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

Minneapolis Journal 1897

NATHAN PIERCE COLBURN The name at the head of this sketch is that of a man who has helped in the upbuilding of this state since its infancy, having served as a member in its constitutional convention and having been a prominent member of the legal profession of the state since 1856.

Nathan Pierce Colburn was born at Hebron, New Hampshire, December 22, 1825, the son of Abel Colburn and Deborah Phelps (Colburn). His ancestors on his fathers side were of English descent, and on his mother’s, English and Irish. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Phelps, was one of the first settlers of Hebron, New Hampshire, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a skilled worker in wooden ware. Abel Colburn, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer and stone cutter, in moderate financial circumstances. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Nathan holds the memory of his mother in final reverence. She was a woman of strong mental and physical powers, well informed, and reared a family of nine children. She died at the age of ninety-three, retaining her mental faculties to the last.

The subject of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of Hebron, Campton and Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was obliged to discontinue his studies, however, at the age of fourteen. When he was about fifteen he removed with his parents to Quincy, Massachusetts, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to learn the cabinet trade at Reading. He followed this line of business for nearly twelve years, a part of the time working at the bench, and for a time engaged in business for himself. The latter five years of this time he resided at South Reading (now Wakefield), and while there was made justice of the peace and twice elected a member of the board of select men, assessor and overseer of the poor. In the early part of 1854 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and held that office until he came West.

He located at Waukokee, Fillmore County, Minnesota, in October, 1855, where he and his brother Joseph erected a steam sawmill, one of the first in that part of the country. He sold out his interest to his brother in March, 1857, and entered the law office of the late H. C. Butler, of Rochester, then located at Carimona, and resumed the reading of law, which he had pursued while deputy sheriff in Massachusetts. In the fall of 1857 he was admitted to the bar. In June, 1858, he removed to Preston and commenced the practice of his profession. He has since practiced in the state and United States courts up to five years ago, when he retired from active business. From 1865 to 1870 he was in partnership with Judge H. R. Wells; from 1881 to 1883 with Judge Henry S. Bassett, and from 1883 to 1888 with his son, Warren E. Colburn. He removed to Rushford, Minnesota, in September, 1883, where he has since resided. In his early life Mr. Colburn took a great deal of interest in military affairs. He was elected first lieutenant of an independent company when twenty-two years of age at Reading, Massachusetts; at twenty-four was elected major of the Fourth Regiment, and at twenty-five was elected colonel of the Seventh Regiment, which regiment he commanded five years, and up to the time of his removal to Minnesota. The Seventh being one of the best regiments in the state was ordered out on most public occasions, and had the honor of escorting Daniel Webster through the city of Boston on the occasion of his last speech in Faneull Hall on his return from Washington in 1852.

In the summer of 1862, at the time of the Indian outbreak, Mr. Colburn was in St. Paul, and at the request of Gov. Ramsey returned home and organized a company of one hundred and twenty mounted men, which started west, making headquarters at Winnebago City. For five weeks the company was engaged in scouting and building earthworks, and was then relieved by a company of regulars: but they had no skirmish with the Indians, as they kept beyond their reach. On March 2, 1863, at the request of Hon. William Windom, President Lincoln commissioned Mr. Colburn as paymaster in the army, and he joined the Department of the Missouri. He served in that department about one year, when failing health made his resignation necessary, and he returned to Minnesota and resumed his law practice. Mr. Colburn followed in the footsteps of his father and affiliated with the Democratic party when he first became a voter, but being opposed to the extension of slavery he left the party during the administration of Franklin Pierce. For a time he acted with the Free Soil party, but in the summer of 1855 he assisted in organizing the Republican party in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Although always interested in politics, Mr. Colburn has never sought office; what official honors he has received have come to him unsought. In 1857 he served as a member of the constitutional convention. In the following year he was elected to the lower house of the legislature, but the former legislature having provided by law that no session should be held the next year unless called together by the governor, no session was held. He served as a member of the house in the legislatures of 1866 and 1871, at both sessions serving as chairman of the judiciary committee. He has also served ten years as county attorney, twenty-four years as a member of the board of education at Preston and Rushford, and one year as mayor of the latter place. Mr. Colburn is a Master Mason, a member of the Eastern Star, and has belonged to the Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance and Good Templars. He is a Universalist in belief, but not a member of any church.

