Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 56

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 56

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He was at once admitted to practice before the courts of the State, and for a number of years was associated with Thomas F. Wallace, in the bonding and liability business, under the firm name of Belden, Wallace & Co.

Later he became interested in electrical contracting as a member of the firm of W. I. Gray Company with whom he is still associated. Mr. Belden is cordial and democratic in his social inclinations and holds memberships in several organization of the city, including the Minneapolis, Mini- kahda, University Minnetonka Yacht and Minneapolis Ath- letic clubs; and, for a number of years he was captain of Company M, Fourth Regiment of Minnesota National Guards. He also served as Sergeant Major and first lieutenant of Bat- tery B. In politics he has always been an active worker in the Republican party, particularly so in the early days of the Roosevelt club.

Mr. Belden was married in January, 1906, to Miss Edith Knight of this city.

JAMES STROUD BELL.

Heredity and the environment of his boyhood combined with the natural industry of a lifetime to make a great miller of James Stroud Bell. For he grew up in the flour business, and he entered it at the bottom of the ladder. That he is at the top of the longest ladder of its kind in the world is due to the fact that, while' being the son of his father may have started him on the lowest rung, natural aptitude sent him upward. And he is today president of the largest flour mills corporation in the world, in point of output and fame.

James S. Bell is not one of the milling pioneers of Min- neapolis. The foundations of Minneapolis' supremacy as the flour capital of the world were laid many years before Mr. Bell became directly identified with the city's chief interests. But the connection of the Bell family with the flour market

began before there was a flour mill in Minneapolis, or even a Minneapolis. And it is from this family of flour merchants that there arose forceful elements which have figured prom- inently in the growth of one of the largest and most complex enterprises in the world of barter and sale.

As early as the 1830's the name of Bell figured in the flour markets of the East. Samuel Bell of Philadelphia was a miller, and in 1837 he became a flour commission merchant as well as a miller. Down through the nineteenth century the name endured in the business; indeed, it endures today, in the Eastern markets. For awhile there was the firm of W. and S. Bell; again it was known as Samuel Bell, and later as Samuel Bell and Son. The "Son" was James Stroud Bell. Ten years after Samuel Bell had gone into business as a commission merchant, a son was born to Samuel and Elizabeth (Faust) Bell. That was on June 30, 1847, in Phil- adelphia. The family came of Irish stock, and its affiliations were with the Quakers who made Philadelphia. And the boy, James Stroud Bell, had the advantages of schooling which gave Philadelphians a leadership in the world of business and society. His education was that of the publie schools and of the Central High school of Philadelphia. And it was directly from the high school, after two years of the course, that the boy passed, when he was sixteen years old, to the office of his father's firm.

It is tradition in the business world that the men who have won their way must have started as office boys. So Mr. Bell holds fast to tradition in this particular. He began as office boy-and he worked in every place in the business. So that when the time came, in 1868, for the father to say to his son that the time had come for the two to establish a part- nership, James S. Bell had become eonversant with the ins and outs of the flour market from personal contact.

For twenty years James S. Bell continued a member of the firm of Samuel Bell and Son. The firm was one of the foremost in the business; and it happened that it was Penn- sylvania sales agent for one of the big milling companies of Minneapolis, Washburn, Martin & Company, an outgrowth of Gen. C. C. Washburn's connection with the industry. So it naturally came about that when that company became the firm of Washburn, Crosby and Company, and a reorganization was effected following the retirement of some of its members, Mr. Bell entered the firm and moved to Minneapolis. That was in 1888.

A year later the firm was incorporated as the Washburn- Crosby company, and Mr. Bell was elected its president. He has held the same office ever since. And in this capacity he has directed the largest flour milling concern in the world, for the Washburn-Crosby company has mills in Minneapolis alone which have a total daily capacity of about 30,000 barrels of flour, and in addition the concern owns and operates huge mills in Buffalo, N. Y., in Louisville, Ky., and in Great Falls and Kalispell, Montana. Men who know the flour market say it was due in part to Mr. Bell's insight into the peculiar demands of the flour business, its strategy and its vantage points of competition that the mills in the East, South and West were added to the plants of the Washburn- Crosby Company.

