Fifty Years In The Northwest
and with S. J. R. McMillan as second lieutenant, in the Chengwatana
expedition sent from Stillwater to prevent the Chippewas from rising
and joining in the Sioux insurrection. He purchased the Nelson
warehouse, and, with Capt. Isaac Gray as partner, engaged in the
towboat business until 1878. Of late years Mr. Butler has been engaged
in business ventures in Western Minnesota, but he still retains his
residence at Stillwater. Mr. Butler has always been a lover of field
sports and his prowess as a sportsman is well remembered by his old
friends. He has four children--two sons and two daughters.
LEVI E. THOMPSON was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, May 5,
1829; educated at Troy Wesleyan Seminary, New York; commenced studying
law at the age of fourteen; was admitted to practice by the supreme
court at the age of twenty, and, coming to Stillwater in 1852,
commenced practice, having associated with him at various times T. E.
Parker, Allen Dawson and John Vanderburgh. He was married, October,
1856, to Martha G. Harris, daughter of Albert Harris, an early settler
of Stillwater. Mr. Thompson died Nov. 8, 1887.
GEORGE DAVIS was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Sept. 22, 1832. He
received a good school and academic education. He removed to St. Louis
in 1852, and to Stillwater in 1853, where he served some years as a
mercantile clerk, then as deputy sheriff, then ten years as sheriff of
Washington county. He also served as clerk of the district court, and
in 1876 as county auditor. In 1865 he was married to Georgiana
Stanchfield, of Stillwater. Mr. Davis died in 1879 and Mrs. Davis in
1882, leaving five children.
WM. MONROE MCCLUER was born Sept. 6, 1831, in Franklinville, New York.
He graduated from Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo, New York, in 1850;
studied law in Moscow, New York; graduated at the State and National
Law School at Poughkeepsie in 1854, and, removing to Stillwater the
same year, engaged in the practice of his profession, in which he has
been eminently successful. In November, 1881, he was appointed
additional judge for the First district, an office created by the
legislature at its special session. Judge McCluer served one term in
the house of representatives. He was married to Helen A. Jencks, of
Waterford, Saratoga county, New York, Sept. 27, 1858. They have one
son, Charles M., practicing law in Stillwater.
JOHN NICHOLAS AHL was born at Strasburg on the Rhine, Oct. 7, 1807.
After seven years' study he was graduated as a physician at Strasburg
Medical College in 1839. He emigrated to America and located in
Galena, Illinois, in 1843, where he practiced medicine some years. He
was married in 1846 to Lucretia Hartman. In 1850 he removed to
Stillwater. In 1852 he built the Washington Hotel (afterward changed
to Liberty House), on south Main street. He practiced medicine and
followed lumbering and hotel keeping in Stillwater until his death,
which occurred in 1878.
SAMUEL M. REGISTER is a native of Dover, Delaware. He is of French
descent, and some of his ancestors took part in the Revolutionary War.
He was born in 1827, and came to Stillwater in 1850, where he engaged
actively in business, dealing in lumber and pine lands, piloting,
steamboating and farming. He was at one time a member of the city
council, and a representative in the territorial legislature of
1854-5. He was married to Minerva Causlin in 1856.
J. A. JOHNSON was born near the city of Wexio, Sweden, April 24, 1842.
In 1854 he emigrated with his parents to the United States, arriving
at Marine Mills, Washington county, Minnesota late in the fall of that
year. He remained at Marine and Stillwater till 1858, attending school
a large portion of the time. In the fall of that year he went to
school at Dubuque, Iowa. After completing the course of study he
learned the trade of locomotive engineer, which occupation he followed
till 1866, being in the employ of the United States government the
last years of the war, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. After the
close of the war, in 1865, he returned north as far as St. Louis,
Missouri, where he married Miss Agnes A. Coler, of that city. He has 5
children, 3 boys and 2 girls. His health having been impaired in the
government service, he returned to Marine in 1866, where he remained
till Jan. 1, 1874. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the office of
sheriff of Washington county, which position he held for six years,
and has been twice re-elected without opposition. Retiring from the
sheriff's office in 1880, he removed to Fargo, Dakota, and engaged in
the sale of agricultural implements, in which business he has remained
up to the present time.
During his residence in the city of Fargo he has held various offices,
such as alderman, member of the board of education, etc. In the fall
of 1884 he was nominated for the territorial senate and received a
majority of 1,133 votes in Cass county, and 835 out of a total of
1,669 in the city of Fargo. In the spring of 1885 he was elected
mayor of Fargo by over 300 majority, after one of the most hotly
contested campaigns in the political history of the city. In 1886 he
declined a re-election. While sheriff of Washington county he devoted
his leisure moments to the study of law, and was admitted to practice
in all the courts of Minnesota. Although not in active practice his
knowledge of law has been of great value to him in the business in
which he has been engaged since that time.
GOLD T. CURTIS was born in Morrisville, New York, Aug. 16, 1821. At
the age of eighteen he graduated at Hamilton College, New York, and
entered upon the study of law with Judge Morrill, Chenango county, New
York. He commenced practicing law at Belleville, New York, in 1850.
