Minneapolis City (part 55 of 80)

Upon the re-organization of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company in 1905, he was chosen as its counsel, thenceforth devoting such attention to its affairs and that of Life Insurance in general, that he, in 1912, was the logical choice for president. This company, which stands in a peculiarly important relationship to Minnesota, has grown from modest beginnings, being organized in 1885, with a nucleus of some 500 members taken over from an Iowa organization. W. S. Sparks was its first president, and the present cfty attorney, Daniel Fish, its legal representative. Its experience has been varied, but its financial resources steadily strengthened, even during the period of greatest depression; its death benefits have ever been met with promptness, and it now stands as a monument of local protection ; one of Minneapolis' stanchest financial institutions - a credit alike to its promoters, the city and the state.

In 1891, Mr. Baxter married Miss Gertrude Hooker of Minneapolis. They have three children, Beth, Helen and John. Both Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have taken prominent parts in social and civic life, he being a member of the Minneapolis Club, the University Club, of which he has served as president, the Minikahda Club, and the Six O'clock Club. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and of the Minneapolis Bar Association, of which he was long secretary.

Randall S. Burhyte

Randall S. Burhyto, one of the esteemed citizens of Minneapolis, is living retired at 428 Groveland avenue. Mr. Burhyte was born at Remsen, Oneida county. New Yorl^, February 2, 1836, and received an academic education. At sixteen he went to L'tica to clerk in a store, where capacity and fidelity to duty made him the head of a leading department liofore he was twenty-one.

In 1857 he moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he bought a stock of goods and opened a store. Hudson was then a city of some 3,500 inhabitants, and one of the best business towns in the Northwest. Mr. Burhyte was quick to see and seize the chance it offered, and in addition to the general merchandising was also engaged in the handling of grain. He remained at Hudson until 1871, removing to River Falls, where he operated a store and lumber yard in association with his brother, and did an extensive business. He became president of a bank in River Falls, and so continued until 1879 and retired after a successful business career. Mr. Burhyte came to this city to live in 1886, and for a time conducted a loan business. In political faith he is a Democrat, but has never been a hide-bound or aggressive partisan. In fraternal relations he has been a Freemason for forty years.

September 7, 1863, in Hudson, Wisconsin, Mr. Burhyte was united in marriage with Miss Anna Fulton, a native of Liberty, Sullivan county, New York, and brought to Wisconsin by her parents as a child. Their only daughter, .Jennie is the wife of .John G. McHugh, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. McHugh's parents have their home with her and enjoy the companionship of their two granddaughters, Jliriam and Jean McHugh.

In three states and in several lines of trade Mr. Burhyte has dignified and adorned business life and exemplified the best traits of elevated American citizenship. He has met every requirement of duty, being highly esteemed for his genuine manhood and uprightness, his business ability, public spirit and practical enterprise.

George A. Brackett

For a continuous period of almost sixty years, with only one interruption of about ten years, the record of ambitious undertakings, valuable achievements and distinguished service to the community in business and public life made by George A. Brackett, has run like a veritable threat! of gold through the texture of Minneapolis history, along all lines of wholesome progress and development and connected with every important event that has occurred and eveiy important accomplishment that has been wrought out among this people.

Mr. Brackett was born at Calais. Maine, on September 16, 1836, the second son of a large family of children born to Henry H. and Mary (Godfry) Brackett. The father was a mechanic, and although descended from prominent English ancestors, his circumstances were moderate, and his son George was obliged to earn his own living from an early age. and was thus deprived of the advantages of schooling which he was very desirous of having. But he had large gifts of industry, courage, perseverance and self-reliance from his boyhood, and has been able to meet the requirements of every situation in which he has found himself in a masterly way.

Mr. Brackett came to Minneapolis in 1857. at the same time tliat his boyhood acquaintance, Hon. W. D. Washburn, came, and secured employment for a time in a butcher shop, afterward working on the construction of the new dam. The next spring he opened a meat store of his own, and his experience in is proved to be very valuable ft him a few years later, when he secured contracts for supplying the troops with meat in the Iniiian outbreak and the Civil war. After the w-ar he engaged in flour milling in a leading way until 1S69, when new and broader fields of operation required his attention.

cific Railroad Reconnaissance conducted by Governor J. Gregory Smith, president of the road. Was appointed purchasing agent for tlie road by Governor Smith. The expedition was fitted out in Minneapolis and traveled West over the plains to the Big Bend of the Missouri river. Mr. Brackett's report showed the countiy inspected to be So satisfactory for the purpose that the construction of the road was immediately begun, and he and others secured a contract to build the first 240 miles, extending from Duluth to the Red river. In this work he had associated with him Hon. W. D. Washburn, Col. W. S. King, W. W. Eastman, Dorilus Morrison, and other prominent men in this community.

Mr. Brackett was engaged in railroad construction work ten years, but during this period, as in all the later years of his life, other interests also occupied his attention and his large endowments for development. He was a member of the village council in the sixties and for years thereafter was connected with the municipal government as an alderman and in other capacities. He was one of the leading promoters of the city water works, the sewerage system, the fire department, of which he was chief for years, and the park system, being a member of the park board for a long time. In fact, he has always been at the forefront of whatever has been of greatest importance and interest. He was prominent in the festivities which welcomed home the returning soldiers after the Civil war; a member of the first board of directors of the Minneapolis Exposition of 1885; one of the most potential factors in the Harvest Festival of 1891, and has always been one of the chief spokesmen and entertainers when distinguished personages have visited the city.

In 1873 Mr. Brackett was elected mayor of Minneapolis and he gave the city a model business administration. As a member of the park board he succeeded in raising $100,000 for the purchase of Minnehaha Park at a critical time, when the chance of doing anything in that direction seemed lost. He also helped to organize the Associated Charities and was president of the organization for years. He is still one of its vicepresidents and was for a long time a member of the State Board of Charities and Corrections.

The panic of 1893 shattered Mr. Brackett's fortune, and soon afterward he went to Alaska to rebuild it. Wliile in that country he aided in the construction of a wagon road over the mountains from Skagway. The work presented enormous difficulties and obstructions, including financial and political trickery in large measure, and there was bitter opposition to it. But the indomitable will and genius of Mr. Brackett triumphed over all obstacles, and his acliievement demonstrated the feasibilitj- and practical value of a railroad through the same country, which has since been built.

Mr. Brackett also took a prominent part in bringing about the settlement of the Alaska boundary dispute and he was largely instrumental in retaining for the United States the disputed territory claimed by Canada. He returned to Minneapolis in 1905, and since then has lived in his home at Orono on Lake Minnetonka, which he purchased many years ago. He belongs to Plymouth Congregational church, and has been one of the trustees of the Lakewood Cemetery association from its organization. In 1858 he was united in marriage with Miss Anna M. Hoit. who died in 1891. Of the ten children boni of their union six sons and one daughter are living. Mr. Brackett is now (1914) seventy-eight years old, and, as a prominent citizen of Minneapolis has remarked, "is dear to the hearts of the people for what he has been and for what he is."

Eminent in his profession, both as a practitioner and in scholastic attainments connected therewith. Dr. William J. Byrnes is deservedly one of the most prominent and popular men in Minneapolis and one of the most successful and useful in his calling.

Dr. Byrnes was born in Minneapolis, January 3, 1859. He is not only the son of pioneers but himself a product of the pioneer period of the city's history, and his career among its people is on this account all the more gratifying to them. His parents were William and Katharine (Campbell) Byrnes, whose life story is briefly told in another sketch to be found elsewhere in this volume. As is therein stated, they were born and reared in Ireland, came to Minneapolis in 1851, and preempted land which is all now within the city limits. During the Civil war the father served in the Union army as first -lieutenant of Company K, Tenth Minnesota, and in 1866 was elected sheriff of Hennepin county. But he died in November, 1867, in the midst of his term as sheritt', his untimely death being directly due to the ravages made on his health and strength by his hard service in the army.

Dr. William J. Byrnes obtained his academic education in the public schools of Minneapolis and at St. John's College; Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and the college of the same name at CoUegeville, Minnesota. He was graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Michigan in 1882, and was at once made assistant house surgeon of the University Hospital in Ann Arbor. The next year he returned to Minneapolis and began practicing in partnership with Dr. Edwin Phillips, with whom he was associated in professional work for eleven years.

Within one year after locating in this city he was made demonstrator of anatomy in the Minneapolis College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1886 he became professor of anatomy, in 1895 professor of surgical anatomy and clinics in diseases of women, and in 1900 professor of the principles of surgery in the same institution. In 1885 he visited Europe and studied in some of the leading medical institutions on that continent. He has long been a member of the County and State Medical Societies and of the American Medical Association, serving as president of the Hennepin County Medical Society in 1889. In 1887 and 1888 he was county physician, and from 1890 to 1892 county coroner and city physician of Minneapolis.

The doctor is a Democrat in his political faith and a true and lojal member of his party. He also takes an active part in the fraternal life of his community, is a member of the Order of Elks, and pays tribute to his father's military service in the Civil war by active membership in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. The progress and enduring welfare of his city and county and their residents have always been primary objects of importance with him, and he has been zealous, continuous and effective in their promotion and in his support of all worthy undertakings involved therein.

