History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I, Part 39

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 964

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VI. Holy Family Parochial School of Albany. This is one of the larg- est Catholic schools in the county, an excellent graded school, covering eight grades. It was established by Rev. P. Conrad, O. S. B., in 1904. The old church in the rear of the new one was remodeled, adapted for a temporary schoolhouse and used for school purposes until 1910, when a large, substantial schoolhouse, modern in all its appointments, was erected by the Rev. P. An- drew Straub, O. S. B., at a cost of about $30,000. Five sisters of the Order of St. Benedict are in charge of the school. The first principal was the Ven.

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Sister Emmerama, from 1904 to 1912 and since 1912, the Ven. Sister Ehren- trudis. The number of pupils enrolled in 1914 was 250.

VII. St. Boniface Parochial School of Melrose. The large St. Boniface parish of Melrose erected in 1910 one of the finest modern schoolhouses at a cost of $45,000. Until the summer vacation of 1914 it was rented to the school district for public school purposes. Since September, 1914, however, it has been the Catholic Parochial School of Melrose. The magnificent building was erected through the energy of the pastor, the Rt. Rev. Mgr. B. Richter, and the generosity of his people. It is a graded school, comprising all eight grades as heretofore, but a ninth grade will be added to the curriculum, as preparation for the high school. The school is in charge of the Benedictine Sisters, the Ven. Sister Ursula being the principal and superioress. The last enrollment was 420 pupils, and it will not be less in the parochial school.

VIII. St. Joseph's Parochial School, of St. Joseph. Until June, 1914, the spacious schoolhouse, erected by the school district on church land, was used as a public school. This building, however, was bought by the St. Jo- seph parish, arranged for a parochial school and opened September, 1914. The school comprises cight grades and is in charge of four sisters of the Order of St. Benedict. The Ven. Sister Theresia is principal. The last enrollment was 190 pupils.

Several other places in Stearns county are preparing to erect parochial schools, so that in a short time they will be in due proportion to the number of Catholic parishes in the county.

CHAPTER XXI.

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW.

Facts in the Early Career and Later Success of People Who Have Helped to Make Stearns County-Founders and Patriots-Names Which Will Live Long in the Memories of the Residents of This Vicinity-Stories of Well- Known Families Who Have Led in Public Life.

James Colgrove. In the middle years of the past century, New England and New York state were peopled with a hardy race from which came not only some of the great minds of the nation, but also the substantial self-sacri- ficing men who left the settled peace of the older communities and braved the hardships and rigors of pioneer endeavor. They were a well-informed people, for the district schools gave a liberal education which might well be envied by the young people of the present generation, while the academies taught the higher branches. Nearly every family had a teacher or two among its children, and it was customary among the young men of the better families before settling down to farming, or entering upon the study of the pro- fessions, to acquire self-discipline and firmly fix their own knowledge, by teaching for a few years. Among these farmer-teachers who became pioneers of Minnesota may be mentioned the one whose name heads these notes.

MR. AND MRS. JAMES COLGROVE

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James Colgrove was born May 8, 1841, in Hornellsville, now Hornell, Steuben county, New York, the son of Francis and Amanda (Pitts) Colgrove. He was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father's farm, passed through the district schools and finished at the Alfred Academy. Then he taught school for four years in his native state. In the fall of 1866, he came to Min- nesota, and upon locating in Stearns county, taught school in Clearwater and Lynden for several terms. He located in section 34, Lynden, bought a farm which in time he increased to 400 acres, and there resided for some thirty- four years. A keen thinker, it was natural that he should become one of the leaders in his township. He was chairman of the board of supervisors, town clerk and justice of the peace, as well as chairman of the school board of his district. At one time he ran for a seat in the state legislature on the Populist ticket, and was defeated by a small majority. While on the farm he took a deep interest in the betterment of farm conditions. As the result of much cogitation, he perfected the machine which is now on the market as the Colgrove Potato Digger. In 1901 he came to St. Cloud, and is now the secretary of the Granite City Iron Works, where his patent is manufactured. The machine is said to be one of the most perfect of its kind now on the market. A description of its many technical perfections is beyond the scope of this work. Its structure is most admirable as to durability and simplicity. It handles and distributes the dirt in such a way as to make the machine of easy draft, it does not scatter nor cut the potatoes, it leaves them on the ground well cleaned, and it also improves the ground, doing away with the necessity of plowing. Weeds are brought to the surface, and thus are easily gathered and burned. Mr. Colgrove is well versed in Masonry. He was made a Mason in Clearwater Lodge, No. 28, A. F. & A. M., Clearwater, Minn., and several times served as its Master. He is now a member of North Star Lodge, No. 23, St. Cloud. Mr. Colgrove married Mary Louise Stearns, the daughter of Calvin Stearns, and they have three children, Mary L., Frances Amanda and Pitt Payson. Mary L. married W. W. Robertson, and they have one daughter, Carrie L. They live at Bath, Maine. Frances Amanda married Harry Big- gerstaff, and after his death she married Anthony Murphy, of St. Cloud. Pitt Payson received his early education in Clearwater, attended the St. Cloud State Normal School and the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the University of New York. For twenty years he taught mathematics in the St. Cloud State Normal School, and is now superintendent of the city schools of Virginia, Minnesota. He married Alice Jacobs, and they have one daugh- ter, Helen L. Mrs. Mary Louise (Stearns) Colgrove died October 9, 1911.

