Compendium history and biography of North Dakota; a history of early settlement, political history, and biography; reminiscences of pioneer life, Part 35

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 35

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Our subject was married, in January, 1883, to Miss Luella E. Cooper, a native of Michigan. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Aplin, as follows: Louis and Harold. Mr. Aplin is promi- nent in secret society circles and is past master of Sheyenne Valley Lodge, No. 12, A. F. & A. M .; high priest of Lisbon Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M .; T. I. M. of Tyrian Council; prelate of Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 8, Knights Templar; R. E. grand king of Grand Chapter of North Dakota; past V. M. of Lisbon Lodge of Perfection, No. 4, and a member of the Scottish Rites and York Rites. He has served as a member of the local school board for two terms and in 1898 was elected mayor of the city of Lisbon.

ESTEN A. BORSHEIM. This gentleman is one of the educational workers of North Dakota and is the present county superintendent of schools of Traill county. He has devoted his career to the profession of teaching and has met with tin- bounded success. He is a gentleman of excellent education and broad mind, and every need of the community in which he labors is anticipated by him and the standard of education advanced as far as lies in his power.

Our subject was born in Kingservik, Hardan- ger, Norway, April 11, 1869, and was the younger of two sons born to Anders and Sigrid ( Huns) Borsheim, both of whom now reside in Winneshiek county, Iowa. His parents located in Iowa in 1883 and settled on a farm.

Mr. Borsheim attended the common schools and in 1886-87 attended Decorah Institute, and in July, 1888, went to Dakota and visited his brother in

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Nelson county. In the winter of 1889-90 he taught for the first time in Winneshiek county, Iowa, and the following spring went to Traill county, North Dakota, and began teaching in Garfield township, near the village of Hatton, and then became thor- oughly identified with educational work in Traill county, being in the school room almost continu- ously until the fall of 1896, when he was elected to the office he now holds, and his efficient work and popularity is best evidenced by the fact that he was returned to the same office in 1898. He has worked for a uniform series of text books and has met with success in that line, and he now has under his supervision one hundred school build- ings, with one hundred and twenty-six departments and an enrollment of scholars of thirty-six hundred and forty-six and one hundred and thirty teachers. There are four thousand scholars of school age in the county. The average salary of the teachers in the county for the year 1898-99 was forty-three dollars and fifty-two cents. The abolition of the institute and the establishment of four weeks of summer school has tended to raise the standard of instructors throughout the county.

Mr. Borsheim was married, in 1895, to Miss Bertha Wambheim. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Borsheim, as follows: Allie Lawrence, Sylvia C. and Arthur M. Mr. Borsheim is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, and politically is a Repub- lican.

CHRISTIAN M. JOHNSON. Probably no man in Richland county, in North Dakota, is more interested, financially, in the improvement and de- velopment of that region. He is connected with several important business enterprises, and is one of the best known and public-spirited men in that community. He is the possessor of twenty-two hun- dred acres of land, and he makes his home in section 20, in Dwight township, and has improved his home farm, until it is one of the best in the vicinity.

Mr. Johnson was born in Norway, in July, 1843. He came to America with his parents in 1855, and the family resided in Chicago two years, after which they removed to Houston county, Minnesota, where our subject worked out the first summer at farm labor at five dollars per month. He clerked in a store during the following winter, and later returned to Chicago and was employed in various ways until the breaking out of the Civil war. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Fifteenth Wisconsin Vol- unteer Infantry, and served three years and four months as a private soldier. At the battle of Chick- amauga he was dangerously wounded, being shot through the right lung and the right arm. He was left on the field and taken prisoner and held ten days, and by agreement between Rosecrans and Bragg, an exchange of prisoners was effected and Mr. Johnson was sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained three months, then having im- .

