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 58
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John Ball Brisbin was born at Schuyler- ville, Saratoga, county, New York, on January IO, in the year 1826. His father, Oliver Brisbin, was an eminent physician, and of Irish descent, while his mother was the great-great niece of Mary Ball, the mother of Washington, and the grand- daughter of Colonel Samuel Ball, of the Conti- mental Army. His grandfather, James I. Brisbin, came to this country from the north of Ireland,
and settled at Saratoga, where he died at the ripe age of one hundred and one years. The name " Brisbin " was probably spelled " Brisbois," orig- inally meaning "wood-breaker," from Norman French.
Young Brisbin had unusally good advantages for securing an education, and he improved them. He prepared for college at Troy and Schuyler- ville, near his home, and after vacillating between Union and Dartmouth, he finally decided to go to Yale College, and entered there in 1842. Though somewhat lively and full of nervous energy in his youth, he soon took a prominent position among his college associates, and proved a bright scholar. He was one of the editors of the "Yale Literary Magazine : " president of the Brothers in Unity ; an active secret society man, being a member of
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Psi Upsilon, and in his senior year, a Skull and Bones man. His social nature and superior attainments made him a general favorite, and while he was a boy among the boys, yet he never lost his dignity or his confidence in his own abili- ties. In the year 1846 he graduated with the rep- utation of being one of the finest writers and speakers ever in that institution. He won that year one of the five Townsend prizes, which were awarded for the best senior essays, the title of which was " America, Political and Literary," and during his sophomore year took prizes in Latin and Greek. After graduation he entered the law office of Henry W. Merrill, at Saratoga, and be- gan preparation for the bar. He completed his legal studies with Judge Cady, the most distin- guished real-estate lawyer in New York of his time, and Cady, Van Vechton and McMartin, of Albany, New York, and was admitted to practice at Balls- ton Spa., which was founded by and named for his ancestor in 1849. He opened an office in Schuy- lerville, New York, and continued practice there until 1853, when he sought a larger field, and re- moved to St. Paul, which was then a village of about three thousand population, and resumed the practice of his profession. His ability, his legal learning, his skill as an advocate, his elo- quence, were soon discovered, and he found him- self surrounded by a growing and lucrative prac- tice. And to-day, although he has retired from active practice, he is known as one of the ablest and most brilliant lawyers of the state. On Feb- ruary 28, 1854, he was appointed reporter of the supreme court decisions by the governor of the territory, and held the office for two years. In 1856 he was elected city attorney by the city council, and held the office for one year.
On arriving in St. Paul Mr. Brisbin at once en- tered the ranks of the Democratic party, for, as he expresses it, "I was born a Democrat." He became one of its most active members, and has ever since been a strong, able, unflinching and de- termined advocate of its principles. Political honors were soon thrust upon him. He was a member and president of the territorial council in 1856-7 ; a member of the house of representa- tives in 1858 and 1863. In 1857 he was elected mayor of St. Paul without opposition, an honor never before or since accorded to any candidate. In 1859 he was the candidate of his party for
attorney general, and in 1864, chairman of the Minnesota delegation to the National Democratic Convention which nominated Gen. George B. McClellan for President. He was, for several years, chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, and for a long period has been an earnest and eloquent leader and advocate of the Democracy and its principles, and just here it is worthy of record, that St. Paul and the state own John Ball Brisbin a debt of gratitude for the pluck and skill with which he prevented the re- moval of the capitol from St. Paul to St. Peter, in 1856. He was president of the council (senate), and by his ruling, his determined efforts, and his in- fluence he held the opposition together, and they won a parlimentary battle after a session of eight days and nights, during which time the members ate, drank, slept and camped on the floor of the council chambers. The first bill authorizing the removal of the capitol had passed both houses and gone to the committee on enrolled bills. Here it disappeared, and, after a fruitless search, a strong effort was made by its friends to have a second bill enrolled and reported to the senate. On motions of " previous questions," "call of the house," and that "further proceedings be dis- pensed with," came "the tug of war," when Presi- dent Brisbin decided that two-thirds not voting for the last motion it was lost, although one mem- ber insisted that nine was two-thirds of fourteen. During the dead-lock another copy of the bill was procured, enrolled, reported, passed and sent to President Brisbin to sign ; but he refused, as did the speaker of the house, for reasons endorsed thereon. It went to Governor Gorman, who signed it, and it was printed in the laws of 1857. Its le- gality was then tested by the St. Peter Company in the supreme court. They applied to Judge R. R. Nelson for a writ of mandamus to compel the territorial officers to remove to St. Peter. After due consideration he filed an opinion ending as fol- lows: "We are of the opinion that there has been no law passed by the legislative power of the territory removing the capital from St. Paul St. Peter," and thereby sustained the ruling of President Brisbin.
