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 67
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68
In all things that will benefit the city of Min- neapolis Mr. Brackett is a most tireless worker, sparing neither time, money nor labor. He is possessed of great executive ability, and all of the enterprises that have been organized to ad- vance the city of Minneapolis, either materially or morally, have found in him a most worthy champion. This sketch can be no more fittingly closed than by .quoting a paragraph which ap- peared in the city press while it was being pre- pared, and which is a graphic characterization of its subject. Says the Minneapolis Journal :
"No man in the city deserves better of his fellow-citizens than does George A. Brackett. Every inch a manly man, strong in his con- victions and calm, wise and judicious in his counsel ; enterprising, yet conservative, a typical, public-spirited northwestern man, one whose brawn and common sense are of the kind that builds up a new country and makes big cities grow as if by magic. Always ready when a ten- der hand is needed to smooth a dying pillow, a level head to conceive the best plan for an emer- gency, or a strong arm to push forward any enter- prise to benefit his city and fellow-men. The incar- nation of tenderness, strength and true nobility."
1
HON. CHRISTOPHER D. O'BRIEN,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
C HRISTOPHER D. O'BRIEN is noted for his just conception of the law, his faculty of imparting ideas, skill in eliciting evidence, tact in the management of cases, fairness to his adversary, and his lucid, earnest arguments, smoothly flowing, rounded periods, marshaling facts and drawing conclusions with masterly logic and eloquence.
Mr. O'Brien is a native of Ireland, and is de- scended from the family of that name, in that country famous in history for learning, eloquence and patriotism. He is the son of Dillon O'Brien, a gentleman of firm scholarship and fine native abilities, who came to America with his family in the fall of 1856. Christopher was born in the county of Galway in 1848. In the summer of 1857 he went with his father, who was a govern- ment school-teacher, to La Pointe, Wisconsin,
and under his instruction commenced his educa- tion, which he afterwards finished in the schools at St. Anthony, Minnesota, having arrived in this state in May, 1863. In January, 1866, he- removed to St. Paul, and entered the law office of Hon. Cushman Kellogg Davis, United States Senator from Saint Paul, and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in January, 1870, and has prac- ticed law in St. Paul ever since with remarkable success.
He was assistant United States district attor- ney from the time he was admitted to the bar . until 1873. He was elected county attorney in 1874, and served in that capacity four years, and was mayor of St. Paul from 1883 to 1885. In March, 1888, he formed a partnership with his brother, Thomas D. O'Brien, under the firm-name of C. D. and Thomas D. O'Brien. The business
IO24
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
of this firm is very extensive in both State and Federal Courts, and consists largely of railroad litigated cases.
In October, 1872, Mr. O'Brien married Miss Susan Slater, an estimable lady of fine accom- plishments. They have seven children.
HON. R. R. NELSON,
ST. PAUL, MINN.
A MONG the first acts of President Buchanan's administration was the appointment of Rens- selaer R. Nelson as associate justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, in place of Judge Sherburne, whose term had expired. Judge Nelson was born May 12, 1826, in Cooperstown, N. Y .; his ancestors on the parental side were of Scotch and Irish de- scent, and on the maternal of Irish and English. His father, Hon. Samuel Nelson, was for many years one of the most eminent judges of the Supreme court of New York, and later acquired a national reputation as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In both capacities it is universally conceded that he oc- cupied the highest rank as a jurist, and probably had no superior on the bench. His opinions are models of strength and clearness and terseness, brushing away all sophisms and technicalities, and aiming straight to the root of the matter at issue.
Mr. Nelson prepared for college at Hartwick Seminary and in a military school in Cooperstown, and to some extent under a private tutor. He entered Yale college in 1842.
In scholarship he ranked above the average, though he never was ambitious for high honors of scholarship, the maxim mens sana in sano corpore seemed to him of importance and he did not make the mistake, which too many do, of sacrificing health in striving for empty honor of valedictorian. Boating had not then gained prominence, foot- ball was the great game which absorbed the energies of colleges athletes. Those who have witnessed the magnificent displays of such men as Kendrick and Moody when pitted against each other, will readily admit that modern playing seems tame in comparison. It is said that both these champions have been known to send a ball clean over the old state house in the city green. Mr. Nelson entered into these contests with par- ticular zest, and they, no doubt, tended to de- velop the physical vigor for which he is noted.
