Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 50

DAVID BRONSON was born in Anson, Maine, in 1834. He clerked in Boston from 1850 to 1855, when he came to Stillwater, where he has since been engaged in selling goods, lumbering and manufacturing. He was married in 1861 to Ianthe Davis.

JOHN MALOY is of Irish descent. He was born in Ireland, and emigrated to New Brunswick. He came to Stillwater with his family in 1853, and engaged in lumbering. His family consisted of nine sons and three daughters. The daughters are married. Four of the sons are living; two of them. Patrick and William, in Oregon, and the others, James and Robert, in Stillwater.

MRS. SUSANNAH TEPa.s.s, _nee_ Burkhart, was born in Germany, Aug. 10, 1824. Her parents emigrated to America in 1847 and settled in Freeport, Illinois, where she was married, in 1849, to N. Kimmick, and the same year came to Stillwater. Mr. Kimmick died in 1857. In 1860 she was married to Frank Aiple. Mr. Aiple died Nov. 10, 1868. Dec. 9, 1869, she was married to her present husband, Herman Tepa.s.s. Her children are Mary, Herman and Frank Aiple.

WILLIAM E. THORNE came to Stillwater in 1853. He has been an attentive and successful merchant, a polite and honorable gentleman, and a good citizen.

EDWARD J. b.u.t.tS was born in Delaware county, New York, in 1832; graduated at the Albany Normal School in 1853, and taught school awhile during his minority, and some years after studied law (in 1861), and was admitted to practice in Broome county, New York. In 1862 he enlisted in a New York regiment and served his full time of enlistment. In 1864 he was appointed clerk in the third auditor's office, Washington, which position he resigned in 1865 and came to Stillwater to practice his profession. He served some time as justice of the peace, and for ten years as judge of probate in Washington county. He was collector of internal revenue one year, and was eight years postmaster in Stillwater, completing his term of service in 1886. Mr. b.u.t.ts was married to Augusta Miller in 1856. Mrs. b.u.t.ts died in 1869, leaving one son and one daughter. Mr. b.u.t.ts married Ida Ellsworth in 1878. They have one son and two daughters. His oldest son is in the military school at West Point.

A. B. EASTON was born at Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, March 1, 1828. His parents were natives of Ma.s.sachusetts, tracing their lineage to the Pilgrim Fathers. At the age of fourteen years he was clerk in a store, but at the wish of his parents, left the store and attended school, finishing his studies by a course at the high school. Soon after he again a.s.sumed the position of clerk, in which he continued two years, when, in 1855, he took charge of his father's hotel. Two years subsequently he came to Stillwater, beginning work as a compositor for the Stillwater _Messenger_, A. J. Van Voorhes, proprietor. During the absence of the proprietor Mr. Easton was manager. Finally, in 1863, he and A. B. Stickney rented the paper, which they operated one year, then carried it on alone until 1865.

During this time Mr. Van Voorhes had been filling the position of quartermaster, and on his return made Mr. Easton foreman, where he continued until 1868. The St. Paul _Dispatch_ had just been established, and he was connected with the interests of this paper until his return to Stillwater in 1869. Aug. 6, 1870, he issued the first number of the Stillwater _Gazette_. His son William E. was taken as a partner in 1876. Mr. Easton and son have through their ability and industry made the _Gazette_ a readable, reliable and popular paper. Mr. Easton was married to Julia Burke, Oct. 14, 1849. They have four sons and three daughters.

EDWIN A. FOLSOM was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, June 30, 1833. He spent most of his youth with his parents in Bangor, Maine, where he was educated in the common schools. In 1856 he came to Stillwater and for six years was book-keeper for Hersey, Staples & Co. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, Eighth Minnesota Volunteers, and was commissioned as captain. He left the service at the close of the war with the rank of brevet colonel. Returning to Stillwater, he served six years as county treasurer, and has since been engaged in lumbering and selling goods under the firm name of Bronson & Folsom. He was married Oct. 12, 1872, to Frances E. Staples.