For a quarter of a century James S. Bell, president of the company, has been at the helm. That he is a leader as a chief executive of the company is shown by the fact that he has surrounded himself with experts in the complex rami- fications of the milling and grain business. For the Washburn-

James & Bell.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Crosby Company is not only a flour milling concern; it is a commanding figure in the grain trade, and points the way of big traders in the Chamber of Commerce. In this connection it is that Mr. Bell heads not only the milling company but its closely allied concerns, the St. Anthony & Dakota Elevator. Company, and the Frontier Elevator Company. And as he has a guiding hand on the affairs of the milling and elevator companies, so also he figures in the councils within the com- panies, when matters which have to do with utilizing the by-products of the business come up.

A successful miller, in Minneapolis, must likewise be a successful financier as well. Business contacts are with men big in the banking world, just as business deals in the grain and flour markets are of such a nature that it is initiative and boldness of operation which rule. So Mr. Bell is perhaps as well known as a banker as he is as a miller. For many years he has been a director of the Northwestern National Bank or predecessors which have become part of that financial institution. And he has been looked to for advice, when matters affecting the credit of the city were uppermost. Mr. Bell is also vice president of the Minneapolis Trust Company.

Of late years, though Mr. Bell has continued to be a living and active proof of the theory that a man is at his best when he is past fifty years of age, he has given more of his time to social enjoyment than had been his wont in the beginning of his business career. He is a member of the leading clubs of the city, the Minneapolis, the Minikahda, and the La- Fayette, and he is prominent in the affairs of the Presbyterian church. In politics he is a stalwart Republican.

Mr. Bell has been married twice. His first wife was Sallie Montgomery Ford, whom he married in Philadelphia Jan. 8, 1873. To them was born one son, James Ford Bell, who is associated with his father in business. The first Mrs. Bell died on June 19, 1905.

Mr. Bell was again married September 28, 1912, his second wife being Mabel. Sargent.

LEWIS CASS BARNETT.

Lewis Cass Barnett was born January 13, 1848, at Greens- burg, Kentucky, the seventh of eight sons of William and Lucy Reed (Cable) Barnett. The Barnett ancestors were Scotch Presbyterians who migrated to this country to secure religious freedom, William Barnett, the paternal great-grand- father of Lewis C., coming to America in 1750, and, settling in South Carolina, his sons espoused the cause of Independence, and served with distinction throughout the war. William, grandfather of Lewis, choosing Kentucky, "the dark and bloody ground," for his future home, there prospered and became the owner of a large plantation.

The third. William Barnett's second wife was Lucy Reed Cable, another historic Ohio family. Lewis C. Barnett attended the public school until the age of fourteen. In 1864 the family moved to Rock Island, Illinois, and he became a student in Davenport, Iowa, and then took a four years' course in the University of Iowa. His first occupation was farming, where he learned the possibilities of the grain trade, and soon after- ward began operations in the building of grain elevators.

Mr. Barnett became a elevator building contractor in 1880, in 1892 becoming president of the Barnett & Record company. F. R. McQueen soon after was made general manager; and in 1895, when the Canadian Northwest showed signs of great

grain development the Barnett & McQueen company, limited, was organized under the laws of Canada.

The companies are using, in their operations, numerous patents on grain elevators and grain handling devices devised by J. L. Record, C. V. Johnson and Mr. McQueen. Some of the elevators erected by them are: The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's fireproof elevator in Kansas City, with a capacity of 1,000,000 bushels; the P. V. elevator in Duluth of fireproof tile with a capacity of 650,000 bushels; the steel elevator at Fort William, Ontario, fireproofed with tile and built for the Canadian Pacific Railway, with a capacity of 1,700,000 bushels, and the Canadian Northern Railroad com -. pany's elevator at Port Arthur, Ontario, the largest in the world, having a storage capacity of 7,000,000 bushels.

The type of elevator put up by these companies is the result of many years' study, observation and experimenting to meet the demand for absolutely fireproof construction. These companies have designed and built over 1,100 elevators of the first class. They have also erected a large number of iron ore, coal and dry docks.

