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 38
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Mr. Blewett was born October 15, 1876. in Ontario, Canada, and was four years of age when he came to the United States with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Blewett. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, went to Canada in young manhood, but returned to the United States in 1880 and engaged in farming in the vicinity of Crookston, Minnesota, where he died in 1887. He had ten children, of whom eight are living, Al being the seventh in order of birth.
The public schools of Crookston and Duluth furnished Al Blewett with his carly educational training, he having come to the latter city in 1889. Here he began to learn the printing business as errand boy with Seipel, Miller & Hunter, later becoming press operator, and subsequently foreman for Arthur E. Brown, who conducted the Northland Print- ery. After leaving that firm he associated himself with the Boston Music Company for a period of four years, and then became a partner in that concern, this association continuing until 1915. In that year he embarked in business on his own account at No. 18 Lake avenue, North, which is his present location. Here he does all kinds of first-class job printing and has built up his enterprise from a modest beginning to one that is impor- tant in its proportions.
About the year 1895 Mr. Blewett organized the Blewett Orchestra, with three members, which grew in popularity, favor and size, he event- ually employing as many as twenty-five persons. This organization was employed chiefly in furnishing music for dancing, and Mr. Blewett con- ducted the orchestra at the Duluth Boat Club for a period of twelve
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years and the orchestra at the Lester Park Dancing Pavilion for about the same number of years. Of recent years his musical work has been necessarily neglected to some extent, as he is now a partner in the Duluth Burnall Company, a business organized for the installing of fuel savers on heating plants, which takes the greater part of his time that is not devoted to his printing business.
Mr. Blewett, as his various activities would indicate, is enterprising, progressive and ambitious. He is a popular member of the Masonic Blue Lodge and Chapter, the Modern Samaritans, the Modern Wood- men of America and the Independent Order of Foresters, and in his political belief maintains an independent stand. He is unmarried.
JOHN E. HANSON is prominently identified with the lumber manufac- turing industry in the Mesaba Range district as assistant treasurer of the Virginia and Rainy Lake Company, with headquarters in the city of Vir- ginia. He was born at Manistee, Michigan, August 21, 1882, and is a son of Andrew and Matilda (Hanson) Hanson, both of the same family name but not of kinship. The parents were born and reared in Norway, but their marriage was solemnized at Manistee, Michigan, Andrew Han- son having been a young man when he immigrated to America from his native land and having made his way to Manistee, Michigan, in which locality he found employment in connection with lumbering operations. He continued his alliance with this industry not only during the period in which it was one of maximum importance in that section of Michigan but also after operations became greatly circumscribed with the reduc- tion of the timber resources. He was thus actively concerned with the lumber business until his death in 1918, and his sterling character gained to him unqualified popular esteem in the land of his adoption. His widow maintains her home at Manistee.
John E. Hanson continued to attend the public school of his native city until he had attained to the age of seventeen years, when he took a minor clerical position in the local office of the Manistee and North- eastern Railroad at Manistee. He continued his service until he had won promotion to the position of assistant chief clerk, and later he was employed about six months in the Chicago offices of the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
In April, 1903, Mr. Hanson came to Virginia, Minnesota, and assumed the position of bookkeeper in the office of the Virginia Lum- ber Company, which was later succeeded, in a reorganization, by the present Virginia and Rainy Lake Company. With this concern Mr. Hanson has continued his alliance without interruption, and through faithful and effective service to the corporation has won advancement to his present executive position.
Mr. Hanson served two years as a member of the police and fire commission of Virginia, in which connection he showed his distinct civic loyalty, but he has had no desire for political office. He is a Republican in politics, is an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Virginia, and takes vital interest in all that concerns the welfare and advancement of his home city. He is a director of the State Bank of Virginia, has received the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite of Masonry. this distinction having come to him when he was but twenty-two years of age, and his Masonic affiliations include also his membership in the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a member of the Virginia Lodge of the Bene- volent and Protective Order of Elks. It may specially be noted that he is a charter member of Aad Temple. Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Duluth.
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September 14, 1910, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hanson to Miss Blanche Forbes, of Duluth, and they have four children-John E., Jr., Richard H., Mary and Harriett.
ALFRED STAFF was a lad of fifteen years when he came to Virginia, St. Louis county, where his father had previously settled and where the latter's family joined him in the year 1893, and within the intervening period of more than a quarter of a century Alfred Staff has advanced to well established place as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of the progressive little city that was a mere mining hamlet at the time when he here made his initial appearance.
