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 77
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
965
PIONEERS.
O. F. COLLIER, senior member of the firm of O. H. Collier & Co., editors and proprietors of the Wabasha "Herald," is a native of Wabasha county, born on his father's farm in Cook's Valley, August 6, 1858. Young Collier received his education in the public schools of this city until he entered the printing-office of W. S. Walton in 1872, with whom he remained until 1866, with the exception of a year at school. He then went to Lake city and for five years was foreman in the office of the Wabasha county "Senti- nel," until 1881, when he purchased the Wabasha "Herald " from Messrs. Matteson and Lewark, which he conducted two years and sold a third interest to one of the old proprietors, W. Lewark, and by them the paper is now published. Mr. Collier is unmarried and quite an enthusiastic sportsman with rod and gun.
E. M. YORK, son of John and Eliza York, was born January 6, 1823, at Webster, Maine. Received his education at the common scoools and spent his youth on the farm. In 1851 he removed to New Hampshire, remaining there till 1855, then came to Zumbro township, this county, settling on section 31. He owns two hun- dred acres of land. He has been assessor for some years and supervisor once. His political proclivities are democratic. He married Mary Sinclair, her parents being natives of Maine. They have nine children : Edward N., Jennie L. (deceased), Dora A., now Mrs. Oleson, living at South Troy ; Mintie, Elnora L., Isaac (deceased), Arthur (deceased), Lora A. and Estella A.
WILLIAM C. WRIGHT, farmer, is a native of Norfolk county, Eng- land, where he was born March 25, 1827, being the second of six chil- dren born to William and Ann Wright, the former of whom is still living in England. When our subject was ten years of age he lost his mother, and shortly after took to the sea. So efficient did he prove, that at the age of fourteen he was second mate. His experi- ence as a sailor was mainly in the British coasting trade and the trade with France, though he also made voyages to America. While lying in the harbor of Quebec he sustained a severe injury, which confined him to the hospital six months and ended his career as a sailor. The next few years were spent farming in different places in Canada, and in the spring of 1856 he located in West Albany, where he yet lives, being one of its earliest settlers. He was married in Canada October, 1846, to Christina Smith, a native of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, who died September 12, 1869. She was the mother of eleven children, eight of whom are living :
966
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
Mrs. Elizabeth Jennings, of Sack City, Iowa, William H., George L., of Cass county, Wisconsin, Mrs. Susanna O'Conner, of Polk county, Wisconsin, Mrs. Harriet I. Burke, Christina, Jeanette and David. In politics Mr. Wright is independent. He has well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and is a prosperous farmer and a reliable citizen.
P. G. DICKMANN, farmer, was born in 1841, in Germany. He is the third son of George C. and Wiebke Dickman, natives of Germany. They came to Cook county, Illinois, when our subject was about twelve years old. In 1856 they came to Oakwood township. In 1861 Mr. Dickman served in the 8th Minn. Vols. for three years on the frontier, in the Bad Lands, and in Schofield's army at Murfreesboro. Kingston, etc. In 1865 he was discharged, and, returning home; took charge of the old homestead, his father going to Winona. He now has four hundred acres, nearly all improved, of very fine land, with one of the finest residences in Oakwood. He is a member of the Masonic order. He is one of Oakwood's supervisors. He has been a democrat for the last few years. He is one of our most enterprising and intelli- gent citizens. He was married, in 1867, to Annie Schach, native- of Germany. They have nine children.
ISAAC J. CUTTER was born in Pennsylvania, November 2, 1829. His parents were both natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cutter is a butcher by trade. He moved to Glasgow township in July, 1856, and settled where he now lives. He has a farm of two hundred acres, well improved. A fine wind-engine furnishes him power enough to pump all water for his stock, besides running a small feed- mill. Mr. Cutter has also a steam thresher. He was married, in 1853, to Mary Stowman. Mrs. Cutter has quite an extensive creamery. She sells about three hundred and fifty dollars' worth of butter per annum, besides what they use on the table. Mr. Cutter enlisted in the 2d Minn. Sharpshooters, and was mustered in at St. Paul, in February, 1862. From St. Paul he went first to Washı- ington City, and then down the Potomac river. He was in the battles of Williamsburg, second Bull Run and Antietam ; was in the battles in front of Richmond, and was in the seven days' retreat. In the battle of second Bull Run a ball passed through the sleeve of his blouse, and in the battle of Antietam his gun was struck by a ball and broken in two, but he never received a scratch. He was discharged March 5, 1865, at Petersburgh, Virginia. He belongs
967
PIONEERS.
to the Wapahasa Lodge, No. 14, A.F.A.M., of Wabasha City, of which lodge be has been a member for twelve years. Mr. Cutter has been county commissioner three years.
