USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. II > Part 55
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. II > Part 55
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D. T. Eylward was born in Webster township, Rice county, May 8, 1863. He is a son of John and Bridget (Martin) Eyl- ward. They were both natives of Ireland, who came to Minne- sota in the fifties and located in Webster township, Rice county, where he farmed up to the time of his death in February, 1898. The mother died in the spring of 1906. Mr. Eylward was a sol- dier in the Civil War and served in Company H, Fourth Minne- sota Volunteer Infantry. Mr. D. T. Eylward attended the dis- trict schools of Webster, and after leaving school worked on the farm with his father, and at the time of his death became the owner of the old homestead, where he still remains. He was mar- ried September 10. 1907, to Mary McFadden, a daughter of Hugh and Rose (McGee) McFadden. Two children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eylward: Daniel and Rose, both living at home with their parents. In his religious views he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics he is a Democrat. He has served as supervisor on the town board for three terms, and has also served on the school board. He is a stockholder in the Webster Creamery, and also in the Farmers' Elevator at Northfield.
John Erb was born in Cook county, Illinois, September 26. 1855, son of Christian Erb. John was educated in district schools of Wheeling and Bridgewater townships and in the public school of Faribault. Leaving school he worked on a farm, and in 1879 he bought 100 acres in section twenty-seven, Cannon City town- ship. Later he bought forty acres additional in the same town- ship, and in 1894 sold that farm, buying 230 acres in sections 22, 23, 26 and 27, where he still carries on general farming.
In 1880 Mr. Erb married Rose Leudeka, daughter of Charles Leudeka, of Farmington, Minn. They had eleven children.
Mr. Erb has long been a leading man in the community, highly esteemed by his fellow citizens. He has served on the town board several terms and fifteen years on the school board. At present he is financially interested in the Prairieville Creamery and the Dean Creamery, and was a stockholder in the Farmers' Elevator, of Faribault. In political sentiment. Mr. Erb is a Re- publican. and his religious affiliations are with the Evangelical church.
Joseph Errickson, one of the enterprising citizens of Rice county, Minnesota, was born in Morristown township forty-four years ago. He is the youngest of a family of four children born to Ziram and Zilpha ( Cole) Errickson, the other children being Henry, Sarah, who is married to Horace Oblinger, and Permilla, the wife of James Traver. The father was born in New Jersey, June 12, 1821, and spent his early life there. About 1848 he moved to Indiana and carried on farming till 1860, when he set- tled in Rice county. Ilere he bought land, first a small tract. add-
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ing to it from time to time till he had a fine farm. He was an invalid nearly twenty years, and on February 15, 1898, passed away. His wife's death occurred in September, 1897. Our sub- ject purchased the homestead and since his father's death has remodeled and erected new buildings, barn, granary, machine sheds, etc., and carries on general farming, giving special atten- tion to breeding fine Durham cattle. Mr. Errickson has grown and prospered with the development of the county and is recog- nized as a leader in the community. He married Elizabeth Powers, who was an accomplished teacher in Morristown, and a daughter of Hon. John N. Powers. Mr. and Mrs. Errickson have a fondness for unique and rare things and in their home is to be found a splendid and valuable collection of relics and antiques, books and coins, some of them dating from remote antiquity, and which must be seen to be appreciated. Mrs. Errickson's father was born in Providence, R. 1., September 22. 1836. He moved to MeHenry county, Illinois, in 1856; thence to Wausau county in 1861, and there enlisted and entered the Civil war in Company I, Fourth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer In- fantry and served three years. After his return from the war he studied law, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession at Waseca. He settled in Morristown in 1875 and there edited "The Enterprise," the first newspaper there. He also published the Waterville "Review." He was elected to the state legislature in 1886 and also filled other minor offices of trust. In 1899 he moved to North Waterville and there died on March 1, 1901. On October 1, 1868, he married Annie Connor, and they have a family of eight children. He was a Catholic in religious faith and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a man of wide influence, greatly beloved by all who knew him.
