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 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
Fendall G. Winston is a brother of Mayor P. B. Winston, of Minneapolis, and was born at Court- land, Hanover county, Virginia, on May 1, 1849.
The parents were William O. and Sarah A. (Gregory) Winston, whose ancestors were respec- tively of English and Scotch origin, and settled in Virginia in 1716. The father and grandfather of our subject held the office of clerk of Hanover county during their lives, and Colonel Winston, a veteran of colonial days, organized and command- ed the first cavalry regiment formed in this coun- try, an account of which may be found in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
F. G. Winston attended the private log-cabin schools of his native district till the close of the War of the Rebellion. He was fifteen years old at this time, and the family property having been destroyed, he worked on his uncle's farm. Soon after the war he rented a farm in King William county, Virginia, and was a successful farmer till 1872, when he set out for the northwest. General
Rosser was then at the head of the engineering department of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and young Winston was promised employment in that department as soon as he arrived at the scene of operations. He reached Fargo, Dakota, in Feb- ruary, 1872. He remained in the engineering de- partment of the Northern Pacific till the fall of 1873, and then joined the famous Yellowstone Expedition, organized by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, under Chief Engineer Rosser. This was three years before the massacre of Gen- eral Custar and his famous command on the Little Big Horn.
In the fall of 1873 the Jay Cooke failure put an end to all work on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and Mr. Winston returned to Minneapolis, and engaged in surveying government pine lands in northern Minnesota. At this time was organized the well-known firm of Winston Brothers, com- posed of our subject and his brothers, P. B. Win- ston and W. O. Winston. The career of this firm has been one of unqualified success, and is a fitting testimonial to the intelligence, industry and integrity of these gentlemen. Their con- tracts with the government for dams and jetties on the Mississippi, and repairs and clearings on the Minnesota rivers, were completed in 1878, and they then commenced railroad contracting. Their first railroad contract was for the construc- tion of the Minneapolis Eastern, which extended from above the depot to the lower mills, and afforded easy facilities for the handling of wheat and flour. In 1879 they began their first con- tracts for the Northern Pacific Railroad at May-
7 winston
90I
BJOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
dan, Dakota, and constructed tracks and bridges to a point seventy-five miles beyond Missoula, Montana, embracing over one thousand miles of road. This work was remarkable in many de- tails.
In 1883 they built the National Park branch of this system from Livingston to the park. During this and the following years they completed a con- tract for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road Company, and built the Wisconsin, Minne- sota & Pacific Railroad from Morton, Minnesota, to Watertown, North Dakota.
In 1886, under the firm name of Sheppard, Winston & Company, they began extensive con- tracts for the Great Northern Railroad Company. This firm lasted three years, during which time they completed two thousand miles of road, and constructed the famous Great Northern extension from Minot, Dakota, to Great Falls, Montana. Of this remarkable piece of railroad construction, Harper's Magasine of March, 1888, says :
" This magnificent enterprise was entrusted to Messrs. Sheppard, Winston & Company, and these gentlemen deserve all the credit for the suc- cessful completion of this Napoleonic enterprise. It required not only the advance of millions of dollars, but the foresight, energy, vigilance and capacity that are so essential to the success of distant military campaigns. The work, to be ac- complished in 1887, was to grade five hundred miles of road to reach Great Falls ; to put in the bridging and mechanical structures on five hun- dred and thirty miles of continuous railway, and to lay and put in good running condition six hun- dred and forty-three miles of rails continuously, and from one end only, hauling all material brought up by rail, ahead of the track by train, so as not to delay the work. The average force on the grading was thirty-three hundred teams, and about eight thousand men. Upon the track-laying, surfacing, piling and timber work, there were two hundred and twenty-five teams and about six hundred and fifty men. The heaviest work was encountered on the east- ern end, so that the track was close upon the grading up to the 10th of June. Some of the cuttings and embankments were heavy, but after this date progress upon the grading was very rapid. From the mouth of Milk River to Great Falls, a distance of two hundred miles, grading
was done at an average rate of seven miles a day. Those who saw this army of men and teams stretching over the prairie and casting up this continental highway, think they beheld one of the most striking achievements of modern civili- zation."
