Viola Township (part 2 of 3)

Superintendent Bowers notified the hospital trustees and a meeting was held, as a result of which Superintendent Bowers, Assistant Superintendent Collins, Supervisor Howe and Steward Kerr were suspended pending, further investigation, and Dr. A. F. Kilbourne, second assistant physician at the St. Peter Hospital, was appointed acting superintendent, and William Schimmell, of St. Peter, treasurer of the board of trustees, was appointed acting steward.

The daily newspapers at St. Paul and Minneapolis made the most of the sensation, weicome to them, and grossly exaggerated accounts of the affair and of Superintendent Bowers' connection with it were scattered through the state, appealing to the always present popular prejudice against insane asylums. Governor Merriam had an investigation made by Secretary Hart, of the board of corrections and charities, and also appointed an investigating committee consisting of C. C. Williston, of Red Wing; Thomas Simpson, of Winona, and C. Amundson, of St. Peter. In the District Court, which was in session at the time. Judge Start directed the grand jury to investigate the case and the management of the hospital. They made an elaborate report of the facts and exonerated Super- intendent Bovvers from misconduct in the matter, and from the newspaper charges that he should be indicted as an accessory after the murder, and commended the general management of the hospital.

Becker and Peterson were indicted for murder and tried, being prosecuted by County Attorney W. Logan Brackenridge and Attorney General Moses Clapp and defended by C. C. Willson, of Rochester. The jury foimd Beckman guilty of manslaughter in the second degree, and Peterson of assault in the second degree. It was evident that while they abused the negro, they had not intended to kill him. The judge so stated in sentencing them. Becker was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for four years and Peterson for three years. The maximum penalty for Becker's offense allowed by law was fifteen years, and for Peterson's five years.

The committee appointed by the governor examined 138 witnesses, and about the first of October, more than three months after their appointment, they made a full report to him in which they not only exonerated Superintendent Bowers from wrong doing, but highly commended his ability and his conscientious faithfulness during the more than ten years that he had been in charge of the hospital. They reported Steward Kerr as thoroughly honest but somewhat unbusinesslike in his department, and Supervisor Howe negligent. They reported that the attendants were not as efficient as ought to be, but as good as could be expected for the low wages paid by the state. There were ninety complaints made to them of ill treatment of patients, but they found only twenty sustained by evidence. Certainly that number is small in the case of more than 2,000 such persons during ten years by all sorts of attendants. It was shown that there was an understanding by the attendants to conceal such caseis, and that whenever they came to the knowledge of the superintendent the offender was discharged.

In finding himself exonerated by the report Superintendent Bowers resigned in a manly letter to the trustees. Steward Kerr and Supervisor Howe;ivere reinstated and Doctors Collins and Randall resigned.

Superintendent Bowers was given a reception by the citizens of Rochester at Cook's Hotel, where highly commendatory addresses were made by C. C. Willson, Esq., Rev. W. H. McGlauflin, Dr. W. W. Mayo, Rev. Father Riordan and Capt. M. J. Daniels, and a splendid gold watch was presented to the retiring superintendent. Throughout the whole affair the sympathy of the community was with Superintendent Bowers. It was realized that he was the victim of the sensational journalism of St. Paul and Minneapolis daily papers.

reorganized by the appcMiitment of Dr. Kilbourne as superintendent, William H. Knapp, of Rochester, as steward, and Dr. Sarah V. Linton, of Minneapolis, as physician in charge of the female department.

Dr. Arthur F. Kilbourne was born in Iowa in 1858, and was a resident of Keokuk till 1880, when he removed to N*ew York City, sity. He was assistant physician of the New York City Hospital for Insane and was appointed assistant superintendent of the insane hospital at St. Peter in 1884. He is still superintendent and has shown great ability in the management of the institution and has great social popularity. He is a member of the American and Minand graduated from the medical department of New York Univernesota Medical Association and of the American Medical Psychological Association.

Dr. Robert M. Phelps was born at Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1858. and graduated from Ripon College, taking the degree of A. M. He graduated in medicine from Rush Medical College of Chicago in 1885. He was appointed assistant physician of the hospital in 1885 and assistant superintendent in 1890. He has been especially interested in the training school for nurses. He is still assistant superintendent. He is a member of the American and Minnesota Medical Associations, and at a recent session of the National Medico Pschyological Association was elected president of that society.

Dr. Sarah Linton Phelps, wife of Dr. R. M. Phelps, was when appointed assistant physician, resident physician to the Northwestern Hospital, of Minneapolis. She was a graduate of the Philadelphia Woman's Medical College. She devoted much attention to the instruction in the Training School for Nurses. She was efficient in her duties till disabled by consumption, of which she died at Denver in June, 1903.

William H. Knapp was born in Pennsylvania in^ 1854 and removed to Rochester, New York, and came from there to Rochester, Minnesota, in 1875. for several years bookkeeper in the dry goods store of J. D. Blake & Company, afterwards Leet & Knowlton, after which he established the store known as China Hall, which was transferred to his sisters on his entering the service of the hospital, in which he showed unusual efficiency. He is now the managing partner in the John A. Cole Milling Company, and has a reputation of much business ability. He has been interested in public affairs, has served as an Alderman and is now president of the Commercial Qub.

The present staff of the hospital comprises, medical superintendent, Arthur F. Kilbourne; assistant superintendent. Dr. Robert M. Phelps; assistant physicians, Drs. O. C. Heyerdale, Charles L.

Chappie and Laura A. Linton ; steward, Roy A. Baker. The number of nurses usually is fifty-three men and sixty-one women, and the total number of employes, 202. There are now 1,161 patients, of whom 605 are men and 556 women.

Dr. Oscar C. Heyerdale is a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, bom in 1873, came from Blue Earth, Minnesota, in 1884, and was educated in the Rochester schools. He spent four years in the drug store of Weber & Heintz and graduated from the Northwestern Medical School in Chicago in 1898. He practiced medicine at Plainview, Minnesota, a year and entered the State Hospital in 1899 as third assistant physician, and has been promoted to second assistant, in which capacity he is now acting. He is serving his second term as master of the Masonic Lodge of Rochester.

Dr. Charles L. Chappie was born in Wisconsin in 1869, educated at Prescott, graduated from the literary department of the Minnesota University in 1892 and graduated from the Minnesota College of Medicine and Surgery, served a year as interne at St. Barnabas Hospital, at Minneapolis, and came to Rochester in 1899 ^ts third assistant physician.

Roy A. Baker is a native Minnesotian, having been bom at Anoka in 1873. While a child he moved with his father's family to Fergus Falls. At the age of twenty-five he went to Alaska, where he spent an adventurous year and a half, retuming to Fergus Falls, where he was engaged as an accountant and was bookkeeper in the steward's office at the State Insane Hospital, from there was appointed steward at Rochester in December, 1902.

A training school for the nurses was established by Drs. Kilbourne and Phelps in 1890, and has been conducted, mainly, under the instmction of Dr. Phelps. A class of thoroughly trained nurses is graduated every year since 1892, and the school has since that time graduated 243 qualified nurses; 154 women and 89 men.

Liberal appropriations have frequently been made by the Legislature for improvements and an extensive and imposing pile of 'buildings of red brick, trimmed with drab stone, has grown up, comprising a central administration building with a handsome tower, and wing around, several separate buildings, a pavilion, two separate cottages and a number of outside buildings and a green house. The hospital has extensive heating and lighting plants, an organized fire department of the employes and everything for comfort and safety. The grounds include a farm of 960 acres, owned by the state, and 440 acres rented, all cultivated chiefly by the patients. Frederick A. James, the farmer, came from St. Peter, and has filled that position since the establishment of the hospital.

The hospital is, practically, an independent village of about fifteen hundred population, nearly twice as large as any village in the county, with all the conveniences of a city, and is an admirably conducted community.

IN the legislative session of 1874, I. M. Westfall, of Rochester, anti-Monopolist, was a senator and the representatives were John Hyslop, of Marion township, anti-Monopolist ; Charles T. Shellman, of Viola township, anti-Monopolist; Michael Dosdall, of Farmington, Democrat, and Frederick T. Olds, of Rochester, Democrat.

The vote at the election was a tie between Westfall and Christopher T. Benedict, Republican, and the special election following resulted in the success of Westfall.

Rev. I. M. Westfall, a native of Ohio, came to Rochester from Indiana in i860, preached the first universalist sermon in the city and a church of that faith was established, of which he was pastor. He also preached, at times, at Mantorville, Spring Valley and other places. After about three years and a half he became a homeopathic physician and a farmer, and was active in politics as an anti-Monopolist. He was a fluent speaker and very social and popular. He later removed to Watertown,* South Dakota, where he died in 1889.

John Hyslop was a native of Scotland. He immigrated to America in 1852 and in 1855 settled in Marion township, near Chester, and developed a valuable farm. He was again a representative in 1878. He died in 1897, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a strong minded and forceful man.

Charles T. Shellman was a native of New York State, bom in 1834. He moved with his parents to Wisconsin in 1845, where he spent his youth. He came to Viola township in 1862 and carried on farming on a large scale. He was unusually well informed, energetic and prosperous in business and of excellent character. He died in 1895.

Michael Dosdall was a native of Prussia and claimed to have been a member of the Prussian Legislature. He came to Farmington in 1867 and became the owner of one of the largest farms in the township. He was highly social, extensively known in the county and popular with his countrymen. He moved to Dakota about 1892, and from there to the State of Washington, where he died in 1907.

ester. He then practiced stenography, which was at that time a new art thereabouts, and became very proficient as a court reporter. He followed that business for a number of years in partnership with a brother at Minneapolis, where he died in 1905. He was industrious, popular and successful.

The new county officers elected in November, 1874, were: Auditor, Adolph Bierman, of Rochester, Democrat; Coroner, George W. Nichols, of Rochester, Republican; County Commissioners, O. Cravath, of Elmira, Republican, and W. H. White, of Farmington, Democrat. Auditor Bierman served three terms.

