USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 18
USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 18
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
THOMAS C. GORDON.
The biographer takes pleasure in herewith presenting a few facts in the life of Thomas C. Gordon, one of the most enterprising citizens of Little Falls, Morrison county, Minnesota.
Thomas C. Gordon is a native of Wales, born in the southern portion of that country on March 16, 1866, son of James and Margaret Elizabeth (McKean) Gordon. The mother was a native of Kirkcudbright, Scotland, while the father was born in Dumfries. James Gordon had been educated as a civil engineer, but he devoted the active years of his life almost entirely to agricultural work and passed his entire life in various parts of the United Kingdom. He made a study of agriculture and stock raising and was known as one of the most advanced agriculturists of his country. He imported from America the first harvesting machine which entered Ireland. This was a Deering and was a great wonder in those days. He also took into Ireland the first herd of Scotch sheep and demonstrated that they were better adapted to conditions of the Emerald Isle than those native to it. James Gordon was throughout his life a faithful member of the Presbyterian church and was a man of strong individuality and marked ability.
Thomas C. Gordon is the fifth child in a family of nine children and received his elementary education at a private school in Wales. He came to this country when twenty-one years of age, landing at New York city and coming direct to Minnesota. At Saint Paul he took up work with the Little
-
510
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Falls Water Power Company. However, he remained in that city but a month, when he was transferred to Little Falls. That was in 1887 and he has since made Little Falls his home, being prominently identified with the life of that place. For about two years after forming his connection with the company in question he was assistant to the engineer and also kept the books of the company, and in 1889 he was made secretary-treasurer. He fills that position still with the addition of the duties of general manager. conferred on him in 1903.
In addition to his duties with the Little Falls Water Power Company, Mr. Gordon has found time for taking an interest in several other business ventures. In the fall of 1888 he organized and assumed the management of the Gordon Lumber Company at Little Falls, which firm did a retail luni- ber business and Mr. Gordon continued at its head for three years, when he disposed of his interest. In 1890 he formed a corporation known as the Peoples Ice Company, and he remained with that company for twelve years, when he sold his interest. In the same year ( 1890) he organized the Little Falls Building and Loan Association and was made its secretary and treasurer. He continued in that connection as an officer for about three years. Mr. Gordon was also secretary of the Little Falls Milling Company, from 1890 to 1894, and was secretary of the Little Falls Electric and Water Company, now inactive. He was also instrumental in forming the Morrison County Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, now out of existence, and was its secretary-treasurer. He also fills the same office for the Pike Rapids Hydro- Electric Company, which owns and controls an excellent power site, which, however, has never been developed. Mr. Gordon through his unusual ability has contributed very largely to the commercial life of his chosen city and this community is much indebted to him for its advancement along many lines.
Thomas C. Gordon was married on May 17, 1889, to Mary A. Stilwell, born in Little Falls on May 19, 1864, and to their union have been born four children. Warren, the eldest, married Georgia St. Martin; Harker. Bertha and Mercy are still at home with the parents. Mr. Gordon and his family are held in high esteem by their many friends and move in the best social circles of their city.
Mr. Gordon has for many years been a devout member of the Episcopal church and advances its interests whenever possible. Politically, he is a Republican and has served his party as alderman of Little Falls for two years. For the past fourteen years he has been a member of the board of education of this city and in 1915 was again elected for a three-year term. For the past eight years, he has served that body as its president.
51I
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
While not directly interested in agriculture, Mr. Gordon has the best interests of the farming element at heart and is an earnest advocate of twentieth-cen- tury methods in that vocation, and as an evidence of his sympathy with those so engaged, he fills the office of president of the Agricultural Society of Morrison county. Mr. Gordon holds fraternal affiliation with the time-hon- ored body of Freemasonry, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Knights of the Maccabees, and the Modern Wood- men. of America, in the workings of all of which he evinces more than a passive interest. Mr. Gordon is a good representative of a virile type of manhood-the men who do things, and these men become the natural lead- ers in any community where their lot may be cast. Mr. Gordon possesses keen foresight, good judgment and his honor and integrity are above reproach. He is one of the worthy citizens of Little Falls who are always anxious to acquire for their city all possible advantages possessed by any other, and as a man of many excellent parts he is held in high esteem by all.
