Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 136

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

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is industry and with this he has ever coupled honesty and integrity of word and deed, and he is now pro- prietor of one of the fine farms of Kidder county, North Dakota, his home being located in township 140, range 70.

Our su-ject was born on a farm in Indiana in 1858. His father, Jabiz Mahin, was born in Ohio and was of Scotch descent, and was a soldier of the Civil war and participated in Morgan's raid. He was a farmer by occupation. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Abagail Augusta Knowlton, was a native of Maine. The parents of our subject were married in Indiana and reared a family of eight children, of whom our sub- ject was the fourth in order of birth.

Mr. Mahin grew to manhood in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, near the battlefield of Tippecanoe, and attended the country schools. At the age of twenty-one he lett home and worked at farm labor three years and iu 1882 went to North Dakota and settled in Kidder county, where he entered claim to land and began farming. He built a claim shanty and had a team and plow and lived alone on his farm seven years and his first crop was forty-five acres of wheat and ten acres of oats, which was a good yield, but was followed by a poor yield the next season. He worked for others the first two years in North Dakota and thus provided means with which to make his start at farming his own land. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, of which two hundred acres are under cultivation, and he has a complete set of substantial and commodious buildings and all equipments for operating a model farm, and has engaged in grain raising principally.

Our subject was married, in 1889, to Miss Susan Gutcher. Mrs. Mahin was born in Ohio in 1857 and was a daughter of Andrew Gutcher, a native of Germany. She was raised in Louisville, Ohio. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mahin, Robert N., who was born in Kidder county, North Dakota, December 25. 1895. Mr. Mahin is a Republican politically, and is a man of firm convictions and takes an active part in local affairs of importance.

GEORGE R. COOK, one of the most promi- nent men of Gardner, Cass county, is closely identi- fied with the financial interests of that locality, and has won an honorable name as a citizen and able business man. He is one of the directors of the Gardner Farmers' Elevator Company and is also en- gaged in the drug business and meat business in that thriving city, and is the owner of an extensive tract of land in Gardner and Wiser townships.

Our subject was born in Columbia county, Wis- consin, December 18, 1855, and was the fourth in a family of eight children, five sons and three daugh- ters born to Samuel and Mary ( Williams) Cook, both natives of Radnershire, England. His par- ents now reside in Wabasha county. Minnesota. Our subject removed to Racine county, Wisconsin,

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

with his parents when he was two years of age and atter five years removed to Wabasha county, Minne- sota, where he grew to manhood and received a common-school education. He remained there till the spring of 1880, when he went to Cass county, North Dakota, and settled in Wiser township, where he took land as a homestead in section 8. He re- mained there fourteen years and then purchased the town site of Gardner and removed there, where lie has since been a resident. He owns seven hun- dred and twenty acres of land and is one of the substantial men of his community. He has erected a fine residence in Gardner and is recognized as one of the leading citizens of Cass county.

Our subject was married, in St. Paul, Minnesota, December 3, 1879, to Miss Evelyn C. Mitchell, a na- tive of Maine, who was reared in Wabasha county, Minnesota. Mrs. Cook was born August 14, 1860, and was the youngest in a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters, born to Joseph and Lovina (Hazeltine) Mitchell. Her parents were born in Maine and died in Wabasha county, Min- nesota. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cook, named as follows: John Claude, Iva Mande, Erma Ann, Roy Gould, Maidie Blanche and Glen Mitchell. Iva M. died in Gardner, North Da- kota, aged thirteen years. Mr. Cook is interested in a large degree in the improvement and development of the community in which he resides and he has been a potent factor in the financial and social wel- fare of that part of the county. He has held nu- merous local offices and is always found on the side of right and justice. He is identified with the Republican party, being postmaster at the present time, and has been a member of the Cass county Republican central committee. He holds member- ship in the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

RICHARD SYKES, residing in Sykeston, Wells county, occupies a prominent position as a · promoter of agricultural and town interests throughout several counties of North Dakota. He is a man of enterprising character ; he has aided in developing many of the important enterprises of North Dakota and his active public spirit is rec- ognized throughout the state. He was the founder of Sykeston, Wells county, and of Bowdon, in the same county, also of Edgeley, in La Moure coun- ty, and is largely interested in lands in and adjoin- ing these thriving villages.

