citizens of Brown county. He is an able financier and a busi- ness man of more than ordinary ability. >^OHN BENTZIN is the owner and ^ manager of the Cottonwood Roller (% J Mill, of New Ulm, Minnesota, which was erected in 1S79 on the banks of the Cottonwood river, by our subject and his partner. Mr. Frank, whose interest he purchased after running it in partnership for fifteen years. At first it was operated by water power, being supplied with the Leffel turbine wheel, but in 1882 a com- plete roller process was put in and modern machinery throughout. The capacity is now one hundred barrels per day, and the flour manufactured is of two grades, known as Our Best and Edelweiss. The buhrs were retained in the mill for the grinding of feed. Water power was used until 1889, when, on account of the dry season, a steam engine of forty-five-horse power was put in and a boiler of fifty-horse power, thus in a low stage of water obviating the possibility of delay. The mill is a strong frame structure, built of heavy timbers, and is two and a half stories in height. Mr. Bentzin is a practical miller of forty years' experi- ence and does a large local business in the way of exchange with the farmers of Brown county. His two sons are now with him in the mill, and, like their father, display excellent business judgment. Mr. Bentzin was born in the province of Mecklenburg, Germany, on the 13th of April, 1839, and is a son of Christian and 208 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Mary Bentzin, who spent their entire lives in that countrj', \\here the father followed the occupation of farming. Upon the home farm our subject passed the days of his boy- hood, and from six until fourteen years of age attended school. He was then ap- prenticed to the millers in Chemnitz, where he faithfully served for three years. For the same length of time he was also a sol- dier in the German army, and on receiving his discharge crossed the Atlantic to Amer- ica in 1870, landing at New York city. Thence he came direct to New Ulm, Minne- sota, and secured employment with the Eagle Milling Company, then composed of Werner Boesch, Jacob Pfenninger and John Meyer. With that firm he remained for five years, after which he was employed in the New Ulm mills, and on leaving that position he established his present business. He has accumulated a good property, and besides his mill owns a comfortable and commodious dwelling in New Ulm. Before leaving the land of his nativity, Mr. Bentzin was married, in 1S70, to Miss Mary Walter, of Germany, and with his bride sailed to the New World. They now have two sons: William F. C, who is head miller in his father's mill; and Charley, who is also with his father. The family is one of prominence in the community, widely and favorably known, and hold membership in the Evangelical church of New Ulm. \\MES J. GREEN, one of the lead- ing journalists of Minnesota, is now editor and proprietor of the New Ulm News. He is a native of Penn- sylvania, born in Lancaster county, January 29, 1830, but when only six years old ac- companied the family to Springfield, Ohio. where he later served an apprenticeship to the printer's trade and was for a time part owner and editor of a newspaper. He was married in 1853, the lady of his choice being Miss Minerva Whittridge. Removing to Kankakee, Illinois, in April, 1856, he became joint editor and owner of the Kankakee Democrat, but in August of the same year came to Minnesota, spending the fall and winter in St. Anthony. After the bill had been passed for the removal of the territorial capital from St. Paul to St. Peter, in the spring of 1857 he removed to the supposed new seat of government, and in August of that year issued the first num- ber of the Traverse des Sioux Reporter, which after a brief existence of six weeks was swept into oblivion by the sudden finan- cial crash. In June, 1858, Mr. Green, nothing daunted, launched upon the sea of journal- ism again in St. Peter, with the Minnesota Statesman, which he continued to publish weekly at St. Peter until the close of 18G2. On the 17th of November that year he en- listed in Company E, Firsl Minnesota Cav- alry, under Colonel McPhaill, and was com- missioned quartermaster sergeant, in which capacity he faithfully served for thirteen months. He resumed editorial charge of his paper on his return home and continued its publication until April, 1865, when he removed his office from St. Peter to Le- sueur, where it was later destroyed by fire. Mr. Green next went to Winona, in August, 1866, where he bought a half in- terest in the Winona Weekly Democrat, but in May, 1869, became editor of the St. Cloud Times, and continued the same until the latter part of September, 1870. Going to Minneapolis, he assumed editorial charge of the St. Anthony F"alls Democrat, and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 209 held that position until the 1st of Januar)', 1S73. In the following April he started the Lesueur Sentinel, which he made one of the most successful and influential weeklies in the state, continuing its publication until late in 1891. He removed to Hutchison, Minnesota, in the following year, and started the Hutchison Democrat, which he published until 1895. It was in the latter year that he came to New Ulm and bought out the New Ulm News, which had been established by H. L. Henry, in 1S92. It is a six-column, eight-page paper, bright and newsy, and outspoken in the defense of Democratic principles. It has a large cir- culation throughout the city and surround- ing country and under its present manage- ment has steadily advanced in all respects. Mr. Green is a wide-awake, active business man, a writer of more than ordinary ability, and is an influential and public-spirited citizen. Since 1856, our subject has been prom- inently identified with the interests of Min- nesota, not alone as editor of leading news- papers, but has held several responsible public positions. In October, 1S57, he was elected clerk of the district court of Nicollet county, for a term of four years, and in 1 8 59 was appointed postmaster of St. Peter, which office he filled until the new administration of President Lincoln came into power. He was chosen one of the Democratic delegates to the national con- vention held in New York city, in 1868, and was twice elected a member of the board of education of St. Anthony and East Minne- apolis. He was a member of the joint com- mittee which united the two cities of Min- neapolis and St. Anthony, and later served as mayor of Lesueur. He has ever taken an active part in state and national poli- tics, and in 1883 was the Democratic nominee for secretary of state, and the fol- lowing year was nominated for presidential elector. H ROEDEK was born in Nassau, in Germany, November 12, 1830, and in 1S54 came to the New World, on a sailing vessel, which was four weeks in reaching the harbor of New York, landing at that city on the 27th of August. He brought with him his aged and dependent parents. For several years Mr. A. Roeder made his home in West Sandy Lake, Rensselaer county, New York, where his father died, at the age of eighty- two years. In 1867 Mr. A. Roeder removed to the state of Iowa, where he settled upon a farm at Cedar Falls and where his mother's death occurred, at the age of eighty years. There were nine children in the family to which Mr. A. Roeder belonged, five of whom are still living. The paternal grand- father of our subject, Gerhard Roeder, was a miller in Germany. In his native country A. Roeder followed the trade of dyeing, but in this country he has mainly followed the occupation of farm- ing. On the 31st of March, 1857, he was united in marriage with Miss Katharine E. D. Koerner, who was born in Hanover, Germany, February 28, 1831, the daughter of Henry and Katharine Koerner, also na- tives of that country, where her mother died, after which her father brought the family to America, also settling in the state of New York, where his death occurred. Four children were born to Mr. Roeder and his wife. The two sons died at an early age, the one being three years and the other 210 MEMORIAL RECORD OF three months of age. The two daughters, yet Hving, are Lydia E., who married Mr. William Berkholtz, a miller by profession, and has one son and two daughters; and Carrie E., wife of John Williams, a com- mercial traveler, they having one son. Mr. A. Roeder has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died May 9, 1895. She was a conscientious, earnest Christian and a faithful member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, to which the rest of the family belong. During the time her husband was in the army she not only supported the family with her own hand labor on their small farm in New York, but actually laid up some money, and ever proved an economic, true and faithful help. She was kind and generous and always ready to give and help others wherever there was need, being esteemed and beloved by all who had the pleasure of her ac- quaintance. While the late civil war was in progress Mr. Roeder loyally took up arms to fight for his adopted country, becoming a mem- ber of Company A, One Hundred and Si.xty- ninth New York Infantry, in 1862. He was in the service for two years and nine months, being honorably discharged at Albany, New York, after hostilities had ceased. He was wounded at Petersburg, and when Fort Fisher was blown up he was thought to be dead, as when taken from the ruins he was unconscious and can re- member nothing after the explosion oc- curred. With his company, which was under the connnand of James A. Calvin, he participated in manj' skirmishes and battles, and was ever found at his post of duty, valiantly defending the stars and stripes which now so proudly float over the united nation. For injuries sustained he now re- 1 ceives a pension. Being a conscientious Christian and a faithful member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, he severed his I connection with the "Grand Army of the I Republic." Soon after his enlistment he I was promoted to the rank of corporal, be- [ cause of his knowledge of military tactics, acquired in his native country. After his marriage he remained on his little farm in New York, his parents with him; but while in the army he met with western soldiers who gave such glowing descriptions of their section of the country that he concluded to make his home there, — that is, here in the west. Accordingly, after returning home from the army, as soon as convenient he sold his little home in the state of New York, and emigrated to the ' state of Iowa, investing in forty acres of Iowa soil near Cedar Falls and residing there for seven years. In 1873 he once more took to wandering and in the spring of this year moved to Rock county, Minnesota. Here he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 18, Luverne town- ship, and to this he has since added two tracts of eighty acres each. At length becoming feeble with advan- cing age and hardships, he concluded to withdraw from farm life and spend his da3'sin quietude and ease, working at his pleasure. Accordingly he secured a tract of five acres in the village of Luverne, Minnesota, where- on, in the summer of the year of 1892, he erected a handsome residence and moved there the same summer; and here he lives, spending a great portion of his time with his children, who are living in Rock Rapids, Iowa. In his political principles he is a Repub- lican; and in his religious relations he is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 211 eRNST BRANDT, editor and pro- prietor of Der Fortschritt, has since April, 1892, conducted this paper with remarkable success and ability. It was established in 1891 and the following year was purchased by our sub- ject, who has placed it on a substantial footing and greatly increased its circulation. It is a six-column, ten-page paper, neatly printed in the German language, and issued weekly. It is ably edited by Mr. Brandt and published in the interest of the People's party. A wide-awake, newsy sheet, it has a good circulation in New Ulm and the surrounding country. Mr. Brandt is a native of Germany, born in Roga bei Friedland, Mecklenburg-Stre- litz, October i, 1838, and in 1852 came to America with his parents, Carl Christian and Wilhelmine (Plathj Brandt. In the old country the father had engaged in teach- ing school, and also devoted a number of years to farming. From New York city the family went to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained until 1856, which year wit- nessed their arrival in New Ulm, Brown county, Minnesota. Here the father built the first gristmill in the county, which is still standing and bears the date 1856. It was a small affair, run by a windmill, and is now owned by a farmer who uses it for grinding feed. Mr. Brandt continued to operate the same for a period of thirty years. He took a prominent part in public affairs and was called upon to fill several positions of honor and trust, serving as a member of the school board and as county commissioner. He was born April 27, 1808, and died in Brown county on the ist of January, 1S92, while his wife was born No- vember I, 1812, and died March 24, 1880. Four children were born as members of their famil}': C. C, a resident of San Diego, California; Ernst, of this review; Fred, who died in Brown county; and one ■ who died in infancy. In the schools of his native land Ernst Brandt acquired a good practical education, and after the family's location in Cleveland, Ohio, he began to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Waechter am Erie, where he remained until 1856, when he ac- companied his parents to Brown county, Minnesota. For ten years he assisted his father in the labors of the farm during the busy seasons, while his winters were spent in the newspaper offices of New Ulm, and subsequently for twelve years he gave his entire time and attention to to the printer's trade. Later he purchased the New Ulm Review, which he conducted for five years, but in 1880 was elected judge of probate, and held that office until 1892. He then bought Der Fortschritt, and pos- sessing an energetic spirit, good executive abilit}', and excellent judgment, he has suc- ceeded in making the paper one of the most popular published in Brown county. On the 1 6th of September, i860, Mr. Brandt was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Wendlandt, of Jefferson county, Mis- souri, daughter of William Wendlandt, and they now have four children: Ernst R., August F. and Robert W. , who are all em- ployed in their father's office; and Minnie, the wife of H. O. Schleuder, of Springfield, Brown county. As a Populist, Mr. Brandt takes a lively interest in local political affairs, and is now serving as justice of the peace at New Ulm. He has also been a member of the school board and for one term served as county commissioner. While living on the farm he helped to organize the town of Sigel, and is 211' MEMORIAL RECORD OF also one of the organizers and prominent lucnibers of the New Ulni Sportsmen's Club and a charter member of the Turnverein, and also a member of Charity Lodge, No. 98, A. F. cS: A. M. HUGUST QUENSE, manufacturer of and dealer in all kinds of har- ness, both light and heavy, also in robes, nets, whips, and in short everything found in a first-class store of the kind, is one of the prominent and success- ful business men of New Ulm and a pioneer in the harness trade in that city. He is an alien b}' birth, born in the village of Lam- sprenge, kingdom of Hanover, Germany, April 22, 1827, and is a son of Frederick and .Anna Quense, who spent their entire lives in the old country, where the father worked at the carpenter's trade. Our subject was educated principally in the schools of his native village, which he attended until fourteen years of age, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the harness-maker's trade. The regular term was three years, but as he was short of stature and small for his age, he was re- quired to remain another year, making four in all. For a short time he then traveled as a journeyman through Germany, working at his trade at different places. In 1848, at Bremen, he boarded a sailing vessel bound for the port of New Orleans, but while in the English channel it was wrecked upon the rocks, and Mr. (.Juense was rescued by a French schooner, which landed him at Ramsgate, where he embarked on board another vessel for the New World. It was two months, however, before he reached New Orleans, and he then came up the Mis- sissippi to St. Louis, where his brother Frederick was then living. There he re- mained from 1849 until 1S57, working at his trade. It was in the latter year that Mr. (Juense came to New Ulm, Minnesota, and for five years was employed at any occupation by which he could earn an honest dollar. He then opened a harness shop in a small frame building three blocks west of his present stand, and success at once crowned his ef- forts, the first season working quite a force of hands. In 1872 he erected his brick store, twenty-two by sixty feet and two stories in height, using the lower floor for his business and living above. He is a practical harnessmaker and has conducted his business with remarkable success. He is a man of the strictest integrity and indus- try, held in high esteem by his neighbors and patrons, and through his own unaided efforts has accumulated a good property, being at one time a stockholder in the old New Ulm Bank. On coming to Brown county he i:)re-empted one hundred and si.\ty acres of land, which he later sold at good advantage. At St. Louis, Mr. Ouense was married, in September, 1849, to Miss ^ilar}' PruU, a native of Germany, who died in 1868, leav- ing three children: Frederick, whose death occurred in 1883; Charley Ristau, now a resident of North Dakota; and Augusta, wife of Thorwald Mork, who is clerking in a wholesale house in Argyle, Minnesota. In December, 1868, Mr. Quense was again mar- ried, his second union being with Mrs. Anna Kolb. In 1862 our subject enlisted in Compan\- M, Mounted Rangers, and served through the Indian war, and in February, 1865, en- listed in Company M, First Minnesota Hea\'y Artillery, and was mustered out in October, the same year. He takes a deep so UTH M'ES TERN MINN E SO TA . 2ia and commendable interest in educational affairs and for four years served as a mem- ber of the school board. Fraternally he is connected with New Ulm Lod<:;e, No. 53, I. O, O. F. ^^>^ FORGE SCHMIDT, president of %(j\ ''"" '^'^'^ *-'''" ^'^o"'-''" ^'ill Com- \,^J' pan\-, of New Ulm, was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, on the 29th of September, 1840, and is a son of George Schmidt, also a miller by trade, who died in his native land in 1S76. There the subject of this sketch passed the days of his boyhood and youth, receiving such an education as the common schools afforded, and on laying aside his text-books began learning the milling business, at which he served a two-years apprenticeship. For a time he then worked as a journeyman in German)-. In I S70 Mr. Schmidt took passage on a vessel bound for the United States, and after landing in New York came direct to New Ulm, Minnesota, where for ten years he was employed by the Eagle Milling Company. In connection with William Koch, H. Pahl, and Charles Schmidt, his brother, he then built the Empire Mills, which were opened for business in 1880, and the company was known as the Empire Roller Mill Company. On its incorporation it assumed the name of the New Ulm Roller Mill Company, and Mr. Schmidt was elected president; Charles Roos, secretary; and William Koch, treasurer. The capacity of the mill is seven hundred barrels per da}', and the product turned out is of the highest grade. Our subject is a practical miller and thorough business man, and to him is due much of the success of the enterprise. He is also a stockholder in the Citizens' Rank of New Ulm and in the New Ulm Electric Light Compan}-. Mr. Schmidt was married in 1872 to Miss Sarah Voss, a native of Germany, who died in 1890, leaving three children, nnuiely: E. Dora, Marie and George. In 1891 he was again married, his second union being with Miss Augusta Fescher, of Chicago, Illinois, in which city she was born and reared to womanhood, a daughter of Charles and Christina fBerkhardt) Fescher. One child honors this union, — Alma. The fam- ily reside in an elegant brick house on Ger- man street, which is rich and tastefully fur- nished and surrounded b}- beautiful grounds, and here they delight to entertain their many friends. In social relations Mr. Schmidt is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Turn \'erein. ■ Although he is closely identified with several important business enterprises, his time and attention have not been wholly given to them. He has rare social quali- ties, delights in good fellowship and lacks none of those personal traits of character which are indicative of the warm-hearted and hii'h-minded gentleman. EORGE B. EBILSIOR. -Near the city of New Albany, Harrison county, Indiana, Juh" 15, 1840, the subject of this sketch was ush- ered into life. He has been identified with the locality in which he now lives, — Leaven- worth township. Brown county, Minnesota, — for a period of thirty-three years; his life history includes a war record, and both as a pioneer settler of Minnesota and as a vet- eran of the late civil war he is entitled to 214 MEMORIAL RECORD OF honorable mention in this biographical work. Briefly, a resume of his life is as follows: In the writing of any biography an im- portant part to be considered is the ancestry of the subject, and turning nosv to that item we find that Mr. Ebilsior comes from good old Virginia ancestry, the agnatic line tra- cing back to Germany. His father, William Ebilsior, was born in the Old Dominion, and grandfather Elbilsior was of German birth, the date of his arrival in this country being before the Revolutionar}' war, in which he was a participant. His iirst set- tlement here was in Pennsylvania. Later he moved to Virginia, where he reared his family and where his son William was mar- ried to Miss Rachel Johnson, also a native of Virginia and a representative of one of the prominent early families of that state. Her father was George Johnson. From Virginia the parents of our subject moved west, first locating in Indiana, later in Illi- nois and still later in Kansas. In the last named state they passed their closing years and died, the father's death occurring when he liad attained the age of seventy-si.\, and the mother's when she had reached the age of si.xty-seven. Both were members of the Methodist church and led devoted Christian lives. Politically he was a Democrat. They were the parents of eight children, of whom onlj- one, George B., whose name heads this article, is now living. George B. Ebilsior was reared to farm life in Indiana and Illinois and early had in- \ stilled into him lessons of honesty, industry and frugality, and with these principles for the foundation of his career he started out to make his own way in the world. In .Au- gust, 1863, he came with a team and wagon to Brown county, Minnesota, and took a homestead claim of one hundred and si.xty acres on section 25, Leavenworth township, where he has since continued to reside. Here he at first built a small house and lived in a somewhat primitive way, giving much of his time to hunting and trajiping along the lakes and streams, in which he was very successful. One night his traps netted him a hundred dollars! Now he de- votes his attention to general farming and stock-raising. He has a good residence and barn and other farm buildings, and ever}'- thing kept up in first-class order. His grove of ten acres has a large variet}- of trees and is regarded as one of the finest groves in the county. In January, 1S64, not long after he set- tled here, Mr. Ebilsior enlisted for service in the Union army and went to the front as a member of the Second Minnesota Infantry. He was with General Sherman in that mem- orable campaign from Atlanta to the sea, thence north to Raleigh, Richmond, and on to Washington, where he was a participant in the grand review of the victorious Union army; and from Washington he returned to his home in Minnesota. Mr. Ebilsior was married at the age of twenty-seven to Miss Mary Jane Etta, a na- tive of Tennessee and a daughter of Martin Etta, of Madelia, Watonwan county, Min- nesota. They had four children, namely: Mary, wife of J. Ingram, of this township; John, who married Annie Petersen; and Frank and William, at home. In his political views Mr. Ebilsior har- monizes with the Populists and is in favor of free silver, si.xteen to one. Formerly he affiliated with the Republican party. Re- ligiouslj', his creed is that of the Methodist church, in which he was reared. He is an earnest temperance worker and a member of the Good Templars, the hall owned and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 215 used by this order being located near his home. A good school also is near by and his children have had the benefit of educa- tional advantages. Mr. Ebilsior has always taken a deep interest in good schools, good morals, and advancement in every way that tended to the welfare of his community, and is regarded as one of its best citizens, enjoying the confidence and respect of all who know him. EENRY ROMBERG, one of the prosperous young farmers of Brown county, is now occupying the old family homestead where his father located in pioneer days. He was born on that farm in May, i86S, a son of Henry and Dora (Knoke) Romberg, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in 1S37, and in 1856 crossed the At- lantic to the new world. He spent a short time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and after- ward removed to Waupaca county, that state, where he carried on farming. In 1866 he came to Brown county and entered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres on sections 33 and 34, Home township, where he erected a frame residence, which in 1883 was replaced by the brick residence that now stands on the farm. He also built a good barn and outbuildings and by his well managed business interests and earnest labor became one of the most prosperous citizens of the neighborhood. In 1867 he married Dora Knoke, of Waupaca county, Wisconsin, who was born in Germany in 1841. They became the parents of five children, four of whom are now living, — Henry, of this sketch; Frank; Emma, wife of Fred Tesmer; and Louis C., of Sleepy Eye. The father of this family died on the old homestead in 1892, but the mother is still living and now makes her home with her son, Louis, on a farm just outside the corporation limits of Sleepy Eye. Henry Romberg, whose name introduces this review, was reared to manhood under the parental roof and early became familiar with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He acquired his education in the district schools of the neighborhood and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm. After his father's death he re- mained on the old homestead and is now successfully engaged in the operation of his land. The well tilled fields and neat and thrifty appearance of the place attest his progressiveness^and careful supervision, and he is regarded as one of the most intelligent and enterprising farmers of the township. In September, 1895, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Romberg and Miss Amelia Jimge, of Morrisonville, Dane county, Wis- consin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. Junge, who were born in German}-. The}- have one son, Henry Christian. ON. JUSTIN P. MOULTON, de- ceased. — The narne which graces this article is one which is indis- solubly associated with the material growth and development and political his- tory of southern Minnesota, and is well worthy of an honored place in this biograph- ical record; and to the review of such a life the biographer reverts with no little satis- faction. Justin P. Moulton is a native of the Empire state of the Union. He was born in Gilbertsville, Otsego county. New York, July 4, 1828, son of Samuel and Sidna (Hendricks) Moulton, natives of Massa- i>10 MEMORIAL RECORD OE chusetts and descended from representative New England families. In the district schools and at Gilbertsville Academy he received his education. He was attending the academy and was twelve years old when, in 1840, he was bereft of a father's love and protection. At the earl}' age of fourteen he started out in life for himself, choosing the trade of tanner and the boot and shoe busi- ness and serving a four-years apprenticeship to the same in Homer, Cortland count}'. New York. Then for several years he was foreman of the lirm and fmajl}- became a partner in the business, continuing there thus occupied until 1855. That year he sold out and came west to Winona count}', Minnesota, where he was ijne of the pro- jectors of the town of Saratoga. He assisted in laying out this town, erected one of its first dwellings, kept hotel for several years, and also carried on a mercantile busi- ness. He continued his residence there until 1 86 1, when he removed to the \'illage of Marion, Olmsted county, where he con- ducted a general store one year and the ne.xt two years rented and managed a hotel. In 1864 he purchased and moved upon a farm, located four miles south of the town of Rochester, where he lived one year, at the end of that time removing into the town in order to afford his children good educa- tional facilities. He was there employed as head salesman and bookkeeper in a large wholesale boot and shoe house. In the fall of 1874 he was appointed receiver of the United States land office at Worthington, to which place he moved his family in January of the following year. That im- portant position he filled acceptabh' until July, 1 88 1, when he resigned on account of ill health. In the meantime he purchased several farms and had several hundred acres of land under cultivation, and upon resign- ing his public office he moved to one of his farms. Shortly afterward, however, he returned to the city and assisted in the organization of the Minnesota Land and Investment Company, of which he was made vice-president. This company had an authorized capital of $1,000,000, and $100,000 stock paid in. Its other officers were George D. Dayton, president; George O. Moore, secretary, and George W. Wil- son, counsel, — all men of high standing and marked business ability. Later Mr. Moul- ton again retired to one of his farms, two miles from town, where he superintended large agricultural interests and at the same time dealt largely in real estate. Politically he was a firm supporter of the principles advocated by the Republican par- ty, and b}' his party and fellow citizens he was honored with numerous positions of responsibility and trust. He was, in the fall of 1 86 1, elected count}' commissioner of Olmsted county, and in the fall of the fol- lowing year was sent to the Minnesota state legislature, where he served efficiently two terms. In 1863 he received the appoint- ment of deputy provost marshal and deputy United States marshal. Besides these posi- tions, he filled numerous minor ones, such as justice of the peace and member of the school board and city council. Fraternally, he was a member of the Masonic order at Rochester, and religiously he was identified with the Congregational church. Turning now to the domestic page of his life, we find that he was married in Preble, Cortland county, New York, April 30, 1851, to Miss Mary B. Clark, a native of Spencer, Tioga county, that state, born August 2, 1828, daughter of Gardner K. and Lucy (Bement) Clark. Mr. Clark was a minister /-y^. z^x^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 217 in the Congregational church and was one of the early settlers of Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Moulton became the parents of two children, Justin PVank and Flora, the latter being now the wife of Hon. C. J. Small- wood, mayor of Worthington and one of its prominent merchants. The son, Justin, was accidentally killed in Rochester, April 13, 1867. He was boating on the lake with two other boys, went forward in the boat in order to push aside the branches of some willow trees, and while in the act of so doing his gun was accidentally discharged and he was instantly killed. Mrs. Moulton died in the winter of 1890, and Mr. Moulton followed her to the spirit world in the fall of 1893, his death having occurred in Los Angeles, California, whither he had gone in the hope of regaining his lost health. Side by side their remains rest in Oakwood ceme- tery at Rochester, Minnesota. Mr. Moulton was eminently a self-made man. He started out in life with nothing save his own pluck and strong hand, and right bravely did he work his way on and up in life. In all public matters he was a leader; he gave earnest and intelligent sup- port to all enterprises calculated to benefit his community, and his counsel and advice were often sought and always valued. A man of high moral and religious character, of the strictest business integrity, his life was unmarred by an unworthy act and his name is revered wherever it is known. eMIL GRAF.— It now becomes the pleasing task of the biographer to touch briefly upon the life history of one who occupies a prominent position as identified with the agricultural interests of Wilmont township, Nobles coun- 14 ty, Minnesota, and one who enjoys a most marked popularity by reason of his many excellent traits of character. He is an American only by adoption, but he was one of the valiant boys who went forth in this nation's defense at the time of thelate civil war, and a more patriotic citizen cannot bo found nowhere. Mr. Graf was born in Switzerland, at Stein-on-the-Rhine, March 22, 1839, one of the two children composing the family of John J. and Margaret (Strasser) Graf, both natives of that place. In April, 1849, the Graf family left their old home in Germany and set sail from Ha\re, France, for the New World. They accomplished the voy- age from that port to New Orleans in thirty- four days, were eight daj's in making their way up the Mississippi rLver to St. Louis, and in May of the followingyear they came on up into Minnesota, Stillwater being their objective point, where the father purchased a tract of government land and where they lived until 1859. That year they sold out and removed to Marine Mills, this state, where he purchased property and engaged in the brewing business, the occupation to which he had been reared in Germany, and which he followed here till 1870. His next and last move was to Franconia, where he opened a sawmill. There he died in 1875, at the age of sixty-six years, and his good wife, after having survived him a number of years and entered the octogenarian ranks, died at that same place. The paternal grandparents of our subject were John J. and Barbara (Wegelin) Graf. They lived and died in Germany, and it was with them that Emil spent most of his early boyhood days. Emil Graf was reared on a farm and in a brewery and when quite young became iil8 MEMORIAL RECORD OF faiiiiliar with the details of both occupa- tions. At the time civil war was inaugu- rated in this country we find him a young man of twenty-two years, still a member of his father's household, and ambitious to go out in protection of the old tiag which waved over the country of his adoption. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company B, Captain C. A. Brumley, in the First Minnesota Kagiment, with which he went to the front and shared the fortunes of war until he was honorably di.scharged at Philadelphia in [S64. He was married in Philadelphia, May 8, 1864, to Miss Frederica Zeh, a native of Wiirtemberg, Germany, born January 10, 1843, daughter of Frederick and Barbara Zeh, also natives of Wurtemberg. Her parents emigrated to this country with their family in 1852, sailing from Havre to New York and reaching the latter port after an ocean voyage of thirty-five days. From New York they went to Philadelphia, where the father worked at his trade, that of mason, for a short time. Then he mysteriously disappeared, and they have had no trace of him from that day to this. About 1S84 the mother and other members of the family came to Mr. Graf's and she died here at the age of seventy-si.\ years. She had five children, three of whom are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Graf have been blessed in the birth of eight children. Their daughter Cora was at the age of fourteen years killed in a cyclone, a sudden and horrible death which bereaved the family beyond words to express. Their living children are as fol- lows: Caroline C, who is the wife of William M. Stevens, has four children living and two deceased; Emma M., wife of John B. Disch, has two sons; and Adolph C, Emil F., Eda C, and John C, all at home. All hn\-e good educational advantages and are bright ami promising young people. After his marriage ^Ir. Graf settled down at Marine Mills, where he was en- gaged in the brewing business with his father until 1869, when thej- sold out. That jear he turned his attention to mer- chandising, opened a general store there and conducted the same for ten ^-ears, sell- ing out in 1879. Immediately after coming to his present location in Wilmont township, he took up here a homestead claim, to which he added by purchase from time to time until his farm, now comprises seven hundred and twent3'-se\en acres; and besides this tract he owns three hundred and twenty acres of wild land in Murray county. His home farm is one of the best improved and most delightful and desirable rural places in Nobles count}-, and at the time of their erection his buildings were the best in south- ern Minnesota. When he came to this farm Mr. Graf's family numbered nine, and the house which at first served them for shelter was only 12x14 feet in dimensions; but by October that same year their present commodious residence ^'as ready for occu- pancy and they inoved into it. The main part of this residence is 46x26 feet. It was built at a cost of fully two thousand dol- j lars; and it has a general air of comfort and elegance which is most inviting. Mr. Graf's barn also is ample in its proportions. It will accommodate nearly a hundred head of stock. During the whole of his residence here Mr. Graf has been thoroughly identified with the best interests of his township and county and has served both in official ca- pacity. For three years he was county commissioner, serving at the same time with Hon. Daniel Shell, and has been town- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 21U ship clerk for several years, ha\ing been re- elected to this, office at the last election. His first presidential vote was cast for Lin- coln, and from that time to this he has been lirm in his support of the Republican party and the principles it advocates. He and his wife are attendants at the Lutheran church. BOMANUS HARTMANN.— Nearly two decades ago this gentleman landed in what is now Wilmont township, Nobles county, Minne- sota, there being only three settlers here in advance of him, and two jears later he as- sisted in the organization of the township. Here he has since lived and prospered, con- tributing his quota to the development of the countr}', and as one of its representa- tives and highly respected pioneers is entitled to biographical honors. Mr. Hartmann, like many of our good American citizens, looks back to Germany as the place of his birth and the home of his ancestors. He was born in Bavaria, February 29, 1832, one of a family often children, seven sons and three daughters, all still living except three of the sons. Their parents, Thomas and Eve Hartmann, lived and died in Germany, the father's death oc- curring when he was sixty-four and the mother being sixty-six when she died. Roman Hartmann spent his boyhood and youth in his native land, and at the age of twenty-three, ambitious to strike out in the world for himself and make his fortune in America, bade adieu to home and kindred and set sail from Bremen for this " land of the free." That was in 1854. He was from November 1 till December 24 in mak- ing the Atlantic voyage, landed at New York city, and from there directeif his course to Boston, where for the next twelve years he worked in a brass factory. In 1866 he left Boston and the factories behind him and sought a home in Minnesota, being accom- panied hither by his family, he having mar- ried in Boston, and on his arrival in the Gopher state selected a location in Carver county, where he purchased eighty acres of wild land. There he made his home until March 10, 1877, the time of his coming to Nobles count)'. Arriving here, he took a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres and a one hundred and sixty-acre tree claim, and on his land settled in true pio- neer style, his neighbors being few and far apart, for, as above stated, there were then only three other families in what is now Wilmont township. Soon a number of others came, took claims and settled upon them, and in 1879 the township of Wil- mont was organized. Mr. Hartmann kept pace with the development and progress around him, soon brought his land under cultivation and secured a comfortable home and a competency. All he has he owes to his own earnest and persistent efforts, and he may rightly be classed as a self-made man. Politically he has always allied him- self with the Democratic party, having cast his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas. In the city of Boston, November 15, 1859, Mr. Hartmann wedded Miss Minika Schab, a native of Baden, German}', born April 23, 1837, daughter of German parents who emigrated to this country when she was a child, and who died on this side the At- lantic. She died at the old homestead in this county, September 10, 1878, leaving a family of seven children, five of whom are still living, as follows: Thomas, Frederick, Roman, Jr., John \^, and Felix, all at home 220 MEMORIAL RECORD OF except Thomas and Frederick, who are married and settled in homes of their own, the former having three children and the latter one. Mr. Hartmann was married again, to Caroline Schlichlar, July J 8, 1880. ^^^EORGE W. BROWN.— Owning ■ \^^k find occupying one of the fine farms ^k^^ in this naturally favored portion of southern Minnesota, is found this well-known early settler, famous j-ears ago as a trapper and hunter and Indian scout, — George W. Brown. Near the middle of the present century he took up his abode in Minnesota and since 1859 he has continued to reside on his present farm on section 15, Leavenworth township, Brown county, his post-office address being Sleepy Eye. Mr. Brown is a native of the Empire state, and it was at Watertown, near the St. Lawrence river, November 15, 1839, that he was born. His people were among the first settlers of New York. Colonel Brown, his grandfather, was a Revolutionary officer and rendered valiant service in the war for independence. The maternal grand- sire of our subject. Grandfather Allen, a rel- ative of the noted Ethan Allen, figured as a soldier in the war of 18 12. The Aliens were Vermont people. Asa and Louisa (Allen) Brown, the parents of George W. , left New York some time in the '30s and moved west to Illinois, locating on Rock river, near Galena, from which place they subsequently continued their way westward and took up their abode at Decorah, Win- neshiek county, Iowa, where they figured as pioneer settlers. In 1853 they came from Iowa to Minnesota, and in 1859 the subject of our sketch left the parental home and in company with Barney and Peter Kelley — all single men — came to Brown cnunt\- and took claim to the one hundred and si.\t\- acres of land, upon which he now li\es. There was then no timber on the north side of the ri\'er, it having all been swept away by fire years before. To his original holdings Mr. Brown added by subsequent purchase until now he has two hundred and fifteen acres in one bod\', constituting one of the best farms in this locality. It is well improved with a good house and barn and other buildings, grove and orchard, and every thing about the farm goes to show that intelligence has been back of the labor expended here. One of the trees planted here by Mr. Brown is now four feet in diameter. Reverting to his early experience here, we record that August 18, 1862, Mr. Brown left his home with the intention of enlisting as a Union soldier. He was accompanied by a man by the name of Hiram Buck. At noon they stopped for dinner at the point where Sleepy E^-e now stands, but was then an Indian village and corn-field. Here they stopped at the house of a French- man named Couturier, but better known as " French Cap," who had li\ed with the In- dians for forty years and had not a few warm friends among the red men. Shortly afterward three Indian bucks and one squaw came in to get their dinner too, and. while they all ate, these Indians told the Frenchman and his guests that the white settlers north and west of them were being killed off by the Indians. Mr. Brown and Mr. Buck immediately returned to warn their neighbors of the danger, and a messen- ger was sent even as far as the Burns' farm, telling every one to flee for safety to New Ulm. One family, however, would not be- lieve the storv of danger and refused to leave their home, the result being that a SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 221 little later the red men came and the father and a son and daughter were killed. Mr. Brown and his brother E. C. and their neighbors, fourteen men besides women and j children, reached New Ulm at four o'clock in the afternoon and an hour later the In- dians made an attack upon the town. At this time of danger Mr. Brown was one of the brave men who sliowed their pluck and nerve by ably defending the little band of people who had sought refuge there. After this memorable Indian outbreak Mr. Brown spent some time in the east. Then he was in government employ as a scout and did good service as such. At the time of the grasshopper pest through this portion of Minnesota he was in the north- west on Red river. He was ordered to go with General Custer, but the order was countermanded for a delay and he did not wait and went at once to St. Paul. (This was on Custer's last and fatal expedition up the Little Big Horn, where the general and all his brave band met death at the hands of Sitting Bull and his bloodthirsty band of Sioux.) Mr. Brown visited various points in the north and west, among them being Moorehead, Fargo, Bismarck and other places. During his early life Mr. Brown spent much of his time as a hunter and trapper, was an expert with his gun and familiar with the ways of the wild animals throughout all this part of the country. He has a rich fund of reminiscences of those early days and is an authority on pioneering here. Still unmarried, Mr. Brown is one of those genial, jovial bachelors who enjoys life himself and extends a cordial hospitality to all who come his way. Few, if any, of the early settlers of this locality are better known or more highly respected than he. aHARLES B. TYLER, one of the best known and most enterprising men of Marshall, is president of the Lyon County National Bank and a large holder of realty in the city of Marshall and in Lyon county. A native of Pennsylvania, he was born on the 2d of September, 1835, in Susquehanna county, and is a son of Harvey and Sarah ( Coyle ) Tyler, respectively of English and Irish descent. Charles B. Tyler, of this review, is one of the family of four children, but only him- self and one sister are now living. His early life was passed in Montrose, where he attended the village schools and Montrose Academy. On the iith of April, 1858, he landed at St. Paul, Minnesota, with no capital, but soon secured work as a printer, which trade he had learned at Montrose. For a time he engaged in setting type at Belle Plaine, and in 1 860-1 conducted the Bell Plaine Enquirer. In 1873 he was ap- pointed register of the United States Land Office at New Ulm, and held the position for twelve years. He also owned and con- ducted the New Ulm Herald. He had served as postmaster at Belle Plaine during President Lincoln's first term, and for four years was also assistant assessor of internal revenue in Scott county. On the 26th of December, 1S64, Mr. Tyler was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Messer, a native of Ohio and a daughter of David Messer, whose family were earl}' settlers of the Buckeye state. P'our children were born to this union. It was in 1880 that Mr. Tyler first lo- cated in Marshall and assisted in the organ- ization of the Lyon County National Bank, of which Major H. B. Strait was elected president. On the death of the latter in 222 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1894, Mr. Tyler was elected to that respon- sible position, which he still tills. Previ- ously he had served as vice president. He also owns a number of farms, aggregating about twelve hundred acres of land, most of which lies in Lyon county. In connection with John Schutz, he owns the town sites of Cottonwood and Russell, both in Lyon county, and has other fine village property. He has made good use of his opportunities, and is now regarded as one of the soundest business men in this section of the state. Mr. Tyler still retains his love for jour- nalism, and is a member of the St. Paul Press Club and of the State Editorial Asso- ciation. Since early in life he has also been prominently identified vvith the Masonic fra- ternity. Since voting for John C. Fremont in 1856, he has never failed to cast his bal- lot in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and intends voting that ticket in the fall of 1896. For one term he served as mayor of Marshall. He is a gentleman of the strictest integ- rity and honor, with a remarkable faculty for the conduct and dispatch of business. Courteous, genial, well informed, alert and enterprising, he stands to-day one of the leading representative men of southwestern Minnesota. His estimable wife is a mem- ber of the Congregational church, which the familv attend. >T^AMESB. DUNN.— Among the ster- fl ling and substantial men whose per- A 1 sistent and well-directed labor has developed the wild lands of southern Minnesota into beautiful farming districts, none are more justly entitled to personal mention in this biographical record of rep- resentative men than is James B. Dunn. who has for a quarter of a century had his abiding place on his present farm in Beaver Creek township. Rock county. Mr. Dunn is a native of Niagara county. New York, and was born December 31, 1844, son of Patrick V. and Adeline (Blunt) Dunn. Patrick V. Dunn is of Irish birth, and ancestry. He was born on the Emerald Isle in the year 1809, passed the first eighteen years of his life there, and then sailed from Belfast for America, landing at New York after a voyage of three weeks. From New York city he went direct to Schenectady, where for four years he worked at the trade of stonecutter. Later he was similarly employed at Lockport, New York. Also he was one of the employees on the first suspension bridge at Niagara. In the meantime he married, and in 1854, accompanied by his wife and five children, he came west to Wisconsin and settled in Waukesha county on a farm he had home- steaded seven years before. Some years later he moved to Fall River, Wisconsin, where he is still living and is now retired. The mother of our subject was born in Schenectady, New York, and died in ^^'al- worth county, Wisconsin, at the age of thirty-eight years. She was a daughter of Thomas and Nancy Blunt, both natives of New York. Mrs. Blunt died in Niagara county, that state, and Mr. Blunt survived her some years and died in Walworth county, Wisconsin. He was a veteran of the war of 1S12, and up to the time of his death was a pensioner of that war. James B. Dunn, the immediate subject of this review, accompanied his parents to Wisconsin and was reared and received a district-school education in that state. He enlisted in the Union army in 1864 anil served until the close of the war, receiving SOUTH WES TERN MINNES O TA . 223 an honorable discharge at Leavenworth, Kansas. Mr. Dunn was married March 2, 1870, to Miss Laura Snow, a native of Chitten- den county, Vermont, and a daughter of Harvey R. and Sarah (Webster) Snow, the former born in northern New York and the latter in the Green Mountain state, Mrs. Snow died at about the age of twenty-five or 'six years when her little daughter Laura had counted only half a dozen summers. The father, however', lived to a good old age, and died in Iowa, his age at death being seventy-six years. The Snows were a family of farmers, people of high respecta- bility and for many years residents of New England. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have six children, viz.: Ella A., Olla E., Albert J., Thomas R., Frank A., and Teddy. All have had good schooling advantages. Miss Ella was educated in Luverne and is now one of the popular and successful teachers of the county, having taught for about seven years. After his marriage, Mr. Dunn resided on his father's farm and had charge of the same one year. In the fall of 1S71 he came to Minnesota and secured a claim in Rock county, after which he returned to his fam- ily in Wisconsin and spent the winter at work in the forest. W'hen spring opened up he started again for Minnesota, this time with a team of horses and wagon and ac- companied by his family, and after a three- weeks journey in this way landed on his claim. A ten-by-twelve shanty served him for a home that summer, and in the fall he built a sod house, in which they lived until June of the next year. Then he put up the main part of his present house, which has since been enlarged and remodeled; and in 1882 he built his line barn. To his orisrinal homestead claim he has added until his present holdings comprise two hundred and eighty acres, which are devoted to general farming. In 1893 he began breeding Here- ford cattle, his cattle being the first of this kind imported to this part of the country, and it is his purpose to give more attention in the future to the breeding of blooded stock. On national issues Mr. Dunn harmonizes with the Republican party and its principles, but locally he believes in giving his support to the best man regardless of party or par- ty interests. He has himself served in va- rious local offices of importance. He was the first treasurer of his township, served six terms as its assessor, and was at one time chairman of the township board. Also he has served three terms on the grand jury. As a public-spirited man and one in- terested in the welfare of his community, he has the confidence and esteem of all. Mrs. Dunn is a member of the Baptist church. eDWARD A. PEASE.— Among the prosperous farmers and self-made men of Redwood county, Minne- sota, none are more worthy of biographical notice in this volume than Edward A. Pease, whose farmstead is on section 14 of Kintire township, and to a succinct review of his life we would now invite attention. Mr. Per:se was born in the neighboring state of Wisconsin, his birthplace being at Rosendale, Fond du Lac county, and the date January 22, 1863. His parents, Co- lumbus N. and Mary A. (Schofield) Pease, are both natives of the Empire state, the former born in Newfane, August 10, 1S31, and the latter in Saratoga county, January 224 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 26, 1833. Th(jy had eight children, only three of whom reached adult age, and of this number Edward A. is the oldest, the other two being Wilbert H. and Frederick S. When Edward A. was six years old the family home was changed from Wisconsin to Caldwell county, Missouri, where it was maintained the next six years. In 1875 the family removed to Goodhue county, Minne- sota, where our subject grew to manhood. He received his education in the Zumbrota graded schools and one jear at Owatonna high school. In the spring of 18S4, soon after attaining his majority, he came to Redwood county and purchased eighty acres of land on section 14, Kintire township, upon which he settled and where he has since expended his efforts in agricultural pursuits, from time to time making addi- tions and improvements to his farm until now he is the owner of half a section of land, well fenced and having good build- ings, and regarded as one of the most de- sirable farms in this part of the country. Wnen he came here twelve years ago he had only limited means, and it has been through his own honest industry and good management that he has attained this suc- cess. Mr. Pease, while giving close attention to his own farm and its development, has at the same time been deeply interested in de- veloping the resources of the county at large and has rendered efficient service in various local capacities. He served as county com- missioner two years and a half, resigning at the end of that time. Also he has tilled the ofBce of justice of the peace several years, and for many years has been a member of the township board, at present being its chairman. His political support he tenders the Republican party. Fraternally, he is connected with the A. O. U. W., and his religious creed is that of the Presbyterian church, of which he and his family are con- sistent and active members. November 20, 18S4, in Zumbrota, Good- hue county, Minnesota, was consummated Mr. .Pease's marriage to Miss Lelah M. Ward, daughter of Lyman T. Ward, one of the early settlers of Goodhue county. She was born in Roscoe, that county, January 19, 1 865. They have two children: Mary Zoa, born in Goodhue county, September 3, 1885; and C. N. Ward, in Redwood county. May 28, 1891. >T^ULIUS GLUTH.— Prominent among Wk the enterprising and successful men /8 y of Eden township, Brown county, Minnesota, and ranking with its pio- neer settlers, is Julius Gluth. He belongs to the German element which so largely constitutes the best part of our nationality, and has passed nearly the whole of his life in the commonwealth of Minnesota. His life history, briefly told, is as follows: Julius Gluth was born in the province of Prussia, Germany, September 29, 1844, son of Stephen and Henrietta (Wauker- mann) Gluth, natives of that same province. Believing that America with its free institu- tions and its broad extent of land open to settlement offered inducements superior to those of their own land, Mr. and Mrs. Gluth decided in 1856 to seek a home on this side the Atlantic. Accordingly they embarked at Hamburg for New York, where they landed after a nine weeks' voyage, and whence they came across the country to Brown county, Minnesota, and made settle- ment two miles and a half west of New Ulin. During their early residence here &m.P. cn^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. i?25 they met with great losses at the hands of the Indians. That was in the memorable Indian massacre in August, 1862. Their son John, then twenty-two years of age, was killed by the red men, near the Indian agency. Another son, August, a boy of twelve years, was taken prisoner by the In- dians at Beaver Falls, where he was herd- ing cattle, and was held six weeks and three days, at the end of that time being ex- changed. Also the Indians burnt Mr. Gluth's house and other farm buildings and stole all his stock. After this he took his family to St. Paul, where he remained two years, at the end of that time returning to New Ulm. He died in New Ulm in 1871, at the age of si.xty-seven years, and his widow is still living there, she having at- tained her seventy-sixth year. Their fam- ily comprised thirteen children, namely: Charles, Caroline, Fred, Michael, John, Jul- ius, Steven, Minnie, August, Pauline, Henry, William and Bertha. Fred was a Union soldier and was killed in battle while fight- ing for the country of his adoption. Julius Gluth, the direct subject of this review, was a boy of twelve years when he landed in America and settled in Minnesota with his parents. He attended school both in Germany and this state, and received a fair education, his instruction being in both the German and English languages. In 1869 he came to his present farm on section twenty-two, Eden township, Morgan being the nearest town and his post-office address. Here he owns a fine tract of land, four hundred acres in extent, devoted to general farming and stock-raising and well improved with good buildings. His residence, erected in 1895, cost one thousand eight hundred dollars, and his barn was built at a cost of one thousand dollars. Five acres are in timber. Also Mr. Gluth owns two lots and a house in Morgan. He was married in 1S70 to Miss Minnie Dittbenner, a native of Prussia, Germany, who came to America with her parents and other members of the family when she was eighteen years of age. She is a daughter of William and Hannah (Creager) Dittbenner, for many years well known and highly re- spected people of Brown county, now de- ceased, her father having died at the age of eighty-three years and her mother at sixty- eight. In the Dittbenner family were five children, — Augusta, Minnie, Carl W., Ed and Herman, — all now occupying useful and respected positions in life. Mr. and Mrs. Gluth have eleven children, viz. : Albert, Adolph, Ferdinand, Amelia, Edward, Lydia, Earnest and Ernestine ( twins ), Mabel, Clara and Rude. Also they lost three chil- dren in infancy. In his political views the subject of our sketch is in harmony with the principles ad- vocated by the Republican party, and gives it his stanch support. Religiously, he and his family are Methodists, and his son Fer- dinand is clerk of the church to which they belong. aHARLES M. CORY, probate judge of Nobles county, is one of the ablest lawyers of southwestern Min- nesota, having that mental grasp that enables him to discover the points in a case. A man of sound judgment, he man- ages his cases with masterly skill and tact, and has gained a most enviable reputation. He is a native of Indiana, born near Craw- fordsville, in Boone county, January 12, 1866, and is tlie son of Jeremiah and Mary A. (Bennett) Cory. The father, whose birth L>2G MEMORIAL RECORD OF occurred near Zanesville, Oliio, followed the vocation of farmer, and after his marriage removed to Boone county, Indiana, locating upon a farm, where his death occurred in 1874, at the age of seventy-six years. He was of Scotch and English extraction, while his wife, who was a native of Pennsylvania, was of German lineage. The Judge is the youngest in the family of six children, — four sons and two daugh- ters, — but one of the sons is now deceased. The others are widely scattered, one brother being a resident of Indiana, another of Wisconsin, a sister in Arkansas and the other in Ohio. Charles M. spent his youth in his native county, obtaining his elemen- tary education in the district school, and later entered Wabash College at-Crawfords- ville, where he took a preparatory course. He then became a student at Carleton Col- lege, at Northfield, Minnesota, where he pursued his studies for two years, and then engaged in teaching. For one year he read law under the supervision of Hon. J. H. T. James, of Excelsior, Minnesota, after which he entered the law department of the State University of Minnesota, where he gradu- ated in 1890. After his graduation Mr. Cory accepted the position of clerk in the mone\'-order and registered-letter department of the post- office at Mankato, this state, acting in that capacity for one year. He then went to Adrian, Nobles count}', where he began the practice of his chosen profession, but in March, 1895, located at Worthington, where he certainly ranks among the foremost law- yers. In 1892, he was elected fudge of the probate court on the Republican ticket, and in 1S94 re-elected. He is a man who thor- oughly loves his profession and is eminently gifted with the capabilities of mind which are indispensable at the bar. He holds a membership in Minnetonka Lodge, No. 102, I. O. O. P., later changed his membership to Worthington Lodge, No. 219; and he I also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. aH. CRAWFORD.— Residing on his fine farmstead on section twenty- four. Stately township. Brown county, Minnesota, not far distant from the prosperous town of Springfield, we find the subject of this sketch, whose iden- tity with this place covers over a quarter of a century and whose life history includes an honorable war record. Without a biogra- phy of his life this work would in a measure be incomplete. C. H. Crawford, like many of the sterling citizens all over the Union, takes a just pride in the fact that he is a native of the Empire state. It was in Greene county. New York, August 10, 1835, that he was born, the son of highly respected parents and a descendant of ancestors who had for generations been residents of America. His father, Robert Crawford, was also born in New York, the Crawfords having originally settled in the New England states and subsequently scat- tered to other parts of the east. They were represented in both the Revolution and the \var of 1812. Robert Crawford married Miss Polly Depew, a native of New York and of French descent, her people being of the same stock from which the famous Chauncey Depew sprang. Both he and his wife lived to the age of threescore and ten years and both died in New York. He was by occupation a lumberman and carried on an extensive business, rafting large quan- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 227 tities of lumber down the rivers; was a man of wide information and in his religious views was broad and liberal. His wife was a devoted Christian, God-fearing' and God- loving, and reared her children in that way. Their family was composed of the following members: John, James, Jefferson, Charles H., Abram, Eli, Albert, Eliza and Rhoda. Four of the sons were participants in the civil war. Jefferson died just at the close of his service, while on a boat on the Mis- sissippi river on his way home: he was a brave and gallant soldier. The other sons — Abram, Eli and C. H. — rendered faithful service and at the end of hostilities returned in safety to their homes. Charles H. Crawford, the direct subject of this biography, grew up under the best of home influence and received a common- school education, which he early supple- mented by a training in the broad school of ex- perience. At the age of eighteen he worked out by the month, at twelve dollars per month, in the forests of New York, and when he was nineteen he came west to Wis- consin and in Columbus obtained employ- ment in a hotel and livery barn, and later was engaged in railroad work. Next we find him in Monroe county, that state, hunting and trapping, and later working in the forest and farming. He was in Wiscon- sin when the civil war was inaugurated, and in the second year of the war, in August, 1862, when President Lincoln made a call for "three hundred thousand more," he was among the brave men who answered to that call, and as a member of Company D, Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry, he went to the front. For two years and eight months he was in the service. Among the engagements in which he participated were those of Vicksburg, Jackson, Meridian raid and Nashville. While in the army he con- tracted chronic diarrhea, from which he has never fully recovered. He received a fur- lough of four or five months and later was honorabl}' discharged from the service. At the close of his army life Mr. Craw- ford returned to Monroe county, Wisconsin, and near Tomah directed his attention to the improvement of a farm. He made his home there until 1870, when he came to Brown county, Minnesota, and in Stately township took a soldier's claim to one hun- dred and sixty acres of land. Here he built a sod shanty, 12x16 feet; a sod and straw stable for his team, and around his cow-yard, in lieu of a fence, he dug a deep ditch. In this primitive way he began life on his claim, lived happily and prospered, and entertained with pioneer hospitality both the stranger and friend that stopped at his door, the "latch string" of which was always "hung out." But with the passage of twenty-six years a marvelous change has been wrought. The sod house and barn are gone, the ditch is no longer used for a fence, and in their stead are substantial and con- venient farm buildings, good fences, etc., and round the modern residence is a pretty lawn and near by is a fine grove of five acres, the whole premises showing the in- telligent care and labor that have been here expended. At the age of twenty-two Mr. Crawford was united in marriage to Miss Abbie Pur- cell, an accomplished lady who before her marriage was engaged in teaching. She is a daughter of John Purcell, the Purcells being New York people. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford have three children, viz.: Will- iam E., a resident of Stately township, Brown county; Alice, wife of Matthew Will- son, of this township; and O. C, at home. 228 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Also they lost one child, Lizzie, at the age of two years. Mr. Crawford is a Republican in his po- litical views, and while he has never been an active politician he has always taken a commendable interest in local affairs and has served in several responsible official po- sitions, such as township treasurer and member of the township board. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he at the present time occupying a position on its official board. >T^OHN A. MILLEK.— The gentleman ■ who bears this name is classed with (% 1 the early settlers of Brown county, Minnesota, and also with the vet- erans of the late ci\il war, and both as a pioneer and old soldier is he entitled to biographical honors. Mr. Miller springs from Pennsylvania- Uiitch stock, noted for industry, honesty, religion and patriotism. He was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, August iS, 1842, son of Thomas A. and Kate (Sprite) Miller, both natives of the Iveystone state, the former born in Lebanon county and the latter in Dauphin county. The paternal grandfather of our subject was John Miller and the maternal grandfather George Sprite, both natives of Pennsylvania and of Dutch origin, and the latter was a soldier in the Revolutionary vvar. Thomas A. and Kate Miller were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, who grew up to occupy honored and useful positions in life, two of the sons, John A. and William H., rendering their countrj- valiant service during its dark days of rebellion. The mother died in 1888, at the age of sixty- seven years, and the father lived to the ad- vanced age of eighty. He was by occujia- tion a blacksmith, and religiously both he and his wife were devoted and earnest Christians. John A. Miller, whose name graces this review, was reared on a Pennsylvania farm, and early had instilled into him those prin- ciples of honesty and industry which were ' so conspicuous in the lives of his forefathers. During the second year of the civil war, in July, 1862, we find him a j'oung man of twenty years, enlisting in Company G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Pennsylvania In- fantry, the fortunes of which command he shared for three years, his record throughout the whole of that time being that of a brave, true soldier. Among the engagements in which he participated were those of Freder- icksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and at the second named place he received a slight wound. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged at Alexandria, Virginia, and from there returned to Penn- sylvania and settled down to farm life again. In 1867 Mr. Miller came west as far as Summit county, Ohio, and remained in the Buckeye state until 1872, when he came to Brown county, Minnesota, and took a sol- dier's claim to one hundred and si.xty acres of land on section 32, Mulligan township, upon which he has since lived. His first house here was a sod shanty, which has long since been replaced by a more com- fortable residence; and other improvements upon his farm are in keeping with those made in this vicinity during the years that have intervened since his settlement here. A portion of his land is now occupied by the town of McCleary, the creamery and other buildings being located upon it. Mr. Miller was married in November, 1866, to Miss Rebecca Lontz, also a native SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 229 of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. Her -father, Charles Lontz, died in 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Her mother died when Mrs. Miller was only ten years old. In the Lontz family were twelve children, six of whom reached maturity, — two sons and four daughters. One of the sons, John C, served through the late war Politically, Mr. Miller is a Republican and one of the wheelhorses of the party in his township. During the past six years he has been filling the office of township clerk, having been elected to this position in 1890 and successively re-elected; also he is a justice of the peace, and both offices he fills with promptness and ability. He was made manufactured a superior product which commands the highest prices in the New York market. Mr. W. C. Miller was married June 13, 1895, to Miss Anna Longhoff, one of the estimable young ladies of Brown county. as a member of the Seventh Pennsylvania ! secretary and manager of the Woodlake Reserve Infantry. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are ! Creamery Company at its organization, the parents of three sons, W. C. , Ira G. 1 which position he has also filled with marked and Elmer A. The two older are married j efficiency and popularity. This creamery and settled in life. Of W. C. we make j was built in 1894, at a cost of three thon- further mention at the close of this sketch, i sand five hundred dollars, commenced busi- Ira G.'s wife was formerly Miss Clara Pesk. j ness May 21, of that year, and has since In his political \iews Mr. Miller is in thorough harmonj- with the principles advo- cated b}' the Republican party, and is a stanch supporter of the same. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is one of its trus- tees. In the advancement of educational, religious and temperance interests he is act- ive and enthusiastic, and is held as one of the best citizens of the community. W. C. Miller, son of the above named gentleman, is a justice of the peace; clerk of Mulligan township. Brown county, Minne- sota; secretary of the creamery at McCleary; and, like his father, is ranked with the prominent and highly respected citizens of the township. He was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1S68, and was four years old when he came with his parents to Brown county, Minnesota, where he was reared and educated. He is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 29, where he is engaged in agricultural pursuits and doing well. His residence, located on a natural building site, and commanding a fine view of the sur- rounding country, he erected in 1895. % EORGE T. OLSEN, who is suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of law at Springfield, Brown coun- ty, has won for himself a reputa- tion that classes him among the leading at- torneys in this section of the state. He is yet a young man, but his years are no limit to his ability and the exercise of his talents in future will undoubtedly bring him still greater success. Mr. Olsen is one of the native sons of Minnesota, his birth having occurred in St. Peter, June 24, 1871. His parents, Ma- thias and Martha Olsen, were both natives of Norway, and on coming to America took up their residence in St. Peter, in i860. By occupation the father is an agriculturist and is still living on his farm in Nicollet count)'. Mr. Olsen, of this review, spent the 230 MEMORIAL RECORD OF j^reater part of his boyhood and \outh on his father's farm, aiding' in its cultivation through the sununer months, while in the winter season he attended school. His common-school education was supplemented b}- study in Gustavus Adolphus College, and by a four-years course in a seminary in Min- neapolis after taking a course in a Minneap- olis law school, where he was graduated in 1893. In that year he came to Springfield to put his theoretical knowledge to the prac- tical test in the practice of his chosen pro- fession. He formed a partnership with C. Robert, ex-county attorney, a connection which was continued until 1895, since which time he has been alone in business. He has been the village attorney for the past two years, and is now enjoying a lucrative patronage as a general practitioner. He is well versed in the law, his reading having been extensive, and his read)' application of his knowledge to the points in litigation make him an excellent advocate. Mr. Olsen also handles real estate, both city and farm property. He is a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity, belong- ing to Zenith Lodge, No. 200, F. lS: A. M. In manner he is genial and courteous, and both in and out of the profession has won many friends. BRANK BILLINGTON, one of the pioneers of southwestern Minne- sota and a highly-esteemed citizen whose prominent and honorable connection with jniblic affairs well entitles him to representation in this volume, was born in Shaftsbury, Bennington count}', \'ermont, November 11, 1852. His par- ents were Seth and Sophia (Bradley) Bil- lington. His father was a native of Massa- chusetts and a mason by trade, but for many years followed agricultural pursuits. He died in Brown count}', Minnesota, at the age of eighty-seven years, and his wife died in Vermont at the age of fifty-three. She was born in the Mohawk valley of New York, and b}- her marriage became the mother of five children, three of \\hom are yet living. The paternal grandparents, Seth and Betsey Billington, were both na- tives of Massachusetts, and spent their last days in New York. The father met his death by the kick of a colt only three days before the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, and his wife died when about ninety years of age. They were both Quakers in religious belief. The maternal grandpar- ents of our subject were natives of Holland, and on emigrating to America located in the Empire state, where the grandfather was killed by the Indians. The great- grandfather Billington was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was killed while carrying mail for the colonies between New York and Brattleboro Fort. Mr. Billington, whose name introduces this review, was reared in his native village until tvv'elve years of age. On emigrating westward he located in Fond du Lac coun- ty, Wisconsin, where he engaged in farming for about fifteen years. His agricultural pursuits were interrupted, however, at the time of the civil war, for he felt that his allegiance was to the Union and that his duty was at the front as one of its de- fenders. Accordingly he enlisted in Com- pany K, First Wisconsin Infantr\-, under Captain Green. He served on detached duty a part of the time, and was twice in a Kentucky hospital. His health being per- manently injured by his army service, he SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 231 now receives a pension from the j^overn- ment. After receivinj^' an honorable dischar°;e, Mr. Iiiliinnjton returned to Fond dii Lac count}', \\'isconsin, and on tlie 4th of Jul}', 1S65, he married Miss Martha E. Sherman, a native of Ohio. Of their seven children, one died at the age of fifteen months and three died of diphtheria about the same time. Those living are Fred B. , who was educated in Curtis College, and is now with his father in the hardware business in this city; Louisa, who has successfully followed school-teaching, is now married, and has one daughter, Jennie A. ; and Dayton, who is now in Hamline College. For two years after his marriage Mr. Biliington engaged in the lumber business in Fond du Lac, and in September, 1867, removed to Minnesota, locating on a farm near Eden, where he pre-empted one hun- dred and si.xty acres of land. For twelve years he ran that farm, and then purchased of the railroad company two hundred and eighty acres of land, all wild and, destitute of improvement. This he transformed into a valuable propert}', and continued its culti- vation until 1894. Two years previous he opened his hardware store, and has since conducted the same. He carries a large and carefully-selected slock of ever\'thing found in his line, and from the public re- ceives a liberal patronage, for his business methods and straightforward dealing have ever won him the confidence of all and thus secured their support. He has always been a progressive citizen, and was the first to introduce English draft horses into Brown county. For nine years he engaged in the breeding of these horses, and thus did much to advance the standard of the stock in this countv. Mr. Biliington is a valued member of the Masonic fraternitv', the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Independent Order of Good Templars. He and his family at- tend the Presbyterian church and are widely and most favorably known. In politics Mr. Biliington is a stalwart Republican, and has been honored with many offices. He has filled all the township offices, for four years ser\'ed as count}' commissioner, was census-taker in 1890, aided in the or- ganization of the village and for three years was president of the village council. He has also been prominently spoken of in connection with the office of representative, and in all the positions which he has filled he has discharged his duties with prompt- ness and fidelity, thus showing that he fully merits the confidence that is reposed in him. (D ICHAEL HUIRAS, the efficient and popular postmaster of Spring- field, Minnesota, was born upon 'a farm in Osaukee county, Wis- consin, May 18, 1847, a son of Andrew and Mary Huiras, natives of Germany. IniS47 they emigrated to the New World, and on reaching New York city went at once to Wisconsin, where the father engaged in general farming and stock-raising until com- ing to Brown count}', Minnesota, in 1867. Here he carried on agricultural pursuits in the town of Leavenworth until called from this life in 1870. The mother's death oc- curred in 1878. Our subject is the youngest in their family of eight children, fi\'e sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. Joseph is a resident of Oregon; George of Wisconsin; and the others make their home in Brown countv, Minnesota. 232 MEMORIAL RECORD OF On reaching a sufficient age, Michael Huiras entered the public schools of Wis- consin, which he attended uninterruptedly until ten j-ears of age, when he began as- sisting in the labors of the farm in the sum- mer months and pursuing his studies only in the winter season. On accompanying his parents to Brown count)' he embarked in general farming and stock-raising on his own account, which occupations he continued until his removal to Springfield in 187S. He has taken a leading part in public affairs, and for five years was assistant postmaster under Gus Nuessle. For one year he was then in the recorder's office under John Al- bert, who resigned on the expiration of that time and was succeeded by John Hollowell. On the loth of February, 1889, under President Harrison's administration, Mr. Huiras was appointed postmaster of Spring- field, which is a third-class office. He has now been connected with the affairs of the office, either as principal or deput}', for twelve years, and in the discharge of his duties has ever been prompt and faithful, giving the best of satisfaction to its many patrons. Although he was appointed to the position for a term of only four years, he is likely to fill the office through President Cleveland's present administration, as he is kind and obliging and has never been re- garded as an offensive partisan. In 1S72 Mr. Huiras was united in mar- riage with Miss Minnie Schneider, of Brown county, who died in 1883, leaving two chil- dren: Michael J., whose death occurred at the age of five years; and Paulina, at home. Later Mr. Huiras married Miss Matilda Schneider, a sister of his former wife and a daughter of John and Bartha Schneider, of this county. Two children honor this union, — Tillie and Ella May. The family ha\e a I pleasant residence on the hill, commanding a fine \\q\\ of the city below, and there the)' delight to entertain their many friends. Mr. Huiras is a member of Zenith Lodge, No. 200, F. & A. M., and has acceptably served as a member of the city council and justice of the peace. His official conduct has been that of an upright, honorable busi- ness man, and he will retire from office as he entered it, with the confidence, respect and esteem of his fellow citizens. aOL. WILLL\M PFAENDER.— There is no element which has en- tered into our composite national fabric which has been of more practical strength, value and utility than that furnished by the sturdy, persevering and honorable sons of German}', and in the progress of our Union this element has played an important part. Intensely prac- tical, and ever having a clear comprehen- sion of the ethics of life, the German con- tingent has wielded a powerful influence, and this service can not be held in light es- timation by those who appreciate true civil- ization and true advancement. The subject of this re\'iew, who is now a prominent citizen of New Ulm, Minne- sota, was born in the city of Heilbronn, Wurtemberg, Germany, July 6, 1826, and is a son of Jacob and Johanna fKunzel) Pfaender, who spent their entire lives in the fatherland. The Colonel received a liberal common-school education, after which he engaged in mercantile pursuits in his native land. In 1848 he sailed for America, and from New York went direct to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided until 1S56, during which time he was engaged in clerking. In charge of a German colony. Colonel ^TTXytjd ^S^^^t^ o^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 233 Pfaender came to New Ulm in 1856, and was soon afterward made agent of the Ger- man Land Association of Minnesota. In 1854 the first settlement was made at New Ulm by a Chicago society, but in 1856 the German Land Association bought them out and took charge of affairs here. Warmly attached to his adopted coun- try, when the Union was threatened, he took up arms in her defense, enlisting in September, 1861, in the First Minnesota Battery. He was commissioned first lieuten- ant and with his battery was ordered south, where he remained until after the Sioux outbreak in August, 1862. Returning north on a recruiting expedition, he was placed on detached service, and stationed at St. Peter, Nicollet count}', Minnesota, and later at Fort Ridgely. Soon afterward he was com- missioned lieutenant colonel of the First Mounted Rangers, and after its organization held the same rank in the second cavalry until the close of the war, having command of the frontier posts. He proved a brave and gallant officer. When hostilities had ceased. Colonel Pfaender returned to his farm, which he operated until 1870, when he removed to New Ulm, and there engaged in the lumber trade until 1875. In that year he was elected state treasurer for Minnesota, which position he creditably filled for four years, and has since been successfully engaged in the real-estate and insurance business at New Ulm. For one term he served as reg- ister of deeds for Brown county, in i860 was elected to represent his district in the state legislature, and was a prominent mem- ber of the state senate in 1870, 1871 and 1872. He served on several important committees, and was one of the first presi- dential electors from Minnesota. He still 15 owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, which is well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs, and besides his pleasant residence in New Ulm owns other valuable city property. On the 7th of December, 1S51, Mr. Pfaender was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Pfau, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they now have ten children, six. daughters and four sons. The Colonel is a prominent I member of Hecker Post, No. 48, G. A. R. , of which for some time he served as com- mander, and also belongs to the Turn Verein of New Ulm. A man of strong in- dividuality, genial and affable in manner, and one who has gained many friends in the community, this honored veteran of our late civil war assuredly demands representation in this volume. ILLIAM E. STOUTEMYER.— Among the prosperous farmers of Nobles county, Minnesota, who are well deserving of mention in this volume as representative citizens is the gentleman whose name introduces this re- view. From earliest ages down to the pres- ent time agriculture has been the principal occupation of mankind, and those who fol- low that calling form an important part in the prosperity of nations and its stable ad- vancement. To this class our subject be- longs. Mr. Stoutemyer is a native of Miami county, Ohio, born near New Carlisle, Jan- uary 6, 1847. His father, William B. and Nancy (Ross) Stoutemyer, were natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively, and during childhood removed with their parents to the Buckeye state, and were married at New Carlisle. The father purchased a farm 234 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in Miami county, whicli he cultivated for some years, and they removed to Logan comity, Oliio, whence in i S64 he went to McLean county, Illinois, locating near Bloomington, where he spent his remaining days. He died in April, 1879, and his wife in February of the sauie year. The family- is of German origin, and the grandfather of our subject was born in \'irginia, in 1772, near the town of Newmarket, on the Shen- andoah river. The maternal ancestors were also of German birth, but became loyal and devoted citizens of the new republic. Our subject was the tlurd in a family of four children who attained matm-ity, three sons and a daughter, who died in infancy. The brothers were Leonidas T., who ;^erved as a soldier in the Forty-fifth Ohio Regiment during the late war; and John I?., who re- sides in Kankakee, Illinois. The subject of thisreview was reared prin- cipally in Logan county, Ohio, where he at- tended the district schools, and worked on the home farm until the removal of the fani- il}' to Illinois. Later he pursued a com- mercial course in a business college at IMoomington, and was thus fitted for life's practical duties, after which he went to Liv- ingston county, Illinois, where he engaged in general farming. On the 27th of December, 1S71, Mr. Stoutemyer married Miss lunmogene Brooks, of Chatsworth, Illinois, a daughter of L. M. and Susan .\. Brooks. The young couple began their domestic life upon a farm in Livingston county, which they continued to make their home until the spring of 1888, when they came to Nobles count\-, locating on a farm of one himdred and sixt)- acres, two miles northwest of Worthington. In 1889 he purchased his present farm, lying just outside the corporate limits of Worthing- ton, where he now owns three liundred and twenty-live acres of valuable land in a state of high culti\ation, the well tilled lields yielding him a handsome income. In 1894 he completed his residence, one of the fine comitry homes in Worthington township, staiuiing on a natural building site th.'il com- mands an excellent \iew of the city and surrounding country. He is one of the most prosperous fanners of the connnunity, owing to his progressive methods, his sys- tematic efforts and his untiring industry. He is also a stockholder in the Wtnthington Creamery Couipany, whirh was organized in 1895, and is a member of the Nobles County Agricultural Society, of which he has served as president for five years. Mr. and Mrs. Stoutemyer have five chil- dren, a son and four daughters, namely: Frances B., wife of John G. \'an N'alken- burg, a t;irmer of Nobles county; William B. ; S, Jeamiette; Jennie E. ; and Susan A. The family is one of the highest respecta- bility and its various members ha\'e the warm regard of man\' friends. Mr. Stoute- myer has long served as supervisor of his township, was chairman of the board for several years, ami in that capacity greatlj' promoted the various interests which i)rove of material benefit to a community. He and his wife are faithful and consistent members of the Ilajitist church, in which he is serving as deacon and trustee. ON. WILLIAM F. PARKER, ma}or of the city of Tracy, Min- nesota, is a gentleman who has already attained prominence in local political circles and will, it is safe to state, in the near future, receive the still SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 235 wider recognition which his qualifications and ability merit. Mr. Parker is of English birth and an- cestry, but from his earliest recollection has lived in America. He was born in London, England, April 30, 1851, and is a son of William and Rosamond ^Pottsj Parker, both natives of England and both born in 1820, his birthday being January i and hers Feb- ruary 17. In 1854 they left England and came to America, directing their way at once to Port Huron, where they resided one year, and whence they came to Minnesota and settled in Wabasha county. In the spring of 1856 they took claim to a tract of government land in Wabasha county, upon which they located, and where Mr. Parker had the honor of naming the township in which his land was situated, — Hyde Park township. In 1865 he disposed of his in- terests there and moved to Minneiska, in the some county, and engaged in the grain and mercantile business, remaining thus occupied until about 1877 or '8, when he sold out and came to Lyon county. Here he took a homestead in Custer township, settled upon the same and upon it made his home until 1888. That year he went to Faribault, Kice county, where he is still living retired from active business. He has been a Republican during the whole of the period of his residence in America but has never been active in politics. In their fam- ily were eight children, of whom six are yet living. Their son William F. , whose name heads this biographical notice, was reared on a frontier farm and received his educa- tion in the district schools, in Minneiska school and the high school at Winona. When he was eighteen he was employed in the grain business, working by the day and month, and remained in that line of occupa- tion until 1879, when he came to Lyon county and for one year broke prairie on his father's farm, at the end of that time return- ing to Wabasha county and the next year having charge of an elevator. In March, 1880, he came back to Lyon county and located in Tracy, where he clerked in the depot nine months and in a hotel three months, and the next four years was agent for the Winona Mill Company. Then he traveled for eight years as auditor of the Winona Mill Company, running on the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railroad, and having charge of from forty to sixty-five houses all that time. After that he took the local agency for the company at Tracy, which position he still occupies, and in connection with which he handles on his own account wood and coal and farm machinery. Also he has some land investments here, owning one hundred and sixty acres located two miles north of Tracy, which is used chiefly as a stock farm and where he expects soon, to engage in the breeding of fine hogs. Mr. Parker was married in Brookings, South Dakota, October 24, 1881, to Miss Ada V. Getchell, a native of Canada, and a daughter of Anthony and Phebe Getchell. Mrs. Parker lost her father by death when she was seven years of age. Her mother is still living and resides with them. They have five children, named as follows: Hazel, William R. , Francis L. , Herbert A., and Edith H. Mr. Parker has been connected actively with the Republican party ever since he cast his first presidential vote for U. S. Grant. Twice he has served as delegate to the state convention of his part}' and has also repre- sented a constituency at the Republican county convention. He served as alderman 236 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of Tracy three years and in the spring of 1896 was elected to the chief executive office of the town, in which responsible place he is rendering faithful and acceptable serv- ice. He is a charier member of the A. O. U. W. of Tracy and one of its active work- ers. Both he and his wife are found reg- ularly attending worship at the Episcopal church, in which he was baptized and of which he has long been a member. Mrs. Parker, however, is a Presbyterian. >-T»AMES DICKSON, chairman of the ^ board of supervisors for the town- f% J ship of North Star, Brown county, Minnesota, has long been a resident of this township and is ranked as one of its most substantial and influential men. Like many of the leading men of Minnesota who have been patriotic and valiant in war and in " piping times of peace " have been prom- inent factors in advancing the interests of their respective localities, he is of Scotch birth and ancestry. It was December 3, 1845, that he first made his appearance on this mundane sphere. James Dickson, his father, was born, reared and married in Scotland, and sprang from a family many representatives of whom had at different times fought and bled for their native land, under the leadership of brave Scottish chiefs. The mother of our subject was before her marriage Miss Sarah Edgar, and she too was a member of a highly respected family. In 1848 this wor- thy couple brought their family to America and settled on the frontier in Columbia county, Wisconsin, near the town of Port- age, where the}' prospered and lived happily until the civil war came on, and the head of the household, true to his patriotic instincts, left his wife and little children and went forth to fight for the country of his adop- tion. In that memorable battle of Perr}'- ville, Kentucky, in 1862, he was among the brave men who lost their lives. This left a broken-hearted widow and six children to mourn the loss of a devoted and affectionate husband and father, and to go forward in the struggle of life unprotected by his loving care. The mother died some years later in Olmsted county, Minnesota. Of the children, now settled in life and occupying usefnl and hon- ored positions, we record that their names are James, Walter, Maggie, WilHam, Sarah and Jane. James, at the time his father went into the army, was a boy in his 'teens, and as he was the oldest in the family he in a large measure took his father's place, and for some years thereafter aided in the support of his mother and the younger children. His common-school education has been sup- plemented by home study and reading, close observation, and by a training in the practi- cal school of experience. In 1866 he left Wisconsin and came over into Minnesota, first locating in Olmsted county and six years later corning to his present farm in Brown county. He was among the first settlers in this locality. Here he bought eighty acres of land, added to it by subse- quent purchase, and now has two hundred and eighty acres, one of the best farms in the township. His improvements are all first-class and indicate that prosperity has followed in the wake of earnest and well- directed effort. He carries on general farm- ing, raising stock and running a dairy. Mr. Dickson married Miss Fanny Pat- terson, a most estimable and accomplished lady, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Thomas Patterson. They SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 237 have five children, Thomas, Leila, Walter, Emma and Ora. Thomas and Leila are among the popular and successful teachers of Brown county. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson also have one child deceased, Era, who died at the age of six years. Of his political affiliations, be it record- ed that Mr. Dickson is a stanch and enthu- siastic Republican, active in the local coun- cils of his party. He has been a member of the school board for thirteen years, for years was district clerk, and is now serving as chairman of the board of supervisors of the township. He and his wife and two of the older children are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church; and also he main- tains fraternal relation with the A. O. U. \V. *-|-^ OUIS SCHILLING, the present I r well-known city clerk of New Ulm, B ^ i\Iinnesota, and an honored \'et- eran of the civil war, is a native of German}', born in Mecklenburg, March 23, 1835, and with his parents, Adolph and Christiana (Langhals) Schilling, came to America in 1853. I" ^^^Y of that year the family took passage on board a sailing ves- sel in the harbor of Hamburg, and after a tedious voyage of nine weeks landed in New York city, whence they went direct to Chi- cago, Illinois. By trade the father was a carpenter. In 1S55 he first came to Brown county, Minnesota, and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Milford township, eight miles west of the present site of New Ulm, after which he returned to Chicago, but in 1857 brought his family to this county. He began the cultivation and improvement of his farm, which he made his home until killed by the Indians in 1S62. At the same time the mother and i one son were wounded, the latter of whom died from the effect of those injuries one year later. The mother recovered and passed away at the home of her son, August M. Schilling, in Chicago, in 1880. Louis Schilling is one of five children who lived to adult age. His education was mainly obtained in the schools of his native land, the Sunday-schools of Chicago afford- ing the only privilege in that line in this country. On coming to Brown county, Minnesota, in March, 1855, he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he paid one dollar and a quarter per acre when the land came into the market, and there he carried on agricultural pursuits until the breaking out of the civil war. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, Mr. Schilling enlisted in the Union service in 1 86 1, becoming a member of the First Min- nesota Battery under Captain Munch. He went with the command to St. Louis, where they were equipped, and the first battle in which he took part was at Shiloh, where nine of the company were killed. Later he was in the battles of Corinth, Vicksburg, Mississippi, Atlanta, Savannah, and many smaller engagements, and received an hon- orable discharge at Savannah, Georgia, in December, 1864. Returning to his home in Brown county, Mr. Schilling resumed farming, which he continued until 1880, since which time he has made his home in New Ulm, working at the carpenter's trade, which he learned before leaving Germany. In 1893 ^Ir. Schilling was injured while alighting from a train at Sleepy Eye, Min- nesota, and has been compelled to go on crutches since that time. In 1859 he was joined in wedlock with Miss Barbara Serr, of Brown county, who was also born in the fatherland and died in 238 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1872. The following 3-ear Mr. Schilling was united in marriage with Miss Cecilia Ochs, of New Ulm, Brown county, and they now have five children: Louis A., a car- penter, Albert, Emma, Rosa and Lydia. In his political affiliations Mr. Schilling has ever been a stalwart Republican, and on that ticket was elected city clerk of the city of New Ulm, in 1886, for a term of two years, and so satisfactorily has he filled the position that he has been continuously re- elected. Fraternally he is connected with Hecker Post, No. 48, G. A. R., of New Ulm, and New Ulm Lodge, No. 53, I. O. O. F. He has ever identified himself with those interests which tend to promote the welfare of his adopted country, faithfully discharging all duties devolving upon him, as was manifested by his services in the Union army during the dark days of the Rebellion and the efficient manner in which he fills civil positions. *y ^ ON. CARL WESCHCKE, M. D.— |f^^ New Ulm has been the home and \ W scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives that should serve as an example to those who come after them but have also been of important serv- ice to their city and state through various avenues of usefulness. Among them must be named the Doctor, who is now serving his si.xth term as mayor. He was born in the province of Saxony, Germany, March 4, 1S31, and there his parents, Henry and Louisa (Schultz) Wesch- cke, spent their entire lives, the father dying in 1873 and the mother in 1848. By occupation the former was a farmer. Until thirteen years of age Dr. Weschcke at- tended the schools of his native village, and then pursued his studies for a time in the gymnasium at Nordhausen. Subsequently he entered the University of Berlin, where he spent one year and a half and then en- tered the medical college at Greifwald, where he graduated in the spring of 1856. For one year he then served in the Prussian army. In i860 he bade adieu to friends and native land, and sailed for New Orleans, whence he came to St. Paul, Minnesota, but after a short time returned to the Crescent City, where he opened an office and engaged in the practice of his profession until the Indian troubles in Minnesota in 1862. He was then appointed as acting assistant sur- geon of the United States army for the troops engaged in the Indian troubles, and acceptably filled that position until 1864, when the troops were withdrawn from Min- nesota, and he resigned his position. Dr. Weschcke came to New Ulm in i860, where he opened a drugstore, in 1866, the pioneer store of the kind in the place. In 1 868 he sold that store and went to California, where he remained but three months. Returning to New Ulm he again purchased the drug business and conducted it until 1889, when he sold out to A. J. Eck- stein and retired from business. He still practices to a limited extent in the families of old friends and customers, and is a stock- holder in the Citizens' Bank of New Ulm, one of the solid financial institutions of southwestern Minnesota. In 1S63, Dr. Weschcke led to the marriage altar Miss Harriet Gaeger, of New Ulm, who was born in Prussia, and brought by her parents to America when a child. To this worthy couple have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters, namely: Emil, now SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 239 a practicing physician of California; Meta, wife of J. Croue, of New Ulin; Charles, a druggist of Springfield, Minnesota; and Herta, Lucy, Erna and Ernest, — all at home. On local matters the Doctor votes inde- pendently, supporting the man whom he thinks will best fill the position, and for a number of j'ears faithfully served both as a member of the school board and city coun- cil. In 1878 he was first elected mayor of New Ulm, and in the spring of 1896 was elected to the same position; so that he is now filling his sixth term in that office. His administration of the duties of the office is characterized by an enlightened policy, which is well calculated to advance the in- terests of the city, and it is needless to say that he has given the best satisfaction, as his long retention plainly indicates the same. He is genial and affable in manner and his friends throughout the county are many. In 1887 he erected his substantial brick resi- dence on German street in one of the best districts of the city, and it commands a fine view of the surrounding picturesque scenery. at 'ILLIAM KOCH, treasurer of the New Ulm Roller Mill Company, finds an appropriate place in the history of those men of business and enterprise in Brown county, whose force of character, whose sterling integrity, whose fortitude amid discouragements, whose good sense in the management of complicated affairs and marked success in establishing large industries and bringing to completion great schemes of trade and profit, have contributed in an eminent degree to the de- velopment of the vast resources of south- western Minnesota. His career has not been helped by accident or luck, or wealth, or familj', or powerful friends. He is, in its broadest sense, a self-made man, being both the architect and builder of his own fortune. Mr. Koch was born in 1845, in Anhalt, Germany, where he was principally reared and educated, completing his literary studies at a gymnasium. He began his business career as a clerk in a store in his native land, which position he filled for three years, or until he had reached the age of twenty-two. In 1868 he left the father- land, crossing the Atlantic to New York city, whence he came to Minnesota. The first seven years he was employed in the county offices, and then entered an insur- ance office at New Ulm, Minnesota. Since 1880 Mr. Koch has been con- nected with the milling interests of that city, having in that year, in company with C. G. Pahl, C. M. Schmidt and George Schmidt, purchased the Empire Mills, and the firm successfully operated the mill for fifteen years. The present company was incorporated in 1895, at which time the New Ulm Mill was bought, and both mills are now under the manage- ment of the New Ulm Roller Mill Com- pany, which was the name assumed. The officers are George Schmidt, president; Charles L. Roos, secretary; and William Koch, treasurer. The mills are among the best equipped in southwestern Minnesota, supplied with modern improved machinery, and have a capacity of seven hundred bar- rels per day. The wheat used is raised in Minnesota and North and South Dakota, and the product, which is of superior quali- ty, supplies a good local trade, but the greater part of the output is shipped to England, Ireland and Scotland. The mills 240 MEMORIAL RECORD OF are conveniently located near the tracks of the Northwestern Railroad, thus affording quick transportation to eastern points, and in the different departments employ from thirty-five to forty men. They also do all their own coopering. Besides his milling interests, Mr. Koch is a stockholder of the Brown County Bank, of New Ulm, and owns some valuable real estate, including his pleasant residence on German street. He has also been called upon to fill several responsible positions of honor and trust, and it is needless to say that the duties of the same were ever promptly and faithfully discharged. He is a member of A. O. U. W. and also of the Turner society of New Ulm. In 1873 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Koch and Miss Emma Wagner, of New Ulm, a daughter of Charles Wagner, one of the old and highly respected citizens of that place. To them have been born five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters, namely: Ida, wife of Robert Sherer, of New Ulm; Henry, Robert, Hildan and Elsie. >-T*OHN McCABE is a leading citizen ^ of St. Peter, prominent in business, (% J political and social circles, and his sterling worth and genial manner have gained him the respect and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances. Carlisle has said that biography yields to no other subject in point of interest and profit, and the life record of Mr. McCabe contains val- uable lessons, showing what may be accom- plished through consecutive endeavor along the lines of honorable business dealing. Mr. McCabe was born in Fairfield coun- ty, Connecticut, June 26, 1850, a son of Patrick and Johanna McCabe, both of whom were natives of Ireland, whence they emi- grated to America in early life. The father followed farming in New York for a number of years, and afterward removed to Cleve- land, Minnesota, where he died in 1884, and where his wife still resides. In their family were but two living children: Katie, who now makes her home in Cleveland, Minnesota; and John, of this biographical mention. The latter spent the greater part of his youth in western New York, assisting his father in the cultivation and development of the farm and acquiring his education in the public school. He came with his parents to Minnesota in 1867, and in 1869 began learning the trade of brick-laying in St. Peter, under the direction of W. T. Clark, and continued to follow that pursuit until 1872. He then began contracting and building, and for many years did an e.xcel- lent business along that line. He also engaged in plastering, and his trade not only came from St. Peter but extended largely throughout Nicollet county. After carrying on business for a time alone he formed a partnership with C. Rinkel, under the firm name of Rinkel & McCabe. For many years they were known as the leading contractors of St. Peter, and erected many of the finest dwellings, business. houses and churches in the town, as well as a number of buildings in other towns. Their excellent workmanship and the faithfulness with which they performed their part of the contract enabled them to command a large and profitable business. Mr. McCabe married Miss Margaret, daughter of Daniel Moriarty, of Lesueur county. They have five living children, — three sons and two daughters: Ida, Aaron, Margie, Raymond and Roy. Their home SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 241 is one of the substantial residences of the city, and for the hospitality there it is justly celebrated. Mr. McCabe is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a stalwart supporter of the Democratic party, and on that ticket has been elected to public office. He served for two and a half years as a member of the city council, and was on several important committees. On the 20th of July, 1896, he was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland to the position of postmaster of St. Peter, and in August entered upon the discharge of his duties, since which time he has capably served in that position, and his courteous and obliging manner makes him a popular official. He and his family are consistent members of the Catholic church. BREDERICK FIERO, one of the representative farmers of Nobles county, Minnesota, was one of the "boys in blue " who rendered this country valiant service during the '60s, and the record of his life both as a soldier and citizen should be given place in the county annals. It was in Ulster county. New York, Oc- tober 16, 1838, that Frederick Fiero was ushered i;ito life, and it was in that state that his boyhood and youth were spent. His parents were Peter P. and Catharine (Carl) Fiero, the former of German origin, his grandmother Fiero having been born in the old country. The Fieros, however, have lived in New York for many years. Peter P. Fiero was born in that state in 1800, resided there until 1856, and that year came west and located in Wisconsin, where he died in 1858. His widow' died in 1870, in Winneshiek county, Iowa. They had eight children, of whom two sons and two daughters are now living. The subject of our sketch accompanied his parents to Wisconsin in 1856 and settled with them in Rock county, where he was engaged in the quiet pursuits of the farm at the time civil war was inaugurated. Au- gust 15, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the Thirty-third Wisconsin Regiment, the fortunes of which he shared during the ne.xt three years, enduring the hardships of war with the characteristic bravery of the Union soldier and never leaving his post of duty till the sanguinary struggle was ended. At the siege of Vicksburghe was under General Sherman and on Red river he was in Gen- eral Banks' command, these being the most important engagements in which he partici- pated. The war over, he was honorably discharged at Madison, Wisconsin, in Au- gust, 1865, and the year following he spent in that state. In r866 Mr. Fiero moved to Iowa and located in Winneshiek county, where he continued to reside four years, carrying on farming. From there he came to Nobles county, Minnesota, and took a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres on section 14, Indian Lake township, where he has maintained his residence and given his attention to general farming since 1870. Mr. Fiero was married at Worthington, Minnesota, in 1S79, to Miss Emma Robert- son, a native of Canada, born in 1863, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of three children, two sons and a daugh- ter, — Bertha J., now sixteen years of age; Walter J., seven; and Glenn, four. Mr. Fiero has served his school district as school director and treasurer for many 242 MEMORIAL RECORD OF years, and has always taken a laudable in- terest in ail that pertains to the good of his community. His political affiliations are with the Republican party, and he is the recipient of a pension from the government for his services in the late war. Thus briefly is outlined the history of one whose life has been marked with ear- nest endeavor and fair success and who en- joys the high esteem of his fellow citizens. ''|~' ENRY J. LUDCIkE, dealer in wall l'^^ paper, paints, picture frames and \ . r \\indow shades in St. Peter, is one of the progressive and successful merchants in his line in Nicollet county. He was born in the city of Berlin, Germany, July II, 1842, and is a son of Anton and Wilhelmina Ludcke, who also were natives of Germany, whence they came to America in 1853. Landing at New York city, they made their way direct to Chicago, where the following year was passed. In the spring they came to Nicollet count)-, locating in the town of Travis. Indians were then far more numerous than the white settlers, a fact which well indicates the undeveloped condition of this section of the state. After a short time they left Travis, taking up their residence in St. Peter, where the father car- ried on blacksmithing. He is now living retired, in the eightieth year of his age. His wife died in St. Peter, in 1865. Henry J. Ludcke was a lad of eleven years when with his parents he crossed the Atlantic. His education, which was begun in the schools of Berlin, was completed by study in the schools of Chicago, Illinois. He early received training in the black- smith shop and for some time assisted his father at that work. At length the time came to leave home, and he went to Min- neapolis, where he secured employment as clerk in the store of Allen & Coinstock, dry- goods merchants, with whom he remained for seven years, a most trusted and faithful employee. On the expiration of that period Mr. Ludcke returned to St. Peter, and entered the general store of Amundson & Anderson, where he continued for several years. He then accepted the position of manager of the furniture factory owned and operated by William Kline, of St. Peter, continuing in control of that establishment for eight years. His long continued service with each com- pany with which he has been connected well indicates his fidelity to their interests and the trust reposed in him. In 1883 he em- barked in business on his own account, opening his present store, where he carries a large and well assorted stock of wall pa- per, paints, picture frames and window shades. In connection with this enterprise he takes contracts for papering, painting and furnishing houses, and during the busy season employs six men. He has an excel- lent business block, two stories in height, containing a fine large room, which he built and fitted up especially for his business. The building is twenty-two by eighty-five feet, and was erected in 1888. The upper story is occupied by his family. In 1864 Mr. Ludcke was united in mar- riage with Miss Annie Kline, daughter of Matthew Kline, one of the prominent mer- chants and furniture manufacturers of St. Peter. She was born in German), and came to America with her parents during her early girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Ludcke have ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely: Herman, an artist; Tony, who is engaged in the millinery busi- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 243 ness in Minneapolis; Emma, wife of Henry Amman, of Spokane, Washington; Minnie, wife of Dr. Williams, a dentist of St. Peter; Henry J., Jr., with his father; Bertha, who is engaged in teaching; William, Lulu, An- nie and George. Mr. Ludcke is a member of Nicollet Lodge, No. 29, L O. O. F. ; Carl Schurz Lodge, No. 15, Sons of Hermann, and the A. O. U. W. During the time of the In- dian troubles in Minnesota he went to New Ulm to assist in the defense of that place, which was suffering greatly at the hands of the savages. 'He is a broad-minded, intel- ligent man, thoroughly reliable in business and honorable in private life; and he and his family occupy a leading place in the social circles of St. Peter. OLE P. STEEN. — Among the more prominent farmers of Clinton town- ship, Rock county, is the subject of this biography, whose name stands high on the military records of the last war, as well as in the annals of Minne- sota. By perseverance and industry in this locality he has gained a foothold in the world. He is a self-made man, having reached his present prosperous condition by his continual struggles from youth up to the present writing. A native of Norway, Mr. Steen was born January 14, 1832, and was reared in that country, where he also learned the black- smith's trade under the guidance of his fa- ther, Peter O. Steen. In the spring of 1854 he took passage upon a sailing vessel bound for America, and about three months were consumed in making the trip across the Atlantic. On his arrival at Quebec he at once proceeded to Buffalo, New York, thence to Chicago, Milwaukee, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and on to Waupun, that state, where he worked for a few days on a farm, after which he was employed at his trade there for two years. The following year was passed at Fox Lake, Wisconsin, and when Fort Sumter was fired upon he was working at his trade in Juneau county, that state. In May, 1861, Mr. Steen enlisted in Company D, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, but during the last two years of the war was a member of a cavalry com- pany. Among the important engagements in which he participated were those of New Orleans, April 25, 1862; Grand Gulf, May 26, 1862; Baton Rouge, August 5, 1862; Camp Bislan, April 12 and 13, 1863; Port Hudson, May 27, 1863; and Clinton, Lou- isiana, June 3, 1863. He received an hon- orable discharge from the service October 15, 1865, after four and a half years passed upon southern battle-fields. On again coming north, Mr. Steen lo- cated in Adams county, Wisconsin, and in company with two other gentlemen erected a gristmill, but after operating it for a year sold out his interest and returned to Juneau county, where he worked at his trade until June, 1870, when he came to Rock county, Minnesota. The following month he se- cured his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 32, Clinton township, and has since devoted his attention to its development and cultivation. He has erected comfortable buildings and made many excellent improvements upon his place, which now ranks among the best in the locality. On the lOth of May, 1864, in Adams county, Wisconsin, was celebrated the mar- riage of Mr. Steen and Miss Betsey Berge, 244 MEMORIAL RECORD OF who was born in Norway, November 23, 1843, ^iid came to America in 1850 with her parents, Christopher C. Berge and wife. Six children have been born to them, who are still living, namely: Peter C. ; Hilda A., now the wife of Peter Boyson; Josephine C. , Charles O., George A. and Oscar B. ; and they also lost one in infancy. The parents arc both members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Steen takes an active interest in political affairs, supporting the Republican party; has been a member of the Repub- lican central committee for several years; and was a delegate to the state convention at St. Paul when Governor Knute Nelson was nominated. He has been called upon to fill a number of township offices, includ- ing that of treasurer of Clinton township, which he held for four terms. He also held the position of postmaster of Arcade, xAdams county, Wisconsin, under President Johnson's administration. Socially, he is connected with John A. Dix Post, G. A. YL., of Luverne, Minnesota. 'OHN B. SHURR, one of the pro- gressive German-American citizens 7 A I of Rock county, now has an excel- lent farm of four hundred and eighty acres on section 34, Kanaranzi township. He is one of the honored pioneers of this section, having located upon his present farm in 1871, and by the exercise of his res- olute will and persevering industry has built up one of the most creditable homesteads. On his arrival he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, over which the plowshare had not passed, and in due time effected the improvements necessary to the complete country home, and now forms one of the pleasing features in the landscape of that section. Mr. Shurr comes from over the sea, his birth having occurred in Wurtemberg, Ger- many, November 3, 1839, and is next to the youngest in the family of nine children born to John and Barbara Shurr, who passed their entire lives in the Fatherland. When a little over fourteen years of age, our subject bade good-by to home and friends and sailed for the new world. On his ar- rival in this country he went to Oneida county. New York, where he worked on a farm for nearly twelve years. ' In that county, on the 9th of March, 1865, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Shurr and Miss Hattie Cackett, a native of Oneida county, born April 14, 1846, and they have become the parents of nine chil- dren: Agnes, now the wife of Charles Car- penter; Carleton, Lilly, Nettie, Fred, George, Frank, Edward and Grace. After his marriage, Mr. Shurr continued to reside in Oneida county, New York, un- til 1869, in the spring of which year he emi- grated to Waseca county, Minnesota, where he remained until the following spring. After a year then passed in Lyon county, Iowa, he came to his present farm on sec- tion 34, Kanaranzi township, Rock county, where he has since devoted his time to agri- cultural pursuits with most satisfactory re- sults. Here Mr. Shurr has capably served as justice of the peace and a member of the township board, and with his family takes an active part in all local affairs. His straightforward methods of doing business and his value as a member of the community have gained for him a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, who have watched his career with interest and are not slow to ac- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 245 knowledge that he is deserving of all the good that has befallen him. Both himself and wife are members in good standing of the Congregational church and take an act- ive interest in its work. ^V^ I-^. TRUMAN R. HUMPHREY, I B who resides in a pleasant rural /^^J home not far from the town of Sleepy Eye, Brown county, Min- nesota, is one of the venerable pioneer citi- zens of this county. He landed in Minne- sota in 1859 and for the past thirty-two years has been at his present location. He comes from titled English ancestry. For many years, however, his people have been residents of America, have figured in the wars of this country and in various ways have been prominently identified with its interests. The Doctor is thus a fit subject for biographical honors, and we take pleas- ure in reviewing briefly his life history in this work. Truman R. Humphrey is a native of Chittenden county, Vermont, and was born December 3, 18 13. His father, William Humphrey, was also of New England birth, he having been ushered into life in the town of Surry, New Hampshire, a son of James Humphrey, who came from England to this country at the age of fifteen years, a'ccom- panying an older brother to the New World and landing here in the year 1775. Their settlement was in Rhode Island, and James was married in Providence, that state, to Miss Amy Harding, who was of Welsh de- scent and a native of Providence. In Eng- land the Humphreys were a titled and dis- tinguished family, and in America the high standing and integrity of the family has ever been maintained. James Humphrey served all through the Revolutionary war, in which he was noted for his patriotism and bravery, and after the war he passed the rest of his life in New England, his death occuring in Richmond, Vermont. His son William was reared in New Hampshire, followed the quiet pursuits of the farm, and during the war of 18 1 2 spent three years in the service of his country, going out as a private and at the time of his discharge holding the rank of corporal. For his life companion he wedded Miss Betsey Clausen, who was born and reared in Richmond, Vermont, daugh- ter of Josiah Clausen, the Clausens being of Scotch descent. After their marriage they settled on a farm near Richmond, where they lived till death. They were the par- ents of twelve children, ten of whom reached maturity, namely: Diantha, who was a mute; Lucy and Laura, twins; Truman R., whose name heads this article; Caroline; William, who died in Pennsylvania; Amy; Alonzo, deceased; Nancy and Jesse. Truman R. was reared and educated in Richmond, Vermont, and after leaving school entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of wagon and plow maker. Sub- sequently he obtained a position with the firm of Prouty & Mears, of Boston, in whose employ he remained fifteen months, and during that time made a plow for them that took a premium at the Harlem fair in New York, against thirty others in competi- tion. But, although he had mastered his trade, he was not satisfied to spend his life at work at it, and turned his attention to the medical profession. He began his med- ical studies under the tutorship of Dr. Smith, a well-known and successful physician of Boston, and later studied under Dr. Stand- ish, of Vermont. He first began the prac- 24C MEMORIAL RECORD OF tice of his profession at Stoughton, Massa- chusetts, where he was ver}' successful, and afterward he practiced at Koston and in the towns of Meredith and Thornton, in New Hanipsiiire, remaining at the hist named place until 1S59, when he came west to Minnesota. As a physician he was hoth successful and popular, and had a large practice in the east, and after coming west he continued his practice to some extent for several years, giving much of his attention, however, to other interests. His first loca- tion in Minnesota was near Hokah, where he engaged in the stock business and farm- ing. In 1864 he came with the Benham Brothers, Frederick and Eli, now deceased, to Brown county and took a claim near the little town of Sleepy Eye. Shortly after- ward he came to his present farm, which had recently been deserted by a settler, Seth Hiushaw, who was killed by the Indi- ans. Here he found a little cabin, a good spring of water and some timber, and here he planted his stakes and has continued to abide. As the years came and went he was prospered in his undertakings and acquired more land, and now he is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, has a comfortable home, large barn and modern conveniences. Among his farm in- terests is a dairy, which is a profitable busi- ness in this locality. Being now well ad- vanced in years himself, his son Ed carries on the farming operations and attends to most of the business of the same. Dr. Humphrey has been twice married. His first wife, itce Elizabeth Merrill, he wed- ded in Thornton, New Hampshire, she be- ing a native of that town and a daughter of William S. Merrill. After only two and a half years of happy married life their union was severed by her untimely death. The Doctor's second marriage also took place in Thornton. There in 1854 he married Miss Mary J. Sawyer, an amiable and cultured lady who was born and reared in Boston, daughter of Sylvestrus and Sarah (Clark) Sawyer. Bj' this union he had three sons, — Truman A., who resides in this township; William R., who died at i" months of age; and Ed, who has charge of the home farm. Ed Humphrey is one of the prominent young men of his locality, and is now serv- ing his third term as chairman of the town- ship board. He was born in Hokah, Min- nesota, in 1 86 1, and has lived in Brown county since he was three years old, having been reared and educated here. He was married in 188S to Miss Emily Hernaman, a native of Minnesota and a daughter of John Hernaman, now of Sleepy Eye. They have one son, Lloyd. Mr. Ed Humphrey maintains fraternal relation with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically, Dr. Humphrey has always given his vote and influence to the Demo- cratic party, and in local affairs he has al- ways taken an active and enthusiastic inter- est, serving in some official capacities. While in New Hampshire he was elected clerk of the town of Thornton. He was appointed by Governor Dinsmore as justice of peace for five years, and again appointed justice of the quorum, serving this term, and was reappointed and served about half of the third term. He was nearly always a delegate of his party to the county, sena- torial and state conventions. For years he served as countj' coroner and he has also been a justice of the peace. Religious!}-, like his honored father before him, he is a believer in universal salvation. Although having passed his eighty-third milestone, he bears his years lightly, and is well preserved SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 247 both mentally ami physicallj-; ami in his old age he enjoys that respect and esteem which are his due. 5_^^ANIEL B. COLLINS, M. D., who ■ I is engaged in the practice of medi- (^^^J cine and surgery in St. Peter, is a native of the neighboring state of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred in Albion, Dane county, on the 24th of April, 1849. His father, Dr. Benjamin F. Collins, was a native of New York and a graduate of Castleton Medical College. He began the practice of medicine in Wisconsin, in 1841, and continued an active and successful mem- ber of the profession in that state until his death, which occurred in 1864. His father was Thomas Collins, of Scotch and Irish lineage. The mother of our subject, Mrs. Tacy A. Collins, was a daughter of Daniel Babcock, of New York, and her birth oc- curred in the Empire state. The Doctor spent his boyhood days in his parents' home in W^isconsin, and began his education in the public schools of Milton, after which he entered Milton College. His choice of a life work fell upon the medical profession, and in 1868 he began prepara- tions for future practice by reading medicine under the direction of Dr. J. E. Coakley, of Milton, Subsequently he continued his studies in Janesville, and afterward entered Rush Medical College, of Chicago, where he was graduated on the 6th of February, 1 87 r . He then came to St. Peter, opened an office, and has since been one of the representative members of the profession in southwestern Minnesota. His practice is large and lucra- tive and attests his superior skill. He has a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the science of medicine, and its application to the needs of humanit}', and his profes- sional brethren, as well as the public, attest his high ability in his chosen calling. In November, 1895, was consummated the marriage of Dr. Collins and Miss Fred A. Hiilard, of Chicago. She was born in Ohio, and during her early girlhood removed with her parents to Wisconsin. The Doctor is a member of the Minnesota Valley Med- ical Society', the Nicollet County Medical Society, and is serving on the State Lunac)' Commission, while for the past four years he has been a member of the pension board of e.xaminers. He is a man of pleasant, genial nature, courteous in manner, and the sterling qualities of his character have won him high regard. OLFGANG SCHMID.— To say of him whose name heads this sketch that he has risen unaided from comparative obscuritj' to rank among the most prosperous business men of southwestern Minnesota, is a statement that seems trite to those familiar with his life; yet it is but just to say in a history that will descend to future generations that his busi- ness record has been one that any man would be proud to possess. Beginning at the very bottom round of the ladder, he has advanced steadily step by step until he is now occupying a position of prominence and trust reached by very few men. He is the senior member of the well-known lumber and hardware firm of Schmid & Lehrer, and alone conducts an extensive general store at Springfield. Mr. Schmid is a native of Germany, born in Bavaria, July 18, 1S47, and is a son of Clemens and Anna (Leibel) Schmid, whose births occurred in the same country, whence 2-48 MEMORIAL RECORD OF they brought their family to the United States in 1868. On landinj; at New York they came at once to Brown county, Minne- sota, where the father engaged in farming until 1894, since which tiine he has lived retired in Springfield, fn the family were nine children, five sons and four daughters, of whom eight are still living, and all make their home in Brown county. The education of our subject was ob- tained in the common schools of his native land, which he attended until seventeen years of age, and for the following three years worked upon a farm there. He then accompanied the family to America, and has since resided in Brown county, Minnesota. At the age of twenty-two he began farming on his own account on homestead land, and continued successfully to follow agricultural pursuits until coming to Springfield in 1880. He started in the saloon business in 1883. Forming a partnership with Michael Lehrer, he embarked in the lumber and hardware business under the firm name of Schmid & Lehrer, and they secured a large and profit- able trade almost from the start. In 1893 Mr. Schmid established his general store, occupying a building, of which he is owner, only one door from his hardware store and in the very heart of the business center of Springfield. It faces on two of the princi- pal streets of the town. His stock is well selected, carrying a full and complete line of dry goods, boots, shoes and clothing, and he has already built up an excellent trade. Through his entire business career he has been looked upon as a model of integrity and honor, never making an engagement that he has not fulfilled, and standing to-day an example of what determination and force, combined with the highest degree of busi- ness integrity, can accomplish for a man of natural ability and strength of character. He is respected by the community at large and honored by his business associates. In 1870 Mr. Schmid was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth Wartha, also a native of the fatherland, coming to the United States when very young. Seven children bless their union, — five sons and two daughters, — namely: Randolph C, Al- fred G., Louisa M., Katie, Otto ]., \\'illiam and Albert. In his political affiliations Mr. Schmid is a Democrat, and has also been a valued member of the village board. Social!}', he belongs to Springfield Lodge, No. 225, I. O. O. F., and A. O. U. W. Lodge, No. 102. Religiously, the family are members of the Catholic church. HEODORE KNOLL is a dealer in general merchandise and is one of the pioneer merchants of St. Peter. Seeking a home in America when a young man he has here worked his way upward; taking advantage of opportune moments for advancement, he has steadily progressed until he has reached a leading place among the prominent and substantial residents of Nicollet count)'. Mr._ Knoll was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, April 21, 1829, a son of George and Mary (Schrader) Knoll. His father was a farmer and died in early manhood in his nati\e land. In 1S56 the mother came with her family to the United States, loca- ting in Huron county, Ohio, where her death occurred in 1892. Theodore Knoll is the eldest in the fam- ily of five children, three sons and two daughters. The latter are now deceased, and one brother died in Mecklenburg, Ger- Cr-tyl^^yi^ . T^M^^ A^. 