USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 40
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Charles F. Ladner. Among the men whose industry has been a part of the general progress and prosperity of St. Cloud should be mentioned the successful merchant whose name heads this notice. Well suited to the exac- tions of a commercial career, and a thorough master of his own business, he has nevertheless realized that the retail dealers of the community have cer- tain public duties to perform, and these duties he has courageously shouldered. Mr. Ladner is of eastern birth, having first seen the light of day June 29, 1857, in Pottsville, Penn., son of Nicholas and Catherine (Koch) Ladner, who brought their farmily to St. Cloud in 1866 and took up their residence on a farm. Charles F. attended the district schools, and took the commercial course at St. John's University, at Collegeville, in this county. After leaving school, he taught a year in Stearns county, Minn. Then he clerked in New Munich, Albany and Cold Spring. For ten years he was the proprietor of a general store in Arvilla, North Dakota. In 1892 he returned to St. Cloud, bought out Val Batz, and established the business which is now known as the C. F. Ladner Hardware Co. Of this company C. F. Ladner is president; T. K. Ladner, vice president, and Frank Jung, treasurer. In 1897, Mr. Ladner as- sisted in organizing the Minnesota State Retail Hardware Association which now has a membership of 1,200. In 1899 he assisted in organizing the Retail Hardware Mutual Fire Insurance Co., and for eleven years has been its presi- dent. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of For- esters, the St. Joseph Society and the St. Cloud Commercial Club. Mr. Ladner married Theresa Golling, a native of Wisconsin, and they have ten children.
Harry C. Ervin, Sr. Flour milling has been an important industry in Min- nesota since the earliest days. As early as 1823, the government had a crude mill at St. Anthony, a part of what is now Minneapolis. Even prior to 1855, flour had been milled in Stearns county. In 1870, Stearns county had become the seventh flour producing county in the state, having at that time no less than six mills. With the dwindling of the wheat crop in the late seventies, milling in St. Cloud lost some of its importance, but about a decade later there was a revival of interest, and the flour industry in St. Cloud is now an im- portant branch of the city's commerce. Since this revival of interest, the subject of this sketch has been closely identified with the flouring business in this city, and has followed its fortunes here for a quarter of a century.
Harry C. Ervin, Sr., proprietor of the St. Cloud City Mills, was born No- vember 27, 1860, son of Alexander and Elizabeth (McBride) Ervin, the former of Pennsylvania birth and Scotch ancestry, and the latter of Irish ancestry. Harry C. Ervin received a common and high school education in Philadelphia,
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and early turned his attention to the milling business. For seven years he worked for John S. Wesley, a Philadelphia flour merchant. In 1887 he en- tered the employ of George Tileston, a flour miller, and with him came to Faribault, in this state, that year. The next year, 1888, he came to St. Cloud as manager of Mr. Tileston's mill here. In this capacity he remained until 1902, when he purchased Wesley Carter's mill, and established the St. Cloud City Mills. He has made many improvements, including the construction of a large elevator and a splendid office building. George Reis is the super- intendent, and Harry C. Ervin, Jr., is in charge of the accounts. Mr. Ervin is a member of the St. Cloud library board. He belongs to the Commercial Club and to the Royal Arcanum. Harry C. Ervin, Sr., married Mary Jeanette, a native of Philadelphia, daughter of Thomas Sappington, a wholesale boot and shoe merchant of that city. There are four children, Thomas S., Harry C., Jr., Frances and Kingsley. Thomas S. has charge of the branch office at Bemidji, Minn.
Mr. Ervin died November 15, 1914, after this sketch was in type .-
Harry C. Ervin, Jr., accountant for the St. Cloud City Mills, was born February 22, 1886, in Philadelphia, Penn., son of Harry C. and Mary (Sapping- ton) Ervin. He attended the public schools of St. Cloud, Minn., and also took courses in the Minnesota State University. Since then he has occupied his present position. Mr. Ervin married Katherine Hubbard, daughter of R. D. Hubbard, of Mankato, Minn., and they have one daughter, Jean.
