Fifty Years In The Northwest

Martin S. Chandler, for twenty-two years sheriff of Goodhue county, Minnesota, was born in Jamestown, New York, Feb. 14, 1827. He came to Goodhue county in 1856 and engaged for awhile farming at Pine Island. He was elected county commissioner in 1856, and served until 1858, removing meanwhile to Red Wing, which has since been his home. In 1859 he was elected sheriff of Goodhue county, and held the office for eleven consecutive terms, until 1882, when he was elected to the state senate. He was presidential elector in 1872. He was appointed surveyor general in 1883, which office he held until 1887. He was married to Fannie F. Caldwell, of Jamestown, New York, in 1848. His only daughter, Florence C., is the wife of Ira S. Kellogg, of Red Wing, one of the oldest druggists in the State.

Charles McClure was born in Virginia in 1810; was graduated at Lewisburg, Virginia, in 1827; studied law and was admitted to practice in 1829. He came to Minnesota and located at Red Wing in 1856, where he opened a law office. In 1857 he was a member of the constitutional convention, presidential elector in 1861, state senator in 1862-63 and in 1864, judge of the First district, filling the vacancy caused by the retirement of Judge McMillan. At the fall election of the same year he was elected judge of the First district and served seven years. This district embraced Washington, Chisago, Goodhue and Dakota counties. Judge McClure is a man of unquestionable ability and integrity.

Horace B. Wilson was born in Bingham; Somerset county, Maine, March 30, 1821. His grandfather settled in Maine twenty years prior to the Revolution. He had a fair common school education until sixteen years old, when he attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, graduating four years later. He devoted himself chiefly to teaching, and studied law meanwhile, but never practiced. He taught in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lawrenceburg and New Albany, Indiana, until 1850, when he was elected city civil engineer, which position he filled six years. In 1858 he removed to Red Wing, Minnesota, and taught, as professor of mathematics, natural science and civil engineering in Hamline University four years. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F, Sixth Minnesota Infantry, was elected captain, and mustered out at the close of the war. His military service was quite arduous, including campaigning against the Sioux until 1864, when the regiment was ordered South and attached to the Sixteenth Army Corps.

In 1866 he was appointed superintendent of schools for Goodhue county. In 1870 he was appointed state superintendent of schools, which position he held five years. He was elected representative in the state legislature in 1877, and subsequently he served four terms as senator, and was president pro tem. of that body during the trial of E. St. Julien Cox, and in the absence of the lieutenant governor presided during the trial. For the past few years he has devoted himself to civil engineering, and has had charge of the public improvements of Red Wing. In 1844 he was married to Mary J. Chandler, who died in 1887.

Among the prominent early settlers of Red Wing not mentioned in our biographical notices were William Freeborn, for whom Freeborn county was named, and who was a senator in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth legislatures. Judges Welch and Wilder, W. C. Williston and Warren Bristol, lawyers, both state senators from Goodhue, and the latter a judge in Arizona. Rev. Chauncey Hobart, D.D., a Methodist pioneer preacher, and author of a history of Methodism in Minnesota and an autobiography; Rev. Peter Akers, D.D., an eminent educator; Rev. M. Sorin, D.D., an eloquent preacher, and Rev. Samuel Spates and J. W. Hancock, prominent as missionaries, the latter the first pastor located in the village. Andrew S. Durant, first hotel keeper; Calvin F. Potter, first merchant. W. W. Phelps and Christopher Graham were appointed to the land office in 1855.

WABASHA COUNTY

This county, named in honor of a Sioux chief, lies on the west shore of the Mississippi river and Lake Pepin, between Goodhue and Winona counties. It has a majestic frontage of bold bluffs on the lake and river. From the summit of these bluffs stretch away broad undulating prairie lands, with occasional depressions, or valleys, caused by the streams tributary to the river.

Wabasha village is the county seat. The county is traversed by the St. Paul & Milwaukee railway, and the Zumbrota Valley Narrow Gauge railroad has its eastern terminus at Wabasha village. A railroad from Minneiska to Eyota, in Olmsted county, through Plainview, also passes through this county. Lake City is a thriving village on the lake shore, beautifully situated. The Grand Encampment, located about two miles below Wabasha village, was once a point of great interest. It was from time immemorial a camping ground for Indians. It has an abundance of ancient mounds. The only people in the county in 1845, when the author first visited this section, were the Campbell, Cratt, Bessian, and a few other French families. Bailey and sons, Dr. Francis H. Milligan, B. S. Hurd, Samuel S. Campbell, a prominent lawyer, and Wm. L. Lincoln came later to Wabasha. Reed's Landing, at the foot of Lake Pepin, was early settled by Messrs. Reed, Fordyce, Richards, and others. This point controls an immense trade for the Chippewa river, which empties its waters into the Mississippi just opposite.