proved sufficiently in strength he was sent to the United States hospital in Chicago. He remained there until the following April, when he was ordered transferred to the invalid corps, but refused to com- ply, and consequently was returned to his regiment, and remained with them through the Georgia cam- paign, although a sufferer from the wound received in his lung at Chickamauga. He served through the Atlanta campaign and was recommended for a government position by his regimental commander and General Thomas, and was appointed post sutler at Shell Mound, Tennessee, where he remained until about two years after the close of the war, when he went to Meridian, Mississippi, and engaged in the wholesale and retail business of clothing and planter's supplies. After six years he disposed of his business interests in Mississippi and removed to Chicago and engaged in the grocery trade until 1880, when he went to Dwight, North Dakota, and pur- chased a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Dwight township, one mile from the town of Dwight. This tract was purchased at a cost of five hundred dollars, and is now valued at four thousand dollars. He engaged in the mercantile business in Dwight, carrying a stock of general merchandise, from 1880 to 1898, when he disposed of the mercantile busi- ness. During all this time he was postmaster of Dwight, which office he held until the Cleveland ad- ministration. After disposing of his mercantile busi- ness he engaged in private banking and real estate loans in Dwight, and was again appointed postmas- ter under the present administration in 1898. He engages in general farming, and raises some excel- lent horses and cattle, and his home farm where he resides, one-half mile from Dwight, is supplied with every comfort and convenience of modern farming. He has two thousand two hundred acres of land in Richland county, and is one of the well-to-do men of that section, and is a gentleman who has shown marked ability in business management.

Mr. Johnson was married in Chicago, December 31, 1876, to Miss Minnie Anderson, a native of Nor- way. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, as follows: Annetta Matilda, Clar- ence Herbert and Myrtle C. Mr. Johnson takes an active part in church work, and is a member of the United Norwegian Lutheran church of Dwight. He was appointed by ex-Governor Briggs, a member of the board of management of the Mayville, North Dakota Normal School, which office he filled four years. He has held numerous township offices, such as treasurer, school treasurer, etc. He has always identified himself with the Republican party, and was a delegate to the convention at St. Louis, when William McKinley was nominated for the presi- dency. He was there elected one of the notification committee to apprise Mr. McKinley of his nomina- tion, and went with that committee to Canton, Ohio, and all were cordially received. Mr. Johnson en- joys the distinction of being the first of his country- men to be called to serve in that capacity. He has on numerous occasions been chosen as delegate to

CHRISTIAN M. JOHNSON.

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county and state conventions, and is a prominent worker for the principles of his party. His career has been marked throughout by persistent efforts to advance the interests of his community, and he has acquired an enviable reputation and a host of friends, who will be pleased to find his portrait in connection with this article.

WILBUR F. BALL. It is to Mr. Ball's per- severance and indomitable energy that he owes his success in life. He is one of the most prominent lawyers of Fargo and one of the best known men of North Dakota.

He was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1843, and is of English descent. Repre- sentatives of the family took a prominent part in the Revolutionary war and to it belonged Marv Ball, mother of General Washington. Dabney Ball, our subject's grandfather, was a native of Virginia and a farmer, who died in Washington, D. C. The parents of our subject, John and Sarah (Webb) Ball, were natives of Virginia and Penn- sylvania, respectively. The father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, as were also three of his brothers, and he preached in Virginia, Maryland and a part of Pennsylvania. He at- tended college in Baltimore, Maryland, and died in that state in 1845. His wife passed away in 1860.

During his early boyhood Mr. Ball attended the public schools of Virginia and Pennsylvania, but is principally self-educated, as he began the battle of life for himself at the age of twelve years as "devil" in a printing office at Washington, D. C. Later he was employed on some of the old news- papers of that city and was in the office of tlie "Washington Constitution" for a time. From there he went to Baltimore, Maryland, and subse- quently returned to Pennsylvania, working on the "Titusville Gazette" for a time. He next drifted to Canton, Ohio, and from there to Akron, that state. At the opening of the Civil war he enlisted at Canton, in 1861, in the Nineteenth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, but was rejected on account of his youth. The same spring he again enlisted and went to the front as a member of Company A, Second Olio Cavalry, with which he served for some months, fighting bushwhackers in southern Kan- sas and Missouri. He was injured by the fall of his horse and was discharged at Fort Scott, Kan- sas, in the fall of 1861.