On the 20th of February, 1850, at Schuyler- ville, New York, he married Miss Almira George, of that place. She died in the year 1863, and two years later, in 1865, on May 3, he married Miss
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Margaret M. Jones, a native of New York, but then a resident of St. Paul, who still lives to cheer and comfort him in the evening of life. One child, a daughter, was born to them on October 10, 1874, and she is now a beautiful and accomplished young lady of eighteen. She has developed a wonderful talent for music, to which she is giving special attention at the Hardy School, Duluth, Minnesota.
Mr. Brisbin is not a large man physically, yet he is well and tersely made. While under medium height, he stands erect, with a well-shaped head set on square shoulders, and has a very dignified appearance. His features are of the Grecian mould, and strong lines of character are marked upon his face. Until recent years he usually dressed in a swallow-tail blue coat with brass but- tons, a high standing collar, and a broad-brimmed, low-crowned slouch hat, but the brass buttons are now missing. He is very affable, a good conversa- tionalist, original in many of his expressions, has a fine appreciation of the humorous, and is of a very social disposition. As a lawyer, and espe- cially as an advocate at the bar, Mr. Brisbin ranks very high. His forensic efforts are peculiar, yet per- suasive, forcible, effective ; carrying conviction and overcoming all opposition. But great as his repu- tation justly is as an erudite lawyer and successful advocate, many of his friends believe he might have achieved greater success and higher honors in public life. As a public and political speaker he has always appeared to great advantage, being decidedly literary, both through taste and culture.
Among his numerous literary and oratorical efforts, these are worthy of special mention, his eulogy on Stephen A. Douglas, in the fall of 1861 ; his argument (a most notable one) in the Cox impeachment trial in the year 1881 ; his ad- dress on Pope Pius IX, prepared soon after his loss of temporal power at Rome in King Hum- bert's reign ; his lecture on Moses the Jurispru- dent ; and last, but not least, his eulogy on Sam- uel J. Tilden, delivered at New Ulm, Minnesota. In closing this sketch we desire to give a brief quotation from this notable and eloquent address. Speaking of Mr. Tilden, he says: "He was the greatest soldier of political morality in America. While he was Calvanistic in the belief that ‘men are prone to evil as the sparks to fly upward,' he adhered to the maxim that the masses of men
are always right. He had a profound knowledge of the methods and machinery of politics, and used them as the means of accomplishing the ob- jects which a true patriot and statesman should set up as his beacons. Hence he was a leader of men, and has been belittled and derided. His thoughtful and studious life, and his daily walk and conversation with the direct heirs of men who made the constitution, made him its best in- terpreter in this generation. His English was of the colossal type, which best carries the logic that has no joints. He was not an attractive or impressive speaker, because of his lack of physical force ; 'he talked right on,' and was always listened to with more attention than any man who has spoken to assemblages in New York since the death of Silas Wright, not even excepting Gov- ernor Seymour. He was a recognized master and teacher of political economy, which, in fact and merit, comprehends the science of government. More than all, and crowning his transcendent qualities, he was a Christian and courtly gentle-
man. With all of his wonderful endowments and acquisitions, the benefactions which his life has conferred upon mankind, in this presence we are constrained to admit with honest John Foster : ' Verily, it is a humble thing to be a man.'"