In the same class with Mr. Nelson were Gov. Harrison, ex-Congressman Kellogg, of Connecti- cut, and Hon. J. B. Brisbin, of St. Paul. Another college-mate was Richard Taylor, son of President Taylor, who won high distinction in the Confeder- ate army, and rose to the rank of major-general.
Mr. Nelson graduated in 1846 and soon after entered the law office of James R. Whitney, New York city, a very prominent and able lawyer, and for some time was district attorney. He received the sobriquet of "Little Bitter," from his keen sarcasm in the famous Colt and Monroe Edwards trial, which was defended by the brilliant Tom Marshall and Senator Crittenden. His prepara- tion for admission to the bar was finished in the office of Hon. Geo. A. Starkweather, in Coopers- town, in 1849. The same year he went to Buffalo with the intention of opening an office and com- mencing practice in that city. Here, however, his plans for location were unexpectedly changed. He then met there Hon. Nathan K. Hall, ex-mem- ber of Congress and the partner of Pres. Fillmore. Later he was appointed judge of the United States District Court for the northern district of New York. Judge Hall, while in Congress, had become acquainted with Gen. Sibley, and largely through information derived from him had be- came strongly impressed with the future import- ance of the northwest. He himself was desirous of removing to the newly formed territory of Minnesota, and was an applicant for appointment as governor. There is no doubt but that he would have received the appointment had it not been discovered that he was ineligible in conse- quence of having voted in Congress for the ad- mission of the territory. Judge Hall strongly ad- vised Mr. Nelson to make Minnesota his future home. At that time it required much faith and courage for a young man dependent only on his brains for his future, to accept this advice, for the territory was almost wholly undeveloped, the
& R Nelson
JUDGES MISTTICTEURI MINNE _ 1A
Bng ? Iv.B.B. Hall & Sons 13 Havelay St JT
1025
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
population only a handful and the future unknown. Fortunately for Mr. Nelson, he possessed a good share of both qualities, and he soon decided to make the venture. He abandoned the idea of commencing practice in Buffalo, but, as the season was then two far advanced to make the journey without incurring some risk and much hardship, his removal was deferred till the following spring. He landed in St. Paul in the early morning of May 12, 1850, climbed the steep bluff from the steamboat landing by a long pair of rickety stairs. The aspect that met his view was not particularly inviting. A few cheap frame and log houses, with plenty of stumps and rocks in the ungraded streets, indicated the future metropolis. The genial Jacob W. Bass was then postmaster, and kept his office in a seven by nine room near the top of the bluff.
Mr. Nelson wanted his mail and he wanted it right off. Early as the hour was he disturbed the postmaster in his morning nap. To this doubt- less was due the fact that the worthy official for a moment forgot his accustomed suavity and caused a chilling frost to fall upon the sanguine anticipations of the young tenderfoot. Learning from a brief interview that the young man had come to St. Paul to practice law, the bowels of compassion in the heart of Mr. Bass were deeply moved. He said, "My dear young friend, I sincerely pity you. We have a population of six hundred, and fifty of them are lawyers, the most of them starving. I advise you to take the next boat east, because you have no chance here. We have too much trouble with lawyers already." From our present standpoint the advice seems ludicrous, but from that occupied by Mr. Bass at at that day it cannot be doubted it was given in entire good faith. Mr. Bass, although he has since became a millionaire from his investments in St. Paul, at that time knew as little of its future as a native of Japan. Fortunately for himself and the future commonwealth, Mr. Nelson did not act on this advice. He began practice, continuing until 1854; so favorably had he became known that in 1853 his friends urged him to become a candidate for delegate to Congress, which he declined. Al- though a Democrat in politics, throughout his long judicial career he has never allowed politics in the slightest degree to influence his decisions on the bench.
In 1854 certain business interests called Mr. Nelson to the town of Superior, Wisconsin ; while there Gov. Barstow appointed him district attorney of Douglas county, Wisconsin, which was the first civil office he ever held.
