Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 143

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 143


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147


Edward A. Purdy began his education in the public schools of his native place, continued it at Beloit College, Beloit, Wis- consin, and completed it at the University of Minnesota. But he was obliged to work his way through it, and encountered many difficulties in doing so, all of which he met with a res- olute and cheerful spirit of determination that foreshadowed success from the start. At Beloit his serious appearance and demeanor led his college associates to bestow on him the nickname of "Deacon," and this has stuck to him ever since, even though he has for years been living far from where he received it. After spending two years at Beloit he found him- self unable to go on with his course, and was compelled to stop and earn the necessary money. He came to Minneapolis and soon afterward started a night school at the Y. M. C. A., and that night school, in which he continued to teach after


he entered the University, is now one of the most appreciated features of Y. M. C. A. educational activities. When Mr. Purdy left the University he obtained control of the Western Architect, which he has ever since published, and of which he has made a widely circulated and popular periodical.


Mr. Purdy has been a Democrat from his youth, but was never very active in party affairs previous to the last presi- dential campaign. He entered into that with his whole heart, being an ardent admirer and champion of Woodrow Wilson, aiding in bringing about his nomination and election. He was a vigorous and enthusiastic power in Hennepin county and in the state, and played an important role in the Baltimore con- vention.


Mr. Purdy has a great deal of personal magnetism and warmth of manner, and his associates are always firmly attached to him. He is always interested in his work, and inspires others with the same spirit.


Mr. Purdy is a representative of the new type in politics and public office, the energetic, hustling young business man who believes in doing things. Like the old line politicians of all parties, he is for the people, but instead of promises gives efficient, economical service, and belongs to that school of statecraft which teaches business methods to its public servants. He is an enthusiastic hunter and fisherman and a devotee of all proper outdoor sports, and belongs to the Min- neapolis, Athletic and University clubs, but never allows sport or club interests to interfere in any degree with his attention to the business in hand, whether it be public or private.


JAMES F. R. FOSS.


James F. R. Foss, president of the late Nicollet National Bank of Minneapolis, and one of the most progressive and successful bankers in the country, was born at Biddeford, Maine, March 17, 1848. One of his maternal ancestors, a Rev. Mr. Jordan, owned a large tract of land in the part of Maine that belonged to the state of Massachusetts until 1820, when Maine was admitted to the Union as a separate state. Mr. Foss, however, was obliged to make his own way in the world without outside assistance, and his highly creditable career was wholly the work of his own abilities and persistent industry.


Mr. Foss' father, James Foss, died when the son was four years old, but the latter attended the public schools until the beginning of the Civil war. He left school, although but fourteen years of age, and enlisted in the United States navy, in which he served on the Frigates Sabine, Niagara, Hartford and Savannah until 1863, when he was honorably discharged. He was but sixteen at the time, but was offered a commis- sion as a midshipman. He preferred civil life, however, and. entered Bucksport Seminary to enlarge his scholastic educa- tion. After leaving school he was employed as a bookkeeper in Boston, Providence and New York, and in 1873 was serving the Shoe and Leather National Bank in Boston in that capacity.


Finding his health failing in 1873, Mr. Foss passed the next two years as second mate on a coastwise schooner, then returned to the banking business, serving for a time as a bookkeeper in the Market Bank at Brighton, Massachusetts, and afterward in the same capacity in the Merchandise Na- tional Bank in Boston. At the end of one year he was


560


HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA


elected cashier of the latter institution, and was, at the time, the youngest man who ever held a position of such impor- tance in Boston. He filled the office of cashier of this bank for seven years, then resigned it to come West, locating in Minneapolis.


Very soon after his arrival in this city in 1884 he founded the Nicollet National Bank with a capital stock of $500,000, $325,000 of which was taken by Boston men who knew Mr. Foss personally and on that account. He was cashier of the Nicollet until 1888, when he was elected president. When this bank was founded by him the banking business in Minneap- olis was carried on in a very peculiar way. At least 75 per cent of the deposits of the banks in the city consisted of money borrowed by them on time 'certificates of deposit at a high rate of interest. This required them to charge bor- rowers a high rate on loans with the result that the local banks carried all the paper whose makers' necessities eom- pelled them to pay the high rate, while the best paper was driven to Eastern banks through note brokers.


