Fifty Years In The Northwest

Andrew Jackson Van Voorhes, the second son, born June 30, 1824, came to Stillwater in 1855, and in 1856 founded the Stillwater Messenger and conducted it until 1868, excepting two years which he spent in the army during the Civil War. He was a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1859-60, and served as clerk of the Minnesota supreme court for one year. From 1863 to 1865 he served as quartermaster in the army, with the rank of captain. He died in Stillwater in 1873.

Henry Clay Van Voorhes, the youngest son, was born in Athens, Ohio, in 1839, and came with his father to Stillwater in 1850. During the war he was a member of Company B, First Minnesota Volunteers, for about eighteen months, when he was discharged for disabilities. He afterward returned to the field with his brother, Capt. A. J. Van Voorhes, but was not on active duty. At the close of the war he returned to Stillwater, which has since been his home. He was married at Arcola, Feb. 9, 1868, to Emily Mower, daughter of John E. and Gracia Mower. In 1887 he went to Alaska.

Louisa, eldest daughter of Abraham Van Voorhes, was married to C. A. Bromley. She died in 18 – . Maria, the youngest daughter, was married to D. H. Cutler, of Stillwater.

C. A. Bromley was born in Plattsburg, New York, Oct. 31, 1829. He came to Minnesota in 1851. He erected a fine livery and sale stable on Chestnut street in 1863. Mr. Bromley served in the war of the Rebellion as captain of Company B, First Minnesota, and afterward of Company I, Sixth Minnesota Volunteers. He was married to Louisa Van Voorhes, who died some years ago. He was married a second time, to a Miss King.

Charles J. Butler was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1822. He was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania. He removed to St. Louis in 1839, where he remained for ten years. He was married to Margaret E. Lansing, of Madison, Wisconsin, in May, 1846. The following July he went as paymaster's clerk, under his father, Maj. John B. Butler, to Mexico, in the Chihuahua expedition, commanded by Gen. John E. Wool. Returning to St. Louis, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business until the spring of 1849, when he disposed of his stock and went to California, where he engaged in mining operations. In August, 1851, he came to Marine as book-keeper for Judd, Walker & Co., remaining with them until he was appointed secretary of the St. Croix Boom Company, which position he held until 1875. In 1856 he removed to Stillwater. In 1857 he was elected delegate to the constitutional convention. He served one term as mayor of Stillwater. In 1862 he served as first lieutenant under David Bronson as captain, and with S. J. R. McMillan as second lieutenant, in the Chengwatana expedition sent from Stillwater to prevent the Chippewas from rising and joining in the Sioux insurrection. He purchased the Nelson warehouse, and, with Capt. Isaac Gray as partner, engaged in the towboat business until 1878. Of late years Mr. Butler has been engaged in business ventures in Western Minnesota, but he still retains his residence at Stillwater. Mr. Butler has always been a lover of field sports and his prowess as a sportsman is well remembered by his old friends. He has four children – two sons and two daughters.

Levi E. Thompson was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, May 5, 1829; educated at Troy Wesleyan Seminary, New York; commenced studying law at the age of fourteen; was admitted to practice by the supreme court at the age of twenty, and, coming to Stillwater in 1852, commenced practice, having associated with him at various times T. E. Parker, Allen Dawson and John Vanderburgh. He was married, October, 1856, to Martha G. Harris, daughter of Albert Harris, an early settler of Stillwater. Mr. Thompson died Nov. 8, 1887.

George Davis was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Sept. 22, 1832. He received a good school and academic education. He removed to St. Louis in 1852, and to Stillwater in 1853, where he served some years as a mercantile clerk, then as deputy sheriff, then ten years as sheriff of Washington county. He also served as clerk of the district court, and in 1876 as county auditor. In 1865 he was married to Georgiana Stanchfield, of Stillwater. Mr. Davis died in 1879 and Mrs. Davis in 1882, leaving five children.

Wm. Monroe McCluer was born Sept. 6, 1831, in Franklinville, New York. He graduated from Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo, New York, in 1850; studied law in Moscow, New York; graduated at the State and National Law School at Poughkeepsie in 1854, and, removing to Stillwater the same year, engaged in the practice of his profession, in which he has been eminently successful. In November, 1881, he was appointed additional judge for the First district, an office created by the legislature at its special session. Judge McCluer served one term in the house of representatives. He was married to Helen A. Jencks, of Waterford, Saratoga county, New York, Sept. 27, 1858. They have one son, Charles M., practicing law in Stillwater.

