Fifty Years In The Northwest
1838. In 1839 he drove the first herd of cattle through a wilderness
country from the Wisconsin river to the St. Croix. In 1841 he removed
his family from Ohio to St. Croix Falls. He came by way of St. Louis,
from that point embarking on the steamer Indian Queen for the Falls.
The steamer was three weeks making the trip. Above Prairie du Chien
crew and passengers were obliged to cut wood to run the boat. Mr.
Northrup had married Betsey Edwards, daughter of widow Edwards, one of
the pioneers of Stillwater. Charles H., their eldest son, was the
first white child born at St. Croix Falls. In the spring of 1844 he
moved to Stillwater, where he built and kept the first hotel in that
place. From 1847 to 1848 he was part owner of the Osceola saw mill
along with Mahony and Kent. In 1849 he removed to St. Paul, and built
the American Hotel on Third street, east from Seven Corners. In 1851
he removed to St. Anthony Falls and built there the St. Charles Hotel.
In 1853 he removed to Minneapolis, and built the Bushnell House, the
first brick building in the city. Subsequently he became a resident at
Long Prairie, Swan River and Duluth. Although Mr. Northrup's genius
tended chiefly in the direction of hotel building, his abilites in
other directions were beyond question. With equal facility he turned
his hand to lumbering, steamboating and statesmanship. His great
steamboat enterprise was the attempted transfer of the steamer North
Star by water from the Mississippi to the Red River of the North. The
boat was one hundred feet long by twenty wide, and of light draught.
Starting from St. Cloud in the spring of 1859 he performed the
wonderful feat of ascending the Mississippi as far as Pokegama Falls,
hoping to ascend further, and during a high stage of water to float
the boat over the height of land into some of the tributaries of the
Red river. The water was not sufficiently high. The winter following
he took the boat to pieces, and removed it by land to Red river,
opposite the mouth of the Cheyenne, where it was reconstructed and
launched, taken to Fort Garry and afterward sold to Mr. Burbank. This
boat, its name being changed to Anson Northrup, was the first
steamboat on the waters of Red river.
Mr. Northrup's political career commenced and closed with the first
Minnesota legislature, 1857-58, he representing the counties of
Morrison, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs in the senate.
During the Rebellion he served as wagon master. He lived in Texas
three years, returned to St. Paul, where he lived in 1874-75-76, and
now lives in Bismarck, Dakota.
ROBERT KENNEDY.--Mr. Kennedy, in 1839, located at Holmes' Landing, now
Fountain City, on the banks of the Mississippi, above Winona. In 1844
he removed to Dakotah, where he kept a hotel in the old tamarack court
house, built by Joseph R. Brown. In 1846 he kept a hotel in the
Northrup House, Stillwater; in 1848 he kept the American Hotel,
Shakopee. Subsequently he returned to St. Paul and kept a boarding
house, and for three years the hotel known as "Moffett's Castle."
Afterward he kept the Snelling House, and last the Bernard House.
From 1853 to 1856 he was collector of customs for the port of St.
Paul, and during that time the fees amounted to the enormous sum of
forty six dollars and forty-two cents. Mr. Kennedy spent about thirty
years as a landlord, in which capacity he was very popular.
HARVEY WILSON.--Mr. Wilson was born in Corinth, Saratoga county, New
York, December, 1815. He resided in his native county twenty-five
years, then removed to St. Louis, where, for three years, he engaged
in surveying. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1843 and to Stillwater in
1847. He acted as J. R. Brown's deputy clerk of court, June term,
1847. He was appointed clerk of the first Minnesota territorial term
of court, Aug. 13, 1849, in which office he continued until his death,
Nov. 3, 1876. Mr. Wilson was married in 1851 to widow Mary
Stanchfield.
ANDREW JACKSON SHORT.--Mr. Short was born in St. Clair county,
Illinois, in 1818. He came thence to the St. Croix valley and located
at Marine in 1843, and commenced running rafts with W. B. Dibble. In
1857 and 1858 he gathered logs as agent in Lake St. Croix, rafted and
run them below, but lost heavily and was in fact financially wrecked.
He afterward engaged in the logging and hardware business in
Stillwater. In 1868 he built the famous Dudley mills at Point Douglas,
at a cost of $35,000. Mr. Short made Stillwater his home until 1862,
when he removed to Hastings. Much credit is due him for what he has
accomplished. When he came to the St. Croix valley he could neither
read nor write, but by energy, industry and native force of character,
notwithstanding a few reverses, he has done far more than many other
men in his position could have done. As a man he is genial and social.
JAMES D. MCCOMB.--Mr. McComb was born in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, Feb. 13, 1827, came to Stillwater June 10, 1846, and
engaged in mercantile business with John H. Brewster three years, when
he entered the firm of Anderson, McComb & Co., Robert Simpson being
the third member. They did an extensive business for years. They built
the large stone store on the corner of Main and Myrtle streets. Mr.
McComb in 1860 became clerk in the surveyor general's office, which
position he held ten years. He was surveyor general of logs and lumber
four years, his accurate knowledge of the various marks used admirably
fitting him for the position. He served as deputy sheriff in 1846
under James Fisher, of Prairie du Chien, and in 1847 under W. H. C.
Folsom, of Stillwater. Mr. McComb has passed all the degrees in Odd
Fellowship. He was married to Eliza T. McKusick in Stillwater, March
4, 1851. Mrs. McComb died in Stillwater Sept. 17, 1885.