Mr. Sykes was born at Edgeley, in Cheshire, England, in 1839. His father, Richard Sykes, was a native of England, being a prominent citizen of that village. Mr. Sykes was educated at Rugby school and at the University of Heidelberg. After having been engaged in business in England he visited America in 1881 and the following year made land investments in Iowa and in Wells, Foster and La Moure counties in North Dakota. In 1883 he established the town of Sykeston, erecting a store building and large elevator, which still stands there.

Similarly in 1886 he established the town of Edge- ley in La Moure county and in 1899 the town of Bowdon, where the 4th of July was celebrated when there were but two uncompleted buildings in the town. Mr. Sykes retains large land interests in Foster, Wells, Stutsman and La Moure counties, and has smaller holdings in Barnes and McLean counties. He has done much toward the settlement of these counties and has much land still to sell at three to ten dollars per acre. Mr. Sykes has made, at a cost of four thousand dollars, a beautiful lake within the town site of Sykeston, which is named Hiawatha Lake, and is eighteen feet deep in places and two miles long and about a fourth of a mile wide. The lake will be stocked with fish and boats will be supplied and the place become a summer re- sort. Mr. Sykes encourages sports of various kinds and is one of the leading golf players of North Dakota. In Edgeley is an artesian well, which supplies water for domestic use and fire protection and gas tor illuminating purposes. This water has superior medicinal properties.

Mr. Sykes' first large purchase of land was made ir 1880 and consisted of a tract of two thousand acres in Lyon county, Iowa, which he beautified by planting and maintaining at considerable cost groves of trees and willow hedges. Mr. Sykes still retains an interest in the village of Larchwood, which stands in the center of this lovely Lyon county tract. He has donated a park to the village, also sites for public schools, three churches, play ground for the children and baseball ground. At Sykeston he has donated thirty acres for a park, which lies in the center of the village and is divided by Lake Hiawatha.

LEWIS J. MOORE, an honored veteran of the Civil war and a prominent citizen of Centre town- ship, Richland county, residing on section 9, arrived here in time to assist in the early development and upbuilding of the community. He has been one of the most interested witnesses of its progress and ad- vancement, and no unimportant factor in bringing it to its present position. As a man of influence, public spirit and liberal, this brief record of his life will be of interest to all who have been in any way identified with the development of the state.

Mr. Moore was born in Alexandria, Jefferson county, New York, September 2, 1837, and is a son of William A. and Sophia ( Rockwood) Moore, both natives of Vermont. The mother died in Jef- ferson county, New York, at about the age of thirty years, but the father survived her many years, dying in Ionia county, Michigan, at the ripe old age of seventy-six. In their family were four children, namely : James O., Lewis J., Harmon W. and Alonzo W. The two last named died in the service of their country during the Civil war.

Our subject spent his boyhood in his native coun- ty, being about fifteen years of age when he removed with the family to Ionia county, Michigan, where

LEWIS J. MOORE AND WIFE.

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

the following three years were passed upon the home farm. He then went to the eastern part of Michi- gan, where he was employed chiefly in farming for about four years, and later he was for the same length of time engaged in agricultural pursuits in Kent county, that state. At the end of that time he purchased a farm in Ionia county, where he followed his chosen calling for two years, and in 1862 took up a homestead in Montcalm, Michigan, where he continued to reside until coming to North Dakota in April, 1872. In the meantime he had entered the service of his country, enlisting in the fall of 1864 in Company F, Fourteenth Michigan Volunteer In- fantry. When the war ended and his services were no longer needed, he was honorably discharged and resumed the more quiet pursuits of farm life. In April, 1872, he came to Richland county, North Da- kota, and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Centre township, where he now resides, though he has extended the boundaries of his farm until he has two hundred acres under a high state of cultivation and improved with good buildings.

