Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 65

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 65

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was rebuilt, its capacity was increased, and its equipment was improved. The flour from this Mill was branded "CROCKER'S BEST" and was known all over the country. It has been on the market continuously ever since. Besides the milling concerns before mentioned Mr. Crocker was identi- fied with many of the big firms of the City, as manager and senior partner; among them being Perkins, Crocker & Tom- linson; Crocker, Tomlinson & Company; Gardner, Pillsbury & Crocker; Pillsbury, Crocker & Fisk; and Crocker, Fisk & Company. In 1893 the "Minneapolis Mill" was leased and finally sold to the Washburn-Crosby Company.

Mr. Crocker was married to Sarah Perkins Moore on Christ- mas Day in 1862. There were two children born to them, William G. and George Albert. The latter died in 1902 and Mrs. Crocker in 1908. William G. Crocker was associated with his father in the milling business and for the past twenty years has been with the Washburn-Crosby Company, now being a director.

George W. Crocker was in every sense a self-made man. He was always widely respected for his uprightness of purpose, his honesty and reliability. He knew the milling business as one knows his A. B. Cs, and was always a ready and wise counselor to younger men in all lines, but especially in the milling industry.

ELBERT L. CARPENTER.

Mr. Carpenter is a native of Rochelle, Illinois, where he was born on March 6, 1862, and is the son of Judson E. and Olivia (Detwiler) Carpenter, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Maryland. The father was a lumberman first in Iowa and later in Minneapolis, where he located in 1904. He now resides in Pasadena, California. Samuel J. Carpenter, the grandfather of Elbert L., was born and reared in Rhode Island, and for a number of years after reaching man's estate was engaged in farming in that state. Later in life he moved to the state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his days.

Elbert L. Carpenter began his education in the common schools, continued it at the high school in Clinton, Iowa, and completed it at an excellent academy at Lake Forest, Illinois, which bore the same name as the city in which it was located. He began his business career in 'company with his father, who was then president of the Curtis Bros. Lumber company of Clinton, Iowa, which had also extensive holdings in Wis- consin. In 1887 he came to Minneapolis as the manager of the branch house of this company in this city, which was then known as the Adams-Hoar company, later as the Car- penter-Lamb Company, and still later as the Carpenter-Yale 'company, the name which it still bears.

In 1892, he purchased the interests of Mrs. Hall in the Stephen C. Hall Lumber company, and consolidated them and his own with those of Mr. Thomas H. Shevlin, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume, and the Shevlin-Carpenter company was formed of the consolidation. From this time to the present Mr. Carpenter's interests and activities have been identical with those of the Shevlin-Carpenter company.

Mr. Carpenter is one of the directors of the First National Bank of Minneapolis, of the Minneapolis Trust company and of the Northwestern National Life Insurance company. He has been for years president of the Orchestral Association of

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Minneapolis, which was organized in 1903, and which, under the leadership of Mr. Oberhoffer, has reached a place in the first rank among the orchestras of the world. It is supported by cordial publie commendation and liberal private subserip- tion, and returns in high value full measure of worth, exeel- lence and reputation all it receives in approval, admiration and material assistance.

On June 4, 1890, Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage with Miss Isabella Welles, the daughter of Edwin P. Welles, a prominent lumberman of Clinton, Iowa, now deeeased. Two sons have been born of the union: Lawrence W., who is now a student at Yale University, and Leonard, who is still at home. The father has long been an interested and valued member of the Minneapolis, Commercial, Minikahda, Lafayette and Interlachen elubs of his home eity. In ehureh affiliation he is a Presbyterian, holding his membership in Westminster ehurch, of which he is a trustee.

HON. JOHN BACHOP GILFILLAN.

Eminent in his profession and highly sueeessful in the prac- tiee of it; for many years one of the leaders of thought and aetion in connection with public affairs, local and national, resident in this part of the country; always earnestly inter- ested in the eause of general edneation, both in the lower walks of the great domain of effort covered by the term to which the common schools are devoted, and the higher avenues of its almost boundless expanse which lead to and from the elassie shades of university teaching; and always, in every station and condition, a high-minded, broad-viewed, elevated, progressive and stimulating representative of the best Ameri- ean citizenship, Hon. John B. Gilfillan of Minneapolis has won the universal esteem and regard of the people of the North- west by the sterling qualities of his genuine manhood and a long suceession of valuable publie services that would eom- mand admiration among any people.

