Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 78

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 78

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At the age of twenty-one Mr. Forman was married to Miss Mary Jane Bridge, also a native of Oneida county, New York, who survives at the old home at 2303 Park avenue. She is active in club and church work, as well as in social life. She is the mother of one son and three daughters. Frank B., died at the age of forty-five. Evelyn Jane is the wife of Alexander E. Clerihew, president of the Forman, Ford Co., and also living at the old home. Katherine F. is the

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

wife of Edgar G. Barratt, president of a bag and paper company in New York City, and Mary M. died at the age of eighteen.

JOHN FAGERSTROM.

John Fagerstrom, contractor and builder, is a native of Sweden, born November 17, 1856. He came to America in March, 1882, and immediately settled in Minneapolis. Full of faith in his adopted country, he secured employment at $1.25 a day and took his place in the ranks of American citizens. As a memento of his first day of work he recalls the fact that he struck the first pick in the breaking of the ground for the West hotel. From this start and with the capital of his own hands, Mr. Fagerstrom has built up a splen- did independent business and now owns numerous properties, residences and flats in Minneapolis, a city that continues to command his ardent support and trust. A few weeks after securing his first position he was taken ill and foreed to spend several months in the hospital. On his recovery he continued at day labor, this time working for a year assist- ing in the construction of the Second street sewer. He then became employed as a brick and stone mason and from that occupation advanced to his present one of contractor and builder, in which he has been engaged for the last fifteen years. He began to invest in property as early as 1886 and his keen judgment in business matters and great efficiency in all details of his work, being himself both superintendent and architect, have contributed to his successful career. He keeps in his employ from ten to fifteen men and devotes most of his labor to the construction of flat buildings and residences of which he disposes by renting or selling on terms. In 1885, Mr. Fagerstrom visited in Sweden and on his return a sister and brother accompanied him to his new home and a little later they were joined by a second sister. An- other journey to the old country was made in 1908. Mr. Fagerstrom served for two years in the city hall as street opening commissioner and is a director of the Minneapolis State bank and the Bankers' Security company. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen fraternal order, the West Side Com- mercial club and is vice president and a director of the Swedish-American club. Mr. Fagerstrom has been a faith- ful and generous supporter of the Zion Lutheran church since its organization twenty years ago. He was married in 1885 to Miss Caroline Erickson, like her husband a native of Sweden, who came to Minneapolis in 1881. They have two sons, Albert, who graduated in medicine from the Univer- sity of Milwaukee, and is now a successful practitioner in Minneapolis, and Lawrence F .. a student in the University of Minnesota.

CHARLES ROLLIN FOWLER.

Charles Rollin Fowler is of Quaker ancestry, and his family who were from Warren county, Ohio, came to Minneapolis in a body in 1853. The Quaker blood comes from his mother's side. She was Jane Varner. His father was Rollin D. Fowler. The son, Charles R., was born at Jordan, Minnesota, on

September 17, 1869. His early boyhood was passed at Jordan and he began his education there. In 1885 he came to Minne- apolis and has been a resident of this city ever since with the exception of one year which he spent in Glencoe, Minne- sota, and another at Fargo, North Dakota. He entered the Law Department of the University of Minnesota and grad- uated in 1892. For the years 1892 and 1893 lie practiced his profession in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1893 he opened an office in Minneapolis 'and has enjoyed a continuously suc- cessful and profitable practice ever since. In 1905 he formed a partnership with Judge W. A. Kerr and the firm was known as Kerr and Fowler. Later Judge Fred V. Brown became a member of the firm with the firm name Brown, Kerr and Fowler. Mr. Brown soon withdrew to become General At- torney for the Great Northern R. R. at Seattle. The firm was 'continued under the name of Kerr and Fowler until January 1st, 1913, at which time John R. Ware and Fred N. Fowler were added as partners under the firm name of Kerr, Fowler, Ware & Fowler. For a number of years Mr. Fowler has been resident vice-president of the Ameri- can Surety Company of New York.

