Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 81

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 81

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As evidence of the close relationship of those with whom he has been associated in building the industry of which he is at the head, and the loyalty, love, and trust which his employees have for him, it is a noteworthy fact that nearly thirty of his present employees have occupied their present positions for as many years, and an annual dinner and sojourn to his beautiful country home where these employees are entertained, old tales retold, reminiscences indulged in, is indicative of the happy relation, and sincere bond between employer and employee.

Mr. Wilcox was born at Middlebury, Ohio, on January 4th, 1847, the town being now a part of Akron, Ohio. He is a son of David G. and Hannah C. (Whitney) Wilcox, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Salisbury, Ohio. The father moved from his native state of Ohio when he was but fourteen years old, and eventually became a manufacturer of sash, doors and kindred products of the wood worker's skill as a member of the firm of Weary, Snyder and Wilcox. He died in Buffalo, N. Y. at the age of eighty- four.

John F. Wilcox was educated in the public schools of Akron and at Dennison University, Granville, Ohio, where he pursued the Scientific Course. In 1867, a few months after leaving school, he came to Minnesota and located in Minne- apolis. Being capable in the industry conducted by his father, he entered the employ of Wheaton, Reynolds & Francis, a firm engaged in the same line, soon after his arrival. Mr. Francis retired from the firm in 1871, and at that time Mr. Wilcox was taken in in his place, the firm name being changed to Wheaton, Reynolds & Company. In 1885 he disposed of his interest in the concern to his partners and started in business alone as John F. Wilcox, manufacturer of wood specialties, and in this line of production he has ever since been occupied.

His own plant, which has now been in continuous operation for twenty-eight years, was started on a small scale and has been built up by his enterprise, progressiveness and fine busi- ness capacity to great proportions. He has given it unceasing attention and has kept his eye open to its needs and the requirements of the market wisely and with excellent judg- ment, his aim being to make every ounce of its power count

to its expansion and his own advantage. In this aim he has succeeded admirably, as the industry over which he presides with such mastery amply testifies.

During the long period of its growth and development, however, he has been assiduous also in his efforts to advance the general interests of his community and the abiding welfare of its residents, never withholding his hand when a public need required its aid, and never stopping to consider the personal sacrifice or inconvenience to himself the service might involve. In the earlier days of his residence in the city he was a member of the Cataract Volunteer Fire Engine Company, and always "ran with the machine" when duty called him to do so. When the company was taken over by the city as a part of its paid fire department he discontinued his connection with it.

Mr. Wilcox has taken an active part in the direction of public affairs, but only for the general good, and never for personal advancement or the gratification of a personal ambition. For he has never held a political office, although he stands high in the Councils and regard of the Republican party, of which he has always been a member. In church affiliation he is a Congregationalist and in fraternal relations a Freemason of the Thirty-second degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite. He is also a member of the Minneapolis, Athletic, Minikahda and Lafayette clubs, and a valued contributor to their needs and general welfare.

On June 13th, 1871, Mr. Wilcox was married to Miss Emma E. Clement. They have five children, Harry E., President of the H. E. Wilcox Motor Company, Dr. Archa E., Surgeon of Hillcrest Hospital, Myrtic E., who is the wife of Dr. Walter T. Joslin, Ralph D., who is connected with his father in most of his business enterprises, and Beatrice E., who is still a member of the parental family circle.

WILLIAM DANIEL .GREGORY.

Mr. Gregory has long been an influential factor in the in- dustrial life of the Northwest, and one of the leading millers and lumbermen of Minnesota.

He was born in Maumee, Lucas County, Ohio, March 22, 1855, the son of a physician in active practice in that town. His opportunities for education in the public schools were limited, but he had excellent training in the practical school of experience. At the age of 17 he entered a flouring mill as a workman, and there he became a complete master of the milling business and the grain trade in which he has been engaged during the subsequent years of his life.

