Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 67

His father was a Scotchman by birth, and was a member of the Hudson Bay Company as early as 1785. Maj. Forbes was educated at Montreal, where he also served an apprenticeship at the hardware business, and afterward became junior partner in the same establishment. At that time Montreal was the chief depot of supplies for the Indian trade of the Northwest, and the reports which continually came to him of that romantic region, together with the sight of the Indians and voyageurs returning with their furs, so excited his love of adventure that he resigned his position as partner in the hardware business and accepted a clerkship with the American Fur Company. John Jacob Astor was then president. The conditions were that the clerk should speak and write the French language, which Mr. Forbes could do with facility. Having engaged as clerk, his outfit was conveyed in bark canoes from Montreal, in charge of fifty men enlisted for a three years' cruise.

Their route lay by way of the lakes to La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and up the Brule river, from which the canoes and baggage were carried across to the waters of the St. Croix, and descended thence to the Mississippi. From the Sault Ste. Marie to La Pointe they were transported on one of the company's schooners. They arrived at Mendota in 1837. Gen. Sibley was then in charge at Mendota. Mr. Forbes clerked for him ten years, and in 1847 took charge of an establishment belonging to the company (called the St. Paul Outfit), and became a resident of St. Paul until his death, twenty-eight years later. Mr.

Forbes was a member from St. Paul of the first territorial council, and served four terms. In March, 1853, he was appointed postmaster at St. Paul by President Pierce, and held the office three years. In 1853 he also formed a business partnership with Norman W. Kittson for the general supplying of the Indian trade. In 1858 Mr. Kittson retired from the firm, but the business was continued by Maj. Forbes until 1862, when the Indian outbreak put an end to the trade. During the campaign he served as a member of Gen. Sibley's staff, and acted as provost marshal at the trial of the three hundred Indians condemned to death. At the close of this campaign he was commissioned by President Lincoln commissary of subsistence in the volunteer service with the rank of captain. He was elected auditor of Ramsey county in 1863, and served two years, though sometimes absent on military duty. In 1864 he was ordered to the district of Northern Missouri as chief commissary, remained two years and was breveted major. In 1871 he was appointed Indian agent at Devil's Lake reservation, which position he held at the time of his death, July 20, 1875.

Maj. Forbes was twice married; first in 1846, to Miss Agnes, daughter of Alexander Faribault, by whom he had one daughter, the wife of Capt.

J. H. Patterson, United States Army; again in 1854, to Miss A. B.

Cory, of Cooperstown, New York, by whom he had four children, three of whom are living.

HENRY M. RICE.--The family of Mr. Rice came originally from Hertfordshire, England, to Sudbury, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1638. Members of the family figured conspicuously in the struggle for American independence. His parents were Edmund and Ellen Durkee Rice. His grandfather Durkee was in the French war of 1755. Mr. Rice was born in Waitsfield, Vermont, Nov. 29, 1816; attended common school three months in the year and a private school and academy in Burlington. He went to Detroit, Michigan Territory, in 1835; was engaged in making the first survey of the Sault Ste. Marie ca.n.a.l, made by the state of Michigan in 1837, and went to Fort Snelling in 1839. He was post sutler in 1840, United States Army, Fort Atkinson, Iowa Territory, and was connected with the old fur company for several years. He was elected delegate to Congress in 1853 for Minnesota Territory and re-elected in 1855. He was elected first United States senator for Minnesota, in 1857, admitted to his seat May 11, 1858, and served until March 3, 1863. In 1860 he was a member of the senate special committee of thirteen on the condition of the country. During his term in the senate he was a member of the following standing committees: Indian affairs, post office and post roads, public lands, military, finance. He was on the last four named committees at the expiration of the term of March 3, 1863.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Henry M. Rice]

In 1865 he was nominated for governor but was defeated by Gen. W. R.

Marshall. In 1866 he was delegate to the Philadelphia Union convention. He also served in the following various capacities: United States commissioner in making several Indian treaties; as a member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota; as president of the Minnesota State Historical Society; as president of the St. Paul Board of Public Works; and as treasurer of Ramsey county, Minnesota.

