Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 142

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 142

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

RICHARD FORREST. As an all around prominent man and pioneer settler of Turtle River township, there is no one of its citizens who more justly deserves special mention than the subject of this review. Mr. Forrest has labored for the inter- ests of his community as well as his personal in- terests and has been rewarded by witnessing a most remarkable growth in the region in which he has spent so many years, as well as accumulating a good property and gaining a favorable name.

Our subject is a native of Jefferson county, New York, and was born February 22, 1838. His parents, James and Bridget (Kennedy ) Forrest, were natives of Ireland and emigrated to Canada, the father in 1820 and the mother in 1823. They reared thirteen children, of whom five sons and two daughters are now living and all are residents of the United States, with the exception of one daugh- ter. The parents and our subject went to North Dakota in 1877 and the parents died there. The father entered land in Turtle River township, Grand Forks county, and engaged in farming there until his death.

Mr. Forrest was reared in Canada and received his education there, and after completing the same worked in the lumber woods. He went to Califor- nia in 1857 and spent three years and in 1877 went to Grand Forks, North Dakota. He at once entered claim to land as a pre-emption in Turtle River township, and has held continuous residence thereon. He now owns and operates three hundred and sixty acres of choice land, all of which is well cultivated and is improved to furnish a comfortable home, and care- fully garnered to dispose of the crops.

Our subject was married, April 5, 1866, to Me- lissa Brown, a native of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Forrest are the parents of five children, who are named as follows: John, James, Mary A., Emaline and Michael F. The family are members of the Catholic church and are highly esteemed by all in their community. Mr. Forrest has served in all the township offices and is the present chairman of the township board. He served on the school board fourteen years and is active in educational matters. He enjoys well-merited success as a result of his labors in North Dakota.

JOHN STOESER. Many sons of the German empire have been called to America by the stories of the wonderful resources of the New World and the opportunities afforded honest industry to gain a standing in business and society and many are devoted to agricultural pursuits, opening up un- settled regions and bringing the farm lands into a high state of cultivation. Ramsey county is not without her share of these men, to one of whom this review is devoted. Mr. Stoeser has a pleasant and remunerative tract in Grand Harbor township and resides in a comfortable home in section 16.

Our subject was born in Baden, Germany, No- vember 22, 1821. He went to Canada in 1831 and resided there until the spring of 1883, when he re- moved to North Dakota. He at once settled on the farmi on which he now resides and has held continu- ous residence thereon. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land and has met with un- bounded success in his farming operations and is now one of the substantial men of his township.

Mr. Stoeser was married in Canada, to Cather- ine Wagner, a native of Prussia. Mr. and Mrs. Stoeser are the parents of twelve living children, named in order of birth as follows: William, Louis, Clara, Joseph, John, Peter, Charles, Barbara, Eu- gene, Agnes, Pius and Anna. One son died when thirteen years of age and two sons died in infancy. Mr. Stoeser has become well known in his cof- munity and enjoys the respect and highest esteem of all.

JOSIAH HOLLIS GALE, banker and general business man, is an enterprising citizen of Hunter, Cass county, North Dakota, and for more than twenty years has done much to assist in the up- building of the commercial, financial and agricul- tural interests of the county. He is well to do, and deserving of great credit for what he has ac- complished since becoming a resident of the Red river valley. His portrait is published elsewhere.

Mr. Gale was born in Clinton county, New York, July 20, 1849, the son of Ebenezer R. and Charlotte (Flint ) Gale, natives of New Hampshire and Vermont respectively. The family came to the United States from England at an early date and settled in the New England states. The father, Ebenezer R. Gale, was raised on a farm and made that business his life-long occupation. He and his wife still reside in Essex county, New York. Our subject has one sister, now the wife of Charles Merrifield, living near her parents in the state of New York.

Our subject was reared on the farm and at- tended the public schools of his native state, and at the age of eighteen years left home and was em- ployed as a clerk in a general store at Plattsburg, New York. He remained there a year and a half, and then went to Ausable Forks, and spent eight years there, clerking in a wholesale and retail store.

In 1880 Mr. Gale went- to Minnesota, but re-

JOSIAH HOLLIS GALE.

