Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 76

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 76

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GUY A. THOMAS.

Guy A. Thomas, one of the directors and department man- agers of the Washburn-Crosby company, which is known and recognized the world over as the greatest flour milling institu- tion in the history of mankind, is a native of Keeseville, Es- sex county, New York, where his life began October 28, 1874. He is a son of G. T. and Frances (Nimocks) Thomas, natives of the states of New York and Michigan respectively. His father later moving to New Orleans where he was for many years in the flour commission business.

The son was educated in a private school at Fargo, North Dakota, and came to Minneapolis in 1887. His business career was then started as a newsboy. He soon afterward secured employment in the Washburn-Crosby company, and he has been connected with it ever since, serving in a number of dif- ferent capacities and demonstrating his efficiency and capacity in each to such an extent that his progress in the employ of the company has been steadily toward the top. For a num- ber of years he made an excellent record as a salesman for the company, and he is now one of its directors and managers in addition to being interested in all its subsidiary companies.

In the public and civic affairs of Minneapolis and Hennepin county Mr. Thomas has always taken an earnest interest and an active part. He is of the Democratic faith in politics, and has long been a member of the State Central committee of his political party. He has also served as president of the Hen- nepin County Democratic committee. At this time (1914) he is one of the directors of the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce association and belongs to all the prominent clubs in the city. Mr. Thomas has always evidenced his faith in Minneapolis' business being a large owner in property. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Elks on the roll of Minneapolis Lodge No. 44.

Mr. Thomas was married in 1901 to Miss Lulu Frisk, of St. Paul. They have one son, Guy Thomas, Jr., now (1914) five years of age. The family residence is at 1600 Mount Curve avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas take a helpful interest in promoting the work of all good agencies active in the community and are zealous in the careful performance of all the dutics of serviceable citizenship.

HERBERT EVERETT FAIRCHILD.

His ancestors were of Scottish descent and came to the colonies early and taking a leading part in the development of the country in the early days. His father was S. M. Fair- child of New York. He was a farmer, and in 1863 he came west to lowa and took 160 acres of government land, which he developed and cultivated for a good many years. His mother was Helen (Pierce) Fairchild and Herbert was one of five children, all but one of whom are living at the present time. There were three sons and two daughters. In 1893 Mr. Fairchild, Sr., moved to Minneapolis to make his home here. Soon afterward the mother died and the father went to live in Virginia.

Herbert Everett Fairchild is the only member of the family who still lives here. He was born in Galena, Ill., on December 17, 1861, and he received his education in the public schools and graduated from the high school of Fort Dodge, Iowa. He was not yet of age when he came to Minneapolis in 1880 and began his active business career. He went into the drug

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

business. For five years he worked at this and his industry and energy told in the rapid progress which he made, but the work was too confining and his health suffered, so in 1885 he gave it up for good and went into the real estate and fire insurance business. He was fortunate in making profitable investments in Minneapolis real estate and by close application made the year's count for good gains in this new venture. He was unusually successful. It was in 1888 that he first went into the banking profession and he is at present president of the State Institution for Savings.

The profession of banking is an exacting one; it requires in its managing officers unremitting attention, close acquaint- ance with the financial conditions of the country and of the greater influences which affect the monetary stability in the country ; good judgment, firmness of administration and alert- ness in all the daily occurring details of business, but in the midst of all this and in spite of his struggle for success and wealth he has never neglected his civic or social duties. He is a Republican, but the banking business is incompatible with political life and seldom affords its votary time to seek political honors even if he were inclined. In city matters Mr. Fairchild is independent in his choice of candidates, and he is always keenly alive to the issues of the day.

Socially, Mr. Fairchild is also active. He is a Mason and a Shriner, and he belongs both to the Automobile and to the Commercial clubs.

He was married in 1887 to Della Wilson of Chicago.

EZRA FARNSWORTH.

Mr. Farnsworth is recognized as one of the builders of the city of Minneapolis. Evidences of his foresight and of his appreciation of the city's possibilities may be seen in numerous institutions that are part of the city's chief assets.

