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 45
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For the last twelve years of his life Mr. Hibbing had his home in Duluth. His faith and persistence in developing the mines of the Mesaba Range were well rewarded, and although he had sold a half interest in some of his holdings for upwards of a quarter of a million dollars, at the time of his death he still retained substantial interests on the Range, the benefits of which have inured to his family. He had few superiors as a business man, and at Duluth he was known as one of the men not only of remarkable enterprise, but of a public spirit which was considered invaluable in the progress of that city. This was well reflected in a resolu- tion passed by the Chamber of Commerce after his death. The following extracts from those resolutions indicate the importance of his relations to the business community and an estimate of his personal character : "The enterprises in which Mr. Hibbing has been engaged have been of great benefit to the city, and those in which he was interested at the time . of his death promise even greater results than those brought to a suc- cessful issue by his enterprise, perseverance and skill. In addition to his business ability, his strict honesty, sterling integrity, unswerving loyalty to his adopted city and unbounded faith in its future he combined a
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happy disposition and a truly generous character, so much so that it would be hard to find another person so generally respected by all classes of citizens. Men of the faith and enterprise of Mr. Hibbing are the builders of the fortunes of any city that may be fortunate enough to be honored by their residence, and we feel that the City of Duluth has suffered great loss."
An additional comment on his generosity is found in a brief quotation from a local newspaper of Duluth: "The news of the death of no man in Duluth would be received with greater sorrow than that of Frank Hibbing. His friends are found in every walk of life. His hand has always been ready to extend assistance to others in their distress and the worthy person never asked his aid in vain. The poor who have received coal and provisions from him when cold and hunger were knock- ing at their doors are without number, and they have reason to appreciate fully the sincerity of his charity, for he gave without ostentation, satis- fied with having done a good deed without advertising his virtue to the world."
Originally a Democrat, in his later years Mr. Hibbing was a Repub- lican, and at one time served as town treasurer of Bessemer, Michigan. He attended at different times the Methodist Episcopal and Episcopal Churches. Fraternally he belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 133, and his funeral was conducted under the auspices of that organization. He also belonged to the Kitchi Gammi Club of Duluth, but was essentially a home man and cared for his home more than for any club or fraternity.
Frank Hibbing died July 30, 1897. On May 14, 1885, he married Miss Barbara Lutz. She was born at Eckartsweier, Amt Kehl, Baden, on the Rhine, Germany, a member of a family which had been located on the River Rhine for generations. She came to the United States in 1874 with her parents, Michael and Barbara Lutz, and settled at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Mrs. Hibbing, who survives her husband and resides at 1830 East Superior street, has enjoyed a position of especial esteem in Duluth's social circles and has done much to continue the beneficence practiced by her husband through varied interests and forms of practical philanthropy. Mrs. Hibbing had shared with her husband many of his early hardships, and it was one of his regrets in his last hours that their companionship should be interrupted after they had passed over the roughest part of the road of life and had reached a position where together they might enjoy in peace and comfort the ample fruits of his toil. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hibbing, but they adopted in her infancy Anna Marie, the daughter of Mrs. Hibbing's brother. This daughter graduated from the Duluth Central High School and from LaSell Seminary at Auburndale, Massachusetts, spent some time in Ger- many and recently married Dr. Hermann M. Koller, of Minneapolis.
FREDERICK H. CASH, JR., assistant general superintendent of the Mesaba Range Mines of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, lives in Kinney, where he maintains his headquarters. He was born at Hume, Edgar County, Illinois, July 31, 1884, a son of Frederick H. and Laura (Owens) Cash. Frederick H. Cash, Sr., was born at Kansas, Illinois, in 1854, and is a retired farmer. His wife was born at Sedalia, Missouri, in 1859. They were married in 1876 and became the parents of four children, of whom the son Frederick is the second in order of birth.
