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 21
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
He was born at Tower, Minnesota, June 22, 1891. His father, Orval Fay, was of Scotch-English ancestry, a native of Michigan, and in that state was a contractor in the lumber industry. As early as 1888 he came to northern Minnesota and was engaged in business as a teaming contractor in and around Tower until his death in 1896. In 1889, at
1068
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Tower, he married Miss Eleanor Hobly, who was born in Germany, near the Austrian border, February 22, 1870. She came to this country when twelve years of age and is stilll living.
William E. Fay, oldest of three children, all of whom are living, was only five years old when his father died, and the family circumstances were such as to put him into the ranks of wage earners at the earliest possible age. He attended the common schools of Tower, and at the age of twelve went to work in a lumber yard in that village piling lumber. Soon afterward he was made office boy for the Tower Lumber Company. In a few months he became a lumber straightener, his duties being to place the lumber in position for the grader. Just a year later he was promoted to lumber grader. That is one of the responsible positions in the lumber business, and it was what he started out to achieve when he first entered a lumber yard. His natural ability and persevering work enabled him to realize one of his first important ambitions.
In 1909 Mr. Fay left Tower to go to Virginia as a grader with the Virginia Lumber Company. At the end of two months he had realized and determined to remedy a deficiency that was a constantly recurring handicap to his advancement. That deficiency was the lack of a well rounded education. Giving up his work and using some of his savings, he spent the winter in the New Era Business College at Superior and completed the regular six months' course in four months. His next work was with the Vermillion Iron and Steel Extension property in charge of cutting roads and building. After about a month and a half he came to Chisholm in March, 1910, and immediately went to work at the Clark Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Company as timekeeper. Four months later he was promoted to the office in the ore shipping and grading department, where he remained three and a half months. About that time he had begun the earnest study of mining engineering, had enrolled for a course in that study with the International Correspondence School, and as a means of practical training took a position at a small salary as an engineer's helper. Withing three months he was doing the work of an engineer, and he continued with the Oliver Company until the spring of 1914, when he resigned to associate himself with C. A. Kimball in the Chisholm Engineering Company. They severed partner- ship in 1916, after which Mr. Fay practiced mining engineering alone for a time. During that year with C. A. Remington he took a lease on the Elizabeth Iron Mine at Chisholm, opened the property and continued operations until the spring of 1918, when the mine was exhausted. In July, 1918, Mr. Fay and J. H. McNiven took a lease on the Morrow Iron Mine, and after having completed the exploration released the property to the Kingston Mining Company. This company still operates a mine under Mr. Fay's supervision. In the summer of 1919 he opened a sand pit, conducting that as a profitable business, and has charge of several other nearby mines. The sand business was incorporated as the Fay Sand & Gravel Company, making concrete products. Mr. Fay is a practical mining man and one of the busy mining engineers of the Range country.
From June 15, 1918. to October 15, 1919, Mr. Fay was acting post- master at Chisholm, and has always given what time he could to the promotion of the civic welfare. He was made acting postmaster August 1, 1921. During the World war he was a leader in the Home Guard organization, also assisted in the Liberty Loan campaign. Politically he is a Republican, is affiliated with Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Scottish Rite bodies at Duluth and Hibbing. He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club and he
Aum
1069
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
and Mrs. Fay are Methodists. One June 23, 1915, he married Miss Della G. Bailey at Sioux City, Iowa. She was born in Minnesota May 29, 1891. They have one son, William E. Jr., born in 1917.
FRANK JOHN NIXON has been a resident of Duluth more than thirty years. In a business way his name is chiefly associated with the building up of one of the large and important wholesale houses of the city, the Paine & Nixon Company, of which he is president and treasurer.
Mr. Nixon was born at Fort Scott, Kansas, June 5, 1870, a son of Samuel and Clara Selina (Matthews) Nixon. His father was born in the historic locality of Paisley, Scotland, and came to Connecticut when about fourteen years of age. Later he went to Kansas and still later to Canada, where for many years he was a manufacturer operating plants in Three Rivers and Chesterville, Ontario, and on December 1, 1889, took his family to Duluth, where he is still living, as are his three children. His wife passed away at Duluth, March 13, 1919.
