Stearns County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1915 (part 12 of 12)

William O'Brien, man of affairs of Eden Valley, editor, postmaster and township officer, was born in Galena, 111., August 24, 1869, second of the ten children of Hon. James O'Brien and his wife, Catherine Lyons, who brought him to Houston county, this state, in 1870. In that county, William O'Brien received his early education and his boyhood and young manhood were spent after the usual manner of the younger generations in a rural community. His father was a prominent man, state senator, chief justice of New Munich, 1888-

1892, and county officer, and young William was early inspired to make the most of his own life. In time he was enabled to enter the University of Notre Dame, at South Bend, Indiana. At that institution his mental powers were given an opportunity for the widest development, and when he was graduated from the scientific department in June, 1892, he was amply qualified to step into any position which Opportunity might place before him. After looking about for a short time, he came to Eden Valley. Here on September 27, 1892, he issued the first number of the Eden Valley Journal. In this paper he has labored earnestly for the best good of the community. He never embraces a project until he is thoroughly satisfied as to its merits, but having once given his support to a cause, nothing can swerve his loyalty. The wide circulation, of the Journal, and the influence it exerts, is ample proof of the success of his labors. Under Mr. O'Brien's care, the postal service has reached a high degree of efficiency. He received his appointment in June 1897, and has since served continuously to May, 1914. He has been town clerk since the spring of 1901, and the school clerk since 1898. He has been manager of the Eden Valley Telephone Co. since 1910. Mr. O'Brien was married in 1898, to Margaret Sattler, who was born in Eden Valley in 1879. They have five children : Marie, James A., Malonia, Lucille and William, Jr.

John Leisen, veteran of the Civil war, a resident of St. Cloud for fortyone years, and active merchant for twenty-seven years, a public spirited and honored citizen during all his residence here, died at St. Raphael's Hospital, May 18, 1908. Mr. Leisen was one of St. Cloud's foremost men, and was esteemed and respected for his sturdy honesty and integrity. He belonged to that class of Germans, whose thrift and industry has done so much to enhance the material prosperity of this section of the state. His business career was a successful one, and his prosperity was also enhanced by his real estate ventures. He was a devout and regular worshipper at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Leisen was born March 25, 1839, in Meirsdorf, Province of the Rhine, Prussia, Germany, and as a youth of thirteen years was apprenticed to a shoemaker from whom he thoroughly learned the trade. In 1860 he entered the German army, and served three years in the cavalry. It was in 1864 that he came to America and located in Kenosha, Wis. Nine months later he came to St. Paul. For a short period, from May 28, 1865, to August 4, of the same year, he was enrolled as a private in Company G, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. May 7, 1867, he gave up his work as a shoemaker in St. Paul, and opened a foot-wear store in St. Cloud, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days. He retired December 31, 1894. The site of his original store at the corner of Germain street and Seventh avenue south is now occupied by the handsome Leisen block, where his two sons are now in busines. In addition to this block, Mr. Leisen owned some of the most valuable business property in St. Cloud, as well as a number of lots in St. Paul. His store was for many years the best of its kind in St. Cloud. It would be difficult to find in this neighborhood, a better example of thrift and attention to business than has been embodied in the success achieved by John Leisen. Aside from his business and his church he took a keen interest iu patriotic matters, and was a valued member of McKelvy Post, G. A. R. John Leisen was married at St. Paul, January 22, 1867, to Elizabeth, and this union resulted in four sons: John J., Michael A., Frank P., and an unnamed deceased infant. John J. is a leading dry-goods merchant of St. Cloud. Michael A. is a prominent resident of St. Cloud, and Frank P. of St. Paul. Mrs. Elizabeth (Fetsch) Leisen is dead.