We regret that our limited space will not per- mit us to quote more fully from this excellent ar- ticle, but in its language we may add "that the details of this construction are exceedingly inter- esting."
On the 16th of July seven miles and ten hun- dred and forty feet of track were laid, and on the 8th of August eight miles and sixty feet were laid. In each instance by daylight, and by the regular gang of track layers, without any increase in the number of men employed or desire to ob- tain special results. The method pursued was the same as when one mile of track is laid per day in,the ordinary manner. Sidings were graded at intervals of seven to eight miles, and spur tracks, laid on the natural surface, were put in at convenient points sixteen miles apart for the stor- age of materials and supplies at or near the front. The construction train contained box-cars two and three stories high, in which laborers were boarded and lodged.
Steamboats, to a limited extent, were employed on the Missouri River to supply such remote points as Fort Benton and the coal banks, but not more than fifteen per cent. of the transporta- tion was done by steamboats. A single item, illustrating the magnitude of the supply transpor- tation, is the shipment to Minot, and consumption on the work of five hundred and ninety thousand bushels of oats. It is believed that the grading of five hundred miles of railroad in five months, the transportation into the country of everything consumed, except grass and water, of every rail, tie, stick of timber, tool, machine, man or team employed, and laying six hundred and forty-three miles of track in seven and one-half months from one end, far exceeds, in magnitude and rapidity of execution, any similar undertaking in this or any other country. These are the words of Charles Dudley Warner, and the perfect success of this magnificent work may be better under- stood when we say, that immediately after the last spike was driven, the news was flashed to St. Paul, Minnesota, and a special train was made up
902
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
on that same day and started for the terminus of this extension. The average speed was thirty-five miles per hour, often running as high as fifty miles per hour, and so perfect was the road-bed and tracks, that the swing and bounce were as slight as on an old road. To attain such speed on a trial trip over a new road build with lightning rapidity is a more glowing tribute to the builders than any pen can paint.
They also built four hundred miles of road into Dakota for the Milwaukee System during that year, and two hundred miles of road through Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and the Galena termi- nal for the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Rail- road Company. In the fall of 1888 there was a general cessation of railroad construction through- out the northwest, and the firm once more be- came Winston Brothers. During 1888-89 they completed an important and difficult contract for the Louisville & Nashville Railway Company. This work was through the Cumberland Moun- tains, and, owing to the topography of the coun- try and difficult character of the work, required two years for its completion, and cost more than one and one-half million dollars. They also com- pleted contracts for the Omaha, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago & North-Western, the Northern Pacific, the Duluth & Iron Range, the Louisville & Nashville, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, and the Burlington & Cedar Rapids Railroad Com-
panies. During the three years which this firm operated, under the name of Sheppard, Winston & Company, they completed work amounting to more than five million dollars.
F. G. Winston is a gentleman of most engaging and dignified presence ; quick to discern the right, he follows it to fulfillment. He is a Democrat in politics, but not a politician.
He married, in 1876, Miss Alice Olmstead, of Winona, Minnesota. Her father, David Olm- stead, was the first mayor of St. Paul. She died in 1881, leaving three children. In 1884 Mr. Winston married Miss Lillian Jones, of Richmond, Virginia, by whom he has three children. The home life of Mr. Winston is very quiet and unas- suming, but his greatest happiness is found when surrounded by his family at his own fireside. He is a director of the Security Bank ; a director of the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, a director of the Syndicate Insurance Company, a stockholder in the Syndicate Build- ing Company, a member of the Minneapolis Club, a member of the Minnesota Club, of St. Paul, and a member of the Westmoreland Club, of Richmond, Virginia. There is yet an unwritten page in the life of this honorable citizen, and, looking back over the records of the past, one ' can see in the future all that reward which comes to honesty, industry and a strict attention to business.
