USA > Minnesota > Ramsey County > St Paul > A history of the city of Saint Paul, and of the county of Ramsey, Minnesota > Part 17
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WILLIAM FREEBORN
was a native of Ohio-born 1816. He arrived in Saint Paul May 25, 1848. He owned, at one time, considerable property in the city and county, and was quite a prominent citizen, be- ing a member of our town council one term. In 1853, he removed to Red Wing, and was one of the first settlers there. He was elected, from that district, (then called Wabasha county,) a member of the Council of 1854-55, 1856-57. In 1855, the Legislature named a county for him. During the gold excitement of 1862, Mr. FREEBORN emigrated to the Rocky Mountains, and now resides in San Luis Obispo, California.
DAVID LAMBERT
was a native, if I mistake not, of Connecticut, at least, he graduated at Trinity College, Hartford. He studied law, and soon after emigrated to the west, settling first in Little Rock, Arkansas, and then in Wisconsin. In 1843, he became editor and publisher of the Madison Enquirer, and showed marked ability as a journalist. He subsequently sold out the paper to his brother, HENRY A. LAMBERT, and, in 1848, settled in Saint Paul. He took a prominent part in the Stillwater Convention, this year, and was regarded as a young man of brilliant ability and promise. Some domestic unpleasantness, at times, ren- dered him misanthropic and reckless, and, to forget care, he resorted to the bowl. On November 2d, 1849, while returning from Galena, on a steamboat, he leaped from the roof of the steamer, during a paroxysm of nervous excitement, and was drowned. He was only about thirty years of age.
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OTHER SETTLERS.
W. C. MORRISON was born in Whitehall, New York, Janua- ry 20, 1815. He resided. while young, at Cleveland, Detroit. Chicago, Galena. Dubuque, and other places, and, in 1848, came to Saint Paul. He says there were then only 15 fami- lies here. Mr. MORRISON has been actively engaged in trade since his arrival. and is widely known in business circles.
LOT MOFFET. a gentleman well-known in Saint Paul in early days. was a native of Montgomery county. New York. where he was born in 1803. He was, for some years, pro- prietor of the " Temperance House," on Jackson street. some- times called by old settlers, "Moffet's Castle," on account of its unfinished condition for some time. Mr. MOFFET was a scrupulously honest man. and very benevolent. Many will recollect his venerable appearance. as he usually wore a patri- archal beard. He died December 28, 1870.
WM. B. BROWN came from the " lead region." in Wiscon- sin. He purchased, at an early day, the corner on which the Warner Block now stands. He died some years ago.
PRE-TERRITORIAL SETTLERS.
The following is believed to be a complete and accurate list of all the pre-territorial settlers and residents in Saint Paul, with the years in which they came :
1838.
Pierre Parrant. Abraham Perry. Edward Phelan. William Evans.
- Johnson. Benjamin Gervais. Pierre Gervais.
John Hays. James R. Clewett. Vetal Guerin.
1839.
Denis Cherrier.
Charles Mousseau.
Wm. Beaumette.
Joseph Rondo. Rev. Lucian Galtier.
1840.
Rev. A. Ravoux.
1841.
Pierre Bottineau.
Severe Bottineau.
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IS48] and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota. 1842.
·· Henry Jackson. Richard W. Mortimer. Pelon.
Joseph Labisinier. Francis Desire. Stanislaus Bilanski.
1843.
John R. Irvine.
Ansel B. Coy.
James W. Simpson.
David Thomas Sloan.
William Hartshorn.
Jo. Desmarais.
A. L. Larpenteur.
S. Cowden, Jr. [or Carden. ] Charles Reed.
Alex. R. McLeod.
Christopher C. Blanchard.
Louis Larrivier.
Xavier Delonais.
Joseph Gobin.
1844.
Louis Robert. Charles Bazille.
Thomas McCoy. Joseph Hall.
1845-
Leonard H. LaRoche.
Francis Chenevert.
David Benoit. Francis Robert.
Augustus Freeman. David B. Freeman.
Jesse H. Pomeroy.
Gerou.
1846.
James M. Boal. Wm. H. Randall. William Randall, Jr. Ed. West. David Faribault. Charles Rouleau.
Thomas S. Odell. Harley D. White. Joel D. Cruttenden. Louis Denoyer. Joseph Monteur.
1847.
Wm. Henry Forbes. J. W. Bass. Benj. W. Brunson. Daniel Hopkins, Sr. Miss Harriet E. Bishop. Aaron Foster.
