Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 137

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 137

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Mr. Knoll then formed a partnership with P. J. Lyon's and started the Lyons-Knoll Investment company. The Bull Trae- tor company, which manufactures gas traction engines for farm and draft work, was organized in 1913, with Mr. Knoll as treasurer. This company turns out a large number of tractors a year, and its tractor is sent to all parts of the United States and has a high reputation for power and adaptability of practical service.

In addition to connection with the Bull Tractor and the Lyons-Knoll Investment companies, Mr. Knoll has other busi- ness association's important in character and useful in pro- ductiveness. He is secretary and treasurer of the Consolidated Liquid Gas company and secretary and treasurer of the Milli- gan Stock Ranch company. He is unmarried but takes an active interest in local pubilic affairs and exercises material aid in promoting local progress and improvement. He is a member of the Minneapolis New Athletic Club, the Masonic order and other organizations of a social or benevolent char- acter. While living in St. Louis he was member of Battery A, Missouri National Guard. His Minneapolis home is at 116 Oak Grove street.

W. P. TRICKETT.

In the vast development of our industries and all other activities in this highly progressive land the matter of trans- portation has risen to the first rank in importance and now 'requires men of an advanced order of ability to conduct it and so conserve its forces as to make them yield the best and largest returns for the outlay devoted to it. In this connec- tion W. P. Trickett of Minneapolis has shown ability and made a record that is well worthy of special mention and consideration.

Mr. Trickett is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, where his life began on January 9, 1873. He grew to manhood and obtained his education in his native city, and there also he started the business career that has given him the high reputation he has as a man of exceptional administrative power and success. He began his apprenticeship in the busi- ness which now occupies his attention in 1887, when he was but fourteen years old. In that year he entered the employ of the K. C. F. S. & M. R. R., in its freight traffic department, and four years later became chief clerk of the Kansas City Transportation bureau.

His aptitude for the business was marked and his promo- tion in it was rapid. In 1897, on April 1, he was appointed commissioner of transportation for Kansas City, being at the time only twenty-four years of age. In this position he succeeded the late A. J. Vanlandingham, a recognized traffic expert who had made a creditable record in it and set its standard of efficiency high. Mr. Trickett, however, showed himself equal to all requirements, and filled the office with great aeceptability to its patrons and the general public until the close of 1907, when the bureau was consolidated with the Commercial club.

During the next two years, after he left the city service, Mr. Trickett was engaged in special traffic work for large industrial interests, terminal work for carriers, and he also performed duties of the same character for the United States government. On October 1, 1909, he entered the employ of the Minneapolis Traffic association as executive manager, and when the Minneapolis Traffic association was amal- gamated with the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce associa- tion, he was appointed traffic director of the combine. In this position, which he still holds, he represents the allied in- dustrial, wholesale, retail, grain and milling interests of the city of Minneapolis.

Mr. Trickett has been a resident of Minneapolis only four years, but this period has been long enough to give him a warm and helpful interest in the welfare of the city and its residents and business institutions, and this he shows in every way open to him. He also manifests a deep and intelligent concern for the full- growth and usefulness of all educational, moral and social agencies at work in the com- munity for the good of its people, and a constant willing- ness and readiness to aid them by every means at his com- mand. His attitude here is what it has been wherever he has lived-that of a good citizen eager at all times to do whatever he can to advance the best interests of his home community, and he is esteemed highly for the genuine worth he displays in all the relations of life.

ROBERT J. UPTON.