Mr. Gilfillan was born in the town of Barnet, Caledonia county, Vermont, on February 11, 1835. He is of Scoteh aneestry on both sides of his house, the parents of his father, Robert Gilfillan, having come from the land of Seott and Burns to this country in 1794, and those of his mother, whose maiden name was Janet Baehop, in 1795, the former from Balfron, County Stirling, and the latter from Glasgow, the great indus- trial eenter of the country, in the adjoining County of Lanark. They located on farms in the then newly settled eounty of Caledonia, Vermont, which, as its name indieates, was at first largely oceupied by Seotehmen.

The rugged life of a New England farm seventy years ago was full of usefulness in its teachings, and the interesting subjeet of this brief reveiw took full advantage of those it fur- nished him. He grew to manhood on the farm on which his parents lived, taking part in its labors and aequiring self- relianee, independence and powers of reflection and analysis with his stature and his strength. He attended the distriet school of the neighborhood during the winter months until he reached the age of twelve, when the family moved to the town of Peacham in the same county. There his edneational opportunities were enlarged. Being the youngest ehild of the household he was allowed the privilege of attending the Cale- donia eounty grammar school, which was located in that town, and made exeellent use of his advantage.

So studious and eapable was he that at the age of seven- teen he began teaching school as a means of preparing him- self for Dartmouth College. But he was designed for another course in life. His brother-in-law, Captain John Martin, had settled at St. Anthony, and in October, 1855, Mr. Gilfillan eame here to visit his sister and her family, hoping also to seeure a school to add to his aeeumulations for his eollege course. But he never went to Dartmouth. He seeured the desired sehool and taught it wisely and faithfully, but the West loomed upon his faney with inereasing magnetism, and he turned his mind from academic to professional studies, oceupying his leisure time in reading law books until the end of the sehool term.

When that came he entered the law office of Nourse & Win- throp and afterward that of Lawrence & Loehren as a elerk and student of law. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar of Hennepin eounty, and the same year to the supreme court of the state and United States, and at onee formed a partner- ship for the practice of his profession with James R. Lawrenee. This partnership lasted until the Civil war took his partner into the military service in defense of the Union, and from that time Mr. Gilfillan practiced alone until 1871, when he became a member of the firm of Loehren & MeNair, the name of the firm being changed to Loehren, MeNair & Gilfillan, and its new member changing his residence to west side of the river.

This firm remained unehanged until the elevation of Mr. Lochren to the bench, after which Mr. Gilfillan continued his association with Mr. MeNair until the death of the latter. In the meantime, however, the force of character, persistent industry and fine legal ability of Mr. Gilfillan was suitably recognized by the people, who first eleeted him eity attorney of St. Anthony soon after his admission to the bar and kept him in the office four years. He was then elected eounty attorney of Hennepin eounty and filled that office with great aeeeptability for three terms-from 1863 to 1864, from 1869 to 1871, and from 1873 to 1875.

The practice of the firms with which Mr. Gilfillan was con- neeted was general and very large. They stood high in all branches of the praetiee, especially the firm of Lochren, MeNair & Gilfillan, and in some this firm was at the very head for many years. Its reputation as to the laws govern- ing real estate was pre-eminent. In its probate and equity praetiee it had some cases so notable that they settled the law in this department, and in each of these the position taken by Mr. Gilfillan was sustained by the courts. The members of the firm were also attorneys, in their partnership eapaeity, of the Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chieago & Omaha, and the Minneapolis Eastern Railways, and as such transaeted a vast amount of important and laborious business, the largest part of which was eondueted by Mr. Gilfillan, and with almost invariable sueeess. His praetice was frequently interrupted by official and other engagements, but it was his main pursuit and resumed after every interruption as soon as the oppor- tunity eame.

