An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 45

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726

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The law firm of Mathews & Davis was then formed and until April, 1902, our sub- ject was engaged in practice with the older attorney. He then opened an office in a dingy little room containing no furniture except a kitchen table loaned by his mother. To purchase books he borrowed one hun- dred dollars from Col. A. R. Chace. In September, 1902, Mr. Davis received the Re- publican primary nomination for county at- torney, defeating E. C. Patterson, the in- cumbent, with a majority of 276. At the general election he defeated E. B. Johnson, of Tracy, an independent candidate, by a majority of 540. He received the Republican nomination without opposition in 1904, but

was defeated at the general election by B. B. Gislason, of Minneota, by 214 votes.

During his term as county attorney Mr. Davis was exceptionally successfully in the prosecution of criminal cases, securing 140 convictions out of 143 cases, including minor and major offences. His law business has grown rapidly, and today he enjoys one of the largest law practices in Southwestern Minnesota. He devotes his time exclusively to the trial of cases and has a large prac- tice in Redwood, Yellow Medicine, Lac qui Parle and Swift counties.

Mr. Davis has taken an active interest in politics and is an orator of state-wide repu- tation. In the campaigns of 1908 and 1910 he made speeches for the state and national tickets in many parts of the state, spending several weeks in Minneapolis, Duluth and other cities. He has been mentioned as a candidate for congress and is credited with the ambition to represent his district in the nation's law-making body. Locally he has held several offices in addition to that of ' county attorney. In 1908 and 1909 he served as alderman from the second ward, and in April, 1910, he was elected mayor of the city, defeating H. P. Fulton by ninety-eight majority.

Mr. Davis is a man of family. He was married at Chetek, Wisconsin, June 26, 1906, to Mabel Emma Johnson. She is a native of that place, having been born May 17, 1884. She is the daughter of Ole and Mary Johnson, who were born in Norway. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davis: Esther Mabel, born March 4, 1908, and Dona May, born June 23, 1910. Mr. Davis holds membership in the M. W. A., Royal Arcanum, Maccabees, Elks and Knights of Pythias lodges.

The subject of this biography is the son of Reese and Jane (Jones) Davis, the for- mer a native of Wales and the latter of Ohio, she being of Welsh descent. Reese Davis came to the United States at the age of three years and located with his parents in Ohio. In 1861 he enlisted in Company C, of the Fifty-sixth Ohio Infantry, served the period of his enlistment, and then re-enlisted and served until the close of the war. Jane Jones located in Blue Earth county, Minne- sota, with her parents in 1858. After the war Mr. Davis located in the same county, where was a large Welsh settlement, and

THOMAS E. DAVIS

Mayor of Marshall (1910-12) and an Attorney of That City.

THINEA YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX ANE

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

there the parents of our subject were mar- ried. They moved to Lyon county in 1873 and took a homestead claim in Monroe town- ship. They left the farm in 1882 and lo- cated in Tracy, and four years later moved o Marshall, where they have since resided. Ir. Davis is a trustee of the First Presby- terian Church and has been since the church was built.

Reese and Jane Davis have five children, all living and all graduates of the Marshall High School. Following are the names of the children: Esther, the wife of William Russell, an attorney at Moorhead; Mary Agnes, the wife of O. A. Krook, who is post- master of Marshall; Elizabeth Ida, who was the assistant principal of the Laurel, Mon- tana, schools and who is now the wife of Thomas Rigney, a merchant of Laurel; Thomas E., of this biography, and his twin brother, John I., who is an attorney at Ben- son, Minnesota.

CHARLES TRUAX (1875), Amiret town- ship farmer, is a native of Lyon county. He was born at Tracy on November 12, 1875, and is a son of Samuel S. and Adeline E. Truax, the latter being deceased. The par- ents were born in Ohio. In 1871 they came to Lyon county and homesteaded the north- west quarter of section 32, Amiret township, where they resided until 1908. In the latter year they moved to Wyoming. To them were born the following children:Nettie, Lydia, May, Ella, Charles and Samuel.

The subject of this review has spent his entire life in Lyon county and was educated in the district and high schools of the coun- ty. After finishing his schooling he resided on his father's farm in Amiret township un- til 1905. In the latter year he moved to Amiret village, where he bought grain for Bingham Brothers five years. In May, 1911, he returned to his father's farm, which he has since conducted in connection with his own farm which adjoins it. Our subject is a member of the M. W. A. and the A. F. & A. M. lodges, and he was township treasurer two years.

