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 56

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 56
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 56

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accepted a position as clerk in the United States land office. On the removal of that office to Fergus Falls, Otter Tail county, he retained his position and changed lıis resi- dence to that city. He held his position until his death which occurred in 1882.

In 1852, at Leicestershire, England, Mr. Sawbridge was married to Miss Emma Robinson. Her parents were Jonathan and Emma (Agutter) Robinson, natives of Eng- land, and farmers by occupation.

Mrs. Sawbridge has one son, Charles J., married to Miss Mary Mercer, of the State of Massachusetts. He is engaged in the real estate business in Minneapolis, Minne- sota.

Mr. Sawbridge was a republican in poli- tics and at all times held the esteem and respect of all who knew him. He held the office of justice of the peace at Alexandria and also at Fergus Falls. In 1879 he built a fine residence in the north part of the city on Whitford street where his widow now lives. He was an upright Christian gentleman and was a member of the Episco- pal church, as was also his wife who is held in high esteem by the people of Fergus Falls. .

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R. HARLOW J. BOYD, physician and surgeon, is a member of the firm of Vivian & Boyd, of Alexandria, Minnesota. Dr. Boyd is a native of Chautauqua county, New York. His birth occurred on the 30th of July, 1852.

Dr. Boyd was the son of Hollis S. and Mervana (Moore) Boyd, natives respectively . of Vermont and Massachusetts. Mr. Boyd, the father of the subject of our sketch, was engaged in the business of farming for many years in the State of New York, to which place he came with his parents at ten years of age. In 1860 he came West and settled in

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St. Croix county, Wisconsin. Here he en- gaged in farming and remained until 1868, in which year he came to Douglas county, Minnesota, and settled in the town of Hud- son. Mr. Boyd was among the first settlers of the town of Hudson, and took up a home- stead of 160 acres, put up a log house thereon, covered it with elm bark and lived, surrounded by hard times, for some years. But he kept steadily and sturdily at work improving the farm. He planted many fruit and ornamental trees, and later built a fine farm house and barn and other out- buildings. After many years of hardships he is now comfortably situated in his new house on one of the best farms in Douglas county. He was the first judge of probate in this county, was elected to this office in 1868, holding that position for four years. Mr. Boyd has been a justice of the peace for some years, which office he still retains. He enlisted in the Thirty-Seventh Wisconsin Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, but was rejected on account of physical disabilities. Mr. Boyd in politics is at present a prohibi- tionist, but was formerly a republican. He is one of the prominent citizens of the county, a thoroughly honest, upright citizen. He is one of the leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is known as a thorough Christian man. He is the father of six chil- dren, four of whom are now living-Henry L., Harlow J., Emma (now Mrs. Van Loon, of Hudson, Minnesota) and Herbert M.

Dr. Boyd spent his younger days on a farm, attending winter school at every opportunity. His early life was spent mainly at Jamestown, New York, River Falls, Wisconsin, and near Alexandria, Min- nesota. He commenced the study of medi- cine in 1872 with Dr. Vivian, of Alexandria. After studying a short time with Dr. Vivian, who is one of the leading physicians of that city, he removed to Sherman, New York. where he studied with Dr. H. B. Osborn.

He attended medical lectures in the Cincin- nati College, Ohio, and was admitted house physician in 1877. He retained that posi- tion for one year, after which time he went to Columbus. Here he attended the Columbia Medical College, and was graduated in 1879. He then commenced the practice of medi- cine in Chautauqua county, New York, where he remained until 1886. At this time he came to Alexandria, Minnesota, where he has been in active practice since. He purchased an interest in the business of Dr. Vivian, with whom he has been in part- nership ever since. Dr. Boyd is a member of the Chautauqua county (New York) Med- ical Society. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and also of the Order of the Druids. Dr. Boyd entered the happy state of matri- mony in 1882, in which year he married Miss Lillian Rexford, a daughter of Lorenza and Rhoda Rexford, of Chautauqua county, New York. One son has blessed this union, Leon M. Mrs. Dr. Boyd was edu- cated at the Jamestown Collegiate Institute. She taught school for some time in Chau- tauqua county, New York.

