Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 94

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 94

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376

IIISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

1902, and it is now conducted under the firm name of Gross Bros. The main establishment, while Mr. Hornung owed the business, was at Tenth avenue and Fifth street, but he had a branch on Cedar avenue, one on the East Side and one in St. Paul. The business proved to be very profitable and grew to great magnitude. Mr. Hornung's returns from it enabled him to invest heavily in real estate and pass his winters in California, where the climate was more congenial to his health than were the waters here. His wife died in 1903. She was about to start for California, but her fatal malady attacked her in this eity, and here her life ended.

Mr. Hornung became a citizen as soon as he could after com- ing to this country, and to the end of his career always took a warm and helpful interest in the institutions, aims, industries and public affairs of his adopted land. He was a devout and zealous member of the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, of which the present Archbishop Kane was the pastor for many years. He was also interested in athletic pursuits and belonged to the German Harmonia Society.

By his marriage Mr. Hornung became the father of two children, Catherine Laura and Elsie L. The latter died at the age of twenty years.

Mrs. Hornung had two daughters by her first marriage. Elizabeth became the wife of A. R. Brandt of Chicago, where she died at the age of thirty-three. Margaret, the other daughter, is now the wife of P. J. Thielen of Minneapolis. Their mother was a lady of fine business capacity, and she took an active and very helpful interest in all the affairs of her hus- band. She possessed great force of character and was highly educated, being particularly an accomplished linguist and able to read, write and converse with fluency and accuraey in the French, German and English languages, and having an inti- mate knowledge of the best literature in each. She was also a lady of social culture and refinement, and made a pleasant and lasting impression on everybody with whom she came in contact. Like her husband, she is remembered in Minneapolis with admiring regard, and the force of her elevating and stini- ulating example is still serviceably felt in the city of her long residence, as is that of her husband's influence.

A. W. HARPER.

Arthur W. Harper, organizer and president of the Min- neapolis State Bank, has been prominently identified with that institution sinee its incorporation September 28, 1908. In January of that year he came to Minneapolis. The bank was organized with a capital of $25,000, which in 1912 was increased to $50,000. Its deposits are nearly $500,000, and it has a surplus of $20,000. Mr. Harper became cashier and Roy Quimby vice-president. Fred M. Powers was the first president and was succeeded by B. W. Smith. Mr. Harper was elected in 1911, after three years of service as cashier. A. W. Harper and L. M. Chamberlain became vice-presidents.

Mr. Harper was born at Owatonna, Minn., where his father, L. T. Harper had come from Moline, Ill., in 1868. He was the first manufacturer of force pumps in the State, having his factory at Owatonna. The grasshopper years in Min- nesota so discouraged him that he removed to Minnehaha county, South Dakota, where he took up a homestead eighteen miles north of Sioux Falls. He continued there and at Parker, South Dakota, with the exception of a few years

spent in California, until his death. Arthur Harper accom- panied his father to South Dakota and his boyhood was largely passed on the homestead. At nineteen he secured a position in a bank, and in six years had advanced to the position of manager. Previous to coming to Minneapolis, in 1908, he had already organized three banks in South Dakota. He is secretary and treasurer of the Bankers' Security company, which has a paid up capital in excess of $100,000. E. E. Merrill is president of this company, which is closely allied with the Minneapolis State bank, handling stocks, loans and real estate, and owns the controlling interest in several other corporations. Aside from his banking interests Mr. Harper is identified with the Brownton (Minn.) State Bank, and in other corporations.

He is a member of the West Side Commercial club and the Calhoun Commercial club, and is a trustee in the First Baptist Church. He was married in South Dakota to Miss Stella Near. They have two children, Alzo and Keith.

WILLIAM CHANDLER JOHNSON.

William Chandler Johnson, secretary and treasurer of the Northwestern Casket Company, was born in St. Anthony November 1, 1856, being a son of Luther G. and Cornelia E. (Morrill) Johnson. The father was a native of New Hamp- shire, settling at St. Anthony Falls in 1853. He was one of the pioneer merchants and helped lay the foundations of the city and its trade, giving even then an illustration of the spirit of broad and comprehensive enterprise that was to dis- tinguish the future business center. Judge E. M. Johnson, whose biography and portrait are in this work, was another son.

