USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 4
USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 4
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
(24)
370
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Shortly afterward, Mr. Jones was elected assistant secretary of the state senate and still later elected secretary. In these positions his oppor- tunity for formning a state-wide acquaintance was almost unequaled and he shortly became a candidate for clerk of the supreme court. He was nomin- ated in a close contest over a field of other men of state-wide prominence and in the fall was casily elected. He was the first man from Todd county and the first man from this part of the state to gain state-wide recognition. .After serving as clerk of the supreme court for four years, he was sent to the House of Representatives from his home district, and was re-elected. His service in the house culminated in his election as speaker of that body. and, after retiring from the house, he was elected to the state Senate, where he served four years.
Upon leaving the state Senate, Mr. Jones retired from active politics, but, when the new land office was organized at Cass Lake, he was offered the position of registrar of the office and reluctantly accepted the position. bitt resigned after one year of service. He then returned to Long Prairie and did not again seek nor accept public office. During the later and declin- ing years of his life, he took only a casual interest in political matters.
The late John D. Jones was a resident of Todd county for forty-seven years and these years were those of the county's organization and carly growth. In the practice of law, he was particularly able and, at his death, held the leading place among the lawyers of this county and district.
In 1871 John David Jones was married to Martha Hale, and to this union were born three children, Harvey R., who died in 1895: Mrs. Fred B. Radabangh, who resides in Los Angeles, California; and John T., who is a moving picture actor and resides in California. John T. Jones served in the Spanish-American War as a second lieutenant. By his marriage to Lillian Dixon, there has been born one daughter, Martha Esther, who was born on April 23, 1900.
Mrs. John David Jones, who before her marriage was Martha Hale, was born in Letcher county, Kentucky, the daughter of A. D. and Louisa (Young) Hale, who were natives of Lee county, Virginia. Mrs. Louisa Ilale was born on October 30, 1830, and was eighty-three years old at the time of her death. She moved with her parents to the state of Kentucky, where, in 1851, she was married to A. D. Hale. They lived in Kentucky until after the war, but in 1866, moved to Todd county and settled in Kandota township, where they lived many years, until their removal to Reynolds township in 1896. After Mr. Hale's death. his widow moved to the village and made her home in Long Prairie until 1912. when she went
371
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
to North Dakota to make her home with her daughter, Mrs. S. J. Truax. She was the mother of ten children, all now living. Mrs. Jones' father died in Scott county. Virginia, in January, 1897.
Mrs. John D. Jones has one of the finest residences in Long Prairie and, in fact, one of the most magnificent places in Todd county. Her deceased husband, who was a man loved and admired by the people of Todd county, took a delight in beautifying his home and spent a great deal of his time, especially the later years of his life, in experimenting extensively with flowers, shrubs, trees and plants. In time his garden became one of the most beautiful spots in this part of the county. Mrs. Jones, since her husband's death, in the spirit of abiding affection, has kept the place in the same good order as her husband left it. John David Jones will long be remembered by his part in the history of the state and county, with which his life work was so intimately identified.
FRANK BOEHM.
Frank Boehm, a retired farmer of Pierz and one of the well-known citizens in this part of Morrison county, was born on October 8, 1851, in lower Austria, the son of John and Barbara ( Koller ) Boehm, the latter of whom was born in 1821 and died in 1894. Both John and Barbara ( Koller) Boelim were natives of lower Austria. After living in their native land until 1861, the husband died and Barbara Boehm married Michael Berger.
In 1868 the entire family came to America, landing in New York city. They moved to Fairmount, Dane county, Wisconsin, where they lived for fourteen years. They then came to Agram township, Morrison county, Minnesota. After farming in Agram township for about ten years, they sold the forty-acre farm which they owned, and moved to Pierz. Mr. Berger has continued doing such odd jobs as have appealed to his fancy. He is still living. The family are members of the Catholic church at Pierz. Michael Berger is a Democrat and served for two years as supervisor of Agram township. To Mrs. Berger have been born five children, Frank, Elizabeth, John, Johanna and Mary.
