USA > Minnesota > St Louis County > Duluth > Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; their story and people; an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume III > Part 1
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.
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
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192332 2
werner
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/duluthstlouiscou03vanb
Duluth and St. Louis County Minnesota
-
Their Story and People
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development
Prepared under the Editorial Supervision of WALTER VAN BRUNT
Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors
ISSUED IN THREE VOLUMES VOLUME III
ILLUSTRATED
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY CHICAGO and NEW YORK 1921
m.Sm
41348A
Copyright 1921 THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Chicago and New York
Javid . Adams
History of Duluth and St. Louis County
DAVID T. ADAMS, of Chicago, formerly of Duluth, is a pioneer of the Iron Range country whose services would justify full representation in any volume of biography devoted to this region.
The editor and compilers of this History of St. Louis County are indebted to Mr. Adams for a manuscript account of his experiences as an explorer and discoverer of the Mesaba Range. Generous use has been made of this manuscript in preparing the history of the region, and it is appropriate that at this point some credit should be given in the way of reference to the more important chapters where his contributions as a historian may be read. Some of these subtitles are: History of the Mesaba Range; History of Pioneer Activities in Biwabik, Mckinley, Merritt, and Pioneer Mining in Biwabik Township; History of the Incorporated Villages of Virginia and Eveleth, and History of Mining in the Virginia and Eveleth District; The Incorporated City of Eveleth and City of Virginia.
A former publication on the iron ranges in Minnesota justly stated : "Considering all the results accruing from his work, it may be said with little fear of contradiction that no single individual contributed more toward bringing about the phenomenal changes which took place on the Range during the early years of the nineties than Mr. Adams. To Mr. Adams is due not only the locating and development of a number of the richest iron mines of the Mesaba Range, but the building of the cities of Virginia and Eveleth, two of the most prosperous towns upon the Range."
Among the other early works for which Mr. Adams is entitled to credit is the map of the Mesaba Range, which was compiled and pub- lished in 1893. In this map the formation is traced and the principal mines located with a degree of accuracy which proves that he was fami- liar with the entire Range at that early date, and subsequent surveys have made very little material changes in the map of the Range.
David Tugaw Adams has had a personal career as rugged as the scenes and activities that for so long proved the arena of his experience. He was born at Rockford, Illinois, September 6, 1859, son of Moses Tugaw and Jane (Castoney) Adams. The parents were born in Canada, moved to New York state in 1840, and several years later came west and for several years had their home at Rockford. About 1861 they moved to Chilton, Wisconsin, and in 1865 to Menasha in that state. Moses Adams was a butcher by trade, but was a farmer in Illinois and in Wisconsin, where he died in the fall of 1867.
David T. Adams was then eight years of age. The death of the father left the family with limited means. The widowed mother was unable to support her seven children, and they were compelled to separate and find homes among strangers. Thus from the age of eight David Adams was cast upon his own resources. His boyhood naturally was one of privation, hard work and a great variety of experience that had to suffice as the chief source of an education.
He was about twenty years of age when he came from Oshkosh, Wis- consin, to the mining regions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and began his work as an explorer for iron ore in the vicinity of Crystal Falls and Iron River. This work was pursued with little profit, though of inestimable advantage to him in subsequent years. Seeking more
933
934
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
profitable fields, he left Michigan for northeastern Minnesota, and on June 20, 1882, arrived at Duluth. Thereafter, as the records of history show, no one was so personally prominent in discovering and bringing to development the great iron wealth of northeastern Minnesota. His first investigations, beginning in the fall of 1883, did not prove particu- larly successful, and it is a tribute to his persistence that he kept steadily at work in studying and investigating until he had explored what is now known to the world as the great Mesaba Range. He was the first to promulgate the theory that this Range was at one time the shore line of an extinct sea. In consequence of his years of practical work there is no doubt that the claim will not be disputed in asserting that he is an authority on Minnesota mining without a superior. While his work was in such a large measure a great public service to the world of industry and to many town communities in northern Minnesota, happily his efforts did not go unrewarded in a material sense.