In April, 1850, Mr. Colburn was married at South Reading, Massachusetts, to Mary Jane Fames. Four children were born to them, only one of whom is now living, Warren E. Colburn, senior member of the firm of W. E. Colburn & Co., of the Merchants Exchange Bank, South Chicago, Illinois. Mrs. Colburn died at Preston, July 9, 1874. September 16th, 1877, Mr. Colburn was married to Mrs. Helen M. Tinkham, his present wife, at Batavia, New York.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FARMER The subject of this sketch is the Mayor of Spring Valley, one of the early settlers of the place and a man who has done much to build up that community. He was born in Burke, Caledonia County, Vermont, July 14, 1831 the son of Hiram and Salina Snow Farmer. On his father’s side Mr. Farmer is of English descent, his grandfather, Benjamin Farmer, being a soldier in the Revolutionary War, On his mother’s side the family stock is Scotch. They settled in New Hampshire and engaged in the mercantile business. Benjamin’s father moved to Madison, Lake County Ohio, in 1833, settling on a farm on the shores of Lake Erie and reared his family there.

Benjamin attended the district school most of the time until he was seventeen years of age. He was then apprenticed at Unionville, Ohio, to learn the blacksmith trade. During his stay there he assisted in constructing the iron work on thirteen lake vessels. The winter of 1857 he met a gentleman who had been in the West and who gave him such an attractive description of Minnesota that he made up his mind to see it. He arrived in Spring Valley April 24, of that year. In a few days he had opened a shop and was installed as the village blacksmith. He was employed at his trade in 1861, when, in response to the call for volunteers, he raised a company of forty-five men, took them to Rochester and about forty were mustered into service.

Mr. Farmer was appointed assistant United States Marshal and continued in that branch of the service for a number of years. In 1865 he was appointed postmaster of Spring Walley and held the office for sixteen years. In 1871, in company with J. C. Easton, now of La Crosse, and his brother, J. O. Farmer, he organized the Bank of Spring Valley, was appointed its cashier and has held that position ever since, although in the meantime the other interests in the bank have changed hands. Mr. Farmer has been interested in everything tending to build up his town and community. He was elected Mayor of Spring Valley in 1892, and during his term secured the construction of the water works; assisted in organizing the Spring Valley Electric Light and Investment Company of which he was elected president, and was largely instrumental in establishing the first creamery started in Minnesota, an enterprise which proved profitable both to the farmers and for the proprietors.

Mr. Farmer is a member of the Masonic order and has taken the thirty-second degree in Masonry. He is also a Knight Templar and Grand Generalissimo in the Grand Commandry of Minnesota. He is also a Shriner and a member of the Knights of Pythias. His church connections are with the First Congregational society of Spring Valley, of whose board of trustees he is president. He is also president of the Spring Valley high school board. He was married in Unionville, Ohio, in 1855, to Miss Annette L. Wheeler, who bore him two children, Katie L, now Mrs. F. V. Edwards, and Nellie M., who died in infancy. In 1877 the mother of these children died, and the following year Mr. Farmer married Helen E. Wheeler sister of the first wife. In 1882 they adopted a young girl from New York City and gave her the name of Nellie M. Farmer. She has recently married L. M. Scofield, a relative of Gen. Schofield.

JOHN OUINCY FARMER of Spring Valley, Minnesota, has cut an important figure in the history of Southeastern Minnesota during the last thirty years. He was born in Burke, Caledonia County, Vermont, August 5, 1823. The family residence was a log house on Burke Hill. The Farmers were of English descent. The grandfather, Benjamin Farmer, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and his grandson, the subject of this sketch, recalls having heard him describe several battles in which he participated, among them being the battle of Lexington. On his mother’s side the descent is from a Scotch family by the name of Snow, and Grandfather Snow was engaged in the mercantile business. John Quincy was the son of Hiram and Salina Snow (Farmer), who removed from Vermont to Madison, Lake County, Ohio, in 1833, and settled on a farm near the shore of Lake Eric.

