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 18
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Fifth among them is Emanuel A. Swanstrom, who was born at Duluth January 26, 1878. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native city, and when about eighteen years of age went to work as a stenographer for the Duluth-Mesaba Railway. He was with the railroad for about a year and later for about eight years was bookkeeper and stenographer for the Amenia Elevator Company. Mr. Swanstrom embarked in the real estate business in 1908, forming a partnership with his brother, A. F. Swanstrom, under the name Swanstrom Brothers. They have perfected an organization that has handled many large and important deals in real estate both in Duluth and surrounding territory.
Mr. Swanstrom is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the Elks Lodge. August 3, 1904, he married Miss Tillie C. Knudsen. They have one daughter, Verena M. L. Swanstrom, born November 26, 1912.
JAMES HART. An example of determination, ambition and industry culminating in the acquirement of success and position is found in the career of James Hart, president of the Duluth Ice Company. Mr. Hart was possessed of only ordinary public school advantages when he started life on his own account, and his rise has been solely due to his own efforts and abilities. His rise from mine-boy to man of large business affairs has bridged a wide gap, and in this bridging he has taken advan- tage of only strictly legitimate opportunities.
Mr. Hart was born in the Province of Ontario, Canada, November 18, 1861, a son of James Hart, also a native of Canada, who brought his family to the United States in 1864, at that time settling in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he engaged in teaming and contracting. Subsequently he removed to Duluth in 1889, and followed the same lines of business until his death in 1906. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, of whom James Hart, the younger, was the fourth in order of birth. He attended the public schools of Michigan until he reached the age of thirteen years, and at that time secured employment in the Calumet and later in the Hecla Mines, being thus employed until he reached the age of twenty-one years. He was next employed by Briggs & Cole, of Calumet, in the mining business, remaining with that concern five years, and in 1889 accompanied the family to Duluth, which has since been his home and the scene of his successful business ventures. In 1909 Mr. Hart became the founder and organizer of the Duluth Ice and Fuel Company, of which he was made president, the company starting its activities by handling lake ice, with a large plant located on Spirit Lake. This furnished sufficient product for the com- pany's customers for seven years, but the advent of the United States Steel Corporation's plant, with its great number of employes, in 1916 increased the company's field of operation, and Mr. Hart accordingly found it necessary to increase in proportion his output. Accordingly he erected a large artificial ice plant at First avenue and East Buchanan, this having a capacity of approximately 100 tons a day. The office is located at No. 111 East Superior street. In connection with the ice business Mr. Hart carries on a coal business, selling the best brands, including Premium Anthracite and other noted brands of hard coal. He has like-
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wise been identified with various other business industries of Duluth and was the incorporator of the Hart Transfer and Storage Company, of which he is president.
Mr. Hart has a number of important civic connections and is affiliated with several fraternities. In all avenues of life's activity he has been found reliable and trustworthy, and in the long list of those whose confi- dence and esteem he has secured there are to be found numerous warm and appreciative friends.
Mr. Hart was married on the 3rd of June, 1884, to Kate C. Rogan, a native of New Jersey. Their five children, all living, are : James J., Rose D., Edward L., Mary J., and Albert S., the boys being associated with their father.
JAMES P. VAUGHAN. The schools of Chisholm are in keeping with the progress of the time in the Range country of northern Minnesota. A maxim of the "Range" is "the best is not too good." With wealth at its command, the public of Chisholm has demanded the best at the hands of its officials and secured it. Acting upon this the school authorities looked about to secure the services of an educator of national fame and the highest scholarly attainments, and found that their exacting require- ments were realized in James P. Vaughan, to whom they offered the superintendency of their schools. The fact that his services have been retained through a period of years proves that he has measured up to the ideals of the people, and that here he has found congenial and stimulating surroundings and conditions.
