USA > Minnesota > St Louis County > Duluth > Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; their story and people; an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume II > Part 35
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On January 26, 1902, Mr. Filiatrault was married to Andrea Chaput, who was born in Marquette, Michigan, the daughter of George Chaput. She was educated in the Duluth schools to the age of ten years, when she went to Montreal and took a convent and seminary course. She has been active in church work and also took a large part in the Red Cross and other war work. She has borne her husband the following children : Victor, aged nineteen years; Loren E., deceased; Loretta, aged sixteen ; Rose, aged fourteen, and Doris, six years of age. Mr. Filiatrault has been one of the leading men of affairs of this city in the most important period
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of its development, and he has played well his part in the progress of the same in every way possible. Possessing a genial personality, he has gained a host of warm personal friends, who accord to him the utmost confidence and esteem.
CLEMENT KRUSE QUINN was educated as a mining engineer, and that is the profession he has followed while building up very extensive rela- tions with the mining industry of Northern Minnesota, Michigan, Wiscon- sin and Ontario, Canada. He is now president of Clement K. Quinn & Company, an expert organization for handling every phase of mining operations, both production and marketing.
A native of Wisconsin, Clement K. Quinn was born at Oshkosh June 18, 1885, a son of M. C. and Emma (Kruse) Quinn. His father at the age of sixty-one is still living, a resident of Negaunee, Michigan, and has spent most of his active years in general business, being now partly retired.
Oldest in a family of three children, Clement K. Quinn attended the grade schools of Negaunee, took a literary course at Notre Dame Univer- sity and graduated from the Michigan College of Mines with the degrees B. S. and M. E. His first professional experience was in the lead and zinc country in Wisconsin, and for about a year he was connected with the development of the Baraboo iron district in Wisconsin. He came to the Mesaba Range in the capacity of engineer for the great steel corpora- tion of Jones & Laughlin in 1907, and at the conclusion of that service in 1914 was chief engineer for that company. Since then he has been in the iron mining industry for himself, with offices at Virginia, Min- nesota, but since 1915 has been a resident of Duluth with offices at Duluth and Cleveland.
His business, operated under the corporation of Clement K. Quinn & Company, consists in exploring, mining, operating mines, selling and shipping iron ores. His organization operates two mines on the Cuyuna Range, four mines on the Mesaba and one mine on the Marquette Range in Michigan, these properties having an output of about a million tons a year. Mr. Quinn is a member of the Kitchi Gammi Club, the North- land Country Club, the Boat Club, the Commercial Club and the Tette- gouchee Club.
PAUL F. CHAMBERLAIN, mutuality chairman at Virginia for the Oliver Iron Mining Company, is another of the efficient and popular executives actively identified with important mining interests in the Mesaba Range, and his childish memories touch the mining country, for he was born on the Marquette Range of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the date of his nativity having been November 17, 1875. He is a son of Oscar H. and Kittie (Fairfield) Chamberlain, but the mother died in 1898. The father is engaged in the insurance business, he previously having given many years of effective service as a teacher in the public schools. As a child Paul F. Chamberlain was taken from his native district to Iron Mountain, on the Menominee Range in northern Michigan, and there he was reared to the age of fourteen years with public-school advantages. At that age he gained his first practical experience in business by assum- ing the position of office boy in the offices of the Chapin Mine. While thus applying himself he continued his educational work by attending night school, and that he made substantial progress as a student is shown by the fact that later he was for two years a teacher in the public schools of Northern Michigan. His well fortified ambition then lead him to enter the University of Wisconsin, in which admirable institution he continued
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his studies three years, specializing in civil engineering and in the mean- while depending upon his own exertions and resources in defraying his incidental and college expenses.
