Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 54

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 54

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His great devotion to art and history led Mr. Martin to take many trips to Europe in order that he might enjoy the art galleries in that county, visit historie places and generally revel in the scenes, associations and productions on which the voice of time has placed the seal of universal interest and everlasting renown. He also visited many parts of this country, going where History has held her splendid course, and examining both natural and artificial wonders and beauties wherever he could find them. And he rejoiced ever in the greatness, wealth, power, fine institutions and lofty ideals of our country, for he was in all respects thoroughly American, and unstinted in his devotion to the land of his birth.

In 1876 Mr. Martin was united in marriage with Miss Ella F. Sage, a daughter of Hon. E. C. and Elizabeth M. (Lour) Sage. Her father was an early New York banker and miller at New .Lisbon, Wisconsin, where the marriage occurred, and a relative of the great New York broker. Russell Sage. He was a prominent man in Wisconsin and represented his eounty in the state legislature at times. His later years were passed in Minneapolis at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Martin.

Mrs. Martin has been free to take a very active interest in various institutions and organizations of a public or semi- public character. For many years she has served as one of the directors of the Old Ladies and Children's Home, and also as a director of the Art Society.

Charles J. Martin was an honor to the milling industry, a credit to the great army of American business men. one of the finest types of uprightness and sincerity in every phase of his life. Such men as he are rare, very rare, and the world needs them. It is much to the credit of Minneapolis that its people knew how to appreciate him at his true worth and esteem him accordingly.

Chasgillartin

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

RENE L. BAILLIF.

Rene L. Baillif, one of the leading citizens of Bloomington township, was born in the old DeNoyer neighborhood, three miles from St. Anthony and six miles from St. Paul, December 9, 1847, and is a representative of a family that settled in that neighborhood late in the thirties. He is a son of John P. and Victorine (LaVocat) Baillif, the former from' the North of Normandy, France.

The father was a sailor, going to sea as a cabin boy at the age of twelve, advancing gradually till he became first mate. The captaincy of a vessel was offered him but he declined, preferring to become a citizen of the United States. He remained in New York until 1836, when he came to Minnesota and located at Mendota. There he formed the acquaintance of his wife, they being afterward married in St. Paul. She had come to the Northwest with her parents in 1844.

Mr. Bailif bought forty acres of land and later took up a claim of 160 acres, the tract being now embraced in the State University grounds. He sold his right to this tract for $300, and in 1854 took a pre-emption claim on Nine Mile creek, nine miles from Fort Snelling, and on the Shakopee stage line, where the Baillif Bros.' Bloomington store now stands. There he kept tavern which became a regular station on the stage line from Shakopee to St. Paul. It is four miles East of Bloomington Ferry and was kept as a public house to the end of his life. No man had a wider acquaintance with the public in this region. All travelers stopped with him, his house being on the main stage line into the interior of the state. An old time-table of the coming and going of the stages in 1857 is still kept in the family. The stages would leave Glencoe one morning, and Shakopee for St. Paul the next, two days being also consumed in the return trip. The elder Mr. Baillif died about 1872, aged fifty-two years, his wife surviving him nearly thirty years, dying in 1901. He served as township treasurer for a number of years, and was such at death. He was succeeded by his son Rene, who hield it for seventeen years continuously.

The family consisted of eight children. Victor, who was a carpenter, was killed at the age of thirty by a fall during the construction of the stone arch bridge in Minneapolis. Ernest is a resident of Bloomington township and was for- merly a school teacher. Julius lives at Bloomington, as do Alfred and Charles. Mary is the wife of E. S. St. Martin, and also has her home in Bloomington. Albert lives in Seattle, Washington. Alfred and Charles have kept a store at the old home in Bloomington for the last thirty years.