Mr. Gilfillan's interest in the eause of education led him into intimate eonneetion with and valuable serviee for the publie sehools and the University of Minnesota, this part of his eareer beginning in 1859. In that year he organized a Meehan- ies' Institute in St. Anthony for literary eulture, and served as one of its offieers. About the same time he drafted a bill for the organization of a school board in St. Anthony, under whiel a system of graded sehools was established, which was

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

the basis of the present excellent school system of Minne- apolis. He was chosen a member of the first school board under the new arrangement, and continued to serve as such for nearly ten years. The valuable work he did in this connection resulted in his appointment as one of the regents of the University by Governor Pillsbury in 1880, and in that position he also served eight years.

From the dawn of his manhood Mr. Gilfillan has taken a very earnest interest and an active part in public affairs. His political faith and allegiance have always been given to the Republican party, and during the active years of his life he was influential in its councils. In 1875 he was elected a member of the state senate, and by repeated re-elections .his tenure of office in that body covered ten years. His services there were so entirely satisfactory to the people that in the fall of 1884 he was elected to the house of representatives of the Forty-ninth congress. At the expiration of his term in that body he passed two years and a half in Europe with his family, visiting almost every part of it and extending his trips to Egypt and the Holy Land. During his sojourn abroad he saw inany spectacles of unusual interest. At the Queen's jubilee in 1887 he occupied a seat in Westminster Abbey, and he also witnessed the funeral of the German emperor William I., in Berlin in 1888.

Mr. Gilfillan's career as a member of the state senate was too important in service to the people of all parts of the state, and too impressive in the ability it displayed on his part, to be passed up with the mere mention that he was a member of that body. He employed in the discharge of his duties there the same sterling qualities that had won him his professional success, and it was a forum in which they were of especial value. He soon became an influential senator and a leader in shaping policies and masures and in carrying them into effect. In the earlier years of his senatorial service he was chairman of the committee on tax laws and taxes. and he compiled these laws into a code which is even yet the basis of the revenue system of the state. He was from the first a member of the judiciary committee and during the last five years of his tenure its chairman. He was also chairman of the finance committee for a time and at the head of the com- mittee on the University and university lands. In the legis- lation whereby the adjustment of the troubles over the state railroad bonds was brought about he was one of the leading and most influential forces in the senate. In congress he had but little opportunity to display his ability. He was there but one term, and during that the house of representatives was in the control of the Democratic party and there was a Democratic president in the White House. He gave his constituents good service, however, in looking zealously after their local interests, and they appreciated highly his zeal in their behalf.

Mr. Gilfillan was married January 20, 1870, to Miss Rebecca C. Olephant, who was born near Morgantown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and who died on March 25, 1884. They had five children, four of whom are living, three sons and one daughter. He was again married on June 28, 1893, to Miss Lavinia Cappock, a native of Ohio. Mr. Gilfillan was presi- dent of the First National Bank two years and is now (1914) chairman of its board of directors. The Northwest has known no higher type of man than Hon. John B. Gilfillan, and has held none in higher or more general esteem.

MASON H. CRITTENDEN.

Mason H. Crittenden was known to Twin City business circles for more than forty years. He was one of the pioneer manufacturers of the Northwest, having begun the manu- facture of composition roofing in St. Paul in 1869. Entering the business world at an early age he followed one line of endeavor from the beginning to the end and always with uniform success. Whatever he undertook he pursued with such energy, persistence and good judgment that, unaided by fortune or friends, through the sheer force of his indomi- table will and character, he come to be at the head of a great concern.

Mr. Crittenden was one of those quietly efficient men, who by foresight and elaborate preparation for an undertaking set the machinery of business in operation and achieved results as much through his belief and confidence in others as in reliance upon his own ability. He was a careful manager and from the first, his business prospered.

Almost to the very end of his life Mr. Crittenden was a man of robust health and buoyant spirits. Being extremely democratic with his associates he was popular with all classes. With the profits from his enterprises he was generous in the promotion of public interests and the channel of his beneficiences was wide. He was particularly interested in Plymouth Congregational Church, of which he was a member and a constant attendant. He was very liberal in the support of all the work of the church. Carlton College, Northfield, Minnesota, was another institution which received his support and co-operation.