Mr. Truax was married at Oakfield, Wis- consin, on February 14, 1900, to Gertrude Mihills. Mr. and Mrs. Truax are the par- ents of the following five children: Norris, Merrill, Charles, Donald and Samuel.

DAVID H. EVANS (1878). One of the best known men of Lyon county and a man who has played a most active part in the affairs of his city and county is David H. Evans, a hardware merchant of Tracy. He is interested in many business enterprises in his home town and in the state at large and he has taken an active and leading part in political affairs. Mr. Evans has resided in Tracy continuously since 1878.

At Utica, New York, on the first day of November, 1852, the subject of this biogra- phy was born. He came to Minnesota in territorial days with his parents, the trip being made by way of the Mississippi river and ox team. It was when David was only five years of age, in 1857, that the family made settlement in the little hamlet of South Bend (since removed from the map), three miles west of Mankato. There his father opened a blacksmith shop and there the family resided for the next fifteen years.

The community at that time boasted no educational advantages and young Evans re- ceived little book learning. During the win- ter months he helped his father with the work in the shop and during the summer seasons he helped clear the timber from the eighty-acre tract that the elder Evans owned. At the age of sixteen years David H. Evans left home and began work in a hardware store at Mankato, and in that business he has ever since been engaged. He lived in Mankato until 1878 and since that date has been a resident of Tracy.

The date of his arrival to Tracy was May 3, 1878, and he is now the senior business man of the city. At the time of his arrival Tracy had a population of only about 150 people and he established the second hard- ware store in the village, the first having been founded by David Stafford. The first five years Mr. Evans' business was con- ducted in a building on South Street and then he moved to his present location, erect- ing the two-story 44x100 feet building at that time. He carries a complete line of shelf and heavy hardware and implements. He is also engaged in the grain business, having bought the Neil Currie elevator in an early day and having built an addition to it in 1893.

In many other lines of business is Mr. Evans interested. He was one of the incor- porators of the Tracy Mill Company, which

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was established in 1890 and which was later destroyed by fire. He was one of the in- corporators of the Citizens State Bank and is a director of that institution. He is vice president of the Houston Pen Company and president of the Tracy Cement and Tile Com- pany.

Mr. Evans was one of the organizers of the Retail Hardware Dealers Mutual Insur- ance Company of Minneapolis and is vice president of the company. On the first day of December, 1911, this concern had in force insurance to the amount of $15,000,000 and a reserve fund of $306,224.81. Our subject is the president of another worthy concern, the Retail Implement Dealers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Owatonna, which in three years has accumulated a surplus of over $10.000. Mr. Evans was the founder and is the president of the Minnesota Com- mercial Federation, which was established in 190S. The objects of the federation are to secure united effort and definite action on the part of the various retail commercial associations of Minnesota, to better condi- tions of retail merchandising, and by co- operation to carry out the purposes of the affiliated organizations and secure such leg- islation as will promote the business inter- ests of the state.

An extensive land owner is Mr. Evans, about 3000 acres being recorded in his name. Among his holdings is the famous Captain Aldrich farm of 650 acres on Lake Shetek. That farm is a historic spot because of the fact that the thirteen people who were mas- sacred by the Indians in 1862 in the settle- ment on Lake Shetek are buried on the farm, the grave occupying a beautiful spot on the lake front.

Mr. Evans is a deep student of political conditions and has decided opinions on ques- tions of the times. He is a strong cham- pion of the small town as against the city. He believes that centralization of business brings about a centralization of population, and that both history and experience teach that centralization of population is disas- trous to civilization-that a well distributed population contributes to the general wel- fare and progress. "Commerce to a town, large or small," he maintains, "is what blood is to the human body; deprive a town of its commerce and it is a dead one." Therefore, he thinks, if we are to maintain

our present standard of civilization and progress it is necessary to distribute the population over the state, that the inland town must be built up and is essential as a social, religious, civic and educational cen- ter.

It is the belief of Mr. Evans that under the present system there is discrimination in railroad freight rates which gives the large centers a strangle hold on the smaller towns and that they are rapidly crushing the life out of the inland towns and rapidly destroying agricultural life. He thinks means must be found to build up the smaller towns and has given the matter deep thought and advocated these principles. He was a warm supporter of the Cashman bill, which met defeat in the last Legislature.

