USA > Minnesota > Freeborn County > History of Freeborn County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 26
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 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
SUPERINTENDENT J. L. NOYES.
The growth of the Minnesota institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind, has been so symmetrical, and indicative of one " moulding mind, that & sketch of the institution would be incomplete without some notice of the Superintendent, who has guided it for the last sixteen years.
On the 13th of June, 1827, Jonathan Lovejoy Noyes was born in Windham, Rockingham county, New Hampshire. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Phillips Academy, Andover. Massachu- setts, not only one of the oldest, but among the best schools in the United States. At Andover he had the advantage of the instruction of the thorough Greek scholar, Dr. Samuel H. Taylor, the eminent author, Lyman H. Coleman, D. D., afterwards Professor of Latin in Lafayette Col- lege, Pennsylvania, and William H. Wells, whose English grammar has been used in many insti- tutions.
After completing his preparatory studies, in 1848, he entered Yale College, and in four years received the diploma of Bachelor of Arts. After graduation he received an appointment in the
Pennsylvania Institution of the Deaf and Dumb, on Broad Street, Philadelphia, and found instructing deaf mutes was a pleasant occupation. After six years of important work in Philadelphia, he was employed two years in a similar institution at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then received an ap- pointment in the well known American Asylum so long presided over by Thomas H. Gallandet, at Hartford, Connecticut. While laboring here he was invited to take charge of the "Minnesota In- stitution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind," and in September, 1866, he ar- rived at Faribault. With wisdom and patience, gentleness and energy, and an unfaltering trust in a superintending Providence, he has there contin- ued his work with the approbation of his fellow citizens, and the affection of the pupils of the institution.
At the time that he was relieved of the care of the blind and imbecile, the directors entered upon their minutes the following testimonial:
"Resolved, That upon the retirement of Prof. J. L. Noyes from the superintendency of the depart- ments of the blind and imbecile, the board of Directors, of the Minnesota Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and Blind and Idiots, and Imbe- ciles, desire to testify to his deep interest in these several departments; his efficient and timely ser- vices in their establishment; and his wise direction of their early progress, until they have become full-fledged and independent departments of our noble State charitable institutions.
"For his cordial and courteous co-operation with the directors in their work, and for his timely counsel and advice, never withheld when needed, the board by this testimonial, render to him their hearty recognition and warm acknowledgement."
On the 21st of July, 1862, Professor Noyes mar- ried Eliza H. Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecti- cut, a descendent of the Colonel Wadsworth, who in the old colony time, hid the charter of Connecti- cut in an oak, which for generations has been known in history as the "Charter Oak." They have but one child, a daughter.
INSANE HOSPITAL AT ST. PETER.
Until the year 1866, the insane of Minnesota were sent to the Iowa Asylum for treatment, but in January of that year the Legislature passed an act appointing Wm. R. Marshall, John M. Berry, Thomas Wilson, Charles McIlrath, and S. J. R. McMillan to select a proper place for the Minne-
150
OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.
sota Hospital for the Insane. The vicinity of St. Peter was chosen, the citizens presenting to the State two hundred and ten acres one mile south of the city, and on the Minnesota River, directly op- posite to Kasota.
In October, 1866, temporary buildings were erected, and the Trustees elected Samuel E. Shantz. of Utica, N. Y., as the Superintendent. A plan submitted by Samuel Sloan, a Philadelphia architect, consisting of a central building, with sections and wings for the accommodation of at least five hundred patients, in 1867, was adopted, and in 1876 the great structure was completed.
ยท It is built of Kasota limestone, the walls lined with brick, and the roof covered with slates. The central building is four stories in height, sur- mounted with a fine cupola, and therein are the chapel and offices. Each wing is three stories high, with nine separate lialls.
The expenses of construction of the Asylum, with the outbuildings, has been more than half a million of dollars. Dr. Shantz having died, Cyrus K. Bartlett, M. D., of Northampton, Massachu- setts, was appointed Superintedent.
In January, ISSO, in the old temporary build- ings and in the Asylum proper there were six hun- dred and sixty patients. On the 15th of Novem- ber, 1880, about half past eight in the evening, the Superintendent and assistants were shocked by the announcement that the north wing was on fire. It began in the northwest corner of the basement, and is supposed to have been kindled by a patient employed about the kitchen who was not violent. The flames rapidly ascended to the dif- ferent stories, through the holes for the hot air pipes, and the openings for the dumb waiters.