Mr. Foss was the first Minneapolis banker who announced a different policy, and throughout its existence the Nicollet National Bank issued no interest bearing certificates of de- posit, but gave the preference at lower rates, to the better grade of loans, such as were sought by the Eastern banks. As a result of this policy, during the nearly seventeen years of Mr. Foss' management of this bank Eastern capital was brought to this city amounting to about fifty-five million dollars, all on his personal approval solely, and not one dollar of this money was ever lost.


The wisdom of Mr. Foss' course was impressively shown in the panic of 1893, when most of the other banks here failed and all of them lost 25 to 75 per cent of their deposits, while the Nicollet National, still paying no interest, increased its deposits without solieitation ncarly 50 per cent. That Mr. Foss was far-seeing and wisely progressive was shown by another result of his banking methods, which took its start at the same time. This was twofold: Up to 1883 the banks in St. Paul had always carried larger country bank deposits than those in Minneapolis. At a joint meeting of the clearing house banks of the two cities in 1893 the St. Paul banks proposed that while the panic lasted no checks on country banks deposited with the banks in the Twin Cities by their city customers be credited to the customers, but that all such checks be received by the city banks only for collection, and not credited until paid. This proposal was accepted by every bank in the two cities except the Nicollet National, but when Mr. Foss presented to the meeting his objections to the plan, the Minneapolis banks withdrew from the agreement. The St. Paul banks adopted it, however, and momentous results to the banking and jobbing interests of Minneapolis followed.


First, the country banks began to increase their deposits in the Minneapolis banks, where more liberality was shown in handling country checks; and, second, the country mer- chants naturally began to buy more goods in Minneapolis. where they knew their checks to the jobbers would be more freely and liberally handled. This led up to the present state of affairs, in which the fact that the deposits in the Min- neapolis banks from the country arc so much larger than those of the St. Paul banks, and the relations of the foriner with the country merchants and bankers are so much wider than those of the latter, as a consequence, commended Min- neapolis as the proper place for the location of the new Re-


gional Reserve Bank of the United States. To the attitude of Mr. Foss and the Nicollet National Bank in 1893, more than to any other one cause, this gratifying condition is due.


Mr. Foss was married on February 22, 1877, to Miss Alvena M. Baker, of Auburndale, Massachusetts. They have had three children, Minnie Frances, James Franklin and Florence Ellen, of whom the daughters are still alive.


In 1898, during the Spanish-American war, Mr. Foss was commander-in-chief of the National Association of Naval Vet- erans of the United States, this organization embracing the Veterans of the navy of the Civil war.


JOSEPH SMITH JOHNSON.


The life of this estimable citizen of Minneapolis, who died here in 1891 after residing in the city for a continuous period of over thirty-seven years, touches so closely and is so inti- mately associated with one of the beauty spots and popular resorts of the community that it contains elements of unusual and enduring interest. He was born at Farmington, Maine, June 15, 1811, the son of Joseph Johnson, a merchant in that town, and obtained his education in the public schools there. For a short period after leaving school he worked in his father's store, but when the California gold fever broke out in 1849, he became its victim and went to the new eldorado to seek a rapid fortune. He lived in California a few years and then returned to his old home at Farmington. But the lure of the West was on him and he could not shake it off or resist its importunities. It led him into a new region where he re- mained.


Deacon S. A. Jewett, Mr. Johnson's brother-in-law, was then living at St. Anthony and owned a large tract of land on Bassett's creek and what is now Western avenue. Mr. Johnson joined him here in the spring of 1854, and soon after- ward took up his residence on a tract selected for him by the deacon, the land lying within the thoroughfares now known as Nicollet and Lyndale avenues and Grant street and Franklin avenue. Mr. Johnson paid the government the pre- emption fees on this land and immediately set about building a residence on it for his wife and daughters, who were still in Maine. The location of the dwelling was about where the shelter house now stands in Loring park, and Mrs. Johnson and her daughters came and the family occupied it in September of the same year. He gave the name "Jewett Lake" to the beautiful sheet of water in the park in honor of his wife whose maiden name was Ann Wilder Jewett. The lake was at that time entirely fed by nearby springs.


