Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 63

26, 1816. He received a common school and academic education. He taught school awhile, and then engaged in the mercantile business, the last eleven years at Bangor, when in the spring of 1853 he came to Minneapolis, where he became prominent as a business man, following lumbering, dealing in real estate, milling and railway building. He is one of the projectors and proprietors of the Minneapolis Mill Company.

He is also sole owner and proprietor of a cotton mill costing $100,000. He was deeply interested in the Northern Pacific railroad.

He was the first mayor of Minneapolis, in 1867, and served as senator in the sixth legislature in May, 1840. He was married to Harriet Putnam Whitmore, a descendant of Gen. Israel Putnam. They have three children, Clinton and George Henry, residents of Minneapolis, and Grace E., the wife of Dr. H. H. Kimball, of Minneapolis.

H. G. O. MORRISON, brother of Dorillius, was born in Livermore, Maine, Jan. 24, 1817. He graduated at the Bangor high school. He worked at printing in his youth, read law and was admitted to practice in 1838, locating afterward at Sebre, Maine. He was a member of the Maine senate in 1841. In 1855 he came to St. Anthony Falls. He moved to Dakota county soon after, and represented that county in the state legislatures of 1860-61. He resided in Dakota county for twelve years.

He was a.s.sessor of internal revenue from 1869 to 1873, during which time he lived in St. Paul. In 1873 he removed to Minneapolis, where he has since resided. He has been twice married. His second wife was Rebecca Newell. They have three children, Daniel W., Samuel B. and Stanford.

JUDGE F. R. E. CORNELL was born in 1821, in Chenango county, New York; was educated at Union College, New York; studied law and was admitted to practice in 1846. He came to Minneapolis in 1854. During his residence in New York he was a member of the state senate. In January, 1875, he took his seat as a.s.sociate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota, which office he held until his death, which occurred in 1879.

GEN. A. B. NETTLETON came from Ohio, and became one of the editors of the Minneapolis _Tribune_. He served during the Civil War, partic.i.p.ated in seventy-three battles, and was promoted through the various grades from private to brigadier general.

JUDGE ISAAC At.w.a.tER was born in Homer, Cortland county, New York. He graduated at Yale College in 1844, practiced law in New York City until 1850, when he came to St. Anthony Falls and practiced law with G. W. North as partner. He was one of the first regents of the State University; edited the St. Anthony _Express_ from 1851 to 1857; served as district attorney from 1853 to 1857; was elected a.s.sociate justice of the supreme bench in 1857, resigned the position in 1864, and removed to California, where he practiced law. After an absence of three years he returned to Minneapolis, where he has been honored with the offices of alderman, president of the Board of Education, etc. He was married to Pamelia A. Sanborn in 1849. Their son John B. is a.s.sociated with his father in law practice.

REV. DAVID BROOKS, a venerable pioneer clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, was born in England in 1802. He was educated there and preached ten years in the Wesleyan connection. He came to America in 1842, and joined the Methodist Episcopal church, which he has served faithfully since as pastor and presiding elder in Northern Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He was among the pioneer preachers in the latter state. In 1853 he was presiding elder of a district that included all of the present Minnesota conference. In 1854 he secured the charter for Hamline University, and was instrumental in obtaining a donation of $25,000 from Bishop Hamline for its endowment.

REV. JABEZ BROOKS, D.D., son of Rev. David Brooke, was born in England, and came to America in 1842. He is a graduate of Middleton Wesleyan University. For several years he was professor of Greek, and later president, of Hamline University. He served also as professor of Greek in Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. He has for many years been professor of Greek in the State University.

JOHN S. PILLSBURY was born in New Hampshire, July 29, 1828. He received a New England common school education. He came to the Falls in 1855, and by close application to business acquired a position of wealth and influence. He has occupied many prominent positions in Minneapolis and the State. He served five terms as state senator, from the sixth to the tenth legislatures. In 1863 he was appointed a regent of the State University. He was elected governor of the State in 1875, and re-elected in 1877. He was married in November, 1856, to Mahala Fisk, of Warner, New Hampshire. Their children are Ada, Susie, May, Sadie Belle, and Alfred Fisk.

HENRY T. WELLES was born in Connecticut, April 3, 1821, graduated at Trinity College, and came to St. Anthony Falls in 1853, where he engaged successfully in the lumbering, banking and real estate business. He is a liberal, public spirited citizen, contributing freely to all enterprises looking to the growth and welfare of the city as well as to charitable objects.

DAVID BLAKELY has been prominent in journalism, having been connected at various times with papers in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Chicago: He was one of the founders of the Minneapolis _Tribune_.

