Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 176

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 176

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JAMES O. MARK, residing on section 2 in Grand Harbor township, enjoys the comforts of a country home, and conducts a model farm. He has resided in North Dakota since the early days of its settlement, and is thoroughly identified with its de- velopment, and has aided in the extension of the agricultural resources in Ramsey county in a re- markable degree.

Our subject was born on a farm in Victoria county, Ontario, Canada, March 12, 1853. He was reared in his native place and received a common school education and continued his residence there until March, 1882. In August of that year he went to Ramsey county, North Dakota. and at once located on the land on which he now resides and where he has followed agricultural pursuits continuously since. He has placed valuable improvements on 51

his place in the way of residence, barns, and other buildings, and has made a success of farming in North Dakota. He owns six hundred and forty acres of land, and is one of the solid men of his community.

Our subject was married, in Victoria county, Ontario, Canada, to Miss Mary Jane Hoover, who was born and raised in Victoria county, Ontario. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mark, upon whom they have bestowed the names : Ethel MI., Alice and Ada. Mr. Mark has taken a hearty interest in all matters tending to promote the general welfare and to develop the business or so- ciety interests of his community, and has aided in various ways in the up-building and strengthening of good local government. He has served as a member of township board of supervisors, and also as a member of the school board three years and county commissioner of Ramsey county. As a man and citizen he is highly respected, and as an agri- culturist he has made a success in his adopted state. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Knights of the Maccabees.

Carr. CONRAD I. F. WAGNER, county reg- ister of deeds of Rolette county, North Dakota, is a pioneer settler of that region, and is widely and most favorably known. He is a native of New Bruns- wick, New Jersey, and was born December 3, 1862.

Our subject was the second child and eldest son of four children born to Rev. John M. and Sarah (Voorhees ) Wagner. The father was pastor of the Dutch Reform church in Brooklyn during the later years of his life. Mr. Wagner was reared in Brook- lyn, and received a thorough business education in Wright's College, after which he entered a whole- sale house in New York at eighteen years of age and remained thus employed two years. In the spring of 1882, with F. E. Farrell, he started for Dakota or Montana with the idea of sheep raising, and arrived at Jamestown, North Dakota, and drove overland to Fort Totten and north to Devils Lake and both staked out claims. He engaged in cattle raising about two years, and in the spring of 1883 purchased the "Devils Lake Globe" at Grand Har- bor. He removed to the Turtle Mountain district in the spring of 1884, and established at Dunseith the first local paper of the Turtle Mountain Mouse River district. Mr. Wagner became sole pro- prietor in 1886, and operated the paper until 1896. when he sold the plant to his brother. He enlisted in 1889 in the North Dakota National Guard and rose to the rank of captain, and resigned from that position when elected to the office of register of deeds. Mr. Wagner dealt extensively in real es- tate, and also engaged in farming and stock raising, and was also in the early days engaged in stage driv- ing and hunting, and endured the hardships of many severe storms. In 1899 the Rolette County Ab- stracting Company was formed and our subject was chosen abstractor. A complete set of abstract books

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is owned by the company. Rolette county in the early days was thoroughly Democratic, and our sub- ject as a Republican became identified in opposing what was popularly known as "The Gang." He is now a popular and efficient officer, and performs the duties of his office in a most satisfactory manner.

Our subject was married, in 1888, to Miss Leo- nore De Esterre. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are the parents of six children, named as follows: Martin F., Norman L., Charles W., Leah-Ann C., Freder- ick C. and James W. Mr. Wagner is a member of the Presbyterian church and the Modern Woodmen of America.

ROBERT GRANT, one of the most extensive farmers of Illinois township, resides on section 28, and has a home of great comfort. He operates eight hundred and twenty acres of land, and is one of the oldest settlers of that locality.

