Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 48

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 48

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).

In the lumber business he formed a partnership with Levi Butler and Howard Mills under the firm name of Butler, Mills & Walker, of which he was the manager. Failing health took Mr. Mills out of the firm when its mills were destroyed by fire, and a new firm was organized under the name of L. Butler & Company. This firm built one of the largest saw mills on the Mississippi and did a very extensive manufacturing busi- ness for several years. In 1877 Mr. Walker and Major George A. Camp formed the well-known firm of Camp & Walker and bought the Pacific mill, long operated by Joseph Dean & Com- pany, and considered at that time one of the leading lumber mills in this part of the world.

Mr. Walker's mind has always been expansive and broad of vision. In 1880 he began to purchase large quantities of pine land on the head waters of Red Lake and Clearwater rivers, and to utilize the timber there he and his oldest son, Gilbert M. Walker. organized the Red River Lumber company, ereeting mills at Crookston, Minnesota, and Grand Forks on the Red river in North Dakota. In 1887 this enterprising and far-seeing man formed another partnership with H. C. Akeley of Minneapolis. This firm sold large numbers of logs to the Minnesota Logging company and became the largest timber firm in the state. Mr. Walker afterward ex- tended his land interests into California, where he is recog- nized as one of the largest owners of timber properties in the United States.

While Mr. Walker's timber, logging and lumber manufae- turing business has been conducted very largely outside of Minneapolis, he has always manifested the strongest feeling and desire for the welfare of the city and its residents and a fruitful ambition to see it among the foremost cities of the country in its educational, industrial, commercial and social importance. He founded the Business Men's union, the fore- runner of the Commercial club, and with Major Camp. planned and established the Central Market and Commission distriet, now one of the greatest wholesale markets and wholesale ex-

Thomas B. Walker

205

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

changes in the world and which has made Minneapolis the third city in this country as a commission center, it being surpassed only by New York and Chicago. He also furnished the capital for and built the Butler building, when it was a question whether the Butler company would locate its North- western branch in Minneapolis or St. Paul. By this act he secured for the Flour City the largest wholesale establishment west of Chicago.

But Mr. Walker's business success, great and instructive as it has been, is neither the only nor the best feature of interest in his career. He has been a great student and made himself master of many lines of thought and action. He is a recog- nized connoisseur in art, an authority on literature, ancient and modern, and has a vast wealth of information on every live and timely topic of consideration. Minneapolis is indebted to him for its fine public library, and he has been annually elected president of its executive board from the beginning of its history in 1885. An early member and patron of the old Athenaeum Library, he foresaw the necd of a free public library and secured the enactment of the law which gave to the city its present fine library building. The rapid growth of the library in capacity and popular favor since its opening day in 1889 has given it a standing in circulation fourth among the public libraries in the United States.

But this is not all of Mr. Walker's manifestation of interest in the finer side of life. The Walker home occupies half a city block in Minneapolis, and here he has a large and splendid private library, covering standard authors in philosophy, sci- ence, history, political economy, poetry and art, and what is even more notable, a rare collection of fine paintings and other art products, which is said to constitute one of the finest art galleries in America or Europe. The collection represents about four hundred fine paintings by the old masters and modern American and European artists gathered in from the fine galleries of England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, and from many of the galleries of this country. In addition to these he has about one hundred and twenty-five large paint- ings in the public library and over one hundred unhung.

This sumptuous art gallery is also enriched by a large assortment of the finest Chinese, Persian, Japanese and Corean pottery and porcelain, and one of jades that stands ahead of any known collection in beauty of form and color. He has in addition a magnificent assemblage of carved hard stones of most beautiful color and form, together with a large number of gems and precious stones and splendid crystals, an exten- sive and superior lot of ancient sunspot bronzes, mostly from China but some from Japan, and the finest aggregation of ancient glass to be found in any museum or collection. The gallery is open every week-day to the public without any charges for entrance fees or catalogues. It consists of ten rooms adjacent to his residence, and he has recently, during the current year (1913), begun the erection of a $20,000 addition to it. In the gallery at the public library he has a large and valuable collection of porcelains and other works of art in addition to the paintings he has there, and in the museum of the Academy of Science he has a fine selection of ancient art work, pottery, porcelain, ancient glass, Greck and Persian vases, and a magnificent case of ancient bronzes. These two rooms are each one hundred and forty feet long.

