Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 102

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190

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in Canada, and also in the States of the Northwest. For several years he was associated in business with O. M. Collins, under the firm name of Collins & Livingstone, but since the dissolution of this firm he has conducted his extensive opera- tions in an individual way. He has constructed many impor- tant bridges and trestles in the Rocky mountains, besides viaduets and other forms of engineering work.

Mr. Livingstone has maintained his residence and business headquarters in Minneapolis since 1883, and his eharacter and services have given him a high place in popular confidence and estecm, as well as prominence in business circles in the Minnesota metropolis. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion he is a member of Westminster Presbyterian church. He has completed the cirele of both the York and Scottish Rites of Masonry, and in the latter he has received the thirty-second degree, besides being identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

In the year 1883 Mr. Livingstone married Miss Margaret E. LeVeseonte, who was at the time a resident of Hastings, Minn. Mrs. Livingstone was born in Australia, was reared to the age of sixteen years on the Island of Jersey, in the English Channel, and then accompanied her parents on their removal to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone have two children, Robert, who is a bridge contraetor and builder, and Helen, who remains at the parental home.

CHARLES B. LAYMAN.

One of the best known names in Minneapolis is that of Layman. The principal representative now living in Minnea- polis being Charles B. Layman, son of Martin Layman, one of the pioneers. He was born in New York. May 30, 1838, the son of Martin and Elizabeth (Brown) Layman, themselves natives of the Empire state. In 1845, the family migrated by team to Illinois, settling in Peoria county. They im- proved a prairie farm, and in 1853, they came to St. Anthony.

Entranced by the new country, the Laymans took up a claim of 160 acres, its boundaries being now Lake street on the south, Twenty-sixth street on the north, and Cedar avenue on the west. On what was then the farm now stands, among other industries, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway shops, the immense plant of the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company, and other large concerns- presenting a far different aspect from that of the Layman homestead of the early fifties. The residence of the family, built by Martin Layınan, about 1855 to 1856, is still stand- ing, facing Cedar avenue. Later, in 1876, he built a larger residence, also faeing Cedar avenue, and in this he lived during the declining years of his life. He died in 1886, past the age of seventy-five, his companion of fifty years sur- viving but three months.

Layman's Cemetery was laid out by Martin Layman in 1858, and constituted during many years the principal place of burial for the city. It first comprised ten acres, extend- ing from Twenty-ninth street to Lake street, with the main entrance on Cedar avenue. The tract was added to, until it contains thirty acres and is now, as always, conducted as a private cemetery. More than 24,000 bodies have here found the final resting place.

Aside from establishing the cemetery, Martin Layman and

his family platted four additions to the city, known as Lay- man's First, Second, Third and Fourth additions.

Martin Layman was the father of thirteen children, all of whom reached years of maturity. Three sons and four daughters of these are now living.

Charles B. Layınan spent his early years helping to im- prove his father's farm, which was all prairie land. When he was twenty-two years old he bought a farm on the Fort Snelling prairie, some eight miles south of the old home, pay- ing for it $11 per acre. He "bached it" there on the farm, broke the land, and raised a erop. He had got the crop in stack in 1861, when, moved by the patriotic fervor which was giving regiments of soldiers to the volunteer army, he enlisted in Company I, of the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He served three years, ten months and sixteen days, remaining constantly with his company, and being hon- orably discharged at the end of his faithful service.

Meanwhile his father had sold Charles' farm for him, and soon after his return from the war Charles went to Cali- fornia, where he resided for twelve years. Returning in 1879 to Minneapolis, he built his present home, nearly op- posite the old place on Cedar avenue. For twenty-one years he acted as superintendent of Layman's Cemetery, being succeeded by his son, Martin, so that for half a century the Laymans, through three generations, have laid in the breast of mother earth the remains of Minneapolis citizens.

Charles B. Layman married Anna Nolan in 1880. To them were born one son, Martin, superintendent of the cemetery which bears the family name; and two daughters, Edna, Mrs. L. W. Paul, and Ruth, who lives at her parents' home, 2822 Cedar avenue. Mr. Layman is a charter member of Morgan Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and is also prominent in the Knights of Pythias order.

