Fifty Years In The Northwest
wing of the constitutional convention. During his residence in St.
Paul he was interested in building up the town of Henderson, to which
place he ran a stage line from St. Paul. About this time, also, he
busied himself with the invention of a steam wagon, calculated to
traverse the western plains and drag after it trains of cars.
Financial and other difficulties prevented the completion of his
design, which, however, he never entirely abandoned during the
remainder of his life. In fact he went East in 1870 expressly to get
his invention perfected, but from this journey he never returned. He
died somewhat suddenly in New York in that year.
Mr. Brown was a man of iron will and muscular frame. He owed but
little to schools, but was a close observer of men and of the times in
which he lived. He was a genial companion and true friend, and a man
of honorable principles. His was a rugged but generous nature. He was
public spirited, far seeing and far reaching in his plans. He believed
in the great Northwest. He predicted its future greatness as a wheat
growing and agricultural country, and, as far back as 1839, predicted
that a great city would rise at the head of Lake St. Croix or at the
Falls of St. Anthony. Yet so little schooled was he in the wisdom of
the speculator that he sold the property in St. Paul now known as
Kittson's addition, and worth several millions of dollars, for one
hundred and fifty dollars, and a lot on Third street, now valued at
$25,000, for a box of cigars.
PAUL CARLI.--Mr. Carli was of German and Italian descent. He was born
in Italy, July 25, 1805. His father was a merchant. He was married in
Chicago, in 1834, to a sister of Joseph R. Brown, and moved in 1841 to
the outlet of Bolles creek, on the west side of Lake St. Croix, to a
place near the site of Afton. In 1846 he was accidentally drowned in
the lake, within sight of his dwelling. His children, Joseph R. and
Maria, are residents of Stillwater.
CHRISTOPHER CARLI, brother of Paul, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
Germany, Dec. 7, 1811. The youth of Christopher was devoted to study.
He was educated at Heidelberg University, and studied medicine. He
came to America in February, 1832. The March following he located in
Buffalo, where he practiced medicine three years, and returned to
Europe where he remained two years. Returning to America, he practiced
a year in Chicago, a year in New Orleans and another year in Chicago.
He came to Dakotah, St. Croix valley, May 24, 1841. March 12, 1847, he
was married to the widow of Paul Carli, Joseph R. Brown officiating as
magistrate. He was the first practicing physician north of Prairie du
Chien. His home was at Dakotah until the organization of Stillwater.
He opened his first office on the west side of Lower Main street,
block 28. His practice extended from Lake Pepin to Lake Superior and
from Menomonie Mills, Wisconsin, to the Mississippi river. His mode of
travel was by birch canoe, on horseback, on skates and on foot. He was
a member of the first city council in Stillwater and has been city and
county physician. He opened the first bank in Stillwater when
fractional currency was in demand. His floating scrip was all
redeemed. Two children, Christopher and Socrates N., are married and
residents of Stillwater. Dr. Carli died Nov. 6, 1887.
LYDIA ANN CARLI.--Mrs. Carli has passed through many stirring scenes,
and is one of the first female settlers in the St. Croix valley. A
fluent and interesting talker, her recitals of early incidents and
adventures are heart enlivening. Lydia Ann Brown was born in
Lancaster, Penn., March 18, 1818. In 1834 she came with friends to
Chicago, where in 1839 she was married to Paul Carli. She came to
Dakotah in 1841, and lived there until 1844. The village was
surrounded by Indians and there was no white woman nearer than Marine,
twelve miles distant. In 1844 the Carlis removed to the mouth of
Bolles creek, near Afton, on Lake St. Croix, where they built
themselves a two story house commanding a picturesque view of the lake
and the adjacent prairies and hills. It was a lone tenement, midway
between Prescott and Stillwater. Mrs. Carli having lost her husband as
before narrated, in 1847 was married to his brother, Dr. Christopher
Carli.
PHINEAS LAWRENCE.--But little is known of the early life of Mr.
Lawrence. He had been a river pilot. He was the first sheriff elected
in the St. Croix valley, or northwest of Prairie du Chien. He was
elected and qualified in 1841. On serving the first and only summons
he was ever called upon to serve, he approached the party summoned,
holding up to view the documents, and exclaimed: "I, Phineas Lawrence,
high sheriff of St. Croix county, in the name of the United States and
of the Immaculate God, command you to surrender." He was a robust,
fleshy, cheerful man, and felt in all their force the responsibilities
of the position in which he was placed. His name has been given to a
creek in Chisago county, where he once logged. He died in Stillwater
in 1847.
JACOB FISHER.--Jacob Fisher, a millwright, came to St. Croix Falls in
1842, and being a skilled mechanic found employment at once on the old
mill at the Falls. He made the first land claim and framed the first
building in Stillwater. The building framed was the mill of which
mention has been made. This establishes his claim to priority as the
first white man who made a movement toward the settlement of
Stillwater. Others were before him in the settlement of Dakotah or
Schulenberg's addition. Mr. Fisher is a plain, frank, outspoken man,
who has no trouble in making his hearers understand exactly what he
means. He was born in Canada in 1813, and still resides in Stillwater.
He has a wife and one son in California.
JAMES S. ANDERSON was born at Marshalltown, West Virginia, on the
fourth of February, 1826. When he was twelve years old his parents
removed with him to Burlington, Iowa, where he lived for eight years.