Robert J. Upton, junior member of the firm of G. L. Upton & Company, wholesale and retail dealers in grain, flour and feed, is a native of St. Anthony, now Minneapolis, and born March 22, 1868. He is the son of esteemed pioneers, C. H. and Maria (Fenton) Upton, the former a native of Maine and the latter of Nova Scotia. They were married in St. Anthony in 1858, the mother having come to the town with her mother soon after it was laid out, and the father came from his native state in 1855. He was one of the organizers of the Union Iron Works, which were started in 1879, and prior thereto was foreman in the St. Anthony Iron Works until the plant was burned. The elder Mr. Upton and James E. Lockwood started the Union Iron Works, and Mr. Upton was the first president of the company and the superintendent of the plant until his death on May 27, 1910. He was a very progressive and resourceful business man and an excellent citizen. He was a Republican in politics but not a politician or active partisan. He was not remiss in performing the duties of citizenship, whatever form they took, and without regard to where they led him. When the Sioux Indians broke out, in 1862, he was one of the first to enlist for the expedition against them. He was a man of decided domestic tastes and correct habits. His first wife, the mother of Robert J., died in 1888; afterward he married Mrs. Julia Kennedy, a widow, who is still living. The children of his first marriage numbered five, four sons and one daughter: Horace C., a machinist connected with the Union Iron Works; Harvey L., a plumber in North Dakota; Robert J., and George L., who compose the firm of G. L. Upton & Company, and Mabel, now the wife of Harry Merriman, a dealer in automobiles in Minneapolis and the son of the late Hon. Orlando C. Merriman, who was twice mayor of St. Anthony and once mayor of Minneapolis.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Robert J. Upton began his education in the common schools, and completed it at an academy. He learned the trade of machinist, and was employed nine years in the Union Iron Works. In 1895 he went to Sandstone, Minnesota, where he remained one year as master mechanic of the Minnesota Sandstone Company. Returning to Minneapolis from a trip to El Paso, Texas, in 1896, he and his brother-in-law, Mr. Merriman, started a box factory, which they conducted until 1900. Mr. Upton then took charge of the Commercial hotel on Nicollet Island, which he conducted until 1909, when he united with his brother, George L. Upton, in organizing the firm of G. L. Upton & Company, with which he is still connected.

Mr. Upton was elected County Commissioner of Hennepin county in 1908, and held the office until 1913. During his tenure the bridge over the Narrows in Lake Minnetonka, and the Crystal Bay and Orenbery bridges at the lake were built, and the macadamizing of Superior boulevard was started. He served as chairman of the board in 1911 and 1912.

Mr. Upton has been married three times, first in 1893 to Miss Flora E. Wood; next in 1900, to Miss Laura Morgan, who died in 1906, and like the first wife left no children. In 1908 he married Miss Anna Hollister, his present wife. They are members of the First Congregational Church, and Mr. Upton belongs to the Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Knights of Pythias.

THOMAS VOEGELI.

Thomas Voegeli, president of the Minneapolis Park com- mission and senior partner in the firm of Voegeli Brothers Drug company, is a native of Wisconsin, born at New Glarus, a Swiss settlement, September 24, 1856. His father, Tobias Voegeli, came to Wisconsin in 1853 and was one of the early members of the New Glarus colony, where he engaged in the trade of carpenter. He is now residing in Minneapolis after retiring from several years of association with his sons in the drug business. Thomas Voegeli was instructed in the carpenters' trade by his father but after attending the Platt- ville Normal school, he chose to enter the teaching profession for a while. His first experience was in the country schools but he soon advanced to the position of principal of the schools in Alma, Wisconsin. His successful career as a teacher was closed with four more years spent at Fountain City, Wisconsin. In 1883, he made his first venture in the drug business, joining his brother, Fred, in LaMoure, North Dakota, where they conducted a store for five years. They came to Minneapolis in 1887 and opened a drug store on the corner of Washington street and Hennepin avenue, the present loca- tion of their main establishment, where they occupied a small room, which had been used for a drug dispensary for a number of years. In 1892, Mr. Fred Voegeli, who now resides at Bozeman, Montana, retired from the firm and another brother, Henry, entered the partnership with Thomas Voegeli, an asso- ciation which has continued to the present time. The success of their business enterprises has been marked and the Voegeli Drug company has long been an important factor in the com- mercial life of the city. The extensive trade of the company has demanded the establishment of two branch stores, the corner of Seventh street and Nicollet avenue and in the West Hotel. The firm was incorporated with W. F. Ralke and Mr. R. S. Heek becoming stockholders. Mr. Ralke and Mr.

