Fifty Years In The Northwest
CALVIN A. TUTTLE.--Mr. Tuttle was born in Holland, Connecticut, in
1811. He received an academic education, and remained with his parents
until of age. He learned the trade of millwright with his father. In
1832 he went to Bangor, Maine, and worked at his trade until 1835,
when he removed to Alton, Illinois. He came to St. Croix in 1838, and
superintended the building of a mill. In 1841 he returned to Alton,
where he was married to Charlotte Winkler. He lived in Davenport,
Iowa, four years and one year at Chippewa Falls. In 1846 he removed to
St. Anthony Falls, where he helped build the first saw mill. Here he
worked eight years almost continuously at his trade. He purchased two
hundred acres of land here, including university lands, which he sold
for $3,500. He removed to West St. Anthony in 1852, to Robert Smith's
government permit, and then ran the old government flouring mill,
grinding only for the government. The grain, about 5,000 bushels
annually, was brought from St. Louis. For holding Smith's permit, and
grinding, he received one-eighth of the property. The government
grinding was done for the privilege of making a claim on the
government reservation. This claim, eighty acres in extent, located in
what was then called West St. Anthony, now in the heart of
Minneapolis, is worth millions of dollars. Mr. Tuttle sold his
interest for $5,000. The old mill was built of stone, 30 x 30 feet,
ground dimensions, two stories in height, with one run of stone. The
mill was built in 1822. There was a farm near the mill, cultivated by
soldiers. Mr. Tuttle returned to East St. Anthony in 1857, and removed
to Minnetonka in 1858, where he lived five years. Thence he removed to
Twin Rivers, Morrison county. He has a saw mill, farm and good home at
Twin Rivers. In 1887 he returned to Minneapolis to spend the remainder
of his days.
CYRUS ALDRICH.--The subject of this memoir was born June 18, 1808, in
Smithfield, Rhode Island. His father was Dexter Aldrich, and was
engaged in shipping and merchandising. His mother's maiden name was
Hannah White. She was a descendant of Peregrine White, the first male
child born after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. He received such
an education as could be obtained at the common schools until he was
eighteen years of age, when he left home to engage for a few years in
a seafaring life. This life not proving to his taste, he abandoned it
and engaged in other pursuits. At the age of twenty-nine he emigrated
to Illinois and located at Alton, where he took a contract on the
Michigan and Erie canal. In 1841, or about four years later, he
removed to Galena, Illinois, where he secured employment with the firm
of Galbraith & Porter, and engaged in staging and mail contracts. In
1845 he was elected to the Illinois legislature. The same year he was
married to Clara Heaton, of Indiana, who, with one son and one
daughter, survives him. In 1847 he was elected register of deeds of
Joe Daviess county; in 1849 was appointed receiver of the land office
at Dixon, Illinois; and in 1852 ran for Congress on the Whig ticket
against Long John Wentworth, but was defeated by a small majority. He
removed to Minnesota in 1855, locating at Minneapolis, then but a
small village. In 1857 he was elected a member of the Republican wing
of the constitutional convention, where his ability for leadership
soon brought him to the front. In 1858 he was nominated and elected
representative to Congress, Minnesota having meanwhile become a state.
In 1860 he was re-elected. This was a trying time, but Mr. Aldrich
acquitted himself well, and was especially commended for his devotion
to the interests of the soldiers. In 1862 he declined a re-election,
but allowed his name to be used (though unsuccessfully) as a candidate
for the senate. He did not, however, entirely withdraw from public
affairs, but accepted an appointment from President Lincoln as a
member of the indemnity committee to adjust claims of settlers who had
suffered during the Indian outbreak of 1862. He also devoted much of
his time and energy to the establishment of the Northern Pacific
railway.
In 1865 he was elected to the Minnesota legislature. In 1867 he was
appointed postmaster of Minneapolis, which position he held for four
years. His long and busy life has been spent chiefly in public
service. He had not quite reached the scriptural limit of human life,
but it was evident that his iron constitution had been overtasked and
that he needed rest. The retirement and rest came too late. His
health gradually failed until Oct. 5, 1871, when he closed his eyes
upon the scenes of earth. His funeral, conducted from the Universalist
church, of which he was a member, was one of the largest ever held in
the State. Citizens of all parties and classes, the masonic and other
social and civil bodies combined in paying the last tribute of respect
to one who for fifteen years had been the most active, best known and
most respected of their number.
ALFRED ELISHA AMES, M.D., was born at Colchester, Vermont, Dec. 13,
1814. He was the oldest son of Billy and Phebe (Baker) Ames, whose
ancestors were early colonists from England. Alfred E. commenced the
study of medicine in 1832. He occasionally taught school and worked at
his trade of brickmason. He also varied his labors by publishing an
arithmetic. He came West in 1838, locating first at Springfield,
Illinois; concluded his medical studies at Rush Medical College,
Chicago, in 1845. Before leaving Illinois he was elected to the state
senate. In 1851 he came to St. Anthony Falls, made a claim, and
entered into partnership with Dr. J. H. Murphy. In 1852 he served as
surgeon at Fort Snelling, and in 1853 was elected to the territorial
legislature as a member of the house. In 1854 he was elected probate
judge; in 1857 member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional
convention, and in 1860 became a member of the state normal board.
