Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 101

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle
Number of Pages: 1432

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CHARLES L. POWERS is a prosperous farmer of Maple River township, and stands among the foremost men of his calling in Cass county. He is one of the early settlers of that locality and has transformed the raw land into a highly culti- vated tract and now enjoys a comfortable income and a good reputation as an industrious and public- spirited citizen.

Our subject was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, January 26, 1855, and was a son of Simon and Frances F. (Lansing) Powers, who were natives of New York. His father was a farmer and saddler and went to St. Paul, Minnesota, in a very early day and in 1847 started the first stage line that ever ran in that state. His death occurred there in 1868. Our subject has one brother, now re- siding in California.

Mr. Powers was reared and educated in St. Paul and at Madison, Wisconsin, and remained in St. Paul until 1871 and then assisted in survey- ing the Northern Pacific Railroad westward to Morehead. He went to North Dakota to reside in 1874 and settled in Mapleton, where he was joined by his widowed mother. Later he moved to Maple River township and entered a homestead and tree claim and at once began the improvement of the land. Mr. and Mrs. Powers now own twen- ty-eight hundred and eighty acres of land in Cass county, which is under cultivation and thoroughly improved.

Mr. Powers was married, January 15, 1879, to Delia Arnesen, of Iowa. Mrs. Powers is a daugh- ter of John and Rachel Arnesen, of Dane county, Wisconsin. Her mother died in Wisconsin in 1865, and the father now resides in Worth county, Iowa. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Powers, as follows: Simon C. and Ruth D. Mr. Powers is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of the Maccabees and Fraternal Union and Yeomen of America. He is a breeder of English coach horses, fancy road and draft horses and mules. Mr. Powers is a dealer in all kinds of horses, having shipped six carloads of western horses from Montana this season and owns a ranch in Montana.

ANTON FRIED, one of the earliest settlers of Stutsman county, North Dakota, occupies a promi- nent position as a well-to-do farmer and public- spirited citizen. He went to Dakota with no means for the improvement of his financial condition ex- cept the indomitable will, and capacity for well-di- 'rected labor with which nature endowed him, and he has risen steadily to an enviable position. He is one of the most extensive farmers of township 142, range 62, and his home farm is supplied with all the conveniences and buildings necessary to conduct a model farmı.

Our subject was born in Buffalo county, Wis- consin, December 8, 1861. His father was a native of Switzerland, and came to America in 1847, and located in Wisconsin, where his death occurred when our subject was fifteen years of age. The mother of our subject went to North Dakota after the death of her husband, and she died in that state in 1891.

Mr. Fried was the youngest in a family of seven children, and was raised on a farm and attended the common schools. His second oldest brother took charge of the farm soon after his father's death, and our subject and the mother moved to Arcadia, Wisconsin, where he attended the high school, and during the summer months worked at farm labor. He went to Jamestown, North Dakota, in the spring of 1879, with his older brother, and took land and our subject purchased railroad land. the north half of section 35, township 142, range 62. He erected a claim shanty, and the first year lived alone and broke the land. During that season he broke about

ANTON FRIED.

MRS. SUSAN FRIED.

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forty acres for other parties, a portion of which is the site of the present Stutsman county court house. He engaged in breaking land for others for five or six years, but improved his own farm also as fast as circumstances would permit. He engaged in ship- ping stock into the state, and was a successful buyer. He took his farming implements from Wisconsin, and after the first year gave up farming with oxen and purchased horses. He and his mother settled on the farm in 1880, after he had erected a small house and a sod barn. After attaining his majority he entered claim to land in township 142, range 62, as a homestead and tree claim, and he has since added to his possessions from time to time and is now the owner of ten hundred and forty acres of land, and also leases six hundred and forty acres for pasture. He has about six hundred acres under cultivation, and engages in grain and stock raising. He keeps about seventy-five head of cattle, and has ample shelter and convenient arrangements for that line of farming. He has a complete set of excellent farm buildings, and all necessary machinery, and also owns an interest in a threshing rig and does his own threshing. He formed a partnership with A. Y. Moore, of Wimbledon, in 1894, in the ma- chine business at Wimbledon, North Dakota, under the firm name of The Wimbledon Machine Com- pany. This partnership continued until 1897, when Mr. Fried bought out his partner's interest, and at once formed a partnership with Anton Feck- ler, and the business was continued under its origi- nal title. It is the only machine firm in the town, and Anton Feckler has full charge of the business and enjoys an extensive trade. Our subject also owns residence property in Wimbledon, which he rents out.

