and is one of the first female settlers in the St. Croix valley. A
fluent and interesting talker, her recitals of early incidents and
adventures are heart enlivening. Lydia Ann Brown was born in
Lancaster, Penn., March 18, 1818. In 1834 she came with friends to
Chicago, where in 1839 she was married to Paul Carli. She came to
Dakotah in 1841, and lived there until 1844. The village was
surrounded by Indians and there was no white woman nearer than Marine,
twelve miles distant. In 1844 the Carlis removed to the mouth of
Bolles creek, near Afton, on Lake St. Croix, where they built
themselves a two story house commanding a picturesque view of the lake
and the adjacent prairies and hills. It was a lone tenement, midway
between Prescott and Stillwater. Mrs. Carli having lost her husband as
before narrated, in 1847 was married to his brother, Dr. Christopher
Carli.
[Illustration: James S. Anderson]
PHINEAS LAWRENCE.--But little is known of the early life of Mr.
Lawrence. He had been a river pilot. He was the first sheriff elected
in the St. Croix valley, or northwest of Prairie du Chien. He was
elected and qualified in 1841. On serving the first and only summons
he was ever called upon to serve, he approached the party summoned,
holding up to view the documents, and exclaimed: "I, Phineas Lawrence,
high sheriff of St. Croix county, in the name of the United States and
of the Immaculate God, command you to surrender." He was a robust,
fleshy, cheerful man, and felt in all their force the responsibilities
of the position in which he was placed. His name has been given to a
creek in Chisago county, where he once logged. He died in Stillwater
in 1847.
JACOB FISHER.--Jacob Fisher, a millwright, came to St. Croix Falls in
1842, and being a skilled mechanic found employment at once on the old
mill at the Falls. He made the first land claim and framed the first
building in Stillwater. The building framed was the mill of which
mention has been made. This establishes his claim to priority as the
first white man who made a movement toward the settlement of
Stillwater. Others were before him in the settlement of Dakotah or
Schulenberg's addition. Mr. Fisher is a plain, frank, outspoken man,
who has no trouble in making his hearers understand exactly what he
means. He was born in Canada in 1813, and still resides in Stillwater.
He has a wife and one son in California.
JAMES S. ANDERSON was born at Marshalltown, West Virginia, on the
fourth of February, 1826. When he was twelve years old his parents
removed with him to Burlington, Iowa, where he lived for eight years.
He came to Stillwater in 1846, where he has since resided. In 1852 he
was married to Miss Harriet T. McDonald, at St. Louis, by whom he has
had four children, three of whom are now living--Robert M. Anderson,
prominently known in lumber circles, and Misses Sibella S. and Ella P.
Anderson. Upon Mr. Anderson's arrival at Stillwater, he engaged in the
employ of Elias McKean, then a prominent lumberman, now a resident of
Washington county. In 1869 Mr. Anderson formed a partnership with
William McKusick, John A. Nelson and Alexander Johnson, under the firm
name of McKusick, Anderson & Co., which firm built and operated the
large saw mill opposite Stillwater. Four years ago Mr. McKusick
retired from the firm, since which time the firm has been J. S.
Anderson & Co. In 1874 Mr. Anderson became the senior member of a
heavy logging firm known as Anderson & O'Brien, of which the other
members were the well known lumbermen J. S. and John O'Brien. In
connection with his other business interests Mr. Anderson was a heavy
owner of pine lands, and a stockholder and director in the Lumberman's
National Bank. There were two other well known lumber firms of ancient
date with which he was connected, and these were McComb, Simpson &
Co., organized in 1850, and also Delano, McKusick & Co., organized in
1857. From 1857 to 1869 he was also a heavy logger alone. Mr. Anderson
died May 8, 1885. His death resulted from a mill accident, his rubber
coat having caught in the belting of a shaft revolving at a rapid
rate. His body was frightfully mangled, but he survived two days,
exhibiting, under the circumstances, the most remarkable composure,
dictating his will and arranging his business matters as calmly as he
might have done on an ordinary occasion.
EMANUEL DIXON FARMER was born in Tennessee in 1828, and came to
Stillwater in 1845, where he has resided ever since, engaged in the
lumbering and saloon business. He was married to Parmelia A. Collier,
in Stillwater, 1848.
COL. JOHN GREELY.--Col. Greely was sixty years of age when he came to
the West, and although a strong, active and enterprising man in the
earlier part of his life, owing to advancing years and ill health was
rather a spectator than an active participant in the stirring scenes
of his new home. He was born at Southampton, Massachusetts, April,
1777. He was married to Hannah Greely, a second cousin, at Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, Oct. 5, 1801. He followed the lumbering business on the
Merrimac river in early life. He furnished the timber used in erecting
the first factory in Lowell, Massachusetts, cut on the mountains of
North New Hampshire. In after life he moved to the west end of Sebec
lake, Maine, where he founded the town at first named Greely, but
afterward Willimantic, now the site of extensive manufactories where
the famous Willimantic thread is made. Col. Greely came to Stillwater
in 1847.
Born during the Revolutionary struggle, he lived to witness the
marvelous growth and prosperity of his country and died during the
first year of the war of the Rebellion. Aged as he was, having entered
upon his eighty-fifth year, he was intensely interested in the issue
of that struggle, and ardently desired to live long enough to witness
the triumph of his country's cause. It was not to be. He sank
peacefully to rest, Oct. 30, 1861, dying as he had lived, an honest
man, his memory revered by all who knew him, and cherished by three
generations of descendants. His children were three sons and five
daughters--Sarah, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Greenleaf, and Phebe and Servia,
wives of John McKusick. Miss Sarah alone survives.
MRS. HANNAH GREELY.--Mrs. Greely, the wife of Col. John Greely, was
born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, October, 1787, came to Stillwater in
1847 and died May, 1878, at the advanced age of ninety years. For
sixty years she and her husband walked side by side. She survived him
seventeen years, and, after a life well spent, resignedly folded her
hands and sank to her last repose.
ELAM GREELY.--Elam, son of Col. John Greely, was born in Salisbury,
New Hampshire, Aug. 13, 1818, and, with his parents, moved to Maine,
where they made their home on Sebec lake. In 1840 Mr. Greely came to
St. Croix Falls, where he was employed by the St. Croix Falls Company
the greater part of the time until 1843, when he became a settler at
the head of Lake St. Croix. He was one of the original owners of the
first mill at Stillwater. In 1844 he sold his interest to John
McKusick. The same year he was appointed postmaster at Stillwater. The
office was located at the southwest corner of Main and Chestnut
streets.
Mr. Greely filled many offices of honor and trust meritoriously. He
was a member of the third and fourth Minnesota territorial councils.
In 1845, in company with Edward Blake, he did an extensive pine log
business, running the logs to St. Louis, in which business he
continued until the death of Mr. Blake in 1848.
Mr. Greely early identified himself with the interests of Stillwater,
of which he was one of the founders, and which owes much of its
prosperity to his efforts. He was married in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in
1850, to Hannah P. Hinman, who, with three children, a son and two
daughters, survives him. His oldest son died Oct. 21, 1876. Mr. Greely
had many severe reverses in business, but by indomitable energy
recovered from them, and was able not only to care for his aged
parents, to bring them from Maine and keep them with him until
separated by death, but to leave his family well provided for. He died
suddenly away from home, Sept. 14, 1883. His body was brought to
Stillwater for burial.
HIMAN GREELY.--Himan, son of Col. John Greely, was born in Franklin,
New Hampshire, October, 1828. He came to Stillwater in 1846, where he
followed the business of lumbering. In 1850 he was married to Lucia
Darling. After a brief residence in Stillwater, he removed to
Beauford, Blue Earth county, where he remained until his death in
1882. His wife survived him but a few months. The bodies of both were
removed and buried in Fairview cemetery, Stillwater. Mr. Greely
applied himself closely to business, and was an honest, upright and
intelligent man. His education was derived chiefly from reading and
observation. He left two sons.
AQUILLA GREELY.--Aquilla, the youngest son of Col. Greely, was born in
Greely, Maine, June, 1831. During his youth he spent several years
with friends in Canada, where he learned the art of surveying. He came
to Minnesota in 1849, and followed surveying and lumbering. He died in
Stillwater, April 25, 1857.
ELIAS MCKEAN.--A thorough business man, an eccentric man, notably so,
an apt man, ready in reply, somewhat harsh, if irritated, but kind in
heart and forgiving in spirit, is Elias McKean. He was born in
Bradford county, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1817, and received a practical
education. His father was a man of some note, and for twenty-eight
years a circuit judge in Pennsylvania. Elias McKean came to St. Croix
Falls in 1841, and for a year was in the employ of the Falls Company,
but afterward engaged successfully in business for himself. He was one
of the original proprietors of the Stillwater mill, and one of the
founders of Stillwater. In 1850 he settled on a farm on the west side
of Lake St. Croix. In 1855 he was married to the widow of Calvin F.
Leach, and a family of six sons has grown up around them.
CALVIN F. LEACH.--We are not able to give date or place of birth. Mr.
Leach came to St. Croix Falls in 1842 and soon after came to the head
of Lake St. Croix, and became one of the original owners of the mill,
and a founder of the city of Stillwater. In 1850 he was married to
Miss ---- Smith, of St. Anthony. He died in St. Louis in 1853. He was
modest and retiring in his demeanor, correct in his deportment and
respected by all his acquaintances.
SOCRATES NELSON.--Mr. Nelson was born in Conway, Massachusetts, Jan.
11, 1814, received an academic education, was married to Mrs. Bertha
D. Bartlett in 1844, at Hennepin, Ill., and the same year came to
Stillwater, and engaged in selling goods. Previous to his removal to
Stillwater he engaged in merchandising in Illinois, in 1839, and in
St. Louis from 1840 to 1844, where he established a trading post on
the Mississippi nearly opposite Reed's Landing, at a place since known
as Nelson's Landing. Mr. Nelson was the first merchant in Stillwater.
His store stood on Main street. He built a substantial dwelling and
lived in it until his death, May 6, 1867. He filled many public
positions, was territorial auditor from 1853 to 1857, and was a
senator in the second state legislature. As a merchant he was very
successful, being fitted by nature for commercial pursuits. In 1853,
he, with others, built a saw mill in South Stillwater and engaged in
lumbering. He was of a free and generous disposition in all his
relations of life. He conveyed, as a donation to Washington county, a
half interest in the block of land on which the court house stands.
His liberality and public spirit did much for the prosperity of
Stillwater. His wife and one daughter, Mrs. Fayette Marsh, survived
him, but Mrs. Marsh died in 1880. She was a woman of great sweetness
of disposition, and beloved by all who knew her. His widow died in
1885.
MRS. SOCRATES NELSON.--Bertha D. was born at Conway, Franklin county,
Massachusetts, Sept. 6, 1813. She was married to Geo. A. Bartlett, of
Conway, in 1838, and removed with him to Knoxville, Illinois, where he
died. She returned to her parents in Massachusetts, and removed with
them to Hennepin, Illinois. In the fall of 1844 she was married to
Socrates Nelson, and came with him to Stillwater. She died Oct. 8,
1885. She was the last of her family, husband and daughter having
preceded her to the world of spirits. The large attendance of old
settlers from Washington county and elsewhere at her funeral, and the
beautiful floral tributes contributed by her friends, attested but
partially the respect and veneration in which she was held.
EDWARD BLAKE.--Of Mr. Blake's early history we have no data. He came
to the St. Croix valley in company with Elam Greely in 1840, engaged
in lumbering, and died in 1849.
WALTER R. VAIL.--Mr. Vail, the second merchant in Stillwater, came
West in 1844. He built a store, with dwelling attached, just south of
Socrates Nelson's store, which buildings are still standing and
occupied (1886). Mr. Vail was not successful in business and moved
away in 1848.
[Illustration: MARTIN MOWER. A PRACTICAL AND SUCCESSFUL LUMBERMAN OF
STILLWATER.]
JOHN E. MOWER.--Mr. Mower was born in Bangor, Maine, Sept. 15, 1815.
He was married to Gratia Remick, in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1842, and removed
to St. Croix Falls, where he entered the employ of the Falls Lumbering
Company. Two years later he removed to Stillwater, where he built the
second frame dwelling, still standing. Mr. Mower was a millwright and
carpenter, but was engaged in lumbering most of his time. He purchased
an interest in the mill property at Arcola, in 1847, which place he
made his home until his death, which occurred June 11, 1879. He left a
widow and three daughters, Helen, wife of the late Louis Torinus;
Emily, wife of Henry Van Voorhees; and Mary, wife of ---- Richardson.
One son died after arriving at manhood. Mr. Mower was a pleasant,
reliable man, a kind husband and loving father. He was honored by his
fellow citizens with an election to the fifth and sixth territorial
councils, and to the seventeenth state legislature (house). The
territorial legislature affixed his name to a county.
MARTIN MOWER.--Martin, brother of John E. Mower, came to St. Croix
Falls in 1842, and worked in the employ of the Falls Company.
Afterward he engaged in lumbering and became one of the original
proprietors of the Arcola mill. He was also engaged in manufacturing
and merchandising in Stillwater. He built a fine block of buildings on
Chestnut street, recently burned down and rebuilt on a larger scale.
He has been one of the managing owners of the St. Croix Boom Company
from its origin. His business interests have been divided between
Stillwater and Arcola, but he has made the latter place his home since
1846. As a business man he is capable and shrewd, giving close
attention to his business; in his manner somewhat eccentric. He has
done in much to improve the farming and other interests of the
country.
WILLIAM WILLIM.--A firm, consistent, worthy citizen and true friend of
his adopted country is William Willim. He was born in the parish of
Woolhope, Herefordshire, England, June 26, 1821; came to America in
1838, and to Stillwater in 1844. He was married in 1847 to Clara G.
Haskell, and, after her death in 1850, to Joanna W. Hinman. Mr. Willim
is a stonemason, plasterer and contractor. He was a member of the
sixth Minnesota territorial legislature, and has filled many
responsible positions in Stillwater. Mr. Willim's was the first
naturalization that occurred in the limits of Minnesota. The oath of
allegiance, a somewhat unique and original document of its kind, bears
date of June 18, 1847, Stillwater, St. Croix county, Wisconsin
Territory, and is signed by Joseph R. Brown.
ALBERT HARRIS.--Mr. Harris was a native of Maine. He was born in 1815
and married to Miss Greenleaf in 1841, who died in 1853. He came to
Stillwater in 1845, where he died in 1856, leaving one daughter, wife
of the late Levi Thompson, attorney at law in Stillwater, and one son
in California. Mr. Harris was a house carpenter and much respected by
his neighbors.
