Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 55

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 55

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).

and patented it and was the first to place it on the market then selling his rights to the Wernccke company. He has since devoted his efforts largely to the designing and construction of wood specialties, establishing the M. C. Burr Manufacturing company with a capital of $10,000. The plant is located in the power building on Nicollet island and is completely equipped with the most modern and improved machinery much of which has been built for this factory to be used for some special and unique productions. Fifty workmen are employed in the manufacture of various articles, constructed from wood, a large number being the inventions of Mr. Burr or the result of his expert knowledge applied to some incomplete working model. Among the articles con- structed are hand looms for school industrial work, exhibition coops for poultry dealers, display cases for seed houses, the company having supplied Northrop King & Company with over 11,000 of the latter. It also manufactures all varieties of automatic wood turnings and the plant is fully equipped to supply any article made of wood. Mr. Burr has made this work his life interest and devoted every effort to the develop- ment of his mechanical talent, finding ample satisfaction in achievement and success, believing with Goethe that "the spirit that strives for higher things can become satisfied with the ideas springing up in its own breast," and he has no desire to enter other fields of endeavor or public service. He has made a continual study of mechanical and scientific sub- jects and of every phase of their advancement possessing an extensive library on these subjects. He was married in Owatonna, January 1, 1865, to Miss Carrie Donaldson, daugh- ter of Judge N. M. Donaldson. She died in 1881 leaving two children, Jessie N. who married Mr. McFarland of Winthrop, Iowa, and Dr. George D. Burr, of Wenache, Washington. His second marriage was with Miss Alice Cain of Washington, D. C., and they have four children, Ida, who is Mrs. Spencer of Willmar, Minnesota; Frances E .; Richard M., who is rapidly making a reputation as a tennis player; Alice C., a student in the art school. Mr. Burr is a deacon of the Park avenue Congregational church and takes an active interest in the work of the Sunday school. He is a stanch Republican but not tied to party lines in local matters.

JACOB K. SIDLE.

The most eminent name in connection with the banking business in Minneapolis up to the time of his death, was that of Jacob K. Sidle, who came to this city in 1857 and died here on January 25, 1888, after a few days of painful ill- ness from acute intestinal inflammation. During the whole of his residence of about thirty-one years in Minneapolis banking was his chief pursuit and absorbed all the force of his ambition. Moreover, through his thorough mastery of the business and his skill, vigor and success in the management of it he gave to the banking interests of the city in the early days a reputation for enterprise and soundness and a stand- ing in public confidence they would not otherwise have had for many years.

Mr. Sidle was a native of the sturdy and sterling old city of York, Pennsylvania, where his life began on March 31. 1821, and the son of Henry and Susan (Kootz) Sidle, also natives

ORlin

231

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

of that state, but of German ancestry. Jacob's grandfather was a soldier in the armuy of Washington during the Revolu- tionary War, and his son Henry, the father of Jacob, was first a blacksmith and afterward a merchant. His two sons, Jacob K. and Henry G., were associated with him in his merchandis- ing enterprise until advancing age induced him to retire from active pursuits and turn the business over to his sons, after which they conducted it together for seventeen years.

In the spring of 1857 Jacob K. Sidle mnade a tour of the West. At Minneapolis he found the conditions and prospects that suited him, and here he decided to locate. He had with him Peter Wolford, a wealthy man of York County, Pennsyl- vania, and together they opened a private banking house un- der the firm name of Sidle, Wolford & Company. As soon as the Nicollet House Block was completed the firm took an office on the ground floor of the new building, and there it grew and flourished, steadily extending its operations to the profit of its members and the great advantage of a large part of the population and the community in general.

In 1865 his partner, Mr. Wolford, left the firm and turned his attention to other business. About the same time Mr. Sidle organized the Minneapolis Bank under a state charter. Before the end of the year this institution was converted into the First National Bank, it being the second bank northwest of Chicago to comet under the new National Banking Law.

Jacob K. Sidle was the president of the First National Bank from its organization until his death. He had behind him and working with him a substantial board of directors- men who represented the best business sense and greatest suc- cess in the city.

