Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 122

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 122

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Walter H. Gould was a cotton manufacturer. He began his connection with the industry as bookkeeper in a cotton mill, and by his energy, enterprise and ability soon became the half owner of one himself. He made the cloth for calicoes and other cotton prints in large quantities and prospered at the business. But after conducting his large establishment eight years he found life in the factory so seriously detrimental to his health that he was forced to give it up and seek a change of climate and occupation.

In May, 1886, he came to Minneapolis, and here his health improved so rapidly and steadily that he determined to remain, and even deliberated earnestly over the advisability of starting a manufactory of cotton batting in this city. The fear that the dust of a mill might again prove hurtful to him deterred him, however, and he never yielded to the temptation, although it was strong with him to the end of his life. Instead he gave his attention to handling real estate, insurance and probate work and acting as the executor of estates and guardian of minor heirs. This gave him the benefit of an outdoor life in large measure, and as he was well informed on questions involved in the laws of his business and very particular and exact in attending to it, he was very successful and his operations were extensive in it.

In the course of his transactions Mr. Gould became interested in Colorado mining and acquired large holdings in the Radium Mine company, of which he was vice president at the time of his death. The property of this company lies on the cele- brated Moffat Rail Road not far from the entrance to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado river. Vanadium is found on the property in commercial quantities and availability, and it promises to become very valuable. Mr. Gould was in the habit of visiting the mine several times a year to push its development, and his services were so highly esteemed that he was continued as vice president of the company even when his health no longer permitted him to give close attention to his duties. He also owned Summit Park farm at Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka where he maintained a summer home and found considerable enjoyment in farming operations. In addition he had cottages at Ste. Albuns Bay, and there too the lake scenery and enticements gave him pleasure at times.

In politics he was a Republican, but he never consented to be a candidate for office. He was, however, a strong advocate of just and equal taxation for all classes of the people, and proclaimed his views on the subject everywhere without fear or favor. Fraternally he was an ardent, enthusiastic and hard- working Freemason, and gave the fraternity, in all its activities, the best service of which he was capable. Although he was a charter member of Ark Lodge in Minneapolis, and Minnesota Lodge No. 224, serving as treasurer eight years, he did not confine his energies to the service of that organization, but spread them over all, even serving as a member of the state charity board of the order.

On August 30th, 1876, Mr. Gould was married at Bernard- ston, Massachusetts, in his native county, to Miss Martha Alexander, who also belonged to old families domesticated at Dedham, in that state, from early Colonial times. Her great-

grandfather, Dr. Stearns, was the author of "American Herbal," the first medical work published in this country. He was also a poet of some renown. Mrs. Gould is still living. On her mother's side of the house she had several relatives who were prominent in the French and Indian war in this country. She was prepared for Holyoke College at the Powers Institute in Bernardston, Massachusetts, by one of the eminent educa- tors of the period, Professor L. F. Ward. But she married young and gave up her expected course in college instruction. The questions of the present day interest her deeply, and she is a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. But she is constitutionally opposed to the woman suffrage move- ment, and is not pleased with the methods of the suffragettes.

Two children have blessed and brightened the Gould house- hold. Frances, the daughter, is an artist and lives at home with her mother. Frank, the son, is a member of the firm of Lee & Gould, in the livery business in Minneapolis. The father was fond of all kinds of animals, and greatly enjoyed driving a good horse.

M. P. McINERNY.

Maurice P. McInerny, an influential member of the Minne- apolis City Council, was born at Louisville, Kentucky, October 21, 1867, the son of Austin J. and Mary C. (Connell) McInerny. His parents were natives of Ireland and came to this country in their childhood. They were married in Louisville and made that city their home until a short time after the birth of their son, Maurice, when they removed to Lake City, Minnesota, where they remained for nine years and then located on a farm in Swift County.