Februarj' 4, 1887, Dr. Byrnes married Miss Josephine Armstrong, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have four children, Lyie, William, Martica, and Josephine, all of whom, like their parents, are cordially esteemed wherever they are known.

Dr. Byrnes was called at a very early period in his professional life to the elevated and elevating work of imparting to others what he had learned and was still learning from the sages and students in his department of science, and he

Joseph M. Baltuff

Starting in business a few years ago as a builder and contractor on a small scale, Joseph M. Baltuff, by enterprise, fine business capacity, good management and reliance mainly on himself for the accomplishment of results has expanded his operations and won an envied name and reputation.

Mr. Baltuff was born at Charles City, Iowa, June 19, 1870, and in October, 1886, came to Minneapolis with his parents, Valentine and Mary Elizabeth (McCall) Baltuff, the former a native of the city of New York and the latter also born and reared in the East. The father was a printer and newspaper publisher, and during his residence in Charles City, Iowa, was editor and publisher of the Floyd County Advocate. In Minneapolis he conducted a job printing office in association with his son, Harry A. Baltuff', as the Reporter Printing company. He was so connected until his death, but during the last five or six years lived mainly in retirement. He died August 29, 1913, aged seventy-nine years. He was a Freemason in fraternal relations and a Republican in politics, and to the last kept up his interest in public affairs.

Mrs. Baltuff is still living, devoted to her home and family. She and her husband were the parents of seven children, six of whom are living, five in Minneapolis. Joseph M., the youngest, has been a resident of this city twenty-seven years. He obtained a high school and business college education. He was connected with the grain trade until 1903, when he founded his present business. This is building houses for others, for which he is paid in monthly installments, about equal in amount to what a fair rental for the properties would be. He puts up about forty such houses a year, and has erected some 250 of them in all. They are moderatepriced homes, modern in style and equipment, and built for persons of limited means, but in good locations.

Mr. Baltuff does his own contracting, and also builds for others on contract. He operates in both Minneapolis and St. Paul on the same plan. He is a member of the Mew Athletic club and the Real Estate board, and in fraternal relations is connected with the Royal Arcanum. He finds recreation in fishing and travel, and has visited nearly all parts of the United States and some of their insular possessions, including the Hawaiian Islands, especially the city of Honolulu.

January 4, 1899, he was united in marriage with Miss Eleanor M. Brown, of Minneapolis, a daughter of George H. Brown, a retired builder. They have one child, Margaret M., a student at Stanley Hall. The family residence is at 3233 Harriet avenue, and Mr. Baltuff has his office in the Security Bank building.

James P. Brown

Reared on a farm and himself a farmer almost to the close of life, even though engaged a great deal of his time in otiier pursuits, having turned his attention to banking and making as great a success in that. The late James P. Brown, who died in Pasadena, California, September 2, 1905, was an impressive illustration of the versatility of alert and capable American manhood. But a few days past sixty-eight years of age, he had been a resident of Minneapolis twenty-two years, although portions of each for a long period were passed in North Dakota, and the last four years were almost wholly in California.

Mr. Brown was born in Putnam, a suburb of Zanesville, Ohio, September 18, 1837, and was a son of Dr. James Cyril and Ann (Day) Brown, the former a native of Vermont and tlie latter of Massachusetts. When the son was ten years old the family moved to La Salle, Illinois, where the father practiced his profession until death. A man of prominence and influence in La Salle, he was regarded as a worthy and creditable citizen.

At the age of seventeen James P. Brown entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad, a few years later becoming its station agent at La Salle and so continued to serve the road for seventeen years, when he engaged in banking there, buying an interest in an old established bank. In 1881, he went to North Dakota and in 1886 opened a bank at Hope and which is still doing business, being conducted by his son, James D. Brown. Mr. Brown subsequently started others at different nearby towns, continuing to direct their affairs until health failed, when he turned tlie management over to his son.

He became a resident of Minneapolis in 1883, but retained interests in North Dakota until death, there passing a considerable portion of time. He owned and operated a large farm near Hope and became an extensive dealer in North Dakota lands. He ever took an active part in public affairs, being always interested in behalf of friends, but not caring personally for political prominence or public office. He was a loyal Republican in political faith.

Mr. Brown was regarded as a prudent adviser and was esteemed for his enterprise, progressiveness and public spirit. He supported with ardor and intelligence all undertakings involving the advancement of the community, with a constant desire to promote the general welfare. He took a warm and helpful interest in young men, not merely in giving them advice, but in assisting them financially when found worthy. In religious affiliation he was a Congregationalist.

Xovember 3, 1863. Mr. Brown was married in La Salle, Illinois, to Miss Charlotte A. McVean, a daughter of Duncan and Elizabeth McVean. Her father was born in the Highlands and came to America when ten years old. His wife was a native of Vermont, although they were married in Montreal. They became residents of Minneapolis about 1870, the father keeping a store on Third street for some twenty years. One of their daughters is living in La Salle, Illinois, where they both died. Another is also a resident of Illinois, and another of North Dakota. Mrs. Brown is the only member of the family now living in Minneapolis, except her son, James Duncan Brown, of 1811 Emerson avenue, and who maintains his interest in and supervision over the five banks with which he is connected in North Dakota.

Mrs. Brown has two daughters: Charlotte E., the wife of Harold Johnson, of Excelsior, and Elsie B., wife of D. L. Whittle, of Dallas, Texas, with whom the mother spends the winters. Mrs. Brown has a delightful home at 1808 Dnpont avenue south. She is fond of collecting family relics, one that slie values highly being a flax .spinning wheel which was brought from Scotland by ancestors more tlian one hundred years ago.

Dr. Samuel Hewes Chute

With the whole country available to him for choice of a place of residence and field of operation, and having seen much of it and had practical experience in several other localities, the late Dr. Samuel H. Chute, as a young man of twenty-seven, with all the aspirations of life strong and energetic within him, selected St. Anthony, now Minneapolis, as his permanent home, and cast his lot with the then straggling and uncanny but very promising municipal bantam which had but recently been spoken into being at one of the most picturesque spots on the banks of the great "Father of Waters." He passed all his subsequent years here and devoted his energies vigorously and wisely to building up the city in its industrial, commercial, educational, social and moral elements of power, until his death Oct. 12, 1913. He had retired from business, resting securely on the universal esteem of the residents of his home city, who admired his elevated manhood, were grateful for his contributions to the progress of the community, and teordially revered him as a patriarch among them.

Dr. Chute was born in Columbus, Ohio, on December 6, 1830, the son of Rev. James and Martha Hewes (Clapp) Chute. The father taught a private school in Cincinnati for a number of years, then entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church, and in 1831, when his son, the doctor, was one year old, moved his family to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he died in 1835, two years after the death of the mother. Their death left their orphaned children largely to the care of Richard Chute, their oldest son, then only fifteen years old, but already some three years advanced in his business career.

Samuel H. Chute passed his boyhood and youth in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there began his academic education, which he completed at Wabash College in Crawfordsville in the same state. In November. 1849, he liegan the study of medicine \mder the direction of Doctors C. E. Sturgis and J. H. Thompson of Fort Wayne, soon afterward matriculating at the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in February, 1851. with the degree of M. D. Within one month after his graduation the young doctor became physician to a party of his friends who crossed the plains on horseback to Oregon, consuming seven months in the trip.

On his arrival in Oregon Dr. Chute took up liis residence in Portland, where he practiced his profession until the spring of 1853. He then again mounted his saddle and journeyed to Yreka, California. There he mined for gold for six months, tlien resumed his profession, and was gjven charge of the hospital as the only physician in the locality with a diploma. He continued practicing at Yreka four years, and in 1857 returned to the "States" by way of San Francisco, Panama and New York. From his far distant and far different home on the Pacific slope the East had grown in attractiveness for him, and at length he yielded to the longing to be in it again.

But he soon realized that the glamor of the old regions had faded for him, and also that the spirit of daring and adventure was still wide-awake and insistent within him. Accordingly, he determined to make another jaunt into the wilds, and in 1857 came through Lake Pepin, in this state, the ice leaving the lake May Ist and proceeded on up the river to St. Anthony, where he again began the practice of liis profession. He came up the river by steamboat from

Prairie du Chien to Lake Pepin, and traveled by carriage from St. Paul to St. Anthony. The little settlement needed him in his professional capacity, and he cheerfully yielded to its requirements in this respect. The first house he lived in was one built by John North in 1849, one of the earliest in the village. The next year he bought this house and the whole block it stood on.

This purchase started the doctor in the real estate business, and soon afterward he joined his brother Richard in it as a member of the original lirm of Chute Brothers. When Richard Chute died in 1893 the business was incorporated as the Chute Bros. Company, and of this the doctor was president as long as he continued his activity in business operations. The original firm was agent for the St. Anthony Falls Water company from 1868 to 1880, when the property was sold to James J. Hill of St. Paul and some other persons. Dr. Chute was a director of the Water company before the agency began, and he continued to act as its agent for one year after the sale of the property.

