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 44
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was necessary to build a cofferdam in order to get her back to San Francisco, and this offered young Brown an opportunity to escape, which he accomplished by swimming to Goat Island.
On the day following his reaching there Mr. Brown enlisted in the United States Navy and was sent to the Mare Island Navy Yard and February 11, 1902, found him aboard the receiving ship Independence. On the first of May following he was assigned to the Solace, a transport, and sailed for the Asiatic station, and on arriving off China, July 7, 1903, was transferred to the Oregon, on which ship he served for twenty-two months. He was then transferred to the Wisconsin, on which he remained for eighteen months. Thus he was in Asiatic waters during the Russian-Japanese war, and while on the Wisconsin sailed 680 miles up the Yangtse Kiang River to Kiukiang and Nankin to break the boycott China had established on American goods and markets. He was honor- ably discharged at the navy yard at Bremerton, Washington, February 11, 1906. During his years of sea service he had learned much. From February until July he worked at Bisbee, Arizona, as a machinist's helper for the Copper Queen Mining Company, then went to Chicago, where for three weeks he fired a boiler in the Palmer House, from there going farther east and entering the employ of the Knickerbocker Silver Com- pany, first as a packer and later as a shipping clerk.
In 1909 Mr. Brown went to Minneapolis and for one month was con- nected with the Minneapolis Tribune as a reporter and then came to Chisholm as timekeeper for the .Oliver Mining Company, at the end of two months being made general timekeeper for this district. Inevitably, however, he drifted into newspaper work, the impulse being inherited, and on January 1, 1916, he became owner, business manager and editor of the Chisholm Tribune-Herald, satisfying an ambition cherished since childhood. He has a modern, first class plant and issues a journal that is creditable in every way and is generously supported.
Mr. Brown was married February 8, 1911, to Miss Caroline Frances Seidensticker, of Port Jervis, Orange County, New York, coming of Dutch ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had four children: Joel Frederick, who died at the age of seventeen months; Walter B., who was born August 30, 1913; and Charles B. and William W., twins, who were born January 30, 1915.
Ever since establishing his permanent home at Chisholm Mr. Brown has been active as a citizen. He was instrumental in establishing the Chamber of Commerce, in which body he is an important factor, and has served as secretary for two years, and since 1917 has been president of the Library Board. In political sentiment he is a Republican, but in his work for the city's substantial welfare he recognizes no party affiliation but labors with other public-spirited men for the general good. During the great war he served as an officer in the Home Guards, and took part in the various patriotic movements of that period. He is well known in fraternal life and is active in many organizations, being a member of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Duluth Consistory, Hibbing Lodge of Perfection, and Aad Temple Shrine, Duluth; Chisholm Lodge No. 1334, Elks; Lematite Lodge No. 9, Odd Fellows ; Lodge No. 179, Knights of Pythias ; and Aerie No. 462, Order of Eagles. He belongs also to the Kiwanis Club.
CHARLES E. HENDRICK. In the building and expansion of the indus- trial and commercial activities of Virginia, in the development of the banking and educational affairs of the city, and in the cause of prohibi- tion no member of the community is more prominently and more favor-
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ably known than Charles E. Hendrick, who for many years past has been a resident of Virginia.
Mr. Hendrick, now general superintendent of the M. A. Hanna inter- ests of the Mesaba Range, Virginia, is a native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, his birth occurring October 27, 1867. He is one of a family of four children-three sons and one daughter-born to the marriage of Edmund and Sarah (Burr) Hendrick, the former of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock and the latter a lineal descendant of Aaron Burr. Edmund Hendrick was a wood turner by trade and also followed carpentering and fruit-growing. in each of these branches having met with a good measure of success. He served the Union cause as a member of a Michigan regiment during the Civil war, his duties being carried on in connection with the engineer- ing and construction department, and at the close of hostilities he returned to his usual vocations. Both he and his wife passed away many years ago.