John Banfil. Fred. Olivier. Wm. C. Renfro. Parsons K. Johnson. C. P. V. Lull. G. A. Fournier.
Scott Campbell. Alexis Cloutier.
Francis Moret.
William Dugas.
Charles Cavileer. Wm. G. Carter.
Wm. H. Morse, Antoine Findlay.
Antoine Pepin. Alex. Mege.
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1848.
Henry M. Rice.
Wm. B. Brown.
A. H. Cavender.
Hugh McCann.
Benj. F. Hoyt.
B. W. Lott.
Wm. H. Nobles.
H. C. Rhodes.
David Lambert.
David Olmsted.
Wm. D. Phillips.
Hugh Glenn.
W. C. Morrison.
Nels. Robert.
Nathan Myrick.
Andre Godfrey.
E. A. C. Hatch.
Dav. Hebert.
Richard Freeborn.
Oliver Rosseau.
William Freeborn.
Wm. H. Kelton.
Alden Bryant.
Andy L. Shearer.
Lot Moffet.
E. B. Weld.
A. R. French.
Albert Titlow.
Date unknown.
Archambault and Marcil Coutourier.
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PRE-TERRITORIAL PERIOD.
The labor of collecting the names of the above settlers, and of determining, with any exactness, the year of their settle- ment, and of securing the occurrences, events and incidents of the period from 1838 to 1849, was a task that almost discour- aged me from pursuing the work, more than once. The time occupied-the physical labor of running back and forth, and the nerve-wear-spent on this little list, no one can get much idea of, except, perhaps, a few of the old pioneers, to whom I made repeated visits, with a catechism of what may have seemed to them very trifling questions. Yet it was only by these little incidents, ascertained by such questioning, much like a detective would work up a trace, that I was enabled to conipile the list above, and fix the right names to the right years. So that, on the period from 1838 to 1849, I expended more time, labor and patience, than on all the rest of the 37 years of our history. It should be remembered, that this was before there were any newspapers, any census lists, any pub- lic records, or any written records of any kind. So that I had to depend alone on the memory of residents of that period, some of whom could not tell the year in which they them- selves came !
It was deemed more important to chronicle this period care-
201
1848] and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota.
fully, because it is the portion of our history most needing preservation. In ten years more, it would have been impos- sible to collect the facts given above. The memories of those not dead would have then become so weak from age as to be totally unavailable.
It may be objected by some that too much space has been used in collecting these "simple annals of the poor." and re- cording the career of men known as obscure and humble. But the descendants of these "rude forefathers of the hamlet." whom better opportunities may raise above the lives of toil they spent, will in future years read these pages, and feel with some pride that history, like the photographic camera, depicts even the minutest details, which, while they may be scarcely noticed in the general effect, have their value in making up the perfect picture.
The period from 1840 to 1849, may be called the arcadian days of Minnesota. The primitive, easy-going simplicity of the people, isolated as they were, from the fashions, vices, and artificial life of the bustling world, was in strange contrast with the jostling throng of immigration that poured in a few months later, changing their steady-going habits and plain manners into a maddening, avaricious race for gold. Up to this time they were contented and unambitious, and pursued the "even tenor of their way" along the "cool, sequestered vale of life." unagitated by the exciting events that stirred other communities. Their worldly means was small and their in- come limited, it is true, but their wants were few and simple. They were honest, forbearing, generous and charitable. Crime was unknown. "Why," said an old settler, speaking of those happy days, "board of the best kind was only $3 per week." But the influx of immigrants, many of them greedy for spec- ulation, selfish and unscrupulous in many cases, soon changed the character of the times. Their quiet, dreamy, slow, and sober-going primitive simplicity was gone. Even the price of the necessaries of life was inflated. "You new comers," said one of the pioneers, more in sorrow than anger, "have raised the prices of things so that what we used to get for ten cents now costs a quarter."
I4
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The History of the City of Saint Paul, [1848
THE MEN OF 1848.
In the Pioneer of June 14, 1849, GOODHUE thus does honor to the pre-territorial settlers :
"It is proper for those who are flocking into our Territory, to know who those men are who were here, struggling with privations before Minnesota had a name in the world. They are the men who, by their voluntary exertion, sustained our Delegate on his mission to Washing- ton, for the accomplishment of what, few believed, could then be ac- complished-the recognition of our rights as a Territory distinct from Wisconsin. Every Territory, in its earlier days, has its times that try men's souls. The inception of a State, whether settled by the peace- ful pioneer, or baptized by the blood of a border warfare, has its trials and troubles. How darkly hung the cloud of doubt over this region of the Northwest, one year ago. How like the glorious sunlight, did the first intelligence from our Delegate to Washington last spring, burst through that cloud of doubt. There were men here, who, from the beginning, saw the end. We respect, we reverence those men. Let the men and the women of those days be remembered."