From the character of his chief business operations Mr. Walker has naturally given much thought, attention and study to the forestry question, and he has so posted himself with reference to it that he is better prepared to discuss it in-

telligently than almost any other man in the country. He is now deeply and practically interested in the conservation of the forests we have left, and his extensive experience in the lumber trade, together with his judicious study of the subject, has given him a grasp of it that no other man possesses. On this subject he has delivered a considerable number of fine addresses and written many articles for publi- cation in the press and in pamphlet form. In these he has set forth the only plan of conservation that is intended or ex- pressed as a complete one. And his plan will undoubtedly prove successful if public sentiment and legislative enactments by the government and the timber states back it up. He is striving earnestly to get it adopted and put in practical opera- tion, and seeking to induce the authorities who are desirous of intelligent conservation to join him in the movement.

Mr. Walker has also, for many years, been actively, intelli-' gently and effectively engaged in helping to promote agencies for the moral uplifting of the American people. He has been deeply interested in the Young Men's Christian Association in Minneapolis, at the State University and throughout this state; and for years he has been the Northwestern member of the National Committee of that organization, which is one of the most important and useful committees in the country. He is also ardently and serviceably energetic in church work, especially in connection with the Methodist sect or denomina- tion. For a number of years he has been the president of the Methodist Church Extension and Social Union of Minneapolis, and through the agency and helpfulness of this organization, and very largely by reason of his work and contributions, Methodist churches in Minneapolis, particularly those of the common people, are better established, frecr from debt and more prosperous generally than those in any other city in America.

Mr. Walker has moral endowments as well as mental power of a high order. The best principles of integrity and honor govern him in all his transactions, and his word has ever been as good as his bond. He has a clear head and a strong mind, and these have been cultivated throughout his long career by reading, study and observation. and by constant intercourse with many of the best citizens of his state and other localities, all of whom he numbers among his friends. In the interesting and domestic character of husband and father he is particu- larly amiable, enjoying the unbounded affection of his family, and as a man he is just, gencrous and upright, ever eager to promote the welfare of his fellow men without challenging constant laudation by obtrusive benefits. In manner he is cultured and refined, and is of a genial and sympathetic na- ture; and as a Christian he lives a life full of good works and well worthy of general emulation. His whole life, domestic and commercial, is marked by fixed principles of purity and benevolence.

On December 19, 1863, Mr. Walker was united in marriage with Miss Harriet G. Hulet, a daughter of Fletcher Hulet. They have five sons and one daughter living. The living sons are Gilbert M., Fletcher L., Willis J., Clinton L. and Archie D. They are all associated with their father in his Inmber interests. The daughter living is Julia, the wife of Ernest F. Smith, who has four children. The son who died was Leon B., who passed away in 1887, and the daughter who is dead was Harriet, who was the wife of Rev. Frederick O. Holman, pastor of Hennepin avenue Methodist Episcopal church. Her death occurred in 1904.

206

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

GEORGE L. BRADLEY.

Having practically finished his business work for this world, George L. Bradley, founder of the G. L. Bradley Produce Com- mission company, is now living retired from active pursuits, enjoying the rest liis long and busy carcer entitles him to, and secure in the confidence and esteem of the whole community in which a large part of his useful life to the present time has been passed, and in which he has made the mark of lis enterprise, business ability and high eharacter as a man and citizen.