William C. Johnson attended the public schools of St. Anthony and Minneapolis and for three years the State Uni- versity. After acquiring a knowledge of merchandising in his father's store he went to Duluth in the employ of the Duluth Iron company. He was for a time cashier in a wholesale flour house in New York city, and spent one year with the Minne- apolis Harvester company. In 1887 he became secretary and treasurer of the Northwestern Casket Company, since then being one of the prominent manufacturers and has taken an active part in local development and improvement, as in organized social life. For many years he has been a director of the East Side State Bank and is a member of the St. Anthony Commercial elub, the Civic and Commerec Association and the Lafayette club.

In 1891 he married Mrs. Blanche (Gilbert) McCall.

WM. S. HEWITT.

Wm. S. Hewitt, head of the Security Bridge Company, although comparatively young in years is a veteran in bridge construction. Born in 1864, he entered the business which became his life work in 1887, and his name is now identified, after a shade more than a quarter of a century, with some of the largest highway bridge structures between the Great Lakes and the Pacific Coast.

Mr. Hewitt was born in Maine, Oct. 27, 1864, and it was in that state, famous for its educational institutions, where he

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

obtained the foundations of his now technical education. He went through the common schools, the high school, and the normal school. When he was only 23 years old he engaged in business in Minneapolis, associating himself with an uncle, S. M. Hewitt, who had himself gone into the bridge business in 1880. Great possibilities loomed before the young man; it was an attractive profession, and he rapidly proved his fitness. In the years that followed, Mr. Hewitt gained a remarkably varied experience, coming in contact with every phase of the work.

In 1897 the firm of W. S. Hewitt and Company was organ- ized. It was incorporated in 1911, as the Security Bridge Company, with an authorized capital stock of $250,000, and at once became a factor to be reckoned with in the strongly competitive field of Northwestern bridge 'contracting. Its specialty was highway bridges, but it built all kinds of bridge structures, in iron, steel, and concrete. Minneapolis was made its headquarters, and branch offices were also established in Billings, Montana, and in Lewiston, Idaho.

It does a business nearly $750,000 annually and employs, in its construction work over the great Northwest, more than 300 men. \V. S. Hewitt was the first president of the com- pany, and continued in that position until 1913, when his nephew, A. L. Hewitt, was made president and placed in charge of the Billings offices, while the uncle continued in Minneapolis, as vice president and treasurer.

Mr. Hewitt was married in 1891 to Miss Helen Obert. They have a family of five children: Maurice, a student in the Engineering Department of the University of Minnesota; Agnes, wife of E. H. Carvill, of Montana; Harold, Pauline, and Elizabeth. The family home is a handsome residence at 4602 Dupont Avenue South, in the beautiful Lynnhurst region. Mr. Hewitt is a member of the New Athletic club of Min- neapolis, and also is a member of Hennepin Lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M.

ANTHONY W. INGENHUTT.

Anthony W. Ingenhutt was born in Northeast Minneapolis September 24, 1886, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Keat- ing) Ingenhutt, the former a native of Gladbach, Germany. They were married in Minneapolis in 1877, and here the mother died October 30, 1908. In 1863 the father came to Minneapolis at fifteen years of age with his parents, William and Mary Gertrude (Geopkins) Ingenhutt, who bought the farm, then containing sixty-seven acres, of Edward Bach, the first postmaster of St. Anthony. It had half a mile of river frontage, a good dwelling house and other improve- ments, and was then considered one of the most desirable residence sites near the city. The price paid was $1,600, a large one for the period, but he reckoned that the city would grow to it eventually. The limit then was Eighteenth avenue north, and the farm being at what is now Marshall street and Twenty-ninth avenue, and the city limits extending to Thirty-seventh avenue, his expectation has been fully real- ized. Since then fifty-five acres have been added and part of the tract bordering the river has been leased and is occu- pied by the Northland Pine Company.

William Ingenhutt died in 1872. His widow survives, and on March 20, 1914, celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of her birth. She is active and energetic, and even at her

advanced age, continues to do her own housework. They were the parents of five children, Joseph, John, Anthony, Mary and Theresa. John, Anthony and Theresa are still living at home with their mother. Joseph, the father of Anthony W., died a number of years ago, and Mary M. is the wife of John Reiners of this city. The family has been parishioners of St. Boniface Catholic church for more than fifty years.

