Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 123

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 123

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"For more than forty years he has been a resident of this city, actively engaged in the successful practice of the law. He had emphatically what is called a legal mind; his mar- velous instinct as to what the law ought to be, doubtless saved him much labor, which was necessary to those less intellectually great. With the principles of the science he was familiar; with their resources, he was scarcely less so. He was not a 'case' lawyer, hunting for cases and then for principles; for he first determined the principles and then offered the cases as illustrations. He never mistook the grooves and rules of the law for the law itself. He looked at the law from above and not from below, and did not eite precedent where eitation was not necessary.

"He stood among the brightest and ablest lawyers of the state. His integrity was never questioned, he was kind and courteous towards his brethren, although his keen sarcasm and brilliant repartee often-times, to those who did not know him well, made him appear otherwise. He never burdened the trial of his cases with immaterial matter, he endeavored to determine in his own mind, like a great general upon the eve of battle. where the real fight was coming, where the day might be lost or won, and then to this point he centered all his skill and strength.

In the statement of a legal proposition, or of the facts in a case, he was certainly a master, not surpassed by any one in his profession. His arguments were always clear, concise and logical; no matter how much the court might differ with him. he always commanded its nndivided attention.

"He was always self-reliant and self-possessed, and im- pressed one as having a wonderful amount of reserve power.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

"He was never in a hurry and never did anything in a hurry. He was. dignified and polite under all circumstances, never forgetting that he was a gentleman.

"But he has been called before the bar of another tribunal to answer for his life here on earth. We shall all miss him, for he was admired, respected and beloved by us all.

"We respectfully ask that this, our brief expression of regard for our honored brother, may be entered upon the records of the court.

W. E. HALE, J. B. GILFILLAN, J. M. SHAW, FRANK HEALEY, ELL TORRENCE.

Minneapolis, Minn., March 26, 1892."

Mr. Secombe married February 27, 1855, Mrs. Charlotte A. Eaton, daughter of William K. Eastman, who survived him, passing away January 20, 1912. Mrs. Secombe came to St. Anthony with her brother, Mr. William W. Eastman, in 1854.

Mr. Secombe left three children: Carrie, Eastman, wife of the late Edward C. Chatfield, and Willis D. Secombe of Minneapolis, and Frank Adams, who died in 1909.

COL. JOHN HARRINGTON STEVENS.

The late Col. John Harrington Stevens, was the first settler on the west side of the Mississippi river at St. Anthony Falls in what is now Minneapolis. When he arrived at the Falls he was a young man of twenty-nine, of sturdy New England ancestry, trained in the school of self-reliance in the new West and seasoned in the Mexican war-a born pioneer and promoter. He reached St. Paul on April 24, 1849, and the Falls of St. Anthony three days later.

Some of the party accompanying Colonel Stevens became discouraged and returned to the East. But he remained, and within a month perfected a plan for making a claim on the west side at the Falls. Before the summer was over the consent of the Secretary of War was obtained, the land being a part of the Fort Snelling military reservation, and the colonel occupied the domain he had selected. During the succeeding autumn he began the erection of his house, which he completed and occupied on August 6, 1850. It was a story-and-a-half frame structure with a wing of one story- a simple and unpretentious farm house, built as a home for a young married couple, and without a thought of the varied purposes for which it would be used, or that it would be preserved in a public park in after years, as a memorial of the early days of a great city.

For six years the occupant of this home had not a line of writing to support any claim of ownership to the land on which it stood. He had nothing but the consent of the Secretary of War to occupy it on condition that he would maintain a free ferry across the Mississippi for government troops and supplies. There was, however, an understanding that when the lands west of the river were thrown open for settlement his claim would be recognized, and in the course of a few years it was. In the meantime he had put some of his land under cultivation and begun raising crops of wheat, oats and corn which would have done credit, he said, to central Illinois. These crops, his fields of waving grain, settled the destination of many an immigrant by demon-

strating the fertility and productiveness of the region, his farm being the first on the west side of the river north of the Iowa line. He also introduced the first herd of cows west of the Falls except those held for the use of the troops at the fort.