Amos M. Hamlin, one of the oldest residents of St. Cloud, was born Feb- ruary 22, 1823, in the town of Manlius, Onondaga county, N. Y. In 1842 he came westward to Michigan and worked as a shoemaker and farmer. In 1864 he enlisted in Company K, Thirteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., in 1865, and returned to Michigan. In 1882 he came to St. Cloud, and worked as a mason on many of the impor- tant buildings of the city, including the Cathedral and the Grand Central Hotel building. He continued in active business until 1889, when he retired.

Mr. Hamlin married Laura Pennock, now deceased, a native of New York

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state, and daughter of Thomas J. Pennock. Mr. and Mrs. Hamlin had five children : Frederick, Carrie E., Edith, Thomas J. and Harry. Frederick married Henrietta Northam, lives in the state of Washington, and has nine children. Carrie E. is the wife of Samuel Marshall. Edith married Orson Culver, has three children, and lives on a farm in Michigan. Thomas J. mar- ried Libbie Castor. They live in the state of Washington. Harry is deceased.

Samuel Marshall was born in Rock Island, Illinois, January 19, 1853. He farmed for a while near Mendota, Ill., and then came to St. Cloud where for seventeen years he has been employed in the shops of the Great Northern Railway. He is a member of the United Workmen. Mr. Marshall married Carrie E. (Hamlin) Bowen, daughter of Amos M. and Laura (Pennock) Ham- lin, and widow of George Bowen. By her marriage to Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Mar- shall has one daughter, Ethel, wife of Charles Beatty, of Ellsworth, Minnesota.

Clinton D. Grinols, postmaster at St. Cloud, was born in Oak Grove, Anoka county, Minnesota, June 24, 1860, son of Benjamin and Isabelle (Cooper) Grinols. He was taken to Fair Haven by his parents, and attended school there. He also attended school in St. Cloud, and in the spring of 1879 graduated from the St. Cloud State Normal School. He clerked in his father's store in Fair Haven during the summer months, and in the winters of 1880-81 and 1881-82 taught school at Kimball Prairie. In the spring of 1882 he became a member of the firm of B. Grinols & Sons. In the spring of 1892, when that firm went out of business, he became state agent for D. M. Osborn & Co. Two years later he formed with Walter Gregory, the firm of Grinols & Gregory, dealers in farm implements and fuel. Four years later the concern was incor- porated as the Grinols Company. In 1904, Mr. Grinols disposed of his inter- ests in this concern. Then for two years he was an agent for threshing and mill machinery. October 1, 1906, he was appointed postmaster at St. Cloud by President Theodore Roosevelt, and the appointment was confirmed in De- cember of that year. In 1911 he was reappointed by President William How- ard Taft, and is still in office. Mr. Grinols is a Mason, an Elk and an Inde- pendent Forester. He belongs to the Commercial Club and the Old Settlers' Association. Clinton D. Grinols married Elizabeth Ross, born in Canada, daughter of Alexander Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Grinols have four children, Pearl, Marie, Ross and Walter. Pearl is the wife of William MacMullen, and they have two children, Clinton and Elizabeth.

Benjamin Grinols was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, and came to Minnesota in 1856. He lived in Oak Grove until June, 1865, when he located in Fair Haven, and engaged in the mercantile business with his brother- in-law, William Cooper. This partnership continued until the death of Mr. Cooper, in 1882, when with his sons, Clinton D. and Ernest E. Grinols, the business was taken over under the firm name of B. Grinols & Sons. The business was closed ont in the spring of 1892. Benjamin Grinols married Isa- belle Cooper, who was brought to Minnesota with her parents in 1857.