Joseph Ingenhutt helped to manage his father's farm, dairy and butchering business until the age of twenty-one, then becoming a cement sidewalk and paving contractor. For a number of years he was councilman from the First ward and was accorded the cognomen of "Honest Joe" because of his unflinching integrity and unselfish devotion to the general welfare. He had clear and practical ideas, and with con- vincing argument exerted an influence in securing better- ments. He was a stanch Democrat, but was free from party bias in matters affecting the improvement of the city, and rendered excellent service for several years as a member of the park board. He reared a family of three sons and one daughter. Gertrude E. is living with her grandmother. John J. is vice president of the Northeast Feed Mill company, and Thomas S. is a grain merchant.

Anthony W. Ingenhutt, the other son and the third born, obtained his education in the public schools, at St. Boniface Catholic school, of which he is a graduate, and at La Salle Institute, conducted by the Christian Brothers, from which also he was graduated in 1904. He then worked as a book- kceper for the Gluck Brewing company, and in 1909 started his present real estate and insurance business. His pride in and devotion to the city and the nature of his business have made him an ardent advocate of public improvements, espe- cially those affecting the East Side. Largely through his efforts greater school and playground facilities have been se- cured, street car extensions have been made, and many other steps taken in keeping with the advanced spirit of the time.

Mr. Ingenhutt is a firm believer in the power of organization and has made his faith in this respect practical. He is president of the St. Anthony Commercial club. He also be- longs to the Knights of Columbus, the Order of Elks, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Apollo club and the Elks Glee club, the former being the leading male chorus in the Northwest, and is president of the Northeast Minneapolis Improvement association.

Mr. Ingenhutt is a devout Catholic and holds active mem- bership in St. Boniface church. He is a worker for all advancement, moral, social and civic. In 1909 he was mar- ried to Miss Catherine Weeks of Minneapolis. They have one child, Catherine Mary. Hc is fond of outdoor sports, being especially ardent in his devotion to tennis, hand ball, the enlivening game of squash and indoor baseball.

JOSEPH HENRY JOHNSON.

Joseph Henry Johnson was born in Calais, Maine, Jan. 17, 1852, and came with his mother and stepfather, Justin Dow, to Minneapolis April 1857.

He is the son of Rev. Charles Henry Augustine Johnson and his second wife, Navini Ann Moore, both of whom were lineal descendants of the New England Puritans. One of his paternal ancestors was Rev. Stephen Bachiler (or Batchelder),

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

founder of the town of Hampton, New Hampshire, and the first minister of the town. Another of his paternal aneestors was Rev. Robert Yallalee, who was ordained by Bishop Coke in 1796 for the Foulah Mission, Afriea, and with others went to Sierra Leone. Owing to war the missionaries were eom- pelled to leave. He sailed for America, joined the Methodist itinerants of New England in 1796 and was appointed to Provincetown, Mass. In 1797 he was eolleague of Joshua Taylor on Readfield Circuit, Maine. He founded the society at Saeo, Maine. It was his privilege to receive into the elmireh the senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, Joshma Soule.

Rev. Robert Yallalee died July 12, 1846, in his seventy- eighth year at Rome, Maine (see History of the M. E. Church by Abel Steven, Vol. III, Page 498). He married Betsey Hoxie.

The great-great-grandfather of Joseph Henry Johnson and his great-great-great-grandfather were both signers of the Association Test of New Hampshire, viz., Joseph Johnson, Sr., and Deacon Joseph Johnson of Hampton, New Hamp- shire, thus making him eligible to the Sons of the Ameriean Revolution. The subject of this sketeh has been a resident of Minneapolis sinee April, 1857. The white cottage at 218 Fifth street south, where he first lived was still standing in 1913, though there were stores built in front of it.

Early left an orphan, Mr. Johnson was thrown upon his own resources, and at the age of fifteen went to live with the late Judge F. R. E. Cornell, during which time he attended the publie schools and business college.

He has been a member of the Methodist church from early boyhood, being one of the few remaining members of Cen- tenary M. E. Church, now Wesley church, which he joined in 1868 and was a member of the Sunday School in 1857 in the "Little White Chureh Around the Corner."