After receiving his education in the public schools of Austria, Frank Boehm came to America with his parents when seventeen years old. He lived with them in Dane county, Wisconsin, for ten years and then came to Agram township, Morrison county, in 1878. Here he purchased one hun-
372
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
dred and sixty acres of land in section 26. Frank Boehm was the first man to arrive in this section. He was one of the two men who organized Agram township. After arriving on May 2, 1878, he immediately built a house and barn. After about ten years, he purchased forty acres in section 4, of Bell View township, forty acres in section 3. of Buckman township, and forty acres in section 28. Mr. Boehm farmed this land until 1914, when he sold all but one hundred and twenty acres and retired. He rents the farm, hav- ing built him a magnificent home in Pierz.
On May 3, 1881, Frank Boehm was married to Mary Leeb, the daugh- ter of Jacob and Mary Leeb, natives of Hungary, who settled in Stearns county, Minnesota, where they engaged in farming. Mrs. Boehm was born in Hungary, November 22, 1857, and came to the United States when about twenty years old. Mr. and Mrs. Boehm have been the parents of six chil- dren, Rosa, Frank, Theresa, John, Richard and an infant who is deceased. Of these children, Rosa married Adam Billig, of St. Cloud. Frank mar- ried Mary Thomas, of Pierz. He is a farmer and they have two children. Herbert and Raymond. Theresa married Edward Newman, of Brainerd. He is a merchant and they have one child, Florence. John married Alma Hanlin. He is a barber. at Pierz. They have one daughter, Avern. Richard graduated from the normal school and is superintendent of the high school at St. Clair.
Mr. and Mrs. Boehm and family are members of the Catholic church at Pierz. They are also members of St. Joseph's Society. Mr. Boehm votes the Democratic ticket.
HON. CHARLES W. BOUCK.
It is not often that true honor, public or private, comes to a man with- out some basis in character or deed. The world may be besieged by fortune or by ornamental or showy qualities without substantial merit and may render to the undeserving a fortuitons and short-lived admiration, but the honor which wise and good men value and that lives beyond the grave must have its foundation in real worth. Not a few men live unheralded and almost unknown beyond the narrow limits of the city or community, wherein their lots are cast, who yet have in them, if fortune had opened to them a wider sphere of life, the elements of character to make a statesman or public benefactor of more than passing fame.
373
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
The Hon. Charles W. Bouck, representative from Morrison county in the Minnesota state Legislature, is a citizen whose work extends beyond the limits of his home county. The testimony of his fellow citizens is ample that he is a good citizen in the full sense of the term and worthy the lionor and public trust that have come to him. As the Duluth Tribune said of him in referring to his work in the last session of the Minnesota Legislature : "To Representative Charles W. Bouck, of Morrison county, was entrusted all the highway legislation. No man in the house began to know as much about the subject as 'Charley.' Only one man in the Legislature knew more about it-Bob Dunn. Bouck put through many bills, simply on good fellow- ship. Personally, no man in either branch of the Legislature was more popular than he."
Charles W. Bouck was born on February 29, 1852, in Rockford. Illi- nois, the son of John S. and Elizabeth ( Elliott) Bouck, the former of whom was born near Buffalo, New York, on a farm, in 1824, and who died in 1906 at the age of eighty-two years. The latter was born in Brighton, England, and came to America when a small girl with her parents and settled near Rockford, Illinois, where she lived until her marriage.
When a young man, the late John S. Bouck sailed on the lakes. After he had finished his education, he came to Illinois and was instructor in a seminary, where he met his wife and was married. After living a few years at Byron, near Rockford, Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Bouck immi- grated to a farin of two hundred and eighty acres near Independence, Iowa, which Mr. Bouck cultivated for twelve years. At the end of that time he sold out and purchased one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the corpora- tion of Independence. There he lived until 1877, when he again sold out and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Morrison county, Minnesota, five miles northeast of Royalton. Here he lived for a number of years. During the later years of his life, he was a minister in the Methodist Epis- copal church and preached in the locality where he lived. Still later he moved to Princeton, Millelacs county, Minnesota, where he was twice elected judge of the probate court. At the close of the last term, he was taken ill with pleurisy of the heart and died one week later. He was a Republican in politics, and before his election as judge, had served as a justice of the peace for many years. He was also supervisor of the town of Royalton. Mr. and Mrs. Bouck were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. John S. and Elizabethi Bouck were the parents of eleven children, all of whom grew to maturity.