November 16, 1893, Mr. Barnett was united in marriage with Miss Laura A. Tombler. They have one child, Lucy Cable. He is a member of the Minneapolis club, the Iroquois club of Chicago, and the Kitchi Gammi club of Duluth. He and wife are presbyterians. He is regarded as one of the far- seeing, enterprising, and public-spirited citizens.

WILLIAM BURNS.

Mr. Burns was born in Natick, Middlesex county, Massa- chusetts, on November 27, 1868, and when he was between fifteen and sixteen years old came to Chicago, where he began to acquire a thorough practical knowledge of the manufacture of ornamental iron work. He started his work in this industry as helper to a shipping clerk at a compensation of $6 a week. But he soon made his merit known and was rapidly advanced by the firm which employed him, becoming in turn checker, keeper of the tool room, purchasing agent, cost clerk and city salesman for Chicago.

His deep interest in his work and his superior qualifications for it attracted the attention of other firms in the industry, and in the course of a few years he was elevated to the post of assistant superintendent of the Winslow Brothers company in Chicago. A few years later, in company with two other men, he organized a small company and began doing business on his own account. In 1906 he came to Minneapolis to accept the office of vice president and sales manager -which he now holds in connection with the Flour City Ornamental Iron Works, and in this position the greatest work of his life in the ornamental iron industry has been done.

When Mr. Burns began his connection with this company it employed about 160 persons and sought only comparatively small contracts, one for $30,000 being the largest it had ever secured.

This contract was carried out completely, promptly and to the entire satisfaction of the company, and the success opened the eyes of the men with whom Mr. Burns was connected to the larger possibilities of their business and their ability to meet all the requirements involved therein.

Repeated extensions of the plant of the company and augmentations of its facilities have since been made necessary.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

At the time of this writing (June, 1914) the company has on fle contracts aggregating more than one and one-half million dollars in value, and additions to the works arc in course of erection which will practically double their capacity, although about 1,000 high-grade workmen, are regularly employed in them now, and are kept busy to the full limit of their work- ing time.

Deeply interested in the enduring welfare, wholesome progress and artistic adornment of his home city, Mr. Burns takes an active part in everything that ministers to its betterment. The social amenities of life engage his attention and he contributes to them by active membership in the New Athletic, the Elks and Rotary clubs and other social organiza- tions. In the Civic Commerce association he serves on the committee on track elevation, and he is also zealously interested in the new Art building.

Mr. Burns was married in Chicago in 1893 to Miss Mary Kelley. They have one child, their son William V., who is a salesman for the company.

GEORGE M. BLEECKER.

George M. Bleecker, Lawyer:

Mr. Bleecker was born in the village of Whippany, Morris county, New Jersey, on November 19th, 1861, and is a descendant of one of the early Knickerbocker families of New York city. His early education was received at a local academy. In 1883, he came to Minneapolis, and during the next two years pursued a course of special instruction in the University of Minnesota. He then entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1887, and was admitted to practice in Minnesota in Decem- ber following. During the next two years he was employed as law clerk with the firm of Smith and Reed, Judge Seagrave Smith of that firm being then City Attorney of Minneapolis. In December, 1890, he was appointed clerk of the Probate court of Hennepin County, and served as such until January, 1893, and since that date he has been in active general practice.

He was a member of the legislature during the years 1893 and 1894. He is now one of the members of the Minneapolis Civil Service Commission.

Mr. Bleecker also takes an active part in organized social life as a member of several clubs and other organizations devoted to physical, intellectual and social betterment.

On October 22nd, 1888, Mr. Bleecker was united in marriage with Miss Mary Frances Martin, a native of Illinois. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. They attend the Episcopal church.

JOSEPH DEAN.

Mr. Dean was born on January 10, 1826, near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, where his forefathers lived, labored and were laid to rest in the soil that was hallowed by their labors for many generations. He died on May 23, 1890, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, leaving a record of initiative and accomplishment that would have been creditable to any man in any age or country.

While he was yet but a lad he was brought to Canada by his parents, who located near Sherbrooke, in the province of Quebec, but moved to the neighborhood of Belvidere, Boone county, Illinois, when he was twelve years old.