OTIS J. BROWN, M. D.
The state of Minnesota has every reason to be proud of the personnel of her physicians, and among the celebrated physicians of Morrison county is Dr. Otis J. Brown, who, after practicing medicine in various places, settled in Little Falls in 1904 and has enjoyed a large and lucrative practice ever since coming to Morrison county.
Otis J. Brown is a native of Dayton, Ohio, where he was born on April 13, 1856. He is the son of John V. and Emaline Brown, both of whom were born in New York state, the former in 1833. The late John V. Brown was a master mechanic and worked at his trade during his entire life. He lived to be seventy-seven years old, passing away some fifteen years ago. Otis J. Brown is one of five children born to his parents and he was the third in the family.
Educated in the common schools of the city of Cleveland. Otis J. Brown subsequently entered the medical department of Western Reserve University, at Cleveland, and was graduated from the Medical College in 1882. After practicing medicine in Cleveland for seven years, he immigrated to Minne- sota, in 1889, and settled in Red Wing, where he practiced for fourteen years. After that he removed to St. Cloud, Minnesota, and practiced medicine there until 1904. when he settled permanently in Little Falls.
512
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Otis J. Brown was married in 1901 to Tracy Pohl, who was born near Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1870. Doctor and Mrs. Brown have no children.
A stanch Republican in politics, Dr. Otis J. Brown served two terms as coroner of Goodhue county, while living at Red Wing. He also has served one term as coroner of Morrison county. Doctor and Mrs. Brown are members of the Methodist church. Dr. Brown is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
WILLIAM PEDLEY.
To write the personal record of men who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to a position of responsibility and trust in a com- munity as well as to positions of affluence, is no ordinary pleasure. Self- made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their personal qual- ities, who have left the impress of their individuality upon the business of the community where they live, unwittingly perhaps have built monuments more enduring than marble or granite shafts. Of such, we have a right to say is the venerable William Pedley, a native of England and a retired farmer of Morrison county, Minnesota.
Mr. Podley was born at St. Ives, England, six miles from London, January 4, 1835, the son of James Pedley, who was a shepherd by occupa- tion, who was born near London and who spent his entire life near the capital of the British Empire, passing away at his home at the age of sixty- five years.
William Pedley came to the United States when about sixteen years old, and after landing in New York City moved on to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained for four years engaged in teaming and in other odd jobs.
In 1855, at the age of twenty years, William Pedley was married to Elizabeth Ragan, of Cleveland, who was born on May 5, 1836, in England, and who was brought to America by her brother when a small girl. She also migrated to Cleveland after arriving in this country and worked out until her marriage.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Pedley came to Minnesota, where he worked in a saw-mill. Later he operated a freight wagon from St. Paul to Little Falls. By careful saving he was able to accumulate enough money to pay for two hundred acres of land, which he purchased from the government for one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. This land
WILLIAM PEDLEY
513
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
joins the present corporation limits of Little Falls, Minnesota. This land he cleared and farmed and later added two hundred acres, situated a few miles east of the original farm.
Mrs. Elizabeth (Ragan) Pedley lived to be seventy-eight years old, passing away at her home on September 22, 1914. She was a devout mem- ber of the Congregational church, and when she came to Little Falls she was one of three women who lived here at that time. She was a good mother and a loving wife, rearing a family of children, who are leading honorable and useful lives and who keenly feel their deep loss in her death. Mr. and Mrs. Pedley were the parents of ten children, of whom four, Lydia, Mary Ann, Emma Jane and Charles Walter, are deceased. The living children are, William, who is unmarried; Elizabeth, who married James Steele, an Indian trader of Little Falls, also a freighter and merchant; Minnie May, who married John Tucker, a merchant of Fort Ripley, Minnesota; John Franklin is a farmer near Little Falls; James Irving, who married Emma Vardarski, is a farmer near Little Falls, and Ella Phoebe, who married Claude A. Tucker, the station agent at Belle Prairie. William, the eldest son, lives at home with his father and helps to manage the home farm.
