Wabasha County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1884 (part 2 of 2)

Richard O'Brien, farmer and stock-raiser, of Lake township, is a brother of John O'Brien, of Lake City, and, like him, one of this county's successful farmers. He was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, May, 1840, and, like his brother, was reared and educated on the farm, where he remained till the fall of 1863, when he came to Lake City, Minnesota, and at once applied himself to labor at anything to earn an honest dollar, and so continued two years. By this time economy and industry had rewarded him with the necessary means to purchase one hundred and si.xty acres ot land in Lake township, where he at once engaged in agricultural pursuits. Although Mr. O'Brien was not among the early arrivals in this county who secured free homes from the government, he is one of the successful landowners of the county, having added to his first purciiase till lie is now the independent owner of nine hundred and forty-seven acres of land in sections 14, 15, 22, 23 in Lake township, six hundred acres of which is under cultivation, the remainder is wild pasture and all under his own personal supervision. The products of his farm is largely disposed of through the medium market stock (cattle and hogs), of which he turns oft" yearly about eight hundred dollars' worth. He married Margaret McShane, a native of Ireland, and by this union they have five children, as follows : Edward, William, Thomas. Anna May and Lula. Family are members of the Catholic church. His executive ability has been appreciated by his fellow-citizens from the fact that he has held the office of chairman of the town board for over ten years, with the exception of one term, when he declined the nomination in order that his entire time might be given to his farm and stock.

CuAELEs Carroll Lowe, retired farmer. Lake City, is a native of the State of Maine, where he was born November 20, 1832. He is the son of Ivory and Fannie (Colcord) Lowe, natives of the same state, of English extraction, and the former a soldier in the war ot 1812. They reared a family of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom our subject was the sixth son and twelfth child. He was reared on the farm with common school advantages till the age of nineteen, when the family (for educational facilities) removed to Waterville in the same state, where he entered the Waterville Academy, now the Coburn Institute. Here he pursued a preparatory course three years, after whicli he entered the Colby University in the same city, from which he graduated with the class of 1S56, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, and sub- sequently (1S60) the degree of master of arts. In the fall of 1856 he came to Minnesota, and immediately located in Gillford township, pre-empting the N.E. J ot section S. where he continued to reside up till April, 1882, when he removed to his pleasant and substantial home on Prairie, between Walnut and Doughty streets, Lake City. During his many years' residence in Gillford, Mr. Lowe was almost continuously called to positions of official trust - positions his education, good judgment and executive ability eminently fitted him for. The official records of the town show him to have been town clerk, assessor, justice of the peace, and chairman of the board of supervisors, as well as to have been identified with the educational interest of the township. He was married at Puishford, New York, March IS, 1872, to Miss Julia Plellen McCall, of that place. Their only child, Herbert, was born in this county in July, 1879. They also have an adopted daughter, aged twelve years. Mr. Lowe is a member of the Masonic fraternity of this city, and an active business gentleman.

Hon. Williaji John Hahn, Minneapolis, Minnesota, was born November 5, 1841, in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. His greatgrandfather emigrated from Germany many years prior to the revolution and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, where his grandfather was born. The latter entered the continental army as a private at the age of eighteen and rose to the rank of captain, and served through the war. After the war he moved to Chester county, Pennsylvania, where the father of this sketch was born. His name was Joseph. When he (Joseph) was quite young his father moved to Mifflin county, where he lived until his death, and where his son Joseph lived for sixty years, or until his removal to Minnesota in 1864. His mother's name was Lavinia Hutchinson Mitchell, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. His early youth was spent on his father's farm and at school. In April, 1862, he came to Lake City, Minnesota on a visit ta his sister, Mrs. Sterrett. Here he spent the summer, and the Indian outbreak occurring while here, he spent two months with the expedition against them, returning to Pennsylvania in November of that year, where he remained until August, 1863, when he permanently located at Lake City. He remained there until January, 1882, when he removed to Minneapolis. He had charge of Lake City schools for some time, and was also bookkeeper. He read law about one year prior to coming to Minnesota, and also read a year in office of Ottman & Scott, at Lake City, and completed his law studies in the office of P. Pemberton Morris, at Pliiladelphia, where he attended law-school. Eeturning to Lake City in the spring of 1867, he was admitted to the bar at the May term ot that year, and immediately formed a partnership with W. W. Scott, Esq., with whom he was connected in business until May, 1S74, when Mr. Scott left for Kansas. He practiced law at Lake City until his removal to Minneapolis. He was elected county attorney in 1872 ; re-elected in 1874 and in 1876, and was nominated again in 1878, but declined the nomination. He was appointed attorney-general, March 11, 1881, by Gov. Pillsbury, to succeed Attorney-General Start, who resigned to accept the judgeship of the third district, and was fleeted to the same office in 1881, and again in 1883. A prominent Minnesota judge, in 1879, in speaking of him as a lawyer, said : "Mr. Hahn deservedly occupies a high rank as a lawyer. He is not only well 'read up' in the law, but his mind is naturally unusually clear and discriminating, thus enabling him always clearly and accurately to detect the material and pivotal questions involved in every case in which he is engaged. In the practice of his profession he is always controlled by the highest sense of honor, disdaining to resort to tricks or quibbles, never taking any position before either court or jury which he does not believe to be correct. Consequently he is always listened to with interest by both. Although modest and unassuming, he always advocates his position with that earnestness which always comes from a clear conception of an idea and an honest conviction of its correctness. " Shortly after his ap]jointment as attornej-general the celebrated Bond case (the most important case ever heard in this state) came on to be heard, and the charge of the same for the state was committed to the new attorney -general. St. Paul "Dispatch" of August 2, 1881, says ot him :