Our subject was born in Middlesex county, On- tario, Canada, September 15, 1848, and was the fourth in a family of eleven children, and the eldest son, born to Marcus and Christie (Gunn) Grant, both of whom were of Highland Scotch descent. The father was a native of Catnesshire, Scotland, and is now living on the home farm in Canada at the ad- vanced age of ninety years. On both sides the an- cestors have been noted for their longevity. The

father was a farmer and cleared a farm in Ontario, and there, engaged in stump pulling and rail split- ting, our subject was reared to manhood. He also received some training as a carpenter and remained at home until twenty-seven years of age, and much of the charge of the place fell to his lot from the age of fifteen years. He left home with thirty-five dollars, and went to Michigan, and from thence to Chattanooga, Tennesese, in company with three others, and spent one year in travel and then passed three years in the Michigan lumber woods. He went to Grand Forks in 1878, and in May filed claim to land in Grand Forks county and devoted himself much to carpenter work on some of the pioneer business houses of the city of Grand Forks. He went to his farm with lumber, implements, and pro- visions in June, and erected a small settler's shanty and at once began hauling lumber from Larimore and erected a frame house, which as remodeled now stands. His wife joined him a month later, and he began farming and broke five acres of land the first summer. He has met losses by fire and failure of crops, and from 1884 to 1887 contracted debts amounting to one thousand four hundred dollars, but the crop of 1887 cleared the debts and left a surplus, since which time he has incurred no in- dehtedness and now has a fine farm. Ile erected a commodious and substantial residence in 1899, which is considered one of the best constructed houses in the western part of the county. It is built mostly of Washington cedar, with a basement under the whole, and the floors of western fir, and the wood- work of western cedar in natural wood finish. He

planted a grove of eleven acres of forest trees around his home, and every appointment of the place evi- dences care in detail.

Our subject was married, in 1881, to Miss Fan- nie Carpenter. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Grant, who bear the following names : Fredrick A., Margaret M., Christina A .; Marcus, deceased ; Ethel, deceased; Robert M., Fannie E. and Eva A. Mr. Grant became a Populist in 1891, and was an earnest worker for the reform princi- ples of that party, but opposed fusion and is now a Socialist and is earnest in his convictions. He is an efficient worker for prohibition and is a citizen of true worth and deservedly popular with those among whom he resides.

HON. JOHN F. COWAN. Whatever else may bc said of the legal fraternity, it cannot be denied that members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of Amer- ican people. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for the duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the general interests of society. The subject of this record, now attorney-general of North Dakota, is a man who has brought keen discrimination and thorough wisdom to bear not alone in professional paths, but also for the benefit of his county and state, with which interests he has been thoroughly identified. His portrait ap- pears on another page of his publication.

Mr. Cowan was born in Moffat, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, December 29, 1858, and is a son of Alex- ander and Nicholas ( Montgomery) Cowan, natives of Wigtonshire and Dumfrieshire, respectively. The family emigrated to the new world in 1862 and first located in Ontario, Canada, where the parents continued to make their home until coming to Ben- son county, North Dakota. in 1855. Here they still reside and have the respect and esteem of the entire community. The grandfather, John Cowan, also came to America in 1862 and spent his remaining days in Canada.

During his boyhood our subject attended the common schools of Canada and the Goderich high school, and then entered the Ottawa Normal School, from which he was graduated in 1877. He next matriculated for the study of medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and studied that profession for about two years. Coming to the United States in 1880, he located in Port Huron, Michigan, where he was in the employ of the Chi- cago & Grand Trunk Railroad Company as clerk for two years. At the end of that time he came to North Dakota and settled near Stump Lake, in Nel- son county, where he entered land in 1881, but soon abandoned it and went to Devils Lake. He located on a claim near Grand Harbor, which he proved up and still owns. While holding down that claim

John Cowan

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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

he began reading law and later entered the office of John McGee, of Devils Lake, who is now district judge of Hennepin county, Minnesota. He was then a member of the firm of McGee & Morgan, the junior member being the present judge of the sec- ond judicial district of North Dakota. Mr. Cowan was admitted to practice in 1885 before the ter- ritorial district court, and the same year opened an office at Devils Lake, where he has continued to make his residence, and is now associated with P. J. McClory, under the firm name of Cowan & Mc- Clory. In 1884 he was elected justice of the peace of that city; two years later was elected county superintendent of schools of Ramsay county, and re-elected in 1888. In 1890 he was elected state's attorney for the same county and was re-elected in 1892. It was in 1894 that he was first elected attorney-general for the state, and was re-elected in 1896 and 1898, being the only man ever elected three times to the same office in North Dakota, a fact which plainly indicates his efficiency and popu- larity.

