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

Minneapolis Journal 1897

CHRISTIAN J. B. HIRSCH of New Ulm, Minnesota, is a native of Norway, one of those who came to America as a young man and cast in his lot with his adopted country, fighting her battles and participating in the beneficial results of the war. Dr. Hirsch was born on August 29, 1842. His father was a physician in the employ of the government until he was sixteen years of age he was tutored by a lieutenant of the army.

He then tried the life of a sailor for two years, but gave that up and returned to Christiania where he attended the university for three years. In 1863 he left for the United States in a sailing vessel. He stopped at Chicago, and during the following year enlisted in Company D, Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, joining his regiment in East Tennessee, where it was then stationed. His corps started with General Sherman on the “march to the sea,” but after the battle of Atlanta was detached to pursue General Hood, who was threatening Nashville. After the battles of Nashville and Franklin they followed up the remnants of the Southern army until they scattered. They next went to East Tennessee to help in the final operations against Lee and after the surrender of that famous fighter the regiment went to Texas, where Dr. Hirsch was finally mustered out of service in August 1865.

By this time the young Norwegian had seen enough of war and of the fighting qualities of the Americans to convince him of their energetic character. He had also had an opportunity of seeing a good deal of the country. Upon being discharged from the service he went back to Chicago and entered Rush Medical College, from which he graduated with honor in 1868. A year previous he had been married to Miss Cammilla M. Thrane, a daughter of Marcus Thrane, the leader of the Liberal movement in Norway in 1849. With his young wife Dr. Hirsch settled in Dane County, Wisconsin, where he practiced medicine for nine years. He then moved to Baldwin, Wisconsin, where he lived for one year. He was afterwards in Zumbrota, Minnesota, for a year; in Lake Mills, Iowa, for two years, and Blue Earth City, Minnesota, for three years. In the latter place he was part owner in a drug store and lost all his books and instruments in a fire which burned the store and his office. It so happened that his insurance was small and covered only the drug stock. The next two years were spent in travel in North Dakota. Dr. Hirsch next settled in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where he remained for four years, after which he moved to New Ulm, in 1890. Since establishing himself in New Ulm he has built up a large practice. Dr. and Mrs. Hirsch have had ten children, six girls and four boys, and have lost one child, a girl. The doctor belongs to the Brown County Medical Association and the Mississippi Valley Medical Association.

WILLIAM PFAENDER , The name given is that of one of the founders of New Ulm. William Pfaender is a native of the city of Heilbronn, in Germany, where he was born July 6, 1826.

His father was Jacob Pfaender, a cooper by trade. He served in the Light Artillery from 1806 to 1812, during the Napoleonic wars. William's mother's maiden name was Johanna Kuentzel. The ancestry of both parents was German, and the antecedents were plain people of moderate circumstances. William attended the common schools of his native town, but the limited resources of his parents did not permit of his attending any higher schools or colleges.

He arrived in New York in the spring of 1848, proceeding from that city to Cincinnati, where in 1855 he became interested in the colonization society and came to Minnesota in the spring of 1856 as one of the committee selected to choose a site for the headquarters of the German Land Association, which consisted mostly of members of the North American Turnerbund. In September, 1856, New UIm was settled and Mr. Pfaender was made the manager of the German Land Association, and afterwards president of the same for several years. But, not to anticipate too rapidly: After leaving school at the age of fourteen years. William was apprenticed in a mercantile house, where he spent four years and served as a salaried clerk in the city of New Ulm. He left for America in the spring of 1848 on account of political trouble, having been suspected of revolutionary connections. He had earned a moderate salary, but being conscripted into military service he sacrificed nearly all of his savings to get release. Ready to do almost anything he secured employment in the factory of the Urban Safe Company at Cincinnati, at the rate of $2 a week and board. Afterwards he served as hotel waiter, and in 1849 was employed as a bookkeeper in the printing establishment of the German Republican, a daily and weekly Whig paper, where he remained, with few interruptions, until he removed to Minnesota.