Charles E. Hendrick is the youngest child born to his parents. His early years were passed in his native city, where he attended school and completed the high school course. Shortly thereafter he moved to North- ville, Michigan, and spent about eighteen months in a manufacturing establishment, going thence to Ishpeming as an assistant engineer and chemist for the Pittsburg and Lake Angeline Iron Company. Pursuing his activities along these lines, Mr. Hendrick transferred his services to the Lake Superior Iron Company, of which he became chief chemist and later was appointed chief engineer to the same company. When the Oliver Iron Mining Company succeeded in the ownership of the Lake Superior Iron Company Mr. Hendrick continued as chief engineer, and later as assistant to the general superintendent, remaining in the latter position until the end of 1904.
In January, 1905, he moved to the Mesaba Range of northern Minne- sota, and assumed the duties of superintendent for the Consumers Ore Company (M. A. Hanna interests) at Buhl. His home was at the latter place until 1908, in which year he took up his residence in Virginia. As the Hanna interests expanded Mr. Hendrick had charge of their opera- tions, the scope of his duties finally spreading out to include a number of the Great Northern iron ore properties ; this was then divided and he has since had charge of the eastern district. Mr. Hendrick, also is vice president and a director of the State Bank of Virginia, and is secretary and treasurer and a director of the Hoar Shovel Agency. This agency operates the disposal of a new underground shovel, which, it is claimed. has wonderful possibilities as a labor-saving device in underground min- ing work. It is asserted that this shovel reduces labor over 50 per cent.
Mr. Hendrick was married to Miss Ida Moag, a native of Ransom- ville. New York, and they became the parents of two children : Paul E. and Mildred I. Mr. Hendrick is a supporter of the Republican party, with strong Prohibition tendencies, and acted as chairman of the Dry County Committee when St. Louis County was changed to a prohibition district. He has served as a member of the Board of Education and has served on the Library Board, and at the present time is a member of the City Charter Commission. His religious affiliation is with the Central Baptist Church of Duluth. Fraternally he belongs to the Kiwanis Club : is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the .Mystic Shrine. During the World war he was active in the various campaigns to promote the different bond drives, and in 1920 was chairman of the Near East relief drive, which resulted in Virginia being one of the comparatively few towns to "go over the top" in the raising of its quota.
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Apart from these last mentioned activities Mr. Hendrick has always lent his aid and influence to the promotion of every project calculated to advance the moral and social progress of his adopted city, and he is generally recognized as a citizen in whom the community has implicit confidence.
ANTON CHARLES WEISS has all the honors and dignities attaching to veteran experience in Minnesota journalism, and has served for practi- cally three decades as editor and publisher of the Duluth Herald, one of the oldest papers of northern Minnesota, and for many years the undis- puted leading daily of Duluth.
Mr. Weiss was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, September 20, 1862, a son of John and Louise ( Fleischer) Weiss. He has been a resident of Minnesota since 1870 and of Duluth since 1884. He acquired his educa- tion in the public schools, and gained his early training in newspaper work in the office and on the staff of the Pioneer Press of St. Paul. He served that great Minnesota paper for ten years.
The Duluth Herald was established in 1883 by Myron Bunnell,. who after six years sold out. One of its editors was J. Adam Bede, the dis- tinguished Minnesota congressman. A stock company was formed to acquire the ownership of the Herald plant in 1891, and it was in Novem- ber of that year that Mr. Weiss bought a financial interest and became president, treasurer and general manager of the company. He had been in Duluth for several years as the Duluth representative and correspond- ent of the Pioneer Press of St. Paul. Mr. Weiss has been the inspiration and guiding genius of the Herald for thirty years, and has made it one of the leading papers of the northwest, both in quality of service and also in the high standard of its mechanical equipment.
He was a director of the Associated Press from 1910 until 1921. He has long been prominent in Democratic politics and public affairs. The first public office he held was as alderman of Duluth in 1888-90. From 1890 to 1893 he was a member of the Board of Managers of the Minne- sota State Prison. He was a delegate at large to the National Con- vention of the Democratic party at Denver in 1908, and also a delegate at large and chairman of the Minnesota delegation at the Baltimore Convention in 1912, and during that campaign was a member of the Advisory Board of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Weiss served as a member of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety dur- ing the World war. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Duluth, the Kitchi Gammi and Northland Country Golf Clubs, the Duluth Curling Club and the Duluth Boat Club. On October 5, 1887, he married Mary D. Sherwin, of McMinnville, Tennessee.