WILLIAM LOCHREN, a native of Tyrone, Ireland, was born April 3, 1832; was brought to America when he was two years old; was educated in Vermont; admitted to the bar, and came to the Falls in 1856, where he has since practiced law, excepting a term of service in the army during the Rebellion as first lieutenant of Company E, First Minnesota Volunteers. Since the war he has served as city attorney, as state senator in 1868 69, and as district judge from 1883 to the present time. In 1871 he was married to Mrs. Martha Demmen, who died in 1879.

EUGENE M. WILSON was born in 1834, in Monongalia county, Virginia. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish, who came to this country at an early date. His grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Wilson graduated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, read law with his father, was admitted to practice in 1855, and came to Minneapolis in 1857. He served as United States district attorney during President Buchanan's administration. During the Rebellion he was captain of Company A, First Minnesota Cavalry, serving on the frontier until 1853, when the company was discharged by the completion of term of enlistment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: J. S. Pillsbury]

Mr. Wilson was a member of the United States house of representatives in 1871-72 and state senator in 1879. He served four years as mayor of Minneapolis, from 1872 to 1876. Mr. Wilson was married Sept. 6, 1865, to Mary E. Kimball, of Minneapolis. They have three children, Mary O., Helen K. and Eugenia.

R. B. LANGDON, born in Vermont in 1826, received an academic education, and at twenty-two years of age commenced railroading on the Rutland & Burlington road. He has since been continuously engaged in superintending the construction of railroads in ten states of the Union, and in 1858 supervised the grading of the St. Paul & Pacific, the first railroad enterprise in Minnesota. He served as state senator for seven terms, commencing in 1873 and closing in 1881 (excepting the term of 1879). He has a wife and three children.

WM. M. BRACKET, the originator of the Minneapolis fire department, was born in Maine in 1843. His father served six years as consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during which time William resided at that place.

During the Rebellion he served two years as a musician in the Sixth Maine Volunteers, and was then appointed paymaster's clerk at Washington, District of Columbia. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis, where he has since been continuously connected with the fire department.

THOMAS B. AND PLATT B. WALKER are natives of Ohio. Thomas B. came to Minneapolis in 1862, and engaged in surveying, railroad engineering and examining lands. By close application and sound judgment he has acc.u.mulated wealth, from which he dispenses liberally to worthy enterprises. He has contributed largely to the building of the athenaeum. His wife is a prominent contributor to, and upholder of, the charitable enterprises of the city.

PLATT B., a younger brother of Thomas, is a fluent speaker, a popular lecturer and a kind hearted, genial man. He has been till lately editor and publisher of the _Mississippi Valley Lumberman_, and has taken an active part in the improvements of the waterways of the West.

AUSTIN H. YOUNG, a native of Fredonia, New York, born Dec. 8, 1830, received his education at Waukegan, Illinois; removed to Prescott, Wisconsin, in 1854; commenced the practice of law in 1862 and served as state senator in Wisconsin in 1863. He came to Minneapolis in 1866 and practiced law. He was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial district in 1877.

HENRY G. HICKS was born in Wyoming, New York, in 1838. He learned the trade of harness maker; was educated at Oberlin, Ohio; served as a soldier during the war of the Rebellion, and was wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis. He was admitted to the bar in 1875; has served as sheriff, as city justice and as a representative in the twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second state legislatures. He was elected district judge in 1886.

JOHN P. REA was born Oct. 13, 1840, in Chester county, Pennsylvania.

He received a common school education. In 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Eleventh Ohio Volunteers, and was breveted major for meritorious services. In 1867 he graduated at Ohio Wesleyan College; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1869. In 1875 he removed to Minneapolis; edited the _Tribune_ one year; continued his law practice in 1877; was elected probate judge, served four years, and in 1886 was elected district judge without opposition.

He has been an active Grand Army man, a member of Geo. N. Morgan Post, and has served as commander of Minnesota state department, also as senior vice commander-in-chief of the national department. In 1887 he was elected commander-in-chief of the national department of the Grand Army. In 1869 he was married to Miss Emma Gould, of Ohio.

JOHN MARTIN was born in Caledonia county, Vermont, in 1820. His educational advantages were limited to the common schools. He was raised on a farm, but at eighteen years of age bought his time of his father for sixty dollars. For twelve years he followed steamboating, seven on the Connecticut river and five on the Neuce river in North Carolina. In 1851 he went to California, but returned to Vermont the following year, and for two years engaged in farming. He came to Minneapolis in 1854, where he engaged in lumbering and dealing in pine lands. In the past twelve years he has been interested in railroad enterprises. He has been vice president of the Minneapolis & St.

Louis, and Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway companies.