HON. CHARLES KITTELSON,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
N TORWAY has contributed to the United States many men who have become fa- mous; among these, Charles Kittelson is con- spicuous. In Sigdal, Norway, in 1837, he was born. Until the age of thirteen he remained in his native country. In 1850 he immigrated to America and settled in Muskego, a small town near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here he did such work as a boy of his age could do, and in remu- neration received four dollars per month. For seven years he remained Wisconsin, and in 1857, little dreaming that he was one day to be chosen for the position of the highest trust in the state, he located at Albert Lea, in Freeborn county,
Minnesota. Here he soon won the respect of his fellow-citizens and was early looked up to as a man of influence. At the opening of the war of the Rebellion, the sons of Minnesota were not tardy to respond to President Lincoln's call for men. Foremost among these Mr. Kittelson ten- dered his services to the government, and en- listed in the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volun- teers. He was commissioned second-lieutenant, and later was promoted for meritorious services to the rank of first-lieutenant, and afterward to that of captain. Captain Kittelson served with his regiment in the Army of the Tennessee, un- der Generals Grant and Thomas, and participated
E meric -
Co Chicago
yours Truly Chade Kilim
903
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
in the many battles of that army. Although slightly wounded in the foot during battle, while in command of his company, Captain Kittelson served throughout the war without being on the hospital list, and reported daily during his service.
In August, 1865, he was mustered out and re- turned to Albert Lea. His fellow-citizens then honored him by electing him county treasurer of Freeborn county. So faithfully and well did he fulfill his duties that he was re-elected five suc- cessive terms, serving in all six terms of two years cach. In 1872 he was a presidential elector on the Grant and Wilson ticket. In 1879 Mr. Kit- telson was elected state treasurer of Minnesota, and served seven years consecutively. As in his capacity of county treasurer, he filled his position so faithfully and well that he was re-elected twice, serving in all three terms, two of two years and one of three years. After retiring from his office, Mr. Kittelson became associated with the Com- mercial Bank of St. Paul, as vice-president. He retained this position for two years, and in 1888; associated with ex-Governor A. R. McGill, he or- ganized the St. Paul and Minneapolis Trust Com- pany, of which he became secretary and treasurer. On May 13, 1892, Mr. Kittelson resigned the posi- tion he held with the St. Paul and Minneapolis Trust Co., and organized the Columbia National Bank of Minneapolis, and became its president.
Mr. Kittelson is a member of the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army of the Republic. In religious belief he is a follower of the great re- former, Martin Luther.
Mr. Kittelson was twice married ; his first wife, whom he married in 1861, was Miss Anna Gu- brandson; she died in 1866, survived by a daugh- ter named Martha, now wife of Andrew Jensen, of Great Falls, Montana. Mr. Jensen is a prosper- ous merchant at Great Falls, and is both widely and favorably known throughout the northwest. He is interested in military matters, and is a cap- tain in the militia. Mr. and Mrs. Jensen are blessed with one child, a daughter named Eve- line, seven years of age. In 1868 Mr. Kittelson married Miss Ellen Jacobson, of Freeborn county, Minnesota. Of five children born to them, Jo- seph C., aged twenty-two years, Corrina, thirteen, and Anna, eleven, still survive.
Captain Kittelson arrived in this country a poor boy; worked for a mere pittance at first, but through his force of character and his respect for honor, he gradually climbed the ladder of success until he was entrusted with the finances of the state ; and it may be here stated that no man in the State of Minnesota is more highly respected or esteemed. For many years Mr. Kittelson was a resident of St. Paul, but in 1891 he removed to Minneapolis, where he now resides.
ALVA W. BRADLEY,
DULUTH, MINN.
T HE subject of this biography was born in Medina county, Ohio, on April 4, 1849. His father, Henry M. Bradley, who was one of the pioneer lumbermen in the Saginaw Valley, was a descendant of an old New England family, and removed to Ohio from Massachusetts at an early age. Here he married Mary E. Cook, and by her had eight children, of whom Alva W. was the second.
Young Bradley's elementary education was ob- tained in the public shools of Bay City, Michi- gan, whither his parents removed when he was six years of age. He completed his studies in Albion College, at Albion, Michigan. He ex- celled in all his studies, but was especially pro-
ficient in mathematics and the sciences. He was graduated in 1871, with the highest honors, being chosen valedictorian.
In 1877 he began business as a lumber mer- chant in Newark, Ohio. Shortly afterward his cousin, Mr. J. S. Bradley, entered as a partner into the business, and the style of the firm be- came Bradley & Company. For four years they conducted a wholesale and retail lumber business in Newark with great success.
