History of Freeborn County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, and outline history of the state of Minnesota, Part 70

Author: Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893. Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota. 1882; Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893. Outline history of the state of Minnesota. 1882; Bryant, Charles S., 1808-1885. Sioux massacre of 1862. 1882; Bryant, Charles S., 1808-1885. State education. 1882; Minnesota Historical Company
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Minneapolis : Minnesota Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 576

USA > Minnesota > Freeborn County > History of Freeborn County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 70

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).

WILLIAM MORIN was educated in New York as a civil engineer, and followed the profession for five years in the eastern States. He then came to Min- nesota and acquired extensive tracts of land, being at present the largest land holder in Freeborn county. lle was married in 1862, to Miss M. E. Wedge, and they have two children at home. Mr. Morin is one of the townsite proprietors, his in- terest being on the west side of Broadway, and is also largely interested in building enterprises in the city. He is a half owner of the finest business block, and is now erecting a fine residence in the western part of the city, on the site he selected twenty years ago.

RICHARD MILLS, a native of Pennsylvania, was born near the village of Brownsville, in Fayette county, on the 14th of April, 1834. He learned the trade of a saddler and harnessmaker in the latter village, and in 1861 enlisted at New Castle for one year, with the One Hundredth Pennsyl- vania Roundheads; in 1862, re-enlisted in the United States Navy, and served under Commodore Farragut. After his discharge, in the autumn of of 1865, he came west to Peoria, Illinois, and in 1870, to Albert Lea. Mr. Mills bas a wife and three children. His father, Richard Mills, now eighty-seven years old, makes his home with him. He draws a pension for injuries received in the war of 1812.

N. O. NARVESON was born near Christiania, Norway, on the 2d of January, 1850. In 1853, his parents came to America, locating in Winne- shiek county, Iowa, and in 1858, came to this

county, where they were pioneers in the town of Bancroft. N. O. came to Albert Lea in 1871, and was employed as clerk for Hazelton & Johnson, afterward for Andrew Palmer, Jr., and finally for A. E. Johnson for four years. In 1879, he was married to Miss Anna C. Hanson, a native of Denmark. They have one child, Orine, born on the 15th of June, 1880. In May, 1882, Mr. Narveson commenced business for himself, having a stock of groceries, crockery, glassware, etc.

OSCAR N. OLBERG was born in Christiania, Nor way, on the 13th of November, 1848. He at- tended the Christiania University, and graduated in 1868. The same year he came to America, and, in 1869, to Madison, Wisconsin. In the fall of 1870, he moved to Minnesota, and was engaged in a foreign ticket office, located in Ans- tin, Mower county ; also was cashier of the Mower Connty Bank for several years. In the fall of 1873, he opened a general mercantile store in Adams, Mower county, and two years later built and carried on a double store in Taopi, in the same county. He was married in 1876, to Miss Henrietta Dahl, a native of Wanpun, Wisconsin. They have one child, Clara Mable, born on the 7th of November, 1878. In 1881, Mr. Olberg was connected with a wholesale notion house in Chicago, from which place he moved to Albert Lea on the Ist of October, 1882. At present he owns three mercantile stores, located, one in Albert Lea, one in Taopi, and one at Forest City, Iowa, the one here having been started in 1881. He is also still in the foreign ticket business, being general agent for the "Monarch" line of steamers.

MARTIN W. O'CONNER, a native of Ireland, was born in Tipperary on the 7th of October, 1846. When he was an infant his parents came to America, and located in Burlington, Vermont, where his father died a few years later. When he was seven years old his mother moved with her children to Philadelphia, and in 1861, to St. Louis, where he learned the machinist trade. He enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the One Hundred and Eighty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Com- pany E, but was soon discharged on account of sickness. In 1868, he came to Albert Lea, and worked at his trade for a time, but now has a saloon and billiard hall, located on the corner of Railroad and College avenues. He was married in 1869, to Miss Hannalı Melder, a native of

396

HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY

Sweden. The issue of the union is two children Mary and Ellen.

ROBERT MULFORD PALMER was born on the 22d of October, 1855, near Janesville, in Rock county, Wisconsin. where he received a first-elass academical education. In October, 1876, he en- tered the law office of Winans & McElroy, and was duly admitted to the bar of that State in No- vember. 1877. In January of the following year he eame to Albert Lea, and in June was admitted to practice law in Minnesota. In June, 1881, he formed a law partnership with William C. McAdam, Esq .. under the firm name of Palmer & McAdam. In 1880, he was nominated for County Attorney on the Democratie tieket, but, though running several hundred votes ahead of his tieket at the polls, he was defeated by John A. Lovely, Esq., a regular Republican nominee, and a lawyer of marked ability. In 1879, he was elected City At- torney, and in 1882, received the regular nomina- tion for City Attorney in the Republican convention over John A. Lovely and John Whytock.