The First National began business with a capital of $50,000, the same as that of its predecessor, the Minneapolis State Bank. This was increased to $100,000, $400,000, $600,000, as the business grew, until, in 1879, a larger increase than usual was found necessary, and the capital was then raised to $1,000,000. The acorn from which this gigantic oak of fiscal vigor and utility has grown was wisely planted and skillfully tended in its sprouting period and years of youth by Jacob K. Sidle, and its development in its present stature and spread shows how well he understood and how carefully he attended to the business of the Bank. The present condition of the bank also demonstrates the wisdom of the policy he inaugu- rated in conducting its affairs. For that has never been changed, and the bank has never ceased to grow.

The directors' room of the First National Bank was so closely associated with the financing of so many of the early big enterprises of the city that could a history of it be written it would almost be a history of the early finances of Minneapolis. In these meetings Jacob K. Sidle was ever foremost, his con- servative judgment being invaluable to his associates. In the early days there was no Chamber of Commerce, and the pre- liminary meetings for the organizing of such big enterprises as the "Soo" Railroad, the Minneapolis Railway, Minnesota Linseed Oil Works, etc., were held in the directors' room of the First National Bank. This shows the position the bank has held since its foundation.

Mr. Sidle with Mr. Washburn, made several trips East in order to secure Eastern capital for the building of these en- terprises. This was in the days when Wall Street had less faith in the growth of the West, and was more shy of West- ern investments.

Mr. Sidle was earnestly interested in the public affairs of his community at all times, but he never could be induced

to accept a public office of any kind. He followed the prin- ciples of the Democratic party in his political faith, but never became an active partisan. He was a prominent supporter of Westminster Presbyterian Church and a liberal contributor to its mission work and numerous charitable enterprises. In September, 1846, he was married in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, to Miss Margaret De Huff, of that city. Four daughters of the union are living: Mrs. S. C. Sidle, Mrs. James W. Lawrence, Mrs. C. C. Elfelt and Mrs. Kate Sidle Regan, the second daughter, Mrs. C. A. Bliss, having died March 23, 1906.

CHRISTOPHER ADAM BOEHME.

The combined science and art in architecture is one of the most pleasing pursuits known among men. It is work of the highest intellectual requirements, its creations engaging the rapt attention of him who brings them forth, and holding the regard and admiration of thousands afterward.

Christopher A. Boehme, one of the leading architects of the Northwest, measures up to the highest standard. Mr. Boehme has the additional claim on the regard of the residents of this city of having been born, reared and educated in their midst, and employing all his ability in their service. His life began in Minneapolis on January 16, 1865, and he is a son of Gottfried J. and Eva (Trump) Boehme. The father was born in Germany and came to St. Anthony in the early fifties. He was a builder and contractor, and died in this city in 1908, after long years of usefulness.

Obtaining his academic education in the public school, Christopher A. Boehme attended the University, taking a special course in architecture. During vacations he worked with his father, and upon leaving the University entered the office of Architect W. B. Dunnell, as student and assistant. He remained with Mr. Dunnell sixteen years, aiding in pre- paring the plans and superintending the work in the erection of the Soldiers' Home, the State Training School at Red Wing, the State Hospital for the Insane at Fergus Falls, and many other structures of magnitude and importance.

He then became manager of the Fergus Falls Manufacturing company, later returning to the office of Mr. Dunnell, but soon afterward opened an office of his own. From 1902 to 1911 he was in partnership with Victor Cordella. Many monuments to the enterprise, superior skill and ability of Boehme & Cordella are standing in Minneapolis and other places in the Northwest, including the residence of Swan J. Turnblad on Park avenue; the residence of Charles Gluek on Mount Curve avenue; the residence of R. A. Jacobson; the operating wing of St. Mary's Hospital at Rochester; St. Francis' Hospital at Breckenridge, and a number of churches in St. Paul and other cities in the state, the firm attaining a wide reputation for excellent work.