9^,^^^:da^^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 249 many, while the surviving brother of our subject makes his home in IIHnois. Mr. Knoll acquired a fair education in the schools of his native land and worked on the home farm until 1854, when he determined to try his fortune in America, sailing for Quebec, Canada. From that city he went to Buffalo, New York, where he spent three years, after which he removed to Hardin county, Illinois. He bought a timber farm there and clearing the land developed it into rich and fertile fields during his thirteen years' residence thereon. In 1 87 1 he removed to St. Peter, Minne- sota, where he opened a saloon. Soon after he added a stock of groceries and dry goods, and in a small frame building opened a general store. Success has attended his efforts and in 1S86 he erected a fine brick block, forty by seventy-two feet and two stories in height. This is stocked with an excellent grade of general merchandise of varied assortment to meet the many tastes, and in an addition which he built to his store he conducts a saloon. He carries dry goods, groceries, queensware, vegetables, flour and fruit, — and in fact everything found in a first-class establishment of the kind can be found there. He is a stockholder in and one of the directors of the First National Bank of St. Peter. In 1856 Mr. Knoll was united in mar- riage to Miss Minnie Khoal, of Buffalo, New York, a native of Germany. They have two children : Minnie, wife of Paul Heaceki ; and Theodore, Jr., who is assisting his father in the store. In 1896 Mr. Knoll erected a fine brick residence near his place of business and owns other good city prop- erty. Socially, Jie is a member of St. Peter Lodge, No. 12, I. O. O. F. He came to America without capital, save a pair of will- 16 ing hands and a strong determination to succeed, and these have been important fac- tors in his prosperity. Of an industrious nature, he has worked steadily on, and by perseverance and energy has overcome the obstacles in his path and pushed forward to the goal of success. He is to-day recog- nized as one of the leading business men of St. Peter, and he has had no reason to re- gret the determination which resulted in his emigration to America more than forty years BENJAMIN F. JOHNSON. — Deeds are thoughts crystallized, and ac- cording to their brilliancy do we judge the worth of a man to the country which produced him, and in "his works we expect to find a true index to his character. The study of the life of the representative American never fails to offer much of pleasing interest and valuable in- struction, developing a peculiar mastering of expedients which has entailed most wonder- ful results. The subject of this review is a worthy representative of that type of Ameri- can character and of that progressive spirit which promotes public good in advancing individual prosperity and conserving popu- lar interests. Mr. Johnson stands as dis- tinctix'ely one of the most alert and pro- gressive business men of the city of Worth- ington, and that he is a representative citizen is shown by the fact that he has been so frequentl}' called to positions of public trust by the vote of the people. Mr. Johnson is a native of Boston, Mas- sachusetts, born February 28, 1818. His father, Daniel B. Johnson, was born in Hardwick, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was of English descent. By trade he was 250 MEMORIAL RECORD OF a mason and followed contracting and build- ing for many years in Boston. L,ater he went to the south and died of yellow fever in Mobile, Alabama. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Barrett and was born in Middlesex count}', Massachusetts, in October, 1788. of English parentage. Her death occurred in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1867. They were the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter, but the subject of this review is the onl}' one now living. His sister died in W'orthington in 1892. Mr. Johnson was educated in the schools of his native city and at the age of seven- teen began learning the trade of machinist, following the same for more than four 3-ears. On attaining his majority he removed to the west, making the journey b}- wagon and spending fifty-one days on the road between Boston and the Mississippi river. He first located near Rock Island, Illinois, where he engaged in farming for two years, and in the spring of 1841 went to the pineries of Wisconsin in the Black river country. For eleven years he followed lumbering and then resumed agricultural pursuits, to which he devoted his energies for fifteen years in Wisconsin. His sterling worth and many excellent qualities as a citizen were noted by his fellow townsmen, and he was by them called to public office, servmg for fifteen years as justice of the peace in Jackson county and as sheriff of the county in 1864-5. He also filled all the township offices with the exception of that of con- stable, and his fidelity to dutj' was well at- tested by his election to these various posi- tions. In the spring of 1867 Mr. Johnson re- moved to Scott county, Iowa, where he fol- lowed farming for si.x years, and during that time he served as justice of the peace, as deputy sheriff and in the school offices. Since 1872 he has been a resident of Nobles county, locating here when the region was a frontier district, and the greater part of the land was still in possession of the gov- ernment. Mr. Johnson secured a claim in Seward township, on which he followed farming for nine years, when his duties of citizenship caused him to lay aside his pri- vate business cares and perform the labors of public office. In the fall of 1881 he was elected register of deeds of Nobles county and served in that capacity for seven years, after which he acted as deputy- for sixteen months. During his service he made the first set of abstract books in the county. In 1 890 he was appointed postmaster of \\'orth- ington and administered the affairs of that of- fice in a most satisfactory manner for twenty- one months, when he was compelled to re- sign on account of failing health. He has since practicall}' lived retired, giving his at- tention to the supervision of his property interests, which include a valuable farm of two hundred acres in Worthington township. He has also served as justice of the peace. His official record is without a blemish. Faithful to his duty at all times he so con- ducted the affairs of the offices he has held as to merit the highest commendation of all. Mr. Johnson was married in 1852 to Mrs. Sarah Redfield, and they had six children, two sons and four daughters, of whom one son and two daughters are yet living. During the civil war he left his family and went forth in the defense of the old flag and the cause it represented, joining the gallant "boys in blue" of Company G, Tenth Wisconsin Infantry. He enlisted Sep- tember 7, 1 86 1, and served eighteen months, when ill health necessitated his resignation SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 251 and he was honorably discharged with the rank of first lieutenant. During his services he participated in the battles of Stone River and Perryville, and at the latter one-half of his regiment were either killed or wounded. Mr. Johnson now continues his connection with his old army comrades through his as- sociation with Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity and is the only one in the county who has taken the council of degrees of the order. He cast his first presidential vote for \\'illiani Henry Harrison and since the or- ganization of the Republican party has been one of its stanch supporters and a recog- nised leader in its ranks in Nobles county. His life has been characterized by the ut- most faithfulness to all the duties of both public and private life, and now in an hon- ored retirement from labor he is worthily enjoying the fruits of his former toil. £^>^IDNEY \V. DAVIS is numbered •^^^^ among the honored pioneer settlers K,^^y of Lesueur county, Minnesota. He has not only been an eye witness of its growth and development but has also taken an active part in its progress and has been a leading factor in the promotion of its material interests. His name is inseparably linked with its history, and in this volume he well deserves prominent mention. Mr. Davis was born in Lower Canada, sixty miles from Montreal, June 1 1, 1825, a son of Orange R. and Adelaide (Barlow) Davis, who were also natives of Lower Canada. When our subject was eight years of age his parents removed to New York, spending the winter of 1S37-8 at Sackett's Harbor. In 1839 they emigrated to Pike county, Illinois, locating on a farm three miles from Pittsfield, the county seat. In 1853 the father came to Lesueur county, where the following spring he was joined by his family. They settled on the shore of Lake Emily, two miles east of St. Peter, the first to make a claim in that localit}-. Indians were numerous in the neighborhood, far outnumbering the white people, and the famil}', situated thus on the extreme frontier, had to endure all the hardships and priva- tions of pioneer life. The father improved one hundred and sixty acres of land and carried on general farming until 1880, when he removed to St. Peter. His death oc- curred in 1 88 1, in his eighty-second year. His wife died in 1887, in her eighty-fifth year. The}' were well known people of the county, respected by all. Sidney W. Davis is the second of their eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. All reached ma- ture years and seven are now living, namely: Ebenezer R. ; Isaac; Henry C. ; Louisa, wife of Alex. Pettis; Sarah, wife of Solomon H. Pettis, of Lesueur county; Caroline, wife of John Hartew, of Aberdeen, South Dakota; and Harriet, widow of John L. Pettis. Sidney W. Davis spent the greater part of his school life in Pike county, Illinois, being educated in the primitive schools of that period. He assisted in the cultivation of the home farm until he had attained his majority, when he began farming on his own account in Pike county. He was married in 1846 to Miss Mary O. Pettis, of that county, a daughter of Stephen Pettis. They lived a happy married life until July, 185 1, when Mrs. Davis died of cholera, leaving two children: Lillian, now the wife of Will- iam McOuat, of Lesueur county; and Hon. C. R. Davis, a prominent attorne}' of St. Peter. In 1853 Mr. Davis came to Minnesota, 252 MEMORIAL RECORD OF settling in Lesueur county. He pre-empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres two miles east of Kasota, and with characteristic energy began the development of his land. For several years he successfully carried on general farming and stock-raising, and in 1857 removed to St. Peter, where he opened a meat market. His business steadily in- creased until it had assumed extensive pro- portions. He not only had a large general trade, but also had a contract to furnish the meat for the State Hospital for the insane for a period of ten years, supplying about nineteen thousand pounds per month. In addition to conducting his store he was also largely engaged in buying and shipping live stock, sending many car-loads of hogs and cattle to Chicago annually. When the time of his contract with the State Hospital had expired he sold his market and devoted his energies alone to tlie live-stock business, as a member of the firm of Pettis & Davis, his partner being Alva Pettis, and they being the largest live-stock dealers in the Minnesota valley. He also owns two hundred acres of valuable land, which he rents. He is a man of excellent business and executive ability, possessed of sound judgment, keen discrim- ination and foresight. His efforts in conse- quence have been crowned with success, and although in earlier years he experienced the trials of pioneer life in Lesueur county he is now one of the substantial citizens of St. Peter. Mr. Da\'is was again married in 1875, his second union being with Mrs. Lydia Cole, widow of Sylvanus Cole. They have in St. Peter a comfortable and commodious residence in the midst of pleasant surround- ings. Mr. Davis served one term as county commissioner of Lesueur county, and w'as assessor for a number of years. In politics he is a Republican, warmly supporting that party. He is also a prominent Mason, be- longing to both till' blue lodge and chapter of St. Peter. ^^^ILLIAM H. ROUNSEVILLE.— S H I ■^ man's reputation is the prop- ^jLJ erty of the world. The laws o{ nature forbid isolation. Every human being submits to the controlling in- fluence of others, or as a master spirit wields a power either for good or evil on the masses of mankind. There can be no im- propriety in justly scanning the acts of an}- man as they affect his public and business relations. If he is honest and eminent in his chosen field of Jabor investigation will brighten his fame and point out the path that others may follow with like success. From the ranks of the quiet, persevering yet prominent citizen — prominent on ac- count of what he has done in commercial circles — there is no one more deserving of mention in a volume of this character than William H. Rounseville, who is also one of the honored pioneers of Nicollet county. He was born October 2, 1840, in Tomp- kins county. New York, and is a son of Daniel and Arnj- (Lindsay) Rounseville. The birth of the father also occurred in the same state, while the paternal grandfather, Ebenezer Rounseville, was a native of Mass- achusetts and of I'rench descent. Our sub- ject was but thirteen }-ears of age when brought to Nicollet county, Minnesota, and in the public schools of St. Peter finished his literary education, which was begun in the Empire state. On laying aside his studies he assisted his father in the cultiva- tion and improvement of the home farm un- i til attaining his majority, when he started SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. iOO lie schools of St. Peter, being a student in the high school at that place. Subsequently he learned the printer's trade in the office of the St. Peter Tribune, where he applied himself diligently, thoroughly learning the business in all its departments and filling every position from "devil" to editor. Later he went to Minneapolis, where he was employed on the Minneapolis Journal and was afterward on the Minneapolis Gazette for a few years. On his return to St. Peter he established his present popular journal. In 1 89 1, Mr. Essler was united in mar- riage with Miss Minnie L. Stickney, daugh- ter of J. D. Stickney, of Potsdam, New York. Our subject is a son of Henry and Mary E. (Fostevin) Essler. who in i860 came to St. Peter, where the father estab- lished the St. Peter Foundry and continued his connection with that important industry for fourteen years. For five years he then operated a gristmill, at the end of which time he retired from active life. rCHAEL LEHRER, a member "{ the firm of Schmid & Lehrer, dealers in hardware and lumber of Springfield, is one of the na- tive sons of Brown county, his birth having occurred in the village of New Ulm, May 19, 1858. He is a son of Michael and Ann (Oswaldj Lehrer, both natives of Bavaria, Germany, whence they came to America in childhood. They were married in Chicago, and in 1854 came to Brown county, locat- ing near New Ulm, and afterward remov- ing to the village. The father died there in 1882, but the mother is still living and makes her home with the subject of this review. Michael Lehrer was educated in the public schools of New Ulm and pursued a commercial course at St. Paul, Minnesota. He entered upon his business career as a farmer and stock-raiser, and after following that dual occupation for some time went to Sleepy Eye, where he embarked in the hotel and saloon business. He conducted the leading hotel of the place, enjoyed a liberal patronage and was thus engaged for two years when he sold out. During that time he had made considerable money. Coming to Springfield he embarked in the hardware business and also opened a lumber-yard. He carries a large and well assorted stock of heavy and shelf hardware and tinware and in his lumber-yard has the requisite materials for putting up all kinds of frame buildings. He entered into partnership with Wolfgang Schmid, one of the sub- stantial and reliable business men of the town, who in connection with his interests with Mr. Lehrer is sole proprietor of a gen- eral store. Our subject owns a half inter- est in a hardware store in Viola, and is the owner of a good farm in Star township, Brown county, which is well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs. He also owns the fine brick store building, which is tsvo stories in height; of the Springfield House, which is the best hotel in the village; and a hand- some modern residence in Springfield; and he is also interested in the State Bank there. In 1882 Mr. Lehrer was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Clement Schmidt, and they have a family of nine children, — three sons and si.\ daugh- ters. His success in business enables him to supply his family with all of the comforts of life, and their hospitable home is the favorite resort with the people of Spring- field. Mr. Lehrer is a self-made man, hav- ing been the architect of his own fortunes. 256 MEMORIAL RECORD OF He started out without capital save a strong determination to succeed and has steadily worked his way upward, accumulating a handsome competence as the result of con- secutive effort and capable management. He is to-day numbered among the most prominent business men of this section of the county. >T^OHN A. JOHNSON, one of the lead- fl ing citizens of St. Peter, Minnesota, /•I is the junior member of the firm of Essler & Johnson, editors and pro- prietors of the St. Peter Herald, of which more e.xtended mention is made in the sketch of Mr. Essler. Our subject was born in the city which is still his home, July 28, 1861, and is the second son of Gustaf A. and Caroline C. (Hayden) Johnson, both natives of Sweden. In 1854 they emigrated to the United States and the same year set- tled in Nicollet county, Minnesota, taking up a claim, which the father improved and cultivated until his removal to St. Peter in 1859. In the public schools of St. Peter Mr. Johnson, of this review, acquired his educa- tion, completing his literary training in the high school of that place. On laying aside his studies he entered the employ of Mr. Henry Jones, with whom he remained for nine years; was later with D. C. Shepard, a railroad contractor on the Chicago & Great Western, and subsequently worked for the St. Paul & Dubuque railroad. In 1886 he formed his present partnership with H. J. Essler, and they are now editors and pro- prietors of the St. Peter Herald. He was married June i, 1894, to Miss i E. M. Preston, of St. Peter. Politically, Mr. Johnson is a stalwart Democrat, earnestly advocating the princi- ples of his party. He is outspoken and fearless in defense of what he believes to be right and is well posted on the leading topics of the day. He is an able and fluent writer, and as a journalist has met with a well-deserved success. In 1S91 he served as secretary of the Minnesota State Editorial Association and was its efficient president in 1893. For the past ten years he has been secretary of the Nicollet County Agricultural Society. EON. HIAL D. BALDWIN.— In the the legal profession, which em- braces some of the finest minds in the nation, it is difficult to win a name and place of prominence. Many as- pire to it. In commercial life one may start out on a more advanced plane than others. He may enter into a business al- ready established and carry it further for- ward, but in the legal profession one must commence at the beginning and work his way upward by ability, gaining his repu- tation and success by merit. If victory's laurel be placed upon his brow it is because he has led in the race. Judge Baldwin stands to-day in the front ranks of the legal profession in southwestern Minnesota, and is a member of the well known law firm of Baldwin, Harriott & Patterson, of Redwood Falls. The Judge was born near Auburn, Ca- yuga county, New York, July 6, 1827, and is a son of Horace and Ann (Baldwin) Bald- win, both of English descent. The father was born in Massachusetts, in 1795, was a farmer by occupation, as was also his father, John Baldwin, a native of the same state. In the county of his nativity our subject at- A SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 257 tended the district schools during his boy- hood, and later the Fulton Academy, after which he engaged in teaching for four years. During that time he began reading law un- der the able direction of Hon. George W. Miller, of Ira, New York. In 1855, Judge Baldwin emigrated west- ward, stopping first at Stoughton, Wiscon- sin, where he remained for three years, and in 1858 went to Wilton, Waseca county, Minnesota. The following spring he was admitted to the bar, and began practice in the district court at the latter place. Judge N. M. Donaldson presiding. There he con- tinued to reside until coming to Redwood Falls in the spring of 1871, the village at that time containing less than three hundred inhabitants. He at once opened a law of- fice, and in connection with his practice took up the occupation of farming, a pursuit in which he delights. In partnership with his son, he owns an e.xcellent farm of six hun- dred acres of choice land under a high state of cultivation, and stocked with a good grade of Polled Angus and Durham cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, which bring the highest market prices. In connection with his other interests, he is also a director in the Redwood County Bank. In 1852 Judge Baldwin was united in marriage with Miss Angeline O. Marvin, of Lysander, Onondaga county. New York, and a daughter of Stephen Marvin. Four chil- dren were born to them: Ann E., now the widow of C. T. Ward; Horace S. , an agri- culturist; Herbert A., cashier of the Red- wood County Bank, of Redwood Falls; and Inez E., wife of C. A. Luscher, of the firm of Kuenzli & Luscher, grocers, of Red- wood county. The Judge has figured prominently in public affairs since coming to Redwood Falls, holding several positions of honor and trust. He acceptably served as mayor of Redwood Falls, and on the organization of the muni- cipal government was appointed judge of the municipal court of the city, which office he still holds. He has also been county attor- ney, and for several years was judge of the probate court both in Waseca and Redwood counties. He was appointed judge of the ninth judicial district of Minnesota by Gov- ernor L. F. Hubbard to fill the vacancy caused by the impeachment of Judge E. St. Julian Cox, and for two terms he also served as clerk of the county court. In the dis- charge of his duties he has always given the utmost satisfaction. As a judge his rulings are unbiased, and as a private citizen he is held in the highest esteem and confi- dence. Since the organization of the party he has been an uncompromising Republican, and assisted in forming the second Repub- lican club in the state of Wisconsin. In re- ligious belief, he is an Episcopalian, is a man of high moral character, strict integ- rity, honorable and reliable to an eminent degree. >-j*OHN H. SCOTT, one of the exten- ■ sive land-owners of Nobles county, A f and a leading and prosperous farmer of Ransom township, secured his homestead as a soldier's claim, for he was one of the valiant sons of the nation who fought for the perpetuation of the Union in the hour of the country's greatest peril. His entire life has been marked by a like fidelity to duty, and he is a man of the utmost reliability, whether in social or in business circles. Mr. Scott was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, near Columbus, Septem- 258 MEMOJilAL RECORD OF ber 7. 1S42, a son of Jasper H. and Eliza- beth ^Hawkins) Scott. His father was bom in Cincinnati. Ohio, in 1820. and w-as a son of Winfield Scott, of Scotch descent. His mother was born in Frankfort county. Tennessee, in 1S26. a daughter of Nicholas Hawkins, of English descent. In 1S57 they removed to Tama county. Iowa, where Mr. Scott followed farming until his death in 18S9. His wife is living there, at the age of sixty -seven years. The subject of this review sjsent the first nine years of his life in the county of his nativity, and then lived for five years in Illinois, after which he went with the fam- ily to Iowa. He pursued his education in the district schools and remained upon the home farm until his twentieth year. Prompt- ed by a loyal spiiit, he enlisted .\ugust 14. 1S62. in Company F. Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, under Colonel Stephen Mil. Iowa City. .\t Davenport, Iowa, he was mustered in. and with his regiment ordered to Helena. Arkansas, where he remained until March. 1S63, when his command was sent to the rear of Mcksburg. participating in the siege of that city until its surrender July 4, 1863. The troops afterward took part in the battle and siege of Jackson, Mississippi, and thence went to New Orleans, preparatory" to going on the Red river expe- dition. They went into winter quarters at New Iberia, and in March. 1864. started up the Red river under command of General Banks for the purpose of capturing Fort Jeresia. Louisiana, and Pleasant Hill. April 8. 1864. Mr. Scott was wounded by a ball in the ankle. — which he still carries. — and taken to a hospital in Mansfield. Louisi- ana, where he remained until June, when he was sent to New Orleans and placed in St. James Hospital; thence he went to Jef- ferson barracks. St. Louis, where he spent six months, when he was transferred to Keokuk, Iowa, remaining there until the close of the war, being honorably discharged on the 25th of May, 1865. The following year Mr. Scott spent on the old family homestead in Tama county, and then went to Dunlap, Iowa, where he was engaged in handling cattle. Later he ; returned home and spent two years on the farm. His identification with the interests of Xobles county dales from 1871, when he secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, on section 24, Ransom township. His brother and D. K. Gordon also secured claims in that locality, and a house was built on the dividing line of the farms. The first winter was cold and fuel scarce, and many hardships were to be endured in mak- ing homes in this then frontier region. Neighbors were widely scattered, but as the year rolled by others came, and with the increased population came all the comforts of civilized life. Mr. Scott has added to his homestead until he now owns eight hun- dred acres of very choice land, which he has transformed into a fine farm, whereon stand a good residence and outbuildings that are as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. The place is well stocked with a high grade of cattle and hogs, and he is now one of the prosperous agriculturists of the community, but his success has come through hard work. Soon after his first crops were planted the I grasshoppers completely destroyed them, but he has p)ersevered in the face of difficul- ties and his industry has triumphed over all hardships. He is now extensively engaged in the breeding of cattle and has one hun- dred and fifty head on his farm. Mr. Scott was married December 12. 1S69, to Miss Sarah Belknapp. the youngest SOUTH WES TERN MINNES O TA . 250 daughter of Martin and Betsy Belknapp, who were early settlers of Ransom township, and among the leading and influential citi- zens of the communit}'. New York was their native state. Mrs. Scott was also born there, and during her girlhood went with her parents to Iowa. The family of our subject and his wife number seven chil- dren, — five sons and two daughters: Nel- son O., a farmer; Mary E., wife of Michael Sorum; John R. , who is also engaged in agricultural pursuits; Ormando, Martin J., Jefferson and Bessie E. In politics, Mr. Scott is a pronounced Republican, and has held several offices of trust, discharging his duties in a most capa- ble and satisfactory manner. For fourteen years he was township treasurer and trustee for si.x years. He belongs to Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. , and he and his wife are acceptable members of the Ransom Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees. In connection with his farming interests he is a stockholder in the Worthington Bank and the Worthington Creamery; also a stockholder in the Nobles County Agricultural Society, of which he is a district director and superintendent of the horse department. HUGUST C. BURMEISTER, pro- prietor of the Redwood Roller Mills, is one of the leading repre- sentatives of industrial interests in Redwood Falls. He was born in West- phalia, Germany, on the 9th of April, 1861, a son of Fred C. and Mary Burmeister. The father, a farmer by occupation, is still living in his native land, but his mother died in Prussia, in 1888. Our subject attended the public schools of the fatherland until fourteen years of age, and then assisted in the development of the homestead farm. He also was employed in the establishment of the celebrated Krupp, manufacturer of some of the largest cannon and implements of war ever made. Deter- mining to try his fortune in America, he then crossed the Atlantic, landing at New York, whence he went direct to Ining, that state. He was accompanied by his brother Christ, and was engaged in the manufacture of brooms at that point. He afterward worked in the mills, serving a two-years ap- prenticeship that he might become master of the trade. Coming to the west he worked for eighteen months in the mills of E. San- derson & Company, of Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, after which he removed to Milford, Wis- consin, where he was emplojed by the mill- ing firm of N. S. Green & Son. Later he returned to Milwaukee, where he was em- ployed by E. P. Allis. Going to Madison, Wisconsin, he worked for the firm of Rob- bins & Baltzall, millers, and for two years had charge of the mill owned bj' R. Hooper, at Lake Mills, Wisconsin. He was ne.xt given charge of the mills owned by Robbins & Baltzall, of Madison, where he had formerly been emploNed, and in 1889 came to Redsvood Falls, where he embarked in business on his own account, purchasing the mill, which he now operates, known as the Redwood Roller Mill. It is fitted up with the latest-improved machinery and has a capacity of seventy barrels of flour per day. He has here built up a good trade, and his enterprise is of material benefit to the city in which it is located, as well as to the owner. In 1887 was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Lillian Hooper, a daughter of R. Hooper, of Lake Mills, Wis- 200 MEMORIAL RECORD OF consin. They now have two daughters.' — Edith and Winnefred. Mr. Burnieister belongs to Redwood Lodge, No. 68, I. O. O. F.. and to the An- cient Order of United Workmen. His poHtical support is given the RepubHcan party. He has served as a member of the city council for five years, and is still a mem- ber. He is now vice-president of the Red- wood County Bank, and is one of the enter- prising, progressive business men of the city, whose prosperity is the legitimate outgrowth of his own well directed efforts. He came to America with little capital, yet to-day is one of the substantial citizens of this locality, owing to perseverance and industry. I BKEMOXT W. PHILBRICI^. — While "the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong" the invariable law of des- tiny accords to tireless energy, industry and ability a successful career. The truth of this assertion is abundantly verified in the life of Mr. Philbrick. who is now at the head of a large general store at Redwood Falls, Minnesota. He was born at Fond du Lac, Wiscon- sin, May 5, 1S54, and is the second son of Charles G. and Eliza M. ^Pinkhani; Phil- brick, the former a native of New Hamp- shire and the latter of Maine. B}- occupa- tion the father was a carpenter and builder. Our subject was principally reared in Min- nesota, where his parents removed in 1S56, making their home for a number of years at Rushford, Fillmore county, and there his education was obtained in the public schools. At the age of si.xteen jears he began teach- ing in that county, and his first business ex- perience was as a clerk in a general store. Later he was bookkeeper at La Crosse, Wisconsin, for the firm of Olson, Smith & Company, with which he remained for six years, and on the expiration of that period formed a partnership with W. R. Putnam, of La Crosse, under the firm name of Put- nam & Philbrick, dealing in boots, shoes, hats, caps and men's furnishing goods. This connection lasted for two years, when he sold out to Mr. Putnam and went to Mil- waukee, where for a short time he was in the employ of the grocery firm of Ball & Goodrich. It was in 1879 that Mr. Philbrick came to Redwood Falls, where in connection with C. A. Francois, he purchased the stock of ■general merchandise of Sickle & Wiltshire, and this partnership continued for two years and a half, when our subject purchased Mr. Francois" interest and has since conducted the business alone. In 1886 he erected his present fine store building, which is two stories in height with a basement, and is forty-eight by one hundred and twenty-four feet. It is built of brick and fitted up with all modern improvements, — steam heat, water, sewerage and cash-carrier system. It is well located and has every convenient ar- rangement for the accommodation of his immense stock of goods, which are always of the best grades and selected to meet the requirements of his patrons. He carries everything to be found in a first-class gen- eral store, employs an efficient corps of clerks, and b)- his courteous and fair treat- ment has gained a liberal patronage. In connection with his mercantile interests, he also owns two good farms, which he rents. Mr. Philbrick is a prominent and repre- sentative citizen of Redwood Falls, and has been called upon to serve in several official positions, bein: a member of the \"illage SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 261 council two terms and county commissioner four years, during which time he served as chairman of that body. While holding that office the court-house and county jail were built. At one time he was asked to become a candidate for the state senate from his district, but modestly and positively de- clined, as he cares nothing for the honors or emoluments of public office, and prefers to confine his attention to his business inter- ests. In the positions which he has filled, however, he has always proven himself an intelligent, capable and efficient officer, and his many friends were greatly disappointed that he would not become their candidate for state senator. He has also been called upon to settle up several estates. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Knights of Pyth- ias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Philbrick was married in 1880 to Miss Ella V. Blair, of La Crosse, Wiscon- sin, daughter of A. A. Blair. ERBERT A. BALDWIN— The position of cashier in a bank is one of the most important in connec- tion with a financial institution. It is the cashier who comes most directly in contact with the patrons of the bank, and who therefore must be a courteous and affable, as well as thoroughly reliable, man. All these essential qualities are found in Mr. Baldwin, who is serving as cashier of the Redwood County Bank, which was es- tablished in 1872 by George W. Braley. In 1880 it was purchased by the firm of Baldwin & Ward, and under that manage- ment was conducted until 1891, when the capital stock was increased and the follow- ing officers elected: Albert Schaffer, presi- dent; C. A. Francois, vice-president; and H. A. Baldwin, cashier. The last named still retains his position, while the other officers are W. D. Lines, president; A. C. Burmeister, vice-president; and Mason Ter- pening, assistant cashier. Mr. Baldwin is one of the native sons of Minnesota, his birth having occurred in Waseca county, February 22, 1865. When a child of six years he was brought to Red- wood Falls by his parents, Hon. H. D. and Augusta Baldwin. Here he attended the public schools and later the high school, and on laying aside his text-books he entered upon his business career. Realizing how essential is physical development to the suc- cessful business man, he spent eighteen months in work upon a farm, in order that he might expand his lungs and strengthen his muscles, thus preparing for the closer confinement of commercial life. In con- nection with his father he then embarked in the grocery trade, under the firm style of H. D. Baldwin & Son, spending three years in a mercantile career, after which he en- tered the high school in order to further add to his education. His next business service was in connection with the Red- wood County Bank. He accepted the humble position of messenger boy, but his capacity for work and earnest efforts soon brought him promotion and he was at length made cashier of the bank in 1889, since which time he has filled that important place. The institution is capitalized for fifty thousand dollars, with twenty-five thousand dollars paid in, and does a general banking business. In January, 1886, Mr. Baldwin was united in marriage with Miss Eva Martin, of Redwood Falls, daughter of George W. and Eliza (Clements) Martin. They have three 262 MEMORIAL RECORD OF children, — Clinton H. and Dean and Vean, twins, who are the joy and pride of the household. The parents are members of the Episcopal church. Socially, Mr. Bald- win is a representative of the Odd Fellows society, belonging to Crystal Lodge, No. 15. He also holds a membership in the Knights of Pythias order, and is captain of the Uniform Rank. In politics he is a Re- publican, and for the past ten years has served as city treasurer of Redwood Falls. He has prospered in his business, and in connection with his banking interests is the owner of a good farm of three hundred and twenty acres, two and a half miles southeast of Redwood Falls. @ EORGE HOUGHMASTER— Few men are more prominent or more widely known in Redwood county than the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He has been an im- portant factor in business circles, and his popularity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbend- ing integrity, unabated energy and industry that never flags. He is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever tends to promote the interests of his adopted county. Mr. Houghmaster was born in Lowville, Lewis county, New York, May 29, 1846, a son of Isaac and Alzina (Tooley) Hough- master, the former a native of the Empire state and the latter of Canada. The pater- nal grandfather, Joseph Houghmaster, was born in New York and was of German lineage. The subject of this article is the second child and only son in a family of three chil- dren. He spent his boyhood days in his na- tive county, where he attended the district schools, and on the 14th of Februarj', 1SG5, when nineteen years of age, he joined Com- pany H, First New York Frontier Cavalry, and did garrison duty at Sackett's Harbor, in that state. He served for five months and then returned to his home, where he re- mained until June, 1866, at which time he emigrated westward. He made a location near West Union, Iowa, where for three years he engaged in general farming, after which he learned the miller's trade, follow- ing the same for eighteen years. During one-half that time he was engaged in the milling business in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and later he went to Onavva and to Sioux City. In August, 1886, he came to Redwood Falls, where he opened a real-estate office, and since that time he has been engaged in the business to which he now devotes his ener- gies, ha\'ing a real-estate, abstract, loan and insurance agency. He is one of the best-informed real-estate men in this sec- tion of Minnesota, having a comprehensive knowledge of the value of all kinds of lands, and doing a good business in the purchase and sale of realty. One of the most im- portant things which the buyer of property considers is, whether he can obtain a clear title; for if this cannot be done great trouble is frequently occasioned, often accompanied by pecuniary loss. All such difficulties, however, Mr. Houghmaster avoids, for he has a complete set of abstracts, showing the ownership and the various sales of every piece of land or town lot in the county. He is thoroughly conversant with every detail of the business, bears a high reputation among business men, and can be safely relied upon to give accurate, prompt and intelligent at- tention to all business placed in his hands. In connection with his other interests he is agent for reliable insurance companies, and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 263 enjoys a liberal clientage in this direction. He is associated with Till Tibbetts, ex- county auditor, in the ownership of a large tract of land, a portion of which is under a high state of cultivation. He is a stock- holder in the Bank of Redwood Falls, and his extensive business interests are so capa- bly and systematically directed that none suffer, but on the contrary are paying enter- prises, which yield to Mr. Houghmaster a good income. On the 5 th of October, 1.S67, our sub- ject was united in marriage with Miss Blanche Persons, of West Union, Iowa, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of ^^'ill- iam Persons. They have a pleasant home in Redwood Falls, and occup}" a very high position in social circles. For several terms, Mr. Houghmaster served as court commissioner of Redwood county. Socially, he is a prominent Mason. He became a member of the order in Cedar F'alls, Iowa, in 1874, and on coming to Red- wood Falls in 1886 joined Antiquity Lodge, No. 91, F. & A. M., and is a Knight Tem- plar, being knighted in Redwood Falls in 1 88 1. His political support is given the Republican party, and he takes an active interest in its success. • HOMAS L. JOHNSON is well known among the stock-ilealers and breeders of Redwood county for the interest he has taken in this busi- ness, and both as a successful stock man and leading citizen is he entitled to personal mention in this work, which is devoted to a portrayal of the lives of the representative men and women of southern Minnesota. Mr. Johnson is a native of Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, and first sa-w the light of day Februarj^ 15, 1859, his parents being Peter and Alice (Kelly) Johnson. Peter Johnson was born in Dundalk, Ireland, and at an early age left the Emerald Isle to make his home in America. For many years he has resided on a Wisconsin farm. There Thomas L. was reared and educated, his education being obtained in the district schools, and he remained at home until the time of his marriage, that important event in his life occurring when he was twenty- eight years of age. The lady he wedded was Miss Mary Ellen Curran, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of six children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Henry P., George P., Anna, Agnes, Mary C. and Mildred. After his marriage the subject of our sketch continued to reside for one year in Wisconsin and then he moved over into Minnesota and located in Redwood count}-, purchasing three hundred and twenty acres of wild land, wholly unimproved. His first work was to build a house upon it, sixteen by twenty-four feet, two stories, and to this, eight years later, he built an addition, eight- een by twenty-four feet, making a com- fortable and convenient residence, which he and his family have since occupied. Soon he began the planting of trees and now has a fine grove of five or six acres. In 1892 Mr. Johnson began the breeding of English Berkshire hogs, beginning on a small scale with only a male and female, and at this writing has thirty full-blooded hogs of this breed and seventy half-bloods. He is about the only man in southern Minnesota who is engaged so extensively in raising this special breed. Also he is interested in raising fine horses and cattle. His horse Lottie is at the head of his stud, and from it he has raised a number of fine roadsters. His cat- 2C4 MEMORIAL RECORD OF tie are full-blooded shorthorns, — among the best to be found in Minnesota. Mr. Johnson was formerly a Democrat, but since 1894 has affiliated with the Popu- list party, that year serving as delegate to the Populist convention, and has ever since taken an active part in local politics. He and his family have the high esteem of all who know them. >Y'0HN WILSON.— Among the e.\- M soldiers of the late war and old set- A J tiers of Stately township, Brown county, Minnesota, none are more worthy of special consideration in a work of this character than is John Wilson, and the biographer here takes pleasure in reverting to his life history. John Wilson is an Englishman by birth. He was born in Yorkshire, May 21, 1824, and is a son of industrious and re- spected parents. His father, Matthew Wil- son, a blacksmith by trade and a workman of superior order in both iron and steel, was born in that same county, son of Marma- duke Wilson, a representative of an old English family. The mother of our sub- ject was Ann Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, and was likewise a native of York- shire. At that place both Matthew Wilson and his wife passed their lives and died, her death occurring in middle life and his at the age of seventy-seven years. Religiously they were Methodists. Their family con- sisted of two children: Sarah, now de- ceased, and John, whose name heads this article. John Wilson was reared in Yorkshire, serving an apprenticeship to the trade of shoemaker and became an expert workman, and subsequently engaged in business for himself, carrying on the same successfully until 1851, when he sold out. That same year he came to the United States and set- tled in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, where he turned his attention to the improvement of a farm, living upon it and being thus oc- cupied at the time the great war-cloud gathered and burst upon the country in all its fury. Near the close of the war, Febru- ary 3, 1865, he enlisted for Union service and went to the front as a member of Com- pany B, Forty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry, under Captain McGowan and Colonel Mc- Ginby. His regiment was stationed most of the time in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and at the close of hostilities he was honorably dis- charged at Madison, W^isconsin, and from there returned to his home. Mr. Wilson lived on his first farm until '873, when he sold out and came to his present location near Springfield, Minnesota. He was one of the primitive settlers of Stately township. Here he owned a valu- able farm of one hundred and si.xty acres, which he improved and brought under a high state of cultivation and which he re- cently sold to his son-in-law, Noble Will- iams, who now occupies it. Here Mr. Willson passed through the grasshopper siege and crop failures and knows all the hardships which the people of southern Min- nesota endured. To that part of his life which is more purely domestic we would now turn. At the age of twenty-eight years, in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, Mr. Wilson was united in wedlock to Mrs. Sarah Wood, a native of Yorkshire, England, and a daughter of George Atkinson and Martha Atkinson, and their union has been blessed in the birth of the following named children: George, a contractor and builder of Springfield, Min- / SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 265 nesota; Martha Ann, wife of Reuben A. Allen, at Springfield; Thomas A., of Spring- field; Matthew and Margaret Jane, twins, the former an enterprising and well known citizen of this township, and the latter the wife of Noble E. Allen, of Stately township, Brown county, this state. Mr. Wilson is a Republican, and has been honered on various occasions with offi- cial position, which he has filled with credit to himself and those whom he served. Among the offices filled by him were those of justice of the peace, township clerk and assessor. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as steward and class- leader. In the Phillip Culhmd Post, No. 109, G. A. R., of which he is an honored member, he officiates as chaplain. 'DGAR A. TRIPP, a member of the board of county commissioners of Nobles county. Minnesota, is one of the well-to-do and leading farm- ers of this part of the country and has a wide acquaintance here. To omit personal mention of him in the work now in hand would be to drop an important link from this biographical chain. His history is that of an honest, industrious and enterprising man whose nearly half a century of life has been marked with a fair degree of success and who enjoys the confidence and good will of his fellows. He was born in Lee county, Illinois, De- cember 29, 1850, and passed his boyhood days there. February 9, 1S69, he left the scenes of his childhood and accompanied his parents on their removal to Marshall county, Iowa, where he lived until the fall of 1883. In October of that year he became a resi- 17 dent of Round Lake, Minnesota, where he accepted the position of station agent on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, which he filled for a period of eight and a half years. In the meantime he invested in real estate and acquired considerable property. At this writing he is the owner of sixty acres in Indian Lake township, Nobles county, and one hundred and seventy acres in Round Lake township, Jackson county, all under cultiva- tion, and besides this has forty acres in- cluded in the town site of Round Lake. He has owned other land, which he has sold. Mr. Tripp carries on both general farming and stock-raising, keeping only the best of breeds, and among his stock are found French Canadian horses, shorthorn cattle, Shropshire sheep and Poland-China hogs. To the last named he has during the past four years given special attention and finds this breed of hogs the most desirable for his purpose. Mr. Tripp is a man of family. He was married July 18, 1878, to Miss Jennie E. Elliott, a native of Liscomb, Marshall coun- ty, Iowa, and to them five children have been born, namely: Frederick A., David O., Oakely R., Mildred and Grace, ranging in age from two to eleven years. Reverting to Mr. Tripp's parentage, we find that his father, David Tripp, was born in Onondaga county. New York, July 6, 1829, one of a large family of children, of whom one brother and one sister are still living, both in Marshall county, Iowa. His wife, ncc Emily R. Mayo, likewise a native of New York state, was born May 26, 1831, and their marriage was consummated in March, 1849. Her father died in Chicago, August 14, 1890, and her mother, a brother and two sisters are living. One sister re- 266 MEMORIAL RECORD OF sides in Round Lake. The family of which our subject was a member was composed of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom eight are yet living. Mr. Tripp has supported the Republican ticket ever since he became a voter, has al- ways taken a commendable interest in pub- lic affairs, and has acceptably filled various local offices of prominence and trust. He was chairman of the board of supervisors three years, town clerk four }'ears, and at this time is a member of the board of county commissioners. He is also a member of the A. O. U. W. IHOMAS McOUAT, postmaster of Oshawa and one of the leading and influential representatives of the varied business interests of Nicollet county, was born in La Chute, Canada, on the 7th of July, 1835, a son of John and Margaret (Pollock) McOuat, who were na- tives of Scotland and emigrated to Canada, where both died, the father at the age of seventy-three years, the mother at the age of si.xty-four. The paternal grandparents of our subject also spent their last days in Canada, whither they removed on leaving the land of their birth, — the land of hills and heather. The maternal grandparents, Thomas and Margaret (Russell) Pollock, were also natives of Scotland, moved to Canada and died in La Chute. Agriculture has been the chief occupation of the family, whose members are honest, industrious people of sterling worth. The subject of this biographical notice was one of a family of ten children, five of whom are yet living. He spent his boy- hood days on his father's farm and early be- came familiar with all the labors connected with its cultivation. On leaving the pa- rental roof he was united in marriage, Jan- uary 18, i860, to Miss Agnes Cutler Hume, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, a daughter of Thomas and Jane (McAdam) Hume. Her parents and grandparents were born in Scotland, in which country her pa- ternal grandparents died; but her grand- parents on her mother's side died at La Chute, Canada, where her father also died; her mother died at Oshawa, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. McOuat continued their resi- dence in Canada until 1865, when they came to Minnesota, locating in Dundas, Rice county, where the father rented land for two years. In 1867 he came to Oshawa township, Nicollet countj', not long after the organization of the county had been effected, and from that time down to the present has been an important factor in the development and progress of the locality. He purchased eighty acres of land, on which he still resides, and successfully carried on agricultural pursuits; but his efforts have b}' no means been confined to one line of en- deavor. He is a man of great business resources, energy and perseverance, and is quick to recognize an opportune moment and take advantage of the same. He was the first postmaster of the village of Oshawa, and is now serving in that capacity. He had charge of the first elevator and has made the place a considerable grain market. His steady application, his determined effort and his sound judgment have brought him prosperity in his dealing and through his own efforts he has achieved a comfortable competence. Mr. McOuat gives a stalwart support to the principles of the Republican party and is recognized as one of the party leaders in this locality. He cast his first presidential SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 267 vote for General Grant and has since never wavered in his allegiance to the political organization which he believes will best ad- vance the interests of the nation. He and his family hold membership in the Presby- terian church. Mr. and Mrs. McOuat have three chil- dren, but only two are now at home. Frank C. is an enterprising young business man now in charge of one of the grain elevators in Oshawa. He is well educated and his energetic temperament, mental alertness and powers of concentration will bring him success in the future. Jane M. is still a resident of her parental home, and Margaret P. is an operator at St. Peter for the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railway Company. All three of the children are very intellectual and enterprising. ,>^ ONALD DOUGAL McRAE.— The I B jo'^'rnalistic arena is one which af- //^t>J fords unbounded opportunity for rapid advancement to one who has brains, pluck and a bent in that direction; and when a young man of only three and twenty years is found at the head of a pros- perous newspaper enterprise the inference naturally drawn is that he must be gifted with the above qualifications. Such an instance is cited in the gentleman whose name graces this article, Donald Dougal McRae, editor and proprietor of the Mor- gan Messenger, Morgan, Redwood county, Minnesota. Mr. McRae is a native of the west-cen- tral part of Ontario, Canada, and was born October 31, 1873, a son of Scotch parents, Donald and Jessie McRae, and the eighth in their family of ten children. The McRaes emigrated from Scotland to Canada as early as 1836, being among the first settlers of that portion of Ontario, and for years identi- fied with agricultural interests there. Don- ald McRae, the father of our subject, while engaged in clearing away the forest, in the spring of 1879, was killed by a falling tree. Some years later, in 1888, the widowed mother, with six of her children, came to southern Minnesota, where they have since resided. Donald D. spent his early boyhood days on a farm, and when in his seventeenth year entered the newspaper business, to which from that date he has given his un- divided attention, having served in several capacities. During the past years he has been editor and manager of the Morgan Messenger, and since March i, 1896, has been its proprietor as well, having at that time purchased the plant. Personally, he is a young man of correct habits and pleas- ing address, prompt in business and courte- ous to all, and his popularity is a foregone conclusion. K^/^ ARNARD SCHUELLER, a thor- l^'*^ oughgoing and enterprising citizen J^^9 of Stark township. Brown county, Minnesota, enjoys local distinction as a member of the township board, on which he is now serving his third term. He is a man well-known in this part of the county, where he has lived for a period of seventeen years, the date of his arrival here being March, 1879. Mr. Schueller is a native of Port Wash- ington, Wisconsin, where he was born Jan- uary 1 5, 1859, and as his name indicates he is of German descent. His father, John Schueller, now an honored and prosperous citizen of Brown county, was born in the 268 MEMORIAL RECORD OF province of Dukciniller, German}', whence in 1846 lie emigrated to America, making settlement in Wisconsin. He continued to reside in Wisconsin until 1879, when he brought his family over into Minnesota and located in Brown county, near the town of Sleepy Eye, where he still lives, owning and occupying a fine farm of two hundred acres. While in Wisconsin he was married to Miss Lena Steffen, she, too, being a native of German}'. To them were given twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, of whom Barnard is the eldest. The mother is now deceased. Barnard Schueller was reared on his father's farm in Wisconsin, received his ed- ucation in the common schools near his home there, and when twenty years of age accompanied his father and family to Min- nesota. He assisted his father in devolop- ing the farm upon which they settled here, and remained a member of his father's household until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he married and set up a home of his own. He then bought two hundred and forty acres of wild land, whicii he opened up to cultivation and which he sub- sequently sold, after which he purchased the two hundred acres of fine land which comprise his present farm. This land is well improved, having a good house and barn, and one hundred and fifty acres being under cultivation. Mr. Schueller married Miss Rosa Wiss, a native of Bavaria, Germany, who came to this country when she was thirteen years of age. Her father, Michael Wiss, is a resi- dent of the same township in which she lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Schueller have been born six children, of whom four are living, viz.: John, Michael, Barnard, and Wend. Their two youngest, Lawrence and Antone, died in infancy, the former at the age of three weeks and the latter at three months. Formerly the subject of our sketch affili- ated with the Democratic party, but is now identified with the Populist movement and is one of its most active and zealous sup- porters in this locality. Religiously he is a devout Catholic. >y»OHN LIESENFELD, who is en- ■ gaged in the livery and transfer busi- A 1 ness in Sleepy Eye, was born in Prussia, Germany, May 6, 1829, and is a son of John T. and Anna Mary (Weber) Liesenfeld, who also were natives of Prus- sia, the father following farming in that country. In accordance with the laws of the land the subject of this review attended school between the ages of six and fourteen years and then gave to his father the benefit of his services, working on the hoine farm from that time until twenty-three years of age. Hearing of the advantages afforded by the New World he resolved to try his for- tune here, and on the 2d of June, 1854, sailed for this country, reaching New York after a voyage of six weeks. He went di- rect to Chicago, and thence to McHenry county, Illinois, where he was employed on a farm and remained for two years. In 1856 he arrived in Minnesota, locating in Mower county, where he secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres and began its development. After four years he sold that property, and in i860 cairie to Brown county, where he purchased a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, for which he paid two dollars and a half per acre. His first house was built of logs and its dimensions SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 269 were fourteen by sixteen feet. It proved a comfortable home, but after several years he erected a more commodious residence, also a barn and made many other substan- tial improvements. He continued to carry on farming until 1882, and also raised a considerable amount of stock, finding in this business a profitable source of income. In 1882 he left his farm and removed to Sleepy Eye. Indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to his nature and he could not content himself without some business, so he embarked in the livery and transfer business. To this he is now giving his at- tention, and has secured a good patronage along that line. On the 15th of May, 1856, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Liesenfeld and Miss Catherine Krebsbach, of Mower county, Minnesota, who was born in German}', Feb- ruary 13, 1 83 1, and came to the United States during her girlhood. They now have three daughters: Mary, wife of George Grebner, of New Ulm; Catherine, wife of Joseph P. Fischer, of Sleepy Eye; and Anna, wife of M. C. Schade. Mr. Liesenfeld is an energetic business man, quick to take advantage of opportuni- ties and honorable in all his dealings. He has a jovial and genial disposition, is true to his friends and throughout the community in which he lives is held in high esteem. BRED AUFDERHEIDE is one of the most active and progressive citizens of New Ulm, where he is extensively engaged in the manu- facture of building brick and drain tile, and is also a member of the New Ulm Creamery. A native of Germany, he was born in West- phalia, in 1853, and there spent the days of his boyhood and youth, attending school until fourteen years of age, when he began work upon a farm, but at. the age of sixteen bade good-by to his native land and sailed for the New World. Arriving, he proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured em- ployment in the brickyard of Fred Storch for four years. In 187s we find Mr. Aufderheidein New Ulm, Minnesota, where he at once began the manufacture of brick on a small scale in connection with his brother-in-law, William Wiethoff, under the firm title of Wiethoff & Company, but five years later our sub- ject bought out his partner's interest, and has since successfully conducted the busi- ness alone. As increasing business demanded, he enlarged the works, and at the present time the output is from two to three million bricks annually, which supplies a large home trade, and the remainder is shipped both east and west to points in Minnesota and Dakota. He manufactures common building brick, which will compare favorably with any in the state, and the vein from which he takes the clay is from eight to twelve feet in thickness and of easy access. His machinery is operated by horse power and dry wood is used in the kilns for burn- ing the brick. From twenty-five to thirty- five men are employed at the works, which are located near the track of the North- western Railroad, thus affording good ship- ping facilities. The first yard was two and a half miles west of New Ulm, but in 1880 the business was removed to the present lo- cation, one and a half miles southeast of that place. In 1891 Mr. Aufderheide, in connection with the manufacture of brick, also established a tile factory, where are manufactured tile from two and a half to eight inches in diameter. He is one of the 270 MEMORIAL RECORD OF original organizers and the principal stock- holder of the Morton Brick & Tile Com- pany, Morton, Minnesota, of which he has been president for some time, and owns a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres in Brown county, which he rents. He is a shrewd and enterprising business man, always straightforward and honorable in all his dealings and has gained the confidence and respect of those with whom he comes in contact. Mr. Aufderheide was married in 1881, the lady of his choice being Miss Lizzie Shapakahm, of New Ulm, and they now have five children, three sons and two daughters, namely: Willie, Emma, Charles, Herman and Hertha. The par- ents are earnest members of the Lutheran church, and the family occupies a pleasant residence near the brick-works. ^-W-* A. FRITSCHE, M. D., an emi- I I nent physician and surgeon of P ^ Brown county, located at New Ulm, is a native of Minnesota. He was born in Lafayette township, Nicol- let county, May 28, 1862, and is a son of Frederick and Louise Fritsche. His father is a native of Saxony, Germany, and came to the New World in the year 1854. His mother came to America with her father, Christian Lillie, in the year 185 1, at the age of eight years, and for some time made their home in Angelica, New York state, whence they emigrated to Nicollet county, Minnesota, in 1856. The paternal grand- father of our subject, Carl J. Fritsche, emi- grated to this country in 1854 and resided in Chicago one year, where he became a mem- ber of the German Land Association, which founded a settlement at New Ulm and vicinity. His death occurred in 1872. Frederick Fritsche took up a homestead in Lafayette township, Nicollet county, and engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1 87 1, when he was elected county treasurer and removed to St. Peter. For ten years he continued to fill acceptably that responsible position, after which he re- turned to his farm and added to the tract from time to time until he had si.x hundred and seventy acres of choice land, on which he erected a comfortable residence and sub- stantial barns and outbuildings, supplied with all the conveniences found upon a first- class farm. He is still living and is devo- ting his time to his business interests. Dr. Fritsche spent his boyhood days upon the farm in Nicollet county until 1871, when, on his father's election to the office of county treasurer, the family removed to St. Peter, where he attended the public schools, and was for three years a student in the high school. Returning to the home farm he remained there until he attained his majority, and later for one year was en- gaged in teaching district school in Nicollet county. On the ist of October, 1S84, he entered the medical department of the Mich- igan University at Ann Arbor, and on the completion of the three-years course grad- uated, June 30, 1887. On July 5 he passed the state medical examination in St. Paul before the newly created State Board of Medical Examiners, and has the distinc- tion of holding the first license issued by this board. After obtaining his license Dr. Fritsche began the practice of his chosen profession at New Ulm. In 18S9 he went abroad, to continue his study of medicine at the Univer- sity of Berlin, Germany. After completing SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 271 three semesters of lectures he had the de- gree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery conferred upon him by that institution, on March 31, 1890. Returning to New Ulm, he has here since engaged in general prac- tice and received a liberal share of the pub- lic patronage. His thorough knowledge of medicine and skill in surgery have won for him the confidence of the people, and his success was assured from the first. In 1890 the Doctor led to the marriage altar Miss Amalie Pfaender, a native of New Ulm and a daughter of Colonel William Pfaender, and they have three children, — Elsa, Albert and William. The Doctor is a member of the Brown County Medical Society, the Minnesota Valley Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and was a member of the tenth In- ternational Medical Congress, held in Ber- lin, Germany, in the year 1890. He is physician and surgeon to St. Alexander's Hospital of New Ulm, and was a member of the board of Pension Medical Examiners, being appointed under President Cleveland's administration. He stands in the front rank of the medical fraternity of Brown and adjoining counties, and as a citizen is held in the highest respect. >^UDGE JONAS LANDENSCHLA- f GER, probate judge, has been iden- fh 1 tified with the interests of New Ulm, Brown county, Minnesota, since an early day in its history, and has taken a leading and prominent part in the promo- tion of its welfare. A native of Pennsyl- vania, he was born in Dauphin county. May 14, 1825, and is a son of Jacob and Eliza- beth (Coleman) Landenschlager, both of German extraction. The father was a farmer by occupation and the son of Jacob Landenschlager, who was born in this country. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Carl Coleman, was born in Penn- sylvania, but his father came from the Ger- man fatherland. The Judge was reared amidst rural scenes, and his early educational privileges were such as the subscription schools of the neighborhood afforded. At the age of four- teen he left the home farm and began his business career as a clerk in a general store at Gratz, Pennsylvania, where he remained five years, and for the following decade served as justice of the peace. During the civil war he was a member of the home guards, and on Lee's invasion was ordered to Gettysburg to aid in the defence of that city. In the fall of 1863, Judge Landenschla- ger came to Minnesota, locating first at St. Paul, but on the 14th of January, 1864, ar- rived in New Ulm, where he has since made his home. Here he opened the Pennsyl- vania House for the entertainment of the traveling public, and successfully conducted that hotel for ten years. On selling out he began street contracting at New Ulm and was thus engaged until his election to the office of probate judge in 1894 for a term of two years. He entered upon the duties of the office in January, 1895, and has proved a most popular and capable official, whose decisions are rendered without fear or favor. In 1843 was celebrated the marriage of Judge Landenschlager and Miss Sarah N. Schmedl, of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Dr. John Schmedl, and to them were born thirteen children, seven of whom still survive: John J., of Monroe, Minnesota; Withelmina, wife of C. Hunn, of St. Paul; Elizabeth, wife of Richard Pfferle, a mer- 272 MEMORIAL RECORD OF chant of New Ulm; Mary N., wife of Peter Penning; Sarah; Jonas S., a tinsmith, of Springfield, Minnesota; and Maria L. , wife of John Sigler, of Brookings, South Dakota. The mother of these children died in 1872, and the Judge later married Mrs. Lucretia Linn, a very amiable lady and a daughter of a very wealthy farmer of Stark county, Ohio, Jacob Shine, and is a member of the Baptist church. In religious belief, Judge Landenschla- ger is a Lutheran, while his wife holds a membership in the United Brethren church. They are highly respected people of the community and have hosts of warm friends. >Y*AMES AIKEN and JULIUS A. m SCHMAHL, publishers and propri- ^ J etors of the Redwood Gazette, are conducting that paper with signal ability and success, and hold a prominent position among the journalists of south- western Minnesota. The Gazette was es- tablished in 1868 by V. C. Seward, under the name, however, of the Redwood Falls Mail, and he was succeeded by E. V. Beals, who changed the name to its present form. Its next owner was \V. B. Herriott, who in 1880 sold out to Aiken & Rigby, but the following year Mr. Aiken purchased his partner's interest and conducted the paper alone until August, 1892, when Mr. Schmahl and H. V. Ruter became members of the firm; but in November, 1893, he bought back the interest of Mr. Ruter. Business has since been carried on under the firm style of Aiken & Schmahl, and in 1895 they erected their present fine and substantial brick building, which is two stories in height, the lower floor being de- voted to their work, office in front and com- posing rooms in the rear. It is supplied with good presses, both for getting out the paper and for job work. The Gazette is all printed here, and is devoted to the cur- rent news of the day, both national and local. It is the oldest as well as the most popular paper of the county, and enjoys a large circulation. It is bright and spicy, eagerly sought by the intelligent reading public, and well merits the liberal patron- age which it receives. Mr. Aiken is a native of Ohio, born in 185 1, in the great butter and cheese district of the Western Reserve, and there received his early education. He is a practical printer. Mr. Schmahl was born in Traverse des Sioux, Nicollet county, Minnesota, in 1867, but was principally reared in Redwood county, living at Redwood Falls since 1870. He is a son of Jacob Schmahl, and one of five brothers, all prominent business men and substantial citizens of Redwood Falls. He was employed for seven years as a re- porter on the leading dailies of St. Paul and Minneapolis, commencing that kind of work when but nineteen years of age, and con- tinuing the same without interruption until he became one of the publishers and pro- prietors of the Gazette, of which he is now editor and local newsgatherer. BRANCIS A. STEVENS, the pres- ent clerk of the courts of Nobles county, Minnesota, is a native of New Hampshire, born at Charles- ton, in Sullivan county, September 21, 1835. Natives of the same state were also his par- ents, Henry and Dorothy (Gove) Stevens. His father was a miller by trade and oper- ated both a sawmill and gristmill in Charles- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 273 ton for a f;;reat many years. In 1S57 he disposed of his interests in New Hampshire and came to Dodge county, Minnesota, and engaged in farming, which he followed until his death. He had five sons and one daughter. All of the sons served in the Union army during the late war, and four of them are yet living. Mr. Stevens, whose name heads this brief biographical outline, was educated in the schools of his native state, and when about twelve years of age was employed in a cotton mill, where he continued for two years. Learning next the cutler's trade, he followed that for a number of years. In i860 he came west to Dodge county, Minnesota, and engaged in agricultural pur- suits until the autumn of 1864, when he en- listed in the Second Light Battery, Min- nesota Volunteers, and served until the fall of 1865. This battery took part in several important battles of the war, including Mis- sionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Chick- amauga, etc. After he was mustered out of the mili- tary service Mr. Stevens returned to Dodge county and followed farming there until 1878, when he moved to Nobles county and took a soldier's claim to the northeast quar- ter of section 10, Leota township. Here- sided there and improved the place until 1886, when he was elected clerk of the dis- trict court of Nobles county, to which on account of his faithfulness, he has since been twice re-elected, serving in all a period of twelve years. During his residence in Leota township he assisted in its organization, and filled about all the offices of that township, serving until his election to his present po- sition. He was clerk, school director, etc. He was first married in New Hampshire, to Miss Helen Mitchell, July 4, 1853. By this marriage there were five children, — four sons and one daughter.- Three sons and the daughter are now living. Mrs. Stevens died iu Worthington, Minnesota, January 31, 1 89 1, and Mr. Stevens was again mar- ried, in 1895, to Hannah Horner, and by this marriage there has been one son born. Mr. Stevens is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R., and he is well known throughout the county as a fine gentleman and accomodating public officer. 'REDERICK A. DONAHOWER. One of the busiest, most energetic \ ^ and most enterprising men of St. Peter, Minnesota, is Mr. Dona- hower, president of the First National Bank of the place and the oldest banker of Nicol- let county. He was born in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, September 16, 1830, a son of Jacob and Catherine (Fritz) Donahower, who were of German descent and also natives of the Keystone state, where the senior Donahower followed farming through- out life. Frederick A. passed his early life in his native state, in the counties of Ches- ter, Lebanon and Berks, obtaining his pri- mary education in the district schools and at Reading, that state. In the last named place he began his business career as a clerk in a general store, and in 1852 went to In- dianapolis, Indiana, where for eighteen months he was employed in the mercantile establishment of A. & J. C. S. Harrison, distant relatives of President Harrison. The year 1853 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Donahower in Minnesota. Stopping first at St. Paul, he entered the employ of C. H. Parker, a private banker, who was compiling a set of abstracts for Ramsey 274 MEMORIAL RECORD OF county. Being a good penman, our subject was given the work of copying the transfers and records. Later he was with Macubin & Edgerton, private banl^ers of St. Paul. In May, 1857, Mr. Donahower came to St. Peter, and in connection with E. S. Edgerton and Alva Smith founded a private bank under the firm name of Edgerton, Smith & Donahower; and in 1871 the First National Bank was organized, with the fol- lowing officers: William Schimmel, presi- dent; Benjamin F. Paul, vice-president; and F. A. Donahower, cashier. This position Mr. Donahower held until 1889, when, on the resignation of Mr. Schimmel, he was elected president. The bank has a cap- ital stock of sixty thousand dollars and is one of the most solid and reliable institutions of St. Peter, as well as the oldest bank of Nicollet county. The present cashier is E. S. Pettijohn, and assistant cashier, Fred M. Donahower. As a financier Mr. Donahower ranks among the ablest, and for forty years has been an earnest and conservative force in administering the affairs of the strong and widely-known institution of which he is the head and over whose destinies he has pre- sided. In connection with his banking in- terests he at one time was associated with H. M. Ketcham in general merchandising, and later with C. Amundson, until 1S87. He is a business man of known reliability, and the people place the utmost confidence in him. In i860 Mr. Donahower was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Magner, of St. Peter, and they have had five sons and one daughter, namely: Fred M., now assistant cashier of the First National Bank of St. Peter; Ella, wife of Dr. A. F. Kilbourne, superintendent of the Rochester Hospital for the Insane, at Rochester, Minnesota; William J., a prominent attorney of St. Paul; Frank A., deputy United States mar- shal at St. Paul; John, who died at the age of fourteen years; and Harry L. , who is a graduate of the law department of the State University at Minneapolis. In his political principles Mr. Donahower is a Republican. He has served as a mem- ber of the school board for a number of years, and also as county commissioner and a member of the city council. While he was commissioner he assisted in the building of the present court-house, and when a member of the school board he likewise assisted in the erection of the public school- house. He was also a member of the com- pany that erected the Nicollet House at St. Peter. He and his family attend the Episcopal church, to which he is a liberal contributor. Mr. Donahower started out in life a poor boy, and that he has succeeded is due solely to his ability, steadfast purpose and inde- fatigable industry. Surrounded at his home by a circle of friends who appreciate his true w-orth, and admired and esteemed by the citizens of the community, his name will be honored for many generations as one of the most enterprising men of St. Peter, — a man who has acted well his part and who has lived a worthy and honorable life. 'STT'OHN TYSON was born in Ontario, J Canada, February 22, 1845, and is A 1 to-day one of the most substantial and respected citizens of Lyon coun- ty, Minnesota, where he has had his abid- ing place since 1878 and where he is well known. Mr. Tyson is of English descent and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 275 comes from a family of agriculturists. His parents, Joseph D. and Mary A. (Russell) Tyson, were natives of England and at an early day emigrated to America, the date of his arrival here being in 1827, hers in 18 18. He died on his farm in Wabasha county, Minnesota, at the age of sixty-four years, and she died at Owatonna, this state, at the age of seventy-six. The paternal grand- parents of our subject were John and Phoebe (Wilson) Tyson, who also were em- igrants from England to America, and both of whom lived to a good old age and died in Ontario, his death occurring when he was seventy-one, she seventy-five, at death. The maternal grandparents of our subject were James and Anna Russell. Their his- tory is similar to that of the paternal grand- parents of our subject, they too having left their native land, England, for a home in the New World and selected a location in Ontario, were they passed the remainder of their lives in agricultural pursuits and where they died, he at the age of fifty-five years and she at eighty-four. John Tyson, the subject of this bio- graphical review, is one of a family of seven children, five of whom are yet living and all reared to farm life. June 18, 1868, at the age of twenty-three years, he was united in marriage to Miss E. C. Williams, who was born in Jefferson county, New York, daugh- ter of Zachariah and Ann (Elsey) Williams, both of English birth. Mr. Williams died in Winona county, Minnesota, at the ripe old age of eighty-one years, and his widow is still living, her home being in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their family was composed of twelve children, and all with two exceptions are living at this writing. To Mr. and Mrs. Tyson three children have been born, two being deceased, one at the age of twenty- five years, and the other at four. Their daughter Elva May is attending school. After his marriage Mr. Tyson settled on a farm in Wabasha county, Minnesota. Three years later he moved from there to Brown county, this state, and in 1878 came to his present location in Lyon county, Tracy being his post-office address. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land and here he has since car- ried on agricultural pursuits on a paying basis, from time to time making improve- ments upon his place until he has developed it into one of the most desirable farms of this locality. Mr. Tyson has during the whole of his residence here taken a commendable inter- est in local affairs and in many ways shown himself to be a public-spirited man. He votes the Republican ticket, and has affil- iated with this party ever since he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant's first term. On several occasions Mr. Tyson has been honored with township office and has always filled the same with much abil- ity and satisfaction. Mrs. Tyson is a church member and the whole family are regular attendants upon divine worship. Thus briefly have we recorded the life history of one of Lyon county's best men. EON. CHARLES H. WHITE, a rep- resentative and prominent farmer of Lake Marshall township, Lyon county, has, through his own ex- ertions, attained an honorable position and marked prestige among the leading men of Minnesota, and is one of the leading pro- moters and active members of the Farmers' Alliance in this state. He was born in Che- nango county. New York, November 7, 1852, 276 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and is a son of William H. and Anna (Gos- line) White, natives of Hillsdale, New York. In 1 86 1 the family emigrated to Wisconsin, where they resided until iS8t, when they removed to the farm now owned by our subject. In the fall of 1882, however, the parents went to Minneapolis, where they still continue to make their home. The genealogy of the family in New York has been traced back to the founders of that state. Until eight years of age Charles H.White spent his time upon a farm in the Empire state, and with his parents then removed to Sparta, Wisconsin, where he attended the village schools and continued to make his home until twenty-si.\. On coming to Min- nesota at that time he took up a tree claim and also bought railroad land in Lake Mar- shall township, Lyon county, where he has since continued to reside. To his original tract he has added one hundred and si.sty acres, so that he now has a valuable tract of four hundred and eighty acres. At the time of his purchase it was all wild prairie land, but he has transformed the once wild tracts until he now has one of the best and most highly improved farms in this sec- tion of the state. He continued to live in the first house erected thereon until about two years ago, when he erected his present commodious and comfortable dwelling. In May, 1881, Mr. White led to the mar- riage altar Miss Zaida Leete, a native of Connecticut and a descendant of Governor Leete, of that state. Her parents are Will- iam P. and Zaida (Goodrich) Leete, the former of whom died at West Salem, Wis- consin; but the latter is still living. Our subject and his wife now have three chil- dren, — Frank, Sherman and Charlie. Until 1887 Mr. White had been a Re- publican, casting his first vote for General Grant, but at that time began taking an active part in the "Alliance" movement and has since supported the People's party. On that ticket he was twice the candidate for county auditor, and although his party was in the minority he was defeated by only a small margin. He was one of the first to promote the interests of the Alliance in southwestern Minnesota, aiding in its organ- ization, and at the last convention held in Lyon county, at Marshall, June i, 1896, had the pleasure of seeing every district in the county represented with the exception of two. He has become one of its leading members in the state, and will undoubtedly in the near future be in the front rank of the national organization. For ten years Mr. White has acceptably served as township clerk, and in the fall of 1890 was elected to the state legislature without opposition, there being no candi- dates put forward by the opposing parties. During his two years' service he took an active part in promoting the interests of his locality as well as the state at large and left a record of which he may be justly proud. He was a member of several important committees, including those on railroads, education and insane. The family attend the Congregational church, of which Mrs. White is a most faithful member. eLIJAH G. CHAFFER, a promi- nent farmer and breeder of regis- tered Jersey cattle, resides on one of the fine stock farms of Nobles county, its location being on section 22, Worthington township. He was born on a farm near Washing- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 277 ton, Tazewell county, Illinois, July 17, 1850, and is a son of Abraham and Sara (Huxtable) Chaffer. His parents were born and reared in England, and crossed the Atlantic to the United States, becoming pioneer settlers of Tazewell county, Illinois. The father was a wheelwright by trade, but in his later life gave his attention to agri- cultural pursuits. He was a man much respected for his sterling worth and for his superior judgment in conducting his busi- ness affairs. He died in Washington, Illi- nois, where three months previously he had moved into a new home just built, in 1874, and his wife, who is still living, in her sev- enty-ninth year, now resides with her son, Elijah G. Mr. Chaffer, of this review, is the young- est in a family which included five sons and one daughter, and with one exception all are yet living. His boyhood days were passed in the usual manner of farmer lads, and his early education, acquired in the district schools, was supplemented by study in select schools in Eureka and Springfield, Illinois. After laying aside his text-books he assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm until he had attained his majority, when he gave his attention to general farming and stock-raising on his own account, meeting with excellent success in this venture. He owned a highly improved tract of land in his native county, and also owned a high grade of stock. It was while residing there that he first engaged in the breeding of Jersey cattle for the purpose of manufacturing butter. For the benefit of educating his children, Mr. Chaffer in 1882 removed from his farm to Washington, then containing fourteen hundred inhabitants, and in connection with the care of his land engaged in business, as an importer of fine horses making two trips to England and Scotland. In this business he continued, with success andpros- perity, until i8go, when he came to Nobles county, Minnesota, where he purchased the homestead of the late Hon. Justin P. Moulton. This comprises one hundred and seventy-seven acres of choice land on the west side of Okabena Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, well supplied with game fish. He also owns one hundred and sixty acres two and one half miles north of Worth- ington. The residence is very commodious and convenient and is richly and tastefully furnished. He has good barns and outbuild- ings for the care of his stock, and an air of neatness and thrift prevades the entire place. He keeps on hand a herd of Jersey cows, and the products of his dairy, owing to their excellent quality command the highest market price. Mr. Chaffer is also engaged in the raising of fine Plymouth Rock chickens and finds this a source of profit. His busi- ness interests are well managed, and his enterprise and perseverance, coupled with sound judgment have brought to him suc- cess. He still owns a half section of land of the old homestead in Illinois, valued at one hundred dollars an acre. Mr. and Mrs. Chaffer have five children: S. Maud, wife of John R. Newton; Susan H. , a graduate of the high school ; Harley E. , who has attended the State Agricultural School one and one-half years; Clarice C, and Ralph E. Mr. Chaffer is a member of the township board of supervisors, and has been prominent in the public affairs of his locality, while to all improvements of a sub- stantial nature he gives a generous aid. He is public-spirited and progressive, devoted to the welfare of the community, and his standing among his fellow men is high. 278 MEMORIAL RECORD OF @EORGE B. WEISER, M. D., a leadin;^ physician and surgeon of New Ulni, is one of the native sons of the Keystone state, his birth having occurred in Georgetown, Northum- berland county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of September, 1857. He is a representa- tive of one of the old and honored families of that locality and traces his ancestry back to Conrad Weiser, who sailed from Stutt- gart, kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, to America and became the founder of the German settlement in Womelsdorf, Berks county, Pennsylvania. He was a leading citizen of that place and took an active and prominent part in the settlement of Indian claims, holding a commission from the colo- nial government which endowed him with authority to act in this matter. He died in Berks county, after a long and useful life. The grandfather of Dr. Weiser, of New Ulm, was George Weiser, also a native of the Keystone state and at one time asso- ciate judge of Northumberland county. The Doctor's father, Charles S. Weiser, M. D., was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, in 1828, and was the fifth in order of birth in a family of two sons and four daughters. All are now deceased with the exception of one daughter, Mrs. Amelia Fisher, widow of Rev. Fisher, who was pastor of the German Reformed church, of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. The others were Mrs. Louise Bruner, wife of Captain C. J. Bruner, deceased, who was United States internal revenue collector for the Four- teenth district of Pennsylvania, also a prom- inent lawyer of Northumberland county. He won his title by valiant service in com- mand of a company during the civil war. George B. Weiser, the second of this fam- ily, was graduated at the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, with the class of 1 84 1, and afterward engaged in the practice of medicine for many years in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. He was widely known in that part of the state and had the highest respect of all. His death occurred in 1888. He has one son. Dr. Frank Weiser, who is also a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College and is now engaged in practice in Windom, Minnesota. The next of the Weiser family was Elizabeth, wife of J. W. Bassler, deceased, who was a prominent merchant of Sunburj-, Pennsylvania, for many years. Melinda Weiser was never married. Dr. Charles Weiser acquired his early education in the common schools of his na- tive state, later studied medicine and after preliminary preparation entered the Jeffer- son Medical College, of Philadelphia, where he was graduated with the class of 1850. Removing to Northumberland county, he was an active and prominent member of its medical fraternity from that time until his death, which occurred in 1862. He mar- ried Sarah Brosious, also a native of George- town, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Nicholas Brosious, who also was born in the same state and at one time was a leading farmer and miller of Northumberland count}'. Three children were born of this union, a son and two daughters, but one daughter died in infancy and the other, Elizabeth C, is now living with her mother in Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania. The gentleman whose name introduces the initial paragraph of this review is in- debted to the common schools of his native county for the early educational privileges which he enjoyed. He afterward entered Berrysburg Seminary and later attended Sunbury Academy, where he completed his SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 279 literary course. Taking up the study of medicine, which seemed to be the favorite profession of the family and for which he seemed to possess a natural predilection, he entered the office of Dr. B. L. Iverchner, of Georgetown, Pennsylvania, under whose di- rection he continued his reading for two years and also acquired much practical e.x- perience by assisting his preceptor in his practice. In the fall of 1876 he entered the Jefferson Medical College, where he gradu- ated on the 1 2th of March, 1879. He at once began practice in McKee's Half Falls, in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until March, 1893, when he re- moved to New Ulm, Minnesota, and has since been a valued and active member of the medical fraternity in this place. He is a member of the Brown County Medical Societ}', of which he is treasurer, and also a member of the Minnesota Valley Medical Society. During his residence in the state of his nativity he served as coroner from 1S87 to 1890. On the 2d of October, 1890, was cele- brated the marriage of Dr. Weiser and Miss Sarah C. Schoch, of Selm's Grove, Penn- sylvania, daughter of George J. Schoch, a grain-buyer of that place. Although their residence in New Ulm covers but a compar- atively short period they have already made many warm friends and hold a high posi- tion in social circles. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has served as high priest of New Ulm Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M. He is the physician for Harmony Camp, No. 2097, M. W. A., and for Hustler Camp, No. 2527. He is also a member and exam- ining physician of New Ulm Lodge, No. 21, Sons of Hermann. In i S96 he was appointed county physician for Brown county. He enjoys a large and constantly increasing private practice and his skill and ability in his chosen profession are recognized by the public and his professional brethren. 'ILLIAM E. KINMAN, one of the representative and most popular ^J^Jl citizens of Redwood county, is now engaged in the real-estate, insurance and loan business at Morgan. He was born in Stark county, Illinois, March 17, 1858, and is a son of Seaborn G. and Sarah J. (Moore) Kinman, the former a na- tive of New York and the latter of Ohio. When only four years old he lost his father, who was a farmer by occupation and died at the age of forty-six years. The mother's death occurred in Brown county, Minnesota, at the age of sixty- four years. She was a noble, energetic woman, and reared her three sons to habits of usefulness. There were four children in the family, but one is now deceased. Upon a farm our subject spent his boy- hood and youth, and acquired his education in the district schools. At the age of thir- teen he accompamied his mother to Minne- sota, and on attaining man's estate was married here, November 13, 1875, to Miss Sarah Conley, a native of Richland county, Illinois, and a daughter of David and Re- becca (Toliver) Conley. Four children were born by this union: Cora M., who is engaged in teaching near Morgan; and Thomas F. , Arthur E. and Alta E. , at home. After his marriage, Mr. Kinman taught one term of school in Brookville township, Redwood county, and then for seven years worked on the farm of O. B. Terrell in the summer months, while in the winter season he had charge of timber. In July, 18S6, he 280 MEMORIAL RECORD OF located in Morgan, when the village con- tained a population of about one hundred. Since 1887 he has served as justice of the peace for a period of eight years, was elected township clerk in 1890, and the same year was elected village recorder for a term of four years. In 1895 he also served as a member of the city council. He is one of the best known men in the county, is a mem- ber of the county Republican central com- mittee, and for the past eight years has taken a very active part in public affairs and served as a delegate to the county conven- tion. No man within its borders is more widely or favorably known. He has always been a firm adherent of Republican prin- ciples since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He has served most acceptably in public office, gaining the confidence and respect of even his political enemies, and as a private citizen also has an enviable reputation. Socially, he is promi- nently identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Wood- men of America of Morgan. *'j-» OUIS GERSTMANN, deceased, I I whose early home was on the other B \ side of the Atlantic, commenced life without other capital than his strong hands and resolute will, and had at- tained at the time of his death a fine posi- tion, socially and financially, among his fel- low-citizens. His birth occurred in Bran- denburg, Germany, March 10, 1843, and he was a son of Joachim and Mary Gerstmann, who lived and died in that country. Until reaching his majority our subject followed the cooper's trade and farming in the fatherland, but at that time took pas- sage on board a steamer bound for New York. On landing became at once to Min- nesota, locating first at New Ulm, where for three years he followed the cooper's trade, and then near Fort Ridgeley took up a claim. On the 6th of October, 1868, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Gerstmann and Miss Anna Hoffmann, who was born in Ger- many, June 6, 1844, and is a daughter of John and Anna (Hilgert) Hoffmann, who came to the United States about 1872, and died near New Ulm, Minnesota, — the mother in 1863, and the father in 18S3. Nine chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gerstmann, seven of whom are still living, namely: Otto, who married Miss Schoffman and has one daughter, Irene; Hannah, Frank, Will- iam, Mary, Robert and Cora. After his marriage, Mr. Gerstmann con- tinued to carry on farming near F'ort Ridge- ley for five years, after which he spent seven months in Fairfax, and then went to Brown county, Minnesota, where he traded for a farm, but after one year's residence there he went to Nicollet county, where the following seven years were passed. He next removed to Golden Gate, for the pur- pose of educating his children, and there conducted a store for two years. On sell- ing out, he began general merchandising at Morgan, where he did a successful business up to the time of his death, which occurred July 3, 1S92. Since that time his sons Otto and Frank have conducted the store. They are exceedingly bright young business men and rank among the most enterprising citizens of the county. At his death, Mr. Gerstmann left a good property, all of which had been acquired through his own individual efforts, as the five hundred dollars he possessed on reach- ing this country was lost, and he had to be- n'^ .S2 so UTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 281 gin life anew empty-handed. His untiring; labors, however, met with well-deserved success, and he received the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens in a marked de- gree. The family all attend the Lutheran church. >y»ONAS BEDFORD. —The fitting and M merited reward of a well spent life A 1 is an honored retirement from labor, in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. The subject of this review, after an active business career, is now living retired in Rushmore. A faithful soldier, a valued citizen, and a trustworthy business man, his record is one worthy of emulation, and he well deserves representation in this volume. Mr. Bedford was born in Yorkshire, Eng- land, November 3, 1820, a son of Henry and Sarah (Seccer) Bedford. The father fol- lowed weaving in his native land until 1828, when he crossed the Atlantic to America, landing in New York on the 28th of March, after a three-months voyage. The family came in the fall of the same year, the voy- age covering six weeks, during which they experienced some very severe weather. The father secured employment in a starch factor}' in New York city, making his home in Jersey City. In 1830 he removed to what is now Sullivan county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a farm, making his home thereon until his death in 1863, in his eightieth year. His wife died on the same farm in 1857, in the seventy-third year of her age. Our subject is the eighth in their family of five sons and four daughters who reached mature years. He has one brother yet liv- ing,— Henry, — who resides near the old home farm. Jonas attended school in his 18 native land until eight years of age and then came with his mother to America. He afterward continued his studies in Lycom- ing county, Pennsylvania, now Sullivan county, and subsequently learned the black- smith's trade in Hughsville, that state. He followed that pursuit at different points in Pennsylvania for some time, and also carried on agricultural pursuits in Sullivan county. In the spring of 1872 he removed with his family to Nobles count}', Minnesota, and secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres on section 28, Dewald township. With characteristic energy he began its de- velopment, transforming the wild land into richly cultivated fields and continuing its cultivation for seven years. On the expira- tion of that period he sold the property and removed to Rushmore, where he has since resided. He engaged there in blacksmith- ing for two years, after which he turned his attention to gardening and the cultivation of small fruit. Embarking in generaFmer- chandising, he formed a partnership with his son, Salathiel I-5edford, in 1885. The firm is now S. B. Bedford & Company, and the patronage enjoyed by the house is ex- tensive and affords a good income to the proprietors. Mr. Bedford was married in 1843 to Miss Lydia Molyneux, a lady of French de- scent and a daughter of Edward Molyneux. Her mother bore the maiden name of Rebecca Bird, and was the first child born in Sulli- van county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Bedford had a family of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom reached ma- ture years, namely: Edmond, a dentist of Redlands, California; Daniel, a farmer of Iowa; Edward D., an agriculturist; Alfred D., a physician in San Bernardino, Califor- nia; Lyman, a dentist of that place; Mar- 282 MEMORIAL RECORD OF garet A., wife of A. B. McChord.a fiuincr of Dewald townsliip; Jonas W.. who was drowned in tlic lake while skatinf,^ at the age of seventeen years; S. H., a prominent merchant and banker of Rushmore; Ermira A., wife of D. S. Jordan, of southern Cali- fornia; and Rebecca E., wife of Ransom F. Merrick, a dentist of Sioux City, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Bedford arc members of the Weslejan Methodist church. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and has served as justice of the peace in Dewald township. He won for himself an honorable military record by his service in the civil war as a member of Company D, Second Pennsylva- nia Heavy Artillery. He enlisted in 1864, and with his regiment went to Fort Ethan Allen, in Washington, D. C. He partici- pated in a number of engagements, includ- ing the siege of Petersburg, and in the cap- ital city marched with his command in the grand review of the victorious northern troops. In Februarj', 1866, he received an honorable discharge and returned home. On account of the injuries sustained in the service, the government now awards him a pension of seventy-two dollars per month. eDVVARD ENGESSER, junior mem- ber of the Engesser Brewing Com- pany of St. Peter, is one of the native sons of Nicollet county, where his birth occurred in 1859. His par- ents were Matthew and Rosina (Oker) En- gesser, and in their home the boyhood and youth of our subject was passed, unmarked by any event of special importance. He is indebted to the public schools of St. Peter for the educational privileges which he enjoys, continuing his studies there until he entered the brewery. He has learned the business thoroughly and systematical!)', mastering it in every department. Ho con- tinued as an em[)loyee in the establishment until in connection with his brother Joseph he bought the plant of his father, who was the former owner. He is the general manager in the brewing department and has control of the men, teams and the shipmL'iit and delivery of their products. He is a prac- tical brewer and his own thorough knowl- edge of the business enables him to manage his employees and secure the best possible results from their labor. Mr. Engesser was married in 18SG, the lady of his choice being Mary Brandt, daugh- ter of John I>randt, of St. Peter. They now have one daughter, Emma M. Mr. Engesser is a member of St. Peter Lodge, I. O. O. F. ; also of the Sons of Hermann, O. D. H. A. He is a member of the State Brewers' Association of Minnesota, and is a progressive business man, who utilises the most improved methods in his line of busi- ness. aONRAD BALBACH, whose post- office address is at Springfield, Minnesota, and who maintains his home on his line farm in Stately township, Brown county, is a fit subject for biographical honors, he being one of the old settlers of the county and one of the ex- soldiers of the late war. Mr. Balbach is not a native of this countr)', but has resided in it nearly all his life and is thoroughly identified with its in- terests and in harmony with its institutions. He was born in Wurtcmberg, Germany, January 3, 1842, the son of industrious and respected parents, and in 1850, when he was eight years old, was brought by them SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 283 to this country, sailing from Havre, France, and landing' at New York after a voyage of forty days. They settled in Lancaster, New York, and there shortly after their lo- cation the father, Leonard Balbach, died, leaving his widow with twelve children, six sons and six daughters. The same year the family came west to Lee county, Iowa, and young as he was Conrad soon began to aid in the maintenance of the family. His ed- ucational advantages were limited, but by home study, close observation and contact with the world he gained a broader range of useful information than many whose early opportunities were superior to his. When war between the north and the south broke out he naturally espoused the northern cause, and at the president's call for seventy-five thousand soldiers he was among those who responded, although he had not yet emerged from his 'teens and there were those who were looking to him for support. As a member of Company L First Iowa Infantry, he marched to the front. He was with General Lyon in the battle of Springfield, Missouri, where the general was killed; served until the expira- tion of his term of enlistment, when he was honorably discharged and returned to Lee county. In the spring of the following year, 1862, he re-enlisted, this time in Com- pany I of the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry, under Colonel Bates, with which command he went first to St. Louis and then down into Tennessee. He was at Corinth, Jack- son, luka, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and thence with General Sherman "to the sea" and victory, and at the close of hostilities again received an honorable discharge and returned home. Mr. Balbach lived in Franklin township, Lee county, Iowa, until 18O9, when became I to Minnesota and located at Farmington, which was his home for three years. I-Vom there he came to his present location in Stately township, Brown county. That was in 1872. Here he took a soldier's claim of one hundred and sixty acres and built a log cabin upon it, sixteen by twenty feet in di- mensions, at that time one of the best houses in this part of the county, and here in frontier style he settled and gave to both friend and stranger that genial hospitality for which the pioneer districts are noted. His stable was built of sod and straw. In this way he lived and prospered until the grasshopper pest came, from which he suf- fered heavy loss; but, while many were dis- couraged and left their claims, he remained and in time saw the dawn of brighter days. Now we find no trace of the old log cabin that a quarter of a century ago was a land- mark and was pointed to with pride by the early settlers, but in its place is a modern residence, twenty-eight by twenty-eight feet, two-story and with rock basement, fur- nished throughout in a manner that shows culture and refinement as well as prosperity. It is located on a gentle elevation, has a pretty lawn in front, and was erected at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars. Near by is a grove of six acres and a fine orchard and vineyard. His barn is twenty- eight by forty feet, and besides the barn are other buildings for grain and stock, and everything conveniently arranged for suc- cessfully carrying on farming operations in the most approved manner. Turning to the domestic page in the life of Mr. Balbach, we find that June 24, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Marga- retta Butz, an accomplished and refined lady, a native of Lee county, Iowa, and a daughter of George T. Butz and Christena 284 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ncc Huff. Her parents were born in Prus- sia, Germany, were among the pioneer set- tlers of Lee county, Iowa, and are now liv- ing at Talmadge, Nebraska. In tlie Butz family were ten children, seven of whom reached maturity, five sons and two daugh- ters. Mr. and Mrs. Balbach have six chil- dren, namely: Ernest, a prosperous young farmer, owning one hundred and sixty acres of land; Louisa, wife of William Bracheal, also in good circumstances, located on a one hundred and sixty-acre farm of their own; Rosanna, one of the popular and suc- cessful young teachers of Hammond, Indi- ana; Pauline, George William and Blanche Flora, at home. Mr. Balbach is a Republican, and in these stirring political times takes a com- mendable interest in public affairs. He has served seven years as a member of the school board, and for four years has been on the board of supervisors. Fraternally, he is identified with the G. A. R., the F. & A. M. and the M. W. of A. *w ^ ENRY MEYER, a retired farmer »^\ of Sleepy Eye, was born in Ger- M . r many, April 13, 1834, and is a son of John and Reekie (Reschloff) Meyer, who spent their entire lives in the fatherland. Henry was the youngest son in the family of five children, and attended the common schools between the ages of six and fourteen years, after which he worked on a farm until his twentieth year, when he entered the German army. After nearly three years spent in the service of his country he was honorably discharged and soon afterward sailed for America, reaching his destination in 1859, after a voyage of six weeks. His capital was then exhausted and for several months he worked in the state of New York. He next went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he re- mained for two years in the employ of a railroad company. On the expiration of that period he removed to Muskegon, Michi- gan, spending the winters in the pineries, while in the summer he was engaged in building piers. Wishing to establish a busi- ness and secure a home of his own, he came to Brown county, Minnesota, in 1863, and purchased a claim, upon which he began farming. His first home was a log cabin, fourteen by sixteen feet, to which he afterward built an addition fourteen by twelve feet. The farm is located on the south bank of Cottonwood river, and in connection with its cultivation he engaged quite extensively in the raising of hogs, to which he fed the greater part of his farm products. He is now the owner of a valuable tract of land of three hundred and seventy-six acres, improved with a good barn and other substantial buildings, and his property is a monument to his industry, having all been acquired through his own efforts. In 1 894 he laid aside busmess cares and removed to Sleepy Eye. Mr. Meyer was married in 1864 to Mrs. Gary Neets Olson. Her first husband was killed at the Indian outbreak in 1862, and left three daughters, — Hannah, Lena and Christina Olson. At the time when the red men attacked the settlement Mr. Olson with his family attempted to es- cape but the Indians overtook them and of the nine who were in the wagon at the time only one escaped! Mr. and Mrs. Mejer have five children, viz.: Reekie; William, who died of diphtheria; Julius A.; Herman, who is operating the old home- stead; and Henry. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 285 Mr. Meyer has gone through the usual hardships of pioneer hfe and performed much hard work in an attempt to secure a start here. Like his neighbors he had to suffer on account of the grasshoppers, but with wonderful foresight he saved an eighty- acre crop of wheat by digging a ditch around the field. He then began to kill and de- stroy the insects by every possible means. The ditch proved an excellent success, for the grasshoppers piled one upon another in It, and putting straw and kerosene in the ditch he burned them. Thus he saved his crop of wheat, which proved very valuable, owing to the scarcity of the cereal raised that year. His life has been an active and useful one and the competence which he has acquired is the just reward of his labors. >V OHN B. SCHMID is a dealer in grain i and owner of the Springfield Eleva- (•^ tor, of Springfield, Minnesota. He is recognized as one of the leading citizens of Brown county, prominent not only in business affairs but also in political circles. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, February 27, 1852, and received there a liberal education in the common schools f„ 68 r :'°. -"'-o' l^-"-. -J ships abo„. eight hundred and s,.. c *: New Ulm and entered the employ of John Hannestine and A. Schell, brewers, with whom he continued for eight years, acquir- ing a thorough knowledge of the business during that time. He next turned his at- tention to hotel-keeping at Sleepy Eye, which he followed for five years and then embarked in general merchandising. In 1884 he was elected sheriff of Brown county on the Democratic ticket, entering upon the duties of that office January i, 1885. He was re-elected and served for six years, proving one of the most capable officials that the county has known, for. as he was I fearless and prompt in the discharge of his duties, evil doers felt that they might expect no mercy at his hands, and to law-abiding citizens he brought a feeling of safety. On his retirement from official life, Mr. Schmid entered into partnership with A. C. Ochs, and purchased the roller mills in Springfield, operating the same for three years, when he sold his interest in order to embark in the grain business. He built his elevator in 1892,— a structure forty by one hundred and ten feet and four stories in height, with a capacity of forty thousand bushels. Situated in the midst of the fa- mous grain belt of Minnesota, Mr. Schmid World. Landing at New York, they came direct to Brown county, Minnesota, and located on a farm near New Ulm, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock-raising for some years. He is now living retired in Springfield. John B. Schmid accompanied his par- ents to the United States and assisted in the cultivation of the home farm until eighteen years of age, when he went to Minneapolis and Chicago. He is a stock- holder and vice-president of the State Bank of Springfield, and is the owner of some valuable real estate, including his commodi- ous and substantial residence, which stands in the midst of beautiful grounds. In 1872 Mr. Schmid married Miss Anna M. Adam, of New Ulm, a native of Wiscon- sin. They have six sons and four daughters, namely: John K., cashier of the State 286 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Bank, of Springfield; Emma, Louisa, Berta, Edward, Adolph, Victoria, Benjamin, Con- stantine and Elmer. Mr. Schmid has served his fellow towns- men for a number of years in the city coun- cil, and has ever been found in the front ranks in support of those enterprises which are calculated to benefit the community. He is a prominent Mason, holding a mem- bership in Zenith Lodge, No. 200, F. & A. M.; New Ulm Chapter, R. A. M. ; and is also a member of Springfield Lodge, No. 225, I. O. O. P., in which he has passed all the chairs, serving as past noble grand in 1884. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Sons of Hermann, of New Ulm, having served as president of the last named. In 1896 he crossed the Atlantic to the fatherland and spent some time in renewing the friendships of his youth, and also visited the cities of Vienna, Munich, Berlin and other points of interest. For many years after entering upon his business career, Mr. Schmid de- voted his energies almost without ceasing to his chosen calling, and his close application, improvement of opportunities and honorable dealing won him a substantial competence. He possesses those sterling qualities of worth which everywhere command respect and has won in Brown county a host of warm friends. HA. STONE.— It is said that the poet is born, not made; but the successful lawyer has to be both born and made, — made by close application, earnest effort, perseverance and resolute purpose. The abilities with which nature has endowed him must be strength- ened and developed by use; and only by merit can the lawyer gain a pre eminent position. Mr. Stone, one of the leading lawyers of the Nicollet county bar, was born in Onta- rio, Canada, January 17, 1S40, a son of M. B. and Emily (Blair) Stone, natives of the United States, — the former born in Massa- chusetts and the latter in Vermont. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Stone, Ben- jamin, was also a native of the old Bay State. In 1854 the family came to St. Peter, Minnesota, arriving in October, and located upon a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in Nicollet county, which the father pre-empted from the gov- ernment, and they at once began to improve and cultivate the place. In an almost un- broken wilderness they endured all the hard- ships and privations incident to pioneer life, where Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers. They devoted their at- tention to general farming. Mr. M. B. Stone, the father, died there in 1885. His wife had died some years previously, pass- ing away in 1864. The subject of this biographical outline was about fourteen years of age when he ac- companied the family to Nicollet county. Having previously begun his education in the public schools of Ontario, he completed his literary course in the high school of St. Peter, and then entered the law office of Hon. M. G. Hanscome, of that place, to fit himself for the legal profession. July 5, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, which was soon stationed at Fort Ridgely in his own county. During the fall it was ordered to Kentucky. On January 19, 1862, it participated in the battle of Mill Springs. Mr. Stone afterward took part in the bat- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 287 ties of Tullahoma, Perryville and Chicka- mauga, where he was severely wounded in the left leg, and where he was captured and paroled, and was sent home on parole-fur- lough. On recovery he was sent to Camp Chase, at Columbus, Ohio, where he re- mained until exchanged. Rejoining his regiment near Big Shanty, Georgia, he re- mained with it until it reached Kenesaw mountain. From there he was sent to Nashville, where on the expiration of his term of service, he was mustered out, July 4, 1864. He participated in all the marches and minor engagements of his reg- iment while he was in active service. He is now a member of A. K. Skaro Post, No. 47, G. A. R. On his admission to the bar in 1874 he at once began practice at St. Peter, and is now at the head of a large and lucrative practice. From 1866 to 1870 he was sheriff of the county, and from 1871 to 1875 was clerk of the district court; was mayor of St. Peter in 1879, 'i"^ county attorney for a number of years, etc. In the discharge of his official duties Mr. Stone has ever been a man of unswerving principle, as well as accommodating. Politically he is an ardent Republican, taking a deep interest in the success of his party, and socially is a mem- ber of St. Peter Lodge, No. 54, A. F. & A. M. He is now serving as one of the di- rectors of the independent school district of St. Peter. Besides the income derived from his large practice he owns two good farms, aggregating two hundred acres. Upright, reliable and honorable, his strict adherence to the principles of integrity commands the respect of all. The place he has won in the legal profession is accorded him in recogni- tion of his skill and ability, and the place he occupies in the social world is a tribute to that genuine worth and true nobleness of character which are universally recognized and honored. He is a member of the Christian church. In 1866 Mr. Stone was united in mar- riage with Miss Sarah F. Phelps, of St. Peter, a daughter of William and Helen Phelps. They have six children, viz. : Luther V., a law student; Marshall E., Helen M., Marion L., A. Irving and Wil- ton B. * w ^ R. SOOT. — Prominent among the 1'^^^ energetic, far-seeing business men JL^r of Springfield is the subject of this sketch. His life history most hap- pily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out an honest purpose. Integrity, activity and energy have been the crowning points of his success, and his connection with various business enterprises has been a decided advantage to the community, promoting its material welfare in no uncertain manner. Mr. Soot was born in Norway in 1859, and in its schools pursued his education until fifteen years of age, when he entered a college at Tharand, Saxony, Germany, near Dresden, continuing his studies in that institution for five and a half years. After his graduation, in 1 881, he returned to Nor- way, where he practiced surveying until coming to America in 1884. On landing at New York he came at once to Brown county, Minnesota, and in Springfield has since made his home. He entered the employ of the Van Dusen Company, dealers in all kinds of grain, and is now their capable and trustworthy manager. He superintends the buying of grain, which he ships to Minne- apolis, Chicago, and other large com- 288 MEMORIAL RECORD OF mercial centers of the west. Mr. Soot is the owner of two valuable farms of one hundred and sixty acres each at North Star, Minnesota, which he rents, and is a stock- holder and vice-president of the Citizens' Bank of Springfield, and has been president of the board of education for three years and a member for six years. In 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Soot and Miss Clara P. Tyler, of Gar- den City, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, and to them have been born two children, a son and a daughter, — Roy E. and Gladys. Mr. Soot is a prominent member of the Masonic order, belonging to Zenith Lodge, No. 200, F. & A. M. ; Sleepy Eye Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M.; and Redwood Falls Com- mandery. No. 15, K. T. He has made an untarnished record and unspotted reputa- tion as a business man. In all places and under all circumstances he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly valuing his own self- respect as infinitely more preferable than wealth, fame and position. EON. WILLIAM F. DICKINSON. — There are no rules for building characters; there are no rules for achieving success. The man who can rise from the ranks to a position of eminence is he who can see and utilize the opportunities that surround his path. The essential conditions of human life are ever the same, the surroundings of individuals differ but slightly; and when one man passes another on the highway of life and reaches the goal of prosperity before others who started out before him it is because he has the power to use advantages which probably encompass the whole human race. To-day among the most important business men of southwestern Minnesota stands Mr. Dick- inson, the well known president of the Bank of Redwood Falls, which was estab- lished and opened for business in 1871 as a private bank, and is one of the oldest pri- vate banks in the upper Minnesota valley. In 1 89 1, however, it was changed to a state bank, with Mr. Dickinson as president; and his son, George W. Dickinson, is now (1896) cashier. It is one of the solid financial in- stitutions of this section and does a regular banking business. Its officers and directors are gentlemen of high standing, financially and otherwise, and possessed of rare busi- ness sagacity. Mr. Dickinson is a native of Massachu- setts, born in Amherst, March 26, 1S43, and is a son of William and Lucinda (Bisbe) Dickinson. He comes of a family of long and honorable identification with the his- tory of the country, — a family whose loyalty was fully manifest during the war of the Revolution, many of its representatives en- tering the colonial army and participating in those struggles which brought to the nation its independence. The original ancestor in the New World was Nathaniel Dickinson, who crossed the Atlantic as early as 1637 and was a representative to the general court from the town of Wethersfield, Con- necticut. He was one of the founders of Hadley, Massachusetts, and died there June 16, 1676. He married Miss Frances Foote, by whom he had ten children. Reuben Dickinson, a son of Ebenezer Dickinson, also a descendant of Nathaniel D., organ- ized a company of minute men at the time of the Lexington alarm, Amherst furnishing twenty-six of the company, and of this num- ber six were Dickinsons, one being Waitsill Dickinson, great-grandfather of our subject. Captain Reuben Dickinson organized a SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 289 second company of sixty men and five of the eighteen from Amherst in this company were Dickinsons. They participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and were valiant sol- diers in support of the colonial cause. The third company which Captain Reuben Dick- inson organized served in the Canadian cam- paign in 1776-7. The father of our subject, William Dick- inson, was born in South Amherst, Massa- chusetts, in 1 8 19, a son of Oliver Dickinson. He was reared in his native state, and in 1S56 brought his family to Minnesota, then a territory which was largely undeveloped, much of the land, especially in the western portion of the state, being still in possession of the government. He located in Fari- bault, Rice county, where he made his home for a number of years, but is now residing with a daughter, Mrs. Humphries, of Yank- ton, South Dakota. In the public schools of Amherst, Mass- achusetts, William F. Dickinson, whose name introduces this review, acquired his elementary education, but was only thirteen years of age when he accompanied his par- ents to Faribault, Minnesota. He received no more instruction in a schoolroom, but in life's practical school, under the training of the teacher Experience, he has learned many valuable and useful lessons. Read- ing and observation have made him a well informed man and he possesses to-day broad general information. On arriving in Fari- bault he began work in the office of the Rice County Herald, the first paper printed in the county, and became quite familiar with all departments of the business. At the breaking out of the civil war he was in the south, but returned to Minnesota, in April, 1 86 1, and at once offered his services to his country, joining the boys in blue of Com- pany G, First Minnesota Infantry, — the first regiment in this state to ofler its services to President Lincoln to aid in the suppression of the rebellion. This command won high commendation for gallant service rendered at Gettysburg and on many other hotly- contested battle-fields. Mr. Dickinson mani- fested the same loyalty that characterized his Revolutionary ancestors and continued at the front for three years, when the regi- ment was honorably discharged. Returning to his home in Faribault, he embarked in general merchandising, which he followed until 1870, when he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Fari- bault, serving in the capacity of teller until the autumn of 1871. He then came to Redwood Falls, where he has since made his home. Here he established the Bank of Redwood Falls, which entered upon an era of continued prosperity under the conserva- tive and able management of its efficient president. As a private bank it safely passed through the financial panic of 1873, and as a state bank through that of 1893, never closing its doors during either of these trying periods, but meeting every demand made upon it dollar for dollar. Mr. Dick- inson is a man of broad business capabili- ties and has been instrumental in promoting a number of enterprises which have added greatly to the material welfare of the com- munity. In August, 1876. he was one of the incorporators of the Minnesota Valley Railroad Company, which built the first road to Redwood Falls. In connection with Joseph Tyson he owns a cattle ranch of four hundred and seventy-five acres, where he is engaged in breeding the noted Polled Angus cattle. Their herd was started in 1889 and now numbers eighty-five regis- tered animals, perhaps the most noted herd 290 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in the state. Great care has been taken to secure the best strains of cattle of the breed, and at the estabHshment of their herd they were owners of Peerless Knight, a prize bull of excellent qualities. They now have Golden Abbott, who was sired by the Turlington bull, Guinea, and whose mother was the Abbess of Turlington, the prize cow which carried off the sweepstakes over all breeds at the World's Columbian Expo- sition in Chicago in 1893. In 1865 Mr. Dickinson was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Wheaton, of Owatonna, Minnesota, a native of New York, and a daughter of Willard Wheaton. To them were born two children: George W., the efficient cashier of the Bank of Redwood Falls; and Mary L., at home. Mr. Dickinson is one of the prominent Masons of Minnesota, and is a worthy mem- ber of that order, which stands for universal helpfulness and benevolence. He was made a Mason in Owatonna in 1866, and has passed through all the chairs of the different branches of the order. In 1875, 1882 and 18S3 he was worshipful master of Antiquity Lodge, No. 91, F. & A. M., of Redwood Falls ; is a charter member of Redwood Chapter, No. 34, and served as its high priest from 1879 to 1883, inclu- sive, and in 18S5, 1886 and 1890. He was knighted in Mankato Commandery in 1879, became a charter member of Redwood Commandery, No. 15. and was eminent commander of the same in 1889 and 1892. He took the Scottish Rite degrees in 1888, was grand master of Minnesota in 1893, grand high priest in 1887, and is now a member of the board of custodians of the work of the grand lodge. Mr. Dickinson is a recognized leader of the Republican party in this section of Min- nesota; was delegate to the congressional convention of his party in 1876, and was made secretary of the Republican congres- sional committee. He was a member of the board of school trustees before the dis- trict was organized as an independent dis- trict, for fourteen years has been officially connected with the schools of Redwood Falls, and has been most active in promo- ting thC' cause of education here. In 1891 he was elected president of the village coun- cil, and was instrumental in securing its incorporation as a city in that year. The following year he was elected mayor, was re-elected in 1893 and again in 1895 and 1896. He was the author of the system of water-works now in use, organized the fire department and secured the adoption of an excellent system of sewerage. No man in Redwood Falls has done more for the de- velopment and progress of the city than Mr. Dickinson. He has ever been a leader in those movements calculated to promote its best interests, and his support has been withheld from no enterprise intended to ad- vance the general prosperity. He is an influential and prominent citizen, standing high in the community where he has made his home for a quarter of a century; is pro- gressive, reliable and honorable in all deal- ' ings, and is not only well-to-do in this j world's goods but is rich in the golden opin- 1 ions of his friends and neighbors. ,y^ETER GESCHWIND is serving as T 1 postmaster of Sleepy Eye, to which ^L^ position he was appointed on the " ' I st of September, 1 S94, and entered upon the discharge of his duties. His fidel- ity to the interests of the office and its patrons has won him the commendation of '.OUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 291 the citizens of Sleepy Eye and he is one of the esteemed residents of the place. Mr. Geschvvind was born in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, April 6, 1S52, a son of Steffen Geschwind. He lost his father when a small boy, after which he and his mother emigrated to the United States, crossing the Atlantic in 1S71. Landing in 'New York they went direct to Chicago and thence came to Brown county, Minnesota, Mr. Geschwind spending the succeeding year in Sleepy Eye. He ne.xt removed to Menominee, Wisconsin, where he entered the employ of Knapp, Stout & Company, extensive manufacturers of pine lumber. His duties were those of a log scaler, and he remained with that company for five years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Sleepy Eye and engaged in gardening on his own account, conducting a profitable business in that industry for eight years. During that time he also served as assessor of his town for eight years and was justice of the peace two years. He was then appointed postmaster and is well fitted for the ofSce, being conversant with both the English and German languages, the pa- trons of the office including both nationali- ties. The energy and enterprise of Mr. Geschwind are indicated by the fact that after coming to this country he educated himself in the English language and in addi- tion to meeting the expenses of his own schooling supported his mother. He con- tinued to provide for her and filled her last days with the comforts of life until she passed away in Sleepy Eye, February 2, 1896, in her seventieth year. In 1S79 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Geschwind . and Miss Amelia Piehl, of Sleepy Eye, a native of Wisconsin. They have seven children, five sons and two daughters. In politics he is a Democrat. On that ticket he made the race for county sheriff and he polled a strong vote, meeting defeat by a very small majority; there were four candidates in the field. He is a member of the German Association, an insurance so- ciety, and he and his family are members of St. Mary's Catholic church. Their home is a pleasant residence in Sleepy Eye, and in addition, Mr. Geschwind owns other valua- ble property in the town. Coming to this country without knowledge of the English language and without capital to aid him in securing a start in life, he has steadily worked his way upward, and his earnest la- bor has been rewarded by a comfortable competence. @ EORGE F. MERRITT, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at St. Peter, was born in the town of Dansville, Livingston count}', New York, on the 21st of December, 1846. His parents were George and Harriet Hicks (Wright) Merritt. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, born in August, 1S09, and is still living, now residing in Burlington, Iowa. The mother of our subject, who was a native of the Em- pire state, born in 1809, passed to the other life July 14, 1886. Daniel Merritt, the Doctor's grandfather, was a native of New England. But little is known, however, concerning the ancestry of the family. The Doctor removed with his parents to Des Moines county, Iowa, in 1856, where he spent his boyhood days. He attended the public schools at Burlington for a time, and also the Burlington College, and later engaged in teaching school, which profes- 292 MEMORIAL RECORD OF sion he followed for several terms in the country. Desiring to enter the medical profession as his life occupation, he began the study of the healing art under the direction of Drs. Horace and James Ransom at Burlington, and in due time entered Rush Medical Col- lege at Chicago, where he was graduated in 1872. On the completion of his course of study there he came at once to St. Peter, Minnesota, where he opened an office, and was soon established in a good practice. He has also taken a special course of study in medical branches at New York city. Dr. ^ferritt is a member of both the American and State Medical Societies, and also of the Minnesota Valley Medical Socie- ty, of which he aided in the organization. As to the fraternal orders, he belongs to Nicollet Lodge, No. 54, F. & A. M., and to St. Peter Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M. He is a member and treasurer of the school board of St. Peter, taking a deep interest in the cause of education and in all movements or interests which have for their object the welfare of humanity. In January, 1876, Dr. Merritt was mar- ried to Miss Jennie Lambie, of Plainview, Wabasha county, Minnesota, a daughter of Adam Lambie, a native of Scotland. Dr. and Mrs. Merritt have had live children, — Jessie M., Ruth A., Louis L., Laura M. and Robert W. EON. JOHN NOBLE TREAD- WELL. — Occupying a leading po- sition in the ranks of Nicollet coun- ty's prominent citizens stands this gentleman, who for many years has been identified with the commercial interests of St. Peter. To a student of human nature there is nothing of greater interest than to examine into the life of a self-made man and analyze the principles that he has fol- lowed and the methods that he has pursued. Such an analysis usually shows forth the strong elements that have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many who had an advantageous start and demonstrated the I fact that it is not fortunate surroundings or influential friends that enables him to win success, but the spirit of self-help. Of this class Mr. Treadwell is a repre- sentative. He was born in Deposit, Dela- ware county. New York, November 28, 1828, coming from New England ancestry that has been prominent in the development of that intellectual portion of the United States. His father, Hezekiah Treadwell, was born in New Milford, Connecticut; and his father, also named Hezekiah, — that name having been handed down in ihe fam- ily for many generations, — was also a native of the Nutmeg state, descending from Puri- tan ancestry who came from England to America. The mother of our subject, Julia Noble Treadwell, was born in Blandford, Massachusetts, November 28, 17S6, and was a daughter of John Noble, who traced his ancestry back to Thomas Noble, who came from England to the United States in 1653. After their marriage Hezekiah Tread- well and his wife resided at New Milford, Connecticut, until 1S17, when they removed to Deposit, New York, where they resided until 1829. The father died in East Frank- lin, New York, in March, 1830, and the mother's death occurred there in 1833. They had si.x sons and one daughter, of whotn four sons are living, namely: Charles H. and Samuel B., who are residents of Binghaniton, "New York; H. D., of Elmira, same state; and John N. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 293 Left an orphan at the asje of four years, Mr. Treadwell, the subject of this biograph- ical notice, was reared by an uncle until sixteen years of age, when he went to Meredith, Delaware county. New York, where he remained for five years. Four years later, in 1855, he determined to try his fortune in the west, believing that better opportunities were afforded young men in the newer country. Accordingly he made his way to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he remained for seven years, during which time he was engaged in clerking in connec- tion with the various lines of trade. In May, 1862, he arrived in St. Peter and se- cured employment in the store of F. A. Donahower, with whom he remained as clerk and partner for ten years, when he retired from mercantile business. Soon afterward he became interested in banking, and in a short time after its organization in 1 87 1 became a stockholder and a director in the First National Bank at St. Peter. He also owns a good farm. In 1868 Mr. Treadwell was united in marriage with Miss Jane Picket, of New Milford, Connecticut, a native of that place and a daughter of Albert Picket. She died in January, 1882, leaving one daughter, — Mary R. In 1884 Mr. Treadwell was again married, this time choosing for his wife Miss Julia E. Forbush, of Gowanda, New York, daughter of Lester C. Forbush. By this marriage there are two daughters, — Lois O. and Jean Estelle. In his political views Mr. Treadwell is a Republican and zealously advocates the principles of his party, which stands for " sound money and protection to American industries." He served for three years as assessor of St. Peter, and in the years 1 874-5 represented the eastern district of Nicollet county in the legislature, where he served on a number of important committees, in- cluding the committee on the hospital for the insane. He and his family are tnembers of the Presbyterian church, in which he has served as trustee and elder for thirty years. He is a most estimable citizen, giving an active support to all measures which are calculated to advance the educational, moral, social or material welfare of the community. at ILHELM SINN bears a name that is well known in Nicollet county, Minnesota, he having landed here when a boy in his 'teens about thirty-six years ago and having ever since maintained his residence in this county. He is a German-American citizen, — a German by birth and an American by adoption, — and possesses to a marked degree the char- acteristics of his type. Reverting to his life history we find, and are pleased to present, the following facts: Wilhelm Sinn was born in the province of Prussia, Germany, June 6, 1844, a son of poor, honest and respected parents, August and Caroline Sinn, both of whom passed their lives and died in their native land. They were devoted Christians and consistent members of the Lutheran church. When Wilhelm was a boy of twelve years he accompanied his grandmother and an uncle to this country and settled with them in Watertown, Wisconsin, and three years later they all moved to Dodge county, that state, where they resided until i860, and then came to Minnesota. He attended school for five years in German}', but after he came to this country his educational advantages were limited and altogether his schooling in 294 MEMORIAL RECORD OF America did not include more than twenty days. He early had instilled into him the principles of honesty and industry and became familiar with every detail of farm work. Thus he passed from boyhood to youth and had not yet emerged from his 'teens when this country was overshadowed by the great civil war cloud. Young, ambitious and patriotic, he was eager to join the Union ranks and fight for the flag he had learned to love, and as a member of the First Min- nesota Heavy Artillery we find him going to the front. For nine months he was with his regiment at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and while there contracted bowel trouble of a chronic form and also had malarial fever. When he reached St. Paul, Minnesota, on his way home he was so emaciated that he was unable to walk alone, and it was due to the kind assistance of his friend and comrade, Philip Pilling, that he reached his destination in safety. Upon his recovery Mr. Sinn resumed farm work in Nicollet county, and in 1870 he bought one hundred and si.xty acres of wild land, where he now lives and which he has dexeloped into one of the best farms in Nicollet township, its location being ad- jacent to the town of Nicollet. He still retains the whole tract with the exception of two acres. His residence, a modern one, erected in 1888 at a cost of twelve hundred and fifty dollars, is on a gentle elevation and within the corporate limits of the town. Other notable features of his farm are a fine grove and orchard, good barn, windmill, etc., and the whole premises are kept in the best of order. Mr. Sinn was married in 1870 to Miss Emily Blank, a native of the same province in which he was born, and they have six children, namely: Matilda, Frederick, Mary, Henry, William and Alma. Mr. Sinn is a man who favors advance- ment in the line of religion, education and morals, and gives his hearty support to any measure he believes will be of benefit to his locality. He maintains a membership in the Evangelical Association and in his political views and affiliations harmonizes with the Ivepublican party. Personally, he is a man of genial, social disposition, and is as popular as he is well known. eD. H. OLSON, one of the popular young merchants of Nicollet, Min- nesota, has grown up in the busi- ness here and now has charge of the store established more than two decades ago by his father, the late J. M. Olson. In this connection we are pleased to make per- sonal mention of both father and son. J. M. Olson was born in Norway in the year 1832, a member of a respected family in that country, and was there reared and educated, receiving a liberal education in his native language. On attaining to man's estate he sought a home and fortune in the New World and settled in St. Paul, Minne- sota, where he conducted the St. Thomas Hotel, a popular house in those daj's. Next he turned his attention to general merchan- dising, establishing himself in business at Spencer Brook, where he did a successful business and continued to reside until 1873, and that year came to Nicollet. He was one of the early pioneers of this town. Here he opened out a stock of general merchan- dise and by his honorable and upright meth- ods and his genial and obliging manner soon built up a good trade and made many friends, which he retained up to the time of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 295 his death. He died July 27, 1894, at the age of sixty-two years, and his passing away left a void in his home circle, in the business circles of the town, and in the Methodist church, of which he was a de- voted member, a liberal supporter and for years an official. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Emily Richardson and who, like himself, is of Norwegian birth, became the parents of five children, four sons and a daughter. The sons are x\lbert, a bookkeeper in one of the leading mills of New Ulm; E. H., whose name heads this article; and Lewis E. and Reinhart. The daughter, Emma, died at the age of twelve years. Ed. H. Olson was born in St. Thomas Hotel, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 12, 1870, and when a babe in his mother's arms was taken to Spencer Brook. At the time of their removal to Nicollet he was three years old. Here he has grown up, his education being received in the schools of this place and at St. Peter. At an early age he began to clerk in his father's store, learned the busi- ness in its every detail, and, with the ex- ception of a brief time when he was book- keeper for a milling firm, he has been identi- fied with this store. From his father he in- herits many of the estimable traits of char- acter which contributed to the former's success, and like him has the confidence and good will of all with whom he does business or is in any way associated. The store of which our subject is mana- ger is now owned by Mrs. Olson and sons. They carry a complete line of all kinds of general merchandise, including dry goods, boots and shoes, gents' furnishing goods, groceries, queensware, etc., the room occu- pied by their boot and shoe department being eighteen by forty-five feet, while their other stock fills a room twenty-two by forty- five feet. Their annual business amounts to between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Ed. H. Olson was married May 15, 1895, to Miss Emma L. Schmidt, an amia- ble young lady and a daughter of Joseph Schmidt, proprietor of the Hotel Minnesota, of Nicollet. Mr. Olson is a young man of broad and progressive views, well posted on current events, and is most genial and companionable. Fraternally, he is associ- ated with the Woodmen of the World, and his political affiliations are with the Repub- lican party, and in both fraternal and polit- ical circles, as well as business, is prominent and active. ,>^EV. OSWALD LUGENHEIM, I /"^ pastor of the German Lutheran \ ^ church of Nicollet, Minnesota, is one of the most earnest, scholarly and popular ministers of the gospel in Nicol- let county, where he has lived and labored during the past four years. A resume o{ his life is appropriate here, and briefly is as follows: The Rev. Mr. Lugenheim, as his name and position suggest, is of German birth and ancestry. It was in Saxony, Germany, November 27, 1859, that he was ushered into life, son of Frederick Lugenheim and a member of a family long noted for honesty, industry and piety. From the time he was six until he was fourteen the subject of our sketch attended the parish schools of his na- tive place and during the next four years was in a German high school. At the age of twenty-two he came to America, first lo- cating in Springfield, Illinois, and shortly afterward entering the Missouri Synod Col- 296 MEMORIAL RECORD OF lege, where he was a student for three years. His faihng health, however, caused him to leave the institution before he completed his course. Later he went to Milwaukee, W/isconsin, and finished his education in the Lutheran College of the Wisconsin synod, graduating with honor in the class of 1885. Shortly after his graduation he accepted a call at Cameron, Barron county, Wisconsin, where he had a charge for three years, which included seven preaching places and had one hundred and ten families. His next call was at Hartland, near Milwaukee, where he preached two years, and from there in 1890 he went to Winchester, near Oshkosh, where the following two years he had charge of a church and school. In 1892 he came to his present location at Nicollet and entered upon the duties of pastor here. This charge represents ninety families, and under the able supervision and earnest labors of Mr. Lugenheim is in a flourishing condition, both spiritually and financially. Mr. Lugenheim is a man of pleasing address and fine delivery, which, added to his scholarly attainments and zeal- ous devotion to the grand work he has chosen, renders him a most potent factor in the ministry. And along with his gospel work he takes a deep interest in the Bible temperance cause, educational matters and all moral reforms, exerting an influence that is not only highly beneficial to his own people but also to the entire community. Mr. Lugenheim is a man of family. He was married in 1885 in the city of Chicago to Miss Lizzie Gieske, an amiable and ac- complished lady who has aided him largely in his saving work. They have an interest- ing family of six children, viz. : Johanna, Henrietta, Frederick, Gertrude, Lizzie and Emanuela. >^OHN L. CRAIG, a well known m farmer and stock breeder of Lyon A 1 count}', was born in Eymouth, Ber- wickshire, Scotland, on the loth of January, 1836, and is a son of John and Ellen Craig, who spent their entire lives in Scotland. When eighteen years of age the subject of this review bade adieu to friends and na- tive land, sailing for America in 1854. He boarded a westward bound sailing vessel and after a voyage of six weeks landed at Quebec, where he remained only a short time, when he went to Waukesha county, Wisconsin. There he worked by the month for Senator Walker and afterward was em- plo3'ed throughout that section of the state as a farm hand until September, 1861, when he responded to the call of his adopted country for aid. His love of liberty and his patriotic impulses prompted his enlistment, and in December, 1S63, he became a mem- ber of the Ninth Minnesota Infantry. He had come to this state in i S60, and at Rochester he joined the company com- manded by Captain Enoch, although when he went to the south he was with the com- mand of Captain O. P. Stearns. When the war closed he received an honorable dis- charge at Fort Snelling, but within that Jime he had seen much active and arduous service and had gone through many of the experiences and hardships of prison life. Being captured by the enemy he was held as a prisoner at Cahaba, Alabama, and suf- fered all that anyone could in one of the loathsome prison pens of the south. The place was surrounded by a "dead line," and without proper food, clothing and with no privileges, the year which Mr. Craig there passed was the longest and most hor- rible of his whole life. He was captured at ^^r*^^;^. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 297 Guntown in the first battle in which he par- ticipated, June lo, 1 864,. and was not ex- changed until April, 1865. Thus in a more difficult position than the soldiers on the field, he suffered for his adopted country and the cause of liberty, and to such men the nation owes a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid. When the war was over Mr. Craig lo- cated in Olmsted county, Minnesota, where he cultivated a tract of land until 1872, when he purchased eight acres of partially im- proved land. On selling that property he took up a homestead in Lyon county, in 1872, thus securing the land which he has transformed into his present excellent and highly cultivated farm. Upon the place was erected a claim shanty, ten by twelve feet, which yet stands near his present commo- dious residence. The family lived in that little pioneer cabin till a more commodious structure could be erected. During the first winter Mr. Craig hauled the timber for a new house, and in the following spring it was builded. In 1 8 58 he was united in marriage to Jefferj' Craig, and to them were born eight children, seven of whom are yet living. These are Oliver C, who is married and has one daughter; John, who is married and has two children; D. W., who is married and has two daughters; Arthur, Carrie M., Cora and Jennie. The home of this family adjoins the city limits of Tracy, and Mr. Craig has developed his property into one of the rich and productive farms of the county. In addition to its improvement he is engaged in the breeding of fine horses, and recently sold one pair for three hundred dollars. He receives from the government a pension of eight dollars per month, but is deserving of a much larger amount. 19 Mr. Craig is a charter member of Joe Hooker Post, No. 15, G. A. R., served as its first adjutant and has filled every office in the society, of which he is regarded as one of the most valued and highly esteemed members. He also belongs to the Prisoners of War Association, and his wife is an active member of the Woman's Relief Corps. They attend the Presbyterian church and are most highly esteemed people, their manj' excellencies of character having won them the respect and friendship of many. Mr. Craig owes his success in life to his own efforts, for, coming to this country a poor man, he began to earn his living in the humble capacity of a farm laborer, but has steadily worked his way upward until he has achieved a comfortable competence and takes rank among the substantial agricultur- ists of this community. ' ^ ' v 'AMES F. COX, justice of the peace ■ and a dealer in real estate, Adrian, A 1 Minnesota, is a prominent figure in this prosperous town. Some per- sonal mention of him, therefore, is ap- propriate in this connection, and we are pleased to present here a brief sketch of his life. James F. Cox was born in Towanda, McLean county, Illinois, May 19, 1856, a son of Irish parents who had emigrated to this country some time before, — Michael and Margaret (Walsh) Cox. Michael Cox was one of the honest and industrious farm- ers of McLean county, respected by all who knew him. He died there January 8, 18S8, leaving a widow, who still survives him. In their family of nine children James F. was the fifth born. He remained with his parents until reaching his majority, early 298 MEMORIAL RECORD OF being inured to farm work and becoming familiar with its every lietaii. On leaving the home place he pnrchased a farm near Gibson City, Ford county, Illinois, where he carried on agricultural pursuits until 1880, that year selling out and returning to McLean county, where he bought another farm and continued to reside until he came, in the spring of 1888, to Nobles county, Minnesota. In Larkins township, this count)', he purchased a farm, and for three years longer he continued in the occupation in which he was reared. At the end t)f that time he removed to Adrian and turned his attention to the real-estate business, in which he has since been engaged, and in which line his efforts have been attended with financial success ; and, as already statetl, he also fills the office of justice of the peace. Mr. Cox is a man of sterling integrity, is stanch in his support of the principles of Democracy, and gives his influence to ad- vance the best interests of the town. In educational matters especially is he deeply interested, and at this writing he is a mem- ber of the Adrian board of education. Both he and his wife are devout members of the Catholic church. Mrs. Cox was formerly Miss Mary A. Brown, of McLean county, Illinois, where their marriage was consum- mated January 13, 1881. K./~^ T. JOHNSON, the popular post- I I master of Nicollet, Minnesota, and f^^^_J a boot and shoe merchant of this place, has been in business here for fourteen years. He is a native of Nicol- let county, born near the village of Court- land, November 10, 1862, son of Thomas Johnson, one of the early settlers of Court- land townsliip, his arrival here dating a few years before Minnesota dropped the name of territory and was admitted into the sis- terhood of states. Thomas Johnson was a New Yorker by birth, as also was his father, and their remote ancestors were English. In his native state Tiiomas was reared and educa- ted and was married to his first wife. She and her three children are all deceased. His second marriage was consummated in Nicollet county, Minnesota, in 1853, the lady of his choice being Miss Sophia Deutsch- nian, a native of Germany. She spent her first eighteen years in the old countr\- anil then, in 1844, made the voyage to America, being three months at sea and finally land- ing in safety at her destination. For eight years she lived in Joliet, Illinois. Then she came to Minnesota, first to Lesueur county and subsequently to Nicollet county. She and Mr. Johnson had four children, of whom two are now living, — Ardy Harry and De Lay Thomas, — both of this township. In 1854 the father took a pre-emption claim of eightj" acres near Courtland, where he made a humble home for his little family, and where he spent the rest of his life with the exception of a time during the Indian troubles here in 1862, when ho went with his familj' to New Ulni and from there to St. Peter. He died in February, 1863, of measles, at the age of thirty-four years. Of Thomas Johnson it may truly be said that he was an honest and industrious man, a kind neighbor and a true Christian. His creed was that of the Methodist Epi.scopal church. Some time after his death his widow became the wife of Mr. Otto Mieske, a prominent early settler, by whom she had four children, two of whom, — Herman and Otto, — arc still living. Mr. Mieske was SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 299 one of the first settlers of this county and was well known and highly respected here. During the memorable Indian massacre of 1862 he was one of the brave men who helped to quell the trouble and in the fight at New Ulm he was wounded. His death occurred May 16, 1891. In 1S94 Mrs. Micske married D. Seeman, of Courtland, Minnesota, where she now lives. D. T. Johnson, the direct subject of this review, was reared on his stepfather's farm up to the time he was sixteen, and received his education in both German and English. At si.xteen we find him in New Ulm serving an apprenticeship to the trade of shoemaker in the shop of H. Rudolphie, with whom he remained two years. Then for six months he worked as journeyman. Before he was nineteen he and two other men, a harness- maker and furniture man, set up in business for themselves. He was, however, asso- ciated with them only three months. After that, with twenty-five dollars of borrowed capital, he started in business alone in a little shanty, twelve by fourteen feet, where he continued up to 1883 and prospered from the first. That year he bought the build- ing he now owns and occupies, twenty by forty feet, two stories, and for which he paid five hundred dollars; and here he has been steadily prospered in his business. Formerly he employed two men to assist in the manufacture of boots and shoes, but ho now buys his goods ready made. He carries a large, well-assorted stock, all high- grade goods, and by his genial and obliging manner and his fair dealing has established a good trade that reaches into the surround- ing country for miles in every direction. Mr. Johnson was married December 7, 1883, at Nicollet, Minnesota, to Miss Maria Otto, daughter of F. L. and Amelia (Netzke) Otto, of this county. More extended men- tion of her father will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have two children, Clara and Arthur, and they lost one, their second child, at the age of three years. Politically, Mr. Johnson's affiliations are with the Democratic party. He has always taken an enthusiastic interest in local poli- tics and is regarded as a leader in the same. For eight years he has been a member of the school board, has served in the town council, and since February, 1894, has been postmaster of Nicollet. Religiously he is a Lutheran. -$ OHN A. TIDLAND is entitled to specific consideration in the present work both on account of his being a pioneer settler of Minnesota and a veteran of the great civil war, and for the reason that he belongs to a family distin- guished in the early history of this state. His father, the Rev. John Tidland, de- ceased, was the first Methodist minister and missionary of the Swedish nationality who lived and labored in St. Paul. He had emigrated to this country with his family in 1849 and settled in Boston, where he was actively engaged in missionary work until 1853, the year of his arrival in St. Paul. That same year he founded the Swedish Methodist mission there. St. Paul was then a town of only two thousand inhab- itants, Minneapolis was unknown, and the surrounding country was but thinly settled, it being five years yet before Minnesota was admitted into the Union of States. On this frontier Mr. Tidland found abundant oppor- tunity for missionary work and gave his time and labor freely to the cause. Besides 300 MEMORIAL RECORD OF watching over and supplying the needs of the mission, he traveled on foot all over this part of the territory, visiting the homes of the pioneers, sleeping at night in their rude cabins and through the day encounter- ing many hardships and frequent storms, but never wearying in his labor of love and his devotion to the cause of his Master. Many of these toilsome journeys throughout the pioneer district were made without money and without price. Mr. Tidland was a broad-minded, generous, sympathetic man whose kindness of heart shone from his countenance and brought him into a nearness with his people. He rejoiced with them in their success and wept with them in their time of sorrow. A godlier or more earnest man than he never labored in the field of the Master, and he was early called to his reward, his death occurring in 1861, at the age of fifty years, while he was yet in the prime of his activity and usefulness. His widow, whose maiden name was Aurora Hamerlin, and whose life, like his, was adorned by many Christian graces, survived him until she reached her eightieth mile- post. Side by side they sleep their last sleep in Nicollet county, near the waters of the Minnesota river, and at the same place is the grave of their son Charles L. , one of the brave Union soldiers. He was a mem- ber of the Second Minnesota Cavalry, served all through the war, and died some time after of disease contracted while in the service. This worthy couple reared six children, namely: John A., whose name forms the heading of this sketch; Mrs. Ma- tilda C. Long; Charles L. ; Louie, superin- tendent of a paper-mill at Camas, Wash- ington; Augusta, who was the wife of John Asher, died in Nebraska in 1894; and Will- iam Henry, of Hebron, this county. Having thus referred to his honored father and other members of the family, we turn now to the life of our immediate sub- ject, Mr. John A. Tidland. He was born in Sweden, January 30, 1834, received his early education there, and at the age of fif- teen accompanied his parents and other members of the family to America and set- tled with them in Boston, where he remained until they all came to St. Paul in 1853 as above stated. While in I^oston he was for three years employed in the book bindery of Phillips & Simpson, and during that time helped to bind the first seventy thousand copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin. From 1S53 until 1856 he spent most of his time as in- terpreter, traveling from the east to the west with his countrymen, many of whom were wholly ignorant of our language and customs and some were without money. While thus employed he had many varied and queer experiences. Later he was en- gaged in sawmill work and still later was on the home farm in Blue Earth county, his parents in the meantime having settled there. In i860 he made the trip to Pike's Peak with an ox team. The now magnifi- cent cityof Denver then contained onlyabout fifteen hundred people. In Colorado he engaged in mining and dealing in real estate and spent the greater part of the next three years there. He was in Minnesota, how- ever, at the time of the Indian massacre here in the fall of 1862, and assisted in raising a company of sixty men, which did good service in suppressing the trouble. On his final return from Colorado in 18G3 he enlisted in Company E, Second Minnesota Cavalry, and was in the service two years until civil strife was ended. He was in the Indian expedition of the west. When he came out of the army it was with an honor- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 301 able discharge as orderly sergeant, received at Fort Snelling. Until 1880 Mr. Tidland was in Blue Earth county. That year he went to Brook- ings county, South Dakota, where he re- sided four years, after which he returned to Minnesota and took up his abode in Nicol- let township, Nicollet county, where he has since maintained his home. He was married November 30, 1871, to Miss Cornelia C. Phillips, an amiable and accomplished lady and a daughter of Will- iam J. and Eunice (Turner) Phillips. Mr. and Mrs. Tidland have five children, viz. : Abbie J., wife of C. R. Wieler, of Nicollet; and William L. , Bertie A., George Arthur and Eunice M., — all at home. The chil- dren are all musicians, proficient in both in- strumental and vocal music, and form what is known as the Tidland band. . Mr. Tidland has for years been identified with the G. A. R. He was one of the charter members of Hancock Post at Oak- wood, South Dakota, and now has his mem- bership in Alexander Wilkes Post, No. 19, of Mankato. He is a Republican. EON. H. C. MILLER, editor and proprietor of the St. Peter Free Press, is a native of Germany, born in Platendorf, province of Hanover, April 18, 1842. His primary ed- ucation was obtained in the common schools of his native village and completed at the schools in Hamburg. In 1870 his parents, Henry W. and Elizabeth (Schultz) Miller, emigrated with their family to the United States, landing in New York city and re- , maining in the Empire state a little over a ; year. In 1871 they came to Minnesota and located on a farm in Renville county, where both parents resided until called to the home beyond. In the fall of 1865, five years before the arrival of his parents in America, the sub- ject of this review had sailed for the United States, believing that he here might find more advantageous opportunities for a suc- cessful business career. He, too, landed in New York, and thence went to Pennsylva- nia, where he spent the winter. In 1866 he came to St. Peter, Minnesota, where he engaged in various business enterprises. His sterling worth and his comprehensive knowledge concerning the political questions of the day led to his selection for public office and in 1879 he was called to repre- sent Nicollet and Renville counties in the state senate, being elected on the Republic- an ticket. He was a member of that body for four years, during which time he served on a number of important committees, in- cluding the committee on state prisons and other public institutions. To each matter that came up for consideration he gave his careful attention, studying closely the inter- ests of the state and the effect that a pro- posed measure would have on the welfare of its citizens. His honorable and patriotic course in the senate led to his selection for higher honors, and in 1882 he was appointed by President Arthur consul to Guayaquil, Ecuador. H^, served in that capacity for one year, when he resigned and returned to St. Peter, where he engaged in the manu- facture of cigars. For eight years he was a member of the city council, efficiently ful- filling his duties. In 1894 he established the St. Peter Free Press, becoming its ed- itor and proprietor. The paper is a seven- column quarto of eight pages, well printed and containing much matter of interest to the general public. In politics it is Repub- 302 MEMORIAL RECORD OF lican and it has a large circulation in city and county. In 1870 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Miller and Miss Lina Hensel, of St. Peter. They have si.x children, five sons and a daughter: Carl, who is connected with the Free Press; Ernst, who is also in the office; Otto, who is engaged in the man- ufacture of cigars; Herman; Henry and Lina. Mr. Miller is a valuable member of sev- eral civic societies. He belongs to both the blue lodge and chapter of Masonry, to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and En- campment, to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and the Sons of Hermann. His official career and his private life are alike above reproach. Truly American in thought and spirit he has ever given his earnest support to all measures calculated to advance the welfare of county, state or nation, and southwestern Minnesota numbers him among its most valued citizens. ^'^EORGE W. McINTYRE. M. D. ■ ^\ — Dr. Mclntyre was born in Cleve- ^^9 land, Ohio, on the 28th of Sep- tember, 1853, and is a son of Man- sir D. and Eliza (Barnes) Mclntyre. His father was employed in the Lake Shore Railroad shops in Cleveland, where he con- tinued to make his home until 1857, when he removed with his famil}' to Wisconsin, residing there until 1861. They then re- turned to Ohio, locating in Tiffin, where for some years the father held the position of superintendent in the large works of Smith, Barnes & Company, and where the mother died, December 19, 1863. In 1864 the family returned to Wisconsin, George W. Mclntyre spent the greater part of his youth in the Badger state, and to the public school system of Wisconsin he is principally indebted for the early educa- tional advantages which he enjoyed. He afterward attended a private school in River Falls, conducted by Professor M. E. Cady, a prominent and able educator. Dr. Mc- lntyre subsequently engaged in teaching, which profession he successfully followed for a number of years. While thus en- gaged he also read medicine, under the pre- ceptorship of Dr. E. Ballard, of River Falls, continuing his professional studies later in the Doctor's office. He subsequently took lectures in the Minnesota College Hospital, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, — an institution which was afterward merged into the Col- lege of Medicine and Surgery of the State University, — and graduated at that institu- tion in 1883 as valedictorian of his class. He also won the Lowry and Dunsmore prizes for high standing in his final e.xami- nations. During the summer of 1883 he held the position of resident physician in the col- lege hospital, where he had previously acted as interne, thereby enjoying unusually good advantages for clinical study under the di- rection of many of the ablest physicians and surgeons of Minneapolis and St. Paul. In the fall of 1883 he accepted a position as assistant physician in the Hospital for Insane, at St. Peter, Minnesota (then under the superintendency of Dr. C. K. Bartlett), which position he filled until January, 18S5, when he was unceremoniously dismissed for having had the presumption, during the previous June, to marry Miss Alma Felt, of River Falls, Wisconsin, without consulting the hospital authorities. Upon leaving the hospital he settled in St. Peter and went SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 303 into private practice. In August, 1889, he again accepted an appointment as assistant physician in the State Hospital for Insane, and continued to act in that capacity until May, 1893, when, disgusted with the man- agement of the institution under a new regime, he resigned his position and re- sumed private practice. During the winter of 1 890 -I he took a post-graduate course and graduated from the medical depart- ment of the University of the city of New York. Dr. and Mrs. Mclntyre have one child, Millie Eliza, born October 17, 1893, who occupies a very prominent position in their household. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He is an active member of the Minnesota State and Minnesota Valley Medical Societies, and also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Foresters of America, and to Nicollet Lodge, No. 29, F. & A. M. >^OSEPH H. JONES, one of the pros- ■ perous farmers of Rock county, re- /• 1 siding in Luverne, has made his home in this section of the state since 1871, and is therefore numbered among the early settlers. He was born in the parish of Llanfair Caereinion, Mont- gomeryshire, north Wales, and is a son of Griffith and Elizabeth Jones. His father died in Wales, after which the mother left the little rock-ribbed country of their birth and emigrated with her family to the United States, locating in Columbus, Ohio, where she spent her remaining days. Our subject is next to the youngest of nine children, four of whom are living.* He acquired the greater part of his education in his native land, and on leaving school learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner, after which he traveled through the country, working as a journeyman carpenter. About 1 87 1 he sailed for the New World, landing in New York city, whence he went direct to Luverne, Rock county, Minnesota, pre- empted and homesteaded two hundred acres of land in Luverne township, and turned his attention to the development and cultivation of a farm. He has since been mostly con- nected with the agricultural interests in this section of the state, and has also done an excellent business as a contractor and builder. He has erected many of the sub- stantial buildings in Luverne and through the surrounding country, has built many of the houses and barns in this vicinity and erected the First National Bank and the Rock County Bank buildings, among the best business houses in Luverne. He con- tinued in this work until 1888, when he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land three miles southeast of the village of Jasper, in Rose Dell township. This is operated under his personal supervision, and is one of the excellent farms of the locality, being improved with good buildings, includ- ing a substantial barn, a granary and shed. There are also good wells upon the place, and the owner is known as one of the lead- ing grain farmers of the locality. Mr. Jones is a public-spirited and pro- gressive citizen, interested in all that per- tains to the welfare of the community, and the promotion of its material, educational and moral interests. He is an advocate of the cause of temperance and morality. His political support has been given the Repub- lican and Prohibition parties for a number of years, but he has never sought or desired official preferment. 304 MEMORIAL RECORD OF a APT. E. E. DICKERSON, who for eighteen consecutive years has occupied the position of postmaster of Stately, Brown county, Minne- sota, is one of the early settlers of Stately township and a man who has an honorable record as a Union soldier. His life history is replete with interest and incentive and is very appropriately presented here. Captain Dickerson is of New England birth and ancestry. It was in Lowell, Massachusetts, April 23, 1831, where he first saw the light of day and where he spent his early childhood, his father, Walton C. Dickerson, at that time having manufactur- ing interests in Lowell. Walton C. was a native of Rhode Island, a son of James Dickerson, and traced his origin back to England. Many generations of the family, however, have been residents of America. James Dickerson's wife was a Miss Sprague, a member of a prominent and influential family of Rhode Island and a relative of Governor Sprague, of that state. The mother of our subject was before her mar- riage Miss Annie Bixby. She was born in the Green Mountain state, in the town of Guilford, daughter of Henry Bi.xby, a na- ti\e of New England and a representative of an early settled family there. Her death occurred when E. E. was two years old, he and his brother Albert being the only chil- dren she left. The latter died in Stately township. Brown county, Minnesota, in 1890. As early as 1839 the father of our subject left his New England home and sought his fortune in the then far west, Wis- consin, his location being at Wheatland, where he engaged in farming and merchan- dising, and where he died at the ripe old age of eighty years. E. E. Dickerson was a small boy when he accompanied his father to Wisconsin, where he was reared, receiving a common- school education and learning the carpen- ter's trade. He was at work at his trade in Green Lake county, that state, at the open- ing of hostilities between the north and south. His rearing and education naturally led him to espouse the Union cause, and in January, 1862, he enlisted for service in Company F, Eighteenth Wisconsin Infan- try, and went to the front under Captain Roberts and Colonel Albin. At the battle of Shiloh Colonel Albin was killed. Mr. Dickerson was in various parts of the south and participated in numerous engagements. He was with General Sherman from Cor- inth to Atlanta, marching and guarding stores, and was at the pass below Lookout Mountain, at Allatoona, guarding a bridge on the line of communication, and while so do- ing, October 5, 1864, was captured by the rebels and taken to Charleston, where he was placed in jail. Three days later he was sent to Columbia, South Carolina, and con- fined in Camp Sorghum, from which place he made his escape October 27, 1864, by running by the guards, four of whom shot at him, all within fifteen feet of him when they fired. A Captain Carpenter was with him, both making good their escape but meeting with many difficulties before they reached the Union lines. They slept during the day, traveled at night, and lived on corn, and by the time they were outside the enemy's line they were almost without shoes and clothing and were nearly starved. The day they landed in a Union camp was one of rejoic- ing, and the dinner the officers shared with them was one that will not soon be forgotten. As soon as possible Mr. Dickerson re- turned home, where he was recruiting officer and raised a company. He had been pro- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 305 moted to the rank of second lieutenant of the Eighteenth Wisconsin, and on his return north was appointed second lieutenant of the Forty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry, Com- pany H. Going south again, he was on General Miller's staff at Nashville, Tennes- see, later on General Merideth's staff at Paducah, Kentucky, and still later on post duty. He was mustered out of the service at Paducah, August 28, 1865. The gover- nor of Wisconsin commissioned him captain, and he continued in the service as such un- til his final discharge, which was dated September 2, 1865. At the close of his army life Captain Dickerson was employed in railroad work at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he remained nine years and three months, and whence he went to Winona, this state, as the agent for a wholesale mercantile firm, being thus occupied up to 1877. Since 1877 he has resided at his present location. Here he has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, a modern residence, which was built at a cost of one thousand and five hundred dollars and is pleasantly situated. In con- nection with carrying on the farming oper- ations, he has, as already stated, occupied the position of postmaster of Stately for eighteen years. Mr. Dickerson was married at Eureka, Wisconsin, to Miss Frances M. Haner, a native of Chautauqua county, New York, and a daughter of Ellis and Mary Ann (Morehouse) Haner, natives of the same county. Mrs. Dickerson came west to Wisconsin at the age of sixteen and previous to her marriage was engaged in teaching, being both successful and popular. Her father died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in Sep- tember, 1870, at the age of sixty-four years; and her motheris still living,atEureka, having attained to the advanced age of ninety years. Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson have had nine children, namely: Ida, wife of A. W. Henderson, of Marshall, Minnesota; AUie J., wife of C. F. Rowell, of Winona; Grace Ethel; Charlotte A., who died April 2, i860; Ellis Walton, who was accidentally killed January 14, 1S82, at the age of twenty-one years; Albert B., of Windom, Minnesota; Ed. E., Stately township. Brown county; Loren B., Springfield, Minnesota; and Harry, at home. Mr. Dickerson has always been a friend to the laboring classes. He was a pioneer in the Alliance movement, and at different times served as president and secretary of the Farmers' Alliance of this place. He served as clerk of the township for a num- ber of years. In all the positions of trust to which he has been called he has rendered most efficient service, and during his long residence here he has made a wide acquaint- ance and won the confidence and respect of all with whom he has in any way come in contact. EON. CHARLES R. DAVIS.— Whatever may be said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be denied that the members of the bar have been more prominent factors in public affairs than any other class of American people. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which lie outside of the diametrical line of his profession and which touch the general interests of society. The subject of this record is a man who has brought his keen discrimination and thorough 306 MEMORIAL RECORD OF wisdom to bear not alone in professional paths, but also for the benefit of the com- munity in which he makes his home, and with whose interests he is thoroughly iden- tified. He holds and merits a place among the representative legal practitioners of Nic- ollet county and is a prominent citizen of St. Peter. Mr. Davis was born September 1 7, 1 849, upon a farm near Pittsfield, in Pike county, Illinois, and is a son of Sidney W. and Mary (Pettis) Davis. His mother, who was a native of Ohio, died in Pike county, Illinois, in 1 85 1. On the paternal side he is of Welsh descent, hisgreat-grandfather coming from Wales, but his grandfather. Orange Davis, was born in Lower Canada, near Quebec. The wife of the latter was born in Montreal, of French parentage. Sidney W. Davis, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Kingston, Canada, in 1825, and with his family removed to northern New York, in 1837, where he remained one year, and then went to Pike county, Illinois, locating upon a farm just outside the corporation limits of Pittsfield, the county seat. On the loth of May, 1853, with his family he came to Minnesota, and settled upon a farm in Lesueur county, where he continued to engage in general farming and stock-raising until i 867, which year witnessed his arrival in St. Peter. Here he has since resided and for ten years was actively engaged in merchandising. The boyhood of Charles R. Davis was passed upon the home farm in Lesueur county, and his early education in the vil- lage schools of Kasota. Later he pursued his studies in the high school of St. Peter, which at that time was. taught by Porter & McGill, the latter subsequently governor of Minnesota. Afterward he was taught at a private school by Professor Creary, a noted educator, where he was a classmate of Lieutenant John A. Lundeen, professor of mathematics at West Point, and in 1867 he took a complete commercial course at the St. Paul Business College. For the ensuing two years he was en- gaged in the grocery and produce business at St. Peter, Minnesota. Then, selling out his interest in that business, he took up the study of law, under the preceptorship of Hon. Alfred Wallin, the present chief jus- tice of North Dakota. March 6, 1872, is the date of his admission to the bar. At once he formed a partnership with his former preceptor, under the style of Wallin & Davis, and they engaged actively in general practice, having offices in both St. Peter and New Ulm. Mr. Davis early began his official career, being elected county attorney in 1872, in which capacity he faithfully served for six years. In 1878 he was also elected city clerk and attorney, which former position he has acceptably filled for the last sixteen years and still continues to do. On the 25th of April, 1888, he was commissioned captain of the National Guards of Minnesota, serv- ing four years. In 1888 he was also elected to the legislature, on the Republican ticket, to represent Nicollet county for a term of two years, and subsequently was made state senator from the seventeenth senatorial dis- trict of Minnesota, serving in the sessions j of 1891-3. He took a prominent part in j the work of those bodies, being a member of several very important committees, among which was that on the judiciary. He took an especially active part while serving on the committee for the hospital for the in- sane, and was chairman of that committee. His investigations aroused much antagonism SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 307 among those who had charge of the finan- cial affairs of the institution. In 1874 Mr. Davis was united in mar- riage with Miss Emma Haven, who was born and reared in the city of Chicago, and is a daughter of Aaron Haven. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children, namely: Isa- bel H., a graduate of the State University of Minnesota; and Russell. In his social relations, Mr. Davis is con- nected with Nicollet Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M. ; St. Peter Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M. ; Mankato Commandery, No. 4, K. T. ; Oris Lodge, Scottish Rite, of Mankato; The Mystic Shrine, Ozman Temple, St. Paul, Minnesota; and also St. Peter Lodge, No. 12, I. O. O. F. He takes quite an active part in politics, local, state and national, and has often made speeches throughout his district in behalf of the Republican party. During the time he served the pub- lic in an official capacity he made an ad- mirable record, and as a lawyer he stands high with the profession. HO. REDDING.— For more than a score of years this well known and honored citizen of Bashaw town- ship. Brown county, Minnesota, has resided on his present farm on section 28, near the town of Comfrey, his post-office. He is an American by adoption only, but has always had her interests at heart, and, during the dark days of civil strife in this country, fought for the preservation of the Union and made a gallant record as a brave, true soldier. To a succinct review of his life we now turn. Mr. Redding is a native of Sweden. He was born near the city of Guttenburg, May 16, 1 83 1, son of Captain Lars and Anna Redding, both natives of Sweden and people of honest worth and highly respected. In 1847 the parents emigrated to America, landing at New York and at once coming west to Chicago, then a small place, where they remained until July 4. Continuing' their way westward, they reached Rock Island, where they sojourned three weeks, and whence they continued the journey to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, to their destination in Houston county, Minnesota, twenty miles west of La Crosse. There the father passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of sixty-three years. He was a sea captain and contractor and builder while in Sweden, but, after coming to the United States, turned his attention to farming, which he carried on successfully in Minnesota the rest of his life. His widow survived him until 1874, when she died, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of eighty-five years. They were members of the Baptist church and their lives harmonized with the professions they made. Their family of nine children were named as follows: Johannas, Emanuel, Louise, Albertena, A. O., Lewis, Nicholas, Lenora and Josephine. Two of the sons, A. O. and Lewis, were Union soldiers. The latter is now a resident of Indiana. A. O. Redding had the benefit of a good education in his native language, and re- mained at home until he was si.xteen, at that early age bidding adieu to home and friends and coming to America, landing here with his parents. He engaged in farm work and was quietly carrying on agricultural pursuits when the civil war burst upon the country and calls were made from time to time for volunteers. He enlisted January 12, 1862, in Company B, Nineteenth Wisconsin Vol- unteer Infantry, with which command he served, participating in numerous engage- 308 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ments, until the battle of Fair Oaks, where a rebel bullet passed throuf^h both his thighs and where he was taken prisoner. From there he was sent to Richmond, Virginia, where he was in a hospital sixteen weeks, at the end of that time being exchanged. Then he was for two weeks in a hospital at An- napolis, Maryland, thence he went to Balti- more and from there home on a furlough. At Columbus, Ohio, he was honorably dis- charged, June 14, 1865. A braver, truer soldier than he never fought for union and liberty, and his record as such is one in which he has every reason to take a just pride. The war over, he turned his attention to railroad work, contracting and grading, and was thus occupied up to 1873, when he came to his present location in Brown coun- ty, Minnesota, and took claim to a tract of land, to which the following year he moved his family. Here he at first lived in primi- tive style, enduring the many hardships and privations incident to frontier life, and in- cluding later the grasshopper pest. His farm now comprises three hundred and twenty acres of choice land, well improved and under a high state of cultivation. His first house, sixteen by sixteen feet, is now the kitchen part of his residence, he having some years ago erected a two-story house, commodious and convenient, in front of which is a pretty lawn and park. His grove of four acres is one of the finest in the township. The large barn and other farm buildings are included in the improvements he has made, and the general appearance of the whole premises is at once indicative of the prosperous and enterprising farmer. Mr. Redding was married in Goodhue county, Minnesota, in 1861, to Mrs. Adams, formerly Anna C. Johnson, a native of Sweden, and their happy union has been blessed in the birth of two children, Leon- ard and Alma. Leonard Redding is a well- known citizen of Springfield, this county, where he is engaged in banking. Previous to his entering the bank there he was one of the successful teachers of Brown county. Personally, Mr. Redding has the bearing of an old soldier, is frank, cordial and jovial, and has many friends among all classes, old and young, and, like most old soldiers, is identified with the G. A. R. Politically, he is a Democrat. He has served his town- ship as its assessor and also on its board of supervisors. ^yry^lLLIAM F. RUNCK, superin- M m I tendent of the schools of Brown ^^J^^J county, is himself a liberally-edu- cated, well-informed gentleman, and an able instructor. He is a native of the county, born upon a farm in Milford township, February 23, 1867, and is a son of Henry L. and Mary (Schwinn) Runck, whose births occurred in the German fatherland. In 1864 the fam- ily emigrated to America, and on their ar- rival in New York city came at once to Brown county, Minnesota, where the father purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He has added to this until he now has a well-improved place of three hun- dred and twenty acres, on which has been erected a comfortable brick residence and substantial barns and outbuildings. There he is successfully engaged in general farm- ing and stock-raising, and is now numbered among the well-to-do agriculturists of the neighborhood. The children of the family were provided with fair educational privileges, and our SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 309 subject began his literary course in the dis- trict schools of Milford township, which he attended in the winter seasons, while during the summer months he aided in the work of the home farm. Later he entered the pub- lic schools of New Ulm, and for two years was a student in the high school at that place. Subsequently he attended the Man- kato Normal, where he graduated in May, 1889, and for the following si.x years suc- cessfully engaged in teaching in the schools of Brown county. In the fall of 1894 he was elected county superintendent, being the only one elected on the Populist ticket, which fact plainly indicates his popularity and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens both as a gentleman of worth and a capable educator. He assumed the duties of the office in January, 1895, and his term does not expire until 1S99. He has more than fulfilled the expectations of his constituents and has proved a most trustworthy and capable county official, whose efforts have done much to elevate and improve the schools under his control. Through his instrumentality a reading circle has been organized, which is productive of much good as well as interest to those who attend, and the institutes which he has held for the benefit of the teachers are deserving of our highest commendation. November 3, 1896, he was re-elected to the office of county superintendent of schools for another two years by the largest majority any can- didate for office ever received in the county. ORAMEL W. McMillan, a lead- ing business man of Redwood Falls, is now the resident manager of the Parsons elevator. Almost his entire life has been passed at this place, though his birth occurred at Hokah, Hous- ton county, Minnesota, January 29, 1865. His father, Hon. James McMillan, was born on a farm in the province of Ontario, Can- ada, in 1839, and at Hokah, Minnesota, in November, 1863, he married Miss Ella I. Mason, a native of Vermont, who is still living, a resident of Redwood Falls; but the father died at this place on the 4th of August, 1890. The maternal grandmother of our subject, Mrs. Maria B. Mason, also died at Redwood Falls, April 24, 1896. It was in 1865 that James McMillan re- moved to this place, where he conducted the Exchange Hotel for a number of years, and then embarked in merchandising on the site now occupied by the new Hotel Fran- cois. Disposing of his stock of goods, he again took charge of the Exchange Hotel, which he conducted until 1880. The fol- lowing year he purchased a half interest in what was then known as the Delhi Mills, associating himself in business with W. E. Baker, under the name of Baker & McMil- lan, which connection continued until the death of Mr. McMillan. He took a prom- inent part in public affairs, served as a mem- ber of the city council of Redwood Falls, and in 1888 was elected representative on the Republican ticket. He took an active part in the work of the house, serving on several important committees, and ably represented his district. In the public schools of Redwood Falls, our subject obtained his literary education, and subsequently took a two-years course in the Minneapolis Commercial College, graduating with the class of 1886. Return- ing home he secured the position of assist- ant cashier in the Citizens' Bank of Red- wood, where he remained for three and a half years, at the end of which time he pur- 310 MEMORIAL RECORD OF chased an interest in the Delhi Mills. He enf^aged in their operation for three years, and then leased the same in order to enter again the Citizens' Bank, where he remained until its doors were closed in May, 1895. He was then with the Morton Mill Com- pany, as bookkeeper in the Watters Mill for three months, when he was offered the position of manager of the W. B. Parsons elevator, which he now so capably fills. The elevator, which was built in 1895, has a capacity of fourteen thousand bushels. On the 13th of November, 1889, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. McMillan and Miss Evelyn L. Derwent, of Minneapo- lis, a daughter of William and Jane Der- went, and they have two sons, — James D. and Lester O. The political support of our subject is ever given the Republican party, and he served as the first city recorder. He is an enterprising, public-spirited citizen, whose genial, cordial manner has gained him many warm, personal friends, and he has the confidence and esteem of all with whom he comes in contact. ^ ILL! AM R. CASWELL, resident manager of the G. W. Van Du- ax %J^yff sen Elevator Company at Red- wood Falls, is a native son of Minnesota, born May 11, 1864, at Le Roy, Mower county. The birth of his parents, Daniel and Sarah (Taylor) Caswell, oc- curred in New York, and there the father was employed in a woolen factory. He died in this state in June, 1870, but the mother is still living, now making her home in I^edwood Falls. In the family were five children, of whom our subject is the young- est, the others being Daniel E., of Redwood Falls; Otis T. , of Winona, Minnesota; Clara E., wife of C. F. Greening, of Grand Meadow, Minnesota; and Helen, wife of B. A. Ferris. The first twelve years of his life Will- iam R. Caswell passed in Le lioy, and there acquired his education in the common schools. He began his business career as an apprentice to Mr. Greening, of Grand Meadow, to learn the tinner's trade, and on the completion of his term of service returned to the home farm, where he re- mained for two years. In 1880 he entered the employ of G. W. Van Dusen & Com- pany at Pine Island, Minnesota, dealing in grain, but two years later was transferred to Redwood Falls, where he hassince had charge of the elevator and been the resident man- ager of that company. His long continued service plainly indicates his fidelity to the trust reposed in him and his employers have the utmost confidence in his ability. In 1888, Mr. Caswell was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Cook, of Red- wood Falls, daughter of William Cook, but in 1S91 the wife died. In his political af- filiations, Mr. Caswell is an ardent Repub- lican, and for two terms he served as a member of the city council. He takes quite an active interest in civic societies, is a prominent Mason, holding membership in Antiquity Lodge, No. 91, F. & A. M. ; Red- wood Falls Chapter, No. 34, R. A. M. ; and has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees. He belongs to Redwood Lodge, No. 68, I. O. O. F. , and to the order of Knights of Pythias. He owns a good farm of one hundred and sixt}' acres in Redwood count}', ihost of which is under cultivation, and which he now rents. Mr. Caswell is a wide-awake, progress- ive young business man, has rare social qualities, delights in good fellowship and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 311 lacks none of those personal traits of char- acter which are indicative of the warm- hearted and high-minded gentleman. >Tr'OHN SCHNEIDER, a wide-awake ■ and progressive business man of A J Springfield, Minnesota, is now en- gaged in the dray and livery business, and is also agent for the Standard Oil Com- pany and the August Schell Brewing Com- pany. He is a native of Brown county, born on the 15th of April, i860, upon a farm in Cottonwood township, two miles south- east of New Ulm. His parents, Matthew and Rosa Schneider, were both natives of Wittenburg, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1854. On landing at New York they went first to Ohio, but in 1857 came to Brown county, Minnesota, securing a tract of wild land, which the father at once began to improve and develop. There he made his home until his death in 1864. His wife, who still survives him, has now reached the ripe old age of seventy-nine years, and makes her home with her son Frank. Before the Indian outbreak the family were on very friendly terms with the red men. Our subject is the youngest of twelve children, nine of whom are still living. He was educated in the public schools near his home, and assisted in the labors of the farm until fifteen years of age, when he began learning the wagon-maker's trade in the es- tablishment of Fred Buck, of New Ulm, serving a three-years apprenticeship. He then opened a shop of his own at Courtland, Nicollet county, Minnesota, where he re- mained until 1882, in which year he first came to Springfield. Here he engaged in the manufacture of lumber and light wagons and in general repairing for two years, when he removed to Sleepy Ej-e, kept a saloon one year; then, returning to Springfield, he kept a saloon two years; then sold out and was in the furniture business for about three years. Finally he sold out this business also and embarked in the dray and livery business. His barn, which is thirty-si.x by seventy-two feet, has accommodations for the fourteen horses which he keeps besides the necessary vehicles. He is also suc- cessfully engaged in the dray and transfer business. In 1881 a marriage ceremony was per- formed which united the destinies of Mr. Schneider and Miss Mary Gulden, a daugh- ter of Nicholas Gulden, of Brown county. She was born in Wisconsin and was quite young when she accompanied her father to this state. Six children bless their union, four sons and two daughters. Mr. Schneider is public-spirited and en- terprising, and for three years most accepta- bly served as street commissioner. Socially, he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a straightforward, reliable business man, and has the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact. kY^ EV. MATTHIAS WAHLSTROM, I /^ president of the Gustavus Adol- f _ P phus College, of St. Peter, Min- nesota, was born near the city of Carlshamn, Sweden, November 28, 185 1. When three years of age he was brought to America by his parents and has since lived i in the Mississippi valley. His mother died in Illinois in 1856, and his father departed this life in Minnesota in 1890. After their arrival in America the family lived two years in Chicago and subsequently were residents 312 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of Carpenterville, Geneva, Montgomery and Aurora, Illinois. Thus the years passed until iS6i, when the family came to Minne- sota, locating on a farm near Carver, where Rev. Wahlstrom spent the greater part of his boyhood. In May, 1867, he was con- firmed in the Lutheran church of East Union, Minnesota, by Rev. P. Carlson, and through the greater part of his life has been actively engaged in promoting the interests of the Lutheran church. In his youth he had attended the district schools at intervals, and in 1869 he entered St. Ansgar's Academy in East Union, Minnesota, where he received the educational training that prepared him for entrance in Augustana College, then in Pa.xton, Ford county, Illi- nois. In 1875 that institution was removed to Rock Island, Illinois, whither he accom- panied it, and there he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1877. In the fall of the same year he entered the Theological Seminary in Rock Island, and was graduated there in 1879, and on the 20th of June of that year he was ordained a minister of the gospel in Chicago. In 1886 he received the degree of Master of Arts from Augus- tana College. Rev. Wahlstrom has devoted his entire life to educational and religious work, and those two essential elements in the uplifting of humanity have been materially advanced through his efforts. From 1871 until 1875, and again in 1877-8, he was employed as a teacher in Swedish parochial schools, and also supplied the pulpits of various churches. In 1 874 and 1875 he was one of the teachers in St. Ansgar's Academy, where he had previ- ously been a student. After his ordination he labored for about a year as a missionary among the Indians and traveled through Colorado, New Mexico and the Indian Ter- I ritory. As the condition of things was un- favorable for the establishment of a mission and his health also failed. Rev. Wahlstrom returned to Minnesota in 1880 and accepted a professorship in Gustavus Adolphus Col- lege, of St. Peter, which position had been tendered him previous to his ordination. After he had spent one year there as teacher Rev. J. P. Nyquist, the president, resigned, and Professor Wahlstrom was elected to fill the vacancy, since which time he has occu- pied that important position. He is pro- fessor of Greek and theology in the institu- tion, and his indefatigable labors and effect- ive efforts have been the principal means of making the college a success. His work has also gained him marked prestige as one of Minnesota's leading educators. His time and attention have been divided between the duties of president, professor and finan- cier, and he has also been frequently called upon to perform ministerial work. The attendance at the college now numbers about three hundred students and the school is in a flourishing condition. During Professor Wahlstrom's presidency many important additions and improvements have been made in the college. The com- mercial department was opened in 1887, and is now under the charge of Professor O. A. Allen, who is especially proficient as an educator in this line. In 1894 the normal department was established and proves an important feature of the institu- tion. The course of study in the school is so complete and thorough that its graduates are admitted into some of the best univer- sities in the country, including the State University of Minnesota, the Johns Hop- kins, Yale and other eastern universities. In 1894 the degree of Ph. D. was con- ferred upon Professor Wahlstrom by Au- ^^^^ e^ d/^^^r^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 313 gustana College. He is one of the directors of the public library of St. Peter, and has for several years been chairman of the Nicollet County Bible Society, of which he is a life member. His time and talents have been devoted to the amelioration of his fellow men, and the influence of his noble life is a most potent factor for good in the community in which he resides. Rev. Wahlstrom was married July 6, 1879, to Selma C. Ekstrom, of Lindsburg, Kansas, who was born in Westmanland, Sweden, in 1859, and came with her par- ents to America in 1869. The family lo- cated first in New York and about 1870 removed to Kansas. The union of Dr. and Mrs. Wahlstrom has been blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters, namely: Hilding T. , aged fourteen; F. Annette, eight years of age; Ruth E., six years of age; Edna C. , a little maiden of three summers; and EinarA., the baby of of one year. ai 'ERNER BOESCH. — Honored and respected by all, there is no man in Brown county who occu- pies a more enviable position in industrial and financial circles than Mr. Boesch, not alone on account of the bril- liant success he has achieved, but also on account of the honorable, straightforward business policy he has ever followed. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of per- ception, forms his plans readily and is de- termined in their execution; and his close application to business and his excellent management have brought to him the high degree of prosperity which is his to-day. A native of Switzerland, he was born in St. Gallen, August 17, 1829, and is a son of 20 George and Sarah (Lieberherr) Boesch. His parents spent their entire lives in the land of the Alps, where the father success- fully engaged in the manufacture of linen for many years. They had ten children, — all sons, — but only two are now living, Werner and his brother George. The lat- ter, who has reached the age of sevent}-- four, was mayor of Wattwye, Switzerland, for fifteen years, and is one of its most hon- ored and prominent citizens. Until sixteen years of age Mr. Boesch of this review attended the common schools of Switzerland and then entered the semin- ary in Kreuzlingen, canton Thurgau, where he pursued his studies for a time and then returned to St. Gallen. He served an ap- prenticeship at the machinist's trade, and after completing the same traveled through Switzerland and France. Having resolved to seek a home in the New World, where he believed better opportunities were afforded for success in business, he sailed from Havre in 1854, and after a voyage of thirty- five days landed at New York. For a time he followed the machinist's trade in the east and south. The year 1857 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Boesch in Minnesota, stopping first at St. Paul, whence he walked to New Ulm, for his funds at that time were nearly ex- hausted. At the latter place he engaged in scaling logs or followed any other employ- ment that would yield him an honest living. At the Indian outbreak on the i8th of Au- gust, 1S62, he was living on a farm near Fort Ridgely, and with his family he took refuge within the fort, as did all the other settlers. The fort was garrisoned by Cap- tain Marsh's company of volunteers, and at the battle which occurred near Redwood Agency, seven miles from the fort, the cap- 314 MEMORIAL RECORD OF tain and a large number of his men were killed. After that disaster the Sioux, to the number of about one thousand, under the leadership of Little Crow attacked the fort, which was under command of Lieutenant Timothy J. Sheehan, of Company C, Fifth Minnesota Regiment. The officer in charge of the armed citizens was Hon. Benjamin H. Randall. There were only about two hun- dred able-bodied men to defend the fort against the savages and three hundred women and children were within the walls. The artillery was in charge of Ordnance Sergeant John Jones, of the United States regular army, and consisted of three can- non and three howitzers. Only five men in the fort knew how to handle these arms and one of these was Mr. Boesch. He and J. C. W'hipple were therefore placed in charge of one of the guns. It was the one w'hich oc- cupied the most exposed position, but from Wednesday morning until Frida\' night, when the Indians retreated, Mr. Boesch pre- vented by his well-directed shell and grape the near approach of the assailants, who thought several times that the capture of the fort could easily be accomplished, but were forced to retreat ingloriously before the rain of lead that fell upon them. The valor and bravery of that little band who protected the frontier of Minnesota was unexcelled through all the service of the war, and Mr. Boesch may well be proud of the valuable service rendered in defense of the unpro- tected settlers. Nor has his service been forgotten by those pioneers of early days. In the spring of 1896 the state of Minnesota presented him with a handsome bronze medal in honor of the service rendered by him at Fort Ridgely, in 1862, and later in the pres- ent year he was presented by the Fort Ridgely Monument committee, through its secretary, the Hon. R. J. Holcombe, with a portion of the shell fired bv the cannon which was manned by him and J. C. Whip- ple during the siege of the fort. It is a much cherished memento of those days of hardship and danger, and speaks eloquently of the courage of Mr. Boesch. After the close of the war Mr. Boesch engaged in clerking in the Washington House of St. Peter, Minnesota, also served as bookkeeper and general manager of the business of the proprietor, Peter Harff. On his return to New Ulm he was employed in the sawmill of Frederick Rehfield and was made foreman of the establishment, which was located on the bank of the Min- nesota river. As a member of the firm of Boesch, Pfenninger & Meyer he purchased the Eagle sawmill and later erected the Eagle fiouring-mill of New Ulm, which was one of the first built west of St. Paul. For many years i: supplied all the settlements throughout the territory of Dakota and most of the settlements on the upper Mis- souri ri\er. The firm successfully con- ducted the mill until the death of Mr. Meyer, ten years after the establishment of that business, at which time George Doehne became a partner and the name of Boesche, Pfenninger & Doehne was assumed. The original sawmill was erected in 1856 l)y a stock company of which F. Rehfeld was president, was burned two years later and rebuilt by Rehfeld & Beinhorn. During the Indian outbreak it was again destroyed by fire and was afterward rebuilt at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. In 1865 this mill passed into the possession of the firm of which Mr. Boesch was a member, and was operated until 1877, when it was torn down and rebuilt, the capacity being increased to SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 815 one hundred barrels of flour per day. It was forty by sixty feet, two and a half stories in height, and in iSSi an addition was built, thirty by sixty feet, three stories high. A Corliss steam-engine of eighty-five- horse power was put in, together with an improved roller process, and the capacity was increased to three hundred and twenty- five barrels per day. After twenty-two years of successful operation the firm sold out, in 1887, to C. Silverson & Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who still conduct the mill, which has long been one of the im- portant industries of New Ulm. In 1887 Mr. Boesch erected the Atlantic Hotel in Marshall, Minnesota, which con- tains sixty rooms, and is the leading hotel of the place. He is also the owner of some valuable business property in New Ulm, in- cluding the Meridian and the Boesch, Hem- mel and Maltzahm blocks, and four good residences, including his own handsome brick house, located in the best residence district in the town. He is a stockholder and director in the Citizens' Bank, of New Ulm, and stockholder in the German-Amer- ican Bank, of St. Paul. Mr. Boesch has been twice married. In i860 he wedded Anna Steffen, who died in 1893, leaving one daughter, Minnie, now the wife of M. E. Matthews, a prominent attorney of Marshall, Minnesota. On the 27th of November, 1893, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Jacob Mueller, who by her former husband has four children. He was among the early settlers of Brown county and was for many years engaged in milling and grain-buying, and later in the lumber trade. His death occurred July 19, 1883. Mrs. Boesch's parents were natives of Germany. Her father, Lewis Schultze, came to America in 1854, and first worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, whence in 1863 he came to Brown county, Minne-. sota, and followed farming until his death in 1883. Mrs. Boesch has two daughters married. One, Mrs. Albert F. Seider, re- sides in New Ulm, her husband being man- ager of the Dakota House, of that place. The other, Mrs. Albert E. Metzger, resides in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her husband is engaged in the real-estate business. The other two children are Olga J. and Master Fred J. Ivlr. Boesch is a stanch Republican in politics and acceptably served for many- years as a member of the school board and also of the city council. His career has ever been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has ever conducted all transactions on the strict- est principles of honor and integrity; and his devotion to the public good is above question, arising from a sincere interest in the welfare of his fellow men. ^i OHN P. COOPER.— The gentleman M whose name stands at the head of A y this sketch is one of the representa- tive agriculturists of Redwood coun- ty. He is meeting with a well-deserved success in his calling, and his fine, well- ordered farm, with its carefully cultured fields, its neat buildings and all their sur- roundings, denote the skillful management, industry and well-directed labors of the owner. His farm is well stocked and is worked mostly by hired help. Mr. Cooper was born on the 15th of March, 1859, in Monroe couuty, Wisconsin, on a farm in the vicinity of Sparta, and is a son of Isaac W. and Elizabeth (Decker) Cooper, natives of Connecticut and Massa- am MEMORIAL RECORD OF chusetts, respectively. In the latter state they were married, after which they removed to Pennsylvania, and from there emigrated to Monroe county, Wisconsin, making their home upon a farm for some years. Later they took up their residence in the city of Sparta, where the mother died in 1892, and the father three years later. They were Christian people, faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics he was a Democrat. Our subject was reared principally upon the home farm in Wisconsin, and had the advantages of a good common-school educa- tion, completing his literary studies in the Sparta high school at the age of twenty years, after which he engaged in teaching one winter in Monroe county. On the close of his school he went to La Crosse, Wis- consin, where for three years he was in the employ of P. S. Davison, a dealer in lum- ber and boat supplies, serving in the capac- ity of clerk. Returning to Sparta, he spent the following year there, and in 1883 came to Redwood county, Minnesota, with four others, locating on the extensive farm of P. S. Davison, which comprised eighteen hundred acres. There he remained as man- ager, looking after the interests of the farm and men for three and a half years, and superintending the cultivation of five thou- sand acres. He also had charge of the stock and proved a most efficient and capa- ble manager. On leaving the employ of Mr. Davison, Mr. Cooper came to Redwood F"alls, where, in company with S. O. Mason, he purchased the furniture store of O. W. McMillan, and began business under the firm style of Mason & Cooper. Cfhe year later he bought out his partner's interest, and conducted the business alone from 1886 until 1888, when he sold his stock to H. N. Bell. While en- gaged in that business he also handled pianos and organs at the same place, which he still continues. In 1880 w^s. consummated the marriage of Mr. Cooper and Miss Ida M. Garrett, of Sparta, Wisconsin, a daughter of A. A. Gar- rett, and they now have two children, — Myrtle I. and Robert A. The family occupy a fine residence in Redwood Falls, where they delight to entertain their many friends. They attend the Presbyterian church. Politically, Mr. Cooper is a Democrat, taking an active interest in the success of his party, has served as a member of the township board, and in the fall of 1894 was elected county commissioner for a term of four years, .'\lthough he began life for him- self with limited means, he has gradually worked his way upward to a position of affluence, having now accumulated a hand- some competence, all the reward of his own well-directed efforts, diligence and enter- prise. His entire life has been one of un- usual activity and industry, and he is a self- made man in the fullest sense of that so fre- quently misused term. aHARLES W. MEAD, who has long served in the office of sheriff of Redwood county, Minnesota, and is one of the most efficient and faithful office-holders in this section of the state, is also identified with the commercial interests of Redwood Falls, being the junior member of the firm of Thompson & Mead, dealers in farm machinery. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in the town of Menominee, Waukesha county, February 15, 1847, his parents being John and Mary ( Van Vranken ) Mead. His fa- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. U\ ther was a nati\e of New York, became an early settler of Wisconsin and carried on agricultural pursuits there, with good suc- cess. His father was Joshua H. Mead. The subject of this biographical notice spent the greater part of his boyhood days in Wisconsin, li\ing in Dodge county until eight years of age and then removed to Sauk county, same state, where he remained until his twenty -second year. In the spring of 1869 he came to Redwood county, Min- nesota, and engaged in fanning. He had acijuired a liberal education in the high school of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and had suc- cessfully taught in his native state prior to crossing the Mississipjii. On abandoning the teacher's profession he turned his at- tention to farming, and in the neighborhood of Redwood Falls secured a homestead. With characteristic energy he began its de- velopment and soon the wild land was plowed and planted, while in the course of time good harvests were gathered. Mr. Mead continued his agricultural pur- suits until the spring of 1880, at which time he removed to Kingsbury county, South- Dakota, where he engaged in the livery and hotel business for some time. On selling out he returned to Redwood county, this state, and followed farming until his election to the office of sheriff in the autumn of 1887. In January, 1888, he took up his abode in Redwood Falls, in order to dis- charge the duties of his position, and .so well did he perform his responsibilities that he was re-elected twice, so that in all he served in the office for six years. On na- tional issues he is a Republican. On the termination of his official career he turned his attention to the sale of farm machinery, in which business he is now en- gaged, and wherein, by his honorable deal- ing, he has good success and is popular. In April, 1895, he was appointed to the same office, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Casper Blcthen. His faith- ful performance of the duties of the posi- tion have made him a terror to evil-doers, while by the law-abiding citi;jens he is recog- nized as a trusted safeguard of the county. In November, 1889, ^^i'- Mead was united in marriage with Miss Ida Mead, of Marshall, Minnesota, and they now have four children, — Bessie D., Earl E., Ernest L. and John G. Their home is a pleasant residence in Redwood Falls, and in addition to this property Mr. Mead owns a good farm of two hundred acres in the county, which he now rents. He has served one term as a member of the school board, and is act- ively interested in all matters pertaining to the general welfare. Socially he affiliates with the order of Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. ^VOSEPH SCHMUKER, the well- J known proprietor of the City Brew- (%J ery of New Ulm, was born in Wur- temberg, Germany, March 24, 1849, a son of Antone Schmuker, and in his native land was reared and educated. In 1866 he sailed for the New World, and after landing at New York city came at once to New Ulm. A year later, however, he went to Minne- apolis, and during the following three years was employed in a brewery. Returning to New Ulm, he has since conducted the brewing business on his own account with success. He is the successor of August Frieton, wjio in 1858 started a brewery on a small scale, but in the cyclone of 1 88 1 it was nearly destroyed, causing a loss of twenty-five hundred dollars. In 318 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1872 our subject purchased the plant, which he enlarged and improved, putting in new and modern machinery, and it now has a capacity of six hundred barrels annually. His trade is mostly local, and in connection with his brewery he conducts a saloon, with a dance-hall above. He is a genial and popular man and secures a liberal share of the public patronage. In 1873 Mr. Schmuker was united in marriage with Miss Ida Penser, and they now have one child, named Alfred. The family have a pleasant residence in New Ulm, \vhere they are surrounded by all that goes to make life enjoyable. Mr. Schmuker takes a commendable interest in the wel- fare of his town and county, and for six and a half years has served as a member of the city council. Socially, he is a member of the Turn Verein. OHN MARTI.— In the busy commu- nity located in the thriving little vil- lage of Morgan, we find several ener- getic and thoroughgoing business men who have attained success through their own tact, good judgment and perseverance. Among this number is the gentleman whose name heads this biographical notice, and who at the present time is a representative hardware merchant of the place. The birth of Mr. Marti took place No- vember 29, i860, on the farm of his parents, Samuel and Hannah (Sahla) Marti, near New Ulm, Minnesota, in which city they are now living. Our subject was reared in the usual manner of farmer boys, attending the common and district schools and assist- ing in the labo's of the farm until he had attained his twentieth }ear, when he started out in life for himself. On the 6th of December, 1887, Mr. Marti led to the marriage altar Miss Celia Burginger, a native of South America, born August II, 1868, and a daughter of Frank and Rosa Burginger. Her father, who was born at Hamburg, Germany, was a sailor in early life, but engaged in hotel-keeping and in the brewery business in later years. He died at the age of fiftj'-two years. Mrs. Marti was one of a family of ten children, eight still living, while our subject is a mem- ber of a family of nine, six of whom yet survive. Five children honored their union, but one died at the age of four weeks and another when five months old. Those living are as follows: Lydia R. , born January 31, 1889; Frank R., born January 6, 1890, and Alma W., born April 21, 1892. Upon his marriage, Mr. Marti began his domestic life in Morgan, where in the spring of 1887 he had started in the lumber busi- ness, in connection with William Miller, under the firm name of Miller & Marti, and in 1 89 1 they started a hardware store. Mr. Marti's sterling integrity and general urban- ity of manner have won him a large number of friends in the community, and his busi- ness energy and earnestness a numerous and increasing patronage. At the time of his marriage, Mr. Marti had erected a part of his residence, but in the fall of 1895 enlarged and improved it, so that it is now a most pleasant and at- tractive home. Both himself and wife are worthy members of the German Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a stanch and true Republican, believing that in the principles of that party lie the germs of the future greatness of our country, and cast his first presidential vote for James G. Blaine. He is one of the most popular young business men of Redwood county. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 819 having the esteem and confidence of all who know him, and has been called upon to fill several public positions of honor and trust. Since the organization of the village of Morgan, he has been a member of the board, was its first president, and is now filling that responsible position to the general satis- faction of the public. He is also a member of the school board, and was its clerk for several years, and has also served as school treasurer. Sociail}', he is a charter member of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which he has filled all the chairs. It is interesting in this connection to note something of the family to which Mr. Marti belongs. His father, Samuel Marti, now a retired farmer living at New Ulm, Brown county, Minnesota, was born in Switzerland, June 6, 1828, and is a son of Benedict and Mary Marti, who spent their entire lives in the beautiful land of the Alps. Samuel was the fifth in order of birth in their family of si.\ children, and obtained his education in his native land. In 1S53 he bade good-by to friends and native land and started for the New World. From New York he went direct to Chicago, and on to Faribault county, Minnesota, where for three years he worked in a sawmill. In the fall of 1856 he removed to Brown county, locating in Milford township, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land, and later extended the boundaries of his farm, owning two hundred and thirty acres there at the present time. He made all the improvements upon the place, erecting a good and substantial house and outbuild- ings and putting the land under a high state of cultivation. Since 1887, however, he has rented his farm, now living retired in New Ulm, enjoying the fruits of his former toil. Samuel Marti was united in marriage with Miss Anna Sahla, of Faribault county, who also was a native of Switzerland, and to them were born nine children, six of whom are still living, namely: Benedict, George, Jacob, John, Anna and Elizabeth. The mother's death occurred in 1874, and was mourned by many friends as well as her immediate family. EENRY C. MALLETTE, of Bashaw township. Brown county', Minne- sota, is another one of the promi- nent citizens of this locality who has long maintained his residence here and in whose life history is included an honor- able war record. For nearly a quarter of a century he has owned and occupied his present farm; Springfield is his post-office address. Mr. Mallette was born in Tiffin, Ohio, August 4, 1 84 1, and is descended from a French Huguenot family that in the early history of this country sought a home and freedom from persecution on account of their religion, settled first in the east and subsequently scattered to various parts of the Union. All through the years which have intervened since their first settlement here the Mallettes have been noted for their bravery and patriotism and have figured prominently in times of both peace and war. Ozias Mallette, the father of Henry C, was born in Vermont, as was also his father, Nicholas Mallette. In Vermont and New York Ozias was reared, and in Dunkirk, New York, was married to Miss Cynthia Plum, a native of Utica, that state, and a daughter of Thomas Plum. 'Thomas Plum was a member of an old New York family, of English origin; was a participant in the 320 MEMORIAL RECORD OF war of I 8 12, in which he was wounded, and for services rendered in that war was the recipient of a pension. Shortly after their marriage they removed to Seneca county, Ohio, and located near Tiffin, where they resided for three years and whence they removed to Dane county, Wisconsin, settling near Bellville, sixteen miles from Madison. The venerable father, Ozias Mallette, is still living, is now eighty years of age, and resides at Fort Garland, Colorado. He has long been identified with both the Odd Fellows and Masons, and for many years one of the most prominent and useful men of the com- munity. His good wife departed this life in Richland county, Wisconsin, at the age of fifty-three years, and left seven children, viz. : Henry C, whose name graces this article; Sylvester, who was a soldier in the Twelfth Wisconsin Infantry, is now a resident of Colfax county, New Mexico; Orren, whose service in the war was as a member of the Forty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry, is also a resident of Colfax county, New Mexico; Jerome, who died in Colorado; Charles, who lives near Mankato, Minnesota; Betty E. Higgins, of Eagle Lake, Minnesota; and George, of Fort Garland, Colorado. Henry C. Mallette was a boy of seven years when he left his native state and ac- companied his parents on their removal to Wisconsin, where he was reared on a pio- neer farm, being brought up to habits of honesty and industry and under the influence of a Christian mother. When the war of the Rebellion was inaugurated he was among the first to tender his service for the protec- tion of the old flag. Early in i86i he en- listed in the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry for three years and went to the front, the company of which he was a mem- ber being known as Sugar River Rifles, and composed of as fine a body of young farmer boys as ever marched under the stars and stripes, and indeed the whole regiment was made up of the strongest and truest and bravest of men and soon became famous on the field of battle. Young Mallette took part in the engagements at Farmington, Island No. lo, luka, Corinth, Burnsville, Tallahatchie, Mississippi Springs, Jackson, Richmond, Vicksburg and Brownsville. After the last named engagement he had an attack of malaria and was for three months in the hospital. At Memphis, Tennessee, he rejoined his command after his recovery, and subsequently was a participant in the engagements at Hurricane Creek and Abbe- ville, Mississippi, and October 3, 1864, his term of service having expired, he was hon- orably discharged. Mr. Mallette returned to Wisconsin at the close of his army service and in Dane county he continued to make his home un- til 1872, when he came over into Minnesota and selected a location in Bashaw township. Brown county, where he has since lived and prospered, owning and occupying eighty acres of fine land. He was married in Richland county, Wisconsin, to Elizabeth Allaback, a native of Wellsville, Ohio, but reared and educated in Richland county, Wisconsin, daughter of Samuel Allaback, deceased. They have four children living, — Jasper, Laura, Lillian and Alida; and they lost one child, Horace, their youngest, at the age of eleven years. During the whole of his residence here Mr. Mallette has been prominent and active in local affairs, affiliating with the Repub- lican party and being active and efficient as a party worker. For three years he was chairman of the township board, justice of (3. 'M, 4r ^^^ ^() i^^l^a. 5 O UTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 821 the peace fourteen years, on the school hoard fifteen years, and for years was town- ship clerk, and at all times rendered prompt and faithful service. He is a member of Philip Cutland Post, No. 109, G. A. R., and of the Mora\'ian church, while his wife has her membership in the Christian church. H UGUST SCHELL, deceased, was for more than a third of a century one of the most prominent and highly esteemed citizens of New Ulm. His identification with its business interest, the active part which he took in promoting the welfare of the community, and his straightforward, honorable life, — all united to win him the esteem which was so freely accorded him by his many friends, and the history of this section of the state would be incomplete without the record of his life. A native of Baden, German}', he was born on the 15th of February, 1828, and remained in his native land through the period of his bo}hood and youth, his edu- cation being obtained in its public schools. When a young man of twenty years he de- termined to try his fortune in America and see whether he could not secure for himself a good home in the land where honest labor received an equivalent reward. Accord- ingly, in 1848, he made his way to the port of Havre, where he boarded a sailing vessel bound for New Orleans. On landing in the Crescent City he made his way up the Mis- sissippi and Ohio rivers to Cincinnati, where he followed the trade of machinist, working in a locomotive factory there. He soon became interested in the New Ulm German Land Association, and coming to Minnesota he took up his residence in New Ulm, in 1856, and for a time was in the employ of the Cincinnati Association, taking charge of the Cincinnati Flouring Mill, afterward known as the Globe Mill, and continued his connection with the milling business until i860, when he became interested in the brewing business with Mr. Bernhardt. Un- der the name of Schell & iDernhardt, they erected a small brewery and began business on a limited scale. Eventuallj' Mr. Schell became sole proprietor and was nu mbered among the leading brewers of the state until his death. He fitted up his establishment with the latest improved machinery, added all modern accessories for the successful manufacture of a high grade of beer, and by thrift, economy and enterprise he continu- ally enlarged his facilities until the brewer}' had a capacity of nine thousand barrels, being one of the largest and best equipped in Minnesota. The building is a brick struc- ture and is situated on a bluff near a fine spring. Afr. Schell built up a \ery e.xtensive trade and had accumulated a handsome property through his own persistent and untiring la- bors. His brewery was also regarded as one of the leading industries of the city, furnishing employment to a considerable number of men. In 1853 Mr. Schell was united in mar- riage to Miss Therese Hermann, who was also born in Germany and came to the United States during her girlhood. She still survives her husband and makes her home in New Ulm, and is sole owner of the bre^\■ing establishment. They had a family of si.x children, two sons and four daughters, namely: Emelia, wife of George Schnei- der, of New Ulm; Emma, wife of George Marli, a druggist of St. Paul; Adolphus, a MEMORIAL RECORD OF resident of California; Otto, who is now conducting the brewery; Augusta", wife of William Yoerg, a brewer of St. Paul; and Anna, who died in 1870. Through the years of his residence in New Ulm, August Schell seemed to give his best thought to means that would benefit the community and advance its interests. He was a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and did much for New Ulm. His home was one of the most conspicuous features of the city, — in fact, its reputation is state wide. His father was a forester in Germany, and from earl\' life he was taught to know and love wild animals and flowers, a love which increased as the years went by. As his business increased and added to his financial resources he indulged his fondness for animals and fiowers, and his park is of the greatest value and interest to zoologists as preserving the fauna of Minne- sota. It contains a large number of wild geese and nearly all the native wild animals of the state; but the pride of the place is the large deer park, which contains twenty- six deer, all of which were bred in the park. Mr. Schell continued in active business un- til within a few \'ears of his death, when, on account of failing health, he laid aside all care. His life's labors were ended on the 20th of September, 1891, and he passed away amidst the deepest regret of a very large circle of friends. He was a self-made man. Starting out in life with fewer ad- vantages than most others, he worked his way steadily upward, and his prosperit}' was the fitting reward of his own labors. Otto Schell is now conducting the brew- ery which his father established, and like him occupies a foremost place among the wide-awake and enterprising business men of the city. He is a native son of New Ulm, born July 15, 1862. There he was reared, receiving his education in its public schools. I^ater he attended school in Man- kato, Minnesota, and the public schools in St. Paul. Iveturning home, he entered the office of his father's brewery as bookkeeper, and has since been connected with the establishment, either as employee or man- ager. In 18.S2 he visited his father's native country, Germany, went to old Ulm, and there perfected himself in the brewery busi- ness. Upon his father's death he assumed the management of the brewery, and still conducts it, under the name of the August Schell Brewery. He has made many val- uable improvements in the plant, including the erection of a large brick addition, the supplying of new kettles, pumps, etc. It is now one of the most complete breweries of the state, with a capacity of twentj' thou- sand barrels, and the product manufactured is a superior article which finds a ready sale on the market. In 1S85 was celebrated the marriage of Otto Schell and Miss Adelia Schwerdtfeger, of fberia, daughter of August Schwertfeger, an old settler, prominent miller, and treas- urer of Brown county, Minnesota. To this worthy couple have been born three chil- dren, — Viola, Walter O. and Arthur O., who died in 1888. In 1895 Mr. Schell erected a fine residence on the bluff, which ! commands an excellent and superb \iew of j the surrounding country, — a picture that ' might well delight the ej'e of an artist. i The house is built in a beautiful style of architecture, and is magnificently finished j throughout with hard woods. The place : is well watered, Mr. Schell ha\ing built a j sj'stem of water-works which furnishes an : abundant supply of spring water, so UTH WESTERN MINNESO TA . 823 ^"^EORGE ADELBERT BLAIR.— ■ ^\ The name of this gentleman occu- \^M pies a conspicuous place in the his- tory of the business, social and political interests of Lesueur county, and the influence of his noble and honorable life remains with all who knew him. He was born in Bickett, Massachusetts, on the iith of January, 1840, and spent the first twelve years of his life in the state of his nativity, after which he accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio. The family went to Wisconsin in 1855, and thus he was largely reared on the western frontier. In the Badger state he was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Rounds, and in 1S65 came to \\'aterville, Minnesota, where he continued tomake his home upto the time of hisdeath. Mr. Blair was prominently connected with the industrial and commercial inter- ests of this place, and his business affairs not only promoted his individual prosperity but also advanced the general welfare of the community. He first engaged in the sasv- mill business, in partnership with his brother Luther and their father, and afterward be- came interested in the operation of a grist- mill in connection with L. Z. Rogers and Asa Wait. His next venture was in the establishment of a pine-lumber jard. A man of great energy, perseverance and sound judgment, he carried to successful completion whatever he undertook, and his thorough reliability and unquestioned integ- rity won him the confidence and in conse- quence the patronage of the public. In 1880 he was called from private life to serve the citi;;jns of I^esueur county in the capacity- of sheriff, and for two years held that office, duriug which time he made the arrest of seven murderers. He was most efficient in the prosecution of his duties and established through the county a sense of safety, which rested upon his fidelity. Upon his retirement from office he joined his son in the hardware business and was connected with that trade until within a short time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Blair had two children, Herbert E., a well known business man of Waterville, and Mrs. J. E. Williams. His parents are also living, his father, Caleb P. Blair, being eighty-si.\ years of age, while his mother, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blair, is now eighty-two years of age. They had four children: Hattie Covent, of Uvvight, Illin- ois; Luther L. and Henry P., both of Waterville. The death of George .\. Blair was the first to break the faniily circle. He was a devoted son and brother, a loving and tender husband and an affectionate father. His home life was idaal, and it seemed that he could not do too much to promote the happiness and enhance the welfare of his family. In politics .Mr. Blair was a stanch Re- publican and did all in his power to pro- mote the growth and insure the success of his party. He was recognized as one of its leaders in this part oi the state, and served on a number of important committees in connection therewith. He was appointed by Governor Nelson a member of the state board of e()ua!ization for this judicial dis- trict, which position he filled two years. When twenty-five years of age he became a member of the Masonic lodge, and his life was an exponent of its halpful and honora- ble principles. His membership was with Sakatah Lodge, No. .^2, F. & A. M.; Wa- seca Chapter, R. .V. M.. aa 1 Faribault Commindery, K. T. R2 w.is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, belonging to Osman Temple of St. Paul, and was a member of MEMORIAL RECORD OF the State Veteran Masonic lodge. He be- longed to Waterviile Lodge, No. 41, K. P.; Waterville Lodge, No. 180, L O. O. F., to the Encampment and the Rebekah-degree lodge. In all of these he took an active in- terest and served as worshipful master of the Masonic lodge, chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias and secretary of the Odd Fellows. He was a man of much force of character, of undeviating loyalty to all that he believed to be right, and the re- spect of the entire community was freely ac- corded him. :r ACOB W. B. WELLCOME, M. D.— Conspicuous among those honored residents of Minnesota whose minds bear the impression of the history of pioneer days and trace along consecutively the course of events which mark the end of this glorious nineteenth century, stands the subject of this review. Dr. Jacob W. B. Wellcome, who has attained the fulness of years and whose ken has been broadened to a comprehension of all that has been ac- complished within the flight of many years. His prominent identification with the his- tory of the state of Minnesota frou: the early pioneer epoch renders consonant a detailed consideration of his life in this connection, and superadded to this there are more per- tinent, more distinguishing elements, — those of usefulness, of high honor, of marked in- tellectuality, of broad charity, — which lift high in veneration the subjective personality of the man. One of the most exacting of all the higher lines of occupation to which a man may lend his energies is that of the physician. A most scrupulous preliminary training is demanded and a nicety of judg- ment little understood bv the laitv. Then, again, the profession brings its devotees into almost constant association with the sadder side of life, — that of pain and suffering, — so that a n.iind capable of great self-control and a heart responsive and sympathetic are essential attributes of him who would essay the practice of the healing art. Thus when professional success is attained in any in- stance it may be taken as certain that such measure of success has been thoroughlj' merited. One of the veteran physicians of the state and one who has been in the active practice of his profession in this section for nearly half a century, Dr. Wellcome en- countered the conditions which make life in j a frontier community one of hardship and manifold vicissitudes, and the nature of his vocation was such as to place upon his shoulders in the early days far heavier bur- ; dens than were imposed upon the average pioneer. His was not the life of a sybarite, but one filled with days and nights of toil and hours of heavy an.\iet\-, — a phase of the healing profession that stands in highest honor to one who has thus devoted himself to the noble work against the greatest odds and with the most marked self-denial. Dr. Wellcome, who retains his residence I . I in the attractive little city of Sleepy Ej'e, is a nati\'e son of the old Pine Tree state, I ■ . having been born at New Portland, Maine, on the 4th of June, 1825. In the agnatic line he traces his lineage back to stanch English origin, while the records extant tell of long and honorable identification of the family name with the annals of American history. The father of our subject was Timotliy Welcome, who was born at Well- come Corners, near where the citj' of Lew- iston, Maine, now stands. He was a son of Michael Wellcome, who was born in Eng- land and who followed a seafaring life, hav- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 325 ing been a captain. He married a German lady by the name of Ball, and within the eighteenth century they took up their abode in the vicinity of the present town of Lew- iston, where they reared their children, being prominent and influential residents of that section. Timothy Wellcome, father of the Doctor, was a man of distinctive intel- lectuality, having been highly educated and enjoying a wide reputation as a mathemati- cian. He was for many years engaged in the hotel and mercantile business and en- joyed a marked popularity. He was also a soldier of the war of iSi3. He married Mary E. Cummings, a native of Paris, Maine, and the daughter of Isaac Cum- mings, who was of Scotch descent. She was a woman of culture and fine literary attainments, having been educated at the Hebron Academy, at Hebron, Maine, under the preceptorage of her brother-in-law, the renowned Dr. Merrill, one of the most prominent educators and physicians of the state. For several years prior to her mar- riage Mrs. Welcome was a successful teacher in various schools. Timothy Wellcome and his wife continued their residence in their native state, but finally emigrated to Wis- consin, where they remained for a time and then came to Minnesota, where they passed the remainder of their days with their children. The father died in Blue Earth county, in 1874, at the age of eighty-two years, and the death of the mother occurred at Monticello, Wright county, in 1882. She had attained the venerable age of eighty-seven years. They reared sons who did them honor, at- taining prominence in professional life, both in New England and Minnesota. The eld- est son, Michael, was for many years a prominent clergyman of the Methodist Epis- copal church in Maine, but he eventuallj' came to Minnesota and here became identi- fied with the Adventist denomination and one of its leading clergymen. He died at the age of seventy-nine years, while visiting in California. Isaac was an eminent minis- ' ter of the Advent church and was the editqr of the national organ of that denomination, gaining a wide reputation for his ability and for his earnest endeavors in his noble field of labor. Jacob W. B., the immediate subject of this review, was the third in order of birth. Solomon C. came to Minnesota when a young man and engaged in the drug busi- ness at Garden City. He subsequently became a clergyman of the Advent church and was a zealous and efficient worker in the cause. His sons are George Wellcome, of South Bend, Indiana, and Henry S. Wellcome, of the firm of Burroughs & Wel- come, of London, England. This firm manufactured and furnished the medicines for Stanley's African expedition and the}' also supply the medicines for the English army. Henry S. is a graduate of the Phil- adelphia College of Pharmacy, and he has been a resident of England since 1878. The only sister of our subject is Mary E. , wife of Isaac Cummings, of Anoka, Min- nesota. Jacob W. B. Wellcome secured his pre- liminary educational training in the district schools of his native state, continuing his studies therein until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when he went to Hallo- well, Maine, and entered that excellent in- stitution, Burnham's high school, where he graduated at the age of twenty-one years, having been a close and systematic student and having profited fully by the privileges accorded him. He had in the mean time determined to make the practice of medi- cine and surgery his vocation in life, and 32G MEMORIAL RECORD OF with this end in view he began his work of technical preparation iinmediatei}- after leav- ing school, his preceptor being Dr. Nicholas Smith, an able and prominent physician of Hallowell. In 1850 our subject began the active practice of his profession, having se- cured a state license, and in 1855 he deter- mined to try his fortunes in the west. He proceeded by rail to Montreal, Canada, thence by steamboat to Hamilton, Ontario, and from that point onward to Chicago by rail. From Chicago he came by boat to Milwaukee and there took the train for ^^'atertown, Wisconsin, which \\as then the ultimate western point touched by railroads. From that point he proceeded by stage to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where he engaged in practice and remained for a few years. In 1S58 the Doctor became a resident of the great state of Minnesota. He came overland, bringing his household effects in the true pioneer style, the same being trans- ported by teams. He located in Garden City, Blue Earth count}-, and resumed the practice of his profession. The county was but sparsely settled and its reclamation having but little more than been initiated. His ability in a professional way and his earnest and sympathetic de\'ot1on to those to whom he ministered soon gained him a practice which ramified throughout a wide radius of country, and which placed exact- ing demands upon his attention, — a pro- fessional duty from which he never flinched, standing ever ready to subordinate his per- sonal interests and his personal comfort. Coming to this section nearly forty years ago, the Doctor found the conveniences for traversing the same vastly inferior to what they are at the present time. Long, strag- gling roads, little improved, and at certain seasons of the year almost impassable, were the only avenues affording access to the wide- scattered settlements and towns; the Indi- ans infested the localities in large numbers and offered a constant menace to the white settlers, and yet under these conditions, enduring all the privations, dangers and hardships of the pioneer physician, the Doc- tor never faltered. Through summer's heat or winter's frost: night time or day, he pur- sued his humane mission. His was a fa- miliar figure in the days long past, and one viewed with delight by many a poor sufferer at whose bedside he attended. For a period of twelve years Dr. Well- come drove, on an average, seventy-five miles a day, his practice taking him through Martin and Faribault counties, and as far south as Spirit Lake, Iowa, while westward he was called in to the most diverse sections of Brown county and to the extreme border of civilization. This was a work which called forth the resources of a strong, noble nature, and only such a nature would con- sent to endure all that necessarily fell to the lot of the physician who thus minded him of his maximum duty in the service of his suf- fering fellow men. Settled between two tribes of savage and often hostile Indians, the Doctor was often called upon to exercise his practical knowledge of surgery, and dur- ing the Indian war he held the appointment as surgeon of the Tenth Minnesota Regi- ment, in place of Dr. W. W. Clark, who was absent on sick leave. He held this in- cumbenc}' for eight months, ser\ing at Gar- den City, Vernon Center and Fairmont, and having general charge of all hospitals from Mankato westward. At the time of the late war of the Re- bellion Dr. Wellcome was appointed by Gov- ernor Ramsey as examining surgeon for drafts, his jurisdiction extending over seven SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. m\ counties and his headquarters being in the old Leach stone building at Mankato. This building was subsequently used for the in- carceration of the Indian prisoners upon whom the death penalt\' was passed. The Doctor continued in the practice of his pro- fession with headquarters at Garden City until 1870, when he removed to New Ulm, Brown county, where he resided four years. Within this time he was appointed one of the government pension examiners, under J. H. Baker, and this office he held for four years. Under the administration of Presi- dent Harrison the Doctor again received the appointment as a member of the board of e.xamining surgeons, and he was made presi- dent of the board, with headquarters at Sleepy Eye. His associates were Drs. \V. D. Flinn, now president of 'the Minnesota State Medical Society; and J. L. Shock, now one of the board of state examiners. In 187S Dr. Wellcome received the appoint- ment as surgeon of the Winona & St. Peter Railroad (now the Northwestern Railroad), having full charge west of Sleepy Eye to Huron and Watertown, Dakota. He served in this capacitj' for four years. At the historical Indian massacre in 1 865, when Andrew J. Jewett and his family were murdered, the Doctor was summoned to the scene of the tragedy, and at eleven o'clock at night he hastened thither on horseback, and remained until ten in the morning, hav- ing but narrowly escaped from being one of the victims of the massacre. After his arrival home the Jewett family were mur- dered. He was again called and succeeded in saving the life of a child of about two years, who had been struck on the head with a musket, and this child is now a young man, residing in Boston. Dr. Wellcome is a graduate of the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons of St. Louis; a fellow of the Academy of Medicine in the same city; a member of the Minne- sota State Medical Society; and is at the present time ( 1896) president of the Brown County Medical Society. While sojourning in California in 1891, for the benefit of his health, the Doctor passed an examination before the board of medical examiners, at San Francisco, and consequently is a legal- ized practitioner of that state. He has con- sented to act as preceptor for several ambi- tious j'Oung men, and among them may be mentioned the following successful physicians of the state: Dr. J. W. Andrews, of Mankato: F. H. Wellcome, of Granite Falls; I. T. Burnside, of Duluth; William P. Lee, of Fairfax; and J. W. B. Wellcome, Jr., of Sleepy Eye. The Doctor's fraternal associations are with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. In Masonry he has received the degrees of knighthood, being a member of the commandery at Redwood Falls, Minne- sota. In politics he is a stalwart and un- compromising Republican. Turning in conclusion to the more purely domestic phases of the career of our honored subject, we tind that in 1850 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Abbie C. Starboard, of Hartland, Maine. Of the four children of this marriage only one sur- vives, Ella, the wife of Wickliff A. Case, of Sleepy Eye. Mrs. Wellcome died in the year 1856, and in 1859 the Doctor con- summated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Sarah Hauser, a native of Pennsylvania and of German parentage. Of the children we offer a brief record as follows: Florida, president of the Yellow Medicine County Bank, is a graduate of 828 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Rush Medical College, in Chicago; Llewel- len C, a painter and plumber of Sleepy Eye; Henry H., who is in the employ of the Northwestern Railroad Company at New Ulni, this state; and Jacob W. B., Jr., a graduate of the St. Louis College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, has also completed post-graduate courses in Chicago and New York city. In mental characteristics the Doctor is strongly intellectual, and in his bearing he is courteous and genial. He is now (1896) seventy-one years of age, but enjoys the strength and virile vigor of a man at two score, being of fine stature and bearing him- self with a native dignit\-. He has been signally alive to public interests, and has done much in the way of furthering state, county and municipal improvements. He has kept fully abreast of the advance made in his profession, and is recogni;ied as one of the leading physicians of the state which has so long been the field of his earnest and effective endeavors. There has been no shadow to darken anj- portion of the long, active and useful career of Dr. W'ellcomie, — he has been true in every relation of life, faithful to every trust, and now rests secure in the esteem and affection of those who have known of his noble and fruitful life. HUGUST A. LINDEMAN has the reputation of a strictly first-class business man, reliable and ener- getic, and a citi/cn of whom North Redwood may be justly proud. He is an (jffspring of excellent stock of stanch Ger- man ancestry, his parents, .\ugust and Mary D. (Grauke) Lindeman ha\ing come from the fatherland to the United States in 1856. They located first in Olmsted county, Min- nesota, where our subject was born, Febru- ary 3, 1859, being the oldest in a famil\' of nine sons and one daughter, of whom five sons and the daughter are still living. Three of the sons died in infancy, and one was killed at the age of' eighteen by a horse. When our subject was about three years of age he was taken by his parents in their removal to Lesueur county. It was in February, 1S69, that they first came to Renville county, where the father purchased one hundred and sixty acres of the wild land in 1865, which he continued to improve and cultivate until 1894, when he came to North Redwood, and here died on the 4th of March, 1896. He had added more land to his original purchase, so that at the time of his death he owned almost an entire section. His wife, who'still survives him, makes her home in North I'iedwood. Our subject remained under the parental roof until his marriage, which was celebrated July 20, 1 88 I, Miss Celia Neuenburg becom- ing his wife. She was born in Lesueur county, and is a daughter of Herman and Celia (Schumacher) Neuenburg, also natives of Germany, who are now living retired at North Redwood. By occupation her father was a farmer and cobbler, and became one of the honored pioneers of this state. Four children bless the union of our subject and his wife, namely: Laura R., Clarence A., Florence A. and Harrold H. After his marriage Mr. Lindeman lo- cated upon a farm which he purchased in Renville county, where he made his home for nine j'ears, when he rented his land and removed to North Redwood, bu_\'ing out a hardware and farm implement store, which he still conducts. In the seven years that have since passed he has more than trebled the business, which is still constantly in- @^ (^^eimeit/maei . SOUTH WESTERX MINNESOTA. 329 creasing. Besides his store he also owns two hundred and forty acres in Renville and several village lots in North Redwood. In his political views, Mr. Lindeman coincides with the Republican party, and served as treasurer of the school board for six years and clerk for eight years in Ren- ville county. He is alive to the best inter- ests of his town and county, and for three years acceptably served as chairman of the township board. He is highly respected and esteemed by the entire population of the community, and looked up to as a man truly honorable and upright in all things, and one whom they can depend upon as a friend. He and his family are consistent members of the Evangelical church. EENRY HEIMERDINGER, a re- tired miller and farmer of Golden Gate, is a representative of one of the prominent German families of Brown county, and is held in high esteem by a wide circle of acquaintances. He was born in the province of Wurtem- berg, Germany, April 3, 1852, and is the second son of John and Regina (Mast) Heimerdinger, also natives of the same land. The father was a miller by trade, following that business in Germany until 1854, when he sailed with his family for America, reach- ing Baltimore, Maryland, after a voyage of seven weeks. He then went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent one year, after which he went to the copper mines in the Lake Superior country, where he was engaged in mining until 1856. In that year he came to Minnesota, taking up his residence in New Ulm, where he carried on farming and milling. Securing a claim he continued its 21 cultivation until the Indian outbreak of 1862, when he took part in the engagement against the red men at New Ulm. At the time of the trouble there he removed his family to St. Paul, where they remained eighteen months, and then returned to New Ulm. The father engaged in operating a feed store for two years at that place, after which, in 1868, he came to Golden Gate, Brown county, and embarked in general farming and stock-raising. His business in that direction proved successful and he also built a small mill, put in a buhr and ground the grain for the settlers of the neighbor- hood for about twenty-six years. He then sold his business to his sons, Frank and Henry Heimerdinger. The father is still living and makes his home with his son Henry. The subject of this review received a good common-school education, and is a broad-minded, intelligent man well versed on all subjects of general interest. During his boyhood he worked with his father in the mill and on the farm until, in connection with his brother, he bought out his father's interest in the mill. They greatly improved the property, putting in a complete roller process with all the latest improvements. They also built a flume to conduct the water from Spring creek to a large overshot water wheel, and as the water is largely supplied from springs the mill can be run winter and summer. It has a capacity of fifty barrels per day, and Henry Heimer- dinger continued his connection with the busi- ness until 1895, when he sold out to George Dreher. He has two good farms, compris- ing three hundred and sixty acres of well tilled land. He employs men to operate these, and his well directed efforts and ca- pable business management have enabled 330 MEMORIAL RECORD OF him to secure therefrom a comfortable income. On the 1 2th of March, 1879, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Heimerdinger and Anna Kuebler, of Eaton township, daughter of John and Barbara Kuebler. They have two daughters, — Viola R. and Alma V. They have a pleasant home, — a large, substantial residence, which is taste- fully furnished. Mr. Heimerdinger takes a deep interest in politics and attends maiiy of the county, congressional and state con- ventions, and has served on a number of important committees. He studies closely the questions and issues of the daj', and is logical in argument and broadminded in his research. The several ofBces of trust that he has tilled have found in him a most ca- pable incumbent, and to whatever position he might be called he would bring a fidelity to duty and earnest service that would pro- mote the best interests of the community. In August, 1896, Mr. Heimerdinger moved to New Ulm, where he purchased a fine home. In September he was nominated on the fusion ticket for the state legislature and stands a good chance for election. >r2JULIUS J. WESTINGHOUSE, an J honored veteran of the civil war and A 1 one of the leading citizens of Spring- field, Minnesota, was born on the 1 2th of December, 1844, in Scoharie coun- ty. New York, a son of John H. and Laura (Gardner) Westinghouse, who were both born and reared in the Empire state. The Westinghouse family is of Holland descent, and our subject is an own cousin of George Westinghouse, the inventor of the air-brake now used on all railroads throughout the country. By trade the father was a carpen- ter and joiner, which occupation he followed throughout his active business life. His death occurred in Wisconsin, to which state he had removed late in the fall of 1 856. He was three times married, his first wife being the mother of our subject. She died when Julius was an infant, leaving two children, but his sister is now deceased. The early life of our subject was princi- pally passed in Wisconsin, where he attended the common schools, and with his father he learned the carpenter's trade, following that vocation for a number of years in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In August, 1862, he laid aside personal interest, enlisting in Company I, Twenty-second Wisconsin Vol- unteer Infantry, with which he served for about a year. During that time he partici- pated in the battle of Spring Hill, and at Brenton Station, Tennessee, was wounded, a gunshot passing through his left arm and coming out at the shoulder blade. He was then discharged, in 1863, for disability, and remained at his home in Wisconsin until his recovery, after which he re-enlisted in Com- pany K, Forty-ninth Wisconsin \'o!unteer Infantry. The regiment was ordered to Missouri, being stationed part of the time at St. Louis, later at Raleigh, and were at Fort Wyman, that state, when Lee sur- rendered, at which time quarter-minute guns were fired, and on the death of President Lincoln half-hour guns were fired from sun- rise to sunset. In April, 1865, Mr. Westinghouse was honorably discharged and returned home, but shortly after went to Benton county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming and car- pentering until 1873, which year witnessed his arrival in Minnesota. He first stopped in Nobles county. Subsequently he was connected with the Sioux City & St. Paul SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 831 Railroad. For the past twenty years, how- ever, he has been in the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, first as bridge Carpenter and pump repairer, and is now located at Springfield as stationary engineer and pumper. His long continued service plainly indicates his fidelity to duty and the confidence and trust the company reposes in him. Mr. Westinghouse is public-spirited and enterprising and has been actively interested in promoting the welfare of his adopted city. He was instrumental in-securing the electric- light plant and the waterworks, having direct charge of putting in the mains and in completing the works of the latter. Water is suppHed from a large flowing well two blocks from the power-house, and the engine used is a Hicks gasoline, and was the first of the kind put up in the west. In Benton, Iowa, in 1867, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Westinghouse and Miss Re.xeville Parshall, of that place, a native of New York and a daughter of James Parshall. They now have two chil- dren: Bert J., who is now clerking in a hardware store; and Gertrude. For three years Mr. Westinghouse efficiently served as a member of the city council and for the same length of time was a member of the school board. He takes considerable interest in civic societies, be- longing to Zenith Lodge, No. 200, F. & A. M., of which he is master; Albert Chapter, No. 34, R. A. M., of Sleepy Eye; Philip Cutland Post, No. 209, G. A. R. ; Springfield Lodge, No. 225, I.' O. O. F. ; and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics he votes with the Republican party. He is an up- right, reliable citizen, true to every trust reposed in him, whether public or private, and is held in the highest regard by all. >Y* ALBF:RT ANDEREGG, a promi- ■ nent young lawyer of Kasota, Min- /• 1 nesota, is the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Minnesota, born in Blue Earth county, July 9, 1861, and is a son of Andrew and Mary (Born) Anderegg, natives of Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Anderegg made the voyage to America in the year 1856 and settled first in Polk coun- ty, Iowa, where they remained until the fall of the following year, then coming up into Minnesota and purchasing the farm upon which the subject of our sketch was born and where the parents spent the rest of their lives and died, the father dying in the fall of 1895, at the age of sixty-five years; the mother, at the age of fifty-six. In their family were eight children, all now living except a daughter, who died shortly after completing her education. One of the sons is a practicing dentist and another is a con- tractor and builder. All have had good educational advantages, were brought up under the influence of refined and educated parents, and are fitted to occupy useful positions in life. Of the grandparents of our subject be it recorded that his paternal grandfather and grandmother were Jacob and Elizabeth Anderegg and both lived and died in Ssvit- zerland. Jacob Anderegg was a wealthy man, owned a large estate, and was promi- nent and influential in politics. His father, the great-grandfather of our subject, was an educator and for twenty years a professor in one school. The maternal grandfather of J. Albert was Jacob Born, and he, too, lived and died in Switzerland. J. Albert Anderegg was reared on his father's Minnesota farm and at the age of twenty-two completed his education in the schools of Mankato. From that time until 332 MEMORIAL RECORD OF he was thirty he was engaged in teaching. The year 1S87 he was employed as teacher at Kasota, continuing as such for three years, a portion of that time as principal of the high school, and following that was one \'ear principal of the Jackson schools. Re- turning to Kasota in the fall of 1891, he en- gaged in the general merchandise business here, was thus occupied for two years and then sold out to his partner, after which he resumed the study of law, which he had taken up some time before. He had spent one year in the law tjffice of ex-Governor Ives, of St. Peter, Minnesota, where he had many superior advantages. In the summer of 1896, having passed a rigid examination, he was admitted to the bar and immediately opened an office and entered upon the prac- tice of his profession. He has already filled some local offices at Kasota and will, doubt- less, in the near future be called upon to fill other positions of prominence and trust. Politically, he is a Republican. Mr. Anderegg is a man of family. He was married in the fall of 1892 to Miss Lil- lie M. Turrittin, who was born on a farm near Kasota, where her father, James B. Turrittin, still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Ande- regg have two children, — Rupert A. and Wayne L. Mr. Anderegg is a charter member of the Modern Woodmen of Kasota, which he helped to organize, and he and his wife at- tend worship at the Presbyterian church. ^^^EORGE NELSON DAYTON has ■ ^^ for over a quarter of a century been \^^ a resident of Brown county and has lived in Minnesota since before it was admitted into the union of states. Pio- neer, therefore, is an appropriate title for him, and his life history is one that is emi- nently deserving of a place in this biograph- ical record. Briefly, a review of his life is as follows: George Nelson Dayton was born in Sara- toga county, New York, December 4, 1826, descending from English ancestors who were among the early settlers of the Em- pire state. His ancestry he traces back along the agnatic line to a forefather who came to this country from England with a brother and was the grandsire of Henry Dayton, the father of George N. Henry Dayton was a native of New York and was married in that state to Miss Christena Cameron, also of New York birth, her peo- ple being of Scotch and English origin. He was a farmer all his life, in politics was a Whig and later a Republican, and in re- ligion was a Methodist, an earnest and active worker in the church. He died at the age of forty-nine years, and his wife lived to be sixty-one. They were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters, name- ly: Silas, William, Joel, George N., Charles, Oren, Chloe, Mary, Irinda and Christie. George N., the immediate subject of this sketch, was brought up on a farm in his native state, received his education in the common schools near his home, and re- mained in New York until 1855, when he came west to Iowa, stopping in Allamakee county. From there in 1857 he came up into Minnesota, the year before Minnesota attained the dignity of statehood, and lo- cated in Olmsted county, being among its primitive settlers. He maintained his home in Olmsted county until 1870, and since that j'ear has been identified with Brown county, his first location here being where Sleepy Eye now stands and where he opened up a farm. The grasshopper pest, which SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 838 lasted there four or five years, caused him to sell out. Then in 1881 he came to his present location in Albin township, where the Dayton family now owns two hundred and thirteen acres of choice land, well improved. Mr. Dayton was first married in New York, at tlie age of twenty-si.\ years, to Miss Elizabeth Clothier, a native of the state. She died in Olmsted county, Minnesota, in i860, leaving an only child, George H., now a prominent and highly respected bus- iness man of New Ulm, Minnesota, a dealer in pianos, organs and sewing-machines. May 15, 1861, Mr. Dayton was married, in Clayton county, Iowa, to Miss Anna E. Sawyer, a native of Williams county, Ohio, an accomplished lady and for five years be- fore her marriage a teacher. Her parents were William B. and Jane E. (Comstock) Sawyer, both natives of New York state ' and both deceased, each passing away at about the age of si.xty-one years. Mr. Saw- yer was one of the early pioneers of Clayton county, Iowa. He was for many years a Whig, and in the latter part of his life a Republican. Religiously, he was a Congre- gationalist and a deacon in the church. Their children are as follows: AnnaE., Celia, Warren, Wallace, Agusta, Candace, Watson, Gertrude. All are living except \Varren, who was a Union soldier in the late war and was killed at the battle of Murfreesboro. By his present wife Mr. Dayton has five children living, viz. : Will- iam Nelson, Grant, James W. , Hattie and Orren. Their daughter is now the wife of ' S. L. Cutting, of Slayton, Minnesota, and their son Orren is on the home farm. Also Mr. and Mrs. Dayton lost one child, May, a I babe of six weeks, and they have an adopted ' son, Emery Miller Dayton, born March i, 1S85. Mr. Dayton is in politics an ardent Re- publican and in religion a zealous and active Methodist. During his residence in Olm- sted county he was active in church. Sab- bath-school and mission work, filling most acceptably the offices of steward and trustee of the church and superintendent in the Sunday-school, and since coming to Brown county he has been active in organizing and carrying on church work here. Such is an epitome of the life of one of Brown county's best men. ftl ^ F. HIER. who is pleasantly lo- cated on a farm on section 22 in North Star township. Brown county, Minnesota, two miles from the prosperous town of Springfield, is one of the early pioneers of this township and a man whose history includes an hon- orable war record. The salient points in his life, briefly recorded, are as follows: W. F. Hier was born at Irofi Ridge, Dodge county, Wisconsin, September 21, 1846, son of William Hier and of German origin. He was reared in his native county and early became familiar with all kinds of farm work as found on a Wisconsin farm thirty or forty years ago. His educational advantages were limited to the public schools. At the outbreak of the civil war he was a schoolboy and assisting in the work of the farm, and, like most of the youths of the country in those dark days, was ambi- tious to enter the army and fight for the freedom of the land he had been taught to love. Extreme youth, however, at first prevented his enlistment; but in May, 1864, while yet in his 'teens, he became a mem- ber of the Forty-first Wisconsin Infantry and went out for one hundred days, serving 38-4 MEMORIAL RECORD OF until the expiration of that time and then age of seventeen years; and E\'aHne, the re-enHsting and continuing in the arm\- until 1866, when he was honorably discharged, coming out of the ranks with a record of which he has no reason to be ashamed. He was a participant in the engagement at Memphis, Tennessee. After the war Mr. Hier came to Minne- sota and located in Blue Earth county, and for three years he was engaged in railroad work. In 1872 he located on eighty acres of his present farm and a year later built upon it a little shanty, ten by twelve feet, in which for a time he lived in primitive style, and where his earnest efforts from the first hax'e been attended with prosperit}'. To-day he is the owner of one of the best farms in the township, comprising two hun- dred and forty acres, all in one body, and having excellent improvements. His mod- ern residence is fourteen by twenty-eight feet, with an L twenty by twenty-eight feet, and is located on a gentle elevation. Besides his commodious barn, fifty by forty-two feet, he has granary, cribs, feed yards, etc., and everything conveniently arranged for successfully carrying on both farming and stock-raising. He keeps a dairy of ten Qpws, and other good stock. A pretty grove of five acres is one of the attractive feat- ures of his farm. Mr. Hier was married in 1873 to Miss Hannah Bennett, who was born and reared in Monroe county, Wisconsin, a member of a highly respected family, her father being Richard Bennett, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 18S1, and in 18S3 he married Miss Caroline Larson. Mr. Hier has had seven children, — six sons and one daughter, namely; Ed., David, Albert, Frank, Joe, Arthur and Angeline, besides two deceased: Adaline, their third child, who died at the fourth born, at three years. Like most of the veterans of the union army, the subject of our sketch is associated with the G. A. R., his membership being in Philip Cutland Post, No. 109. of Spring- field, and in this order he has been honored with official position and has served as adju- tant. Also he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 16 16. His political affiliations have always been with the Republican party and he has taken an active and commendable interest in local affairs, having served his township both as its assessor and treasurer. As a citizen he is held in high repute and as a neighbor and friend is valued for his many estimable qualities. I SAIAH RUBLE is one of the most intelligent and respected farmers of I\.asota township, Lesueur county, Minnesota, and also belongs to that class of men whose ranks are year by year becoming thinned, — that class of men known during the '60s as the "boys in blue." Mr. Ruble is a native of the Buckeye state and claims Buford, Highland county, as the place of his birth, the date being De- cember 26, 1842. John Ruble, his father, was born in Pennsylvania of German par- ents, his people for generations being noted for their honesty, industry and sterling worth. He was reared in Pennsylvania and Ohio, brought up to farm life, and in Ohio was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Coffman, a nati\e of that state, her parents also being Germans. John Ruble was a farmer all his life, his political views were those advocated by the Democratic partw and in his Christian life he was earnest and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 335 consistent, being a member of the Disciple church. He died at his home in Ohio, leaving a widow and ten children, and his widow died of fever two weeks after he passed away. In their family were seven sons and three daughters, and two of the sons are veterans of the late war, George and Isaiah. The children named in order of birth are as fol- lows: Jacob, Joseph, Sarah A. , Washing- ton, Magdalena, George, William, Wesley, Isaiah and Rachel. Isaiah Ruble, left an orphan at the age of four years, was taken into the home of John Foreman, by whom he was reared to farm life in Pike county, Illinois, being inured to all kinds of farm work in his 3'outh and re- ceiving his education in the log schoolhouses of that day and place. Wlien the great civil war came on he showed his patriotism by going out and fighting valiantly for the old flag. It was in May, 1862, at the age of 19, that he enlisted as a member of Com- pany K, Second Illinois Cavalry, under Col. Hogg and Captain Jones, and with his com- mand went to the front. The brave colonel was killed in Tennessee. Mr. Ruble was all through the siege of Vicksburg, in the engagement at Holly Springs, and in numer- ous raids and skirmishes, and at the close of the war in Ma}% 1865, was honorably dis- charged, returning home with a war record in which he has every reason to take a just pride. During his service he contracted both bronchitis and rheumatism, from the effects of which he has never recovered. Returning to Pike county, Illinois, after the war, he settled down to farming there and made that place his home until 1871, when he came to Minnesota and located in Kasota township, four miles east of St. Peter. In 1886 he moved to his present farm near Kasota, his post-office address, and here he is successfully engaged in farming and stock- raising. Mr. Ruble was married in Pike county, Illinois, in December, 1866, to Maria Pet- tis, daughter of Colonel Stephen Pettis, an officer of the war of 1812 and a well-known and respected pioneer of Pike county. Hon- orable mention of the Pettis family will be found on another page of this work, in the personal sketch of Alexander Pettis. Pre- vious to her marriage Mrs. Ruble was en- gaged in teaching, and as a teacher attained popularity and success. They have had five children, vi;;. : Wells A., who was educated in college at Battle Creek, Michigan, is now engaged in teaching; Mrs. Alice L. Collins, who was before her marriage a teacher; William W., attending college in Battle Creek, Michigan; Albert H., who is now at home; and one that died in infancy, a twin of Alice L. Mr. Ruble cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, has ever since sup- ported the Republican party, and in these stirring days of '96 sees no reason to change his political views. He is a member of A. K. Skaro Post, No. 37, G. A. R. , of St. Peter. His church is that of the Seventh- Day Adventists, of which he is a stanch and active member. HOMAS MOSES.