George F. Brett was born at Chittenango, Madison county. New York, July 24, 1825, and lived in his home town until May 20, 1850. He was of Knickerbocker Dutch stock on his father's side and of Mayflower stock on his mother's. He attended the local schools, and began the study of law but by reason of the death of his father, who was a manufacturer of wagons and carriages, he carried on the latter business, with contracting and building. In the early spring of 1850 having seen at Syracuse a panorama of the Mississippi river from St. Louis to St. Anthony Falls, he became fired with a desire to see this new country and started at the date named, leaving home with $80 in cash, an outfit of tools and a muzzle-loading rifle. When he reached St. Anthony Falls his $80 had dwindled to $5, but nothing discouraged, he rented a building and began making wagons and sleighs, the venture proving so profitable that he soon had a number of men in his employ. This building being destroyed by fire he moved to the west side of the river, erecting the pioneer grist mill, manufacturing corn meal and unbolted flour. In the fall of 1851 he was elected sherifl^ of Ramsey county, entering on his duties the following January. His jurisdiction extended from Lake Superior to the Missouri river and north to the British Possessions. He served until 1854, and then engaged in the real estate business at St. Anthony Falls. He organized the townsite company which platted St. Cloud City, as is more fully described on another page. In the spring of 1862 he took to New Orleans the first ship loaded with merchandise to enter the port of that city following its capture, the venture being a very profitable one. Inside of two years his fortune from various sources amounted to six million dollars, practically all of which was lost within the year following. In 1876 he left the south and located at Washington City, which was his home until his death, March 13, 1902. In a sketch written a few years prior to his death he described himself as a "farmer, wagon and carriage maker, sheriflf, postmaster, real estate dealer, editor, townsite promoter, owner of flour mills, steamboats, steamships and sailing craft, wholesale and retail merchant, member constitutional convention, colonel of engineers, canal and railroad president and inventor." Even this enumeration did not fully exhaust the list of the activities of this remarkable man. He had married a (laughter of C. T. Stearns, who died near New Orleans, September 26, 1860, aged 30 years.

Christ Highhouse. The following pen-and-ink sketch of Chris. Highhouse, the first sheriff of Stearns county, is given by a contemporary: "Chris, was a tall, lank-sided customer, always ready for a quarrel if there was any chance for one and willing to fight if he could find someone to measure strength with him. He was ignorant, generous when in funds, a frequenter of saloons, and made himself popular among the early settlers of Stearns county by his hospitable regards at the bar, and his roystering habits when not engaged in disputes. He was elected the first sheriff of Stearns county and his position among wrong-doers was certainly unique. As a matter of fact in those early days the judges themselves did not set any too good an example of sobriety and court proceedings were often blent with scenes of mirth and gaiety, occasioned by a too free indulgence in ardent spirits. After having run his course here Chris, went to Little Falls where he engaged in some alleged robberies and finally left the country."

Peter Magnus Magnusson, psychologist, was born in Angstugan, near Vexi, Sweden, March 4, 1865, son of Sven and Maria Christina (Stendahl) Magnusson, who brought the family to America in 1868. In 1887-8 he was principal of the St. Ansgar's Academy, St. Ansgar, Minnesota, and in 1890 received his A. B. from the Gustavus Adolphus College, at St. Peter, Minnesota. In 1890-91 he attended the Johns Hopkins University. In 1893-4 he was teacher of psychology and methods in the State Normal School at Mayville, North Dakota, and in the State Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1894-1905 and 1906. In 1906 he attended the University of Minnesota and received the degree of L. L. B. and in 1907 the degree of L. L. M., being admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1906. During 1905 and 1906 he was the president of the Minnesota College at Minneapolis. In 1906 he was also the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State of Minnesota. He was a member of the Charter Commission of the city of St. Cloud which drew up its present charter.

Mr. Magnusson is the author of several well-known books : Logical and Psychological Principles Applied to Grammar, 1893 ; Great Educators, 1900 ; The Failure and Triumph of Jesus, 1903 ; Sociological Studies of the Family, 1903 ; Psychology as applied to Education, 1913. He was united in marriage to Eugenia Lillian Crosby, of Wychoff, Minnesota, June 11, 1896, and the family lives at St. Cloud, Minnesota.

