Fifty Years In The Northwest
Territory and State, but may be mentioned here as the founder of the
village of Columbus, in 1855 and 1856. He expended $60,000 in building
a hotel and other improvements, not a vestige of which now remains.
FRIDLEY.
This town, including fractional township 30, range 24, was organized
as Manomin county in 1857, and held that organization, with A. M.
Fridley as chairman of county commissioners, until 1870, when it was
disorganized and attached to Anoka county, retaining Manomin as its
town name until 1879, when it was changed to Fridley by legislative
enactment. John Sullivan, G. W. Thurber and Thomas Casey were the
first supervisors. The town contains about thirteen sections of land
in the eastern part of township 30, range 24, pleasantly located on
the east bank of the Mississippi. It is traversed by Rice creek.
JOHN BANFIL settled here in 1848 and was the first postmaster of the
village of Manomin, of which he was proprietor. He represented the
Twenty-fourth district as senator in the first state legislature. He
removed to Bayfield, Wisconsin, and died there in 1886. It has been
improved by the introduction of large manufacturing establishments. A
flouring mill was built in 1871. In 1887 $100,000 was expended in
manufactories, and real estate to the amount of $400,000 changed
hands. It has one church building (Episcopal), erected in 1858.
GROW
Includes township 32, range 24. It is watered by Rum river and Coon
creek. George Branch settled here in 1853, and about the same period,
J. C. Frost, Joseph McKinney, Andrew J. Smith and Walter D. Gary. The
town was organized in 1857 as Round Lake, but changed to Grow in 1860,
in honor of Senator Grow of Pennsylvania. The first supervisors were
Silas O. Lum, W. W. Hank and Wm. Staples. The town records were burned
in 1856. In 1873 the Catholics erected a church building.
HAM LAKE,
Formerly a part of Grow, was set off and organized in 1871. It
includes township 32, range 23. It was settled chiefly by Swedes and
Norwegians, of whom Matts Gilbertson, of Norway, was first to locate
here. There were many transient persons among the first comers, but
the first permanent settler of any nationality was Josiah Hart, from
Vermont, who came in 1857. He died in 1876. John Scully came in 1858.
The first supervisors were John Rowe, A. B. Lingard and C. Olsen. The
Swedes and Norwegians have each a house of worship.
LINWOOD.
This town, consisting of township 33, and twelve sections of township
34, range 22, lies in the northeastern part of the county. It is well
watered and traversed by a chain of lakes. The first settlement was by
Joseph Sanson, a German, who located here in 1855. W. Dickens, an
Englishman, came in 1857. Linwood was set off from Bethel and
Columbus, and organized September, 1871. The first town officers were
J. G. Green, F. McGregor and Michael Hurley. There is a post office in
the village of Linwood. A Methodist church was built in 1873, and a
saw and feed mill, by Shanton & Haskell, in 1875.
L. S. ARNOLD, a native of Montreal, Canada, born in 1820, came to
Minnesota in 1847. He seems to have made his home at Linwood, which he
left, but after living some years in Michigan and Missouri, he again
returned in 1866.
SAMUEL RIDGE came to Linwood in 1860.
J. G. GREEN, born in 1819, located here in 1863, and since 1867 has
served as postmaster in Linwood village. He has served several years
as county commissioner. The Green brothers are descendants of the
Plymouth Pilgrims.
G. W. HASKELL was an early settler. He originally came from Skowhegan,
Maine. He died in 1885.
MICHAEL M. RYAN was born in Ireland in 1845. He came to America in
1858 and settled in Linwood with his father's family. Two brothers
enlisted as volunteers during the Civil War, and died in the service.
THE HURLEY FAMILY come to Linwood some time in the '50s. The sons are
prominent business men at North Branch, Pine City and Hinckley. The
father moved to North Branch in 1887.
OAK GROVE
Includes township 33, range 24. It abounds in small lakes and the Rum
river drains the western portion. The first settlers were David
Rogers, Moses Seeley and James Nutter, in 1855. Dennis Mahoney, of
Ireland, born in 1813, came to Oak Grove in 1856, held the office of
supervisor fourteen years, and that of justice of the peace
continuously to the present. The town was organized in 1857, with the
following supervisors: A. W. Norris, Dennis E. Mahoney and Peter
Brennan. Rose, daughter of William Smith, was the first child born.
RAMSEY,
Named in honor of the first territorial governor, occupies fractional
township 32, range 25, in the western part of the county, on the
Mississippi river. It was organized in 1857 as Watertown, which name
was changed to Dover, and then to Ramsey, in 1885. In 1849 an Indian
trading house was opened in section 19, by T. A. Holmes and Thomas
Beatty. The first permanent settlement was made by a New England
colony in 1850, amongst whom were P. Shumway and sons (John and
Peter), Nathan and Benjamin Shumway, and Cornelius Pitman. In 1852 the
town plat of Itasca was surveyed in sections 19 and 30. William
Vincent, Thomas Miller and J. C. Bowers came to Ramsey in 1852. Mr.
Bowers was postmaster for twenty-five years at Itasca, and died Oct.
4, 1879. The first supervisors were Jared Benson, Isaac Varney and
Cornelius Pitman.
ST. FRANCIS
Includes the two southern tiers of sections of township 34, ranges 24
and 25. The first settlers were George Armsby and E. Fowler, in 1855.
