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 43
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Mr. and Mrs. Mead have had born to them two children, viz .: George H. and Charlotte L., the latter an accomplished young lady, who has spent several years in Europe, and who is thor- oughly conversant 'with several of the modern languages.
HON. JOEL BEAN BASSETT,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T HE Puritan settlers of the New England colonies had no idea of the vastness of our country, and many of their descendants, although not prompted by religious persecution, endured semi-privation to found a new empire in the great western world, in a territory that the most san- guine of the Pilgrim fathers did not dream would ever be inhabited by civilized men.
Many of the early settlers of Minnesota were natives of New England. In their advent to the west they retained their habits of industry, econ- omy and integrity, which they had formed in early life.
The ancestry of Joel Bean Bassett may be traced, through the English branch of the family, to Belgium, where the name is found in the early history, spelled Bassette. In the Elizabethian age a scion of the house of Bassette settled in England, and there dropped the final "e" in the spelling of the name. As early as 1640 the name is found in the annals of American colonization. The Bassetts were members of the Society of Friends, founded by George Fox, and sought re- ligious freedom in the New World, settling in Lynn, Massachusetts. Like most of the colo- nists, the Bassett family were slave owners, but, yielding to the promptings of their consciences, and their feeling of brotherly love, all the mem- bers of the family freed their slaves, the last one being manumitted by our subject's grandfather in 1776. Mr. Bassett has now the original deed of manumittance issued at that time. Joel Bean Bassett was born in the county of Strafford, in Wolfborough, New Hampshire, on March 17, 1817, to Daniel and Abagail Bassett. He grew to man's estate in his native town, receiving his
education in the public schools and the Wolfbor- ough Academy. He also assisted his father on the family homestead, and there also those prin- ciples of honor and integrity for which he has always been noted, were engrafted into his heart by the teachings of his beloved mother. At the age of twenty he removed to the State of Maine, and entered into the lumbering business. He re- mained there some ten or twelve years, and be- come acquainted with the firm of Jewett & March. In the fall of 1849 he removed to Minnesota and settled in St. Paul, where he resumed the lumber business. While residing in St. Paul he pur- chased the right to pre-empt land from General Buckner, who afterward surrendered Fort Donel- son. The land pre-empted was on the present site of Minneapolis, and in 1852 he removed to his claim and became a tiller of the soil. About this time he became associated with Mr. S. H. Jewett, a brother of one of his former employers, in the lumber business. The capital of the firm was furnished by Jewett & March, of Bangor, Maine, who had been acquainted with him for many years. Their confidence in his integrity and business ability was proved by the fact that they gave him unlimited power, they furnishing all of the capital and he sharing equally in the profits. In 1855 he disposed of his interest to Captain Chase, and built a saw-mill on his land at the head of Bassett's Creek. In 1859 this mill was destroyed by fire, and he erected another at the falls, which was run by water-power. He then formed a partnership with Mr. Gilpatrick, under style of Bassett & Gilpatrick, which was afterward changed to J. B. Bassett & Company, when Richard Price, of Philadelphia, was ad-
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mitted into partnership. Mr. Price died in 1869, and the surviving partners continued the busi- ness until 1880, when Mr. Bassett purchased Mr. Gilpatrick's interest.
He has been active in many business enter- prises, and, in 1882, erected the Columbia flour- ing mill. This mill was consolidated with others in the Northwestern Milling Company, of which Mr. Bassett has been vice-president since its or- ganization. He is also interested in the Minne- apolis Threshing Machine Company, and in one of the leading financial institutions of the north- west. The firm of J. B. Bassett & Company now consists of the subject of this sketch and his son, William L. Bassett. They own their own timber lands, their own saw-mills, their own lumber yards and planing mills, and handle from fifteen to twenty million feet of lumber per annum.
Mr. Bassett has never forgotten his early train- ing, and is interested in pastoral pursuits. He still continues to cultivate the soil on a twelve- hundred-acre farm in Renville county, Minnesota. He frequently passes many days at a time on this farm, and is actively interested in its manage- ment. He raises small grains and fowls, and has a herd of one hundred and fifty head of cattle.