The natural advantages offered at the head of Lake Superior having attracted his attention, he, in 1882, removed to Duluth, where he has resided ever since. Here he engaged in manufacturing and wholesaling lumber. The firm, known at first
904
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
as Bradley, Hanford & Company, and now (1892) as Bradley & Hanford, have conducted this busi- ness on a large scale. The present firm owns their own timber lands, and do a general whole- sale lumber business.
Mr. Bradley has become interested in other large enterprises, and for several years has been a director of the American Loan and Trust Com- pany, which has a capital of six hundred thousand dollars. In March, 1891, he was honored by. the ยท directory by being elected president of the com- pany, and he has since then been at the head of its affairs. He is also a director of the Marine National Bank of Duluth, and president of the Zenith Iron Mining Company, a corporation or- ganized to develop and operate iron mines in the Lake Superior region, a territory from which, even now, over half of the iron ore produced in the United States is taken.
For six years he was a member of the Board of Education of Duluth, and during the latter three years of his membership he was president of that body.
He has always been a supporter of Republican principles in national politics, but he is not stringently tied to party lines in local issues, be- lieving that municipal elections should not be conducted strictly on party issues.
He is an active member of the First Methodist
Episcopal Church of Duluth, president of the board of trustees of the church, and chairman of its building committee, which had charge of the erection of its present beautiful and commo- dious house of worship, which cost over a hundred thousand dollars. He has also been for a number of years a trustee of Hamline University of Minnesota.
On December 10, 1878, in Newark, Ohio Mr. Bradley married Miss Orleana M. Tenney, by whom he has three sons, viz .: Ralph, aged twelve, Jesse, aged nine, and Frank, aged seven years.
No man in Duluth has the interests of the city more at heart than he. He has the utmost confi- dence in her future greatness, and is always will- ing to enter into any enterprise that will enhance her prosperity. He is a zealous worker in the cause of religion, and is always ready to give his assistance to charitable and benevolent works. He is a director of the Minnesota State Associa- tion to aid Homeless Children, and of the Bethel Association of Duluth. He is a man of fine liter- ary tastes, and delights in the study of works of merit.
Throughout his career he has conducted his affairs, whether public or private, in such a manner as to win the esteem and confidence of those with whom he has become associated, and he is uni- versally respected.
ISAAC STAPLES,
STILLWATER, MINN.
T SAAC STAPLES was born of English ances- tors, at Topsham, Maine, September 25, 1816. He attended the common schools during the winter seasons until sixteen or seventeen years old, and then worked for a year in a logging camp.
Mr. Staples, at the age of eighteen, bargained with his father, the Rev. Winslow Staples, for his time till twenty-one, agreeing to pay his father the sum of three hundred dollars when he became of age. Possessing extraordinary physical strength and endurance, with good judgment, he was suc- cessful from the outset. At the age of nineteen, he began working on the l'enobscot boom, and learned the logging and lumber business by the
hardest practical experience. Upon attaining his majority, his savings amounted to between five and six hundred dollars. His father lacked sixty dollars of having enough to pay for his home, and young Staples paid him that amount, instead of three hundred dollars as agreed. Soon after becoming of age, Mr. Staples engaged in mercantile business at Old Town, Maine, and two years later entered into partner- ship with his brother, under the firm name of I. and W. Staples. This firm did a thriving busi- ness till dissolved in 1854.
Early in the last half of the. century, accounts of the great pine forests of the northwest reached the Penobscot region, and in 1853 Mr. Staples
Dead Staples
905
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
made a trip to Minnesota, and, authorized by eastern capitalists, entered and purchased large tracts of pine lands on the St. Croix river and its tributaries, and within a period of seven years he and the companies he represented had purchased two hundred thousand acres. In 1854 the part- nership with his brother at Old Town, Maine, was dissolved, and Mr. Staples became associated with the men for whom he had bought these lands, under the name of Hersey, Staples and Company, and they built a large mill at Still- water, at the head of navigation on the St. Croix river and lake. The long, narrow and deep St. Croix lake formed an elegant water way for lum- ber and logging business. Messrs. Hersey, Sta- ples and Company cut ten to fifteen million feet of lumber annually, and were extensively en- gaged in mercantile business at Stillwater. On April 1, 1861, the firm of Hersey, Staples and Com- pany was succeeded by that of Hersey, Staples and Hall, which conducted an extensive lumber, logging and mercantile business, and continued till October 1, 1866, when Mr. Hall withdrew, and the firm of Hersey, Staples and Bean was formed. This company continued the business and in- creased the output of logs to thirty million feet per year. In 1875 Messrs. Hersey, Staples and Bean dissolved partnership, and divided their lands, each taking one-third. After the division, Mr. Staples had one hundred thousand acres of land. During his last partnership, from 1870 to 1875, he had been manufacturing lumber on his own account, at the mill built by Messrs. Sawyer and Eaton, which he had purchased of Messrs. S. and J. C. Atlee and Company. The capacity of the mill was fifteen millions of feet annually. In 1882 he sold this mill to the Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Company.