Dr. Boyd enjoys a large practice in the village of Alexandria and vicinity. He is known to be an able physician and a hard student in his profession. His worth is acknowledged in the fact that he is a phy- sician and surgeon for the Manitoba Railroad Company, and he and his partner are the village physicians. In politics the Doctor is a stanch democrat.

L. RAMSTAD, deceased, one of the old- est and most prominent business men of the village of Ada, in his time, located in that place in 1877, being one of the firm of G. S. Barnes & Co., dealers in general mer- chandise. He was the managing partner and had full control of the establishment and

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continued in that connection until 1881. During the summer of that year, in com- pany with his brother, Peter, now register of deeds of Norman county, he erected the store building at present occupied by An- drews & Co., and the two brothers, under the firm name and style, opened a stock of gen- eral merchandise. He remained a partner in that establishment until the day of his death, July 14, 1883, and took a front rank in the business circles of the place. He was ap- pointed postmaster of Ada in 1879, and ful- filled, to the utmost satisfaction of the citiz- ens, the duties of that office until death.

Mr. Ramstad was born in the kingdom of Norway, in 1847, and was the son of Lars and Carrie (Wauge) Ramstad. He received in his native land the education to which every Norwegian youth is entitled, and at the age of seventeen, in search of a home and a competence, came to America. He settled in Vernon county, Wisconsin, where he re- mained until about the time the Northern Pacific Railroad was built, when he came to Minnesota and took a claim in Becker county. Not being content with farm life, and feeling that his abilities, which were of no mean order, were more in the direction of mercan- tile pursuits, he found employment in various stores as clerk, at Audubon, Lake Park and other places along the line of the railroad. While thus engaged he became acquainted with G. S. Barnes, and when the village of Ada was started, came to that place and opened a store for that gentleman, as a partner.

The subject of our sketch was a thorough business man and took an active interest in the growth and development of the village and county, and was largely instrumental in the division and organization of the county, and to him and his brother is due the choice of the name that it bears. Upright and hon- · orable in all his dealings with his fellow-man, genial and affable in all his intercourse with

them, and active and energetic in all matters relating to the welfare of the community in which he made his home, it is no wonder that he possessed, in the highest respect, the esteem and confidence of everybody, or that he was deeply regretted by all at his untimely demise.

ETER GOTHIA, the well-known furniture dealer and broker in second- liand goods, in the city of Crookston, Min- nesota, is a native of St. Aisainte, in the Province of Quebec, Canada, and was born October 24, 1843. Reared among the familiar scenes of the land of his birth, and educated in its schools, he grew to manhood in the home of his parents, Cerille and Pauline Gothia. When he was about thirteen years old his father and mother removed with their family to Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, where the elder Mr. Gothia took up a farm in the heavy timber that covered the face of that country at that time. After living there for some five years the family migrated to the neighborhood of Portage, Wisconsin. In after years the parents of our subject came across the Mississippi river, and settled in Chickasaw county, Iowa, where they now live.

The subject of this sketch remained under the parental roof until he was nearly nine- teen years of age, when, marrying, he started out with his young bride to battle for him- self. He made his home in the vicinity of Fox Lake, Wisconsin, following farming for some four or five years, after which, in 1866, he removed to near Charles City, Iowa, and there engaged in agricultural pursuits for several years. One year he spent in Nashua, Iowa, carrying on the butcher business, but not liking the locality, returned to Wisconsin, settled at Stevens' Point, where he lived until the fall of 1885. At that time he removed

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to Crookston, and finding a good opening, established his present business. He carries a full line of new furniture of every kind and description, and does a large and increasing business in secondhand goods, being everread y to either buy or sell. His capital, on coming here, was represented by but $350; invest- ing but $80 in second-hand household stuff, by industry and shrewd tact so increased his business and means that he soon found it necessary to seek in a larger market the goods demanded by his trade connections. He now carries a stock that will invoice some $3,000, and he has as active and lucrative a trade as can be desired.