Mr. Pedley is a general farmer and stockman, as well as a dairyman. He is a man who is highly respected in Little Falls and vicinity, a man of considerable prominence in this section of Morrison county. William Ped- ley is the architect of his own fortune, a self-made man, one who knows what it is to struggle for the snug fortune which he has accumulated.
LESLIE MUNCY.
Specific mention is made in this volume of many worthy farmers of Morrison county, citizens who have figured in the growth and agricultural development of the county, and whose interests are identified with almost every phase of its progress. Each has contributed in his special sphere to the well-being of the community. Among this number is Leslie Muncy, a native of the county and a well-known farmer of Bellevue township.
Leslie Muncy was born in Bellevue township, Morrison county, Minne- sota, on July 15, 1874. He is the son of James and Charlotte (McCollum) Muncy, the former of whom was born at New Brunswick, Maine, in 1834. After being educated in Maine, James Muncy, when a young man, moved to (33)
514
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Minneapolis, where he remained a short time. He then took the train to St. Cloud and came overland by wagon to Morrison county, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land. The tract was located in sec- tion 33 of Bellevue township and cost twelve hundred dollars, buildings and all. It was in 1865 when very few people lived in Morrison county, the population being made up mostly of Indians. Some years later, he added one hundred and sixty acres of land one mile east of Royalton, in Bellevue township, and still later forty acres on the Platte river, north of Royalton one mile. He built a dami on the Platte river in order to hold the water for log driving. He also bought forty acres of land north of Royalton on the Platte river. At the time of his death, he was heavily interested in the lumber business on the Platte river. Practically all of his life was spent in lumbering and farming.
Mrs. Charlotte (McCullom) Muncy was born in 1839, in New Bruns- wick, Maine, and was there educated and married. She bore her husband eleven children, of whom one died in infancy. Elizabeth married Wallace Russell; Amelia married Frank Rice: Samuel married Lizzie McFarlin; Belle married William Rice; Sarah married Andrew Long: Clara married John Kenedy ; Leslie is the subject of this sketch ; Rose married William McNeal: Harvey married Anna Wischnewski; Myrtle married Joe Newman. The mother of these children is still living. James Muncy died on February 17, 1900, at the age of sixty-six years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and helped to establish the church at Royalton. Mr. Muncy voted the Democratic ticket.
Leslie Muncy was educated in the district schools of Bellevue township. He lived at home until the death of his father in 1900. For eight winters he worked in the woods of northern Minnesota but in the summer assisted in the work on the farm. At the death of his father, he purchased the inter- ests of the other heirs in eighty-three acres of land which his father had owned, and added eighty acres by another purchase. The last tract was all meadow land. In 1900 Mr. Muncy bought forty acres north of the old homestead, and in the following year purchased one hundred and forty-six acres adjoining the second tract in sections 16 and 17. Mr. Muncy now owns four hundred and sixty-nine acres altogether. He is engaged in gen- eral farming and stockraising and keeps several milk cows. Mr. Muncy is now engaged in building a new home on the two-hundred-acre farin in sec- tion 17. His land is all well improved. He is also a stockholder in the Farmers Co-Operative Creamery, of Royalton.
515
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
On March 18, 1903, Leslie Muncy was married to Gertrude Downs, a native of Kansas, who came to Morrison county, Minnesota, when a small girl with her parents. Mrs. Muncy was educated at Royalton and lived at home with her parents until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Muncy are the parents of three children, Vera, Charlotte, and Ellis. The two eldest chil- dren are attending school.
Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Muncy are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Muncy votes the Republican ticket and is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees.
BARTLETT YANCY McNAIRY.
In the history of Morrison county, Minnesota, Bartlett Yancy McNairy, who is serving his second term as auditor of the county, occupies a most conspicuous place. He is possessed of an aggressive and enterprising spirit and these qualities have won for him a wide measure of success not only in political favor and preferment but in the estimation of his fellow citizens with whom he is extremely popular.