945

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

mained there only a few weeks, when he came to Cass county, North Dakota, and having brought horses with him, he began breaking land for others. The following year ( 1882), in partnership with Mr. Peter Duffany, he opened a general store and lumber yard in Hunter, Cass county. He soon after secured the appointment of postmaster at that place, being appointed by President Arthur. This office he held continuously for six years. He then re- signed that he might give more attention to his increasing business interests. He is now largely interested in stores and lumber yards at Hunter, Arthur, Amenia and Addison in Cass county, and at Blanchard, in Traill county, North Dakota. He is president of the Hunter State Bank at Hunter, and vice-president of the Kindred State Bank of Kindred, and a director of both institutions. He also has large farming interests, and in partnership with Mr. Duffany, owns eight hundred acres of well cultivated land near Hunter. Most of his business interests are conducted under partnership firm of Gale & Duffany.

Mr. Gale was married July 14, 1885, to Jennie P. Simmons, of Woodstock, Vermont. Mrs. Gale's father was Captain Nathan Simmons, and her mother's maiden name was Julia Foster. Her father was captain of a whaling vessel and sailed from the New England coast, but later in life went' to California, in 1849, and remained there in busi- ness until his death.

Mr. and Mrs. Gale are the parents of three children, named as follows, all of whom are living: Harry F., Ruth C. and Jennie P. Mr. Gale is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Mystic Shrine. Also a member of the Foresters, and be- longs to the Presbyterian church. In political views he is a Republican.

ALVARADO A. HALL has been identified with the history of Benson county from its earliest set- tlement and has lent a liberal hand in developing its resources. His home is on section 9, Minnewaukon township.

Mr. Hall was born in East Douglass, Massa- chusetts, April 9, 1849, the youngest of twelve chil- dren born to the union of Isaac and Polly (Abbott) Hall. When he was about seven years old the family moved to Fillmore county, Minnesota, and located on a farm. Mr. Hall as a boy was reared to farm work and received such education as the common schools afforded.

In 1864, though still a boy, he enlisted in Jan- uary in Company C, First Minnesota Infantry, to help fill out that regiment after its terrible experi- ence at the battle of Gettysburg. He served with his regiment through the battles of the Wilderness. at Deepbottom, Hatcher's Run and Petersburg, and went through the heat of that great and trying cam- paign uninjured. At the close of the war he re- ceived his honorable discharge and returned to Minnesota.

In 1881 Mr. Hall came to Dakota and settled in Grand Forks county, where he took up government land and farmed in the Forest river country. How- ever, in 1883 he sold out in Grand Forks county and came to Ransom county at the time of the great boom in the region of Devils Lake. He took up 1arm land near the west end of the lake and settled down to farming and stock raising. He has made a suc- cess of this line of business and is now the owner of a fine farm, well improved and stocked.

Mr. Hall married, in 1870, Miss Octavia Crowell becoming his wife. To this union the following children have been born: Frederick, Elmer, Belle, Benjamin F., Lewis D., Polly V. and Elvarado Roscoe, Polly V. being the first white child born in Benson county. Mr. Hall is a Republican in political active in the public affairs of the county. He as- sisted in conducting the campaign for his party in 1888 and. 1892, being chairman of the county central committee. He has been repeatedly chosen as dele- gate to state and county conventions. He is a men- ber of the Masonic fraternity, being past master of Evergreen Lodge, No. 46. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the I. O. O. F. and is past commander of J. J. Crittenden Post, No. 36, G. A. R. He is also president of the Red Cross Society.

HORACE BOURASSA, one of the leading business men of St. John's, Rolette county, is a ?io- neer of that region and can recount with unerring accuracy many experiences of pioneer life and the history of the development of that locality. He follows blacksmithing, and also conducts a lumber yard and farming machinery business in St. John's and has accumulated his possessions by his own ef- forts.

Our subject was born near Montreal, Canada, December 2, 1863. He was the fifth in a family of eight children born to Francis X. A. and Mary ( Le Velale) Bourassa, both of whom were of French descent, although the family has been in Canada for many generations. The grandfather of our subject was a member of the house of commons from the county of St. John's, Quebec, forty-four years.