John Harrington Stevens was born in Lower Canada on June 13, 1820, the second son of Gardner and Deborah (Har- rington) Stevens, natives and long residents of Vermont. All the immediate ancestors of the family were New England people, and many of them occupied prominent positions in the national and state governments. The mother was the only daughter of Dr. John Harrington, who served in the Colonial army during the Revolution. His father was a man of wealth and unusually respected by the community in which he lived, and the doctor stood equally high in public estimation. He died in Brookfield, Vermont, in 1804.

Before young Stevens was of age he became a resident of the lead mining region near Galena, Illinois. In 1846 he enlisted in the United States army for the Mexican war and served through that short, sharp and decisive contest. At its close in 1848 he returned to his early home in Illinois, and from there came to Minnesota in April, 1849, before the organization of the territorial government. On May 10, 1850, he was married at Rockford, Illinois, to Miss Frances H. Miller, a daughter of Abner Miller of Westmoreland, Oneida county, New York. Her parents were from New England and descended from Puritan ancestors. The mother, before her marriage, was Miss Sallie Lyman, of the Lyman-Beecher stock, and her grandfather was a brother of the grandmother of Henry Ward Beecher and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe.

It is difficult to fully realize' now the conditions under which Colonel and Mrs. Stevens began housekeeping on the site of Minneapolis but little over sixty years ago. Theirs was the only dwelling inhabited by white people between the Falls of St. Anthony and the Rocky Mountains, but the Indians were numerous around them and at their very door, the camp of one tribe being about on what is now known as Bridge Square, the foot of Nicollet and Hennepin avenues. They did not molest the colonel's stock, but made sad havoc with his garden. As a rule they respected the private prop- erty of the whites living outside of their own lands.

In his "Personal Recollections" of the early months at the first home in Minneapolis Colonel Stevens says: "The only way we could reach the house from St. Anthony was by taking a small boat, with two sets of oars, above Nicollet Island. The volume of water was so great, and the current so strong, we were fortunate if the landing was made any considerable distance above the rapids. Pioneer housekeeping was not new to me, for I had long kept bachelor's hall in the lead mines, but it was a novelty to my wife, who had been accustomed to the refining influences and conveniences of a well regulated New York household. Sometimes for weeks we would not see a white person, our only visitors being Indians. Mosquitos surrounded the house in such swarms that smoke would not banish them. We usually received our letters and papers once a week. Fortunately I had a pretty good library, and Mrs. Stevens had a piano and other musical instruments, which had a tendency to banish from the . little house most of the lonesomeness naturally incident to pioneer life so far from neighbors."

In this remote and lonely habitation in the wilds six chil- dren were ushered into being for the household. They were: Mary Elizabeth, the first white child born in original Minne-

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

apolis, who died in her seventeenth year; Catherine D., who became the wife of the late Philip B. Winston; Sarah, who died at the age of 24; Gardner, the only son, who is a civil engineer; Orma, who married with William L. Peck, and Frances Helen, who is now Mrs. Isaae Henry Chase, Rapid City, S. D.

During his long residence in Minnesota Colonel Stevens held many high positions of trust in both eivil and military fields of official duty. In 1890 he published a volume of over 400 pages entitled "Personal Recollections of Minnesota and Its People, and Early History of Minneapolis." This book contains more information about the people who made Minne- apolis and their labors in its early history than any other work. Its material was drawn from his retentive memory and voluminous memoranda, and all its statements are un- doubtedly true and authentic.

The colonel was ever busy with his pen during his period of activity, and a potent foree in shaping and direeting publie opinion in this loeality. He wrote many papers and delivered many addresses on the early history and agriculture and horticulture of this region, and was the proprietor and editor of several newspapers, among them the St. Anthony Express; the Chronicle; the Gleneoe Register; the Tribune; the Cata- raet and Agrieulturist; the Farmers' Union; the Farmers' Tribune, and the Farm, Stoek and Home. He was also con- neeted with and president of most of the state and loeal agricultural and horticultural associations. He was the first register of deeds of Hennepin county and was several times eleeted to the legislature. Always, in every position, he was a most effective influenee in promoting the progress of the state.

