Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 70

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 70

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John W. Day early became noted in driving logs on the river, being yet spoken of as a superior river man and is said

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

to have received the highest wages paid for that class of work. The latter firm conducted a large mill at Twenty-fourth avenue north and the river until 1897, cutting regularly 35 to 50 million feet of lumber a year from its own lands, employing 300 to 400 mnen in the logging operations and as many more in the yards and other departments of the business. John W. personally located and purchased these lands and conducted the logging activities.

In 1897 the mill was destroyed by fire, when the lumber on hand was sold to the Nelson-Tenney company and the timber lands to a Dubuque concern. Toward the end of life John W. removed to Riverside, California, but retained large interests in this city where his influence continued to be felt.

Mr. Day was married in Minneapolis November 3, 1854, to Miss Lavinia Gray, who was born in Wesley, Maine, May 22, 1831, and came to Minneapolis with the Leonard Day family, her sister being the wife of Lorenzo Day. Her parents, Ben- jamin and Mary (Lovejoy) Gray, came to this state one year later and located on a farm near Otsego, Wright county, where they lived several years dying in St. Cloud, each having attained the age of seventy-seven years.

John W. and Lorenzo took up a pre-emption on Diamond Lake operating it for six years, until they joined their father as indicated. The farm still belongs to the widows, and lies on Portland avenue fronting on Diamond lake. During the last fourteen years Mrs. Day has passed her winters at Riverside, California. She is a prominent member of the Minneapolis Library club, is an advocate of woman suffrage and warmly interested in all local activities. She is an energetic, working member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Lorenzo Dow Day died in California while on a visit to that state. His son, Leonard A. Day, is a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. William H. H. Day married a Miss Hanscon and died in Minneapolis. The other brother, Augustin A. Day, located on a farm at Rosemont. He also went to California and died in that state.

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Day became the parents of three children. Cora married David Willard, and resides in Duluth. Florence married Frank J. Mackey and died in May, 1912. Engene H. Day was born May 26, 1867, in the old family home at Eleventh avenue and Third street south. He lias lived in Minneapolis all his life.

Until very recently he was engaged in the retail lumber business. He took over the retail lumber yards of the J. W. Day company when it was dissolved, and afterward organized the E. H. Day Lumber company, which owned three yards until all were sold in 1913. Mr. Day is now handling city real estate and farm lands in Northern Minnesota. He also builds apartment houses for rental purposes. He is a member of the Commercial club and the Civic and Commerce asso- ciation.

Mr. Day was united in marriage with Miss Mabel Conkey, a daughter of the late De Witt Clinton Conkey, a sketchı of whom appears in this volume. He died in 1907 after many years of valuable service as salesman for the North Star Woolen Mills. Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Day have three children, Eugenia, Kingsley and John C. The father owns a large orange grove in California. The family residence is at 2729 Portland avenue, and is a center of refined and gracious hospitality and a popular resort for the hosts of admiring friends.

GODFREY DEZIEL, M. D.

Godfrey Deziel, M. D., a well known practitioner of Minne- apolis, was born at Ontonagon, Michigan, the son of Godfrey and Anastasia (Lalonde) Deziel, who were natives of Canada, the former having been born near Quebec and his wife at Montreal. They came to Minnesota in 1865, and settled on a farm near Hamel in Hennepin county, where Godfrey Deziel died in 1874. His wife survived him a number of years, making her home with Dr. Deziel in Minneapolis until her death in 1908 at the age of ninety-three years. Godfrey Deziel remained on his father's farm until 1876 when he became a student in commercial school in Minneapolis, having previously attended the high school. He spent one year at this time as clerk in the postoffice, which was then located in the old city hall. In preparation for his chosen profession he began his studies in the St. Paul Medical College, which later was incor- porated in the State University, and supplemented his college course with further medical research under the direction of Dr. Lamb and Dr. Edward H. Stockton, with whom he later formed a partnership. He graduated in 1886 and began the practice of medicine in Minneapolis, where his ability and success have won him the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. His partnership with Dr. Stockton continued until the death of the latter. Dr. Deziel is a thorough student in his profession and an active member of various medical societies of the county, state and nation. His ability had been recognized by a number of appointments to public service. He served for four years as medical inspector under Dr. Hall, as health officer, also as deputy coroner, and is the medical agent for the St. Anthony Aerie Order of Eagles. Dr. Deziel is a member of Minneapolis Athletic Club, a director of the St. Anthony Commercial Club and his political affiliations are with the Republican party. In fraternal associations he is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Elks Lodge. He was married in 1892 to Miss Charlotte Louise Lalonde of Michigan, and they have one daughter, Delphine. Dr. Deziel is a member of the Notre Dame Catholic church.