He is socially inclined and his tastes are thoroughly demo- cratic. While he was in the University he took an active part in the social life of the instituton as a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity and was president of the law alumni association in 1897. He is a Mason, an Elk and a member of the Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Minneapolis Athletic, Minneapolis Automobile, Minikahda and University clubs. He is a mem- ber of the Episcopal church. He was a member of the Minnesota National Guard from 1886 to 1891, in Company B. of the First Regiment.

Mr. Fowler is an active Republican and served in the Minne- sota legislature during the 1911-1912 session.

HOVEY CHARLES CLARKE.

Hovey C. Clarke of Minneapolis, who has for many years been one of the leading lumbermen of this country, and whose operations in the industry to which he has given the greater part of his time and attention have been imperial in their range and results, is a native of Flint. Michigan, where his life began on May 7, 1859. He is a son of George Thomas and Mary Elizabethı (Duxbury) Clarke. natives of New England. The father was a civil engineer, and had charge of the Baltimore & Ohio, the Mainc Central, the Pere Marquette, the Ann Arbor, and other railroads east of the Mississippi.

The ancestry of the family in this country runs back to early Colonial days and began in New England, where the progenitors of the American branch of the house were among the pioneers and founders of civilization. Hobart Clarke, the grandfather of Hovey C., was a resident of Andover, Massa- chusetts, a lawyer by profession, and the first president of the Boston & Maine Railroad: and throughout the American history of the family its members have dignified and adorned the higher walks of life in many fruitful fields of useful endeavor.

Hovey C. Clarke began his academic education in the com- mon school in his native town and finished it at the high school in Ann Arbor in the same state. When he left school he entered the office of the Chicago & West Michigan-now the

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Pere Marquette Railroad, beginning his services to this line at Muskegon, Michigan, in 1876. He started as a clerk in the auditor's office, but rose by rapid promotions for meritorious work and unusual adaptability to the business to one higher position after another, becoming in turn purchasing agent, sec- retary to the general superintendent and chief clerk to the freight, traffic and passenger agent.

But while he found railroad work agreeable and full of promise for him, Mr. Clarke had a longing for another line of effort which seemed to open a shorter avenue to large suc- cess through business interests of his own. Accordingly, when the Hall & Ducey Lumber company was organized in the spring of 1886 by Thomas H. Shevlin, Patrick A. Ducey, Stephen C. Hall and himself, he gave up his engagement with the railroad company and became secretary of the new lumber enterprise. In this position he proved himself to be possessed of great energy and excellent judgment in connection with the work he had in hand. He rapidly made himself master of inner knowl- edge of the manufacture and distribution of lumber, and soon became one of the best informed and most useful men in the industry.

On January 1, 1893, Elbert L. Carpenter, a sketch of whom will be found in this work, and who had been a wholesaler in Minneapolis, bought an interest in the Hall & Ducey com- pany, and it was then consolidated with the Hall & Shevlin Lumber company, which was organized in 1887 to carry on a manufacturing business. The name chosen for the new cor- poration was the Shevlin-Carpenter Lumber company. Thomas H. Shevlin was elected its president, E. L. Carpenter its secre- tary and Mr. Clarke its treasurer.

Minneapolis was the great primary white pine lumber mar- ket of the country, and the Shevlin-Carpenter Lumber company rose rapidly to the first rank among the lumber manufac- turers in this part of the world. But it was all alive with enterprise, and as soon as it had one big undertaking well in hand it reached out for another. 'The company secured extensive timber holdings in the Red River district in Northern Minnesota, which it is now operating on a large scale. In 1895 Mr. Clarke and his associates organized the J. Neils Lumber company, which owns and operates a sawmill at Sauk Rapids, this state, which cuts 15,000,000 feet of lumber annually; and in 1899 the company bought another mill at Cass Lake, and there built an additional band and band resaw mill. The capacity of this has since been enlarged by the addition of a gang saw, and thereby the annual output of the two mills was increased to 50,000,000 feet.

