USA > Mississippi > History of the upper Mississippi Valley, pt 2 > Part 58
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GEORGE BOCKHOVEN, one of the pioneers of Mille Lacs connty, was born in New York in the year 1818. He came to Princeton with his family in 1856, and settled on n farm on section thirteen.
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
He was married in his native State to Miss Sophia Brooks, the ovent taking place in 1850. Of nine children, the result of this union, seven are living; Nancy M., George HL., John F., Lafayette D., Cora E., Leonard, and Lemmel.
FRANOIS M. CAMPBELL is a native of Maine, and was born in the year 1837. His father kept a hotel and Francis was reared in that occupation nntil 1857, when he went to California and remained six years west of the Rocky Mountains, engaged in mining and Imbering. Returning to his native State he enlisted in the Eighteenth Maine Volun- teer Infantry, serving one year. After his dis- charge he came to Minnesota, in 1866, and re- mained one year in Minneapolis, coming thence to Princeton, where he has since lived. His first business venture here was the purchase of the American Honse, which he conducted until 1879, and sold to Henry Webster, the present proprietor. Mr. Campbell is President of the' Bank of Prince- ton, and for the last six years has been Treasurer of Mille Lacs county. He also carries on a liv- ery stable and does quite an extensive logging business.
JOHN W. CORMACK was born in Illinois in tho year 1816. He is one of the very carly pioneers of Minnesota, having visited the present site of Stillwater as early as 1844. As early as 1848, he commenced rafting humber down the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, following that oc- enpation most of the time until 1874. He settled at St. Anthony in 1859, and made that place his home until his removal to Princeton in 1874. Al- though nearing the threescore and ten years gen- erally allotted to man, Mr. Cormack still retains much of his youthful vigor, and spends a great portion of his time logging and Inmbering, and exploring the wilds of this northern country.
HIRAM B. CowLes dates his birth at Greene, Chenango county, New York, on the 1st of April, 1835. When a child, the family removed to Steu- ben county, where Hiram resided nutil twenty-one years of age. He then came to Minnesota, and was clerk in a banking house at St. Anthony for some time. In 1861, he enlisted in the First Mint nesota Volunteer Infantry, and after two months was transferred to the position of clerk in the Quartermaster department at Fort Snelling, where he remained about one and a half years. He eame to Princeton in 1863, and established a mer- cantile business which he stilf carries on, having one of the most extensive establisfiments in the
village. He also carries on a logging business during the winter months, employing about twen- ty-five men. Mr. Cowles has also taken quite nu active part in public affairs since coming to Prince- ton; ho has been Clerk of the District Court, and is now serving his fourth term as Treasurer of the township, and his fifth termas school district Treasurer.
DANIEL A. CALEY is a native of Canada, and was born on the 15th of August, 1849. When quite young the family removed to Janesville, Wiscon- sin, where Daniel resided until 1864, when he en- listed in the Forty-seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served till the close of the war. He then went to Cresco, Iowa, and learned the tin- ner's trade, and in 1868, came to Minnesota. Af- ter remaining a few months in St. Paul he came to Anoka, and followed his trade until coming to Princeton in 1870. He at once opened a hardware store here, being associated with Fitch & Smith of Anoka, as partners. In 1871, his brother entered the firm, and in 1873, Daniel disposed of his inter- est to Robert M. Neely, and in July of the follow- ing year engaged in the drug business which he still coutinnes. Mr. Caley has held the Position of Register of Deeds and Justice of the Peace, and is now serving his fifth term as Clerk of the Dis- triet Court.
JOSEPH L. CATER was born in Barrington, New Hampshire, on the 28th of March, 1828. He grew to manhood in his native State, and in 1855, came to Princeton, but returned to Maine the same fall. Coming again to Minnesota in the spring of 1856, he took a claim in Baldwin township, Sherburne county, and also erected a honse in Princeton the same year. He disposed of both those claims in 1862, and has since lived on his present farm, which consists of three hundred and twenty acres and adjoins the village of Princeton.
MARTIN V. B. CATER is also a native of Bar- rington, New Hampshire, and was born on the 15th of Angust, 1831. He was reared to farming pursuits, and in 1857, came to Minnesota and was engaged in freighting between St. Paul and Prince- ton for a few months. In the same fafl he took n claim in Baldwin township, Sherburne county, where he lived for eleven years. He then sold his farm and removed to Princeton township, where he now owns five linndred and twenty acres, over two hundred of which are under cultivation.