Mr. Adams is a Republican in politics. He served as treasurer of Duluth Lodge of Elks No. 133 from about 1898 to 1903. He is a mem- ber of the Illinois Athletic Club, the South Shore Country Club and the Westmoreland Country Club of Chicago, of the Kitchi Gammi Club of Duluth, and is a member of the Lake Superior Mining Institute and the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
At Mount Clemens, Michigan, November 23, 1908, Mr. Adams mar- ried Helen L. Wishart, daughter of Frank K. and Jean Wishart, of Scotch Canadian ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have an adopted daugh- ter, a niece of Mr. Adams, named Lucilla.
PHINEAS TERRY BROWNELL. From the time the first railroad was built into the Ely district until the present members of the Brownell family have been sustaining factors in business and in many lines of the development that have marked this progressive section of northern Minnesota.
The founder of the family there was the late Phineas Terry Brownell, who died at Ely November 4, 1920. He was then sixty-five years of age. He was born at Fairhaven, Masaschusetts, a son of Henry and Harriet Brownell, of that state, and as a youth he attended school in his native town and also Bryant & Stratton Business College at Boston. Trained as a bookkeeper, he removed as a young man to Michigan, and for a time kept the books of a mining company's store.
It was in 1886 that he joined the small group of first settlers at Tower. The railroad had only recently been completed to Soudan. His principal business connection with this community was as bookkeeper for P. J. Richwine in a general store, but first he was employed in the Grube meat inarket. The late Mr. Brownell came to Ely in 1889, and with Nick Pastoret bought a meat market. Later he became sole proprietor and was active head of the business of Brownell & Company until his death. This is one of the oldest commercial concerns under one continuous owner- ship in Ely.
Phineas Terry Brownell was always eager to enlist himself in some cause of public and community improvement. He built one of the first summer homes on Burntside Lake, and was the leader in promoting the Ely-Burntside Outing Company, serving as its treasurer, and was largely instrumental in making that one of the most popular pleasure resorts in northern Minnesota. He was a Knight Templar Mason, affiliating with the Commandery at Eveleth, and in politics was a Republican.
In Michigan Phineas T. Brownell married Louise Gertrude Hill. Five children were born to their marriage and four are now living. The oldest is Leslie M. The second, Captain Otto B., is a graduate of the University
LAR
Robert Jwhiteside
935
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
of Minnesota, and is an engineer by profession. Early in the war with Germany he was commissioned a captain of engineers, trained at Fort Leavenworth, and went to the battle front in France with the 32nd Division, 107th Engineers. He was formerly assistant city engineer of Duluth, but is now engaged in his profession at Minneapolis. The third son, Edward, is still associated in the meat business founded by his father. The only daughter, Lucia, is a student in the State University.
Leslie M. Brownell, whose life has been one of exceptional experience and varied service, was born in Michigan January 21, 1882, but from earliest boyhood lived in northern Minnesota. He acquired his prelim- inary education in the Ely schools. On account of an affliction of the ears he went to the southwest, and continued his education in the New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell. He was graduated at the age of twenty-two and the following year remained with the school as teacher of Spanish and Military Science. On returning to Minnesota he was employed in exploration work by the Oliver Mining Company on the Mesaba Range. Mr. Brownell then joined the United States forest service, at first as a guard and after passing the Civil Service examination was promoted to ranger, and for six years was supervisor of the Supe- rior National Forest, with headquarters at Ely. Continuing in the service, he was transferred, and for a year and a half was supervisor at Pagosa Springs and Delta, Colorado. No influence and inclination is stronger with him than work in the open and particularly in the forests of the great west. While with the forestry service he built trails, surveyed roads, helped fight forest fires, and enjoyed to the full even the most difficult of his experiences. Since his father's death he has had charge of the business at Ely.
In 1909 Mr. Brownell married Alma Lee, daughter of Oscar Lee, of Merrillan, Wisconsin. They have three children, Lee, Margery and Terry. Mr. Brownell is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is a Republican.
ROBERT J. WHITESIDE, president of the Northern Motor Company, automobile distributors, has been active in the automobile business only about four years, and prior to that was a practical worker and technical man engaged in the operations of the mining and lumber district of northern Minnesota and other sections of the northwest.
