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 59
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determined to advance in life and accepted a position in a dry-goods store in Watertown, New York.
In 1855 he began business for himself, and opened a general store in Dexter, Jefferson county, New York, in connection with his uncle, James A. Bell. After continuing in this business for a year he disposed of his interest, and started on a tour of inspection throughout the west- ern states, rightly thinking that the west offered greater opportunities for a young man of ambi- tion than could possibly be expected in the east. After this tour throughout Iowa and Wisconsin, he returned to Watertown, New York, to the old position with the firm he had been with so many years. Six months later ( in spring of 1857 ) he removed to Minneapolis, then a city of few hun- dred inhabitants. He remained here but a short time when he journeyed to the western part of Minnesota and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Meeker county, near what is now Litchfield. In the fall he returned to Minneapolis, and accepted a position as clerk in the general store of Amos Clark. In the spring of 1858 he returned to Watertown and formed a copartnership with Alexander Campbell. The firm began a general merchandise business in Minneapolis, which continued until 1861, under the style of J. E. Bell and Company. In 1861, D. C. Bell, youngest brother of our subject, pur- chased the interest of Mr. Campbell, and the firm continued under the name of Bell Brothers. In the summer of 1862 the firm of Bell Brothers re- moved to the new stone store building that had been erected for them on the corner of Washing- ton and Nicollet avenue's. Here they opened an exclusively dry-goods store, the most extensive of its kind in the young city, and continued for years to do the leading retail business, to which a jobbing department was afterwards added.
In 1868, owing to ill-health and a desire for rest, Mr. Bell disposed of his business in Minneapolis and became buyer for the dry-goods firm of Auerbach, Finch and Scheffer, of St.Paul. For two years he remained with this firm, but he took as much interest in the business of his employers as if it were his own. This did not give his mind the requisite rest, and he was compelled to sever his connection with the firm.
In 1870 he returned to Minneapolis, and, in con-
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nection with Judge E. S. Jones, organized the Hennepin County Savings Bank. He at once be- came cashier of the bank, and in 1889, upon the death of Judge Jones, who had been president of the bank since its organization, he was elected presi- dent. The bank has been very successful through- out its career of nearly a quarter of a century. It has ever paid large dividends to its stock- holders and enjoyed the confidence of its deposi- tors, and it is but justice to Mr. Bell to state that it is owing to his careful management that the institution has been so successful. Mr Bell is a stockholder and one of the directors of the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company.
In 1858 Mr. Bell married Miss M. J. Smith, of Chaumont, Jefferson county, New York. Their marriage has been blessed with four children, three of whom are living ; the eldest, George Bell, born in 1861, is connected with the bank of which his
father is president ; the others living are Carrie and J. H. Bell; Clara, twin sister of Carrie, died in infancy.
Politically Mr. Bell has ever been an ardent Republican, and a firm believer in the doctrines of Republicism, as advocated by Lincoln, Grant, Harrison and Blaine.
In work tending to advance the youth of the day and in matters of religion, Mr. Bell takes his chief interest. . The State Sunday School Association finds in him one of its warmest sup- porters and staunchest friends. He is at present treasurer of this association. The Young Men's Christian Association is indebted to Mr. Bell for many favors, and the cause of religion has ever been assisted by his efforts. He is a member of the Plymouth Congregational Church. He is a man of literary tastes, and is now president of the Minneapolis Athenæum Association.
HON. EDWARD W. DURANT,
STILLWATER, MINN.
I
MONG the men who hated tyranny and loved
their country were the ancestors of Ed- ward W. Durant, who were driven out of France by oppression. The Huguenots early sought that liberty found only in the new world, and their descendants have ever since been prominent in the nation's history. One of the ancestors of Edward W. Durant served in the Provincial Council of Boston, and was an active participant in the " Boston Tea Party." It was but natural that the men who so stoutly resented the oppression of the British government should be the first to take up arms when the mother country sought to enforce their infamous measures at the point of the bayonet. Besides the service in the revolu tion, Mr. Durant's immediate ancestors took part in the war of 1812. His grandfather commanded a fort in Maine, and another relative was surgeon on the sloop Essex, which was lost at sea.