374
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Charles W. Bouck was the first child of the first pair of twins, three pairs having been born to his parents. Mr. Bouck was educated in the log school, twelve miles southwest of Independence, Iowa, and one and one-half miles from his father's home farm. He also attended the high school at Independence, Iowa, for two years and afterward helped his father on the farm until twenty years old, when he began working for the Welsh & Com- pany mercantile store. He remained with them for one year and then went to work for the state of Iowa as manager of the insane hospital farm at Independence.
While still living at Independence, Mr. Bouck was married to Mary L. Ball, the daughter of John and Levisa (Ellis) Ball, natives of Vermont. Mrs. Bouck was born in Plattsburg, New York, in 1854, and went to Iowa with her parents, settling near Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Bouck have been the parents of one son, Albert Charles.
Three years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Bouck moved to a farm sixty miles east of Washington, D. C., near Cambridge, Maryland, where they remained a year and a half. They then came to Royalton, Minnesota, where Mr. Bouck was employed in a saw-mill and where he worked in the harvest field. The next year he moved to Brainerd, where he was employed by the Northern Pacific railroad, building bridges, section houses, etc. He remained with this railroad until December, 1889. when he came back to Royalton. Here he built the opera house and then pur- chased a hardware store, which, in partnership with his son, he operated until March. 1914, when he sold the store to his son.
During the nineties, Charles W. Bouck was a member of the city council and president of the council. He has always been active in politics. In 1906, he was a candidate for the Legislature on the Republican ticket and was elected by a big majority, serving one term. He was a member of the re-apportionment committee and chairman of the road committee. In 1914 he was re-elected to the House for a term of two years, receiving a large majority once more. His term will expire on December 31, 1916. Mr. Bouck has always taken a prominent part in the good roads movement in Minnesota, and during his legislative career at the last session. served as chairman of the roads committee.
Mr. Bouck has about sixteen hundred acres of land in Morrison county, Minnesota, a part of which is under cultivation. He owns the C. W. Bouck business block in Royalton and a magnificent home at his farm on the edge of Royalton.
375
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Mr. and Mrs. Bouck and son are members of the Episcopal church. During the past seventeen years, Mr. Bouck has been a member of the state hardware board, a member of the state fire insurance board and director of the Graham Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Knights of Pythias.
PROF. FRANK WESLEY DOBBYN.
Little Falls has no other single institution in which it takes a keener and more active interest than its modern system of public schools of which Prof. Frank Wesley Dobbyn is superintendent. He is a fine example of a successful, self-made man, who not only deserves the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen but who is also possessed of a high order of technical training for his life work. He has been successful as an instructor and educator partially because of his native sympathy for educational work, and partially because of the careful training to which he has subjected him- self in the preparatory stages. He has won a signal measure of success in the educational fields and is popular in Little Falls not only as the superin- tendent of the educational system but as a man and citizen.
Frank Wesley Dobbyn is a native of Ontario, Canada, where he was born on July 20, 1872. He is the son of William and Jane ( Gosnell ) Dob- byn, the former of whom is a retired farmer still living in the province of Ontario at the age of ninety-two years. Mrs. Dobbyn died in 1915, at the age of seventy-six years. They had a large family of children, as follow : Carrie, Laura, Joseph, William, Susan, Hattie, Frank Wesley and others.
Mr. Dobbyn received his elementary education in the rural schools of the province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada. He was graduated from the Central high school at Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1894, and completed his education at the Winona Normal, Winona, Minnesota, and at the Uni- versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Professor Dobbyns was employed as principal of a graded school at Minneiska, Minnesota, for a period of two years. Afterwards he was superintendent of the public schools of Atwater, Minnesota, for four and one-half years. In 1904 he was elected superintendent of the schools of Kandiyohi county, Minnesota, holding this office for three and one-half years. He was next elected superintendent of the schools at Madison, Minne- sota, and was located there for six years. In 1912 he was elected superin-
376
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
tendent of the city schools of Little Falls, and has held this position ever since.