Frederick H. Cash, Jr., attended the county schools near Hume and the Hume High School, having graduated from the latter in 1899. From that date until 1903 he was engaged on an Illinois farm. In September
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of the latter year he entered the Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor of Science-civil engineering course. During the summer months of 1905 and 1906 he was engaged in city and county engineering in and about Brazil, Indiana. After he secured his degree he entered the employ of the division engineer's office of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad and remained in it from June to December, 1907. In January, 1908, he was again engaged in city and county engineering in and about Brazil, Indiana. April, 1909, marked his entrance into the employ of the Republic Iron and Steel Company at Virginia, Minnesota, and until April, 1910, he was engaged in engineering and as an under- ground shift boss, and was then made assistant superintendent of the Franklin group of mines at Virginia, and held that position until April, 1912. Mr. Cash was then promoted to be superintendent of the Kinney Mine, and so acted until October, 1917, when he was made assistant gen- eral superintendent of the mines of the Mesaba Range owned by the Republic Iron and Steel Company.
Mr. Cash is an independent Republican. He is a Protestant but not connected with any religious denomination. He is unmarried. Active in civic affairs, he has served for three times as president of the village of Kinney, and was a member of the School Board of Independent School District No. 35 for three years. In Masonry he belongs to Edgar Lodge No. 829, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He also belongs to Vir- ginia Lodge No. 1003, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Engineers' Club of Northern Minnesota; the Kitchi Gammi Club of Duluth ad Beta Upsilon Chapter of the Sigma Nu Greek letter college fraternity. He was a member of the executive committee of the Council of Defense for Buhl and Kinney and their vicinity, and did much to aid in all the local war activities.
LINN REYNOLDS CHRISTENSEN, a prominent citizen of Biwabik, now in the real estate and insurance business, has been identified with the life and affairs of the Iron Range country for fifteen years.
He was born at Hudson, Wisconsin, October 1, 1885, son of Neils and Mary (Linn) Christensen. His father, a native of Denmark, came to the United States in 1875, and after a brief residence near Green Bay, Michigan, moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, where for many years he was an engineer and janitor of the public schools. He died in 1909. His wife died in 1919. They were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and their family consisted of two sons and five daughters. The sons, Linn R. and Charles T. are associated in the real estate business at Biwabik.
Linn R. Christensen was educated in the public schools and in a com- mercial course at Hudson Business University. In 1905 he came to the Range country and at Virginia became a bookkeeper in the local offices of Pickands, Mather & Company. His home has been at Biwabik since 1911, and during the past ten years he has handled a large volume of business in real estate and insurance. His offices are in the First National Bank Building. Mr. Christensen has also borne an important share of public duties, having served continuously as secretary of the School Board since 1913. All the new buildings have been erected at Biwabik during this time. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, is a Republican voter and is affiliated with the Elks and the Moose. On June 30, 1911, he married Miss Jennie Moren, daughter of S. E. Moren, of Biwabik. They have one son, Reynolds.
Vol. III-20
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THOMAS M. WILLIAMS. a young man of technical and executive abil- ity, has won a position of prominence in connection with the great iron industry in St. Louis County, where he has the business management of the Wacoutah Mine of the Pitt Iron Mining Company, with residence and headquarters at Mountain Iron.
Thomas Marshall Williams was born at Callington, England, on the 16th of November, 1883, and is a son of George W. and Elizabeth B. (Irwin) Williams, both likewise natives of England, where the former was born June 17, 1853, and the latter on the 31st of March. 1860; their marriage having been solemnized in 1879, and the subject of this sketch being the youngest of their three children. George W. Williams followed the vocation of miner in his native land until 1884, when he came with his family to the United States and became associated with iron mining in northern Michigan. Later he came to St. Louis County, Minnesota, and here he is now a prosperous farmer in the vicinity of Mountain Iron. He became a naturalized citizen as soon as practicable after his arrival in this country, and here he has found ample opportunity for the achieving of worthy success and a position of independence.