The wing at the time contained two hundred and seventy patients, and as they were liberated by their nurses and told to make their escape, ex- hibited various emotions. Some clapped their hands with glee, others trembled with fear. Many, barefooted and with bare heads, rushed for the neighboring hills and sat on the cold snow. A few remained inside. One patient was noticed in a window of the third story, with his knees drawn up to his chin, and his face in his hands, a cool and interested looker on, and with an expres- sion of cynical contempt for the flames as they ap- proached his seat. When a tonguo of fire would shoot toward him, he would lower his head, and after it passed would resume lils position with more than the indifference of a stoic. At last the brick
work beneath him gave way with a loud crash, and as he was precipitated into the cauldron of fire soon to be burned to ashes, his maniacal laugh was heard above the roar of the flames.
The remains of eighteen patients were found in the ruins, and seven died in a few days after the fire, in consequence of injuries and exposure.
Immediate steps were taken by the Governor to repair the damages by the fire.
INSANE HOSPITAL AT ROCHESTER.
In 1878, the Legislature enacted a law by which an inebriate asylum commenced at Roches- ter could be used for an Insane Asylum. With the appropriation, alterations and additions were made, Dr. J. E. Bowers elected Superintendent, and on the 1st of January, 1879, it was opened for patients.
Twenty thousand dollars have since been appro- priated for a wing for female patients.
STATE REFORM SCHOOL.
During the year 1865, I. V. D. Heard, Esq., a lawyer of Saint Paul, and at that time City At- torney sent a communication to one of the daily papers urging the importance of separating child ren arrested for petty crimes, from the depraved adults found in the station house or county jail, and also called the attention of the City Council to the need for a Reform School.
The next Legislature, in 1866, under the influ- ence created by the discussion passed a law creat- ing a House of Refuge, and appropriated $5,000 for its use on condition that the city of Saint Paul would give the same amount.
In November, 1867, the managers purchased thirty acres with a stone farm house and barn thereon, for $10,000, situated in Rose township, in Saint Anthony near Snelling Avenue, in the west- ern suburbs of Saint Paul.
In 1868 the House of Refuge was ready to re- ceive wayward youths, and this year the Legis- lature changed the name to the Minnesota State Reform School, and accepted it as a state institu- tion. The Rev. J. G. Riheldaffer D. D., who had for years been pastor of one of the Saint Paul Presbyterian churches was elected superintendent.
In 1869 the main building of light colored brick, 40x60 feet was erected, and occupied in December.
In February, 1879, the laundry, a separate building was burned, and an appropriation of the
151
SKETCHES OF PUBLIC MEN.
Legislature was made soon after of $15,000 for the rebuilding of the laundry and the erection of a work shop. This shop is 50x100 and three stories high. The boys besides receiving a good English education, are taught to be tailors, tinners, carpenters and gardeners. The sale of bouquets from the green house, of sleds and toys, and of tin ware has been one of the sources of revenue.
Doctor Riheldaffer continues as superintendent and by his judicious management has prepared many of the inmates to lead useful and honorable lives, after their discharge from the Institution.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
By the influence of Lieut. Gov. Holcomb and others the first State Legislature in 1858 passed an Act by which three Normal schools might be erected, but made no proper provision for their support.
WINONA NORMAL SCHOOL.
Dr. Ford, a graduate of Dartmouth college, and a respectable physician in Winona, with sev- eral residents of the same place secured to the amount of $5,512 subscriptions for the establish- ment of a Normal School at that point, and a small appropriation was secured in 1880 from the Legislature.
John Ogden, af Ohio, was elected Principal, and in September, 1860, the school was opened in a temporary building. Soon after the civil war be- gan the school was suspended, and Mr. Ogden entered the army.
In 1864 the Legislature made an appropriation of $3,000, and and William F. Phelps, who had been in charge of the New Jersey Normal School at Trenton, was chosen principal. In 1865 the State appropriated $5,000 annually for the school and the citizens of Winona gave over $20,000 to- ward the securing of a site and the erection of a permanent edifice.