James P. Vaughan was born at Eyota, Minnesota, February 22, 1882, a son of Daniel and Catherine (Madden) Vaughan, the former being a farmer of Olmstead County, Minnesota. One of nine children, Mr. Vaughan was brought up to make himself useful on the home farm, but at the same time was given opportunity to attend the public schools of his neighborhood. His naturally strong mentality was not satisfied with the instruction furnished him, and he also had ambitions which reached out beyond the confines of a farming community, and so in 1898 he went to Winona, Minnesota, and took a course in the State Normal School, from which he was graduated in 1902, and during this time did high school work at the normal school.
For two years Mr. Vaughan was principal of the schools at North Branch, Minnesota, and then attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and at the same time he did considerable work toward a Master's degree. In 1907 he came to Chisholm to assume charge of the schools, and has since retained that responsible position, and under his fostering care they have been built up until they compare favorably with similar institutions in any community no matter what its size. Mr. Vaughan belongs to the Kiwanis Club, of which at its organiza- tion in 1920 he was elected the first president. He belongs to the Phi Beta Kappa college fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Vaughan has turned his talents into literary channels and is the author of a monograph on "Educational Democracy," and has long been a valued contributor to the educational press. He belongs to the Minnesota State Educational Association, and has frequently made public addresses on educational subjects.
In 1917 he was married to Miss Leathe Wright, of Rensselaer, Indi- ana. Mr. Vaughan has always held that a sound education strengthens the moral consciousness and tempers the soul for life. In all of his work and writings he has had a distinct impulse toward the humanities, and
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has been an inspiration among his pupils for activities of the best sort. He has awakened in their hearts the creative joy of good work and started more than one of them on the highway to fame and fortune.
BYRON H. GRAHAM. Just a year after the great forest fire that destroyed the village of Chisholm Byron H. Graham became a citizen of the community, and has since developed and carried on an extensive business as an electrical contractor and dealer in electrical supplies.
Mr. Graham was born at Marshall, Minnesota, November 23, 1881. Both his parents are of Scotch ancestry. His father, Alexander Graham, was born in Wisconsin November 13, 1842, and his mother lived to the remarkable age of a hundred and one years, having been born in 1813 and dying in 1914. In 1866 Alexander Graham married Margaret Hale, who was born in Illinois in May, 1846. Both are still living. Alexander Graham came to Minnesota with an ox team before railroads were con- structed through the northwest, spent a long and active life as a farmer but is now retired.
Byron H. Graham acquired a substantial education at Brainerd, Minnesota, graduating from the high school there in 1898. For one term he taught in a country school near Brainerd, worked eight months in a grocery store, at the end of which time he and his brother Orton bought out the store and conducted it as a partnership proposition for two years. Mr. Graham's next venture was the establishment of a livery business, and this was continued about two years. On retiring from that business he spent perhaps a year in travel over the different states, and in 1905 first engaged in the electrical business at Staples, Minnesota. He was there two years, and in September, 1909, arrived at Chisholm and has had a busy part in the general building program and in supplying a general electrical contracting service to this community.
Mr. Graham wherever he has lived has shown a keen interest in local affairs and his good citizenship has been especially pronounced at Chisholm. He served some time as village recorder, in 1916-17 and 1917-18, was village trustee in 1915-16, and is now a member of the Water and Light Board. During the World war he was chief of draft registration and a member of the Draft Advisory Board. Mr. Graham in politics is classified as an independent Democrat. He is much inter- ested in athletics, particularly baseball, and has been identified in an official way with the Chisholm Baseball Club and at one time was its president. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Com- mercial Club, is present exalted ruler of Lodge No. 1334 of the Elks, being a charter member of that lodge, and is affiliated with Chisholm Lodge No. 179, Knights of Pythias, Hematite Lodge No. 274, Accepted Free and Ancient Masons, Duluth Scottish Rite Consistory and Aad Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Duluth.
Mr. Graham married Miss Bessie Mackaman, who was born at Shel- don, Iowa, in October, 1882. Their six children are named Ione, Donald, Inez, Bessie, William and Margaret.
THOMAS J. MURPHY. The mining interests of the . Mesaba Range are so important as to demand the best efforts of some of the most com- petent mining experts of the country, and one of them worthy of special mention is Thomas J. Murphy, mining captain for the Oliver Mines at Buhl. He was born in Cumberland, England, May 20, 1859, a son of Thomas and Mary (Drake) Murphy, natives of Ireland, who were mar- ried in England, and became the parents of five children, of whom
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Thomas J. was the youngest. Thomas Murphy was a miner, and was engaged in that line of work at Cumberland for a number of years.