In Kent county, Michigan, September 2, 1860, Mr. Moore married Miss Julia Sanders, who was born in Livingston county, Michigan, December 23, 1840, and was reared in that state. Her parents, Joel and Sally (Little) Sanders, who were also na- tives of Vermont and died in Kent county, Michi- gan, the former at the age of seventy-six years, the latter at the age of fifty. They had seven children, namely: William, Caroline, Nathaniel, Philirous, Jane, Julia and Sarah. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Moore are as follows: William E., who died in Sargent county, North Dakota, June 7, 1896; Eugene, who is represented on another page of this volume; Everetta, wife of Joseph Barnstable; and Evaline, wife of George L. Taylor. Socially, Mr. Moore is an honored member of Sumner Post, No. 7, G. A. R., of Wahpeton, and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Re- bekahs. He is held in high regard by all who know him, and has been called upon to fill several local offices in Centre township. Mrs. Moore is a member of the Rebekahs and the Relief Corps. A portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Moore appears on another page.

ROBERT B. WARREN. The northwest has produced a race of agriculturists such as were un- known before the development of that wonderful agricultural region. The thrift and enterprise that characterize the people of North Dakota are found in no other part of the United States except in that favored region known as the great North west. Among those to whom a fair share of the credit for this condition of things in Walsh county is due is the gentleman whose name heads this brief biography. His home is on section 28, Forest River township, where he has resided continuously since the beginning of civilization in that locality.

Mr. Warren was born near Ottawa, Ontario, March 26, 1850. Until he was eighteen years of

age he remained at home and then went to Ottawa, where he worked in a sash factory, following this business for about nine years. In March, 1878, he came to Dakota and at once "squatted" upon the farm on which he now lives, in section 28, Forest River township. This he has made his home con- tinuously since and has followed agriculture with great success. He is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of valuable land, and this he has improved, erecting a substantial residence, barns and other outbuildings for the storing of his crops and the shelter of stock and machinery.

Mr. Warren was married, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Miss Eleanor F. Brennan, daughter of Henry Brennan, mention of whom will be found in this work. Mrs. Warren is a native of Ireland, but emi- grated to America in early girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Warren are the parents of six children, one of whom, Forest D., was the first white male child born on the Forest river. He joined Company C, First North Dakota Volunteers, and served in the Phil- ippines. He took part in thirty-tour engagements. The other children are Bruce G., Robert B., Jr., Nettie MI., Sadie A. and Roland A.

Mr. Warren was the first township clerk of Forest River township and the first school clerk of his district, which office he held many years and did much to shape the policy of the schools of his lo- cality in many important particulars. He is treas- urer of the Walsh County Farmers' Fire In- surance Company and served one term as coun- ty commissioner. He has always taken a com- mendable interest in public affairs, especially of a local character, and has always been greatly interested in the moral and educational develop- ment of his community and county. He has held the office of justice of the peace for two terms. He is an active church worker and a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, his initia- tion dating back to 1873.

DAVID M. YOUNG is one of the prominent business men of Youngstown, Morton county, and My conducts a creamery, general store and post- office in Garfield township. He was born on a farm in Richland county, Wisconsin, March 3, 1868.

The father of our subject, D. B. Young, was a farmer and for several years was general western agent for the McCormick Reaper & Mower Com- pany. He was an American by birth. Our sub- ject's mother bore the name of Henrietta Bennett prior to her marriage, and she was born in Dum- freeshire, Scotland, and came to America when she was a girl. Our subject was the second in a family of three children and was raised on a farm and at- tended the district school and one term at college, and at the age of twenty years began for himself and engaged in cheese and butter-making in Wis- consin, where he followed the business three years. He began railroad work on the Colorado division of

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

the Union Pacific Railroad in 1801 and worked in the shops at Golden, Colorado, and later was fire- man on the road. He followed railroad work four years and then again went to Wisconsin and fol- lowed the creamery business there one year. In January, 1896, he went to New Salem, North Da- kota, and assumed charge of a small creamery there and inside of twelve months had refurnished the place with new machinery and was handling eight- een thousand pounds of milk per day. He remained in charge three and a half years, during which time the business paid the owners well, and in the spring of 1899 he formed a stock company and built a creamery in Garfield township, seven miles north of New Salem. He is one of the principal stockholders and is secretary and manager, and after having run a little over two years has proven a success. He has enlarged the building and it is now double its original size and has a capacity of six thousand pounds of milk per hour. Butter from there brings top prices and is sold and shipped to distant parts of the west. The Youngstown postoffice was es- tablished at the location of the creamery and our subject is postmaster, and he also has a general store and carries a good stock.