Mr. Gothia was united in marriage March 1, 1861, with Miss Eleanor Gooler, a native of Canada, and is the parent of two children -Charles, married and in business at Merrill, Wisconsin ; and Nora, now Mrs. George Paron, of Stevens Point, in the same State.

EV. FATHER AUGUSTINE BROCK- MEYER, resident priest of the Roman Catholic church at Moorhead, Minnesota, is a native of Germany, born in 1853. He was a student in Germany and a graduate from a Prussian gymnasium, in 1873. He came to America in 1874, and at once entered the St. John's University as a theological student, graduating in 1876. He then took a position as professor in the university, holding the same two years; he was then stationed as chaplain at St. Joseph, Stearns county, Min- nesota, for a term of three years. He was then made resident priest at New Munich, of the same county, remaining there for five years. At the last named place he built a Sisters' Convent and repaired the church, by building a new steeple, etc. In 1885 he was transferred to Moorhead, where he has built a Sisters' Convent. He has a parochial school with an average attendance of sixty pupils

under three teachers. He has three missions outside of the city proper. The building of a new church at Georgetown is due to his efforts, too. Through his personal effort the church at Mary, Norman county, has been completed. He has a membership of 112 families, fifty of these families belong to the city church. The church, Sisters' Convent and school are all located on Fourth street, where they own eight fine lots.

Father Augustine is strict in all church matters, kind, but very firm and determined in his convictions and actions. No one can say less to so worthy a Christian worker than "godspeed" in all his labor in trying to elevate mankind to a higher moral and Christian mode of living. It matters not where one goes, they will find the faithful Catholic doing his work, and none do it bet- ter than our worthy subject.

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RANK D. BELL is the efficient and accommodating depot agent for the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba line at Barnes- ville, Clay county, Minnesota. He is a native of New York State, born in Havana, Schuyler county, on the 9th of October, 1852, and is the son of William F. and Martha A. (Dates) Bell, natives of England and New York, respectively. At the age of six years the sub- ject of this article removed with his parents to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he remained attending school until he was sixteen years of age. At that period in life he was em- ployed by the railroad company at that place as stationary switchman, being placed at a crossing to warn the approach of trains. From this he worked his way up, first in the warehouse, then office clerk and head clerk. In the fall of 1875, he left Ypsilanti and removed to West Detroit, and secured work as clerk in the Michigan Central offices, and remained in clerical work until April, 1876.

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¿In that month he removed to Hillsdale, Mich- igan, where he was employed as station agent of the Detroit, Hillsdale & Southwest- ern line at that place. He remained at that town for five years, and in 1880 went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was offered a position in the Union Stock Yards for the Michigan Central Railroad. Later, he was promoted to the position of chief clerk in the freight depot, and in the summer of 1881 removed to Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He secured the position of clerk for Superinten- dent Wheeler, at Fergus Falls, the superin- tendent of the Northern Division of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad Com- pany. He was thus employed until Octo- ber of the same year, and he then removed to Barnesville, Clay county, Minnesota. The station building at that time was noth- ing more than a small village depot, and there was little or no business. The heavy emigrations of the years 1881, 1882, and 1883, saw a revolution in the transac- tions of the road at Barnesville. Where the trains had almost been a novelty, they, at that time, increased to as high as thirty-five and forty in one day. Those who understand railroad matters will recognize the vast amount of work and responsibility devolving upon a single agent in sole charge of ticket, freight and other matters. Our subject proved himself equal to the work, and when the new and commodious depot building was erected, he was tendered the full control of the business. He has since filled the position with satisfaction to every one and credit to himself.

Mr. Bell was united in marriage on the 19th of April, 1881, to Miss Katherine A. Miller, a native of Hillsdale, Michigan. Mr. Bell identifies himself with all matters of a local nature pertaining to the benefit and welfare of his village or county, and has held the office of president of the village board for two years, and took a prominent

part in the matter of gaining a charter for a new village, also of creating a new and inde- pendent school district. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Pierson Lodge, No. 169, A. F. & A. M. He is a respected and prominent citizen, a man of the strictest integrity, and is highly esteemed both as a citizen and a business man.

In political matters Mr. Bell is a repub- lican.