Adolph Bierman is a native of Norway, bom in 1842, and a gentleman of liberal education and of unusual business capacity. He came to America in 1862 and enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry, and served three years. After a few months residence again in Norway, he came to Rochester, and was for seven years bookkeeper in the mercantile establishment of Andrew Nelson. He was state auditor two terms, from 1891 to 1895, and was a very efficient officer. He was appointed United States collector of internal revenue for Minnesota, under Cleveland's first administration, in 1855. Since that service he has conducted his large farm near Rochester, which he has recently sold, and is now a resident of the city.

Dr. George W. Nichols, practiced medicine several years in Rochester, and became a popular member of the community. He served two terms, being re-elected without opposition. He removed, in 1880, to Wahpeton, Dakota.

Obed Cravath was an early settler, and one of the most prominent farmers in the township of Elmira, and highly esteemed. He and his brother, Austin Cravath, of Winona county, were the first to bring into this region thoroughbred short horn cattle. He died a number of years ago.

William' Henry White was a native of Vermont, bom in 1835. His grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812. He leamed the carpenter trade and moved to Wisconsin and came to Olmsted county in 1862. He serv^ed in the First Minnesota Regiment, and after his discharge located on a farm in Farmington township. He was elected representative in the legislature before the end of his term as commissioner, and, after his legislative service was elected sheriff and served two terms. He died in October, 1906. He was an efficient officer and very popular.

In an issue of the Post of June, 1874, it was stated that E. W. Crocker, of Rochester, had shipped from Chicago and sold at retail, three bushels and five quarts of straw^berries. The first shipment sold at 70 cents per quart and the price got down to 20 cents, or an average price of about 40 cents a quart. It was probably the importation of the luxury that now comes by the car load. When the country was new strawberries grew abundantly in the native grass and could be had for the picking on the prairie or on vacant town lots. They were small and more difficult to pick over than the larger varieties we get at the groceries now, but were infinitely superior in sweetness and flavor. Nothing more delicious than the primitive strawberry was ever grown. Man, in improving on Nature, has not improved the strawberry.

The new county officers elected in the fall of 1875 ^^^^ Henry C. Butler, of Rochester, Democrat, county attorney, and Henry Pertier, of Kalmar, Democrat, county commissioner.

Henry C. Butler was born in the state of New York in 1828, the son of a farmer. He received an academic and collegiate education and read law. In 1850 he went to St. Paul and entered the law office of Hon. William P. Murray. He went from there to Beloit, Wisconsin, and in 1851, at Janes ville, was admitted to practice law. He engaged in farming for three years, and in 1855 located for the practice of his profession at Carimona, then the county seat of Fillmore county. In 1859 he removed to Chatfield, and in 1864 ^ Rochester. He was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue and afterwards register in bankruptcy. He became judge of probate in 1879, held the office fourteen years; after which he was court commissioner until his death in 1895. He was a thorough lawyer and an accomplished gentleman.

Henry Postier was a native of Germany, born in 1834. He came to Wisconsin with his parents in 185 1, and to Kalmar in 1855. He was a hard working and prosperous farmer, had the respect of his neighbors and served the township as town clerk and assessor. He served three years as county commissioner. He died in 1888.

In the legislative sessions of 1875 representatives were Lucius M. Gaskill, of High Forest; Burr Deuel, of Quincy; J. V. Daniels, of Rochester, and William Brown, of Rochester, all Republicans.

Lucius M. Gaskill was born in Vermont and lived in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire till, in 1852, he went with his father's family to Wisconsin. In 1859 he came, with his brother John, by ox team prairie schooner to High Forest village. He spent two years and a half in the State University and studied law. He was postmaster at High Forest and was assessor. He removed to Dexter, Moon county, where he drew the act incorporating the village, and was a member of the village council for four years, assessor two years and justice of the peace one term, and was postmaster. In 1896 he erected a building at Judge, in this county, and is now residing there. He has kept a store and been postmaster. He is intelligent, unusually well informed and popular with his neighbors. He has the peculiar record of having been postmaster under every president that was assassinated and lost the office under their successors.

election, and for several years, proprietor of the flour mill at Quincy. He is of sterling character, well informed, frank and thoroughly reliable. He was afterwards state senator. He moved to Dodge county, and from there to Minneapolis, where he is now living.

As late as the fall of 1875 bears were seen in Olmsted county. One was driven out of a hog pen in Rochester township with a pitchfork and one was seen in the neighborhood of Stone's Corners, and another in the Genoa woods. They were hunted but only their tracks found. It was believed they had come from Wisconsin in search of food.

In the legislative session of 1876 J. V. Daniels was against senator and the representatives were A. Burnap, of Orion, Republican; Henry Stanchfield, of Viola, anti-Monopolist ; E. Perry Whiting, of Farmington, Republican, and W. Henry White, of Farmington, Democrat. Mr. Whiting served two terms.

Henry Stanchfield was a native of Maine, born in 1827. He was overseer of a gang of railroad track layers in the West five years. He came to Viola from Illinois in 1870, and was an extensive and enterprising farmer with a fine farm of 360 acres. He moved to Winona, where he died in August, 1897.

E. Perry Whiting, a native of New York state, came to Farmington township from Wisconsin in i860, settled there as farmer and became a prominent and respected citizen, filling several local offices, and was for several years town clerk. He died in 1889, aged sixty years.

At their session in January, 1876, the county commissioners appointed M. G. Spring, of Rochester, county superintendent of schools, superseding Superintendent Niles.

Mr. Spring was a graduate of the Massachusetts State Normal School and came to Rochester about 1865. He taught private schools in Rochester and was a well qualified teacher and of good character. He held the office six years, being elected to his second term without opposition. He afterwards kept a stationery store in Rochester, and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1893.

Miss Eugenie A. Wheeler, of Eyota township, was the author of a geography of Minnesota, published in 1876, which was extensively used in the schools of the state. She was a teacher in several of the schools of this county and in the Winona Normal School and Niles School in Rochester. She was married in 1882 to Prof. Goff and became a resident of Athol, Dakota.

W. H. White, having been elected to the legislature in the fall of 1875, resigned as county commissioner, and John Cornwell, of New Haven, was appointed commissioner to fill the vacancy. He was elected to the office in 1876 and served two terms.

History Of Olmsted Couxtv

James N. Coe was a native of the state of New York, born in 1822. lie removed to Ohio in 1847, and was a merchant. He came to Rochester in 1856 and was a partner with William D. Hurlbut, his brother-in-law, in dealing in real estate and money loaning. He served several years as chairman of the board of county commissioners. He was an expert accountant and an unusually capable business man, thoroughly conversant with all county affairs and perfectly reliable. He was the most careful financier ever on the county iDoard. He died in November, 1903.

William J. Rank was a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in 1824. While a child his fatlier's family emigrated to Indiana, and he came from there, driving an ox team, and settled on a farm in Dover township in 1855. He was an excellent farmer and was honored by his neighbors by election to township offices. He died in March, 1906.

In the legislative session of 1877, Burr Deuel, of Quincy, was a senator, and Marcus Wing, of Rock Dell, Thomas W. Phelps, of Marion township, and George W. Pugh, of Rochester, representatives - all Republicans.

Thomas W. Phelps came with his father's family from Pennsylvania in 1854, being among the earliest settlers in Marion township. He developed a fine farm at the village of Chester and was prominent in local affairs. He had an academic education and was unusually well informed.

George W. Pugh was a native of England and came to the state of New York when a child. On becoming of age he went to Michigan, where he became a prominent business man and was sergeantat-arms of the assembly. He was unfortunate in business and came to Rochester in 1861 and worked as a laborer. He was active in local politics and was street commissioner, alderman and justice of the peace. He was sergeant-at-arms of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1879, and was afterwards assistant doorkeeper of the House of Representatives at Washington. He was intelligent, energetic and highly esteemed. He died in 1883.

The new county officers elected in Novemt)er, 1877, were: Treasurer, A. F. Keyes. of Dover, Independent; sheriff, W. H. White, of Famiinglon, Democrat: county attorney, H. A. Eckholdt, of Rochester, Republican; judge of probate, H. H. Richardson, of Viola, Republican; court commissioner, Walter S. Booth, of Rochester, Republican ; coroner, Fred R. Mosse, of Rochester, Republican. Mr. Richardson dying before the time for him to take the office, Governor Pillsbury appointed D. S. Hebbard, of Rochester, judge of probate, and Mr. Booth failing to qualify, O. O. Baldwin, the incumbent, held over as court commissioner. Sheriff White served two terms.

A. F. Keyes was a farmer in Dover township, coming there in 1868. He was a native of Connecticut; a thrifty and very successful farmer and prominent in the township. He moved to California in 1886, and died there in 1901.

Half tan A. Eckholdt was bom in Norway in 1845 came to America when only five years old with his mother, who was a widow. He lived a few years in New York City and in Pennsylvania, where he was for a while in the Norwegian colony, founded by Ole Bull. The family came to Minnesota in 1857 and lived first at Berlin, Steele county, and afterwards on a farm at New Richland, Waseca county ; from there he enlisted in the Third Minnesota Light Artillery, and saw three years hard service in the campaigns against the Sioux, reaching the rank of sergeant. At the close of the war he came to Rochester and was employed in the grocery store of S. H. Daniels. He acquired his education by his own exertions and while working for a bare support. He graduated from the law department of Michigan University in 1874. Opening a law office in Rochester, he has obtained a large practice. He has served two terms as city attorney and is now commander of Custer Post, Grand Army of the Republic.

His son, Frank Eckholdt is reporter for the tenth judicial district, with his residence at Austin, and his son, Walter, is register of deeds of Olmsted county.