Mr. Bradley was born at Wheelock, Caledonia county, Ver- mont, November 1, 1837, in a family of merchants for three successive generations. His grandfather operated a general store at Wheelock Hollow. Sewell Bradley, the father of ' George L., succeeded the grandfather in the business, and George L. was destined to be a merehant too. At the age of seventeen he was bound to apprenticeship in a store at a compensation of $75 a year. In the performance of his duties he allowed molasses from a barrel to run over the vessel lie was filling on two separate occasions. His employer, a Mr. Quimby, told him that if this occurred again he would be discharged. With characteristic spirit he replied that if it occurred again he would take his cap and go home. On January 14, 1914, he received from Mr. Quimby a little brown jug full of molasses, with an inscription on it saying that it would remind him of his first mereantile experienee.

In September, 1857, Mr. Bradley came to Fox Lake, Wiscon- sin, where he was employed in clerking until 1861. He then passed a few months in the Water Cure Institute at Dansville, New York, when he returned to Vermont and located at Sheffield, near his old home, where he was engaged in mer- chandising five or six years. From Sheffield he moved to Sutton and later to St. Johnsbury, and formed the firm of Cross & Bradley, manufacturers of crackers, a business which has grown to immense proportions. He was occupied in this business twelve years. In 1885 he came West again and located in Minneapolis, where he bought stoek in the Sidie- Fleteher-Holmes Milling company and took a position in the office, also acting as a salesman for the company. Later lie was with H. E. Fletcher in the City Elevator company.

About fifteen years ago Mr. Bradley opened an office on Central Market and started a produee commission business. He did well and built up a large trade, and this was the beginning of the G. L. Bradley Produce Commission company. He sold out his principal interest in the company when he retired five years since, but the business is still carried on under the old name. While living at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, he was connected with the First National Bank, of which Governor Fairbanks was president, and also had an interest in the Savings Bank, both old and well established and pros- perous institutions.

Mr. Bradley being averse to official life has never sought publie serviee of any kind. He was married on January 14, 1864, at Sheffield, Vermont, to Miss Jane M. Morgan, of old New England stock. The fiftieth anniversary of their wedding was most pleasantly remembered by many of their old friends. They have reared a family of three orphans of other households from childhood. They are W. W. Bradley, secretary of the Minneapolis Humane Society; Fannie C., who is now the wife of A. A. Crane, vice president of the First National Bank, and Nellie P., wife of I. W. Lawrence, pro- prietor of the Hennepin laundry, the two girls being daugliters

of Mr. Bradley's sister. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley are members of the Second Church of the Christian Scientists, having been attracted to it through actual personal experiences, and they illustrate its teachings in their home and their daily lives. While not given much to sport, Mr. Bradley has found great pleasure in fishing for speekled trout.

HENRY F. BROWN.

The life story of this great lumber nierchant, renowned live stock breeder and strong potency in public affairs is one of unusual interest and embodies a high example of vigorous stimulating influence for struggling young men, while it is illustrative, at the same time, of the best attributes of ele- vated American citizenship, to which Mr. Brown was an orna- ment, and of which he was an illuminating specimen. He passed over to the activities that know no weariness on December 14, 1912, but he has left his name in large and enduring phrase on the industrial, mercantile, commercial, educational and moral life of the community in which he so long lived and operated on a large scale, and it will be remem- bered with grateful appreciation by the people of that community in all walks of endeavor.

Henry Francis Brown was born on his father's farm at Baldwin, Maine, on October 10, 1837, and began his academic education in the neighborhood district school. As soon as he was old enough he was sent to the Fryeburg Academy, Oxford county, in his native state, for two years, and after- ward for two years more to an academy of a higher grade at Limerick in York county. He was a son of Cyrus S. and Mary (Burnham) Brown, both members of old New England families domesticated in that section of the country from early colonial times. The father was born at Baldwin, Maine, where he always lived, and where he reared a family of ten children. He was a man of considerable wealth for that time and locality, a leading man in his neighborhood and prominent in the political activities of the state. Five of his children are living. They have retained the old family homestead and go there every year for a family reunion.