James F. Stevenson, pioneer manufacturer of St. Cloud, and for many years a potent factor in the St. Cloud Methodist Episcopal church, was born in Washington county, near Pittsburgh, June 7, 1824, of Scotch ancestry. His early days were spent in McKeesport, Penn., where he received his education. As a youth he became interested in the foundry and machine shop business, and that line occupied his attention in his native state until 1869, when he came to St. Cloud, and built what has now developed into the Granite City Iron Works. He also engaged in the hardware business and the old settlers relate that he brought here the first coal stove ever seen in St. Cloud. Some years ago he retired from the foundry business, but was very active in attending to his business affairs up to within a short time of his death. He was confined to the house the last four months of his illness, and to his bed the last two months. He died January 16, 1915. Mr. Stevenson was a profound student, especially of the Bible and kindred works. His name is inseparably connected with that of the Methodist Episcopal church. Receiving deep religious convictions as a youth, he early joined the church, and continued a faithful member the remainder of his life. Upon coming to St. Cloud, he united with the local church, September 23, 1871, under the pastorate of the Rev. W. W. Satterlee. He was the main pillar of this society for many years, and his presence is greatly missed. Physically, mentally and morally, Mr. Stevenson was a bulwark and a tower of strength to the city, ever standing for the best as a citizen.

At his funeral, Rev. F. W. Hill read a tribute prepared by Dr. J. H. Dewart, a former pastor and old friend. The following extracts from that tribute will preserve to future generations something of the inspiration and moving force of Mr. Stevenson's life.

'*In the twenty-five years that I have so intimately known Mr. Stevenson, I have regarded him as a wonderful man. The two qualities which characterized his whole life were integrity and independence. He was a strictly conscientious man, not only did he act honestly, but he was honest. He was not governed by external law, but by his internal ideas of right and wrong, and he most austerely followed the rigid lines which he laid down for his own conduct, conscientiously walking in the path he believed to be right. I have always regarded him as one of the most honorable men I ever knew. When a mere lad he joined the Methodist Episcopal church and for about seventy-five years he has remained a faithful and consistent member. There were those who did not agree with the theological opinions that he formed from his study of the Scriptures, but all agreed as to the purity of his life and the integrity of his character. He gave liberally to every good cause, especially to the church of which he was a member. For years he probably did more toward building up and sustaining the Methodist church in St. Cloud than any other man in the city, not only by giving liberally of his means and attending the services regularly, but by inducing others to become interested in the work of the church. In his latter years he was naturally less active, but he never lost his interest."

In 1876, Mr. Stevenson married Lovisa C. Freeman, who survives him. By this marriage there are three children : Frank A. Stevenson, Bertha J. and R. F. Stevenson. Frank A. Stevenson is an importer and wholesale dealer of fine teas and coffee in Vancouver, B. C. He married Julia O'Brien, of St. Cloud, Minn. Bertha J. is the wife of Dr. C. H. Kohler, of Minneapolis. R. F. Stevenson is credit man for the St. Cloud office of the International Harvester Co. He married Adelaide H. Dunn, of St. Cloud.

Right Reverend Joseph E. Busch, D. D., Bishop of St. Cloud, formerly bishop of Lead, (South Dakota), was born in Red Wing, Minnesota, April 16, 1866. He completed his theological course in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was ordained in 1889. He spent the next two years at the Catholic University, Washington, and on his return to St. Paul, was appointed secretary to the Most Reverend Archbishop. He was assistant at the Cathedral and at St. Mary's Church, St. Paul, and afterwards served as pastor at South St. Paul, Le Sueur, and St. Lawrence parish, Minneapolis. He was head of the Diocesan Missionary band from its organization in 1902 until his consecration as Bishop of Lead on May 19, 1910. He was one of the six Bishops consecrated by the Most Reverend Archbishop Ireland at St. Paul Seminary. March 18, 1915, he was duly installed as Bishop of St. Cloud.