THE YEAR 1848 CLOSED
with anxiety to the settlers in the little village .* Delegate SIBLEY had gone on to Washington to fight a hard battle there against heavy odds. Everybody was nervous with expecta- tion-and with the next chapter the curtain rises on a new and exciting act in the drama.
* It was but a village, after all. One cold day, about the beginning of winter, Miss BISHOP records in her diary, J. R. CLEWETT came into Mr. IRVINE's house and said-"My! how this town is growing. I counted the smoke of IS chimneys this morning !"
203
and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota.
1849]
CHAPTER XVI.
EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1849.
CREATION OF MINNESOTA TERRITORY-SAINT PAUL MADE THE CAPITAL-HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE " PIONEER"-DESCRIPTION OF SAINT PAUL IN 1849-RAPID GROWTH-EVENTS OF THE DAY-MEMOIRS OF GOVERNOR RAMSEY, JUDGE GOODRICH, &C.
TE now enter on a period of our history crowded with the most important events. In fact, this chapter opens upon a new era in the career of our city and State. Minne- sota was on the eve of her political birth. And Saint Paul- " the little hamlet of bark-roofed cabins"-was just trembling with eagerness to make a long spring forward.
A " WINTER OF DISCONTENT"
was that of 1848-9. It commenced with unusual severity-un- usually early. Snow fell on November I. To the inhabitants of the little burg, 200 miles from the nearest settlement and mail supply, (Prairie du Chien,) hemmed in by snow and ice, and cut off, almost, from communication with the world, it must have passed wearily enough. ' The mails, carried over the vast reaches of snow on a dog-sledge, or a train du glace. came "only once in a coon's age," as an old settler expresses it, and a hat-full merely then, but its arrival was an event for the village, and eager was the rush for letters and papers to JACKSON'S. It was not until January that news of Gen. . TAY- LOR's election was received, and also advices from Delegate SIBLEY, who is working hard at Washington to organize a Territory, but not much encouraged at the prospects of success.
HOW SAINT PAUL BECAME THE CAPITAL.
Indeed, our good city came within an ace of not being the Capital of Minnesota at all. When Gen. SIBLEY arrived in
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Washington, his credentials were presented at the opening of the session, by Hon. JAMES WILSON, of New Hampshire, and referred to the Committee on Elections. This committee held several meetings on the matter, and were addressed by Gen. SIBLEY, in favor of his recognition, and by Hon. Mr. BOYDEN. of North Carolina, and others, adversely. The committee did not report, finally, until January 15, 1849, when a majority, (5,) reported in favor of Gen. SIBLEY's admission, and a mi- nority, (4,) against it. The majority report was adopted, however, and he was admitted.
His first work was to secure the organization of Minnesota Territory, as determined on by the Stillwater Convention. Upon consultation, it was deemed best that the bill should be introduced from the Committee on Territories in the Senate. It was prepared by Hon. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, chairman, by whom the draft was sent to Gen. SIBLEY, for his. perusal. He noticed that Mendota had been designated as the Capital, whereas, it had been the wish of the people generally, es- pecially of those participating in the Convention, to have Saint Paul fixed as the seat of government.
Gen. SIBLEY, without delay, called on Senator DOUGLAS, and urged him to make that change. A meeting of the com- mittee was at once called, and the matter taken up. Gen. SIBLEY argued that most of the inhabitants of the proposed Territory resided east of the Mississippi, and there was an unanimous wish to have the Capital on that side. Saint Paul was one of the most prominent places in the region, well lo- cated for the seat of government, and was a regularly platted town, and the land had been entered, so that good titles to property could be had, &c. Senator DOUGLAS opposed the change. He said he had been at Mendota, not long before. and was so much pleased with the geographical position of Mendota, at the confluence of two important rivers, he had then fixed on it as a good site for the future Capital of this re- gion. Moreover, the bulk of area, and, ere long, of popula- tion, would be west of the Mississippi, and the Capital should be on the west bank. He thought the top of Pilot Knob, at Mendota, would be a grand place for the State House, as it
205
1849] and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota.
afforded such a beautiful and extensive view of the valleys of the two rivers .*
Gen. SIBLEY persisted in the change, and Senator DOUGLAS, after some solicitation, conceded it, and Saint Paul was fixed on as the seat of the Capital, instead of Mendota, after the two places had hung wavering in the balance for some days. Then some member objected to the name, and said there were " too many Saints" in this locality-and this stupid objector had to be argued with, &c.