Mr. Cowan was married, in 1885, to Miss Mary Flynn, a native of Minnesota, and to them have been born four children: Lyle A., Frances W., John A. and Kathleen M. Socially Mr. Cowan is a thirty- second-degree Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and also belongs to the Benevolent & Patri- otic Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has always supported the Republican party, has stumped the state in its interest, and has been a member of the county and state central committees. He also took an active and prominent part in the organization of the state and is pre-eminently public-spirited and progressive. He has met with excellent success in life and today stands at the head of his profession in the northwest.

"THE SEMI- WEEKLY WALHALLA MOUNTAINEER," the only semi-weekly paper published in North Dakota, is a newsy, eight-page sheet, and is owned and edited by Charles H. Lee, in Walhalla, Pembina county. The paper was es- tablished March 1, 1897, as a weekly, but within a few months assumed its present form, and now en- joys a widespread circulation. It is a non-partisan sheet, devoted to an unprejudiced review of current topics, and a careful presentation of local events. The office of the "Mountaineer" is roomy and well- fitted for press and job work of all kinds.

CHARLES H. LEE, editor and publisher of the above named paper, is a man of good education and progressive nature, and is steadily rising to promi- nence in newspaper circles, and also as a business man and citizen. He was born in the Empire state, May 13, 1859, and was the elder of two children born to Henry S. and Laura A. (DeLong) Lee. He remained in New York state until he was about nine years of age, when he removed with his parents to Joliet, Illinois, and there attended the public schools

and university. The family moved to Webster City, Iowa, in 1873, and there our subject learned the printer's trade and then led a roaming life, working at different places in Iowa, and also in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in November, 1882, arrived at Devils Lake, then known as Creelsburg, and worked on the "Inter-Ocean" two years. He went to Bathgate in 1886 and worked on the "Pembina County Demo- crat," and in 1892 established the "Neche Oak Leaf." His plant was destroyed by fire in 1895, and he returned to Bathgate and joined the Pink Paper force and then established himself at Walhalla, as before mentioned. Success has attended his work and he now enjoys a good business.

Our subject was married, in 1890, to Miss Cath- erine Naomi Campbell. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee, named Wilson C. and Ivanhoe D. L. Mr. Lee has devoted much time and attention to the preservation and gathering together of the history of Pembina county and Walhalla in particular, and his pamphlet entitled, "The Long Ago," contains matter of interest to all old settlers of North Dakota, and comprises historical sketches of the Red river valley from 1799 to the present time. Mr. Lee is a member of the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, Independent Order of Foresters and Modern Woodmen of America.

JUDGE EVEN GUNDERSON, county judge of Pierce county, is one of the leading men of his section of the state, and has wielded great influence in the public affairs of Pierce county. His home is now in Rugby, but his farming interests and estate lie two miles west of that city.

Judge Gunderson was born in Winneshiek coun- ty, Iowa, on a farm, December 28, 1866. His father, Gunder Helgeson, came to America when but five years of age and located in Iowa. The mother was born in Minnesota, and was a daughter of Evan Spillhaug.

Judge Gunderson is the second child in a family of eight children, and grew to manhood on the farm, receiving the benefits of the public schools only. At the age of twenty-one he left home and came to Pierce county, North Dakota. He took up land in township 156, range 73, two miles west of the city of Rugby. He at once put up a shanty, 16x20 feet, built of sod, and a sod barn, 14×16 feet. His crops of 1888, 1889 and 1890 were failures on account of frost, drought, etc., the latter year yielding him the seed he had planted. The following year he har- vested two thousand two hundred bushels of wheat from sixty-five acres. . During much of this time he worked for others to meet expenses. He then had five successive crops, and prospered accordingly. He is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of good land, three hundred and twenty-five of which is under cultivation and the rest devoted to pasture for stock. His estate is well improved and provided with a complete set of farm buildings.

Judge Gunderson is a Republican in political

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faith, and has taken a prominent part in the public affairs of his county. He was appointed postmas- ter of Rugby by President Harrison and served four years. In 1894 he was elected sheriff of Pierce county, serving one term, and in 1896 was elected county judge, and re-elected in 1898, and is now serving his second term. He has attended numer- ous state conventions of his party, and is known throughout the state. He continues to carry on farming, and enjoys that branch of his occupation. He also owns residence property in Rugby.