For some years after acquiring his trade Mr. Gregory was associated with George W. Reynolds, one of the oldest millers in Northern Ohio, in milling and grain operations in Toledo. In 1884 he came to Minneapolis and united with Samuel S. Linton in a grain firm, from which has grown that of the present Gregory, Jennison & Company of Minneapolis, and Gregory, Cook & Co., of Duluth. The Minneapolis firm has its offices in the Flour Exchange Building, but were for a number of years in the old Chamber of Commerce. William D. Gregory is senior member of this firm. It owns the Mid- way Elevator, with a capacity of 1,500,000 bushels. He is president of the Powers Elevator company. which operates 53 elevators and 22 lumber yards in the Northwest. He is also president of the Duluth Universal Milling Company

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

and secretary of the Commander Mill Company, which has mnills at Montgomery and Morristown, Minn.

He has ever been active in helping to promote the welfare of his home city and is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and the Civic and Commerce Association of Minne- apolis and the Board of Trade of Duluth. He also belongs to the Commercial, Minikahda, and Lafayette Clubs of Minneapolis.

October 28, 1889, Mr. Gregory married Miss Nellie Sowle, a daughter of L. T. Sowle, of Minneapolis. They have one child, a son, named Lawrence S. Gregory, who is with Gregory, Jennison & Company. Mr. Gregory is a Republican and firm in lis faitlı. But he has never been an active partisan or sought or desired a political office. His fellow-citizens look upon him as one of their most useful, creditable and repre- sontative citizens.

JONATHAN T. GRIMES.

Mr. Grimes was born at Leesburg, Loudoun county, Virginia, on the 10th of May, 1818, and was a scion of staunch English stock. The original American progenitors of the Grimes family were adherents of King Charles I of England, and under the turbulent conditions in their native land they sought a home in America, having established their residence in Virginia about the year 1640. The name became prominently identified with colonial affairs in the Old Dominion and its representa- tives in the early and later periods were largely engaged in agricultural pursuits, as successful planters. One of the family was a distinguished clergyman of the English or Protestant Episcopal church. George Grimes, father of him to whom this memoir is dedicated, was a prosperous planter in Virginia, but was not a slaveholder, his wife, who was birthright member of the Society of Friends, having had conscientious scruples against the holding of human vassals. George Grimes passed the closing period of his life in Indiana, where he joined his son Jonathan T., of this review, about the year 1842. He had given valiant service as a soldier in the war of 1812.

Jonathan T. Grimes was reared to maturity in the historic old state of Virginia and received the advantages of the schools of the period. At the age of twenty-one years he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in the west. This was about the year 1840 and he traversed portions of both Indiana and Illinois, in which latter state hè visited both Chicago and Springfield. He finally purchased a tract of land near Terre Haute, Vigo county, Indiana, where he continued to be actively engaged in agricultural and horticultural pursuits until 1855, when he came to Minnesota, this change having been made principally because he found it expedient to obtain different climatic conditions. He was inost favorably impressed with the advantages and opportun- ities here offered and in the following year lie established his residence in Minneapolis, his original home having been a modest house on the block between First and Second avenues and Fourth and Fifth streets and near the site of the present Northwestern National Bank. About three years later Mr. Grimes bought a tract of land west of Lake Harriet, and his old homestead, a substantial building ereeted by him, is still standing and in an excellent state of preservation. It is located on Forty-fourth street and is owned and oceupied

by his son Melvin. When he purchased this property that section of the city was represented in farm land and was but little improved. On his farm Mr. Grimes initiated the development of a horticultural business, by establishing the Lake Calhoun Nursery. He remained on this homestead about a quarter of a century and made the place one of the leading nurseries of the northwest. As a pioneer in this field of industry he was a contemporary and personal friend of Colonel Stevens, Wyman Elliott and others who became prominent and influential in this line of industry. Mr. Grimes introduced and tested many new varieties of fruit, flowers, ornamental shrubbery, etc., and he was a recognized expert and authority in his chosen vocation. He supplied shrubbery and flowers to nearly all of the old homes in Minneapolis and became also a successful fruit-grower. Mr. Grimes served as president of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, and when vener- able in years he and other pioneer members of this organiza- tion were photographed in a group, the depicture being retained as a valuable and interesting historical souvenir. In this group appear also the pictures of Messrs. Stevens and Elliott, previously mentioned in this paragraph.