ANDREW HAUGEN. The subject of our present article, although a young man in years, is one of the leading and rep- resentative farmers of Grant county, Minne- sota, having a fine farm on section 10, Elbow Lake township. He carries on general farm- ing and stock-raising quite extensively, and the general condition of the farm improve- ments speak well for the industry and enter- prise of the family.

Our subject was born in the southern part of Norway, on the 20th of July, 1859, and is a son of Iver and Ingebar Haugen. The family came to the United States in 1869, and came direct to Minnesota, settling on a farm in Houston county. About three years later, in 1872, they came to Grant county, and took a homestead on section 10, Elbow Lake township, where they still live. The parents are now living a retired life, but make their home with their son. The par- ents had a family of six children-Halvor, Klemet, Jennie, Bertha, Andrew and Anna. Halvor was a farmer near the old homestead, and died in 1886, leaving a family consisting of a wife and three children, named Gina B., Ida C. and Henrietta I. The last-named died in 1887.

Andrew Haugen, whose name heads this article, received his education mostly in Houston county, Minnesota, attending school there until about thirteen years of age, when he came with his parents to Grant county.

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He finished his education by taking a course of study at Decorah, Iowa, closing in 1878. He then came back to the family homestead in Grant county, and has since made this his home. The farm consists of 360 acres, which is well adapted to grain and stock- raising, and a good share of it is under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Haugen has taken an active interest in all matters of a public nature, and is one of the leading young farm- ers in the county. He was elected town clerk of Elbow Lake township in 1882, which office he still holds, and has otherwise been closely identified with official matters.

ILLIAM KISTENMACHER. Among the early settlers of this portion of the far-famed Red River Valley there are per- haps none who occupy a more prominent place than the gentleman, whose name heads this sketch. He is a native of Prussia, Ger- many, born July 2, 1834, and is the son of William and Bertha (Hoeber) Kistenmacher. He received his education in the Fatherland, and there made his home until reaching his twenty-first year when he determined to seek his fortune in the great republic of the West, where his efforts towards independence would not be crushed beneath the iron heel of a military despotism. Crossing the wild and stormy Atlantic, on landing he came at once to Minnesota, and worked around in various places in the southern part of Minne- sota until 1861.

The hands of unscrupulous plotters being lifted against the Government of his adopted country, our subject, in the summer of that year, enrolled himself among its brave defenders, in Company F, Third Minnesota Infantry. That fall, with the regiment to which he belonged, he was transported to Kentucky and from there to Tennessee. In 1862 he was discharged, for disability, at

Nashville, and returned to Minnesota. When the unfortunate Third Regiment, who had been taken prisoners in Murfreesboro's bloody field, were returned to this State on parole, and ordered against the Indians, then en- gaged in massacring the whites, our subject rejoined them and participated in the whole campaign, and was present with them at the battle of Wood Lake. On his return to St. Paul, his former disability being removed, he went with the regiment, now exchanged, to the front in the South. He endured the hardships and exposure, the perils of the field and the bullets of the enemy until late in the summer of 1864, when, being seized with the swamp fever, he was brought to Fort Snelling where he remained until dis- charged in July, 1865. In the spring of 1866, on going to Minneapolis, he there en- listed in the United States Regular Infan- try and was sent to Newport, Kentucky. From there they were removed to Rich- mond, Virginia, where they were assigned to Company E, Second Battalion United States Infantry, and while there that city was swept by that dread scourge, cholera. In the spring of 1867 the regiment was re-organized as the Twentieth United States Infantry, and ordered to New Orleans; from there to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and served there until April, 1869. At that time the regiment, of which he was a member, was transferred to Fort Snelling and there he was discharged.

Entering the employ of the Lake Superior Railroad, then in the course of construction, he remained with that corporation until its completion, in the fall of 1870, when he went to work on the railroad between White Bear and Stillwater, and was employed there until it was finished, about the close of the year.

