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 51

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 51
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 51

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Mr. Harris is a man of business qualities, and has been honored in various ways by his fellow townsmen. He has been a member of the city council, and is at present receiver of the United States land office at Fergus Falls. He built a fine residence on Union avenue in 1883, in which he has placed all modern improvements, fitting up his grounds with ornamental trees, making a beautiful and commodious home. In politics he affil- iates with the democratic party. He with his wife and children are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Harris is connected in a business way with many financial enter- prises in Fergus Falls, and in every way has proven himself a valuable and important factor in the business improvement of Fergus Falls and vicinity.

JOSEPH W. BLANDING, county surveyor of Richland county, North Dakota, is also an attorney-at-law, with headquarters at Wahpeton, the county seat. He is a native of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he was born March 10, 1819. His parents were Joseph and Elizabeth (Moxley) Bland- ing.

The parents were natives of Connecticut, where the father was engaged in tilling the soil. He died when about thirty years old. His father was Joseph Blanding, a native of Massachusetts and a farmer by occupation. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was of French descent. The parents of

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our subject had but two children, himself and James, now dead. The mother was the daughter of Jonathan Moxley, a native of Connecticut. He was a ship carpenter by trade and served in the Revolutionary War. He was a member of what is sometimes called the Hard-Shell Baptist church.

The subject of our sketch was reared on the home farm and received his education at the Franklin Institute at Hartford, Pennsyl- vania. When seventeen years of age he commenced teaching school and made that his chief occupation for ten years. He then came West and settled in Lancaster, Grant county, Wisconsin, where he was a sur- veyor for several years for the Gov- ernment, and for ten years held the office of clerk of the court. He occu- pied a prominent place in the affairs of that town and county, and held the posi- tion of justice of the peace for some time, as well as being president of the village council for several years. He was also county surveyor, and was engaged somewhat in land speculation. In May, 1872, Mr. Blanding came to Richland county, Dakota, and at that time there were but three or four persons living in the vicinity of where Wahpeton now stands. He purchased 800 acres of land of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, now joining the city limits. He at once commenced making improvements on his farm, built a house the same year, and broke up fifty acres of land. He has now between 300 and 400 acres under cultivation, and has good, comfortable buildings. Mr. Blanding has been a leader in the affairs of the county. He was the first county attor- ney, being also one of the first commission- ers at the organization of the county, in 1873, and having been the first and only county surveyor, being the present incumbent of that office. He has surveyed all the addi- tions to Wahpeton, save the first one, and has also laid out and platted eight other

towns, two of which are in Wilkin county, Minnesota. Mr. Blanding is a stanch de- fender of the principles of the republican party, and had the honor of casting his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison. He is a leading member of the Masonic frater- nity. He has been identified with the best interests of Richland county since its first settlement, and in every way he has been the friend of improvement and prosperity, and while his official record is without stain, so his private life and business connections have been of such a high character as to make him one of the most highly respected men in the town and county. -

S TANHOPE L. COLLINS, who is engaged in carrying on the livery and sale stable at Crookston, Minnesota, as well as the sale of mowing machines, self- binding reapers and threshing machines, is one of the early settlers of Polk county, and a leading business man in the community in which he lives.

The subject of this sketch was born in Bellevue, Jackson county, June 9, 1858, and is the son of Myron and Elizabeth (Miller) Collins, of that village. His early youth was spent in attendance upon the schools of his native town, in which he received the ele- ments of an excellent education. In the fall of 1876 he entered Bayles' Business or Commercial College, at Dubuque, Iowa, where, following the full course, he acquired a thorough knowledge of book-keeping and all business forms and transactions. The following spring he accepted the position of book-keeper and cashier in a large farm implement establishment in the town of his birth, in which he remained until the sum- . mer of 1879. In the latter year he came to Polk county and took up a homestead claim of 160 acres of land in the town of Euclid,