Michael Lahr, the pioneer, was born in 1823, in Luxemburg, and came to America in 1852. He first located in Aurora, Ill., working on farms and on the railroad and in fact doing whatever work presented itself. In 1854 he came to St. Cloud. After looking about for a time, he and his brother, Nicholas, started a blacksmith shop, building a log shanty as their first place of business. The business grew gradually, and in time became an important plow manufacturing concern. Nicholas Lahr, had, in the meantime, however, made a claim in section 5, St. Cloud township, and after a few years he retired from the manufacturing business and devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. He died January 26, 1889, at the age of sixty- six. His wife died October 27, 1904, at the age of 68. Michael Lahr married Mary Schmit and they were the parents of six children, Peter N., Jacob N., Mary A., Joseph P., Nicholas A., and Frank M. Peter N. is a retired farmer of St. Cloud. Jacob N., a farmer of St. Cloud township, married Bar- bara Heafner and they have six children. Mary A. married A. A. Eich, who is engaged in the automobile business in St. Cloud. They have three children. Joseph P. married Florence Young, lives at Bemidji, Minn., where he keeps a store, and has two children. Nicholas A. lives in St. Cloud, and is a member of the firm of Lahr Brothers. He married Susie Hershfeld. Frank M. lives in St. Cloud.
Frank M. Lahr, was born on his father's farm, in section 5, town of St. Cloud, Stearns county, October 15, 1879, son of Michael and Mary (Schmit) Lahr, the pioneers. He attended the district schools of his neighborhood and graduated from the Cathedral Parochial school at St. Cloud. In 1890 he came to St. Cloud from the farm and in 1901 engaged in business in East St. Cloud.
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In 1903 his brother, Nicholas A., formed a co-partnership with him as Lahr Bros., and they conduct the "Palm" at the corner of Seventh avenue and St. Germain street. May 1, 1912, Mr. Lahr became local manager for the Minne- apolis Brewing Co., a position he still retains. He is a member of the St. Cloud Acrie, No. 622, F. O. E., and of the local council of the U. C. T. He was married December 18, 1902, to Margaret Zeagler, and their two daugh- ters are Armella and Margaret.
Jacob A. Lahr, clerk of the probate court of Stearns county, was born in St. Cloud, March 19, 1861, son of Nicholas and Mary (Birden) Lahr, the pioneers. He attended the parochial schools and the St. Cloud State Normal school. As a boy he was employed by George Setzler & Co., retail dry goods merchants, and later for a time he worked in the grocery store of E. T. Dur- gin & Co., Minneapolis, Minn. Then for some years he was a partner in the firm of Lahr & Kruchten, dealers in farm implements. Later he was em- ployed by Griggs-Cooper Co., wholesale grocers, at St. Paul, and subsequently became bookkeeper for the Stevenson Brothers at St. Cloud. January 1, 1895, he was appointed clerk of the probate court of Stearns county, Minn., a position he has since occupied with the exception of two years when he was with the county treasurer. Mr. Lahr married Anna De Wenter, daughter of John and Louise De Wenter, and they have three children, Alfred, Norbert and Clarence.
Walter W. Murphy, railroad contractor, now living in a beautiful home on Seventh avenue, South, St. Cloud, was born September 8, 1853, in the county of Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada, son of James and Anna (Doyle) Murphy. The family history is a most interesting one. James Murphy was born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, the son of Michael and Sarah (Pennel) Murphy. Michael Murphy was born in Wexford, Ireland. There is a pretty story in the family regarding Sarah Pennel. She was born in England in a family of the gentility. In taking a voyage to America, the ship on which she was a passenger was wrecked off the coast of Newfoundland. She was cared for by the kindly natives, and finally married Michael Murphy, who had settled there several years previous. Anna Doyle was born in Wexford, Ireland. She was the daughter of Moses Doyle. Her mother was an O'Neil, descended from that famous warrior-chieftian, "The O'Neil," who once ruled over a part of Ireland in the stirring days of the Irish kings. Though rich in pluck, the family of James Murphy was poor in pocket. Walter W., whose name heads this article, started out in life for himself, at the age of seven- teen, a poor boy, with little education, and no assets except the possession of a strong will, courage of mind and strength of body. Step by step he has forced his way to the front, until he is now an honored and respected citizen, a successful man of high standing in the business world. He came to America in 1870, and found his way to St. Cloud. From St. Cloud he walked sixty miles to the present site of Brainerd, then without buildings of any kind. For five years he was employed by the Northern Pacific Railroad, grading for roadbeds and getting out bridge timber by hand. He followed the lum- ber woods, driving the logs out of the small streams into the Mississippi, and down that river to Minneapolis. In 1875 he started for Bismarck, North
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. Dakota, and opened a woodyard on the Missouri, at the month of the Little Missouri, for the purpose of supplying wood for steamboats. The trip to that point was a most exciting one. At Bismarck he purchased a yoke of oxen, a wagon, food and tools, and hired two men. With this outfit he drove up the east side of the Missouri, and when they reached a point opposite the Little Missouri, they pursuaded a Ree Indian to ferry them across. The ferry was what was called a bull boat, and consisted of a buffalo hide stretched in the form of a basket. The oxen swam after the boat. The wagon had to be taken to pieces and ferried over wheel by wheel. The Indians were very hostile, Sitting Bull was king of the prairies, and the territory west of the river was fraught with danger to the white man. After the first fall, Mr. Murphy built stage ranches, conducted them, drove stage, and