Thomas J. Murphy has received the greater portion of his educational training in the stern school of practical experience. When only twelve years old he started to work in a mill, and did odd jobs, being thus employed until he was twenty years old. At that time he went into the mines as a miner's helper, and two years later took a partner and became a full-fledged miner, working as such in England until 1884, when he came to the United States, and for about a year thereafter worked on the New York, New England & Hartford Railroad. Mr. Mur- phy then came as far west as Michigan and found employment in the old Puritan iron mine at Vassar, working there as a miner for about a year. He then went to the Tontene Mine, now called the Federal Mine, and a year later left it to go to the Wakefield Mine, both of which are near Vassar. He then went to Ironwood, Michigan, as a miner in the Ashland Mine, and was connected with it, the Big Norrie and the First National from 1890 to 1893, following which he worked in the coal mines of Iowa for about a year. In 1895 he went to Virginia, Minne- sota, and found employment in the old Victoria Mine "test piting." Six months later he went to the Franklin Mine, and worked as a miner for a year, leaving it to work for a few months in the Commodore Mine. His next employment was in the Mesaba Mountain Pit as a driller, all of the work in those days being done by hand, and he spent a part of the summer there. He then went to Arizona and worked as a miner and explorer in the following gold mines : Old Senator, the Crook Canon and the Chicago, spending about a year in this work, and then returning. in 1898, to Eveleth, Minnesota, to work in the Adams Mine as a miner and later a shift boss, continuing with this mine for about thirteen years. Once more he went to Virginia. Minnesota, and was night captain of the Alpena Mine for about two years, leaving it to come to Buhl and assisted in opening the Oliver Mines, of which he is captain.
Mr. Murphy is one of the progressive men of Buhl and has been treasurer of the Mesaba Mountain township, and is a member of the Buhl Library Board. In politics he is an independent Republican. A Catholic, he is active in church work, and belongs to the Knights of Columbus of Virginia. During the late war he was collector for the Young Men's Christian Association and the Knights of Columbus.
On January 15, 1889, Mr. Murphy was married in England to Miss Ellen Cavenaugh, who was born in Ireland. After her husband had made a home for. her Mrs. Murphy followed him to the United States, arriving here in 1891. Their children are as follows: Mary, who is a graduate nurse at the City and County Hospital at St. Paul, Minnesota : Margaret, who has charge of the supply room of the Buhl High School ; Gregory J., who is a veteran of the great war, having served overseas. and is now a sergeant of police at Buhl: James, who is also a veteran of the great war, and is a professional ball player in the summer and a banker in the winter : Dennis, who was in the army during the great war, is a graduate of Hibbing College and now attending the University of Wisconsin : and William, Emmett, Doroth and Katherine, all of whom are attending school.
BENJAMIN E. BAKER. The monotony which often ensues from the following of any single line of endeavor has never been a feature of the career of Benjamin E. Baker. His life has been one of varied activities in various parts of the country, and while his chief attention at this time is devoted to the grain commission business at Duluth, he is inter- ested also in various other enterprises.
A. TOR
George Loch.
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Mr. Baker was born at Dover, Olmsted County, Minnesota, June 20, 1868. His father, Ezekiel Porter Baker, was a native of Maine, who with four brothers came to Minnesota in the fall of 1861. He and one brother enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, and Ezekiel P. Baker served more than three years. For a time he was engaged in the grain business with his brothers at Winona, but later turned his atten- tion to farming in Olmsted County, where he also conducted a pork- packing business. One of two children, Benjamin E. Baker was reared and educated at Winona. His early life was adventurous and somewhat typical of the red-blooded youth of the land, for when he was but fifteen years of age he ran away from home and secured employment with the Diamond Joe Steamship Line on the Mississippi River. Later he went to South Dakota, where he took up a homestead, but his experience there was anything but a happy one, and after two years, during which he nearly starved on several occasions, he sold out for a small sum. Mr. Baker then went to Mankota, Minnesota, where he worked for the Standard Oil Company, and then for a time was a resident of St. Paul. In the fall of 1890 he came to Duluth, and this city has continued to be his home.
