Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 66

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 66

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DE WITT CLINTON CONKEY.

For almost forty years the late De Witt Clinton Conkey was a resident of Minneapolis connected in an important capacity with one of its largest and most active industries. He came to this city in the fall of 1867 and here died March 6, 1907, in his eighty-third year.

He was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, July 10, 1824, and was there reared and educated and there started his business career. He was married in 1857, to Miss Antoinette Kingsley, who was born August 11, 1829, near Plattsburg, on the shore of Lake Champlain. Mrs. Conkey was five years younger than her husband and sur- vived him six years, dying in April, 1913, in her eighty- fourth year.

Directly after marriage the young couple set their faces toward the bountiful opportunities of the then almost un- developed West, and came to Burlington, Racine county, Wis- consin. In that city and Milwaukee they lived during the next sixteen years. Here they were busily employed in useful labor and active in the promotion of every enterprise and agency conducive to the advancement and improvement of the community.

Mr. Conkey entered the employ of the North Star Woolen Mill as a purchaser of wool throughout the Western country. He was later given charge of the sales department, devoting his energies wholly to its requirements. He continued in this relation until he retired because of the growing weight of years.

In his religious affiliation Mr. Conkey was a Universalist, attending the Church of the Redeemer. He and his pastor,

Dr. Tuttle, were near neighbors on Chicago avenue and be- came intimate friends, and when he died the last service of love was rendered by this old associate. He was a staunch adherent of the Republican party, being an energetic worker for it, but he never sought or desired a political office. In the later years he leaned strongly to the Democratic party, considering it more friendly than the other to the general interests. Both he and wife were domestic in their tastes and habits, their greatest interest being the welfare of their family. She became a Christian Scientist and late in her life joined the Second church of that denomination.

They were parents of four children. Charles C., was an employe of the Tribune and died in 1878, aged twenty-four, his widow, Mary L. Case, surviving. Maud is the wife of S. A. Stockwell, of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance com- pany. Mabel is the wife of Eugene H. Day, an account of whom appears elsewhere; and Lucius J., of Seattle, is engaged in railroad construction work in British Columbia.

FRANK J. VENIE.

President of the Harriet State Bank, though a recent comer to Minneapolis, has already impressed its citizens as one of the live and progressive men, whose enterprise accomplishes results.

Although the newest bank in the city, the Harriet State Bank has started with most satisfactory auspices, its board of directors containing, beside the president, such well known names as L. L. Vroman, M. F. Strauser, W. J. Smith, J. J. Venie, John Devney, Sr., and George H. Venie. The bank was opened for business in its own building on Saturday, May 16, 1914, with a capital of $25,000 and a surplus of $5,000 and is prepared to extend much needed accommodations to the Lake district. Its officers are F. J. Venie, president; L. L. Vroman, vice-president; W. F. Strauser, cashier; with W. J. Smith, assistant.

Frank J. Venie is a native of Missouri, his birth occurring at Chillicothe of French parentage, his father being J. J. Venie, who for several years has resided in Minneapolis and who has extensive real estate holdings. The boyhood years of Frank were passed on a farm in Wisconsin, and he was graduated from the high school at Beaver Dam and then took a course in a business college at Milwaukee.

For three years he was in the commission business in Chi- cago, then becoming deputy register of deeds of Dodge County, Wisconsin, for four years, and was deputy county. clerk for two years, when he was elected county surveyor for two years, since when he has been engaged in the banking busi- ness. In 1893 he organized the State Bank at Reeseville, Wis., becoming its cashier, thoughi three years later he was made the president, so continuing until June 1, 1913. Real- izing the excellent opportunity offered for a first-class insti- tution at Lake Harriet, he was not slow to take the necessary steps to organize the present bank.

Mr. Venie is classed as a Democrat, and since attaining manhood has taken an active part in all public questions, the advantages for social and general benefits of the various

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

clubs being recognized and in several of which he holds mem- bership.

In 1896 he was married to Margaret Devney, daughter of John Devney, formerly of Dodge County, Wisconsin.

They have three children, Pearl, Irvin and Arthur.