When the great improvements were made for the preservation of the Falls of St. Anthony. Dr. Chute, as executive oflicer of the board of construction, was in charge of the work and J. H. Stevens was the engineer. Dr. Chute continued in this rela,tion to the enterprise and the operations of the improving forces until Colonel Farquhar was sent out by the federal government to superintend the building of tlie dj'ke along the river bank and other permanent improvements required to save and utilize the full force of the Falls for industrial purposes. At one time the stock of the Water company was all owned by the Chute Brothers.

Dr. Chute was also connected for many years with the Rum River Boom company, first as one of its directors and its vice president, and from 1879 to 1886 as its president. His principal activity was, however, in the real estate business, and numerous additions to the city have been platted and developed by the company of which he was the head. In this branch of his business the doctor was one of the most astute and far-seeing real estate men in the city. His judgment of the value and possibilities of property was always good, and he at all times knew where to employ his energies in the trade to make them most effective for the city's welfare as well as his own advantage.

During his long residence in the city Dr. Chute held and filled with ability many municipal offices, both elective and appointive. As early as 1858 he was supervisor of the poor, and since then he served several times as a member of the city council. For some years he was city treasurer of St. Anthony, and was then one of the most energetic and judicious among the founders of the public school system. From 1861 to 1864 he was a member of tlie board of education and during the greater part of the time its president. He was again on the board in 1878, and then the separate educational boards of the east and west divisions of the city were united, as the two cities of St. Anthony and Minneapolis were in 1873; and from March, 1883, to April. 1885. he was a member of the park commission.

On May 5, 1858. Dr. Chute was united in marriage with Miss Helen E. A. Day, who was born on September 15, 1835, at Mount Pleasant in the province of Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Henry Holbrook and Rachel (Dodge) Day. Her parents died when she was four years old, and she was reared by her uncle, George E. H. Day. Her education was obtained in private schools in Painesville. Ohio, and Mil- waukee. Wisconsin, and at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She arrived in St. Anthony in July, 1855, by carriage from St. Paul, having come up the river from Galena, Illinois, by steamboat.

Six children were born of this union, five of whom are living: Mary Jeannette, Agnes, Elizabeth, Louis Prince and Frederick Butterfield. A sketch of the lives of Louis P. and Frederick B. will be found elsewhere in this volume. The first born child of the household, Charlotte Rachel, has been dead for a number of years. The father was a member of the Presbyterian church and the mother ia a Catholic. The lineage of the Chute family is ancient and honorable. On his father's side of the house the doctor could trace it back to Alexander Chute, a resident of Taunton, England, in 1268, whose ancestors were among the followers of William the Conqueror, who subdued England at the battle of Hastings in 1066. On the mother's side the forbears were Revolutionary soldiers and men of prominence in New England in Colonial days (one of them being Captain Roger Clapp, who in 1664 commanded the "Castle," now Fort Independence, in Boston harbor). Dr. Chute lived up to the high example.-* bequeathed by his forefathers, and gave luster to the family name in the pursuits of peaceful and productive industry, as many of them did where "Red Battle stamped his foot and nations felt the shock."

Thomas Henry Shevlin

Until within a period of about thirty or forty years men were accustomed to look for large business enterprise and undertakings of magnitude in this country (mly in the big commercial centers of the East. But something less than half a century ago men of large mold began to demonstrate that gigantic operations, involving great stretches of territory, millions of money and thousands of workmen, could be carried on with radiant and impressive success in the very wilils of the great Northwest, here in Minnesota and even in the faraway and sparsely peopled states of the Rocky JMiHiiitain region.

One of the leaders and most extensive operators in this demonstration was the late Thomas H. Shevlin of Minneapolis, whose untimely death on January 15, 1912, at the age of sixty years and twelve days, cast a gloom over the whole of Minnesota and many other sections of the country. For he was well and favorably known from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Northern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, not only for his colossal business interests and achievements, but also for his genial and obliging nature, high character and deep and helpful devotion to the welfare of his country.

Mr. Shevlin was the son of John and Matilda (Leonard) Shevlin, both of Irish ancestry, and was born in Albany, New York, on January 3, 1852. He obtained only a common school education, for his ambition was to be at work for himself as early as possible. At the age of fifteen he began his active career as an employe of .lohn McGraw & Co., lumber dealers in his native city. With this company he remained ten years and in time was given charge of its lumber interests in Albany and Tonawanda, New Y'ork, and Bay City, Michigan. In 1879 he left the employ of this tompany. and <luring the next year was at Muskegon, Michigan, working in important capacities for T. W. Harvey, an extensive lumber operator of Chicago.

Mr. Shevlin was now twenty -eight years of age, and filled with aspirations to a loftier business career than he had yet begun, although his rise to prominence as a lumberman of great ability and fine business acumen had been rapid and his rank as one of the most sagacious men in the trade was fixed. He therefore, in 1880, formed a business association with Stephen C. Hall of Muskegon and. in 1882, organized the Stephen C. Hall Lumber company, of which he became treasurer and general manager. During the first two years of his association with Mr. Hall they were engaged principally in the purchase of logs, timber and timber lands, and incidentally as manufacturers of lumber. After the organization of the company their operations as manufacturers became more extensive, and in two years grew to such proportions that they were obliged to organize a branch company in Minneapolis, which they did in 1884, calling it the North Star Lumber company.

In 1886 Mr. Shevlin changed his residence to Jlinneapolis and assisted in organizing the Hall & Ducey Lumber company, the firm being composed of Mr. Shevlin, P, A, Ducey, S, C. Hall and H. C. Clarke. In 1887, owing to failing health, Mr. Ducey was forced to retire from active business and sold his interests in the company to his partners, and the firm name than became Hall & Shevlin Lumber company. Mr. Hall died in 1889, and in 1893 Elbert L. Carpenter, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume, bought interests in the various lum ber enterprises with which Mr, Shevlin had become connected, and a new company, called the Shevlin-Carpenter company, was formed.

When the Stephen C, Hall Lumber company was formed Mr. .Slievlin began to look beyond the timber supply of Michigan for resources on which to draw for his later activities. He at once began making investments in the white pine woods of Minnesota, and gave proof of excellent judgment and keen discrimination in this line. His genius for organizing, his accurate measurement of property values, his alertness in seeing and seizing opportunities and his superior judgment of men and their capacities remained with him through life and made possible the inception and successful operation of the wide and varied activities in which he was engaged and the development of the mighty industrj^ of which he was the directing Spirit.

No amount of work and no successful achievement could satisfy this gentleman of vast business enterprise and mental power. In 1895, in association with Neils of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, he organized the .1, Neils Lumber company. Its mill at Sauk Rapids then had a capacity of 15,000,000 feet of lumber annually, and in 1900 the company built a band and band re-saw ipill at Cass Lake, Minnesota, This has since l)e('ii enlarged by the addition of gang saw, increasing the output of the two mills to 50,000,000 feet annually, as they always run at full capacity.

Impressed with the advantage of manufacturing near the stump as well as near the consuming territory, and reaching for greater and grander results, Mr, Shevlin started a new enterprise in 1896. In that year, in company with Frank P, Hixon of La Crosse, Wisconsin, he l)Ought a large amount of timber on the Red Lake Indian reservation, tributary to Clearwater river, and organized the St. Hilaire Lumber company, which b\iilt a sawmill with a capacity of 40,000,000 feet a year. One year later the St. Hilaire company bought the I

The Crookston Lumber company was then foiined with Mf. Shevlin as president and an annual productive capacitj' of 40,- 000,000 feet of lumber.

In the winter of 1902-.'! the Crookston Lumber company, formed by the consolidation of the St. Hilaire and the old Crookston companies, built a large mill at Bemidji containing two band saws and a gang saw and 'capable of turning out 70,000,000 feet a year. To supply this mill with logs a logging spur twelve miles long was built, penetrating to the east of Red Lake and connecting with the Minnesota and International Railway at Hovey .Junction. By this move the company secured direct transportation by rail from the timber to the mill and made available a large body of timber which had before been difficult of access. The Crookston Lumber company owned, at the time of Mr. Shevlin's death, tributary to its various plants, approximately 400,000,000 feet of stumpage, which insures its operation for many years. In January, 1904, the general offices of the company were moved from Crookston to Bemidji, where they have since been maintained.

In connection with the manufacturing plants mentioned a number of retail yards have been operated under the name of the St. Hilaire Retail Lumber company, additional yards being established from time to time to complete and keep up the chain of lumber handled from the tree to the company and the con'sumer. While this arrangement has added largely to the profits of the companies establishing it, it has also been of great value to the purchasing public in making it easy and convenient for customers to get lumber near at hand, promptly delivered, and at reasonable coat.

A thorough investigation of the timber and lumber conditions in the South led the Crookston Lumber company to purchase a large interest in the Winn Parish Lumber company, which owns approximately 1,000.000.000 feet of virgin pine in Louisiana and is engaged in the manufacture of lumber as Pyburn in that state. A similar examination of the Pacific Coast territory led Mr. Shevlin to purchase personally large holdings of timber land in British Columbia, the future possibilities of which, under enterprising and 'skillful development are almost incalculable.