WILLIAM LORD CLEAVELAND was born in Royalton, Windsor county, Vermont, December 17, 1814. His father, Jededialı Cleave- land, was of English descent, and his mother, Harriet (Randall) Cleaveland, of Scotch parentage. He acquired a fair common-school education in Vermont by working for his board and attending school winters. He then taught a term or two of school in his native state ; in 1837 came to Ohio and did carpenter work for a year, then went to Clinton, Michigan, where he continued to reside for sixteen years, working at his trade, that of a millwright, and teaching school. From 1854 to 1856 he followed his trade in Pitts- burgh, Indiana. In the fall of 1856 came to Wabasha county, and the following spring pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on section 17, in Highland, which land he still owns. He married Lucinda Hooper at Tecnmsel, Michigan, in 1843; her death occurred November, 1877. Mr. Cleaveland now has a home with his eldest son, John D., of Highland. The following are his children now living, namely : John D., born in Michigan, June 22, 1875 ; Jen- nette C. (Mrs. W. H. Phillips), of Winona, September 1, 1847 ; William E., of Highland, a grocer, November 28, 1849. Mr. Cleaveland professes to be a Spiritualist. He has been a justice of the peace in Highland township continuously, with the exception of three years, since its organization. He was chairman of the first board of supervisors and held that place for three years. He is a charter member of Plainview Lodge, No. 16, I.O.O.F.
GEORGE W. CARPENTER, farmer and thresher, was next to the oldest of a family of four boys and four girls, born to T. P. and Emeline (Webster) Carpenter. He was born in Meadville, Pennsylva- nia, May 16, 1832. While a small child he was adopted into the family of his grandfather Webster, and lived with him on a farm near War- rentown, Pennsylvania, where he attended country school winters till 1846. In the spring of this year le accompanied his grandfather to Mc- Henry county, Illinois, and soon found a home, a well-to-do farmer by the name of Pliny Hayward, attending school winters and working on the farm summers. Jannary 1, 1855, he espoused Miss Lucy J. Judd, a native of Connecticut. In the spring of 1856 he came to Wabasha county, and located on a quarter-section in Plainview; this farm he cleared and improved, and sold in 1866. He did not engage
968
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
in business again until September, 1870, when he purchased eighty acres on section 35 in Highland, where he now has a comfortable home. He is widely known among the farmers as a thresher, being the first man who ran a threshing-machine in Greenwood prairie. He is a member of the Methodist church, and also of the Plainview lodge of Odd-Fellows. Mr. Carpenter has been twice married. By his first wife he had three children : Oscar E., a farmer in Big Stone county, Minnesota; Clara A. and Willie H., both living at home. His second wife was the relict of the late George Clark, of Highland, to whom he was married January 27, 1878. Mrs. Clark had at the time of her second marriage two children, namely, Willie F. Clark and Lucy A. Clark.
MATTHEW KINSELLA, Jr., farmer, was born August, 1832. When he was abont twenty years of age he came to the United States, and settled in Madison county, Illinois. After three years he came to Chip- pewa lumber region, remaining a few years. He then came to his present farm, as one of the earliest settlers of Oakwood township, enduring the hardships of those early days. He liked the wooded region best, and on that account chose his present farm. It contains one hundred and sixty acres, with enough added since his settlement to make seven hundred and forty acres of land-five hundred and forty under cultivation and some woodland. His farm is well im- proved, and one of the best in the township. He is one of the most devoted members of the Catholic church, and a leader in public enterprises of value. He has been township treasurer and chair- man of supervisors for a number of years. He has been a democrat, but is now more independent, and is one of our most influential re- liable citizens. He was married (the first in the township) in Sep- tember, 1859, to Catherine Finley, native of Ireland. He has four children.