Born in Boston January 3, 1843, he grew to manhood in that city. Graduating from the high school, he at once went to work in the big dry goods house of Jewett-Tibbits & Co., for two years, and at the close of the war he engaged with the Parker, Wilder & Company, in which his father was a partner. Young Farnsworth started in at the bottom, intend- ing to learn the business in its every phase.

But he was interrupted by the breaking out of the Civil war, and in the Fall of 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier in the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which had been re-organized from the old Sixth Massachusetts Militia, the regiment which had shed the first blood of the war at Baltimore. The new regiment saw extraordinary service. It was with Butler at the capture of New Orleans and of the forts below, and did provost guard duty in the city. In 1863, then a first lieutenant, he was detailed to receive recruits at Boston. This duty kept him in Boston for six months. The general in command detailed Lieutenant Farnsworth and other minor officers to drill the recruits. He much preferred active service and rejoined his regiment at Franklin, Louisiana, after it had returned from the Red River expedition. It was then sent to Bermuda Hundred, Va., under Gen. Butler again, and Lieut. Farnsworth was made brigade commissary. When in 1864, the Confederates under Early made their raid on Washington, in an endeavor to capture the national capital, the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, as part of the Nineteenth Corps, was sent to Washington to head off the invaders. It followed the enemy back to the Shenandoah

Valley and was under Sheridan at Winchester. Upon the arrival of Sheridan after his famous ride, the regiment was in the charge which routed the enemy. At the battle of Cedar Creek, while in command of his company, Lieut. Farns- . worth was wounded for the first time in his three years' service, a grape shot taking off his left foot. He was then promoted captain, and was sent home. It was a year before Captain Farnsworth recovered from his wound sufficiently even to endure the wearing of an artificial foot.

His war service over, Mr. Farnsworth re-engaged with his old house of Parker, Wilder & Co. He went into the New York branch, which had an immense trade. Later he became a partner, and he was with that house until 1881. He was given charge of the finances and credits, made important changes in the system of handling creditors, and also watched closely the western buyers. The firm of H. B. Claflin & Company had handled this business, but Mr. Farnsworth now decided to sell to the Western trade direct. So it came about that when "Black Friday" came, the firm had a large amount of notes due. One jobbing house alone owed Parker, Wilder & Company $80,000. The debtor paid the firm $1,000 in cash, and Mr. Farnsworth accepted small country dealers' notes for $70,000. The debtor firm failed. Mr. Farnsworth's partners were incensed because he had made what they regarded as so "thin-spread-out" a settlement without consult- ing them. The country notes were for small amounts; but he preferred to carry them rather than the $70,000 notes of the one firm, and later the one firm's failure justified his judgment.

After his term of partnership expired, his family physician advised a complete change of surroundings, for the benefit of his wife's health. Mr. Farnsworth had some wild land, in Stevens County, Minnesota, which he owned in partnership with his brother-in-law, Chas. B. Newcomb, who lived in St. Paul. Efforts of his partners to induce him to retain his interest in the firm were unavailing, although he had then a $50,000 interest in the business, and that business had become very substantial, and its future looked fine; younger partners soon accumulated handsome fortunes. But Mr. Farnsworth left the firm, and today he has no regrets over his decision.

With his brother-in-law, Mr. Newcomb, for a partner, Mr. Farnsworth went enthusiastically into the farming enterprise in Stevens County, Minnesota. The change was advantageous to Mrs. Farnsworth's health, and they remained there for three years, although spending their winters elsewhere. Mr. Newcomb returned to St. Paul, and Farnsworth was in full charge.

Mr. Farnsworth finally abandoned farm life. He and New- comb traded their land for Minneapolis real estate, about the Lake of the Isles and along Central Avenue. Mr. Farnsworth decided to live in Minneapolis, although St. Paul friends urged him to live there. He came to Minneapolis in 1881, and soon had more than three hundred lots and thirty-five or forty houses on Central Avenue, and one hundred lots near Lake of the Isles. He began to improve them, and he also did a general real estate business, in partnership with John R. Wool- cott.