In the fall of 1903, as if there was no limit to their enterprise and sweep of vision. Mr. Shevlin and his associates organized the Shevlin-Clarke company, limited, in the province of Ontario, and bought timber berths from the Canadian government aggregating 22.5.000.000 feet of pine stumpage. In the same year the Rainy River Lumber company, limited, was formed by Mr. Shevlin and E. L. Carpenter of the Shevlin- Carpenter company and E. W. Backus and W. F. Brooks of the Backus-Brooks company as principal stockholders. This company bought a large amount of timber from the Canadian government, and in the winter of 190.3-4 erected at Rainy River, Ontarie. one of the most complete sawmill plants in the world, with an annual capacity of 70,000,000 feet. This mill is very much like the Minneapolis mill, built by Mr. Shevlin earlier in his career, which was at the time of its erection the largest and most complete ever put up. Summing up the whole story, the various lumber companies in wliich Mr. Shevlin was interested when he died, have an annual output of more than 300,000,000 feet. He was the originator and the controlling spirit of all this vast wonderwork of industrial operations, and the mere recital of the figures its transactions involve and the values they embody serves to suggest in an impressive manner the enormous sweep of his vision, the firmness of his grasp and the magnitude and comprehensiveneas of his business ability.

But this man of imperial range in industrial and mercantile affairs was a genuis of many parts, and did not confine his activities to only one line of endeavor. Enormous as were his business enterprises, with all of which he kept in close touch, Mr. Shevlin still found time and energy to take a keen interest in public affairs and the duties of citizenship. He was a Republican in politics, strong in his convictions and zealously loyal to his party. In its service his energy never slackened and his feelings never grew cold or even lukewarm. He was the Minnesota member of the Republican national committee from 1900 to 1904, and in this position proved himself to be a great power of strength and usefulness to the organization he Served, the extent and value of his services being especially notable in the campaign of 1900. But he never accepted or sought a political office, either by election or appointment, except as stated above, although frequently urged to allow the use of his name as a candidate. The only political or quasipolitical position he ever held besides that of national committeeman and delegate to the Republican national convention of 1900, was that of delegate to the Reciprocity convention which met in Washington city. The.se were honorary posts to which no salary was attached.

Because no special mention has been made of Mr. Shevlin's activity in behalf of public improvements and welfare work for this city and state it is not to be inferred that he was indifferent to them. On the contrary, he was always one of the most energetic and helpful supporters of worthy undertakings for the good of the people and the general advance of his locality, and he always brought to their aid judgement broadened and seasoned by comprehensive intelligence and studious reflection, as well as liberal assistance of a material kind. He was also earnestly and servieeably active in the club life of his own and other communities, belonging to the Minnesota, the Minneapolis, the Commercial, the Minnetonka Yacht, the Automobile, and other clubs at home, and the Union League clubs of New York and Chicago, the Manitoba club of Winnipeg, and many more in different parts of the country. It should be noted that he was also a heavy stockholder and a director in the Security National Bank of Minneapolis, president of the Iron Range Electric Telephone company, and interested in many other important business enterprises. In addition, he was warmly interested in the cause of education, and made this manifest by donating to the LTniversity of Minnesota the Alice Shevlin hall and five .$10,000 scholarships.

On Februai-y 8, 1882, Mr. Shevlin was united in marriage with Miss Alice A. Hall. Three children were born of the union : Thomas Leonard, who has taken his father's place in the business the latter conducted; Florence, who 'is now the wife of D. D. Tenney. and Helen, who is the wife of George C. Beckwith. Mr. Shevlin died at Pasadena. California, his demise occurring on .January 15, 1913, as has been stated above.

The imagination teannot but revel in the mammoth undertakings and achievements of this man. And yet he was modest and unostentatious in his demeanor, genial and companionable in his disposition and easily approachable and courteous in his treatment of all comers. He was frank and candid always, both with those whom he favored and those whom he opposed. He was a fine public speaker, eloquent and jjorsuasive, and very effective in his appeals to reason. A man of great gifts and great wisdom in the uSe of them: broad-minded and public-spirited in large measure; devoted to his country and loyal to his friends; true to every attribute of elevated manliood - America reveres him as one of her higliest types of citizenship and Minnesota as one of her brainiest, brightest and most upright and useful men.

The life story of the late John True Blaisdell, who died August 25, 1896, with those of his parents, brothers and sisters and other early residents with whom he was associated, embraces much of the history of the city itself in its forma- 'tive period.

He was born at Montville, Waldo county, Maine, April 25, 1826, a son of Robert and Mary (Chandler) Blaisdell, the former born at Peacham, Vermont, December 14, 1802, and the latter in Massachusetts, November 23, 1801. The parents were married at Montville, January 1, 1825, moved to Wisconsin in 1847 and to Minneapolis in 1852, accompanied by their sons, Robert, Jr., William and Isaac, and their daughters Caroline C, Hannah E. and Rachel E. The latter is the only member of this family still living. She is the widow of the late Hiram Van Nest, and resides with her son Charles in Minneapolis. In 1849, three years before the arrival of his parents and family, John T. Blaisdell came to St. Anthony, boarding for a time in the family of Deacon Harmon. He had been a lumberman in Maine, following the same occupation here for two years. He then took up a claim between Nicollet and Lyndale avenues and Franklin avenue and Twenty-sixth street, as they now exist, and built his home on Nicollet avenue between what are now Twenty-fourth and Twentyfifth streets, and thereafter devoted his energies principally to the cultivation and improvement of his farm.

His father took up a claim on Thirty-eighth street with Twenty-fourth avenue as its eastern boundary, and there he died April 27, 1887, and the mother September 8. 1888. Robert's claim adjoined John's, extending south to Lake street. William's farm was near Powder Horn lake and probably included it. Robert married Miss Elmira Taunt, of Wisconsin, May 1, 1855, and John T. Miss Isabell L. Gates, of Albany, Vermont, July 1 of the same year. Their wives came with them as brides, and both couples, as also the husbands' sister Caroline and her husband, David Langley, and two children, all lived with the parents until each family had a child born within a few weeks of each other. William, Isaac, Hannah and Rachel were also still living at home.

Within a few years the expansion of the town led Mr. Blaisdell to plat his farm into an addition, following it later with the .John T. Blaisdell revised addition. This was a mile long and a half a mile wide, extending from Franklin avenue to Lake street and west from Nicollet, and included his brother Robert's farm. He also platted three additions in the Bryn Mawr section of the city and the John T. Blaisdell addition in North Minneapolis. In addition to his property in the city he owned large tracts of land in Traverse and Sherburne counties and large farms in Wright and Hennepin counties.

In association with R. P. Russell he was largely instrumental in building up South Minneapolis and securing the Blaisdell school, which was named for him. He was active in politics as a Republican, and was a regular attendant of the First Unitarian church, whose pastor. Rev. H. M. Simmons, lived in the old Blaisdell home for many years. He was also a charter member of the Minneapolis Grange and deeply interested in the fair. He warmly supported the movement to preserve the Agricultural College lands for the use of the farmers, and was proud of the college in the later years of his life. He lived twenty-nine years in his old home, then built a modern brick residence at 3244 Nicollet avenue, where his last years were passed with the companionship of his daughter Mary.

Mrs. Blaisdell, died Feb. 28, 1891. She was the daughter of William B. and Mariam J. (Goodrich) Gates, natives of New Hampshire, who came to Minneapolis about 1857, and died at their home, 608 Fourth street north, the father January 17, 1866, and the mother April 7, 1883. This old home is still in the family. He operated a blacksmith shop, the second in Minneapolis, and is often now spoken of as "the old village blacksmith." His family consisted of three daughters and one son, Mrs. Sarah G. Baird, of Edina Mills, being the sole survivor.

Mr. and Mrs. Blaisdell had five children. Mary A., was born April 6, 1856, in her grandfather's house. For some years she carried on a millinery business, and during the closing period of her father's life was his main dependence in the management of his affairs. She is a Christian Scientist and attends the Sixth church of that faith. Ada M. is the wife of Leslie Beach of Minneapolis. George L. died September 19, 1907. Sarah E., who was the wife of William Anderson, died June 23, 1908, and Robert A. died January 21, 1888, aged seventeen years.

The late Sumner Bookwalter, whose useful life ended in Minneapolis on February 14, 1913, passed through several occupations before he finally settled down to the one he deemed himself best fitted for.

Sumner Bookwalter was born at Hallsville, Ohio, on April 25, 1858, the sixth of seven children and the last born of four sons of Rev. Isaac L. and Phebe (Johnston) Bookwalter, then living in that town. The father was a minister of the United Brethren church, and, after long service in his sacred calling, was induced to come to Minnesota in 1864 for the benefit of his health, which was then failing. He visited Minneapolis, but considered the soil too sandy in this neighborhood for successful farming. So he went by stage from St. Paul to Mankato, and not far from that city he bought 600 acres of Blue Earth county land, which he at once began to transform into a productive farm, continuing his efforts in this direction until 1870. The family improved the farm residing on it six years.

