Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 112

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

USA > North Dakota > Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life > Part 112

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Our subject was born in Warren county, Ohio, December 22, 1846, and was a son of Joseph and Nancy (Hines) Brandenburg. His father was a mative of Virginia, and his mother of Maryland. The father was a farmer and lived in Ohio from his childhood days, and died there in 1888. The mother died about 1870. Four sons and three daughters composed the family of children, and one son and one daughter are now deceased.

Mr. Brandenburg was reared and educated in Clinton county, Ohio, and November 18, 1863, en- listed in Company L, Ninth Ohio Cavalry, and served until August, 1865, under Generals McCook and Kilpatrick, and was with Sherman on his march to the sea. He was in a portion of the Atlanta cam- paign and was engaged in Georgia and North Car- olina. After his discharge from the service Mr. Brandenberg returned to Ohio and made his home there until 1881, when he engaged in the produce business, and the same year went to Cass county, North Dakota, stopping a short time at Wheatland and soon taking up his residence in Arthur, and erected the first business building in the town. He established a general merchandise and lumber busi- ness and has continued in the former since that time, and also is interested in farm lands in that locality.

He has been successful since taking up his residence in North Dakota, and is well tot do.

Our subject was married, in 1868, to Miss Susan J. Little, a native of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Brandenburg are the parents of one child, named Lottie, and they adopted a son, named Harlie G. Mr. Brandenburg was the first postmaster of Ar- thur, and has served in nearly all the local offices, including the first township treasurer and school treasurer. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and politically is a Republican and stands firmly for his party principles. He has served several ternis as justice of the peace, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen. He is in- telligent and progressive and well merits his success.

ALLETT G. GARDNER. Among the younger members of the farming community of township 149, range 64, in Eddy county, who are successfully tilling the soil and gaining a comfortable income as the result of their labors, may be mentioned this gen- teman. He went to Dakota as a young man with- out means, and is now the possessor of a pleasant farm, on which he engages in grain and stock rais- ing, and is widely known and highly respected as a man of good principles and industrious habits.

Our subject was born in Juneau county, Wiscon- sin, on a farm September 10, 1866. His father, C. P. Gardner, was of New England stock, and was a farmer and musician and an instructor as the latter. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Asenath Dickerman, was a native of Ohio, and her great-grandfather was of Irish birth.

Mr. Gardner was the fourth in a family of five children in his mother's family, and was raised on a farm until about ten years of age, when the family removed to Minnesota, in 1876, and settled in Sib- ley county, and the father established a drug busi- ness at New Auburn, Minnesota, in which he con- tinted until his death in March, 1897. He was post- master there ten or more years, and was a man of competent business methods.

When eighteen years of age our subject spent six weeks traveling through the west, visiting San Fran- cisco, Portland and other Pacific coast points, and then returned to Wisconsin, and then began farming in Minnesota, where he continued two years, and in the spring of 1887 went to New Rockford, North Dakota, and the first year there worked for others. He entered claim to government land in township 149, range 64, on which he built an 8x10-foot shanty, and lived alone, and with a team and wagon began farming. His first crop was frosted, but his second was fair, and also the third year was a good yield, and he has steadily pushed forward to suc- cess. He is interested to some extent in stock rais- ing, and since 1897 has devoted more attention to this line of the farm work. He now has a farm of four hundred and eighty acres of land, three hun- dred and fifty acres of which are cultivated, and he operates about four hundred acres of tillable land

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annually. He has a small grove of trees around his residence, and with the improvements of the place, including good buildings, it presents a pleas- ing appearance. He has all necessary machinery, and about thirteen head of horses, and twenty-eight head of cattle.

Our subject was married, in 1892, to Pearl May Wood, who was born and raised in the state of New York. Mrs. Gardner's father, Charles Wood, was born in England and came to America in 1842, at the age of fourteen years, and died in 1893. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, as follows : Clifford B., born January 6, 1893; Al- berta F., born February 18, 1895; and Kenneth C., born April 25, 1897. M. Gardner is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was elected assessor in 1894, and again in 1896, and is man of active public spirit. Politically he is a Re- publican and is strong in his convictions. He is the Republican nominee for register of deeds, and his friends are enthusiastic in his behalf.