JAS. H. SANDFORD, retired farmer, was born in Topsham, Maine, Angust 14, 1814. He was kept at school until fifteen years of age, when, shortly after, his father died, when he went to sea, entering the foreign merchant trade. For about twenty-seven years his principal occupation was that of a sailor. Occasionally, however, he would stop at home for a time, and on these occasions he would make a trip or two in some coasting-vessel. He also made several trips into the western wilds in the employ of the fur traders. In 1856 he im- migrated to Minnesota, and settled in the town of Mazeppa, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 29, on
969
PIONEERS.
which he continued to reside up to 1882, when he rented his farm and removed into the village of Mazeppa. Mr. Sandford is full of ainus- ing and interesting reminiscences of the early days. He saw much of the Indians, as his place was near the Zumbro, which afforded fine camping-grounds for them, and who frequently called at his house for the purpose of begging. In those days he had to carry his supplies on his back some four miles, and the idea that the lazy Indians had the face to beg of him, when they knew how he had to pack his provi- sions, was too much for him, so he told his wife, in the hearing of several of them, that he would not give them anything more, where- upon they, seeming to understand, at once left. Shaska, one of the Indians hung for the massacre of settlers, at New Uelen, came to his house one day and said he was sick, so Mrs. Sandford offered him a bottle containing No. 6, composed of gum myrrli, brandy and capsi- cum, a very hot, powerful medicine; but Shaska would not take it till Mrs. Sandford assured him by appearing to take some herself, where- upon he raised the bottle to his mouth and gulped down a good dose, before he was aware of low hot it was; it was down, though, and he had to stand it; but his grimaces and antics were amusing for a few moments. It seems the Indian had faith in Mrs. Sand- ford's ability as a doctor, for he repeated the dose for several days, till finally one day he came and said he was all right. On one occa- sion in the winter, when Mr. Sandtord was away, a lot of Indians called at his house to warm themselves, leaving their guns outside; finally, when they left, "Mrs. Sandford went to the door with her son George, a small boy, when they suddenly drew up their guns and aimed at Mrs. Sandford, who, instead of darting into the house with fear, stood and laughed at them, believing they meant no harm, while her little boy thought it meant business, and was considerably alarmed. Mr. Sandford is now in his declining years, enjoying the fruits of an industrions life as he justly deserves, being the owner of several farms; his means are ample. He has been twice married, and had two sons by his first marriage, one of whom is living. His second wife was Miss Arabella Pierce, of Bath, Maine, by whom he had one son, George, who is postmaster of Mazeppa.
J. J. BEATY was born in the State of Massachusetts, in the year 1856. After receiving a good common school education he learned the carpenter trade. He came to this county in 1856, and resided for one year in Lake City, where he built the first mill. In 1857 he removed to this township, and has since given much of his time to
970
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
farming. Mr. Beaty enlisted in Co. E, 11th Minn. Inf., in 1864, and served until the close of the war. The people of the county and township have honored him with many positions of trust, all of which he has filled with credit to himself and general satis- faction to the people. He is at present county surveyor, which position he has held for eight years. Mr. Beaty is a member of the State Grange Association, the Masonic lodge of Lake City, and the Good Templars lodge of Oak Centre. Mr. Beaty was married in 1844, to Mary Snondon, to whom were born twelve children, eleven of whom are living.
JOHN LINK was born in England, September 21, 1820. In 1854 he came with his family to this country, and settled for three years in Ogle county, Illinois. In the fall of 1856 he came to Wabasha county, and after taking a claim in Gillford township returned for the winter to Illinois. On April 18, 1857, Mr. Link and family ar- rived at their new home, or rather the place where their home was to be, for there was nothing but the wide fields and the open sky to welcome them. In course of time, patient and persevering toil sur- mounted pioneer difficulties, for house and barn were soon erected, and the land yielded large crops of grain. Mr. Link now owns two hundred acres of tillable, well improved land on section 24, besides other property elsewhere. He was married February 17, 1848, to Margarette Lewis, and five children have been born to them, four of whom are living.
GEO. W. PRICE, farmer and stock-dealer, came to this county from Ohio, in 1856. He first settled in Hyde Park township, on the farm now owned by Mr. Riley. He removed to Gillford town- ship in 1863, where he has since resided. He was married in 1860, to Elisabeth C. Craig, and five children have been born to them, all of whom are still living. Mr. Price has a farin of one hundred and seventy-six acres on sections 27 and 33, and is all under cultivation.