Returning to Meadville, Pennsylvania, Mr. Ball entered the service of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad as brakeman, and after some months spent in the employ of that company became connected with the Buffalo & Erie Railroad, where he re- mained until the spring of 1864. During that vear he commenced the study of law at Ontonagon, Mich- igan, and on his admission to the bar, in 1865, opened an office at Eagle River, Michigan, where he engaged in practice until 1868. The following

three years were passed at Alexandria, Minnesota, and in 1871 he went to Otter Tail City, where he founded the "Otter Tail Record" and conducted the same for one year. He then moved his plant to Detroit, Minnesota, and edited a paper there in con- nection with his law practice until 1876, when he returned to Alexandria. In 1878 he came to what is now Fargo, North Dakota, driving across the country, and formed a law partnership with John A. Stowell, then district attorney and prosecutor for the third judicial district, comprising all of what is now the state of North Dakota. Mr. Ball began active practice in Fargo January 19, 1879, and two years later was elected district attorney for the district last above named, which position lie filled until 1885. In the meantime he was engaged in private practice with George P. Wilson, of Min- nesota, for seven years. Judge Wallin became a member of the firm in 1887. In 1888 General Wil- son retired from the firm and business was con- ducted under the name of Ball, Wallin & Smith until the Judge was elected to the supreme bench in 1889. Since then John S. Watson has been admitted to partnership and the firm is now known as Ball, Watson & McClay. Mr. Ball is one of the most successful lawyers of the state, and is assistant counsel for the Northern Pacific Railroad, with which he has been connected since 1872. He was one of the organizers and builders of the Fargo Southern Railroad and was one of its officers and directors during its existence. He is a man of good executive and business ability, who generally carries forward to successful completion whatever he un- dertakes, and has been a director of the Merchants State Bank of Fargo for some years.

On the 25th of December, 1865, Colonel Ball married Miss Mary A. Menyweather, a native of Michigan, and they have four children: William M., John G., Frank A. and Saralı G. The Colonel lias been a life-long Republican and has taken a very prominent part in party affairs. Socially he is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one of the most prom- inent and influential citizens of Fargo and is widely and favorably known throughout the state as a law- yer and public-spirited citizen.

WALTER S. EMERY. There is no class of biographies which is more interesting to read than that of the industrious and enterprising farmer's boy who has risen unaided from humble circum- stances to a position of affluence and comfort. Prominent among the men of Barnes county who have thus laboriously toiled onward and upward is Walter S. Emery, a prosperous and substantial farmer residing on section 14, township 142, range 58.

He was born on a farm in Somerset county, Maine, June 26, 1861, and is a son of Edwin and Mary (Ricker) Emery, also natives of the Pine

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Tree state, where the mother still resides. In 1861, at the opening of the Civil war, the father was fol- lowing the peaceful occupation of farming, but he laid aside all personal interests and in response to his country's call for aid he enlisted in the Seventh Maine Volunteer Infantry. Some months later he was taken ill and died in the service.

During his boyhood and youth our subject at- tended school and assisted in the operation of the home farm, remaining under the parental roof until the spring of 1883, when he came west. After a short time spent in Minneapolis he went to Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, where he worked in a sawmill one season. In the fall of that year he came to Barnes county, North Dakota, and found employ- ment on the farm where he now lives. In 1884 he took up a tree claim and during his residence in this state he has been remarkably successful, being now the owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres of rich and arable land.

In Valley City, Barnes county, Mr. Emery was married, in March, 1884, the lady of his choice being Miss Martha B. Beal, also a native of Maine, born February 17, 1866. Her parents, Henry and Emily Beal, make their home at present in Wis- consin. Mr. and Mrs. Emery have eight children, four sons and four daughters, all born on the farm where they still reside. In his political viws he is a stanch Republican, but has never sought nor de- sired public office, preferring to give his undivided attention to his business interests. In connection with general farming he is quite extensively en- gaged in stock raising, and at present has upon his place forty-nine head of good horses and a large herd of high-grade cattle. For the success that he has achieved in life he deserves great credit, as it is due entirely to his own industry, enterprise and good management. He is now one of the wealth- iest men in the northern part of Barnes county. Socially he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JOHN ALM, one of the leading farmers of Richland county, is an early resident of that region. He makes his home on section 36, of Eagle town- ship, and is the owner of one of the best farms of the locality. He has accumulated his property single-handed and is enjoying the fruits of his labors.