During the time he was there he was largely instrumental in organizing and naming the county in honor of his warm friend, S. A. Douglas. He returned to St. Paul in the fall of 1855, resumed the practice of the law, continuing until 1857.
In April of that year he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of the territory, and immediately qualified and entered upon the dis- charge of his duties.
Judge Nelson held this position a little less than a year. In 1857 a state constitution was adopted and state officers elected who entered upon the discharge of their duties in January fol- lowing. The territory that year was in a transi- tional state, which to some extent affected the busi- ness of the courts. After the appointment of Judge Nelson but one general term of the Supreme court of the territory was held ; so far as the reports show, in January 1858. The court then consisted of Wm. H. Welch, chief justice, R. R. Nelson and Chas. E. Flandreau, associate justices.
Two opinions written by Judge Nelson in cases argued at that term appear in the first volume of Minnesota Reports. This, however, does not in- dicate the amount of judicial work done by him during his brief term of service. A quite a large amount of chamber work then devolved upon him as the judge of the district court then residing at St. Paul. Indeed, in that capacity he made the decision in one case which may properly be termed a cause celébre of the territory.
A bill was passed by the legislature removing the capital to St. Peter. In due time Judge Nel- son was applied to for a mandamus to compel the territorial officers to remove the offices to the new capital; the matter was elaborately argued by Judge Chatfield, and Gen. L. Emmett, op- posed. Great interest was felt for the decision.
Judge Nelson wrote a somewhat elaborate opinion, denying the application ; being an opinion delivered in chambers it does not appear in the published reports, but may be seen in the records of the Historical Society. It is needless to say that the opinion completely settled the
IO26
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
question and allayed the excitement of the people.
The decision was based upon the ground that the legislature had exhausted its power and authority to locate the seat of government by previous legislation, and the power was not in the nature of a continuing trust.
On May 11, 1858, President Buchanan appointed Judge Nelson United States District Judge for the district of Minnesota, which was at once confirmed by the Senate without the reference to committee. Soon thereafter Judge Nelson quali- fied and entered upon his duties.
The business of the court has increased from year to year, so that the labors of the district judge have become quite arduous, requiring nearly all his time in their performance.
Less than three years after his, appointment the war of the Rebellion broke out. His de- voted attachment and unwavering loyalty to the Union was evidenced by some of his charges to the grand jury in the first year of the war. Judge Nelson was well versed in the code system of pleading when he came to Minn- esota, which has been of much advantage to him in his judicial investigations.
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Judge Nelson as a judiciary officer is his strong common sense, united with a keen innate per-
them from sophisms and technicalties which ingen- ious pleaders and advocates throw around them. ception of equity, which enables him at once to grasp the merits of a controversy and disentangle
This quality is not less important in court than in jury cases. In his charges to the jury they are not left in doubt as to the facts they are to find nor as to the law governing the case. In case of error in the latter counsel can always rely on being granted the full benefit of their exception. and so to the rights of both parties are strictly guarded and justice rarely fails. To such litigants as do not desire justice, of which there always some in every court, these qualities in a judicial officer may not seem desirable. To the great mass, however, of clients and attorneys, they are those which are most indispensable in a judge. Dignified and yet always courteous on the bench, in private life, Judge Nelson is one of the most genial, open-hearted and interesting of companions, and lives in the enjoyment of a large circle of warm friends who esteem him not less for his high abilities than his lovable social qualities. He has devoted thirty years of the best portion of his life to the service of his adopted state. With his ripe experience, if his life is spared, still greater benefit to the state with attendant honors to himself, may be expected in the future than have been realized in the past.
WYMAN ELLIOT,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
W TYMAN ELLIOT is the eldest son of Dr. Jacob S. Elliot. He was born on May 19, 1834, at the town of Corinna, on the headwaters of the Sabasticook, an eastern tributary of the Kennebec river, in Penobscot county, Maine. He was a broad-shouldered, stalwart youth, re- ceiving in boyhood a good English education. While yet in his teens he became an assistant to his father in conducting his business, consisting of saw and grist mills, farm and merchandise, and was entrusted with the exchange of the products of the rural business for merchandise in Boston.
