Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 120

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

USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 120

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no liquor will be manufactured or sold in this country and when segregated vice will be a stench in the nostrils of all decent men.

ALONZO COOPER RAND.

Eminently successful in life and mournfully tragic in the manner and suddenness of his death, the late Alonzo C. Rand, one of the leading business men of Minneapolis for more than ten years, showed in his active and brilliant career the great power of a strong and well trained intellect and the utter helplessness of man in combat with the superior forces of nature. He was one of the unfortunate passengers on the Minnie Cook, a private pleasure boat, when she sank with all on board on Lake Minnetonka in a sudden storm on Sunday afternoon, July 12, 1885. .

This dreadful catastrophe ended the lives of ten persons, several of them numbered among the most prominent, influ- ential and esteemed residents of Minneapolis, and threw the whole community into a universal grief too deep for utter- anee, and in which the only mitigating circumstances were that the tragedy could not be foreseen or prevented, and that some of those who perished in it had already achieved enough in life to leave shining records behind to keep their memory green in the hearts of the people among whom they had lived and triumphed, and who were the beneficiaries of their great and useful work. The persons who went down on the ill- fated boat with Mr. Rand were his wife, his daughter, Mary, and son. Harvey, his nephew, Frenk Rand, aged nineteen, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Coykendall and their little daughter Luella, Master Hussey, a young friend of both families, and George MeDonald, the engineer of the boat. She sank off Breezy Point only about 800 feet from the shore.

Alonzo Cooper Rand, at the time of his death, was the president and one of the principal owners of the Minneapolis Gas Light company. He had been mayor of the city for three years from April 3, 1878, and had given the people an excellent business administration of their public affairs, mani- festing a determination for the strictest and most impartial enforcement of the laws, and an admirable industry and clearness of vision in looking after and promoting the best interests of the city and all its residents. He was kind, benignant and generous in private life, benevolent to the poor and a helpful friend to many worthy families. But as a public official he knew neither friend nor foe, only the command of duty and the public welfare. And he must have impressed himself forcibly on the public mind of the com- munity within a short time after his location in it, for he was a resident of Minneapolis but four years before he was chosen its chief executive.

Mr. Rand was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1831, and while he was yet a boy moved with his father to Buffalo, New York, where the father died on June 17, 1859, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. The son was educated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty was married to Miss Celina Johnson of Buffalo. About one year after the death of his father he moved to Union City, Pennsylvania, and for three years was very successful in the oil business there. From Union City he moved to the city of New York, where, prompted and guided by information he had acquired

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

in the oil fields, he perfected a process for manufacturing illuminating gas from oil.

Mr. Rand remained in New York four years working on his invention and preparing to commercialize it, then located at Aurora, Illinois, and there made a large fortune out of his valuable discovery. In 1874 he visited Minneapolis in the course of a pleasure trip through the Northwest, and was so favorably impressed with the city and its business out- look that he sold his interests in his Illinois home and became a resident here. He at once became connected with the gas industry in this city and before long owned a controlling interest in it. His new process revolutionized the manu- facture of gas in this community, and proved of great benefit to the consumers as well as highly profitable to the company, of which he soon became the head and controlling spirit.

Mrs. Rand, whom death found at the side of her husband, was a lady of great culture and refinement, and also possessed a vast fund of excellent common sense. Her sympathetic heart moved her to constant activity in benevolent work, her clear head and responsive brain found the easiest and most practical way for the execution of her wishes, and her hand was the obedient servant of both in carrying out her designs. She was greatly admired, warmly esteemed and fervently revered for her many excellent qualities, and her death brought lasting pain to many a stricken heart. For "None knew her but to love her." She was a native of Herkimer county, New York, and had reached the age of fifty-one when her life ended.

JOHN H. ROWE.

John H. Rowe was born on May 15. 1860, at Downing Farm, Dutchess county, New York, seven miles south of Poughkeepsie, where the family has been domesticated for four generations. He is one of the eight children, five sons and three daughters, of Daniel Chase and Susan Ann (Town- send) Rowe, also natives of Dutchess county. One of his sisters, Hetty Morgan Rowe, is a teacher in Roberts college in Constantinople, Turkey, and three of his brothers are successful business men in New York city, himself and sister being the only ones outside of New York.