CORNELIUS LYMAN.--Mr. Lyman is of the seventh generation of the Lyman
family that came over from England in 1631. He was born in Brookfield,
Vermont, Aug. 11, 1792. He was married in Brookfield to Betsey Cushman
and came to Illinois at an early date, whence he removed to Marine
Mills, in 1842, where he kept a boarding house until 1844, when he
removed to Stillwater, where he kept a boarding house until 1848. He
then removed to his farm three miles above Stillwater, where, by
industry and economy, aided by his faithful wife, he was able to build
a comfortable home, in which they continued to live until at a good
old age they were removed by death, which claimed them in the same
year, the husband dying January, 1864, and the wife in April. They
were members of the Presbyterian church from early life, and respected
as citizens, honored as Christians. Mrs. Lyman was one of the
excellent of the earth. Mr. Lyman had an inexhaustible fund of humor,
and was rather fond of practical joking. Many of his jokes were of the
rarest description. They left two sons, Cornelius Storrs and David
Pride.
DAVID B. LOOMIS.--Few men have been more active in business and public
life than David B. Loomis. He was born in Wilmington, Connecticut,
April 17, 1817. In 1830 he came with his parents to Alton, Illinois,
where, at the age of fifteen, he engaged as clerk in a store and
served in that capacity five years. Mr. Loomis was in the building in
Alton in which Lovejoy was shot and killed for the expression of
sentiments which the nation has since been compelled to adopt. In 1843
he came to the St. Croix valley and engaged in lumbering. In 1846 he
was one of the four original owners of the Arcola mill, but in 1849
sold his interest to Mr. Mower, and for four succeeding years was in
charge of the St. Croix boom. In 1847 he was surveyor general of logs
and lumber. In 1851 he was a member of the Minnesota territorial
council, and was re-elected in 1853, serving in all four years, during
one of which he was president of the council. In 1853 he was one of a
company that built a mill in South Stillwater. He sold out in 1859. In
1861 he entered the army as lieutenant, Company F, Second Minnesota
Volunteers, and was promoted to a captaincy. He served three and a
half years. Stillwater has been his home since the war. In 1873 he
represented Washington county in the legislature.
WILLIAM E. COVE.--The year of Mr. Cove's birth is not known. He came
to Stillwater in 1844. His marriage to Nancy Edwards, elsewhere noted,
was the second marriage in the village. He was by trade a house
carpenter. He removed to Minneapolis in 1864.
JOHN SMITH.--Of the eight first families, that of John Smith was one.
Of this particular "John Smith" little is known, except that he was
sober and industrious, and, in 1848, moved to parts unknown.
JOHN MORGAN.--We have no account of the early days of Mr. Morgan,
except that he was a native of Pennsylvania. He was living in
Stillwater in 1845, in the employ of Churchill & Nelson. In 1848 he
was elected sheriff of St. Croix county, Wisconsin. In the same year
he was married to Hannah Harnish. He settled on a farm and kept a
"half way house" on the road from Stillwater to St. Paul, when the
pioneer stages of Willoughby & Power were placed on this route. In
1848 he obtained a charter from the Wisconsin legislature for a ferry
across Lake St. Croix at Stillwater. This ferry changed ownership
repeatedly and was discontinued when the bridge was built.
ANSON NORTHRUP.--This gentleman, whose name was borne by the first
steamboat ever launched on the Red River of the North, and who brought
the first drove of cattle through from Illinois to St. Croix Falls,
deserves a conspicuous place in the annals of the Northwest. He was
born in Conewango, Cataraugus county, New York, Jan. 4, 1817. His
education was limited, but he was a man of more than ordinary native
ability and energy. He lived in Ohio some years, and came West in
1838. In 1839 he drove the first herd of cattle through a wilderness
country from the Wisconsin river to the St. Croix. In 1841 he removed
his family from Ohio to St. Croix Falls. He came by way of St. Louis,
from that point embarking on the steamer Indian Queen for the Falls.
The steamer was three weeks making the trip. Above Prairie du Chien
crew and passengers were obliged to cut wood to run the boat. Mr.
Northrup had married Betsey Edwards, daughter of widow Edwards, one of
the pioneers of Stillwater. Charles H., their eldest son, was the
first white child born at St. Croix Falls. In the spring of 1844 he
moved to Stillwater, where he built and kept the first hotel in that
place. From 1847 to 1848 he was part owner of the Osceola saw mill
along with Mahony and Kent. In 1849 he removed to St. Paul, and built
the American Hotel on Third street, east from Seven Corners. In 1851
he removed to St. Anthony Falls and built there the St. Charles Hotel.
In 1853 he removed to Minneapolis, and built the Bushnell House, the
first brick building in the city. Subsequently he became a resident at
Long Prairie, Swan River and Duluth. Although Mr. Northrup's genius
tended chiefly in the direction of hotel building, his abilites in
other directions were beyond question. With equal facility he turned
his hand to lumbering, steamboating and statesmanship. His great
steamboat enterprise was the attempted transfer of the steamer North
Star by water from the Mississippi to the Red River of the North. The
boat was one hundred feet long by twenty wide, and of light draught.
Starting from St. Cloud in the spring of 1859 he performed the
wonderful feat of ascending the Mississippi as far as Pokegama Falls,
hoping to ascend further, and during a high stage of water to float
the boat over the height of land into some of the tributaries of the
Red river. The water was not sufficiently high. The winter following
he took the boat to pieces, and removed it by land to Red river,
opposite the mouth of the Cheyenne, where it was reconstructed and
launched, taken to Fort Garry and afterward sold to Mr. Burbank. This
boat, its name being changed to Anson Northrup, was the first
steamboat on the waters of Red river.
Mr. Northrup's political career commenced and closed with the first
Minnesota legislature, 1857-58, he representing the counties of
Morrison, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs in the senate.
During the Rebellion he served as wagon master. He lived in Texas
three years, returned to St. Paul, where he lived in 1874-75-76, and
now lives in Bismarck, Dakota.
ROBERT KENNEDY.--Mr. Kennedy, in 1839, located at Holmes' Landing, now
Fountain City, on the banks of the Mississippi, above Winona. In 1844
he removed to Dakotah, where he kept a hotel in the old tamarack court
house, built by Joseph R. Brown. In 1846 he kept a hotel in the
Northrup House, Stillwater; in 1848 he kept the American Hotel,
Shakopee. Subsequently he returned to St. Paul and kept a boarding
house, and for three years the hotel known as "Moffett's Castle."
Afterward he kept the Snelling House, and last the Bernard House.
From 1853 to 1856 he was collector of customs for the port of St.
Paul, and during that time the fees amounted to the enormous sum of
forty six dollars and forty-two cents. Mr. Kennedy spent about thirty
years as a landlord, in which capacity he was very popular.
HARVEY WILSON.--Mr. Wilson was born in Corinth, Saratoga county, New
York, December, 1815. He resided in his native county twenty-five
years, then removed to St. Louis, where, for three years, he engaged
in surveying. He came to St. Croix Falls in 1843 and to Stillwater in
1847. He acted as J. R. Brown's deputy clerk of court, June term,
1847. He was appointed clerk of the first Minnesota territorial term
of court, Aug. 13, 1849, in which office he continued until his death,
Nov. 3, 1876. Mr. Wilson was married in 1851 to widow Mary
Stanchfield.
ANDREW JACKSON SHORT.--Mr. Short was born in St. Clair county,
Illinois, in 1818. He came thence to the St. Croix valley and located
at Marine in 1843, and commenced running rafts with W. B. Dibble. In
1857 and 1858 he gathered logs as agent in Lake St. Croix, rafted and
run them below, but lost heavily and was in fact financially wrecked.
He afterward engaged in the logging and hardware business in
Stillwater. In 1868 he built the famous Dudley mills at Point Douglas,
at a cost of $35,000. Mr. Short made Stillwater his home until 1862,
when he removed to Hastings. Much credit is due him for what he has
accomplished. When he came to the St. Croix valley he could neither
read nor write, but by energy, industry and native force of character,
notwithstanding a few reverses, he has done far more than many other
men in his position could have done. As a man he is genial and social.
JAMES D. MCCOMB.--Mr. McComb was born in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, Feb. 13, 1827, came to Stillwater June 10, 1846, and
engaged in mercantile business with John H. Brewster three years, when
he entered the firm of Anderson, McComb & Co., Robert Simpson being
the third member. They did an extensive business for years. They built
the large stone store on the corner of Main and Myrtle streets. Mr.
McComb in 1860 became clerk in the surveyor general's office, which
position he held ten years. He was surveyor general of logs and lumber
four years, his accurate knowledge of the various marks used admirably
fitting him for the position. He served as deputy sheriff in 1846
under James Fisher, of Prairie du Chien, and in 1847 under W. H. C.
Folsom, of Stillwater. Mr. McComb has passed all the degrees in Odd
Fellowship. He was married to Eliza T. McKusick in Stillwater, March
4, 1851. Mrs. McComb died in Stillwater Sept. 17, 1885.
WILLIAM RUTHERFORD.--Mr. Rutherford was born in 1823, in Stanton
county, New York, and came to Stillwater in 1844. He married Christina
J. Holcombe, at Jackson, Mississippi, in 1849. In 1848 he removed to
his farm near Stillwater, where he has since lived. He has been quite
successful as a farmer. Mr. Rutherford died March 15, 1888. His name
will be remembered with honor.
ALBION MASTERSON.--Mr. Masterman has also prospered as a farmer. He
was born in Franklin county, Maine, in 1823; received a common school
education; was married to Eliza Middleton in 1848; came to Stillwater
in 1844, and in 1850 removed thence to his farm, where he died, Aug.
8, 1886. Mr. Masterman's life has been an industrious and exemplary
one.
JOSEPH N. MASTERMAN.--Mr. Masterman came to Stillwater, September,
1848. He engaged in lumbering and scaling continuously. He was born in
Franklin county, Maine, in 1814, and spent his youth at home, but his
education was somewhat limited. At the age of sixteen years he moved
to Schoodic, lived there fourteen years, when he married Alice M.
Prescott, and four years later came to Stillwater. His two sons,
Wellington and Joseph P., reside in Stillwater. Wellington is auditor
of Washington county.
MAHLON BLACK.--Mr. Black is of Scotch descent. His grandfather was a
naval officer during the war of the Revolution, and a soldier in the
war of 1812. Mahlon Black was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Oct. 4,
1820. He spent his youth on his father's farm, and received a common
school and academic education. When seventeen years of age he began
the study of medicine in Cincinnati Medical College, but did not
complete the course. In 1842 he came to Menomonie Mills, Wisconsin,
and engaged in lumbering until 1846. In 1847 he was connected with
government surveys, and the same year located in Stillwater. He was a
representative in the first, third, and last territorial legislature,
also a member of the extra session in 1857. He was mayor of Stillwater
in 1860-61. In 1862 he enlisted in a company of sharpshooters, which
was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. He was promoted to be
captain, and provost marshal in the second division of the Second Army
Corps, and one of Gen. Gibbon's staff officers. He was in fifty-four
battles and skirmishes, in some of which over 100,000 men were engaged
on each side. He was wounded four times, once severely, by a bayonet
thrust received in a charge at the battle of Petersburgh. He served
until the close of the war, and received a special and honorable
discharge from his commander, Gen. Smyth, on the face of which are
recorded the names of the battles in which he participated. In 1867 he
removed from Stillwater to Minneapolis, where he has held the
positions of land examiner and auditor of Hennepin county. He has the
distinction of being the first Odd Fellow initiated in Minnesota.
Sept. 21, 1850, he was married to Jane M. Stough, of Pennsylvania.
MORTON S. WILKINSON.--The record of Mr. Wilkinson, though brief, is
brilliant. He was born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, New York, June
22, 1819; received an academic education in his native town; read law;
was admitted to the bar at Syracuse, New York, in 1842; commenced
practice in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and in 1847 came to Stillwater.
Mr. Wilkinson was the first practicing lawyer northwest of Prairie du
Chien, was the prosecuting attorney at Judge Dunn's court in
Stillwater, June, 1847, and was a member from Washington county of the
first territorial legislature in 1849. He removed to St. Paul in 1850,
to Mankato in 1857, and in 1859 was elected United States senator. In
1860 he was one of the commissioners to compile the state statutes. In
1868 he was elected representative to Congress and at the close of the
term was re-elected. From 1874 to 1877, inclusive, he served as state
senator from Blue Earth county. Mr. Wilkinson is an eloquent and
forcible speaker, and a man of unusual ability, a sound and logical
reasoner, and withal fluent. He has been twice married. His first wife
was a daughter of Rev. Lemuel Nobles, of Michigan. Mrs. Wilkinson died
in Michigan. He married a second wife before coming West. They reside
in Wells, Minnesota.
WILLIAM STANCHFIELD.--Mr. Stanchfield was a native of Maine, born in
the year 1820, was married to Mary Jackins, in Bangor, Maine, in 1840,
and came to Stillwater in 1846, where he engaged in keeping a hotel on
Main street, which was burned while he was in charge. Mr. Stanchfield
died in 1850, leaving a widow who subsequently married Harvey Wilson,
and an infant daughter, who became, years after, the wife of George
Davis.
THOMAS RAMSDELL.--Mr. Ramsdell was born at Falmouth, England, Dec. 28,
1820. He married in England and came to this country with his wife in
1843. He settled in Stillwater in 1844, and removed to his farm in
1846, where he has been successful in raising apples and smaller
fruits. His wife died in 1851. His second wife was Jane Willey. Mr.
Ramsdell has been a quiet, good citizen, reliable and trustworthy.
CHARLES MACY.--An orphan at thirteen years of age, Mr. Macy's early
life was full of changes, adventures and vicissitudes. He was born in
Canada East in 1821. He lived a somewhat wandering life until 1845,
when he came to Fort Snelling, and shortly after to Stillwater, where,
in 1846, he made a claim which became his permanent home. He was
married in 1854.
JONATHAN E. MCKUSICK.--There was no more genial, pleasant, off-hand
man than Jonathan E. McKusick. He was the life of public gatherings.
His remarks, full of wit and sentiment, would keep his audience in a
pleasant frame of mind. At old settlers' meetings his fund of
anecdotes, historical incidents and reminiscences were in the highest
degree interesting and entertaining. Mr. McKusick was born in Cornish,
Maine, in 1812; was married to Minerva King in 1836, and came up the
Mississippi on the ice, in December, 1845, to Stillwater, which he
made his home until his death, which occurred Aug. 21, 1876. He took
an active interest in the welfare of the city and held many offices of
trust. He served his country during the war of the Rebellion, and in
1863 was appointed quartermaster with the rank of captain, which
position he held until mustered out at the close of the war.