The oldest of these children, Frank John Nixon, though born in Kansas, grew up in Canada and acquired a common school education at Three Rivers. In his early youth he worked for his father as a clerk and later as a bookkeeper at Chesterville, and for about three years was employed as timekeeper and billing clerk for the James Smart Manufac- turing Company at Brockville, Ontario. He was not twenty years of age when he came to Duluth with his parents at the end of 1889, and soon afterward was employed as assistant cashier in the retail department of the well known hardware house of Chapin-Wells, now the Marshall- Wells Company. Leaving this firm, he became storekeeper with the Marinette Iron Works for about four years, following which he was assistant storekeeper and timekeeper at Iron Junction, Minnesota, for the D. M. & N. Railway for several years. This was followed by a short period as a bookkeeper, and from 1893 to 1899 he was a salesman for builders supplies.
Out of this varied experience he acquired the knowledge, the acquaint- ance and the capital that enabled him to organize the Paine & Nixon Company, a close corporation, which was established in January, 1900, for the purpose of handling all kinds of builders' supplies, including glass, paints, brick and specialties. The business has had a most substan- tial and satisfactory growth and development during the past twenty years, and the house is one of the prominent ones in the wholesale dis- trict. The firm uses about twenty-five thousand square feet of floor space at 310-312 West Michigan street. The trade territory is northern Minne- sota, North Dakota, northern Wisconsin and northern Michigan. Since January 1, 1920, the company has confined its lines exclusively as distributors of glass and paint.
The original officials in 1900 were Asa Paine, president and treasurer ; P. C. Schmidt, vice president, and F. J. Nixon, secretary and manager. Mr. Paine died about four years ago and was succeeded by Mr. Nixon as president and treasurer, the other officers being E. F. Achard, of Ottawa, Illinois, vice president, and C. S. Nixon, secretary.
Mr. Nixon has other business interests in Duluth and Minnesota. He is a member of the Commercial Club, Duluth Builders Exchange, Rotary Club, Duluth Boat Club, United Commercial Travelers, and affiliated with the Masons, Knights of Pythias and Elks, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Nixon's first wife was Nancy Brown Morrow, of Towanda, Pennsylvania. The one child of this marriage is Harriet Morrow. Later
1070
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Nixon married Ida Evelyn Callahan Park, who died April 6, 1919. The one son of this marriage is Frank John, Jr. Mr. Nixon has also adopted the three sons of his wife by her former marriage, William, Elnier and James.
NELS L. JOHNSON. Although Buhl, Minnesota, has not been as long established as some other towns and villages in Saint Louis County, it is not deficient in large business houses along almost every line of commer- cial importance, nor lacking in able, far-seeing business men. One of the latter is found in Nels L. Johnson, who deals in hardware and electrical supplies and also owns the "Victory," the leading Cinema house in the place.
Nels L. Johnson was born March 18, 1874, at Ishpeming, Michigan, and is a son of Henry and Martha (Larsen) Johnson. Henry Johnson was born January 16, 1850, in Denmark, where he grew up on a farm. He came to the United States in 1870 and found work in a charcoal blast furnace near Ishpeming, and afterward he helped to develop the Lake Angeline Mine, keeping himself busy at lumbering and mining. In 1872 he married Martha Larsen, who had been a schoolmate in Denmark, where she was born October 10, 1849. She came to the United States two years later than Mr. Johnson. Of their family of seven children Nels L. is the oldest.
Mr. Johnson attended the public schools of Ishpeming until he was fourteen years of age, then started to work as a trap door tender in the Lake Angeline Mine, with which property he was identified in different capacities for some years. Having proved careful and faithful on his first job, he was advanced eighteen months later to be skip tender, where he remained for one year, then worked for a year as a carpenter for a local contractor, at the end of that time returning to the Lake Angeline Mine, where he served two more years, in the capacity of pipeman helper. For two years after that he was a "lander," which means one who sends lumber down into the mine, there being many terms employed in mine circles that are but so much Greek to outsiders.
