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 38
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
A TI TLD.
1185
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
million, which lies wholly in St. Louis County, as a summer recreation playground. These grounds, as "Call of the Wild" properties have been extensively advertised in outdoor magazines with national circulation, and this publicity has aroused an interest in every state of the Union, Canada, Panama Canal Zone, Japan, England and France, and pur- chasers of the properties through the Gray-Wertin Company have come as far east as Providence, Rhode Island, as far west as Yosemite, Cali- fornia, as far north as Mandan, North Dakota, and as far south as Oklahoma City.
Mr. Wertin, who is a business man of wide training and experience, was born at Hancock, Michigan, February 6, 1885. His father was a general merchant at Hancock for twenty-nine years. John J. E. Wertin is the youngest of five children, three of whom are still living. He attended public school at Hancock, and finished his education at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana.
In 1904, at the age of nineteen, he became a clerk in the office of the Dollar Bay smelting works in Michigan, remained there six months, following which he was cashier and bookkeeper for the Portage Lake Gas & Coke Company of Hancock for four months, was then treasurer of the copartnership of the A. H. Kruger Lake Gas & Coke Company of Hancock for a similar period, and remained as treasurer of the A. H. Kruger Company of Duluth and Houghton until June 1, 1909, with head- quarters at Halpin.
In June, 1909, Mr. Wertin came to Duluth and formed a partnership with O. H. Clarke under the name Clarke-Wertin Company, a fire insurance business. In September, 1913, was formed the Gray-Wertin Company to handle real estate as well as insurance. Mr. Wertin became treasurer of this company but for the past three years has been its president.
Mr. Wertin is a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus. On January 14, 1913, he married at Duluth Miss Clara Whelan. They have two children, Virginia Elizabeth and John J. E., Jr.
O. H. Clarke, member of the insurance firm of Clarke-Wertin Com- pany, came to Duluth in 1894, and has been engaged in the real estate business for more than a third of a century. For a number of years he lived at Winona, Minnesota, where he was with the wholesale gro- cery house of Carter & Blake up to 1875. In 1876 he became deputy recorder of deeds, an office he filled until 1882, and then took up the flour milling industry at Ellsworth, Wisconsin. He also held the office of city clerk until he came to Duluth. Mr. Clarke has two children : Dr. H. W. Clarke, born March 14, 1883, and Florence K., born Novem- ber 24, 1888. Both are natives of Winona. Florence is the wife of H. C. Whaley, living at Crosby, Minnesota, Mr. Whaley being man- ager on the Cuyuna Range for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company at Duluth.
EDWARD FREEMAN, who is presiding on the bench of the Eleventh Judicial District of Minnesota, with residence and official headquarters in the city of Virginia, has gained vantage place as one of the able and representative members of the bar of his native state, as well as high reputation as a jurist.
Judge Freeman was born at Mankato, Minnesota, on the 15th of October, 1879, a son of Edward E. and Elizabeth K. (Morris) Free- man, the former of whom was born at Hartford, Connecticut, and the latter at Binghamton, New York, both the Freeman and Morris fam-
1186
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
ilies having been established in America for many generations. Edward E. Freeman was long and actively engaged in the practice of law at Mankato, and gained secure status as one of the representative men- bers of the bar of Minnesota.
Judge Freeman was graduated from the Mankato High School as a member of the class of 1896, and thereafter he was employed one year in the engineering department of the great Chicago drainage canal, the following year finding him in service in the engineering and track department of the Illinois Central Railroad. He then entered the civil engineering department of the University of Minnesota, but after giving two years thus to preparing himself for the profession of civil engineer- ing, he entered the law department of the university, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. While at the university he became affiliated with the Phi Delta Epsilon fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi law fraternity, besides which he was actively associated with athletic affairs at the university, where he was for three years a member of the baseball team. of which he was captain one year, and where he was for one year a member of the football team.