John A. Foster, of Faribault, educator, real estate and fire in- surance broker, was born in Kendallville, Ind., January 7, 1879. He attended the public schools, graduated from the Kendallville high school, received his B. A. degree from the State University of Indiana in 1901 and the following year took post-graduate work in his alma mater. During his undergraduate days he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity; secretary and treasurer of the Co-operative Society, and was for four years a member of the football and track teams of the university, being captain of the former in 1900. After taking his post-graduate course in Indiana, he did graduate work at the University of Chicago. Thus equipped he came to Faribault as an instructor at Shattuck school in the mathematics department and as director of physical training. In the fall of 1909 he opened a real estate office in Faribault, and in addition to this is also director of
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physical training at Shattuck school. He is a member of the Elks and of the Faribault Commercial Club. Mr. Foster pre- pared himself for business by a special study of various commer- cial branches and working for several months in a Minneapolis real estate office. Mr. Foster is a Republican in politics.
The parents of John A. Foster were Andrew J. and Tena (Stahl) Foster, natives of Ohio. The father served in the 159th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was imprisoned in Libby and Andersonville prisons. After being exchanged and later mus- tered out he went to Kendallville, Ind., where for many years he was active in the religious, political and business life of the com- munity. His health failed, however, as a result of an illness brought on by the exposures of army life, making necessary his retirement about twenty years ago.
Edward R. Fitzsimmons was born in Morristown township, Rice county, Minnesota, in 1861, and is the oldest of four chil- dren born to James and Catherine (Ryan) Fitzsimmons, both natives of Ireland. The father is the only survivor of nine chil- dren born to Patrick and Elizabeth (Cunningham) Fitzsimmons. He came to this country when he was eighteen years old with his parents, making the nine weeks' voyage in a sailing vessel, "Alice Fraser." Traveling by railway from New York to Chi- cago, thenee to Rock Island, and from there up the river to the site of the present city of St. Paul, Mr. Fitzsimmons found em- ployment and worked two years on the farm of Governor Ram- sey, the first governor of Minnesota. Then, at the suggestion of and in company with his employer, with Mr. Coates, he started out in the winter of 1854-55 and drove via Faribault to Rice county and pre-empted 160 acres in section twelve, Morristown township, which he improved and which became the family home- stead, where he has lived continuously up to the present time. He first cleared the timber from an acre of land and built a rude log cabin, sixteen by twenty-two feet in dimensions, and it was in that our subject was born. Clearing more land, he was able to plant a garden, potatoes, etc., and from the beginning patiently worked and endured the privations of these strenuous pioneer days. There were few settlers and in Faribault only three or four log cabins. Mr. Fitzsimmons raised his first crop of wheat on the old MeKinzie farm, in section twelve. His tract of timber land was cleared by use of ox teams and crude tools, while the hay and grain were cut with the scythe and cradle and raked and bound by hand. The nearest trading point in the early days was Hastings, whither the produce was hauled with oxen over rough and primitive roads and exchanged for merchandise, the trip occupying three days. Wheat then sold for 45 cents per bushel and other products in like proportion, while flour and
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other necessities sold at a high price. But with the passing of the years wonderful changes have been wrought! The log cabin long ago was supplanted by the comfortable farmhouse; im- proved roads have taken the place of the perilous byways of the early days; fertile fields are where dense forests then grew ; the rude hamlet has given way to flourishing villages or populous cities, and everywhere are the evidences of prosperity and ma- terial growth. All this Mr. Fitzsimmons has lived to see and well deserves the rich reward that has come as the fruits of his labors. He has always taken an interest in the affairs of the community and was for many years school director. Both he and his wife are members of the Catholic church. Besides Edward R., our subject, their other children were: Mary, who died in early womanhood: Margaret, who is married to John Hanley, and has two children, Catherine and Rose; and Rose, who has charge of the home in their declining years of eighty-one and eighty-three of age. Edward R. settled in section seven in Warsaw township, Rice county, on a tract of twenty acres, find- ing it hard to get a start. He has added to his holdings from time to time and now-1910-owns 120 acres in section seven and forty acres in section twelve. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising and is counted among the prosperous citizens of his section ; is a director of the Warsaw Creamery Company and member of the village school board. In 1887 he married Miss Mary Mulcahy, of Waseca county, They have two children, viz .: Carrie, an alumna of the Sisters' Academy at Faribault, and Pearl, now a student at the same school. Mr. Fitzsimmons and his family are identified with the Immaculate Conception Catholic church, of Faribault.