Mr. Boehme is a member and a Vice President of the North Side Commercial club, and an enthusiastic member of the St. Anthony Turn Verein. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum. He was married May 21, 1891, to Miss Martha Oeschger of La Crosse, Wisconsin. They have three children, Merceline, Sidonia and Lubue, and reside at 2215 Lyndale avenue north.

Since 1911 Mr. Boehme has prepared many important plans, the claims on his professional skill constantly increasing. He has taken part in everything designed to promote the welfare

232

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

of his home eity, and in all public affairs within the purview of good citizenship. He has never been an active partisan in local matters of government, and has never sought or desired a political ofliee.

JOHN CROSBY.

Men like nations build their monuments of different mate- rials and in various forms, according to their bent and the conditions of their environment. Literature in all its forms- history, poetry, fiction, criticism, scientific elucidations, and all the rest-has its votaries; art in all its phases of expression commands its devotees and rhapsodists; military and naval glory-scenes of blood and battle-win many and present to them always a persuasive smile; political eminence, the power "the applause of listening senates to command," is all there is of life to some. The late John Crosby of Minneapolis would have none of these. His inelination and his opportunities led him into the field of peaceful and productive industry, and he passed his life in that. His achievements in it remain in the publie mind, and their outward expression in the public view as his monument, and every inscription on it, is true to his worth and usefulness.

Mr. Crosby was born at Hampden, Penobscot county, Maine, on November 1, 1829. He died in Minneapolis on December 29, 1888, at the untimely age of fifty-nine years, at the full ma- turity of his powers, the height of his usefulness, and when it was to be supposed he had many years of activity yet in prospect. But he had so well developed his plans and built up his industry that the removal of even his strong hand had no effect to stop or stay the productive machinery he had set in motion. At the time of his death he had been a resident of Minneapolis eleven years.

Mr. Crosby's father and grandfather bore the name of John, also, and his son. the John Crosby of the present day, is there- fore the fourth member of the family in direct descent to dig- nify and adorn it. The first of the name here alluded to. the" great-grandfather of the prominent resident of Minneapolis who now bears it, represented a family that had lived on the coast of New Hampshire from early Colonial times. moved from there to Hampden, Maine. then a remote settle-

He ment in a new country, but full of promise. His ancestry was Scotch, and he had the salient characteristics of the frugal, self-reliant and resourceful Scotch people. He made them tell to his advantage in his new field of endeavor, and they have distinguished the members of the family ever sinee.

llis son John was a manufacturer of paper and had interests in several mills devoted to that industry. He had a family of ten children, of whom John, the immediate subjeet of this sketeh, was the second in the order of birth. The latter ob- tained a preparatory academie education in his native town, and was about to enter college for more advanced instruction. But the business instinct within him was too strong for him to combat, and he abandoned his purpose and began his busi- ness career in connection with the management of his father's paper mills. Some time afterward he became connected with an iron foundry and machine shop at Bangor. He seenred a home in that city and thereafter made it and Hampden alter- nate places of residence. In Bangor he was united in marriage

with Miss Olive Muzzy, a daughter of Hon. Franklin Muzzy, an extensive manufacturer in that city, and by this marriage became the father of three children, John, Caroline M. and Franklin M., all of whom are now residents of Minneapolis. Their mother died before the family left her native state of Maine.

Mr. Crosby came to Minneapolis to live in 1877. He was then forty-eight years of age and had been engaged in manu- facturing for almost a generation of human life. He therefore brought with him ripe experience in industrial enterprise, and here he found a fruitful field for its use. Soon after his arrival he purchased an interest in the business of the Wash- burn B flouring mill and assumed its management. Later he became interested in all the mills built by Governor Wash- burn, the style of the firm becoming Washburn, Crosby & Company. It was while Mr. Crosby was principally in charge of the interests of the firm that the chief improvements which have revolutionized the process of making flour were evolved and adopted by the mills under his control, and he showed his breadth of view and progressiveness in the promptness with which he accepted and the completeness with which he installed them in his operations.