On the 15th of October. 1903, shortly after his graduation, Judge Freeman engaged in the practice of his profession at Chisholm, Minne- sota, and three years later was there elected municipal judge, an office of which he continued the incumbent six years. He then resumed the private practice of his profession, in which he continued at Chisholm until April, 1917, and was then appointed to the bench of the Eleventh Judicial District of the state. In the following June he removed to Virginia, where he has since maintained his home. While a resident of Chisholm Judge Freeman gave several terms of characteristically effective service as village attorney and attorney for the Board of Edu- cation. At the time of the disastrous fire that destroyed much of the village he was chairman of the relief committee. At Chisholm Judge Freeman still maintains affiliation with Hematite Lodge No. 274, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Chisholm Lodge No. 1334, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, while at Virginia he is an active and valued member of the Rotary Club. In politics he is a Republican of independ- ent tendencies, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church. During the nation's participation in the World war he was a member of the Defense League at Chisholm and otherwise active and resourceful in the furtherance of local war activities.
On the 14th of October, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Freeman to Miss Bertha Peck, who was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and the names and respective dates of birth of their four children are here recorded: Everett P., November 20, 1906; Eleanor, September 21. 1908; Rae, May 25. 1910; and Edward D., March 16, 1915.
EDWARD CHESTER CONGDON was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. March 1, 1885, and is the second in order of birth of the seven children born to Chester Adgate and Clara (Bannister) Congdon. In May, 1892. the family removed to Duluth. He attended the Hill School at Potts- town, Pennsylvania, and graduated there in 1904. He then entered Yale College, where he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts. After a European trip he went to work, in October, 1908. in the office of his father, and continued there until the war.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry on November 6, 1916, in the newly authorized Officers Reserve Corps, but on March 1. 1917. the commission expired by reason of the age limitation for that
lehistor a. leorydoy
1187
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
grade. He then, in May, enlisted at the Officers Training Camp at Fort Snelling, where on August 15, 1917, he was commissioned a captain of infantry and ordered to Camp Dodge for active duty and was there assigned to the command of Company D of the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Infantry Regiment. Shortly afterward Captain Congdon entered upon a long period of sickness and was unable to accompany the regiment overseas. He was finally discharged from the service January 23, 1919, while still on sick leave, and has since been giving his attention to his various business interests.
Mr. Congdon married Miss Dorothy House on May 5, 1920.
CHESTER ADGATE CONGDON was born June 12, 1853, at Rochester, New York, and died November 21, 1916, at St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Sylvester Laurentus Congdon, was a Methodist clergyman. His mother was Laura Jane Adgate Congdon. On the paternal side he is sixth in descent from James Congdon, a Quaker from England who settled in Rhode Island in the first half of the seventeenth century. On the paternal side all ancestors were of English origin. On the maternal side he is a grandson of Chester V. Adgate and Hannah Berger, the latter the daughter of Berger and Jane Van Horn. The Adgate family were from New England and presumed to be of English descent. The Ber- ger and Van Horn families were from the Hudson River Valley and are of Holland origin. Chester Adgate Congdon obtained his education in the public schools of Elmira, New York, after which he attended the East Genesee Conference Seminary at Ovid, New York, and took the degree of A. B. at Syracuse University in 1875. His early occupation was school teaching, which continued for one year. He was admitted to the bar of the state of New York as attorney and counsellor-at-law October 13, 1877, and to the bar of the state of Minnesota, January 9. 1880. He practiced law at St. Paul, Minnesota, from January, 1880, until January, 1892, when he moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and became a member of the firm of Billson & Congdon, which firm was changed November 1, 1893, to Billson, Congdon & Dickinson. On the death of Judge Dickinson the title returned to the original style, Billson & Cong- don, which continued until January 1, 1904, at which time both members retired from the forensic profession.
Mr. Congdon entered into various business enterprises and was an officer or director of numerous iron mining corporations, the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company and other copper mining corporations, also the American Exchange National Bank, Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, and. Gowan-Lenning-Brown Company in Duluth. He also went into the fruit growing and cattle raising business in the Yakima Valley, Washington. He was assistant United States attorney, District of Minnesota, 1881 to 1886; a member of the House of Representatives, Minnesota Legislature, 1909 and 1911 sessions; a member of the Duluth Charter Commission from October 7, 1903, until his death; and at the time of his death was the Minnesota member of the Republican Na- tional Committee. He was a member of various clubs and college fra- ternities, including Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa.