He was born at Severn Bridge, Canada, November 14, 1877, and came to America with his cousin, John A. Densmore, and located at Ely, Minnesota. His father, Richard Whiteside, had come to Minnesota about 1886, and for many years was actively engaged in the lumber business at Ely. He continued in this business until about six years before his death.
Robert J. Whiteside was third in a family of ten children, eight of whom are still living. He acquired his early education in the country schools of Canada and as a youth found work in the woods and acquired a knowledge of practically every phase of logging and lumbering. He graduated from laborer to the rank of compass man or cruiser and later was a foreman in a lumber camp on the Vermillion Range of Minnesota for about three years. He was then in the service of R. B. Whiteside in the mining and lumber business on the Range, and continued to look after his interests there until about 1914. Following that for just eight months Mr. Whiteside had some active experience in the oil industry in Wyoming.
About the first of September, 1916, he returned to Duluth and entered the automobile business with an incorporated company. In September, 1917, he organized the Spice Auto Company and on October 27, 1919,
936
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
reorganized the business as the Northern Motor Company, of which Mr. Whiteside is president, R. F. Burke, vice president and general man- ager, and J. R. Belleperche, secretary. This company, whose headquarters are at 210-212 East Superior street, took over the business of the Spice Auto Company, and as a hundred thousand dollar corporation have ample facilities for a general business as automobile distributors. They have the agency for the Nash and Lexington cars.
Mr. Whiteside is a member of the Duluth Automobile Club, the Sportsmen's Club, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the order of Elks, and in politics is a Republican. At Ely, Minnesota, November 19, 1903, he married Miss Agnes S. Childers, daughter of Solmen S. Childers. Her parents were among the first settlers of Ely. Mrs. Whiteside finished her education in the schools of that place. Of the two children born to their marriage the one now living is Albert Owen Whiteside, born November 3, 1904.
A. W. EILER. One of the most important branches of business life is the supplying of the consumer with reliable foodstuffs, and when a man does this and renders efficient service at reasonable prices he is certain to attain to a high standing in his community. For a number of years A. W. Eiler has been in the grocery business, and he is now con- ducting one of the most modern of retail grocery establishments at Proc- tor, and is also engaged in handling a high grade of fresh and salted meats, the large and stable trade he has built up in both lines proving his dependability.
Mr. Eiler is a native of Denmark, where he was born October 4, 1861, and he was nineteen years old when he left his native land for the United States, where he arrived in 1880. Going to Chicago, Illinois, for a time he worked in a leather and belt factory, but later entered a grocery store as a clerk, and in time saved sufficient money to start in business for himself as a grocer on Indiana avenue, Chicago. After two years, in 1884, he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and from 1884 until 1887 con- ducted a grocery for Charles Kresman. In the latter year he bought the business from his employer, and in 1891, moved it from its original location on Lake avenue to No. 42 West Superior street. Two years later Mr. Eiler moved to Fourth street, and remained there for ten years. He then went back to Lake avenue for eight years, at the termination of which period he came to Proctor and established himself in his present business. He carries a full and varied line of green and staple groceries and meats, and handles only first-class goods. In addition to carrying on his business in a manner to reflect credit on Proctor, he renders the community service in other ways, and is one of the constructive elements here.
In 1889 Mr. Eiler was married to Miss Christiana Thompson, whose parents were natives of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Eiler became the parents of four children, three of whom survive, namely: William, who lives at Plattsville, Wisconsin ; Earl, who is a veterinary surgeon ; and Henry, who is a civil engineer. Mr. Eiler is a member of the order of Odd Fellows and the Danish Brotherhood of Duluth. In politics he is a Republican. A steady, hard-working and capable man, he has earned all he now possesses and is entitled to the prosperity he enjoys.
AUGUST AND OLEF M. JOHNSON are among the oldest established mer- chants of Hibbing, and the firm of Johnson Brothers is a successful business partnership that has thoroughly stood the test of time. The brothers are men of action, have achieved prosperity since coming to America through the avenues of hard work, thrift and persistence, and
937
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
have exemplified ideals of American citizenship admirable from every standpoint.