After working on the Northern Pacific Railroad as far as Glyndon, he located in the latter place and put up a hotel or boarding

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house, which he ran for a time. In the summer of 1873 he operated the boarding car for the carpenters and bridge builders on that road until work stopped in the fall. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Kistenmacher was given charge of Sand Hill section on the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, and continued in that employment until the fall of 1878. As the trains only ran during the summer months, he engaged in trapping in the winters, and traded with the Indians. His cabin was the only one between the then small village of Crookston and Wild river station. Indians by the score would come to his house, and in his absence his wife would trade with the redskins without any fear or damage. In May, 1878, Mr. Kisten- macher purchased a lot in Crookston and, erecting a building, entered into the business of saloon keeping. In December, 1879, his property was entirely destroyed by fire, but with the energy characteristic of the man, he opened in another building before noon the next day, and rebuilt his old stand the follow- ing spring. On account of failing health, caused by exposure while a soldier, in 1886 Mr. Kistenmacher was compelled to give up business, and is now living a quiet and retired life on the interest of the little he accumulated throughout an active and busy life. He is one of the few men who have passed many of their years upon the frontier, and was through this part of the country previous to the Rebellion. He is an honored member of Cobham Post, No. 90, G. A. R., and a respected citizen of the community.

Mr. Kistenmacher was married in 1869 to Miss Brigitta Gallagher, but has no children. -

OHN PETERS. Among the successful and enterprising business men of the famous Park Regions of Minnesota is the gentleman whose name heads this article, a liquor dealer of Herman, Grant county, Min-

nesota. Mr. Peters is a native of Germany, born on the 15th of July, 1853, and a son of John and Sophia (Weiher) Peters, both natives of Germany. The father and mother of our subject came to the United States at an early day, and settled in Wright county, Minnesota, where they have since continued to reside. They are the parents of the fol- lowing-named children - Rebecca, John and Lizzie.

The subject of this biographical sketch spent his younger days in New York State, where he had been taken when he was one year old. He attended school in Chautauqua county, New York, until he was sixteen years old, also taking a course at the college in Buffalo, New York. After leaving the school-room, he was employed on the railroad for a period of six years. In 1871 he went to Wright county, Minnesota, with his parents. He there engaged in farming on his own account, and after six years removed to Delano, Wright county, and engaged in manufactur- ing pop at that place for two years. In 1884 Mr. Peters removed to Grant county, Minnesota, where he engaged in the furni- ture business for two years, when he sold out to Wells Brothers. During this time he was also engaged in his present business, and since that time has devoted his attention to the liquor trade, handling all grades of fine liquors and cigars. He has one of the finest equipped establishments in the village of Herman, and is classed as one of the promi- nent business men of Grant county.

Mr. Peters was united in marriage on the 14th day of November, 1873, to Miss Anna Loppnow, a native of Germany, and now the mother of the following children - Frank, Lucy, Lydia and Ernest. Mr. Peters is an active participant in all public and local matters and is an adherent to the principles of the republican party. While in Wright county, he served two years as the town clerk. :

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AMES Mc VEETY, who resides on section 12, Huntsville township, is one of the most substantial and successful farmers in the western part of Polk county, Minnesota. He comes of a nationality that has furnished Minnesota with many of the most thrifty and enterprising citizens of which it boasts. He was born in Upper Canada on the 28th of December, 1821, and is a son of Thomas and Catharine McVeety, who were natives of Ireland. His parents were among the first settlers in Upper Canada having left their native land while they were still young. In their new home they encountered many dan- gers and endured many privations, for they were pioneers. There were no roads even and trees were blazed to mark the way. The father died when our subject was only a child, and a man's work devolved upon him early in life. He remained on the home farm with his mother until he was about fif- teen years of age, and then began learning the tailor's trade in the town of Perth, Lan- ark county, Canada. He served an appren- ticeship of six years, and then for nearly two years worked as a journeyman at Smith's Falls. At the expiration of that time he gave up his trade and engaged in farming near Oliver's Ferry, and followed that voca- tion until the spring of 18S1. He then came to Polk county, Minnesota, and took a home- stead of 160 acres on section 12, Huntsville township, where he has since lived. He owns a valuable farm, has comfortable building improvements and is recognized as one of the most solid and substantial citizens of the locality in which he lives.

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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 56

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