JOHN MCKUSICK.--Prominent amongst the pioneers of the St. Croix
valley, and deserving of special mention for his enterprise and public
spirit, is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Cornish, Maine,
in 1815; received a common school education; came to Illinois in 1839,
and to St. Croix Falls in 1840, where he engaged in the lumbering
business, getting logs to the Falls mill, and sawing them. Through
industry and economy he saved enough to enable him to become part
owner and builder of the first mill in Stillwater. He has held many
positions of trust. He served as state senator in 1863-64-65 and 66.
He was active in aiding to secure the land grant to build railroads
into Stillwater, in the welfare of which city he has ever manifested
the deepest interest. He has been one of the largest proprietors, and
most liberal in improving and adorning the city, has encouraged a
sound system of finances, and has steadily opposed the bonding system.
Mr. McKusick was married to Phebe Greely in 1847, who soon afterward
died. He married his second wife, Servia Greely, in November, 1849. He
has three children living, Newton, Chester and Ella. Mrs. McKusick
died Feb. 18, 1887.
[Illustration: John McKusick]
WILLIAM MCKUSICK, a younger brother of Jonathan E. and John McKusick,
came to Stillwater in 1847, and engaged in lumbering. He was a member
of the fifth territorial house, and a senator in the second, sixteenth
and seventeenth state legislatures. In 1870, with the firm of
McKusick, Anderson & Co., he built the large saw mill at Houlton,
opposite Stillwater. In 1882 he made his home upon a farm at Big Stone
Lake.
NOAH MCKUSICK, another brother, came to Stillwater in 1847, followed
lumbering some years, removed to Oregon, and died there in 1886.
ROYAL MCKUSICK came to the valley in 1848, and died a few years later,
leaving a large and respectable family.
IVORY E. MCKUSICK.--Ivory E., brother of John and J. E. McKusick, was
born in Maine, July 2, 1827. In 1847 he came to Stillwater, with which
city he has since been permanently identified. He spent two years
working in the old mill, the first built at Stillwater, and then
engaged in lumbering until 1859. In 1862 he was appointed prison
guard, and served two years. In 1864 he was in the service of the
government, and helped build Fort Wadsworth, Dakota. He served as
surveyor general several years, and later has engaged in the
forwarding and commission business. He was married to Sophia A.
Jewell, Feb. 9, 1854. He is a man of probity and merit.
CHARLES E. LEONARD.--The subject of this sketch was born Feb. 25,
1810, at Worthington, Massachusetts. His father died when he was four
years old. In his early life he experienced some vicissitudes. He
tried farming and hotel keeping, but owing to poor health was obliged
to give up these employments. He started West in 1846, remained awhile
in Hancock county, Illinois, and in 1847 came to Stillwater, where he
engaged in mercantile pursuits. He removed to St. Anthony in 1850, to
St. Paul in 1855, to Point Douglas in 1866, to Sioux City in 1880, and
to Princeton, Mille Lacs county, in 1881. Mr. Leonard has held several
official positions. In 1852 he was appointed territorial treasurer,
and in 1857, serving four years; was a member of the Democratic wing
of the constitutional convention. He did some military service during
the Indian outbreak in 1862. He was married to Catherine Yendes, of
Rodman, New York, January, 1835.
DANIEL MCLEAN.--Mr. McLean was born in the north of Ireland in 1800
and came to America in his youth with his brothers. He lived
successively in Philadelphia, Indianapolis and St. Louis, whence he
embarked for St. Croix Falls in 1839, in the employ of the Falls
Manufacturing Company. He came to Stillwater in 1848. Through industry
and economy he accumulated a handsome fortune, which, at his death, he
left to his heirs in Stillwater. He was an upright christian man. He
died in Stillwater in 1873.
ROBERT SIMPSON.--Mr. Simpson was born in Sussex, England, in 1815. He
married Mary Ann Shelley in 1840 and came the same year to the United
States. After spending two years in New York and other places, he came
to St. Croix Falls in 1842, where he followed lumbering until 1850,
when he came to Stillwater. He belonged to the firm of Simpson,
Anderson & McComb, lumbering and merchandising, and engaged in other
branches of business. He was a member from Stillwater of the first
state legislature. He is a quiet, unobtrusive gentleman, greatly
esteemed by those who know him. Mrs. Simpson and an only child died in
Stillwater in 1856.
WILLIAM H. HOOPER.--This gentleman attained considerable notoriety in
later life as an influential Mormon and a delegate to Congress from
Utah from 1859 to 1868. He was a man of unquestioned ability and an
eloquent speaker. His plea for "religious liberty," made against the
Cullom bill, is said to have been one of the most eloquent speeches
ever delivered in Congress. Mr. Hooper was born in Warwick Manor,
Maryland, Dec. 25, 1813. In 1835 he moved to Galena and engaged in
mercantile business. In the panic of 1838 Mr. Hooper and his partner
failed to the amount of $200,000, but, after years of struggling, the
debt was entirely paid. In 1843 Mr. Hooper engaged in steamboating as
clerk on the steamer Otter, on the Upper Mississippi and its
tributaries, and was well known at Stillwater. His boat in 1843 landed
the mill irons for McKusick & Co.'s mill. In 1844 he built the steamer
Lynx and several other boats, the last being known as the Alex.
Hamilton, of which he was part owner. This was burned at St. Louis in
1849, which left him again penniless. In 1850 he emigrated to Salt
Lake and there in his business enterprises greatly prospered. Although
he espoused Mormonism and became one of its leaders, he was opposed to
polygamy. He died in Salt Lake City.
JAMES H. SPENCER.--James H. Spencer came to Stillwater in 1845, a boy
of sixteen. His educational privileges had been limited, but he was
ambitious and studious, and by his own unaided exertions acquired a
practical business education. He followed lumbering and exploring, and
was employed as state timber agent for fifteen years. He was born in
Boone county, Missouri, in 1829, and was married to Rose M. Winters,
in Stillwater, in 1869.
JOHN T. BLACKBURN.--The brothers Blackburn were born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, John, the elder, in 1823. He came to Stillwater in 1844, and has
since been actively engaged in lumbering. His home has been at
Stillwater, Marine, Taylor's Falls, and Shell Lake, where he now
resides.
JOSEPH T. BLACKBURN.--Joseph, the younger brother, was born in 1834,
and in 1847 came to Stillwater. He has followed lumbering and Indian
trading. He has made his home at Stillwater, at Taylor's Falls, and,
since 1860, on Totogatic river, in Douglas county, Wisconsin, ten
miles from Gordon. Mr. Blackburn enjoys wilderness life, is eccentric
in manner, and attends strictly to his own business.
HORACE K. MCKINSTRY.--We have no data of Mr. McKinstry's early life.
He came to Stillwater in 1846. His family consisted of his wife, three
daughters, and son, John, who afterward married the eldest daughter of
Anson Northrup. Mr. McKinstry was a justice of the peace in 1847 and
1848, and was engaged in mercantile business the two succeeding years.
He removed to Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, a year or two after and died
there March 12, 1884.
SETH M. SAWYER.--Mr. Sawyer was born in Skowhegan, Maine, in 1822. He
came to Stillwater in 1846, followed lumbering, and afterward engaged
in building a saw mill in the firm name of Sawyer & Heaton. In 1850 he
was married to Eliza McKinstry. Mr. Sawyer left Minnesota in 1866 for
an extended sojourn in the Southern States, and engaged in business
there, but nothing is known positively of his present whereabouts.
HENRY SAWYER.--Henry, the younger brother of Seth, came from Skowhegan
to Stillwater in 1849, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for two
years in partnership with Horace McKinstry. In 1856 he built the first
stone block in Stillwater, on lot 2, block 27. In 1857 he built the
Sawyer House, a four story hotel. Mr. Sawyer married Lucy Noyes. He
died in Stillwater, Dec. 27, 1865, and his remains were buried in the
Kah-ba-kong cemetery, at Taylor's Falls.
ALVAH D. HEATON.--Mr. Heaton was the partner of Seth Sawyer in
building the second saw mill in Stillwater. He came to St. Croix in
1847 and worked at the Osceola mills some time. He was a partner in
logging with O. H. Blair and afterward with Wm. Kent. He was a
brother-in-law to Hon. Cyrus Aldrich, representative in Congress from
Minnesota. In after years he removed to Idaho.
JOHN MCKINZIE.--Mr. McKinzie was born at Inverness, Scotland, in 1818,
and came to America in 1841. He located in Stillwater in 1846, and
followed lumbering until 1856, when he removed to a farm in the Lyman
settlement. He married Rose Carlton in 1872 and removed to Miles City,
Montana, in 1879.
GEORGE MCKINZIE, a younger brother of John, came to Stillwater in
1851, and engaged in lumbering and exploring. In 1885 he was adjudged
insane and sent to the St. Peter's hospital, from which he was soon
released. He afterward visited California, where he was drowned in San
Francisco bay. He was unmarried.
HENRY KATTENBERG.--Mr. Kattenberg was born in Prussia in 1821, and
married to Arnebia C. Silova, at Kemper, on the banks of the Rhine, in
1844. He came to America in June, 1847, and to Stillwater in 1848. Mr.
Kattenberg opened a shop and engaged in the tailoring business. By
industry and close application to business, he prospered and secured a
pleasant home. By liberality and kindness in extending credits, and an
unfortunate venture in lumbering, he lost $14,000, which effectually
closed his business operations. With characteristic honesty, he
turned over to his creditors his homestead and all he had to meet his
liabilities. In 1880 he removed to Taylor's Falls and commenced
keeping hotel at the Falls House, on Bench street. In October, 1886,
he purchased the Dalles House of Mrs. C. B. Whiting.
JULIUS F. BRUNSWICK.--Mr. Brunswick was born in Switzerland in 1826;
came to this country in 1846, remained a year in Illinois, and came to
Stillwater in 1848, where he engaged in lumbering, farming,
merchandising, and dealing in pine lands. Mr. Brunswick applied
himself closely to business and was successful. Feb. 29, 1859, he
married Margaret Darms, of Stillwater. He died at his home in
Stillwater in 1874, leaving a widow and seven children.
HENRY MCLEAN.--Mr. McLean was born in Washington county, Maine, in
1828, and in 1848 came to Stillwater, which has since been his home.
He is engaged in lumbering. In 1851 he married Caroline Cover.
HUGH BURNS.--Hugh Burns came from Ireland to America in 1830, when he
was but eight years of age, lived in the province of New Brunswick
until 1848, when he came to Stillwater, where he has since been
engaged in lumbering and farming. In 1850 he removed to St. Anthony,
in 1855 to St. Paul, and in 1856 to Stillwater.
SYLVANUS TRASK.--Mr. Trask was born in Otsego county, New York, Nov.
16, 1811. He secured a liberal education, and taught school several
years in the state of New York. He came to Stillwater in 1848, and in
1852 was married to Euphenia Turner, of St. Paul. He represented the
Stillwater district in the first and second territorial legislatures,
1849-51. For many years he has been a surveyor and scaler of logs.
ARIEL ELDRIDGE.--Mr. Eldridge was born in Hartford, Vermont, June 10,
1815. He was reared during his minority by an uncle, at Cambridge, New
York. In 1844 he came to the Wisconsin lead mines, at Platteville, and
in 1848 to Stillwater, where he worked afterward at his trade of house
carpenter until 1862, when he opened a book and stationery store. He
has held several city and county offices. In 1849 he was married to
Sarah L. Judd. Mrs. Eldridge died in Stillwater, Oct. 12, 1886, aged
eighty-four years. Mrs. Eldridge taught the first school in
Stillwater.
[Illustration: E. W. DURANT. A PROMINENT MINNESOTIAN OF RENOWNED
REPUTATION.]
EDWARD WHITE DURANT.--Mr. Durant is of Huguenot descent. During the
eighteenth century his ancestors lived in Massachusetts and were
active participants in the agitation against English oppression.
Edward Durant, Jr., an ancestor five generations from the present, was
a delegate to the Provincial Congress of 1774 and 1775, and chairman
of the committee on commercial correspondence. He died in 1782. Others
of the family filled prominent places, and were noted for their
whole-souled patriotism.
Mr. Durant was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, April 8, 1829. He
received a common school education, and a year in the academy. He came
to Cincinnati in 1838, and in 1844 we find him with his parents in
Albany, Illinois. In 1848 he left his parents and came to Stillwater,
where he worked three seasons on the river, running logs. He then
became a pilot on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers and continued
in this business about sixteen years. He acted as salesman for Hersey,
Staples & Co. some years. He has been since then engaged in lumbering
and a portion of the time as a member of the firm of Durant, Wheeler &
Co. The annual sales of this firm amount to over half a million
dollars. In 1874 he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for
lieutenant governor and in 1876 was president of the state Democratic
convention. He represented his district in the fifteenth, seventeenth
and twenty-fourth state legislatures. He was several years grand
master of the Masons of Minnesota. He has served as mayor of
Stillwater, and often as a member of the council. Mr. Durant, as his
record shows him, is one of the most industrious men of the time, and
possessed of good executive and business abilities. Mr. Durant was
married Dec. 29, 1853, to Henrietta Pease, of Albany, Illinois.
OLIVER PARSONS.--Mr. Parsons was born in South Paris, Maine, and is
also descended from Revolutionary stock. He came to Stillwater in
1848, where he engaged in merchandising and farming. He removed to
Minneapolis in 1876, where he is at present engaged in selling goods.
He was married to C. Jewell, April, 1855. Mr. Parsons has ever been an
exemplary man.
ALBERT STIMSON.--A native of York county, Maine, Mr. Stimson spent
there his early life, and, after a few years in New Brunswick, came to
Stillwater in 1849. He followed lumbering in his native state and on
the St. Croix. He served as surveyor general of the First district,
Minnesota, three years. He was a member of the Minnesota territorial
councils of 1854 and 1855 and a member of the house in 1853. He was
mayor of Stillwater one year, alderman two years, and was also a
supervisor of Washington county. From 1870 to 1872 Mr. Stimson was a
citizen of Kanabec county, which county he helped organize, and of
which he was one of the first commissioners. His present residence is
Anoka.