JOHN B. H. MITCh.e.l.l.--The ancestors of Mr. Mitch.e.l.l were Revolutionary patriots, originally Scotch covenanters, who settled in North Carolina, but who in after years freed their slaves and came to the Northern States. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l was born Nov. 26, 1820, in Monroe county, Kentucky. His education was obtained chiefly in the printing office of H. H. Houghton, of Galena, Illinois. He came to St. Paul in 1852, and was employed two years in the _Pioneer_ printing office. In 1854, in company with T. M. Newson and others, he published the St.

Paul _Daily Times_. In 1855 he located on a farm near South Stillwater. During the early part of the Civil War he was in Nashville, Tennessee, and reported proceedings of secession conventions to northern papers. In 1863 he was elected a member of the Minnesota legislature. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l has filled other offices of trust.

He was married in 1850 to Mariana B. Fiske, a daughter of David Fiske, of Baytown.

JOSEPH SCHUPP was born in Baden, Germany, in 1831; received a college and general business education and came to America in 1852, locating first at Buffalo, New York, and thence at Toledo, Ohio, whence he removed to Stillwater in 1858, and engaged in the mercantile business.

Commencing moderately, he extended his operations and now owns several buildings and blocks, and conducts a heavy wholesale trade. He was married in 1855 to Mary Fuller, of Toledo, Ohio. They have three sons living, Joseph A., Thomas O. A. and Frank.

CLIFFORD A. BENNETT was born in Portage county, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1841. He received a common school and collegiate education. He attended Hiram College during the time that President James A. Garfield presided over it. April 24, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-third Ohio Volunteers. He was subsequently promoted to the staff of Gen. W. D.

Hazen and served until mustered out at the close of the war. He came to Illinois in 1865, read law and was admitted to practice in 1867; came to Stillwater in 1868, and for ten years was in the office of the surveyor general. In 1878 he was elected clerk of court.

SAMUEL MATHEWS was born in New Brunswick, July 7, 1832. His opportunities for schooling were limited, and he is practically self educated. He came to Stillwater in October, 1856, since which time he has been engaged in lumbering, dealing in pine lands and in the mercantile business. He is a member of the firm of Mathews & Jourdain, and has been quite successful in his business undertakings. Mr.

Mathews has been called upon to fill many positions of trust. He has served over twenty-five years as manager, receiving and disbursing agent of the Stillwater fire department. He served four years as mayor of Stillwater, was county commissioner for twelve years, and for many years director in the First National Bank of Stillwater. He was married to Elisabeth Foley in 1867. Their children are Samuel, Thomas, James, Mollie, Adie, Stella, and May.

JOHN AND JAMES MATHEWS, brothers of Samuel, came to Stillwater in 1856, and are active, enterprising business men and good citizens.

Their business is farming and lumbering.

PETER JOURDAIN is a native of Canada. He came to Stillwater about the year 1856, and successfully engaged in lumbering. He is a member of the firm of Mathews & Jourdain, a firm engaged in dealing in logs and in manufacturing them into lumber. Mr. Jourdain has a family.

JAMES ROONEY was born in New Richmond, Canada East, in 1829. He remained in Canada until 1850, when he removed to Maine, coming thence to Stillwater in 1854. He engaged in lumbering, working at first by the month, and gradually acquiring means and influence for independent work. He is well situated, has a happy home and prosperous business.

He was married to Elisabeth McGuire, of Stillwater, in 1863. They have five children.

JAMES N. CASTLE is a native of Sheffield, Sheffield county, province of Quebec. He received a common school education; read law four years and was admitted to practice. He came to Minnesota in 1862, and taught school part of the time at Afton until 1865, when he was elected county attorney of Washington county. Mr. Castle served as state senator in the eleventh, twelfth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth legislatures of Minnesota. He settled in Stillwater in 1866.

ABRAHAM L. GALLESPIE was born at Shiloh, Randolph county, Illinois, in 1836. He came to Osceola, Polk county, Wisconsin, in 1850. In 1859 he moved to Stillwater, since which time, with the exception of a year spent in Colorado, and two years in the army as a member of Company D, Second Wisconsin Cavalry, he has followed the business of lumbering and dealing in logs. He has filled the position of alderman in Stillwater. He was married to Adelia F. Wilson, of Osceola, in 1860.