Thomas M. Williams was an infant at the time of the family immigra- tion to America, and his youthful education was received principally in the public schools at Ishpeming, Michigan. When about seventeen years of age he found employment as a section hand at the Lake Angeline Mine of the Pitt Iron Mining Company in Minnesota, and a few months later, at the request of Capt. William H. Downing, he took a position .in the mine itself, where he gained practical experience of valuable order. In 1901 he joined his parents on their fruit farm near Jackson, Missis- sippi, and there he remained until 1907, when he came again to the min- ing region of Minnesota and found employment as clerk in the local offices of the New York State Steel & Iron Company. Eighteen months later he was promoted to the position of chief clerk, and in this capacity he continued his effective services until May, 1913, when he engaged in the real estate and insurance business in company with his brother J. I. at Virginia, St. Louis County. While thus engaged the brother platted and placed on the market the Williams addition to Virginia. In August, 1917, Mr. Williams assumed the position of inspector for the fee owners, Dorr & Flynn, at the Eveleth Mine, under William R. Van Slyke. About a year later he accepted a position as foreman in the employ of C. A. Johnson, a contractor in mine production at Virginia, and this alliance continued until July 1, 1920, when he assumed his present execu- tive position, in which he is making an effective record as a skilled organ- izer and able executive.
Mr. Williams is independent in his political attitude, and in local politics gives his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. irrespective of partisan lines. During the nation's partici- pation in the World war he served loyally and efficiently as a member of the Home Defense League, aided in the furtherance of the local work in behalf of the various governmental loans and also solicited funds for the Red Cross.
In the city of Chicago, on the 11th of October, 1911, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Laura E. Mattson, who was born at Superior, Wisconsin, of Norwegian parentage, and they have two chil- dren, Ruth Audrey, who was born April 28, 1914, and Thomas Marshall, Jr., who was born April 1, 1919.
HENRY A. ROBINSON. An exceptionally capable man in his calling, Henry A. Robinson since his arrival in the Mesaba Range country in
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August, 1908, has worked his way up through the various grades from a helper in the engineering department of the Oliver Iron Mining Com- pany to the position of chief engineer of the Eveleth district for this large and important concern.
Mr. Robinson was born in Jefferson County, New York, November 7, 1881, his parents being Alexander R. and Isabella (McCrae) Robinson, natives of New York state. Alexander R. Robinson was a sailor by voca- tion and was a captain of vessels on the Great Lakes for some forty years, dying in November, 1916, at the age of sixty-one years. One of a family of four children, Henry A. Robinson was taken to Ohio by his parents when eight years of age, and after four years of attendance at the public schools of Lorain moved with his family to Conneaut, where he was graduated from the high school in 1900. In 1902 he entered the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland, and was graduated from the civil engineering department of that well-known institution in 1906. For about six months he was employed on structural construction work by a Cleveland concern, following which he spent some eighteen months as assistant to a consulting engineer in the construction of work on sewers, water works and pavements. In August, 1908, Mr. Robinson came to Eveleth as a helper in the engineering department of the Oliver Iron Min- ing Company, where his abilities have since received recognition by his steady and consecutive advancement through the various grades to the position of chief engineer of the Eveleth district. He is regarded as an exceptionally capable man in his calling and has the full confidence of his associates in important undertakings. He is fraternally affiliated with the Masons.
Mr. Robinson married Miss Agnes Vera Rockwell on July 17, 1912, and to them have been born five children : Kathryn V., Stuart G., Eleanor, Harriet and David McCrae, of whom Stuart G. is deceased.
KREMER JACOB HOKE. In 1916 the city of Duluth called to the super- intendency of its schools an educator of proved and tried experience and with almost a national reputation.
Kremer Jacob Hoke was born at Emmitsburg, Maryland, November 19, 1878, son of Jacob and Mary Elizabeth Hoke and grandson of Jacob Hoke. The Hoke family settled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in what is now Maryland and Virginia, five generations ago, the first ancestors taking up a claim in Maryland as a grant from the Indians. The first Hokes came to America from Germany. Jacob Hoke, father of the Duluth school superintendent, spent his active life as a farmer in Fred- erick County, Maryland, where he is still living at the age of seventy- four. He acquired a public school education, owns the old homestead farm in Frederick County, but lives in the village of Emmitsburg. He is a member and officer of the Reformed Church. at Emmitsburg.