— Maintaining a representative position as identified with the agricultural interests of Lesueur county, Minnesota, and residing at his delightful farmstead on sec- tion 8, Kasotatownship, Kasota his post-office address, is found the subject of this sketch, Thomas Moses, one of the well-known citi- izens of this locality and a man who though not a native of this country fought for its 336 MEMORIAL RECORD OF preservation daring its liark days of civil war. Mr. Moses is a native of England. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, March 27, 1838, son of Thomas and Jane (Coleman) Moses, natives of that place and people of honest worth and high standing. In 1849 the Moses family left their home in England for one in America, taking passage at Lon- don for New York and making the Atlantic voyage in a sailing vessel which was si.x weeks in reaching its destination, both storm and calm having delayed its progress. From New York city they went to Frank- fort, New York, and thence to Sih'er Lake, Pennsylvania, where the family home was established and where the father lived to a good old age and died, being eighty at the time of death. He was a farmer, a Re- publican and a Methodist. His good wife outlived him a few years, she being eighty- two at the time of her death, which occurred in 1894. Her life was adorned by many Christian graces, and she too was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which faith they reared their family. Their children, eleven in number, were named as follows: John, Martha, Thomas, William (deceased), William, Jane, An- drew, Lucy, Charles, Etta and Ida May. All except the first William, who died in early life, grew up to occupy honorable and useful positions in life. Both John and Thomas are veterans of the late war. John was a member of the Thirteenth Heavy Ar- tillery of New York, and is now a resident of Binghamton, New York. Thomas was a boy of eleven years when he accompanied his parents to America and has a vivid memory of their Atlantic \'oyage and settlement in this country. His youth was passed on his father's farm and in at- tending school, and then for a time he was employed in a sawmill, being thus occupied at the opening of the rebellion. He enlisted December 13, 1861, in the Sixteenth New York Independent Battery Volunteers, Dix- on's Light Artillery, and served in the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan and General Smith, going in as a private, and at the close of the war being honorably discharged ■ at Elmira, New York, July 6, 1865, with the rank of first lieutenant, — a promotion he had won by gallant service. For a time he was in command of his com- pany. He was at Petersburg, before Rich- mond, at the great mine explosion, the tak- ing of Fort Fisher, and in numerous other prominent engagements, and throughout his service was recognized as one of the bravest and truest of those who " wore the blue." The war over, he again engaged in the sawmill business, in the east, where he re- mained thus occupied one month, then turn- ing his face westward and seeking a home in Minnesota. Shortly after his arrival here he purchased eighty acres of land in Lesueur county, to which he has added from time to time until now his landed estate comprises no less than five hundred acres, upon which are three good dwellings. His present resi- dence he built in 1 896, at a cost of one thousand dollars. It is beautifully situated, modern and convenient, and is located on the highway leading from Mankato to St. Peter, being midway between the two places. It commands a magnificent view of the val- ley and surrounding country. Among other improvements on this fine farm we note three towering windmills, which pump a generous supply of pure water for all purposes, house and stock; and there are also barns, fences, etc. Mr. Moses was married December 13, SOUTH WES TERN MINNESO TA. 837 1868, to Miss Louisa Odell, a native of Ohio, who was reared in Lesueur county, Minnesota. Her father, M. B. Odell, who was for years interested in mines in the far west, died in Idaho, in 1896. He was one of the early settlers of Minnesota, a partici- pant in the Indian wars which were waged in this state, and also participated in the civil war, serving in one of the Minnesota regiments. His widow, the mother of Mrs. Moses, was by maiden name Miss Ellen Savage. She is still living and is now a resident of Deer Creek, Minnesota. Their family comprised nine children. Mr. and Mrs. Moses have had ten children, as follows: Frank, EdithWarren, Melvin, Birde Cheek, Charles, Daisy, Harry, Nevada, Thomas Clayton and Clifford Earl. All have had the advantage of a good education, and Melvin has been a successful teacher. Mr. Moses, in his political views, is strongly Republican, very enthusiastic for the success of his part)'. At this writing he is chairman of the board of township supervisors. He is a mem- ber of the G. A. R., A. K. Skaro Post, of St. Peter, has the personal bearing of a soldier and officer, and is a favorite with his old comrades, as well as the many friends he has made later in life. >T^OSEPH RACHAC — Among those fl whom public vote has called to office /» 1 is this gentleman, who is now serv- ing as auditor of Lesueur county. The trust reposed in him is faithfully fulfilled, and in the discharge of his duties he mani- fests that fine sense of order and complete system which insures success in any under- taking. Mr. Rachac was born in Bohemia, Feb- ruary 15, 1850, a son of John and Mary Rachac, who were natives of the same coun- tiy. In 1863 the family came to America, crossing the Atlantic to Castle Garden, New York, where they landed. Their journey was then continued across the country until reaching Scott county, Minnesota, where they took up their abode upon the farm. There the parents resided from 1863 until i88r, and the father successfully carried on agricultural pursuits. In the latter year he removed to New Prague, where his death occurred in 1886. His wife is still living in that town. They were the parents of seven children, namely: Mary, John, Frank, J(j- seph, Wenzel, Mathias and Albert. Joseph Rachac spent the first thirteen years of his life in his native land and then came with his parents to America. He was reared on the old homestead farm, and early became familiar with the arduous duties of developing wild land. Ambitious to secure a good education, when twenty years of age he went to Minneapolis, pursuing a course of study in one of the schools of that city. He afterward went to Farmington, Minne- sota, where he studied for three years. He is a man of broad general information, and in 1874 he put his learning to the practical test by teaching in a country school. From that time until 1881 he devoted the winter months to that profession, giving eminent satisfaction in all of the localities where he was employed. On the expiration of that period he went to New Prague, where for one year he had charge of the schools of that city, and then took charge of an ele- vator in that place for si.x years. In 1886 he was elected register of deeds for Lesueur county, and in 1887 entered the office for a four-years term. On the expiration of that period he resumed teaching, and for three 338 MEMORIAL RECORD OF years again had charge of the schools in New Prague. In the fall of 1894 he was once more called to public office, being elected county auditor on the Republican ticket for a two-years term, and re-elected in 1896. He has also served four years as justice of the peace of New Prague, Minne- sota, and village recorder for two terms. In 1879 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Rachac and Miss Mary Pelant, of Scott county, Minnesota, a daughter of Albert Pelanl. They have two sons, — Edward A. and Joseph, — and lost a daughter, Mary, who died at the age of ten years. Mr. Rachac is a member of New Prague Lodge, No. 46, I. O. O. F. , the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Catholic Knights of America. All who know him esteem him for his genuine worth, and his friends through- out the county are many. Bi:V. MICHAEL SANDELL, pas- tor of the Swedish Lutheran church of St. Peter, Minnesota, was born in Strom, Sweden, November 7, I S44, a son of D. and Carrie Larson. His parents also were natives of Sweden and never left that country. The father died in 1875, but the mother is still living, now in her ninety-second year. The subject of this review is the ne.xt to the youngest of their family of six children, — five sons and a daughter, — of whom five are yet living. He acquired a good common- school education in his native land, and studied three \ears at Upsala, Sweden, and in 1868 crossed the Atlantic to Amer- ica, entering Augustana College, in Pa.xton, Illinois, pursuing therein a theological course which covered three years. At the expiration of that period he was ordained at Chisago Lake, Minnesota, by the president of Augustana Synod, Rev. John Swensen, in 1 87 1. He then came to St. Peter, Minnesota, and assumed charge of the Swedish Lutheran church. He perfortned the duties of that pastorate for three years, when failing health caused his temporary retirement from the ministry, and he re- turned to Sweden, where he remained for seventeen years. During that time he built up an Orphans' home for Laplander children and had charge of the same for a number of years. He also did missionary work and his labors were productive of much good. In 1 89 1, Rev. Sandell returned to the United States, and again assumed charge of the old pastorate at St. Peter, where he has since continued. The membership of the church includes six hundred communicants and three hundred and fifty-nine children. The house of worship is a handsome brick structure and was erected at a cost of ten thousand dollars. Its furnishings are mod- ern and tasteful and include a fine pipe or- gan. Dr. Lagerstrom, an accomplished musician, serving as organist and leader of the choir. In connection with the church there is a Sunday-school with a membership of two hundred. The congregation is well organized, the church in good working order, and the harmony which exists be- tween pastor and parishioners is indicative of a kindly Christian spirit which has largely been fostered through the efforts of Rev. Sandell. In connection with the church at St. Peter he also has charge of the congre- gation at Kasota, the latter town being two miles distant from St. Peter. In 1 87 1 Rev. Sandell married Miss Anna Ostlund, of Paxton, Illinois, who was born on the North sea, while her parents, A. W. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA . S39 and Eva C. Ostlund, were on their way to America. Mr. and Mrs. Sandell have seven living children: Naomi Maria, Daniel Timo- theus, Hanna Kathrina, Lj-dia Magdalena, Michael Nathanael, Ruth Eleonora and Hulda Salome. BRANK M. WRABEK is the editor and proprietor of the Lesueur County Leader, published at Le- sueur Center, and is one of the wide-awake and enterprising citi/ens of this section of the state, giving a hearty support to all measures that are calculated to prove of public benefit, or to advance the educa- tional, social, moral or material welfare of the community. Mr. Wrabek is one of the native sons of Minnesota, his birth having occurred in New Prague, May 26, 1873. His parents, Fran- cis and Eve (Krenik) Wrabek, were both natives of Bohemia, and during childhood came to America, their marriage being cel- ebrated in Scott county. They began their domestic life in New Prague, where the father was engaged in general merchandis- ing, successfully conducting a store at that point for some time. He was the first post- master of the town and efficiently filled that office for fifteen years. In 1879, on the Republican ticket, he was elected to repre- sent Lesueur county in the general assem- bly, and proved an able member of that body, taking an active part in the discussion of several bills and serving on a number of important committees. He was a strong debater, a clear and logical reasoner, and his broad general information enabled him to handle the subject under discussion in a masterful way. He ctjntinued his connec- tion with the mercantile interests of New Prague until 1880, when he sold his store. He had served as justice of the peace and notary public, and was one of the trustees of St. Cloud College, at St. Cloud, Minne- sota, and was frequently called upon to as- sist different lawyers in settling up probate estates. He was also connected with the real-estate and fire-insurance business, and was one of the most progressive, wide-awake men in his county. For twenty years he served as justice of the peace, and his fair and impartial decisions woii him the com- mendation and support of all. He contin- ued actively in business up to the time of his death, which occurred February 6, 1883. His wife still survives him and is now a res- ident of New Prague. Their children are Frank M., John F. , Mary, Rosa, wife of Albert J. Rynda, and Bessie. As soon as old enough to enter school, Frank W'rabek began his studies in New Prague, remaining in the schoolroom until fourteen years of age, when he went to St. Paul and entered upon his business career as clerk in a grocery store. He afterward worked at the tinsmith's trade for three years, and was in the employ of the railroad company for three years. On the expira- tion of that period he returned to his home and embarked in the printing business in connection with his brother, John F. Wra- bek, proprietor of the New Prague Times. He also taught school for five months dur- ing the winter of 1893-4. and at the same time was interested with his brother in the publication of the paper. In 1895, when a good opening presented itself for the estab- lishment of a paper in Lesueur Center, he and his brother began the publication of the Lesueur County Leader, the first issue be- ing given to the public in May, 1895. The partnership continued until the following 340 MEMORIAL RECORD OF August, when Frank M. Wrabek bought out his brother, becoming sole proprietor. The Leader is a well edited and interesting sheet and has a good circulation through the town and county. It is an eight-page, si.\-column journal, issued Thursday of each week. It advocates the principles of the Republican party, and is devoted to furthering the inter- ests of southwestern Minnesota. Mr. Wrabek was married in November, 1895, to Miss Mary B. Kubat, of Mont- gomery, Minnesota. Fraternally, he is connected with \'olney Lodge, No. 165, I. O. O. F. kJ^\^ .\THANIEL B. lam P.MAX is one I ji "-'^ ^'■- Peter's leading citizens, \ \ whose identification with the in- terests of the town covers a period of forty years, and few men are more widely known throughout the state, while none are held in higher regard. His record covers the period of Minnesota's most eventful histor\', and his life represents an eventful and interesting career. Integrit}', activity and energy have been the crowning points in his character and the elemental factors in bringing to him a success which is well merited. To the farmstead home of Abraham and Mary (Lincoln) Lampman, on the 25th of March, 18^2, there came a little son, and to him was given the good old name of Nathaniel. In early colonial days his an- cestors had sought a home in the New- World, the founder of the family in America being the great-grandfather of our subject, — a native of German}. The grandfather, Stephen Lampman, made his home in the Empire state, and there .\braham Lamp- man, the father, was born, reared and spent his entire life, following the occupation of farming. He was joined in wedlock with Mary Lincoln, a daughter of Eber Lincoln, who was of English descent and served with the patriot army in the war of the Revolu- tion, where his bravery and meritorious serv- ice won him promotion to the rank of cap- tain. At an earl}' day he removed to Oneida county. New York, where the parents of our subject were married. The mother was a native of New Hampshire, but during her girlhood accompanied her father to Oneida county. Into a home characterized by industry, integrity and earnestness of purpose came Nathaniel B. Lampman, and thus in his youth was surrounded by those influences which help to mold a character of sterling worth. He began his elementary education in the common schools near by, but after- ward attended Whitestown Seminary, and at the age of eighteen 3-ears began teaching, which profession he followed for two 3'ears. On the e.xpiration of that period he entered the employ of the New York & Erie Rail- road Company, in the capacity of civil engineer, and on leaving that corporation accepted a position with the Ohio & Missis- sippi Railroad Company. Still later he was with the Oswego & Troy Railroad, New York, the following year engaged in lumber trade in Madison county, New York, and was on the Sherman's Valley tS: Broad Top Railroad for a time. In the meantime Mr. Lampman had become interested in reports of the west, its opportunities and privileges, and in October, 185G, he resolved to test the truth of these reports by removing to that section of the country. Accordingly he came to Minne- sota, and made his first location in St. Peter, where he spent the following winter SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 341 in teaching school. In the spring he re- moved to Cleveland, then a small hamlet in Lesueur county, situated on the extreme western frontier. Much of the land was still in the possession of the government, and the fields were yet unbroken by the plow; the Indians were frequent visitors to the settlements and the work of develop- ment and progress was but beginning. Mr. Lampman was one of the advance leaders in the movement of civilization in this sec- tion of the state and continued a resident of Cleveland until 1862, when the hostile In- dians of the Siou.x tribe drove the settlers away and he returned to New York, where he remained for three years. On the expiration of that period he again took up liis residence in Cleveland and be- came identified with the commercial inter- ests of the state as a representative of the firm of Lanz & Randall, extensive dealers in boots and shoes, with whom he remained two years, traveling throughout Minnesota, andthefollowingyeartraveled forD.M. Ferry & Co., of Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Lamp- man next entered 'the employ of the North Star Boot and Shoe Company, of Minneap- olis, and was one of their most trusted and esteemed representatvies for twenty jears, traveling through Minnesota and South Da- kota. No man on the road was better known than Mr. Lampman, and his socia- bility and courtesy won htm friends wher- ever he went. He met with many thrilling experiences in the early days when there were no railroads, when all traveling was done by stage coach or private conveyance, and when the country was wild and unset- tled, giving opportunity for much lawless- ness. Many amusing incidents also occurred and Mr. Lampman has stored his mind with many interesting reminiscences of his service as a commercial traveler. In his business he was very successful and his sales brought excellent returns to the house he represent- ed. For almost a third of a century he con- tinued as a representative of the boot and shoe trade in Minnesota, a record that is probably not equaled in the state. In 1894 he retired, — a fact which was greatly re- gretted by many of his patrons who had learned to esteem him highly for his genuine worth and thorough reliability. Since his retirement he has spent his time in looking after investments which he had previously made. For a number of years he owned some excellent farming propert}', but at length sold this and invested his capital in realty from which he derives a good income. In 1857 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Lampman and Miss Mary E. Reed, of Oneida county, New York, where she was reared and educated. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and a most esti- mable lady. Her father was John Reed, also of Oneida county. Mr. and Mrs. Lampman are the parents of six children, five sons and a daughter, namely: Luellen D. , who is largely interested in coal-mining in Ohio; Clinton P., who follows merchandising; Linden L. and Howard R. , who own a sheep ranch in North Dakota; Brooks, who is associated with his brother in the coal- mining interests in Ohio; and Mary L., wife of Howard B. Abbott, a farmer of southern Kansas. In his political views Mr. Lampman was a stalwart Republican. In 1870 he took the census of Lesueur county, and was elected county commissioner of Lesueur county, which position he filled for four years. He gave his support to everything calculated to improve the count-^' and pro- mote its best interests, and in other local 342 MEMORIAL RECORD OF offices he lias also served. He is a iiieniber of Concord Lodge, No. 47, F. & A. M., of Cleveland, and St. Peter Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M. His home is located on Minne- sota avenue, the principal residence street in St. Peter, and its genuine hospitalit}- is shared by many friends. Mr. L.ainpman is a man of pleasing personality, of courteous nature and genial disposition, of sound judg- ment and of unquestioned business ability. BREDERfCK FLETCHER BEN- HAM, deceased. — The name of this honoredcitizen isclosely linked with the history of Brown county, Min- nesota, he ha\ing established his home here in 1864, from which time up to his death, January i, 1889, he wielded an influence that was deep and lasting and told for the good of the community. A memoir of his life therefore is of special interest in this connection, and we take pleasure in revert- ing to it here. Mr. Benhani was of New England birth and ancestry. It was in Chittenden county, \'ermont, in the year 1830, that he was ushered into life, his parents being Philander and Relief (Humphrey) Benham, the former born in the same state, and a veteran of the war of 1812; the latter a native of Vermont. When but a small child Frederick F. was taken by his parents from Vermont to Ohio, where at the age of five years he was de- prived of a father's care and love. Death having robbed the Benham home of hus- band and father. At the age of fourteen our subject went to Michigan, and on a farm near Ann Arbor his youthful days were passed, and his education was received in the common schools. Later he located in Cass countv, Indiana, near Logansport, where he met and afterward married the companion of his life, whose maiden name was Miss Elvina Snethen, their marriage having been consummated December 29, 1853. For a period of thirty-six years the lives of this worthy couple were happily blended together. Mrs. Benham was born in Greene coun- ty, Ohio, in 1833, and is still living at the old Benham homestead in Brown county, Minnesota. Her father, the Rev. Abraham Snethen, was a Kentuckian by birth and a son of English parents, and her mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Richards, was a native of the Empire state, she, too, being of English descent. They were the parents of a large number of children, whose names in order of birth are as fol- lows: Eliza, Ruth, John, Hannah, William, James, Ezekiel, Lovisia, Veniah, Elvina, Mareneth, Copron and Greenup. Both parents lived to a good old age, the mother being seventy-eight at the time of death and the father eighty-six. Their married life extended over more than sixty years, and for an equal length of time the honored father was an active minister of the gospel, preaching the word of God as he understood it to all who came within the sound of his voice as he traveled at)out as a circuit-rider and evangelist through Ohio, Indiana, \'ir- ginia, Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. After his marriage Mr. Benham removed with his wife to Iowa, locating in Fayette county, whence he subsequently came up into Minnesota, his first settlement here being near La Crescent, Houston county, and from that place in 1864 he removed to Brown county and took up his abode in Stark township, at Iberia, where the familv homo has ever since been maintained. Here he developed a valuable farm of three SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 343 hundred and ninety acres, erected a sub- stantial residence and barn and made numer- ous other improvements; and while he gave close attention to his own private affairs, he also found time for public matters and could always be depended upon to support any worthy enterprise or movement. On a por- tion of his land he laid out the town of Iberia and did much to advance its mate- rial growth, and was its first postmaster. Also he served in various local positions of honor and trust. He was county commis- sioner for several years; was chairman of the board of supervisors for a time, served on the school board for a number of years, ever being active in advancing educational interests, and his opinion and advice was often sought and always valued, fn tem- perance work he was active and earnest. He was an elder in the Christian church, and his life, which was without a tarnish and was unassuming, in itself exerted a most potent influence. Mr. and Mrs. Benham were the parents of seven children, ail daughters, five of whom attained maturity, namely: Carrie R. , who was the wife of Mr. M. McKown, died at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving si.\ little children who now find a good home with "Grandma" Benham; Laura Ellen, wife of William Carpenter, of I^eavenworth township; May, wife of Elmer Ingraham, also of this township; she remained at home with her mother and assisted her with the little grandchildren and also acted as secre- tary in settling up the estate; Allie, wife of Walter Jones, Pasadena, California; and Ema, wife of Joe Sherman, of Leaven- worth township, this county. All had good educational advantages, their schooling being received at La Crescent and Mankato, and three of the daughters, Carrie, May and Ema, were before their marriage engaged in teaching, in which occupation they were popular as well as successful. As already stated, the widow of this honored and lamented citizen still presides over the old homestead, happy in the society of chil- dren and grandchildren and enjoying the love and esteem of her many friends and acquaintances. Thus is she passing the evening of life, with an unwavering trust in Him \\hom her father ser\ed and her com- panion trusted. BL. OTTO.— There is probably not in Nicollet township, Nicollet county, Minnesota, a man better known or more highly esteemed than E. L. Otto, a pioneer of the county and a veteran of the late civil war; and to his life history we now turn. F. L. Otto belongs to that enterprising and thrifty race of people, the Germans, and dates his birth in Prussia, Germany, November 28, 1S42, his parents being Christopher and Albertina (Stevire) Otto, both natives of Prussia. In the year 1.S56 the Otto family left their native land, and the home where their ancestors had lived for many generations, and at Bremen took passage for America. Their voyage cov- ered a period of five weeks and two days, and was attended with severe storms. Ar- rived in this country they came directly west to Chicago, where they lived nine months, at the end of that time removing to Cooper's Grove, thirty miles from the city, in Cook county. The father was a man of education and was for years engaged in educational work. He had taught school in Germany and after coming to this coun- try took up the same occupation in Cook 844 MEMORIAL RECORD OF county, Illinois, where he remained thus en- f^ag;ed until 1862. That year he became a resident of Nicollet county, Minnesota. Here he settled on a farm on section 22, Nicollet township, and divided his attention between the improvement and cultivation of his land and teaching. He lived to the ripe old age of seventy-seven years and his good wife was seventy-two at the time of her death. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, viz. : Henry, Augusta, Albertina, Fred- erick L., Hannah, Mary, and Louisa, and two that died in early life. They reared their family under a Christian influence and with good educational advantages, thus fit- ting them to occupy, as they do, honored and useful positions in life. The family for gen- erations have been I.-utherans. F. L. Otto was a boy of fourteen when he landed in the United States. His early education was received in his native land and for some time after coming to this country he attended school. He remained with his parents in Cook county until 1858, when he came to Minnesota, and since that date has made his home in Nicollet county. At the time of the Indian trouble in 1862 he went to New Ulm, having organized a company of fifteen men to fight the Indians. In recognition of this service the government paid him the sum of eleven dollars. The Otto family at that dark hour sought refuge at St. Peter, as did many others of the early set- tlers. Henry Otto, a brother of our subject, was also a participant in the Indian war, be- ing a member of the Second Minnesota Mounted Rangers and with General Sibley's expedition. He w-as killed at Fort Ridgely, at the age of twenty-eight years, and left a widow who is now deceased. January 29, 1S65, Frederick L. enlisted as a member of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, and for eight months was with his command sta- tioned at Chattanooga, Tennessee, after which he was honorably discharged at Nash- ville and returned to Minnesota. Since the war Mr. Otto has devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits and with that marked success which is sure to follow earnest and well directed effort. He is now the owner of one of the best farms in the township, one thousand two hundred and sixty acres in extent, well improved and highly cultivated. His residence is a com- modious two-story structure, and his large barn has a rock basement which provides ample shelter for his stock, a dairy being an important feature on his farm and he being -a stockholder in the Creamery Association. Also he has a fine orchard and grove, the latter of native trees and covering forty acres, — a delightful place for picnic parties. Mr. Otto was married at the age of twenty-four years to Miss Amelia Netzke, a most amiable and estimable woman who has all these years shared with him the toils and pleasures of farm life and who has con- tributed largely to the success he has at- tained. She, too, is a native of Prussia, having come to this country at the age of eighteen years with her parents, Frederick and Johanna (Kison) Netzke. She had one brother, William, who was in the Union army, under General Sherman's command, and was killed while in the service. Mr. and Mrs. Otto have ten children, namely: Mary Johnson, Bertha, Fred C. , Emanuel, William, Herman, Mattie, Henry, Minnie and Lena. They lost one child, Olga, who died at the age of two years. Unlike his father, who was a Republic- an, the subject of our sketch has been a Democrat all his life, and is a "silver" man. He is a man of local prominence and -^^/^.Z ft. ^.■7-^VT. ^i-"^ y so UTH WE S TERN MINNESO TA . 345 has exerted an influence in his locality that has told for good. For many 5'ears he has been a member of the school board, eight- een years its clerk and seven years chair- man, and for the long term of twenty-four years he has served as township assessor, and his continued service is ample evidence of his efficiency and popularity. Like most old soldiers, he is identified with the G. A. R. , his membership being in the A. I\. Skaro Post, No. 47. He and his family are consistent members of the Lutheran church, and in church and society occupy the high position they are fitted to maintain. >Y*ACOB PFENNINGER.— In all parts ffl of our land are found men who have A 1 worked their own way from humble beginnings to leadership in the commerce, the great productive industries and in controlling the veins and arteries of the traffic and exxhanges of the country. It is one of the glories of our nation that it is so. It should be the strongest incentive and encouragement to the youth of the country that it is so. Prominent among the self-made men of Brown county, Minnesota, is Jacob Pfen- ninger, a retired miller and capitalist of New Ulm, who on reaching the shores of the New World had but two hundred dollars with which to begin all, and which amount he had secured through his own in- dustry. He was born at St. Collings, Switzerland, November 15, 1829, and is a son of Randolph and Mary (Leu) Pfenning- er, who spent their entire lives in the beau- tiful land of the Alps. The father was an active and successful business man, a dealer in horses and cattle. He died in 1863, and his wife a few days later. 82 In the schools of his native country our subject acquired a good practical education, and at the age of thirteen began learning the carpenter's trade, at which he served a three-years apprenticeship. For five years he then traveled as a journeyman, working at his trade throughout Switzerland and Germany, but in 1853 left the port of Ham- burg on a sailing vessel bound for America. After a voyage of seven weeks he reached Quebec, Canada, whence he went to Chi- cago, Illinois, where he worked at his trade until 1855. In June of that year, Mr. Pfenninger came to New Ulm, where he carried on carpentering and building until 1865, erect- ing many of the best dwellings and business houses of the place. In the latter year, in connection with Werner Boesch and John Meyer, he purchased what was known as the Eagle sawmill, which they converted into a gristmill and engaged in the manu- facture of flour, as it was situated in the very heart of the wheat belt of Minnesota. The mill had a capacity of sixty barrels per day, but in 1881 it was rebuilt and a com- plete roller process put in, so that the capac- ity was increased to three hundred barrels per day. It was one of the bes! equipped mills of southwestern Minnesota, and the product turned out could not be excelled. Mr. Meyer dying in 1875, his interest was purchased by George Doehne, who remained a member of the firm until the mill was finally sold in 1887 to Charley Silverson & Company, who still carry on the business. Since that time, Mr. Pfenninger has given his time to the management of his property. He is a stockholder in the Citizens' Bank of New Ulm, and also helped to organize the National Bank at that place, which was afterward converted into a private bank. 346 MEMORIAL RECORD OF He also owns valuable property in New Ulm and St. Paul, and is a sagacious, far- sighted business man, whose success in life may be ascribed to positive, determined pursuit of business, and to the fact that he is a man of honesty and integrity. In I S6o was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Pfenninger and Miss Christina Heltz, third daughter of Conrad and Augusta (Rogner) Heltz. In 1887 our subject erected his fine brick residence, in the latest style of architecture, and it is pleasantly located, commanding an excellent view of the surrounding country. He is a public- spirited, progressive citizen, giving his aid to all worthy enterprises for the advancement of his town and county. On political ques- tions he votes independently of party ties, and socially has been a member of the Turn Verein since its organization in 1857. He is a man of fine physique, affable and genial in manner, and has the power of readily making friends and retaining them. During the Indian uprising of 1862 he assisted in the defense of the town of New Ulm, being in the fight from Wednesday to Saturday night, on duty every hour day and night, and witnessing many scenes. He and his wife are not indentified with any church, and they have no children. V---rf ON. WILLIAM H. PATTEN, a \''^\ capitalist and retired merchant of \ P Le Sueur, occupies to-day a com- manding position among the busi- ness men of the county as the result of his own efforts. To a student of human nature there is nothing of greater interest than to examine into the life of a self-made man and analyze the principles that he has fol- lowed, the methods that he has pursued, to know what means he has employed for ad- vancement and to study the plans which have given him prominence, enabling him to pass on the highwa\' of life many who had a more advantageous start. In the history of Mr. Patten there is food for deep thought and many valuable lessons are contained therein. He was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, June 20, 1S26, a son of David and Jerusha (Calhoun) Patten. When nine years of age the family removed to Middlesex county, Upper Canada. William H., when sixteen 5'ears of age, commenced life as a sailor and followed the sea for twelve years, run- ning between Chicago and Montreal, Can- ada, during which time he traded exten- sively with the Indians of northwestern Canada. He met with excellent success in his undertakings at first, and in connection with his brother became owner of a three- mast sailing vessel, but on its second voy- age the ship was wrecked and Mr. Patten was thereby left penniless. For some time he served as captain of a steamer in the Montreal trade and in 1854 he came to Le Sueur, where he secured a claim. During the Indian outbreak of 1862 he joined the relief 'party at New Ulm and participated in the defense of the town. In 1S63 he em- barked in merchandising at Le Sueur, be- coming the senior partner of the well known firm of Patten & Taylor, which existed un- til 1873, when Mr. Taylor drew out and the business was then made W. H. Patten & Company. He was one of the first mer- chants of this place, and for many years was actively engaged in promoting the commer- cial interests of the town. In 1 86 1 Mr. Patten was appointed deputy internal revenue assessor, which of- fice he held for nine years, and in 1864 he so UTH WESTERN MINNESOTA . 847 was elected to the state legislature, where he represented his county one term. Since that time he has devoted his interests to the management of his investments and property. The mercantile firm as first organized contin- ued business until 1873, after which several changes occurred in the firm, but Mr. Pat- ten retained his interest until 1S93, when he sold to his son-in-law, Mr. Taylor, and re- tired from active business. In 1876 he built a fine brick business block, fifty by one hundred and twenty feet and two stories in height, which he still owns. He has ever been a prominent factor in the various en- terprises that have promoted the growth and prosperity of Le Sueur, and his name is therefore inseparably connected with its history. He put in the dynamo that first supplied the electric light to the town, and is still in use. He has withheld his support from no enterprise that he believed would promote the public welfare, and when oth- ers see that he is interested in any concern they feel that it will be a success and do not hesitate to invest therein. He and his son are interested in the grain, feed and cream- ery business, and the steam power which operates the elevator also furnishes the power for the electric dynamo. On the 14th of April, 1852, Mr. Patten married Miss Jasalina D. Ozbourn.'of Lon- don, Canada, the fourth daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Plum) Ozbourn, also natives of Canada. Four children have been born of this union: William A., who was in mer- cantile business with his father from 1873 to 1893, and is now engaged in the grain busi- ness with him in Le Sueur; Lodusky J., wife of George W. Taylor, a prominent merchant of Le Sueur; Edna N., wife of William H. Budke, of Le Sueur; and Henry N., who died at the age of eleven months. In politics, Mr. Patten is a Republican, stanchly advocating the principles of that party. He has served as a member of the school board for several years, in 1856 was elected county commissioner, served in the state legislature during the time of the con- test over the county seat, was appointed to fill a vacancy in the ofSce of justice of the peace, and served many years as a member of town board, discharging all public duties with marked promptness and fidelity. He is a member of Le Sueur Lodge, L O. O. F. , and in social as well as business circles is highly esteemed. EON. LUTHER Z. ROGERS.— A brilliant example of a self-made American citizen is shown in the career of this gentleman. His singular success is due to his own energy and the high ideal which his lofty and laudable ambition placed before him. Success in any walk of life is an indication of earnest endeavor and persevering effort, character- istics that Mr. Rogers possesses in an emi- nent degree. He is a man to whom the most envious can scarcely grudge prosperi- ty, so well has he earned it and so admirably does he use it. His integrity stands as an unquestioned fact, and after an honorable career as a merchant and furniture manu- facturer he is enjoying retirement from all labor. Mr. Rogers was born in Brewer, Maine, in May, 1837, a son of'Zoan and Phcebe S. (Kenrick) Rogers. The father was born in Orleans, Massachusetts, January 10, 1801, on the property where lived his ancestors for eleven generations. He was a direct de- scent of John Rogers, the martyr. The 348 MEMORIAL RECORD OF first American ancestor of the family loca- ted in Orleans, Massachusetts, in 1632, and on the maternal side the ancestry can be traced back to Rev. John Maj'o, pastor of a church in Boston, in 1637. When ten years of age Luther Z. Rog- ers removed with his parents to Providence, Rhode Island, where he was educated in the high school. He afterward engaged in clerking in a general store for three years, and then accepted the position of bookkeeper in Boston, where he remained for three years. On the 22d of August, 1857, he arrived in Waterville, Minnesota, and opened the first store in this place, building up a good busi- ness in the line of general merchandising. He studied closely the wants of his customers and his courteous treatment and fair dealing won him a liberal patronage. In connec- tion with the store he carried on a wood- \ yard and grain elevator, building a side track to the same and handling large quan- tities of grain. 'He has a fine stock farm of two hundred acres located near Water- ville, on which are extensive barns filled with high grades of horses and cattle. His landed possessions aggregate nearly one thousand acres. He also established a fur- niture factory, which gave employment to a number of men. and continued in active business until 1894, when he disposed of his store. In 1 86 1 Mr. Rogers married Miss Eliza- beth M. Christman, of Waterville, a native of Illinois. Theyhave three daughters: El- len M., wife of George E. Green, a leading merchant of Waterville; Charlotte L., wife of Charles A. Gray; and Florence E., wife of C. W. Glotfelter, of Waterville. Mr. Rogers is a prominent Mason and served as grand commander of the Order of Knight Templars of Minnesota. He has been called by his fellow citizens to several positions of public trust: was a member of the city council seven years, and for a num- ber of years served on the school board. In 1865 he was elected to represent his dis- trict in the lower house of the state legisla- ture, and in 1871 was elected to the state senate. In 1884 he was a delegate to the national conx'ention in Chicago, which nom- inated James G. Blaine for the presidency. His political career and his business life are alike above reproach and have been char- acterized by a fidelity to duty that is above question. eDWARD SOLBERG occupies the position of county surveyor of Le- sueur county, Minnesota. His name is a synonym for honorable busi- ness dealing, and he is always mentioned as one of the invaluable citfzens of the county; therefore, it is with pleasure that we present to our readers the record of his life. A native of London, Canada, he was born on the loth of December, 1861, and is a son of P. S. and Georgie Solberg. His parents were both natives of Norway. They crossed the Atlantic to the New World in 1850, locating first in Canada, where they remained until i860, when they removed to Winona, Minnesota. The father conducted a boot and shoe store in that place until 1S76, when he removed to Lesueur county and located on a farm a mile and a half west of Lesueur Center, where he carried on general farming and stock-raising. In 1890 he re- moved to Lesueur Center, where he has since lived retired in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. He owns an ex- cellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the corporation limits of Lesueur SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 349 Center, and is a leading representative of the agricultural interests of the county. In the Solberg family were six children, four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living in Lesueur county with the excep- tion of one brother, who makes his home in South Dakota. No event of special import- ance occurred in the boyhood and youth of our subject. His days were spent in play and work, and he pursued his education in the public schools of Winona until sixteen years of age, when he entered the service of a railroad company, with which he con- tinued for five years, serving in the capacity of civil engineer. He was afterward with the Minneapolis & St. Paul road until 1891, when he located in Lesueur Center. In the fall of 1S92 he was elected county surveyor, and entered upon the duties of his office in January, 1893. When his two-year term expired his faithful service led to his re-elec- tion, and he is now the incumbent in that office. Although he is truly American in thought and interests, he possesses the strong characteristics of his Norwegian an- cestors, — thrift, industry and perseverance. All who know him esteem him highly for his genuine worth, and his friends through the county are many. ^^^ grimes, editor and propri- etor of the Le Sueur News, of Le Sueur, Minnesota, came into possession of this paper and the printing plant December i, 1895. It was established in 1879 by Mr. Lumbrage, and was the second journal published in the county. The second owner was Mr. Hunt- ington, who sold out to Sanford & McLeod. It has since been owned by Elmer H. Deaith, W. H. Helien and J. P. Funk, and was purchased by Mr. Grimes at the date men- tioned above. It is an eight-page paper, published weekly in the interests of the town and county, and has a large circula- tion throughout this part of the state. It advocates the principles of Republicanism, and is a bright, readable journal, a credit alike to the editor and the county. Mr. Grimes was born in Sibley county, Minnesota, September 2t, 1861, and is a son of Edward and Margaret (McGovern) Grimes, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. The grand- father, Michael Grimes, was a nativ.^ of Ire- land, and the maternal grandfather, Thomas McGovern, was of Irish descent. The par- ents are both living, and now reside in Hen- derson, Minnesota. M. W. Grimes spent the first fourteen years of his life on his father's farm in Sib- ley county, and in the common schools ac- quired his elementary education, which was completed by a course in the high school at Henderson. At the age of sixteen he en- tered the printing office of the Henderson Independent, where he became familiar with the "art preservative of all arts," serving a two-years .apprenticeship at the trade. He then returned to school and continued his studies until twenty-one years of age. He afterward engaged in teaching country schools, following that profession for six terms, when he went upon the road as a salesman for Walter A. Wood, travel- ing through Minnesota, North and South Dakota and northern Iowa for seven years. He. then returned to Lesueur count}', and took charge of the hardware and implement business for W. C. Snow, remaining with that gentleman until he sold out in 1894. In the same year Mr. Grimes was elected justice of the peace of Le Sueur, but re- 850 MEMORIAL RECORD OF sip;ned that office when he became editor and proprietor of the Le Sueur News. He now devotes his entire attention to the in- terests of his paper, and has made it one of the leading journals in this section of the state. In politics he is a stanch Repub- lican, has done much for his party through the press and through effective labors as chairman of the Republican county central committee. Socially he is connected with the ICnights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Order of For- esters. Mr. Grimes married Miss Belle E. Dei- ner, of Lesueur county, a native of Milwau- kee, Wisconsin. They have four children, — Emily, Margaret, George E. and Louisa. EENRY C. SMITH, dealer in grain, produce, eggs and poultry in Le Sueur, is one of the pioneer set- tlers of Lesueur county, who for more than forty years has been identified with its interests. The place in which he now resides was a mere hamlet when he located here, much of the land in this sec- tion of the state was still in the possession of the government and the early settlers were just opening up the way to civilization. He at once assumed his share of the burden in developing and upbuilding the county and may well be numbered among its valued citizens. Mr. Smith was born on a farm near Shoreham, in Addison county, \'ermont, March 15, 1834, and is a son of Orville and Lorain (Bush) Smith, who were also na- tives of that locality, where they spent their entire lives. The father was a farmer by occupation and was a son of Joseph Smith, of English descent. The maternal grand- father, Ebenezer Bush, was a native of Vermont and also of English lineage. Henry C. Smith was the third in a fam- il}' of four sons, of whom two are now liv- ing, while his brother Edson R. is a resi- dent of Montana. He spent his boyhood days in the Green Mountain state, acquired his education in the common schools and at the age of si.xteen began clerking in a gen- eral store, where he gained a practical busi- ness experience that fitted him for his own career as a merchant. In 1S55 he came to Minnesota, and after three months spent in St. Paul continued his journey to Le Sueur, a little hamlet on the east bank of the Min- nesota river. He brought with him a small stock of goods and engaged in general mer- chandising, increasing his facilities and en- larging his stock to meet the growing de- mand of the trade. Until 1893 he con- ducted his store and was long recognized as a leading merchant of the town. On sell- ing his stock he embarked in the grain busi- ness to the exclusion of other mercantile interests. He had already engaged in trade in this line, having erected a large two- story building in 1863, the first of the kind in this section of the state. There was no railroad and all grain was shipped down the river, finding a market in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Milwaukee. He now handles all kind of grain, eggs, poultry and produce, and is enjoying a large and profitable busi- ness. In politics, Mr. Smith is a firn^ Demo- crat. He served for eight years as post- master of Le Sueur, being first appointed in 1857 by President Buchanan. Elected county commissioner, he served as president of the board, and labored earnestly for the welfare and interest of the county. In 1S5S he was elected count)' treasurer and served SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 351 as a member of the city council, and in 1 890 uas elected ma)'or of Le Sueur for a two-years term. His administration of the municipal affairs materially advanced the interests of the town, and he has ever given a hearty support to all measures which are calculated to prove of public benefit. In 1859 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Smith and Miss Laura J. Wright, of Shoreham, Vermont, daughter of Kent Wright. They have one child, now the wife of Scott McDonald, who is interested in mining in Colorado. Vj— rf ON. OVID P. BUELL is another ■ ^H one of the enterprising and pro- \ r gressive young business men of the prosperous town of Kasota, Le- sueur county, Minnesota. Some of the salient points in his life history, briefly touched upon, are as follows: Ovid P. Buell is a native of Minnesota, he having been born June 19, 1858, a son of early pioneers, Abrani and Sarah L. (Dean) Buell, New York people who located here about the year 1854. Abram Buell was a promising young man and expert surveyor, and while engaged in surveying on the Min- nesota frontier was cut down in the very prime of early manhood, being only twenty- three at the time of his death on July 19, 1858. In 1862, at the age of four years, Ovid P. was taken east and in New York made his home until he was twelve. From twelve to twenty-two he lived in Minneap- olis, most of that time engaged in the lum- ber business, and fourteen years ago he came back to Minnesota and at Kasota en- tered the employ of Babcock & Company in the quarry business. In January, 1895, he engaged in business on his own account. under the firm name of Ofenock & Buell, and has already established a prosperous business. Mr. Buell is a public-spirited man, in- terested in everything that pertains to the welfare of his town and county, and is looked upon as a. leader by his fellow citi- zens. He was the first president of the village of Kasota, has filled various local offices, such as township clerk and treasurer, and in 1889 was honored with a seat in the state legislature of Minnesota, where he served with credit to himself and his con- stituents. His political sympathies are with the Democratic party. Fraternally, he is prominent and active in numerous orders. He maintains a membership in the K. of P., M. W., I. O. O. F., and F. & A. M., in the Masonic order having taken the degrees up to and including the thirty- second degree of the Scottish rite. Mr. Buell was married January 17, 1883, to Miss Alice Allen. They have an inter- esting family of four children, — Maud, Mabel, Edna and Ruth. >^OHN R. BOWEN.— In the subject C of this sketch is found one of the /• J prominent merchants and popular citizens of the town of Courtland, and a man well known in this part of the state. He was brought to Minnesota when a babe in his mother's arms three years before this state was ushered into the Union, and has never known a home outside of its borders. Mr. Bovven is a native of the Keystone state. He was born in Tioga county, Penn- sylvania, March 4, 1855, and is of Welsh descent. His father, Evan Bowen, de- ceased, was born, reared and educated in 352 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Wales, a member of a well-known family in I that country, and when a young man came to America and settled in Pennsylvania, where he was united in marriage to Miss jane Edwards, also a native of Wales. When their son John R. was only a few weeks old they came west to Minnesota, j settling on the Minnesota river, near where the town of Nicollet now stands. Here the father took claim to a tract of land, made a rude home and provided as best he could for his little family, and here they lived for ten years. At the time of the Indian mas- sacre in 1862 they sought refuge in St. Peter, and he was one of the brave men who gave his assistance toward protecting the settlers and stopping depredations of the Indians during their attack at New Ulm. In 1865 he purchased a farm in Blue Earth county, four miles south of Courtland, upon which he settled and where he made his home for a time. He died in Mankato in 1870, at the age of forty-eight years. His life was one of great activity and usefulness. During the late war, while he was not in the regular service, he did what he could at home, helping many a soldier's family and doing all he could in that way to aid the Union cause. He was a stanch Republican, a leader in local politics, and in 1S68 was elected county sheriff, which he filled with credit both to himself and those whom he served. Fraternally, he was an Odd Fel- low. His widow survived him a number of years and died at Idaho Springs, Colorado, in 1895, at the age of seventy-five years. She was a most estimable woman and loved by all who knew her. Their family com- prised the following members: Mary J., for several years a prominent teacher of this state, is now editing a paper in Idaho Springs, Colorado; Thomas E. ; Maggie M-; John R., whose name begins this sketch; David E. ; Annie, deceased; and Esther. All had the benefit of good educational ad- vantages and all were teachers in early life. Coming now to the immediate subject of this sketch, we record that he was reared on his father's frontier farm and completed his education in the Normal School at Mankato. About the time he was si.xteen he was em- ployed as clerk for Clark & Ray, merchants of Mankato, and when he was twenty he commenced teaching, for some time there- after teaching and farming in Freeborn county. In 1881 he removed to Sleepy Eye and became associated in business with C. B. Blake, then the leading merchant of that town, and remained with him until 1888. That year he came to his present location and has since been engaged in business here, dealing in general merchan- dise, dry-goods, boots and shoes, groceries, etc., having a corner location and one of the best in the town. Mr. Bowen is interested in all that per- tains to the welfare and development of Courtland and is regarded as one of its most public-spirited men. He is secretary of the Courtland Creamery, an enterprise that has done much for this locality, and to him is due much for the success it has attained. Politically he is a Republican. At various times he has filled local office, always with fidelity and promptness and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. While in Sleepy Eye he was cit\- recorder. Fra- ternally he is an Odd Fellow, and his religious creed is that of the Presbyterian church, to which both he and his wife be- long. He was married in 1879 to Jiliss Flor- ence M. Gardner, a native of Freeborn county, Minnesota, and before her marriage //sh-^ . 5 O UTH WES TERN MIXXESO TA . 853 one of the successful teachers of that county. Her father, Thomas Gardner, was an Eng- lishman by birth, but for many years a resident of this country. He was a Union soldier in the late war and was killed in the battle of Shiloh. Mr. and Mrs. Bowen have five children, — Morgan, Edith, fvan, Gardner and Leroy. 'ACOI5 BRUST. — This gentleman, who spent his early manhood in act- ive business, mainl}' in agricultural pursuits and as a grain dealer, is now living retired at New Ulm. He is also one of the prominent pioneers of Brown county, with whose interests he has been closely identified since an early day. A native of Prussia, he was born in the province of Coblentz, February i8, 1831, and is a son of Mathias and Anna ^faria (Meurer) Brust. His father, who for many years was em- ployed in the slate mines of Prussia, was born in 1801 and died in 1869, while his wife was born in 1803 and died in 1876. The education of our subject was ob- tained in his native village, where he at- tended school until fourteen years of age, after which he worked in the slate mines for some time. On the 18th of August, 1850, he embarked on the English vessel Peter Hatrick, and after a voyage of thirty- eight days landed safely at New York, whence he went direct to Chicago. Soon afterward he secured a position in the lum- ber woods on Black lake, between Muskegon and Grand Haven, Michigan, cutting saw- logs at twelve dollars per month, and was thus employed for nine months. I-ieturning to Chicago he secured a position in the Balentine distiller}- on the lake front, where he received twenty-three dollars per month, and later conducted the Philadelphia House in that city for nearly two years. In 1855, Mr. Brust landed in Brown county, Minnesota, where he took up a claim, which joined the present town site of New Ulm, and there erected a log house fourteen by twenty-two feet. Indians were still numerous in the neighborhood, and his nearest neighbor was Jacob Pfenninger. When his little cabin was about half com- pleted the Indians tore it down, and he then hired another built, fourteen by twenty-two feet, paying eleven dollars in gold. He pre-empted his claim of one hundred and sixty acres, and soon paid the government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre. He devoted his time to general farming, and to the raising of horses, cattle and a small fiock of sheep. At the time of the Indian massacre in 1862 he had his two-story home burned to the ground by the savage red men. When the alarm was given he was away from home, but the hired man yoked the cattle to the wagon and the family started for St. Peter. They got as far as where Courtland now stands, and the ne.xt day they came back to New Ulm, where they were met b}' Mr. Brust. Two attacks were made on New Ulm, — one on Tuesday and the other on the following Saturday. The Indians en- countered a wagon containing nine men, whom they killed, first shooting down one of the horses. Among the number was Ole Ol- son, the first husband of ^frs. Brust. The fol- lowing Monday the people then at New Ulm started for St. Peter, where they remained for a week, when most of them returned to to their homes in New Ulm. The following year Mr. Brust erected a new log house on the site of the one burned by the Indians, and there made his home 854 MEMORIAL RECORD OF until 1866, when he removed to the village of New Ulm, where he has since lived. F~or a number of years he engaged in buying and selling wheat at that place, at first shipping by steamboat. On the completion of the railroad to South Bend he shipped his grain to that place, where bj- rail he shipped to different points. This venture proved profitable and he made money rapidly. Since 1S75, however, he has lived retired, but still looks after his farming interests, owning two valuable farms in Brown county, one of one hundred and sixty and the other of two hundred and forty acres. A man of great energy and more than ordinary business capacity, his success in life has been largely due to his own efforts and the sound judgment by which he has been enabled to make wise investments and take good advantage of his resources. On the 24th of June, 1852, Mr. Brust married Miss Susanna Helen Schnitzius, of Chicago, \\\\o was born in Prussia, and died at New Ulm, leaving four children, viz. : Peter, who died July 4, 1871; Matilda, who died in 1862, at the age of eighteen months; William, postmaster at New Ulm; and Charley H., now of Laporte City, Iowa. Mr. Brust was again married July 28, 1892, his second union being with Mrs. Anna Bergman, who was born in Norway July 12, 1833, and the widow of Henry Bergman. She had one daughter, fourteen \ears of age when she died in 1881. Politically, Mr. Brust \otes independ- ently of party ties, supporting the man whom he thinks will best fill the position. For eight years he has been a \alued member of the city council, and for four years was a county commissioner, and chairman of the board; he was the first sheriff of Brown county, being appointed by the governor in 1856 and served one term of two years; but the office did not prove profitable to him, paying him but about twenty-five dollars the first year, and he declined reappoint- ment. The first election notice he carried in 1 8 56 he rode with the Indian chief, Red Iron, for over fifteen miles, both on one pony! ERMAN FROELICH, supermtend- ent of the Courtland Creamery, Courtland, Minnesota, is one of the well-known and much respected citizens of the town, and is ranked with the pioneers of the county of Nicollet, he hav- ing landed here in 1867. Like many of the leading citizens of Minnesota, Mr. Froelich is of German birth and ancestry. He was born in the province of Sa.xony July 5, 1845, son of Frederick and W'ilhhnena (Shubertj Froelich, people of honest worth and good standing. Both parents are now deceased. They lived and died in their little home across the sea, — the home in which they had reared ten chil- dren, five sons and five daughters. Their son Herman, after receiving a fair education in his native language, entered a paper-mill, where he was employed from the time he was fourteen until he was sixteen, and fol- lowing that he learned the trade of miller and worked at that trade four years. In 1865 he bade farewell to home and friends and native land and took passage for Amer- ica, embarking at Hamburg, and in due time landing at New York city, whence he came directly west to Fort Wayne, Indiana. For two years he worked in a sawmill at Fort Wayne. Then he came out to Minne- sota, his first location in this state being in Chariton township. Redwood county, where he took a claim. This claim he subse- so UTH WESTERN MINNESOTA . 855 quently sold, and from Redwood county he came to Nicollet county and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located three miles northeast of Courtland. This ^ latter farm he brought up to a high state of i cultivation and improvement, and resided | upon it until 1895, when he sold out and came to Courtland in order that he might { the better attend to the creamery business. He owns a nice home in the town and is comfortably situated. And in this connec- '■ tion it is not out of place to make some special reference to the Courtland Creamery. The Courtland Creamery was built and put in operation in 1893, at a cost of $5,000, and is " up-todate " in all its equipments. At this writing its patrons number one hun- dred and twenty-three, its output connnands the highest market price, and it has no su- perior in this part of the state. Peter John- son, the butter-maker, is an expert in his line, and under the efficient management of Mr. Froelich, who has been in charge from the time the concern was opened, the busi- ness has been firmly established and is now in a tiourishing condition. During the month of June, 1S96, its receipts were 21,790 pounds, which sold for $3,393. Mr. Froelich is a leader in local politics, affiliating with the Republican party and taking a deep interest in everything intended to advance the welfare of his community. He has served his township as assessor, has been chairman of the township board, and has also served as a member of the school board. Religiously, he is a Lutheran, active and influential in his church and one of its stanch supporters. Mr. Froelich was married in 1869 to Mrs. Barbara Lamberger, who has proved herself a helpmate in the truest sense of that word, and who also is a native of Ger- many. By her first husband she had three children, — August, Mary and Lizzie. Her union with Mr. Froelich has been blessed in the birth of four children, — Fred, Adolph, Sophia and Bertha. H LONZO W. ROOD, whose de- lightful rural home and broad acres are found on section 22, Nic- ollet township, Nicollet county, Minnesota, dates his arri\al here in the year i860, and for thirty-six years he has been an important factor in the central part of the county. ^fr. Rood hails from New York. He was born in Cortland county, that state, April 13, 1833, and is a son of Josiah Rood, a man well known and for many years prom- inently connected with the dairy interests of Cortland county. Josiah Rood was a native of Massachusetts, born in 1803, a descend- ant of Puritan ancestors and the son of a Revolutionary soldier. In the Rood family have been found many expert mechanics, workers in wood and iron, men of sterling worth, noted for their patriotism and piety. Josiah Rood left Massachusetts when a young man and sought a home in New York. Shortly afterward he was married in Herki- mer county, that state, to Miss Bethesda Bliss, a native of that county and a mem- ber of one of its prominent families. After their marriage they removed to Cortland county and settled on a farm, where he turned his attention to dairying, in which he extensively and successfully engaged the rest of his life. He was by trade a brick-mason, at which he worked for a time in early life. He died at the age of seventy-two years. His first wife died before reaching the me- 856 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ridian of life, she being only thirty when called to try the realities of the world be- yond. She left three children, namely: Alonzo W. , whose name heads this bio- graphical slvetch; Amanda, a resident of Lesueur count)', Minnesota; and Bethesda, of Cortland county. New York. For his second wife Mr. Rood married Miss Lucy McFarland, who also bore him three chil- dren, — Loring, Adelia, and Ellen. In his religious life, Mr. Rood was a stanch Pres- byterian, generous and active in church work, a trustee for years and for forty years a member of the choir. Alonzo W. Rood, the direct suliject of this rc'siiiiu\ was reared on his father's farm in Cortland county, early becoming familiar with the dairy business as conducted there and forming habits of honesty and industry which have remained with him through life. His education was received in the public schools and Homer Academy'. In i860 he came west to Minnesota, stopping first at Courtland, Nicollet county, where he had relatives and where he was shortly after- ward employed in teaching school. He was one of the pioneer teachers of this county. From 1876 to 1886 he was wheat inspector at Nicollet and during that time formed the acquaintance of nearly all the men in this part of the county. He located on his present farm on section 22, in Nicol- let township, in 1867, and has from time to time made improvements upon his place until he has developed it into one of the handsomest and most valuable farms in the count}'. It comprises two hundred and fifty- four acres, .\mong its improvements we note first the elegant residence, beautifully located, modern throughout in all its equip- ments, its arrangement and furnishings showing culture and refinement as well as j means. This residence was built at a cost of two thousand four hundred dollars. A pretty lawn in front and a fine orchard and grove near by add much to its attractive- ness. The large barn, stock sheds and yards, fences and fields of grain and fine stock all gi\e evidence of well-directed la- bor. This farm is especially adapted for dairy purposes, and it is Mr. Rood's inten- tion to enter more e.xtensively into this line of business in the near future, he having al- ready given some attention to it. He took an active piart in organizing the Nicollet Creamery, the plant of which cost no less than three thousand five hundred dollars and is one of the best in the state, its product commanding the highest market price. At the organization of the company he was chosen its secretary and has served as such ever since. In Cortland county. New York, in the year 1857, was consummated the marriage of Mr. Rood and Miss Melissa Rounseville. Mrs. Rood is a most estimable woman. She was born, reared and educated in New York, and is a daughter of Benjamin Rounseville, deceased, and Anna in-c Gif- ford. She had a brother who was in the Union army and was killed at Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Rood had one son, Prof. E. J. Rood, one of the popular teachers of the county. He was for some time principal of the Nicollet high school. In his political affiliations Mr. Rood is strongly Republicaii. He has filled some local offices of prominence and trust, always with the strictest fidelity and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Personally, he is a man plain in manner and speech, genial and companionable, has the happy faculty of making friends with all with whom he conies in contact, and his life has SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 357 been so ordered that his influence has told for good in the community where he has so lone: resided. BERDINANDW. KNAAK,— The fit- ting reward of a well spent life and straightforward business ca- reer is an honored retirement in which to enjo}' the fruits of former toil. Mr. Knaak was for many years prominently identified with the mercantile interests of Waterville, but has now laid aside business cares for earnest effort. Capable manage- ment and perseverance have brought to him a comfortable competence, sufficient for his needs through his remaining days. Mr. Knaak was born in Prussia, Decem- ber 23, 1827, a son of David and Louisa I\naak. His boyhood days were spent in his native land, where he attended the com- mon schools until fourteen years of age, after which he spent two and a half years in a military school. He learned the mill- ing trade in Prussia, and in 1857 sailed from that land to the United States, landing in New York city. He made his first location in Marquette county, Wisconsin, where he worked for a time in a mill, and then em- barked in general merchandising in Mon- tello, Wisconsin. In 1S66 he removed to Lesueur county, and has since been identified with the business interests of Waterville. Here he purchased a lot, erected a store and put in a general stock, including dry goods, hardware, boots and shoes and groceries. He increased his facilities to meet the grow- ing demand of his trade, was painstaking in his efforts to please his customers and soon secured a liberal patronage, which steadily grew^and brought to him a good income. He continued to successfully conduct his business until 1893, when he sold out to his son, Albert W. Knaak. Before leaving his native land, Mr. Knaak was married, in 1853, the lady of his choice being Miss Charlotte Teska, of Prussia. They had four children, three of whom are living: Minnie E., wife of E. L. Norton; Ida, who died at the age of nineteen j'ears while attending the State University; Albert W., who is his father's successor in business; and Otto Arthur. Mr. Knaak and his wife are consistent members and liberal supporters of the Lu- theran church. He has served on the school board for a number of years, and is deeply interested in the cause of education. For several terms he was a member of the city council, and is a public-spirited, progressive man who gives an active support to all measures calculated to advance the general welfare. In his business career he met with a well-merited success, and has never had occasion to regret his determination to try his fortune in the new world. BRANK MOXDRY, register of deeds of Lesueur county, and one of the prominent and highl)' esteemed citizens of Lesueur Center, is a nati\'e of Bohemia. In the little village of Kundratice, Vesely county, in the district of Tabor, he was born, August 2, 1852, and the first thirteen years of his life were spent in his native land, after which he emigrated to the United States with his parents. They landed in New York city, and thence came direct to Lesueur county, Minnesota, locating first at New Prague, which con- tinued to be their home for six years. The father then purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lexington township 858 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and removed his family to the new farm, which he industriously began to cultivate and improve. He transformed the tract into rich and fertile fields, erected thereon substantial buildings and is still engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Thomas Mondry is now recognized as one of the leading and prosperous farmers of Le.xing- ton township. His wife, Catherine, is also still living. They had four children: P'rank; John F. ; Mary, wife of Frank Slaska; and Thomas F. Frank Mondry spent his early boyhood days in his native land, beginning there his education. After arriving in Minnesota he attended an evening school in New Prague, and in Jordan, Minnesota, and subsequently taught school for several years in this coun- ty. He also assisted his father in the culti- vation of the home farm, and as soon as possible began agricultural pursuits in his own interest. He purchased eighty acres of land, a part of which belonged to the old family homestead, and he continued to culti- vate and improve his property until 1890. He was a thrifty and energetic farmer and the neat appearance of his place well indi- cates his careful supervision. In 1879 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Mondry and Miss Helena, daughter of John and Magdalena Kotasek. They have si.x children: Mary M., Helena, Anna. Veronica, Joseph F. and Frank T. .Mr. Mondry is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and other Catholic socie- ties. In politics he is a Democrat, and by that party was elected to the office of regis- ter of deeds in 1890, since which time he has been thrice re-elected, and is therefore the present incumbent of the office. The fact that one is chosen b)- the vote of the people to a public position shows the confi- dence and trust reposed in him and the belief in his capability. Mr. Mondry has been most true and faithful to this trust, and deserves mention in this volume. He has served the people of Lesueur county as a member of the board of township trustees for Le.xington township for five years, and acted as chairman of the same for two years. He also served six years as assessor for that township. BON. VINCENT KLETSCHKA, a retired farmer of Waterville, is numbered among the pioneers of Lesueur county. His identification with the interests of this locality has covered the period of its early development and in the work of progress and advancement he has ever borne his part. While thus aiding in the improvement of the county he has at the same time won for himself a comfort- able competence as the result of well-direct- ed and energetic efforts. A native of Austria, Mr. Kletschka was born in 1835, and in the land of his nativity was reared to manhood. He received excel- lent educational advantages, completing a high-school course and attaining a good knowledge of the French and German lan- guages. After leaving school he made a trip through France, Great Britain and Holland, and as travel is the source of much true wis- dom he added not a little to his knowledge. In 1S54 he crossed the Atlantic to America on a sailing vessel that dropped anchor in the harbor of New York. From the eastern metropolis he went at once to Cassopolis, Michigan, where he was employed on a farm until 1S55, when he came to Minnesota. The following year he purchased a clann of one hundred and sixty acres, and afterward SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 359 purchased an additional eighty-acre tract from the government, all in Waterville township. He at once began the improve- ment of his land and successfully followed farming and stock-raising. He also dealt in real estate, handling farm property, -and added not a little to his income in this way. His hoine farm now comprises two hundred and forty acres of richly cultivated land, on which he has erected good buildings and made other substantial improvements. He raised a high grade of shorthorn cattle, breeding from thoroughbred, and was recog- nized as one of the most progressive farmers in this section of the state. Some years since Mr. Kletschka removed to Waterville, where for several years he conducted a popular hotel. He was also engaged in the hardware business in Water- ville, and his connection with various busi- ness enterprises has not only added to his individual prosperity but has also materially advanced the welfare of the community. He aided in organizing the Waterville State Bank, and was one of its stockholders for several years. His real-estate holdings com- prises five hundred acres of valuable farm- ing land, which he rents, and a number of residences in Waterville. Mr. Kletschka was married in Iowa to Miss Mary Riha, and they have seven chil- dren, — three sons and four daughters. The family is widely and favorably known in tliis locality and their home is noted for its hos- pitality. In 1874 Mr. Kletschka represent- ed Lesueur county in the state legislature. He voted with the Democratic party until 1872, since which time he has been a stanch Republican. The architect of his own for- tunes, he has builded wisely and well, and a handsome income now rewards him for his arduous toil in former years. >Y*OHN EGAN. — This veteran of the f late war and well-known citizen of A ^ Brown county, Minnesota, has for more than a quarter of a century maintained his residence on his farm in sec- tion 10 in North Star township. His long identity with this locality and his prominence here entitle him to specific consideration on the pages of this biographical record. Like many men who have figured con- spicuously in this country in the various oc- cupations and professions, often attaining eminence therein, Mr. Egan is a native of the Emerald Isle and a descendant of an- cestors who lived and flourished there for generation after generation. He was born in county Tipperary, October 12, 1836, son of Ed Egan and Kate ncc O'Brien, both natives of that county. The family in 1848 left Ireland and came to America, sailing from Liverpool for New York and landing in safety at their destination after a voyage of eight weeks and four days. Shortly after their arrival here the father obtained a good situation as foreman for a wealthy gentleman on Long Island, where he re- mained for some time and whence he subse- quently came west and settled in Osmond township, Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, where he spent the residue of his life and died. He was an educated man, master of several languages, and for twenty years was engaged in educational work in Wisconsin. At the time of his death he was seventy-si.x years of age. His wife died at the age of thirty-five. They were the parents of four children, namely: John Egan, Mary Ahern, Michael Egan and Maggie Gray. John Egan was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied his parents to Amer- ica. His home influence and his school ad- i vantages were of the best, and before reach- 360 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ing the age of seventeen he had acquired a good education. Then, in 1854, he entered the naval service, on the frigate Mississippi, Captain W. C. Nicholson, who subsequently attained prominence, and in this service he visited numerous ports in various portions of the world, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, and was in eastern waters near Japan, in company with the Pohattan, Minnesota, Dolphin, and other vessels, at the time Fort Sumter was fired upon. They were immediately called home by the United States government, and while still on board the Mississippi, the subject of our sketch was a participant in the naval engagements along the southern coast and at the mouth of the Mississippi river. At 1 the expiration of his term of service he was honorably discharged and returned on a visit to his people in Wisconsin. But he was too much of a soldier to remain inact- ive while his country was in need of brave men, and in October, i86i,at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, he enlisted as a member of Com- pany C, Twelfth W'isconsin Infantry, under Captain Willson and Colonel Bryant. Mr. Egan was in the engagements at Vicksburg and Jackson, was with General Sherman on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea, and thence north through the Carolinas and to Washington, where he participated in the grand review of the victorious army. The war over, he came out of the serv- ice with the record of a gallant soldier, and in 18G6 he sought a home in Minnesota, se- lecting Winona as a place of location and accepting a position in a grain warehouse. Subsequently he was appointed as a member of the police force of that city and served as such until 1870, the time of his removal to Brown count)-. That year he located a soldier's claim of one hundred and sixty acres in North Star township and has since resided here. To his original claim he added by subsequent purchase until his farm now includes two hundred and forty acres, one of the best improved and most valuable tracts of land'in this locality. He has a comfortable cottage home, substantial barn, thirty-six by forty feet in dimensions, and one of the best groves in the township, six acres being set out in trees; also he has a good bearing orchard. He carries on both general farming and dairying, and has here met with that success which his earnest and well-directed efforts merit. Mr. Egan was married in Newburg, New York, in i860, to Miss Joanna O'Callaghan, a native of Limerick, Ireland, who came with her parents to this country when she was eleven years old. Her parents, David and Mary (Bradshaw) O'Callaghan, are de- ceased, and she died May 10, 1890, after thirty years of happy married life. Mrs. Egan was a most lovable woman. Her whole life was adorned by the rarest of Christian graces, and those who knew her most intimately appreciated best her many excellent qualities; and in her death her husband and children sustained a heavy loss. She was the mother of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, namely: Mary Kane, Agnes Gee, Emeline Sifert, Ed E., Martin A., Howard J., Stephen W., Mi- chael C. , Charles Hugh and Franklin Pierce. The sons are all enthusiastic base-ball play- ers and members of the North Star Nine, which has a local reputation for its supe- riority. The daughters are accomplished ladies, and Agnes and Emeline have been successfully engaged in teaching. The for- mer is now a candidate for the position of superintendent of schools in Roberts county. South Dakota. a-na /ei^. u. ana&^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 861 Of Mr. Egan's political predilections we state that he has always been a Republican. He has served his township in numerous of- ficial capacities, filling with credit the posi- tions of justice of the peace, member of the school board, etc. He is identified with the G. A. R., Philip Cutland Post, No. 199, and has served both as post and division commander. Mr. Egan is a man of genial, social disposition, frank and cordial with all he meets, and naturally his friends are many. (D AJOR EDWIN C. SANDERS, after a life of great activity and usefulness, is now living retired in a pleasant home in the town of Balaton, Minnesota. He belongs to that noble band of veterans who in their coun- try's hour of peril went forth in defense of honor and followed the stars and stripes until victory crowned the northern arms. A native of Ashford, New York, Major Sanders was born on the 26th of June, 1827, and is a son of James and Anna (Wiley) Sanders, the former a native of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the latter of the town of Kinderhook, New York. The father followed farming throughout his en- tire life and spent his later years in Winne- bago county, Wisconsin, where he died at the age of seventy-eight years. The mother died in W'aushara county, Wisconsin, at the age of sixty-four years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom five are yet living. The paternal grandparents, Nathan Sanders and his wife, were natives of New England and spent the greater part of their lives in the Empire state, dying in Cattaraugus county, New York, at the ages 23 of seventy and sixty-eight years respectively. The great-grandfather on the paternal side was a native of Scotland. On the maternal side the ancestry of Major Sanders figured prominently in the early affairs of this coun- try. The grandfather was a prominent lawyer of Ivinderhook, practiced for many years in the same court with Martin Van Buren, and attained an eminent position in his profession. He was an officer in the war of 1 8 12 and died not long after that struggle from injuries sustained in the serv- ice. His wife, who was of German extrac- tion, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Annie Sanders. From old and respected families of the Empire state Edwin C. Sanders isdescended. He spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and in the district schools acquired his elementary education, which was afterward supplemented by a coarse in an academy in Springville, New York. In his early youth it was his earnest desire to become a minis- ter of the gospel and his education was all directed toward that end. When twenty- one years of age,' before he had finished his education, he was chosen superintendent of a school and served in that capacity the fol- lowing year. On leaving the academy he joined his parents in Wisconsin, whither they had remo\ed in 1850. After a short visit at home he returned to New York, where he pursued a theological course of stud}'. For a year thereafter he was ill, then he went to Wisconsin-, but for another year was unable to engage in active work. In 1854 he ac- cepted a position as pastor of the First Baptist church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he continued his ministerial labors most ac- ceptably for two years, and in 1 856 he moved to Le Sueur, Minnesota, where he erected a church edifice and served as pastor of the 362 MEMORIAL RECORD OF congregation at that point until the ci\'il war was inaugurated. Not unHke man)- of the leading young ' ministers during those dark days in the country's history, he believed in fighting as well as praying for a just cause, and accord- ingly, on the 15th of August, 1862, left his pulpit to join the Union ranks, going to the front as a member of Company G, Tenth Minnesota Infantry, which company he had raised. He was elected to the captaincy and with his men went to the defense of the Minnesota frontier and later to the south. During the ever memorable Indian massacre of 1862 he rendered valiant service in sub- duing the Red men and ending their depre- dations, after which he commanded in re- moving the captive Sioux to Fort Randall, j South Dakota. In September, 1863, he went with his command to the south and led his company in many important engagements, including the battle of Nashville, where his meritorious and gallant service won him promotion to the rank of major. He thus served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged, August 19, 1865, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. When the country no longer needed his services in the battle-field. Major Sanders resumed his ministerial labors at Le Sueur, where he continued for a year, when failing health, caused by his rigorous army service, necessitated his removal to a farm for rest and recuperation. He therefore took up his residence in Blue Earth county on a tract of land which he had previously pur- chased. He remained there for a year, when, his health having sufficiently improved to allow him to resume his ministerial labors, he accepted the pastorate of a^ church in Garden City, Minnesota, where he remained for five years. He then spent six years in Le Sueur, five years in Faribault, and four years in Sleepy Eye, preaching all the time, and organizing a church and erecting a house of worship in the last named place. At the close of his labors in Sleepy Eye he made a trip to the Pacific coast, where he spent some six weeks, and on his return located in Montevideo, Minnesota. Three years later he went to Minneapolis with the ex- pectation of retiring from the ministry, but shortly afterward removed to Brooklyn Cen- ter, where he filled the pastorate of a church for four years, when his health again failed and he came to Balaton, where he has since resided. He purchased his residence prop- erty here in 1890. His ministerial career was one of marked success. He has been the means of bringing many to a knowledge of the true God and their duty to the Creator, and only eternity can measure the influence of his noble words and work. In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 17th of April, 1855, was celebrated the marriage of Major Sanders and Miss Minerva Hopkins, a native of New Brunswick and a daughter of David and Susanna (Bartlett) Hopkins, natives of Maine who in early life removed to New Brunswick. Her father died in that place, at the age of seventy-two years, and after his death her mother returned to the United States, locating first in Wiscon- sin, whence she came to Minnesota. She died in Faribault, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. She was the mother of ten children, of whom only three are living. Her parents were Caleb and Mary (Cooper) Bartlett, New England people and descend- ants of Revolutionary ancestors. The pa- ternal grandparents of Mrs. Sanders were Bedford Hopkins and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Hannah Simpson. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have two children: Walter A., 5 O UTII WES TERN MINNESO TA . 363 who resides near Balaton and wedded Maude Mcllvain, a daughter of Colonel W. W. Mc- Ilvain and Helen //re Read, of Lisbon, North Dakota, and late of Cassopolis, Michigan; and Essie H., now the wife of Leslie E. Cherry, of Minneapolis, a son of William A. and Mary T. Cherry. Religiously, Major Sanders is a firm be- liever in the tenets of the regular Baptist church, serving for forty years in its ministry and erecting five churches. Fraternally he is a Mason, having for twenty years held membership in that ancient and honorable order. He was one of the first Grand Army men in this section of Minnesota and is now identified with Joe Hooker Post. Politically, he is a Republican. Formerly he took an active interest in politics, and for three terms was honored with the position of chaplain in the Minnesota senate, filling the same with most becoming dignity aHRISTIAN OLSEN, county com- missioner of Redwood county, Min- nesota, whose fine farm and pleas- ant rural home is located on section 26 of Swedes' Forest township, belongs to that large class of sterling citizens known as Norwegian-Americans. Passing briefly under review his life history, we have gleaned for publication the following facts, and take pleasure in presenting them to the readers of this work: Christian Olsen was born in the kingdom of Norway, December 26, 1849, son of Ole Gilbertson . The latter emigrated to America in 1873 and settled in Wisconsin, six years later came to Redwood county, Minnesota, and died in Swedes' Forest township. May 18, 1885. He was by occupation a farmer, which he followed all through life. Chris- tian Olsen was reared to farm pursuits in his native land, remained there until he was twenty-one, and then -started for America, landing in due time at New York city, whence he came across the country to Rock county, Wisconsin,, this being about three years before his father came to this country. Young Olsen secured employment as a farm laborer in Rock county and worked there by the month for three years, after which he rented land and farmed in that way six years. In the fall of 1881 he left Rock county and came over into Minnesota, se- lecting his present location in Redwood county, where he at first purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land and to which he subsequently added until now his farm comprises two hundred and sixty acres. Here he erected convenient and substantial buildings, second to none in the township, and has from time to time made various improvements, all contributing to the utility and attractiveness of this delightful farm and home. Mr. Olsen has a most estimable wife and a goodly number of children. He was mar- ried in Rock county, Wisconsin, December 27, 1874, to Miss Anna Maria Gilbertson, likewise a native of Norway, the date of her arrival in America being in the summer of 1870. The names of their children in order of birth are as follows: George O., Clarence M., Harry S. , Ella N., Anna L, Oscar F. and Kasper F. On coming to this country and becoming a naturalized citizen, Mr. Olsen cast his franchise with the Republican party and has ever since affiliated with it, taking an active interest in local politics and showing him- self to be a public-spirited man. He has served in school offices, filled the position of township treasurer, and in the spring of 364 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1895 was elected to the office he now fills, that of county commissioner, in which he is rendering acceptable service. In church circles also Mr. Olsen is prominent and active, he and his family being members of the Norwegian Lutheran church. It should further be stated that in con- nection with his farming operations Mr. Olsen operates a threshing-machine and feed-mill, running the former in the fall atid the latter at other times during the year; and in this, as in whatever else he has un- dertaken, he is meeting with fair success. aHARLES BIANCHI.— The agri- cultural interests of Nicollet coun- t)-, Minnesota, are well represented by this prominent and enterprising farmer of West Newton, Charles Bianchi, who has maintained his residence here for more than a quarter of a century, the date of his arrival in Nicollet county being in 1868. Mr. Bianchi looks back to Germany as the place of his birth and the home where his forefathers lived for generation after generation. It was in the province of Ba- den and in the year 1836 that he was born, his parents being Frederick and G. (Vogel) Bianchi, natives of the same province, and people of sterling integrity, members of a First Catholic church. The mother died when Charles was a boy of ten years, and four years later the father died, and thus early in life our subject was left an orphan and had to make his own way in the world. Up to the time he was fourteen years of age he attended the common schools of his na- tive land, then he served an apprenticeship to the trade of baker, and in 1S53, while still in his 'teens, he embarked for Amer- ica, this " land of the free" of which he had heard so much in the old country-, and in due time landed in safety at New York. Also he had two brothers who came to America, — George Antoue and Joseph. The former served through the late war as a Union soldier, and has for some years past been engaged in the butcher business in New York city; the latter was a restaurant man, and died in Galveston, Texas. Upon his arrival in New York, Charles Bianchi worked for a time at his trade in that city, and from there went to Louis- ville, Kentucky, and later was for five years engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi river. At the outbreak of civil strife he was among the first to offer his service for the protection of the old flag, and enlisted for a term of three months, at the expiration of which time he re-enlisted for a longer pe- riod and went out as a member of the Twelfth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, the fortunes of which he shared until the expi- ration of his term of enlistment, when he was honorably discharged. The first battle in which he participated was that of Wil- son's creek, where General Lyon was killed, and subsequently Mr. Bianchi was in numer- ous engagements, prominent among which were those of Pea Ridge, second Arkansas Post, Jackson, Vicksburg, Lookout Mount- ain, Atlant/a and others. At the close of his service he was by no means a strong man physicall}', he having contracted a chronic trouble of the bowels, and also hav- ing received serious accidental injuries. From the time he left the army until 1868, Mr. Bianchi was engaged in business in New Orleans, and from there he came up into Minnesota and took claim to one hun- dred and sixty acres of land at his present I location in Nicollet county, where he has SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 365 since resided, and where he has acquired other land, until now he has a fine farm comprising no less than five hundred and forty acres, one of the most valuable and desirable farms in the county. He also bought one hundred and sixty acres for his oldest son. Charles. He has a pleasant and convenient cottage home, a large barn which is forty-two by eighty-four feet in dimen- sions, and a fine grove covering four acres. His broad pastures are well stocked and provided with an ample supply of well water, and everything about the farm is conveniently arranged for carrying on agri- cultural pursuits. Mr. Bianchi is a man of family. He was married in 1866 to Miss Lena Mattern, who, like himself, is a native of Baden, Ger- many, and they are the parents of ten chil- dren, viz. : Charles, Fred, Thressa, Anna, Katie, John, Lena, Barbara, Josie and Lizzie. In his political views our subject is an independent, voting for the man he believes best fitted for the office, and as to the pres-' ent political issue is with the " sound-money" element. He maintains a membership in the G. A. R. Post at New Uim, and relig- iouslv is a devout Catholic. USSELL G. ROBINSON, an hon- ored citizen and representative farmer of Redwood county, comes of English stock transplanted to America in colonial days. The founders of the family in this country were two brothers who crossed the Atlantic in the Mayflower and settled in Martha's Vineyard, Massachu- setts. Zephaniah Robinson, a descendant of one of these brothers, was the father of Paul Robinson, who was born June 19, 17S5, and died in Mackford, Wisconsin, May 24, 1864, aged seventy-nine years. He was a farmer by occupation. The maternal grand- father of our subject's father was Joseph Webster, a farmer and shoemaker, who was born in New Hampshire, December 31, 1768, and died in Wilton, Maine, about 1844. He married Ruth Butterfield, who was born in Temple, New Hampshire, Feb- ruary 18, 1779, and died in Concord, that state, about 1854. The grandfather of our subject, Addison Robinson, Sr. , was born in Livermore, Maine, April 3, 1810, fol- lowed agricultural pursuits and died in Viola, Minnesota, January 29, 1882, at the age of seventy-two years. He married Abigail Webster, who was born July 24, 18 10, in Wilton, Maine, and is now living in Viola, in her eighty-seventh year. The father of Russell G. Robinson is Addison Oilman Robinson, who was born in Wilton, Maine, August 25, 1831, and is a farmer and blacksmith by occupation. He wedded Catherine Melissa Harriman, who was born in North Prospect. Maine, April 20, 1835. Her grandfather, Asa Harriman, was of Scotch descent. Her father, Benja- min Harriman, was born in New Hampshire in 1793 and died in February, 1863, in North Searsport, Maine, at the age of sev- enty years. He was a sea captain and served in the war of i8r2. He also had two sons, Joseph and Howard, who were loyal defenders of their country in the civil war. The former is now an agriculturist, while the latter follows the sea and was once in command of a vessel. The mother of Mrs. Addison G. Robinson bore the maiden name of Catherine Emerson, was born November 27, 1792, in Norridgewock, Maine, and her death occurred in North Searsport, Maine, in January, 1885, when she had reached the :-{66 MEMORIAL RECORD OF age of ninety-two. She was a daughter of Calvin and Elizabeth (Pettis) Emerson. Her father died in Dixniont, Maine, and her mother passed away in North Searsport, when about eighty-six years of age. The parents of our subject were married ill Lowell, Massachusetts, February 25, 1855, and in 1S56 emigrated westward. About ten years later they located near Rochester, Minnesota, where, with the ex- ception of two years, they have since resided upon a valuable and well-cultivated farm. They have eleven children, nine of whom are yet living. Russell G. Robinson was born in Falls Village, Connecticut, October 26, 1857, and accompanied his parents to the west and lived on the homestead farm, aiding in its cultivation until his marriage. On the 1st of January, 1878, he wedded Samantha Jennings, who was born in Ripley county, Indiana, March 31. 1854, a daughter of James and Martha A. (Garrison) Jennings. Her father was born in England and came to this country when four years of age, the family locating in Indiana among its earliest settlers. In i86i he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-fourth Indiana Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Prairie Grove, De- cember 7, 1862, after sixteen months' serv- ice. He enlisted at the first call for troops and was a loyal, patriotic soldier. His wife was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, and is still living, in Redwood county, Minnesota. She has been again married and is the mother of nine children. She became the wife of Mr. Jennings October 20, 1840. Four of these died in infancy, and two, who are now deceased, married and had families. The eldest daughter was Mrs. Louisa Steg- ner, who died in Redwood Falls June 11, 1886; her family still reside in Minnesota. Allen Jennings, the eldest son, died in Walla Walla, Washington, March 13, 1877, and his family are still in that state. The living children in this famil\- are Mrs. Ruth Hart, of Washington; Mrs. Russell G. Rob- inson, of Morgan, Minnesota; and Cyrus B. Jennings, of Redwood Falls, this state. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Rob- inson were James and Ann (Kemp) Jen- nings. James Jennings, Sr. , was born in England, Ma}' 5, 1787, and came to Amer- ica in 1825, joined the Baptist church in Pennsylvaniaburg, Ripley county, Indiana, in 1843, of which he was sexton for man\' years. He died September 12, 1885, aged ninety-eight years, four months and seven days. The maternal grandparents of our subject were John and Nancy (Terry) Garri- son, the former a native of Kentucky, the latter of Ohio. He died on his farm in In- diana, aged fifty years, and her death oc- curred in Kansas, when she had reached the age of sixty-five. After his marriage, Mr. Robinson worked a rented farm for a year, then removed to Brown county, where he rented two years. Corning to Redwood county, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Morgan town- ship, and began transforming the wild tract into rich and fertile fields. He built a log house eighteen by twenty-four feet, and made it his home until 1895, when he erected his present commodious and pleas- ant residence. He has also built substantial barns and outbuildings, and has all the im- provements of a model farm. He has added to his farm from time to time, until it now comprises four hundred and eighty acres, and in connection with its cultivation he is making a specialty of the raising of stock. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had six children, but lost two. The others are Slaton Ford, 5 O UTH WES TERN MINNES O TA . 367 born September 23, 1878; Nettie L. , born February 5, 1884; Stella A., born June 14, 1887; and Howard E., born October 7, I 891. The family attend the Presbyterian church, and Mrs. Robinson is quite active in church and benevolent work, while Mr. Robinson is serving as elder and trustee of the church, and as assistant superintendent of the Sunday-school. They are deeply interested in all measures calculated to pro- mote the public good, and their well-spent lives command the confidence and respect of all. Since casting his first vote for James A. Garfield, Mr. Robinson has been a stalwart Republican, and has acceptably served in several local ofSces. HLPHEUS A. WILSON is one of the well-known farmers of Honner township. Redwood county, Min- nesota, and belongs to a class of brave men whose ranks are year by year becoming thinned, namely, the veterans of the late civil war. In this connection we are pleased to review some of the salient points in his life history, feeling assured that such review will be of interest to the readers of this biographical record. The Wilsons are of Scotch extraction, but for several generations have been resi- dents of America, the Old North state be- ing their home for many years. The par- ents of our subject, D. C. and Eliza (Brown) Wilson, were both born in North Carolina. About 1850 they came north with their family and settled in Indiana, where the father died, January 22, 1896, at the vener- able age of eighty-three years. His wife is still living. Their family was composed of four children, and their son Alphens A. was born in Guilford county. North Carolina, November 17, 1841. He remained at his parental home until the beginning of hostili- ties between the north and the south, when he tendered his service to the Union cause and went out as one of the valiant boys in blue, the date of his enlistment being Au- gust 26, 1 86 1, before he was twenty years old. His command was Company D, Thirty- si.xth Indiana Volunteers, the fortunes of which he shared for a period of three years and two months, at the expiration of that time being honorably discharged at Indian- apolis. At the battle of Shiloh the Thirty- sixth Indiana Regiment was first in Buell's army and was in the hottest of the fight, and among the wounded on that battle-field was the subject of our sketch. The next five months he spent in St. Francis Hos- pital, at Paducah, Kentucky, after which rejoined his company and participated in numerous engagements. For some time he served as mail-carrier, receiving the mail at headquarters and distributing it to certain divisions and brigades. After his return from the army in Sep- tember, 1864, Mr. Wilson came to Minne- sota and located at Mankato, where he en- gaged in the manufacture of pumps, em- ploying rber of men and doing a successful business, his pumps being the first ones made in Blue Earth county. In 1867 he disposed of his interests in Mankato and removed to Paxton township, Redwood county. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of government land, erected a house upon it, and settled down in frontier style. This he subsequently sold, and he purchased three hundred and twenty acres known as Silver Lake farm, which, through his persistent and well-directed efforts, have 3(58 MEMO/ilAL RECORD OF been developed into one of the best places in the county. February i, 1870, Mr. Wilson wedded Miss Jane Fay, a native of Prussia, and to them have been born seven children, of whom five are livinj^, namely: Ellen L., Emily A., Clara T. , Otto A. and Anna E. Mr. Wilson's long residence here and the prominent part he has taken in public affairs have gained for him a wide acquaint- ance among the people of Redwood county, whom he has served in an official capacity and by all of whom he is highly esteemed. He was the first treasurer of Pa.xton town- ship, and he served seven }'oars as county treasurer. His support politically has gen- erally been given to the Republican party, his first vote for president having been cast for the martyred Lincoln. Fraternally, he is an A. O. U. W., and his name is on the list of charter members of that organization in Redwood Falls. E ALBERT M. BALL, cashier of the only banking institution at Morgan, Minnesota, is a gentleman whose identity with this place covers only a few years but who is one of its leading and most enterprising spirits. A review of his life gives the following facts: Halbert M. Ball was born in Chemung county, New York, March i, 1849, son of William S. and Emily ((^riswold) Ball, na- tives of the Empire state and people of sterling and honest worth. About 1855 they removed westward with their family and took up their abode in Wisconsin, where the mother's untiuiel\- death occurred when she was about thirty-five years of age. Of their family of si.\ children, four are still living. After some years' residence in Wis- consin the father returned east, and in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, he died, at the age of si.xty-nine years. He was by occupation a mechanic. During the late civil war he served two j'ears and a half as a member of Company A, Second Wiscon- sin Cavalry, being honorably discharged at the expiration of that time on account of disability. Some time after the war he was granted a pension, which was contimied up to the time of his death. The subject of our sketch was six jears old when he accompanied iiis parents on their removal to Wisconsin. There he was reared and educated, his ad\antages in an educational way being limited to the village school. When he was sixteen he started out in life on his own responsibility, and from that time forward virtually "paddled his own canoe." Yet in his 'teens, he came over into Minnesota and in Brown county began work at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for some time; and while in Brown county, April 2, 1874, he was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Hartwick, a native of Newark, New Jersey, whose life has since been happily blended with his. Their union has been happily blessed in the birth of five children, one of whom died at the age of four years. Those living are Elizabeth M., William H., W'alter, and Myrtle, all at home, — an interesting family circle. Mr. Ball remained in Brown county until 1892. In the fall of the following year he was one of a number of gentlemen who formed a stock coiiipau}- for the purpose of doing a banking business at Morgan, the institution at once being established and having since done a prosperous business, he being its cashier and practically its head. so (Jril WES TERN MINNESOTA. 369 The president of the company is A. W. Hagan, and the vice president, F. W. Pfixen. Politically, Mr. Ball has harmonized with the Republican party ever since he cast his first vote for General Grant for a second term as president. He has fraternal relations with the F. & A. M. at Sleepy Eye, and at Morgan maintains a membership in the A. O. U. W. He and his family are attendants upon worship at the Presbyterian church. RANK E. KENNEY.— A little more than half a century ago — March 7, 1845 — there was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, the gentle- man whose name introduces this article, and whose history is that of a law-abiding, patriotic citizen, rendering valiant service to his country on the field of battle, and in times of peace devoting his energies to the quiet pursuits of the farm, interrupted only now and then by his service in public office, to which he has been called by the vote of the people, who recognize his sterling worth and his fitness for official preferment. Mr. Kenney comes of a family whose identification with the history of the country covers much of its pioneer epoch as well as the period of its existence under the present republican form of government. The first ancestors came from Scotland and probably located in East Hartford, Connecticut, where representatives of the family are still found, although the descendants of the first ancestors are now widely scattered through- out the Union, and the name is variously spelled Chene\', Keeney or Kenney. The oral history of the family as handed down from father to son states that the great- grandfather of our subject was a member of the "patriot" army during the war of the Revolution and participated in the battle of Bunker Hill, while an old record gives an account of Reuben Cheny, corporal of Sturbridge, who entered the army Septem- ber 26, 1777. The probabilities are that this was one and the same man, although the name is spelled differently, but the in- accuracy of records of that day readily accounts for the orthography. In an old and now unused cemetery in Bernardstown, Massachusetts, stand the tombstones which mark the burial place of the great-grand- father and his wife. The inscriptions are as follows: "Reuben Keeney died Febru- ary 26, 1797, aged fifty-one years. Mrs. Jemima Keeney died June 9, 1829, aged seventy-nine years. " After his return from the war Reuben Iveeney erected in Gill, Massachusetts, a house which was occupied by his descendants during the boyhood of our subject. Frank E. Kenney is a son of Stephen W. and Sophronia (Alexander) Kenney, both of whom are natives of Massachusetts. About 1857 they came to Minnesota, loca- ting in Rice county, where they still reside. The father has spent his life as an agricult- urist, and on the home farm in Massachu- setts and in Minnesota the subject of this review spent his boyhood and youth, assist- ing in the labors of field and meadow and attending the public schools of the neighbor- hood. When only nineteen years of age he went forth to battle for the Union, enlisting August I, 1864, as a member of a Minne- sota cavalry regiment, his company being commanded by Captain Charles Davis, now of the Red Wing Argus. He participated in a number of engagements and remained in active duty until honorabl}' discharged at the close of the war, May 11, 1865. He 370 MEMORIAL RECORD OF then turned his attention to farming and for many years was prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the state. As a companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Lois Purington, a na- tive of Franklin county, Massachusetts, the wedding being celebrated on the r4th of August, 1866. She was born Septeinber i, 1843, one of the thirteen children of Amasa and Mary (Peterson) Purington, ten of whom reached adult age, while eight are yet living. Iler parents were natives of Massa- chusetts and members of old New England families. Mr. and Mrs. Purington came to Minnesota in 1874, locating in Rice county, where both died when about seventy-six years of age. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Ivenney, Da\id and Lucy (Weston) Purington, were also natives of the old Bay state, where the latter died in middle life, and the former after reaching the seventieth milestone of life's journey. His father was born in England and became the founder of the family in the United States. The Peter- son family is of Irish origin and the great- grandfather was a native of the Emerald Isle. The grandparents, Sylvanus and Le- vina (Call) Peterson, were natives of Massa- chusetts and spent their entire lives in that state, the latter being more than seventy-five years of age at the time of her death. After his marriage Frank E. Kenney turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and made his home on a farm near Morris- town, Rice county. He placed his land un- der a high state of cultivation and his system- atic management, his business ability and his diligence enabled him to make consider- able progress on the road to prosperity. He continued his residence in Rice county until 1885, when he came to Paxton township. Redwood county, and purchased a farna of one hundred and thirty-three and a third acres, which had been but partially im- proved. To its further cultivation he at once directed his energies and has since made it one of the valued farming properties of the community, its well tilled fields sur- rounding substantial buildings. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kenney j has been blessed with three children: Hat- tie, wife of Charles Brewster, an enterpris- ing and prosperous young farmer of Pa.xton township. Redwood count}', by whom she has two children; Ella F., wife of E. E. Case, by whom she has three children; and James W., who now has charge of his father's farm. Both in Rice and Redwood counties Mr. Kenney has figured prominently in local affairs, being identified with the most pro- gressive element of his community and ex- erting a strong influence for good. He has filled all the township offices, including five years' service as township clerk. For over twenty years he has been district clerk, and at present is deputy clerk of the court. A veteran of the late war he is identified with the popular organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, and is now affiliated with John S. Marsh Post, No. 85, at Redwood Falls, of which he is the honored commander. This post was named in honor of the brave man who in command of a detachment was ambushed at the ferry of the Minnesota river at the Sioux agency, eight miles from the home of Mr. Kenney; Mr. Marsh and nearly all of his men were killed. At the grand parade which took place at St. Paul, in September, 1896, on the occasion of the national encampment of the Grand Army, Mr. Kenney was in command of his post. It was also largely through his per- sonal efforts that the following bill was in- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 871 troduced and passed in congress: "Be it enacted by the senate and house of repre- sentatix'es of the United States of America in congress assembled, Tliat the secretary of war be, and he hereby is, authorized and directed to donate to the John S. Marsh Post, No. ^ ENJAMIN H. HINIvLY, deceased, |(''^ was born in Tompkins county, J^^^ New York, July 19, 1824, a son of Horace and Laura (Mclntyre) Hinkly, who also were natives of the Em- pire state. His father was a farmer by oc- cupation, and followed that pursuit through- out his entire life. In 1832 he removed to Huron county, Ohio, where his death oc- curred in 1869. His wife survived him twenty years, passing away in 1889. They had nine children, — five sons and four daughters, — of whom two sons and three daughters are yet living, — all residents of Huron county, Ohio. Dr. Hinkly was born and reared on a 24 farm, and acquired his literary education in the schools of his native county. In his early life he took up the study of medicine. In the year 1852 he went to California, arriving at Placerville on the 23d of July. For three years he remained there, engaged in the practice of his profession and in trad- ing. He then returned to Ohio by wa}' of the ocean route and was shipwrecked off the island Fe Cero. After three days he was rescued by a passing boat and carried to Panama, whence he made his way to New York, arriving at his Ohio home in May, 1855. The same year he graduated at the Cleveland Medical College. Immediately afterward. Dr. Hinkly re- moved to Clermont, Fajctte county, Iowa, and was engaged successfully in the prac- tice of medicine in 1876. His comprehen- sive knowledge of the science of medicine and its application to the needs of humanity won him a very liberal patronage and he did a profitable business. In the centennial year he removed to Lansing, Michigan, and embarked in commercial pursuits, operating a candy and cracker factory, which is still owned by his heirs. His excellent ability as an organizer and manager, his commend- able business policy and his undaunted per- severance enabled him to carry forward to successful completion whatever he under- took, and this, as other enterprises in which he engaged, yielded to him handsome re- turns. In 1878 he went to Europe, accom- panied by his entire family, and visited Eng- land, France, Sv\'itzerland, Germany, Hol- land, Brussels, Scotland and the World's Exposition in Paris, after which he returned to Fayette county, Iowa. Dr. Hinkly never resumed the practice of medicine, but devoted his energies to the promotion of a number of financial con- 378 MEMORIAL RECORD OF cerns. Ho assisted in the organization of the Fayette County National Bank, was one of its directors, and the stock of the institu- tion is still in possession of the faniil}'. He was also president of the Sa\in^s l?ank of West Union, Iowa, and was a stockholder in various other Iowa hanks. Unriug his residence in the Hawkeye state he was interested in a niiinher of enterprises with ex-Governor Larrabee, ol whom he was a warm personal friend. He was also inter- ested in the grain trade in connection with C. F. Week, of Clermont, Iowa, and tlie active part which he took in promoting commercial activity in tiie ciMiininnities in which lie lixed niude him a \alncd resident. In iSSj he assisted in the organization of the Kock County Rank, of Luxerne, and for eight years before his death acted as its presitlent. He removed to Luverm- in 1888 and continued his resilience there until called to the home beyond, on the 31st of August, i8(j(i. • In addition to his other property he owned large tracts of land in Iowa and Minnesota. He was a man of broad capabilities, keen iliscrimination, sound judgment ami uniiuestioned reliabil- ity, and to his own well-directed efforts may be attributed his prosperity. The Doctor was married on the ist of March, 1857, to Miss Emma C. Bryant, of Albion, Michigan, daughter of Samuel S. and Betsy (Stanton) Bryant. The father was a native of N'ermonl and was a cousin of the celebrated poet of New England, W^iiliam CuUen Bryant. Her mother was born in Syracuse, New York, and was a member of a very prominent famil)' of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Bryant had a family of four children that reached years of ma- turit_v. Their father died in Clermont, Iowa, in 1886, at the age of eighty-four years, and the mother passed away in Luverne at the age of eighty-nine. Dr. and Mrs. Hinkly became the parents of five children, three of whom reached adult age, namely: Ray B., who is represented elsewhere in this volume; Frank I.., who was boril August 31, 1871, is a graduate of the high school and afterward studied in tiie State I'niversity; he is now a stockholder ami director of the Luxerne Cjold Mining Company at Bourne, Oregon, of which his father was president and his older brother treasurer; Fred M. was born May 4, 1876, in Clermont, Iowa, and is now employed in the Kock County Bank in Luverne. He was educated in the Curtis Commercial College of Minneapolis and is a vonng man of pronounced business abilitv. The Doctor was a Democrat in early life, but later became a Republican, never- aspiring, however, to political office. He was a Knight Templar and held many high offices both in the local and state Masonic lodges, having served as grand king of the grand chapter, Rojal Arch Masons of Iowa, ill 1883, and afterward as eminent com- mander of the Commandery of Luvern-;, Minnesota. He never allied himself with any church, but was a believer in Christi- anity and practiced that helpful and bene- ficent Christianity which prompts one to e.xtend a helping hand to the poor and needy and encourage the distressed. A man of scholarh- attainments, he had carried his researches far and wide into the field of lit- erature and the store-house of his memory was filled with many choice gems of thought, which adorned his conxersatioii and made him a valued addition to any society circle. He possessed at his death one of the finest private libraries in the state and was a trus- tee of the public library, in which he was SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 879 deeply interested, believing it a practical means of placing information within the reach of all. His life was noble, pure and upright; he was generous, kindly and court- eous and had the love and respect of all with whom he was brought in contact. At his death the various societies to which he be- longed passed resolutions of respect and sympathy, expressive of their high regard for hirn and their sorrow that he was called from this world. "His life was gcntlr, and the cIlmiii-iUs So mixed in him Ihat Nature iiiii,'lit stand up And say to all the world, ' This was a man.' " @EORGEJ. GRIMM, village recorder and freight and ticket agent for the Northwestern Railroad at Spring- field, Minnesota, is one of the effi- cient and trusted employees of that road. He is a native of Wisconsin, born on the 2d of May, 1865, at Hartford, where his parents, John and Mary Grimm, had located at an early day, and they are still residents of that state. There the boyhood and youth of our subject was passed in attendance at the pub- lic schools of Hartford, and he completed his literary education in the high school of that place. He then accepted a clerkship in a general store, which position he accep- tably filled for three years. On the expiration of that period Mr. Grimm entered the employ of the North- western railroad at New Ulm, Minnesota, as operator, clerk and station agent, and there remained for seven years. Jn September, 1890, he was transferred to Springfield and given the position of freight and ticket agent, which he now so satisfactorily fills. Mr. Grimm married Miss Emily Schnei- der, the oldest daughter of Joseph and The- resa Schneider, and they have four children, — John C., Leslie H., Natalia A. and Olive L. They occupy a neat and zoz\ residence in the northeast part of the city, which was erected by Mr. Grimm, \and is supplied with an excellent private library. Both himself and wife are great readers of the best litera- ture and she is a lady of taste and refine- ment. Mr. Grimm has been elected village re- corder for six successive years without op- position, and in 1892 was tendered the nom- ination for county auditor of Brown county by the Democratic party, but refused to accept the nomination, nmch to the regret of his friends. He has been a delegate to several political conventions, and is at present a member of the Democratic county committee. Mr. Grimm is a stockholder and director of the Springfield Building and Loan Asso- ciation, and is a charter member of the local lodge of Modern Woodmen of America, of which for two years he served as venerable councillor, and is at the present time man- ager and trustee. He is also a trustee of the Legion of Honor, and is one of the most popular and highly esteemed citizens of Springfield. ^^^^ILLIAM A. MAYNES.— America, Mm I with its natm-al resources and its ^J^^l opportunities afforded by its repub- lican form of government, where all men have eciiial rights, has become the home of many men of foreign birth, who are to-day numbered among its worthy citi- zens, and who, through well directed efforts in business, have achieved a comfortable competence. To this class belongs William 880 MEMORIAL RECORD OF A. Maynes, a retired farmer and breeder of draft horses, li\ing in Liu'cnie, Minnesota. Mr. Maynes was born in county Roscom- mon, in the western part of Ireland, May i, 1S47, and was but three years of age wlien broii.tjht to .America by his parents, Robert and Jane Maynes. They located in Water- loo, in the province of Ouebec, Canada, where our subject attended the common schools, and remained until eighteen years of age. He then removed to Sparta, Mon- roe county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising for a pe- riod of twelve years. In this venture he met with success, for his energy and persever- ance were qualities which overcame all ob- stacles. ; In 1870 was celebrated the marriage of j Mr. Maynes and 'Miss Josephine Isham, of Sparta, daughter of A. H. and Sabrina Isham, and a native of Wisconsin. For six years after their marriage our subject resided in Wisconsin, and then came to Rock county, Minnesota, where he secured a homestead of one hundred and si.xty acres and pre-empted another tract of simi- lar size on section 26, Vienna township. This he cleared and improved, and for a number of years successfully operated the entire half section, also engaged in stock- raising. He soon became widely known as a breeder of high-grade cattle, and later | turned his attention to the breeding of draft horses, making a specialty of the Clydes- dale. He imported a fine stallion, costing fifteen hundred dollars, and successfully continued the breeding of heavy draft horses until 1 S90, when he soki his stock and farm and removed to the city of Luverne, where he has since resided. In the meantime he had made considerable investments in real es)-g^te, and now devotes his energies to the care of his landed property. He has three hundred and twenty acres of land in Brook- ings county, South Dakota, has some valua- ble real estate in Minnesota, including his fine residence on one of the principal streets of Luverne, and for the past five years has been a stockholder in the Luverne Building and Loan Association. He has individually erected some buildings in this city, and has been an important factor in business circles in this section of the state. In his political predilections Mr. Maynes is a stalwart Democrat, and was elected on that ticket to the office of county commis- sioner, wherein he served for two terms of three years each. He is a loyal American citizen, and a man whose worth has gained him the unqualified regard of many friends. @ EORGE B. HUNTINGTON. — In noting the various members of a community it is interesting to ob- serve how they are gathered to- gether from different states and localities, and how well they usually combine to form an intelligent and prosperous communit}'. The subject of this history is a native of the far-eastern state of Vermont, being born in Shaftsbury, Bennington county, on the 2 1 St of January, 1827. In that state his parents, Daniel G. and Oretta (Andrus) Huntington, also were born, and his father engaged in merchandising and farming throughout life, — in Vermont, Wisconsin and other states. Dr. Daniel Huntington, his paternal gTandfather, who was of Eng- lish ancestry, was born in the Green Mount- ain state, and in his native state engaged in the practice of medicine for a number of years, and afterward in western New York for many years. He married a Miss Ga- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 381 lusha, daughter of Governor Galusha, of that state. The maternal grandfather, David Andrus, was also a native of Vermont and of English descent. The first seven years of his life George B. Huntington spent in the county of his nativity, and then accompanied his parents to New York, who located in Wyoming county, where he grew to manhood and ac- quired his education in the district and high schools. I'^or a number of years he then engaged in teaching in the country schools of that state, and subsequently was in the drug business in Illinois. After a short time, however, he went to I'Calamazoo, Michigan, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising for six years, and then re- moved to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he lived for fifteen years. The year 1884 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Huntington and his family in Rock county, Minnesota, where he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in the cor- porate limits of Luverne, which he has placed in a state of good cultivation. He also owns other land in different parts of this county. Mr. Huntington has been married three times. His first union was with Miss Jan- netta E. Galusha, who was a native of Ver- mont, and died in 1850, leaving one daugh- ter, who is now deceased. She left a son, Edward H. Lane, who is now studying medicine in Chicago. His second marriage was to Miss Jennie E. Smith, a native of New York, and to this union were born four sons : Charles E. and George L., who compose the hardware firm of Huntington Brothers, in Luverne; Arthur E., cashier of the Citizens' Bank, of Ellsworth, Minne- sota, which was organized by himself and E. A. Brown; and Edwin Walter, who died in 1884. After the death of his second wife Mr. Huntington married, in October, 1882, Mrs. Mary A. Johnson, of Dixon, Illinois. She is a native of Massachusetts, and a daughter of Isaac and Charlotte P. (Potter) Brewer, who also were born in the old Bay state. She was educated in New England, where she engaged in teaching for five years, and on coming west to Dixon, Illi- nois, continued in that profession for the same length of time. In religious belief Mr. Huntington is a Baptist, and is now serving as a trustee of his church, while his wife is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. They have identified themselves with the welfare of Rock county, especially with Luverne and vicinity, and have made many friends among the intelligent and hospitable citi- zens of the place. Mr. Huntington is a straight Republican, politically. For sev- eral years he ably filled the position of county supervisor of Dane county, Wis- consin. E: ERBERT B. AITKENS, M. D., a physician and surgeon of Le- sueur Center, is a native of Eng- land, born in 1867. Being desired by his father. Rev. A. Aitkens, an Episco- pal minister, that he should receive the best possible educational training, he was edu- cated in the cities of Bedford and Bath, in his native land. In 1886 he sailed for Canada, where he continued his studies, in the University of Manitoba, finally gradua- ting with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. (His father still resides at Stowmarket, England.) On completing his literary education the Doctor determined to take up the study of 882 MEMORIAL RECORD OF medicine and make its practice his life work. He read for two years in Manitoba Medical College, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and in 1892 came to the United States. Here he en- tered the medical department of the State University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis, and on completing the prescribed course was graduated with the class of 1893. He afterward spent one year in charge of the medical department in the city hospital of Stillwater, Minnesota, which gave him a practical training that well fitted him for the general practice of medicine. In 1894 he came to Lesueur Center, where he established an office and was soon in the en- joyment of a large and constantly increasing l)ractice. He has a deep love for his pro- fession, without which there could be no success. He is a close student and keeps thoroughly abreast with the progress that is continually being made in the science; his devotion to his business, combined with skill and abilitj', has won him a liberal patronage, and he ranks among the leading medical practitioners of Lesueur county. The Doctor is an esteemed and valued member of \'olney Lodge, No. 165, I. O. O. F., of Lesueur Center. He was married in 1894, and his home is blessed with a lit- tle daughter, Edith C. The Aitkens house- hold is noted for its hospitality, and the Doctor and his wife hold an enviable posi- tion in social circles. aHARLES W. McMINDES, a re- tired farmer and justice of the peace of Lesueur Center, is one of the worthy oiti;?ens that Indiana has finnishcd \.o this state. He was born in Jennings county, October 15, 1829, and is a son of Christopher and Deborah ( Mon- roe) McMindes. His father, a native of New York, in 1820 took up his residence in Indiana, where he followed the occupation of farming. The family originally was from Scotland, coming to America in an early day. In the usual manner of farmer lads, Charles W. McMindes spent his boyhood days, assisting in the labors of the fields and attending the common schools. At the age of twenty-five he left his father's home and started out in life for himself. He engaged in the manufacture of lime in Vernon, In- diana, until 1854, when he sold his business and came to Minnesota. Locating in Scott county he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land, and clear- ing a portion of it carried on general farm- ing. In the winter season when crops were harvested and farm work was practically completed for the year, he taught school, thereby materially increasing his income. For twenty-nine years he maintained his residence in Scott county, removing to Le- sueur Center in 1883. He purchased a good farm a mile and a half from the town, which he rents, and devotes his time and attention to the management of his prop- erty interests and his official duties. He was interested in a stone quarry in Indiana, at Vernon, prior to his coming to Minnesota, and for some time engaged, in shipping stone to the northern part of that state, where it was cut and prepared for building purposes. Mr. McMindes married Miss Margaret J. Patterson, of \'ernon, Indiana, on March 10, 1853. She was a daughter of William Patterson, one of the old residents of that place. Their home is a fine two-story dwelling, richly and tastefully furnished and surrounded by a beautiful lawn. Its hospi- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 383 tality is proverbial, and is enjoyed by the many friends of the worthy couple, who are always sure to receive there a hearty wel- come. Mr. McMindes is a pronounced Repub- lican, who strongly advocates the underlying principles of that party. He is a stanch adherent of sound money, \shich proves a stmnilus to endeavor and a just compensa- tion for honest toil. In i8S6 he was elected justice of the peace, which position he has since most creditably and faithfully filled. He is a self-made man, to whom success in business has come through his own well directed efforts. He has a wide reputation as a most capable linancier, and his life demonstrates what can be attained through energy, careful management and the utiliza- tion of the powers with which nature has endowed one. HUGUST FENSKE.