DANIEL G PARKER, late editor and proprietor of the "Standard," and a son of Luther and Ann (Gott ) Parker, was born in Mount Desert, Han- cock county, Maine, on the 2nd of April, 1831. His branch of the Parker family were very early settlers in the Pine Tree State, his father, a mechanic, serving as a waiter boy for the contin- ental troops in the war of 1812, and '15. Daniel received only a common school education, and at the age of fourteen years went to sea, and for seven years served on a number of merchant vessels, either as seaman or mate, sailing the latter part of the time from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1851, he went to Boston and worked one year in a locomotive machine shop, and in 1854, came as far west as Chicago, where he spent three years, at first as a merchant's clerk and afterward in trade for himself. In 1857, he removed to Red Wing, Minnesota; read law with Judge Charles McClure, and the next year was admitted to the bar at Albert Lea. Here he practiced until the commencement of the rebellion, then resigned the office of County Attorney in 1862, to enter the army as Corporal of Company F. of the First Minne- sota Engineers, and served a little more that three years, passing through the varions grades of pro- motion, being First Lieutenant when discharged. most of the time he was on detached dutv, acting as Provost Marshal. Judge Advocate in military

eonrts and in other capacities. On returning to Albert Lea, Mr. Parker purchased the "Standard," which had been suspended, and conducted it until May, 1878, when, in consequence of declining health, he sold to W. W. Williams, formerly editor of the "Stillwater Lumberman." During his period of journalism, in 1866, and '67, he filled the office of County Treasurer, and for the last five years has been a director in the public school board. Since 1878, he has been engaged in the real estate and grain trade. On the 21st of Jann- ary, 1861, Mrs. Eliza W. Pickett, daughter of Nathan P. Smith, of New York, became the wife of Mr. Parker, and they have a pleasant home in western part of the eity and, a liberal share of the comforts of life.

AUGUST PETERSON, one of the early settlers and influential men of this county, was born in Chris- tiansand, Norway, on the 20th of September, 1843. His father was policeman and warden of the jail of that city until 1854, when he brought his family to America. They eame to Wisconsin and first located in Janesville, then in Kilbourn City. In 1858, they eame to Freeborn county, and set- tled on a farm in Hartland township .- In 1861. the father enlisted in the Third Minnesota Volun- teer Infantry, and a few days later, August ran away from home and joined Company F, of the Fourth Minnesota Regiment. On arriving at Fort Snelling he met his father, who had bim transferred to his company. In 1862, he ( August ) was taken prisoner at Murfreesboro; was afterward paroled and took part in the Indian massaere, re- maining in service until the close of the war. After his return he farmed in Manchester until 1872, when he was elected County Register of Deeds and held the otliec three years. He was appointed by Gov. Pillsbury a member of the State board of immigration for 1879 and 1880. Mr. Peterson is the compiler and owner of a set Freeborn connty, "Abstract of Titles;" is also en- gaged in the real estate and insnranee business. Ilis wife was Miss Sarah Peterson, daughter of an early resident of Maneliester.

J. H. PARKER, one of the sneeessful attorneys of the city, was born in Orland, Maine, on the 2d. of December, 1835. When quite young, he moved with his parents to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. where he attended school, and in 1851, engaged in clerking, soon after entering the United States postal service. In 1855, he came to Chieago and

397

CITY OF ALBERT LEA.

clerked about a year; then to Red Wing, and was in the County Register's office one year, after which he studied law in the office of Judge Charles McClure. He was admitted to the bar and taken in partnership with Mr. McCluer, and, in 1859, was appointed County Attorney, and afterward elected, holding the office six years. In 1860, he purchased the "Red Wing Sentinel," changed its name to the "Goodhue Volunteer," and conducted it till 1864, when he sold it, and became connected with the "Red Wing Republican." He was joined in wedlock in 1862, with Miss Clarinda H. Sterns, who bore him three children, only one of whom is now living. Mrs. Parker died in 1870, and the following year he moved to this city and opened a law office. He was again married in April, 1874, to Mary J. Lytle, and of five children born to the union, only one is living. Mr. Parker was elected Judge of Probate in 1878, and held the office two years. He has lately given some atten- tion to farming, owning a good farm in this county.