The oldest son and third among nine children, Kremer Jacob Hoke has always been a student, and laid the foundation of his education in the public grammar and high schools of Maryland. He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Mount St. Mary's College in 1904, and after teaching for two years at Cambridge Seminary resigned to enter the University of Virginia for a year of graduate study. He left there to become principal of what was then Manchester, Virginia, schools, and subsequently was made assistant superintendent of schools in Richmond. While there he exercised a leave of absence and by studies at Columbia University received the Master's degree and Ph.D. in Education. Mr. Hoke was a member of the Mosely Educational Commission sent to Eng- land to inspect the schools of England, Scotland and Ireland in the sum-
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mer of 1908. He was frequently engaged in lecture work in the Normal School in Virginia and spent two terms in lecture work at the Iowa State College. He has written articles, several of which were published by the Psychological Clinic, and edited a government bulletin on the Place- ment of Children in the Elementary Schools. He is a member of the National Education Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has done practical work on the committees of these organizations.
Mr. Hoke resigned his work at Richmond in 1916 to become superin- tendent of schools at Duluth, his official term beginning October 2nd. During the past four years outside of the routine of his office he has directed his efforts toward a systematic inquiry to find out what the girls and boys need and to supply their needs, along a judiciously con- ceived plan to provide an education that would enable the youth of the city to do more efficiently the things in the community which they are called on to do. In the formulation of a program to realize this realisable ideal Mr. Hoke has endeavored to provide a practical course of study and system of promotion, the establishment of special classes to meet special needs, extension of the educational program to meet the needs of boys and girls when they go out into the community through the night schools and extension classes, extension of uniform examinations, and uniform courses of study. Those most closely in touch with the Duluth school situation declare that a wonderful progress has been accom- plished during the superintendency of Mr. Hoke.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, affiliated with Keystone Chapter, is a member of the Masonic College fraternity Acacia, belongs to the Episco- pal Church and is a Democrat without active interest in party politics. At Duluth he is a member of the Commercial Club, Rotary Club, Kitchi Gammi Club. Tette Gouche Club and Duluth Boat Club.
ARTHUR A. MICHAUD, who spent nearly all his life in Duluth, has for the past decade been prominent in the insurance business, and has developed one of the largest agencies in the state, not excepting the Twin Cities.
Mr. Michaud was born in Montreal, Canada, June 27, 1886. His father, a native of Canada, brought his family to Duluth in 1888, and for a number of years was manager of the St. Louis Hotel and also was interested in mining and other properties. He died in 1902.
Arthur A. Michaud, oldest son of his parents, acquired his early education in the schools of Duluth, and attended the universities of Wis- consin and Minnesota and the Central Business College. Upon completing his education he went to work for John A. Stephenson & Company, a well known Duluth insurance firm. He was with them two years and neglected no opportunity to familiarize himself with every detail of the business. Since then he has been a partner or associate in the insurance business, at first in the partnership of the Burg, Hawkins, Michaud Company, and in 1911, when the two senior partners withdrew, he took over the business. In 1914, with his uncle, J. T. Michaud, he established the firm which in six years has developed from one of the smallest agencies in Duluth until at the present time they comprise one of the largest in the state, operating offices both in Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as in the Providence Building of Duluth. Mr. Michaud is secretary and treasurer of the company and agency and his uncle, J. T. Michaud, is president. The vice presidents are S. J. Colter, P. L. Hand and R. D. Mackenzie. C. H. Bradley, Jr., is secretary.
Mr. Michaud in 1919 organized the Gopher Mutual Casualty Company and is its general manager. He has specialized in writing compensation
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and casualty insurance. In 1910 he was one of the three men who promoted the organization of the Rotary Club and served as its first secretary. Other associations which identify him with the civic, business and social affairs of the city are membership in the Commercial Club, Boat Club, Curling Club, Kitchi Kammi Club and Northland Country Club. He is fond of golf and motoring, and these constitute his chief recreations. Mr. Michaud is a member of the Episcopal Church and in politics is an independent voter.
On January 5, 1910, he married Fannie Scribner, a daughter of Frank G. Scribner, Sr., of Duluth. She was educated in the schools of Superior, Wisconsin, and also the Stout Training School of Menomonie, Wisconsin.
