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 III > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
1026
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
entering actively into public life. He has been a supporter of all worthy movements, educational, religious, charitable and civic.
In 1880 Mr. Killorin married Miss Carrie Wright, who died in 1894. In 1898 he married Miss Mary McHugh, and they have three children: John F., Bernard and Elizabeth. Mr. Killorin has always taken a deep interest in boating, Messrs. Killorin and Smith winning the champion- ship of the world in the paired oared contest that took place during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. They also took first prize in Saratoga that same year and in 1877 defeated all comers in Detroit. Mr. Killorin takes great pride in his various tokens of victory, his prizes being very beautiful and worthy of the great victories won.
LEWIS HOFF MINOR when a young man overcame some unusual diffi- culties in getting the education he desired and in preparing himself for a career of usefulness, but since then has achieved a well deserved success, is a self-made man, and one of the well known business men of the Iron Range district, being manager of the Dower Lumber Com- pany at Chisholm.
His grandfather was a Union soldier during the Civil war, and after serving faithfully during most of the struggle died of disease before the close of hostilities. Lewis Hoff Minor was born on his father's rented farm near South English, Iowa, September 12, 1873, son of Jehial and Julia Minor. His early environment was a farm and as soon as he was old enough his time and services were required in assist- ing his father. He obtained a country school education and later was able to pay his way during two years of attendance as a student at Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Following his college education he worked in a saw mill at Rock Island, Illinois, for one year, then returned to his home near Tipton, Iowa, and worked on the railroad as a section hand and one year on the farm, and through the influence of his employer was enticed to go to Wadena, Min- nesota. This same employer secured for him 120 acres of land, and having no money this employer secured the entire amount, which was to be paid on the annual payment plan. Mr. Minor left Tipton, Iowa, in August, 1898, with fifteen dollars in money and rode to Wadena, Minnesota, on a bicycle, covering the six hundred miles in seven days. Not being financially able to return to Tipton in the fall, he entered the woods for the winter as a lumber jack, with no experience whatever, and gained knowledge that has been of inestimable value to him during his many years in the lumber business. He came out of the woods the following April to help erect some buildings on other lands purchased by his employer, and two months later entered the employ of the Dower Lumber Company at Verndale, Minnesota, a small village near Wadena, as yard man, and served in this capacity for two years.
Sixteen months after his first experience as a land owner Mr. Minor sold the farm for one thousand dollars cash, more than the original pur- chase price., That transaction stimulated and encouraged him to handle real estate on the side, and since then he has made many success- ful real estate turnovers.
After two years as a yard man for the Dower Lumber Company at Verndale he was then promoted to the position of yard manager and transferred to New York Mills, Minnesota, where he remained for eight years. At this place he was obliged to learn the Finnish language, as the settlers were practically all Finnish speaking people, and this knowl- edge has been a very valuable asset in business since that time.
On September 5, 1908, a great forest fire swept northern Minnesota, and Chisholm was one of the northern towns that was entirely wiped
1027
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
out by this fire. On October 1st, following, Mr. Minor was transferred to Chisholm, where a new lumber yard was opened by the Dower Lumber Company, and he assisted in rebuilding the village of ten thousand inhabitants.
Mr. Minor has been with this one company for twenty-one years. In appreciation of his faithful and able services the company at the end of his twentieth . year presented him with a thousand dollar stock certificate and a life insurance policy for a thousand dollars for as long as he is with them.
A short time after he entered the service of the Dower Lumber Company Mr. Minor married, on April 4, 1900, Miss Alberta Towne, of Verndale, Minnesota. Their only child is Harold Douglas, born in 1909. While he was living at New York Mills Mr. Minor served as village trustee. He has always been keenly interested in politics, and as a boy made choice of his allegiance with the Republican party, though his father was a Democrat. Before he was old enough to vote he took an active part in the Harrison-Cleveland campaign, so much so that his father was accured by his friends of being disloyal to the Democrats. Mr. Minor served one year as a member of the Chisholm Board of Health, and was the first secretary of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of Lematite Lodge No. 9 in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
ALBERT ST. VINCENT. In the mining activities that comprise such a large and important chapter in the industrial history of St. Louis County members of the St. Vincent family have performed a useful and frequently conspicuous part for many years. Albert St. Vincent of this family is a prominent mining engineer, and as one of the operating officials of the Oliver Iron Mining Company is the present assistant superintendent of the Hull-Rust, Kerr, Sweeney and Carson Lake Mines.
