Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 59

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 59

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Mr. Langdon was not, however, only a railroad contractor, although one of the foremost in the country. He acquired interests in some of the roads he built and became a stock- holder and director in some of the most important lines in the Northwest. He was vice president and a director of the Min- neapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and for a number of years a vice president of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. He also turned his attention to other enter- prises besides that of railroad building. In 1866 he built the canal of the Minneapolis Milling company. He was also presi- dent of the company which built the Syndicate Block and the Masonic Temple in Minneapolis; a director of the Twin City Stock Yards at New Brighton and of the City Bank of Minne- apolis; a partner in the wholesale grocery firm of George R. Newell & Company, and interested in the Terminal Elevator

company and the Belt Railway, which connects the stock yards with the interurban system of railroads.

Mr. Langdon was a gentleman whose counsel was eagerly sought by various corporations and large institutions, not only in Minnesota, but throughout the Northwest, his reputa- tion as a financier and a man of fine business capacity being high and widespread. And his sterling traits of character made him a strong man in every field of endeavor with which he was ever connected. But his numerous and very exacting business undertakings did not wean him from the studious habits formed in his boyhood and youth, and he possessed a vast fund of general information gathered by reading, observa- tion and reflection. Few men were equal to him as a con- versationalist on so many and such varied topics of human interest and discussion.

No man in his community ever took a more active, intelli- gent and serviceable interest in the affairs of his locality than did Mr. Langdon. In the molding of the destinies of Minne- apolis and the state of Minnesota during the active years of his life his influence was widespread and potential. He also had an extensive acquaintance with men of national reputa- tion and influence throughout the country, and this he made serviceable to his city and state whenever he could do so. It was largely through his persuasive power and country-wide acquaintance with the leaders of political thought in his party that Minneapolis was selected as the meeting place of the Republican national convention in 1892. and he was a member of the general committee on arrangements for it and chair- man of two of its most important sub-committees, chosen because of his great business ability and personal strength in his 'community and elsewhere.

Politically Mr. Langdon was a Republican all his life after the birth of the party of that name, and was prominent in its councils locally and nationally. In 1872 he was elected to the state senate, and his services in that body were so satisfactory that he was successively re-elected, serving continuously until 1878. In 1880 lie was again elected to the senate and served until 1885. He was also the choice of his party for the same honor in 1888, but owing to the Farmers' Alliance landslide of that year he was beaten at the election by his Democratic opponent. That he was very strong in his party was shown by the fact that he never had an opponent for any nomination that he received. always being the unanimous choice of the nominating convention, and always without solicitation on his part.

He was many times a delegate to the state conventions of his party and was also one of Minnesota's representatives in three of its national conventions-the one that met in Cincin- nati in 1876; the one that met in Chicago in 1884, and the one that met in the same city in 1888. It should be stated that he was a member of the state senate at the extra session called by Governor Pillsbury to act upon the adjustment of the state railroad bonds and remove the stain of repudiation from the fair name of the state. During the session he was an earnest advocate of the remedial legislation proposed and a vigorous supporter of every effort made for the settlement of the vexatious problems involved in the case.

The pleasing subject of this brief review was a man of large frame and robust physique, and possessed a personality that was both impressive and magnetic. He was also a genial man and had a natural faculty of making friends of all who came in contact with him. He was a remarkably benevolent and kind-hearted man, too, rich in his bounty to public charities

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

and generous always to the needy, but always in the most unobstrusive and unostentatious way. His sterling qualities of head and heart greatly endeared him to men in all walks of life, and his death, which occurred on July 24, 1895, in Minneapolis, was mourned by a host of sincere and devoted friends such as few men leave behind them when they die or ever have during life. His memory is enshrined in the hearts of the people among whom he so long lived and labored. It is also cmbahned in the name of two towns, Langdon, North Dakota, and Langdon, Minnesota, both of which were given this name in honor of him and because of his services in bringing them into being.

