Trails-to-the-Past-Minnesota-BlueEarth-Biographies-Progressive-Men

Minneapolis Journal 1897

JOHN WESLEY ANDREWS, is a Physician, practicing his profession at Mankato. His father, John R. Andrews, was a Methodist minister, and one of the pioneer messengers of the gospel in Southwestern Minnesota. John R. Andrews and his wife, Delilah Armstrong (Andrews), came to Minnesota from Illinois, in the autumn of 1856, and located first near St. Peter, but the following spring Mr. Andrews pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of what is known as the Big Woods. The business depression of 1857 came on and for the next two years the Andrews family, in common with their neighbors, endured great privations flour was $9 a barrel, and had it not been for the high price of ginseng and the abundance of that root in their region, many would have suffered for food. The Andrews family is of English descent, the father of John R. being an English sea captain.

The subject of this sketch was born at Russellville, Lawrence County, Illinois, April 6, 1849. The country district schools of that time were poorly equipped, and the educational advantages he enjoyed were of a very insufficient and limited character. After completing the course afforded by the public schools, he entered the State Normal School at Mankato, but at the end of his course and before graduation he was taken sick with typhoid fever and was not able to return. He became a teacher in the high school at St. Peter, where he was engaged for three years, when he took up the study of medicine and prosecuted it as diligently as his means would permit. He attended the medical department of Michigan University, and later Rush Medical College, where he graduated in February, 1877. After practicing in Minnesota for about two years he went to New York and entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he took the regular course in medicine and surgery and the allied branches of study, and was graduated in March, 1880.

He again returned to the practice of his profession, which he continued until the summer of 1886, when he went to Europe for a year of study in Berlin and Vienna. Upon his return to Mankato he resumed his professional work, and has continued it up to the present time, with intervals of six weeks or two months spent every two or three years in study and observation in some of the larger cities for the purpose of familiarizing himself with any new discoveries or methods which may have been adopted in his profession. Dr. Andrews is a member of the Minnesota Medical Society, of the Minnesota Valley Medical Society, and of other medical organizations.

He has taken very little interest in politics, although he was nominated for mayor of Mankato in 1893 and came within seven votes of being elected. In the spring of 1895 he was induced to take a seat in the council as a representative of the Fourth ward of that city, and now occupies that position. He has always been a Republican and identified with that party, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and was for two years senior warden and then for four consecutive years master of the Blue Lodge, Mankato No. 12. He is a member of the Mankato Board of Trade, of the Commercial Club, of the Humane Society and of the Social Science Club of Mankato. He was reared in the Methodist church and became a member of that society when about twenty years of age. He was married April 4, 1877 to Miss Jennie French, formerly of Wellsville New York, but at the time of her marriage residing in Marshall, Minnesota. They have one child Roy N. Andrews.

DANIEL BUCK Jonathan Buck, father of Judge Daniel Buck, of the Minnesota Supreme Court, was born at Boonville, Oneida County, New York, in 1804, and died in 1883. He was a farmer in comfortable circumstances, and spent all his years on the farm where he was born. Judge Buck’s mother was Roxana Wheelock, who was born at Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1799, and died in 1842. She was a sister of Charles Wheelock, colonel of the Ninety-seventh New York Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion, afterwards brevetted brigadier general. The father of Jonathan Buck was Daniel Buck, who settled in Boonville about the year 1800. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and enlisted first in 1778 or 1779 in Captain Benjamin Bonney’s company, under Colonel Porter, and re-enlisted in 1780 in Captain John H. Smith’s company, William Richards, colonel. He was born in 1762 at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and his residence at the date of his enlistment was Chesterfield, Massachusetts. He died about the year 1843. The first American ancestor of the Buck family was one Isaac Buck, who, in October, 1635 with several other persons, was transported from England to Boston in the ship Amelia, Captain George Downs, for refusing to take the oath of conformity. He was at th.’it time thirty-four years of age. His wife, who was Frances Marsh, and whom he married before leaving England, followed him to America in December, 1635. Isaac Buck went to Scituate Massachusetts, where he bought land. In the history of that town he is described as follows:

“Lieutenant Isaac Buck was a brother of John Buck, and was in Scituate before 1647. In 1660 he built a house near the harbor, on the Duckfield, so-called even now. He was a very useful man, often engaged in public business, and the clerk of the town for many years. He was a lieutenant in King Phillips’ war, and repulsed the Indians with great loss from Scituate in March, 1676. He died in 1695. Thomas Buck was the eldest son of Isaac Buck, and he settled in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, before 1712. Mathew Buck was a son of Thomas Buck, and he also lived in Bridgewater. He was the father of Daniel Buck, of Revolutionary fame, already referred to, who was born in 1762.