ANDREW J. CATER was born in Brunswick, Maine, on the 7th of March, 1828. When quite
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young the family removed to Barrington, New Hampshire, where Andrew lived on his father's farm nutil oighteen years of age. He then went to Massachusetts and learned the carpenter's trade, which was his occupation until coming to Prince- ton in 1867. Mr. Cater has sinec resided on a farm located on section thirty, and containing two hundred and sixty acros, of which upwards of one hundred are under cultivation.
WILLIAM A. CARMODY is a native of Ireland, and was born in the year 1829. He came to America in 1851, and after spending one year each in Ohio and Kentucky, came to Minnesota. He remained in St. Anthony two years, being em- ployed in the erection of the suspension bridge, and also lumbering and farming. In 1855, he came to Princeton and selected his present farm on section thirty-two, where he erected a house and moved the following year. Mr. Carmody has a fine farm of three hundred and sixty acres.
EDWARD W. CATER is a son of Martin V. B. Cater, and was born in Barrington, New Hamp- shire, in 1855. When he was two years old the family removed to Miimesota, and with the excep- tion of two years at school in Minneapolis, resided at home until 1875, when he bought a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, located on sec- tions twenty-thrce and twenty-four, where he now lives.
GEORGE W. DUNTON dates his birth in Oldtown, Maine, on the 25th of February, 1830. In early life he learned the trade of brick-mason, and was afterwards engaged in the manufacture of lime and brick. He came to Minnesota in 1856, and after a three years stay in Minneapolis, went to St. Cloud and lived until 1876. He then came to Princelon and opened a brick-yard about two miles north of the village, which he has recently sold to his son, Francis E. Dunton, and opened another about one mile and a quarter east of the village. Mr. Dunton manufactured two hundred mad fifty thousand briek during the year 1880.
ROBERT C. DUNN. editor and proprietor of the " Princeton Union," was born in county Tyrone, in the North of Ireland, on the 14th of February, 1855. His parents were of Scotch deseent, and members of the Established Church of England. Robert attended a National school regularly nntil ho was fifteen years old, in all about ono hundred months of school days. He was then apprenticed in n dry goods store in Londonderry, Ireland, but
after serving six months, the business being dis- tasteful to him, he took "French leave" and came to America, making his way alone to friends in Wisconsin, in April, 1870. The following winter he went to St. Lonis, and soon after to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and spent six months as clerk for a railroad contractor. Returning to St. Louis, he entered the office of the "Missouri State Atlas," with the intention of learning the printer's trade, for which he had long cherished a desire. After the campaign of 1872, the "Atlas" suspended, and Robert entered the office of the "Industrial Age," and later, the "Journal" office, where he finished his apprenticeship .- He continued his journalistic labors there until January, 1876, when he was prostrated by partial paralysis, and sutlered severely for four months. For the benefit of his health he came to Minnesota, where he soon partially recovered, and on the 30th of December, by the kind assistance of friends, he issued the first number of the "Prince- ton Union." He was then less than twenty-two years old, and probably the youngest editor in the State. Since then the "Union" has steadily in- creased in popularity, and under his management, has attained an extensive circulation in Millo Laes and the adjoining connties of Sherburne and Isanti, and will compare favorably with any coun- try newspaper in the State. Mr. Dunn is well liked by the people of Princeton, irrespective of party, and his paper is noted for its political inde- pendence, although the editor is a republican.
ALBERT B. DAMON, the oldest living settler of Mille Lacs county, was born in Troy, Maine, on the 4th of June, 1824. He came to Minnesota in 1852, and after remaining one winter abont five miles north of the present city of Minneapolis, came to Princeton, and inde the first clnim on the site of the present village. "Banjo Bill" and one or two others had been here before, but did not make claims. The former had built the first shanty, and Mr. Damon built the second, a log house which still stands in the reur of the North Star House. There was no settler nearer Mr. Damon than Elk River, on the Mississippi. In 1855, he sold his claim to Samuel Ross, and selected the quarter section ad- joining las first claim on the south, a portion of which he Is since surveyed and platted, and is now known as Damon's addition to Princeton. In 1862, Mr. Damon enlisted in the Eighth Minno- sota Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. Ou returning from the army he settled in section eighteen, Baldwin township, Sherburne county,
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
where he now lives on a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres.
