History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, Part 56

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1220

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HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY

sections of most fertile soil to Freeborn county, would be incom- plete without mention of drainage engineer J. W. Dappert, of Taylorville, Ill., who after an exhaustive study of this marsh area in different seasons made the plans and specifications for this successful project; Frank H. Fisk, who acted as assistant engineer ; John Frank, of LeRoy township in Mower county ; W. H. Miller, of Freeborn township, and John Bergeson, of Lon- don township, who composed the board of viewers, each deserve great credit for their respective labors toward the same end.

[NOTE .- This able article on The Drainage of Riceland Marsh was prepared by John F. D. Meighen, of the firm of Morgan & Meighen, attorneys, who have been prominently identified with the legal and statutory aspects of the drainage ditch proposi- tion.]

AUGUSTUS ARMSTRONG

MRS. MARY F. ARMSTRONG

CHAPTER XXXVI.

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW.

Sketches of the Leading Men of the County-Lives of Those Who Have Helped to Make the County What It Is Today-Inci- dents in the Lives of the Early Settlers-Tales of Success and Achievement.

In this chapter it has been the aim of the publishers to present in concise form, the salient facts in the lives of the leading men of the county, past and present, as a supplement to the historical chapters which appear on previous pages. The story of toil and sacrifice, of small beginnings and ultimate success, of earnest endeavor and successful accomplishment, as told in these biog- raphies, is a most interesting one, and cannot fail to prove an inspiration to those of the younger generation who read here what their parents and forebears have accomplished.

This material has been gathered with care, the compilers having visited thousands of homes in the county and interviewed many people. All the sketches have been submitted to those they most concern, and with a few exceptions have been care- fully revised either by the subject of the sketch himself, or by those he has left behind. In the case of errors, those who have refused to revise the sketches of themselves and families are responsible.

The personal estimates of men and events which appear in these memoirs are the work of the editors. The facts have been furnished by the people of the county, and as it is obviously impossible to follow through each man's life from the official records, the publishers take no responsibility as to the facts con- tained in this chapter, although great care has been exercised, and it is believed that as great a degree of accuracy as possible has been reached.

Augustus Armstrong was born on a farm near Milan, Ohio, March 29, 1834. His parents were Augustus S. Armstrong and Phebe H. Armstrong, and his paternal grandfather, Edward Arm- strong, was a citizen of Rhode Island, to which colony, preceding the War of the Revolution, his ancestors had emigrated from Ireland.

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Augustus Armstrong was the third of a remarkable quar- tet of brothers who were prominent as makers of history in the pioneer period of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Thomas Henry, the oldest brother, was a lawyer who in 1855 located at High Forest, Olmstead county, Minnesota. He moved to Albert Lea in 1874, where he founded the Freeborn County Bank, which he owned and managed until his death in 1891. He was a member of the house of representatives in 1864. The next year he was re-elected and was chosen by that body, without opposition, as the speaker of the house. In 1874 he was elected to the state senate from Freeborn county and was re-elected for the succeeding term. In 1866 he was elected lieutenant governor and served as such and as president of the senate for four years.

Moses Kimball, the second brother, was one of the pioneers of Dakota. He was a surveyor and a lawyer, making in the six- ties extensive surveys for the United States government in the territory of Dakota, which at that time included, besides the Dakotas, what is now Montana and the eastern part of Idaho. This brother was a member of the first Dakota territorial legis- lature, being speaker of the house in 1863, and during 1872-1874 was in congress as the delegate from Dakota. He is the author of two very interesting books-"The Early History of Dakota Territory," published in 1866, and "The Early Empire Builders of the Great West," published in 1901. He died at Albert Lea in 1906.

Edward G., the fourth brother, was a pioneer of Minnesota and Dakota. He served with the Union forces in the War of the Rebellion and was severely wounded. After the war he was en- gaged in the real estate business in Olmstead county, where he died in 1911. He was an eloquent public speaker and was conceded by his brothers to be the orator of the family.

