Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 14

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872

USA > Minnesota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 14
USA > North Dakota > Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens > Part 14

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It has been the endeavor in this volume to gather and place in enduring form a history of the lives of those who have aided in the growth and development of the Park Regions of Minnesota and the Valley of the Red

River of the North; to preserve the lives of the old settlers and their recollection of pioneer days, together with biographies of the prominent and representative citizens who are to-day or have in the past been identified with business interests or the growth and development of the various localities. Years roll by so rapidly that time is already fast thinning the ranks of those who were the forerunners of civiliza- tion in the Northwest, and it will be but few years until our children and our children's children will succeed the present generation, and take the places of those who are now the leading factors. It is for the purpose of gathering the history of the life work of the present citizens before it is too late, and placing it in an enduring form, that this ALBUM has been compiled, as an heirloom to posterity ; so that when, in years to come, some future historian takes up the pen to write of the Northwest and its past, he will not have to depend upon the uncertainty of tradition, but will have in authentic and enduring form a review of the lives of those who took part and aided in the early prog- ress and development of the VALLEY OF THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH AND THE PARK REGIONS OF MINNESOTA.

BIOGRAPHICAL

ON. SOLOMON G. COMSTOCK. It is doubtful whether, in the famous Red River Valley, there is a more worthy or distinguished subject for the pen of the biographer than the gentle- man whose name heads our present article. The present representative in congress from the Fifth District, and a man who has for years been prominent in State affairs, besides having, since pioneer days, been closely iden- tilied with the growth and development of the Red River Valley, his name is indissolubly associated with the history of that portion of Minnesota of which this vol- ume treats. A man who is adverse to detail- ing his personal history or the part which he has taken in public affairs, it is but just to say that the writer has depended almost wholly upon what is public knowledge and record for the facts incorporated in the pres- ent sketch.

Mr. Comstock was born in Penobscot county, Maine, on the 9th of May, 1842, and is a son of Hon. James M. and Louisa M. (Gill- man) Comstock, who were natives, respect- ively of Penobscot and Waldo counties, in the same State, and resided in the town of

Passadumkeag. The father, James M. Com- stock, was a prominent man in the locality in which he lived ; represented his district in the legislature, was chairman of the board of selectinen, and otherwise took a leading part in the affairs of his home county. He was a man of even temperament. and a large man physically. Among his neighbors he wielded a large influence, and his advice and counsel were widely respected. He was a republican in political matters, from the formation of that party until his death, which occurred June 3, 1885. His widow still lives in her native State. James M. Comstock and wife became the parents of four children, as follows: Solomon G., William G., Edgar F. and Ada L., now Mrs. J. W. Smart.

The grandparents of Solomon G: Com- stock on his father's side were Solomon Comstock, a native of Smithfield, Rhode Island, and his wife Rebecca (Robinson) Comstock, who was born at .St. George, Maine. To carry the genealogy back one degree farther, the father of Solomon Com- stock was Israel Comstock, who was raised in Rhode Island, and who was a federalist

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and an officer during the Revolutionary War.

On the maternal side the lineage of Solo- mon G. Comstock runs back to the old and famous Gillman family of New Hampshire. His mother's parents were Nicholas and Ruth (Coombs) Gillman, who were natives of Gillmanton, New Hampshire, and Isles- borough, Maine, respectively.

Solomon G. Comstock, who is our present subject, was raised upon the home farm, and taught to do his full share of the manual labor connected with carrying on the farm, and also aided his father in the lumber busi- ness. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, attending the com- mon schools in the meantime. He then attended the Wesleyan Seminary and the Hampden and Corinth Academies. In 1868 he came West, and took a course in the law department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor. Previous to this, before leaving his native State, he had studied law in the office of Judge Humphrey, at Bangor, Maine. In 1869 he was admitted to the bar at Omaha, Nebraska, and practiced there for a short time. He then went to Minneapolis, where, for a few months, he studied law in the office of D. A. Secombe. About this time the settlement of the Red River Valley was beginning to set in, and he joined the throng. He arrived in Moorhead in the fall of 1871, and that place has since been his home. He was poor, but full of vigor, hope and talents. He opened a law office, and was shortly appointed by the board of county commissioners county attorney, which office he held, and performed its exacting duties with great ability, honesty and success for six years. He dropped out of active practice of law in 1884, his real estate business and legislative duties taking up his entire time. In 18SO he formed a partnership with A. A. White, Esq., to deal in real estate and town sites, and the firm has

met with unqualified success. He also car- ries on farming operations quite extensively.