Daniel Rowe was the son of William Roe, during whose life the name was changed to its present form, and whose brother was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Daniel was one of eleven children and at the age of fifteen went to New York city, where he became a successful hardware merchant; and, after many years of activity as such, retired to the Dutchess county farm, on which he died at the age of ninety-two, highly respected by all.

John H. Rowe passed his boyhood on the farm, attended the publie school and two years at Degarmo Institute at Rhinebeck and one at Mount Pleasant Military Academy in Ossining. At the age of twenty-one he visited at Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he met Robert A. Davidson, an East Side Minneapolis banker, accompanying him .here to take a clerkship in the bank, and which he filled for a year and a half. He then became a clerk in the office of Captain John Martin's Lumber company, with which he remained five years. He was next connected with E. W. Backus & Company, first as bookkeeper and afterward as a member of the company, which was then running two mills. Mr. Rowe continued his

connection with this company as an office man and traveling salesman to retail yards in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, until 1897.

During the next two years he was a salesman over the same territory for the Northwestern Lumber company, whose mills were at Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In 1899 he opened an office in the Lumber Exchange and started a wholesale lumber jobbing trade which grew to fine proportions, and in 1904 he started the retail yard which he is yet conducting. It is well equipped and fully stocked with all 'kinds of building materials required by the trade.

Mr. Rowe was married in 1895 to Miss Mabel Wyer, of Excelsior, Minnesota. They have three children, John H., Jr., Kenneth W., and Elizabeth. The parents attend Trinity Baptist church. Mr. Rowe is warmly interested in its Sunday school, and in the activities of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is also a member of the Minne- apolis Civie and Commerce Association.

DR. M. P. AUSTIN.

Dr. M. P. Austin, son-in-law of Mr. McDonald, former superintendent of the Homeopathic hospital and later on the staff of the City hospital, is a native of Galesburg, Michigan, and was graduated from the Homeopathic Medical School of the State University. He practiced there until 1882, then came to Minneapolis, where he has since been in active prac- tice. He was county physician of Hennepin county in 1883, 1884 and 1885, and also served as professor of surgery in the University of Minnesota. The doctor died in Mexico in No- vember, 1913. By his marriage with Miss Mary McDonald he became the father of three children, two of whom are living. Reed S. is engaged in the real estate business and Lynn McDonald is connected with the Minneapolis Insurance Agency. Ned B., the third son, died when he was twelve years old.

THOMAS GARDINER.

Distinctively unique in its facilities and service is the finely equipped retail drug establishment founded and for many years conducted by the late Thomas Gardiner at 723 Henne- pin avenue, which is not only the oldest specific homoeopathic pharmacy in the Northwest but is notable in the fact that it is confined exclusively to the handling of drugs and med- icines. From 1869 to his death Mr. Gardiner was continuously engaged in the drug business in Minneapolis. His death oc- curred here on March 29, 1914, his career in his line of trade in this city covering a period of forty-five years. A close student of materia medica and therapeutics, he was always well prepared for any requirement of his business. and his high reputation in it was the direct result of his according to his patrons at all times the best service. Hav- ing equipment for the grinding, triturating and mixing of root and herb products, he had, in addition to his retail trade, nearly one thousand customers outside of the city, who were wholesale buyers of his products.

Mr. Gardiner was born at Frederickton, province of New Brunswick, Canada, September 12, 1833. At the age of thir- teen he obtained a position in a drug store, and from that

Thomas Gardinen

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

early period of his youth he was dependent on his own re- sources. In 1857 he came to St. Anthony, and for three years thereafter he had a precarious and uncertain existence with a full allowance of adversity. Then Dr. William H. Leonard, one of the pioneer physicians here, desiring to devote his attention more exclusively to his practice, and knowing of Mr. Gardiner's former experience in the drug trade, gave him a position, and before the end of the same year an interest in the store on condition that he assume its active mauage- ment.