Augustus Armstrong, during his early boyhood on the Milan farm, attended Huron Institute, where he prepared himself for Antioch College, which latter institution he entered in 1855. At that time Horace Mann, lawyer, statesman, educational reformer, philanthropist and the father of the public school system as it exists today in the United States, was the president of Antioch College. He probably never had a student who was more moulded by his genius than was his pupil from the Milan farm. Mr. Armstrong, upon leaving college, was fortunate also to have the privilege of studying law under Judge Taylor, of Milan, after which he finished his legal studies at the Cincinnati Law School, where in 1856 he was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1857 he walked from High Forest into Freeborn county with a surveyor's instrument on his shoulder and $5 in his pocket and decided to make Albert Lea his future home. Here he hung out

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the traditional shingle, but there being comparatively little legal business for lawyers in Albert Lea at that early day, he worked at surveying until July, when he was appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court the first clerk of the court for Free- born county. At about the same time he was also appointed postmaster at Albert Lea. In the January following he was appointed deputy county treasurer by Henry King and had entire charge of the treasurer's office for the two ensuing years. During these early days he was at one time justice of the peace ; . at another he was chairman of the board of supervisors. Although in politics Mr. Armstrong had been a Democrat, he, with thousands holding views similar to his before the war, soon joined the new Republican party. He was a staunch sup- porter of Lincoln, after the firing upon Fort Sumter. For his valuable services in raising troops throughout the state and otherwise aiding the cause of the Union, Mr. Armstrong was honored by General U. S. Grant, when he became president. In 1860 Mr. Armstrong was one of the attorneys for the defendant in the case of the State vs. Henry Kreigler, for the murder of a Mr. Broughton near Bear Lake. The defense was insanity, but Kreigler was found guilty by the jury, and was hung March 1, 1861, on the knoll just northwest of where Broadway and the C., M. & St. P. railroad intersect. Kreigler was the first person tried and hung under the laws of the new state of Minnesota, and it is surprising to find how strong the tradition is among the old settlers that the practical jurymen of 1860 considered that it would be more economical for the county to bury Kreig- ler than to support and care for him the rest of his natural life.

Mr. Armstrong was married October 10, 1861, to Mary Felicia Clark Wedge, the widow of Lucius P. Wedge, who had come to Albert Lea in 1857 and bought that part of the townsite lying west of Broadway. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong : Mary Augusta, who married Rev. Henry J. Petrand and who with her mother now occupies the paternal homestead on Fountain street at the head of St. Marys street ; and Augustus, Jr., an attorney of Seattle, Wash., who was born in 1871, upon his father's birthday, and who was in 1901-1902 president of the city council of Albert Lea and until recently was the United States commissioner for the western district of Washington.

Augustus Armstrong, Sr., was the attorney for Freeborn county from 1862 to 1865. In 1865 he was elected to represent the county in the lower house of the Minnesota legislature and in the following year he was elected to the state senate by the sixteenth district, which at that time included the counties of Freeborn, Steele and Waseca. The office of senator being held in rotation by the three counties just named, he was, after the ex-

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piration of his term as senator, again elected by his county to the house of representatives. He was among the first to conceive the idea of bringing the railroads under proper control as part of the public highways of the nation. A bill which he cham- pioned with especial zeal was one to compel the Southern Minne- sota Railroad, then in process of building east from La Crosse, to touch the important towns along its projected route. While he was not as successful as he had hoped to be, yet it was due to his indefatigable exertions that the first railroad into our county was built through the county seat instead of leaving it several miles to one side and establishing a rival town in the interest of one of its townsite companies. The Southern Minne- sota Railroad Company did succeed, however, in locating its right of way through the counties of Houston, Fillmore, Mower and Faribault without touching their county seats. In April, 1869, Mr. Armstrong was appointed by President U. S. Grant the United States marshal for the district of Minnesota, which im- portant position he held until the year of his death.

The first church built in Albert Lea was the old Presbyterian church that stood upon the corner of Water and St. Marys streets until the present edifice was erected. One of the public enter- prises upon which Mr. Armstrong entered with his usual zeal and ability was the project of building the old Presbyterian church just referred to. He worked up the subscriptions, lead- ing with a thousand dollars himself, contracted for the mechan- ics and the material and superintended the construction. He manifested his belief in the Christian religion by a punctual at- tendance upon church services, by liberal contributions towards the support of the church, and by acting as one of the trustees.

