The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 106

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246

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Harvey M. McIntyre, postmaster, prominent official and mer-

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chant of Lansing village, was born in the town of Saranac, Clin- ton county, New York, March 6, 1849, son of Hosea and Harriett (Morrison) McIntyre, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New York state. Harvey M., who was the fifth of seven children, received such education as the schools of his neighbor- hood afforded, and as a young man commenced clerking in a store near his birthplace. After about three years, at the age of nineteen, he went to Illinois and spent a winter near Chicago. Then he spent a year at Utica, in LaSalle county, Illinois. From there he went to Helena, Iowa county, Wisconsin, and stayed there until the spring of 1873. From that year dates his residence in Lansing. Upon his arrival here he engaged in the mercantile trade with John Bartlett under the firm name of Bartlett & McIntyre. In the fall of 1883 he purchased his partner's interest, and since that time has carried on the business alone. In 1876 Mr. McIntyre was elected town clerk, and when the village of Lansing was incorporated he became recorder of the new munic- ipality, a position he held as long as the municipality was in force. He was appointed postmaster under John Wanamaker in 1889, which position he still maintains. Mr. McIntyre was married at Helena, Iowa county, Wisconsin, August 20, 1873, to Ada C. (Saxton), who was born May 3, 1854, and to this union five chil- dren have been born: Herbert E., deceased; Albert H., deceased ; Clarence ; Harry S. and Hattie L. Clarence is married and living in New York city. He graduated from a commercial college at Austin. Harry S. is in the store clerking for his father. He is a graduate of the Owatonna high school and of Carleton College. Hattie L. is a music teacher and lives at home. She graduated from the Austin high school and attended Pittsburg Academy at Owatonna.

Ernest V. Smith, M. D., physician and surgeon, was born in Elwood, Ind., June 15, 1880, son of William and Margaret (Win- ship) Smith. For seven years he attended Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., graduating in 1902. After a year teaching school in the state of Washington, he entered the medical depart- ment of the university, and graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1907. After graduation he came to Adams and purchased the practice of Dr. E. F. Chase. Dr. Smith was married October 16, 1907, at Crawfordsville, Ind., to Katherine Fisher, daughter of J. J. Fisher. The Smith home has been blessed with two children : E. Vernon, born December 10, 1908, and Eugene F., born April 6, 1910.

Rev. Clarendon Dwight Beiden was born near Providence, R. I., May 3, 1848, son of Stanton and Antoinette Percival (Man- . chester) Belden. His father was born in Sandisfield, Mass., Jan- mary 15, 1808, and died in Providence, R. I., February 11, 1890.

REV. C. D. BELDEN

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His mother was born at Little Compton, R. I., May 14, 1815, and died at Providence, R. 1., April 10, 1900. They were married December 9, 1835. The father was a graduate of Yale College and was principal of a private New England academy which he owned. It was situated at Fruit Hill, just north of Providence. The sub- jeet of this sketch was educated in his father's academy. He graduated from the Lyons University Grammar School in Provi- denee in 1864 and in 1868 graduated in the four-years course from Brown University with the degree of B. A., taking an M. A. later in the course. He was principal of a village public school for three years and then entered Crozer Theological Seminary at Upland, Pa., graduating in 1874. In June, 1874, he was ordained as a Baptist minister in the Memorial Baptist Church of Phila- delphia. In November, 1874, he located as pastor of the Baptist church in Austin, Minn., resigning in January, 1882, to become county superintendent of schools for Mower county. He con- tinued in this office for nine years, during which time great progress was made in grading the rural schools so that pupils might make continuous advancement in their studies to prepare for higher schools. Mr. Belden was pastor of the Baptist church of Windom, Cottonwood county, Minnesota, one year, 1891-1892, during which time he completed their new house of worship and it was dedicated free of debt. In October, 1893, he purchased a half interest in the Mower County Transcript, forming a partner- ship with N. S. Gordon, and took the entire editorial management of the paper. In December, 1898, he purchased Mr. Gordon's interest, becoming sole proprietor of the Transcript, which he still continues to own and edit. Mr. Belden was married at Austin, Minn., June 27, 1877, to Mrs. Francelia Louise (West) Crandall, She was the daughter of Lewis and Miranda B. (Husbrook) West, and was born in the town of Stockton, Chautauqua county, New York, November 7, 1843. IIer father was a native of Stockton, N. Y., and came to Mitchell county, Iowa, at Otranto, in 1854. Her mother was born in Addison, Vt., November 29, 1819, and died at Carpenter, Iowa, July 20, 1896. They were married in Chautauqua county, New York, September 24, 1837. Mr. and Mrs. Belden have one child, Antoinette Griffith Belden, who was born in Austin, June 24, 1882. She graduated from the Austin high school, class of 1900, and from the University of Minnesota, class of 1905. She was married to C. Earl Varco, of Sidney, Mont., August 5, 1908. Mr. Belden, in addition to his newspaper work in these later years, has continued regularly in ministerial work and has had charge of the Baptist churches at Brownsdale, Blooming Prairie and Lansing at different times. He has prob- ably officiated at more weddings and funerals than any other minister who ever lived in Mower county. He has also taken