Rene L. Baillif remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-two. He helped to grub out the farm, and also worked at the hotel, doing stable work, often cooking the meals, and performing numerous other duties. In company with J. P. Bachelor he bought 280 acres of land, without making any cash payment, but paying ten per cent interest until the debt was discharged. His main crop was hay, for which a ready market was found in the winter in St. Paul, sixteen miles distant. At the end of eight years his partner- ship with Mr. Bachelor was dissolved, and the land was divided. Mr. Bachelor sold his to C. E. Wales, but Mr. Baillif still owns his tract. Fifteen years ago he turned the farm over to his sons and became secretary of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance company, of which he was a charter member

and director when it was organized in the spring of 1884. He is still the secretary.

Mr. Baillif was married in 1880 to Miss Jeannette McCloud, a daughter of Martin McCloud, one of the first settlers. His farm lies where Lyndale avenue reaches the Minnesota river, and went out of the family only six years ago. Mrs. Baillif was born at Lac qui Parle, Minnesota. They have had four sons, three of whom are living, one having died at the age of seven years. The three living are Martin J., Victor C. and Arthur A. They operate the farm, the two younger being partners, and raise principally potatoes and onions. They had four carloads of potatoes and seven of onions in 1913, amount- ing to 4,500 bushels in all.

Politically Mr. Baillif is a Democrat, but in local elections casts his vote to the candidate he deems best qualified for the office sought and most likely to render good service to the public. Mrs. Baillif's sister Mary . is living with her, and they are the only members of this McCloud family left in Hennepin county. Their brother, Walter S. McCloud. who owned the old farm and lived on it six years ago, is now living near Northfield, a sister Isabel keeping house for him, neither having married.

WILLIAM W. BARTLETT.

With an abiding faith in Minneapolis as a future city of a million inhabitants, with all the industrial, commercial, polit- ical, social and moral power involved in such an aggregate equipped with the almost boundless natural resources avail- able, William W. Bartlett, one of the prominent lawyers, real estate owner and investor, and versatile citizens, is doing his share to hasten this prophecy to fulfillment.

Mr. Bartlett was born in Vassar, Tuscola county, Michigan, September 22, 1860, and in 1866 was taken to Omaha, Ne- braska, by his parents. During the next sixteen years he alternated between Nebraska and his native state, attending schools in both, finally studying law in Michigan and then, in 1880, being admitted to the bar in Omaha. In the mean- time he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the printers' trade, working at the case and in the pressroom, and perform- ing duties of the reporter and the editor.

In April, 1883, he came to Minneapolis. His purpose was to open a law office, but Colonel G. D. Rogers and others having started "The Times," he became court reporter for that pub- lication, later doing editorial work. He is one of the able and successful lawyers, devoting especial attention to real estate and commercial law.

For some years Mr. Bartlett took a very lively interest and active part in public affairs. He is a Republican in political alignment, being formerly a zealous partisan and delegate to various conventions, is a warm advocate of all improvements, such as opening streets, providing playgrounds and bathing facilities for the children and all other better- ments that will help to make Minneapolis a more desireable place to live in, and thinks such evidences of public spirit should continue in progress at all times and with all the force the city can command. For some years he was active in the Minnetonka Yacht club taking a leading part in the lake races. He sailed the "Magic Slipper" on Minnetonka waters, winning numerous pennants and other trophies prized by yachtmen.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

He was also fond of hunting. It should be recalled to his credit that when the Minnetonka Yacht elub took a stand against lowering the level of the lake he was a zealous cham- pion and was of assistance in arousing public sentiment in be- half of maintaining the old level, and was one of the committee that drafted a communication to the legislature which opened the way for the erection of the dam at the head of the lake. This restored the old level and has been of substantial advantage to the lake. But the fight was a hard one extending over four or five years, many really wanting the water lowered two feet and persisting in their efforts. He has been the organist of several churches at different periods, and for some time was a vestryman of St. Luke's although not a member of the congregation. He was also for years a member of the Philharmonic Society and sang in its ehorus, and still endeavors to keep up his violin practice.

In 1895, Mr. Bartlett was married to Miss Nellie M. Wills, who was born in Colorado, completed her education at the Mankato Normal School, and taught for three years in Min- nesota. They have four children, Walter, Marshall, Edith Belle and Martha, three of whom are students in the high school.

WINFIELD W. BARDWELL.

