Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 20

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 20

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"It was one day in June, 1849, when Simeon Fol- som, who. with his young wife, occupied a little log

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

house near a Mr. Denoyer's, on what was afterwards called 'the old St. Anthony road,' now University Avenue, sent a team to St. Anthony for me and Miss Margaret Farnham, who afterwards became Mrs. Frank Hildreth, to come to his house, as his wife had just died. When we arrived there the only other per- son at the house was Mrs. Patch, Mrs. R. P. Russell's mother. Miss Farnham and I rendered such comfort to the bereaved pioneer as was within our power, and as Mr. Folsom was worn out from his long watching and anxious care of his sick wife, it remained the duty of us two girls to 'sit up with the corpse.' It was considerably after midnight that we had fallen asleep, but were suddenly awakened by the sound of a terrific turmoil just outside of the door, caused by the dogs having been attacked by a pack of wolves. The com- bat became so fierce that the wolves had the dogs re- treating and, finally, in their fear and confusion, the whole pack, dogs and all, burst through the door and continued the war at our feet.

"The howling and yelping of the desperate brutes had in the meantime aroused Mr. Folsom, and, as Miss Farnham and I made a dash for one door, Mr. Folsom opened another door and discharged his shotgun in the face of the pack. This caused confusion and fear among the wolves and gave the dogs renewed courage and the whole lot of them went racing across the prairie. The outer door was then securely bolted and barred, but the uncertainties of the situation pre- vented us from getting further sleep during the rest of the night.

"Had a city directory been compiled in May, 1848, of St. Anthony, the total list of females in the settle- ment would have read as follows : Mrs. Luther Patch, Miss Marion Patch, Miss Jane Huse, Mrs. Calvin Tut- tle, Miss Cora Patch, Miss Amanda M. Huse, Mrs. Elvira Huse, Miss Evaline Huse, and not more than fifty males.

"My other sister, Hester (Mrs. John H. Noble) had married and remained in Stillwater.

"My father, Sherburn Husc, died at St. Anthony. Jan. 5, 1850, and as there was no such thing as a hearse in the settlement at that time, the very plain coffin was placed in a small, very ordinary express wagon, drawn by one horse. Dr. Foster, who was then a boy of about 12 years, drove the express wagon. My father was the first American buried in the old Maple Hill Cemetery.

"The Fourth of July ceremonies in St. Anthony took place where the exposition building now stands. The orator of the day-I have forgotten his name -- was an imported one. He talked from an especially erected platform that was about three feet high. This platform was encircled by a single row of seats which was quite sufficient to accommodate all the white in- habitants of the locality. Quite a scattering of In- dians stood around the outside of this circle. Such a thing as 'fireworks' were quite an unknown quantity, but what the celebration lacked in pyrotechnics it made up in enthusiasm. The real celebration that ycar was to be in the form of a dance at Bass's hotel, St. Paul. I left St. Anthony for this dance early in the afternoon and it was on this trip that I had one of my experiences with some ugly Indians which I

have related elsewhere. The Fourth of July celebra- tion in 1849 was slightly more elaborate and the im- ported orator of the day came over from St. Paul.

"Miss Lucy Russell, now the wife of William L. Colbrath, was the first female white child born in St. Anthony, and my son, George B. Parker, was the first male white child born in the settlement. My other children still living are Mrs. Augustine Thompson, 56 Eleventh street North, Minneapolis ; Frank B. Parker, of Tacoma, Wash., and Charles A. Parker, of New York City.

"There being no regularly ordained minister in St. Anthony at the time, I wa's married to Lucius N. Parker in my father's house, Sept. 16, 1849, by Rev. Mr. Hoyt of St. Paul. This house, as I have said be- fore, was at what is now Second avenue Southeast and Second street. Just across the way was the Godfrey home.

"As was the custom of the country at the time, my husband and I were given a rude serenade called a charivari (or 'shivaree') by some of the young men and boys of the village. The ceremony proved to be very ill-timed. Within a short time of the hour that I was married, Mrs. Godfrey's daughter, Hattie, was born. Some eight or ten of the young men of the set- tlement had gathered under the shadows of the God- frey house well supplied with tin cans, a whistle or two and gloried in the possession of one long tin horn.

"Almost simultaneously with the birth of Mrs. Godfrey's pretty little daughter, the charivari broke forth in all of its pandemonium, and the young mother became very much frightened, believing that the In- dians had broken out on the warpath. Caleb Dorr, who boarded with Mr. Godfrey, was summoned post- haste to summon St. Anthony's only physician, Dr. Kingsley. Mr. Dorr's sudden dash out of the God- frey house into the night scattered the charivari revelers in all directions, as they thought that the hurrying messenger was some champion of ours who had gone to summon others, and that vengeance was upon them.

