Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 71

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 71

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"John Dunwoody began with this company, as cashier and bookkeeper, September 1, 1888. After about three months' service in this capacity he was obliged to relinquish his posi- tion temporarily, in order to look after the estate of a deceased brother, in Pennsylvania. Returning August 16, 1889, he remained continuously in a responsible position till the day of bis deatb. He was elected treasurer August 31, 1891, and for nearly eigbteen years was responsible for the proper handling of the funds and securities of the company. He was elected a director, to succeed Peter B. Smith, Sep- tember 14, 1907. He died almost literally with the harness on, April 14, 1909, having remained at his desk in the dis- charge of his usual duties until one short week before his death, though we know now that the last few days of his service must have been rendered under a continual burden of pain and weakness. Such, in brief outline, was bis official connection with this company, but such an outline can give no adequate idea of the high character of the services here rendered. Modest, unassuming, considerate of otbers, devoid of self-assertion, he was, nevertheless, courageous and stead- fast in defense of bis principles. There was nothing perfunc- tory in his service. He bad a keen sense of his responsibilities and of the high confidence placed in him by the directors of the company, which made him extremely conscientious and pains- taking in the discharge of his duties. Under his careful watcheare and the powerful influence of his example upon other employes many millions of dollars were disbursed without. one transaction ever being called into question. The mere making of money was a matter of minor importance with Mr. Dunwoody. Faithfulness to duty as he conceived it

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

was the keystone of his character. Hc accepted prosperity and adversity in the same serenity of spirit, assured that the highest reward of labor was in a consciousness of duty well performed. As the one who lived closest to him has testified, he tried to live each day as though he knew it would be his last on earth; and all who knew him intimately must testify that, measured by this high standard, his life was a success."

John Dunwoody was born in Westtown, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of February, 1846, and thus he was but fifty-three years of age at the time of his death. On other pages of this work appears a review of the carecr of his brother William, and in that connection are given further data concerning the staneh old Pennsylvania family of which ' the subject of this memorial was a worthy scion. Mr. Dun- woody was reared to adult age in the old Keystone state. He was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period and during his entire mature life he was a student of good literature. As a young man Mr. Dunwoody came to Minnesota and established his residence in Minne- apolis, where he found employment in a flour mill with which his elder brother, William, was identified as a principal. Later he had charge of the office of the Minneapolis Millers' Asso- ciation, and in 1888, as previously noted in this context, he entered the service of the St. Anthony Dakota Elevator Company.

His nature was deeply and significantly spiritual and devout, and this was shown through his zealous labors and potent influence in connection with the various activities of West- minster Presbyterian church, of which he was a zealous adherent, as is also his widow, and in which he served as elder for virtually a quarter of a century, besides which he was specially active in the Sunday school.

In the year 1876, in the .. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dunwoody to Miss Emma Bishop, of Media, Delaware county, that state, and of their children the first-born was Preston, who was educated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the city of Boston, and who died at the age of twenty-six years; Hannah is the wife of Fayette Bousfield, of Aberdeen, Washington; Mary, now Mrs. Charles E. Cartwright of Detroit, Michigan; Ruth H. is the wife of Carl N. Hardee, of Toledo, Ohio. Preston, the only son, a young man of distinctive talent and sterling character, became associated with the extensive business activities of his uncle William, and on the occasion of a strike on the part of the workmen in his uncle's mills the office employes volunteered to serve in the place of the strikers. The enthusiasm and loyalty of young Preston Dun- woody were shown by such service, but in the strenuous inci- dental labor, to which he was unaccustomed, he overtaxed his powers of endurance, the weather having been extremely hot at the time. He fell exhausted at his work, and this caused his death within a short time thereafter. He was loved by all who knew him with aught of intimacy and his death was a severe blow to his parents and sisters.

GEORGE L. DINGMAN.