Our subject was born in Sweden September 14, 1848. He was employed several years in a sawmill in his native country, and in the spring of 1880 came to America. He went direct to Richland county, North Dakota, and settled on the farm where lie has since made his home. He has erected a com- plete set of substantial farm buildings and made other improvements on the place, looking to the comfort of the family and stock. He now owns six hundred acres of land and has made a success of general farming.

Our subject was married, in Sweden, October

5. 1872. to Miss Mary Nelson. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Alm, named as follows : Albert, Charles, Hilda, Freda, Helma, Selma, Emma, Axel, Anna and Frank. Mr. Alm has passed through the experiences of pioneer life and sur- mounted the difficulties which beset the early set- tler, and aside from gaining a comfortable com- petence has acquired an enviable reputation in Richland county. He is industrious and systematic in his work and deserves his success.

JUDGE ALFRED WALLIN, now of Fargo, is a member of the supreme bench of North Da- kota. In the last half-century, especially, it is sel- dom that one wins prominence in several lines. It is the tendency of the age to devote one's entire en- ergies to a special line, continually working upward and concentrating his efforts toward accomplish- ing a desired end; yet in the case of Judge Wallin it is demonstrated that an exalted position may be reached in more than one line of action. He is an eminent jurist, an able lawyer and a leader in politi- cal circles.

The Judge was born in Otsego county, New York, February 12, 1836, a son of Charles C. and Dorothy (Strongitharm) Wallin, also natives of New York. The father was a successful physician and surgeon who graduated from the famous old medical school at Philadelphia, the Washington & Jefferson Medical College, and was engaged in the practice of his profession in his native state until 1836, when he removed to Michigan. For fifteen years he practiced in that state and then, in 1851, went to Chicago, where he made his home until called from this life, in 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. The wife and mother died in Michigan in 1851. The paternal grandparents of our subject were born, reared and married in England.

Judge Wallin spent his boyhood in Michigan and attended the common schools of that state until fifteen years of age, when he was. apprenticed to a tanner and currier. He soon mastered the trade and worked at the same until reaching his majority. Feeling the need of a better education he entered the academy at Elgin, Illinois, in 1858, and pur- sued his studies there for one year, during which time he began the study of law. Later he entered the law department of the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was admitted to prac- tice in Allegan county, that state, in 1864, and sub- sequently by the supreme court of Illinois. He commenced the practice of his chosen profession at St. Peter, Minnesota, in October, 1865, and con- tinued there and at Redwood Falls, Minnesota, un- til January, 1883, when he removed to Fargo, Da- kota territory. He soon became a member of the law firm of Wilson & Ball, of that city, and later of the firm of Ball, Wallin & Smith, being asso- ciated with those gentlemen when the state was ad- mitted to the Union in 1889. At the first election

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he was elected a member of the supreme bench and was re-elected in 1896, the duties of which position he is now most ably discharging. During his resi- dence in Minnesota he was elected county attorney of Nicollet county and the same in Redwood coun- ty, and was also a candidate for district judge, but was defeated by Judge E. St. Julian Cox, of that state.

At Elgin, Illinois, Judge Wallin was married, in 1868, to Miss Ellen G. Keyes, also a native of New York, and a daughter of Eber and Juliette Gray Keyes, and by this union one daughter was born, Madeleine, now the wife of George C. Sikes, an editorial writer on the "Chicago Record." The Judge has always been a stanch supporter of the Republican party since its organization, and while in Minnesota stumped the state in support of its principles. He is an able jurist and is held in high esteem by the people of North Dakota.

HON. HARRY S. OLIVER, postmaster of Lisbon, Ransom county, is a gentleman of excellent characteristics and one in whom all who honor true citizenship can find a ready friend. He has labored faithfully for the better interests of the state and his county, and thoroughly appreciates the wants of his community. He has been called upon by his fellow citizens to occupy various important official positions, and in every instance has proven his ef- ficiency and has administered the duties of his various offices with rare fidelity and increasing pop- ularity. He is owner of a fine estate about twelve miles from Lisbon, and makes his home in the city, placing a tenant on the farm.