Mr. Comstock's legislative service com- menced in 1875, he having been returned by the people to the lower house of the Minne- sota legislature, and he has been elected to the house or senate at every election since except in 1878, when he declined to run. He served in the house until 1883, when he was promoted to the senate, in which body he served three sessions, viz .: 1883, 1885 and 1887, and had the session of 1889 before him when elected to congress. He early took a leading position in the house, and was invariably connected with prominent committees. and, as a matter of course, prom- inently identified with the most vital legis- lative questions and enactinents of the day. At the session of 1887 he was chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate-the leading committee. He was also chairman of the temperance committee, and was a member of the railroad, normal school and public school committees. He assisted largely in forming the railroad bill that was passed in 1885. In 1882 he was made by his friends a candidate for attorney-general, and only lacked three votes of nomination. In 1884 he was made a candidate for lieuten- ant-governor, but made no active canvass for the place; he has frequently been men- tioned for governor. In the fall of 1888 he was elected member of congress from the Fifth District of Minnesota, and at present fills that position. His majority in the dis- trict was 7,519.

Mr. Comstock has always taken an active and leading part in all public affairs of the locality in which he lives, and every move or enterprise calculated to benefit his town or region has always received his active sup- port and cooperation. A warm friend of education, it was he who introduced the bill locating the normal school at Moorhead and securing large appropriations for carrying

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on the work, and he donated six acres of valuable city property for the site. In fact, everything in the way of developing the re- sources of Clay and adjoining counties- such projects as building churches, schools, or securing factories and railroads-every worthy project, has always been aided by his enterprise and liberality.

Mr. Comstock was married in May, 1874, to Miss Sarah Ball, of Minneapolis, and they are the parents of three children -- Ada L., Jessie M. and George M. Mrs. Com- stock is a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Haylet) Ball, of Wright county, Minnesota.

ON. HALVER STEENERSON, one of the most prominent members of the bar of Polk county, Minnesota, a resident of Crookston, has been largely identified with the public life of this portion of the State, and has been christened by the St. Paul pa- pers "the tall Sycamore of the Northwest." He is a man of State-wide reputation.

Mr. Steenerson first saw the light in Dane county, Wisconsin, June 30, 1852, and is the son of Steener and Betsey (Roholt) Knute- son. His father, who was a native of Nor- way, removed with his family, in 1853, to Houston county, Minnesota, where they were among the very earliest settlers. Tak- ing up a claim there, he made his home there until 1875, when he came to Polk county, then on the frontier of civilization, and took up a claim on section 30, of the town of Vineland, brought it into cultiva- tion and made it into a fine farm. There he made his home until the day of his death, in October, 1881. His widow still resides on the homestead.

The subject of our sketch was reared upon his father's farm, and received his early edu- cation in the rough log-cabin school-houses of the period, in Houston county, and spent

part of the time in assisting his parents in the arduous duties devolving upon all who " till the soil and turn the unwilling glebe."

After two years spent in the graded schools of Rushford, Mr.Steenerson, at the age of seventeen, essayed school teaching in the southern part of the State, and followed the life of a pedagogue for several years, still as- sisting his father on the farm in the interim. Being dissatisfied with the limited capabili- ties of that profession, and possessing a. large share of natural energy 'of character, he desired a larger field for action. In 1875, in company with a gentleman, O. Pe- terson, he made a trip to the south shore of Lake Superior, where, as partners, they took a contract to grade a certain portion of the railroads then being built in that part of the country. On the completion of their labors, they found that they had made a good fair profit, but had some difficulty in obtaining their money, that being the time of the financial crisis that virtually stopped all pub- lic as well as private improvement. This. finally being settled, the same year Mr .. Steenerson entered the office of Greenman & Abbey, attorneys and agents of the Conti- nental Insurance Company, of Austin, Min- nesota, soliciting for them in the sum- mer and spending the winter months in their office, engaged in the study of law, he having a natural bent toward that. learned profession. He remained with that company until the fall of 1877, when, going to Chicago, he entered the Union Law College, and devoted his entire and unwearied attention to the study of the principles and practice of that profession with excellent re- sults. He remained in that institution until June 6, 1878, when he was admitted to the bar at a term of the Supreme Court of Illi- nois, after which he returned to Minnesota, and that fall opened a law office at Lanes- boro, Fillmore county. In the autumn of 1879, in search of a newer locality, he came