Heck had been employed in the drug store for a number of years and had both made their start in the capacity of errand boys. The former is now confidential clerk and bookkeeper for the company while Mr. Heck is the manager of the Nicollet drug store. Mr. Vocgeli has a noteworthy conception of good citizenship and endeavors to discharge the civic duties that have come to him in recognition of his ability and interest, in accordance with this standard. He cherishes the ambition that Minneapolis may be celebrated not only for its scenic beauty but also for that high class of citizenship that may be pro- duced through attention to the modern note of warning that is sounded for municipal improvement. With this end in view, as a member of the park board, he has bent all his energies to provide every part of the city with the proper hygienic conditions and attractive surroundings through park extension and improvement. He is an active member of the Commercial club and served as chairman of the committee on public affairs. He has been a prominent member of the board of park commissioners and was elected its president. His first wife, Mary Fyfe Voegeli was of Scotch descent. She died at Fountain City, Wisconsin, leaving one daughter, Ethel, who is the wife of Mr. Geo. Riebeth of Minneapolis. In 1887, he married Mrs. Charlotte Yule, whose only child, a son, died soon after the marriage. They have one daughter, Marguerite. Mr. Voegeli and his family are communicants of the West- minster Presbyterian church. He is a Shriner and Knight Templar and a Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason. He also holds membership in the Civic and Commerce association.

DAVID LLOYD OWENS.

The late David Lloyd Owens, treasurer of the American Grain Separator Company, who died in Minneapolis September 25, 1913, was born at Cambria, Wisconsin, November 23, 1862. He was a son of John L. and Winnie (Roberts) Owens, and inherited from his father his natural bent in the direction of mechanical ingenuity. The father was a native of the North of Wales, born in 1832, and came to this country with his parents at the age of thirteen. He was of an inventive turn of mind and made many improvements in windmills and invented a. churning machine of unusual utility. In 1860 he opened a general machine shop at Cambria, Wisconsin, in which he made wagons, plows and other farm implements. In 1871 he invented a harvester and a self-acting grain and grass rake. These he manufactured at Cambria until 1874, then sold the rake rights and had the harvester manufactured on a royalty basis.

In 1878 the father came to Minneapolis and entered the employ of the Minneapolis Harvester Company as an inventor. He made several improvements in the "Dewey" harvester, manufactured by that company, and was made superintend- ent of its wood shop, and while acting in that capacity in- vented many improvements in woodworking machinery. In 1885 he formed a partnership with his son, Jolm J. Owens, for the manufacture of a cockle eliminating machine which was afterward combined with a fanning mill. One year later another son, Robert J., came into the firm, and it then crected a plant on the site now covered by the establishment of the J. L. Owens Company, an extensive manufacturer of grain cleaning machinery, turning out about 10,000 machines every year. This company was incorporated in 1894 with David L ..

539

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Richard L and Owen L. Owens, all members of it. The father was a man of the strictest integrity and a genius in his line of work.

David L. Owens worked for the Minneapolis Harvester Com- pany eight years while his father had charge of its woodwork department. He became a first-class mechanic and rose to the position of superintendent of the factory, remaining with the company until 1898, when the plant was sold. During the next eleven years he devoted his time and energies to the affairs of the J. L. Owens Company in company with his father and brothers, and aided greatly in extending and im- proving the business of that company.

The American Grain Separator Company was organized in 1909 with Robert J. Owens as president and David L. as treasurer. In 1911 the company started a branch establish- ment at Orillia in the province of Ontario, Canada, of which David L. took charge. That branch turned out several thou- sand fanning mills, smut mills and grain cleaners annually, Mr. Owens remaining in charge of it until May, 1913, when he returned to Minneapolis, where he passed the remaining six months of his useful and productive life. He is survived by his widow, two sisters and four brothers. The sisters are Mrs. J. T. Evans, of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Jennie Jones, of Chicago. The brothers are Robert J., John J., Richard L. and Owen L., all members of the J. L. Owens Company.

David L. Owens was a member of the South Side Commer- cial Club. His father was the founder of the Welch Presby- terian Church in Minneapolis, and all the members of the family have belonged to that organization. David L. wa's also active in the Welch Society of Cambria, Wisconsin, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was devoted to his home and fond of good horses and Scotch collie dogs. On November 26, 1902, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Dora Rittenhouse, a daughter of Dr. Richard and Elsie Agnes (Rhoades) Rittenhouse, of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

The parents of Mrs. Owens were married in that city and she was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was their only child. Her father was a physician in active practice in Prairie du Chien, and was killed in a railroad wreck when he was about thirty years old. Her mother was a daughter of Josiah Rhoades, who came to St. Anthony from Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1858. He engaged in contracting in Minneapolis, where he died May 19, 1905, aged seventy-eight, after a resi- dence of forty-seven years in this city. He was born in Ken- tucky and his wife, whose maiden name was Martha Wilson, was a native of Cairo, Illinois. Mrs. Rittenhouse, one of their nine children, died in Minneapolis at the age of thirty- seven. One of her sisters, Mrs. Peter Munkler, makes her home with Mrs. Owens. Mr. and Mrs. Owens had no children

GEORGE EDGAR VINCENT.

