History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources, Part 101

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co.
Number of Pages: 1176

USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources > Part 101

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DR. CHARLES W. CRARY is a native of northern New York, and is descended from a line of Scotch-English ancestors, who settled in the Empire State early in the present century. The doctor's paternal grandfather, Nathan Crary, was born in Scotland, came to America in 1779, being then fifteen years of age, and settled in Connecticut, where he remained for more than a quarter of a cen- tury. A few years before the war of 1812-14, Mr. Nathan Crary removed to St. Lawrence county, New York, locating in Pierpoint, where he died in 1851, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Nathan Crary married Lydia Arnold, aunt of the late Stephen A. Douglas. She was a native of Brandon, Vermont, and survived her husband about five years. To them were born a large family of children. Of these, John Wesley Crary, father of Dr. Crary, was one. He was bred a millwright, settled in Potsdam, and car- ried on a very extensive business along the borders, building the first mills ever erected at Ottawa, then By-town, the capital of the Dominion of Canada. Dr. Crary's lineage on his mother's side was purely English. The family had long been residents of the Empire State, when John Wesley Crary married into it. His wife's name was Mindwell P., daughter of Judge Lemuel Holmes, of Frank-

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lin county, New York, and a captain in the war of 1812-14. Mr. J. W. Crary is still living at St. Paul, Minnesota, with his youngest son, Dr. W. H. Crary, of that city, and is in the enjoyment of per- fect health. His wife died in Redwing, this state, February 24, 1877, at sixty-six years of age, leaving to her husband and children the memory of a life than which no nobler or more unselfish has been lived among women. To J. W. Crary and his wife were born three sons and one daughter. The eldest of these children was Charles Wesley Crary, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Potsdam, New York, May 6, 1835, and shortly afterward removed with his parents to the old farm on which he was raised, one and a half miles southeast of town. Charles W. Crary received a thor- ough academic training in the old St. Lawrence Academy, in his native town, from which he graduated in 1855. That same year he entered upon the study of medicine in the office of Carrol C .. Bates, M.D., one of the most celebrated surgeons of northern New York. In the fall of 1858, young Crary, having completed his studies at the Albany Medical College, graduated M.D., and receiving his parchments from that institution, located for practice at Fort Coving- ton, New York. The following year, May 4, 1859, Dr. C. W. Crary married Miss Mary P. Porter, also a native of Potsdam, born January 4, 1837, and a graduate of the academy, class of 1856. Miss, Porter's father, Orlin Porter, was a prominent clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church ; her mother, Pamelia Porter (née Allen), was a direct descendant of the old Ethan Allen stock of Vermont. The doctor and his wife number a long line of clergy- men among their ancestors on both sides of the house. Dr. Crary having married, continued in practice at Fort Covington, until the call came for additional troops in the fall of 1861, when within twenty-four hours' time he enlisted a full company of one hundred men, and tendered his services to the government. These enlist- ments were upon the express condition that Dr. Crary would remain with the company during its term of service. The company was accepted by the governor of the state, Dr. Crary was commissioned captain, and his command became Co. H, 98 regt. N. Y. Vols. The regiment was ordered to Washington, and in the following spring took the field under Mcclellan. Capt. Crary was with his regiment until May 31, 1862, when he was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, and sent to Annapolis, Maryland. Was in hospital there thirty days and was then sent north on sick leave. Returned to his