Mr. Congdon was married at Syracuse, New York, September 29. 1881, to Clara Hesperia Bannister, the union being blessed with seven children : Walter Bannister, Edward Chester, Marjorie, Helen Clara, John (deceased), Elizabeth Mannering and Robert Congdon.
The following editorial appeared in the Duluth Herald of November 21, 1916:
Vol. III-17
1188
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
"In the passing of Chester A. Congdon, Duluth's and Minnesota's loss is far greater than many people realize. It is not the loss of Minne- sota's wealthiest man, if Mr. Congdon was Minnesota's wealthiest man, that counts, for in the hush of death riches have faint voice. It is the rich personality and the human possibilities of the personality that con- stitute the loss.
"Many, perhaps, knew Mr. Congdon as a man of stern and even rather grim exterior, of distance and aloofness; yet what they saw was not the man at all. Those who really knew him found in him a man of tender heart and warm human sympathies. That misleading exterior was beyond question the product of an unconquerable diffidence, strange as it may seem to many ; and it was this same diffidence that kept secret his many beneficences.
"Mr. Congdon was a close student of government and state policies, a foe of waste and inefficiency, a friend of political progress as he saw it, a champion of clean public life and sound government. He was always the good citizen, eager to have his part in every forward movement in directions that he judged to be wise : and his share in the development of better things in public life in this state has been far greater than many people know.
"Not because he was a rich man but because he was a good man with sound instincts and large capacities for service and with an ever increasing will to give his energy and means to wholesome public enter- prises the loss of Chester A. Congdon is a great blow to the commu- nity, to the state and to the nation."
EUGENE F. BRADT. It is a compliment worthily bestowed to say that Duluth and St. Louis County are honored by the citizenship of Eugene F. Bradt, for he has achieved definite success through his own efforts and is thoroughly deserving of the proud American title of "self-made man," the term being one that, in its better sense, cannot but appeal to the loyal admiration of all who are appreciative of our national insti- tutions and the privileges offered for individual accomplishment. It is a privilege, ever gratifying in this day and age, to meet a man who has the courage to face the battles of life and to win in the stern conflict by bringing to bear only those forces with which nature has equipped him-self-reliance, self-respect and integrity.
Eugene F. Bradt, who for many years has enjoyed a high reputa- tion as a mining and consulting engineer, was born May 6, 1857, in . Van Buren County, Michigan, and is the son of James and Wilhelmina Bradt, the former a native of New York state and the mother of Ger- many. Both parents are now deceased, the father dying in 1900 and the mother passing away in the following year. James Bradt was pos- sessed of a good common school education, spent his early life on a New York farm and thereafter followed that vocation. Eugene F. Bradt is the second in order of birth of the five children born to these parents, two of the children dying in infancy. Eugene F. Bradt attended the common schools of his home neighborhood and was ambitious to secure a collegiate education. To this end he attended different col- leges for such periods as he was financially able to do, and from 1877 (when twenty years old) until 1899 he taught a number of terms of school, alternating teaching with attendance at college, the major portion of the later time being spent at the University of Michigan. In August, 1885, he was married to Ida V. Hurlbut, of Hartford, Michigan, who taught in the same school with Mr. Bradt. Three children were born
1189
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
of this marriage, namely, Harlan H. Bradt, Frances Gertrude Bradt and Mary Antoinette Bradt. Mrs. Bradt died in 1916.
