Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 161

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 161

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C. P. Peterson was born in Forsby, Sweden, July 27, 1859. He was one of a family of twelve children born to Medaljoren Peter Nelson and Jo- hana (Paulson ) Nelson. The above title was con- ferred upon the father for his long and diligent services in the paper mills. The subject of this article, when a boy of fourteen years, went to Denmark and worked in a brick yard four years, and when about nineteen years of age he returned to his native land and began the carpenter's trade. In the spring of 1882 about twenty of the young men of his neighborhood started for America and he became a member of the party. He came di- rectly to Fargo, North Dakota, and worked one year in the brick yard there and followed carpenter work in Traill and Cass counties, and located in Cum- mings, Traill county, in 1886. He went to Towner county in the fall of 1888 and filed claim to land there and then returned to Cummings, and the following spring went to his farm to reside. He found himself with about forty dollars and 110 teams or implements, and his start was necessarily slow ; but he worked at his trade whenever possible and finally managed to get the farm well started, and now has a comfortable home and a well im- proved estate in every particular.

Our subject was married, in 1888, to Miss Hadda Anderson, and spent the winter at Cando, North Dakota, and with his young wife went to the pioneer home in the spring of 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are the parents of six children, named as follows: Robert L., Clara N., Harry R., Ar- thur I., Alvin E. and Helen. Mr. Peterson was elected county commissioner in 1897. He is active in public affairs in his township and county, and politically is a Democrat. He has attended county and state conventions and is a member of the county central committee, and served two years on

the state central committee of his party. He holds membership in the Ancient Order of United Work- men, Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of America.

NELSON N. FULLER is a well-known grain buyer at Larimore, Grand Forks county, and is full of the true Dakota "hustle and go." He is in the service of the Minneapolis & Northern Elevator Company, and is counted among their best agents. He was born in Lake county, Ohio, January 26, 1836, and was the fifth child in a family of ten children resulting from the marriage of Major Jo- seph and Anna (Dodge) Fuller. Joseph Fuller, Sr., the father of Major Fuller, was a native of Vermont, and served in the Continental forces for seven years. Major Fuller received his title from his services in the Ohio militia.

Mr. Fuller was reared to farm work, and when he left home he still followed farming. He came west in 1861 and took up a farm in St. Croix coun- ty, Wisconsin, and, faithful to the traditions of his family, enlisted, August 18, 1862, in Company D, Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In 1863 he was attached to the relief expedition sent to the Indian frontier under General Sully, a very full account of which appears elsewhere in these pages, and had experience in fighting the red sav- ages. Most of the time until October, 1864, he was in camp at Forts Sully and Rice, in Dakota ter- ritory. At that time his regiment was ordered to join General Sherman in huis march. They con- structed flatboats and floated down the Missouri to Sioux City, lowa, making the trip there in about six weeks, and continued by river to St. Joseph, Missouri, then by rail to Nashville, Tennessee, returning at once with a train load of Confederate prisoners to Chicago. During the last eleven months of the war Mr. Fuller did provost duty at Louisville, Kentucky, and was mustered out Sep- tember 20, 1865.

Mr. Fuller returned at once to his Wisconsin farm, and in the succeeding years brought two hundred acres into cultivation. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Louisa E. Claggett, who has proved herself an efficient and helpful companion. They are the parents of four children: Alma, who is Mrs. George Wright, of Grand Forks ; W. Emmett, the assistant cashier of the Union National Bank at Grand Forks ; Anna M., a teacher in the primary schools; and Stephen Jay, now a student in the University of North Dakota.

