chapter concerning the early history, is one of the first pioneers,
having come in 1837 with John Boyce to the valley of the St. Croix in
a mackinaw boat, towed from St. Louis to the mouth of Lake St. Croix
by a steamer, from which point they poled their boat up to the St.
Croix falls, where they landed on the west side. From this point they
made a portage and cordelled their boat, and with poles and lines
ascended to Snake river. He engaged for some time in lumbering, and
worked at the falls until 1841, when he settled on a beautiful farm,
on a part of which Afton is now situated. Mr. Mackey was born in
Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1804, and (in 1888) is still living. His wife
died in 1873.
BAYTOWN
Comprises the north half of fractional township 28, range 20. The
surface is somewhat uneven and broken, owing to the lake bluff
formation, but there is much good farming land. Originally it was
covered with oaks or oak openings. It derives its name from a bay
indenting the western shore of Lake St. Croix. At South Stillwater
village a considerable stream, known as Spring creek, flows from some
large springs and forms a good water power in its descent to the lake.
Two flour mills are located on this stream. In 1842 Francis Bruce
built a house on the present site of the office of the St. Croix
Lumber Company. In the same year Norman Kittson built a trading post
at what has been since known as Kittson's Point. Both of these parties
left in 1844 and John Allen built a house and cultivated a field on
the east side of Kittson's Point. Allen sold the place in 1846 and
removed to California. He raised the first crops in the town. In 1847
Joseph Pero became a prominent settler and made him a good home on
Spring creek. Other parties made claims and abandoned or sold them.
Fiske & Marty located here in 1848. In 1860 came Ambrose Secrest and
some others. In 1852 Nelson, Loomis & Co. built a steam saw mill on
the bay. In 1854 Secrest & Booth built a flour mill on Spring creek.
In 1858 Baytown was organized as a town. The first supervisors were
Ambrose Secrest, John Parker and W. H. Crosby; John J. Hale, clerk.
BAYTOWN VILLAGE.
Socrates Nelson, D. B. Loomis, Levi Churchill, Daniel Mears, and James
W. Hinton, in February, 1856, platted the village of Baytown. Harvey
Wilson was the surveyor. The location was on the lake shore, lots 3
and 4, section 11, and lot 7, section 2. In 1872 a post office was
established called South Stillwater; William Graves, postmaster.
BANGOR VILLAGE
Was platted May. 1857, by C. I. and J. E. Whitney, Albert and Edwin
Caldwell, Wm. Hollinshead, Isaac Staples, and A. J. Short; J. J.
Carleton, surveyor. It was situated on the shore of the lake south of
Baytown.
MIDDLETOWN VILLAGE
Was platted in July, 1857, in parts of sections 2 and 3, by William
Holcomb; Myron B. Shepard, surveyor.
SOUTH STILLWATER
Was platted in January, 1873, by the St. Croix Railway Improvement
Company; Peter Berkey, president; A. B. Stickney, secretary; J. S.
Sewall, surveyor. South Stillwater was made to include the platted
villages of Baytown, Bangor and Middletown. It has prospered greatly
as a manufacturing village. In 1854 Torinus, Staples & Co. built a
steam saw mill, to which from time to time they added various
manufacturing establishments. Subsequently the firm became the St.
Croix Lumber Company. In the spring of 1876 this company sustained a
loss by fire on their mill and appurtenances to the value of $70,000,
which was not insured: With indomitable energy they rebuilt, and
prospered. The two leading business men in this firm were Louis
Torinus and William Chalmers. Turnbull's steam saw mill, on the lake
shore, has a capacity of 100,000 feet per day. The property is valued
at $70,000. The South Stillwater Lumber Company has a mill with a
capacity of 90,000 feet per day, with planer and other machinery
attached, in which they have invested $70,000. The firm consists of D.
Tozer, A. T. Jenks, H. McGlinn, E. W. Durant, and R. Wheeler. The
mills of the Herschey Lumber Company, valued at $70,000, have a
capacity of 100,000 feet per day. The proprietor, ---- Herschey, lives
in Muscatine, Iowa.
The Stillwater Dock Company was organized in 1877. The company
consists of Durant, Wheeler & Co., St. Croix Lumber Company and Jonah
Bachelder. They have built many fine steamers and barges. Their
repairing docks are a great convenience to steamboat lumbermen. The
South Stillwater Soap Factory, owned by McKenzie & Co., deserves
honorable mention. The construction of the branch railroad from
Stillwater in 1872, and the St. Paul & Milwaukee railroad, built in
1883, have greatly increased the prosperity of the village. Aside from
mills and manufactories there are many private residences, one hotel,
stores, shops, a Lutheran church, and a school house. There are three
cemeteries in the village limits known as Hazlewood, St. Michael's,
and the potter's field. The block for the former was contributed by
Secrest & Pero, in 1858. St. Michael's was established by the
Catholics in 1873. The potter's field was established by the city of
Stillwater in 1873. The first death in the limits of South Stillwater
was that of Sylvester, son of Joseph Pero. South Stillwater was
organized in 1881. First board of officers were: President, B. E.
Meigs; clerk, Edward Ivison; councilmen, Richard Burns, C. M.
Anderson, Charles Kregor; justice of the peace, Ambrose Secrest. South
Stillwater has a graded school with four departments.
COTTAGE GROVE
Includes township 27 and a fractional part of township 26, range 21.
It was organized as a town in October, 1858; James S. Norris,
moderator; William Watson, clerk; John Atkinson, Jacob Moshier, Joel
Munger, judges of election; William Watson, John Atkinson, B. Winant;
supervisors. Wm. Ferguson, Lewis Hill, James S. Davis, Jonathan Brown,
and Jacob Moshier were the first settlers, locating here in 1844. The
first marriage was that of Henry W. Crosby to Hannah Waterman, in
1854. The first child born was Nathan, son of John Atkinson, in 1846;
the first death was that of Mehitable, wife of P. P. Furber, in 1851.
A post office was established at Cottage Grove village in 1850; J. W.
Furber was postmaster. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad was
completed through the town in 1871. With its fine natural advantages
of soil, and its convenient access to markets, Cottage Grove is well
settled and prosperous.
COTTAGE GROVE VILLAGE
Is situated in section 12. It is a pleasant inland village, well
supplied with stores, shops and dwellings. It has one hotel, one
school house and three churches, Congregational, Evangelical German
Lutheran and Methodist. The Congregational society was organized in
1858, Rev. B. Hall, pastor; the Evangelical in 1874; the Methodist
some years later. The Universalists also have an organization. The
village was platted in April, 1871, by John P. and S. W. Furber, James
A. McClusky, Margaret M. Ellwell and Clarence Smith, in the southwest
quarter of the northwest quarter of section 12; J. W. Furber,
surveyor.
LANGDON VILLAGE
Was platted in December, 1871, in the southwest quarter of section 21,
on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad. It contains
an elevator, hotel, three stores, a school house, Catholic church and
other buildings. The Catholic church was erected in 1873. Father
Huxley is the officiating clergyman. The village was platted by Joseph
J. Dodge; C. B. Lowell, surveyor.
JOSEPH W. FURBER was born in New Hampshire in 1813. His ancestors came
to this country with the early colonists of New England. His father
was a soldier in the war of 1812. During his minority he worked at
farming, obtaining, meanwhile, an education in the common schools and
at Foxcroft Academy, Maine. He emigrated to the valley of the
Mississippi in 1838, locating at Alton, Illinois, where he remained
for two years. In 1840 he came to St. Croix Falls and engaged in
lumbering until 1844, when he located in Cottage Grove. In 1846 Mr.
Furber represented Crawford county in the Wisconsin legislature as
representative. He traveled on foot as far as Prairie du Chien on his
way to the capital of the Territory. He represented the First district
in the first Minnesota territorial legislature and was elected speaker
of the house; was again a representative in the eighth territorial
legislature in 1857; was a member of the tenth and seventeenth state
legislatures. In 1857 he was commissioned major general of Minnesota
militia. He was also appointed United States marshal of Minnesota by
President Fillmore. He died at his residence in Cottage Grove in 1883.
He was a man of strong intellect, sound judgment and high moral
character. His widow, Sarah Wimples, to whom he was married in 1843,
one son, William W., and two daughters survive him.
SAMUEL W. FURBER was born in Stafford county, New Hampshire, in 1819.
He removed with his parents to Milo, Maine, and came to Cottage Grove
in 1860.
THEODORE FURBER was born in 1817, in Farmington, New Hampshire; came
West in 1845 and located at St. Croix Falls. In the following year he
moved to Cottage Grove. Mr. Furber was married to Sarah J. Hale in
1843, in Skowhegan, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Furber visited California in
1867. In 1885 they removed to California.
JAMES S. NORRIS.--James S. Norris was born in Monmouth, Kennebec
county, Maine, in 1810. He was married at Newport in 1845 to Miss
Haskell. Mr. Norris came to St. Croix Falls in 1839, removed to
Washington county in 1842, where he settled on a farm at Cottage
Grove, and lived continuously till his death, March 5, 1874. He raised
the first crops in Cottage Grove, and though he made farming his chief
business, his abilities were such that his fellow citizens intrusted
him with many official positions, in all of which he acquitted himself
with honor. He acted as county commissioner, was a member of the first
territorial council, member of the sixth and seventh territorial house
of representatives, and speaker of the sixth, a member of the
Democratic wing of the constitutional convention, and of the twelfth
state legislature (house).
