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Progressive Men
Index
 THEOPHILUS
L. HAECKER was born in the town of Liverpool, Medina
County, Ohio on the fourth of May, 1846, of German
parents, as his name indicates. When he was seven years
old his parents removed to a farm in Cottage Grove,
Wisconsin, and he worked on the farm summers and
attended the district school winters until he was
sixteen years old, when he entered the University of
Wisconsin. The following spring he was taken sick, and,
falling behind in his classes, enlisted in Company A,
Thirty-seventh Regiment, as private, being then less
than seventeen years old. Soon after entering Camp
Randall, the colonel sent word among the recruits that
he desired specimens of their handwriting. Young Haecker
submitted his penmanship and was selected to do clerical
work at headquarters. During the siege of Petersburg Mr.
Haecker distinguished himself for bravery. After the
siege he was placed on detached service in the medical
department at City Point, and was rapidly promoted until
he had charge of all the quartermaster’s supplies of the
Ninth Corps Hospital Department. At the close of the war
he rejoined his regiment and was placed in charge of the
drum corps, participating in the grand review at
Washington, and in August, 1865, returned to Madison
with his regiment.
The following month he went to Hampton, Franklin
County, Iowa, to which place his parents had removed
while he was in the army, and there spent two years in
farming. But, having a great desire to prosecute his
studies, he returned to Madison, Wisconsin, in the
spring of 1867, re-entered the university, selecting the
ancient classical course. During his third
year his health failed and he was compelled to return to
Hampton, Iowa, intending to follow farming; but
opportunity offering, he spent a couple of years
teaching in the public schools. In 1870 he went to
Hardin County, Iowa, and founded the Ackley
“Independent,” the paper gaining a wide circulation and
becoming one of the leading newspapers of northern Iowa
under his management. In 1872 he made a tour through
Minnesota, visiting St. Paul,
Minneapolis, St. Anthony (now East Minneapolis), and
Duluth. In the fall of the following year he disposed of
the “Independent” and in February returned to Cottage
Grove, Wisconsin, and settled on a farm with the
intention of going into stock-raising and dairying. He
had scarcely settled down to work when he was, without
solicitation from himself or his friends, offered a
position in the executive office by William R. Taylor, then
governor of Wisconsin. He accepted the position and
entered upon his duties, at the same time intending to
continue his farm operations. He remained in this
position during five administrations, covering a period
of seventeen years, and all this time maintained his
interest in stock-raising, much of the time driving ten
miles to his office in the morning and returning to the
farm evenings, and some winters not failing a single
night to personally inspect every animal on the place
before retiring. While in the executive office some very
responsible duties were imposed upon him, one being the
adjustment of the St. Croix land grant, and during
twelve years of the time he reviewed all the pardon
cases coming before the governor. In the early 80’s the
board of regents of the Wisconsin University was
reorganized. An experiment station was then established
and Professor Henry placed in charge, and during the
years following Mr. Haecker was an intimate friend of,
and constant adviser with. Professor Henry, thus
becoming familiar with station and other agricultural
educational work. In the summer of 1882 he was
commissioned by the board of regents to make a tour in
the east. and he visited nearly all the noted herds of
livestock and selected part of a carload for the
University. These animals proved of excellent merit, and
upon the organization of the Farmers Institute, he was
selected by Mr. Morrison, the superintendent, to discuss
the subjects of breeding and handling of dairy stock. To
afford his children the advantages of the educational
facilities offered at Madison he moved there in the fall
of 1890, and being unexpectedly relieved from official
duties in January, he joined the first class in the
Wisconsin Dairy School, the second week he was appointed
assistant to the instructor in the factory course, and
instructor in the home dairy course.
At the close of the session he engaged in
experimental work at the Experiment Station, and in the
fall he was appointed instructor in butter making in the
Minnesota Dairy School. Upon the
resignation of Professor Hays, he was appointed
instructor in breeding in the School of Agriculture, and
the following May was made assistant in agriculture in
the School of Agriculture and Experiment Station. In
June, 1893, he was appointed full professor in the
College of Agriculture and placed in charge of the Dairy
School. Possibly Professor Haecker’s most successful and
best known work at the Experiment Station is along the
line of feeding and the adaptability of certain types of
stock for special purposes. Professor Haecker is doing
excellent work in the field, holding meetings and making
addresses in various parts of this and other states,
with the results showing in creameries that are being
started in almost every place, and the strong interest
aroused. Professor Haecker is making an enviable record
among the educators of the young people of the country
as well as among the farmers who appreciate his efforts
in their behalf. As secretary of the State Dairymen’s
Association he has done much to bring it into the
closest relation with the dairymen. whom it is intended to help, bringing out the
home talent instead of depending upon outside speakers
entirely.
 WILLIAM EDWARD
HALE The founder of the family in this country to which
Mr. Hale belongs was Samuel Hale, who settled in
Glastonbury, Connecticut, in 1637, where many of his
descendants still reside. Samuel, with his brother
Thomas, served in the Pequot war, and other members of
the family in the Revolutionary War. Among those who
achieved distinction in later years were the late James
T. Hale, member of congress in Pennsylvania; Reuben C.
Hale, of Philadelphia; Gideon Wells, late Secretary of
the Navy, and Rev. Albert Hale, of
Springfield, Illinois. Moses Hale, grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, emigrated to Rutland, Vermont,
about a hundred years ago, and afterwards moved to
Norwood, New York. His son, Isaiah Byron Burr Hale,
father of the subject of this sketch, subsequently
located in Wheeling, Virginia, and engaged in the
practice of law. He married Mary E. Covey, October 12,
1841, at McConnelsville, Ohio, and William Edward was
born at Wheeling, West Virginia, May 11, 1845.
Upon his sixteenth year William
received but a common school education. He first came to
the state of Minnesota in 1858 on a prospecting tour
with his father, returning a few months later to his
home in Wisconsin, where his parents had removed from
Ohio some years previous. He came to Minnesota again in
the fall of 1860, locating at Plainview. He enlisted
from this point as a private in the Third Minnesota in
the fall of 1861, serving three years in the defense of
his country and was honorably discharged.