Mr. Bourassa was reared to farm work in Can- ada, and in 1881 went to Rhode Island with his par- ents and there followed farming, and in the spring of 1883, through the influence of Father Nalo, came to Dakota, his father having looked over the coun- try in 1882. Our subject and his father settled on land two miles east of St. John's and during the winter of 1883-1884 our subject freighted between Devils Lake and St. John's and had many experi- ences with Dakota weather, the most severe storm of the locality occurring February 18, 1884. In 1887 he began farming for himself and was thus employed tmtil 1896 with good success. In the fall of 1896 he erected a blacksmith shop and followed that trade, which he learned at odd times. He also sold lumber for other firms and later bought a stock

946

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

of lumber and in 1899 added machinery to his stock and has met with success in St. John's.

Our subject was married, in October, 1887, to Delia LeMIeux. Seven children have been born to this union, who are named as follows: Pamelia, Joseph, Regina, John B., Mary, Anna and Horace. About two months after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bourassa, while they were on their way to the mother of Mrs. Bourassa, and about three miles from their destination, a storm came upon them as night approached and they finally lost the trail and after some hours decided they were hopelessly lost. Our subject was equal to the occasion, however, as he was versed on prairie storms and he stopped his team and dug a hole in a snowbank, turned the sleigh on the side at the edge of the excavation and lining first with hay and then with robes and blankets, the wife entered the newly constructed cave and our subject then covered the same with snow. He then crawled into the place of shelter and they remained there from five o'clock in the evening until two in the morning, when the storm cleared and they resumed their ourney, trusting to the horse for guidance and arrived safely at their destination, which proved to be but a mile and a half distant. Mr. Bourassa is a gentleman of ster- ling character, enterprising and industrious and is widely known and highly respected. He is a mem- ber of the Catholic church.

JOHN MCKINNON, a resident of Omemee, Bottineau county, was born on a farm in Scotland, in 1867, and preserves the best traditions of his race. His father, Isaac Mckinnon, was a farmer, and brought his family to America in 1875. He settled in Ontario, and the subject of this article grew to manhood. His parents, true to Scottish notions that nothing was too good for their children, did what they could for the children that had come to them. John was the second in a family of seven children that attained their majority and in so large a family parental opportunities were limited. But John was sent to the public school, and afterward to the Globe Business College at St. Paul, from which he was graduated in the business course. He came to North Dakota in 1883 and settled in Grand Forks county. There he spent three years engaged in farming wherever he could find employment. He became familiar with the country and in 1886 located in Bottineau county, not far from Omemee. He was encouraged to persuade his parents and all the family to come out and take their chances. They did so and have never lived to regret the change. He took government land, "bached" it, and in 1887 harvested his first wheat crop. The yield was twenty-five bushels to the acre. The next year his crops were an entire failure owing to late cold spells. In 1895 he found his star year, harvesting thirty-four bushels to the acre.

From 1889 to 1891 Mr. Mckinnon spent much of his time engaged in railroading in Montana.

There were exceptional opportunities for work at that time and he was not willing to let them go by. In the fall Mr. Mckinnon, in company with his brother, Donald, F. W. Cathro and W. M. Mc- Intosh, started the Omemee State Bank. It was opened for business October 2, 1899, with F. W. Cathro, president, and Donald McKinnon, vice-presi- dent. John McKinnon is now the proprietor of a farm of three hundred and forty acres, with two hundred acres under cultivation. He is a Republi- can and belongs to the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

DR. THOR O. E. MOELLER, physician and surgeon, of Hillsboro, Traill county, is rapidly gain- ing prominence as a citizen and professional man. He has resided in Hillsboro but a short time com- paratively, but his ability has received recognition and he enjoys a lucrative practice.

Our subject was born in Christiania, Norway, June 20, 1863, and was the third in a family of five children, four sons and one daughter. Three of the sons have taken up the medical profession, and one is a practicing dentist, and all reside in Dakota.