On August 18, 1873, while with his wife visiting relatives at Delavan, Wis., he was attacked by a mild form of typhoid fever which, on account of the ignorant treatment of the disease com- mon to the times, proved fatal. He was honored by the officials of the Southern Minnesota Railroad, who provided a special train to bring his remains over their line to Albert Lea.

As a lawyer Mr. Armstrong endeavored to settle disputes and differences rather than to foment them. He enjoyed telling of impending divorce cases amicably adjusted in his office. The writer well remembers hearing, years after Mr. Armstrong's death. different persons tell of his adjusting neighborhood quar- rels that were fast ripening into bitter feuds. As a public man he earned his popularity by his enthusiastic devotion to the pub- lic good, which was so well understood that, in his later years, his candidacy for the highest offices of his county was without opposing nominations.

This sketch of a short but active and useful career is written

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by his stepson, Clarence Wedge, who has carried with him as an ever present inspiration the memory of a character not only rich in manly virtues, but full of such large-hearted kindness as to shed a joy and a benediction upon the family and the neigh- borhood.

Lucius P. Wedge, the third child of Salmon P. and Fanny (Colman) Wedge, was born in Copenhagen, Lewis county, New York, May 13, 1823. He was descended from English stock who settled in Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, one branch of which had moved to northern New York. At the age of twenty- five he came west with his father's family and pre-empted land in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, in a locality that was named for them Wedge's Prairie. He was married February 13, 1854, to Mary Felicia Clark, of Johnstown, Wis., and their only child, Clarence, was born in 1856. Having received what was then regarded as an unusually good offer for his farm of 200 acres he sold it for $6,000 and came out to Minnesota to invest the money in real estate. After looking over Faribault and Owatonna he came to Albert Lea and in November, 1856, bought of Lorenzo Merry, for $2,500, that part of the original townsite of Albert Lea lying west of Broadway, and entered with enthusiasm into the project of making this city the chief town of this part of the state. Recognizing the immediate need of hotel accommo- dations he bought the timber and arranged for sawing of the lumber that was afterwards used in the construction of what was later known as the Webber House. Returning to Wisconsin in the spring he planned to bring out his personal property and to encourage his acquaintances to join in his new enterprise. He was prevented from returning by failing health, and after a year spent in pursuit of physical relief he died in New York city August 31, 1858. Although his entire residence in Albert Lea was only three months, he gave a great impetus to the growth of the embryo town. He was the means of bringing to Albert Lea his brother-in-law, A. D. Clark, who became the first school teacher, and editor of the first paper; his nephew, Dr. A. C. Wedge, the well known physician; and his niece, Margaret Wedge, who became Mrs. Wm. Morin. In June, 1859, his widow came to Albert Lea with their little son and from that time both have made this place their home.

Albert Clark Wedge, of Albert Lea, pioneer settler and for nearly fifty years the leading physician of Freeborn county, was born in Lewis county, New York, August 18, 1834, son of Rev. Albert and Elizabeth (Clark) Wedge. He is descended from a family of old Puritan stock, prominent in the early history of New England. Thomas Wedge, the founder of the family in America, settled in Litchfield, Conn., at an early day, and five