Mr. Staff was born in Sweden on the 18th of January, 1878, and about two years later his parents, Severin and Pauline Staff, immigrated to the United States and first established their residence in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, where the father found employment at his trade, that of a blacksmith. Later the family home was established at Ishpem- ing, Michigan, and from that place removal was made to Palmer, that state, where Mrs. Staff and the children remained until the winter of 1893, when removal was made to Tower, St. Louis county, Minnesota. There they remained until the spring of the following year, when they joined the husband and father at Virginia, Severin Staff having previous- ly engaged in the work of his trade at this place and having been here at the time when the village was practically destroyed by fire, in 1893. He followed his trade here for many years as one of the substantial and honored citizens of the village and city, and here his death occurred in the year 1902, his widow being still a resident of Virginia.
Alfred Staff passed the period of his boyhood and early youth at Ishpeming, Michigan, and Virginia, Minnesota, and his limited educa- tional training was received in the public schools of the former city. His boyhood memories of Virginia recall the place as a frontier village chief- ly notable for its sixty-eight saloons, its gambling and the other unto- ward activities of a new mining camp. Here he became a cook in the J. C. Weimer mining camp, where was then in progress the work of stripping the Ohio property. Later he worked as water boy for the min- ing firm of Drake & Stratton, by which he was later advanced to the position of night watchman, and thereafter he was for a time employed by John H. Harding in the Adams mine at Eveleth. In 1895 he began delivering meat from the butcher shop of Frederick Ingalls of Virginia, and here he has been continuously identified with the meat business since that early period in his career. Ambitious, self-reliant and progressive, he has won advancement through his own well directed efforts and enter- prise, and he is now one of the chief stockholders and a director of the Virginia Meat & Packing Company, one of the important industrial con- cerns of St. Louis county.
While working indefatigably in the winning of independence and worthy success, Mr. Staff has been appreciative of civic duties and respon- sibilities and has shown himself to be a loyal and progressive citizen. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and in 1910 he was elected alderman from the Second ward of Virginia, in which office he served two years, with characteristic loyalty and efficiency. In 1918 he was again elected a representative of this ward, for a term of four years, and in April, 1920, he was elected president of the City Council, in which important office he is making his influence felt in progressive movements and also in wise and efficient administration of all depart- ments of the municipal government. Mr. Staff is affiliated with the Bene- volent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and
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the Loyal Order of Moose, and he and his wife are active members of the Presbyterian Church in their home city.
May 4, 1907, recorded the marriage of Mr. Staff to Miss Hilda Strol- berg, of New York Mills, Ottertail county, Minnesota, and they have three children-Clarence, Lyle A. and Kenneth.
ANDREW GRANDE. The hardy Norwegians who come to these shores in quest of a livelihood and more extended opportunities for the develop- ment of their latent ability are seldom disappointed. It is not necessary to go beyond Virginia for a substantial illustration of these facts, the immediate case alluded to being that of Andrew Grande, who has been a resident of Virginia since 1900.
Mr. Grande was born in Norway June 19, 1858, a son of Jacob and Rangnel (Munstatter ) Grande, people in humble circumstances, who lived and died in the old country. Andrew Grande is one of a family of six children, five of whom are now living. His opportunities for educa- tional advantages were very limited in his boyhood, and with a view to assisting his parents to help keep their family he started out to work at an early age, at a time when most boys are attending school. His chief occupations during those years were carpentering, sailing and fishing in deep sea waters. In the early '80s considerable immigration drifted from European countries to the United States, and Mr. Grande, seeing no bright prospect of advancement in his native country, decided to venture across the Atlantic to America, whither so many of his countrymen had pre- viously come. He was further induced by the circumstances of having a brother who had been here for some years, and his favorable reports left no doubt in the mind of Andrew as to where his lot should be cast. Accordingly, he set out in 1882 and in the same year arrived in Duluth, having, however, at that time no knowledge of the English language or of the customs of this country.
For a time after his arrival Mr. Grande worked at any kind of honor- able employment he could pick up, but after a short period resumed his original occupation of a carpenter. He embarked in the grocery business in Duluth, remaining in that line until the panic of 1893, when he went under. His mainstay, however, was carpentering, and he thus continued until 1900, when he moved to Virginia, which has been his home ever. since. Desiring to spread out, he began to take contracts and did much work for the Oliver Mining Company. He built many of the better resi- dences and business blocks now to be seen in Virginia, and in fact, it is conceded he has done more along this line than any other man. The suc- cess which attended his efforts induced him to engage in the general build- ing supply business, and he has four separate concerns, covering about twenty thousand square feet of floor space. From small beginnings he has steadily progressed and is now in possession of a substantial for- tune. He has no regrets for leaving Norway behind, and is of the type of adopted citizen of whom the community feels justly proud.
In 1890 Mr. Grande was united in marriage to Miss Anna Ness, also a native of Norway, and they have become the parents of six children, as follows: Mamie, Agness ( who became Mrs. Frank W. Crane). John. Gida Rebecca (deceased). Myrtle and Arnold. John Grande served as a sergeant in the United States Army during the World war. He was attached to the machine gun service and spent nine months in France, returning home at the end of hostilities.