Mr. Farnsworth, during the days before his retirement, had a long and persistent-but successful-struggle for the erection of the Franklin Avenue bridge over the Mississippi. The bridge fight involved warring real estate interests, was carried into the State Legislature, and thus into the campaigns of candidates for the legislature, and was participated in by such men as "Bill" King, T. B. Walker, Charles A. Pillsbury. J. B. Gilfillan, and L. F. Menage. the last named then in the

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

height of his activity in Minneapolis. Mr. Farnsworth's efforts finally triumphed and the bridge was built.

Mr. Farnsworth greatly aided in the development of the Minneapolis park system. The Park Board had entered upon the work of development, and Mr. Farnsworth offered it a part of Prospect Park. The Board refused it on the ground that the land was too rough. Mr. Farnsworth also owned a long strip of the Mississippi river bank, a mile and a quarter long. He petitioned the Board to take this strip for a park. He also interested the St. Paul Park Board in the offer. Both bodies at first firmly opposed Mr. Farnsworth's project, but he clung tenaciously to it, and after four or five years succeeded in inducing the Park Board to take over that property by issuing certificates of indebtedness. J. B. Gilfillan furnished the money to Mr. Farnsworth at six per cent (wlien, during the panic of 1893, the regular rate was twelve), with which to pay off a mortgage so as to make the lots clear.

It was Mr. Farnsworth who interested Henry Villard, then president of the Northern Pacific, in a plan of building a dam at Meeker Island, the purpose being to generate power with which to furnish electricity to the Twin Cities. He had an engineer examine and report on the project. The big mill owners of Minneapolis opposed the project, and they got the city engineer to certify that there would be no such fall as planned, and that the backwater would destroy the tail race at the Falls of St. Anthony. The shrinkage in the transmis- sion of electrical power, also, was then so great that Villard abandoned the project. It is on the same site that the high dam construction by the United States government was begun in 1912, to generate power and light for the Twin Cities and the University of Minnesota. Thus did Mr. Farnsworth see results from one of his pet hobbies, as it was termed at the time he broached it, and its subsequent development con- firmed his judgment.

Mr. Farnsworth married Leila F. Newcomb, of Boston, in 1869. To them three sons and one daughter were born. Of these Arthur Farnsworth is a consulting engineer in Fresno, California; Ethel, who lives at home, is an artist and also is active in settlement work, and had charge of the art exhibit at the time of the Civic celebration in 1911; Ezra, Jr., and John Jay, twin brothers, are in real estate in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Farnsworth is a member of and former elder in Westminster Presbyterian Church; he is prominent in the Loyal Legion, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being a past commander of John A. Rawlings post. His home is at 1418 Mount Curve Avenue, Minneapolis.

HON. CHARLES EDWIN VANDERBURGH.

In the sixty-eight years of the useful life of this most highly esteemed citizen of Minneapolis and distinguished jurist of Minnesota were achieved more substantial and prac- tical results of enduring value and a larger measure of benefit for his own and subsequent generations than many men of eminent ability and sedulous industry accomplish in much longer periods of continued labor under conditions more favorable to production than those amid which he wrought out his great career. For his work was fundamental in character, and had to be broad, deep and enduring, and he had no aspiration higher than that of making it so, and his unusual qualities of mind and manhood enabled him to do it in the highest degree.

Judge Vanderburgh was born in the village of Clifton Park, Saratoga county, New York, on December 2, 1829, and

died in Minneapolis on March 3, 1898. He was of sturdy Holland Dutch stock, which showed its sterling quality in his grandfather, who was a soldier for American liberty in the Revolutionary war, and his father, Stephen Vanderburgh, who was one of the men of strong character, prominence and influence in the county of the judge's nativity, where the father was also born and reared.