CAPTAIN GEORGE S. RUBLE was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of August, 1822, and is a grandson of Petre Ruble, who emi- grated from Germany in 1738, and settled in Codorus township, York county, Pennsylvania, in 1750. He had four sons, Christian, Petre, Abra- ham, and Mathias. The latter settled in the east end of Kishacoquillas valley several years previous to the Revolution, and he also had four sons; Petre, Michel, John, and Henry. The latter mar- ried Mary E. Simons, of Little York, York county, and they also had four sons; Simon, George S., Henry, and John, all born in the above named valley. The family moved to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1829, settling in Green township, where they lived for nearly twenty years. George S., the subject of this sketch, married on the 1st of February, 1849, Elethear Humphrey, and removed to Rock county, Wisconsin, settling on a farm three miles west of the city of Beloit. He engaged in stock raising and the sale of agricultural implements. In 1855, he came to Freeborn county, and laid out the village (now city) of Albert Lea, building and operating both a steam and water saw and grist mill. When the Indian war broke out, in the fall of 1862, he raised and became Captain of Company H, of the First Min- nesota Mounted Rangers, and after serving his time and being mustered out, he re-enlisted in the

autumn of 1864. He went South as Sen. First Lieutenant of Company C, First Minnesota Heavy Artillery ; was stationed at Chattanooga, Tenn .; afterward placed in command of Fort Bishop, at Charleston, East Tennessee. After the close of the war, he located at Chattanooga, and was engaged in the sale of farm implements. He bought property on Lookout Mountain; built, and for twelve years run, the house famous all over the South for good fare and genial hospitality, known as Ruble's Cottage House. Selling out in the spring of 1881, he returned to Albert Lea, and now devotes his time to cultivating the lands he located in 1855. The Captain comes from a hale and vigorous family, the combined weight of the four brothers being, previous to the war, 1265 pounds, and the height of each. exactly six feet two and a half inches. He finds himself able to do his share of the work, although his sixtieth birthday is passed.

SOREN P. SORENSON was born in Port Washing- ton, Wisconsin, on the 12th of January, 1855. He removed with his parents to Door county, and resided on a farm there twelve years; thence to Green Bay, Brown county, where he attended the Green Bay Business College. For three years Mr. Sorenson was engaged in an auction store in company with D. M. Whitney, and, in 1876, moved to Northwood, Iowa. On the 13th of Jan- uary, 1878, he was married to Miss Alice Gunder- son, of the town of Freeborn, and the union has been blessed with two children. The following year they came to Albert Lea, and in a few months went to Blue Earth City and opened a sample room and billiard liall, which he conducte 1 until May, 1881, when he returned to this place and opened his present billiard hall and sample room.

TIMOTHY J. SHEEHAN, Sheriff of Freeborn county since January, 1872, is a native of Ireland, a son of Jeremiah and Ann ( McCarthy ) Sheehan, *and was born on the 21st of December, 1836. He was educated in the national schools of his native country, being kept to his studies most of his time till he was fourteen, at which age he came to this country. He learned a mechanics trade at Glens Falls, New York: worked there till 1855, when he went to Dixon, Illinois; was employed one season there in a saw-mill, and in the autumn of 1856, settled in Albert Lea and engaged in farming till the civil war broke out. In the

398

HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY.

autumn of 1861. Mr Sheehan enlisted as a private in the fourth Minnesota Infantry, his company being stationed at Fort Snelling. On the 18tli of the following February he was commissioned, by Governor Ramsey, First Lieutenant of Com- pany C, Fifth Minnesota Infantry, and on the 18th of June, 1862, was ordered with a detach- ment of fifty men, to report at Yellow Medicine Ageney, for the purpose of preserving order dur- ing the time of annuity payments. On the 4th of August, fifteen hundred Sioux broke into the warehouse and seized the goods which were awaiting distribution. Lieutenant Sheehan, with twenty-five men, ordered the Indians to "fall back," under the penalty of instant death if they failed to obey. ITis good judgment, coupled with decision and courage, thus prevented an immedi- ate outbreak-an outbreak, however, delayed only two weeks. Captain Marsh being killed at Redwood agency, the command of the company devolved on Lieutenant Sheehan; Fort Ridgely being threatened, he marched to that point from (Hlencoe, a distance of forty miles, in nine hours, many of the men trotting with boots off, while such as could not keep up on foot were put on wagons drawn by mules. Fort Ridgely was then filled with five hundred refugees, -- men, women and children,-and with one hundred and one meu, for ten days from the 18th of August, the Lieutenant gallantly defended them from the sav- ages. On the 18th and 21st his men fought all day and all night. It was a desperate siege and a period of awful suspense on the part of the in- mates of the fort, until relief came, at the end of ten days. For his bravery on this occasion Lieu- tenant Sheehan received a captain's commission. After being in other severe engagements with the murderous Sioux, in November, 1862, Captain Sheehan accompanied his regiment to the South, and joined General Sherman's Corps. They engaged in the siege of Vicksburg; was in Gen- eral A. J. Smith's division, under General Thomas, at Nashville; was subsequently at Spanish Fort and Mobile, and Captain Sheehan participated in these sieges and battles, being in fifteen or sixteen engagements with his regiment, and strange to say, never received a scar. At Nashville he command- ed the color company, and received from the Col- onel of the regiment, William B. Gere, in his report, the following commendation: "Captain T. J. Shechan, commanding Company C, color com-