HON. FRANK MELLEN NYE.

Hon. Frank M. Nye, one of the most eminent of the repre- sentative professional men of Minneapolis, has achieved a suc- cessful career alike creditable to him and highly serviceable to the localities in which he has lived. Those who know him best recognize his worth and take pride in his honor- able career and his service to his fellowmen.

Mr. Nye was born in the town of Shirley, Piscataquis County, Maine, March 7, 1852. He is a son of Bartlett and Eliza (Loring) Nye, and a brother of the late genial author and humorist, who was familiarly known to delighted mil- lions as "Bill Nye." Benjamin Nye, the progenitor of the American branch of the family, came to America from Eng- land, in 1637, and settled at Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod Bay. He was a young man at the time and re- mained at Sandwich until his death. Three brothers, de- scendants of Benjamin, removed to Maine, where each raised a family. They were active in service on the side of the Colonies during the War of the Revolution, and all the sub- sequent generations of the family have shown patriotism and devotion to their country.

Franklin Nye (son of Bartlett Nye), a name that has been handed down from many generations in unbroken succes- sion, was a native of Maine and a lumberman and mill man in that State. He moved to Wisconsin in the latter part of 1853, the next year located in St. Croix County, near River

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Falls, between that city and Hudson. He improved a tract of wild prairie and bush land into a fine farm in the heautiful Kinnikinick Valley, and in that region he passed the re- mainder of his days, dying in River Falls in 1887.

Mrs. Nye, the widow of Bartlett, is still living, and has her home with her son, Frank, in Minneapolis. She is of English ancestry· of the higher class and helongs to families distin- guished for intellectual force and social refinement for many generations. Her father, Amasa Loring, was a gentleman of the old school, courtly and considerate toward all men, and distinguished wherever he was known for his uprightness, sincerity and unwavering straightforwardness. His mother he- longed to the Haskell family, and Mrs. Loring's mother, Frank's grandmother, to the Teague family, both prominent in New England history.

Three children were born and reared to manhood in the household of Franklin Nye, "Bill," the humorist, Frank M., and Carroll A. The last named has lived in Moorhead, Min- nesota, twenty-six years. In 1910, he was elected District Judge of the Seventh Judicial District, which is normally Republican, hut which he carried by a handsome majority, although he was a Democrat. Before going on the bench, he was a member of the State Board of Managers of the Normal Schools. The parents reared, in addition to their three sons, an adopted daughter, Josephine M. Nye, whom they took into their family in her childhood. She is now a teacher of elocu- tion and a public entertainer in New York City. She has always been an object of special care and solicitude to Mrs. Nye, who, being highly intelligent and well read herself, was eager that her adopted daughter should make the utmost of her faculties and opportunities, and gave untiring attention to her education. Mrs. Nye is of the same ancestry as Charles M. Loring of this city.

Frank M. Nye grew to manhood on his father's farm in Wisconsin. He was educated in the district schools and at the River Falls Academy, with a short attendance at a colle- giate institute. He and his brother, "Bill" Nye, both taught school and read law together at their home. Frank was admitted to the bar while he was still engaged in teaching, receiving his license to practice at Hudson, Wisconsin, in 1878. He at once moved to Clear Lake, in Polk County. Wisconsin, and began practicing, and the next year was elected district attorney, holding the office for two terms in succes- sion. He had many important cases to try, and his reputa- tion a's a skillful lawyer and man of unusual ability grew steadily.

His election to the office of district attorney was the be- ginning of Mr. Nye's political career, and he was kept in office almost without a break thereafter until he retired from public life voluntarily at the end of his third term in the National House of Representatives on March 4, 1913. In the fall of 1883, he was elected to the Lower House of the State Legis- lature of Wisconsin, as a Republican, and when Hon. John C. Spooner was elected to the United States Senate for the first time by that Legislature, Mr. Nye was selected to make the speech which placed him in nomination.