ORIC O. WHITED.

Oric O. Whited, teacher, lawyer, banker and land dealer, and in all respects a most estimable citizen, was a resident of Minneapolis for twenty-two years, and they were the last and most useful years of his life. He tried his hand in sev- eral different lines of business in turn, and won a gratifying success in cach. But he was neither unsteady nor an experi- menter. He was a man of quick and keen vision and prompt to act when an opportunity presented itself. He also had the ability to make the most of each 'chance as it came, and use it as a stepping stone to something better. His life was productive for himself, and at the same time very useful to the community, and the tragical nature of his deatlı, at the early age of fifty-eight, gave the people of the whole city a great shock and was universally lamented.

Mr. Whited was born in Fitchville, Huron county, Ohio, on January 20, 1854, a son of Jolm and Clarissa (Crane) Whited. They were early pioneers of Minnesota, and on their arrival in this state from their old home in Ohio, via Prairie Schooner and yoke of oxen, located in Olmstead county, where the father was a prosperous farmer, as he had

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

been at his former residence. The son's assistance was needed in working the farm, and he therefore had but little opportunity to go to sehool in early life. But his educa- tion was not neglected. The elementary part of it was ac- quired at home through his own efforts, and he afterward learned German while working in the fields behind a yoke of oxen.

When he reached manhood he put himself through the Spencerian Business College in Milwaukee, from which he received the usual certificate of graduation at the completion' of his course. He then attended the Minnesota State Nor- mal School at Winona, and from that institution he was graduated in 1872. His purpose in going to the Normal School was to prepare himself for teaching, and for some years after his graduation he engaged in that occupation in Olmstead county, and with such success and credit that he was chosen county superintendent of the public schools in Olmstead County, Minnesota.

When Mr. Whited finished teaching school he became con- nected with a bank at Fisher's Landing in this state, and for some years he also ran a bank of his own in Cando, North Dakota. He owned and operated this bank until 1890, when he sold it and moved to Minneapolis. In the meantime he had studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1884. He did not become a regular practitioner of his profession, however, but only took cases which especially interested him. In these he was so successful that the late F. H. Peavey re- tained him as his confidential counsel and adviser, and for six years he occupied a controlling position in connection with the extensive operations of that eminent business man of large affairs.

On coming to Minneapolis Mr. Whited turned his atten- tion mainly to dealing in land in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and this was the principal business which occupied him from then to the end of his life. But he did not wholly abandon the law, even after he ceased acting as Mr. Peavey's counsel. In 1898 he pursued a course of instruction at the Kent Law College in Chicago, and there received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. This he followed with a post graduate course at the University of Chicago, from which he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. But the practice of law was always secondary to his operations in land after he began them, and in these he was very successful, building up an extensive business in that line of trade; and he also won universal commendation by his public spirit and deep and abiding interest in the welfare and progress of his home community, and widespread popularity by his genial nature, kindness of heart and genuine manhood.

On September 4, 1875, Mr. Whited was united in marriage with Miss Clara A. Stevens, who was also a native of Ohio, and who died on July 25, 1904. The marriage took place at Pleasant Grove, Minnesota, and three sons were born of the union. Bernard B., the first born, died at the age of fourteen. Oric O., Jr., is now (1914) thirty years of age, and Ciro N., the other living son, is now twenty-one. The father was an enthusiastic Freemason and had aseended the mystic ladder of the fraternity to the very top, the thirty- third degree in the Scottish rite and that of Knight Tem- plar in the York rite. He was also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, holding his membership in Zurah Temple, Minne- apolis.