Another undertaking of considerable magnitude in which Mr. Clarke was interested with Mr. Shevlin during the life of the latter, and with which he is still connected, and in it associated with Frank P. Hixon of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was started in 1896, when a large amount of timber was bought on the Red Lake Indian Reservation tributary to the Clear- water river, and the St. Hilaire Lumber company was organ- ized to develop it. A saw mill with a capacity of 40,000,000 feet a year was put up at St. Hilaire, and one year later the St. Hilaire company bought the sawmill and logs of the Red River Lumber company at Crookston, with all of the timber holdings of the latter. The Crookston Lumber company was then organized, the present plant of which has a capacity of 40,000,000 fcet a year. In connection with these manufactur- ing plants twelve retail offices and yards are operated under the name of the St. Hilaire Retail Lumber company. These greatly facilitate handling the lumber from the tree to the consumer, which it has always been the desire of the far-

seeing gentlemen at the head of these mammoth institutions to do to the greatest possible extent.

Subsequent to the time mentioned above the old Crookston Lumber company and the St. Hilaire Lumber company were consolidated under the name of the former. Mr. Clarke con- tinued to serve as treasurer after the consolidation, and he still bears that official relation to the company. Soon after the combination of the two companies a large mill was built at Bemidji, where the general offices of the company for that part of the state had been located some time before, and was cquipped with two band saws and a gang saw, which made it capable of turning out annually 70,000,000 feet of lumber. For the purpose of furnishing logs for this mill by direct trans- portation a logging spur twelve miles long was built through the timber, connecting with the Minnesota & International Railroad at Hovey Junction. This arrangement has made easily available a large amount of timber inaccessible prior to its completion. The company now owns approximately 400,- 000,000 feet of stumpage in this state, and is working it all vigorously.

Mr. Clarke and his associates are also very extensively inter- ested in the lumber industry in Canada. in addition to what they are doing in this country. In the fall of 1893 the Shev- lin-Clarke company, limited, was organized to operate in the province of Ontario, and a number of timber berths, aggregat- ing 225,000,000 feet of pine, were purchased in the Dominion. This company is still energetically engaged in business, and it's output and dealings reach an enormous total in volume and value.

Mr. Clarke's business interests and operations have a mag- nitude surpassing those of many other men, and it is easy to infer that they are very exacting. But he has always found time and energy to take an active and helpful interest in the public affairs and general welfare of his community. Perhaps no service he ever rendered Minneapolis has been of more value than the courageous work he did in helping to cleanse the city of the municipal rottenness which permeated it under the administration of former Mayor Ames, and which brought great temporary discredit to it.

Through the corruptness of some of its municipal officials, the Scandinavian metropolis of the Northwest was infested with criminals of every class, invited to the city by the offi- cials themselves, it was said, in order that those officials might increase their bank accounts by the graft that would follow. For a time crime ran riot in the city, and a most deplorable condition prevailed. This was in the latter part of 1901 and the early months of 1902. In April of the year last named an ordinary grand jury was impaneled and began its work without special instructions. Mr. Clarke was foreman of this grand jury and had some knowledge of the malfeasance of the city's officials. He proposed an investigation to his fellow jurors, won them over to his views, and the investiga- tion was begun.

From the start Mr. Clarke was hampered by the persons likely to be exposed. Every device available was used to hin- der his progress. Bribes were offered to induce him to desist, and even his life was threatened if he persevered. But he went on with the inquiry no matter what obstacles were placed in his way or what danger was made to appear immi- nent. When evidence through the ordinary channels was denied him he hired local detectives and then employed outside sleuths to watch them. He paid the bills himself, the expenses

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

of the grand jury for the summer being less than $300 to the eounty.

In a short time the better elements in the community ral- lied to Mr. Clarke's assistance, and within eight months the criminals were routed, corrupt officials were sent to prison, and the city was cleansed and regulated as it had never been before. Minneapolis, grateful for his good work in this coura- geous action, offered him political reward for it, but, with characteristie manliness and unselfishness, he declined all over- tures in that line. He won, however, a better and more endur- ing reward than any political preferment could have given him in the lasting regard and admiration of all right-thinking men and women in the city and throughout the length and breadth of the land.