After several years of useful industry and successful achievement as a newspaper man, a school teacher, a merchant and a public official, George L. Dingman entered the employ

of the Pillsbury Milling company as a salesman eight years ago, and since then he has been one of the company's most enterprising and successful men on the road. He was born in Erie county, New York, at East Aurora, the town to which Elbert Hubbard and his periodical, The Philistine, have given celebrity, on October 10, 1853, and came direct from there to Brownsdale, Mower county, Minnesota, in 1876, and from Brownsdale to Minneapolis in 1883. He was educated at East Aurora Academy and from the age of seventeen to that of twenty-three taught in New York schools, and for a time was also connected with the East Aurora Advertiser. He also taught school at Brownsdale in this state.

After locating in this city in 1883 Mr. Dingman engaged in the grocery trade at the corner of Twenty-fifth avenue (now Lowry avenue) and Central avenue, in the part of the city then called New Boston. In this store was located the first branch postoffice in East Minneapolis, while O. M. Lara- way was postmaster. The streets in New Boston were un- paved and the only means of public conveyance between it and the city proper was the old horse car line. He built his store building and continued his grocery business until 1895, when he sold it to W. J. King. That same year he was elected a member of the State House of Representatives from the Twenty-ninth legislative, which was the University dis- trict.

In the session of the legislature which followed he was chairman of the committee on university lands, with Repre- sentative L. J. Ahlstrom and Senator J. T. Wyman, from that district, as his colleagues. He was defeated for re-clec- tion by the opposition of the liquor interests, because he had favored temperance legislation. He was very active in secur- ing the passage of a bill providing that any person could make a complaint against a disorderly saloon, which until that time only a policeman could do. He was renominated by the convention of his party, but was beaten at the election by a majority of fourteen votes.

After his defeat Mr. Dingman was appointed assistant dairy and food commissioner by Governor Van Sant, and held the office four years, from 1897 to 1901. This was a time of very great activity and marked progress. W. W. P. McCon- nell, of Mankato, was commissioner and gave Mr. Dingman special charge of the food department, with five deputies working under him, and he saw to it that the laws were strictly enforced in his department. The Armour and Swift packing companies and other big corporations were success- fully prosecuted for violations, and every case was won by the state. One source of great satisfaction to Mr. Dingman in connection with this period of activity is that it brought him into contact with many smooth offenders and he brought them all to justice, with Governor Van Sant standing firmly behind him and aiding his every effort.

After his term of office expired Mr. Dingman made a brief trip to the Pacific Coast. Since his return to Minnesota he has been actively connected with the Pillsbury Milling com- pany as a salesman. During his last year of service he sold 6,000 barrels more in the western part of the state than were sold in his whole territory eight years ago. His sales have been constantly increasing from the start. During his first ycar of service to the company they amounted to 12,000 barrels, and in 1912 the aggregate was 34,000.

Mr. Dingman's interest in the improvement of the city has always been earnest and active. In 1887 he began an agita- tion for converting the Moulton nursery tract in Northeast

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Minneapolis into a park, and after two years of hard work in the matter be was successful. A committee, consisting of himself, Jacob Kessler and Aldis A. Sage, held conferences with the park board, and as a result Windom park of ten acres, which is now one of the most admired beauty spots in the city, was secured.

Fraternally Mr. Dingman is a Freemason, one of the charter members and a Past Warden of Arcana Lodge, No. 187, Minneapolis, and also a member of St. Anthony Falls Royal Arch Chapter. He also belongs to Northern Light Lodge of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum. His religious affiliation is with Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a trustee for twenty-five years. He was first married in 1878, in Mower county, to Miss Cena M. Sprague. She died in Minneapolis, and in 1887 he was married a second time to Miss Minnie S. Banker, a daughter of Silas R. Banker, who is still a resident of Minneapolis. One son, George Banker Dingman, has been born of the union. The beautiful family . Messrs. Dean & Chambers. home is at 2315 Lincoln street northeast.

SEVER ELLINGSON.

In a residence in Minnesota of over fifty years, which began in 1856 and has continued to the present witbout a break except during the Civil war and about one year before and after that conflict, Sever Ellingson, now one of the patriarcbs of Hennepin county, has rendered his immediate locality and bis county excellent service as an enterprising and progressive farmer, and the state at large the same as a conscientious public official.