Our subject was married, in February, 1886, to Miss Susan Schlag, who was born and raised in Morrison county, Minnesota. Mrs. Fried's father, Frederick Schlag, was a farmer for many years, and is now a resident of Royalton, Minnesota. Her parents are natives of Germany. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fried, as follows: Mar- garet M., Federick O., Annetta A., Hildegard U. and Florence E. Mr. Fried is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. He takes an active interest in local affairs, and has served as school treasurer for the past sixteen years, and is one of the trustees of the North Dakota hospital for the insane. Po- litically he is a Republican, and has attended as a delegate numerous county and state conventions, and is an earnest worker for the principles of his party. The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Fried will be pleased to find their portraits in connection with this sketch.

CHARLES CAVILEER, known far and wide as the "Father of Pembina," enjoys the unique dis- tinction of being not only the oldest living settler of that portion of the Red river valley, but likewise

of the whole state of North Dakota. A full and complete history of the life of this prominent and influential pioneer of pioneers, since coming to this portion of our land, dating as it does from 1851, would present to our minds most clearly the won- derful growth and development that has come to this favored portion of the Republic. The interest that naturally attends the narration of the life history of the pioneer is, in his case, made doubly strong by the fact that in all the many years of his residence here, he has taken a leading and prominent part in the political, business and official life of this, his adopted home.

Mr. Cavileer was born in Springfield, Clark county, Ohio, March 6, 1818, and is the son of Charles and Rachel (Trease) Cavileer, natives of Maine and Pennsylvania, respectively. Receiving in his native place the rudiments of common-school education, at the age of seventeen he removed to Mount Carmel, Wabash county, Illinois, where he learned the saddler's trade. There he remained, working as a journeyman, until 1841. In that year he moved to Minnesota and for a time made his home at Red Rock, near St. Paul. In 1845, in that young city, Mr. Cavileer established the pioneer harness shop of the state of Minnesota. This he continued for two years. In 1848, in company with a Mr. Dewey, he opened the first drug store in St. Paul and the state. In 1848 Mr. Cavileer was ap- pointed by Governor Alexander Ramsey to the po- sition of first territorial librarian. This office he continued to hold until, in 1851, he was appointed by President Fillmore the first collector of customs for the district of Minnesota. Pembina was the port of entry for the district and thither he moved. He settled down to his official duties, which, at that time, not only had to do with the customs, but he was also the representative of all the other civil branches of the United States government. August 17, 1851, in company with Commodore Norman WV. Kittson, he arrived at what is now Pembina. In 1853 Mr. Cavileer, in partnership with N. W. Kittson and W. H. Forbes, engaged in the fur trade. At the end of three years, Mr. Forbes having withdrawn, Mr. Cavileer with Mr. Kitt- son, formed a partnership with Messrs. Cul- ver, Farrington and Sargent and engaged in same line of business. This continned for two years. These five years were doubtless the most ex- citing ones in a life replete with adventurous incident. It was during this time that he made regular trips to St. Paul with trains of from eighty to a hundred "Red river carts" loaded with furs and pelts. These trips were long and wearisome and often dangerous from bands of roving Indians and stampeding herds of buffalo.

Mr. Cavileer, in 1863. returned to Pembina, he having, in the discharge of his business cares, resided both at St. Joseph, about thirty miles to the westward, at the foot of the Pembina mountains, and at Winnipeg. In 1864 he was commissioned postmaster, a position which he held . until 1884,

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when the weight of increasing years caused him to resign in favor of his son, Edmund. The original plat of the city of Pembina was laid out by the sub- ject of this sketch and this was added to in the shape of an extensive addition in 1878, when rail- road connections with the centers of trade showed the need for enlarging the limits of the city.

