USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 19
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
secretaries of the convention. The following delegates from the agricultural counties of Ramsey, Benton, and Hennepin took their seats as members of the convention : Ramsey, J. W. Selby, C. L. Willis, A. Bennett, John R. Irvine, George Richard, Charles Symonds, James H. Brown, Geo. A. Camp, Truman M. Smith, George Hezley, C. H. Parker, and Wm. L. Ames ; Benton county, S. B. Olmstead, C. C. Crane, R. M. Richardson, and Wm. H. Kelly ; Hennepin county, A. N. Hoyt, N. E. Stoddard, A. E. Ames, Edward Murphy, John H. Stevens, E. Case, William Chambers, and Isaac Brown. On motion of Dr. Ames, the following gentlemen from counties outside the call were admitted as delegates to the convention : Washington county, A. Stevens, Geo. W. Campbell, W. H. Morse, A. Van Vorhes, William Holcombe, W. R. Brown, R. Watson, John A. Ford, and John E. Mower. Dakota county, A. G. Chatfield, S. W. Cook, Thomas Foster, and A. R. French. Nicollet county, Benjamin Thompson, and Geo. H. McLeod. Scott county, Wm. H. Nobles, and Daniel Apgar, Pembina, Norman W. Kittson. Chisago county, N. C. D. Taylor. On motion of E. Murphy, of Hennepin, a committee of three was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society. E. Murphy, A. E. Ames, and W. R. Brown were appointed said committee. After the committee had reported a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society, the following officers were elected for the year 1854 : President, Governor W. A. Gor- man ; vice-presidents, J. W. Selby, Ramsey county ; R. M. Richardson, Benton county ; S. M. Cook, Dakota county ; John H. Stevens, Hennepin county ; Robert Watson, Wash- ington county ; and Wm. H. Nobles, Scott county ; secretary, ; Dr. A. E. Ames, Hennepin county ; treasurer, C. A. Parker, Ramsey county ; executive committee, B. F. Hoyt of Ramsey, W. R. Brown of Washington, N. E. Stoddard of Hennepin, . Captain J. B. S. Todd of Cass, and Wm. S. Allison of Dakota.
The new society was addressed by Governor Gorman, Judge A. G. Chatfield, A. Stevens, G. W. Campbell, J. W. Selby, Rev. B. F. Hoyt, Dr. A. E. Ames, S. M. Cook, Dr. Thomas Foster, Wm. L. Ames, and Wm. H. Nobles. The executive committee was directed to take steps, if practicable, to hold a territorial fair at some convenient place the ensuing
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fall. From that little beginning the present proud and wealthy Minnesota state agricultural society had its birth. Of the original members of the first society, organized so long ago, belonging to the present state society, John H. Stevens, of Hennepin, alone answered to the roll-call at the January meeting in 1889.
The demand for brick had become so great in both St. Anthony and Minneapolis, it was determined that steps should be taken to manufacture them at the falls early in the spring of 1854. A company consisting of Messrs. R. P. Russell, Isaac I. Lewis, David Bickford, and John H. Stevens, was organized for the purpose on the 15th of December. Mr. Lewis was appointed agent, and was directed to purchase one hundred cords of wood for burning the brick.
Charles N. Harris, a boy who resided with his uncle John W. North, in St. Anthony, was riding a horse, when the animal became frightened, reared, and fell backward upon the boy, nearly crushing him to death. One leg was broken above the knee, and he received other serious injury, but recovered. That boy became a brave soldier in the First Minnesota regiment, and was shot through the breast at the battle of Bull Run, and left by his comrades upon the battle- field, supposed to be dead, and so reported. His funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Crary, in the presence of a large audience, at Richfield, in Hennepin county, where his parents and sisters resided. After lying upon the ground for many hours in the heat and until his wound was alive with worms, he was taken by the confederates to the famed tobacco- warehouse prison at Richmond, whence he was, after many days, sent north in exchange of prisoners. After the war Mr. Harris was for eight years a district judge in Nevada. Like his uncle North, he is a talented speaker and writer. I think he now resides in California, as does also Mr. North and Dr. Crary.