John Nicholas Ahl was born at Strasburg on the Rhine, Oct. 7, 1807. After seven years' study he was graduated as a physician at Strasburg Medical College in 1839. He emigrated to America and located in Galena, Illinois, in 1843, where he practiced medicine some years. He was married in 1846 to Lucretia Hartman. In 1850 he removed to Stillwater. In 1852 he built the Washington Hotel (afterward changed to Liberty House), on south Main street. He practiced medicine and followed lumbering and hotel keeping in Stillwater until his death, which occurred in 1878.

Samuel M. Register is a native of Dover, Delaware. He is of French descent, and some of his ancestors took part in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1827, and came to Stillwater in 1850, where he engaged actively in business, dealing in lumber and pine lands, piloting, steamboating and farming. He was at one time a member of the city council, and a representative in the territorial legislature of 1854-5. He was married to Minerva Causlin in 1856.

J. A. Johnson was born near the city of Wexio, Sweden, April 24, 1842. In 1854 he emigrated with his parents to the United States, arriving at Marine Mills, Washington county, Minnesota late in the fall of that year. He remained at Marine and Stillwater till 1858, attending school a large portion of the time. In the fall of that year he went to school at Dubuque, Iowa. After completing the course of study he learned the trade of locomotive engineer, which occupation he followed till 1866, being in the employ of the United States government the last years of the war, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. After the close of the war, in 1865, he returned north as far as St. Louis, Missouri, where he married Miss Agnes A. Coler, of that city. He has 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls. His health having been impaired in the government service, he returned to Marine in 1866, where he remained till Jan. 1, 1874. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Washington county, which position he held for six years, and has been twice re-elected without opposition. Retiring from the sheriff's office in 1880, he removed to Fargo, Dakota, and engaged in the sale of agricultural implements, in which business he has remained up to the present time.

During his residence in the city of Fargo he has held various offices, such as alderman, member of the board of education, etc. In the fall of 1884 he was nominated for the territorial senate and received a majority of 1,133 votes in Cass county, and 835 out of a total of 1,669 in the city of Fargo. In the spring of 1885 he was elected mayor of Fargo by over 300 majority, after one of the most hotly contested campaigns in the political history of the city. In 1886 he declined a re-election. While sheriff of Washington county he devoted his leisure moments to the study of law, and was admitted to practice in all the courts of Minnesota. Although not in active practice his knowledge of law has been of great value to him in the business in which he has been engaged since that time.

Gold T. Curtis was born in Morrisville, New York, Aug. 16, 1821. At the age of eighteen he graduated at Hamilton College, New York, and entered upon the study of law with Judge Morrill, Chenango county, New York. He commenced practicing law at Belleville, New York, in 1850. During the same year he was married to Abigail Anderson, a descendant of Gen. John Stark, of Revolutionary fame, and of the Protestant branch of the royal house of the Stuarts, some of whom came from Scotland to America in 1742. Mrs. Curtis is a lineal descendant of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. Mr. Curtis removed to Stillwater in 1854 and entered upon a lucrative law practice. He was elected a member of the Minnesota constitutional convention. In 1857 he was also nominated for the position of district judge, but was defeated by S. J. R. McMillan. He was much respected and held some offices of trust in the city and county. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in Company I, Fifth Minnesota, and was promoted to the captaincy of the company, but his health failed and he died in St. Louis July 24, 1862. His remains were brought to Stillwater and interred with military and masonic honors, Aug. 2, 1862.

Harley D. Curtis, a native of New York and a brother of Gold T. Curtis, came to Stillwater in 1851. He held the positions of postmaster and justice of the peace.

Francis Roach Delano. – The ancestors of Mr. Delano came to America in 1621, and were active participants in the stirring scenes and controversies preceding the Revolution. Francis Roach, after whom Mr. Delano was named, was the owner of the ship Dartmouth, one of the vessels out of which the tea was cast into Boston harbor, on the memorable occasion of the Tea Party of 1774. Notwithstanding the affair of the tea, the family, who were ardent patriots, have preserved as a precious relic some of the tea rescued from the general destruction.