Both were born in Sweden. Their father was John Peterson and their mother Amelia Johanson. In the old country the family were farmers. The first of the children to come to America was Carl John- son, who reached the United States in 1888. Olef Johnson came next, in 1890, and found employment in sawmills at Ramsay, Michigan. In the spring of 1891 August and his sister Anna came over. The sister went on to the state of Washington, where she married and where she is still living. August joined his brother at Ramsay, and the three brothers soon removed to Ashland, Wisconsin, and worked on the break- water and later in the stone quarry at Presque Isle. In 1893 Carl John- son returned to Sweden, where he is still living. The other two brothers, August and Olef, worked out their destiny and have become prominent American citizens. For several years they continued to be employed in quarries in summer and in the woods in winter. In 1895 Olef came to Hibbing and entered the service of the old Lake Superior Iron Mining Company. His brother August followed him about two years later. Olef continued working in the mines until 1904, in which year the Johnson Brothers combined their capital and experience and engaged in the retail grocery business. They have sold goods to the community at Hibbing ever since, and have been deservedly prospered.
The Johnson brothers married sisters. The wife of Olef was Emily Carlson, and to their union were born eleven children, named Norman, Earl, Ruth, Albert, Ethel, Oscar, Theresa, Helen, Frank, Leonard and Robert. Olef and family are Lutherans and fraternally he is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The wife of August Johnson was Hannah Carlson. Their three children are Gladys, Ewald and Wilfred. August has likewise attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Lutheran Church.
C. G. CARLSON is a young man with a veteran's experience in railroad work, and during the eight or nine years he has been identified with Tower as station agent he has proved one of the ablest spirits in the civic affairs and the general advancement of that community.
Mr. Carlson was born on a farm in South Sweden October 6, 1889, only son of the seven children born to C. E. and Amanda (Carlson) Carlson. His parents brought their family from Sweden in 1902 and located at Two Harbors, Minnesota. The parents now live in Duluth, the father at the age of fifty-nine and the mother at fifty-seven. The father worked on the railroad docks and later at street paving in the city of Two Harbors. He is a Republican, and always been interested in local affairs in the community where he has lived since coming to America.
C. G. Carlson attended school at Two Harbors from the time he was thirteen until he was fifteen., At that early age he began railroading as call boy for the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad. Later he was in the air brake department of the machine shops, also warehouse foreman at Two Harbors, did clerical work at depots, filled in a brief interval as station agent at Aurora, and was then relief man and traveling auditor. In 1913 he was appointed to the duties of station and express agent at Tower, and he has made an enviable record in faithfulness and efficiency to the company and in caring. for the business of the community. Mr. Carlson had an uncle who came to northern Minnesota many years ago, and was at one time captain at Soudan Mine.
938
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Carlson has served on the Tower School Board, as municipal judge, and has been secretary, treasurer and is now president of the Tower Commercial Club. He is a director of the Ten Thousand Lakes Association of Minnesota, a director of the Minnesota Automobile Asso- ciation, is a member of the St. Louis Country Club, is chairman of the Republican Committee in his precinct, is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Mac- cabees, and has other fraternal and social relations. Mr. Carlson is a trustee of the Tower Presbyterian Church. In 1913, the year he came to Tower, he married Miss Pearl Morin, daughter of Peter E. Morin, of Tower. They have two children, Violet and Kenneth.
A. S. NORDSTROM, president of the Duluth Linen Company, is a com- paratively young man but has had a long business experience since he entered commercial life at Duluth when only a boy.
He was born at Duluth March 13, 1887, son of Gustaf and Christine (Lundell) Nordstrom. His parents were born in Sweden, came to Amer- ica about 1885, came to the state of Minnesota soon afterward and in 1886 established their home at Duluth. The father was a carpenter by trade, and followed that occupation until his death.