Judge Daniel Buck, of whom this sketch treats, was born in Boonville, New York, September 8, 1829. He received the rudiments of an education m the common schools and finished at Rome Academy, Oneida County and Lowville Academy, Lewis County, New York. He came to Minnesota May 13, 1857 and pre-empted land at Madelia. In that year he settled in Blue Earth County. After leaving school he studied law, and when he came to Minnesota he was actively engaged in its practice. He was elected to the legislature in 1858, but the legislature did not meet in that year and so he could not serve. In 1865, while a member of the house of representatives, he secured the passage of a law providing for the location of a normal school at Mankato. For four years he was county attorney of Blue Earth County, and in 1878 he was elected to the state senate for the full term of four years. For five years he was a member of the Mankato school board, and for five years more he was a member of the state normal school board, and while serving in this last named capacity he assisted in tile selection of sites for the normal schools at Winona, Mankato and St. Cloud. He had principal charge of the construction of the Mankato normal school buildings.

He was Associate counsel for the state at the time of the trial of the five million loan bill, and was attorney for the claimants in the suit for the reward offered for the capture of the Younger Brothers. In 1888 he was a candidate for lieutenant governor, but was defeated with the remainder of the Democratic ticket. He was elected judge of the Supreme Court in 1892, for the term of six years, commencing the first Monday in January, 1893, and was appointed judge of the Supreme Court October 2, 1893, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of judge Dickinson. He has always been a Democrat, and as long ago as 1859 was that party’s candidate for secretary of state in Minnesota. He was a delegate to the national Democratic convention in St. Louis in 1876, and voted for W. J. Bryan for president in 1896. In the legislature of 1879 he introduced a bill for the insolvent law of the state. It was passed, but the governor interposed a veto. In 1881 he introduced it again, and this time it became a law. Judge Buck was a member of the court of impeachment on the trial of E. St. Julien Cox.

He is not a church member, but sympathizes with the Quakers, his mother having been a member of that society. October 25, 1858, at Elgin, Illinois, he was married to Lovisa A. Wood, and three children have been born to them, Charles Delos Buck, February 24, 1864, died November 27, 1882, while a student at the state university; Alfred A. Buck, April 16, 1872; and Laura M. Buck, June 15, 1874. The latter is now Mrs. William L. Abbott.

LEWIS PIERCE HUNT is the president and manager of the Free Press Printing Company, of Mankato. His father, Nathan V. Hunt, was a native of Vermont, born there in 1811. While he was a lad he removed to St. Lawrence County, New York, and was for several years employed at the shoemaker’s trade. In 1832 he married Caroline Gates, a native of St. Lawrence County, and to them were born fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and eleven of whom are still living. The old people lived together for fifty-eight years, the father surviving until about six years ago, and the mother until about two years ago. Nathan Hunt, in 1860, acquired part ownership and the position of manager in a large manufacturing plant in Edwards, St. Lawrence County, New York, for the manufacture of wagons, carriages, axes, etc. A prosperous business was carried on until 1864, when the plant was entirely destroyed by fire causing a loss of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This left Mr. Hunt without resources and yet with a large family dependent upon him. He came West with his family and located at Independence, Iowa, remaining there for five years. He then engaged in farming near Jesup, but misfortune and failing health, and a longing for the scenes of his younger and more prosperous days, induced him and his wife to return to New York in 1871, where they remained until they died.

Mr. Hunt never recovered his fortune, and Lewis Pierce, the subject of this sketch, who was born at Edwards, in 1854, while the family still resided on the farm near Jesup, was obliged to strike out for himself while yet a mere lad, and at the age of twelve years began to learn the printer’s trade. He had only received such an education as a boy of that age could acquire in the public schools, and chiefly in country schools. It may be said, therefore, that the printing office has been his school and the type case his educator. He was only thirteen years of age when he took charge of a country office, and always thereafter, until engaged in business for himself, had the foremanship of the mechanical departments or editorial charge of the papers on which he was employed.

Mr. Hunt not only began his business career early, but his married life as well. He was not yet twenty years of age when, in 1874, he married Miss Lizabeth Putnam, a native of New Hampshire, and his junior in years.

