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 61
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The year 1843 was an important one to Mr. Sibley, for in this year he decided to take unto himself a wife and become a benedict. But he still continued in the fur trade until the year 1853 under the firm name of P. Chouteau & Co., of St. Louis, which succeeded the American Fur Com- pany in 1842. In the year 1848 he was chosen delegate to the Thirtieth Congress from the terri- tory of Wisconsin, in pursuance of a proclama- tion issued by the then acting Governor Catlin, part of the territory having already been admitted as a state and its representation provided for, while the remainder of five thousand people and twenty thousand square miles was or was not dis- franchised. From the time of his arrival at the
opening of Congress Mr. Sibley was the object of great curiosity and attention, but in his earnest pleas for the territory he soon proved himself a debater and a statesman. After many vexatious delays, on January 15, 1849, Mr. Sibley was ad- mitted to the house as a " duly elected delegate " from the territory, and he at once turned his attention to the accomplishment of the ulterior object of his advent to Washington, viz .: the organization of Minnesota territory. After a bit- ter contest, beginning in the senate in December, 1848, and ending in the house on March 3, 1849, through the perseverance and determined purpose of Mr. Sibley, Minnesota was organized as a new territory, with a separate government almost equal to that enjoyed by the people of the states, and with the capital at St. Paul. On June Ist, 1849, Hon. Alexander Ramsey, the first governor, issued his proclamation of the organization of the territory. On August 1, 1849, Henry H. Sibley was again elected unanimously as a delegate to the Thirty-first Congress, but this time to repre- sent the new territory of Minnesota, and again in 185I was he re-elected for the full term, and truly can it be said that never, in all her history, has Minnesota been more ably or honorably represen- ted in the national congress.
In 1853 Mr. Sibley declined to run for delegate again, and retired to private life; he also with- drew from active business and devoted himself to his property interests, which had grown rapidly in value. In 1855 he represented Dakota county in the sixth territorial legislature, and was a member of the famous constitutional convention of 1857, from the same county. It was through the action of this convention that the territory of Minnesota was prepared for statehood and admitted to the Union. At the election for state officers, held October 13, 1857, when the constitution was also ratified, Hon. Henry H. Sibley was the people's choice for governor, defeating a strong competi tor, Hon. Alexander Ramsey. He became the , first and only Democratic governor the state has ever possessed. His term of office was truly a public service, for during it he strove faithfully to protect the interests of the state and people, and in aid of good government, wise laws and good policy. He refused to be a candidate for re-elec- tion, and withdrew once more to private life. He was a delegate to the Democratic national con-
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vention which met at Charleston, South Carolina, on April 23, 1860, to nominate a candidate for president on a pro-slavery platform, and was one of the delegates who stuck to Stephen A. Doug- las until the convention broke up. When the war of the Rebellion was opened by the bom- bardment of Fort Sumter Governor Sibley at once warmly advocated upholding the honor of the nation by arms as the only course left to the north. In the year 1880 Governor Sibley became a candidate for Congress from the third district, but was not elected.
We come now to Governor Sibley's military career, more arduous and not less responsible than his political career. On August 18, 1862, while the civil war was raging in the south, occurred the horrible Sioux outbreak and massacre, ex- tending over eighteen counties and two thousand square miles, populated by forty thousand souls exposed to merciless savages. Governor Ramsey at once appointed Governor Sibley to the com- mand of the military expedition with the rank of colonel, but with equal powers and duties of a general. Because of his intimate knowledge of Indian life and habits no better selection could have been made. Colonel Sibley accepted and at once took command, and after a successful cam- paign of about three months he had conquered the desperate Sioux, driven them to their reserva- tions, taken prisoners over two thousand, tried by military commission over four hundred and con- demned to death three hundred and three; but owing to outside influences only thirty-eight were executed by order of President Lincoln.