In 1882 the McInerny family removed to Minneapolis, and here the father engaged in general building and 'contracting until his retirement, a few years ago. He continues to make his home in Minneapolis and his three daughters and four son's are all residents of the city. At the age of sixteen, Maurice McInerny apprenticed himself to the plumber's trade, in the employ of Mr. E. Buffton, and served three years. At the end of his apprenticeship he was employed as a journey- man for a number of years, rising in his profession until in 1904 when he established an independent business which has prospered and steadily increased. In 1910 he removed to his present location, at 414 Sixth Avenue South. He employs a large force of workmen, and handles contracts for general plumbing and heating. He has always championed the cause of organized labor. Possessed of gifts of the orator, and with an unbounded enthusiasm for the cause of his fellowmen, he is a favorite spokesman of the local labor organizations, repre- senting them in many important meetings. In 1910 he was chosen alderman for a four-year term, from the Seventh Ward, one of the strong labor wards of the city. His membership in the City Council has been marked by an intelligent interest in every phase of 'city government and by commendable achievements. He is Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Bridges and thereby is a member of the Park Board. He is also on the committees on the bonds and accounts of city officers, fire department, license, and salaries. As Chairman of the Committee on Roads and Bridges and as a member of the Forestation Committee he has given most valuable services. His hearty cooperation with the Park Board Commission in the cause of good roads and of the boulevard system and play-

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

ground extension has been of great assistance to the Com- mission. As a member of the Committee on Forestation he has obtained notable results.

Mr. McInerny is a Republican but places good citizenship before politics. He was married in 1891 to Miss Margaret McHugh of Elroy, Wisconsin. They have had eight children : Raymond, a graduate of St. Thomas College of St. Paul, and who was killed on the Milwaukee Railroad July 13, 1913, aged 21; Helen, a graduate of South High School in 1912; Margaret, and Maurice, who are students in the High School; Genevieve, Austin,. Clayton, and George. Mr. McInerny and his family are members of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church.

MINNESOTA LINSEED OIL COMPANY.

This enterprising and progressive industrial institution is one of the leading factors in the conditions which make Min- neapolis the greatest linseed oil producing center of the United States, and is altogether worthy of the high rank it holds in the industrial world. It manufactures old process linseed oil and oil cake. The company was originally incorporated for manufacturing purposes in 1870, with a capital stock of $60,000 with G. Scheitlin, D. C. Bell and J. K. Sidle as in- corporators. The capital stock at this time (1914) is $150,- 000, and the present officers are: W. A. Ramsey, president, and George L. Miles, secretary. It is strictly a home com- pany, and an important industrial factor its products enjoy- ing not only extensive domestic but also a large foreign sale.

The plant occupied, which was erected and equipped in 1904, covers an entire block at Third street and Eleventh and Twelfth avenues south, and is complete and modern in facili- ties and appliances. This company crushes about 750,000 bushels of flax seed a year, employs regularly about one hundred persons and has a pay roll that reaches about $1,200 per week. It stands in high estimation for the excellence of its products, the squareness and uprightness of its treatment of patrons, its thorough reliability in respect to the quality of its output and its business methods, and the enterprise with which it keeps pace with improvements. It is a credit to Minneapolis and an element of potency and influence in the city's industrial and commercial greatness.

PETER McCOY.

Was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on March 27, 1856, and came to St. Paul with his father, Patrick McCoy, in 1869. The father and three of his brothers were soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war, having enlisted in l'enu- sylvania, where they were all then living. Patrick McCoy worked at railroad grading and for farmers for a few years after coming to this state, then located on a farm of his own in Dakota county. But he sold this a little later and moved to Colorado, where he died. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic from its organization to the end of his life, and was ardently devoted to it.

Peter McCoy remained with his father until he reached the age of eighteen. He then passed two years and a half in the Colorado coal fields in charge of the San Juan coal mine.

He has lived in Minneapolis thirty-four years, and during that period has been variously employed. During the last fifteen years he has been a wholesale coal merchant, and during the last two has also carried on a retail trade in this commodity, operating two yards.

In 1898 Mr. McCoy was elected alderman from the Ninth ward, and he served in the city council twelve years con- tinuously thereafter, giving the ward the longest term of service it has ever had from any one councilman. He is a Democrat in politics and the ward has usually a Republican majority, but he was elected time after time solely on his merit and because of his known devotion to the public welfare in general and the interests of his ward in particular.