In politics Mr. Evans has taken an active part and is a prominent Democrat. He was the nominee of his party for congress against James T. McCleary in 1898 and has been a candidate for the Legislature. He was a delegate to the national convention that nominated Alton B. Parker for the presidency and in 1906 was made the nomi- nee of the Democrats for state treasurer. He served a term as a member of the State Reformatory Board at St. Cloud, receiving the appointment from Governor Lind. He served as mayor of Tracy two terms and for ten years was a member of the Board of Education, serving part of the time with John Lind, who was then a resident of Tracy and later became governor of the state. Mr. Evans is a member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias lodges.

The subject of this review was married at Denver, Colorado, February 22, 1880, to Mary A. Evans. She was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, February 17, 1858, the daughter of William J. and Hannah (Roland) Evans. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have six children: David Tracy, of Omaha, Nebraska; Hannah Vaughn (Mrs. John F. Lehman), of Water- town, South Dakota; William Henry, who assists his father in the store; Mary Winni- fred, a student in the State University; Theodosia, a student of the Tracy High School; and Dianessa Bryan, also a student in the Tracy High School.

The parents of David H. Evans were Da- vid D. and Eleanor (Vaughn) Evans, na- tives of Wales. The father came to the United States when two years old in 1828

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and the mother in 1844. They were married in Utica, New York, and in the fifties settled near Mankato. The father still resides in that city at the age of eighty-six years; the mother died there in 1882. Six children of their family are living, as follows: David H., John M., of Osseo, Minnesota; Maurice V., of Minneapolis; Joseph, of Hamilton, Canada; Mrs. Hattie J. Hill, of Mankato; Louis R., who is chief engineer on a steamer plying between San Francisco and China.

Mr. Evans witnessed the hanging of the thirty-eight Indians at Mankato after the close of the Sioux War. During the famous outbreak his father was a second lieutenant of the state militia.

WILLIAM S. BALDWIN (1872) is post- master of Taunton, the proprietor of a flour and feed store and a stock dealer. He has resided in Minnesota all his life and is among the early settlers of Lyon county, having first come here when less than twelve years of age.

William Baldwin was born near. Troy, Winona county, Minnesota, August 12, 1860. His parents were Solomon and Ellen (Can- field) Baldwin, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and New York State. They were pioneer residents of Winona county and died there when our subject was a child. There are four children in the fam- ily: Lucy Robinson, of St. Charles, Minne- sota; William S., of this biography; Fred, of Langdon, North Dakota; and George, of Winona.

The year of arrival to Lyon county was 1872, when William Baldwin was a lad eleven years of age. The railroad which was then building toward Lyon county-the Winona & St. Peter-had only reached Sleepy Eye, and the trip was made in a covered wagon from Chatfield. The trip was made with the family of Henry P. Gibbs and for three years our subject lived with that family on the homestead on section 14, Fairview town- ship. Then Mr. Gibbs lost his life in one of the winter storms and young Baldwin went to live with the Castor family, over the line in Redwood county. The next win- ter he attended school in Marshall and from that time until 1893 he lived in and in the vicinity of the county seat.

During that period Mr. Baldwin worked at

various occupations. He was street commis- sioner of Marshall one year, operated a feed barn for some time, and engaged in farm- ing land for Marshall residents. In 1893 Mr. Baldwin rented land from his father-in- law near Minneota, farmed it three years, and has ever since then resided in Taun- ton. He worked at the carpenter's trade and general work until he was appointed postmaster on December 24, 1907. Since then he has conducted a flour and feed store and engaged in the stock business as well as care for the postoffice. Before the incorporation of Taunton Mr. Baldwin served as justice of the peace of Eidsvold township and he has served several terms as a mem- ber of the Taunton Village Council. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge. .

Mr. Baldwin was married at Minneota Oc- tober 1, 1892, to Bessie Walsh, a native of Springfield, Illinois. To this union two chil- dren, Leo and Elenor, were born. Mrs. Baldwin died December 7, 1896. The sec- ond marriage of our subject occurred at Ghent on January 18, 1900, when he wedded Annie Helvig, a native of Chicago. George, Margaret and Lester are their children.

GUSTAV J. GOLTZ (1875), owner of one of the finest half sections in Lyon county, the northwest quarter of section 10 and the northeast quarter of section 9, Rock Lake township, is one of its most successful farm- ers and stock raisers. His stock sales each year amount to about $1,500. Mr. Goltz is also a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of Balaton.