At New Ulm he conducted the affairs of the German Land Association, and, taking charge of the post office, served as postmaster and as register of deeds until he enlisted in September, 1861 Mr. Pfaender served in the Union army for four years. He enlisted as a private in the First Minnesota Battery, was elected first lieutenant at the organization of the same, and during the battle of Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862, assumed command of the battery shortly after the commencement of the action, the captain having been seriously wounded. Mr. Pfaender remained in command during the siege and subsequent occupancy of Corinth, Mississippi, until August 26, 1862, when, on receiving the news of the destruction of New Ulm by the Sioux Indians, he was given an order by General Grant to proceed to St. Paul on the recruiting service. He was, however, immediately put on the detached service at St. Peter and Fort Ridgely, and at the latter post acted as quartermaster and commissary until the First Regiment Minnesota Mounted Rangers was organized. Mr. Pfaender was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the regiment, and during the summer of 1863 remained in Command of the cavalry serving on the frontier. At the expiration of the term of service of the regiment he went into the Second Regiment Minnesota Cavalry, with the same rank, assuming command of the second sub district of Minnesota, occupying all the frontier posts from Alexandria to the Iowa state line, with headquarters at Fort Ridgely, and was mustered out with the regiment on December 7, 1865.

After returning from service in the army Mr. Pfaender went back to his farm. In 1870 he established a lumber yard at New Ulm, and in company with Other parties built a plaining mill and sash factory. From the time of the organization of the state Mr. Pfaender had become interested in politics. His affiliations were with the Republican party, and he was elected to the legislature of 1859 and 1860; was then made register of deeds of Brown county; was one of the first four presidential electors of Minnesota, in 1860, casting the vote of the state for Abraham Lincoln. In 1870, 1871 and 1872 he served as a member of the state senate, and in 1875 was elected state treasurer, occupying that position two terms. On his election as state treasurer Mr. Pfaender sold out his interest in the lumber business and removed with his family to St. Paul. He returned to New Ulm in 1880 and engaged in the real estate and insurance business, in which he is still engaged, and at the same time running his farm. He has always taken an active interest in the organization of societies for physical and mental development, forming the North American Turnerbund, of which he is president for the district of Minnesota. He is a member of the board of trade and the commercial union of New Ulm. He was twice mayor of the city and served several times as member of the city council.

Mr. Pfaender was married at Cincinnati, December 7, 1851, to Catherine Pfau. They have had fifteen children, of whom ten are living, viz: William Pfaender, Jr., who is engaged in business with his father; Kate (Mrs. Albrecht, Wabasha street St. Paul); Louise Stamm, wife of Dr. G. Stamm; Josephine Pfaender, Frederick Pfaender, register of deeds in Brown county; Amelia, wife of Dr. Fritsche; Emma, wife of Charles Hauser, of the Hauser Malting Company, St. Paul; Minnie Pfaender, Herman Pfaender, manager of his father's farm, and Albert Pfaender, a student at the state university.

JOHN BAPTIST SCHMID Mr. Schmid, as his name indicates, is of German origin on his father’s side, and on his mother’s side of French extraction. The Schmid family to which the subject of this sketch belongs emigrated from Hungary to Germany in the Sixteenth century, where they engaged in manufacturing glass. On his mother’s side Mr. Schmid is of Bohemian descent. His father, Clement Schmid, is a farmer living at Mulligan, Brown County, Minnesota, having come to this country from Bavaria, Germany, in 1868. His mother’s maiden name was Anna Leibel.

John Baptist was born February 27, 1852, in Stadlern, Upper Palatine, Bavaria, Germany. He received a common school education. Coming to this country with his parents in 1868, he settled on a farm in Brown County, Minnesota, in the town of Siegel. By profession Mr. Schmid was a musician, and the first dollar he ever earned was in that vocation. For some years he worked in the breweries in New Ulm, Minnesota. He then took a homestead in the town of Mulligan, Brown County, and proceeded to improve it. In 1878 he engaged in the hotel business at Sleepy Eye, and in 1882 established a general merchandise store in the same city, continuing in the same line of business until January 1, 1885, when he was nominated by the Democrats and elected sheriff of Brown County. He served in the office for three terms, after which, in 1890, he went into partnership with A. C. Ochs, of New Ulm, purchasing the Springfield roller mill. In 1893 this partnership was dissolved, the mill having been sold and Mr. Schmid engaged in the elevator lousiness and also deals in coal and other articles. To this business he gives his whole attention. He also owns and operates three large farms. He was also nominated for state senator in 1894, but failed of election by a small majority. He served for five years in the village council in Springfield, and has been a member of the school board for the last five years, acting as its treasurer.