Walter S. Booth was a native of Connecticut, born in 1827. He was educated at Newton Academy and Trinity College. He taught classical schools, fitting young men for college, till 1855, when his health failing, he came to Minnesota, locating at Hamilton, Fillmore county, and engaging in surveying and dealing in land. He read law and was admitted to the bar at Austin in 1861. He removed to Rochester in 1862 and edited the Rochester City Post, then owned by David Blakely, till the close of the war of the rebellion. In 1865 he formed a partnership with J. A. Leonard, and the firm of Leonard & Booth purchased the Post, and aften^^ards added the Rochester Republican, and built up one of the best local standard for the use of officers throughout the state and authority papers in the state. During the partnership of eleven years he wrote the Justices' Manual and the Township Manual, which became the in the courts. In 1876 he sold his interest in the Post to Mr. Leonard and engaged exclusively in the publication of his books and law blanks and removed to Minneapolis, where, in partnership with his son, Walter S., Jr., he developed the largest business of the kind in the state. He, from time to time, added to the Justice and Township Manuals a Constable's Manual, a Highway Manual, a Village Manual and a Form Book, all of which have become the standard authorities in Minnesota and the Dakotas, and his blanks reached the number of 1,200 different forms. *He was a man of thorough education, of great intellectual ability, a finished writer and a first class business man. He died in June, 1901.

Dr. Fred. R. Mosse was bom at Madison, Wisconsin, in 185 1, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1874. He is a graduate of the Chicago Homeopathic College. He came to Rochester in 1877 entered into partnership with Dr. W. A. Allen, but has been for several years practicing alone. He has a large practice, and has been a member of the board of pension examiners, health officer of Rochester and for several years, and at this time, coroner.

H. H. Richardson was a highly esteemed farmer of Viola township, where he settled in 1865. He was taken ill about the time of the election and died before taking the office to which he was elected.

In the legislative session of 1878, Daniel A. Morrison, of Rochester, Republican, was a senator, and John Hyslop, of Marion, Independent ; A. Burnap, of Elmira, Republican ; C. E. Stacy, of Farmington, Republican, and James Button, of Rochester, Democrat, were representatives. Senator Morrison served four terms, and Representative Stacy two terms.

Daniel A. Morrison was born in Pennsylvania in 1842, and moved with his parents to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he became a printer, and before reaching the age of eighteen he had charge of the Journal at Markesan, and was connected with that paper two years. He enlisted in the thirty-second Wisconsin Regiment, and served till the end of the War of the Rebellion. He came to Rochester in 1866 and established a bakery and restaurant, which has grown into a very large and popular establishment. He was mayor of Rochester from 1875 ^878 and an alderman from 1895 to 1901, and is now chairman of the board of public utilities. He has been prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, having been commander of Custer Post three terms, and one term senior vice commander of the state. He has also been prominently identified with Odd Fellowship, having been noble grand of Rochester Lodge and grand master of Minnesota, and twice representative to the sovereign grand lodge. The county has always had the greatest confidence in his judgment in public affairs.

Charles E. Stacy was a native of Vermont and settled in Farmington in 1867. He was a farmer and carpenter, was honored by his neighbors with several local offices and had a most excellent reputation for intelligence and integrity. He died in the summer of 1881, as the result of injuries received by being thrown from a horse.

James Button was born in the state of New York and was a pioneer settler of New Haven township, taking a claim there in 1854. He acquired a great deal of real estate and built a saw mill and managed it for a numl>er of years. He was a practical, energetic business man and held a leading position in the township. He moved to Rochester about 1876 and died in April, 1899.

In November, 1878, William Freeman, of High Forest township, Democrat, was elected county commissioner. He w^as one of the early settlers of the township, a prosperous and reputable farmer and active in local affairs.

In the legislative session of 1879 O. H. Page, of Pleasant Grove, anti-Monopolist, was a senator, and C. P. Russell, of Eyota, Democrat. Peter Burns, of High Forest, Democrat, and R. A. Jones, of Rochester, Democrat, were representatives.

Orrin H. Page is a native of New York state. It is a fact that may be interesting, by way of contrast, to those who know him, that both his parents were mutes. He removed to Wisconsin in 1846 and located in Pleasant Grove in 1854. The village of Pleasant Grove was located on his preemption. He has been successful as a farmer and prominent in local affairs. He was assessor for the townships of Pleasant Grove, Elmira and Orion. He was deputy sheriff under Sheriff Philo S. Curtis about a year and a half, performing all the duties of the office. He was justice of the peace seventeen years and master of the Masonic lodge fifteen years. He is still living on his farm. He is a man of a great deal of general information, a ready speaker and of extensive acquaintance and influence both in the county and the state.

Charles P. Russell was born in Vermont in 1837, came to Winona in 1856, and moved to Eyota in 1865, and was a pioneer in merchandising and grain buying. He has, in partnership with his son, Frederick H., built up an extensive business, including a fine bank. He is a leader in the community and highly appreciated by his neighbors.

Peter Burns was a native of Ireland, born in 1835, and came to High Forest township with his father's family in 1855, settling on a farm near which the village of Stewartville was subsequently located. He was very successful as a farmer and stood high in the estimation of everybody; very intelligent and of thorough integrity; he was a truly representative man. He died in 1897.

Charles W. Cresap is a native of Ohio, born in 1835. The son of a blacksmith, he learned his father's trade. He came to Pleasant Grove in 1856, in 1858 moved to Marion, and in 1866 to Eyota village and dealt in agricultural machinery. He has held several township offices. In 1891 he became a resident of Rochester, where

Previous to 1879 the legislature had met every year, but the session of that year, following the example of some other states, adopted the system of meeting only every other year, known as the biennial session system, electing senators for four years and representatives for two years, which has since been followed. It is not noticeable that the legislature is any better or worse for the change, but the expense is less.

In the fall of 1879 Charles M. Start, of Rochester, w^as elected attorney general of the state; M. R. Wood, of Eyota, register of deeds; G. A. Frizzell, of Byron, treasurer, and B. F. Bulen, of Haverhill, and F. L. Tesca, of Elmira, county commissioners - all Republicans. Register Wood served two terms.

Milton R. Wood was born in New York state in 1836. At the age of eighteen years he moved to Michigan and followed school teaching; from there he went to Wisconsin, where he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Regiment, and was in Sherman's march to the sea. He came to Olmsted county in 1867 located a farm within a mile and a half of Eyota village. After being register he was employed in the abstract office of T. H. Bliss, in Rochester, most of the time till his death. His duties required his daily posting of the entries in the office of the register of deeds, and he became most conversant with all the real estate transfers of the county, and not only so, but his familiarity with all county business made him an authority on all county aflfairs. His thorough business habits and his courteous and cordial manners made him popular with the various county officers who came and w^ent during his long service at the court house, and he was to all interests, as much a county officer as those who were elected to draw their salaries. He was a model of conscientious industry. He died on his farm in May, 1904.

Gilbert A. Frizzell was born in Vermont in 1836 and received an academic education. He came to Wisconsin in 1854, where he taught school, and came to Olmsted county in i860. He taught school and engaged in merchandising in Byron. He removed to Minneapolis, where he is now a bookkeeper.

Benjamin F. Bulen was born in Wisconsin in 1844. His father, Orpheus W. Bulen, moved with his family to Haverhill in 1857, where the son, known as Frank Bulen, grew up a farmer. He enlisted in 1862 in the First Regiment of Minnesota Mounted Rangers and served in the Sioux campaigns. About 1880 he became a salesman in the shoe store of Theodore B. Kellogg in Rochester, remaining there till the death of Mr. Kellogg, about two years. In 1900 he went to Redwood county and engaged in the hardware business. In 1906 he returned to his farm in Haverhill, and is now living in Rochester. He has been chairman of supervisors, assessor and clerk of Haverhill township.

Frank L. Tesca is the son of Joseph Tesca, who came from Bohemia or Poland with his family and located a farm in Orion township about 1856. The son was a small boy at that time. He grew up on the farm but moved into Chatfield and became a hardware merchant, prominent and respected, and is still living there.

As a feature in the diversification of crops resulting from the failure of wheat, the cultivation of sorghum cane and the manufacture of the syrup was engaged in by enterprising farmers throughout the county. Mills were set up in 1879 and 1880 by Harv^ey Watts, of Eyota; John Bamber, of Rochester: K. B. Dodge, of Farmington: Alan K. Williams, L. Andrus, T. D. Swain, A. W. Sias and O. W. Musson, of Rochester: A. A. Lord, Y. P. Burgan, V. M. Sandborn and J. D. Parks, of Pleasant Grove; L. L. McCoy, of Salem ; T. F. and F. C. Whitcomb, of Byn^i : M. L. Sawyer and A. Flyte, of Orion, and others. These mills ground the cane of many farmers and manufactured, respectively, from a few hundred to nearly 3,000 gallons of the syrup, and for a few years it looked as if it might become a common farm product, but it failed to commend itself to the popular taste and the industry has become almost a lost art.

In 1880 Dr. G. W. Nichols, who was coroner, removed to Dakota, and the county commissioners appointed Dr. E. T. Sedgewick to fill the vacancy in that office.

In the fall of 1880 C. A. Whited, of Pleasant Grove township, was elected county auditor; John Fraser, of Dover, surveyor, and Levi B. Josselyn, of Cascade, county commissioner.

Clarence A. Whited was a native of Ohio, born in 1848, and came with the family of his father, John Whited, to Pleasant Grove township in 1861. He went in 1865 to Oberlin, Ohio, and acquired a business education in the business institute of that city, having previously obtained a high school education. He returned to Minnesota and was employed more tlian five years in the store of C. W. Taylor at Spring Valley, after which he farmed four years in Pleasant Grove. After his services as auditor he was engaged in the insurance business in Rochester, where he died in 1895. He was a first rate business man and exceedingly popular.

John Fraser is one of the early settlers of Dover township, coming there in 1855. He is a farmer and surveyor and well known throughout the county. Two of liis sons, Thomas, a lawyer, and William C, a surveyor, are well known citizens of Rochester.