Winfield W. Bardwell was born in Excelsior, Hennepin County, July 18, 1867, the son of the pioneers William F. and Araminta (Hamblet) Bardwell. Theirs was one of the leading families of the County in the formative period when citizen- ship, though less complex, was sturdier than at present. It was to this quality of interestedness in all that goes to make the community better that Judge Bardwell owes one of his strongest characteristics. He attended the common schools at Excelsior, and later an academy which for a few years held high rank among educational institutions of the West. From there he entered the office of Harlan P. Roberts, as stenogra- pher and clerk. But it was not as a clerk that he continued there, but as one with an ambition to win laurels in a pro- fession. Mr. Bardwell soon entered the law school of the University and there took a course culminating in the degree of LL. B., whichi was supplemented after post-graduate study, by the degree of LL. M.

Beginning in 1891, Mr. Bardwell engaged in the practice at first in partnership with James M. Burlingame, later with C. Louis Weeks. During the last five years he has been associated with Samuel Levy, as Bardwell and Levy. Mr. Bardwell attained a reputation as a successful criminal lawyer, appearing as counsel in several of the most important cases ever tried in the local courts.

Politics attracting his attention, he was elected to the legislature in 1902, and became one of the strong factors in legislation in the session of 1903. That his services were appreciated was indicated by the fact that he was re-elected for the sessions of 1905 and 1907. In the session of 1907 he was chairman of the Hennepin delegation, an important mem- ber of committees, being chairman of the committee on insurance. His retirement from the field in 1909 was volun- tary, choosing to give closer attention to his profession. He continued his interest in desirable legislation, his counsel being sought by the thinking men who desired to press the enactment of important legislation.

In the campaign of 1912 Mr. Bardwell was close to the other leaders of the Republican party in the generalship of the eampaign, although he had come to look with more favor upon the legal side as opposed to the administrative or the legislative phases of government. It was through Governor Eberhart's becoming acquainted with the trend of Mr. Bard- well's mind and his ideals for good citizenship that he offered him appointment as judge of the municipal court, to fill a vacancy caused by the elevation of another judge to the district beneh.

His qualities of councillor brought about his advancement to prominence, also in the several fraternal and social clubs of which he is a member. Thus he held important committee- ships in the Commercial club, was secretary and member of the executive committee of the Hennepin County Bar Associa- tion, and is the present exalted ruler of Minneapolis Lodge No. 44, B. P. O. E. He is also a member of the Masonic order, and of the Royal Arcanum.

Judge Bardwell married Edith May Champlin in 1892. They have three children, Mildred I., Charles Champlin, and Marion A. The family's church affiliations are with the Congregational sect.

LEVI M. STEWART.

In none of the residents of the city from its foundation to the present time (1914) has Minneapolis had a more striking illustration of self-reliance and self-containment, strong and unyielding individuality, strict and exacting integrity and remarkable force of character, all combined with high mental endowments and stern regard for the rights of others, than was furnished in the person and career of the late Levi M. Stewart, long one of the leading lawyers of the city and for many years one of its most substantial capitalists and property owners. A complete analysis of his character and a full account of his life are alike impossible, for his inflexible secretiveness prevented all attempts to acquire a knowledge of his true inwardness, except as it was revealed slightly in his daily walk and actions or to his most intimate friends; and the latter were few and for the most part have departed this life with the story untold. And yet, Mr. Stewart was not a man of mystery. He simply lived within himself, and to a large extent kept the world outside.

Mr. Stewart was born in the town of Corinna, Penobscot county, Maine, on December 10, 1827, and died in Minneapolis on May 3, 1910, in the eighty-third year of his age. He came of a family noted for longevity and his sister Elizabeth and brother David D. are still living, the latter in the town of St. Albans, Maine, and both are now far advanced in age. The father and grandfather of the family were Baptist clergymen, and when the subject of this review was born he was named Levi and dedicated to the ministry to keep up the sueeession. But circumstances acting on his sturdy nature, which was better adapted to combat than persuasion, decreed another destiny for him.