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to the Red River Valley, and, after spending a week in Crookston, decided to settle there, being satisfied with the outlook for the fut- ure prosperity of that place. Accordingly, early in the spring of 1880, he came to this section of the country, leaving Lanesboro on the 6th of April. Shortly after his arrival Mr. Steenerson opened and established him- self in the practice, and, by unwearied assi- duity and diligence in the interests of his numerous clients, has brought himself into prominence as a talented and competent member of the bar.

But it is in his public career in this section that Mr. Steenerson is most widely known. At the fall election of 1880 he was chosen county attorney on an independent ticket, and served one term. In the fall of 1882, being nominated by the republican 'conven- tion for the office of State senator, he was elected with a handsome majority, and graced the halls of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth sessions. During his term of office, he was among the most active and in- fluential members, and ably represented his constituents. His ability and clear-headed judgment made him a favorite among his fellow senators, and his usefulness was be- yond compare. He has always been closely identified with the republican party, and was chosen one of the delegates from this district to the national republican conven- tion at Chicago, in 1884, which nominated James G. Blaine for the presidency, and at the convention of 18SS, which placed in nom- ination for the highest office in the gift of the people the present president, Benjamin Har- rison. In both of these assemblages Mr. Steenerson bore a prominent and admirable part. At the State convention, at St. Paul, in September, 1888, he was also present as a delegate, and made the speech placing in nomination for governor the name of Hon. W. R. Merriam, which was applauded to the echo, says the Pioneer Press.

In the fall of 1887 Mr. Steenerson was chosen city attorney by the qualified voters of Crookston, who appreciate his probity and talents, and in August, 1888, was elected a member of the city council. He is, also, an active and zealous member of the city board of education, all of which posi- tions he fills, or has filled, to the utmost sat- isfaction of all concerned.

The subject of this personal memoir was united in marriage November 18, 1878, with Miss Mary Fjaagesund, a native of Norway, and daughter of Christopher and Mary Fjaagesund. By this union their hearth has been brightened by the birth of four children, only two of whom are living- Clara and Benjamin.

Mr. Steenerson is socially connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and religiously with the Evangelical Lutheran church.

ON. FRED VON BAUMBACH, ex-sec- retary of state of Minnesota, is the present auditor of Douglas county, Minne- sota. He is a native of Hessen-Cassel, Ger- many, and was born August 30, 1838. His parents were Lewis and Minnie (Schenck) Von Baumbach, and were natives of the same place. The father was a very prominent man in Germany, being a mem- ber of the German parliament in 1848, and in the revolution of 1848 was so prominent that he was forced to abandon his home for the time being. He was one of the wealthy, prominent men of Germany. In 1849 he came to America, settling in Ohio, where he remained five years. Here he turned his attention to farming. In 1854 he came to Milwaukee, where he held the office of Ger- man consul until 1882. He died in Milwau- kee in 1884; the mother died in 1870. This family numbers six children : Earnest, now

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a capitalist of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Moritz, a member of the Merchants' Exchange Bank of the same city ; William, also a capitalist ; Charles, a wholesale druggist of Milwaukee ; Fred, and Klotilde, now Mrs. Von Kalten- born, of Milwaukee.

The subject of this sketch spent his younger days in school, while his parents resided in Ohio. When the family removed to Milwaukee he was employed for a time as a clerk in a retail house. He then was appointed deputy city treasurer, which office he held for three years. At the end of this period he took a trip to Texas. This was in 1860, and he returned in 1861 .. . On the breaking out of the Rebellion he served in the Fifth Wisconsin Regiment, Company C, as a private. He rose to the rank of second lieutenant in 1862, and later in the same year received a commission as first lieutenant, which office he held until 1863, when he was commissioned captain of Company K, of the Thirty-Fifth Wisconsin Regiment. He received a major's commission in September, 1865, and in March, 1866, was mustered out under that title. Mr. Von Baumbach saw much severe service during the Rebellion. He was in the following engagements : Battle of Yorktown, Williamsburg, seven day's battle at Richmond, second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, the battle of Fredericks- burg, the siege of Mobile, and in many smaller battles and skirmishes. After be- ing mustered out of service, he returned to Wisconsin and settled in Fond du Lac, where he engaged in the drug business. In 1867 he was burned out, and at this time he moved to Douglas county, Minnesota. He first settled near Brandon, where he took a home- stead of 160 acres. Soon after, he purchased 160 acres more adjoining his homestead, all of which land he improved, living thereon until March, 1873, when he was elected county auditor. In 1879 he qualified as secretary of state of the State of Minnesota,