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of his descendants were patriot soldiers in the Revolution. The doctor's grandfather, Solomon Wedge, moved to New York state at the beginning of the nineteenth century and settled on a farm in Lewis county. He was a member of the New York militia and took a part in the War of 1812. His sister married William Grant, of Litchfield, Conn., a member of the family of the ancestors of Gen. U. S. Grant, and in 1835 their son, Asahel Wedge Grant, was the first to respond to the call of the Congre- gational Society of Foreign Missions for medical missionaries to the Nestorians of Persia. He spent several years in missionary work in Asia and died at Mosul, Turkey, where he lies buried by the River Tigris, near the site of ancient Ninevah. Albert Wedge, the father of Dr. A. C. Wedge, was born in Connecticut in 1808, of a family of eight children. He was educated for the ministry at Hamilton College, New York, and in 1839 removed with his family to southern Ohio, where he was engaged in missionary work. His wife died at Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1840, when his son, Albert C., was only six years old. In 1847, after eight years' service in Ohio, the father removed with his five children to a farm near Pendleton, Madison county, Indiana, where he re- mained for three years. He then went to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, for a visit, where his father and brothers were then residents, at a place called Wedge Prairie. Here he died in 1851, and with his wife, who died in Ohio, now rests in the family burial plot at that place. After the father's death the family, then living in Indiana, was broken up and Albert went to Wedge Prairie to live with his uncle. He attended the common schools, worked on his uncle's farm and taught country school. In 1854 he entered what is now Ripon College as a student and remained there three years, after which he studied medicine with Dr. J. Rodgers at Ripon and later attended the Cleveland (Ohio) Med- ical College, from which he graduated in February, 1857. After graduation he returned to Wisconsin, expecting to locate in Ripon and practice his chosen profession with his preceptor, but one of his uncles, Lucius P. Wedge, had been to Minnesota and acquired property at Albert Lea. Through his uncle's persuasion the young physician concluded to locate in Minnesota. His uncle supplied him with money, provisions, a span of horses and a covered wagon, and in May, 1857, he drove to Albert Lea, which at that time consisted of a cluster of four or five log houses and about thirty inhabitants. Here he put up a frame building for an office, hung out his sign, and was ready to prescribe for any who might need his services. At first there was not much for him to do in a professional way, but he pre-empted land and took an active part in the building up of the new community. As the town prospered and the country settled up his business

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increased and for nearly fifty years he continued in active prac- tice except for short periods when he was engaged in public service. When the township was organized, in 1858, he was elected chairman of the first board of supervisors and subsequently held - the position for several years. Dr. Wedge was commissioned, May 2, 1862, assistant surgeon of the Third regiment, Minnesota volunteer infantry, and joined his command at Murfreesboro, Tenn., in May, 1862. On July 13 he participated in the battle of Murfreesboro, in which the regiment was surrendered to the enemy by the colonel in command. Dr. Wedge remained for a time in the hospital at Murfreesboro helping to care for the wounded, then went to Nashville and was on duty in the general hospital for several months. His regiment having been exchanged, he joined it again at Cairo and went with it on the campaign through Kentucky and Tennessee, joining General Grant's main army at the investment and capture of Vicksburg. September 22, 1863, he was commissioned surgeon with the rank of major. He was with General Steele's forces in the expedition to capture Little Rock, and in all the battles connected with the campaign in Arkansas in 1864-65 until the close of the war, when he was mustered out with his regiment in September, 1865, at Devall's Bluff, Ark. Dr. Wedge was very efficient and faithful as a sur- geon at all times, and had the fullest confidence of the officers and men to whom he ministered. He performed especially notable service for the Third regiment during its stay at Pine Bluff, Ark., in the spring and summer of 1864. The regiment was encamped in a swampy, unhealthy locality, and a violent epidemic of malarial fever broke out. The result was as tragically disastrous as though the men had been engaged in battle every day. A large majority were stricken down. From May to August fully 150 died. The doctor labored incessantly and but for his care and skill many more would have perished. He was without proper medical supplies, but did the best he could. When at last he was prostrated, he could not obtain even a dose of quinine for him- self. On August 1 he was relieved from duty and returned with the six companies of re-enlisted men to Minnesota, or perhaps he too would have been a victim of the fever. After his discharge from the army Dr. Wedge returned to his home in Albert Lea and resumed his practice. He served in the lower house of the state legislature in 1870-71, and as state senator in 1879-80. He re- signed the office of senator in 1881 to take the position of collector of internal revenue under an appointment by President Garfield. In this office he served two years under President Arthur's administration. He has also served on many state boards. He was a member of the Republican national convention of 1880 that nominated Garfield for president. While in the legislature he

