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 55
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Young Morse received a good business educa- tion at the public schools, but pushed by a rest- less spirit and the desire to begin the actual bat- tle of life induced him to leave home and school, and, at the age of eighteen, he obtained a clerk- ship in the freight department of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, at Cleveland, Ohio, under Mr. Addison Hills, then one of the most thorough and competent general freight agents in the country, a strict disciplinarian and a stern and just officer ; remaining in this employ seven years, earning promotion through the differ- ent grades to the chief clerkship of the depart- ment.
In 1864 he married Miss Mary A. Outhwaite, daughter of John Outhwaite, of Cleveland, Ohio,
who was at that time one of the few investors in the Lake Superior iron-ore districts, and he was president of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, the mineral lands of which were located in Mar- quette county, Michigan. Mr. Outhwaite and his associates, among whom were Samuel L. Mather, George Worthington, Selah Chamberlain and Gen- eral James Barnette, and others of Cleveland, prevailed upon Mr. Morse to relinquish his prom- ising career in railroading to take the manage- ment of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company's mines at Marquette ; and in 1865, with his young wife, he took passage on a lake steamer for Mar- quette, to make a home and a name among the pioneers of that wonderful mining country. There he found a field peculiarly adapted to his disposi- tion and ambition ; all was new and crude. The only railroad in the upper peninsula of Michigan was the fourteen-mile track that connected the mines with the lake harbor at Marquette. Very little machinery, and that of the crudest kind, was in use in the great mine. The ore was mined by hand labor, hoisted with horse power, and loaded on to vessels with hand-barrows at Mar- quette. Mr. Morse soon equipped the mine with machinery, built one of the first great ore docks at Marquette, and in the following sixteen years of his intimate permanent connection with mine in- terests of Lake Superior, during all of which time he made his home in Marquette and continued in the management of the Cleveland company's mines, Lake Superior had grown to be the greatest iron-ore producing district in the United States.
In 1881, Mr. Morse, having earned a much need- ed rest, went to Europe on a tour of travel, and remained abroad until the summer of 1882, when
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he returned to Cleveland to live, still retaining the management of the Cleveland Iron Mining Com- pany's affairs, the general offices of that company being located in that city. At this time, in connec- tion with Colonel James Pickands and Samuel Mather, both of whom had long been his associates in Lake Superior interests, he organized the firm of Pickands, Mather and Company of Cleveland, and two years later these parties, with Major H. S. Pickands and W. L. Brown, organized the firm of Pickands, Brown and Company of Chicago. Mr. Morse is still a member of both concerns. They are extensively interested in iron and coal, both as miners and shippers of iron and coal, and manufacturers of pig iron.
Early in the year 1885, Mr. H. H. Porter, who had undertaken the reorganization of the Union Iron and Steel Company of Chicago, prevailed upon Mr. Morse to resign the management of the Cleveland company's mines, that he had so long and ably conducted, to enter the broader field of manufacturing steel products, and he became the president of the new Union Steel Company, with headquarters at Chicago. Under Mr. Morse's ac- tive direction the company rebuilt the steel works at Bridgeport-Chicago, and at once took a prom- inent position in the steel rail trade. In 1859 Mr. Morse, as president of this company, was largely instrumental in effecting the consolidation of the three great steel companies of the west, viz., the Union Steel Company, the North Chicago Rolling Mills Company and the Joliet Steel Company, into the Illinois Steel Company, of which Mr. Morse is now president. This is one of the largest and
strongest concerns in the world. It has an au- thorized capital of twenty-five million dollars, and employs about eleven thousand men. Its plants are at South Chicago, North Chicago, Bridgeport-Chicago, Joliet and Milwaukee.