Mr. Delano is one of sixteen children in his father's family. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Nov. 20, 1823; received a common school and academic education, and was employed in a machine shop some years. At the age of twenty he was employed in an engineering corps and served two years. He was for two years superintendent of the Boston & Worcester railroad. In 1844 he came to St. Louis, Missouri, and was variously employed until 1848, when he removed to Minnesota and was engaged for a year in St. Anthony (now Minneapolis), in running the government mill. The mill had been leased for five years. Mr. Smith fulfilled the contract, and Mr. Delano, being released from it, came to Stillwater in 1851 and entered into contract with Jesse Taylor, Martin Mower, Jonathan E. McKusick, and Jacob Fisher, under the firm name of Jesse Taylor & Co., to build the territorial prison. Mr. Delano was appointed first warden, March, 1853, and served until 1858. He was intrusted with the expenditure of public moneys from territorial authorities, in caring for and improving the prison. When the state government was organized he was released. He was afterward a member of the firm of Delano, McKusick & Co., sawing and selling lumber. J. E. McKusick and Robert Simpson were members of this firm. Mr. Delano moved to St. Paul in 1862, and was afterward engaged in railroad employment. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel to take command of five companies during the Indian outbreak. The command was stationed at Chengwatana, Pine county. He died February, 1887. He was married Oct. 11, 1846, to Calista Ann Cavander, who, with two sons, survives him.

Henry W. Cannon was born in Delhi, New York, Sept. 25, 1852. He was educated at Delaware Literary Institute. He came to St. Paul in 1870, and in 1871 to Stillwater, where he accepted the position of cashier of the Stillwater Lumberman's Bank. In 1882 he was appointed by President Arthur United States bank comptroller. He was removed by President Cleveland. He is now a resident of New York City, and is engaged in banking.

Dwight M. Sabin was born at Marseilles, La Salle county, Illinois, April 25, 1843. The ill health of the father, who was an extensive land owner and stock raiser, necessitated a removal to the seaside in Connecticut in 1856. In consequence of the continued ill health of the father and his death in 1864, young Dwight was deprived of the thorough education to which he aspired, and, being the oldest son, found the cares and responsibilities of managing his father's business thrown upon his shoulders while he was yet a boy. In 1867 he removed with his mother and younger brother to Minnesota, the year following to Stillwater, where he engaged in business with the firm of Seymour, Sabin & Co. This firm contracted for the convict labor in the state prison, and engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds and cooperage. The business in 1874 was extended and made to include the manufacture of agricultural implements, including also a machine, boiler shop and foundry, until it is now one of the most extensive establishments in the country.

Mr. Sabin is also interested in other manufactures, among them the C. N. Nelson Lumber Company and the Duluth Iron Company. In 1882 Mr. Sabin was the prime organizer of the Northwestern Car Company, with a capital of $5,000,000. The company was to receive a bonus from the city of Stillwater of $100,000 in bonds, on certain conditions. The company purchased the interests of Seymour, Sabin & Co., thereby coming into possession of their immense manufactories, including those managed under the prison contracts, and elected Mr. Sabin president, and was making rapid progress toward the completion of its plans, when, owing to the stringency of the financial world, it was compelled to make an assignment.

While Mr. Sabin has been busy with the management of his vast manufacturing establishments, he has been no less active and conspicuous as a public spirited citizen, ever taking a great interest in the affairs of his adopted city, of the State and country at large, and his talents and efficiency have been recognized by his fellow citizens, who elected him to the state senate in 1871-72-73, and to the house of representatives in 1878 and 1881. He has several times been a delegate to the National Republican convention, and was chairman of the convention at which James G. Blaine was nominated for the presidency. He was elected to the United States senate in 1883 as the successor of Hon. Wm. Windom.

CHAPTER XVI.

STEARNS, ANOKA AND SHERBURNE COUNTIES

STEARNS COUNTY

Stearns county derived its name from Hon. Charles T. Stearns, a prominent citizen of St. Cloud, a representative of the precinct of St. Anthony Falls in the fifth and sixth territorial councils.

It is bounded on the north by Todd and Morrison counties, on the east by Benton, Sherburne and Wright counties, the Mississippi forming the dividing line against Benton and Sherburne, and Clearwater against Wright county, on the south by Kandiyohi and Mecker, and on the west by Pope county. It contains an area equal to thirty-six townships. It is a fine agricultural county and is well watered by the tributaries of the Mississippi, the principal of which is Sauk river. It has also an abundance of small lakes. Its oldest settlement and principal city is St. Cloud, and among its most flourishing villages are Sauk Centre, Fair Haven, Clearwater, Melrose, St. Joseph, Albany, Paynesville, Richmond, and Cold Springs.

