USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of representative men of Chicago, Minnesota cities and the World's Columbian exposition : with illustrations on steel. V. 2 > Part 41
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In 1876, Governor Washburn erected a huge flour-mill at Minneapolis, embodying several new ideas, and introducing for the first time in Amer- ica the Hungarian process and the patent process. In 1878 this great building was destroyed by an explosion ; but its indomitable founder reared on its site a new flour-mill, even larger and more in- genious. Governor Washburn always felt a deep interest in the University of Wisconsin, of which the legislature made him a life regent and from whose faculty he received the degree of LL. D. In 1878-80 he erected the Washburn Observatory, at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, and gave it to the university, together with a full equipment of apparatus. He was also for several years presi- dent of the Wisconsin Historical Society. The great ruling ambition of Governor Washburn's life was to do good in his day and generation ; and there are many beneficent and lasting monu- ments to his philanthropy in the great northwest. Among these visible indications of his steady pur- pose are the observatory at Madison; the orphan asylum at Minneapolis ; the library at La Crosse,
and St. Regina's Academy at Edgewood, near Madison. One of the most beautiful memorials of his munificence is the Washburn Home, a noble, high towered, brick building, on a far- viewing hill-top, three miles from Minneapolis. For this worthy object he bequeathed so large a sum that after erecting the building at a cost of eighty thousand dollars, more than three hundred and forty thousand dollars remain as an endow- ment fund, which is sufficient to maintain a hundred children. The terms of the bequest indicate that " Any child under fourteen years of age, whether orphan or half-orphan, shall be re- ceived without any question or distinction as to age, sex, race, color or religion, and shall be dis- charged at the age of fifteen." This noble en- dowment he made during his lifetime and as a memorial of his devoted mother, believing that he could do no better than to establish in her memory a home for orphan children.
General Washburn married Miss Jeannette Garr, of New York. Their children are Jeannette, who married Mr. A. W. Kelsey, now of Philadel- phia, and Fanny, who married Mr. Charles Payson, now of Washington, D. C. During many years, Governor Washburn lived in the beautiful little city of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, amid its girdle of blue lakes. From this point he administered the affairs of his great lumber-mill at La Crosse and the flour-mills at Minneapolis with equal skill and success. He spent long periods of time at Minneapolis, in full sympathy with its sturdy activities and its far-reaching enterprises.
[The above sketch is taken from the Biograph- ical History of the Northwest, by Alonzo Phelps, A. M.]
EDMUND J. PHELPS,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T HE subject of this biography was born in Brecksville, Ohio, on January 17, 1845. His father, Joseph E. Phelps, and mother, Ursula (Wright) Phelps, were descendants of old New England families of North Hampton and East Hampton, Massachusetts, respectively.
His education was obtained in the district
schools of his native town, and in the academies of Oberlin and Berea, and the business college at Oberlin, Ohio. He taught school three winters, 1864, 1865 and 1866, in Ohio, and then, at the age of twenty-one, accepted a position in the Northwestern Business College at Aurora, Illi- nois, as teacher of penmanship and other
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branches; here he also taught penmanship one year in the public schools. In 1868 he accepted a position in the bank of Messrs. Volintine and Williams, of Aurora, where he remained two years. In 1870 he began business for himself as a furniture dealer. For eight years, from 1870 to 1878, he continued in business in Aurora, but perceiving that the northwest was being rapidly populated, and that the opportunities to increase his business would be far greater in that section than could possibly be expected in Aurora, he disposed of his business interests there and removed to Minneapolis in 1878. Here he organ- ized the firm of Phelps and Bradstreet, in which he continued until 1883, when he disposed of his interest, and the firm became known as Bradstreet, Thurber and Company. In the early part of 1883, Mr. Phelps, in connection with Mr. E. A. Merrill, organized the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars, which was increased two years later to five hundred thousand dollars.
This institution has been very prosperous du- ring its career, and beside paying satisfactory dividends to its stockholders has accumulated a surplus of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Since its organization Mr. Phelps has been its secretary and treasurer, and has taken the deepest interest in its affairs.