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regiment at the expiration of sixty days, and being incapacitated for marching by the injury he had received, was released from his promise to remain with his company, and tendered his resignation as captain of Co. H, to accept the assistant-surgeoncy of the 114th regt. N. Y. Vols. He was soon afterward ordered to the department of the Gulf, under Banks, and reported at Port Hudson. He was in all the engagements fought by that command, ten in number, and served as medical purveyor of the corps (the 19th) until it was ordered to the Shenandoah valley in the summer of 1864. That same fall he was promoted surgeon, and assigned to duty with the 185th regt. N. Y. Vols., then before Petersburg. The doctor was subsequently breveted lieutenant-colonel in the medical department, for honorable and meritorious services in the field, and during the last six months of his service was acting brigade-surgeon of the 1st brigade, 1st division, 5th Army Corps. The war having closed, Dr. Crary was mustered out of the service at Syracuse, New York, July, 1865. after having been on active duty for nearly four years. During this time he was present in seven- teen hotly-contested general engagements, besides numerous skir- mishes. The chief of these actions were the battles of Fair Oaks, Port Hudson, Pleasant Hill, both of the Winchester fights, Hatcher's Run, Gravely Run and Southside Railroad. The same year that he left the army, Dr. Crary settled in Malone, New York, where he was enjoying a very considerable practice, which he relinquished to accept the post of contract-surgeon U. S. A., at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, his brother-in-law, Maj. A. S. Kimball, being quartermaster of that department. He had been in Fort Gibson abont eighteen months, when, in the spring of 1868, the smallpox broke out among the Indians at Cabin creek, some sixty miles up the Grand river from Fort Gibson. Having been recommended for that work by the agents of the Creek, Cherokee and Seminole Indi- ans, Dr. Crary threw up his contract at Fort Gibson, and made special terms with Gen. Parker, commissioner for Indian affairs, to vaccinate all the Indians in the Creek, Cherokee and Seminole nations. Receiving due authority from Washington, and having made all arrangements with the medical department to forward him a fresh supply of non-humanized vaccine-virus every seven days, Dr. Crary entered upon his work. All the details of this service were thoroughly mastered and reduced to a system before it was commenced, and once entered upon it was not relinquished until

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under his own hand thirty thousand Indians had been vaccinated. The doctor was accompanied for weeks together while upon this duty with Mrs. Crary, camping out as they journeyed from station to station, at which the Indian runners had assembled detachments of the tribes in readiness for the doctor's coming. During the five months spent upon this service, the doctor and his wife only received the kindest and most hospitable treatment at the hands of the tribes among whom they sojourned. In 1869 Dr. Crary removed with his family to Philadelphia, remained thirteen months attending clinical lectures at the Blocksley and Pennsylvania hospitals, received his parchments from Jefferson Medical College in the spring of 1871, and shortly afterward located for practice in the city of St. Louis. The five years spent in this city were very prosperous ones, and during their continuance the doctor built up a lucrative practice, and enjoyed the confidence of the profession, as was evidenced by his being made a permanent member of the American Medical Associa- tion, at its session in St. Louis, in 1873. Having become a pro- nounced homœopathist in 1875, the doctor formerly relinquished his relations to the old school of practice, and entered upon the newer and more progressive one, in which he has been signally successful. Owing to pecuniary reverses, the result of unsuccessful political aspirations, Dr. Crary resolved to remove from St. Louis, and being charmed with the scenery of this lake region, located here in 1876. During the eight years of his eminently successful practice in this city, Dr. Crary has won for himself hosts of friends, and four years since (1880) received the compliment of an election to the presi- dency of the Minnesota State Homœopathic Institute, which posi- tion he filled with acceptability. A perfect gentleman in manners, genial in nature, generous to a fault, a fine horseman, a true friend, and a man among men, Dr. Crary -- with his smiling face, and his two hundred and thirty pounds avoirdupois -is justly considered the heavy-weight of the medical fraternity of Lake City. To Dr. Crary and wife have been born four children, of whom only one sur- vives, the eldest, Minnie P., born at Potsdam, New York, May 21, 1860.

C. E. HERMAN, meat market, also dealer in live stock, hides, pelts, tallow and lard ; market stand and office on south side Main street, four doors east of Alleghaney street. Mr. Herman estab- lished himself in business in this city in 1876, on the opposite side of Main street, purchased the property he now occupies in 1878, and

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removed to the present location upon the completion of his shop in 1882. His property fronts two hundred and ten feet on Main and extends to the alley in the rear, a depth of one hundred and forty- five feet. On the west twenty feet of this property his shop is built, a substantial two-story brick, 20×60 feet, with stone basement, sills and caps ; the basement floor of brick and cement. The basement is used for cutting, salting meats, and winter packing, being specially arranged for that purpose. The main floor is used for market-room, office and cold-room, this latter by a special device of the proprie- tor's, being virtually a summer packing-room, well ventilated, with a uniformly low temperature, in which meats will keep perfectly fresh for a month. The floor of the market-room is laid upon double- braced joists throughout, and is practically able to stand any weight that may be put upon it. The curing-house, in the rear, has a capa- city of about two hundred hams ; the cold-room accommodates about twenty carcasses, and the ice-loft overhead holds about twenty tons ; the ice-house (lot 2, block 14) has a storage capacity of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred tons, the supplying of this com- modity being also a part of Mr. Hermann's regular business. The stables and sheds are in the rear of the market, the slaughter-house and yards in Pepin township, three miles from city, and the business keeps from two to three men and three horses constantly employed. They slaughter about five head of neat cattle, and from three to ten head each of sheep, calves and hogs per week. The upper story of the shop is the dwelling of the proprietor. Ceilings downstairs are thirteen feet, overhead eleven feet. C. E. Herman was born in Dresden, Saxony, learned his trade in his native city, came to America in 1870, locating for a time in St. Louis, then, after travel- ing quite generally over the United States, came to Minnesota in 1874, and settled in this city in 1876. He was married April 6, 1876, in Chatfield, Minnesota, to Miss Mary Shaab. They have two children : Theodore, born January 31, 1880 ; Mina, born Novem- ber 14, 1882.

