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 45
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In the fall of 1855 he reached Dubuque, Iowa, and from that point he journeyed by boat to St. Paul, reaching there in May, 1856. He remained one day in St. Paul, and then went to Minneapo- lis, and believing that here was destined to rise the future metropolis of the northwest, he re- solved to make it his home. He had but little money, and fully realizing that his success in life would depend solely upon his own efforts, he
immediately started in search of employment. He went to work for Mr. Darilus Morrison in the saw-mill, in the forests, and on rafts of logs and lumber in the river. In 1860, in company with Charles M. Loring, under the firm name of Loren Fletcher and Company, he began the dry-goods business on Bridge Square, and later erected there the building then known as the Masonic Block, now occupied by Mr. W. K. Morrison as a hard- ware store. It was difficult to accomplish much in commercial pursuits in those days ; money was scarce, the country practically undeveloped and but sparsely peopled, and transportation facilities very inadequate. But the two young merchants worked hard, and by energy, industry and strict economy they made their business a success.
The lumber business of the northwest was then in its infancy. Gradually Mr. Fletcher and his partner worked into this business, purchasing pine lands and manufacturing lumber ; they also en- gaged in contracting on railroads and providing general supplies for the Northern Pacific and other railroads. Subsequently they joined with Mr. W. F. Cahill in operating the Holly flouring mill, and later they constructed the Galaxy mill. For several years they conducted extensive farm- ing interests in Dakota, and have been largely interested in grain elevators throughout the north- west. For the past few years Mr. Fletcher has been contracting his numerous and widely-scat- tered interests with a desire to retire somewhat from active business life and enjoy the rest he so well deserves.
In politics Mr. Fletcher is a staunch Republican. and, as the representative of that party, has been called to fill various positions of honor and re- sponsibility, and in this connection it may be said
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of him that in all of his public life he has studied and endeavored to advance the best interests of his state and city. He was a member of the state legislature from 1873 to 1883, and during the last three sessions was speaker of the house. At the Republican convention, held July 26, 1892, he was nominated by acclamation to represent the fifth district in congress. The selection was a most happy one; and no man in the district better understands the needs of the people, or would more faithfully and efficiently represent them in our national assembly.
On the 10th of October, 1857, Mr. Fletcher mar-
ried Amerett J. Thomas, at Bangor, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher are active members of Geth- semene Episcopal Church of Minneapolis, giving freely of their their time and means to this and to every worthy charitable and benevolent object.
" Nothing succeeds like success," is an old and true saying, and any man who has made of his life a success is worthy of commendation, but he who, by his own unaided efforts, and in the face of difficulties, struggles manfully to a position in the foremost rank of our successful men is indeed deserving of the highest praise.
HON. CHARLES E. VANDERBURGH,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
C HARLES E. VANDERBURGH was born at Clifton Park, Saratoga county, New York, December 2, 1829, son of Stephen and Maria (Calkins) Vanderburgh. His father's an- cestors came from Amsterdam, Holland, and settled in Dutchess county, New York, more than a generation before the French and Indian war. His grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution, and removed soon after the war to Saratoga county, New York, where the father of our sub- ject was born in 1800. In 1837 the family resi- dence was removed from Saratoga county to a farm in Marcellus, Onondaga county, in the same state.
Charles worked on his father's farm during summer months and attended the district school during the winter season, until he was seventeen years old, when he engaged in teaching district school in a neighboring town. He was ambitious for knowledge and constant in his pursuit of it, devoting all his spare hours to faithful study at home. Between the years 1846 and 1849 he pre- pared himself for college, pursuing his studies at home and supplementing them with several ses- sions at the Courtland Academy, at Homer, New York. In the fall of 1849 he entered the sopho- more class at Yale College, and was graduated with honor in 1852. In the following year he became principal of Oxford Academy, at Oxford, New York. The following year he commenced the study of law at Oxford in the office of Mr.
