USA > Minnesota > Nobles County > An illustrated history of Nobles County, Minnesota > Part 38
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 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
"Thus perished one of Nobles coun- it's first settlers. He was a comparative stranger to us all. having been with Is but a few months, yet he had made Friends of all by his joyous, joking. happy way. He was a native of Ver- mont. was an orphan, and had a sis- ter somewhere in the states, but we never knew where, and in all proba- bility she does not know of her broth- er's tragic end. Mr. Muck's horses wore drowned, and it was a sad loss to lima indeed. Clark gave the fur they were taking to Jackson to a man by the name of Stone, to deliver to the buyer. Other parties sont Tur and mon- cy until the whole amounted to about $250. It proved too big a temptation to the fellow and we have never seen him, l'ur, or money since. This was the most disasterons trip to Jackson we know of and was a terrible shock .0 the settlers."
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTUDENTY ANE
PROFESSOR RANSOM 1. HUMISTON (1822-1889
Head of the National Colony Company, Founder of Worthington, and a Most Conspicuous Figure in the Early History of Nobles County.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
PROFESSOR RANSOM F. HUMISTON ( 1822-1889), guiding spirit of the National Colony company and founder of Worthington. was responsible, more than any other man, for the rapid settlement of Nobles county in the early days, and during the years he made his home in the county was by far its most prominent resident. In the histor- ical part of this volume is to be found much of his life's history, which otherwise would have its place in this hiography.
Prof. Humi-ton was born at Great Bar- rington, Berkshire county. Mas -.. July 3. 1822, and from that place the family moved, in May, 1833, to Hudson. Portage county, Ohio. Our subject was educated in the Western Reserve college and took up teaching as his life's work. While yet quite young he took high rank among the edneator- of Ohio. For several years he was superintendent of the schools of Cuyahoga Falls, an important manufacturing center of northern Ohio. From there he went to ('leveland. purchased build- ings on "University Heights," then a sparse- Is settled suburb of Cleveland, and es. tablished a classical school called the Cleve- land Institute. lle there introduced a new feature which has since been copied in many of the colleges of the country, namely. a military training for the students. Prof. Humiston's school was successful and popu- lar. He was not only a wise manager, a good dieiplinarian and popular educator, but also a publie spirited and enterprising eiti- zen. Around this school there grew up an educated and refined community.
Selling his school property in 1867, Prof. Ilumi-ton started the next year on a tour of Europe, A-ia and Africa, in which coun- trie- he spent two years. Returning home and being possessed of a handsome com- potency and made sanguine and hopeful by his previous successos, Prof. Humiston con- ceived the idea of founding a colony some- where in the great west which should, so far as he could make it, be a center of edu- rational and moral influence. After visiting variou- localities. he -elected Nobles county. Minn., as the place for making realities out of hi- mental projects. It was in 1871 that he formed the National Colony company, secured control of a large tract of railroad lands in Nobles and adjoining counties, found- ed the village of Worthington, and began his life in the new country.
Amid the extraordinary trials of the grass- hopper period he was among the most un- daunted. hopeful and helpful. So far as the colony was successful, it was due to his generous, wise and vigorous endeavors. The misfortunes of the colony were sueh that no human skill could forsee or prevent. For all the good he did. and for the larger good he meant to do for it. Nobles county owes him a meed of hearty praise and an en- during monument to fitly perpetuate his memory. He lost practically all his fortune in financing the colony company, and de- parted the county in the late seventies.
After leaving Nobles county Prof. Hum- iston returned to the east and devoted his time to educational matters and to perfect- ing several patents. He died in April, 1889.
303
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
STEPHEN MILLER ()\1; 1887). Among the distinguishel men who have made No- bl - county their hoone at one time or another siner it- settlement none was more highly honored than Stephen Miller. Minnesota's War governor, who made his home at Worth igton nom toys until his death in ISS1.
Cuneor Willer was born in Cumberland now Perryy county, Pennsylvania, in 1816. lle arquirel a common school e location and served an apprenticeship to the milling busi- ness. after which he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and for many years conducted a forwarding and commission house in Harris- burg. Pennsylvania. In 1839 he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Funk, of Dauphin county, Pa., and to them were born three sons and one daughter, the lat- ter dying in infancy. The sons were Wes- ley F,, who was killed at the battle of Get- ty-burg: Stephen C. and Robert D.