Levi B. Joslyn was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1832. In 1855 he emigrated with his father's family to Illinois, where he worked for the Illinois Central railroad. In 1856 they came to Minnesota, locating on a farm in Cascade township. He was highly esteemed and served as township supervisor and justice of the peace. He moved to Rochester in 1885 and became a dealer in agricultural machinery, in which business he is still engaged with his son,

His son, Fred. L., is bookkeeper in the First National bank of Rochester, and his son, Frank S., is on the home farm in Cascade, and Charles A., on a farm in Marion.

In the legislative session of 1881, C. A. Butterfield, of Viola township, Ole Juelson, of Rock Dell, and J. V. Daniels, of Rochester, were representatives.

C. A. Butterfield was a native of Maine, bom in 1827. He received an academic education and taught school three winters before he was twenty years old and then went to Boston, and for six years was clerk in a West Indies goods store. He then became a machinist, and moved to Sandusky, Ohio, and worked at his trade. He came to Viola in 1868, settled on a farm and was very successful in that business. He became a leader in the township, and was town clerk for ten years, and filled other local positions. He was a man of much general information, a pleasant gentleman and well liked.

Ole Juelson was a native of Norway, born in 1829. He came to the United States in 1850, and after living in Wisconsin and in Monroe county, he located in Rock Dell township in 1859. He was several years chairman of supervisors of the town and clerk of the school board, and was for two years postmaster. He was a good farmer and a practical business man. He died in October, 1901.

The death of J. V. Daniels, which occurred in September, 1881, created a vacancy in the office of representative in the legislature,, which was filled by the election of Juergen Frahm, of Farmington, Republican, who served, also, during the succeeding full term.

Mr. Frahm was bom in Germany in 1853, was brought to this country when two years old. His parents lived first in Iowa, coming from there to a farm in Farmington in 1865. He was educated in the Rochester high school and became a farmer. He was several years town clerk. He afterwards moved to Rochester, where he was manager of a creamery and then a groceryman, after which he moved to Chicago, where he was an engineer, and died there in September, 1906.

In the fall of 188 1 the following new county officers were elected: county attorney, Frank B. Kellogg, of Rochester, Republican; clerk of court, C. H. Heffron, of Kalmar, Democrat; sheriflf, Henry M. Richardson, of Haverhill, Republican; county commissioner, Andrew Seeverts, of Salem, Republican. County Attomey Kellogg served three terms.

Frank B. Kellogg was bom in the state of New York in 1856, son of Asa F. Kellogg, a farmer, who settled in Viola township in 1865. Frank B. got his education in the Rochester high school, graduated in law in 1877, and formed a partnership with Burt W. Eaton in the practice of the profession. He was city attorney of Rochester for three years from 1878. As a member of the firm of Kellogg & Eaton, he showed unusual ability in the case of Elgin and Plainview townships in Wabasha county, opposing the payment of bonds issued in favor of the Plainview & Eyota railroad, in which the firm was engaged in association with Hon. C. K. Davis, of St. Paul. In 1887 he became a partner with Senator Davis, and removed to St. Paul, where he has attained the highest rank in his profession. He is now special counsel for the United States against the Paper Trust, and in the case of the United States against the Standard Oil Trust and special counsel for the Interstate Commerce Commission in the investigation of the Harriman railroads.

Christopher H. Heflfron was born in the state of Maine, on Christmas, 1852. He came with his parents, who located on a farm in Kalmar. in 1863. He taught school in the county and served four years as deputy under H. T. Hannon, clerk of the court. And after his own election served thirteen years as clerk. He was an efficient and very popular officer. At the close of his service he was presented by the Olmsted county bar with a gold-headed ebony cane, the presentation speech being made by W. Logan Breckenridge, Esq. On ceasing to be clerk of the court he became a clerk in the United States review office, in St. Paul, which position he is now filling.

Henry M. Richardson was bom in Vermont in 1844. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in a Vermont regiment. After the war he came to Haverhill and engaged in farming, in which he was unusually prosperous. He was a representative in the legislative session of 1893. He has for several years been a resident of Rochester and was for a time engaged in the grocery business. He is the owner of farms and interested in their management. He is exceedingly popular and has, perhaps, the most extensive acquaintance throughout the county of any of our public men. He was for several terms commander of Custer Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and is now and has been for some years, its adjutant. County Attorney Harold J. Richardson, and his brother and partner, William B. Richardson, are his sons.

Andrew Seeverts was born in Norway in 1837, and emigrated with his parents when seven years old. They located in Wisconsin and came from there to Salem in 1856, where he has been a farmer and a very prosperous one, owning one of the best farms in the county. He is an enterprising business man and has filled several town offices.

The tragic death of President Garfield was recognized by holding a grand memorial service in Rochester, on Monday, September 26, 1 88 1, the date of his burial. Heaney's and Horton's halls, which adjoined each other, were practically thrown into one. Both halls were crowded with the outpouring of the people. The exercises consisted of a dirge by the band, singing by a choir and addresses by Rev. William Riordan, Hon. S. W. E^ton, Hon. R. A. Jones, Rev. M. L. R. Gjertson, Col. James George, Rev. J. W. Bradshaw and Chief Justice C. M. Start. It was estimated that the audience numbered from eighteen hundred to two thousand people. Buildings were drapped, flags were at half mast, bells tolled and there was every indication that the whole community was in mourning.

One of the most important and least appreciated of farming industries is the poultry business, and it is the most difficult to reduce to any definite statement. The apparently trivial returns from the chicken yard on nearly every farm make an addition to the household revenues that cannot be learned in detail and is incalculable in the aggregate, but they add greatly to the general prosperity of the community. Poultry and eggs are claimed to yield the greatest profit on the money and labor invested of anything on the farm. Eggs are dealt in by nearly every groceryman and chickens by every butcher everywhere, but there is in Olmsted county only one establishment devoted entirely to traffic in them. W. J. Eaton engaged in the purchase of eggs, poultry and butter in Rochester in 1881, and the W. J. Eaton Egg Company was incorporated in 1889, and has branches at Stewartville, Spring Valley and Leroy. The first year that Mr. Eaton did business ten cars of eggs and poultry were shipped, and now fifty cars of eggs from Rochester and from the other points eighty cars a year are shipped, making more than 125 carloads handled in the year. They also ship about 300,000 pounds of dressed poultry and twenty-five carloads of live poultry a year. There are a dozen persons employed in the establishment at Rochester.

Add to these figures, if you can, an estimate of the other poultry products not ascertainable, and then try to imagine how much there has been contributed to the wealth of the community.

William J. Eaton was born in Connecticut in 1847, the age of ten years moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where he graduated at Iowa College, He engaged in the egg and poultry business there till he came to Rochester in 1881. He served in the Forty-sixth Iowa Regiment in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting at the age of seventeen years.

An unfortunate and disastrous immigration scheme was worked in this and some other counties of the state in the summer of 1882. The middle class parents of a number of English boys, ranging from fifteen to twenty-one years of age, were led to send their sons over here to become American farmers. About 100 of them were brought over by Rev. George Pridham, an Episcopal clergyman of Faribault, and distributed among farmers in this and adjoining counties. Rev. Charles T. Coers, the Episcopal clergyman of Roch- ester, had local supervision of the boys. They were hired to farmers, one at a place, for a year. The farmer was paid a bonus of $80 for taking them and paid them wages of $5 a month for the first four months, and $10 a month for the remaining eight months. They were educated boys, unaccustomed to manual labor and entirely unfitted for American farm laborers, which was the position they found themselves in. They were generally well treated, but few of them served out their terms of apprenticeship, some returning home and most of them drifting into the towns and into various easier or more congenial occupations. The scheme was a topic of general ridicule till the fate of one of the boys made it tragical. Ernest L. Chillcott, aged nineteen years, the son of a publisher and bookbinder at Bristol, had been bound out to Edward F. Dodge, a Haverhill farmer. He was well satisfied with his treatment, but he had heart disease and melancholia, and the work was too severe for him and he became a bell boy in the Cook Hotel. Letters from his father and mother refusing to send him money or to allow him to come home so depressed him that he committed suicide by cutting his throat at the hotel in October, 1882. A coroner's jury, in their verdict, said they "believed that his melancholia was induced and his death compassed by the very impractical and wild scheme by which this young man was led to leave his home in England and come to this state to learn farming, and that those who are the movers of this scheme are accountable and responsible."

The new county officers elected in November, 1882, were: Fayette L. Cook, of Rochester, superintendent of schools, and J. W. Flathers, of Pleasant Grove, and J. T. Price, of Eyota, county commissioners - all Republicans.

Fayette L. is a son of Martin W. Cook, deceased, who was a nurseryman and small fruit grower in Rochester. Fayette was born in Michigan in 1850, and came to Rochester while a child in 1859. He is a graduate of the Winona Normal School and taught in that institution and at other schools in the state. He superintended the county school energetically and efficiently till 1885, when he resigned to take the superintendency of the State Normal School at Spearfish, South Dakota, where he still is, after twenty-two years of able service.

John Wesley Flathers was born in Indiana in 1845 ^tnd came to Pleasant Grove township in 1855 with his father's family. He was educated in the schools of Chatfield and became a successful fanner on a large scale and a leader in the township. He was chairman of supervisors three years and town treasurer ten years. He was elected representative in the legislature in 1887, and served two terms. He removed in 1892 to Rochester, where he is still residing,

James T. Price was a native of England, coming to this country at an early age. He settled on a farm in Eyota township in 1858. He was one of the first to engage extensively in the raising of sheep, as well as other branches of farming, and was very prosperous in that business and prominent in township matters. He died in 1902 aged seventy years.

Emerson D. Dyar was born in Maine in 1814, and came to Minnesota in 1866. He followed farming near Saratoga, Winona county, and moved from there to Dundas, Minnesota, engaging in the drug business, and from there moved to Eyota and was a banker and grain dealer there and afterwards in Dover. In 1892 he removed to Winona, and was very successful as a banker. He died in February, 1905.