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much interest in agricultural work and was one of the organizers and became general manager of the Austin Co-operative Creamery · Association in 1893. He was-for years a member of the Austin board of education and its clerk. He has been vice president of the National Editorial Association, vice president of the National Creamery Buttermakers' Association and president of the State County Superintendents' Association. He has traveled consider- ably, having visited the chief parts of Canada, the United States and Old Mexico. He has a wide acquaintance with people in all parts of Mower county as few have. He is much interested in horticulture and finds enjoyment among his flowers and fruits. He has come into close relation with this community in many ways.

William Christie, of Austin, has served as chairman of the boards of county commissioners of two counties, and is now serving in that capacity in Mower county. He was born in Highgate, Franklin county, Vermont, March 24, 1844, son of Adam and Mary (O'Heare). Christie, who brought him to Wis- consin in 1855. In October, 1864, the subject of this sketch came to Minnesota and started farming, purchasing a quarter section of his own in 1870, located in Oakland township. In 1898 he came to Austin and engaged in his present business. Mr. Christie was assessor of Oakland township in Freeborn county twenty years, and also served as town treasurer, town supervisor and clerk of his school district. In 1884 he was elected chairman of the board of county commissioners of Freeborn county and served with credit in that capacity for six years. In the fall of 1892 he was elected to the legislature and served one term. In 1904 he was elected county commissioner of Mower county for a four-year term and was reelected in 1908. Four years he has served as chairman of the board.

Nicholai Nicholaisen, whose name was afterward anglicized into Nicholas Nicholsen, was an early merchant of Anstin. He was born in Norway, and came to America in 1867, locating in New York city, where he was married to Johanna Maria Vestlien, who had preceded him to America by one year. In 1870 they came to Austin. and here Nicholas engaged with Fernald & Kimball. Later he became a partner with S. C. Olson in the furniture business, thus continuing until his death in 1876. His wife passed away in 1908. Of their five children four are living. They are: Nicholas Nicholsen, sheriff of Mower county ; Lena C., wife of S. M. Peterson, of Blooming Prairie, Minn .; Jacob N., an attorney of Anstin, and Nora A., wife of George Brandner, of Newell. S. D.

Jacob N. Nicholsen, attorney of Austin, was born in Austin, December 19, 1871, son of Nicholas and Johanna Maria (Vestlien)

MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL O. FORTHUN.

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Nicholsen. He was reared in his native city, and in 1889 grad- uated from the Austin high school. Then after eight years in the First National Bank, of Austin, he entered the law office of Kingsley & Shepherd, in 1897, as student and clerk. Subse- quently he took two summer courses in the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In 1908 he went south as first sergeant of Company G, Twelfth Minnesota Vol- unteer Infantry. October 1, 1901, he was admitted to the bar, and a year later formed a partnership with Senator F. E. Putnam, of Blue Earth, Minn. This firm served for some time as city attorneys of Blue Earth. September 1, 1909, Mr. Nicholsen re- turned to Austin, and became a partner of S. D. Catherwood in the firm of Catherwood & Nicholsen. In October, 1910, lie was appointed city attorney. He is a member of the Masonic body, the Commercial Club and other organizations. The subject of this sketch was married September 29, 1903, at Austin, to Annie B. McBride, daughter of E. P. McBride, the pioneer grocer, and Esther Baldwin McBride, his wife. Attorney and Mrs. Nicholsen are the parents of three children: Margaret Esther, born De- cember 7, 1904; Frank Vestlien, born October 5, 1909, and Richard McBride, born January 22, 1911.