On September 29, 1862, President Lincoln com- missioned Colonel Sibley a brigadier-general for gallant conduct in the field. He fixed his head- quarters at St. Paul, removing his family hither, and a new military department was created of Minnesota, Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Dur- ing the years 1863, 1864 and 1865 General Sibley was engaged in campaigns in defense of the fron- tier against the Indian tribes, which eventually resulted in restoring peace and safety to the set- tlers in the exposed counties. On November 29, 1865, he was promoted to brevet major-general for " efficient and meritorious services." He was relieved from the command of the district of Minnesota in August, 1866, by order of the presi- dent, and made a member of a mixed civil and
military commission to negotiate treaties with the hostile Sioux, which was done at Fort Sully, and the treaties afterwards ratified by the senate. General Sibley, almost to the close of his life, took a great interest in the Indian question.
On retiring from military life and cares, General Sibley again resumed the duties or a public-spir- ited and useful citizen. In 1867 he was elected president of the St. Paul Gas Light Company, and retained the office until his death, a period of twenty-three years. He also served as president of two banks at one time-the City Bank and the Minnesota Savings Bank, afterwards merged into the First National Bank. For a long time he was a director in the Sioux City railroad ; he aided in organizing the chamber of commerce, was its president in 1871 and 1872 ; a director in the First National Bank from 1873 to 1891, and president of Oakland Cemetery from 1878 to 1891. In 1888 he was commander of the Loyal Legion of Minnesota, and from 1885 to his death president of the Minnesota Club. He was a member of Acker Post, No. 21, Grand Army of the Republic, from May, 1885, until his death.
As to General Sibley's religious views, while he was a regular attendant at and vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, but not a member until a few months before his death, still, judging him by his own words, he measured up to the stand- ard of a true Christian. " I believe the doctrines of the Bible to be the only safe guide for nations as well as individuals, and that they are sufficient for this life and the eternity to which we are hastening."
His domestic life, which began on May 2, 1843, by his marriage at Fort Snelling, to Miss Sarah J. Steele, daughter of General James Steele, of Baltimore, Maryland, a lady of rare virtues, ac- complishments and exalted worth, was greatly blessed, and his home for many years the abode of happiness and enjoyment. After twenty-six years of happy married life Mrs. Sibley died May 21, 1869, and he sought comfort and solace for his great sorrow among his children. Of the nine children born to this union four grew to mature years and still live, viz .: Augusta (Mrs. Captain Douglas Pope), Sarah Jane (Mrs. Elbert A. Young), Charles Frederick and Alfred Brush, all of whom now reside in this city.
General Sibley was a man of striking appear-
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ance, tall and of very erect carriage. He was a close thinker and a diligent student, and he kept a large and valuable library on scientific and his- torical subjects, to which he frequently referred. He was also fond of writing, and during different periods of his life he wrote many articles for literary and political journals. He was a regular contributor to The Spirit of the Times, New York, from 1846 to 1852, his nom de plume being "Hal a Dakota." He always used terse, plain Anglo- Saxon, and his style was easy, graceful and unaffected.
General Sibley was a charter member of both the Minnesota Historical Society (1849) and the Old Settlers' Association of Minnesota (1858), and was always greatly interested in the objects of both. In 1868 he was appointed a regent of the State University, and served until his death. In 1875 he was elected a member of the American Geographical Society of New York, and in the year 1888, very unexpectedly to himself, he had conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws by the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and
received his diploma in due form. This degree was never more worthily conferred by any college or university, or more highly appreciated.
On February 18, 1891, at the age of eighty, General Henry Hastings Sibley passed quietly to his rest ånd reward, and the state and city sus- tained a great loss. He was known at home and abroad, as he deserved to be, as " the first gentle- man of Minnesota." His name has become a household word throughout the state, so closely interwoven has his career been with her history for over half a century, and with the social and business life of this city for a generation. By his upright character, his public spirit, his prominence as a pioneer of the state, his creditable record in both civil and military life, his culture and literary attainments, his sympathy and generosity toward every good work, he had won a foremost place in the esteem of the people, and at the close of his life stood, and still stands, among them without a peer. Truly has General Sibley been one of the representative men of St. Paul and the great northwest.
DAVID MARSTON CLOUGH, .