CHARLES M. LORING.

Pioneer merchant, early flour miller, public-spirited citizen and energetic promoter of the improvement and beautifying of Minneapolis, Charles M. Loring has shown himself to be one of the most useful and progressive residents of this city, and one of the foremost men in Minnesota in the sweep of his vision and his prompt and effective action in carrying out the wise designs it has revealed to him. Where the foresight of others has been too short his has always reached to the end, and where their energy and courage have failed his have always worked with full power.

Mr. Loring was born in Portland, Maine, on November 13, 1833, and is a son of Captain Horace and Sarah (Wiley) Loring. The father was a sea captain, and took the son, while the latter was still a boy, on several voyages, having destined him to be a sailor also. He was attentive to the work on the ship, and at an early age rose to the position of first mate on one of his father's vessels. But nature had designed him for a different career, and he never found life at sea entirely agreeable to him. In 1856 he determined to build his career on land and came West to Chicago. There he engaged in wholesale merchandising in connection with P. B. Hutchinson for a few years.

The climate of Chicago proved unfavorable to the health of Mr. Loring, and he determined to seek one more congenial to his nature. In 1860 he moved to Minneapolis, and a few months after his arrival in this city he associated with Loren Fletcher in general merchandising in the firm of L. Fletcher & Company, now the oldest mercantile firm in Minneapolis. In 1868 he entered the flour milling business in company with W. L. Cahill and Mr. Fletcher, and by his success in business and his fine business capacity he acquired extensive real estate holdings as the years passed.

Mr. Loring has been connected with other business enter- prises in a leading way and has made them successful. Since 1894, when he quit the milling business, he is president of the Morgan Machine company of Rochester, New York,. He was also one of the organizers of the North American Telegraph company and served as its president from 1885 until 1897, when he resigned. He was president of the Minneapolis Board of Trade in 1875, and of the Chamber of Commerce from 1886 to 1890. He served in the city council from 1870 to 1873, and was president of the first improvement association which operated here and promoted the first Flower Show held in Min- neapolis. He was a member of the Court House Commission, president of the State Board of Commissioners for securing Minnehaha Park, and president of the Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners from its organization in 1883 to the time of his resignation in 1893.

Neither Mr. Loring's fame nor his activity in the matter of business expansion and public improvements has been con- fined to Minneapolis, however. For several years he was one of the vice presidents of the National Board of Trade, and has

recently been president of the American Park and Outdoor Art Association and the Minnesota State Forestry Association. He is now a life member of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, the State Historical Society and of the American Civic Association. Besides all this, Mr. Loring was treasurer of Lakewood Cemetery Association and for a long time one of the trustees of the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum, a position he resigned in 1905.

It is in his efforts toward the improvement and embellish- ment of Minneapolis through its park system, however, that Mr. Loring's greatest service to the community has been ren- dered. His efforts in this behalf began soon after his arrival in the city and have been continued for ahnost half a century. They are well aprpeciated in Minneapolis, the people having put their seal of approval on them forever by changing the name of what was once Central Park to Loring Park in his honor. His interest in this form of civie welfare has been intense and his work in it has been constant. He has not only made great improvement in the park system of the city, but has molded public sentiment in accordance with his advanced views. On this account he is familiarly called the "Father of the Parks," as his enterprise in connection with them has made them one of the main attractions of Minneapolis.

Mr. Loring has great aptitude for this kind of work. He has a natural taste for it and this has been cultivated by extensive travel, studious observation and intercouse with kindred minds both in many parts of this country and in foreign lands. His services have been sought in many other eities, too, to which he has been urgently invited for the instruction of the people, and he has delivered many addresses full of information and suggestions designed to educate the people to whom he was talking how to make their cities more beautiful and attractive.

Mr. Loring was first married in early life at Portland, Maine, to Miss Emily Crosman. They had one child, their son, A. C. Loring, who is now a prominent miller in Minneapolis. Mrs. Loring died in 1894, and a second marriage was con- tracted in 1896 with Miss Florence Barton, a daughter of A. B. Barton, of this city. In political relations Mr. Loring has always been a Republican, but never other than a liberal partisan, always looking to the good of the public rather than the success of his party. He is a member of the Minne- apolis Athletic club and other organizations of a public and social character, but he finds his chief recreation in study- ing public grounds and promoting parks and parkways. He has a very pleasant home in this city, but passes his winters in California.

