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 97
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PAUL CONRAD, farmer, was born in the same place as his brother above, in April, 1848. He was but eight years old when his father
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brought him to the United States, and his training has been the same as that described above. In 1872 he bought a farm near Lake City, in Goodhue county, where he lived six years. He then sold out and purchased one-fourth of section 20, Chester, where he now resides. He began in this state with nothing but his hands, and is now independent. He was married in February, 1872, to Catharine Poncelet, a native of Luxemburg. Their children were born as follows : William, April 27, 1873 ; Frank, March 22, 1875 ; Mary, February 14, 1877 ; Annie, March 31, 1879 ; Rosa, December 13, 1880 ; Susie, January 21, 1882. All are baptized in the Roman Catholic church.
THOMAS P. STEARNS, agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, and the Mazeppa Mill Co., at Millville, is a native of Columbia, South Carolina, born in 1848. He is the youngest son of Arba and Catherine G. A. Stearns, the former native of New York and the latter of South Carolina. He resided some in South Carolina and Alabama, but when the war began he joined Gov. Watts' scouts and fought for the country of his birth, a lad though he was. When twenty years old he songht a northern home, his southern one destroyed, and lived with his uncle in Monroe, Wis- consin, for a time. Plainview, this county, was his next home, and after clerking here for five years and then farming for three years he came to Millville, the first express and railway agent and wheat buyer in the place. His present standing shows he has made it a success. He is a Master Mason, Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar, and has been an Odd-Fellow. He was married in 1883, to Katie A. Holihan, of Wabasha, his second wife. He has one child, Arba L., by his first wife.
MARTIN A. GROVE, farmer, county commissioner, was born in 1845, in Norway. He is the youngest son of Andrew and Ina Grove, both natives of Norway. When our subject was five years old they came to America, Blackearth, Wisconsin. Here Mr. Grove received his education, and when nineteen years old he enlisted in the 38th Wis:, Co. G, and went to near Petersburg, Virginia, in South Side Railroad battle, and other skirmishes before Petersburg for about two months, then (April 2, 1865) the taking of Petersburg and Richmond. Here he was wounded by a shot through the left arm, below the elbow, which has disabled his arm. He was dis- charged and sent to Madison, Wisconsin. Here, soon as able, he clerked for about three years. In 1868 he clerked in Plainview and
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Lake City ; altogether three years, when he settled on his present farm in Oakwood, of one hundred and sixty acres of all cultivated and well improved land. In Dakota he has a three hundred acre farm, one hundred and sixty acres cultivated. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, A.F.A.M. order, and G.A.R. He has been county commissioner for five years. In political belief he is a republican, and one of our most influential citizens. He was married in 1869, to Miss Mary Christopher, a native of Norway. They have six children.
'JOHN REILAND, farmer, dwells on section 5, Chester, where he purchased land in 1869. His estate includes two hundred and forty acres of fine farming land, and he is prosperous and independent. Mr. Reiland is among the most exemplary men of the township. He is a member Belle Chester Catholic church, and a democrat. In 1863 he married Mary Bartolmy, born in Kaalbach, Luxemburg. Mr. Reiland was born in the same duchy, in the village of Holtz, Christmas day, 1840. Eight children have been given to him, and christened : Nicholas, Dominick, John P., Peter, Joseph, Michael, Catharine and Anna.
JOHN BECKMAN (deceased) was born in the northern part of Sweden, June 24, 1845. Angeline Sophia Johnson, now widow of the deceased, was born in the southern part of the same country, March 27, 1828, and was united to him April 5, 1871. In 1869 Mr. Beckman left his native land and came direct to Lake City. For some time he engaged in various occupations ; he became owner of a quarter-section of land in Gillford, which he tilled up to the time of his death. In 1871 he built the "Marion Street House," which continued to be his residence thereafter, and where he died of con- sumption, September 17, 1881. During his American citizenship, Mr. Beckman was a loyal supporter of the republican party. All the family were baptized and reared in the Lutheran church. There are two daughters, born and christened as below : February 7, 1872, Anna S .; April 1, 1875, Alice E.