Nathaniel Stacy Tefft is a native of Hamilton, Madison county, New York, where he was born July 16, 1830. He was educated in the common schools and academy; in 1848 commenced studying medicine and received his diploma the same year at Cincinnati, after attending lectures at the medical college in that city. In 1856 he came to Minnesota and located in Minneiska, where he practiced medicine, served as postmaster, justice of the peace, and member of the legislature. In 1861 he removed to Plainview, where he has taken rank as a leading surgeon and physician in that part of the State. He has also served as member of the state senate (in 1871-72). The writer had the pleasure of meeting him in the legislature of 1858 and found him a strong opponent of the $5,000,000 bill. Dr. Tefft was married to Hattie S. Gibbs, of Plainview, Nov. 10, 1866.

James Wells. – In 1845 the writer found Mr. Wells living in a stone trading house on the west shore of Lake Pepin, on the first high ground on the shore above Lake City. Mr. Wells had a half-breed family and was very reticent in his manner. He was a member of the first territorial house of representatives. When the country became more thickly settled he went West and was killed by the Sioux Indians in the massacre of 1862.

WINONA COUNTY

Was named after the daughter of the Indian chief who, according to the well known legend, precipitated herself from the famous rock on the eastern shore of Lake Pepin, which has ever since been known as "Maiden's Rock." The county lies on the west shore of the Mississippi, below Wabasha county. The frontage of the bluffs on the river is unsurpassed for grandeur and beauty, the bluffs here attaining an altitude of six hundred feet above the river. The natural castles and turrets crowning these bluffs remind the traveler of the towns on the Rhine and Danube, and it is difficult to realize that they are the handiwork of Nature and not of man. The most striking of these bluffs occupies a position in the rear of the beautiful city of Winona, overlooking the city and the valley, and affording from its summit possibly the finest view on the river. The city of Winona lies on a spacious plateau between the bluffs and the river. In 1845 a solitary log cabin, the resting place of the mail carrier, marked the site, and a large Indian village, belonging to the band of Chief Wapashaw, occupied a portion of the present site of the city. All traces of this village have long since disappeared, and given place to one of the fairest and most flourishing cities on the river. The First State Normal School is located here. The St. Paul & Milwaukee railroad passes through, and the Winona & St. Peter railroad has its eastern terminus in this city. It is also the western terminus of the Green Bay & Mississippi. The Chicago, Burlington & Northern crosses the river here, and has a depot in the city.

Daniel S. Norton, at the time of his death United States senator from Minnesota, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in April, 1829. He was educated at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; enlisted in the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1846 for service in the Mexican War; had his health seriously impaired in the service; spent two years in California, Mexico and Central America; returned to Ohio and read law with his father-in-law, Judge R. C. Hurd, practiced in Mount Vernon, Ohio, with Hon. William Windom and came with him to Minnesota in 1855, locating at Winona. Mr. Norton served as senator in the first state legislature, where the writer served with him on several committees, among them the committee on the $5,000,000 bond bill, a bill which Mr. Norton strongly and earnestly opposed, predicting clearly its disastrous results. He also served as senator in the legislatures of 1861-64 and 65, when he was elected to the United States senate, which position he held at the time of his death, in 1870. He was twice married, first in 1856, to Miss Lizzie Sherman, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, who died in 1862. The second time to Miss Laura Cantlan, of Baltimore, in 1868.

William Windom, a native of Ohio, came to Winona in 1855. He had been admitted to practice in 1853, and formed a partnership with D. S. Norton in Mount Vernon, Ohio, who came with him to Winona, where they continued their law partnership. Mr. Windom has been quite prominent in the politics of the State and county, having served in the United States senate two terms, from 1871 to 1883. He was also a representative in Congress from 1859 to 1869. He served as secretary of the treasury to fill a vacancy. During his congressional career he was an ardent supporter of the Union, and won the respect of the nation for his unswerving firmness in upholding his principles. He is a man of great executive ability, and has used his talents and his wealth, of which he has accumulated a considerable share, in the interests of the public. He has been heavily interested in the building of the Northern Pacific and other railroads, and in real estate. His opportunities have been great, he has wisely employed them, and richly deserves the success he has achieved.

