Fifty Years In The Northwest
mathematics, natural science and civil engineering in Hamline
University four years. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Sixth
Minnesota Infantry, was elected captain, and mustered out at the close
of the war. His military service was quite arduous, including
campaigning against the Sioux until 1864, when the regiment was
ordered South and attached to the Sixteenth Army Corps.
In 1866 he was appointed superintendent of schools for Goodhue county.
In 1870 he was appointed state superintendent of schools, which
position he held five years. He was elected representative in the
state legislature in 1877, and subsequently he served four terms as
senator, and was president _pro tem._ of that body during the trial of
E. St. Julien Cox, and in the absence of the lieutenant governor
presided during the trial. For the past few years he has devoted
himself to civil engineering, and has had charge of the public
improvements of Red Wing. In 1844 he was married to Mary J. Chandler,
who died in 1887.
Among the prominent early settlers of Red Wing not mentioned in our
biographical notices were William Freeborn, for whom Freeborn county
was named, and who was a senator in the fifth, sixth, seventh and
eighth legislatures. Judges Welch and Wilder, W. C. Williston and
Warren Bristol, lawyers, both state senators from Goodhue, and the
latter a judge in Arizona. Rev. Chauncey Hobart, D.D., a Methodist
pioneer preacher, and author of a history of Methodism in Minnesota
and an autobiography; Rev. Peter Akers, D.D., an eminent educator;
Rev. M. Sorin, D.D., an eloquent preacher, and Rev. Samuel Spates and
J. W. Hancock, prominent as missionaries, the latter the first pastor
located in the village. Andrew S. Durant, first hotel keeper; Calvin
F. Potter, first merchant. W. W. Phelps and Christopher Graham were
appointed to the land office in 1855.
WABASHA COUNTY.
This county, named in honor of a Sioux chief, lies on the west shore
of the Mississippi river and Lake Pepin, between Goodhue and Winona
counties. It has a majestic frontage of bold bluffs on the lake and
river. From the summit of these bluffs stretch away broad undulating
prairie lands, with occasional depressions, or valleys, caused by the
streams tributary to the river.
Wabasha village is the county seat. The county is traversed by the St.
Paul & Milwaukee railway, and the Zumbrota Valley Narrow Gauge
railroad has its eastern terminus at Wabasha village. A railroad from
Minneiska to Eyota, in Olmsted county, through Plainview, also passes
through this county. Lake City is a thriving village on the lake
shore, beautifully situated. The Grand Encampment, located about two
miles below Wabasha village, was once a point of great interest. It
was from time immemorial a camping ground for Indians. It has an
abundance of ancient mounds. The only people in the county in 1845,
when the author first visited this section, were the Campbell, Cratt,
Bessian, and a few other French families. Bailey and sons, Dr. Francis
H. Milligan, B. S. Hurd, Samuel S. Campbell, a prominent lawyer, and
Wm. L. Lincoln came later to Wabasha. Reed's Landing, at the foot of
Lake Pepin, was early settled by Messrs. Reed, Fordyce, Richards, and
others. This point controls an immense trade for the Chippewa river,
which empties its waters into the Mississippi just opposite.
NATHANIEL STACY TEFFT is a native of Hamilton, Madison county, New
York, where he was born July 16, 1830. He was educated in the common
schools and academy; in 1848 commenced studying medicine and received
his diploma the same year at Cincinnati, after attending lectures at
the medical college in that city. In 1856 he came to Minnesota and
located in Minneiska, where he practiced medicine, served as
postmaster, justice of the peace, and member of the legislature. In
1861 he removed to Plainview, where he has taken rank as a leading
surgeon and physician in that part of the State. He has also served as
member of the state senate (in 1871-72). The writer had the pleasure
of meeting him in the legislature of 1858 and found him a strong
opponent of the $5,000,000 bill. Dr. Tefft was married to Hattie S.
Gibbs, of Plainview, Nov. 10, 1866.
JAMES WELLS.--In 1845 the writer found Mr. Wells living in a stone
trading house on the west shore of Lake Pepin, on the first high
ground on the shore above Lake City. Mr. Wells had a half-breed family
and was very reticent in his manner. He was a member of the first
territorial house of representatives. When the country became more
thickly settled he went West and was killed by the Sioux Indians in
the massacre of 1862.
WINONA COUNTY
Was named after the daughter of the Indian chief who, according to the
well known legend, precipitated herself from the famous rock on the
eastern shore of Lake Pepin, which has ever since been known as
"Maiden's Rock." The county lies on the west shore of the Mississippi,
below Wabasha county. The frontage of the bluffs on the river is
unsurpassed for grandeur and beauty, the bluffs here attaining an
altitude of six hundred feet above the river. The natural castles and
turrets crowning these bluffs remind the traveler of the towns on the
Rhine and Danube, and it is difficult to realize that they are the
handiwork of Nature and not of man. The most striking of these bluffs
occupies a position in the rear of the beautiful city of Winona,
overlooking the city and the valley, and affording from its summit
possibly the finest view on the river. The city of Winona lies on a
spacious plateau between the bluffs and the river. In 1845 a solitary
log cabin, the resting place of the mail carrier, marked the site, and
a large Indian village, belonging to the band of Chief Wapashaw,
occupied a portion of the present site of the city. All traces of this
village have long since disappeared, and given place to one of the
fairest and most flourishing cities on the river. The First State
Normal School is located here. The St. Paul & Milwaukee railroad
passes through, and the Winona & St. Peter railroad has its eastern
terminus in this city. It is also the western terminus of the Green
Bay & Mississippi. The Chicago, Burlington & Northern crosses the
river here, and has a depot in the city.
