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 60
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official state prohibition paper. After a period of two years spent in the service of that party, and finding great lack of interest in the party movement among the large majority of Christian people, he decided to return to his former political allegiance. Since then he has not been active in politics.
In religious matters he has identified himself for a number of years with the Methodist Episco- pal Church, and is now a member of it. Mr. Getty is also a member of the Odd Fellows, but has never been active, nor aspired to prominence therein.
His removal to Minneapolis brought health- that greatest of gifts-to his invalid wife again, but when everything seemed brightest, a dark shadow was cast across the threshold of their happy home, when Gertrude Lois Getty, a lovely child and the sunbeam of the household, passed away October 9, 1890, aged nine years.
Again, in the subject of this sketch, do we find another illustration, in this Columbian year of successes, of what the boy of this great and grand commonwealth may become. His family ancestry may be humble or hidden in obscurity, his birthplace be unknown, his early years full of hardships and reverses, influential friends may not be his, strangers may surround him, but the ladder of success, pointing upwards into the misty clouds of the future, stands with its bottom round at his feet, and if he will but mount it, patiently, industriously, and with perseverance, he will and must obtain success.
CAPTAIN RUSSELL BLAKELEY,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
T THE subject of this sketch was born at North Adams, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1815, and is the son of Dennis Blakeley and Sarah (Samson) Blakeley. On both sides he is of Puritan ancestry, and descended from two of the oldest families of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut. It is also worthy of rec- ord that he is descended in the eighth generation from Miles Standish, John Alden and Priscilla Mullen, who were intimate friends of Miles Standish, and also a direct descendant of Abraham
Samson, one of the early Plymouth settlers. His remote ancestors were somewhat prominent in the early affairs of the New England colonies, and later on some of them took part in the French and Indian war. Through the war of the Revolution, it ap- pears that nearly all the able-bodied male mem- bers of both the Blakeley and Samson families fought for liberty and independence. Some were with that brave old son of thunder, Ethan Allen, at Ticonderoga, entering at the start and remain- ing until the finish; others rose to rank and posi-
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tion in the patriot service ; and again, others sealed their devotion with their blood, and gave their lives to a noble cause.
In 1817 Dennis Blakeley removed his family from Massachusetts to LeRoy, Genesee county, New York, where young Blakeley spent his boy- hood days and grew to manhood.
When young Blakeley was twenty-one years of age the "western fever" prevailed in Genesee county, as well as elsewhere throughout the eastern states, and both father and son caught the epidemic, removing to Peoria, Illinois, in the fall of 1836. Russell Blakeley remained there until the summer of 1839, when he removed to Galena, in the same state, and entered the employ of Captain H. H. Gear, who was engaged in lead- mining and smelting. He was thus employed until the fall of 1844, when he removed to Wythe county, Virginia, where he was occupied in " making " lead at the well-known Austinville mines for about three years.
During the summer of 1847 he returned to Ga- lena, Illinois, and engaged in steamboating with the Galena and Minnesota Packet Company, be- ing employed as clerk on the steamer Argo; and in this position made his first voyages to the upper river, and to the then insignificant landing of St. Paul. After the sinking of the Argo, he became clerk of the Dr. Franklin, and in the fall of 1851 was made captain of that steamboat. In 1853 he ran the Nominee, and in 1854 took command of the Galena, a famous and popular packet in her day, being burned at Red Wing, July 1, 1858. During his period of service on the upper river, Captain Blakeley brought many thousands of the early citizens of Minnesota to this goodly land, and thereby became more widely known at that time than almost any other man in this region. In 1865 he was appointed the agent and "outside manager" of the Galena and Minnesota Packet Company at Dunleith, and was connected with this company during its various corporate changes from 1847 to 1862, when the business was sold out.
No man has been more intimately and prominent- ly connected with the transportation interests of St. Paul, and the northwest generally, than Captain Blakeley. During the winter of 1855-6 he pur- chased the interest of Charles T. Whitney in the Northwestern Express Company, the firm becom-
ing J. C. Burbank & Co., and he also became associated with Mr. Burbank in the commission and general forwarding business at St. Paul, under the firm name of Blakeley and Burbank. In the spring of 1862 he removed to St. Paul, to take part in the management of the express and stage business, and this city has since been his permanent home.