Politically Mr. Bassett was at first a Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he joined the party of universal freedom, and voted for Fremont. He is not now affiliated with any political party, but is an independent voter. At the time of Freemont's campaign he was finan- cially interested in a local newspaper, and assisted the new party materially. He was a member of
the higher house of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature, and received the unsolicited appoint- ment as Indian agent from President Johnson. In this capacity he formulated a treaty for the government by which the present White Earth reservation, on which the Chippewas of the Mis- sissippi and the Pillagers are located, was ob- tained. In March, 1869, after four years of ser- vice, he resigned.
Mr. Bassett has ever assisted all worthy chari- table objects ; he . has contributed liberally to- ward the construction of all the different churches. in Minneapolis, but is a member of none. He is a Mason and a member of Minneapolis Lodge, No. 19.
In 1853 Mr. Bassett married Miss Aurilia Car- penter, of Patten, Maine. Mrs. Bassett passed away in 1890, survived by one son, William, here- inbefore mentioned.
In personal appearance Mr. Bassett is vigorous and powerful, and although seventy-four years of age, he has the rugged, hearty appearance of a man of less than three score years. He is a great reader, and devotes hours daily to scientific works. There is no business man in Minneapolis better posted on current events and scientific discoveries than he.
Such is the biography of one of the pioneer settlers of Minneapolis, who has, entirely through his own exertions, reached an enviable position among his fellow men, and his name stands out prominently as one of the men who have materi- ally added to the prosperity of the great north- west.
COL. JEREMIAH C. DONAHOWER,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
T HE subject of this biography is pre-eminently a self-made man, whose life-history illus- trates in a marked degree what may be accom- plished by native force of character.
Beginning life without capital or influential friends, he has steadily worked his way to the front, overcoming every obstacle until fortune smiled upon his efforts. By strict honesty and adherence to correct business principles, and the exercise of sound discretion and good judgment,
he has won universal confidence. In the prime of manhood, he stands a fair type of American energy and thrift.
Mr. Donahower was born in Pennsylvania in 1837. He commenced his career as a school teacher in a district school during the winter of 1853-4.
In May, 1855, he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he remained until April, 1860, going thence to Leavenworth, Kansas. He was engaged in
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mercantile pursuits there until about the first of the following November.
Returning to Minnesota, he finally located at St. Peter, where he went into the banking office of Messrs. Edgerton & Donahower as teller. On the call of President Lincoln for men, in April, 1861, he took an active part in recruiting and or- ganizing a company, and on June 17th of that year proceeded with his company to Fort Ridg- ley, Minnesota. He was commissioned second lieutenant, and was made adjutant of that post. After several months' service there and on the Indian frontier, his company, "E," of the Second Regiment Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, joined the other companies at Fort Snelling, and pro- ceeded to Louisville, Kentucky, arriving there October 21, 1861, and went into camp at Lebanon Junction. The first engagement in which the regiment participated was that of Mill Spring, Kentucky, on January 19 and 20, 1862, in which it lost forty-seven men in killed and wounded. In February Mr. Donahower went on detached duty in the signal corps, and on March 20, 1862, he was promoted to captain of his company, and in May rejoined his regiment in front of Corinth, Mississippi. He remained in command of Com- pany E, and was with it in person, participating in the marches, battles and skirmishes with the troops commanded by Gen. George H. Thomas
until about August, 1864. In November of that year he returned to St. Peter, Minnesota, and re- sumed his former position in the bank.
In August, 1865, he married Miss Emma R. Veith, of Galesburg, Illinois, an estimable lady of fine accomplishments. In 1870 he was appointed census enumerator for Nicollet county, Minne- sota, and at the fall election was an unsuccessful candidate for county auditor.
Upon the organization of the First National Bank of St. Peter in 1871, he became its assis- tant cashier, occupying that position and that of cashier until after his confirmation by the United States Senate as United States Marshal on May 2, 1890. From 1883 to 1890 he was connected with the Second and Third Regiments of the Minnesota National Guard, being lieutenant- colonel of the Third Regiment three years. He is a companion of Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and an active Grand Army comrade.