named, was born at Pittsfield, Mass., January 9, 1907. In 1835 he moved to what was then the territory of Michigan and later to the territory of Wisconsin, locating in that part which is now included in the state of Iowa. In 1847 he came to Minnesota to assist in the construction of Fort Ripley, and the following year made his home at St. Anthony Falls, where he established a machine shop and planing mill. He was a member of the territorial legislature, being the only Whig in the council, all the others being Democrats. In 1856 he came to St. Cloud, where he lived until February, 1864, when he removed to New Orleans, where George F. Brott, his son-in-law, was living and where he engaged in business until 1867, when he went to Mobile. For two years he was in the hardware business, afterwards for ten years being register of the Mobile land office, until this was consolidated with the land office at Montgomery, when Mr. Stearns retired from business life, and in 1880 went to New Orleans toi make his home with his son Henry, who was engaged in business in that city. His death occurred May 22, 1898, when he was in the 92d year of his age.

Louis A. Evans was born near Philadelphia, Pa., November 2, 1822. After attending school he learned the piano trade, at which he found employment in various cities until 1856, when he came from New Orleans to St. Cloud, arriving here December 15. He at once engaged in business and in 1862 when the town was incorporated as a city was elected its first mayor. He served in the legislature in 1864-65, and in 1867 was elected to the state senate. For nearly twenty years he filled the office of judge of probate of Stearns county. In 1871 he married Mrs. Elizabeth W. Libby. His death occurred at his home in St. Cloud, June 18, 1897.

Sylvanus B. Lowry was born in Tennessee, the son of the Rev. David Lowry, who first settled in Iowa as a missionary to the Winnebago Indians. Sylvanus, who was then a boy of seven years, became during this time familiar with the habits of the Indians and acquired their language. The father having been appointed United States Indian agent for the tribe the son was made interpreter. The tribe was afterward removed to Long Prairie in this state, and the Rev. Mr. Lowry lost his position as agent but retained the post of superintendent of the manual labor schools. S. B. Lowry, through the influence of Henry M. Rice, was appointed Indian trader with the Amercan Fur Company in 1849, having his principal office at Watab with a branch at Winnebago Prairie, in this county. He received from Governor Gorman the appointment of adjutant general (from this deriving the title by which he was afterwards known) but as a result of personal political quarrels was soon removed and Isaac Van Etten appointed in his place. He was the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 1859 but was defeated by Ignatius Donnelly. After his removal to St. Cloud he engaged in the forwarding and commission business for several years. During these years he was the ruling factor in the Democratic councils of this part of the territory and state. His death occurred in this city December 21, 1865. General Lowry married Josephine Wood, daughter of David T. Wood, of Woodstock, a townsite located on Sauk river. Several children were born to them. The widow is now a resident of Michigan.

Henry Clay Burbank was born at Lewis, N. Y., May 4, 1835. In 1853 he came to St. Paul and with his brother, James C. Burbank, engaged in tlie forwarding and commission business. He came to St. Cloud in 1861 to take personal charge of the business of J. C. & H. C. Burbank & Co., which had largely increased and in the succeeding years assumed great proportions, including transportation and government contracts for supplies, besides an extensive mercantile business at this place. In 1872 he was elected to the state senate from this district, then the 31st, serving in the sessions of 1873 and 1874.

In 1866 the name of the firm was changed to Burbank Bros., which was later dissolved, and Mr. Burbank removed to St. Paul becoming a member of the clothing manufacturing firm of Campbell, Burbank & Co. He afterwards went to Rochester and engaged in the mercantile business, his death occurring at that place February 23, 1905. At St. Cloud September 3, 1868, lie married Mary C. Mitchell, who survives him.