In the year 1858, J. C. Burbank & Co., of which Capt. Blakeley was a leading member, contracted with the government for the transportation of the mails very extensively throughout Minne- sota, the corporation being known at that time as the Minnesota Stage and Northwestern Express Company. From the date of its organization in 1858 to 1867, the operations of this company covered the entire state, and in 1870 extended to Fort Garry, in Manitoba. It continued to occu- py several routes in the state until it was finally succeeded on nearly all of them by railroads.
When, in the year 1876, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and there was a rush of immigra- tion to that region, the stage, express and trans- portation business from Bismarck, on the Mis- souri river, to the new gold district promised to become very large and profitable. So the old company was reorganized and reincorporated under the name of 'the Northwestern Express, Stage and Transportation Company, with Captain Blakeley as president, and C. W. Carpenter as secretary and treasurer. This company com- menced business in 1877 in connection with the Northern Pacific Railroad, and carried large num- bers of passengers, conveyed great quantities of mail and express matter, and transported immense amounts of merchandise, necessitating, in the operation of their business, the employment of a large force of men, and the use of hundreds of horses, mules and cattle. The company contin- ued to do a successful and profitable business un- til in 1888, being supplanted by a railroad, they settled up their affairs and terminated the cor- poration.
Since the summer of 1847, when Captain Blake- ley first landed at St. Paul, until now, he has been largely devoted to and prominently connected with its various interests. He has often been called the father of the Chamber of Commerce, for he drew up the plans for its organization, was one of its original and charter members; was a
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vice-president for several terms, and its president in the years 1886 and 1887.
He was president of the old St. Paul, Stillwater and Taylor's Falls Railroad Company, and the originator of that enterprise. He was an original member, and for many years has been a director in the Fire and Marine Insurance Company ; and has also been president of the Historical Society, and an active promoter of various other enter- prises and local associations.
The moral and religious interests of the com- munity have ever been the objects of his deepest concern, as well as the recipients of his generous and substantial support. He is a member of the Universalist church, and his services and contribu- tions for the support of that body of Christians have been most liberal.
Captain Blakeley was an original member of the Republican party, and has stood high in the coun-
cils of that great political organization. He has repeatedly held the position of Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of Minne- sota ; has always been active and zealous in pro- moting the success of his party, but has never sought an office at its hands, nor asked for other reward than the triumph of its principles in open field and fair fight.
He was married to Miss Ellen L. Sheldon at Willow Springs, Wisconsin, in 1851, and to them have been born ten children, of whom six sons and two daughters still survive, all of whom have grown to maturity and become respected and use- ful members of society.
Captain Blakeley has a very fine and well se- lected private library of standard works on history, fiction, travels, and biography, and is very much interested in historical and genealogical research.
ALPHEUS B. STICKNEY,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
T HE subject of this sketch is recognized throughout the northwest as an energetic, self-reliant man, who has the courage and ability to place him in the front rank of railroad men. He is schooled in the principles and theories that have guided and pointed out the destiny of thou- sands of New England men who have become successful and distinguished in the west. He is a fair type of the sons of the old Pine Tree State, which gave him birth in the little picturesque village of Wilton, in Franklin county. He was born June 27, 1840, the son of Daniel Stickney, a preacher of considerable celebrity, who is widely known in the east as an able contributor for the press. He is still living and active at the ad- vanced age of eighty-seven years. The mother of our subject, before her marriage, was Miss Usula M. Beede.
Young Stickney obtained a good education at the public schools, and when he was seventeen years old he commenced teaching school, and thus obtained money to complete his education. When about eighteen years old he studied law with Mr. Josiah Crosby, at Dexter, Maine. He removed to Minnesota in 1861, and was admitted
to the bar in the fall of that year. He com- menced the practice of law at Stillwater, Min- nesota, where he gained the reputation of being a wise counselor and an honorable attorney, shrewd in the management of his cases, and a forcible, logical advocate. But he was not satis- fied with the profits growing out of his profes- sion. In 1869 he removed to St. Paul, and em- barked in business as a railroad contractor. He first built the road from Hudson to New Rich- mond, now a part of the Omaha system. In 1872 he took charge of a small road running east- ward from St. Paul into Wisconsin, which he built. In 1880 he was engaged as sub-contractor in the construction of about four hundred miles of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba rail- road. In 1881 he was in charge of the construc- ·tion of the western division of about four hun- dred miles of the Canada and Manitoba railroad. In 1882 he built a short line of about eighty miles in Minnesota, which is now owned by the Rock Island Railroad Company. In 1883 he com- menced the construction of the Chicago, St. Paul and Kansas City railroad. He is now (1892) chair- man of the board of directors in that company.