Mr. St. Vincent was born at Quinnesec, Michigan, December 30, 1881. His father, Frank St. Vincent, was of French ancestry and was born in Montreal, Canada, but came to Michigan at the age of six years. In March, 1884, he went on the Vermillion Range of northern Minnesota as foreman of the blacksmith shop at Tower. Later he located at Soudan in St. Louis County and in that locality has maintained his home for over thirty years and is still active in service as a black- smith foreman. He married Obeline Vandal, of French parentage.
Albert St. Vincent is the oldest of eight children. He was three years old when he and his mother and a brother six months old followed his father to Soudan in September, 1884, and in that mining village he grew up and acquired his early grade school education. He also attended a business college two years, and at the age of seventeen became a helper in the mine blacksmith shop under his father. Subsequently for a few months he worked in the supply department, was then transferred to Section Thirty Mine at Ely for the Minnesota Iron Company, next became timekeeper at Soudan, where he remained four years, and in the spring of 1903 came to the Mesaba Range as mine clerk for the LaBelle Mining Company at Mckinley. That mine closed down the same sum- mer, and he found a variety of experience at Cripple Creek, Colorado, where he was employed as hoisting engineer and in other capacities by the Golden Cycle Mining Company for four months. His next work was in Sunrise, Wyoming, where he was a warehouseman for the Colo- rado Fuel & Iron Company and the Colorado & Wyoming Railroad Company, remaining in that service two years.
Vol. III-7
1028
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Returning to Minnesota in 1905, Mr. St. Vincent located at Ely and was timekeeper at the Pioneer and Chandler Mines for the Oliver Iron Mining Company. In January, 1906, he went to Ironwood, Michigan, as assistant mining engineer for the Newport Mining Company. In order to increase his proficiency as a mining man by technical instruc- tion he entered the Michigan School of Mines at Houghton in Septem- ber, 1906, and remained with that great institution for one year.
Then in 1907 Mr. St. Vincent came to Hibbing and resumed service with the Oliver Iron Mining Company as mining engineer. He per- formed duties in that capacity at all the mines operated by the com- pany in the Hibbing district. In 1916 he was made assistant chief engi- neer for the Hibbing district for the Oliver Company, and in April, 1918, became assistant superintendent, the office he now holds. While assist- ant chief engineer he performed the original cross section work before stripping started on the Rust part of the Hull-Rust Mine. He also did the original cross section and topographical work on the North Uno, South Uno and Dale Mines up to January 1, 1915. These are Great Northern iron ore properties, but until the date mentioned were operated by the Oliver Company, when they were returned to the Great Northern. Mr. St. Vincent while engineer at these mines had a share in that inter- esting engineering task involved in the opening of the Carson Lake Mine. Carson Lake was at that time a real lake, constituting a body of about eighty acres of water, or approximately three hundred million gallons. This water was pumped away by two centrifugal pumps in two months, and as the lake was emptied the material from the strip- ping operations which were begun on the Kerr Mine some two and a half miles north was brought down and dumped into the north and west sides of the lake bottom. This fill involved the transfer of approximately a million five hundred thousand cubic yards of material. When forty acres of Carson Lake had been covered with this stripping the Carson Lake shaft was started and sunk a hundred eighty-seven feet to taconite and then drifts were started towards the main ore body, and thus mining operations undertaken in earnest.
Mr. St. Vincent is one of the well known mining officials of northern Minnesota and for a number of years has had his home at Hibbing. On December 24, 1907, he married Miss Nelle McClure, of Lansing, Michigan. Her father, Daniel McClure, was long prominent in Michigan educational affairs and politics, serving as county superintendent of schools and as assistant state superintendent of schools. Mr. and Mrs. St. Vincent have three sons, Burt McClure, Frank Daniel and William.
