Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 127

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 127

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The farming operations were extensive and exacting, but Mr. Marchi still found time to take part in important matters in Minneapolis. . In company with Dorilus Morrison, S. A. Harris, and several other well known men, he engaged in street lighting in the outlying districts and had charge of the work connected with the undertaking until his death.

In the line of public service Mr. Marchi was helpful to the city. He served as a member of the park board for a number of years, and was one of its inspiring and directing forces when Kenwood Boulevard was laid out and improved. He also served two terms in the State Senate. In all his public service he was most deeply interested in the general welfare to which he devoted conscientious energy. In politics he was an active and effective working Democrat, but being a modest man never claimed credit for what he did in a public capacity. He was a colleague of Dr. John Bell in the legisla- ture, a warm friendship growing out of this intimate relation- ship.

About 1884 Mr. March located his home where his widow is now living, at 2207 Fremont avenue, which was far out at the time and in the woods. In fraternal relations he was a Freemason and in religious faith an Episcopalian holding membership in Gethsemane church, of which he was long a vestryman, and from which his remains were laid to rest in Lakewood cemetery. He found greatest enjoyment in his farm and there passed the greater part of the summer seasons. In 1861 he was united in marriage with Miss Adelaide L. Church at Clarendon, New York. They had five children, two of whom are living. Louise is the wife of E. S. Gaylord of Minneapolis, and lives near the family home, and Samuel A., a real estate man. Another son, Harry J. March, died in August, 1911, aged forty-four years, leaving beside his widow, . a son.

JOHN MAHONEY.

Mr. Mahoney's life began in the province of New Bruns- wick, Canada, on October 17, 1851, and came to a close in, Minneapolis on March 21. 1914, and the circumstances of his family were such that at an early age he was obliged to begin looking out and providing for himself. For a few years he worked in the lumber woods of his native country, and lived frugally, saving his earnings so as to be able to take ad- vantage of expected opportunities for advancement when they came. In 1873, when he was twenty-two years old. he moved into the United States and located in Minneapolis. From here he again found employment in the woods for three years as a chopper and a scaler.

In 1876. inspired by the gold discoveries in the Black

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

llills, he and one of his brothers started for that region. But the Indians in the Hills and on the way to them were troublesome, and the argonants from Minneapolis changed their plans. They secured contracts in Montana to supply cord wood on the banks of the Yellowstone for the steamboats that then plied that long and picturesque water highway. Hostile Indians were numerous also in the neighborhood of their work and their ontrages were frequent, the carriers of the United States mails being pieked off at short intervals. Their depredations made mail earrying so hazardous that the government paid a carrier $200 a month for the serviee.

The little band of wood cutters with which Mr. Mahoney was connected was in continual peril from the savages, but the two years they passed on the Yellowstone proved very profitable to them finaneially.

On his return to Minneapolis Mr. Mahoney secured em- ployment from Caleb Dorr, the superintendent of the Boom company. After a time he was given a contract to take railroad ties from the river, pile them up along the track and load them on trains.

Then, in company with John Woods and Stephen Lovejoy, he began taking railroad grading contracts, and he continued this line of enterprise for a number of years, his final work in it being in connection with E. F. Comstock, with whom he became associated in 1886.

Some twenty-one or twenty-two years ago Mr. Mahoney became associated with former Senator McGowan, who, in company with Henry Schultz. had some years before founded a general real estate, loan and insurance business. Soon after the death of Mr. Schultz Mr. Mahoney became connected with the business, a's a member of the firm.

Mr. Mahoney was united in marriage with Miss Katie White, a native of Minneapolis and the daughter of Jame's White, an esteemed pioneer who came to this city about sixty years ago, and died in Minneapolis in 1893.

Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living. James, William and Francis, the three oldest sons, are in the insurance business, and William is still a student in the University. The other children, John, Edward, Inez and George, are living at home with their mother and still attending school.

ARTHUR WILLIAM SELOVER.