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF GRAF- TON, was organized January 1, 1883, and suc- ceeded the Walsh County Bank, which was founded in 1881. This was a private bank, and was founded by F. T. Walker, D. Rhombery, of Dubuque, Iowa, William O'Mulchay and J. L. Cashel. Mr. Walker was president and Mr. Cashel was cashier, and they had a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars and did a general banking business. Upon the organization of the First National Bank of Graf- ton, the capital stock was increased to fifty thousand dollars, and Mr. Walker was chosen president, Mr. Leistikow, vice-president, and Mr. Cashel, cashier. Mr. Walker died in 1889 and was suc- ceeded as president by Mr. Leistikow, who is now serving as such, and Mr. Cashel is still cashier. The bank has an undivided profit and surplus of sixty- five thousand dollars, the largest of any bank in the state, and deposits run from two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to three hundred thousand dol- lars.

JOHN L. CASHEL, cashier of the First National Bank, is a man of excellent business qualities and has made a success of his career, and has extensive financial interests in and around Grafton.

Mr. Cashel was born at New York City, New York, in Kings county, June 24, 1848. His parents moved to Clark county, Ohio, when he was five years of age, and when ten years of age he removed with them to Buffalo county, Wisconsin, where he was reared and educated and remained there until twenty-three years of age. His father was a farmer by occupation and died in Wisconsin. Our subject taught school four years and also conducted a busi- ness college at Lacrosse, Wisconsin, for five years, and in 1876 removed to Rochester, Minnesota, and from there to Faribault, Minnesota, where he re- mained three years, and in 1881 came to Grafton, Walsh county, North Dakota. He purchased town

lots and erected the building in which the Walsh County Bank was established, and he has followed banking and farming here continuously since. He at one time owned one-half of the town site of Graf- ton, and is now interested largelv in real estate.

Our subject was married, in Wisconsin, in 1875, to Miss Margaret Morris, a native of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Cashel are the parents of two sons, named as follows : Thomas M. and John L., Jr. Mr. Cashel served as a state senator in 1891 and 1893, and was again elected in 1898. The former election was on the Republican and the latter on the Democratic ticket. He is a popular and efficient officer, and in 1896 was a candidate for lieutenant- governor, and has taken an active part in public affairs since residing in North Dakota.

JOHN F. GOSS, postmaster of Kiner, Nortlı Dakota, is one of the successful grain raisers of Wells county, and has a fine farm eight hundred acres in extent. His home is in township 149, range 69, where he was one of the first settlers of Wells county, and has been identified with the advancement and development of the great agricultural interests of the locality.

Our subject was born in Grundy county, Illinois, April 9, 1863. His father, Perry Goss, was born in Ohio, and was a farmer by occupation. The great-great-grandfather of our subject was born in Boston barracks, Massachuchetts, prior to Revolu- tionary times. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Mary F. Spillman, was born in Kentucky, and her people were of Scotch-Irish de- scent. Her grandfather, William Spillman, was a farmer in Kentucky.

Mr. Goss was the sixth in a family of nine chil- dren, and was raised on the farm in Illinois, and attended school a short time at the Normal School in Morris, Illinois, and then attended one winter in the Business School at Oberlin, Ohio, spending his summers in the meantime at farm work. At the age of twenty years he began teaching, and continued thus three winters, working on the farm summers and during this time made a trip to North Dakota and entered a tree claim and pre-emption in 1885. He proved his pre-emption claim during the same year, and lived in a shanty, 7x9 feet, with a sod ad- dition seven feet. He filed on the tree claim in 1885, and this was the first claim filed in township 149, range 69. He now has six hundred and seventy- five acres of his farm under plow and the balance of the eight hundred acres is in pasture. He has a commodious and substantial residence, good barn, granary, machine shed, and all necessary machinery for extensive farming, and his entire estate is well improved and, conducted on a prosperous basis.

