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 110
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district, where he taught for two terms, after which he entered the high school at Winona and pursued his studies there for one year, when he returned to his old school, where he again "wielded the birch " for three successive terms. At the age of nineteen years he accepted the position of general clerk and bookkeeper for the firm of Bryant Bros. & Johnson, general merchandise and grain dealers. of Elgin, which position he filled until June, 1880. During the month of July, 1880, he bought ont the partnership interest of A. K. John- son in the grain business, of Bryant Bros. & Johnson, and after- ward became senior member of the firm, which assumed the name of J. W. Bryant & Co. On February 3, 1881, Mr. Bryant was united in marriage to Miss Pamelia R. Richardson, who, like him- self, was born in the town of Elgin. Mrs. Bryant is the daughter of H. G. and Julia Richardson, of this town, and with her husband resides in a commodions and substantial frame dwelling, situated on the same quarter-section where the old log house once stood in which her husband was born. Mr. Bryant has never sought for political preferment, being a thorough business man and believing that his path of duty lies in a strict and thorough attention to this, with the exception of the exercise of that duty we all owe as conscientious voters. He is a member of Elgin lodge, No. 115, A.F.A.M., in which lodge he holds the office of S. W.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS, M.D., son of Samuel and Mary A. Adams, was born in the town of Lee, Oneida county. New York, August 7, 1849. Up to his thirteenth year the subject of this sketch attended the district schools in his native county, when he entered the high school at Utica, New York, where he remained two years. In October, 1864, the doctor's parents removed to Plainview, Minne- sota, and he followed them to that place in June, 1865. From this time until 1869 the doctor worked with his father at the printer's trade, attending school part of the time winters. During the snin- mer of 1870 our subject tanght school in what is known as the Jerry Baldwin district, northeast of the village of Plainview. In Septem- ber of the same year the doctor entered Carleton College, at North- field, Minnesota, where he remained during the fall and winter. The doctor had heretofore determined to study medicine, and had arranged to enter the office of Dr. N. S. Tefft, of Plainview. Upon his return from Northfield, during the spring of 1871, he entered the employment of A. Y. Felton as deputy postmaster in the Plain- view postoffice, which position he held for a year and a half, in the
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meantime devoting all his spare time to the study of medicine. During the fall and winter of 1872-3 the doctor attended his first course of lectures at Rush Medical College, at Chicago, Illinois, and in the fall of 1873 he entered the employ of Dr. J. J. Stone, as preseription-clerk in his drug-store at Wabasha, Minnesota, where he remained for nearly a year, and in the fall and winter of 1874-5 he attended his final course of lectures at Rush Medical College, graduating in the month of February, 1875, having earned his own education sinee he attended distriet school in his native state. After returning to the employ of Dr. J. J. Stone in Wabasha, where he remained for a period of ten months, our subjeet settled in Elgin village, and entered upon the practice of his profession there, March 28, 1876, where he now resides on a good property of his own on Main street. Besides his medieal practice, the doctor has charge of the Elgin drug-store, which is conducted under the firm name of Landon, Burehard & Co. Dr. Adams was married in Plainview, Minnesota, on August 29, 1875, to Miss Nellie A. Gibbs, daughter of the late Dr. F. C. Gibbs and Mrs. Sarah Gibbs, the latter of whom now resides in Plainview. The issue of the marriage is as follows : Grace, born September 9, 1877, died April 26, 1881 ; Carl Chauncey, born June 3, 1883. The doctor has never sought for political honors of any nature whatever, but looks after the educational interests of the community in which he resides, as school director of distriet No. 57.