EDGAR F. COMSTOCK.

Another of the sturdy sons of Maine, who brought honor with him to the West and lived to accumulate not only more honor but also wealth and a name as a statesman, was Edgar F. Comstock. He came to Minneapolis in 1870 while the town site on the river was only a village, and helped to build the great city. He was twenty-five when he arrived here and lived the best years of his life as an active citizen of Minne- apolis.

Mr. Comstock was born in Passadumkeag, Maine, March 4, 1845. While he was still attending school, there came a call that meant war. He left school to go to the front, enlisting

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

when but seventeen, in Company A. of the First Maine Cavalry in 1861. During his service he participated in several battles. In 1865 he re-enlisted in the Seventeenth Maine Infantry and served until the close of the war; and all of this before he was of age. These were the honors he brought with him when he 'came to Minneapolis. While the honors that came later may have brought him more satisfaction, there was probably no other four years of his life which brought him such development and experience that makes for character growth, as those years of war that ripened him from a boy into a man, the years of hardship and struggle which so many boys knew throughout the Civil War.

When Mr. Comstock first came to Minneapolis he engaged in the lumber business. For nearly half a century of residence in the Flour City he divided his time between the lumber business and railroad contracting. During his long residence here he had the spirit of good citizenship always as his guide and was always generous with the time he devoted to public affairs and with his services to the municipality and to the state. He served in many capacities. He was the first repub- lican ever elected to the city council from the First Ward of Minneapolis. In his responsibility as alderman he was always zealous and served on a number of important com- mittees. He was at different times chairman of the com- mittee on roads and bridges, and ex-officio member of the park board. Through his efforts the patrol limits were estab- lished and he was influential in placing Minneapolis under high license.

Mr. Comstock was placed upon the Minneapolis Court House and City Hall commission in 1889 and was chairman of the construction committee until the building was completed in 1909, June 16. In 1886 he began a long service to the state. It was in this year that he was first elected to the legislature. He served for three terms in the lower house and in 1903 he was elected state senator, in which capacity he served four years.

The people of Northeast Minneapolis looked to Edgar F. Comstock as the source of all the good things that could come to them as a community. He was the father of Logan Park and was instrumental in getting sewers, good roads and everything that made for the good of that section of the city.

Mr. Comstock's father was a Maine lumberiuan. He, like his son, served his city and his state, as town officer and in the state legislature. He was James Madison Comstock and his mother was Louisa M. (Gillman) Comstock. Mr. Comstock married on January 28, 1867, Miss Mary Hacking, a native of England, who came to this country as a child to live in Greenbush, Maine. Three sons were born to them, Robert M., Edger F., Jr., and James M. They all live in Minneapolis. He was a member of Chase Post, G. A. R., of the Masons, and of the St. Anthony Commercial Club.

Mr. Comstock died December 15, 1912. He is survived by his wife and three sons, the wife still residing at the old home- stead, No. 750 Madison St., N. E. Minneapolis.

L. H. DAPPRICH.

L. H. Dapprich, vice president and general manager of the Northwestern Marble & Tile company, was born in Belleville, Illinois, Sept. 6, 1876. In 1894 he entered the marble business in Baltimore and after eight years of practical training there

