USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume I > Part 92
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Joseph F. Edelbrock was born in Duelmer, Germany, February 25, 1865, son of Henry and Gertrude Edelbrock. He was brought to America as a boy of fifteen years. For a time he worked in the grocery store of Samuel Mack- rell in St. Cloud. Then he took a claim in Cass county, Minnesota, but at the expiration of eight months he found that he had located on railroad land. So he moved to Seattle and took a claim near that city. For six years he was in business in Seattle. In 1906 he returned to St. Cloud where he still resides. Joseph F. Edelbrock married Celia E. Archambault, a native of Minnesota, daughter of John and Mary (De Lille) Archambault.
Gerard H. Dunnewold, of the firm of Dunnewold & Sartell, manufacturers of sash, doors and general mill work, at St. Cloud, was born in Winterswyek, Holland, October 27, 1861, son of John and Nancy Dunnewold, who brought him to America in 1869, stayed a month in Sauk Rapids, Benton county, this state, then moved to St. George, where they purchased a farm, and carried on farming operations until 1895, when the father died, and the mother moved to East St. Cloud, where she now resides. Gerard H. received his early educa- tion in School District No. 9, St. George, and remained on the home farm until 1880, when he learned the trade of carpenter, from George Marvin and Henry Herbach, with whom he remained a year. In 1895 he formed a part- nership with J. H. Raymond. At the time of Mr. Raymond's death in 1906, he purchased his interest from the heirs, and sold it to his present partner, Henry Sartell. Mr. Dunnewold is one of the active business men of St. Cloud, and is deeply interested in the welfare of his city. He is a Mason and an Elk.
Mr. Dunnewold was married to Phoebe Rau, daughter of Peter Rau, and
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they have three children: Josephine, Mary and John. Josephine married Edward Clough, and they live at Willow River, Minn.
James P. Callahan, proprietor of the Granite City Furniture Co., of St. Cloud, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, November 5, 1856, son of John and Catherine (Kinney) Callahan. John Callahan was born in Canada, and came to the United States as a young man. He married Catherine Kinney, who was born in Ireland, and was brought to America by her parents at the age of three. After their marriage they farmed in Dane county, Wis., until 1888, when they retired and moved to Duluth, Minn., where he died in 1911. She makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Harris, in Minneapolis. In the family there were eight children: Jeremiah, of Minneapolis; James P., of St. Cloud; Ellen, now Mrs. John Delaney, of Two Harbors, Miun .; Mary, now Mrs. James Carey, of Pine Bluff, Wisconsin; John, of Winnipeg, Canada; Hanora, now Mrs. W. L. Smith, of Canada; Agnes, now Mrs. Frank Harris, of Minneapolis, Minn .; Angela, now Mrs. Thomas Murphy, Two Harbors, Minn. James P. received his early education in the public schools of Dane county, Wisconsin, and subsequently took a three years' commercial course in the Madison Business College, at Madison, Wis. For a while he farmed in Cross Plaines, Wis., and about this time mastered the art of telegraphy, a line of work, which, owing to his poor health at that time, he never followed. Subsequently he went to Des Moines, Iowa, worked for a barbed-wire fence manufacturing company for a year and then served three years in the Des Moines Fire Department. Then began his connection with the Singer Sewing Machine Co. For ten years he was collector at Des Moines. Then he was promoted to the important position of manager of the St. Cloud office, a re- sponsibility he still retains. The goods are shipped to him at St. Cloud by the car load, and he distributes them to the various saleshouses and branch offices in Stearns, Wright, Benton, Morrison, Crow Wing, Cass, Wadena, Todd, Pope, Douglas and Ottertail, over all of which offices Mr. Callahan has general charge. He has made a great success of this line of work, and being an active, capable business man, enjoys a splendid standing throughout this part of the state. In addition to his sewing machine interests, he has a large furniture and funeral directing establishment, and is one of the substantial business men of the place. The furniture store and undertaking parlors were opened in 1907 on Fifth avenue, and there Mr. Callahan keeps a full line of furniture and other house furnishings. Being a popular man in the community, he has allied himself with the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Knights of Colum- bus, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. At Des Moines, Iowa, August, 1891, he was married to Mary A. Clark, daughter of John and Alice Clark, and they have one child, Leo J. The family faith is that of the Roman Catholic Church.