HENRY W. GILMAN, of the village of Elgin, son of John and Lydia Gilman, was born in the town of Anson, Somerset county, Maine, on January 18, 1842. His father was a farmer by occupa- tion, and owned a 'arm in the above town, upon which the subject of this sketeh worked during the early years of his life, attending the distriet schools in the winters. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Gilman enlisted as a private in Co. A, 28th regt. of Maine Vol. Inf. Mr. Gilman served with his regiment under Gen. N. P. Banks, and was engaged in the siege of Port Hudson, being present at its surrender, July 8, 1863. After this Mr. Gilman was sent to the hospital at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in the fall of 1863 he was honorably discharged from the service on account of siekness, holding at the time the rank of sergeant. In the month of June, 1864, Mr. Gilman went to California, remaining about six months in the Santa Clara Valley. and from there he went to the Canyon City gold mines, situated in the northeastern part of Oregon, and was there engaged
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in mining operations until the fall of 1865, when he returned to Cali- fornia, and farmed it on the coast, about forty-five miles south of San Francisco. Here he remained about one year, when he returned to Farmington, in his native state. During the year 1867 Mr. Gil- man, in conjunction with his brother, conducted a hotel at New Sharon, Franklin county, Maine. On Jannary 18, 1868, Mr. Gil- man was married to Miss Annie O. Porter, daughter of W. B. and Elizabeth Porter, of Farmington, Maine, who now reside in Elgin. After Mr. Gilman's marriage he went out of the hotel business, and farmed it in Farmington until the fall of 1871, when he entered the employ of the Androscoggin Railroad Company, with whom he re- mained until the latter part of 1873, when he came with his family to Elgin. Mr. Gilman has followed the occupation of a farmer since he has been here, but for the last three years he has been principally engaged in the business of buying and shipping horses to Dakota and the Red River country. Mr. Gilman now owns a good prop- erty on Main street in the village, npon which he resides. In the spring of 1880 Mr. Gilman was elected one of the supervisors of the town of Elgin, and at the expiration of his term refused to serve longer, as his business would not then permit him to do so. In the fall of 1881 Mr. Gilman was elected one of the trustees of school district No. 57, which position he now holds, having been clerk of the board ever since his election. Mr. Gilman is a member of Elgin lodge, No. 115, A.F.A.M., in which lodge he now holds the office of J. W. His family consists of two children, Fred V., born May 16, 1871, and Lizzie Edith, born Angust 18, 1872. In the summer of 1880 Mr. Gilman, accompanied by his family, paid a visit to his native place in Maine, being absent three months. While there he saw his mother for the last time, she having died September 22, 1881.
DORR DICKERMAN, of the village of Elgin, was born in the town of Tunbridge, Orange county, Vermont, on March 12, 1855. He is a son of Lewis and Emily Dickerman, and was brought up on his father's farm in his native state, receiving his early education at the district schools of the county, which he attended in the winter months. When he had arrived at the age of twenty-three, our subject struck out for the west, arriving on March 30, 1878, at Eglin, Minnesota, were he commenced working for his cousin, Ezra Dickerman, as a farm hand, remaining in his employ until the fall of that year, when he went to Rochester, Minnesota, entered a select school and com-
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pleted his education there in the spring of 1879. During the summer season of 1879 our subject returned to Ezra Dickerman's farm in his former capacity, and during the season of 1880 he worked the same farm with him on shares. In the spring of 1881 Mr. Dickerman went into the hardware, tinware and stove business in the village of Elgin, in conjunction with Elijah and Alonzo Ordway, under the firm name of Ordway, Dickerman & Co. He remained in business until March 15, 1884, when he retired from the partnership, having sold out his interest to his copartners. On March 15, 1882, Mr. Dickerman was united in marriage with Miss Mary Senrick, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Senrick, all residents of Elgin. The ceremony took place at Rochester, Minnesota. The issue of the marriage consists of two daughters, Emily, born October 27, 1882, and Mary B., born January 26, 1884. Mr. Dickerman resides with his family on a nice property which he owns on South street in the village of Elgin, known as lot No. 6, block 7. Although never seeking political preferment, Mr. Dickerman was run by the people on an independent ticket for the office of town clerk on March 13, 1883, and elected over his competitor, the regular nominee. In politics Mr. Dickerman is a democrat, as his father and grandfather were before him. Since the above sketch was written Mr. Dicker- man has transferred his property in the village to his cousin and former employer Ezra Dickerman, and has bought the farm of the latter, consisting of the W. } of the N. W. } of Sec. 4, and the south 50 acres and the east } of the north 30 acres of the E. } of the N.E. { of Sec. 5, in the town of Viola, where he will shortly move and carry on farming.