He developed at an early age a taste for horti- cultural pursuits, assisting his mother in the culti- vation of fruits and flowers, to which she was
ardently devoted. As his father adopted the practice of medicine, the management of his large business devolved largely on his eldest son, who carried it on with energy and success until the family removed to the west, Dr. Elliot having visited Minneapolis in the spring of 1854, and purchased the eighty-acre tract of John L. Ten- ney, which had been pre-empted by Dr. Hezekiah Fletcher. The land, then far beyond the limits of the settled or platted part of the town, pur- chased for two thousand dollars, was afterwards platted as J. S. and Wyman Elliot's addition, and has brought to the owners a revenue of at least half a million dollars, besides the satisfaction which its use in the early days of the town and
Wyman belliot-
IO27
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
city yielded by cultivation as a suburban farm, nursery and market garden.
After his father had made his purchase and determined to make his residence in Minneapolis, Wyman brought out the family in the latter part of the year 1854. After they had been comfort- ably settled in a new dwelling house erected on the tract, Wyman went to near Monticello, Wright county, Minnesota, and took a pre-emption claim. Before this he stocked a farm and gathered his first crop, being among the first settlers and ac- tual cultivators of lands west of the Mississippi river. He soon, however, left his claim and re- turned to Minneapolis, where he took charge of the home place. From time to time trees were planted, convenient buildings erected and the raising of such vegetables as were in demand was engaged in until, in 1862, an extensive market garden had been established, with a green-house for the production of plants and flowers. A nur- sery of trees was also planted, from which not only the Elliot addition was made attractive by the rows of shade trees and ornamental shrub- bery, but the nursery was a source from which much of the stock was derived which has made the streets of Minneapolis shady and beautiful. He also added to the garden and nursery the seed business, and maintained for many years a store in the city mentioned for the sale of trees, shrub- bery, plants, vegetables and garden and field seeds.
The site of the Elliot green-house was upon the west margin of a sunken water-hole, about where the fountain in Elliot Park now throws its spray into the sun. When the Elliots gave this tract to the city for a public park the water-hole was filled, the unsightly embankments removed, and the tract has become one of the beauty spots of the city.
Wyman Elliot had a natural love and taste for horticulture, and whether its indulgence brought profit or loss, he has, amid his other important business engagements, always found time to en- gage in his favorite pursuit. Not only has he practiced the art for his own pleasure and profit, but he has also labored with constancy and zeal to promote it in the community.
He participated in the formation of the Hen- nepin County Horticultural Society, and later in the State Society, of both of which he has been president, treasurer and director. He has rarely
missed attendance upon the meetings of the soci- ties, and has participated in their discussions of the art of horticulture, and contributed freely and copiously to the literature of the societies by ad- dresses and papers, which enrich the published transactions of the societies. He was also an exhibitor at the local and state fairs, whose tables seldom failed to show rare flowers and luscious fruits of his production.
Mr. Elliot married, November 25, 1868, Miss May Ella Chase, daughter of Elbridge Chase, of Minneapolis, but formerly of Haverhill, Massa- chusetts. They have four children.
Some years ago Mr. Elliot erected a family residence at the corner of Nicollet avenue and Tenth street, overlooking the Elliot Park, which is among the elegant private houses of the city.
More than twenty years ago Mr. Elliot identi- fied himself with the Second Congregational Church, then a struggling mission in the lower part of the city, almost constantly serving as trustee of the society. A liberal contributor to its expenses, he has persevered, often through dis- couragement and gloom, in maintaining the or- ganization and work of the church, until it has become established as the Park Congregational Church, and become one of the leading churches of its denomination in the city. Its succession of able and devoted pastors-Salter, Williams, Hovey, Woodbury and Smith Bebee, has found in Mr. Elliot a staunch supporter and reliable friend, whose counsels and aid have done much to make their spiritual work successful.
The eldest daughter of Mr. Elliot, returned, in the fall of 1892, from a tour of the world, having, in company with the family of Rev. Edwin Sidney Williams, visited Japan, China, India, Egypt and the Turkish Empire, and made visits to the leading Protestant missions of the Orient, an enterprise seldom undertaken save by the most enterprising of the sterner sex.