Colonel Donahower is a gentleman of refine- ment and culture, and is uncompromising in every duty of life, either civil or military. In so- cial life he is urbane, liberal and accommodating. He was a brave and gallant officer, a commander who was esteemed and obeyed by his soldiers, and as a citizen he is highly prized by all who know him for his courage, honesty and manly de- portment.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN NELSON,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T HE subject of this sketch has been closely identified with the growth and develop- ment of Minneapolis. Born and reared amid the most adverse surroundings, his indomitable will and energy, combined with sterling integrity, have placed him in the front rank among the business men of the northwest.
Benjamin F. Nelson is a native of Greenup county, Kentucky, and was born May 4, 1843 ; his father, William Nelson, a well known and highly respected farmer, was born in 1783, and his mother, whose maiden name was Emeline Benson, was born in 1808. Both parents were natives of Somerset county, Maryland. Benjamin had few educational advantages in his early life.
While yet a boy, owing to the ill-health of his father, the support of the family largely devolved upon him. At the age of seventeen he entered the lumber business ; his first year's efforts were attended by success, but during the second year the breaking out of the war ruined his business, and the venture ended disastrously. Subse- quently, in connection with his brother, he rented a large farm, but one season convinced him that the quiet monotony of farm life was not suited to his taste, and his entire interest in the farm was transferred to his brother.
In 1862 he enlisted in Company C, Second Ken- tucky Battalion, and went immediately into ser- vice under General Kirby Smith. To go into
BJ. Nelson
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the details of his war record, and to narrate in de- tail all the thrilling and interesting incidents in which it abounds, would require a volume ; space allows only a mere outline. During the year 1862 Mr. Nelson received his first active military training, when Generals Kirby Smith and Buell contested so fiercely for the possession of Ken- tucky, and which was ended by Smith's retreat into Tennessee. Here the Kentucky Battalion went into winter quarters, remaining until the spring of 1863, when, under the command of Gen- eral Humphrey Marshall, Mr. Nelson again entered Kentucky, where after little fighting with much wearisome marching, his regiment was ordered to Dalton, Georgia, and assigned to General Forrest. He participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and subsequently accompanied Wheeler on his raids around Rosecrans' army in the battles of McMinnville and Shelbyville ; recrossing the Tennessee river into Alabama, then back again to Dalton. He was a participant in the engagement when Lookout Mountain was taken by Hooker, on November 24th. In 1864 Mr. Nelson was transferred to General John Morgan's division, ac- companying him on his raids into Kentucky, taking active part in the battles of Mount Sterling, Lex- ington and Cynthania, Kentucky, and also in the battle of Greenville, Tennessee, in which en- gagement General Morgan was killed. Soon after this, with five of his comrades, Mr. Nelson was dispatched into Kentucky on a recruiting ex- pedition. Having secured a few recruits on the Ohio river, and being some one hundred and fifty miles inside the enemy's line, in attempting to retreat, he was captured and taken to Lexington, where he and his companions were closely con- fined, not knowing whether they would be treated as prisoners of war or as spies. After several days of most trying suspense, nine of the unfortunate recruits were executed, while Mr. Nelson, with the others, was taken to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he remained until March, 1865, when he was sent to Richmond. At the close of the war he was released on parole.
After a brief visit to his former home in Ken- tucky, Mr. Nelson became a resident of Minne- apolis. Being almost penniless, for a time he was obliged to avail himself of any honorable means to obtain a livelihood ; for a short time he was en- gaged in rafting lumber, afterwards was employed
in a shingle-mill until 1867, at which time he entered into a contract with Butler Mills and T. B. Walker to make shingles by the thousand, until 1872. In that year, with W. C. Stetson as a partner, they built the Pacific Planing Mill, also the St. Louis Mill. This firm subsequently dis- solved-Mr. Stetson taking the Pacific, and Mr. Nelson the St. Louis mill.