Wesley Carter, a pioneer wagonmaker and early miller, of St. Cloud, was born July 7, 1839, in Cumberland county, Maine, and was there reared. In 1857 he came to Minnesota and located in Minneapolis, where he made car- riages and wagons. In the spring of 1859, he secured employment as repairer on the stage route between St. Cloud and Ft. Abercrombie, looking after the coaches and stable buildings. In 1873 he engaged in the making of wagons
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in St. Cloud, a business he continued for several years. In the meantime, in 1874, he acquired a farm in sections 16 and 17, St. Cloud township. He made this place his hobby though carrying on various lines of business in the city. He built a good home, a large barn, and la ther improvements and better- ments. For a time he conducted a storage warehouse in St. Cloud. He was also deeply interested in the milling industry. From 1887 until 1895, when it was destroyed by fire, he operated a flour mill having a daily capacity of 100 barrels. In 1896 he built a new mill of brick, three stories high, above the basement. This had a daily grinding capacity of eighty tons of feed, and could put out two hundred barrels daily of flour. This establishment is now known as the St. Cloud City Mills, Harry C. Ervin being the present owner. In 1902, Mr. Carter erected the three-story brick structure known as the Carter Building. It has the largest floor area of any building in St. Cloud, with the exception of the St. Cloud State Normal School. It houses the Free- man Grocery Co. (wholesale), the Farmers' Produce Co., the official depart- ments of the city of St. Cloud, the Grinols Co., the St. Cloud Commercial Club, the Carter Dance Hall, the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, and five flat apartments. Mr. Carter was a prominent man in the community. He was clerk of the township, and a member of the city council. He also did good service as county commissioner. Wesley Carter was married in 1886, to Martha D. Johnson, who was born in Bergen, Norway. This union has been blessed with three children: Cora E., Martha and John H. W. Cora E. married Anthony Donaker, and they have four children. Martha marrried E. H. Webb, and they have a daughter, Myrtle. John H. W., lives in St. Cloud.
John H. W. Carter, capitalist, of St. Cloud, was born in this city, Septem- ber 2, 1885, son of Wesley and Martha D. (Johnson) Carter. He attended the public schools, the St. Cloud State Normal School, and St. John's College at Collegeville, this county. For a time he was employed by his father who at that time was conducting a storage warehouse. He was with Simmers & Campbell, granite workers, two years, and had charge of the Agate Granite Works for one year. For some time he engaged in the quarry business on his own account, and it is with this industry that his name is intimately con- nected. Since his father's death, however, in 1909, he has devoted his time to looking after the family estate. He also conducts a motor dray line, and is one of the owners of the Farmers' Produce Co., of St. Cloud. He is a mem- ber of the Elks and of the Commercial Club. Mr. Carter married Martha M., daughter of William and Elizabeth Lneck, and a native of St. Cloud. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have three children : Sylvia M., Marjorie, and Martha M.
Frank J. Bach, assistant postmaster at St. Cloud, was born in the city, where he still resides, November 16, 1865, son of John and Katherine (Wil- lems) Bach. He attended the public schools and the parochial schools of St. Cloud, and received his preliminary training as a clerk in the book store of W. L. Rosenberger. On January 1, 1882, he first entered the postoffice as a clerk under Postmaster J. E. West, serving until April 1, 1886. Then he was a clerk in the German-American Bank a few months, later homesteaded a claim in Cass county, Minnesota, and finally was employed in the postoffice at
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Little Falls. In 1890 he again entered the St. Cloud postoffice where he is now the assistant postmaster. He is a member of the Benevolent and Pro- teetive Order of Elks, the Knights of Columbus and the National Association of Assistant Postmasters. Mr. Roch married Martha L., daughter of Fred- eriek and Carolina Pappenfus, .d this union has been blessed with two children : Mary, born May 18, 1911, and John, born October 18, 1912.
John Bach was born in Prussia, Germany, married Katherine Willems, and brought his wife to America in 1861, loeating at onee in Stearns county. They lived on a farm in St. Joseph township for a while, then moved to Jacob's Prairie, afterward located in Roekville township, and finally came to St. Cloud, where he operated a flour and feed store and dealt in farm machinery. In 1885, John Bach died. His wife still makes her home in St. Cloud.