In 1819 Mr. Miller was elected prothonotary of Dauphin county in his native state and held the office until 1855, when he resigned to accept the position of flour inspector of the city of Philadelphia. to which he was appointed by Governor James Pollock. Dur- ing a part of the jeriol of his ineumbeney of this office and before- including the excit- ing state canvass of ISốt he edited and pub- lished the Pennsylvania Telegraph, a leading organ of the whig party.
At the expiration of his term as flour in-jertor. in the spring of ISS, Mr. Miller came to Minnesota and located at St. Cloud, where he established a grocery and commis- -ion business, which he conducted until the commencement of the civil war, in April, 1861. During these years he took quite a prominent part in Minnesota politics. He was a delegate to the republican national conven- tion at Chicago in 1800 and headed the electoral ticket in the fall of that year, when he and his associates were successful by nearly 10.000 majority. During that campaign he and C. C. Andrews, then a Douglas candidate for elector. later a brig- dier general. held some fifty joint disons- sions in the principal cities and towns of the state.
In March, ISG], Mr. Miller was commis- sioned receiver of the land office at. St. Cloud, and in May of the same year was
offered the position of captain in the Unit - el States army, both of which appointments he declined. At the commencement of the civil war he and his son, Wesley F. Miller, enrolled themselves as private soldiers in the First Minnesota regiment. On April 20, 1861. he was mustered into the service as lieutenant colonel of the First Minnesota. lle was commissioned colonel of the Seventh regiment of Minnesota volunteers Sept. 26, 1862, and was made brigadier general of vol- unteers by the president Oct. 26, 1863. He took part in many of the important battles of the civil war and played an important part in the Sioux war, serving under Gen- eral Sibley. He was in charge of the forces at Mankato on Dec. 26, 1862, which exe- ented the thirty-eight Indians.
Brigadier General Miller was elected gov. ernor of Minnesota on the republican ticket in November. 1863. and on Jan. 12. of the following year, resigned his command to ac- cept the office. lle served until Jan. 8, 1866, living in the executive chair during the elos- ing days of the civil war. In many ways he showed his patriotic impulses and his zeal for the salvation of the country.
After the expiration of his term
as governor. President Grant, like President Lin- coln, tendered him positions in the civil service, but he declined them all. From .Inne, 1871, to September, 1878. Governor Mil- ler resided at Windom, being employed as fieldl agent of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad company. He served one term in the Minnesota house of representatives (1873), having been elected to represent six counties in southwestern Minnesota. He was presidential elector at large in IS76 and was the messenger to hear the electoral vote to Washington.
Governor Miller, while still in the om- ploy of the railroad company, came to Worthington to reside in September, 1878, and made his home there until his death, which occurred on Thursday night, Aug. 18. 1881. llis remains are buried in the Worth. ington cemetery.
DANIEL SHELL. No man in Nobles coun- ty has played a more important part in the political and business life of the county
305
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
than has Daniel Shell, of Worthington. Coming to the county and village in the closing days of 1871, just after the village came into existence, Mr. Shell, then a young man, at once became identified with the interests of his village and county, and has ever since been an important factor in the development of the community.
Daniel Shell was born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., Nov. 26, 1843, the son of David and Lavina (Kentner) Shell, natives of Canada and New York state, respec- tively. The Shells are of German ancestry, but settled in the United States at a very early day, and for several generations were residents of the Empire state. Daniel Shell, the paternal grandfather was a native of New York and an influential and pros- perous farmer. David Shell. the father of our subject, while a native of Canada. was raised in New York. The mother of Mr. Shell, of this sketch, was a daughter of Conrad Kent- ner, who was of German descent and a des- cendant of one of the pioneer families of St. Lawrence county.
Mr. Shell was the fourth son and sixth child of a family of eleven children. His early hoyhood was spent in attending the publie schools of St. Lawrence county. When he was eleven years of age the family moved to Sank county, Wis., and located on a farm, and there the subject of this biography grew to manhood. His educational advantages were such as the district schools of the locality afforded. although later he became a student in a high school.