He is the author of the law extending the right of pre-emption over unsurveyed lands in Minnesota. He has obtained land grants for numerous railroads in Minnesota, and, with the a.s.sistance of Senator Douglas, framed the act authorizing Minnesota to form a state const.i.tution preparatory to admission, fixing boundary, etc.

As a public man Mr. Rice has pursued a policy at once independent and outspoken, not hesitating to express his convictions on the great national questions of the day, and to place himself upon a national rather than a party platform. During the war he upheld the administration in a vigorous prosecution of the war, as the speediest and most honorable means of obtaining peace. His letter to the St.

Paul _Press_ of Nov. 1, 1864, contains sentiments that must commend themselves to every true lover of his country. We quote a few extracts:

"I believe Gen. McClellan and Mr. Lincoln both desire peace--both the restoration of the Union. The one favors the return of the Southern States with slavery; the other wishes these states to return without that inst.i.tution. I believe that the revolted citizens forfeited all rights they had under the const.i.tution when they turned traitors; that the Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation legally and rightfully set every slave free. I am as much opposed to again legalizing that inst.i.tution in the South as I would be to its introduction in the Northern States."

* * * "I am in favor of the return of the Southern States, and think the day is not far distant when the same flag will float over us all, and when that happy day shall arrive, I hope that the rights we enjoy will be freely accorded to them, and no more."

* * * "When the Southern States return I shall be in favor of their voting population being equally represented with our own, and no further."

* * * "I think that in the long future, when all other of Mr.

Lincoln's acts shall be forgotten, his Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation will adorn history's brightest page. I am opposed to slavery for the reason that _I am in favor of the largest human liberty_, and I can not understand why some of our fellow citizens who come here that they might be free can deny freedom to others."

* * * "I think it illy becomes those who took up arms to defend their homes, their country, yea, liberty! to make overtures to armed rebellion. I believe that by a rigorous prosecution of the war peace will soon come, our liberties will be secured forever, and that prosperity will follow. Union with slavery will be only a temporary cheat, and can not last. Dissolution will bring ruin, anarchy and an endless effusion of blood and money."

He has been a liberal contributor to the various public enterprises of the city, to churches, public inst.i.tutions and private parties. He has built warehouses, business blocks and hotels. The park in front of the city hall was donated by him. His name is inseparably interwoven with the history of St. Paul and the State. Rice county bears his name. He was married to Matilda Whitall, of Richmond, Virginia, in 1849.

EDMUND RICE, brother of Hon. Henry M. Rice, was born in Waitsfield, Vermont, Feb. 14, 1819. His father died in 1829. He received a somewhat limited common school education and spent most of his early life clerking. In 1838 he came to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he read law with Stuart & Miller, and was admitted to the bar in 1842, making commendable progress in his profession. While a resident of Michigan he was master in chancery, register of court of chancery and clerk of the supreme court. In 1847 he enlisted in Company A, First Michigan Volunteers, of which company he was made first lieutenant, and served through the Mexican War until its close.

In July, 1849, he came to Minnesota Territory, locating in St. Paul, where he became one of the firm of Rice, Hollinshead & Becker until 1855, when he embarked in railroad enterprises. In 1857 he was elected president of the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, and afterward of its successors, the St. Paul & Pacific and the St. Paul & Chicago Railroad companies. He has been long regarded as one of the most energetic and competent railroad men in the State. Mr. Rice has figured largely in the politics of the State, having served several terms in the territorial and state legislatures. He was a representative in the territorial legislature of 1851, a senator in the state legislatures of 1864, 1865, 1873, 1874, and a representative in the sessions of 1872, 1877 and 1878.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Edmund Rice]

In 1885 he was elected mayor of St. Paul, and in 1886 was chosen representative in Congress. Mr. Rice is an uncompromising Democrat in his politics, and is so recognized by his party, which he served as chairman of the state central committee in the presidential campaign of 1872, and elector at large in the campaign of 1876. He was married in November, 1848, to Anna M. Acker, daughter of Hon. Henry Acker, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Of eleven children, the fruit of this union, all are living but the second daughter, Jessie, who married Frank H.

Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1870, and died in October, 1874. The eldest daughter, Ellen, is the wife of Henry A. Boardman, of St. Paul.

LOUIS ROBERT.--Capt. Louis Robert was a descendant of the French settlers who occupied Kaskaskia and St. Louis when they were in the territory of Louisiana, then a French province. He was born at Carondelet, Missouri, Jan. 21, 1811, and his early life was spent in that region and on the Upper Missouri river. In 1838 he went to Prairie du Chien, and in the fall of 1843 visited St. Paul and removed thither the ensuing year, identifying himself with the interests of that growing young city.

To say the least, he was a remarkable character. He possessed all the politeness and suavity of his nationality, was impulsive, warm hearted, generous and yet, as a business man, far-seeing and loquacious. His broken English added a peculiar charm and quaintness to his conversation, and he will be long remembered for his odd expressions and his keen but homely wit. He was generous in aiding any worthy object, and, as a devoted Catholic, gave liberally to the support of his church. He donated valuable property to church building and gave the bells to the French Catholic church and the cathedral in St. Paul. His private charities were also liberal.

In 1847 Capt. Robert was one of the original proprietors of St. Paul.

He took a prominent part in the Stillwater convention of 1848. In 1849 he was appointed commissioner on territorial buildings. In 1853 he engaged in steamboating, and at different times owned as many as five steamers. He was also largely engaged in the Indian trade until the ma.s.sacre of 1862. He died, after a painful illness, May 10, 1874, leaving an estate valued at $400,000. He was married in 1839, at Prairie du Chien, to Mary Turpin, who, with two daughters, survives him.

AUGUSTE LOUIS LARPENTEUR, the son of Louis Auguste, and Malinda (Simmons) Larpenteur, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 16, 1823.

His grandfather, Louis Benoist Larpenteur, left France about the time of the banishment of Napoleon Bonaparte to St. Helena, determined not to live under the rule of the Bourbons. Auguste L., the grandson, was reared in the family of his grandfather, his mother having died while he was an infant. At the age of eighteen years, with his uncle, Eugene N. Larpenteur, he came to St. Louis. Two years later he came to St.

Paul as clerk for Wm. Hartshorn and Henry Jackson, Indian traders. The firm of Hartshorn & Jackson gave place to Freeman, Larpenteur & Co.

Mr. Larpenteur has been continuously engaged in commercial pursuits since his arrival in St. Paul in 1843. He has seen the city grow from a hamlet of five cabins to its present metropolitan dimensions, and has been from the first one of its most enterprising and reliable citizens. He was married Dec. 7, 1845, to Mary Josephine Presley. They have five sons and five daughters.

WILLIAM H. n.o.bLES.--William H., son of Rev. Lemuel n.o.bles, was born in the state of New York in 1816. In his early life he learned the trade of a machinist and became a skilled artisan. In 1841 he came to Marine Mills, but soon removed to St. Croix Falls and a.s.sisted in putting up the first mill there.

He lived successively at Osceola, at the mouth of Willow river, and at Stillwater. He was part owner of the Osceola mills in 1846, and it is claimed that he built the first frame house in Hudson. In 1848 he removed from Stillwater to St. Paul, and opened the first blacksmithing and wagon shop in that city. He made the first wagon in the Territory. He was a member of the house, fifth territorial legislature, in 1855, from Ramsey county. In 1853 he made an overland trip to California, and discovered one of the best pa.s.ses in the mountains. 1857 he returned and surveyed a government wagon road through that pa.s.s. As a recognition of his services the pa.s.s received the name of "n.o.ble's Pa.s.s," and a county in Minnesota was also named after him. In 1857 he laid out a government road from St. Paul to the Missouri river. In 1862 he entered the army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Seventy-ninth New York Volunteers, better known as the "Highlanders." While on duty in South Carolina, a personal collision with another officer led to his resignation. He was afterward cotton collector for the government, United States revenue officer, and master of transportation at Mobile. His health failing during his arduous service, he returned to St. Paul, and died at St.

Luke's Hospital, on Eighth street, aged sixty years.