In February, 1881, Mr. Hunt engaged in business for himself by purchasing, in connection with F. E. Cornish, the Lanesboro, Minnesota, Journal. In October, of the same year, Mr. Hunt purchased a half interest in the Mankato Free Press, and in the following September bought out his partner and conducted the business alone, publishing a weekly paper until 1887, when he formed a stock company and started a daily edition. This paper has met with continued and flattering success, under his direction, and in 1895 he built a handsome business block for its occupancy, said to be the model country printing office of Minnesota.

Mr. Hunt has always been a Republican, but the only office which he ever held, which could be regarded as political, was that of postmaster under President Arthur, from March, 1883, to May, 1885, when he was removed by President Cleveland to make room for a Democrat. In 1896 he was delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention at St. Louis. Mr. Hunt was named as a member of the Minnesota World’s Fair Commission, and in 1891 was elected superintendent of the Minnesota state exhibits at the World’s Fair. The state had only appropriated fifty thousand dollars, and it was generally agreed that that was not sufficient to make a satisfactory showing at the Exposition. Mr. Hunt was, therefore, authorized to solicit subscriptions for a fund of one hundred thousand dollars to supplement the legislative appropriation, and was actively engaged in collecting this money for nearly a year. He was entirely successful, and as a result his state was well represented and the guarantors were subsequently reimbursed at a later session of the legislature. Following his success in raising this fund his time was devoted to collecting and installing exhibits and superintending the Minnesota exhibition at Chicago until the close of the fair and until the exhibits were returned to the state. Mr. Hunt is a member of the K. of P. and is at present one of the Supreme Representatives for this Grand Domain.

JAMES THOMPSON McCLEARY In November, 1896, James Thompson McCleary was elected for the third time to congress as the representative of the Second Minnesota district. This honor has been most worthily bestowed, for Mr. McCleary ranks as one of the leading Republican members of the house, and on economic and financial questions is an authority of national reputation. During the political campaign of 1896 he was one of the most forceful and convincing exponents of Republican principles of whom the party could boast. In congress Mr. McCleary is not addicted to much speaking. His motto seems to be, “Speak well but not often.” In the Fifty-third congress he made two noteworthy speeches, one against the repeal of the federal election laws, a subject which his extensive and thorough-going study of constitutional history and constitutional law had well fitted him to discuss; the other, on the tariff, in which he presented clearly the fundamental principles on which rests the whole doctrine of protection.

Mr. McCleary’s most famous speech was made in congress on the afternoon of February 12, 1896, in closing the general debate on the senate amendment providing for the independent free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. In the national campaign of 1896 this speech was the document most widely circulated in all parts of the country. Indeed, investigation shows that in point of circulation no other speech ever delivered approaches it. It was translated into several foreign languages, and the reports show that in all forms its circulation exceeded eleven million copies. In its leading editorial of January 28, 1897, the Cincinnati, Ohio, Times-Star says: “Among the men whose names have been frequently used of late in connection with cabinet positions is Congressman James T. McCleary of Minnesota. He has been proposed for secretary of the treasury, and the leading papers of the country are saying that the northwest could not have a better representative in the cabinet. It is interesting to glance at Mr. McCleary’s career. He finds himself famous at forty-four, after four years of public life. Elected to the Fifty-third congress he was an observant and unassuming member. Re-elected to the Fifty-fourth congress, his opportunity came. In the first session Mr. Towne of Duluth, a Republican representative from the same state, deserting the party platform, made a speech in favor of the free coinage of silver. His colleague, Mr. McCleary, was selected to reply. This speech in reply to Mr. Towne was a master stroke. In the array of facts, in the appeal to history, in the analysis of Mr. Towne’s arguments, in force of logical statement it was overwhelming. The instances of fame gained by a single speech are rare. We do not now recall another case in America of a man leaping into national imminence at one bound. The nearest approach to it, perhaps, was Sumner’s rise to antislavery eminence as a result of his eloquent address on ‘Freedom National, Slavery Sectional’ Tom Convin was at the height of his fame when he made his celebrated speech against the Mexican war. Daniel Webster's reputation as an orator, patriot and statesman was country-wide before he delivered his immortal oration in reply to Hayne. Patrick Henry was not unknown when he thrilled the burgesses of Virginia with his matchless plea for independence. Abraham Lincoln had a national fame when he made his Cooper Institute speech. Robert G. Ingersoll was a familiar name when he nominated James G. Blaine in the Cincinnati convention. General Garfield was a conscious statesmen and orator before he spoke so ably for another at Chicago that he got the prize himself. In 1895 few people outside of his congressional district of Minnesota had heard of James T. McCleary. In 1896 he was one of the greatest figures in the national campaign. His speech on the currency question was distributed by the million copies and of all the literature sent out by the campaign committee it did the best service for the sound money cause.