After so many years of signal success in iron mining, Mr. Morse and his associates decided to avail themselves of his skill and experience in that business once more, and he selected the com- paratively new but exceedingly promising dis- trict of northern Minnesota, and in 1887 Mr. Morse and Mr. H. H. Porter and their associates, organized the syndicate that purchased the Min- nesota Iron Company's mines at Tower and the Iron Range Railroad. Mr. Morse was at once made president of the company, and under the application of his sure and rapid methods the management and policy of the company under- went a complete reorganization, and calling to his aid his old mining captains from Lake Superior he more than doubled the output of ore, and brought the mining company to a dividend-pay- ing basis, and its stock to-day is one of the best the market affords. When Mr. Morse accepted the presidency of the Illinois Steel Company he resigned the presidency of the Minnesota Iron Company, but he is still a director and member of the executive board and a large stockholder in that company.
Mr. Morse's wife died at Cleveland, Ohio, Feb- ruary 28, 1886. An only child, a daughter, with whom Mr. Morse makes his home, is the wife of Mr. Arthur C. Ely, a young business man of Chicago.
JOHN P. REA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
THE subject of this sketch was born in lower Oxford township, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, on October 13, 1840. His ancestors on both sides had settled in that state more than a century before his birth. His father, Samuel A. Rea, was born in Lancaster county, on a farm conveyed to his grandfather by William Penn. His grandmother, on his father's side, was Mary Patterson, a first cousin of General Robert Pat- terson, of Philadelphia. His mother's maiden
name was Light. She was born in Lebanon county, in the same state. She was a daughter of Samuel Light, one of the first iron manufac- turers of that region. Her grandfather; Jacob Light, emigrated from Pennsylvania to the Northwestern territory, and settled on what is now the site of Cincinnati in 1791 ; her father, then a young man, remaining in Pennsylvania. Mr. Rea's father was a woolen manufacturer his entire life. He died in 1876.
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Mr. Rea attended the common schools in his neighborhood while a boy, and also had four terms at the Hopewell Academy in Chester county. At the age of twenty he went to Piqua, Miami county, Ohio, and there taught school from October, 1860, to April, 1861. In the month last named he enlisted for three months as a private in Company B, Eleventh Ohio Infantry. In July of the same year he was offered by the Secretary of War a commission as second lieu- tenant in the Eighteenth Regiment, United States Infantry, then being recruited at Columbus, Ohio. At the same time he was elected lieutenant of Company I, First Ohio Cavalry, which position he accepted. He served in this capacity until March 12, 1862, when he was commissioned first lieutenant, and served as such until April I, 1863, when he was promoted to captain, and continued in service with that rank until Novem- ber 23, 1864, when he was mustered out as senior captain of the regiment.
During his entire service Captain Rea was only absent from his regiment eight days, and during that time was a prisoner in the hands of the Con- federates in Lincoln county, Tennessee. It is doubtful if any other officer of the war can show a more faithful record of attendance. He was in all the engagements of the army of the Cumber- land and Ohio during that period. He was de- tailed by General Thomas to command his escort immediately after the battle of Shiloh, but his deep solicitude for and interest in the company which he commanded, led him to urge permission to remain with it, which was granted. He was breveted major for gallantry in action at Cleve- land, Tennessee, November 23, 1863.
He entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, January, 1865, and graduated therefrom in the class of 1867. He was the prize essayist of his class in college as well as in the academy which he attended before the war.
In the summer college vacation of 1866, he re- turned to Pennsylvania and took the stump for General Geary, the Republican candidate for governor. He stumped the state successfully every year thereafter for the same party to and including the year 1875. In 1866 he entered, as a law student, the office of Hon. O. J. Dickey, the associate in practice and successor in Con- gress of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in that city in 1868. In April, 1869, he was commis- sioned by President Grant Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Ninth District, Pennsylvania, and held that office until it was abolished in 1873. He resumed the practice of law at Lancaster, and continued the same till January, 1876, when he removed to Minneapolis.
On his arrival in this city, Captain Rea took editorial charge of the Tribune. He was in full accord with the politics of the paper, as he had always been in accord with the principles of the Republican party. His home in his boyhood was within four miles of the Maryland line, and the numerous infractions of personal liberties on the part of slave owners, which he had witnessed, imbued him with sentiments strongly hostile to the institution of slavery. Even before he was seventeen years of age he made anti-slavery speeches in his own locality, where no anti-slavery speaker from abroad could open his mouth.