It was in 1881 that the Red river fever took possession of our subject, coming on him both from correspondence and reading. Visiting the valley with a friend, he became so impressed with its possibilities that he took a homestead claim on what is now section 6, of the township of Arvilla. In the spring of 1882 he spent six months on his claim, living in a little shanty. In the fall of that year he bought grain for the Northwestern Ele-

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vator Company, handling some of the first grain ever hauled to the Larimore market. The next sun- mer his family joined him and life was normal once more. He continued, however, buying grain, and was in the employment of the same elevator com- pany eight years. He put up a pleasant and com- .modious residence in the city of Larimore, and has witnessed the growth of the town and the develop- ment of the country to its present pitch of pros- perity. In the fall of 1891 he attached himself to the Minneapolis & Northern Elevator Company. He has purchased eighteen crops, a record almost unequaled in the state. Recently he has disposed of his Wisconsin land and with the proceeds pur- chased a section of land in Elm Grove and Lari- more townships, a convincing evidence of his faith in the future of the valley. He is a Republican, holds to legal prohibition, and is an earnest and de- voted member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He takes an active interest in the Grand Army of the Republic and all its affairs, and is an honor- able and public-spirited citizen.

JULIUS PONTO, a wealthy and influential farmer of Eddy county, has acquired his fortune since taking up his residence in Dakota, and has gained many friends in that region by his honest industry and careful methods. He is the possessor of a fine farm of six hundred and forty acres, and his estate is valued at $13,000, while he has valuable horses and other stock on the farm, and modern and substantial buildings, and enjoys rural life.

Our subject was born in Prussia, Germany, July 7, 1855, and was a son of Godfrey and Louisa Ponto. His father was a farmer by occupation and came to America with the family in 1863, and settled near New London, Wisconsin, on a farm, and in 1882 became one of the early settlers of Dakota.

Our subject was the oldest in a family of ten children, and was raised on a farm and attended country school in Wisconsin. He remained at home almost continuously until 1882, when he went to North Dakota and settled in Eddy county. He took government land east of what is now the town of Sheyenne, and put up a sod shanty 8x10 feet, and had a dug-out for a barn, and lived alone on his land, and began farming with oxen which he used seven years. He removed to his present homestead in section 17, in township 150, range 66, in 1883. and built a dugout for a dwelling and constructed a barn of boards. He lost all of his hay, seventy- five tons, by prairie fire in 1882, and in 1896 his residence was destroyed by fire, and he has had numerous experiences fighting prairie fires. He has engaged in grain raising, and also raises a few cattle, and now has fourteen head of horses, eight head of cattle, and twenty-two hogs, and his machinery on the place is valued at $1.400. Ten acres of forest trees add to the value as well as the beauty of the place and his entire farm lends beauty to the country. Mr. Ponto was the third settler of

that part of Eddy county, and his nearest market was Jamestown, seventy miles distant, and he hauled all supplies and lumber from there, taking five days for the trip, at a cost of ten dollars.

Our subject was married, October 19, 1899, to Jane Abrahamson, who was born and raised in Michigan. Mrs. Ponto's father, George Sias, was a native of Pennsylvania, and her mother was of Norwegian birth, and her parents reside in Min- nesota. Mr. Ponto has shown an active public spirit since taking up his residence in North Da- kota, and is well and favorably known throughout Eddy county. He is a Democrat in political sen- timent, and is strong in his convictions.

WILLIAM M. SMYLIE, who enjoys the distinc- tion of being one of the first settlers of Gill town- ship, Cass county, has followed farming there since that early day and is the owner of a fine farm, from which he derives a comfortable income. He is well known throughout that locality as an old settler and .worthy citizen and his earnest labors for the advancement of his community have placed him in an enviable position in the minds of all. Mr. Smylie's portrait may be found in these pages.

Our subject is a native of Canada and was born near St. Thomas, June 25, 1836. His parents, James and Margaret ( McNalley ) Smylie, came from Ireland to Canada about 1830. His father was a farmer and passed his life in Canada, where the mother still lives. They were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters, and our sub- ject is the only one of the family in North Dakota.

Mr. Smylie was reared in Canada and followed the carpenter's trade and also farming and in 1878 went to Cass county, North Dakota, and located in section 34, in Gill township, where he has since been a resident.

Mr. Smylie was married in Canada, in 1865, to Miss Elizabeth McQuoid, a native of Canada. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Smylie, named as follows: Robert J., John G., Elizabeth E., Will- iam A., Susanna M., Walter T., Sarah E., Gertrude M. and Frank K., all of whom are living. Mrs. Smylie died in 1898. Our subject was postmaster of Gill postoffice for six years and was an efficient and popular man. He has filled many local offices and was the first chairman of the township board. In political sentiment he is a Republican. He has gained a thorough knowledge of his calling, which is an invaluable aid to others who are less experi- enced or less observing. and his life labors in North Dakota have been successful and he well merits his high standing.