The father of the family died about this time, and the muother, who survived him, devoted her energies to complete the rearing and education of her children. She passed her last years at the home of one of her daughters at Baileyville, Illinois. George Dean, the oldest son of the household, re- mained in Belvidere, and died there well advanced in years.

Joseph Dean learned the carpenter trade in Belvidere after obtaining a limited common school education, and was married there in 1849 to Miss Nancy Harvey Stanley, of near Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York, where her girlhood was passed. After their marriage they moved to Chicago, and there Mr. Dean worked at his trade until 1850, when he brought his family to St. Anthony. He did not remain in that village, however, but soon after his arrival there pre-empted a claim near Bloomington, on the Minnesota river, fifteen miles south- west of Minneapolis, where the dwelling house he built is still standing. He and Thomas Chambers operated a ferry over the river there, and Mr. Dean also engaged in farming and was postmaster at the neighboring village of Bloomington.

About 1856 Mr. Dean moved to Minneapolis and conducted the principal building activities of Colonel Franklin Steele, who was then the most prominent man in this locality. After working for Colonel Steele three or four years Mr. Dean, in 1860, purchased of a Mr. Morey a sash and door factory at the Falls, which he sold to J. G. Smith and L. D. Parker after run- ning it for a few years. The factory then became the nucleus of the large plant of the Smith & Wyman company of the present day.

When he sold his factory Mr. Dean formed a partnership with William M., Thomas A. and Hugh G. Harrison, and they engaged in lumbering under the name of Joseph Dean & Com- pany. They manufactured and sold lumber, their principal mill, the Pacific, being on the bank of the river above where the Union Depot now stands, and their second mill, the At- lantic, at the mouth of Bassett's creek. The Atlantic mill was destroyed by fire two or three years after they became pos- sessed of it. But this disaster did not lessen their business. The Harrisons were the strongest men financially in the com- munity at the time, and the firm had, therefore, plenty of capital and credit, and was able to carry on its business on a very extensive scale.

The Harrisons limited themselves to an advisory capacity in the trade and left the management entirely to Mr. Dean. The wisdom of this course is shown by the fact that the firm be- came the most extensive manufacturer of lumber in Minne- apolis, employing regularly in the sawing season 250 to 300 men and producing about 30.000,000 feet of lumber per annum for many years. In 1877 Mr. Dean quit the lumber trade and turned his attention to banking. In July of that year he consented to take the cashiership of the old State National Bank of Minneapolis, of which Thomas A. Harrison was presi- dent, and which was not doing as well as it could have been in a business way.

This move on the part of Mr. Dean led to the founding of the Security National Bank, which was opened for business on January 1, 1878, with Thomas A. Harrison as president, Hugh G. Harrison as vice president and Mr. Dean as cashier. The old State Bank was liquidated, its depositors were paid off, and the institution was closed. Alfred J. Dean, the oldest

Joseph Lean

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

living son of Joseph, who had been employed in the old bank for seven years, was made assistant cashier of the Security and opened it for business. His father was the first cashier of the new bank, and served it in that capacity until 1881, when failing health caused him to retire. Then Alfred was made cashier. In 1887, the father's health having greatly im- proved, he was chosen general manager of the bank, the posi- tion having been especially created for him, and from then until his death he continued to hold this relation to the insti- tution, and under his management it became the leading bank in the city. Thomas A. Harrison was president until his death, when he was succeeded in the office by his brother Hugh.

Mr. Dean's excellent judgment led him to invest largely in centrally located property, such as would be needed in time for business purposes. But his faith in the future of the city then, and his judgment in relying on it, have been fully justi- fied by subsequent events and conditions. He owned the site on which the Guaranty Loan building, now the Metropolitan Life building, was erected and the site on which the public library stands. After the purchase of this site by the city he donated the sum of $5,000 to the library building fund. He also owned the site on which the Security National Bank was built and a large amount of land around the Lake of the Isles. He laid out the Dean Addition to Minneapolis at the inter- section of Lake street and Hennepin avenue, and owned a tract at the corner of Third avenue and Fourth street south. His first home in the city was at Sixth avenue south and Washington avenue and later built a home at First avenue and Ninth street. When he decided to move in 1878, he sold the house on this lot and leased the land.