When he entered the council there were no sewers and no gates at the railroad crossings in his section of the city. The service in these respects is now extensive and increasing. For four years he worked earnestly for street cars for his section, and his work was so effective that he finally secured what the ward wanted in this respect.

Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He also has the sporting element largely developed in his make up, and for some years was the owner of "Billie Bobbs," the famous ice track racer.

At the age of twenty-six Mr. McCoy was married to Miss Mary Beckley, of Minneapolis. She and the six children born of the union have all died, the last one to pass away being a son named John, who died in March, 1913, aged twenty-seven years. Mr. McCoy's second wife was Miss Frances Kessier, also a Minneapolis lady. They have two children, their daughters Gladys and Marian.

RIGHT REVEREND JOSEPH GUILLOT.

Prelate of the Papal Household in Minneapolis, Right Rever- end Joseph Guillot, pastor of Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic church, Prince street southeast, and the first Minneapolis priest to receive the title of Monsignor, has risen to the eminence he occupies in church relations by natural ability improved by hard study and zealous and unremitting service to the cause to which he has dedicated his life. He was born near the city of Lyons, France, about sixty years ago, educated at Meximieux, Department of Ain, and ordained to the priest- hood on September 1, 1878, at Bourg, diocese of Belley. While a student he engaged to some extent in teaching, and after his ordination taught one year in an institution for the education of deaf mutes.

Father Guillot remained as a teacher in the seminary at Meximieux until 1883, when he came to the United States. Bishop Grace, of the diocese of St. Paul, at once assigned him to work at Watertown, Minnesota, but the next year he was placed in charge of the organization at Waverly, Wright county, where he remained until 1898, a period of fourteen years. He erected the church and school house at Waverly and raised the parish to a prosperous condition. Other pioneer work requiring his services, he was sent to Marshall, Minnesota, where he organized a parish of forty-five families. This grew so rapidly that by 1900 it had 200 families, making it one of the leading and most prosperous churches in the diocese. In 1910 he came to his present charge, the church of Notre Dame de Lourdes, where much

Joseph Guillos

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

has since heen accomplished in improving church and school through his tireless and efficient work.

This church dates from 1877, when, under Rev. W. Brunelle, the parish hought the huilding of the First Universalist Society of St. Anthony. Revs. L. Chandonnet, P. S. Dagnault and J. A. Soumis succeeded, the church embracing some 450 families, with ahout 2,200 communicants. It conducts an excellent parish school, with an enrollment of 300 pupils on the average, and is ardent with zeal and activity in all good work properly included in its field of useful and beneficient endeavor.

From the time when Father Hennepin visited and named the Falls of St. Anthony de Padua in 1680 to the present time France has contributed liherally of her priesthood to advance the cause of Christianity in this section of the New World. In 1830 St. Anthony was included in the diocese of Milwaukee, and Archbishop Henny sent Father Galtier as a missionary to look after its interests. Two years later the site of the present church of St. Anthony de Padua was purchased hy Father Ravoux, then stationed at Mendota. In 1849 a frame church edifice was erected, and in 1851 Father Ledon hecame the first resident pastor of the parish.

Father Ledon came from France and the same seminary that gave the world Father Guillot, Meximieux, upon the invitation of Bishop Loras, of Duhuque. He was a noted spiritual adviser and did a great work in huilding up the parish. In 1855 he was removed to St. Peter, and some years later returned to France. There, although he had been ahsent a long time, he was again placed in charge of his first parish. He was succeeded at St. Anthony hy Father Fayolle, a college companion and intimate friend of his young manhood. In 1860 Father John McDermott took charge of the parish, and he was succeeded in turn hy Father Tissot, who left a lasting and beneficient influence in the community. He came from France in 1854, was ordained in 1858 and given charge of twenty-four missions, and assumed control of St. Anthony de Padua in November, 1866. For twenty- . two years he consecrated and devoted himself to the needs of his parish, resigning in 1888 and retiring to the Dominican convent in South Minneapolis.