Born in the State of Ohio, aptly called by an eminent historian " The lap of patriotism and the mother of Republicanism," Mr. Phelps has fol-
lowed the teachings of his early surroundings, and has ever been a zealous Republican. In 1884 and 1885 he was honored with the presi- dency of the Minneapolis Board of Trade, and is now (1892) vice-president of the Minneapolis Business Union. All projects that tend to ad- vance his city find in him a generous supporter.
In 1874 Mr. Phelps married Miss Louisa A. Richardson, of Aurora, Illinois. Of five children born to them, three, Ruth S., Richardson E., and Edmund J., Jr., survive.
In March, 1892, he made a trip to Russia, ap- pointed by the governor of the state as one of the commissioners who went there to superintend the distribution of the cargo of the steamship Mis- souri, given by millers and citizens of the United States to relieve the famine stricken peasants.
Mr. Phelps is a lover of art and has literary tastes which he finds but little time to indulge. In the summer months he resides at Lake Minne- tonka, and is an active member of the Minnetonka Yacht Club. He delights in the pleasures offered by that beautiful lake, and on its crest he finds recreation and rest. Such is the biography of one who, aided only by a worthy ambition, deter- mination and force of character, combined with honor and integrity, has reached a high position among the representative men of the northwest. What he has accomplished he owes to his own exertions, and now while still in the prime of vigorous . manhood he has accumulated an ample fortune and is universally esteemed.
CHARLES B. MARSHALL, M.D.
STILLWATER, MINN.
D R. CHARLES B. MARSHALL is a native of Westchester county, New York, and was born May 21,, 1838. His father, John Mar- shall, was a merchant in New York State. He re- moved west in 1856, and settled at Hastings, Min- nesota. Charles' early education was obtained at the common schools of his native county, and after removing to Minnesota, he worked for two years at the carpenter trade, and then engaged in mercantile business at Hastings, Minnesota, until . 1863. He then began the study of medicine, and completed his course of study in the medical de-
partment of the University of Michigan in 1865, and immediately settled at Osceola Mills, in Polk county, Wisconsin, and soon became the most prominent physician in his section of the state.
Dr. Marshall was a Democratic candidate for the legislature in his district in 1880, and notwith- standing his temperance principles, and the hos- tility of those who held opposite views, he ran ahead of his ticket by four hundred and sixty-one votes, but could not overcome the large Republi- can majority in his district.
In 1881 he removed to Stillwater, and soon be-
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came one of the leading physicians there. His practice has rapidly increased until he has become one of the first, if not the leading, physician in eastern Minnesota. Nature did much for Dr. Marshall, and he has continuously striven for the best attainable. Naturally studious, he has availed himself of all opportunities and means to learn the most possible in his exhaustless profession. Believing the most practical of all methods for learning is from the ripe experience of the most learned in the profession, Dr. Marshall attends clinics and lectures in Chicago-courses especially for benefit of physicians-and is an active member of the Northwestern and other medical societies.
Dr. Marshall is a refined and high-minded gen-
tleman ; he is dignified and pleasing in his bear- ing, and interesting in his conversation.
He is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Formerly a Democrat, he has in recent years been in sympathy with the Prohibition move- ment.
In 1866 he married Miss Addie Brigham, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a lady descended from the distinguished Brigham family of Vermont.
Dr. Marshall's example, his sympathy and his active support have always been on the side of humanity, and his efforts are all toward lightening the burdens of and elevating the human race. He is a man of wide influence, and the world is brighter and better because of him.
HON. DARILUS MORRISON,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
D ARILUS MORRISON was born on the 26th of December, 1814, at Livermore, Oxford county, Maine, of sturdy old New Eng- land stock. His father, Samuel Morrison, was widely known in that district, and as a citizen was universally admired and respected. He was for many years deputy sheriff of Oxford county, and also conducted a general merchandise business at Livermore. Our subject's educational opportuni- ties were necessarily limited. During the winter months he attended the district schools of his native village; in the summer he worked on his father's farm.