Captain Rea was a member of the first Depart- ment Encampment of the G. A. R. of Ohio, which met in January, 1867. He was also active in that organization in Pennsylvania while residing there, holding official position nearly all the time.
October 26, 1869, he was married at Delaware, Ohio, to Emma M. Gould, of that city, a great granddaughter of Colonel Drake, one of the pio- ners and Indian fighters of historical fame in Ohio.
He was elected Judge of Probate of Hennepin county in 1877, and re-elected in 1879. He was appointed Judge of the District Court of Fourth Judicial District, May 1, 1886, and elected to the same office the following fall. He resigned his judgeship May 14, 1890. He was department commander of the G. A. R. in 1883 ; senior vice- commander-in-chief in 1885, and commander-in- chief, 1887-8. He was descended from military stock. His paternal grandfather and great-grand- father served through the Revolutionary war with distinction in the same company.
From the foregoing brief sketch it will be seen that Judge Rea has led an unusually varied and busy life. In all his various occupations he has acquitted himself well. The large amount of time, which in early life he felt it his duty to devote to stirring political questions, and the dis- charge of the arduous military duties imposed
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upon him, have interfered with that close appli- cation to legal studies, which, if not indispensable, are certainly desirable in a judicial officer. But in this regard his native quick perception, and strong natural sense of justice have stood him in good stead. His integrity has never been ques- tioned, nor has it ever been charged that his de- cisions have been swayed by political bias. By whatever method he reached his conclusions they were uniformly in consonance with justice and equity. Those advocates who rely on the tech- nicalities of law, or the sophistries of argument, to win their cases, might object to their trial be- fore Judge Rea. But those conscious of having a meritorious case would desire no more impar- tial tribunal for a hearing.
In private life Judge Rea is of exceedingly
affable and engaging manners, and possessed of a most kindly and genial nature. Hence he has hosts of friends, irrespective of party, who are strongly attached to him, and it may well be doubted whether he has a single enemy. His native goodness of heart impresses itself upon the most casual observer. In the army all those under his command were devotedly attached to him, as well as all those with whom he came in contact. This is conclusively shown by the high- est honor in the gift of the G. A. R. bestowed on him while comparatively a young man. Judge Rea is yet in the prime of life, and may reason- ably look forward to many years of usefulness in the service of the public. He is now in the practice of his profession in the city of Minne- apolis, under the firm name of Rea & Hubachek.
CAPTAIN HENRY A. CASTLE, ST. PAUL, MINN.
H ENRY A. CASTLE was born near Quincy, in Adams county, Illinois, on August 22, 1841. His parents, Timothy H. and Julia (Boyd) Castle, were natives of Vermont, but came to Illi- nois in 1835, and were among the pioneers of Adams county. His father was a dry-goods merchant, and subsequently a member of the well-known stove manufacturing firm of Comstock, Castle and Company, of Quincy. In early life young Castle was trained to mercantile pursuits, but his education was not neglected. He at- tended the schools of Quincy, and completed his studies at McKendree College, Illinois, from which institution he graduated in June, 1862, and from which he subsequently received the degree of A.M.
In the year 1862, the war of the rebellion was raging, and the flower of the young manhood of the north and west was being offered in defense of our flag and nation. And Henry A. Castle did not exempt himself from his country's call for de- fenders. In August, 1862, only a few weeks after his graduation, he enlisted in the Union army as a private in the Seventy-third Regiment of Illi- nois Volunteers. He served in General Sheri- dan's division of the Army of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, and was sergeant major of his regi-
ment. At the battle of Stone River or Murfrees- boro, Tennessee, he was very severely wounded, and, on account of the disability so occasioned, he was discharged from the service. Afterwards, upon his recovery, he raised a company and re-entered the service as captain of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, and served until the close of his term, being honorably dis- charged in October, 1864.
After the war he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced at Quincy, Illinois, for some months, but under severe pulmonary attacks his health gave away, and he was compelled to abandon his profession for some business less confining, and to remove from the district in which he was then residing to one more salubrious and healthy.