Mr. Johnson was ambitious, and while he labored hard every day at tiresome tasks, many of his evenings and holidays were passed in read- ing and study, and in this way he completed the International Corre- spondence School course in electricity. After accomplishing this by no means easy piece of work, he served for five years as a motorman in the mine, and his trustworthiness may be inferred from the fact that in 1906 the Jones & Laughlin Mining Company, owners of the Lake Angeline Mine, sent him to do the electrical work at the opening of the Lincoln Mine at Virginia, Saint Louis County. He remained there as electrician for two years, when the company sent him to Buhl as electrician for the Grant Mine, on the clam shell shovel, where he remained until it shut down in 1909. About four months before this he had been called to Hibbing, where he installed the electric hoist and other electrical equip- ments in the Leetonia Mine.
Mr. Johnson made so excellent an impression on his fellow citizens at Buhl that they were gratified, irrespective of politics, when he was appointed postmaster in 1909, in which office he served until 1915. During this time he had also been engaged in electrical contracting. After retiring from his Government office he bought out the hardware store of Charles S. Norton and now carries a full line of hardware together with electrical supplies. In 1914 he bought a moving picture house, and as indicative of his generosity and patriotism during the World war donated it to war uses, particularly the Red Cross. Since the close of the war it has been known as the Victory Theater.
1071
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Johnson was married August 22, 1896, to Miss Ella Carson, who is of Irish parentage but was born at Ishpeming, Michigan. They have seven children : Gladys M., Florence M., Merle, Lawrence C., Eldred R., Norma E. and Robert C.
In political sentiment Mr. Johnson is a Republican, and at different times has been his party's choice for important local offices. For two years he was clerk of Great Scott township, and at present is a trustee of Buhl village. He belongs to Hematite Lodge No. 274, Free and Accepted Masons ; Lodge of Perfection at Hibbing, and Consistory and Shrine at Duluth. He is a member also of the Order of Modern Woodmen of America at Buhl ; the Elks at Hibbing, and the Odd Fellows at Buhl. He has a wide acquaintance over the county, and is held in high regard by all who know him.
RALPH S. O'NEIL. Since he first located at Chisholm, Ralph S. O'Neil has manifested a keen interest in all that pertains to the better- ment of this locality. He has served several times as president of the village and also as village treasurer, and in 1912 was elected a commis- sioner of St. Louis County and re-elected to that office in 1916. It stands to Mr. O'Neil's credit that he has done more for the material betterment of this region, particularly with reference to the roads, than any other one man. The O'Neil Hotel stands as a specimen of his public-spirit and pride in his home place, and he operated it himself until 1920, when he leased, in that connection becoming known all over the state.
Ralph S. O'Neil was born in Jackson County, Wisconsin, September 11, 1868, a son of Louis B. O'Neil, a farmer, born in Ohio, who moved to Wisconsin. During the war between the North and the South, Louis O'Neil served in the Union army for there years and eight months, and died a few years after the close of the war from the effects of the priva- tions he endured as a soldier. He married Eunice Ammond, and they had but the one child.
Ralph S. O'Neil was only two years old when his father died, and his mother died six months later. He was taken by an uncle and brought up at Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where he acquired the rudiments of an education while he was growing up. Since the immature age of eleven years he has had to fight the world on his own responsibility and has come out a victor in the conflict. His early work was done on farms, and later he became a lumberjack in the woods. For a few years he kept a hotel at Iron River, Wisconsin, and then, in 1893, he was attracted to the Range country and came to Chisholm. Leasing a building then in process of construction, he opened the O'Neil House, and this hostelry has continued to be a landmark ever since. In 1907 he secured the present site of the hotel, but the building then standing was utterly destroyed by the big fire of a few months later. Although a heavy loser by the fire, Mr. O'Neil at once erected the present hotel building, which, as before stated, he oper- ated until he leased the property in 1920 to the regret of the traveling public as well as his regular guests, all of whom had learned to admire his able management and generous policies. Mr. O'Neil is a Republican. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Kiwanis Club.