In the spring of 1900 Mr. Chamberlain came to St. Louis county, Min- nesota, and after remaining a few weeks at Eveleth he became in 1901 engineer of the Soudan Mine at Soudan, this county. In 1905 he was advanced to the position of assistant superintendent of this mine, and he retained this incumbency until 1910, when he resigned. Thereafter he passed about three years in the west, principally in mining districts, and in 1914 returned to St. Louis county and at Virginia became underground foreman in the Alpena Mine, owned and operated by the Oliver Iron Min- ing Company. Thereafter he held the position of night mining-captain, and in the spring of 1917 began to give special attention to the develop- ing of the mutuality plan or system in mining enterprise, a plan which was finally adopted by the Oliver Iron Mining Company and in connec- tion with which he has since served most effectively as mutuality chair- man. This department was established for the purpose and as a medium of adjusting all labor troubles arising between the company and its employes, and has proved a most effective agent in maintaining harmon- ious and mutually satisfactory relations. Mr. Chamberlain is a mem- ber of the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota and is affiliated with the Virginia lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he is a loyal and progressive citizen who has secure place in popular esteem in his home community, and during the nation's participation in the World war he was active and influential in the local drives and campaigns in support of the various Governmental loans, Red Cross work, etc.
In 1901 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chamberlain to Miss Marguerite Harbaugh, of Virginia, and they have two children-Pauline and Ross.
FRED LERCH is a member of Lerch Brothers, chemists, pioneers in their profession in the Iron Range district, head of what is said to be the largest independent organization of industrial chemists in the world. Fred Lerch has for many years been an honored citizen of Virginia, while George Lerch, his brother, lives at Hibbing. Concerning the latter a special sketch is written elsewhere.
Fred Lerch was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1869, son of David and Sarah (Young) Lerch. His father was a contractor in business. He died in 1910, at the age of eighty-eight.
Fred Lerch grew up in his native town, attended public schools, and. graduated in 1891 from Lafayette College, just two years after his brother. He received the degree of mining engineer, and for six months after graduation filled the post of instructor in inorganic chemistry at Lafayette College. He then went to Cuba and for ten months was a chemist and mining captain. Returning to the United States in Novem- ber, 1892, he and his brother, George, in December, started for the Mesaba Range in Northern Minnesota to make their professional skill available to that newly discovered mining district. From Duluth they took cars to Mountain Iron, which was the railway terminus, and the stage driven by H. J. Eaton brought them to Virginia, then a hamlet of two or three hun- dred people. The Lerch Brothers upon their arrival opened a small laboratory as chemists. Their first customer was the Oliver Mining Com- pany. With the exception of one year they have maintained an office in Virginia ever since. At the opening of the Mahoning Mine at Hibbing, and soon after the first shipping was started. in 1895 Fred Lerch, who
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had been over the district on foot in 1892, established a laboratory there, and Hibbing has for a quarter of a century been one of the most impor- tant centers of their extensive business. Their business has grown and developed with the development of the Range country, and their opera- tions at the present time are handled through thirteen separate labora- tories. Both as citizens as well as technical men in the iron industry the Lerch brothers know the history of the Mesaba Range practically com- plete. Their first laboratory at Virginia was in a two-story frame build- ing on Chestnut street, where Casey & Pastermaki's drug store is now located. The lower floor of this building was occupied by the Presbyte- rian Church, the City Hall and a real estate office, the upper floor being used by the Lerch Brothers Laboratory. The Lerch Brothers came to Northern Minnesota about the beginning of the tremendous financial depression known as the panic of 1893. It required persistence and determination on their part as well as on other industrial organizations to maintain a precarious foothold in the face of hardship and adversity. There was practically no money in the district at that time. The Lerch Brothers did some professional work for Frank Rockefeller, who paid them with his personal note for two hundred dollars. The Oliver Min- ing Company at one time, despite the fact that its resources have for many years been almost unlimited, were unable to pay them cash for services to the amount of only five hundred dollars. These were some of the embarrassments that afford a suggestive view of some of the early days in Range history.