Mr. Stewart was a son of David and Elizabeth (Merriek) Stewart. and they were zealous in efforts to prepare him for the work they had marked ont for him. He obtained his ele- mentary education in the common schools, and was fitted for college at academies in Hartland and Corinth, Maine. He then passed one year at the college in Waterville of the same state

Leri M. Stinart

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

and three at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was graduated from the latter institution in 1853, and at once began the study of law in the office of his older brother, David D. Stewart, of St. Albans, Maine, with whom he re- mained two years. He then attended the law department of Harvard University, from which he was graduated in Janu- · ary, 1856, and he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Maine in the same month.

Returning to the office of his brother in St. Albans, Mr. Stewart remained in that town until October, 1856, when he concluded to come West, and did so, locating in Minneapolis, where he always afterward resided. Before this, however, he wrought out something of a career in his native state. While attending one of the academies he studied in, he secured em- ployment in a sawmill in Corinna in order to do something toward providing for himself. The work was very hard, and he soon gave it up. At the age of fifteen, when he "looked well over twenty," as he said himself long afterward, he taught school and made his mark in the work.

The next year he was told by one of his school companions . that there was money in working on a fishing boat, and to- gether they planned to go to the seaboard from their little inland town, which offered but few and slender opportunities for advancement. They visited Bangor and Portland, and fin- ally got employment on a mackerel schooner at $7 a week and their "keep." Mr. Stewart determined to keep on with his education, and arranged with the captain of the schooner to be allowed to alternate fishing with study.

In his youth and young manhood Mr. Stewart was very tall and slender, and had a great reputation as a wrestler and was something of an all-round athlete. While he was at col- lege, and still insistent on supporting himself as far as possible, he secured a position as teacher in Nicholas Academy at Sears- port. The call was for a "young, healthy male teacher." There were 120 pupils in the school, including a few girls, and fifty-five of the male students were captains or mates of coastwise or sea-going vessels, who took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the winter season, when their boats were tied up, to "get a little schooling." Mr. Stewart had to teach these rough men the elementary branches, in which they were sadly deficient, and also induct them into the mysteries of "Bowditch's Navigation," then a renowned text-book on the subject. Some of his pupils thought they knew more about navigation than Bowditch did, and sometimes tried to enforce their belief with physical arguments. But Mr. Stewart mas- tered them and won their respect during the two seasons in which he taught the school.

When Elder Stewart, as he was always called, at home and in this city, because he had been destined for the ministry, reached Minneapolis in the fall of 1856, he went at once to the Bushnell House, which is still standing at the corner of Fourth street and Sixth avenue south. Later he boarded with a family that lived near Fourth avenue on the block now cov- ered by the city hall and courthouse. There he rescued two small children from the house while it was burning. He could never afterward be induced to speak of this event, and resented every inquiry made of him about it.

The young lawyer had his first office in this city in the Woodman building, which is now the St. James Hotel, at Washington and Second avenues sonth. In 1857 this was one of the pretentious office buildings of the city, and housed somne of its most important stores on the street floor. In 1860 the Harrison block, which is also still standing on its

original site, was put up at the corner of Nicollet and Wash- ington avenues, and as it was more centrally located and more imposing than the Woodman building, Mr. Stewart moved his office to it, and remained there twenty-eight years. He took one room on the second floor, where Thomas Lowry had two, and several other lawyers, prominent then or later, also had offices in the same building.

About the same time Mr. Stewart bought a half block of ground on Hennepin avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. On part of this he had his residence. It was a source of special pride to him, and he continued to own and occupy it until his death. In 1880 the Kasota block was built on the corner of Hennepin avenue and Fourth street, directly opposite his dwelling, and in 1890 he moved his office into that structure. It is a handsome stone building, seven stories high, and when it was erected was the finest edifice in Minneapolis. Mr. Stewart took a suite of five rooms in it and installed his library in them. He was located on the second floor, and there he passed much of his time during the later years with his books.

