Trails to the Past

Minnesota

Hubbard County

Biographies

 

 

 

Progressive Men of Minnesota

Minneapolis Journal 1897

 

ISAIAH HENRY BRADFORD is a banker of Hubbard, Hubbard County, Minnesota. Mr. Bradford has the satisfaction of tracing his ancestral hue back to the famous Plymouth colony, he being a direct descendant of Governor Bradford. His ancestry was also prominent in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. James Bradford, his father, was born in Gushing, Maine, September 21, 1805, and he emigrated to Wisconsin when a young man, settling at Monroe. After living in several localities in Wisconsin, he moved to Iowa in 1864, establishing himself at Nashua and engaging in the business of wagon manufacturing. His wife was Miss Sarah Hudson, who is a native of Sardinia, New York.  She is a descendant of Henry Hudson. Her family was for many years prominent in Rhode Island. She is still living with a daughter at Hubbard. Her husband died at Nashua on July 13, 1877.

I. H. Bradford was born on June 5, 1857, in the town of Washington, Green County, Wisconsin. His early education commenced in the public schools of Milford, Wisconsin.  When the family moved to Iowa he entered the public schools of Nashua and made rapid progress in his studies. In 1874 he graduated with honors from the Nashua High school and then entered the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, as a student in the commercial and college courses. From this department he graduated on January 18, 1876, at the head of the class. On March 28, 1876, he was offered a position of cashier of the banking house of the Hon. A. J. Felt, of Nashua. This position he at once accepted. He was the youngest cashier at that time in the United States, who had full charge and management of the bank.  Mr. Bradford continued in charge of this banking house until it closed out its affairs by sale in 1878, to the First National Bank of Nashua.  He was then employed by the First National Bank in making out a set of abstract books for Chickasaw County.

A short time afterwards he associated himself with Moses Stewart, Jr., of Nashua, in organizing the Bank of Verndale, in Wadena County, Minnesota. This was in October, 1880. Mr. Bradford became cashier of the new bank and continued in that position for two years when he resigned and joined Isaac Hazlett and E. S. Case in organizing the Wadena County Bank of Verndale. He was cashier of this institution until 1883. In December, 1885, he accepted the position of cashier and manager of the banking house of James Billings, of Hubbard, and continued in this position for six years when the bank was sold to other parties. Besides managing Mr. Billings’ interests, Mr. Bradford had the general superintending of a large farm, loan and land business and of a large flouring mill at Hubbard. Under his management the volume of banking business increased to over three million dollars. He now carries on a banking business at Hubbard on his own account. He has a large eastern clientage and is engaged in placing loans on western securities. He is the local land agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and during the last sixteen years has placed over three hundred settlers and sold about six thousand acres of railroad lands. He has been instrumental in bringing thousands of dollars in capital into his section of the state for investment, as well as inducing a large number of settlers to locate in Hubbard County as their place of residence. Mr. Bradford was one of the promoters and incorporators of the Duluth & Great Western Railroad Company. He is treasurer of the corporation, and is now laboring hard with eastern capitalists for the success of the enterprise.

In politics he is a staunch republican, and during the campaign of 1896 an advocate of sound money. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has held various offices. Though not an office seeker, he was first Clerk of Courts of Hubbard County and has been influential in the county politics. In September, 1882, Mr. Bradford was married to Miss Christina A. Bolton, of Verndale, Minnesota, daughter of the late George Bolton. They have had three children, George Miles, Dilla Carrie, who died on September 1, 1893, and Wealthy.

JOHN SCHOCK HUNTSINGER register of deeds of Hubbard County, Minnesota, is a native of Indiana.  His father, Joseph Huntsinger, was a farmer of Wayne County, Indiana, who combined with his occupation as a farmer, a thorough knowledge of the carpenter’s and joiner’s trade. By descent a German, he inherited the thrifty characteristics of that race, and with the aid of his wife, who was also of German origin, though born in Pennsylvania, he became independent.

The education of his son John was obtained, as was that of many of the boys of the early times, in the log school house and from books borrowed or bought and read during the long winter evenings before the open fire. John never went to college but, fitting himself as well as he could, commenced at last to study medicine under the direction of Dr. John Ulrich Frietzsche. He commenced to practice medicine in Noblesville, Indiana. In 1856 he moved to Greenfield, Indiana, and after practicing there for four years he set up again in Cambridge, Wayne County, where he continued to practice until he entered the army.