Samuel Olson Forthun, now deceased, lived in Mower county from the closing year of the Civil war until the time of his death, and his example and influence were ever for the good. He was born at Sogn, Norway, March 3, 1830, son of Ole and Annie Forthun, natives of Sogn, Norway, where they both lived and died. Samuel O. received his education in his native country and in 1855, at the age of twenty-five, he came to America, living the first seven years in Wisconsin, where he worked on farms in Dane and Iowa counties. Then he went to South Dakota for a time. In 1865 he came to Mower county and located in LeRoy township. A few years later he purchased eighty acres of wild land, which he broke and improved, carrying on general farm- ing and increasing his holdings until he owned 240 acres in the home farm, and other tracts of land which he divided among his children. In 1899 he retired from active life, and purchased a lot in the village of LeRoy, on which he built a pleasant home where he lived until his death, May 5; 1903. Samuel O. Forthun was married May 23, 1863, to Anna Thompson, who was born in Norway, August 14, 1846. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thorsten Thompson, were natives of Norway, came to America in 1860, lived in Wisconsin for a while, and still later went to Grand Forks, N. D., where the father died in 1895, and the mother in 1907. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Forthun has been blessed with thirteen children : Ole lives in Thick River Falls, Minn. ; Thomas is in California for his health; Anna is wife of H. HI. Bither, of

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LeRoy village; Samuel is dead; Christian is at Cresco, Iowa, and is deputy county auditor of Howard county; Elias lives in the state of Washington; Rachel, a milliner by trade, is home with her mother ; John lives in Barnesville, Minn .; Martin, a carpenter, lives in Minneapolis; Serena is dead; Christina teaches in South Dakota; Gena teaches in Iowa; Peter is a student at the Southern Minnesota Normal College, Austin. The family faith is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church. When Mr. Forthun and family moved from Wisconsin to South Dakota they with six other fami- lies made the move in covered wagons drawn by oxen, driving through the wilderness. There were very few roads. Bridges also were very scarce and often they had to ford rivers. They made the journey in about thirty days and settled near Yankton, which was then only a very small town. During the summer the grasshoppers came and destroyed completely all the crops in that locality in two or three hours. After that the settlers had to drive ninety miles for provisions. In the spring the danger from hostile Indians drove them out. They then migrated to the vicinity of LeRoy, Minn. Here Mr. Forthun bought eighty acres of land. As money was very scarce at that time they lived in a cellar four years. Then they built a small frame house, in which they had lived only two days when it was burned to the ground and everything destroyed. When their three children saw the outcome of their play they ran to a corn field near by for safety. Then they were compelled to set up housekeeping to the best of their ability in the old cellar again until another house could be erected. When he came to America Mr. Forthun had just money enough to buy his ticket.

Jerry B. Yates was born in Lockport, N. Y., in 1829. He came to Austin in 1855. In partnership with V. P. Lewis he opened the second store here. They also turned their attention to town lots, and in April, 1856, arose the familiar controversy con- cerning the records of the platting of Austin. At the first election in the county Mr. Yates was elected sheriff on the west side ticket by 46 majority. Yates and Lewis started the first brickyard in Austin. Finally their partnership was dissolved and Mr. Yates engaged in the grain business for a while, then moved to his fine farm near Lansing. He stayed there four years and then engaged in extensive insurance business until the time of his final illness.

George Baird, deceased, was born July 28, 1833, in New Hamp- shire, of Scotch ancestry, and a direct descendant of Andrew Baird, who came over in the second voyage of the Mayflower. His father was a piano maker and tuner and the boy early went to work in his father's shop. At fifteen he was bound out to work in a cabinet shop until he was twenty-one. Ere that time he bought his time and went to work in a carriage shop. In 1854

GEORGE BAIRD.

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he, with John Wright, went to Chicago, and became engaged in carriage building, turning out the first light buggy made in the eity. June 18, 1855, was his wedding day, Charlotte Brown being the bride. Soon they came to Racine, Wis., and the next spring Mr. Baird came to Mower county to look for land. He preempted a quarter seetion in Lansing and built a log house. Ten dollars all of his worldly possessions. Mrs. Baird came in December. He camped in a sheet tent on the Cedar with the mereury thirty degrees below. He split rails to carn a few groceries for his family. After awhile he sold his claim and did carpenter work. In 1861 he moved his family to Austin and a pleasant home was begun. War interrupted the building, for he enlisted in October, 1861, in the Fourth Minnesota Infantry. ITis war record was as honorable at it was brave, and when discharged he held the rank of lieutenant. On his return to Austin he was appointed postmaster, but soon resigned. He was sheriff of the . county for a time. Later he again became postmaster, but died in 1895 while still in office.