Our subject was born in Chautauqua county, New York, July 27, 1855, and was the youngest in a family of eleven children born to Stephen and Mary (Loyd) Oliver, both of whom were natives of Biddenden, England. The father, his brother and our subject's grandfather were wholesale mer- chants in England and the father of our subject, upon coming to America, purchased a tract of land in New York, a portion of which is now included in the Chautauqua S. S. grounds. The father died in 1859, and the mother in 1866. Our subject re- ceived an academic education in the Friendship Academy, and after the death of his father his prop- erty was lost through the decline in oil. He went to work in Jamestown, New York, in a wholesale house and operated a hardware store in Friendship, New York, for a short time. He went to Lisbon, North Dakota, in 1880, and in December of tliat year purchased a farm about twelve miles from the city. He located there permanently in 1881 and opened up a large wheat farm, which soon covered one thousand acres of land. The family joined him in 1882. In 1884 our subject became interested in stock raising and now has a general farm, operated by a tenant.

Our subject was married, in 1879, to Miss Flor- ence Waterhouse. Two sons have been born to Mr.

and Mrs. Oliver, as follows: Fred and Harry. Mr. Oliver is a stanch Republican and is firm for the gold standard, and is one of the few men who stood firm for the principles of his party in 1895 and 1896, as regards that issue. He served as county assessor in 1882 and in 1884 was chairman of the county central committee and was re-elected in 1888, 1804 and 1896. He was a member of the territorial legislature in 1885 and 1886 and a member of the state legislature in the second and third sessions. He was the author of the "Open Wheat Market Bill," providing for the right of an individual to erect elevators. He was also chairman of the com- mittee of county boundaries and Oliver county was named in his honor. In the special session of 1892 he introduced and secured the passage of the "plat- form bill." He was chairman of the committee on banks and banking in 1891 and in 1892 was chair- man of the committee on grain grading and ware- housing. He has attended all but one state and terri- torial convention since going to Dakota and num- bers a large list of friends and acquaintances in all parts of the state. He is prominent in secret so- ciety circles and is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America and Royal Arcanum, and is commander of the Knights Templar commandery.

MILTON D. WILLIAMS, who is successfully pursuing agriculture in township 140, range 63, is one of the pioneers of that locality, and has aided in the development of Stutsman county. His active public spirit and good citizenship has never been called in question and he is one of the substantial farmers of his county.

Our subject was born on a farm in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1849. His father, George W. Williams, was born and raised on the same farm, on which the grandfather, John Will- iams, settled in 1801. He was of Welsh descent. and was one of the first settlers of Pennsylvania. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Deal, and was born and raised in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and was of German descent.

Our subject was the seventh in order of birth in a family of ten children, and received a common- school education and also attended Tipton Semi- nary and Millersville State Normal. After com- pleting his studies he engaged in teaching and fol- lowcd that profession ten years, after spending one summer in Nebraska. He went to Nemeha county, Kansas, in the spring of 1879, and located on a farm, where he followed that calling three years, and on account of ill health went to North Dakota in March, 1882. He selected land as a homestead and tree claim northeast of Montpelier, in Stuts- man county, and erected a small house and stable, and in the fall of that year was joined by his family. He engaged in farming there seven years, and then removed to section 9, in township 140, range 63,

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where he resided six years, and then purchased the south half of section 18, in township 140, range 63, on which place he now resides and has added valua- ble improvements. His farm consists of four hun- dred and eighty acres, with about three hundred acres under cultivation, and Mr. Williams operates about twenty-one hundred acres, and is one of the most extensive farmers of Stutsman county. He follows general farming, but his interests are in the main the raising of the cereals. He has a com- plete set of substantial farm buildings and all neces- sary farm machinery, including a steam threshing rig, and threshes his own grain. When he went to Dakota he had but a few personal effects and no money, but by dint of his own efforts he has be- come one of the substantial men of that region. He worked in a lumber yard during the first sum- mer in Dakota and also broke land for others with an ox-team, and engaged in that work over a great portion of the county. He worked for others until 1884, when he began farming for himself.

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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 35

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