— In Ihe gen- tlcuKin whose name forms the heading of this sketch is found one of the early settlers of Brown county, Minnesota, he having spent more than four decades within its borders, and since 1868 been a resident on his present farm on section 17, Eden township, Mor- gan being his post-office address. Not unlike many of the thrifty and respected citizens of this commonwealth, Mr. Fenske, as his name suggests, is of German birth and parentage. He was born in the province of Mernevetter, May 31, 1841. John Fenske, his father, a native of that same province, was born in 1800, and was both a carpenter and farmer and owned a small tract of land in the old country. His wife, the mother of our subject, was be- fore her marriage Miss Justena Bunk, and she was born in the year 1803. In the spring of 1S53 theystarted with their family for America, embarking at Hamburg, and came by the way of Liverpool to Montreal, Canada, where they landed in due time, and from that place they journeyed by the lakes to Chicago, thence by rail to Uubuque, Iowa, and thence by boat to New Ulm, Minnesota. A mile and a half from New Ulm they made settlement and there they passed the rest of their lives and died, he being seventy-five years old at the time of death and she eighty-four. On coming to this country he identified himself with the Republican party and gave it his earnest support, and in religion he was a Lutheran, both he and his wife being devoted Chris- tians. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, five sons and four daughters, namely: Minnie, a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota; Hannah; Fred, who died when young; Julius, who met his death in the Indian massacre in August, 1862, when twenty- se\en years of age, he having gone out with a party of si.xteen men in pursuit of the Indians; Matilda, now residing in Ore- gon; August, the subject of this article; John, a resident of New Ulm, who was severely wounded b)' an Indian arrow at the same time his brother was killed; Charles, of Nicollet county, Minnesota; and Paulina, who was so badly frightened at the time of the Indian massacre that she died a few days later! Thus was the Fenske family visited with great affliction in that dark hour when many of the homes throughout this locality were made desolate. Turning now to the immediate subject of this sketch, August Fenske, we record that at the time of their coming to America he was a boy of fourteen. He received a fair education in his native tongue in the 884 MEMORIAL RECORD OF old country, and after their settlement in Minnesota his time was spent for some years in assisting his father in the improve- ment of their farm, remaining at home until he was twenty-eight years of age. In 1868 he came to his present farm, built a small house and that same year broke forty acres of land, and as time passed by he continued to make improvements until now he has one of the best farms in his locality, three hundred and forty acres in extent, and hav- ing good house and barn, and a fine grove of his own planting. Mr. Fenske was married July 3, 1869, at New Ulin, Minnesota, to Miss Augusta Dittbenner, a member of a highly respected family and a lady who has in every way been a helpmate to her husband and con- tributed largely to the success he has at- tained. She, too, is a native of Germany, born in Prussia, September 2, 1847, daugh- ter of William and Johanna fKriegerj Ditt- benner, both now deceased, her father being eighty-three at the time of death, and her mother sixty-seven. In the Dittbenner family were six children, namely: Augusta, now Mrs. Fenske; Mrs. Minnie Gluth; Mil- lie, deceased; Carl VV., Ed and Hermon. Their father was a farmer, voted the Ke- [lublican ticket, and worshiped at the Lu- theran church, of which denomination he was a consistent and active member. The chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Fenske number nine, all of whom are living except one, a son, that died at the age of four months. Their names are as follows: Mrs. Anna Petrick, I'erdinand, Mrs. Amelia Drayden, Fred, Amil, Ed, Henry and Clarra. The eldest son is a dealer in machinery at Mor- gan, Minnesota. Mr. P'enske has long affiliated with the Republican party; and has ever been loyal to the country of his adoption. During the dark days in the early '60s he was a soldier in the Second Minnesota Infantry; and pre- vious to the outbreak in 1862 he was in the government employ, assisting the Sioux In- dians in Dakota. On one occasion an old Indian chief saved his life, and among other famous red men with which he was intimately acquainted was the noted Sitting Bull. Early in life the subject of our sketch made a study of medicine, — in the Homeo- pathic school, — and for a number of years practiced throughout this locality, where he was very successfnl in the treatment of all kinds of diseases. Naturally sympathetic and obliging and with his knowledge of medicine and his desire to be helpful to others, he has long been looked upon as a benefactor in his community. His home is the abode of hospitality and his friends are many. at *1LLIAM CARPENTER, whose post-office address is Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, his farm being on sec- tion 24, Leavenworth township. Brown county, is a fair representative of the enterprising agriculturist of this locality. To a brief sketch of his life we here direct attention. Mr. Carpenter is a native of Indiana and was born February 4, 1863, a son of re- spected and well-to-do parents. Samuel Carpenter, his father, was a man far above the average in intelligence and education. He was a carpenter by trade as well as name, an expert mechanic, and also was for years a successful and well-known teacher. The Carpenters were among the early set- tlers of Ohio, for many years standing as d^ .-£^>^ l/uCO^S^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 385 respected citizens o{ that state, and it was in Darke county, Ohio, February 22, 1830, that Samuel Carpenter was born. He was married in Whitley county, Indiana, Sep- tember 22, 1852, to Miss Lucy A. Cordell, a native of that state, born near Richmond, Wayne county, dauj^hterof Isom and Sarah (Brown) Cordell, natives respectively of Tennessee and Georgia. While yet in the prime of life Mr. Carpenter died, near South Whitley, Indiana, leaving a widow and the following named children: Sarah, Henri- etta, Benjamin F., Catharine and William. Subsequently Mrs. Carpenter became the wife of Mr. Solomon Rima, their marriage being consuminated in Fillmore county, Minnesota. Mr. Rima was a native of Ohio and a descendant of Dutch people who had settled many years ago in the Mohawk val- ley, New York. The children of this union were five in number, of whom two died in infancy, the others being Rufus, a resident of Spokane, Washington; Effie Nelson, of this county; and Alfonzo. Their father died in Spokane, Washington, at the age of sev- enty-si.K years. Mrs. Rima came to Minne- sota in 1869, in 1885 accompanied her hus- band to Washington, and after his death returned to Brown county, this state, where she still lives. She is a member of the Christian church and is a woman whose amiable disposition and winning ways have won her the esteem and love of all who have come within the circle of her acquaint- ance. William Carpenter was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools, and from the time he was si.\ years old he has lived in Minnesota. It was in Olmsted county, this state, where they first settled on coming west and where he grew to man- hood. In I 884 he came to his present farm. then all wild land, and here he has improved a valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He has a good house and barn, six-acre grove, fine orchard, good supply of well water, and everything conveniently arranged and well kept. A dairy is one of the principal features of his farm. Mr. Carpenter was married at Iberia, Minnesota, in 1884, to Miss Laura Benham, an educated and refined woman and a mem- ber of one of the prominent families of this county. Her father, the late Frederick Benham, has received honorable mention elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter two children have been given,. — Paul and Fred. Formerly Mr. Carpenter affiliated with the Republican party, but recently he has become an independent, and now votes for men and measures independent of party lines. He belongs to both the I. O. G. T. and the A. O. U. W., and he and his wife worship at the Christian church, of which, they are consistent and valued members. >^OHN G. STRAUCH, who has been m an active promoter of business inter- A ■ ests in Nicollet count)', was born in Vronke, Germany, in 1832, a son of Martin and Anna Rocine Strauch. He re- mained in his native land until 1850, and then sailed for America, reaching New York in December with fifty cents in his pocket, which sum he paid for passage on a steam- boat from New York to Albany. He then walked along the Erie canal for three days in search of work. At the end of that time he hired to a farmer for four dollars per month. In the spring, however, his wages were increased to fifty dollars per year. The following year he received one hundred 386 MEMORIAL RECORD OF dollars and the third year one hundred and twenty dollars. In 1854 he went to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, where he remained two days, when he rode to West Troy. In that locality he was employed for about four years, after which he went with an acquaint- ance to New Amsterdam, on Black river, Wisconsin, where he was employed in a sawmill. He had been here but a short time, however, when he was taken ill with typhoid fever, and during his sickness the money which he had saved was largely ex- hausted. For some lime afterward he was unable to do any work, and, in response to ai; urgent request from his father, visited his old home. He started from La Crosse, and from New York sailed for Li\'erpool in No- vember, 1857. He traveled across England by rail, and in the latter part of January reached Hamburg. He remained at home for five months, and in June of the same year again started for the United States, sailing from Bremen in company with his youngest sister, Anna. After a stormy voy- age of eight weeks they landed at Quebec and proceeded by steamer to Milwaukee. They then went to Oshkosh, and from there to New London, but the year which Mr. Strauch passed in the latter place did not prove a very profitable one and he removed to Fremont. In i860 Mr. Strauch was married, in Oshkosh, to Geneveve Bieberger, daughter of Joseph and Magdelene Bieberger. He then followed farming until 1865, when he enlisted as a private in Company K, Fifty- first Wisconsin Infantry, serving until Au- gust, when he received an honorable dis- charge and returned home. As soon as his impaired health would permit he resumed farming, purchasing eighty acres of land, which he cultivated until 1868. Selling his farm, he left Wisconsin on the ist of Octo- ber, and, with his wife and four small chil- dren, started by team for St. Peter, where he arrived on the 17th of that month. Here he purchased eighty acres of prairie land and fifteen acres of timber of William Lincoln, the farm being located four miles northwest of the town. To this property he added from time to time, and in 1SS5 was the possessor of two hundred and eighty- five acres. In that year Mr. Strauch branched out into other fields of business enterprise. He built a grain elevator, and in 1886 estab- lished a post-office on the Chicago & North- western railroad, which is called Straus. For seven years he ran the elevator, and acted as postmaster from 1886 until 1896, when he retired. From 1885 until 1890 he made several purchases of farming land, and is now the owner of about nine hundred acres, upon which he has placed extensive and substantial improvements. He is a stockholder in the Nicollet County Bank. In i8go he purchased his residence in the central part of St. Peter, where with his wife and some of their children he is now living. They had eight sons and four daughters. The names of the children are as follows: John L. , Eva G., Albert L., George M., Louis F., Hellen E., Henry David, Anna, Edward A., Charles William Daniel, Susan Isabel and Arthur Benjamin. Others of the family are on the farm, man- aging it and also the elevator and creamery at Travis, the same being erected at a cost of three thousand dollars. He continued one of its stockholders until 1896, when he sold out. His farms are all located in Travis township. In 1S95, in connection with several members of the Lutheran church in St. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 387 Peter, Mr. Strauch set on foot a plan for the erection of a house of worship in this place. Through his personal efforts he raised the money and as a result the line house of worship of the First English Lu- theran Church of St. Peter was erected. He and his family hold their membership there. For several years he served as a di- rector of the Dr. Martin Luther College of New Ulm. He has held various town- ship offices, and served as school treasurer for several years. His life has been a busy and useful one, and has been rewarded by a well deserved competence, so that he is now enabled to largely lay aside business cares and enjoy the fruits of his former toil. aHARLES S. BREWSTER.— The agricultural interests of Paxton township, Redwood county, Min- nesota, are well represented by this intelligent and thoroughgoing young farmer, — Charles S. Brewster, — to whose life his- tory the biographer would here briefly call attention. To the Empire- state of the Union and to St. Lawrence county does Mr. Brewster look as the place of his nativity, the date of that event having been December 21, 1861. His parents, W. S. Brewster and Mrs. Sophia (Bochus) Brewster, were born in the state of New York, and are people of ster- ling worth and highly respected. His father is a veteran of the civil war, serving in Company H, Twentieth New York Cavalry, for nine months, and was honorably dis- charged at Fortress Monroe. Charles S. commenced life on his father's farm in New York, and twenty-eight years ago he came out to Minnesota, and in 1879 came to Paxton township. Redwood county. where he purchased forty acres of land, to which by subsequent purchase he added un- til now he has two hundred and sixty-six acres, two hundred of which are under cul- tivation. Thus has he in a comparatively short time and through his own unaided ef- forts secured a large farm and made valu- able improvements upon the same. He built his present residence and barn in 1S88, Mr. Brewster has an estimable wife and interesting little ones. He was married November 15, 1888, to Miss Hattie Ken- ney, daughter of Frank E. and Lois (Pur- ington) Kenney, she being the eldest of their family of three children. Mr. and Mrs. Kenney are well known and highly esteemed residents of Paxton township, and of them honorable mention will be found elsewhere in this work. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Brewster are Kenneth C. and Estelle L. A public-spirited man, one interested in all that pertains to the welfare of his com- munity, and ever ready to give his support to any worthy cause, Mr. Brewster is held in high repute by his fellow citizens. He has always cast his franchise and influence with the Republican party, and religiously both he and his wife are consistent and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. :r AMES MARSHALL needs no spe- cial introduction to the readers of this volume, but the work would be incomplete without the record of his life. He has been prominently identified with the business and political history of Rock county, and has taken an active part in its upbuilding and progress, cheerfully giving his support to those enterprises that tend to public development and supporting 388 MEMORIAL RECORD OF all interests calculated to promote the gen- eral welfare. His name is a synonym for honorable business dealing, and should oc- cupy a conspicuous place on the roll of Rock county's valued citizens. Judge Marshall was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 17, icSjo, a son of James and Catherine (Waters) Marshall. His father was born in the north of Ireland, and crossed the Atlantic to America at the age of eighteen. He spent the remainder of his life in Hartford, Connecticut, where he died in 1845. His wife, who was born in New Haven, Connecticut, passed away in 1 87 1. They had seven children, six of I whom attained years of maturity. j James Marshall obtained his elementary education in the district schools and after- ward pursued a high-school course. At the 1 age of sixteen he went to New York cit}', secured employment in a grocery store, and spent the next twenty-six years in New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City and Newark, New Jer- sey, from which city he enlisted. When the division of the country over the question of slavery and the right of a state to withdraw from the Union brought on civil war, he went forth in defense of the national gov- ernment, enlisting on the 17th of May, i86r, as a member of Company G, Second New Jersey Infantry. The regiment, under com- mand of I. M. Tucker, was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and he participated in the battle of Bull Run, Seven Pines, White House Landing, Fair Oaks and the seven days' fight before Richmond! At the last named he was wounded and captured and sent to Libb}' Prison, where he remained two months, after which he was sent to Bellevue Hospital, New York, and in No\eni- ber, 1862, was honorably discharged. Judge Marshall returned to New York city and was employed in the Dannamora Iron and Steel Works until 1867, when he went to Rushford, Allegany county. New York. In 1872 he came to Minnesota and secured a homestead claim on sections 29 and 32, Beaver Creek township, Rock county. He became the owner of two quar- ter-sections of land and improved a valua- ble farming property, transforming the wild tracts into richly cultivated helds, and mak- ing many excellent improvements. He was a most energetic farmer and kept fully up with the progress of the times. The Judge was married in 1853 to Miss Rachel G. Wilder, of Jersey City, New Jer- sey, a daughter of Charles and Leah (Ro- mans) Wilder, whose ancestors came over in the Mayflower. Her father was born in New York and served as a soldier in the war of 1 81 2. His wife was born near Albany, that state, and both parents died also in that state. The paternal grandparents were Charles and Sarah (Spaulding) Wilder. The former was of Scotch-Irish descent, served as a soldier in the Revolution, and received a pension for his services. The maternal grandfather was Cornelius Romans and his father came from Rotterdam, Holland. The Judge and his wife have five children: Charles; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Aldro H. Grout; Kate L. , wife of James D. Campbell, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Emily E. , wife of Charles H. Humphrey, of Luverne, Rock county, this state; and Grace A., wife of Frank D. Ressegien, of Sioux City, Iowa. In politics the Judge is a stalwart Repub- lican, and has been called to various offices of public trust, wherein he has served with credit to himself and satisfaction to his con- stituents. He has been township clerk, treasurer, assessor and county commission- er, and in 1894 was elected judge of the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 389 probate court of Rock countj' for a term of two years. He belonj^s to the Masonic fra- ternity and to John Buford Post, No. i66, G. A. R. He and liis wife hold member- ship in the Presbyterian church, and their hospitable home is a favorite resort with a cultured society circle. >^UDGE JAMES B. ROBINSON, fl judge of the probate court of Redwood (^ 1 county and a dealer in real estate in Redwood Falls, wears upon the lapel of his coat the little button which indicates faithful service in behalf of the Union during the civil war. A member of the Grand Army of the Republic, he is numbered among those sterling citizens who to-day are true to the best interests, town, county, state and nation, and in a volume of this char- acter no one is more deserving of mention than the Judge. He was born in Livingston county, New York, May i8, 1840, and his parents were also natives of that state. On the maternal side he is of German lineage, while the Rob- insons are of Scotch ancestry. In a family of eight sons and two daughters, all of whom reached mature years, while seven are yet li\ing, he was sixth in order of birth. He passed his boyhood da3's in his native county, attended its district schools, and later was a student in the academy at Rogersville, New York, after which he engaged in teaching for a short time. But the Civil war came on, and the pat- riotism of the young man would not allow him to remain quietly at home. In the fall of 1861 he joined the "boys in blue" of Company B, Eighty-fifth New York N'olun- teer Infantry, and with his regiment was ordered to Washington, 1). C. He then participated in the campaign under General George B. McClellan, taking part in a num- ber of hotly contested engagements, includ- ing the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks and the seven days' battle of the Wilderness. His regiment was then transferred from the Peninsular to the North Carolina depart- ment under General B. F. Butler, and took part in the engagements at Goldsboro, White Hall, Little Washington and Plymouth. At the last named place, Mr. Robinson, with two thousand others, was captured and for eight months was held as a prisoner of war, being confined in Andersonville for five months, in Charleston for one month, and Florence for two months, suffering the hard- ships known to prison life in the south. In December, 1864, Mr. Robinson was ex- changed and joined his regiment at White Hall, North Carolina. He was then put on detached service and engaged on guard duty until the close of the war, when, in June, 1865, he was honorably discharged. He was commissioned first lieutenant, but was never mustered in as such on account of hostilities being brought to a close. With an honorable military record, Mr. Robinson returned to his home, and after working for a short time on a farm entered an academy of the neighborhood. Subse- quently he pursued a commercial course in Eastman's Business College, of Poughkeep- sie. New York. Removing to Port Huron, Michigan, he there embarked in merchan- dising, which he continued for six years, and in 1871 he came to Redwood Falls, where he engaged in farming for several years, securing a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, which he placed under a high state of cultivation. He has frequently been iionored with official preferment, being first elected in 390 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1877 as recorder of deeds for Redwood count}'. fn that office he served for two terms of two years each, and on his retire- ment engaged in the real-estate, loan and insurance business, to which he now devotes his energies, fn 1891 he entered into part- nership with N. V. Hunter, and the firm has a high standing in commercial circles, while from the public they receive a liberal patronage. Mr. Robinson is also a stock- holder in the Bank of Redwood Falls, and is the owner of a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Three Lakes township, which is now rented. In 1894 he was elected judge of the probate court, and in the discharge of his judicial duties, which are characterized by the utmost fairness, he has won the commendation of the general public. In 1S77 Mr. Robinson married Miss Adell, a daughter of E. O. Chapman, of Redwood Falls, and they have a son and daughter, — J. Howard and Florence. Their home is a beautiful residence, stand- ing in the midst of an extensive lawn, with attractive surroundings. Both the Judge and his wife are acceptable members of the Methodist church, in which he is serving as trustee. Socially he is connected with An- tiquity Lodge, No. 91, F. & A.M.; and John F. Marsh Post, No. 85, G. A. R. Q^ H. FARRINGTON is the editor •^^^k* and proprietor of the Waterville j\_^ Advance, one of the leading news- papers in this section of Minnesota. He was born on a farm near the county seat of Waseca county, this state, on the 31st of October, 1859, and is a son of S. A. and Mary (Foster) Farrington. The mother was a native of Albany, New York, and the father was born in Bath, Maine, on the 27th of August, 1826. Both are still living and now make their home' on a farm in Rice county, three miles from Waterville. The Farrington family is of English lineage. The maternal grandfather, Stephen H. Foster, was a native of the Empire state and of Welsh descent. S. H. Farrington acquired his education in the county of his nativity, attending a private school for five years, and at the age of seventeen he began teaching in the \il- lage of Stanton, Goodhue county, Minne- sota. For several years he followed that profession and at intervals also continued his own education. He then began learning the printing business in the office of the Waseca Leader, after which he worked in the offtces of the Herald and the Radical. In I 884 he came to Waterville and embarked in journalistic work on his own account by the establishment of the Waterville Advance, which he has since conducted with a fair degree of success. His business has steadily increased and the paper now has a large circulation. It is an eight-column folio, printed on Wednesday and devoted to the local interest. It is always the advocate of every enterprise or movement that will ad- vance the welfare of the community and is the recognized champion of reform. In politics it is Republican. The plant is one of the best equipped outside of the largest cities in the state. The machinery is operated by steam, and improved presses and all the modern equip- ments are employed. In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Farrington and Miss Nellie Berner, of St. Charles, Minnesota, daughter of William J. Berner. They have three children, — one son and two daughters, — \\'illiam S. , Mary SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 391 H. and Minnie E. Mr. Farrington is a member of Sakatah Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M. ; Waterville' Chapter, No. 56, R. A. M.; Waterville Lodge, No. 180, I. O. O. F., and Waterville Lodge, No. 4r, K. P. He has held office in all of these and is a valued member of the various organizations. He served as city clerk of Waterville for five years, and is a member of the Republican congressional committee for Lesueur county. A man of genial nature, his many admirable qualities have made him a i)opular anil valued citizen of Waterville. BERDINAND PREUSS is engaged in farming and stock-raising on section 30, Waterville township, and is one of the leading agricult- urists of Lesueur county. He was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1842. His parents, John and Minnie (Ivnopf) Preuss, were also natives of the same countr)', where they re- sided until 1854 and then crossed the At- lantic to America. At New York city they landed and went direct to Illinois, locating thirty miles south of Chicago, where they spent one year. Li-June, 1855, they came to Lesueur county and cast their lot with its pioneer settlers. The father secured a claim of one hundred and thirty-two acres on section 13, Waterville township, cleared it of the heavy timber and successfully car- ried on general farming there until his death, which occurred in 1880, in his seventy-fifth year. His wife survived him until Decem- ber, 1895, and passed away in the eighty- sixth year of her age. She was the mother of four children: Ferdinand; Albertina, wife of M. C. Steaples; Amelia, wife of George Worlen, of Waterville; and Julius A. , a farmer of Water\ille township. Ferdinand Preuss spent the first ten years of his life in the land of his nativity and then accompanied his parents on their voyage across the broad Atlantic. His elementary education, acquired in Prussia, was supplemented by study through the winter months in a primitive log school- house of Lesueur county. He remained with his parents until twenty-four years of age and then started out in life for himself. As a companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Augusta Sass, who was born in Wisconsin in 184S and is a daughter of William Sass. Mr. and Mrs. Preuss began their domes- tic life upon a farm which the husband pur- chased, comprising ninety acres of wild land; but the experience which he had in assisting his father in developing a farm now enabled him to prosecute energetically his labors, and he soon transformed the wild tract into richly cultivated fields. He has also made substantial improvements, and good build- ings now stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. His property has been ac- quired through his own work and his life has been a busy and useful one. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Preuss has been blessed with eleven children: Malin- da, now the wife of Charlie Swan; Bertha, wife of Amos Benedict; Emma; Augusta, wife of Charles Yaeger; Amelia, Louisa, Henry (a carpenter), Edward, Otto, Anial and Ferdinand. ,>^ EV. GEORGE APPEL, a rector of |/^ the Lutheran church of Spring- \ P field, Minnesota, was born in Bava- ria, Germany, December 23, 1865, a son of Christian and Anna Appel, who still live in that country. There our subject began 392 MEMORIAL RECORD OF his education, and on crossing the Atlantic to America, in January, 1884, went direct from New York city to Columbus, Ohio, where he entered the Capital University, graduating in the theological department of that institution in the class of 1885. After his graduation, Mr. Appel came at once to Springfield, Minnesota, where on the I2th of July, 1885, he accepted the po- sition of assistant pastor under Rev. D. Lange. Afterward he had charge of the parishes at Lamberton and Decoria, Minne- sota, from 1886 to 1889. In February, 1889, Rev. Lange having died. Rev. Appel was appointed his successor in the pastor- ate, and has since had charge of the con- gregation, which at first numbered forty- seven voting members, but at the present time comprises one hundred and thirty-five. The church is in a flourishing and prosper- ous condition and has a good school with an enrollment of eighty-five scholars. This is conducted by Mr. Remmert, an able in- structor who was educated at Woodville, Ohio. The house of worship, which was erected in 1888, is a handsome frame struc- ture, well furnished and with a seating ca- pacity of three hundred, and is surrounded by pleasant and beautiful grounds. In 1887 Mr. Appel was united in mar- riage with Miss Christina Kastner, of Lam- berton, Redwood county, Minnesota, a daughter of Christian Kastner, and they now have three bright little daughters. Rev. Appel is superintendent of the Southern Minnesota conference of the Lu- theran church, to the work of which he gives considerable time and attention. He is a genial, affable gentleman, with always a kind word for every one, and has the love and confidence of the entire community as well as his parishioners. He is an intelli- gent, scholarly man, owning a good private library, which contains many valuable refer- ence books. ^^^TEPHEN H. BRIGGS. — For •^^^^ many years this gentleman has re- K ^ y sided in southwestern Minnesota, and his name is inseparably con- nected with the agricultural and commercial interests of this region. His thoroughly American spirit and his great energy have enabled him to mount from a lowly position to one of affluence. One of his leading characteristics in business affairs is his fine sense of order and complete system, and the habit of giving careful attention to details, without which success in any undertaking is never an assured fact. He is a man of in- trinsic worth, esteemed in all the relations of life, and in this volume well deserves mention. Stephen H. Briggs was born in Broome county. New York, on the 22d of April, 1836, and comes of a family of English origin that was founded in America at an early day. His grandparents were Abiathar and Johanna (Rounsxille) Briggs, New Eng- land people who removed to New York and spent their last days in Cortland county. The former died at the age of seventy-eight, the latter at the age of seventy-five. The parents of our subject were Abiathar and Huldah (Coombs) Briggs. The father was a native of Middleboro, Massachusetts, and served as one of the minute men in the war of 1 81 2. In 1859 he came to Minnesota and died in Traverse at the age of seventy- five. His wife, who was born in Vermont, died in New York at the age of si.xty-seven. The first year after the arrival of the family in Minnesota Mr. Briggs, of this re- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 393 view, engaged in teaching school. He then rented a farm. He had acquired a good ed.ucation in Cortland Academy of New York, and had siiccessfiill}- followed teach- ing for one term in the Empire state, three terms in Wisconsin and two in Minnesota, but wishing to acquire some property he at length bought forty acres of land and began its cultivation. As a companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Cynthia Doty, and their marriage was celebrated October 28, 1862. The lady was born in Tompkins county. New York, and by her marriage became the mother of nine children, but only three are now living, namely: Frank, who was born in Minnesota and is now managing an elevator and a creamery at Traverse; George A. is operating the home farm; and Mary E. , the youngest, is also living at home. Upon his marriage Mr. Briggs took up j his abode in his present home, but the res- idence has since been greatly enlarged and remodeled. To his farm he has added from time to time, purchasing an additional forty acres of land as his means would per- mit, until he now owns a valuable tract of two hundred acres. His business ability is | by no means limited to one line of endeavor j and he has been the promoter of a number of interests which have added materially to the welfare and advancement of the county. He was manager of a large creamery for five years, and established the grain busi- ness which is now conducted by his son. He began buying grain in 1880 and for some years did an extensive business in that line. He carries to successful completion what- ever he undertakes, and his connection with any enterprise therefore insures its prosper- ity. He has steadilj- worked his way up- 25 ward from a lowly position to one of afflu- ence, and to-day is practically living retired in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. In 1875 Mr. Briggs was appointed to the position of county surveyor and filled that position for five years, discharging his duties in a manner most satisfactory to his constitu- ents. He has also held a number of town- ship offices, is the present township treas- urer, has served on the school board for a third of a century and is the present post- master at Traverse. In his political ad- herency he is a stalwart Republican and has warmly advocated the principles of that party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in i860. He and his family are always numbered among the active supporters of any measure calculated to ad\ance the best interests of the commu- nity and are people of sterling worth whose many excellencies of character have won them the high regard of all. aHRISTIAN STOLT.— The gentle- man to a review of whose life we now turn has maintained his resi- dence in Nicollet township, Nicol- let county, Minnesota, long enough to en- title him to a place on its list of pioneers. During the early '60s he was one of the bra\e and patriotic young men who dropped their varied occupations, donned the ' • blue " and fell in line with the Union ranks to fight for the preservation of the Union. Thus, by reason of his long identity with this lo- cality and because of his honorable war record, the publishers of this work deem his history well worthy of consideration. Mr. Stolt is an American onl}- by adop- tion. He was born in the province of Bran- 304 MEMORIAL RECORD OF denburg, Germany, November 6, 1S42, son of Christian Stolt, Sr., and Dorothea hcc Canipendorf, both natives of the same proxince. At the age of fourteen years }oung Stolt, in company with his parents other members of the family, left friends and native land and at Hamburg took pass- age for New York on a sail vessel, had a successful voyage of two weeks' duration, and from New York citj' directed their way westward to Chicago. They settled at Madison, Cook count)', thirty miles from Chicago, and there they continued to reside until 1865, when they removed to Minnesota and took up their abode where the subject of our sketch now lives. Here the parents passed the residue of their lives and died, the father at the age of eighty-eight years and the mother at sevent}-three. In their famil}' were ten children, eight of whom reached maturity, namely: Fred, deceased; Louisa; Minnie, deceased; Fredericka, de- ceased; Mary; Lizzie; August, who resides at the old homestead in this county; and Christ. Christian Stolt was engaged in farm work near Chicago until the outbreak of ci\il war. July 30, 1861, he enlisted as a member of the Second Illinois Cavalry, un- der Captain Fellerton and Colonel Noble, and later Colonel Bush, and immediately went to the front. This regiment was made up of the bravest and truest material and distinguished itself for gallantry on the bat- tle-field. Mr. Stolt was first under fire at the Obion river, in Tennessee. He was in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicks- burg, Nashville, Forklin (Kentucky), Resaca, Kenesaw mountain, Atlanta, Town creek, Red river campaign, Spanish Fort, and Fort Blakely, Montgomery (Alabama), Holly Springs, Pleasant Hill, Fort de Russy, Mossy creek, Booneville, and Dandridge (Mississippi), besides a number of less im- portant engagements. In e\ery action in which he participated he showed that his make-up was that of the true soldier. At Okolona, Mississippi, he was wounded through the right lung by a minie ball, which he afterward had cut out at his back ! On account of this wound he was for some time in the hospital at Memphis, and upon his recovery he rejoined his com- mand, the lortunes of which he shared un- til the civil strife was over, when he was honorably discharged at Springtield, Illi- nois, November 27, 1865, having served four years and si.\ months. After his return from the army he re- mained two months in Illinois, and at the end of that time came to his father's farm in Minnesota, upon which he lived for two years. In 1867 he took claim to one hun- dred and sixty acres of wild land on section 8 of Nicollet township, two miles and a half southwest of Nicollet, upon which he set- tled and which he has developed into one of the best farms in this locality. Also he owns si.xty acres of timber land here; and besides this he has two hundred and forty acres of valuable land in Watonwan count}', this state, twelve miles south of Madelia, which is well improved and in charge of a tenant. His home farm is one of the best in this locality. The residence, a commo- dious, two -story brick, is beautifully located on a natural building site and was erected in 1881. The pretty yard in front, the grove, orchard, barn and other farm build- ings, modern windmill, etc., are well kept and give evidence of the prosperity which has attended the well-directed efforts of the owner. Mr. Stolt was married in January, 1868, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 395 to Miss Johanna Otto, a sister of Frederick Otto, a well-known citizen of this county. She died in 1870, leaving him with two little daughters, now Mrs. Minnie Ketner and Mrs. Emma Johnson. In 1871 Mr. Stolt wedded for his second wife Miss Au- gusta Semer, a native of Brandenburg, Germany, and a daughter of Frederick and Henrietta (Dillman) Semer, the former de- ceased and the latter residing with Mrs. Stolt. By his present wife Mr. Stolt has eight children, viz. : Mrs. Mary Wenholz, Christ, Gabriel, Julius, Rufus, Charles, Paul and Anna; and they have five children deceased, as follows: August, who lived only six months; George, who died at the age of six years; Bertha, at twelve; Martha, at six- teen; and an unnamed babe. Mr. Stolt fought for the preservation of the Union, and he has ever since voted for the political party he believed best calcu- lated to control its affairs, — the Republican party. He has always taken a commend- able interest in local politics and on numer- ous occasions has been honored with official preferment. He has served as justice of the peace, school clerk, chairman of the board of township supervisors, and in 1871 was county commissioner, all of which po- sitions he filled with promptness and fidelity. He and his family are consistent members of the Lutheran church. SI ^ILLIAM VAN ANTWERP, coun- ty commissioner of Lesueur coun- ty. Minnesota, and the owner of one of the finest farms of Cleveland township, came to this county when a boy the year following the admis- sion of Minnesota into the Union. His long identity with the county and his prominence herein render him a fit subject for biograph- ical honors. William Van Antwerp is a " Hoosier by birth, being born in Switzerland county, Indiana, August 13, 1850, and comes from ancestors whose history can be traced back for several generations and whose honest worth placed them in the front ranks of the people among whom they lived. John Van Antwerp, his father, was a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, born July 22, 1821, son of William Van Antwerp, a native of Bos- ton, Massachusetts, born in 1800. The fa- ther of the elder William Van Antwerp was born in Massachusetts, of Holland and German descent. William was a drum- mer boy in the war of 1S12. On at- taining manhood he was married, in Jer- sey City, to Maria Clendenning, a native of that place and a daughter of one of its pio- neer settlers, who was of German descent. In the year 1839 William and Maria Van Antwerp left New Jersey and came west as far as Switzerland county, Indiana, where they located near the beautiful Ohio river, and where they passed the rest of their lives and died, his death occurring at the age of sixty years and hers at seventy. They were deeply pious people, members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and by their pure and upright lives exerted an influence that was felt for good in the community where they lived. He was by trade a blacksmith, and in politics he was a Jacksonian Demo- crat. Following are in order of birth the children born to them; John, Ursula, Abbie Ann, William (first), William (second), George W., William H., James P. M. (first), James P. M. (second) and Benjamin. John Van Antwerp was nineteen when he removed with his parents to Indiana and settled in Switzerland county. There, Oc- im; MEMORIAL RECORD OF tober 29, 1S45, he wedded Elizabeth Wy- coff, a native of that county, born in 1824, daughter of Ralph Wycoff, who had at an early day moved to Switzerland county from Harrisburg, Kentucky. Until 1859 John Van Antwerp continued to leside in Indiana, and that year, accompanied by his family, he emigrated to Minnesota. He had learned the trade of blacksmith in his father's shop, and worked at that trade in Indiana and for a time after coming to Minnesota, from it turning his attention to farming, in which he was engaged when the civil war came on. He enlisted in Novem- ber, 1862, in the First Minnesota Rangers, under Colonel McPhails and Captain Ruble, and was in General Sibley's expedition. At the close of his term of enlistment he was honorably discharged and shortly afterward went to Indiana. In October of the follow- ing year, 1863, he again enlisted, this time in the First Heavy Artillery of Minnesota, with which he served in the south until November, 1864, when he received his second honorable discharge. At the close of his army service lie returned to Minne- sota and came to Cleveland township, Le- sueur county, where he has ever since re- sided, vvitli the e.Nception of six years he spent at the Indian Agency twelve miles west of Brown "Valley, South Dakota, during which time he was government blacksmith, having been appointed to that position in 1872. He and his wife have had three children, two of whom are living, \iz. : William, whose name forms the head of this sketch, and Mrs. Sarah Diller. Their first son, that died in infancy, was also named William. Mr. \'an Antwerp is Republican in his political affiliations, and has served as treasurer of his township; religiously he is a Presbyterian, and fraternally a Mason, be- ing identified with Lodge No. 47, F. & A. M. William Van Antwerp was nine years of age at the time his father's family took up their abode in Minnesota, and, with the above named exception, when they were in South Dakota, his life has been spent in this state. He located on his present farm in 1876. at that time securing title to one hundred and twenty acres, and subsequently adding to it until now he has one hundred and ninety acres, one of the best farms in Cleveland township, well improved and un- der excellent cultivation. His' residence was erected at a cost of fifteen hundred dol- lars. For about six jears he was engaged in the manufacture of tile. His chief at- tention, however, has been given to agri- cultural pursuits, and in this he has attained a fair degree of success. Mr. Van Antwerp has been married twice. February 2, 1871, he wedded Miss HattieTooker, a daughter of Joseph Tooker, and she died in 1876, leaving three children, onl}' one of whom is now li\ing. The two deceased are Ed. Jennie, who died at the the age of two years, and Elizabeth, when sixteen. August 29, 1880, Mr. Van Ant- werp married his present companion, whose maiden name was Eli;;a Cheadle, and who was born and reared in Ohio, daughter of John Cheadle. The}- ha\e an adopted daughter. Bertha. Mr. Van Antwerp iiaslong taken an active interest in politics, is regarded as one of the wheel-horses of the Republican party in Lesueur count)', and has on various occa- sions been honored with official position of local importance. He has served his town- ship as supervisor and assessor, filling the latter office three years, and in 1892 was SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 397 elected county conitnissioner, which position he still fills, this being his fourth year in the office. Personally, he is a man of fine physique, a "hail fellow well met," and his good qualities of mind and heart entitle him to the high esteem in \vhich he is held. HUSTIN T. HUDSON, whose farm- stead is located on section 32 of Albin township. Brown county, Minnesota, has been identified with the agricultural interests of this part of the county during the past dozen years and is well known here. Mr. Hudson is another one of the enterprising citizens of this lo- cality who looks back to Norway as the place of his birth and the home where his ancestors lived and flourished for generation after generation. He comes of a highly- respected family. He was born June 9, 1848, and was reared to farm life, his father being engaged in agricultural pursuits. Both his parents are still living in Norway. Having received a fair education in his native language, young Hudson at the age of nineteen left home and started out to make his own way in the world, and, bidding good- bye to friends and native land, took passage for America, the voyage between Bergen and Quebec being accomplished in si.xteen days and attended with severe storms. From Quebec he directed his course to Chicago and then to Grundy county, Illinois, where he secured employment as a farm hand, at first receiving small wages, but later, when he had learned our language and customs, commanding the highest price paid for farm work. He remained in Illinois thus em- ployed until 1883, when he came to Minne- sota and with the money he had saved pur- chased a tract of land partly improved for six dollars twelve and a half cents per acre, at his present location. Here he has since lived and labored, and his honest toil and good manage- ment have brought him deserved success. To-day he is the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of fine land, nicely improved, and one of the best grain and stock farms in the southern portion of Brown county. His residence, situated on a natural building site and furnished throughout in good style, was erected at a cost of one thousand five hundred dollars; and his large barn, fifty by fifty feet twenty feet high in dimensions, cost eight hundred dollars, while his hog house cost nearly as much. A modern windmill grinds the feed for his stock and also pumps the water. Ten acres of his land are in grove. In short, everything about the farm is conveniently arranged for successfully car- rying on agricultural pursuits in the most approved manner, stock-raising receiving his especial attention and a dairy being an important feature of his farm. He is a stockholder and president of the Creamery Company here. Mr. Hudson was married on the 22d of February, 1884, at St. James, Minnesota, to Miss Mary Thompson, like himself, a native of Norway. She, too, was born in Norway, but was reared and educated in Minnesota. They are the parents of four daughters, namely: Thena M. E., Sarah G., Annette C. and Therese A. As to the political views of our subject, we state that he is an independent, is well posted on the issues of the day and believes in voting for the best men and measures re- gardless of party lines; and as a politician he wields a potent influence in his locality. He has served in various township offices, such as treasurer of the school district, school board and board of supervisors, and since 398 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1884 has been a justice of the peace, serv- ing in all of these capacities with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Both he and his wife were reared by Lutheran parents and are attend- ants upon this church, of which he is a lib- eral supporter. He maintains fraternal relations with the I. O. O. F. He carries an insurance of two thousand dollars in a reliable insurance company of Red Wing, Minnesota. EON. BENTON SEVERANCE, whose pleasant rural home is lo- cated three miles distant from the city of Mankato, in Belgrade town- ship, Nicollet county, Minnesota, has long been a prominent factor in his locality, and his life has been so ordered that it has brought him the high regard of his fellow citizens and placed him in distinguished offi- cial position. In this connection we take pleasure in reverting to his life history, Mr. Severance is a native of the Empire state. He was born in Clinton county. New York. March 14, 1833, and comes of a family long resident in this country, promi- nent both in times of peace and war. Eben- ezer Severance, his father, was a native of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and a son of Elijah Severance, also a native of that state, his forefathers being among its earliest set- tlers. In Massachusetts Ebenezer grew up and was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Ferris, a most estimable lady and a mem- ber of a New England family, her father, William Ferris, having served as a soldier in the war of 1812. Some time after their marriage they moved to Clinton county, New York, where they lived for many years and where he died at the ripe old age of eighty. His life was passed in the quiet pursuits of the farm. Politically he was first a Whig and later a Republican. His good wife died in Burlington, Vermont, at the age of seventy. Their long and happy married life was blessed in the birth of seven children who grew up to occupy honored and useful positions in life, their names in order of birth being as follows: Benton, whose name heads this article; Sarah E., a resident of California; Albert, a Union soldier, who, after participating in seventeen battles, was taken prisoner at the second battle of Bull Run and confined in the Salis- bury rebel prise*, where he died; Henrietta, Emma and William, all in New York; and Mary, a resident of Vermont. Benton Severance passed his youthful days in his native county and in Canada and Massachusetts, receiving his schooling in those places and in the dear school of ex- perience as he went out in the world to make his own way. For some years he was variously occupied. He first came west in 1856, and at a point about five miles above Mankato, in Nicollet county, Minnesota, engaged in the lumber and land business, which occupied his time and attention for two or three years, and from there he went to Houghton county, Michigan, where for three years he was engaged in copper min- ing. The next two years he spent in Clin- ton county. New York, at his old home, where he carried on blacksmithing. After his marriage, which important event in his life occurred in the early part of 1862, he moved to Winnebago county, Wisconsin, and located on a farm near Oshkosh, where he resided for two or three years. Then again he returned to Clinton county. New York, and in 1866 he came a second time to Minnesota, this time settling at his SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 399 present location near Mankato, his first work being to build a log cabin, in which he and his family began life in pioneer style. The thirty years he has maintained his home here, while they have been attended with discouragements and privations incident to the settlement of a new district, have in the main been prosperous and happy years and are now crowned with a success granted to but few. After some years Mr. Severance built a more comfortable house and moved from the cabin into it, ami in 1SS3 his sec- ond house was burned down. That year he erected his present residence, at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, and in it he and his family have since been surrounded with the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. To his original land holdings he added by sub- quent purchase until his farm now comprises three hundred and twenty acres, a fine tract of highly-cultivated land with good im- provements thereon, all well kept and giving evidence of the intelligence that has di- rected the labor here expended. In con- nection with his farming operations here Mr. Severance for years carried on black- smithing, being an expert mechanic and do- ing a successful business. Mr. Severance was married February 17, 1862, to Miss Julia A. Hodson, a member of a good family and a most amiable woman who has for thirty-four years traveled life's pathway with him and by her encourage- ment and cheerful companionship lightened many of its burdens. She was born and reared near Lake Champlain, Vermont, and is a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Peart) Hodson, natives of England and for years prominent residents of the Green Mountain state. Both died in Canada, the mother April 6, 1844, at the age of forty years, the father March 2, 1879, at seventy- nine. In the Hodson family were ten chil- dren, five sons and five daughters, namely: John, Jonathan, Emerson, David, Tamar, William, Julia, Margaret, Sarah and Anna. Of Mr. Hodson, the father, we further re- cord that by occupation he was a farmer and dealer in marble and granite, and for many years carried on extensive operations in the latter. He was in politics a Republican and in religion a Methodist. Mr. andMrs. Sever- ance have had three children of their own and they also have an adopted daughter. Miss Daisy. Their own daughter, Anna, died at the age of twenty-five years. She was a cultured and charming young lady, lovable in disposition, and was for several years one of the popular and successful teachers in Nicollet county. Her untimely death cast a deep gloom over the family circle and among her many friends. Of the two sons of our subject and his wife, we record that Charles, the older one, married Miss Mary Rist and has one son, William; and David married Miss Camelia A. Rice and has a little daughter, Anna. David Severance resides in a pleasant home just opposite that of his father. Mr. Severance has long been an import- ant factor in local politics in Nicollet coun- ty, has filled numerous positions of promi- nence and trust, and has always acquitted himself most creditably, winning the confi- dence and esteem of all with whom he has in any way been associated. For a period of twenty-two years he was township clerk, an office now filled by his son David; and for six years he was a justice of the peace. In 1894 he was honored by election to the state legislature of Minnesota, where he served with credit to himself and his con- stituents, winning their high approval, and by them being nominated, August 22, 1896, 400 MEMORIAL RECORD OF for a second term. He is a Republican. In his religious views he is Methodistic, and has long been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His si.\ty- three years have fallen lightly upon his shoulders and he appears a much younger man than he is. His genial, jovial manner, his bright eyes and his genuine kindness of heart are quick to win the confidence of those with whom he comes in contact in any way; and, what is more than making friends, he has the power of keeping them. ^;y^ILLAKU THAYER came to Min- ■ ■ I iiesota forty years ago, while this %^L^ state was still a territory, and here he has maintained his home ever since, aiding in the development and progress made in his locality during these four decades. Now, well advanced in life, he is comfortably situated in a pleasant home in the town of Cleveland, Lesueur county. He was one of the brave men who during the dark days of ci\il strife in the '60s "donned the blue" and fought for the Union. Both as a pioneer citizen and war veteran is he entitled to personal con- sideration in this work, and briefly a rcsttiiic of his life is as follows: Willard Thayer was born in Lebanon township, Madison county. New York, July 14, 1827, and is of English and Scotch de- scent. Israel Thayer, his father, was born in Massachusetts, traced his origin back to England, and was a participant in the war of 18 1 2, ha\ing served as a member of a heavy :utiller\-, and participated in the bat- tle of Sackett's Harbor. He married Miss Sally Tinsey, a native of New York and a member of a Scotch family. In 1831, ac- companied by his wife and children, he moved west as far as Ohio, selecting a loca- tion in the deep forest of Medina county, where he cleared a farm and reared his fam- ily. By trade he was a hatter. The latter part of his life, however, was spent in the quiet pursuits of the farm. He was si.xty- eight years of age at the time of his death, and his widow survived him a number of years, living to the ad\anced age of eighty- two. They were people of honest worth. Episcopalian in their religious creed, and stood high in the community in which they lived. Their twelve children received the following names, given here in order of birth: Polly, Stephen, Israel, Susan, Dan, Charlotte, Willard, Catharine (first), Jona- than, Catharine (second), Malvina and William. Three of this number became residents of Minnesota, viz.: Israel, now deceased; Mrs. Malvina Halleck, a resident of this township; and Willard, whose name heads this article. Willard Thayer was a small boy at the time of their emigration to Ohio, and on the farm above referred to he passed his boyhood and jouth, his lessons being conned in a log schoolhouse hard by and all his home training being conducive to habits of industry, honesty and piety. March 13, 185 1, in Medina county, he was united in marriage to a Miss Livingston, who for forty-five years has been the partner of his ,joys and sorrows. She was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in the year 1839, and is a daughter of Sebastian and Elizabeth (Hoov- er) Livingston, the former a Pennsylvanian of German descent and the latter a native of Maryland. Mr. Livingston was reared and educated in a counting-house in the city of Philadelphia and was in business for himself for many years. He died in Mort- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 401 ville township, Medina county, Ohio, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. Politically, he was a Whig and his religion was that of the Christian church. He and his wife were the parents ot three children, namely: Rebecca, Daniel, and Sarah. In the year 1856 the subject of our sketch and his family came west by boat and rail to St. Paul and thence by ox team across the country to the vicinity ot Cleve- land, Lesueur county. Here he settled on a tract of eighty acres, devoted his energies to its improvement and cultivation and made a comfortable home, and here he was quietly living when the civil war came on. As the war continued to rage and more troops were needed, Mr. Thayer left his home and family in 1864 and enlisted as a member of the Second Minnesota Volun- teer Infantr}', under Colonel Bishop. Going south, he joined Sherman's army at Atlan- ta, was on that memorable march from Atlanta to the sea, thence went up through the Carolinas to Richmond and Washing- ton, and was among the victorious sol- diers who participated in the grand review at the capital city. The war over, he was honorably discharged and returned home. He continued to reside on his farm until 1889, when he moved into the village of Cleveland, his present home. Here he has an ideal place, nice residence, good barn, orchard, and other improvements, all first- class and well kept. His residence was built at a cost of one thousand six hundred dollars. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer have two children: Lucius Daniel, and Sarah Elizabeth, wife of George Davis, of this township. Politically Mr. Thayer is a stanch "sil- ver " Democrat, and in these latter years which mark the close of the century he sees no reason to change his politics. Both he and his wife are members of the Church of God. EON. JOHN MURPHY. — From among the ranks of prominent citi- zens of Lesueur county, — promi- nent on account of what he has done for the advancement of the business interests in this community, — is numbered Mr. Murphy, a resident of Kilkenny. His success has by no means been the result of fortunate circumstances; it has come to him through diligence, consecutive effort and perseverance, directed by an evenly-bal- anced mind and honorable business prin- ciples. Mr. Murphy was born on the Emerald Isle, June 29, 1840, and was brought to the United States when a child of eight years. The family landed in Quebec, made their way to Montreal, Canada, thence to Bur- lington, Vermont, and on to Monmouth county. New Jersey. In 1853 they removed to Galena, Illinois, and from that town Mr. Murphy, with his parents, came to Min- nesota. For some time he was employed as a clerk in a store in St. Paul. He was married at the age of twenty-eight years to Miss Maggie* Brown, daughter of John Brown, of Rice county, and with his bride removed to Shieldsville, where he now owns three hundred acres of land, and began farming and stock-raising. It was unim- proved property, and was partially covered with timber. After placing a considerable portion imder cultivation he began the breeding of shorthorn registered cattle and raised some of the finest cattle of that breed in Rice county. He shipped his stock to different states, and built up an excellent 402 MEMORIAL RECORD OF business in that line, being recognized as one of the leading dealers in Rice county for many years. In i86S he established a general store in Shieldsville, which he con- ducted in connection with his farm until 1883. He moved to Kilkenny in 1881, where he is now successfully engaged in general merchandising, carrying a large line of dry-goods, carpets, clothing, groceries, boots and shoes. The commercial interests of Kilkenny have been largely promoted through the en- ergetic efforts of Mr. Murphw He estab- lished an elevator with a capacity of eight thousand bushels, and is extensively engaged in grain dealing. In 1896 he organized the Bank of Kilkenny, the only one in the town, and does a general banking business. He still makes his home upon his farm, which is situated six miles from Kilkenny, and his land is under a high state of cultivation, while his large barns are filled with thor- oughbred cattle and horses. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have eight chil- dren, namely: Matthew, Anna, John, No- rah, William, Richard, Thomas and Marj'. In his political faith Mr. Murphy is a Republican, believing in a just compensa- tion for honest toil. In 1888 he was elected mayor of Kilkenny, and has also served as church treasurer, discharging his duties with a promptness and fidelity that has won him high commendation. He is now justice of the peace, and has been for fourteen years. He and his family belong to St. Canice Catholic church. His business career is a creditable one and shows what can be ac- complished by determined effort. He car- ries forward to successful completion what- ever he undertakes and his labors have brought him a merited success. It will be interesting in this connection to note something of the family of Mr. Mur- phy. His parents, Patrick and Nora (Sul- livan) Murphy, were both natives of Ireland, and in that land were educated and married. Having sought a home in America, they be- came pioneers of Rice county, Minnesota, and the father was identified with its agri- cultural interests for a number of years. He continued his residence on the old home- stead, where he located in 1855, up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1893, at the age of eighty-four years. His wife survived him only three months and passed away in her seventy-sixth year. All who knew them respected them for their sterling worth. One of their children survives them, Hon. John Murphy, whose name introduces this review. EON. JOHN SHEEHY has been a resident of Montgomery, Minne- sota, since 1878, and is a prom- inent representative of its business interests. He is a self-made man, who without any extraordinary family or pecun- iary advantages at the commencement of life has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and integrity has achieved both character and fortune. By sheer force of will and untiring effort he has worked his way upward and has not only gained a competence but has the rep- utation of being one of the most reliable business men in Lesueur county. One of Minnesota's native sons, he was born in St. Paul, in 1863, in which place his parents, Thomas W. and Catherine (Brown) Sheeh}', located at an early day. The father is now a prominent capitalist of that city and by his well directed efforts has SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 403 arisen to a position of affluence. Our sub- ject spent the greater part of his youth in his native city and attended its pubHc schools. He afterward was a student in a parochial school in Faribault and at the age of fifteen assumed the management of his father's store in that place. While thus engaged he acquired a most thorough knowledge of mercantile methods, and the experience thus gained proved of incalcua- ble benefit to him when he started out in business life for himself. In 1878 Mr. Sheehy came to Montgom- ery and established a general merchandise store, which he still conducts. He carries a large line of goods, and his honorable deal- ing and courteous treatment of his patrons have won him a liberal patronage. After a time he began dealing in grain, and in 1891 erected a large wheat elevator with a capac- ity of thirty thousand bushels. In 1890 he embarked in the banking business and in connection with his other enterprises deals in live stock. He is a man of broad capa- bilities, able to conduct successfully various industries at the same time; and his sound judgment, his keen sagacity and his indom- itable energy have brought to him a full measure of success. On the 14th of November, 1895, M"^- Sheehy was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Hanlon, an estimable lady and one of the fair daughters of LeSueur, Minnesota, where she was born and reared. They have a pleasant home in Montgomery, which is the center of a cultured society circle and the number of their friends is limited only by the number of their acquaintances. Mr. Sheehy has been prominently identified with municipal affairs, and for five years was a member of the city council, acting as its president most of the time. It is such men that have given to the west its reputa- tion for progressiveness, their labors having placed it on a par with the older east. HNDREW E. LEE, a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser residing on section 14, Burns township. Brown county, was born on a farm in Norway, in 1848, a son of Even and Agnette Lee. The father's death occurred in that country, and in 1884 the mother with her family eniigrated to the New World, settling in Hennepin county, Minnesota. Mr. Lee, of this review, acquired quite a liberal education in the schools of his native land, and upon the home farm early became familiar with the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist, becoming a thorough and skillful farmer. In 1869 he bade good-by to the friends and scenes of his youth and started for the United States, coming by way of Quebec, Canada. He went direct to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and hired out to a farmer near Waterford, that state, and next, in the fall of that year, went to Black Hawk county, Iowa, where he was employed on a farm near Cedar Falls, that winter. The spring of 1870 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Lee in Brown county, Minnesota, where he took up a homestead of eighty acres on section 14, Burns township, — a part of his present fine (arm. This he at once began to improve and develop, erect- ing good buildings thereon, and later bought eighty acres adjoining, so that now his place comprises one hundred and sixty acres of rich and highly cultivated land. His resi- dence and outbuildings are neat and sub- stantial and his labors are lightened by all kinds of modern farm machinery. He is an 404 MEMORIAL RECORD OF intelligent, enterprising man, one of the model farmers of the community. In 1 87 1, Mr. Lee led to the marriage altar Miss Isabel Caspenson, also a native of Norway and a daughter of Casper Cas- penson. They now have two sons, — Albert A. and Edward A. Lee. The father takes a commendable interest in educational af- fairs, efficiently serving as school director for seven years, and has been trustee and treasurer of Burns township for five years. His political support is given the Republic- ans. He deserves great credit for the success he has achieved, as on beginning here his only capital consisted of a pair of willing hands and a firm determination to succeed. By industry and honesty, coupled with good judgment, he has acquired a good property. EAKRY A. TOMLINSON, M. D, , superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, Minne- sota, was born on the 3d of July, 1855. His parents, George W. and Sarah (McCahon) Tomlinson, were also natives of the same state, and the former belonged to an old Quaker family, while the latter was of Scotch-Irish parentage. The gentleness and conservatism of the former class and the sturdy, enterprising and versatile powers of the latter combined to make the Doctor a well balanced character.- His maternal great-great-grandfather was the second pres- ident of the Washington and Jefferson Col- lege, of Pennsylvania, and spent his entire life in the Keystone state. The grandfather devoted his entire life to the work of the ministry. George W. Tomlinson, the Doc- tor's father, was a loyal Union soldier during the war of the rebellion, enlisting in 1861 as second lieutenant of Company H, in the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry. He was mustered out in 1863, and re-enlisted in the Ninety-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as captain. Faithfully he followed the old flag and his meritorious conduct on the field of battle won him pro- motion to the rank of major. He partici- pated in all the engagements of the Army of the Potomac, and in Angust, 1 864, was wounded at Deep Bottom, Virginia, sustain- ing injuries which ultimately caused his death in March, 1882. His early life was spent as a farmer and afterward he engaged in the commission business. In 1852 he married Miss McCahon and they became the parents of four children, three sons and a daughter. The Doctor and the daughter are now the surviving members of the family. The mother is also living, and makes her home in Birmingham, Alabama, with her daughter, who occupies the position of chief clerk in the office of the superintendent of the Montgomery and Decatur division of the Louisville & Nashville railroad. Dr. Tomlinson attended school at inter- vals during his youth, but from the age of sixteen has been dependent entirely upon his own resources. After leaving his native state he continued his education in Bath, New York, his own labors making possible to him his more advanced work in this line. Entrance upon his business career was through the avenues of general merchandis- ing. He secured a clerkship in a store, which position he filled for six years, during which time the desire to study medicine be- came strong within him and he began read- ing the elementary text-books which furnish the fundamental knowledge for investigation in the fields of medical science. In the fall of 1877 he entered the medical department SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 405 of the University of Pennsylvania, havinj^ received a scholarship, and he was graduated in the class of 1880. Soon after he began practice in Miincy, Pennsylvania, where he remained eight years. During this period broad reading and practical experience added to his proficiency, and further prog- ress was made in his chosen calling by his attendance upon a course of instruction in nervous diseases, which he pursued in Phil- adelphia, in 18S8. He next entered the Friends' Hospital for the Insane, in Frank- ford, Philadelphia, where he remained from June, 1889, until December, 1891. He then came to St. Peter to accept the position of first assistant physician in the State Hos- pital for the Insane, and on the ist of June, 1893, was made superintendent, which po- sition he has since acceptably filled. Dr. Tomlinson is a most practical phy- sician. He has studied broadly the question of insanity, its causes and its treatment, and when he assumed control of the hospital he introduced new methods of treatment, made improvements in the buildings and has ac- complished most satisfactory results, the in- stitution now ranking among the best in the land. Dr. Tomlinson was married on the i6th of April, 1884, to Miss Mary Vandever, of New Castle, Delaware. They had three children, but only one is now living, Nancy. The deceased are Mary W and Vandever A. The Doctor is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Loyal Legion. He also belongs to the following medical societies: the American Medical Association, the Am- erican Congress of Physicians and Surgeons, the American Medico-Psychological Associ- ation, the American Neurological Associ- ation, the Philadelphia Neurological Society, the New York Medico-Legal Society, the Minnesota Academy of Medicine, the Min- nesota State Medical Society and the Min- nesota Valley Medical Association. Sr-» AFORESTL. BURRILL.— Rank- I i ing with the well-known and re- I 2^ spected farmers of North Star township. Brown county, Minne- sota, and residing near the town of San- born, his post-office, we find the gentleman whose name forms the heading of this article. For twenty years he has lived at this place and his home has be.en in Minne- sota since before it was admitted into the union of states. "Pioneer" is therefore a fitting term to apply to him. As such his life history is appropriate in this volume, and the following facts as gleaned for pub- lication are here presented. Laforest L. Burrill is a native of the Pine Tree state. He was born in Somerset county, Maine, December 16, 1847, the son of honest and industrious parents, Nevers and Maria (Keen) Burrill, both natives of that state, the former a son of Jonas Burrill, of French descent and likewise a native of Maine; the latter a daughter of Jeremiah Keen, a Scotch-Irishman. The parents of our subject in 1856 came west with their family and made settlement at Mankato, Bine Earth county, Minnesota, where they experi- enced serious trouble at the hands of the In- dians on two occasions, namely, the Indian massacre at Spirit Lake, in 1857, and the Sioux massacre in August, 1862. Through these raids they lost most of their property. The parents both died at Mankato, each at about the age of seventy years. The father was a lumberman in Maine, but after coming to Minnesota was engaged in agricultural pur- suits, and their religious creed was that of 406 MEMORIAL RECORD OF the Congregational church, of which they were consistent members. Their family comprised five children, namely: Laforest L. , Russell, Lorenzo and Larrona, twins, and Emma. Laforest L. was nine years old when he landed in the territory of Minnesota, and in the improvement and cultivation of his father's frontier farm he soon lent a willing and helping hand; was brought up to habits of honesty and frugality, and was educated in the common schools and in the practical school of e.xperience. At the age of twenty- three he went^ to the far west and for a time sojourned on the Pacific coast, where he was engaged in freighting by team. Re- turning to Minnesota in 1876, he came to his present location, where he is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of fine land, one of the best farms in this part of Brown county, improved with good build- ings, fences, etc., and utilized for general farming, the stock business and a dairy being a specialty with him. Mr. Burrill was married when he was twenty-six years of age, in Hebron, Minne- sota, to Miss Clara I. Dalloff, who was born in the state of Maine and reared and edu- cated in Minnesota, daughter of Alonzo Dalloff, deceased. Their union has been blessed in the birth of a large family of children, all of whom are living except one, Maud, their third born, who died at the age of four years. The others are Chester, Arthur, Roy, Ray, Floyd, Delia, Ethel, Mabel, Gertrude, Lola and Eva. Mr. Burrill and his wife and the older members of the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, having been initiated into the mysteries of Ma.sonry at St. Peter, Minnesota. His political views are those of the Republican party. He has served on the school board, takes an active part in advancing educa- tional interests, and favors advancement in any line that will be of benefit to his com- munitv- Honorable and upright, generous and public-spirited, of a genial, cordial nature, he has many warm friends among the people of his locality and is esteemed by all who know him. EON. ASA CHEADLE.— Among the prominent citizens of Lesueur county and old pioneers of this part of Minnesota, noneare better known or more worth}- of biographical honors than the venerable gentleman whose name adorns this page and to whose life history we now take pleasure in reverting. He dates his identity with Minnesota from April, 1855. Asa Cheadle was born in Washington county, Ohio, October, 1824, and is de- scended from English ancestors who estab- lished their home on American soil long previous to the Revolution. Cyrus Cheadle, his father, was a native of \'ermont, and a son of Asa Cheadle, also of New England birth, the latter a veteran of the Revolution and a prominent early pioneer of the North- west Territory, his settlement in Washing- ton county, Ohio, being in the year 1800, three years before Ohio assumed the dignity of statehood. In Washington county he reared his family and lived and died. Cyrus, his son, was a lad of fourteen years at the time of their settlement there, and on his father's frontier farm he passed from youth to manhood, early becoming familiar with every detail of farming as carried on then and there. Arrived at mature years, he was united in marriage to Miss Abigail Van- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 407 clief, a native of the state of Pennsyl- vania, and a daughter of Peter VancHef, a Revokitionary soldier and a Penn- sylvanian of Holland descent, whose arrival in Washington county, Ohio, was four years previous to that of the Cheadle family. Cyrus Cheadle and wife became the parents of a large family of children, namely : Louisa, Mary Ann, Cutler, Peter, Alfred Vincent, Asa and Christopher C, only two of whom, Peter and Asa, are residents of Minnesota. Peter had two sons, M. S. and S. K., who were Union soldiers during the late war. The parents of our subject spent their lives and died at their home in Washington coun- ty, Ohio, the father passing away at the age of sixty-six and the mother at eighty-five. He was a farmer all his life, was a man of broad and liberal views, and in politics held hiriiself independent of party lines. The mother was a Methodist, a devoted Chris- tian woman, and was loved by all who knew her. Asa Cheadle, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to farm life in his native county, receiving a common-school education and early being taught that hon- esty and industry are at the bottom of all true success. In his early manhood he worked at the carpenter's trade for a time. He was married in Washington county, Ohio, February 4, 1846, to Miss Jemima Witham, a woman of unusually bright in- tellect and a member of a good family, and one in whom he has found all the best qual- ities belonging to an ideal wife and helpmate. Mrs. Jemima Cheadle was born in Wash- ington county, Ohio, October 5, 1820, the daughter of early pioneers of that state. Elisha Witham, her father, was a native of Maine and was eight years of age when he accompanied his mother to Ohio, his father, a sea captain, having previous to that time been lost in the deep. Later the widowed mother became the wife of a Mr. Wright, a pioneer of Ohio. In Ohio Elisha Witham grew up and was married to Miss Zilpha Rice, a native of Vermont and a daughter of Nathan Rice, also a native of that state, and who, when a youth of eighteen years, rendered valiant service as a Revolutionary soldier. His wife was near Bunker Hill at the time of the memorable battle there and was an eye witness to it. Elisha and Zil- pha Witham were the parents of seven chil- dren, viz. : Luceba, Henry, Jemima, Nathan, Amos, Lucy Aromantha and Joshua M. Their father died in Allen county, Indiana, near Fort Wayne, at the age of forty-five years, being taken away in the prime of life. He was by occupation a cooper, in politics a Jackson Democrat, and was Methodistic in his religious faith. His wife died in Washington county, Ohio, in 1875. Returning to the subject of our sketch, we record that after his marriage he con- tinued work at the carpenter's trade in Ohio until 1855, when he came west and took up his abode in Minnesota, making the journey by rail to Galena, Illinois, and by boat the rest of the way to his destination in this state. His first settlement here was on one hundred and fifty acres of land near Cleve- land, where he built a log house sixteen by twenty feet in dimensions, the floor being made of boards which he sawed by hand. This rude cabin served him for a home for eight years. Then he sold out and moved to a place two miles above Kasota. In 1888 he again sold out, this time in order to go back to Ohio, where he had in charge the settlement of some business, and where he sojourned for about six years, at the end of that time returning to Minnesota and pur- 408 MEMORIAL RECORD OF chasing his present property, eighty acres of land in section 34 of Kasota township, Kasota his post-office address, and here he has hved and prospered the past two years. This place was formerly known as the James Randolph farm. It is one of the most desirable farms in its locality, well im- proved and highl}' cultivated, its large frame house and attractive surroundings, good barn and other farm buildings, wind pump, etc., all giving evidence of thrift and pros- perity and at once stamping the owner as a man of intelligence and good judgment as well as industry. Mr. and Mrs. Cheadle are the parents of six children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Mrs. Sarah Peel, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Charles, a resident near Windom, Afinnesota, is married and has one daughter; Mrs. Angeline Reed, who became a resident of Blue Earth county, Minnesota, the mother of thirteen children, and died No- vember 13, 1896; Adalaide, wife of William Moses, of this township, has seven children; Abigail, wife of a Mr. Skimpton, has five children; and Lucy, wife of W. H. Ennis, is a resident of Toledo, Ohio. Three of the daughters, Adalaide, Abigail and Lucy, were before their marriage engaged in teach- ing and were popular and successful in that profession. Mr. Cheadle has long been an enthu- siastic Republican, and has at different times filled various official positions. He served in a number of the township offices, was county commissioner, and in i860 repre- sented his district in the state legislature of Minnesota, performing his duty in this last named honorable position in such a manner as to reflect credit both upon himself and his constituents. Time has dealt gentlj' with him, and although he has passed his seventy- second milepost he is still strong and erect and presents a fine physique, being six feet high and weighing two hundred and twenty pounds. Plain in speech, unassuming in manner, strictly honest in all his dealings, frank and jovial in his intercourse with his fellow men, — these qualities combined in his make-up render him one of the most de- sirable of neighbors and friends and entitled to the high esteem in which he is held by the entire communitj-. ^-j'OSHUA STRONG HIGGINS, a re- ■ tired lumber manufacturer of Water- A 1 ville, is numbered among the native sons of Connecticut, his birth having occurred in Chatham, Middlesex county, that state, September 23, 18 19. His par- ents, Oman and Eleanor P. (Borce) Higgins, were also natives of Connecticut. The father was a farmer by occupation. The paternal grandfather, Moses Higgins, was a native of England, and his wife was born in the same country. The maternal grand- father, James Borce, was born in Connecti- cut, but \vas of English lineage. In 1786 he married Keziah Wood, a native of Mid- dlesex county. Joshua Higgins was one of a family of seven children, and was six years of age when his parents removed to New York, locating on a farm near Exeter. Two years later they settled in Smyrna township, Che- nango count)'. New York, and in the midst of the forest the father developed a farm upon which he and his wife spent their re- maining days. Joshua attended the district schools near his parents' home and after- ward learned the trades of carpenter, joiner and millwright, following those lines of busi- ness for a number of }'ears. When a J'i'ung ^/FSm/e//, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 409 man of twenty-four he was married, on the 17th of September, 1S43, the lady of his choice being Miss Margaret T. Woodman, who was born in Madison county. New York, September 28, 1826, a daughter of Isaac and Roxanna Woodman. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins began their do- mestic Hfe in Plymouth, New York, where our subject followed the trade of carpenter- ing. He did a good business in that line and erected a number of houses, stores and churches, also built several bridges. Two years later he removed to the town of Granby, Fulton county. New York, near Lake Ontario, where he remained for eight- een months. In 1847 he went with his family to Bureau county, Illinois, and for eight years was identified with the building interests of that locality. The year 1855 witnessed his arrival in Minnesota, at which time he located in Faribault, and secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land. As a contractor and builder he was soon in the enjoyment of an exten- sive business here and erected a number of mills, also spent nearly two years in the construction of the beautiful Episcopal cathedral in Faribault. Subsequently he removed to Medford, Steele county, where he purchased a sawmill and engaged in the manufacture of lumber for eight years. In 1875 he came to Waterville, erected a saw- mill and continued lumber manufacturing until 1894, when he closed out his business. He has sold lumber through all parts of Minnesota, and is one of the most prominent representatives of the industrial interests of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins have one daugh- ter, Calphurnia A., who was married in Medford, June 29, 1870, to George W. Fowler, who is now deceased. Mrs. Fow- 213 ler has two sons, — Byron J. and Leslie M. Fowler. In politics Mr. Higgins was an old-line Whig and voted for General Harrison in 1840, and for Benjamin Harrison in 1892. He served as a member of the board of town supervisors for many years, also of the city council and the school board, and is the present city treasurer. He and his wife have been consistent and faithful members of the Baptist church for a long period. Mrs. Higgins was baptized by Rev. Corey in Chenango county, New York, February 4, 1838; Mr. Higgins was baptized in Fari- bault, Minnesota, by Rev. H. C. Hazen, February 2, 1858, and their daughter was taken into the church by baptism by the same minister on the 6th of June, 1858. Mr. Higgins has served as deacon of the church for twenty-eight years and as Sun- day-school superintendent for sixteen years. He has ever been a strong advocate of tem- perance principles, using neither intoxicants nor tobacco, and to this is undoubtedly at- tributable the excellent health which he is now enjoying at the age of seventy-seven years. *^-rf ON. REDDEN H. EVERETT.— I^^\ On the list of those who have been \ W prominent in the affairs of Lesueur county the name of this gentleman deserves a conspicuous place. He was a leading representative of the agricultural interests of the state and occupied a posi- tion of no little prominence in connection with the political interests of this locality. His strict adherence to principle and to his firm convictions has won him the confidence and esteem of all, and in his death the com- munity lost one of its most valued citizens. 410 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Mr. Everett was born in Champaign coun- ty, Ohio, February 17, 1X5;?, and was a son of Epenetiis and Ann (Kittenhouse) Everett. His education was acquired in the state of his nativity, and at the age of twenty-two years he cast his lot witli the pioneer settlers of Lesueur countj', securing a claim of one hiHidred and si.xty acres in Cleveland town- ship. With characteristic energy he began the development of his land and soon trans- formed it into a rich and productive farm. On the 8th of January, 1857, he chose as a companion on life's journey Miss Mary A. Flowers, the youngest daughter of Charles M. and Margaret H. (Rhodesj Flow- ers. She vyas a native of Ohio, and at her parents' home grew to womanhood, coming with them to Minnesota in 1856, where her marriage occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Everett began their domestic life on a farm which he had entered, and here he gave his atten- tion to the cultivation of grain and the rais- ing of stock. He was very industrious and energetic, possessed keen sagacity in busi- ness transactions, and his sound judgment and earnest labor brought to him a hand- some competence. As his financial re- sources were augmented he added to his landed estate until he owned twelve hundred acres in Lesueur county, and here he exten- sively carried on farming and also did a large business in buying, selling and ship- ping stock. He did much for the improv- ment of the grade of live stock in the coun- ts', being one of tlie most successful breed- ers of shorthorn c.ittle in this section of Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Everett were the parents of ten children, — three sons and seven daughters, namely; Martha E., wife of Jabez Couch, a farmer of Lesueur county; Anna, deceased; Malita, who became the i wife of John H. Hartew, a farmer of the j same county; Charles F. , an agriculturist of Cleveland, Minnesota; Rosa B., wife of W. ! C. Davis, a Lesueur county farmer; Ed- ward, a farmer at the old homestead; Blanche, wife of H. I-i. I^ampman, a ranch- man in Dakota; William I^.. a banker of W'aterville; and Emma and Jessie, at home. In August, 1S64, Mr. Everett left his family and home to go out in defense of his country, enlisting in Company E, Eleventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and serving in the Army of the Tennessee until the close of the war, being honorably discharged in 1865. Several times was he called from private life to public olflce, and faithfully did he perform all the obligations thus devolved upon him. He was elected treasurer of I Lesueur county, filling the place for four I years. In i 868 he was elected to represent I his district in the state legislature, wherein he served on several important coinmittees. For a number of years he also filled the office of county commissioner. In 1872 he was elected treasurer of the State Agricult- ural Society of Minnesota. Through his influence and energy the coimty seat of Le- sueur county was removed to Cleveland in 1873, where it remained for more than a year. In his views of the great national ques- tions he was primarily a Republican, but in 1872 he cast his \Gte for Horace Greeley for president of the United States, and after that he acted with the Democratic party. As to religion he was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which denomination Mrs. Everett also belongs. In 1 89 1 she removed to St. Peter, where she still resides, renting her farm. The in- come from her property supplies her with SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 411 all the comforts of life, and she lives in a comfortable home in St. Peter, surrounded b}' many friends. He. OCHS, a prominent represent- ative of the industrial interests of Brown county, is engaged in the manufacture of common and build- ing brick, drain tile and sidewalk tiling. Such an enterprise proves an important factor in the development of a locality, fur- nishing employment to manj- and promoting commercial activity by the use of home products. One who successfully controls such an industry therefore becomes a valued element in business circles, and Mr. Ochs has long been regarded as one of the lead- ers of industrial interests in this section of the state. Mr. Ochs is a native of Brown county, Minnesota, born on a farm in Milford town- ship, June 6, 1857. His father, Anton Ochs, was born in Erbach, Germany, where he grew to manhood and acquired his edu- cation. In 1852 he came to the United States, and in 1855 took up his residence in Brown county. Having pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Milford township, he remained upon his farm until the Indian outbreak, when he removed with his family to St. Paul. When the trouble was over he returned to New Ulm, where he yet makes his home; and in connection with farming he worked at his trade of brick-lay- ing. He has rounded the Psalmist's span of threescore and ten, but is still hale and hearty; and his wife, at the age of sixty-si.x years, is still in the enjoyment of good health. Mr. Ochs is the third child and eldest son in a family of seven sons and five daughters, nine of whom are married and have families of their own. On his father's farm the subject of this review spent his youth, and after attending the district schools continued his education in St. Paul and in New Ulm. When he laid aside his text-books to learn the harder les- sons of a practical business life, he took up the brick and stone mason's trade, and has been connected with the construction of many of the most important buildings in New Ulm, Sleepy Eye and Springfield. He erected the new court-house at New Ulm, the large Catholic church there, the public- school building and other important struct- ures. He is a man of superior business ability, whose capacitj' is by no means limited to one line of endeavor. In 1890 he formed a partnership with John B. Schmid and erected the roller mills of Springfield, which he conducted with profit for nearly three years, when he sold out. In the meantime he had become interested in the manufact- ure of brick and drain tile, and is still doing a profitable business in this" line, including the manufacture of pressed brick and side- walk tiling. His plant is well equipped with all the necessary machinery and kilns for the manufacture of an excellent grade of brick and tile. The output of the former in 1895 was two million. The yards are situ- ated about a half mile east of the village of Springfield, and the business has grown to extensive proportions, thereby proving a profitable source of income. Last year (1895) he furnished the greater part of the brick used in building the town of Canby, in Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota, in which place he contracted and erected twenty solid-brick business blocks and a large school building. He also furnished Ill' MEMORIAL RECORD OF the brick used in the construction of the Julius Wendt block, erected in J:he summer of 1896, which buildinj,' he had contracted to build, besides many buildings in South Dakota. In 1896 he also furnished a half million of brick for the large pub- lic-school building at Lamberton, Minne- sota. In the factory employment is fur- nished to thirty men, and the enterprise has proved not only of benefit to the pro- prietor, but has also promoted the material welfare of the conmiunity. Mr. Ochs also owns two good farms in Brown county, ag- gregating four hundred and twenty acres, which he rents. In 1885 was consummated the marriage of Mr. Ochs and Miss Mary Epple, of New Ulm, and they now have five children, — William, Arthur C, Walter M., Lydia and Alice. Their pleasant and commodious home was erected in 1893, and is one of the beau- tiful residences of Springfield, while for its hospitality it is justly noted. Mr. Ochs is an intelligent, progressive business man, to whom success has come as the reward of honest labor. He is broadminded, well versed in all questions of the day, is pub- lic-spirited, and in manner is genial and courteous. ai 'ILLIAM H. LEEMAN, attorney and counselor at law of Hender- son, was born in Middleburg, Schoharie county. New York, August 14, 1853. The family is of Irish or- igin and was founded in America by Robert Leeman, a native of the Emerald Isle, who came to this country during his boyhood. John Leeman, the father, was born in Schoharie county. New York, and made farming his life work. He married Sybil Meeker, a native of that county and a daughter of William Meeker, who was born in Oneida county. New York, and was a son of Captain Meeker, who won his title while aiding the colonies to attain their independ- ence in the war of the Revolution. William H. Leeman spent his boj'hood days in his native county until fifteen years of age, when he came to Minnesota. He piu'sued a three years' course in the high school of Owatonna, Minn., after which he returned to the farm, but seeking broader opportunities than the life of an agricult- urist afforded he went to Omaha, Nebras- ka, where for five years he engaged in teaching school. During that time he read law under the preceptorship of Edwin F. Smythe, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1880. He then returned to Minne- sota, locating in Montgomery, where he spent one year. In the fall of 1882 he came to Henderson, where he has since engaged in general practice in both local and higher courts. He has a liberal clientage, and be- fore judge and jury is a powerful advocate who has won a full measure of success through his superior merit. In his profes- sion he has attained an enviable position and throughout his adopted county he is held in the highest esteem for that intrinsic worth which commands respect the world over and which has won him many warm friends. In 1876 Mr. Leeman was imited in mar- riage with Miss Minnie Johnson, of Omaha, Nebraska, a daughter of Harrison Johnson. They have two children, — William E. and Eva May. In 1886 Mr. Leeman was elected attorney of Sibley count}' on an independ- ent ticket and served for six jears. In 1 89 1 he was elected mayor of Henderson, and from 1892 until 1896 served as presi- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 413 dent of the board of education. He is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, who has long been deeply interested in all that pertains to the progress and development of the county. Socially he .is connected with Henderson Lodge, No. 80, F. & A. M. m. •ARREN parsons, of Kasota, has been a resident of Minnesota since his early boyhood, and has the distinction of being one of the youngest ex-soldiers in this part of the state. Mr. Parsons was born in Pike county, Illinois, September 12, 184S, and in that state spent the first live years of his life. Solomon Parsons, his father, was a Virgin- ian by birth, a member of an old Virginia family, and when twelve years of age left the Old Dominion for a new home in Ohio, where he grew to manhood. He was mar- ried near Dayton, that state, to Miss Mary Smith, a native of Ohio and the daughter of an Englishman, Bryan D. Smith. After their marriage they moved to Pike county, Illinois, and settled near Pittsfield, where they were living at the time the California gold fever spread over the country, claiming as its victims many of its most enterprising and ambitious young men to be found. Solomon Parsons was among the number that went overland to the new El Dorado that year, braving the dangers of the plains and mountains, the Indians and wild ani- mals, journeying with an ox team, and after five months of wearisome travel arriving in safety on the Pacific Coast. There trouble awaited him in the form of sickness, and his bright dreams of gold were never real- ized. He died of fever shortly after his arrival in California, a stranger in a strange land, and left in the little home back in Illinois a widow and two sons, — Oliver, now a resident of South Dakota, and Warren, whose name forms the heading of this sketch. Mrs. Parsons subsequently became the wife of S. E. Livingston, and in 1853 the family moved to Minnesota, locating in Sibley county and being amopg the early pioneers of Henderson. By her second marriage the mother of our subject had six children, namely: Hally, Fred, John, Emma, Ruth and Minnie. Mr. and Mrs. Livingston now reside at Mankato. Warren Parsons at the time he accom- panied his mother and family to Minnesota, was a boy of five years, and here, ainid frontier scenes, he grew to manhood, dur- ing his youthful days having the Indians for his neighbors and finding great sport in hunting and fishing, as the country abounded in game of all kinds. Growing up with these surroundings, his educational advan- tages were of a necessity limited. He, how- ever, improved the opportunities he had, and by home study and close observation as he went out into the world he gained a wide range of useful information. When the war of the Rebellion was in- augurated he was too young to enter the army, but before it closed he was accepted ! and made an honorable war record. He enlisted in 1865 in the First Minnesota In- fantry Volunteers, Company G, a part of General Hancock's army, which he joined in the south. Shortly afterward he was taken down with measles, and during his sickness was in several hospitals. He was honorably discharged in July, 1865, at St. Paul, Minnesota, and returned to his home a veteran and a victor and still only seven- teen years of age. In 1882 he located where he has since lived, near the village 414 MEMORIAL RECORD OF of Kasota, and where he has a pleasant home. He is employed as fireman in the State Infirmary or Hospital. Daring his army service, brief as it was, he contracted a disease which became chronic and from which he has never fully recovered. Mr. Parsons was married January 26, 1875, to Miss Deliah Parsons, a native of Hancock county, Illinois, and a daughter of Jesse C. and Lucy (McMillian) Parsons, the former a Virginian by birth and a vet- eran of the late war. They are now resi- dents of St. Peter. Our subject and wife have seven children, namely: WalbeckE., Harry, Mabel, Ethel, Effie, Waldo and Leslie. On attaining his majority Mr. Parsons identified himself with the Republican party, of which he has since been a sup- porter. He is a member of the G. A. R., A. K. Skaro Post, No. n , of St. Peter, and also has a membership in the Woodmen of the World. He is a Baptist, a deacon in the church, and both he and his wife have long been active church and Sabbath-school workers. ISAAC DAVIS, one of the highly re- spected pioneer citizens of Lesueur county, Minnesota, is a Canadian by birth and conies of ancestry which is traced back to the Welsh and French. He was ushered into life near Montreal, Canada, March 20, 1835. Orange Davis, his father, was born in Canada, the son of a Welsh father and American mother, and passed his youth and early manhood on a farm in that dominion. He was united in marriage there to Miss Adalaide Barlow, who like himself was a native of Canada, her parents being W'ill- iam Barlow and wife, the latter a French woman. In 1838 Orange Davis and family left their home in the British province of Canada and sought a new location in the United States, making the journey by the lake, canal and river to Pike county, Illinois, that being before there was a railroad within the borders of that great state which has now a perfect network of railway lines. He settled near Pittsfield, where he improved a farm and where he resided until 1853, at that time coming up into Minnesota and locating on one hundred and fifty-seven acres of land near Lake Emily, where he developed a fine farm. The last two years of his life were spent in St. Peter, where he died at the age of seventy-five years. His good wife lived to be eighty. They were members of the United Brethren Church, stood high in the several communities in which they lived and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who knew them. His whole life was devoted to agricultural pur- suits, and in politics he harmonized with the Republican party. They were the par- ents of eleven children, namely: Thomas, deceased; S. W. , of St. Peter, Minnesota; Orange R., deceased; Isaac, deceased; Eben- ezer, of Kasota, Minnesota; Louisa, wife of Alexander Pettis, of Kasota township, Le- sueur county, Minnesota; Isaac, the second in the family to be given this name and the subject of this review; Sarah, wife of S. H. Pettis; Caroline Hartew, of North Dakota; Harriet, deceased; and H. C, of this town- ship. Having thus briefly referred to his ances- try, we turn now for an outline of the life of Isaac Davis. He was reared on his father's farm in Pike county, Illinois, and received his education by attending the public schools, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 415 by home study and by actual business ex- perience. He was nineteen at the time they moved to Minnesota, and he remained a member of the home circle until his mar- riage, which important event in his life was consummated in December, 1855, the lady of his choice and whom he wedded being Miss Catharine Pettis. She was born near Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, a daugh- ter of New England parents and a represent- ative of a family long resident in this coun- try and prominent and influential. Her father, Charles Pettis, was a son of Col. Stephen Pettis, of the war of 1 8 1 2 ; was born in Vermont, became a pioneer of eastern Ohio, and from there moved to Pike county, Illinois. Her mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Horsford, was a native of Con- necticut, and a member of a prominent early famil\' of that state. Charles and Sarah Pettis were the parents of nine chil- dren, viz.: Stephen, Catharine, John, Eliza, Olive, Malissa, Emily, Charles and Henry. The father of this family was by occupation a farmer and carpenter and in his political views was a Republican. He died at the age of forty-eight years. The mother lived to be seventy-four, a member of the Advent Church, and a deeply religious woman. After his marriage young Davis and his bride began housekeeping in a little log cabin on a forty-acre tract of land, were in- dustrious and frugal, and as a result of their early years of toil are now in possession of a competency and are surrounded with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. To-day he is the owner of three hundred acres of land, one of the finest farms in the community; has a commodious and attractive residence, beautiful for situation and sur- roundings; large barn, sixty-five by fifty-four feet in dimensions, built on rock foundation; modern windmill for pumping water for house and stock, — in short, a model farm. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have had twelve children, of whom nine are living, namelj': William, Winslow, Charles, Clarence, Edith Glover, George, Cordelia, John and Harry. Edith Glover and Cordelia are en- gaged in teaching. The three deceased were Orville, who died at the age of twenty- eight; Earnest, at six months; and Stephen at four months. Mr. Davis is a member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and affiliates with the lodge at St. Peter. Mrs. Davis, like her mother, is a devoted Christian woman and holds to the creed of the Advent Church. EARLOW W. DOOR, the popular superintendent of the Nicollet coun- ty infirmary, has during his incum- bency of this office from 1887 up to the present time pro\'ed himself to be the right man in the right place. In this con- nection it is our purpose to allude briefly to both the institution and its efficient super- intendent. The Nicollet county farm comprises two hundred and thirty acres of rich, productive land, has good buildings and is well stocked, and visitors are at once impressed with its general air of thrift and neatness. The in- firmary includes two buildings, one contain- 1 ing fourteen rooms and the other eleven, I their location being on an elevation and commanding a fine view of the surround- ing country. Here the inmates have the comforts of home and are kindly cared for. Under the able supervision of Mr. Door they cultivate the land and take a pride in keeping everything up in first- 416 MEMORIAL RECORD OF class order, the vegetable garden, which is an essential feature of the farm, receiving their especial attention. About twenty-five head of cattle are kept on the farm, and from fifty to eighty head of hogs, thus pro- ducing all butter, milk and meat used at the infirmary. The horses on the farm are the private property of the superintendent. Mr. Door is a native son of Nicollet county. He was born on a farm adjoining the infirmary, April 6, 1861, a son of Simon Door and grandson of James Door, who were the first settlers of Granby township, this county, which they named in memory of the town of Granby, Canada, the place from which they moved. James Door was of Scotch descent and a native of Maine, born in the year 1801. He was reared at Shepherd and Granby, Canada, and in Canada was united in marriage to Miss Clark, who was of English origin, her father, an Englishman, having been pressed into the English navy during the war of 1 81 2, and subsequently having settled in Canada, where Mrs. Door was born, fn 1855 James Door and his family crossed over into the United States and made a settlement in the territory of Minnesota, their location being on section 18, Granby township, Nicollet county, where they built a cabin six miles remote from any neighbor and where they lived in pioneer style for years. During the Indian troubles of 1862 they went to New Ulm. Mrs. Door died at the age of forty-nine years, and Mr. Door survived her until he attained his sixtieth year. Of their family of three sons, we re- cord that Simon, the eldest, is the father of our subject; Almond is a resident of this county; and James lives in Hamline, Min- nesota. Simon Door was born in Granby, Can- ada, September 2, 1829. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Moses and who was a daughter of Theodore Moses — who was of New York birth — had four chil- dren, namely: James, a resident of Granby township, this county; Harlow W., whose name heads this sketch; and William and Adie, at the old home place. The mother departed this life in 1892. Harlow W. Door grew up on the farm upon which he was born, amid the best home surroundings, and is indebted to the public schools of the district and the St. Peter high school for his educational advan- tages. He was married December 16, 1885, to Miss Laura A. Louman, a native of Iowa, whose happy married life was only of a few years, duration, her untimely death occurring March 7, 1893. She left two sons — Win- ferd Harlow and Lyle Lawrence. June 14, 1894, Mr. Door wedded for his second com- panion Miss Emma J. Johnson, daughter of Bennet Johnson, an old settler of this county. Mr. Dorr owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres of rich, productive land, ad- joining on the north the old homestead upon which he was born, and on the east the infirmary of which he is superintendent. Fraternally, our subject is identified with the I. O. O. F. at St. Peter, and the Mod- ern Woodmen at Nicollet, and in his poli- tics he is a stanch adherent of the principles advocated by the Republican party. HUGUST RICHTER.— The stabil- ity and prosperity of a town or city depends upon the enterprising busi- ness man whose energj' and indus- try promote its commercial activity. This gentleman is a prominent representative of the business interests of Montgomery, where @Kev^. ^&^a/i/'od -^aieu. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 417 he is engaged in merchandising and in grain - deahng, in the manufacture of barrel-heads and in handhng all kinds of hardwood lum- ber. Mr. Richter was born in Sa.xony, Ger- many, in 1837, and is a son of Christopher and Johanna Richter. He was reared and educated in his native land, and in 1856 sailed for the United States, landing at Bal- timore, Maryland. He came at once to Lesueur county, Minnesota, and soon after- ward took up a claim of one hundred and si.xty acres in Montgomery township, secur- ing the patent from the government. He transformed the raw land into richly culti- \ated fields, and in connection with general farming carried on stock-raising. He estab- lished a general store in Montgomery town- ship in 1862, two miles west of the village, and in 1887 began the manufacture of bar- rel-heads for the shipping interests of this section of the state. His factory is operated by .steam power, supplied with the latest and best improved machinery, and his trade ex- tends as far east as Buffalo, New York, and as far south as St. Louis, Missouri. Em- ployment is given to from fifteen to thirty men in the factory, and the enterprise is one of the leading industrial concerns of the county. In connection with this he carries on a general store in Montgomery, and is the owner of four valuable farms. His landed possessions aggregate twenty-five hundred acres, most of which is under a high state of cultivation. He has platted three additions to Montgomery, and his judicious investments in realty have been a source of considerable income and profit. In 1 86 1 Mr. Richter w'as united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Krahl, of St. Paul, Minnesota, a native of Germany. They have six children, five sons and a daughter, namely: William, Charlie, Edward, Mary, wife of George Bertling, and Herman and George. Three of the children are now in Tacoma, Washington, and the other three are at home. In politics, Mr. Richter acts with the Republican party on matters of state and national importance, but at local elections, where no national issue is involved, votes independently. He has held several offices of trust, and has been treasurer of the village and of the school district for a number of years. He began life in limited circum- stances, but has steadily worked his way upward, overcoming all difficulties and ob- stacles by resolute purpose and unfaltering perseverance. He is numbered among the honored pioneers of Lesueur county, hav- ing for almost forty years resided within its borders, and on the pages of its history his name deserves a prominent place. kY^ EV. PATRICK CAREY is the rec- I ^T tor of St. Peter's Catholic church \ ^ of St. Peter, Minnesota, and a scholarly gentleman whose ability well fits him for the position he occupies. He is a native of Wisconsin, his birth having occurred in Juneau county, in the year 1858. His parents, Patrick and Bridget Carey, were natives of the Emerald Isle, and be- came early settlers of the Badger state, lo- cating in Juneau county in its pioneer days. Father Carey spent his boyhood days in the usual manner of farmer lads, attended the district schools and remained in his par- ents' home until 1871. From 1875 until 1880 he attended the high school in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and subsequently matricu- lated in St. John's University, at St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he pursued his studies 418 MEMORIAL RECORD OF until 1887, when he was fjraduated. He was then ordained by Bishop Seidenbusch, of St. Cloud Cathedral, as a priest of the Catholic church, and was given charge of a congregation of his denomination in Rush City, Minnesota, where he performed the duties of the pastorate for five years. In the fall of 1892 he came to St. Peter to take charge of St. Peter's Catholic church, which was one of the first churches in this part of the state. It has played an important part in the history of the, community. The house of worship was erected in 1858 — the i first church edifice in St. Peter — and during the Indian troubles it was used as a hos- pital. The present seating capacity of the church is fo"ur hundred and fifty, and its ap- pointments are modern and tasteful. Father Carey also supplies the pulpit of the church in Cleveland, Minnesota, for two Sundays each month, and occasionally preaches in the hospital for the insane, sharing in this labor with other ministers. The church in Cleveland is a comfortable structure and a good congregation attends services there. The parsonage in St. Peter is a substantial frame dwelling situated near the church, and is well furnished and surrounded by beautiful grounds. Father Care}' is doing an e.xcellent work among his people. He is indefatigable in his efforts to promote Catholicism, and his fidelity to duty and scholarly attainments command the respect of all. >Y»ESSE CARPENTER PARSONS, a M well-known citizen of St. Peter, Min- A 1 nesota, and an honored member of A. K. Skaro Post, G. A. R., has been a resident of this state for thirty years. He was born in Jackson county, Virginia, February 9, 1827, and comes from a hardy race of people of English origin and long resident in the Old Dominion, noted for their honest worth and high standing in times of peace and for patriotism and valor when war was in the land. Charles Par- sons, his father, and William Parsons, his grandfather, were both natives of Virginia, and the latter was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war. The mother of our subject was before her marriage Miss Deliah Car- penter. She was a native of Virginia, as also was her father, Jesse Carpenter, but her grandfather Carpenter was born in Massachusetts, descended from one of the early Puritan families of that state which had its origin in England. Charles and Deliah Parsons became the parents of thir- teen children, whose names, in order of birth are as follows: Martin, Alvin, William, Jesse C. , John, Henry, Stephen, Charles, Mary Jane, Nancy Margaret, Eliza .\nn and Susan Ann (twins), and Malinda. Some time in the '20s the parents of our subject moved with their family to Ohio and lo- cated in Meigs county. Later they again turned their faces westward, this time Han- cock count}", Illinois, being their objective point, and here the remainder of their lives were passed, each dying at about the age of eighty years. The father was a man of sterling integrity and broad views. He was a believer in the statement that ' ' new times demand new measures and new means," and in turn supported Jackson, Harrison, Fre- mont, Lincoln and Grant. Religiously he was a devoted Methodist, while his good wife was a Presbyterian, both being noted for their piety and generosit}-. Jesse C. Parsons was a babe at the time he was taken by his parents to Meigs county, Ohio, and among the hills along the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 419 Ohio river he grew to manhood, early inured to all kinds of wori< on the farm and taught lessons of honesty and industry. While his educational advantages were limited, he read and studied at home and kept up his studious habits while his eyesight lasted. After attaining manhood he spent several of his winters in the south, variously employed. At the age of twenty he was married in Gallia county, Ohio, to Miss Lucy Ann Mc- Millian, who for near!}' half a centur}' has walked by his side, sharing his joys and sor- rows and being a comfort and blessing to him in his years of blindness and darkness. She is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Beard) McMillian, the former a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and a rep- resentative of a Scotch family, and the lat- ter born in Philadelphia, of a Pennsylvania- Dutch family. Her parents spent the clos- ing years of their lives in Crawford county, Wisconsin, and both died there. They had three sons who were Union soldiers during the late war, — Michael, Frank and John. In their religious faith Mr. and Mrs. McMil- lian were Presbyterians. After their marriage Jesse C. Parsons and wife moved to Hancock county, Illinois, and located near Carthage, where they maintained their home until after the close of the late war, when they came to Minne- sota. Here they have a pleasant home in the suburbs of St. Peter. They have had six children, — Andrew James, Deliah, Henry, Lizzie Young, Charles and Jesse. In 1862 Mr. Parsons left his family in Illinois, and as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, went to the front to aid in suppressing the Rebellion, and made a gal- lant record in the war. He was a partici- pant in many of the leading engagements of the south, a minute description of which would co\er much of the history of the war. Suffice it to say here that in every action in which he took part he showed himself to be made of the true soldier material. He never flinched in the face of fire, never turned his back on the enemy, and never committed an act unworthy of a gallant soldier. He was in the engagements of Wolf River, Helena, Duvall Bluff, Vicks- burg, Fort Gibson, on the Red River expe- dition, and through Louisiana and Texas. At Champion Hills he was taken prisoner by the enemy, sent to Libby prison and con- fined there for four months, after which he was exchanged and returned to his regiment on the Mississippi, with which he remained until the end of hostilities, wiien he was honorably discharged and came home. The long, hot and dusty marches which he un- derwent during his army life, together with his confinement in prison, made inroads upon his constitution and at the close of the war he was a physical wreck, coming home with heart disease and with eyesight nearly gone. At this time his physician in Illinois advised him to seek a change of climate, and he accordingly came to Minne- sota, hoping here to regain his lost health. The change, however, was of no avail. In- stead of recovering his eyesight he has en- tirely lost it, and now goes about in total darkness, otherwise to all outward appear- ance he is a man of perfect health. He is a pleasant converser, genial and compan- ionable, and, notwithstanding his affliction, he looks on the bright side of life and is happy in the companionship of his hosts of friends. Politically, he is a strong Republican, and, as already stated, is an honored mem- ber of the G. A. R. at St. Peter. 420 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ON. WILLIAM J. BEAN.— Oc- cupying a delightful rural home jL.r not far from the town of Nicollet, Nicollet county, Minnesota, we find this well-known and highly esteemed citizen, who has long been identified with this locality. His history is replete with interest and it is gratifying to the publishers of this work to be able to present to their readers an outline of his life. William J. Bean is a native son of Indi- ana. He was born in Harrison county, that state, July 27, 1831. His father, Aaron M. Bean, was a Tennessean, born about the year 1805, son of James and Sarah Bean, the former coming of Scotch-Irish parents and the latter of French. Aaron grew up in his native state and in early manhood sought a home and fortune in In- diana, locating in Harrison county, where he was subsequently united in marriage to Miss Margaret Shilds, a native of that county and a daughter of Jesse Shilds, one of its pioneer settlers and a man famous as an Indian fighter. He was of English- Irish descent, and his wife a German lady. Imbued with a spirit of emigration, Aaron M. Bean and wife in 1856 left their Indiana home and started westward, traveling with horses and wagon and bringing along their household goods, their route lying through Illinois and Iowa and up into the territory of Minnesota, Granby township, Nicollet county, being their destination, and their place of location on section thirty-three of this township. Here they settled in pioneer style and here they lived and flourished for several years. A. M. Bean was early recognized as a man of more than ordinar}' ability and was looked up to as a leader, his advice frequently being sought and al- ways prized. He was made captain of the home guard, a company organized for pro- tection against the raids of the red men and which participated in the first battle at New Ulm against the Sioux Indians. On that oc- casion he and hisbrave little band of eighteen men saved the town from a massacre. He sent his family to St. Peter for safety, sub- sequently they moved to that place and there he died in 1866, at the age of seventy- two years. He was a farmer throughout his life, in his religious faith was a Meth- odist, stanch and true to his church, and for years one of its officers, and his entire life was so ordered that he justly merited the high regard in which he was held by all who knew him. He and his wife were the parents of a large family of children, of whom we make record as follows: William J., whose name forms the heading of this review, is the eldest; Mrs. Agnes Clark is a resident of Hamline, Minnesota; John J., deceased in 1893, was a veteran of the late war and also of the Indian war in Minne- sota, and was for a time superintendent of the police force in Minneapolis; Jesse, like- wise a veteran of the civil war, he having served four years as a member of the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; Pleasant M., who was one of the eighteen brave men who averted a massacre by the Indians at New Ulm at the time of the Indian trouble here, and who was a member of the Ninth Minnesota Infantry and died in the south while in the service of his country; Margaret P. Flora, now a resident of Harrison coun- ty, Indiana, was one of the pioneer teachers of Nicollet county, Minnesota; and Rachel Williams, of Montevideo, Minnesota. Having thus briefly referred to his par- entage, we turn now to the life of .our di- rect subject, Hon. William J. Bean. His youth and early manhood were passed at SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 421 his native place, in the Hoosier state, and to the public schools of Harrison county is he indebted for his early educational advan- [ tages. The training obtained there has been supplemented bj' much reading and home study, for he has been a student all his life. In 1856 he left Indiana to seek a home in the west, his first location being near Jeffer- son City, Callaway county, Missouri, where he remained one year, at the end of that time coming north and joining his father in Nicollet county, Minnesota, and here he has resided ever since 1857. His farm of two hundred and eighty-five acres, located a mile and a half from Nicol- let, has been developed into one of the finest country seats to be found in this part of the county. His primitive log cabin long ago ceased to be used as a home and has since served for a granary; and his present residence, a brick structure erected in 1 88 1, at a cost of two thousand dollars, has all the modern comforts and con- veniences. It is approached by a neat drive- way, has a pretty lawn and park, the latter containing about five acres and being a most delightful place for picnic parties. Also Mr. Bean has a good tenant house on his land, which cost $1,400; and his other farm buildings and improvements are all first- class and well kept. He takes a just pride in his fine orchard and has given no little attention to the raising of small fruits, of which he has a splendid variety; and like many other farmers of this locality, he is interested in the dairy business, keeping a number of cows. Mr. Bean was married in 1852 to Miss Mary Shuck, a most estimable woman and a native of Harrison county, Indiana, daugh- : ter of John and Barbara Shuck, South Carolina people and both German, who early settled in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Shuck are both deceased, her death having occurred in middle life and his at the ripe old age of eighty-five. They had two sons, David and Daniel, who were ministers in the United Brethern church. Mr. and Mrs. Bean have two sons living, namely: Jesse B. , who married Miss Emma Anderson and has two children, — Alta and William J., Jr.; and Walter C, a young man residing at the old homestead. Both sons are ex- pert taxidermists, and the eldest is noted as one of the most skilled hunters in south- western Minnesota. Also our subject and wife have five children deceased. Hugh, their first born, died at the age of sixteen years; John, the second child, lived to be twenty years of age; and three died in in- fancy. Mr. Bean has filled various local offices of prominence and trust, and on two occa- sions, in 1877 and 1879, was honored with a seat in the Minnesota state legislature, where he served with credit alike to himself and his constituents. Both he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church. Personally, Mr. Bean is a man of genial, social qualities, has considerable wit in his make-up, and has the happy faculty of in- gratiating himself with all with whom he comes in contact. These qualities have been characteristic of him throughout life, and those who know him best esteem him most highly. fi land, ATRICK GALAGAN. judge of the probate court and a prominent resi- dent of Lesueur Center, was born in Ashbourne, county Meath, Ire- October 28, 1837, and when five months old was brought to the United States 422 MEMORIAL RECORD OF by his parents, Owen and Mary Galagan. For ten years they resided in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and in September, 1847, emigrated westward, locating on the farm near Elk Grove, Lafayette county, Wisconsin. There the father carried on general farming until 1881, when he retired from active business life. His death occurred in 1885, at the age of eighty-five years, and his wife died in her eighty-fourth year. Patrick Galagan is the eldest of their six children, three sons and three daughters, of whom four are now living, namely: An- drew, a resident of Marcus, Iowa; Catherine, who is living in Wisconsin; and Mary, wife John Slatery, of Minnesota. Under the parental roof Patrick Galagan was reared to manhood and early became familiar with all the duties that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. The greater part of his education was acquired in the district schools of Wisconsin, which he attended through the winter season. He assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm until twenty-one years of age, when he began farming on his own account. He followed that pursuit in Wisconsin until 1884, when he came to Minnesota, locating in Elysian, Lesueur county. In 1885 he began dealing in the grain and stock busi- ness, his shipping market being St. Paul. He also established and conducted a gen- eral mercantile store, carrying a large and well-assorted stock, and receiving from the public a liberal patronage. He is also doing a profitable business as a general stock dealer, and by his own efforts has arisen to a position of affluence. He possesses great energy, is systematic and methodical, and his honor in all business transactions is above question. His store and shipping in- terests are now in charge of his son, while he is faithfully serving as probate judge, to which position he was elected in the fall of 1894 for a two-years term, and he was re- elected November 3, 1896, by a very large majorit}'. On the bench he is ever just, his decisions being particularly free from bias. In 1S58 Judge Galagan was united in marriage with Margaret McGrane, of Ben- ton, Wisconsin. She was a native of New Jersey, and during her girlhood removed with her parents to the Badger state. The Judge and his wife have six children: Mar}- A.; Albert J., who is assistant weigher of grain in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Marcila, wife of John Armstrong; Christopher, a merchant of Elysian; Bridget A., wife of W. C. Morgan, of Waseca county, Minne- sota; and James F., a member of the firm of Galagan Brothers, merchants of Elysian. The public career and private life of Judge Galagan are alike above reproach. His business life illustrates in no uncertain manner what it is possible to accomplish when perseverance and determination form the ke}'note to a man's character. He well deserves the trust reposed in him by his election to the judgeship, and whether in public or private life he is always a courteous, genial gentleman, who fully merits the high regard in which he is held. E i860. McAvay the first county, necticut school. UGH J. McAVAY, rector of St. Canice's Catholic church, of Kil- kenny, was born near Pottsville, in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, in His parents, Hugh and Alice ( Gilro}-) , were of Irish descent. He spent eight years of his life in his native and then went to New Britain, Con- , where he attended a parochial Later he entered St. Charles Col- so UTH WES TERN MINNESOTA . 