In the practice of his profession Mr. Stewart was very suc- cessful. In his earlier years it gave him particular delight to take a case against men older than himself, and when he won such a case he was greatly pleased. He would never have a partner or occupy an office with another man. In his youth he determined to go it alone, and he held to this determination to the end of his life. He would, however, frequently give advice to men he thought worthy who were unable to pay fees, And it was said by persons who knew him best that he had many admirable traits of which the general public knew nothing. He was very charitable in his own way, but his benefactions were known only to himself and the beneficiaries of them.

Besides practicing law Mr. Stewart dealt extensively in real estate for many years. But in the latter line of effort he marked the opening of his career in Minneapolis by a losing venture. His brother placed $1,500 with him to invest here. He invested it, and he lost it. He put it into property in North Minneapolis, the title to which was uncertain, but he paid the money back to his brother to the last dollar, although the brother was not insistent and his own income was meager and required frugal living on his part.

The $1,500 were not wholly lost. The transaction brought him an experience that was highly educational. He used to say he had learned by it $1,500 worth of what he did not know about real estate. From that time his thought was given to the study of conditions that were fundamental in determining realty values, and he became in later years the most conspicuous holder of strategically located property in the city. He also saw early what many shrewd men did not so clearly see, until twenty years later, that the geography of the Northwest was such as to make Minneapolis in time not only a large city but a great industrial and commercial me- tropolis.

Mr. Stewart donated the ground on which the Northwestern Hospital stands, which was worth about $10,000 when he gave it. He also contributed to the Bethel Home, which is now the Pillsbury Home. These were public benefactions and necessarily became matters of general knowledge. But his pri- vate charities were never mentioned by him. It was his cus- tom for years to send coal to poor families he knew of who needed fuel for the winter, and the dealers would fill his orders of this kind without asking questions or making comments,

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

and he never allowed any in his presence on his generosity of this kind. One dealer once remarked to him, in a casual way, that he was sending out a good many loads of coal to other persons, and Mr. Stewart never gave that dealer another order.

In his business transactions Mr. Stewart was cxacting to the limit both for himself and for others. He required that all business with him must be done absolutely according to agrec- ment to the minute of delivery, the fraction of a pound and the decimal part of a cent in the price charged. But he was as strict in the performance of his part of a deal. All who did business with him came in time to understand his peculiari- ties. They knew that he had ample means to pay a thousand times over for whatever he bought, and was always willing to pay good prices for good articles. They knew also that if there was a mistake of a single cent in a bill he would not pay it until it was corrected. No merchant who understood this and acted accordingly ever lost his trade.

This excellent specimen of New England firmness of fiber, flexibility of function, strictness of integrity and self-reliance, came to Minneapolis when he was a young man and the city was also young and small. He took an active part in its life and striving, until he reached an advanced age, and it grew to metropolitan magnitude and importance; and he helped materially to make it what it is. His natural reticence and secretiveness, his disposition to live to and within himself, and his other peculiarities kept him from securing the full measure of public appreciation and esteem he wa's entitled to, but even as it was, the people of the city thought well of him . and respected him highly, and he was altogether worthy of their regard because of the genuine manhood which underlay his rugged manner and made him seem often and in consider- able degree what he was not.

MELBOURNE C. BURR.

Melbourne C. Burr, manufacturer and inventor, is a native of Louisiana, born near the Mississippi river March 4, 1838. When he was cight years of age his family removed to Rising Sun, Indiana, where his boyhood was spent. He manifested marked mechanical genius and early in life began the study of various lines of mechanical productions. Through his interest and natural ability he soon acquired a thorough training, devoting especial attention to wood work. He went to Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1856, where he applied his skill to the making of furniture, continuing in this enterprise for a number of years. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis which with its great water power, offered attractions to manufactur- ing industries. Here he also engaged in the manufacture of furniture, forming a partnership with T. L. Curtis. J. S. Treat and D. M. Gilmore were also associated with him in this enterprise at various times until 1878. Mr. Burr has made it possible that many important and useful articles should become of common use, his inventive mind and skilled craftsmanship having perfected and adapted numerous crude suggestions and ideas. One of the most noted of these perhaps, is the sectional book case now manufactured by the Globe-Wernecke company. Mr. Burr developed the idea

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 54

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