The Great Cyclones

A TORNADO of extraordinary severity swept over the northwestern part of this county on Saturday, July 21, 1883. Its origin was traced as far west as Spink county, Dakota, where the storm is said to have occurred about 6 o'clock in the morning, l>eing a combination of rain, hail and wind, killing two people, seriously wounding a number of others and destroying the claim shanties and improvements of many settlers. Its course was eastward, almost along the boundary line between Kingsbury and Brookings county, at some points ten miles w^de, striking Minnesota in Lincoln county and hitting the neighborhood of Lake Benton, Sleepy Eye, New Ulm and St. Peter, the principal damage being to the crops. At Mankato, W^aseca and Meriden a number of buildings were destroyed. An east-bound passenger train was blown from the track near Owatonna and twenty-five persons were injured. Alan K. Wilhams and Miss Zickrick, of Rochester, and Miss Blakeslee, of Pleasant Grove, were seriously injured. At Owatonna many buildings and the fair grounds were damaged and a man was seriously injured. At Mantonville the court house and a barn were unroofed and on several farms in the neighborhood buildings were destroyed or damaged : one person, Mrs. Norton, was fatally injured and in the county of Dodge about twenty were wounded.

The storm struck Olmsted county, at noon, on the west line of Kalmar township. A new home of Richard Middleton was destroyed, and Mrs. Middleton, who had retreated to the cellar, was killed. A farm a mile from Middleton's was destroyed and the occupant, George Arnold, his wife and his aged mother were severely hurt ; one daughter was scalded and another had her leg broken. William Chilson*s buildings were destroyed, but the family escaped. L. Young's home was destroyed, but he said he' could not say he was destitute, for he had some flour and a ham. Henry Witsey lost all his property, but none of his family was hurt. The house, and its surroundings, of J. Rud and his wife, an elderly couple, were swept away and they were badly bruised and disabled. A large barn on the farm of Thomas Jorns was unroofed and a hundred tons of hay were destroyed. Frederick Portier's bams were unroofed and hay and other property destroyed. At Jacob Grassle's two barns were destroyed and parts of them carried half a mile. The roof of a barn was divided, half of it going to the northwest unbroken, and the other half going to the northeast and breaking into thousands of pieces. Thousands of trees in the heavy timber

Going northward the storm followed the town line between Cascade and Oronoco, eastwardly eleven miles. In Cascade township the bam and all outbuildings on the farm of C. Kimball were wrecked ; all the buildings on Martin Koll^e's farm and a new bam on the farm of P. Koul were destroyed. In Oronoco township the brick school house, at Stone's Comers, was blown away, leaving the floor with a cabinet organ standing unhamied. At E. Clason's, ever}'thing was gone except the main part of the house. A large barn and a fine orchard were swept away. The buildings of D. W'aldron and E. J. Gates escaped with less damages. The home of James Fleener, with all its contents, was destroyed. Mrs. Fleener, who was ill, was much shocked. Mrs. Mary Crofoot lost house, barn and everything. Every building of C. J. Hubbard was destroyed, and his wife badly hurt. Mr. Hubbard had placed his children in the cellar and thought he had jumped in himself, but the building had moved and he found himself under it. Mrs. Jones had nothing but the foundations left of a new house and new bam. Andrew Nickells lost every building and all their contents. A farm of E. Clason, occupied by Carl Ruebel was stripped of buildings and trees. D. Sonnenberg's house, barns and all their contents were destroyed. Mrs. Sonnenberg and two children were badly hurt. G. Podolske had a new house torn to pieces and a house built of large logs scattered as if the logs had been weeds. Mrs. Podolske and a daughter were seriously bmised. John Klu, a neighbor of Podolske, lost only his kitchen, and into the upright part of his house he gathered the families of Sonnenberg and Podolske, making with his own family, twenty-four persons, eighteen of them children and five in bed with wounds and bmises. On the farm of A. Joselyn CA ery one of a grove of large burr oak trees, surrounding the house, was destroyed.

In Haverhill township a stone school house was demolished. The home of F. Mclntyre, opposite the school house, was almost destroyed. He was in bed, an invalid ; his leg was broken and his head and face cut. His wife was badly injured. Charles Simonds, a blind man, was carried a hundred feet ; a harvester was carried two hundred feet and and the barn was carried a hundred feet and set down in the timl^er. The stone residence of Fred Harvey and the frame residence of George Harvey were both totally demolished. Out of five wagons on the farm only one was useable. Their mother, an elderly lady, was nearly buried in the ruins of the stone house. E. F. Dodge and his wife started for their cellar; Mrs. Dodge reached the stairs and he was entering the cellar door with a baby in his arms when the house was lifted from the floor, carried eighty-five feet and left standing with Mr. Dodge and the baby inside, unhurt. The house and barn of Sumner Snow was torn to pieces and the furniture and dishes scattered over the farms. W. H. White's barns were badly damaged. C. E. Stacy's barn and crops were greatly injured. A house of Thomas Brooks, occupied by Joseph Hines, was badly damaged and moved two hundred feet from its foundation ; on an opposite farm, an expensive hog house, sheds and cribs were blown away. The largest piece left of the Fitch school house was the black board. Amos Welch lost a wind mill ; P. Walker lost a granary and sheds and W. Southwick a bam and sheds. A house, occupied by August Berendt, was destroyed and all its contents scattered. The family, including six children, escaped.

There were nineteen dwellings destroyed in the county, several of them being of the best of farm houses, and thirteen bams, many of them large and well built stmctures. And there were three school houses destroyed. There were eleven houses and nine bams unroofed and moved from their foundations, making, in all, fifty-five structures destroyed. These were estimated to be worth, with their belongings, $44,000. The storm swept over 17,000 acres of land, 13,000 of which was under cultivation. The loss on crops in the county was estimated at $65,000. It was believed that the total property loss was not less than $110,000. Twenty families were rendered destitute. Only one person, Mrs. Middleton, was killed outright, but three others were believed to be fatally injured. Twenty persons were so injured as to require medical or surgical attention. The number of casualties was marvelously small.

Passing into the adjoining county of Wabasha, the storm wrought greater havoc, striking Elgin, a village of about two hundred and fifty people, destroying or badly injuring every business building and leaving scarcely a habitable residence. There, as in Olmsted county, the casualties were comparatively very few. One woman was killed, another had her skull fractured, an old gentleman's thigh was broken, a child's spine was injured and several persons were slightly injured. .

As in all such cases, relief for the unfortunate was prompt and liberal. Meetings were held in Rochester, cornmittees were appointed and contributions collected throughout the county, the county commissioners appropriated $470. About twenty-five hundred dollars was raised within a few days and more later, so the immediate wants of the needy were supplied. Viola township also contributed $500 for its neighbors of Elgin.

A most appalling calamity was the cyclone that struck the county, and especially the city of Rochester. Tuesday evening, August 21, 1883, just a month to a day after the one that so nearly destroyed Elgin.

It struck Olmsted county in Salem township. The houses of Cyrus Holt and Luther McCoy were badly wrecked and the barns destroyed. The buildings of J. B. Little, L. Donovan, T. McGovem, W. P. Brooks, Ole Johnson, Amil Johnson and Ole Christensen were swept away. The house, granary, stables and all outbuildings of John and Joe Kemfermann were blown out of sight. The house of James McGovern was destroyed. All buildings and machinery on Fred Little's farm were destroyed. The house and outbuildings of Amun Anderson were destroyed. The house of Ole F. Engen was destroyed. Mrs. Stolson's house was unroofed. Mrs. Knuessel's house was unroofed and barn moved. The house of Tom Donovan was destroyed. All the buildings of Tom Connolly were blown away. A h6use of Nels Jacobson, occupied by Peter Matson, was destroyed. All the buildings of Chris Johnson Lillo were destroyed, and his father, living with him, was killed.

In Cascade township a barn of S. B. Hall was blown away. The house and furniture of Peter Welch were damaged. James Bucklen's house was wrecked.

In Rochester township the house and sheds of John Bannon were blown away. The barn on George Stopple's farm was unroofed and the chimneys blown down. Joe Stopple's kitchen was unroofed and the barn blown down. Dr. Clifton's barn was unroofed. The barn of Mr. Kennedy was destroyed. J. D. Ostrom's barn and orchard were destroyed. The buildings on the John R. Cook farm were destroyed. The buildings on Mrs. F^itoute's farm were destroyed. The house of ^Ir. Higby was destroyed. George Baihly's barn was destroyed. The buildings on the farms of Moses Hurd and Mathew Clemens were badly damaged, and Frank Clemens' arm was broken. A large barn on H. T. Horton's farm with 130 tons of hay was demolished, Edwin Coon's leg was broken and four horses and four cows were killed. A. Engel's new house and barn were blown down. Mr. !Musson's barn was overturned. The house on the Leland farm was destroyed.

At Rochester the day had been hot with a strong southeast wind, the air was smoky and oppressive, the heavens were overcast with clouds of a dull leaden hue, and there were, apparently, three strata, all moving in different directions. About three or four o'clock the clouds began to concentrate west of the city; a slight shower of rain passed over and for a few moments succeeding the air was perfectly still. The indications were so alarming that the farmers, of whom there were many, hurried out of town. Later, toward seven o'clock, light fleecy clouds were seen scudding athwart the sky at lighting speed, the great dark mass in the west assumed a greenisli cast, the rain came down in sheets, the heavens blazed with yellow lightning and a terrible and terrifying roaring was heard. There w^as a resistless gale from the west, and dense darkness, in which the destruction was wrought almost in a minute. The storm abated and those who emerged from their homes or places of shelter found a wrecked city. Many of the streets were filled with uprooted trees and parts of buildings. Houses w^ere unroofed or blown down, and the contents of homes scattered and, worst of all, many persons were killed and more wounded.