During the same year he was married to Abigail Anderson, a descendant
of Gen. John Stark, of Revolutionary fame, and of the Protestant
branch of the royal house of the Stuarts, some of whom came from
Scotland to America in 1742. Mrs. Curtis is a lineal descendant of the
unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. Mr. Curtis removed to Stillwater in
1854 and entered upon a lucrative law practice. He was elected a
member of the Minnesota constitutional convention. In 1857 he was also
nominated for the position of district judge, but was defeated by S.
J. R. McMillan. He was much respected and held some offices of trust
in the city and county. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he
enlisted in Company I, Fifth Minnesota, and was promoted to the
captaincy of the company, but his health failed and he died in St.
Louis July 24, 1862. His remains were brought to Stillwater and
interred with military and masonic honors, Aug. 2, 1862.
HARLEY D. CURTIS, a native of New York and a brother of Gold T.
Curtis, came to Stillwater in 1851. He held the positions of
postmaster and justice of the peace.
FRANCIS ROACH DELANO.--The ancestors of Mr. Delano came to America in
1621, and were active participants in the stirring scenes and
controversies preceding the Revolution. Francis Roach, after whom Mr.
Delano was named, was the owner of the ship Dartmouth, one of the
vessels out of which the tea was cast into Boston harbor, on the
memorable occasion of the Tea Party of 1774. Notwithstanding the
affair of the tea, the family, who were ardent patriots, have
preserved as a precious relic some of the tea rescued from the general
destruction.
Mr. Delano is one of sixteen children in his father's family. He was
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Nov. 20, 1823; received a common
school and academic education, and was employed in a machine shop some
years. At the age of twenty he was employed in an engineering corps
and served two years. He was for two years superintendent of the
Boston & Worcester railroad. In 1844 he came to St. Louis, Missouri,
and was variously employed until 1848, when he removed to Minnesota
and was engaged for a year in St. Anthony (now Minneapolis), in
running the government mill. The mill had been leased for five years.
Mr. Smith fulfilled the contract, and Mr. Delano, being released from
it, came to Stillwater in 1851 and entered into contract with Jesse
Taylor, Martin Mower, Jonathan E. McKusick, and Jacob Fisher, under
the firm name of Jesse Taylor & Co., to build the territorial prison.
Mr. Delano was appointed first warden, March, 1853, and served until
1858. He was intrusted with the expenditure of public moneys from
territorial authorities, in caring for and improving the prison. When
the state government was organized he was released. He was afterward a
member of the firm of Delano, McKusick & Co., sawing and selling
lumber. J. E. McKusick and Robert Simpson were members of this firm.
Mr. Delano moved to St. Paul in 1862, and was afterward engaged in
railroad employment. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel to take
command of five companies during the Indian outbreak. The command was
stationed at Chengwatana, Pine county. He died February, 1887. He was
married Oct. 11, 1846, to Calista Ann Cavander, who, with two sons,
survives him.
HENRY W. CANNON was born in Delhi, New York, Sept. 25, 1852. He was
educated at Delaware Literary Institute. He came to St. Paul in 1870,
and in 1871 to Stillwater, where he accepted the position of cashier
of the Stillwater Lumberman's Bank. In 1882 he was appointed by
President Arthur United States bank comptroller. He was removed by
President Cleveland. He is now a resident of New York City, and is
engaged in banking.
DWIGHT M. SABIN was born at Marseilles, La Salle county, Illinois,
April 25, 1843. The ill health of the father, who was an extensive
land owner and stock raiser, necessitated a removal to the seaside in
Connecticut in 1856. In consequence of the continued ill health of
the father and his death in 1864, young Dwight was deprived of the
thorough education to which he aspired, and, being the oldest son,
found the cares and responsibilities of managing his father's business
thrown upon his shoulders while he was yet a boy. In 1867 he removed
with his mother and younger brother to Minnesota, the year following
to Stillwater, where he engaged in business with the firm of Seymour,
Sabin & Co. This firm contracted for the convict labor in the state
prison, and engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds and
cooperage. The business in 1874 was extended and made to include the
manufacture of agricultural implements, including also a machine,
boiler shop and foundry, until it is now one of the most extensive
establishments in the country.
Mr. Sabin is also interested in other manufactures, among them the C.
N. Nelson Lumber Company and the Duluth Iron Company. In 1882 Mr.
Sabin was the prime organizer of the Northwestern Car Company, with a
capital of $5,000,000. The company was to receive a bonus from the
city of Stillwater of $100,000 in bonds, on certain conditions. The
company purchased the interests of Seymour, Sabin & Co., thereby
coming into possession of their immense manufactories, including those
managed under the prison contracts, and elected Mr. Sabin president,
and was making rapid progress toward the completion of its plans,
when, owing to the stringency of the financial world, it was compelled
to make an assignment.
While Mr. Sabin has been busy with the management of his vast
manufacturing establishments, he has been no less active and
conspicuous as a public spirited citizen, ever taking a great interest
in the affairs of his adopted city, of the State and country at large,
and his talents and efficiency have been recognized by his fellow
citizens, who elected him to the state senate in 1871-72-73, and to
the house of representatives in 1878 and 1881. He has several times
been a delegate to the National Republican convention, and was
chairman of the convention at which James G. Blaine was nominated for