What the Washburn-Crosby mills have become since is largely the result of evolution on the broad basis laid for their progress by this far-seeing and enterprising man. He met all the requirements of his day in his industry in a mas- terly manner. But he also built for the future with a keen and clear apprehension of its needs, making his the largest manufactory of flour in the world, unless that of the Pillsbury company exceeded it, and that seems to be an open question. At any rate, Mr. Crosby's plant was easily the second, if it was not the first, in magnitude and importance.

In 1879 Mr. Crosby was married to Miss Eiuma Gilson of Minneapolis, a daughter of the late F. A. Gilson. As a temple for his domestie shrine he erected a fine brick mansion on Tenth street, and in a short tique this became a center of refined and generous hospitality and a popular resort for the friends of the family, who were numbered in hosts. There the head of the house passed the remainder of his days, high in the regard of the community as one of its most useful and representative citizens and enjoying, in a marked degree, an almost world- wide reputation as a manufacturer and business man of great sweep of vision, far-reaching enterprise and the strictest in- tegrity in every particular.

Mr. Crosby devoted himself wholly to his business. While he was intelligent beyond most men in reference to public affairs, and highly qualified in other respects for publie life and official station, the contentions of polities never had any attraction for him, and he never entered them in his own behalf. He saw far and he saw clearly in matters of govern- ment, and his convictions on publie questions, which were positive, were based on intimate knowledge of them of the most practical kind. But he always preferred to serve the state from the honorable post of private life, enforcing his opinions as far as he could in his own way, but leaving to others the administration of affairs. In his intercourse with men he was very influential, for his personality was strong, but his manner was always courteons, and in the circle of his intimate friendships he was genial and companionable in an unusual degree. No man in Minneapolis ever stood higher in general esteem, and none ever deserved to stand higher.

John Crosby

233

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

DAN C. BROWN.

Dan C. Brown was born at St. Anthony March 12, 1861, and was one of the first students to enter the Central High School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1881. His parents, Charles D. and Henrietta S. (Murphie) Brown, who are still living, are natives of Maine, the former of Edge- comb, Lincoln county, and the latter of Aroostook county. They both came to St. Anthony in 1857, the mother accom- panying her parents, Edward D. W. Murphie and wife. Her father was an expert timber scaler, and died highly esteemed at an advanced age.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were married in St. Anthony in 1860. He was a fine mechanie and conducted a carriage factory, blacksmith and paint shops, on Main St. S. E. and employed twenty-five to thirty-five men.

He is now seventy-eight years old, and he and wife in the summer of 1913, celebrated the fifty-third anniversary of their marriage. Mr. Brown responded to the first call for volunteers serving nine months and took part in the battle of Shiloh. He is a member of Downs Post Grand Army of the Republic, and is an uncompromising Republican of the old school, adhering to the Taft wing of the party with unyielding tenacity. He and his wife became the parents of four children. One son died in 1880, aged seventeen years. Dan C .; Alice, the wife of Walter Scott of Minneapolis, and Irwin M., a farmer.

Dan C. Brown began to learn the woodworking part of carriage making in his father's factory, but in a few months, in March, 1882, entered the employ of the city as a clerk in the water department. He was eashier in the water depart- ment fourteen years, then for two and one-half years deputy County Auditor under Hugh R. Scott. In 1903, City Comp- troller Joshua Rogers appointed him to a clerkship in his office, and in 1905 he became comptroller, Mr. Rogers declining to be his own successor.

A new system of accounts, checks and balances had been adopted by the city, and for one year, while assistant comp- troller, Mr. Brown worked under the experts who were install- ing this system. Mr. Rogers urged him to become a candidate for comptroller, as he was really the only man in the city capable of conducting the new system in its inchoate stage. Some friction between the different branches of the city government necessarily arose before the new plan was fully understood. But it was adhered to, and now all see its advantages. All the business is carried on systematically, the records of each department being kept in strict conformity and tallying exactly with those of the comptroller. There are fifteen employes in the office and its accounts cover millions of dollars annually, the sum in 1913 exceeding twenty-two millions.