Bartlett Yancy McNairy is a native of Aberdeen, Monroe county, Missis- sippi, where he was born on November 2, 1855. He is the son of John C. and Martha E. (Brandon) McNairy. John C. McNairy was born in 1825, in North Carolina, and moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi, in early life. There he owned a large plantation and was engaged in farming. In 1867 he removed to Lake City, Minnesota, and retired from active life, dying four years later, in 1871, at the age of forty-six years. He was a prominent Mason, and was a Democrat in politics. Mrs. Martha E. (Brandon) McNairy was born at Huntsville, Alabama. in 1830, and died at the age of twenty- eight years, in 1858. She bore her husband three children, two of whom died in infancy. Bartlett Yancy McNairy was the only child who grew to maturity.
When twelve years old, Mr. McNairy accompanied his parents to Lake City, Minnesota, where he attended the common schools and the high school. He also attended Schattuck College, at Faribault, and afterward the normal school at Winona, Minnesota. Mr. McNairy next learned the printing busi- ness in the plant owned by H. D. Brown and after six years returned to Aberdeen, Mississippi, and was there engaged as a planter for several years. Subsequently, however, he returned to Lake City, Minnesota, and in 1879 was married to Lou E. Doughty, who was born at Lake City, Minnesota, on
516
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
February 14, 1860, and who is the daughter of Asa B. Doughty. Mrs. McNairy has borne her husband five children; one child died in infancy. The living children are as follow: Harry D., Bartlett Y., Jr., Alice L., who married H. T. Peterson; and Louis P.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McNairy removed to Campbell, Minnesota, and there he engaged in the mercantile business and served as postmaster for many years. On May 31, 1891, Mr. and Mrs. McNairy and family removed to Little Falls. purchasing an interest in a fancy grocery and confectionery store. After two years the store burned and Mr. McNairy then went to Butte, Montana, where he clerked in a mercantile establishment for one year. Upon coming back to Little Falls he was appointed deputy auditor and served eight years. In 1910 he made his first race for auditor of Morrison county and was elected. Four years later, in 1914, Mr. McNairy was elected to a second term. No better evidence of his efficiency in public service and his ability to the office to which he was elected in 1910 can be cited than his re-election to this same office four years later.
Mr. McNairy is a Democrat in politics. He is a member of the blue lodge and the chapter of the Masonic fraternity ; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. McNairy and family are members of the Episcopal church.
ARCHIBALD HERRICK VERNON.
Among the well-known lawyers of Morrison county. Minnesota. is Archibald Herrick Vernon, whose father, a graduate from the University of Wisconsin, was a practicing attorney at St. Paul until his retirement in 1910.
Archibald Herrick Vernon is a native of Middletown. Dane county, Wisconsin, born on April 8, 1880. His father, George H. Vernon, was also a native of Dane county, Wisconsin, born there on a farm in 1854. He was educated in the public schools of Dane county and later graduated from the law department of the University of Wisconsin, at Madison. From 1886 until 1910 he was actively engaged in the practice of law at St: Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Vernon's mother was Clara ( Herrick) Vernon. also a native of Dane county, Wisconsin, who was born in 1859. Archibald Herrick is the eldest of four children : Mabel C. is the wife of Engene Love- joy ; Blanche is the wife of John C. Emeny : Stanley W. is the youngest.
517
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Archibald Herrick Vernon received his elementary and secondary training in the public schools of St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the Central high school of St. Paul. After finishing high school, he was for some time a student at Harvard University, at Cambridge. He received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the St. Paul College of Law, and later received the degree of Master of Laws from the law department of the University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis. After leaving Harvard, Mr. Vernon was for eight years engaged in newspaper work. He finished his carcer in journalism as city editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Upon leaving newspaper work, Mr. Vernon opened a law office in St. Paul and practiced for two years. In 1909 he removed to Little Falls and has since practiced his profession in this city.
Archibald H. Vernon was married on March 29, 1910, to Clara Sim- mons, a native of Appleton, Minnesota, who was born on March 9, 1885, and who was educated in the St. Paul Central high school and at St. Mary's school at Faribault, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Vernon have no children.
Archibald Herrick Vernon is a Republican in politics and was chief clerk of the House of Representatives of the Minnesota Legislature during the session of 1909. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a past exalted ruler. He also belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees and Royal Arcanum.
CHARLES BOTTEMILLER.
Among the successful. business men of Bertha, Todd county, Minne- sota, is Charles Bottemiller, who, besides a general mercantile store at Bertha, operates a saw-mill, planing-mill. flour-mill. garage and machine shop, and who is also the local agent for the Page, Mitchell and Oakland motor cors.