Mr. Whited's death was one of the saddest and most tragic that has ever occurred in this city. It was due to hydro-

phobia and came after a heroic fight for life lasting forty- eight hours. On Tuesday, July 6, 1912, while at his summer home on Eagle Island, Lake Minnetonka, he was bitten in the face by a pet coach dog, which a few days later devel- oped rabies. Mr. Whited, however, showed no fear, but began treatment at the Pasteur Institute, using the short course of three weeks. But the disease develop in him so rapidly that the serum did not have time to work out its full effect and develop the immunity it usually confers. The patient was given the best attention known to science, but nothing could arrest the progress of his malady, which led to delirium, semi-consciousness and finally to a much lamented death.

Mr. Whited's life can be summed up by the words "High Ambitions"-and "Time is precious."

He was sincerely sorry when his time was not occupied as it should have been.

· Teacher, Lawyer, Banker, Land dealer and student will best express his occupations with a heavy inclination toward the student end.

He used to repeat the verse "Lost somewhere between day- light and dark-2 golden hours-each set with 60 diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are lost and gone forever," when his day was not long enough.

He was a real man, the best of husbands, a better father could not be found-and his ambition was to so live and act that his sons would have a bright and shining example for them to follow.

WM. de la BARRE.

William de la Barre, engineer agent and treasurer of the St. Anthony Falls Water Power company and the Minneapolis Mill company, is known as an eminent engineer, both in this country and abroad. He has been prominently associated with important engineering projects of the milling interests of Minneapolis during the greater part of his career. He was born in Vienna, Austria, April 15, 1849, and received the excellent educational advantages of his native city. In 1865 accompanied his parents to the United States. They returned to Austria in a short time leaving their son in Philadelphia, a student at the Polytechnic Institute of that city. He com- pleted his course at the age of twenty-three and secured a position as engineer and draughitsman with the Pascal Iron Works, of Philadelphia.

In 1878, after the well remembered mill explosion in Minne- apolis, caused by sparks from the millstones igniting the dust, Governor C. C. Washburn sent for Mr. de la Barre to come to Minneapolis as the representative of a German inven- tion for the prevention of similar disasters. He spent the following year installing the appliance in the Washburn plants and other large mills in the city and then became superin- tendent and engineer in the Washburn mills. He served in this capacity for eleven years, remodeling during this period a number of the mills and erected in 1880 the first mill to contain the new roller process, the Washburn "A" mill.

When the Minneapolis Mill company and the St. Anthony Falls company, whose charters as water power companies were granted in 1856, were consolidated and became the property of the Pillsbury-Washburn Flour company, Mr. de la Barre was made engineer, agent and treasurer of the organization.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

During thirty-one years he has had full charge of the recon- struetion work and the developing of the water power, erecting in 1896 the lower dam and in 1908 the 12,000-horse-power electric power station on Hennepin Island. He has been super- vising architect for several grain elevators and he is regarded as an authority in all matters relating to steam or water- power equipment for mills. In 1888 he prepared the plans for the Sioux City Street Railway.

Mr. de la Barre holds membership in several foreign engineer- ing societies and is well known throughout the engineering world. He was married in Philadelphia to Miss Louise Merian and they have two children, William, who is a practicing physician in Minneapolis, and Louise, who is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. Mr. de la Barre is a member of the Athletic Club.

KARL DE LAITTRE.

Karl De Laittre was born in Minneapolis on June 23, 1874, and is a son of John and Clara T. (Eastman) De Laittre, an account of whose useful lives will be found in this work. The son began his education in the public schools of his native city, passing through both the lower grades and the high school course, and completed it at Harvard University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1897. Immediately after leaving the University he began his business career, and this he has been extending and making broader and more commendable ever since. Both the lumber trade and the grocery business have engaged his attention, and he has risen to prominence in each, being now vice president of the Bovey De Laittre Lumber company and secretary of the Green & De Laittre company, wholesale importers and grocers, each of which has an extensive and expanding trade.