One other quotation from his argument in the fa- mous Cox impeachment trial will bear repetition here. Some disrespectful allusions had been made by the counsel for the state to the coat of arms of the Cox family. Mr. Brisbin replied as follows : " It is in bad taste, gentlemen, to make such allusions to the armorials, which record and memorize the unstained names and characters of those, who, under Providence, have brought us into this world. Men of low degree, as well as high, cherish with equal fidelity these precious memor- abilia. In the ' sessions of sweet, silent thought,' how eagerly we summon from the caverns of the past these sacred remembrances. They animate, they stimulate even the errant and the sinful to virtuous deeds. In the midst of the follies, frail- ties, aye, vices, if you will, which beset us in this work-a-day world, when we all, even the worst of us, join our hearts and minds, if not in vocal prayer, at least in invocations to the Almighty, how precious is the assistance which we derive from what I believe is the actual spiritual pres- ence of the great and good with whom we have
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been connected by the fortunes and accidents of life. Judge Cox is proud of his ancestry. He glories in his shield, which bears the insignia of loyal and virtuous actions. He would hand it to his posterity untarnished, as it was delivered to him. Shall he do it? Upon your judgment hangs the awful and perilous issue."
For forty years John B. Brisbin has been a resi- dent of St. Paul, and during that time he has always been most prominently identified with the upbuilding of the city. . He attained a leading position at the bar of the northwest through his inert ability. His arguments were always forcible, logical, and convincing, and denoted a creative
mind-a mind not satisfied to follow the thoughts of others. His presence was always dignified and commanding, and always exerted an impressive effect upon a jury. A contemporary of his says : "The commanding appearance of Mr. Brisbin before a jury was frequently of itself enough to make a favorable impression and gain a verdict for his client."
Although retired from active business life, he is fully in accord with the present time, and yet he retains all of the courtly dignity and warm socia- bility of the gentleman of the old school, and he can be selected as a most illustrious prototype of the true American gentleman.
MELVIN R. BALDWIN, DULUTH, MINN.
N ONE of the residents of Duluth are more enthusiastic over the present prosperity and future greatness of the city, built where the great waterways of the east join the great rail- road systems of the west, than Melvin R. Bald- win. None are more willing to materially assist any enterprise that will add to the prosperity of the city than he. Duluth has many natural ad- vantages. The great stretch of water to the east should enable her not only to successfully com- pete with but also to surpass her rivals in commerce. The location is the best in the world for the manufacture of flour, and the great iron ranges that even now, while only partially developed, produce half of the iron ores of the United States, should make this city of the north- west the Birmingham of America. But natural advantages alone do not make a city; men of energy and brains are the parents of all large centers, and the representative men of Duluth, among whom Mr. Baldwin is very prominent, must foster the industries of this young city until she finds their care unnecessary.
Among the picturesque Green Mountains, in Chester, Vermont, on April 12, 1838, Melvin R. Baldwin was born. His earlier boyhood was passed in New England, but in 1847 he became a resident of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His preliminary education was obtained in the local public and private schools of Oshkosh, and this was supple-
mented by a collegiate course of two years at Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wisconsin. His early inclination and desire was to fit himself for the legal profession, but after reading law in ex-Governer Bashford's office for two years he changed his plans and adopted civil engineering as a profession. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion, about this time, young Baldwin was among the very first to respond to the call for troops. He enlisted as a private in Company E, Second Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, April 19, 1861. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run, and was slightly wounded, and was severely wounded in the battle of Gainesville (second Bull Run). He was rapidly promoted for bravery and meritorious services, and had become a captain when the battle of Gettysburg was fought. In this battle he was captured and con- fined in Libby and other southern prisons for seventeen months. The suffering endured in these southern prisons is a matter of history. Captain Baldwin's lot was like the rest. He was one of the prisoners who participated in the "lottery of death" at Libby prison, and one of the two hundred placed under fire of Federal batteries as a retaliatory measure, at Charleston, South Carolina. He escaped from prison camp at Columbia, South Carolina ; he was recaptured after a nine days' chase by provost guard and a pack of bloodhounds, and returned
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to the camp. In December, 1864, he was ex- changed.