Mr. McCleary was born in Ingersoll, Ontario, February 5, 1853. His father, Thompson McCleary, was an architect and builder. His mother’s maiden name was Sarah McCutcheon. From his earliest boyhood he was a careful student. After leaving the high school of his native town, he entered McGill university, at Montreal, where his education was completed. Before coming of age, he came to the United States, settling in Wisconsin, where, after serving with great success for several years as a teacher in the public schools, he was elected superintendent of schools of Pierce county. In this position he achieved a reputation that quickly spread beyond the confines of the state. He was actively interested in teachers’ institutes, and the quality of his work as an educator was such as one of the leading champions in the state, of newer and better methods of education. In 1881 he resigned the office of county superintendent to accept that of state institute conductor in Minnesota and professor of history and civics in the state normal school at Mankato.

These positions he held until June, 1892, when he entered the field of congressional politics. During the vacation seasons of his school work in Minnesota Mr. McCleary conducted teachers’ institutes in Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Virginia, Tennessee and Colorado. In 1888 he published “Studies in Civics,” and in 1894 “A Manual of Civics,” works of much merit, which are used as text books in the best schools of the country. In 1883 he was elected secretary and in 1891 president of the Minnesota Educational Association. His specialties as a student and teacher of history and civics naturally led him to an investigation of living American economic questions.

These complex subjects he pursued in all their ramifications with great diligence and intelligence for years before he entered the domain of politics. As may easily be inferred, it was by means of this inquiry that he was brought face to face with the thought that if he should become a member of congress, a practical field would at once be opened in which he might make a fair test of his theories. Political conditions in the Second Minnesota district were such as to favor his ambition. His hosts of warm personal friends in all parts of the district easily secured him the nomination, and he was elected by a large majority, and has been twice re-elected by an ever increasing vote. His quick rise in public life to a position of national prominence is due to the years of study already referred to. His training had peculiarly adapted him for a public career, and when the great political parties in 1896 divided on the financial question, he was ready without additional preparation to take immediately a position as one of the accredited spokesmen of the Republican side. This he did with honor to himself and benefit to the party, as has already been noted.

Mr. McCleary was brought up in the Presbyterian church. His wife’s maiden name was Mary Edith Taylor. They have one son, Leslie Taylor McCleary, who is his father’s private secretary. The family home is in Mankato.

EDWARD FRASER SEARING enjoys the distinction of being a direct descendant on the female side of the house of Cameron of Lochiel, the “gentle Lochiel” of “Lochiel’s Warning.” The genealogical tree is traced through the Eraser, McArthur and Campbell families. Mary Cameron, daughter of Cameron of Lochiel, married Alexander Campbell of Breadalbane, Scotland: Isabel, daughter of their son Alexander, married John McArthur, a manufacturer of Breadalbane; their daughter, Jane, married Major Robert F. Eraser, U. S. A., and Isabella, issue of this marriage was the mother of the subject of this sketch. From Cameron of Lochiel the family is traced back to the fourteenth century, its members being prominent in the early history of Scotland. The Searing family is of English descent, and was founded in this country in the seventeenth century, several of its members taking a prominent part in the Revolutionary War, also in the War of 1812.

Edward Searing, father of the subject of this sketch, is a native of New York, but his father was one of the early pioneers of Western Wisconsin. He is now and has been for the past sixteen years president of the State Normal School at Mankato, Minnesota, and was, from 1874 to 1878, state superintendent of public instruction of Wisconsin. He is the author and translator of a popular, and quite extensively used, “Virgil’s Aeneid.”

Edward Eraser Searing was born at Milton, Rock County, Wisconsin, December 4, 1866. Up to his eighth year the boy attended the graded school of his native town. At this time his family moved to Madison, in the same state, and Edward attended the First Ward school, completing the course. Moving back to Milton in 1878, he spent two years more in the schools of that place. In 1880, the family having moved to Mankato, Minnesota, young Searing entered the State Normal School in that city and completed the advanced course, graduating in 1885 and appearing on the program as valedictorian. He then spent a post-graduate year at this institution, and was successful over fourteen others in a competitive examination for appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, from the Second Congressional District of Minnesota. Having spent the greater portion of a year at West Point, Mr. Searing became convinced that the activities and independence of civil life were more congenial to his tastes than strict military discipline, and returned to Mankato.