A. F. Fox, one of the well-to-do farmers of Cannon City town- ship, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, on November 3, 1847. Ilis father, a native of Maryland, carpenter by trade, and mother. a native of Ohio, came to Minnesota in 1870 and located in Bridgewater township, Rice county, where they farmed up to the time of his father's death in 1898. The mother died in 1904. Our subject was educated in Ohio. Leaving school, he went to work on a farm for a year, and then came to lowa in 1869. In the spring of 1870 Mr. Fox removed to Bridgewater township, Rice county, Minnesota, where he bought a farm on which he did general farming until 1884. He sold the farm and bought an- other in section twenty-three, Cannon City township, which he later sold, buying again in section fourteen, where he remained for some time and then sold and moved to the village of Cannon City, where he bought two blocks. Our subject lived here until 1899, at which time he sold his village property and bought eighty acres in section nine, where he still remains, carrying on
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general farming. Mr. Fox was married in 1876 to Clara A. Walrod. They have seven children: Ethel, Claude, Clarence, William. Arthur. Ralph, Forest. Mrs. Fox died in 1897. Our subject was married a second time to Mrs. Hally B. Cowles, widow of Fred Cowles. Mr. Fox is a member of the Congrega- tional church. In politics he is a Democrat. He has always shown a commendable interest in all that relates to the better- ment of his community, is highly esteemed by all who know him, and is at the present time chairman of the town board of super- visors. He has served on the school board for several years past, and is at present a stockholder in the creamery at Cannon City.
William J. Grant, a retired farmer and railroad man of Fari- bault, was born in Canada. February 10. 1847. After his educa- tion in the district schools was completed. he took up farming with his father on the old homestead, removing to Faribault with his parents in 1874, and acquiring a tract of 333 acres in Warsaw township, where he followed general diversified farming till 1902. Mr. Grant has always been a believer in scientific and intelligent agriculture, and by adherence to these principles and hard work built up one of the best farms in the county. His next line of business was railroad construction work, acting as superintendent. He is now retired from active work and spends his time looking after his property interests. In politics, the Republican party numbers him among its loyal followers. He served as road overseer of Warsaw township many years. No- vember 25. 1873, he was married to Eliza Hedges, daughter of Robert and Menia (Sample) Hedges, of Warsaw township. Nine children blessed this marriage, all of whom are living. Named in order of their ages they are: Nora B., now Mrs. H. C. Summe ; Anna Al .. married to Walter Hunt, of Hibbing. Minn. : Emma M., teaching in the Hibbing schools; Eliza A., a teacher in the schools of South St. Paul: Mary P., engaged in teaching in Wilmar, Minn .: Florence, teaching at Dexter, Minn. : and Gordon E., Lee W., and Howard H., all living at home. The family residence is on Third avenue, South. John B. and Anna (Morris) Grant. parents of William J .. were natives of Canada. the father being a finished timber contractor, dealing especially with ship building firms. In 1874 he moved to Faribault with his wife and family and engaged in railroad contraing and farm- ing till his death in December, 1901. His wife passed away in June, 1903. Robert and Menia (Sample) Hedges, parents of Mrs. William J. Grant, were born in England, emigrating to Canada in their younger days, and then to Stillwater, Minn .. where their daughter Eliza was born, February 13, 1855. Twelve years later they came to Warsaw township and pre-empted a
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quarter section, on which the father followed farming till his death, March 4, 1903. His wife is still living.
Eugene H. Gipson, a well-known attorney of Faribault, has taken a prominent interest in civic righteousness, and has done excellent work as president of the Good Citizenship League of Faribault. Mr. Gipson was born in Watertown, N. Y., August 9, 1877, and was brought to Faribault by his parents at the age of two years. He received his earlier education in the public schools and attended Shattuck school from 1893 to 1896. Then he entered the State University of Minnesota, took a two years' course in the academic department and graduated from the law department in June, 1901, being admitted to the bar the same month, since which date he has successfully practiced. Mr. Gipson is an active Republican, and in 1905-06 served as county attorney. He is a stockholder in the Citizens' National Bank and a member of the Faribault Commercial Club. Attorney Gip- son was married June 4, 1902, at Warsaw, N. Y., to Emily Bene- dict, born September 22, 1878. The Gipson home has been blessed with two daughters, Gertrude, born in June, 1904, died in Au- gust of the same year. Helen was born November 10, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Gipson are members of the Episcopal church. The family residence is at 610 West Sixth street. The parents of Eugene H. Gipson were Henry S. and Gertrude (Middleton) Gipson, natives of New York. They came to Faribault in 1879 and here the father practiced law. He died in 1900 and his wife in 1880.