Henry R. Mygatt, one of the foremost lawyers of the state. In January, 1855, he was admitted to the bar, and remained with his preceptor till the following autumn, when he went west, and spent the winter in Chicago. He visited numer- ous places in his search for a location, and finally, in April, 1856, decided to cast his fortune with the then little village at the Falls of St. Anthony.
His first efforts in Minnesota were character- istic of the pioneers of those days. But intelli- gence, industry and integrity never fail of their reward. Mr. Vanderburgh had an abundance of these qualifications, but no money. He immedi- ately obtained a situation in the office of the regis- ter of deeds, where he was employed three weeks, during which time he formed a law partnership with Hon. F. E. Cornell, late judge of the supe- rior court. They did a large practice, both in the courts and in the United States land office, and continued till the fall of 1859, when he was elected to the district' bench, his district at that time extending north and northwest of Fort Snell- ing; it has since been divided into several dis- tricts. Judge Vanderburgh was elected district judge four times in succussion, and discharged the duties of his office with singular ability dur- ing his long administration from 1859 to 1881. His retention on the bench for so long a time is a tribute from his fellow-citizens to his fidelity and usefulness. Prominent members of the bar speak in high terms of his ability and judicial qualifica-
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tions. In 1881 he was elected to the supreme bench of Minnesota, and holds that office now (1892). His record on the supreme bench is a fitting sequel to his eminent career in the district tribunal. As judge and citizen he has been the exponent of all that is most respected and hon- ored in the community.
Judge Vanderburgh, in his political associa- tions, is a Republican, but is essentially non-par- tisan, and has generally been elected without opposition.
At Oxford, New York, on September 2, 1857, he married Julia M. Mygatt, daughter of William Mygatt, a leading citizen of Oxford, who died in April, 1863, leaving two children. On the 15th of April, 1873, he married Miss Anna Culbert, daughter of Mr. John Culbert, a prominent citi- zen of Fulton county, New York. One child was born to them in August, 1874.
Judge Vanderburgh has been a member of the Presbyterian church since 1862. He is an elder in the church and for many years was superin- tendent and teacher in the Sabbath-school, a work in which he is deeply interested. One of the cardinal principles of his life has been never to
miss an engagement, and he has never been de- tained from his post of duty by personal ill health and seldom by accident or storm. He has had the privilege and responsibility of organizing courts in a number of new counties, and an op- portunity of witnessing an extraordinary devel- opment and growth in population, wealth and intelligence in his state, and it is his testimony and belief that there is no part of our country where life and property are more secure or the devotion of the people to law and order greater than in Minnesota.
In summing up the record of his life we beg to add the words of one of Minnesota's most hon- ored sons : " Judge Vanderburgh has passed the greater part of his life among us. We remember him as the young attorney without money or friends ; we now respect him as an honored mem- ber of the supreme bench. Throughout his long and distinguished career he has ever been the highest type of honorable manhood, and the well- earned success which he enjoys is a source of sat- isfaction and pride to his fellow-citizens, who hold him in the highest esteem, respect and friend- ship."
JOHN S. McDONALD,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
A MONG the leading lumbermen who did busi- ness in Wisconsin and upper Michigan before and for twenty years after the civil war, few were better known than John S. McDonald. He was born December 7, 1831, in Lancaster, Glengary county, Canada, on the homestead which his grandparents had settled. His father, Donald McDonald, married Marion Stewart, who was a McLeod on her mother's side, and who came to Canada from her native Isle of Skye when she was a girl in her teens. She lived to be over ninety years of age, and spoke the Gaelic, whenever she was among those who understood it, to the day of her death. She reared a family of six sons and six daughters, of whom John Stewart was the sixth child.
From his fourth to his eleventh year the boy attended the neighboring country schools with his brothers and sisters, trudging from one to three
miles through rain and shine to the little school- house. For five years after this he sold goods over the counter of a general store at the cross- roads, gaining a general practical knowledge of men and things, and four dollars a month besides. Liquor was one of the principal commodities sold, but the boy never touched it to his lips, probably because of his mother's last admonition when he parted from her after the regular Sunday visit, not to touch the liquor.