Isaac L. Bookwalter was bom at Colerain, Ross county, Ohio, in 1820, February 6, and was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Bookwalter, who had moved from Berks county, Pennsylvania, to that portion of Ohio four years before. He grew to manhood and was educated in Ross, and after leaving school worked at different occupations for a number of years, but at fanning mainly. In 1852 he was licensed to preach, and in the course of time became the presiding elder of the Western district of the church, which included the extreme frontier of Minnesota. He preached in this territory in school houses, dugouts and sod shanties, as well as often in the open air.

In 1870, his health having been in a measure restored by his outdoor life, he accepted an appointment as pastor of the church of his sect at Western College in Linn county, Iowa. He had also in view good opportunities for the education of his children in agreeing to take this appointment. The college then located in the town named has since been removed to Toledo, Iowa, and is now the Leander Clark college, but it is still under the patronage of the United Brethren church. Rev. Mr. Bookwalter was a strong antislavery man, an abolition advocate, an opponent of secret societies and fraternities, and radical in all his views. As a young man he helped to work the Underground Railroad for the escape of fugitive slaves, and throughout his life he was zealous in defense of any position he took on any subject of public interest. In 1869 he was vice president of the National Christian Association, and in 1907 he died at Lisbon, Iowa, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, forty of which were passed in active work in the Christian ministry. His widow is still living in Chicago, and is now ninety-three, and one of the sons is pastor of a Congregational church in Kansas City, Kansas.

When he was twelve years old Sumner Bookwalter entered Western College, and after matriculating in that institution, while he was yet very young, he engaged in teaching school, attending college part of the time. One of the young ladies studying at the college was Miss Maria Louise Kelley of Wilton, Iowa. At the first sight of her young Bookwalter determined to win her affection and make her his wife if he could. He was successful in his suit, and they were married on December 29, 1881. She reached the age of twenty on December 20, and the marriage occurred nine days later.

After his marriage Mr. Bookwalter became the manager of a boot and shoe store in Marion, Iowa. His father-in-law, S. G. Kelley, was the pioneer in the creamery business at that time in that section of the country, having started it first in Scott county, and having creameries at his home farm, Muscatine county, Wilton, West Liberty, Lone Tree and other places. He put Mr. Bookwalter in charge of the creamery at West Liberty, and he remained there three years. At the end of that period he went with Mr. Kelley to Chicago for the purpose of starting a wholesale produce store in that city through which he could dispose of the products of the creameries to advantage. Mr. Bookwalter had charge of this store for three years, then, in 1888, came to Minneapolis to live and engage in business.

At this time his brother -Joseph had an office in St. Paul as the land commissioner for the Great Northern Railroad, having previously served for some years as collector of customs at Pembina, North Dakota. With the purpose of starting a bank, he sent Sumner to Pembina to learn the business in a bank in th.at city. But fate had other lines of endeavor for both of them. Joseph was sent out to develop the new born town of Great Falls in Montana for the Great Northern Railroad, and Sumner was soon afterward appointed to a position in the service of tlie state of Minnesota.

The office to which he was appointed was that of state registrar of the railroad and warehouse commission, and he received it at the hands of Governor McGill. He held this office until he was appointed by the board of directors to organize the office of registrar of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. He was kept in this office until it was abolished about the year 1906. His mind was ever active and inquiring, and while serving as state registrar he attended the night course in the law department of the State University, from which he was graduated in 1892, but he never practiced the profession. His knowledge of Chamber of Commercu. matters was very extensive and exact. He kept in touch with all the grain elevators operated in the state and knew accurately all about them. He also owned two memberships in the board of trade, and gave its doings close attention.

In 1906 Mr. Bookwalter started an enterprise in the produce trade in Minneapolis. His wife's brother was employed as manager in the Hanford butter factory at Sioux City, Iowa, and Jlr. Bookwalter began to handle its butter on November 3, of the year mentioned. His son, who was a student but worked evenings and Saturdays, introduced this butter by showing small samples to grocers. The demand for it grew so rapidly that Mr. Bookwalter saw great possibilities in the trade, and these were soon realized in large measure. The sales of his establishment in the year 1913 covered 763,000 pounds of this butter, and the house is now engaged in the wholesale trade and is the exclusive distributor of the celebrated Hanford products in this locality. Since the death of lue proprietor the business has been conducted by his widow and his daugnter Hazel.

Mr. and Mrs. Bookwalter became the parents of four children: Their son Joseph S. and their daughter Hazel. Lucile, and Louis S. Joseph is a graduate of the architectural department of Columbia University in New York city and is practicing his profession in that city. Hazel obtained a fine musical education at the University musical department, and under Professor Cross, and she now teaches piario playing of a high order to the others at home. All the members of the family belong to Westminster Presbyterian church, as did Mr. Bookwalter during his life. He was a great worker in hia church.

Charles Cranston Bovey

Charles Cranston Bovey, one of the leading business men of Minneapolis, has been a resident of this city since 1870. He is a native of St. John, New Brunswick, where his life began on October 25, 1864, and where he passed the first six years of it. He began his education in the public schools of Minneapolis, which he attended until 1883. He then passed three years at the Phillips-Andover Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in 1886. Entering the academic department of Yale University the next year, he pursued its full course of study until 1890, when he was graduated with the degree of A. B. Immediately after his graduation from Yale he accepted a position with Shepard, Henry & Company, railroad contractors in St. Paul, who were extending the Great Northern Railroad from Seattle north to a junction with the Canadian Pacific.

In February, 1891, Mr. Bovey entered the employ of the Washburn-Crosby company, with which he has been connected ever since. He is now one of the directors of this company, a director of the Minnesota Loan and Trust company and one of the executors of the estate of the late William H. Dunwoody. In religious affiliation he is connected with Plymouth Congregational church, and during the last seven years he has been one of the directors of the Young Men's Christian Association, He is also president of the board of trustees of Blake School. On June 14, 1898, he was married to Miss Kate Estelle Koon, daughter of M. B. Koon. They have three children, Martin Koon, Ruth Alden and Charles Argalis. Mr. Bovey is modest and unassuming as to his own merit, but he is universally esteemed throughout Minneapolis as a citizen of genuine worth and gieat practical usefulness, and as a gentleman of high character, lofty ideals and superior business capacity.

Was an ornament to the business world, - he was looked up to wherever he was known as a high-minded, honorable, genial, generous and cultivated American gentleman, and no higher tribute can be paid to any man in any condition in life.

Mr. Martin was not a native of Minnesota, but he passed thirty-six years, more than half his life, in Minneapolis, and in that time became thoroughly attached to the state, deeply interested in its welfare and that of its residents, and known as one of the wisest and most active promoters of every enterprise that involved its and their advancement and improvement. He was born on a farm in Orleans county. New York, on April 2, 1842, and was a son of Dan and Dorcas (Putnam) Martin, his mother having been a kinsman of General Israel Putnam, the rough and ready, but daring, skillful and able hero of the Revolutionary war.

The early life of Mr. Martin was passed on his father's farm, and his scholastic training was begun in the public school in the neighborhood of his home. After completing its course of study he attended Brockport (New York) Collegiate Institute, from which he was graduated after passing through the regular literary course of study. As he approached manhood he found the great, undeveloped West had a winning smile for him, and he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he became associated with his uncle J. T. Lewis, afterward governor of Wisconsin, and worked in his store. In 1862 he followed Mr. Lewis to the latter state, of which he was then the chief executive, and became a clerk in his office.

In 1864 the devotion to the Union, which was one of this gentleman's salient characteristics throughout his life from boyhood, impelled him to enlist in the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry as a private soldier. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and the division commanded by Major General Cadwallader C. Washburn. His military service was short, and part of the term of his enlistment was passed in a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and from there he was discharged from the army at the close of the war. He had, however, become well acquainted with General Washburn, and when that gentleman was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1872, Mr. Martin was appointed his secretary and aide.

When General Washburn retired from the office of Governor his secretary and aide accompanied him to Minneapolis by his request, and he at once became connected with the governor's extensive flour milling interests here, and also with the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asylum in this city. The work of looking after the details of the erection of the Orphans' Home devolved mainly on him, as did the greater part of the management of the Home after it was ready for occupancy. But he never severed his connection with the mills, and at the time of his death, and for many years prior to that event, he was secretary and treasurer of the Washburn-Crosby company, one of its members and a leading force in its management and the control of its business.

Mr. Martin's long and intimate association with Governor Washburn, his deep, abiding and serviceable interest in everything that the governor was concerned in, his warm attachment to the Orphans' home, his ability and enterprise in business affairs, and his unwavering fidelity to every duty, gave the governor great satisfaction and was of vast advantage to him. So great was his confidence in Mr. Martin and his regard for him, that he named him as one of the executors in his will, Charles Payson, the governor's son-inlaw, and General Van Steenwick of La Crosse, Wisconsin, one of Mr. Washburn's closest friends, being the other two. They were actively employed for eight years in settling up the estate.