During his service in the Wisconsin Legislature Mr. Nye introduced a resolution providing for submitting to a vote of the people an amendment to the State constitution conferring the right of suffrage on women. He made the only speech de- livered in favor of the resolution, and succeeded in getting it through the House. He thus became a pioneer advocate of woman suffrage in the Northwest, his resolution having been

the first ever introduced in the Legislature of Wisconsin, or any of its bordering sister states. The issue was much more unpopular than now.

In the spring of 1886, Mr. Nye came to Minneapolis to live and practice law. His start here was humble and ohscure. He wore out his old clothes, according to his own account, but before he did this, as the record shows, he gained a high professional reputation, especially in the trial of criminal cases. In 1888 he was appointed Assistant County Attorney, under Hon. Rohert Jamison, since one of the district judges.

In the fall of 1890, Mr. Nye made the race for the office of county attorney, but the political landslide of that year in favor of the Democratic party elected his opponent. In 1892, however, and again in 1894, he was chosen to this of- fice. During his four years' tenure he had a great deal of hard work and many difficult cases. There were many murder and embezzlement cases which required his attention, and in the management of which he was very successful. One case of national, if not international, importance and renown was that of the State vs. Harry T. Hayward, which involved the crime of murder in the first degree and resulted in a con- viction.

At the end of his service as prosecuting attorney, Mr. Nye resumed his general practice, and soon found himself under almost constant requisition in connection with important criminal cases, not only in Minneapolis and Minnesota, but also in Wisconsin, North Dakota, and even Montana. He as- sisted in the prosecution of the noted Kent case at Mandan, North Dakota, where the first trial was held, and in Fargo, where the second was conducted. Both resulted in convic- tions and death sentences.

In 1906, Mr. Nye was elected to the Lower House of Con- gress hy a flattering vote, and was re-elected in 1908 and again in 1910. In 1912, he declined to be a candidate. During his first term he was a member of the Committee on the District of Columbia and the Committee on Public Build- ings and Grounds. By his work in the latter committee he secured the first appropriation for the erection of a new post- office building in Minneapolis.

Mr. Nye's first speech in the exalted forum of his latest renown was in defense of President Roosevelt's special mes- sage after the panic of 1907. The Republican members who controlled the House, with Speaker Cannon in the chair, were not in accord with Mr. Roosevelt, and the Democrats taunted the whole party membership with repudiating the President. The conditions made it necessary for new mem- bers to defend him. In his second and third terms, Mr. Nye was a member of the Judiciary Committee of the House, one of the most important in the body, and requiring of its members an immense amount of detail work. Though a minority memher during his third term in the House, Mr. Nye did his full share of this work.

As a public speaker, Mr. Nye has always been very popular and drawn large audiences. He won distinction of a special kind in a half-hour's address on Lincoln in Congress, on the one-hundredth anniversary of the martyred President's birth, and in another short address on one of the anniversaries of Washington's birthday. He has spoken often on national questions and in the councils of his party, as well as on the stump in important campaigns. He has also filled numerous Chautauqua lecture engagements. His speeches are extem- poraneous, and have piquancy and interest and show the in-

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

fluence of a mind richly stored with general information and philosophical study.

In his home city, Mr. Nye belongs to nearly all the social clubs and benevolent fraternities, including the orders of the Free Masons and the Knights of Pythias. He is fond of base ball and other athletic sports, as a spectator, and gives them liberal support. lu religious affiliation he is connected with Park Avenue Congregational Church, but he is liberal in his theological views, believing that the Bible and the teachings of the lowly Nazarene contain all the basie prin- ciples of correet living in their spirit and tenets, independent of all sectarian interpretation and application.

March 27, 1876, Mr. Nye was mited in marriage with Miss Carrie M. Wilson, of St. Croix County, Wisconsin. They have four children, Mrs. Belle Carter, Mrs. C. S. Laird, and Mrs. A. Berkhall, all of Minneapolis; and a son, Edgar W., who was named for his unele, "Bill" Nye, and who associated in business with the Stone-Ordeen-Wells Company in this city, and unmarried; he was his father's secretary while the latter was in Congress. Mr. and Mrs. Nye have five grand- children.

GEORGE H. EASTMAN.