Edward W. Durant was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1829. When ten years old his father moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and one year later to Sterling, Illinois, where he settled on a farm and lived till 1845. Tiring of farming he moved to Albany, Illinois, and became a clerk in
a store. During this time the subject of this sketch was introduced to the hardships of pioneer farming as soon as large enough to work. He attended the common schools during the winter, and had previously attended school one year at Reading, Ohio. In 1848 he sought fortune in the famous St. Croix valley. Settling at Stillwater he worked on rafts and in lumber camps four years, and became thoroughly familiar with the St. Croix river and the upper navigable portions of the Mississippi. He was next engaged as a pilot for rafts and boats on the Mississippi river, and in his twenty years of thrilling experience in that capacity, he was employed for twelve years almost from daylight till dark sellings logs and lumber, and perhaps sold as many or more logs than any other one man ever did. The figures would run into so many million feet each year, that the aggregate amount would seem incredible.
Mr. Durant is still extensively engaged in the lumber business, and is one of the principal owners in the Stillwater Lumber Company, with mill capacity of sixteen million feet per annum, located at Stillwater, Minnesota. He is president of Stillwater Company; a director of the Lumber-
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man's National Bank ; a director of the Stillwater Electric Light and Gas Company ; a part owner and manager of the Grand Opera House of Still- water ; and a partner in the firm of J. O. Holsen and Company, wholesale and retail grocers.
In 1861 Mr. Durant was appointed mayor of Stillwater, and has since been three times elected to that office. He has three times been elected to the legislature of his state and was elected to the state senate in 1887. . Mr. Durant is the author of the bill against food and liquor adultera- tion, and served upon important committees. He was the nominee of the Democratic members of the legislature for United States senator, against Senator Washburn, Republican. He was also the candidate for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket in 1875. In politics Mr. Durant has always been a Democrat and has for several years been one of the leaders of his party in the state. He was chairman of the convention that nominated Edmund Rice for congress, and also of the convention that nominated J. N. Cas- tle for congress in 1890. He was president of the convention that nominated delegates to the National Democratic Convention that nominated Samuel J. Tilden for president, and was a dele-
gate from Minnesota to the national convention that nominated Grover Cleveland for president.
At the winter ice carnival in St. Paul in 1888, Mr. Durant was chosen " King Borealis Rex," a position which from his prominence and experi- ence he most admirably filled. Mr. Durant is not only distinguished in business and politics, but also in fraternal orders he is one of the first men of the state. He was elected deputy grand master in the Masonic Order and subsequently was chosen grand master, and has also served as grand chancellor of Knights of Pythias of Minne- sota. He is a member of the Order of the Mystic Shrine, also the Order of Elks. In 1858 Mr. Durant married Henrietta Pease, of Albany, Illinois, and has one son, who is a graduate of Yale College, and one daughter.
Senator Durant is vigorous, and in appearance is rather striking. He would not be judged an ordinary man by the most casual observer. His kindness and cordiality to men of all stations make him one of the most popular men in the state. In all his varied relations he has demeaned himself as an upright, honorable and high-minded gentleman, and is justly esteemed one of the enterprising and representative men of his state.
L
ALONZO HERBERT LINTON,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
M R. LINTON is a native of Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, where he was born November 4, 1836. On the Ist of Sep- tember, 1881, his parents celebrated their golden wedding, on which occasion was published an interesting narrative of their history, from which we condense a short sketch of the ancestry of Mr. A. H. Linton.
In the latter part of the last century there lived in County Derry, in the north of Ireland, a Scotch-Irish farmer named William Linton. The name is common in Scotland, where, as well as in England and in this country, it is coupled with distinction in art, in military service, and in other fields of usefulness. The family is undoubtedly of Anglo-Saxon origin. A son, John, was well educated at Magilligan College in his native country. While still pursuing his studies he be-
came involved in the political troubles that cul- minated in the rebellion of 1798, and was forced to fly to America.