CHARLES VAN STONE GREER. The Greer Printing Company of Duluth is one of the most successfully equipped and efficient organizations of its kind in the northwest for general book and job printing and all classes of printing work. The active head of the business and its founder is Charles Van Stone Greer, one of the veterans of the trade at Duluth, who first came here nearly thirty years ago.
Mr. Greer was born in Huron County, Ontario, Canada, June 4, 1871, and learned the printing trade during his youth after attending common schools. In October, 1891, when he was twenty years of age, he came to Duluth and went to work as a compositor for the Daily Tribune. He remained in Duluth until March, 1892, when he went out to Seattle, Washington, was employed on the Post Intelligencer until October of that year and was then in the office of the Spokane Review until April,
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1893. Returning to Duluth, he was connected with the mechanical offices of the Duluth Evening Herald about two years, and in September, 1894, first engaged in the job printing business under the firm name of Rankin & Greer. The partnership was continued until the fall of 1896, their modest plant being in the basement of the Torrey Building. When Mr. Rankin withdrew from the partnership A. H. Moore took his place, and the firm Greer & Moore continued until 1898. Mr. Greer then resumed his trade in the office of the Daily News Tribune for one year. Thereafter he established the pioneer enterprise of the kind, operating a plant of Mergenthaler linotypes for typesetting for job printers. This was the first effort in that direction made at Duluth. Mr. Greer made this his exclusive business until February, 1911, at which date the Greer Printing Company was established. This is owned and controlled by Mr. Greer, and at 14 and 16 West First street the company maintains a complete plant and all the facilities for its work and service.
Mr. Greer is well known in Duluth social and business affairs, though practically all his time and energies have been devoted to one business. He is a member of the Duluth Typothetae, United Typothetae of Amer- ica, the Advertising Club, Commercial Club, Boat Club and Young Men's Christian Association, and fraternally is a member of Palestine Lodge No. 79, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, North Star Lodge of Per- fection of the Scottish Rite, and Aad Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the Modern Samaritans. He casts his vote inde- pendently and is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
ERNEST E. BURNS. For many years a prominent lumber concern of Minnesota has been the Burns Lumber Company. This corporation has two large yards in Duluth, and the Duluth business of the corporation is under the direct supervision and management of Ernest E. Burns, a son of the founder of the business.
His father was William H. Burns, who was born in Ireland and came to America in 1857. As a young man without capital or special resources he took advantage of the Cooper Institute in New York city as a means of acquiring a useful mechanical trade, and learned cabinet making. On the 19th of April, 1861, he volunteered as a member of Company H, Hawkins Zouaves. He was three years in the Union army in the Army of the Potomac, served in the battle of Richmond and many other engagements, and after being wounded was placed on detached guard duty at Washington until the war ended. After the war he con- tinued to live in Washington until 1871, when he moved out to Iowa, was in that state until 1886 and then moved to St. Paul and engaged in the lumber business. His partner was Mr. Shaw, and they were in busi- ness under the firm name of Burns & Shaw from 1886 umtil 1896. In the latter year William H. Burns with his sons organized the Burns Lumber Company. The St. Paul business of this company is conducted by another son. Floyd W. Burns.
Ernest E. Burns was born in Iowa April 26, 1871, and was fifteen years of age when brought to Minnesota. He finished his education in St. Paul and for a number of years past has been secretary and treasurer of the Burns Lumber Company. The company operates two other branch offices besides those at Duluth and St. Paul. Ernest E. Burns is active in the Masonic Order, being affiliated with the Knights Templar and Shrine, is a member of the Modern Samaritans, the Royal Arcanum, and in politics is a Republican. September 8, 1897. he married in lowa Miss Anna Fitz. They are the parents of six children: Margaret E., born July 3, 1898: William H .. born October 1. 1899, enlisted in April,
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1917, and was in service until honorably discharged in October, 1919; Robert C., born February 15, 1902, who also volunteered for service in the World war : Ernest E., Jr., born December 26, 1904; John Richard, born March 13, 1911 ; and Anna Virginia, born June 23, 1913.
