Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 32

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 32

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Our subject was married in 1887 to Miss Ma- tildla Bower, who was born and raised at Burling- ton, Iowa. Mrs. Lutz is a lady of rare attainments, and was a teacher in the public schools of Burling- ton for five years, and also taught one year in North Dakota. Her father, Philip Bower, was of German descent, and her mother's people also came from Germany before the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Lutz have been the parents of two children : Alma, born in 1890, and Paul, born in 1893.

Mr. Lutz was elected as a representative from Stutsman county to the first state legislature of North Dakota, in 1890, and his efficient work and popularity are best evidenced by the fact that he was elected in the same capacity in 1892. He takes an active part in local affairs and for the past ten years has been a member of the board of education, and was president of the board for two years, also a stockholder and director of the James River Na- tional Bank, of Jamestown.

JOHN D. FAXON, county auditor of Foster county, is one of the well-known citizens and busi- ness men of that region, and his name is connected with the history of Foster county. He is a man of intelligence and enterprise and at all times has shown an active public spirit.

Our subject was born at Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, July 15, 1846. His father, Horace Faxon, was born in America, and was a contractor and builder. The family settled in America in colonial days, two brothers, Thomas and Richard Faxon, coming from England and lo- cating at Braintree, Massachusetts, about 1600, and they and their families took part in the early wars in the United States. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Jane White, was of Irish-Welsh descent, although her parents were also born in New York state.

Mr. Faxon was the second in a family of four children, and was given a common-school education. His father died when our subject was but seven years of age, and at the age of fifteen he began working for others during the summer months and attending school in the winter. He engaged at farming and clerking, and at the age of nineteen years learned the carpenter's trade, after which he went to Buffalo, New York, where he worked in the car shops of the Buffalo & Erie Railway for two years. He then took a position in the car shops at Salem, New York, where he remained ten years. and in 1879 went to Albany and spent one year there, going from thence to Virginia City, Nevada, think- ing to benefit his health. He spent some time dur- ing the same year at the carpenter's trade in Min- nesota, and built the Dalton hotel and other build- ings at Dalton, Minnesota. This was then a new town and he remained there four years, working at his trade as much as his health would permit. He went to Cass county, North Dakota, in the fall of 1884 and after spending the winter there took land

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in Eddy county, North Dakota, on which he erected a house, barn and other farm buildings, and began the cultivation of his land. He put in crops four seasons, and one only was a profitable yield, and in 1887 fire destroyed his house, granary, together with grain, and his household goods, entailing a loss of- two thousand dollars. He then moved to New Rockford, and accepted a position with the Duluth & Dakota Elevator Company, and in 1889 gave up his farming interests. He went to St. Paul in the fall of 1889, and in August of the following year went to Carrington, North Dakota, and accepted a position with the North Dakota Elevator Company. He spent six years with them, and in the meantime established the farm implement business. He left the employ of the elevator company in 1896, since which time he has purchased grain for his own busi- ness. He has a building 24x60 feet erected near the Northern Pacific tracks, and has been successful in that business. He also owns farm land in Eddy county, North Dakota. He was elected county au- ditor on the Democratic ticket in the fall of 1898, and has been discharging the duties of that position since March 6, 1899, for the term.

Our subject was married at Salem, New York, to Miss Sarah Snowden, who was born and raised at Albany, New York, and is a daughter of John Snow- den. Her father was of English birth, and was a machinist by trade. Mrs. Faxon is a lady of good education, and a graduate of the high school of New York City. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Faxon, as follows: Helen and Ma- rillo. Mr. Faxon has always taken an active inter- est in public affairs wherever he has chosen his home, and while a resident of New York was col- lector of taxes in Salem. He was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for representative to the state legislature from the twenty-second district of North Dakota. He is a member of the state central com- mittee of the Democratic party, and has been chair- man of the county central committee for a number of years.