ALVIN KINNEY, the genial proprietor of the Franklin House, Mazeppa, was born in Otselic, Shenango county, New York State, in December, 1831. He received some schooling at the district school, and commenced early in life making his own way in the world by working on a farm by the month. The season of 1854 found him in Sangamon county, Illinois, where, in the fall of that year, he hired ont to Edwards & Felt, at twenty dollars a month and board, to feed stock through the winter, with the understanding that when the cattle were shipped the following spring, if he desired
971
PIONEERS.
he could go along as far as Albany at the same pay. The corn for the stock was bought of neighboring farmers, and he had to haul it and feed one hundred head daily. When the stock was shipped in the spring he went through to Albany, and from there he returned as far as Utica, from which place he proceeded to his home, where he hired out on a farm at which he continued for a couple of years. At about that time a great emigration was going on, and mostly to Minnesota. He had had no thought of Minnesota, as it had been his intention to return to Illinois ; but, being in company of several of his acquaintances one Friday evening, who were to start on the following Monday, he became enthused and decided that night to accompany them. Accordingly, the next morning, he acquainted his father of his determination, who remarked that he thought it might be a good idea. The company came by rail to Dnnlieth, Iowa, and from there by steamboat to Red Wing, and from there to Mazeppa he came on foot, arriving at Mazeppa in the spring of 1856. Here he pre-empted a quarter-section of land, proving up his claim, and subsequently bought up the claim of another man. In the fall of 1856 he went to Winona to take out his patent on his claim, but found the expenses greater than he had calculated on. An acquaintance, named Jost. Smith, was along with him, and when their business was completed they took passage by boat to Red Wing. On arriving there in the evening, they both discovered that they were without money ; this situation required the exercise of financial ability, so they resolved themselves into a committee to provide ways and means. They were too much American to beg, and too good to steal, so the committee soon decided that their only chance was to either walk all night or sleep out. But, it being late in the fall and too cold for that, it was not to be thought of. The night was dark, but on hunting around they found an old shed, with nothing in it but a cutter. Here they took up their lodging, one sitting for awhile in the cutter while the other walked up and down to keep warm. At the first intimation of approaching day they started on foot for home, but had gone only about seven miles when Mr. Kinney discovered in his overcoat pocket seventy-five cents, which, had it been found the evening before, would have been suffi- cient to procure comfortable lodgings. In those days prairie fires occurred every year, burning over the surface of the whole country and leaving it perfectly black, giving it a desolate and somber appearance. On going to Red Wing on foot, shortly after one of
972
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
. these fires, he saw in the distance some strange object that appeared to be moving, but which he could not make out. He had not long to wait, however, as he soon discovered that the strange object was a party of Indians moving with their families and household goods. Here he witnessed for the first time what appeared to him the most crude yet novel mode of transportation ; two poles, fifteen or twenty feet in length, were fastened one on each side of a pony by one end, while the other end dragged on the ground. On these poles, behind the pony, was piled the truck, which he partly carried and partly dragged on the ground. Here, he thought, was dis- played the inventive faculty which indicates progression. In 1873 he traded farm property for the Franklin House, which he has con- tinued to run. He has been deputy sheriff two terms. In April, 1857, he was married to Miss Adeline Hutchins, then of Mazeppa, but formerly of Shenango county, New York State. They lost their only child.
H. C. WILCOX, captain and joint owner with W. P. Dugan of the steamer Lion, carrying passengers, freight and mails between this port and Alma, Wisconsin. The Lion was built here by Capt. Wilcox, in the winter of 1876-7, and started running upon the opening of navigation in the spring of 1877. She is a small, trim- built sternwheeler, 110 feet over all, 16 feet beam and three feet hold. Her wheel is 13} feet in diameter, with 11 feet buckets ; her engines, 52-inch stroke, 8}-inch diameter, and she easily attains a speed of ten to twelve miles an hour against the ordinary Missis- sippi current, and can make from fifteen to eighteen miles an hour down stream. She cost complete about five thousand dollars, and is under regular contract with the United States government to carry mails from this city to Alma, Wisconsin, and also delivers a special mail at the offices of the Mississippi and Beef Slough Log- ging Company, at the mouth of the Beef Slough, across the river, and a few miles down stream from this point. She makes three round trips daily, Sundays excepted, between this place and Alma, and triweekly night trips to the month of the Chippewa river, tow- ing rafts. Her crew consists of Capt. Wilcox, Henry Lashpell, pilot; Wm. Worthington, engineer, and two hands. Capt. H. C. Wilcox is a native of Jefferson county, New York, a practical engi- neer and miller by trade, having acquired his knowledge of these industries under his father's direction, who was engaged in the mill- ing business at the old home in Jefferson county. Leaving home
973
PIONEERS.