MICHAEL O. KEMP, of the firm of Kemp & Schmidt, dealers in general merchandise, Lake City, was born in Tiffin, Ohio, October 18, 1848. His parents, Frank and Clara, were natives of Belgium. Michael attended the city schools of Tiffin till fourteen years old, when his parents removed to Galena, Illinois, and he began to earn his own livelihood. He was employed as clerk in a store till 1869, and then came to Wabasha, where he was similarly occupied. In
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1877 the firm named above was organized, and began business in Lake City. Mr. Kemp is bookkeeper of the establishment, where are kept drygoods, clothing, furnishings, groceries and crockery, with annual sales of abont twenty-five thousand dollars. In the great fire of 1882 the stock was destroyed, causing a loss in excess of insurance of two thousand dollars. The firm is now established at the corner of Center and Washington streets, with entrance on each, and owns the adjoining building on Washington. The subject of this paragraph came to Wabasha county with only his health and business talent, and has earned the reward of industry. In 1875 he wedded Miss Anna Hosch, born in Dubuque, Iowa, of German parents. The children given to this union have been christened as named below, in the order of birth : Francis, Clara and John.
WILLIAM PARKINSON, farmer. Zumbro, was born early in June, 1833, in the parish of Clitherow, Lancashire, England. At nine years of age he began work in a cotton factory, and afterward served as groom and gardener with a clergyman. His educational privileges were very limited. April 10, 1861, he was united in marriage with Ellen Eastham, born Knight, in Gisbon Forest, Yorkshire, October 26, 1831. They set sail for the United States in February, 1864. After spending three years as gardener in Joliet, Illinois, and two in the lumber regions of eastern Wisconsin, Mr. Parkinson settled in this town, arriving May 4, 1869. He bought eighty acres of land on section 14, where he now resides. He had barely sufficient capital to purchase his land, on which only six acres were broken. He rented a farm for three years, and in the meantime broke up his own. He is now comfortably situated. Mr. Parkinson became a citizen as soon as he could, and has always voted with the republican party. The family are Episcopalians. There are four children, born as fol- lows: James W., January 24, 1863 ; Joseph, September 14, 1866; Elizabeth E., September 28, 1869 ; Mary A., August 15, 1873. Mrs. Parkinson's first husband was John Eastham, who left one son, now residing with this family, Richard Eastham, born May 14, 1859.
MICHAEL HART, farmer, Chester, was born in Gravenmacher, Luxemburg, June 22, 1839. When sixteen years old, his leg was broken by a wagon, and he has always been lame since. From nineteen to twenty-seven he was employed in operating a stationary engine. (His brother Marcus, six years his elder, came to Erie county, New York, in 1856. Returning to Europe in the fall of 1865, he was married on January 1, 1866, to Elizabeth Olding, born
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in the same village. When he returned to New York he was accompanied by the subject of this sketch. In 1869 he came to Chester and bought one hundred and twenty acres of land on sec- tions 19 and 20, where he died March 16, 1872. He left two chil- dren, John M., born 1867, and Matthias J .. 1869, now with their mother.) After spending some years in farm labor in New York, Michael Hart stayed four years at Pewaukee, Wisconsin, where run an engine most of the time. He came to Chester in 1870, and assisted his brother in the operation of the farm, in which he owned an interest. In 1873 he married his brother's widow, and they have just added eighty acres to the farm by purchase. When Mr. Hart arrived in America he was thirty dollars in debt, and has secured a competence by industry and frugality. He has two children, Annie, born 1875, and William, 1877. All the family are members of Belle Chester church.
JOHN SCHERMULY, native of Germany, was born in Mengers- kerchen, May 6, 1844, of German parents. His education was obtained in a common school of his native country. His youth was spent at home, and was employed most of the time as a painter. About the age of twenty-three he moved to America, visited Chicago, St. Paul, Stillwater and Redwing respectively, and finally settled at Wabasha, in 1869, where he commenced in the pop factory business, and continued in same till 1875 with good success. He then engaged in the restaurant business, and has followed same ever since. Mr. Schermuly fought in the Austrian army during the war with Prussia, in 1866, and was sergeant of 4th company in the 1st regi- ment of the Duke of Nassau. He is a member of the Odd-Fellows and Freemason societies of this city, and also of the Turn-Verein. He was married in 1868, to Fannie Eberwine. They are the parents of nine children, five of whom are living. His present circum- stances are fair.