In 1866, he removed to St. Paul, and engaged in wholesale merchandising until 1874; he then resumed the practice of law for a time, but in September, 1876, he became editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch, and so continued, except for a short interval in 1881, for nine years, or until his sale of the paper in 1886. As an editor he won considerable reputation. His style as a writer was clear, forcible and aimated ; his articles were never dull or untimely ; his paper was always
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an able advocate and defender of the principles of the Republican party, and he himself was person- ally active and prominent in its service, and high in its confidence. During the last two years of his newspaper service, 1885 and 1886, he was president of the Minnesota State Editorial Asso- ciation.
In the public service of his adopted state Cap- tain Castle has also been conspicuous. He was a member of the legislature (the fifteenth) in 1873; adjutant-general of the state in 1875 and 1876; and state oil inspector from 1883 to 1887. As'oil inspec- tor he prepared a report on the illuminating prop- erties of oils, that has been widely complimented by scientific bodies. From 1870 to 1879 he was a memb er of the State Board of Trustees of Soldiers' Orphans, and upon the organization of the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota Soldiers' Home in 1887, he was appointed by Governor McGill a member, and was at once elected president of the board, which position he still holds. . Always faithful and efficient in the discharge of his official duties, he has been especially so in his last named position, and has devoted much time to the build- ing of the Soldiers' Home, and to the administra- tion of the Soldiers' Relief Fund. The disabled veterans of the state recognize the fact that they have no truer friend or more faithful guardian of their interests than he, their comrade and fellow- sufferer. Within a year another honor has been conferred upon Captain Castle by the national gov- ernment.
In February, 1892, he was appointed post- master of .the city of St. Paul, and asssumed the duties of the office March I. He has devoted all his energies to increasing the efficiency of the local service, with results only measured by the means at his disposal. The rapid growth of busi- ness in flourishing western towns seems incred- ible to the conservative department officials in Washington who control the allowances for in- creased service.
He has also been prominent as a Republican politician and orator, and has fought a hundred battles for his party. He has participated in every political campaign in Minnesota since 1867, and was either secretary, treasurer or chairman of the Republican State Central Committee in all but two of the state campaigns from 1875 to 1887, As a public speaker Captain Castle is very able
and attractive, and his services are always in de- mand. In addition to his efforts in the hustings, he has delivered numerous Decoration Day and Fourth of July addresses, many of which are models of patriotic oratory, and have been widely published and quoted from. He has, besides, de- livered numerous lectures and addresses on mis- cellaneous subjects, and has a notable reputation as an orator and public speaker.
In the affairs of the Grand Army of the Re- public, Captain Castle has been and is now promi- nent. Besides holding various subordinate offices in that organization, he was department com- mander for three years, from 1872 to 1875. He is still actively interested in G. A. R. matters, takes a very active part in the meetings and encamp- ments ; is well known to thousands of " the boys," and it was largely owing to his efforts that in 1887 Minnesota was given the commander-in-chief in the person of John P. Rea, of Minneapolis. He is also a member of the Loyal Legion, and has delivered before the order in this city two very interesting addresses, which are published in the collections of the society. He is now (1892) se- nior vice-commander of the order in this state.
Since his retirement from journalism, Captain Castle has devoted his time and energies largely to the development of property in Ramsey county adjoining the city of St. Paul, which was pur- chased by him in 1872 for a suburban home and farm. Owing to the phenomenal growth and ex- pansion of the city, it has been recently transformed into the thriving manufacturing town of North St. Paul. In this estate he has large proprietary in- terests, is president of the North St. Paul Land Company, and closely identified with many of the industrial, financial and educational enterprises of the flourishing suburb. He has been a director of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce continuously since 1872, a period of service exceeded by none of the present members of the directory. He is justly regarded one of the most active and influential members of the chamber, and is now first vice-president. He has always been in- terested in the leading vital affairs of the city proper.