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and, having a cash capital of $450, hired some eighty acres of the prairie sod broken, and put up his claim shanty. In the fall of that year he returned to his home in Iowa, and during the winter, by close application and prudential economy, acquired sufficient money with which he purchased a team, which his father, who was engaged in shipping horses to this part of the country, brought here for him. Early in the spring of 1880 our subject came here and settled on his farm, and putting in a crop of wheat on the eighty acres of land he had had broken the previous year, commenced breaking the bal- ance of the land, and when that was finished, taking contracts for breaking for other parties. By industry and energy, which are inherent in his nature, he found that from the proceeds of the sale of his crop in the fall and the result of his labors that he had cleared some $1,200 in cash. He remained, engaged in agricultural pursuits, upon his farin until the fall of 1881, when selling out he removed to the village of Crookston, and in company with D. C. Terry, he put in a livery stable. His father was engaged in the purchase of horses in Iowa and shipping them to this part of the country for sale, and in 1883 put up the liv- ery barn now occupied by Mr. Collins as a place in which to put his own stock as well as to accommodate his son and his partner, and into this building the latter moved their stock as soon as it was completed. In 1886 the subject of our memoir purchased the interest of his partner and ran the business until the spring of 1887, when he formed a co-partnership with George H. Tunell, but in the following fall, again bought out that gentleman, since which time he has been alone in the management of the business, and is doing an extensive trade.

In 1882 Mr. Collins purchased and placed in his stable a handsome hearse, the first and only one in this portion of the Red River

Valley, and is thus enabled to properly attend to all funerals. IIis stock is valued at some $4,500, all of which has been accumulated entirely by his own energy, industry and at- tention to his business, and he occupies a prominent place in the business circles of the city. In addition to hislivery he devotes considerable attention to the sale of agricult- ural machinery in the way of mowers, reap- ers, self-binders and threshers, and has met with a merited success in this direction. A man of sterling integrity, excellent business tact and indomitable energy, his success in life is already insured, and he merits and receives the fullest esteem and respect of the whole community in which he lives.

Mr. Collins was united in marriage, December 7, 1886, with Miss Minnie Mentzel, of Polk county, and this was the first cere- mony of that character in Fanny township, of this connty. They have two children.

ARTSON F. WOODARD is a member of the law firm of Clapp & Woodard. with offices at Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, Minnesota. Mr. Woodard is a native of Canada and was born in 1847.

Mr. Woodard's parents were Captain Orlin and Eliza M. (Thompson) Woodard, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Massachusetts. The father was engaged extensively in farming and also in stock-rais- ing and the dairy business. His father was Samuel Woodard, a native of Canada and of English descent, by occupation a farmer. Samuel Woodard was a soldier in the Canada militia and served in the War of 1812; and Orlin, the father of the subject of our sketch, was a soldier in the Canada militia in 1837. Eliza M. Thompson's father was Franklin Thompson, a native of Massachusetts. He was engaged extensively in farming, and in early life moved to Northern Vermont, where

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he remained until he died. He reared a large family of children and held many positions of trust in the county in which he lived. He was one of the prominent men of that place and was of Scotch and English descent. Samuel Woodard reared a large family of children, and was one of the early settlers of the province of Quebec, Canada. Orlin, his son, reared a family of seven children, six of whom are now living, one having died in infancy. The names of these children are as follows- Louise E., now Mrs. J. I. Kimball ; Orlando H., a merchant in Boston, Massa- chusetts ; Oscar B., a merchant at St. Albans, Vermont ; Susan M., now Mrs. G. W. Miller, of Otter Tail county, Minnesota ; Harriet E., now Mrs. G. C. Clement, of the same county, and H. F.

The subject of our sketch spent his younger days at home, attending school, receiving an academic education. He was admitted to the bar in Franklin county, Ver- mont, at twenty-one years of age, and remained in the practice of his profession in that county for five years. Leaving that place he removed to St. Croix county, Wisconsin, where, for eight and one-half years he engaged actively in the practice of his profes- sion. In February, 1882, he came to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and formed a partnership with M. E. Clapp, now the attorney general of Minnesota. This partnership has con- tinued until the present time. While living in St. Croix county, Wisconsin, Mr. Woodard was prosecuting attorney for three years, and while living in Fergus Falls has been the attorney for the Fergus Falls National Bank.