On April 26, 1893, Mr. O'Neil was married to Cora Belle Henderson, and they have two children: Jean, who is Mrs. Edward Lockhart, and Arleigh. Mr. O'Neil is one of the best instances this region affords of the self-made man. All that he has or knows has been acquired through his own, unaided efforts. Thrown upon the mercies of an unfriendly world when but a little child, he has gone straight ahead and not only
1072
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
supported himself but gathered together a fair portion of earthly pos- sessions. At the same time he has won and held the genuine friendship of men who are worth-while, for he possesses a simplicity and sincerity which cannot help but make a favorable impression and forge bonds which nothing but death can sever.
GUST CRONBERG, chief of the Buhl Fire Department, is one of the responsible men of his community, and one in whom the utmost depend- ence may be placed. He was born in the state of Wermland, Sweden, May 8, 1869, a son of Andrew Johnson, who was born in Sweden about 1853, and died when fifty-seven years of age. By occupation he was a farmer and mechanic. His wife was also a native of Sweden, and they had six children, of whom Gust Cronberg is the youngest.
While he began at the extremely early age of eight years to help his father, Gust Cronberg was given a public school education at different intervals. He was so small when he began working in his father's black- smithing shop that he had to stand on a box to reach the bellows, and he had a specially small sledge hammer with which he worked at the anvil. When he was twelve years old he began driving a team of horses into the woods for his father, and did all kinds of farm work, thus making himself useful at home until he was nineteen years old. At that time he came to the United States, joining his brother at Ishpeming, Michigan, where he remained for a short period. He then went to Negaunee, Michigan, to work as a carpenter, and for about a year was employed there building a mine shaft and engine house. Mr. Cronberg then returned to Ishpeming and worked as a carpenter for Lewis Errickson, a contractor, until 1893, when he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and for a time was employed as a helper with the iron workers on the Lake Avenue Bridge. The subsequent five months were spent with a road crew at Lester's Park, and he was then employed at carpenter work in West Duluth for a year. In the following summer he went to Virginia, Minne- sota, where he worked as a carpenter until soon after the fire in 1895, and then in June of that year went to Superior, Michigan, to work in the Listman Flour Mill as packer, rising to be head packer and holding that position for two of the three years he was with that concern. In June, 1900, when the townsite of Buhl was being cleared, he and John Johnson obtained possession of a double lot at what is now State street and Jones avenue, and after they had cleared this of trees Mr. Cronberg went to Superior and bought a carload of selected lumber and came back with it. The partners built a one-story structure and opened a grocery store in it on August 8, 1900. The building has been much enlarged and another story added, and in 1918 they sold it and their grocery business. In February, 1919, Mr. Cronberg was appointed chief of the fire department, and with him in charge of this important branch of the city's service his fellow citizens feel that their property is safeguarded from loss through fire as far as lies in human accountability. Mr. Cronberg has been an active factor in the life of Buhl since its organization, and was elected its treasurer in 1901, when the town was incorporated, and served through 1903. In 1904 he was elected president of the village, in 1910 was elected recorder, and the next year was elected to succeed himself in that office. In 1912 he was elected a trustee, and appointed president by the council to fill an unexpired term. In 1918 he was again elected a trustee. For nine successive years he was a member of the School Board, then for one year was off the board, when he was once more elected to it and served for three years more. For three years he was a member of the Township Board of Great Scott, and for two years was on the Library Board. Well
-
ASTOR. ' ' ILDEN FOUN ----
JohnE Samuelson
1073
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
known in Masonry, Chief Cronberg belongs to Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Chrisholm, and the Consistory at Hibbing. He also belongs to Hibbing Lodge No. 1022, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Buhl Lodge No. 1071, Loyal Order of Moose, and Buhl Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. He is a Republican and a leader in his party. The Lutheran Church holds his membership. Dur- ing the great war he was active in the Liberty Loan drives, and belonged to the Home Guards.