Arthur William Selover was born in Flatbush, Long Island, on July 9, 1871. He is a son of Peter and Jennie Selover, and his childhood was spent in the modest home of a family whose head was an energetic contractor and builder. They came West, in 1879, and made their home in Lake City, Minnesota. The son Arthur entered the graded sehools of the little city on the Mississippi, and in 1888 was graduated from the high school.

In the fall following his graduation from the high school, he entered the University of Minnesota, taking up first the course in the academic department, as it was then known- the college of science, literature and the arts. In the class of 1893 he was graduated, with the degree of B. A., and at once entered the law school. It was in the following year that he was graduated with the degree of LL. B., his commence- ment honors being the highest in his class for excellence in

legal thesis for graduation. For some years he continued his studies, taking in 1897 the additional degree of LL. M.

Graduation from the law school in 1894 had been followed by the selection of Mr. Selover for an important post as an editor for the West Publishing Company, in the compiling of law books. With the West company Mr. Selover remained for several years, chiefly in the post of legal editor. It was in this time that he became interested in the authorship of law text-books, and himself wrote several such books. Espe- cially important was his book on negotiable instruments, which Yale, among other universities, has adopted as a text- book. He has also written a work on bank collections.

Mr. Selover's activity in eivic affairs as well as legal led to his becoming a participant in political affairs. He is a Repub- lican, and has been among the foremost young men in the councils of the party. In 1908 Mr. Selover was elected alder- man from the Fifth ward. After the first half of the term of four years had passed, Mr. Selover won higher recognition by his election to the presidency of the council-a post which has often pointed naturally to the mayor's chair. In the primary election of the campaign of 1908 he became a candidate for nomination for the mayoralty, but in a large held he was defeated.

However great his interest in civic and municipal affairs, Mr. Selover continues his prommence in the councils of his church. He is a leading member of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Selover was married December 10, 1900, to Miss Bessie S. Warner of St. Paul. and they have two children, both sons.

SCHUYLER H. MATTISON.

The late Schuyler H. Mattison, in his day one of the best known and most successful real estate dealers in Minneapolis, died in this city on April 15th, 1898, at the age of ninety- one and after a residenee here extending over thirty-seven years. His long and vigorous life in this region and the great age he attained are tributes alike to the firmness and virility of his physique, the excellence of his constitution, his good habits and the superior healthfulness of the climate of this part of Minnesota; and the achievements in the way of busi- ness suecess for himself and advantages to the community which stand to his lasting eredit were the fruits of the sturdy, resourceful and all-daring New England ancestry from which he sprang and the atmosphere of self-reliance and far- seeing shrewdness in which he was born and reared.

Mr. Mattison was a native of Bennington, Vermont, where his life began on March 18, 1807. Aside from the historical interest which will ever distinguish the eity of his nativity because of the heroic triumph of the Colonial army over the British there on August 16, 1777, when gallant General Stark commanded the frontiersmen, there is a large amount of traditional and historie matter of general interest in the early record of the family, the careers of some of its other later members and the fruitful activity of the subject of this brief review himself.

Mr. Mattison became a resident of Minneapolis in 1861, and here he passed all his remaining days. Few inen, up to the end of his useful life, ever did more to advance the devel- opment and improvement of the city than he. Throughout his residence here he bought and sold real estate, guiding home

S.H. MATTISON

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

seekers and business institutions to desirable locations and helping them to secure what they wanted in that line. He laid out Mattison's first, second and third additions to Minne- apolis, and through the multitude of his transactions in real estate his name probably appears more frequently on the records of deeds and transfers for Hennepin county than that of any other man of his time. For a number of years he owned the whole block on which the West hotel now stands, and he frequently offered to sell it for $1,000. Later he built his home on the corner now occupied by that hotel, and the removal of the house from this site is of comparatively recent date.

The three principal additions to Minneapolis which were made by Mr. Mattison were bounded by Fifth and Eighth avenues and Seventh and Tenth streets but he also made other extensions to the building territory as they were de- manded, and it was through his influence and activity that First avenue was graded and Third avenue south was laid out. The whole expanse of the city, present and prospective, was like a map in his mind, and the trend of residence and business inclinations was fully known to him at all times. He was therefore able to advise his patrons intelligently and be of great service to new comers and old residents alike, and was always at their command with excellent judgment and expert knowledge.