David J. Hanscom, one of the early pioneers, was born in York county, Maine, August 23, 1833, and was taken as a small boy to Kennebec county, in the same state, where he grew to manhood and engaged in agricultural pur- snits. He came west, lived in Wisconsin for a while, later was employed as

CLINTON D. GRINOLS

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. a carpenter in St. Paul, and in 1859 came to section 25, Eden Lake, this county, as its first white settler. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fourth Minnesota Vol- unteer Infantry, and saw service against the Indians and in the South. He was home on a furlough for a while in the early summer of 1864, and received his honorable discharge that fall. On his return to Eden Lake, he located in section 24, and there spent the remainder of his days, dying May 11, 1896. Mr. Hanscom was the first town clerk, elected in 1867, and held that office for eleven years. He was assessor eight years, and at various times was treasurer and clerk of the school board of his district. David J. Hanscom was twice married. His first wife, Maria Clark, of Illinois, whom he married August 18, 1859, died January 19, 1870, leaving two children, Sanford and Mary A. San- ford was the first white child born in the town of Eden Lake. He now lives in Minneapolis. Mary A. is dead. Mr Hanscom married Lizzie C. Abbott, Feb. 22, 1871, and this union was blessed with four children, George E., Stella L., Ella F. and Beulah. Stella L. married L. E. Christ, lives at Maple Plain, Minn., and has two children, Hester and Florence. Ella F., who died in October, 1908, married James Ponsford. Beulah died April 20, 1881, as an infant.

Rudolph Huhn was born in Prussia, Germany, February 12, 1833, and came to America in 1852 with his sister. He worked in a piano factory for a while, in Covington, Kentucky, and later went to Pettis county, Missouri, where he and his brother split rails and did other pioneer work. After his marriage he went to Newport, Kentucky, with his bride, and remained about a year. In 1861, they came to St. Paul by boat, and then took the overland trip to St. Cloud. In the time of the Indian troubles Mr. Huhn joined Com- pany D, of the First Mounted Rangers, and went with that company to the frontier under General Henry Sibley. After a year's service he returned to St. Cloud, and shortly afterward went to work in the furniture factory of Car- lisle & Spicer, remaining in this employ seventeen years. Then he purchased the furniture store on the corner of St. Germain street and Eighth avenue. On this corner he erected a new building and continued in business there until within a few years of his death. He died January 22, 1910. Mr. Huhn mar- ried Elizabeth Mockenhaupt, daughter of John A. Mockenhaupt, a wood-turner by trade who brought his family to America in 1852, reached New Orleans October 24, came up the river to St. Louis, and took up some land in Missouri where he carried on farming for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Huhn were the parents of eight children : Joseph, Rosie, Ida, Henry Leo, Robert L., Panlinus G., Edward B. and Clara. Joseph was born in Newport, Kentucky, June 29, 1860, and died May 17, 1905. Rosie married Andrew Kolb and they have five children. They live in Melrose, Stearns county. Ida married Henry Thien. They live in Billings, Montana and have eight children living. Henry Leo died in infancy. Robert L. lives at home. Paulinus G. also lives at home. He served in the Spanish-American war in the Philippines in Company M, 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Marquina, P. I., March 25, 1899. Edward B. married Clara Akers. They have four children and live in Minneapolis. He was accidentally killed February 11, 1914. Clara is the wife of John Terhaar. They have two children. Mrs. Huhn, although ad- vanced in years, is in the full possession of her faculties, and possesses a re-

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markable memory for dates and things of interest which took place in St. Cloud in the early days.

Mathew Hall, now engaged in the lumber business in St. Cloud, was born at Aselfingen, Amt. Bondorf, Baden, Germany, August 27, 1863, the son of Dionis and Zelia Korumel Hall. In 1882 the father decided that his boys should be given the wider opportunities that America presented, rather than be forced to serve three years as apprentices without pay. His wife being dead, his interests were solely in his children. Accordingly the family, consist- ing of the father and the children, Mathew, Joseph and Mary, came to this country and located at St. Cloud, where the father became a market gardener and small fruit grower. Mathew, after reaching St. Cloud took special courses in school to fit him for a business life. For a time he was a railroad man and later a gardener. He attracted the attention of former Lieutenant Governor C. A. Gilman who took a deep interest in his career, and who first employed him four years in his lumber business, and then encouraged him to start for himself. It happened that the lieutenant governor had some lumber at Oak Park, Benton county, and he made the suggestion that Mr. Hall, then twenty- six years of age, take it and start in business. Accordingly Mr. Hall loaded five car loads with the assistance of a friend, shipped the lot to St. Cloud, and opened a lumber yard. This was the first stepping stone to the present large and profitable business. In speaking of Mr. Hall, Governor Gilman says : "The key to his success is his perfect honesty. When he was a boy I would have trusted him with every cent I had in the world, and the years have proved that I was justified in my faith." Mr. Hall is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Hall married Anna, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Webber) Volz. Mr. Volz died June 1, 1907. Mrs. Volz is still living in the city of St. Cloud. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have nine children, Alfred, Herbert, Edwin, Marie, Marcellus, Clothilda, Louisa, Lawrence and Everista.