At the age of sixteen he engaged as book- keeper and paymaster to Mr. William Flower, a prominent railroad contractor, living in Montreal, by whom his brother Alexander had previously been employed. In February, 1848, their father had died, after having met some reverses in busi- ness, and the two sons labored together for some years, devoting their entire savings to the pay- ment of all debts against the estate and the edu-
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cation of the younger children. When their con- tract on the Grand Trunk Railway was completed, young McDonald left the employ of Mr. Flower and resolved to migrate to the States. Passing through Chicago, he finally settled in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, arriving there in February, 1856, behind the little Winnebago engine over the strap rails of the Rock River Valley Union Railroad, then in operation from Fond du Lac to Minnesota Junction.
By the help of his former employer, who fur- nished most of his capital, he was able to go into the lumber-mill business with Messrs. R. and A. Merryman and H. Hunter, under the style of McDonald, Merryman and Company. Some time after, his brother Alexander bought a quarter in- terest in the business. During the long months of the panic of 1857 the firm held its own only by the most heroic and energetic labor. By arangement with his partners Mr. McDonald re- turned to Canada for a time to finish up a certain contract he was engaged in with Mr. Flower, and this being finished he resolved to visit the prov- ince of British Columbia, where gold had recently been discovered. Crossing the Isthmus of Pan- ama, and taking steerage passage from San Fran- cisco, he arrived in Victoria in October, 1858, after hardships never to be forgotten. After securing a boat and equipages for mining, he was enabled, through letters which he carried to Governor Douglas, to take passage to Ft. Langley, on the Frazer river, by the first steam vessel that ever navigated the Pacific. The Frazer river was at that time a very dangerous stream. Indeed, of the twenty thousand adventurers who started up the river, it is estimated that five thousand lost their lives that season in its treacherous waters and not a few were murdered by Indians.
These perils and exposures Mr. McDonald shared with the rest, and has many a story to tell of his adventures. In the summer he returned to New Westminster, which had recently been made the port of entry for the province, and boasted a post-office and restaurant. At the post-office three letters awaited him, the first he had seen for months. But the postage upon them was seventy-five cents, and his pocket-book was en- tirely innocent of even the smallest coin. In fact, he had taken nothing to eat that day. Intimat- ing to the postmaster that he would call again,
he strolled along an Indian trail, holding with himself a rather gloomy session of the committee on ways and means. Just then his eye caught a shining gold dollar near a rivulet that crossed the trail. He hailed it as a visitation of Providence, and turned hastily back to visit both the post- office and the restaurant.
Mr. McDonald engaged in many enterprises during the following months which took nerve and labor, but brought him no income. One con- tract proved subsequently of importance to him. He cut a government road through fourteen miles of heavily timbered country, for which he was paid in land scrip. The property he entered with this scrip he sold in 1889 for $37,000. But that did not at all relieve his situation in 1859. At last, however, he entered a partnership with Messrs. Homer and Jackson, in running a saw-mill, which he worked with his usual tremendous energy, and made a success of it.
Business was now brightening in Wisconsin, and Mr. McDonald resolved to return to civilization. While in British Columbia he had taken an inter- est in public affairs, helping to build the first jail in the country at Fort Hope, and the first church in the province at New Westminster. He was also energetic in the effort to secure a local legislature for the province, for which he was ten- dered a public dinner by the citizens on the eve of his departure.
Not long after his return to Fond du Lac, Mr. McDonald and his brother arranged to buy out the other members of the firm and continued business together for many years, under the name of A. and J. S. McDonald. From this time Mr. McDon- ald engaged extensively in lumbering on the Wolf and other Wisconsin rivers, and later in upper Michigan, as a member of the firm of McDonald, Flower and Company, McDonald, Lynch and Company, the McDonald and Billings Lumber Company, and McDonald, Borland and Company. With Messrs. Blanchard and Borland he devel- oped the Ford River Lumber Company, of which he was president and manager. He was also interested in iron lands in upper Michigan, but these did not turn out successfully. After the failure of the Threshing Machine Company in Fond du Lac, of which he was a stockholder and lost heavily, he, with others, organized the Mc- Donald Manufacturing Company, and perfected
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and put upon the market the Victory threshers. In 1887 the works were removed to Minneapolis, the capital stock increased and the company reor- ganized as the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, of which Mr. McDonald is president and manager. The factory at Hopkins employs about four hundred men.
