Fifty Years In The Northwest
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 associate 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,
participated in seventy-three battles, and was promoted through the
various grades from private to brigadier general.
JUDGE ISAAC ATWATER 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 associate 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
associated 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.
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
accumulated wealth, from which he dispenses liberally to worthy
enterprises. He has contributed largely to the building of the
athenæum. 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 Penobscot 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.
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 Godfrey, 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,