CHARLES PETERSON has been one of the busy men in the Range country of northern Minnesota for about thirty years. He has been a practical miner, a worker in various capacities with iron mining com- panies, has been an engineer, a hotel man, and for a number of years past has been in the hardware business at Chisholm.
Mr. Peterson was born in Sweden January 28, 1871. His father, Peter Magnus Peterson, was born about 1817 and spent an active life as a farmer until his death at the age of fifty-five. Of the large family of twelve children Charles was next to the youngest. Five of them are still living, three brothers and two sisters, and all are now in America. Charles Peterson grew up on a farm, lived there to the age of seven- teen, and after acquiring a common school education put in his time as a farm worker and also had some experience as a railroad brakeman.
It was in 1888 that he came across the ocean, landing in New York, and during the first 3 years worked in a saw-milling plant in Penn-
1029
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
sylvania. His first work was "jacking logs" and after that "riding car- riage." After this saw milling experience Mr. Peterson came to Ely, Minnesota, and worked as a miner in the Chandler Mine for six years. For another six years he was employed in the Pioneer Mine. From that he entered the service of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, at first on a diamond drill and later was engaged for exploration work over the various properties, spending altogether about four years in this way. Then followed a service as electrical engineer for the city of Ely in 1907, and about that time he first came to Chisholm, where for six months he was an electrical driller at one of the mines. Going back to Ely, he bought the Vermilion Hotel, and was proprietor of that pop- ular hostelry for seven years.
Mr. Peterson came to Chisholm in 1915 and with his brother Gust bought out the Johnson Brothers hardware and furnace store and for the past five years has done a profitable business under the firm name of Peterson Brothers. Mr. Peterson had not been long in this country before he applied for his citizenship papers and completed his natural- ization July 12, 1898. He is independent in politics. He is a Lutheran, a past grand of Lematite Lodge No. 9 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 462, is affiliated with Lodge No. 226 of the Loyal Order of Moose, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club. October 1, 1902, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Peterson married Miss Nancy Freberg, who came from Smoland, Sweden. They have two children, Jennie Irene, born in 1903, and Carl Elmer, born in 1907.
PETER McHARDY. While the first exploration and testing that marked the first chapter in the history of Hibbing began in 1892, it was very early in the following year, February 17, 1893, to be exact, that Peter McHardy identified himself with the locality. One of the oldest residents, he has made his enterprise a factor in the development of the community and is proud of its prosperity and in every way pos- sible has exerted himself for the benefit of his home city.
Mr. McHardy was born in western Ontario May 4, 1868, son of William and Margaret (Thom) McHardy. His parents came to Can- ada from the vicinity of Aberdeen, Scotland, and were Canadian farm- ers. Peter McHardy grew up on the home farm and was educated in the public schools. In the fall of 1889 he came to northern Michigan, and for about two years was employed as an ordinary laborer.
Then he came into the Range country of northern Minnesota and first found employment with the Lake Superior Iron Mines, principally as a tester. In December, 1893, he helped clear the streets of the pres- ent village of Hibbing, and later worked as a carpenter on some of the early buildings in the town. In 1895, more than a quarter of a cen- tury ago, Mr. McHardy entered the retail lumber, fuel, flour and feed business, to which he devoted his best energies until October 1, 1910, when he sold out, and since then has given his attention to real estate and more particularly of late to practical farming, since in St. Louis County he owns about eighteen hundred acres, a portion of which is cleared and under crops.
Mr. McHardy has never been a politician, though he has maintained a keen interest in the growth, development and material welfare of Hib- bing. He served one term as township treasurer, several terms as vil- lage councilman, and in 1906 was elected president of Hibbing, being one of the first to hold that office. He was reared a Presbyterian and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
1030
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
On September 1, 1898, Mr. McHardy married Miss Delia Slattery, of Hibbing. The nine children born to their marriage are Margaret Ann, George Alexander, Effdor, Delia, James, Chloris, Jean Marie, Marian and Frances. During the World war Mr. McHardy was a member of the Stuntz Township War Fund Board. He has had much to overcome in his efforts to make life a success, being hampered by a lack of education, and has depended upon hard work at all times as the sure and direct means to achievement. He has gained an honored name and has the confidence and esteem of his fellow men and has reason to be proud of his individual participation in the historic destiny of the Range district of Minnesota.