LEWIS HILL was born at Hollis, Maine, in 1822. In 1843 he came to the
valley of the St. Croix and located at St. Croix Falls. In 1844 he
came to Cottage Grove and engaged in farming, and, excepting a few
years spent in Dakota county, has resided there since. He was married
to Abbie Welch in 1854. Their living children are Emma C., Jessie L.
and Frederick E. G.
JACOB MOSHIER was born in Nova Scotia in 1820. He removed with his
parents in 1829 to Canada West. In 1839 he removed to Illinois, in
1843 to St. Croix Falls, and in 1845 to Cottage Grove, where he still
resides. He is a house carpenter, and has also been engaged in
farming. He was married in 1854 to Maria Shatto. Their children are
Annie F., Mahala, William, Addie, Grant, Laura, and George.
WILLIAM FERGUSON came to Cottage Grove in 1844, and made a claim in
section 26.
JOHN ATKINSON was born in Lewiston, Maine, April 4, 1805. He remained
in his native town until 1833, resided in Pittsfield until 1844, when
he came West and located in Cottage Grove. He pre-empted eighty acres
of land, purchased additions to it from time to time, and made for
himself a very attractive home, where he resided thirty years. Mr.
Atkinson was twice married, first to Hannah Moore, at Lewiston, Maine,
who died in 1874, then to Mrs. A. B. Fiske, of Baytown, at which place
he now resides, an aged, much respected citizen. His first wife left
four sons and two daughters.
DENMARK.
This town is located on the point of land between the Mississippi
river and Lake St. Croix, and includes the territory lying south of
Afton, and between Cottage Grove and Lake St. Croix, fractional
townships 26 and 27, range 20. The surface is elevated, somewhat
rolling, without lakes or streams, and the soil rich and well adapted
to agricultural purposes. The early history of the town is
substantially that of its earliest settlement, Point Douglas. It was
organized in 1858. Supervisors, John Shearer, Thomas Wright and David
Hone.
POINT DOUGLAS.
Levi Hertzell and Oscar Burris, young men, located in 1839 on the
extreme point of the delta between the Mississippi and St. Croix lake,
where they cut wood and sold it to the steamboats. They built a log
cabin and store, under one roof, and traded with Indians, discharged
soldiers and French settlers. They were diligent and industrious, and
prospered. In 1846 they built a frame store building. Their trade
increased and they grew wealthy. Messrs. Levi Hertzell, Oscar Burris
and David Hone, in 1849, platted the village of Point Douglas, Harvey
Wilson acting as surveyor. It was named in honor of Stephen A.
Douglas.
The following settlers came to Point Douglas prior to 1850: Wm. B.
Dibble, the Truaxes, Harley D. White, David Barber, E. H. Whittaker,
James Shearer, Martin Leavitt, Simon Shingledecker, H. A. Carter,
Thomas Hetherington, Geo. W. Campbell, John Allibone, Mark Wright,
John H. Craig, John O. Henry, and George Harris. The first post office
north of Prairie du Chien was established in 1840, on the site of
Prescott, at that time known as "Mouth of St. Croix." This office was
removed to the opposite side of the lake in 1841, and Levi Hertzell
was appointed postmaster. The first school was taught in 1850, by
John Craig. Rev. Joseph Hurlbut, a Methodist minister, preached here
in 1848. In 1656 Rev. T. Wilcoxson, Episcopalian, established "St.
Paul's Parish." Mr. Woodruff erected a saw mill in 1851. The
enterprise was not successful. A. J. Short built a saw mill in 1858,
which eventually passed into the hands of John Dudley. The first road
to Point Douglas was the Stillwater county road, located in 1847. The
Point Douglas and Lake Superior military road was built in 1849. A
ferry was established in 1851 from Point Douglas to Prescott, which
was chartered in 1856, and controlled by W. B. Dibble, who also
established a ferry from Point Douglas to Hastings in 1857. The first
marriage was that of Oscar Burris to Amanda M. Henry, Nov. 14, 1847.
The first birth was that of Emmet M. Hone, born in 1845, son of David
and Mary G. Hone.
LEVI HERTZELL came to Point Douglas in 1839, and was quite successful
in business. In 1846 he was married to Rhoda C. Pond, an adopted
daughter of Cornelius Lyman, of Stillwater. In 1849, in company with
Burris and Hone, he platted the village of Point Douglas. In the
spring of 1856, while in New York, whither he had gone to purchase
goods, he mysteriously disappeared, and nothing has since been heard
from him. Mrs. Hertzell and her three children were left in a
dependent condition, she being able to realize but little from the
property held in Point Douglas. She soon after married again. Of her
subsequent history nothing is known.
OSCAR BURRIS, associated with Levi Hertzell as one of the first
settlers of Point Douglas and pioneer merchants and traders, left in
1849 for California.
DAVID HONE.--The following statement was given me, on request, by Mr.
Hone himself: "I was born in Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York,
April 5, 1808, and was married to Mary Henry in 1835. We came by stage
over the mountains of Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh and by steamboat from
there to Cairo, Illinois, and stopped at the Marine settlement until
Sept. 10, 1838. At that time I embarked on the steamboat Ariel, at St.
Louis, and in twenty-five days reached the head of Lake St. Croix,
from which point I proceeded on a flatboat, propelled by poles, to St.
Croix Falls, the trip occupying two days. I made a pine timber claim
on an island opposite the mouth of Kettle river. On my return, which
was made with eight companions in birch canoes, I stopped at Marine
and made a claim where the Marine mill now stands, intending to build
a saw mill. We then proceeded in our canoes to Galena, where we took
passage on the Ariel for St. Louis, landing there November 10th, after
an absence of two months, more than half of which had been spent on
the water. We reported favorably, and, organizing a company of
thirteen at Marine settlement, Illinois, with a capital of $26,000,
got our material together at St. Louis during the winter, and embarked
on the Fayette, May 4, 1839, for the point afterward known as Marine
Mills, Minnesota. We arrived May 13th and commenced at once to work
upon the projected mill, which was completed Sept. 1, 1839. I remained
at the mill until March, 1841, when I removed to Gray Cloud. I made a
claim at Point Douglas in 1843, and moved upon it in April of that
year. In 1844 I built the Union House, the first frame house built in
the territory now embraced in Minnesota. At Gray Cloud I acted as
justice of the peace. I was appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff R. D.
Lester of Crawford county, and held the office until Minnesota
Territory was organized. My first wife died in November, 1864, leaving
three sons, Edwin A., John H. and Emmet M. In 1865 I was married to
Electa Barnes, of St. Paul. In 1872 I removed to Hastings, my present
home." Mr. Hone died at Hastings, July 11, 1887.
WILLIAM B. DIBBLE was born in the state of New York in 1815. He spent
part of his early life in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama and Illinois.
He came to the St. Croix valley in 1839, and was one of the founders
of Marine, Minnesota, from whence he removed to Point Douglas in 1844,
and established ferries across Lake St. Croix to Prescott, and across
the Mississippi river to Hastings. He also engaged in farming. He was
twice married, first in 1844, to Eliza McCauslin, who died in 1847,
then to Mary Wright, who, with nine children, survives him. Mr. Dibble
died in 1884.
GEORGE HARRIS was born in Pennsylvania in 1824. In 1827 his father
removed to Illinois and was killed during the Black Hawk War while
acting as sentry. At the age of eight years George commenced working
on a farm, and continued nine years. He then removed to Missouri and
remained until 1845, when he came to Stillwater and engaged in
lumbering. Soon afterward he settled on a farm near Point Douglas,
where he still resides. His family consists of a wife (formerly Alice
White) and seven children.
HARLEY D. WHITE was born in Orange county, Vermont, in 1812; came to
Prairie du Chien in 1840 and engaged in selling goods; removed to Red
Rock in 1844 where he sold goods in partnership with Daniel Hopkins,
and settled on a farm at Point Douglas in 1847. Some years later he
removed to Beattie, Kansas. He was married to Mrs. E. Tainter, of St.
Croix Falls, in 1849. She died in 1850, leaving a daughter, who was
adopted into the family of W. H. Tinker, of St. Paul. This daughter
became a teacher and taught in the public schools of St. Paul for a
period of eighteen years, and with her earnings purchased a home for
her foster parents. Mr. White married a second time and reared two
sons, one an editor, now residing in Alameda, California. The other is
engaged in farming in Kansas. Mr. White died in April, 1888.
THOMAS HETHERINGTON was born in Northumberland, England, in 1818; came
to Canada at the age of sixteen years and to Point Douglas in 1849 and
settled on a farm at Basswood Grove, where he died in 1885, leaving
his family in good circumstances. He was held in great esteem as an
upright man by those who knew him.
JAMES SHEARER was born at Palmer, Massachusetts, Oct. 30, 1815. He was
engaged in the mercantile business from 1837 to 1843, when he sold out
and went to Canada. He came to Point Douglas May 8, 1849, and engaged
in farming. He held various offices of trust in the county and town.
He served as county commissioner for 6 years, postmaster 2 years,
chairman of town board of Denmark for 4 years, and town treasurer 12
years. Mr. Shearer was married to Minerva J. Taylor, March 6, 1866.
Their children are Marcus, Martha and Irvin.
SIMON SHINGLEDECKER was born in Germany in 1815; came to America in
1831 and located in Ohio, where he worked nine years as a farmer. He
removed thence to Illinois, then to St. Louis, and in 1845 came to
Hudson, Wisconsin, where he engaged in lumbering. In 1848 he located
on a farm near Point Douglas, which is still his home. In 1850 he was
married to Margaret Truax. They have eight children.