T. S. JELLISON & SON, druggists and dealers in paints, oils, etc., north side Main street, two doors west from Pembroke. This busi- ness is of comparatively recent establishment, the present proprietors having been in the drug trade in this city only since November, 1881, at which time they bought out John Moran, who had suc- ceeded John Schmit, who brought a small stock of drugs to this place from Lake City about three years since. The business under the

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former proprietors was not prosperous, but since it has been in the hands of Jellison & Son it has been well stocked up, a commodious salesroom occupied and a flourishing trade built up. The building, of which they occupy one floor and basement, fronts twenty-five feet on Main, and has a depth of eighty-five feet. Business has increased over one hundred per cent since occupying the present stand, and a force of three persons are employed in its management. This house is also doing an extensive trade in pianos, organs, musical instru- ments and merchandise. Their sales of pianos and organs from October 6, 1882, when they established this branch of business, to July 24, 1883, aggregated sixty-seven ; sales for the thirty days ending July 24, 1883, being five pianos and twelve organs. They handle the Hallett piano and Kimball organ principally, but are not confined to any particular manufactory, as they hold no agency, but, purchasing for caslı, buy and sell to suit the demands of the trade, always keeping a full supply in their wareroom. C. C. Jellison, who manages this branch of the business exclusively, is a native of Indiana, made his acquaintance with the musical trade in the house of Baldwin & Co. He came to Durand, Wisconsin, in 1877, and was for a time engaged as a steamboat clerk, his health having become impaired by too close attention to office work. Soon after he came to Wabasha county, as bookkeeper for Drury & Kirns, lumbermen at this place and St. Louis, and still manages their affairs at this point, his office being in the rear of the drug and music store.

F. H. BURDICK, agent for Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- way Company at this point since 1876. From 1876 to 1879, the first three years of Mr. Burdick's agency at this place, he was without an assistant, performing the work of ticket-seller, freight agent and depot superintendent alone. Since then. particularly since the com- pletion of the Wabasha and Chippewa Valley divisions of the road, the increase of business at this point has become so marked and rapid that a force of eight persons is required to perform the work of this office and the branch station at East Wabasha. Mr. Burdick is a native of Rock county, Wisconsin. He received a common and high school education in his native state, and commenced service as a railway agent and telegraph operator at Castalia, Iowa, in 1870, and was for five years at Cresco, Iowa, in charge of the company's business at that point, before coming to this city in 1876. Mr. Bur- dick married Miss L. J. Niles, of Cresco, Iowa, November 28, 1875.

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They have three children, two born in this city : Adin, born Sep- tember 25, 1876; Niles, born September 25, 1878 ; Francis, born 1882.

FRED C. LOUCKS, well driller, is a son of William and Susan L. Loucks, of New York, and was born in South Grove, Walworth county, Wisconsin, April 20, 1853. In 1865 his father removed to Fillmore county, in this state, and still resides there. Here Fred was reared on a farm, and received a good common-school education. In 1876 he began the business of drilling wells and dealing in pumps, making his headquarters at Spring Valley. In 1877 he re- moved to Mazeppa, and is now engaged in the sale of windmills and pumps. He has recently purchased ninety-five acres of land lying near the village, in Zumbrota and Chester townships, but continues to reside in Mazeppa. On September 18, 1879, he was married to Carrie, daughter of Jacob Stull, of Mazeppa. They have one daughter, christened Edith Pearl, born July 1, 1882. Mr. Loucks' religion is the golden rule. His political principles are those of the republican party.