ABRAHAM VAN VOORHEES.--Mr. Van Voorhees' ancestors were patriots
during the Revolution, and lived in New York and New Jersey. He was
born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, Dec. 2, 1793. He was reared
as a farmer. His school privileges were limited. "The Major," as he
was familiarly styled, once told me that the educational advantages he
had received in youth were very few, and that his desires and
ambitions were far beyond his means to satisfy and fulfill, and he
remarked with justifiable pride: "And what I am now, if I amount to
anything, I owe to strong nerves and will power; God has always
sustained me, and I have always acknowledged allegiance to Him." The
major had an ingenious and inventive mind. Being studious and
industrious, he accomplished much without scholastic training, and
became well versed in the sciences, and an acute reasoner. In 1832 he
removed to Athens county, Ohio, where for five years he devoted
himself to mechanical pursuits and the study of the sciences. In 1837
he removed to Athens, and became editor and proprietor of the _Hocking
Valley Gazette_, and retained the editorship six years. While living
in Ohio, he served as county treasurer, county surveyor, member of the
legislature, and state senator. In the latter position he served four
years. In 1849 he was appointed by President Taylor register of the
United States land office at Stillwater, which place he held until
1853. In 1852 Gov. Ramsey appointed him territorial auditor. He was a
representative in the territorial legislature of 1856 and of the state
legislature of 1859-60. He was one of the commissioners for locating
the capitol and university lands. He was postmaster in Stillwater many
years, and when he was eighty years of age acted as surveyor of
Washington county. Such is a brief record of an unusually active and
useful life. Maj. Van Voorhees was a thoroughly good citizen and
christian gentleman. In politics he was Whig and Republican. His
church membership was in the Presbyterian church, of which he became a
member in 1832. In 1817 he was married to Mary Workman Voorhees. He
died at his home in Stillwater, Jan. 24, 1879, aged eighty-six years,
and was buried with christian and masonic honors.
MICHAEL E. AMES, an attorney from Boston, came to Stillwater in 1849,
and became one of the leading lawyers of the Territory. He was urbane
and dignified, both in society and at the bar. He was a charming
conversationalist, and such a ready and fluent speaker that it was a
pleasure to listen to him. Many of his witty sayings will long be
remembered. He was twice married, but his domestic life was by no
means a happy one. He died in St. Paul in 1861, his life, no doubt,
shortened by intemperate habits, but he was polite and genial and
witty to the last.
JOSEPH BONIN is of French descent. He was born in Montreal, Canada,
Aug. 26, 1820. He was married to Margaret Bruce in 1851. The writer
first met Mr. Bonin in Stillwater in 1845. He was then in the employ
of John McKusick. He had spent much of his life on the frontier as an
employe of the fur companies, and could relate many stirring incidents
and perilous adventures. Mr. Bonin located at Baytown at an early day.
During the Rebellion he was a member of Company B, First Minnesota
Heavy Artillery.
MARCEL GAGNON.--Mr. Gagnon was born in Lower Canada, Aug. 17, 1825. On
arriving at manhood he came to the United States, and was an employe
of the American Fur Company several years. He removed to Stillwater in
1845, engaging in lumbering. In 1863 he enlisted in the Minnesota
Volunteer Independent Battalion, and served three years. Mr. Gagnon is
a polite, pleasant, hard working and independent man.
SEBASTIAN MARTY was born in Switzerland in 1809, came to America in
1836, to Stillwater in 1845, and located on a farm in section 32, town
of Stillwater, now known as the Jackman homestead. In 1850 he made his
home in section 30, town of Lakeland, where he resided until his
death, Nov. 3, 1885. His widow was formerly Christine Mamsche. He was
a quiet, unobtrusive, thoroughly honest and reliable man.
JOHN MARTY was born in Switzerland in 1823. He learned the art of
manufacturing straw goods in France. He came to America in 1846, to
Stillwater in 1848 and not long after settled on his farm in Baytown.
He was married to Anna M. Henry, in St. Paul, 1852.
ADAM MARTY.--Mr. Marty was born in Switzerland in 1839. In 1846 he
came with his grandparents to America and located at St. Louis. In
1849 he came to Stillwater and learned the printer's trade. He was
employed one year by John McKusick. He enlisted April 29, 1861, in
Company B, First Minnesota Volunteers, was severely wounded at the
battle of Gettysburg, and honorably discharged. He resides in
Stillwater, where he has held responsible positions, and has taken a
deep interest in the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he has been
post commander.
MICHAEL MCHALE.--Mr. McHale came from Ireland in 1836; located first
in Quincy, Illinois; then, 1840, in Galena; in 1842 in Potosi,
Wisconsin, and in 1849 at Stillwater. He was interested in a saw mill
(McHale & Johnson's), and operated also as a contractor in prison
work. He was married to Rosanna McDermott in Wisconsin, 1847. She died
in 1856.
GEORGE WATSON.--Mr. Watson is, in common parlance, a self-made man.
Left alone in the world and dependent entirely on his own exertions
for a livelihood, he learned the carpenter's trade, learned it well,
and followed it industriously through life. Mr. Watson was born in
Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, Sept. 13, 1823, and came to the St.
Croix valley in 1849. He lived a few years in Hudson, and then removed
to Stillwater, where he has the credit of building many fine
structures. He was married in 1860 to Frances Lyman, of Stillwater.
REV. ELEAZER A. GREENLEAF was educated at Bangor Theological Seminary.
He came to Stillwater in 1846, and became pastor of the first
Protestant Episcopal church organized north of Prairie du Chien,
excepting at Fort Snelling and some Indian mission charges. Mr.
Greenleaf was married to Susan P. Greely, of Williamsburg, Maine, in
1838. He became a great sufferer in the later years of his life. He
died in Stillwater in 1878. Mrs. Greenleaf died in Minneapolis in
1881.
J. B. COVEY.--Dr. J. B. Covey came to Stillwater in 1844. He was born
in Duchess county, New York, in 1784. He practiced medicine many years
in Missouri. He died in Stillwater in 1851.
JOHN SHAESBY was born in Warwick, England, in 1811; came to America in
1836, to Stillwater in 1848; removed to St. Croix county in 1850,
thence to St. Joseph, to Rush River and to Baldwin in 1874, where he
died in 1880, leaving two children and his widow in comfortable
circumstances. His eldest daughter was the wife of Capt. Isaac Gray.
JOHN S. PROCTOR.--Mr. Proctor is of English descent, and was born in
Cavendish, Windsor county, Vermont, Feb. 26, 1826. He was favored with
a common school education. In 1846 he came to St. Louis, Missouri, and
served as mercantile clerk until 1849, when he came to Stillwater and
engaged in lumbering and mercantile pursuits. He was a member of the
firm of Short, Proctor & Co., hardware merchants. In 1860 he was
appointed warden of the Minnesota state prison, which office he held
until 1868. In 1860 he was also appointed secretary and treasurer of
the St. Croix Boom Company. He performed the duties of both positions,
but continued to serve the boom company twenty years. His experience
and reliability made him almost the umpire of this company. He was
appointed surveyor general for the years 1881 to 1884, inclusive. Mr.
Proctor was married to Caroline Lockwood, daughter of John Lockwood,
of Prairie du Chien, in 1854. They have one son, Levi.
BARRON PROCTOR, brother of John S. Proctor, came to Stillwater when a
young man, but after a few years removed to New Orleans, whence he
returned to Stillwater, and in 1873 engaged in flour manufacturing as
one of the firm of Cahill, Townshend & Co. He disposed of his interest
in 1880. Mr. Proctor was married to Hettie Carson, adopted daughter of
Socrates Nelson and widow of John A. Hanford. He lives in St. Paul.
HENRY WESTING is a native of Hanover. He emigrated to America in 1840
and came to Stillwater in 1848. He commenced his business career as a
day laborer and by industry, perseverance and tact, rose to a position
of wealth and influence. He died in Stillwater, Feb. 26, 1885, much
esteemed by his associates for his sterling qualities of character.
THOMAS DUNN was born in 1823, in Queens county, Ireland. He emigrated
to America in 1826, locating at Miramachi, on the northeast coast of
New Brunswick. He came thence to Maine, where he spent two years. He
came to the St. Croix valley in 1846, located in Stillwater, where he
has since lived and been engaged in lumbering. He is the owner of a
valuable land property at Yellow Lake, Burnett county, Wisconsin. He
has been a member of the Catholic church since infancy.
CHARLES J. GARDINER was born at Charlotte, Maine, in 1826, and came to
Stillwater in 1849, where he followed lumbering and farming. He served
as surveyor of the First Minnesota district five years. He was married
in 1853 to Pamela Jackman. They have five children.
SAMUEL STAPLES was born in Topsham, Maine, September, 1805. He came
west from Brunswick, Maine, in 1854, and located in Stillwater, where
he died, Dec. 26, 1887. He is the elder brother of Isaac, Silas and
Winslow Staples. He leaves a widow (his second wife), two daughters,
Mrs. E. A. Folsom and Mrs. G. M. Stickney, and two sons, Josiah and
Winslow, besides a step-son, William Langly.
JOSIAH STAPLES, son of Samuel, was born in Brunswick, Maine, June 20,
1826. He received a good common school education. At the age of
thirteen his family removed to Penobscot county, and later to the
province of New Brunswick, but returned to Maine in 1840. In 1848 he
came to Stillwater, and has since been continuously engaged in milling
and lumbering operations, and, latterly, in steamboating. He was
married to Lydia McGlaughlin in 1853. His children are six sons and
one daughter.
JOEL M. DARLING was born in Madison county, New York, in 1842. He came
to Galena, Illinois, in 1840, and to Stillwater in 1848, where he
engaged in farming. He served three years during the Civil War in
Company F, Seventh Minnesota, and has since been pensioned for
disabilities incurred in the service. He is unmarried. He lives in
South Stillwater.
EARLY RIVER PILOTS.
JOE PERRO.--"Big Joe" as he was familiarly called, was large of frame
and big-hearted as well, honest, manly, of good report for courage and
honesty. He was fearless and prompt in taking the part of the weak and
oppressed. We were once passing together up Broadway, St. Louis, when
we passed a peanut stand. A small negro boy was crying piteously and
begging the peanut vender to give him back his money, to which appeal
the peanut vender was obdurate. We halted. Joe Perro organized a
court, heard the testimony of man and boy, and satisfied himself that
in making change the man had wrongfully withheld a dime due the boy.
Joe decided in favor of the boy and ordered the vender of peanuts to
pay him the ten cents. He replied insolently: "It is none of your
d----d business." That was enough to kindle the magazine of Joe's
wrath. A sudden blow of his fist, and the man was prostrate on the
sidewalk and his peanuts and apples scattered. The last seen of the
discomfited street merchant he was on his hands and knees scrambling
with the boys for the possession of his scattered fruits, and casting
an occasional vengeful glance at the towering form of "Big Joe"
departing slowly from the scene of conflict. Mr. Perro is of French
parentage, and a native of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He has been a resident
of Stillwater since 1844.
JAMES MCPHAIL.--Mr. McPhail, as his name indicates, is of Scotch
parentage. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1824, and came to
America in early life. He was one of the first log pilots on the
waters of the Mississippi and St. Croix. He settled in Stillwater in
1848, was married to Eliza Purinton in 1849, and died in St. Louis in
1857. Mrs. McPhail died in Stillwater in 1885. They left no children.
JOHN CORMACK.--Mr. Cormack commenced piloting on the St. Croix in
1845. He was married in 1860 to Miss Jackins. He made his home in
Stillwater continuously for thirty years, during which time he served
as pilot. He died at Princeton, Mille Lacs county, in 1885.
JOHN HANFORD.--Mr. Hanford was a St. Croix river pilot in the '40s. He
married an adopted daughter of Socrates Nelson, of Stillwater. He died
at Stillwater. Mrs. Hanford subsequently married Barron Proctor.
JOHN LEACH.--Mr. Leach made his home at Marine many years, during
which time he engaged in piloting on the St. Croix; subsequently he
removed to Stillwater. In the later years of his life he has been
blind.
STEPHEN B. HANKS.--Mr. Stephen B. Hanks, formerly of Albany, Illinois,
piloted the first raft from St. Croix Falls to St. Louis in 1842. He
followed piloting rafts and steamboats until 1885.
SAMUEL S. HANKS.--Samuel, a brother of Stephen B., commenced piloting
in the '40s, and is still active.
Among the early pilots on the St. Croix and Mississippi
rivers were Antoine Lapoint, Augustus Barlow, Richard
Whiting, James Hickman, George M. Penny, and Daniel McLean.
CHAPTER IV.
POLK COUNTY--DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY.
Polk county contains 700,000 acres of land, well diversified with
timber and prairie, uplands and valleys, rivers and lakes, and fertile
enough to sustain a large population. The county was established by
the Wisconsin legislature in 1853, and originally included much more
territory than it now contains, new counties having been formed north
and east of its present domain. Indian traders had visited it at an
earlier period, but the first permanent white settlement was made in
1837, and the first pioneer who came with the serious intention of
making permanent improvements was Franklin Steele. As Mr. Steele's
history is in a great part the history of the early settlement, we
insert it here, and very nearly in the language of Mr. Steele himself,
as he communicated it to the writer some years since:
"I came to the Northwest in 1837, a young man, healthy and ambitious,
to dare the perils of an almost unexplored region, inhabited by
savages. I sought Fort Snelling (which was at that time an active
United States fort) as a point from which to start. In September,
1837, immediately after the treaty was made ceding the St. Croix
valley to the government, accompanied by Dr. Fitch, of Bloomington,
Iowa, we started from Fort Snelling in a bark canoe, also a scow
loaded with tools, supplies and laborers, descended the Mississippi
river and ascended the St. Croix to the Dalles. We clambered over the
rocks to the Falls, where we made two land claims, covering the Falls
on the east side and the approach to it in the Dalles. We built a log
cabin at the Falls, where the Upper Copper trap range crosses the
river and where the old mill was afterward erected. A second log house
we built in the ravine at the head of navigation. Whilst building,
four other parties arrived to make claim to this power. I found the
veritable Joe Brown on the west side of the St. Croix, trading with
the Indians, a few rods from where Baker & Taylor built their mill
(near the end of the present toll bridge). Brown had also cut pine
logs, part of which, in 1838, were used by Baker & Taylor, but most of
them were burned by forest fires on the ground where they were felled.
In February, 1838, I made a trip to the Falls with a dog team for the
relief of one Boyce, who was cutting logs at the mouth of Snake river,
and had had some trouble with the Indians. I helped him until he left
the country. Peshick, a chief of the Chippewas, said, 'We have no
money for logs; we have no money for land. Logs can not go.' He said
he could not control his young men and would not be responsible for
their acts.