Col. n.o.bles was a man of immense vitality and energy, with a strong inventive genius, by which he himself failed to profit; restless, fond of travel, a little hasty and irritable, but possessing many admirable traits. Mr. n.o.ble was married in Illinois, prior to his location in Minnesota, to Miss Parker, who survives him. Mrs. n.o.bles resides with her family in California.

SIMEON P. FOLSOM, a younger brother of the author of this book, was born in Lower Canada, near Quebec, Dec. 27, 1819. His father was a native of New Hampshire, and while he was yet young returned to that state, removing subsequently to Maine. Mr. Folsom came West in 1839, settled in Prairie du Chien, and not long after engaged as clerk to Henry M. Rice at Fort Atkinson. In 1841 he returned to Prairie du Chien and for two years acted as deputy sheriff, one year as surveyor of public lands, and two years as surveyor of county lands. In 1846 he volunteered as a soldier in the Mexican War, but the company was sent instead to garrison Fort Crawford, where he remained one year. On July 25, 1847, he landed in St. Paul, and has been engaged most of the time since in the surveying and real estate business. He was city surveyor of St. Paul in 1854, member of the school board in 1858-59 and 60, and served three years as a soldier in the Seventh Minnesota during the Civil War. He has one son, Simeon Pearl, Jr., and one daughter, wife of J. B. Pugsley.

JACOB W. Ba.s.s was born in Vermont in 1815; came West in 1840 and made his home at Prairie du Chien, where he kept a hotel and ferry and engaged in general business. While a resident of Prairie du Chien he was married to Martha D., daughter of Rev. Alfred Brunson. In 1844 he purchased an interest in the Chippewa Falls mills, but in 1847 sold out, and removed to St. Paul, where he engaged in hotel keeping in a building made of tamarack poles, on the site of the present Merchants Hotel, and known as the St. Paul House. In July, 1849, he was commissioned postmaster, as the successor of Henry Jackson, the first postmaster in St. Paul. He held the office four years. He left the hotel in 1852. He has since resided in St. Paul, where he has been engaged at different times in the real estate and commission business and at farming. He has two sons. The oldest, a graduate of West Point, holds a commission in the United States Army; the youngest is in business at St. Paul.

BENJAMIN W. BRUNSON, son of Rev. Alfred Brunson, of Prairie du Chien, was born in Detroit, Michigan, May 6, 1823. He came with his parents to Prairie du Chien in 1835. He purchased an interest in the Chippewa Falls mills in 1844, and in 1847 came to St. Paul and a.s.sisted in surveying the first town plat. He laid out what was known as "Brunson's addition." He was a representative in the first and second territorial legislatures. He served three years during the Civil War as a member of Company K, Eighth Minnesota Infantry, first as a private, then as an orderly sergeant, and later as second lieutenant.

He has followed surveying many years, and has held several responsible positions. He was married at St. Paul and has two sons and one daughter.

CHARLES D. AND ABRAM S. ELFELT.--The parents of the Elfelt brothers came from San Domingo to the United States in 1801, on the establishment of a negro republic on that island, and settled in Pennsylvania, where Abram S. was born in 1827 and Charles D. in 1828.

In 1849 the brothers removed to St. Paul and established the first exclusively dry goods store in Minnesota, their building standing near the upper levee at the foot of Eagle street. They also built the hall in which the first theatrical performances in St. Paul were held. This was the building now standing on Third and Exchange streets, which was erected in 1851. At that time it was the largest building in the city, and many of the old residents remember the ceremonies attendant upon the raising of the frame. The dramatic hall was in one of the upper stories, being known as Mazourka Hall. The materials used in its construction were brought from long distances, coming up the river by boat, and the laborers employed on the building were paid five dollars a day for their services. Into this building the Elfelt brothers transferred their store, stocking it at first with both dry goods and groceries, but afterward limiting their trade to dry goods exclusively.

Mr. Abram Elfelt originated the first Board of Trade, in 1864, and when that body was merged into the Chamber of Commerce became one of its directors. The brothers were public spirited and enterprising, and always took a great interest in the welfare of the city. Abram S.

Elfelt died in St. Paul in February, 1888.