FRED WIEGMANN. This gentleman is well known as a pioneer merchant of New Salem, and he has gained a fortune by good management and honest industry. He was born in Germany on a farm December 30, 1844. The father of our subject,

WILLIAM M. SMYLIE.

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

F. W. Wiegmann, was a stage-driver twenty-eight years for the German government and was pensioned for life by the king. Our subject was the second in a family of three children, and was raised on the farm and was eight years of age when his mother died and but twelve years of age when the father died, thus leaving him to care for himself. At the age of fourteen years he began to learn the cabinet- maker's trade and after four years completed the apprenticeship and then worked four years for his teacher and afterward spent one year traveling through Germany and plying his trade. He came to America in 1868 and from New York city went to Wellsville, New York, where he worked in a furniture factory a few months and then went to Chicago and followed his trade there fifteen years, the last five years of which time he was engaged in the business extensively for himself, manufactur- ing parlor furniture, rockers, etc. He went to North Dakota with a colony of Germans in 1883 and settled at New Salem, and although he endured many hardships of pioneer life, regained his health and then disposed of the interests in Chicago and moved his family to New Salem in May, 1883. He built a shanty and established the first store in the town and entered claim to land as a tree claim and after expending about two thousand dollars on the same sold the farm and devoted himself to mer- cantile pursuits. He now has a brick store with basement and double front, and has five warehouses, and carries an extensive stock in general merchan- dise. He also engages in the grain business and has a warehouse and also conducts stock raising. He is interested in three creameries and has made a success of each of his business ventures.

Our subject was married, in 1870, in Chicago, Illinois, to Miss Minnie Wesohe, a native of Ger- many, who came to America in 1869. Eight chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wiegmann, three of whom are living: Charlie, Freddy and Min- nie. Mr. Wiegmann is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is active in public affairs and has held numerous local offices of trust.

HON. HORACE F. ARNOLD is the owner and manager of the well known farm that bears his name, one and a half miles west of Larimore, Grand Forks county, and is one of the most widely known business men of North Dakota. He owns two thousand two hundred acres of fertile land, and tills it with all modern methods and appliances.

Mr. Arnold was born in Danielsonville, Con- necticut, June 19, 1857, and belongs to an old colonial family, whose roots runs back to Wales. Thomas Arnold, who left that county in 1635, was the ances- tor of our subject. He settled in Rhode Island. The Arnolds were Quakers up to the Revolutionary war, during which Captain Nathan Arnold com- manded a company in the American army, and from whom Horace F. is descended four generations. 47

Our subject is the oldest child and the only son in a family of three children born to Ellery and Adaline A. (Steere) Arnold, both residents of Larimore at the present time. He has a daughter, Lucile A. He was well educated and for a time was a student in Caledonia Academy and the State University. His health failed so that an active and out-door life scemed essential. He sought it in the Red river valley, and came to Wahpeton in the spring of 1879. From there he journeyed to Valley City, and the following spring took up land in section 10, of what is now Larimore township, Grand Forks county. He entered enthusiastically into his work, living in a little shanty, and devoting himself for the next ten years to the work of im- proving what had become a fine farm. In 1890 he purchased the "Larimore Pioneer," and at once assumed editorial charge. The same year he was elected state senator. He has been repeatedly re- elected, and holds that important position at the present time. He has served on the educational committee, and his best work has been along that line. The State University owes much to his efforts. He introduced and secured the passage of an act, senate bill No. 30, making a fixed annual appropria- ion for its maintenance, which has placed it on a firm foundation. He secured the passage of the present laws relating to high schools, which gives the state a system of schools graduated from the first year up to completion of the work of the University. In 1894 Mr. Arnold was elected presi- dent of the Devils Lake Chautauqua, which at that time had every appearance of being a failure. Under the able management of the board of which he has been the head ever since, it has become a brilliant success.