On
his return home Mr. Hale entered Hamline University,
then at Red Wing, Minnesota, in order to complete his
education. He took a collegiate course at this
institution of three years, but did not graduate,
lacking one year’s course. He then took up the study of
law in the office of Judge Wilder, at Red Wing, and was
admitted to practice at St. Paul in 1869. Mr. Hale then
moved to Buffalo, Wright County, where he commenced the
practice of his profession. He was elected county
attorney of Wright County, which office he held for two
years.
In
the spring of 1872 he moved to Minneapolis, where he has
lived ever since. He was elected county attorney of
Hennepin County in 1878, and re-elected at the end of
his first term, serving altogether four years. Mr. Hale
first became associated with Judge Seagrave Smith in
1877, under the firm name of Smith & Hale, which
partnership continued until 1880. He then connected
himself with Judge Charles M. Pond, the firm being known
as Hale & Pond. Later he associated himself with
Charles B. Peck, the firm known as Hale & Peck. The
firm with which Mr. Hale is now connected is known as
Hale, Morgan & Montgomery. In his practice Mr. Hale
has been highly successful, having been prominently
identified with much of the heavy litigation before the
bar in the Hennepin County for the past fifteen years.
Several times he has been tendered and urged to accept
the appointment of judge of the district court, but on
each occasion he has declined, preferring to devote
himself to the practice of his profession. Although his
father was a Democrat, and a co-laborer, politically,
for a time, with Silas Wright, of New York, Mr. Hale has
always been a staunch Republican and has always taken an
active part in politics. He has however, never been a
candidate for any office, except that of county
attorney, already mentioned.
His church connections are with the Methodist
Episcopal church, he was married in 1870 to Ella C.
Sutherland, who had been a student with him at Hamline
University. They have had three children, Hellen V.,
Frank C. and Florence I.
 CHRISTOPHER WEBBER HALL For nearly a score of
years Professor C. W. Hall has
occupied a prominent place in the faculty of the
University of Minnesota. He is a native of Wardsboro,
Vermont, and was born on February 28, 1845. His father,
Lewis Hall, was for many years a farmer at Wardsboro.
His mother was a daughter of Captain Calvin Wilder, a
prosperous tanner of Plymouth, Vermont. The Hall family,
it appears, migrated from Enfield, Connecticut, soon
after the admission of Vermont as a state. They
doubtless belonged to the family which played so
important a part in the settlement of the New Haven
Colony, in 1638, and the subsequent history of the New
Haven and Connecticut Colony. During his boyhood, young
Hall attended the school at West Wardsboro village, and
the select school in the vicinity, after which he went
to Leland and Gray Seminary, at Townshend, Vermont, for
several terms. In 1865, his father having moved to
Athens, Vermont, his schooling was transferred to
Chester Academy, where he pursued his studies,
supporting himself by teaching penmanship. It was
through the advice of Henry H. Shaw, principal of this
academy, that the boy resolved upon taking a college
course. In the fall of 1867 he entered Middlebury
College. By teaching school winters, and devoting his
vacations to active occupations, he was enabled to
complete his course without interruption and graduate in
1871.
During his college career Mr. Hall excelled in
mathematics and scientific studies. He won two Waldo
scholarships: secured the botanical prize offered his
class; was assigned the scientific oration at
commencement, and was elected to membership in the Phi
Beta Kappa Society. In the Greek fraternity life of his
college, Mr. Hall was a member of the Delta Upsilon
Brotherhood. There are two things in the college life of
Dean Hall which, more than all others, molded his
subsequent career. The first was his love for natural
history and the delightful companionship of his teacher
Professor Henry Martin Seely, which was thus secured.
The other was his love and reverence for President
Kitchell, then in the height of his intellectual and
moral powers. The first year after leaving college was
spent in Glenn’s Falls, New York, as principal of the
Glenn’s Falls Academy. Reaching the conclusion that the
Western states offered unusual advantages to the young
teacher, in the summer of 1872 Mr. Hall started for
the West.
The position of principal of the high school of
Mankato, Minnesota, was secured and filled for one year,
when the superintendency of the city schools of Owatonna
was accepted. This position was held until 1875. Professor Hall’s
scholarly ambitions led him to wish for further study
and in the summer of 1875 he went to Europe, accompanied
by his bride, who was Miss Ellen A. Dunnell, daughter of
M. H.
Dunnell, of Owatonna. They had been married on
July 27, 1875. Mrs. Hall died quite suddenly at Leipzig
on the twenty-first of the following February. Professor
Hall continued his studies at Leipzig University until
December 1877, when he returned to this country and
during the remainder of the winter was occupied with a
course of lectures on general zoology at Middlebury
College.
About this time he was invited to join the
faculty of the University of Minnesota, and he entered
upon his new duties in the spring of 1878. He was soon
promoted to the professorship of geology, mineralogy and
biology. In 1891 he was relieved of the charge of
biology, the rapid development of the work in
physiology, zoology and botany demanded the
establishment of new departments. On December 20,
1883, he was married to Mrs. Sophia L. Haight, daughter
of Eli Seely of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mrs. Hall was a
woman of rare brilliancy and of a broad, generous,
lovely character. She died on July 12, 1891, leaving
Professor Hall an infant daughter, Sophia. In 1892 the
resignation of his colleague, Professor Wm. A. Pike,
Dean of the college of Mechanic Arts, necessitated the
reorganization of the technological work in the
university and Professor Hall, who has been closely
identified with the establishment of the school of
mining and metallurgy, was appointed dean of the
reorganized department, which was called the College of
Engineering, Metallurgy, and the Mechanic Arts. The
organization comprised seven professional courses
leading to degrees. With the growth of the university
during the past nineteen years. Dean Hall has been most
intimately identified. This has been particularly true
of the advancement in scientific investigation, and the
development of the departments in natural history. Aside from his work as
a teacher Dean Hall has written many papers. One of the
last and, perhaps, that of most popular character, is
the Historical Sketch of the University of Minnesota,
prepared for the “Gopher,” issued by the class of 1897.
In 1896 he was the alumni orator at the commencement
exercises of his alma mater. Most of Dean Hall’s
writings relate to the geology of Minnesota. As
assistant Geologist on the Geological Survey of
Minnesota, 1878-1881, and assistant United States
geologist from 1884 to the present time, he has had an
extensive field experience. For the past thirteen years
he has been the secretary of the Minnesota Academy of
Natural Sciences, and to a large extent has directed its
work, for a number of years he has edited its bulletin
and has furnished many scientific papers for its pages.