HON. WILLIAM H. FELLER, of the township of Elgin, who since the war of the rebellion has been prominently identified in the his- tory of Wabasha county, was born in the town of Milan, Dutchess county, New York State, on October 25, 1821, being the son of David and Elizabeth Feller, who, like himself, were native-born Americans. During the summer months of his early life he worked on his father's farm in Dutchess county, and in the winters he learned the rudiments of education at the common schools of the county. In 1841 he was offered and accepted the position of clerk for the firm of Tyler & Kent, freighters, at Barrytown, Dutchess county, New York. March 3, 1842, Mr. Feller married Miss Helen M. Best, of Pine Plains, in his native county, and was engaged in farming until the spring of 1844, when he started a country store at
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Red Hook, in the same county, which he conducted until the spring of 1852, and in the fall of 1853 he removed with his family to Man- chester, Ontario county, New York, being engaged in farming from the time he gave up his store at Red Hook until the spring of 1860, when he again moved to Oconomowoc, Waukesha county, Wiscon- sin. In December, 1861, Mr. Feller received a commission from the war department at Washington, as sutler of the 28th regt. Wis. Vols., and served with his regiment during the war until it was mustered out of the service at Madison, Wisconsin, during Septem- ber, 1865. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Feller and his family came to Elgin, where he purchased the farm on which he yet resides, con- sisting of the N. } of N.E. , and the S.E. } of N.E. } of Sec. 33, and the S. } of S.E } of Sec. 28. Mr. Feller has frequently been called upon by the people to represent them in various positions of trust and responsibility, besides having also been sought for by the United States government to fill important offices. In the spring of 1845, when little over twenty-three years of age, he was elected jus- tice of the peace of Dutchess county, New York, and in 1849 he was re-elected to that office. In the fall of 1850 he was elected member of assembly from the third assembly distriet of Dutchess county, New York, on the whig ticket, although the district was strongly democratic, taking his seat on January 1, 1851. In the spring of 1867 he was elected chairman of the board of supervisors of the town of Elgin, while at other times he has held the offices of assessor and supervisor of that town. In April, 1869, Mr. Feller was appointed receiver of the United States land office at Duluth, Minnesota, which office he held for the full term of four years, when he was immediately appointed register of the same office, which position he resigned after he had filled it for three years, the resignation, which was to take effect January 1, 1876, not being accepted by the department until the following month. At the fall election of 1878 Mr. Feller was elected a member of the house of representatives from the third district of Wabasha county, and he is now chairman of the board of supervisors of the town of Elgin. Mr. Feller is a member of Elgin lodge, No. 115, A.F.A.M., and a republican in politics.
THOMAS J. BOLTON, a prominent business man of Plainview, was born in Logan, Ohio, November 12, 1843. The death of his father occurred when Thomas J. was but nine years old, and the year fol- lowing his mother removed with her family to Cleveland. In 1855 they came to Wabasha county, and our subject spent two years as a
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cabin-boy on a river steamboat. About the year 1861 he entered the drug business at Wabasha with Jas. Crowley. In December, 1865, This firm decided to open a branch store in Plainview, and Mr. Bol- ton assumed the management of the same. This was the first drug store ever established in Plainview. A store was erected for their business. Two years later they sold out to Mr. Felton, and Mr. Bolton returned to Wabasha and resumed his place in the old firm, but soon after sold out and went to Eyota, where he opened up a pioneer drug store on his own hook. The winter of 1873-4 he sold his Eyota store and returned to Plainview. He now owns about two hundred acres of land in Plainview township, and is a partner with Geo. S. La Rue in the drug business. His farm is situate on the site of Greenville, and he uses one of its old store buildings for a sheep- shed. He was for a time agent for Laird & Norton, lumber dealers, of Winona. Mr. Bolton is at present dealing in agricultural imple- ments. He has had some experience as a publisher, having issued a regular advertising sheet for several years while engaged in the drug businsss, both in Plainview and Eyota. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Plainview. In poli- tics he is republican, and has been chairman of the town board ; is also a member of the Masonic brotherhood, and of the Order of Odd-Fellows. Ella, only child of Hon. A. P. Foster, of Plainview, became his wife on September 1, 1869. They have four children : Alonzo G., Miller T., Mary L. and John.