Upon locating at Duluth Mr. Baker embarked in the real estate busi- ness, and in 1894 became a member of the Board of Trade and has since been in the grain commission business. During his career he has had confidence in his own judgment and the willingness to back that judg- ment, and this has at times made his operations somewhat spectacular, with the result that he has made and lost several sizeable fortunes. One of his most successful ventures was an investment in the oil fields of Louisiana. He induced nine of his friends to go in with him, each putting up $5,000, and while before that time he had never seen an oil derrick in his life, after two years in the oil fields he returned to Duluth with winnings of something like $300,000. Other enterprises have bene- fited by his identification with them. A large factor in Mr. Baker's suc- cess may be said to be his capacity for making and keeping friends. Of a jovial and generous nature, he loves his home, his family and his friends, and this love is his real life.
In 1894 he married Miss Clara Dewey, of St. Paul, whose father was a second cousin of Admiral George Dewey. Three children have been born to this union: Philip, who served as a flying ensign in the dirigible service under Admiral Sims in the World war; James, who was a second lieutenant aerial gunner in that struggle; and Dorothy, who studied for a nurse but was denied the privilege of going overseas. The boys enlisted while students at Yale.
GEORGE LERCH. The Lerch Brothers came to the Mesaba Range in its infancy. Virginia had then about eight houses ; Hibbing had not yet been born. They are chemists and their services were in demand as the various mines came into being. Becoming contractors, they engaged to do the chemical work for the companies engaged in developing these mining properties. From a humble beginning they have become pros- perous, their success being undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that they are masters of their profession. Today they have some thirteen different laboratories and employ about eighty men. It is said that the Lerch Brothers are the largest independent chemists in the world. They have participated in the constructive work of this region and have seen Vir- ginia and Hibbing grow into flourishing little cities where are centered some of the most important mining properties in northern Minnesota. When they came to the Range the utmost pioneer conditions prevailed,
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and they, like the others of that period, had to endure the hardships incident to frontier life and because of them they can all the more appre- ciate the comforts and luxuries of today.
George Lerch was born at Easton, Pennsylvania, August 22, 1865, a son of David and Sarah (Young) Lerch, both of Pennsylvania, and of Dutch ancestry. . By occupation David Lerch was a contractor, and dur- ing the war between the north and the south he served as a soldier of the Union army: His death occurred in 1910, when he was eighty-nine years of age.
Growing up in his native place, George Lerch completed its high school course in 1885, and then matriculated at Lafayette College and was graduated therefrom as a chemical engineer in 1889. He began his professional career as chemist for the Bethlehem Steel Company at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and continued with that company until 1892, when he came west to Virginia, Minnesota, and with his brother, Fred Lerch, embarked as an independent chemist. From Virginia he came to Hibbing in 1895. It was in this year that the Mahoning Mine was opened, and the Lerch Brothers have continued to be its chemists. In addition to attending to all of the chemical work for the Mahoning Mine, these brothers are doing similar work for eighty other mines, and their business is all conducted under contract.
When Fred Lerch first walked into what is now Hibbing there was scarcely a building in the town. When George Lerch came here it was but a very small place with no public improvements. On the present site of the Mahoning, Hull-Rusk and other mines a dense forest stood, all of which has since been cleared away. George Lerch has confined his labors strictly to his business and rarely if ever mixes in politics except to exercise his right of franchise. He helped to organize the Presby- terian Church at Virginia and also the one of that denomination at Hib- bing. He is a Royal Arch and thirty-second degree Mason and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He is a charter member of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On December 17, 1898, Mr. Lerch was married to Miss Fannie Mar- vin, a daughter of Luke A. Marvin, of Duluth, Minnesota. The Marvins were the fourth family to locate at what is now Duluth.