"We, my husband and I, were a little premature in trying to establish our first pre-emption at what is now Second Avenue South and Third street, so we finally pre-empted 160 acres on the shores of Lake Harriet, adjoining the present home of General Charles McC. Reeve. This land we afterwards sold to Joel Bassett .* I reside at present at 622 East Fif- teenth street, Minneapolis.

"It would require an effort more than I would care to undertake to record from 1848 on down through the years the incidents, trials and triumphs of the valiant men and women who first settled at St. Anthony and Minneapolis. That task I leave to others. To them all a laurel wreath is due. As for myself, sixty-five years near the Falls of St. Anthony bring mists over pictures that were once vivid and declining age causes the eyes to turn toward a rainbow of another promise."

* It seems that the Parker claim of 160 acres was on the south shore of Lake Harriet, now known as Linden Hills, while Calvin C. Church, the first husband of Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Parker's sister, pre-empted where the National Hotel now stands, at Second Avenue South and Washington Avenue.

CHAPTER X.

IN THE MORNING OF POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.

THE FIRST COURT CONVENES IN THE HOUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT MILLER-FIRST ELECTIONS-SPIRITED CANVASS IN 1848 BETWEEN HENRY H. SIBLEY AND HENRY MI. RICE, THE CAPTAINS OF THE FUR INDUSTRY, AND WHO CONTEST FOR THE POSITION OF DELEGATE IN CONGRESS FROM " WISCONSIN TERRITORY, " AND SIBLEY WINS-ST. ANTHONY THEN IN WISCONSIN-FIRST ELECTIONS IN MINNESOTA TERRITORY, 1849, AND SIBLEY AGAIN ELECTED DELEGATE -THE CLOSE ELECTION OF 1850-JOHN H. STEVENS APPEARS AND BECOMES PROMINENT IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS- LIST OF VOTERS IN ST. ANTHONY IN 1849 AND 1850-THIE FIRST SCHOOLS, STEAMBOATS, INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS, BUSINESS HOUSES, ETC., ETC.

THE FIRST COURT AT ST. ANTHONY.

In August, 1849, the few settlers at St. Anthony were reminded that they were again under the rule of law and order. A distriet court, with a real judge, a veritable sheriff, and a duly appointed foreman of a grand jury, assembled in their midst, was regularly opened and speedily closed. Saturday, August 25, pursuant to order and notice, Hon. Bradley B. Meeker, of Kentucky, one of the Territorial Judges of Minnesota, and the particular Judge for the dis- trict to which St. Anthony had been assigned, eame up from St. Paul and convened what was called a court.

The proceedings of this tribunal were somewhat farcical. U. S. Marshal Henry L. Tilden was pres- ent. Judge Meeker appointed a crier and eourt was opened in due form. But there was no clerk, and therefore no records made with pen, ink, and paper and preserved. However, as there was nothing to record, no serious evil was done for the laek of a re- corder. Franklin Steele was appointed foreman of a grand jury, and the name of only one other member of that body is known. There was no business for a grand jury to do anyhow,-no indietments and pre- sentments demanded. Although it was a time when "there was no king in Israel." and "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." no offense against the law of nature, or of nations, or of the natural rights of man, had been eommitted.

The Minnesota Pioneer, the first newspaper in Min- nesota, had been established just four months before Judge Meeker's eourt was held. Its editor. James M. Goodhue, attended and was the only other mem- her of the grand jury besides Franklin' Steele now certainly known. In the issue of the Pioneer of Angust 30. he related his experience in connection with the proceedings in the following article, never before re-printed :

"We had the pleasure of attending at the opening and final adjournment of Judge Meeker's Court at St. Anthony, and have the satisfaction of having served on the first grand jury ever impaneled in the Second Judicial District of Minnesota. Mr. Bean pro-

vided an exeellent dinner last Saturday,* embraeing a very great variety of good things, for the people at Court. His Honor dismissed the jury with a very few handsome remarks. The crier adjourned the Court and the people took their departure. It was a day and an oeeasion which will long live in the memory of us all.

'After court adjourned the Marshal and several other gentlemen repaired to the Cavern under the Falls of St. Anthony. We made the entranee on the west side of the river under the west verge of the vast sheet of water. We found ourselves suddenly in a chamber nearly 100 feet in length and in width corresponding to the shape of an arc of a eirele, the central width being about 15 or 20 feet and the cleva- tion about 20 feet. On the baek side is a wall of shelving rock leaning fcarfully forward; overhead is a flat ledge over which the river pours; in front there is the grand curtain of water falling in an unbroken sheet, with a roar that might well pass for Nature's greatest bass notes. Compared with this exhibition the most superb melo-drama appears but insignifi- cant."'