Our subject was married, in the spring of 1888, to Vina K. Kiner. Mrs. Goss was born and raised in LaSalle county, Illinois, and was a daughter of Jacob P. Kiner, a farmer by occupation and a carpenter by trade. Her parents were born in Pennsylvania and

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were of Dutch descent, and her grandfather was a preacher, and worked at the cooper's trade. Three children, all of whom were born in North Dakota, have been born to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Goss, as follows: Pearl I., born October 26, 1889; Loyle K., born May 29, 1891 ; and Perry J., born Oc- tober 22, 1899. The postoffice of Kiner was named in honor of Mrs. Goss, her maiden name being given to the office, and Mr. Goss was appointed postmaster in 1890, and has held the office since that date. He was the first treasuer of his township, and has served as school treasurer six years and was again re-elected in 1900. He takes an active part in public affairs of his township and county. In politics he is a Republican.

BENJAMIN S. SINCOCK occupies a promi- nent place as a well-to-do and progressive member of the farming community of Cass county, in Web- ster township, in which he has a fine farm cover- ing one section of land. Since his residence there he has placed upon it such improvements as entitle it to rank among the fine farms of that locality, and has been instrumental in developing and promoting the growth of this section of the county.

Our subject was born in Jo Daviess county, Illi- nois, October 15, 1845, and was a son of William and Amelia ( Mitchell) Sincock, who were natives of Cornwall, England. His father was a miner and farmer, and came to the United States about 1842 and settled in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where he followed mining and farming until his death in May, 1888. The mother died in 1867, leaving fourteen children, nine sons and five daughters. Our sub- ject is the only one of the family now in North Da- kota.

Mr. Sincock was reared and educated in Illinois, and followed farming there until 1865, and Feb- ruary 19, of that year, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Fifty-third Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, and served nine months in Tennessee and Kentucky on guard duty and drilling. He was dis- charged at the close of the war, and returned to Illinois and remained there until 1879, when he went to Cass county, North Dakota, and entered claim to a homestead on section 10, of Webster township. He made his home there until 1886, and then removed to his present farm on section 3 of the same township. He has devoted his career to farm- ing, and has met with remarkable success, and is one of the substantial men of Webster township, and owns one section of choice land.

Our subject was married, in Illinois, in 1874, to Catherine M. Watts, a native of upper Michigan. Mrs. Sincock's parents, Rob- ert and Ann (Moore) Watts, were natives of the Isle of Man, and came to the United States about 1840 and settled in Illinois, and later moved to Michigan and spent their last days in Illinois. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sincock, as follows: Elsie, Jessie M. and

Francis L. They have one adopted child named Frankie. The family are members of the Congre- gational church, of Rose Valley, and are held in high esteem in the community in which they have resided for so many years. Mr. Sincock assisted in the organization of his township, and has filled some of the local offices. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and politically is a Republi- can.

RUDOLPH E. OTTO, an early settler of Ar- thur township, is one of the influential and widely known citizens of Cass county. He is possessed of untiring energy, and the strictest integrity, and his career has been that of an honorable citizen. His farm is well improved, and covers a half-section in section 28, where he has resided since taking up his residence in Cass county over twenty years ago.

Our subject was born in Germany, June 11, 1857, and was a son of Gotleib and Julia (Heine) Otto, who were natives of Germany. The father fol- lowed farming, and both parents passed their lives in their native land. Five sons and seven daugh- ters were born to them, and four sons and all the daughters are now residing in the United States, three residing in North Dakota.

Our subject was reared and educated in Ger- many, and in 1872 came to America in company with his brother and sister, and they made their home in Green Lake county, Wisconsin. They re- moved to Iowa in 1877, and spent two years there, and in 1880 our subject went to Cass county, North Dakota, and took a pre-emption on section 28, in Arthur township. He was among the first settlers of the township, and began at once to break a farm. He has followed agriculture continuously since that date, and now has a half-section of well-improved land, and has made a success of his vocation.

Our subject was married, in 1885, to Minnie Wolf, also a native of Germany. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Otto, as follows: Oscar A., Amanda E., William C. and Elsie A. The family are members of the German Lutheran church of Arthur, and are highly respected throughout Cass county. Mr. Otto is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and politically is an ardent Republican. He is active in public affairs, and has served as chairman of the town board of super- visors, and also assessor of the township. and enjoys the confidence of the people among whom he re- sides.

A. K. SPEER. This gentleman is the fortu- nate owner of one of the fine farms of Foster county, North Dakota, and makes his home in section 4, in township 146, range 67. He is well known as a man of good principles and honest dealings, and has acquired his estate by persistent efforts.