Orlenzer Allen was born in Allegany county, New York, March 17, 1826, and was the twin brother of Judge Ormanzo Allen. Ile pursued his studies in the university at Alfred Centre. In 1842 his parents eame to Wisconsin and he continued his studies in Milton College. He then studied medicine with Dr. Rider, of Milton, and afterward graduated in Rush Medical Col- lege, Chicago, with honors. He also took a post graduate course for physicians and surgeons, in New York city. In 1847 he united his fortunes with those of Almeda Coon, an educated woman and successful teacher. He commeneed to practice in Milton, but eame to Austin in 1856, he being the first physician to settle here. After fourteen years' practice in Austin he went back to Milton, where he died in 1883. While here he filled many political offices in county and city.

Rev. Stephen Cook was born in Vermont in 1796, but grew up in northern New York after he was two years old. IIe was ordained at the age of thirty-eight. In 1856 he came to Austin and a year later organized the first church here, with a member- ship of fifteen. In March, 1860, while laboring in a revival at Oakland, he was stricken with paralysis. Six months later when partially recovered he preached for six months again. He died of a final stroke of paralysis on October 12, 1864. Ile was mar- ried at Malone, N. Y., in 1819, to Jenette Wyse, who shared and assisted him in his labors and survived him over a year. They had four children. The oldest, William W., born in 1820, was long Austin's chorister and superintendent of Sunday schools, and died of paralysis August 26, 1867. The second, James N., born September 21, 1821, studied at Oberlin for the ministry till

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his eyesight failed six months before he would have graduated. He was a deacon in the Congregational church at Austin from its organization till his death, September 12, 1886. The third, John F., was born May 13, 1823, became a successful merchant and owner of real estate in Austin and vicinity. The youngest, Julia A., born in 1826, married Dr. J. N. Wheat.

Rev. Alfred Cressy was born in England April 29, 1838. In the fall of 1856 he and his wife, Hannah Phelps, came by team to Lyle, where Mrs. Cressy's parents had moved the previous spring. He preempted a claim, but sold a part of it and traded the rest for an eighty in Austin. He began studying for the ministry in Austin, and afterwards went to Hamline University, then at Red Wing, for a four years' course. He had a long and useful career as a clergyman and now lives in retirement in Austin.

Lyman D. Baird has long been considered Austin's most help- ful citizen and his interests reach far beyond the boundaries of the city and county. In the city he has been mayor and city at- torney ; in the county he has been secretary of the Mower County Old Settlers' Association and an officer of the Mower County Fair Association; in the state he has been postmaster of the house of representatives, and a member of the board of man- agers of the Minnesota State Agricultural Association for more than eight years, and in that society has been chairman of the committee on amusements and privileges for the Minnesota state fair. He is at present superintendent of gates of this, the great- est fair in the United States. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, a high degree Mason, and an ardent friend of all G. A. R. projects, his father having been a distinguished and popular offi- cer during the Civil war. However the mere mention of Mr. Baird's offices does not do justice to his activities. He has advocated the improvement of Austin in various ways, offering his purse as well as his influence and the advantage of his support. He has tendered a considerable sum for the beautifying of the mill pond and the transformation of it into a lake, providing that certain conditions were met. He proffered valuable land for the build- ing of the city hall. He gave the beautiful lamp which adorns the humane fountain; he has been active in getting business houses to locate here; he was the first of the heavy taxpayers to advocate street paving, and the real father of the cement walks of which Austin is so proud; he has erected more houses than any other man in Austin, and in many other ways has proven a valuable citizen. With all this he has not neglected his own business, and his real estate operations in this and other states cover many hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the pres- ent time he is making a hobby of farm lands, and has acquired several tracts of land on which he will conduct agricultural op-