After completing a high-school education our subject began working as a clerk in a mercantile es- tablishment, and when nineteen years of age he be- came a member of a dry goods firm. This was but fairly established about 1875, when the financial crisis of Norway ruined the business, and with but a few dollars he turned toward the new world in quest of a fortune. Packing a working suit, he set sail for America and arrived almost penniless, but soon secured a good paying position in a planing mill connected with the car shops. In some unac- countable manner he became identified with strikers and was discharged. Work was scarce and he walked the streets of the city of New York in quest of work, and for a time held a position as night clerk in a hotel, and afterward spent many days living from hand to mouth and no work to do. He then conceived the very original idea of printing a small sign which he placed on his hat, reading: "Situation wanted." He then strolled the streets, and was re- warded for his originality by gaining attention to his advertisement thus placed before the public, and free advertising was given him in the papers, and after a time he secured work in a buggy factory. He had kept his location and hardships from his relatives, but was found by chance by his brother, and through his influence secured a position in a dry goods store in Chicago, and later went with him to Manistee, Michigan, where his brother estab- lished in the medical profession, and our subject be- gan reading medicine in his brother's office. He

planned to go to Christiania and enter college, but had gone as far as Chicago when he secured a po- sition as custodian of the instrument room in the county hospital, and he also began study at Rush Medical College, and graduated with the class of 1892. He first located in the suburbs of Chicago,

THOR O. E. MOELLER, M. D.

949

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

and in 1894 started with his wife to visit his brother in Hillsboro, North Dakota. He had reached Fargo when the trains were blocked by the general railroad strike in 1894, and this strike again decided his fu- ture course. He ran short of funds while waiting to continue his journey, and began the practice of his profession there, and afterward followed his practice in Fertile, Minnesota, where he practiced until 1898. He succeeded to his brother's prac- tice in Hillsboro in 1898, and enjoys a liberal pat- ronage.

Our subject was married in 1893 to Miss Petra Abrahamson. Mrs. Moeller is a lady of rare abil- ity and attainments, and is a nurse by profession. Mr. Moeller is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Brotherhood of American Yeomen, the Knights of Malta, the Chicago Medical Society, American Medical Association, North Dakota Med- ical Society, and is a registered pharmacist. He is also a thirty-second-degree Mason, and is a gentleman of excellent character, and enjoys the confidence of those among whom he labors and makes his home. A portrait of Dr. Moeller is pre- sented on another page.

KRIST J. OVIND, a well-known agri- culturist of Pleasant View township, has many friends in the southwestern part of Grand Forks county, and has won his present very comfortable position by mingled thrift and industry. Around him are many prosperous and well-kept farms, and success is seen on every hand. The trans- formation of the wild prairies into happy homes and scenes of domestic bliss has not been effected without much privation, hard labor and genuine courage. And in all this our subject has borne his full share.

Mr. Ovind was born March 24, 1853, and was the fourth of nine children born in the family of John and Mary Ovind. The first twenty years of his life were spent in Norway, and it was only after much deliberation and profound thought that he determined to seek a home in the New World. Taking passage for this country in 1873, he landed on the American shore in due time and settled in Lee county, Illinois. He remained in Illinois until 1882, when he came to Dakota and took up the land that now constitutes the home of the family. He put up a shanty 13x16 feet and occupied it for several years, preferring to endure its discomforts for a time rather than incur an expense his circumstances did not warrant. Oc- tober 29, 1891, he occupied his present comforta- ble and commodious home in Pleasant View town- ship, and is as nicely housed as almost any farmer in the county. Here he conducts a farmi that con- sists of a section of land, and which has yielded large returns for his careful and intelligent labor. With the exception of one year, when destructive hail storms prevailed, he has never had a wheat yield of less than fifteen bushels to the acre. On

his farm he has twenty acres of trees, and the timber is growing finely. He has a good farm, and it is making money for him.

Mr. Ovind and Miss Bertha Hallagan were married in 1882, and results of their union are mine children : Herman, Alfred, Louis, Ida, Anna, Mabel, Walter, Clarence and Clara. They con- stitute a very interesting family, and are bright- eyed and intelligent young American. Mr. Ovind is associated with the Prohibition party and is a member of the Lutheran church. In 1898 he was elected a representative to the general assemby, where he did considerable work for his principles and showed himself a man of affairs.