John and Wilhelmina (Abel) Goltz, par- ents of our subject, came to America from Germany in 1875 and settled in Owatonna, Minnesota. The father worked out that summer and filed on a homestead in Rock Lake township, the southwest quarter of sec- tion 2, where the family went to live in the fall. That was the family's home the next thirty-four years. They came upon hard times during the grasshopper years and contended with other discouragements of the early days until good crops, market facili- ties, the county's growth, and their years of hard work eventually brought prosperity. They have led a retired life in Balaton since 1909.

Gustav was born in Germany December

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15. 1871, and came to this country with his parents. Having finished his education at the age of twenty years he worked on the home farm one year, after which he worked out at various places in the state during the next six years. In the spring of 1899 Gustav returned to Lyon county, purchased the northwest quarter of section 10, Rock Lake, from his father, and has been farming the place since that time. In March, 1911, he bought the adjoining quarter on section 9 and has brought the half section to a fine state of cultivation.

Our subject is a member of the German Lutheran church. He was married in the township November 11, 1908, to Mary Abel, a nativeof Germany. Mrs. Goltz was born October 24, 1880, and her mother, Mrs. Fred Abel, still lives in the old country. The father is dead. Mr. Goltz has the following sisters and brothers living: Minnie (Mrs. W. G. Myers) and Elsie, of Worthington; Emma (Mrs. Julius Frost) and Sophia ( Mrs. Max Bollman), of California; Annie (Mrs. F. J. Breening) and Gertrude (Mrs. George Snow), of Balaton; Otto, of Warren, Minne- sota; August, of Madelia; Robert, of Can- ada; Ray and Walter, of Montana; and Erwin, of Rock Lake township.

OLE O. RUNHOLT (1878) is one of the early settlers of Lucas township and is the owner of 160 acres of land on the south half of section 17.

Our subject was born in Christiania, Nor- way. October 12, 1853, and is a son of Ole and Carrie (Slette) Monson. The boy grew to manhood in his native country and after completing his schooling he worked in the mines with his father. In 1878 Ole and his brother Aasten came to America, and during the first year of their residence in the new country lived on the farm of Chris- topher Peterson in Lucas township. The following year Ole bought forty acres of school land on section 16, built a small house, and continued to make his home there the next five or six years. In 1879 the boy's parents came from Norway and made their home with him.

In the fall of 1884 our subject married and then sold his farm to his brother and re- turned to Norway. There he remained one and one-half years. Returning to America,

he took up farm work and worked on the railroad for a time in North Dakota. Shortly after coming back to this country, his wife died at her father's home in Norway. where Ole had left his family until he should find a good location in Lyon county. He was obliged to return once more to the Father- land to get his two children, and after a stay of one year and a half our subject again made the long trip.

Upon again taking up his residence in Lyon county, Mr. Runholt spent seven years working out at farm labor. He then moved to the east half of the southwest quarter of section 17, Lucas township, where his parents lived, and took charge of the place, they being too old for the active care of the farm. His father is now dead and the mother is still living on the farm with her son. Ole has added eighty acres to the farm and is doing well with his farming.

The subject of this sketch was married a second time, to Annie Grandhagen on Janu- ary 18, 1896. She was born in Norway Jan- mary 18, 1874, and is a daughter of John and Martha Grandhagen. The children of his second marriage are Oscar, Cora O., Jo- seph R. and Laurence. Mr. Runholt has two children by his first marriage, Clara M. and Rudolph (deceased).

The Runholts are members of the Norwe- gian Lutheran church. Mr. Runholt is a member of the school board of district No. 89.

S. H. ADAMS (1873). When S. H. Adams came to Marshall in 1873 he reports that there were only eleven houses in the town. He has seen the village grow from those proportions into the city of today, having lived in the village ever since, with the exception of a few years. During nearly all this time he has been engaged in the tinning business, and he is now the senior member of the firm of S. H. Adams & Son, plumbers, steamfitters and sheet metal work- ers.

'Mr. Adams was the only son of Harrison S. and Betsey T. (Ladd) Adams and he was born at Cambridge, New York, on Sep- tember 1, 1853. His father, a native of Con- necticut, came to Lyon county in 1873 and died in November, 1903, at the age of sev- enty years. His mother was born in New

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Hampshire and died in Marshall May 1, 1874.