JOHN W. DIMMICK, also one of the pioncers of Princeton, was born in Tompkins, Delaware conn- ty, New York, on the 29th of August, 1818. When he was twelve years old the family removed to Livingston eonnty, and five years later, to Alle- gany county, where John lived, being engaged at the carpenter trade and as a millwright until 1855. He came to Minnesota in the fall of the latter year, and in January, 1856, came to Prince- ton and took a claim on section twenty-nine. He lived with Mr. Ross during the winter, and in the spring, built a house on his elaim, and on the ar- rival of his family from New York, took posses- sion of it, and still resides on the old homestead. His wife was Miss Cynthia Payne, of Massachu- setts, and of seven children born to them, five are living. His son, William W. Dimmiek, is also a resident of Princeton. He was born at Ossian, New York, in the year 1844, and came to this county with his parents. He owns and operates a farm in Isanti county.
CHARLES E. FOSTER, whose place of nativity is in the state of Maine, was born in the year 1848. He is a son of William Foster, one of the pioncer Inmbermen on the St. Croix river. He came to Minnesota with the family when quite young, and was reared in the Inmber business, which he has followed through life. Mr. Foster came to Prince- ton in 1872, and carries on a logging business about thirty-five miles above the village.
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E. C. GILE, M. D., was born in Addison, Stou- ben county, New York, on the 9th of September, 1836. After taking the usual preparatory courses, he entered the Bennett Medical College at Chi- cago, where he graduated in 1870. He prac- fived medicine four years af Cambridge, Isanti county, but has since resided at Princeton in the active practice of his profession.
THOMAS GOULDING, deceased, one of the early settlers in this region, was born in England, but beeame a resident of Ohio in 1830. He came to Minnesota in the spring of 1855, and spent the summer in making the road from St. Paul to Leeeh Lake. The following spring he settled in Isanti county, and after a residence of two years, came to Prineeton and purchased the property on which the American Honse now stands. There was then a small house, 16x24 feet, standing on the premises, which was soon replaced by the American Honse, Mr. Gonkling conducting it un-
til its sale to F. M. Campbell in 1867. The sub- ject of our sketch died at Princeton in the year 1875.
JOHN W. GOULDING, a son of the subject of the last brief memoir, was born at Pomeroy, Ohio, in the year 1845. He came to this State in yonth, and was reared with his father in the hotel busi- ness. He is a resident of Princeton, and engaged in farming and Inmbering.
ALBION P. HARMON was born in Foxcroft, Maine, on the 17th of April, 1832. He was raised on a farm, and at the age of sixteen years, went to learn the slater's trade, which was his ocenpation for a number of years. In 1859, he went to Cali- fornia, and was engaged in Inumbering and min- ing there and in Nevada, until 1862, when he re- turned to his native State. After farming there for ten years, he came to Princeton and has lived here ever sinee. He has been Deputy Sheriff of Mille Laes eounty for the last two years.
ARTHUR F. HOWARD is a native of Brownville, Piscataquis county, Maine, and was born in the year 1847. He came to Princeton in 1865, and has been engaged in the Inmber business in this locality nearly ever since. During the years 1872-73, he was in California, also engaged in Inmbering. His present field of operations is about thirty miles up the east branch of Rum river. Mr. Howard takes quite an interest in pub- lic affairs, and is serving his third term as Sheriff of the county.
FLOYD H. HATCHER dates his birth in Virginia, on the 10th of September, 1835. He came to Towa in 1853, and after farming there for three years, came to Minnesota and settled at St. Peter. After a residence of four years in that locality, during which he was engaged in farming and team- ing, he came to Princeton and took a homestead on section five. He removed to Blue Hill, Sherburne county, five years later, but soon returned to his present residence on scetion twenty.
JONAS R. HILL was born in New Brunswick in 1830. He came to the state of Maine when twelve years old, but returned to his native Prov- ince at the age of nineteen, and was himbering and farming for four years. He came to Mimme- sota in 1853, and settled in Langola, Benton county, where he lived umtil 1861, when he en- listed in the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, serving three years. He returned to Princeton in 1864, and has followed himbering most of the time since. Mr. Hill owns a good farm of
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one hundred and sixty acres, abont two miles east of the village.