On reaching his majority Mr. Shell started out in life on his own account. In the winter of 1865 he formed a partnership with two brothers, Conrad and Levi, and engaged in the lumber business in Wisconsin under the firm name of Shell Bros. He went into the pine woods and engaged in logging and milling, the firm having purchased eighty acres of heavily timbered land. retail yard was established at Salem. Wis., which the brothers operated until 1877, when Dan- iel Shell came to the new town of Worth- ington.
It was during the month of December that Mr. Shell came to Worthington. He was a member of the firm of Henry Voung & Co., which established a lumber yard in the little village. and came to assist in the management of the yard. After the busi-
ness had heen conducted in Worthington a few months, it was moved to Sibley, Iowa, at which point Levi Shell became the man- ager. Before the change in location was made, Daniel Shell had (in March, 1872) erected a building on Main street and opened a livery stable, of which he was the proprie- tor for many years. In 1873 he received the contract for carrying the mail from Worth- ington to Sioux Falls. S. D., and con- ducted the mail route five years. Hle oper- ated a stage line in connection, which he built up into a large and profitable busi- ness. He leased the Worthington hotel building in 1874, bought it a short time afterward, and was the landlord for thir- teen years.
Mr. Shell embarked in the real estate, loan and insurance business in 1876 and has had an office in Worthington ever since. In June. 1895, he formed partnership with M. P. Mann, and from that date to Jan. 10. 1906, the business was conducted under the firm name of Shell & Mann. Sinee the last named date he has conducted the business alone. In the early days he in- vested his money in Nobles county lands, and is today one of the largest landowners of the county. Besides the lines of business mentioned Mr. Shell has been identified with many other enterprises of a local nature. Ile was one of the organizers of the Minnesota Loan & Investment company and of the Beaver Creek Bank, of Rock county. When the Worthington National Bank was or- ganized early in the year 1908, he was made vice president and director of the new in- stitution.
In politics Mr. Shell is a pronounced re- publican, and has taken a very active part in local, state and national politics. At the first village election. in 1873. he was elect- ed village assessor and served one term. He was elected member of the village council in 1874, 1375 and 1876. and served as presi- dent of the council in 1879-80-81-85-86-89-90- 01-93-94. From 1890 to 1904 he was a member of the Worthington school board. He was elected county commissioner in the fall of 1881, was reelected in 1884, and served until the beginning of the year 1887. During these years he was chairman of the board. Mr. Shell was chosen a delegate to the re- publican national convention which was held it. Minneapolis in 1892, and was a member
18
306
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
of the committee that notified Benjamin Harrison of his nomination. In the fall of 1502 he was elected to the lower house of the Minnesota legislature from the district ong rising the counties of Nobles. Murray, Rock and Pipestone, and was reflected in Ist and again in 15.1. In 195 he was rl tel to the senate from the newly formed district comprising the counties of Nobles and Murray, and served eight years in that body. receiving the nomination and election again in 1902. In the early nineties, when i was decided to build a new state capitol, Mr. Shell was appointed member of the cap- itol commission by the governor, and served about one and one-half years. During the time he was on the commission, the plans for the new building-one of the finest state houses in the United States-were drawn and accepted. Mr. Shell resigned upon the passage of a law which brought into doubt the legality of a member of the legislature holding another office in the stato admin- istration.
Mr. Shell was married in 1867 to Miss Samantha Mcclintock. daughter of Hugh Me- Clintock, of Salem. Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Shell are the parents of three children- Winnifred. Lee M. and Marjorie. Mr. Shell is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity. Ile was a charter member of the lolge at Worthington, and is a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine.
JULIUS A. TOWN. attorney at law, Worth- ington. is one of the pioneers of Worth- ington and Nobles county, and has taken a prominent part in the affairs of the vil- lage and county for the list thirty-six years. He is a prominent member of the bar of southwestern Minnesota. is active in county. congressional and state politics, and is our of the best known G. A. R. min of Minnesota.
.Inlins 1. Town was born in Steuben county. Indiana, September ST. 1811. His father, \. Town, and his mother. Rebecca (Simmons) Town, were both natives of Ver- mont. as had been their families for several pruerations. The Town family is English tork and emigrated to America in coloni- al days. Our subject's maternal grand- father was a veteran of the war of the revolution, serving as a volunteer under
General Stark, and took part in the battle of Bennington.