The Stevens home "was not only the first established in this eity, where an example of domestie virtues, contentment and industry was given, but it was also a fountain of hos- pitality and kindly helpfulness, as well as headquarters for all neighborly conferences and primitive organizations," says a writer on the subject prior to the colonel's death. "Here was held the first eourt in Hennepin county. Here were organized lodges, boards and societies; and here travelers, prospective settlers and tourists found a eordial welcome. The latehstring of the humble abode was always out, and even the untutored savage entered freely for refreshinents, or suffered his little ones to flatten their noses against the window panes while they gazed at the wonders of eivilized life within."

Colonel Stevens was a patriareh and sage as well as a helper of all who were in need. During his residenee in Minneapolis he aided its growth and shared with a fond enthusiasm in most of its publie and private enterprises. In the beginning he was very liberal in the disposition of his lots, selling many at low prices and even giving some away as indueements for settlement or business, never allowing gain for himself to stand in the way of improvements. At the end he did not retain even a homestead on his original possessions, while other persons grew rieh from the large peeuniary fruits they yielded long before he died.

The life of lofty manhood and vast usefulness here briefly ehronieled was kindly extended into the eighties and elosed in May, 1900.

CHARLES W. HASTINGS.

This enterprising, useful and highly esteemed eitizen, who died in Minneapolis November 2, 1906, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, after a residenee of almost fifty years in Minnesota and eighteen in this city, left an exeellent name and fine business record as a priceless legaey to the members of his family.

Mr. Hastings was born near the city of Elmira, New York, March 25, 1839, the son of Samuel and Abigail Hastings. While he was yet a young boy his parents came West to Kendall county, Illinois, loeating near the village of Oswego. There the family remained until 1856, when all its members traveled by teams to Steele county, Minnesota, where the father took up a preemption. Charles then being seventeen years old soon as he reached the required age, took a home- stead in that eounty.

The parents both died in Owatonna well advaneed in years, and one of their sons, H. M. Hastings, was a well known miller and man of influence in that city, serving for a time in the state legislature. As a young man Charles was in the habit of hauling wheat to Hastings, sixty miles distant in the winter and taking loads of lumber baek. His elothing was often so covered with patches that it was difficult to tell which was the original eloth of which his garments were made. This was a common occurrence of pioneer days, and nobody found fault with the condition.

Mr. Hastings married young Miss Mariette Gould and engaged in farming on his homestead. After farming for some years they moved to Owatonna, where he was occupied in the livery and stage business for a time. While he was so oeeupied his wife died, leaving three children, Sarah E., who is now the wife of William Soper, of Owatonna; Charles F., who is a resident of Los Angeles, California; and Luella, who is the wife of Charles E. Aiken, of Grand Rapids, Minne- sota, the eashier of the bank there founded by his father- in-law.

January, 1871 Mr. Hastings eontraeted a second marriage, which united him with Miss Esther Sheldon, a sehool teacher in Owatonna for three years. She was born near Ogdensburg, New York.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hastings bought the Arnold Hotel in Owatonna, and won such popularity and patronage that the owner of the Park hotel asked them to take charge of it almost on their own terms, and keep it going or close it, as they thought best. Mr. Hastings was an excellent landlord and very popular with traveling men, many of whom made his house their regular Sunday stopping place. He got an excellent business start in the hotel but was inelined to broader fields. About 1880 he sold all and moved to Brookings, South Dakota, then a new town just starting but full of promise, the State Agricultural College being established there.

There Mr. Hastings beeame interested in real estate as an owner and dealer and also engaged extensively in selling horses, having many shipped to that locality for the benefit of farmers. In the fall of 1888 lie disposed of his holdings in South Dakota and moved to Minneapolis, and soon afterward took charge of the Windsor hotel at Washington avemte and First avenue north, the site of the Gayety theater of the present day. His popularity as a boniface returned to him. His house was full of patrons, and they all became his friends. The writer well recalls this hotel as one of the most popular

I Hastig

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

eating houses in the city in those days. Its dining room was filled with the best people in the city who took their dinners there especially on Sunday.