For ten years Fred Lerch lived at Biwabik, but with that exception his home has been in Virginia continuously. He owns an interest in valu- able iron ore property in southwest Utah, and has some fruit orchards in New Jersey, forty-five miles from New York City. He was one of the three incorporators of the American Exchange National Bank of Vir- ginia, Minnesota, on March 9, 1904, and is a member of the Board of Directors. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. November 10, 1900, Mr. Lerch married Miss Eleanor Miller. Her father. WV. R. Miller, located at Merritt, now practically Biwabik, in December, 1902. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Lerch are Glen B. and Muriel M.
OSCAR A. BERGLUND. In the great material growth and expansion of Duluth during the past twenty years an important service has been ren- dered by Oscar A. Berglund and his organization of contractors and builders. He is senior partner of Berglund, Peterson & Person, who have rather made a specialty of fine residence construction, and have a per- sonnel and mechanical equipment in their plant at 131 West Second street for the very finest work in their line.
Mr. Berglund was born in Sweden December 2, 1876, and grew up and reecived a careful training in carpentry and cabinet making in his native country. In 1902 he came to America and located at Duluth, and followed his trade as a journeyman until 1908. Since then he has been a contractor, for the first year in partnership with Martin Olsen under the name Berglund & Olsen. After that he conducted an individual organization as a contractor and builder until 1914. when Joseph Peterson joined him as the firm of Berglund & Peterson, contractors and build- ers, and two years later they took in A. E. Person, making the firm as at present, Berglund, Peterson & Person. Examples of their fine work- manship can be found in handsome residences all over the city, one or two examples selected at random being the Keechi. the Newell, the Par- sons and Westbrook residences. The firm maintains a complete factory
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at 131 West Second street for the manufacture of office and store furni- ture, and have an organization of some sixteen or eighteen experienced workmen in this branch of their business.
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Mr. Berglund is independent in politics, and is an active member of the Bethany Lutheran Church, in the rebuilding of which his firm had an important part. June 12, 1909, Mr. Berglund married Miss Elvera Horngren, of Duluth, but a native of Sweden. They have three children, Phoebe, William and John.
EDWARD A. DAHL, who was a resident of Duluth nearly a quarter of a century, and whose sturdy character and splendid efforts brought him from modest beginnings to a position of comfort and influence in the com- munity, was the type of citizen who could not well be spared and whose death on October 14, 1920, was a great loss to the business and civic interests and ideals which he had so faithfully served. His life was one of unceasing industry and perseverance, and the systematic and honor- able methods he followed won for him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens of Duluth.
Edward A. Dahl was born in Norway on the 1st day of August, 1860. He was reared and educated in his native land, where he remained until twenty-three years of age, coming in 1883 to the United States. He first located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he obtained employment for one year with the Northwestern Lumber Company. He then moved to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where he worked at the carpenter trade for about three years. He came to Duluth in April, 1887, and engaged for a time in work at his trade, and then went to Superior, Wisconsin, and was employed in a sash and door factory up to 1889. He then engaged in the contracting business in that city, in which he met with splendid success, erecting the John Brickson School, one of the fine school houses in that city, besides a number of bridges and docks. Mr. Dahl engaged in the contracting business in partnership with Martin O. Haugner, under the firm name of Haugner & Dahl. This association after being con- tinued about three years dissolved. Afterwards Mr. Dahl took up the street paving business in Superior, Duluth and the Ranges, and up to his death was active in that line, including the construction of water- works and drainage ditches, the latter class of work demanding his spe- cial attention. He operated alone until March 31. 1913, when his busi- ness was incorporated under the name of E. A. Dahl & Company. The officials of the company were at the time E. A. Dahl, president : J. A. Robertson, secretary; R. M. Hughes, treasurer. This firm has done considerable street paving in Duluth and Brainerd, Minnesota, and in Michigan and Wisconsin. Prior to Mr. Dahl's death the company was handling extensive drainage contracts in Beltrami county, Minnesota. comprising two hundred and forty miles of drainage and two hundred and twenty miles of road leveling, an enterprise involving nearly half a million dollars. Prior to that the company had built state rural high- ways across Beltrami county for a distance of about forty miles, and also had two drainage contracts in Koochiching countv. Mr. Dahl was a widely recognized expert in this class of work, and his reputation was based not only on his practical ability but the thorough honest way in which he handled his undertakings, there being no "come back" on any contracts performed by him. This undoubtedly was the secret of the splendid success which came to him and which won him the confidence of all who knew him.