HON. GEORGE E. NICHOLS, one of the prominent and representative citizens of Fargo, North Dakota, and president of the Cass County Abstract & Guaranty Company, has shown in his successful career that he has the ability to plan wisely and execute with energy, a combination which, when possessed by men in any walk of life, never fails to effect notable results. He was born in Windham county, Vermont, March 25, 1856, a son of William E. and Jane E. ( Prouty ) Nichols, natives of Connecticut and Vermont, respectively. They passed their entire lives in New England, the father being employed as a mechanic.

In the schools of his native state our subject ac- quired his literary education. On leaving home at the age of fifteen years he went to Marshall. Michi- gan, where he remained for ten years, coming to Fargo in the spring of 1878. Here he was in the

employ of N. K. Hubbard, proprietor of the Head- quarters Hotel, until 1885, and was then employed as deputy county treasurer under H. H. Burke, in which position he served for six years. In the fall of 1800 he was elected treasurer and filled that office for two terms of two years each. At the end of that time, in 1894, he was elected state treasurer, and was re-elected in 1896, serving in all four years with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. In 1892 he organized the Cass County Abstract & Guaranty Company, of which he has since been president, and was also one of the organizers of the Fargo National Bank, of which he is now a director. He is a business man of more than ordinary ability, is far-sighted and energetic, and the success that he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own well-directed efforts, for he commenced life for himself empty-handed. Socially he is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and politically; he is a pronounced Republican.

In 1882 Mr. Nichols married Miss Elizabeth I. Crane, who was born in Connecticut, and they have become the parents of four children : William C., Arthur A., Tannisse and Imogene.

JUDGE CHARLES A. POLLOCK. North Dakota has already become distinguished for the high rank of her bench and bar. Perhaps none of the newer states can justly boast of abler jurists and attorneys. Prominent among these is Judge Pol- lock, of Fargo, who now occupies the bench of the third judicial district. He is a native of New York, his birth occurring in Elizabethtown, Essex county, September 27, 1853.

His parents, Jolin and Eunice E. (Ellis) Pollock, were natives of Ireland and New York, respectively. The father, who was a teacher by profession, came to the new world in 1830, at the age of nine years, and was graduated from the Troy Conference Sem- inary of New York, then presided over by Bishop Jesse T. Peck. He was ordained as a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, but he devoted the greater part of his time to teaching. He founded the Rainsburg Seminary at Rainsburg, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he remained for some years, and in 1856 went to Iowa, and the following year opened the Epworth Seminary at Epworth, Dubuque county, remaining there two years. He then went to DeWitt, Iowa, as principal of the pub- lic schools at that place, and later served as county auditor of Clinton county for four years, and as deputy treasurer eight years. In 1895 he came to Fargo, North Dakota, where he died a year later. Ilis wife had passed away in 1895. To them were born four sons; one a resident of Dubuque, Iowa ; another of San Francisco, California, while our sub- ject makes his home in Fargo, North Dakota, and the fourth died in infancy. The paternal grandfather, James Pollock, was a farmer by occupation.

Judge Pollock, of this review, was educated by

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his parents, and at the age of fourteen commenced work as deputy in the office of the register of deeds in Clinton county, lowa, where he remained six years. He then entered Cornell College at Mt. Ver- non, Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1878, and the following two years was principal of the public schools of Lowden, Iowa, during which time he also studied law. He graduated from the law department of the State University of Iowa, in 1881, and on the 15th of July, that year, opened a law office in Fargo, North Dakota, where he has since engaged in practice, meeting with marked success in his chosen calling. He has recently been chosen to lecture in the law department of the State Uni- versity of North Dakota and has accepted.

In 1882 Judge Polk married Miss Martha Clin- ton, daughter of Rev. John W. Clinton, a native of Ontario, Canada, and by this union four children were born, namely : John C., who died at the age of three years and a half; Clara A .; Martha L. and Dewitt C. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and the Judge is a member of the Masonic order and the Bar Association. Polit- ically he is an ardent Republican and as an orator has taken an active part in campaign work through- out the state. In 1885 he was elected district at- torney and creditably filled that office for two terms. He was elected judge of the third judicial district in 1896, in which position he is now serving with distinction. He is absolutely fearless in the dis- charge of his duties, favor cannot tempt him from the straight path, and he has been successful in en- forcing the prohibition law and in reducing the number of divorces granted by the court. His sen- tences are models of judicial fairness, and he is a type of the law that respects and protects, not con- demns humanity.