He is a member of several different Masonic bodies, was a charter member of the Springfield lodge of Odd Fellows No. 225 serving for two terms as Noble Grand. In 1895 he was the representative of the 1. O. O. F. to the grand lodge. He is also a member of O. D. H. S. and was president of the New Ulm lodge. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Schmid is connected with the Catholic church. He was married in New Ulm in 1872 to Anna Mary Adams, and has ten children living. His eldest son John R. is at present and has been for the past three years, assistant cashier of the State Bank of Springfield. The other living children are Emma, Louise, Bertha, Edward, Adolph, Victoria, Benjamin, Constance and Elmer.

WILLIAM WATKINS SMITH Among the substantial financial institutions in the southwestern part of the state is the banking house of Griffith & Smith at Sleepy Eye. W. W. Smith, of this firm, is the son of William A. Smith, who removed from Goshen, Orange County, New York, to Oakfield, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in 1846, where he acquired a large farm, some six hundred acres, and amassed a handsome fortune as a farmer. Mr. W. A. Smith was active in promoting the cause of education and provided amply for his own children in this respect. His wife was Miss Martha Strong Watkins, a native of Hamptonburgh, New York, a lady of superior culture and many Christian graces. They were married in 1846, and reared a family of five children, of whom William was the youngest. Mrs. Smith’s ancestors were of English and Scotch descent and came to this country during the Colonial days. Mr. Smith’s ancestors were Colonial settlers, and his father won distinction in the War of 1812.

The subject of this sketch was born February 24. 1857 at Oakfield, Wisconsin. He remained on the farm, attending the country school in winter, until the fall of 1876 when he entered Lawrence University at Appleton. Wisconsin. He graduated there in June, 1881, in the Latin Scientific course, with the degree of B. S. On the fifth of the following July he set out for Canton, South Dakota, where he had secured a position in what is now the First National Bank of that city. He remained there one year, when he became persuaded that a similarly conducted institution un his own account would be more to his advantage, and he formed a partnership with Clarence D. Griffith, of Appleton, Wisconsin, with whom he proceeded to Sleepy Eye. where they established a banking business under the name of the Merchants Bank. This enterprise was inaugurated August 1, 1882 and has been in operation without change of partnership ever since. Mr. Smith has had quite a successful business career, but has not forgotten that the first dollar he ever earned was received for hoeing corn while a boy for a neighbor.

He is a Republican in politics. though he never has taken a very active part in party affairs. He has been a member of the local school board for twelve years, and treasurer of that body for six years. He was also complimented by Governor Nelson with an appointment on his staff with the title of major. He is a member of the I.O.O. F. and the Knights of Pythias. He is not a member of any church, but is an attendant and supporter of the Congregational church, of Sleepy Eye. He was married September 2g, 1885 at Kasson, Minnesota, to Miss Ada Cogswell Bunker, youngest daughter of John E. Bunker. They have two children, Arthur Bunker and William Watkins, Jr. Mr. Smith’s business interests are not confined to Sleepy Eye, but he is interested in banking institutions at Echo and Montevideo.

GEORGE WASHINGTON SOMERVILLE One of the most prominent members of the legal profession in Southern Minnesota is George Washington Somerville, of Sleepy Eye, Brown County, Minnesota. Mr. Somerville was born in Ripley County. Indiana, June 3, 1855; son of William and Rachel (Cunningham) Somerville. On his father’s side he is of Irish descent, his grandfather having been born in the north of Ireland, emigrating to this country when but nineteen years of age. William Somerville was born in Pennsylvania, but lived in Indiana from boyhood until his removal to this state in 1860 when George W. was but five years of age. He settled on a farm in Mola township, Olmsted County, where he still resides, and is one of the most prosperous agriculturists in that fertile section of the North Star state. He is also prominent as a horticulturist, having early begun to ornament his farm with evergreens, to which he added the useful fruit varieties. He now has one of the best orchards in the state of Minnesota. He has been a prominent member of horticultural societies, and was for several years a lecturer on horticulture with the State Farmers’ Institute, being recognized as one of the most competent authorities on the subject in this state. He was also honored by the people of his neighborhood by being elected to the lower house of the legislature in 1872; he has also held several town offices.