In addition to the business enterprises already mentioned Mr. Clarke is connected with several others. He is treasurer of the Lillooet Lumber company and of the Land, Log and Lumber company; and he is also a director of the First National Bank of Minneapolis and one of the trustees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In social relations he is connected with the Min- neapolis, Lafayette and Minikahda clubs of his home city, the Chicago elub of the Illinois metropolis, and other social, golf and entertainment organizations. He has been president of the Lafayette club for ten years, and has long been active and serviceable in every other organization to which he belongs. In religious affiliation he is an Episcopalian and for some years has been a member and vestryman of St. Mark's church of that denomination in Minneapolis. He takes great interest in the affairs of the congregation to which he belongs, and in religious matters generally, and is broad-minded and practical in the serviee he renders in this behalf. On June 9, 1886, he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie L. Riee of Detroit, Michi- gan. They have no children.

GEORGE N. FARWELL.

In 1856 John L. Farwell, father of him whose name ini- tiates this article, came to the west from his native state of New Hampshire, as a young man of twenty-two years. He made the trip to Davenport, Iowa, in company with another young man, the late Austin Corbin, who later achieved na- tional reputation as a successful railroad builder. Mr. Cor- bin at that time was virtually without financial resources, as shown by the fact that he borrowed from his friend Far- well the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, to defray the expenses of his western trip. It is gratifying to note that Messrs. Farwell and Corbin continued close personal friends and associates for fully forty years, the relations being severed only by death. After visiting St. Louis young Farwell came up the Mississippi river to the ambitious but embryonic city of Minneapolis, and he beeame so impressed with the locality that he purchased, at eighteen dollars an acre, the tract of eighty acres which his son has in recent years developed into the suburb known as Homewood.

John L. Farwell finally returned to New Hampshire, where he eventually became a substantial banker, as well as one of the representative men of affairs in the state. He retained the Homewood tract at Minneapolis until his death, and though he had been offered five thousand dollars an acre for

the property it was still little more than a eow pasture at the time when he died.

In 1879 George N. Farwell, who had been reared and edu- cated in his native state of New Hampshire, made a trip to the west, the principal allurement being a gracious young woman who was then living at Dubuque, Iowa. It may be stated that the friendship of the young couple ripened into love and resulted in the marriage of Mr. Farwell to Miss Anna Grosvenor. About 1882 Mr. Farwell became asso- eiated with William A. Barnes and Ellwood S. Corser, who owned eighty acres, and with a Mr. Griswold, who had forty acres, and they platted the Oak Park addition. The Barnes and Corser half of the property was greatly improved within the next few years, streets being laid out and other modern improvements being installed. Prior to the time when real estate improvements eame to temporary ebb in Minneapolis, there had been erected on the addition about eighty houses of the better order, at cost varying from four to eighteen thousand dollars. Mr. Farwell had in the meanwhile become a substantial banker at Claremont, New Hampshire, and had made no special effort to dispose of his Minneapolis realty. In the meanwhile he acquired ownership of the eighty acres of land that had been purchased by his father in the pioneer days of Minneapolis. About the year 1906, he deeided to come to Minneapolis and devote a few years to the im- provement and development of his local property. In the meanwhile the D. C. Bell Investment Company had ac- quired the west half of the original eighty acres, and in con- junction with this eorporation Mr. Farwell became active in the platting and improving of the Homewood addition to the city of Minneapolis. Adjoining the tract on the west was a fine body of native timber, and this had been purchased by the Minneapolis board of park commissioners, at the insti- gation and advice of Mr. Farwell, the tract now constituting the eity's beautiful Glenwood Park.

His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, both he and his wife are communicants of St. Mark's church. Protestant Episcopal, and he is a member of the board of trustees of the Wells Memorial Settlement House. Mr. and Mrs. Farwell have two children. Grosvenor was graduated in Harvard University, as a member of the class of 1909, and is now identified with banking operations in New York city; Susan is the wife of Harold H. Bennett. a Harvard graduate, and they now reside at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

MAJOR EDWARD G. FALK.

Was born in Red Wing, Minnesota, July 22, 1859, and is a son of Andrew and Catherine Falk. The father coming from Illinois, was a pioneer of Red Wing, locating there in 1845, where he opened the first hotel. Later he took a homestead in Goodhue county, but still maintained his residence in Red Wing, and for a time traded with the Chippewa and Sioux Indians until they were removed.