Joseph P. Wilson, a veteran of the Mexican war and for half a century a resident of Minnesota, Joseph P. Wilson died at his home in St. Cloud February 18, 1900, at the age of 77 years. Born at Columbia Falls, Maine, March 16, 1823, his young manhood was spent in the east until 1841, when he emigrated to Geneva, 111., where he studied .law and was admitted to the bar, but enlisted for the Mexican War in 1846, serving in the commissary department of an Illinois regiment. On his return he located at Oswego, 111., removing in 1850 to St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and in 1858 was a member of the constitutional convention. While residing in Minneapolis, in company with George F. Brott, C. T. Stearns and others he purchased the land below, the ravine which was platted as St. Cloud City, better known as Lower town. He removed to St. Cloud in 1863, returning to Minneapolis in 1876, but in 1888 built a handsome house in East St. Cloud, where he had platted a large acreage into city lots, and made this his home until his death.

In 1850, while at Oswego, he married Mary Corbett, who survived him, as did five children born to them. Mr. Wilson was very active in business aft'airs and w^as prominently identified with a number of important railroad undertakings.

Theodore H. Barrett was born at Orange ville, N. Y., August 27, 1834. When he had scarcely attained his majority, young Barrett came to St. Cloud in 1856, to make his way as a civil engineer. During the subsequent years he filled many government contracts, both in this state and in the Indian territory, which were very profitable. He enlisted in the Ninth Minnesota Volunteers in 1862, and at the close of the war had gained the rank of brigadier general, having the distinction of fighting the last battle of the war near Brazos, Texas. He was a member of the state reformatory board. Purchasing a large tract of land in Grant and Stevens counties he engaged in farming on a large scale, and was at Herman when his death occurred July 20, 1900, from a stroke of paralysis.

Francis Talcott, the Pioneer jeweler of St. Cloud, was born at Glastonbury, Conn., March 4, 1822. He came to St. Cloud in May, 1856, and engaged in the jewehy business, a trade learned in the east, his first location being near the western end of the Tenth street bridge and afterwards on Fifth avenue. He retired from active business about the year 1887. He first married, November 14, 1871, Rhoda W. Dewey, of Minneapolis, and some years after her death, Elizabeth A. Mosely, at Glastonbury, Conn., in October, 1886. His death occurred April 28, 1897, his widow surviving him.

Bernard Overbeck was a native of Hanover, Germany, where he was born December 6, 1829. He came to the United States in 1842, stopping first at Pittsburgh and then at Cincinnati, he came to St. Cloud in 1857. He started a hotel, the "Farmer's Home," in a small log building on Sixth avenue, afterwards moved to the rear of the lot where it still stands. He was the first tax collector in the town of St. Cloud, for twenty years was coroner of Steams county, and in 1866 was a member of the legislature from this district. At Cincinnati, in 1851, he married Gesina Dirkis, who died in St. Cloud in 1891, his own death occurring March 4, 1898. A son and two daughters survive him.

Powell Brothers "C F.. & W. Powell, Hardware," was for many years, a familiar sign in front of a store building in St. Cloud, and the firm was well known not only in the city, but in the adjacent farming community. The Powell brothers were born in Penn Yan, Yates county, N. Y., Charles in 1828, and William in 1834. They remained there until their young manhood, when C. F. went west to Chicago, to further pursue his trade of tin and metal worker. In 1855 they decided to enter into the hardware business, and with favorable reports of the then young and growing town of St. Cloud, selected that as the one in which to risk their modest means. In 1860 they established a branch in St. Anthony Falls, which Charles managed until 1866, when the whole business was again united in St. Cloud. Here they remained in the same location on St. Germain street, (where they removed early from lower town,) C. F. retiring from the firm in 1890, and William continuing the business until his death.

In 1861 Charles married Juliet Alden, of St. Anthony Falls. They had two daughters, Mary and Florence. In 1884 he built a home in Minneapolis, where he spent most of his time, and was not actively engaged in any business. He died suddenly, of heart failure, in 1895. William had married Annette L. Marvin, in 1858. They also had two daughters, Jane and Gertrude. For many years he was a member and president of the city council, also a vestryman and senior warden of St. John's Episcopal church until his death, which occurred in March, 1898. Both were men of sterling integrity and worth, respected in the community, helpers in the early struggles of the young town, and later in its prosperity as a growing city.