Mr. Speer was born in Allegheny City, Pennsyl- vania, in 1851. His father, James K. Speer, was a

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descendant of an old New Jersey family, and he was a blacksmith by trade. The grandfather of our sub- ject, Othnal Speer, was a ship carpenter. The mother of our subject was of an eastern Virginia family.

Mr. Speer was raised in his native city, and at the age of fourteen years was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade, and spent five years thus, when he began working for himself, and followed his trade in Allegheny City and Pittsburg, Pennsylva- nia, for ten years. He went to Nebraska in 1877, and began farming in Colfax county. He pur- chased eighty acres of land, and remained there four years, but grasshoppers destroyed his crops and farming did not prove a success there, and he worked at his trade to pay his indebtedness. He then worked at blacksmithing three years at Pitts- burg, and in 1884 went to North Dakota, and lo- cated at Melville, Foster county, where he estab- lished a blacksmith shop, and in 1886 entered claim to land as a pre-emption east of Melville. A shanty was already built on the place, and he lived therein alone and followed farming, and later proved up on his land. He returned to Pittsburg in the fall of 1887, and remained there until 1893, when he again took up his residence in Foster county, North Da- kota, and purchased the east half of section 4, town- ship 146, range 67. There was but one hundred acres under cultivation at the time, but he has in- creased the acreage under cultivation, and now has a fully improved estate. Hail has caused him losses of crops, and he has met with other discourage- ments, but has steadily improved the place, and now enjoys the comforts of a model farm. . Mr. Speer is a man who keeps pace with the times, and is interested in all matters of a public nature. He is a Republican in political sentiment, and has been identified with that party since 1872. He is energetic and progressive, and is highly es- teemed in his community.

ANTHONY E. LINDSTROM, editor and pub- lisher of the "Cavalier County Republican," a bright and newsy sheet published in Langdon, is a gentle- man of ability in newspaper work, and has been a resident of North Dakota since June, 1885, and has gained an assured position as a business man and citizen.

Our subject was born at Cannon Falls, Minne- sota, January 10, 1865. He was reared and edu- cated in Minnesota, and there learned the printer's trade, at which work he began as an apprentice at the age of fifteen years. He was employed in dif- ferent newspaper offices in the state, and in 1884 went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and was there employed on the "Globe," and also in the office of the "Pioneer Press" until he went to North Dakota in 1895. He left St. Paul in June of that year and went to Obe- ron, Benson county, North Dakota, and entered claim to a tract of land there, and remained at Obe- ron until 1898, when he purchased the "Cavalier

County Republican," and has since been editor and proprietor of the same. He has built up a good circulation for the paper in Cavalier and adjoining counties, and has prospered in his chosen calling. "The Cavalier County Republican" was established in September, 1889, by Mr. Dougherty, who died in Michigan City, North Dakota. Mr. Dougherty sold the paper to D. H. McMillan, who conducted it until December, 1898, when Mr. Lindstrom be- came editor and proprietor. The paper now has a circulation numbering one thousand one hundred, and is Republican in politics.

Mr. Lindstrom was married in St. Paul, Minne- sota, in 1892, to Miss Loretta Hobbins, a native of Wisconsin. Our subject is a firm supporter of all enterprises for the general welfare of the commu- nity in which he makes his home, and is one of the rising young men of Cavalier county.

H. A. HILBORN. Among the pleasantest ru- ral homes of Barnes county is that of the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch, the culture and artistic taste of its occupants being reflected in its appointments, while a gracious hospitality adds a charm to its material comforts. It is pleasantly lo- cated on section 18, Edna township, where Mr. Hil- born successfully carries on operations as an agri- culturist, owning a valuable and well improved farm of nine hundred and sixty acres.