For nine years Mr. Gardiner remained with Dr. Leonard, the store being located in the Central building, which was de- molished by the board of park commissioners in 1913. This building then contained the Hales clothing store and the Gardiner drug store was one of the first in it, and had en- trances on both Nicollet and Hennepin avenues. For a number of years the drug store was in the rear of the Nicollet House, then at other locations on Nicollet avenue until 1909, when Mr. Gardiner moved to the present site, each removal taking him further on in the extension of the city as it expanded to the west and south.

In 1864 Mr. Gardiner purchased the residence property on which his life ended, and two years later the dwelling he occupied was erected. It is on Hennepin avenue opposite the City Library. For fifty-seven years he lived on this lot, and funeral obsequies just and discriminating tributes were paid it has been authentically shown that no other citizen living in Minneapolis at this time has occupied for an equal period one and the same residence. Mr. Gardiner never courted publicity, but, in a quiet and unassuming way, devoted him- self closely to business. Yet both he and his wife were well SIMON RAVICZ. known and highly esteemed in a circle of friends coincident with that of their acquaintances.

· In 1862 Mr. Gardiner was united in marriage with Miss Mary K. Knight, of Dundas, Ontario, who was his devoted companion and helpmeet for more than half a century. They became the parents of two children: Louise L., who is still a resident of the parental home, and Mary, who is the wife of Nathan L. Lenham, of Chicago. Mrs. Gardiner survives and still occupies the family residence, passing her days in quiet usefulness and rich in the cordial regard and good will of all who know her.

LUCIAN ALDEN MCREYNOLDS.

Lucian Alden McReynolds was born at Boscobel, Grant county, Wisconsin, June 13, 1867, a son of James McReynolds. The father was a well known dealer in farm implements at Owatonna, where he had located during the boyhood of Lucian, and who died finally in the state of Washington. He was a kinsman of Hon. J. C. McReynolds, the present attorney general of the United States, and of ex-President Andrew Johnson.

He obtained a full high school education, which he extended at Pillsbury Academy. He then became a traveling salesman for L. B. Wood, of Minneapolis, dealer in buggies and agri- cultural implements, covering the states of Minnesota and Iowa. A few years later he took up a general line of similar commodities for sale on the road, and continuing his efforts in this department of commercial life several years.

In political faith and allegiance Mr. McReynolds was an ardent Democrat, and throughout manhood was a zealous

worker for the success of his party. He kept well posted on political affairs and was always ready to meet the arguments of the opponents and the requirements of any campaign issue, wherever he happened to be. Yet, devoted as he was to political events and contests, and forced by his employment to be absent most of the time, he was ardently attached to his home, finding greatest satisfaction with his family.

On September 16, 1900, Mr. McReynolds was married in Minneapolis to Miss Matilda Lilleby, a native of Renville county, Minnesota, whose parents lived in St. Peter, until after the Indian outbreak of 1862, then returned to the county of her nativity. They were both born and reared in Norway, but were married in Minnesota. Richard McReynolds, aged seven, is the only child. The family home is at 1600 Second avenue south.

Mr. McReynolds was fond of fine horses and always kept at least one of choice breed and good paces. He greatly enjoyed racing on the driveways and upon the Lake of the Isles. But he engaged in the sport of racing only for the recreation and enjoyment, and not for profit or for any special feeling in the matter except the laudable pride of owning a good horse and being able to show its merits. In all respects he was an excellent citizen and universally esteemed as such wherever known. His untimely death was widely deplored, and at his to his worth and manhood.

From the humble and laborious condition of a foot pedler to the respectable and profitable station as the head of a large general merchandising establishment is a creditable rec- ord. The steps between these two grades of mercantile life are usually many, often rugged and, although inviting, are frequently insurmountable. Some men, however, by native force, persistent industry, and unflagging ambition, mount them steadily, and, in the case we now consider, in rapid suc- cession. One man of this record and caliber who adorned the business life of Minneapolis and experienced a creditable career was the late Simon Ravicz, who died January 20, 1913. The story of his life is interesting, chiefly because of the illustration it furnishes of what is possible to pluck, per- sisten'cy, and determined will.