423 le^e, of EUicott City, Maryland, near the city of Baltimore, where he continued his studies for four years. On the expiration of that period he became a student of St. Bonaventure's Seminary, of Allegany, New York, where he remained for three years, and spent one year in St. Thomas Seminary, of Merriam Pari<, Minnesota. On the i6th of June, 1887, Rev. McAvay was ordained to the priesthood by Arch- bishop Ireland, of St. Paul, and was given charge of St. .Anthony's church, of Min- neapolis. He was next pastor of Monte- video, Minnesota, and afterward took charge of the Catholic church at Cedar I^ake, Scott county. On leaving that place he came to Kilkenny, where he has since remained. He has been a most active and earnest worker in the interests of the church, and has been instrumental in erecting fi\e houses of wor- ship, one in Montevideo, one in Appleton and one in Madison, Minnesota, a fourth at Cedar Lake, Minnesota, and the other at Echo, this state. He is a man of scholarly attainments and broad general information, and has the respect and esteem of his peo- ple wherever he goes. The church in Kil- kenn}' is now in a flourishing condition, and under his able administration is steadily growing in numbers and influence. eRNST MEYER, deceased, was for a number of years a prominent and much respected citizen of St. Peter, Minnesota. He was born in Germany, March 15, 1S27, a son of Ger- man parents, Franz and Wilhemina Meyer. Franz Meyer was an iron-worker, employed man}' years as overseer in government iron- works in Germanv. In his native land Ernst Meyer grew up, ha\ing there the best of educational advantages, and in 1849 said good-bye to the scenes of his childhood and the home where his people had lived and prospered for generation after generation, and sailed for America, — this land with its free institutions and many opportunities of which he had heard so much. He was one of a colony of Germans that settled at Sag- inaw, Michigan. Shortly afterward, how- ever, he left the colony and came further west, first to Iowa and about 185 1 or '2 to Minnesota, locating near St. Paul. He maintained his home at that place until after the death of his first wife, when, in 1856, he came to St. Peter and here he spent the rest of his life and died, his death occurring in 1 896. By his first wife he had one child, a son, Frank, born in 1853. His second marriage was consummated June 27, 1867, with Miss Emma Hezlep, a native of Erie, Pennsyl- vania, and a daughter of Robert and Eliza- beth (Boyd) Hezlep, both natives of the north of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Hezlep became residents of Minnesota in 1856 and were engaged in farming here for many years, each living to a good old age, he be- ing eighty-eight at the time of death and she eighty-six. Their family consisted of twelve children, seven of whom are still living. By his second wife Mr. Meyer had six children, two now being deceased. Those hving are Wilhemena E., who is married and has one son, Thomas G. ; Rob- ert E., who has the management of the farm formerly owned by his father; and Henry A. and Hattie E. At the time of his marriage to Miss Hez- lep Mr. Meyer was serving as deputy county treasurer, and the following year he was elected to that office, in which he served with the utmost fidelity and to the general 424 MEMORIAL RECORD OF satisfaction of all concerned. Also he filled various township offices. Indeed, through- out the whole of his life he was prominent in local affairs, always public-spirited and progressive, and a man of general usefulness in his community. During the late war he served two years as bugler of Company A, First Minnesota Regiment, and by his com- pany was presented with a bugle. Up to the time of his death he maintained mem- bership in the G. A. I^. He was a regular attendant upon divine worship, was a man who honored God and loved his fellow men, and in all the walks of life was honorable and upright. Iii his death the community sustained a heavy loss. ^^^EORGE HARIOTT DUN- ■ ^^\ LAVEY. — Among the pioneers of \^^^ southern Minnesota and esteemed citizens of Elysian township, Le- sueur county, none perhaps are better known in his locality or more worthy of bio- graphical honors than this gentleman, George Hariott Dunlavey, who has main- tained his home here for a period of forty years and who gave to his country valiant service in its dark hour of civil strife. Mr. Dunlavey was born in New York city, September 17, 1833, and comes from a fam- ily long resident in America and of French origin. Three brothers of the name of Dun- lavey came to this country from France in colonial days, one of whom, James, settled on Long Island, where his children and grandchildren for several generations figured prominently. One of his descendants, James Dunlavey, born in Trenton, New Jersey, September 2, 1763, was the grand- father of the subject of our sketch, and he had a son, William, born on Long Island, November 28, 1794. William Dunlavey married Jane Scott, in 1824, daughter of George H. and Mary Jane Scott. In 1843 they removed to Kendall county, Illinois, settling among its pioneers; subsequently they went to Wisconsin, and from there in 1857 came to Minnesota, locating at the head of Elysian Lake. Here the worthy couple passed the remainder of their lives and died, his death occurring October 20, 1872, when he had reached seventy-eight years; hers, December 24, 1887. By trade he was a dresser of Morocco leather, but fol- lowed farming the greater part of his life. He was first a Democrat and then a Repub- lican; a Master Mason, well versed in Masonic lore, and one of the founders of Waterville Lodge; and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their family consisted of eight children, namely: James S., Mary Jane, William Anderson, George Hariott, Sarah Greenfield, Fredericka L. , Martha E. and William W. George H., the fourth born of this fam- ily and the subject of our sketch, was ten years old when they moved to Illinois and was just entering his 'teens at the time the family home was established in Wisconsin. On a frontier farm in the latter state he grew to manhood, his youthful days spent in vari- ous kinds of farm work and in attending school during the winter months in the log schoolhouse not far from his home. He came to Minnesota in 1856. the year before the arrival of his parents in this territory, and in Lesueur county he has ever since made his home. Here he owns eighty acres of choice land, well improved, located on section 32 of Elysian township. His first house here, a log cabin, long since gave place to a modern frame residence, built at 'M/i aaei-a^i^'^a^f^. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 425 a cost of about eleven hundred dollars, and having a pretty lawn in front, dotted over with trees and shrubs. His barn is both substantial and convenient, is 32x60 feet, with sixteen-foot posts, and with a rock basement, in the walls of which twenty-three cords of rock were used. During the war, in November, 1864, Mr. Dunlavey enlisted as a member of Company C, Second Afinnesota fnfantry, under Cap- tain Tona and Colonel Bishop, and went to the front, joining General Sherman's army in the south. He was with the forces that marched up through the Carolinas to Rich- mond and to Washington, and was a par- ticipant in the grand review at Washington, after which he was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was honorably dis- charged June 1 1, 1865. He arrived at home on the twenty-sixth of the following month. Mr. Dunlavey was married in 1861, at Morristown, Rice county, Minnesota, to Miss Sarah S. Fish, to whose industry, good judgment and cheerful companionship is due much of the success that has come to them. She took charge of the farm and stock dur- ing his absence in the war and nobly did her part at home while he fought for his country. Mrs. Dunlavey is a native of New York, born in Cattaraugus county, daughter of Ben- jamin O. and Minerva (Carpenter) Fish, the former a native of Vermont and the lat- ter of Pennsylvania. Grandfather Benjamin T. Fish was of New England birth, a de- scendant of early settlers there, and was a participant in both the Revolution and the war of 181 2. Grandfather Moses Carpenter was a Pennsylvanian. Benjamin O. Fish and family moved to Geauga county, Ohio, at an early day, later moved to Miami county, Indiana, and from there in 1859 27 came to Minnesota, where they passed their declining years and died, his age at_ death being eighty-two years and hers eighty-six. They were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom reached adult years, as fol- lows: MaryL., Minerva C, Hiram Moses, Louisa, Elizabeth, Otis E., Sarah S., Na- oma E. and Lydia A. Mr. and Mrs. Dun- lavey have six children, namely; Elmer A., Harry T. , Janie M., wife of Mr. H. Turner, of Morrison county, Minnesota; Eleanor L., wife of Frank H. Wildes, of Morrison county, was before her marriage a popular and successful teacher; Mary Myrtle and Florence M. Mr. Dunlavey and his wife and four of the children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, prominent and active in both church and Sabbath-school work, he being superintendent of the Sabbath-school for two years. Politically, he has always been a strong Republican, and, like the majority of old soldiers, he takes pleasure in his G. A. R. associations, his member- ship in this order being with Maynard Post, No. 49, of Elysian. ,>^ R. REINHOLD LAGER- I I STRO M, director of the Conserv- /^^_^ atory of Music of Gustavus Adol- phus College of St. Peter, is a native of Minnesota, his birth having oc- curred in Goodhue county, on the [2th day of June, 1 86 1. His parents were John and Charlotte Reinhold, natives of Sweden, whence they emigrated to America in 1854. After three years they located in Goodhue county among its early settlers and the father developed and improved a farm which is still their home. They are well known and highly respected citizens of the commu- 426 MEMORIAL RECORD OF nity and are numbered among its lionored pioneers. Tile Doctor is the first in the order of birth in the family of six children. He spent his boyhood days upon his father's farm in Goodhue county, and acquired his element- ary education in the district schools of the neighborhood. Subsequently he attended the high school in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, and later continued his studies in Vasa, Min- nesota. He ne.xt entered Carleton College, of Northfield, this state, where he indus- triousy pursued a classical course until 1883, when he matriculated in Gustavus Adolphus College, being enrolled among its students until 1885. Returning then to Sweden, he entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm, where he pursued his studies three years and was graduated in 1888. Early in life he developed a special fond- ness for music and in order to perfect him- self in this art he went to Stockholm, Swe- den, where he continued the study of music. He had previously been well prepared for this course by thorough instruction from private teachers and from his parents, both of whom are proficient musicians. In 1888, Professor Lagerstrom returned to Gustavus Adolphus College to accept a position as teacher of music therein, and in I 888 he was elected director of the Conserv- atory of Music, in which capacity he has since served. He has succeeded in giving this department of the school a high rank. The instruction obtained therein is thorough and after the best methods Imovvn to the art. His high proficiency intheart to which he is devoting his energies is denoted b)'the fact that the Master's degree of Music was conferred upon him by the Alfred University, of Alfred Center, New York, and in 1892 the degree of Doctor of Music was conferred upon him by the Grand Conservatory of Music, of New York. The Doctor is well known in musical circles throughout the state and his interpretation of some of the best masters has won him the high applause of those whose understanding of the art rfiakes them competent critics. In connec- tion with his work in the college Dr. Lager- strom drilled a male quartet which at one time was the finest in the state and gave en- tertainments throughout Minnesota. He has also been organist of the Swedish Lutheran church in St. Peter since 1888. His home is a comfortable and pleasant residence on one of the principal streets of St. Peter, and the household is noted for its warm hospi- tality. In 1888 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Lagerstrom and Miss Mary Carlson, of East Union, Minnesota, a native of this state and a daughter of Pehr Carlson. They now have two children, — Haydn Rein- hold Beethoven and Lillie Maria. aORNELIUS GULP, who resides in his pleasant home on section 32, Elj'sian township, Lesueur countj', Minnesota, dates his identity with this state from the year it was admitted into the Union. He was born in Niagara county. New York, July 23, 1836, and traces his ancestry in this countr}' back to one of three brothers of the name of Gulp, who at an early day came from German}', two of them settling in Pennsylvania and one in the far west. John Gulp, tiie grandfather of our sub- ject, was born in Pennsylvania, was reared to farm life there, and in that state was married to Miss Agnes Walton, of Scotch descent, and a member of a Quaker family. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 427 Some time after their marriage they moved to a place near Palmyra, New York, where he developed a farm, and whence he subse- quently moved to Michigan, settling in Branch county. In Michigan they passed the closing years of their lives and died, each being in the octogenarian ranks, his age at death being eighty-four years; hers, eighty- seven. Their family consisted of four chil- dren, — Nicholas, Katie, Jonathan and Sophia. Jonathan Culp was the father of our subject. He was born and reared near Palmyra, New York, his early associations being connected with his father's farm and the little log schoolhouse near by, and when he was twenty-four years of age he was mar- ried to Miss Amanda Tyler, a member of a respected family of New York. Her father was a soldier in the war of 1812, was on garrison duty at Green Bay, and was hon- orably discharged at the close of the war, but died before reaching home. In 1837 the Culp family removed to Michigan, loca- ting first in Lenawee county, and two years later moving to Branch county, where they settled in a dense beech forest. In this county the father of our subject, with the assistance of his sons, developed a farm, and here -they continued their abiding place until 1 87 1. That year the father came to Minnesota, joining his sons in Lesueur county. He lived to the advanced age of ninety years, at the time of his death being one of the oldest men in the county. Polit- ically, he was in early life a Democrat, but supported Fremont in 1856, and voted with the Republican party the rest of his life. His wife was past seventy-five when she died. She was a member of the United Brethren church, was a beautiful Christian character, and her memory is fondly cher- ished by her large family and many friends. Of her children, ten in number, we record that William J. was a Union soldier and is now a resident of Elysian township, Le- sueur county, Minnesota; George E. is a resident of the same township; David M., a war veteran, is now a resident of Illinois; Abram Alason; Cornelius, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Mary J. Chase lives in this township; Mrs. Alma Smith is a resident of Lenawee county, Michigan; Irena and her husband, Charles DeFore, are both de- ceased; Malissa Tiffany and Henry, a resi- dent of this township. Reverting now especially to the life of Cornelius, we find that he passed the first twenty years of his life on his father's farm in Michigan, where, as already stated, he assisted his father in the development of a farm. In 1858 he came to Minnesota and settled first at Courtland, Nicollet county, where he had two brothers, George E. and David M., and later came from there to his present location in Lesueur county. Here he owns forty acres of valuable land, which has good improvements in the way of resi- dence, barn, fences, orchard, etc. Mr. Culp has an honorable war record. He enlisted October i, 1861, in Company \, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until February 23, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on ac- count of disability. Again, in October, 1864, he offered his services, this time going out as a member of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, remaining on active duty until the close of the war, his final honor- able discharge being dated June 17, 1865. His whole record was without blemish, and such was his soldier life that he had the confidence and esteem of his comrades. He contracted disease in the army which became 428 MEMORIAL RECORD OF chronic, and from which he has never re- covered. February 5, 1859, was consummated Mr. Gulp's marriage to Miss Eliza Watkins, a native of Ohio and a daughter of James and Sarah (Landers) Watkins, earl}' settlers of I^esueiu' county, Minnesota, both now deceased. Her father was a native of North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Gulp have had seven children, viz. : Mary J. McGallon, Sarah A. Grosby, Albert M., Emit, Ella May and Franklin, — all living. Their second born, Abram, died at the age of eight years. Mr. Gulp is a Republican. In a local way he has been somewhat prominent in politics and has filled some of the township offices, such as supervisor, constable, and clerk of the school board. He is itlentified with the G. A. R., Maynard Post, No. 49, in which he has passed most of the chairs and in which he is now filling the office of chaplain. Mrs. Gulp is a consistent member of the United Brethren church. (HOMAS McGORMAN, chairman of the board of supervisors of Washington township, Lesueur county, Minnesota, is one of the prominent and influential citizens of this township and is classed with the veterans of the civil war. Mr. McGorman, as his name suggests, is of Irish origin. He was born in Ireland in the year 1832 and comes from a family long distinguished for its Industry, honesty and morality, his parents being Thomas and Gathrin McGorman, both natives of the Emerald Isle. The father died in Ireland, leaving a widow and two childrerv, Mary and Thomas, and the mother subsequently be- came the wife of Mr. Dennis McGee, by whom .she had three children, — Kate, Rosa and Margaret. In 1849, when the subject of our sketch was a boy of seven years, his mother and stepfather came with their family to America and located in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, where, in 1880, Mrs. Mc- Gee died. In Wisconsin Mr. McGorman was reared to farm life, was educated in the common schools, and was on the verge of young manhood when the war of the Rebellion broke out. Young, ambitious and patriotic, he was eager to enter the Union ranks, and, enrolled as a member of Gompany E. Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, he went to the front and gave three of the best years of his life to the country of his adoption. He was first under fire at Union Git)-, Ken- tucky, was afterward at various prominent places in the south, including Helena, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, New Orleans, Spanish Fort, and at the close of the war was in Texas, where he received his honorable dis- charge. The war over, Mr. McGorman returned to Wisconsin and was engaged in farm work there until the spring of 1S66, when he came over into the neighboring state of Minnesota on a prospecting tour, looked the state over and purchased the land on which he now lives. Returning to Wisconsin he was employed in the pine woods. In 1873 he again came to Minnesota, and this time built a dwelling upon his place, a log house, sixteen by twenty-two feet in dimensions, in which he lived for several years and which still stands, now serving as a shelter for his hogs. His present residence he built in 1892. It is located on a gentle elevation, commands a fine view of the surrounding country, and has a pretty lawn and shade trees — a cozy and inviting place. Here Mr. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 429 McGonnan owns eighty acres of valuable land. He was married in iS68 to Miss Anna Curtiss, of Wisconsin, daughter of Roland Curtiss, of that state. Her death occurred in 1880, leaving three children, two of whom are now living, — Katie and Lilly, — Anna having died in childhood. In his political affiliations Mr. McGor- man has been a Democrat all his life and is regarded as one of the most active party workers in his township. As already stated, he is now chairman of the township board of supervisors. He is a member of A. K. Skaro Post, G. A. R., No. n, of St. Peter, and religiously he and his family are devout Catholics. @EORGE ANDREWS is the popu- lar, genial and enterprising presi- dent of the Andrews Opera Com- pany, and a member of the firm of Andrews Brothers, proprietors of Hotel Tetonka, of Waterville. He is a native of Minnesota, born in Lesueur county, in i860. His education was acquired in the district schools and in the high school of Mankato, after which he read law and then entered the law department of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he remained for a year. On the expiration of that period he went to New York city, where he studied music under the noted in- structor, Senor Miana, pursuing a full course. He afterward continued his studies under M. Lowenthal and Signor Campanini. Mr. Andrews is one of the best known citizens of Waterville, and his business in- terests here have not only proved a source of income to himself but have also materi- ally promoted the prosperity of the city. The Tetonka Hotel, of which he is one of the proprietors, was erected in 1 896. It is built in a beautiful style of architecture and is most modern in all its appointments and equipments. The structure is of brick and contains sixty-five rooms, built with a view to comfort and ventilation. The 'building is surrounded on three sides with a broad veranda and stands in the midst of a natur- al grove on the north side of Lake Tetonka. A fine gravelly beach leads down to the water's edge, and the lake abounds in all kinds of fish. The site on which the house stands is high and commands an excellent view of the surrounding country, the lakes and other features of Minnesota's beautiful scenery. A finely equipped boat-house has been erected and in connection with the many little row and sail boats which are kept for the pleasure of the guests of the hotel there is also a steam launch. The hotel is situated about two miles from Waterville, but the proprietors had a rail- road track built to town, thus affording easy means of communication, while beautiful walks and drives may be utilized when time is a matter of little consideration. When winter comes, not only the pleasures that may be had at the fireside are provided for the guests, but a fine toboggan furnishes ample outdoor sport. This beautiful hotel was completed at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars and forms one of the most attractive features of Waterville and the surrounding country. In connection the firm of Andrews Broth- ers own a fine farm of three hundred acres, which is under their personal supervision, and thereon they have established an excel- lent track for speeding horses and for pleas- ure driving. It would be difficult to find any one who better understands the needs 430 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and requirements of the hotel business than the Andrews Brothers, and their success has come as the reward of earnest appHcation, close study, energy and perseverance. The opera troupe of which George An- drews is president was organised by these brothers in 1878, since which time it has given entertainments in every city of note throughout the United States. They are assisted by the three sisters and their hus- bands, and the high class of their entertain- ments assures them a warm reception wherever they go. C. A. Parker is acting as manager of the company and F. B. Rhodes as manager of finance. In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of George Andrews and Miss Jessie Kavanna, of New York, in which city she was born, reared and educated. They have one daugh- ter, Aroline. >Tr*OHN DILLER, of Cleveland, Min- m nesota, is one of the well-known pio- A 1 neers of this state and e.\-soldiers of the late war, and, like many of the leading citizens of Minnesota, is of German birth and ancestry. He was born in Wur- temberg, Germany, June 19, 1832, son of Christopher and Sophia (Wagner) Diller, both natives of Wurtemberg, and both pass- ing their whole lives in their native land. Christopher Diller was in the army for many years, a participant in the Napoleonic wars, and made a record as a gallant soldier. He and his wife were the parents of five chil- dren, — George, Christopher, John, Carl and William, — 'whom they reared in the Lu- theran faith and who became useful and honored citizens. John Diller received a fair education in his native language, and, according to the custom of the country, was then put to a trade, the trade he learned being that of rope-maker, and at which he worked until 1854. That year he sailed for America, taking voyage at Bremen on a sailing ves- sel as one of one hundred and twenty-three passengers, and being four weeks in making the voyage to New York. After spending one month in New York he made his way to Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, where he was for two years employed in the iron mines. From Pennsylvania he came by rail and boat to Minnesota, and shortly after- ward took up his abode in Cleveland town- ship, Lesueur county, where he developed a farm. Here he was living at the time civil war was inaugurated. The soldierly instincts he inherited from his father, to- gether with his love for the country of his adoption, led him to join the Union ranks, and on August 19, 1862, we find him enlist- ing as a member of Company K, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. At first he was on guard duty at Mankato, next was with General Sibley on his e.xpedition to the Missouri river, and after that was ordered south, where he fought on many a battle- field, endured the hardships incident to war, and remained in active service until the con- flict was over. Twice he was wounded. At the close of the war he was honorably dis- charged at St. Paul, Minnesota, returned to his former location, and shortly after his return took to himself a wife. He lived for a time at Lake Jefferson before coming to his present location at Cleveland, where he now has a pleasant home and is comfortably situated. Mr. Diller was married October 24, 1865, in the township in which he now lives, to Miss Sarah Van Antwerp, a native of Switz- erland county, Indiana, and a daughter of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 431 John Van Antwerp, one of the prominent early settlers of Lesueur county and an ex- soldier of the late war. The history of the Van Antwerp family is given at length on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Diller have four children, namely: Mary, wife of H. H. Flowers, a business man of Clevelaad; William, a farmer of Cleveland township; and Louisa and Hattie. Mr. Diller, like most of the war veter- ans, takes a pleasure in his G. A. R. associa- tions, his membership in that body being with A. K. Skaro Post, No. n , of St. Peter. He is a man whose influence is always di- rected in right channels, in favor of moral reform and education, and as a citizen of true worth, honorable and upright in all the walks of life, enjoys the confidence and re- spect of all who know him. "^^ H. DOTY.— Nature formed with a m kindly hand the state of Minnesota A J and adorned the landscape with beauties that no artist can fully por- tray though his skill be that of a Corot. Some of its scenes are famed in story and in song; others are still awaiting the elo- quent words of a pen-picture, or the marvel- ous power of an artist's hand to call them into notice. In one of the most beautiful valleys that ever came forth from the hand of nature in all perfection stands the little village of Courtland. Not yet has its loveli- ness been desecrated by the ruthless hand of the man who would transform it into a place of money-making. It remains almost as it came from the hand of the Creator. A brook, fed by innumerable springs, ripples along over its pebbly bed, touched caressingly here and there by the over- hanging ferns and grasses which border its banks, dancing in the sunlight and reflecting the glories of the sky on its surface. On either side the grand old oaks of the forest stand guard, and through the vista of the trees may be seen the tasseled corn, the varying green of the grain fields in the morning sun sparkling with myriads of dia- mond dewdrops. The Rockies display more grandeur, the canyons and gorges stand forth in all sublimity, but nature has fur- nished no more peaceful, restful or beautiful spot than this little valley wherein stands the home of J. H. Doty. He comes of a family that has resided in this section of the state since the days when all the land was wild and uncultivated, before forests had been cut or the prairies disturbed by the plowman. His father, William R. Doty, was born in Massa- chusetts, and reared and educated in New York. He was a representative of an old New England family that for generations was valiant and patriotic in times of war, and prominent and progressive in days of peace. He married Miss Sally Roundsville, also a native of Massachusetts and a member of an influential and well-to-do family. For fifty- five years they traveled life's journey together, when the happy union was then severed bj- the death of the wife. In 1857 they left their New York home and came to the territory of Minnesota. On reaching Nicollet county Mr. Doty made a claim on section 4, township 109, range 29, and there he developed a farm, reared his family and made his home for forty years. A little log cabin at first furnished shelter to the family; its furnishings were primitive, its comforts few, but the beautiful panorama of nature was all around them and the fertile lands responded to their labors with abundant harvests. The family courageously bore all 432 MEMORIAL RECORD OF the hardships of pioneer life, and as the years passed secured the comforts of the east. Through his earnest labors the father gained prosperity and is now the possessor of an excellent farm, improved with a com- modious and tasteful residence, substantial outbuildings and all modern accessories. In the family were four children: Cynthia, wife of Stephen Briggs, of Traverse, Min- nesota; J. H., of this review; Delphine, who died at the age of sixteen years ; and Elva E. , who resides at the old homestead with her father. J. H. Doty assisted in the development of the frontier farm and early learned hab- its of industry, economy and integrity which have been predominant traits in his charac- ter. He was only eleven years of age when he arrived in Nicollet county, his birth having occurred in Dryden, Tompkins county. New York, December i8, 1846. His district-school education was supple- mented by a course in the St. Peter high school and study in the Mankato Normal School. For five terms he was engaged in teaching in Nicollet county, where his ability ranked him with the ablest educators in that locality. In 1876 he came to Courtland, al- though the village was not then organized. The same year he shipped the first car-load of grain from this place, and has since en- gaged in dealing in grain and lumber, ship- ping large quantities of both and doing an extensive business. He owns six hundred and fifty acres of valuable land here, di- vided into richly cultivated fields and mead- ows. In connection with his other busi- ness interests Mr. Doty has for some years been dealing in stock and now has a dairy in conjunction with which he keeps thirty cows of the Holstein and Jersey bloods. He has a large barn, twenty-six by one hun- dred and seventy feet, two others, each twen- ty-six by fifty feet, and a fourth forty-four by fifty feet, thus affording ample room for the shelter of his stock. In 1893 Mr. Doty was instrumental in organizing the Court- land Creamery Company, which that year erected a plant at a cost of five thousand dollars. It was at once put in .operation and a successful business has since been conducted, for the product of the creamery compares favorably with that of any similar establishment in the state and commands the highest market prices. The success of this enterprise is largely due to the enter- prise and untiring energy of the gentleman whose name introduces this article. In the midst of his tine farm Mr. Doty laid out the village of Courtland and erected there a handsome residence which has since been the home of his family. It stands in the center of the town, is built in a modern and tasteful style of architecture and is sup- plied with all the latest conveniences, in- cluding a water supplj'. This home is ele- gantly furnished and surrounded with a beautiful lawn. Its hospitality rivals that of the Kentucky mansions and its doors are ever open for the reception of their many friends. Mr. Doty was married at the age of twenty-five years to Miss Sarah J. Piper, an amiable and accomplished lady who be- fore her marriage engaged in teaching school in St. Peter. They have three chil- dren: Mabel, now a student in the State University of Minnesota, Wilber E. and Grace L. , at home. Mr. Doty is one of the leading sup- porters of the Republican party in this sec- tion of the state and does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the suc- cess of Republicanism. He has served as president of the village and filled other local SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 433 offices, performing his duties with a prompt- ness and fideHty which has won the com- mendation of all concerned. He is a pub- lic-spirited and progressive citizen whose deep interest in the welfare of the commu- nity and its advancement is manifest by the liberal support which he gives all measures calculated to prove of public benefit. <>^ETER GILBERT PETERSON.— W m Among the well-known farmers £ and representative citizens of Gran- by township, Nicollet county, Min- nesota, we find the gentleman whose name forms the heading of this article, Peter Gilbert Peterson, who for four decades has maintained his home at his present location on section 20. He is not a native of America but has been identified with its in- terests almost as far back as he can remem- ber, and has the honor of having fought for the preservation of the Union during the dark days of Rebellion in the '60s. Mr. Peterson was born at Haddiland, near Christiania, Norway, February 24, 1 84 1. His parents, Gilbert and Anna Peterson, natives of that country, and peo- ple of honest worth, emigrated with their family to America in 1854, sailing from Christiania to Quebec and landing in safety at their destination after a voyage of twelve weeks. From Canada they came over into the United States and located near Cam- bridge, in Dane county, Wisconsin, where they lived for two years, at the end of that time being one of seven families that formed a colony and came with ox teams to Minne- sota, settling in Granby township, Nicollet county, in the spring of 1856, where each family secured title to a tract of land and engaged in agricultural pursuits. The land upon which the Petersons settled is the same which is now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch, it being one hundred and sixty acres in extent and located three miles and a half from Nicollet. Only two of the seven men who came here with their families are now living, one of them being the venerable father of our subject, who is now entering the octogenarian ranks, and who still lives on the farm he settled forty years ago. His wife died in i860. Turning our attention now to the im- mediate subject of this review, Peter G., we record that at the time he came with his parents to Minnesota he had just entered his 'teens, and as a strong, energetic and am- bitious boy he rendered his father valued service in the work of cultivating and im- proving the frontier farm. To the public schools he is indebted for his educational advantages, and to the knowledge gained there he has added largely by home study and reading, thus acquiring a fund of varied information. At the very beginning of civil strife his patriotism was aroused, and in September, 1 86 1, he "donned the blue" and marched forth to aid in the suppression of slavery and rebellion. He was a member of Com- pany H, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer In- fantry, but for some reason his name was entered on the list as Peter Gilbertson and under this name he fought all through the war. He was in many of the prominent engagements of the south, including the first and second battles of Corinth, luka. Port Gibson, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, the engagements at Chicka- mauga, Chattanooga, Allatoona, and was with General Sherman in his last campaign through the south and march to the sea, thence up through the Carolinas and on to 434 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Richmond and then to Washington, where he participated in the grand review of the victorious forces. The war over, he re- ceived an honorable discharge as corporal, and returned to his home in Minnesota, where he has since lived and prospered. He has a comfortable home, a frame residence, and barn thirty-six by fifty-six feet in di- mensions, with a rock basement, and his farm is well stocked and kept in good order. Mr. Peterson was married in this county in 1867 to Miss Carrie Christophersen, like himself a native of Norway. She was six years old at the time she came with her par- ents to this country. Her father, Christo- fer Christophersen, died of cholera in Wis- consin in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have six children, viz.: Anna Syverson, Clarra, Dora, Enmia, Alfred and Alice; and they have three deceased, one having died at birth; Oscar, at the age of three years; and one girl at the age of fourteen months; Mrs. Syverson was for several years a popu- lar and successful teacher in Nicollet and Polk counties. Religiously, Mr. Peterson is a Lutheran and one of the officers of his church; polit- ically, a Republican; and fraternally a Grand Army man. His membership in the G. A. R. is with Skaro Post, at St. Peter. He has been town clerk of the town of Granby, Nicollet county, for about twenty-five years, still acting in that capacity. This is one evidence of his high standing as a citizen. HLEXANDER PETTIS bears a name that belongs in the list of prominent early settlers of Lesueur county, the date of his arrival here being Maj', 1855. His present home is on a fine farm on section 24, Kasota township, and St. Peter is his post-office address. Thus as a pioneer and leading citizen of his locality his history is of interest in this work, and briefly is as follows: Alexander Pettis was born in Albany, Vermont, March 21, 1823, and comes of a family of Scotch de- scent, long resident in this country, prom- inent in peace and valiant in war. His father, Stephen Pettis, a colonel in the war of 1 81 2, was a native of Connecticut and a son of Scotch parents who had settled in New England previous to the Revolutionary war. Their household of faith was Presby- terian. Colonel Pettis married a Miss Olive Hutchins, a native of Vermont and a mem- ber of a family long settled in New England. She was a most excellent woman, bright in intellect, amiable in disposition, and loved by all who knew her, and her untimely death in 1830, in the prime of life, was a sad blow to her family and many friends. She died at Mecca, near Warren, in Trumbull county, Ohio, and left a family of four little chil- dren, namely: Alexander; Almira, now Mrs. Judds, of Iowa; Matilda, now Mrs. Wing, of Pike county, Illinois; and Mary, who married Mr. Davis, and died in Pike county, Illinois. Previous to his removal to Ohio Colonel Pettis lived for some time at French Mills, Canada, where he built a mill. He left Ohio in 1835 and moved to Pike county, Illinois, settling upon a large tract of land he had purchased, becoming one of the pioneers of that county and developing there a fine farm. He died in Illinois, aged seventy-six years, having lived out more than the average life of man. For many years he was identified with the Masonic fraternity and was prominent in the circles of that high order. Of high intellectual powers, wide business experience, broad and generous nature, he was an important fac- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 435 tor in his locality and was as highly es- teemed as he was well known. Alexander Pettis was a boy of twelve years when he accompanied his father and other members of the family to their new home in Pike county, Illinois, and there he was reared and educated, and was for a time engaged in teaching. He was married in Pike county, in 1850, to Miss Louisa Davis, whose life has been blended with his for a period of forty-six years and who still pre- sides over his home, her presence and cheer- ful companionship having made bright many of the dark places along their pathway in life. She was born in Canada and reared and educated in Pike county, Illinois, her parents being Orange and Adalaide (Bar- low) Davis, natives of Canada and pioneers of Illinois. Both her father and mother lived to a ripe old age, the former being eighty and the latter eighty-five at the time of death. In 1855 the spirit of emigration led the subject of our sketch to seek a home in Min- nesota, and in the spring of that year he came up the river by boat to Lesueur county, selecting a location on section fifteen, Kasota township, and there building a cabin and establishing himself and family in pio- neer style. Subsequently he sold this place and purchased his present farm, one hun- dred and twenty acres of valuable land on section 24 of the same township, and with the exception of ten years, when he resided in St. Peter in order to give his children the benefit of good educational advantages, he has maintained his home on this farm. Here he has a beautiful rural home, carries on general farming and stock-raising, and is comfortably situated to enjoy life. Mr. and Mrs. Pettis have three children: Orange Stephen, of Chicago, Illinois; Mary, wife of R. Volk, of St. Peter, Minnesota; and Cornelia May. Both of the daughters were formerly engaged in teaching and Miss Pettis is now at her parental home. In his political views and affiliations Mr. Pettis is strongly Republican and in favor of the "gold standard." For years he served as justice of the peace and as such rendered general satisfaction. He is a man of broad views, firm convictions, progress- ive spirit, and has a character that is above reproach, his word ever as good as his bond. His genial manner and his fine conversa- tional powers make him companionable and welcome wherever he goes. >Y'0SEPH C. EVERETTE. — The Jj name of this gentleman belongs on A 1 the list of pioneer citizens of Le- sueur county, Minnesota, he having maintained his home within its borders since the year following the admission of Minne- sota into the sisterhood of states. During the civil-war period he showed his patriot- ism and bravery by "donning the blue," marching forth under the stars and stripes, and fighting valiantly for his country; and both as an early settler and war veteran is his life history of interest in this connection. Joseph C. Everette was born not far from the-town of Paris, Champaign county, Ohio, October 2, 1840, a son of prominent early settlers of the Buckeye state. Zenus Everette, his father, was a native of New Jersey, and a son of Zenus Everette, a shoemaker, probably from England. Zenus Everette, Jr., was married in his native state to Miss Elizabeth Young, a native of New Jersey and a representative of a Penn- sylvania family of Holland descent, which 436 MEMORIAL RECORD OF figured prominently in the early history of this country. This worthy couple became the parents of ten children, namely: George, William, Abbie, Ruhamie, Rebecca, Cath- arine, Joseph C, Samuel, Asa and Henry, and all are still living except Asa, who was accidentally killed. The father died in 1845. He was a natural mechanic, handy with any kind of tools and could do the work of either a shoemaker or carpenter. Farming, how- ever, was his life occupation. Politically, he was a Jackson Democrat and religiously he held to the faith of the Methodists. His wife survived him seven 3'ears. She was a devoted Christian woman, a beautiful char- acter in every respect, and reared her chil- dren so that they were fitted to occupy, as they do, honored and useful positions in life. Joseph C. , the subject of our sketch, was only five years old at the time of his father's death and was just entering his 'teens'when he was bereft of his mother's lov- ing care. He was reared in his native county, having but few educational advantages, and at nineteen started west to make his fortune, Lesueur county, Minnesota, being his ob- jective point. Arrived here, he stopped first at the home of Mr. George Smith, an early settler, who lived near Cleveland, and for whom he worked for some time. Later he was in the employ of other farmers of this vicinity, working by the day or month, and thus passed the time until the war came on. He enlisted October i, 1861, in the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, the fortune of which he shared throughout the rest of the war, and prominent among the engage- ments in which he participated were those of Corinth, first and second, luka, Jackson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, siege of 'Vicksburg, Altona Pass, Savannah and others, and his whole army career from be- ginning to end was characterized by gallant service. Returning to Lesueur county at the close of the war, he settled on a forty-acre tract of land, six acres of which had been plowed, and in a log cabin on this place he and his wife began housekeeping. Then followed years of toil and privation, crowned finally with a fair degree of success, and to-day we find him the owner of eighty acres of well improved land, with good buildings thereon, and himself and family comfortably situated to enjoy life. Mr. Everette was married in January, 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Flowers, one of the early teachers of Cleveland township, Le- sueur county. She was born near Paris, Champaign county, Ohio, of Holland de- scent but of ancestry long resident in this country. Her father, Charles Flowers, was of Pennsylvania birth, and her mother, ncc Margaret Hooper Roads, was a native of New Jersey, the latter's mother before mar- riage having been a Miss Elizabeth Tice. The Tices were among the primitive settlers of New Jersey, John and Elizabeth Tice having located there about 1756. They had a numerous progeny, now scattered over various parts of the United States, all re- spected and many of them prominent and influential people. They were of English origin. Charles Flowers and wife had seven children, viz.: George, William, Isaac, Zephriah, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Martha. In 1856 the Flowers family came out to Minnesota, and here the father settled on a tract of land in Lesueur county and im- proved a farm, and here he spent the rest of his life. His death, however, occurred in Winneshiek county, Iowa, he being sixty- seven years of age when he passed away. By trade he was a stone-cutter, but he was SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 437 engaged in farming throughout the greater part of his Hfe. His good wife survived him a number of years, living to the advanced age of eighty-three. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of Mr. and Mrs. Everette's children, we record that their names in order of birth are as follows: Mary Louisa, a resident of South Dakota; Abbie Smith, Margaret Elizabeth, Martha Alice, wife of Josiah Pengree, of Otter Tail county, Minnesota; George Henry, at home; John Clark, and Cornelia May, a music teacher. Mr. Everette is a Republican in his pol- litical predilections. Fraternally he main- tains a membership in the G. A. R., A. K. Skaro Post, No. 37, of St. Peter; and, per- sonally, is a man of frank and genial man- ner and fine physique, weighing two hundred and thirty pounds. Mrs. Everette is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which the family are attendants with her. eLIJAH E. BOUTWELL.— A drive of two miles and a quarter through the country on the highway lead- ing south from Ivasota brings one to the charming rural home of the subject of this sketch, Elijah E. Boutwell, one of the prominent early settlers of Lesueur county and a veteran of the late war. His history is well worthy of preservation in the county annals and briefly is as follows: Elijah E. Boutwell was born in Frank- lin county, Massachusetts, December 11, 1834, and comes of a family long prominent and intfuential in this country. His remote ancestors were French Huguenots who were driven from France on account of their re- ligion and went to England, and from Eng- land three brothers of that name came to America and settled in New England during Puritan times. Congressman Boutwell be- longs to this family. The name originally was spelled Boutelle. Charles Boutwell, the father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire, son of Elijah Boutwell, also of New England birth, the latter being a Revo- lutionary soldier when a young man and famous as the strongest man in his regi- ment. Charles Boutwell was reared in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and in the latter state was united in marriage to Miss Mary Stone, a member of a leading family of that state and a cousin of General Stone, of the United States Army. The well-known John P. Hale was also a rela- tive of his. Her father, Elijah Stone, was a Revolutionary soldier, and he too was a prominent man in his day and place. Charles and Mary Boutwell became the parents of ten children, whose names in or- der of birth are as follows: Fred; George; Mary; Jeddiah, a soldier in the Fifty-second Massachusetts Regiment, who died from the effects of disease contracted while in the late war; Levi; Elijah E., whose name heads this sketch; Emery, Lucinda, Emma and Roxana, — all of whom grew up to oc- cupy honored and useful positions in life. The father of this family was both a farmer and mechanic, in politics was first a Whig and then a Republican, and his religious views were those of the Baptist church, of which he was an earnest and active mem- ber. He died at the age of fifty-nine years. His widow survived him a number of years, living to the advanced age of eighty-seven. She, too, was a loyal Christian. Both died in Montague, Massachusetts. Elijah E. Boutwell was reared on his father's farm in Massachusetts, brought up to habits of honesty, industry and piety, 438 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and by his earl}' training was fitted for good citizenship. His education, begun in the public schools of his native state, was com- pleted in the broad school of experience. Forty years ago, in 1856, we find him a young man of twenty-one on his way to what was then regarded as the far west, the territory of Minnesota, whither he journeyed by rail and boat, landing in due time at St. Peter, Nicollet county. Selecting a loca- tion on section 8 of Kasota township, he purchased a tract of land and built a log house, and here settled down in pioneer style, the log cabin serving him for a home for a number of years. His present com- modious residence, beautiful for location, surroundings and interior furnishings, and which commands a magnificent view of the valley, he built at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars, and his other farm buildings are all first-class and well kept. He has two barns, one twenty by eighty feet, with twelve-foot posts, and the other forty-eight by fifty feet, with sixteen-foot posts, and the larger barn and residence are built on rock foundations. The farm has an excellent supply of fine water, pumped for all the purposes of the farm and residence by a modern windmill. Other important features the visitor is sure to note are the beautiful forest trees, the orchard, and the broad meadows and fine stock, Mr. Boutwell taking a pride in his Norman horses, shorthorn cattle and Poland hogs. He owns two hundred and forty acres seven miles north of Mankato, on the Mankato road. During the Indian troubles in Minnesota in the latter part of her territorial days and early statehood Mr. Boutwell showed him- self to be made of genuine pioneer material. He was active in suppressing the Indian outbreak of 1857, and in 1S63 was one of the band of brave men who went out to protect the scattered settlers from the raids of the red men. At the opening of civil strife between the north and the south his long distance from the seat of war did not prevent him from showing the patriotic side of his nature and going out in protection of the old flag. He enlisted September 26, 1 86 1, as a member of the Fourth Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, with which he served for eighteen months. During his service he had measles, which settled on his lungs and from which he has never yet full}- recovered. He was honorably discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, in April, 1863, and immediately thereafter returned home. Mr. Boutwell was married June 13, 1869, to Miss T. K. Moore, a native of Franklin county, Massachusetts, daughter of Garry and Harriet (Torrey) Moore, both natives of Massachusetts, the former a son of Asa Moore, a Bostonian and a representative of a prominent family of that city; the latter a daughter of Noah Torrey, also a native of Massachusetts. Garry Moore and wife had five children, — Sarah Jane, Levi, Ellen M., Tryposia and Betsey, — all useful and re- spected citizens of the communities in which they live. Mr. Moore was a miller and farmer, and lived to the age of seventy-one years. His widow is now eighty-three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Boutwell have four chil- dren, viz.: Edwin Elijah, Grace May, El- gin Harlan and Marshall George, — all at home. And they have two children de- ceased, Winfred Garry, who died at the age of four months, and George Ernest, at four years. Mr. Boutwell was reared a Republican and has never yet felt called upon to change his political views, feeling that the party SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 439 that saved this country in its dark hour of civil turmoil will be sufficient to tide it over the money excitement or any other trouble that may arise. For years he has served as a member of the school board in his dis- trict. He is a member of that popular or- ganization in which all veterans take pride, the G. A. R. , and holds membership in A. K. Skaro Post, No. 37. Religiously, he is a Baptist, a devoted and active church member, and for a period of sixteen years has been the efficient superintendent of his Sabbath-school. m. 'ILLIAM J. GULP, whose name should be given a prominent place among the respected citizens and old soldiers of Elysian township, Lesueur county, Minnesota, forms the sub- ject of this biographical outline. Mr. Gulp is a native of the Empire state. He was born in Niagara county. New York, March 4, 1828, and is of German extraction, his forefathers having resided in this country for several generations. He is a son of Jonathan Gulp and grandson of John Gulp, for extended and honorable mention of whom the reader is referred to the biography of Gornelius Gulp, a brother of our subject, which will be found on another page of this work. William J. Gulp, when a boy of nine years, went with his parents to Michigan, settling in the dense beech forest, and there passing his youthful days in such sports and occupations as were found on a frontier farm and as were conducive to the develop- ment of a strong physique. At the log roll- ings and wrestling matches of the neighbor- hood he had no superior. His educational advantages were limited to the " rude log seats of learning " on the Michigan frontier. When the great civil war broke out his pa- triotism was not slow in manifesting itself, and on the ist of October, 1861, we find him enlisting as a member of the First Michigan Light Artillery, known as Loomis' Battery, which made a brilliant record. Mr. Gulp shared the fortunes of this command for three years, nine months and twenty- seven days, after which he was honorably discharged, with the rank of sergeant, at Jackson, Michigan, and returned to his home in that state. During his army service he contracted a complication of diseases which became chronic and from which he is still a sufferer. He left Michigan in 1869 and moved to Minnesota, locating on the old Dubuque road, near Greenland, Lesueur county, where he developed a farm and where he still resides. Here he now owns a small tract of land, eight and a half acres in ex- tent, on which he has a cozy home and other good buildings, and where he is pleasantly situated. Mr. Gulp was married in 1853 to Miss Emmarilla L. Noble, who has traveled life's pathway with him for forty-three years, and who is still the companion of his joys and sorrows. She, too, is a native of Niagara county. New York, and is a daughter of Jerry G. and Beulah (Rockwood) Noble, the former of Scotch descent and a native of Rutland, Vermont; the latter a native of Orleans county. New York. Mrs. Noble died in Branch county, Michigan, at the age of sixty-four years, and Mr. Noble still resides there, he having reached the vener- able age of eighty-six. In their family were three daughters: Emmarilla L. Gulp, Eliza- beth Ferguson, and Margaret Phillips, of whom Mrs. Gulp and Margaret are still living. 440 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Mr. and Mrs. Culp have four children, namely: Almeda, wife of H. Casebeer, of this county; Noble J., also of this county; Marcus D., of Nicollet county, Minnesota; and George, at home. Also they have two children de- ceased, their first and fourth born, Alvin T. and Jessie F., who died in infancy. Ever since the organization of the Re- publican party Mr. Culp has been one of its strong supporters. He is a member of Ma}'- nard Post, No. 49, G. A. R., in which he has passed all the chairs, including that of commander, and he also maintains fraternal relation with the Masonic order, having a membership in Sakatah Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M. Mrs. Culp is a member of , George H. Thomas Circle, No. 20, an auxiliary of the G. A. R. BA. LIVINGSTON, who enjoys offi- cial position as assessor of Ivasota township, Lesueur county, Minne- sota, is deserving of personal men- tion in this biographical record both by reason of his own personal worth and on account of his being a member of one of the pioneer families of the state. He was born five miles west of the town of Hender- son, in Sibley county, Minnesota, August 4, 1858, the year Minnesota was admitted into the Union, S. E. Livingston, his father, having emigrated hither from Pike county, Illinois, the previous year. S. E. Livingston is a New Yorker by birth, but was reared in Pike county, Illi- nois, of which his parents were pioneers, and in Pike county he wedded Mrs. Mary (Smith) Parsons, a widow with two sons, Oliver and Warren Parsons. Mr. Parsons died in California in 1S50, whither he had gone with the overland rush of gold-seekers in 1849. Mrs. Mary Livingston is a native of Ohio, daughter of English parents, and was reared in that state and in Illinois, her parents also being among the pioneers of Pike county. In 1857 Mr. Livingston and family came up into Minnesota, settling in Sibley county, where all was new and wild, Indians being more plentiful than white peo- ple, and on the frontier he and his good wife established their home and reared their family. When the war broke out he was among the first to offer his service for the preservation of the Union. He enlisted in 1 86 1 in the Fourth Minnesota Volunteer In- fantry, and gave four years of faithful serv- ice to his country, making an honorable war record. During the whole of his service he never spent a day in hospital, was always ready for duty and never turned his back on the enemy. He was in every engagement in which his command participated. Now, like most ex-soldiers, he takes a pleasure in his G. A. R. associations, and has his mem- bership in this order at Mankato, where he and his wife reside. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which they are prominent and active, and are among the most highly respected people of the town. Their union has been blessed in the birth of six children, namely: Halley, F. A., John, Emma, Ruth and Minnie. F. A. Livingston was reared in Sibley and Lesueur counties, his youth spent not unlike other frontier farmer boys, and his home influence was such that led to habits of honesty and industry. In 1882 he located on his present farm on section 28, Kasota township, then all wild land, and here he has developed a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, seventy of which are under a high state of cultivation. This place is /' ^m/d^^/o-me. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 441 only a mile from St. Peter, and its nearness to town makes it more valuable. Mr. Livingston was married in i8Tr*ACOB W. GISH, clerk of the dis- ■ trict court of Lesueur county, and a /• 1 resident of Lesueur Center, is one of Minnesota's native sons. He was born on a farm in Waterville township, this county, February lo, 1S65, a son of Henry L. and Bridget (Hoban) Gish. His father was born near Dayton, Ohio, February 16, 1838, and was a son of Jacob Gish, a native of Virginia. The grandfather was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and the great- grandfather, John Gish, was born in Vir- ginia. The maternal grandfather of our subject, John Bonger, was born in France, of German parentage. In the Buckeye state Henry L. Gish spent the days of his boy- hood and youth, and from there moved to Indiana, where he obtained a good common- school education. In 1857 he came with his parents to Minnesota, the grandfather securing a claim in Lesueur county, where- on he made his home until his death, which occurred November 6, 1892. After his re- moval to Minnesota, Henry L. Gish engaged in teaching school for two years. In 1862 he responded to the call of his country and enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company I, Fourth Minneso- ta Infantry, with which he participated in a number of important engagements. In October, 1864, he was honorably discharged and returned home, since which time he has been identified with the agricultural inter- ests of Lesueur county. He is also one of its leading citizens and has taken a promi- nent part in public affairs. In 1876, on the Democratic ticket, he was elected to rep- resent his district in the legislature, and in 1 88 1 was elected sheriff of the county, serv- ing in that capacity for five years. Frater- nally he is a Mason, and is also a member of Maynard Post, No. 29, G. A. R., the first post organized in Lesueur county. Jacob W. Gish is the second in a family of nine children, — five sons and four daugh- ters, — namely: Henry F. ; Mary Jane, wife of George J. Dressel; John W. ; William G. ; Dora L., wife of C. Coon; Lewis, Bertha, Thomas H. and Agnes. Jacob W. Gish spent the greater part of his youth on the home farm in Waterville township, where he assisted in the labor of the fields and attended the district schools of the neighborhood. He afterward entered the high school of Waterville, and on com- pleting his education received the appoint- 446 MEMORIAL RECORD OF iiicnt of deputy register of deeds, serving in that capacity under Patrick Hamell and aft- erward under Joseph Rachac. In the spring of 1887 he was appointed clerk of the dis- trict clerk to filha vacancy caused by the res- ignation of R. C. Thompson, and in the fall of 1888 was elected to the same office, in which he has since continued. No higher testimonial of his faithfulness and capability could be given than in his continued re-elec- tion, and this is still further emphasized by the fact that he is a stanch Republican, while Lesueur county is strongly Demo- cratic. In 1889 Mr. Gish was united in marriage with Miss Alice C. Ryan, a daughter of Michael Ryan, both of Lesueur county. They have one son, Edson J. Mr. Gish is a member of Volney Lodge, No. 165, I. O. O. F. In politics he takes a very active and influential part, is recognized as one of the leading Republicans of the state and is now serving as a member of the Republican state central committee, also of the execu- tive committee. VELORAS ATHERTON is num- bered among the boys in blue who went forth in defense of the Union during the civil war. The same loyalty has characterized his fulfillment of every trust committed to his care, and he is one of the highly respected citizens of Le- sueur county. He now follows farming on section 10, Waterville township, and is a worthy adopted son of Minnesota. Mr. Atherton was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, September i, 184S, and is a son of Adnah and Palona (Bailey) Atherton. The grandfather, Truman Ath- erton, was a native of the Keystone state, and of German descent. The parents were also born in Pennsylvania, and in 1853 came to Minnesota, making the journey by rail to Chicago, thence by boat to St. Paul, and by wagon to Rosemount, where the family set- tled. A few years later they removed to Rice county, where the mother died in 1882 and the father in 1892. Yeloras Atherton was a child of five years when brought by his parents to Min- nesota. He was reared and educated in Dakota county, and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm until 1864, when, prompted by a spirit of patriotism, he offered his services to the government and enlisted in Company E, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. The regiment was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was largely engaged in guard duty in that section of the country. Mr. Atherton faithfully served for nine months and was honorably dis- charged in September, 1865. Returning to his home in Minnesota, he engaged in stock-raising in Dakota county until 1867, when he removed to Rice coun- ty, where he spent the succeeding four years. He then came to Lesueur county aud pur- chased a farm of eighty acres on section 10, Waterville township, where he has since carried on general farming and stock-rais- ing. The place is improved with a sub- stantial residence, good barns and outbuild- ings and all modern accessories which are used by the progressive farmer. He also has an excellent windmill used in pumping the water from a well two hundred and forty feet deep. In 1869 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Atherton and Miss Ellen, daughter of John and Ann Hoben, of Lesueur county. They have nine children, — four sons and five daughters, — namely: Anna, Emma, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 447 Benjamin, Stephen, Eliza, Lottie, Charlie, Nellie and Lawrence. Mr. Atherton has served as treasurer of the school district. He and his family are leading members and active workers in the United Brethren church, in which he has served as steward and trustee. One of the prominent farmers of Lesueur county, he is a man of great energy, wide-awake and progressive, and his success has been achieved through determined effort and capable management. * y ^ ON. L. M. ERICKSON holds in If^"^ his hands the reins of government \ P of St. Peter, and his capable ad- ministration of its public affairs has materially advanced the interests of the city and won him the high^ commendation of all. He is numbered among the enter- prising and valued citizens that Sweden has furnished to southwestern Minnesota, and his life record demonstrates what can be accomplished by one of diligence, energy and perseverance, who takes advantage of the opportunities offered for self-advance- ment in this land which is unhampered by the restraints of caste and class. Mr. Erickson was born in Sweden in 1844, and pursued his education in its public schools until about fifteen years of age, when he was employed on the construction of a railroad. He successfully carried on operations along that line, becoming a pro- ficient workman. Later ho took contracts for the rock work in the construction of abutments to bridges and culverts. He continued his efforts in that Hne of endeavor until 1868, when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, landing at Quebec, Canada, thence made his way to Detroit, Michigan, and on to Chicago, Illinois, where he re- mained for a short time. On leaving that city he came to St. Peter, where he worked for others for three months. He then be- gan railroad contracting, his first service being with the Winona & St. Peter, now the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Com- pany. He afterward took a contract to do the rock work on the Northwestern road. About the time of its completion Mr. Erickson entered into partnership with C. J. Larson, of Winthrop, Sibley county, Minnesota, and John Peterson, under the name of C. J. Larson & Company, who constructed a portion of the Northwestern road. This firm took leading rank among the contractors of the state and were en- gaged on the construction of many of the important railroads of the west, including the building of more than two hundred and seventy-five miles of road for the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City line. They also built the branch road to Waterloo, Iowa, and to Galena and Freeport, Illinois, and did a more extensive business than any other firm in the southwestern part of the state. In 1873 and 1874 this firm con- structed one hundred and eighty-five miles of road for the Great Northern Railroad Company, and later seventy-five miles for the Northern Pacific Railway Company. In 1887 Mr. Erickson and Mr. Peterson, hav- ing severed their business relation with Mr. Larson, continued operations together un- der the firm name of Erickson & Peterson. In the spring of 1896, in connection with the firm of Winston Brothers, of Minne- apolis, Mr. Erickson took a contract for the construction of the Chicago, St. Paul, Min- neapolis ct Omaha works at Mankato. Mr. Erickson is also a stockholder in the Nicollet County Bank, of St. Peter, and 448 MEMORIAL RECORD OF other banks of Minnesota. He owns a valuable farm of two hundred and forty acres, which is improved with excellent buildings, and the land is cultivated under his personal supervision. In 1 87 1 Mr. Erickson was united in marriage to Miss Christine Nelson, of St. Peter, Minnesota. They have seven chil- dren, namely: Edward, Amanda, Olga, Arndt, Louis, Mabel and Ralph. Their home is a handsome residence, richly and tastefull)' furnished, and the friends are many who share its hospitality. Mr. Erickson and his family attend the Lutheran church. In the spring of 1896 he was elected mayor of St. Peter and has so administered the affairs of the city as to promote its substantial improvement and materially ad- vance its welfare. For four years he has served as county commissioner of Nicollet county, and is the present incumbent in that office. Public-spirited and progressive, he is deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the city and county, and in his adopted land he has won the honored American title of a self-made man. BRANKLIN D. ADAMS became a resident of Lesueur county, Minne- sota, more than four decades ago, his identity with this place dating from May i, 1853, and during the years which have intervened between that time and the present he has kept pace with the progress made here, his fine farm and de- lightful rural home being among the most desirable in the community. By virtue of his long residence here and the prominent place he has occupied among the agricultur- ists of the county, he is deserving of honor- able mention in this biographical record, and to a review of his life the biographer finds pleasure in turning. Franklin D. Adams was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 17, 1820, a son of Quaker parents, and has a birthright in the Society of Friends. His father, George Adams, unlike many of the Quakers, believed in fighting as well as praying, and was an active participant in the war of 18 12, in which he rendered valiant service. He was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, son of George Adams, Sr. , a native of that state and a son of German parents, promi- nent residents of Pennsylvania and of Quaker faith. Indeed, as far back as their history can be traced they were people of sterling worth and strict members of the Society of Friends. The younger George Adams married Barbara Roarer, a native of Pennsylvania, and, like himself, belonging to a highly respected German family. Their union was blessed in the birth of four chil- dren that grew to maturity, — John, Barbara, Henry and Franklin D. The father lived to the venerable age of ninety years, and the mother was seventy-eight at the time of her death. In Chester county, Pen;isylvania, Frank- lin D. Adams spent his boyhood days, growing up under the best of home influ- ence and early receiving those lessons of honesty, industry and piety which have been the foundation of his successful career. At fifteen he left home to make his own way in the world. His first venture was as clerk in a general store in Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania. Some time later he returned and entered the leather business, which he followed for a number of years. This brings his history up to 1853, when, as al- ready stated, he became a resident of Min- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 449 nesota, the journey hither having been made by rail and boat on the rivers. Ar- rived in Kasota township, Lesueur county, he selected his present location on section 9, and on the Mankato road built a small frame house, twelve by eighteen feet in di- mensions, which was his first home. Later he moved up on the hill where he now lives and built a large log house, to which he subsequent!}' made a frame addition, and which house is still standing, a landmark of pioneer days and now used for a store house. He built his present residence, a large frame structure, both convenient and attractive, in 1876, at a cost of two thou- sand dollars, and has it furnished in a man- ner indicating taste and culture as well as means. Surrounding it are numerous beau- tiful forest trees and a fine orchard. The barn is forty by sixty feet in dimensions. A modern windmill pumps a generous supply of water for all needed purposes on this farm, and the farm itself is two hundred acres in extent, of rich soil, well cultivated. Turning now to that part of Mr. Adams' history which is more purely domestic, we find that he was married, October 23, 1856, to Sophia Margraf, of German birth and an- cestry, of amiable disposition and industri- ous habits, and who for forty years has shared the joys and sorrows of life with him, aiding him by her counsel and cheerful com- panionship and filling well her place in life. She was born in a dukedom of Saxonj', Germany, daughter of Christolf Margraf. Her father lived and died in Germany and some time after his death the widowed mother and her children made their way to America, going first to Texas, thence up to Cincinnati, Ohio, and from there coming to Mankato, Minnesota, where she died, at the age of seventy-five years. Mrs. Adams is one of a family of six children, of whom only she and her sister Wilhemina are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have four chil- dren, viz. : Barbara, wife of William Jor- dine, of Kasota, Minnesota; Anna Jane, wife of Cassius McGrow, of this township; Frances, wife of John Reph, of this town- ship; and John Quincy, at the old home- stead. Also they have one child deceased, Charles Francis, who died at the age of twenty months. Mr. Adams first became interested in politics during the "log-cabin *and hard- cider " campaign in 1840, and voted then for General William Henry Harrison, and he has had the pleasure of voting twice for the younger Harrison. For twenty years Mr. Adams served as a member of the school board, all that time being clerk of the board, and has also served on the board of supervisors. Progressive and enterpris- ing and having at heart the best interests of the community, his influence has been felt for good here, and he has long been recog- nized as a man of sterling worth and appre- ciated for his good qualities. In him are found very pronounced many of the charac- teristics of the Quaker. He is plain in speech and manner, fair and square in all his dealings, frank and genial and the soul of hospitality. >-j*ULIUS H. BLOCK.— There is no ^ one nation that has contributed to A 1 the complex, composite make-up of our American social fabric an ele- ment of more sterling worth and of greater potency in supporting and fostering our na- tional institutions than has Gernianj'. From this source our republic has had nothing to lose and much to gain. Germany has given 450 MEMORIAL RECORD OF us men of sturdy integrity, indomitable per- severance, higher intelligence and much business sagacity, — the result being the in- corporation of a strong and strength-giving fiber, ramifying through warp and woof. A man who may well look with pride upon his German-American origin is the subject of this review, who is a resident of St. Peter and one who has long rendered effective of- ficial service as sheriff of Nicollet county. A native of the old Buckeye state, Mr. Block was born at Gallon, Crawford county, Ohio, on the 30th of March, i860, being the son of William and Augusta (Hilden- dorft) Block, both of whom were born in the German empire. Xhey were among the honored pioneers of Ohio, where the father devoted his attention to agricultural pur- suits, having been a man of utmost integrity and worth, holding as his own the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. He was of resolute purpose, stern in his convictions as to the ethics of life, strong in his mentality and of most kindly nature. Under the parental roof our subject grew to manhood, having in his early youth contributed his quota to car- rying on the work of the farm, the while taking advantage of the privileges afforded in the district schools, which he was en- abled to attend during the winter seasons and in which he laid the foundation of the valuable, practical education which has sub- served his success and usefulness in life. In the fall of 1870 the family removed to the west, taking up their abode on a farm in Nicollet county, Minnesota, where Julius devoted his attention for some time to assisting in the cultivation and improve- ment of the place. His ambitious and self- reliant nature, however, soon led him to seek a wider field of operations, and he se- cured the position as storekeeper of supplies in the state hospital, at St. Peter, retaining this incumbenc}' for seven years, and dis- charging the duties thereof with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the au- thorities. Within this time the young man had taken a lively interest in the public affairs of the count}', and his zeal and undoubted eligibility soon gained him recognition, for in 1888 he was placed in nomination, on the Republican ticket, for the office of sher- iff of Nicollet county. At the ensuing elec- tion he was accorded a representative sup- port, and was duly inducted into the import- ant office. No more patent evidence of his ability to handle the exacting business of the office or of the satisfaction he has given to the people of the county, can be found than that evidenced in the fact that he has been re-elected at each successive election and is now serving his eighth year as sher- iff. Signal fidelity has marked his adminis- tration, and he has been earnest and alert in protecting the interests of the people by maintaining law and order and by bringing malefactors to justice. His executive capac- ity has brought Mr. Block into still further prominence in public affairs. He is a mem- ber of the board of managers of the state hospitals for the insane, and is also one of the commissioners appointed to select a site and locate the fourth hospital provided for the care of this unfortunate class of persons in the state. He is a stalwart and uncom- promising Republican in his political faith, and his active and well directed service in the party ranks has caused his name to be mentioned in connection with public offices of high trust and responsibility, — notabl}^ that of state treasurer. His sterling char- acteristics have gained him the respect of SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 451 the people, while his genial nature has con- served the marked popularity which is his. He maintains a progressive ' attitude, is thoroughly public-spirited and is ever ready to lend his aid and iniluence in furthering any project which touches the welfare and prosperity of the county and state. Mr. Block is a man of commanding presence, standing over six feet in height and depress- ing the balance to the amount of three hun- dred pounds or more. His physique is of symmetrical proportions and he is virile and active to a marked degree. In the year 1885 was consummated the marriage of Mr. Block to Miss Sarah West, of St. Peter, the daughter of Robert West, a native of Cavan, Ireland. Of this union two children have been born, — Robert W. and Arthur B. at * ALTER R. JOHNSON. — On section 33 of Belgrade township, Nicollet county, Minnesota, and five miles northwest of the city of Mankato, is found the delightful country home and fine farm of this worthy pioneer of the Gopher state, Walter R. Johnson. Mr. Johnson claims the Empire state as the one of his nativity. He was born at Burlington, Otsego county, New York, eight- een miles from Utica, on the 7th day of April, 1833, and is descended from ances- tors whose arrival in this country dates back to the colonial period. Harris Johnson, Jr., his father, was a son of Harris Johnson, Sr., the former a native of Otsego county. New York, and the latter one of its early settlers. The elder Harris traced his ancestry back to two brothers who came to this country pre- vious to the Revolution, and were partici- pants in that war, and his wife's ancestry can be followed back to three brothers who came from England to America, one locat- ing in Massachusetts and the other two in New York. The mother of our subject was Lucy M., ncc Dorshey. She, too, was a native of New York state, her father, George Dorshey, being a representative of one of the first families that settled there. Harris Johnson, Jr., and wife, Lucy M., were the parents of the following named children: Georgiana Price, deceased; Thomas, de- ceased, was among the early settlers of Nicollet county, Minnesota, and his son, D. T. , is now postmaster of Nicollet; Lucy Cora, who died in Northwood, Iowa; Walter R., whose name forms the heading of this review, and Harris, a resident of New York. The father of this family died in Virgil, Cortland county, New York, at the age of three-score years. He was a farmer, a Democrat and a Methodist, and his life was so ordered that he was justly entitled to the high esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. His good wife, who also was a devoted Christian and member of the Meth- odist church, died in middle life. Walter R. Johnson was reared on a stony farm in Cortland county. New York, where he was brought up to habits of hon- esty, industry and frugality, and to the pub- lic schools and the dear school of experience is he entitled for his educational advantages. In 1853 he left the parental home, took Greeley's advice and came west to make his fortune. He journeyed by rail and stage to Jones county, Iowa, and at a place near Anamosa took claim to a tract of land upon which he settled in pioneer stjde. After some time, however, he was driven out by chills and fever, then so prevalent throughout many of the frontier districts. There, in the year 1855, he was united in 452 MEMORIAL RECORD OF marriage to Miss Eleanor M. Turpenning, a native of New York and a daughter of Marenius Turpenning, of that state. Immediately after their marriage thej' started on their wedding tour for Min- nesota, traveling with an ox team and wagon, ^camping by the roadside wherever the shadows of night overtook them, and being four weeks on the road before they reached their destination in Courtland town- ship, Nicollet count}', in what was then the territory of Minnesota. Here he took claim to one hundred and sixty acres of land, and named the township in honor of his old vil- lage in New York. He was on that claim during the Indian war of 1857, and also the memorable Sioux massacre of 1S62, and is familiar with the varied experiences incident to border life. In 1863 he removed to his present location in Belgrade township. Here he has two hundred and ten acres of land, one of the best farms in the township, with first-class improvements thereon and everything giving evidence of the prosperity which has attended the earnest efforts of the owner. His residence cost fifteen hundred dollars and his tenant house six hundred dollars. His large barn is forty by sixty- two feet in dimensions, and among his other farm buildings are a granary, cribs, poultry-house, ice-house, etc. ; and he has a modern windmill used both for grinding feed for his stock and pumping water, water being carried in pipes to the house and yards. A six-acre grove and orchard and plenty of small fruits are other important features of his farm. In his broad pastures are found the best grade of stock, including a dairj' of twelve cows and horses of the Norman breed. Mr. Johnson's first marriage has already been referred to. In 1869 death bereaved him of his companion and he was left with live little children, namely: George, still on the home farm ; Lucy, now Mrs. Gulp, of this township; Georgiana, now Mrs. Steele, is also a resident of this township; and two that have since died, — Mrs. Maria Collins in Galifornia and Mary at the old home place. Mrs. Collins was the first white child born in Courtland township. March 17, 1869, Mr. Johnson wedded for his second wife ]\Iiss Sarah Clarinda Haj'es, a cousin of President Hayes and a native of Cleveland, Ohio. Their marriage resulted in the birth of five children, all of whom are deceased but one, a daughter, Cora, now Mrs. Wright of this township, who before her marriage was successfully- engaged in teaching. On the 30th of April, 1880, death again visited Mr. Johnson's home and bore away his loving companion. His present wife, whom he wedded September 1 , 1 88 1 , was before her marriage Miss Vesta Spear. She was born, reared and educated in St. Lawrence county. New York, daughter of Horace J. and Ruth (Allen) Spear, both natives of New York, the latter now a resi- dent of Belgrade township, Nicollet county ; the former died here some years ago. The children born of this last marriage numbered seven, five of whom are living, — Vesta, Allen, Pascal, William and Albert. Mr. Johnson has long been prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal church and for years has served as class- leader and steward, and his whole life has been in accord with his teachings and pro- fession. Politically he is a Democrat, and is in harmony with the best element of his party. He was the first constable in Court- land township, this county, and has been honored with some town office ever since he has been in the county. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 453 ^■^^PURGEON ODELL, Marshall, >^^^kf Minnesota, enjoys official prefer- ^ J ence as clerk of the court, and both as an officer and citizen stands high in the estimation of his fellows. He is a native of Minnesota, and a rep- resentative of one of her pioneer families. His parents were Ezra and Margaret (Houliston) Odell, the former born in Ver- mont and the latter in New York state, and early in the history of Minnesota came out here and settled on the frontier. He died in Faribault county, this state, in the winter of 1873, aged fifty-three years. All through life he was a farmer and miller, and during his residence in Minnesota ac- quired several hundred acres of land. He erected one of the first mills in the state, located at Oronoco, about twelve miles north of Rochester, which he operated both as a flour and saw mill, and did a successful business for a number of years. When he first settled in Minnesota there was only one house between the now prosperous cities of Red Wing and Rochester, and Rochester could then boast of but one tavern, and that a log structure. Ezra Odell was a man of firm convic- tions of right and always had the courage of his convictions. He was reared a Whig, became a Republican in 1856, and always took a deep interest in political matters. Before the war and during those dark days his influence was on the Union side and against the cause of slavery. Reverting to the grand parents of our subject we find that his paternal grand- father, Isaac Odell, was a native of Ver- mont, followed agricultural pursuits through life, and died in New York state, at about the age of sixty years. Grandmother Odell, also a native of \'ermont, lived to the good old age of seventy-eight. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Odell were Andrew and Mary (Lees} Houliston, natives of Blains- ley parish, Berwickshire, Scotland, who upon their emigration to this country settled in St. Lawrence county, near Ogdensburg, New York, where they lived until 1862, after which they came to Minnesota and spent their declining years with their two daughters, — Lawrence McMaster and Mar- garet Odell. Andrew Houliston was by oc- cupation a ship carpenter, at which he worked both before and after coming to America. The Houlistons were formed}' of English origin. John Houliston, of New York city, in 1889, visited Scotland and England and traced the family record in York Cathedral, England, to the year 1300. Spurgeon Odell, the immediate subject of this review, was born in Oronoco, Olm- sted county, Minnesota, July 6, i860, and was reared chiefly on a farm. Until he was nineteen his educational advantages were limited to the district schools and high schools of Wells, Faribault county. Then he taught one term of school, after which he went to Battle Creek College, of Battle Creek, Michigan, where he pursued his stud- ies for two years, starting out with only forty dollars to work his way through school. Upon his return home he taught another term of school, after which he clerked a year and a half, and then went to Granite Falls, Minnesota, where he worked at the painter's trade up to August, 1889. His next change of location was to Lyon county, where he took charge of an elevator for the Northwestern Elevator Company, and con- ducted the same until October i, 1894. About that time he was elected clerk of the court, on the Populist ticket, he being 454 MEMORIAL RECORD OF the only county officer elected on that ticket, and, what was a most remarkable coinci- dence, received twelve hundred and seventy- two votes, the exact number received by Governor Nelson, the Republican candidate, in Lyon county. Mr. Odell was Republican until 1892, his first presidential vote having been cast for James G. Blaine; but for the past four years he has been identified with the Populist movement. He was a dele- gate to the Populist state convention of 1894, the congressional district convention and state convention of 1896, holding the position of secretary in each of the two latter. Fraternally, Mr. Odell is a Mason in high standing, and he and his wife are attend- ants upon worship at the Methodist Episco- pal church, of which she is a member, act- ive and enthusiastic in church and benevo- lent work. Mr. Odell was married June 27, 1894, to Miss Effie M. Pomeroy, a native of Wiscon- sin, and they have a little daughter, — Lottie Margaret, — born April 21, 1895. >'TX ARTIN A. OSTRANDER, pro- ■ I I prietor of a general store at \ \ ¥ Kasota, Minnesota, has for a number of years been identified with the business interests of this place, and as one of its leading merchants is a prom- inent factor of the community. It is fitting, therefore, that a resume of his life be given place in this volume, and accordingly the biographer has gleaned the following facts for publication. Mr. Ostrander was born in Pitkin town- ship, St. Lawrence county. New York, August 26, 1852, and is a son of Charles and Lavinda (Chadwick) Ostrantler, both natives of the Empire state. His grand- father, on his father's side, was of German descent, and his grandfatheron his mother's side was of Scottish origin. His father was a carpenter and a fine mechanic. Some time in the '60s he emigrated west, first locating in St. Joseph, Missouri, and later in Minnesota. He made his home in this state until 1879, when he returned to New York state, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of seventy-one years. His wife died at the home of her son, Mar- tin A., here in Minnesota. Of their five children three are yet living, — the subject of this sketch and a brother and sister, but the two latter are not residents of this state. Mr. Ostrander, our subject, passed the first twelve years of his life in Carthage, New York, then accompanying his parents to Missouri, and was fourteen years of age when the family removed to this state, locating in Kasota. Here he attended the public schools, completing his education during the winter seasons of the following five years and during the summer seasons helping his father in the contracting busi- ness and under his supervision learning the carpenter's trade. For three years thereafter he followed this trade, commencing as bridge carpenter on the Winona & St. Peter railway and rap- idly working his way up to be foreman of bridge construction. A considerable amount of government work about to be started at this time, Mr. Ostrander consummated a business partnership with J. B. Turritin and together they secured some large contracts from the government at the Sisseton agency, in South Dakota. After fulfilling their contracts they dissolved partnership, and Mr. Ostrander returned to Kasota and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 455 followed the contracting and building busi- ness until 1 88 1, with success, and then turned to general merchandising. Decem- ber 1 6, 1 88 1, he entered into a partnership with C. W. Babcock in this line and was associated with him two years, and at the end of that time he purchased Mr. Bab- cock's interest and continued alone. From October I, 1891, until July i, 1893, he had for a partner Mr. Fred Anderson, and since the latter date has done business under his own name and has had e.\cellent success, the aggregate sales for the past five years averaging thirty-five thousand dollars per annum. He has found it necessary to quadruple his force of clerks, and from time to time has increased the capacity of his store, and at the present time occupies a building with three ground ffoors and a total frontage of sixty-six feet. He carries a large stock of general merchandise, includ- ing dry goods, groceries, gents' furnishing goods, boots and shoes, shelf hardware, stoves, tinware, etc., and does a business that extends into the country for many miles around Kasota. January 29, 1879, is the date of Mr. Ostrander's marriage to Miss Stella A. Car- penter, a native of Ohio and a daughter of D. W. Carpenter, now of Kasota. Mr. Carpenter was born in the town of Hinckley, Medina county, Ohio, November 15, 1837. His father was a prosperous farmer, and he lived at his parental home until the time of his marriage, which occurred at the age of twenty-three years, when he wedded Miss Emeline C. Mclntyre, of the same town. He then moved to Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, and engaged in the farming industry. After residing here a year he re- turned to Hinckley, where he lived until the death of his wife, which occurred April 11, 1863, leaving one child, Stella A., who was born at Hinckley, February 25, 1861. Mr. Carpenter moved to Minnesota with his daughter in 1871 and settled near St. Peter, and remained there until the marriage of his daughter, when he moved to the village of Ivasota. Mrs. Ostrander was educated at St. Peter, and is a woman of rare enter- taining abilities, her home being the center of refined society and hospitality, both for young and old. She is the mother of seven children, all yet living, namely: Jessie E., born March i, 1880; Mabel L. , born Jan- uary 6, 1882; Ethel A., born November 17, 1883; Sarah Louise, February i, 1886; Zella Bernice, October 18, 1887; Donald W. , September 5, 1893; and a daughter, born February 12, 1896, yet unnamed. In these stirring political times we find Mr. Ostrander in favor of sound money and firmly allied with the Republican party, with which he has long been connected. He has served several years on the Repub- lican county committee. He has always taken an active interest in local affairs and has served in some official positions; for years he has been town treasurer. He is very progressive in public-school matters, having served as a school director for fif- teen years, doing all in his power to pro- rhote the educational interests of Kasota. He is liberal and public-spirited, always willing to aid his fellow men, deserving charitable institutions, etc., which latter would never be allowed to go without sup- port and prosperity if such men as Martin A. Ostrander were the rule instead of being the exception. Both as a citizen and as a business man he stands high in the com- munity, and he and his family are justly en- titled to the esteem with which they are held by all who know them. 456 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ^^^USTAV C. WENDELSCHAFER. ■ (j\ — It has been said that biography ^_^^ yields to no other subject in point of interest and profit; and it is es- pecially interesting to note the progress that has been made along various lines of busi- ness by those of foreign birth who have sought homes in America, the readiness with which they adapt themselves to the different modes and customs of this country, recognize the advantages offered and utilize the opportunities which the new world af- fords. To this class belongs Mr. Wendel- schafer, the present efficient county treas- urer of Lesueur county. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, August lo, 1833, a son of Frederick and Catherine (Trost) Wendelschafer, who were natives of the same country, where they re- mained until 1853, when they crossed the Atlantic to America. The voyage, cover- ing six weeks, was made in a sailing vessel, which dropped anchor in the harbor of New York. They went to Buffalo, where they spent nearly two months, thence to Chicago, and on a farm near Joliet, Illinois, made their first home in America. In 1856 they came to Lesueur county, Minnesota, and the father secured a patent from the gov- ernment for one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he cleared and improved, mak- ing it a good farm. There he resided until his death in 1 870, aged sixty-six years. His wife passed away in 1867. They had four children, — Charles, Fred, Gustav and Betty, wife of Gunter Geyer. Mr. Wendelschafer, of this sketch, at- tended the schools of his native land be- tween the ages of six and fifteen 3ears, and then learned the cabinet-maker's trade, after which he worked as a journeyman in various towns and cities of the fatherland. When a young man of twenty years he came with his parents to America and as- sisted in the development of farms in Illinois and Minnesota. The claim in this state was heavily timbered and it required much arduous labor to prepare it for the plow. At length he started out in life for himself, and after accumulating some capital he pur- chased land, to which he has added until he is now the owner of a valuable tract of four hundred and seventy-five acres. Its deep rich soil is admirably adapted to the rais- ing of all kinds of small grain as well as corn, the barns and pastures contain excel- lent grades of horses, cattle and hogs, and a good set of buildings add to the value and attractive appearance of the place. The farm is now run" by his three sons, while Mr. Wendelschafer gives his attention to his duties as county treasurer. In 1857 he married Miss Dora Wilkins, of Will county, Illinois. She was born in Germany, and during her girlhood came to America with her father, Peter Wilkins. Seven children were born to this union, five sons, — Gustave C. H., Fred W. , Theodore G. , Archibald and Emil, — and two daugh- ters, — Bertha and Alvina. His wife died in 1867. Then he was married again in 1868 to Mary Vonhoff, a native of Germany, and by this marriage have been born three daughters, — Louisa, Emma and Lena, — and one son, — Charles. Mr. Wendelschafer is a member of Cleveland Lodge, No. 47, F. & A. M. ; Lesueur Chapter, R. A. M. ; and Volncy Lodge, No. 165, I. O. O. F. He and his wife are members of the Cleveland Lutheran church. In 18S2 he was elected county commissioner and served three years. In 1884 he was elected on the Republican ticket to represent Lesueur county in the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 457 state legislature, where he served acceptably for one term. In 1886 he was elected county treasurer for a term of two years, assuming the duties of the office January i, 1887, since which time lie has continuously filled that position, being re-elected in 1896. This fact not only indicates his efficiency and fidelity to duty, but also attests his personal popularity, for the county usually h&s a Democratic majority of four hundred. In all business relations he is straightforward and honorable and his well-directed efforts have brought to him success. He owns besides his home farm five hundred acres of land in Ottawa and Washington townships, and has all been acquired through his own industry. *y ^ ON, JOHN PETERSON needs no |f\ special introduction to the readers \^r of this volume, for he is known throughout the state as one of its prominent and leading citizens. His name is inseparably connected with the political and commercial development of southwest- ern Minnesota, and his devotion to public duty has numbered him among the loyal and valued citizens of the state. Mr. Peterson was born in the province of Vermland, Sweden, on the 6th of July, 1 84 1, and attended the public schools of that country until fifteen years of age. He then entered upon his business career, and the success that he has achieved in life is the merited reward of his own labors. He learned the trade of a mechanic and builder and was skilled especially in the working of iron. For some years he followed his trades in the iron districts of his native province, and from 1865 until 1869 he was connected with the construction of railroads. During 29 the last two and a half years of that period he held the responsible position of superin- tendent of the construction of railroad bridges on the government railways in Sweden. Thinking to find a broader field of labor and better oportunities in the New World, he sailed for the United States in the spring of 1869, and has since devoted his energies to railroad contracting in this country. His marked skill and ability were soon demon- strated in an efficient fulfillment of a con- tract for the construction of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad, now the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Road. He also took the contract for the construction of the Winona & St. Peter Road, and in 1870 contracted for the building of a part of the Mankato branch of that line. In 1871 his company built the first four miles from St. Peter west on the St. Peter, Winona & St. Paul Road. He was a contractor for a portion of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, and for a number of other important rail- way lines in the west. The iron rail marks the direction of civilization's advance, and the great northwest owes its development largely to the railways. Mr. Peterson has therefore been an important factor in open- ing up the limitless possibilities of this sec- tion of the country to the people who ha,ve come from other districts to enjoy the splendid advantages afforded by Minnesota and other states. In 1873, Mr. Peterson married Miss Fredericka E. Lundburg, of St. Peter, and they have seven children, five sons and two daughters. They are members of the Swe- dish Lutheran church, and their home is a fine residence with most pleasant sur- roundings. Its hospitable doors are ever open for the reception of their many friends, 458 MEMORIAL RECORD OE and in social circles they hold an enviable rank. In addition to this property, Mr. Peterson also owns a good farm which he rents. For many years from the forming of the college he has been a member of the board of directors of Gustaviis Adolphus College at St. Peter, and he has served as a mem- of the board of trustees of the State Hos- pital for the Insane at this place for five years. Since 1881 he has been a member of the city council, and for two years was its president. In 1894 he was elected to represent the seventeenth senatorial district of Minnesota in the state senate, wherein he has served on several important committees, including that on state hospitals for the insane. His reputation as an honorable business man is untarnished, his record in political circles is one which commends him to the confidence and respect of all, and in private life his sterling worth has won him high regard. He is an tmcompromising Republican. aHRISTIAN VOLK, one of the Ger- man-American citizens of Granby township, Nicollet county, Minne- sota, is prominently identified with its agricultural interests. For nearly thirty years he has maintained his home here, and is well known to the people of this locality. Mr. \'olk dates his birth in Darmstadt, Germany, February 3, 1832. His parents, Michael and Anna (Eggley) Volk, were both natives of that province, and passed their lives and died there. His father was by trade a window-glass maker, and religiously was a Lutheran. He died in 1838, when the subject of our sketch was a boy of six years, leaving his widow with six small chil- dren, their names in order of birth being as follows: Jacob and Catherine, both still residing in Germany; Wilhelm, who died at Lake Erie, Ohio; Christian; and George and Peter, both of whom died in their native land. Christian attended school in Ger- many up to the time he was fourteen. Then he learned the trade of baker, under the in- structions of his brother-in-law, with whom he worked three years. Following that he spent one year in the cavalry service of Ger- many, and on leaving the army went to Liverpool, England, and from that port took passage for New York, where he landed in safety after a voyage of thirty-four days. After some time spent at Buffalo, New York, he went to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in making oil-cloth, and later peddled the same through Ohio. Mr. Volk married in Ohio and settled down there, and at the time of the outbreak of the civil war was living at Camden, near Dayton. Ere the war had made much prog- ress his patriotism was thoroughly aroused, and, like many of his countrymen who had settled in America, he was ready to tender his services for the preservation of the Un- ion. He enlisted in 1862, in Company G, Ninety-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and, after a short drill at Dayton, went to the front, being first under fire at Oxford, Ken- tucky. He was in a number of subsequent engagements, and spent one winter at Chat- tanooga, Tennessee, where a portion of the time he was nearly starved. During his service he was wounded in the left foot, had to be carried from the field to the hospital, and was for some time unable for duty. The surgeon thought it necessary to amputate the member. Mr. Volk, however, would not permit it, and on account of his persist- ent refusal is now walking on two feet in- so UTH WES TERN MINNESO TA . 459 stead of one. Upon his recovery he rejoined the army, and helped to fight General Mor- gan in Ohio. During a portion of his serv- ice he was detailed as baker. The war over, he was honorably discharged, and returned with the record of a brave, true soldier, un- tarnished by an unworthy act. He rejoined his family in Ohio and re- mained there until 1867, when he came out west and settled at his present location in Minnesota. About that time he was troubled greatly with rheumatism, and to Mr. William J. Bean he owes a debt of gratitude for as- sistance rendered during his sickness. The trip to Minnesota was made by boat to St. Paul and from there across the country with teams. He settled on land on section 22, Granby township, Nicollet county, and here he has since lived and had a fair share of prosperity. To-day he is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres, nicely im- proved and well kept. He has a good house and barn, stables, granary, etc. His barn is thirty by fifty-six feet in dimensions and has a rock basement. Mr. Volk was first married in Ohio, in 1857, to Miss Susan Sheets, a native of the Buckeye state and a daughter of Jacob Sheets, a Pennsylvania-Dutchman who lived near Camden, Ohio. From that time until 1892 she shared with him the joys and sor- rows of life and aided and encouraged him while he toiled to make a home in this then new state. Her death in 1892 was a source of great bereavement to husband and fam- ily. She left nine children, namely: Eliza- beth, Catherine, Mary, Martha Jane, Lilly, Christena, Ed. Jacob, Henry and John. For his second wife Mr. Volk wedded Miss Catharine Volk, a native of Germany, and they have one child. Christian, aged six- teen months. Mr. Volk is a stanch Democrat, true to the principles advocated by his party, and a great admirer of Mr. Cleveland, the present head of the nation. He maintains frater- nal relation with the G. A. R. at St. Peter, and both he and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran church. ^y^AVID SHERMAN.— The name I I which heads this review is another /^^^ one which is found on the list of pioneer settlers of Brown county, Minnesota. His farm is located on section 8, Eden township, and Morgan is his post- office. When he came to this locality everything was new and wild, settlers were few and far apart, and the prosperous town of Sleepy Eye then had only one house; and Mr. Sherman has not only been a witness to the transformation which has been made here during the past twenty-five years, but also he has done well his part in bringing about this change. Some personal mention of him is highly appropriate in this connec- tion, and we take pleasure in recording the following facts. David Sherman was born at Deerfield Corners, Oneida county, New York, near the city of Utica, January 1 1, 1822. Henry Sherman, his father, was also a native of the Empire state, the date of his birth being 1800. He married his second cousin, Abi- gail Sherman, a native of Oneida county and a daughter of William Sherman. This family of Shermans sprang from the same ancestry to which the noted General Sher- man traced his origin, which was English and Scotch. Henry and Abigail Sherman had eleven children that grew to maturity, and one child, Jeanette, that died at the age of three months. Their names in order of 460 MEMORIAL RECORD OF birth are Caroline, Horace, David, Henry, William, John, Myron, Sylvester, Theron, Olive and Dayton. In the year 1836 the parents of our subject removed with their family to Ohio and settled in Geauga county, where they made their home until 1854, when another mo\e was made, this time to Waupaca county, Wisconsin. At the last named place the father died, at the age of seventy-two years; the mother survived him several years, her death occurring when she was eighty-six. They were members of the Disciples church in Ohio. During the last half of her life the mother was greatly af- flicted by the loss of her sight, being forty years in total blindness, but bearing her affliction with courage and never complain- ing at her lot. Her son Dayton was born after she became blind. Four of her sons were Union soldiers during the late rebellion: Horace, of the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry; Myron, of the Thirty-eighth Wis- consin Infantry; Sylvester, of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, and Dayton, of the Fourteenth Wisconsin Infantry. David Sherman was a boy of fourteen years at the time he removed with his par- ents to the Western Reserve and located in Geauga county, near the Garfield home place, and there he grew up and became familiar with the use of the a.\, which with an expert hand he wielded in the forest of northeastern Ohio for many years. The year 1852 found him imbued with a spirit of emigration. He left Cleveland by boat for Toledo, proceeded thence by rail to Chicago and from there by boat to Milwaukee. From Milwaukee he drove a team across the coun- try to Fond du Lac and eight miles from Ripon settled on a tract of land and devoted his energies to the improvement of a farm, making that his home until 1S70. That year he came to Eden township. Brown county, Minnesota, and located on Reserva- tion land, where he improved another farm. This farm he sold in 1891, and that year also purchased the one hundred and twenty acres of fine, rich land upon which he has since lived and prospered. Here he has ex- cellent buildings, fences and other improve- ments, and keeps everything up in first-class order, the general appearance of his farm and home surroundings all showing thrift and care. Mr. Sherman was first married April 23, 1840, when only nineteen years of age, to Miss Maria Cloggett, a native of England and a daughter of Isaac and Maria (Wolley) Cloggett, both English by birth and ancestry. This union resulted in the birth of ten chil- dren, namely. Anna, Caroline, Martha, Anson, Sarah, Isaac, Abigail, John, Henri- etta and Malinda, — all now living except two, Sarah and Isaac. This wife and mother passed away in March, 1S76, and November 25, 1 8/ 9, Mr. Sherman wedded his present companion, Mrs. Elizabeth (Ellis) Sherman, widow of John Sherman. John Sherman died in this township in March, 1877, at the age of fifty years. By him she had six children, of whom Horace, William and Dayton are living, and Olive, \Vealthy and Albert are deceased. Mrs. Sherman is a daughter of Joseph Ellis, a native of Massa- chusetts, and Sally, ncc Baldwin, who was born in New York. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis had seven children, — George W. , Elizabeth, Syl- via, Frank, Myron, Adalaide and Charles, — all living except Adalaide. Mr. Ellis died in this township, at the age of seventy-two years, and his wife was seventy-six when she passed away, her death having occurred in Winnebago City; both are buried in Eden township, this county. They were devoted SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 461 Christian people, members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in that faith reared their children. By his present wife our sub- ject has one son, David, Jr., aged fifteen years. Mr. Sherman has always taken an active and commendable interest in local affairs, has served as a member of the school board and as township supervisor and treasurer, and in his cordial and obliging way has per- formed faithful and acceptable service. Formerly he was a Democrat, but is now a third-party man. >^AMES MITCHELL, Sr.—Iu the m present connection we shall revert ^ y to the history of the Mitchell family, James Mitchell and sons, who figure as representative men of Lyon county, Min- nesota, their post-office address being Amiret. The senior James Mitchell is of Scottish birth and ancestry. He was born in Ajt- shire, Scotland, June 2r, 1821, son of James and Jane (Wilson) Mitchell, natives of the same place, where they passed their lives and died. The Mitchells in Scotland were farmers and millers. At the early age of fourteen years the subject of our sketch left his native land and came with his sister to America, being six weeks in crossing the Atlantic to New York, where they landed in safety November 7, 1H38. He worked there by the month until the spring of the following year, when he came west to Wis- consin and secured work on a pier at Mil- waukee, the first pier built in that city, and two years later we find him in Walworth county, that state, employed by the month at farm work. After being thus occupied at the latter place for four months, he came to Jefferson couuty and turned his attention to logging and the lumber business. During the '50s he was in Green Lake and Mar- quette counties, and the '60s found him traveling through the West. I-^inally, in the fall of 1866, he located in Wabasha county, Minnesota, and two years later came to his present location in Lyon county. Here, June 17, 1868, he took claim to three hun- dred and twenty acres of land, chiefly gov- ernment land, and in pioneer style settled down to the work of developing a farm. His first work was to build a small log house, sixteen by thirty-two feet in dimen- sions, with a dirt roof, and which, as soon as he was able, he replaced by a frame house of similar dimensions but more com- fortable and convenient; and in 1892 he erected a commodious two-story residence, twenty-six by twenty-eight feet, its cost being over one thousand two hundred dol- lars, and now has a delightful and attractive home. His earnest and well-directed efforts here during the past two or three decades ha\e been crowned with a fair degree of success. To-day he finds himself in the midst of plenty and he and his sons the owners of no less than a thousand acres of choice farming land, most of which they have under cultivation. Mr. Mitchell was first married in Jeffer- son county, Wisconsin, to Miss Margaret Barclay, like himself, a native of Scotland, her birth having occurred in Perthshire, Scotland, in the year 18 17; and after several years of happy married life she died in Mar- quette county, Wisconsin, leaving a family of three children, namely: James, Jr., Chris- tina and Jennie, all now married and settled in life, occupying useful and honored posi- tions. In 1864 Mr. Mitchell wedded for his second companion Miss Martha Lane, 462 MEMORIAL RECORD OP who shared the joys and sorrows of life with him until death called her away in De- cember, 1890, at the age of sixty years and nine months, leaving two children, Robert and Alton. She was a native of Maine and a most estimable woman. The Mitchell family are all attendants upon worship at the Presbyterian church, and the father and sons are in their political principles Republicans. Mr. Mitchell, of this sketch, served as justice of the peace four years and at different times filled other responsible positions, and his sons have like- wise been prominently connected with local affairs, Robert having served eight years as township clerk, and James, Jr., twelve years as county commissioner, and as chair- man of the township board for about twelve years. James Mitchell, Jr., was born Decem- ber 16, 1848, in Waukesha county, Wis- consin, and May 31, 1884, was united in marriage to Miss Trenia Rude, a native of Iowa, born near Cedar Falls, her parents being Michael and Olena Rude. About 1870 the Rude family came to Minnesota and located in Brown county, and there Mr. Rude died at the age of seventy years. Mr. and Mrs. James Mitchell, Jr., have three children, — Margaret, Tilda and James Jay. About 1880 Mr. Mitchell purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, and shortly afterward built a frame house, sixteen by twenty-four feet, upon it; and seven years ago he built the residence he and his family now occupy. As he was pros- pered in his undertakings he was enabled to purchase more land, and with the addition of another one hundred and sixty acres his farm at this writing comprises three hun- dred and twenty acres, well improved and showing the best of care. Robert Mitchell was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, June 30, 1865, came with his parents to Minnesota, when about three years old, and was reared on the farm, receiving his education in the common schools. He engaged in teaching for three years, then in buying grain at Amiret for Bingham Brothers; then in 1893 he bought grain for himself, in 1894 built the elevator and has since, in connection with his agri- cultural interests, been engaged in buying grain. He was married March 8, 1892, to Miss Augusta Manke, a native of Germany and a daughter of William Manke, who came to America when Mrs. Mitchell was ten years old. By this union there is one child, William by name. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and politically is a Republican. BRANK A. DODGE, M. D., is an honored representative of the med- ical profession in Le Sueur, and in his calling has attained an enviable success for a man of his years. He was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, October 11, 1862, and is a son of Dr. John and Catherine E. (Perrin) Dodge, the former a native of New York and the latter of Michigan. Dr. John Dodge became a resident of Wisconsin in 1838, and, taking up the study of medicine, was graduated in the Albany Medical Col- lege of New York in 1S41. The following year he began practice in the Badger state, and continued an active and influential member of the profession until i860, when he retired to a farm. His death occurred in Grant county, Wisconsin, in 1868. His 5 O UTH WES TERN MINNESO TA. 463 father, John Dodge, was also a physician, and practiced for a number of years in the Empire state. His maternal grandfather, John Perrin, was a native of New England. Frank A. Dodge, whose name introduces this review, spent his childhood days in his parents' home and acquired his literary edu- cation in the public schools of Grant county, Wisconsin. In 1880 he went to St. James, Minnesota, where he worked for eight months in a drug-store, learning the busi- ness. He afterward spent a year and a half in Sibley county engaged in the drug trade in Gaylord, and in 1883 he began reading medicine under the direction of Dr. D. N. Jones. He took his first course of lectures in the Minnesota College Hospital and in 1885 went to New York city, where he entered the medical department of the University of New York. He was graduated in the spring of 1886, and immediately afterward came to Le Sueur, Minnesota, where he opened an office and has since conducted a general practice. He at first entered into practice with his brother, William Dodge, under the firm name of William & F. A. Dodge, a connection which continued for two years, when the senior partner removed to Los Angeles, California. On the 3d of December, 1890, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Dodge and Miss Alma Phoehler, of Henderson, Minne- sota, a daughter of August F. Phoehler, a prominent merchant of that place. Our subject is a member of the Minnesota State Medical Society, also of the Minnesota Val- ley Medical Society, and is a surgeon of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad. He is thorouglily informed in the science of medicine, and his wide knowledge, close attention to business and superior skill have won him an enviable reputation. Socially he is connected with the order of the Knights of Pythias. eRNEST L. WELCH, cashier of the Sibley County Bank and presi- dent of the First State Bank of Lesueur, is one of the leading finan- ciers of southwestern Minnesota, his connec- tion with banking interests giving him a broad experience in the management of financial affairs. It is said that banking in- stitutions are the pulse of the commercial body, indicating the healthfulness of trade. This is certainly true, and the bank that follows a safe, conservative business policy does more to establish public confidence in times of widespread financial depression than anything else. Such a course has been that pursued by the banks in which Mr. Welch is connected with the active manage- ment. The subject of this review is a native of Henderson, Minnesota, born July 16, 1863, and is a son of Thomas and Susan S. fSegers) Welch. His father was one of Minnesota's pioneers, and from an early day prominent in business affairs of the state. He was born in Ireland in 1828, and in 1853 located in Henderson, where he resided un- til his death, February 19, 1893. In early days he was one of the heaviest government contractors in the northwest, being asso- ciated with such men as Colonel John L, Merriam and A. H. Wilder. In 1875 he established the Sibley County Bank, of which he was president at the time of his death, and in 1 88 1 , in connection with Hon. Henry Poehler, established the Pacific line of elevators operating on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad, from Minneapolis to 464 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Watertown. He also founded the Bank of Gaylord. He was never an office-seeker, but in 1882 was elected state senator, and by re-election served in the upper house of the Minnesota assembly until 1890. For twenty-five consecutive years he was presi- dent of the Henderson school board. His conduct in all the walks of life, social, com- mercial and political, was marked by the strictest integrity and uprightness, and he was widely known and universally respected. In 1857 he married Miss Segers, who sur- vives him with eight children, namely: Ernest L. ; Mrs. W. G. Comnick, of Gay- lord; Mrs. Orrin Kipp, Mrs. H. J. Lyons, Cora and Cornelia, all of St. Paul; Mrs. C. F. Poehler, of Minneapolis; and Mrs. H. F. Weis, of Lesueur. Mrs. Welch resides in St. Paul with her three daughters. The family is one of prominence in the county and its members hold high positions in busi- ness and social circles. Ernest L. Welch was reared in Hender- son, and was educated in the public schools and in the Shattuck school of Faribault, Minnesota, where he was graduated in 1882. He then returned to Henderson, and soon afterward entered the Sibley County Bank as cashier, in which responsible position he has remained up to the present time. This house does a general banking and exchange business and not a little of its success is due to the systematic, energetic efforts and sound judgment of its popular cashier. He is also a stockholder in the First State Bank of Lesueur and its president, and is presi- dent of the First State Bank of Arlington, Minnesota, and of the Bank of Ivulm, North Dakota. He also owns considerable real estate, including valuable farm property in Sibley and other counties. He is widely known throughout Minnesota, and like his honored father is a prominent representative of its business interests. On the 25th of November, 1885, Mr. Welch married Jennie S. How, of Shako- pee, Minnesota, daughter of David L. How. She was graduated at St. Mary's Hall, of Faribault, in 1882, and is a lady of culture and refinement. Their home is a handsome brick residence in Henderson and is bright- ened by three interesting children, — Thomas H., May M. and June J. In 1896 Mr. Welch was elected mayor of Henderson. He is a prominent Mason, belonging to Henderson Lodge, No. 80, F. & A. M. ; Lesueur Chapter, R. A. M. ; Zion Commandery, K. T., of Minneapolis, and to the Mystic Shrine. EENRY ENTER, chairman of the board of supervisors of Granby township, Nicollet county, Minne- sota, and treasurer of the Nicollet Creamery Company, of Nicollet, has for twenty-five years resided on his present fine farmstead on section 33, a mile and a half from the village. His long identity with this place and the prominent part he has taken in affairs here render him a fit subject for biographical honors. Mr. Enter is a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, and was born March 10, 1851, son of Henry and Dorothea (Boeckenhei- mer) Enter. His father died about the time he (our subject) was born, and the mother subsequently became the wife of William Kohler, whose name she still bears. In the 3'ear 1864, at the age of thirteen, Henry Enter accompanied his mother, step- father and other members of the family on their emigration to this country, their first location being near Joliet, in Will county, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 465 Illinois, and a year later they came to Nic- ollet county, Minnesota. Mrs. Kohler is now a resident of the village of Nicollet. Before leaving his native land young Enter had attended school a few years, but after coming to this country his studies were pursued chiefly at home. While in the home of Mr. William Beans, for whom he worked, the boy received much assistance in his study of the English language, and by hard study and close observation he mastered the language before he was grown. He worked out by the month until he was twenty-one and at that time married and settled on his father-in-law's farm, the same upon which he has since lived and which he now owns, he having purchased the interest of the heirs. This fine farm comprises two hundred and forty acres of choice land and has splendid improvements thereon. The residence, a commodious, two-story, brick house, was built in 1887, at a cost of two thousand, five hundred dollars, and is Beau- tifully located on a natural building site. The large barn is thirty-six by seventy feet in dimensions and has a rock basement, and besides areother buildings for grain and stock, a modern windmill, and numerous other im- provements and conveniences for success- fully carrying on farming operations in the most approved manner. Mr. Enter has for years given considerable attention to the stock business. He keeps a dairy of twelve cows, and his horses and hogs are of the best breeds. Besides his home farm Mr. Enter owns one hundred and si.xty acres of land in New Sweden township, upon which his son R. H. lives. Turning to that part of Mr. Enter's life svhich is more purelj' domestic, we find that he was married at the age of twenty-one to Miss Sophia Schwenn, daughter of Daniel and Mary Schwenn, the former being now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Enter have ten children, whose names are as follows: Ru- dolph H., Albert, Ida W., Henry L., Ro- setta J., Thessa M., Martin J., Robert W., Sophia W. and Walter F. Also they have two daughters deceased. Mr. Enter is one of the most active and enthusiastic Republicans of his locality, is a leader in party affairs, and is active in pro- moting any measure or movement intended to promote the welfare of his township and county. Religiously, he is a Lutheran, and is an official in the church and one of its most liberal supporters. Also he has long been interested in educational matters and for fifteen years has been a member of the school board. H L. WESTLAKE. — The agricult- ural interests of Kasota township, Lesueur county, Minnesota, are well represented by the enterpris- ing farmer and well-known citizen whose name forms the heading of this article. Mr. Westlake was born near the old battle-ground of General Harrison, near La Fayette, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, August 19, 1850, and when a child was brought by his parents to Minnesota, his father, the late James F. Westlake, being one of the prominent and highly respected pioneers of this state. James F. Westlake was a native of Ohio, born Jul}' i, 1824, a representative of a pioneer family of the Buckeye state and a son of a veteran of the war of 1 81 2, Grandfather Westlake having fought with the gallant Perry on Lake Erie. The first ten years of his life James F. spent in Ohio, and then moved with his parents over into Indiana, locating in Tippecanoe 466 MEMORIAL RECORD OF county, where he grew to manhood and was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Ann BariT^AMES QUIRK. — Honored and re- ■ spected by all, there is no man in A J southwestern Minnesota who occu- pies a more enviable position than James Quirk in industrial and financial cir- cles, not alone on account of the brilliant success he has achieved but also on account of the honorable, straightforward business policy he has ever followed. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plans readily and is determined in their execution; and his close application to busi- ness and his excellent management have brought to him the high degree of pros- perity which to-day is his. He has demon- strated the truth of the saying that "suc- cess is not the result of genius but the out- come of a clear judgment in indefatigable industry and experience." Such men are the pride of America, proving the practica- bility and wisdom of her republican form of government, where true worth may attain the highest recognition, unhampered by the fettering customs of caste or class. Mr. Quirk is a native of Wisconsin, born in 1849. His father was a prosperous farmer and one of the early settlers of that state. James was reared on his father's farm, where he assisted in the labors of the fields through the summer months, and in the winter season attended the district schools of the neighborhood. His parents, Robert and Catherine (Foraker) Quirk, were both natives of Scotland and in early life came to this country. They possessed the characteristic thrift of their native land and trained their children to habits of industry and uprightness. James pursued a high- school course in Linden Academy, Wis- consin, and afterward entered the State University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was graduated in the scientific depart- ment in 1873. Ne.xt he took up the study of law in the same institution and completed that course in 1876. Removing to Waseca, Minnesota, Mr. Quirk entered upon the practice of his chosen profession and was one of the leading members of the bar at that place until 1884. His clientage was large and his legal business of an important character, — a fact which indicated his su- perior talent in the law. In 18S4 he became interested in the manufacture of flour and the handling of all kinds of of grain. He became a partner in the large mill in Waterville and to-day owns a controlling interest in the stock of the James Quirk Milling Company with mills at Waterville and Montgomery, Minnesota. Papers of incorporation were taken out in 1895 and the business capitalized for one hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Quirk own- 468 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ing eighty-eight per cent, of the stock. He is the president of the company, and the other officers are: W. J. Jennison, vice- president, and A. Kenrick, secretary and treasurer. The establishment in Water- ville is a four-story building, thoroughly equipped with the latest improved machin- ery and a complete roller process. The machinery is driven by a large Corliss engine of one-hundred-and-tifty-horse power, and fifteen men are employed to operate the mill, which has a capacity of turning out two hundred and seventy barrels of flour daily. The company also owns a large mill in Montgomery, Minnesota, with a capacity of four hundred and fifty barrels of flour per day. Both mills are in operation day and night, and the demand for their products has steadily grown until the business connected therewith has assumed gigantic proportions. They also own ten elevators, situated at differ- ent points.along the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad and the Canyon Valley Railroad, and give constant employment to about sixty men. They employ three traveling salesmen to represent their interests in Illi- nois, Wisconsin and Iowa, and also have a representative in London, England, to look after the export trade in that city. The ex- tensive milling business of this company proves not only a profitable source of in- come to the stockholders but is also of mate- rial benefit to the wheat-growing regions of the state, furnishing a market for the cereals raised here and thereby promoting com- mercial activity, which is the true source of prosperity to community, state or nation. In politics Mr. Quirk is a pronounced Republican and stands squarely on the sound- money plank of that platform. While in law he served as city attorney of Waseca for one term. He has been a member of the Waterville school board for ten years, has acted as its president for the greater part of the decade, and has done much to promote the interests of education in this place, and also served two terms as mayor of the city. ,He was chosen one of the Mc- Kinley electors for 1896 for the state of Minnesota. Mr. Quirk is a gentleman of fine physique, tall and well proportioned, of even temperament, calm and self-poised, of refined character and one in whom nature and culture have vied in making an honored and interesting gentleman. In 1876 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Quirk and Miss Lillian D. F. Park, of Wisconsin, a graduate of the State Univer- sity of Wisconsin, of the class of 1874. She was a student in that institution when she formed the acquaintance of Mr. Quirk, — an acquaintance which resulted in a happy marriage. They have four children, — a daughter and three sons. Their home is noted for its hospitality, and the friends of the family throughout the state are many. They have a beautiful summer home in Waterville, and spend the winter months in Minneapolis, where the children all enjoy the highest educational privileges. ^V^^ELSON GOLDSMITH.— For a I B period of thirty-two years the \ V subject of this biographical sketch has made his home at his present location in Cleveland township, Lesueur county, Minnesota, he having come here at the close of his army service in 1864. Mr. Goldsmith is a Kentuckian by birth, ushered into life in Bullitt count)-, that state, April II, 1 844, and is descended from an old Virginia family. His father. Nelson SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 469 Goldsmith, Sr. , was born in Virginia, and wlien a young man came west to Indiana, where he was subsequentiy united in mar- riage to Miss Nancy Davis, a member of one of the pioneer famihes of Kentucky that had moved up into Indianji. After their marriage they located in Bullitt county, Ken- tucky, where they made their home until 1864, most of their numerous progeny being born and reared there, and that year they came to Minnesota, settling in Lesueur coun- ty, where the closing years of their life were spent and where they died, each hav- ing attained a ripe old age, she being seven- ty-nine and he ninety at death. By trade he was a bricklayer and plasterer, which he followed during the early part of his life, but later gave his attention to the quiet pur- suits of the farm. He was identified with the Masonic order and both he and his good wife were consistent members of the Christian church, in which for years he was a deacon. In their family were fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity, viz.: Anna, Matilda, Mary A., James D., David, Abigail, Millie, LucindaJohnThomas, . Nelson, Owen and Nancy. One of their children died in infancy and two in child- hood. Nelson, whose name adorns the pages of this work, was reared on his father's farm in Kentucky, brought up to habits of honesty, industry and piety, and with no other educational advantages than those of the common schools. In July, 1S62, in response to the call made by the nation's executive for more troops to swell the Union army, he enlisted as a member of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, under Colonel Bales and Captain Barnett, and was in the service until the following year, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. Dur- ing several months of his army life he was sick and in hospital in Louisville. He was at the battle of Chickamauga, but was sick and unable to tal^e part in it, being then in a horizontal position and able only to wit- ness the great battle. Mr. Goldsmith was in the battle of Murfreesboro and all the following battles to that of Chickamauga. In 1864, the year following his honorable discharge, he came to Minnesota, settled in Lesueur county, and here he has ever since maintained his home. Here he owns eighty- three acres of good land, well improved; has a cozy and attractive residence, built at a cost of twelve hundred dollars, surrounded with forest trees and pretty lawn; and is successfully engaged in farming and stock- raising. A tubular well run by a windmill furnishes water for stock. In short, his is a delightful rural home. Mr. Goldsmith was married in January, 1873, at Ka.sota, to Miss Mary Helen Miller, a lady of education and culture and previous to her marriage a teacher. She was born in Otsego county, New York, daughter of the Rev. John Miller and his wife, nee Huldah Briggs, the Millers being among the early settlers of Nicollet county, where the Rev. Mr. Miller was for many years engaged in the ministry of the Baptist church, a potent force in proclaiming the gospel and loved by all who knew him. He had a son, John Forbes, who was in a Michigan regiment, Company D, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, dur- ing the war, and died in the service. Mr. and Mrs. Goldsmith have five children, viz. : Huldah Maud, Ralph M., Elmer L. , Mel- ville S. and Henry E. ; and they have one deceased, — Winfred, who died at the age of eighteen months. Like most of the survivors of the Union army, Mr. Goldsmith is identified with the 470 MEMORIAL RECORD OE Republican party and the G. A. R. , his membership in the latter being with A. K. SlT^OSEPH ENGESSER, the eldest son ■ of Matthew and Rosina Engesser, A 1 was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the year 1855, and as his parents re- moved to St. Peter the year after his birth he has practically passed his entire life in this city, passing from childhood to a posi- tion as one of the representative and most influential business men of the place, in whose welfare he maintains an abiding in- terest. He received his education in the public schools of St. Peter, and after laying aside his textbooks he entered his father's brewery and there began his active business career, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business in all its departments and de- tails. Since he and his brother assumed the management of the enterprise the brew- ery has increased its capacity on several oc- casions, its average annual output reaching the notable aggregate of forty thousand bar- rels. The title of the Engesser Brewing Company was adopted in 1888, at which time the present business style was formed. In 1883 was solemnized the marriage of Joseph Engesser and Miss Anna Kline, who was born in St. Peter, the daughter of Will- iam Kline, a prominent furniture manu- facturer and dealer of this place. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter, — Edward, Robert, Benjamin and Celia. The family home is one of the ijiost attrac- tive in St. Peter. The fine brick residence was erected in 1890, being of modern archi- tectural design and being equipped with those improved accessories which contribute in so large a degree to the comfort and enjoyment of life. The building is heated throughout by hot water, while the interior is a model of elegance and good taste. Here Mr. En- gesser and his estimable wife extend gracious hospitality to their large circle of friends. 