Judge Gunderson was married, in 1887, to Miss Eliza Johnson, a daughter of Knute Johnson, a farmer of the state of Iowa. To this union six chil- dren have been born, as follows: Gilbert, born in 1888; John, born in 1890; Herbert, deceased, born in 1892 ; Casper, born in 1894; Stancy and Herbine, born in 1898. All these children are natives of North Dakota, and form an interesting and intelli- gent family group. Judge Gunderson is thoroughly posted in the history of his county and state, and enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow men to a high degree.

WALLACE W. BEMIS. Among the men who are gaining a good support by tilling the soil of Fos- ter county, and incidentally laying aside something for a rainy day, there is no better representative than the gentleman whose name introduces this brief review. He resides in township 145, range 62, and is one of the well known old settlers of that region.

Our subject was born on a farm in Franklin county, New York, in 1861. His father, C. A. Be- mis, was born in Malone, Franklin county, New York, and was of English descent. The family came to America in Colonial days. His father was a farmer throughout his career, and was an early settler of Wisconsin, settling in Vernon county, in 1864. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Hulda Green, was born in upper Canada, and was of Irish-German descent. The parents of our subject were married in New York, and twelve children were born to them, of whom our subject was the eleventh in order of birth.

Mr. Bemis was reared on the farm and assisted with the work there and on account of the ill-health of the father most of the work of the farm was thrown upon the sons. At the age of twenty-one our subject began farming for himself and rented the same farm which his father conducted previously, and after the father's death, in 1881, the support of the family devolved upon our subject. He op- erated the farm about four years, and in the spring of 1887 went to Foster county, North Dakota, and built a claim shanty, and with a team of horses, two colts, a wagon and a plow settled on his land, and lived there alone during the summer of that year. and was joined by his wife and family in the fall of 1887. He raised his first crop on the farm in 1888 and in 1889 raised wheat and oats, and in 1899 raised cleven thousand bushels of grain. He lost his barn

by prairie fire in 1894, and in 1895 his house and contents were destroyed by fire caused by a kerosene stove, the total loss being about six hundred dollars. He now has a farmi of eight hundred acres, with six hundred and ninety acres under cultivation and the rest of the land in grass and pasture. He has a complete set of good farm buildings (but is lacking a good stable ) and all machinery for operating the farmı, including a steam threshing outfit, nineteen- horse-power compound engine, and began operating the same in 1899. During the first years he hauled grain twenty-two miles to market, and fuel and supplies about the same distance, and Cooperstown was the nearest town, and many times he has ex- perienced severe storms and fought prairie fires.

Our subject was married, in 1883, to Miss Ella Patterson, a native of Vernon county, Wisconsin. Mrs. Bemis is a daughter of E. O. Patterson, who was of Irish descent, and was a farmer by occupa- tion. Mrs. Bemis is a lady of good education and taught school for many years in Wisconsin. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bemis, as follows: Charlie, Roy, Pearl, Allie, Hazel, Hulda, Russell and Lee, all of whom are living, and all but the two oldest children were born in North Dakota. Mr. Bemis is a member of the Presbyterian church and is highly respected by all. He is a Republican.

DONALD H. McMILLAN. Among the lead- ing men who have contributed to the development and prosperity of Cavalier county, none is more worthy of a place in the history of the county than Donald H. McMillan of Langdon, of whom a por- trait is published in connection with this biograph- ical sketch.

Mr. McMillan is a native of Clengarry county, Ontario, Canada, and was born February 8, 1849. He was reared in that county and vicinity to the age of seventeen years, and then went to Pennsyl- vania. He remained there about one year, when he returned to Ontario. He there engaged in lumber- ing for a number of years, and in 1873 went to the Pacific coast. He remained in the far west until 1883, being chiefly engaged in mining. In Feb- ruary, 1883, he came to Dakota, and located in Pembina county, at Hamilton, where he engaged in farming. He conducted farming four years, and in 1878 he came to Langdon and engaged in the farm machinery business in which business he has since continued. He is also extensively interested in farming operations, and has met with success in both lines. He was one of the organizers of the Citizens' State Bank of Langdon in 1893, of which he is now vice-president.