One of the best and most ornamental education- al buildings in the Northwest was commenced and in September, 1869, was so far finished as to ac- commodate pupils. To complete it nearly $150,- 000 was given by the State.
In 1876 Prof. W. F. Phelps resigned and was succeeded by Charles A. Morey who in May, 1879 retired. The present principal is Irwin Shepard.
MANKATO NORMAL SCHOOL.
In 1866, Mankato having offered a site for a
second Normal School, the Legislature give $5,000 for its support. George M. Gage was elected Principal and on the 1st of September, 1868 the school was opened, It occupied the basement of, the Methodist church for a few weeks, and then moved into a room over a store at the corner of Front and Main streets. In April 1870, the State building was first occupied.
Prof. Gage resgned in June, 1872, and his suc- cessor was Miss J. A. Sears who remained one year. In July 1873, the Rev. D. C. John was elected principal, and in the spring of 1880, he retired.
The present Principal is Professor Edward Sear- ing, formerly State Superintendent of Public In- struction in Wisconsin, a fine Latin scholar, and editor of an edition of Virgil.
ST. CLOUD NORMAL SCHOOL.
In 1869, the citizens of St. Cloud gave $5,000 for the establishment in that city of the third Normal School, and a building was fitted up for its use. The legislature in 1869, appropriated $3,000 for current expenses. In 1870, a new build- ing was begun, the legislature having appropriated $10,000, and in 1873, $30,000; this building in 1875 was first occupied. In 1875, the Rev. D. L. Kiehle was elected Principal, Prof. Ira Moore, the first Principal having resigned. In 1881, Prof. Kiehle was appointed State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Jerome Allen, late of New York, was elected his successor.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MINNESOTA GOVERNORS-UNITED STATES SENATORS -MEMBERS OF UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRE- SENTATIVES.
GOVERNOR RAMSEY-A. D. 1849 TO A. D. 1853.
Alexander Ramsey, the first Governor of the Territory of Minnesota, was born on the 8th of September, 1815, near Harrisburg, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather was a descendent of one of the many colonists who came from the north of Ireland before the war of the Revolution, and his father about the time of the first treaty of peace with Great Britain, was born in York county, Pennsylvania. His mother Elizabeth Kelker, was of German descent, a woman of en- ergy, industry and religious principle.
His father dying, when the subject of this sketch
.
152
OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.
was ten years of age, he went into the store of his maternal unele in Harrisburg, and remained two years. Then he was employed as a copyist in the office of Register of Deeds. For several years lie was engaged in such business as would give sup- port. Thoughtful, persevering and studious, at the age of cighteen he was able to enter Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania. After he left college he entered a lawyer's office in Harrisburg, and subsequently attended lectures at the Law School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
At the age of twenty-four, in 1839, he was ad- mitted to the bar of Dauphin county. His exeen- tive ability was immediately noticed, and the next ycar he took an active part in the political cam- paign, advocating the claims of William H. Harri- son. and he was complimented by being made Secretary of the Pennsylvania Presidential Elee- tors. After the electoral vote was delivered in Washington, in a few weeks, in January 1841, he was elected chief clerk of the House of Represen- tatives of Pennsylvania. Here his ability in dis- patching business, and his great discretion made a most favorable impression, and in 1843, the Whigs of Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill conntics nominated him, as their candidate for Congress. Popular among the young men of llarrisburg, that city which had hitherto given a democratic majority, voted for the Whig ticket which he represented, and the whole district gave him a majority of votes. At the expiration of his term, in 1845 he was again elected to Congress.
Strong in his politieal preferenecs, without man- ifesting political rancor, and of large perceptive power, he was in 1848 chosen by the Whig party Pensylvania, as the secretary of the Central Com- mittee, and he directed the movements in bis na- tive State, which led to the electoral votes being thrown for General Zachary Taylor for President.
On the 4th of March, 1849, President Taylor took the oath of office, and in less than a month he signed the commission of Alexander Ramsey as Governor of the Territory of Minnesota, which had been created by a law approved the day before his inauguration.
By the way of Buffalo, and from thence by lake to Chicago, and from thence to Galena, where he took a steamboat, he traveled to Minnesota and arrived at St. Pant early in the morning of the 27th of May, with his wife, children and nurse, but went with the boat up to Mendota, where he was cordially met by the Territorial delegate,
Hon. H. H. Sibley, and with his family was his guest for several weeks. He then came to St. Paul, ocenpied a small house on Third street near the corner of Robert.