CALEB TRAUX was born in Mohawk valley in 1810. He became a citizen of
Montreal and was there married to Elisabeth Morehouse. He removed to
Point Douglas in 1849, where he followed the business of farmer and
house carpenter. He was a representative in the fourth territorial
legislature. He died at his home in 1878, leaving seven sons and three
daughters.
ABRAHAM TRUAX was born in Brooklynn, Canada West. He came to Point
Douglas in 1848; removed to Hastings in 1850. While there he was
elected sheriff of Dakota county. He returned to Point Douglas in
1859, where he still resides. He was married to Mary Lahey in 1859.
Mrs. Truax died in 1867, leaving five children.
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL was born in Canton, New York, April 8, 1810. He
received a common school and academic education. His father died in
1826, leaving to George W. the care of the family and the management
of the estate. He was married in 1832, at Cornwell, Canada West, to
Margaret Harriet Robinson. He came to Point Douglas in 1848, where he
has lived since, engaged in farming and lumbering. He was a
representative in the first state legislature, 1857-58. Mrs. Campbell
died at her home in Point Douglas in 1886, aged seventy-four years.
She had been a member of the Episcopal church for sixty years. Six of
her seven surviving children with the aged husband and father attended
the funeral. Mr. Campbell died in 1887.
FOREST LAKE.
This town includes township 32, range 21. The surface was originally
covered with hardwood timber, interspersed with wild meadows; the
western part with oak, maple, poplar and tamarack. The first settlers
were Louis Schiel, Wilson, Rice and Cyrus Gray. Later came Simmons,
Posten, Marsh, York, and Banty. The first marriage was that of Francis
Cartwright to Mary Long, in 1865. The first child born was Rebecca
Simmons. The first death was that of Frederic Veith, in 1867. In 1873
the first school district was organized. A Methodist church was
organized in 1876 by Rev. Adam Ringer. The Forest Lake Lodge, I. O. G.
T., was organized in 1879. A post office was established in 1868;
Michael Marsh, postmaster. The town of Forest Lake was organized in
1874; W. D. Benedict, A. C. York and George Simmons, supervisors;
Louis Schiel, clerk.
FOREST LAKE VILLAGE
Was platted May, 1869, in the northwest part of the town, by Luther
Mendenhall, agent of the Western Land Company, and surveyed by B. W.
Brunson. It is beautifully located on the shore of Forest lake and is
rapidly becoming a popular place of resort for summer tourists and
pleasure parties. The lake is almost separated into three distinct
parts by points or capes. It is five miles from the northwest to the
southeast extremity and is nearly two miles wide at the widest point.
Its shores are well timbered and approach the water's edge in gravelly
slopes. The indications are that the lake was once much larger. In the
south lakes the water is deepest, averaging twenty feet. The south
lakes have also higher banks. The lake covers territory in sections 8
to 15, inclusive, of township 32, range 21.
CAPT. MICHAEL MARSH is a native of Wesemburg, Germany, and has resided
at this lake nineteen years. He has done much to make it attractive as
a place of resort. He has built a hotel with seventy-five rooms for
the accommodation of summer visitors, and has placed a steamer, the
Germania, upon the lake. Capt. Marsh was married in Germany and has a
family of two sons and three daughters.
GRANT.
This town was organized in 1858, under the name of Greenfield. In 1864
the name was changed to Grant. It comprises township 30, range 21. The
soil is a sand and clay loam, with clay gravel subsoil. The surface
varies from undulating to rolling, and was originally well timbered
with white, black and burr oak. White Bear lake lies partly within the
township, occupying about 1,200 acres. Other and smaller lakes are
Pine, Stone Quarry, Deep, Ben's, and Long.
The first officers of the town were: Moderator, Joseph Crane; clerk,
Jesse H. Soule; supervisors, Albion Masterman, James Rutherford and
Joseph Crane. The first settlers were Albion Masterman and William
Rutherford, in 1849. Soon after came James Rutherford, Thomas Ramsdell
and George Bennett. Albion Masterman built the first house, and his
wife, formerly Eliza Middleton, was the first woman in the settlement.
The first public highway through the town was the Rum river road. The
first child born was Castinea O. Rutherford. The first death was that
of James, son of James Rutherford. The first school house was built in
section 1, in 1856. Joseph Crane taught the first school. The first
sermon was preached by Rev. ---- Hamlin, a Free Will Baptist, but the
first religious organization was that of the German Protestant
Lutheran. Rev. Siegrist was the first pastor. The church building is
in section 2, and was built in 1872. The Spiritualists had an
organization in 1868, of which Jesse H. Soule was president, and
George Walker secretary. Summer meetings were held, and lecturers from
abroad invited to address them.
DELLWOOD VILLAGE
Was platted in September, 1882, on the line of the Stillwater & White
Bear railroad, on the shore of White Bear lake; Augustus K. and Carrie
Barnum, proprietors; Simon & Morton, surveyors.
EAGLE CITY
Was platted in 1854; proprietors, K. Starkey and Chas. G. Pettys;
surveyor, Daniel S. Turpen. It is located in the southwest quarter of
section 27.
MAHTOMEDI
Was platted in July, 1883; proprietors, Mahtomedi Assembly; surveyors,
Hone & Holland. White Bear lake has become a noted resort for tourists
and pleasure parties. A steamboat plies regularly upon its waters
during the open months, and the Stillwater & White Bear, the St. Paul
& Duluth and the Wisconsin Central railroads render it easy of access.
It is made attractive by the beauty of its scenery, the clearness and
brightness of its waters and its convenient distance from St. Paul,
Minneapolis and Stillwater. The Mahtomedi Association have erected
here a fine hotel, assembly houses and numerous cottages for the
accommodation of summer visitors. Summer schools are held here under
the auspices of the Chautauqua Association. The grounds are also
adapted to camp meetings, conventions and military parades.
WILDWOOD PARK
Was platted in 1883, by the Park Association; Elmer & Newell,
surveyors. It is located on White Bear lake, on the line of the
Stillwater & White Bear railroad.
WILLIAM ELLIOTT was born in Ireland in 1825. His parents removed to
New Brunswick in 1830, whence he came to Minnesota in 1850, and
located in Grant in 1862, devoting himself to farming. He had been a
pilot and a lumberman. His second wife was Mary Crawford. They have
eight children.
FREDERICK LAMB was born in Prussia in 1825; served three years in the
Prussian Army, traveled some time for a manufacturing firm in Germany
through Switzerland, France, England, and Italy; came to America in
1848, and to Stillwater in 1849. For some time he was unsettled as to
his location, but in 1852 made his home in Stillwater, where he
remained until 1866, when he located in Grant. He was married in 1851
to Lena Laroche. A son and a daughter lost their lives by accident.
Three daughters are living.
JAMES RUTHERFORD was born in the parish of Elsdon, Northumberland
county, England, in 1812. In 1818 he came with his parents to America.
In 1849 he came to the valley of the St. Croix and located in what is
now the town of Grant. He built a flour mill on Brown's creek. He
engaged in farming and also in lumbering for many years. He was
married to Elisabeth Smith in 1836. He died at his residence Sept. 14,
1874. Four children survive him.
JESSE H. SOULE has been a prominent and enterprising citizen of Grant
since 1854. He was born at Avon, Franklin county, Maine, in 1823. Mr.
Soule came to Grant when there were but six families in the town, and
pre-empted one hundred and fifty acres of land, where he made him a
pleasant and attractive home. He has held many positions of trust,
having been elected town clerk, which office he held twenty-two years,
justice of the peace, assessor, superintendent of schools and county
commissioner. He represented his district in the house of the sixth
state legislature in 1864. Mr. Soule has been married three times. His
first wife left one daughter, his second wife two sons, twins, Osmar
and Winfield; his third wife, who still lives, Rachel Michener, to
whom he was married in 1871, has three children, Alice, Olive and
Reuel.
Albion Masterman and William Rutherford, the first settlers of Grant
township, are mentioned among the biographies of the chapter on
Stillwater.
LAKELAND.
This town includes the south half of fractional township 29, range 20,
and comprises about 65,920 acres. The surface is quite diversified,
ranging from undulating prairie land to hills. Before settlement there
were prairies and oak openings. The soil is productive and is well
cultivated.
The first settlers were French, who located along the lake shore in
1838-39. These early settlers raised the first crops, but were
gardeners rather than farmers, and were transient. The first American
settler was Henry W. Crosby, who came in 1842, and located on the site
of the present village of Lakeland. George Clark, a young man, came
with him and made a claim near the ferry, but was drowned not long
afterward. This was the first death in the town of which we have any
mention. The first marriage was that of Wm. Oliver and Mrs. Mary
Davis, a sister of Joseph Haskell, in 1848; the next was that of A. B.
Green to Eliza M. Oliver, Oct. 1, 1851.
A ferry was established in 1848. Moses Perrin built a hotel and saw
mill the ensuing year, and platted the village of Lakeland. Another
mill was built by Ballard & Reynolds. In 1857 Stearns, Watson & Co.
built an extensive saw mill at a cost of $45,000. This mill changed
hands many times, finally passing into the hands of C. N. Nelson, who
enlarged it to a capacity of 20,000,000 feet per annum, a $50,000
investment. The St. Paul & Milwaukee railroad traverses this town near
and parallel to the lake shore. The town contributed $5,000 in ten per
cent bonds to the building of the road, for which they received an
equal amount of railroad stock. The St. Paul & Omaha railroad crosses
the lake and a part of the northeastern part of the township of
Lakeland. The railroad bridge has its western terminus in Lakeland, a
short distance above the village. Lakeland was organized as a town
Oct. 20, 1858. The first board of supervisors consisted of Charles A.