went to California where he worked in large granite quarries. In 1904 he accepted a position as Chicago representative of large Eastern marble 'company and during this period visited Minneapolis and the northwest. In January, 1910, he removed to Minneapolis and since that time has been identified with Northwestern Marble & Tile company where his able services as manager have contributed to the marked success and rapid extension of the trade of that industry. Within the last two years the plant has been more than doubled in size in order to properly execute their contracts thereby making the North- western Marble & Tile company the largest manufacturers of interior marble work west of New York, estimating their annual output at $600,000. They originally engaged in the construction of wood mantels and contracting in floor and wall tiling but these lines were gradually superseded by the marble work and they now handle some of the largest contracts in United States and Canada for interior marble, etc., ninety percent of their business being outside of Minneapolis. Among their more important contracts are the Wisconsin state capitol building at Madison, Wisconsin, and the union station at Detroit, Michigan, each of these contracts approximuating one- quarter million dollars. The manufacturing plant and yards are located at Twenty-seventh avenue and Twenty-seventh street south on the C. M. & St. P. main line. Branch offices are operated at Chicago and Winnipeg but the headquarters for the entire sales force is maintained at the Minneapolis office. All details of the management and business transactions are under the direct supervision and administration of Mr. Dap- prich. The company is incorporated with a capital of $300,000 with Mr. Eugene Tetzlaff, president, Mr. L. H. Dapprich, vice president and general manager, Mr. E. D. Spencer, secretary, and Mr. Charles N. Gramling, treasurer. Mr. Dapprich is a member of the New Athletic club and the Rotary club and in Masonic circles has attained the rank of Master Mason. He was married at Pontiac, Illinois, to Miss Charlotte Boman.

MR. CHARLES N. GRAMLING, treasurer of the North- western Marble & Tile company and assistant treasurer of the Flour City Ornamental Iron Works, was born in Minneapolis, July 31, 1885, the son of Elias H. and Mary (Dittman) Gram- ling. He attended the 'city schools, graduating from the high school in 1900 and then completing a commercial course of study. Since that time he has won a prominent position among the younger business men of his native city and is identified with the interests of important industries in Minne- apolis. He has held the position of assistant treasurer of the Flour City Ornamental Iron Works for ten years and two years ago became treasurer of the Northwestern Marble & Tile company. He was married January 3, 1912, to Miss Marie Catharene Brombach.

WILLIAM P. CLEATOR.

A native of Minneapolis, where he was reared and educated and connected with its business life from youth, and one of the founders and incorporators of the Sawyer-Cleator Lumber company, of 1400 Washington avenue north, William P. Cleator has been a factor of importance and usefulness.

Mr. Cleator was born on Fourth avenue north May 22, 1860, and is the only child of William and Julia (Stanley) Cleator, the former a native of the Isle of Man, and the latter of New York, she being a sister of Mrs. Joseph Dean. The

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

father came to New York in 1854, two years later joining the colony of hopeful and daring pioneers in St. Anthony, and soou formed a partnership with Anton Knobloch in the boot and shoe trade. Mr. Cleator later operated a similar store on the site of the old Pence Opera House, which he eonducted for a number of years.

In 1865 he moved to Owatonna, conducting a grocery store for four years. On his return in 1869 he again went into business, and continued active for many years, although he is now retired, aged 88. The mother died nine years ago, well advanced in age and with a long record of usefulness, upright living and fidelity to duty.

William P. Cleator obtained a high school education and, at eigliteen, began his business career as a clerk in a grocery store. He then put in two years as bookkeeper in the old City Bank, and three in the German-American Bank, of which he is now a director. He next became a member of the firm of Dean Brothers & Co., handling commercial paper, stocks, bonds and similar securities until 1906, when he united in founding the Sawyer-Cleator Lumber company with C. W. Sawyer, who has been connected with the lumber business in Minneapolis in various capacities since 1880, and for several years was the manager and part owner of the Park Rapids Lumber company.

The motto of the Sawyer-Cleator Lumber company is "A square deal for everybody," and by strict adherence to this rule it has built up a large and active trade and risen to the front rank in the lumber industry. The men at the head of it know their business thoroughly, and exert their knowledge in service for the benefit of their eustomers. The consequence is that they are highly esteemed in business circles and have a large body of personal admirers and friends.

In politics Mr. Cleator in a Republican, but he is never an active partisan. His religious affiliation is with the Fourth Baptist church. In October, 1865, he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie V. Weld, a daughter of James O. Weld, for many years a foreman in sawmills and manager of lumber yards, and who is now living retired at Lake Minne- tonka; afterward organized with his brother the firm of Weld Brothers in the grocery business. Mr. and Mrs. Cleator have three sons: Fred W., who is a department superintendent in the United States Forestry service at Republic, Wash- ington; Horace A., at home; and Ralph A., who is employed in a Minneapolis bank.