Mr. Martin is an enterprising and sagacious business man, and is highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities. He was married in Vermont in 1849, to Jane Gilfillan, and has one daughter.

JOHN DUDLEY was born in Pen.o.bscot county, Maine, in 1814. He came to Minneapolis in 1852, where he engaged in business, dealing in logs and lumber. He built mills in Prescott in 1861. The flour mill at Prescott has a capacity of one hundred barrels per day, and the saw mill a capacity of 3,000,000 feet per annum. He recently purchased the saw mill at Point Douglas built by A. J. Short. This mill has a capacity of 6,000,000 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. ANTHONY FALLS IN 1886.

VIEW OF SUSPENSION BRIDGE ABOVE THE FALLS, AND ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS & MANITOBA RAILWAY BRIDGE BELOW THE FALLS.]

CHAPTER XX.

RAMSEY COUNTY.

Ramsey county, named in honor of Gov. Ramsey, includes an area of about four whole towns lying between Anoka county on the north, Washington on the east and the Mississippi river on the southwest. It was organized by the first territorial legislature. Its surface is undulating, and somewhat abruptly hilly along the Mississippi. It is well watered and drained by the tributaries of the Mississippi, and has besides many beautiful lakes. Its first officers were: Register of deeds, David Day; sheriff, P. C. Lull; judge of probate, Henry A.

Lambert; treasurer, James W. Simpson; county attorney, W. D. Phillips; county surveyor, S. P. Folsom; coroner, J. E. Fullerton; clerk of court, J. K. Humphrey; auditor, Alexander Buchanan; court commissioner, Oscar Malmros; district judge, E. C. Palmer; common pleas judge, W. S. Hall; county commissioners, Ard G.o.dfrey, Louis Robert; senator, W. H. Forbes; representatives, B. W. Brunson, John L.

Dewey, Henry Jackson, Parsons K. Johnson.

Rev. Lucian Galtier, a Catholic priest who visited the Upper Mississippi in the spring of 1840, has the honor of naming the then unpromising city of St. Paul. Others had been on the site before him.

A few families had been banished from the vicinity of Fort Snelling and had found homes a few miles further down the river. These were not all reputable people, for amongst them was one Pierre Parrant, who, on account of the appearance of one of his eyes, which was sightless, was known as "Pig's Eye." Parrant sold whisky, and was, from all accounts, an unscrupulous and worthless fellow. As a matter of course, his establishment being to many the chief attraction of the place, it was called by his nickname. The Indians would travel hundreds of miles to _the place where they sell Minne waukan_ (whisky). The location was near the once well known Fountain Cave. The name of "Pig's Eye" might have been perpetually fastened upon the young city but for the timely arrival of Father Galtier, who gave to it the name of St. Paul, because, as he says in a letter to Bishop Grace, referring to the fact that the name St. Peter (Mendota) had already been affixed to a place some miles above, "As the name of St. Paul is generally a.s.sociated with that of St. Peter, and the Gentiles being well represented in the new place in the persons of the Indians, I called it 'St. Paul.'"

It does not appear that Father Galtier was ever a resident of St.

Paul, as he only came at stated times to hold services and administer the sacraments. The name Pig's Eye was subsequently transferred to a place several miles below, where it is still retained. The best known of the first settlers of St. Paul are B. Gervais, Vetal Guerin and Pierre Bottineau. The two former gave to Father Galtier the ground necessary for a church site and cemetery. "Accordingly," writes the good father, "in the month of October logs were prepared and a church erected so poor that it would well remind one of the stable at Bethlehem. It was destined, however, to be the nucleus of a great city. On the first day of November in the same year I blessed the new _basilica_ and dedicated it to St. Paul, the apostle of nations. I expressed a wish at the same time that the settlement would be known by the same name, and my desire was obtained." During the fall of 1841 Father Augustin Ravoux arrived from below and became a resident of Minnesota and later of St. Paul. In 1841 Rev. B. T. Kavanaugh established a mission at Red Rock. Henry Jackson came from Galena the same year, established a trading post and did well. He was afterward a member of the first territorial legislature and of the first town council. Jackson street perpetuates his name. Sergt. Mortimer and Stanislaus Bilanski also came in 1842.

The accessions of 1843 were John R. Irvine. C. C. Blanchard, J. W.

Simpson, A. B. Coy, Wm. Hartshorn, A. L. Larpenteur, Scott Campbell, Antoine Pepin, Alexander Mege, A. R. McLeod, Alexis Clautier, Joseph Gobin, David T. Sloan, Joseph Desmarais, Louis Larrivier and Xavier Delonais. These mostly engaged in trade. Messrs. Irvine, Blanchard, Hartshorn and Coy, and later, Mege, were a.s.sociated together. Some of the last named accessions of 1843 were Canadian French, half-breeds, or allied by marriage to the Indians. There were other settlers of whom we can find only casual mention, probably transients or adventurers.