Ambrose Freeman, a hero of the Indian campaign, and a vietim of the Sioux atrocities, was born near Culpeper Court House, Culpeper county, Virginia, February 25, 1823. Descended from a long line of hardy ancestors, he was six feet tall, of stalwart build and rugged constitution, further strengthened in body by a vigorous outdoor life; and being unusually fond of hunting, trapping and fishing, he, early in youth, became known as an ex- pert marksman even in that state noted for its skillful hunters. In 1847 he left Virginia, and took up his residence in Edgar county, Illinois. In 1857 he brought his family to Stearns county, and located about four miles from St. Cloud, near Sauk Rapids. While his life work was largely along other lines, he there farmed for a while, but became discouraged by the rav- ages of the grasshoppers. Consequently he took up his residence in St. Cloud, and resumed his trade as a plasterer and brieklayer. He was engaged at his trade when word came that the Sioux were slaughtering the settlers in the vicinity of Paynesville. Having friends there, he started out alone to see if the reports were true. His observations confirmed the rumors and he at onee returned to St. Cloud and raised a company of twenty-five trusty men. This company buried the dead, relieved distress so far as possible, and for a time patroled the threatened distriets. Upon his return he recruited the "Northern Rangers" and became the captain. At Sauk Centre, the Rangers were joined by a detachment of regular army soldiers under the command of Col. Pettler. The troops then marched to the relief of Fort Abercrombie, and after a sharp engagement raised the siege, and made it possible for the settlers there be- leaguered to return to their former homes, the women and children in the meantime being brought to St. Cloud, where they were well eared for.
October 14, 1862, Ambrose Freeman enlisted in the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers. He was the first choice of the company for captain, but he waived the preference in favor of Oscar Taylor, of St. Cloud, and took the position of first lieutenant. The winter after the enlistment the company quartered at Sauk Centre. In the spring, the Rangers joined the command of Gen. Henry Sibley, the object of the expedition being to drive the Indians beyond the Missouri river. They first reached the vicinity of Devils Lake, and then marched southwest to near the present city of Bismarck. There they encountered the Indians on the war path. In a three days' engagement the Indians were driven baek across Missouri river. While the whites were
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victorious, it was a dearly bought victory. Among the killed was Lieutenant Freeman, who fell dead from his horse, with an Indian arrow through his heart. He was buried in Big Mound, in a wagon box. Twenty years after- ward, his devoted son, Daniel H. Freeman, found his remains, and the body was tenderly brought to St. Cloud and reverently interred.
Daniel H. Freeman, retired, an early pioneer, and one of St. Cloud's pro- gressive citizens, was born in Logan, Edgar county, Illinois, son of Ambrose and Jane Elizabeth (Cole) Freeman, natives of Culpeper county, Virginia. He was brought to St. Cloud by his parents in 1857, and was here reared and here received his early education. His life has been devoted to various lines of business, principally farming, stock raising and dealing, and lumbering as well as real estate speculation. At present he is extensively interested in iron- ore properties. He discovered iron-ore in the Cayuna range in Northern Min- nesota, and also in the Arcturus range, a part of the Missabe range, likewise in northern Minnesota. The Arcturus range is owned by the Hayward heirs, of whom Mrs. Freeman is one, and $80,000 was expended in exploration work before it was leased to the United States Steel Co. Although not actively engaged in its operation, Mr. Freeman is senior partner in the Freeman Whole- sale Grocery Co. While serving in the lower house of the Minesota State legislature, he took an active part in locating the Minnesota State Reformatory at St. Cloud. He donated forty acres on which the buildings are located, in- cluding part of the stone quarry. Later he sold the state eighty acres for the Reformatory grounds, and the citizens raised funds for another forty acres. For two terms, Mr. Freeman was register of the United States land office at St. Cloud. He has been mayor of the city, has done excellent serv- ice on the school board, and has served in other positions of public honor and private trust.
Mr. Freeman married Clara H. Hayward, and of their six children there are living four: Warren, Willard S., Don H., and Zelah M. Warren married Mary McClure. Willard S. married Grace Gardner. Don H. married Grace Simons. Zelah M. married Warren H. Stewart.