In Superior, Wisconsin, in 1887, Mr. Dahl married Miss Ella Ang- vick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Angvick, now deceased. who lived
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in Norway. To Mr. and Mrs. Dahl were born eight children, five of whom are living, named Geneva, Esther, Ruth, Harold and Alice.
Mr. Dahl was one of the organizers of the Norwegian Lutheran Church at Superior, but for a number of years before his death was a member of the First Norwegian Lutheran Church of Duluth, of which he was an elder. He was a strong advocate of Sunday schools and served for about fifteen years as superintendent of the Sunday school of the Nor- wegian Lutheran Church at Superior. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aftenro Society and a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason.
The late Mr. Dahl was generous in his attitude toward others and while successfully conducting his own business at Superior was instru- mental in materially aiding other parties in doing a profitable business along the same line. While he carried on a special line of business in such a manner as to gain a comfortable competency for himself, he also belong- ed to that class of representative citizens who promoted the public wel- fare while advancing individual success. He possessed sterling traits that commanded uniform confidence and regard, and even this brief record reveals some of the fine qualities which gained him perfect esteem in the community.
JAY O. BERGESON. The lives of a number of the energetic young men of the country prove that a man does not need strong financial backing or the influence of interested parties in order to advance. Some of those who are today holding the most responsible of positions with large cor- porations are those who have steadily risen because of their natural ability and their sincere interest in their work. One of these excellent representatives of the class referred to is Jay O. Bergeson, auditor and assistant treasurer of the Mesaba Railway Company at Virginia.
Jay O. Bergeson was born at Cumberland, Barron county, Wisconsin, April 10, 1889, a son of Mostow G. and Isabelle (Stene) Bergeson, both of whom are now deceased. Jay O. Bergeson is one of the seven chil- dren born to them. For the first fifteen years of his life he lived at Cum- berland, where he was a student in the public schools, and he later took a commercial course at the Duluth Business College at Duluth, Minnesota.
At the age of fifteen he left home and for two years worked as a common laborer at Cloquet, Minnesota, being connected with the saw- mills at that place. He then went to Duluth and became switch operator in the Duluth fire department. In September, 1909, he came to the Mesaba Range, and was first employed as timekeeper, warehouse man and clerk, spending the greater portion of his time at Virginia as an employe of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, but on June 10, 1912, he entered the service of the Western Construction Company, which was then engaged in building the present Mesaba Railroad, first as head time- keeper. His merits won him promotion and he was made cashier, and soon after the property was taken over by the Mesaba Railroad Com- pany Mr. Bergeson was made assistant treasurer and auditor and has continued as such ever since, and is an active factor in his company. During the great war he took an active part in supporting the various measures of the administration, and held official positions with the local organizations.
On June 13, 1912. Mr. Bergeson was married to Miss Esther Reese, and they have one daughter, Katherine. Mr. Bergeson is a member of the Lutheran Church. and active in the local congregation. His political convictions make him a Republican. Well known in Masonry, he has risen in his fraternity and is now a Knight Templar. Mr. Bergeson is
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an enthusiast with reference to the great Mesaba Range and is proud of the fact that he is connected with so important a factor in its develop- ment. His energy and ability are unquestioned and he is destined to travel much farther on the road to success along which he has already made considerable progress.