During the last year or two at school he had taken up newspaper and periodical writing to a limited extent, corresponding for several metropolitan newspapers, and in this way had acquired a taste for newspaper work, so that when the daily edition of the Mankato Free Press was started in 1887, and he was offered a position as reporter, he accepted it, and has been connected with the paper continuously since, being now a stockholder, director, secretary and treasurer of the Free Press Printing Company and city editor of the paper. The Free Press of Mankato has gradually grown in size and influence, until now it holds a prominent and important position in Minnesota country journalism. In the spring of 1891, in connection with F. W. Hunt, Mr. Searing purchased the Mankato Register, which was subsequently consolidated with the Mankato Free Press. In addition to his newspaper work. Mr. Scaring also finds time to contribute articles to Eastern publications, and to act as Mankato correspondent for several Twin City daily papers. In politics Mr. Searing is a Republican, and although he takes considerable interest in the affairs of his own city, has declined the use oi his name for local offices. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Royal Arcanum: is a director of the Mankato Board of Trade and a member of the Commercial Club; and also belongs to half a dozen other local clubs and societies. He has been president of the Mankato Normal School Alumni Association. He is not married.

A. J. STACKPOLE practicing lawyer at Lake Crystal Minnesota is one of the shrewd sons of old New Hampshire, self-made, hard working and Yankee all over—the kind of man who has been foremost in the Northwest and contributed not a little to the great progress of this part of the country. Mr. Stackpole was born at Dover, New Hampshire, on September, 20, 1831. His father was Andrew N. Stackpole, and his mother, who was Miss Eliza Rogers, was a direct descendant of John D. Rogers, one of the Smithfield martyrs. His people were farmers for generations; poor, hard working and honest.

When seven years old young Stackpole went with his parents to Phippsburg, Maine, where they lived nine years. At Bath he commenced to learn the ship carver’s trade, and completed his course at the trade in Boston, where he went in 1850. This work he pursued in order to raise the money to secure an education. With this purpose he left Boston in 1853 and entered the New Hampton New Hampshire, Academy, from which he afterwards graduated. An education obtained through continuous endeavor and under trying circumstances generally counts for something. Mr. Stackpole had worked his way through—had loaded lumber on the Kennebec, driven yearling steers, hauling wood to the city, and used every opportunity for securing the needed means for obtaining the end in view. Upon graduation he entered the office of Attorney Stinchfield in Hallowell, Maine, and commenced reading law, but it was necessary to live meanwhile. Law students in Elaine in those days were not better paid than in some parts of the country at the present time. So Mr. Stackpole found an opportunity in a school in Augusta, the capital of the state. This was an interesting and characteristic episode in his career. He took the school in the middle of the term, after the pupils had disposed of the teacher who commenced the year, by summarily pitching him out of doors. This state of affairs did not worry the young man who had broken and driven a yoke of yearling steers when he was but sixteen years old, and he went into the school determined, like Buck Fanshaw, to have order if he “had to lick every galoot in town.” There was a fight, but the teacher stayed the year out.

The year 1859 found Mr. Stackpole reading law with T. H. Sweetzer at Lowell, Massachusetts. In June, 1860, he was admitted to the bar at Concord, and practiced in Lowell until 1864, when he went to Boston and was admitted to practice in the United States circuit court. From Boston he went to Kansas City in 1869, and after two years of practice there went to Chicago, just in time to be burned out by the great fire. In 1883 he investigated the Northwest and finally settled in Lake Crystal. Since engaging in the practice of his profession at Lake Crystal Mr. Stackpole has been reasonably successful. He has taken little part in active political life, though he has been a life-long Republican, though now an independent. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He was married to Miss Abbie Mott in 1867, and has two children living—A. J. Stackpole, Jr., and Webster Stackpole.

EDGAR WEAVER or as he is always called by his friends, Ed. Weaver, is mayor of Mankato and president of the .Minnesota State Agricultural Society. He was born in Milton, Rock County, Wisconsin, in 1852. On his father’s side he is of Welsh origin, while his mother came of Dutch ancestry. The line of descent is American on both sides, however, for more than a century.

His father’s great grandfather emigrated from Wales to the American colonies, and his sons and grandsons were born in the state of New York. Mr. Weaver’s father’s mother, Zobeida Morehouse, was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. His mother’s grandfather, whose name was Van Antwerp, came from the city of Antwerp, and was of a family which traced its line back to the founding of that city. This Van Antwerp married Miss Betsy Connor, whose father originally owned the General Herkimer estate in Central New York. This connection brought an Irish strain into the family.