"In the spring of 1838, from Fort Snelling we descended the
Mississippi river to Prairie du Chien in bark canoes, thence by
steamer to St. Louis, Missouri, where a co-partnership was formed by
Messrs. Fitch, of Muscatine, Iowa, Libbey, of Alton, Illinois,
Hungerford and Livingston, of St. Louis, Hill and Holcombe, of Quincy,
Illinois, and myself. We chartered the steamer Palmyra, loaded her
with all the materials with which to build a saw mill, including
mechanics to do the work, and started for the scene of operations.
Plans for procedure, rules and by-laws were discussed and adopted
during the journey on the steamer, and the new organization was
christened the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company. Calvin A. Tuttle was
the millwright."
The trip was made in safety, our immediate plans executed, and the
Palmyra was the first steamboat that ever sailed the St. Croix river
and lake. Mr. Steele made an estimate for the construction of the mill
and dam at $20,000, which he submitted to the company. It was
accepted, and Calvin A. Tuttle, a millwright, was placed in charge of
the work, but Mr. Steele sold his interest to the company before the
mill was completed. On examination of the records we find that W.
Libbey was the first agent of the company. We find also from the same
record that Libbey knew little or nothing of the business he had
undertaken. With a few barrels of whisky and one of beads he busied
himself trading with the Indians. This was the first whisky sold in
the valley, and it was sold in defiance of government law.
Much could be written about this old pioneer company of the Northwest,
and its history, could it be truly written, would contain many
thrilling incidents and scenes worthy of remembrance; but much is
already forgotten and many of the most prominent actors have passed
away, leaving no record of their lives. The company, as a corporation,
passed through many changes of name and ownership. Its history would
be a history of litigations, of wranglings and feuds, of losses and
gains, of mistakes, of blunders and of wrongs. In the first place, the
mill was planned by men practically unfitted for such work,
inexperienced in lumbering and unacquainted with the vast expenditures
requisite for the opening up of a new country, hundreds of miles from
labor and the supplies needed for manufacturing. There were three
requisites present, a splendid water power, abundance of timber at
convenient distances and a healthful climate; but these alone did not
and could not make the enterprise a success. Had practical,
experienced lumbermen been employed the result might have been
different, but impractical methods, enormous expenses, with no profits
or dividends, caused most of the company to withdraw, forfeiting their
stock in preference to continuing with the prospect of total
bankruptcy. Goods were brought annually, at great expense, from St.
Louis by the large steamers which then controlled the trade of the
Mississippi and the St. Croix. The navigation of the St. Croix grew
annually more difficult, the immense number of logs floated down since
1838 wearing away the banks and increasing the number and area of sand
bars and not infrequently obstructing the channel with jams.
It is not known exactly how or when the name of St. Croix came to be
applied to the beautiful river bearing it, but La Harpe, in his
"Louisiana," gives the most plausible account of its origin: "This
name is not ecclesiastical in its associations, but named after
Monsieur St. Croix, who was drowned at its mouth." Le Sueur, who
explored the Upper Mississippi in 1683, says he left a large river on
the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was
drowned at its mouth. As Duluth was the first white man to embark in
the waters of the St. Croix, descending it in canoes, from near Lake
Superior, which he did in 1680; and as Hennepin and La Salle ascended
the Mississippi the same year, the name could not have had an earlier
origin, but may be fixed as given sometime between 1680 and 1683. An
old map in my possession, one hundred and twenty-five years old, gives
the present name of the river and lake. The St. Croix valley embraces
an area of territory from 20 to 90 miles in width, and about 120 miles
in length. Its northern water, Upper Lake St. Croix, is about 20 miles
from Lake Superior. The southern portion is a rich prairie country,
interspersed with groves of hardwood timber. The more northern portion
is interspersed with groves of pine, tamarack, cedar, balsam and
hardwoods. The whole district, with a small exception, is a cereal
country. It abounds in wild meadows, and much of the swampy portion
will ultimately be utilized by ditching, which will transform it all
into a good stock raising country. About eight-tenths of this entire
valley is fitted by nature for agriculture.
Wheat, the leading cereal, averages ten to thirty bushels per acre;
the growth of tame grasses can not be excelled; vegetables grow to
wonderful size; native wild fruits abound; cultivated fruits are being
successfully introduced; cranberries are being cultivated in the
northern part. Wheat, stock, and pine lumber are the principal
articles of export. The southern portion is well watered by the St.
Croix and its tributaries--Kinnikinic, Willow, Apple, Sunrise, and
smaller streams, lakes and springs. The northern portion is abundantly
watered by the St. Croix and tributaries--Wolf, Trade, Wood, Clam,
Yellow, Namakagan, Rush, Kanabec and Kettle rivers. Small streams and
lakes are numerous, of which only the largest are named on the maps.
The valley is abundantly supplied with water power, capable of running
enough manufactories to work up all the products of the country. The
soil is, as a general thing, dry and arable. April and May are the
seeding months. Crops mature, and are seldom injured by frosts. The
whole country adjacent to this valley will answer to this general
description.
On the twenty-ninth day of July, 1837, our government purchased the
valley of the St. Croix of the Indians at a treaty held at Fort
Snelling, Gov. Henry Dodge and Gen. Wm. R. Smith acting as
commissioners. The purchase was ratified in Congress in the spring of
1838. Polk county, originally a part of Crawford, in 1840 became a
part of St. Croix, and in 1853 received its present organization and
name, the latter in honor of James K. Polk, eleventh president of the
United States. This country occupies the eastern part of the valley
of the St. Croix lying between Burnett and St. Croix counties on the
north and south, and Barron on the east, the St. Croix river forming
its western boundary. The surface is agreeably diversified with forest
and prairie land, and is supplied with excellent springs, rivers and
lakes. Most of the underlying rock is sandstone. This rock crops out
along the banks of the St. Croix and is extensively used for building
purposes. Lime rock is also found along the river banks, some of which
is of a superior grade, notably that below Osceola, which is
manufactured into lime and exported. The natural scenery can scarcely
be surpassed in the West. The towering, precipitous bluffs along the
St. Croix, the picturesque trap rocks of the Dalles, and the bright
clear lakes of the interior have long been an attraction to the
tourist. The lakes and smaller streams abound in fish, and the latter
are famous for their abundance of brook trout.
The county seat at the organization of the county was located at St.
Croix Falls. The first election held in the limits of the present
county of Polk, prior to its organization, was at St. Croix Falls,
then a voting precinct, known as Caw-caw-baw-kang, a Chippewa name,
meaning waterfall. The returns of this election were made to Prairie
du Chien. I was present at the canvassing of these returns. They were
found to be accurate. Annually since then elections were held at this
point and returns made, first to Prairie du Chien, Crawford county,
then to Stillwater, St. Croix county, to Hudson, St. Croix county, and
to Osceola Mills, Polk county. By an election held in Polk county just
after its organization the county seat was removed to Osceola Mills,
by a unanimous vote. The records of the first elections can not be
found, they having been stolen from the safe in 1864. The following
county officers were elected in 1853: Isaac Freeland, clerk of court
and register of deeds; E. C. Treadwell, sheriff; Oscar A. Clark,
surveyor; Wm. Kent, county treasurer; Harmon Crandall, coroner; Nelson
McCarty, district attorney; J. Freeland, clerk of board of
supervisors. The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held in
Osceola, in Isaac Freeland's building, where the offices were located
for many years. The first court was held in the school house, Wyram
Knowlton presiding. Both petit and grand juries were in attendance.
Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted to practice. Isaac W.
Hale was the first county judge. The first marriage was that of Lewis
Barlow to ---- ----, at St. Croix Falls. The first birth in the county
was that of Charles Northrup, son of Anson Northrup, at St. Croix
Falls (1844). The first death was that of John Kelly, by drowning
(1839), at St. Croix Falls. The first school in the county was
established at St. Croix Falls by Miss Tainter, from Prairie du Chien,
in 1848. The first school house was built in Osceola in 1852, the
second at St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first mail, established in
1840, was carried up the St. Croix river by batteaus in summer and by
sleds over the ice in winter. The mail was weekly; the carrier was Dr.
Philip Aldrich. The first land mail route was in 1847, from Willow
River to St. Croix Falls. The mail was carried by Dr. Aldrich through
the woods. The first stage route was established in 1855. The first
deed we find of Polk county property is recorded at Prairie du Chien
Sept. 2, 1845, from James Purinton to John Witherell, of St. Louis,
Missouri, for $4,933,--a deed of trust covering a saw mill at St.
Croix Falls. The second deed is from Benj. T. Otis to Edmond Johnson,
conveying an undivided interest in a pre-emption claim, known as the
Northrup or Jerusalem claim, about one mile east of St. Croix Falls,
for $200. The first deed recorded in the county of old St. Croix was
Sept. 29, 1845, from James Purinton, of St. Croix Falls, to John H.
Ferguson, of the city of St. Louis, Missouri,--consideration
$1,552,--of St. Croix Falls water power property. The first store was
built in St. Croix Falls in 1839 and stocked with goods by the St.
Croix Falls Company. The first blacksmith shop and the first hotel
were built at St. Croix Falls. The first grist mill was built at
Osceola in 1853. The first crops were raised at "Jerusalem," the first
farm in the county, in 1839. "Jerusalem" was the farm now owned by Wm.
Blanding, and was early noted as a resort for pleasure seekers, as a
place for picnics and base ball games. The first pre-emption and entry
of land was made in 1848, by Harmon Crandall, of Farmington. Settlers
came into the county slowly until about 1866, since which time the
population has more rapidly increased.
THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.
Undoubtedly the greatest curse to the pioneers of a new settlement,
and to the aborigines as well, is the liquor traffic. The Indians,
under the influence of whisky, became infuriated and were capable of
committing any atrocity; the effects upon the whites were not so
violent but just as surely demoralizing, and in time as fatal. Among
dealers in the vile fluid there was no one more persistent and
unscrupulous than Capt. M. M. Samuels. During the summers of 1848 and
1849 there was no other whisky selling house at the Falls. The
character of the whisky sold was vile beyond description. Mrs. H----
and son informed me that they were employed by Samuels during the
summer in compounding various roots with tobacco and boiling them, for
the manufacture of a strong drink that was sold for whisky. Many, both
whites and Indians, were poisoned by this compound. As an emphatic
evidence against the vileness of the liquor, I append some of the
blighting results:
A talented young lawyer, Hall by name, from Philadelphia, became
infatuated with the peculiar whisky furnished by Samuels, and when
insane from its effects ran from Barlow's boarding house to a high
rock overhanging the St. Croix river, just below the falls, plunged in
and was drowned.
Another, named Douglas, under the same influence, tried repeatedly to
drown himself, when his friends bound him securely with cords. He then
managed to stab himself.
Alexander Livingston, a man who in youth had had excellent advantages,
became himself a dealer in whisky, at the mouth of Wolf creek, in a
drunken melee in his own store was shot and killed by Robido, a
half-breed. Robido was arrested but managed to escape justice.
Livingston, once, when on his way from Wolf creek to Clam falls,
sought refuge in my camp, having with him two kegs of whisky. The
Indians soon collected at the camp in fighting trim and sung and
danced madly about the door of the cabin, and clamored for
scoot-a-wa-bo (whisky). I refused to allow any whisky to be issued.
The Indians were furious. Livingston cowered with fear. Foreseeing
trouble I ordered Nat Tibbetts and Jonathan Brawn to take the kegs and
follow me. The Indians stopped their gymnastic performances and gazed
intently. With an axe and with a single blow on each keg I knocked in
the heads, and the whisky was soon swallowed up in the snow. The
Indians sprang forward with demoniac yells and commenced licking up
the saturated snow, after which they danced around me, calling me
"Oge-ma" (captain). I gave them food and they went away sober and
apparently satisfied.
FRONTIER JUSTICE.
In the spring of 1848 there were two rival whisky sellers at or near
Balsam lake. Miles Tornell, a Norwegian, was located midway between
the lake and the Falls. Miller, a German, had his post at the lake.
Miller was an older trader, and claimed exclusive rights. A bitter
feeling sprang up between them, which resulted, as the testimony
afterward proved, in the murder of Tornell. His house was burned, and
his body found concealed in a coal pit. One McLaughlin, who was
stopping with Tornell, was also murdered. An investigation was set on
foot. Samuels and Fields acted as detectives, and fixed the crime upon
an Indian, whom they arrested on an island in Blake's lake, and
brought to the Falls for trial. H. H. Perkins acted as judge, a jury
of good men was impaneled, and the trial was held in Daniel Mears'
store. A prosecuting attorney and counsel for the accused were
appointed. The Indian frankly confessed the killing, and said that he
had been hired to do the bloody work by Miller. Another Indian
testified to being present on the occasion of the murder. After brief
remarks by the lawyers, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. There
was no formal sentence. The Indian was kept under guard till next
morning, when, by the unanimous consent of all present, he was hanged
to a tree, since blighted, that stood near the old burying ground
(later Louisiana street), and was hanged, Samuels officiating as
sheriff. The Indians present were permitted to take the body, which
they buried with Indian rites. Toward Miller, who ought to have been
held as principal, the crowd were unexpectedly lenient. Instead of
being hanged upon the same tree, he was merely lashed to it, and
flogged, Pat Collins administering fifteen strokes on the bare back
with a beech withe. He was then placed on a steamboat and ordered to
leave the country, never to return. Of the more active participants in
the hanging, Pat Collins, who officiated as hangman, and who flogged
Miller, was undeniably a hard citizen. He had a bitter grudge against
Miller, and administered the strokes with a will. He was himself
hanged some years later in California for highway robbery. Chas. F.
Rowley, who assisted in the hanging, lived for some years on a farm
at Wolf creek, enlisted in 1861 in the Union army, and was killed in
battle.
POPULATION OF ST. CROIX FALLS IN 1848.
The following heads of families resided in St. Croix Falls in 1848: H.
H. Perkins, Edward Worth, G. W. Brownell, Otis Hoyt, J. Saunders, R.
Arnold, L. Barlow, A. L. Tuttle, M. M. Samuels, Geo. De Attley, Moses
Perin, and W. H. C. Folsom.
The following single men claimed this as their home: D. Mears, J. L.
and N. C. D. Taylor, P. Kelly, A. Romain, J. and W. R. Marshall, W. F.
Colby, Dr. De Witt, W. J. Vincent, C. Dexter, A. Youle, H. H.
Newberry, J. and O. Weymouth, Geo. Field, W. W. Folsom, J. H. Tuller,
J. Dobney, J. Paine, and some others whose names I can not readily
recall.
NATURAL LANGUAGE.
The Indians, when unable to talk English, nevertheless managed to
express themselves intelligibly by gestures, picture writing, and
vocal utterances, imitating the sounds which they wished to describe.