EDWARD H. NELSON, M. D. For the past seventeen years Dr. Edward H. Nelson of Chisholm has been identified with public affairs of the Mesaba Range country of northern Minnesota, and especially those con- nected with Chisholm. He is a man of exceptional capabilities in his profession, is particularly efficient as a public official, and measures up to the highest standards of citizenship. During the great war he offered his services to his country, but the authorities decided that owing to his age he could be more useful if he remained at home and exerted him- self in behalf of local war work, which he did like the loyal citizen he is. Genial and capable, a gentleman of the finest type, Doctor Nelson commands respect and confidence wherever known.
He was born at Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 30, 1875, a son· of Ellef and Ingeberg (Anderson) Nelson, who were natives of Norway and Denmark, respectively. The father came to the United States in 1866 and the mother in 1871, and they were married at Faribault, Min- nesota. He has devoted his life to railroad work, and now, at the age of seventy-four years, is conductor on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, and for fifty-four years has been in the service of this road.
Growing up at Minneapolis, Doctor Nelson was given the advantages offered by its excellent public schools, where he formed the determination to study for the medical profession, and with this end in view matric- ulated in the medical department of the Minnesota State University, from which he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and then for the subsequent eighteen months served as an interne at Saint Barnabas Hospital.
In 1904 Doctor Nelson came to Chisholm to enter the service of the Rood Hospital, and is still connected with it and is also carrying on a general practice. He belongs to the American Medical Association, the American Fellowship, an auxiliary of the former, the Minnesota State and St. Louis County Medical Societies, and the Range Medical Association. Earlier in his career he made a special study of anesthe- sia, and while yet an interne an article of his entitled "The Art of Giving General Anesthesia" appeared in the medical press and attracted widespread attention and received the approval of the profession. Doctor Nelson was elected in 1908 a trustee of Chisholm, and was in office during the period of the great fire, and for twelve years has been a member of the School Board, of which he is now president. He is a Republican in politics. In 1910 he was elected president of the village of Chisholm and re-elected in 1911 and also re-elected in 1918. The Chisholm Commercial and Kiwanis Clubs hold his membership and bene- fit by his intelligent stand on public questions and his active interest in civic affairs. Fraternally he belongs to the Elks, Knights of Pythias and Masonic Orders.
ب
1031
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
On July 26, 1905, Doctor Nelson was married to Miss Marie Saucier, of Osseo, Minnesota, and they have two daughters: Lucille L. and Marjorie M. Doctor Nelson is a Lutheran and his wife is Roman Cath- olic. Both as a physician and citizen Doctor Nelson has attained to the full measure of popular esteem and confidence, and reaches the under- standing of his fellow citizens directly and surely. He is looked up to and his advise is sought and followed, and his arguments in behalf of any movement are convincing in their simplicity and sincerity. He is a man of high ideals, keen life interests and sound judgment, and has handled with tact and success a number of difficult problems, while personally he possesses a charm of manner, culture and a wide range of intellectual connections.
ARTHUR O. WILSON. In a career of some twenty years, during which he has risen from a common laborer to general superintendent of the Susquehanna Mine of the Rogers-Brown Iron Company, Arthur O. Wilson has exhibited the earnestness, industry and sound ability that justify his prominence in mining circles though personally he is very quiet and unassuming and only his efficiency in his position and the respect accorded him by his friends and associates betray how thoroughly he knows his business.
Mr. Wilson was born at Wichita, Kansas, December 1, 1879, son of George and Anna (Olmstead) Wilson. His parents, now deceased, were Ohio farmers, and Arthur was one of four children. He grew up in eastern Ohio, acquired a public school education, and since the age of twenty has been doing for himself. He came to Hibbing in 1900 and for a time worked as a common laborer in the Mahoning Mine. His next work was as shipping clerk with the Mahoning Ore & Steel Com- pany, following which he became transit man, and by close study and observation perfected himself in all branches of practical mining engi- neering. In 1911 he was placed as engineer in charge of the Susquehanna Mine, in 1916 was made superintendent, and since January 1, 1919,, has been general superintendent of this large and important property in the Hibbing district.