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
PRACTICAL industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success. It carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individ- ual character, and powerfully stimulates the ac- tion of others. It is this unflagging spirit of in- dustry which has laid the foundations and built the commercial greatness of the northwest. The career of the subject of this sketch happily illus- trates the foregoing observations ; born and reared amid the most adverse surroundings, his indomitable will and energy, combined with ster- ling integrity, have placed him in the front rank of the business men of the northwest.
David M. Clough is a native of New Hamp- shire. He was born at Lyme, on the 27th of De- cember, 1846. His father, Elbridge G. Clough, was a lumberman in that vicinity, and a highly respected citizen.
In 1855 Mr. Clough removed his entire family to Waupaca, Wisconsin, and two years later he located at Spencer Brook, Minnesota, engaging in
lumbering and farming. He had but little with which to make a start in a new country, but the undeveloped resources of the west offered splendid inducements to the man possessed of the courage and confidence to face the privations and hard- ships of pioneer life. David's educational advan- tages were necessarily limited, consisting merely in irregular attendance at the common schools. He was one of a family of fourteen children, and was obliged to assist in the support of the family. Up to the age of twenty he remained at home, helping his father on the farm, and in winter assisting at logging in the forests .. Here he ob- tained his intimate knowledge of the practical methods of lumbering, and laid the foundation for his subsequent prosperity.
At twenty years of age, realizing that his suc- cess in life must depend solely on his own efforts, and seeing but little chance for advancement at home, he started forth into the world in search of employment. He left his home without assist-
Jours truly M. Claugh
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ance of any kind, and even without a coat; but he was naturally of a buoyant disposition, and possessed a determination that stops at no obsta- cles, and soon found employment. Mr. Henry F. Brown, of Minneapolis, the well-known lumber- man, whose portrait can be seen on another page of this volume, gave him work driving team and sawing lumber, and finding him honest and indus- trious, Mr. Brown soon found opportunity to ad- vance him in position. He remained in the em- ploy of Mr. Brown four years, and at the end of that time, having accumulated a little money, the result of careful economy, he started lumbering in a small way, with his older brother, Gilbert Clough, as a partner. Both were experienced lumbermen, and to this fact is due much of the success that has attended their efforts. Since its inception their business has been eonducted un- der the firm name of Clough Brothers, with David M. and Gilbert Clough as sole proprietors. On the 28th of December, 1888, Mr. Gilbert Clough passed peacefully away, and since that time the entire management of the extensive business has devolved upon David M. Clough. In 1874 Mr. Clough removed to Minneapolis, where he opened a large yard and located his headquarters. The business employs a capital of about five hundred thousand dollars, and in 1891 over fifteen million feet of lumber were handled.
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By careful and prudent management, the busi- ness has reached its present magnificent propor- tions. By his strict integrity and his uniform methods of honorable dealing, Mr. Clough has won the esteem and confidence of his fellow citi- zens.
As the representative of the Republican party,
he has been called to fill various positions of honor and responsibility. From 1883 to 1887 he was a member of the common council of Minne- apolis, and during one term was president of that body. From 1886 to 1890 he represented his dis- trict in the state senate. He is now (1892) presi- dent of the State Agricultural Society, and much of the credit for the success of that organization is due to his efforts. His first work was to ob- tain an appropriation from the state legislature of twenty thousand dollars to pay the debts of the society, and then, by proper and vigorous man- agement, the fair held in 1891 netted the society over ten thousand dollars. Mr. Clough is also vice-president of the Bank of Minneapolis, and a director in the Commercial Bank of Minneapolis, both among the solid financial institutions of that city.
On the 4th of April, 1868, Mr. Clough married Miss Addie Barton, of Spencer Brook, Minnesota, a daughter of Reuben Barton, a well-known far- mer of that vicinity. To them has been born one child, who is now the wife of Mr. R. H. Hartley. Mr. and Mrs. Clough are active members of Ply- mouth Congregational Church, of Minneapolis, of which Mr. Clough is a trustee. To this and to every worthy charitable and benevolent object, they give freely of both their time and their means.
Mr. Clough still retains the old homestead of six hundred acres at Spencer Brook, a memento of his early struggles and hardships. This farm, now the home of his aged mother, is devoted to the raising of blooded stock, and among its mag- nificent herds may be found some of the best bred Durhams in the northwest.