This lake and the twenty acres surrounding it Mr. John- son reserved as a homestead when he later surveyed and platted his land offering parts of it for sale. The first piece of land disposed of by Mr. Johnson was sold to T. K. Gray, a retail druggist, and his family still occupies the old home he built on it on Oak Grove street. The second sale was to A. B. Barton, C. M. Loring's father-in-law.


The rest of the land was retained by Mr. Johnson and eul- tivated by him for many years. He never engaged in mer- cantile or other business in this city. preferring, as he himself said, "to live the life of a farmer." He was married in Maine to Miss Ann Wilder Jewett. a danghter of Samuel and Sarah (Kimball) Jewett, natives of Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had three daughters. One is now Mrs. A. K. West;


561


HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA


another is Mrs. E. P. Wells, who resides at 230 Oak Grove street on a part of the old family homestead, and the third is Mrs. Paul A. Pierce.


Mr. Johnson died in 1891 at the age of eighty. His wife lived until 1898. They belonged to the First Baptist church and were among its first members. In politics Mr. Johnson was a member of the Democratic party, but he was never an active partisan, although taking an earnest interest in the growth and development of the city and rejoicing in its progress and improvement. He lived quietly and usefully, and enjoyed the respect of the whole community.


When E. P. Wells, the husband of the second daughter of the Johnson household, came for the second time to live in Minneapolis he bought his present residence at 230 Oak Grove street because it was a part of the old estate. S. W. Wells and Mrs. C. G. Ireys, son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Wells and grandchildren of Mr. Johnson, have their homes at Dell Place, also a part of the old homestead, which came to them through their mother. The grandfather planted the family tree in the wilderness. It is now flourishing in the midst of one of the most populous, progressive and beautiful cities in the country.


WILLIAM IRVING GRAY.


William Irving Gray, head of the contracting firm of W. I. Gray & Company, which has its headquarters and home office in Minneapolis but carries on extensive operations far beyond the limits of this state, is a native of Minnesota and has passed almost the whole of his life to the present time (1914) in the state. He was born at Lake City, Wabasha county, the son of Alexander and Mary (Dingwall) Gray, who came to this country from Scotland, where their families had been domesticated for many generations. They reached Minnesota and took up their residence on a farm in Wabasha county in 1862.


The son passed his boyhood on his father's farm eight miles from Lake City, where he began his education in the district school. Later he attended and was graduated from the Lake City High School. He then entered the engineering depart- ment of the University of Minnesota, and in 1892 was gradu- ated from it with the degree of Electrical Engineer. He at once began the practice of his profession and devoted two years of close and studious attention to it. At the end of that period, in 1894, he started in business as a contracting engineer under the firm name of W. I. Gray & Company.


Mr. Gray has organized and operated a number of electric lighting plants throughout the country among which can be mentioned the Wheaton Electric Light Co. of Wheaton, Minn., which he successfully operated for ten years, also the Kirlin- Gray Electric Co. of Watertown, South Dakota, for eleven years. In 1908 the Belden, Porter and Gray heating and plumb- ing company was founded, and in 1913 the Schumacher-Gray Company of Winnipeg, Canada, was started.


The firm takes contracts for mechanical plants of all kinds in the domain of heating, electric lighting, ventilating, plumb- ing and similar lines of 'construction work. It carries on an extensive local business, and in addition its operations cover three or four adjoining states and large parts of the Dominion reaching into Western Canada. Its business is steadily grow- ing in volume and extending into new territory, which is a


strong.proof of the correctness of its business methods and the excellence of its work.


While Mr. Gray takes an active part in the public affairs of his home city, he is independent in political faith and action, but never indifferent to the general welfare of the community or any of the duties of citizenship. Socially he holds mem- bership in the University club, the Minneapolis Athletic club and the Rotary 'club, and in the line of his profession he has been president of the state board of electricity from 1899 to 1909. His religious affiliation is with the Park Avenue Con- gregational church, and he is also a member of the Congre- gational club of Minnesota. In 1899 he was married to Miss Isabelle W. Welles. They have two sons, Alexander Welles and Franklin Dingwall Gray.