Our subject was married, in 1891, to Miss Emma Maughan, who was born in Tennessee. Her father, Joseph Maughan, is foreman of a smelter at Golden, Colorado. Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of one child, who was born in March, 1893, and bears the name of Robert. Mr. Young is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Masonic fraternity. He takes an active part in social affairs of hus community and is pop- ular and well merits his success and high standing.

JOSEPH SHEARD, an ex-soldier and promi- nent early settler of Wells county, is now living in retirement on his fine estate in township 147, range 69. He successfully conducted farming in North Dakota for many years and has accumulated his pos- sessions single-handed and now enjoys the result of a well-spent career.

Our subject was born in Ontario, Canada, No- vember 12, 1640, and was a sen of Charles and Eliza (Thornton ) Sheard. His father was born in Eng- land and came to America in 1825 or 1826 and was a farmer by occupation. He died in Illinois, where the family moved in 1849. The mother of our sub- ject was born in England and came to America at the age of ten monthis.

Mr. Sheard was the second in a family of eight sons and was raised on the farm in Canada and Illinois and at the age of twenty-six years purchased a farm and conducted the same and also his father's place for some years. He enlisted in Company I, Thirty-eightn Wisconsin Infantry, in 1864, and was sent to join the Army of the Potomac and his first engagement was at Hatch's run. He was in the · campaign around Petersburg and Richmond, and during five months was under fire almost constant-

ly. He was discharged from the service in May, 1865, and was mustered out June 20, at Madison, Wisconsin. His brother was killed in action during the war. Mr. Sheard returned to the farm and continued there two years and in 1868 went to Mis- souri and engaged in farming in Lynn county, pur- chasing two hundred acres of land. He remained there fourteen years and engaged in stock raising and hogs and also grain. He had ten acres acres of timber and Yellow creek ran through the farm. He went to Grand Forks, Dakota, in 1882, with a car of mules and horses and sold them and traveled through the country during the summer, and in the spring of 1883 shipped his household goods, six mules, a cow and other personal effects to North Dakota and his family went to Jamestown, and our subject located in section 22, township 147, range 69, in Wells county. He built a claim shanty and a shed barn and lived in the shanty one summer and spent the winter of 1883-84 in Illinois, and in the spring enlarged the shanty and i'ved there another year. His first crop was in 1884 and was on forty acres. He now has a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, with four hundred acres under culti- vation, and has good buildings and machinery and three good wells, and has met with remarkable suc- cess in his calling and is one of the substantial men of his community. The land was unsurveyed when he settled there and his nearest neighbor was six miles.

Our subject was married, in October, 1866, to Miss Harriet Wilson. Mrs .. Sheard was born in Connecticut and was a daughter of S. W. Wilson, a farmer by occupation and a native of Connecti- cut. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sheard, as follows: Charlie W. and Mabel M., both of whom were born in Missouri. Mr. Sheard served as a delegate to the first two state conven- tions of North Dakota. He is a member of the G. A. R. Mrs. Sheard died in 1888 and Mr. Sheard has rented his farm and lives alone.

FRANK LYNCH, who is well known through- out Cass county as a business man of marked ability and integrity, is extensively engaged in the real estate and ,loan business and is also one of the pio- neer implement dealers of Casselton. He is a valued and respected citizen and a representative man of that region, and his labors since taking up his resi- dence in North Dakota have done much to further the advancement of the state and add to the wealth of Cass county more especially. He has various business interests and conducts each with pro- gressive ideas and forethought. In connection with this sketch is presented a portrait of Mr. Lynch.