Andrew Hennemann, former postmaster of St. Cloud, was born in Lake county, Ill., January 23, 1854, son of Andrew and Katherine (Schoeneberger) Hennemann, who brought him to St. Cloud in 1866. As a youth he became a harness-maker, and worked both in St. Paul and St. Cloud. For some time he and J. C. Moos were partners. Under Cleveland's second administration he served as postmaster at St. Cloud. In recent years he has devoted his at- tention to the taxidermist's art. He is a member of St. Joseph's Society and the Catholic Order of Foresters. Mr. Hennemann married Katherine, the daughter of Peter and Angeline Sauermann Kraemer. This union resulted in four children : Emil J. A., Hedwig, Lenora and Sylvester George. Emil J. A. married Tracy Kapfer and they have eight children. Hedwig married Edward Brick, St. Cloud chief of police, and they have one child, Cyril. Lenora mar- ried Peter Ahles, superintendent of schools at Hancock, Minn., and they have three children. Sylvester George died at the age of five months. Peter and Angeline (Sauermann) Kraemer were pioneers. Mrs. Kraemer now lives in St. Joseph, and is one of the best informed women in the county in regard to historical matters. Her opinion is often sought to settle disputed points about the early days in St. Cloud and Stearns county.

MATHEW HALL

JOSEPH J. HILBE

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Andrew Hinnemann, Sr., came to America in 1842 with his father John Simon, and located in Lake county, Illinois. After he was married he went to Chicago, with $5 in his pocket. In that city he went to the well-known wholesale concern of Bone Bros. and, frankly telling them of his lack of finan- cial resources, secured from them a peddler's outfit. At the end of a year he had enough money to start his wife in a small business at Buffalo Grove. About five years later he gave up his road work, enlarged the small store into a gen- eral store, and opened a tavern and place of refreshment. In 1866 he brought his wife and his seven children to St. Cloud, and purchased a farm in St. Au- gusta township. A short time later he purchased from Nicholas Schaefer his hotel. This he operated until 1883 when he retired. He and his wife spent their declining years in a pleasant residence at the corner of Second street and Thirteenth avenue.

Ernest Keller, retired banker, was born in Baden, Germany, near the banks of the Rhine, December 18, 1860, son of Andrew and Rose Keller, who brought him to St. Cloud in 1872. Having already attended the excellent schools of his native land, the subject of this mention completed his schooling in St. Cloud. After holding various clerical positions, he entered the employ of the Mc- Cormick Harvester Co., at St. Cloud. In 1892 he engaged in the implement business in Little Falls, Minn. In the spring of 1896 he moved to Albany in this county, where he and H. A. Warner started a private bank. In 1906 this bank was reorganized as the First State Bank of Albany, with Mr. War- ner as president and Mr. Keller as cashier. In 1909, Mr. Keller retired. He is still financially interested in several banking institutions but is not actively concerned in their management. Mr. Keller married in 1897 Clara Balder, a native of Wisconsin, and they have four children: Esther, Florence, Erwin and Arthur. Mr. Keller is a member of North Star Lodge, No. 23, A. F. & A. M., of St. Cloud.

Joseph J. Hilbe, proprietor of the Golden Rule, at St. Cloud, was born March 7, 1883, in Wilson township, Winona county, Minnesota, son of Joseph A. and Mary (Kessinger) Hilbe. He attended the district schools of that township, as well as the Central school, and the parochial schools of Winona. For two summers he worked for the Laird, Norton Co. December 8, 1898, he entered the employ of the dry good establishment of Edward F. Mues, in Winona. Later he worked a while for Schlingerman & Walsch in the same city. In 1901 he came to St. Cloud, entered the employ of the Leisen Shoe & Dry Goods Co., and remained in that establishment for over seven years. Then he went to Fargo, and was with the A. L. Moody dry goods store a year. In 1909 he returned to St. Cloud, purchased the "Racket Store," from S. H. Dalton, converted it into a general dry goods store, and changed the name to J. J. Hilbe, dry goods. Mr. Hilbe has proven a capable manager, and the business has prospered until it is now an integral part of St. Cloud life. He is a member of the Elks, the Eagles, the Knights of Columbus and the Com- mercial Club. Mr. Hilbe was married November 5, 1907, to Laura F. Rader, and they have one child, Rader J., born July 30, 1910.