Charles H. Berry, the first attorney general of the state of Minnesota, was born at Westerly, Rhode Island, Sept. 12, 1823. He received an excellent school and academic education, graduating at Canandaigua Academy in 1846. He afterward read law and was admitted to practice at Rochester in 1848. He practiced his profession at Corning, New York, until 1855, when he removed to Winona and opened the first law office in that city. He was associated until 1871 with C. N. Waterman. When Minnesota became a state, in 1858, he was elected attorney general and served two years. He was state senator in 1874-75 and has been United States commissioner since 1873. He takes great interest in local and state affairs, especially in educational matters. He has been for many years connected with the city school board and for eight years its president. He was also largely instrumental in locating the State Normal School at Winona. Mr. Berry is a Democrat in politics, is prominent in Masonic circles and a leading member of the Episcopal church. He was married to Frances E. Hubbell, of Corning, New York, Nov. 14, 1850. They have one daughter, Kate Louise, married to Prof. C. A. Morey, principal of the State Normal School.

Thomas Wilson was born in Tyrone county, Ireland, May 16, 1827. He received his education in this country, graduating at Meadville College, Pennsylvania, in 1852. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and in the same year came to Winona and entered the law firm of Sargent & Wilson, known a few years later as Sargent, Wilson & Windom. He was a member of the Republican wing of the constitutional convention in 1857. He was elected district judge of the Fourth district, taking his seat in 1858, and serving six years. In 1864 Gov. Miller appointed him to a vacancy on the supreme bench, caused by the resignation of Judge Flandrau, and in the fall of the same year he was elected chief justice for a term of seven years. In 1869 he resigned this position to resume his law practice. In 1881 he was elected as a representative, and from 1883 to 1886, inclusive, as a senator in the state legislature. He was elected as a representative to Congress in 1887.

Thomas Simpson is of Scotch parentage, but was born in Yorkshire, England, May 31, 1836. He came to America with his parents when a child, to Dubuque county, Iowa. His educational advantages were good, and he learned, when not in school, to assist his father, who was a miner, smelter and farmer. He studied engineering and surveying with E. S. Norris, of Dubuque, and was engaged in government surveys from 1853 to 1856, when he settled in Winona, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, when he formed a law partnership with Judge Abner Lewis and Geo. P. Wilson. In addition to his law business he has been a heavy dealer in real estate and money loaning. There are few public enterprises in Winona which he has not actively promoted. He was a delegate to the national convention that nominated Lincoln for the presidency in 1864, also to the convention that nominated Grant in 1868. He served as state senator in 1866-67. He has been an influential member of the Methodist church. He was married Oct. 30, 1860, to Maggie Holstein, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. They have three sons.

Wm. H. Yale was born Nov. 12, 1831, at New Hartford, Connecticut; was educated at Sheffield Institute; came to Winona in 1857, and practiced law. He was state senator in 1867-68, 1876-77, and lieutenant governor from 1870 to 1874.

Other prominent citizens of Winona are: Dr. James Monroe Cole, the oldest physician in the city; Royal Day Cone, one of the first merchants; Judge Wm. Mitchell; – Norton, a lumberman and county treasurer several years; W. W. Phelps, first president of the State Normal School; – Hough, builder of the first large hotel; Hodgins, Yeomans & Laird, lumbermen.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES

Pierre Bottineau was born in the Red River settlement, now Dakota, in 1817. His early life was passed amongst the Ojibways in the employ of various fur companies. He has lived an eventful life and endured many hardships as a hunter, trapper and guide. He was early noted as a pilot to and from the Selkirk settlement. In 1843 he removed his family from Selkirk to St. Paul. In 1845 he removed to St. Anthony Falls, east side, where he laid out an addition to the new village. He was also, in 1851, the first settler at Maple Grove, or "Bottineau's Prairie," in Hennepin county. When he came to Fort Snelling he was employed by Gen. Sibley as a guide. In 1856 he assisted in selecting locations for forts. In 1858, after the establishment of Fort Abercrombie, he located the village of Breckenridge, now in Wilkin county, Minnesota. In 1859 he accompanied Geologist Skinner in his exploring expedition, having for its object the survey and location of salt mines, and was guide to Col. W. H. Noble's wagon road expedition to Frazer river. In 1860 he accompanied a military expedition with Gov. Ramsey to conclude treaties with the Northern Minnesota Chippewas. In 1862 he accompanied Capt. Fisk's Idaho expedition, and, in 1863, Gen. Sibley's expedition to the Missouri. Mr. Bottineau now resides at Red Lake Falls, Polk county, Minnesota.