COLONEL CHARLES HINMAN GRAVES,
DULUTH, MINN.
T HE city of Duluth, although favored greatly by natural advantages, owes her eminent position as the greatest wheat mart in the world to the enterprise of certain of her citizens, who, perceiving these advantages, have developed a grain market of world-wide influence.
Among these men Colonel Charles H. Graves is a most commanding figure. He is the parent
of the great wheat commerce of Duluth, having in the year 1871 purchased and shipped from the port of Duluth over two million bushels of grain. This was the beginning of the great traffic of to day. Colonel Graves is as active in the grain trade as he ever has been, and is now president of the Union Improvement and Elevator Company and the Lake Superior Elevator Company, the
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two companies that own all the grain elevators at Duluth. These elevators have a storage capacity of ten million bushels.
Charles Hinman Graves was born in Spring- field, Massachusetts, August 14, 1839. His father was the Rev. H. A. Graves, a Baptist clergyman and editor of the Watchman and Reflector, a Bap- tist weekly newspaper, published in Boston. He was a leading writer among the Abolitionists from 1845 to 1855. His wife, Mary Hinman Graves, was the daughter of Scoville Hinman, of New Haven, Connecticut, who was once sheriff of that city, and a member of the noted Hinman family of that state, one of whom was Governor Royal Hinman. The grandfather of Charles, the Rev. Joseph M. Graves, also was a Baptist clergy- man, who was known for many years all over New England as "Father Graves." This worthy man was a leader in the temperance reforms of New England clergymen. He was born in Wor- cester county, Massachusetts, and was descended from an early pioneer of the country, who settled at the mouth of the Connecticut river.
Our subject received a common school educa- tion, which was supplemented by classical instruc- tion given him by his father when in the Island of Jamaica, West Indies, where the family re- sided for four years. His father died in 1855. This was the cause of his leaving the Litchfield (Connecticut) Academy, which he was then at- tending, and necessitated his earning his living clerking in stores, principally at West Cambridge, now Arlington, Massachusetts, where in May, 1861, he enlisted as a private in a company of volunteers recruited by Captain Ingalls. This company was organized too late to be included in the quota of the state of Massachusetts, under President Lincoln's first call for three months' men. As a consequence the men went with three other companies to New York city, and became a part of the Fortieth Regiment New York Volun- teer Infantry. Young Graves was appointed corporal, then sergeant of his company. He carried a musket through the first battle of Bull Run, and during the arduous drilling under General McClellan, in November of 1861, two vacancies in the office of second lieutenant occur- ing in the regiment, the colonel, to stimulate his men in the service, appointed a competitive examination for promotion to those positions.
Among some forty competitors Sergeant Graves ranked second and was rewarded with a commis- sion on December 19, 1861, as second lieutenant, by Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York. It was, to use his own words, " the proudest day of my life." The whole regiment knew the way the commission had been obtained and were enthusi- astic over it. This was the starting point of a brilliant army record, outlined as follows : Private. Fortieth New York Volunteers, June, 1861 ; ser- geant, August 14, 1861 ; second lieutenant, De- cember 19, 1861 ; first lieutenant, July 7, 1862 ; captain, December 16, 1862 ; captain and assist- ant adjutant general United States Volunteers, March 3, 1864; major and assistant adjutant general United States Volunteers, January 15, 1865 (for gallant services in attack on Fort Fisher); breveted lieutenant colonel and colonel volun- teers, March 13, 1865, for faithful and efficient services during the war and gallant conduct in the field ; appointed first lieutenant Fourteenth United States Infantry, November 29, 1865 ; captain Thirty-eighth United States Infantry, July 28, 1866; breveted major United States army, March 25, 1867, for gallant and meritorious services in battle of Gettysburg, and lieutenant colonel United States army, for gallant and meritorious service on Fort Fisher. Resigned, December, 1870.