A. D. SOUTHWORTH, insurance, office on south side Main street, between Alleghaney and Church streets. This business was estab- lished in 1872, by Mr. Southworth. The fire protection represented by him aggregates fifty-eight million six hundred and forty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-three dollars, and includes the leading companies in Great Britain and America. The assets of the life insurance companies for which he is agent are placed at one hundred and thirteen million three hundred and nine thousand eight hundred and six dollars. Mr. Southworth was born in Oneida
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county, New York, August 13, 1829, and was variously employed, working on the farm, attending and teaching school, ete., until 1853, when he removed to Illinois, and for two years was employed on the survey and construction of the Illinois Central railway. In 1855 he removed to Lodi, Illinois, and was engaged in surveying and real estate until 1862, when he was appointed deputy collector and inspector of liquors for the seventh internal revenue district of Illinois. This position Mr. Southworth held until 1870, when he removed to Wabasha county, and settled on a tract of thirteen aeres, which he had purchased within the corporation of the city of Wabasha, in what is known as the west side. This property has been added to from time to time, until it now embraces a tract of one hundred and forty acres of richly productive land, the meadows yielding this season three and a half tons per acre for the first eut- ting, and his potato and oat fields giving promise of an abundant crop. In addition to the home farm, Mr. Southworth owns three hundred and twenty aeres of bottom land just across the river in Wisconsin, and a farm of two hundred aeres over on the Zumbro, in Wabasha county. Two years after coming to this eity, Mr. Southworth, in connection with W. F. Florer, established the exchange bank of A. D. Southworth & Co., for particulars concerning which see article on "banks." Mr. Southworth was married in 1857, and one danghter, Miss Mary L. Southworth, the child of that marriage, is now attending school at Wellesley, Massachusetts. Mrs. South- worth dying in 1864, Mr. Southworth remarried the following year. Two children of the second marriage survive: George A. and Cornelia H. Mr. Southworth's family residence is in a beautiful spot on the high bank of the Mississippi, about a mile from the business center of the city, and commands a magnificent view of river seenery, from the outlet of Lake Pepin to Alma, ten miles below, on the Wisconsin shore.
F. J. CORNWELL, the leading drygoods and general merchant of Plainview, was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1836, where he remained until thirteen years of age, during which time he had the misfortune to lose both his parents. Nothing daunted, young Cornwell struck out for Burk county, in his native state, and five years elerked for his brother-in-law, when he returned to the seenes of his childhood, and continued to elerk in the place of his birth until 1856. Then, at the age of twenty, he moved northwest into Dodge county, Minnesota, and in a similar position in general mer-
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chandise served Porter & Lock, and others, until at the end of two years and a half he hired to L. E. Casey, at Cordova, Illinois. In 1861, still in Mr. Casey's employ, he removed with him to Winona, and continued until 1863. At this time he went to St. Charles, and engaged in business with J. Himsted & Co., still clerking, and for two and a half years longer, at which time he removed to Plain- view, where he commenced operations as partner of the St. Charles firm. At the end of the next year Himsted sold his interest to one John Taylor, and the business continued as J. Taylor & Co. In 1872 Mr. Cornwell sold out to J. Taylor, and for two years and a half next succeeding acted in the capacity of bookkeeper for Ozias Wilcox, until the summer of 1875, when he went south. In December of the same year a telegram announcing the low con- dition of his late employer summoned him to return and take charge of the business. Wilcox died January 1, following, and January 12 Mr. Cornwell reopened the business, and ran it in the interest of the family of deceased until June of the same year, when he became sole proprietor. In 1876 he removed to and became the first occupant of the spacious brick building, the finest business building in the town, and built by A. Y. Felton, of creamery notoriety. In 1881 - a self-made man - Mr. Cornwell purchased the building, thus becoming the sole proprietor of bothi building and business. He is the owner of other real estate in Fargo. The subject of this sketch is reputed to be the most pros- perous merchant in this vicinity, and generally liked for his busi- ness tact, impartial dealing and careful self-respect.
J. LEININGER, the only jeweler in Plainview, started business in the fall of 1870. He belongs to Redwing Association, is married and has three children.