Mr. Elliot has made many visits to the Pacific coast, to which his father removed fifteen years, ago; but, however much admiring the "land of the olive and the vine," the sunny skies and prod- igal soil of that favored clime have not seduced him from his devotion to the cultivation of fruit and flowers under the severe conditions of our more inclement skies.
The passing years have dealt kindly with him.
IO28
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
He is broad-shouldered, stout and stalwart. . His head of bushy hair is only slightly sprinkled with silver, and his movements are active. A life of moderate labor, the incentive of accumulating
fortune, and the mingling of rural art with the labor of uplifting others by the institutions of re- ligion and education, have made his life a joy and a blessing.
MAJOR CHRISTOPHER B. HEFFELFINGER,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
T 'HE subject of this sketch was born on the 13th day of January, 1834, in the town of Mifflin, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, He is of the fourth generation of Heffelfingers born in America, his ancestors on both sides being of that hardy German stock which peopled south- western Pennsylvania so largely in the colonial days. This race has given some of its best blood to .all of the northern and some of the border southern states, and wherever it has appeared has always been followed by courage, industry, love of law and order, and all of the homely, domestic virtues. Major Heffelfinger's mother was named Bristil, and was also of the Americanized German race of his native state.
The infancy and boyhood of young Heffel- finger was spent upon a farm, and from the time he was old enough until he was eighteen he per- formed the ordinary routine duties of a farmer's boy. Throughout this period his early education was obtained in the little log school house where he attended school during the winter until twelve years of age, after which he sought more ad- vanced education in the school of experience. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to a neighboring tanner, and received a thorough training in that mechanical industry. As soon as his apprenticeship terminated he was taken into the firm and given an interest. He remained a year or two in the tannery, but growing restive with the fever to "go west," he sold out his inter- est in the tanning business, and in the year 1857 started for Minnesota.
Arriving in Minneapolis young Heffelfinger could find no employment at his trade, but with true American instinct took hold of the first thing that came to hand which promised profit- able returns for an expenditure of hard work. The town was new, building up rapidly, and the demand for house painters and paper hangers was
great. Although by no means a skilled workman in these lines, he took hold of them, and after a few months' practice become quite proficient in his new occupation. Soon after he established a business of his own, hired men and began to take contracts, and at the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 was doing a prosperous business.
In January of that year he went east to visit his old home, and remained there until the last of March. While there he watched the progress of events with much interest and no little concern, for Washington, D. C., was only a short distance away, and the mutterings of war could be heard in the distance. Before leaving home again for the west he had made up his mind that there would be war, and had at the same time deter- mined to stand by his country. Soon after his return to Minneapolis the guns at Fort Sumter announced to the world that the Titanic contest had opened. H. R. Putnam, a prominent citizen of this town at that time, forthwith began to re- cruit a company, and young Heffelfinger was one of the first to volunteer with him. The company was called the "Lincoln Guards," and was ac- cepted under the three months' call. On the 29th day of April the organization was mustered into the service of the United States government at old Fort Snelling, this company ranking as Com- pany D, First Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
Early in May, Hon. Alexander Ramsey, then governor of the state, was in Washington in con- sultation with President Lincoln. He was pri- vately informed by the president that it was the intention of the government to enlist three hun- dred thousand men for three years or during the' war. Governor Ramsey at once tendered the services of the First Minnesota for that term, and they were accepted, thus making the First the senior volunteer regiment for the three years'
.
1029
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
service. News was forwarded immediately to Minnesota by the governor, and the regiment was reorganized for the war without delay. In the reorganization C. B. Heffelfinger was made ser- geant of Company D. Minnesota at that time being a frontier state, at first it was determined to place the First Minnesota at exposed points along the border and relieve the detached com- panies of regulars on duty there, so that they might report for duty at Washington, but on June 15th, 1861, orders came for a final rendez- vous of the regiment at Fort Snelling, prepara- tory to departure for the seat of war. On the 20th of June the organization left Fort Snelling and arrived at Washington four days later, going into camp on Capitol Hill. From that time until the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox the history of this military organization becomes a part of the nation's history.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.