For the first eleven years of his life the subject of this sketch lived in the county of his birth. Then he came with hi- parent- to the territory of Minnesota. lorating at the new town of Owatonna October 5. 1855. His father erected the first frame building on the site of that town and was the second to engage in business there. Voung Town, who had started his schooling in Indiana, now at- tended the schools of Owatonna until the utbrink of the civil war. While not en- gaged with his studies he worked on a farm and clerked in his father's store.
When President Lincoln called for volun- teers to put down the rebellion. . T. ... Town was among the first to offer his ser- rices, and he was mustered into the ser- vice of the United States in company E. of the Fourth Minnesota volunteer infan- try. October 19. 1861. He was discharged ,Inne 28. 1862. by reason of having tr. phoid fever in camp. but reenlisted in the same company and regiment November 11. 1862. He served until the close of the war. being discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, July 19, 1865.
His first service was at Fort Snelling. Minn .. where his regiment remained until April. 1862. The command then went sonth and joined Halleck's army in front of Cor- inth. The first siege of Corinth followed. and Mr. Town's regiment took a part in that campaign. The next campaign in which our subject took part was with Grant sonth of Memphis, in an endeavor to roch Vicks- burg overland. In the spring of 1863 the forces returned to Memphis and immediately started down the river by boat on the next Vicksburg campaign. The forces went down through the Vazoo pass, and fried to reach the important Mississippi town by way of the Yazoo river. A return was made to Mulligan's bend. and in the latter part of April. 1863. the troops started out again under General Grant. Mr. Town marched with the forces to Bruensberg and was in all the battles of the Vicksburg campaign, including Port Gibson, Raymond. Turkson. Champion Hills, and the charge on Vicksburg of May 22. Tle participated in the siege of Vicksburg and was present at the surrender of the city. Ile stood in the
307
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
lines while Generals Grant and Pemberton arranged the terms of surrender, and en the morning of July 4, 1863, he marchel with his regiment into the surrendened city, the Fourth Minnesota being the first regi- ment of Union troops to enter the city after the surrender.
After a few months of garrison duty, in the latter part of September, the troops returned to Memphis, and from there march- ed to Chattanooga and took part in the battle of Missionary Ridge. Thereafter un- til the fall of 1864 he and the command. of which he was a part, did garrison duty. On the 5th of October he again engaged in fighting, taking part in the battle of AAltoona, Ga. On November 9 was begun the famous march of Sherman from Atlanta to the sea, and our subject shared in all the vicissitudes of that memorable cam- paign. He was in the fighting in the ad- vance on Savannah, and on the way north took part in the battle of Bentonville, N. C. He also witnessed the surrender of General Johnson near Raleigh. Marching by way of Richmond the forces arrived at the capital of the country, and took part in the grand review. The war was then over. and the Fourth Minnesota was ready for discharge. The men marched to Louisville, Ky., and later to St. Paul, Minn., where they were discharged on July 19. 1865, although their muster out papers wore dated Louisville.
After the war Mr. Town returned to Owatonna and devoted the next few years of his life to finishing his education. For one year he attended the public school at Owatonna, then spent one year studying in a business college in Chicago. Another year was passed in Hillsdale college. Michi- gan, and his education was completed in the university of Minnesota. which he at. tended for a total of about one year's study in the winters of 1869-70 and 1870-71. During these years he also engaged in teaching school for about one year. teach- ing at Geneva. Waterville and near Chat- field, all in Minnesota.
It was in the spring of 187] that Mr. Town finished his studies at the university of Minnesota. That fall he moved to Win- dom, then a town just starting on the now St. Paul & Sioux City railroad, and for three months sold himber there. That same fall he established the first lumber
yard in Heron Lake. January 25, 1872, is the date of his permanent settlement in Nobles county and Worthington, and there are few men whose arrival in Worthington antedates that of Mr. Town. He immedi- ately took charge of the lumber yard of Crocker Bros. & Lamareaux, operated the yard one year for that company, and then purchased the business. He disposed of his business in the spring of 1874.