Andrew G. Chatfield, a member of the Minnesota district bench at the time of his death, was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego county, New York, Jan. 27, 1810. In 1838 he was a member of the New York assembly; in 1848 he removed to Racine, Wisconsin, where he was elected county judge. In 1853 he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, and he made his home on a beautiful prairie in Scott county, on which he laid out the town of Belle Plaine. He acted as judge four years and then resumed the practice of law. In January, 1871, he was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial district, which he held until his death, which occurred Oct. 3, 1875. Judge Chatfield was married in 1836. His widow and an only daughter, Mrs. Cecilia Irwin, reside at Belle Plaine.

Hazen Mooers. – Biographical details of Mr. Mooers are scant and unreliable. He was probably born about the year 1796. It is said that he was in the battle of Plattsburgh, September, 1814, when he was a youth of eighteen years of age, and that he acted as a guard in protecting government and private property. We find by the Minnesota historical collections that he came to Gray Cloud island in 1835 and remained till 1843. It is probable that he remained there till 1848. He was commissioner of St. Croix county, Wisconsin, in 1840-41 and 1842. When he came to Gray Cloud island he was accompanied by a Mr. Robinson, and located in section 23. While at Gray Cloud he was married to a daughter of Dickson, the trader, and sister of Mrs. Joseph R. Brown. We have been unable to find mention of him later than 1848.

John McDonough Berry was born at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, Sept. 18, 1827. Mr. Berry received an excellent education at the Pittsfield Academy, Phillips Academy and at Yale College, from which he graduated in 1847. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was in the law office of Ira Paley, later chief justice of New Hampshire. In 1850 he was admitted to the bar at Concord, New Hampshire. He commenced practice at Alton Corners, Belknap county, New Hampshire. Three years later he came West and located at Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1855 he moved to Faribault, this State, and at once came into prominence. In 1856 he was a member of the territorial house of representatives and chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1862 he was sent to the state senate from Rice county, and in 1864 he was elected associate justice of the state supreme court, a position he has filled with honor to himself and the bar. He removed to Minneapolis in 1879 and died there, greatly lamented, Nov. 15, 1887. An obituary notice from the daily press gives a fair estimate of his character:

"He was not a man that mingled much in society or put himself forward on any occasion, yet he had a very social, genial disposition, and every one that knew him valued the acquaintance highly. As a judge he was universally esteemed. His decisions were always marked by a peculiarly vigorous grasp of bottom facts. His mind was a naturally judicial one. His own ideas were fresh and original, and his way of expressing them unusually vigorous. He devoted himself wholly to his judicial duties and to his family. He was a great reader and student and a great home man. His affections were wholly centred in his wife and children. His distaste for ostentation and publicity is evidenced in his expressed wish for a private funeral."

He was married May 26, 1853, to Alice A. Parker, of Roscoe, Illinois, who survives him.

Mark H. Dunnell is of Scotch descent. He was born July 2, 1823, at Buxton, Maine. He was raised on a farm, but graduated at Waterville College, Maine, in 1849, and for three years following was engaged in teaching. In 1852 he was elected to the Maine house of representatives, and afterward served five years as state superintendent of schools. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1856, and in 1860 practiced his profession in Portland. In 1861 he was appointed United States consul to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Before going to Mexico he was appointed colonel of the Fifth Maine Volunteers, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. He resigned his consulship in 1862, and returned to Maine, where he aided the governor in recruiting and organizing regiments for the military service. In 1865 he came to Winona, Minnesota, was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1867, and afterward served three years as state superintendent of instruction. He resigned this office to take a seat in Congress, and represented his district a period of ten years. He was married Nov. 20, 1850, to Sarah A. Parrington, of Goshen, Maine. They have three children living.