Mr. Weaver’s father, Asa Weaver, moved from New York to Milton, Wisconsin, in 1845, and was one of the early settlers in that part of the state. His occupation was that of builder and contractor. His young son, Edgar, grew up at Milton and attended the schools of that vicinity, completing his education at Milton College. In 1879 he moved to Mankato and became the general agent of the J. E. Case Threshing Machine Company, a position which he still holds.

Mr. Weaver may be said to have inherited his Republican political tendencies. His father was an ardent Republican, as were all the members of his family. But Mr. Weaver’s business interests would not allow him to take public office until, in 1893, he was elected mayor of Mankato. He served with efficiency, and was re-elected in 1895 without opposition. In 1896 he was prominently mentioned in connection with the congressional nomination, but refused to have his name used in opposition to that of Congressman McCleary. Prior to this his name was prominently used as a gubernatorial candidate, which he refused also. Mr. Weaver has always been active and progressive, and has taken a leading part in all the enterprises which have advanced Mankato from the rank of a country village to that of the leading city in south central Minnesota, and a prosperous manufacturing and commercial center. His active part in promoting the development of the agricultural resources of the state brought him into the work of the State Agricultural Society, and in 1894 he was elected first vice president of that organization. In 1895 he succeeded to the presidency, and the fair held that year was the most successful in the history of the state. He was re-elected in 1896. In 1895 he became a member of the state board of control of Farmers’ Institutes, and was elected its secretary. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a member of the A. O. U. W. In 1889 he was married to Miss Kittie Wise, daughter of John C. Wise, of Mankato.

JOHN CLAGGETT WISE of Mankato, is one of the pioneer newspaper men of the Northwest. He was born September 4, 1834, at Hagerstown, Maryland, the son of Richard and Sarah Cline (Wise.) Richard Wise was a contractor and builder, in comfortable financial circumstances, and traces his ancestry to the first settlers, known as the Lord Baltimore colony. Mrs. Wise’s parents were of German birth.

John Claggett received his early education in private schools and academies, until about thirteen years of age. There were no free schools in Maryland at that period. About that time he was apprenticed in a printing office, and was so occupied for four years. He published his first paper in Maryland in 1852; was then employed in the Congressional Globe office at Washington for two years, and early in the spring of 1855 he came West and located at Superior, Wisconsin, where, with Washington Ashton, also a native of Maryland, Mr. Wise established the first newspaper printed at the head of Lake Superior.

In 1858 he sold his interest to his partner, and the following spring moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where he established the Weekly Record, which he edited and published until the fall of 1868, when he sold it. During this period occurred the Indian war and the famous Sioux massacre, and Mankato became military headquarters. May 25, 1869, in partnership with E. C. Payne, Mr. Wise established the Weekly Review, buying out his partner a year later. Mr. Wise has been engaged in the business of publishing the Review to the present time, having had since September 12, 1892, a daily edition, which has been successfully maintained.

In politics Mr. Wise is a Democrat, and has been honored by his party on various occasions. In 1872 he was a delegate from Minnesota to the convention which nominated Horace Greeley, and in 1884 to the Chicago convention which nominated Mr. Cleveland, serving as a member of the platform committee in the latter convention. He was a member of the commission appointed by Governor Marshall, in 1867, to collect and distribute aid to the frontier settlers whose crops were destroyed by hail, and in 1875 he was appointed by Governor Davis on the commission to investigate and report on means to prevent the devastation of crops by grasshoppers. He has been a member of the Mankato board of education for six years, and was for two years president of the board. He has been a member of the Mankato board of trade for twenty-two years, and sensed one year as president. He was a member of the first board of village trustees of Mankato, in 1865, and was appointed postmaster in 1885 by Mr. Cleveland. He served but one year, but was reappointed in May, 1894, and now holds that office. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and for thirty years has been a Knight Templar.

He was married September, 1857, to Amanda Flory, of Clear Spring, Maryland, and of seven children born to them five are living. Charles E., John C, Jr., Catharine, wife of Edgar Weaver, Helen E. and Flory E. Mr. Wise’s sons are associated with him in the publishing business under the firm name of John C. Wise & Sons. Mr. Wise may be described as a self-made man, his success having been the result of his own efforts, and he has been honorably associated in the history of Minnesota for thirty-seven years.

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