Colonel Graves served in the Army of the Potomac, in the Army of the James, and in the Fort Fisher expedition. He was in all the battles of those commands; was severely wounded at Gettysburg, and was three months in a hospital. He served on the staffs of Generals Philip Kear- ney, George Stoneman, D. B. Birney and A. H. Terry, in various positions; mostly as judge advocate and inspector, or adjutant general. After the close of the war, he served mostly as aid and staff officer to General Terry, with con- siderable experience on the plains of Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
After leaving the army, Colonel Graves took up his residence in Duluth, where he has been eminently successful in numerous projects with which he has been connected. His friends and neighbors recognizing his ability for public ser- vice, sent him in 1871 to Washington to help secure the first appropriation for improving the harbor of Duluth; and he has since been fre-
Michael Doraum
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quently called on in behalf of his adopted city. He was mayor of Duluth two terms. During 1873-74-75-76, he served as state senator and took a leading position. His principal work was in reforming the mode of conducting affairs of the state treasury, and as author of the present system and laws governing that department.
Col. Graves was elected to the general assem- bly of Minnesota in 1888, and during that and the following year he was speaker of the house. His services rendered to the State of Minnesota in both branches of the legislature and in many conventions, political and of a business character, have made him well known to the people of the northwest. He is probably the most widely known of any of the prominent men of Duluth. On May 20, 1873, he married Miss Grace Totten, daughter of General Joseph G. Totten, who was for twenty-five years chief of engineers in the United States army. Mrs. Graves is a charming lady, who is loved by a large circle of friends.
Colonel Graves has a marked personality. He has inherited studious habits and intellectual tastes, which have enabled him to become an acknowledged authority in legislative, legal and business affairs. In the state senate he was
generally taken to be a lawyer by those not in- formed to the contrary ; and it is doubtful if any other business man of Minnesota is as conversant with the state and federal laws as he. He has great energy and capacity for organization and execution, with an original mind, naturally in- ventive. He is enthusiastic about his adopted home, and has had much to do with furthering its progress. For years he was a director in the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Company, and beside being president of the Union Improve- ment and Elevator Company and of the Lake Superior Elevator Company, he has large interests in other prominent organizations.
Throughout his active life Colonel Graves has been faithful to every trust reposed in him, and by his consistent, straightforward, conscientious and gentlemanly demeanor, he has gained the confidence and esteem of all who know him. His military record fills a bright page in history ; his career as a representative of his fellow-citizens is no less honorable ; and his course as a private citizen has been such as to bind in the closest bonds of friendship, those with whom he is thrown in daily contact, and to command the respect of those in his employ.
HON. MICHAEL DORAN,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
M ICHAEL DORAN was born in County Meath, Ireland, November 1, 1827. In 1850 he emigrated to the United States. After re- maining a year in New York state he journeyed west, locating near Norwalk, Ohio, where he rented a farm and worked it on shares, meeting with moderate success. While in Ohio he married Miss Ellen Brady. She died in 1862, survived by four children.
In 1856 Mr. Doran determined to locate in the then far west, and settled on government land in Le Sueur county, Minnesota. Here he at once became a prominent citizen and earned the respect and friendship of his neighbors and friends. In 1861 he was elected county treasurer of Le Sueur county, taking his office in March, 1862, and was re-elected several times, serving in all eight years.
In 1865 Mr. Doran was married to his present wife, who was Miss Catharine J. Grady, of Le Sueur county ; eight children constitute the living issue of this marriage.
In 1870 he formed a partnership with Mr. George D. Snow, and entered into the bank- ing business in Le Sueur, under the firm name of Snow & Doran. This firm also con- ducted a mill, elevators, etc. Mr. Snow died shortly after this partnership was formed, and the business was continued by Mr. Doran. Later Mr. Edson R. Smith became his · associate, and as Doran & Smith the partnership was continued until March, 1891, when it was dissolved by mu- tual consent, Mr. Smith continuing the business in LeSueur. In 1877-8 Mr. Doran determined to enter into the banking and brokerage business in St. Paul, while still continuing the business in Le
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Sueur. He purchased an interest in the business of Charles A. Morton, forming the firm of Morton & Doran. Six months later he purchased Mr. Morton's interest and established the firm of M. Doran & Co., his associate up to 1891 being Mr. Smith, and since then Mr. Doran's son, James Doran.
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