Charles Edwin Vanderburgh began his academic education in the district schools, continued it at Courtland Academy, at Homer, New York, and completed it at Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1852. For a time. after his grad- uation from Yale he was principal of an academy at Oxford, in his native state, and while serving the public in that capacity he studied law. He was admitted to practice in 1855 and the next year took up his residence in Minneapolis and formed a law partnership with the late Judge F. R. E. Cor- nell. This partnership lasted until 1859, when Mr. Vander- burgh was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District, which had been recently formed and included all of the state of Minnesota extending from Fort Snelling to the Canadian line and from the Red river almost to the Great Lakes, and he was chosen to administer the law throughout this immense territory when he was only about thirty years of age.

The duties of the office were, however, congenial to the young judge, and he made use of them to excellent purpose for the good of the state. In driving from place to place in his district he impressed his individuality upon a wide circle of friends and acquaintances and secured a hold on the con- fidence and regard of the people that nothing could ever shake. As he used his power and influence only for the best interests of the whole people and the establishment of abso- lute and substantial justice, as far as that was attainable through human agencies, his popularity was a source of great and lasting benefit to the people of his day and those of all subsequent years because of the strong leverage it gave him in attaining the righteous ends toward which he always worked.

After a service of over twenty years on the district bench Judge Vanderburgh was elected, in 1881, a justice of the supreme court of the state to fill the place made vacant by the death of his old partner, Judge Cornell. He served on the supreme bench until 1894, with satisfaction to the judi- ciary, the bar and the people of the whole state. After his retirement from the supreme court he resumed the practice of law and his activity in political affairs. He was always a devoted friend of the common people, and valued their esteem and friendship above that of any other class. In 1896, when Hon. William J. Bryan was first a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Judge Vanderburgh presided over the first mass meeting addressed by that distinguished Commoner in Minneapolis.

One of the most celebrated cases decided by Judge Vander- burgh was that of Eliza Winston, a slave belonging to a wealthy Mississippian and brought by him to St. Anthony, which was then a popular summer resort for Southern fam- ilies. The slave woman was brought before the judge on a writ of habeas corpus, and he held that a slave brought into the free state of Minnesota became free, and set the woman at liberty. By the aid of sympathetic residents of St. Anthony she escaped to Canada, and the action of the judge, in the face of intense and influential opposition, fixed his fame here as a man of the kindliest feeling for the lowly and utter fearlessness in the discharge of what he felt to be his duty, betide what might.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Judge Vanderburglı's decisions while on the supreme bench were distinguished for strong common sense, great legal learning, thorough investigation of facts and admirable con- ciseness of expression. They are best described, as is his character as a man and as a judge, by his associates in the court and the members of the bar who practiced before him. One of them declared he was entitled to the reputation he had of being "the best administrator of the equity jurisdic- tion who ever occupied a seat on the supreme bench, as well as a man of eminent ability in other departments of judicial procedure." Another said: "He brought to his high office a thorough scholarship in the law, a love of right, a studious and painstaking habit. 'What is the right of this matter?' was ever his guiding thoughit. Whether considered as a man, a citizen or a jurist, the main springs of his life and character seemed to be a steadfast fidelity to duty, a sincere conviction in what he believed to be right and a fearless courage in expressing that conviction." The highest tributes to his worth as a man, his usefulness and elevated tone as a citizen, his superior excellence as a judge, and the exemplary nature of his private life were paid with one voice all over the state at the time of his death and many times while he lived.

On September 2, 1857, Judge Vanderburgh married Miss Julia M. Mygatt, of Oxford, New York. She died in 1863 after a protracted illness, leaving two children, William Henry, who is now a prominent member of the Minneapolis bar, and Julia M., who was accidentally drowned in a cistern in the family residence in 1871. In 1873 the judge married Miss Anna Culbert, a daughter of Hon. John Culbert, of Broadalbin, Fulton county, New York. The only child of this union was a beautiful daughter named Isabella, of unusual talents and promise. She died in 1893, at the age of eighteen. Her mother is still living and has her home at 806 Mount Curve avenue.