ANTHONY CASPER, merchant, was born near Strasbourg, in Alsace, April 6, 1841, and came with his parents to Buffalo, New York, when eleven years old. Here he attended the English common schools about six months in all, his early years being mostly de- voted to toil. After reaching maturity he earned one hundred and fifty dollars, which he invested in cows, and started his parents in the dairy business, still conducted by his mother there, his father having died. In 1865 he opened a grocery store in Buffalo, with a capital of three hundred dollars. A year later he took in a partner. In 1870 he bought out his partner, and continued the business six years alone. He became a resident of Chester in the spring of 1877, at that time purchasing one hundred acres of land on the northwest quarter of section 4. On this he erected the large hotel and store that he occupies, with barns and other outbuildings. He sells over fif- teen thousand dollars'worth of goods per year, and his trade is steadily increasing. He has added forty acres to his landed domain, and now tills the whole with the assistance of his sons. Through his efforts a postoffice was secured at Belle Chester, and he was ap- pointed to its charge, his commission dating April 30, 1879. Up to July 1, 1881, he carried the mail from Lake City, and after that the government supplied the office. He has also served as justice of the peace for four years, and is still incumbent of the office. Mr. Casper

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visited this state in 1870, and was so pleased with it that he deter- mined to remove thither as soon as possible. He is an enthusiastic democrat. Himself and family are communicants of Belle Chester Catholic church. He was married in 1865, to Eva Reding, born in Sheldon, New York. Their children were christened respectively, Anthony M., Joseph H., Edward Louis, Mary O., John T., Martha M., Eva Antoinette. Two beside the above named died in infancy.

PETER MUSTY, farmer, is a native of Belgium, born in 1831. His father was John and his mother Barbara (Schmidt) Musty. In 1846 all left their native land, and settled in Wyoming county, New York, where the mother soon died. This subject remained on the farm with his father till 1868. He was married in December, 1856, to Ann Reding, a native of New York, of German parentage. In the spring of 1877 he came with his family to Wabasha county, and bought two hundred and forty acres of land in Chester, where his home is now, on sections 21 and 28. He has a beautiful farm on which he built a large and handsome house in 1881. Large barns were on it at the time of his purchase. He is a democrat, and the family is enrolled in Belle Chester Roman Catholic church. There are ten living children, as follows: Lena (Mrs. John Schuler, Ches- ter); rest at home, viz: Catharine, Mary A., Nicholas, Anthony J., John, Barbara, Henry, Michael J. and Hubert S.

PETER HALL, merchant, was born in Jutland, Denmark, July 25, 1845. He was the second of six children born to Loren and Anna M. Hall. His youth was passed on his father's farm, receiving a good common school education, and attending two years the Aarhuus Latin School of Aarhnus. In 1867 he left his native land and came to Milwaukee. A year later he went to La Crosse, and shortly after bought a farm in Otter Tail county, Minnesota. The next six years he spent traveling about the western country, and in 1877 he located at Theilmauton, erecting the business room referred to elsewhere, and has since been doing a prosperous and promising business in general merchandise. He was the first to locate at Theilmanton, and has a good stock, valued at about four thousand dollars. He was appointed postmaster in 1878, which position he now holds. In 1869 his parents followed him to this country, and have since been living in Otter Tail county, this state. July 30, 1876, he mar- ried Matilda N. Harncane, a native of Pennsylvania. To this union have been born three children, James M., Ann Eliza (deceased) and Ann Eliza. Is a republican. He was elected justice of the

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peace in 1879, holding the office till the spring of 1883. He belongs to Kellogg Lodge, No. 122, F.A.M.

J. E. YOUNG, head miller, Wabasha, since 1877. Mr. Young is a native of Indiana, and was bred to the milling business in Spencer, in that state. He came to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1860, and was in the mills there until coming to this city in 1877. Four years of that time he was second miller in the mill of Eastman & Gibson, and was for another period of four years head stoneman in the Empire and in the Pillsbury B. mills. Mr. Young was married at Minneapolis February 22, 1869, to Miss B. L. Cyphers, of that city. They have one child Susie A. Young, born April 17, 1871.