St. Anthony, as usual, received a valuable immigration dur- ing the season of 1853. Hon. Henry T. Welles, Dr. A. E. Johnson, the Baldwins, father and two sons, and several others, who have since become prominent in the history of the state, made the village their home. It was estimated that the town increased a third or more in population. At the
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close of the year every one seemed satisfied with the progress made in everything that was beneficial to the place.
A THANKSGIVING SERMON AS PROPHETIC AS IT IS DEVOUT.
Rev. C. Secombe, pastor of the Congregational church, in a sermon in anticipation of the coming thanksgiving, the last of 'December, said that "the calls for thanksgiving at the presen "time, are neither few nor small. We inhabit a charming "country. The 'green pastures' and ' still waters' of the sweet " singer of Israel, here find a remarkable exemplification. For " so high a latitude, we seem to make as near an approach to "Italian scenery-the charming inspirer of the rustic muse- " as the length of our season will admit of. Minnesota, with its "carnelian lakes and laughing water falls, verdant prairies and " groves of oak, the magnificent bluffs and occasional grottoes, "can scarcely fail of becoming the birth-place of the poet, " whose soul-inspiring theme shall breathe the fragrance of "classic purity, and a christian devotion upon the latest gen- "eration. With its productive soil, and genial seasons, it is " destined to minister a wealth not to be despised even in so "great a nation. With the bracing clime and healthy atmos- "phere, it is destined to produce a race of men who will make 'the world feel their influence. With its central position, it " will command at once the advantages of the north, the south, " the east, and the west ; already but a few days ride from the " Atlantic, its geographical distance is but little more to the "Pacific, while its communication with the Gulf of Mexico is "the most easy and direct that the country affords. Such are " the circumstances in which a kind Providence has cast our " lot. Is there not occasion here for the most devout gratitude ? "As we celebrate this annual Thanksgiving festival of our " fathers-as we remember their noble deeds who now slumber "in the dust-as we remember that God is now calling us, " their sons, to give a character to this lovely portion of our " great inheritance-how should our hearts swell with emotions " of gratitude ! How should our bosoms heave with a country's "love ! How should our souls burn with the noble purpose, " that nought of the high responsibility which has thus been "laid upon our shoulders, shall ever fall to the ground !"
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CHAPTER XXXI.
IMPROVEMENTS IN HENNEPIN COUNTY.
The citizens of Hennepin county outside of Minneapolis, at the close of the season, had great reason to be thankful for the progress made during the year. The farmers had harvested a bountiful crop, and had a large breadth of land prepared for the reception of seed the next spring. Some five hundred farmers had made claims to land since the opening of navi- gation. Mills for the convenience of the farmers had been erected and finished in Minneapolis, St. Anthony, Minnetonka, at the mouth of Minnehaha stream and on that water-course in Richfield. The latter had been built in the most substan- tial manner by Philander Prescott, his son-in-law Eli Petti- john, and Willis G. Moffett, and was capable of manu- facturing large quantities of flour of the choicest quality.
The tendency of the immigration was west and south of Minneapolis. The Excelsior colony had located many farmers on the borders of Lake Minnetonka. Others also settled on the lake who did not belong to the colony. James Shaver, jr., Wm. B. Harrington, John P. Miller, D. P. Spafford, A. N. Gray, Samuel Bartow, R. E. Mckinney, C. E. Dow, Ste- phen Hull, William Linlithgow, R. C. Willey, Peter M. Gideon, A. P. Biernan, and R. H. McGrath, were among the prominent farmers, each of whom made claims of a quarter- section of land. All the members of the colony, including the president, Geo. M. Bertram, and the pastor, Rev. Chas. Galpin, also claimed a quarter-section. All these claims were made in the vicinity of Minnetonka. In Richfield, James Draper, Wm. J. Duggan, Chas. Haeg, Merriman McCabe, J. A. Duns-
OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE. 219
moor, C. W. Harris, Henry George, and Robert Townsend, John McCabe, and several other prominent men, made claims.