JOHN B. GREGOIRE, implement dealer, is a native of Belgium, his birth dating February 5, 1853. His father, whose name was the same as his own, emigrated to the United States in 1856, and settled in Calumet county, Wisconsin. Here the subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, receiving a good common-school education in both English and German. In 1870 he came to Chester, this county, and engaged in farm labor. In 1873 he was employed in the sale of farm machinery by C. F. Rogers, of Lake City, and remained in his service four years. In 1878, with J. W. Kingsley, he opened a machinery depot at Mazeppa, and four years later bought out his partner. His sales now exceed twenty-five thousand dollars per
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year, including the celebrated McCormick machines. He is the owner of a fine residence in the village, and also his warehouse on the principal business street (First). His possessions have been acquired by his own energy in business from a small beginning. On Septem- ber 10, 1883, he was married to Miss Anna Clemens, of this village. Mr. Gregoire is a member of Mazeppa lodge, I.O.O.F., of which he is now secretary ; is also a Freemason ; is a member of St. Peter's Catholic church here. In politics he is a republican ; was three years village marshal, and is now depnty sheriff of the county.
WILLIAM H. HOBBS, Lake City, is the son of George H. and Sarah M. (Crandall) Hobbs, and was born at Buffalo, New York, October 12, 1855. His father was a native of Grand Isle, Vermont, and was by trade a machinist and engineer. His mother was born in Saratoga, New York, and her parents in the State of Rhode Island. Her father was a soldier in the war of 1812. In 1859 the family removed to Wisconsin, where our subject's father enlisted in the war for the Union as a member of Co. I, 11th Wis. Vol. Inf., in 1861. Soon after his connection with military affairs he was trans- ferred to the naval service and assigned a position as first assistant engineer on the gunboat Osage on its famons expedition up the Red River. Wm. H. received a good common-school education, as well as the mason's trade, after his removal to Lake City in 1870. He followed his trade in this state about seven years, principally as a contractor and builder. In 1879 he entered the hardware store of J. Cole Doughty as salesman, and about two years later bought an interest in the business, which was again sold in the winter of 1884. As an evidence of the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens, he was elected to city school board in the spring of 1883, and on its behalf superintended the erection of the new brick school built that year. One meritorions trait of character in Mr. Hobbs is his manly and filial treatment of his widowed mother, who resides- with him in this city. He has an only sister, Lura M., now Mrs. C. S. Lilley, of this city.
EDWARD M. CARD, attorney-at-law, Lake City, was born in New port county, in the State of Rhode Island, June 2, 1828. His parents, John L. and Catharine B. (Mott) Card, moved to Otsego connty, New York, in 1835. The most of his early days were spent in the schoolroom, his leisure-time on the farm with his parents. In October, 1849, he entered the law office of Judge Thomas McIntosh, at Hartwick, New York, where he pursued the study of law till his
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accession to the bar in July, 1852. In the fall of the same year he opened an office in Portlandsville, in the same county, and there practiced his profession till 1855. He then removed to Hartwick, where he formed a law partnership with his old preceptor, Judge McIntosh. In 1857 this partnership was dissolved, Judge Card continuing here in practice till 1863. In the fall of this year he was elected judge of the surrogate court of Otsego county, which then contained a population of some fifty thousand. This was a sharp and closely contested election, and he was returned with a small majority over his democratic competitor, Judge McIntosh, and was the youngest man ever elected to that honorable and important trust in the county. The same fall he removed to Cooperstown, the county seat, and on January 1, 1864, entered upon the discharge of his official duties. During the four years of Judge Card's official career he creditably acquitted himself as a jurist eminently fitted to sustain the high honor of the bench and bar. In the fall of 1867 he declined . a renomination and resumed the legal practice without change of residence till 1871, when he came west, settling in Lake City, where he now resides. The season of 1872 was mostly spent by him looking after his farming interests in Wisconsin. In March, 1873, he opened a law office in this city, and actively entered on his pro- fessional practice, which has since been extended over five or six counties surrounding Lake City, on both sides of the Mississippi. Much of his time during the past year has been spent away from home, engaged in important trials, involving life, liberty and property. The result of these trials has established for Judge Card the reputation of being one of the leading lawyers of the state, and as such has been prominently referred to by the local and city papers. In March, 1853, E. M. Card and Miss Eliza Halstead were nnited in mar- riage at Westville, New York. Mrs. Card is a daughter of Rev. Henry Halstead, of New York. They have one child, christened Jessie E., who graduated from St. Mary's Academy, at Faribault, in June, 1882.