After leaving school Mr. Bradt turned to the mining industry as offering greater opportunities for advancement and has devoted himself to some phase of this business ever since. His first employment was at Ishpeming, Michigan, as a mining engineer, though his work embraced general engineering and surveying. This work engaged his attention for ten years. In August, 1899, he took charge of the Minnesota Iron Company's exploration work in Michigan, remaining with them until December of the following year. After that for about three months he was employed in doing exploration work in Canada for the Illinois Steel Company or some of its subsidiary companies. Following that for a short period he was engaged in looking over and examining mining lands belonging to the Canadian Northern Railway Company in Canada, from Port Arthur to Winnipeg. In July, 1901, he entered the employ of the Algoma Steel Company, remaining with this company until February, 1903, having entire charge of all their mining and exploration work in Michigan, Canada and elsewhere. He next entered the employ of the Great Northern Railway Company, in charge of the Leonard Mining Company, and opened up the Leonard Mine at Chisholm, Minnesota. He was with this company until November, 1904, at which time he went to Detroit, Michigan, where he sank a shaft and opened up a rock salt mine under difficulties which the engineering profession regarded as impracticable. if not impossible, to overcome. He remained with the Detroit Rock Salt Company, for whom this work was done, until Novem- ber, 1909, when he entered the employ of the Vermillion Range Land Company for the purpose of exploiting their land holdings. In Novem- ber, 1912, he became connected with the Jones & Laughlin Steel Com- pany at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as consulting mining engineer, remain- ing with that company until May, 1916, since which time he has been associated with his son, Harlan H. Bradt, mining geologist, in general mining, engineering and geological work, carrying on their operations largely through the Mines Efficiency Company in Duluth and New York, which company they organized in 1916.
Mr. Bradt's first visit to Duluth was in December, 1898, but he did not become a resident of that city until the year 1912, since which time he has been numbered among the progressive and public-spirited men of the city. He is a member of the Masonic Order, in which he has at- tained to the degree of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been actively interested, having held the office of elder in the churches to which he belonged at Hibbing, Minnesota, and Detroit, Michigan. Politically he gives his earnest support to the Republican party.
In all that constitutes true manhood and good citizenship Eugene F. Bradt is a notable example, his career having been characterized by duty faithfully performed and by industry, thrift and wisely-directed efforts.
FRANK ANSLEY, of Hibbing, can speak with authority born of long personal experience on many phases of the industrial and business life of the north and northwest. His experience was particularly long and thorough in the lumber industry. He was in the great Canadian north- west for several years before railroads were built across that part of the continent. He is an old resident of the Iron Range district, and later years have brought him a substantial business and accumulations as a farmer and real estate man at Hibbing.
1190
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mr. Ansley was born in County Frontenac, Ontario, January 9, 1864. His grandfather and several prior generations were natives of New England, but his father, William Ansley, was born in Canada and spent his active life as a farmer and contractor. William Ansley mar- ried Jane Jenkins, of Welsh and Dutch ancestry, and both of them spent their years in Canada. Of seven children all are living but one.
Frank Ansley grew up on the home farm in Ontario, and while he attended district school he early began to share in the labors and responsibilities of the home place. In early life he also learned teleg- raphy, though he never became a regular operator. For some time he was associated with his father in logging operations, and there is per- haps no department of the lumber industry with which he is not prac- tically familiar. He worked in the office, was camp cook, and performed all the various actual operations in the woods. Later he took a bunch of horses out to the end of the rails on the Canadian Pacific Railway and entered the freighting service of the firm of Hines & Murphy. While in that work he assisted in transporting troops during the Riel rebellion in western Canada. For two years he was employed by a Quebec firm in getting out board timber in western Ontario, part of the time serving as foreman and part of the time as camp cook.
Leaving Canada, Mr. Ansley came over the line into the United States to Michigan and for seven years was in the lumber district of Michigan as a cook, clerk in a meat market and manager of the meat market of the Interior Lumber Company. In 1892 he became one of the pioneers of the Iron Ranges of northern Minnesota. His first employment was as a cook at Mountain Junction. Later he engaged in business for himself there, and on selling out spent some six months in the west and then returned to the Range country to engage in busi- ness at Eveleth. Mr. Ansley identified himself with Hibbing in 1902 and entered the hotel business, in which line he continued for several years. During that time he opened the Miles Hotel, but soon sold it, and also acquired what is still a large interest in the purchase of a hundred twenty acres adjoining Alice, now a part of the new city of Hibbing. Farming this land and promoting its development and sale still constitutes his chief business.