D. A. J. BAKER was born in Farmington, Maine, in 1825; attended school at New Hampton, New Hampshire; studied law and was admitted to the bar in Kennebec county, Maine, in 1847; came to St. Paul in 1848, and in 1851 made his home in the locality now known as Merriam Park. It is on record that Judge Baker taught one of the first public schools in the territory of Minnesota. He, with others, pre-empted the land and located what is now Superior City, Wisconsin, but sold his interests in that city. He was appointed to a judgeship in Douglas county, Wisconsin, in 1854, and served three years; was county superintendent of schools in Ramsey county for twelve years, and was a member of the Democratic wing of the const.i.tutional convention in 1857. He has been a dealer in real estate. He was married to Miss Cornelia C. Kneeland, a sister of Mrs. Dr. T. T. Mann, and late widow of James M. Goodhue, in 1853. Mrs. Baker died in 1875. Maj. Newson, in his "Pen Portraits,"

says of her: "She was an affectionate wife and a devoted mother, and amid all the trials and vicissitudes incident to the ups and downs of an old settler's career, she never murmured, never complained, never fretted, never chided; always cheerful, always hopeful, casting sunshine into the home and weaving about all those she loved golden chains of unbroken affection."

B. F. HOYT.--Rev. B. F. Hoyt, a local minister of the Methodist church, and a prominent pioneer of 1848, was born at Norwalk, Connecticut, Jan. 8, 1800. He removed to New York State, and later to Ohio, where he married and resided until 1834, when he removed to Illinois, and in 1848 to St. Paul. He purchased the property bounded now by Jackson, Broadway, Eighth and the bluff for three hundred dollars. The following spring he laid it out as "Hoyt's addition." He dealt largely in real estate and at various times held property, now worth millions. He was instrumental in the erection of the Jackson Street Methodist church, and aided in, the endowment of Hamline University. He died Sept. 3, 1875.

JOHN FLETCHER WILLIAMS, secretary of the Minnesota State Historical Society, is of Welsh descent, John Williams, a paternal ancestor of the seventh remove, having come to this country from Glamorganshire, Wales. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 25, 1834. He was educated at Woodward College and Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating from the latter inst.i.tution in 1852. He came to St. Paul in 1855 and engaged in journalism and reporting for about twelve years, during which time he acquired a thorough knowledge of city and state affairs and an acquaintance with the pioneers of the State, which knowledge he utilized in writing biographical and historical, sketches, his princ.i.p.al work in this line being the "History of St. Paul," published in 1876.

In 1867 he was elected secretary of the State Historical Society. Upon him devolved the duty of arranging its volumes and collections and editing its publications. Most of the memoirs, and historical sketches are from his pen. He has gathered ma.n.u.scripts and material for a history of the State which will ultimately be of great value. He is the honorary corresponding secretary of the Old Settlers a.s.sociation, not being eligible to active membership in that body, which requires a residence dating back to 1850. Various diplomas have been conferred upon him by the historical societies of other cities and states.

In 1871 he was appointed by President Grant a member of the United States Centennial commission from Minnesota, and served as such to the close of the International Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.

JOHN HENRY MURPHY was the first medical pract.i.tioner in St. Anthony Falls, he having made that city his home in 1849. Mr. Murphy was born Jan. 22, 1826, at New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father, James Murphy, a shipbuilder, was a native of Ireland; his mother, Sarah (Allen), belonged to an old New Jersey family. His parents removed to Quincy, Illinois, in 1834, where John Henry obtained a good high school education. He studied medicine and graduated from the Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1850, and returned to St. Anthony Falls, which he had made his home the year before. In this place he lived and practiced his profession till near the close of the war, when he removed to St. Paul.

In the summer of 1861, when Dr. Stewart, surgeon of the First Minnesota Infantry, was captured at Bull Run, Dr. Murphy took his place and served for six months, and afterward as surgeon of the Fourth and Eighth Minnesota Infantry. Dr. Murphy was a representative in the territorial legislature of 1852, and a member of the const.i.tutional convention, Republican wing, in 1857. As a man and a physician Dr. Murphy has an enviable reputation. He was married to Mary A. Hoyt, of Fulton county, Illinois, June 28, 1848. They have five children.