Mr. Ellingson, wbose home is in Bloomington township, on the bank of the Minnesota river, seventeen miles south and west of Bridge Square, Minneapolis, was born in Norway Dec. 22, 1839, and came to the United States with his parents in 1850. The family located at Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, and remained there until 1854, when the father entered a tract of government land in Poweshiek county, Iowa. In 1856 Sever came to Minnesota with his uncle, Sever Foss, and resided with him on a farm in Nicollet county, near St. Peter.

In 1860 the preliminary throes of tbe great sectional con- test induced Mr. Ellingson to return to his Iowa home, and the next year he enlisted at Decorah, Iowa, in Company D, Third Iowa Infantry, being sworn into the service of the United States at Keokuk. His regiment was sent to join the command under General Grant operating in the West. It took part in the battle of Blue Mills and the battle of Hatchie. Soon after the latter battle was begun he was detailed to conduct his captain, E. I. Weiser, who was severely wounded, to bis home, and was absent from the regiment about eight months, rejoining it when it was operating be- fore Vicksburg, Mississippi. He had participated, however, in the battle of Shilob under General Hurlburt, and there his regiment suffered severely.

At the end of his first term Mr. Ellingson re-enlisted, and after enjoying a veteran's furlough, went back to his regi- ment, which was then witb General Sherman in tbe siege of Atlanta. He remained witb Sherman through his famous march to the sea, and through all the subsequent operations. including the Grand Review at Wasbington, D. C. He was mustered out July 16, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, after having been in the army over four years. At the battle of

Jackson, Mississippi, on July 12, 1863, in a furious brigade charge his regiment was almost annihilated. July 22, 1864, before Atlanta, it was reduced to one company of 27 men with no officer and was afterward consolidated witb tbe Second Iowa Volunteers.

Mr. Ellingson then returned to Iowa, and in 1866 he was married at Mankato to Mrs. Emily Bunker, a widow, whom he took back to Iowa. Two years later they located on the farm on wbicb he now lives, which was originally taken up as a pre-emption claim by Joseph Dean, who founded the Security National Bank in Minneapolis, and had been pur- cbased of him by Mr. Bunker in 1862 or 1863. The farm at first contained 350 acres, but its present owner has reduced it to 180 acres, of which 100 acres is under cultivation. The first bouse built on it was of logs and was one of the earliest erected in Hennepin county. It is still standing at Bloom- ington Ferry, which in the early days was operated by

The present improvements on the property consist of a frame dwelling bouse, fine, large barns and other necessary structures. They were nearly all put up by Mr. Bunker, but some of them were the work of Mr. Ellingson. Mr. Bunker died on the farm, and on it Mrs. Ellingson also passed away, her life ending on February 12, 1895. The dwelling house stands on a bluff overlooking the river and valley. Mr. Ellingson has kept on clearing and cultivating tbe land, raising live stock and grain, and bas always been up to date in his operations. As long as the demand for roadster horses continued he was prominent as an extensive and successful breeder of them.

In the public affairs of his community this public-spirited citizen bas always taken an active part. He served as town- ship clerk and assessor in the early days, and as postmaster from 1868 until after the election of President Cleveland, a period of twenty-seven years, during all of which the post- office was in his residence. In 1887 he was elected to the house of representatives from the district embracing the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Twelfth wards of Minneapolis and about half of the townships in Hennepin county. In tbe legislature he was a member of the committee on temperance, and the advanced legislation of this state in behalf of tem- perance dates from his activity and intelligence as a member of that committee. He championed what are known as the "Patrol law," the "Blind Pig law," the "High License law" and the act requiring the public schools to teach the effects of alcohol and narcotics on the human system.