In his earlier days MIr. Cavileer was a regular correspondent of the Smithsonian Institute, of Washington, D. C., and to this day likes to write of the incidents of the past. His sketches of pio- neer days and graphic descriptions of scenes and characters are the delight of his friends and neigh- bors, and the old settlers generally. These sketches, which have been mostly for local papers and pio- neer society meetings, are in the plain, blunt, straightforward and to the point style of the western plainsman, but have a deep undercurrent of humor wholly his own.

March 13, 1857, Mr. Cavileer was united in marriage with Miss Isabella Murry, who was then sixteen years of age. She was a lassie of Scottish ancestry, daughter of Donald and Jean ( Herron) Murry, and was born and lived in the Red river valley of Canada. They made a visit as a bridal tour to his former home in Springfield, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Cavileer are the parents of five children : Sarah, who died in infancy, Edmund K., William M., Albert D. and Lulah Bell.

MIKEL STOOS. This name is borne by a prominent agriculturist of township 149, range 72, in Wells county, whose life and labors in North Dakota date back from its early settlement. Dur- ing this time he has aided materially in making it one of the thriving agricultural districts of the Northwest and is entitled to much credit for what he has accomplished, gaining for himself a good home and an enviable reputation.

Our subject was born on a farm near Rolling Stone, Winona county, Minnesota, in November, 1866. His father, Peter Stoos, settled in America in the early days and died in Minnesota in 1895. Our subject was reared on a farm and attended the German and English schools and at the age of seventeen years went to the Red River Valley. He worked on the Dalrymple farm one summer, and then worked in that vicinity two years, and in 1881 his father went to North Dakota, and our subject farmed with him four years. He then rented land and farmed in the Red river valley two years and about 1887 went to Wells coun- ty, North Dakota, where he took govern- ment land in section 27, township 149, range 72, and erected a small house. He has followed wheat, flax, oats, cattle and sheep raising with success and now has a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, three hundred of which is under cultivation and twenty acres in meadow. He has a set of substantial farm buildings, including a comfortable house, good barns, granary and other buildings and all necessary

machinery, wagons, etc., and twelve head of horses, fourteen head of cattle and some sheep and is in comfortable circumstances. He was among the first settlers in the northwestern part of the county and there were but few trails or roads when he located there and the nearest market was thirty miles dis- tant.

Our subject was married, in 1885, to Maggie Gludt, who was born and raised in Luxemburg, Germany, and came to America at the age of four- teen years with her father, Peter Gludt, who fol- lowed farming in Minnesota. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stoos, as follows: Nick, Wady, Mikel, Lucy, John, Felix, Maggie and Ar- thur. Mr. Stoos has served as county assessor two years and held school offices many years and has served as road overseer and is actively inter- ested in the welfare of his community. He is a member of the Catholic church and is highly re- spected and esteemed.

JOSEPH SAYER. This gentleman enjoys the distinction of eing one of the first settlers of Cass county and has witnessed the growth of the enter- prises of that region step by step until he is one of the citizens of a great and well-developed section of the country. He has prospered in the pursuit of farming and is now passing his declining vears amid comforts and pleasant surroundings and is one of the honored citizens of Hunter township.

Our subject was born in Norfolk, England, in September, 1826, and was a son of Robert and Sophia (Whiting) Sayer, who were natives of the same county and lived and died in England. His father was a cattle dealer. Our subject had four brothers and four sisters and he has three brothers now in the United States.

Mr. Sayer was reared and educated in England and assisted his father until 1848, when he emi- grated to America and settled in Columbia county, Wisconsin, where he followed farming until 1879. and then went to Cass county, North Dakota, and homesteaded the farm on which he now resides. He has one of the finest pieces of property in the county and he and his son together own a section and a quarter of land, all of which is well improved. Mr. Saver is also a director of the Hunter State Bank and is well-to-do.

Our subject was married, in Wisconsin, to Nancy A. Streeter. a native of Pennsylvania. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sayer, as follows: Frank C., Robert A. and Sophia E. The daughter is now Mrs. M. V. Erb. Mr. Sayer has served as town assessor for some years and is popular with people among whom he resides. Po- litically, he is a Democrat.