The "Larimore Pioneer," with which our sub- ject is still connected, was established in 1882 by W. W. Scott. In 1888 M. M. Miller purchased the plant, held it two years, and sold it as noted above to Mr. Arnold. In 1896 the paper passed into the hands of H. F. Arnold & Company, E. L. Richter becoming manager. In November, 1899, Dan E. Richter became the editor. Connected with this paper we might also mention the name of H. V. Arnold, uncle of Horace F. He has contributed many valuable articles to its columns relating to the history and geology of North Dakota.

WILLIAM STEWART. This is a name fa- miliar to the people of Bottineau county, as that of an old and honored resident of the community, who has done his share in the conversion of a wilderness into a settled and orderly state. His father, Peter Stewart, was a farmer. He was born in Scotland and came to Canada in 1815. He died at the ad- vanced age of eighty-three. He was a man of many good qualities, and of a most peaceable disposition. Christy McLane was the mother of the subject of this article. She was born in Scotland and came to Ontario with her husband. William was the

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youngest child in their family, and was reared on the farm where he had plenty of hard work to strengthen his muscles and teach him the value of well directed labor. He attended common school but found very inferior educational advantages as compared with the privileges of the present day. He remained at home until he was twenty-six and helped his father in the care of the farm, which was an extensive place of more than four hundred acres.

William Stewart and Miss Christy McArthur were united in marriage, in 1854. She was born in Ontario, where her father, Duncan McArthur, lived and died a farmer. All her people were of Scotch nativity, and came to Canada with a colony from Scotland in 1815, and settled in Glengerry county, Ontario. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are the parents of eight children : Christine, Duncan, Maria, Jane, Alexandria, Arthur, William and George. The most of these are engaged in farming in Bottineau county. After his marriage Mr. Stew- art received a part of the homestead farm. He held this and cultivated it for twenty-nine years. It had grown to an elegant farm of two hundred acres. He had, however, a considerable family, and craved room for them to also hold homes of their own. He could find such a country in Dakota. Here he could find land for all his family, and in search of that land he appeared in Bottineau county May 17, 1883. He put up a house 16x24 feet, one a half stories high, and it was pronounced the best house in the county at the time. While building it he lived in a tent with two of his sons, and bached it after the most ap- proved fashion. In October, 1883, the family came on and spent their first winter in Dakota. On New Year's day Mr. Stewart gave a party to all settlers in the neighborhood. It was the first large social gathering in the country. They were all strangers and were very glad to get acquainted with each other. That day is an epoch in the neighborhood.

Mr. Stewart gathered his first crop in 1884. It was of small acreage, but yielded well, and he was encouraged to keep on in a course of extensive im- provements. He has never had a total failure, and in 1900 he harvested his sixteenth crop. Including what the sons have, the Stewart farms now consist of nineteen hundred and twenty acres, sixteen hun- dred acres prairie, and there is ample forest growth on balance for fuel for all time to come. They have abundant buildings, comfortable and con- venient homes, and ample supply of machinery, in- cluding a steam thresher and other costly imple- ments. They have good horses and well-bred cattle and are convinced that the Dakota air is good for men with nerve and determination to succeed.

Mr. Stewart is a Populist, and has been justice of the peace almost from the time he entered the county. He is a Baptist and a strong temperance man, having no patience with the saloon interest in any shape or manner. He is among the early settlers of the county, and has done his part to help onward every good enterprise which has been under-

taken since his coming. He has endured the priva- tions of early settlement, and is now enjoying the comforts to which he is well entitled, living on his farm within one mile of the thriving village of Bottineau, Bottineau county.

HON. JERRY DEMPSTER BACON occupies a prominent and influential position as a business man and citizen of Grand Forks, North Dakota. He is a man of excellent business qualifications and whatever enlists his attention is sure of meet- ing with success. He is one of the proprietors of the Dacotah, the leading hotel of the city, and is also interested extensively in other business enter- prises. His portrait occupies a place of honor in these pages.