Bloomington, too, received many permanent farmers, among whom were J. D. Scofield, James Anderson, William Bryant, and M. O. Reily.
Minnetrista for the first time was occupied by Joseph and John Merz. Most of the vacant land in Crystal Lake was taken by enterprising farmers, including such well-known men as Rufus Farnham, jr., D. C. Crandall, Peter Schuller, Z. Gillespie, David Morgan, E. McCausland, H. R. Stillman, J. S. Malbon, and Josiah Dutton.
In Brooklyn, John M. Durnman, John W. Goodale, Asa Howe, C. R. Howe, Sylvanus Jenkins, N. H. Jenkins, Jacob Longfellow, W. W. Wales, Jr., and Thomas Warwick.
In Champlin, Joseph Holt, Augustus Holt, John Pike, B. E. Messer, Rev. Lewis Atkinson, R. H. Miller, F. Thorndyke, John Shumway, and Colby Emery.
In Dayton the immigration was tardy in reaching that beautiful township, though Paul Godine settled in the pre- cincts of the town as early as 1851. In 1853 John Veine made a claim where the village of Dayton now stands. Other claims were taken up this year by Marcelles Boulee, Benjamin Leveillier, Daniel Lavallee, Anthony Gelinas, Louis Bibeault, Moses Desjarlois, and Edward Greenwood.
Plymouth received its first settler this year in the person of Antoine Le Count, who made a claim on the east side of Medicine Lake, late in October. Thomas Hughes, with a large family of boys, made a claim in the town about the same time. There were several other farmers settled in different parts of the county this year, whose names I am unable to mention at this time.
The father of Antoine Le Count, who was known to the early settlers as a man by the name of Le Gros, was a guide to many of the expeditions which were so common in the north- west in the territorial days. Some of these expeditions were of a scientific nature ; others for trading with the aborigines. Le Gros resided for a short time in this neighborhood at a very early day, and was employed by Franklin Steele to reside on Nicollet island. His home proper was on the banks of the Red river of the north, near, but this side of, the Canadian
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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
line. Pierre Bottineau served an apprenticeship to him as a guide when he had scarcely reached his teens. LeGros met with a violent death on the 14th day of June, 1840, on the plains. He was shot by the distinguished explorer, Thomas- Simpson. The latter discovered in the Arctic country the region known as Victoria Land. He had employed Le Gros to pilot him from Fort Garry, in the British possessions, to Fort Snelling. It is supposed that Simpson became deranged, shot Le Gros, and another member of the. expedition by the name of Bird, and then killed himself. Antoine Le Count, the first settler in Plymouth township, was a member of the expedition and witnessed the sad occurrence.
D. M. HANSON.
Among the early citizens of Minneapolis, there was perhaps no one more prominent in all that related to the public welfare than Domiticus M. Hanson. He was a son of William Han- son, one of the earliest and most respected of the settlers, who had also several other boys. The family had for several years great influence in the village and county. D. M. Hanson was a lawyer, and a politician. A fine speaker, with pleasing address, and an ardent democrat, he had pretty much his own way in voicing the sentiment of his party. He excelled as a. stump-speaker, and while the county was undoubtedly strong in its whig tendencies, Mr. Hanson was this year elected district-attorney on the democratic ticket. The next year, in 1854, he was a candidate on the democratic ticket with H.