Mr. Grimes passed the last twenty years of his life in Minneapolis, where he lived virtually retired, though he never abated his interest in the practical affairs of the day, his mental ken being wide and his judgment of mature order. The closing period of his long and useful life was passed in a liome at 3209 Nicollet avenue, and there he delighted to greet and entertain his host of loyal and valued friends. Mr. Grimes, with the rapid expansion of the city, platted a portion of his old homestead farm into residence lots and he gave to this addition the name of Waveland Park. Later the Grimes Homestead addition was platted, and the section is now one of the most attractive residence districts of the Minnesota metropolis. Mr. Grimes suggested the line of the old motor railway that traversed his farmu and on the same Grimes Station was named in his honor. This line has since been developed into the effective interurban service of the Minnetonka electric line. As a young man Mr. Grimes served several terms as county commissioner and as a citizen he was at all times loyal, progressive and public-spirited. He was uncompromising in his allegiance to the Republican party and gave active service in the promotion of its cause. Both he and his wife were devout members of the First Presbyterian church of Minneapolis, in which he held the office of elder. The names of both are held in enduring honor in the state that long represented their home and of which they were pioneers.

In Sullivan county. Indiana, on the 20th of September, 1843, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grimes to Miss Eliza A. Gordon, who was born in Warren county, Ohio, on the 12th of July, 1826. The ideal companionship of Mr. and Mrs. Grimes continued for more than half a century and was severed only when the devoted wife and mother was summoned to eternal rest, on the 15th of November. 1902, her husband surviving her by only three months, passing away Feb. 10, 1903, so that in death they were not long divided. Mrs. Grimes was a daughter of John Gordon, and the latter was a son of George Gordon, of Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, who served as a gallant soldier in the war of the Revolution, in which he participated in the Canadian expedi. tion under General Ethan Allen.

Mr. and Mrs. Grimes became the parents of eight children. and coneerning the six surviving the honored parents the

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

following brief record is given: Edward E. is a representative agriculturist near Northfield, Rice county, Minnesota; Melvin remains in the old homestead, as has previously been noted in this context; George S. is an able lawyer and is one of the prominent members of the Minneapolis bar; Ella is the wife of Fred Eustis, who is engaged in the real-estate business in Minneapolis; and Misses Emma E. and Mary A. Grimes maintain their home at 3348 First Avenue, South, in Min- neapolis.

JAMES L. GARVEY.

James L. Garvey, of Minneapolis, before his death was one of the few remaining links connecting the present advanced development and elevated civilization of this city with the formative period of its pioneer days, and was revered by all the people of the community as a patriarch among them. He located on a farm in the neighborhood of the village in May, 1858, and died at 1937 James avenue south, in the heart of the city, on February 23, 1912, after a residence here of fifty-four years and at the age of seventy-nine.

Mr. Garvey's history is therefore a very interesting one, and cannot but be striking even in the brief record of it presented in these pages. He was born in Holton, Maine, on February 2, 1833, and grew to the age of sixteen in his native place. In 1849 he heard and heeded the siren voice of Califor- nia proclaiming her boundless wealth of golden treasure, and went to that then far distant state by way of Cape Horn. Nine years were passed by him in the modern Eldorado, during which he sought diligently for the buried treasure, but was only moderately successful in finding it.

In 1858 he determined to return to his family and made the long journey back. During his absence, however, his mother and the rest of the nine children in the family had come to Minnesota and located in what is now Minneapolis, being guided hither by Mr. Garvey's older brother Christopher. Christopher passed the remainder of his days and died on what is now Lyndale avenue, although he was well out in the country when he took up his residence there. The mother lived to a good old age, and also died in this city, making her home with her son James until after his marriage.

James L. Garvey bought a farm in the early days soon after his arrival in this region, around the present intersec- tion of Lyndale avenue and Forty-eighth street, and on Sep- tember 9 was united in marriage with Miss Laura E. Richardson, a daughter of Jesse N. and Lucy W. (Nason) Richardson, the former a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the latter of the state of Maine, town of Crawford. The father was brought to Maine when he was but four years of age by his parents. They located at Crawford, Washington county, in that state, and there he grew to manhood and was married. He brought his family to Minnesota in 1850, reaching St. Anthony on November 3.