JOHN C. GARDINER came to Stillwater in 1850, from Washington county, Maine. He was born Jan. 5, 1822. On coming to Stillwater he located on a homestead near the city, and followed farming and lumbering for some years. In 1873 he was appointed prison guard, which position he held until a recent date. In 1845 he was married to Mary R. Jackman, in Maine. They have two sons living, Frederic and Albert L. Mrs.

Gardiner died in August, 1887.

V. C. SEWARD was born July 10, 1845, at Laketon, Wabash county, Indiana. He came to Mankato at the age of ten, served an apprenticeship at printing in the office of the Mankato _Independent_, subsequently attended the Western Reserve College, Ohio; and then became editor of the Cleveland (Ohio) _Leader_. He returned to Minnesota in 1869, and founded the Redwood Falls _Mail_. In 1872 he came to Stillwater and purchased the Stillwater _Messenger_ in company with S. S. Taylor. He has had entire control continuously since, and has been successful in its management. He was married to Lily M.

Lumbard, at Shakopee, Minnesota, in 1873.

RALPH WHEELER, one of Stillwater's early citizens, commenced piloting an the St. Croix in 1850, and has been continuously engaged in the piloting, steamboating, log and lumber business since. He is one of the original proprietors of the opera house. He was born in Chautauqua county, New York, in 1829. W. H. H. Wheeler, brother of Ralph, has long been a prominent citizen of Stillwater. He married Lura, daughter of Daniel Mears, of Osceola.

EDWARD SCOTT BROWN, of the firm of Hersey, Bean & Brown, was born Feb.

9, 1830, at Orono, Maine. He received a good education in the common schools and at Foxcroft Academy. He learned the trade of millwright, and in 1852 went to Puget Sound, Washington Territory, via Panama and San Francisco, and was employed two years in building mills. He returned to Orono in 1854, and in 1855 came to St. Anthony, Minnesota, and engaged in the manufacturing and millwright business. He came to Stillwater in 1873, entered the firm of Hersey, Bean & Brown, and in 1883 was appointed receiver of the Northwestern Car Works. Mr. Brown represented his district in the state senate of 1876.

WILLIAM LOWELL was born in Concord, Maine, April 26, 1807. Mr. Lowell was raised on a farm, but followed lumbering after he was twenty-one years old, with the Coburns on the Kennebec river, and afterward took a vessel around Cape Horn to San Francisco, California, with a cargo of manufactured lumber, consisting of ready made houses. He returned in 1850 by the overland route. Two years later he came to Taylor's Falls, but in 1853 settled in Stillwater, where he engaged in lumbering as a partner of S. M. Sawyer. He made a fine farm in Sterling, Polk county, Wisconsin, and lived upon it three years. He was interested in locating pine lands in company with the Colburns of Maine, on the St. Croix waters. He was a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1870. He was married in Concord, Maine, in 1836, to Rhoda Heald. She died in 1842, leaving two daughters. In 1856 he was married to Mrs. Elisabeth Rich, sister of Isaac Staples. Mr. Lowell died in Stillwater, July 15, 1873, leaving a widow and four children.

ALBERT LOWELL was born at Concord, Maine, July 10, 1819. He was married Feb. 5, 1850, to Miss Abby Reed, at Kendall's Mills, Maine.

From this union there were four children, of whom three are living, Elmore, Charles G. and Ernest. Mr. Lowell spent his early days in farming on the banks of the Kennebec river. In 1854 he came to Stillwater and settled on a farm near Lily lake, a portion of which farm is now used as a driving park. May 19, 1863, he took charge of the noted Sawyer House in Stillwater, which he afterward purchased.

Himself, Mrs. Lowell and their son Elmore have by their invariable courtesy and close attention to business made this hotel one of the most popular in the State. They sold and left the hotel, December, 1887.