Mr. Ravicz was born in Roumania (one of the Balkan states which have recently made so glorious a military record), January 10, 1857. He came to the United States and to Minneapolis some twenty years ago. His coming to this city was more the result of chance than intention, but when here he was so well pleased with the place and its outlook that he determined to remain and cast his fortunes among its progressive citizenship. Mr. Ravicz started his mercantile career as a pack pedler. He was self-educated, and in his native land had been a bookkeeper. Going from house to . house through the country the returns gave encouragement for such a business. He soon owned a fruit and confectionery store at 115 Nicollet avenue, which he conducted to advantage for five or six years. He then changed his location to 109 Washington Avenue South. In his business his success ex- ceeded his expectations, and in 1902 he became a member of the firm of Mcclellan Bros. & Ravicz, wholesalers in general merchandise at 19, 21 and 23 Third Street North.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Here Mr. Ravicz had personal supervision of the business, and the success and extension of the sales enterprising man- agement, were considerable and gratifying. He continued his connection with this house until 1906, when he retired from merchandising and turned his attention to investment in real estate. He centered his operations at Twelfth Street and Hennepin Avenue, and erected a number of stores. He readily imbibed the spirit of American institutions, becoming a citizen and then financially aided several of his relatives to come to the United States, and they also became respected and prosperous American citizens. In political affiliation Mr. Ravicz was a Republican, in religion a member of the Jewish Reform Temple, and in fraternal life a Free Mason and a Woodman. The camp of the latter order to which he be- longed conducted his funeral, its members giving his memory consideration and honor by sympathetic presence. Many joined them out of personal attachment for the many excellent traits that had distinguished him.

Mr. Ravicz was married in his native land at the age of twenty-one to Miss Rosa Koenigsburg, who survives him. Their three children are: Harry, a lawyer and member of the firin of Levy & Ravicz; Louis, a student in the Mining En- gineering Department of the University of Minnesota; and Anna, wife of Louis M. Frudenfeld. Harry was graduated from the law department of the State University in the class · afterward put up. of 1911, and is engaged in a general practice, rapidly attain- ing distinction in the profession. The home of the family is at 1721 Elliott avenue, where the numerous friends find a congenial center of generous and gracious hospitality.

JAMES McMULLEN.

The interesting subject of this brief review, who is near the ninetieth anniversary of his birth, has lived in what is now Minneapolis sixty-four years, having been one of the very early arrivals at St. Anthony Falls as a permanent resident. He has the distinction of being one of the eight men now living who settled in this state before 1850, but two of whom preceded him by a year or more in time. The other seven are: Charles Stimpson, Eli Pettijohn, John Hingston, Caleb Dorr, A. L. Larpenteur, St. Paul, Mr. Durand, of Stillwater, and Mr. Randall, of Winona. Mr. Pettijohn settled at the Falls in 1842 and Mr. Dorr in 1847. Mr. McMullen became a resident here in October. 1849. Among his associates of the early days who are still living, but whose arrival in this region was later than his own, are James J. Hill, Loren Fletcher, Thomas B. Walker and John B. Gilfillan, all vener- able men now, and each with a record of great achievements to his credit.

Mr. McMullen was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, on July 21, 1824. At the age of eight years he became cabin boy on the bark White Oak, and he continued to follow the sea on various vessels for seventeen years, in this long sea service visiting all parts of the world. During the last three years of his maritime experience he was captain on vessels engaged in the trade between this country and the West Indies. Strange as it may seem, and unusual as it is, he tired of the sea at last. But he did not locate in the crowded centers of population in the East. He had dwelt long in the wilder- ness of waters, and when he determined to change the element under his feet, he chose a home in the wilderness on land.