The bill, so amended, was introduced in the Senate, but its passage met with considerable opposition, as it did also, in the House. Gen. SIBLEY worked night and day for it, and made personal appeals to all the members he could influ- ence. Hon. H. M. RICE arrived in Washington, about this time, on private business, and threw his earnest efforts and personal influence in the scale also, being personally acquainted with a number of members. The issue was doubtful for some days, but our tutelar saint kindly turned the current in our favor, and the bill finally passed, being approved March 3, 1849.
RECEPTION OF THE NEWS AT SAINT PAUL.
In the slow movements of mails in those days, especially during the season known as the breaking up of winter, it took five weeks for the news to reach Saint Paul. The snow had commenced to melt about March 1, and the dog mail-sledge was suspended. The only way was to wait for a boat, and the news from Lake Pepin was, that the ice was firm and hard. Our last mail had arrived about the first of March, with news
* In connection with this statement of Gen. SIBLEY's successful efforts to locate the Capital at Saint Paul, it might be mentioned, that, in 1853, while Gen. S. was running as a candidate for re-election as Delegate, the charge was made against him, by some partisan journals, of hostility to the interests of Saint Paul, as he was at that time liv- . ing at Mendota, and some of his property was there. The paragraphs came under the eye of Senator DOUGLAS, and, without solicitation or suggestion, he wrote a state- mient of the course of Gen. S. in regard to the location of the Capital, and stated that it was unjust that he should be accused of unfriendliness to Saint Paul interests, since he had secured the location of the Capital here, in obedience to the wishes of his constitu- ents, when, to have allowed it to be located at Mendota, would have been of great pe- cuniary advantage to him. It might be remarked, too, that, when Senator DOUGLAS was here, in IS57, he freely admitted that Gen. S. was right in his conviction that Saint Paul was a much better point for the Capital than Mendota.
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The History of the City of Saint Paul, [1849
two months old. It was now the second week in April, and expectation and anxiety was strained to the utmost tension. A communication in the first number of . the Pioneer signed D. L., (DAVID LAMBERT,) graphically describes the reception of the news of the organization of the Territory, under the caption, " The Breaking up of a Hard Winter."
" The last has been the severest winter known in the Northwest for many years. During five months the communication between this part of the country and our brethren in the United States has been difficult and unfrequent. A mail now and then from Prairie du Chien, brought up on the ice in a 'train' drawn sometimes by horses and sometimes by dogs, contained news so old that the country below had forgotten all about it. When the milder weather commenced, and the ice became unsafe, we were completely shut out from all communica- tion for several weeks. Sometime in January, we learned that Gen. ZACHARY TAYLOR was elected President of the United States. We had to wait for the arrival of the first boat to learn whether our Territory was organized, and who were its Federal officers. How anxiously was that boat expected ! The ice still held its iron grasp on Lake Pepin. For a week the arrival of a boat had been looked for every hour. Ex- pectation was on tiptoe.
" Monday, the ninth of April, had been a pleasant day. Toward evening the clouds gathered, and about dark commenced a violent storm of wind, rain, and loud peals of thunder. The darkness was only dis- sipated by vivid flashes of lightning. On a sudden, in a momentary lull of the wind, the silence was broken by the groan of an engine. In another moment, the shrill whistle of a steamboat thrilled through the air. Another moment, and a bright flash of lightning revealed the welcome shape of a steamboat just rounding the bluff, less than a mile below Saint Paul. In an instant the welcome news flashed like elec- tricity throughout the town, and, regardless of the pelting rain, the raging wind, and the pealing thunder, almost the entire male popula- tion rushed to the landing-as the fine steamboat, 'Dr. Franklin, No. 2,' dashed gallantly up to the landing. Before she was made fast to the moorings, she was boarded by the excited throng. The good captain and clerk [Capt. BLAKELEY] were the great men of the hour. Gen. TAYLOR cannot be assailed with greater importunity for the ‘ loaves and fishes' than they were for news and newspapers. At length the news was known, and one glad shout resounding through the boat, taken up on shore, and echoed from our beetling bluffs and rolling hills, proclaimed that the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory had become a law !"
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1849] and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota.