GEORGE F. BENSON, banker, Lake City, is a son of John and Lucy A. (Adams) Benson, natives of New Hampshire. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1834, and educated in the schools of that city, and Philips' Exeter Academy, at Exeter, New Hamp- shire. When seventeen years of age he went to Buffalo, New York, and found employment in the office of a lumberman, where he remained about eight years. In 1860 he engaged in the lumber trade at South Bend, Indiana, and two years later removed his busi-
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ness to Plymouth, same state. He became a resident of Lake City in 1871, and was one of the organizers of the First National Bank, and was president of that institution from Angust 19, 1873, to November 17, 1876. In 1877 he became a stockholder in the Lake City Bank, and is now director, and one-fourth owner, of this solid establishment. He is a member of the masonic order, the Episcopal church, and the republican party.
MARTIN & GREER, attorneys-at-law, Lake City, office in Lyon block, corner of Lyon avenue and Washington street, successors of Scott & Hahn, formerly a prominent law firm of this city, the latter now attorney-general for the State of Minnesota, will act as their legal adviser in complicated and important cases. This is one of the most promising law firms in Lake City, if not in the county, and are in possession of the only complete set of abstracts, at this time, in the county.
JAMES M. MARTIN, the senior member of the firm, was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1851. His parents, James M. and Emily (Alexander) Martin, were natives of the same state, and by occupation farmers. Young James occupied his time on the farm and attending the country schools till the age of sixteen, when he entered the Columbia Classical Institute, and diligently pursued his studies four years. In 1871 he came to Lake city, and at once took a position in the city schools as assistant superinten- dent. This position he retained till the close of 1873, when he turned his entire attention to the reading of law, which he previously had begun. in the office of Scott & Hahn. He was admitted to the bar, May 15, 1876, and at once entered the law practice, form- ing a business partnership with his brother-in-law, Hon. W. J. Hahn. They opened a branch office at Wabasha, which he conducted till 1881, when Mr. Hahn was appointed to the attorney-generalship of Minnesota. In December of the same year he associated with him- self, in the abstract business, Mr. A. J. Greer, who the following May became a full-fledged lawyer. Mr. Martin was married June 12, 1879, to Miss J. Maggie Bell, daughter of Prof. John M. Bell, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and has two children : James M. and Vernon Bell. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is prominently connected with the Masonic fraterni- ties of the city.
ALLEN J. GREER,, the junior member of the firm, was born in Mifflin connty, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1854. His parents, James
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and Sarah A. (Carson) Greer, removed to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1858, where he was in business at the outbreak of the late war. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the war for the Union, and died of pneumonia at Helena, Arkansas, February 18, 1862, having risen to the rank of second lieutenant. He was a native of Penn- sylvania, and a son of Adam Greer, who emigrated from the North of Ireland to America, with his wife and elder children, in about the year 1830. Mrs. Greer finding it unsafe to remain in a country infested with rebels, Ku-klux and borders ruffians, after her husband's enlistment, returned with her three small children to her old eastern home. In 1865 she came with her family to Lake City, where she was married in 1869, to the Rev. Silas Hazlett. Here yonng Greer began the rudiments of an education, which he completed with dis- tinction at the state university at Minneapolis, where he graduated June 5, 1879, with the degree of bachelor of science. To Mr. Greer is dne the credit of making his own way through all the branches to the end of a complete scientific course, and is the first young man from Wabasha county so distinguished. After graduating from the State Normal at Winona in May, 1873, he secured a position as principal of the Carver, Minnesota, high school, where he taught two years previous to entering the State University. While pursu- ing his university course, he also (under authority of the state super- intendent of public instruction) taught county institutes in nearly all the counties in the state. In 1879 he was elected to the position of superintendent of schools for Wabasha county, and again in 1881, without opposition. Mr. Greer having had from childhood a taste for the legal profession, he devoted what little spare time he had, after 1879, to the reading law in the office of the Hon. Wm. J. Hahn, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1882, and at once be- came Mr. J. M. Martin's law partner. He was married February 21, 1882, to Miss Mary Dorman, daughter of D. B. Dorman, Esq., of Minneapolis, and has one son.
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