At one time Mr. Martin was vice president of the old Bank of Commerce, and for several years he was treasurer of the Millers' National Association. He was also made the custodian of many trusts, all of which were executed with conscientiousness and the utmost fidelity. Although he was deeply and sincerely interested in benevolent work, his large and important part in charitable undertakings was conducted with the extreme of modesty and self-obliteration. He was liberal to all undertakings for the public good; made large donations to the parks of his home city; aided the public library with money, counsel and earnest work; took a cordial and helpful interest in all civic improvements; was one of the guarantors of the fund to be raised to Support the orchestra, and a life member of the Art Society.

His great devotion to art and history led Mr. Martin to take many trips to Europe in order that he might enjoy the art galleries in that county, visit historic places and generally revel in the scenes, associations and productions on which the voice of time has placed the seal of universal interest and everlasting renown. He also visited many parts of this country, going where History has held her splendid course, and examining both natural and artificial wonders and beauties wherever he could find them. And he rejoiced ever in the greatness, wealth, power, fine institutions and lofty ideals of our country, for he was in all respects thoroughly American, and unstinted in his devotion to the land of his birth.

In 1876 Mr. Martin was united in marriage with Miss Ella F. Sage, a daughter of Hon. E. C. and Elizabeth M. (Lour) Sage. Her father was an early New York banker and miller at New Lisbon, Wisconsin, where the marriage occurred, and a relative of the great New York broker, Russell Sage. He was a prominent man in Wisconsin and represented his county in the state legislature at times. His later years were passed in Minneapolis at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Martin.

Mrs. Martin has been free to take a very active interest in various institutions and organizations of a public or semipublic character. For many years she has v<erved as one of the directors of the Old Ladies and Children's Home, and also as a director of the Art Society.

Charles J. Martin was an honor to the milling industry, a credit to the great array of American business men. one of the finest types of uprightness and sincerity in every phase of his life. Such men as he are rare, very rare, and the world needs them. It is much to the credit of Minneapolis that its people knew how to appreciate him at his true worth and esteem him accordingly.

Rene L. Baillif

Rene L. Baillif, one of the leading citizens of Bloomington township, was born in the old DeNoyer neighborhood, tliree miles from St. Anthony and six miles from St. Paul. December 9, 1847, and is a representative of a family that settled in that neighborhood late in the thirties. He is a son of John P. and V'ictorine (LaVocat) Baillif, the former from the North of Normandy, France.

The father was a sailor, going to sea as a cabin boy at the age of twelve, advancing gradually till he became first mate. The captaincy of a vessel was offered him but he declined, preferring to become a citizen of the United States. He remained in New York until 1836, when he came to Minnesota and located at Mendota. There he formed the acquaintance of his wife, they being afterward married in St. Paul. She had come to the Northwest with her parents in 1844.

Mr. Bailif bought forty acres of land and later took up a claim of 160 acres, the tract being now embraced in the State University grounds. He sold his right to this tract for $300, and in 1854 took a pre-emption claim on Nine Mile creek, nine miles from Fort Snelling. and on the Shakopee stage line, where the Baillif Bros." Bloomington store now stands. There he kept tavern which became a regular station on the stage line from Shakopee to St. Paul. It is four miles East of Bloomington Ferry and was kept as a public house to the end of his life. No man had a wider acquaintance with the public in this region. All travelers stopped with him, his house being on the main stage line into the interior of the state. An old time-table of the coming and going of the stages in 1857 is still kept in the family. The stages would leave Glencoe one morning, and Shakopee for St. Paul the next, two days being also consumed in the return trip. The elder Mr. Baillif died about 1873, aged fifty-two years, his wife surviving him nearly thirty years, dying in 1901. He served as township treasurer for a number of years, and was such at death. He was succeeded by his son Rene, who held it for seventeen years continuously.

The family consisted of eight children. Victor, who was a carpenter, was killed at the age of thirty by a fall during the construction of the stone arch bridge in Minneapolis. Ernest is a resident of Bloomington township and was formerly a school teacher. Julius lives at Bloomington, as do Alfred and Charles. Mary is the wife of E. S. St. Martin, and also has her home in Bloomington. Albert lives in Seattle. Wa.shington. Alfred and Charles have kept a store at the old home in Bloomington for the last thirty years.

Rene L. Baillif remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-two. He helped to grub out the farm, and also worked at the hotel, doing stable work, often cooking the meals, and performing numerous other duties. In company with J. P. Bachelor he bought 380 acres of land, without making any cash payment, but paying ten per cent interest until the debt was discharged. His main crop was hay, for which a ready market was found in the winter in St. Paul, sixteen miles distant. At the end of eight years his partnership with Mr. Bachelor was dissolved, and the land was divided. Mr. Bachelor sold his to C. E. Wales, but Mr. Baillif still owns his tract. Fifteen years ago he turned the farm over to his sons and became secretary of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance company, of which he was a charter member

Mr. Baillif was married in 1880 to Miss Jeannette McCloud, a daughter of Martin McCloud, one of the first settlers. His farm lies where Lyndale avenue reaches the Minnesota river, and went out of the family only six years ago. Mrs. Baillif was born at Lac qui Parle, Minnesota. They have had four sons, three of whom are living, one having died at the age of seven years. The three living are Martin J., Victor C. and Arthur A. They operate the farm, the two younger being partners, and raise principally potatoes and onions. They had four carloads of potatoes and seven of onions in 1913, amounting to 4,500 bushels in all.

Politically Mr. Baillif is a Democrat, but in local elections casts his vote to the candidate he deems best qualified for the ofKce sought and most likely to render good service to the public. Mrs. Baillif's sister Mary is living with her, and they are the only members of this McCloud family left in Hennepin county. Their brother, Walter S. McCloud. who owned the old farm and lived on it six years ago, is now living near Northfield, a sister Isabel keeping house for him, neither having mari'ied.

William W. Bartlett

With an abiding faith in Minneapolis as a future city of a million inhabitants, with all the industrial, commercial, political, social and moral power involved in such an aggregate equipped with the almost boundless natural resources available, William W. Bartlett, one of the prominent lawyers, real estate owner and investor, and versatile citizens, is doing his share to hasten this prophecy to fulfillment.

Mr. Bartlett was born in Vassar, Tuscola county, Michigan, September 33, 1860. and in 1866 was taken to Omaha, Nebraska, by his parents. During the next sixteen years he alternated between Nebraska and his native state, attending schools in both, finally studying law in Michigan and then, in 1880, being admitted to the bar in Omaha. In the meantime he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the printers' trade, working at the case and in the pressroom, and performing duties of the reporter and the editor.

In April, 1883, he came to Minneapolis. His purpose was to open a law office, but Colonel G. D. Rogers and others having .started "The Times," he became court reporter for that publication, later doing editorial w-ork. He is one of the able and successful lawyers, devoting especial attention to real estate and commercial law.

For some years Mr. Bartlett took a very lively interest and active part in public alia Irs. He is a Republican in political alignment, being formerly a zealous partisan and delegate to various conventions, is a warm advocate of all improvements, such as opening streets, providing playgrounds and bathing facilities for the children and all other betterments that will help to make Minneapolis a more desireable place to live in, and thinks such evidences of public spirit should continue in progress at all times and with all the force the city can command. For some years he was active in the Minnetonka Yacht club taking a leading part in the lake races. He sailed the ''Magic Slipper" on Minnetonka waters, winning numerous pennants and other trophies prized by yachtmen.

He was also fond of hunting. It should be recalled to his credit that when the Minnetonka Yacht club took a stand against lowering the level of the lake he was a zealous champion and was of assistance in arousing public sentiment in behalf of maintaining the old level, and was one of the committee that drafted a communication to the legislature which opened the way for the erection of the dam at the head of the lake. This restored the old level and has been of substantial advantage to the lake. But the fight was a hard one extending over four or five years, many really wanting the water lowered two feet and persisting in their efforts. He has been the organist of several churches at different periods, and for some time was a vestryman of St. Luke's although not a member of the congregation. He was also for years a member of the Philharmonic Society and sang in its chorus, and still endeavors to keep up his violin practice.

In 1895, Mr. Bartlett was married to Miss Nellie M. Wills, who was born in Colorado, completed her education at the Mankato Normal School, and taught for three years in Minnesota. They have four children. Walter, Marshall, Edith Belle and Martha, tliree of whom are students in the liigh school.

In the campaign of 1912 Mr. Bardwell was close to the other leaders of the Republican party in the generalship of the campaign, although he had come to look with more favor upon the legal side as opposed to the administrative or the legislative phases of government. It was through Governor Eberhart's becoming acquainted witli the trend of Mr. Bardwell's mind and his ideals for good citizenship that he offered him appointment as judge of the municipal court, to fill a vacancy caused by the elevation of another judge to the district bench.

His qualities of councillor brought about his advancement to prominence, also in the several fraternal and social clubs of which he is a member. Thus he held important committeeships in the Commercial club, was secretary and member of the executive committee of the Hennepin County Bar Association, and is the present exalted ruler of Minneapolis Lodge No. 44. B. P. 0. E. He is also a member of the Masonic order, and of the Royal Arcanum.