A kind old Chippewa occasionally visited my camp. He would sit by the
camp fire and mark out in the ashes the outlines of lakes and streams.
In tracing South Clam river, at a certain point he drew a line across
the stream, and blew his breath between his teeth and lips in such a
way as to perfectly imitate the sound of falling water. Sometime
afterward, in exploring Clam river, on rounding a curve I heard the
sound of falling water, and found the fall just as he had located it.
THE DROWNING OF HAMLET H. PERKINS.
Mr. Perkins had been in the village since 1847, acting as agent for
the Falls company until the winter of 1850-51, when he was
accidentally drowned while attending to his duties. He was engaged in
repairing the dam, and was standing on a block of ice. In an unguarded
moment he lost his foothold and was carried by the swift current under
the ice. It was two days before his body was recovered. His family
left the valley, taking the body with them.
A QUAILTOWN MURDER.
St. Croix Falls. The buildings consisted of a dwelling house, whisky
shop, bowling alley, Indian house and stable, the whole
inappropriately styled Quailtown, as the name was a gross slander upon
the innocent birds. The quails in this "Partridge" nest were evil
birds. The resort was noted for its riotous disorder. The worst
classes met there for revelry and midnight orgies. In the summer of
1849 Alfred Romain and Patrick Kelly met at Quailtown, disputed,
fought, were parted, and the neat day met by agreement to continue the
fight with pistols. They were to meet at sunrise in front of Daniel
Mears' store. An attempt was made to pacify them, but in vain. Only
Romain appeared at the appointed place, and not finding Kelly, hunted
through the village for him. About 9 o'clock A. M. he found him at the
house of Kimball, a mulatto man. Romain shot him at sight, fatally. At
the inquest, held by Dr. Hoyt, it was proven that Romain fired four
shots into the body of Kelly, each taking effect, and then crushed his
skull with the pistol, and that Kelly fired one shot at Romain. Romain
was held for murder, but was never brought to trial. After two years'
confinement he escaped from the jail at Prairie du Chien.
Romain afterward removed to St. Louis, reformed his mode of life and
became a steady and respectable man. Kelly was a native of Ireland,
and at the time of his death was engaged to be married to an estimable
lady, one of the corps of teachers sent out by Gov. Slade.
MINERAL PERMITS.
In 1846 a party of speculators, composed of Caleb Cushing, Rufus
Choate, Robert Rantoul, and others, located a mineral permit, one mile
square, covering part of the site of the two towns of St. Croix and
Taylor's Falls, with the water power as the centre. Their permit was
filed in the general land office at Washington. They located another
permit at or near the mouth of Kettle river. As no money was ever
expended in improving them, these permits were never respected.
Subsequently the government resurveyed the lands and sold them. The
present title to these lands is perfectly good.
MARRIAGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
In the olden time officers could not always readily be found to
execute the laws. Parties desiring to be married, being unable to
secure the services of a minister or justice of the peace, would seek
for an officer on the other side of the river, get on a raft or boat,
cast off the fastenings and under the concurrent jurisdiction of the
state and territorial authorities, would be pronounced "man and wife."
Parties have had the same rite performed in the winter season while
standing on the ice of the St. Croix midway between the two shores.
AN INDIAN SCARE.
During the excitement following the Indian outbreak, there was a
general feeling of insecurity and alarm. The half-breeds were
especially apprehensive of some kind of violence. One bright moonlight
evening, at St. Croix, a surveyor was taking some observations, and as
his instrument glittered brightly in the moonlight, the half-breeds
saw it and fled, badly frightened, fancying a Sioux behind every bush.
The whites seeing them running, as if for their lives, caught the
panic, and fled over to the Minnesota side. The Taylor's Falls people
were aroused from their peaceful slumbers to find, soon after, that it
was a false alarm. Some of the fugitives hid underneath the bridge and
clung to the trestle work till morning.
THE FIRST FIRE CANOE.
I am indebted to Calvin A. Tuttle for the following reminiscence: In
July, 1838, the steamer Palmyra, Capt. Middleton, of Hannibal,
Missouri, in command, the first steamer on St. Croix waters, brought
me to St. Croix Falls, landing in the Dalles, east side, opposite
Angle Rock. The snorting of the Palmyra brought many curiosity seeking
Indians to the Dalles. They gathered on the pinnacles of the trap
rock, peered curiously over and jumped back, trembling with fright at
the "Scota Cheman" or "fire canoe," the first that had ever floated on
the placid waters of the St. Croix. I had been employed as millwright
to erect mills in the new, and, as yet, almost unknown settlement. On
the Palmyra came the proprietors, Steele, Fitch, Hungerford, Libbey,
Livingston, Hill, and Russell, with mill irons, tools and provisions
for the enterprise.
MILL BUILDING.
After climbing over the cragged rocks we came to an Indian trail which
led to the Falls, where we found two men, Lagoo and Denire holding
the claim for Steele. The fanciful scheme of building a mill up in the
wild land looked now like a reality. The men lived in a log cabin just
below the Falls, in a small clearing in the timber, near a copper rock
range. Boyce and his men had been driven in by Indians from above.
Andrew Mackey and others of Boyce's men went to work with us.
Thirty-six men had come from St. Louis on the steamer Palmyra. We
moved our machinery from the Dalles to the Falls by water and
commenced work immediately. Steele's men had been hindered by the
Indians from procuring timber for the building of the mill. We
obtained a supply from Kanabec river, which arrived September 15th.
Building the mill and blasting the rock occupied our attention during
the winter. The mill was soon completed and running. During this
period the work was often interrupted and the men were greatly
demoralized by the threatening behavior of the Indians. Many of them
were frightened into leaving the settlement, but their places were
supplied by the company whenever practicable. During 1840 we received
some reliable accessions, among them J. L. Taylor, John McKusick,
Joseph Haskell, Elam Greely, J. W. Furber and A. McHattie. Some frame
houses were built near the mill. Washington Libbey was our first
agent, Darnes our second (1839), Capt. W. Frazer our third (1840),
Capt. Wm. Holcombe our fourth (1841). The first death was of a man
drowned in 1840. The first white woman who visited the Falls was Mrs.
David Hone. Rev. Boutwell preached here in 1839. A. Northrup and
family came in 1840.
INDIAN MURDERS.
In 1840 Jeremiah Russell, the Indian farmer at Pokegama, Pine county,
Minnesota, sent two Chippewa Indians to St. Croix Falls for supplies,
who arrived in safety. A band of fifty Sioux Indians were concealed at
this (St. Croix Falls) settlement for some days. Within an hour after
the arrival of the two Chippewas, the settlement was surrounded by
these Sioux. The whites, seeing that trouble was brewing, secreted the
Chippewas for two days, the Sioux closely watching. The white men were
restless, and afraid to go to work. Capt. Frazer, Rev. Ayers and
myself held a council and explained the situation to the Chippewas,
who replied that they would not expose the whites to trouble. They
resolved on leaving and started in open day north over the trap rock
ridge, thence through the bushes, where they discovered two Sioux. The
Chippewas were armed and fired on the Sioux, killing them instantly.
The Chippewas then started to run. The report of the guns brought
squads of Sioux immediately in pursuit, who, firing on the Chippewas,
killed one. The two dead Sioux were sons of Little Crow. They were
placed by the Sioux in a sitting posture, with backs to a tree, facing
the enemy's country, on the second bench near where the mill dam was
subsequently built, a double barreled gun standing on the ground
between them. They decorated the corpses with war paint, ribbons and
mosses. The two Chippewas who killed Little Crow's sons bore the
titles Julius and Wezhaymah. The Sioux in pursuit killed Julius, and
his head was hung up in a kettle before those he had slain. His body
was chopped in pieces and scattered to the four winds.
From an historical letter, written by Mrs. E. T. Ayer, who lives at
Belle Prairie, Minnesota, and whom we have elsewhere mentioned, we
have the following description of the death of the sons of Little
Crow:
"Julius was of medium height, stout build, very neat, and when in full
dress very few Indians would favorably compare with him. Being a good
hunter he had the means of gratifying his taste. His hair was long and
abundant, and was kept clean and shining by the frequent use of comb
and brush, with the help of a little marrow or bear's oil. Three or
four of his numerous long braids, studded with silver brooches, hung
gracefully on both sides of his face and over his arms--the rest of
his dress in a manner corresponding. His hair, like Absalom's, did not
save him from his enemies. The Dakotas may dance around it for
generations and never see its equal.
"Wezhaymah made his appearance at Pokegama. As he drew near the houses
he gave a salute from his double barreled gun. The Ojibways were much
frightened. They believed the Sioux had returned to make another trial
for scalps and plunder. The first impulse of the women was to hide.
The chief's wife and oldest daughter being at the mission house, went
through a trap door into a dark cellar. But when the supposed dead
stood before them, alive and well, there was great rejoicing.
"Wezhaymah said that Julius killed both of Little Crow's sons; that
the Sioux followed him but a short distance, then all turned after
Julius. He took a circuitous route home, traveling in the night and
hiding in the day. Julius' parents, Joseph and Eunice, and other
members of their family, were members of the mission church. He and
his wife made no profession, though they sometimes attended religious
worship."
About twenty days after, about one hundred Sioux came from little
Crow's band at Red Rock for the bodies of their dead comrades and the
gun, having first, by means of spies, satisfied themselves that there
were no Chippewas in the vicinity. One morning, as the whites were
going to work, they were surprised by the sudden appearance of these
Indians, who rushed suddenly down upon them from different trails,
gorgeously painted and without blankets. Their movements were so
sudden that the whites were completely surprised, and at the mercy of
the Indians, who, however, satisfied themselves with searching the
camp and appropriating all the victuals they could find, ostensibly
searching for the gun which was not to be found where they had left
it. Complaining bitterly of its loss, they withdrew to a trap rock
ledge near by, where they formed a circle, danced, sung and fired
several guns into the air. They then asked to see "Oge-ma," the agent,
and formally demanded the gun. Everyone in camp denied any knowledge
whatever of the missing article. The Indians were at first much
dissatisfied, but finally Little Crow advanced, smoked a pipe and
offered it to. Capt. Frazer, shook hands and withdrew, apparently in
peace.
As it is not the custom for Indians to molest the dead, they firmly
believed a white man had taken the gun. Little Crow applied to Maj.
Plympton at Fort Snelling, charging the theft upon the whites. The
major in turn wrote to Capt. Frazer at the Falls to make an
investigation, as a result of which the gun was found in a tool chest
belonging to Lewis Barlow, concealed under a false bottom. Barlow
professed entire innocence and ignorance of the matter, suggesting
that his brother must have placed the gun there. Capt. Frazer severely
reprimanded him for imperiling the lives of all the whites in the
settlement by his foolish and thievish act. The gun was sent to Maj.
Plympton, who wrote to Capt. Frazer cautioning him to be on his guard,
as the Indians were much irritated. Barlow had earned the contempt and
dislike of his fellow workmen.
INDIAN BATTLE OF STILLWATER
Mr. Tuttle was at the Falls at the time of the famous battle between
the Sioux and Chippewas, which was fought in the ravine where the
Minnesota state prison now stands, July 3, 1839, and has given me the
following account:
The Chippewas of the St. Croix had been invited by the officer in
command at Fort Snelling to a council, the object of which was to
effect a treaty of peace. Two hundred and fifty or three hundred
Chippewas, including their women and children, passed down the St.
Croix in canoes, rested in fancied security in the ravine near the
present site of Stillwater, and made a portage thence to Fort
Snelling, where, under protection of government soldiers, the council
was held. The pipe of peace had been smoked and the Chippewas were
quietly returning home, and had encamped a second time in the ravine,
expecting to re-embark the next morning on the waters of the St.
Croix. Just at the dawn of the ensuing day, and while they were still
asleep, a large body of Sioux, who had stealthily followed them, fell
upon them suddenly, and with wild yells commenced an indiscriminate
slaughter. The Chippewas rallying, drove the Sioux from the ground,
thereby retaining possession of their dead, to the number of about
thirty. After the smoke of peace at Fort Snelling it was reported that
a Sioux had been killed. This incensed them so that they followed in
two parties, one party pursuing the St. Croix band and another the
Mille Lacs band up Rum river. The latter party overtook the Chippewas
at the point where Princeton is now located, and slew sixty of their
number. It was afterward ascertained that the Sioux killed near Fort
Snelling was killed by a Pillager of the Upper Mississippi, an Indian
of a band that was not in the council. The Sioux and Chippewas, it is
true, are bitter, relentless, hereditary foes, but this slaughter
occurred through a grievous mistake. The Chippewas, on their return,
rested at the Falls. Capt. Frazer gave them medicine, dressed their
wounds and fed them. The Indians gave way to the wildest grief at
their losses, and when they heard of the sixty killed of the Mille
Lacs band, their mourning cries and moans baffled description.
THE FIRST LOGGERS.
The first logs were cut by J. R. Brown on the Taylor's Falls flat in
the winter of 1836-37, but the first regular outfit and camp was that
of John Boyce, who came up in a mackinaw boat from St. Louis with
eleven men and six oxen, landing at St. Croix Falls late in the fall
of 1837. Mr. Andrew Mackey, who was in his party, has furnished me
with some items regarding this adventure. The boat was cordelled over
the rapids, and, with poles and lines, taken as far as the mouth of
Kanabec river, where a camp was established. Boyce had considerable
trouble with the Indians. Little Six, a Chippewa chief, came to the
camp with two hundred warriors in a defiant, blustering manner,
telling him to "go away," to "go back where they came from." Boyce
proceeded to the Indian mission at Lake Pokegama and invoked the aid
of Rev. Mr. Boutwell, Ely, Ayers and Seymour, who came back with him
to the camp and had a "talk" with Little Six, who claimed that the
whites had paid no money. Mr. Seymour explained to them the provisions
of the treaty, of which they would soon hear; that under its
provisions the whites had a right to the timber; that they were not
usurpers, that they would live peaceably and not disturb their game.
The Indians granted assent, but refused to allow the whites to remove
any of their chingwack (pine). Mr. Seymour, apprehending trouble,
advised Mr. Boyce to leave. He determined to remain. The Indians being
still troublesome, Mr. Boyce descended the river to the falls, the
Indians following. On going over the falls the boat filled and Mr.
Boyce lost nearly all he had. The Palmyra shortly after broke the
silence of the Dalles with its shrill whistle and brought the news of
the ratification of the treaty by Congress. Boyce sent his boat down
the river, built small boats and made haste to return to his camp on
Kanabec river, where he remained through the fall and winter cutting
logs.