The county was organized in 1855, under the legislative act of that year. Gov. Willis A. Gorman appointed the following commissioners: David T. Wood, John Ferschniller and John L. Wilson. They held their first meeting at the house of John L. Wilson, April 9, 1855. J. L. Wilson acted as chairman. The board appointed the following county officers: Charles Ketchum, clerk; Robert B. Blake, treasurer; L. B. Hammond, sheriff; N. N. Smith, judge of probate; R. B. Blake, surveyor; and John Harry Weltshimer, assessor. The board established three precincts, viz.: St. Augusta, St. Cloud and Tamarack. The judges of election for St. Augusta were John M. Feble, John G. Lodenbeck and Anton Emholt; for St. Cloud, Joseph Demil, L. B. Hammond and Battise Arsenan; for Tamarack, Henry Foster, Louis Amel and John Smith. License was granted to Joseph P. Wilson, George F. Brott, L. B. Hammond, and O. Carter to run a ferry across the Mississippi river. April 30, 1855, Farmington precinct was established. John M. Lindeman, Jacob C. Staples and D. T. Wood were judges of election. July 5, 1855, the first rate of taxation was fixed for the county at one per cent.

The first license to sell spirituous liquors was granted to Anton Edelbrock. The first order issued was to pay for county books, $31.86, to John L. Wilson. Ordered that Washington avenue and St. Augusta street be adopted as county roads. Aug. 27, 1855, it was ordered that Chippewa Agency precinct (now in Crow Wing county) be and remain as it was when a part of Benton county, and J. D. Crittenden, Truman Warren and D. B. Herriman were appointed judges of election. It was ordered that Long Prairie precinct (now in Todd county) remain as it was when a part of Benton county, and Anson Northrup, Lewis Stone and Harman Becker were appointed judges of election. On Jan. 6, 1856, a new board of commissioners qualified, consisting of Anton Edelbrock, chairman, Reuben M. Richardson, and M. J. Orth. H. C. Waite was appointed prosecuting attorney. The county was organized for judicial purposes in 1855, and the counties of Crow Wing and Todd were attached. The first term of court was held June 25, 1855; Hon. Moses Sherburne, presiding, Taylor Dudley, clerk, and Joseph Edelbrock, sheriff. The writer is indebted to the efficient clerk of court of 1887, A. L. Cramb, for collecting data, as the old records are quite unintelligible.

Judge E. O. Hamlin held the first term of court under the state organization. At the session of the commissioners in July, 1856, the first bonds of the county were ordered for building a court house, amounting to $7,000, at twelve per cent interest for eight years. The bonds were offered in New York City by an agent. These bonds were lost, and only two of them were recovered. At the session of the commissioners for August, the donation of John L. Wilson of four blocks of ground, containing eight acres, for court house purposes, was accepted. Three-fourths of the ground was sold by the county, and the funds received from the sale, together with $6,000 in bonds issued in 1857, and other bonds issued later, were used in erecting the court house.