I. K. LEWIS. A Duluth lawyer whose attainments have brought him some prominent associations and a large amount of business in his pro- fession, I. K. Lewis spent his early life largely on a Wisconsin farm, but was thoroughly equipped and liberally educated in preparation for his professional career.
He was born October 6, 1880, son of James and Margaret Lewis, both of Welsh ancestry and nativity. James Lewis came from Wales to Amer- ica in 1867, and became a successful farmer in Monroe County, Wis- consin. He is still living, at the age of eighty-five, at Nashotah, Wiscon- sin. His life record has many things to commend it. In business he was first and last a good farmer, knew how to till the soil and manage his affairs, and at one time had about four hundred and forty acres under his management, producing both stock and grain. He has been a Repub- lican in politics, a member of the Congregational Church and among his personal characteristics were two which might be mentioned: One being to pay his bills promptly, and the other an intense desire and habit of giving absolutely a square deal to everyone. He was the father of nine children, five of whom are living today, the Duluth lawyer being next to the youngest. His mother, Margaret Lewis, was the youngest daughter
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of a well-to-do farmer of Carnarvonshire, Wales. She possessed much of the native ability and independent spirit of her race, and was untiring in her labors for her family and in her efforts to build into the char- acter of her children a high regard for integrity and industry.
I. K. Lewis spent his early life on his father's farm, attended the country schools at Herseyville in Monroe County, also a village school at Bangor, Wisconsin, and graduated from high school at Sparta. His literary education was completed when he was graduated with the A. B. degree from Beloit College at Beloit, Wisconsin. He acquired his pro- fessional training in Harvard Law School, which gave him his LL. B. degree. Mr. Lewis came to Duluth in 1909 and has been busily engaged in law practice ever since. He started as law clerk in the firm of Washburn, Bailey & Mitchell. About a year later he formed a law partnership with Howard T. Abbott and E. B. Merrill under the firm name of Abbott, Merrill & Lewis. Mr. Merrill withdrew from the firm about three years later, and two others who came into the partnership were E. W. MacPherran and George M. Gilbert, changing the firm name to Abbott, MacPherran, Lewis & Gilbert. Mr. Lewis continued a member of that firm until November 1, 1917, at which time he withdrew to con- duct his own practice, and from that date until January 1. 1921. he practiced alone with offices in the Lonsdale Building. On January 1, 1921, he organized the firm of Lewis and Hunt by forming a partner- ship with Rolls F. Hunt, a friend from law school days. The firm is engaged in general practice, involving also much insurance and corpora- tion law, with offices at 800 Lonsdale Building. Mr. Lewis has been and is associated with a number of business enterprises in Duluth.
He is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Order of Elks, belongs to the Young Men's Christian Association, Commercial Club, Boat Club, Kitchi Gammi Club and Kiwanis Club, is independent in politics with a Republican leaning, and for several years has been prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving as class leader and superintendent of the Sunday School and president of the Men's Club. During the World war he served as a "Four Minute Man," and as a member of the Minnesota Home Guards.
On October 6, 1914, at Elgin, Illinois, Mr. Lewis married Berenice Ella Wright, daughter of John A. and Frances Ella Wright. Mrs. Lewis was educated in the public schools of Elgin, and was graduated from Emerson College at Boston. Since her marriage she has enjoyed many social activities and community responsibilities in Duluth, being a worker in the Young Women's Christian Association, the Camp Fire Girls, and had charge of one of the Red Cross Circles for French relief during the World war. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have two children: Margaret, born December 3, 1915, and John Wright, born October 20, 1918.
THE WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is located on Lake avenue and Third street. It is one of the most modern high school buildings in the northwest. It is a block in length and has two large wings.
The Junior High School includes the seventh, eighth and ninth grades and offers a wide range of subjects. The course of study includes the academic subjects, English, history, mathematics, geography, French and Latin; the commercial subjects of bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, stenography and typewriting; the art subjects of drawing, design, paint- ing, lettering, art history, art appreciation, metalry, jewelry, pottery, basketry and weaving. Music is required in all grades. An orchestra of thirty pieces and boys' and girls' choruses have been organized.
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