The town was organized in 1857, but the records have been lost. Dwight
Woodbury, who has been prominent in the history of the county, located
a water power flour and saw mill and built a hotel on Rum river where
the village of St. Francis has since been built, and surveyed the
village plat. The mills were destroyed by fire in 1869, but were
immediately rebuilt. In 1880 a bridge across Rum river was built at an
expense of $7,000. Mr. Woodbury's investments have been over $25,000.
Mr. Streetly opened the first store and was first postmaster at St.
Francis.
AN INDIAN RIOT.
In the fall of 1847 a German baron, a single man, and Wm. Noot and
wife settled on Big island, in the Mississippi, about two miles above
the mouth of Rum river. They were traders. In March, 1848, in
consequence of the revolution in Germany, the baron returned to his
native land. Noot remained until June, when the Winnebago Indians were
removed by Gen. Fletcher. Pending their removal the Winnebagoes made a
raid on the trading post, confiscated the whisky and provisions and
fastened Noot in a stable and his wife and child in a small cabin,
where they were found by S. P. Folsom the same day, surrounded by
drunken Indians and in imminent peril. Noot appealed to Folsom for
aid. The Indians, however, were furious and threatened Folsom's life.
The chief, "Whistling Thunder," used his influence in a novel way to
quiet the turbulent, by placing before them all that remained of the
barrel of whisky, which they eagerly drank. Folsom then released Noot.
The wife, who had been previously released, ran with her child,
frightened out of her wits, no one knew whither. After a long search
the captain found her, and at great risk took her across a slough to
the mainland in a canoe, which nearly sank before the shore was
reached. Noot afterward went to St. Paul and purchased eighty acres of
land, now in the heart of the city. He was a member of the house,
Fourth and Fifth Minnesota legislatures. At present he resides at Big
Lake, Sherburne county.
JARED BENSON.--Mr. Benson was the son of Jared and Sallie Taft Benson,
and was born in Blackstone. Massachusetts, Nov. 8, 1821. The farm on
which he was born was purchased of the Indians by his great, great
grandfather. His paternal grandfather, Benoni Benson, and his maternal
grandfather, Ebenezer Taft, served in the Revolutionary War, the
former as a lieutenant. Jared Benson, his father, served in the war of
1812.
Mr. Benson had a fair common school education and occupied himself in
farming until 1844, when he joined the corps of engineers who were
locating the Providence & Worcester railroad. He was afterward agent
for the company and superintendent of transportation. In 1856 he came
to Minnesota, locating at Anoka and engaging chiefly in farming and
stock raising. He has served his townsmen as justice of the peace and
county commissioner. For some years he has been a director of the St.
Paul & Pacific railroad. He served as clerk of the house of
representatives in 1859-60, and was afterward member and speaker of
the house for three years, including the extra session of 1862. He was
revenue collector for his district in 1870-72, and was again elected
to the legislature in 1878. He was married to Martha Taft, of Mendon,
Massachusetts, Feb. 5, 1857. They have five children.
JAMES C. FROST was born in Rumford, Oxford county, Maine, in 1816. He
was raised on a farm. On reaching his majority he came to Jefferson
county, Wisconsin, where he lived fourteen years. In 1852 he came to
St. Anthony and in 1853 to Anoka. He held the office of postmaster
several years and was again reappointed in 1888; served fifteen years
as sheriff and as a member of the legislature in 1857-58. He was in
the employ of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company for nine years.
He was married in 1840 and has a family of eight daughters.
A. J. MCKENNEY, born in Lowell, Maine, Feb. 20, 1829, came to St.
Anthony in 1850 and followed lumbering until 1854, when he came to
Ramsey, Anoka county, and located in section 2 as a farmer. He has
been a prominent citizen.
JOHN HENRY BATZLE was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1830; came to
America in 1837; lived in New York until 1855, when he came to
Minnesota and located in what is now the town of Columbus, Anoka
county, where he engaged in farming. He has been a member of the
Methodist church for twenty-five years. He is in every way much
esteemed as a citizen. He was married in 1854, but has no children.
JOHN R. BEAN was born at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, April 25, 1831;
came to St. Anthony in 1849 and to Ramsey, Anoka county, in 1850,
where he made a farm in section 33. He says this was the first farming
done in Anoka county. From 1850 to 1859 he lived alternately at his
home in St. Anthony and his farm in Ramsey. In 1870 he removed to
Anoka city, where he is engaged in lumbering.
WILLIAM STAPLES was born in 1815, in York county, Maine, where he was
married in 1840. He came to St. Anthony in 1850. He has lived in the
town of Grow, of which he was one of the founders, for many years. He
is a farmer and brickmason.
ABRAHAM MCCORMACK FRIDLEY was born May 21, 1818, at Corning, Steuben
county, New York. His parents were Pennsylvanians, of German descent.
He received a common school education. At the age of twenty-one years
he was appointed deputy sheriff of Steuben county, and was afterward
collector of canal tolls at Corning. In April, 1851, he was appointed
by President Fillmore agent for the Winnebago Indians then at Long
Prairie, Todd county. In that year he was also admitted to practice
law. In 1853 he removed to St. Paul and was elected sheriff of Ramsey
county. The next year he removed to St. Anthony Falls and was elected
to the house of the territorial legislature. A little later he removed
to Manomin, now Fridley. He was elected a representative in the
legislatures of 1869-70-71 and 79. For many years he cultivated a
large farm at Becker. For ten years he has been in the employ of the
Manitoba railroad as land agent. He is a Democrat, and in 1860 was
delegate to the conventions at Charleston and Baltimore. Mr. Fridley
died March 26, 1888, leaving a widow and three sons, Henry C., Frank
and David H.