The party of emigrants from Maine with which he came numbered fifteen, there being three families among them: Nathaniel Grover, his wife and child; John Brown and his wife; and J. N. Richardson, his wife and two children. Bethia Hanscomb, one of the young ladies in the party, married Joel Nason and moved with him to Wisconsin, where she has since died. Emily Nason, a sister to the mother of Mrs. Garvey, became the wife of W. H. Townsend, an old-time

lumberman, and passed the rest of her life in Minneapolis. There were several other young persons in the party, but of the whole number of fifteen Mrs. Garvey is the only one now living. She has vivid recollections of the incidents of the trip from Machias, Maine, to St. Anthony. It consumed two weeks and three days, and was not made without many adventures and some hardships and privations.

Mrs. Garvey's father, Jesse N. Richardson, was one of the early lumbermen of this locality, and worked in the business for Mr. Russell. In 1853 he pre-empted 160 acres of land, including a part of what is now Chicago avenue, although when he took possession of his home it was two miles and a half from his nearest neighbor. He built a little cabin on his land and lived in it in constant fear of the Indians, whose outbreaks were frequent a little farther west. The Catholic Orphans' Home stands on a part of the old place. In 1873 he opened a store at what is now the junction of Lyndale avenue and Fifty-second street, and this he conducted until he died on November 25, 1904, aged eighty-three years. His widow died on February 2, 1907, aged eighty.

They had five children: Laura, who is now Mrs. Garvey; Adriana, who died in 1850, soon after her arrival in this state; Thomas A., who was born on the Hennepin county farm and is still living in Minneapolis; Walter W., who died at the age of fifteen, and Arthur L., who was a partner of his father in the store, and who is still living in this city. He cared for his parents until they died, his wife, whosc maiden name was Anna Rohan, becoming very devoted to them and giving them as much attention as she could have given her own father and mother.

After his arrival in this part of the country Mr. Garvey worked for Dorilus Morrison, driving ox teams to and from the woods. He was head teamster and had charge of all the teams owned and used by Mr. Morrison. At the time of his marriage he had fifty or sixty acres of his land cleared and under cultivation, his mother and two sisters living with him and looking after the household affairs until his mar- riage. He continued to own, cultivate and improve his farm until 1866, when he sold all of it but twenty acres, where Lyndale avenue and Forty-eighth street now intersect, which he retained and occupied until a year before his death, passing nearly fifty-five years on the land which he took up from the wilderness.

Mr. Garvey employed his time and energies mainly in the management of his farm, although at times he was chosen to fill township offices and drawn into participation in other public affairs. He was very fond of fine horses and raised numbers of them, and as one of the leading farmers of the neighborhood, he was of great assistance to William King. whose farm adjoined his, in the management of the fair of the early days.

Five children were born in the Garvey family, all of whom are living. They are: Cora B., now the wife of Eugene Fogg of Minneapolis, a railroad boarding contractor; Florence M., who is one of the older teachers in the city and is now employed in the Bremer school: James J., who taught manual training in the Central High school ten years and is now in charge of the same department of instruction in the high school at Oak Park, Illinois, and also an architect in active practice; Laura E., who is living at home with her mother, and Arthur W., a real estate dealer, who is handling the "Garvey Rustic Lodge." a part of the old family homestead at Lynsdale avenue and Forty-eighth street, which has been

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

platted as an addition to Minneapolis. Mrs. Garvey has always shared her husband's interest in the welfare of the community and has long taken an active part in its fraternal life as a member of the Territorial Ladies' association and of Palestine Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. Her resi- dence is now at James avenue south.

HENRY DOERR.

Connected in a leading and serviceable way with a number of industrial, mercantile and financial enterprises, but chiefly known far and wide as the head of the firm of Winecke & Doerr, wholesale cigar merchants, and as president of the Minneapolis Drug Company, Henry Doerr has won an honor- able place among the enterprising and far-seeing business men of the Northwest and in the regard of the people wherever he is known.

Mr. Doerr was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Septem- ber 15, 1853. He is a son of Valentine and Caroline Doerr, names well and favorably known in the Wisconsin metropolis. The father was the owner and proprietor of a hotel in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but the son passed the early years of his life in Milwaukee, and in that city he obtained his education, attending the Milwaukee Academy. He sought no higher walks in the great field of scholastic attainments, but im- immediately after leaving the Academy began his business career with the determination to make it as conspiciously successful as possible, discarding all half-way or common place achievements.