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erations along the most modern and scientific lines. He believes in tree planting and the general beautifying of the farm, is a free user of paint on farm buildings and a great believer in the use of drain tile. Hle insists that Minnesota will inside of five years raise more corn than Iowa. He is building several silos on his farms this summer, and some idea of his farming opera- tions in the vicinity of Austin can be had from the fact that this season, 1911, he is sowing over 1,000 acres to flax, 200 acres to corn, and 200 acres to wheat, besides 100 acres to oats, 300 aeres to timothy, ten aeres to roots and fifteen acres to alfalfa. He is using a gasoline engine to plow, seed and drag one tract of 700 aeres. The farm is twelve miles west of Austin and Mr. Baird has two shifts of men working night and day. For many years he has devoted considerable attention to live stock breed- ing, with special attention to the beef-producing qualities of the animals. Of late, however, he is turning his interest to milk breeds. Lyman D. Baird was born in Mower county October 17, 1857, his natal place being on the farm in Lansing township, on the outskirts of Austin, which his father, George Baird, pre- empted in 1856. Before he was fourteen years of age he had saved $300 by raising and selling vegetables. He also earned money in other ways while at school. After leaving school he clerked for a while in a store, but later went back to the farm. Next he received an appointment as county jailer and thus began his connection with one of the incidents of the famous Page conflicts. Judge Brill fixed young Baird's compensation at $2 per day. Judge Sherman Page, on his return from his impeach- ment trial, ignored this action and ordered the pay to be noth- ing. Mr. Baird thereupon went to the courts and won his case. At the age of twenty-one years he began to study law with G. N. Baxter at Faribault and was admitted to the bar three years later, thus practically beginning his successful career. He has never practiced law, but has devoted his whole life to real estate and banking. In 1901 he was apointed national bank examiner and had charge of the national banks of Wisconsin and the large cities of Minnesota for five years. He then served as receiver of the First National Bank of Faribault for two years. In addi- tion to the offices mentioned above Mr. Baird for twenty-four years has been secretary of the Austin Building and Loan Asso- ciation. He married Lila M. Hall and has two daughters, Helen and Frances. The former is a graduate of St. Mary's Hall, Faribault.

James M. Sterling was born in Piteher, Cortland county, New York. April 3, 1824, where he lived until eleven years of age, when he moved with his parents to Lima, Livingston county, New York. After the death of his father in 1866, he bought

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the interest of his brothers and sisters and succeeded to the ownership and management of the home farm. In 1853 he mar- ried Helen Eldredge, of Cincinnatus, N. Y. Of their four chil- dren, Edward H. and Nellie G. are living and reside in Austin, a daughter, Carrie, died at the age of three months, and a son, Worthy S., died in Austin in 1890, at the age of twenty-four. Having a favorable oportunity to sell the Lima farm in the spring of 1871, he decided to do so and shortly afterward came west. After spending the summer and winter of 1871 in Austin, he de- cided to locate in Mower county. Early in the year 1872 he purchased the farm just west of the city of Austin, known for so many years afterward as the "Sterling farm." He was a thorough, practical farmer and soon made this naturally at- tractive place a model farm and was long looked upon as one of the best farmers in the county. In the spring of 1896, at the age of seventy-two, wishing to retire, he sold the farm and moved into the city and built the home at 306 West Water street, where he still resides, respected by all who know him. In 1902 Mr. and Mrs. Sterling celebrated their golden wedding, and, not- withstanding his advanced age of eighty-seven, Mr. Sterling is still active, a great reader and retains his interest in current events and public affairs.

Knud Nelson Hougestuen, now deceased, was one of the substantial men of Frankford township. He was an ideal pio- neer in every way, rugged in health, persevering of mind and stanch of character. No hardships or difficulties discouraged him, and no hard work daunted him. The Lutheran church counted him as an active worker and a consistent believer, and in his family he was a loving and considerate husband and an af- fectionate and generous father. In his death the township lost one who had assisted materially in its progress and who was never found wanting when any progressive movement needed a capable helper. The subject of this sketch was born in Nor- way, September 3, 1822, son of Nels Ekabot and Sarah Neut- sen, his wife. After receiving a limited education in his native parish, Knud went to Christiana, where he engaged in a general store and saved money to come to America. In this connection an interesting story is told. A few days before Mr. Hougestuen was ready to sail, one Julius Loe came into the store and their conversation turned to America. Loe expressed his desire to come to America, but also stated that he had no funds. Accord- ingly Mr. Hlougestuen, with that generosity which always char- acterized his actions, offered to loan him his passage to LaCrosse from Christiana. Years afterward the two men met at LaCrosse, at which time Mr. Loe paid his indebtedness. Conversation at that time revealed the fact which neither was aware of before,

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The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated, Part 106

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. Number of Pages: 1246

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 1246