W. H. TINKER was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1813; was married to Elisabeth Barnum, at Rockford, Illinois, in 1840; came to Prairie du Chien in 1843, and to St. Paul in 1849. He engaged for awhile in tailoring, then in selling groceries, then clerked for S. P. Folsom & Co., and also in the recorder's and marshal's offices. At one time he owned eight acres in the heart of St. Paul, for which he paid two hundred and eighty-four dollars, which is now worth a quarter of a million.

GEORGE P. JACOBS was born in Virginia in 1832; was educated at the Virginia Military Inst.i.tute; came to Pierce county, Wisconsin, and engaged in lumbering, afterward in farming and lumbering. He has resided in St. Paul since 1870.

LYMAN DAYTON was born Aug. 25, 1809, in Southington, Connecticut, and was early thrown upon his own resources. He commenced as a clerk in a store in Providence, Rhode Island, and by faithfulness and industry became in time a wholesale dry goods merchant. His health failing, he sought the West in 1849, and selected for his home a high bluff, to which his name has been affixed, near the city of St. Paul. He purchased over 5,000 acres of land in the vicinity. The bluff is now covered with palatial residences, business, church and school buildings.

Mr. Dayton lived much of his time at a village founded by himself at the junction of Crow river with the Mississippi. The village bears his name. He was one of the proprietors and first president of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railway Company, and gave much of his time and means to promote its interests. He died in 1865, leaving a widow (formerly Miss Maria Bates) and one son, Lyman C., a heavy dealer in real estate.

HENRY L. MOSS.--Mr. Moss is of English descent. His ancestors came over prior to the Revolution, in which later members of the family took a prominent part in behalf of the colonies. He was born in Augusta, New York, and graduated at Hamilton College, New York, in 1840; studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1842 at Sandusky, Ohio, where he practiced until 1845, when he removed to Platteville, Wisconsin, where he became an a.s.sociate with Benj. C. Eastman until 1848, when he removed to Stillwater. He was the second lawyer in this place. In 1850 he moved to St. Paul. He served as the first United States district attorney for Minnesota Territory, holding the office from 1849 until 1853. He was reappointed to this office under the state government in 1862, and served four years. Mr. Moss is a worthy member of the Presbyterian church. His moral character and natural abilities have commended him for the positions he has so satisfactorily filled. Mr. Moss was married to Amanda Hosford, Sept.

20, 1849.

WILLIAM RAINEY MARSHALL is of Scotch-Irish descent, and of good fighting stock, both his grandfathers partic.i.p.ating in the Revolutionary struggle. His father, Joseph Marshall, was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and his mother, Abigail (Shaw) Marshall, was born in Pennsylvania. William R. was born in Boone county, Missouri, Oct. 17, 1825. He was educated in the schools of Quincy, Illinois, and spent some of his early years mining and surveying amidst the lead regions of Wisconsin. In September, 1847, he came to St. Croix Falls, and made a land and timber claim near the Falls on the Wisconsin side (now included in the Phillip Jewell farm). While at St. Croix Falls he sold goods; dealt in lumber, was deputy receiver of the United States land office, and took an active part in the boundary meetings. He was elected representative in the Wisconsin a.s.sembly for the St. Croix valley in 1848, but his seat was successfully contested by Joseph Bowron on the ground of non-residence, he residing west of the line marking the western limit of the new state of Wisconsin. During the latter part of the year 1847 he had made a visit to St. Anthony Falls and staked out a claim and cut logs for a cabin, but partially abandoning the claim, he returned to St. Croix Falls. In 1849 he returned to St. Anthony Falls and perfected his claim. In the same year he was elected representative to the First Minnesota territorial legislature. In 1851 he removed to St. Paul and engaged in mercantile pursuits, becoming the pioneer iron merchant in that place. During this year he was also engaged in surveying public lands. In 1855, with other parties, he established a banking house, which did well till overwhelmed by the financial tornado of 1857. He then engaged in dairy farming and stock raising. In 1861 he purchased the St. Paul _Daily Times_ and the _Minnesotian_ and merged them in the _Daily Press_. In 1862 he enlisted in the Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and was made lieutenant colonel of the regiment. On the promotion of Col.