RHINALDO W. CHAPMAN, a Plainview farmer, was born in Lima. Jefferson county, New York, June 5, 1835. He was the youngest son of Asa Chapman, a farmer. His education was obtained in the district school. He continued to reside at home until he had nearly attained to his majority. In the meantime he had learned the car- penter trade, and being also of a speculative turn of mind, had profitably handled his small earnings, and was now enabled to pur- chase a fifty-acre farm in the southern part of his native county. Good luck attended him, and he engaged in buying stock and poultry for the New York market. He was drafted in 1863, but paid for a substitute and the following year volunteered his services to fight the Union battles, and was mustered into the 186th N. Y. Inf., and was in active service in the army of the Potomac until the close of the war, his regiment participating in all those hard-fought battles in which that army engaged immediately preceding the fall of Petersburgh. In consequence of impaired health, the result of
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exposure while in the service, he has been placed on Uncle Sam's pension rolls. He resumed business in Oswego, New York, where he ran a grocery store for a few months, and for the two years fol- lowing he was in the stock and poultry business. In 1869 he canie to Minnesota and bought from John Allen, of Elgin, a farm on sec- tion 21 in that township. This place he greatly improved, and erected thereon fine buildings. In 1882, ill health induced him to go to Elgin village to reside. At the time the cyclone visited that unfortunate town he was living with his family, consisting of a wife and two step-daughters, Edith and Hattie Dillon, in the second of one of the ill-fated houses. The family were at dinner when the tornado approached, and were all buried beneath the ruins of their home. They escaped, however, with only bruises, and esteem their good luck in this to providential interposition. Mrs. Helen Dillon née Goodenough, of St. Lawrence, New York, the relict of Albert Dillon (a comrade in arms of Mr. Chapman), became Mrs. Chapman, November 23, 1868. Since the destruction of his Elgin home, Mr. Chapman las resided in Plainview village, where he has purchased several village lots in Thompson's addition, and on which he is erecting a fine house. Mr. Chapman and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church ; has been steward and trustec.
ROSWELL NEWTON WHITE, late farmer of Plainview, was born in Westchester county, New York, January 24, 1809. When fourteen years old he was apprenticed to a carpenter at New Rochelle, New York. This trade occupied his life for the next nine years, and served to assist in the development of a fine artistic talent which he possessed. At the age of twenty-three he turned his attention to engraving, and without any previous training he solicited a job at wood engraving from a New York house, which was reluctantly given him. His work was promptly done and well. It was approved, and from that time on he found plenty to do in this line. The New York Bible Concern and Harper Brothers employed him during the eight years that he continued to reside in the metropolis, and he was esteemed one of the best wood engravers of his day. In 1839 he established a home in McHenry county, Illinois, and opened an office in Chicago, where he obtained work from McCormick, H. P. Murray, and others. Seventeen years he resided in Illinois, but in the spring of 1856 he caught the western fever, and also further in- duced to seek a change by ill health, he came to Greenwood prairie and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on section 11. Here
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he established his home, and spent the remainder of his life in agri- cultural pursuits. He died April 3, 1883, leaving a wife and four children surviving. Mrs. White was Jane Osborn, the daughter of John Osborn, of New York city. The children are : Annie (Mrs. Furlong), of Cass county, Dakota; Jane (Mrs. Griffing), of Boston, Massachusetts ; Emelie E. White, of Crescent City, Florida ; and a son,
CHARLES O. WHITE, who was born in McHenry county, Illinois, October 3, 1851. His parents removed to Minnesota when Charles was in his fifth year. He has led the usual life of the farmer boy. He received a common school education. He learned the carpen- ter's trade, and for several years followed it in Plainview, and two years in Florida. He married Avalin Melendy, of Plainview, for his first wife. Four years later her death occurred, and on March 1 he was married a second time, Miss Nettie Melendy being his choice, by whom he has one child, Effie. Mr. White resides on the old homestead.