Dean Hall is a member of the Congregational denomination
; in politics a Republican. He is a member of several
leading scientific societies, the more prominent being
the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education,
the American Forestry Association and the Geological
Society of America.
 CHARLES FREEBORN HANEY city clerk of the City
of Minneapolis, was born on a farm near Lewiston, Fulton
County, Illinois, June 12, 1859. He is the son of Rev.
Richard Haney, D. D., a native of Pennsylvania, and
Adaline Murphy Haney, who was born in New York. Dr.
Haney has been in the Methodist ministry for over sixty
years, and is at the present time one of the oldest in
the United States. He is eighty-four years of age and
still active. Mr. Haney’s mother was a woman of lovable
Christian character and suffered many hardships as the
wife of a poorly paid Methodist minister during pioneer
days in Illinois. She died when Charles was six years
old and he was left in the care of his married brother
and sister.
Mr. Haney’s education was obtained in a similar
way to that of most boys brought up in the small towns
of Illinois—attending the public schools in the winter
and working on the farm in the summer. Young Haney
earned his first dollar at farm work. He early developed
a marked capacity for business, and at the age of
fifteen years was managing a number of farms for their
owner, keeping all the necessary accounts. By means of
persistent industry, Mr. Haney was able
to go through Illinois College and also to take a course
in a business college, from which he graduated at
nineteen years of age. Immediately after graduation he
became principal of a high school in Illinois. Later he
received an appointment in the railway mail service, but
he preferred a business life and made an engagement with
a Chicago grain firm, buying grain and having charge of
a line of elevators. In the fall of
1882 he visited his uncle, the late Dr. John H. Murphy,
of St. Paul, and happened to attend the fair in
Minneapolis, conducted by Col. W. S. King, and concluded
that he had found the right place for a home. Upon the
day of his arrival he accepted an offer from J. B.
Bassett & Co., manufacturers of flour and lumber,
and was employed as their head bookkeeper and cashier
for six years, only resigning to accept the position of
city clerk. To this office Mr. Haney was elected in
January, 1889.
He has been re-elected for two-year terms three
times, receiving support from both Republican and
Democratic parties. Although he has always been a
Republican, and has been so recognized, he is not what
would be called an active partisan. In his
administration of his office and in his rapid and
effective manner of handling business at the meetings of
the City Council, Mr. Haney has won merited praise. He
has been especially effective in the management of the
clerical work in connection with the general and local
elections.
He originated and carried out the system used at
the last two elections, of gathering returns in an
accurate and speedy manner. At the last election he
employed one hundred expert bicycle riders to bring in
the figures. At such times his power of endurance and
his executive ability have been invaluable in handling
the complicated machinery of a metropolitan election.
Such efforts are appreciated by the newspaper men, and
were recognized when Mr. Haney was elected in 1893, an
honorary member of the Minneapolis Press Club. At the
Republican National Convention of 1892, held in
Minneapolis, Mr.
Haney was chief
reading clerk, and acquitted himself admirably, his
strong, clear voice and distinct enunciation peculiarly
fitting him for the duties of the position. He is a
prominent Mason, and has held prominent offices in the
higher Masonic bodies. Mr. Haney was married in 1881 to
Augusta A. Cosad, by whom he has one son, Philip C.
Haney, now seven years of age. He was married a second
time in March, 1895, to Mary J. Parkhurst.
 ALEXANDER M. HARRISON is a lawyer, practicing
his profession in Minneapolis. He is a native of
Pennsylvania, and was born in Venango County, the fifth
of November, 1847. His father, Charles Harrison, was
descended from English stock. He was born at
Orange, New Jersey where his family has lived ever
since, and followed the occupation of an agriculturist
in Venango County, Pennsylvania. With the industrious
and frugal habits of the New Englander, he had attained
comfortable financial circumstances. His wife’s maiden
name was Catharine E. DeWitt, who was of Dutch descent.
Alexander was given by his parents considerably
better educational advantages than those usually
accorded to farmers boys, especially of that period. His
elementary education was received in the district school
in Perry, in Venango County, and later in an academy in
the same town. When thirteen years old he left home and
attended an academy at Pleasantville, in the same state.
He remained here until he was eighteen, then entered the
Fredonia Academy, at Fredonia, in Chautauqua County, New
York, from which institution he graduated three years
later. Having made up his mind to make law his
profession in life, Alexander had begun studying law
during his leisure hours in the Fredonia Academy. After
leaving there, he worked for a while in the oil fields
of his native state, running a stationary engine for
drilling and pumping oil wells, with which to earn money
to complete his law studies, and in this way he earned
his first dollar. Having secured sufficient funds to pay
his expenses at Ann Arbor, he entered the law department
of the University of Michigan, and graduated in April,
1870. He came West and located at Charles City, Iowa,
where he “hung out his shingle” and began the practice
of his profession, in which he has been actively engaged
ever since. Until August, 1873 Mr. Harrison continued
his practice alone, but at this time he became
associated with Samuel B. Starr and John G. Patterson,
under the firm name of Starr, Patterson & Harrison.
This partnership continued until October, 1878, when it
was dissolved by the death of Mr. Patterson.
The partnership was continued, however, by
Messrs.
Starr and Harrison until December 1, 1886 when
the latter gentleman came to Minnesota. He located in
Minneapolis, where he has succeeded in building up a
lucrative legal business. Mr. Harrison’s political
affiliations have always been with the Republican party,
of which he is an ardent supporter and an active
campaigner. On August 13, 1873, he was married to Lizzie
O. Chapin at Silver Creek, New York. Mr. and Mrs.
Harrison have three children: Merton E., aged twenty,
now a sophomore in the state university; Ruth Harrison,
aged ten, and Helen, aged six.