Joseph A. Hilbe was born in Wilson township, Winona county, this state, and married Mary Kessinger, a native of West Baden, Germany. They lived

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for many years in Wilson, but now have one of the best farms and most sub- stantial homes in the vicinity of Fountain City, Wis. They are the parents of six children : Elizabeth, Matilda, Anna May, Joseph J. and Bernard C. Eliza- beth married Charles Goetzman, lives near Sugar Loaf, Winona, Minn., and has six children. Matilda married Albert Meyer, and they have one child. Joseph J. is the subject of this sketch. Anna is the wife of Edward Oertle, lives in Bluff Siding, Wisconsin, and has one child. Mary is the wife of Fred Roetzke, lives near Fountain City, Wis., and has two children. Bernard C. lives with his parents in Fountain City.

Nathaniel K. Hunt, a retired resident of St. Cloud, was born January 23, 1837, in Tombridge, Orange county, Vermont, son of John and Eliza Harvey (King) Hunt, the former of whom was born in Vermont in 1804 and died in 1888 and the latter of whom was born in 1806 and died in 1901. In 1837, when Nathaniel was but four months old, the family started west, going by boat to Detroit, and thence by stage to within twelve miles of Kalamazoo, Mich., where they located on a farm. Here Nathaniel was reared, receiving his education in Antwerp township, Van Buren county, as a boy, and later attended the "Stone College" in Kalamazoo, Mich. For a time he worked as a clerk in a store in Lowell, Michigan, and then, in partnership with Simeon Hunt, engaged in the mercantile business in the same town. Subsequently he took up farming in Antwerp township, Van Buren county, Michigan, and in connection with his agricultural operations conducted a brickyard, using the clay underlying his farm. In 1879 he bought 240 acres of wild land in Haven, Sherburne county, this state. In 1880 he moved onto this farm, and started to develop a model place. He broke and developed the land, prospered with the years, and brought the land to a high stage of improvement. A splendid twelve-room house, a large barn, 30 by 104 feet, and various sheds and other shelters for stock, poultry, crops and equipment, are features of his farm landscape. The place is now occupied by his son, G. S. Hunt. In addition to the farm, and the home in St. Cloud, Mr. Hunt owns a cottage at Long Lake, in Haven township, Sherburne county. Mr. Hunt deals to a certain extent in real estate. In his earlier life he took an active part in the affairs of his township, serving as supervisor and as town clerk. He also occupied several school offiees. For two terms he was an efficient member of the lower house of the Minnesota Legislature. Since his residence in St. Cloud he has taken an active part in civie affairs, and was one of the alder- men before the commission form of government was inaugurated. He is vice president of the Commercial Club, belongs to the Elks, and has been a Mason between fifty and sixty years. He is deeply interested in modern and scien- tifie agriculture, and it was through his untiring efforts that the Farmers' Institute was established in St. Cloud. As a poultry fancier he stands high. He is treasurer of the Central Minnesota Poultry Association, which was or- ganized at St. Cloud in 1911, and his Black Langshangs have never failed to win blue ribbon prizes whenever he has exhibited them. Mr. Hunt married for his first wife, Annetta Spencer, by whom he had two children, Lena and Spencer. Lena married Fred Scherfenberg and they have four children, An- netta, Clara, Myra and King. Spencer married Ceola Keller, and they have

N. K. HUNT

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eight children, Freed, Nathaniel K., Florence, Nellie, Viola, Harty, Lee and Harry. Freed and Nathaniel K. are graduates of the agricultural department, and Florence and Nellie from the domestic science department of the Univer- sity of Minnesota. Annetta Spencer Hunt died in 1866. For his second wife, Mr. Hunt married her sister Jane, who died in 1894. For his third wife he married Rose Mix, daughter of Orange and Elizabeth S. (Hogan) Mix, the former of whom spent his life as a carpenter and also operated an extensive fruit farm in Michigan.

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History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I, Part 39

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper Number of Pages: 964

Author: Mitchell, William Bell, 1843-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : H. S. Cooper
Number of Pages: 964