More than half a century ago George H. Eastman numbered himself among the pioneers of Minnesota, and he has been a prominent and influential figure in the development of the resources and industrial enterprises of this favored com- monwealth. He was long and conspicuously identified with the great flour-manufacturing industry of Minneapolis and did much to further the city's prestige in this line of enter- prise.

George H. Eastman was born at Conway, Carroll county, New Hampshire, on the 9th of February, 1839, and was reared to maturity in his native state, where he received excellent educational advantages in the common schools. In March, 1858, as a youth of nineteen years, Mr. Eastman eame to Minnesota, while it was still a territory, and established his residence at St. Anthony, where his elder brothers, John and William W .. had previously located. John Eastman was the first of four brothers to come to Minnesota and he was prominently concerned in the development of various indus- trial and commercial enterprises of the pioneer days. He was associated with his brother William W. in the control of many important business interests and he continued to main- tain his home in Minneapolis until the time of his death, Dr. Arthur Eastman, a representative physician of St. Paul, be- ing liis son. On other pages of this volume is given a spe- cific review of the career of William W. Eastman, and to this article reference may be made for further details concerning the Eastman family. Haskett Eastman, the oldest of the four brothers, came to Minneapolis several years later and at the time of his demise he was executive head of the well- known lumber firm of Eastman, Bovey & Company. His widow and son Clarence still reside in the old family home- stead, 20 Grove Place, Minneapolis. Four sisters of the sub- ject of this review likewise became residents of St. Anthony and Minneapolis: Annette E. was the wife of Charles Thomp- son. Charlotte was the wife of Judge David A. Seacombe, who was a representative lawyer of Minneapolis and who also served as probate judge. Judge Seacombe and his wife

are deceased and are survived by two children, Willis, a successful manufacturer and business man of Minneapolis, and Cary, the widow of Edward C. Chatfield, of this city. Caroline Eastman resides in Minneapolis, where she makes her home with her sister, Clara T., who is the widow of John DeLaitte, individually mentioned on other pages of this work.

George H. Eastman learned the paper-making trade in the establishment conducted by his father and upon coming to Minnesota he entered the employ of his brother, William W., who at that time conducted a grocery store on the site of the present Lockwood machine shop, on Main street, St. Anthony. In the year that marked the arrival of Mr. Eastman in Minneapolis was erected the Winslow House, which became the principal hotel of the town and which stood on the site later occupied by the Exposition building. In those early days but little money was in circulation here and serip was the common circulating medium. After having been in the state about two years Mr. Eastman supplemented his educational discipline by study under the able precep- torship of Dr. Gray and was one of the first students of the University, one of the leading pioneer educators of Minnesota and a man of high attainments. About, this time Mr. Eastman found employment in a paper mill that had been erected and equipped by his brother William, at the upper end of Hennepin island. In this mill wrapping paper was manufactured from rags and old rope, and employment was given to a force of ten men. The average output of the pioneer factory was two tons of paper a day. George H. Eastman continued to be identified with the operation of the mill about one year, at the expiration of which his brother disposed of the plant and business. He then returned to his old home in New Hampshire, where he remained about one year, and in 1861 he went to California via the Isthmus, where he gained varied and interesting experiences. He was made superintendent of the government tool road over the . Sierra Nevada mountains, this road extending for sixty miles. Prior to his regime as superintendent various Mexican sheep and cattle men refused to pay toll at the gates on the road and were persistent in their attempts to override au- thority. They would tear down the gates and were ever ready to shoot at those who interfered with them. Under these depressing conditions Mr. Eastman was ridiculed for his temerity in assuming the position of superintendent of the toll road, but he convinced the belligerent Mexicans that they would encounter trouble with the government and that their live stock would be confiscated. He gained their good will, as he proved to them that he was ready to avoid difficulty, and the tolls were paid without further trouble. In California Mr. Eastman also devoted one year to gold mining in the placer fields of Calaveras county, where he met with meas- urable success.