Mr. Grande is a warm supporter of the Republican party and a strong advocate of its policies and principles, but he has not, however, been a seeker after public office. He is an earnest member of the Norwegian
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Lutheran Church, to the upkeep of which he is a liberal subscriber. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and holds membership in various clubs existing for civic and social development along all legitimate lines.
WILLIAM MORRISON BURGESS needs no introduction to the people of Duluth and vicinity, where he has lived for nearly forty years, and for many years has been engaged in business, his success being the result of rightly applied principles, which never fail in their ultimate effect when coupled with integrity, uprightness and a genial disposi- tion. This has been literally true in his case, judging from the high standing he has maintained among his fellow citizens, whose un- divided esteem he has justly won and retained, for his life has been of untiring industry and honorable dealings with his fellow men.
William Morrison Burgess is a native of Canada and is the eldest of the two children born to his parents. His father, George Burgess, was born and reared in New York state, moved to Canada, where his marriage occurred, and finally located in Michigan, where he lived for forty years, following the vocation of blacksmithing. Eventually he came to Duluth and here spent his last days. William M. Burgess received his educational training in the public schools of Michigan, graduating from the high school at Ionia. He then was put to learn the blacksmith trade, but after the expiration of his apprenticeship period, three years, he did no further work at that vocation. During the following five years he engaged in teaching school during the winter months and in summers was connected with the lumber busi- ness. In 1883 Mr. Burgess came to Duluth and accepted the position of superintendent of the Duluth Electric Light and Power Company, a position which he held for eleven years. In 1894 he and a brother engaged in the electrical business, under the firm name of the Burgess Electric Company, in which enterprise they have met with a very gratifying degree of success. They first started their business in a small way at No. 109 West Michigan street, but increase in business compelled them to seek larger quarters and they moved to No. 24 Third avenue, West, where they were located about five years. About 1908 they moved to their present location, No. 310 West First street. They carry a full line of electric supplies of all kinds, are contract manufacturers of electric fixtures, switch boards, panels and panel boxes and also do a wholesale business in electric supplies. In addi- tion to his interest in the Burgess Electric Company Mr. Burgess is interested in mining, especially on the Cuyuna Range, being sec- retary and treasurer of the Chester Harold Mining Company, which was organized about eleven years ago. He is also interested in Kan- sas oil properties.
Politically Mr. Burgess gives his support to the Republican party, in which he has been reasonably active. He served for three years as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners, and also served as a mem- ber of the Federal Highway Council. He is a member of the Duluth Commercial Club, a charter member of the Duluth Boat Club and a mem- ber of the Elks Club. His religious faith is that of the Unitarian Church, which he attends.
On May 6, 1889, Mr. Burgess was married to Elizabeth Rackle, of Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of George and Mary Rackle, who were born in Germany and in their early youth came to this country, lived in Columbus, Ohio, for four or five years, and then located in Cleveland, Ohio. George Rackle, who is now deceased, was a sculptor of consid-
William Invennison Burgers
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erable note and held a high position in art circles. Mrs. Burgess is a lady of culture and attractive qualities, and is an active member of a number of societies in Duluth.
Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burgess, George Harold and William Carlyle, both of whom graduated from the high school in Duluth. Harold then went to the Case School of Applied Science, graduating in the Electrical Engineering Department and is now associated with his father in the Burgess Electrical Company. He married Eve McDonough, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and one daughter has been born to them, Elizabeth Mary. George Harold Burgess during the World war was connected with the government in the naval department.
William Carlyle, after graduating from the Duluth High School, attended the Case School of Applied Science, taking up mechanical engineering, and then going to Wisconsin University at Madison, where his studies were interrupted by the great war. He enlisted in the navy, entering the Great Lakes Naval Station, was later sent to Pelham Bay, thence to Columbia College to complete his training, and after the signing of the armistice returned to Wisconsin Uni- versity, graduating therefrom in June, 1920. He always took great interest in athletics, winning a gold medal in a four-oared crew in Northwest Regatta, also in the National Regatta the same four-oared crew won a gold medal at Springfield, Massachusetts. He is now in training with the senior eight-oared crew for the Regatta of 1921. While attending Wisconsin University the eight-oared crew of which he was a member also carried off the honors.
William Morrison Burgess has attained to his present position solely by virtue of his own character and efforts, the qualities of keen discrimination, sound judgment and executive ability entering very largely into his make-up and being contributing elements to the mate- rial success which has come to him. He is essentially public spirited and gives his earnest support to all movements or enterprises for the advancement of the public welfare, and he enjoys a well-deserved popularity throughout the community in which he lives.