Mr. Langdon was married in 1859 to Miss Sarah Smith, a daughter of Dr. Horatio A. Smith, of New Haven, Vermont. The Langdons took up their residence in Minneapolis in 1866, came to Mendota in 1863 and resided in Gen. Sibley's old home from 1863 to 1866, and here the head of the household passed the remainder of his days. In religious faith he was an Episcopalian, and at the time of his death was a vestry- man of St. Mark's church, as he had been for many years before. His offspring number three, all of whom are married and reside in Minneapolis. They are:

Cavour S. Langdon, Mrs. H. C. Truesdale and Mrs. W. F. Brooks. All of them stand high in public esteem and in their daily lives exem- plify the sterling virtues of their parents and the lessons given them by precept and example at the family hearthstone.

WALLACE CAMPBELL.

Was born at Waverly, Tioga County, New York, Septem- ber 8, 1863, and is the son of S. C. and Mary A. (Farwell) Campbell, both natives of New York. The father was for many years a successful dry goods merchant, late in life joining the son in Minneapolis, where he became Vice Presi- dent of the People's Bank. Both parents died in this city.

Wallace graduated from Hamilton College at Clinton, New York, in the Classical course, with the class of 1883. While a student he became a member of the Chi-Psi Greek Letter fraternity, with which he has continued to be affiliated for thirty-six years.

In 1885 he graduated in law from Columbia Law School. During 1883-4 he taught Latin, Rhetoric and Elocution in Brooklyn Polytechnic. In 1885 he came to Minneapolis for six years, being associated with H. C. Stryker in a very sat- isfactory law practice. He then entered the financial field as Vice President of Hill Sons & Company Bank and con- tinued as active manager for seven years. In 1898 he bought the controlling interest in the Peoples Bank, becom- ing President.

In 1907 this was sold and became the nucleus of the Scandinavian-American National Bank, Mr. Campbell retir- ing from active banking. While banking occupied his atten- tion largely during that sixteen years, he was identified prominently with other diversified interests. For some years he was Vice President of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company, was also Vice President of the New Eng- land Furniture & Carpet Company. He also acquired the land grant of 9,000 acres in the Red River Valley of the Great Northern Railway, which he disposed of to actual set- tlers. He is the owner and President of the Hudson Sana- torium Company at Hudson, Wisconsin, which occupies one

of the natural beauty spots of the St. Croix Valley. He is owner, also, and President of the Widmann Hotel Company at Mitchell, South Dakota, and is President of the Almary Oil Company at Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the fine properties in that wonderful oil territory. He holds membership in the Minneapolis club, the Athletic club, the Auto and the Miltona clubs, the latter composed of congenial spirits whose enjoy- ment is in hunting and fishing.

In 1886 he married Minnie V. Adams of Chicago, a niece of C. H. McCormick, the renowned manufacturer. They have two daughters, Mary and Ruth. They live at the Hotel Plaza. Ever an ardent Republican, during the Harrison and Morton campaign of 1888 Mr. Campbell attained quite a reputation as a political worker and speaker, stumping the state for the party. Richly endowed with a pleasing per- sonality, enhanced by the culture that comes from university life, and the personal contact with the world through important business relations, few men in Minnesota possess a wider or more loyal circle of friends.

GEORGE H. CHRISTIAN.

Although a Southerner by birth, and partly educated in the South, George H. Christian has lived in the North from the time when he was eleven years of age, and in Minneapolis for a continuous period of forty-five years. He is therefore in full sympathy with the ideas and aspirations of this section, and has shown his warm and helpful interest in it by his large contributions to its industrial and commercial development. No part of its business life, and no phase of its economie progress, during his residence among its people, is unknown to him, and there is scarcely any in which he has not taken part to its great advantage, even though his own manufactur- ing and mercantile activities have been confined to but a few lines of production and distribution.