Dr. George Edgar Vincent was born in Rockford, Illinois, March 21, 1864. He is the son of John Heyl and Elizabeth (Duzenbury) Vincent. His father, John H. Vincent, was the founder of the Chautauqua and was one of the most bril- liant and popular of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal church. Bishop Vincent is now retired and lives in Chi- cago. His wife died in 1909. Dr. Vincent received his early education in the public schools of Plainfield, N. J., and was

a student for one year in the Pingrey Academy at Elizabeth, N. J. He graduated from Yale University in 1885 having entered that institution as a freshman in the fall of 1881. For a year after he received his degree he was engaged in editorial work as literary editor of the Chautauqua Press. He went abroad and spent some time traveling in Europe and the East. Upon his return he was made vice president of the Chautauqua. It was in 1892 that Dr. Vincent was first called to the University of Chicago and made fellow of sociology. He held this position until he was made assistant in the same department two years later. Receiving his de- gree of doctor of philosophy from the University of Chicago, he became principal of instruction in the Chautauqua. From 1900 to 1904 Dr. Vincent was associate professor in the de- partment of sociology at the University of Chicago and in 1904 was elected to full professorship in the same department. For seven years Dr. Vincent held the position of Dean of the Junior College. In 1907 he was chosen president of the Chautauqua institution and that same year was made dean of the faculties of arts, literature and science in the university of Chicago. This position he held until he- was called to the University of Minnesota in 1911, to fill the place made vacant by the resignation of Dr. Cyrus Northrup.

For years Dr. Vincent has been a contributor to the socio- logical journals of the country and is the author of a number of books. In collaboration with Professor A. W. Small, he wrote "An Introduction to the Study of Society" and "The Social Mind in Education." He is a member of all the leading educational associations of the country, among them the American Economic Association, the American Historical Associations, the American Sociological Society. He is a member of the American Editorial Board of the Hibbert Journal. During the last fifteen years he has given lectures and addresses before Educational Association's and other gatherings in nearly every state in the East and West.

In 1890 Dr. Vincent was married to Louise Palmer at Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Mrs. Vincent is the daughter of Henry W. Palmer, an attorney at Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Palmer was attorney-general of Pennsylvania during the administration of Governor Hoyt and recently served his third term as a inember of congress from Pennsylvania. Mrs. Vincent is a graduate of Wellesley in the class of 1886. Dr. and Mrs. Vin- cent have three children, Isabel, who was graduated at Bryn Mawr, in 1912, John Henry, an undergraduate at Yale, and Elizabeth, aged 12.

GEORGE A. WHITMORE.

Mr. Whitmore is a native of the city of Rochester, New York, where his life began on October 24, 1857. He came to Minnesota to live in 1875, when he was but eighteen years old, and took up his residence at Montevideo, Chippewa county, where he had two brothers, one engaged in general merchandising and the other in the insurance business. His father, Clayton B. Whitmore, also passed the latter years of his life in Montevideo and died there,

George A. Whitmore began his business career in the store of his brother, becoming a partner in the business soon after his arrival in this state and continuing his connection with it until 1895, when he sold his interest in it and moved

540

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

to Minneapolis. For about seven years he represented the National Biscuit company on the road, and since then he has been pushing the trade of the Loose-Wiles Biseuit company.

Mr. Whitmore is one of the original stockholders in this company and was one of its incorporators.

To the interests of the company Mr. Whitmore is wholly devoted and he gives its business all the time and attention it requires of him. But on his own account he also deals in real estate to some extent, handling principally his own properties, and does some farming, too, on his half seetion of land, which lies partly in North Dakota and partly in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, and is well adapted to wheat growing and general farming.