The record of this so-called court is largely legend- ary. It has been often stated and printed that it convened in the old Government saw-mill, on the west bank; that the Judge sat on the saw-carriage and the spectators on the saw-logs and lumber; that after a little deliberation "the Sheriff," as U. S. Marshal Mitchell was thought to be, or at least was called, produced a gallon of whisky, which was soon drank, and as soon as it had fulfilled its mission, and every one felt that he could do anything but deliber- ate, the court adjourned "until Court in course."

Probably the nearest correct aceount of this eourt is given by the late Gen. R. W. Johnson, of St. Paul. and who was Frank Stecle's brother-in-law. In a historical article published in the St. Paul Globe, Jan. 3. 1888, the General says that the court convened, not in the saw-mill, but in the little building hard by, then occupied as a residence by Reuben Bean, the

* Court was ordered for Monday, August 27, but for some reason and somehow the date was changed to Satur- day, August 25.

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Government's miller; that, except opening and clos- ing the court, no business was transacted, and that "the entire session did not last an hour."

In the first volume (p. 427) of the Atwater history, Judge Atwater records that the court was held "'in the old Government building erected in 1822." By "building" is probably meant the miller's dwelling, for the writer says it was located "near the old Government mill"-not in the mill, but "near" it. This location is now the intersection of Second Street and Eighth Avenue South. Thus Atwater corrobor- ates Gen. Johnson as to the identity of the building where the "court" was held.

But the learned and well informed jurist, by an apparent lapse of memory, makes a singular but gross mistake as to the county in which the old mill stood at the time. He says: "At the time of holding the first court, as above stated, the present site of Min- neapolis was in the County of La Pointe, which ex- tended from Lake Superior to the Minnesota River."

Now, La Pointe County did not comprise a foot of land in Southern Minnesota after 1840, in which year St. Croix County (Wisconsin) was created and as- signed to Crawford for judicial purposes. But in 1847 St. Croix became independent of Crawford in judicial respects and had a court of its own at Still- water, with Joseph R. Brown as clerk. Also, in that year St. Croix, Crawford, Chippewa, and La Pointe Counties constituted a Legislative district; and at the fall election Henry Jackson, the first merchant of St. Paul, was elected to represent it in the Legisla- ture, and was the last Representative in that body from what is now Minnesota. The St. Anthony set- tlement was in St. Croix County.

In June, 1849, when Judge Meeker attempted to hold Court, Minnesota was an organized Territory, though not divided into counties. The mill where the court convened was in the Indian country. Judge Meeker's "court," therefore, was not held in any proper county ! The Judge took up his residence at St. Anthony soon after his arrival in Minnesota. IIe acquired a considerable tract of land, a great part of which is now in the Midway district between St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was unmarried and kept bachelor's hall at Minneapolis for many years.

It is not generally known that Judge Meeker's appointment as U. S. Territorial Judge was con- firmed only after a long delay and against much opposition. He was then a Whig-or at least de- clared he was-and a Kentuckian; but certain Kentucky Whigs of the variety known as "Old Hunkers" disliked him, and it was they who suc- . ceeded in holding up his confirmation from March, 1849, until in September, 1850. He was always very popular in Minnesota, however. The Legislature named a county for him, and he was always honored and respected here. When the Whig party was broken up, in 1853, he acted thereafter with the Democrats, as did many another former member of that old-time party, but he was never called a "turn- coat" for his action. He died at Milwaukee, in February, 1873.

FIRST POLITICAL CANVASSES AND CONTESTS.

The first public matter considered of essential con- sequence in a new American community is the elec- tion of the necessary officers and public servants to direct and manage the general welfare. The first election in which the few citizens of pioneer St. Anthony took part was held October 30, 1848, while they were yet citizens of "Wisconsin Territory," as was called the district west of the St. Croix left out by the admission of Wisconsin State. As has been stated, the Stillwater Convention chose H. H. Sibley Delegate to Congress from this district which was considered really Wisconsin Territory. It had once indisputably formed a part of that Territory and its people were not to blame that they had been cut off from the State when it was organized.

