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 57
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
965
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Poppleton, of Omaha, Colonel Shambaugh, Hon. William McClellan, of Nebraska City, and the Hon. Samuel Maxwell, later justice of the supreme court ; and during this period Mr. Erwin was city attorney of the city of Plattsmouth. Among the very many cases in which he was engaged he recalls the defense of George Kerns, for the shoot- ing of Scott Keysinger, who was a notorious out- law in the border warfare of Missouri; also the defense of Eugene Kellogg, for the killing of Robert Palmer openly on the streets of Platts- mouth. Considering his work in Nebraska ac- complished by the election of Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Erwin chose the head of the Mississippi river and the head of the great lakes as the great future center of political empire upon the American continent. Here, he claims, he can see in the great unity of commerce, agriculture and the mines, with the great preliminary interests in lum- ber, the factors which would make the head of the river and the head of the lakes dominant in American politics. So in May, 1870, he removed to the city of St. Paul, and during the summer solved in his mind the question of the local center as between St. Paul and Duluth, believing that at no distant day a keel-boat canal would be built from the lakes to the head of the Mississippi river, thus joining the great water systems of the con- tinent with the break of freight, between the keel- boat of the lakes and the flat-boat of the river, forever at St. Paul.
Mr. Erwin has always been identified with the Republican party. He opened his office at St. Paul in September, 1870. In November, 1871, he was nominated for county attorney, and made the most phenomenal run, perhaps, ever made in Minnesota. Opposed to him was Hon. Harvey Officer, a man in the greatest favor with both politi- cal parties, and a son-in-law of the late General W. E. Gorman. The Republican ticket was de- feated by an average vote of eight hundred -- Dr. David Day being the candidate on the ticket for treasurer. The old Fifth Ward, which was the only reliable Republican ward in the city, gave an average majority of one hundred and thirty-five votes for every member on the Republican ticket save Mr. Erwin, who found himself with two hundred and sixten majority in that ward credited to his opponent. Mr. Erwin's appeal had been made personally to the masses, and he was elected
over his opponent in the county, receiving the very surprising majority of three hundred and forty.
He went into office in 1872. During his term of office of two years he was the inventor of the joint system between the city and county in sup- plying necessaries to the poor. He also succeeded in compromising the suits arising out of the erec- tion of the poor-house, and successfully defended the suit brought to wrest from the county of Ramsey the poor-house farm, which is now the state fair grounds ; having lately been the munifi- cent donation of Ramsey county to the State Fair Association. In the administration of his office Mr. Erwin was found absolutely just, and a most conscientious and uncompromising man. The road ring, the poor-house ring and the police ring found him an inveterate enemy of all frauds practiced against the rights of the people.
In the fall of 1873 Mr. Erwin was defeated in his attempted re-election by the Hon. C. D. O'Brien, then a partner of Governor C. K. Davis, and the most popular and influential young Irish- man in the city of St. Paul. In the fall of 1875 Mr. Erwin was a candidate for state senator from the First, Second and Third Wards of the city, while opposed to him was the Hon. William Pitt Murray. Mr. Erwin was running in the interest of Hon. C. K. Davis, candidate for United States Senator, while Mr. Murray, the regular Democratic nomi- nee, received the support of the entire Ramsey faction, and succeeded in defeating Mr. Erwin by a handsome majority. Since his defeat by Mr. Murray, Mr. Erwin has never permitted his name to go before any political convention, but has steadily practiced law in the City of St. Paul, where he has built up a reputation second to none in the northwest, especially in criminal defense. Mr. Erwin has had a most remarkable career as a criminal lawyer, and his success may be fairly de- scribed as phenomenal. He has appeared for the defense in more than a hundred homicide cases, many of which were of national notoriety. Natu- rally of a chivalric nature, his sympathies instinc- tively incline him to champion the cause of the weak and the oppressed, and when the powerful machinery of the law is set in motion against an individual who has infringed upon a human stat- ute, perhaps in obedience to the mandates of a higher law, Mr. Erwin counts it a duty to accord
966
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
to the accused the fair trial and fair play contem- plated by the fathers of liberty everywhere. He believes that few men are criminals from mere de- pravity-most offenders are such from influences not to be resisted ; others are the victims of cir- cumstances not to be controlled ; all are entitled to consideration. Mr. Erwin is no respecter of persons in the selection of his clients. He ap- pears for the pariah of society as readily as he would have appeared for Warren Hastings, Aaron Burr, or the defendant in any state trial, cause celebre. Had he been in Patrick Henry's place he would have championed the cause of the Baptist preacher as strenuously and doubtless as effectively as Patrick Henry did. Mr. Erwin has done as much as any other living man to change the term " prisoner at the bar," to the word citi- zen, and he believes that never again will the citizen be enslaved to form or rule.