J. H. LAKEY, superintendent of the Chippewa Valley and the Wabasha divisions of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, general offices at the Union depot on the main line of the road at Wabasha. Mr. Lakey was superintendent of construction of the Wabasha division, and has had charge of its management since ground was broken for its construction in October, 1877. He was appointed superintendent of the Chippewa Valley division Novem- ber 15, 1882. Mr. Lakey is descended from an old central New York family, who settled in Palmyra, Wayne county, in that state, over one hundred years ago. Mr. Lakey learned his trade as a blacksmith, at Lyons, the county seat of his native county, and com- ing to Chicago in 1848, was there employed in making car-springs for the cars of the old Galena road, the first that were ever made in Chicago. In the following year, 1849, Mr. Lakey was in the employ of Baltimore & Ohio railroad, at Cumberland, Maryland, which was at that time the western terminus of the road. In February, 1854, Mr. Lakey returned to Chicago, and entered the service of the Ga- lena & Chicago railroad, then operating a road from Chicago to Scales Mound, one hundred and forty-two miles westward from the lake. This road subsequently became a branch of the Chicago & Northwestern system, and in the employ of that company Mr. Lakey continued twenty-three years, at Turner Junction, where the road branches from the old Galena route, and running westward crosses the Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa, and traversing that state reaches the Missouri at Council Bluffs. Mr. Lakey was in charge of the shops of the company at Turner Junction, and had general care of the rolling stock along the line. The old engine "Pioneer," which so recently attracted the notice of all visitors at the railway exposi- tion in Chicago, was the first engine to run out of Chicago, in 1848,

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and appeared at that city in 1882, substantially as she was built in 1836 for the New York Central Railway Company, by Balwin, of Philadelphia. She was doing duty between Rochester and Buffalo, New York, when Martin Van Buren and Daniel Webster made their first trip westward, and drew the train that brought them over the road. Mr. Lakey remained in charge of the shops at Turner Junc- tion until he came to Wabasha in the fall of 1877 to superintend the construction of what was then known as the Midland railroad, now the Wabasha division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.

M. SCHRAM, proprietor and publisher of the " Mazeppa Tribune," is a native of Prussia, Germany. In 1853, when ten years of age, he came with his parents to America and settled in Chicago, when he went to learn the printer's trade of Jule Hays. Before his appren- ticeship was completed the war of the rebellion broke out, and in 1862 he enlisted in Co. C, 3d Board of Trade regt., when he served his adopted country three years. On being mustered out in 1865, he returned to his case and completed his apprenticeship. In 1868, for the purpose of gaining extended information in connection with his profession, he commenced his travels, which continued through a number of years. In 1877 he came to Mazeppa (with his family), arriving on October 28, with a determination of making it his home and establishing a permanent business ; having, at the time of arrival, a cash capital of three dollars, and a much nsed outfit for a printing office, which he had purchased in Ripon, Wisconsin, for one hundred and twelve dollars, and the whole of which could be carried in an ordinary sized grip. One can easily imagine the trials and difficul- ties besetting a person in the endeavor to establish a business with three dollars, that requires cash or credit to a considerable amount. But his case, like innumerable others, proved the old adage : Where there's a will there's a way. Mr. Schram now has a neat and as well an appointed office as can be found in any village. His paper is full of news items, and his selections exhibit care, judgment and a thorough knowledge of the requirements of his patrons. On Novem- ber 11, 1870, Mr. Schram was married to Miss Anna Lundlinger, of Chicago, by whom he has had five children, three of whom are living, Anna Cary, Michael John and Laura. Mrs. Schram carries on the millinery business and enjoys a good trade. Mr. Schram is mar- shal and constable of the village of Mazeppa.

ABBOT E. SMITH, attorney, Lake City, was born in West Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, September 20, 1855. His father, Samuel

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Abbot Smith, is descended from a Scotch family that emigrated to Massachusetts about 1700. The ancestors of Maria Edes, who was espoused by S. A. Smith, came from England and settled at Charles- town previous to that time. The Abbots, paternal progenitors of S. A. Smith, came in 1636. The latter, who was a Unitarian minister, died in 1865. His son had every educational advantage. In 1877 A. E. Smith graduated from Harvard University with the degree of A.B. The following year he located in Lake City and opened a loan office. In April, 1883, he was admitted to practice before the state supreme court, and is now giving attention to law, loan and collections. He is a member of the Phi-Beta-Kappa society, of the Unitarian church, and of the great republican party.

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History of Wabasha County : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. : gathered from matter furnished by interviews with old settlers, county, township, and other records, and extracts from files of papers, pamphlets, and such other sources, Part 101

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co. Number of Pages: 1176

Author: H.H. Hill and Company. 4n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill & Co.
Number of Pages: 1176