Father Guillot was appointed by Pope Pius X, in March, 1913, prelate of the Papal Household in Minneapolis and received with his appointment to this office in the church the title of Monsignor. On Sunday, April 6, 1913, he was invested with the insignia of his office, the purple cassock, the mantelletta and the rochet. Archhishop Ireland, of St. Paul, conducted the investiture and presided over the cere- monies, and clergymen from all over the Northwest took part in the solemn and impressive proceedings. The pontificial mass celebrated in honor of the event by Right Reverend J. J. Lawler, auxiliary bishop of St. Paul, was largely attended. The procession, led hy acolytes of the church, comprised semin- arians, priests, bishops and Monsignor Guillot with Archbishop Ireland attended by his chaplains. Rev. Paul Perigord, of St. Paul Seminary, read the brief from Rome announcing the appointment, which was signed by Cardinal Merry del Val.

In the sermon preached hy him on the occasion Archbishop Ireland paid high trihutes to the zeal and services of Father Guillot as a missionary and pioneer priest. Sixty priests participated in the rites, among them Father Chandonnet, the first pastor of the church of Our Lady of Lourdes. A complimentary dinner at the St. Anthony cluh gave opportunity for several congratulatory addresses hy visiting clergymen and

laymen, and a public reception at Holy Cross hall, Fourth street and Seventeenth avenue northeast, was eagerly utilized hy a large throng of admiring friends of the new Monsignor in extending to him their expressions of high personal regard and good wishes. The occasion marked a lofty altitude in the progress of the church in this locality and was one that will always be pleasantly remembered hy all who took part in the unusual and highly interesting exercises, everybody feeling that the honor conferred on Father Guillot was most worthily hestowed.

EUGENE ADELBERT MERRILL.

One of the founders of the Minnesota Loan & Trust Com- pany, and at present chairman of its hoard of directors, was horn at Byron, Genesee county, New York, on August 26, 1847, the son of Daniel P. and Jeannette L. (Pollay) Merrill, both of the same nativity as himself. The father was a farmer and prosperous in his occupation. The farm lands of Genesee county in the Empire state are very fertile and fruitful, and the elder Mr. Merrill was industrious, enter- prising and far-seeing in cultivating them. But the vivid accounts of the superior richness of those in the Mississippi valley which flooded the East soon after that section of the country hecame somewhat settled and populated, led him to seek the larger opportunities they seemed to offer. Accord- ingly, when his son Eugene was ahout ten years old the family moved to Geneseo, Illinois, in Henry county. In and around Geneseo the son grew to manliood, and there he continued, in the primitive country schools of the prairie, the education he had begun in the more advanced ones of his native county. At the age of twenty he entered Hillsdale College in the city and county of the same name in Michigan, where he pursued a full four years course of study and was graduated in 1872 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. The same institution afterward conferred on him the degree of Master of Science in regular course, and in 1888, that of Master of Arts.

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Merrill made an extended tour of Europe, and on his return entered the office 'of E. L. & M. B. Koon, prominent attorneys of Hillsdale, Michigan, as a student of law. He was admitted to the har in 1874, and was soon afterward appointed master of chancery. Early in 1875 he came to Minneapolis, and in March of that year formed a partnership with Judge Charles H. Woods, the style of the firm heing Woods & Merrill. It was as a member of this firm that Mr. Merrill virtually hegan his practice as a lawyer.

The partnership mentioned continued three years, and was then dissolved on the arrival in this city of the late Judge M. B. Koon, when the law partnership of Koon & Merrill was formed. Two years later Arthur M. Keith was admitted to the firm and its name hecame Koon, Merrill & Keith. The husiness of the firm was large and profitahle from the hegin- ning, and it soon became one of the leading law firms in the city, its members heing called into almost every case of prominence or magnitude.