He came to Stillwater in 1846, where he has since resided. In 1852 he
was married to Miss Harriet T. McDonald, at St. Louis, by whom he has
had four children, three of whom are now living--Robert M. Anderson,
prominently known in lumber circles, and Misses Sibella S. and Ella P.
Anderson. Upon Mr. Anderson's arrival at Stillwater, he engaged in the
employ of Elias McKean, then a prominent lumberman, now a resident of
Washington county. In 1869 Mr. Anderson formed a partnership with
William McKusick, John A. Nelson and Alexander Johnson, under the firm
name of McKusick, Anderson & Co., which firm built and operated the
large saw mill opposite Stillwater. Four years ago Mr. McKusick
retired from the firm, since which time the firm has been J. S.
Anderson & Co. In 1874 Mr. Anderson became the senior member of a
heavy logging firm known as Anderson & O'Brien, of which the other
members were the well known lumbermen J. S. and John O'Brien. In
connection with his other business interests Mr. Anderson was a heavy
owner of pine lands, and a stockholder and director in the Lumberman's
National Bank. There were two other well known lumber firms of ancient
date with which he was connected, and these were McComb, Simpson &
Co., organized in 1850, and also Delano, McKusick & Co., organized in
1857. From 1857 to 1869 he was also a heavy logger alone. Mr. Anderson
died May 8, 1885. His death resulted from a mill accident, his rubber
coat having caught in the belting of a shaft revolving at a rapid
rate. His body was frightfully mangled, but he survived two days,
exhibiting, under the circumstances, the most remarkable composure,
dictating his will and arranging his business matters as calmly as he
might have done on an ordinary occasion.
EMANUEL DIXON FARMER was born in Tennessee in 1828, and came to
Stillwater in 1845, where he has resided ever since, engaged in the
lumbering and saloon business. He was married to Parmelia A. Collier,
in Stillwater, 1848.
COL. JOHN GREELY.--Col. Greely was sixty years of age when he came to
the West, and although a strong, active and enterprising man in the
earlier part of his life, owing to advancing years and ill health was
rather a spectator than an active participant in the stirring scenes
of his new home. He was born at Southampton, Massachusetts, April,
1777. He was married to Hannah Greely, a second cousin, at Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, Oct. 5, 1801. He followed the lumbering business on the
Merrimac river in early life. He furnished the timber used in erecting
the first factory in Lowell, Massachusetts, cut on the mountains of
North New Hampshire. In after life he moved to the west end of Sebec
lake, Maine, where he founded the town at first named Greely, but
afterward Willimantic, now the site of extensive manufactories where
the famous Willimantic thread is made. Col. Greely came to Stillwater
in 1847.
Born during the Revolutionary struggle, he lived to witness the
marvelous growth and prosperity of his country and died during the
first year of the war of the Rebellion. Aged as he was, having entered
upon his eighty-fifth year, he was intensely interested in the issue
of that struggle, and ardently desired to live long enough to witness
the triumph of his country's cause. It was not to be. He sank
peacefully to rest, Oct. 30, 1861, dying as he had lived, an honest
man, his memory revered by all who knew him, and cherished by three
generations of descendants. His children were three sons and five
daughters--Sarah, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Greenleaf, and Phebe and Servia,
wives of John McKusick. Miss Sarah alone survives.
MRS. HANNAH GREELY.--Mrs. Greely, the wife of Col. John Greely, was
born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, October, 1787, came to Stillwater in
1847 and died May, 1878, at the advanced age of ninety years. For
sixty years she and her husband walked side by side. She survived him
seventeen years, and, after a life well spent, resignedly folded her
hands and sank to her last repose.
ELAM GREELY.--Elam, son of Col. John Greely, was born in Salisbury,
New Hampshire, Aug. 13, 1818, and, with his parents, moved to Maine,
where they made their home on Sebec lake. In 1840 Mr. Greely came to
St. Croix Falls, where he was employed by the St. Croix Falls Company
the greater part of the time until 1843, when he became a settler at
the head of Lake St. Croix. He was one of the original owners of the
first mill at Stillwater. In 1844 he sold his interest to John
McKusick. The same year he was appointed postmaster at Stillwater. The
office was located at the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut
streets.
Mr. Greely filled many offices of honor and trust meritoriously. He
was a member of the third and fourth Minnesota territorial councils.
In 1845, in company with Edward Blake, he did an extensive pine log
business, running the logs to St. Louis, in which business he
continued until the death of Mr. Blake in 1848.
Mr. Greely early identified himself with the interests of Stillwater,
of which he was one of the founders, and which owes much of its
prosperity to his efforts. He was married in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in
1850, to Hannah P. Hinman, who, with three children, a son and two
daughters, survives him. His oldest son died Oct. 21, 1876. Mr. Greely
had many severe reverses in business, but by indomitable energy
recovered from them, and was able not only to care for his aged
parents, to bring them from Maine and keep them with him until
separated by death, but to leave his family well provided for. He died
suddenly away from home, Sept. 14, 1883. His body was brought to
Stillwater for burial.
HIMAN GREELY.--Himan, son of Col. John Greely, was born in Franklin,
New Hampshire, October, 1828. He came to Stillwater in 1846, where he