He is a member of the Minnesota Territorial Pioneers, has been a member of the Masonie fraternity sinee 1885, is Past Worshipful Master of Minnesota Lodge No. 224, and one of its charter members. also Past Senior Grand Deacon of the M. W. Grand Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Minnesota.

Mr. Johnson was married Feb. 15, 1877, to Miss Louise A. Lyon, daughter of Walter Lyon of Herriek, Pa.

She is deseended from the Puritans of New England on both sides. Two of her maternal aneestors were named in the famous eharter of Conneetieut granted by King Charles, viz., John Deming and Riehard Treat. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through her ma - ternal great-grandfather, Captain Jabez Deming, and her paternal great-grandfather, William Bishop. During the middle seventies Mrs. Johnson taught in the Lineoln, Jeffer- son and Washington schools of this eity.

She is a graduate of the Mansfield, Pa., State Normal School, elass of 1874, and of the Chautauqua Literary and Seientifie Cirele, elass of 1890.

She was Worthy Grand Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star of Minnesota 1895, the banner year in the history of the Order in this State, and Regent of Minneapolis Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution 1913.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Henry Johnson have two sons. Wal- ter Henry Johnson, Captain Company C, Seeond Infantry, United States Army, and Arthur Eugene Johnson, Seeond Lieutenant, Mounted Detachment, First Regiment, Minnesota National Guard. The latter is associated with his father in

business, being seeretary and viee president of the Johnson Undertaking company.

Mr. Joseph Henry Johnson is an aetive and sueeessful business man. He was early associated with George T. Vail, one of the pioncer undertakers of this eity, and continued the business thus established on Washington avenue until 1890, when it was removed to 614 Nieollet avenue. Later the firm was Jolmson and Landis, but in 1906 that association eeased, since which time Joseph H. Johnson has eondueted the undertaking business at. 828 Hennepin avenue:

What is now known as Wyoming Park, near Camden place, was platted and sold by Mr. Johnson for the late John Bohannon in the year 1889, Mrs. Johnson naming the seetion for the historie Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, which was near her childhood home.

H. S. JOHNSON.

H. S. Johnson, prominent manufacturer and president of the H. S. Johnson company, was born in Denmark, in 1849. At the age of eighteen he eame to this country and for some time was employed in the Union Paeifie shops at Omaha. In 1874 he located in Minneapolis and for several years worked at his trade of carpenter in various factories and mills, employed by the Wheat & Reynolds company, manu- faeturers of sash and doors and subsequently in the Minne- apolis Planing mills and in the shops of Johnson & Hurd, who built the plant which Mr. Johnson now oeeupies. In 1878 he formed a partnership with Peter Frazier, purchasing a small shop of Janney Semple Hill & Company and engag- ing in the manufacture of sash and doors, operating the plant by means of a wire rope that was connected with the machinery of Camp & Walker's planing mill. After some years he sold his interest in this enterprise and in company with Mr. John W. Anderson, started a planing mill on Fourteenth avenne north, under the firm of Anderson & John- son. This association eontinned during five years of profit- able and sueeessful trade. At the end of that period Mr. Johnson sold his share of the business to his partner and made an independent venture in the same industry. He operated a mill on Nineteenth avenue for several years, and then, perceiving the fast approaching limitations in the plan- ing mill and lumber business he reverted to his former oeeu- pation of the manufacture of sash doors and mouldings and for the past twenty years has devoted his interests to these lines. The firm of Johnson & Hurd, his former employers, had failed and for a munber of years the plant had remained unoeeupied and after seven or eight years in his original location he disposed of it and purchased the Johnson & Hurd property on Eighteenth avenue and Marshall street, which beeame the permanent quarters of his factory. The pur- chasing priee was $30,000 with a eash investment of $10,000, and in a few years under Mr. Johnson's management the plant had paid for itself and developed a business of fully three times its former eapaeity. The company was ineor- porated in 1904 with a capital of $80,000. Mr. Johnson now owns three-fourths of the stoek. The other stockholders are Charles Lubeek, superintendent of the factory; B. A. Lind- gren, who holds a position in the offiees; O. N. Nelson; Mrs. Bangs of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota; Anna D. Johnson, wife of Mr. Jolinson, and Bernard Stahr. The company has enjoyed

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

marked success through a prosperous and steady growth and handles a large local retail and wholesale trade, its annual transactions amounting to $250,000. They make a specialty of interior finish work of all kinds, employing expert work- men. Mr. Johnson is a member of the New Athletic club, the Auto club, the Civic and Commerce association and the North Side Commercial club. His fraternal affiliations are with the Elks and the Masonic order, having attained the rank of the Thirty-second degree. He was treasurer for six years of the Plymouth Masonic Lodge and for a number of years served in the same capacity in Columbia Chapter. He was married to Miss Anna D. Stahr and they have two children, Olga K., the wife of Mr. Hemrichs of Stettin, Germany, and Arthur H., of Muscatine, Iowa.