Our subject was born at Waverly, Bremer coun- ty, Iowa, June 24, 1865, and is a son of Elijalı F. and Sylvia A. (Barker) Bacon, natives of New York. The parents moved to lowa in 1864 and his father is proprietor of the German-American Bank, Renwick, lowa. The grandfather of our subject also resides at the old home in Des Moines, lowa, and has reached the advanced age of one hundred years, having been born in Oneida county, New York, December 19, 1799.

Mr. Bacon was reared and educated in Iowa and remained there until 1882, assisting his father and in that year he came to North Dakota and located at Ojata, and followed farming there four years and then moved to Grand Forks in 1886, and the fol- lowing. year engaged in the livery business, which he continues to conduct and he also buys and ships horses extensively. He has probably handled more heavy draft and fine driving horses than any other man in the state. His present stables occupy 100X140 feet, two stories high, with steam heat, electric lights, elevator and all modern appliances, making it a first-class up-to-date livery business in every respect. In 1898, in company with Mr. W. B. Wood, our subject erected the Dacotah Hotel, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, and the hotel is now conducted by onr subject and Mr. Wood with marked success. Mr. Bacon is also ex- tensively interested in agriculture and operates about two thousand acres of land, all but a small portion of which is in crop the present vear.

Mr. Bacon was married, in 1886, to Miss Calista L. Brundage. Mrs. Bacon was born in lowa and is a daughter of G. W. and Maria (Griggs) Brun- dage, old settlers of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon have two sons living, namely: J. Myron and Keith V.

Mr. Bacon has been a Republican since attaining his majority and has been an active worker in his party and taken a strong interest in public matters. In 1898 he was elected to the legislature to repre- sent the sixth district and is now serving in that capacity. He was president of the state prison board two years and has served as a member of the city council eight years and the same period as a

J.O. Bacon

THE INSTITUTE OF AVERY . GENEALOGY 440 South Dearborn Street CHICAGO ILL.

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

member of the school board. He is a gentleman of broad intelligence and is deeply interested in educa- tional affairs and all enterprises that tend to upbuild or strengthen good government. He holds men- bership in the A. O. U. W., the M. W. A. and B. P. O. E.

HON. WARREN B. WOOD, one of the pro- prietors of the Hotel Dacotah, at Grand Forks, and one of the well known and popular men of Northi Dakota, was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, November 26, 1858, son of Charles and Julia ( Rob- ertson) Wood. The father of Mr. Wood was born in New York state, was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion and was killed in 1862, while fighting for the preservation of the union. The mother of Mr. Wood died in her native state, New York, in 1863. The subject of this sketch was returned to Wiscon- sin at six years of age and placed in care of a guardian, by whom he was reared to manhood. He received a common-school education in the state of Wisconsin, though for the most part, his knowl- edge has been acquired in the practical school of experience. His life in his native state was spent on the farm.

In 1880 Mr. Wood came to Grand Forks and this city and vicinity has been his home since that time. For some years he was engaged in the busi- ness of farm real estate and loans for the. Corbin Banking" Company, of New York. Mr. Wood, as representative of that financial institution, handled a very extensive business in the Northwest. .

It was in 1898 that Mr. Wood formed a partner- ship with Hon. J. D. Bacon, of whom mention is made on another page of this volume, and they erected the Hotel Dacotah and since that time he has been interested in and has devoted his atten- tion to the business connected with the hotel. He also has large farming interests and owns six hun- dren and forty acres of valuable land, ten miles east of Grand Forks, in Minnesota.

In politics, Mr. Wood is an uncompromising Republican and for many years he has taken an active and leading part in the political affairs of Grand Forks county. He has represented the coun- ty for two terms in the general assembly of North Dakota. He introduced, and was instrumental in securing the enactment of the law to enforce the collection of delinquent taxes of the commonwealth. This law is regarded as a just one and has proven of great value to the state.

Mr. Wood was married, June 1, 1884, to Miss Dora Taber, of Wisconsin. They have one child, namely: Viola M., born December 18, 1891. Mr. Wood is a member of the Knights of Pvthias, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Grand Forks Lodge, No. 255, of which he is treasurer, the Zodiac and the Grand Forks Gun Club. Mr. Wood has had no assistance in the struggle to attain his present enviable station in life and has made his own way by virtue of his courage, energy and capacity for

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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 161

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