HON. HENRY POEHLER.

For fifty-nine years the late Hon. Henry Poehler was active in the mercantile life of Minnesota, and for nearly half of that period in that department of activity and usefulness in Minneapolis. During his residence in this state of over a half century he was always a very busy man, and for a large portion of it one of the leaders in every line of effort to which he gave his attention. Although not a native of this country, he dignified and adorned American citizenship in many ways, and when he died left a record of achievements of which any man might well and justly be proud.

Mr. Poeller was born at the village of Hiddesen near Det- mold in the province of Lippe, Germany, on August 22, 1833. The place of his nativity was not far from the Teuteburger

Wald, a mountain on the verge of the Black Forest, on the top of which stands the celebrated monument to Hermann, or Arminius, the deliverer of the Germans from the galling yoke of Rome in the year 9 A. D. The interesting subject of this brief review therefore grew to manhood amid scenes of his- toric interest, and they made a deep impression on him. He was the son of Frederick and Wilhelmina (Keiser) Poehler, who were of the same nativity as himself. The mother passed the whole of her life in her native region, and died there. The father, who was, during the boyhood and youth of his son Henry, principal of the school at Hidesen, came to this coun- try late in life, and died at Henderson, Minnesota, at an advanced age in 1876.

His son Henry was educated in the state schools of his native land, and in spring of 1848, when he was fourteen years of age, came to the United States with one of his uncles. They landed at New Orleans, and moved up the river to Bur- lington, Iowa, where Henry lived several years. He was mar- ried at Bridgeton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to Miss Eliza- beth Frankenfield on September 14, 1861. She is still living, as are four of their six children: Alvin H., and Walter C., who are residents of this state; and Irene and Augusta, who reside in Los Angeles, California, where their father had his winter home for a number of years prior to his death.

Mr. Pochler was one of the pioneers of Minnesota. He came to St. Paul from Burlington, Iowa, in 1853, and from St. Paul proceeded up the valley of the Minnesota river to Henderson. During the first year of his residence in this state he and his older brother Frederick built two of the first log cabins near where Mankato now stands, intending to take up claims in that locality. He changed his mind, however, when by chance he entered the employ of Major Joseph R. Brown to assist in the transportation of goods from Hender- son to Fort Ridgeley, all transportation up and down the Minnesota valley being then by boats and teams.

In 1855 Mr. Poehler bought the mercantile commission and freight transportation business of Major Brown at Hen- derson, founding the firm of H. Poehler & Bro., and during the next seven years he lived the life of a quiet merchant in a small town. But when the Indians rose and took the war path in 1862, he was among the state's defenders against the fury of the savages, and he rendered valuable service in help- ing to quell the outbreak and reduce the wild men to subjec- tion. In his store at Henderson he handled machinery and grain along with other general merchandise, and thereby be- came enamored with the grain trade especially, and to such an extent that in 1881 he organized the Pacific Elevator company for the purpose of engaging in it on a larger scale.

In 1887 this enterprising merchant, accompanied by his son Alvin H., moved to Minneapolis, where he became a member of the Chamber of Commerce and continued the firm of H. Poehler Company, which engaged extensively in the grain trade and which has ever since kept its business growing in volume and vale. The company was incorporated in 1893 with Mr. Poehler as president and George A. Duvigneaud as vice president. Mr. Poehler's other sons were taken into. business with him at the time of their respective graduations. from college, Charles from the Shattuck School at Faribault, and Walter C. from the University of Minnesota. This com- pany has been in continuons existence since it was founded. And on May 1, 1905, its founder, Mr. Poehler, celebrated the golden anniversary or semi-centennial of his connection with

Henry Porhler

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

the grain trade. He remained at the head of the company which bears his name until his death on July 18, 1912, which removed the last of the male generation of the family, his three brothers who also came to this country, having passed away previous to his own demise, which was deeply lamented although he was on the verge of eighty years of age at the time.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 66

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