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 42
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
1213
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
citizenship at Eveleth. The parents spent their lives in Finland on their farm, where Peter Peterson was reared, his education being secured in the public schools. At the age of nineteen years he had arrived at the conclusion that to establish a future worth while it was desirable for him to emigrate. From friends residing in the United States he had heard of the wonderful opportunities presented to young men of ambition and energy, and in 1885 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean and upon his arrival in this country first located at Worcester, Massachusetts. After a short time he removed to Calumet, Michigan, and for four years lived there and at Houghton.
At this period Mr. Peterson's father's estate being unsettled and he having left home before coming of age, he returned to Finland and spent a year in settling the estate, following which he returned permanently to the United States. For four years he resided at Superior, Wisconsin, one year as a member of the police force and the remainder of the time as a dealer in real estate and a builder of sidewalks, and in 1894 came to Minnesota and, locating at Virginia, opened a grocery store. This he conducted about eighteen months, when he came to Eveleth, then a very small hamlet, and, buying a lot, erected a building virtually in the woods and started a grocery store. When the town was moved upon the hill Mr. Peterson moved with the rest, and ever since then has been engaged in mercantile pursuits and dealing in real estate. He began his career in this country in a small way, and by hard work and good man- agement has prospered to an extent where he is now reckoned as one of the substantial men of Eveleth.
Mr. Peterson was married in 1894 to Miss Minnie Heikkila, a native of the same locality as her husband, and to them there have been born twelve children: John W., Atry H., P. Harold, Bernhart, Beatrice, Edward, Richard and Abner, twins, the latter of whom died in infancy, George, William, Jacob, and one child who died unnamed in infancy. Two of the sons, Atry H. and P. Harold Peterson, volunteered their services during the World war, but neither went to France, Atry H. dying from disease contracted in the service. The family are worshipers at the Finnish Lutheran Church. Mr. Peterson is a member of the Eveleth Commercial Club and has rendered appreciated service as a member of the Public Library Board.
CHARLES GRABOWSKY, general superintendent of the Eveleth District of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, with residence and executive head- quarters at Eveleth, was born at Bay City, Michigan, March 27, 1873, and is a son of Isaac and Taube (Goldstone) Grabowsky, who thence removed in 1886 to Ishpeming, Michigan, where the father became actively identified with mercantile enterprise. Isaac Grabowsky was born and reared in German Poland and immigrated to the United States more than half a century ago. He and his wife now reside in the city of Detroit, Michigan, where he is living virtually retired after many years of earnest and honest endeavor.
Charles Grabowsky, the second in order of birth in a family of seven children, continued his studies in the public schools of his native state until he had completed a course in the high school at Ishpeming under the supervision of Harlow Olcott and his daughter Amelia F., both earn- est and effective educators. At the age of seventeen years Mr. Grabow- sky initiated his active association with the mining industry by assuming the position of timekeeper at the Colby-Tilden Mine of the Penokee & Gogebic Development Company at Bessemer, Michigan, W. J. Olcott having then been the superintendent of this mine. This corporation later
1214
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
was absorbed by the Oliver Iron Mining Company, and with the latter Mr. Grabowsky has continued his active alliance during the intervening years, which have been marked by his advancement from the post of timekeeper to the responsible office of which he is now the efficient and popular incumbent. In October, 1898, he was transferred to Ely, Minne- sota, where he was assigned to the position of chief clerk of the Pioneer Mine, which was then being taken over by the Oliver Iron Mining Com- pany. About three years later several mines were combined under one executive control of operation, and it was at this time that Mr. Grabowsky was made chief clerk of the district to which these mines were assigned. About 1906 he was made assistant superintendent of the Ely District, and in 1910 he was transferred to Virginia as superintendent of the Alpena Mine, which was then in its second year of operation. In 1915 he was promoted to the position of assistant general superintendent of the Virginia District, of which post he continued in tenure until April. 1918, when he was transferred to Eveleth and assigned to the position of assistant general superintendent of the Eveleth District, and on Feb- ruary 1, 1921, was appointed as general superintendent of that district. He has gained broad and valuable practical experience in connection with the mining industry, and his advancement has been won through his ability and effective service.