Willard S. Freeman, secretary and treasurer of the Freeman Grocery Company, wholesale grocers, St. Cloud, was born in the city where he still resides, April 26, 1879, son of D. H. and Clara H. (Hayward) Freeman, and grandson of Ambrose and Jane Elizabeth (Cole) Freeman. He attended the graded schools, the St. Cloud High School and the St. Cloud State Normal School. He also took courses in the University of Minnesota. For a time he engaged in sheep ranching in Montana, then he operated a farm near St. Cloud, subsequently he worked with his father on the irrigation ditch at Glendive, Montana. In 1910, when the Freeman-Farrell Company was organized, he as- sumed his present position. In 1913 the firm was incorporated under the firm name of The Freeman Grocery Company. Mr. Freeman is a member of the Elks, the Samaritans, the U. C. T. and the Commercial Club. On April 20, 1904, Mr. Freeman married Grace E. Gardner, the daughter of John and Eliza- beth (Baker) Gardner.
Hugh Evans, president of the St. Cloud Grocery Co., was born on a farm in Southbend township, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, May 20, 1858, son of
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Evan H. and Mary (Jones) Evans. He attended the schools of his neighbor- hood, and the Mankato High School, and afterward took a business course in St. Paul. Thus equipped, he entered the employ of the Patterson Mercantile Co., at Mankato. For a time he assisted in the accounting department, but when the company was incorporated he became one of the stockholders, and was subsequently on the road for several years. June 1, 1900, he came to St. Cloud, and with J. C. Cotton organized the prosperous concern of which he is now the head. Mr. Evans is one of the leaders in public life, and he has been mayor of St. Cloud two terms. Mr. Evans married Anna Roberts, a native of Sun Prairie, Wis. Their daughter, Esther, is attending school at Tarrytown, N. Y.
Evan H. Evans, father of Hugh Evans, was born in Wales, and came to America when about twenty years of age. For some years he lived near Utica, N. Y., and there married Mary Jones. For a few years they lived at Emmet, near Watertown, Wis. In 1855, they joined a colony of thirty families, and upon reaching Minnesota, located in Blue Earth county, where the father ended his days in 1872 and the mother in 1900. Hugh Evans, the subject of this notice, has many vivid recollections of the early days. His boyish mem- ories still cling around the old log cabin, with its many hours of happy boy- hood pleasures, and he recalls with interest the sadness he felt when the family moved to a new large brick house, thus taking the twelve-year-old boy away from the childhood home he had loved so well.
Bernard J. Wocken was born in the village of Cold Spring, Wakefield township, son of John and Katherine (Schlick) Wocken. As a youth he at- tended the village schools, clerked in a store and took a business course at St. Cloud. March 1, 1899, he became manager of the Cold Spring Brewing Co., and of the Cold Spring Mineral Water Co., with offices in St. Cloud. Mr. Wocken is a member of the Elks. He married Johanna Peters, a native of Calvary, Wis., and a daughter of John Peters. Mr. and Mrs. Wocken have one child, Werner J., born January 29, 1911.
John Wocken educator, was born in Germany, and came to America as a young man. Possessed of an excellent education, but lacking a knowledge of English, he entered St. John's University at Collegeville, in this county. He has devoted twenty-seven years of his life to teaching, and is now in charge of a school at Cold Spring, in this county.
Amos T. Whitman was born in Turner, Androscoggin county, Maine, came to Stearns county in the sixties, was employed as an accountant in St. Cloud, and spent his declining years in retirement. He died in 1899. Mr. Whitman was married in 1869 to Martha J. Crommitt, and while they had no children, they adopted her brother's son, Luther Oaks, who had lost his mother at a tender age. He has been in every way a son to them, and has received the affection and consideration that would have been given to a child born to them. Martha J. Crommitt, who in 1869 became Mrs. Amos T. Whitman, was born in China, Kennebec county, Maine, daughter of Joshua and Dorothy (Bartlett) Crommitt. Of the ten children born to the family of Crommitt, five are living. They are: John O., of Detroit, Minnesota; Abigail B., living in St. Cloud, widow of Albertus Montgomery ; Martha J., of St. Cloud, widow
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of Amos T. Whitman; Emma B., wife of A. W. Worthing, of Waldo county, Maine; and Hollis M., who has recently moved to the village of China, Maine, from the home farm in China township. Martha J. Crommitt received her early schooling in the China Academy, and became a teacher at an early age. She came to St. Cloud in 1866, with her brother, John, and for a while was his housekeeper. She then resumed her profession, and taught in the Everett School, and in the old school on Fifth avenue. She is a member of Unity Church, St. Cloud.
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