Fully realizing that his success in life must depend solely upon his own efforts, he left school at the age of sixteen and found employment as a clerk in the store of Mr. Henry Britton, at South Livermore, receiving, at first, a monthly salary of seven dollars. He remained in this position five years, during which time, by strict economy, he accumulated a few hundred dollars, with which he purchased from Mr. Britton an interest in the business. At the end of three years Mr. Morrison sold his interest to Mr. Britton and engaged in the general merchandise business with Mr. Lee Strickland, continuing in this line until 1842. He then removed to Bangor, Maine, and with a capi- tal of about four thousand dollars began dealing in lumber and merchandise. For more than
eleven years he conducted this business, and by his industry and perseverance, and his uniform methods of fair dealing, he attained a well- deserved success.
In 1853 Mr. Morrison disposed of his interests in Bangor and removed to Hudson, Wisconsin. In the fall of 1854 Mr. Morrison removed his family to St. Anthony, Minnesota, and organ- ized the firm of D. Morrison and Company, consisting of Darilus Morrison, Cadwallader C. Washburn, afterwards governor of Wisconsin, and Cyrus Woodman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The firm engaged in manufacturing lumber, and Mr. Morrison purchased vast tracts of pine lands in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This partnership continued until 1860, after which Mr. Morrison conducted the business alone until 1868, when he turned the business over to his sons, Clinton and George H. Morrison.
Mr. Morrison, in company with several other gentlemen, took the first contract from the North- ern Pacific Railroad, and constructed two hundred and thirty-seven miles of road from Duluth to the Red river. Subsequently, Mr. Morrison took a second contract of two hundred miles from the Red river to the Missouri river, and completed it in September, 1873, just at the time of the failure of the banking house of Jay Cooke, who was then the financial backer of the Northern Pacific Rail-
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road, and for a time Mr. Morrison appeared to be in imminent danger of losing his entire invest- ment in the construction of the road ; fortunately, however, he succeeded in obtaining payment of his contract in bonds and other securities, and finally disposed of these without the loss of a dollar.
As a citizen Mr. Morrison has always been prominent and public spirited ; with the develop- ment of the entire northwest, and especially of Minneapolis, he has been closely identified, and given material assistance to every project for the advancement of the material interests of the
young metropolis. In political sentiment he is a Republican, and as the representative of his party has been called to fill various positions of honor and responsibility. From 1863 to 1867 he represented his district in the state senate, and in 1868 was elected the first mayor of Min- neapolis.
In May, 1840, Mr. Morrison married Miss Har- riet Putnam Whitmore, of Livermore, Maine. Their family consists of two sons, Clinton and George H., and a daughter, now the wife of Dr. H. H. Kimball, an old and highly respected prac- tioner of Minneapolis.
JOHN PERKINS JOHNSON,
DULUTH, MINN.
OHN PERKINS JOHNSON was born in J Franklin, Connecticut, on February 13, 1851, and through both of his parents, Oliver L. John- son and Martha (Munford) Johnson, he traces his ancestry to the early settlers of New England. His elementary education was obtained in the district schools of his native county. After leav- ing school he worked on a farm, and in 1870, be- coming impressed with the natural advantages of Duluth, removed to that city. He became an employé of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Rail- road (now the St. Paul & Duluth), and remained with the company three months as receiving clerk. He then accepted a position with Mr. E. L. Smith, a friend of his boyhood days, who re- moved to Duluth to open a butcher business. Mr. Johnson remained with him until 1876, when Mr. Smith removed to Minneapolis, and the busi- ness was continued by Mr. Johnson as sole pro- prietor. For five years he conducted this busi- ness with success.
In 1881 his fellow-citizens showed their confi- dence in him by electing him county treasurer of St. Louis county, and he was compelled to dispose of his business to devote his time to his official duties. So popular was he and so faithful to the trust imposed in him that he was twice re-elected to the same office, serving in all nine years.
In the winter of 1890 he entered the Marine National Bank as assistant cashier. In March, 1881, he was elected cashier, and in August, 1891,
vice-president and general , manager. His ac- knowledged ability as a financier, and his record during the nine years in which he was county treasurer, were such as to assure the directors of the bank that the affairs of the institution, left en- tirely in his charge, would be conducted in such manner as to bring the best results. The Marine National Bank, of which Mr. Johnson is the con- trolling spirit, although a new institution, is fav- vored with a large line of depositors, and has been very successful.