Professor Dobbyns is a thoroughgoing school man, public-spirited and progressive in all that he thinks and in all that he undertakes. He is fortu- nate here in Little Falls as being the head of a splendid system of schools. Modest and unassuming by nature, he is progressive in spirit and at the same time conservative to the extent of considering all sides of any ques- tion which is presented to him for consideration. He has a host of friends among the people of Little Falls.
On August 10, 1898, Frank Wesley Dobbyn was married to Clara McNeil, of Red Wing, Minnesota. Three children have been born to this union. Of these children, one son, Kenneth, died at the age of eleven years, in Little Falls. Harold and Donald survive.
It is not a matter of surprise that Prof. Frank Wesley Dobbyn has achieved a large measure of success. He has devoted his life to educational work and has never permitted himself to be diverted by side issues. He takes no considerable interest in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Dobbyn are mem- bers of the Congregational church. Mr. Dobbyn is a trustee of the church.
SIMON P. BRICK.
Among the best-known citizens in the political and commercial life of Little Falls, Minnesota, is Simon P. Brick, formerly deputy auditor of Mor- rison county, city clerk of Little Falls, clerk of the Morrison county court. mayor of Little Falls and postmaster at the present time. In addition to his political activities he has also taken a most active interest in financial, commercial and industrial enterprises. At the present time he is a stock- holder in the Merchant's State Bank and a stockholder and vice-president of the First State Bank of New Pierz. He is also a stockholder in the Little Falls Iron Works and has heavy hollings in Morrison county farm real- estate.
Simon P. Brick is a native of the province of Ontario, Canada, having been born near Berlin, in Waterloo county, April 5. 1862. He is the son of Peter and Katherine ( Kiser) Brick, the former of whom was born in Prussia in 1815, and the latter in Alsace-lorraine, when it was still a part of France. Peter Brick was educated in his native land and when twenty years old came to America. For three years he was a sailor on Lake
SIMON P. BRICK
377
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Michigan and then immigrated to Canada and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land near Berlin, in Waterloo county, Ontario, where he farmed until 1875. In 1875 Mr. Brick removed to St. Cloud, Minnesota, and retired. There he lived until his death in 1902, at the age of eighty- seven years. His wife, who was born in 1818, accompanied her parents to America. They settled in Ontario, Canada, where she met and married her husband. She bore him twelve children: Peter, Anthony, Caroline, John, Lena, Leo, Emila, August, Mary Ann, Simon P., Katherine and Eugene, all of whom grew to womanhood and manhood. The late Peter Brick was a member of the Catholic church and of the St. Joseph's Society. He was a Democrat in politics.
Born and reared in Canada and educated in the common schools of the province of Ontario, Mr. Brick completed his education at St. Cloud. where for some time he was a student in the St. Cloud Business College. After finishing his education he was for ten years employed by the Brond- zinski Clothing Company. of St. Cloud. In 1885 he came to Little Falls as bookkeeper and salesman of the Brewing Company. Here he remained for three years and then was appointed deputy county auditor, serving in that capacity for eight years. Afterwards he was elected city clerk of Little Falls and served five years. Upon retiring from the office of city clerk, he was engaged in the fire insurance business until 1898. when he was elected clerk of the Morrison county court and was re-elected four different times, serving until 1913, when he resigned to accept the postmastership of Little Falls. Mr. Brick tock the position on August 1, 1913, which he still holds.
In 1888, Simon P. Brick was married to Susan Lieser, a native of St. Cloud, where she was born on August 28, 1866. She was educated in the public schools of St. Cloud and married in that city. Mrs. Brick has borne her husband six children, two of whom are deceased. The living children are Della, who married Joseph P. Arndt ; Raymond, Otto and Florence.
Mr. Brick is an enthusiastic and prominent Democrat. In addition to all the other positions which he has filled, he served as mayor of Little Falls during the year 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Brick and family are members of the German Catholic church. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Order of Foresters, as well as the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of St. Joseph's Society.