 WILLIAM EDWIN HASKELL the head of The Times
Newspaper Company, of Minneapolis, was born on June 18,
1862, on Bunker Hill, Charlestown, Massachusetts. His newspaper
talent may be said to have been inherited, for his
father, Edwin B. Haskell, of Boston, has been a
life-long newspaper man. Mr. Haskell, senior, learned
the printer’s trade as a boy and later became a reporter
on the Boston Journal. He advanced to an editorial
position and afterwards became associate editor of the
Boston Herald. With R. M. Pulsifer, C. A. Andrews and
others he purchased the Herald not long after the war,
and was identified with the wonderful growth of that
great newspaper property during succeeding years. Mr.
Haskell has now retired from active newspaper life and
is devoting himself to the care of his estate, to travel
and study, and to the work incident to his position as
head of the Metropolitan Park Commission of Boston. The
Haskell family is of French origin. A Norman knight of
the family of D’Ascelles who married a daughter of the
royal house of France and accompanied William the
Conqueror to England, is the earliest known progenitor
of the family. He was the forefather of the present Earl
of Dudley, of England.
In 1645 three brothers of the family came to
Gloucester, Massachusetts, from England. A branch of
this stock founded New Salem, Maine, and later moved to
East Livermore in the same state, where Mr. Edwin
Haskell was born in 1836. He married Miss Ann Celia
Hill, who was of Huguenot extraction. The early
education of their son, William, was had in the private
schools of Charlestown, Chelsea and Newton,
Massachusetts. He then entered Allen’s English and
Classical school at West Newton, to prepare for college,
but before commencing his college course spent two years
in study in Europe, most of the time at Leipsic.
Entering Harvard college in 1881, he graduated in the
class of 1884 with the degree of A. B. His education was
planned along such lines as to fit him for his intended
profession that of newspaper work. Mr. Haskell came to
Minneapolis on November 10, 1884, and became editor and
half owner of the Minneapolis Tribune. This connection
continued until May, 1889, and from 1885 he was at the
same time part owner and president of the Journal
Printing Company.
From 1889 to 1894 he was engaged in the real
estate and investment business. Upon the purchase of the
Minneapolis Times by the Journal Company on July 1,
1894, Mr. Haskell, who was then vice president of the
Journal Printing Company, became editorial manager of
the Times.
Six months later, in January, 1895, he became
general manager of the Times, and on January 1, 1897 he
purchased the Times from the Journal Company and
relinquished his interest in the latter company. He is
now editorial and business head of the Times. During his
three years of connection with the Times Mr. Haskell has
been the moving force of the paper: its immediate
success is to be attributed to his energy and good
management. His policy has been to always follow the
line of absolute independence. During all his newspaper
life Mr. Haskell has been much interested in the
development of photographic illustration for the daily
press, and has done much for the art.
As in his newspaper life, Mr. Haskell is,
personally independent in politics. He has held no
political offices, but has served as aid-de-camp with
the rank of major on the staff of Governor A. R. McGill,
and was aid-de-camp with the rank of colonel on the
staff of Governor W. R. Merriam during both his terms of
office. He
belongs to no societies and only to social clubs. Mr.
Haskell was married on November 1, 1884, to Miss Annie
E. Mason, who died on February 18, 1886. On February 22,
1887, he was married to Miss Olga von Waedelstadt, of
St. Paul.
They have four children; Celia Elizabeth, William
Waedelstadt, George Childs and Edwin Dudley. The family
residence is at 1710 Third avenue S,
Minneapolis.
 EUGENE G. HAY was United States district
attorney for Minnesota from 1890 to 1894. Mr. Hay is a native
of Charlestown, Clark County, Indiana, a son of Dr.
Andrew J. Hay and Rebecca Garrett Hay. His father was of
Scotch descent and his mother of Scotch-Irish
ancestry.
He was born March 26, 1853, and received his
education in the common schools and in the Barnett
Academy at Charlestown. In 1876 he began studying law in
the office of Gordon, Lamb & Sheppard at
Indianapolis. He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and
commenced the practice of his profession at Madison,
Indiana, the next year. He remained there until 1886,
when he removed to Minneapolis and has been practicing
law here ever since, either in a private capacity or as
an officer of the government. Mr. Hay is a Republican
and has always taken an active part in politics since he
became a voter. He was a clerk in the Indiana
legislature in 1877 and was made prosecuting attorney at
Madison for two terms, from 1881 to 1885. In 1884 he
represented the Fourth congressional district of Indiana
in the Republican national convention which nominated
James G. Blaine for the presidency.
In 1888 he was elected to the lower house of the
Minnesota legislature from the Twenty-ninth district,
where he made a most excellent record. He was one of the
leaders of the Washburn senatorial campaign of that
year, and contributed in a large degree to the election
of W. D. Washburn to the United States senate. On December 17,
1889, Mr. Hay’s name was sent to the senate by the
president for the position of United States district
attorney for Minnesota, and he held that office until
1894. He is a forcible speaker and has always been
relied upon by his party as one of the most efficient
and successful men on the stump in this state. This has brought
his ability in demand in every campaign and he has given
liberally of his time and ability for the promotion of
the political principles of which he is a firm believer.
Mr.
Hay was married November 4, 1891, at
Indianapolis, to Elenora Farquhar. He is a Mason and
Knight Templar. Prior to his appointment as United
States district attorney he was in partnership in the
practice of law with Messrs. Jelly and Hull, the style
of the firm being Jelly, Hay & Hull. Upon his
retirement from office he resumed the practice of law,
but without partners. He has been very successful both in his official
work and in his private practice, and is regarded as one
of the strongest among the younger members of the
Minneapolis bar. Although Mr. Hay never enjoyed the
advantages of a complete college education, he has
always been a student, and is a gentleman of extensive
reading and a diligent investigator of the important
questions of the day, on which he is an instructive
writer and a well equipped and forcible
speaker.
 MARCUS PETER HAYNE a member of the
Minneapolis bar, was born at Austin, South Carolina,
April 14, 1857. His father was Dr. Marcus S. Hayne, a
physician and a gentleman of considerable wealth ; his
mother was Elizabeth A. Decker. Mr.
Hayne is related to the Southern family of that name,
among whom was the famous Robert Y. Hayne, who conducted
the celebrated debate with Webster. When the war broke
out Dr. Hayne removed his family to New York, although
sympathizing with the Southern cause.