In 1889 Mr. Ellingson was re-elected to the legislature, and in 1891 he was the Republican nominee for the state senate. Because of a division in his party at that time he was defeated by Dr. John S. Bell, and nearly all his colleagues on the ticket went down to defeat with him, only two Republican candidates out of twenty-one being elected, John Day Smith being one of the two. This election closed Mr. Ellingson's political activity as a 'candidate for office, although be has since been frequently a delegate to county and state conventions of his party, as he was before.

In religious affiliation Mr. Ellingson is a member of Bloom- ington Ferry Methodist Episcopal church, whose house of worship was erected in 1900. He also belongs to the Grand Army of tbe Republic, bolding his membership in Halstead Post at Excelsior, as a member of which he attended tbe national encampments of the G. A. R., which were beld in St. Paul and Minneapolis. He and his wife were the parents

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

of two children, their daughter Minnie and their son Edward L. Minnie is now the widow of the late Edward Tapping and conduets a summer resort called "Woodside" at the old homestead. She has two children, Mendon and Regina. Ed- ward L. Ellingson owns an adjoining farm and operates the homestead, and raises large numbers of cattle and hogs for the markets. The latter constitute the main feature of his enterprise and he is very successful in raising and feeding them, and won three years ago a prize of $300 offered by James J. Hill, which was awarded to him for the best man- aged farm. He devotes his whole time and energy to his farming operations and live stock industry, and is one of the most progressive men in the state in this connection. His wife is Minnie, the only daughter of Col. Frances Peteler. They have no children.

JAMES THOMAS WYMAN.

Among the enterprising manufacturers, substantial business men and publie-spirited citizens of Minneapolis, none stands higher in public esteem or deserves a higher rank in the re- gard of the people than James Thomas Wyman, who has been connected with the business life of the city for more than forty years, and has been very serviceable to the community both in his business operations and in public affairs.

Mr. Wyman was born at Millbridge, Maine, on October 15, 1849, and was one of the twelve children of John and Clarinda (Tolman) Wyman, both of whom were of New England nativity and English ancestry. On the father's side the family came from West Mill, Herefordshire, and on the mother's from Leeds, Yorkshire. The earliest arrivals of the house came to this country in 1640 and settled at Woburn, Massa- chusetts. The representatives of both families, the father's and the mother's, were devout in their loyalty to the colonies from the start, and took part in all the Colonial wars and the War of the Revolution. After the successful termination of the struggle for independenee, Mr. Wyman's great-grand- father removed to Maine, which was then a part of Massa- chusetts.

John Wyman, the father of James T., was a dealer in building materials, but his financial resources were limited, and owing to this faet and the size of his family, he was able to give his children nothing more in the way of mental training than a common school education. He and the mother, however, implanted in them correct principles, a strong sense of duty and high ideals of usefulness, and these attributes have been manifest in the lives of their offspring ever since.

James remained at home until he reached the age of eighteen, working for a living during all his sehool vacations from boyhood. He was of a very industrious turn from early life, and was also eager for more information than his school books furnished. He was a zealous reader, but the bent of his mind was for business, and his reading was mainly of books devoted to business life and requirements.

He came to Minnesota in 1868 and located at Northfield. There he embraced a welcome opportunity for somewhat more advaneed training than he had before secured, by attending Carleton College in 1869 and 1870. But he was not able to complete the eollege course and graduate. His first adventure in business was as one of the proprietors of a small sash, door and blind factory and a sawmill cutting hard wood lum-

ber. This venture proved unfortunate. The mill was de- stroyed by fire, and there was no insurance on it. He accepted his disaster with courage and manfully paid his share of the resulting liabilities in full.

In 1871 the larger and more promising field of Minneapolis became attraetive to him, and he moved to this city that year. Here he sceured employment with Messrs. Smith & Parker, who operated a small sash, door and blind factory on the old sawmill platform at the foot of Cataract street, now Sixth avenue south. Before the end of the year he was made superintendent of the factory, and in 1874 a member of the firm, whieli became Smitlı, Parker & Co. In 1881 the name of the firm was changed to Smith & Wyman, and he was its junior member.