At the age of four years S. H. Adams accompanied his parents from Cambridge, New York, to Rutland, Vermont, and a lit- tle later to Springfield, Vermont, where the family resided until he was thirteen years of age. Then the family home was made in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. In that place young Adams attended school and grew to manhood. He came to Marshall in Septem- ber, 1873, and the day following his arrival began work in the hardware store of J. P. Watson and there learned the tinner's trade. He worked for Mr. Watson ten years and for R. M. Addison eight years and then moved to Cottonwood and went into business with Thomas Mckinley.

Eight years later Mr. Adams returned to Marshall and for the next five years was again employed by J. P. Watson. He then moved to Provo, Utah, where he remained four years. . Returning to Marshall in April, 1909, he formed the company known as S. H. Adams & Son with his son, Lloyd E., as partner.

For two years the firm did business in Mr. Watson's hardware store, but the growth of the business demanded larger quarters and in April, 1911, a move was made to the present location in the Josh Goodwin build- ing. The firm engages in plumbing, steam, hot water and hot air heating, ventilating and cornice work and does repairing. It is the only exclusive plumbing and tinning establishment in Marshall.

Mr. Adams has been a Mason since 1875, having been the first one admitted to mem- bership after the local lodge secured its charter, and he was the first worthy patron of the Eastern Star lodge in Marshall. He is also a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge.

In Trempealeau, Wisconsin, on April 7, 1877, Mr. Adams was married to Ida H. Smith, a native of Illinois. They have three boys, as follows: Archer L., who was born February 15, 1878, married Mary Wilson, and is now foreman of the ventilating depart- ment of the H. Kelley Company plant (plumb- ers), Minneapolis; Lloyd E., who was born April 26, 1881, married Nellie Spaulding, and is now in business with his father at Mar- shall; Harry, who was born January 16, 1894, and is employed by the firm as bookkeeper.

EUGENE A. DICKERMAN (1877), of Lake Marshall township, has resided in Lyon coun- ty for the past thirty-five years. He came here penniless in 1877 and today is one of the most prosperous and widely known men in Lyon county. Mr. Dickerman is a native of Vermont, where he was born November 29, 1847. He is a son of Lemuell and Irene (Hillyard) Dickerman. The father was en- gaged in farming and rock laying in Ver- mont, where he died when Eugene was only nine years of age. The mother lived several years after the father's death.

The subject of this review attended school at Casson Bridge Academy during the winter months until seventeen years of age. He then stayed at home with his mother until he had passed his nineteenth year, when he went to New York and worked on the Platts- burg & White Hall railroad for several months. Returning to Vermont, he remained a few weeks and then came to Minnesota and located in Olmsted county, where he resided until 1877, the year he came to Lyon county. Mr. Dickerman first located on the northeast quarter of section 24, Lake Mar- shall township, but later sold that and moved to the farm he now owns and operates, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 24.

Mr. Dickerman has been a school officer of district No. 6 almost continuously since 1880, and he holds membership in the Ma- sonic lodge of Marshall. He has stock in the Lake Marshall Rural Telephone Com- pany and in the M. W. Savage Stock Food Company of Minneapolis. Mr. Dickerman is a veteran of the Civil War, serving in Com- pany G, Fourth Vermont Infantry, known as the Home Guards.

In 1874 Mr. Dickerman was married to Maribah Templeton, a daughter of Matthew and Nancy (Frost) Templeton and the oldest of a family of six children. Mr. and Mrs. Dickerman are the parents of the following children: Luella, born September 4, 1875; Leora, born January 6, 1877; Lillian, born March 11, 1879; Leona, born December 19, 1881; Joseph, born March 27, 1886.

EPHRAIM SKYHAWK (1877), deceased, was the first business man in Russell and for several years was the only storekeeper of the town. He was well known throughout

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the county and many were the friends who grieved over his death.

Mr. Skyhawk was born near Valparaiso, Indiana, April 19, 1853. When he was three years of age he came to Minnesota with his parents, and the family located in Mower county. The next twenty-one years of the lad's life were spent on the farm in that county and he was there educated and brought up amidst the environments of farm life. It was in the spring of 1877 that the young man came to Lyon county and located on a farm in Amiret, where he lived until 1885. That year he became a citizen of Mar- shall and engaged in the meat business with Joseph Pierard.

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An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 45

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 726

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726