In common with all of his family, Mr. Erwin inherits from an ancestry which can be traced back for more than a thousand years, and in " whose halls hangs no picture of dishonor," the strongest personal qualities, solderly in their tone and knightly. The paramount idea of an Erwin is justice : they are all gifted with a stubborn per- sonal courage, unyielding for the right, un- purchasable, devoid of policy, generous in the ex- treme, and while proud, they regard every man as their equal who so conducts himself that his actions are attributable to honor rather than to necessity. Mr. Erwin is justly regarded as an able and accomplished lawyer. He is learned in the law and skilled in practice. As an advocate he is very earnest, and therefore convincing. His conduct in the court room is that of a soldier in the battle for the right, fighting continually, and with no thought but of victory. Personally and physically he is a Roman in size, as one might
imagine Horatius to have been when his shout ran through the Janiculum, " Now, who will stand on my right, and keep the bridge with me." Tall as Wallenstein, straight as Tecumseh, strong as Porthos, debonair as De Artignam, he is equally fitted to speak, write, plead as a lawyer, and com- mand as a leader. The strength of his mind is as powerful as the grasp of his hand, and the gen- erosity of his nature as unbounded as the scope of his imagination. To the granite of his frame is added the adamant of a mind, deep, quick and penetrating ; strong to grapple and swift to master. Mr. Erwin is well known by a name which has been commonly given him in the country between St. Paul and the Rocky Mountains as the " Pine Tree of the North." After his domestic troubles in 1874 he was for a number of years a heavy drinker of ardent spirits. The independent frame of his mind, coupled with his convivial habits at the time, and coincident with his professional services in the law, has connected his name with a thousand anecdotes, all of which in some way illustrate his personal qualities. These anecdotes will remain traditional with the settlement of the northwest, and contain in themselves the best spirit of biography which can be found in his life.
In September, 1870, Mr. Erwin married Car- melita Frieda Von Fossen, a daughter of the Hon. Levi Von Fossen, an ex-senator of California, and father-in-law of the late Hon. C. C. Crooker, the railroad king. In 1875 she was divorced, and re- moved to her home in California. October 29, 1881, Mr. Erwin married Mary King, daughter of John King, of Ravenna, Minnesota. Mrs. Erwin is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and is a woman of many charms of person and character, and it can be truly written that she is the light of her husband's life, and the guiding star of his ambi- tion and his hope.
MAURICE AUERBACH,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
T HE subject of this sketch is conspicuous among the men whose enterprise and public spirit have aided materially in making the city of St. Paul the great commercial and financial center of the northwest. His career as a merchant,
financier and banker is highly creditable ; he is in the truest sense a self-made man. He was born in Prussia, February 5, 1835, and educated at Salzkotten. His first business experience was in the dry-goods line in his native country.
967
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
At the age of twenty-two he immigrated to the United States, and settled in St. Paul. That was in 1857. St. Paul at that time was little more than a pioneer village, surrounded by a sparsely settled wilderness, and gave but little promise of becom- ing what she now is-one of the leading commer- cial centers of the northwest. Upon his arrival Mr. Auerbach opened a dry-goods store on a modest scale, and by thrift and good management prospered more than he had hoped. In 1863 he closed out his retail business, and with his largely increased capital opened a wholesale store, to
which he thenceforward devoted himself exclu-
bach, Finch and Scheffer until 1875, when the sively. He was at the head of the firm of Auer- Slyck. In 1888 Mr. Auerbach retired from active name was changed to Auerbach, Finch and Van
business, but remained a special partner in the firm until 1890, when he became president of the St. Paul Title Insurance and Trust Company.