H. Sibley, for the house of representatives, for the winter session of 1855, and was triumphantly elected. In the fall of 1855 he was the candidate on the democratic ticket for the council, and elected. At the close of the session of the legis- lature, on March 1, 1856, Mr. Hanson returned to his Minne- apolis home. He only lived a few days after the close of the session. At the time of his death he was only twenty-eight years old. With his talent, ambition, and industry, had his life been extended to this period, he would undoubtedly have occupied the highest offices in the gift of the people of this state. He left a widow, but no children. At one time he, with his father and brothers, owned a large tract of land in this city below Tenth avenue south. He had a large practice as a lawyer, but in consequence of his political work, when
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
Judge Cornell came to this city, in the spring of 1854, he formed a partnership with him, and turned over the most of his law practice to the judge. At one time Mr. Hanson's name was a household word, not only in Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and Hennepin county, but throughout the territory ; now there is not one citizen in one hundred in Minneapolis who ever heard of it. Out of his father's large family, there is only one a resident of the state. Gilbert Hanson resides in Otter- tail county. Another brother, Randall, was several years ago chief of police in this city, when Geo. A. Brackett was mayor. He now resides on the Pacific slope. The father and mother of this once large and influential family, with all their children except the two mentioned, are in the spirit-land.
Among the citizens of Hennepin county who selected farms within its precincts, is J. D. Scofield, who took a claim in Bloomington, and resides on it to this day. Mr. Scofield has been prominent in organizations beneficial to the farmers. Samuel Bartow also this year settled on the banks of Lake Minnetonka. He continues to reside on the old farm. Mr. Bartow has held many prominent offices, including that of county commissioner. Another settler on the shores of the lake this year was Wm. B. Harrington. He was a descend- ant of the Puritan Governor Bradford, of the Plymouth colony. Mr. Harrington's father, Hon. John Harrington, was a native of Vermont. Both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the revolutionary army. Mr. Harrington was a man of great worth. He died several years ago at Hutchinson, in McLeod county. His eldest son, Rev. Wm. H. Harrington, resides at Excelsior. He is a popular clergyman of the Universalist church. He also edits a newspaper.
PETER M. GIDEON.
Perhaps Minnesota was never more fortunate in the recep- tion of a new-comer than she was this year in the person of Peter M. Gideon, who also made a home on the borders of Minnetonka. Since his residence on his farm, he has become a distinguished pomologist, and has made a world-wide repu- tation in introducing new varieties of fruit, shade and orna- mental trees. He has accomplished a great work in the northwest in regard to raising hardy sorts of apple-trees, which survive our rigorous climate. Mr. Gideon still resides
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on a portion of the land he first claimed so many years ago. He is a native of Champaign county, Ohio, where he was born in 1820. He commenced fruit-growing in Minnesota the year after his first arrival in the territory. His labor in his experiments with fruit, flowers, shade and ornamental trees, has been very successful. For many years he has been the superintendent of the state experimental fruit-farm founded in 1878. Among the varieties of apples of great merit, he has originated the Wealthy, Peter, and Grace. He has also some forty new varieties of seedlings which promise to be of value to the fruit-growers of the west, but they are not yet fully developed.
Rev. Stephen Hull, who was the first actual settler on the upper Minnetonka Lake, was a man of much more than ordinary ability. In his earlier years he had occupied the pulpit of a prominent eastern Universalist church. He resigned the pastorate and came west. He selected a beauti- ful site on the narrows of the lake and erected what was at that time a good substantial dwelling, and cleared off quite a farm, which he worked for several years. The narrows, so- called, between the upper and lower lake, bear his name to this day. His old home is now the site of the Lake Park grounds. Mr. Hull made his claim in February of this year. He was a just, honest man, and when in after years he sold his farm and went to Missouri, his friends and neighbors greatly regretted his removal.