Mason H. Crittenden was born in Washtenaw county, Michi- gan, on February 15, 1836. His parents were of English decent who settled in New York in the early days and later came to Michigan to live. When he was but twenty-four he was married to Sabra A. Murray, also a native of Michigan. She was two years his junior and soon after the marriage they came to Minnesota and settled on a farm near Winona. Nine years later they moved to St. Paul and Mr. Crittenden engaged in the manufacturing business by opening a factory of the construction of composition roofing. This was the first factory of the sort west of Chicago. Soon after this he added to this fine undertaking the manufactory of architectural sheet metal work. This was on the site now occupied by Noyes Bros. and Cutler, of St. Paul. It was not long before he was employing from 25 to 50 men and doing a thriving business. As another angle of the business Mr. Crittenden was also engaged as a contractor and handled some of the largest contracts for the time in the city.

It was after fourteen years as a St. Paul business man that he came to Minneapolis, in 1883. For a number of years previous to this he had had as a partner a Mr. Scribner and the firm was known as Crittenden and Scribner. When he left St. Paul he sold out his business to Mr. Scribner and Mr. Libby and the firm became known as the Scribner-Libby Company. When he first came to Minneapolis he formed the M. H. Crittenden company and engaged in the manufacture of roofing. Later, in 1905 or 1906, the company was incor- porated, and was known as the Crittenden Roofing and Manufacturing Company and located at 704-6 5th street south. Here large factories were erected. The business grew so rapidly that it was necessary in 1908 to move to larger quarters. At this time the company moved to a large factory on Tenth Avenue South and 4th street. Two years later

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the business outgrew this place and a new building was erected at 1121 and 1123 sonth 7th street at a cost of $15,000. With this new building the company enlarged its scope of endeavor. Not only sheet metal and composition roofing were manufactured but cornices and fireproof doors and windows. The company patented and manufactured one of the first fireproof windows in the country. The output of the company now grew from $75,000 to $125,000 a year. Mr. Crittenden still continued to be actively engaged in the business of contracting and remained actively as president and at the head of the firm until his death which occurred in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 6, 1912. For a number of years he had been spending the coldest months of the year either in Southern California or Florida.

Mr. Crittenden may well be called one of Minneapolis' most energetic and representative citizens. His widow survives himu and is his successor as president of the Crittenden Roofing and Manufacturing Company. A. M. Crittenden, the only surviving child of the union is the secretary and treasurer of the company. This son was born at Rochester, Minnesota, July 31, 1863. He received a common school education and practically grew up in the company of which his father was the dominant spirit. For many years he had complete charge of all the outside construction work. His wife, who was Madge Wright before her marriage, is the daughter of R. R. Wright, lately retired from the O. A. Pray Manufacturing Company. She was born in New York City and was educated in the Minneapolis Academy. They have one daughter, Ruth, who is the wife of Wyckoff C. Clark of Minneapolis.

RICHARD CHUTE ..

Richard Chute, late distinguished citizen and pioneer of Minneapolis, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 23, 1820, the son of James and Martha (Hewes) Chute. James Chute traees his ancestry back to an old Norman family through one Alexander Chute who lived at Taunton, England, in 1268 and his wife was a descendant of Captain Roger Clapp who in 1664 was commandant of the "Castle" now known as Fort Independence in the historic Boston Harbor. Like his hardy Norman forefathers, Richard Chute was notably possessed of those qualities which mark the pioneer and empire builder and his career was characterized by a remarkable executive ability and foreeful personality. His father was a teacher and minister and in 1831 located with his family at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where his death and that of his wife oeeurred a few years later, leaving Richard, a lad of fifteen. When twelve years of age he had entered the employ of the firm of S. & H. Hanna who were traders with the Indians, dealing in furs. and for a number of years continued to be connected with the fur trade and became prominently associated with the affairs of the middle west territory and its varions tribes of Indians. In 1844 he was sent to build a post on the Minnesota river, at Good Roads, a village eight miles above Fort Snelling and at this time he visited St. Anthony Falls, in the history of the development and conservation of which he later played such a prominent part. He was quiek to grasp the possibilities of the place and predicted the founding and growth of a city in this location. The following year he returned to Ft. Wayne and became a partner in the firm of Ewing, Chute & company, fur dealers and at a later period