Throughout his career as a merchant he was
conceded to be the leader in his line, and his busi- ness affairs have always prospered. His financial standing has always been the best. Everybody has confidence in him. From 1872 to 1881 he was president of the Merchants' National Bank of St. Paul, and now (1892) he is president of the Union Bank of St. Paul ; he is also largely inter- ested in other St. Paul banks, as well as other large financial institutions. His life-history illus- trates what a young man of ambitious nature, who will adhere strictly to honorable dealing and who has a genius for hard work, may accomplish. His almost phenomenal success is the result of his own exertions, combined with ambition, honor and integrity. He is a worthy example of the self-made man. With a record unsullied and a reputation without a blot, with an ample fortune and a high position reached through his own exertions, with the respect of the community and hosts of friends, he is justly entitled to be classed among his city's representative men.
ALEXANDER T. ANKENY,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
A LEXANDER THOMPSON ANKENY
cember 27, 1837. On his father's side his ances- was born in Somerset, Pennsylvania, De-
tors were of German and French extraction, liv- ing on the border of the two countries. His ma- ternal ancestry is of English and Scotch. The
traditions of the family carry it back to the days of
reigning duke. While these traditions have no habitants were known as sword-bearers to the narrow strip of high-land in Flanders. The in- from the word Enghien, which was originally a ers. The name is supposed to have been derived ligny, whose territory was a part of ancient Fland- adherents of the Prince Condé and Admiral Co- of life and estate. They are said to have been nots, some of them are said to have suffered loss the massacre of St. Bartholomew, when, as Hugue-
historical accuracy, the fact of their existence in
the long line of descendants invests them with
more or less private interest. The earliest record
in this country is that of Dewalt Ankeny, who,
of colonists who, tired of the religious wars of the about the year 1740, was among the vast number
old World, sought refuge and peace in the new. He made settlement in Maryland, near Clear Springs, in Washington county. John Bonnet, another colonist, came over at the same time. Dewalt Ankeny lived through the severe contests of the French and Indian wars, and his native love of liberty and conscience made him, later on, a strong supporter in the establishment of our inde- pendence. He owned there some eight hundred
acres of land, portions of which are to this day
occupied by members of the family. He died in 1781, leaving a family of seven boys and four
Rosina Bonnet, daughter of John Bonnet above Maryland in 1752. He was married in 1773 to girls. Peter Ankeny, his second son, was born in named. The young couple at once set out to ex- plore the new country beyond, and on pack-horses crossed the Allegheny Mountains until they
reached what afterwards came to be known as the
" Glades" of Somerset. The town of Somerset was laid out upon his lands, some of which are also to-day owned by his descendants. He died in 1804, his wife in 1835, leaving a family of eight
968
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
boys and four girls. The descendants may now be found in all parts of the country. Isaac Ankeny, the fourth son of Peter, was born at Somerset in 1792. He was married in 1820 to Eleanor Parker, daughter of John and Agnes (Graham) Parker, who was born in 1798. He lived continuously at Somerset, with the excep- tion of a few years in Ohio, until 1853, when he died. He was a man of prominence, of fine phys- ical appearance and an active spirit in the early development of that portion of western Pennsyl- vania. His wife died in 1879. They had a fam- ily of four boys and six girls, all of whom, except three, are yet living. William Parker Ankeny, the eldest son, was an early settler and prominent citizen of Minneapolis, and died there in 1877. John J. Ankeny, another brother, also resides in Minneapolis. He was postmaster under Presi- dent Cleveland.