The first adventure in the domain of business, was as the · proprietor of a cigar store, which he started in 1873. Be- fore that, however, he had been employed for a time by a wholesale Minneapolis cigar house, and in its service he ac- quired his elementary knowledge of the business in which he has ever since been mainly engaged. Starting in business in partnership with Henry Winecke, and for many years there- after the firm of Wineeke & Doerr was one of the best known in the tobacco and cigar trade, as it is now, its operations being both wholesale and retail.

Mr. Winecke died in 1901, and at that time Mr. Doerr be- came full owner and manager of the business, including the wholesale department and a number of retail stores the firm had established in Minneapolis. St. Paul and other places. But the firm name has never been changed, and the retail stores are still conducted under it, although they are now a eor- poration and operated under a general manager.

In 1907 the wholesale department was consolidated with the Eliel-Jerman Drug company under the name of the Minne- apolis Drug company, with Mr. Doerr as president, a position which he now occupies, and its affairs are flourishing and its business is expanding in volume and value.

Mr. Docrr has extensive interests outside of the drug and tobacco business, and he commands them to the same success and progress he has won in that. He is secretary and treas- urer of the Salzer Lumber company, which operates a num- ber of country lumber yards; president and treasurer of the Minneapolis Ornamental Bronze and Iron company; the vice president and one of the directors of the German American Bank of Minneapolis; a director of the Minnesota Loan and Trust company, and one of the trustees of the Hennepin Sav- ings Bank. 'In all of these institutions his influence is strong

and very helpful, and his business sagacity is valued in a high degree. He belongs to the Minneapolis, Atlıletie, Minikahda, Lafayette and Automobile clubs, and takes an active part in promoting their welfare. He is also a member of the Masonic order, and the fraternity has his very cordial and serviceable support, as well as his loyal devotion to its principles and teachings. In political relations he is a Repub- lican, but he has never sought a public office either by clec- tion or appointment.

Mr. Doerr was married on January 24, 1882, at La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Miss Sarah L. Scharpf. They have three ehil- dren, their sons George V. and Henry Doerr, Jr., and their daughter Clara L. The family is of German origin, Mr. Doerr's father, Valentine Doerr, having left Darmstadt, the place of his nativity, and come to this country in 1840, lo- cating in Milwaukce, where he died some years ago. The mother was born in Hanover, Germany. All the members of the family are highly esteemed in social cireles and all exemplify in an admirable degree the best traits of elevated and patriotic American citizenship. No man in Minneapolis stands higher in public regard than Mr. Doerr and none is more worthy of high standing and general approval.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM GERLACH.

Colonel Gerlach is well known and honored in Minneapolis and throughout the State. A sketch of his personal history prepared by himself, but not for publication, follows:

I was born November 15, 1835, at Schotten, a small city located in the Bird Mountains, province of Ober-Hessen, grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. where my father, in government service as collector of internal revenue, was then stationed. When I was five years old father was transferred to another district, and we moved to Alsheim, province of Rhein-Hessen. Here in due time, having passed my sixth birthday, I was sent to the public school and continued to attend it for the next five years. On the eve of my eleventh birthday father died. My mother, being in poor health. made her home with a married daughter, and I was sent to a boarding school at Gau-Odernheim kept by Rev. R. Rau, a clergyman of the German Reformed ehureh. Our elasses consisted of seven pupils, five boys and two girls, and the course of instruction was shaped, with the addition of music, to prepare us for the gymnasium, the preparatory school for the University. We attended in winter some of the classes in the public school, but our regular instruction at the par- sonage was conducted by Mr. Rau. assisted by a young elergy- man (candidate), a graduate of the University of Utrecht, Holland. Our bodily needs were provided for under the super- vision of Mrs. Rau, a kind lady, but a rigid disciplinarian. Our fare was plain and wholesome, but would appear rather hard to some of the growing generation now. Nevertheless, I have often had reason to be grateful for the training I theu received, especially after I entered the army here, and served where luxuries were not too plenty.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 81

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