EDWARD J. LARSEN, who is engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Virginia, as one of the representative members of the bar of St. Louis county, was born on a farm in Kandiyohi county, Minnesota, on the 30th of October, 1877, a date that indicates that he is a scion of one of the pioneer families of that section of the state. His parents, Edward C. and Johanna (Christiansen) Larsen, were born and reared in Norway. Realizing in his young manhood the success limitations of his native land, Edward C. Larsen manifested alike his ambition and self-reliance by severing the home ties and setting forth for America. His equipment comprised largely his ster- ling attributes of character, his industry, his resolute purpose and his willingness to face obstacles and adverse conditions if such a course be required in his efforts to win independence and prosperity. In the carly '60s this strong and gallant young man of the fair Norse- land made his way to Liverpool, England, where he embarked on the sailing vessel that thirteen weeks later landed him in the port of the city of Quebec, Canada. From that place he made his way to Wis- consin, where he joined an older brother who had come to this country several years previously. Within a year thereafter he came to Min- nesota and initiated his experience as a pioneer in Kandiyohi county. There he took up 160 acres of government land, and his financial
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resources were so limited that in furthering the reclamation and development of his farm he had recourse to work at his trade, that of blacksmith, besides which he found employment in connection with early railroad construction in Minnesota and also worked in lumber camps. With the passing years he developed one of the valuable farm properties of Kandiyohi county, and in his achievement along this important line of industrial enterprise, as well as through his loyal and appreciative citizenship, he did well his part as an empire builder in the great Northwest. In view of the insistent clamor con- cerning the high cost of living in the present post-war period, it is interesting to record that in the early days of his residence in Minne- sota Mr. Larsen was compelled to pay $18.00 a barrel, in gold, for flour, besides which he transported salt to his farm by carrying the same on his back over an old Indian trail from St. Cloud-fully forty- two miles distant. He and his noble wife lived up to the full tension of hardships and trials incidental to the pioneer era and their names merit a place on the roll of the sterling pioneers whose earnest and unostentatious efforts aided in the development of Minnesota along both civic and industrial lines. Their marriage was solemnized at St. Cloud, this state, and they passed the closing years of their lives on the fine old homestead farm in Kandiyohi county, where Mrs. Larsen died in 1897 and where his death occurred in 1906, when he was venerable in years. Both were devout communicants of the Lutheran Church, and their abiding Christian faith guided and gov- erned their lives, both having held the unqualified esteem of all who knew them. They became the parents of eight sons and four daugh- ters, and of the number six are living, the subject of this review having been the fifth in order of birth.
Edward John Larsen passed the period of his childhood and early youth upon the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, and there he gained enduring appreciation of the dignity and value of honest toil and endeavor. He profited by the advantages of the public schools of his native county, and as a youth was a suc- cessful teacher in the district schools. By this medium he acquired the funds that enabled him to continue his studies first in the Minne- sota State Normal School at St. Cloud and later in Minneapolis Acad- emy. In consonance with well formulated plans he then entered the law department of the University of Minnesota, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1913. He largely defrayed his expenses at the university by clerking in a law office in the city of Minneapolis. His reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws was practically coincident with his admission to the bar of his native state, and in 1914 he opened an office at Virginia, where he served his professional novitiate and where he has since continued in the successful general practice of law. He is serving at the time of this writing as village attorney of Mountain Iron. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Virginia, of which he is a director. The political allegiance of Mr. Larsen is given as independent, and he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran Church in their home city.
In January, 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Larsen to Miss Emilie Eggen, and they have two daughters-Gunhild and Elizabeth.
FRANK M. MIELKE is an expert electrician, being president and ac- tive head of the Mielke Electrical Works in Duluth, a business
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that performs a large and important service in the handling, preparing and remodeling of electrical equipment.
Mr. Mielke was born in Chicago, April 6, 1880. His father, Frank Mielke, was born in Germany, but has lived in America for sixty years. The greater part of his active career was spent as a bookkeeper with a large mercantile house at Chicago.
The oldest of six children, Frank M. Mielke attended the public schools of his native city and at the age of eighteen began a practical apprenticeship, learning every phase of the electrical industry, includ- ing the manufacture of motors and dynamos and the installation of electrical equipment. For twelve years he lived in Chicago, then for 31/2 years was in Appleton, Wisconsin, and in 1906 came to Duluth and was in the service of the Burgess Electrical Company until he went into business for himself. In 1912 he organized Mielke Elec- trical Works, which in 1920 was incorporated. They have well- equipped offices and shops at 922-924 East Superior street, and have all the facilities for rebuilding and repairing of electric motors and dynamos and other electrical machinery. They do a large business on all the iron ranges and also in North and South Dakota and Upper Michigan. The company maintains a working force of twelve, includ- ing four expert machinists. Mr. Mielke is president of the company. Mrs. Mielke is vice president, and H. H. Campbell is secretary and treasurer.
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