His opportunities for education were quite limited, his father being unable to afford him any other facilities than those of the district school during the winter months. When he arrived at the age of seventeen, however, he began to realize that he was deficient in the matter of schooling, and, having obtained permission from his father to attend an academy, set about earning money to pay his expenses, receiving only about fifty cents a day. He first attended an academy in the neighborhood, next at Plainsville, and finally at Grand River institute, Ashtabula, County, Ohio. But the most important part of his education was received at Twinsburg, Summit County, Ohio, at an academy conducted by Rev. Samuel Bissel, a man who has probably assisted more young people to acquire an education than any other man in Ohio.

John Quincy taught a district school for several terms, his compensation being ordinarily $14 a month, with the privilege of boarding around among the parents of the scholars. He began the study of law at Painsville with Perkins & Osborn. He afterwards attended the law school of Prof. Fowler, at Palston Springs, New York. After graduating there he came West and spent some time in looking up a location in Wisconsin. In 1850 he settled at Omro and went into practice. In December of that year he returned home with the intention of getting married and returning in the spring, but while at home he was persuaded by Brewster Randall, of Conneaut, Ohio, to go into his law office and take up the practice which Mr. Randall wished to lay down. This proved a very profitable arrangement, and on the 17th of November, 1852, Mr. Farmer married Maria N. Carpender, daughter of Dr. Joseph R. Carpender, of Painsville, Ohio. He remained in practice at Conneaut about six years, then removed to Ashtabula, where he formed a partnership with Hon. L. S. Sherman. He remained there about six years, having in the meantime served one term as county attorney.

The health of his wife failing he came West again, locating in Spring Valley, Minnesota, where his father’s people had already preceded him. The benefit to his wife’s health did not prove to be permanent, however, and she died March 6, 1866, leaving two sons, George R. and Charles J., who still live, and a daughter, Carrie M., who died at the age of five years.

On his arrival in Minnesota, Mr. Farmer gave up the practice of law and engaged in farming, but his brother, James D., who was engaged in practice at Spring Valley, gradually interested him in his practice and it resulted in Mr. Farmer’s returning to his profession. In 1865 he was elected a member of the lower house of the legislature from Fillmore County, and was re-elected in the fall of 1866. He became a candidate for speaker of the house and was elected. In 1867 he was again elected to the house and re-elected speaker without opposition. In 1870 he was elected to the state senate for two years, but the new apportionment law having been passed that winter he stood for re-election in 1871 and was successful. He was chairman of the judiciary committee both terms while in the senate. In 1879 he was elected district judge of the Tenth judicial district, and was re-elected in 1886 without opposition. Prior to the expiration of his second term he announced his purpose not to be a candidate for re-election. Nevertheless the Republican convention nominated him for a third term, but he absolutely refused to run. Mr. Farmer was president of the Minnesota Farmers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Association for about twelve years, an association organized for the purpose of giving farmers safe insurance on their property at first cost. He was a Henry Clay Whig in his politics and helped to organize the Republican party, with which he has always been identified. He is a firm believer in protection to American industry and sound money.

Four years after the death of his first wife, already noted, he married Susan C. Sharp, January 13, 1869, who has become the mother of six boys, John Frederick, John Coy, Daniel Elvin, Ernest Melvin, Frank C. and James Duane, all of whom are living.

ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS GRAY of Preston, Fillmore County, Minnesota, is a native of the state of New York. His father, Alonzo G. Gray, was a farmer, the son of Elias Gray, a soldier in the War of 1812. His wife was Miss Lucy Ann Murch. At the time of the birth of their son, which occurred on November 13, 1845, they were living in Chenango County, New York. During his childhood the family was in poor circumstances.