pany, gallantly stood by the colors, and in the last charge on the 16th inst. ( December) two color-bearers having been shot. he placed the colors in the hands of the third, a non-commis- sioned otlicer of his company, who planted them on the rebel intrenchments." Such intrepidity characterized Captain Sheehan all through the war. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on the 1st of September. 1865, having made a mili- tary record of which the State may be proud. Colonel Houston and others presented him with a gold badge, engraved as follows: "Presented to Lieutenant-Colonel T. J. Sheeban, for services during the Rebellion, from October 13, 1861, to September 5, 1865." On the badge is a list of the engagements in which he participated. It was a well-merited tribute to his bravery and daring.

On returning to Albert Lea Colonel Sheehan was appointed Deputy United States Marshal by United States Marshal Angustus Armstrong, and in 1871, was elected to the office of Sheriff. In this position he has shown great activity, adroit- ness, and expedition in arresting criminals of vari- ous kinds, and is a very popular county otlicial. In politics, he was a Douglas democrat before the war, but he has since acted with the republican party, being an influential and efficient worker in its character. The wife of Colonel Sheehan was Miss Jennie Judge, a native of Ireland. They were married in November, 1866, and have three boys, Jeremiah, George, and Edward. Colonel Sheehan lost both parents when he was two years old; was early thrown upon his own resources, and is emphatically a self-made man. His suc- cess in life is owing wholly to his self-reliance, energy, and perseverance.

WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, a physician for nearly forty years, and an army surgeon, was born in Denmark, Lewis county, New York, on the 9th of March, 1815. His parents, Selah and Catherine (Tisdale ) Smith, were classed among the agricul- turalists, the father being one of the first settlers in that part of the Black River country, and died when William was thirteen years old. From that date the son took care of himself. He was ednea- ted at common and select schools; commenced teaching winter terms at the age of nineteen years, receiving eight dollars a month and board for the first season, and taught six winters, work- ing on a farm and attending select schools the rest of the time. At twenty-four years of age Mr.

399

CITY OF ALBERT LEA.

Smith commenced reading medicine with Dr. Elkanes French, of his native town, attending th ' last course of lectures held at Fairfield, Herkimer county, before the medical college was moved to Geneva. He received from the authorities of Jefferson county a certificate permitting him to practice, and followed his profession four years at Pamelia Four Corners, in that county; in 1846, removed to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and was there in practice twenty years, except when in the army. In 1856 he took a course of lectures at Rush Med- ical College, Chicago, from which he received his diploma.

In 1862 Dr. Smith went south as surgeon of a Wisconsin artillery regiment; at the end of one year was transferred to the same position in the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, and served three more years. During nine months of this time he was post surgeon at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He is a kind-hearted man, and was very attentive to the wants of the sick and wounded.

While at the south the doctor contracted a dis- ease, from which he has suffered more or less for a long time: and in 1866, thinking a change of climate might be beneficial, he went to Fulton, Missouri, practicing when he had sufficient strength; and in 1873, much improved, returned to the north and settled at Albert Lea. Here he has a good run of business, and an excellent standing. He holds the office of County Cor- oner.

While in Beaver Dam, during the administra- tions of Presidents Taylor and Fillmore, he held the office of Postmaster. A whig in early life, with free-soil tendencies, he naturally drifted into republican ranks, where he is still found.

For the last twenty-five years he has paid very little attention to politics, except to vote. His leisure time is given mainly to medical studies.