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was chairman of the committee on railroads, and of the state prison investigation committee. He has always been a Republican in politics and has taken an active part in all national elections, keeping well informed on local, state and national politics. He was chairman of the Republican congressional committee of his district one year, and for several years chairman of the county committee. He was a member of Governor Merriam's military staff and also of Governor Nelson's, as assistant surgeon general. He was appointed by Governor McGill a member of the state medical examining board, on which he served for four years, being president of the board for one year. In 1880 he was presi- dent of the State Medical Society, and for some time was presi- dent of the Albert Lea Central Medical Society. He is now a member of the American Medical Association, the Freeborn County Medical Association and of the International Association of Railroad Surgeons, of which organization he has been vice- president, and he is the honorary local surgeon of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. He has been a frequent con- tributor to the scientific and medical journals of the day and to the secular press. Dr. Wedge was for many years one of the trustees of the Albert Lea College for Women. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Albert Lea. Besides his medical practice Dr. - Wedge took a great interest in practical scientific farming and is still the owner of the "Oak Park Stock Farm," about one mile west of Albert Lea, where for many years he was an exten- sive live stock breeder. Dr. Wedge's worth as a man, his prom- inence as one of the leading men of the state, and his standing and ability as a physician and surgeon have been the subjects of ex- tensive articles in the press of the state and in military and med- ical journals. His record, plainly set down, speaks for itself as to what he has accomplished, and the recital of his life-long service to the community is in itself the highest encomium which may be spoken or written of this kindly and distinguished gentleman. Dr. Wedge was married October 23, 1858, to Bessie Blackmer, daughter of Dr. Franklin Blackmer, the pioneer. They had one daughter, Mary A., who married Mark M. Jones and died April 4, 1905, leaving besides her husband one son, Albert Wedge Jones, to mourn her loss. It is worthy of note that the coming of Dr. Wedge at the request of L. P. Wedge was the making of Albert Lea. His coming brought many more of his family and rela- tives, all of whom had an important part in upbuilding the city. Dr. Wedge's sagacity as a young man kept the Wedge part of the townsite in good hands, despite the fact that Lorenzo Merry who had sold to Lucius P. Wedge, tried to take advantage of Dr. Wedge's youth and inexperience to get the property back in his

ANTHONY HUYCK

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own hands. Dr. Wedge died October 23, 1911. At his funeral business throughout the city was suspended at the order of the mayor, and thousands followed his body in sorrowing concourse to the grave.

Thomas W. Wilson died March 3, 1911, after a busy life filled with good deeds. He was born in Scotland, April 14, 1844. When an infant his parents emigrated to Albany, N. Y., whence after two years they removed in 1846 to Columbia county, Wisconsin, then in 1867 to Nunda township, near Bear lake, in this county. Here he grew to manhood, and, associated with his father, he erected and operated a flouring mill at Twin Lakes and another at Alden for many years and until 1885, when he located in Albert Lea, where he thereafter lived. Mr. Wilson's uprightness of character, his intelligence, abilities and model life secured for him public esteem and confidence and kept him almost continuously in the public service. He served in various town, village, school and important county positions, and in all proved his absolute honesty, carefulness and efficiency. In 1885-86 he was deputy county treasurer, in 1891-93 he was register of deeds, served as mayor of Albert Lea in 1899, was county commissioner several years and for nine years was a member of the city school board. Perhaps it was in this capacity that he rendered his most benefi- cent service. He was elected to this office July 14, 1894, and served continuously until July 1903. July 15, 1896, he was secre- tary of the board and served until he left the board in 1903. To this work he gave the same painstaking care and attention with which he applied himself to every public task committed to him. His fidelity to every trust and his usefulness was ever recognized and gave him merited prominence. As a member of the Presby- terian Church of Albert Lea for forty years, and as husband and brother, neighbor and friend he was of the best type of a Chris- tian and possessed the respect and friendship of all. His wife, Margaret Emerson, to whom he was married in 1871, survives him. They were the first couple to be married after the Presbyterian Church was organized. No children were born to them, but their hospitable home was ever the social resort of numerous friends and relatives, who ever found a glad and gracious welcome.

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History of Freeborn County, Minnesota, Part 56

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. 4n
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1220