EDWARD L. AND LAWRENCE M. BARRETT are progressive young men whose initiative energy and keen prescience of trade demands have given to the city of Virginia a well-equipped wholesale grocery house, the serv- ice of which meets most effectively the requirements of the territory normally tributary to this thriving city of St. Louis County. Their father was born in the Dominion of Canada, of English and Irish lineage, and he came to the United States when a youth. At the time of the birth of his sons, the subjects of this review, he was a resident of Stillwater, Minnesota, where he was employed as a guard at the State Penitentiary, of which institution he later became an officer. After severing this con- nection he became a salesman for the wholesale grocery firm of Stone, Ordean, Wells Company, of Duluth, but he is now deceased. His wife, whose family name was Casey, was born at Stillwater, this state, in 1871, of Irish and French ancestry, and they became the parents of six children.
Fully five years ago Edward L. and Lawrence M. Barrett conceived the idea and plan of establishing at Virginia a wholesale grocery busi- ness, but war conditions made it impracticable to take decisive action until later. On the 1st of May, 1919, under the title of Barrett Brothers Com- pany, they founded the wholesale grocery house by enlisting adequate capitalistic support and establishing the enterprise under corporate con- trol, with Edward L. as president and Lawrence M. as treasurer and manager of the company, the stock of the concern being held by a very limited number of men, and all of the number being residents of the Iron Range district of Minnesota. At the inception of the new commercial enterprise there was not to be had in Virginia a building adequate to serve the requirements of the company, and the municipal authorities showed their liberality and public spirit by leasing to the company the curling rink, which was in use by the company during the intervening period prior till the completing of the new and substantial three-story building which was erected for the purpose and was completed and ready for occupancy November 1, 1920. This building, of three stories and basement, is of the best type of reinforced concrete construction, is located on the tracks of two railroads, and is modern in equipment and facilities. The business of the company has already been placed upon a substantial and flourishing basis, and its service is greatly appreciated by the retail trade of the territory covered-a territory extending to Duluth on the south, to International Falls on the north, to Ely on the east and to Grand Rapids on the west. The Barrett brothers are giving their splendid energies to the promotion of this important business, which is contributing in marked degree to the commercial prestige of Virginia, and they are known and valued as progressive business men and loyal and public-spirited citizens.
Edward L. Barrett was born at Stillwater, Minnesota, on the 3d of May, 1883, and there he attended the public schools until he had com- pleted two years of study in the high school. His parents then removed to St. Paul, and for three years thereafter he was a student in St. Thomas' College in that city. At the age of seventeen years he became a travel- ing salesman for the Clapp Clothing Company of Grand Rapids, Michi- gan, with assigned territory from Duluth west to the Pacific Coast. After remaining six months with this company Mr. Barrett entered the employ
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of the great Barber Asphalt Company as cashier in the Duluth office of the concern. Six months later he severed this association and became a traveling salesman for the Stone, Ordean, Wells Company, wholesale grocers at Duluth. For ten years thereafter he effectively covered the territory immediately tributary to Duluth, and developed a substantial business for this company. He was then transferred to the Mesaba Range territory, in which he continued to represent this company until he withdrew to engage independently in the same line of business, as noted in a preceding paragraph. In politics Mr. Barrett is independent, he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Catholic Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He volunteered for service in the World war, but was not accepted for enlistment. He was active in support of the various governmental war agencies in his field, and in this connection organized at Hibbing the campaign for the sale of War Saving Stamps.
On the 8th of June, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bar- rett to Miss Elizabeth Louise Ashley, who was born at Saginaw, Michi- gan, and they have six children-Elizabeth L., Edward Lee, Jr., Mar- garet A., Francis A., David W. and Nancy J.