THE FIRST RAFTING.
In April and May of 1839, Boyce rafted his logs with poles and ropes
made of basswood strings. The high water swept them away. He gathered
from the broken rafts enough for one raft, made it as strong as
possible, and continued the descent. The raft struck upon the first
island and went to pieces. Boyce saved the canoe and a part of the
provisions. Boyce was by this time in a furious rage at his want of
success, but tried a third time to make a raft. The crew, tired and
hungry, refused to work. A new contract was made and written on a
slate, there being no paper. The logs were left in the river. Some of
them floated down and were sold to the Falls company and to the
company at Marine. Boyce lost all his labor and investment; the men
got but little for their work. Frank Steele had assisted in supplying
provisions and clothing for the men, the value of which he never
received. Boyce was disgusted and left the country.
AN INDIAN PAYMENT.
Levi W. Stratton, who came up on the Palmyra, July, 1838, gives a few
reminiscences from which we select an account of a payment made to the
Chippewa Indians the year of his arrival. The crew and passengers of
the Palmyra had been greatly annoyed by the Indians, who expected
their first payment in July, and besieged the boat in great numbers,
demanding it at the hands of the first whites who had come up the
river, unable to understand the difference between the regularly
constituted authorities and those immigrants who had nothing to do
with the payments. It was not until the first week of November that
their goods came for payment. The place where Stillwater now stands
was selected as the place where they should assemble.
The old stern wheel Gipsey brought the goods and landed them on the
beach. The Chippewas came there to the number of 1,100 in their
canoes, nearly starved by waiting for their payment. While there
receiving it the river and lake froze up, and a deep snow came on;
thus all their supplies, including one hundred barrels of flour,
twenty-five of pork, kegs of tobacco, bales of blankets, guns and
ammunition, casks of Mexican dollars, etc., all were sacrificed except
what they could carry off on their backs through the snow hundreds of
miles away. Their fleet of birch canoes they destroyed before leaving,
lest the Sioux might have the satisfaction of doing the same after
they left.
Many of the old as well as the young died from overeating, they being
nearly starved. Thus their first payment became a curse rather than a
blessing to them, for their supplies soon gave out, the season for
hunting was past, they were away from home and had no means of getting
there, except by wading through deep snow. Many perished in the
attempt. As is usual in such cases, I suppose, no one was to blame,
but the poor Indians had to suffer the consequences of somebody's
neglect. The old Gipsey had scarcely time to get through the lake
before the ice formed.
INDIAN DANCING AND THEFT.
In the rough log cabin at St. Croix Falls were three females, the
wives of Messrs. Orr and Sackett, employes of the company, and Miss
Young, daughter of a widower of that name. Life in that cabin was by
no means a dream of bliss, for in consequence of the mosquitoes, more
relentless persecutors than the Indians, a smudge had to be kept
burning night and day, or at least by day when the sun was not
shining. The old cabin served for a kitchen, while an arbor was
improvised outside for a dining room. Shortly after the arrival of the
immigrants, and before they had learned all the peculiarities of
Indian character, they were visited by a party of fifteen or twenty
braves, who set about adorning themselves, and spent the forenoon in
painting and getting themselves up in gorgeous rig, regardless of
expense, preparatory to giving a free entertainment. Just before
dinner was called, they arranged themselves near the table and gave a
dance, which was very much applauded, after which they were given
presents of bread and meat, and dismissed, apparently highly pleased
with the success of their exhibition. The household gathered about the
table to enjoy their repast, but to their consternation, not a knife,
fork or spoon could be found. While the majority of the Indians were
riveting the attention of the new comers by their extraordinary
antics, the remainder were quietly abstracting the tableware. They
were afterward charged with the theft, but protested innocence. The
missing articles were never heard of again. A pig of lead, left
outside, disappeared at the same time. The poor Indians denied ever
having seen the lead. Mr. Stratton remarked, however, that all their
war clubs, pipes and gun stocks had been lately and elaborately
ornamented with molten lead.
OTHER THEFTS.
At another time, shortly before payment, when the Indians were
unusually hungry and troublesome, two barrels of pork and one of
butter mysteriously disappeared. The pork barrels were found empty in
the river, and also the butter barrel with one-third of the contents
missing. The Indians lay all day in camp sick, but protested their
innocence. Nevertheless, at payment day a claim of two hundred dollars
for the pork and one hundred and fifty for the butter was allowed and
kept back. They made no objections to paying for the pork, but
protested against paying for the butter, as it did them no good and
made them all sick.
In September, an old Indian came to the cabin, begging for something
to eat. The agent went to the pork barrel and held up a fine piece of
pork weighing about twelve pounds, to which the tail was still
attached. At sight of this his countenance fell and he went away
silently and sullenly.
Shortly afterward a yoke of oxen was missing. They had been driven off
over some bare ledges of trap to break the trail. An Indian was hired
to hunt for them. He found that this same beggar who had been so
disgusted with the offer of a piece of pork with the tail attached had
driven them off and slaughtered them. Payment day made all right, and
the Indians were compelled to pay a good price for rather poor beef.
HARD TIMES.
Mrs. Mary C. Worth communicated to the writer the following incidents,
illustrating some of the vicissitudes of the early settlers:
It was in the fall of 1842. There were about two hundred people in the
village, most of them in the employ of James Purinton, company agent.
They were already short of provisions and the winter was rapidly
coming on, and the expected boat, with its cargo of provisions for the
winter supply, was long delayed. September passed, October came and
nearly passed, and still no boat. Snow covered the ground, and thin
ice the river. The ice, in finely broken pieces, floated down the
rapids and was beginning to gorge in the Dalles, and still no boat.
Provisions were allotted to the resident families, and the gloomiest
anticipations filled all minds at the prospect of the long, dreary
winter without food; when, on the twenty-eighth of October, the long
expected whistle was heard from the coming steamer. The people rushed
frantically down to the old warehouse, but the ice was so gorged in
the Dalles that no boat could make the landing. No boat was in sight,
nor was the whistle heard again. Had it all been an illusion? The
eager throng were again in despair. Another night of cold would
blockade the river. Just then the voices of white men were heard from
the rocks of the Dalles, and to their great joy they perceived the
boat's officers and passengers clambering down from the rocks, with
the glad tidings that the boat had reached the landing, half a mile
below, and was then unloading her cargo. The boat, as soon as
unloaded, hurriedly departed to avoid being frozen in. The winter
passed merrily enough, but clouds and darkness gathered in the spring.
Provisions were again short, and had to be apportioned sparingly and
equally. Occasionally a deer or a fish eked out the supply, but
starvation was again imminent. On this occasion they were relieved by
the reception of condemned pork from Fort Snelling. The St. Louis
proprietors sent up another boat load of supplies after the opening of
navigation, and all seemed well, when, during the prevalence of high
water, the boom and mill race gave way and the logs, their main
dependence, were swept down the river and beyond their control. This
important occurrence, as it then seemed to be, opened up for the
company and people a new trade from the valley below, which has been a
source of immense profit. It suggested the idea of booming and rafting
their logs for points down the river, and led to the building of the
first saw mill at Stillwater.
UGH! UGH!
Mr. Purinton at one time invited a few noted Indians who were begging
for food to be seated at his table. He politely asked them if they
would have tea or coffee. "Ugh! Ugh!" (equivalent to yes, yes) replied
the whole party. So Mr. Purinton mixed their tea and coffee.
MRS. WORTH AND MUCKATICE.
Muckatice, a Chippewa chief, heard that a barrel of whisky had been
stored for safe keeping in the cellar of Mrs. Worth, at Balsam Lake.
Muckatice forced himself into the house and attempted to raise the
cellar trap door. Mrs. Worth forbade him and placed herself upon the
door. Muckatice roughly pushed her aside. He raised the trap door,
and, while in the act of descending, fell. While falling Mrs. Worth
suddenly shut the trap door upon him, by which one of his legs was
caught. Mrs. Worth held the door tightly down. When at last Muckatice
was released, gathering a crowd of Indians he returned and demanded
the whisky. Thayer, with ropes, managed to get the barrel out of the
cellar and out upon the ground, and seeing the peril of giving so much
whisky to the Indians, knocked in both heads of the barrel with an
axe, and the earth drank the poisonous fluid. Muckatice then shook
hands with Mrs. Worth, called her very brave, and departed.
CHAPTER V.
BIOGRAPHIES.
The biographical histories of the early settlers of Polk county
considerably antedate the organization of the towns to which they
would be referred as at present belonging, and we therefore group
together those earliest identified with the history of the valley, and
its first settlement at St. Croix Falls, referring also some, such as
Joseph R. Brown, Gov. W. R. Marshall and Frank Steele, to localities
in which they had been more intimately connected.
GOV. WM. HOLCOMBE was one of the active resident proprietors and agent
of the St. Croix Falls Lumber Company from 1838 to 1845. He was born
at Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1804; left home when a boy; went to
Utica, New York, where he learned the wheelwright trade. He married
Martha Wilson, of Utica; moved to Columbus, Ohio, and was successful
in business, but lost all by fire, when he moved to Cincinnati, and
from thence to Galena. While in Galena he embarked in steamboating on
the Mississippi. Mrs. Holcombe died in Galena. From Galena he came to
St. Croix Falls, where he devoted his time as agent to selling lumber
and keeping books. Mr. Holcombe took a deep interest in opening the
valley to public notice and improvement. He traveled over the
wilderness country from Prairie du Chien to St. Croix Falls before
there was a blazed path, driving horses and cattle. He helped locate
the two first roads in the valley from the mouth of St. Croix lake,
via Marine, to St. Croix Falls and from St. Croix Falls, via Sunrise
and Rush lakes, to Russell's farm, on Pokegama lake. He supervised the
cultivation of the first crops raised in Polk county, at Jerusalem.
He settled in Stillwater in 1846, where he became an active worker in
behalf of education, and did much to establish the present excellent
system of schools. In 1846 he was a member of the first constitutional
convention of Wisconsin Territory, representing this valley and all
the country north of Crawford county. He was a faithful worker on the
boundary question, and effected a change from the St. Croix to a point
fifteen miles due east, from the most easterly point on Lake St.
Croix, from thence south to the Mississippi river and north to the
waters of Lake Superior. His course was approved by his constituents.
In 1848 he took an active part in the formation of Minnesota
Territory, and was secretary of the first convention called for that
purpose in Stillwater. He was receiver of the United States land
office at Stillwater four years. He was a member of the Democratic
wing of the constitutional convention for Minnesota in 1857, and was
honored by being elected first lieutenant governor of Minnesota in
1857. The name of Gov. Holcombe will long be remembered in the valley
of the St. Croix. He died in Stillwater, Sept. 5, 1870, and was buried
with masonic honors. He left two sons, William W. and Edward Van
Buren, by his first wife. He married a second wife in Galena, in 1847,
who died in 1880.
WILLIAM S. HUNGERFORD was born in Connecticut, Aug. 12, 1805. He was
married to Lucinda Hart, at Farmington, Connecticut, in 1827. He came
to St. Louis, Missouri, at an early age and engaged in mercantile
pursuits in the firm of Hungerford & Livingston. In 1838 he became one
of the original proprietors of the St. Croix Falls Lumbering Company,
and gave his time and talents to its welfare. He was of a hopeful
temperament, and even in the darkest hour of the enterprise in which
he had embarked, cherished a most cheerful faith in its ultimate
success.
Hon. Caleb Cushing, whose name was to be associated intimately with
that of Mr. Hungerford in the future history and litigation of the
company, recognizing St. Croix Falls as a point promising unrivaled
attractions to the manufacturer, in 1846 purchased an interest in the
company, which was at once reorganized with Cushing and Hungerford as
principal stockholders. The acute mind of Gen. Cushing recognized not
only the prospective advantages of the water power, but the
probability of the division of Wisconsin Territory, which might result
in making St. Croix Falls the capital of the new territory, and
formed plans for the development of the company enterprise, which
might have resulted advantageously had not he been called away to take
part in the Mexican War and thence to go on a political mission to
China. During his absence there was a complete neglect of his American
inland projects and the enterprise at St. Croix suffered greatly; the
new company accomplished but little that was agreed upon in the
consolidation. Cushing had inexperienced agents, unfitted to attend to
his interest. He furnished money sufficient, if judiciously handled,
to have made a permanent, useful property here. Conflicting questions
arose between Hungerford and Cushing's agents, which terminated in
lawsuits. The first suit was in 1848, Hungerford, plaintiff. Different
suits followed, one after another, for over twenty years, which cursed
the property more than a mildew or blight. During this time the
parties alternated in use and possession, by order of court.
Hungerford, during these trials, pre-empted the land when it came in
market. For this he was arrested on complaint of perjury. Hungerford,
by order of court, was, on his arrest, taken away in chains. He was
soon after released. Hungerford was an indefatigable worker. The labor
of his life was invested in the improvements of the company. Cushing,
being a man of talent and influence, could fight the battle at a
distance. He employed the best legal talent in the land; he met
Hungerford at every turn, and Hungerford became a foe worthy of his
steel. They unitedly accomplished the ruin of their town. Mr.
Hungerford had an excellent family, making their home at the Falls
during all their perplexities. On the occasion of his arrest he was
manacled in presence of his family, who bore it with a fortitude
worthy the name and reputation of the father and husband. The
litigation ended only with the death of the principal actors. The
perishable part of the property, mills and other buildings, has gone
to ruin. The whole history is a sad comment on the folly of attempting
to manage great enterprises without harmony of action and purpose. Mr.
Hungerford died in Monticello, Illinois, in 1874. Mrs. Hungerford died
in Connecticut in 1880. Mr. Cushing died in 1876.
HON. HENRY D. BARRON.--Henry Danforth Barron was born in Saratoga
county, New York, April 10, 1832. He received a common school
education, studied law, and graduated from the law school at Ballston
Spa, New York. He came to Wisconsin in 1851; learned the printer's
trade, and was afterward editor of the Waukesha _Democrat_. In 1857 he
removed to Pepin, Wisconsin, and in 1860 received the appointment of
circuit judge of the Eighth district.
In September, 1861, he came to St. Croix Falls, as agent for Caleb
Cushing and the St. Croix Manufacturing and Improvement Company.