FRANK E. HAYCOCK.


Mr. Haycock has rendered Hennepin county exceptionally good service in the office of county surveyor during the last eight years. He is a native of Minnesota, having been born in St. Paul, November 15, 1859. He is a son of E. R. Haycock, a steamboat captain on the Mississippi in the early days, when railroads were unknown in this state and the great river was the chief highway between the Territory and the East.


Mr. Haycock attended the public schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis, the family having moved to this city in his boyhood. He grew to manhood amid the surroundings and influences of the frontier.


He decided on a professional career, and succeeded in fitting himself for the profession of civil engineering. He became a civil engineer while he was yet a young man, and has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession. Survey- ing is a part of his business and he is a thorough master of it. But he has gone far beyond this in his operations, studying large engineering problems of practical utility. He spent years in inventing and perfecting a system of disposing of garbage and sewage, and has secured patents on it and put it in serv- ice in different places.


In the fall of 1906 Mr. Haycock was elected 'county sur- veyor of Hennepin county, and he has been re-elected to this office at the close of each term since. Previous to his first election to the position he was for some time deputy county surveyor and drainage engineer for the county. He is connected with the Republican party in political belief and affiliation and influential in the councils of the party. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Masonic order and the order of Junior Pioneers, being the president of the Minneapolis branch of the association, which he was largely instrumental in hav- ing organized, and to which he has given his time and energy liberally.


On December 31, 1882, Mr. Haycock was united in mar- riage with Miss Carrie J. Higgins. They have five children- Leon L., Irene J., Elaine L., Vivian G. and Francis S. The members of the family all attend the Presbyterian church.


FREDERICK GRANT ATKINSON.


Frederick Grant Atkinson, one of the directors of the Wash- burn-Crosby company, has made his mark in Minneapolis as


562


HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA


one of the business men of the city who do things without making any noise about them, either before they are begun or after they are accomplished. He was born in Chicago, Illi- nois, a son of Richard F. Atkinson, a New Yorker by nativity. and came to Minneapolis in 1876. During the next four years lic attended the old Washington school, at which a large num- ber of the leading citizens of this community obtained part of their education, and then passed one year at the Central High School before beginning his business career.


After leaving the high school he at once entered the employ of the Washburn-Crosby company as an office boy. He has been with the company from that time to the present, and has worked his way on demonstrated merit through all the dif- ferent grades of employment until he is now one of the com- pany's directors and an influential factor in the management of its affairs. He is also a director of the Imperial Elevator company and connected with other business and industrial institutions of importance. Socially he is a member of the Minneapolis, Minikahda and Automobile clubs and takes an active part in the affairs of each of these organizations.


Mr. Atkinson's wife was Miss Dorothy D. Bridgman, a daughter of Rev. George H. Bridgman, for many years presi- dent of Hamline University. They have two children, Mary Elliott and Frederick Melville. The parents are members of St. Mark's Episcopal church and take part in its activities, as they do in those of all agencies working for good in the com- munity. The pleasant and hospitable home of the family is located at 308 Ridgewood avenue, and is a center of social 'cul- ture and refined enjoyment, which makes it a popular resort for the numerous admiring friends of its occupants.


MAJOR SALMON A. BUELL.


Sahnon A. Buell was born October 1, 1827, at Lawrence- burg, Indiana, situated on the Ohio River, two miles below the mouth of the Miami, the western boundary of the State of Ohio. He was the oldest son of George P. Buell, a merchant of that place, at one time a member of the Senate of Indiana, and Ann Lane Buell, a daughter of Hon. Amos Lane, a lawyer and Member of Congress from that District. In Salmon's early boyhood, his father retired from mercantile life and settled upon a large farm about two miles back from the river in the same county, where the boy spent his life until about twelve years of age. His first schooling was by private tutors at home, then in the nearby country schools, during the fall, winter and spring; afterwards in Asbury College (now Purdue University), one year in the preparatory department of Marietta College, Ohio, and in Bloomington College (now Indiana State University). In the "forties" he entered the United States Navy, as an Acting Midshipman, reporting for duty at the Naval School in Annapolis, Maryland. The rules of the Naval Service then required attendance at that school for the whole or part of the first six years, then service on board ship until the sixth to be spent in study at the school in preparation for graduation and promotion. He was some month's there until the close of the school year, and after a "leave" entered on his ship service, making besides duty on Receiving ships at Charlestown, Mass., Norfolk, Va., and Brooklyn, N. Y., cruises in sea going ships to Cape Verd Islands, England, northern and western continental Europe, Rio Janeiro in Brazil, thence round Cape Horn to Valparaiso