Mr. Grabowsky is a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party and has taken lively interest in its cause. While residing at Ely he served two terms as city alderman and as city treasurer one year. In the time- honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated with the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of Eveleth lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and also of the local Commercial Club and the Rotary Club. He has the further distinction of holding membership in the Vermillion Range Old Settlers' Association.
June 21, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Grabowsky to Miss Adelaide Josephine Urban, and of their five children three are living- Miriam E., Irene G. and Evelyn C. The family enjoys unqualified popu- larity in the social life of the home community.
THOMAS H. DAVEY, superintendent of the Fayal and Genoa Mines of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, Eveleth, was born in the copper country of northern Michigan, in Ontonagon County, October 1, 1865, his parents, Thomas H. and Emily (Bawden) Davey, being natives of England.
Thomas H. Davey, the elder, came to the United States in 1852 and was among the first to brave the rigors of the mining country of north- ern Michigan. He followed mining all his life and died in 1909, after an industrious, honorable and useful career, being survived by his widow. They were the parents of eleven children, the eldest being Thomas H. Davey of this review. Thomas H. Davey, the younger, resided in his native county until reaching the age of nineteen years, and started to work at the early age of eleven, carrying water and tools during summers and going to school during the winter terms until he was fifteen years of age, at which time he went underground to work with his father. He has followed mining without interruption throughout his career. In 1884 Mr. Davey came to Tower, Minnesota, at the opening of the Soudan Mine, being forced to walk the last twenty-five or thirty miles because the railroad was uncompleted at that time. He remained at that mine for one and one-half years, engaged in mining, and in October, 1885, went back to Michigan and secured employment in the mines at Marquette
1215
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
for about six months. When the Gogebic Range was in its early develop- ment he went to that district in 1886, and after being a miner for one year became foreman of the Colby Mine and served as such until March, 1893.
Mr. Davey next became mining captain at Biwabik. Minnesota, which was the beginning of the Mesaba Range, the first milling on the Mesaba being done at the Duluth Mine. In October of that year, due to the financial panic which swept the country, the mines were shut down and Mr. Davey returned to Michigan, where, in May, 1894, he became shift boss of the Tilden Mine at Bessemer. In November, 1894, he was made mining captain of the Ashland Mine at Ironwood, and in August, 1899, was transferred to the position of night captain and later to that of mining captain of the Adams Mine at Eveleth, Minnesota. He has made his home at Eveleth ever since. Mr. Davey served as mining captain until 1906, when he became superintendent of the Adams, Spruce, Cloquet and Leonidas Mines, and January 1, 1920, was transferred to the superin- tendency of the Fayal and Genoa Mines, a position which he holds at this time.
A Republican in his political allegiance, Mr. Davey has been inter- ested in political and civic affairs, and during his residence at Ironwood served as a member of the City Council for four years. For a long period he has been a member of the School Board at Eveleth, and has con- tributed materially through his services to an elevation of educational standards and the betterment of the public school system. He is a Knight Templar of the Masonic fraternity and a member of Aad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and has served as worship- ful master of his Blue Lodge. He likewise holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In religious faith he is a Methodist.
Mr. Davey was married December 31. 1891, to Miss Anna Kind, of Bessemer, Michigan, and they have three children: Irene, who is the wife of W. A. Remington ; and Roland and Margaret, at home. Roland served in the Fifth United States Marines, Second Division, during the World war, and saw service in the Chateau Thierry engagement. At Soissons he was gassed severely and did not return to the front. He was honorably discharged in August, 1919, and is now employed by the Republic Iron and Steel Company. .
JUDSON M. STEARNS, chief chemist for the Eveleth District of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, first came to the Range country of north- ern Minnesota in 1902 and has lived here ever since. Born at Joliet, Illinois, April 10, 1873, he is a son of Herman D. and Jennie (Combs) Stearns, who were natives of Massachusetts and New York state respec- tively. Herman D. Stearns was a tailor by trade, but later in life was engaged in sewing machine and piano selling. He is now dead and is survived by his widow. Five children were born to them, of whom Judson M. is the youngest.