Lawrence M. Barrett was born at Stillwater on the 27th of April, 1890, and after his graduation in St. Thomas' College, St. Paul, as a member of the class of 1907, he immediately entered the employ of the Stone, Ordean, Wells Company at Duluth, with which concern he won advancement from the position of labeler to house salesman in the general office of the company. On the 14th of May, 1908, he became traveling representative of this wholesale grocery house in the Mesaba Range ter- ritory, where he continued his successful service until the 1st of March, 1919, when he resigned his position and became associated with his brother in establishing the wholesale grocery house of which mention has already been made in this review. Mr. Barrett is not constrained by partisan lines in politics, and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. At Virginia he is an active member of the Rotary Club and the lodges of the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, besides which he is affiliated with the United Com- mercial Travelers. At the time of the nation's participation in the great World war Mr. Barrett organized the Virginia Home Guards, which body was later taken over by the state, whereupon he was appointed and commissioned major of the Fourth Minnesota Battalion. In this official capacity he was assigned to the organization of companies at Grand Rapids, Kewatin, Hibbing, Chisholm, Buhl and International Falls. Some of these companies later entered the Federal service as the Second Bat- talion, Sixth Regiment Minnesota National Guard, of which Mr. Barrett assumed command as major of the battalion.
April 2. 1913, recorded the marriage of Mr. Barrett to Miss Emeline Higgins, who was born in the city of Manistee, Michigan, and the three children of this union are Mary Emeline, Jean Paul Francis and Law- rence M., Jr.
S. G. PETERSON. While his home and business have been in Duhuith only fourteen years S. G. Peterson is a pioneer in the northern country of Minnesota and Michigan and has had a working career of usefulness there for upwards of forty years. He furnishes a business service described as "anything in sheet metal work." and has the expert personal skill and qualifications of a good manager to perform any service rea- sonably expected of this kind.
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Mr. Peterson was born in Sweden September 21, 1861, and as he grew to manhood he acquired a common school education and was trained chiefly to the duties of a Swedish farm. In October, 1881, he arrived in America, having come alone, and his first location was at Portland, Connecticut, where for a short time he worked in a box factory. He soon came west to Ishpeming, Michigan, left there and removed to Westboro, Wisconsin, was employed as a laborer, and then established his home at Ashland, Wisconsin, where he remained from 1883 until 1906, employed in hardware stores and as a practical tinsmith. For eleven years he was a clerk in one hardware store at Ashland, under the proprietorship of R. W. French.
On moving to Duluth in 1906 Mr. Peterson took up the sheet metal business with the Duluth Corrugating and Roofing Company. He was with that organization six years, was employed by C. L. Burman in the same line for three years, and then established his present shop at 1918 West Superior street, and has had a generous share of this class of busi- ness contracts in Duluth and vicinity. He has facilities for handling any class of sheet metal work, whether roofing, cornices, hot air heating or otherwise. He is a successful business man, and has always concentrated his energies along one line of business. He votes for the good of Ameri- can principles and independently so far as party is concerned. He is a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church.
April 6, 1888, at Ashland, Wisconsin, Mr. Peterson married Miss Anna B. Lindbloom, who was born in Sweden and came to this country after the arrival of Mr. Peterson. Nine children were born into their home, and six are still living, named Agnes M., Albert L., Reuben G., Lester F., Mildred M. and Alice A. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have taken great pains to give their children ample training and education for careers of usefulness and honor. Their oldest child, Agnes, was educated in the public schools at Ashland, attended normal school at Duluth, also the Minnesota State College at Minneapolis, was a student in summer schools and pursued a thorough study of agriculture. For about seven years she was a successful teacher and is now the wife of A. M. Olson and lives at Nelson, Minnesota. The son Albert was educated in public schools at Ashland, took a course in bookkeeping at Duluth Business University and is now assistant to the general manager of the manufacturing depart- ment of F. A. Patrick Company. Reuben G., the second son, was edu- cated in the Ashland and Duluth public schools, for five years was book- keeper for the Consolidated Elevator Company, and early in the World war enlisted in the navy and was on duty fourteen months. Since coming home he has been a business associate with his father. Lester F. Peter- son attended public schools at Ashland and Duluth, was for two years an employe of C. L. Burman, and since then has been with his father. The daughter Mildred was educated in Duluth public schools, and the young- est of the family, Alice, is still a schoolgirl at Duluth.
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