When he was nine years old the family moved to Newburg, Fillmore County, Minnesota, where Mr. Gray, Sr., continued to reside upon a farm until his death in 1896. Archibald lived with his parents on the farm, attending school in an old log school house shingled with shakes and equipped with puncheon benches and tables. To complete his education he attended, during one winter, the select school in Hesper, Iowa, and supplemented this with two years at the Upper Iowa University, located at Fayette.

When quite young he became a student of law, using at first the old law books belonging to his father, and afterwards receiving the assistance of Cyrus Wellington, who was for years a member of his father’s family. After leaving school, he began teaching school during the winter season, working on the farm in the summer and running a threshing machine in the fall. About this time he was married, in March, 1868, to Miss Emma W. Seelye. For a number of years he continued school teaching. Late in the fall of 1877 he was elected Clerk of the Court of Fillmore County. For the next four years he held this office and studied law night and day.

In November, 1881, he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession. He at once formed a partnership with R. E. Thompson, with whom he had studied law, and who was admitted to the bar at the same time as himself. This partnership has continued to the present time. Mr. Gray has tried and assisted in the trial of a great many important cases. In the prosecution by the government of Drs. Phillips, Jones and Love, for alleged pension frauds, Gray & Thompson assisted in securing the acquittal of these gentlemen. In the fall of 1894, the firm assisted the county attorney of Winneshiek County, Iowa, in the trial of what is known the Carter murder case. The defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree. This was one of the greatest murder trials in the history of Iowa. But their practice is by no means entirely in the criminal line. The name of the firm may be found in the state reports, connected with some of the most important cases recorded. Mr. Gray has always voted the straight Republican ticket. From the time he was twenty-one years old until he went to Preston, he held the office of Justice of the Peace, and for many years he was County Commissioner and chairman of the board, which he resigned when elected Clerk of the Court. The latter office he held until January, 1891. In 1892 he was nominated and elected Republican presidential elector for Minnesota and cast his vote for Harrison. He represented the First congressional district in the National Republican Convention at St. Louis in June, 1896. He is now chairman of the Republican county committee, a post which he has frequently held in previous years.

Mr. and Mrs. Gray have six children, Miss Stella E. Gray, a student at the University of Minnesota; Archie D. Gray, who is studying law with his father: Mrs. Lucy Rasmussen, the wife of Rev. Henry Rasmussen, of Lanesboro; Nettie M. Gray, who is a teacher of music, and Andrew G. and Alton E. Gray who are both attending school at Preston.

OLIN WILLIS KINGSBURY is a successful newspaper man of Preston, Fillmore County, Minnesota. He is the proprietor of the Courier, a weekly Populist paper, published at Preston, and of die Harmony Courier, issued at Harmony, in the same county. Mr. Kingsbury’s father is Martin Kingsbury, a retired farmer, now living at Central City, Nebraska, who is a native of Oneida County, New York. He married Miss Caroline Leach, of the same county, who, like himself, was well educated and a teacher. They came to Minnesota in 1853 and settled in Fillmore County, and their eldest daughter, Orissa, was the first white child born in that county. Mr. Kingsbury became the first justice of the peace in Fillmore County. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury take active part in the affairs of their church.

Their son, Olin, was born at Waukokee, Fillmore County, on May 3, 1859. He had the usual experience of a farmer’s boy in a new country. It was a course of hard work, scant schooling and very little to vary the monotony of existence. As Mr. Kingsbury grew to manhood he broadened in his ideas, and studied to fit himself for a station in life above that in which he found himself. During his struggle to get on he taught school and worked at various employments. For a while he was in the lumber and sash and door business in Minneapolis, and for five years he worked a farm in Fillmore County. On March 4, 1893, he started the Courier at Preston. He had always been independent in politics and had taken part in the formation of the Alliance party and worked for the success of the Populist party from its beginnings. His fitness for conducting a Populist paper became manifest. Within a year after the paper was founded it had the largest circulation of any paper in the county; within three years its owner was ready to start another paper. He chose for this venture the village of Harmony, a few miles south of Preston, and there commenced the publication of the Harmony Courier. Both papers have been a success.