The business center of the city, including the most valuable buildings, sustained little damage compared to the residence districts, and especially North Rochester. There was no loss of life in the business district : probably because most men had gone home to their evening meal.

George Stocking's new brick store building,' at the corner of Broadway and Fourth street, was demolished, and Wayne Beardsley's frame store adjoining it. The tin roof was torn off Heaney's block and Rommel's block was unroofed. The west end of A. D. Vedder's agricultural implement warehouse, a brick structure, was wrecked, and he and his wife, who had gone into the cellar, w^ere saved by heavy timbers lodging above them. A frame building opposite Vedder's, was badly wrecked. The fronts wxre blown out of the business houses of Bonham & Roth, Leet & Knowlton, Hebbard & George, J. W. Everstine, Seikert & Adler, C. Neiusuess and G. Hargesheimer. The roof and cornice of Cook's Hotel were damaged. A gable of the Merchants' Hotel stable was blown in. Part of the front of Perry's livery stable was blown in. The side of Holtz's saloon was demolished. A w^all of Livermore's foundry was blow^n out and the roof driven through the boilershop. Part of the roof of T, P. Hall's carriage factory was blown off.

C. C. Willson's barns were scattered. John R. Cook's barn was unroofed. George Head's residence on College street was unroofed. The roof of A. Gooding's residence was damaged. The spire was blown off the Congregational church. The dome and part of the roof of the court house w^ere blown off. Walter S. Booth's residence was unroofed. The Porter House and Mr. Schwaub's residence w^ere seriously damaged. The roof and front cupola of the Central School building were lifted off and the building damaged. Wayne Beardsley's house and barn were damaged. The chimney of the Baptist church was blown through the roof and the tow^er injured. The upper part of the west side of the Winona House leaned over the roof, and the roof of the barn was partly torn off. The spire of the Methodist church was blown down, the roof crushed and a w'all damaged and the roof of the parsonage damaged. The cupola of the convent was damaged and a part of the roof torn off, and the upper story of the Catholic parsonage was demolished. The residence of Mr. Emerick was damaged and Mr.

Cammack's barn unroofed. Irving Fox*s gunshop was racked. M. B. Rowley's blacksmith shop was partly gone. The center and roof of the building on the northwest corner of Sixth and Broadway were crushed. The skylight, roof and cornice of Crowell's photograph gallery were damaged. Dr. J. M. Williams' residence was slightly damaged. A. H. Gaskill's barn was destroyed. The roof of the creamery was torn off and the upper part of the north end crushed: the cooper shop and sheds were demolished. The residence of J. L. Howie was badly damaged. The spire of the German Lutheran church was blown off. Moses' Kurd's barn was leveled. The west wing of DeWitt Smith's residence was torn off. Rev. Roth's barn was blown down. Mr. Brace's house was blown down. The roof of Mrs. Haney's house was blown off. The roof of Mrs. Murphy's house was damaged. The barn of Mr. Kelly and that of Mr. Heffron were wrecked. The roof of P. M. Tolbert's barn was blown off. The roof of the Broadway House was torn off and the building damaged. The roof of Whiting's elevator was damaged. N. F. Oilman's factory was demolished. The Rochester Harvester Works were ruined. S. H. Whitten's warehouse was destroyed.

The roof of the Chicago & Northwestern depot was torn off and the west end damaged. The warehouse was unroofed and the roundhouse demolished. Van Dusen & Co.'s elevator was unroofed. The horse power room of T. A. Whiting's elevator was torn down. The railroad bridge was blown into the river and the Broadway bridge was destroyed. The west end of Colfe's mill, a strong stone building, was blown in, the roof blown off, the corner of a wall torn out, the machinery damaged and the cooper shops destroyed. Eight cars were overturned and two carloads of flour were in the race. The roof of H. T. Horton's house was damaged and the upper part of his barn blown off. O. P. Whitcomb's kitchen was blown off and his barn destroyed. Mathias Williams' saloon was damaged.

It was in North Rochester, a section of the city inhabited largely by working men, many owning their small homes, that the destruction of property was most complete, and there only that lives were destroyed. Houses were actually swept away, and in several cases their occupants killed and the ground strewn with fragments of property and with the carcasses of animals.

The Third Ward School house was wrecked. The Scandinavian Hotel was damaged. The side and roof of A. Zierath's house were damaged. The roof of Peter Lind's house was torn off. The roof of Chauncey Vroman's house was damaged and his warehouse torn down. S. H. Whitten's dwelling, occupied by Mr. Manley, was ruined. The residence of Mr. Burse was destroyed. S. Vroman's dwelling was leveled. Mr. Rhoeder's house was ruined. The dwellings of Charles Carter, Daniel Raugh, Dr. Chapman and G. W. Pugh were in ruins. The residence of Robert Smith was destroyed.

H. R. Flagg's dwelling was ruined. The houses of Messrs. Wooley, Luther, Ryan and Clough were destroyed. The houses of Mr. McCutcheon and Pederson were partially ruined. The residence of Frank H. Allen was destroyed. Mrs. Proctor's house was moved from the foundation and badly racked. Mrs. Armstrong's house was damaged. The dwellings of Tal. Williams, Lewis Price, William Pugh, Paul Jorden, Mrs. Howe and Peter Larson were ruined. A house owned by Asahel Smith and occupied by Mrs. Humphries and the house of S. H. Sargeant were destroyed. The dwellings of James Gardner and W. A. Wylie were ruined. The roof of S. W. Eaton's house was blown off. Mrs. Shanahan's dwelling was unroofed. The houses of William Parker, George Hanson and L. J. Slade and the house and barn of John Proud were demolished. Mr. McCormick's house was damaged. L. H. Humason's house was ruined. A house belonging to Horace Cook was badly damaged. Mr. Granger's house, occupied by Herman Blank, was wrecked. Mrs. Warfield's house was unroofed. The houses of Mr. Gasky and Mr. Hagan were destroyed. A house of Louie Miller was wrecked. Houses owned by Messrs. Tondro, Kahily, Vaughn, Manley, Roeder, Martin and Conklin were annihilated. Mr. Lehman's house, occupied by Mr. Fromis, was ruined. Frank Reed's house was destroyed. Mr. Turk's residence was destroyed The house and bam of John Vedder were blown down. The dwellings of Mr. Hagadorn and of J. B. Wagoner were destroyed. The houses of Mr. Weinreibe, Mr. Gordy and Mr. Swanie were ruined. H. A. Brown's house, occupied by Thomas Clark, was ruined. The dwellings of Mr. Osborn and Mr. Mitzkie were ruined. William Brown's house was wrecked. The dwellings of Messrs. Bolin, Morse, Richardson and Burch were ruined. The upper story of Horace Cook's residence was blown off. The dwellings of Messrs. Peterson and Briggs were ruined. The wing and roof of John Hanson's dwelling were demolished. The main part of James Elliott's house was ruined. Charles Ballard's house was destroyed. William Hines' house was badly damaged and his barn blown down. John M. Cole's house was slightly damaged. A house of Mr. Hull, occupied by C. T. Sears, was wrecked. T. A. Whiting's dwelling was badly damaged. A wing of Mr. Buttle's house was torn off and his barn blown down. Mr. Radabaugh's house was unroofed and the barn blown down. The wing was torn from E. F. Whiting's dwelling. Two houses belonging to Mr. Herrick were damaged. Mr. Mapes' house was damaged. The end and roof of B. H. Ellison's house were torn off. Frank Lovell's shop was torn to pieces. B. R. Birch's house was moved from the foundation. The roof of John Miller's house was torn off and his barn destroyed. The roof was torn off and John Oleson's house blown from the foundation. H. Manley's house was ruined. One house belonging to Mrs. Smith was ruined and another unroofed. M. Y. Burroughs had two houses and a barn ruined. A house owned by Mrs. Graeff was badly damaged. Mrs. Garner's house was destroyed. Charles Hagadorn's house was blown from the foundation and the kitchen blown off. Mr. Bedie's residence was blown from the foundation and the roof blown off. Mrs. Chester's house was destroyed. Peter Gaffney's house was destroyed. A house owned by Mrs. Cutler and occupied by Mrs. Dove, was damaged. Mr. Doll's house was slightly damaged. C. W. Baldwin's barn was blown down.

The storm crossed the Fifth street bridge, but did comparatively little damage on the east side. Asahel Smith's barn was unroofed. Part of the wing of David Lesuer's brick residence was torn down and the main building unroofed. The roof of Rev. A. H. Kerr's residence was damaged. Mrs. Gilbert Smith's brick dwelling, occupied by William West, was unroofed.

In Haverhill the farms of S. Geisinger and C. C. Willson were devastated. The houses of Mr. Jenkins and Mrs. Welch w^ere destroyed. All the buildings on John Canty's farm were destroyed and Mr. Canty was killed. Buildings on the farm of P. J. Quintin were destroyed and his son, Charles, was seriously injured. The house and all outbuildings of Mrs. S. B. Martin were destroyed. A large barn and outbuildings of C. M. Smith were a total loss and the house badly damaged. The house on Captain Bedill's farm was badly damaged and all other buildings destroyed. The Flyng school house was destroyed. All the buildings on the Lawler farm were swept away. All the buildings were destroyed and stock killed on the Lovejoy farm. All outbuildings were destroyed on A. Allen's farm. On H. K. Blethen's farm all buildings but the residence were destroyed. The town hall was moved from its foundation. P. J. Lumland lost every building. Every grave stone in the cemetery was blown down. All the barns on F. Adler's farm were destroyed. All buildings on L. L. Allen's farm were destroyed. On Allan K. William's farm all buildings were ruined.