NELSON HOLMES VAN VOORHES, eldest son of Abraham Van Voorhes, settled in Ohio and became a respected and useful citizen, at one time representing his district in Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON VAN VOORHES, the second son, born June 30, 1824, came to Stillwater in 1855, and in 1856 founded the Stillwater _Messenger_ and conducted it until 1868, excepting two years which he spent in the army during the Civil War. He was a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1859-60, and served as clerk of the Minnesota supreme court for one year. From 1863 to 1865 he served as quartermaster in the army, with the rank of captain. He died in Stillwater in 1873.

HENRY CLAY VAN VOORHES, the youngest son, was born in Athens, Ohio, in 1839, and came with his father to Stillwater in 1850. During the war he was a member of Company B, First Minnesota Volunteers, for about eighteen months, when he was discharged for disabilities. He afterward returned to the field with his brother, Capt. A. J. Van Voorhes, but was not on active duty. At the close of the war he returned to Stillwater, which has since been his home. He was married at Arcola, Feb. 9, 1868, to Emily Mower, daughter of John E. and Gracia Mower. In 1887 he went to Alaska.

LOUISA, eldest daughter of Abraham Van Voorhes, was married to C. A.

Bromley. She died in 18--. Maria, the youngest daughter, was married to D. H. Cutler, of Stillwater.

C. A. BROMLEY was born in Plattsburg, New York, Oct. 31, 1829. He came to Minnesota in 1851. He erected a fine livery and sale stable on Chestnut street in 1863. Mr. Bromley served in the war of the Rebellion as captain of Company B, First Minnesota, and afterward of Company I, Sixth Minnesota Volunteers. He was married to Louisa Van Voorhes, who died some years ago. He was married a second time, to a Miss King.

CHARLES J. BUTLER was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1822.

He was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania. He removed to St. Louis in 1839, where he remained for ten years. He was married to Margaret E. Lansing, of Madison, Wisconsin, in May, 1846. The following July he went as paymaster's clerk, under his father, Maj.

John B. Butler, to Mexico, in the Chihuahua expedition, commanded by Gen. John E. Wool. Returning to St. Louis, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business until the spring of 1849, when he disposed of his stock and went to California, where he engaged in mining operations.

In August, 1851, he came to Marine as book-keeper for Judd, Walker & Co., remaining with them until he was appointed secretary of the St.

Croix Boom Company, which position he held until 1875. In 1856 he removed to Stillwater. In 1857 he was elected delegate to the const.i.tutional convention. He served one term as mayor of Stillwater.

In 1862 he served as first lieutenant under David Bronson as captain, and with S. J. R. McMillan as second lieutenant, in the Chengwatana expedition sent from Stillwater to prevent the Chippewas from rising and joining in the Sioux insurrection. He purchased the Nelson warehouse, and, with Capt. Isaac Gray as partner, engaged in the towboat business until 1878. Of late years Mr. Butler has been engaged in business ventures in Western Minnesota, but he still retains his residence at Stillwater. Mr. Butler has always been a lover of field sports and his prowess as a sportsman is well remembered by his old friends. He has four children--two sons and two daughters.

LEVI E. THOMPSON was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, May 5, 1829; educated at Troy Wesleyan Seminary, New York; commenced studying law at the age of fourteen; was admitted to practice by the supreme court at the age of twenty, and, coming to Stillwater in 1852, commenced practice, having a.s.sociated with him at various times T. E.

Parker, Allen Dawson and John Vanderburgh. He was married, October, 1856, to Martha G. Harris, daughter of Albert Harris, an early settler of Stillwater. Mr. Thompson died Nov. 8, 1887.

GEORGE DAVIS was born in Lancaster, Ma.s.sachusetts, Sept. 22, 1832. He received a good school and academic education. He removed to St. Louis in 1852, and to Stillwater in 1853, where he served some years as a mercantile clerk, then as deputy sheriff, then ten years as sheriff of Washington county. He also served as clerk of the district court, and in 1876 as county auditor. In 1865 he was married to Georgiana Stanchfield, of Stillwater. Mr. Davis died in 1879 and Mrs. Davis in 1882, leaving five children.

WM. MONROE MCCLUER was born Sept. 6, 1831, in Franklinville, New York.