.On January 1, 1883, he quit the law firm and gave up the profession, at that time uniting with Edmund J. Phelps in organizing the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, which by his aid and largely through the wisdom he has displayed in

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

its management has become one of the most successful and widely useful institutions of its kind in the country. He was elected president of the company when it was founded, and this position he held with great advantage to the institu- tion for a continuous period of twenty-seven years. At the end of that long service he resigned the presidency, to become chairman of its board of directors, the position he has ever since held in connection with its affairs. He is also vice president of the Associated Realty company; treasurer of the Monadnock Realty company, and financial officer of various other corporations that have great weight in the localities in which they operate and help to magnify the value of the utilities around them.

Mr. Merrill left an enviable record at Hillsdale College, where he obtained his higher education, and that institution has watched his career with justifiable pride and pleasure. The college authorities elected him some years ago as a member of its board of trustees. He has filled the position with commendable attention to its duties and been of great service to the college in doing so. He has been for a number of years also one of the trustees of Parker College at Winne- bago City in this state. In the social life of the city of his residence he takes an active and serviceable part as a member of the Minneapolis, Lafayette and Minikahda clubs. On September 6, 1876, he was married in Minneapolis to Miss Adelaide Keith. They have four children, Birdette, May, Keith and Eleanor.

DAVID ADAMS SECOMBE.

David A. Secombe was the fourth lawyer to practice in the village of St. Anthony, arriving in June of 1851, and being admitted to the bar the next year. Those who pre- ceded him were: Ellis G. Whitall, J. W. North and Isaae Atwater.

Mr. Seeombe was born in Milford, N. H., May 25, 1827. He was the son of David and Lydia (Adams) Secombe. On his father's side, he was descended from a long line of Se- combes in this country, the first of whom came in 1660, from the west of England, and settled in Falmouth, Mass. (now Portland, Maine), removing later to Lynn, Mass., where he died. His will is still on record in Salem. He was Richard Secombe, and the different branches of his family have adopted different spellings of the name, as: Seecomb, Se- combe and Seeomb. David Secombe's mother, Lydia Adams, was descended from the same immigrant ancestor as the two Adams Presidents, viz. Henry Adams of Braintree, Mass.

Mr. Secombe attended the public school of his native town, and fitted for college at the academies of Hancock and Pem- broke, N. H. He entered Dartmouth College in 1847, but did not remain to graduate, leaving in his junior year to go to Manchester to read law in the office of the Hon. Daniel Clark, who was at that time an ex-United States senator, and later a United States distriet judge.

In June 1851, Mr. Sccombe arrived at St. Anthony, and began the practice of law, which he followed continuously for the remaining forty-one years of his life.

He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention, which met at St. Paul in 1857, and was 'a representative from Hennepin County in the state legislature in 1859 and 1860, and in the latter year was a delegate to the national

republican convention in Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln. In 1871-2 he was county attorney of Hennepin County.

In 1884, just thirty-five years after leaving college, his Alma Mater conferred his diploma upon him. This was without any solicitation on his part, and was a great sur- prise to him. It was in recognition of the success he had made of his profession, and the credit he reflected upon his college.

He was for nine years local Minneapolis attorney for the Northern Pacific Railway, and at the Directors' meeting fol- lowing his death, the following tribute was read:

"Whereas, This Board has been informed of the recent demise of Mr. D. A. Secombe, the Company's Local Attorney at Minneapolis, and desires to place upon its records, a suit- able expression of respect, therefore, Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Secombe, this Company has sustained a loss that causes sincere regret, and removes from the field of usefulness, one who during his long connection with the Company, commanded the highest appreciation of his asso- ciates for his personal worth, and his efficient and satis- factory attention to the important interests in his charge."

The funeral was attended by nearly all of the Hennepin county bar, and all the judges of the district court, they having met in the city and marched in a body to his home on Nicollet Island.

At the next meeting of the Bar Association, the following beautiful tribute to Mr. Secombe was read:

"We, the members of the Hennepin County Bar, deem it proper and appropriate that we should place upon reeord, an expression of our sense of the great loss to ourselves and to our profession, caused by the death of Hon. David A. Secombe, which occurred on the 18th day of this month.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 122

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