In addition to the logs sawed in his own mill, Mr. Staples cut as high as forty-nine million feet. which were sold to mills between Stillwater and St. Louis, and alsodid a large mercantile business.
In 1883 he sold to Messrs. Wayerhaeuser and Denckmann pine land of the value of two hun- dred and fifteen thousand dollars. In 1886 his sales of lands aggregated two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1887 his sales of pine lands amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and in 1889 his sales aggregated five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In 1856 Mr. Staples organized the St. Croix Boom Company, for stopping and sorting all logs on the St. Croix waters. This company has a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and for twenty years Mr. Staples was its president.
Besides the wonderful log and lumber business, his other interests have been very extensive in their scope. He built several of the best steam- boats on the St. Croix river, and besides saw-mills, he built at Stillwater, a flouring mill, with a ca- pacity of two hundred and fifty barrels per day, and another good mill he now owns in connection with his large elevator, which has a capacity of three hundred thousand bushels.
In 1871 Mr. Staples organized the Lumber- man's National Bank of Stillwater, and has ever since been its president. This bank has a paid- up capital of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. He also assisted in organizing the Second National Bank of St. Paul, and has continually been a director, and is also interested in several other banks.
In addition to the pine lands purchased at an early date, Mr. Staples has been one of the largest owners of farm lands. Among the many farms now owned and cultivated by him is the Maple Island farm, eleven miles northwest from Still- water, on the Soo Railroad. This farm contains three thousand acres, together with a grist mill, store and other necessary buildings. It is under a high state of cultivation, and stocked with cattle and horses. Another rich farm of three hundred acres is situated four miles south of Stillwater, opposite Hudson, Wisconsin. Oppo- site Stillwater he has one hundred and seventy- one acres of meadow land, and a few miles from Stillwater a highly improved farm of two hundred and ten acres. In and adjoining Stillwater he has one of the finest farms in the northwest, con- taining seven hundred and twenty acres, and another tract, wholly within the city limits, of one hundred and forty acres. His farms are pro- vided with fine dwellings, barns, shops, etc., and he makes and repairs most of his tools, sleds, wagons, harness and implements. Among his thorough-bred cattle are to be found Holsteins, Alderneys, Shorthorns and the first herd of Dutch Belt cattle brought to Minnesota. On the one hundred and forty acre tract mentioned, he has a racetrack one mile long, with building for fairs,
906
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
etc. Mr. Staples has a great admiration for fine horses, and has fifty thorough-bred trotters and runners. He is the owner of Neptune, who was for years one of the fastest horses on record.
In 1889 Mr. Staples purchased of Hon. Caleb Cushing, all the riparian rights of St. Croix Falls, consisting of the finest unimproved water power in the west, together with one thousand town lots, laid out in the town of St. Croix Falls, and three thousand acres of land lying along either side of the river, three and one-half miles long. There are sixty feet of fall available for power, and as much water as in the Mississippi river at Minneapolis. The adjacent country is very fer- tile, and there are thousands of acres of choice timber land covered with both hard wood and pine. This property will, in the near future, be worth millions of dollars, as Mr. Staples is arrang- ing to improve it, and it is believed that St. Croix Falls will be a city of several thousand inhabi- tants within the next five years. His interests in Stillwater are very extensive. He built some of the best blocks in the business part of the city, and in every direction residence property can be found with title in him. His own residence and grounds are on the hill overlooking the city, with
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.