Becker Brothers, candy manufacturers and retailers, soda dispensers and cigar dealers, conducting the leading and best-patronized establishment of its kind in St. Cloud, was established at 706 St. Germain street, in 1912, by Phillip J. and H. T. A. Becker, both popular young men, and both natives of this city. The ice cream parlors are inviting, the soda fountain is most attractive to all who enter the place, while the confectionery supplies present so immaculate and dainty an appearance that their toothsomeness is at once apparent. All the show-cases are new and large and sanitary The sodas are the best sold in the city, while the home made chocolates and cream taflpy in which the brothers specialize, have won a place for themselves in the estimation of St. Cloud consumers. All the goods are of the highest class, absolutely fresh, and sold in good measure. No one makes a purchase there who does not return and become a regular customer. The young men are rapidly forging ahead, their quiet business methods, their honest dealings, and their natural social inclinations having obtained for them an enviable position in this town where they have spent their entire lives, and where they are widely known. They have made many improvements in their place, and the business is constantly growing. Mrs. H. T. A. Becker who assists her husband in looking after the details of the business is very popular among the young peoples' set in St. Cloud, and among the clubs and societies, and her personality has been an important factor in the success of the business.

Phillip J. Becker, of the firm of Becker Brothers, is a native-born son, having first seen the light of day in St. Cloud, January 8, 1881. He was reared in this city and attended the Cathedral Parochial schools. As a youth he became interested in candy making, and upon reaching a suitable age entered the employ of W. C. Jones, expert candy-maker, with whom he remained for fourteen years. During this period he made a close study of the art, and became thoroughly .proficient. So highly were his candies thought of, and so well was he himself regarded, that in 1912 he was urged by his friends to start an establishment of his own. Accordingly, he formed a partnership with his brother, Henry T. A. and started in business. The success of the venture has more than justified their most sanguine hopes. Mr. Becker is a member of the Cathedral church, the Knights of Columbus, also of the Commercial club.

Mr. Becker has made a hobby of out-door recreation. He is one of the owners of the picturesque "Shady Nook" Cottage and Grove on the banks of the beautiful Big Spunk lake, and here he spends his vacations, and his leisure hours, most of the time exercising his skill in luring the members of the finny tribe from their watery homes. He is considered one of the best fishermen in Stearns county, and on his return from his trips he never fails to have some splendid catches to pass around among his friends. In recognition of his enthusiasm as a sportsman, Mr. Becker has been made president of the Shady Nook (Winter Quarters) club, and under his careful guidance, the club is maintained in accordance with its ritual, the command of the president being its supreme authority.

Henry T. A. Becker, of the firm of Becker brothers, manufacturing and retail confectioners, was born in St. Cloud, March 31, 1882, and attended the Cathedral Parochial schools. Even as a youth he became interested in the confectionery business and was employed for a year as a clerk in a candy store. However, his attention was soon turned to other lines. He entered the dental laboratory of Dr. T. A. Pattison, of St. Cloud, and there fully mastered the technique of dental laboratory work, remaining until Dr. Pattison 's death. Then Mr. Becker was employed in a similar capacity with Drs. Henneman, Leonard, Cook and Hoyt. It was in 1913 that he opened his present laboratory in the Julius Adams block. It is fully equipped with all the latest appliances for the most modern dental work, and he has a large output, turning out dental work, not only for St. Cloud, but for the dentists in many other places. He is thoroughly competent and skilled, and his products are highly valued in the profession. While the laboratory occupies the greater part of his time, he is also actively engaged in the confectionery business as noted above, his interests in the store being looked after by his wife. Mr, Becker is a member of the Catholic church, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Commercial club.