Edward G. Falk learned the trade of harness making there and came to Minneapolis in 1879, working at the bench till 1886, when he opened a grocery store at Stevens avenue and Twenty-sixth street, which he condneted for three years, then engaging in earriage trimming and harness making for Stark & Darrow for three years. He was for two years in the livery business, and then took a contraet for Dodds & Fisher,

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

making their light harness and kindred products for eight ·

years.

In 1892 he started his present business as a manufacturer and dealer of harness and other leather goods, on Lake street, and in this has been continuously engaged for twenty-one years.

June 19, 1882, he enlisted in Company A, First Minnesota Regiment, and was soon afterward made corporal and sergeant. In 1892 he was appointed inspector of rifle practice on the staff of Col. W. B. Bond, and held this position until the beginning of the Spanish-American war, when he was made regimental adjutant of the Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry with the rank of first lieutenant. He went to the Philippines with this regiment, and in March, 1899, was pro- moted to the rank of captain and adjutant.

As adjutant Captain Falk had supervision of all the details of the regiment. All orders were issued and all promotions made through him, and all parts of the field work of the regiment were also under his personal attention. In addition he had direct supervision over the non-commissioned staff band and hospital corps.

He was appointed regimental adjutant with rank of captain at the reorganization of the First Regiment upon the return of the Thirteenth Regiment from the Philippines, in which position he served to 1911, when he was made adjutant-general of the First Brigade with the rank of major. In the Philip- pines the major took part in about thirty-five engagements. At the battle on the 13th of August, 1898, he was recom- mended for bravery and special reward.

Major Falk is a Shriner in Zurah Temple, a member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics and is Past Regent in the Royal Arcanum. He helped organize and was three years president of the West Side Commercial club, which has done much to improve the Lake street district, and which presented him with a handsome testimonial.

Major Falk was married in 1883, to Miss Frances Lydia · James, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Jonathan James, a prominent contractor of Minneapolis. They have one son, Harold N. Falk, a real estate dealer on Lake street. He graduated from the high school and the law department of the State University.

Major Falk has won many honors as a marksman and taken a large number of medals, about 100 in all, in shooting con- tests. He was a member of the state and regimental team twenty-five years, and while connected with' it won the American championship on many shooting ranges. He also, in 1888, broke the army record at Fort Snelling, before that time held by Captain Partelle of the regular army. In this contest he shot at 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 yards, and led the score for each distance.

The major has been in demand, too, for exhibitions of his skill before popular audiences. In company with his brother W. O., he has often appeared in lightning and fancy drill exercises, which have led to tempting offers from the vaude- ville stage. He enjoys all athletic and other outdoor sports, and engages in them frequently through his membership in several of the leading clubs and social organizations. All that is manly and elevating in physical development, all that is beneficial and improving in citizenship, all that contributes to the expansion and influence of the business interests of his community, and all that raises the moral and intellectual standard enlists his cordial support, and he is esteemed for

broad, enterprising and productive public spirit, business ability and genuine worth.

WILLIAM WATTS FOLWELL, LL. D.

The character, services and career of Dr. William W. Folwell are best indicated in the comprehensive, highly honorable and very expressive title of "Educator." His whole manhood has been given to teaching in various ways, and the world is better and wiser because of his activities in this useful line of endeavor, while hundreds of men and women are living in a more exalted and invigorating moral and intellectual atmos- phere because of intercourse with him either directly in the class room or more remotely through his numerous addresses and writings on questions of present moment and enduring vitality and importance.

Dr. Folwell was born at Romulus, Seneca county, New York, on February 14, 1833. He was graduated from Hobart College, Geneva, New York, in 1857, and received the degree of LL. D. from that institution in 1880. In 1857 and 1858 he was a teacher of languages in Ovid Academy, New York, and from 1858 to 1860 adjunct professor of mathematics in Hobart College. In 1860 and 1861 he was a student in Berlin, Germany, and from 1862 to 1865 a Union soldier in the Fiftieth New York Volunteer Engineers, in which he rose from the rank of first lieutenant to that of major and brevet lieutenant-colonel.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 78

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