In 1879 the present firm of Nelson, Tenney and Company was organized, comprising B. F. Nelson, W. M. Tenney. H. W. McNair and H. B. Frey. The lumber business of the northwest was then practically in its infancy ; money was scarce, and commercial interests of all classes almost unde- veloped. In those days it required persevering energy and industry to attain success. Step by step, slowly but surely, the business grew until it attained to a position among the foremost firms of the northwest. The present capital of the firm is about one million dollars, and in 1891 over fifty million feet of lumber were handled by it, approx- imating a business of nearly a million dollars. The firm is one of the most successful lumber companies of the northwest, operating in Minne- sota and Iowa some thirty branch yards. The company is in possession of vast tracts of pine lands in different sections, supplying abundant material for two saw-mills, and a large planing mill operated by the company and located in Minneapolis. In 1889 Mr. McNeir withdrew from the firm, and W. F. Books was admitted. Mr. Nelson is also president of the Nelson Paper Company and the Hennepin Paper Company ; these corporations, with three mills and a pulp mill, control the entire paper industry of the State of Minnesota. The Nelson Paper Com- pany (incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars) is composed of Mr. Nelson and his two sons, W. Edwin Nelson and Guy H. Nelson. The company operates a mill at Minneapolis and one at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, producing all kinds of coarse paper, such as building, roofing and wrapping papers. The Hennepin Paper Company (incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars) is composed of Mr. Nelson, Mr. Thomas B. Walker and Mr. G. M. Walker, of Minneapolis. A pulp mill at Little Falls, Minnesota, and a print mill at Minneapolis are owned and operated by this company.
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Although he has had but little time to devote to social organizations, Mr. Nelson is a Mason, and has taken thirty-two degrees in orderly suc- cession. In politics he is a Democrat, and as the representative of that party, has been called to fill various positions of honor and trust; among them that of alderman of the first ward of Minneapolis from 1881 to 1886. Owing to a press of business cares, Mr. Nelson resigned this office six months previous to the expiration of his second term. Mr. Nelson was also a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education for seven years, and in 1890 was elected president of the Minneapolis Board of Trade, and re-elected in 1891.
In 1885 the present large and commodious Ex- position Building was erected at Minneapolis in eighty-four days. Much of the credit for the early completion of this really magnificent build- ing is due to Mr. Nelson. As a member of the Board of Directors he personally superintended the construction of the building.
In 1869 Mr. Nelson married Miss Martha Ross, who died in 1874, leaving two sons, W. Edwin and Guy H. In 1875 Mr. Nelson married Miss Mary Fredinburg, of Northfield, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have one daughter, Bessie E.
DANIEL ROSWELL BARBER.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
D ANIEL R. BARBER was born February 14, 1817, at Benson, Rutland county, Ver- mont. His father, Roswell Barber, was a highly respected farmer. The early days of Daniel were divided between work on his father's farm and at- tendance at the district school. After leaving this school he entered the seminary at Castleton, Vermont, intending later to enter college and fit himself for a profession, but this plan was never followed out-a severe inflammation of the eyes compelling him to stop all study, and he never afterwards had an opportunity of entering college.
The Barber family is a very old one, tracing its annals far back into the colonial days, and its members served their country with distinction.
When Mr. Barber reached the age of twenty- five, he had accumulated, by hard work and strict economy, a sufficient sum to enable him to pur- chase the largest general store in the native village. Here he remained ten years, giving close attention to the details of his business, and accumulated ten thousand dollars-a large fortune in those days.
At this time the development of the west was beginning to attract the attention of young men of enterprise and courage, and in 1855 Mr. Barber left his home in the Green Mountains, and after traveling through the States of Illinois and Wis- consin, he at length entered Minnesota. He visited St. Anthony, named after the great falls of the Mississippi, and after making a careful
study of the region, he determined to make it his home, believing that there was destined to rise the future metropolis of the northwest. He re- turned to Vermont after his family in the spring of 1856. Settling at St. Anthony he engaged in the real-estate business until the financial panic of 1857 so depreciated values as to render this a precarious means of obtaining a livelihood. He therefore returned to mercantile life, first con- ducting a grocery business for several years, and then a dry-goods store. Meantime his fellow- citizens honored him by placing him in the office of city assessor for eleven successive years. In 1871 Mr. Barber purchased the Cataract Flour Mill, which he operated in company with his son- in-law, Mr. Gardner, until that gentleman's de- cease. He then associated with himself his son, Edwin R. Barber, under the firm-name of D. R. Barber and Son, and under that name the busi- ness is still continued (1892). The "Cataract " is the oldest flouring mill in Minneapolis, and through the vicissitudes of many years it has led in the introduction of improvements in processes tending to the production of better qualities of flour. The products of this mill are favorably known in every market in the world.