He eventually settled in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, where he held various offices of honor and usefulness. His son, John Linton, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a mer- chant and also engaged in the manufacture of pig iron in Cambria county. He held various mili- tary commissions, was an active politician of the Whig party, and represented his county repeated- ly in the legislature. During the rebellion he was superintendent of military roads in the south, and held the rank and commission of major. He married Adelaide Lacock, who was a daughter of General Abner Lacock, a native of Virginia, who settled in Beaver county at an early day. He represented his district in congress from 1811 to
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1813, and the State of Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1813 to 1819, and held many other positions of honor in the public service.
Alonzo H. Linton was the third of eight chil- dren. His boyhood was passed in his native town. The family removed to Rochester, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, when he was fifteen years old. His school advantages were confined to his early years and to the common school, except a term at an academy near Harrisburg, while his father was attending the session of the legislature. It is a common experience in the life of success- ful men, that education is derived from an active life, and contact with practical business. The schools add a grace of accomplishment, but they cannot supply the elements of character and capacity which win in the battle of life. The Linton family was related to a prominent railroad contractor of Cleveland, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, with whom and his brother Selah Chamberlain, of Cleveland, the young man engaged when no more than fifteen years of age and continued in various capacities, learning the entire details of a busi- ness which he has pursued for more than twenty years in Minnesota, with consummate ability and rare success. His first employment was as clerk in the supply store, but soon afterwards was placed in charge of a gang of men engaged in grading a section of the Pennsylvania railroad in the Allegheny mountains. He was successively employed in a collector's office on the Erie canal and as ticket seller at a station on the P., F. W. & C. R. R., and then for a year on a job of widen- ing the Harrisburg and Reading canal, of which Mr. Joseph Chamberlain was contractor.
About 1854 he accompanied Mr. Selah Cham- berlain to Wisconsin, and was engaged under him in the construction of the La Crosse railroad, where he was clerk in the office and paymaster on the work.
When the Minnesota system of railroads was undertaken, Mr. S. Chamberlain took extensive contracts on the St. Paul & Pacific and the Min- nesota Valley Division of the Southern Minne- sota, and Mr. Linton came with him in 1857 to undertake the work. He performed clerical work in the office and was paymaster. The next year he was sent to Chatfield, Fillmore county, Minne- sota, to dispose of a stock of goods. To utilize the state railroad bonds which were received in
payment for gradings on the railroads, Mr. Chamberlain became interested in a number of banks of circulation. Of these Mr. Linton was an officer and the principal manager. Returning to Milwaukee he was again employed in the office of the Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad com- pany until 1860, when he went to Cuba to take charge of a contract on the Ferro Carril del Oaste, a line of railroad running from Havana to Pina Del Rio. He was able to overcome the diffi- culties interposed by climate, language and cus- toms so different from those prevailing in this country, but when the civil war broke out the enterprise had to be abandoned. Returning he spent a year with his friends in Pennsylvania. During this time he joined the militia of the state and made a campaign in the South, being near though not actually engaged in the battle of Antietam. He was afterwards engaged for a short time in Nash's bank in Milwaukee. The. Minnesota Central railway had passed into the control of capitalists, chiefly owning the Milwau- kee and La Crosse railroad, among whom Selah Chamberlain was prominent. When work was commenced under the new management in 1863, Mr. Linton was sent to take charge of the Minne- apolis office, which was headquarters of the road, and there he directed the local financial manage-
ment. Before that, however, he began contract- ing on his own account, by taking the section of the Minnesota Central road from Owatonna to Austin. In 1870 Mr. Linton formed a partner- ship in the railroad contracting business with R. B. Langdon, which has continued to the present time. Their first undertaking was in building the river division of the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- road from St. Paul to La Crosse. During these years the firm has built portions of the Milwau- kee and St. Paul, Hastings and Dakota, Chicago and Northwestern, Northern Pacific, Omaha, Soo Railway, Minneapolis and Pacific, Manitoba and Canadian Pacific railroads. Of the last they built 700 miles west of Winnipeg. They executed con- tracts in each of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Dakota, besides the work in the Dominion of Canada. No less than 5,000 miles of railroad have been built by this firm in the northwest during twenty years, and they are now engaged in railroad work. Think of the countless details involved in such a
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work! Of the immense responsibility of carrying it on! The division of the firm's labor often placed Mr. Langdon on the work and Mr. Linton in the office, though he was by no means un- familiar with directing and overseeing the work in detail. He has done his share of knocking about the country and partaking the fare of the camp and caboose. The work, accomplished without a single failure or miscarriage, attests better than any verbal enumeration the capacity of the mind and the energy of the hand which has organized and directed it all.