But the certificate of the Stillwater Convention was not considered all-sufficient for the admission of Sib- ley to the Congress; another certificate was neces- sary. Hon. John H. Tweedy, the Delegate from Wisconsin Territory when the State was admitted, was the proper Representative (perhaps) of the St. Croix district, claiming to be the Territory,-if there was such a Territory. Hon. John Catlin, the last Terri- torial Governor of Wisconsin, was very friendly to the project of organizing Minnesota. He suggested that, in order to strengthen Sibley's case, Delegate Tweedy resign, and then he, the Governor, would call a special election to choose a Delegate to fill the vacancy. Sibley, of course, would be a candidate and would be elected; then Gov. Catlin would give him a certificate of election by the people, and this and the Stillwater certificate ought to be sufficient credentials for the trader's admission. Tweedy promptly re- signed. Gov. Catlin came over from Madison to Still- water, so as to be within Wisconsin "Territory" and outside of Wisconsin State, and issued a proc- lamation calling the election for October 30.

There were two candidates for the position, Henry H. Sibley and Henry M. Rice. There was much astonishment when it was learned that Sibley was to have opposition, and that his opponent would be Mr. Rice. They were rival Indian traders and the heads of rival fur companies, Sibley, the chief factor of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., & Co., engaged in trade with the Sioux, and Rice, the chief representative of Ewing & Co., trading with the Chippewas in their country.

While there were but about 200 voters in the "Ter- ritory "-and unnaturalized residents and half-blood Indians were allowed to vote-the contest was spirited and warm. The issues were largely personal; the question was whether Sibley or Rice was the better man and which of the two great fur companies should dominate matters in the new Territory. Both candid- ates were Democrats and hoped that Gen. Cass would defeat Gen. Taylor for the Presidency at the Novem- ber election, in which, however, of course neither could participate, as he did not live in a State.

Charges of personal unfitness, of corruption, of illegal practices, etc., were freely made by the can- didates themselves and their respective partisans !

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Many letters passed and many promises were made, and some money, but not much, was spent. At first, polling places were established at Stillwater, Marine, Prescott's, Sauk Rapids, Crow Wing, and Pokegama, but finally a voting district was established at Benj. Gervais's Mill, at Gervais Lake, north of St. Paul, and St. Anthony was made a part of this election district, and also given a polling placc.

At the election all the qualified voters-and per- haps some that were not qualified-voted. Sibley was elected. The voting places controlled by the Chouteau Company went largely for him, and the polls controlled by the Ewing Company and Mr. Rice voted nearly or quite unanimously for that gentleman. There are no records obtainable of the election at Gervais's Mill, but Gov. Marshall wrote down his recollection that Sibley had about 50 majority, and that every adult male at Fort Snelling (except the soldiers) voted and-under Sibley's and Frank Steele's influence-for Sibley. The action of the Stillwater Convention in endorsing him was power- fully efficient in securing his election. (See Chap. 29, Vol. 2, Minn. in 3 Cents.)

FIRST POLL LIST OF ST. ANTHONY'S FALLS, FOR THE ELECTION OF 1848.

In May, 1856, Hon. R. P. Russell, then the Receiver of the Land Office at Minneapolis, furnished the St. Anthony Express with the annexed copy of the poll list of St. Anthony's Falls precinct at the October 30 election, 1848, for Delegate to Congress. It is to be regretted that there was not some way of recording the names of the Sibley men and the Rice partisans. All of the voters named lived at or near St. Anthony.

"Poll List St. Anthony Precinct.

"At an election held at the house of R. P. Russell, in the precinct of St. Anthony's Falls, township 29, in the County of St. Croix and Territory of Wisconsin. on the 30th day of October, 1848, the following per- sons received the number of votes annexed to their respective names for the following named offices, to-wit :

"Henry H. Sibley had twelve (12) votes for Dele- gate to Congress.

"Henry M. Rice had thirty (30) votes for Delegate to Congress.

(Calvin A. Tuttle,

"Certified by us ₹ Roswell P. Russell, { Sherburn Huse, Judges of Election.

The names of the voters were as follows:

"Henry H. Angell, David Gilman.

Stephen S. Angell,

Sterling Gresshorn,

John Banfield. Aaron P. Howard,

Benj. Bidgood, James M. Howard,

Horace Booth, Sanford Huse,

Benj. Bowles. Sherburn Huse,

Joseph Brown. Eli F. Lewis,

Ira A. Burrows, John McDermott,

John J. Carlton,

Isaac Marks,

David Chapman,

Chas. L. Mitchell,

Wm. A. Cheever,

Anthony Page,

Louis Cross,

Edward Patch,

John Rex,

Alfred B. Robinson,

Roswell P. Russell, Andrew Schwartz,

Dennis Sherica,

Dixon Farmer,

Iran Sincere,

Sumner W. Farnham, Daniel Stanchfield,

Edgar Folsom,

Alpheus R. French,

Calvin A. Tuttle, Wm. J. Whaland."