On the 22nd of February, 1843, he received the hand of Miss Louisa M. Stevens, of West Mar- tinsburgh, Lewis county, New York. They have three children living; a son, Selah H., was acci- dentally killed on the railroad at Cherokee, Kan- sas, in January, 1874; Mary is the wife of Jasper J. Bond, of Albert Lea; Frances E. and Charles Henry both reside in Albert Lea.

EDWIN CLARK STACY is a native of Madison county, New York, born in the town of Hamilton, on the 6th of September, 1815. His parents were Nathaniel and Susan (Clark ) Stacy. His grand-

father, Rufus Stacy, a native of Gloucester, Mas- sachusetts, was in the battle of Bunker Hill. and at Cherry Valley, when it was ravaged and burned by the combined forces of the Tory, Butler, and the savage, Brant. Nathaniel Stacy, a Univer- salist minister, was Chaplain of a regiment in 1814, and stationed at Sacket's Harbor. He wrote the memoirs of his own life-a work of more than five hundred pages, published in 1850-and in it gives a pretty full account of the rise and progress of Universalism in the State of New York, a move- ment in which he was very prominent. The vol- ume is written in an easy, familiar style, veined with humor, and is decidedly readable. The au- thor died ten years ago. Edwin received an academic education at Hamilton, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania, the family moving to Warren county, Pennsylvania, when he was fourteen years old. He farmed more or less till he was of age; teaching winter schools, and securing his educa- tion entirely with his own means. In 1836, he came westward to Ann Arbor, Michigan; read law a while with Miles & Wilson, of that place, and finished with a cousin, Consider A. Stacy, at Te- cumseh, Lenawee county. He was admitted to the bar at Adrian, in 1840, and in the autumn of that year returned to Warren county, Pennsyl- vania, practicing at Columbus and at Erie till 1856. He then came to Minnesota, and located at Geneva, where he was engaged in farming for four years. The year Mr. Stacy settled in this State he was appointed by Governor Gorman one of the commissioners to organize Freeborn county, and was made its first Judge of Probate. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1860, Mr. Stacy removed to Albert Lea, the county seat, and when not in some county office, has been engaged in the practice of his profession and the real estate business. He does a good deal of col- lecting for commercial, agricultural, and other houses, being a prompt and reliable man. Ser- eral years ago he served as County Auditor three terms, and County Superintendent of Schools one term. No man in Freeborn county is better known than Judge Stacy, the title he has had since Judge of Probate. He is among the leading men of the older class in the county, and greatly esteemed by all who know him. He has always affiliated with the Democratic party; has been quite active and prominent in county and district politics, and was the candidate of his party for Congress in

400

HISTORY OF FREEBORN COUNTY.

1876. He is an Odd-Fellow; holds the office of Noble Grand in the Albert Lea Lodge, and is a member of the Universalist Society. Judge Stacy was married on the 22d of February, 1842, to Miss Elizabeth D. Heath, of Erie county. Pennsylvania, and of four children, the fruit of this union, two sous are living. Both are married, and reside in Albert Lea. Dorr is a member of the city police, and Day F. is a printer and surveyor.

J. W. SMITH, one of the oldest and most suc- eessful merchants of this city, is a native of Con- necticut, born in Sharon. Litchfield county, on the 14th of January, 1838. When he was seventeen years old his parents moved to Rock county, Wis- eonsin, and settled on a farm. J. W. attended the Hamlin University in Red Wing, Minnesota, two years, then returned to Wisconsin and resided sev- eral years. On the 23d of April, 1863, he married Olive M. Clifford, and the following year moved to Albert Lea and engaged in the insurance busi-

ness. In 1866, he opened a general mercantile store at Shell Rock, in company with R. B. Skin- ner, and in 1867, they removed their stock to this · place. Mr. Smith has since been in the business, but has changed partners twice. The firm is now Smith & Garrett, and they keep the largest stock of dry goods in the city.

G. O. SUNDBY, a native of Norway, was born near the city of Christiania, on the 25th of July, 1845. He was brought up on a farm, and when about fifteen years old went to the city and clerked for one year. In 1861, he came with his parents to America and located on a farm near Winona, in this State, G. O. soon went to the latter city and found employment in a store, where he remained three years, during which time he also attended Eastman's Business College. In 1865, he moved to Owatonna and engaged in business for himself about a year, then sold out, and two months later visited Norway. On his return he opened another store in Owatonna, and in 1869, came to this city, where he has since successfully continued in the mercantile business, building a store in 1870, and in 1879, erected his present fine brick block. He was united in wedlock on the 14th of July, 1873, with Miss Lanra Abbott, and they have one child, Cleon, born in April, 1874.

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.