In 1866 Mr. Eastman returned to Minneapolis, and here lie finally rented the Prescott flour mill, on Hennepin island. This was one of the older mills of the locality and had a capacity of about two hundred barrels. It had been unsuc- cessfully operated, but Mr. Eastman made the enterprise so prosperous within a period of six months that the owners of the property insisted on again assuming control, no lease having been signed. Mr. Eastman then assumed supervision of the erection of the first grain elevator built in Minneapolis, the same having been situated near the corner of East Waslı- ington street and Ninth avenue and having been owned by the firm of Merriman & Wilder, of St. Paul. This elevator

Gung Ht Eastman

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

had a capacity of 150,000 bushels and long continued as the largest in the state, its grain supply having originally been drawn almost entirely from the southern part of the state. After the completion of the elevator Mr. Eastman was made its manager and of this position he continued the incum- bent for eight years. Prior to his superintendency all grain had been transported in bags direct to the mills. He ar- ranged to permit the wheat to flow into the wagon boxes, but the majority of those concerned still insisted upon the use of bags. He constructed a wagon box with a capacity of one hundred bushels, and in the facility of loading and un- loading this saved in both time and expense, his innovation effecting a revolution in the handling of grain. His success encouraged others to erect elevators, and within his regime of eight years seven or eight such structures were built in Minneapolis. In 1870 he resigned his position and became as- sociated with his brother, William W., in the erection of the "Anchor" mill, equipped with eleven buhr stones and having a capacity of two thousand barrels. While still in charge of the elevator he and his brother had engaged in the man- ufacturing of grain reapers, the same having been the first automatic rakers to be placed on the market and having been designated as the "Valley Chief." Defects in certain minor parts of the mechanism made the practical working of the machines unsatisfactory, and the manufacturing of the same was, therefore, discontinued. For two years Mr. Eastman had active charge of the operation of the Anchor mill, and under his able direction were installed improved purifiers, for the whitening and strengthening of the flour. His study and experimentation were carried forward with marked zeal and the result proved of inestimable and en- during value in connection with the great industry that has made the name of Minneapolis famous. Mr. Eastman learned that the "shorts" or gluten went into the bran, the while the starch was retained in the flour. He also found that the embryonic chits or sprouts contained the oil which yellowed the flour, as combined with the middlings. The result of his investigation was that he found that desired conditions could be gained by the utilization of rollers. In his preliminary experimentation he borrowed sugar-rollers from a local whole- sale grocery firm. He thus tested the middlings through the primitive rollers and found that his ideas had been correct. He then arranged for the construction of two rollers to be attached to the mill machinery, but before he had perfected his plans for the improvement of the process he and his brother sold their mill to the late Governor Pillsbury, so that his idea of the roller process of flour manufacturing was left to be developed and perfected by others. In connection with the selling of the Anchor mill the Eastman brothers ac- cepted a hardware store and business, the headquarters of which were on Bridge Square. William W. Eastman sold his interest in this business to T. B. Janney, and the enter- prise was continued by George H. Eastman and Mr. Janney until 1875, when the firm became Janney, Brooks & East- man, by the admission of a third member. Under these conditions the business was successfully continued until 1883, and the volume of the trade, both wholesale and retail in functions, was increased from two hundred thousand to one million dollars a year. In the year last mentioned Mr. East- man sold his interest in this prosperous enterprise, which is still continued under the firm name of Janney, Semple, Hill & Company.

After his retirement from business Mr. Eastman indulged

himself in extensive and appreciative travel, the interest of which was intensified by his previous careful and far reaching study of history. He made four trips to Europe, and extended his travels into Egypt, China, Japan and other parts of the Orient. In 1884 Mr. Eastman and his brother, William W., erected a fine and extensive hotel at Hot Springs, Arkansas, but from this line of enterprise he soon afterward withdrew. For twenty years Mr. Eastman was associated in the opera- tion of one of the leading baths of the great Arkansas resort, where he customarily passed the winters for a term of years. Though he has had no desire to enter the arena of practical politics or become a candidate for public office of any de- scription, Mr. Eastman is found arrayed as a staunch sup- porter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. He is a charter member of the Minneapolis Club. He is identified with the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Associa- tion and is essentially progressive and public-spirited as a citizen. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and was one of the organizers of its first lodge in Minneapolis, of which he was the first master workman.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 102

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 1190

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190