On the 1st of June he issued his first proclama- mation declaring the organization of the Territorial government, and on the 11th, he issued another creating judicial districts and providing for the election of members of a legislature to assemble in September. To his duties as Governor was added the superintendency of Indian affairs and during the first summer he held frequent confer- ences with the Indians, and his first report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs is still valuable for its information relative to the Indian tribes at that time hunting in the valleys of the Minnesota and the Mississippi.
During the Governor's term of office he visited the Indians at their villages, and made himself familiar with their needs, and in the summer of 1851, made treaties with the Sioux by which the country between the Mississippi Rivers, north of the State of Iowa, was opened for occupation by the whites. His term of office as Governor expired in April, 1853, and in 1855 his fellow townsmen elected him Mayor of St. Paul. In 1857, after Minnesota had adopted a State Constitution, the Republican party nominated Alexander Ramsey for Governor, and the Democrats nominated Henry II. Sibley. The election in October was close and exciting, and Mr. Sibley was at length de- clared Governor by a majority of about two hun- dred votes. The Republicans were dissatisfied with the result, and contended that more Demo- cratic votes were thrown in the Otter Tail Lake region than there were citizens residing in the northern district.
In 1839, Mr. Ramsey was again nominated by the Republicans for Governor, and elected by four thousand majority. Before the expiration of his term of office, the Republic was darkened by civil war. Governor Ramsey happened to be in Wash- ington when the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter was received, and was among the first of the State Governors to call upon the President and tender a regiment of volunteers in defense of the Republic. Returning to the State, he dis- played energy and wisdom in the organization of regiments.
In the fall of 1861, he was again nominated and elected as Governor, but before the expiration of this term, on July 10th, 1863, he was elected by
153
SKETCHIES OF PUBLIC MEN.
the Legislature, United States Senator. Upon en- tering the Senate, he was placed on the Commit- tees on Naval Affairs, Post-offices, Patents, Pacific Railroad, and Chairman of the Committee on Rev- olutionary Pensions and Revolutionary Claims. He was also one of the Committee appointed by Congress to accompany the remains of President Lincoln to Springfield Cemetery, Illinois.
The Legislature of 1869 re-elected him for the term ending in March, 1875. In 1880, he was ap- pointed Secretary of War by President Hayes, and for a time also acted as Secretary of the Navy.
He was married in 1845 to Anna Earl, daughter of Michael H. Jenks, a member of Congress from Bucks county. He has had three children; his two sons died in early youth; his daughter Marion, the wife of Charles Eliot Furness, resides with her family, with her parents in St. Paul.
GOVERNOR GORMAN A. D. 1853 TO A. D. 1857.
At the expiration of Governor Ramsey's term of office, President Pierce appointed Willis Arnold Gorman as his successor. Gevernor Gorman was the only son of David L. Gorman and born in January, 1866 near Flemingsburgh, Kentucky- After receiving a good academic education he went to Bloomington, Indiana, and in 1836 graduated in the law department of the State University. He imediately entered upon the practice of law with few friends and no money, in Bloomington, and in a year was called upon to defend a man charged with murder, and obtained his acquittal.
That one so young should have engaged in such a case excited the attention of the public, and two years afterwards was elected a member of the Indiana legislature. His popularity was so great that he was re-elected a number of times, When war was declared against Mexico he enlisted as a private in a company of volunteers, which with others at New Albany was mustered into the ser- vice for one year, as the Third Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, with James H. Lane, after- wards U. S. Senator for Kansas, as Colonel, while he was commissioned as Major. It is said that under the orders of General Taylor with a de- tachment of riflemen he opened the battle of Buena Vista. In this engagement his horse was shot and fell into a deep ravine carrying the Major with, him and severely brnising him.
In August, 1847, he returned to Indiana and by his enthusiasm helped to raise the Fourth Regi- ment and was elected its Colonel, and went back
to the seat of war, and was present in several bat- tles, and when peace was declared returned with the reputation of being a dashing officer.