November 12, 1861, Mr. McDonald married Miss Jane Elizabeth Flower, the daughter of his former employer. They have had seven children,
all but one of whom are living. Mr. McDonald has long been a member of the Presbyterian Church, trusted in its councils and liberal in the support of its benevolences. He has always been a man of immense energy, large ideas, generous impulses, open hospitality and public spirit. He carries into the ripe years of his life the same happy combination of qualities which have gained and kept for him an increasing number of friends. Since 1887 his home has been in Minneapolis.
JOHN CONRAD OSWALD,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
TOHN C. OSWALD has shown, as the result of his early experience, that work, even the hardest, is full of materials for self-improvement. His successful 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 practical ability is devel- oped, the spirit of independence learned and the habit of persevering effort acquired. His name is closely connected with every step in the devel- opment of Minneapolis, and his long experience in business affairs, his intuitive knowledge of men, his rare executive ability, and his pleasant social qualities, have won for him the highest respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
He was born in Oberaach, in the canton of Thurgan, Switzerland, on May 20, 1824. His father, Jacob Oswald, was a prosperous trader and stock-raiser of Oberaach. His educational ad- vantages were necessarily limited, being merely an irregular attendance at the common schools of his native village.
At sixteen years of age, having decided to learn a trade, he left school and found employ- ment in St. Gallen, Switzerland, with Godfrey Scheitlin, a manufacturer of cotton goods. The establishment was an extensive one, and its prod- ucts were almost exclusively designed for the Turkish markets, although some of the finest goods were used in Italy. For two years he served as an apprentice, and at the end of that time his employer made him overseer of his rapidly in- creasing business, a position which he retained until May, 1847. Having determined to seek a
home and future in a land that offered greater in- ducements than did his native land, he, in July, 1847, landed in New York. While looking for employment, he was offered the agency of a large tract of wild land in Cabell county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia. The offer was eagerly accepted, and taking with him a stock of general merchandise, worth about twenty-five hundred dollars, after a tedious journey by rail, canal and wagon, he at last reached his destination. He immediately opened a country store and be- gan trading with the backwoodsmen; he also cleared a farm and added stock-raising to his pur- suits.
Here Mr. Oswald remained nearly ten years, conducting a successful business, and enjoying the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. In March, 1857, he removed to Minneapolis. He immediately opened a general store, and in the May following formed a partnership with his brother, Henry Oswald. At the end of one year, he bought his brother's interest, and continued the business alone till March, 1859, when Mr. Matthew Nothaker became a partner. For many years they kept a general store at the corner of First street and Hennepin avenue, at that time the best and most central point in the city, and now the site of the West Minneapolis market house.
In June, 1862, Mr. Oswald purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, for twenty-four hundred dollars. This farm, then some distance from the city, is now almost in the heart of Min- neapolis, and forms one of her most select resi- dence districts.
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yours truly & COsevalu.
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During the season of 1862, Mr. Oswald devoted his farm, "Oak Grove," to the cultivation of tobacco, and was decidedly successful, disposing of ten thousand pounds in Chicago at a good price. Preparations were made for a crop of one hundred thousand pounds in 1863, but a heavy frost in August totally destroyed the plants, en- tailing a serious loss. For a time Mr. Oswald devoted his attention to breeding trotting horses, producing a number of fine animals, among them Flora Belle, with a record of 2:294, and Topsy, 2:30. Flora Belle he still owns.