Judge Bardwell married Edith May Champlin in 1892. They have three children, Mildred I.. Charles Cliamplin, and Marion A. The family's church affiliations are with the Congregational sect.

Winfield W. Bardwell Levi M. Stewart

Winfield W. Bardwell was born in Excelsior, Hennepin County, July IS. 1867, the son of the pioneers William F. and Araminta (Hamblet) Bardwell. Theirs was one of the leading families of the County in the formative period when citizenship, though less complex, was sturdier than at present. It was to this quality of interestedness in all that goes to make the community better that .Judge Bardwell owes one of his strongest characteristics. He attended the common schools at Excelsior, and later an academy which for a few years held high rank among educational institutions of the West. From there he entered the office of Harlan P. Roberts, as stenographer and clerk. But it was not as a clerk that he continued there, but as one with an ambition to win laurels in a profession. Mr. Bardwell soon entered the law school of the University and there took a course culminating in the degree of LL. B.. which was supplemented after post-graduate study. by the degree of LL. M.

Beginning in 1891. Mr. Bardwell engaged in the practice at first in partnership with .James M. Burlingame, later with C. Louis Weeks. During the last five years he has been associated with Samuel Levy, as Bardwell and Levy. Mr. Bardwell attained a reputation as a successful criminal lawyer, appearing as counsel in several of the most important cases ever tried in the local courts.

Politics attracting his attention, he was elected to the legislature in 1902, and became one of the strong factors in legislation in the session of 1903. That his services were appreciated was indicated by the fact that he was re-elected for the sessions of 1905 and 1907. In the session of 1907 he was chairman of the Hennepin delegation, an important member of committees, being chairman of the committee on insurance. His retirement from the field in 1909 was voluntary, choosing to give closer attention to his profession. He continued his interest in desirable legislation, his counsel being sought by the thinking men who desired to press the enactment of important legislation.

In none of the residents of the city from its foundation to the present time (1914) has Minneapolis had a more striking illustration of self-reliance and self-containment, strong and unyielding individuality, strict and exacting integrity and remarkable force of character, all combined with high mental endowments and stern regard for the rights of others, than was furnished in the person and career of the late Levi M. Stewart, long one of the leading lawyers of the city and for many years one of its most substantial capitalists and property owners. A complete analysis of his character and a full account of his life are alike impossible, for his inflexible secretiveness prevented all attempts to acquire a knowledge of his true inwardness, except as it was revealed slightly in his daily walk and actions or to his most intimate friends; and the latter were few and for the most part have departed this life with the story untold. And yet, Mr. Stewart was not a man of mystery. He simply lived within himself, and to a large extent kept the world outside.

Mr. Stewart was born in the town of Corinna, Penobscot county, Maine, on December 10, 1827, and died in Minneapolis on May 3, 1910, in the eighty-third year of his age. He came of a family noted for longevity and his sister Elizabeth and brother David D. are still living, the latter in the town of St. Albans, Maine, and both are now far advanced in age. The father and grandfather of the family were Baptist clergymen, and when the subject of this review was born he was named Levi and dedicated to the ministry to keep up the succession. But circumstances acting on his sturdy nature, which was better adapted to combat than persuasion, decreed another destiny for him.

Mr. Stewart was a son of David and Elizabeth (Merrick) Stewart, and they were zealous in efforts to prepare him for the work they had marked out for him. He obtained his elementary education in the common schools, and was fitted for college at academies in Hartland and Corinth, Maine. He then passed one year at the college in Waterville of the same state and thife at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was graduated from the latter institution in 1853, and at once began the study of law in the office of his older brother, David D. Stewart, of St. Albans, Maine, with whom he remained two years. He then attended the law department of Harvard University, from which he was graduated in January, 1S56, and he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Maine in the same month.

Returning to the office of his brother in St. Albans, Mr. Stewart remained in that town until October, 1856, when he concluded to come West, and did so, locating in Minneapolis, where he always afterward resided. Before this, however, he wrought out something of a career in his native state. While attending one of the academies he studied in, he secured employment in a sawmill in Corinna in order to do something toward providing for himself. The work was very hard, and he soon gave it up. At the age of fifteen, when he "looked well over twenty," as he said himself long afterward, he taught school and made his mark in the work.

The next year he was told by one of his school companions that there was money in working on a fishing boat, and together they planned to go to the seaboard from their little inland town, which offered but few and slender opportunities for advancement. They visited Bangor and Portland, and finally got employment on a mackerel schooner at $7 a week and their "keep." Mr. Stewart determined to keep on with his education, and arranged with the captain of the schooner to be allowed to alternate fishing with study.

In his youth and young manhood Mr. Stewart was very tall and slender, and had a great reputation as a wrestler and was something of an all-round athlete. While he was at college, and still insistent on supporting himself as far as possible, he secured a position as teacher in Nicholas Academy at Searsport. The call was for a "young, healthy male teacher." There were 120 pupils in the school, including a few girls, and fifty-five of the male students were captains or mates of coastwise or sea-going vessels, who took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the winter season, when their boats were tied up, to "get a little schooling." Mr. Stewart had to teach these rough men the elementary branches, in which they were sadly deficient, and also induct them into the mysteries of "Bowdit'ch's Navigation," then a renowned text-book on the subject. Some of his pupils thought they knew more about navigation than Bowditch did, and sometimes tried to enforce their belief with physical arguments. But Mr. Stewart mastered them and won their respect during the two seasons in which he taught the school.

When Elder Stewart, as he was always called, at home and in this city, because he had been destined for the ministry, reached Minneapolis in the fall of 1856, he went at once to the Bushnell House, which is still standing at the corner of Fourth street and Sixth avenue south. Later he boarded with a family that lived near Fourth avenue on the block now covered by the city hall and courthouse. There he rescued two small children from the house while it was burning. He could never afterward be induced to speak of this event, and resented every inquiry made of him about it.

The young lawyer had his first office in this city in the Woodman building, which is now the St. James Hotel, at Washington and Second avenues south. In 1857 this was one of the pretentious office buildings of the city, and housed some of its most important stores on the street floor. In 1860 the Harrison block, which is also still standing on its original site, was put up at the corner of Nicollet and Washington avenues, and as it was more centrally located and more imposing than the Woodman building, Mr. Stewart moved his office to it, and remained there twenty-eight years. He took one room on the second floor, where Thomas Lowry had two, and several other lawyers, prominent then or later, also had offices in the same building.

About the same time Mr. Stewart bought a half block of ground on Hennepin avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. On part of this he had his residence. It was a source of special pride to him, and he continued to own and occupy it until his death. In 1880 the Kasota block was built on the corner of Hennepin avenue and Fourth street, directly opposite his dwelling, and in 1890 he moved his office into that structure. It is a handsome stone building, seven stories high, and when it was erected was the finest edifice in Minneapolis. Mr. Stewart took a suite of five rooms in it and installed his library in them. He was located on the second floor, and there he passed mucli of his time during the later years with his books.

In the practice of his profession Mr, Stewart was very successful. In his earlier years it gave him particular delight to take a case against men older than himself, and when he won such a case he was greatly pleased. He would never have a partner or occupy an oflice with another man. In his youth he determined to go it alone, and he held to this determination to the end of his life. He would, however, frequently give advice to men he thought worthy who were unable to pay fees. And it was said by persons who knew him best that he had many admirable traits of which the general public knew nothing. He was very charitable in his own way, but his benefactions were known only to himself and the beneficiaries of them.

Besides practicing law Mr, Stewart dealt extensively in real estate for many years. But in the latter line of effort he marked the opening of his career in Minneapolis by a losing venture. His brother placed $1,500 with him to invest here. He invested it, and he lost it. He put it into property in North Minneapolis, the title to which was uncertain, but he paid the money back to his brother to the last dollar, although the brother was not insistent and his own income was meager and required frugal living on his part.

The $1,500 were not wholly lost. The transaction brought him an experience that was highly educational. He used to say he had learned by it $1,500 worth of what he did not know about real estate. From that time his thought was given to the study of conditions that were fundamental in determining realty values, and he became in later years the most conspicuous holder of strategically located property in the city. He also saw early what many shrewd men did not so clearly see, until twenty years later, that the geography of the Northwest was such as to make Minneapolis in time not only a large city but a great industrial and commercial metropolis,

Mr, Stewart donated the ground on which the Northwestern Hospital stands, which was worth about $10,000 when he gave it. He also contributed to the Bethel Home, which is now the Pillsbury Home. These were public benefactions and necessarily became matters of general knowledge. But his private charities were never mentioned by him. It was his custom for years to send coal to poor families he knew of who needed fuel for the winter, and the dealers would fill his orders of this kind without asking questions or making comments.

and he never allowed any in his presence on his generosity of this kind. One dealer once remarked to him, in a casual way, that he was sending out a good many loads of toal to other persons, and Mr. Stewart never gave that dealer another order.