While keeping this hotel Mr. Hastings turned his attention to banking, starting this enterprise in the town of Grand Rapids, this state, and gradually adding banks in other places until he had ten, of which he was the president. His plan was to interest young men in the business and take them into association with himself. Among others he secured F. P. Sheldon, a son of his wife's brother, P. J. Sheldon, of Owatonna, and who soon took charge of the detail work in the banks, and in time he succeeded his uncle in the presidency of all of them. Some of them have been sold, but Mrs. Hastings still has interests in six. When her husband died she became the sole executor of his estate, and she has since managed the property with sagacity and enterprise and with very gratifying success.

After his banks were well under way Mr. Hastings grad- ually retired from the hotel business and gave his attention wholly to them. He continued to be the final adviser and arbiter in connection with all important matters of business growing out of their transactions, and kept himself fully posted in order that he might advise his force intelligently. He was always active and zealous in behalf of public improve- ments and all other undertakings in his community for the good of its residents, and never withheld his support from any project he deemed worthy of promotion or involving the general welfare in any way or degree. He passed many of his later winters in California, but was always eager to get back to Minneapolis in the spring. His strong devotion to his home, his love of trading, and other characteristics, led some of his intimate friends to see in him a resemblance to David Harum, and to sometimes jestingly call him by that name.

By his second marriage Mr. Hastings became the father of one child, Clyde C. Hastings, who is a prosperous farmer in Wright county, Minnesota. The latter's wife died three months previous to the death of his father, and his mother has taken his three daughters to rear and educate. They are: Marie, a student at Carleton College, Northfield; Ferol, a student at the Pillsbury Academy, Owatonna, and Mar- garet. Mrs. Hastings has also much interest in a niece, who is now the wife of N. C. Larson, of Owatonna. In addition to managing the estate of her husband she is also the executor of that of her late brother, Horace Sheldon, who lived with her a number of years prior to his death Her business cares are numerous and weighty, but she carries the burden with ease, being a lady of fine business ability, great force of character and a broad sweep and comprehensiveness of vision.

FRANK L. MORRISON.

For nearly forty years the life of this gentleman has been passed in responsible connection with the flour milling industry in Minneapolis, and it is high praise but only a just tribute to well demonstrated merit to say that he has met every requirement of his long, varied and oftentimes burdensome duties in a masterly manner and to the entire satisfaction of his employers and their patrons. He is now head miller of the Pillsbury A mill, the largest flour mill in the world, and is directly responsible for one-half of the whole output

of the Pillsbury Milling company. No part of the directing responsibility of the enormous enterprise. is delegated to subordinates, Mr. Morrison giving every detail of the work his personal attention and direct and studious inspection.

The ordinary daily output of Pillsbury A mill aggregates 11,000 barrels of flour. The working force includes one hundred bolters, oilers, grinders and sweepers, and the total number of operatives is regularly about 450. Mr. Morrison handles this large force with the skill of an accomplished general and his demeanor toward all the employes is that of a courteous, considerate gentleman. He is true and loyal to the interests of his employers to the limit of requirement, but he is also fair, just and equitable to thic workmen under hin, and always strictly upright and straight-forward toward the purchasing and general public.

Frank L. Morrison was born at Pickwick, Winona county, Minnesota, on May 11, 1865, a son of J. C. and Emily (Bing- ham) Morrison, farmers who came from Pennsylvania to this state in the early days, the father having driven a stage between Winona and Rochester before the railroads were built. Frank's milling career began in the capacity of a laborer in a mill at Stillwater when he was sixteen years old. He worked in mills in Stillwater and at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, until 1885. Before the end of that year he became an oiler, at $1.75 a day, in Pillsbury B mill, Min- neapolis. Under the supervision of that prince of flour millers, J. H. Miller, he progressed steadily through all the steps of advancement, in 1891 being made a bolter in the B mill, and was assigned as sccond miller two years later in Pillsbury A mill. His promotion to his present place came on May 1, 1911, his old superior and instructor having died on February 28, 1910.