Mr. Wilson married Miss Gladys Shaw, of Duluth, in 1918. They have one daughter, Margaret Ann.
GEORGE K. TRASK has been a resident of Chisholm since 1908, and after coming to the village took up and diligently pursued the study of law, and for the past six years has been earning a fine reputation and performing some splendid service as a lawyer.
He was born August 11, 1876, at Mountsberg, County Wentworth, Ontario, son of George and Emily (Mount) Trask. His maternal grandfather, John Mount, was a pioneer of Ontario and the town of Mountsberg was named in his honor. George Trask was a lumberman, and was engaged in the saw mill business until 1895. He and his wife are still living at Orillia, Canada.
Reared in Canada, George K. Trask attended the grammar and high schools of his native county, graduating from the Orillia High School in 1895, and then for ten and a half years his time and ener- gies were devoted to the profession of teaching. Four and a half years of that time he was identified with the schools of his native province, and afterward was a teacher in Minnesota. He came to this state in 1900 and has been continuously a resident of Minnesota except for two years at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Soon after coming to Chisholm in 1908
1032
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Trask was made clerk of the Municipal Court, and performed the duties of that office until 1913.
In 1909 he took up the study of law and pursued the study with an unremitting diligence in connection with other duties until he was qualified for the bar. In 1913 he entered the law office of Edward Freeman of Chisholm, now district judge, and was a student and assistant in the office of Judge Freeman until admitted to the bar in 1914, and continued with Judge Freeman until 1915. For the past five years he has practiced alone, and has had a busy career in the law and in local affairs.
Mr. Trask served as village attorney from March, 1916, to March, 1919, and from August, 1917, until August, 1920, was a member of the Chisholm School Board. During the World war he was a member of the Local Advisory Board and one of the Four-minute Speakers. He is an independent Republican, served as worshipful master in 1917 of Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a member of the Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite at Hibbing, was noble grand in 1910 of Lematite Lodge No. 9, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Order of Elks and the Kiwanis Club. July 17, 1913, Mr. Trask married Elizabeth Tolle, a native of Minnesota. They have one daughter, Flora Hermine.
JOHN A. REDFERN. For more than a quarter of a century a resi- dent of Hibbing. John A. Redfern is conceded to be one of the best posted men on iron ore on the Mesaba Range. A practical mining expert, he has other interests, and was a leader in patriotic measures at Hibbing during the World war and at all times and under all cir- cumstances has measured up to the highest standards of good citizen- ship.
Mr. Redfern was born in Derbyshire, England, October 10, 1867, and four years later, in 1871, came with his parents, Herbert and Mary Ann (Wooley) Redfern, to Canada. For ten years the family home was at Owen Sound in Ontario, where the mother died. Her- bert Redfern then removed to Negaunee, Michigan, where he was iden- tified with the mining operations of that section, but for a number of years past has made his home in British Columbia.
John A. Redfern began life with only a common school education, and since the age of eighteen his experiences have all been centered around the mining industry. His first regular duties performed in the mines were as a "scrammer." Since then he has filled practically every position in the business save that pertaining to the chemical depart- ment. He worked as a blacksmith's helper, fired a boiler, ran an engine, and served as a powder monkey, and in 1886 went to the Goge- bic Range as timekeeper and shipping clerk at the Aurora Mine, and later as assistant mining engineer. Returning to Negaunee in 1890, he was assistant to the superintendent of lands for the Cleveland- Cliffs Iron Company. In 1892 he became superintendent of the Platt Mining and Manufacturing Company, and when in 1895 the Penobscot Mining Company began its explorations on the Mesaba Range Mr. Red- fern was selected to come to Hibbing as superintendent of explorations and as such opened the old Penobscot Mine, which was developed under his direction and eventually sold to the Donora Mining Company. About the time the Penobscot Mine was transferred Mr. Redfern became inspector of fees for the Mississippi Land Company, and that has been the official nature of his duties ever since. For many years he has been a resident of Hibbing, and is a director of the First National
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.