In his political faith and affiliation Mr. De Laittre is a pronounced Republican, and as such he has taken a very active and serviceable part in the public affairs of his home city and state. In the general election held on November 8, 1904, he was chosen to represent the Thirty-eighth legislative district in the State House of Representatives. The district then embraced the First and part of the Third and Tenth wards of the city, and Mr. De Laittre led his portion of the ticket. In 1908 his energetic and effective interest in the progress, improvement and general welfare of the city led to his election as alderman from the 4th ward to fill an unexpired term, and in 1909 he was re-elected without opposition. His services during his first term were so satisfactory and his ability was so manifest that during his second term he was chosen president of the council, a position he is still filling with great credit to himself and satisfaction to the people of his ward and the whole city. He is alert in looking after every public interest and diligent in promoting all, having at all times the good of the whole community in sight as his incentive and impelling force, and allowing no other considera- tion, political or personal, to influence him.

Mr. De Laittre has also taken a warm interest and a helpful part in the organized social life of the city as an aetive and zealous member of the Commercial, Minneapolis and Roosevelt clubs, and his public spirit and progressiveness have made him a cordial and intelligent supporter of every commendable undertaking designed to promote its advance-

ment. In fact, every duty of citizenship has been faithfully performed by him from the dawn of his manhood, and his attention to each has not been forced or merely perfunctory, but earnest, warm-hearted and productive. He is universally esteemed throughout the city as one of its capable, far-seeing and successful merchants and one of its creditable and repre- sentative citizens, a man ready and fruitful in service at present and full of promise for the future, with many avenues of advancement open to him, if he will consent to let the people around him have their way.

WILLIAM H. DAVIES.

For thirty-two years William H. Davies has been an esteemed resident of Minneapolis, and is recognized as a funeral director of superior capacity and skill.

Mr. Davies was born July 3, 1857, in Castine, Maine, on the bank's of the Penobscot, where it widens into the great bay of the same name. He is a son of Edward F. and Caroline W. (Eaton) Davies, both families having been in New England for several generations. The father, a furniture dealer and undertaker, was a captain during the Civil war and took part in a number of historic battles.

William H. graduated from the high school. Learning the business which he has followed since in his father's estab- lishment. In 1881 came to Minneapolis, and the next year established the present business now located at No. 19 South Eighth street.

His thorough knowledge of the business and elose and care- ful attention made him successful and won for him a high reputation. He has also universal admiration and regard for dignified bearing and decorum, possessing in a high degree those necessary qualifications for a successful conduct of obsequies.

He is a member of the Masonic order in both the York Rite and Scottish Rite, as well as being a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of Minneapolis Lodge of Elks No. 44. In honor of his father's services he is actively enrolled in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.

He is no politician and has taken part in public affairs only as a good citizen. On September 20, 1886, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Ransier. Their two children are Edward Charles and Florence E. Members of the family attend the Baptist church.

HON. FRANCIS BROWN BAILEY.

One of the valued contributions of New England, and one of the most valued from any section or source, was the late Francis B. Bailey, for more than ten years a judge of the municipal court of Minneapolis, and before and after his service in that position one of the leading and most suc- cessful lawyers in the city. On the bench his administration was dignified, firm, discriminating, and in proper cases merciful. At the bar he was able, tactful, forcible and learned, but always square and straightforward. His professional brothers regarded him highly as a lawyer and as a man, and the people of Minneapolis generally esteemed him warmly in all relations.

TB. Bailey

Bailey

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Judge Bailey was born in the city of Portland, Maine, on June 22, 1839, and was a son of Libbias and Marietta Monroe (Clapp) Bailey, both of Puritan ancestry and connected by close kinship with some of the most highly respected and dis- tinguished families of New England. The judge was but six years old when his father died, leaving the mother with eleven children to rear and very slender means for their support. Necessity, therefore, united with the boy's high sense of duty in leading him to rely on himself at a very early age, and to contribute from the earnings of his labor to the support of the other members of the family.