Captain Castle was married April 18, 1865, to Miss Margaret W. Jaquess, of Quincy, Illinois. Her father was Rev. James F. Jaquess, a member of the church, spiritual and militant, a Christian of
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deep piety, a patriot who fought as he prayed, and during the war of the rebellion colonel of the Seventy-third Illinois Infantry. To the union of Captain and Mrs. Castle have been born seven children, three sons and four daughters, viz .: Helen S., Mary Julia, Charles W. (now a cadet at West Point), Henry J., Margaret L., Annie F. and James T. Castle, all of whom are still living.
Captain Castle is a man of medium height, fairly strong physique, of quiet and unassuming manner,
and yet possessing strong will-power and untiring energy. His progress has been a steady growth along the line of honest, persistent effort. He is a man of clean record, is prized by his associates, and esteemed by all for his genuine worth. And well may it be recorded here, that of no part of his life-service is he prouder than of that portion which he gave to his country to preserve her ex- istence, and he has never made a more willing sacrifice than when he poured out the libation of his blood upon her altars.
HON. JAMES A. TAWNEY,
WINONA, MINN.
T HE subject of this sketch has placed himself in the front rank of his profession by his untiring industry and devotion to the interests of his clients. He is well versed in the elementary principles of the law, and no man in the profes- sion keeps more abreast of the current decisions of the courts of last resort than he. While he often illustrates his arguments by the use of sim- iles and antitheses he is remarkable for clearness and force. He is a powerful reasoner, a ready advocate and a safe counselor. His mind is sub- tle and refined, and his power of analysis and condensation render him a conspicuous member of his profession. He conducts his business with strict regard to the highest standard of profes- sional ethics, and, possessed of great executive ability, cannot be otherwise than successful.
James A. Tawney was born January 3, 1855, in Adams county, Pennsylvania, near the city of Gettysburg, to John E. and Sarah (Boblitz) Taw- ney. His father was a prominent citizen of Adams county, and took considerable interest in political affairs. He sprang from the same an- cestry as the late Chief Justice Taney, of the United States Supreme Court. Their progenitor was John Tawney, who landed in Baltimore, Maryland, about the year 1650, and who settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. The Taw- neys were a sturdy race, of great physical power and endurance, and were nearly all mechanics. James' grandfather, Jacob Boblitz, invented the cast-iron mouldboard for plows, and many other useful devices. The father and grandfather of
James A. were blacksmiths, and our subject learned that trade of his father, in whose shop he worked from his fourteenth to his seventeenth year. At the age of seventeen he went to Du- bois, in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, where he took charge of the blacksmith shop and did all of the smithing for Mr. John Dubois' big sawmill, continuing until 1877. After the mill was erected he was given a position in the machine shop, where he learned the machinists' trade, and con- tinued there until 1877. In August of that year he removed to Winona, Minnesota, where he worked in machine shops and at blacksmithing until January 1, 1881. He then entered the law office of Messrs. Bentley and Vance, where he studied with great assiduity, making remarkable progress, as he had been in the habit of borrowing books and reading law by himself during his leis- ure moments for some two years prior to entering this office.
He was admitted to the bar July 10, 1882. He afterwards entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, but owing to the death of Mr. Bentley, in March, 1883, he was unable to complete the course, and at once began the practice of his profession, which he has continued successfully ever since. His rise in the profession has been almost phenomenal. Com- mencing life with limited educational opportuni- ties, improving his time while resting from his work at the anvil in obtaining useful knowledge, his reading has extended over so wide a range that there are few subjects in science or literature
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on which he is not well informed. Although competing with some of the best legal talent in Minnesota, his business has steadily increased, until he now has a large and lucrative practice, a large and well-selected library, and he has been connected with some of the most important liti- gation in the state. In 1883 Mr. Tawney was elected judge advocate of the Second Minnesota National Guards, which position he held until January, 1891, when he was appointed judge ad- vocate general on the staff of Governor W. R. Merriam .. In the fall of 1890 he was elected state senator from the fifteenth senatorial district. It will be seen how highly Mr. Tawney is appreci- ated by those who know him, when it is stated that, although a Republican, he received a major-
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