In 1866 he removed to Kansas, and became interested in railroad operations. In 1867 he was appointed general superintendent of the Leaven- worth, Lawrence and Galveston Railway. He filled this position for six years, and obtained a vast amount of practical knowledge that has been of great benefit to him in later years. In 1875 he removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in 1886 to Duluth, and engaged in real-estate and build- ing operations. In 1887 he was elected president
of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. He has been successively re-elected to that position, and he is holding that office at this date (1892).
Politically he is affiliated with the Democratic party. He has uniformly declined political pre- ferment. He was tendered a nomination for congressman, and also for the lieutenant-govern- orship, but declined them. He is ever willing to aid his party, but does not desire political office. In all his relations his demeanor is that of an honorable, high-minded gentleman, and he enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him.
PHILIP B. WINSTON,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
TO O the thoughtful student there is a valuable lesson to be gleaned from the lives of those men whose courage and brains enabled them to build the foundations upon which Minneapolis now stands, the first city of the northwest.
Philip B. Winston was born near Hanover Court House, Hanover county, Virginia, August 12, 1845. His parents were William O. and Sarah A. (Gregory) Winston, both natives of Virginia, and descended from those sturdy col- onists who came from England during the seven- teenth century. His great-grandfather fought in the Revolutionary war, and his grandfather served in the war of 1812. On both sides the an- cestors were prominent people in the state, and Mr. Winston's father and grandfather held res- pectively the office of clerk of the county court of Hanover county. On his mother's side this lineal prominence was also marked, as the pro- fessions bear valuable testimony to the name of Gregory throughout the State of Virginia. His early boyhood was passed in his native village, where he acquired his preparatory education under the direction of a private tutor. He spent a year at the academy in Caroline county, and when the civil war broke out, though only a boy of seventeen, he espoused the cause of the Con- federacy and enlisted as private in the Fifth Vir- ginia Cavalry. After eight months' hard service, during which time he participated in many of the most memorable battles of those days, he was promoted for gallant and meritorious conduct to
the staff and assigned as aide-de-camp to General Thomas L. Rosser, who was in command of a division of cavalry under General Lee. He re- mained at his post till the last gun was fired and when the fortunes of war were determined at Ap- pomattox he laid aside his arms and returned to the old homestead. He saw much service and was in the battles of Kelley's Ford, Brandy Sta- tion, Alder, Gettysburg, Cedar Creek, Tom's Brook, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Mine Run, Tryvillian's Station, Hawes Shop, Ream's Station, Amelia Court House, Bossoux Cross Roads, Five Forks, High Bridge, and was in Stewart's Raid, in Pennsylvania. Leaving the sad scenes of war he returned to his home, and began farming. Here he remained till the spring of 1872, when with less than a hundred dollars, he set out for the northwest. Traveling was a luxury in those days, and when he arrived in Minneapolis he had barely enough to pay for a week's board. The Northern Pacific Railroad was then stretching its iron arms into the far north, and young Winston secured a position in the engineering department as rodman.
The opportunities of the northwest had begun to attract the attention of many of the most en- terprising and conservative financiers of the country. Thoroughly alive to the possibilities of the times, Mr. Winston returned to Minneapolis after two years' experience with the Northern Pacific, and associating with his brother, F. G. Winston, established the firm of Winston Broth-
Yours truly AgWinston
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ers, now one of the largest railroad contracting firms in the United States. Enjoying the confi- dence of the large railroad corporations, this firm gradually rose from an infant industry to a busi- ness commanding a capital of over a million dol- lars. Most of the track and bridge work on the Northern Pacific, from Bismarck west, was built by this firm; one thousand miles of this road being their first large contract. Since then they have completed large contracts for many other corporations operating in Illinois, Indiana, Minne- sota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia. This firm is very strong financially, and is eminently worthy of the honorable posi- tion it has earned by strict observance of the high- est principles of business integrity.