which office he held for seven years. Then, on account of the sickness of the county auditor of Douglas county, after he returned to Douglas county, he took charge of that office. In the fall of 1888 he was elected county auditor, which position he now holds. Mr. Von Baumbach has held numerous important positions in the government of the respective towns in which he has lived and also in the State. He was town clerk at Brandon, and is now a member of the board of education of the city of Alexandria, Minnesota. In 1875 Mr. Von Baumbach purchased a farm adjoining the city of Alex- andria, which he has been conducting since that date. He is also interested in the drug business at Alexandria, under the firm name of Von Baumbach & Morisse. He is a stock- holder in the First National Bank, and also owns stock in the furniture manufacturing company of Alexandria.

Mr. Von Baumbach entered the state of matrimony in 1863, in which year he was married to Miss Sarah Decker, of Oconomo- woc, Wisconsin, daughter of Talman Decker. Mr. and Mrs. Von Baumbach have two adopted children-Minnie and Jacob.

Mr. Von Baumbach is a stanch repub- lican in politics, and while he has resided in Minnesota has been thoroughly identified with the principles of the republican party, and has at all times been one of the leaders in its councils. He is a member of the Masonic and I. O. O. F. fraternities, as well as the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion of Honor. He is one of the solid business men of Alexandria, and is prominent in all matters that pertain to the financial welfare of this city.

DMUND M. WALSH. Prominent among the first pioneers of Crookston, Minnesota, and representative citizens of Polk county is the present clerk of court, Mr.

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Walsh. In June, 1872, he came to this place, and being favorably impressed by its location and evident promise, embarked in business, opening a tinsmith's shop. At that period Crookston was as yet in embryo, the business of the place being represented by the railroad contractors' store, two saloons and a boarding-house, all of which, like those of early days in California, were kept in tents. Mr. Walsh procuring some lumber at Grand Forks, hauled it to Crookston with the aid of an ox-team. With this material he put up a fair edifice, one of the first permanent struct- ures in the place, some two or three others being erected about the same time.

Mr. Walsh remained in the tinner's busi- ness until the spring of 1873, when, forming a copartnership with William Ross, and purchasing the general merchandise stock and building of Bruns & Finkle, put the two store buildings together, and opened up in the general merchandise, hardware and tin business. Although the track was laid to the town during the summer, trains were not run much before the frosts of early winter came, and when the ice king had bound up the river in his frigid chain, and boats could no longer ply upon it, business being but light, all traffic over the line was suspended for the winter. The merchants of Crookston were then compelled to get their freight from Glyndon the best way they could. Early in the winter they fitted up a flat car with mast and sail, with which they ran over the road and with which they could carry their goods from the termination of the road to Crookston. When the snow came, sledges drawn by oxen or dogs replaced their car- vacht. The merchants of the place labored under these disadvantages every winter un- til 1875, when the railroad was operated more regularly.

The subject of our sketch was engaged in business with Mr. Ross until 1880, and then purchased the interest of the latter, who re-

tired. He carried on the store until 1SS4, when he sold out, since which time he lias de- voted his entire attention to his official duties and the management of his personal estate.

Mr. Walsh, who is one of the most popular men in the community, has been trusted for many years by the people in one of the pub- lic offices. He was the first postmaster in the village of Crookston, having been ap- pointed to that position in 1872, and held it for twelve consecutive years. When the county then embracing all the territory now known as Polk and Norman counties was organized in the fall of 1872, Mr. Walsh be- came auditor, and filled that responsible post for three years. In 1886 he was elected by the people of the county to the office of clerk of the district court, and is the re- spected incumbent of that office. When Crookston was incorporated, in 1878, Mr. Walsh was chosen one of the first council, and in 1SS5 was elected mayor.