Mr. Becker was married October 17, 1905, to Matilda H. Gehrenbeck, of St. Cloud, who was born in Monticello, Minn., January 28, 1880, a daughter of Gottleib and Hattie J. Barnett Gehrenbeck, now residents of St. Cloud. In the Gehrenbeck family there are four children : Gottleib C, Bernard, Matilda and Mabel. Gottleib C. lives in Canada, and is employed by the Des Moines Bridge and Iron works. Matilda is the wife of Henry T. A. Becker, as noted. Mabel is the wife of Warren C. Young, of St. Cloud. Before her marriage, Mrs. Becker was for several years a proficient bookkeeper, and she now looks after the store of the Becker Brothers in a most capable manner. She is past chief of honor in the Degree of Honor, and for the past three years has been its financier.

Mathias Becker, a veteran of the Civil war, was born in Germany, January 26, 1837, and upon coming to America in 1855 located in Chicago. In 1856 he came to St. Paul and worked at his trade as a shoemaker. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. E, 6th Minn. Vol. Inf., and served three years until honorably discharged at St. Paul. In 1866 he came to St. Cloud. After working three years as a shoemaker, he added a retail department. He continued in business until failing health caused him to retire. He now lives at 701 Sixth avenue and Seventh street, north. Mr. Becker was married in 1867 to Mary Horner, and they had foiu- children: Charles, Joseph, Mathew and Ida. Mrs. Mary (Horner) Becker died in 1874, In 1875, he married Elizabeth Gerturde Trout and to this union have been born six children : William, Phillip J., Henry T. A., Josephine, Frank and Andrew (deceased).