In fraternal relations Mr. Whitmore is a Freemason and a member of the Order of United Commercial Travelers of America. He was married at Montevideo, Minnesota in 1882, to Miss Marian A. Case, a daughter of James A. Case, who is prominent in the grain and elevator business in this state. No children have been born of the union.

Mrs. Whitmore is a devout and consistent Christian Sei- entist and an active member of the Sixth church of the seet located on Lowry Hill.

JOHN C. VAN DOORN.

John C. Van Doorn of the Universal Portland Cement Company became the local representative in 1907, his opera- tions covering several states. In that six years the business has increased greatly in competition with about twenty-six other companies; and the office foree has grown from three employes to twenty-nine.

In 1903 Mr. Van Doorn took charge of the St. Louis ageney. Before that he was traveling for one of the largest producers, the total output of the mill being 100 barrels a day; and the entire annual production of eement in the United States amounted to but 375,000 barrels in 1892. No other industry has ever shown such remarkable strides and enormous growth in so. short a period.

Prior to 1896 nearly all the cement used in this country was imported from Germany and England, but since then it has been almost wholly produced in the United States. The Universal Cement company has been one of the leading factors in bringing about this result. having large plants at South Chicago, Buffington, Indiana; and Universal, Pennsyl- vania; and was a pioneer in the manufacture of genuine Portland cement. Its mills now produce 40,000 barrels per diem; and. in 1912, it was the largest slipper of the commnod- ity in the world, distributing in the United States alone 10,- 047,000 barrels, and again in 1913 was largest shipper. The amount used in Minneapolis and at other places in the North- west is prodigious, this eity alone using in 1913, 97,000 bar- rels, while 70,000 barrels were sold to the State for use in the 'construction of the new prison at Stillwater. and enor- mous quantities to the government for the high dam. The Coon Creek dam construction required 50,000 barrels, and more than 40,000 have been sold for eanals at Duluth and Superior.

Mr. Van Doorn has operated in this northwestern territory for twenty years, his acquaintance extending over a dozen or more states. He might appropriately be called the living apostle of cement, as he is continually conducting a wide

and active propaganda, disseminating eement literature and illustrating the many uses and superior adaptability of the article. Two publications, "The Monthly Bulletin" and "The Farm Cement News," are regularly distributed to the farmers in twenty-three states, the demand having so increased in consequence that a new plant is building at Duluth with a capacity of 5,000 barrels a day.

Mr. Van Doorn is a stockholder in the United States Steel Corporation, the eement industry being one of the leading sub- sidiary lines of that great enterprise. In the manufacture of cement large quantities of slag are supplied by Minnesota iron mines; and the importance of the industry to this state is rapidly inereasing. Mr. Van Doorn is connected with all organizations of eement producers, and is ever on the look- out for extensions of the trade of his company. He be- longs to many associations, including the Minneapolis and Athletie clubs and Civie and Commerce Association. In fra- ternal relations he is a Freemason, and in religious connection an Episcopalian being a vestryman of All Saints church. Fishing and hunting are his chief recreations.

John C. Van Doorn was born in Quiney, Illinois, on July 26, 1869. His grandfather, John K. Van Doorn, owned and operated the first sawmill at Quiney, dating to about 1842; and the dwelling he built there in 1850, is still standing. He was one of Quiney's leading citizens; and, when negro refugees fled from Missouri and other slave states, the gov- ernment employed him to care for them. The family orig. inated in Holland, but has been in America for more than 250 years, some having emigrated to South America in 1658 and others to the Hudson river in 1744.

Mr. Van Doorn, on November 14, 1906, married Miss Hattie Bailey of St. Louis. They have one son John Bailey Van Doorn.

JACOB SCHAEFER.

"Mr. Schaefer was one of the truest men this city has ever known." So deelared one of his intimate friends in Min- neapolis of the late Jacob Schaefer soon after the death of this leader in business life and high example in moral, re- ligions and social circles in Minneapolis, where he made his home during the last twenty years of a busy and eventful career. His residence here was quiet, peaceful and prosperous. but previously he had experienced many privations, hardships and vieissitudes, in which he was severely tried by all ex- ' tremes of fortune.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 137

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