In 1880 Mr. Barber was striken with paralysis ; the best medical skill obtainable was called in con- sultation, and every mode of treatment known to medical science was resorted to, but without avail,
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and after lingering several years he peacefully de- party. Under a Democratic President he served parted this life on the 17th of April, 1886.
Since Mr. Barber's illness his business enter- prises have been ably conducted by his son, Edwin R., who was born November 22, 1852, in Benson, Vermont. Since the purchase of the mill by his father, he has been closely identified with the business, and is a thoroughly practical miller. For the past eight years he has been presi- dent of the Millers and Manufacturers' Insurance Company, of Minneapolis, and is also president of the Minnesota and Dakota Elevator .Company, with a line of elevators on the Great Northern Pacific Railroad. On the Ist of October, 1873, at Minneapolis, he married Miss Hattie Sidle, a daughter of Mr. Henry G. Sidle, president of the First National Bank of Minneapolis; two children, a boy and girl, have been born of this union.
In politics Mr. Daniel R. Barber was a Republi- can, but he always voted for principles rather than
for several years as postmaster of his native village, resigning the office when he removed to the west.
In February, 1845, Mr. Barber married Miss Ella L. Bottum of Orwell, Vermont, the Rev. Rufus Cushman performing the marriage cere- mony. To them were born two children: Julia and Edwin R.
In many respects Mr. Barber was a remarkable man ; possessed of a native shrewdness and un- usual executive ability, his business ventures were uniformly attended with success. Beneath an ex- terior of reserve was concealed a kindly, genial nature that made him countless friends. Wher- ever known he was universally admired and re- spected. He was for some years a member of Plymouth Congregational Church of Minneapolis, and resting peacefully in that faith, he departed this life, and left to his family the heritage of an honored name.
WILLIAM MITCHELL TENNEY,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T HE vigorous growth of Minnesota and the adjacent territory has been mainly the re- sult of the industrial energy of individuals. Will- iam M. Tenney has shown, as the result of his early experience, that work, even the hardest, is full of materials for self-improvement. His suc- cessful business career reveals the fact that honest labor is the best of teachers, and that the school of toil is the noblest of all schools; that it is a school in which the ability of being useful is im- parted, the spirit of independence learned, and the habit of persevering effort acquired. His name is closely connected with the commercial history of Minneapolis. His long experience in business affairs, his intuitive knowledge of men, rare executive abilities and fine social qualities have won for him the highest respect and confi- dence of his fellow-citizens.
He was born in Washington, D. C., on January 12, 1843. His father, William H. Tenney, a na- tive of Washington, was a man of exemplary life, and was engaged in the milling business. He died at Washington in 1889, at the age of seventy- five years. In 1638, less than twenty years after
the landing of the Pilgrims, Thomas Tenney left England and sailed to America, settling at Row- ley, Massachusetts. Back to this hardy adven- turer Mr. Tenney traces his ancestry. Isaac Ten- ney, the grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Newburyport, Mass., and was exten- sively engaged in shipping, owning a fleet of merchant ships employed in the carrying trade between Newburyport, Georgetown, D. C., and the West Indies, and in the salt trade with England.
Mr. Tenney was a pupil at a private school in Washington until fourteen years old, when he entered his father's office as a clerk. There he obtained his first knowledge of business methods and acquired those principles of honorable deal- ing that have led him to enduring success. He remained with his father four years, then accept- ing a position as clerk.to a captain of commissary with the United States volunteer forces, then ac- tively engaged in the civil war. At the age of nineteen he became a clerk in the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank at Washington, and one year later entered the banking house of Jay Cooke and Company in that city. He was rapidly advanced
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until, in 1871, he was appointed manager of the Washington house, with entire charge of its busi- ness. In the financial crisis of 1873 the magnifi- cent banking house of Jay Cooke and Company, with a reputation and a credit second to none in this country, went down, and in the failure Mr. Tenney lost every dollar he possessed. During these years, besides earning an enviable reputa- tion as an able banker and a thorough business man, he had accumulated a considerable fortune, and at the time of this failure he was a stock- holder and director in the First National Bank of Washington. Now, all was lost. The resistless flood that swept away the house of Jay Cooke and Company carried with it all who had any connection with the firm, and among those who lost their all was Mr. Tenney. It was a time of trial and discouragement, but his determination and his indomitable will and energy carried him through it.
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