Mr. Mattison's work was not, however, confined to real estate transactions. He owned at different times blocks of stock in several banks and other institutions, and himself handled commercial paper and other securities. In all his dealings he was a man of the strictest honor, whose word was his bond, and whose hand was ever open for the aid of his friends and with generosity for those in need. He passed by no deserving charities, and would always rather contribute in a case of doubtful propriety than risk withohlding as- sistance in one of real merit. He preserved his vigor and continued his activity in business until five or six years be- fore his death, and even during the period of his retirement was as energetic and active mentally as many men forty years younger. During the earlier years of his residence in Minneapolis he held several minor offices, although he was never enamored of public station or official life. Before the incorporation of the city he served as town supervisor, and in the late sixties and early seventies he was a member of the board of aldermen and was chairman of the board.

In 1840 Mr. Mattison was married in New York city to Miss Mary E. Overton, who survived him until Sept. 22, 1912. Two children were born of their union: Lucy, who died July 22, 1910, and Ida M., who is Mrs. W. F. Phelps. In Septem- ber, 1894, the father of these ladies was thrown from his carriage in a runaway and seriously injured in one of his hips. As a consequence of this accident he was never able after- ward to leave his home, and during the greater part of the time was confined to his room. But his mental faeulties con- tinued strong, clear and active to the last hour of his life, and his deep and intelligent interest in the affairs of men and the welfare of Minneapolis never waned. He died as he had lived, full of consideration for his fellow men, and alert to their well being individually and in the mass. The people of Minneapolis revere him as one of the community's most use- ful, high-minded and representative citizens while he dwelt and labored in it.

JAMES DUNCAN SHEARER.

Since 1883 James Duncan Shearer has been a resident of Minneapolis, and since 1884 a member of the Minnesota bar and a lawyer in active general practice, covering almost every branch of work in his profession and always with plenty of business to keep him diligently occupied. He came to this city in 1883, a young man just twenty-one years old, having been born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on March 25, 1862, a son of Robert Bruce and Elizabeth Eliza (Campbell) Shearer. His father is a descendant of Robert Bruce, one of the heroes of Scottish history, and his mother is related to the Duke of Argyle and a granddaughter of Dr. John Lawson of Edin- burgh, physician to Sir Walter Scott.

Mr. Shearer was reared on a farm in central Iowa, from the age of three years, and, after completing the course of study available to him in the country school in the neighborhood of his home, became a student in the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames. From this institution he was graduated in the 'class of 1879, being at the time the youngest student to get a diploma. He then taught school in Iowa until he de- cided to take up his residence in this city. He was admitted to the bar in Minnesota in 1884, and from that year until the present has devoted himself almost wholly to his profes- sion.

For a number of years, Mr. Shearer was a member of the law firm of Belden, Jamison & Shearer, but since leaving it he has been practicing alone. In March, 1907, he was ap- pointed receiver for the Minnesota Title Insurance and Trust company, and settled up its business. He is a Republican in political faith and allegiance, and as such was elected to the Senate House of Representatives in the fall of 1902, serving through the sessions of 1903 and 1904, with credit to himself and advantage to his district and the people of the state in general. He is active in the social life of the city as a mem- ber of the Minneapolis Commercial club and the Six O'Clock club. On September 18, 1888, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Evans, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They have four children.

Mr. Shearer is an excellent citizen and takes a deep, practi- cal and serviceable interest in everything that involves the wel- fare of Minneapolis and Minnesota and their residents. He is not an active political partisan, but always has his energies at work in commendable ways for the promotion of the gen- eral well being, and all his activities in this behalf are im- pelled by a broad and strong public spirit and guided by prudence and intelligence. And his efforts are appreciated by the people around him, all of whom hold him in the highest esteem.

REV. JOSEPH R. MANTON.