GENERAL ALEXANDER HUGHES, of whom a portrait will be found on another page, is one of the ablest lawyers practicing in the state, is a recognized leader in the Republican party, and is an honored veteran of the Civil war. A native of Canada, he was born in Brandford, September 30, 1846, and is a son of Christopher and Frances ( Pike) Hughes, who were born in the north of Ireland and emigrated to Canada about 1801 or 1802. In 1846 they removed to Columbia county, Wisconsin, where the father entered a government tract of land. He was a graduate of Trinity Col- lege, Dublin, Ireland, and was a civil engineer, which profession he followed to some extent throughout his entire life. He died in Wisconsin in 1867, and his wife in 1871. To them were born thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters, of whom only our subject and four sisters are now living. Two of the sons died from wounds re- ceived in the Civil war.

General Hughes was reared and educated in Wisconsin, attending first the common schools of that state, which at that time were much inferior

to those of the present day. Feeling his country needed his services during the dark days of the Rebellion, he enlisted in Company B, Seventh Wis- consin Infantry, which was assigned to the First Division, First Corps, Army of the Potomac. With this command he participated in the battles of Gainesville, the second Bull Run, the first and sec- ond battles of Fredericksburg, and the engagements at Chancellorsville and Brady Station. He was slightly wounded at Gainesville; was shot through the right arni at South Mountain, and in the last day of the battle of Gettysburg was wounded in the left side. Subsequently he took part in the seven days' battle of the Wilderness, where he was wounded in the right leg, and received a heavy blow from a musket at Spottsylvania Court House, but did not go to the hospital. During the battle of North Anne river he was seriously wounded, a shot entering his left side and coming out on the right. He lay in a helpless condition for nearly two years.

On leaving the service, General Hughes realized the necessity for a good education, and entered Wayland Academy, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and later took a course at Bryant & Stratton's Business' College, Milwaukee. He was married in 1869 to Miss Mary E. Higinbotham, a native of Indiana, and a granddaughter of Judge Eckles, of Indiana, who was later chief justice of Utah territory. Her father, Samuel Higinbotham, was a surgeon in the Eighty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, and died in the service in Tennessee. To our subject and his wife were born five sons and one daughter, namely: George A. and Edmund A., both residents of Fargo, North Dakota; Harry A., who died in 1883; William V., Frank C. and Helen A., all at home.

General Hughes located at Monticello, Iowa, in 1868, and commenced the practice of law. The fol- lowing year he was elected superintendent of schools for the county of Jones. In April, 1871, he removed, with his family, to Elk Point, in the territory of Dakota, now the state of South Dakota, and soon gained high rank in his profession. In 1872 he was elected a member of the upper house of the territorial legislature, and upon its organiza- tion was elected presiding officer of said body. In 1880 he was appointed, by the President, superin- tendent of the census for the territory of Dakota. In 1881 he was appointed receiver for the United States land office at Yankton, which office he re- signed in 1883 to accept the office of attorney-gen- eral. In the year 1883 he was appointed, by the legislative assembly, a member of the committee to select the site for the seat of government and to erect a capitol building upon such site. When the commission was organized he was elected as presi- dent. The capitol building at Bismarck was con- structed under his immediate direction and super- vision. He removed to Bismarck in 1883 with the other territorial officers and continued to reside at said place until 1899, when he removed to Fargo. He represented the Bismarck district in the higher

GEN. ALEXANDER HUGHES.

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branch of the legislative assembly for two terms, and was chairman of the committee on judiciary. Many of the most important laws enacted during the past thirty years in the territory of Dakota and in the state of North Dakota were prepared by him. For sixteen years he filled' the position of assistant counsel of the Northern Pacific Railway Company to the entire satisfaction of the company. He was also the first adjutant-general of the terri- tory of Dakota. During the last few years he has given considerable time to business affairs, and is president of the Fargo-Edison Company and of the Hughes Electric Company, whose plants at Fargo, Bismarck and Dickinson furnish light, power and heat for those cities.