Mr. Brown was married August 1, 1889, to Miss Grace N. Newland of New York. Their only daughter, Gladys N., was graduated from the East High School in 1909, and died forty days after graduation, from an attack of pneumonia. She was an accomplished and popular young lady, of high attain- ments and hosts of friends. Her talent and education in music were of a high order, and she was selected as organist of St. Matthew's Episcopal church. During the exercises of her graduation she presided at the piano, which was the last service she rendered her elass. Mr. Brown is a vestryman of St. Matthew's church. He was made a Freemason in Cataract Lodge. He is Past W. M. of Arcana lodge, is also Past Eminent

Commander of Darius Commandery, a Noble the Mystic Shrine, and a member of the Athletic club. He and his wife stand high socially, and he is widely and well esteemed for the uprightness, progressiveness and serviceable character of his citizenship, and his cordial practical interest. in everything that embodies the substantial and enduring wel- fare of his community.

WILLIAM BUTTERS.

Mr. Butters lived an honorable and useful life in Minneapolis for 36 years. The men and women who knew him in life esteemed him highly for his genuine worth and manhood, and his memory is still cherished by them. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 21, 1850, the son of Isaac Hill and Angeline S. (Mott) Butters, who were also natives of New England and pioneers in Minneapolis. The father's. life began in New Hampshire, in 1825, but during his childhood he moved with his parents to Boston, and there he grew to manhood. In 1849 he married Miss Angeline S. Mott, of that city, and the next year their only child, William Butters, the principal subject hereof, was born. The father was engaged in business in Boston until 1860, when he moved to Chicago and entered into partnership with his brother, William A. Butters. After a few years of business activity in Chicago, he came to Minnesota in 1865, hoping to improve his health and located first at St. Paul. One year was passed in the Capital City, and the next the Butters family came to Minneapolis.

He purchased a home at the corner of Seventh Street and Ninth Avenue South, the latter being then called Rice Street. With the exception of a few years passed on a small farm at what is now the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Twenty- second Street, he lived in his Seventh Street home until his death, in January, 1886, and his widow continued to occupy it until her death, in 1898; it is still in the possession of the family. By 1867 his health had improved so that he was able to enter the office of Dorilus Morrison as bookkeeper, a position which he retained until his death in spite of con- tinued precarious health and frequently recurring illnesses. When they first located in Minneapolis he and his wife joined the Universalist Church of the Redeemer, and they were always zealous for its welfare.

William Butters began his business career in 1871 as an employe in the lumber office of Dorilus Morrison, under the immediate supervision of his father, and he remained in the employ of the Morrison family, father and sons, almost without. a break or an interruption until his death, serving for many years of his later life as private secretary to Clinton Morrison. At the same time, however, he carried on a real estate busi- ness on his own account, and took part in a number of profit- able enterprises. He was interested in the North American Telegraph Company and the Northwestern Knitting Works, and was for many years a director of the National Bank of Commerce. He was a Republican in politics, but not an aggressive partisan. In fact, he withdrew from the Union League in 1898, after having long been a member, because he found its prevailing political opinions too radical for him.

In religious affiliation Mr. Butters was a Universalist and a member of the Church of the Redeemer. He was a regular attendant at the services in this church, and for many years

234

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

before his death served as its treasurer. He was married in 1874 to Miss Ella S. King, a daughter of Edward King, of Dorchester, Massachusetts. They liad two sons, one of whom died in infancy. The other, Frederick K. Butters, is now an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota. Mr. Butters died suddenly September 15, 1902. ITis widow and son are still living in the family residence, at 815 South Seventh Street, on the lot adjoining the home purchased by Isaac H. Butters, in 1867.

GEORGE K. BELDEN.

Among the younger business men of Minneapolis, none enjoy a wider acquaintance in business and social circles, than George K. Belden.

Mr. Belden was born at Lyndon, Vermont, in 1870 and is a son of Judge Henry C. Belden, one of the pioneer attorneys of Minneapolis. Mr. Belden received his early education in the schools of his native state, attending school at St. Johns- bury.

In 1884 the family removed to Minneapolis and soon after he entered the State University from which he received the degrees of bachelor of science in 1892; and also graduated from the law department in 1897. .

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 55

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