Mr. Christian was born near Wetumpka, Alabama, on January 14, 1839, and remained in the South until 1850, when he moved with his parents to Walworth county, Wisconsin, where they settled on a farm. Before leaving his Southern home, however, Mr. Christian began his academic education in a private school at Wilmington, North Carolina. He had but limited opportunities for further study in a scholastic way, for soon after his arrival in the North he went to Albany, New York, and entered the store of an uncle there. His next step in business training was as a clerk in the office of the Continental Insurance company in New York city, and his experience in both places was of great advantage to him in giving him knowledge of himself and of others, and also in affording him practical acquaintance with business.

But he was far above being for any great length of time a worker for other men, and in a few years after having been a clerk for a flour, grain and commission merchant in Chicago, he with great foresight and discriminating intelli- gence saw the possibilities at the head of navigation on the Mississippi and divined the great future of the region around it, especially in the production of cereals and their conversion into manufactured products of various kinds for consumption and still further manufacture, and in 1867 Mr. Christian became a resident of Minneapolis as a flour buyer. Soon after- ward he became associated with Governor Washburn in the milling business, introducing French and German processes

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

for milling flour, which practically revolutionized the business in this section. In 1869 he organized and became the head of the firm of Christian, Tomlinson & Co., merchant millers, whichi was changed the next year to that of George H. Christian & Co., and continued as such until 1875.

At that time he was still a young man and the milling business was particularly profitable because of the introdu'c- tion of a new process of milling wheat. He had, however, formed the singular determination not to acquire riches, believ- ing happines's could easier be found by one neither rich nor poor, and although his profit on flour per barrel was twenty times what is now considered satisfactory, he sold out his interest in the business to his brothers without exacting any premium. He remained out of active management of any business for twenty years, when a certain large mnilling con- cern became financially embarrassed through divided manage- ment. He was asked to take over the business, which he did, and at the end of four years he was enabled to hand it back to the company with its financial strength restored and its affairs in a prosperous state.

Subsequently he became the President of the Hardwood Manufacturing Company, a position he has ever since filled. By his energy and business capacity he built this company and its trade up to large proportions, making it one of the leading industrial and mercantile institutions in the city, and giving it a name and standing in the business world of the highest rank and a commanding influence in business affairs in the locality in which it operates so extensively.

But it was not to be expected that a man of Mr. Christian's activity of mind and business resources could be confined, or would confine himself, to one line of endeavor. He is vice president of the Minneapolis Paper company and connected with other industries and business undertakings of various kinds and cumulative value to the community around him, which he had helped so materially to build up, develop and improve.

George H. Christian is the son of John and Susan (Weeks) Christian, the former a native of County Wicklow, Ireland, and the latter of Wilmington, North Carolina. The father was born in 1807, and was a son of David Christian, of the same nativity a's himself, who came to the United States in 1806 and located in Albany, New York, where he died after having been for many years engaged in mercantile life. His family consisted of six sons and three daughters. His son John, father of George H., died in Minneapolis in 1881. He and his wife were members of St. Mark's church.

Mr. Christian of this sketch was married on April 23, 1867, in Minneapolis, to Miss Leonora Hall, a native of Wisconsin. They have one child living, their son, George C. The parents are Episcopalians in religious connection and members of St. Mark's church. The father belongs to the Minneapolis and Commercial clubs. He and his wife, who still abides witlı him, have long been among the most esteemed residents of their home city, and recognized as among its most potent factors for good to the community, morally, intellectually, socially and materially.

COLONEL FRANK T. CORRISTON.

Although now known and listed professionally as an attor- ney at law, Colonel Frank T. Corrison has served the com-

munity well in an important official capacity, the State as an officer of the National Guard, and the country as a soldier and . officer in the Spanish-American war.

Colonel Corriston was born in St. Peter, Minnesota, Febru- ary 10, 1868. He removed to Minneapolis in 1882. Later he learned shorthand. Began the study of law in the office of Wilson & Lawrence, and was admitted to the bar March 14, 1889. From 1893 to 1896 Colonel Corriston was a partner of James W. Lawrence and Hiram C. Truesdale under the firm name of Lawrence, Truesdale & Corriston, the firm being dis- solved when Mr. Truesdale was appointed Chief Justice of Arizona. In January, 1897 Judge David F. Simpson appointed Mr. Corriston official court stenographer of the Hennepin County District Court, a position he held until January 7, 1907, except for eighteen months' service in the Philippines.