Oliver, Elias Megean and A. D. Kingsley.
LAKELAND VILLAGE,
Situated on the lake shore, nearly opposite Hudson, Wisconsin, was
platted in 1849 by Moses Perrin. A school was taught in 1852 by
Harriet E. Newell. A post office was established in 1854; Freeman C.
Tyler was the first postmaster. Lakeland has the following benevolent
and social societies: Masons, Golden Rule Lodge, No. 65, organized in
1867; Temple of Honor, organized 1877; the Independent Order of Good
Templars, No. 200, organized in 1876. It has a Baptist and
Congregational church.
HENRY W. CROSBY was born in Albany, New York, in 1819. He spent his
youth in Buffalo. In 1840 he came to St. Croix Falls, and in 1842 to
the banks of Lake St. Croix, and located on the site of the village of
Lakeland where he resided ten years. During the ensuing thirteen years
he followed his trade as machinist at various places, besides serving
three years as a volunteer in the Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
He was married in Cottage Grove in 1845, to Hannah Waterhouse. He has
four sons.
REUBEN H. SANDERSON.--Mr. Sanderson was born in Genesee county, New
York, in 1831. He received a common school education and studied one
year in Brockport Collegiate Institute. He came to Lakeland in 1855,
and followed the business of a house carpenter. Mr. Sanderson has
filled many town offices, and was a member of the Democratic wing of
the state constitutional convention in 1857.
NEWTON MCKUSICK, the oldest son of John McKusick, was born in
Stillwater in 1850. He received a good education in the city schools,
completed at the Minnesota State University, and located on a farm in
Lakeland in 1871. He was married to Jennie L. Green, of Stillwater,
June 6, 1872. His home and farm display taste and thrift worthy of
commendation.
CAPT. JOHN OLIVER.--John Oliver was born March 9, 1796, at Land's End,
England. He was bred to a seafaring life, and the early part of his
life was well spiced with adventure. He escaped from the British
service to enter the American, but was twice captured, and after the
second capture suffered a rigorous imprisonment at Dartmoor, England.
At the close of the war he came to the United States and became a
Boston harbor pilot, a responsible calling which he followed for
thirty-three years. He came to the West in 1848, and settled in
Lakeland. In 1819 he was married to Sarah Spear, whose father was one
of the celebrated Boston Tea Party in 1774. Capt. Oliver, after his
removal to Lakeland, busied himself in farming. He died on the
homestead in 1869, leaving a widow who survived until 1883, and five
sons, two having died prior to 1869. Of his seven sons, six were in
the Union Army in Minnesota regiments during the Rebellion: Wm. H.,
Thomas E., Charles A., George A., Walter J., and Howard F. Walter J.
died in the army.
ASA BARLOW GREEN.--The name of Capt. Green was once familiar on the
St. Croix. He was a man of varied talents and striking
characteristics, who, in a public life extending over a period of many
years, figured as a lawyer, sheriff, probate judge, steamboat captain,
minister, chaplain, and missionary. He was born at Warren, Vermont,
1826, and during his minority lived at home. He had a common school
education, and by his own efforts attained a knowledge of the law and
was admitted to practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1858. He served
as sheriff in Washington county, held the office of probate judge, and
some minor offices. He commanded the steamer Equator in 1859, when
that boat was wrecked on Lake St. Croix. He was part owner of the
boat. In 1860 he was ordained as a minister of the Calvinist Baptist
church. In 1862 he entered the United States service as chaplain of
the Third Wisconsin Volunteers, and served three years, after which he
devoted himself to ministerial and missionary labors. He died in
Whitewater, Wisconsin.
L. A. HUNTOON located in Lakeland in 1857, and engaged in mercantile
pursuits. He served as town clerk and postmaster, filling the latter
position fifteen years. He represented his district in the house of
the seventh and nineteenth legislatures. He died suddenly at his home
in 1879, leaving a wife and three children. His oldest son, Samuel, a
promising young man, principal of the Hammond high school, and fitting
himself for the medical college, was drowned Oct. 9, 1872, in Cutter's
lake, at the age of twenty-one. He was much esteemed and lamented.
MARINE.
The town of Marine includes townships 31 and 32, range 20, and
fractional townships 31 and 32, range 19. The surface is somewhat
rolling, and before settlement was timbered chiefly with hardwood. It
is dotted with beautiful lakes, some of which have abrupt and hilly
shores. The more noted of these lakes are Big, Carnelian, Square,
Bony, Terrapin, Long, Fish, and Hay.
Next to St. Croix Falls, Marine contains the earliest settlement in
the valley. In September, 1838, Lewis Judd and David Hone were
deputized by a company of men residing in Marine, Illinois, to visit
the Northwest and examine the region recently secured by treaty from
the Chippewas, and to return the same year and report upon its
advantages of climate, soil and other resources. They were authorized
also to locate a claim for a future settlement, if they found one
entirely suitable. They embarked on the steamer Ariel at St. Louis,
September 10th, and were twenty-five days reaching the head of Lake
St. Croix, whence they proceeded in a flatboat propelled by poles up
the St. Croix as far as the falls, and thence to the mouth of Kettle
river. Returning by birch canoes, they stopped at the site of the
present village of Marine, and there made a mill claim. They then
returned to Marine, Illinois, where they arrived November 10th, and
reported favorably on the location chosen.
During the following winter a verbal agreement was made by thirteen
persons, all of Marine settlement, to start in the spring and build a
saw mill on the distant St. Croix. On April 27th this company left St.
Louis on the steamer Fayette for the new settlement, which they
reached on the thirteenth of May. The Fayette was chartered expressly
for this voyage. They took with them mill irons, farming tools,
household goods, three yoke of oxen, and cows.
The members of the party were Lewis, George and Albert Judd, David
Hone, Orange Walker, Asa S. and Madison Parker, Samuel Burkelo, Wm. B.
Dibble, Dr. Lucius Green, Joseph Cottrell, and Hiram Berkey. When they
landed they found Jeremiah Russell and Levi W. Stratton in possession
of the claim, they having taken possession during the preceding
winter. These men demanded and received three hundred dollars for
relinquishing the claim to its rightful owners.
The colonists set to work immediately to build a log cabin as a
temporary shelter, which being completed, they commenced the mill, and
worked with such energy that it was finished in ninety days. The first
wheel used was a flutter wheel, which, not proving satisfactory, was
replaced by an overshot with buckets. This mill sawed the first lumber
in the St. Croix valley.
Orange Walker was the first clerk and chieftain of the concern, and
when anything was wanted a call of the company would be made, and the
members assembled. No article of agreement existed. Only one book was
kept for a series of years--a unique affair, no doubt. The first
installment was $200; second, $75; third, $50; all within two years,
after which the company became self sustaining. No partner forfeited
his stock. One by one the partners sold out their interest, until
Orange Walker and G. B. Judd were the owners. The company was first
known as the Marine Lumber Company. In 1850 the name was changed to
Judd, Walker & Co., the firm consisting then of the Judd brothers,
Orange Walker, Samuel Burkelo, Asa Parker, and H. Berkey. In 1863,
when Orange Walker was sole owner, he associated with him Samuel Judd
and W. H. Veazie, and the firm name has since been Walker, Judd &
Veazie.
The colonists raised, during the first year, corn, potatoes and garden
vegetables. They found the Indians peaceably inclined toward the
settlers, though the Chippewas and Sioux kept up a constant warfare
with each other. During the winter of 1839-40 four members of the
company, Parker, Berkey, Green and Dibble, were sent to the mouth of
Kettle river to cut logs. Marine was organized as a town in 1858, with
the following supervisors: J. R. M. Gaskell; John E. Mower and B. F.
Allen.
MARINE MILLS VILLAGE.
The settlement gradually grew into the village of Marine Mills, which
was not platted, however, until 1853, nor incorporated until 1875. The
following was the first board of officers: President, Orange Walker;
councilmen, J. R. M. Gaskell, Ola Westergreen and Asa S. Parker. Until
1842 the mail was received from Ft. Snelling by private conveyance,
when a monthly mail service was established from Point Douglas, and
Samuel Burkelo was appointed postmaster.
The first jury trial in the St. Croix valley was held at Marine, in
1840, before Joseph R. Brown, justice of the peace. The case was that
of Philander Prescott against Chas. D. Foote, plaintiff charging
defendant with jumping a claim. The jury consisted of Samuel Burkelo,
Orange Walker, H. Berkey, David Hone. J. Haskell, J. S. Norris, A.
McHattie, A. Mackey, H. Sweezy, Francis Nason, and two others. The
claim in dispute was located near Prescott. The court adjourned to
allow the jury to visit Prescott to ascertain if the claim had been
made in accordance with custom. On viewing the premises the jury
failed to agree, and the matter was compromised by Prescott allowing
Foote eighty acres of the claim.
The first white child born in Marine was Sarah Anna Waterman, in 1844.
Dr. Wright, the first physician, located in Marine in 1849. The first
marriage was that of Wm. B. Dibble to Eliza McCauslin, in 1842. The
first death was that of a child of W. H. Nobles, in 1843. The first
sermon preached was by Rev. J. Hurlburt, a Methodist missionary, Jan.