JOHN C. HATCH is a native of Newcastle, Mainc, and was born on the 5th of October, 1828. He learned the trade of ship-carpenter when a young man, and followed that occupation until 1855, when ho came to Minnesota and located in what is now the town of Milo, about ten miles north- west of Princeton, being one of the first three settlers in that town. Three years later he came to Princeton, and was employed at the carpenter trade here for seven years, after which he took a homestead and followed the plow for five years. Then, after a four years further sojourn in Princeton, he removed to Anoka, but in 1877, again returned to Princeton, where he is now en- gaged in the carpenter business. Mr. Hatch was married on the 25th of June, 1854, to Miss Mar- tha A. Hilton, of Jefferson, Maine. They have four children.
NELSON E. JESMER was born in Franklin coun- ty, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of May, 1849. He came to Princeton in 1866, and was employed on a farm when not attending school, for about fonr years. He then engaged as clerk in the store of H. B. Cowles, and after an experience of four years behind the counter, opened a general store on his own neconnt, which he now conducts, doing an annual business of $30,000.
CHARLES KEITH is a native of Farmington, Franklin county, Maine. He received his educa- tion at the High School and Farmington Acad - emy, and came to Princeton in January, 1873. Mr. Keith is one of the prominent men of tho conty, and has filled a member of responsible positions. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1875, and Probate Judge in 1876, both of which positions he has held ever since. Ho was also As- sessor for several years, and census enumerator in 1880. In addition to his public labors he is en- gaged in the lumber and real estate business. Miss Ev& Smith, also a native of Maine, became his wife in October, 1874.
PETER KUnRKE was born in Prussia on the 18th of December, 1820. Ile was engaged in the mån- ufacture of furniture, and carpenter work in his uative country. In 1865, he came to America, and soon after, settled in this township, where he owns a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Ho was married in 1851, to Miss Lonisa Gerth, who has borne him six children, five of whom are liv- ing. The eldest daughter is the wife of Mr. Wil-
helm, of St. Paul, and the others reside at home.
CHARLES E. LEONARD, one of Minnesota's car- liest pioneers, was born in Worthington, Hamp- shire county, Massachusetts, on the 25th of Feb- ruary, 1810. llis father died when he was but four years old, and his mother supported herself and two children until 1817, by teaching school. She then married Alphens Nichols, who removed to Rodman, Jefferson county, New York, then a new and sparsely settled country. When fourteen years of age, Charles went to live with a widowed sister of his step-father, and aided by her son, who was four years his junior, carried on her farm until he was twenty-one years of age. The lady then gave him one hundred dollars in cash, and snf- ficient clothing to last three years. He then went to Louisville, New York, and hired to Judge I. W. Bostwick, a lawyer who carried on a large farm, to take charge of it for one hundred and thirty-two dollars per year, out of which he was enabled to save one hundred and ten dollars. Remained in his employ two years, and then rented the farm, but gave it up soon after. He next conducted a farm of his own for three years, but finding that his health had been injured by hard labor, gave np farming. He next run a hotel at Depauville, bnt continued poor health obliged him to give it np also. Leaving his family with his mother, Mr. Leonard started west, and in 1846, engaged in mercantile pursnits in Hancock county, Illinois, his family following him the next spring. Finding the eli- mate still unfavorable to health, he again sought a home, further north. He embarked on the steamer Highland Mary, and came to Stillwater, which he found to be a very desirable place, and began making preparations to stay, and opened a store in a building rented of Dr. Carli.
In the latter part of December, he received a letter from his wife, saying their little girl was very sick and not expected to live. Locking np the store, and giving the key to Dr. Carli, in the bitter cold winter he started on foot for Illinois. After much suffering he reached his family a few days before his child died, having traveled over three hundred miles, sleeping at night on the snow covered ground. In the spring of 1848, he brought his family to their new home, to find that in his absence, his property had been almost entirely de- stroyed by fire. He then bought a set of carpen- ter's tools, and went to work at two dollars per day, meanwhile building a house for himself, by working mornings and evenings. Mr. Leonard,
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as Sheriff of St. Croix county, opened the first court in Stillwater, Judges Goodrich and Cooper presiding. In 1849, he moved to St. Anthony, was Territorial Treasurer from 1854, to 1857, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in the latter year. He then removed to Point Donglas and built the Leonard House, which he kept nn- til 1862, and enlisted in the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, and was among the first to go to the relief of Fort Ridgely, remaining in the ser- vice fifteen months. He then returned to Point Douglas, sold his hotel, and erected a fine resi- dence which was his home until 1877. Then went to Sioux City, Iowa, but after two years, returned to Minnesota and settled in Isanti county, and in September, 1880, came to his present home in Princeton. Mr. Leonard is Justice of the Peace in this village, an oflice that he has held almost continuously since coming to the Territory. He was married on the 1st of January, 1835, to Miss Catharine Sendes, of Louisville, New York. They have had three sons and one daughter; James E. and George Y., are living.