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About 1886, Mr. Stickney purchased some four thousand acres of land in the township of Lyons, near Chicago, with the idea of concentrating the freight departments of the different railroads centering in Chicago, and facilitating the distri- bution of all the freight cars, and avoiding the many accidents and innumerable delays incident to the present system. This land he conveyed
to the Chicago Union Transfer Company at net cost plus six per cent. interest, and the arrange- ment, when accomplished, will be one of the greatest feats in railroading of the age. It will operate on the same plan as that by which banks make their settlements through a clearing-house.
Mr. Stickney married in 1864, Miss Kate W. Hall. They have two sons and five daughters.
GENERAL F. W. SEELEY,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
F RANCIS W. SEELEY, son of Ira O. and Sarah (Loveland) Seeley, was born in Ash- tabula, Ohio, April 12, 1837. His early education was obtained in the public schools. When he was nine years of age his parents moved to Mar- quette county, Wisconsin territory, where his boyhood and youthful days were passed. In the summer of 1852 he, with his parents, removed to Minnesota territory.
On February 15, 1855, he enlisted into the reg- ular army at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as private in Battery E, Third United States Artillery, and was promoted brevet second lieutenant, Third Artillery, September 19, 1860; second lieutenant Fourth United States Artillery, February 4, 1861 ; first lieutenant, Fourth Artillery, May 14, 1861, and captain, Fourth Artillery, July 11, 1864. He was on duty in the adjutant general's office, Washington, from February 21 to March, 1861, and joined Battery H, Second Artillery, April I, serving with it at Washington, D. C., to April 5, 1861, when ordered to Fort Pickens, Florida. Here the lieutenant served as adjutant general of the department, under Colonel Harvey Brown, from July, 1861, to January, 1862, and was present at the action of Santa Rosa Island, Florida, and bombardment of Forts McRae and Barrancas, November 22, 1861, and January 1, 1862. He then left to join his own battery and regiment, which he served with at Washington City to March 10, when he took the field with the Army of the Potomac, participating in the siege of York- town, Virginia ; Oak Grove, Virginia ; White Oak Swamp, Virginia; Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862 ; Malvern Hill, August 5, 1862 ; Fredericksburg, Virginia ; Chancellorsville, Virginia, and Gettys-
burg, Pennsylvania (where he was twice wounded), having commanded his battery in all of the above engagements. On account of his wounds Lieu- tenant Seeley was forced to leave the field until August 15, 1863, when he rejoined the Army of the Potomac and commanded his battery to Octo- ber 1, 1863. He was appointed regimental quar- termaster, and reported at Fort Washington, Maryland, remaining on duty there until he re- signed, August 31, 1864.
The following is an extract from the report of the Congressional committee on the conduct of the war (p. 9, vol. I, series 1865): "At the con- clusion of the battle of Sunday Captain Seeley's battery, which was the last battery that fired a shot in the battle of Chancellorsville, had forty- five horses killed and in the neighborhood of forty men killed and wounded, but, being a soldier of great pride and ambition, and not wishing to leave any of his material in the hands of the enemy, he withdrew so entirely at his leisure that he carried off all the harness from his dead horses, loading his cannoniers with it; he even took a part of a set of harness on his own arm, and so moved to the rear."
And from an extract from the official report of Major General Humphries on the battle of Get- tysburg, and referring to the occasion of Long- street's attack : "Seeley's battery (K, Fourth United States Artillery) was placed at my dispo- sal. * * * The firing of Seeley's battery was splendid, and excited my admiration, as well as that of every officer who beheld it. His loss in men and horses was heavy, including himself severely wounded."