Mr. Ansley served several terms as a trustee of the village of Hib- bing and two terms as president, and is now in his eighth consecutive year as a member of the School Board of Independent District No. 27. including Hibbing. For six years he was a member of the Hibbing Park Board, at a time when that body was planning and carrying out some of the effective work for the beautification of the village. Mr. Ansley has been' active in the Commercial Club since its organiza- tion, is a Republican, and is affiliated with the Elks and the Improved Order of Red Men. January 12. 1903, he married Miss Vera Golka, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Four children were born to their mar- riage: Alice, who died in infancy; Patsey Grace, who died at the age of eighteen months; Francis A. and William G.
WILLIAM O'HARA. Several interesting distinctions are associated with the name of William O'Hara of Biwabik. He was one of the first settlers in that district, being there before Biwabik was established as a town. He has been continuously for twenty-seven years chief of police. Both officially and as a private citizen he has contributed to the sub- stantial development and the orderly progress of the town.
Mr. O'Hara was born near Ottawa, Canada, July 11, 1857. His parents, William and Sarah (Kilgore) O'Hara, shortly after their
WM. O'HARA
1191
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
marriage in Ireland set out for the new world, coming to Canada, and when their son William was a child moved to a farm in New York state.
William O'Hara, third in a family of five sons, acquired his early education by walking four miles from the home farm to a country school. At the age of seventeen he went to Menominee, Michigan, and became a timber worker. He was possessed of a rugged and sturdy physique, and all his life has been able to take his share of duties or labors with anyone. He came to the Iron Range of northern Minnesota in 1892. Biwabik had not yet come into existence as a town. The nearest set- tlement was a little hamlet known as America. For a time he worked as foreman on construction during the building of the first railroad and helped lay the railroad into Virginia. When the Biwabik Mine was opened he was appointed a foreman, but in a short time his duties were required for the office of chief of police, and he has shown such pro- ficiency in that position that no one else has ever been suggested for the office in his stead. He is a man of cool and collected courage, always ready to act in emergency, and many recall with special favor the admir- able manner in which he handled the strike situation of 1917.
Mr. O'Hara's first residence on the range was a tent. His family joined him later. In Michigan, in 1882, he married Julia Elizabeth Tierney, a native of New York state. They are the parents of three sons and four daughters: William, a railroad employe; Minnie, wife of Hugh Glass, an Iron Range conductor; Vinnie, wife of J. C. McGiv- ern, president of the First National Bank of Biwabik; Ronica, a teacher in the schools of Eveleth; Joseph, a teacher at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin ; Matt, who is finishing his education at Notre Dame, Indiana ; and Celes- tine, also in school. The sons Matt and Joseph were with the colors during the World war. The family are members of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, and Mr. O'Hara is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.
A. H. PEACHA is one of Duluth's live and enterprising younger business men and for the past six years has been an important factor in the success of the Interstate Auto Company, one of the chief organ- izations for the sale and distribution of automobiles and automobile accessories in the northwestern country.
Mr. Peacha was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, September 6, 1883, son of Joseph F. and Bridget (Hay) Peacha. His father was born in Canada, has spent the greater part of his active life as a lumberman and is still living at Duluth at the age of sixty-four. In a family of eleven children nine are still living, A. H. Peacha being the fourth in age.
Mr. Peacha was well educated in the public schools of his native town, but at the age of fifteen went to work and was with his father in the lumber woods and acquired every phase of experience in that industry. For five years he was foreman of a manufacturing concern and then came to Duluth and since 1914 has been superintendent of the Interstate Automobile Company. This company was organized by C. F. Fitzsimmon, president, W. G. Baldwin, treasurer, and Joseph F. Peacha, secretary and manager. They handle an important line of motor cars, have worked up an immense business in that line, and also handle auto- mobile accessories. They control the patent rights of one of the leading automobile heaters in the country.
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.