The prominent accessions of 1844 were Capt. Louis Robert, Charles Bazille, Wm. Dugas, Francis McCoy and Joseph Hall. Louis Robert was a trader, Bazille was a carpenter and built this summer for Capt. Robert the first frame house in St. Paul. This house was built of hewn lumber, sawed lumber not being obtainable. It was on the lower levee, and was used as a warehouse but was moved to East Fourth street, where, as No. 58, it was still standing a few years ago. Dugas was a millwright and built a saw and grist mill on Phalen's creek (spelled in an old deed Faylin's creek). The mill was a failure. Dugas was a man of some prominence and represented the New Canada precinct in the first territorial legislature.

McCoy and Hall were carpenters. This year the governor of Wisconsin Territory appointed Henry Jackson a justice of the peace. Jackson, before his commission arrived, married an eager couple by bond, they giving bond to reappear when he should receive his commission and be legally united. Jackson was justice of the peace, postmaster, hotel keeper, legislator, and clerk of court combined in one.

This fall Father Galtier was transferred to Keokuk and Father A.

Ravoux took charge of the churches at Mendota and St. Paul. Rev. J.

Hurlbut, a Methodist missionary, held the first Protestant service, using the house of Henry Jackson for that purpose.

The first deed on record bears date of April 23, 1844, and transfers from Henry Jackson, St. Croix county, Wisconsin Territory, to William Hartshorn, of St. Louis, Missouri, for a consideration of $1,000, half of the following tract of land in St. Croix county, Wisconsin Territory, being the place where the said Jackson now lives, situate immediately on the Mississippi river and known as the St. Paul landing, containing three acres, with all buildings and improvements thereon. The permanent accessions of 1845 were Francis Chenevert, David Benoit, Leonard H. La Roche, Francis Robert, Augustus and David B. Freeman, W. G. Carter and Charles Cavileer. La Roche was a carpenter, but engaged in trade. He bought the land on which the Merchants Hotel now stands for $165, and the year following built a cabin of tamarack logs, which was known as the St. Paul House. This property he sold to S. P. Folsom. La Roche died at Crow Wing in 1859.

W. G. Carter, better known as "Gib" Carter, was a member of the Stillwater convention in 1848. He died in 1852. Francis Robert was a younger brother of Louis Robert. He died in 1849, from an injury received while running the St. Croix rapids in a birch canoe.

Chenevert clerked for Capt. Robert. He was unmarried, and died in 1865. Of Benoit little or nothing is known. The Freeman brothers were engaged in trade in connection with Hartshorn and Randall. David died in 1850, and was buried by the Odd Fellows, the first Odd Fellow funeral in the Territory. Augustus Freeman died in New York. Cavileer was a saddler, and was connected at first with the Red Rock mission.

He was territorial librarian for awhile, and is now a resident of Pembina. Miss Matilda Ramsey opened a school (the first in St. Paul) and taught a short time, when she was married to Alexander Mege, and the school was abandoned.

Alexander R. McLeod, who came from Selkirk settlement in 1837 with Pierre Bottineau, erected in 1845 and 1846 a log house between the Catholic church and Jackson's store. This was the first house built in St. Paul expressly for a hotel. It was afterward enlarged and called the Central House, and was kept by Robert Kennedy and others. The second deed on record bears date of May 1, 1845, and transfers, for a consideration of $500, from William Dougla.s.s to H. H. Sibley, of Clayton county, Iowa, lands situate on what is known as Faylin's (Phalen's) creek, and more fully known as Faylin's falls, 100 acres, where said Dougla.s.s now lives. This was a mortgage deed. A subsequent deed conveys the same premises from Edward Faylin to Wm. Dougla.s.s, for a consideration of $70. In February, 1846, a quitclaim deed conveys the same tract to Alexander McLeod.

The settlers in 1846 were William H. and William Randall, Jr., father and son, James McBoal, Thos. S. Odell, John Banfil, Harley D. White, David Faribault, Louis Denoyer, Jo Monteur, and Charles Roleau.

Randall, Sr., engaged in trade and became immensely rich, but was wrecked in the financial panic of 1857. He died in 1861. Randall, Jr., is best remembered as an artist and caricaturist of no mean ability.

He died in 1851. McBoal was also an artist, the first who pursued that calling in St. Paul. He was a member of the territorial council in 1849-50, and was adjutant general of the Territory during Gov.

Ramsey's administration. He died in Mendota in 1862.