474 MEMORIAL RECORD OF The family are members of the Catholic church. In politics Mr. Engesser is inde- pendent and conservative, being content to aid in good government by the e.xercise of his right of franchise and having no desire for the honors and emoluments of public otflce. He is a discriminating and careful business man, and has done much to for- ward the success of the enterprise which his honored father founded and thereafter con- ducted with signal ability until he was per- mitted to entrust the same to the care of his sons, who have proved altogether worthy of the trust. BRANK M. LONG has been a resi- dent of Lesueur county, Minnesota, for more than three decades, has been a potent force in developing the resources of this section of the country, and stands to-day as one of its most wealthy and influential men. His life history in- cludes an honorable war record; and both as a prominent and influential citizen and old soldier his biography is one that should be given due importance in this work, and the facts in regard to his life as gleaned for publication are as follows: Not unlike many of the leading men scattered throughout the Union, Frank M. Long looks back to the Buckeye state as the place of his nativity. He was born in north- eastern Ohio, in Geauga county, November 13. 1839, and comes from ancestors who years ago landed on the New England shores and whose history for generations has been that of prosperous, patriotic people. Will- iam Long, his father, was born among the Green mountains of Vermont, February 12, 1795, and on attaining manhood was mar- ried in that state to Miss Sally Thompson, a native of New Hampshire and a most estimable woman, whose assistance, good judgment and cheerful companionship con- tributed largely to the success he attained in life. Some time after their marriage they moved out to the WesternReserve and established their home in the heavily-tim- bered district of Geauga county, where he in turn cleared and developed two farms. He maintained his home in Geauga county until 1857, when the spirit of emigration again caused him to turn his face westward and we find him that year journeying to the territory of Minnesota. Arrived here, he selected a location about three miles from the site of Greenland, Lesueur county, and again settled on the frontier. But another home was then near at hand and awaited his coming. He departed this life January 2, 1 8 58. By occupation he was a farmer, honest, industrious and successful ; politically, he was a Jackson Democrat; and in his re- ligious views he was broad and liberal. His good wife was a Methodist, earnest and zealous in her Christian life. She died in Geauga county, Ohio, in 1S47. In their family were eleven children, seven of whom reached adult age, their names being as fol- lows: Seth W., Harriet L., William H., Lemuel R., George T. , Caroline E., and Frank M. Three of the sons, Lemuel R. , George T. , and Frank M., were Union sol- diers, and served their country well, the first named losing his life in the service, his death occurring at \'icksburg. He was in the Fifth Minnesota Infantry. George T. was a member of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillerj'. He died since the war. Frank M. Long was reared in his native county, his early associations being with the frontier farm and log-cabin schoolhouse, and amid these surroundings he passed the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 475 first eighteen years of his Hfe. Then came their emigration to Minnesota. After his father's death he returned to Ohio, and was living in Ross county, that state, at the time the war broke out. And hardly had the war begun before his name was enrolled among the volunteers. He enlisted June i, 1861, as a memberof Company B, Twenty- sixth Ohio Infantry, under Colonel Fife and Captain Ewing, and followed the fortunes of his command throughout the whole of the war, he being one of four in his com- pany of one hundred and thirty-three who were always able to answer to the call of duty. He was with his regiment in every engagement in which it participated, includ- ing many of the most prominent battles of the war; was promoted from a private to the rank of first sergeant, and October 21, 1865, received his honorable discharge, hav- ing given over four years of faithful and gallant service to his country's cause. The war over, Mr. Long returned to Ohio and shortly afterward to Minnesota, locating in Lesuenr county, this state, and at once directing his attention to the saw- mill business. In company with his broth- er, George T., he built a sawmill, thirty- four by one hundred feet in dimensions, with a capacity of ten thousand feet of lum- ber per day, and employed from eight to ten men, thus developing an industry that was of great value to this county. He continued in the milling business up to 1893. The first house he and his brother lived in was a dug- out on the hillside, a rude shelter but a comfortable one and one in which many a stranger as well as friend was cordially en- tertained, the latchstring always out and the passer-by sure of a welcome from the Long brothers. In 1888 the subject of our sketch turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, opening a stock of goods at Greenland, and here doing a successful business until he sold out in 1895. Also for years he dealt extensively in grain, buying and selling large quantities of wheat. In the meantime he acquired a large tract of land, and at this writing is the owner of five hundred acres, "Summit Farm," as he is pleased to call it, being one of the most beautiful rural places in the county. His modern and commodious resi- dence, delightful for location, surroundings and furnishings, bears little resemblance to his primitive shelter on the hillside. He has three large barns, all built on rock foun- dations, and has every modern convenience for successfully earrying on farming and stock-raising. Here he and his family are surrounded with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Referring now to his domestic life, we record that he has been twice married. His first marriage was consummated in this county, September 7, 1871, the lady he then wedded being Miss Martha A. Lewis, a native of Oxford, Connecticut, born in 1843, daughter of John Lewis, of that state, and a representative of an old Connecticut family. Their happy union was blessed in the birth of the following named children: Charlie P., Myrtle A., Stewart, Albert, John and Aletha F. This wife and mother passed away in May, 1883, and January 20, 1886, Mr. Long was united in marriage at St. Peter, Minnesota, to Miss Cora Goolsbey, a native of Fillmore county, this state. Her father, L. S. Goolsbey, was one of the early settlers of Minnesota and is now a resident of Lesueur county. Her mother was by maiden name Minerva Hunsaker, was born in Indiana, and died in Minnesota in 1S94. Mrs. Long is one of a family of 476 MEMORIAL RECORD OF eight children. Siic ha^ OBERT POWELL is one of the I /<^ enterprising and progressive farm- \ p ers of Belgrade township, Nicollet county, Minnesota, and one of the brave men who in the days of civil strife "donned the blue" and fought on the Union side. He owns and occupies an eighty-acre farm on section 28, Mankato being his post-office address, and with the aid of his sons is successfully carrying on agricultural pursuits. I^is place is well im- proved with a comfortable cottage home, barn, granary, sheds, orchard, etc., — withal a desirable location. The following facts in regard to his life history have been gleaned for publication, and it is gratifying to us to be able to present them here. Mr. Powell is a New Yorker. He was born in the town of Victor, that state, Feb- ruary 27, 1845, the son of English parents. Henry Powell, his father, was a member of an old English family of honest worth, and was born, reared and educated not far dis- tant from the city of London. There he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth White, like himself, a member of a respected family of England, and some time after their marriage they left their native land and sought a home in America, their first loca- tion on this side the Atlantic being at Victor, New York, where their son Robert, the subject of this review, was born; and when he was ten years old the parents carrtte west as far as Michigan and settled at Franklin, Lenawee county, where subsequently the mother died and where the father still lives, he having reached the venerable age of eighty-five years. In their family were three children, viz.: Robert; James, a resident of Michigan; and Mary, who died shortly after the war. The senior Mr. Powell has long been a devoted member of the Baptist church, to which his good wife also belonged for many years, and in that faith they reared their family. Referring more particularly now to Robert Powell, whose name honors the in- troduction of this sketch, we record that he was reared on a Michigan farm, received his early education there, and when only sev- enteen years of age enlisted for service in the Union army, going to the front as a member of the Seventh Michigan Cavalry, a regiment which made a gallant record on many 'a battle-field; indeed, the Seventh Michigan was regarded as one of the best 480 MEMORIAL RECORD OF cavalry regiments in the war. In the Shen- andoah \'alley young Powell was taken prisoner, October 19, 1864, and was con- fined in Libby prison for eight months, aft- er which he was paroled and exchanged, this being onl3' a short time before General Lee's surrender. During his service our subject contracted a chronic disease of the bowels and also rheumatism, and severely sprained his ankle, the last named injury being the result of an accident with a horse. Altogether his experience in camp, in battle and in prison, was a varied one, and through- out it all he so conducted himself as to win the warm friendship of his comrades, and at the close of the war he returned home with an honorable discharge and a record of which he has every reason to be proud. He coHtinued to live in Lenawee county, Michigan, until 18S3, when he came to Minnesota and settled at Sterling, Blue Earth county, where he acquired property and where he resided up to 1895. That year he sold out, and the present year, 1896, he purchased a farm upon which he now resides and which has already been alluded to. Mr. Powell was married in 1871 to Miss Lucretia A. Smith, a woman of most excel- lent qualities and highly esteemed by all who know her. She was born, reared and edu- cated in Lenawee county, Michigan, daugh- ter of Joseph Smith, who died in 1896, at the age of seventy-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Powell are the parents of seven chil- dren, as follows: William; Horace, who has recently completed a commercial course and has received his diploma as a bookkeeper; Alice, a student in the State Normal at Mankato; and Mary, Lillie, Myrtle and Fee, all having a good education. Like most of the veterans of the Union army, Mr. Powell has a membershij) in the G. A. R., his affiliation being with Alex- ander Willson Post. He has many of the distinguishing traits of the old soldier, al- ways frank and genial, and enjoys the con- fidence and good will of all. BL. VOLK is well known as the proprietor of Volk's Resort at Lake Emily, Lesueur county, one of the prettiest, coziest and most popular resorts in this part of Minnesota, and it is the pleasure of the publishers of this work to make reference both to the proprietor and his delightful resort. Volk's Resort is located on the old Volk homestead, two miles from St. Peter, and is charming both in its location and surround- ings. The residence, a two-story structure, furnished in a manner showing culture and refinement, is built on a natural plateau and is surrounded by attractive grounds and great forest trees, the home of singing birds and scampering squirrels whose presence during the long summer days lend additional charm to this enchanted place. Lake Emily, upon the borders of which it is sit- uated, is a beautiful sheet of pure water, delightful for boating and supplied with a generous number of boats both safe and easy to row. Then there is the forest, the velvety grass and the winding walks and the many charming retreats, all combined to make a resort suited for even the most fas- tidious; and although it was opened to the public only two years ago, in 1894, it has already attained a wide popularity and counts among its patrons people from far and near. The Volk homestead has been in the family for a period of thirty-four years, it Y£//:^;d-J-^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 481 having been settled that long ago by Albert Volk, deceased, the father of the present proprietor, who was for many years one of the prominent and highly respected business men of St. Peter. Albert Volk was a German by birth and education, and an American by emigration, he having come to this country in 1839, when a young man, and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where he resided for some years and where, January 21, 1844, he was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Howk, of that city. From Boston he went to Covington, Kentucky, where he became the owner of land adjoining the city, and whence he later moved over into Ohio and engaged in business. His next move was to Water- loo, Iowa, where he owned real estate. In 1855 he came to Lesueur county, Minnesota, and in Minnesota made his home the rest of his days. In 1S89 he located in St. Peter and engaged in the furniture business and also became interested in manufactur- ing, to which he gave his attention up to the time of his death, which occurred at the ripe old age of seventy-six years. He and his good wife were the parents of seven children, namely: William, Lake Washing- ton, Minnesota; Rudolph C, St. Peter, Minnesota; Adam B., engaged in the furni- ture business at Le Sueur, this county; Fred L. , whose name introduces this sketch; Sophia and Elizabeth, residing with their aged mother in St. Peter. Fred L. Volk was born in Harrison, Ohio, September 11, 1855, and when a babe was brought west by his parents. In Minnesota he was reared and given a public- school education, his home influence being of a refining nature and conducive to habits of industry and integrity, and on attaining manhood he was fitted to make his own way in the world. November 20, 188S, he wedded Miss Philaphena Post, a lady of education and culture and a daughter of Anton Post, deceased, one of the early set- tlers of St. Peter and for many years a well- known hotel-keeper of that place. At the time of her birth he was the proprietor of a hotel at Henderson, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Volk have two children, Rosa Cath- arine and Sophia Anna. Politically, we find Mr. Volk harmon- izing with the Democratic party and enthu- siastic for its success. Genial, 'jovial and obliging, he makes many friends, and — what is more — has the happy faculty of keeping them. (D ATTHEW ENGESSER.— The following memoir, which re- ^^^^^ lates somewhat concerning the life history of one who stood as an honored pioneer resident and prominent business man of St. Peter, Nicollet county; one whose days were part and portion of the indissoluble chain which linked the an- nals of the early pioneer epoch with those of latter-day progress and prosperity, is of- fered as a slight tribute to a man who stood "four-square to every wind that blew," whose strength was as the number of his days, and whose long, active and useful life had no shadows to obscure its fair fame. Such a compilation as this at hand exer- cises its most legitimate function when it thus enters a memorial to a true, loyal and honest citizen. In that fair and attractive section of Ger- many where the " beautiful, blue Danube " finds it source, occurred the birth of Mat- thew Engesser, the date of his nativity having been the year 1812. His parents 482 MEMORIAL RECORD OF were people of genuine worth of character, and they trained their son to habits of in- dustr}', instilling into his nijnd those sterling principles which guided him throughout life and made him the strong, noble man that he was. His youthful days were passed in a manner quite similar to that of the aver- age boy of the place and period, his educa- tional discipline ha\ing been secured in the excellent schools upon which the German empire has long and justly prided itself. He remained in his native land until he had attained the age of twenty-eight years, when he determined to try his fortunes in the New World. The year 1840 witnessed his arrival in the United States, and he proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in the boot and shoe business. He continued operations in this line until 1856, having been duly successful in his efforts. In the year mentioned he identified himself with the interests of Minnesota, coming to St. Peter, which continued to be his home and the field of his successful endeavors until he was called upon to obey death's in- exorable summons, passing away in the full- ness of years, honored and esteemed in the community to whose progress and material prosperity he had so largely contributed. In the year succeeding his arrival in St. Peter Mr. Engesser associated himself with William Seeger, under the firm name of Seeger & Engesser, and erected a brewery, engaging forthwith in the manufacture of a most excellent grade of beer and thus laying the foundation for what has become one of the leading industries of the thriving little city. The ground upon which the plant is located was donated to the firm by the St. Peter Land Company, the only condition imposed being that there should be erected a brewery costing six thousand dollars. The building was completed by Mr. Engesser in 185S, Mr. Seeger having in the meantime disposed of his interests to our subject. The machinery for the brewery was trans- ported by boat from Cincinnati, and as soon as the equipment was in order the work ^of manufacture was commenced with vigor. The executive ability and correct business methods brought to bear by Mr. Engesser in the prosecution of the enterprise insured to it a consecutive growth and a genuine suc- cess. The augmented demands placed upon the brewery from time to time compelled the increasing of the productive facilities, and at the present time the output of the establishment has reached an average annual aggregate of more than ten thousand bar- rels. The growth of the business will be recognized when it is stated that the product of the brewery in the year 1880 was but one thousand barrels. In the various proc- esses of manufacture the most punctilious care is exercised, the interested principals accepting as satisfactory nothing below the highest attainable excellence. The latest improved machinerj' and methods are util- ized, while each detail is entrusted to ex- perienced and competent hands. The superiority of the product has been recog- nized and has had much influence in con- serving the pronounced success of the im- portant industry. Matthew Engesser continued to be act- ively concerned in the management of the business until 1888, when he felt justified in resigning the burden which he had borne for so many years, and consequently retired from active association with the enterprise, which was now safely entrusted to his sons, Joseph and Edward, who had been carefully trained in the business. The death of the honored father occurred in 1892, at which SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 483 time he had attained the venerable age of eighty years. In the year 1853 Matthew Engesser was united in marriage to Miss Rosina Oker, a native of Germany, and of their children eight are still living, namely: Frances, widow of Joseph Inbenen, of St. Peter; Joseph, one of the principal stock- holders of the Engesser Brewing Company; Rosa, wife of Charles Rost, of St. Peter; Edward, John, William, Emma, and Mat- thew C. The venerable mother is still liv- ing, secure in the filial devotion of her children and in the esteem of the community where so many years of her life have been passed. at 'ILLIAM R. McMASTERS, de- ceased. — The name of this gen- tleman is inseparably connected with the history of southwestern Minnesota, where he located in pioneer days, settling in Nicollet county before there was a building erected in what is now the city of St. Peter, and becoming one of the leading agriculturists and stock-raisers in this part of the state. An honorable busi- ness man, energetic and progressive, he was an important element in the business life of his county and had the confidence and re- spect of all with whom he was thrown in contact. Mr. McMasters was . born in Hampden county, Massachusetts, in 181 1 and died in St. Peter in 1888, at the age of seventy- seven years. He was a son of Abner and Polly (Stonej McMasters, who spent their entire lives in the Bay state, where the father followed his trade of shoemaking. William P. McMasters remained at home until si.xteen years of age, after which he carried the mail for ten years. In the mean- time he was married. He first wedded Miss Harriet A. Elder, November 25, 1838, who died November 27, 1848, and afterward he married Lucinda O. Rice, on the 20th of April, 1851. This lady was born in Worth- ington, Massachusetts, a daughter of Will- iam and Wealthy (Cottrell) Rice, who passed their entire lives in Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. McMasters became the parents of four children, but one daughter died at the age of eleven years. Those now living are William R., who operates the home farm and is president of a creamery company and also township clerk; Edward W. , who is a carpenter by trade; and Susan W., who lives with her brothers. William R. McMasters came to the west with a colony, and in 1S53 secured a claim. This he afterward abandoned, removing to the farm on which his children yet reside. Upon the place was a log cabin eighteen by twenty feet and in that primitive home they lived until the erection of their present sub- stantial residence in 1872. In 1876 a large barn was built and other improvements have been made until the farm is now one of the best in this section of the state. The property comprises four hundred and sixty acres of rich land, the greater part of which is under cultivation. Many hard- ships and trials were endured by them in the pioneer days, and at the time of the Minnesota massacre they were obliged to leave their home for a week. Mr. McMasters and his wife held mem- bership in the Presbyterian church and their children are also members of the same or- ganization. The family is one of the old- est, best known and most highly esteemed in the county, its representatives all having the high regard of many friends. The father was a wide-awake, enterprising and 484 MEMORIAL RECORD OF most honorable business man and in his undertakings was ver)' successful, winning the esteem of all who knew him. William R. McMasters, like his father, is well known among the most advanced and enterprising farmers in southwestern Minnesota, and since his bo3'hood days has been an active factor in farm work. As soon as old enough to handle the plow he began work in the fields and has since been identified with agricultural interests. In connection with his father and his brother he has been engaged in the breeding of fine horses and cattle. They began raising Holstein cattle in 1878, and in 1880 intro- duced fine horses. They now have some very fine blooded stock and have done much to advance the grade of stock raised in this section of the state. Mr. McMasters now follows general farming and the sinking of deep or tubular wells. He is pre-eminently a business man, alert, energetic and with a clear eye to favorable opportunities. Above all he is thoroughly reliable and thus has the confidence of all. His home is noted for its hospitality and his friends in the neighborhood are many. >^ OSEPH SCHOFFM ANN is numbered ^ among the enterprising and substan- (% J tial citizens of Morgan, Redwood count}', Minnesota, who are of alien birth but who by their own unaided exertions have raised themselves to their present pros- perous condition. He was born on the 19th of July, 1832, in France, of which country his parents, Joseph and Magdalena (Freber- ger) Schoffmann, were also natives. In 1846 they sailed from Havre de Grace, France, for America, the voyage lasting forty-six days. From New York city they went Ijy river and canal to Buffalo, thence by the lakes to Cleveland, Ohio, and on to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin. They first settled near Port Washington, that state, where the mother died, at the age of fifty years. Later the family removed to Faribault county, Minnesota, where the father's death oc- curred, when he had attained the age of seventj'-five. In the family were ten chil- dren, five yet living. At the age of seventeen 3ears our sub- ject started out in life for himself as a farm hand and was thns employed for two years. For a time he worked on the St. Lawrence river during the summer months, and in the < winter season engaged in chopping wood. In 1859 he returned to Wisconsin, and on the 1 6th of May of that year wedded Miss Mary Steinbeck, who was born in Belgium, and died at Minnesota Lake, at the age of thirty years. Soon after his marriage he removed to Calhoun county, Illinois, where he engaged in teaming until 1864. After a year then spent in Wisconsin, he went to Mankato, Minnesota, and later to Minnesota Lake, where he resided from 1866 until 1881. On the 1 6th of May, 1869, Mr. Schoff- mann was again married, hisisecond union being with Catherine Schneider, who was born at Columbus, Wisconsin, February 12, 1833, and they now have eight children. namely: Joseph A., who is married and has one child; Clara S., who married Otto Gerstman and has one child; Anna, at home; Lena, who is married and has one child; Edward, Frank, Catherine and Eu- gene. In 1 88 1 , Mr. Schoffmann returned to Man- kato, where he engaged in the stock business for a year and then removed to Brookville township. Redwood county, where in con- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 485 nection with |. A. Willard he engaged in raising and shipping stock until 1891, when he came to Morgan. Here he pur- chased property and erected a house and barn, and in 1893 opened a hotel, but is still engaged in buying and shipping stock, conducting the largest business in that line in that part of Redwood county. Mr. Schoffmann is a keen, practical man, well gifted with mental and physical vigor. In politics he has always voted for the can- didates of the Democratic party since cast- ing his first vote for Franklin Pierce, and, although he does not take an active part in politics he conscientiously performs his du- ties as a good citizen. He and his family' are people of high consideration in the com- munity and are members of St. Michael's Catholic church, to which Mr. Schoffmann is a liberal contributor. I HLBERT E. EDWARDS.— To this enterprising and thoroughgoing young gentleman belongs the dis- tinction of being the first lawj'er to locate in the town of Morgan, Minnesota; and as the lives of pioneers in any profes- sion or line of occupation are always more or less replete with interest, we take pleas- ure in presenting to our readers a biography of this young lawyer. Albert E. Edwards was born in Liver- pool, England, July 22, 1871, and although English by birth he is an American at heart, and is proud, as he has reason to be, of the country of his adoption. It was in 1887 that he accompanied his only sister and their widowed mother to the United States, their destination being Mandan, North Da- kota. That same year his mother was mar-' ried in Mandan to Mr. Christopher Jarvis, and they still reside at that place. Mr. Jar- vis was engaged in farming a few years, but is now living in town. The sister above re- ferred to became the wife of Dr. E. A. An- derson, formerly assistant superintendent of the North Dakota Insane Hospital, but now a practicing physician of Morris, Minnesota. For one year the subject of our sketch remained with his people on a farm near Mandan, and in the fall of the following year he entered the University of North Da- kota, where he remained until spring, when the university was closed on account of diphtheria breaking out among the students. Then he spent another year on the farm, after which he went to Jamestown, North Dakota, and was employed for over a year as attendant in the North Dakota Hospital for the Insane, under the superintendency of Dr. O. W. Archibald. Having accumulated some money while there, he decided to study law; and, if heredity controls, the law should apply strongly to young Edwards. Thomas Edwards, his grandfather, was a solicitor in London, England, having risen from office boy to the position of head of the firm. He lived to be seventy years of age. John Ed- wards, the father of our subject, was a grad- uate of St. John's College, Cambridge Uni- versity, England, receiving the degree of B. A. At the age of twenty-seven he was ad- mitted to practice before the Queen's Bench as a barrister at law in London. He con- tinued practice until a few years before his death, which was caused by pneumonia when he was fifty-six years of age. Having decided to enter the legal ranks, the subject of our sketch was, in the fall of 1 89 1, enrolled as a member of the law school of the University of Minnesota, which was under the guidance of Dean Pattee. At 486 MEMORIAL RECORD OF the same time Mr. Edwards took up the study of short-hand and made himself pro- ficient in typewriting, and in the second year of his law course he was employed a part of the time in the ofSce of Henry M. Farnam, a prominent lawyer of Minneap- olis. On June i, 1893, he was admitted to practice in Minnesota, being one of a class of eighty graduates, and on the sixth of that month opened an office in Minneapolis, where he continued to practice until May i. On that date, owing to a few business re- verses, he was obliged to discontinue prac- tice there. June 4, 1895, found him in Lamberton, Minnesota, where for a year he enjoyed a good business. In March, 1896, upon the advice of friends, and believing that Morgan furnished a better opening than Lamberton, he removed his office to this point, and so far has had no reason to regret the step taken. Here his law practice is In conclusion, we state that he is un- married, and seemingly cares more for busi- ness than the charms of the fair sex. growing and the future looks bright. If close attention to business and careful study of details bring success, we have no doubt but that he will achieve it; and, in addition to his law practice, he is acquiring a large collecting business, having already been ap- pointed agent for many machine and collect- ing companies. By training, Mr. Edwards is an Episco- palian. His views on religious questions, however, are broad and liberal, and he be- lieves that the time is not far distant when a universal church brotherhood of man will be the only religion. Politically, he har- monizes with the Republican party, but is not active in politics; and he has fraternal relations with the Odd Fellows, having joined this order at Lamberton in January, 189C. Personally, he is a young man of high moral integrity, and is genial and en- tertaining. ^y^ANIEL W. BANKER.— The fine I I farm of three hundred and twenty ><^^^ acres owned by this gentleman in Paxton township. Redwood coun- ty, invariably attracts the eye of the passing traveler as being under the supervision of a thorough and skillful agriculturist, and a man otherwise of good business qualifications. He was born in Clinton county. New York, December 15, 1842, and is a son of Elias and Mary (Morrison) Banker. When our subject was but four years old his father died in New York, at the age of forty-eight, but his mother, who was born near Rutland, Vermont, is still living in Hennepin count}', Minnesota, at the age of eighty-six years. In the family were eight children, seven of whom yet survive, are all married and have families of their own. Our subject was reared to farm life, and at the age of twenty years left home, work- ing for one year in the store of N. Crockett at Osseo, Minnesota. For two months he was then employed on a farm in Anoka county, after which he returned to his home at Maple Grove, Hennepin county, where he remained until his marriage. That important event in the life of Mr. Banker was celebrated December 24, 1S71, Miss Ellen M. Pike becoming his wife. She was born August 21, 1853, in Essex county, Massachusetts, and traces her ancestry back to Major Robert Pike, who was born in 161 5, became a member of the Massachusetts col- ony April 2, 1835, and there died at the age of ninety-two years. In his family of eight SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 487 children, Robert, the second in order of birth, was the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Banker. Her grandparents, Caleb and Mary (Pike) Pike, who were second or third cousins before marriage, were natives of the Old Bay state, and there both died. Her parents, Moses K. and Emma J. (Barn- ard) Pike, were also natives of that state, born in Essex county, the former September 24, 1839. The father came to Maple Grove, Minnesota, in 1 866, where he purchased a partially improved farm, but about si.x years later sold out and settled near Northfield, this state, where he died from the effects of a kick from a horse, April i, 1896. His wife had long preceded him to the other world, dying January i, 1867. In their family were four children, all still living. Mrs. Banker was educated in the district schools and remained at home until her marriage. By her union with our subject she has become the mother of two children Fred M., born August 28, 1873; and Emma M., born in August, 1878. They have been well educated at the Redwood schools, and are still under the parental roof. For three 3'ears after his marriage, Mr. Banker rented land near Osseo, and then drove a stage from Maple Grove to Monti- cello for the following year. For the same length of time he again engaged in farming and then ran a mill. Coming to Redwood county in 1878 he rented land for three years and a half, then returned to Maple Grove, but four years later we again find him in Redwood county, where he worked by the year until 18S4, when he purchased a farm near Marshall, Minnesota, which he operated for a year and a half. He then rented his land and later sold it to a brother- in-law, while he worked for others for about five years. He again bought one hundred and si.\ty acres, but for a year and a half was in other business. A year later added one hundred and si.vty acres to his original tract, which comprises his present excellent farm. He has made many excellent im- provements and is meeting with a well de- served success, as on starting out in life his capital consisted of but fifteen cents. In connection with regular farm work he makes a specialty of breeding fine draft horses, having an imported, full-blooded Percheron stallion, and gives much attention to the stock business. The family attend the Methodist Epis- copal and Presbyterian churches, and is one of the most honorable and highly respected in Redwood county. For many years Mr. Banker has been township supervisor, and is now serving as chairman of the board, while he has also been connected with the school board. His first presidential vote was cast for General Grant in 1868, and since that time he has been an ardent Re- publican. EOGEN ANDERSON.— Atthis point in thisseries of biographical sketches we are pleased to revert to the life of Hogen Anderson, who occupies the position of postmaster of Lamberton, Redwood county, Minnesota, and who also is a dealer in furniture and undertaking sup- plies. Mr. Anderson is a native of Norway. He was born June 20, 1830, and when twelve years of age was brought by his mother to America, his father having died during the infancy of our subject. Their voyage across the Atlantic was made in a sail vessel, and was seven weeks in duration, and they were 488 MEMORIAL RECORD OF about four weeks in making the trip from New York city to Milwaukee. He was reared near Milwaukee, and was engaged in farming there until 1866, when he disposed of his farm and came over into the neigh- boring state of Minnesota, his first location being in Dakota countj', where he purchased a farm and lived two years and a half. Sell- ing out again, he moved to Cottonwood county, bought land in Ann township, and lived there several years. About 1882 he disposed of his property there and came to Lamberton. Here his first business venture was as a wagon manufacturer, in which he met with success and which he carried on until 1890, when he turned the business over to his son and began dealing in furniture and undertaking supplies. He was appointed postmaster of Lamberton during the pres- ent administration of President Cleveland, and, with the assistance of his obliging son Edwin, attends to the duties of the office in connection with his other business. Mr. Anderson was married in Racine, Wisconsin, to Miss Ann Christophson, of Norwegian birlh, and their happy union has been lilessed in the gift of five sons, — Andrew. Christopher, Martin, Albert and Edwin. In his political views Mr. Anderson is Democratic. Wherever he has resided he has always shown a commendable interest in public affairs, and has done his part to promote the welfare of his community. He assisted in the organization of Cottonwood county, and was for several years one of its county commissioners, and since coming to Lamberton, besides filling the position of postmaster, he has served as a member of the village council. He is an active mem- ber and liberal supporter of the Norwegian Lutheran church. EENRY W. SWIFT, deceased, was an influential and honored citizen of Wisconsin, where he departed this life at the age of fifty-five years. He was born in Genesee county, New York, July 24, 1823, and was a son of Moses B. and Fannie (Hitchcock) Swift, who were eastern people that became early pioneers of the Badger state, where both died, the former at the age of seventy-four and the latter at the age of fifty-five years, in Green Lake county. For service in the war of 1812 the father had received a land grant from the government. Our subject was educated in the district schools near the home farm, and on reach- ing manhood he was married January 23, 1849, to Miss Emma Wilder, also a native of Genesee county, New York, and a daugh- ter of Kyes and Tryphena (Wood") ^^'ilder. Her father died in Erie county. New York, at the age of forty years, and her mother, who long survived him, passed away in Wis- consin, at the age of eighty years. He was in the government employ during the war of 1812. It was in 1845 that Mr. Swift emigrated to Wisconsin, where he purchased a farm and became well supplied with life's necessi- ties and comforts, his property all being ac- quired through his own unaided efforts. He was a Republican in politics. His record had been an honorable one, and his mem- ory will long be cherished by the many who had the pleasure of his friendship, for his sturdy worth and for his countless acts of benevolence and kindness. He was an in- fluential man and contributed liberally to all worthy enterprises. Mrs. Swift, with her two sons, Clarence and Eugene M., now own about twelve hundred acres of fine farming' land in Beaver SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 489 township, Rock county, where she has made her home for some years, and is a highly re- spected lady, beloved by all who know her. In the family were four children: Clarence lives with his mother on the home farm, which he manages, and besides owns five hundred and sixty acres, which makes him one of the most prosperous young farmers of the northwest; Delia lives in Wisconsin, and is married and has two children; Charlie is also married, and is a general farmer and stock-raiser of South Dakota; and Eugene, a prominent agriculturist of Beaver town- ship. Rock count}-. HNDREW J. ECKSTEIN, one of the representative and prominent business men of New Ulm, is a registered pharmacist, and is now conducting one of the largest and best equipped drug stores in Brown county. He is a native of Austria, born September 9, 1 86 1, and a son of John and Magdalena (Keiin) Eckstein, who came with their fam- ily to America in 1S65. The vessel in which they sailed was seventy-one days in crossing the ocean, at the end of which time anchor was dropped in the harbor of New York. The family landed, but spent no time in the eastern metropolis, at once pro- ceeding westward. On their journey the railroad bridge spanning the Hudson gave way and all of their baggage was sunk in the river, leaving them with nothing but the clothing that they had on at the time! Their entire possessions were lost and they were unable to recover damages from the railroad company, so almost penniless they arrived in Minnesota to begin life anew. From St. Paul to Brown county they made 31 the journey by team, and located on a farm on the banks of Cottonwood river, two n:iles west of New Ulin. For a time the father worked as a farm hand, but later rented land and afterward bought eighty acres, to which he added one hundred and sixty acres in subsequent years. That place continued to be his home up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1881. His wife, who still survives him, now resides in New Ulm. Andrew J. Eckstein is the third in order of birth in the family of six children, four sons and two daughters. The others are: Joseph A. , who is engaged in the practice of law; Katie, wife of Christian Seifert; Andrew J. ; Wenzel T., court stenographer; George C, a farmer; and one daughter who died in infancy. The early educational privileges of the subject of this sketch were such as the district schools near his home afforded, but he later became a student in the Mankato Normal, at which institution he was graduated in the class of 1878. At the early age of sixteen years he began teaching and followed that profession for two years, conducting schools in both Stark and Milford townships. Brown county. Subsequently Mr. Eckstein entered the drug store of Dr. Charles Weschcke, of New Ulm, and at the end of ten years' serv- ice purchased the Doctor's entire stock, business property and good will. He has since continued business at the old store and has grown in favor and popularity with the public, while his business has con- stantly increased. He pursued a course of study in the National Institute of Pharmacy, of Chicago, and won the diploma of that school. He then passed an examination before the state board of pharmacy of Min- nesota as a registered pharmacist in 1889. 490 MEMORIAL RECORD OF He carries a full and complete stock of drugs, toilet articles, oils, paints, window glass and garden seed, and carefully com- pounds prescriptions of all kinds. He has established an excellent trade, which he justly merits. He holds a membership in the State Pharmaceutical Association, and also the American Phamaceiitical Associa- tion. In r884 Mr. Eckstein was united in marriage to Miss Christine Pietrns, of Min- nesota Lake, Minnesota, a daughter of An- drew Pietrus, and they now have four chil- dren, — Elsie, Artie, Roman and Florence. Mr. Eckstein does not give his atten- tion entirely to his drug trade, but is also connected with other enterprises. He is president of the New Ulm Savings & Loan Association, takes an active interest in the welfare of town and county, has for eight years been connected with the board of pub- lic works, and has served as its chairman for several years past. He is also vice president of the Brown County Agricultural Society. In religious belief he is a Catho- lic, holding a membersliip in St. Joseph's Society of the H0I3' Trinity church. Po- litically, he is a pronounced Democrat. For fourteen years he was a member of the Na- tional Guards, and for eight years was ad- jutant of his regiment. On Christmas day of 1892, after severing his connection with the military organization, he was presented by the officers of the Second Regiment Infantry, N. G. S. M., \\'ith a handsome gold watch and chain in token of their appre- ciation of the services which he had ren- dered. The watch was most handsomely engraved, and accompanying it was a letter from Colonel Joseph Bobleter, commander of the regiment, in which he spoke in the highest terms of Mr. Eckstein, both as a soldier and a gentleman. This letter is now in possession of Mr. Eckstein and is prized even as much as the watch itself. *-|^ EWIS C. HODGSON, proprietor I I <^f the Fairvicw Stock Farm on sec- I ^ tion 15, Luverne township. Rock county, is one of the most extensive breeders of Percheron horses and Chester White hogs in this section of the state, and has longer engaged in the business than any other man. Hb was born at Groveland, Tazewell county, Illinois, December 21, 1850, and is the son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Robinson) Hodgson, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Tazewell county, Illinois. Early in the '50s they removed to La Salle county of the latter state, where the father's death occurred. The mother is also deceased. The\' were the parents of five children, — Alice, Lewis C, Esther, Nellie and Laura, — but all are now deceased with the exception of our subject. Upon the home farm in La Salle county. Lew C. Hodgson grew to manhood, receiv- ing his early education in the common schools, and later attended college at Eu- reka, Illinois, for a year. He has always turned his attention to farming and the breeding of fine stock, and has met with a well deserved success in those lines. On the 14th of February, 1872, in La Salle county, IlHnois, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hodgson and Miss Leila H. Ebersol, who was born in that county, April 30, 1850, and is a daughter of Amos and Calista (Whittlesey) Ebersol, the former a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the latter of New- Britain, Connecticut. At Ottawa. Illinois, her father died June 9, 1884, and her mother departed this life on SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 491 the 17th of May, 18S5. In their family were six children, namely : James C, Alice W. , Ella C, Leila H., Calistus S. and Eliz- abeth L. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson, — Lewis I., who died at the age of four years; J. Ernest, who died at the age of two; Nellie C, Karl W. , Vic- tor A., Laura C, Stanley (who died in in- fancy), W. Ray and Robert E. Mr. Hodgson began his domestic life in La Salle county, where he engaged in agri- cultural pursuits until the fall of 1S76, when he removed to Fairfield, Nebraska, purchas- ing a farm, which he improved and operated for four years. Selling out at the end of that time he returned' to La Salle county, Illinois, and took charge of his father's farm on account of that gentleman's illness. After his death, in the fall of 1886, he came to Rock county, Minnesota, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres on sec- tion 15, Luverne township, where he has since continued to reside. He has erected good buildings upon his place, including a comfortable dwelling and barns and out- buildings for the care and convenience of his stock, and is now the owner of nearly one thousand acres of valuable land in Rock count}' and in South Dakota. He has been very successful in his business ventures and is now numbered among the prosperous farmers of the locality. « Mr. Hodgson is very popular among his fellow citizens, winning the confidence and respect of all with whom he comes in con- tact, whether in a business or social way, and has been called upon to fill a number of official positions of honor and trust. For five years he has been treasurer of Luverne township, being the present incumbent, and has manifested his interest in educational institutions by his faithful service as a mem- ber of the independent school board. A conscientious, earnest Christian, he is now serving as an elder and trustee in the church of which he is a faithful member, and has also been superintendent of the Sunday- school for a period of ten years. He is a Republican in politics, with prohibition tendencies, as he is a strong temperance man, and fraternally is a member of the I. O. O. F. His upright, honorable life and sterling worth justly entitles him to a place among the prominent and representa- tive citizens of southwestern Minnesota, and we are pleased to present to our readers this brief sketch of Lewis C. Hodgson. "^Y'^^^ES McKEON. — There arenumer- m ous fine farms in Rock county which /• 1 will compare favorably with any others in the state as regards produc- tion and also as to the improvements which have been made upon them. Many of these places are owned by men who are succeed- ing in an eminent degree in building up a comfortable home in this section of Minne- sota. As a representative of this class of agriculturists, great pleasure is taken in pre- senting the name of the subject of this no- tice, who is living on section 8, Clinton township. His birth occurred in McHenr}- county, Illinois, June 17, 1863, and he is a son of John and Mary (Murray) McKeon, natives of Ireland, who brought their family -co Min- nesota in 1865, locating first in Waseca county, where they lived until 1872. It was in that year that they located upon the present farm of our subject on section 8, Clinton township. Rock countj', where the father died January 17, 1882, and the 492 MEMORIAL RECORD OF mother's death occurred August 31, 1891. In their family of nine children, — three sons and six daughters, — our subject is next to the 3-oungest. James McKeon was but nine years of age when he became a resident of Rock county and has since made his home upon his pres- ent farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The fields are well tilled and yield abundant harvests in return for the care and labor ex- pended upon them, while the buildings are neat and substantial. In local political affairs, Mr. McKeon takes a prominent part, always voting the Democratic ticket, and supports all meas- ures that will advance the interests of his town and county. For several years he has efficiently served as a member of the town board, being its present chairman, and he has also been school clerk for many years. Religiously he is a member of the Catholic church of Luverne, and he receives the warmest esteem of the entire neighborhood for his many admirable \irtues and genial manners. "^-j'OHN P. STEEN, one of the enter- H prising and wide-awake citizens of A J Rock county, is the founder of the village of Steen in Clinton township, where he also owns a fine farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres on section 32. Al- though an alien by birth, he is prominently identified with the interests of his adopted country, and does all in his power to ad- vance the interests of his countv. During the dark days of the civil war he also took up arms in defence of the Union, enlisting in April, 1864, as a member of Company K, Fiftieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, in which for one year he faithfully served. Mr. Steen was born in Norway, Novem- ber 20, I 84 1, and there learned the black- smith's trade with his father, Peter O. Steen. In 1863 he resolved to try his for- tune in America and embarked upon a sailing vessel, which was twelve weeks upon the water before it dropped anchor in the har- bor of Quebec. From that city lie went to Chicago, where he spent one season, and then removed to Juneau county, Wisconsin, where he worked at his trade and in a saw- mill until his enlistment in the Union army. After receiving an honorable discharge, Mr. Steen came to Minnesota, locating at St. James, where he took up eighty acres of land, which he cultivated for one year, but at the end of that time disposed of the property and returned to Juneau county, Wisconsin, where he again worked at his trade until 1871. In the early summer of that year he came to Rock county, Minne- sota, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 32, Clinton township, residing thereon continuously since. He has made many substantial im- provements upon this place, including the erection of good buildings, and in Septem- ber, 1888, platted the village of Steen. In Juneau county, Wisconsin, on the 23d of March, 1871, Mr. Steen led to the marriage altar Miss Lina Clemetson, who was born in Norway, July 13, 1850, and in 1866 crossed the Atlantic to the United States. They have become the parents of the following named children, namely: Peter, Richard, George, Elmer, Ida, Ada, Willie, Gilbert, Nathan, Freddie and Johp. All are living with the exception of Freddie, who died at the age of a year and a half. The parents hold membership in the Lu- theran church, and are highly respected and worthy citizens of the community. For SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 493 several years Mr. Steen has served as school treasurer, and is a firm friend of our public school system. @EORGE S. BARNES, deceased, was an honored veteran of the civil war, and one of the leading and rep- resentative agriculturists of Grand Prairie township. Nobles county. A native of Vermont, he was born at Pittsford, on the /th of September, 1S45, and in the early '70s came to Nobles county, where he located a homestead on section "i 8, Grand Prairie township, continuing its improvement and cultivation up to the time of his death, which occurred November 17, 18S4. Prompted by a spirit of patriotism, Mr. Barnes enlisted in Company E, Fourth Iowa Cavalry, during the dari< days of the Rebel- lion, and faithfully served until the close of hostilities. He contracted rheumatism while in the army, which finally caused his death. A man of undoubted integrity and sterling worth, he won the confidence of all with whom he came in contact, and was a con- sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. At Maysville, Franklin county, Iowa, April 2, 1868, was celebrated the marriage of Mr, Barnes and Miss Hannaii M. Walker, a native of county Donegal, Ireland, who came to America when sixteen years of age. Her parents, Andrew and Hannah (Osborn) Walker, spent their entire lives on the Em- erald Isle. To Mr. and Mrs. Barnes four children were born, who are still living, namely: Andrew Charles, George Lewis, Violet Nellie and Maud Rose. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Barnes has lived upon the farm left her, comprising one hundred and si.xty acres of rich land, which she manages in a business-like manner and has made many valuable and useful im- provements. In religious belief she is a Congregationalist, and is-a most estimable lady, beloved by all who know her. (D ICHAEL J. MURPHY, a worthy representative of the commercial interests of Ellsworth, where he is engaged in carrying on a lum- ber and coal yard, and in dealing in agri- cultural implements, buggies, wagons and windmills, belongs to that class of American citizens who taking advantage of surround- ing opportunities and working their way up- ward have attained a competence. Mr. Murphy was born in Caledonia, Houston county, Minnesota, on the 23d of December, 1870, and is a son of W. H. and Isadore (Quinlan) Murphy. His father is now employed at the State Agricultural College of Minnesota. The subject of this review acquired his education in the public schools, and when a joung man of twenty years came to Ellsworth, from Brookings, South Dakota. His residence here dating from November, 1890. His first connec- tion with the business interests of Ellsworth was as a clerk in a general store, where he was employed for nearly three years. He then embarked in his present business, and is now enjoying a good trade as a dealer in lumber and coal. He also carries a well selected stock of the most highly improved agricultural implements and windmills and the best styles of buggies and wagons. He now has a good trade coming from Ells- worth and the surrounding country, and well does he deserve a liberal patronage. Mr. Murphy was married in Ellsworth, November 27, 1895, the lady of his choice 494 MEMORIAL RECORD OF being Miss Cora W'halen. He holds a membership in the CathoHc church, and is a public-spirited, progressive young man, deeply interested in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of the city with which he is now identified. Ky^\ ICHOLAS LENZ.— The material I ■ prosperity of a community de- Jl , ( pends largely upon its enterprising merchants, men who favor prog- ress and give their support to all measures for advancement in commercial, intellectual and moral lines. To this class of citi2ens belongs our subject, and among the native sons of Minnesota he is also numbered, his birth having occurred in Scott county, on the i/th of August, 1864. His father was the late Hon. Joseph J. Lenz, who came to Nobles county about 1874 from Scott county and took up his residence in Grand Prairie township, where he made his home until his death, on the 21st of November, 1892. He was elected to the legislature from Scott county, and served for one term in the gen- eral assembly. At the time of his election he was filling the office of county commis- sioner and was chairman of the board. Thus he figured prominently in public af- fairs, and his career was one of honor and respectability, winning him high regard. He married Miss Mary Klinklammer, who is still living, and now resides in Adrian. Mr. Lenz, at the time of his death, was one of the extensive land-owners in this section of the state, his property aggregating fourteen hundred acres, which he acquired through his own \\'ell-directcd efforts. He was a very industrious and energetic man, and possessed business ability of a superior or- der. His political support vvas given to the Democracy. Of the Catholic church he was an active and influential member, and con- tributed largely to the erection of the house of worship iri Adrian. Nicholas Lenz, whose name introduces this review, has been identified with the business interests of Nobles county since 1880. He first engaged in farming in Grand Prairie township, and in addition to that occupation operated a threshing-machine for several years. In the fall of 1887 he opened his store in Ellsworth, and has since been engaged in -merchandising, carrying a well-selected stock. His honorable dealing and his courteous treatment of his patrons have won him a large business, which is constantly increasing. In November, 1895, in Adrian, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Lenz and Miss Susie Blesius, a daughter of the late John Blesius, who died in Adrian, in September, 1893. At the time of his death he was serving as mayor of that place. Our sub- ject has been honored with official prefer- ment, having filled the office of village treas- urer for several years, and also acted as a member of the council. ^Y^AZALEELH. EDGAR. -In the 1/''^ subject of this sketch is found a ^^^,J gentleman whose residence in Lo- rain township, Nobles county, Min- nesota, covers only four years, but whose identity with this place and its interests is thoroughly established. At this point in this series of biographies we take pleasure in making personel mention of him. Bazaleel H. Edgar was born and reared in Ivnox county, Illinois, the date of his birth being May, 1833. His father, Samuel Edgar, was a Kentuckian, born in Hart SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 495 count)', and from that state about 1830 moved up into Illinois, settling in Knox county, where he passed the rest of his life and where he died in the year 1887. His wife, who before her marriage was Miss Mary DeFevers, was likewise a native of Kentucky. They were the parents of eight children, seven sons and one daughter, and of this number three sons are now living, the subject of our sketch and two brothers who are in the state of Washington. In 1S53 Mr. Edgar, then a young man of twenty years, was a "victim" of the California gold "fever" and crossed the plains to the Pacific coast, where he so- journed until 1864, that year returning to his old home in Illinois. The ne.xt ten years he spent in Knox county, and in Janu- ary, 1874, we again find him on the way to far-away California, San Francisco his objective point, where he remained until February, 1876. At that time he went to Humboldt bay and shortly afterward visited various other points in California. During all these years he was engaged in mining and stock-raising. In the year 1876, while in the Pit river country, he had a siege of sick- ness, and upon his recovery he went to the Willamette valley in Oregon, where he spent three years, interested in the lumber business. Subsequently he went to eastern Oregon, took a homestead claim in Umatilla county, and was there engaged in the stock business until October, 1889, at which time he again returned to Illinois and remained there till June of the following year. The next eighteen months he spent on a farm in Lincoln county, Washington, and when he again came east it was to settle in Nobles county, Minnesota. That was in 1892. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lorain township, section 4, and has since resided upon it and given his attention to farming and stock-raising, meet- ing with fair success in his undertakings. Mr. Edgar married Mrs. Alice (Hayden) Hawkins, a native of Walworth county, Wisconsin, born December 23, 1S60, the only daughter in a family of five children. Her father was a Scotchman and her mother a native of Ireland. By her former mar- riage Mrs. Edgar has one son, William A. Hawkins. Politically, Mr. Edgar harmonizes with the Democratic party, of which he is a stanch supporter. While a resident of Washington he was a member of a militia company organized for protection against the Indians, and wherever he has resided he has always taken a commendable interest in public affairs. BEU McCORTNEY, the newly elect- ed sheriff of Nobles county, was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, October 31,1 859, his parents being Henry and Eliza (Horner) McCortney, na- tives also of that state. His father was a blacksmith by trade, and held the position of foreman in the Cambria Iron Works for twenty-three years. He then came west to Hudson, Iowa, and removed thence to Kim- ball, South Dakota, and some time after- ward returned to Hudson, where he is still living, engaged in blacksmithing and wagon- making. He had three sons and three daughters, all of whom are still living. His wife's parents, John and Nancy Horner, were both natives of the Keystone state; the former, a farmer by occupation, died at the age of twenty-eight years, and the latter is still living. Mr. McCortney, oursubject, was thirteen 496 MEMORIAL RECORD OF years of age when he accompanied his par- ents in their emigration westward to Iowa; consequently his education was obtained partly in his native state and partly in Iowa, in the common schools and ultimately at the academy at Waterloo, Iowa, and the Iowa State Normal Sthool, by which time he was about twenty-two years of age. He launched out into business life as a shipping clerk for a wholesale cold-storage establishment at Waterloo, Iowa, where he remained for six years. Next he entered the employ of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company as a brake- man and in other positions for two years. Then he spent three j'ears in agricultural pursuits in Iowa, and one year in Dakota buying stock and farming. In 1887 he came to Worthington, Minnesota, being in- terested in the stock business. In 1889 he entered the employ of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad Company, in the station at Worthington, and remained in this position for two years. Next he was in the livery business three years alone, when, in the same line, he formed a partner- ship with Wolten Aagaard, under the firm name of McCortne\' & .\agaard, which re- lation continued for a period of two years. He then disposed of his interests in this line to Mr. .\agaard, being appointed night watch and special police officer by the vil- lage council of Worthington, in which posi- tion he is now serving. Mr. McCortney was first married to Miss May Ferris, of Waterloo, Iowa, whose par- ents were among the first settlers in that county and are still living. By that mar- riage there were three children, all daugh- ters, one of whom died in infanc}-, and one died at the age of nine years. The mother and daughter both died on the same day, — I March 26, 1894. To all men come sorrow, but to some come a double share. The re- maining daughter resides with her grand- parents at Waterloo. Mr. McCortney was again married April 15, 1896, to Miss Kitty McCarthy, of Elkton, South Dakota. Mr. McCortney, in his fraternal relations, is a member of the Masonic order and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. EERMAN DITTBENNER.— Figur- ing as one of the representative men of his locality and occupying a position on the township board of supervisors, is found the subject of this record, Herman Dittbenner, one of the pop- ular German-Americans of Eden township. Brown county, Minnesota. Mr. Dittbenner was born in the province of Pommern, Germany, December 3. 1863, son of William and Joanna (Creager) Ditt- benner, natives of the same province and pioneer settlers of Brown county, Minne- sota, their location in this county being in 1866, shortly after the close of the civil war. At Hamburg they took passage for New York, at which port they landed after a successful voyage, and whence they di- rected their course westward, coming to New Ulm, Minnesota, by way of Chicago and La Crosse. Arrived in Brown county, they selected land on section 14, Eden township, the same upon which the subject of our sketch now resides, and here they built a log cabin and settled down in pio- neer style. At this place they spent the rest of their lives and died, the father's death occurring March 21, 1896, at the ad- vanced age of eightj^-three years; the moth- er's, March 10, 1890, at the age of sixty- eight. The children composing their fam- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 497 ily numbered five, as follows: Mrs. Augusta Fenske, Mrs. Minnie Gluth, Carl, Ed, and Herman, — all of this township. The father was in early life a Lutheran and the chil- dren were reared in that faith. Later, however, the family became Methodists. Herman Dittbenner was three years old when he accompanied his parents to this country and to Brown county, and here he was reared and educated, acquiring a fair knowledge of both his native tongue and the English language. He remained on the home farm and succeeded to the ownership. This farm comprises two hundred and fifty acres of desirable land, well improved with good buildings and modern conveniences for succcessfully carrying on both general farm- ing and stock-raising. The old log cabin that served for a home in the pioneer days has been replaced by a more comfortable residence, and is now used for a granary. A modern windmill pumps the water for both domestic and stock purposes. A dairy is one of the important features of the place, and among the stock kept by this enterpris- ing farmer are found a good breed of horses and hogs. Mr. Dittbenner has been twice married. When he was twenty-two he wedded Miss Rosa Fisher, a native of Germany and a daughter of Gotleib Fisher, deceased, who was for years a resident of Brown county. She bore him two children, Mabel and Arthur, who were early bereaved of a loving mother's care, her untimely death occurring in 1890, when she was twenty-four years of age. For his second wife Mr. Dittbenner married Miss Anna Ziegenhagen, a most estimable woman and a member of a highly respected family. Her parents, William and Frederica (Stebenon) Ziegenhagen, came to this country from Germany the same year Mr. Dittbenner landed here and settled in the same township. Here her father died in 1889, at the age of forty-five years, leav- ing a widow and nine children, viz. : Au- gusta, Bertha, Anna, Emma, William, Min- nie, Charles, Albert and Ida. HUGUST SCHWERDTFEGER & SON, proprietors of the Iberia Roller Mills, located on the Big Cottonwood river, four miles south of Sleepy Eye, their post-office address, are at the head of an establishment that figures conspicuously in the industrial supremacy of Brown county, Minnesota. Theirs is one of the pioneer mills of this part of the state. Until 1886 it was run by water power, then a forty-horse-power engine was put in the plant and for the past ten years it has been operated by steam. It has eight pairs of rollers, a capacity of sixty barrels of Hour per day, and its output is a high grade of fancy patent flour. The main building is thirty by forty feet, two and a half stories and basement; the engine room, twenty by twenty-four feet; and the office, fourteen by si.xteen feet, with an ad- dition twelve by twenty-four feet. In 1887, the first year after the engine was put in operation in the mill, they ground forty thousand bushels of wheat for custom work besides supplying their large merchant trade. The past year the custom work amounted to thirty-seven thousand bushels. When Mr. Schwerdtfeger first built his mill southern Minnesota was thinly settled. Farmers came for a distance of eighty miles to have their grinding done, making the trip with ox teams and sometimes being two or three weeks in coming, waiting their turn and getting back home with their grist. The 498 MEMORIAL RECORD OF senior proprietor, August Schwerdtfeger, has had fifty years of experience in the mill- ing business and is one of the best millers in the state of Minnesota. A review of his life reveals the fact that he is of German birth and ancestry, as his name indicates, and that he has been a res- ident of America since 1858. He was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, November 13, 1830, a son of August Schwerdtfeger, an honest and respected farmer. The youth attended school in his native land until he was fourteen years of age, receiving what was considered a good education in the Ger- man language, and at fourteen he went to work in a mill. Later he entered the Ger- man army, was in the service one year and at the expiration of that time was dis- charged on account of ill health. Return- ing from the army he resumed work in the mill and remained thus employed there until 1858, when he sailed for America, em- barking at Hamburg, coming by way of Liverpool and Greenock and landing at New York after a voyage of twenty-si.x days. From New York he came direct to New Ulm, Brown county, Minnesota, and was at that place at the time of the Indian massa- cre there and lost everything he had, his home being burned and he and his family barely escaping with their lives. Later he moved to Madelia, Minnesota, where for six years he operated a sawmill in partnership with Herman Ploth. On disposing of his inter- ests there he came to his present location and built the mills he and his son have since owned and operated. Here he owns forty- eight acres of land, upon which the mill, his own residence and that of his son are located. The family home is a fine mod- ern one, beautifully situated on a natural building site, and with exterior and interior surroundings indicating good taste as well as prosperity. His son Henry owns one hundred and twenty acres of land near the mill. The subject of our sketch was married in New Ulm, Minnesota, in i860, to Miss Minnie Kuehn, a native of Prussia, who landed in this countrj^ the same year he did. They have had five children, of whom three are living, namely: Henry, who has already been referred to as his father's partner; Mrs. Idalia Schnell; and Anna, at home. Two of their children died in in- fancy. Henry Schwerdtfeger was born in Madelia, Minnesota, twenty-nine years ago, and was married in 1895 to Miss Ivatie Kline, of Sleepy Eye. He is an enterpris- ing young man, has grown up in the milling business, and is thoroughly familiar with its every detail. He maintains a fraternal rela- tion with the I. O. O. F. The senior Mr. Schwerdtfeger on be- coming a resident of this country identified himself with the Democratic party and has given his support to it ever since. In local affairs he has figured prominently. For over twenty years he has served as school and township treasurer. Personally, he is a man of genial, generous nature, kind and obliging to all, and as a natural consequence is as popular as he is well known. In his religious faith he is a Lutheran, and is a consistent and active member of the church. a ARL WILLIAM DITTBENNER is one of the intelligent, enterpris- ing and successful farmers of Eden township, Brown county, Minne- sota, and one of its best known and most popular citizens. Some personal mention of him is highly appropriate in this biograph- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 499 ical work, and we here take pleasure in presenting a brief sketch of fiis life. Mr. Dittbenner is an American onlj' by adoption, Germany being the place of his birth and the home of his ancestors. He was born September 21, 1856, son of Will- iam and Hannah (Creager) Dittbenner, all natives of the same province and residents there until 1866, when the family emigrated to America and located in Minnesota. Their voyage from Hamburg to New York covered a period of nine weeks and three days and was attended with stormy weather. From New York they came west to Chicago and thence to New Ulm, Minnesota, where lived Ludwig Dittbenner, an uncle of our subject. Shortly afterward they located on the farm in Eden township upon which Herman Ditt- benner, a brother of Carl W. , now resides, and there the parents spent the rest of their lives and died, the father being eighty-three years of age at the time of his decease; the mother, sixty-eight. They were Lutherans in early life and reared their children in that faith, but later united with the Methodist church, in which they sustained member- ship until death. Their family of five chil- dren were named as follows: Augusta, Minnie, Carl W., Ed and Herman. Carl W. Dittbenner was a boy of ten years when he came to America in company with his parents and other members of the family, and on his father's frontier farm in Brown county he grew to manhood, early becoming familiar with all kinds of farm work and rendering his father valued as- sistance in the cultivation and improvement of their land. He now has a fine farm of his own on section 15, Eden township one of the best in that part of the county, two hundred acres in extent and with excellent improvements thereon, including good resi- dence and other farm buildings, fences, grove, etc. His barn is forty by fifty-six feet in dimensions; granary, eighteen by twenty-six feet, with two sheds, each six- teen feet wide. His place is well supplied with water from a well two hundred and thirty-five feet deep, a modern windmill pumping the water and also furnishing the power with which he grinds feed for his stock. This mill was erected at a cost of over five hundred dollars. His stock at this writing numbers seven head of horses, twenty cattle, and a quantity of hogs. Mr. Dittbenner was married, at the age of twenty-five years, to Miss Matilda Wente, a most estimable woman and one who has contributed largely to the success her hus- band has attained. She is a daughter of Ernest Wente and has been a resident of Minnesota since her fourteenth year. To them have been given five children, viz.: Ernest, Olga, Ed, Alma and Irma. Referring to his political af^liations, we state that Mr. Dittbenner is identified with the Republican party and is one of its ardent supporters. He and his wife wor- ship at the Methodist church, of which de- nomination they are earnest and active members. In the prime of life, frank and jovial, and of an obliging disposition, Mr. Dittbenner has made many friends and has the confidence and respect of all who know him. *-»-* ORENZO DOW RICE.— The gen- I j tieman to whose life history we at I \ this point direct attention is one who has traveled extensively and seen much of the world and its ways, and who has, since 1872, resided on his present fine farm in Albin township, Brown county, 500 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Minnesota, near the town of Sleepy Eye, his post-office address. Mr. Rice is of New England birth and parentage. The Rice family in America traces their history back to two brothers of that name who came to this country from England and made settlement in Massa- chusetts as early as 1639. Levi Rice, the father of our subject, and his father, Asa, were both born in Massachusetts, and the latter was a blacksmith and farmer. The mother of onr subject was before marriage Keziah Curtis, and an uncle of his, Leonard Curtis, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and a participant in the battle of Lundy's Lane. Levi Rice, soon after his marriage, went to the Holland purchase in New York state, where he resided for some time, but on ac- count of the illness of his family returned to Massachusetts, where he and his wife passed the rest of their lives and died, he being seventy-four years of age at the time of death, and she seventy-two. She was Methodistic in her religious belief, while his religion was of that broad and liberal kind that knows not creed. In their family were thirteen children. Their son, Lorenzo Dow, whose name graces this page, was born in the town of Orange, Franklin county, Mas- sachusetts, November i, 1824, and was reared and educated there, his schooling be- ing completed with a course in the New Salem Academy. Early having conceived a love for sea life, young Rice at the age of seventeen shipped on board a whaler at New Bedford, and was on the deep for a period of two years and four months, in all that time never sleeping on shore. This voyage took him to the various climes and portions of the world, from north to south and east to west, and brought him in contact with all classes and kinds of people. A description of this trip would in itself cover many pages and be replete with interest. While at the Sand- wich Islands a shipmate of our subject died, and on his return to New England the first thought of Mr. Rice was to deliver the mes- sage of his dead comrade to the bereaved mother in Ohio, which he did. From Ohio he went to Wabash, Indiana, where he had a brother, and after a visit with him went south to Nashville, Tennessee, and thence to New Orleans, where he took passage by water for Baltimore. Again he went back to New Orleans, but shortly afterward re- turned to his New England home. At Winchendon, Massachusetts, he secured employment in a pail factory, where he worked two years, after which he again came west, this time to Menasha, Wiscon- sin, where he engaged in the manufacture of pails and tubs. Five years later we find him in Minneapolis, Minn., where he worked at his trade till 1872, and whence he came to his present location on section 15, Albin township. Brown county, Minnesota. Here he has a fine farm of two hundred and fifty- three acres on the shore of Lake Hanska, with excellent improvements thereon and everything first-class and well kept. His residence, a story-and-a-half frame, is mod- ern and attractive, and beautifully situated. A nice grove and orchard are among the other attractions on his farm, and, like many of the enterprising farmers of this locality, he is interested in the dairy business. Mr. Rice was first married at the age of twenty-five years, to Miss Martha Johnson, daughter of J. Johnson. Her death occurred in Massachusetts in 1857. In 1866, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he wedded Miss Jenny Knowles, a native of New Hampshire who was reared and educated in Webster, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 501 Minnesota. Her father, Ebenezer Knowles, is now a resident of Oregon. By his second wife Mr. Rice has four children, namel}^ Arthur L., a business man o"f Windom, Minnesota; Effie, who died at the age of six years; and Nettie E. and Nellie E., ac- complished young ladies who preside over their father's home, their mother having died January iS, 1894. Mrs. Rice was a devoted wife and loving mother and a most estimable woman in every respect, and in her death her family and many friends met a heavy loss. Mr. Rice gives his support politically to the Republican party. He has frequently been honored with official preference in a local way, he has served as clerk and treas- urer of the township, been a member of the school board, and filled the office of coroner one term, and in all of these positions has rendered faithful and efficient service. >^ACOB WIGAL.— The biographer K takes pleasure in reverting here to A J the life history of one whose identity with his present locality covers a period of twenty-four years, and who be- longs to that class of veterans who " wore the blue " during the early '60s. He resides on his farm on section i 8, North Star town- ship, Brown county, Minnesota, and Spring- field is his post-office address. Mr. Wigal is a New Yorker by birth. He was born at Buffalo, Erie county, May 16, 1846, and comes of an old New York family whose origin is traced back to Ger- many. At an early age he was left an orphan and from the time he was twelve years old he made his own way in the world, his educational advantages being limited to a few months' schooling. By home study and reading, however, and by actual con- tact with the business world he early ac- quired a wide range of useful information which has grown wider with the passing years. When a boy he came west to Mil- waukee and Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, near which places he was employed as a farm hand. He was thus occupied at the time the Civil war came on, and March 24, 1864, while yet in his 'teens, he enlisted for serv- ice in the Union army, going to the front as a member of Company B, Thirty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry, the fortunes of which he shared until the close of the war, except when he was in hospital. In the engage- ment at Petersburg, June 16, 1864, he re- ceived a gunshot wound in the left thigh, from the effects of which he was in hospital from June 28 until September 5. His hon- orable discharge from the service bears date of July 27, 1865. Still under twenty, a vet- eran and a victor, with a record of which he has every reason to be proud, Mr. Wigal left the ranks to return to the quiet pursuits of the farm, and has ever since been engaged in this line of occupation. Until May, 1872, he lived near Minne- sota Junction, and at that time he came to his present location in Brown county and settled on one hundred and si.xty acres of government land, and here he has since lived and prospered. With the addition of forty acres, his farm now comprises two hundred acres, and as the result of his hon- est toil and good management it has been developed into a fine homestead with sub- stantial and convenient buildings, a six-acre grove, good pastures and well-cultivated fields, and withal a most desirable place. Mr. Wigal was married November 9, 1869, to Alice Weed, whose life has since been happily blended with his and who has 502 MEMORIAL RECORD OF indeed proved herself a helpmate as well as companion. Mrs. Wigal was born in Oak Grove, Dodge county, Wisconsin, and is the only child of John P. Weed and wife, both now deceased. The Weeds removed from Oswego county, New York, to Wisconsin at an early day and pioneered in Dodge county, and subsequently they came over into Brown county, Minnesota, and were among the primitive settlers of North Star township. Here her mother died in July, 1879, and her father in 1895. Her father was a man of high standing in this community. Polit- ically, he was a Republican, and religiously a Methodist, in church work prominent and active, and for many years a class-leader. Mrs. Wigal is identified with the same church of which her father was an honored member. Mr. Wigal gives his support politically to the Republican party, and has for years figured prominently in the affairs of his township. For twenty-two years he has been its clerk and he has also served on the school board, looking well to the interests he has in charge and performing his duty in a manner which has reifected credit both on himself and those whom he served. Like most of the old soldiers, he is associated with that popular organization known as the G. A. R. , maintaining his membership in Philip Cutland Post, No. 109. m. 'ILLIAM DANNHEIM, who en- joys official preference as chair- man of the board of township supervisors of La Fayette town- ship, Nicollet county, Minnesota, and who owns most of the town site of Clossner, on the Minneapolis, New Ulm & Southwestern Railroad, is a man whose identity with this locality covers a period of thirty years and who has all these years borne a character above reproach, his word ever as good as his bond. In this connection it is our pur- pose to take briefly under consideration his life history. \Villiam Dannheim, like many of the valued citizens of his locality, is a German by birth and ancestry and an American by adoption. He was born in Hanover, Ger- many, January 14, 1852, son of Henry Dannheim, a native, of the same province. In the year 1858 Henry Dannheim and family left the old country that had for so many years been the home of their ancestors, made a successful voyage across the Atlan- tic and sought a home in the new world. They came direct to Minnesota and settled first in Lesueur county. Afterward they lived two years near Courtland, Nicollet county, and two years near New Ulm, Brown county, and from the latter place came to La Fayette township, Nicollet county, and located on section 2, where the father improved a farm and where he passed the rest of his life and died, his death oc- curring at the age of sixty-three years. He was a man of many excellent traits of char- acter, honorable and upright in all his deal- ings, true to his friends and faithful in his Christian life. His religion was that of the Methodist Episcopal church and in his politi- cal views he harmonized with the Republican party. His widow still survives and lives at the old homestead, now being seventy- three years of age. She is the mother of five children, namely: Mrs. Dora Bauleke, Mrs. Henrietta Albrecht, William, Mrs. Addie Frezte and Mrs. Emma Milke. William at the time of their emigration to America was a boy of six years and on SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 503 the Minnesota frontier he was reared. Be- ing the only son in the family, he was early looked to as his father's assistant and helped to improve and cultivate the land upon which they settled, and since his father's death he has succeeded to the ownership of the home farm. Altof^ether he owns two hundred and si.xty-five acres, si.xty-fonr of which are included in the town site of Closs- ner; and in this connection it is not out of place to refer briefly to this new town. Clossner is located on the new railroad known as the Minneapolis, New Ulm & Southwestern, in La Fayette township, si.\ miles north of New Ulm, and the present indications are that it will in the near future take rank with the thriving business towns of the county; and it may be said in passing that Mr. Dannheim's lots are the most de- sirable ones in the town-site and are offered by him at fair prices and on good terms. Mr. Dannheim was united in marriage, at the age of twenty-five years, to Miss \J\Z7AG. Rethwill, a native of Ohio but reared and educated in this state, and is a daugh- ter of Henry Rethwill. Their happy union has been blessed in the birth of the follow- ing named children: Anna, Rosa, Lydia, Jessie, Arthur, Benjamin, William, Jr., Nora and Ruth. Of his political standing, be it recorded that Mr. Dannheim is one of the leading Republicans in his vicinity. He has occu- pied his position as chairman of the township board for four years and also for a number of years has served as a member of the school board. Religiously, he clings to the faith in which he was feared, being one of the stanch and active members of the Meth- odist church and an ofScial in the same. Such^is an epitome of the life of this sterling citizen. HNTONE VOGEL.— This venerable citizen is distinctively a pioneer. For a period of thirty-six years he has been a resident of Belgrade township, Nicollet county, Minnesota, and has maintained his home on his present farm on section 15. As one of the repre- sentative men of his locality and as a vet- eran of the great war which was waged be- tween the north and the south during the early '60s, his life history is well worthy of preservation in this biographical record, and briefly, is as follows: Mr. Vogel first saw the light of day in Alsace, France, June 13, 1823, and is a son of Antone and Madalena ( Stroolman ) Vogel, both natives of Alsace, where they passed their lives and died, the father's death occurring at the age of sixty-six years and the mother's at seventy. They were industrious and pious people, devout mem- bers of the Catholic church, and in that faith reared their family. They had five sons that grew to manhood, namely: An- drew, Frank, Antone, George and Leo; and they had two children that died in early life. Antone Vogel was reared on his father's farm and early became familiar with all kinds of work as found on a farm in Alsace. He attended school a portion of each year up to the time he was fifteen. At twenty- one he entered the French army and the following eleven years of his life were spent as a soldier. In i860, with a desire to see something of the world and to try his for- tune in America, he left behind his friends and native land and at Havre embarked for New York, where he landed after a stormy voyage of fifty-three days. From New York he immediately came west to Minne- sota and settled in Nicollet county, here 504 MEMORIAL RECORD OF taking claim to eighty acres of land in Bel- grade township. His first work here was to build a log cabin upon his claim. As the years passed by he made other improve- ments and has been fairly successful in his farming operations. The log house years ago gave place to a frame one, a grove and orchard of his own planting have flourished for years, and the whole farm gives ample indication that intelligent labor has been here expended. During the trouble with the Sioux In- dians here Mr. Vogel was a member of the Mounted Rangers, under Colonel Cox, and did effective service in suppressing the In- dian depredations. Later he was in Colonel Evarts' regiment and participated in some of the most prominent engagements of the south, including Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and he came out of the army with an honorable discharge and the record of a brave, true soldier. Mr. Vogel was married at St. Peter, Minnesota, when he was thirty-five years of age, to Miss Thessa Crandall, whose birth- place, like his, was in Alsace, France, and, until her death twenty-one years ago, their lives were happily blended together. To them were born five children, of whom four are now living, viz.: Antone, Jr., of this township; Mary; Anna, a resident of Alsace, France; and Henry, who married Miss Grace Sece and has one son, Henry, Jr. WILLIAM ARNSDORFF.— In the present connection we take pleas- a\ Mj^Jj ure in reverting to the life history of one of the primitive and lead- ing pioneers of Belgrade township, William Arnsdorff, whose post-office address is Man- kato. His identity with Minnesota reaches back two years before she was admitted into the sisterhood of states, and all these forty years he has maintained his abiding place at his present location on section i6, where he in 1S56 took claim to a tract of 160 acres. This part of the country was thfnly settled then, the Indians were numerous along the rivers during the hunting seasons, game was plentiful, and everything was new and wild; and here on the frontier he built his cabin and settled down to the work of developing a farm, which he has success- fully accomplished. The first winter he spent here was one noted for great snow-fall and has since been referred to as the " win- ter of the deep snow," it being no less than three or four feet deep for several months. To-day we find Mr. Arnsdorff the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres, well im- proved with good buildings and all modern conveniences for successfully carrying on general farming and stock-raising, and every- thing is kept up in the best of order, show- ing the owner to be a man of enterprise and thrift. Mr. Arnsdorff is a native of Belgium. He was born in the year 1832 and is a son of John Arnsdorff, also a native of that country. Until he was fourteen young Arnsdorff attended school and from that time until he was twent3'-one he was occu- pied with farm work as found in his native land, his early training being such that led to habits of industry, honesty and sobriet}'. In 1853, about the time he reached his ma- jority, he embarked for America on the sail- ing vessel St. Nicholas, and, after a voyage covering thirty-five days and attended with severe storms, he landed in safety at New York. From t*hat city he came west to Chi- cago, where he spent one season, and we next find him in Michigan working in a saw- CI a!^ ■^. /r. /^^iU^-r^c/^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 505 mill. He remained in Michigan until 1856, when, as already stated, he became a resi- dent of Minnesota. When he arrived in this country Mr. Arnsdorff had not yet taken to himself a wife, and he remained single until 1859. In December of that year was consummated his marriage to Miss Catharine Clacias, a native of Germany who accompanied her parents to this country when she was a girl of fourteen years. Her father and mother both died on this side the Atlantic. Mrs. Arnsdorff had a brother, Michael Clacias, who was an Indian fighter and for three years was in the army. He was killed by an accident with a horse some time after the war. Mr. Arnsdorff also had a brother who was in the late war, — Henry Arnsdorff, — a member of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, who was killed at Pittsburg Land- ing. Mr. and Mrs. Arnsdorff have a large number of children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Mary Anna, a resi- dent of New Orleans; John, Margaret, Henry, living in Renville county, Minnesota; William, of Siou.x City, Iowa; Leo, of Ren- ville county; and Joseph, Catherine, Nicho- las, Mary and Julia, — all at home. All have had good home training, have benefited thereby, and those who have left the paren- tal home and settled in life for themselves are occupying useful and honored posi- tions. Mr. Arnsdorff and his family are Catholics. aHARLES W. BABCOCK. -- The subject of this review is one whose ancestral history touches not only the distinctively pioneer epoch in the annals of the great state of Minnesota, but also traces back to the colonial history 32 of the nation and to that period which marked the inception of the strongest re- public the world has ever known. He traces his lineage back to New England, that cradle of much of our national history, while his parents were among the most hon- ored pioneers of Minnesota. Himself one of the representative business men of Kasota, Lesueur county, he has aided in advancing the material prosperity of this city, even as his father was conspicuous at an earlier- period in the development of industries which have important bearing upon the magnificent development of this section of the state. There is therefore an element of peculiar consistency in incorporating in this volume a review of the life of Charles W. Babcock, with due incidental reference to salient points in the career of his honored father. The parents of our subject were Joseph W. and Mary E. (Moulton) Babcock, the former of whom was born in Windham, Connecticut, on the ist of December, 1819; while the latter was a native of Enfield, Maine, where she was born in the year 1829. Joseph W. Babcock was the son of Joseph and Lucretia (Gordon) Babcock, who were natives of New England and who spent their last days in the Nutmeg state, the father having been a prominent and influential farmer and millwright in that section. Joseph W. Babcock grew up under the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the old farmstead, acquiring hiseducational discipline in the district schools. As a young man he gave evidence of his ambition and self- reliance by engaging in the selling of books through the east, but at the outbreak of the Mexican war he subordinated all other mo- tives to that of his sterling patriotism and loyalty, being among the first to enter the 506 MEMORIAL RECORD OF service, and going to the front as clerk in the quartermaster's department of Company H, Fifth Connecticut Infantry. He enlisted in 1846 and remained with the army as a faithful defender of his native land until the war was over, when, in the employ of the government, he came to Fort Snelling, Min- nesota, bringing with him a band of horses. This section of the Union offered so many attractions to him that he decided to remain here, and soon afterward he inaugurated a commission and general merchandise busi- ness in St. Paul, where he operated two warehouses and a store. Within the time of his residence in that city, January 29, 1852, Mr. Babcock was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Moulton, and they became the parents of three children, of whom our subject is the only survivor. The daugh- ters, Clara and Lillie, died at the ages of seven and eighteen years, respectively. Mary E. Moulton was the daugliter of Bar- tholomew and Mary (Shumway) Moulton, both of whom were natives of New Eng- land, the father having been born in Massa- chusetts, where he was engaged in farming and blacksmithing until about the year 1850, when he removed to Minnesota, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in Cottage Grove, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow subsequently removed to California, where she died at the venerable age of seventy-four years. Bar- tholomew Moulton, the maternal great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the heroes of the war of the Revolution, h?,ving fought for American in- dependence as a member of the navy. For a year after their marriage Joseph W. Babcock and his wife remained in St. Paul, antl then came to Lesueur county, where he secured a tract of land, laid out the townsite of Kasota and erected upon the same a sawmill, — this being the first in this section of the state. He also secured the government contract to carry the mail between St. Paul, and Siou.x City, a historic route, and for this service he received title to a large tract of land. No survey of this region had yet been made, and the section was practically in that wild and ri^ugh con- dition in which it had bean left by the hand of nature. When the integrity of the nation was threatened by armed rebellion Mr. Babcock returned to the east and served in the quartermaster's department of the Union army until 1864, having passed the greater portion of this time at the national capital. Throughout his life he was loyally devoted to his country, having displayed his fidelity to the stars and stripes in two different wars. After his return to Minnesota, he was prominently connected with the business interests of Lesueur county for many years. In 1869 he opened the famous stone quarries producing the valuable and beautiful Kasota pink lime- stone. He continued to operate his quar- ries with excellent success up to the time of his death. He was a man of distinctive business ability and unswerving honor, and through his well directed efforts he not only secured a personal prosperit}' but did much to promote the development and general welfare of the section which has been the field of his earnest and fruitful endeavors. He was a recognized leader in local polit- ical matters and he filled numerous offices of public trust, including that of justice of the peace, in which capacity he served about fifteen years. His fraternal relations com- prised identification with the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in each of which he was an honored and SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 507 valued member. He held the unqualified respect and esteem of ail who knew him, and at his death the whole community mourned the loss of a noble man and good citizen. He died in Kasota on the 15th of February, 1883, and his widow survives him and lives at Kasota at the present time. Charles W. Babcock, who has lived to give added honor to an honored name, was born in Ivasota, on the I2th of July, 1856. He entered the public schools at Minne- apolis and began his educational discipline, later continuing his studies in the Kasota schools, and finally completing his theoret- ical work in this line by taking a course of study in the business college at La Crosse, Wisconsin, and after returning to Kasota he entered the employ of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad and was in active service as agent and operator at different places for a period of si.x years. On his return to Kasota he entered into partnership with M. A. Ostrander, with whom he was associated in the conduct of a general merchandise business for two years. After the death of his father, in 1883, Mr. Babcock assumed control of the Kasota stone quarries, which he has since continued to operate with eminent success, the business being conducted under the firm name of C. W. Babcock & Company, T. S. Willcox having been admitted to partnership in 1889. The product of the quarries is dolomitic limestone, a large portion of the output being of pink color and especially adapted for ornamental architectural work in stone. The sale of the stone throughout the northwest, as well as in the east, has been extensive and the business has shown a consecutive and rapid expansion. Em- ployment is furnished throughout the entire 3'ear to a corps of about one hundred opera- tives, the output of the quarries being large and of even quality, while, says a local paper, ' ' the quarrymen are as solid and square as the rock itself." Mr. Babcock has other important capitalistic and industrial interests. He was one of the original stock- holders and incorporators of the Nicollet County Bank, of St. Peter, and has taken an active part in its executive affairs ever since, being vice-president of the prosperous institution at the present time. He also has extensive interests at Houghton, Wis- consin, where he is the owner of one-half interest in a brown-sandstone quarry, which he began operating in 1886 and which is still yielding a satisfactory product, the busi- ness being conducted under the firm title of Babcock & Smith. Mr. Babcock has taken particular inter- est in the improvement and substantial up- building of Kasota, and in 1886 he effected the purchase of several hun(fted acres of land at and near Kasota and has since con- ducted a real-estate and loan business of no inconsiderable importance. Realizing that travel affords the greatest advantages for the broadening of one's mental horizon and for attaining that cosmopolitan attitude which can be gained through no other me- dium, Mr. Babcock has been prodigal in seeking the treasure troves in this way re- vealed. He has not only visited thirty-six states of the Union, as well as Canada and Mexico, but has journeyed through most of the countries of Europe, and has visited Asia Minor and the northern part of Africa. That he has profited by the inspiration of so extended travel needs not be said, — for one of so distinct intellectuality could not but derive a valuable fund of knowledge from his contact with the people of all lands and from his appreciative observation of cus- 508 MEMORIAL RECORD OF torns, habits and affairs. Though public- spirited in an eminent degree and thoroughly in touch with the questions and issues of the day, our subject has felt that his plane of usefulness was not that defined in the realm of politics, and he has signally avoided » everything in the line of public preferment through this medium, though rendering stanch allegiance to the Republican party and its principles, and doing all in his power to further its cause. On the 26th of March, 1SS3, Mr. Bab- cock was united in marriage to Miss Marion Stark, a graduate of the Mankato high school, and at the time of her marriage a successful teacher. Her father, Henry M. Stark, was born in Connecticut in 1830, and emigrated to Minnesota about 1857, settling near Mankato, where he still maintains his home. His parents, John and Hannah (Jones) Stark, passed their entire lives in Connecticut, *while General Stark, of Revo- lutionary fame, was his great-uncle. Mrs. Mary E. Stark, the mother of Mrs. Bab- cock, is a native of Huron county, Ohio, being the daughter of Isaac and Juliet (Hubbell) Slocum, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York. Her grandparents, William and Elizabeth (Barker) Hubbell, were born in New York, and were married in their native state, but afterward removed to Ohio, where they passed the residue of their days. Elizabeth Barker was of English lineage, her parents having been born on British soil and having been the original representatives of the fam- ily in the United States. The Slocum fam- ily is also of ancient English origin, and records extant trace the line back definitely through six generations. Mr. and Mrs. Babcock are the parents of six children, four of whom are living. Jay W. was born January 14, 1884, and died October 30, same year; Clay W. was born October 28, 1885, and died January 12, 1891; Hazel was born December 25, 1887; Frank G., June 24, 1891; Fredrick H., September 26, 1S93; and Clifford S., July 31, 1S96. Our subject and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, in whose affairs the}' maintain an abiding interest. »j* O H N S E EW A LD. — Prominent ■ among the solid men of Nicollet A 1 county, Minnesota, and ranking with its pioneers and veterans of the late war, is found the subject of this rcsuiiic, John Seewald, whose farmstead is located on section 35 of Lake Prairie township and whose post-office address is St. Peter. Not unlike scores of leading citizens of Minnesota, Mr. Seewald is proud to claim Germany as his native land. He was born in Prussia, Germany, February 13, 1833, a representative of a family long resident in that country and noted for industry and in- tegrity. His father, Carl Seewald, was a farmer and laboring mail and served a term of years in the Prussian army, where he gained the record of a brave, true soldier. He died in the prime of life, at the age of thirty-nine years. The mother of our sub- ject, whose maiden name was Mary Schultz, was first married to a Mr. Foreman, b)' whom she had two children, — Rosa and Charles. By Mr. Seewald she had two sons, John and Fred. She lived to the ripe old age of eighty-one years and died in Minnesota. John Seewald was reared in Prussia, re- ceived a fair education in the schools of his native place, attending school up to the SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 509 time he was fourteen, after which he served an apprenticeship to the trade of shoemaker. He worked at his trade and at farming there until he attained his twenty-second year, when in company with his brother Fred- erick, he took passage at Bremen for Gal- veston, Texas, embarking on a small, one- mast sail vessel and being eleven weeks in accomplishing the Atlantic voyage. From Galveston they went to New Braunfels, near San Antonio, and joined a German colony. They remained in Texas, however, only a year, leaving there on account of the ex- tremely dry weather. From there they came to Illinois and thence in 1857 to the territory of Minnesota. Our subject's first location in Minnesota was in Wabasha county, where he took claim to one hun- dred and sixty acres of land and built a rude cabin, without any floor and with only some hay for a roof. He was living here on his claim at the time civil war was inaugurated. He enlisted in 1862 in the First Mounted Rangers, under Colonel Samuel McPhail and Capt. E. M. Willson, the fortunes of which he shared one year. November 20, 1863, his term of enlistment having expired, he re- enlisted as a member of Company D, First Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge, dated December 2, 1865, his record throughout the whole struggle being that of a brave and gallant soldier. Some time after his return from the army he settled in Hennepin county, Min- nesota, where he lived for nine years, fol- lowing which he sold out and came to his present location in Nicollet county. Here he purchased two hundred acres of wild land and from its primitive state has developed one of the best farms in the township. His house and barn each cost a thousand dol- lars, his modern windmill, which pumps water for both the house and stock, cost seven hundred dollars, and the other im- provements upon his place, buildings, fences, etc., are in keeping with these men- tioned. Mr. Seewald was married in 1864 to Miss Barbara Heeck, a most estimable lady who has since presided over his home and been a helpmate to him in every sense of the word. She was born near Chicago, in Cook county, Illinois, and is of German descent. Henry Heeck, her father, came from Germany to this country in early life and settled near Chicago when that now magnificent city was no larger than St. Peter, Minnesota. He was married, in Illi- nois, to Miss Mary Wolf, and the eight chil- dren born to them were named as follows: Barbara, John, August, Mary Ann, Joseph- ine, Victoria, Georgiana and Gertrude. Both parents died in Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Seewald have seven children, viz. : John, August, Mary Hoag, Matilda Evans, Minnie, William and Anna. Also they have three deceased, — George, Henry and Frank. Religiously, Mr. Seewald and his family are devout Catholics, and fraternally he is identified with the G. A. R. post at St. Peter. ^y^HILANDER BROWN, whose post- |l m office address is Kasota, Minnesota, £ resides two and a half miles from that town and nine miles from Mankato, his farm being located on section 6, Kasota township, Lesueur county, where he has had his abiding place for three dec- ades. He was a pioneer, born with pio- neer instincts, his father having been a fron- 510 MEMORIAL RECORD OF tiersmen in three different states, — Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. It was in Branch county, Michigan, Feb- ruary I, 1838, that the subject of our sketch was born, a son of Madison Brown, Madi- son Brown was a native of New England, born at CarHsIe, Middlesex county, Massa- chusetts, a member of a family long resi- dent in that state and of English origin. He was reared in Massachusetts and New York, and spent three years as an appren- tice to the carpenter's trade, under M. Wise, one of the best mechanics in the Empire state. In 1836, seeking a home and fortune in the west, he came out to Michigan, the year before Michigan attained the dignity of statehood, and settled in Branch county. He was married in Michigan to Miss Harriet Billings, a native of New York and of Eng- lish descent. In 1839, accompanied by his family, he moved to Iowa, first settling in Allamakee county, near the Cascades, when much of that section of country was in its primitive state. Later he located in Winne- shiek county, that state, north of Decorah, and from there moved into Decorah. Next he lived on Yellow river, and while there met with misfortune in the way of fire, his hay and grain being burned. Then he went to Looking Glass Prairie, Iowa, and from that place came, in 1852, to the territory of Minnesota, journeying from place to place with teams, each time selecting a frontier location, and on his arrival in Minnesota settled many miles away from any mill and ten miles from the nearest store. Later he moved to Spring Valley, next to the big woods north of Waterville, Lesueur county, and from there to Wright county; and as he advanced in life the spirit of emigration never left him. He sold out and made three trips at intervals to Washington, and spent some years in that state. The close of life, however, he passed in Minnesota, where he died, March 7, 1894, at the age of eighty-six years. He was a man whose big-hearted nature drew around him many friends. A mechanic, a farmer, a hunter, a trapper and a great traveler, his long life was replete with many interesting experi- ences and his was a rich fund of reminis- cences. He and his wife had nine children, five of whom reached adult age, Philander being the only one of this number now liv- ing. Mary Ann died at the age of twenty- six, three of the sons, — Warren, Nathan and William, — died at the age of nineteen, and of those who died in infancy we record that Emily was three and Elvira eight and two died in infancy. The mother passed away at the age of sixty-three years. She was in early life a Methodist, later became a United Brethren, and was up to the time of her death a devoted and consistent Christian. Philander Brown grew up in the various frontier districts in which his father lived, his early associations being with Indians, wild animals, log houses and ox teams, and naturally with such surroundings his educa- tional advantages were limited. During the civil war he responded to President Lin- coln's call for more troops, enlisting August 19, 1862, as a member of Company K, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Miller and Captain Burke, and was with his command eighteen months, the early part of which time he was at Fort Snelling, St. Peter and Mankato, guarding the settlers from Indian raids, and later went down to St. Louis. He was honorably dis- charged on account of disability February 26, 1864. While in the army he had both measles and smallpox, and from the effects SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 511 of exposure and disease he has never since been a strong man. Mr. Brown came to his present farm thirty years ago. Here he has eighty acres of valuable land, well improved with good buildings, his brick residence having been erected at a cost of twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Brown was married in April, 1863, to Miss Emily Pettis, a daughter of promi- nent pioneers of this state, Charles and Sarah (Horsfordj Pettis, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had ten children, of whom two are deceased, Anna and Her- bert, the former dying at the age of one year and the latter at six. Four of the daughters are married and settled in life, namely: Mrs. Celestia Freeman, Mrs. Olive Henley, Mrs. Eva Collins and Mrs. Inez Kloss. Those at home are Catharine, Alvin, William Burton and Jesse E. Alvin is engaged in teaching and Mrs. Freeman was before her marriage a teacher. In his political views Mr. Brown is strongly Republican and has been all his life. Like most old soldiers, he takes pleas- ure in the G. A. R. meetings, his member- ship being in A. K. Skaro Post, No. n . Religiously, he is identified with the Seventh- Day Adventists, is earnest and consistent in his Christian life, and is one of the stanch members of his church. @EORGE W. STUDLEY.— During the dark days of civil war in this country Minnesota, which had only a few years before been admitted into the Union of States, was not slow to show the material of which her pioneers were made and sent to the Union ranks her quota of soldiers. Among those of her citi- zens who "donned the blue," marched un- der the stars and stripes, came home vet- erans and victors and still maintain their home within the borders of this state, is found the subject of this review, Mr. George W. Studle)', whose pleasant rural home is on section 18, Cleveland township, Lesueur county, St. Peter his post-office address. Mr. Studley is not a native of this coun- try. He is an Englishman by birth, an American by adoption, a Canadian by early association, and for the past forty years has been a resident of Minnesota, having arrived in Lesueur county in 1856. He was born in Somersetshire, England, July 15, 1821, son of Benjamin F. Studley, a son of Scotch parents and born in Scotland, the Studley family having long been resident of that country. The mother of our subject was by maiden name Miss Fanny Gale. She, too, was a native of Scotland, born in Aberdeen, and her people also had long resided there, her ancestors prominent in peace and patriotic in war. The parents of George W. Studley were residents of Somer- setshire, England, until 1833, wlien they made the Atlantic voyage to the new world and took up their abode in Canada, near Ottawa, settling in the deep forest where the father engaged in the lumber business. There he passed the rest of his life and died, being eighty-five x'ears of age at the time of his death. He was in early life a member of the church of England, but later became identified with the Baptist church, of which he was a consistent member till death, and for years was honored with the office of deacon. His wife survived him ten years, her age at death being ninety, and her fa- ther before her lived to be a hundred. She, too, was a Baptist during the latter part of life, and in that faith they reared their fam- ily. Of their children, we record that 512 MEMORIAL RECORD OF George W. , the subject of our sketch, is the eldest; and that he and his brother Henry, now a resident of Colorado, are the only ones of the family born in England, the others being natives of America, and named as follows: Elias, who lives at the old home place; Silas, a resident of Canada West; Simon, who died in Washington territory; Rhoda, Elizabeth and Lydia. George W. Studley was twelve years old when he landed in Canada, and on the frontier grew to manhood, assisting his father in the forest and there developing a strong muscle and a fine physique. Later he learned the trade of millwright, which he followed for a few years in New York and Massachusetts. Also he became an expert carriage, wagon and sleigh maker, and re- turned to Canada to engage in this business. Ill health, however, prevented him from carrying out that intention, and instead he came, in 1856, to Minnesota, hoping for benefit from this climate, and in it he was not disappointed. He settled in Traverse des Siou.x, then the leading town in this part of the state, that being before St. Peter sprang into existence; and there he worked at his trade until the outbreak of the civil war. In the winter of 1862 Mr. Studley ten- dered his service to the Union, and fell in line with Company B, First Minnesota Vol- unteer Infantry, with which he served in the Army of the Potomac, his officers being Captain Houston and Colonel Tester. He was in the Wilderness campaign, at Peters- burg and Gettysburg, and at Hatcher's Run fell into the hands of the enemy, by whom he was held for twenty-four hours. The rebels, however, had to flee, and in making their escape they were compelled to leave their prisoners behind, and thus he was re- leased. At the close of the war, in July, 1865, he was honorably discharged, coming out of the ranks with the record of a brave, gallant soldier who had done his duty well. Returning from the army, Mr. Studley settled at his present location, on section 18, Cleveland township, Lesueur county, here buying a pre-emption claim which had a few acres broken, and a shanty, and from the time of his settlement here began to accumulate. For several years he carried on contracting and building. His own resi- dence, modern and complete in every re- spect, and beautiful both for interior and exterior surroundings, he built at a cost of about two thousand five hundred dollars. His other farm buildings and improvements are of the best, and his farm now com- prises two hundred and forty acres. Savage Lake, adjacent to it, furnishes water for stock purposes, and to the stock business Mr. Studley has given considerable atten- tion, keeping a good grade of all kinds of stock and making a specialty of Holstein cattle. Mr. Studley was married in 1854 to Miss Anna Scott, who has been his companion and helpmate for over forty years and who still presides with her charming grace over his pleasant home. She was born near Montreal, Canada, daughter of John and Catharine (McClarren) Scott, natives of Scotland, who came to America in early life and were married in Canada, where they reared their family. Mrs. Studley is one of four daughters, her sisters being Jane, Catharine and Elizabeth. They were reared in the Presbyterian faith. Mr. and Mrs. Studley have five children, namely: Elizabeth, wife of W. F. Davis, was before marriage a teacher; La Grange, who died at the age of twenty-three years; Henry, on i'\ f j^ 7i. £,-^,-^^^ SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 513 the home farm, married Miss Lillie Forsyth; Alice, at home; and Lucinda, wife of Charles Forsyth. All have been fairly educated and are useful and respected members of society. Politically, Mr. Studley has been a Re- publican all his life; fraternally, he has mem- bership in the G. A. R., A. K. Skaro Post, No. 27, of St. Peter; and religiously, he and his family are identified with the Christian church. (D AHLON R. EVERETT, banker, attorney and dealer in real estate in Waterville, is one of the most prominent business men in this section of the state. No adequate record of his life can be written until many of the useful enterprises with which he has been connected have completed their full meas- ure of good in the world; yet there is much concerning him that can with profit be set down here as an illustration of what can be done when a man with a clear brain and willing hands applies himself seriously and energetically to the real labors and respon- sibilities of life. As a business man he ranks with the ablest; as a citizen he is hon- orable, prompt and true to every engage- ment, and the esteem which all classes of people accord him he richly merits. A native of Champaign county, Ohio, he was born near St. Paris January 11, 1842, a son of Epenetus and Nancy (Rittenhouse) Everett. His father was a farmer by oc- cupation and a native of New Jersej', whence he removed with his parents to Ohio in 1S28, the family locating in the midst of the heavy forest, where he experienced the hardships of pioneer life and performed the arduous labors of developing a new farm. He made his home in the Buckeye state until his death, which occurred in 1884, when he had attained the age of eighty-four years. His parents were natives of Germany, and came to America prior to the war of the Revolution, and his father was a Revolu- tionary soldier. The mother of our subject was born in New Jersey, and by her mar- riage had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, but only three are now living, a brother and sister of Mahlon R. Everett being residents of Missouri. Mrs. Everett died many years prior to the death of her husband. His three brothers were Union soldiers during the war of the Rebel- lion, Redden H. Everett, whose biography appears elsewhere, being one of his brothers. Mahlon H. Everett spent his youth on his father's farm, and during the winter season attended the district schools of the neighborhood, and the city schools at Ur- bana in said county, and afterward attended Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio. At an early age he began teaching in Ohio, and subsequently went to California, where he taught school for three years. On the ex- piration of that period he returned to his native state and soon after came to Minne- sota, dating his arrival here in 1867. For more than a year he was successfully en- gaged in teaching in Lesueur county, and later filled the office of superintendent of schools for the same county for nine years. During that time he took up the study of law, later entered the office of Cadwell & Severance, a well known law firm at Le Sueur, Minnesota, and completed his studies under the direction of Judge Cadwell, of Le Saeur. In 1872 he was admitted to the bar and entered into partnership with his former preceptor, Judge Cadwell. Said partner- ship was continued for ten years and then dissolved by mutual consent. In October, 514 MEMORIAL RECORD OE 1 88 1, Mr. Everett came to Waterville, where in company with Mr. Green he established the Bank of Waterville, in a building which they erected for that purpose. Besides con- ducting a general banking business, they handled insurance, collection and real estate. Mr. Green died in 1882, and Mr. Everett carried on the banking business until 1893, when the bank was incorporated under the laws of Minnesota, and Mr. Everett became director and vice president, in which capaci- ties his connection with the institution was continued until 1895, when he established the Everett City Bank of Waterville. He is the sole owner of this bank, and still re- tains his interests in the State Bank of Waterville. He erected a fine new building, in which are located both his bank and law office. His daughter acts as cashier and proves to him an able assistant. He is recognized as one of the foremost financiers in western Minnesota, and in addition to his business in Waterville he is connected with H. S. Lewis in the ownership of a bank in Madison Lake, Blue Earth county, Minnesota. In 1872 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Everett and Miss Maude Chance, sister of Colonel Frank Chance, a prominent citi- zen of Urbana, Ohio. They have four chil- dren, a son and three daughters: Grace L., cashier of the Everett City Bank; Maud V., wife of Frank A. Wright; Thomas L. and Marion T. The mother of this family died on the loth of May, 1887, and her loss was deeply mourned by many friends as well as her immediate family. In 1888 Mr. Everett was elected county attorney of Lesueur county, and in the dis- charge of his duties gave evidence of his superior powers as an advocate. A promi- nent Mason, he holds membership in Sakata Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M. ; Waterville Chapter, No. 56, R. A. M. ; Faribault Com- mandery, K. T., and the Mystic Shrine, of St. Paul. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and the sub- ordinate lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the political campaign just closed, he was an ardent advocate of the free coin- age of silver and a firm supporter of Will- iam J. Bryan for president; and, being amongst the first to come out in opposition to the gold standard, he was prominently mentioned throughout his district as a can- didate for congress, and was heartily sup- ported for the office at the congressional nominating convention by the delegation from his own county, although not a candi- date for the office. Strong resolutions were also unanimously adopted at the Democratic county convention, recommending and urg- ing his candidacy for congressional honors. eDWARD C. PIERCE, a leading and representative farmer of Lyon county, residing on section 28, Fairview township, two miles north of Marshall, was born November 27, 1832, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, descend- ing from one of three brothers who landed at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1630, and were natives of England. President Pierce also belonged to the same family. Our sub- ject still has in his possession several relics which were brought over at that time. His parents, John and Laura (Barrett) Pierce, were also natives of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where the mother died at the age of si.xty years. She was the daugh- ter of Nathan and Alice (Cady) Barrett, who spent their entire lives in the old Bay State, SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 515 and were of English and Scotch extraction. The father of our subject spent his last days in Troy, New York, where he died, at the age of seventy-five years. By occupation he was a farmer. For eight years he held a captain's commission in the Massachusetts militia, and also served his country in the war of 1812. He was the son of John and Sarah (Frissell) Pierce, who passed their lives in Berkshire county, where the former died at the age of forty-four years, and the latter at the age of seventy-eight, while his grandparents, Ebenezer and (Loomis) Pierce, also spent their days in Massachu- setts. The great-grandfather of our sub- ject, who was an old government surveyor, engaged in surveying Ohio when a territory, dividing it into townships. While there he was chosen as a delegate to the first con- vention and while attending the same was taken ill and died. An aunt of our subject, who will be one hundred years old in the fall of 1896, still makes her home in Massa- chusetts. Edward C. Pierce is one of a family of five children, two still living, and was reared upon the home farm, where he remained until twenty-eight years of age. He ac- quired his primary education in the district and village schools, and supplemented the knowledge obtained there by a course in an academy. On the 17th of March, 1859, he wedded Miss Martha R. Bartlett, who was born in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, June 3, 1838, and they have become the parents of four children: William E., at home; Laura M., who was married June 3, 1896, to Joseph Garry, a farmer; Mattie, who was married December 15, 1892, to Frank McGanty, and has two children; and Addie B., who for the past live years has engaged in teaching. Mr. Pierce has pro- vided his children with a good education, and has a family of which he may be justly proud. He comes from a refined and in- telligent family, several members of which have been prominent school-teachers, one being principal of the city schools of Troy, New York, for fourteen years. Mrs. Pierce is a daughter of Hiram and (Tower) Bartlett, residents of Massa- chusetts, where the former died at the age of seventy-three years, and the latter at the age of thirty-nine. In their family of five children three grew to maturity and are still living. Her father was a carpenter by trade, but in later life gave his attention mostly to farming. Her paternal grandparents, Ed- ward and Mary (Farr) Bartlett, also lived and died in the Bay State, the former reach- ing the extreme age of ninety-eight years, and the latter being about seventy years at the time of her death. The maternal grand- parents of Mrs. Pierce, John and Ruth (Reed) Tower, belonged to one of the oldest Massachusetts families, where both spent their entire lives. The grandfather, who was a drover, died at Batavia. On leaving his native state, Mr. Pierce with his family removed to New Hampshire, where the following seven years were passed, and on the 28th of May, 1874, came to Min- nesota. He secured his present homestead in Lyon county and built his residence thereon the same year, during its construc- tion, making his home at Marshall. His farm was government land, entirely unim- proved, and every tree and shrub found there has been planted by himself. He was the first settler in Fairview township, and at the time of his arrival here there were but few inhabitants in the county. Mr. Pierce has taken an active interest in public affairs, filling nearly all the town- 516 MEMORIAL RECORD OF ship offices. For fourteen years he served as treasurer, and has also been assessor, collector and justice of the peace, in all of which he has given the best of satisfaction. Since the organization of the Republican party he has been one of its firm supporters, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. He is public-spirited and progressive, doing all within his power for the upbuild- ing and advancement of his county, and is active in his support of the public schools and church. With his family he attends the Congregational church, of which some of them are members, while socially for many years he has been identified with the Masonic fraternity, and is a charter member of the lodge at Marshall. >Y»OHN D. HOFFMAN has all his life ■ been identified with agricultural in- A 1 terests, and is one of the representa- tive men of Oshawa township, Nicol- let county, Minnesota. Some personal men- tion of him and his ancestry, therefore, is highly appropriate in this work, and to a brief rcsuinc of the same we here invite attention. The Hoffmans are of German origin, but have for several generations been residents of America. Both the parents and grand- parents, maternal and paternal, of our sub- ject were born in Virginia, and the latter were planters and slaveholders, well-to-do and influential in the Old Dominion. His parents, John K. and Ann (Cooper) Hoff- man, early left their Virginia home and came west, locating first in Iowa, and in 1857 removing to Minnesota, settling near Owen Lake, whence about 1866 they came to Oshawa township, Nicollet county, where the family home has since been maintained. Here John K. Hoffman, the father of our subject, died March 8, 1876, at the age of sixty-one years. He was a man of strong individuality, an old-time Democrat, and he enjoyed the respect and esteem of all who knew him. His good wife still survives him, and resides at the old homestead with her son and daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman had a family of eight children, — three sons and five daugh- ters, — and all are yet living except two of the sons, William and Ed., who died in the army during the late war. They were members respectively of Company I, Sixth Minnesota Infantry, and Company H, Fourth Minnesota Infantry. Four of the daughters are married and settled in life. John C, the immediate subject of this review, dates his birth in Harrison county, Iowa, October 30, 1856, and when only a year old was brought by his parents to Min- nesota. In this state he was reared and educated, and here he has since resided and carried on farming operations, now being the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land. Mr. Hoffman affiliates with the Republican party, and, while not a poli- tician nor office-seeker, has always taken a commendable interest in public affairs, and keeps himself well posted. H LEXANDER BLANCHARD.— As an enterprising and wide-awake business man of Marshall, and one who has established himself among the leading men of the village, we take pleasure in giving a brief biography of this gentleman, whose name stands at the head of this sketch. Since March, 1893, he has resided there and is a stockholder and treas- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 517 urer in the Marshall Milling Company, which was established about 1889. Mr. Blanchard was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, April 17, 1859, and is a son of Nicholas and Mary (Ellsworth) Blanchard, both natives of Franklin county, Maine. They emigrated to Minnesota and now make their home at Lewiston, Winona county. In the usual manner of farmer boys our subject was reared, remaining at home until nineteen years of age, and com- pleted his literary studies in the high school of Winona and in a normal school of that place, which he attended for three years. On attaining his majority, Mr. Blanchard entered a mill at Minnesota City, where he was employed for five years, and from Sep- tember, 1 88 1, had charge of an elevator at Sleepy Eye until coming to Marshall. Sys- tematic and methodical, his sagacity, keen discrimination and sound judgment have made him one of the prosperous business men of the place. At Minnesota City, on the 22d of April, 1880, Mr. Blanchard was united in mar- riage with Miss Grace F. Kennedy, who was born there September 29, 1861, a daughter of David and Sarah (Pike) Kennedy, and in that city and at Winona acquired her edu- cation. Her parents are still living and re- side in Minneapolis. Four children were born to our subject and his wife, of whom one died at birth, and another at the age of thirteen months. Those living are Guy, born at Sleepy Eye, June 11, 1886; and ClifT, born at the same place, December 6, 1890. Not only in the business world is Mr. Blanchard well known, but in social and lit- erary circles himself and wife hold a perma- nent position and are attendants on the services of the Congregational church. Since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield he has faithfully supported the men and measures of the Republican party, and socially is connected with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias fraternities. While a resident of Sleepy Eye he erected an ele- vator at Morgan, Minnesota, which is now run by his brother. H RNOLD RHODES CHACE.— It is the sacred duty of every genera- tion to preserve a faithful memorial of the character and conduct of its distinguished men. The maxims and motives and the destinies of prominent men, as ex- emplified from age to age in the moral drama of our race, constitute the elements of his historic philosophy and impart to the annals of mankind their only practical utility. There is much in the life of Mr. Chace that commands i^espect and admiration. The heroism which he displayed in battling for his country's honor has made him worthy of the praise of a grateful nation, but his ac- complishments in the quieter pursuits of civil life are even greater. With determined effort and commendable energy and enter- prise he has worked his way upward, over- coming all the obstacles in his path, until to-day he is numbered among the most prominent and substantial citizens of Mar- shall county. Mr. Chace was born in Danby township, Rutland county, Vermont, May i, 1838, and is descended from some of the oldest and most honored New England families. The first of the Chace family in America was Charles Chace, who settled in Fall River, Massachusetts, prior to the Revolutionary war. His son, Dudley Chace, was born in 518 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1768, and died in 1807. He wedded Mary Durfee, of Fall River, who was born July 14, 1776, and died August 21, 1855. Their son, Ephraim Chace, was the father of our subject. He married Emily Rhodes, who traces her ancestry back to Zachary Rhodes, who came from England and settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in 1643. In 1646, on account of his religious belief, he was banished from the colony, and, being a Bap- tist, he joined Roger Williams in Rhode Island, locating in the village of Pawtuxet. He was prominent in the affairs of the com- munity, held many public offices in the colony, and died in 1665. He was married in March, 1646, to Joanna Arnold, daughter of William Arnold, one of the first settlers of Warwick, Rhode Island. John Rhodes, the fourth son of Zachary, was born in Paw- tu.xet in 1658 and died August 14, 17 16. He was the king's attorney for that colony and held many offices. He was married Febru- ary 12, 1685, to Waite Waterman, daughter of Resolved and Mercy (Williams) Water- man. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Roger Williams, and was born July 15, 1640. Mrs. John Rhodes was born in 1668. In her family was a son also named John, who was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, November 20, 1691. He was a major in the colonial army, and, like others of the family, was honored with several public offices. He was married January 29, 1714, to Catherine Holden, daughter of Lieuten- ant Charles Holden, of Warwick. John Rhodes, Jr., died in Warwick in 1776, and the line of descent was carried down by Capt. Charles Rhodes, who was born in Warwick September 29, 17 19, and was for many years a sea captain. He was after- ward ordained a Baptist minister and preached until his death in 1777. He was a large landed proprietor and owned many slaves, to whom he gave their freedom. He was married January 31, 1739, to Deborah Greene, daughter of Peter and Keziah (Davis) Greene, of Warwick, the former a grandson of Governor John Greene and a great-grandson of Peter Greene, of Salis- bury, Wiltshire, England. Captain Peter Rhodes, son of Captain Charles, was born in Pawtuxet, Rhode Island, February 24, 1 741, served with the Pawtuxet Rangers during the Revolution, and was also an offi- cer on board the colonial ship Pigot, used in guarding Narragansett Bay. He was married March 22, 1 761, to Hester Arnold, daughter of Simon and Lydia (Green) Arnold. Their seventh child, Arnold Rhodes, was the father of Mrs. Emily (Rhodes) Chace, mother of the subject of this review. Arnold Rhodes Chace was reared on his father's farm and obtained his early educa- tion in the district schools, after which he attended the academy in Randolph, New York. Thinking to make the practice of law his life work he entered the office of C. T. Torrence, an attorney of Gowanda, New York, and was afterward admitted to the bar of Indiana. The legal studies of Mr. Chace, how- ever, were interrupted by his enlistment in the Union army at President Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand volunteers in 1 86 1. He became a member of Company A, Sixty-fourth New York Infantry, under Colonel J. Parker, and for three years faith- fully followed the stars and stripes on south- ern battle-fields, The first engagement in which he participated was the battle of Seven Pines. He served with the rank of first and second lieutenant, had command of his company at Petersburg, became brigade inspector on the staff of General John R. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 519 Brooks, and after the war was brevetted major. The principal battles in which he participated were White Oak Swamp, the battles in front of Richmond, the seven- days fight at Malvern Hill, Harrison's Land- ing, Fredericksburg, Antietam, the seven- days' battle of the Wilderness, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Culpeper Courthouse and Hancock, also the second battle of Bull Run, where his corps covered the retreat of the army. He was always in the thickest of the fight, a brave and daring soldier, and through all the long years of the war he was never off duty for a single day. He was honorably discharged in front of Petersburg at the close of the war. Mr. Chace then returned to New York and later went to the oil regions of Penn- sylvania, whence in 1866 he removed to Chicago. For twelve years he was engaged in the commission business on South Water street of that city, and then came to the west. For two years he traveled, prospect- ing over the country, and in 1S78 purchased a tree claim in Lyon county where he spent the summer. The following winter was passed in Chicago and he then came to Mar- shall county, where he entered into partner- ship with J. P. Watson, dealing in general farm machinery, grain and stock. He is now engaged in buying and shipping grain and stock and is enjoying a lucrative busi- ness in that line. His well directed efforts and careful management have brought him success, and as his financial resources have increased he has invested in land until his farming property comprises eight hundred acres, together with a half interest in a tract of si.x hundred acres. His enterprise and industry are among his most marked charac- teristics, and his prominence in commercial circles is indicated by the position which he now holds, — that of president of the Busi- ness Men's Association. He owns several residences and some business property in Marshall and achieved a prosperity which he well merits. In 1865 Mr. Chace married Miss Alice G. Perry, a native of Erie county. New York, and a daughter of Philip H. Perry. Mrs. Chace's parents were natives of the Empire state and died in Erie county. Mr. and Mrs Chace have an adopted son, but have no children of their own. They are prominent members and efficient workers in the Presbyterian church, and since locating in Marshall Mr. Chace has served as superin- tendent of the Sunday-school. He is chair- man of the board of trustees of the church, and his wife is president of the Missionary society. Thus their aid and support is lib- erally given to advance the cause of religion, and in temperance work they are also active. Mr. Chace gives his support to the Prohibition party, and in 1896 was its can- didate for the office of mayor. He belongs to Markham Post, No. 7, G. A. R., to the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Uniform Rank. His wife belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps. ^y^ ANIEL WILLFORD.— Living re- I I tired from the cares of active busi- J^J ness life, in one of the pleasant homes of Balaton, Lyon county, Minnesota, is found the venerable subject of this sketch and his estimable wife. They are among the pioneers of Minnesota and it is of specific importance that in this work some personal mention be made of them. Daniel Willford is a native of the Buck- eye state. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, June 19, 1821, and is now the only 520 MEMORIAL RECORD OF living representative of a family of thirteen children, his parents, Joseph and Mary A. (Enix) Willford, also having long since passed away. Joseph Willford was born in Greene count}', Pennsylvania, and at an early day settled in the Western Reserve, and in 1837 removed still further west, to Cedar county, Iowa, where he died at the age of sixty-two years. His father's name also was Joseph, and his mother's maiden name was Campbell. They were natives respectively of England and Scotland, lived in Greene count}', Pennsylvania, for many years and died there when well advanced in life. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Mary A. Enix, was a native of the Old Dominion. She was born July 25, 1782, and died in Minnesota at the home of one of her sons September 13, 1866. His father a farmer, Daniel Willford was reared to farm life, and remained at home until his marriage, which important event in his life occurred October 3, 1858, the lady of his choice being Miss Ellen M. Jay. Mrs. Willford was born in Racine county, Wisconsin, June 24, 1840, daughter of Orran and and Harriet L. (Phelps) Jay, eastern people who descended from early settlers in this country. Orran Jay was born in Plainfield county, Massachusetts, came to Minnesota in 1855, and died on his farm in Winona county, this state, at the age of seventy-seven years. His parents were Jacob and Susanna (Snow) Jay, natives of New England, his death having occurred in New York and hers in Wisconsin. Har- riet L. Jay, iicc Phelps, was a native of Cayuga county, New York, born in 1806, -«nd died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Willford, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. She was the mother of eight children, of whom six are now living. Her parents were Benjamin and Melinda (Hoskins) Phelps, both natives of New England and both deceased at Hannibal, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Willford have had six chil- dren, all now living except one. Four are married and settled in life, and at this writing the grandchildren number nine. Mr. Willford's forefathers were partici- pants in the early wars of this country and he himself is a veteran of the late civil war. His father was in the war of 1S12, his rela- tives, the Campbells, took part in the Revo- lution, and a Major Campbell, one of the first representatives of the family in this country, was an officer in the wars previous to the Revolution. The grandmother of our subject was in early life held a prisoner of war for seven years. Daniel Willford was a resident of Winona county, Minne- sota, during the late war, where he settled shortly after his marriage, and there, August 20, 1864, he enlisted as a member of Com- pany I, Eleventh Minnesota Infantry, under Captain Charles Thurber, and served with his command until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged at Fort Snelling. At the close of hostilities Mr. Willford returned to his home in Winona county, where he remained until April, 1879. That year he bought a tract of wild land in Lyon county, built a shanty upon it, and here settled in true pioneer style, devoting all his energies to the improvement and cultivation of his land, and here he lived and prospered until 1 892, ' when he left the farm and moved into Balaton, where, as already stated, he is now living retired. Mr. Willford is a Republican, a member of Joe Hooker Post, G. k. R., and both he and his good wife are proniinentl}' identified SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 521 with the M. E. church. At various times he has in turn filled almost all the township offices, ever rendering prompt and faithful service, and is probably as well known as any man in the township. >T^OHX H. CALL, agent for the Laird, ■ Norton Lumber Company, of Bala- A J ton, Minnesota, and an enterprising business man, was born in Clinton county, Michigan, on the 5th of September, i860, and traces his ancestry back to Scot- land. His great grandfather with several brothers left their native Scotia, crossed the Atlantic and took up their residence in New England. Sherman Call, the grandfather, a native of Vermont, was born on the 13th of April, 1803, at Ogden Barge, and died on the loth of February, 1873, in Bristol township, Fillmore county, Minnesota, at the age of seventy years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Susan Randall, was born in Fulton, Oswego county. New York, September 24, 1806, and died in Wayne, Wayne county, Michigan, in 1863. They had nine children, namel)': Andrew, 33 Huldah, Daniel R., William W., Charles H., George J., Jane E., S. Maria and Hiram A. Four of the sons served their country in the civil war as valiant defenders of the Union. Charles H., who entered the serv- ice as a private, was promoted after the bat- tle of Fort Charles in recognition of his bravery, and after the battle of Fort Henry was made captain in reward for his merito- rious conduct. Hiram died while in the army, and George J. followed the old flag on southern battle-fields. The maternal grandfather of our subject was William Bradford, who was born in Waterbury, Vermont, October 30, 1807, and died in Elsie, Michigan, about 1885. He was married in the town of Jay, Essex county. New York, in 1825, to Dorothy Call, who was born in that county April 10, 1807, and also died in Michigan about the time of her husband's death. The Bradford family was also repre- sented in the Union army. On President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand men in May, 1861, William Bradford was the first man in Keysville, New York, to of^er his services. He was in nine general engagements and numerous skirmishes, and throughout his term of two years was never off diity for a single day, nor was he wounded or taken prisoner. Charles Bradford en- listed in the Forty- fourth Ellsworth Re- vengers, was taken prisoner and sent to Andersonville, where he suffered untold hardship and privations and finally died of starvation ! In the family of William and Dorothy Bradford there were seven chil- drea: Mary Jane, Sally, Eliza, William, Charles, Narasis and Abigail. Andrew Call, father of John H. Call, whose name introduces this sketch, was born in Granby township, Essex county, New 522 MEMORIAL RECORD OF York, December 5, 1S25. Having arrived at years of maturity, he wedded Mary Jane Bradford, wlio was of linglish and Scotch hneage, and was born in the town of Jay, Essex county. New York, January 15, 1829. Their wedding was celebrated in her native town on the 14th of September, 1846, and in 1855 Mr. Call brought his family, accom- panied by his brothers and their families, to Michigan. The journey was made by rail to Detroit and then by team a distance of eighty-five miles through the forests of Gratiot county, where they secured land from the government. Indians still inhab- ited that section of the state and wild animals roved at will throughout the dense timber regions. Mr. Call and his brothers built homes in that frontier region, and as the years passed other settlers came, and their places are now among the finest in that region. Andrew Call performed the arduous task of developing a new farm, and as the result of his labors now has a com- fortable competence to provide him with the necessities and luxuries of life through his declining years. At the time of the war of the rebellion he went forth as a follower of the stars and stripes, enlisting October 28, 1863, as a member of Company F, Second Michigan Cavalry, with which he served until the cessation of hostilities. He participated in twenty-nine engagements, and at Sugar Creek, in June, 1865, sustained injuries which resulted in the loss of his right leg just below the knee. On the ist of Sep tember, 1865, he was honorably discharged, after two years of faithful service, where his bravery was displayed on many a southern battlefield. He is still living in Elsie, Clin- ton county, where for more than forty years he has made his home, an honored and highly respected citizen of that community. His wife, who was to him a faithful com- panion and helpmeet on life's journey, died on the old homestead September 4, 1877, and her death was deeply mourned by many friends who esteemed her highly for her sterling worth. Andrew and Mary Call had six children, as follows: Mary J., who was born March 30, 1848, ;uul is now living in South Da- kota; Susan M., who vvas born April 20, 185 I, and died August 29, 1853; Sherman, who was born September 21, 1852, and died March 17, 1857; Charlotte M., who was born September 18, 1853, and makes her home near Elsie, Michigan; John H., of this review; and Elba D., who was born March 18, 1864, and is living in Salt Lake City, Utah. John H. Call spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and acquired his education in the district schools. When sixteen years of age, his mother having died, he left home and found employment in the lumber woods of northern Michigan, where he worked un- til 1883. In the spring of that year, with a party of friends and relatives, he came further west, locating in Hand county. South Dakota, where he secured a claim. He spent only a short time on that place, however, for in July of that year he entered the service of the Laird-Norton Lumber Company, of Winona, Minnesota, being first located in Redfield, Dakota. On the 19th of October, 1885, he was given charge of the company's yard in Balat(jn, Minne- sota, and has since resided here ably man- aging the interests intrusted to his care. At the same time he has carried on a real- estate and loan business. He is a man of energy, enterprise, determined purpose and executive ability, and the success he has SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 523 achieved in life is the reward of his own labors. Mr. Call has in various ways been prom- inently connected with public interests in this locality and has done much to promote the general welfare. He is a Republican, earnest and active in the councils of his party, and one whose influence is always on the side of right and justice. He has fre- quently been chosen to fill public office, has been president of the village of Balaton, served several years as justice of the peace, has been a Republican committeeman for eight years and has also filled other posi- tions of prominence and trust. He has at- tended as a delegate the last three state con- ventions of his party and with his wife was a guest at the Republican national conven- tion held in Minneapolis in 1892. Frater- nally he is associated with the Ancient Or- der of United Workmen, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic fra- ternity. He is a charter member of the lodge of the first named in Balaton, has filled all of its offices and has four times represented his lodge in the grand lodge of the state. In Masonry he has attained the Knight Templar degree, his membership being in Redfield Lodge, No. 34, F. & A. M., of Redfield, South Dakota; Bower Chapter, No. 44, R. A. M., of Tracy, Minnesota; and Redwood Falls Commandery, No. 15, K. T. , of Redwood Falls, Minnesota. In the societies with which he is connected, in business circles and private life, he is held in high regard and has many warm friends. Mr. Call was married March 31, 1886, to Miss Hattie C. Willford, who was born in Fremont, Winona county, Minnesota, June 22, 1863, a daughter of Daniel and Malinda Willford. She completed her edu- cation in the Normal University of Winona, and for several years thereafter engaged in teaching, following that profession for twelve terms and spending all but one term in Lyon county. Mr. and Mrs. Call had two children, Edith M., who was born May 12, 18S7, and died April i, 1888; and Bertha M., born July 31, 1888. Mrs. Call is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is also prominently identified with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, being a charter member of this or- ganization in Balaton, and one of its active and efficient workers for eight years. She was also honored by being made a delegate to several of its state conventions. She is also a charter member of Nonpareil Lodge, Degree of Honor, No. 49, at Balaton, and has filled a number of its offices. Mr. and Mrs. Call have a pleasant home in Balaton, and its chief charm is in the cordial hospi- tality which they extend to their friends and acquaintances. It will be interesting in this connection to note something of the family of Mrs. Call, for her parents are prominent people of Balaton of the highest respectability. They are numbered among Minnesota's pio- neers and aided in opening up the way to civilization in this region. They are now living retired, and in their declining years are honored and respected by all for their many excellencies of character. Daniel Willford is a native of the Buck- eye state, born in Wayne county, June 19, 1 82 1, and is now the only living represent- ative of a family of thirteen children, his parents being Joseph and Mary A. fEnix) Willford, also deceased. His father was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, and at an early day located in the Western Re- serve of Ohio, whence he afterward re- moved to Cedar county, Iowa, where he 524 MEMORIAL RECORD OF died at the age of sixty-two years. His father's name also was Joseph, and his mother was a Miss Campbell. They were natives of England and Scotland, respect- ively, and for many years were residents of Greene county, Pennsylvania, where their last days were passed. The mother of Dan- iel Willford was born June 25, 1782, and died in Minnesota at the home of one of her sons, September 13, 1866. In the usual manner of farm life Dan- iel Willford spent the days of his boyhood and youth, remaining at home until after his marriage, which important event oc- curred October 3, 1S58, the lady of his choice being Miss Ellen M. Joy, who was born in Racine county, Wisconsin, June 24, 1840, a daughter of Orsamus and Harriet L. (Phelps) Joy. Her parents were from the east and were representatives of early colonial families. Her father was born in Plainfield county, Massachusetts, came to Minnesota in 1855, and died on his farm in Winona county, at the age of seventy-seven years. His parents were Jacob and Susanna fSnow) Joy, natives of New England, and the former died in New York, while the latter passed away in Wisconsin. Mrs. Harriet L. Joy was a native of Cayuga county. New York, born in 1806, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Willford, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. She was the mother of eight children, six of whom are yet living. Her parents were Benjamin and Malinda (Hoskins) Phelps, both natives of New England, and both died in Hannibal, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Willford became the parents of six children, five of whom are living, while four are now married, and the grandchildren number nine. Mr. Willford 's forefathers were partic- ipants in the early wars of this country; his father served in the war of 181 2, and his relatives, the Campbells, were patriots of the war of the Ivevolution, while Major Campbell, one of the first representatives of the family in America, was an officer in the early wars which preceded that which won for America her independence. The grand- mother of Daniel \\'illford was captured by the Indians during the Revolutionary war, and was held a prisoner bj' them for seven years. Daniel Willford also has given val- iant service to his country in her hour of peril. Shortly after his marriage he located in Winona count}', Minnesota, and there, on the 20th of August, 1864, he enlisted as a member of Company I, Eleventh Minnesota Infantry, under Captain Charles Thurber, and served with his command until the close of the war, when he was honorably dis- charged at Fort Snelling. At the close of hostilities Mr. Willford returned to his home in Winona county, where he remained until April, 1879. That year he bought a tract of wild land in Lyon county, built a cabin upon it, and for several years lived in true pioneer style, devoting his energies to the improvement and culti- vation of his farm. He prospered in his undertakings, and continued his farming op- erations until 1892, since which time he has lived a retired life in Balaton. He is a Re- publican in politics, and is a member of Joe Hooker Post, G. A. R., while both he and his wife are prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been called to fill the various township offices, and has ever discharged his duties with a promptness and fidelit}' which have won him the highest commendation. His public and private life are above reproach, and his per- sonal worth has gained him high esteem. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 525 ^^TEPHEN P. HICKS, one of the •^^^k* wealthy fanners and extensive p\_J stock-raisers of southern Minneso- ta, whose fine farmstead is located in Gales township. Redwood county, is a native of England but from his earliest rec- ollection has been a resident of America. He was born in Devonshire, England, April 4, 1853, son of William and Grace (Palmer) Hicks, both natives of Devonshire, and in 1857 was brought by them to America, their location being on a farm in Black Hawk county, Iowa, where the parents passed the rest of their lives and died, each attaining a venerable age, the father being eighty-eight at the time of death and the mother eighty- four. In their family were ten children, eight of whom are living, all settled in life and having families of their own. Stephen P. grew up on his father's farni in Iowa, and when about eighteen or nine- teen left home and went to the city of Chi- cago to engage in business. There he was for three years a member of the firm of Hicks & Palmer, dealers in coal, and at the end of that time he and a brother purchased the interest of Mr. Palmer. The brothers then conducted the business successfully for ten years, after which the subject of our sketch sold out and came to Minnesota, lo- cating in Gales township. Redwood county, where he acquired title to three thousand two hundred acres of land, having exchanged other property for it. This is one of the finest stock farms in all the country round. He has excellent improvements upon his land, including commodious and conven- iently arranged barns for stock and grain, and in his broad, rich pastures are found the finest breeds of horses, cattle and hogs. He keeps an average of forty-five head of horses, from three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty head of cattle, and from forty-five to two hundred hogs. Mr. Hicks was married in 1883, in Iowa, to Miss Mary Alice McMannus, a native of Il- linois, and their union has been a most happy one. Six children have been born in their family, — Gertrude G., Ruth, Tracy Mc. , Stephen P. W. , Naoma and William H., — all bright, interesting children, and all yet living except one, Stephen P. W., who died at the age of two years and eight months. Mr. Hicks is what may be called a self- made man. He acquired an education through his own efforts and it has been by his own business ability and good manage- ment that he has come into possession of the fine property he now owns. On attain- ing his majority he gave his support to the Republican party, voting first for General Grant, and has ever since been in harmony with the principles advocated by this party. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church. His wife, however, is a Baptist. Both are highly esteemed by a large circle of warm friends, and those who know them best esteem them most. "^TT* AMES MORGAN owns and occupies H one of the fine farmsteads of Lyon ^ J county, Minnesota, and, like many of the wealth}' farmers of this por- tion of the state, he has accumulated his property through his own unaided efforts. By a visit to his delightful home and an in- terview with him, the writer gained the fol- lowing facts for publication: James Morgan is a Welshman. He was born in the southern part of Wales, May 24, 1834, son of Richard and Elizabeth (Jones) Morgan, both natives of the same locality. The Morgan family emigrated to America 526 MEMORIAL RECORD OF in 1837, sailing from Cardiganshire and landing on American soil after a voyage of eight weeks. They came directly west to Jackson county, Ohio, where the father im- proved a farm and where they resided for eighteen years, at the end of that time sell- ing out and coming to Minnesota. Two of the sons, however, remained in Otiio. That was in the fall of 1855, and October 12 the parents and all the children, with these two e.xceptions, landed in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where the parents passed the residue of their lives and died, the mother's age at death being fifty-two years and the father's eighty-one. Of their family of nine children seven are yet living, occupying honored and useful positions in life. Reverting to the grandparents of our subject we find that his paternal grandfa- ther and grandmother were John and Eliza- beth Morgan, and that they lived and died in their native Wales, he being eighty-four when he died and she eighty-seven. Side by side they sleep the long sleep in one of the quiet cemeteries of that far-away land. The maternal grandparents, David and Elizabeth Jones, also natives of Wales, lived, died and are buried there. Grandmother Jones' father was named Reece Davis. Having thus briefly referred to his an- cestry, we turn now for a sketch of our im- mediate subject, James Morgan. At the time the family removed to this country he was a small child and his earliest recollec- tions are the frontier home in Ohio, where he was reared and educated, early becoming familiar with all kinds of farm work. July 2, 1856, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary P. Davis, a native" of Wales and a daughter of David P. and Jane (Davis) Davis, the Davis family having emigrated to America at the same time the Morgans did, and, like them, having lived in Ohio until 1855, when they all came to Minnesota to- gether and settled in Blue Earth county. Her mother died at the old homestead in that county, at the age of eighty-four years, and her venerable father is still living there. Mrs. Morgan is one of a family of nine chil- dren, three of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have had ten children, all now living except one, and four daugh- ters and two sons are married, the grand- children at this writing numbering si.\. After his marriage Mr. Morgan settled down in Blue Earth county, where he car- ried on agricultural pursuits until 1871, that year coming to Lyon county and taking a soldier's claim to a portion of land he still owns. Here he built a log cabin, fourteen by eighteen feet, with a wing ten by twelve feet, and a dirt roof, and in this rude cabin he and his family lived until 1875, when he moved into his present residence, a frame structure built at a cost of $1,200. As he was able he invested in more land from time to time until now his fine farm comprises live hundred and si.xty acres. During the days of Rebellion in this country Mr. Morgan tendered his service to the Union cause and proved himself a val- iant soldier on the field of battle. He en- listed under Captain F. P. Slaughter, of the Second Minnesota Cavalry, December 23, 1863, and was \vith his command on active duty until November 27, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Fort Snelling. Po- litically, he gave his support to the Repub- lican party until 1888, when he joined the Prohibition ranks and has since been an earnest worker in the same. Frequently he has been chosen to fill some local office of trust and importance. He was township assessor si.x years, several years a member SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 527 of the township board, and has also served in other official capacities. He is an active member of Joe Hooker Post, G. A. R. , at Tracy, his eldest son is prominent in the Order of Sons of Veterans, and Mrs. Mor- gan is identified with both the W. C. T. U. and the W. R. C. The family are mem- bers of the Congregational church, located about a mile from their home, and in church, fraternal and social circles are active and in- fluential, rated as among the best people of their locality. aHARLES REVIE-R.— This gentle- man is another one of the substan- tial farmers of southern Minnesota, who dates his birth in the Empire state of New York. It was in St. Lawrence county, June 30, 1844, that he was born, son of Gabriel and Mary (Dorosha) Revier, natives of Canada, who early in life settled in New York, where they lived for many years and where the father died at the age of sixty-one. The mother died in Minne- sota at the advanced age of eighty-two years. They were the parents of eleven children, all of whom are yet living. Charles was reared on a farm, and after his father's death, from the time he was eighteen until he was twenty, he worked out by the month on farms in New York. He came to Minnesota in 1863, first settling in Rice county, where for some time he con- tinued work bj' the month. In 1S6S he purchased one hundred acres of partially improved land, which he cultivated for some years, from it moving to a larger farm, which he rented and where he lived five years. At the end of that time he came to his present location in Nicollet county, not far from the town of St. Peter, his post- office, and here he bought one hundred and twelve acres, which he has since owned and occupied, and where his well directed efforts have been attended with good results. Mr. Revier was married in the fall of 1877, at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Miss Emma LeQuer, a native of southern Canada. Her parents are now residents of Manitoba. To Mr. and Mrs. Revier eight children have been born, namely: Charles E., Frederick H., John P., Lawrence Z. , James P., Will- iam, Mary E. and Kate E., all at home at this writing. Mr. Revier and his family are Catholics, and politically he usually supports the Re- publican ticket, always taking an intelligent interest in public affairs, but himself keep- ing out of politics. 'OHN SCHNEIDER.— The gentle- man whose name forms the heading 7 A 1 of this sketch is one of the enter- prising and thoroughgoing young farmers of Nicollet county, Minnesota, and is a native of this place. He was born January 2, 1865, son of John Schneider, one of the early settlers and highly respected citizens of southern Minnesota. Politically, Mr. Schneider harmonizes with the principles advocated by the Repub- lican party, but at the same time is some- what independent in his views and votes for the best man regardless of party lines. © sota. A. BUCK, editor and proprietor of the Sibley County Independent, is one of the representative newspa- per men in southwestern Minne- The journal which he now publishes 528 MEMORIAL RECORD OF was established in 1873 by David Pickett, who afterward sold out to Mr. McCloud. The next owner of the paper continued its publication until 1892, when A. C. Buck, a brother of our subject, purchased the plant and all the office equipments. The paper is a six-column quarto, neat in appearance, well arranged and filled with interesting and instructive reading matter. It is issued Thursday of every week and supports the Republican party. Mr. Buck, the editor of this journal, is one of the native sons of Henderson, his birth having occurred here on the i8th of September, 1864. He is a son of Captain Adam Buck, one of the honored pioneer settlers of Sibley county, who served for a number of years as county surveyor and took an active part in public affairs. Reared in the west, G. A. Buck has become thor- oughly imbued with the true western spirit of progress and advancement and this char- acteristic dominates his active business ca- reer. He learned the printer's trade in his brother's office, and having mastered the business in every detail assumed the man- agement of the Sibley County Independent, which he is now publishing with good suc- cess, the paper having a fair circulation, which is steadily increasing. Mr. Buck is a representative of one of the oldest families of Sibley county, and like his honored father takes a prominent part in public affairs and has the respect of all with whom he has come in contact. aOLONEL EDWARD L. MOORE. — It is the sacred duty of every generation to preserve a faithful lyemorial of the character and con- duct of its distinguished men. The maxims. motives and destinies of prominent men as exemplified from age to age in the moral drama of our race constitute the elements of historic philosophy and impart to the annals of mankind their only practical utility. There is much in the life record of Colonel Moore that commands admiration, much that is worthy of emulation. He was one of the prominent citizens of Minnesota, act- ive in support of all measures calculated to prove of public good. He was born in Greenfield, Massachu- setts, July 15, 1 8 19, and spent his boyhood days there, was educated in a private school taught by a minister, and afterward went to Pennsylvania, where he was employed in teaching school, in Simington and Redfield, for several years. He was a successful ed- ucator, imparting readily and accurately to Others the knowledge he had acquired. During that time he met Miss Sarah C. Reed, whom he made his wife. Soon after- ward he accepted the principalship of the high school of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and later was principal of the Mt. Joe Academy, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a position which he filled for three years. He then purchased the building, repairing and enlarging it, and successfully conducted a private school until the inauguration of the civil war, when he was appointed by Thad- deus Stephens United States pay master, with headquarters at Beaufort. He afterward occupied the same position at Gettysburg and other places until the close of the war. During his service many of the pupils of his school had enlisted, the attendance had be- come less and less and the property was finally sold to the state, but Colonel Moore nobly put aside all personal considerations to aid his country. The war ended, he ac- cepted a position in the pension department SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 529 at Washington, District of Columbia. While acting as paymaster he was captured by the southern troops and sent to Libby prison, whence he was afterward transferred to Danville, where he remained five months, during which time he was unable to com- municate with his wife. In 1865 he was exchanged and returned at once to Wash- ington, where he served in the pension de- partment from 1865 until 1869. In April, 1870, he came to Minnesota, making his home in St. Peter until his death, his atten- tion being devoted to his property interests. Colonel Moore was married in 1846 to Miss Sarah C. Reed, a daughter of Robert and Mary Reed. Her father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and her grandfather was one of the heroes of the Revolution. Mrs. Moore was reared in Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, where she grew to womanhood, ac- quiring her education in that city, and in Philadelphia. By her marriage she became the mother of four children: Edward Reth- ford, who for a number of years was cashier in a bank at St. Paul, married Miss D. I. Rose, and resides at Mankato, Minnesota; Robertie became the wife of Sumner Ladd, a prominent lawyer of St. Peter, and after- ward of Minneapolis, who died February 28, 1896, leaving two children, both of whom reside with their grandmother, Mrs. Moore. Colonel Moore was a pronounced Repub- lican in politics and a devoted member of the First Presbyterian church of St. Peter, to which his wife also belongs. He was a man of strong convictions, fearless in de- fense of what he believed to be right, and his name was a synonym for honorable bus- iness dealing. He died in 1874, but during his short residence in St. Peter he made many warm friends who held him in the highest regard. His true life was best shown in his home, where he was a loving and devoted husband and an affectionate father. " His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up ■ And say to all the world, This was a man." Mrs. Moore is still living in St. Peter, where her many excellencies of character have won her the warm regard of a large circle of friends. HOMAS KLACY is a retired farmer living on one of the homesteads in Nobles county that was granted to him by the government in recog- nition of his faithful service in the civil war. He comes from a land noted for its brave men, — the Land of the Alps. His birth occurred in the village of Cladus, Switzer- land, June 15, 1835. His father, Tedrick Klacy, was born there, and was a farmer by occupation. He was killed by accident when our subject was only seven weeks old, leaving four children to the care of the wid- owed mother. She bore the maiden name of Dorothy Baumgardner, and spent her en- tire life in Switzerland. Our subject attended school in Lochgen until his twelfth year, and was then em- ployed in a cotton factory, where he re- mained for seven years. Thinking that the opportunities of the new world would give him better advantages to work his way up- ward, he embarked for America in 1855 as a passenger on the sailing vessel Matrodonia, which weighed anchor at Havre, France, and after forty-two days reached the harbor of New York. For four months he resided in Syracuse, New York, and thence went to Green county, Wisconsin, where he had ac- quaintances living. His next removal made 530 MEMORIAL RECORD OF him a resident of Stillwater, Minnesota, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. With a deep love of liberty, so char- acteristic of the Swiss race, he entered the Union army to uphold the honor of the nation, becoming a member of Company B, First Minnesota Infantry, in 1861. The regiment, under command of Colonel Goh- man, was sent to Washington, District of Columbia, where it did guard and picket duty for a short time and then engaged in active service. At the battle of Bull Rnn the regiment lost one hundred and fifteen men in fifteen minutes! The winter of 1 86 1-2 was spent in the vicinity of Wash- ington, and in the spring the troops took part in the battles of Winchester, Ball's Bluff, Fair Oaks and a number of minor en- gagements. During that year Mr. Klacy was stricken with typhoid fever and sent to the hospital at Yorktown, Virginia, and afterward to Portsmouth, Rhode Island. In 1S64 he was mustered out on account of disability, being broken down in health. After his discharge, Mr. Klacy returned to Stillwater, Minnesota, where he engaged in farming until 1873, when he came to Nobles county and located a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Wilmot township. This he improved, erecting thereon substantial buildings, and extend- ing the boundaries of his farm by addi- tional purchase until it comprised three hundred and twenty acres. At length he rented his farm and removed to Worthing- ton, where he is now living retired. Mr. Klacy was married in 1859 to Miss Ursula Marty, of Stillwater, Minnesota, a native of Switzerland. They have four children, — Fred Eugene, who is operating a stationary engine; Fannie, wife of Jacob Marty; Dora and Edna M., — both at home. They also lost one son, Walter, who was killed by lightning July 23, 1895. Mr. Klacy is a member of Stoddard Post, No. 34, G. A. R. His career has been crowned with a good measure of prosperity, and his success has been won not through fortunate circumstances, but in a well-defined line of labor. ^^UMNER LADD.— In the history •^^^k? of the bar of Minnesota the name K. J of this gentleman occupies a dis- tinguished place. He is one of the prominent attorneys of southwestern Min- nesota, his superior legal talents gaining him a place in the foremost rank among his professional brethren. He made his home in St. Peter, but died in St. Barnabas Hos- pital, at Minneapolis, on the 30th of Janu- ary, 1896, at the age of fifty-eight years. A native of Vermont, like many of the New England boys, he made his way through college unaided, and was graduated with honor in the Vermont University, in Bur- lington, with the class of 1863. Unde- terred by the lack of fortune, he resolved to fit himself for the legal profession, and en- tered the Albany Law School in 1865. Within a year after his admission of the bar, he was elected state attorney of his native county, an honor that was justly merited. In 1866 Mr. Ladd came to the west, locating in St. Peter, where he continued in that profession until his removal to Min- neapolis in 1882. While residing hi Nicol- let county he served with credit for one term in the state legislature, to which he was elected on the Republican ticket. He was an able and leading member of the ju- diciary committee, and took an active part SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 531 in opposing the impeachment of Judge Sherman. In 1883 he was appointed pro- fessor of medical jurisprudence in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons and occu- pied that position until his death. He de- livered before the students of that institu- tion the first course of lectures ever heard on that subject in the state. In 1892, be- fore the Single Ta.x League of Minnesota, he delivered an address on the right of the municipal street-railway companies as car- riers of passengers, taking the position that the company had no franchise in the true legal sense of the term but only a license subject to modification or revocation by the city council at any time. Mr. Ladd's argu- ment in support of this position was con- sidered by his legal friends and other com- petent judges as one of the most thorough, logical and conclusive pleas that could have been made. His opinions advanced there were afterward confirmed by the decisions of higher courts in the litigation which en- sued upon the revocation by the city coun- cil of the ordinance under which the street- railway company refused for a time to give transfer to and from the interurban lines of Minneapolis. In politics, Mr. Ladd was a stanch ad- herent of Republican principles for many years, but for some si.x years before his death supported the People's party, and in the campaign of 1892 was its chosen can- didate for chief justice of the state. His sympathies were ever with the "plain, common people," as Lincoln styled them. He was a conscientious worker for their ele- vation, for their needs and interests. While Mr. Ladd possessed a legal mind of a high order, his preference was for the quiet pur- suits of a scholar and writer, rather than of a more active and aggressive nature of the court-room, and his lectures and legal essays and his newspaper and magazine articles show forth superior ability as a writer, and indicated wide range of thought. He car- ried his researches for into the fields of knowledge and was a man of scholarly attainments and broad, general informa- tion. His nature was rather reserved, but those who won his friendship prized it highly and his warmest friends were those who knew him best. HLBERT M. COOK, deceased, was for a number of years a leading business man and agriculturist of Redwood Falls, where he was num- bered among the earliest settlers and was both widely and favorably known. His in- tegrity of character and never failing cour- tesy made him beloved by all who had the honor of his acquaintance. Mr. Cook was a native of Virginia, and when a young man went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in contracting and build- ing until coming to Redwood Falls, Minne- sota, in 1868. The following year, in com- pany with his two sons, he built the Delhi Mills, which he operated until called from this life in June, 1878. Power was furnished b)' the Redwood river, and after the death of Mr. Cook was conducted by his widow and sons for three years, when they sold out to W. E. Baker, who engaged in its opera- tion until it was destroyed by fire, in Febru- ary, 1896. Mrs. Sarah Cook still survives her hus- band, and is the mother of five children, four sons and a daughter, namely: August A., who fought for the Union during the dark days of the Rebellion; William C, a farmer; Milton H.; Edward; and Alice M., 532 MEMORIAL RECORD OF now the wife of J. B. Holmes, of Taconia, Washington. At one time Mr. Cook was largely inter- ested in real estate, owning two thousand acres, and at his death left a moderate estate which has been divided among his heirs. He also engaged in the breeding of cattle, and was the first to introduce short- horn cattle in Redwood county. He was a pronounced Republican in his political •affiliations, was a man of the strictest in- tegrity and honor, unassuming in manner, sincere in his friendships, and steadfast and unswerving in his loyalty to the right. (D TLTON E. POWELL, a retired railroad contractor, farmer and attorney, now residing at Red- wood Falls, Minnesota, is one of the prominent and well-known citizens of southwestern Minnesota, with whose inter- ests he has been closely identified for over a quarter of a century. A native of New York, he was born near Kinderhook, in Columbia county, April 17, 1840, of Hol- land descent, and is a son of Joseph Powell, whose birth occurred in the same county on the loth of December, 1797. His father was a farmer by occupation, and on reach- ing manhood married Miss Matilda Olds, who was born in Delaware county. New York, March 20, 1804, and was a daughter of Nathan Olds, of English extraction. They became the parents of si.x children, — two sons and four daughters, — and all are still living with the exception of one son. The first thirteen years of his life our subject passed in Delaware and Erie coun- ties. New York, after which he removed with his parents to Sparta, Wisconsin, where he attended the common schools, but later returned to the Empire state and became a student in the Aurora Academy, of Erie county, where he pursued his studies for two years. From 1858 until 1861 he then engaged in clerking in a store, and on the expiration of that time enlisted in the First Wisconsin Artillery, with which he faith- fully served as sergeant for three years, and took part in a number of important engage- ments, including those at Tazewell Court House, Tennessee; Chickasaw Bayou; and Port Gibson, Mississippi. On receiving his discharge, Mr. Powell returned to Sparta, Wisconsin, where he began reading law under the direction of Hon. R. Bunn, of Wisconsin. On the 25th of September, 1S65, he was admitted to the bar at Sparta, where he at once began the practice of his chosen profession, and there continued until his removal to Redwood Falls in 1871. Here he became one of the leading attorneys, but since 18S6 has laid aside his professional duties, and at one time was also successfully engaged in rail- road contracting. He has prospered in his undertakings, and now possesses a consider- able amount of valuable property. On the 28th of June, 1870, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Powell and Miss Josephine Butterworth, of Sparta, Wiscon- sin. She is a native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of Wales and Jane (Wilmot) Butterworth. They have a handsome and commodious residence in Redwood Falls, where they delight to entertain their many friends, and in social circles they hold an enviable position. In Masonic affairs Mr. Powell also takes a prominent part, being a thirty-third degree Mason, and belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery. He assisted in the organization of the Bank of Redwood Falls, of which for one term he SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 533 served as vice-president. Public-spirited and enterprising, he is largely interested in any movement for the improvement, or will advance the welfare, of his adopted county. *y ^ ON. JACOB KLOSSNER, Jr., is B'^^V a prominent citizen of New Ulm ^ * and a leading representative of its commercial interests, a member of the well known firm of f\lossner & Muller, who conduct a large hardsvare and imple- ment store at that place and also branch houses at Sleepy Eye and Springfield, Brow'n county. The well directed and en- ergetic efforts of a business man form an important element in the prosperity of a community, and our subject has materially aided in the advancement and progress made in Brown county. Mr. Ivlossner was born in a small village in Switzerland, December 23, 1846, and is a son of Jacob and Susan C. (Kropifa) Klossner, also natives of the same country, who emigrated with their family to America in 1850. After a tedious voyage they ar- rived safely in New York harbor, and for six years made their home at Joliet, Illinois, whence they removed to Nicollet county, Minnesota, in May, 1856. In Lafayette township the father took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he at once began to improve and cultivate, and de- voted his time and attention to general farming and stock-raising for many years. He was also the first in the locality to en- gage in the manufacture of cheese and but- ter, which business proved profitable. Hav- ing secured a comfortable competency, in 1890 he laid aside business cares and has since lived retired at New Ulm. For four- teen years he held the office of town treas- urer, and for a number of years was a mem- ber of the school board. His political sup- port has ever been given the Republican party. Our subject is one of a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, of whom eight still survive. He secured a good common-school education in Nicollet county, and early became familiar with ag- ricultural pursuits upon his father's farm, where he remained until sixteen years of age, when he entered his country's service as a member of Company I, First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, under Captain Jacob Nix and Colonel William McPhail. For thirteen months he faithfully served his adopted country, and was honorably discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in October, 1863. Returning to the home farm, Mr. Kloss- ner continued to assist his father in its oper- ation until he reached his twenty-eighth year, when he married Miss Sophia Bloss, daughter of William Bloss, one of the prom- inent farmers and pioneers of Nicollet county, where he located in 18 58. Three children bless the union, namely: Lillian, Eva and Howard. After his marriage, Mr. Klossner carried on agricultural pursuits for ten years, and then disposed of his farm and removed to New Ulm, where he purchased the hardware stock of Michael Mullen, now president of the Citizens' Bank. For seven years he carried on business at the old stand and then moved his stock to his present store, which is sixty by seventy feet, two stories in height with a basement, and here carries a full line of hardware, implements, wagons, buggies, carriages and other light vehicles. On the I St of July, 1892, Mr. Louis Muller was admitted to a partnership, and the firm assumed the style of Ivlossner & Muller. 534 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Their business has reached extensive pro- portions, and from their three stores sell all over the county. Besides his commercial interests, our subject also owns some valu- able farming land, which he rents, and his property is all the just reward of his capable management, perseverance and industry. In his political affiliations, Mr. Klossner is an ardent Republican. For thirteen years he served as clerk of his township, was assessor one year, and in 1877 was elected to represent his district in the state legislature. So satisfactorily did he fulfill the trust that he was re-elected in 1880, and served on several important committees. He is actively interested in all worthy en- terprises which tend to advance the welfare of the community and is now most accept- ably serving his second term as president of the city council of NewUlm. He is promi- nent in Masonic circles, a leading member of Charity Lodge, No. 98, F. & A. M., and of the chapter, and also belongs to Lodge No. 53, I. O. O. F. ; and to Post No. 48, G. A. R. aARL S. EASTWOOD, editor and proprietor of the Worthington Ad- vance, at Worthington, Minnesota, is conducting this paper with sig- nal ability and success, and holds a promi- nent position among the journalists of the state. He was born at Sheboygan, Wiscon- sin, August 21, 1858, and is the son of Lewis and Rachel (Smith; Eastwood, the former a native of New York and the latter of Pennsylvania. During the most of his active life the father engaged in farming and is now a resident of Mankato, Minnesota. At the age of ten years our subject ac- companied his parents to Iowa, locating at Shell Rock, Butler county, where he at- tended the common schools, and completed his literary education in the high school. He then entered the printing-office of the Shell Rock News, its proprietor being Cap- tain W. V. Lucas, who afterward became state auditor, and is now serving as a mem- ber of congress from South Dakota. He remained with that gentleman for four years, the first two being passed at Shell Rock, and the last at Mason City, Iowa. Return- ing to the former place he purchased the News, which he conducted for a few months. After disposing of that paper he went to Spirit Lake, Iowa, where he established the Dickinson County Journal, which he car- ried on for two years and a half, when he sold out to J. O. Stewart. Mr. Eastwood was next the editor and proprietor of the Minnesota Citizen North Standard, atLakefield, Minnesota, for three years, and was appointed postmaster of the place by President Arthur. From there he removed to Mankato, where he established the Mankato Register, which was Republic- an in politics, and later sold out to Wood- ard & Geddes. Going to Heron Lake in 1886, he bought the Heron News, was post- master there for five years, and was also a member of the city council seven years. In 1893, Mr. Eastwood came to Worth- ington, where he purchased the Advance, which he still owns. It is an eight-page, bright, spicy paper, neatly and well printed, and, the editor being a versatile writer, it is eagerly sought by the intelligent reading public. In politics it is Republican. Mr. Eastwood is also managing editor of the Mankato News, at Mankato, Minnesota, where he makes his home. In 1886 he was united in marriage with Miss Edith, daugh- ter of C. C. Church, of Marshall, Calhoun SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 535 county, Michigan, and they have become the parents of two children, — Hazel and Paul. >nr'AMES J. WILLIAMS, who is recog- ■ nized as one of the leading farmers A 1 and stock-raisers of Nobles county, making his home on section 22, Ransom township, is a native of Schuyler county, Pennsylvania, born in the vicinity of Pottsville, September 22, 1849, and is a son of John and Jane (Ansel) Williams. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and the father was a native of England, who came from Lancastershire to the United States, where he married Miss Ansel, who was born in Pennsylvania. Our subject attended school in Potts- ville, and afterward in Philadelphia, acquir- ing an e.xcellent education, which has fitted him for life's practical duties. He offered his services to his country in 1S64, becom- ing a member of Company G, in a regiment known as the Pennsylvania Bucktails, which went to Harrisburg, and was then sent south to Florida and afterward to New Orleans. He was engaged in active duty at various points, and such was his ability and his loy- alty that he was kept at the front for some time after the close of the war, being dis- charged in June, 1866. He then returned to Pennsylvania, where he learned the baker's trade, and afterward became cook on a steamer on the Mississippi river, serving for a part of the time as pastry cook only. He was thus employed for several years and commanded an excellent salary, but tiring of that employment he determined to turn his energies to other labor, and came to Nobles county, Minnesota, in 1877. Here Mr. Williams purchased eighty acres of land and began general farming and stock-raising. He is recognized as a leader in this line in his adopted county, and has one of the well improved farms which is supplied with excellent buildings and various modern accessories. He has for some years been engaged in the breeding of Belgian horses, and now has some of the finest spec- imens of that stock to be found in the west. He is a practical, energetic business man, and his well directed efforts have brought to him success. In March, 1875, Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Miss E. T. Dunn, and they now have two children, — Maude and Clova. Mr. Williams has held several offices of trust, has been justice of the peace and su- pervisor of his township, and is a public- spirited and progressive citizen who gives a commendable support to all measures calcu- lated to promote the general welfare. HLEX. H. OSBORN, a prominent and representative business man of Luverne, Minnesota, is now a suc- cessful dealer in agricultural imple- ments and real estate. A native of Meigs county, Ohio, he was born near Long Bot- tom, on the 26th of March, 1840, and is a son of Nelson and Harriet (Congrove) Os- born, whose births also occurred in the same state, the former in 1820 and the latter in 1 82 1. The paternal grandfather, Jerry Os- born, was a native of New England, and as a companion and helpmeet on life's journey chose Lydia Osborn. At the age of nine years our subject left Meigs county, Ohio, going with his parents to Scott county, Iowa, locating upon a farm seven miles northwest of Davenport, where he grew to manhood and attended the coun- 536 MEMORIAL RECORD OF try schools of the locality. On attaining his eighteenth year he went to Davenport, where he remained until the outbreak of the civil war, when he enlisted in Company A, First Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Torrence command- ing the regiment. The troops went to St. Louis, Missouri, and in that state the first summer was passed, after which they went to Arkansas. He participated in many active engagements until 1864, when he re- enlisted in the same company and regiment, and was given a thirty-days furlough. On the expiration of that time he returned to the regiment, which was then stationed at Austin, Texas, and remained in the service until honorably discharged on the 2 2d of February, 1866, when he returned home with a war record of which he may be justly proud. For two years he remained in Daven- port, Iowa, engaged in general farming and stock-raising. Prices were good at that time and he found a ready sale for all his prod- ucts. Removing to Otoe county, Nebraska, he engaged there in agricultural pursuits for two years, when he returned to Iowa, but in the spring of 1882 came to Rock county, Minnesota, where he has since made his home. He purchased four hundred acres of land, to which he has added until he now has a valuable farm of seven hundred acres in Beaver Creek township. For some time he devoted his attention to its cultivation and improvement, and also carried on the real-estate business in the village of Beaver Creek. In the spring of 1 896 he leased his farm and disposed of his other business in- terests and removed with his family to Lu- verne. He carries a good stock of agricult- ural implements, and is regarded as one of the wide-awake and energetic business men of the place. On the 4th of December, 1867, was con- summated the marriage of Mr. Osborn and Miss Elsie Calder, daughter of John and Elsie Calder, and they now have two sons — William R. and Alex. R. Politically, Mr. Osborn is identified with the Republican party, and has served as school treasurer and supervisor of his township. He keeps up his army acquaintance through his mem- bership in John A. Dix Post, No. 96, G. A. R. In business affairs he is energetic, prompt and notably reliable. Tireless en- ergy, keen perception, honesty of purpose, a genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time, joined to every-day common sense, guided by resistless will power, are the chief characteristics of the man. @A. CHILGREN, M. D., assistant physician at the state hospital at St. Peter, was born in Nicollet county, on the 2d of August, 1865, and is a son of P. and Mary Chilgren, both of whom were natives of Sweden. On coming to the United States they located in Nicollet county on a farm, where they lived in true pioneer style. They still reside on the old family homestead, and prosperity has attended their efforts, so that they are now numbered among the substantial citi- zens of the community. The Doctor was reared on his father's farm. Through the summer months he as- sisted in the labors of the fields and in the winter time attended the district schools of the neighborhood. He was afterward a student in the high school of St. Peter, and on leaving that institution began teaching in the country schools of Nicollet county. Later he became a- student in the literary c^fin- -"^/apz-. so UTH WESTERN MINNES O TA . 537 department of the State University, of Min- nesota, where he pursued a two-years course, then entered the medical department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated with the class of 1892. He had now obtained a good education, fitting him for life's practical duties, and he resolved to put his theoretical knowledge to the practical test by establishing an office and engaging in practice in Burlington, Iowa. A year later, however, he returned to his native county, arriving in St. Peter in June, since which time he has served as as- sistant physician in the State Hospital for the Insane. In 1895 he was made assistant superintendent. His is a position of great care and responsibilit}-, but he is fully com- petent to discharge his arduous duties, which he does to the satisfaction of all. Dr. Chilgren is a member of the Delta Tau Delta and also of the Knights of Pythias fraternity. He is a young man of courteous manner, pleasant address and social disposition, and in the county where his entire life has been passed he has many warm friends. ^^•T^OHN GOLZ is one of the self-made m men and prosperous farmers of Rock /6 1 Lake township, Lyon county, Min- nesota, and, like many of the men who have won their own way in life and at- tained prominence in this country, he is a native of Germany. He was born in Prus- sia, February 22, 1S41, son of Christoph and Christena (Wagner) Golz. His par- ents were born, passed their lives and died in Prussia, the father being si.xty-three at the time of death and the mother seventy- five. Their family of seven children are all living and are married and have families of 34 their own. Two of the sons, Christoph and Gottleb, were soldiers in the German army and were for three years in active service. The subject of our sketch was reared on a farm and in early life learned the carpen- ter's trade, at which he worked for seven- teen years. He was married in his native land, at the age of twenty-five years, to Miss Wilhemena Abbel, she, too, being a native of Prussia. Her parents, like his, were people of honest worth, industrious, prosperous farmers, and were respected by all who knew them. She is a member of a family of fourteen children, all of whom are living e.xcept one. Mr. and Mrs. Golz have thirteen children: Minnie, the wife of William Myers; Enmia, who married Julius Frost; Gustav, Annie, Otto, Sophia, August, Robert, Rinold, Elsia, Irving, Walter and Gertrude. In the year 1875, accompanied by his family, Mr. Golz emigrated to America, taking passage at Bremen for New York and landing at the latter port in due time. Coming directly west to Minnesota, he set- tled at Owatonna, where he spent five months, and in the latter part of that same year, 1875, came to his present location and took claim to one hundred and sixty acres of wild prairie land. In the spring of 1876 he built a small frame house, sixteen by twenty feet, which served as his home until 1892, when he built his present at- tractive residence, at a cost of one thousand and eight hundred dollars. To his original tract of land he added from time to time until now his farm comprises four hun- dred and eighty acres, most of which is un- der cultivation, and among ether improve- ments to be noted are his fine groves, barns, fences, etc. ; and all this property he has ac- quired without financial aid from any one 538 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and with only the assistance and encour- agement of his noble wife, who shared with him the privations of frontier life and who still presides over his home. Mr. Golz and his family are all promi- nent and active workers in the Lutheran church, of which they are members. He is politically identified with the Republican party and has filled most efficiently various local offices. For several years he has been township supervisor, and for six years was treasurer of the school board. •"^^TEPHEN COWAN, a retired farm- •v^^^ er and one of the early settlers of h\^_y Rock county, was born near Sta- pleton, in Richmond county. New York, Auf^ust 3, 1818. His parents, Archi- bald and Lois (Adams) Cowan, were both natives of Massachusetts, and the father followed farming during,' the f^reater part of his active business life. The grandfather, Isaac Cowan, served in the Revolution under General Washington, was a school- teacher by profession and was of Scotch descent. The maternal grandfather, Hubal Adams, was a shoemaker by trade. Stephen Cowan, of this review, spent the greater part of his youth in Jefferson county. New York, whither his parents removed when he was only si.x years of age. There he attended the common schools and worked on a farm until eighteen years of age, when he started out in life for himself, being employed as a farm hand in the neighborhood. He also worked at the blacksmith's trade and continued his resi- dence in Jefferson county until after his marriage. He was twenty-si.\ years of age when, in 1845, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Catherine J. Pool, a native of Jefferson county and a daughter of John Pool. They began their domestic life in the town of Wilna, Jefferson county, where Mr. Cowan conducted a hotel for two years. In 1856 he removed with his family to Darlington, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, where lie worked in a sawmill for three 3-ears, within which time he saved fifteen hundred dollars. On the expiration of that period he removed to Dodge county, Min- nesota, locating on a farm where he made his home for nineteen years. He next be- came a resident of Steele county, Minnesota, where he spent five years, and in 1S73 came to Rock county, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lime township. This property he afterward sold, and then purchased an eighty-acre tract of land, which he now rents. He has lived in Luverne for the past eight years, enjoying an honorable retirement from active labor. His life has been a busy and useful one, and b}' his enterprise and industry he has accu- mulated a good property, which now enables him to spend his declining years in a well-earned rest. . Mr. and Mrs. Cowan became the par- ents of five children, four of whom are liv- ing, namclj': Athena, wife of Charles Can- field, of Dodge county, Minnesota; Charles, who was a soldier in the Union army; Jerome, a farmer; and Marcellus. They also have eighteen grandchildren and live great-grandchildren. For a half century they have tra\eled life's journey together, sharing with each other its joys and sor- rows, its adversity and prosperity. Mr. Cowan has now reached the ripe age of seventy-eight years and is the only survivor of a famil3'of eleven children. His political support has been given the Republican party SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 5B9 since its organization, and he has filled a number of township offices in a creditable and acceptable manner. aHARLES A. SCOTT, a leading and representative agriculturist of Brown count}', has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres pleas- antly located on section 8, Burns township. A native of the Green Mountain state, he was born at Ludlow, December 7, 1822, and is a son of John S. and Deborah D. (Stewart) Scott, who spent their entire lives in that state. The mother was of French descent. Our subject is one of a family of seven children, and passed his boyhood and youth in the city of his birth, attending school until fourteen years of age. He then laid aside his textbooks to begin work in a woolen mill of Ludlow, where he acquired a complete knowledge of the business in all its various departments. He worked his way upward step by step until becoming foreman of the establishment, which re- sponsible position he satisfactorily filled for a period of twenty-five years. On account of failing health he was obliged to resign and retire from the mill. Mr. Scott then left Vermont, going to Wisconsin in 1867, where he stopped for a short tune, and then proceeded to ^fankato, where the following eighteen months were passed. In 1869, on his arrival in Brown county, he took up a homestead claim of eighty acres on section 8, Home township, to which he later added eighty acres by pur- chase. This he improved and cultivated, and afterward bought one hundred and sixty acres more in Burns township, so that he had three hundred and twenty acres of rich and arable land; however, he has since given the former tract to his son. His home place is improved with a comfortable dwell- ing, good barns and outbuildings, and is supplied with all modern farm machinery. Besides general farming, he is also engaged in breeding and raising cattle, and is a thor- oughly wide-awake and progressive busi- ness man. In 1849 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Scott and Miss Lucinda S. Morse, who was born, reared and educated in Oxford county, Maine, and is a daughter of Nathan Morse. Six children were born by this marriage, namely: Ida J., Frank M., John M., Julia E., Charles W. and Al- bert H. Mr. Scott takes no active part in poli- tics, caring nothing for the honors or emolu- ments of office, though he has served as justice of the peace of his township. He is a worthy citizen of the community, highly respected and esteemed by those who know him, and is justly entitled to the confidence reposed in him. >^OHN McKOWEN. who resides on m section 24, North Star township, /• 1 Brown county, is numbered among the honored pioneers of this section of the state. For twent3'-six years he has resided in t*his locality, a witness of its de- velopment and an active participant in those labors which have transformed it from a wild and desolate region to one of rich fer- tility, the home of a contented and pros- perous people. Farming has been his life work and honest toil has brought to him a comfortable competence. A native of the Emerald Isle he was born in West Meath on the 26th of May, 540 MEMORIAL RECORD OF 1837, and is descended from an ancestry of tfie hij^hest respectability. His parents were Michael and Ann (Connell) McKowen, who also were born in the county where he first saw the light of day. They had a family of si.x children, three sons and three daughters, namely: Patrick, Bernard, Eliza- beth, John, Catherine and Ann. Bernard was a member of the Union arm_\' who went from Watertown, Wisconsin, to the front with the Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, but ne\'er returned, his life being sacrificed to his country. About 1844 the parents bade adieu to the Emerald Isle and with their family sailed for the new world, hop- ing to secure a good home on this side the Atlantic. They located first at Fort Ann, in Washington county. New York, and afterward removed to Watertown, Wiscon- sin, where they spent their remaining days. The father was a Democrat in politics and by occupation was a farmer. He was fifty- six years of age at the time of his death, and iiis wife was forty-five years of age when called to the home beyond. John McKowen is the only one of the family living in Minnesota. He was reared on the homestead farm and was trained to habits of industry, economy and integrity, which principles have characterized his en- tire career and have made him an honorable citizen who receives the respect of all. He assisted in clearing and cultivating the land, working with the a.x or at the plow. In 1865 he came to Minnesota, making a loca- tion near Hastings, Dakota county, where he was employed in a sawmill for a time. In 1867 he went to Waseca county, spend- ing three years there, whence he removed to his present farm, then consisting of an un- improved tract of land. He is the oldest settler in North Star township and among the worthy pioneers of Brown county he well deserves mention. More than a quar- ter of a century has passed since he took up his abode here, — years in which he has faithfully performed every duty of citizen- ship and with unfaltering energy applied himself to the work of developing a good farm. He now has one hundred and sixty acres of valuable land adjoining the town plat of Springfiehl, and in the midst of his farm stands a substantial and comfortable residence and good outbuildings. His barn is forty-six by forty-eight feet and is one of the best in this locality. There is also a good grove upon the place and an abundant supply of fresh water for the stock as well as for the house. In connection with gen- eral farming th3 owner of this desirable property has also engaged in the raising of Durhani cattle, with success. In 1859, in Dodge county, Wisconsin, Mr. McKowen was united in marriage to Miss Mary Joyce, a native of Ireland and a daughter of Patrick and Mary Joyce, who were also born on the green isle of Erin. Their children are Patrick, who is now in Helena, Montana; Marj-, wife of William Mapes, of St. Paul; Michael, an en- terprising and capable farmer who is with ■ his father; Ann, wife of F. Codow, of Belle- vue, Minnesota, and a twin sister of Michael; John, who is now successfully working a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Brown count}-. The mother of these chil- dren passed from this life January 24, 1892, leaving the home very desolate, for she was I a faithful wife and mother, a kind neighbor and friend, and was one of the first to lend assistance to those in distress and want. Her kindness won her the love of all. In his political views the subject of this review is a Democrat. He aided in the or- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 541 ganization of his township, and for many years acceptably served as township super- visor. He is a man of intelligence, of honor in business, and in all life's relations is true to the duties that devolve upon him and to the trust reposed in him. T. McAKTHUR, of Tracy, is one of the leading bankers of south- western Minnesota and is rapidly working his way to a foremost po- sition among the prominent financiers of the state. Genuine success is not likely to be the result of mere chance or fortune, but is some- thing to be labored for and sought out with consecutive effort. Ours is a utilitarian age, and the life of every successful man bears its lessons, and as told in contempo- rary narration perhaps is productive of the greatest good. Mr. McArthur is a young man, but has already attained to a measure of prosperity that many a one who started out on life's journey before him might well envy. He has a wide reputation as a most capable financier and has occupied a posi- tion of no little prominence in connection with the political affairs of the county, al- though he has never sought or desired polit- ical preferment. His life demonstrates what may be accomplished through energy, care- ful management, keen foresight and the util- ization of the powers with which nature has endowed him, and the opportunities with which the times surround him. Mr. McArthur is proud to claim I\linne- sota as his native state. His birth occurred in Farmington township, Olmsted county, February 4, 1865, and from Scottish ances- try he is descended. On the paternal side he traces his ancestry back to the highlands of Scotland, his great-grandparents, Archi- bald and Mary (McGregor) McArthur, hav- ing been born near Greenock. The former died at the age of seventy-two, the latter at the age of sixty-nine. The grandfather, Donald McArthur, was .-dso born in Green- ock and married Catherine McDonald, daughter of Archibald and Isabella (Cam- eron) McDonald, of Inverness, Scotland. Her father died in Marchpossa, Canada, at the age of seventy-eight, and his wife died in the same place when seventy-nine years of age. Crossing the Atlantic, the paternal grandfather of D. T. McArthur spent his last days in Cheltenham, county of Peel, province of Ontario, Canada, where he died at the age of si.xty -one years. His wife died there at the age of thirty-nine. Daniel McArthur, father of our subject, was born in Toronto, Canada, September 8, 1832, and was educated in the connnon and select schools, and reared to the occu- pation of farming. He came to Minnesota in 1857, and on the 28th of February, 1S5S, was united in marriage with Jane Martin, daughter of Thomas and Jane (Annet) Mar- tin, who were natives of Edinburg, Scotland, and died in Newry, Ireland, at the ages of forty-six and eighty-one years respectively. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Mc- Arthur were John and Margaret (Colwell) Martin. They were born near Edinburg, and died there, the former aged seventy- two and the latter aged forty-three. Her maternal grandparents, James and Jane Steenson (Stephenson) Annett, were born near Glasgow, and there died at the ages of sixty-five and seventy-four respectively. Daniel McArthur and his wife became the parents of three children, namely: Katie Jane, who is married; Daniel Thomas, of this review; and Gilbert William, manager for Reeves & Company, of Columbus, In- 54-2 MEMORIAL RECORD OF diana, having charge of their business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The well-known banker of Tracy, D. T. McArthur, obtained his elementary edu- cation in the district schools and then entered the public schools of Rochester, Minnesota. Later he pursued his studies for five years in the private school conducted by Sanford Niles, of that place, and when his literarj' education was completed he en- tered the school of business experience there to learn many valuable lessons such as come to all when the days of youth are passed and the true problems of life confront us. He was twenty years of age when he entered the Lincoln County Bank, a private banking institution at Lake Benton, Minne- sota, where he was employed two years. He then went to Dakota, where he remained two years, also engaged in banking, in the real-estate business and in merchandising. In 1 891 he came to Tracy and in connection with Messrs. Tracy, Tucker and Holway, purchased the small private bank owned by John E. Evans and known as the Commerce Bank. They took possession August i, 1 89 1, and organized the First State Bank, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dol- lars, which was increased to thirty-five thousand dollars August i, 1893. On the 8th of April, 1895, they organized and opened the First National Bank, with the capital of fifty thousand dollars, and of both institutions Mr. McArthur has served as cashier. Since the first or- ganization the business of the bank has an- nually doubled and its record is certainly a most creditable one. Not a little of its suc- cess is due to the able management of its progressive, efficient and popular cashier, who has closely studied the wants of the public along his line, and by his systematic methods and honorable dealing has secured the confidence and therefore the patronage of many of the residents of the county. In addition to his banking interests Mr. McArthur has extensive real-estate holdings. He is the owner of fifteen hundred acres of land in Lyon, Murray, Redwood and Lin- coln counties, of which sixty-five acres lie within the corporate limits of Tracy and is known as Mr. McArthur's experimental farm, where in small quantities he grows the prize corn and wheat. He conducts the place according to the most scientific, progressive and practical methods and has demonstrated the success of his views of agriculture. A lover of fine horses he owns several excellent specimens of the noble steed, including Mack, his driving horse, and H. M. French, a fine registered animal with a most excellent pedigree. In his political views Mr. McArthur is an inflexible adherent of the Republican party, strongly believing in a high protective tariff and "sound money." He is recognized as one of the leaders of his party in this dis- trict and usually attends all the county, con- gressional and state conventions. He has served as president of the village council of Tracy, and as treasurer of the village, and is now serving his second term as alderman. He was acting in the first mentioned office when the charter was granted which made Tracy a city. He has repeatedly been of- fered the county treasurership, but refuses to hold any position that will interfere with his business in which he is meeting with such excellent success. He is very public- spirited, however, and gives a generous sup- port to all movements and measures which are calculated to advance the public welfare in education, moral, religious or business lines. SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 543 Socially Mr. McArthur is connected with Chosen Friends Lodge, No. lOO, of Tracy, and has filled all the chairs therein. He is a member of Tracy Lodge, No. 85, I\. P., has been Past Chancellor and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge. He is a member of Ivy Leaf Lodge, No. 36, Order of Rebecca; of Tracy Camp, No. 1549, Modern Woodmen of America; and of Mankato Lodge, No. 225, B. P. O. E., of Mankato, Minnesota. In manner Mr. McArthur is pleasant, courteous and genial, antl has that innate refinement and dignity that ever mark the gentleman. A worthy t^'pe of the best American citizenship, he advances the pub- lic welfare while promoting individual pros- perity, and the community is fortunate that numbers him among its residents. aHARLES H. HOPKINS.— Among the prominent men and e.x-soldiers of southwestern Miimesota none are perhaps better known or more wor- thy of notice in a work of this character than is Charles H. Hopkins, one of the prosperous farmers of Renville county, his post-office address being Fairfax. Mr. Hopkins has been a resident of Minnesota since 1869, and throughout all the years that have intervened between that date and the present time he has been an important factor in his locality, exerting an influence that has been most potent for good. He was born in Chenango county. New York, October 6, 1844, and is descended from ancestors whose residence in this coun- try dates back to the colonial period. Ma- turni Hopkins, his father, was a native of Rhode Island and a son of a Revolutionary soldier, while the mother of our subject, >icc Mary H. Hainer, was a daughter of a soldier of the war of 1S12. Indeed the whole family, as far as can be traced back on both the paternal and maternal sides, have been noted for patriotism. Charles Hainer, an uncle of our subject, was through all the late war, serving as a member of the Second Wisconsin Infantry. Maturni Hopkins was by occupation a contractor and builder, honorable and up- right in all his dealings and successful in his operations. In 1861 he left New York and moved with his family to Wisconsin, loca- ting in Columbiana county, Charles H. at that time being a boy in his 'teens. The boy had completed his common-school edu- cation, taken a partial course in the high school and was preparing to enter college when the great civil war, as it continued to rage, changed all his plans. Like his wor- thy ancestors and his illustrious relative, Josiah Hopkins, of Revolutionary fame, he was not the one to remain inactive when he felt that duty and country called, and ac- cordingly in October, 1863, at the age of nineteen, we find him enlisting as a member of the Thirteenth Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry, under Captain R. R. Griffith, with which comtnand he served for nineteen months in the "hot-bed" of rebellion, — Arkansas, Mississip])! and Louisiana. Dur- ing this period he had black measles and was offered a furlough home, which, how- ever, he refused. He had told a ' ' copper- head" in Wisconsin that he would not re- turn until the war was over, and he kept his word. In June, 1865, having received his honorable discharge, he went back to his old home and accepted a position as clerk in a store, which occupied his attention for a time, and from 1867 to 1869 he was en- 544 MEMORIAL RECORD OF gaged in the dairy business at Madison, Wisconsin. In 1869 he came to Renville county, Minnesota, and settled at his present loca- tion, and here he has ever since resided. He owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, well improved and under a high state of cultivation, and here he and his family enjoy a pleasant home and all the comforts of life, a good library bsing includ- ed in the furnishings of this home. Mr. Hopkins was married in the fall of 1872, in Renville county, Mmnesota, to Miss Susan M. Cushman, an educated and cul- tured woman and previous to her marriage a successful teacher. Her father, .Nicholas Cushman, was the son of a veteran of the war of 18 12, and he himself and two sons. Adam and Lawrence, in the late war, mem- bers of a Minnesota regiment and now resi- dents of Washington. Thus Mrs. Hopkins, as well as her husband, comes of a family whose members have been participants in the wars that have been waged in this coun- try. Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins have three children, — Hay ward B., Franklin B., and Gladys M. Franklin B. is engaged in teaching. Mr. Hopkins is a man who has always kept himself well posted in curruent events and has taken an active interest in political issues, — in short has been a leading politi- cian in his vicinity. For years he was a zealous Republican, ne.xt espoused the Pro- hibition cause and is now a Populist. His earnestness and enthusiasm have ever been appreciated by his fellow citizens and they have time after time been honored him with official position. For twenty-one years he has served as a justice of the peace and a like number of years he has been on the school board. At one time he was the Pro- hibition candidate for judge of probate, and in 1892 was candidate of the Populist ticket for register of deeds, — both times, however, being defeated, but on the latter occasion he had a very good complimentary vote, coming within thirty-eight votes of being elected. In 1896 he was elected del- egate to the Populist state convention, to represent Renville county, which he did to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. The prominent part Mr. Hopkins took in the erection of the Fort Ridgley Monu- ment is well known, and to him is due much praise for his earnest and effective work in behalf of this enterprise. Fort Ridgley Monument was dedicated August 20, 1896, in the presence of no less than five thousand people. Fraternally we find Mr. Hopkins identi- fied with the G. A. R., I. O. O. F., and F. & A. M. With the first named order his membership is in Benjamin F"ranklin Post, in which he has served two terms as commander and has also filled the office of adjutant. He was initiated into the mys- teries of Masonry in Wisconsin in 1868, and is now a member of Hector Lodge, Minne- sota. As an Odd Fellow he affiliates with the lodge at Fairfax. Both he and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served officially and in which Mrs. Hopkins has for the past four years been Sabbath-school superintendent. * y ^ ARRY GODFREY SLATER, the »'^\ popular clerk of the Electric Light \ , P and Water Works Companies of St. Peter, and one of the leading business men of the city, was born in Bol- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 545 ton, England, on the 9th of September, 1864, and is a son of Joseph and Jane (Bachott) Slater, of Ott-Bank, England. The maternal grandmother was Emma Bachott, a daughter of John Walworth, of Great Lever, England. Harry G. Slater supplemented his early education by a course in Rossall College, and left school at the age of seventeen. In his nineteenth year he crossed the Atlantic to America, landing in New York city, whence he came to Lesueur county. For one year he lived with Arthur French, and afterward was employed on farms in Lesueur and Nicollet counties. When twenty-one years of age he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Travis township, Nicollet county, and turned his attention to farming and stock-raising, which he followed for four years. On the expira- tion of that period he sold his property and came to St. Peter, where he soon after- ward entered the employ of the Electric Light Company. In a short time he was given charge of the clerical business of the Water Works Company, and has since looked after the interests of both. Most faithful to the trust reposed in him he has the unqualified confidence of the companies and the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact. In 1885 Mr. Slater was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Power, of Nicollet county, daughter of John and Margaret Power. They have had four children, namely: Frances W., Joseph E. , William and Lillian, one of whom is deceased. Their home is a good residence on one of the principal streets of St. Peter and its hospitable doors are ever open for the re- ception of their many friends. Mr. Slater is a valued member of St. Peter Lodge, I. O. O. F., Ancient Order of United Work- men, and the Modern Woodmen of America. ,>^ 10 D. BARBER. — For sixteen I /^ years this gentleman was a resi- M . P dent of Nobles county, and during that period no man was more prominently connected with its history or more active in promoting those enterprises which tend to the upbuilding and develop- ment of a community. He stands forth as a prominent figure amid the events which go to make up the annals of the county, and there are few men whose lives are crowned with greater honor and respect than was ac- corded him in Worthington and the sur- rounding country. His strong mentality and his keen foresight have enabled him to judge with accuracy of the benefits that might be derived for the county by a cer- tain line of action or by the establishment of certain industrial concerns, and his pro- gressiveness and public -spirit prompted a liberal support of all that he believed would promote the educational, moral, social or material welfare of the community. He now makes his home in Corona, California, 546 MEMORIAL RECORD OF and by his removal to the Golden state Nobles county lost one of its most valued and esteemed citizens. Dr. Barber was born in Allegany county, New York, on the 22d of November, 1838, a son of Alfred and Angeline (Burdick) Barber, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of the Empire state. The father followed contracting and building throughout his business career and died in New York at the age of sixty-three years. The mother afterward came to the west and died in Worthington in 1893. In their family were six children, of whom three daughters and one son are now living. The Doctor acquired his elementary edu- cation in the public schools of his native state, and later entered the college in Alfred, New York, where he was pursuing his studies when the civil war was inaugu- rated. Feeling that his duty was to his country, and that his loyal defense of the old flag was at that time more important than an education, he put aside his text- books for the rifle, and, with the " boys in blue" of Company C, Eighty-fifth New York Infantry, went to the front. He re- mained with the army for three years and was mustered out as hospital steward. Among the important engagements in which he participated were the siege of Yorktown, the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, the seven days' battle before Richmond, the siege of Fort Sumter and the engagement at Olustee, Florida. During his service in Florida he suffered a sunstroke which dis- abled him for further service. Upon his return to the north Mr. Barber entered the medical department of Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied for three terms and was gradu- ated in March, 1867, with the degree of M. D. Believing the west would furnish a a better field for a young man who must depend entirely upon his own merit and ability, he sought a home in Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, and there put his theoretical knowledge to a practical test in the active prosecution of his profession. After three years he removed to Alden, Freeborn county, Minnesota, and in March, 1S72, came to Worthington as one of the pioneers of Nobles county. Here he erected the twelfth building in the town and in connection with the practice of medicine did a successful business as a druggist, following the dual pursuit until his removal to California in 1888. His business in both lines rapidly increased as the county became more thickly populated and the public saw evidence of his skill and ability. During his residence here Dr. Barber was many times called to positions of public trust, and in the offices of civil life performed his duties with the same fidelity which marked his career as a soldier on southern battle-fields. He was for six years judge of probate court, being the second incumbent in that office. He was appointed post- master by President Arthur and held the office for nearly five years, to the satisfaction of the patrons of the office, his successor being a Democrat appointed by President Cleveland. In the month of March, 1874, he was appointed by C. K. Davis, the then gov- ernor of Minnesota, one of the board of trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home of Minnesota, then recently organized and located at Winona, Minnesota, and was three times successively reappointed by suc- ceeding governors to this important and honorable office; and it was his privilege in connection with Judge H. G. Hicks, of Min- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 547 neapolis, Captain H. A. Castle, present postmaster of St. Paul, Captain Ara Barton, of Northfield, and the other directors, to supervise the care and education of those wards of the state. For many years he was a member of the board of education of Worthington and much of the time its sec- retary, and his efficient efforts in behalf of education were largely instrumental in pla- cing the schools of the city upon a substan- tial basis, the beneficial results of which are now apparent in the very high standing of the present schools of the city. Dr. Barber was several times appointed by different governors of Minnesota to rep- resent the state at the National Association of Charities and Corrections, of which asso- ciation the late President Hayes was for many terms the president. Dr. Barber's standing in the medical profession of the state was attested by his election to the vice presidency of the state society and a number of times as delegate from the state to the national society, of which he was an honorable member. He was elected a member of the board of exam- iners of the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Minneapolis, holding the appoint- ment until its duties were delegated to a state board, and was widely recognized as one of the most worthy members of the medical fraternity in Minnesota. Since his removal to California Dr. Bar- ber has devoted his time and attention to the medical profession and has there, as in Minnesota, secured a lucrative patronage and won a place in the ranks of the leading physicians in his section of the state. He has held there the position of health officer of Riverside county for two years. Socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the blue lodge and chapter degrees, and is a member of Carlton Post, No. 134, G. A. R. He was one of the charter members of Stoddard Post, No. 34, of Worthington, served as its surgeon for some years, also as commander, and was medical director of the Department of Min- nesota, G. A. R. , for two years. He is a thorough gentleman, upright and reliable, and his strict adherence to principle com- mands the respect of all. The place he has won in the medical profession is accorded him in recognition of his skill and ability, and the place which he occupies in the so- cial world is a tribute to that genuine worth and true nobleness of character which are universally recognized and honored. His religious views were in accord with the doctrines of the Congregational church, and he was instrumental in securing the erection of the house of worship in Worth- ington and served many years as treasurer of the church, with which he was connected. The Doctor was married in New York, January 26, 1863, to Miss Martha D. Welch, who died in California in 1892. She was the mother of six children, of whom three daughters are yet living. In 1894 was con- summated the marriage of Dr. Barber and Mrs. Olivia A. Davis, an English lady by birth. 5>^AVID A. RODGERS, a general I I farmer and stock-raiser of Water- /^^J ville township, Lesueur county, was born near Delaware, the coun- ty seat of Delaware county, Ohio, May 4, 1838. His father, Samuel Rodgers, was a native of Maine and a farmer by occupation. He married Becca Rodgers, the wedding being celebrated in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, her native city. Soon afterward they re- 548 MEMORIAL RECORD OF moved to Delaware county, Ohio, and sev- eral years later went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where some time afterward the mother died and the father made his home until his death, in 1859. David A. Rodgers spent his boyhood days in the Wolverine state, and as soon as old enough to handle the plow began work in the fields. His life has been one of earnest industry, and the success he has achieved is the result of his own labors. In i860 he came to Minnesota, locating first in Jack- son, where he remained for a year. In 1 861 he went to Waseca county, Minnesota, where he engaged in breaking prairie. He owned five yoke of cattle and turned the first furrow on many an acre of what is now a richly cultivated farm. In 1S62 he took up his residence in Mankato, where he was variously employed until 1864, when he en- listed in Company F, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery. The regiment was sent to Chattanooga, and was mostly engaged in garrison duty. Mr. Rodgers continued at the front until after the close of the war, when, in October, 1865, he was honorably discharged and returned to this state. In the following spring he purchased sixty acres of land, and to that property has added from time to time until his farm now comprises two hundred acres. It is one of the best improved properties in this section of the state, being furnished with all the accessories and conveniences of a model farm of the nineteenth century. In addi- tion to the comfortable residence, there are substantial barns and outbuildings, grana- ries, sheds and a good windmill, with a well one hundred and forty feet deep, furnishing an ample supply of excellent water. He raises all kinds of grain and considerable numbers of horses, cattle and hogs. He at one time engaged in raising sheep for wool and mutton purposes. In 1 86 1 Mr. Rodgers was united in mar- riage with Miss Eveline Fuller, daughter of George and Rosanna Abbie Fuller. They have eight children, but only four are now living, — William H., Charlie, Eugene and Daisy T. One son, Chester, died at the age of seventeen years. In his political faith Mr. Rodgers is a Republican, and is a member of Barnes Post, No. 93, G. A. R., of Waterville. He is a man of firm purpose, of great energy and of unquestioned integrity, and his suc- cess is the result of his own labors. /^^V)\^\^^ W. DAVIES is the presi- B I dent of the Pipestone Bank, of ^^_^^ Pipestone, Minnesota. This in- stitution was organized as a state bank May 11, 1883, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. It now has a surplus and profit of thirty thousand dollars. A general banking business is conducted here, and the bank is considered as one of the most substantial and reliable financial insti- tutions in this section of the state; and its high reputation and prosperous career are largely due to the untiring efforts of its president. The entire life of Mr. Davies has been one of unusual activity and in- dustry, and he is a self-made man in the fullest sense of that so frequently misused term. Holding such an important position speaks louder than words of his executive and business ability. Mr. Davies was born in Shropshire, England, April 5, 1855, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Owens) Davies, both natives of Wales. His father served an apprentice- ship to the carriage and wagon making SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 549 trade in England, and during his residence in that country carried on a manufactory in that line. He was born in 1830, and in his twenty-second year married Miss Owens. In 1857 his parents crossed the Atlantic, in a sailing vessel, embarking on the 19th of June and landing in New York city on the 27th of July. They then went to London, Canada, but after a short time removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a year later to Rock county, that state, where, in the vil- lage of Afton, the father followed his trade, in connection with carpentering, for some years. He built a residence for himself and made investments in other property. He was one of the most prominent and influen- tial citizens of the town and was several times honored with positions of public trust. On the iithof May, 1869, he removed to Jackson county, Minnesota, and secured a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, being the northeast quarter of section 26, township loi, range 35, which he cultivated and improved, erecting thereon a good resi- dence and other substantial farm buildings. For seventeen years he made his home there, during which time he served as town treasurer for several terms, and was county judge of the probate court for two years. In 1886 he erected a comfortable dwelling in the village of Jackson, and is now living retired in that place, — an esteemed citizen, whose honorable life is well worthy of emu- lation. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Episcopal church. They had five children who reached years of maturity. Edward W. Davies, at present the only survivor of the children, passed his early life largely in Afton, Wisconsin, receiving a fair education in the district schools, and on removing to Jackson, Minnesota, with his parents in 1869, he pursued a course of study in the graded schools of the count}' seat of that county. He then engaged in clerking in a general store in Jackson for a year, when he was appointed to the position of deputy county treasurer. In this office and in the county auditor's office he con- tinued for about two years, after which he found employment in the lumber yard of C. L. Col man, as manager. In August, 1879, he established the Lakefield lumber-yard, and gave the name to that town, which is on the Milwaukee railroad. In that month he built the first house on the town-site and established there the first lumber-yard. Three months after- ward, however, he transferred his business to Pipestone, in order to take charge of the interests of Mr. Colman in this place, and established a good lumber-yard here, and for several years was the only dealer in this line in the city. He built up a large trade, winning success in the enterprise. He re- tired at length from the lumber trade in order to accept the position of cashier in the Pipestone County Bank, of which T. H. Black was president, and served in that capacity with credit to himself and satis- faction and profit to the institution. In 1890 he was elected president of the bank, in which capacity he is still serving, and is also president of the State Bank at Jasper, Minnesota, of which he was one of the or- ganizers. His business interests are exten- sive and varied, and have been of material benefit to this section of the state as well as to himself. In 1 88 1 Mr. Davies married Miss Nellie G., daughter of William V. King, ex-county auditor of Jackson county, Minnesota. They have three children, — Kittie A., Burr B. and Frank E. Their home is a beautiful 550 MEMORIAL RECORD OF residence, built of the stone from the noted Pipestone quarries, which stands in the midst of extensive grounds, ornamented by native forest trees and beautiful plants; and this home is the center of a cultured society circle. Mr. Davies is a man of excellent busi- ness ability and sound judgment, capable of directing extensive enterprises, and his methods have always been in keeping with the highest principles of honorable dealing and with conscientious regard for the rights of others. He has a clear and comprehen- sive mind, and is able not only to conceive great projects but also to execute well directed plans. In manner he is gentle- manly and courteous, has rare social quali- ties, delights in good fellowship, and lacks none of those personal traits of character which are indicative of the warm-hearted and high-minded gentleman. eDWARD H. ALBRECHT is a prominent factor in the business in- terests of the thriving little town of Morgan, Minnesota. He is a native of this state, and was born in New Ulm, Brown county, January 6, 1S65, son of Charles Albrecht, one of the respected German-American citizens of that county. The Albrecht family was composed of thir- teen members, — nine sons and four daugh- ters, — of whom the daughters and one of the sons are deceased. When Edward was four years old his father and family left New Ulm and moved to a farm in Home town- ship. Brown county, where the parents still reside. Edward remained at home un- til he was twenty-one, assisting in the work of the farm and attending the district schools and finishing his education with a course of study in the college at Galena, Illinois. On his return from Illinois, the subject of our sketch accepted a position in a gen- eral store in Sleepy Eye, Brown county, where he was employed four months. Then he spent one year in Springfield, that county, in the same business, after which he returned to Sleepy Eye and a year later came from there to Morgan and opened a general store in partnership with Mr. Henry Graban, with whom he was associated in business five years, selling out at the end of that time. Shortly afterward he and his brother Julius C. entered into a partnership and opened up a stock of general merchan- dise at this place, where they are now doing a prosperous business, running one of the largest stores of its kind in this part of the county. They started in business with a capital of only one thousand dollars each; in May, 1895, he and his brother J. C. started the present business, carrying now a stock of general merchandise of the value of eight to ten thousand dollars, and their annual sales amount to twenty-five or twenty-eight thousand dollars. Both are genial and obliging j-oung men, energetic and wide-awake, and are thoroughly in- formed in regard to the markets and the de- mands of trade in their part of the country. Mr. Edward Albrecht was united in' mar- riage, October 14, 1890, to Miss Ida Kiss- ner, who was born in Brown county, Min- nesota, June 7, 1869, daughter of Charles Kissner, a well-known and highly respected farmer residing near Sleepy Eye. They became the parents of two children: Elmer E., born August 3, 1891, and Laura L. , February 24, 1S94; and January 14, 1895, death entered their home and called the young wife and mother away, her untimely SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 551 death being a cause of great sorrow to her little family. Mr. Albrecht has served his village as treasurer. Also he has filled other local offices, and takes a commendable interest in everything intended to advance the welfare of Morgan and vicinity. He is a member of the German Methodist Episcopal church. fiHILLfP PEHLING, one of the prominent and substantial farmers of Nicollet county, Minnesota, is a gentleman in whose history is in- cluded an honorable war record. His fine farmstead is located on section i , of Court- land township, and Courtland, a town of that name, is his post-office address. Not unlike many of the leading men of this locality, Mr. Pehling is of German birth and ancestry. He was born in Hanover, Germany, July 4, 1845, son of Henry and Mary (Hatterson) Pehling, both natives of Hanover. In the Pehling family were four children, of whom Phillip is the youngest, the others being Gretchen Bartles, Lizzie Casson and Henrj'. The year 1852 marked their emigration to this country. They took passage at Bre- men for New York and were six weeks on the sea, during which time they encountered severe storms, but finally landed in safety at their destination. From New York they journeyed by rail to Buffalo and thence by boat to Chicago, and for a time sojourned in Illinois. Then they came to Winona, Minnesota, nine months later returned to Illinois, and subsequently came again to Minnesota, settling in Nicollet county, in 1864. The father died of bood poison in this county in 1869, at the age of sixty-si.\ years. He was by trade a carpenter, but for many years followed the quiet pursuits of the farm. His wife lived to the ripe old age of ninety-one years and three months. Returning to Phillip, the immediate sub- ject of this review, we record that he was seven years old when he landed in this country and here he was reared to farm life, being brought up to habits of honesty and industry but with few educational advan- tages. He, however, made the bast of his opportunities, spent his leisure moments in reading and study, and in that way ac- quired a wide range of useful infjrmalio 1. When the war came on he was among the first to tender his services to the Union. He enlisted in 1865 as a member of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery, went south with his command, and for nine months was stationed at Chattanooga, Tennessee. While in the service he had the misfortune to sprain his ankle, from the effects of which he has suffered severely, lumps grow- ing on it and getting larger each year. At the end of the nine months he was honorably discharged and returned home. In 1869 Mr. Pehling came to his present location and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land, to the cultivation and improvement of which he devoted his ener- gies, and to which he has added by subsequent purchase until now his farm comprises four hundred acres and is regarded as one of the most desirable farms in the township. He has a comfortable and attractive cottage home. His barn is forty by seventy feet, with a rock basement, and is conveniently arranged for the care of stock, of which he keeps a large quantity. He usually has about eight horses, from thirty to sixty cattle and fifty hogs. Mr. Pehling was married in 1869, in this county, to Miss Mary Wiestad, daughter of 552 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Frederick Wiestad, of Mankato, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Pehling have eight children, as follows: Henry, Nellie, Frederick, Sophia, John, Eliza, Theodore and Emma, and all have been educated in both the German and English languages. Like most veterans of the Union army, Mr. Pehling manifests a deep interest in the G. A. R. fn this order he has his member- ship in the post at St. Peter. aHARLES FLEISCHER.— Many of the most enterprising and prosper- ous citizens of Redwood county have come from beyond the sea, and especially is this true of the many who have left their homes in the German Empire and come to this land of freedom, where better opportunities are afforded energetic and progressive men. Among those a prom- inent figure is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, who now makes his home at North Redwood, Minnesota. Mr. Fleischer was born in Prussia, on the 22d of January, 1847, a son of William A. and Dorotha (Winkel) Fleischer. In 1856, with the laudable intentions of bet- tering his fortunes in life, the father with his family sailed from Bremen for the United States, and were six weeks in crossing the Atlantic to New York. They went direct to Sheboygan, where he managed a farm until 1868, and then brought his family to Red- wood county, Minnesota, locating upon a tract of one hundred and si.xty acres, which he had secured from the government. His death occurred there at the age of eighty- five years, and his wife passed away at the age of seventy-si.\. Two sons and a daugh- ter were born to them, all still living, of whom our subject is the youngest. By trade the father was a weaver, but in this country mainly followed agricultural pursuits. Until he was fifteen years of age Charles Fleischer remained under the parental roof, receiving a common-school education, and then started out in life for himself, learning the miller's trade. On the 23d of Novem- ber, 1866, was celebrated his marriage to Miss Delia Duncan, a native of New York, where her parents, Elijah A. and Esther R. (Beebe) Duncan, were also born. At an early day they emigrated to Wisconsin, the mother dying in Dodge county, that state, at the age of thirty-three years, and the father in Washington county, when seventy- two. He followed the carpenter's trade. Mr. and Mrs. Fleischer have one son, Louis C. , born in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, January 2, 1869. After his marriage, Mr. Fleischer located in Washington county, Wisconsin, where for four years he conducted a ilour-mill, and then sold out and removed to Sheboygan county, where also he erected a mill and ran a grocery store. His property being destroyed by fire, for about five years he then operated a mill at Appleton, Wiscon- sin. On coming to Redwood county, Min- nesota, in 1883, his capital was very small, but he purchased eighty acres of land and erected thereon a house fourteen by twenty- four feet. He later added to his property a few more acres, which now lie within the city limits of North Redwood. His atten- tion has not been solely given to general farming since coming to the county, for in 1890, in connection with three other gentle- men, he erected a creamery, in 1891 bought an interest in a cheese factory, and also- owns a large soft-stone quarry, which have proved paying investments. Mr. Fleischer is now acceptably serving SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 553 as township clerk, has been justice of the peace since 1884, and for six years has been a prominent member of the school board. Since casting his first presidential vote for General U. S. Grant in 186S, he has been a stalwart supporter of the Republican party, and his name is now being put forward for county office. He is one of the most popular and highly respected citizens of the com- munity, gaining the confidence and esteem of all with whom he comes in contact, either in a business or social way. aHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER FRANCOIS, deceased, was one of the most enterprising business men and merchants of Redwood Falls. He was a native of Germany, born Novem- ber 22, 185 I, and received a liberal educa- tion in that country. At the age of sixteen years he crossed the Atlantic to America, and on arriving at New York, went at once to Dubuque, Iowa, where he entered an English school, and acquired a good knowl- edge of the English language. Later he went to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he took a commercial course, thus becoming fitted for the responsible duties of life. On completing his business course Mr. Francois entered the employ of John C. Smith & Company, dry-goods merchants of La Crosse, with whom he remained for sev- eral years, and then went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where for two years he was in the dry -goods store of Wyman & Muller. On the 19th of November, 1879, Mr. Francois was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie H. Porter, a most estimable lady, who was the first white child born in Olm- sted county, Minnesota, and the daughter of Richard and Hannah L. (Crabbs) Porter, 35 of Rochester. Five children blessed this union, four of whom are still living, namely: Charles A., Walter P., Vernie E. and Lora V. After his marriage, Mr. Francois re- moved to Redwood Falls, where he pur- chased an interest in the store of C. G. Stickle, and formed a partnership with F. W. Philbrick, the firm becoming Philbrick & Francois, which connection lasted for four years, when our subject sold out his in- terest to his partner. He then bought a stock of merchandise of James McMillan and carried on business in a wooden building until 1 89 1, which he then moved and erected a fine three-story brick block, thirty by one hundred feet. There he continued in active business up to the time of his death, which occurred May i , 1 893. Mr. Francois was a most remarkable man, a good judge of human nature, and in business was prompt, reliable and industri- ous. He identified himself with many of the leading industries and enterprises of Redwood Falls, serving as director of the Citizens' National Bank at the time of his death. In disposition he was genial and affable, possessing a magnetism which com- pelled the respect and retained the affections of all, and in his death the community suf- fered a severe loss. He was domestic in his habits, spending all his leisure hours at home with his family to whom he was much at- tached. In all the relations of life he was honorable and upright, always on the side of right and justice, and did much to aid those less fortunate than himself. In 1880 he was elected city recorder, which position he acceptably filled for two terms, and socially held membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Francois is a lady of great business 554 MEMORIAL RECORD OF capacity and marked intelligence, and is distinguished for her straightforward, wom- anly course, no less than for the tact and energy she has employed in her business affairs since her husband's death. She has erected a new hotel, fifty-four by one hun- dred and twenty feet, and three stories in height. It is well furnished throughuut with all modern improvements, and is one of the best hotels to be found in southwest- ern Minnesota. It is now under the manage- ment of J. A. Englehart. She is a member of the firm of Francois & Schmahl, dealers in general merchandise, who have a well established trade and conduct one of the best stores of Redwood Falls. Mrs. Fran- cois with her family occupies the homestead at South Ivedwood Falls. For some years she has been a member of the Episcopal church, but now attends the Presbyterian church. She merits and receives the highest respect and esteem, and is much beloved by every one with whom she comes in contact. eUGENE N. DARLING is one of the pioneers of Minnesota. For thirty years he has made his home within her borders and since the fall of 1868 has maintained his residence on his present farmstead on section 6 of Mag- nolia township, Rock county. His long identity with the county and the numerous important positions he has occupied here combine to make his life history one worthy of special consideration in this work. Mr. Darling, like many of the leading men all over this broad land of ours, is proud to claim the Empire state as the one in which he was born. His birth occurred in Borodino, Onondaga county, June 23, 1835, his parents being Jacob W. and Mary Hart (Buffington) Darling, the former a native of Burrillville, Rhode Island, born November 24, 1800, and the latter of Augusta, Maine, the date of her birth being December 29, 1801. The Darlings were among the early settlers of Rhode Island. The grandfather of our subject was born in Burrilhille, that state, in 1726. and died there in 18 16; and of the maternal grandparents of Mr. Dar- ling, Joshua and Christina (Churchill) Buf- fington, we record that they were natives of Maine and that the latter was a direct de- scendant of Captain Standish, of Mayflower fame. Jacob W. and Mary H. Darling had a large number of children, whose names in order of birth are as follov/s: Linus H., James H., George H., Francis A., Eugene N., Harriet A., Helen M., Laura A. and Caroline A., and all still living except Linus H. and George H., and occupying honored and useful positions in life. Eugene H. Darling was reared and edu- cated in his native state. Until he was fourteen he was a farmer boy, working in the fields in summer and attending the dis- trict schools during the winter months. For four years he was a student in Cortland Academy, Homer, New York, and after- ward entered the New York Central College, McGrawville, where he graduated in June, 1858. -Immediately following his gradua- tion came he west to Freeport, Stephenson county, Illinois, where he accepted a posi- tion as deputy in the county auditor's office. Afterward he was employed in settling the estate of a large mercantile firm, then suc- cessively clerked, taught school and con- ducted an insurance business, and in 1866 left Illinois and came to Minnesota, his first location in this state being at Shakopee, where he was employed as ticket agent for the old Minnesota Valley Railroad Com- SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 555 pany, then having on]}' twent3'-eight miles of road, and now known as the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad. This position he occupied until September, 1868, when he resigned and came to Rock county. Having decided upon a desirable location here he returned to Shakopee and the fol- lowing month purchased two yoke of cattle and drove back to the land he had selected, upon which he "squatted" and where he has since lived. To him belongs the dis- tinction of having assisted in the building of the first house in Rock county. As soon as the land in this part of the country was thrown open to settlement he filed his claim and in due time secured title to the same. His farm comprises three hundred and twenty acres, is now well improved with good buildings, fences, etc., and is among the most desirable properties in the vicinity. Daring all the years of his residence here Mr. Darling has been prominently and actively identified with local affairs and has contributed his quota to the development of the county. For many years he has served as a member of the township board, was its chairman one year and seventeen years officiated as township clerk. Also he served one term as county commissioner. His po- litical views are those advocated by the Re- publican party, of which he has long been an ardent supporter. He sustains fraternal relations with the Masonic order, maintain- ing membership in its lodge, chapter and commander}'. Turning to that page in his life history which is of domestic nature, we find that he was married in his native town, March 10, 1863, to Miss Jennie E. Hulce, born in Onondago county, New York, October 9, 1845, daughter of Oliver W. and Maria Hulce, both long since deceased. Their happy union has resulted in the birth of eight children, viz.: Guy F. , deceased; May, wife of Charles W. Brockway; Mary Harriet, wife of Glen Brockway; Ray Nel- son, deceased; Winnifred C. ; George Oli- ver; one that died in infancy; and Louisa A. , deceased. @EORGE CUTLER, who is ranked as one of the representative farm- ers of Leota township, Nobles county, Minnesota, was born in the neighboring state of Wisconsin, his birth- place being in Iowa county: the date of that event, January 17, 1855. Mr. Cutler's parents, Thomas and Ann (Wilson) Cutler, natives of Somersetshire, England, emigrated to America about 1847 or '8 and made settlement first in Pennsyl- vania, whence, three or four years later, they removed to Wisconsin and took up their abode in Iowa county. Thomas Cut- ler was a miner in England, and followed that occupation after settling in Pennsyl- vania, but on coming to Wisconsin turned his attention to farming, first living on rent- ed land and subsequently purchasing a tract of government land. A few years ago he disposed of his farming interests, and now lives retired near Dodgeville, Wisconsin. The mother of our subject died on the home farm in Wisconsin, at the age of seventy- four years. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Cutler was Francis Cutler. He came to America in middle life, lived in Pennsyl- vania for a time, and then, came west to Wisconsin, where he died. After his death his wife returned to the Keystone state, where her closing years were passed and where she died, both being at a venerable age at the time of death. Grandfather and 556 MEMORIAL RECORD OF Grandmother Wilson were likewise of Eng- lish birth. The latter died in her native land and the former in Wisconsin, he hav- ing come to this country after his wife's death. Of the ten children born to Thomas and Ann Cutler, eight are yet living, George being one of this number. He remained under the parental roof until he attained his twenty-second year. Then he left home and started out to make his own way in the world, securing employment as a farm hand and for four years working by the month, following which he rented and took charge of the home farm one year. About this time he was married. He resided in Dodge- ville, Wisconsin, six months after his mar- riage, and from there, in the fall of 1883, he came to Minnesota, Little Rock township. Nobles county, being his objective point, and there he lived on rented land three years. At the expiration of that time he came to his present location in Leota town- ship and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, sixty acres of which had been plowed, and ten acres were covered with timber. From that time the work of developing his land received his earnest at- tention, and with gratifying results. To- day he has a nice farm and comfortable home. Mr. Cutler's service as a local official has several times been called into requisi- tion. Rutherford B. Hayes received the hrst \ote Mr. Cutler cast for president, and he has since then seen no reason to change his party allegiance. He and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal church. March 4, 1882, was consummated Mr. Cutler's marriage to Miss Mary Elam, a native of the san?e locality in which he was born and a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Thornton) Elam, her parents being natives of Yorkshire, England, and their emigration to this country dating about the year 1848. In England her father was a wealthy man, and was not engaged in any business until after he came to America. Here he settled down on a Wisconsin farm and was inter- ested in agricultural pursuits the rest of his life. He died on his farm at the age of fifty-five years. His widow survived him a number of years, she being seventy-four at time of death. In their family were twelve children, six of whom are still living. Mrs. Cutler's paternal grandparents were John and Mary (Wilson) Elam, both natives of Yorkshire, England. A few years after the arrival of their son Joseph in this country the parents came too, the date of their landing on American soil being 1855, and in Iowa county, Wisconsin, they quietly passed the evening of their lives and died, she being seventy at death and he seventy- nine. Mrs. Cutler's grandparents on her mother's side, Thomas Thornton and wife, were also Yorkshire people. They never left their native land, and both lived to be over eighty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Cutler have two children, namely: Anna M., a native of Little Rock, Minnesota, born August 21, 1886; and Ethel L., born at the present home "place April 26, 1S89. E MELVILLE HITCHCOCK.— Prominent among the reliable and energetic business men of Redwood Falls is the subject of this sketch, a well known optician. He is a native of Lesueur county, Minnesota. His father, Dr. Dennis L. Hitchcock, was born in Wyoming SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 557 county, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1827. The Doctor was a son of Hiram and Lucia (Burgess) Hitchcock, of Enghsh descent, and in his native county grew to manhood and began the study of medicine. After reading for about two years he entered the medical department of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, but before com- pleting the course was called home on ac- count of the illness of his father. Dr. Hitchcock began the practice of his chosen profession at Waterviile, Minnesota, but in 1S65 came to Redwood Falls, where five years later he opened a drug store, which he conducted in connection with his practice. He was one of the oldest physi- cians of the state, and was the first physi- cian practicing in Redwood, Renville and Yellow Medicine counties. A highly respect- ed and honored citizen, he was a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Methodist Episcopal church. His death, which oc- curred at Redwood Falls, on the 31st of December, 1884, was widely and deeply mourned. In 1857, Dr. Hitchcock was united in marriage with Miss Pamela Davison, of Rice county, Minnesota, and a daughter of James R. and Eunice (Jenks) Davison. Of their eight children, seven are still living, namely: Hiram Melville, the subject of this biographical outline; Helen, at home; Eliza- beth, a teacher; Sarah J., wife of Jasper Stegner, of Redwood Falls; Harriet M., at home; and Julius R. and Agnes G., who are also engaged in teaching. The mother is still living and makes her home in Red- wood Falls. Our subject completed his education in the city which is still his home, and with his father began the study of medicine. In 1880 he took charge of the drug store. which he still conducts. He entered the Ophthalmic College at Chicago, where he graduated with the class of 1893, ^nd has since been one of the leading opticians of southwestern Minnesota. His office is equipped with the latest and best appliances in ophthaluiic adjustments, and he has on hand a complete line of oculists' goods. His optical work has become a leading feature of his business. In 1882 Mr. Hitchcock was united in matrimony with Miss Regina Stegner, of Northfield, Minnesota, a daughter of Con- rad Stegner, and they now have four chil- dren, — one son and three daughters, — namely: S. Gretchen, Eva R. , Alice L. and Paul M. The parents are both earnest and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is a member of the board of trustees. In his political relations, Mr. Hitchcock is a Republican, and at present is serving as a member of the school board. He is a fair-minded, upright, honorable gentleman, true to every duty devolving upon him, whether public or private; and his present prosperous business is a fitting monument to his industry and integrity. BRANK T. LAMBERT.— The best toilers of the land are the ones who form the chief source of strength in a nation; it is they who promote prosperit}', to whom advancement is due and to whom success comes as a fitting and merited reward of their labor. To this class belongs our subject, a leading farmer of Dewald township. Nobles county. He was born in Ontario county. New York, March 28, 1853, and is a son of Adam and Martha (Howe) Lambert. His father 558 MEMORIAL RECORD OF was born in Norfolk, England, in 1806, and the grandfather, Thomas Lambert, was a native of the same place. The maternal grandparents were Robert and Sarah (Bruce) Howe. The mother of our subject was born in the city of London, October 28, 1822, and in Northiield, England, in 1S46, became the wife of Mr. Lambert. In 1S51 they crossed the Atlantic to New York, where they remained for seven years, and then emigrated to Green Lake county, Wis- consin, where the father engaged in general farming and stock-raising. In 1865 he took his family to Olmsted county, Minnesota, and resided upon a farm for seven years. In 1872 the family came to Nobles county, settling on a homestead of eighty acres, which the father cultivated until his death, which occurred August 6, 1880. They passed through all the hardships of pioneer life, their crops were destroyed by grass- hoppers and many difficulties were to be met; but perseverance at length triumphed over these and a good home was secured. Mrs. Lambert and three sons still survive, and the mother is living on the homestead, in her seventy-fourth year, a well-preserved old lady. In the family were eight children, si.x sons and two daughters, five of whom reached years of maturity: Martha J., deceased wife of John Milligan; Sarah E. , wife of A. P. Douglas, of Akron, Iowa; Frank T. ; Fred W. ; Herbert A. , who died at the age of five years; Albert K., who died at the age of three; and Alfred H., a farmer. Our subject spent his boj'hood in his parents' home, being largely reared in this state, his time being devoted to work in the fields and in attendance on the district schools of the neighborhood. He came to Nobles county with the family in 1872 and took up a homestead of eighty acres on the same section with his father, where he improved a good farm, transforming the wild land into richly cultivated fields. He has since carried on general farming and stock-raising and has added to his property until he now has a quarter section. He still retains eighty acres in his homestead and has a valuable property, the neat and thrifty appearance of which indicates his careful supervision and his progressive, ad- vanced methods. On the 31st of December, 1881, Mr. Lambert was united in marriage to Miss Rhoda A. Eggleston, of Nobles county, Minnesota, a daughter of M. O. Eggleston. Her parents now reside in Goodhue county, Minnesota, where she was born. Mr. and Mrs. Lambert have four sons and two daughters, and their home is a hospitable one, where their many friends are always sure of a hearty welcome. Mr. Lambert served for one term as justice of the peace, and in all life's relations has been true to the trust reposed in him. i:V. LEOPOLD HAAS, pastor of the church of the Immaculate Con- ception, Catholic, at St. Peter, was born in Styria, Austria, in 1862, and spent the first thirteen years of his life in his native land. He then emi- grated to America and entered St. John's University, in Minnesota, where he prose- cuted his studies for two years. He ne.xt went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he entered St. Francis Seminary, being a stu- dent in that institution for seven years. His further education was obtained in St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he completed the prescribed course of study and was graduated, was ordained a SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. 559 priest of the Catholic church by Bishop Ireland, of St. Paul, Minnesota, June i8, i8S6, and was appointed to take charge of St. Raphael's church in Springfield, Minne- sota, where he remained four years, admin- istering also to the churches at Leavenworth and Willow Lake. In the fall of 1S90, Father Haas came to St. Peter, and has since presided over the church of the Immaculate Conception. This church has a membership of about sixty-five families; also, he has charge of the church at Belgrade of forty families, the church at Middle Lake with twenty-five families, and a church at Swan Lake of thirty families. The house of worship at St. Peter is a fine brick structure, and was erected in 1889 under the supervision of Father A. Ogulen, at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. It is tastefully furnished and provided with all modern appointments. A schoolhouse, built in 1891 by Father Haas, is also conducted in connection with the church, in which three Sisters are teach- ing. The church property includes a quar- ter of a block on Third and Myrtle streets. Father Haas is a man of broad scholar- ship and broad, general information, and his long stay in St. Peter shows the high regard in which he is held by his parishioners. IHOMAS M. EDGAR, who is pleas- antly located on a fine farmstead on section 28, North Star township, Brown county, not far distant from the prosperous town of Springfield, Minne- sota, is one of the representative agricultur- ists of his locality. He is a Scotchman by birth, but has been a resident of America from his early childhood, and is thoroughly identified with the interests of his adopted country, having fought for the preservation of its Union during the dark days of rebellion in the '60s. Mr. Edgar was born in April, 1841, in Galloway county, Sctjtiand, that county noted for its famous breed of cattle as well as for its brave men and women. His father, Walter Edgar, was a Lowlander, but was descended from an old Highland family; and his mother was before marriage Miss Jean- nette Rutherford, she, too, being a native of Galloway county and a member of a highly respected family. When the subject of our sketch was four years of age his parents emigrated to America, landing in New York cit}', and from there coming west to Colum- bia county, Wisconsin, and settling near Portage, where the father improved a farm, and whence he subsequently came over into Minnesota and took up his abode in Olmsted count}'. In that county he died at the ripe old age of eighty-six years, his death being the result of an accident caused by a runaway team. He was a farmer all his life, in politics was a Republican, and in religion a Presbyterian. To him and his wife eight children were given, six sons and two daughters, namely: Joseph, William, Margaret (wife of Samuel Murray), Sarah (wife of James Dickson), Walter, James, Thomas M. and Robert. As already stated, Thomas M. Edgar was a participant in the late war; and he was not the only representative of his family who fought to preserve the old flag. His brother William, now a resident of Sanborn, Wisconsin, was a member of the Third Wis- consin Infantry. James, a resident of Red- wood county, Minnesota, was a soldier of the First Heavy Artillery of Wisconsin. Also the two brothers-in-law, Mr. Murray and Mr. Dickson, donned the blue and 500 MEMORIAL RECORD OF SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA. marched in the Union ranks. The latter was a member of the Tenth Wisconsin In- fantry and was killed at the battle of Perry- ville. Thomas M. was on the verge of young manhood when the war broke out, and as a member of Company D, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, in January, 1863, he went to the front with all the enthusiasm and patriotism of a young Scotchman ready to tight, and to die, if need be, for the land he had learned to love. He was with the forces that operated in the west, and was on active duty for a period of twenty-two months, the whole of his service being char- acterized by true bravery. The war over, he was mustered out of the ranks at Madi- son, Wisconsin, and from there returned to his home in Columbia county. In 1866 Mr. Edgar made a trip through Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Arkan- sas, Colorado and Utah, looking for a de- sirable location, but finally decided to set- tle in Minnesota, and in Olmsted county, this state, he lived until 1886. At that date he came to Brown county and pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land where he now lives and which he has devel- oped into a valuable farm, improved with good buildings, orchard, etc., and kept up in good order. Mr. Edgar was married at the age of twenty-seven, in Rochester, Minnesota, to Miss Emma Longnecker, a native of the Keystone state and a member of a Pennsyl- vania-Dutch family. Slie was reared and educated in Pennsylvania. Her parents, Henry and Catherine (Baughmanj Long- necker, came west some years ago and her mother is still living in Olmsted county, Minnesota, her father being deceased. Mrs. Edgar departed this life August 16, 1892. She was in every respect a most estimable woman, a devoted wife and helpmate, lov- ing mother and true friend. For years she maintained membership with the Methodist church, her life was adorned by the rarest of Christian graces, and she was loved by all who came within the circle of her influ- ence. She left ten children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Fred, Jenny, Walter, Ellen, Henry, Robert, Bruce, Thomas, John and Arvilla. Mr. Edgar is identified with the G. A. R. and the A. O. U. W., and politically is in harmony with the principles advocated by the Republican party. BRED PFAENDER, register of deeds of Brown county, is a native of this state, born at Fort Ridgely, Octo- ber 8, 1863, the son of Hon. Will- iam and Catharine Pfaender. He obtained his education at St. Paul and Madison; then, returning to New Ulm, his home, he joined his father in the insurance business until 1892, when he was elected to his present responsible position as register of deeds for Brown county, taking charge of the office in January, 1893; he was re-elected to the position in 1894. In his politics Mr. Pfaender is a Demo- crat, and he takes a prominent part in pub- lic affairs. In his social relations he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Turnverein. He is a popular and rising young man. > In 1889 he was married to Miss Louisa Newmann, of New Ulm, and a daughter of J. F. Newmann, a prominent merchant and an old settler of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Pfaender have one child living, — Walter C. They lost one son at the age of four years, named Fred.