Mr. Hayne’s early education began in the public
schools of New York City and his college course was
taken at Cornell University, although he was not
graduated by that institution. He began the study of law
in 1875, in Newark, New Jersey, in the office of
Chancellor Runyon, late ambassador to Germany. From 1877
to 1880 he was city attorney of Newark. He then went
into the Southwest and lived in Arizona and Old Mexico,
practicing law and engaging in mining enterprises. From
1881 to 1883, he was city attorney for Tombstone,
Arizona, and lived there during the booming days of that
celebrated mining camp when its output of silver was
larger than that of any other camp in the United
States.
Those were lively times in the Southwest, and
during Mr. Hayne’s residence there occurred many of the
frightful Indian massacres, together with the lawless
deeds of rough men who were then resorting to Arizona
and Old Mexico. Ten years ago Mr. Hayne came to
Minneapolis, and has been engaged in the practice of law
here ever since. He is now a member of the law firm of
Welch, Hayne & Conlin, but was a partner of Judge
Jamison prior to the elevation of Mr. Jamison to the
district bench in 1893. He is a Republican and very
pronounced in his political views. He is a member of the
Minneapolis Club, and the Commercial Club of
Minneapolis. He is not married.
 THEODORE LAMBERT HAYS, general Northwestern
representative of Mr. Jacob Litt, the well-known
theatrical manager, and having under his charge the
Bijou Theater in Minneapolis and the Grand Opera House
in St. Paul.
Lambert Hays, his father, was one of the oldest
settlers in Minneapolis. He was born in
Germany on Christmas Day 1842, and came to America when
but eight years old. He lived for a short time at
Albany, New York, and then at Kenosha, Wisconsin. In
1855 he came to Minnesota and located in St.
Anthony. He
was apprenticed to the first baker doing business in the
little village by the falls, and since learned the
trade, embarking in business for himself in 1865. He
built the first bakery on the west side of the
Mississippi, the old Cataract, on the site of the old
Central Market house. He later built the People’s
Theater, and re-built it when it was burned a year or
two afterwards. He was engaged in active business until
1887. Mr.
Hays was always public spirited. He was a member
of the volunteer fire department of the early sixties,
and remained so until it was put on a paid basis, doing
his share toward fighting the fires that afflicted the
little wooden town of Minneapolis at that period. He
also assisted in establishing the first Turnverein
society in Minneapolis, and the building of the West
Side Turner Hall, and throughout his career gave
considerable attention to the maintenance of the Turner
societies.
He died in May, 1893. His wife, Mary Gertrude
Rauen, emigrated to this country from Germany with her
parents, and were among the early settlers of Minnesota.
She is a sister of Peter Rauen, a prominent resident of
North Minneapolis.
Theodore Lambert Hays was born March 29, 1867.
His education was received in the common schools of
Minneapolis, and he was a pupil in the high school up to
the tenth grade. He then took a business course in the
Curtiss Business College. During his
business career Mr. Hays has always been actively
identified with his father’s business affairs. His first
position after leaving school was with the Minnesota
Title Insurance and Trust Company, being employed among
others to make a transcript of county records in the
office of the register of deeds.
He gave up this position in a short time to
become interested with W. E. Sterling in the management
of the People’s Theater, which had been erected by
Lambert Hays, his father. A little later this theater
was leased by Jacob Litt, Frank L. Bixby acting as
resident manager. The theater was changed at this time
from a stock theater to a combination house, and Mr.
Hays began his first experience in this business. He
served as treasurer under Mr. Bixby with such success
that when the latter was transferred to St. Paul.
Mr. Hays
was appointed manager, a position he has held ever
since. Under his able direction this playhouse has
established for itself a record of sterling success, and
is considered one df the best paying theatrical
properties in the Northwest. In 1896 Mr. Hays
became Jacob Litt’s general representative in the
Northwest, and took charge of the Grand Opera House in
St. Paul in addition to the Bijou in Minneapolis. Under
its new management the Grand enjoyed more prosperous
seasons than ever before. Mr. Hays possesses the
confidence of the public to a considerable degree as an
amusement caterer, and enjoys the friendship and respect
of his associates.
Though his father was a stanch and enthusiastic
Democrat, Theo. L. Hays has never been so positive in
his political feelings, and has always been independent
in his support of candidates for office. He is a member
of the Elks, the Royal Arcanum, the Knights of Pythias
and the Commercial Club. In religion he is a Catholic. He was married in
January, 1893, to Mary Ellen Roberts, at Chicago, and
has one child, Theodore Albert Edward
Hays.
 WILLET MARTIN HAYS was born in 1850 near the
village of Gifford, Hardin County, Iowa. His father,
Silas Hays, had joined the earliest pioneers on the head
waters of the Iowa river, a few years before Willet’s
birth. The father was a man of positive character having
been one of the only four members of the Abolition party
in Bladensburg township, Knox County, Ohio, from which
place he emigrated, with his young wife, to Iowa. He was
of British stock. His wife, whose maiden name was
Christina Lepley was of the sturdy Pennsylvania Dutch
stock, so numerous in central Ohio.
When Willet was six years old his mother was left
a widow with an older son and an infant boy. When the estate
was settled she had a farm of one hundred and forty
acres, and several hundred dollars in cash. When the
second son was twelve years of age the tenant, who had
allowed the farm to run down, was discharged and Willet
and his brothers managed it. The mother was not only
truly loyal to her boys, but she was a strong business
woman, and under her guidance the boys made the farm
pay, erecting buildings, planting fine groves, building
fences and roads and gaining the favorable comments of
the neighbors.
Charles L. and Willet took turns “year about” in
college and in managing the farm until the elder brother
was ready for a post graduate course of law. The
youngest of the three, Marion, was then ready to enter
college and the farm was again rented.
Having finished the country school, Willet
attended Oskaloosa College, Oskaloosa, and Drake
University, Des Moines, Iowa, for three years, taking an
academic course and then yielding to his desire for
agricultural work, he entered the State Agricultural
College at Ames, Iowa, where he graduated in the fall of
1885, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Agriculture.
He received a good standing in his college classes.
Instead of high marks in recitation, he gained a
reputation among the professors for studying subjects
rather than books, often developing them beyond the work
of the classes, and thus showing his bent for the
practical in agricultural education.