Of nine children eight are still living, A. S. Nordstrom being the fourth in age. He attended the public schools of Duluth, but at the age of thirteen went to work as an errand boy, subsequently was clerk in the establishment of Huntington and Tallant, and continued with that concern until it was reorganized as the George A. Gray Company. Mr. Nordstrom then found an opportunity to use his modest capital and con- siderable experience to engage in business for himself under the firm name of Valentine-Nordstrom Company. They started in 1912, as dealers in dry goods, but primarily catering to the needs and requirements of hotels and hospitals. In 1915 Mr. Nordstrom withdrew from the partner- ship, and early in the following year established the Duluth Linen Com- pany, a business similar in purpose to his previous enterprise. The com- pany are manufacturers and wholesalers in linen and cotton goods, and maintain a special service supplying all the needs of large users of linen, such as hotels and hospitals. Mr. Nordstrom assisted in organizing the company and has been president since it was incorporated in 1916. John F. Bergin is vice president and secretary and Edward Regelsberger is treasurer. While the business started with a small capital and on a modest scale, it has grown and prospered rapidly.
Mr. Nordstrom is a member of the Duluth Boat Club. On September 6, 1916, he married Mrs. D. E. Tupper, of Duluth. She was educated in the public schools of Duluth, studied music at Owatonna, Minnesota, and for a time was engaged in teaching instrumental music in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Nordstrom have one son, whom they have named Fielder Albin. He is a namesake of his second cousin "Fielder Jones," the popular baseball player.
CHARLES W. BRAY, M. D., one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Saint Louis County, now engaged in the practice of his profession at Biwabik, comes of a family of physicians. His father was a physician ; his uncle, Doctor Bray, practiced medicine at Evansville, Indiana, until he was seventy-two years old; a brother, Dr. Elwyn Bray, is an eye, ear and nose specialist of Saint Paul, Minnesota ; a cousin, Dr. Charles Bray, is engaged in an active practice at Portland, Maine, and his wife was a classmate of his and was graduated from the medical department of the University of Minnesota in 1895, having previously been graduated from its literary department in 1892. Doctor Bray is the proprietor of the
Charles W. Bray
939
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Biwabik Hospital, which was established in 1892 by Doctor Magie. The original building was destroyed by fire, and the present modern hospital building was erected by Doctor Bray in 1906, and he has since conducted the institution, which is recognized to be one of the best in the county.
Doctor Bray was born on a farm at Young America, Minnesota, September 7, 1868, a son of Dr. Eben and Angie (Noyes) Bray, both of whom were born in Maine. Dr. Eben Bray attended medical college at Cincinnati, Ohio, and for some years practiced medicine at Carver, Min- nesota, but in later years lived on a farm at Young America, this state. His death occurred in 1891, when he was seventy-two years old, and his wife died in 1915, when seventy-four years old. A leading Democrat of his district, he represented it in the first Territorial Legislature, and always maintained his interest in politics. The Baptist Church had in him a zealous and generous member until his death.
Doctor Bray was graduated from the literary department of the Uni- versity of Minnesota in 1891 and in its medical department in 1895, and has since then taken up post-graduate work at Johns-Hopkins and Har- vard. For one year following the securing of his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was house physician of a Saint Paul hospital, and then for three years was engaged in a general practice at Minneapolis, Minnesota, but in 1899 came to Biwabik, taking over the hospital at that time.
In 1899 Doctor Bray was married to Mary Bassett, a daughter of Robert Bassett of Hastings, Minnesota. They have four children, as follows: Robert, Elizabeth, Philip and Kenneth. During the late war Robert Bray was in the Students' Officers' Training Camp at Carleton College, Northfield. Dr. Bray rendered efficient service on the Medical Examining Board at Biwabik, and both he and his wife worked hard in the different campaigns to raise money for war purposes, Mrs. Bray being specially active in the local Red Cross. They are members of the Congregational Church, of which he is one of the trustees. He is a Shriner Mason, and well known in that fraternity. In politics he is an independent voter, but aside from serving on the school board has felt no desire for office. Doctor Bray has other interests and is now serving as vice president of the First National Bank of Biwabik. He is a man big of brain and warm of heart, and his actions mark him as a man upright and sincere. Professionally his skill is unquestioned, and in the management of his hospital he displays business ability of no mean order.
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.