He is a native of the province of Ontario, Can- ada, his birth occurring on a farm in Uxbridge township, Ontario county, June 21, 1850. His father, John P. Hilborn, was born in 1828, within a half- mile of the birthplace of our subject, and through- out the greater part of his active business life fol- lowed farming, though he engaged in the tanning of leather to some extent. When a young man he married Miss Elizabeth Bonnell, also a native of Canada, whose people were from New York state. Nine children were born of this union, four sons and five daughters, of whom our subject is the eldest. The Hilborns first came to America with William Penn, and the grandfather, Stephen Hilborn, and the great-grandfather, Thomas Hilborn, were both natives of Pennsylvania. In the early part of the nineteenth century the former 'removed to Canada. He is a member of the Society of Friends, and as it was in opposition to his religious belief to enter mili- tary service, he refused to take up arms against the United States in the war of 1812 and in conse- quence was cast into prison.

H. A. Hilborn, of this review, began his educa- tion in the district schools near his early home and later attended the Uxbridge high school. At the age of nineteen, in company with his father, he re- moved to a farm in Fenelon township, Ontario county, where they engaged in farming and lumber. ing, the son acting as sawyer for his father for two years, at the end of which time he returned to Ux- bridge. Later he went to Scott township, where he made his home on a farm for nine years. Tiring of

H. A. HILBORN AND WIFE.

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that country and wishing to benefit his financial con- dition, he came to North Dakota in 1883, and filed a claim on the southwest quarter of section 18, Edna township, Barnes county, where he now resides. He has extended the boundaries of his farm from time to time until he now has a section and a half of very productive and valuable land. It is one of the model farms of the county, being supplied with all modern conveniences and accessories.

At Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Mr. Hilborn was mar- ried, in 1875, the lady of his choice being Miss Eliz- abeth Marsh, who was born in Lincolnshire, Eng- land, March 4. 1855, and when very small came to the new world with her parents, William and Mary Marsh. Her parents are farming people, and now reside in Fenelon township, Victoria county, On- tario, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Hilborn have a family of four children: Mary E., John W. C., Fred R. and Gertrude A., all born in Canada with the excep- tion of Gertrude A., who is a native of Barnes county, North Dakota.

For a number of years Mr. Hilborn has held the office of township clerk, and has also filled other lo- cal offices of honor and trust. He and his family occupy a position of prominence in the best social circles of their community, and they worship at the Methodist Episcopal church of Leal. That town was not in existence when he came to the state, and in fact the northern part of the county was a vast unbroken prairie, but it is now covered with fine. well-cultivated farms and dotted with modern dwell- ings, which show the thrift and enterprise of the in- habitants. While there are many very substantial and commodious homes in Edna township, none can compare with that of Mr. Hilborn, which is a model of convenience and comfort, and is justly appre- ciated by the family who manifest a commendable pride in it. Here on the first of March, 1899, Mr. and Mrs. Hilborn entertained over one hundred guests, the occasion being the golden wedding of his parents, who now reside at Wimbledon, in the northwest corner of the county. There were present at this gathering fory-one out of forty-four of their descendants, a remarkably large percentage consid- ering that the event transpired in a practically new country over one thousand four hundred miles from their old home in Canada. Of the descendants pres- ent our subject was the oldest, and Roy Wilson, a grandson by the second daughter, the youngest. This happy occasion will long be remembered by all who were so fortunate as to be present, and was an event of historical value from the fact that it was the first golden wedding celebrated in Barnes county. A portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Hilborn ap- pears on another page.

CHARLES GUNKEL. The young men who went to North Dakota possessed of untiring perse- verance and energetic character have done much to further the agricultural interests of that great state. One of the carefully cultivated tracts of Webster

township, Cass county, has been transformed into its present condition by the subject of this review. Mr. Gunkel is now proprietor of a farm covering three sections of land, and has been prosperous as a farmer and gained an enviable reputation as an old settler of active public spirit and honest principles.

Our subject was born near Leipsic, Prussia, Germany, February 26, 1855. His parents, Charles H. and Theresa (Duthie) Gunkel, were natives of Prussia, and his father was a shoemaker by trade, and followed the same in his native land until 1869. when he removed to the United States with his family and settled in Racine county, Wisconsin, and there followed his trade, and also operated a small farm. He remained there until 1879, when he went to Cass county, North Dakota, and entered a home- stead claim in section 24. in Arthur township, which he at once began to improve. He resided on the farm many years, and died May 14, 1885, aged sixty- five years. The mother died in 1895. Two sons and one daughter, all of whom are now living in North Dakota, were born to this worthy couple.

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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 112

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