Mr. Linton was married in 1866 to Miss Ger- trude Darragh, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, who is a lineal descendent of an historic family -- being the great-great-granddaughter of John Hart, of New Jersey, a soldier of the Revolution, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. They have four daughters, one child having died in infancy. The family has had a pleasant home on Sixth street south until the past year, when business demanded the site for its busy purpose. A beautiful home has been built on Park avenue, in the colonial style, with tall columns spanning the entire height of the house-a unique and very pleasing feature. Mr. Linton attributes to
his wife whatever may be attractive in its plan. The labors of these years have not been so con- stant or engrossing as to prevent Mr. Linton from visiting all points of his native country, with ex- cursions to Cuba and Mexico. Neither have they hindered him from engaging in such social duties as fall to the lot of the good citizen. For nearly fifteen years he has been a diligent vestryman of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. He is vice-presi- dent of the old and staunch City Bank, and also a director in the City, Union, National and German-American banks, besides being a trusted and valued member of other financial institutions.
Men are by nature cast in different moulds. They are furnished with endowments of infinite variety and diversity. Combined they constitute that complex unity-humanity. Here is a man without scholastic graces, yet with a comprehen- sive ability, who seldom appears before the pub- lic, is unknown on change or upon the platform ; yet whose sound judgment plans gigantic enter- prises, and whose indomitable energy carries them into successful execution.
[The above sketch was written by Munsell & Co. for the History of Minneapolis.]
JAMES S. BELL,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
J
AMES S. BELL, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Bell, neé Faust, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, June 30, 1847.
Mr. Bell obtained his school education in the public schools of Philadelphia, suplemented by a course in the High School of that city, from which he graduated. After leaving school he became an employé of the firm of Samuel Bell and Sons, of which his father was senior partner. He was after- ward admitted into an active partnership. Samuel Bell and Sons were the general eastern agents of the large milling firm of Washburn, Crosby and Com- pany, of Minneapolis, and upon the death of Mr. John Crosby, Mr. Bell was urged to purchase the interest that he controlled and to take an active part in the management of the business. This he did, and in 1888 severed his connection with the firm of Samuel Bell and Sons, of Philadelphia,
and removing to Minneapolis became an active member of the firm of Washburn, Crosby and Company.
In 1889 it was deemed advisable to reorganize the business, and consequently the Washburn- Crosby Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $500,000. Mr. Bell was elected president of the company, and continues in that capacity as the active head of this, one of the largest and most successful milling companies of this great milling center. The mills of the company now have a capacity of ten thousand barrels of flour per day, and its product is used all over the world, some forty-five per cent. of its output being exported to foreign countries. Mr. Bell is also interested in other local enterprises. He is vice-president of the St. Anthony and Dakota Elevator Company, and a director of the St. Anthony Elevator Company.
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He is also a director of the National Bank of Com- merce of Minneapolis.
In 1873 Mr. Bell married Miss Sallie M. Ford, of Philadelphia ; one child, a son aged thirteen, has blessed their marriage. Mr. Bell is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Such is the biography of one of the represent- ative men of the west, who owes his present emi- nent position to his individual efforts, hard work,
steadfastness of purpose and sound business prin- ciples. He is a hard worker, and labors steadily day in and day out to advance the business inter- ests with which he is connected. To such energetic men as he the northwest owes her prosperity. He has pushed himself forward by honorable in- dustry and steady application, step by step, and he is certainly entitled to be classed as a most illus- trious prototype of the self-made man.