carried mail on ponies from Bismarck to Ft. Stevenson and Ft. Buford; and from Bismarck to Ft. Lincoln, Ft. Rice, Ft. Yaits (or Standing Rock), and Ft. Sully. He also drove across country to the Black Hills from Ft. Keho on the Yellowstone. In 1878 when the Northern Pacific Railroad started to build across the Missouri river and thence to the Pacific coast, Mr. Murphy took charge of an outfit for the old stage firm of Peoples & Rush, and afterward took a similar position with Lameneux & Winston Bros., remaining with them until the fall of 1883, when the road was completed and the golden spike was driven at Gold Creek, Mont. In the meantime, however, in 1882, he had taken a four-months' trip to his old home in Nova Scotia. He brought back with him his father and mother. They are now dead and are buried at Rice, Benton county, Minne- sota. A splendid monument has been erected to their memory. During the fall and early winter, of 1883, Mr. Murphy had a contract to get out ties for a branch of the Northern Pacific up the Prickly Pear Canyon to Wix Mines. This was his first big contract. Since then there are few important ventures in the line of railroad construction in the Northwest in which he has not had a part. For a time he was in partnership with Fred Smith, a civil en- gineer, but for the most part he has been in business alone. He has done all sorts of grading work, has furnished great quantities of ties, and has been particularly successful in his contracts for the distribution of bridge and track material. He has had a part in the building of four different lines through the Rocky Mountains; he has crossed prairies, and rivers, and swamps and hills; he has leveled high places and filled up low places, and in nearly every railroad that has been built in the northwestern part of the United States, and southwestern part of Canada, the arrival of his force of men has followed close after the driving of stakes by the engineers. After fin- ishing the Montana contract in the winter of 1883-84, Mr. Murphy returned to Minnesota. In the spring of 1884 he took a contract for grading and dis- tributing bridge timber and ties on the Minneapolis & St. Louis along the Min- nesota river from Morton to Red Wood river, near Red Wood Falls. In the spring of 1885 he took a grading contract from River Falls to Ellsworth, Wis., and still later he took the work of lowering the canal at St. Anthony falls, in Minneapolis. Then he took a contract in Indiana. But in the spring of 1886 he shipped his equipment back to Minnesota, and took a contract on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, in South Dakota. That completed, he
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drove across the country to Rock Rapids, Iowa, and distributed ties and bridge timber from Ellsworth, Minnesota, through a corner of Iowa, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Then he shipped to Lamoure, North Dakota, and dis- tributed ties from Lamoure to Oaks, in the same state. Then he shipped back to Minnesota. In the spring of 1887 he shipped to Minot, North Dakota, and took a contract for grading from Minot, North Dakota, to Great Falls, Mont. That fall he shipped to Willmar, Minn., and graded on the Great Northern from Willmar to Sioux Falls. When winter set in he drove his outfit from Pipestone, Minn., to St. Cloud. In the spring of 1888 he took a contract for doing the excavating and furnishing all the rubil stone for the St. Cloud State Reformatory. He also distributed ties from Watertown, South Dakota, to Huron, South Dakota; and from Willmar to Sioux Falls, on the Great Northern. The year of 1889 was a dull one in the railroad business and Mr. Murphy took St. Cloud contracts. He graded Third avenue, and a part of Fourth avenue and Seventh avenue. In the spring of 1890, he graded Ninth avenue and a drive around Lake George. That summer he shipped an outfit to Great Falls, Mont., drove up Sun river across the Blackfoot Indian reservation to Medicine Pass, and located and built a wagon road through the Rocky mountains, to the Flat Head valley, in order that the Great North- ern might get outfits to the line it was starting to build to the coast. Mr. Murphy also had the contract for furnishing many ties for that line. In the summer of 1891 he sold his outfit in the mountains and came home to St. Cloud, where he went into the livery business with J. A. McDonald. In this business he suffered severe financial loss, but paid all his obligations and started in anew. In the summer of 1896 he went to Marquette, Mich., and as a salaried employe supervised the dock work there for Winston Brothers, of Minneapolis. In the same employ he supervised the work of double track- ing the Chicago & North Western from Madison, Wis., to Baraboo, Wis., in 1896; and work on the Illinois Central at Bardwell, Kentucky. In the spring of 1898, Mr. Murphy became chief of police in St. Cloud, but resigned after one year of service. In the spring of 1899 he took a contract for the Chicago & North-Western for twenty miles in southern Minnesota, with headquarters at Welcome, Martin county, Minn. Since then his contracts have been as follows: 1900-On the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, sub-let from the Winston Bros., headquarters at Richmond, Ill. 1901-On the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy, with headquarters at Creston, Iowa, and on the Wabash near Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Mt. Pillur, Ohio. 1902-On the Fremont, Elk Horn & Missouri Valley, in Nebraska, with headquarters at O'Neil, Nebraska. 1903- On the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, between Champaign, Ill., and Danville, Ill., with St. Joseph, Ill., as headquarters. 1904-At Calgary, Canada, with Earl Cravens, under the firm name of Cravens & Murphy. 1905-Thirty miles on the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, from Kenmare, North Dakota, to Thief River Falls, Minnesota. That winter and the two succes- sive winters he did considerable logging on the Pine river, in Minnesota. 1906-Eighty-five miles for the Minneapolis & St. Louis, from Watertown to Labo, on the Missouri river, South Dakota.