Joseph Mayer, a sturdy pioneer, was born in Switzerland in 1840, and in February, 1863, married Anna Katarina Rollfing, also a native of that country. On November 13, 1865, they started for America, reaching St. Cloud in February, 1866, after many hardships and difficulties which neither of them ever afterward forgot. In the spring they started out for the Popplebusch, now Eden valley. On its edge they found a widow and five sons, each of whom had taken a claim of 160 acres. So they continued their way and after crossing a bad swamp, came to a desirable location containing a small prairie. There they settled and erected a log cabin. All their goods and provisions had to be carried through the swamp. There were no roads, even to the nearest neighbors. These neighbors, Arnold by name and German by birth, proved \ery helpful in many ways. " Many adventures befell Mr. and Mrs. Mayer. One night when Mr. Mayer was away from home, nightfall overtook him and he was unable to reach the little cabin. - He found shelter at the cabin of two Englishmen, whose language he did not understand, and to whom he com- municated his wants only with difficulty. All night long he worried about his wife. As soon as daylight came he found his way home and learned that his wife had spent the hours of the darkness on the roof of the cabin, listening to the cry of the wolves and the call of the night fowls, and ringing a bell to keep all intruding animals away. The years passed and the family prospered. Finally they started one day for St. Cloud to visit an old friend, Joseph Eten, of Le Sueur, also a native of Switzerland, with whom they hoped to talk over old times and dance some Swiss dances. But on the way Mrs. Mayer was taken ill and they .could only reach Pleasant Lake, where her parents lived. The illness proved very serious, and she had to remain there for many months. Mr. Mayer sold his farm to stay at her bedside. Later he bought a farm two miles nearer St. Cloud, and there he took his wife when she had sufficiently recovered. After a year there they sold out and bought a farm on the Pleasant Lake road. There a baby boy was born and there they remained for some three years. But the grasshoppers came and devoured the crops. Mr. Mayer's health failed and the physicians advised him to go South. Accordingly he sold out, and took his family to Texas, where he rented a farm six miles from Dallas. But he had many difficulties there, and the climate in Texas did not agree with Mrs. Mayer and the child. So the family came back to St. Cloud. Then they bought a farm in Luxemberg, this county. But Mr. Mayer's health was still poor, and after three years he sold everything except a cow and a team of horses, and bought three lots in East St. Cloud. The vicinity was the brush land, and the Mayers were the first settlers in the vicinity. Soon, however, other people began to come to the neighborhood. The Mayers moved their home from its original location to a corner lot. They took an especial interest in the German Catholic church. Mr. Mayer, like the other members who had teams, helped to haul stones and other material for the building, while Mrs. Mayer was one of the first members of the Women's Societies and of the Rosary Sodality of the church. Mr. Mayer suffered during the cyclone of April 1886. He was working with his team at the brewery near the hospital when he saw it coming. He hurried his horses luitil he reached the hospital, then let them run, and found shelter for himself near a fence. The fearful storm passed over him, partly covered him with sand and left him unconscious. As soon as he regained consciousness, feeble though he was, he assisted in getting the wounded into the hospital. Then he looked for his horses. He found them partly covered with dirt and sand and badly bruised. The Avagon was scattered far and wide. This event still further wrecked Mr. Mayer's health, and during the summer he began to realize that his end was near. August 22, 1886, he died, attended by the consolation of the Church. The St. Joseph society attended the funeral Avith garlands and flags. This left Mrs. Mayer to look after the details of his business. He had been an industrious and economical man, had sheltered his wife from sorrow in every way possible, and left her to attend to her duties as wife and mother. Now she found herself facing business difficulties to which she was unaccustomed. But she trusted in the Lord and took up her burdens with courage. Her son was then but eleven years old. He was a dutiful son and a great help to his mother. At the age of fourteen he started work for W. B. Mitchell, and learned the printer's trade. In spite of a serious illness, Mrs. Mayer worked hard, and she and her son prospered together. Mrs. Mayer erected two new houses. Then came the typhoid in the neighborhood. One man whom she nursed died and she herself took the dread disease. Later while visiting she had several bad falls down two flights of stairs, where one man had broken his neck and another had been badly injured. Still later she had a bad fall in her own home while doing some papering. This kept her from her favorite work of planting her garden. But now, after all these difficulties, peace and contentment have come to this devoted woman. She has sold two of her houses, and lives in the other. At the age of seventy she looks back over a life of much hardship, which has been blessed nevertheless with the love of husband and son, and brightened by the consolation of religion. She is the true type of women who have helped to make the "West what it is today. The son, after working at the printing trade several years, went to Canada and too^c up farming. He hopes, however, soon to purchase a farm in California, and there his mother will live with him in the afternoon of life, away from the cold winters and surrounded by the fruits and flowers that she loves so well. William Pattison, deceased, came from Scotland to Canada in the year 1848, and after a few years there, located in Leroy, Genesee county. New York. In the fall of 1855 he came to St. Cloud and thence to St. Wendel, where he preempted 160 acres of meadow and wood land, where he lived long enough to legally hold it. During the summers of 1857 and 1858 he operated a ferryboat on the Mississippi river. The boat was the property of Rev. Thomas Calhoun. In 1859 he returned to Leroy, where he married Mary Duncan, a native of Scotland, born on a farm, situated on the shores of Cluny lake, near Craigie. Mary Duncan was four years of age when she came to America with her parents. They first located in Monroe county. New York, and later purchased a farm in Leroy township, Genesse county, where her parents died. After her marriage to Mr. Pattison in 1859, they came to St. Cloud and purchased a farm in section 6, where Mr. Pattison engaged in farming, and became supervisor and justice of the peace of his township. He also operated a cable ferry across the Sauk river in 1867. Mr. Pattison took an active interest in the afl'airs of his township, was the pioneer member of the school board, and was treasurer of School District No. 2 for many years. In 1884 the family moved into St. Cloud, where Mr. Pattison died in 1907. Mr. Pattison was a quiet, unostentatious man and is favorably remembered by all who knew him. The District School No. 2, in which he was so interested in his life time, a historical sketch, has been prepared for this work by Mrs. Pattison, who is the only person living who is familiar with its story. Mr. and Mrs. William Pattison are the parents of five children : Estelle, living at home ; Edith S., a teacher in the William Penn School in Minneapolis; William T., who is superintendent of an asbestos manufacturing concern in Kansas City ; Thomas A., who died in 1902, aged 27 years, a graduate from the dental department of University of Minnesota, class of 1897 ; and John B., of St. Cloud, a separate sketch of whom will be found in this work.