Colonel Corriston served in the First Regiment, Minnesota National Guard, from April 14, 1889, to October 23, 1913, com- pleting almost twenty-five years of active 'connection with that organization, vacating his position of Lieutenant Colonel to accept an appointment as Colonel on the Governor's Staff.

As a captain in the Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteers he went to Manila, arriving there July 31, 1898. Participated in the capture of the city of Manila on August 13, 1898, being in command and acting as Major of the Minneapolis battalion of the Thirteenth Regiment. Remained in the Philippines until the regiment returned September 7, 1899. He was mustered out of the federal service October 3, 1899. Resumed his connection with the Minnesota National Guard, in which he was soon elected Lieutenant Colonel. Was largely instru- mental in securing the new National Guard Armory, and was a member of the Armory Board for a number of years.

During his service in the Philippines he was detailed for seven months as Judge of the Provost Court of Manila. He preferred the charge and was a witness in the trial of the first person convicted under American authority in the Philippines.

Mayor James C. Haynes appointed him chief of police of Minneapolis January 7, 1907, and when the Mayor was re-elected the chief was reappointed, his term expiring the first of January, 1911, when he declined reappointment.

When he assumed charge of the police department the force numbered 262 members, and the appropriation was $282,000. When he retired, after four years' service, there were 337 members, and the appropriation was $398,000. The number of arrests in the first year was 8,842, and in the last 11,430. Dur- ing his term the expense of maintaining the department never exceeded the appropriations. During the four years he was chief of police the appropriations aggregated $1,310,460, and the credit balance at the close of his terin was $38.54.

He introduced the use of automobiles in the department; started the Traffic Squad to regulate street travel at congested points; was the author of the present traffic ordinance; inaugu- rated a new street signal service, and installed the auto- patrol and motorcycle service; established the auto-ambulance and police surgeon department, and created the new Sixth Precinct station at Lake street and Minnehaha Avenue; the Bertillon method of identification was systematized and enlarged, and the finger print identification installed; salaries of police officers were increased twice during his term of office, and promotions were made on civil service lines before there was any legislation on the subject.

Since leaving the police department he has been engaged in a general practice of his profession. He received his degree

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

of LL. B. from the Law Department of the University of Minnesota, graduating in the Class of 1890.

Colonel Corriston is a Democrat. He was Secretary of the Democratic Congressional Committee in 1892, and in 1900 was the candidate for special judge of the Municipal Court.

Belongs to the Masons, holding membership in Khurum Lodge; is Past High Priest of Ark Chapter, belongs to Min- neapolis Mounted Commandery and Zuhrah Temple. He is also a member of the Elks, the Royal Arcanum, the Native Sons of Minnesota, Patterson Post No. 11 Army of the Philip- pines, Cuba and Porto Rico, of which he is the first Past Com- mander. Also belongs to the Minneapolis Athletic Club and the West Side Commercial Club.

He was married May 1, 1898, to Miss Lela E. Benham, a native of Algona, Iowa. They have one daughter, Lucile Benliam Corriston.

HENRY TITUS WELLES.

"The memory of the just is blessed." So it was written by King Solomon in his Proverbs of men in general, and so it was written of the late Henry Titus Welles of Minneapolis especially. in the Minnesota Church Record, when he departed this life on Mareh 4, 1898, in the seventy-seventh year of his age and after a residenee of forty-five years in Minneapolis, all of which were crowded with business activity, practical and broad-viewed efforts for the progress and improvement of the community, zealous and effective work for his church and all others, and extensive benevolence in many ways. That the encomium was justly bestowed in his case cannot but be seen from even the brief outline of his life presented in these pages.