1907-1909-Government ditch work on the Yellowstone, in Montana,
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with headquarters at Glendive, Mont. Work on the Minneapolis & St. Louis in South Dakota, with headquarters at Missoula, Mont. On the double track of the Northern Pacific from Garrison to Missoula. On the extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, to the Pacific coast. 1909-At Dixon, Ill., on the Chicago & North Western; at Chehalis, Wash., and at Portland, Oregon. 1909-10-On the Chicago & North-Western from Haywarden, Iowa, to Hin- ton, Iowa, near Sioux City, Iowa. 1910-On the Chicago & North-Western from Necedah, Wis., to Grand Marsh, Wis. 1911-On the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, twenty-two miles double tracking from Merrill, Wis., to Milston, Wis. Large contract of stripping gravel pit near Grand Marsh, Wis. 1912-13-On the Chicago & North-Western, sixty-five miles from Peoria, Ill., to Green Ridge, Ill. In the meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have taken a number of pleasure trips. In 1908 they visited the principal points on the Pacific coast. In 1911 they visited the East, stopping at such places as Chi- cago, Ill., Detroit, Mich., Buffalo, N. Y., Syracuse, N. Y., Albany, N. Y., New York city, Boston, Portland, Maine, St. Johns, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sydney and Cape Britton. In the fall of 1913, they visited Hot Springs, Arkansas. Mr. Murphy has made his permanent home in St. Cloud since 1884, and though so often away he has taken an active interest in the welfare of the city. He belongs to the Elks, the Modern Woodmen, the Knights of Co- lumbus, and the Catholic Foresters, and is a most welcome visitor in the lodge rooms of all these organizations throughout this part of the country.
Mr. Murphy married Elizabeth Ann Calahan, a native of Canada. They have seven children: Mary, Rose Ellen, Eugene, Julia, Walter J., George L., and Cecelia. Mary married John Sweiger, and has three children. Rose Ellen is an artist and lives at home. Her work in oil and china is worthy of mention. Julia died at the age of nine. Eugene and Walter J. are with their father in the construction business. George L. and Cecelia are still in school. The family faith is that of the Catholic church.
Peter N. Lahr, a retired farmer now living in St. Cloud, was born in section 5, St. Cloud township, September 6, 1863; son of Michael and Mary (Schmit) Lahr, the pioneers. He was reared on his father's farm, in St. Cloud township, and received a good public school education. Although he has given the greater part of his life to farming, he has much native ability as a me- chanic, and is an adept at repairing farm implements and machinery. When his means permitted he purchased the old homestead, and conducted it suc- cessfully until his retirement. Mr. Lahr has been one of the leaders in his township. He was chairman of the board of supervisors for twenty-one years, and treasurer of the school board for twenty-four years. He helped to organ- ize the Sauk Rapids Creamery Co., and was its president five years. He was also one of the directors of the St. Joseph Farmers' Mutual Fire Insur- ance Co. In St. Cloud he belongs to the Commercial Club and the Catholic Order of Foresters. In the spring of 1913, Mr. Lahr completed a home on Seventh avenue, North, St. Cloud, where he moved his family March 20, 1913. Mr. Lahr was married May 18, 1893, to Theresa Dehler, a native of Benton county, and they have four children: Edna M., Victoria S., Irene S., and Alvin F.