CLIVE TALBOT JAFFRAY.

In the twenty-five years that Clive Talbot Jaffray has been a factor in the banking circles of Minneapolis, he has risen from a clerkship to the vice-presidency. He began his career as a banker in his native city, Berlin, Ontario, in the Mer- chants' National Bank of Canada. This was soon after he had finished his education in the Canadian public schools. He was associated with this institution for five years and gained there inost valuable experience for his future business life. In 1887 he accepted a position as clerk in the Northwestern National Bank of Minneapolis. Two years later he was made bookkeeper and in 1890 was promoted to the position of assistant cashier of the same institution. In 1895 he was offered a cashiership in the First National Bank of Minne- apolis which was then as now one of the leading financial institutions of the city. He has been with this big banking house ever since, part of the time acting both as cashier and as vice-president. He is now devoting all of his time to the activity of the vice-presidency.

Mr. Jaffray is a member of all of the leading social organ- izations of the city, including the Minneapolis and the Mini- kahda clubs. He is an enthusiastic golf player and spends much of his recreation on the golf links of the Minikahda club. He is a member of the Long Meadow and the Minne- apolis Gun Clubs.

Mr. Jaffray was born July 1, 1865, in Berlin, Ontario, and is the son of W. and Agnes S. Jaffray.

Aside from his activity in the First National Bank of Minneapolis he is also in the First National Bank of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, being a director of that institution. He is . also interested in the Northwestern Life Insurance Company, the Northwestern Fire and Marine Insurance Company and vice-president of the Minneapolis Trust Company.

THOMAS B. JANNEY.

Thomas B. Janney is yet one of the active and energetic business men of Minneapolis, and at the head of an estab- lishment which connects him in its history and through its acquisitions. He has himself been a resident of the city since 1866, and throughout all the subsequent years has been conducting a very extensive and active business in the hard- ware trade.

Mr. Janney was born in the village of Shanesville, Tuscara- was county, Ohio, on October 5, 1838, and is the son of Phineas M. and Frances (Smith) Janney. When he was one year old his parents moved to Van Buren county, Iowa, where they lived twelve years, and where he began his education in the district schools. At the age of thirteen he accompanied his parents to a new home in the town of Henry, Illinois, and there attended the academy for instruction in the higher branchies. His first business experience was as a clerk in a general store.

In 1866 Mr. Janney came to Minneapolis to join his brother Edwin and his brother-in-law, S. T. Moles, in the retail hard- ware business, which they were then conducting on Bridge Square. For a number of years the firm carried on only a retail business, but it was gradually drawn into the wholesale line, which it then steadily enlarged and emphasized in its operations. The trade grew and flourished as the years passed, and it became manifest in time that there was room for another enterprise in the same line conducted on a more ambitious basis.

In recognition of this fact Mr. Janney, who had been in the hardware trade in this city nine years, in 1875 associated him- self with Messrs. Eastman and Brooks and formed the firm of Janney, Brooks & Eastman. This firm purchased the hard- ware store started by Governor John S. Pillsbury in 1855, and for a number of years carried on a wholesale and retail busi- ness on Bridge Square. The retail department was finally disposed of and the wholesale department was moved to its present location at the corner of First avenue south and Second street.

In 1883 Mr. Brooks died and Mr. Eastman retired from the firm. But Mr. Janney remained at its head and Janney & Semple was founded and later the present organization, Jan- ney, Semple, Hill & Company was incorporated as such in 1898. It is by far the largest wholesale hardware establish- ment in the Northwest, and one of the largest in America. It is in the wholesale trade that Mr. Janney has prospered most and made the greater part of his reputation as a business man. In this he has won the regard and respect of all mer- cantile circles in his home city and of those in many other localities, far and near.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 94

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