In April William Linlithgow, a young man of much promise, arrived in the territory from near Boston and selected a claim joining Mr. Hull's. Mr. Linlithgow was of Scotch descent, and what was uncommon in those days, with most of those seeking homes in the west, he was wealthy. After graduating from one of the most prominent eastern colleges, he had traveled extensively in both the old and new world. To this day it is a mystery why he selected the banks of Minnetonka for his home. A refined, polished man, with more money than he had immediate use for, he quietly settled down with a single male servant, in a romantic spot on the lake, declar- ing that it should be his home for life : and it was. Late in the summer of 1854, while going from his residence to Min- netonka mills, in a beautiful yacht, which he had constructed,
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
he was overtaken by a storm, and perished in the lake. Quite recently, at the same place, Mayor Rand, and others, lost their lives. Mr. Linlithgow's body was found several days after his death, washed ashore, but his yacht remains at the bottom of the lake. Early settlers in the county mourned his death. A relative from the east came and settled his estate, but the principal events of his life, previous to his coming to Minne- sota, remain unknown to his western friends. One of the latter so greatly lamented his death that it was more than twenty years after that sad event, before he would take pas- , sage on any water-craft whatever on that lake.
SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTY-THANKSGIVING.
At the expiration of the year 1853 there was only one school outside of Minneapolis, with the exception of the school at Fort Snelling, which had for years been taught by the post chaplain for the education of the children of the soldiers in the garrison. At Oak Grove mission Rev. G. H. Pond had, since 1843, been instrumental in maintaining a school for the Indian children. In Crystal Lake township a school-district was organized according to law. The district included the whole north half of the county. A school, and a good one, was taught by a Miss Smith, in a claim-shanty that was on the land that subsequently became the property of J. Gillespie. This was the first regular district-school taught in any portion of Hennepin county proper, outside the village of Minneapolis.
Our new governor, W. A. Gorman, named Thursday, the 22d day of December, this year, for thanksgiving. All the different religious denominations in Minneapolis joined, and attended Rev. J. C. Whitney's church, when Mr. Whitney gave us one of the best and most practical sermons delivered before or since in this city. At that time there were several different denominations of Christians in the village, but only one resident pastor, Mr. Whitney. It is true we occasionally had preaching. Rev. G. H. Pond had the use of my parlors for holding meetings ; so had other preachers the same priv- ilege ; but at the close of the year there was only one resident clergyman in Minneapolis.
There were six deaths in Hennepin county in 1853 : Mrs. Colonel Case in the spring, another lady of consumption, and four infants.
CHAPTER XXXII.
BUSINESS SITUATION IN ST. ANTHONY JANUARY 1ST, 1854.
At the beginning of the year 1854 St. Anthony contained the following mercantile establishments : D. Baldwin & Son, James A. Lennon, S. Stanchfield, R. Ball, Richard Fewer, Moulton, Walker & Gardner, N. Hendry, N. Hohler, D. E. E. P. Mills, Holmes & Toser, J. G. Lennon, A. King, R. P. Upton, James C. Tuffts, Henry Reynolds, Dr. H. W. Whitemore, John Holland & Joseph McAlpin, Z. E. B. Nash & Edgar Nash. There were two cabinet manufactories, Stearns & Manseur, and J. B. Luchsinger ; one plow manu- facturer, A. Leaming ; two carriage-makers, Bassett & Leh- man, and Francis Sampson. There were two fancy and ornamental establishments, those of Alvin Stone, and B. E. Messer ; three sash and door factories, by Orin Rogers & Co., Duman & Vail, and Elias H. Connor. These gentlemen carried on an extensive contracting and building business. There were two blacksmiths, S. E. Foster, and E. Lippencott ; one harness-maker, William Spooner ; one watch-maker and jeweller, J. C. McCain ; three milliners, Miss Henderson, Mrs. Ray, and Mrs. S. McCain ; four boot and shoe estab- lishments, those of John Wensinger, J. R. McFarland, S. C. Clark, and J. J. Kennedy ; two tailors, J. Piddington, located in 1851, and A. Bacon ; one civil engineer and surveyor, C. B. Chapman ; one meat-shop, by Samuel Ross ; two dauguer- reotypists, T. Elwell, and J. R. McFarland ; eleven lawyers, Isaac Atwater, A. R. Dodge, John W. North, C. Gardner, E. L. Hall, W. Richardson, D. A. Secombe, A. D. Shaw, J C. Shepley, J. H. Trader, and S. M. Tracy ; five physicians.