The subject of this sketch is the youngest son. His early education was obtained at Somerset. On the death of his father, in 1853, he was sent to the · Disciples' College at Hiram, Ohio. Gell- eral Garfield, then a young man, was a tutor there. Ten years later, when Mr. Ankeny was in the War Department at Washington, General Gar- field entered Congress. It was then his good for- tune to introduce General Garfield to Judge Jere- miah S. Black, who was then the most distin- guished lawyer of the time, and who thencefor- ward omitted no opportunity to bring General Garfield favorably before the eye of the nation. In 1856 Mr. Ankeny was at Monongalia Academy at Morgantown, West Virginia, then under the direction of Rev. J. R. Moore. From 1857 to the spring of 1858, he was at Jefferson College, Can- onsburg, Pennsylvania, when he was invited by the attorney-general of the United States, Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, to a position in that depart- ment. Edwin M. Stanton was also then con- nected with the department. He remained until the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration, hav- ing in the meantime read law. In April, 1861, he was admitted to the bar at Somerset, and on the day Fort Sumter was fired upon, tried and won his first case. On July 4, 1861, he delivered a notable address at Somerset, clearly foreshadow- ing the severity of the struggle and its results. On the accession of Mr. Stanton to the War De- partment in February, 1862, Mr. Ankeny was in-
vited by that gentleman to a position in the War Department, which he creditably filled until the close of the war. During the entire war there were few important movements made by the dif- ferent armies requiring preparation in advance, of which he did not have some knowledge, or with which he did not have something to do. In April, 1865, he resigned his position and returned to Somerset, where he engaged in the practice of law, having also a connection with a private bank. He was one of the promoters of the first railroad to Somerset, and was treasurer of the company during the time of its construction. In 1872 he removed with his family to Minneapolis, where, in connection with Mr. William P. Ankeny, the copartnership of W. P. Ankeny & Brother, in the lumber business, was formed. In 1874 the firm built the Galaxy Flouring Mill. The death of his brother occurring in 1877, Mr. Ankeny devoted his attention to closing up the vast business inter- ests of the firm, and then continued in the gen- eral practice of his profession as a lawyer.
During his residence of twenty years in Minne- apolis, his life has been a busy one. In addition to severe and continuous labor in his calling, he has devoted more than ordinary attention to public affairs. Few citizens have rendered better service in the material growth and development of Min- neapolis. His counsel has been valued and fre- quently sought in the adjustment of perplexing questions. In 1877 he was a member of the Board of Education for the west division of the city. In 1878 he was one of the committee of ten who formulated the plan for the complete union of the two divisions, and drew up the basis, which was finally accepted. Under the appoint- ment of Governor Pillsbury, he was two terms, from 1878 to 1882, a member of the State Board for the Equalization of Taxes. In 1886 he was again elected a member of the Board of Educa- tion, and in 1889 re-elected on both tickets for six years. In 1890 he was made president of that body, by virtue of which he also became a mem- ber of the Library Board.
Mr. Ankeny has always been a Democrat in politics, and has maintained a high place in the councils of his party. In 1886-7 he was president of the Algonquin Democratic Club of Minneapo- lis, and from 1886 to 1888 a member of the Dem- ocratic State Central Committee. In 1888 he was
1
969
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
made one of the executive committee of thirteen of the National Association of Democratic Clubs, and attended, in August, 1890, its most impor- tant meeting, held in the city of New York.
Mr. Ankeny is a lawyer of eminence in his pro- fession. He is well versed in the principles of law, of a patient and discriminating judgment, and of clearness in his perceptions. In 1885 he was made the Democratic candidate for municipal judge, and in 1890 one of the Democratic candi- dates for district judge, and was both times de- feated by a small majority.
In his convictions Mr. Ankeny is strong and earnest, but ever open to argument. He never hesitates to espouse a cause for the reason that it may be unpopular. He has long been a firm
opponent of the death penalty in the administra- tion of justice, and believes that in the present day a judicial execution is a judicial murder. The only ground, he maintains, upon which the . right to take human life can depend, is that of self-defense, and to say that in this enlightened age it is necessary for the state to exercise the death penalty in order to preserve its own life is a mockery in terms. He freely predicts that in less than a quarter of a century this relic of bar- barism will be swept from every statute book.
On May 1, 1861, Mr. Ankeny married Miss Martha V. Moore, daughter of John Moore, of Wheeling, West Virginia. They have a family of five children, all now nearly fully grown. Re- ligiously they adhere to the faith of the Disciples.
HON. JOHN R. CAREY,
DULUTH, MINN.
T 'HIS work contains sketches of many men who have had the best interests of the Masonic Fraternity at heart. Among these men Judge John R. Carey is esteemed as one who was always ready to sacrifice his individual comforts to his duties as a Mason.