The long agony was over. Minnesota was a Territory, and Saint Paul was its Capital. Henceforth, we had a future ! But let us look at the
CONDITION OF THE TERRITORY
at that time. It was but little more than a wilderness. Its entire white population could not have been more than 1,000 persons. When the census was taken, four months later, after many hundred immigrants had arrived, there were only 4,680 enrolled-and 317 of these were connected with the army, and of the 637 at Pembina, but few were white.
The portion of the Territory west of the Mississippi was still unceded by the Indians. From the southern line of the State to Saint Paul, there were not more than two or three white men's habitations along the river, now gemmed with flourishing and handsome cities, and the steamers ascending the river had no regular landing places, except to "wood up." Indeed, such a terra incognita as existed at that time, over the now well settled State of Minnesota, seems more the condition of a century ago than of twenty-six years.
But, with this feeble array, the people were big with expecta- tion. The " elements of empire here, were plastic yet and warm," and needed only the right men to mould them into a prosperous State. Fortunately, we had the men. Minnesota may well be proud of her pioneers. The people of to-day and coming years owe them gratitude and honor, and, in view of the success and prosperity of our State, it may well be said, "they builded better than they knew." California was just then offering its stores of gold to any one lucky enough to reach there, and it seemed as if all the country was on the move to the El Dorado. Minnesota, almost unknown, lying in a latitude deemed to be semi-arctic in its character, and in- habited by savages, could scarcely expect to draw immigration. Especially Saint Paul-what would be its condition under the new order of events? And, presuming that people came here, what resources were there to furnish them business and em- ployment? The Indian trade, supplying the frontier forts, the lumber business and its supplies, a little .fur trade, etc., was
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The History of the City of Saint Paul, [1849
about all. On this, the 150 or 200 people in Saint Paul were supported. If more came, what would these last do? For it was still but a village. GOODHUE stated that when he came, in April, there were only thirty buildings in Saint Paul.
But the problem was soon solved. Come they did. It was not-as WHITTIER wrote ---
" The first low wash of waves, where soon Should roll a human sea."
It was the sea itself. Boat after boat landed at the levee, bring- ing crowds of new comers, until it became a serious question where they should lodge, and on what should they subsist.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEWSPAPER.
But what would an ambitious western town be without a newspaper, to herald its importance to the world? And es- pecially the Capital of a Territory. Who would know it existed? Who would wish to live in such a desolate place- one too poor to boast of a paper? But Saint Paul was too promising a field for the journalist. to long suffer from the need, and it was right soon supplied.
The first steps to commence the publication of a newspaper in Minnesota, were taken in August, 1848, by Dr. A. RANDALL, then an attache of Dr. OWEN's Geological Corps, engaged in a survey of this region by order of Government. The project grew out of the celebrated "Stillwater Convention" of that year. It was this political event which first suggested to the mind of Dr. RANDALL that, if there was to be a Territorial organization here, whether it be a new Territory, or the right- ful inheritor of the abandoned Territorial government of that State-it would be necessary to have a newspaper. Having the capacity and means necessary to undertake the enterprise. he set about it, and was promised ample aid by leading men of the Territory.
RANDALL soon after proceeded to Cincinnati, which was at that time his home, to purchase his press and material, design- ing to return that fall. Winter set in unusually early that year, however, and he found navigation would be closed before he
1849] and of the County of Ramsey, Minnesota. 209
could do so. Meantime he concluded to await the issue of the bill to organize the Territory, which had been introduced into Congress, but did not finally pass until the last day of the session. By this time, RANDALL, annoyed at the delays, con- cluded to set up his press in Cincinnati, and get out a number or two of his paper there. While in Cincinnati, he formed the acquaintance of JOHN P. OWENS,* a young man engaged in the printing business, who had already imbibed the Minnesota fever by reading the debates in Congress on the Organic Act. and a partnership between them was the result. They at once set to work to get out a number of their paper, which was to be called the Minnesota Register. It was dated "Saint Paul, April 27, 1849," but was really printed about two weeks earlier than that date, so as to reach Saint Paul by the day named for publication. Messrs. H. H. SIBLEY and H. M. RICE had passed through Cincinnati, on their way home from Washington, and contributed valuable articles on Minnesota to the Register. These, added to Mr. RANDALL's extensive knowledge of the country, gave the paper a very interesting local character. It was the first Minnesota newspaper ever ' printed, and dates just one day in advance of the Pioneer. although the latter must be recorded as the first paper printed in Minnesota.
Mr. RANDALL, being a man of unsettled purpose and roving disposition, caught the California fever just at this juncture, and sold out his interest in the newspaper to Major NATHANIEL McLEAN, of Lebanon, Ohio, who had determined to emigrate
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