engaged in the same industry as a member of the firm of P. Chateau, Jr., & company. During this time he was a witness of many of the historic treaties between the govern- ment and the native tribes, at the treaty of Orange City, Iowa, in 1842 with the tribes of Sac and Fox, in 1846 in Washington when the Winnebagoes sold the "neutral ground" of Iowa and in 1851 was present at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota when the Sioux concluded their treaties which opened the lands of Minnesota for settlement. He inaugurated the system of individual ownership with a dissolution of tribal relations among the Indians with the result that the Ottawas and Chippewas of Michigan exchanged tribal lands west of the Mississippi for lands in severalty in Michigan, becoming citizens of that commonwealth. In 1854 he came to St. Anthony Falls and engaged in the real estate business. In partnership with John S. Prince he purchased an interest in the property which controlled the water power and for the next twenty-five years, during the most active period of his career, his efforts were identified with the development of this enterprise which was the nucleus for the growth of a great city. The company was incorporated in 1856 as the St. Anthony Falls Water Power company and Mr. Chute became agent and manager, serving in this capacity until 1868 when he became its president, a position he continued to hold until the property was sold to James J. Hill and others in 1880. During this time he superintended the building of a dam and the erection of many mills, factories and saw mills. In 1856 $7,600 was raised by the citizens and entrusted to Richard Chute, R. P. Upton and Edward Murphy to be used in clearing the channel to Fort Snelling and the follow- ing year witnessed the arrival of fifty-two steam boats at the Falls as the result of the opening of navigation. The partnership between Richard Chute and his brother, Dr. Samuel Chute, which continued until the death of the former, was formed in this same year. In November, 1856, Mr. Chute went to Washington at the request of Mr. Henry M. Rice, the delegate to congress from Minnesota, to give his assistance in the securing. of a railroad land grant. With the coopera- tion of Mr. H. T. Welles a sufficient grant was obtained the last day of the session for the construction of 1,400 miles of railroad in the territory of Minnesota. Mr. Chute was made a charter director in several of the railroad companies and was especially identified with the promotion of the road now known as the Great Northern. At the time that the water power of the eity was threatened by the receding of the falls he gave valuable service in securing their preserva- tion. After the expenditure of large sums of money it became necessary to ask the assistance of the government and Mr. Chute was sent to Washington for that purpose. In 1870 after several years of effort he obtained the appropriation and the services of a government engineer and insured the per- manent conservation of the great water power. He has left many memorials of his public services to the city, having introdueed the system of boulevarding the streets and the plan for numerical streets and residences and also in the 3,000 shade trees which he placed along the thoroughfares of the city in 1858. In 1862 he was appointed by Governor Ramsey special quartermaster of the troops sent to Fort Ripley and later became assistant quartermaster of the state with the rank of lieutenant colonel. From 1863 to the close of the war he served as United States provost marshal for Hennepin county. He was made a regent of the state university in 1876 and for several years was treasurer of that institution,

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resigning in 1882. An old line Whig, he was one of twenty men to organize the Republican party in Minneapolis in 1855 at a meeting held in the Methodist church and presided over by Governor William R. Marshall. He was an elder and one of the six original members of the Andrew Presbyterian church. Mr. Chute was a mau of large mental attainments and unbounded energy and enthusiasm which won him a notable influence in public affairs where he built for the future and devoted every effort to the promotion of any project for the welfare and development of the northwest. He possessed a commanding presence and was an attractive and distinguished figure among the men of his time. He was married in 1850 to Miss May Eliza Young and they had five children, Charles Richard, Minnie Olive, Mary Welcome, William Young and Grace Fairchild. Charles R. Chute was for many years associated with the Chute Brothers Company but since 1894 has resided in New York city. William Y. Chute was born in Minneapolis September 13, 1863. He attended the state university and later matriculated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is prominently identified with the real estate interests of the city and has served as president of the Minneapolis Real Estate board. He is a member of the Commercial club, the Minneapolis club, and the Auto club, and has been president of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts. He was married in 1906 to Miss Edith Mary Pickburn of London, England. Three children have been born to this union, Mary Grace, Marchette Gaylord and Beatrice. Mr. Chute is a member of the Christian Science church.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 65

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