Early in life the mighty Northwest, with its boundless re- sources and great wealth of opportunity seized upon Henry F. Brown's fancy, and its hold was strengthened and intensi- fied by the flight of time. When he was nineteen years old it drew him, as with the tug of gravitation, into its ehoicest region, locating him in Minneapolis in 1860; but prior to coming to this city he taught seliool for a short period in Wisconsin. On his arrival in Minneapolis he at once entered the lumber business, and in this he was engaged until he retired from active pursuits a short time before his deatlı, but he sold the bulk of his lumber interests in 1896, as he then had other claims on his time and attention which were more agreeable to him, and he had also began to feel the burden of years upon him.

It was in the lumber industry, however, that he laid the foundation of his fortune. He earned his first money in it by driving a team in the woods at twenty dollars a month. His progress at this rate was too slow to satisfy the demands of his ardent nature, and he turned his attention temporarily to other pursuits. He rented a farm, which he worked in the summer, and for three years in succession taught school in the winter. When he had acquired one thousand dollars in this

207

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

way he put it in the lumber trade, but he lost it all the first winter and found himself in debt one thousand dollars more.

This reverse would have changed the whole life of many a man, but Mr. Brown was made of firm fiber and gifted with a resolute will. He continued lumbering and soon recovered from his losses and started on the upward way to consequence and wealth at a rapid rate. In the course of a few years other enterprises of magnitude proved inviting to him and he also engaged in them. He acquired a three-fourths interest in two flouring mills in Minneapolis; became a leader in the formation of the North American Telegraph company, or- ganized by Twin City capital to oppose the Western Union, and was one of the most extensive holders of its stock, and for years one of its directors; was the first president of the former Union National Bank, and a director in the Minne- apolis Trust company and the Minneapolis Street Railway company, the latter afterward becoming a part of the Twin City Rapid Transit company. He was also interested in a leading way in the Minneapolis Land and Improvement company.

Notwithstanding these numerous and exacting claims on his time and energies, this gentleman of gigantic business enterprise and capacity found opportunity to give attention to other interests. He was for thirty-six years one of the largest individual operators in lumber in the Northwest in both wholesale and retail lines, and he carried the burden of his business in that line of trade easily. He was also the owner of an extensive iron property in the Mesaba range, which has been among the best producers of the United States Steel Corporation's development. In addition he was extensively engaged for many years in general farming on his farm of more than 400 acres near the city limits of Minneapolis.

But the work in which Mr. Brown took most delight, and which carried his name in renown around the world, was breeding Shorthorn cattle. The Browndale herd, on the farm of this name above mentioned, became famous in all the states of this country and in almost every foreign land. It took the sweepstakes prize and many others for individual members of the herd at the world's fair in Chicago in 1893, and has done the same at many state and county fairs. Visitors from many parts of the world have been to Brown- dale to see the famous herd and attend the annual Browndale auction of Shorthorns, and the Browndale strain has repre- sentatives wherever men value high-bred and superior live stock. So many notable animals have been bred on this farm that its output figures with great prominence in the pedigree records in this country and abroad.

Mr. Brown's prominence as a breeder caused him to be elected president of the American Shorthorn Breeders' asso- ciation in 1906, 1907 and 1908, and his continuance as a member of its board of directors and its executive committee until his death. He gave the affairs of this association the most careful attention and helped most effectively to expand and magnify its power and usefulness. This was the case with everything he turned his mind to. No interest or enter- prise with which he was ever connected failed to feel in the most serviceable way the quickening impulse of his resource- ful mind and ready hand. In social life he long took an active interest as a member of the Commercial club of Min- neapolis and the Saddle and Sirloin club of Chicago.

From his youth Mr. Brown was an ardent supporter of the policies and theories of government advocated by the Repub-

lican party, and during the earlier period of his life he was a very active worker for them. He served his party well and wisely as a committeeman and campaigner for years, but was never known as a seeker of office. Only once did he allow his name to appear on the ballot. That was as presidential elector in 1884 for Benjamin Harrison, who was nominated for president in Minneapolis. But the welfare of the party to which he belonged was always a prime interest with him and he sought to promote its success, as long as lie was active, by every proper means at his command.