1, 1844. The first school was taught by Sarah Judd, in 1849. The
Swedish Evangelical Lutherans built the first church in the town of
Marine, in section 27, in 1856, a log structure afterward used as a
school, its place being supplied by a new structure in section 14 in
1858. In 1874 a large church 50 × 80 feet, ground plan, and with
steeple 80 feet high, succeeded the second structure. A fine parsonage
was attached. This church was blown down by a cyclone in 1884, but was
rebuilt.
The Swedish Methodists built a church on the south side of Long lake
in 1856; C. P. Agrelius, pastor. The Congregationalists commenced the
first church and perfected the first organization in Marine village,
in 1857. The church was completed and dedicated in 1859. Rev Geo.
Spaulding was the first pastor. The second Congregational church was
erected in 1878, in section 21. The Swedish Lutherans have a church
and congregation in the village of Marine. The church was built in
1875. Rev. L. O. Lindh was the first pastor. Oakland Cemetery
Association was organized in 1872 and the cemetery located near Marine
village.
IMPROVEMENTS.
A passable road was opened from Stillwater to Marine in 1841. The
government road from Point Douglas to Superior was built through
Marine in 1852-3. The company built the first frame dwelling, on a
point above the mill, in 1848. The mill company built a frame store in
the same year. This building was burned in 1863; loss, $4,000. The
only hotel until 1850 was a log building, when the Marine store was
built. The Lightner House was built in 1857, the St. Croix House in
1858. The Marine flour mill was built in 1856 by Gaskell & Co. The
first flour was manufactured in 1857. The mill is four stories high
and is furnished with a turbine wheel. The water is brought a distance
of 1,000 feet by an elevated race. The Arcola saw mills were built in
the winter of 1846-7, by Martin Mower, David B. Loomis, Joseph
Brewster and W. H. C. Folsom. They were located on the river shore
three miles below Marine Mills. The motive power is an overshot wheel,
propelled by water from two large springs. The mill is now the
property of Martin Mower. The losses by fire in Marine have been:
The Marine saw mill, Sept. 16, 1863, loss $6,000; Judd &
Gaskell's store, Jan. 9, 1864, loss $4,000; Samuel B. Judd's
dwelling, April, 1884, loss $12,000;
W. H. Veazie's dwelling, April, 1885, loss $6,000.
A heavy financial failure occurred in the winter of 1885-6. The firm
of Walker, Judd & Veazio were compelled to make an assignment;
indebtedness, $250,000. In the ensuing May, by order of the court, the
mill property with its assets passed into the hands of a newly
constituted organization, styled the Marine Lumber Company. This
company was composed of the creditors of Judd, Walker & Veazie; B. C.
Keater, president; Ed. St. John, superintendent; capital stock,
$750,000. In 1888 the property passed into the hands of Anderson &
O'Brien.
VASA VILLAGE
Was platted in 1856, in section 30, township 32, range 19, by B. F.
and Mary Jane Otis and John Columbus; W. P. Payte, surveyor. James
Russell, James Cilley and Frank Register in 1857 built a steam saw
mill. James Russell built a three story hotel. A saloon and other
buildings were erected, but the village did not prosper, and the site
is now abandoned. There are several ancient mounds in the town site
which have been utilized to some extent as burial mounds. One in the
rear of the school house contains the remains of Caroline Reid, a
sister of Mrs. B. F. Otis, and Hiram Otis, a son of the latter. A
mound on the farm of John Copas contains the remains of John Columbus,
buried there at his own request with the body of his favorite dog. A
post office was established at Scandia, in the northern part of
Marine, in 1878; John M. Johnson, postmaster. The upper part of the
town of Marine was at one time organized as a town called Vasa, but
has since been merged in Marine.
ORANGE WALKER was born at St. Albans, Vermont, Sept. 1, 1801. His
ancestors were of English stock and Revolutionary fame. He received a
good common school education, and at the age of sixteen entered as an
apprentice in a tanner and currier's establishment in St. Albans.
After learning the trade he worked at it some time in Milton, Vermont.
In 1834 he came West, and located at Jacksonville, Illinois, where he
worked at his trade and also engaged in farming until 1839, when he
became a member of the Marine Lumber Company, and came with them to
Marine, where he resided a period of forty-eight years. During that
time he has been the most active and influential man in the company,
having been in almost constant service as its president or principal
agent. Mr. Walker was well known to the earlier dwellers in the St.
Croix valley as a hale, hearty, well informed man, prompt in
fulfilling his engagements, and liberal in everything that pertains to
the general good. Mr. Walker filled many public positions. He was
county commissioner ten years, postmaster twenty-five years, and
represented his district in the house of the Second Minnesota
legislature in 1859-60. He was married Sept. 16, 1848, to Mrs.
Georgiana Lockwood, of Prescott, formerly Miss Barton, a native of
Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Walker died Oct. 9, 1885. Mr. Walker
died Aug. 17, 1897.
LEWIS WALKER, brother of Orange Walker, was born in St. Albans,
Vermont, in 1811; in early life removed to Marine, Illinois, and in
1853 came to Marine Mills, Minnesota. He spent many years at the St.
Croix upper boom, and the last fifteen years of his life he lived in
Osceola. He was a quiet, peaceable citizen, exemplary in his habits
and respected by all his acquaintances. He died in Osceola in 1882.
Mr. Walker was married in 1853 to Calphrunia White, who, with two
daughters, survives him. The oldest daughter, Ella, has been for many
years a teacher in the Minneapolis and St. Paul and other schools.
Emma is the wife of Henry Fifield, a printer and journalist of
Northern Michigan.
SAMUEL BURKELO was born in Kent county, Delaware, March 31, 1800. He
came to Marine in 1839, being one of the thirteen constituting the
Marine Lumber Company. He remained with the company ten years, removed
to Stillwater and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1858 he
removed to a farm in Lakeland, where he died in 1874. He was one of
the commissioners appointed in 1840 to organize St. Croix county, and
represented his district in the council of the first and second
territorial legislatures. He was married Dec. 7, 1844, to Susan
McCauslin, at Point Douglas. Four children survive him.
ASA S. PARKER was born in Windsor county, Vermont, July 11, 1812. His
youth was spent in Vermont, New York and Illinois. He was by trade a
brickmaker. He joined the Marine Company and came to Marine in 1839.
He continued a member of the company until 1858, since which time he
has been engaged in farming and selling goods at Marine. Mr. Parker is
a quiet, unobtrusive gentleman, well posted in general matters. He was
a very useful member of the company. He was eight years county
commissioner, and has filled responsible town and county positions. He
was married in 1859 to Isabella Thompson. Archie I., an only son,
living with his parents, was married to Lena Smith in 1883.
HIRAM BERKEY was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, Oct. 22, 1813.
He came to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1819, but made Collinsville,
Illinois, his home, and engaged in farming. He came to Marine Mills in
1839, and was one of the original company that founded Marine. He sold
his interest in 1860, since which time he has been engaged in hotel
keeping and farming. He served as county commissioner four years, and
filled local offices. He was married to Jennie McCarty, of
Pennsylvania, Oct. 23, 1860. They have one son, John R.
GEO. B. JUDD was born in Farmington, Connecticut, Oct. 19, 1799. In
1832 he came to Illinois and engaged in farming and merchandising. In
1839 he became a member of the Marine Company, and came up on the
Fayette, but did not make his residence there until 1862. He retained
his interest in the company until about 1863. He removed to St. Louis
in 1844, and became a member of the enterprising commission firm of
Judd & Hammond. After his removal to Marine he engaged in the
mercantile and lumbering business. Mr. Judd died at his home in Marine
in 1872.
JAMES HALE was born in 1822, in Putnam county, Indiana; lived five
years in Illinois, and came to Marine Mills in 1844, where he engaged
in farming. He was married to Mary Finnegan in 1855. Mr. Hale died
Feb. 9, 1888.
JOHN HOLT was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, in 1818. He came to
Marine in 1846. In 1852 he was married to Mary Jane Ward, and removed
to Stillwater, where for two years he kept the Minnesota House, at the
southwest corner of Main and Chestnut streets. Returning to Marine in
1853 he followed lumbering and farming many years. During the latter
portion of his life he was afflicted with partial blindness. He died
Jan. 12, 1874, leaving two children.
GEORGE HOLT, brother to John Holt, was born in Kentucky in 1822, where
he spent his early life. After spending a year at Prairie du Chien, in
1846 he came to Marine and obtained employment with the Marine
Company. In 1850 he removed to Stillwater, and engaged in the livery
stable and hotel business until 1853, when he returned with his
brother to Marine. He claims to have carried, in 1851, the first
leathern mail pouch from Stillwater to Taylor's Falls. During the
Rebellion he served one year in Company G, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer
Infantry. While residing in Marine he has been engaged chiefly in
farming, rafting and lumbering. In 1851 he was married to Melinda
Ward. They have five children.
WILLIAM TOWN was born in Rome, N. Y., 1814. In 1836 he removed to
Warren county, Illinois, and in 1838 he was married to Louisa
Robinson. He came to Marine in 1846; removed to St. Croix Falls in
1847; to Osceola Prairie in 1852, and to Taylor's Falls in 1860, where
he died in 1870. His first wife died at Osceola in 1855, leaving three
daughters, one the wife of W. J. Seavey, of Taylor's Falls, one the
first wife of Henry Mallen, of Farmington, Wisconsin, and one the wife
of E. Hines Bates, of Taylor's Falls. Mr. Town was married in 1857 to
Mrs. Mary Collins, formerly Mary Talboys. A daughter of Mrs. Town, by
her first husband, is the wife of N. P. Bailey, of Taylor's Falls. Mr.