In 1888 Mr. Winston was nominated for mayor of Minneapolis. It was the presidential year, and although his great popularity carried him three thousand votes ahead of his ticket, he was de- feated. He was renominated by acclamation in 1890, and, unhampered by party issues, was elected by over six thousand plurality. He was warmly supported by the business interests; and merchants and laboringmen alike recognized his special abilities as a conservative, wise and de- voted official. How well he merited the confi- dence of his friends and guarded the interests of the city is fully attested in the records of his ad- ministration. A staunch Democrat, imbued with all the best principles of Democracy, he was chairman of the Minnesota delegation at the last
National Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also a member of the state and local Demo- cratic organizations. His great popularity is due to his sterling qualities of heart and mind, his fund of good humor and marked courtesy to all. In person he is large, symmetrically formed, and of prepossessing and enjoying presence. He is a good speaker, forcible, clear and versatile, and when called upon, gracefully presides on all public occasions -in honor of home or visiting organizations.
He is a stockholder in the Security Bank of Minneapolis. With Mr. F. G. Winston, his brother, he is engaged in extensive mining oper- ations in Montana. He is a stockholder in the Syndicate Building Company, the Syndicate In- surance Company, the Minneapolis Globe Building Company, a member of the Business Men's Union, the Minneapolis Club, the Minnesota Club, of St. Paul, and the West Moreland Club, of Richmond, Virginia, where he still enjoys a few months each year on the old homestead, having recently made costly improvements to it.
In 1876 he married Miss Stevens, of Minneapo- lis, daughter of Colonel John A. Stevens, one of the most prominent and respected of Minnesota's pioneers. Two children were born of this mar- riage. Mrs. Winston is a lady of refinement and education ; a member and prominent in the chari- table work of the Presbyterian church. She was appointed an alternate lady manager of the World's Fair for Minnesota.
JOHN EDSON BELL,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T `HE subject of this biography was born in Brownville, New York, October 10, 1834. His father, John Bell, was a native of London- derry, North Ireland, and removed to the United States when twelve years of age. His mother, Sarah Cooper, was descended from the very ear- liest settlers of Rhode Island ; her father, Owen Cooper, removed to Washington county, New York, with his family of three sons and seven daughters about the year 1820, and remained there during the remainder of his life, attaining the age of one hundred years and more.
His paternal grandfather, George Bell, was born near Belfast, Ireland in 1776; married Margaret Buchanan in 1802; they left their native land in 1812 for New York. The American vessel in which they sailed was captured by a British cruiser, and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After two or three years stay in that province, they removed to Hebron, Washington county, New York; whence ten years later, in a prairie schooner, they removed to Jefferson county in that state, where he purchased a farm near Brownville, which was his home until his death
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in 1841. Our subject's paternal grandmother was Margaret (Buchanan) Bell, a women of great strength of character and remarkable piety. She was a sister of John Buchanan, a distinguished officer in the British army. In 1831 John and his brother, James A. Bell, bought a hundred-acre farm near the family home, paying for it by the joint product of their labors-John earning money as a farmer, and James as a school-teacher.
This school-teacher, uncle of our subject, was afterwards for many years a distinguished mem- ber and presiding officer of the senate of New York State, also member of the Constitutional Convention and auditor of the Canal Department.
On January 20, 1834, John Bell married Miss Sarah Cooper, of Washington county, New York. After four years spent on a farm near Brownville, where John E. and James were born to them, they removed to the adjoining village of Dexter, where a small home was built, and where in 1839, their only daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, made her advent.
In 1840, the family removed to the then new west of Allegany county, New York, where a timbered tract was purchased in the town of West Almond ; and the work of felling the trees and clearing a farm was resolutely entered upon. After scarcely a year of the hard labor and ex_ posure of this pioneer life, the health of the father utterly failed, and the burden of the struggle fell upon the wife and mother, and bravely she bore it through many years. In January, 1847 after nearly six years on a bed of suffering, John Bell, entered into rest. During all these years he was upborne by a spirit of Christian patience and forti- tude, and by an unwavering faith, in which he died. The widow then assumed the management of the farm and the nurture of her now father_ less children, taking great care to provide for their schooling and especially for their religious training. Some two or three years later she was married to Mr. Thomas Richardson, who was the proprietor of an extensive boot and shoe factory in the neighboring town of Almond. Here and in Jefferson county, New York, our subject ob- tained his education by attendance at the public schools. At the age of sixteen he left home, and begun the battle of life as a clerk in a general store in Limerick, Jefferson county, New York. For one year he remained in Limerick, when he
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