Fifty Years In The Northwest
WILLIAM RAINEY MARSHALL is of Scotch-Irish descent, and of good
fighting stock, both his grandfathers participating 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 assembly 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.
Stephen Miller in 1863, he succeeded to the command of the regiment,
and remained connected with it to the close of the war, participating
in the battles of Tupelo and Nashville, and in the siege of Spanish
Fort. Gen. Marshall won for himself an enviable record as a soldier,
and was breveted brigadier general for meritorious services. In 1865
he was elected governor of Minnesota, and re-elected in 1867. On
vacating the gubernatorial chair he resumed banking, and was made vice
president of the Marine National Bank, and president of the Minnesota
Savings Bank.
In 1874 he was appointed a member of the board of railway
commissioners. In November, 1875, he was elected state railroad
commissioner, and re-elected in 1877. In politics he is Republican, in
his religious views he is a Swedenborgian, being one of the founders
of that society in St. Paul. He is a liberal supporter of religious
and benevolent enterprises, and a man universally esteemed for
sterling qualities of mind and heart. He was married to Miss Abbey
Langford, of Utica, New York, March 22, 1854. They have one son,
George Langford.
DAVID COOPER was born in Brooks Reserve, Frederic county, Maryland,
July 2, 1821. He enjoyed good educational advantages, first in the
common schools and later had as a tutor Rev. Brooks, a Methodist
clergyman, an accomplished gentleman and scholar, who gave him
thorough instruction in the sciences and classics. In 1839 he entered
Penn College, where he became a ready writer and pleasant speaker.
After leaving college he studied law with his brother, Senator Cooper,
and in 1845 was admitted to practice. He practiced in several
counties, showed rare ability, espoused with enthusiasm the politics
of the Whig party, and on the accession of Gen. Taylor to the
presidency, in 1849, was appointed by him first assistant judge of the
supreme court for the territory of Minnesota. He arrived in Minnesota
in June, 1849, and located in Stillwater; was assigned by Gov. Ramsey
to the Second Judicial district, and held his first court at Mendota.
He changed his residence to St. Paul in 1853, and, leaving the bench,
devoted himself to law practice in St. Paul. He was a Republican
candidate for Congress in 1858, at the first session of the state
legislature.
He left Minnesota for Nevada in 1864, then went to Salt Lake City,
where he died in a hospital in 1875. He was twice married but left no
children.
BUSHROD W. LOTT was born in Pemberton, New Jersey, in 1826. He was
educated at the St. Louis University, and studied law in Quincy,
Illinois, being admitted to practice in 1847. A year later he
accompanied Gen. Samuel Leech to St. Croix Falls, and was clerk during
the first land sales in that region, while Gen. Leech was receiver.
The same year he came to St. Paul, settling down to the legal
profession. He was a Democrat in politics, and held the office of
chief clerk of the house in the legislature of 1851, being elected in
1853 and re-elected in 1856 as a representative. In 1853 he was beaten
for the speakership by Dr. David Day, after balloting for twenty-two
days. About ten years after this he became president of the town
council for two years, and was city clerk for a year and a half.
President Lincoln appointed him consul to Tehuantepec, Mexico, in
1862, where he served until 1865. Mr. Lott was a charter member of the
St. Paul Lodge, I. O. O. F. He died of apoplexy in 1886.
W. F. DAVIDSON, better known as "Commodore" Davidson, was born in
Lawrence county, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1825. He was early associated with his
father in canal boating and river life and acquired a strong
predilection for the pursuit in which he afterward became
distinguished. His father was a Baptist preacher, and the influence of
his teachings was apparent in many acts of the son's later life. His
advantages for education were limited, as his chief training was on
board the boats on which he was employed. In 1854 he came to St. Paul.
Before coming West he was interested in boating on the Ohio river, and
was the owner of several steamers. His first work in Minnesota was on
the Minnesota river, but soon afterward he became president of a
company known as the La Crosse & Minnesota Packet Company. His
experience and superior ability placed him at the head of river
navigation, and for many years he had scarce a rival, earning by this
supremacy the familiar cognomen of "Commodore," first applied to him,
we believe, by John Fletcher Williams.
During ten years of his river life he resided in St. Louis. With the
increase of railroads and the brisk competition of later days, he
gradually withdrew from the river trade and interested himself in real
estate in St. Paul, buying largely and building many fine blocks.