Judge Vanderburgh was preeminently a churchman and a friend of the feeble congregation of his denomination. He was a Presbyterian, and for years served as a Sunday school superintendent in different churches at different times and as an elder of Westminster church and later of the First Pres- byterian. He gave the ground and building for Stewart Memorial church, was a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council held in Glasgow in 1896, a trustee of Bennet Semi- nary, which was incorporated in 1871, and vice president of the Young Men's Library Association, which was organized in 1859. He was also a liberal contributor to Macalester Col- lege, and took a deep interest in Albert Lea College, of which he was a trustee. His death was sudden and seemed un- timely, but his memory still lives in the affectionate regard of the whole community.

MARTIN C. FOSNES.

An instance of capability in public office is furnished in the career of Martin C. Fosnes, the late efficient, capable and popular assistant postmaster of Minneapolis.

Mr. Fosnes was born in Norway, March 26, 1851, and came to Minnesota with his father, Amund Fosnes, at the age of sixteen. They located on a farm in Winona county, where Martin attended the school in the neighborhood. His capabilities attracted the attention of Hon. William Windom, United States Senator, and secured him an entrance into

the official life of the country, in which he was thenceforth creditably employed. Senator Windom made him his private secretary, and he was associated in that relation with that eminent and amiable gentleman for a number of years. He afterward became an examiner in the pension office and so continued until January 1, 1891. His services here won him strong commendation, and his aptitude and bearing gained him additional credit and popularity until his death, Oct. 16, 1913.

In January, 1891, Mr. Fosnes was transferred to the post- office branch of the public service as a postoffice inspector. This office he held until early in 1911, when he was assigned to duty in Minneapolis as assistant postmaster, a position he filled with credit to himself, honor to the city and satis- faction to the government. During his twenty years as postoffice inspector. Mr. Fosnes passed two years in Cuba, having been sent to take charge of postal matters there. He was designated as "Director General of Posts" on the island and in official rosters, and when the United States retired from its protectorate he was assigned to the inspection of postoffices in the Northwest.

Mr. Fosnes was a Lutheran in religious affiliation and a Republican in political faith and allegiance. But he never was an active partisan or took a prominent part in political 'contentions. He loyally adhered to party, but deemed faith- ful performance of his official duties the best service he could render it. The welfare of every community in which he lived engaged his interest warmly as did all projects for public improvement. In every requirement and particular he proved himself to be an excellent citizen, and won uni- versal approval and regard. Yet he bore his popularity modestly, claiming no distinction, and being content with having performed his duty well. On July 9, 1891, he was united in marriage, at Des Moines, Iowa, with Doctor Edith M. Gould, a native of Connecticut. She shares in the public esteen bestowed upon her husband, and like him is well worthy of all regard and admiration. She has been in active practice in St. Paul since 1909. She is a club woman, being identified with the Federation and of the Suffrage move- ment.

WILLIAM F. FRUEN.

As the means of supplying the residents of Minneapolis with pure spring water for drinking and domestic purposes, and as a citizen deeply and productively interested in the moral, social, fraternal and civic life of the city and the higher and finer development of its aesthetic features, William F. Fruen, secretary and treasurer of the Glenwood-Inglewood company and president of the Fruen Cereal company, is making himself very useful in the community, being esteemed in accordance with his elevated and progressive citizenship.

· Mr. Fruen is a native of Boston, where his life began in 1869. He is a son of William H. and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Fruen, who came to Minneapolis in 1870, leaving William F., with his grandmother in Boston until two years later. Full mention of his parents will be found elsewhere in this volume.

In 1885 Mr. Fruen became associated with H. W. Phelps in the sale of spring water to public and private houses, restau- rants and other business establishments in the city. The springs were on his factory property, which embraced three

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

acres, and the sales from the start were sufficient to require the use of two delivery teams. On the adjoining property were bountiful springs belonging to the Inglewood company, which was engaged in the same business. The two plants were competitors for ten or eleven years, and by the end of that period each was obliged to use five or six wagons, and in 1896 the wise step of consolidating them under one manage- ment was taken. Then the Glenwood-Inglewood company was formed and incorporated in 1904, with A. E. Holbrook, the former owner of the Inglewood springs, as president.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 76

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