At about the time of graduation, he was married
to Miss Clara Shepperd, of Chariton, Iowa, who took a
post graduate course at the Iowa Agricultural College in
Domestic Science, and became his able co-worker in
industrial education, upon graduation he was placed in
charge of the agricultural experiments on the college
farm at Ames. Here he did work of value, among other
things, showing the extent and position in the soil of
the roots of corn and other crops. The kind of tillage
and tillage implements adapted to conserving soil
moisture in time of drouth by level culture at medium
depth without seriously pruning the roots, now so much
emphasized in agricultural teaching, was here first
clearly shown. Instead of completing a post graduate
course in science, Mr. Hays secured a position as
associate editor of the Prairie Farmer, Chicago, under
the venerable editor Orange Judd.
In 1888, when the various states began to
establish experiment stations under the government
appropriations, Minnesota was on the hunt for practical
men, and Dr. Edward D. Porter selected
Mr. Hays as his assistant. Two years later the board of
Regents promoted him to the Professorship of
Agriculture. A year later, Mrs. Hays, having won a name
for herself through teaching and lecturing, the two were
offered the Professorship of Agriculture and Domestic
Science in the North Dakota Agricultural College at
Fargo. Here the most practical and valuable work was
being accomplished by Mr. and Mrs. Hays when death
removed the wife. Those interested in the agricultural
department of the University of Minnesota, soon after
this, negotiated with Professor Hays to return and
various reasons, well considered, led him to accept
again his old place as Professor of Agriculture and with
it, the position of Vice-Chairman and Agriculturist of
the Experiment Station. Having been educated in a
western agricultural college, Professor Hays in the
inception of the Minnesota School of Agriculture, took a
leading part in defining its policy and in holding it to
the work of making educated farmers out of the most
enterprising farm boys of the state. Reorganizing the
course in the college of agriculture also had his
special attention.
As professor of agriculture he organized dairy
education in the School of Agriculture and upon his
recommendation the Board of Regents made the
appropriation for the original dairy building, appointed
a separate professor of dairying and started the
Minnesota Dairy School. Likewise instruction in the
School of Agriculture in the slaughter and care of meats
was started by him, being a new feature in agricultural
schools.
His connection with Mrs. Hays’ work caused him to
take a prominent part in developing the industrial
course for ladies in North Dakota Agricultural College.
He acts upon the belief that the University of Minnesota
can and should implant a system of agricultural high
schools in the state and nation, for farm girls as it
seems to have done for farm boys, and also the advanced,
or agricultural college course for those women who have
graduated in the girls’ agricultural high school, who
wish to become teachers and scientific investigators in
woman’s industries. He has written
much in bulletins for the Iowa, Minnesota and North
Dakota experiment stations, and has been a prolific
writer for the agricultural press in the Northwest and
has in preparation text books for his classes in
agriculture.
Among the reports of original work, his studies
in the roots of corn and other field crops, of tillage,
feeding experiments, breeding field crops, the
improvement of field seeds, field management of pasture
and meadows may be especially mentioned. He has done work in
the Farmers’ Institute and has delivered many addresses
at meetings of agricultural people. He has taken a
special interest in the rural school and has prepared a
reader for the fourth grade. A system of sub experiment
farms as a part of the Minnesota Experiment station,
with adjunct forest experiment stations under the
auspices of the Division of Forestry of the United
States Department of Agriculture, has recently been
organized under his leadership and
management.
 WILLIAM EDWIN HEWITT who is an
attorney-at-law practicing in Minneapolis, is of pioneer
American stock. On his father’s side the family line
includes John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, of the
Mayflower. His progenitors on the maternal side were
early Virginia settlers. He was born at Le Claire, Iowa,
September 23, 1861, the son of W. H. Hewitt, one of the
pioneers of the Hawkeye state, and Anna Davenport
(Hewitt).
William received his early education in the
common schools and academy of his native town. The first
money he ever earned by his own efforts was made by
carrying newspapers when a boy. Having decided to make the practice of law his
vocation in life, he entered the law office of Jenkins,
Elliott & Winkler, of Milwaukee to take up its
study. Later he entered the Iowa State University,
taking a course in its law department, from which he
graduated in 1882. He removed to Chicago and became
connected with the law firm of Mason Brothers, of that
city, acting as managing clerk. This position he held
until his removal to Minneapolis in 1886 to engage in
the practice of his profession. Mr. Hewitt has been
quite successful from the start and has built up a
profitable practice. His early political affiliations
were with the Democratic party, but after mature
consideration he attached himself to the Republican
party. He was married in 1888, at Minneapolis, to Miss
Mabelle Van Sickler. They have two daughters, Harriet
and Marjorie.
 HENRY GEORGE
HICKS recently a judge of the district court of Hennepin
County, is one of the self-made men of the Northwest,
who has impressed himself strongly upon the community in
which he lives. He was born at Varysburgh, Genesee (now
Wyoming) County, New York, January 26, 1838. His father,
George A. Hicks, was a saddler and harness maker by
trade at Castleton, New York, a man in moderate
circumstances and with no capital but his skill as a
workman and his honorable reputation as a man. He died
at Freeport. 111., in 1881. George A.
Hicks’ wife was Sophia Hall, a native of Rutland,
Vermont, who died at the home of her son, Henry, in
Minneapolis, in 1885, at the age of seventy. Her father
was Asa Hall, who was wounded in the battle of Lake
Champlain in the War of 1812. George A. Hicks’ mother,
Hannah Edwards, was a cousin of the elder Jonathan
Edwards.
Henry G. Hicks, the subject of this
sketch, was educated in the common schools of New York
and Pennsylvania, and also enjoyed one winter term at
the academy at Arcade, New York. At the age of fifteen
he began teaching school. Five years later he entered
the preparatory department of Oberlin College, where by
intervals of teaching and by employment in a printing
office he supported himself until 1858 when he entered
the freshman class. He then taught the first ward
grammar school at Freeport, Illinois, for a year, and at
the close of his engagement enlisted, July 24, 1861, as
a private in Co. A. of the Second Illinois Cavalry. He
was appointed corporal and sergeant of his company and
then sergeant-major of the regiment, August 12. October
15 he was commissioned adjutant, was at the battle of
Fort Donelson, and mustered out June I, 1862. He was
then appointed adjutant of the Seventy-first Illinois
Infantry, a three months’ regiment, and mustered out
October I, 1862, and on the 6th of the following
November was appointed adjutant of the Ninety-third
Infantry Volunteers, which took part in the battles of
Raymond, Jackson, Champion’s Hill, at the siege of
Vicksburg, and the battle of Mission Ridge, where he was
severely wounded in the left cheek and nose by a musket
ball, and was honorably mustered out of the service
February 28, 1864.