HON. ALEXANDER DUNCAN, one of the well-known farmers of St. Joseph township, Pem- bina county, North Dakota, is a man of strict in- tegrity and has proven himself worthy of the con- fidence of his fellow men. He has a fine farm and enjoys a comfortable and happy home.

Our subject was born in Aberdeenshire, Scot- land, October II, 1857, and was the oldest of four children. His father's name was William Dun- can. His mother's was Jennie Little. His father died when he was nine years of age. From his thirteenth year until his twenty-first he worked and helped to support his mother and younger members of the family. He came to the United States in the spring of 1880 and homesteaded his present home and spent two summers and three winters working out on the Canadian Pacific Rail- road in summer and in the woods in the winter. In 1883 he setted down for good, with the regula- tion sod shanty and a yoke of oxen and implements needful to commence farming. He had the usual ups and downs of a new settler, but with persistent efforts succeeded in making a comfortable home. He was married, in 1886, to Miss Mary Syming- ton. Three children have been born to bless their home, named Jennie, William and Margaret.

Mr. Duncan was a strong Farmer's Alliance man and assisted in the organization of the Inde- pendent party in Pembina county and was elected by his party to the state legislature in 1896 and made a good record as a man who was trying to help to make good laws. He would be known as a statesman, not a politician. He is a man of en- lightened views and well merits his honor and success.

PHIL H. SHORTT, editor and publisher of the "Devils Lake News," is a young man of marked ability and energetic character. He has been a resident of Devils Lake comparatively few years, but has gained a high station as a business man and citizen, and his public spirit and loyalty to the country commend him to the esteem of all who know him.

950

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

Our subject was born in Mower county, Min- nesota, July 23, 1869. He was reared in huis native county and received a good education and remained at home until about seventeen years of age. He learned the printer's trade at Austin, Minnesota, and has followed that business continuously since that time. He came to Devils Lake and pur- chased the "News" in January, 1895, and has since conducted the paper with the exception of about one year, when he was in the United States serv- ice. He has met with unbounded success in his newspaper work and the circulation of the same steadily increases and the paper is fast taking a place among the metropolitan papers of the coun- try. The "Devils Lake News" was established in Mav. 1883, under the name of the "Pioneer Press," and the name was soon afterward changed to the "Devils Lake News," and it has been under the present management since 1895, with the ex- ception of about one year. The paper was leased in the absence of Mr. Shortt.

Mr. Shortt enlisted in Company D, First North Dakota Regiment, April 26, 1898, as a private, and was appointed first sergeant of his company May 1, 1898. He served in the Philippines and participated in all the engagements of his company. He was discharged from the service at Manila, July 30, 1899, and returned to Devils Lake, North Dakota, and resumed charge of his paper in Sep- tember of that year.

Mr. Shortt is intelligent and progressive, and at the request of Colonel Treumann and other officers of the First North Dakota Regiment he wrote a history of the regiment, which is prized by the members and friends of the regiment.

GEORGE H. SWAN, one of the energetic and wide-awake citizens of Hugh township, Nel- son county, has a fine farm in section 20 and is well known in that locality as a prosperous agricultur- ist. He owns three hundred and twenty acres of land at the present time and has dealt largely in real estate as a speculation, but now confines him- self to one half-section.

Our subject was born in Buffalo, New York, October 23, 1854, and was the eldest of four chil- dren born to George W. and Selina ( Parks) Swan, both of whom are deceased. His parents were of American birth, and his father was of English and his mother of Irish parentage. Soon after the birth of our subject they settled on a farm in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and our subject lived in Crawford and Erie counties until twenty- six years of age, devoting himself to farm work. He went to Helena, Montana, in 1881, and worked there at farming and in a flour-mill until the spring of 1883, when he heard of the prospects of Da- kota and in June of that year arrived at Grand Forks, and at once located on the land on which he now resides. He erected a shanty 7x9 feet and lived alone two years, and the first season broke

ten acres of land, and in 1884 rented land and cropped thirty acres. He increased his acreage from time to time until 1891, since which time he has cultivated and improved a half-section of land. He now has a farm of good improvements, includ- ing wind-mill with feed attachment and a fine stone meat house arched with native boulders, and has built substantial and commodious buildings and provided every comfort of modern farm life.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 142

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