Mr. Wilcox came west, and was employed as a railroad engineer on the line of the Illinois Central, before coming to this place in 1856. From 1860-3 he was in charge of the milling establishment of W. W. Prindle at this place. Since 1863 the captain has been princi- pally engaged in river business; as engineer until 1876, when he put the little steamer Comet into the carrying trade between this port and Alma, to be followed by the larger and better Lion, which he built the following winter, as before noted. Capt. Wilcox married Adelaide Goodell, December 11, 1855, at Lawrence, Michi- gan. They have six children, all living at home. Helen, July 20, 1858; Hattie, June 4, 1864; Francis M., September 10, 1871; Carrie, August 15, 1873 ; Harrie, July 24, 1878 ; Albert, December 29, 1880. The captain resides at the corner of Second and Lafay- ette streets, on the same property purchased by him in 1862, and which has been the family residence for over twenty-one years. He has just completed and taken possession of his new house, a very comfortable and substantial frame dwelling, two stories in height, the main building 24×32 feet, with a wing 16×20, and a one-story addition, 16×20.
M. KENNEDY, manufacturer and dealer in boots and shoes, also in hats, caps and gloves, on Main street, one door west from corner of Pembroke street, Herschy's block. This business was established by Mr. Kennedy in 1856, and with the exception of one year, 1861, has been continued to the present, a period altogether of twenty-six years. The house gives employment to two persons. Mr. Kennedy is a native of St. Andrews, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada. He learned his trade as shoemaker in his native town, and came direct from the Dominion to Wabasha in 1856. M. Ken- nedy is one of the pillars of the Congregational church in this city, a member of the board of trustees, and for seventeen years has been superintendent of its Sunday-school. He is unmarried, and one of the most universally respected men in the city.
J. H. EVANS, county commissioner for district No. 4, embracing townships of Greenfield, Glasgow, and the city of Wabasha ; is of Welsh descent, a native of Cambria county, Pennsylvania, and had learned the trade of compositor before coming to Wabashia, in April, 1856, at which time he was eighteen years of age. He had also acquired a knowledge of the plasterer's trade, and after coming to this city followed that and type-setting for some years, his last winter at the case being 1865. His first contracts were taken at
974
HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY.
nineteen years of age, the second year that he spent in this city. In 1857 he commenced work as a mason with his brother-in-law, N. B. Lutz, and was in partnership with him until that gentleman removed to Lake City, in 1864. Since then Mr. Evans has been actively engaged in working at his trade, contracting for the erec- tion of buildings, either alone or in company with others, superin- tending his farms, attending to county business, and in such other occupations as his personal inclinations or the public business demanded. He owns a farm of three hundred acres in sections 3 and 4, township 110 and 111, and ranges 10 and 11, and an undivided half in a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, owned by the stock firm of Evans & Penny. His residence on Second street, just north of the public school building, was erected by him in 1862 and has been the home of the family for the past twenty-one years. His official services rendered the city and county have extended through the greater part of the past twenty years, since his first election as alderman in 1862. He has been mayor of the city three years of that time, alderman of his ward four years, and is now serving his seventh year as county commissioner for his district. October 29, 1860, Mr. Evans married Miss Sara Duhamel, a resident of this city since 1857. Their children are : Maggie, born June 30, 1864 ; Mamie, born January 12, 1866 ; Harry, born November 15, 1869 ; William, born December 18, 1871 ; Fannie, born March 3, 1877.
R. E. STEARNS, city recorder and justice of the peace, was elected to these offices in the spring of 1880, and is now serving his second term in each. He is a native of Canada, removed early to the State of New York with his father's family, and was in mercantile business there prior to coming to this city in 1856. Here he took up the trade of stonemason and followed it nearly twenty-five years, until his election to the offices above cited. In September, 1850, he was married in Franklin county, New York, to Miss M. M. Town- send, still living. They have two children, Ernest E., born August 25, 1859, and Charles, born July 22, 1873.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.