James Heaton Baker, son of Rev. Henry Baker, a Methodist preacher, and Hannah (Heaton) Baker, was born in Monroe, Ohio, May 6, 1829. He graduated at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1852. In 1853 he purchased the Sciota Gazette, at Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1855 he was elected secretary of state on the ticket headed by Salmon P. Chase as governor. In 1857 he removed to Minnesota, where, for two successive terms he was elected to the same office. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned, and accepted a colonel's commission in the Tenth Minnesota Volunteers. In 1863 his command was ordered to the South, and he was detached and made provost marshal of St. Louis, and subsequently of the department of Missouri, in which position he served until the close of the war, he being meanwhile promoted to a brevet brigadier generalship.

At the close of the war he was appointed register of the land office at Booneville, Missouri, but in two years resigned and returned to his farm in Blue Earth county, Minnesota.

In 1871 President Grant appointed him commissioner of pensions, a position for which he was singularly well fitted. He resigned in 1875, and was appointed by President Grant surveyor general of Minnesota. Gen. Baker has been prominent in Masonic circles, and has contributed much to the newspaper and periodical press. He was married Sept. 25, 1852, to Rose R., daughter of Reuben H. Thurston, then of Delaware, Ohio, now of Mankato, Minnesota. This estimable lady died at Washington City, March 21, 1873, leaving two sons, Arthur and Harry E. Gen. Baker, since his appointment as surveyor general, has resided at Mankato. He served in 1885 and 1886 as railroad commissioner for the State.

Horace Burton Strait is of Virginia Revolutionary stock. He was born in Potter county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 26, 1835. His educational advantages were such only as the common schools afforded, and he is largely self cultured. He came to Minnesota in 1855, and engaged in farming near Shakopee, but in 1860 moved to the county seat, and engaged in mercantile business. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, commanded by Col. Alexander Wilkin; was commissioned as captain, and in 1864 as major; was mustered out at the close of the war, since which time he has been engaged in milling, banking and farming. He was president of the First National Bank of Shakopee. He served as mayor of Shakopee in 1870-71-72, when he was elected to Congress, and served by continuous re-elections until 1888, when J. L. MaDonald became his successor. He was emphatically a working member. He has been twice married. His first wife died in 1872, leaving one child.

Judson Wade Bishop was born at Evansville, New York, June 24, 1831. He received an academic education at Fredonia Academy, and at Union Academy, Belleville, New York. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he was employed for several years as clerk and book-keeper and in teaching. Having a taste for civil engineering he fitted himself for usefulness in that department at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, and in 1853 secured a position as draughtsman on the Canadian Grand Trunk railway. At the completion of the road, in 1857, he obtained employment in railroad surveying, making his residence at Chatfield until 1861, where he purchased a newspaper, the Chatfield Democrat. At the first call for troops in 1861 he sold his office, volunteered as a soldier, and was mustered in as captain of a company in the Second Regiment, June 26, 1861. He was mustered out at the close of the war with the brevet rank of brigadier general, and resumed railroad work, in which he has since been active and conspicuous. For some years he was manager of the St. Paul & Sioux City. His connection with railroad enterprises necessitated his removal in 1864 to Le Sueur, in 1868 to Mankato and in 1873 to St. Paul, which has since been his home. He has also been a heavy dealer in real estate. He was married Jan. 11, 1866, to Nellie S. Husted, of Galena, Illinois, who died Sept. 19, 1878, leaving three sons, Charles Husted, Edwin Judson and Robert Haven.

John Louis McDonald. – The paternal ancestors of our subject were Highlanders, of the clan "McDonald of the Isle." John Louis was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Feb. 22, 1836; came with his parents to America in 1842, lived a few years in Nova Scotia, then removed to Pittsburgh where he received an academic education. He removed to Belle Plaine, Scott county, Minnesota, in 1855, read law with Judge Chatfield, and was admitted to practice at Shakopee in 1858, removing thither three years later, and continuing in practice, serving as probate judge from 1859 to 1864 and publishing and editing the Belle Plaine Enquirer, and later, the Shakopee Argus, serving two years as prosecuting attorney, four years as superintendent of schools, two years as state representative (1869-70) and three years as state senator (1874-75 and 1876). In 1877 he was elected district judge, and served seven years. In 1888 he took his seat as representative in Congress. As a judge he is thoroughly well informed, clear-sighted and impartial.