HARVEY HARRIS, deceased, formerly chairman of the board of county commissioners of Burleigh county, and who was successfully en-

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gaged in the real estate and loan business in Bis- marck up to the time of his death, did much to promote the commercial activity, advance the gen- eral welfare and secure the material development of the city and surrounding section of the state. As a business man he was enterprising, energetic and always abreast of the times, and gained a com- fortable competence.

Born in Butler county, Ohio, December 12, 1852, Mr. Harris is a son of John H. and Mary A. (Rose) Harris, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, died in the Buckeye state in 1869, and there the mother also passed away in 1896. Our subject's paternal grandfather was born in Ireland and died in Butler county, Ohio.

Harvey Harris, of this review, was one of a family of six children, having four brothers and one sister. He was reared and educated in Butler county, Ohio, and there engaged in farming until eighteen years of age, when he commenced teach- ing and successfully followed that profession for five years. He then engaged in general merch- andising at Oxford, Ohio, until 1883, when he came to Bismarck, North Dakota, and embarked in the real estate and loan business, which he successfully followed until his death, which occurred in Bis- marck May 16, 1900.

On the 13th of November, 1884, Mr. Harris was married, in Ohio, to Eliza N. Jackson, a native of that state. Both are earnest and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Bis- marck, and Mr. Harris served as superintendent of the Sunday school for years. He was a life-long Republican, a member of the county committee and secretary of the same. His support was never withheld from any enterprise calculated to prove of public benefit, and he was a member of the board of education for twelve years and president of the same for eight years. He was elected county com- missioner in 1894, re-elected in 1897, and has served as chairman of the board all but the first year in office. He was also a prominent and in- fluential member of the constitutional convention and a member of the joint committee that divided the two states.

Mrs. Harris still makes her home in Bismarck.

"TOWER CITY TOPICS." This paper was established November 1, 1894, by W. W. Tousley, and he was the editor and proprietor for four and a half years, when the present owner, Thomas W. Crawford, succeeded him. Mr. Crawford has in- creased the circulation of the paper since assuming control and edits a bright, newsy sheet, which is widely circulated and is among the best exchanges of the newspaper circles of Cass county.

Mr. Crawford is a native of Ontario, Canada, and was born in 1878. He was reared and edu- cated in North Dakota, at Tower City, and was en- gaged in teaching school previous to becoming as-

sociated with the "Topics." His newspaper work on this paper is the first he has been connected with and he is meeting with remarkable success in this line. His paper now boasts a circulation of five hundred copies in Cass and adjoining counties and is a four-page sheet of interesting and well-edited news. He follows independent lines in political views.

ALBERT J. RICHTER. As an agriculturist who is gaining a good support by tilling the soil of Eddy county, and incidentally laying aside a competence for future years, there is no better rep- resentative than the gentleman above named. He has been a resident of township 148, range 65, for many years, and has a host of friends who accord him words of commendation for his earnest efforts and honest industry.

Our subject was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, May 1, 1864, and was a son of Gotlieb and Hen- rietta ( Bernt) Richter, both of whom were natives of Germany. His father was left an orphan when eight years of age, and he came to America in 1860 and followed farming in Wisconsin, but was a brewer by trade.

Mr. Richter was the third in a family of eight children, and was reared in the city and on the farm and attended the city schools in his native place, and at the age of sixteen years began work for him- self. He spent nine winters in the lumber woods of Wisconsin, and also on the log drives, and learned the stone mason's trade, which he also fol- lowed. He went to North Dakota in 1887 and settled in Eddy county, on section 15, in township 148, range 65, and built a claim shanty 12x18 feet. He had but twenty-five cents when he arrived in New Rockford, and the first few years he hired a little farming done on his place. He has fought prairie fires many times, and in 1888 lost his house- hold goods by this agency, and on another occasion saved himself by finding an alkali spot free from the fire. He followed grain and stock raising and also worked at his trade, and now has a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, one hundred of which is under cultivation, and he annually oper- ates about six hundred and forty acres of land. He has a well-improved estate, and in consideration of the fact that he has gained his possessions with his own labors and no means with which to make a start aside from this, his success is remarkable.