Judson M. Stearns had his early rearing at his native place and was graduated from the Joliet High School in 1893. From this period for two years he was a student at Lake Forest College, where he specialized in chemistry, and began his business career as a chemist for the Illinois Steel Company at Joliet, continuing to serve this corporation two years, and then being employed by a car wheel manufacturing concern at Joliet for a like period. In 1900 Mr. Stearns returned and spent another year at Lake Forest College, and in the spring of 1902 came to Eveleth and secured employment as one of the assistant chemists in the laboratory
-
1216
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
of the Oliver Iron Mining Company. He continued as such until the summer of 1904, when he became chief chemist for the Interstate Iron Mining Company at Virginia, but in the fall of the same year returned to Eveleth as first assistant chief chemist to H. S. Sherman, who was then chief chemist. He remained in that capacity until January 1, 1911, when he became chief chemist of the Oliver Iron Mining Company, a position which he has continued to occupy.
Mr. Stearns is a Republican in politics, but has never aspired to political prominence. Since 1912 he has been a member of the Eveleth School Board. Socially he is identified with the Masonic fraternity. He was married July 5, 1902, to Miss Emma Johnson, of Lake Forest, Illinois, and they have one son, Robert.
WILLIAM J. DAVEY. An intelligent and purposeful participant in the happenings which make up the history of Eveleth from the time of his arrival in October, 1899, William J. Davey, chief clerk of the Oliver Iron Mining Company at Eveleth and of the Eveleth District, claims place also among the men who in official capacities have contributed to the good government and development of the community. He was born at Greenland, Ontonagon County, Michigan, November 29, 1869, a son of Thomas H. and Emily ( Bawden) Davey, natives of England.
Thomas H. Davey immigrated to the United States in 1852 and was among the first to enter the new mining country of northern Michigan. He led an industrious, useful and honorable life, following mining throughout his career, and died in 1909, being survived by his widow. They were the parents of eleven children. William J. Davey acquired his education in the public schools of Ontonagon County, where he was reared in the atmosphere and surroundings of the mines, and when seventeen years of age went first to the Gogebic Range of northern Michigan. Three years later he bcame timekeeper in the Colby-Tilden Mine and subsequently went into the general offices at Ironwood, filling a clerical position until October, 1899. At that time he came to Eveleth, Minnesota, where he became head clerk of the Adams Mine for the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines. When the consolidation of the various mines was effected Mr. Davey was made head clerk of the Adams and Spruce Mines, and in 1907 became chief clerk of the Adams District. In 1918, when the Adams and Fayal Districts were consolidated, he was retained as chief clerk of the two combined as the Eveleth Dis- trict, and this position he holds at the present time. He is one of the most efficient men in his line in the company's employ and holds a secure place in the confidence of his superiors and the good will of his associates.
Mr. Davey may be considered a pioneer of Eveleth, inasmuch as he has resided in this community for more than two decades and has not only witnessed the transformation of this locality but has played an important part therein. He has seen the little valley mining camp emerge from obscurity and reach out to the hilltop, where it now stands as a center of industrial activity, a city of importance and the home of capable and energetic men who are playing a big part in the affairs of life. Aside from his connection with the affairs of important companies he has also contributed to the welfare of the city by his service during a period of fourteen years as treasurer of Eveleth, and in other ways has been a factor in its busy life. During the World war he was identified actively with the Red Cross and Young Men's Christian Association movements, the United States Council of Defense and all the various loan drives inaugurated by the Federal Government. As a fraternalist he belongs to Eveleth Lodge No. 239, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Eveleth
1217
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Lodge No. 1161, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, has been secretary of the Eleveth Curling Club for many years and belongs to the Eveleth Commercial Club. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Davey was married November 10, 1896, to Miss Ida Coveyou, of Petoskey, Michigan, and they have two children: Inez I. and Gael D.