In Walker's " History of the Second Army
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Corps " his battery is mentioned in the most fav- orable terms (referring to Malvern Hill): " The regular batteries of Kingsbury, Seeley and Ames, and the volunteer battery of Weeden, far sur- passed the ordinary achievements of artillery ; they fairly smashed the artillery which the Con- federates sought to bring into action. Battery after battery on that side was driven from the field without being able to get a single shot out of one of their guns, while upon the daring in- fantry lines which pressed forward in the hope of carrying the crest, they rained a fire which, for destructiveness, has seldom if ever been exceeded in the history of the war." In regard to Chan- cellorsville : " One of General Sickles' batteries, K, of the Fourth United States, holds its post after all the infantry has passed to the rear, ex changing fire with the advancing enemy; only when these are close upon his guns does the gal- lant commander, Seeley, condescend to retire, carrying along everything that might serve the enemy as a trophy."
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In his " Historical Sketches of the United States Army" the historian writes of Seeley's battery as follows: "May 3 it fought at Chan- cellorsville, losing Lieutenant Arnold (ordnance department attached), wounded, and forty-four men and fifty-nine horses killed and wounded. It was in the battle on the height at Fairview, at the extreme left of the crest, while under a most ter- rific fire, that K Battery won the admiration of all who beheld it, and its record at Chancellors-
ville, under Lieutenant F. W. Seeley, that prince of battery commanders, must always form one of the brightest pages in the history of our light artillery. Its work may be equalled but it cannot be surpassed."
Captain Seeley resigned August 31, 1864, on account of physical disability resulting from wounds, since which time he has been a resident of Minnesota, in which state he has held promi- nent civil positions, and has served one term as adjutant general with the rank of brigadier gen- eral. He was recommended for several brevets, but his early retirement from the service pre- vented action on them.
His first business enterprise was entered upon as a merchant in Lake City, Minnesota, immedi- ately after his resignation from the army. He was appointed postmaster there, serving for twelve years. For one term he was a member of the state legislature. In 1887 he removed to St. Paul, occupying the position of adjutant general of the state for one term (1887-8). In 1889 he assisted in the organization of the North American Sav- ings and Loan Company, serving it at first as managing director, and later as president, which position he now holds. He has devoted all of his energies to the interests of this company, and its present prosperous condition is largely due to his fostering care.
General Seeley was married in 1863 to Emily C. Loveland, of Ashtabula, Ohio. One daughter, now Mrs. George J. Allen, is the only child.
GENERAL HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
A1 MONG the early pioneers or later settlers in the great and flourishing State of Minnesota, who have been at all prominent in its develop- ment, there are none whose memory is more uni- versally respected, and whose sterling worth more widely recognized than the late General Henry Hastings Sibley.
He was born at Detroit, Michigan, on February 20, 18II, of illustrious ancestry, his parents being among the early frontier settlers in that region. His father, Chief Justice Solomon Sibley, was born in the old " Henry Sibley Stockwell Place,"
at Sutton, Massachusetts, October 7th, 1769. He studied law and practiced in Massachusetts until he removed to Ohio in 1795, where he established himself, first at Marietta, and subsequently at Cincinnati, 1796, in the practice of his profession. He removed to Detroit in 1797, and on January 15, 1799, was elected first delegate to the first territorial legislature of the northwest territory, at Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1820 he was elected to Congress, and in 1824 was appointed judge of the supreme court of the territory, which office he held until 1837, being chief justice from 1827 to
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BREV. MAJ. GEN HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY.
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1837, when he resigned on account of increasing deafness. He was also United States commis- sioner, and in company with Lewis Cass made a treaty with the Indians for the peninsular part of Michigan. He also held the office of United States district attorney for a time. He died at Detroit April 4th, 1846, universally respected as one of Detroit's most influential and public-spir- ited citizens.
Henry H. Sibley's mother was Miss Sarah Whipple Sproat, only daughter of Colonel Eben- ezer Sproat, an accomplished officer of the con- tinental army, and of his wife, formerly Miss Car- oline Whipple, daughter of Commodore Abraham Whipple, of the continental navy, an illustrious commander, who first fired upon the British flag on the high seas during the Revolution, and first floated the stars and stripes from his vessel's mast- head in the Thames, at London, England. She was born at Providence, Rhode Island, on Janu- ary 28, 1782, but removed with her parents when but seven years old to Marietta, Ohio, which was then on the frontier and in the midst of the wild- erness. Mrs. Sibley (mother of Henry H.) is de- scribed in the " Pioneer Women of the West " as a lady of unusual personal beauty and command- ing figure. She possessed a vigorous and cultiva- ted intellect, undaunted courage ; was frank in manner, affectionate in disposition and truly just, as well as benevolent. During her married life she was the center of an admiring circle of devoted friends, and died at Detroit January 22, 1851, " without one to cast reproach upon her elevated and beautiful character."