ST. CLOUD

The eastern side of the Mississippi river was the first settled. As early as 1848 David Gilman had located at a point now called Watab. During the ensuing year, Jeremiah Russell, Philip Beaupre and James Beatty were keeping trading posts at Sauk Rapids. In 1849 J. Q. A. and W. H. Wood, brothers, located there. In 1854 the Rapids had become quite a point with its Indian trading posts, its stores and its United States land office. Among the early residents were many subsequently identified with the interests of St. Cloud. In the spring of 1854 John L. Wilson crossed the river at the point now known as the upper landing, then covered with a dense growth of trees and underbrush. On the adjoining prairie, a Norwegian, Ole Burgerson by name, had staked out a claim and put up a shanty. Mr. Wilson purchased his interest and in June of the same year erected a frame dwelling (still standing) near the railroad bridge. Nicholas Lake put up a blacksmith shop near by. During this year James Hitchins put up a small log dwelling for Gen. S. B. Lowry, who platted the township of Acadia, now Lowry's addition to St. Cloud. A post office was established here through his influence. The same year Brott & Co. laid out St. Cloud city. The earliest claimants of the town site, owning claims fronting on the river, were S. B. Lowry, Ole Burgerson, Martin Woolley, and Michael Zoms. John L. Wilson having purchased the claim of Ole Burgerson, platted the village of St. Cloud, and this was the first recorded of any of the St. Cloud plats. The village of St. Cloud made but little progress until 1856, when a hotel known as the Stearns House, now used in connection with the normal school, was built, a ferry established and other improvements made. A notable incident connected with this ferry is the fact that the Rev. Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, now president of St. John's University, then a lad of thirteen years of age, was ferryman, he being the son of the proprietor of the ferry. The craft was swung back and forth like a pendulum, by the current acting against its keel, being fastened by a long rope some distance up the river. It was not therefore beyond the ability of so youthful a ferryman to manage. The post office, established first at Acadia, became the St. Cloud post office and Joseph Edelbrock was appointed postmaster. He was reappointed by President Cleveland to the same position in 1886. The first newspaper in St. Cloud was the Visitor, established in 1857, by the gifted and somewhat erratic journalist and reformer, Jane Grey Swisshelm. This paper had but a brief and troubled career – the advanced views and dictatorial style of its publisher and editor proving somewhat distasteful to the community at large. Mrs. Swisshelm, who had already won a national reputation, went to Washington, became a contributor to the New York Tribune, and had thereafter a somewhat variable, and upon the whole brilliant, career as a lecturer, editor and reformer. She was amongst the strongest, though not the most radical, of the advocates of woman's rights. She was not a woman suffragist, but directed her efforts chiefly toward establishing the legal identity of married women. She was also very pronounced in her anti-slavery views.

The first records of the organization of St. Cloud as a village have been lost. It was reorganized by legislative enactment in 1862, and the following were the first officers: Mayor, Judge L. A. Evans; councilmen, H. C. Burbank, John W. Tenvoorde, Joseph Broker and Barney Overbeck; clerk, A. B. Curry.

St. Cloud was organized as a city in 1868, under the following officers: Mayor, Judge E. O. Hamlin; aldermen, L. A. Evans, president; Peter Smith, Thomas Smith, T. C. Alden, Leander Gorton, T. R. Bennett, O. Tenny, C. Bridgman, Andrew Fritz, L. R. Roberts, Lewis Clarke, H. C. Burbank; clerk, N. F. Barnes. The city government has been judiciously managed. The United States land office, established first at Sauk Rapids in 1853, was removed to St. Cloud in May, 1858. The first receiver was W. H. Wood. His successors have been S. B. Hayes, C. A. Gilman, W. B. Mitchell, H. G. Burbank, Ole Peterson, and C. F. McDonald, the present incumbent. The first register was George W. Sweet. His successors have been W. A. Caruthers, T. C. McClure, H. C. Waite, H. L. Gordon, J. A. Brower, and D. H. Freeman.

The city has paid for various improvements as follows: City water works on the Holly system, $25,000; city bridge over the Mississippi, 500 feet in length, $12,000; to the Manitoba railroad in real estate and bonds, $100,000; in cash, $27,000; gas works, $10,000. The fire department is well equipped. An electric light plant has been established. Considerable money and work have been expended in dredging Lake George, a beautiful lake about fifty-five acres in extent, lying in the heart of the city, and surrounding it with parks. Street cars have been introduced and altogether the city has made most commendable advancement in all those things that pertain to beauty and comfort.

Not less rapid and substantial are its advances in commerce and manufactures. Before the completion of the railway it had regular communication by water with all river points, and since its facilities for transportation have made it the peer of any inland city of its size in the State. The railroads of St. Cloud are the Manitoba with its various branches and the Northern Pacific, the latter passing through East St. Cloud. Among the improvements of which its citizens are justly proud we may mention the St. Cloud dam, constructed in 1886, at a cost of $200,000. The city gave $100,000 for this improvement. The dam has for its foundation the underlying granite of this section. It is intended as a permanent structure and must conduce largely to the growth and prosperity of the city. The dam has 10 feet head of water and furnishes 1,500 horse power. A flour mill with a capacity of 300 barrels per day is run by the water power. The Phœnix Iron Works, established at a cost of $175,000, give employment to 100 men. Bridgman's steam saw mill has a capacity of about 40,000 feet of lumber per day.