GEORGE D. LORING was born in Yarmonth, Maine, on the 25th of May, 1835. His father was a carpenter, and with him George learned the trade. He came to Anoka, Minnesota, when twenty years old, and thence, one year later, to Spencer Brook, Isanti county. He followed farm- ing there until 1863, when he enlisted in the See- ond Minnesota Cavalry, serving two years and one month. Returning from the army, he came to Prinecton and engaged in the, lumber business, which he still continues; his field of labor being on the Rum river, about thirty-five miles north of Princeton. In 1880, Mr. Loring formed a part- nership with H. C. Head, and under the firm name of Head & Loring, engaged in the mercantile business. The firm do a business of about $20,- 000 annually.
ISAIAH S. MUDGETT is a native of Penobscot county, Maine, where his birth occurred Jnne 7th, 1839. After receiving a liberal education at En- field, in his native State, he came to Point Dong- lass, Mimiesota, arriving in October, 1858. Fu 1865, he came to Princeton, and the same year. was elected Auditor of Mille Lacs county, which oflice he has since held, except four years, from 1870 to 1874.
GEORGE MARONEY was born in Atkinson, Maine, on the 8th of April, 1823. He was roared to agri- enltural pursuits, which he followed till 1852,
when he removed to Iowa and engaged in the hotel and mercantile business. Since 1874, Mr. Mahoney has been a resident of Princeton, where he owns a billiard hall.
MICHAEL MAHONEY was born in Treland, in 1845. He came to America when eleven years of age, and resided in New York City till 1861, since which time he has lived in Princeton. During the first six years of his residence here, he was em- ployed on farms and in the limber woods, but since 1867, has owned a farm in section thirty-one, on which he still lives.
JOHN MCMINN, a native of Ireland, was born in 1830. He came to America in 1846, worked at the blacksmith trade in Ogdensburg, New York, until 1861, when he enlisted in the One Imindred and forty-second New York Volunteer Infantry, serv- ing eighteen months. After his discharge, he re- turned to New York, and was employed at black- smithing till 1865. Then came to Princeton, and for several years was engaged at his trade. In 1873, Mr. MeMim purchased a farm in section nineteen, and now owns about seven linndred acres in that locality.
SAMUEL MILLER is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, born on the 3d of July, 1848. When he was six years old, his parents moved to Monroe county, thence to Washington county, and in 1868, to An- oka county, Minnesota, where they now reside. Our subject was employed in his unele's mill in Ohio, and since 1872, has been head miller in the flouring mill at Princeton.
ROBERT M. NEELY was born in Washington county, Indiana, on the 12th of April, 1832. He lived on a farm until moving to Marion, Iowa, where he engaged in the mercantile business, fol- lowing it for five years. Then, with a Government surveying party, was in Minnesota and Dakota for six years. In 1858, he returned to Iowa, and re- sided on a farm in Muscatine, till 1870, when he came to Princeton. For two years Mr. Neely was engaged in the milling business, but since then, in company with Thomas H. Caley, has been dealing in hardware and agricultural implements. They have a fine store 28x60 feet, a wareroom for agri- cultural implements 28x70 feet, and carry a stock of $15,000, doing a business of $100,000 annually.
RICHARD B. NEWTON, a native of England, was born in the year 1826. He learned the machinist trade, nt which he worked till coming to America in 1867. Came directly to Minnesota, locating on a farm in Isanti county. In 1871, he came to
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Princeton and has since been engaged in the butcher business, in connection with which, in October, 1880, he opened a general merchandise store, and carries a stoek of $3,500.
. HERMAN NEUMAN is u native of Germany, but came to America when a child. He was n resident of Iowa, first living in Clinton, where he learned the blacksmith trade, then in Deeorah until eom- ing to Minnesota in 1878. His first two years in this State were spent in Minneapolis, then eame to Princeton, where he has since condueted a gen- eral blacksmith shop.
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