RUFUS C. WRIGHT was born in Bakersfield, Franklin county, Vermont, February 3, 1836. His father, David Wright, and mother, Clara Hodgkins, were natives of New England, and sprang from New England stock. His early life up to sixteen years of age was spent upon his father's farm, with such advantages as the usual country schools of that day offered. At that time, being ambitious of · obtaining a better education than had thus far been offered, he gained the consent of his father to work and obtain the means of attending the academy of his native town, where he attended several terms, also a similar institution in a neighboring village, working and teaching meantime to defray expenses. Now, being about twenty-one years of age, and desirous of seeing more of the world, he came west, and traveled about one year with a brother, who was lecturing at this time ; but not being satisfied with this, he pur- chased an outfit himself, giving descriptive lectures upon the science of astronomy, traveling most of the time in the southern states, which was during those excitable times just preceding the war of the rebellion. But as the approach of the coming storm came near, the south grew too warm for him, and he came north -not leaving, however, until after Lincoln had been elected president. The break- ing out of the rebellion found him in Ohio, and soon after the first battle of Bull Run he was on his way to New York with a company of Ohio boys to join the Union army; was there mustered into the
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65th N. Y. Vol. Inf., commanded by Col. John Cochrane. He was with Mcclellan in his Peninsular campaign, participated in the battles of Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill, being wounded in the two last battles - at Malvern Hill severely in right shoulder and lung,- taken prisoner, had a month's experience in the prisons of Richmond ; from there paroled and taken to hospital at Chester, Pennsylvania ; was from there discharged from the service in Decem- ber, 1862, and remained out about one year, when he re-enlisted in the 10th Mass. Battery, and served under Grant in the army of the Potomac until the close of the war, having been in most of the leading battles from the Wilderness to final surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. He was a second time discharged from the service at Boston Harbor in June, 1865, having served in all about three years in the army. After a rest of a few months he again came west, remaining most of the time in Wisconsin, vari- ously employed, usually teaching during the winter months, until July, 1869, he came to Minnesota. His last year in Wisconsin was spent in St. Croix county. Arriving in Plainview the last days of July, 1869, with its bountiful crops almost ready for the reaper, he decided to remain here awhile, assisting in securing crops during the fall, and in the winter teaching the school in the district in which he now resides. Being so well pleased at this time with the beauty and natural fertility of the soil of Greenwood Prairie and surround- ing country, he decided to remain longer and turn his attention to farming, which he did. He was married March 26, 1871, to Miss Ettie Wood, who had but recently come from Schoharie county, New York, from where several of her family had come before her, and become early settlers of Plainview and vicinity. In 1874 he bought his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres of Stephen Struble, situated about three miles northeast from the village of Plainview, and is now engaged in diversified agriculture. He is in politics republican, liberal in religious views. Belongs to Masonic fraternity and the Grange. Has been assessor of the town since 1881.
THEODORE BOWEN, one of the principal farmers of Lake township, settled there in 1861, buying eighty acres of land. The subject of this sketch was born December 17, 1838, in Onondaga county, New York. His parents' names were Isaac and Lucy Bowen. His youth was spent on the farm and at the common schools. After arriving at maturity he was wedded to Augusta Monroe, of Oswego county,
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New York, and they have two children : Isidore, now Mrs. C. T. Webster, of this township, and Estella. In September, 1864, Mr. Bowen enlisted in the 184th regt., N. Y. Vols., and served till the close of the war. In 1871 he was elected town treasurer, which office he held for nine years consecutively, and has also been treasurer and director of school district No. 6 several terms. While the Baptist church represents his religious views, his wife is a Methodist · in belief.
WILLIAM SYDNEY WEBSTER, one of the leading farmers of Lake township, received his birth near Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1845. His father (William) was a native of that state, while his mother (Christiana) was a German by birth, emigrating to this country in 1830. Our subject was a natural-born farmer, so after receiving a common-school education, worked on his father's farm till he became thoroughly acquainted with what was to be his lifework. During the winter months, when work was not pressing, he got out lumber from the woods near by, which he sold to the Scranton mines. At length, in 1870, he came to this county and bought eighty acres of land, where he now resides ; but by economy and thrift he now is the possessor of four hundred and eighty acres of land situated on sections 32 and 33. He married Mary Shaw, daughter of George and Jennie Shaw, of this township. They have one child, Jennie Ann. Mr. Webster and wife are members of the Methodist church at Lake City.
GEORGE FREEMAN HANCOCK, farmer, is the eldest child of Free- man and Louise Hancock, who were born in Massachusetts. George was born in 1818, in Berkshire county, of the same state. When our subject was four years old, his parents moved to Oswego county, New York. Here he attended the district school, and worked upon the farm. In 1840 he married Alvira Shattuck, at Granby, New York, and began farming for himself. For several winters he worked in the woods getting out lumber for dealers along the Oswego river. In 1858, after disposing of his prop- erty, he emigrated to this county, where he pre-empted one hun- dred and sixty acres of land, upon which he now lives. Mr. Hancock has been justice of the peace, and assessor for about ten years. At present he is clerk of school district No. 90. The republican party represents his politics. The names of his children are : Elizabeth Adel (deceased), Sarah, now Mrs. John Morris, living in West Albany township, and Friend J.
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