On November 2, 1875, he was elected sheriff of Nobles county on the republican ticket, defeating W. S. Stockdale. Two years later he was reelected, defeating B. F. Johnson. After going out of office at the beginning of the year 1880, he com- meneed the study of law in the office of George W. Wilson. He was admitted to the bar March 8, 1883, before M. J. Severance, and since that date has been practicing at Worthington.
Mr. Town has always taken an active interest in politics, and has held many offi- ces of trust in the gift of the electors of the county and village. When Worthington township was organized in the spring of 1872, he was chosen town clerk and at- tended the first meeting held on March 20. When Independent school district No. 5 was organized Mr. Town was a member of the board and served continuously six or seven years. In later years he again became a member of the board and served nine years. He was county commissioner for six years, and during that time was the chairman of the board. He was appointed village attorney when that office was es- tablished in 1887 and with the exception of the years 1895, 1905. 1906 and 1907 has ever since received annual appointment.
Mr. Town was a charter member of Stoddard Post No. 34. G. A. R., and has been a member of that organization ever since, having served as commander several times. ITe has also served three terms as commander of the Southwestern Minnesota Veterans association. and is one of the active members of that organization.
ERLAND W. HESSELROTH. of Graham Lakes township. is one of the very earliest. settlers of Nobles connty, having resided here since the spring of 1870. During the pioneer days he took a very active part
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
in the political and social life of the ounts, and was one of Nobles county's first pade. officers.
Mr. Howeloth was born in Dablands, Bosnie In. Sweden, May 28. 1-34, the son of Varl and Anna Berg) Hesselroth. llis parent- died in Sweden, his father in 1845, aged 47 years, and his mother in 1550, aged 50 years. Young TesseJroth was educated in his native land and resided there until he wa- 20 years old. For two years he was employed as clerk in an iron foundry. He came to America with an uncle in 1854 and located at LaCrosse, Wis., where his rela- tive bought land, and that was his home until the outbreak of the war. Two win- ters he spent working in the logging camps of northern Wisconsin, and during the rest of the time he claimed LaCrosse as his home he was employed at farm work and in sawmills.
lle was enrolled in company .1. of the 20th Wisconsin volunteer infantry. on July 11, 1862, at LaCrosse, and served in that regiment until Ang. 24, 1863. when he was discharged at Carleton, La., because of dis- ability arising from wounds received at the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark., on Dec. 7. 1862. Ile was in a hospital at Fayette- ville. Ark .. for two or three months, and in February. 1863. was taken to the hos- pital at Springfield. Mo., in which he re- mained mutil early in April. He had then sufficiently recovered to rejoin his regiment, and with it he took part in the closing acts of the Vicksburg campaign. After his discharge he was out of the service one year. Then he reenlisted, on Aug. 30, 1864. in the first battery of Wisconsin artillery, but saw no more active service. being placed on garrison duty at Baton Rouge. La. lle was honorably discharged at the close of the war, his discharge being dated June 26. 1865.
After his service with the army Mr. Hes- selroth returned to his Wisconsin home, but in the spring of 1866 he moved to Rochester, Minn., where for four years he worked in the harvest fields and at ofher oc- oupations. In the spring of 1870. with five companions, he sef ont for the Sioux Falls country. While the party was passing through the Graham Lakes country they fmmmnl a few settlers, who indneed them to locale there, and about the 15th of May
all took claims. Mr. lesselroth filed a sol- dier's homestead on the southeast quarter of section 34. Graham Lakes township, and in the fall of the year built a cabin there. on. For 38 years, with the exception of five years from 1902 10 1907 -spent in Worthington, he has lived there.
At the county's first election, held in No- veniber, 1870, Mr. Ilesselroth was elected judge of probate and served until late in 1872. when he resigned and W. M. Bear was appointed. He was also Graham Lakes township's first justice of the peace, and served several terms. He was the see- ond assessor of the township, and served one term. For many years he was a mem- ber of the township board of supervisors. Mr. Hesselroth was married in Cotton wood county Nov. 23. 1875, to Clarissa Oakes, a native of Genesee. Mieh. To this union have been born three children: Law- rence llilmer. horn Sept. 14, 1876. died when 12 years old; Anna Nancy (Mrs. Roy Rose). born Jan. 31. 1878, residing in Gra- ham Lakes township: Hilda Lucia, of Worth- ington. born March 29, ISS1.
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.