During the remainder of his life he devoted himself to the practice of
medicine, but also served the public in many positions of trust. He
died Dec. 24, 1874. His wife and five children survive him.
ALBERT ALONZO AMES, son of Dr. A. E. and Martha (Pratt) Ames, was born
at Garden Prairie, Illinois, Jan. 18, 1842. He received a high school
education at Minneapolis, studied medicine at Rush Medical College,
Chicago, and graduated February, 1862. In August, 1863, he enlisted in
the Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, but shortly after was commissioned
assistant surgeon of the Seventh Minnesota Volunteers. He served for
awhile in the Indian campaigns. In the fall of 1863 the regiment was
ordered South. In July, 1864, he was commissioned as surgeon of the
Seventh regiment in place of Dr. L. B. Smith, killed at Tupelo. He was
mustered out of service at the close of the war with an excellent
record as a physician and surgeon. After the war he devoted himself to
the practice of his profession and to public services in Minneapolis,
excepting a period of six years spent in editorial life in California,
first on the staff of the _Daily Times_, and later as managing editor
of the _Alta Californian_. At the death of his father, in 1874, he
returned to Minneapolis and resumed practice. He has filled the
following positions of trust: 1867, member of the Minnesota
legislature (house); 1875, member of the city council; 1876, mayor of
Minneapolis; 1877, Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor (not
elected); 1886, Democratic candidate for governor (not elected);
1886-87-88, again mayor of Minneapolis. Dr. Ames is a member of such
prominent fraternities as the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Druids, Knights of
Pythias, and Order of Elks.
Dr. Ames was married April 21, 1862, to Sarah, daughter of Capt.
Richard Strout, of Minneapolis.
JESSE AMES was born in Vinalhaven, Maine, Feb. 4, 1808. From the age
of fourteen till his retirement in 1861, Mr. Ames devoted himself to a
seafaring life. At the age of twenty-three he was captain of a
schooner, and afterward of different ships, brigs, barks or schooners,
all of them in the mercantile trade. He made between twenty and thirty
voyages to Europe, circumnavigated Cape Horn several times, and sailed
twice round the globe. Few men have seen more of the world. His last
voyage was from New Zealand to London, where he sold his ship, and,
coming to America, found him a beautiful home in the North Star State.
He is a resident of Northfield, and is, with his son John T., the
owner of the well known flouring mills at that place. He was married
Oct. 27, 1832, to Margaret Tolman, of Rockland, Maine. They have two
sons, one of whom, John T., is a resident of Northfield. The other
son, Adelbert A., won distinction during the Civil War, leaving the
service with the brevet rank of major general. Since the war he has
served as senator from Mississippi, and as governor of that state.
CADWALLADER C. WASHBURN.--Hon. C. C. Washburn was a man of rare
nobility of character and possessed of an acute and powerful mind. He
used his great talents for the good of the country. He was a man of
philanthropic impulses and great generosity, as the following
munificent gifts to the public will attest:
_First_--To the state of Wisconsin, in 1876, an astronomical
observatory, located on the university lands at Madison, in style of
architecture and apparatus to carry into execution the design of the
institution, equal, if not superior, to that of any like institution
in the world.
_Second_--The donation of his "Edgewood Home," near Madison,
Wisconsin, for educational purposes.
_Third_--The generously established school located on the shores of
Lake Harriet, near Minneapolis, "The Washburn Home for Orphans," for
the poor and unfortunate children of Minnesota.
Mr. Washburn was born in Livermore, Maine, April 22, 1818; lived at
home until 1838, and devoted some time to obtaining a classical
education. In 1838 and 1839 he taught school and clerked in Hallowell
and Wiscassett, Maine. In the spring of 1839 he came West to
Davenport, Iowa, and was employed a few months with David Dale Owen,
on geological work. In 1840 and 1841 he studied law at Rock Island.
Illinois. In 1842 he settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and was
admitted to practice law at Lancaster, Grant county, in Judge Dunn's
court. He continued in practice at Mineral Point; also engaged in real
estate and dealing in land warrants, and in 1852 established the Bank
of Mineral Point. Mr. Washburn was elected representative to the
thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and fortieth congresses. In
February, 1861, the house appointed a special committee of
thirty-three members on the state of the Union. A majority of the
committee reported an amendment to the constitution of the United
States, making slavery perpetual. Mr. Washburn and others made a
minority report against making slavery perpetual. On this report we
subjoin his remarks: "If this Union must be dissolved, whether by
peaceable process or through fire and blood or civil war, we shall
have the consolation of knowing that when the conflict is over those
who survive will be what they never have been--inhabitants of a free
country." Mr. Washburn changed his residence to La Crosse in 1861. He
received a colonel's commission to recruit a cavalry regiment that
year, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
He was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1872. In 1876 he erected a
large flour mill at Minneapolis, which burned in 1878. It was soon
after rebuilt. In this mill he introduced the first Hungarian patent
process for making flour used in America. Mr. Washburn died at Eureka
Springs, Arkansas, May 14, 1882. His body was brought to Wisconsin and
buried at La Crosse.