Rev. Joseph R. Manton, whose spirit, on the 17th of January, 1912, after more than ninety years of earthly existence was transported to its original source, and one whose life was filled with love and effort to exalt the minds and souls of his fellow men was himself exalted to the honor plaee beside his God. Born at Providence, Rhode Island, September 28, 1821, he was the son of Shodralh and Augtie (Randall) Manton. With a desire to practice law he entered Brown University from which in due time he was honorably graduated. Whether or not he

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

actually entered the legal profession we are not informed; but, even then his mind in its keenness and avidity demanded more than the ever delicate physique could furnish and he became a teacher.

Reared in that center of theologieal discussion he early embraced Christianity and being impelled by a sense of duty to the world and to his Maker he prepared for the ministry, being ordained in 1849. The important Baptist Church at tho old and stable city of Gloucester called him and during the three years he served it his reputation as an able orator, a elose student of the Bible and an admirable pastor was established. Yielding to demands of a tender constitution he went south and became the principal of the "Navy Sharp" Female College at Nashville, Tenn., his standing as an able instructor and organizer being widely recognized. Never in accord with the Southern view of publie questions, he, when the clouds of Civil war began to gather, assumed the pastorate of the first Church at Quiney, Ill.

In 1860 he eame to Minneapolis, his church then standing at the corner of Nicollet and Third Street, being under his conduet the most important in the town. During the four years' labor in this church he occasionally preached to the Society at Richfield. The period of 1864 to 1868 was served in the pulpit at St. Joseph, Mo. Ever treacherous health led him to return to Minnesota and on the 29th of August, 1869, he preached the dedicatory sermon of the Richfield Church of which he soon after became the first resident pastor.

Purchasing a traet of land bordering Wood Lake he found enjoyment and improved health in its cultivation, his tastes for choice fruits, rare plants or flowers having more ample scope for satisfaction than opportunity had before presented. For a quarter of a century he here plead the cause of his master, endearing himself to the people, his circle of admirers not being circumscribed or limited. With charity and toler- anee, his teachings and influence touching every home, his life made for the general betterment till no more intelligent, liberal or progressive neighborhood is to be found in the State of Minnesota.

October 16, 1850, he formed a union with Ann Hehue whom he survived some ten years. With a strength of intellect out of proportion to the strength of body he by the exercise of judgment. careful living and sheer will power survived all youthful companions. Yet the nearer to the' end of this life the clearer his vision of another, and with pro- found resignation he finally "Walked with God."

KARL SCHWERDFEGER.

The life of Karl Schwerdfeger closed on February 18, 1912, after an illness of but a few days and a surgical opera- tion in St. Barnabas hospital, when he was not yet fifty-two years of age. His life began at Abbeeke, province of Han- over, Germany, on June 3, 1860, and he wa's reared on a farm in that neighborhood. At the age of fourteen he started learning the butcher trade, and when his father died three years later, he took charge of the farm in connection with his mother and sister Herminie.

On March 5, 1885, he was united in marriage with Miss Herminie Sehwerdfeger, his second cousin, familiarly called "Minnie" by her friends. Prior to his marriage, however, he served a few months in the heavy cavalry of the German

army in accordance with the legal requirements of the em- pire, but the government permitted him to leave the service and return to his home to care for his mother and sister. His wife was nineteen when they were married and he was twenty- five. They remained on the home farm five years, then it was- sold, the mother was properly provided for, and Mr. Schwerd- feger determined to visit his younger brother, who had then been a resident of Minneapolis and engaged in keeping a. meat market five years.

The young tourist intended to purchase a larger farm in Germany, but he was so well pleased with Minneapolis, its surroundings and its business prospects, that he decided to remain here, and sent for his wife and one son, who came over and joined him three months later. After six months' employment the new comer located on a farm in Carver county, Minnesota. Two years later he bought a hotel at Meyer in that county, which proved to be a good investment. He con- ducted the hotel four years, having a large trade and making money steadily and saving it. But his health failed, and he sold the hotel and returned to Minneapolis.