W. T. WRIGHT is a lumber manufacturer, actively identified with several of the corporations manufacturing lumber and building material in the great Duluth district.
Mr. Wright, who began his career as worker in a furniture factory, was born at Shiocton, Wisconsin, May 21, 1877, youngest of the three children of Thomas Wright and wife. His father, a native of Pennsyl- vania, has had a long and active career as a contractor and is now living at Marshfield, Wisconsin. W. T. Wright attended public schools to the age of sixteen, and on leaving school worked for a year in a furniture factory, and his experiences have always been in some line of wood products. He was in the sash and door business successively and through the relationships of the business office and counting room, as salesman on the road and as assistant manager, with headquarters at Marshfield, Milwaukee, Chicago and Duluth. In 1905 he entered a part- nership at Duluth with C. W. Radford, head of the Radford Company, one of the largest firms manufacturing interior finish and sash and door work at Duluth. Subsequently their partnership became the corporation Radford & Wright Company, and this name is now known over a large portion of the United States and Canada. They are general manufac- turers of lumber, but particularly of sash, doors and mill work, and operate factories at Duluth, Winnipeg and Oshkosh, have a warehouse at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, sales offices at Minneapolis and Baltimore, and altogether the corporation involves the labor and services of six hundred employes.
Mr. Wright is also president of the Bertram-Wright Lumber Company of Minneapolis, secretary and treasurer of the Bertram Lumber Company of Minneapolis, is president of the Radford-Wright Company, Ltd., of Winnipeg; secretary-treasurer of the Harvey Lumber Company of Duluth, is treasurer of the Northern Lumber & Coal Company of Duluth, and is vice president of the People's State Bank of Duluth and president of the Gopher Mutual Casualty Company of Duluth. He is active in all these business organizations and his official connections with them indicate that he has made use of somewhat remarkable talents in a remarkably energetic way since he left school and went to work to earn his own living about a quarter of a century ago.
Mr. Wright finds diversion in golf and fishing, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and is a member of the Duluth Country Club and the Commercial Club.
JAMES F. ROSE. The birth of James F. Rose, civil and mining engi- neer of Hibbing, took place on a plantation near Warrenton, Virginia, March 3, 1881, so that he is still in the very prime of manhood, but his brief span of life has been filled with events and accomplishments that would afford adventure for the full measure of years allowed by the
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psalmist. Fifteen years of his life were spent in remote places away from civilization. He with faithful Indians has traveled the forests, over plains, and mountains and through the heat and discomforts of summer and the equally disagreeable winters. A detailed story of his wanderings is a romance filled with tragedy. Few men understand Indian nature better than he, and for that reason he was enabled to obtain more satis- factory results from their labors than the majority of explorers.
Mr. Rose is a son of Alexander F. and Lucy S. (Blackwell) Rose. The father enlisted in the Confederate Army during the war between the North and the South when only fourteen years old, and fought gloriously for the "Lost Cause." Returning from the war a financial wreck, he had, with other returned soldiers of his neighborhood to face difficult conditions. He passed through the hard days of the "reconstruc- tion" period, and has lived to enjoy the fruits of his industry. Both he and his wife still survive, and are residents of Virginia.
One of three sons, James F. Rose was reared in Virginia. He attended private schools until he matriculated at Bethel Military Academy near Warrenton, from which he was graduated in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After a short period during which he was engaged in land surveying in Virginia, he came to Minnesota where he was first employed as transit man, but soon was made resident engineer in the construction of the old Duluth, Rainy Lake & Winnipeg Railroad, with headquarters at Virginia, Minnesota. In 1902 he came to Hibbing and entered the employ of A. P. Silliman, at general engineering and office practice, and held this position for two years. Then, until 1906 he worked for the Oliver Iron Mining Company as engineer at the Hull- Rust Mine, and later did much of the preliminary work on the develop- ment at Coleraine. Mr. Rose then returned to the Duluth, Rainy Lake & Winnipeg Railroad as resident engineer, and helped to build the road from Virginia to Fort Francis, Minnesota. That great work completed, he was locating engineer for the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railroad, now the Canadian Northern Railroad, and had charge of location between Virginia and Duluth, Minnesota.
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