Mr.
Hicks first visited Minnesota in August, 1857, as an
agent for D. C. Feeley, of Freeport,
Illinois, dealer in lightning rods, and remained here
three months and until after the panic of October. He
then started home with about six hundred dollars in
bills issued by the Citizens’ Bank, of Gosport, Indiana,
and Bank of Tekama, Nebraska. At St. Paul he could not
use it, but secured an exchange of twenty dollars for
Eastern money and proceeded to Lake City, where he made
other collections in good money and was able to continue
his homeward trip.
In
April, 1865, after leaving the army, Mr. Hicks returned
to Minnesota, settled in Minneapolis, engaged in the
lightning rod business in the summer, operated threshing
machines and sold farm machinery in the autumn and
taught school for two winters at a schoolhouse still
standing at Hopkins, in Hennepin County. December, 1867,
he was appointed sheriff of Hennepin County, was elected
to that office in 1868,and in 1871 and 1872 was elected
city justice of Minneapolis. In 1874 he began the
practice of law with E. A. Gove, which partnership
continued until October 15, 1875, when he formed a
partnership with Capt. J. N. Cross, to which Frank H.
Carleton was admitted in 1881.
This partnership was continued until 1887 when
Mr. Hicks was appointed judge of the district court in
Hennepin County, where he served until January, 1895.
He
then, accompanied by his wife, traveled for nine months
in Europe, and on the fourteenth day of October, 1895,
just twenty years after forming a partnership with
Capt. Cross, he became a
member of the firm of Cross, Hicks, Carleton &
Cross. Judge Hicks has held a number of other important
positions, having been appointed by Gov. Marshall
trustee of the Soldiers’ Orphans, in 1869 to which
office he was three times re-appointed. In 1872 he was
elected president of the board and was annually
re-elected until the board closed the Soldiers’ Orphans
Home, and voluntarily retired, having discharged all
orphans committed to their care. He was elected to the
lower house of the state legislature in 1877, and
returned to that body three times afterwards, serving in
his last two terms as chairman of the judiciary
committee. He was elected to the
legislature for the fifth time in 1896. He was president
of the board of managers on the part of the house in the
impeachment of E. St. Julien Cox, judge of the Ninth
judicial district who was convicted by the senate and
removed from office. Judge Hicks was a Republican before
he was a voter, and has always adhered to that party. He
is a member of the Commercial Club, of Khurum Lodge A.
F. & A. M, John A. Rawlins Post G. A. R., and was
department commander of the Grand Army in 1868, by
virtue of which he is a life member of the National
Encampment. He is also a member and at present Senior
Vice Commander of the Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal
Legion.
He
was married May 3, 1864, to Mary Adelaide Beede, of
Freeport, Illinois, who died July 24, 1870, leaving four
children, all of whom have since died. November 5, 1873,
he married Susannah R. Fox.
Judge Hicks resides at 720 Third Avenue
South. Minneapolis, which has
been his home for the past twenty-five
years.
 WILLARD JAMES
HIELD general manager of the Twin City Rapid Transit
Company, has earned the desirable position which he
holds by the faithful and efficient discharge of his
duties in the less responsible positions through which
he has passed in the service of that company.
Mr. Hield is a native of Wisconsin. He was born
at Janesville, May 19, 1863, the son of George Hield and
Mary H. Rhodes (Hield). His parents were both of English
descent and came to America in 1845. They located in
Wisconsin before there was a mile of railroad within the
state. George Hield settled on a farm in Rock County,
from which he afterward removed to Janesville, where he
engaged in business as a contractor and a wholesale
dealer in grain and other agricultural products. More
recently he and his wife, both of whom are still living,
have moved to Minneapolis, where Mr. Hield is enjoying a
comfortable old age without the burden of any business
cares.
Willard James was given a high
school education at Janesville, and in 1887 came to
Minneapolis and entered the service of the street
railway company in October of that year.
His business experience prior to that consisted
of four years in the employment of Bassett & Echlin,
of Janesville, jobbers in saddlery and hardware.
He was employed in various capacities by the
railway company, first in office work, and then, during
the strike of 1889, he was assigned to outside work,
assisting somewhat in the opening of the lines, and at
the close of the controversy was appointed
superintendent of the Minneapolis, Lyndale &
Minnetonka Railway, a steam road known as the motor
line, which was absorbed by the street railway company.
Eater, when this line was abandoned, or rather when it
was changed from a steam and horse car line to an
electric road, Mr. Hield was put in charge of its
construction and for two years acted as superintendent
of that work before this undertaking was fully
completed, in July, 1891 he was appointed superintendent
of the entire street railway system in Minneapolis. Six
months later, during the prolonged absence of Vice
President and General Manager Goodrich, Mr. Hield was
elevated to the office of manager, and on the
consolidation of the lines in Minneapolis and St. Paul
in the spring of 1892, he was appointed general manager
in the entire consolidated system. This position he now
holds.
Mr.
Hield was married in Minneapolis, December 24, 1885 to
Miss Ena P. Freeman. They have two children, Clifford
Chase, born July 15, 1888, and Willard Freeman, born
December 19, 1895. Mr. Hield’s highly successful career
illustrates the fact that capability and devotion to
business win the best rewards in commercial and
industrial life. Such success as he has attained, and
which is by no means inconsiderable, he owes to no one
but himself, his advancement to his present responsible
position having come as a result of his faithful
performance of his duties in less prominent
positions. Mr. Hield resides in
Minneapolis.
 MARTIN NORWOOD
HILT is one of the younger, active businessmen of
Minneapolis. He is a native of Indianapolis, where he
was born October 24, 1868. His father, Franklin L. Hilt,
was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and moved to
Indianapolis when a boy. During the war he was state
inspector of arms. Later he engaged in the manufacture
of architectural iron, jail work and similar line of
iron construction. He died in 1884. His wife was Miss A.