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Alexander Mac Gregor was born in Canada, and was brought to the United States, with the other children in the family, by his mother. In 1888 he came to St. Cloud, and carried on his trade as a builder for a while, having several important contracts. Later he engaged in the manufacture of sashes and blinds at the corner of Fifth avenue and Third street. He died in March, 1912. Alexander Mac Gregor married Nellie Barrett, and they were blessed with three children : Effie M., a teacher in the Longfellow school, at Minne- apolis; William, who is secretary to Judge Bunn; and Walter F., who is studying architecture at the University of Minnesota. Nellie Barret was born in Minneapolis, daughter of John and Mary (Garvin) Barrett. Her father in his younger life was a journeyman tailor, and later a farmer. When still a young man, he came from Ireland to Montreal, Canada, and thence to Min- neapolis, finally finding his way to Stearns county. After a short stay here, he went away, but later returned, and farmed in Maine Prairie township for twenty years.
Herman H. Mueller, insurance, loan, and real estate agent, wos born in Lafayette, Indiana, January 17, 1868, son of Bertus and Anna (Toebbe) Mueller. At the age of three he was brought to St. Paul, and at the age of eight to St. Cloud. He attended the public schools and St. Johns University at Collegeville, Minn. In 1885 he became deputy to the county treasurer and county auditor. In 1889 he became deputy clerk of the district court. After the death of E. P. Barnum, January 9, 1902, he became clerk of the court. In the fall of 1902 he was elected to the position. It is interesting to note that Mr. Mueller and his father were in public county office, collectively, thirty- seven years. Since his retirement from public life, Mr. Mueller has been in his present business. He is a member of St. Joseph's Benevolent association and of the Catholic Order of Foresters. On July 7, 1896, Mr. Mueller mar- ried Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter and Anna Goetten, and they have four children, Hubert, Adelaide, Modesta and Peter.
Bertus Mueller was born in Harren, Hanover, Germany, and came to America in 1863. He stayed a time in Covington, Kentucky, and then went to Lafayette, Ind. In his native country he was a military man, but upon settling in Indiana, he bacome a bookkeeper in the mercantile business. He came to St. Paul in 1871 and to St. Cloud in 1876. Here he engaged in the wholesale refreshment business until 1884, when he sold out. In 1885, he was appointed deputy United States revenue collector. In 1891 he was elected county treasurer. At the end of three terms he retired and again became deputy revenue collector. A few years later he retired permanently. He died April 6, 1912. He married Anna M. Toebbe, who survives and lives in St. Cloud. Three children were born to them. Mary and Herman, of St. Cloud, and Elizabeth (deceased).
Rev. Carl Meyer, who died in 1908, and is buried in St. Cloud, was a clergyman of the German Lutheran faith. He was born in Holstein, Germany, came to America about 1863, and was located in various places. He was missionary and pastor in the vicinity of Chicago, Ill., and Quincy, Ill., and was later located at Hastings, Neb., and Herndon, Kansas. In the afternoon
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of his life he took charge of a small congregation in Afton, Minn., and there his days were ended.
Ewald F. Meyer, proprietor of the New Process Steam Laundry, St. Cloud, was born in Kankakee, Ill., September 27, 1869, son of the Rev. Carl and Augusta (Yeager) Meyer. He attended school in the various towns where his father preached, and finished with commercial courses at the Northern Indiana Normal school, at Valparaiso, Ind. He clerked for a while in Chi- cago, had charge of a department for a Union Pacific railroad at Grand Island, Neb., for four and a half years engaged in the laundry business in Wahpeton, N. D., and was then absent from active business for a year by reason of ill health. In August, 1899, he came to St. Cloud, purchased a laun- dry from August Swanson, and with his brother, Oscar Meyer, engaged in that business. The laundry is well equipped, and modern in every respect. Mr. Meyer married Emma Sothman, born near Chicago, daughter of Theodore Sothman. Mr. and Mrs. Sothman have six children : Emma, Otto, Lucy, George, Alma and Rose. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have two children, Kenneth and Mabel.
Joseph Emmel was born in Bavaria, Germany, and came to America as a young man. He married Kunigunda Fischer, who was born in his native place and came with her parents to Cumberland, Maryland, in 1837. In 1856, Mr. and Mrs. Emmel joined a colony, which was bound for Stearns county. The colony reached St. Cloud, May 9, 1856, and began looking about for homes. Joseph Emmel found employment as a carpenter and painter. After a useful life, he died June 8, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Emmel had five children. Heury J. lives in Melrose, this county; Louis died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Octo- ber 23, 1900; Mary lives in St. Cloud; John M. is in St. Cloud; Gertrude is a sister of the order of St. Benedict, at St. Joseph, Minnesota.
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