Mr. Kingsbury has never been a candidate for any office. He has taken a great interest in co-operation and has been instrumental in founding several co-operative elevators and creameries in Fillmore County. He assisted in founding the first farmers’ creamery in Minnesota. It was he who originated the movement for the reduction of the salaries of county officers in Fillmore County. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, A. O. U. W. and N. W. L. of H. In 1886 Mr. Kingsbury was married to Miss Clara M. Kingsbury. They have two children, Clinton Willis, aged eight: and Merle Clara, aged six.

SAMUEL A. LANGUM of Preston, newspaper man and politician, affords a good example for the possibilities which lie in the path of an enterprising and ambitions young man in a growing western state. Though not yet forty years of age, Mr. Langum has held a number of positions of trust and responsibility, and has reasonable aspirations toward still higher things. Mr. Langum’s parents were both born in Norway. His father, Andrew J. Langum, came to this country in 1855 and settled with his wife, whose maiden name was Julia Swenson, in Fillmore County, where he has since been engaged in farming and has achieved independence. He is prominently known as a layman in the Norwegian Lutheran church, and has traveled extensively among the people of this denomination doing missionary work. Mr. and Mrs. Langum have raised a family of nine children, two boys and seven girls.

S. A. Langum was born in the town of Bloomfield, Fillmore County, on August 18, 1857. He first attended school in a little log schoolhouse on the banks of the Root River, near his home. The schools of those days in the country districts of Minnesota were not of the best and the requirements expected in a teacher were not high. Samuel’s father intended him for the ministry, and gave him much instruction at home. When he was only six years old he could read Norwegian fluently. At the age of fifteen he was sent to the Marshall Academy, Marshall, Wisconsin, a school conducted by the Augustana Synod. After two years this school was discontinued and for one year Samuel studied Norwegian literature and theology with Rev. Mr. Lysness, near Decorah, Iowa. He continued his studies during the next year at Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis.

But he was beginning to discover that the ministry was not to his taste, and after a year of school teaching he entered politics and became deputy register of deeds of Fillmore County. He held this position for four years and in 1880, when only twenty-three years of age, was elected sheriff of Fillmore County. He was the youngest sheriff in the state and the first boy born in Fillmore County to be elected to a county office. Mr. Langum held the sheriff’s office for six years. In 1886 he purchased the “Preston Democrat,” changed its politics from Democratic to Republican—of the stalwart kind and re-named it the “Preston Times.” He is still its publisher, and has made the paper a distinct success. It is largely due to the position of the paper that the move for municipal improvements has taken a firm hold in Preston, which is now the proud possessor of the finest system of water works and electric lights, on the municipal ownership plan, of any town of its size in Minnesota, under Mr. Langum’s management and editorial direction the Preston Times has been very aggressive in politics.

In December, 1889, Mr. Langum was appointed deputy warden of the Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater, retiring with Warden Randall, in February, 1891. He served in the legislature of 1893, after having been elected by a handsome majority over a fusion candidate supported by Democrats, Populists and Prohibitionists. Two years later he was elected secretary of the state senate, and made such a record for efficient service that at the session of 1897 unanimously re-elected. Mr. Langum has his eye on the office of secretary of state in 1898, and is known as an active candidate for this nomination He is a member of Malta Commandary No. 25, K. T., of Preston, and has been its recorder since its organization. Mr. Langum was married on September 14, 1878, to Miss Emma McCollum, of Milwaukee. They have had four children, Alfred, William, Nora and Winnie, of whom William died in infancy. Mr. Langum is a member of St. Paul Norwegian Lutheran church of Preston.