Rev. Edmund Gale, for many years a Congregational pastor in Faribault, was born November 12, 1821, at Siddlesham, a vil- lage near Chichester, England, his parents being Edmund Gale and Hannah Noel, both members of families long resident in that part of Sussex. Mr. Gale was cast upon his own resources at an early age, supporting himself from the time he was thirteen years old. Under these circumstances his education was neces- sarily self-acquired, but he became successively a school teacher. a medical student, and finally a Congregational minister, having been ordained in 1848. After pastorates in Chereton, Devon, and Over, Cheshire, he came to the United States in 1855, settling first at Geneva, Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he became pastor of the Congregational church, and where he met his future wife. Miss Ruby Clara Cowles, whose grandfather, Noah Cowles, a revolutionary soldier, had been one of the earliest settlers of the town. Mr. Gale and Miss Cowles were married August 28, 1856, at Oberlin, Ohio.
Mr. Gale was successively pastor of Congregational churches at Geneva, Lenox and Unionville, Ohio; Galesburg, Mich .; of the First Congregational church at Faribault (1866-1873) ; at
1316 HISTORY OF RICE AND STEELE COUNTIES
Jefferson. Madison and Chagrin Falls, Ohio; and then for eleven years of the United Congregational church of Faribault (1881- 1892). Reaching the age of seventy years, he retired from the cares of this large parish, but afterwards ministered to one or two smaller churches in Minnesota. He died at St. Paul, March 19. 1899, his wife having pre-deceased him at Medford. Steele county. Minnesota. on June 27, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Gale are buried in Maple Lawn cemetery, near Faribault, and a stained window has been placed in the Congregational church in their memory. They are survived by three children : Noel, a lawyer in New York city : Edmund, a farmer in Chico, Cal., and Mrs. Georgina Henke, of St. Paul.
Among many published estimates of Mr. Gale, the following, in the writer's opinion, best illustrate his well-known and striking characteristics of thought and action :
"The death of Mr. Gale brings a feeling of personal bereave- ment not only to the members of the church and congregation to whom he so long and faithfully ministered but to many in the city at large who have admired his strong traits and many vir- tues. As a preacher he was endowed with more than ordinary ability, and had he possessed stronger ambition and less strength of local attachment it is probable that his talents would have secured for him a wider sphere of usefulness than that in which his professional life was passed. He was a profound and original thinker, a man of wide and varied reading, and gifted with a most retentive memory. His sermons were always carefully elaborated and delivered extemporaneously with power often rising to elo- quence. His thoughts came glowing from the intellectual forge. enriched with many gems from the wealth of his mental stores and cultivated imagination. He was thoroughly alive to the ma- terial as well as the spiritual interests of the people at large, and kept in touch with the progressive movements of the age, and especially everything that tended to the improvement and eleva- tion of the race. Although strict in his ideas of religious duty. he was very tolerant in his relations with those who differed from him in matters of faith and church government. As a scholar he kept well informed upon all subjects that claimed popular attention along the lines of intellectual progress. A conspicuous feature of his character was his strong conscientious and rigid adherence to the ethical standard of right and duty which he had laid down for himself. In such matters he always 'hewed strictly to the line.' While his mental constitution nat- urally inclined him to give more attention to the intellectual than the social side in his pastoral relation, he was warm in his friendships, and took a sincere interest in the welfare of his peo- ple and of society at large. He has gone to a well deserved re-
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ward, but the record of his well spent life will remain as a benison to those who knew him."-Faribault "Republican." March 22, 1899.