Mr. Woodard was united in marriage in 1871 to Miss Eunice E. Whitney, of Frank- lin county, Vermont, daughter of Alloway Whitney, and extensive farmer of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Woodard have been blessed with one child, a girl, whose name is May A.

Attorney Woodard has been eminently successful in the practice of law since resid-

ing in this place. In all ways he has proven himself a careful, painstaking lawyer, an expert trier of cases, and a man whose sound judgment has made him many business friends. He has been a life-long republican, and has at all times been a stanch supporter of the principles promulgated by that party. For the last five years he has held the office of chief of the Fergus Falls fire department. He purchased a fine residence in which he now lives on Junius avenue, Fergus Falls-a beautiful home, fitted with all modern im- provements. Mr. Woodard is one of the lead- ing citizens of Fergus Falls and vicinity, and has a large and increasing practice.

OSEPH WARD REYNOLDS, attorney- at-law, and also editor and proprietor of the Herman Enterprise, is one of the most prominent citizens in the western part of the State. He was born, June 20, 1859, near Millbrook, Canada, his parents being farmers. He lived on the farm until ten years old, when he removed with his parents to Battle Creek, Michigan. He received his education there, and- resided there until 1878, when, having finished the preparatory course for the Michigan University in the Battle Creek high school, and received diploma as a grad. uate in the classical course, he came to Min- nesota, and taught school at Minneapolis for one year.

In 1879 he came to Norris, was examined by a duly appointed committee, and admitted to the bar June 20, 1880, upon the day of majority.

Since then he has practiced law at Her- man. He was county attorney of Arrant county from 1881 to 1883, since when he has never been a candidate for any office, and holds no official position now except as attorney for the State and certain settlers in respect to railroad land grants ; has farmed

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continually since residing at Herman, most of the time on a very extensive scale, and now owns and cultivates several improved farms. His next older brother is a physician at Battle Creek. Another brother is a mer- chant at Dallas, Texas. The third, a lawyer at Elkhart, Indiana. The mother is now living at Dallas, Texas. One sister is resid- ing at Battle Creek.

Mr. Reynolds is the present proprietor and editor of Herman Enterprise. His law prac- tice extends over the State, and frequently takes him to Dakota, and he is recognized as one of the most successful lawyers in the western part of the State.

OHN COULTER, a farmer residing on section 27, Huntsville township, is one of the oldest settlers and one of the most prominent and highly respected citizens of Polk county, Minnesota. He has taken an active part in all public and educational affairs, and is recognized as one of the lead- ing and most substantial citizens of the local- ity in which he lives. A man of the strictest integrity, untiring energy and enterprise, he stands high both as a neighbor and an ex- emplary citizen.

Mr. Coulter was born in Ontario, Canada, on the 15th of April, 1847, and is a son of Christopher and Elizabeth (Lee) Coulter, who were natives of Scotland. John Coulter was raised and educated in the Province of his birth. He began a life of hard work. when he was quite young, but did not leave home for good until he was about twenty- six years of age. In the fall of 1866 he came to Winona county, Minnesota, and remained for about one year working on a farm for a man named James Robinson. He then went to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business and remained until the spring of 1872. During

the summer of that year, 1872, he came to Polk county, Minnesota, and secured work with McCormick, Griggs and Walsh, at log- ging on Red Lake river. The same fall he returned to Canada, and in the following January again went to Wisconsin to follow lumbering. On the 4th of July, 1873, he made another move and on that day he landed at Grand Forks. He came at once to Huntsville township, and for $15 he pur- chased a squatter's right for a piece of land and entered it as a pre-emption. The railroad company " beat " him out of that place, and he then purchased land where he now lives. He now ownsone of the most valuable farms in the county, comprising in all 620 acres. For 120 acres of this he paid $23.26 per acre, and for the balance $15 per acre. His build- ings and other improvements are a credit to the township, and are located in a large oak grove on the banks of Red Lake river.

Mr. Coulter was married at Grand Forks on the 23d of July, 1873, to Miss Catharine Mc Veety, a daughter of James and Jessie (McLane) McVeety. Mr. and Mrs. Coulter are the parents of the following-named children-Jennette E., Christopher C., James A., Elizabeth, John L., Cora E., Mabel M. and William Alfred.