The General is now one of the most active and best-known Republicans in the northwest. He has been a member of the territorial and state central and executive committees almost continuously for the past twenty-seven years. He was a delegate to the national Republican conventions in 1872, 1876, 1880 and in 1896. He is recognized as an able lawyer, a graceful, logical and forcible speaker, and is considered especially able in the discussion of legal questions before the courts.

COLONEL GEORGE M. YOUNG, of Valley City, North Dakota, is one of the younger members of the Barnes county bar, but his prominence is by no means measured by his years; on the contrary, he has won a reputation which many an older prac- titioner might well envy. He was born at Lakelet, Ontario, Canada, December 11, 1870, and is a son of Richard and Jane ( Eaton) Young, also natives of that country. The father was born in Leeds county, Ontario, in 1822, and during his active bus ness life was engaged in the lumber trade, in which he was successful. For a time he served as first lieutenant in the Tenth Regiment Volunteers of Canada. He died in 1885, and his estimable wife, who was born in 1832, passed away in 1896. The paternal grand- father of our subject served with distinction as colonel of a volunteer regiment in Canada. He was born in Ireland in 1798, and died in Lakelet, Ontario, at the advanced age of ninety-three years.

George M. Young began his literary education in the public schools of his native land and later attended the high school at Orangeville. On com- ing to the United States in 1888, he first located at Mineapolis, Minnesota, where lie engaged in news- paper work. In the summer of 1890 he commenced the study of law in the law office of Pollock & Young, of Casselton, North Dakota. Later he at- tended the College of Law of the University of Minnesota, from which college he graduated. In 1893 he returned to North Dakota, where for a year he was in the law office of Hon. O. W. Francis, at Fargo. In November, 1894, he took up his resi- dence in Valley City, where he opened an office and engaged in practice alone until May, 1899, when he formed a partnership with Lee Combs, under the

firm name of Young & Combs. They do a general law business, but make a practice of practicing in the state and federal courts, doing more than any other firm in that line in Barnes county. Mr. Young is very popular and influential, and is now a member of the governor's staff.

In January, 1899, at the home of the bride, in St. Charles, Michigan, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Young and Miss Augusta L. Freeman, a daughter of Jared and Caroline MI. ( Adams) Free- man. The father is a prominent lumber merchant of that place, and the mother is a direct descendant of President Jolin Adams.

SERENO N. PUTNAM, register of deeds of Eddy county, is one of the early settlers of that region, and has been identified with the develop- ment and advancement of Eddy county. He is a gentleman of broad mind and well educated, and is entitled to a foremost place among the promoters of business matters. He has varied financial inter- ests in agricultural lines, and is one of the substantial men of his community.

Our subject was born in Sherburne county, Min- nesota, in March, 1861. His father, Henry T. Put- nam, was a farmer and merchant in Minnesota. Our subject is a descendant of a brother of israel Putnamn, of Revolutionary fame. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Caro.ine New- ton, was of English descent, and the family settled in America in colonial times.

Our subject was the second in a family of five children, and was raised on a farm in his native state. He attended the country schools and also the Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota, and grad- uated from that institution in 1880. He began teaching school at the age of sixteen years, and fol- lowed that vocation most of the time for about five years, and in 1883 came to Eddy county, North Dakota. He entered claim to government land near Tiffany and began farming. He erected a 6x8 feet shanty and lived alone and followed farmi- ing with oxen. He continued farming until 1886, when he was elected county superintendent of schools, and was re-elected at the expiration of his term. He had his office on his farm, and served in that capacity two terms. He attended the depart- ment of law at the State University of Minnesota during the winter of 1890-91, after which he followed teaching a short time, and in the fall of 1894 was elected county register of deeds of Eddy county. He was re-elected in 1896, and again in 1898, and is now serving his third term in that position. He is an efficient officer, and enjoys popularity.