In Viola P. F. Wells' dwelling house was destroyed and Mr. and Mrs. Wells were injured ; Mrs. Wells seriously. Henry Stanchfield's buildings were destroyed and the loss was estimated at $7,000. A house on the H. H. Richardson farm was hfted from the foundation and carried several rods. M. L. Sawyer's bam was blown down. The outbuildings of R. F. Johnson and J. R. Williams were destroyed. On Thomas Richardson's farm the end and roof of the house and outbuildings were blown away, and Henry C. Richardson seriously hurt. Buildings of J. G. Buckley, A. Helms, G. Heimschrot, G. H. Mueller. Charles A. Callaghan and H. H. \'ine were destroyed or damaged.

ported dead. John Wragant's house was moved from the foundation, the wing torn off and the granary turned upside down. Samuel Tenney lost his house, barn and every building and five horses and a cow were killed in the barn. Alexander Farrier lost every building. J. Browne's farm was destroyed.

As soon as the storm passed over the city the citizens who were not injured went to work with a will to gather up the dead and care for the wounded. The hotels in the vicinity of the railroad were used as hospitals. The search among the ruins was continued all night. In the morning the families who could do so furnished food to the homeless and the bakeries were drawn upon. At half past eight in the morning a meeting was held in Rommell's hall, and systematic relief was organized. Mayor Whitton appointed the following committee : Hon. C. M. Start, Hon. H. C. Butler, Rev. J. W. Bradshaw, M. G. Spring, O. W. Durkee, Rev. D. Reed, T. H. Bliss, Rev. William Riordan, A. T. Stebbins, Supt. Fayette Cook, A. Harrington, S. B. Clark, G. Hargesheimer, M. R. Wood, Hon. D. A. Morrison, C. H. Heffron and Rev. W. C. Rice. Subcommittees were appointed and the relief work was pushed energetically. Rommell's hall was made a hospital and Dr. D. M. Berkman was a most efficient hospital steward and had control of all nurses and hospital supplies. Many of the injured were taken care of by relatives or friends, but there were thirty-four patients in the hospital. There was a volunteer force of physicians and lady nurses. Tables were set in Olds & Fishback^s store for feeding the destitute, and beds and cots were provided for the homeless.

Twenty-six persons were killed outright in the wreck of North Rochester. The names of those identified were John M. Cole, Mrs. McQuillen, Mrs. Steele, Mrs. Maria Zierath, August Zierath, Mr. Osborne and infant daughter, Mrs. Fred Clough, Mrs. D. Wetherby, Jacob Hetzel, William Higgins, Mrs. Quick and child. Miss Mahala McCormick, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Schultz, Mrs. Charles Rothke. Four bodies were not identified, two persons were missing and three bodies were carried away by friends and the names not ascertained. John M. Cole was proprietor of the mill in Lower town; a man prominent in business and highly esteemed. His dead body was found in the street between the mill and his residence. He had apparently left the mill to go home and was killed by the wind.

Following are the names of forty-one known to have been injured and there were many others not reported : Mrs. Osborne, injured on chest, eye, legs and arm; Mrs. Ole H. Rudh, cut arm and face; Ole H. Rudh, head cut, back hurt; Otto Rudh, head and arm badly hurt; Anna Zierath, head badly cut, body bruised; Nina

Hanson, head cut, face cut, hip bruised ; D. D. Wrought, head badly bruised ; Nels Hanson, head and leg cut ; Mrs. Hanson, head, shoulder, back and spine cut; Mrs. W. R. Wrought, back and shoulder and inwardly hurt ; Mrs. C. Manley, arm, side, shoulder and head bniised; Lillie Osborne, head, back and spine hurt; M. Sweeney, legs and head cut ; Dan O'Brien, arm broken, shoulder and head cut ; George Hanson, spine, head and breast hurt; William Leach, head, legs and arm hurt; D. Wetherby, cut in side, head and arm and back hurt ; O. H. Hawkins, head and shoulder hurt ; Charles Quick, cut in leg; Gertie Quick, cut in head and side; Bernhart Quick, face and feet cut; Herman Quick, arms, leg and face cut; Armenia Quick, side hurt ; Arthur Quick, hips badly bruised ; Frank Quick, head cut ; Willie Hanson, arm broken, eye and head cut; John Hong, shoulder and head cut ; John Shanrock, shoulder hurt ; Willie Reick, arm and leg broken and head cut ; Frank Schultz, head cut and finger broken ; Charles Hagadorn, cut in head ; Fred Clough and child, Miss Sarah Johnston, Charles Jackson, Mrs. Young, hurt internally. Dr. Eaton, hurt in back; Lewis Posz, leg broken; Ed Chapman, wife and mother badly injured.

On Thursday afternoon there was a public funeral of ten bodies. A cortege proceeded from Cook's Hotel to Oakwood cemetery, and Fifth street from Broadway to the cemetery was literally jammed with people and teams. The interment ceremonies were very simple. All day Thursday people from abroad poured into the city to view the ghastly sights.

The relief committee, assisted 233 families and loi men. They built fifty-one houses and fifteen were built by individuals. The committee assisted 106 families in rebuilding; seventy-two in Rochester and thirty-one in the country, and aided sixty-nine in repairing houses. More than two hundred and twenty-five families were furnished with more or less bedding and 570 persons were clothed.

Relief from every direction, far and near, was prompt and abundant. The citizens of Rochester and of all parts of the county contributed liberally in cash, food and articles of necessity, and from hundreds of communities and individuals in this and other states amounts ranging from $10,000 by Chicago, to 25 cents and 50 cents each by individuals, were sent in. It is impracticable to specify the separate benefactions, but among the largest were $5,000 each by St. Paul and Minneapolis; the latter city sent fourteen carloads of lumber; Winona sent $3,000, St. Cloud $3,400 and Stillwater $1,000. The largest individual contributions were $1,000 by Hon. W. D. Washburn, of Minneapolis, and $300 by G. W. Steuke, of St. Peter. The relief committee, in their report made after three months' service, stated the total amount received in cash as 569,577.25, and lumber, furniture, coal and provisions, $5,716.60; in all $75,293.85. There were, besides, liberal responses throughout the country to the appeals of the churches and various societies for contributions, which were dispensed by them among their own people. It was a grand outi)ouring of benevolence.

There were many wonderful freaks of the wind in the scattering of pro])erty : wagons were lodged in trees yards away ; buildings were torn to pieces and scattered in every way, and in many cases blown clear out of sight ; persons were blown rods away and killed. An oak board two and a half inches wide was driven through a poplar tree four and a half inches in diameter. A book belonging to J. G. \^an Frank, from Kasson, was picked up a mile beyond Elgin, a distance of alxjut thirty miles. .\ hundred-dollar certificate of deposit from the house of Ole H. Rudh in North Rochester, was picked up more than three months later at Humbird, Wisconsin, no miles away, on an air line. It had been enclosed in a leather pocketbook, which was in a locked tin box, but when found the certificate was by itself and unmutilated, having apparently been blown out of the box and out of the pocketbook.

Of the contributions for relief the most liberal in proportion to the size and circumstances of the community was probably that of St. Cloud, $3,700. Three years later, in April, 1886, St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids were struck by a cyclone, and Rochester, with a commendably good memory, contributed to their relief $3,626.

Events From 1883 To 1888

IX the fall of 1883 the new county officers elected were: Treasurer, L. W. Lull, of Marion township, Republican; register of deeds, H. R. Smith, of Rochester township, Republican; county commissioner, W. H. White, of Farmington, Democrat. Treasurer Lull served three years and Register Smith five years. Legrand \V. Lull was born in New York state in 1832, and was a farmer and carpenter. He came to Minnesota in 1856 and worked two years at his trade. He returned to the East in 1858 and came back in 1861 and settled in Marion township, where he developed a model farm. He was elected county commissioner in 1892, and was several years chairman of the board. He moved to Rochester in 1900 and engaged with his son, Howard A. Lull, in a foundry and machine shop. The county never had a more faithful officer. He died in February, 1908.

Holden R. Smith was born in the state of New York and graduated in an academy in that state. He moved to Wisconsin and enlisted in the First Wisconsin Cavalry in 186 1, served three years and came to Olmsted county at the close of his term of service. He established a fine dairy farm in Rochester township, was interested in the Rochester creamery and was an enterprising farmer. He was a commander of Custer Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He died in February, 1906, aged about seventy years.

In the fall of 1884 Marcus Wing, of Rock Dell, Republican, was elected county commissioner. S. W. Eaton, of Rochester, was nominated by the Republicans for judge of probate, but losing his sight from cataract he withdrew his name and H. C. Butler was re-elected without opposition.

Ole Seeverts Sattre was born in Norway in 1827 and emigrated to America in 1844, coming to Chicago. From there he went to Wisconsin, and in 1856 moved to Salem township, where he is now one of the most prosperous farmers. He has served several terms as supervisor and justice of the peace.

James F. Spencer is a native of Wisconsin, born in 1848. He attended Wayland University and came with his parents to High Forest township in 1864. He taught school several terms and has fanned on a large scale. He has been for twenty-one years a mem- bers of the school board of his district. At the session of 1887 he was clerk of the enrollment committee of the House of Representatives. In 1894 he was elected register of deeds and was a representative in the legislative session of 1907. He is active in agricultural affairs in the county and popular with the people. He has been seven years president of the Zumbro Creamery Company.

A census of the county, under the state, was taken in 1885, and was a disappointment. It showed a shrinkage of 990 in the population of the county since the census of 1880. The only increases in population were 210 in the city of Rochester, 1 1 1 in Orion township and 39 in the village of Byron. All the other townships and villages had decreased. The decrease was chiefly in the farming population. Immigration to the county had ceased and Olmsted had become essentially an old county. There were but few farms for sale, but as a result of the uncertainties of grain raising farmers felt poor and the young men and some older ones were pushing out to the new lands in Dakota. It was a transition period which has been recovered from.

In July, 1885, Fayette L. Cook resigned as county superintendent of schools and the commissioners appointed Percy L. Lord to fill the vacancy. Mr. Lord had been for several years a teacher in various schools in the county and was popular. He served one term as county superintendent, after which he removed to California, and went from there to the Sandwich Islands and was a teacher in the government school, after which he returned to California.