Town's aged mother came to Osceola Prairie in 1856, and died in June,
1886, aged ninety-seven years. Mrs. Abbott, of Moorhead, and Mrs.
Richmond, of Farmington, are her daughters.
MATTHIAS WELSHANCE was born in 1818, in Pennsylvania, where he lived
during his minority and learned the carpenter's trade. In 1843 he
removed to Galena, Illinois, in 1847 to St. Croix Falls and in 1848 to
Marine Mills, where he worked at his trade until 1856. From that time
until his death, May 19, 1886, he was engaged in hotel keeping. He was
for nine years keeper of the Marine Hotel and has since been
proprietor of the St. Croix House. He was married Nov. 12, 1848, to
Mary J. Hooper. They have five children living. One daughter, Mrs.
Tolan, met a tragic death at the hands of an insane husband, in 1881.
Mr. Welshance died in 1886.
BENJAMIN T. OTIS was born in Fairfield, Maine, in 1816. He came to St.
Croix Falls in 1841, and engaged in lumbering. In 1846 he located on
what is known as Colby Flat, on the site of Taylor's Falls, and
improved a farm. In 1849 he removed to Marine. His first wife died
suddenly at Marine. He was married to Mrs. Church, of Stillwater, in
1859. Henry F., a son by his first wife, enlisted in 1862, in the
Seventh Minnesota Volunteers, was wounded in 1864, and honorably
discharged.
WILLIAM CLARK was born in New Brunswick, July, 1815. He came to Marine
Mills in 1848, and since has followed lumbering. He married Elisa Jane
Nelson in 1861. Mrs. Clark died in 1879, leaving two daughters.
JAMES R. MEREDITH was born Aug. 22, 1812, in White county, Illinois,
where he lived until eighteen years of age, when he removed to Galena,
where he spent five years in mining. He went thence to Burlington,
Iowa, and in 1849 located in Marine, and was employed by the Marine
Company several years. In 1860 he located upon his present farm. In
1847 he was married to Eleanor Freeman. They have three children
living.
JOHN D. AND THOMAS E. WARD. The Ward brothers are natives of
Massachusetts. They came to the St. Croix valley with their
brothers-in-law, John and George Holt. They have engaged chiefly in
steamboating and river business.
SAMUEL JUDD, son of Lewis Judd, was born in Illinois in 1840. He
graduated at McKendrie College, Lebanon, Illinois, and came to Marine
in 1863, and became a member of the firm of Walker, Judd & Veazie. In
1874 he was married to Amelia D. Flaherty, at St. Louis. Their
children are Orange W. and Lucille M. In 1886 he changed his residence
to St. Paul.
FREDERIC W. LAMMERS was born in Germany in 1829. He came to America in
1843, locating first at St. Louis, where he remained two years. In
1845 he removed to the St. Croix valley, and for several years engaged
in lumbering. In 1852 he settled on a farm in Taylor's Falls, and was
married to Helen C. Nelson, of Marine. In 1865 he sold his farm and
removed to Big Lake Marine. Mr. Lammers has been a public spirited and
excellent citizen. His family consisted of fifteen children; of these
thirteen are living.
JAMES R. M. GASKILL was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1820;
graduated from McKendrie College in 1843; graduated from the medical
department of the Missouri State University in 1854; practiced
medicine a short time at Centralia, Illinois, and came to Marine in
1855, where he practiced medicine and interested himself in milling,
lumbering and merchandise. He represented his district in the house of
the first legislature of Minnesota, 1857-58, and of the fourteenth and
fifteenth, 1872-73. He served during the Rebellion as surgeon of the
Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteers. He was for many years a trustee of
the Minnesota State Prison. In 1861 he was married to Clara E. Hughes.
They have one son and one daughter.
NEWPORT.
The town of Newport includes fractional townships 27 and 28, range 22,
and part of sections 34, 35 and 36, in township 29, range 22: It was
organized as a town Oct. 20, 1858. The first supervisors were William
Fowler, E. B. Schofield and John Willoughby. The surface is mostly
prairie. This town has some points of great historic interest. Gray
Cloud island, in the southern part, in the Mississippi river,
separated from the mainland by a slough, is the place where, according
to some historians, Le Sueur planted a French fort in 1695. It was
styled the "Isle Pelee," and was described as a beautiful "Prairie
Island."
The description of the island tallies precisely with that of Gray
Cloud, and is applicable to none of the other conjectured localities.
It is mentioned by many antiquarian writers as a place of rendezvous
for French traders during the French domination in this part of the
continent. Gray Cloud has been known as a trading post for the last
hundred years, and has the credit of being the first white settlement
in Washington county, and probably in Minnesota. Here came Joseph R.
Brown in 1838, and here he married the daughter of Dickson, the
trader. Hazen Mooers, one of the commissioners of St. Croix county in
1840, Joseph Boucher and others were living at Gray Cloud when the
Methodist mission was established at Kaposia in 1836. Gray Cloud is
the translation of the Indian name of the island. It was also borne by
an Indian maiden, who became the wife of Hazen Mooers, who seems to
have been a man of excellent repute and considerable influence. The
Browns cherished for him a very warm feeling of regard.
Red Rock, another historic locality, derives its name from a painted
rock which seems to have been held in great reverence by the Sioux
Indians. According to Rev. Chauncey Hobart, a veteran pioneer and
preacher still living in Minnesota, it was the custom among the Sioux
to worship the boulders that lie scattered along the hills and
valleys. When a Dakotah was in danger, it was his custom to clear a
spot from grass and brush, roll a boulder upon it, paint it, deck it
with feathers and flowers, and pray to it for needed help.
The peculiarity of the painted boulder from which Red Rock took its
name is that it was a shrine, to which from generation to generation
pilgrimages were made, and offerings and sacrifices presented. Its
Indian name was "Eyah Shah," or "Red Rock." The stone is not naturally
red, but painted with vermillion, or, as some say, with the blood of
slaughtered victims. The Indians call the stone also "Waukan," or
"mystery." It lies on a weathered stratum of limestone, and seems to
be a fragment from some distant granite ledge. The Dakotahs say it
walked or rolled to its present position, and they point to the path
over which it traveled. They visited it occasionally every year until
1862, each time painting it and bringing offerings. It is painted in
stripes, twelve in number, two inches wide and from two to six inches
apart. The north end has a rudely drawn picture of the sun, and a rude
face with fifteen rays.
Red Rock is noted as the site of a mission planted here in 1837 by the
Methodist Episcopal church, by Alfred Brunson, a distinguished pioneer
preacher and missionary. The mission was originally established at
Kaposia, on the western bank of the river, in 1837, but removed by
Alfred Brunson in the same year to Red Rock. Rev. B. T. Kavanaugh, of
this mission, and afterward a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church
South, superintended the erection of the first buildings. Taylor F.
Randolph and wife were teachers here, as assistants in the Indian
school, and also in a school of mixed bloods and whites. B. T.
Kavanaugh was postmaster in 1841. John Holton was mission farmer in
1841, under a commission from Maj. Taliaferro, of Fort Snelling. The
mission was discontinued in 1842. Mr. Randolph and wife made them a
home in the town of Afton, where both died in 1844.
The first marriage was that of John A. Ford to Mary Holton, daughter
of John Holton, in 1843. The first birth was that of Franklin C. Ford,
September, 1844. The first death was that of a child of Rev. B. T.
Kavanaugh. The village of Newport was platted in 1857. W. R. Brown's
addition was platted in 1874. A steam saw mill was built in 1857 by E.
M. Shelton & Brothers. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1874. A flour
mill was built in its place by Joseph Irish. The first Baptist church
was organized Jan. 18, 1858. The first commodious house of worship was
built in 1878. The Red Rock Camp Meeting Association was organized in
1869. A plat of ten acres, beautifully situated in a natural grove
near the village, and on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
railroad, was donated to the association by John Holton. These grounds
have been improved, and adorned with tasteful cottages. The camp
meetings held during the summer are largely attended.
GRAY CLOUD CITY
Was platted in June, 1856, by J. R. Brown and Truman W. Smith, and
surveyed by J. Donald McCullom.
NEWPORT VILLAGE
Was platted May 2, 1857, by Joseph H. Huganin, R. C. Knox, Wm. and
James Fowler, and surveyed by B. Densmore.
JOHN HOLTON came to Red Rock in 1831, with the Methodist missionaries;
served some years as Indian farmer under Maj. Taliaferro, Indian
agent, and afterward settled on a farm just above the mission ground.
He donated ten acres of this farm to the Methodists for camp meeting
grounds. Mr. Holton died in 1884, leaving two children, Mrs. Ford and
Mrs. Winters.
JOHN A. FORD was born in Utica, New York, in 1811. He learned the
trade of edge tool and rifle making, and in 1834 came West with his
father, locating a land claim where Chicago now stands. In 1841 the
son came to Red Rock and erected a store building in which he sold
goods for twelve years. Subsequently he engaged in farming. With the
exception of the traders Mr. Ford was the first merchant in Washington
county. Mr. Ford was a representative in the second territorial
legislature. He was married to May Holton in 1843. Their children are
Franklin and Willis. Franklin, the eldest son, was married to Addie
Witherspoon in 1870, and resides in Newport.
DANIEL HOPKINS, a native of New Hampshire, came West at an early age.