Writing a note to W. H. Forbes, Sibley's chief clerk at Mendota, the day after the election, Wm. Dugas, (pronounced Du-gaw) a prominent Canadian Frenchman of the St. Anthony district, and a zealous Sibley man, described how the election passed off and was conducted in his precinct :

"Our election went of yesterday & considerable briefly we should have don beter but they comence buying votes quite early in the Morning, this morning two young men was at my house and say that they was thretend to be kilt in the morning for saying hooraw for Sibley the other says they offerd him a dollar to vote for Rice but he answer that they were all his friends but that he shold vote for Sibley but he says now that before he voted he got very Drunk and they some of them changed his vote and conse- quently got a vot out of him for Rice when he entered to vote for Sibley. My Sellfe and all my friends around me have I believed save our money and not have offered to any one pay for his vote. We thought best to pattering after the Honorable Mr. Sibley, save our money to buy, lands for our friends and our selves rather than buying votes with it, we now think that Mr. Sibley is safely elected and may God grant." (See Sibley papers, unpublished, 1840- 50; Chap. 29, Vol. 2, Minn. in Three Centuries.)

ELECTIONS IN 1849.

Sibley's election in October, 1848, was as Delegate from Wisconsin Territory. He was admitted to his seat and at once introduced a bill for the creation of Minnesota Territory, and this bill he successfully pressed to passage. With the creation of Minnesota Territory the erstwhile Territory of Wisconsin be- came extinct and Sibley was legislated out of office.

Not long after his famous "First of June Proclama- tion," Gov. Ramscy, after due consideration, called an election for Delegate to Congress and for members of the Territorial Legislature. The organic act pro- vided that the so-called Territorial Assembly should be composed of a Council. to serve two years. and a House of Representative, to serve one year. Members werc to be voters and residents of their respective districts. July 7, (1849) the Governor made procla- mation dividing the Territory into seven Council dis- tricts and ordering an election to be held August 1 following, to choose a Delegate to Congress and nine Councilors and 18 Representatives to constitute the First Legislative Assembly of Minnesota Territory.

Andrew L. Cummings, Robert Cummings,

John Dall,

Joel B. Daman,

Caleb D. Dorr,

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Candidates were "brought out" by their friends and admirers without regard to their political sentiments and party lines were not drawn. Sibley was a candi- date for Delegate and had no opposition. Out of about 700 votes cast in the Territory he received 682, and about 20 did not vote at all. Some of the con- tests for members of the Territorial Legislature (or Assembly) were, however, quite spirited. In St. Paul's David Lambert, a gifted and eloquent lawyer and a most accomplished gentleman was defeated for the Council by a vote of 98 to 91. His successful competitor was James Mc C. Boal (commonly called "McBoal") who came with Leavenworth's first gar- rison to Fort Snelling as a musician and was accus- tomed to beat a snare drum while his bunkmate, Joseph R. Brown, blew the fife. So elated were his partisans over his victory that they hauled him about the streets in a chariot improvised from an ox-cart and cheered loudly and wildly because. their candid- ate, a house painter, had beaten the great lawyer by only seven votes !

In St. Anthony there was no contest. The little hamlet was united with Little Canada, the French settlement north of St. Paul, in one Council district numbered the Fifth, and both were for some years in Ramsey County. The candidates for the Assembly agreed upon and elected from this district were John Rollins, of St. Anthony, Councilor, and Wm. R. Mar- shall, of St. Anthony, and Wm. Dugas, of Little Canada, Representatives. The whole number of votes cast for Delegate to Congress in Ramsey County was 273; in the Territory, 682. At the time of the elec- tion the correct census of the population of the Ter- ritory was found to be exactly 5,000, or 3,253 males and 1,747 females; and of this population Ramsey County had 976 males and 564 females, a total of 1,540.

John Rollins, of St. Anthony, the Councilor elect, was born at New Sharon, Maine, March 23, 1806, and died at Minneapolis, May 7, 1883. He was located at St. Anthony in 1848, built and operated the first steamboat that ran above the Falls, and was identified with the early lumbering interest of Minneapolis in general. William Dugas was a French Canadian who came to St. Paul in 1844. He was a millwright and in 1845 erccted the first St. Paul saw-mill, which was driven by the water of Phalen Creek. In 1847 he re- moved to a farm in the Little Canada settlement, where he resided until in 1853, when he went to the Crow River Valley, the scene of his death, many years later. Wm. R. Marshall, the other Representative, has already been mentioned.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 20

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