LMER ADAMS, editor of the Fergus Falls Journal, is one of the best known newspaper men in the Park Regions. He is a native of Waterbury, Vermont, born Decem- ber 31, 1861, and is a son of Daniel K. and Annie (Hale) Adams. The parents were also natives of Vermont. The father, who was originally an iron manufacturer, came to Minneapolis in 1879, and engaged in con- tracting and building, and still makes that city his home. The parents had a family of four children, who are now living-Dayton, Elmer, Wilbur W. and Alice.

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Elmer Adams, whose name heads this article, finished his education at the Minne- sota State University, graduating from that institution in the Class of 1884. He came to Fergus Falls on the 17th of February, 1884, and became the editor of the Fergus Falls Daily Telegram. In Marchı, 1885, the Tele- gram was consolidated with the Journal and Mr. Adams became editor of that paper, and has since retained that position. The weekly has a circulation of 2,300, and the daily a circulation of 650. The office employs about twenty-two hands.

Mr. Adams is a gentleman of wide infor- mation, and a thorough newspaper man. He is recognized as one of the most forcible editorial writers in the northern part of the State.

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HOMAS S. MORRISEY, the junior member of the firm of Morrisey Bros., of Crookston, proprietors of the foundry and machine shop of that place, is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was born Febru- ary 13, 1855. Four years later he was taken by his parents, Edward and Martha Mor- risey, to Prince Edward's Island, where he was reared to manhood. In his youth he drew his education from the schools of that portion of the Dominion, and in early man- hood assisted his father in his foundry and machine shop, thus acquiring a full knowl- edge of that business and becoming thor- oughly proficient in all of its branches. At the age of twenty years he left home and was in the employ of his brother at Summer- side, in the same island, where he remained about a year, and from there removed to St. John, New Brunswick. Eight or nine months he stayed in the latter place following his trade, and then started on a tour through the United States. After spending a short

time in Boston, New York and other points East, he went to Tennessee, and, after seeing a considerable portion of that State, engaged at his trade in St. Louis, Missouri. A year later he returned to New York where he rejoined his brother, James E., and remained there about a month. At the end of that time he again started West, going to Colorado, where, after visiting the various cities and towns, he entered a mining claim at Kokomo, and after remaining in that local- ity for some time, went to Texas and spent several months in looking at the country. The climate of that portion of the South not agreeing with his health he removed to Little Rock, Arkansas, and after several months to St. Louis. From the latter city he came to Minnesota, and, at Willmar, rejoined his brother James, who had located at that place. With him he remained until the 4th of November, 1880, when he started South once more and was employed for some months in the construction of a Government steamer at Mound City, Illinois. From there, after a visit to Northern Missouri, he settled in Beardstown, Illinois, where he remained until the following fall, and then returned to his boyhood's home. Returning to Beards- town, he was there united in marriage with Miss Adeline Benjamin, and lived there until May, 1882, when he again came to Will- mar, Minnesota, and entered into partner- ship with his brother, with whom he lias since remained. At that time they removed to Crookston, and founded their present place of business, and he has been a resident of that city ever since. A sketch of their business, etc., is given in connection with that of his brother and partner in the pages of this volume, to which the reader is referred.

[Since the above was written, in the fall of 1888, Mr. Morrisey sold his interest in their business at Crookston to his brother James E. Morrisey .- EDITOR.]

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HRIS HOLBECK, the gentlemanly proprietor of the Farmers' Hotel, sit- uated on the corner of James and Broad way streets, Moorhead, Minnesota, will form the subject of the biographical sketch herewith subjoined.

Mr. Holbeck is a native of Denmark, born February 14, 1845. His parents were Nels and Karn (Oleson) Holbeck, natives of Den- mark, also. They emigrated to America in 1870, settling in Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where they took a homestead of forty acres. The mother died in 1873, and the father in 1887. They had a family of four children- Chris, Kastena, Jens P. and Nels.