It may be said that Simon P. Brick has worthily discharged every posi- tion of trust and responsibility which the people of Morrison county and Little Falls have conferred upon him. He is a natural leader of men and one who inspires his followers with enthusiasm. He has had a large part
378
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
in the success of his party in this county, and the various political positions which he has filled have come to him as a reward for service well performed. Mr. Brick has a host of friends in Morrison county.
WILLIAM C. BROCKWAY.
Among the farmers of Bellevue township, Morrison county, Minnesota, who have established comfortable homes in this township and surrounded themselves with valuable personal and real property, few have accomplished more than William C. Brockway, a native of Warsaw, Indiana, born on November 17, 1853.
William C. Brockway is the son of Hiram and Cordelia ( Warren ) Brockway. The father was born in New York state and moved to Indiana soon after his marriage. He worked in a general store during this period. although he was a cabinetmaker by trade. In the spring of 1861, he moved to Fayette county, Iowa, where he rented a farm and lived for one year. He then rented another farm in the same locality, where he lived for one year and then moved to Black Hawk county, lowa, where he lived for another year. Upon returning to Fayette county, he rented a farm and remained five years. In 1870 he moved to Rock county, Minnesota, and took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land, where he lived until 1899. He then sold out and moved to Morrison county, Minnesota, where he lived with his son a year before his death in 1903 at the age of seventy-three years. His wife was born in New York state and was the mother of seven children. Truman, William, Frank, Charles, Glen, Laura. who married Frank Mitchell, and Mary, who died carly in life. Herman Brockway was identified with the Republican party.
William C. Brockway, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the district schools of Fayette county, Iowa, but his educational advan- tages were limited, since he found it necessary to assist his father on the farm. In 1876 he took a homestead in Rock county, Minnesota. During the first summer after filing on this homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, he and his family lived in their wagon. The next year, they purchased enough logs to build a one-roomed log house, upon which they put a sod roof. This house had no floor, but they lived in it for about ten years and then built another house, in which they lived until 1899, when the parents sold all of their land and came to Morrison county. About this time Mr.
379
MORRISON AND TODD COUNTIES, MINNESOTA.
Brockway purchased three hundred and twenty acres in sections 20 and 21, of Bellevue township. The land was partly under cultivation. He later sold eighty acres in section 20, in 1914, and now owns two hundred and forty acres, one hundred and fifty acres of which is in cultivation and ninety in pasture. Mr. Brockway is engaged in stock raising as well as farming. He specializes in Poland China hogs and Aberdeen-Angus cattle.
December 25. 1884, William C. Brockway was married to Henrietta Munholand, a native of Wisconsin, but who came with her parents when a sinall girl to Filmore county, Minnesota, and later to Rock county. Her education was received principally in the schools of Filmore county. Mr. and Mrs. Brockway have been the parents of nine children, seven of whom live at home, Josie married L. Moses; Leta is the wife of J. H. Harders ; Mary ; Clare and Clara, twins; Laura, Wilna, Bessie and Lela.
Mr. Brockway has an attractive farm with substantial buildings. He is a Republican in politics and has served as a member of the school board for several years. While living at Battle Plain, Rock county, Minnesota, he was town treasurer for many years. He is also a member of the school board in Rock county. Mr. Brockway is a member of the Methodist church.
ISAAC BITEMAN.
Respect and reverence are due those brave sons of the North, who left home and the peaceful pursuits of civil life, to give their services and their lives, if need be, to preserve the integrity of the Union. The venerable Isaac Biteman, retired farmer, hotel proprietor and restaurant manager, of Swan- ville, Morrison county, Minnesota, proved his love and loyalty to the govern- ment on the long and tiresome marches, and in all kinds of situations. He was among the valiant defenders of the Union and of Old Glory and is eminently entitled to the respect and reverence of young men and women, who have been born since that memorable conflict and who today share the fruits of his sacrifices and his services.
Isaac Biteman is a native of Miami county, Ohio, born on February 28. 1841, the son of Jacob and Susan (Krepps) Biteman, the former of whom was born in 1804 in Pennsylvania and who, after having learned the milling business in the Keystone state, married there. At the age of twenty- five he settled in Ohio on eighty acres of land in Miami county, which he first leased and later bought. It was wild timber land and it was first neces-
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.