GEORGE FRANKLIN GETTY,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T 'HE subject of this sketch, George Franklin Getty, was born near Grantsville, Alleghany county, amid the mountain slopes of western Maryland, October 17, 1855. His parents, John Getty and Martha Ann Wiley Getty, as well as their ancestors for several generations, were old settlers in that region, and tillers of the soil, excepting his grandfather Wiley, who was an influence in the community, both as its pastor and teacher.
Before the year 1855 closed his parents decided upon a change of residence, and removed from western Maryland to the Buckeye State, locat- ing on a farm near New Philadelphia, in Tusca- rawas county. When young Getty was six years of age his father died of malignant diphtheria, leaving a widow and four children in very strait- ened circumstances, of whom he was the eldest. Thus early thrown upon his own resources by this affliction he was obliged to spend his early years on the farm, working in the fields in sum_ mer and attending the country school in the win- ter season. At the age of twelve he entered the grammar school at Canal Dover, Ohio, and remained one year. After supplementing his common
school education by attendance at Smithville Academy, Wayne county, in that state, he entered the Ohio Normal University at Ada, an institution of learning not unknown among the many colleges that adorn our land to-day. By teaching school during the winter term, he secured funds to pursue his studies at the University for the rest of each year. His course there was marked by diligence and perse- verance, and on July 10, 1879, he graduated from
the scientific department of the Ohio Normal with honors. While at the University, he was especially active in literary work, representing his society, the Philomathean, at the close of each term in contests with the members of a rival society, or by oration or debate in public enter- tainments given by the college ; and since gradu- tion he has been active in society and alumni reunions.
After completing his education Mr. Getty con- tinued teaching, one year being spent at Canal Dover, as principal of the grammar school of his boyhood days. His spare moments, however, were devoted to legal studies, for such a spirit as he possessed could not be content with a peda- gogue's life. After proper preparation he entered the law department of Michigan University, completed the course of study, and graduated in the spring of 1882. He was admitted to the bar at Ann Arbor, Michigan, soon after, but removed to Caro, Tuscola County, in that state, and there began his professional career and life-work. He formed a partnership with John Hurst, an attor- ney of prominence and large practice. This lasted less than a year, when Mr. Getty decided to practice alone. From that time his business increased rapidly, and his sterling worth was so appreciated by his friends, that in the fall of 1882 he was nominated and elected Circuit Court Com- missioner for Tuscola county, the term of office being two years.
In the year 1879 he married Miss Sarah C. Risher, of Marion, Ohio, a very accomplished lady, whose acquaintance he made at the Univer- sity ; but on account of her failing health he was
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obliged to give up a rapidly growing practice and a promising public career in the Peninsular State and seek a healthier clime. He turned his steps to the great northwest, and in the summer of 1884, though not without regret for what neces- sity compelled him to leave behind, he removed his home and family to Minneapolis.
He came an entire stranger, but he soon made friends, and through friends came business. In the fall of 1884 he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court. His practice, small at first and of a general character, has grown large and flourishing, and he now confines himself to that most interesting and renumerative branch, corpo- ration law. He is general counsel for several large corporations-among them the Railway Building and Loan Association, of which he is also president, and the National Benevolent Association ; and he has also represented his clients in the Supreme Courts of other states, as well as at home.
Although reared in a Democratic household, on arriving of age, and after years of education and reflection, he decided to join the Republican party, and here we find him to-day. Only once did he turn aside, and then it was to advance the cause of temperance, which he thought could be better promoted by identifying himself with the Prohibition party. In the year 1886, with J. T. James, Esq., he inaugurated a spirited anti-liquor campaign in the state, and, during that time, was secretary of the State Central Prohibition Com- mittee, and also chief editor of The Review, the
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