Mr. McMillan has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and filled a number of important offices. Hle was elected in 1890 to the office of treasurer of Cavalier county, and served one term. He was appointed deputy revenue collector for North Dakota in 1898, but resigned that office in April, 1899. Ile also served as mayor of Langdon from

DONALD H. McMILLAN.

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1898 to 1900. He was a candidate for the office of commissioner of land and labor on the Republican ticket in 1892, but was defeated by the Democratic candidate.

Mr. McMillan was married in Cavalier county, in 1889, to Miss Agnes Gordon, who was also born in Ontario, Canada. They have a pleasant and hospitable home, and enjoy the respect and esteem of a host of warm friends. Mr. McMillan is a strong advocate of education and has done much for the schools of the city and county. He owns and oper- ates over one thousand acres of land, and is regarded as one of the substantial citizens of the county. July 11, 1900, he was nominated upon the Repub- lican ticket for state treasurer of North Dakota.

HON. CHARLES W. PLAIN, proprietor of one of the most extensive and carefully-cultivated farms of Cavalier county, is also engaged in the machinery business in Milton, and enjoys a large trade. He is a man of mark in his community, and his standing as a good citizen is irreproachable. Sev- eral important offices have been entrusted to his care, and he has never failed to justify the confidence placed in him by the people. A portrait of Mr. Plain will be found elsewhere in this volume.

Our subject was born in Aurora, Kane county, Illinois, March 10, 1858, and was reared in his na- tive place, and there received a good education and assisted with the work on the home farm. He later learned the machinist's trade and followed the same in Illinois for some years, and in February, 1888, came to North Dakota and located in Milton, and proved his claim to land on which he had filed pa- pers the previous year. He engaged in the farm machinery business in 1888, and has continued thus, . and now conducts an extensive business and is well

known for his integrity in his business deals. He owns some four thousand acres of choice land in Cavalier county, and operates the same successfully, and is one of the solid men of his locality.

Mr. Plain was elected a member of the state leg- islature in the fall of 1892 on the Democratic ticket, and served one term, and his efficient work and pop- ularity are best evidenced by the fact that in 1894 he was elected to the state senate, his term of office expiring January 1, 1899. He has served his city as its chief executive for several terms, and is keenly awake to every need of his community, and in every way possible furthers the growth of his adopted county and state. He is a man who is determined in his adherence to the right, and to his friends, and is one of the important factors in the development and growth of the social and financial interests of Milton.

JAMES D. HOVEY. Among the pioneers of Dayton township, Nelson county, may well be men- tioned Mr. Hovey. He has a pleasant home in sec- tion 9 and has been identified with the development

of that locality and the extensive agricultural inter- ests of the county since the early days and is well known and most highly respected.

Our subject was born in the state of New York, January 16, 1852. He was the third in a family of eight children born to Andrew J. and Lydia (Lines) Hovey. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction, although the ancestors for many generations have been in America on the father's side. The parents and family moved to Du Page county, Illinois, in 1855 and after two years there removed to Butler county, Iowa, where our subject was reared on a farm and secured a common-school education. He worked at home until nineteen years of age, and then rented land and engaged in farming in Butler coun- ty, and in the spring of 1877. after the death of his father, he assumed charge of the home farm until the spring of 1882, when he hired to T. S. Edison, and with his wife went to Larimore, North Da- kota, where he remained several months. In the fall of 1882 he purchased a yoke of bob-tailed oxen and an open wagon and with his personal effects within the wagon and two cows tied behind he started in the midst of a snow storm for his claim, which he had located in October. A shanty had been erected, which was the first building on the prairie in Dayton township, and the land had for some time been supposed to belong to the reserva- tion. Our subject was known in those days as "the man with the bob-tailed cattle." He borrowed fifty dollars with which to establish himself on the farm, and they lived on scanty rations and he worked at anything he could find to do, but met with poor success and after failure of crops a few years gave up the place and homesteaded land adjoining in 1893 and began building up a new home. He raises Short Horn Durham cattle and has succeeded well in stock raising, an abundance of water being se- cured at a depth of twelve feet.

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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 176

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