He was a gunsmith by trade. He located in Green Bay in 1836, and
removed to Prairie du Chien in 1838, where he built a stone shop with
a large double window over his workbench and overlooking a spot where
he kept his money buried. A large mullein growing over it sufficiently
indicated that his treasure was still undisturbed. Growing somewhat
doubtful of the security of his hoard, he removed and placed a
thousand dollars in a stone quarry as a safer place of deposit.
Unexpectedly to him, the quarry was reopened and a well placed blast
scattered the old gentleman's treasure to the four winds. He recovered
but a portion of it. In 1844 he left Prairie du Chien and came to Red
Rock. He was three years associated with John A. Ford in selling
goods, after which, in 1848, he removed to St. Paul, where he opened a
store. He died in 1852, aged sixty-five years.
WILLIAM R. BROWN was born in Urbana, Ohio, in 1816. He spent his
boyhood at home on a farm and served as an apprentice to a carpenter
in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. In April, 1848, he came to Red Rock mission
in company with Rev. B. T. Kavanaugh, Charles Cavalier and Julia
Bosnell. He lived upon a farm until 1854, when he sold out and removed
to St. Paul, where he dealt in real estate. During the Rebellion he
served three years in Company C, Sixth Minnesota Volunteers. He was
married in 1841 to Martha Neuman. He died Nov. 25, 1874.
WILLIAM FOWLER settled in Newport in 1852 and has become a prominent
farmer and successful stockman. His farm, which originally cost him
$2,500, he sold in 1887 for $80,000. He was for two years president of
the Minnesota Agricultural Society, and five years of the Dairymen's
Association. He was a member of the house of representatives in 1872.
During the war he served as lieutenant in the Eighth Minnesota
Volunteers.
OAKDALE.
Oakdale includes township 29, range 21. Originally it was covered with
white, black and burr oak timber; the surface is rolling, and the soil
well adapted to the cultivation of wheat. It is well watered and has
numerous lakes, among which Lake Elmo is favorably known as a summer
resort.
Oakdale was organized as a town November, 1858. The first supervisors
were E. C. Gray, John Bershen and E. L. Morse. The clerk was W.
Armstrong.
The first settler was B. B. Cyphers, who kept a hotel or stopping
place on Sun Fish lake in 1848. The year following John Morgan built a
more commodious house a mile and a half west on the stage road, and
this was afterward known as the "Half-way House," it being nearly
midway between St. Paul and Stillwater. At this well known station the
pioneer stages of Willoughby & Powers changed horses at noon, and the
passengers took dinner. In 1855 the property passed into the hands of
E. C. Gray. The Malones, Lohmans, Grays, Day, Stevens, and Gardiner
located here in the '50s.
The first post office established was in 1857, in the south part of
the town, in section 35. Arthur Stephens was for ten years postmaster.
The office was called Oakdale, and was discontinued and another
established at the Half-way House, and called Lohmanville post office.
In 1873 it was transferred to the Oakdale station on the railroad. It
was discontinued in 1876, and re-established at Bass Lake station,
where it has since remained but is now known as the Lake Elmo post
office.
The St. Paul & Stillwater railroad passes through this town from east
to west. It has three stations, Lake Elmo, Oakdale and Midvale.
The churches of Oakdale are the St. John's Lutheran and the Church of
the Holy Angels. These churches have fine buildings and good
congregations. The buildings are located on the line of the old stage
road, and have spacious burial grounds attached.
Lake Elmo is the only village in the town. It is handsomely located on
Lake Elmo. The company that platted the village has expended over
$65,000 on improvements. The hotel is an elegant and spacious
building, and a favorite resort for summer tourists. The lake was
originally known as Bass lake, and the station was known as Bass Lake
station. In 1879 the lake and station were rechristened Elmo, a name
certainly more musical and charming than the original, and inferior
only to the aboriginal name, which ought to have been retained.
E. C. GRAY came originally from Pennsylvania, and located in Oakdale
in 1855, having purchased the Half-way House of John Morgan. He died
in 1874, leaving a large family of children. Two of his sons, M. P.
and W. H., remain on the family homestead. Others are in St. Paul. All
are known as men of good business ability.
ARTHUR STEPHENS was born in Scotland in 1830. He came to America in
1839, lived awhile in Illinois, learned the trade of a mason and
plasterer, came to St. Paul in 1849, worked at his trade until 1854,
when he removed to Oakdale, where, with the exception of six years'
residence at Stillwater, he has since lived. Mr. Stephens served as
postmaster ten years, as county commissioner three years, and has
filled town offices. He was married to Marie Payden in 1852. Their
children are Harris S., Arthur, Elizabeth and Emma.
ONEKA.
The town comprises township 31, range 21. It was organized as a town
in 1880. A. J. Soule was the first moderator, George Walker the first
clerk and treasurer. The eastern and southern portions are
diversified, being quite rugged and uneven. The western part is quite
level, and was originally timbered with burr oak and poplars. The town
abounds with lakes. Bald Eagle lies partly in the town; Oneka; Rice,
Egg, Eagle, Horseshoe, and others are within the town. Small springs
and rivulets abound. A tamarack swamp, varying in width from a few
rods to a half mile, traverses the town from north to south, forming a
natural barrier between the eastern and western divisions. The
principal lake is Oneka, located in sections 9 and 16. Rice lake has
been celebrated as the resort of Indians from Mendota, who camped here
annually to gather wild rice for the St. Paul and Minneapolis markets.
The first settlers were Fayette Tainter and John Chester, young men
who came together in 1850 for the purpose of locating claims and
baling hay. They carried on a stock farm for five years. The next
settlers, Lewis Sempler and his son-in-law, Joseph Freeman, came in
1855. They were followed by Dunn, Barnum, Hatch and Beecroft.
The St. Paul & Duluth railroad passes through the western part of the
town, entering in section 31, and leaving in section 5. There is but
one station upon the road, Centreville, a thriving little village,
having a hotel, store, school house, etc. Its post office was
established in 1874.
The first school district was organized in 1867. Ruth Miller taught
the first school. The first marriage was that of Joseph Lambert and
Mary Courtone. The first child born was Hoyt E., son of O. L. Kinyon,
Dec. 27, 1863. The first death was that of Herbert, son of O. L.
Kinyon, May 30, 1869.
ONEKA,
Located in the northeast quarter of section 8, was platted May, 1847,
by Franklin Jones; Chas. B. Lowell, surveyor.
SHADY SIDE VILLAGE,
Located on Bald Eagle lake, was platted in 1880, by Chas. P. Hill;
Brinckerhoff & Phillips, surveyors.
DANIEL HOPKINS, SR., son of Daniel Hopkins, of whom biographical
mention is made in the history of Newport, was born in New Hampshire.
He came to St. Paul in 1850, and engaged in the mercantile business on
Third street until 1852, when he removed to a farm between St. Anthony
and St. Paul, and dealt extensively in blooded stock until about
1855-56, when he purchased the farms of Austin and Tainter, on Rice
creek near the railroad. His farm consists of about 600 acres. The
railroad has a flag station at the farm known as Hopkins station.
STILLWATER.
Stillwater comprises fractional township 30, range 20, excepting the
site of the city of Stillwater. The surface is rolling and the soil
good. It is well watered with rivulets and small lakes. The first
settlers in the town outside the city limits were the Lymans,
consisting of the father (Cornelius) and two sons, C. Storrs and D.
P., Charles Macy, W. T. Boutwell, Sebastian Marty, Wm. Rutherford, J.
J. McKenzie, Albion Masterman, and Dr. James Carey. The first white
child born in the town was Emily S., daughter of C. S. Lyman, in 1846.
The first death was that of Betsey, daughter of C. S. Lyman, in 1846.
The first marriage was that of Abraham Click and Jane Sample, in 1853.
The first school was taught by Cynthia Pond, in 1852. The first road
through the town was from Dakota village via Carnelian lake and Marine
to St. Croix Falls. Messrs. Rutherford & Booth in 1857 built a flour
mill on Brown's creek, which empties into the St. Croix near the head
of the lake. The mill was located above McKusick's lake, and has been
for some years abandoned. Brown's creek originally passed through
sections 18, 19, 20 and 21 to the river, but was turned in 1843 from
its natural course, and made to connect McKusick's lake with the St.
Croix by a new channel cut through sections 28 and 29, thus giving to
Stillwater its initial advantages as a manufacturing centre. The
Washington county poor farm, consisting of 207 acres of improved laud
with good buildings and other conveniences, was located in this town
in 1858.
OAK PARK
Was platted May 27, 1857. It is situated between the city of
Stillwater and South Stillwater, with frontage on the lake. The
proprietors were John Parker, Wm. Dorr, Gold T. Curtis, Mary Curtis,
Olive A. B. Anderson, and Wm. M. McCluer. The surveyor was A. Van
Voorhes.
The township of Stillwater was organized April 3, 1860, with the
following board of officers: Moderator, Cornelius Lyman; judges of
election, H. Packard, W. T. Boutwell, D. P. Lyman; supervisors, C.
Storrs Lyman, H. Packard, Henry A. Jackman; clerk, Sylvanus Trask.
DAVID P. LYMAN was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, in 1822. In
1844 he came with his parents to Marine. In 1846 he removed to his
present residence in the town of Stillwater. He was married to Anna J.
Hannah, at Farmingdale, Illinois, in 1850. They have five children.
Mr. Lyman is an upright, reliable citizen, and a consistent member of
the Presbyterian church.