For many years Mr. Dean was an active working Freemason and a leader in the fraternity. He was a Republican in poli- tics, and as such was once elected treasurer of Hennepin county. But he was averse to official life and never accepted another office. In religious faith he was a Methodist, and for years was active in the First Methodist Episcopal church, which later became the Centenary church. He was Superin- tendent of the Sunday school in the old church on Third avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets, and remained in the con- gregation until 1874, when he left it to assist in founding the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Episcopal church. But after he moved to Franklin and Fifth avenues south, he became a member of the Franklin Avenue church of the same denomi- nation.

Close and constant attention to business finally broke down this energetic gentleman's health. and for ten years he was almost a nervous wreck. His first wife died in 1874, and two years later he married Miss Elizabeth Stevens, of Ogle county, Illinois, who is still living. His offspring numbered seven, all the children of his first marriage. The first born, Harvey Stanley, died in infancy. Alfred J. is now the secretary and treasurer of the Thorpe Brothers company. William E. lives in Los Angeles, California. John Henry died in 1881, and Mary E. in 1874. Frederick W. is a prominent and successful business man of Minneapolis, a sketch of whom will be found in this work. George F. is also a resident of this city.

ALFRED J. DEAN. The oldest living child of Joseph and Nancy Harvey (Stanley) Dean, was born in Minneapolis on May 30, 1853, and grew to manhood in this city. He was em- ployed for seven years in the old State National Bank of Minneapolis, and then became assistant cashier and later cashier of the Security National Bank, which he served in the

capacity last named until 1883. In that year he resigned and made a trip to California and a tour of Europe which con- sumed a year. In 1888 he again went to California. and he remained in that state two years, but returned to Minneapolis in 1890 to aid in settling up his father's estate as one of the executors of his will, and in 1897 was chosen secretary and treasurer of the Thorpe Brothers company, which relation he still holds to that enterprising, progressive and resourceful business corporation.

On October 6, 1880, Mr. Dean was married to Miss Carrie Chamberlain, a sister of F. A. Chamberlain, president of the Security National Bank, and a half-sister of S. S. Thorpe. They have four children: Agnes L., who was graduated from Smith College in 1904; Helen M., who is also a graduate of that institution, of the class of 1907, and is now the wife of Dr. Fred M. Bogan, a surgeon in the United States navy and in charge of the hospital at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Harold F., a graduate of Princeton University, and Carolyn E., who is also a graduate of Smith College.

WILLIAM ARTHUR DURST.

The Minnesota Loan and Trust Company, one of the colossal financial institutions of the country, owes its success largely to the enterprising, progressive and prudent men who have managed its affairs. Among the gentlemen who compose the official staff is William A. Durst, the first vice president, who has been connected with the company for a full quarter of a century. Mr. Durst was born in Monroe, Green county, Wisconsin, in 1870, being a son of Henry and Louisa (Jackson) Durst, the former a native of Switzerland and the latter of New York. His father was a prosperous merchant in Wis- consin, where both he and the mother died. William after attendance at the local schools early became interested in mercantile life and general business operations. He came to Minneapolis in 1887, soon securing employment in the Min- nesota Loan Trust company. His early training proved of great advantage and manifesting a warm and helpful interest in the details of the company, his advance was assured, rising from post to post until he attained the official relationship he now occupies. Politically Mr. Durst is a Republican, fraternally is a Freemason, and in social relations he is an active member of the Minneapolis, Minikahda and Interlacken clubs. He is affiliated with Plymouth Congregational church. He was married in 1893 to Miss Clara J. West, of his own native town. They have one child, Burdette H.

GEORGE W. COOLEY.

George W. Cooley, who drove the first survey stake west of the Mississippi as assistant engineer for the St. Paul and Pacific Railway, now the Great Northern, came to Minneapolis in 1864. He was also the first locating and construction engineer on the eastern end of the Northern Pacific Railway, commencing work February 15, 1870. In this work he was succeeded by General Rosser while he was given charge of the preliminary surveys.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 56

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