Chris, who is the person specially to be treated of in this connection, was reared on his father's farm, and obtained a good com- mon school education. When eleven years of age he went out to work on a farm and herd cattle, for which he received his board and clothes. He remained there for seven long years, and then went into a city, where he worked at whatever his hands could find to do. He followed this for six years. The first two years he received but $50 per year, and during the third and fourth years his wages amounted to $100 per year, while the last two of the six years' service he received $212 per year. Having seen a pretty hard time in his native land, he thought well to come to America, so in the spring of 1868 he left his native land and crossed the ocean. He came to Winona, Minnesota, and went to work on the Southern Minnesota Railway. He then spent some time in Wisconsin and Iowa, working at haying and harvesting during the summer and fall of 1868. He then purchased a claim of 160 acres in Otter Tail county, Minnesota, which he improved, and while doing so worked out and remained on the same until 1875, raising grain, cattle and horses. He then exchanged his farm for another, two miles distant; this he kept two years, when he sold in 1878 and came to

Clay county and took a pre-emption in Worken township; this he improved and remained on seven years, and then traded the farin for the hotel he now operates in Moorhead, together with a store building adjoining.

Politically, he is an independent voter. He was treasurer of Worken township when he lived in that precinct, and was elected alderman from the third ward in the city of Moorhead in 1888.

He was married in 1870 to Miss Karn U. Jensen. daughter of Jens Larson, natives of Denmark. The father was engaged in butchering in that country until 1883, when he came to America, remained one year and returned to his native place, and there died in 1884. . The mother died in Minnesota in 1887.

Mr. and Mrs. Holbeck belong to the Lutheran church. Their family consists of five children-Herman, Agnes, Walter, Dag- mer and William. Mr. Holbeck is an upright man, a good citizen, and has the respect of all who know him.

EORGE G. HENAULT, the leading dentist of Northwestern Minnesota, and the adjoining portion of Dakota, is a resident of the city of Crookston, born in Canada, October 31, 1853. He is the son of George H. and Ruth Henault, and is of French extraction. In early youth he received his education in the schools of his native land, and a the age of thirteen entered the dental office of his uncle, Dr. L. Clem- ents, at Kingston, Canada, where he served an apprenticeship at the profession for a period of three years. When sixteen years of age, abandoning, for a time, the practice of dentistry, he engaged as a salesman in a large dry goods emporium in the same city, and followed that line of business as a clerk

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or salasmen until he had attained the age of twenty. Having come to the determination to pursue the study of dentistry, he again resumed his place with his uncle and devoted some four years to the mysteries and science of that difficult profession. After fully con- quering all its intricacies, for a period cover- ing some six years the Doctor was not en- gaged in any permanent employment, but in 1882 came to Faribault, Minnesota, where another uncle, S. T. Clements, was located in the pursuit of dental surgery, and entered into partnership with that gentleman. He remained in that city making many friends, and acquiring a more thorough knowledge of his business until May 1885, when, appre- ciating the wide field for his future efforts that lay in the great and growing North- west, he came to the Red River Valley in search of a promising point. On looking the country over he located in Crookston and opened his rooms, rightly foreseeing its future prosperity and growth. Here he has rapidly won golden opinions for himself and attained a high position, both as a professional man and as a citizen. The absolute rectitude of his life, the integrity of his motives, and the energy and public-spiritedness of his charac- ter has exalted him in the opinions of his fellow-citizens, while his thorough knowl- edge of his profession and his easy and affable manners have brought him a large and lucrative business, which is extending every day.

ACOB OLSON. Among the most thrifty and industrious farmers of the famous Red-River and Park Regions is the gentleman whose name heads this article, a prominent agriculturist of Grant county, Minnesota, residing on section 5, Erdahl township. He is a native of Norway, born on the 12th of July, 1829, and is a son of Ole Nelson and Marit (Jacobs Datter) Nel-

son, natives of Norway. The father of ou subject devoted his life to farming, and died in his native land. The father and mother of Jacob were the parents of the following named children - Nels, Ole, Jacob, Carrie, ® Julia, Mary (deceased) and Mary. Nels, Jacob and Mary are still living.

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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 51

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