HENRY A. JACKMAN, a native of Robbinstown, Maine, was born July 30,
1819. He was married to Sarah Blanchard in 1848. Mr. Jackman, with his
family, his father and his wife's parents, came West in 1849 and
located in Stillwater. In 1851 he removed to his farm. He has since
engaged in farming and lumbering, and has filled several important
positions. He served as school trustee for 30 years, as county
commissioner 8 years, as warden of state prison 4 years, as state
prison inspector 20 years, and was a representative in the territorial
legislature of 1856, and the state legislature of 1867. Mr. Jackman's
father, a native of Brunswick, Maine, died at his son's residence in
Stillwater, April, 1867, aged seventy-four years. He was a man honored
for his kindness and sterling integrity. His wife, the mother of Henry
A., died in Maine in 1844. Three sons and four daughters survive them.
The children of Henry A. Jackman are Mary E. (Mrs. Russell Pease),
James E. and Alice (Mrs. Wm. A. Boxwell).
FREDERIC J. CURTIS, a native of Ireland, was born in 1818. Before
coming to America he learned the trade of boot and shoe making. He
came to America in 1843, and spent two years in New York City working
at his trade. He also spent two years in St. Louis and New Orleans. He
came to Stillwater in 1848 and settled on his farm in section 9, where
he has since lived. He held the office of sheriff two years. He was
one of the first police of the city of Stillwater and has been town
treasurer and school director. He was married to Bridget Fenton in
1849. Their children are Daniel, Thomas, James, Elisabeth, Mary,
Maggie, and Ellen B.
DAVID COVER was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 22,
1826. In 1844 he came with his parents to St. Louis, Missouri, where
he became a river pilot, and engaged in lumbering for eight years,
when he came to Stillwater, and for some years gave his attention
largely to selling logs and lumber between Stillwater and St. Louis.
During the years between 1860 and 1870 his business transactions were
heavy, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and from
some injudicious movements, due to lack of experience, resulted in
disastrous failure. After his failure he devoted himself to farming
and fire insurance business. He was married in 1850 to Elisabeth
Harrold. They are the parents of three sons. Mr. Cover was
accidentally drowned in Lake St. Croix Sept. 14, 1884. His life was
insured for $17,000.
JOHN PARKER came from Vermont to the valley of the St. Croix in 1848,
located for a couple of years at St. Croix Falls, and came to Oak
Park, town of Stillwater, about 1850. In 1848 Mr. Parker was married
to Susan, daughter of David Cover, who bore him three children: Edwin
E., the oldest, killed by the explosion of the boilers of the steamer
Penn Wright, near Winona; John E., living at home with his mother, and
Ella, wife of Henry Pevey, of Stillwater. Mr. Parker was a kind
hearted, genial man. He was one of the early river pilots, and came to
his death in June, 1867, while in the performance of his duties as a
pilot. In handling a line to "snub" a raft, he was caught in its coils
and so bruised that he died.
WOODBURY,
As at present organized, includes township 28, range 21. At the date
of its organization, in 1868, it was named Red Rock, and made to
include a little over two sections of fractional township 28, range
22. This fragment contains the famous painted rock, now included in
the town of Newport, and from this rock, familiarly called Red Rock,
the town received its first name. The first board of town officers
consisted of John Colby; moderator; David Little and C. Schmeiding,
judges of election; John Colby, John A. Ford, J. J. Miller,
supervisors; Ebenezer Ayers, clerk.
The town held the name of Red Rock until 1859, when, by notification
from the legislature that another town bore the same name, the board
changed the name to Woodbury, a name given in honor of Judge Woodbury,
of New Hampshire, a particular friend of Mr. Colby, at that time
chairman of the board. The fraction containing the painted rock was
set off by order of the board of county commissioners, meeting at
Stillwater in 1861, and added to Newport. It is said that this act did
not meet with the hearty approval of the citizens of the town.
The town was originally timbered with various species of oak. The
surface is undulating, and in the western part there are abrupt hills
or bluffs. It is a fine agricultural town, well watered with creeks,
springs and small lakes.
The first settlers were the McHatties, Middletons, Robert Cummings,
John Towner, and Joseph Cooper. The first marriage was that of John
McHattie and Jane Middleton, Jan. 15, 1847. The first child born was
Sarah Middleton, afterward the wife of Anthony Fritz, of Newport. The
first death was that of Sarah Middleton, May 4, 1849. The first
traveled road in the town was from Stillwater to St. Paul via
Bissell's Mound. The first post office was established in 1850, at
Oakdale, in the northern part of the town; G. Hartoung, postmaster.
The first school was taught in 1855 by Miss A. F. Colby. The German
Methodist church was organized in 1855; Rev. Jacob Young, pastor. The
church and parsonage are built of stone. The Salem Evangelical
Lutheran church was organized in 1865; Rev. J. W. Huffman, pastor.
JACOB FOLSTROM.--The history of Jacob Folstrom reads like a romance.
He was born in Sweden June 25, 1793, and when he was nine years of age
left home as cabin boy on a steamer commanded by his uncle. The
steamer was wrecked on the coast of England. He escaped with his uncle
to London, and there lost sight of him. What was his uncle's fate he
never knew. He understood nothing of the English language, and
applied to the Swedish consul for aid. Lord Selkirk was then raising a
company of men to go to his settlement on Red river, British America,
and Selkirk, who could speak Swedish, spoke kindly to the friendless
lad, and offered to take him with him to the New World. He, not
knowing what else to do, consented to go. After his arrival he found
employment with the Hudson Bay Company for a time, and subsequently
came down to the Fort Snelling reservation. When the settlers were
driven from the reservation in 1839; he made a farm in what is now
Woodbury, Washington county. At Lake Superior, in 1823, he had been
married to Margaret Burgo, a woman of fine mind. With her limited
educational privileges, very few of any age or race can be found her
equal. Mr. and Mrs. Folstrom were both consistent Christians, and
members of the Methodist church for many years. He lived a stirring,
adventurous life, and, during his service as mail carrier between
Prairie du Chien and Fort Snelling, he had many hairbreadth escapes
from hostile Indians. He died in July, 1859. His wife survived him
till Feb. 6, 1880.
ALEXANDER MCHATTIE.--At the age of sixteen Mr. McHattie left his home
and worked as a teamster and farmer for about five years; and in 1833
came from Scotland, his native country, to America. He lived a couple
of years in Vermont, a short time in New York, Ohio and Indiana. In
1839 he came to Galena, Illinois, and migrated thence in the same year
to St. Croix Falls. He also made a short stay at Gray Cloud island;
was in Prescott in 1840; in 1841 made a home in Afton, and in 1845 at
Woodbury. He married Margaret Middleton in 1848.
JOHN MCHATTIE.--John, the oldest brother of Alexander McHattie, came
from Scotland to this country in 1833, and settled in Woodbury in
1841. He was married in 1846 to Jane Middleton.
THE MIDDLETON FAMILY.--James Middleton, Sr., with his wife, three
sons, William, Samuel, and James, and five daughters, came to this
country from Ireland. William, the oldest, inspired by filial duty,
came first, it being his ambition to secure for his parents a home on
American soil. He was not of age when, in 1838, he left Ireland, full
of hope and enthusiasm for his project. He found his way to St. Louis
in 1842, and came thence with Hungerford & Livingston to St. Croix
Falls. He remained with them two years and then, removing further
south, made a claim on unsurveyed government land in what is now the
town of Woodbury. During the succeeding year, 1845, he and his brother
Samuel worked for John McKusick, and by diligence and self denial
succeeded in earning enough to pay the passage of his father and his
family to the United States, and to bring them to their claim on the
prairie. It was a joyful day when the parents arrived, and since then
the united family have their home at and near the selected homestead,
a model family in their unity of purpose and affectionate regard for
each other. William visited California. He died at his home in 1855.
Samuel enlisted and did gallant service in the Union Army during the
late Civil War as a member of Company E, Tenth Minnesota Volunteers,
and died in the hospital at Memphis, Feb. 29, 1865. James, a younger
brother, was born in 1833. He made a claim near that of his brother,
and is prominent in the community, in which he lives. He was
sergeant-at-arms in the legislature, a member of the house in 1876,
and served five years in Washington county as county commissioner. Mr.
Middleton removed to St. Paul in 1880, where he now resides. The
father died in 1854, the mother in 1876.
NEWINGTON GILBERT was born in Onondaga county, New York, Feb. 17,
1815. Mr. Gilbert settled in Woodbury in 1851. In company with Mr.
Buswell he built the North Star flouring mill in 1860. He operated
this mill eleven years. Mr. Gilbert was a member of the Democratic
wing of the constitutional convention in 1857. He was married to
Celestia Bangs in 1860. They have two children.
EBENEZER AYERS was born in Herkimer county, New York. His early life
was devoted to hard labor, still such was his zeal for study and the
acquisition of general knowledge, that he managed to acquire a very
respectable and thorough education. In 1856 he came with his parents
to Fort Wayne. He commenced teaching school soon after and taught
eight years. In 1844 he removed to Shelby county, Kentucky. He was
married in 1846 to Lucy Connelly, of Shelby county. He removed to
Buffalo, New York, in 1850, and sold goods until the spring of 1854,
when he located in Woodbury and engaged in farming. He was a man of
energy, and possessed of great will power. He took a deep interest in
town and county affairs, and served as town clerk in Woodbury eleven
years. He was a representative in the Minnesota state legislature in
1867 and 1872, and while in that capacity proved himself a ready
debater. He had natural ability as an organizer. He was an active
member of the Greenback party, and was rigidly opposed to monopolies.
He died in 1883.