CHARLES H. CHERRY, M. D. The Range country of northern Min- nesota is essentially a young man's country. No weakling could hope to succeed where strenuosity is a necessity for advancement. The big corpo- rations located in this region demand efficiency and capability of a high order from their employes, and the Rood Hospital is no exception to this rule. Doctor Rood in building up his hospitals at Hibbing and Chisholm had this in mind when he selected his staff of physicians and surgeons, and found the caliber of man he wanted in Dr. Charles H. Cherry, who had demonstrated his ability, and he was earnestly urged to accept appointment at Chisholm, which he finally did, as he realized that in connection with the Rood Hospital at this place he would have great opportunities for doing a vast amount of good.
Charles H. Cherry was born at Lancaster, South Carolina, Novem- ber 11, 1886, a son of Joseph J. and Ida Mary (Williams) Cherry, both of whom are living and residing at Charlotte, South Carolina. Growing up in his native county, Doctor Cherry attended its local schools, and after he had decided upon a medical career entered the Medical College of Virginia at Richmond, Virginia, and was graduated therefrom in 1911. For three years he served as one of the physicians of the Stonega Coke & Coal Company at Stonega, Virginia, and then spent one year doing general hospital work at Grace Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. The next fifteen months were spent by him at Mount Alto Sanitarium, a tubercular . institution at Mount Alto, Pennsylvania. In 1916 he came to Hibbing. and after one month spent at Rood Hospital of that village he came to the Chisholm Rood Hospital.
On August 24, 1917, Doctor Cherry offered his services for the great war, and from then until December 31, 1917, was at the Medical Offi- cers' Training Camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was given a com- mission as first lieutenant. He was then sent to Camp Pike at Little Rock, Arkansas, and from there went to Fort Wadsworth, Spartensburg, South Carolina, a base hospital. The next change took him to Camp Merritt, New York, for debarkation, and he sailed for France on the "Kroonland," landing at Brest, from where he went at once to Alleray, which at one time was the largest hospital center of the American Expeditionary Forces. This was near Dijon, where he had special labora- tory work. After the signing of the armistice he returned home as soon as possible, was discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey, April 12, 1919, and returned to Minnesota, since which time he has been connected with Rood Hospital and engaged in an active practice.
Doctor Cherry was married in September, 1917. to Miss Rebecca Oliver Jacobs, who died October 5. 1918. Like other members of his profession who cheerfully sacrificed their personal interests in behalf of their country, Doctor Cherry is very modest about his service, but the fact remains that he does belong to the band of patriotic men who were willing to leave their homes and practice and risk their lives in order that the men wearing the American uniform should not lack for skilled attention from their own countrymen when they were sick or wounded. These devoted medical men worked beyond their strength, gave gener- ously and lavishly of their energy and experience, and returned home to find many changes, some of which were bitterly disheartening. The
1218
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
American people have not yet fully emerged from the period of shock which the succession of terrible events of the great war occasioned, and therefore have not given to the returned veterans the proper appreciation which is their due. With the passing of the reconstruction period, with its perplexing problems, and the return of the country to normal condi- tions, will come, as it has always done after a war, a strong and over- whelming desire to pay proper tribute to the men who vanquished the enemy and preserved the integrity of the nation.
GEORGE A. WHITMAN, president of the First National Bank of Eve- leth, has been actively and prominently identified with banking interests in the Mesaba Range country for somewhat more than thirty years, and his advancement in his chosen sphere of activity has been on a parity with the splendid march of development and progress in this vital section of Minnesota. In 1889 he came to Tower, St. Louis County, and in the following year he there established his residence, as the incumbent of the position of assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Tower. .