Memorial services in memory of General Grant were held at Rochester on the day of his funeral at New York, August 8, 1885. It was under the direction of Custer Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was participated in by the entire community and thousands of persons from outside the city. There was a procession of citizens headed by the post and the Rochester Independent Band. The Central Park had been handsomely decorated and the exercises were held in the bandstand.

Hon. Henry M. Richardson presided. There was prayer by Rev. C A. Hampton, singing by a choir, music by the band and short speeches by Rev. W. K. Marshall, J. A. Leonard and Rev. S. W. Eaton, and benediction by Rev. A. H. Kerr. It was a grand testimonial of reverence for the great American.

The Olmsted County Medical Society was organized at Rochester in December, 1885. The first officers were: President, W. W. Mayo; vice presidents, A. W. Stinchfield, of Eyota, and E. A. Holmes, of Oronoco; secretary and treasurer, Ida Clark, of Rochester. The other charter members were : Drs. W. W. and W. J. Mayo, E. C. and E. W. Cross and P. N. Kelly, of Rochester ; J. E. Bowers, Dr. Collins and Dr. Phelps, of the State Hospital; C. Lane, Eyota; Dr. Trow, Chatfield; W. T. Adams, Elgin; E. Stoddard, High Forest; C. L. Keyes, Byron, and C. Hill, Pleasant Grove.

The new county officers elected in November, 1886, were: Treasurer, G. G. Coppersmith, of Rochester, Democrat ; county attorney, Burt W. Eaton, of Rochester, Democrat ; superintendent of schools, J. H. Giapman, of Rochester, Republican; county commissioners, Robert Starmer, of High Forest township, Republican ; A. K. Bush, of Dover, Republican, and M. Kitzman of Farmington, Democrat.

Mr. Chapman had a lady as opponent for county superintendent, Mrs. M. A. Roberts, a competent and popular teacher, but he won out by eight majority.

George G. Coppersmith is a native of New York state, born in 1839. He moved to Illinois when eighteen years old. and to the village of Dover in 1875, where he engaged in merchandising. From there he went to Eyota and was clerk for C. P. Russell, and afterwards for C. W. Cresap, and came to Rochester and was a clerk and bookkeeper. After his service as treasurer he acted as deputy treasurer at intervals for eight years and still acts in that capacity. He is now bookkeeper for the Rochester Water Works Company. His accuracy, reliability and sociability make him a court house favorite.

Burt W. Eaton is a native of New York state, born in 1854. He is the son of Lyman L. Eaton, who located on a farm in Cascade township in 1855, being one of the earliest settlers, and afterwards moved into Rochester. His son, Burt, was educated in the schools of Rochester, graduating in the high school. He studied law in the office of C. C. Willson and in 1880 opened an office in Rochester in partnership with Frank B. Kellogg, and entered upon a very successful practice. He has always been prominent in city affairs, having been city recorder six years, from 1881, city attorney, and mayor, in 1898. He has been prominent in the management of the Public Library, being president of the board of directors several years. As a lawyer he ranks high, being especially esteemed for his thorough knowledge of the law and his undoubted reliability.

James H. Chapman was born in Pennsylvania in 1854. He came with his parents to a farm in the neighborhood of Plainview in 1856. His father was a frontier millwright and his occupation required him to live in localities remote from schools, and it was not till the age of thirteen years that the boy even learned to read. In 1866 the family settled in New Haven township, and James attended district school four years and then the Rochester public schools, graduating from the high school in 1876, having supported himself by working during vacations. He taught school, then was secretary of the Rochester Harvester Works and after they were destroyed by the cyclone of 1883, taught in the public schools. He was for the third year principal of the Marion schools when elected county superintendent. He displayed great energy and capacity as superintendent and attained a high rank among the instructors of the state. In 1891 he was elected president of the State Association of Superintendents. He originated in Olmsted county the summer training schools for teachers, which have since become state institutions and advocated free text books for the district schools. In 1893 he moved to California, where he is engaged in teaching.

Robert Starnier was born in England in 1830. He came to America with his parents in 1850, locating in Wisconsin. He came to Olmsted county in 1861, and settled on a farm in High Forest township. He served in Company C of the Ninth Regiment, enlisting in 1863. He became for several years a resident of Rochester, moving there in 1888, but returned to his farm, where he died in August, 1905. He was a man of the strictest integrity and filled several township offices.

Avery K. Bush is a native of Massachusetts. He came with his father's family to Quincy township in 1855, locating on a farm. He completed the English course of study at Carleton College and taught school several winters. He has been very successful as a cultivator of fruits and became a popular lecturer on that subject in the farmers' institutes of the state. He was for twenty-five years a member of the Dover school board. He was a representative in the legislative sessions of 1899 1901. He moved to Minneapolis and is now living there.

Michael Kitzman was born in Prussia the first day of the year, 1838. He immigrated to America with his father and family in 1854, and engaged in farming in Wisconsin. He came to Olmsted county in 1863, locating first in Haverhill and afterwards in Farmington, where he established a large farm. He became one of the most influential men of his neighborhood, and served as township supervisor and in other local offices. His son, Michael Kitzman, is a clothing merchant and alderman of Rochester.

One of the most notable immigrations to this county took place in January, 1887. ^ ^^^^ winter day, years after the stream of human immigration in prairie schooners had ceased to enliven the streets, a colony of English sparrows came in a freight car to Rochester; the first that were ever seen here. The car was opened and out they flew and settled upon the loose grain that was lying around. And they staid and "multiplied and increased'* till they are now, perhaps, the most numerous class of residents throughout the county. The English sparrow is like any other English colonist. When he gains a foothold in a country he just stays there and spreads himself till he gets full possession.

In the legislative session of 1887, M. J. Daniels was senator and D. A. Morrison, D. D. Tompkins, of Byron, and J. W. Flathers, of Pleasant Grove, representatives. All Republicans.

He was reared on a farm and received a common school education. He resided in Wisconsin several years and moved to Olmsted county in 1862, settling on a farm in Kalmar. He served his township as supervisor and as assessor and stood well in the community. He died in January, 1899. His son, Samuel E. Tompkins, has been h merchant in Byron for a number of years.

The first rotary snow plow was used here on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad in January, 1888, throwing the snow drifted on the track clear of the road. It was a great improvement on the old shovel plow that only loosened and piled it up and dispensed with a great amount of human labor in breaking the blockades that occur nearly every winter.

At the annual meeting of the Olmsted County Horticultural Society, held at Rochester, January, 1888, it was reorganized as the Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society. A. W. Sias, of Rochester, the president of the association, one of the most enthusiastic fruit growers of the state and one of the originators of the society, stated in his annual address, that it had then been in existence fifteen years, was the first local horticultural society started in the state and had maintained its existence longer than any other. He also stated that Rochester was the birthplace of the State Horticultural Society. Mr. Sias was elected president of the new organization.

There are now growing, on College Hill, in Rochester, on the farm of Mrs. Margaret Alseth, formerly the farm and nursery of Mr. Sias, two trees that were highly prized by him as of historic interest. When J. A. Leonard was United States Consul at Edinburgh, he sent to Mr. Sias a few saplings of the mountain ash, known in Scotland as the rowan tree and celebrated in the poems of Bums. They were procured by Consul Leonard at Burns' farm home at Ellisland, where he wrote his immortal rollicking epic Tam O'Shanter. Two of the imported and naturalized Scotch-American trees have lived and grown into beautiful proportions, and one of them, especially, when laden with its wealth of scarlet berries, is one of the most beautiful of trees.

One of the early built county buildings was the jail, a cheaply built and ugly structure of stone, located on Main street, south of College, in Rochester, with a small yard enclosed by a high board fence. It was not only primitive, but soon grew dilapidated, and in a few years was not only an unsafe storehouse for prisoners, but a most shabby house for a sheriff and his family. For several years ever\' grand jury had reported it as disreputable, but it was not till 1886 that the county commissioners decided to build a new one. After a great deal of doubt as to a proper location they fixed upon the court house block as the most convenient, and in December. 1888, the present jail was finished and ready for occupancy. It is a handsome two-story brick cottage, only a few rods from the court house, fitted up as a sheriff's residence in front and with one of the best steel celled jails in the state in the rear and capable of accommodating fourteen guests of the county, though there are seldom more than half a dozen of them. The county is remarkably free from criminality.

The new county officers elected in the fall of 1888 were : Treasurer, J. Guderian, of Dover township. Republican ; auditor, George B. Dotz, of Rochester, Democrat; register of deeds, C. H. Burbank, of Haverhill Democrat ; county attorney, W. Logan Breckenridge, of Rochester, Democrat; surveyor, Thomas N. Fraser, of Dover, Republican; county commissioners, Joseph Underleak, of Chatfield, and Adam Brin, of High Forest, both Republicans. Auditor Doty and Register Burbank served three terms, and Surveyor Fraser two terms. *

Robert Starmer, who had served only a year as county commissioner from High Forest, had removed to Rochester, making a vacancy which was filled by the nomination and election of Adam Brin, of the same township.

The candidates for county surveyor were John Fraser, Democrat, and his son, Thomas N. Fraser, Republican. The poHtically unfilial son beat his Democratic paternal ancestor by 281 votes.

Julius Guderian was born in Prussia in 1833. came to America in 1857, locating in Wisconsin. After spending two years in California he returned to Wisconsin and from there came to Olmsted county in 1865 and settled on a farm in Dover township, where he has since resided. He has been prominent in the township and served several terms as assessor.

George B. Doty is a son of A. J. Doty, an early settler of Eyota township, and was born there in 1864. He was educated at Darling's Business College in Rochester, and at the Winona Normal School. He became a bookkeeper for Ozman & Booth, hardware merchants of Rochester, being with them three years and a half. He is a superior accountant and business man with firm social qualities. He became a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Rochester in 1896, and advanced to cashier in 1899. He is now filling the position of cashier in the First State Bank of Rochester.