George Washington Somerville received his elementary education in the district school of his neighborhood, which he attended only three months out of the year, the balance of the time working on his father’s farm. In his sixteenth and seventeenth years he attended the village school at Eyota, in the same county. In 1872 his family moved to Rochester, this state, where George entered the high school, from which he graduated in 1876. Then, having a predilection for the profession of law, he pursued its studies during the following year in the office of H. C. Butler, of that city. In 1878 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, graduating the year following. Immediately after his graduation he returned to Minnesota and located at Sleepy Eye, where he began the practice of his profession. He has remained at this place ever since and built up an extensive practice. His popularity is attested by the fact that he was renominated three times to the office of county attorney of Brown County, declining a fourth nomination, serving in this office from 1882 to 1888. He has also been city attorney of Sleepy Eye for a number of years and still holds that position. In politics he has always been a Republican, and is a leader in the counsels of his party. He has attended a number of state Republican conventions as a delegate, and is a member of the executive committee of the Republican State League. He is a Mason and a Knights Templar, a member of Zuhrah Temple, Mystic Shrine, and is also an Odd Fellow. November 21, 1881, he was married to Mary Fuller, of Rochester, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Somerville have four children Madge, Saxe, Caroline and W. Wayne.

J. W. B. WELLCOME, SR. of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, has practiced the profession of medicine for many years in this state. He was born in New Portland, Maine, on June 4, 1825. His father, Timothy Wellcome, was of German-English descent. He was liberally educated, and was a schoolmate of Hannibal Hamlin. His wife, who was Miss Mary E. Cummings, was educated at the old Hebron Academy of Maine. To Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Wellcome was born five sons and one daughter—the latter and Dr. Wellcome being the only ones now living. Three of the sons were clergymen—two of them for fifty years—one was a farmer and fine a physician.

While a boy Dr. Wellcome attended school at New Portland. When he was sixteen years old he left home and began school again at the high school in Hallawell, Maine from this school he gradated at the age of twenty-one. At once his attention was turned to medicine he worked hard to fit himself for the practice of that profession. He is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis. He commenced practice at the age of twenty-five. In 1858 Dr. Wellcome moved from New England to Wisconsin and soon afterwards to Garden City, Minnesota, where he resumed the practice of medicine.

In the fall of 1862 he was appointed by Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, examining surgeon for the draft, with headquarters at Mankato, Minnesota. In 1863 he was contract surgeon in the Tenth Regiment Volunteer Infantry, as first assistant surgeon in the place of W. W. Clark, who was sick; this position he held for seven months. He also had medical charge of a regiment of Confederate soldiers who were prisoners at the fort of Madelia, Minnesota. Dr. Wellcome continued the practice of medicine in Blue Earth County until 1870, when he moved to New Ulm, where he lived and practiced for about four years. He then moved to Sleepy Eye, where he has continued in the profession ever since, with the exception of two years, when sickness prevented active work. For four years he held the position of surgeon for the Winona & St. Peter Railway Company for its lines west of Sleepy Eye; he also held the position of United States pension surgeon for eight years. During his long period of practice. Dr. Wellcome has been preceptor to the following physicians, who have graduated from regular schools of medicine: Dr. J. W. Andrews, of Mankato; Dr. I. F. Burnside, of West Duluth; Dr. F. H. Wellcome of Granite Falls: Dr. Wm. P. Lee, of Fairfax, and Dr. J. W. B. Wellcome, Jr., of Sleepy Eye.

Dr. Wellcome is a member of the St. Louis Academy of Medicine, and is also a member of the State Medical Society of Minnesota. He has been in the active practice of medicine for forty-four years. His practice has been extensive, and he has accumulated considerable property. Is a stockholder in the Yellow Medicine County Bank. His son, F. H. Wellcome, is president of the bank.

At about the time he commenced practice he was married to Miss Abby C. Starbird. Three sons and one daughter were born to them. Only the daughter is now living Mrs. Ella Case. Mrs. Wellcome died in 1857. In 1858 Dr. Wellcome was married to Sarah J. Hauser, of Pennsylvania. They have had four sons; two of them have adopted their father’s profession. Though over seventy years of age. Dr. Wellcome is still actively engaged in practice and in the study and verification of the sciences to which he has devoted so much of his life.

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