Having spent his boyhood and early manhood in a wine-growing country, he had picked up no little experience in the manufacture of wines. At that time the foreign wines that were consumed in the west were inferior in quality and exceed- ingly costly, and believing that the production of native wines of a good quality could be made profitable, Mr. Oswald constructed a wine-cellar on his farm, and began the manufacture and sale of "J. C. Oswald's Native Wines." It proved a very profitable venture, and encouraged him to greater enterprises. In 1866 he added distilled liquors, and established the first wholesale wine and liquor business in Minneapolis. The business rapidly increased, until it required so much time and attention, that he deemed it to his interest to take a partner in the person of Mr. Theophil Basting, who had been with him for many years.
This business still exists under the firm name of John C. Oswald and Company. In 1866 Mr. Oswald platted eighteen acres of his "Oak Grove Farm," and sold that portion in lots and blocks ;
the remainder of the property was sold in 1887 to a syndicate of Philadelphia capitalists, who ex- pended upwards of $150,000 in improvements, and platted it under the picturesque name of "Bryn Mawr."
In politics Mr. Oswald is a Democrat, and as the representative of that party has been called to fill various positions of trust. From 1886 to 1890 he rendered his party and his city valuable service as state senator. Mr. Oswald is now a member of the Board of City Hall, and of the Court House Commissioners. He was a mem- ber of the Minneapolis Board of Park Commis- sioners. Mr. Oswald was one of the incorporators and was a director of the Minneapolis Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railroad Company, and was also a director of the Minneapolis and Pacific Railway Company.
On the 12th of August, 1847, in the city of New York, he married Miss Ursula Elizabeth Scheitlin, a sister of his former employer, at St. Gallen, Godfrey Scheitlin. To Mr. and Mrs. Oswald have been born nine children, four of whom are now living.
In studying the interesting career of John C. Oswald, we are first led to note his most promi- nent characteristics, his strict integrity, his unflag- ging industry and his indomitable will; qualities that have combined to carry him over many a seemingly insurmountable barrier. His genial, kindly nature, and a cheerful readiness to lend a helping hand to any fellow-being in distress, have made him universally admired and respected, and have won for him countless friends.
JOHN H. IVES,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
T HE subject of this sketch is a rising lawyer at the St. Paul bar. He is an excellent trial lawyer, possesses great power of analysis, and grasps the pivotal points of a question with ease. He is a fluent, easy speaker ; he is well-read in every branch of the law, and he enjoys a large clientage.
John H. Ives was born in Burlington, Iowa, August, 30, .1854. He is the son of Hon. Edward H. Ives, a quite prominent Democratic
politician in western Wisconsin, who was a mem- ber the general assembly of Wisconsin, and after- wards was elected to the state senate, in both instances from strong Republican districts. The maiden name of our subject's mother was Mary Harris. When John was four years old his par- ents removed to Wisconsin, where he resided until he came to St. Paul, in 1883. He studied law with Messrs. Baker and Spooner, of Hudson, Wisconsin, and afterwards went to Chicago and
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entered the law office of his uncle, the Hon. C. M. Harris, as a student. He also studied in the Chicago Law School, from which he was gradu- ated. He was admitted to the bar in 1875. He commenced the practice of his profession in Bar- ron county, Wisconsin, where he was retained as assistant counsel to the district attorney in an important tax litigation, then in progress in that county, and was subsequently, in 1876, elected district attorney of Barron connty, Wisconsin.
In politics Mr. Ives is a Democrat, and in 1888 he was elected to the general assembly of Minne- sota, defeating Mr. J. A. Johnson, the Republican and labor candidate, and Mr. P. H. Thornton, the bolting Democrat, by more than five hundred plurality. He was married, May 2, 1888, to Miss Ida Sherwin. They have four children. Mr. Ives belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and is a liberal, social gentleman, who is deservedly popular in the community where he resides.
FENDALL GREGORY WINSTON,
MINNEAPOLIS, , MINN.
F. G. WINSTON removed to the northwest as · a young man without means ; he has developed with the opportunities about him, and enjoys to-day a leading position among the fore- most railroad builders of the west.
We need not point out how great a factor in developing the northwest these railroads have been, but we beg to refer to the recorded history of the greatest event ever chronicled in railroad construction, and in which Mr. Winston was a principal. The record was published in Harper's Magazine, March, 1888, an extract from which we will cite further on.
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