Mr. Morrison was married in Minneapolis in 1902 to Miss Belle Franklin, a native of Michigan. They have one child, their daughter Vellita. The parents are members of the First Congregational church in Minneapolis. While always deeply and intelligently interested in the welfare of his home community and its residents, and doing what he can to promote that in all quiet and unostentatious ways, Mr. Mor- rison has never taken an active part in political contentions, and has given but little attention to the clubs and fraternal societies so numerous in the city. But he neglects nothing in which the general well being is involved.

ELLERY O. MEAD.

The late Ellery O. Mead, during his lifetime one of the leading builders of Minneapolis, 'was born in Hinesburg, Ver- mont, on November 16, 1844, and died in this city on April 16, 1911. In his young manhood he was in the mercantile business at Shelburne in his native state.

Mr. Mead went to Aberdeen, S. D., in 1881 and for many years conducted a hardware store on the corner now occupied by the Aberdeen Hardware company. After doing business for some time in a small frame building on that site, he moved the structure and replaced it with the building now known as the Wells block, which was called the Mead block until W. O. Wells bought it a dozen years ago. He sold his hardware business at the same time and thereafter devoted his time to his increasing property in this city. He owned the Hagerty block for some time, selling it to the present

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

owner, J. F. Hagerty. He changed his residence to Minne- apolis in 1906.

When Mr. Mcad came to Minneapolis he bought land on Lowry Hill lying between Aldrich and Bryant avenues, and reaching from Hennepin avenue to Franklin, to which Bryant avenue had not yet been extended. He looked the city over to secure the best location for an apartment house, and by the thoroughness of his search found what he wanted. He then put up the Vermont Apartment, containing twenty- six flats, and the next year, which was that of 1910-11, erected Aberdeen Court, containing thirty-six flats.

The locations of these buildings are unsurpassed, and both were built in modern, high-class style. The last was just about finished when he died. He had built both as an invest- ment for himself, and had made them to suit his own elevated and exacting requirements in their line. His business always interested him, whatever it was, and had his close attention. Nevertheless, he was a man of strong domestic tastes and devoted to his home. Social life did not interest him to any great extent, and he was never active in making acquaint- ances. The persons he cherished as friends were compara- tively few in number, but his attachment to them was strong and sineere.

Mr. Mead was a great believer in the Northwest and cor- dial in his devotion to it and its welfare. He felt great satisfaction in the knowledge that he was permitted to be one of the builders of its greatness and promoters of its prog- ress and development. He also had great confidence in the future of Minneapolis, and was earnest and constant in doing what he could toward its advancement and improvement. He was an industrious reader. His books and his home were the sources of his greatest enjoyment. His widow is living, and has her home at the Aberdeen Apartments. She, also, is warmly attached to Minneapolis, and greatly favors the city as a place of residence.

ALBERT MASSOLT.

Albert Massolt, president and controlling spirit of the Massolt Bottling company is a native of Minnesota and was born in Stillwater, June 11, 1863. The company of which Mr. Massolt is the head was organized by him; but its business was started by his father, Frederick William Massolt, who was born in Germany, emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1850.e Two years later he came to Minnesota locating at Taylors Falls, where he remained ten years, being there married, March 29, 1861, to Miss Mary Kostman, who was born in Prussia.

In 1862 Mr. Massolt moved to Stillwater, remaining three years, when he went to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and began the manufacture of mineral water. In 1867 he came to Min- neapolis in order to seeure a better market and increased facilities and started the business which is now being con- dueted so successfully.

The father died February 29, 1892. He was an active member of the Odd Fellows, a good business man and a highly respected upright, independent and serviceable citizen, and true to every duty in all the relations of life. His wife survived him ten years, passing away in 1902. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom six are still living.

Albert Massolt early went to work in his father's estab-

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 123

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