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Dr. Murphy, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Ira Kingsley, and Dr. C. Jodon ; two newspapers, the Express, and the Northwestern Democrat ; one brewery, by John Orth, located in 1850 ; one baker, Geo. Wezel ; three hotels, St. Charles by M. W. Keith, St. Anthony hotel by Col. West, and the Tem- perance house by Samuel Ross ; two saloons, by B. Cloutier, and Brown & Smiley ; two livery-stables, by Allen & Co., and Geo. F. Brott ; one brick-yard, by Vanderpool & Walds ; two storage and commission houses, by John G. Lennon, and J. P. Wilson ; one grist-mill, by J. Shepherd, lessee ; postoffice, by O. W. Rice ; churches, Congregational, Rev. C. Secombe ; Episcopal, Rev. Mr. Chamberlain ; Baptist, Rev. Lyman Palmer ; Free-Will Baptist, Rev. C. G. Ames ; Catholic, Rev. Mr. Ledon ; Methodist, Rev. Mr. Collins ; Universalist, Rev. E. A. Hodson ; one Masonic lodge, Hon. C. F. Stearns, W. Master ; one Odd-Fellows John G. Potts lodge No. 3, installed May 29, 1851, O. Foote, N. G., E. Patch, V. G., G. B. Dutton, secretary, and E. B. Ramsdell, treasurer. In addition to the above, the extensive saw-mills empleyed much capital, and a great many hands, in its operations. Under all thé happy circumstances surrounding the village the citizens had reason to believe that the year 1854 would prove a prosperous one for them.
The first postoffice established in Hennepin county, outside of Fort Snelling, was at Bloomington, the 1st of January, 1854. Joseph Dean was appointed postmaster. The youthful Minneapolis was scarcely behind Bloomington, for a day or two later a postoffice was given us, with Dr. H. Fletcher, post- master. There was no mail delivered here ; it was distribu- ted in the St. Anthony office, and usually was gathered by Dr. A. E. Ames, who had, with Dr. Murphy, an office in St. Anthony, and on his return home at noon, he would carry the few letters in the crown of his hat.
At a meeting of the board of county commissioners, on the first Monday in January, a settlement with the treasurer and collector was effected. The whole county debt at this time was two hundred and twenty-five dollars, and county orders were worth one hundred cents on the dollar. The greatest call made upon the county treasury was for money to build roads and bridges. The pioneers had, in a measure, previously
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taken money out of their pockets and built many of the nec- essary roads and bridges, so the drain from the treasury was not so great as it would have been had not these roads and bridges been previously built. They had to act in the same way, that schools and churches might be built and maintained. There are so many ways that the pioneer is obliged to contribute to develop the resources of a new country it is pretty safe to say that his purse is always a lean one.
The territorial legislature convened at St. Paul on the 4th. Joshua Draper of Minneapolis, through the influence of Dr. H. Fletcher, the Hennepin county member of the house, received the appointment of fireman, and Geo. W. Prescott, . through Messrs. Gardner and Plummer, was appointed clerk of the house. This appointment of Mr. Draper was the first one given by the legislature to a citizen of Hennepin county.
On Thursday the 19th day of January; 1854, Rev. J. C. Whitney was installed pastor of the Presbyterian church in Minneapolis. Rev. G. H. Pond presided. Rev. Mr. Rogers, of the Baptist church, St. Anthony, offered prayer. Rev. C. Secombe preached the sermon. Rev. H. M. Nichols gave the charge to the pastor ; Rev. E. D. Neill, the charge to the people. The interesting exercises closed with the benediction by the pastor. This was the first installation of a minister of the gospel of any denomination in Minneapolis.
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