John R. Carey was born in Bangor, Penobscot county, Maine, March 3, 1830. His parents, John and Julia (Terry) Carey, were originally from St. Johns, New Brunswick. John was educated in the public schools of Bangor. In his nineteenth year he left home and resided with his uncle in Connecticut, where he cast his first vote for Thomas H. Seymour, candidate for governor of that state. The following year he voted for Franklin Pierce, the · presidential nominee of the old Democratic party. In 1852 young Carey joined a party from Massachusetts and Connecti- cut, for the purpose of locating and organizing a New England colony in the territory of Minne- sota. This party, consisting of about eighty-five men and a few women, journeyed by rail to Buffalo, on the lakes to Toledo, and thence by rail to Chicago, where the party who had con_ tracted to land the colonists in St. Paul, at a cer. tain price per person, deserted them and left them to their own resources. After leaving Chicago, which was at that time a very uninviting place,
the colonists traveled by rail to Rockford and thence overland to Galena, the journey between these two places occupying four days, owing to the bad condition of the roads. From Galena they proceeded on a Mississippi river packet to St. Paul, at that time a city of seven thousand people. The plan of the colonists was to settle in the section of Minnesota near the present site of Faribault, but the uninviting appearance of the new country in the early spring so disgusted the majority of the would-be colonists that nearly seventy-five per cent. of them returned to their old homes, and the plan of forming a New Eng- land colony in Minnesota was abandoned. Young Carey remained in St. Paul, and for two years was foreman in a large boot and shoe house. About this time the advantages of the country at the head of Lake Superior created considerable ex- citement, and he determined to venture into this newly settled region. He journeyed from St. Paul, leaving on May 12, 1855, for Chicago. From Chicago he went to the "Soo" by lake vessel, and from the " Soo" to Superior on the steamer Baltimore, the larger of the two steamboats at that time on Lake Superior. For two years he was prosperous as a boot and shoe merchant; but in the financial panic of 1857 he lost his business, and was compelled to accept a position in a saw
970
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
mill in the town of Oneota, in what is now a portion of Duluth. Since that time he has been a resident of Duluth, and has been an enterprising citizen. For six years he was postmaster at Oneota, and for six years more mail contractor. In fulfilling his contract as mail carrier he visited the towns of Superior and Fond du Lac in a small boat in summer, while in winter he was drawn on a sledge by a great Newfoundland dog, which the Judge says was "the most faithful animal that ever lived." Whilst in Oneota he was elected judge of probate. For three years, under President Arthur's administration, he was register of the United States land office. He was appointed United States commissioner by Judge Nelson, under President Buchanan's ad- ministration, over thirty years ago, and is the oldest commissioner in the state. In 1873 he was city justice of Duluth.
During his residence in Duluth he has assisted in making many improvements. He was an active helper in the construction of a pier at the mouth of the St. Louis river and in building the breakwater at the end of Minnesota Point. Judge Carey has accomplished much in the interests of Masonry. He was created a Mason in 1869 in Palestine Lodge, No. 79, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Duluth, Minnesota. In 1872 he became a Royal Arch Mason in Keystone Chapter, No. 20, Royal Arch Masons; in 1876, a Royal and Select Master ; and in 1887 he was created a Knight Templar in Duluth Com- mandery, No. 18, Knights Templar. In 1882, in Minneapolis Consistory, he received the thirty- second degree, Scottish Rite. He is also a mem- ber of Osman Temple, N. M. S., of St. Paul. He has held many honorary positions in the several lodges, and is now Past Master in a blue lodge, High Priest of Keystone Chapter, Prelate of Commandery, and Past Grand Thrice Illustrious Master of Royal and Select Masters of Minnesota.
Since the organization of the Republican party he has been affiliated with it, and is a staunch adherent to its principles.
In 1854, in St. Paul, Minnesota, he married Hannah E. Terry. The issue of this marriage was eight children, six of whom are living. Three of these live at home. The others, all of whom are married, reside in California, Colorado and Duluth.
Throughout his long and varied career, Judge Carey has maintained a high standing as a busi- ness man, and for integrity and honorable and fair dealing has a character above reproach.
JOHN BALL BRISBIN,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
A MONG the prominent citizens of St. Paul hailing from the " Empire State," there are very few who have been more closely identified with or more deeply interested in every move- ment tending to the welfare and advancement of this beautiful city, or more highly esteemed, both within or without the legal profession, than the subject of this sketch.
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.