Though never an aspirant for office, Commodore Davidson was public
spirited and interested greatly in public enterprises involving the
prosperity of St. Paul. He was married in Ohio in 1856, to a daughter
of Judge Benjamin Johnson. He died in St. Paul, May 26, 1887, leaving
a widow, one son and one daughter. Capt. Thomas L. Davidson is a
brother, and Jerry and Robert R. are half brothers. Col. J. Ham
Davidson, a cousin and a man of considerable oratorical ability, was
associated with him in business.
WILLIAM H. FISHER was born in New Jersey in 1844. He entered the
railway service of the Dubuque & Sioux City railroad as check clerk at
Dubuque, Iowa, in 1864, serving as such and in other positions of
responsibility until 1873, when he removed to St. Paul, Minnesota,
entering the service of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad as
superintendent. He built the Breckenridge extension in 1877, and was
influential in relieving the St. Paul & Pacific railroad and branches
from financial embarrassment, which resulted in the organization of
the present St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba system. In June, 1884, he
was elected general superintendent, and in June, 1885, president and
general superintendent, of the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company,
which position he at present worthily fills.
CHARLES H. OAKES, the son of a Vermont merchant and manufacturer,
David Oakes, at one time sheriff of Windham county, and judge of St.
Clair county, Michigan, was born in the town of Rockingham, Windham
county, July 17, 1803. He received a common school education, and at
twelve years of age went into a store and clerked until eighteen, when
he came to Chicago as clerk for an army sutler. In 1824 he commenced
trading with the Indians on the south shore of Lake Superior. In 1827
he entered the service of the American Fur Company, in whose employ he
remained until 1850, his headquarters being most of the time at La
Pointe. In 1850 he located in St. Paul. In 1853 he entered the banking
firm of Borup & Oakes, the first banking firm in St. Paul, since which
time he has lived a quiet and retired life, that contrasts strongly
with the strange and adventurous life he led as an Indian trader. Mr.
Oakes' only public life was during the Indian outbreak, when he
accepted a position as colonel on the staff of Gen. Sibley. He was a
member of the Protestant Episcopal church. By his first wife Mr. Oakes
had four children, two of them daughters, now living. Sophia is the
widow of the late Jeremiah Russell, and Eliza is the wife of Col.
George W. Sweet, of Minneapolis. A son, Lieut. David Oakes, was in the
Civil War, and was killed in battle. The other child died in infancy.
Mr. Oakes was married to his second wife, Julia Beaulieu, of Sault
Ste. Marie, July 29, 1831. She has had five children, but one of them
now living, Julia Jane, widow of the late Gen. Isaac Van Etten. One of
her sons, George Henry, was in the Civil War, and died two years after
of disease contracted in the service.
CHARLES WILLIAM WULFF BORUP was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 20,
1806. He received a thorough classical and medical education. In 1828
he emigrated to America, and, having abandoned his original intention
of becoming a physician, entered into business, at first in the employ
of John Jacob Astor. He became chief agent of the fur company on Lake
Superior, with residence at La Pointe. In 1848 he removed to St. Paul
and entered into a partnership with Pierre Chouteau. In 1854 the
banking house of Borup & Oakes, of which he was senior partner, was
established. Dr. Borup died of heart disease, July 6, 1859, but the
banking business was continued under the firm name many years later.
He was married July 17, 1832, to Elizabeth Beaulieu, a daughter of
Basil Beaulieu, a French trader of Mackinaw. His widow died in St.
Paul several years ago. Of a family of eleven children, nine survive.
CAPT. RUSSELL BLAKELEY, one of the best known of the early steamboat
men, was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, April 19, 1815. He spent
a part of his early life in Genesee county, New York, where he
received a common school education; emigrated to Peoria, Illinois, in
1836, where he engaged in the real estate business; in 1839 he removed
to Galena, where he engaged in mining and smelting; in 1844 to
Southwest Virginia, returning to Galena in 1847, where he became one
of a steamboat transportation company. He was clerk upon the first
boat on the line, the Argo. This boat sank and he was transferred to
the Dr. Franklin, of which he became captain. He was captain of the
Nominee in 1853, and of the Galena in 1854. This last named boat was
burned at Red Wing, July 1, 1858. In 1855 he was appointed agent at
Dunleith of the Packet Company, and soon afterward bought a leading
interest in the Northwestern Express Company. The next year he removed
to St. Paul. In 1867 he retired from the company. Of late years he has