In his business transactions Mr. Stewart was exacting to the limit both for himself and for others. He required that all business with him must be done absolutely according to agreement to the minute of delivery, the fraction of a pound and the decimal part of a cent in the price charged. But he was as strict in the performance of his part of a deal. All who did business with him came in time to understand his peculiarities. They knew that he had ample means to pay a thousand times over for whatever he bought, and was always willing to pay good prices for good articles. They knew also that if there was a mistake of a single cent in a bill he would not pay it until it was corrected. No merchant who understood this and acted accordingly ever lost his trade.

This excellent specimen of New England firmness of fiber, flexibility of function, strictness of integrity and self-reliance, came to Minneapolis when he was a young man and the city was also young and small. He took an active part in its life and striving, until he reached an advanced age, and it grew to metropolitan magnitude and importance ; and he helped materially to make it what it is. His natural reticence and secretiveness, his disposition to live to and within himself, and his other peculiarities kept him from securing the full measure of public appreciation and esteem he was entitled to, but even as it was, the people of the city thought well of him and respected him highly, and he was altogether worthy of their regard because of the genuine manhood which underlay his rugged manner and made him seem often and in considerable degree what he was not.

Melbourne C. Burr

Melbourne C. Burr, manufacturer and' inventor, is a native of Louisiana, born near the Mississippi river March 4, 1838. When he was eight years of age his family removed to Rising Sun, Indiana, where his boyhood was spent. He manifested marked mechanical genius and early in life began the study of various lines of mechanical productions. Through his interest and natural ability he soon acquired a thorough training, devoting especial attention to wood work. He went to Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1856, where he applied his skill to the making of furniture, continuing in this enterprise for a number of years. In 1865 he came to Minneapolis which with its great water power, off'ered attractions to manufacturing industries. Here he also engaged in the manufacture of furniture, forming a partnership with T. L. Curtis. J. S. Treat and D. M. Gilmore were also associated with liim in this enterprise at various times until 1878. Mr. Burr has made it possible that many important and useful articles should become of common use, his inventive mind and skilled craftsmanship having perfected and adapted numerous crude suggestions and ideas. One of the most noted of these perhaps, is the sectional book case now manufactured by the Globe-Wcrnecke company. Mr. Burr developed the idea and patented it and was the first to place it on the market then selling his rights to the Wernecke company. He has since devoted his efforts largely to the designing and construction of wood specialties, establishing the M. C. Burr Manufacturing company with a capital of $10,000. The plant is located in the power building on Nicollet island and is completely equipped with the most modern and improved machinery much of which has been built for this factory to be used for some special and unique productions. Fifty workmen are employed in the manufacture of various articles, constructed from wood, a large number being the inventions of Mr. Burr or the result of his expert knowledge applied to some incomplete working model. Among the articles constructed are hand looms for school industrial work, exhibition coops for poultry dealers, display cases for seed houses, the company having supplied Northrop King & Company with over 11,000 of the latter. It also manufactures all varieties of automatic wood turnings and tlie plant is fully equipped to supply any article made of wood. Mr. Burr has made this work his life interest and devoted every efi'ort to the development of his mechanical talent, finding ample satisfaction in achievement and success, believing with Goethe that "the spirit that strives for higher things can become satisfied with the ideas springing up in its own breast," and he has no desire to enter other fields of endeavor or public service. He has made a continual study of mechanical and scientific subjects and of every phase of their advancement possessing an extensive library on these subjects. He was married in Owatonna, January 1, 1865, to Miss Carrie Donaldson, daughter of Judge N. M. Donaldson. She died in 1881 leaving two children, Jessie N. wlio married Mr. McFarland of Winthrop, Iowa, and Dr. George D. Burr, of Wenache, Washington. His second marriage was with Miss Alice Cain of Washington, D. C, and they have four children, Ida, who is Mrs. Spencer of Willmar, Minnesota; Frances E.; Richard M., who is rapidly making a reputation as a tennis player; Alice C, a student in the art school. Mr. Burr is a deacon of the Park avenue Congregational church and takes an active interest in the work of the Sunday school. He is a stanch Republican but not tied to party lines in local matters.

Jacob K. Sidle

The most eminent name in connection with the banking business in Minneapolis up to the time of his death, was that of Jacob K. Sidle, who came to this city in 1857 and died here on January 25, 1888, after a few days of painful illness from acute intestinal inflammation. During the whole of his residence of about thirty-one years in Minneapolis banking was his chief pursuit and absorbed all the force of his ambition. Moreover, through his thorough mastery of the business and his skill, vigor and success in the management of it he gave to the banking interests of the city in the early days a reputation for enterprise and soundness and a standing in public confidence they would not otherwise have had for many years.

ilr. Sidle was a native of the sturdy and sterling old city of York, Pennsylvania, where his life began on March 31, 1821, and the son of Henry and Susan (Kootz) Sidle, also natives of that state, but of Orman ancestry. Jacob's grandfather was a soldier in the army of Washington during the Revolutionary War, and his son Henry, the father of Jacob, was first a blacksmith and afterward a merchant. His two sons, Jacob K. and Henry G., were associated with him in his merchandising enterprise until advancing age induced him to retire from active pursuits and turn the business over to his sons, after which they conducted it together for seventeen years.

In the spring of 1857 .lacob K. Sidle made a tour of tlie West. At Minneapolis he found the conditions and prospects that suited him, and here he decided to locate. He had with him Peter Wolford, a wealthy man of York County. Pennsylvania, and together they opened a private banking house under the firm name of Sidle, Wolford & Company. As soon as the Nicollet House Block was completed the firm took an office on the ground floor of the new building, and there it grew and flourished, steadily extending its operations to the profit of its members and the great advantage of a large part of the population and the community in general.

In 1865 his partner, Mr. Wolford, left the firm and turned his attention to other business. About the same time Mr. Sidle organized the Minneapolis Bank under a state charter. Before the end of the year this institution was converted into the First National Bank, it being the second bank northwest of CTiicago to come under the new National Banking Law.

Jacob K. Sidle was the president of the First National Bank from its organization until his death. He had behind him and working with him a substantial board of directors - men who represented the best business sense and greatest success in the city.

The First National began business with a capital of $50,000, the same as that of its predecessor, the Minneapolis State Bank. This was increased to $100,000, $400,000, $600,000, as the business grew, until, in 1879, a larger increase than usual was found necessary, and the capital was then raised to $1,000,000. The acorn from which this gigantic oak of fiscal vigor and utility has grown was wisely planted and skillfully tended in its sprouting period and years of youth by .Jacob K. Sidle, and its development in its present stature and spread shows how well he understood and how carefully he attended to the business of the Bank. Tlie present condition of the bank also demonstrates the wisdom of the policy he inaugurated in conducting its affairs. For that has never been changed, and the bank has never ceased to grow.

The directors' room of the First National Bank was so closely associated with the financing of so many of the early big enterprises of the city that could a history of it be written it would almost be a history of the early finances of Minneapolis. In these meetings Jacob K. Sidle was ever foremost, his conservative judgment being invaluable to his associates. In the early days there was no Cliamber of Commerce, and the preliminary meetings for the organizing of such big enterprises as the "Soo" Railroad, the Minneapolis Railway, Minnesota Linseed Oil Works, etc.. were held in the directors' room of the First National Bank. This shows the position the bank has held since its foundation.

Mr. Sidle with Mr. Washburn, made several trips East in order to secure Eastern capital for the building of these enterprises. This was in the days when Wall Street had less faith in the growth of the West, and was more shy of Westem investments.

to accept a public office of any kind. He followed the principles of the Democratic party in his political faith, but never became an active partisan. He was a prominent supporter of Westminster Presbyterian Church and a liberal contributor to its mission work and numerous charitable enterprises. In September, 1846, he was married in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, to Miss Margaret De Hull, of that city. Four daughters of the union are living: Mrs. S. C. Sidle, Mrs. .James W. Lawrence, ilrs. C. C. Elfelt and Mrs. Kate Sidle Regan, the second xlaughter, Mrs. C. A. Bliss, having died March 23. 1906.

Christopher Adam Boehme

The combined science and art in architecture is one of the most pleasing pursuits known among men. It is work of the highest intellectual requirements, its creations engaging the rapt attention of him who brings them forth, and holding the regard and admiration of thousands afterward.

Christopher A. Boehme, one of the leading architects of the Northwest, measures up to the highest standard. Mr. Boehme has the additional claim on the regard of the residents of this city of having been born, reared and educated in their midst, and employing all his ability in their service. His life began in Minneapolis on January 16, 1865, and he is a son of Gottfried J. and Eva (Trump) Boehme. The father wag born in Germany and came to St. Anthony in the early fifties. He was a builder and contractor, and died in this city in 1908, after long years of usefulness.

Obtaining his academic education in the public school, Christopher A. Boehme attended the University, taking a special course in architecture. During vacations he worked with his father, and upon leaving the University entered the office of Architect W. B. Dunnell, as student and assistant. He remained with Mr. Dunnell sixteen years, aiding in preparing the plans and superintending fche work in the erection of the Soldiers' Home, the State Training School at Red Wing, the State Hospital for the Insane at Fergus Falls, and many other structures of magnitude and importance.