DANIEL S. NORTON, at the time of his death United States senator from
Minnesota, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in April, 1829. He was
educated at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; enlisted in the Third Ohio
Volunteer Infantry in 1846 for service in the Mexican War; had his
health seriously impaired in the service; spent two years in
California, Mexico and Central America; returned to Ohio and read law
with his father-in-law, Judge R. C. Hurd, practiced in Mount Vernon,
Ohio, with Hon. William Windom and came with him to Minnesota in 1855,
locating at Winona. Mr. Norton served as senator in the first state
legislature, where the writer served with him on several committees,
among them the committee on the $5,000,000 bond bill, a bill which Mr.
Norton strongly and earnestly opposed, predicting clearly its
disastrous results. He also served as senator in the legislatures of
1861-64 and 65, when he was elected to the United States senate, which
position he held at the time of his death, in 1870. He was twice
married, first in 1856, to Miss Lizzie Sherman, of Mount Vernon, Ohio,
who died in 1862. The second time to Miss Laura Cantlan, of Baltimore,
in 1868.
WILLIAM WINDOM, a native of Ohio, came to Winona in 1855. He had been
admitted to practice in 1853, and formed a partnership with D. S.
Norton in Mount Vernon, Ohio, who came with him to Winona, where they
continued their law partnership. Mr. Windom has been quite prominent
in the politics of the State and county, having served in the United
States senate two terms, from 1871 to 1883. He was also a
representative in Congress from 1859 to 1869. He served as secretary
of the treasury to fill a vacancy. During his congressional career he
was an ardent supporter of the Union, and won the respect of the
nation for his unswerving firmness in upholding his principles. He is
a man of great executive ability, and has used his talents and his
wealth, of which he has accumulated a considerable share, in the
interests of the public. He has been heavily interested in the
building of the Northern Pacific and other railroads, and in real
estate. His opportunities have been great, he has wisely employed
them, and richly deserves the success he has achieved.
CHARLES H. BERRY, the first attorney general of the state of
Minnesota, was born at Westerly, Rhode Island, Sept. 12, 1823. He
received an excellent school and academic education, graduating at
Canandaigua Academy in 1846. He afterward read law and was admitted to
practice at Rochester in 1848. He practiced his profession at Corning,
New York, until 1855, when he removed to Winona and opened the first
law office in that city. He was associated until 1871 with C. N.
Waterman. When Minnesota became a state, in 1858, he was elected
attorney general and served two years. He was state senator in 1874-75
and has been United States commissioner since 1873. He takes great
interest in local and state affairs, especially in educational
matters. He has been for many years connected with the city school
board and for eight years its president. He was also largely
instrumental in locating the State Normal School at Winona. Mr. Berry
is a Democrat in politics, is prominent in Masonic circles and a
leading member of the Episcopal church. He was married to Frances E.
Hubbell, of Corning, New York, Nov. 14, 1850. They have one daughter,
Kate Louise, married to Prof. C. A. Morey, principal of the State
Normal School.
THOMAS WILSON was born in Tyrone county, Ireland, May 16, 1827. He
received his education in this country, graduating at Meadville
College, Pennsylvania, in 1852. He studied law, was admitted to the
bar in 1855, and in the same year came to Winona and entered the law
firm of Sargent & Wilson, known a few years later as Sargent, Wilson &
Windom. He was a member of the Republican wing of the constitutional
convention in 1857. He was elected district judge of the Fourth
district, taking his seat in 1858, and serving six years. In 1864 Gov.
Miller appointed him to a vacancy on the supreme bench, caused by the
resignation of Judge Flandrau, and in the fall of the same year he was
elected chief justice for a term of seven years. In 1869 he resigned
this position to resume his law practice. In 1881 he was elected as a
representative, and from 1883 to 1886, inclusive, as a senator in the
state legislature. He was elected as a representative to Congress in
1887.
THOMAS SIMPSON is of Scotch parentage, but was born in Yorkshire,
England, May 31, 1836. He came to America with his parents when a
child, to Dubuque county, Iowa. His educational advantages were good,
and he learned, when not in school, to assist his father, who was a
miner, smelter and farmer. He studied engineering and surveying with
E. S. Norris, of Dubuque, and was engaged in government surveys from
1853 to 1856, when he settled in Winona, studied law, and was admitted
to the bar in 1858, when he formed a law partnership with Judge Abner
Lewis and Geo. P. Wilson. In addition to his law business he has been
a heavy dealer in real estate and money loaning. There are few public
enterprises in Winona which he has not actively promoted. He was a
delegate to the national convention that nominated Lincoln for the
presidency in 1864, also to the convention that nominated Grant in
1868. He served as state senator in 1866-67. He has been an
influential member of the Methodist church. He was married Oct. 30,
1860, to Maggie Holstein, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. They have three
sons.