In 1897 Karl joined his younger brother, August, who had been keeping a meat market here for several years. They continued to do business in this line as partners until Karl's son August F. bought his uncle's interest in the market and trade and became his father's partner. The market was at 358 Monroe street northeast, and the firm was known as the Mon- roe Packing company. When the father died Louis A., his- second son, took his place in the firm and the business was and is still 'continued under the old name.

Mr. Schwerdferger had a fine home at Fifteenth avenue and Adams street, and had planned to ercet an apartment house- the year he died. He was a member of the Lutheran church, a man of quiet domestic tastes, fond of his home and family. Of the three children born in the family one died in infancy. The other two, August F. and Louis A., are still living with. their mother at 635 Fifteenth avenue northeast.

CHARLES HALL WHEELER.

Lawyer, farmer, stock breeder and financier, and having- operated extensively and successfully in three states, Charles Hall Wheeler, one of the leading business men and most sub- stantial citizens of Minneapolis, has had an interesting and varied career, in every part of which he has shown strong mentality, great enterprise, fine business ability and a ready adaptability to circumstances and requirements. He was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, January 21, 1843, the son of Warren W. and Catherine Hall (Brewer) Wheeler. The late Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court was a cousin of his mother, and other men of mark in the country have also been related to the family, which is an old one in this country, descended from Thomas Wheeler, who came from Wales and settled at Concord, Massachusetts, in 1640.

Thomas Wheeler was a captain in the early Indian wars, and died of wounds received in them. His son, Sergeant Thomas Wheeler, settled at Marlboro, Massachusetts, and Benjamin Wheeler was one of the first settlers at New Marl- boro, Berkshire county, where the old homestead has been in- the family for five generations. Zenas Wheeler, another member of the family, was an able officer in the Continental army in the Revolution, and Warren W., the grandfather of

Charles Hall Wheeler

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Charles H., built a paper mill on Mill river in 1836. This mill was operated by his son Warren, the father of Charles, until not long before his death in 1846, when his son Charles was three years old. He was in partnership with Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first successful Atlantic cable.

After the death of his father Mr. Wheeler's mother took him to a farm near Potsdam, New York, where she died when he was fifteen. He attended St. Lawrence Academy at Pots- dam, and afterward went to Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1866. One of his classmates was Virgil P. Cline, attorney for John D. Rockefeller, and another was Eugene Delano, a New York city banker. He read law at Potsdam in the office of Judge Henry L. Knowles, and became his partner and son-in-law, being married on October 13, 1868, to Miss Frances Spencer Knowles, who died on November 6, 1912, after forty-four years of married life.

His health requiring a change Mr. Wheeler in 1872 moved to a large farm near Council Bluffs, Iowa, which he operated in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry B. Knowles, they being live stock breeders and making a great success in this line. In 1883 he moved to Minneapolis and became an exten- sive money lender and dealer in real estate. The crash of the nineties caused heavy losses to him and his patrons. But he weathered the storm, made still further investments, and

has since prospered. His son, Walter H. Wheeler, who was born April 15, 1883, a graduate of the mining engineers' department of the State University, is his partner, and also conducts a large business in structural and reinforced concrete construction operating principally through the western states. The son's wife was Miss Eva Blasdell, of Minneapolis. They have one son, Frank Knowles Blasdell Wheeler.

MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN.

The late Michael J. Sullivan, who died March 9, 1914, at his Minneapolis home, 609 Main street northeast, which was founded by his parents in 1867, will be long and favorably re- membered by the people of this city as an enterprising, up- right and successful business man and as the representative of the Thirty-eighth legislative district, comprising the First and parts of the Third, Ninth and Tenth wards, in the state legislature in the sessions of 1907, 1909, 1911 and 1913. As a legislator he worked in accordance with old and tried Demo- cratic principles, avoiding freak legislation and striving to secure for every man a free and untrammeled chance in life, and to the end that the people might have as large and con- trolling a voice as possible in the management of their affairs of state he favored the initiative and referendum in legisla- tion.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 127

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