After he came to St. Anthony Falls Mr. McMullen worked for a time at his benchi as a carpenter. But he had never learned the trade by practical apprenticeship, and really knew but little about it. He was resolute and determined, however, and always willing to undertake any work that he could find to do. As a carpenter he took a contract to erect a barn for Major Rawlings. But in his ignorance of the trade, he put the roof on wrong, and it fell in. The major expressed his feelings on the subject in the most practical way by promptly canceling the contract and dismissing Mr. McMullen from the job. Some time afterward Major Rawlings saw him at work on the steamboat "Gov. Ramsey" in which he was interested and asked the contractor, with no excess of amiability, what he meant by having "that d-d fool on the job."

Finding himself not highly esteemed as a carpenter, Mr. McMullen decided to change his occupation. He had his physical needs to provide for and abundant strength and energy for the work. He engaged for a time in moving houses, and even occasionally moved steamboats around the Falls. Then he turned his attention to merchandising at Pine Bend in company with H. G. Morrison. Next he built a flour mill and later a shingle mill at the St. Anthony Water Power company's dam on the site on which a big saw mill was

In the meantime Mr, McMullen took an active interest in public affairs locally and served several years in the city council. He was also onee nominated for the office of county commissioner, but he refused to put up money for the cam- paign and was beaten by but twelve votes in a district ordi- narily giving a Democratic majority of 1.300. He was married in 1849 to Miss Charlotte McKnight and has one child living, William. Mr. McMullen has lived for twenty-seven years in his present dwelling. Years ago he met with an accident which kept him on crutches and confined to the house for eight years and a half, during which he had to use an arm- chair to get about in.

JONAS GUILFORD.

The legal fraternity in Minnesota, especially in Minneapolis. was dignified and adorned for over forty years by having among its members Jonas Guilford, as American citizenship has been elevated and honored by others of the family through all the generations to Colonial times. He became a resident of this city in 1866, and died here May 9, 1909. During all this period he was a prominent and useful citizen. cminent in his profession, zealous for the good of the city, and repre- sentative, of the best attributes of elevated and broad-minded manhood.

He was born in Spencer, Worcester county. Massachusetts, September, 1839, being the son of Asa and Mary (Adams) Guilford. Asa was the son of Dr. Guilford of Spencer, whose father, John, founded the family there in the carly colonial days and which was founded in America previous to 1650. the original one coming from Kent, England. Contemporary members of both the father's and the mothers' families took active parts in the Revolutionary struggle and the stirring events leading to it.

Jonas Guilford obtained his scholastic training at Leicester Academy and Amherst College. being graduated from the

your

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

latter in 1864. Immediately afterward he enlisted, and served to the close of the Civil war. In 1866 he graduated from Albany Law School, and at once went to St. Louis expecting to there practice his profession. An old and prominent lawyer in that city advised him to come to Minneapolis, and he acted upon this advice.

He immediately began his practice, and thenceforth, until failing health and advancing years obliged him to practically retire from business, he was reckoned among the leading lawyers of the state. His clientage included the most prom- inent residents and business firms in the community. He carried many cases to the higher courts, state and federal, where he won many notable victories embracing principles of extensive application and which contributed largely to the future construction of legal questions.

Mr. Guilford had his office on the East Side his attention being devoted largely to matters pertaining to that. part of the city. During the last twenty years his home was on the West Side, though old clients and friends continued to employ him and, till the end, his advice way eagerly sought. His parents came to Minneapolis in 1870 and both died here. The mother belonged to the Adams family, more prominently represented by John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams.

Nathan Guilford, an uncle of Jonas, was an eminent edu- cator in Ohio, and commonly credited as the father of the public school system of that state. For some years he was prominent in the legal profession, which he abandoned to devote his talents to the cause of public education, and from then until his death was consecraated wholly to that great work, the greatest need in a Republic. In recognition of his services in this behalf Guilford School, Cincinnati, was named for him as an enduring testimonial.

Jonas Guilford was married in September, 1869, to Miss Helen Morrill, who was born in Danville, Ill., and be- eame a resident of Minneapolis in 1867. Their children are Paul Willis, Harry Morrill, Harriet. The sons are both grad- uates of the University, the former being a lawyer and the latter a physician and a member of the health board. The daughter is a graduate of Carleton College, and is with her mother at 1820 Hawthorne avenue.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 120

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