Shortly after the close of the " Dispatch " report of last evening the attorney-general closed his argument, and the court ac^ourned over to nine o'clock this morning. During the attorney-general's remarks he was listened to with the strictest attention, and it was plain to be seen that he has made both a strong and a very favorable impression upon his auditors. In fact, one of the oldest attorneys at the Ramsey county bar, one who himself delights, if not revels, in abstruse points and tangled legal webs, remarked to a " Dispatch " representative that the attorney-general had made a brilliant argument, and one which would give him a high reputation among lawyers throughout the state as abounding in legal acumen and displaying deep research and a very high order of logical reasoning.

Mr. Halm served in the army three months in Pennsylvania. He belongs to Lake City Commandery of Knights Templar, Hope Chapter of Koyal Arch Masons, and Carnelian Lodge, A.F.A.M., of Lake City, and was Grand High Priest of Minnesota. He has always been a republican in politics. He married Emily Laurette Martin, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1868. She was the daughter of James M. Martin, Esq., and a sister of J. M. Martin, of Lake City. He has four children : Emily Alexander, Eoland Bruce, Lavinia Mitchell and Clara Josephine.

Eli.jah Porter was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, Jul}^ 6, 1811, and left motherless when ten days old, and at the age of two years was stepson to his father's second wife. Mr. Porter bears testimony that this the only mother he ever knew, proved to be all that could be expected of a -real mother. When ten years old the family moved to Ohio, which was then, 1821, a wilderness, accomplishing the journey, six hundred and fitty miles, in twenty-one days. The family here underwent the common privations incident to pioneer life, which were much more, severe than pioneering usually is in later years. In 1826 he had tired of clearing land and other hard work of the farm, and walked forty miles to Canton, to learn the printing business. Here Mr. Porter's character was formed, and here he became a christian and united with the Methodist Episcopal churcli, in 1831. This year he left Canton for Massachusetts, working at difterent places on the way, and in 1832 went to New York. In New York he worked at his trade for several years, saving from his hard earnings in the meantime money to buy an outfit for an office of his own, which lie established in his native town, installing himself as editor of what was called the "Westfield Letter." This was at the time of the Wm. Henry Harrison campaign ; and though the town was a democratic center, Mr. Porter went bravely to work to advocate the principles ot the whig party, and mixed with it considerable of freesoilism and temperance. And though unpopular as this course may have seemed to some, but a short time elapsed until the town was against democracy by a majority of six hundred. Seventeen years after this, however, having done his work and lost all his money, he gathered together a few remnants and again set out for the far west, and landed at Maiden Kock, Wisconsin. In 1859 Mr. Porter came to Lake City, and resurrected the "Tribune," and for two years devoted his talent to editorial work. When Mr. Porter gave up the "Tribune,'' he was appointed post- master by President Lincoln, and held the position nntil 1867, when he was removed by Andy Johnson. Mr. Porter is a Methodist, an Odd-Fellow, a temperance man, and a pliilanthvopist in the best sense of the word.

Feitz Lange, brewer. Lake City, is the partner of John C. Schmidt, in the brewing business. He was born in Schweren Mecklenberg, Germany, January 1-t, 1837, and is the son of Christopher and Sophia (Brinkhp) Lange, who were also natives of the same province, and by occupation farmers. His educational advantages were somewhat limited, tliough he, like all the better class of Germans, has made amends for it by careful study and observation since his advent into this country. In the spring of 1857 he emigrated to America in the same vessel with his partner, Mr. Schmidt, and with him spent a year at Buifalo, New York, and the following spring came to Wabasha county, Minnesota, and settled in West Albany township. Here he took eighty acres of land under the homestead act, and purchased another eight3'. This he soon after sold and purchased a one hundred and sixty acres in the same township, which he traded in 1877 for his Lake City property. At Buifalo, New York, on August 9, 1857, Mr. Lange was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta Haase, who was also a native of Mecklenberg, and came over in the same ship with himself, being six weeks on the ocean in a sailing bark. Mr. Lange by industry and economy has made for himself and family a comfortable home, and enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow men. He has four chikh-en, whose names are : Caroline, now Mrs. Charles Chandell, of Campbell, Minnesota ; Fritz J. , Josephine and Henry, at home. He is a member of the A.O.U.W. and the Sons of Hermann. Their religious faith is in the Lutheran doctrine.