The new firm bought the interests of the other partners and began to make arrangements to enlarge the business. Under their vigor and enterprise in managing its affairs the business has grown from the humble plant which they first operated to one employing three hundred persons. Mr. Wy- man became head of the house after the death of Mr. Smith on December 24, 1906, and he has still expanded its opera - tions into larger volume and value.

In May, 1889, Mr. Wyman united with other enterprising men in founding the Metropolitan Bank of Minneapolis and was made a member of the board of directors. In 1890 he was elected president of this bank and held the position until the bank was merged with the Northwestern National Bank, of which he became a director, and he still holds that relation to the institution and he is also a director in the Minnesota Loan & Trust Co., an affiliated institution. During the finan- cial panic of 1893 he was a member of the Clearing House committee of the associated banks of Minneapolis and later was elected president of the Clearing House Association for one term. He also served as chairman of the committee on manufactures of the Minneapolis Board of Trade for a number of years, and as president of the Board for two terms, in 1888 and 1889. In the latter year he helped to organize the Business Men's Union of the city and was chosen one of its board, of directors.

His busines engagements have been extensive and they have had his constant and intelligent attention at all times. But he has still found opportunity to serve the people of his city in important public offices. He has been a zealous Republican from the dawn of his manhood, and as such was elected a member of the state House of Representatives in 1893 and of the state Senate in 1895. In his legislative service the state had the benefit of his practical business capacity, clear- ness of vision and interest in all classes of the people, and he left the mark of these traits and acquirements in valued laws which are still on the statute books. Among the aets of which he was the author and promoter are the banking laws of the state, which has received the most favorable commendations from banking experts throughout the country; laws for the protection of employes from accidents in using machinery in factories and in building operations; the University tax law for the support of the University of Minnesota; and others of greater or less importance in themselves, according to their purpose and operation.

Mr. Wyman's interest in the eause of general education, his public spirit and well known ability and breadth of view led to his appointment on the board of regents of the Univer sity in 1901 for a term of six years, and in 1904 he was elected president of the board and chairman of its executive

Lamer Twoquan

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

committee, which positions he filled with great acceptability to the end of his term. For some thirty years or more he has been one of the trustees of Hamline University, the de- nominational institution of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he belongs, and has long been vice president of the board and a member of its executive committee. He was also one of the founders of the Associated Charities of Min- neapolis, and served for a number of years as one of the directors of the organization and for a time as president of the board. In the Hennepin avenue Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a communicant for a long time, having been received into the sect in 1866, he is a member of the board of trustees. In social lines he is connected with the Minneapolis Club, the Minikahda Club, and John A. Raw- lins Post, Grand Army of the Republic, in the last named holding the rank of a staff member.

On September 3, 1873, Mr. Wyman was united in marriage with Miss Rosetta Lamberson, the daughter of a Methodist clergyman. They became the parents of seven children: Roy L .; Guy A .; Alice, who is now the wife of E. W. Underwood; James C .; Ethelwynne, who is the wife of J. S. Eaton; Earl F., and Ruth. The mother of these children died on April 15, 1899, and on June 12, 1901, the father contracted a second marriage in which he was united with Mrs. Grace Shotwell, a daughter of Jonathan D. Seaton, an early settler of Minne- apolis and one of its pioneers in the dry goods trade, as Mr. Wyman was in the business in which he is engaged.

Mr. Wyman's business career has been successful. His citizenship has always been elevated and elevating and his public services have been conspicuously valuable.

FREDERICK W. DEAN.

Mr. Dean was born in this city on January 16, 1861, and is the sixth in the order of birth of the seven children of Joseph and Nancy Harvey (Stanley) Dean, a sketch of whose lives appears in this volume. The son obtained a high school education in Minneapolis, and has passed the whole of his life to this time (1914) in this community. Immediately after leaving school in 1878, when he was seventeen years old, he secured a position in the Security National Bank at the opening of that institution, of which his father was the first cashier. He remained in the employ of the bank until 1886, and by that time had risen through promotions made on demonstrated merit to the responsible position of assistant cashier.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 71

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