Our subject was married, in 1888, to Miss Lona Starks, who was born and raised in Wisconsin. Mrs. Richter's father, Morgan Starks, was born in New York, and was a Yankce. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richter, as fol- lows: Bessie, born July 1, 1889; Otto, born Octo- ber 21, 1891; Etta, deceased; Guy, born October I, 1893; Ida, born September 20, 1894; Vivian, born February 10, 1897; and Pearl, born July 2, 1899, all of whom were born in Dakota. Mr. Richter served as assessor four years, and takes an

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active interest in public affairs of local importance. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of Maccabees. Politic- ally he is a Democrat.

GEORGE Q. ERSKINE, one of the founders of the First National Bank of Fargo, and an honored pioneer of that city has a wide reputation as a most capable financier, and occupies a position of no little prominence in connection with the finan- cial affairs of the state. His life demonstrates what can be accomplished through energy, careful man- agement, keen foresight and the utilization of the powers with which nature has endowed one, and the opportunities with which the times surround him. On another page of this volume will be found a portrait of Mr. Erskine.

Mr. Erskine claims New Hampshire as his native state, his birth having occurred in Winchester, De- cember 13, 1827. His parents, John and Achsah (Jewell) Erskine, were also natives of New Hamp- shire, where they continued to make their home until 1833, when they removed to central New York and there spent their remaining years. In early life the father was a dry goods merchant, but later engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. He was a son of Jolin and Phœbe ( Robinson) Erskine, also natives of the old Granite state and farming people, the former of whom died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, his wife at the age of ninety-six.

Our subject is one of a family of nine children, having three brothers and five sisters. Reared in New York, his education was obtained in the public schools of that state and the academy at Mexico, New York. It was his intention to enter college, but he had a severe attack of the "gold fever" dur- ing the excitement in California over the first dis- covery of the precious metal, and in April, 1850, sailed from New York bound for the Pacific slope. He crossed the Isthmus and finally landed in San Francisco in June of that year. He went direct to the American river, where he engaged in placer mining, and during the two years spent there he saved about $5,000.

On his return to New York, in 1852, he com- menced the study of law at Mexico, and also taught a select school. In the early part of the following year he went to Racine, Wisconsin, and entered the law office of Doolittle & Cary. The same year he was admitted to the bar at that place, and when Mr. Doolittle was elected to the bench in the fall of 1854, he formed a partnership with J. W. Cary, which existed for two years. He then retired from practice in order to look after outside interests, with which in the meantime he had been connected, own- ing two vessels on Lake Michigan beside a large amount of timber land in Wisconsin. In 1865 he was elected to the lower house of the state legis- lature and served in that position for one term. He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the

Milwaukee district in 1867 and held that office for nine years, after which, in 1876, he formed a part- nership with J. I. Case in the manufacture of plows at Racine, Wisconsin, starting the J. I. Case Plow Works, which have since become so widely known through the plows manufactured there. He was interested in that business for seven years, and in the meantime purchased a half interest with E. B. Eddy in the bank at Plainview, Wisconsin, in No- vember, 1877. On January 1, 1878, they founded the First National Bank of Fargo, of which Mr. Erskine was made first vice-president, and in the same year the building was erected in which the bank is still conducted. At the death of Mr. Eddy our subject was made vice-president and afterwards president and filled that position until 1897, when he resigned, but is still one of the directors and stockholders. For the past ten years he has been president of the First National Bank of Crookston, Minnesota, and was a director of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Racine, Wisconsin, for twenty years. He is an energetic, far-sighted and capable business man who has attained success through his own well-directed efforts, and the prosperity that has come to him is certainly well deserved.

In 1856 Mr. Erskine married Miss Helen Hin- nod, a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and they have two daughters: Helen R., now the wife of A. O. Coddington, now residing in Chicago; Ethel A., the wife of Sheldon W. Vance, who are residents of Crookston, Minnesota. Since 1885 he has made his home in Fargo, and as a public-spirited and pro- gressive citizen Mr. Erskine gives his support to every enterprise for the public good and has un- bounded confidence in the future of his adopted city and state. Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln he has been an ardent Republican, and socially he is a member of the Ma- sonic order.

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Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 101

Author: Publication date: 1900 Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle Number of Pages: 1432

Author:
Publication date: 1900
Publisher: Chicago, G.A.Ogle
Number of Pages: 1432