He was elected to the lower house of the Wisconsin legislature in
1862, and served as assemblyman continuously from 1862 to 1869, and
for the years 1872 and 1873. During the sessions of 1866 and 1873 he
was speaker of the assembly. A portion of this time he held the
responsible position of regent of the State University, and was also a
special agent of the treasury department. In 1869 President Grant
appointed him chief justice of Dakota, which honor was declined. The
same year he was appointed fifth auditor in the treasury department,
which office he resigned in 1872 to take a more active part in
advancing the interests of his State. He was chosen a presidential
elector in 1868, and again in 1872, and served as state senator during
the sessions of 1874, 1875 and 1876, and was at one time president
_pro tem_. of the senate. In 1876 he was elected judge of the Eleventh
Judicial circuit. During his service as judge he was highly gratified
that so few appeals were taken from his decisions, and that his
decisions were seldom reversed in higher courts. He had also held the
offices of postmaster, county attorney, county judge, and county
superintendent of schools.
Although formerly a Democrat, at the outbreak of the Rebellion he
became a Republican. Of late years he was a pronounced stalwart.
Throughout his life he never received any profit, pecuniarily, from
the prominent positions in which he was placed, his only endeavor
seeming to be to advance the interests, influence, worth and ability
of the younger men with whom he was associated, and hundreds who
to-day hold positions of prominence and responsibility, owe their
success and advancement to his teachings and advice. Of a disposition
kind, courteous and generous, he was possessed of a remarkably
retentive memory, which, with his intimate associations with leading
men, and familiarity with public life, legislative and judicial,
afforded a fund of personal sketches, anecdotes and biographies, at
once entertaining, amusing and instructive.
The judge was twice married, his first wife having died at Waukesha,
leaving him an only son, Henry H. Barron, who was with him at the time
of his death. His second marriage was to Ellen K. Kellogg, at Pepin,
in 1860. For some time she has made her home with her mother in
California, on account of ill health. At the time of his death, which
occurred at St. Croix Falls, Jan. 22, 1882, he was judge of the
Eleventh Judicial circuit. His remains were buried at Waukesha.
GEORGE W. BROWNELL.--Mr. Brownell, though not among the earliest of
the pioneers of St. Croix valley, yet deserves special mention on
account of his scientific attainments, his high character as a man,
and the fact that he was an influential member, from the St. Croix
district, of the Wisconsin territorial constitutional convention, he
having been elected over Bowron on the question of establishing the
new state line east of the St. Croix.
Mr. Brownell was born in Onondago, New York, and when a youth lived in
Syracuse, where he learned the trade of a carriage maker. He was a
resident of Galena, Illinois, over thirty years, where he engaged in
mining and geological pursuits. He spent two years in the lead mines
of Wisconsin. He was connected with the Galena _Gazette_ some years.
In 1846 he visited the Superior copper mining region for a Boston
company. He formed the acquaintance of Caleb Cushing, Rufus Choate,
Horace Rantoul, and others, and located for them mineral permits at
St. Croix Falls and Kettle river, and became, this year, a resident of
St. Croix Falls. In 1847 he was married to Mrs. Duncan, of Galena. He
was elected this year to the constitutional convention. In 1851 he
returned to Galena and engaged in the grain trade and cotton planting
near Vicksburg, Mississippi, in which he was not successful. In 1865
he visited Colorado and made investments there. When on a trip to
Colorado, in 1866, the stage was attacked by Indians. Brownell and
another passenger alighted to resist the attack. He was armed with a
rifle, and, if properly supported, would probably have been saved; but
most of the passengers remained in the stage. The driver, getting
scared, whipped his horses and drove rapidly away, leaving Brownell
and companion, who were overpowered and killed. Their bodies were
recovered, shockingly mutilated. His remains were forwarded to Galena
for burial. Mr. Brownell had a scientific mind, and passed much of
his life in scientific studies and practical experiments. He attained
a good knowledge of geology, mineralogy and chemistry. The foresight
of Mr. Brownell on the Wisconsin boundary, and in other public
matters, has been, in time, generally recognized. He was a good
neighbor and kind friend.
COL. ROBERT C. MURPHY.--Col. Murphy, a man of fine address and
admirable social qualities, made his home at St. Croix Falls in
1860-61 and 62, during which time he was in charge of the Cushing
interest and property, which position he left to accept the colonelcy
of the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His military career was
not fortunate and its abrupt termination was a sad disappointment to
himself and friends. An article in the Milwaukee _Weekly Telegraph_,
from the pen of one who knew Col. Murphy well, thus sums up some of
the salient points in his character and career. We make a few
extracts:
"Col. Murphy was educated and accomplished. He had been instructed in
the Patridge Military School, and was possessed of some experience in
Indian fights on the plains with Burnside, bearing scars of that
experience, and a recommendation of skill and courage from Gen.
Burnside to Gov. Randall. His great intuitiveness, his ready manner,
his cultivation of mind, gained for him the respect and charity of his
superiors, and brought him the respect and confidence of his regiment.
His father, a native of Ireland, was a successful practicing lawyer
and politician in Ohio, without much education; a man of strong
natural talent and integrity. Upon his son he showered all his
earnings, in the form of that which the father lacked the most--books,
schooling and polish. Judge Murphy (the father) was the bearer of
important dispatches to Texas from the Tyler and Polk administrations
in connection with the annexation of that republic to this country,
and is referred to in Benton's 'Thirty Years' as Tyler's 'midnight
messenger.' Young Murphy was appointed by President Pierce American
consul in China, while Gen. Caleb Cushing was minister to that
country, and he discharged important consular and judicial duties
there with credit to himself and his government. Upon his return Gen.
Cushing selected him to take charge of the Cushing interest and
property at St. Croix Falls, in this State. From there he went 'to the
front,' and his military career was cut short by his failure at Iuka
and Holly Springs. Gen. Grant dismissed him in brief, terse words, but
was willing afterward that he should be heard by a board of army
officers detailed for that purpose. Stanton was inexorable and
refused."
After his dismissal from the army he removed to Washington and
accepted a clerkship in the post office department where he still
remains. It is due to him to say that his own version of his military
troubles is ingenious and plausible, and would, if sustained, quite
exonerate him from the charges that have pressed so heavily upon him.
EDWARD WORTH.--Mr. Worth came to St. Croix Falls from New York State
in 1842, where he continued to reside the remainder of his life,
experiencing the vicissitudes of pioneer life to their fullest extent.
He died in 1863, leaving a widow, an only son (Henry) and two
daughters, Myra, wife of W. T. Vincent, and Sarah, wife of John
Blanding.
MRS. MARY C. WORTH.--Mrs. Worth was born Oct. 14, 1812, was married to
Edward Worth, Dec. 24, 1835, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1842,
where she lived till Jan. 12, 1886, when she peacefully passed away.
She was a woman of rare mental ability, untiring industry and skill in
managing her household affairs, and unquestioned courage, as many
incidents in her St. Croix experience will evidence. She was a member
of the Episcopal church and went to her grave with the respect and
admiration of all who knew her.
MAURICE MORDECAI SAMUELS, better known as Capt. Samuels, was born in
London, of Jewish parentage. It is not known exactly when he came to
this country. I first met him in 1844, at Prairie du Chien, at which
time he was a traveling peddler. In 1846 I found him in the Chippewa
country, living with an Indian woman and trading with the Indians at
the mouth of Sunrise river. In 1847 he established a ball alley and
trading post at St. Croix Falls, where he lived until 1861, when he
raised a company (the St. Croix Rifles) for the United States service,
received a commission and served till the close of the war. After the
war he became a citizen of New Orleans, and in 1880 changed his
residence to Winfield, Kansas. While in St. Croix he reared a family
of half-breed children. He was a shrewd man and an inveterate dealer
in Indian whisky. Capt. Samuels was sent as a government agent to the
Chippewas of St. Croix valley and the southern shore of Lake
Superior, in 1862, to ascertain and report their sentiment in regard
to the Sioux war. It may be said of Capt. Samuels that, however
unprincipled he may have been, he was no dissembler, but outspoken in
his sentiments, however repellant they may have been to the moral
sense of the community. He died at Winfield, Kansas, in 1884.
JOSEPH B. CHURCHILL was born in New York in 1820; was married in New
York to Eliza Turnbull, and came to St. Croix Falls in 1854. He has
filled various offices creditably, and has the respect and confidence
of his acquaintances. His oldest daughter is the wife of Phineas G.
Lacy, of Hudson. His second daughter is the wife of Joseph Rogers. He
has one son living.
JOHN MCLEAN.--Mr. McLean was born 1819, in Vermont; was married in
1844 to Sarah Turnbull and settled on his farm near St. Croix Falls in
1850. Through untiring industry and honorable dealing he has secured a
sufficiency for life, a handsome farm and good buildings. A large
family has grown up around him, and have settled in the county.
GILMAN JEWELL came from New Hampshire; was married in New Hampshire
and came to the West in 1847. He settled on a farm near St. Croix
Falls. He died in 1869. Mrs. Jewell died January, 1888. One son,
Philip, resides on the homestead. Ezra, another son, resides at the
Falls. The other members of the family have moved elsewhere.
ELISHA CREECH was born in West Virginia, 1831. He came to St. Croix
Falls in 1849, and was married to Mary M. Seeds in 1863. They have
four children. Mr. Creech has been engaged much of his life in
lumbering. Through industry and temperate habits he has made a good
farm and a pleasant home.
JAMES W. MCGLOTHLIN was born in Kentucky; came to St. Croix Falls in
1846, and engaged successfully in sawing lumber at the St. Croix mill
in 1846 and 1847, but in 1848 rented the mill, being sustained by
Waples & Co., of Dubuque, Iowa, but by reason of bad management, he
failed and left the valley in 1849. He afterward went to California,
where he met a tragic fate, having been murdered by his teamster.
ANDREW L. TUTTLE.--Mr. Tuttle came to St. Croix Falls in 1849, and was
engaged many years as a lumberman and as keeper of a boardinghouse. He
settled on his farm at Big Rock in 1856, where he made himself a
comfortable home. He went to Montana in 1865, and died there in 1873.
Mrs. Tuttle still resides at the homestead, an amiable woman, who has
acted well her part in life. One of her daughters is married to Wm. M.
Blanding. One son, Eli, died in 1883, another son, Henry, died in
Montana. Perly, John and Warren are settled near the homestead.
JOHN WEYMOUTH was born at Clinton, Maine, in 1815, and came to St.
Croix Falls in 1846, where he followed lumbering and made himself a
beautiful home on the high hill overlooking the two villages of St.
Croix Falls and Taylor's Falls. By frugality and industry Mr. Weymouth
has accumulated a competence. He was married in St. Croix Falls in
1850, to Mary McHugh. One son, John, is married to Miss Ramsey, of
Osceola, and a daughter, Mary J., is married to Samuel Harvey, of St.
Croix Falls.
B. W. REYNOLDS, a tall, thin, stoop-shouldered man of eccentric
manners, was receiver at the St. Croix land office from 1861 to 1864.
He was a native of South Carolina, and a graduate of Middlebury
College, Vermont. He had studied for the ministry, and, if we mistake
not, had devoted some years of his life to pastoral work, but devoted
later years to secular pursuits. At the close of the war he returned
to South Carolina as a reconstructionist, but in two or three years
came North, and located at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he edited the
La Crosse _Star_. He died at La Crosse Aug. 17, 1877.
AUGUSTUS GAYLORD.--Mr. Gaylord was a merchant in St. Croix Falls prior
to the Rebellion. In 1861 Gov. Harvey appointed him adjutant general
of the State. In this office he acquitted himself well. He was an
efficient public officer and in private life a high minded, honorable
gentleman.
JAMES D. REYMERT.--Mr. Reymert was born in Norway in 1821, and came to
America and settled in Racine in 1845. He was a practical printer, and
editor of the first Norwegian paper west of the lakes, if not the
first in America, and was a man of recognized literary ability. He was
a member of the second Wisconsin constitutional convention, 1847, from
Racine. In 1849 he was a member of the Wisconsin assembly. He came to
St. Croix Falls in 1859, and served two years as agent of the St.
Croix Falls Company. He was the organizer of a company in New York
City, known as "The Great European-American Land Company," in which
Count Taub, of Norway, took an active part. This noted company
claimed to have purchased the Cushing property, a claim true only so
far as the preliminary steps of a purchase were concerned. For a time
there was considerable activity. The town of St. Croix Falls was
resurveyed, new streets were opened, and magnificent improvements
planned, but failing to consummate the purchase, the company failed,
leaving a beggarly account of unpaid debts.
WILLIAM J. VINCENT.--Mr. Vincent is of Irish descent. He was born June
10, 1830, and came West when a youth. In 1846, at the age of sixteen,
he enlisted in Company H, Mounted Rifles, and served through the
Mexican War. In 1848 he came to St. Croix Falls, where he followed
lumbering and clerking. He was married to Myra Worth in 1855. In 1861
he enlisted in Company F, First Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, of which
company he was appointed second lieutenant. He resigned in 1862. He
has held the office of county commissioner eleven years, that of
county clerk seven years, that of state timber agent four years. In
1879 he served as representative in the Wisconsin assembly. In 1880 he
commenced selling goods with his son-in-law, under the firm name of
Vincent & Stevenson. He erected the first brick store building in St.
Croix Falls in 1884.
THOMPSON BROTHERS.--Thomas Thompson was born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11,
1833, and was married to Eliza Clendenning in 1861. James Thompson was
born in Lower Canada, Nov. 11, 1840, and was married to Mary A. Gray
in 1871. The brothers came to the Falls in 1856 and engaged in
lumbering about ten years, and then in merchandising, jointly, but in
1868 formed separate firms. Thomas built the first brick dwelling
house in St. Croix in 1882. Mrs. Thomas Thompson died in 1886. James
erected a large flour mill in 1879.
WILLIAM AMERY was born in London, England, in 1831. He learned the
carpenter's trade in London and came to America in 1851, locating at
first in Stillwater, but the ensuing year removing to St. Croix Falls.
He pre-empted the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of
section 31, township 34, range 18, and adjoining lands in 1853, and
this has been his continuous home since. He has served as county
treasurer four years and held many town offices. He was married to
Sarah Hackett in 1855. The town of Amery is named in honor of this
respected man. Mr. Amery died Sept. 4, 1887, leaving a widow, two sons
and three daughters.
LEWIS BARLOW.--Among the first immigrants to St. Croix Falls was Lewis
Barlow, an eccentric, sensitive man. He was a millwright, and, being
of an unhappy disposition, led a troubled life. He was the first man
married at the Falls. In 1847 he moved to the Minnesota side, where he
owned considerable land. He lived here until 1852 when his family left
him. He sold his interests and followed and reunited them at Rock
Island, Illinois. Here he suffered much and became blind. He traveled
with a panorama and so earned a scanty livelihood. In later life he
revisited his old home at the Falls, but broken and dejected in
spirit. He died at Rock Island in 1872.