The subject of this memoir was born in Essex county, New York, March 2, 1851, and is the son of Thomas and Eleanor Walsh. In 1857, when he was but six years of age, his parents removed to Minnesota and located at Henderson, Sibley county. His father remained in that town, quietly pursuing his craft, until the breaking out of the Civil War, when "the tramp of marching millions echoed through the land," when, imbued with a strong spirit of patriotism, he enlisted and served some four years. After the close of hostilities he returned to Henderson and en- tered into the mercantile trade, and was ap- pointed postmaster. In the spring of 1870 he removed to Grand Forks, where he put up and operated a saw mill and a store, which he sold out to the Hudson Bay Company in 1875 He served as register of deeds of Grand Forks county for five years, and still lives there, enjoying, in his declining years, the fruits of a life spent in industry and honor- able labor.

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Edmund M. Walsh grew to manhood in Sibley county, enjoying the usual facilities for education, and remained with his parents until the date of the latter's removal to Grand Forks. He tookcharge of and wound up his father's business in Henderson, and then started out in life for himself. His only capital at the time was about $30, twenty of which he paid for railroad fare to where the track was then laid in Grant county, from which point he walked to Grand Forks. After a week's sojourn there, he went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he was employed at his trade, which was that of a tinsmith, until the following spring, when lie came to Crookston, as above related.

Since his advent here Mr. Walsh has been noted as one of the most successful business men of the place, owing entirely to his dili- gence, energy and tact. Starting in life there with comparatively nothing, he has, by his own exertions, succeeded in accumula- ting a comfortable competence. He is the owner, at present, of some 1,000 acres of good, arable farm land, 400 of which is under cul- tivation, besides real estate in the city to the value of $10,000. He is one of the promi- nent members of the Masonic fraternity, be- ing in good standing in Crookston lodge, No. 141, A. F. & A. M .; Pierson Chapter, No. 40, R. A. M .; and Crookston Commandery, No. 20, K. T., in all of which he has office.

Mr. Walslı was married in November, 1874, to Miss Emma Barrett, of Crookston, and they are the parents of five children, namely-William M., George H., Ella M., Edward and Clifford.

LOF J. SWENSON, of Herman, Grant county, Minnesota, is a dealer in gen- eral merchandise, and one of the success- ful and prominent business men of the Park

Regions, and as such well deserves notice in this ALBUM. Born in Sweden, he comes of that sturdy nationality which has fur- nished Minnesota and Dakota with so many of its most successful and valuable citizens, a nation proverbial for their industry, frugality and integrity. He first saw the light on the 12th of January, 1851, in Vermland, a province or county of his native kingdom. His parents, Nils and Johanna (Olson) Swenson, came with their family to the United States in 1868, and settled in Douglas county, Minne- sota, where the mother died. The father died in the Black Hills. Nils Swenson and wife were the parents of eight children, one of whom died when ten years of age. Their names were - Olof J., Maria, Johanna, Hilma, Swen, Sophia, Anna and Nils. Olof J. Swenson was reared amid the picturesque hills and valleys of his fatherland, imbibing those principles of integrity which charac- terize the race from which he springs. Re- ceiving a common education up to the time he was seventeen, he then, until he was twenty-one, assisted his father in carrying on the home farm, and came to the United States with the family in 1868. After farm- ing for several years in Douglas county, Min- nesota, he then went to the Black Hills, Dakota Territory, where he was employed at prospecting and various kinds of labor for thirteen months. At the expiration of that time he returned to Douglas county, Minnesota, and in 1879 went to Herman, in Grant county, where he has since remained. For several years he clerked in the storc of J. K. Van Doren, and then established a billiard hall and fruit and confectionery store, which he conducted for about two years. He next embarked in the general mercantile trade, in company with Gustof Rudberg and P. F. Nordby, but two years later he bought out the interest of his associates and has since conducted the business alone. He carries a large and well assorted stock of goods, and

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Illustrated album of biography of the famous valley of the Red River of the North and the park regions of Minnesota and North Dakota : containing biographical sketches of settlers and representative citizens, Part 14

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company Number of Pages: 872

Author: Alden, Ogle & Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Alden, Ogle & Company
Number of Pages: 872