in Chili, back to Rio Janeiro, and finally to Boston, Mass .. While at Rio Janeiro the latter time, the yellow fever was raging there and the ship sailed for Boston with the disease on board, losing on the trip out of forty odd cases, five officers and eleven men; Buell.being one of its victims and a very severe case. Soon after getting home and after about three and a half years in the service, he resigned from the Navy on account of ill health. He adopted civil engineering a's a calling and rose to be an Assistant Engineer, principally in charge of the leveling party, but his health would not per- mit him to continue. He then entered upon the study of law, and during the course of such study taught school for about five months at North Bend, Ky. In 1852-3 he was admitted to practice . law in the Courts of Indiana and the United States Courts for that District, locating at Indianapolis, Indiana.


On December 20, 1853, he married Miss Elizabeth P. Free- man, of Norfolk, Va., the daughter of Capt. William G. Free- man, who as owner and commander in our merchant marine had taken extensive part in supplying material from the debris of the granite quarries of New England to construct the foundation of the fortification of what is known as the "Rip Raps" part of the defenses at Old Point Comfort, Va.,. where Miss Freeman wa's born.


The wedding of Buell and Miss Freeman took place in "Old St. Paul's," filled with the friends of the bride. This church is historic; built in 1739, and in an attack by the British Army during the Revolutionary War, a cannon ball lodged half buried in its wall, and 'can still be seen, although almost hidden by the ivy that covers nearly the entire church. Buell brought his new wife to Indianapolis, Ind., where they remained until the fall of 1857, when his health again requir- ing a change, they came to Minnesota, locating at St. Peter,. on the Minnesota River, and then near the frontier. Here he became Secretary and Agent of the St. Peter (Townsite) Company, which position he held, except for the period of his Federal Military Service, until 1874, when they moved back to Indianapolis, Ind.


The duties of Buell's position as such Secretary and Agent, occupied his whole time until January 2, 1860, when he was admitted to practice law in Minnesota and formed a partner- ship for that purpose, in addition to such duties, with Hon. A. G. Chatfield, residing at Belle Plaine, Minn., under the name of Chatfield & Buell, their office being at St. Peter, though Judge Chatfield continued his residence at Belle Plaine. This law partnership continued until Buell entered the Federal military service.


On August 18, 1862, the Sioux Indian outbreak along the whole frontier occurred, during which over 600 whites were massacred. The next morning certain news of this reached St. Peter, and Hon. Charles E. Flandrau, then one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of Minnesota, and residing about a mile below St. Peter, raised, in all possible haste, from Nicollet and Le Seuer Counties, a company of about 130 volunteers for aid to the stricken frontiersmen. Buell was a member of this company, and one of eighteen, who, being mounted, were sent in advance by Capt. Flandrau, to New Ulm, thirty miles west across the Minnesota River, and a frontier town, then reported under attack by the Indians, and which Capt. Flandrau had determined to make his first point of destination. This mounted advance reached New Ulm late in the afternoon, and entered it at its south end, while under attack at the north by about 130 Indians.


In his "Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars," Volume -


563


HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA


1, Page 732, Judge Flandrau wrote as follows: "Our advance guard (above mentioned) reached New Ulm about four or five o'clock P. M .- just in time to aid the inhabitants in repelling the attack of about 100 Indians upon the town. They suc- ceeded in driving the enemy off, several citizens being killed, and about five or six houses in the upper (northern) part of the town being fired and destroyed."




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.