In respect to other matters of public interest Mr. Brown was also energetic and potential. He was an enthusiastic motorist, and this made him an earnest advocate of good roads. As a member of the Automobile club of Minneapolis he gave his support ardently to the improvement of highways in the Northwest. His energy and helpfulness in this behalf were very noticeable and of great value to the whole section of country throughout which they were employed, and he is well remembered for them. He was also earnestly and prac- tically interested in publie charities, and on his own account maintained numerous private benevolences, but always with- out ostentation and with a decided aversion to public notice of his generosity in this connection. For his own enjoyment and recreation he was a great traveler whenever his business gave him the opportunity to indulge his taste in this respect. In the course of his life he visited nearly every section of the United States, and for many years usually passed his winters in Southern California, making Los Angeles his head- quarters and traveling wherever he wished from there.

On July 19, 1865, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Susan H. Fairchild of Maine. The marriage was solemn- ized at Saco, York county, in that state, where the bride was then living. One child was born to them, Grace, who died at the age of eight years. Mrs. Brown, who died in 1906, was a lady of great publie spirit and very active in uplift work. Her philanthropic undertakings were numerous and very serviceable, and won her high regard among the people of Minneapolis. She was a member of the Chicago World's Fair commission for the state of Minnesota and took an active part in the management of the Women's department of that great exposition. Her services there were valued, as they were in every other enterprise with which she was ever connected. She and her husband worked hand in hand for every good purpose and kept achieving good results for their fellows in the human struggle for advance- ment, of which they were such strong and noble advocates, and their names are enshrined in the loving remembrance of all who knew them.

HENRY MARTYN BRACKEN, M. D.

Secretary of the State Board of Health was born Feb. 27, 1854, at Noblestown, Penn. His father was Dr. Wm. C. Bracken, whose ancestors were pioneers of Delaware, and his mother, Electo Alvord, was a descendant of early immigrants to Massachusetts.

At thirteen Henry M. entered Eldersridge Academy, then conducted by a relative, to be fitted for Washington and Jefferson College. At seventeen he taught a summer school. Returning to the academy, he decided to enter Princeton University. The death of his father changed his plans and

208

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

he decided to take up his father's profession, arranging for study in a physician's office, Teaching to bear his expenses, he persisted till he was able to matriculate in the Medical Department of the University of Michigan. Resuming the duties of a teacher, he later took a course in the medical department of Columbia College, in New York City, where his degree was acquired in 1877.

In 1879 he received a diploma as licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, Scotland, and soon after began three years' service as surgeon on the ocean liners of the Royal Mail Steamship Company of England. He was in general practice in Thompson, Connecticut, for a year or moro when he became surgeon to a mining camp in Mexico. A year and a half later he returned to "the States," and after post-graduate work in New York City, he in 1885 came to Minneapolis. He was offered the chair of materia medica and therapeutics in the Minnesota Hospital College in 1886. When the Medical Department of the University was organized in 1887 he was given the same position, hold- ing it till 1907, when he resigned to devote his whole time to the State Board of Health. In 1895 his appointment as a member of the State Board of Health led to his becoming one of the most important servants of the state. Two years later, he was made Secretary of the Board, and thus became the principal executive guardian of publie health. It became his duty to virtually organize his department and develop its various elements to that degree of efficiency that has made Minnesota noted for advance in health work.

Dr. Bracken's achievements have made him well known in the world of medical and kindred sciences. He has been honored by election to high offices in such organizations as the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, the American Public Health Association and the American Climatological Association. He is president of the American School of Hygiene Association, for 1914, and others allied with the parent body, the American Medical Association. He has published numerous papers and treatises on health subjects, and is recognized authority among state health officers. As chief executive officer of the State Board of Health the interests of the State have been his interests throughout, and lie is given credit for honesty of purpose and ,earnestness of leadership in behalf of the people.

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.

Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 48

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