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ANDREW HAWKINSON. The record of every worthy life bears its measure of lesson and incentive, and in America there has ever been paid special honor to the man who has achieved success through his own efforts and so ordered his life in all its relations as to merit the confidence and good will of his fellow men. The sterling citizen whose name initiates this review came to America as a young man of twenty-two years, poor in purse but rich in ambition and in determination to achieve prosperity through earnest and honest endeavor. That his ambition has not been denied tangible realization is shown by the fact that he is now one of the prosperous merchants and representative citizens of Virginia and holds prestige as one of the loyal and public-spirited men of St. Louis county. He was born in Sweden November 23, 1857, a son of Hawkin Anderson, who was in his earlier career a miller by occupation and who later was employed as custodian of timbered tracts owned by large landholders in his native land, his position in this connection having been locally design- ated as "bush watcher." He and his wife remained in Sweden until their deaths.
The schools of his native land afforded to Andrew Hawkinson his early education, and he waxed strong in mind and physique with the passing years, with the result that he was a sturdy young man of fine principles and determined purpose when, in 1880, he severed the home ties and gallantly set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States, where he felt assured of better opportunities of winning success through individual effort. He made his way to Elk Rapids, Michigan, where his first employment was in the loading of cordwood for the burning of charcoal. His alert mentality soon enabled him to make good progress in command of the English language, and thus he overcame a definite handicap, as did he also in connection with other adverse conditions that confronted him from time to time. In 1884 he came to St. Louis county, Minnesota, and found employment in the mines at Tower, which was then a mere mining hamlet of about four houses. Later he took a position as clerk in a mercantile store at that place, and after gaining a fortifying knowledge of the various details of this line of enterprise he engaged independently in the general merchandise business, on a very modest scale. He continued his residence at Tower until 1894, when he marked another decisive step of progress by removing to Virginia, which then had a population of about 4,000, and here engaged in the same line of business upon a more extended scale and with greater incidental facili- ties. His civic loyalty has been unstinted and has denoted his deep appreciation of and allegiance to his adopted country. His ability and sterling character marked him as eligible for positions of public trust. and he served seven years as citv treasurer of Virginia, besides which, in 1906, he was further honored in being elected mayor of the city. The estimate placed upon his administration was significantly manifest in his re-election in 1908, and his record as mayor has passed into the records of the muncipality and the community as one of the soundest and best in the annals of Virginia. Within his regime was initiated the paving of the streets of the city, six miles of paving having been completed with- in the period of his administration as mavor. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Public Library at the time when the
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present fine library building was erected, and for nine years he gave characteristically earnest and efficient service as a member of the Board of Education. For years his helpful influence has been given through his membership in the St. Louis county poor commission, and it may well be understood that he has lived up to the best ideals of American citizenship in all of the relations of his busy and useful life. He is a staunch advo- cate and supporter of the principles of the Republican party, has re- ceived the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, besides holding membership in the Mystic Shrine, and his name is found also on the roll of members of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his family are communicants of the Swedish Lutheran Church.
In the year 1885 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hawkinson to Miss Mary Sokness, who was born in Norway, and of this union were born eight children, namely: Ever (deceased), Harry, Carl, Arnold, Mabel, John, Effie and Alice. Both Carl and Arnold were afforded the advantages of the University of Minnesota, the former specializing in forestry and the latter in agriculture, and both gave loyal military serv- ice during the nation's participation in the great World war. Prior to this Carl had been in the service of the Government as a forester, sur- veyor and engineer, and in connection with the war he passed eighteen months in France as a member of the Engineers Corps. Arnold's serv- ice did not involve his crossing the Atlantic to the stage of active con- flict.
ERNEST B. DUNNING. One of the leading business men and repre- sentative citizens of Duluth is Ernest B. Dunning, of Dunning & Dun- ning. Inc., which conduct one of the largest insurance agencies in the northwest. He is a man of influence in local affairs and is thoroughly in sympathy with any movement looking toward the betterment or advancement of his community, being worthy of the confidence and respect which his fellow citizens have freely accorded to him.
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