The following is a resume of the remarks made by Judge Buckham, of the district court, at the services attending the unveiling of the memorial window :
"Judge Buckham spoke of the early life of Mr. Gale, of his English origin. of his education, which was good but not received in the higher institutions of learning, and of his coming to Ohio and entering upon the ministry at Geneva when about thirty- one years of age. The judge spoke of the rather adverse circum- stances under which he entered upon his pastorate in Faribault in 1866, and of the steady growth in the favor and affection of his congregation thenceforward. He sketched briefly his charac- teristics, his erudition, his disciplined mind, his sermons being all delivered without notes, his social traits in which genuine geniality of disposition and a vein of humor were developed. He grew upon one with acquaintance. He would have occupied a more prominent field but for his innate modesty and contentment with a small parish. The speaker had heard most of the great preachers of the day, and he could think of scarcely any one whose sermons rivalled those of Mr. Gale. He had heard others express the same opinion. He did not, it is true, possess those brilliant traits that characterized Henry Ward Beecher and Dr. Storrs, but he could have filled perfectly the pulpit of Dr. John Ilall.“
And at the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Con- gregational church in Faribault, a letter was read from the Rev. E. M. Williams, formerly pastor of the Plymouth Congregational church in Faribault, in part as follows:
"Well do I recall the form and manners and speech of Rev. Edmund Gale. Though considerably my senior, and with some of the peculiar reserve of an Englishman, he treated me with great kindness and fraternal courtesy, and I recognized in him a man of wide reading and intellectual strength. Beneath a some- what severe exterior there was a keen perception of the humor- ous and great tenderness of heart. Many a serious talk and hearty laugh did we enjoy together, sometimes in his study, or at his table. or on some ecclesiastical crrand. Mrs. Gale, too. as I remember her, was a most carnest, devoted and faithful pastor's wife."
Donald W. Grant, retired contractor. capitalist and land owner, now residing in Faribault, was born in Canada, Septem- ber 9, 1845. of Scottish ancestry. He removed to Ohio with his parents as a lad of fifteen, and in 1865 came to Faribault, engag- ing shortly afterward in railroad contracting. In this work he
1318 HISTORY OF RICE AND STEELE COUNTIES
continued on an extensive scale until 1904, doing grading, track- ing and bridging. During this period he also engaged in farm- ing and stock raising, owning at one time over 1,000 acres of land in the vicinity of Faribault. At the present time he retains considerable Rice county property, and owns 10,000 acres of wild land in the United States and Canada. In times past he has owned over 50,000 acres of land, and has assisted in the develop- ment of a considerable portion of it. Mr. Grant is interested in the Security State Bank, of Faribault, and holds stock in many other banks. He was married at Faribault, November 20, 1890, to Margaret Parker, and to this union have been born four chil- dren: Rosamond is a student at Smith College, Northampton, Nass ; Donald is a student in the Faribault high school, as is also Margaret ; Helen, the youngest, is a pupil in the Faribault Central school. The family residence is at the corner of Third avenue and Sixth street. Mr. Grant is an estimable citizen in every respect, and has done much to develop the natural resources of the country. The parents of Donald W. Grant were William and Catherine (McDonald) Grant, natives of Canada, of Scottish descent. They moved to Ohio in 1860. The father died in 1864, and the mother came to Minnesota and died in Walcott town- ship, this county, in 1887.
Frank L. Glotzbach, a leading druggist of Faribault, state senator, and former city mayor, has for many years been promi- nent in the Democratic councils of the state. His influence is wide felt and his reputation is well deserved. He was born in Natrona, Pa., September 11, 1872, and there received his early education. Upon coming to Minnesota in 1887 he entered the employ of J. C. Thro, Mankato druggist, until 1893, when he came to Faribault and worked for M. L. Payant, druggist, until 1898. Since that date he has been in business for himself. After ten years his place on Third street proved too small for his in- creased business, and he took up his present commodious quar- ters on the corner of Central avenue and Third street, where he handles a large line of goods and makes a specialty of carefully compounding prescriptions. The store is modern and up to date in every particular and commands a wide trade from the city and surrounding country. The stock carried in the store is valued at $8,000. Mr. Glotzbach has filled many positions of public and political trust and honor. He was alderman from the First ward two terms and was elected mayor in 1904. So successfully did he administer the affairs of the city that he was re-elected without opposition in 1905. In 1900 he was delegate for the Democratic national convention at Kansas City. For eight years he was a member of the Democratic state central committee, and from 1904 to 1908 he was chairman of the Democratic congressional
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