Politically Mr. Johnson has always been a staunch Republican, and is an ardent admirer of James G. Blaine, and the political principles ad- vocated by him. Mr. Johnson is universally esteemed. Besides being county treasurer for nine years, he was an alderman during the year 1876.
He has been active in Masonic matters, and has passed through the various degrees of Masonry up to and including the thirtieth degree, Scottish Rite. He is a member of the Congregational Church of Duluth, having joined the congrega- tion when the services were held in a store-room, and he has seen the church grow in wealth as the city grew in prosperity until its services are held in one of the finest church edifices in the northwest.
In 1873 Mr. Johnson married Miss Kate Coch- rane, of Duluth. The union has been blessed with two sons; the eldest, Ernest, aged seventeen, is employed as messenger in the bank of which
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his father is manager; their other son, Robert Elmer, is five years old. Mr. Johnson is very do- mestic in his habits, and is devoted to his own family and home.
Such is the biography of one of the leading citizens of the northwest, who, through his indom- itable will and perseverance, has surmounted many obstacles and attained a high position among his fellow-citizens. He is a self-made man
in the very fullest sense. The position he now occupies he owes to his own exertions. He com- menced at the bottom of the ladder, and now, while still in the very prime of his vigorous man- hood, he has reached a position of which he may justly be proud. He has been honored by his fellow-citizens, and has always transacted the affairs entrusted to him in such manner as to win the esteem and confidence of all that know him.
ANDREW JACKSON SAWYER,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
M INNEAPOLIS has become famous through her lumber and wheat industries. Vast areas of forest and prairie have succumbed to the advance of progressive and industrious people, and now annually yield their bountiful harvest of golden grain. The constantly increasing produc- tion of wheat in the northwest led to the erection of many magnificent flouring mills in Minneapo- lis, and to the construction of numerous elevators, in which the grain could be stored until marketed. This brought to the front a class of men bright, energetic and industrious, whose business is to handle this grain in the interests of the producers, and by their intimate knowledge of the necessi- ties of the trade, and perfectly systematized methods of transacting business, they are able to obtain much more satisfactory results than if the grain were marketed by each producer for him- self. Minneapolis is the market for the north- west, and the greater portion of the entire grain production of this vast territory is annually dis- posed of through her grain dealers.
Closely connected with every step in the devel- opment of this most important industry is the name of Andrew J. Sawyer. He was a man whose long experience in business affairs, intuitive knowledge of men, rare executive abilities and fine social qualities won for him the highest re- spect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
Mr. Sawyer began life as a farmer. He was born December 8, 1834, at Royalton, Niagara county, New York, whither his father, Jason Saw- yer, removed in 1816, from Rutland, Vermont. He passed his boyhood working on his father's farm, and attending the public schools of his na-
tive village. He left school at the age of sixteen and began farming for himself, and before many years, by industry and frugality, he had saved enough to purchase a farm. He followed this vocation until 1869, when ill health compelled him to abandon it. In 1869 he went to Duluth, Minnesota, where the climate was so agreeable to him that he decided to make it his home. He foresaw the great prosperity that must follow the development of the splendid natural resources of the northwest, and believed that here he could gain wealth as well as health. In 1870 he engaged in the grocery business in Duluth, and from the beginning was successful. In 1871 he associated with himself as a partner Mr. W. W. Davis, under the firm name of Sawyer & Davis. In 1873 the firm began the wholesale grocery business, and so continued until 1876, the business in the mean- time attaining large proportions. Seeing the great possibilities offered in the grain trade, Messrs. Sawyer and Davis disposed of their gro- cery business in 1876 and began buying and sell- ing grain.
In 1882 this partnership was dissolved, Mr. Sawyer continuing alone until 1889, when Mr. John McCloud was admitted to a partnership, and after that time the business was conducted under the firm name of A. J. Sawyer & Company. In 1887 Mr. Sawyer removed his residence to Minne- apolis, and in the following year the firm opened their Minneapolis office in the Chamber of Com- merce.