WILLIAM RUTHERFORD.--Mr. Rutherford was born in 1823, in Stanton
county, New York, and came to Stillwater in 1844. He married Christina
J. Holcombe, at Jackson, Mississippi, in 1849. In 1848 he removed to
his farm near Stillwater, where he has since lived. He has been quite
successful as a farmer. Mr. Rutherford died March 15, 1888. His name
will be remembered with honor.
ALBION MASTERSON.--Mr. Masterman has also prospered as a farmer. He
was born in Franklin county, Maine, in 1823; received a common school
education; was married to Eliza Middleton in 1848; came to Stillwater
in 1844, and in 1850 removed thence to his farm, where he died, Aug.
8, 1886. Mr. Masterman's life has been an industrious and exemplary
one.
JOSEPH N. MASTERMAN.--Mr. Masterman came to Stillwater, September,
1848. He engaged in lumbering and scaling continuously. He was born in
Franklin county, Maine, in 1814, and spent his youth at home, but his
education was somewhat limited. At the age of sixteen years he moved
to Schoodic, lived there fourteen years, when he married Alice M.
Prescott, and four years later came to Stillwater. His two sons,
Wellington and Joseph P., reside in Stillwater. Wellington is auditor
of Washington county.
MAHLON BLACK.--Mr. Black is of Scotch descent. His grandfather was a
naval officer during the war of the Revolution, and a soldier in the
war of 1812. Mahlon Black was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Oct. 4,
1820. He spent his youth on his father's farm, and received a common
school and academic education. When seventeen years of age he began
the study of medicine in Cincinnati Medical College, but did not
complete the course. In 1842 he came to Menomonie Mills, Wisconsin,
and engaged in lumbering until 1846. In 1847 he was connected with
government surveys, and the same year located in Stillwater. He was a
representative in the first, third, and last territorial legislature,
also a member of the extra session in 1857. He was mayor of Stillwater
in 1860-61. In 1862 he enlisted in a company of sharpshooters, which
was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. He was promoted to be
captain, and provost marshal in the second division of the Second Army
Corps, and one of Gen. Gibbon's staff officers. He was in fifty-four
battles and skirmishes, in some of which over 100,000 men were engaged
on each side. He was wounded four times, once severely, by a bayonet
thrust received in a charge at the battle of Petersburgh. He served
until the close of the war, and received a special and honorable
discharge from his commander, Gen. Smyth, on the face of which are
recorded the names of the battles in which he participated. In 1867 he
removed from Stillwater to Minneapolis, where he has held the
positions of land examiner and auditor of Hennepin county. He has the
distinction of being the first Odd Fellow initiated in Minnesota.
Sept. 21, 1850, he was married to Jane M. Stough, of Pennsylvania.
MORTON S. WILKINSON.--The record of Mr. Wilkinson, though brief, is
brilliant. He was born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, New York, June
22, 1819; received an academic education in his native town; read law;
was admitted to the bar at Syracuse, New York, in 1842; commenced
practice in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and in 1847 came to Stillwater.
Mr. Wilkinson was the first practicing lawyer northwest of Prairie du
Chien, was the prosecuting attorney at Judge Dunn's court in
Stillwater, June, 1847, and was a member from Washington county of the
first territorial legislature in 1849. He removed to St. Paul in 1850,
to Mankato in 1857, and in 1859 was elected United States senator. In
1860 he was one of the commissioners to compile the state statutes. In
1868 he was elected representative to Congress and at the close of the
term was re-elected. From 1874 to 1877, inclusive, he served as state
senator from Blue Earth county. Mr. Wilkinson is an eloquent and
forcible speaker, and a man of unusual ability, a sound and logical
reasoner, and withal fluent. He has been twice married. His first wife
was a daughter of Rev. Lemuel Nobles, of Michigan. Mrs. Wilkinson died
in Michigan. He married a second wife before coming West. They reside
in Wells, Minnesota.
WILLIAM STANCHFIELD.--Mr. Stanchfield was a native of Maine, born in
the year 1820, was married to Mary Jackins, in Bangor, Maine, in 1840,
and came to Stillwater in 1846, where he engaged in keeping a hotel on
Main street, which was burned while he was in charge. Mr. Stanchfield
died in 1850, leaving a widow who subsequently married Harvey Wilson,
and an infant daughter, who became, years after, the wife of George
Davis.
THOMAS RAMSDELL.--Mr. Ramsdell was born at Falmouth, England, Dec. 28,
1820. He married in England and came to this country with his wife in
1843. He settled in Stillwater in 1844, and removed to his farm in
1846, where he has been successful in raising apples and smaller
fruits. His wife died in 1851. His second wife was Jane Willey. Mr.
Ramsdell has been a quiet, good citizen, reliable and trustworthy.
CHARLES MACY.--An orphan at thirteen years of age, Mr. Macy's early
life was full of changes, adventures and vicissitudes. He was born in
Canada East in 1821. He lived a somewhat wandering life until 1845,
when he came to Fort Snelling, and shortly after to Stillwater, where,
in 1846, he made a claim which became his permanent home. He was
married in 1854.
JONATHAN E. MCKUSICK.--There was no more genial, pleasant, off-hand
man than Jonathan E. McKusick. He was the life of public gatherings.
His remarks, full of wit and sentiment, would keep his audience in a
pleasant frame of mind. At old settlers' meetings his fund of
anecdotes, historical incidents and reminiscences were in the highest
degree interesting and entertaining. Mr. McKusick was born in Cornish,
Maine, in 1812; was married to Minerva King in 1836, and came up the
Mississippi on the ice, in December, 1845, to Stillwater, which he
made his home until his death, which occurred Aug. 21, 1876. He took