Mr. Whitman was born at Winona, Minnesota, on the 5th of April. 1867, and is a son of George Abbott Whitman, who was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, a scion of Colonial New England stock, and who, as an ambitious young man of twenty-one years. came to the west and numbered himself among the pioneer settlers in Clayton County, Iowa. In making the journey to the west he made the trip from Buffalo, New York, by steamboat on the Great Lakes to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whence he proceeded by stage to Galena, Illinois, and then voyaged up the Mis- sissippi River to his destination, Clayton County, Iowa, lying along the course of this great waterway. In the Hawkeye state was solemnized his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Z. Clark, who was born at Westport, New York, and whose sisters were pioneers of Iowa. About the year 1855 Mr. and Mrs. Whitman amplified their pioneer experience by coming to Minnesota and establishing their residence at Winona. In that vicinity Mr. Whitman became actively identified with farm enterprise, and he also became a successful dealer in farm land and developed a substantial business in the extension of financial loans on real estate security. He was director of an early banking institution and helped organize almost all the other industries in that now vigorous and beautiful little city. However, he gave the major part of his time and attention to the further- ing of farm industry in that section of the state, and there his death occurred in 1884, his widow surviving him by eleven years and their names meriting place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Minnesota. Of the four children George A., of this review, is the youngest.
George A. Whitman is indebted to the public schools of Winona for his early educational discipline, and at the age of sixteen years he found employment in the Winona bank in which his father was a director. He was connected with this institution about six years, and at the age of twenty-one made his appearance at Tower, this state. During his long years of association with the Mesaba Range he has found ample oppor- tunity for the achieving of worthy success. From the time of his com- ing to Tower he has been connected with what is now the First State Bank of that place, and of the same he is now the president. In 1900 he effected the organization and incorporation of the First National Bank of Eveleth, and has served continuously as its president. In 1902 he transferred his residence from Tower to Eveleth, and here he has since maintained his home-a citizen of utmost loyalty and progressiveness and of resourceful civic activity. He is the vice president and principal stockholder of the American Exchange National Bank of Virginia, this
1219
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
county, and he has been a substantial and valued leader in community sentiment and action during the entire period of his residence in the Range country.
During the nation's participation in the great World war Mr. Whitman was chairman of the committees that had direction of all of the cam- paigns for Government loans, etc., in St. Louis County outside the city of Duluth, besides which his only son entered the nation's service as a volunteer in the Marine Corps, the son having been in school and but seventeen years of age at the time of his enlistment and his service having continued until the historic armistice brought the war to a close, although he was sent across seas.
Mr. Whitman is a staunch Republican in politics, but is essentially a business man and has had no desire to enter the turbulence of practical politics. While a resident of Tower he served as a member of the Board of Education, and in Eveleth he was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library at the time when the library building was erected, he having resigned this position after this important work was completed and the library had been placed on a substantial basis. He and his wife are zealous communicants of St. John's Church, Protestant Episcopal, in their home.city, and he is serving as senior warden of its vestry. He is a Knight Templar Mason and affiliated also with the allied organiza- tion of Masonry, the Mystic Shrine.
On the 7th of October, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Whitman to Miss Effie Adelaide Marsell, of Tower, Minnesota, she being a daughter of Louis A. Marsell. Mr. and Mrs. Whitman have two children-Abbot Marsell and Mildred Elizabeth.
MICHAEL G. KRAKER. An ambition to excel, a genius for work, and alertness to seize opportunity have raised Michael G. Kraker from a poor boy on the Vermillion Range to president and head of one of the largest retail business corporations, the Kraker Mercantile Company of Gilbert.
Mr. Kraker, who came to northern Minnesota when eleven years of age, was born in Austria December 28, 1879. ,His father, Michael Kraker, was an Austrian farmer, and the mother of Michael G. Kraker was Anna Rom, who died leaving three children. Michael Kraker subsequently married again, and finding a family growing up around him and without particular promise for himself or them he decided to come to the United States. About 1888 he crossed the Atlantic and soon afterward was at Tower, Minnesota, and did mining when the mine there was an open pit. He saved his money, and with a few years' experience decided to make this country his home. He brought his family from the old country in 1891, took out naturalization papers, and was always a stanch and true American citizen. From Tower he removed to Ely, from there to Vir- ginia, and he and his wife both died in Virginia and are buried there.
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.