The firm continued the business at Duluth, and in addition had an office at Buffalo, New York, in charge of Mr. Sawyer's brother, F. J. Sawyer, who
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still continues the grain business there. The firm owned and operated, under the name of the North- ern Dakota Elevator Company, one hundred and fifteen elevators, located principally on the lines of the Northern Pacific, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroads. Mr. Sawyer was president of the Duluth Elevator Company, which owns the largest elevator plant in the world, consisting of three connected eleva- tors, with a combined capacity of five million bushels of grain. It is located at West Superior, Wisconsin.
Mr. Sawyer had the distinction of having bought the first car of grain shipped into Duluth over the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the first car shipped into Duluth over the St. Paul & Du- luth Railroad. He also built the first line of elevators on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and with his own hands assisted in making the exca- vation for the first of these elevators. To give some slight idea of the enormous business annually transacted by this firm, it may be stated that in 1891 they handled between eighteen and twenty million bushels of grain.
At the time of his decease, March 3, 1892, besides his other business, Mr. Sawyer was devel-
oping a farm of four thousand acres at Glenwood, Minnesota, on which he had expended one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, and which he pro- posed making one of the finest wheat-raising and horse-breeding farms in the northwest.
In politics Mr. Sawyer was a Democrat. He never aspired to public office, and his many busi- ness cares allowed him no time to devote to polit- ical affairs, more than to perform his duties as a good citizen.
In 1858 he married Miss Joan Sybrandt, daugh- ter of Mr. James Sybrandt, a highly respected farmer of Royalton, New York. They have one child, a son.
Mr. Sawyer attended the Church of the Re- deemer, of the Universalist faith. To this and to every worthy charitable and benevolent object, he gave freely of both his time and money.
Mr. Sawyer was truly the architect of his own fortune. His progress represented a steady growth, and the success attained by him may be attributed to perseverance in following a deter- mined purpose, his untiring industry and his strict integrity. He was in every respect a manly man, and has left to his family that noble heritage- an honored name, besides a large fortune.
JAMES B. FORGAN,
CHICAGO, ILL.
J AMES B. FORGAN is a banker of much ex-
perience. From his sixteenth year, through- out his busy career, he has been connected with financial institutions. He has occupied all the different positions in banking houses, and is thor- oughly conversant with all of the different sys- tems of banking. He is a native of St. Andrews, Scotland, and was born on April 11, 1852. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Berwick) Forgan. His father was a man of moderate means, who, however, bestowed upon his son a liberal education, which was obtained in the local public schools and in Forres Academy.
In 1868 a prominent official of the Royal Bank of Scotland tendered him a position through his father in that large institution, and he left school to accept it, and remained with that bank until 1872 as a clerk. He next applied for a position
with the Bank of British North America, and after passing the necessary examination entered its employ and remained there two years, six months of the time being passed in New York and eighteen months in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His next position was with the mercantile agency of R. G. Dun and Company. In 1875 he returned to the banking business, and accepted a position with the Bank of Nova Scotia, a large bank with thirty branches in Canada. Of his career with this institution he may justly be proud. He entered the employment as teller; six months later he was made confidential clerk of the general manager. He next conducted the agency or branch bank in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and a year later organized their branch at Woodstock, New Brunswick. In the following year he became general inspector of agencies, and in 1885 he opened the branch in
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Minneapolis. Here he conducted the affairs of the branch in such manner as to attract the attention of the leading banks of the northwest, and he was tendered and accepted the position of cashier of the Northwestern National Bank of Minneap- olis. It is a well-known fact that the Northwest- ern National Bank increased its business steadily and safely under Mr. Forgan's able management
Here again his ability was noticed by larger financial institutions. The First National Bank of Chicago, one of the largest banks in America, and over whose counter more money passes daily than passes over any bank counter in the world, excepting the Bank of England ; a bank employ- ing over two hundred men, and having average deposit accounts amounting to thirty million dollars, found itself in a position requiring a vice- president. After weighing all things carefully they tendered this position to Mr. Forgan. By tendering Mr. Forgan this position the directorate undoubtedly tendered him the highest compli- ment ever offered any bank official in the United States. To be tendered a position carrying such dignity and responsibility before one has arrived at the age of forty years, is a compliment such as few men receive.
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