In 1895 Mr. Cronberg was married to Miss Anna Peterson, born in Sweden, but at the time of her marriage a resident of Superior. She is now deceased, having borne her husband the following children : Grace L., Elmer G., Clifford A., Leonard E., and Ernie E., all of whom are living except Elmer, who died at the age of seventeen years. On January 25, 1915, Mr. Cronberg was married to Miss Marie Wadd, who was born in Norway and was brought to this country when she was eight years old. Mr. and Mrs. Cronberg have three children, Ernest, and twins, who were born August 16, 1920.
JOHN E. SAMUELSON. To a great extent the prosperity of our great country is due to the honest industry, the sturdy perseverance and the wise economy that has so prominently characterized the foreign element that has entered so largely into our population. By comparison with their "old country" surroundings they readily recognize the fact that in America lie the greatest opportunities for the man of ambition and energy. And because of this many break the ties of home and native land and enter earnestly upon the task of gaining in the new world a home and a competence. Among this class should be mentioned the late John E. Samuelson, who was one of the leaders of the Duluth bar, and by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort not only acquired a well- merited prosperity and success in his profession, but also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he was associated. The death of this prominent attorney and business man occurred on the 23rd of February, 1921.
John E. Samuelson was born July 12, 1869, in Christiania, Norway, and came to this country with his stepmother in 1881, at the age of twelve years. From the age of seven years until coming to this country he had been practically thrown upon his own resource, and thus early learned the great lessons of industry and economy. He first located at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he attended the public schools. A year after his arrival here he began to work, and from that time on he made his own way. During his early years here he was variously employed, working in a restaurant, then in a meat market in Eau Claire, in a grocery store, in a saw-mill, in a planing mill, in the woods and on the log drive, and in the meantime he was carrying out as best he could his cherished plan in securing an education. Leaving the river, he went to work again in a grocery store, and from there went into a law office in 1890. There he studied law and shorthand, and in 1895 was admitted to the bar of Wisconsin. He then entered the law department of the University of Minnesota, where in due time he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law. Immediately thereafter he returned to Eau Claire and engaged in the active practice of law, remaining there until 1898, when he moved to St. Paul and entered into a law partnership with Humphrey Barton. In 1902 Mr. Samuelson became connected with the claim depart- ment of the Great Western Railroad, but afterward became private secre- tary to Justice Edwin A. Jaggard, of the Minnesota Supreme Court, with whom he remained for two years. He then went to International Falls,
1074
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
where he practiced his profession for one year, and at the end of that time became court reporter for Judge Stanton in the Eighteenth Judicial District for one year. He then became associated with William E. Culkin in the practice of law at Duluth, being engaged in a general practice from 1909 until July, 1915, when he was appointed assistant city attorney under Henry F. Greene, and upon the death of Mr. Greene in December, 1915, was appointed city attorney, in which position he was serving at the time of his death.
Politically Mr. Samuelson was an earnest supporter of the Republican party. Fraternally he was a member of Duluth Lodge No. 133, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he was a past exalted ruler. and in that order he received distinctive preferment, having served as president of the State Elks Association. He was also a member of the Sons of Norway. He was one of the directors of the League of Minne- sota Municipalities and was also a member of the Charter Commission of the city of Duluth.
On November 23, 1898, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mr. Samuelson was married to Margaret E. Young, the daughter of John Young, at that time living in Montrose, Minnesota. Both of Mrs. Samuelson's parents are natives of Ireland. Her father came to this country in 1849, and first located in New York, but in 1852 came to Minnesota, settling on a home- stead near Montrose. He became à man of considerable local prominence and influence, serving in minor offices in Wright County and three terms as treasurer of that county. He is still living at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Of the four children born to him and his wife, Mrs. Samuelson is the youngest. She received a good public school education and then attended the University of Minnesota, where she was graduated with the class of 1896. She is a woman of strong force of character, though with marked domestic traits, and during the World war activities she performed very effective work in the various drives for the raising of funds for the Red Cross and other objects. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuelson were born two children, one of whom died in infancy, the sur- vivor being Irene, who was born on the 9th day of July, 1903, and is now a student in the Duluth High School.
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.