Our subject was born in Coshocton, Coshocton county, Ohio, December 19, 1853, and was a son of James and Sarah ( Platt) Lynch. His father was a native of Ireland and the mother of New Jersey. The father came to America when a young man

FRANK LYNCH.

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

and passed his life in Ohio, Wisconsin and Min- nesota. He was a farmer by occupation and was a pioneer of the last named state, and died at Plainview, Minnesota.

Mr. Lynch was reared and educated in Wiscon- sin and Minnesota and received a common school education. He engaged in the farming implement business at Plainview, Minnesota, in 1878 and con- tinued there four years, and in January, 1882, went to Casselton, Cass county, North Dakota, and es- tablished in the same business, which he has con- ducted there since. He later added real estate and loans. He owns and operates extensive tracts of land in that vicinity, and platted the towns of Lynchburg and Chaffee, and in company with H. 1. Chaffee organized the Red River Valley and Western Railroad in 1893, and was president of the road. He held this position, and Mr. Chaffee acted as secretary, till the fall of that year when the railroad was sold to the Great Northern. Mr. Lynch was president of the American & Sharon Land Company, who were the owners of twenty- five thousand acres of land in Cass county, and acted in that capacity in the organization one year. He owned the Occidental hotel of Casselton for some time, and has built some of the best business blocks in the city. In 1897 he established a farming implement, and real estate and loan business in Fargo, which he still conducts.

Our subject was married in Plainview, Min- nesota, in 1879, to Miss Georgia Allen, a native of New Hampshire. Mr. Lynch is a man of broad mind and true to his convictions he has served twice as mayor of the city of Casselton. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and politi- cally is associated with the Republican party.

He has attended all state and county conventions of his party, and is prominent in public affairs.

MICHAEL FERRY, who enjoys the distinction of being one of the first settlers of Grand Forks county, can recount with unerring accuracy the his- tory of that region and the stories of pioneer hard- ships and experiences are interesting indeed to the present generation. He settled there when the elk and deer were to be found and in the early days he followed hunting and trapping for several months. He has witnessed the growth of that locality to a thriving agricultural district, and has aided materi- ally in this wonderful transformation. He now has a fine farm and resides in section 12 of Ferry town- ship, Grand Forks county.

Our subject was born in Ireland, in 1845, and was a son of Patrick and Mary (Lunney) Ferry, who were also natives of Ireland. The parents em- igrated to America the same year our subject was born, and passed the remainder of their lives there. Four sons and five daughters were born to them, eight of whom now reside in North Dakota. One daughter is deceased.

Mr. Ferry was raised in Canada and attended

school there, and after completing his education spent six years in the pineries of Canada. He went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania in 1865, and spent one winter near Oil City, and in 1866 went to Minnesota, where he was employed at farmi labor and later ran on the rafts of the river to St. Louis. He made his first trip to the head of the Red river in 1868, as a member of the engineering corps of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad as rodman, and spent some months in trapping and hunting. He killed a large elk within three miles of Grand Forks. He bought his supplies of the boats then plying on the Red river. He first settled or "squatted" on land in Turtle River township, but in 1874 settled on the land where he now resides, and became one of the first permanent settlers of that district. He has since followed farming exclusively and now has a half-section of land which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, and on which he has added val- uable improvements in the way of buildings.

Mr. Ferry lived for many years near the Sioux and Chippewa Indians, and knew many of the chiefs in these tribes. He assisted in the organization of Grand Forks county, and Ferry township, which is named in his honor. He is a member of the Catl :- olic church and the "Red River Valley Old Set- tlers' Association."

JACOB P. BIRDER, president of the Bank of Park River, is one of the best known and most widely respected citizens of Walsh county. His financial interests are of extensive nature and he is actively engaged in numerous of the most import- ant business enterprises of that locality. Thrifty, industrious and possessed of excellent business qualifications and broad ideas, he enjoys the con- fidence of those with whom he has to do and has a large circle of business and social friends. He las been a resident of Park River, Walsh county, since 1885 and engages in banking and real estate busi- ness.

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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 136

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