He graduated from Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo, New York, in 1850; studied law in Moscow, New York; graduated at the State and National Law School at Poughkeepsie in 1854, and, removing to Stillwater the same year, engaged in the practice of his profession, in which he has been eminently successful. In November, 1881, he was appointed additional judge for the First district, an office created by the legislature at its special session. Judge McCluer served one term in the house of representatives. He was married to Helen A. Jencks, of Waterford, Saratoga county, New York, Sept. 27, 1858. They have one son, Charles M., practicing law in Stillwater.

JOHN NICHOLAS AHL was born at Strasburg on the Rhine, Oct. 7, 1807.

After seven years' study he was graduated as a physician at Strasburg Medical College in 1839. He emigrated to America and located in Galena, Illinois, in 1843, where he practiced medicine some years. He was married in 1846 to Lucretia Hartman. In 1850 he removed to Stillwater. In 1852 he built the Washington Hotel (afterward changed to Liberty House), on south Main street. He practiced medicine and followed lumbering and hotel keeping in Stillwater until his death, which occurred in 1878.

SAMUEL M. REGISTER is a native of Dover, Delaware. He is of French descent, and some of his ancestors took part in the Revolutionary War.

He was born in 1827, and came to Stillwater in 1850, where he engaged actively in business, dealing in lumber and pine lands, piloting, steamboating and farming. He was at one time a member of the city council, and a representative in the territorial legislature of 1854-5. He was married to Minerva Causlin in 1856.

J. A. JOHNSON was born near the city of Wexio, Sweden, April 24, 1842.

In 1854 he emigrated with his parents to the United States, arriving at Marine Mills, Washington county, Minnesota late in the fall of that year. He remained at Marine and Stillwater till 1858, attending school a large portion of the time. In the fall of that year he went to school at Dubuque, Iowa. After completing the course of study he learned the trade of locomotive engineer, which occupation he followed till 1866, being in the employ of the United States government the last years of the war, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. After the close of the war, in 1865, he returned north as far as St. Louis, Missouri, where he married Miss Agnes A. Coler, of that city. He has 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls. His health having been impaired in the government service, he returned to Marine in 1866, where he remained till Jan. 1, 1874. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Washington county, which position he held for six years, and has been twice re-elected without opposition. Retiring from the sheriff's office in 1880, he removed to Fargo, Dakota, and engaged in the sale of agricultural implements, in which business he has remained up to the present time.

During his residence in the city of Fargo he has held various offices, such as alderman, member of the board of education, etc. In the fall of 1884 he was nominated for the territorial senate and received a majority of 1,133 votes in Ca.s.s county, and 835 out of a total of 1,669 in the city of Fargo. In the spring of 1885 he was elected mayor of Fargo by over 300 majority, after one of the most hotly contested campaigns in the political history of the city. In 1886 he declined a re-election. While sheriff of Washington county he devoted his leisure moments to the study of law, and was admitted to practice in all the courts of Minnesota. Although not in active practice his knowledge of law has been of great value to him in the business in which he has been engaged since that time.

GOLD T. CURTIS was born in Morrisville, New York, Aug. 16, 1821. At the age of eighteen he graduated at Hamilton College, New York, and entered upon the study of law with Judge Morrill, Chenango county, New York. He commenced practicing law at Belleville, New York, in 1850.

During the same year he was married to Abigail Anderson, a descendant of Gen. John Stark, of Revolutionary fame, and of the Protestant branch of the royal house of the Stuarts, some of whom came from Scotland to America in 1742. Mrs. Curtis is a lineal descendant of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. Mr. Curtis removed to Stillwater in 1854 and entered upon a lucrative law practice. He was elected a member of the Minnesota const.i.tutional convention. In 1857 he was also nominated for the position of district judge, but was defeated by S.

J. R. McMillan. He was much respected and held some offices of trust in the city and county. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in Company I, Fifth Minnesota, and was promoted to the captaincy of the company, but his health failed and he died in St.

Louis July 24, 1862. His remains were brought to Stillwater and interred with military and masonic honors, Aug. 2, 1862.

HARLEY D. CURTIS, a native of New York and a brother of Gold T.