E. Norwood. She was born in Indianapolis, and her
grandfather was one of the veterans of the state and an
early settler in Indianapolis.
Mart. Hilt was born at Indianapolis and attended
the district and high schools of that city. He earned
his first money by selling papers. From the time he was
eight years old until he was twelve he devoted most of
his time out of school to this work; afterwards he
worked in the office of R. F. Catterson & Son, real
estate and rental business. During a vacation in 1885
his brother, Geo. L. Hilt, moved to Minneapolis and
Martin succeeded him as manager of the rental business
of the firm. He continued in this business until March,
1888, when he moved to Minneapolis to accept a position
in the rental office of his brother, as manager of the
insurance branch of the business. This arrangement
continued until August, 1894, when, upon the death of
Mr. Geo. L. Hilt, he succeeded to the entire business
under the style of the Hilt Agency. Mr. Hilt makes the
rental business an exclusive one, believing that he can
best serve the interests of his clients in that way.
While engaged in building up a business Mr. Hilt has had
little time to give to political affairs. He has always
taken an active interest in the primaries, and has
always been a Republican. He is a member of the
Commercial Club, and is the Past Regent of the Cecilian
Council, 1367, R. A., and a member of the Grand Council
of Minnesota.
He was first Secretary of the Cecilian Council
and one of its organizers. He is a member of the Wesley
Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1892 Mr. Hilt was married
to Miss Abbey C. Winslow, a daughter of Mr. C. M.
Winslow. They have no
children.
 FRANKLIN G.
HOLBROOK postmaster of Minneapolis, is a native of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was born August 26,
1859. He is the son of Benjamin F. Holbrook and Prudence
(Godshall) Holbrook. Both his parents were of American
ancestry for several generations. Mr. Holbrook’s early
educational advantages were confined to the limits of
the Philadelphia common schools.
It became necessary for him, while yet a mere
lad, to seek employment, and in 1873, in his fourteenth
year, he entered the service of a coal and iron company
in Philadelphia. He remained in the employ of that
establishment for eight years, advancing to the position
of general bookkeeper. A year later, in 1882, he decided
to come west in order to enjoy the larger advantages
which this country affords to young men. On his arrival
in Minneapolis he entered the employment of the J. I.
Case Plow Company as bookkeeper and cashier. He remained
with them four years, holding this responsible and
confidential position in this important concern during
that time.
Mr. Holbrook is a Democrat, and since he became a
voter has always taken an active interest in the
promotion of the principles in which he believes. He
became interested in local politics in Minneapolis, and
in 1886 was elected city comptroller. His long
experience as accountant fitted him in a peculiar way
for the efficient discharge of the duties of his office
and he made a record in that capacity which is often
referred to as of especial advantage to the city and a
lasting credit to himself. In 1888 he was unanimously
renominated, but was defeated in that year of Democratic
disaster, although running ahead of his ticket. He went
into the grain business in the Chamber of Commerce at
the expiration of his term as comptroller, remaining in
that business from 1889 until 1891, when Mayor P. B.
Winston appointed him his private secretary, which
position Mr. Holbrook filled during 1891 and 1892. His
previous identification with the city government as
comptroller giving him a thorough acquaintance with
municipal affairs. Mayor Winston absolutely refusing to
allow the use of his name in connection with a
renomination in the fall of 1892, Mr. Holbrook was
brought forward as the representative of the younger
element of his party, but after an exciting contention
he was defeated in the convention on the third ballot by
a very narrow margin.
Upon the expiration of Mayor Winston’s term Mr.
Holbrook again, in 1893, returned to the grain business
in which he was engaged on June 12, 1894, when he
received the appointment of postmaster in Minneapolis.
He took possession of his office August 1, of the same
year, and is now the occupant of that position. Here, as
in other official stations, he has served the public
with ability and fidelity, bringing to the discharge of
his duties thorough business training and invaluable
experience. The result is the administration of his
office to the entire satisfaction of the community which
he serves. Mr. Holbrook enjoys great popularity, and the
favor in which he is held by the public led to his
nomination for the office of county auditor by the
Democratic party in 1890, but this nomination he
declined. He did not, however, shirk his obligations to
his party and in the same year served it as secretary of
the Democratic city committee.
Mr.
Holbrook is a gentleman of high character and
universally esteemed. He is a member of St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church. In 1886 he was married to Amanda E.
Cooley.
 JOHN E. HOLMBERG, a prominent representative
of the Swedish nationality in Minnesota, was born in
Smaland, Sweden, on December 17, 1850. He received a
common school education in his native town, and in 1873
emigrated to America, locating in Minneapolis, which is
still his home.
He had learned the trade of mason in Sweden, and
followed it in this country for ten years after his
arrival here. He then became a contractor and builder,
which is his business at this time. From poverty and
obscurity he has been able to build his fortunes up
until at the present time he is one of the best known
people of his nationality in Minneapolis and one of the
wealthiest, also.
In politics. Mr. Holmberg has always been a
consistent Republican, working earnestly for the success
of that party in every campaign. In 1892, as a reward in
part for his faithful services, he was sent to the
legislature from the old Thirty second representative
district of Minneapolis, comprising the Fifth and Sixth
wards. He served during the session of 1893 which credit
to himself, fully answering the expectations of his
constituents, and was, in the fall of 1894, elected to
the office of sheriff of Hennepin County, which he held
for one term. Mr. Holmberg is a Lutheran in religion.
He belonged to the Swedish Augustana church for
about twenty years, but is at present a member of St.
John’s English Lutheran church in Minneapolis. He is
president of the Flour City Realty Company. He earned
his first dollar in America by carrying building stone
up to the fourth floor of the old Washburn a flour mill,
the one which was destroyed by an explosion a number of
years ago. killing a number of employees. In the
fatherland Mr. Holmberg had only the advantages which
came to the children of the poorer people. His father,
who died thirty three years ago, was a farmer, and was
not able to give his son any start in the world, except
that of a good name. All that Mr. Holmberg is he owes to
his own efforts, a fact in which he very properly takes
considerable pride. His mother is living and makes her
home in Minneapolis. Mr. Holmberg is married and is the
father of six children.
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