Henry H. was the fourth child and second son, and the scion of a stock whose roots extend back to the times of the English commonwealth and the Norman conquest. His earliest boyhood was soon distinguished by traits of character that made him conspicuous. He was bold, daring, mischievous, and often his mother declared him to be "incorrigible and the black sheep of the family." He was fond of field sports and the exploits of the hunter and pioneer; his blood was stirred by the narratives of feats, perils and hairbreadth escapes as told by his elders, and he longed for the time to come when he might become an actor rather than a listener. Mean- while he received such academical education as could be obtained in Detroit at that time, and
subsequently enjoyed two years private tuition in the classics. His father, Judge Sibley, had des- tined him for the legal profession, and when about sixteen he commenced the study of law in his father's office. After struggling with its dry details for about a year, Henry at last broke through the plan devised by his father, confessed that the study of law was very irksome to him, and that he longed for a more active, outdoor and stirring life. His parents, after much consulta- tion, allowed him to follow his own inclinations and choose for himself his own career.
Cutting loose from home in his eighteenth year, on June 20, 1828, he wended his way northward and westward, never again to return except as a visitor. He began business life as a clerk in the employ of Mr. John Hulbert, of Sault Ste. Marie, who kept a sutler's store for supplying the wants of the four companies of United States troops stationed thereabouts. After serving him a few months he became agent for a Mrs. Johnson, whose deceased husband had been, prior to his death, an Indian trader for years and of large business, his widow continuing the business. This employment gave Henry a broad insight into Indian affairs. In the spring of 1829 he was offered and accepted a clerkship in the great " American Fur Company," of which John Jacob Astor, of New York, was the head, and which had its headquarters at Mackinac, whither he re- moved and reported for duty. Here he remained in the employ of the fur company for five years. Their confidence in him was unbounded, and he discharged to their satisfaction several important trusts, and during the years 1832-33, 1833-34, he was supply purchasing agent of all supplies for the whole company, and was given letters of credit, carte blanche, upon New York. During his stay in Mackinac he made his entrance into offi- cial life, although not of age, being commissioned by Governor George B. Porter, of Michigan terri- tory, in 1831, a justice of the peace for the county of Mackinac.
The fourth step in young Sibley's career-the one that decided the tenor of his whole subse- quent life, was when he became a partner in the fur company in 1834, together with Colonel Dous- man and Joseph Rolette, Sr. By the terms of the agreement Mr. Sibley, then only twenty-two, was placed in control of all the country above
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Lake Pepin to the headwaters of streams empty- ing into the Missouri, and north of the British line, with headquarters at St. Peter's, now the village of Mendota. In the autumn of 1834 he left Mackinac, and after a tedious journey of ten days by boat and on horseback he arrived at St. Peter's on November 7, 1834, the whole region being an absolute wild, save where Fort Snelling stood and a few traders' huts. The position now occupied by young Sibley was one of great im- portance and responsibility, for he had control of the interests of the American Fur Company over a vast territory, inspecting its posts, supervising its traders, clerks and voyageurs, and dictating its policy as to traffic with the Indians. But such was his personal courage, great tact and diplomacy, firmness and patience in dealing with whites and Indians, that he succeeded in everything, and for years, when this region had no law, nor courts, nor justice, he exercised a wholesome restraint over all who gathered at the trading post. About 1840 this region was included in Iowa territory, being a part of Clayton county, and Mr. Sibley again received a commission as justice of the peace, and thereby became the only magistrate in this region. In 1835-6 he purchased his friend Bailey's interest in the fur trade, and also con- structed and completed two stone buildings, one for conducting business and accommodating guests, the other for his private residence. This was the first stone residence ever erected in this state, and still stands. For nine years uninter- ruptedly, from 1834 to 1843, he had lived a bach- elor's life at St. Peter's, pursuing zealously the interest of the fur company.
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