Mr. Welles wa's descended from old New England families of Puritan stoek, and was born at Glastonbury, Connecticut, on April 3, 1821, in the house where his father and grand- father were born and died, and where his mother and her mother, his father's mother, grandmother and great-grand- mother died. He was a son of Jonathan and Jerusha (Welles) Welles, who were cousins, and were married in Boston on December 10. 1818. Governor Thomas Welles, the progenitor of the American branch of the family, having been proscribed as a recusant in England, his native country, came to America and settled in Connecticut in 1636. He was governor of the colony in 1656 and 1658, and held other important public offices. Henry T. Welles was one of his lineal descendants on hoth his father's and his mother's side of the house.

Jonathan Welles, the grandfather of Henry T., was a grad- uate of Yale College, and was a tutor in that institution for a number of years after his graduation. He married Catherine Saltonstall, grand-daughter of Gurdon Saltonstall, governor of Connectieut from 1707 to 1724, dying in office. The family is supposed to be of Norman origin, and has been traced in Nor- mandy back to the latter part of the eighth century, from which time its members held the highest rank, personally and by royal intermarriages. Doubtless some of them were prominent in the train of William the Conqueror, when he in- vadled England in the eleventh century and gained dominion over that country at the battle of Hastings.

Henry T. Welles passed his infancy, boyhood and youth on his father's farm and in academic studies until he entered Trinity College (which was formerly known as Washington College) in Hartford, from which he was graduated in 1843.

He then studied law and in 1845 was admitted to practice at the bar of Hartford county. At the age of twenty-nine he was elected as the candidate of the Whig party to represent his town in the legislature. He accepted but one term in that body, however, as his active mind was already looking out to projeets of moment in a locality far distant from his ancestral home.

In 1853 he brought what family he then had to St. Anthony, as the town at the Falls was then ealled, and at once engaged in the lumber business, which was the principal, the most attractive and almost the only industry of magnitude in this region at the time. He had liberal capital for the period, and invested a large part of it in operating seven of the eight sets of saws then at St. Anthony, working in association with Franklin Steele, sutler at Fort Snelling. who owned the mill. He encountered many difficulties in his new and hitherto un- tried line of endeavor, but his native ability, genius for man- agement and adaptability to circumstances made him trium- phant over them all, and his venture proved very successful.

Two years later the rapid growth and great promise of the town indueed Mr. Welles to invest a considerable sum of money in real cstate, whereby he acquired, along with other properties, a share in the claim of which Col. John H. Stevens had entered on the west side of the river, and he moved to that side in 1856. Retaining and improving this property, using it liberally but with care in furthering the advance and extension of the town, Mr. Welles laid through it the founda- tion of one of the largest fortunes in Minneapolis.

In all his activities Mr. Welles displayed great ability, breadth of view, quickness of perception and ready resource- fulness. The people around him recognized these attributes in him early, and repeatedly selected him to present their in- terests and claims before the authorities at Washington. In the winter of 1854-5, in co-operation with Franklin Steele and Dr. A. E. Ames, he succeeded in having the size of the military reservation reduced and the lands included in it be- fore that time on the west side opened to purchase and settlement.

In the winter of 1856-7 he was again called to Washington, in company with Richard Chute, to aid Delegate Henry M. Rice in procuring the passage of the land grant act of that year, which opened the way to speedy and extensive railroad expansion. On his return home Mr. Welles was tendered a public dinner by the citizens of Minneapolis and St. Anthony in recognition of his services in aiding in the passage of this bill, and in making the two towns centers in the railroad system marked out in it. This compliment, with characteristic modesty, he courteously but firmly declined.

When the eity of St. Anthony was incorporated in March, 1855, Mr. Welles was elected its first mayor. The contest was a warm one and his majority over Captain John Rollins. a very worthy man, according to Mr. Welles, was less than ten votes. About the same time the parish of Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal church was in a measure reorganized and Mr. Welles was chosen one of its wardens. Hc was elected to the same office in Gethsemane church when it was organized the following year. His contributions to both churches were , liberal and very timely. He saw their needs and anticipated all requests for aid by his own offers of help for them. In 1857 a New England Society was organized and he consented to be one of its vice presidents. At the first Minneapolis town eleetion, held in 1858. this enterprising citizen was called to

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 59

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