Charles Bottemiller was born on January 9, 1861, in Chisago county, Minnesota. He is the son of Henry and Mary Bottemiller, the former of whom was a farmer in Chisago county, but who sold out there and moved to Bertha township, Todd county. in November, 1876. He purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in section 17. three hundred acres in sec- tion 5, and homesteaded eighty acres in section 8. After having lived in Bertha township until 1884, he sold out his interests in this county and moved to California, where he purchased sixty acres of land. He lived on the California farm for six years and then moved to Portland, Oregon,
518
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
where he lived until his death in 1896, at which time he was seventy-six years old. His wife, since her husband's death, has been living with her children. There were fourteen children in the Bottemiller family, as follow : August, Louisa, Charles, Amelia, William, Fred, Mary, Emma, Lena, Lydia, Henry, Edward, Emil and Augusta. Besides Charles, the subject of this sketch, two more of these children, Louisa and Amelia, live in Bertha. Louisa is the wife of E. J. Kohlhase, and Amelia is the wife of Adam Leyh.
Educated in the public schools of Braun county, Minnesota, and of Bertha township. Todd county, Charles Bottemiller assisted his father on the farm and lived at home until his marriage in December, 1885, to Sophia Bluhm. Mr. and Mrs. Bottemiller started housekeeping on one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 17, of Bertha township. Mr. Bottemiller owned the farm, which consisted principally of wild timber land. He built a small frame house and lived on the farm for about one year, when he sold out to William Bluhm and moved to California. After remaining in California for two years, he came back to Todd county and purchased eighty acres out of the farm he had formerly sold to Mr. Bluhm. There he built a log house, and a little later established a saw-mill. After having cut out all of the good timber on the farm and sawed it into lumber, he engaged in wheat threshing and operated the saw-mill under contract for a number of years. He sold out, however, and moved to Bertha, also moving the saw-mill to Bertha.
After having built a residence the next spring, Mr. Bottemiller began the construction of a two-story building for a store. He finished the upper story the first year and moved into it and established a small stock of groceries in one of the upstairs rooms. During the next summer, he finished the lower story and put in a stock of groceries. In the meantime, he had taken Charles and L. H. Bluhm into the business as partners and later Herman Zimmerman was also taken into the business as a partner. In a few years, however. Mr. Bottemiller purchased the interest of his partners. The first floor of the building was twenty-four by sixty feet, with living rooms upstairs. Later he built a one-story addition, thirty-two by thirty feet, and, a few years ago, tore down this addition and erected in its place an addition which makes the building fifty-six by seventy-six feet, two stories high and with a half basement, all of which is used for the mercantile store. Mr. Bottemiller has been adding to his stock from time to time until he now carries a complete line of general merchandise, including groceries, dry goods, clothing, shoes, crockery, etc. The first stock was worth not more than seventy-five dollars, but it is now invoiced at fourteen thousand dollars.
519
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Besides the general store, Mr. Bottemiller also operates a saw-mill, a planing- mill, a flour-mill, a garage and machine shop, and is now building a potato warehouse, forty by ninety-two feet. Also installing an electric light plant. The flour-mill has a capacity of seventy-five barrels daily and manufactures "Bertha Best" and "Our Leader," which are two popular brands of flour in this community. Within recent years, Mr. Bottemiller has taken his two sons, Louis and Fred, into the business as partners.
There were eight children in Mr. Bottemiller's family, Louis H., Henry L., Fred W., Lydia. William, Walter. Esther and Edward. Louis H. is a partner and manager of the general store. He married Clara Belle Hunt- zicker and has three children, Lois, Bernice and Jeanne. Henry L., born on February 20. 1888, died in November, 1912. He was a mechanical engineer by profession and was also studying mechanical drawing at the time of his death. He held a license as chief engineer. At the time of his death, he left a widow, who before her marriage was Amy Mildbrath, and two children, Merton and Henry, Jr. Fred W., who is also a partner, married Pearl Kelly. He is the bookkeeper for all the different lines of business. Lydia, William, Walter, Esther and Edward live at home with their parents.
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.