Resuming the practice of law, in the fall of 1848 he was elected to Congress and served two terms. his last expiring on the 4th of March, 1853, the day when his fellow officer in the Mexican War, Gen. Franklin Pierce took the oath of office as President of the United States. With a commis- sion bearing the signature of President Pierce he arrived in Saint Paul, in May, 1853, as the second Territorial Governor of Minnesota.
His term of Governor expired in the spring of 1857, and he was elected a member of the Com- mittee to frame a State Constitution, which on the second Monday in July of that year, convened at the Capitol. After the committee adjourned he again entered upon the practice of law but when the news of the firing of Fort Sumter reached Saint Paul he realized that the nation's life was endangered, and that there would be a civil war. He offered his services to Governor Ram- sey and when the First Regiment of Minnesota volunteers was organized he was commissioned as Colonel. He entered with ardor upon his work of drilling the raw troops in camp at Fort Snelling, and the privates soon caught his enthusiasm.
No officer ever had more pride in his regiment and his soldiers were faithful to his orders. His regiment was the advance regiment of Franklin's Brigade, in Heintzelman's Division at the first Bat- tle of Bull Run, and there made a reputation which it increased at every battle, especially at Gettysburg. Upon the recommendation of Gen- eral Winfield Scott who had known him in Mex- ico after the battle of Bull Run he was appointed Brigadier General by President Lincoln,
After three years of service as Brigadier General he was mustered out and returning to St. Paul resumed his profession. From that time he held several positions under the city government. He died on the afternoon of the 25th of May, 1876.
GOVERNOR SIBLEY, A. D. 1858 to A. D. 1860.
No one is more intimately asssociated with the development of the Northwest than Henry Hast- ings Sibley, the first Governor of Minnesota under the State constitution.
By the treaty of Peace of 1783, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America, and the land east of the Mississippi,
154
OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.
and northwest of the Ohio river was open to set- tlement by American citizens.
Iu 1786, while Congress was in session in New York City, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, a graduate of Yale, a Puritan divine of a considerable scientific attainments, visited that place, and had frequent conferences with Dane of Massachusetts, and Jef- ferson, of Virginia, relative to the colonization of the Ohio valley, and he secured certain provisions in the celebrated "ordinance of 1787," among others, the grant of land in each township for the support of common schools, and also two townships for the use of a University.
Under the auspices of Dr. Cutler, and a few others, the first colony, in December, 1787, left Massachusetts, and after a wearisome journey, ou April 7, 1788, reached Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum River.
Among the families of this settlement was the maternal grandfather of Governor Sibley, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, a gallant officer of Rhode Island, in the war of the Rebellion, and a friend of Kos- ciusko.
Governor Sibley's mother, Sarah Sproat, was sent to school to the then celebrated Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and subse- quently finished her education at Philadelphia. In 1797 she returned to her wilderness home and her father purchased for her pleasure a piano, said to have been the first transported over the Alle- ghany Mountains. Soon after this Solomon Sibley, a young lawyer, a native of Sutton, Massachusetts, visited Marietta, and become aequainted and at- tached to Sarah Sproat, and in 1802, they were married. The next year Mrs. Sibley went to De- troit where her husband had settled, and she com- menced housekeeping opposite where the Biddle House is situated in that city. In 1799, Gover- nor Sibley's father was a representative from the region now known as Michigan, in the first Ter- ritorial Legislature of Northwest, which met at Cincinnati. From 1820 to 1823 he was delegate to Congress from Michigan, and in 1824 he became judge of the supreme court, and in 1836 resigned. Respected by all, on the 4th of April he died.
His son, Henry Hastings Sibley, was born in February, 1811, in the city of Detroit. At the age of seventeen, relinquishing the study of law, he became a clerk at Sault St. Marie and then was employed by Robert Stuart, of the American Fur Company at Mackinaw. In 1834 he was placed in charge of the Indian trade above Lake Pepin with
his new quarters at the mouth of the Minnesota River.
In 1836, he built the first stone residence in Minnesota, withont the military reservation, at Mendota, and here he was given to hospitality. The missionary of the cross, and the man of sei- ence, the officer of the army, and the tourist from a foreign land, were received with a friendliness that caused them to forget while under his roof that they were strangers in a strange land.
In 1843, he was married to Sarah J. Steele, the sister of Franklin Steele, at Fort Snelling.
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.