GEORGE ALLAN LOVE of Preston, Minnesota, was born at Woodstock McHenry County, Illinois, on March 3, 1853. His father was Robert Love who was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, where, prior to his emigration to America in 1853, he held a responsible position as foreman in one of the great shipyards of that city. His wife was Miss Agnes Dixon, also a native of Glasgow. Upon coming to America, Mr. and Mrs. Love settled in McHenry County, Illinois, where Mr. Love engaged in the business of carpenter and builder. Later he removed to Alamakee County, Iowa, and after a time, in 1856, to Fillmore County, Minnesota, where he took a farm in what is now the town of York. Mr. Love accumulated a competency and died in 1877 aged sixty-eight. His wife is still living.

Dr. Love attended the common schools in Fillmore County and later studied at the high schools in Lime Springs, Iowa, and Preston, Minnesota. While going to school he helped on the farm or did chores for people in the village, for his board. He earned his first dollar by driving four yoke of oxen hitched to a breaking plow. In 1874 he graduated from Bennett Medical College, standing third in a class of forty three. For a while after graduation he practiced at Whalan, but soon moved to Preston and entered into partnership with Dr. John A. Ross, who had been his preceptor in former years. After two years this partnership was dissolved by mutual consent and Dr. Love opened an office on his own account and has since continued in active practice by himself. He has built up an extensive practice and has been reasonably successful financially. At present he is pension examination surgeon, though not a veteran of the war. However, the latter fact is no fault of his own. When eleven years old he ran away from home in Fillmore County and went to Forest City, Iowa, and enlisted as drummer boy. His command had started for the front when at McGregor, he was overtaken by his father and taken home, thus bringing his army career to a sudden termination.

Dr. Love has always been a Democrat. He has been Mayor of the city of Preston, and during several terms, an alderman. At present he is chairman of the county central committee. He belongs to the Masonic order, being a member of Minneapolis Consistory No. 2: he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the I. O. O. F., of the A. O. U. W. and of the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious affiliations are with the Presbyterian denomination, though he is not a member of any church. On March 5, 1877, Dr. Love was married to Miss Mary J. Kingston, a daughter of a Methodist Episcopal clergyman. They have had eight children.

RICHARD ENOS THOMPSON is a prominent lawyer and politician of Preston, Fillmore County, Minnesota. Though a native of that county, he is of Norwegian ancestry. His father, Iver Thompson, came from Norway in 1848. He first lived in Chicago, and while there was married to Miss Cecilia Walder. Miss Cecilia was also a native of Norway, but she came to this country with her parents in 1837, settling in Michigan. A few years later they came to Fillmore County and settled on a farm.

Here their son Richard was born in the year 1857. He attended the common schools in his vicinity, following the pursuit of enlarging their farm work, afterwards as he grew to manhood, teaching in the district schools of the vicinity. From 1874 to 1879 he taught almost continuously, and at the latter date he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge H. R. Wells at Preston, Minnesota, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1881, and entered into partnership with Judge A. D. Gray, under the firm name of Gray & Thompson. The firm opened an office and commenced practice in Preston. They have been very successful and have built up an extensive law business, which they still enjoy. For the last ten years Mr. Thompson, with his brother, A. W. Thompson, has also been in the abstract business of Fillmore County, the office being maintained under the name of Thompson Brothers having the original and only set of abstract books and tract index of Fillmore County.

Mr. Thompson has always been a Republican. At an early date he took an interest in the local politics and soon became an influential man in his county. He was deputy clerk in the district court of Fillmore County from 1881 to 1885. In the fall of 1882 he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature. During the session which followed he was one of the few who voted for the Hon. William Windom from first to last in the memorable struggle in which Windom was defeated by D. L Sabin. In 1885 Mr. Thompson was re-elected to the House of Representatives and served with honor during that term. In November, 1894, he was elected to the State Senate for four years, ending in 1898. From 1890 to 1895 he was a member of the State Central Republican Committee. More than ten years ago Mr. Thompson became a Master Mason, and is now a Knights Templar in the Malta Commandery, No. 25, at Preston. On December 16, 1884, he was married to Anna Thompson, and they have two children, Victor C. born September 26, 1885 and Inez born May 13, 1891.

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