The burden laid on this aspiring youth by the necessities of his condition was a beavy one, but he did not chafe under it. On the contrary, it acted as a stimulus to him and sharpened his intensity in the pursuit of knowledge through every chan- nel open to him. So thorough and comprehensive was he in his studies that at the age of seventeen he was graduated from a high school in his native city of Portland. Standing then on the threshold of a wide and open world, he found no way of advancement without continued struggle and arduous effort in its requirements, and no matter to what direction he turned serious obstacles to his progress confronted him. His ambition was to become a lawyer, but the study of the profession could be followed by him only with frequent in- terruptions. But he held to his purpose and in seeking to accomplish it he accepted every aid that came his way, declining no honest labor of any kind.

But the young man was not left wbolly to bis own re- sources. Friends were at hand to help him, won to his aid by bis sterling worth. They backed him for appointment to several offices of trust in . succession, among them that of deputy collector of customs at the port of Passamaquoddy on the bay of the same name. His right to begin the practice of law came at length after weary waiting. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar in Washington county, Maine, and at once formed a law partnership with Charles R. Whidden of Calais in that county, an old lawyer of distinction in the state.

This partnership lasted until Mr. Whidden's death in 1876, and in the meantime Mr. Bailey formed another of a different kind, a partnership for life, by his marriage with Miss Anna H. Moor, a daughter of Wyman B. S. Moor of Waterville, a versatile and gifted lawyer, who had been United States Senator from Maine and one of the promotors and builders of the first railroad in central Maine. Miss Moor was edu- cated at the Academy of Notre Dame in Montreal, Canada. Her marriage to Mr. Bailey was solemnized at Gloucester, Maine.

After the death of his partner in Calais Mr. Bailey deter- mined to seek a new and more open field of endeavor in the West, and in 1877 became a resident of Minneapolis. On his arrival in this city he entered the office and employ of the law firm of Lochren, McNair & Gilfillan, and four years later, when Mr. Lochren was appointed judge of the district court, he beeame a member of the firm, which was reorganized under the name of McNair, Gilfillan & Bailey. He continued his membership in this firm and shared in its labors, its triumphs and its very infrequent defeats until he was appointed asso- ciate judge of the Minneapolis Municipal Court, of which Hon. G. B. Cooley was then the presiding judge. At the next election after his appointment Judge Bailey was cleeted to the Municipal Bench for a full term, and when Judge Cooley retired in 1883 he was elected to succeed that eminent jurist

as presiding judge of the court, a position which he dignified and adorned for six years.

In 1890 Hon. F. Von Schlegel, Judge of the Probate Court for Hennepin county, died and Governor Merriam appointed Judge Bailey to fill out the unexpired term, which he did to the entire satisfaction of the bar and the general public. After his retirement from the Probate Court he resumed the practice of law and continued in it as the senior member of the firm of Bailey & Knowlton until his death, which occurred on September 29, 1896. Mrs. Bailey is still living and has her home at No. 84 Willow street. Two of the five children born of her marriage to the judge are also living. They are Seavey Moor and Paul Thorndyke, both now grown to ma- · turity. Judge Bailey was a member of Masonic fraternity, being a member of Zion Commandery of Minneapolis. He 1 was a member of Minneapolis and other clubs of the city and an attendant of the Plymouth Congregational church.

JOHN DUNWOODY.

A life of utmost rectitude and of inflexible fidelity to duty was that of the honored citizen to whom this brief memoir is dedicated. He was long in service of the St. Anthony Dakota Elevator Company, of Minneapolis, as one of its most valued executive officers, and of this important corporation be was treasurer and a director at the time of his death, which occurred on the 14th of April, 1909. Shortly after his demise, the official record of a meeting of the board of directors of the company with which he was long and prom- inently identified embraced the following account of his life in its record:

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 70

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