Our subject was married in 1888 to Miss Grace Brown, a native of New York. Mrs. Putnam is a lady of good education, and is a graduate of the Mayville Normal School of North Dakota. She taught school in North Dakota several terms, and lier father was one of the early settlers of that state and was a farmer by occupation. Mr. Putnam is a

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member of the Knights of Pythias lodge and of the Masonic fraternity. He is a man who keeps abreast of the times on all important issues, and takes an active interest in the welfare of his community, and is deservedly held in high esteem by his fellowmen. In political faith he is a Republican, and stands firmly for the principles of his party.

FRANKLIN S. DUNHAM. One of the exten- sive farmsof township 149, range 67, in Eddy county, is owned and ably operated by the subject of this review. Mr. Dunham is one of the pioneer settlers of North Dakota, and has been identified with the farming interestsof Eddy county since taking up his residence there, and is now the fortunate pos- sessor of sixteen hundred acres of land, and is suc- cessfully conducting diversified farming thereon. He is a man of honest purpose and true citizenship, and is highly esteemed throughout that locality where he is well known and has been associated with the people in various important public offices.

Our subject was born in Wyoming county, New York, March 23, 1854. . The Dunham family came to America from England about 1808, and the mother's family was also of English descent. The father of our subject, George H. Dunham, was a farmer by occupation and also superintendent of schools of Wyoming county, New York for six years, and during the last twenty years of his life he was engaged in the insurance business, and has made his home. at Johnsonsburgh, New York. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Louise Vir- gin, and was born and raised in eastern New York state. Our subject's brother, Fred Dunham, is an attorney at law in Batavia, New York.

Franklin S. Dunham was the second in a family of three children, and was reared on a farm and given a common-school education, and later at- tended an academy. After attaining his majority he rented a farm in western New York state and followed farming thereon eight years, and in 1883 went to North Dakota and entered claim to govern- ment land in Eddy county, upon which he erected a claim shanty 16x16 feet. He had a limited start, and had only sod barns, and for the first two years farmed with oxen. His crops were fair but cut too soon, and his wheat shrunk and was almost worth- less, but his crop of oats was good. He was elected county treasurer on the Republican ticket in 1892, and the following year removed to New Rockford, and was re-elected in 1894, and in 1806 was elected county auditor, making his public service as a county officer extend over a period of six years. He also conducted his farm while in the city, and in the spring of 1899 returned to the same to reside. He has about one thousand acres of his land under cul- tivation and has all necessary machinery, and a com- plete set of good farm buildings, and six acres of cottonwood trees, plenty of good water, and a finely developed farm in every particular, and is known as one of the substantial farmers of the community.

Our subject was married in 1876, to Miss Clara North, who was born and raised in Genesee county, New York. Mrs. Dunham is of English descent, and her father, Noah North, was a farmer by occu- pation. Mrs. Dunham is a lady of excellent educa- tion, and was a teacher in her native state at the time of her marriage. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dunham, as follows : George H., Fred Harrison, and Clara Louise, all of whom were born in Dakota. Mr. Dunham is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Modern Woodmen of America. Politically he is a Republican, and is a man who stands firm for his convictions.

DR. HENRY M. WHEELER, one of the best known physicians and surgeons of the Northwest. enjoys an extensive general practice in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was born in Sullivan county, New Hampshire, June 23, 1853.

The parents of our subject, Mason and Huldah (Wheeler) Wheeler, were natives of Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, and the father was a drover and stock raiser, and went to Northfield, Minnesota, in 1856, and spent his remaining years. there. Two sons composed the family of children born to this worthy couple, the brother of our sub- ject now residing in New York.

Mr. Wheeler was reared and educated in Minne- sota, and attended Carlton College of Northfield, and then began the study of medicine under Dr. C. M. Thompson. He entered the University of Michigan in 1875, and graduated in 1877, and during the same year began the practice of his profession at North- field, Minnesota, and in 1879 entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, and grduated from there in 1881. He then located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and has continued his practice there since that date. He is secretary of the state examining board, serving since 1894, and is local surgeon for the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads, which position he has held for many years. He has also served on the United States pension examining board, and is a member of the State Medical Society of Minnesota, and was president of the North Dakota State Medical Society.

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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 32

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