Enlisting in 1862, Mr.  Huntsinger rendered valuable aid in the organization of the Twenty-second Indiana Battery.  In July, 1863 he assisted in organizing the Colvin’s Battery, Illinois Light Artillery, and served with this noted battery during the remainder of the war. He commenced as an orderly sergeant. In December, 1863, he was promoted to the post of second lieutenant and a year later to first lieutenant. When the battery went into service it was ordered across the Cumberland Mountains to join Burnside’s Corps, then investing Knoxville. They had the honor of assisting in the capture of that place and were then ordered east into Virginia. On this raid through the mountains of East Tennessee the company had the usual experiences of soldiers on a raid in the heart of the enemy’s country.  Several months elapsed before the division returned to Knoxville. They had done some hard fighting and were classed as veterans. They rejoined Burnside in January, 1864, and fought under that famous general and Generals Sturgis and Shackford during the remainder of the war, participating in the lively campaigns of the western army. Captain Huntsinger was finally mustered out in July, 1865.

He has, of course, retained his interest in the affairs of the veterans, and is a prominent member of E. S. Frazier Post, No. 147, G. A. R., of Park Rapids, Minnesota.  Mr. Huntsinger settled in Park Rapids in June, 1882. He erected the Colvin House, which he conducted successfully for some time. He took an active part in politics, and during his residence in Park Rapids has been frequently called to serve the public in positions of trust. He was town clerk for four years, was deputy clerk of court from 1884 to 1887. and court commissioner from 1886 to 1894. In the year 1886 he was elected register of deeds and has held that office ever since, being again re-elected at the last election.  During this period he has been prominent in the local councils of the Democratic party, to which he belongs, and has several times represented the county in state conventions. He is also a prominent Odd Fellow. In 1852 Mr.  Huntsinger was married to Miss Martha I. Galbraith, who was a native of the same county in Indiana in which he himself was born. They have four children, Josie Near, who lives at Park Rapids; Nancy M. Addison, living at Greenfield, Indiana: Bell Downer, living at Osage, Minnesota, and Alice C. Horton, whose husband is clerk of the district court at Park Rapids.

GILBERT H. RICE By inheritance and personal experience G. H.  Rice, the first settler of Park Rapids, Minnesota, seems to have been fitted for pioneer life. His father, Benjamin Rice, was a native of St. Lawrence County, New York. He served as a private soldier in the war of 1812, receiving an honorable discharge at the end of that conflict.  In 1816 he married Miss Mary Malty, and took his young wife to Chautauqua County, New York, which at that time was a dense wilderness.  Mr. Rice made a clearing, building himself a home and became a prosperous farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Rice had five children. Gilbert was born in Chautauqua County on March 13, 1838. When he was fourteen years of age, on May 11, 1852, his father died.

Three years later Mrs. Rice, with her children removed to Mitchell County, Iowa, replacing the pioneer life of the forests of New York for a lonesome home on the unbroken prairies of Iowa. At the time they settled in Mitchell County there was not a mile of railroad in the state and their post office was fifty miles away. Gilbert received a fair common school education, and in December 1861 he enrolled his name as the first student in the Cedar Valley Seminary at Osage, Iowa, in fact the young man had the honor of naming the institution.  After attending this school for one year he entered the milling business with his brothers at Riceville, Iowa, the town which sprung up after their settlement in Mitchell County took its name from the family. In 1857 he laid out the town site and made the first substantial improvement.  The land used was the homestead originally taken up by his mother, and which she received from the government for her husband’s services during the war of 1812.

In 1866 Mr.  Rice bought out the interests of his brothers, F.  C. and Dennis, in the milling business at Riceville and sold a half interest in the whole business to Nelson Pierce. A year later he sold the remaining half interest in the business to Mr.  Pierce and again entered into partnership with his brothers, building a flour mill at Osage, Iowa.  In 1875 he bought out his brothers’ interest again and continued the business alone until 1881.

It was, perhaps, the spirit of the pioneer that induced Mr. Rice to again seek out the forestry.  When he came to the present location of Park Rapids in June, 1881, his home was fifty miles from any railroad or post office, and their life for a few years was thoroughly that of a pioneer, as had been his mother’s experiences in New York and Iowa. He built a saw and flour mill on the lands which were, in 1883, laid out as the town site. The town was given the name of Park Rapids, and it has become one of the most thriving of the younger towns of the state. Mr.  Rice has been thoroughly identified with its prosperity.  He has been continually in the milling business for thirty-six years, and has been uniformly successful. Mr. Rice volunteered for the service in the Federal army in 1863, but the quota being full he was not received. He was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Iowa militia, and helped to organize a company of one hundred men to fight the Indians in Minnesota at the time of the Sioux out-break, but the governor of Minnesota, however, refused to accept any troops outside his own state.

In politics Mr. Rice has always been a Republican. He has never sought office, but in 1884 was induced to accept the nomination for probate judge: was elected and served his first term in Hubbard County. He belongs to the Sound Money Club of Park Rapids.  He is a member of the I. O. O. F. Shelf Prairie Lodge, No. 131, at Park Rapids.

His church membership is with the first Baptist church of his town. On September 17, 1866, Mr.  Rice married Miss Martha Pierce. They have had four children; Edith E., Leonard H., Arthur L. and Ethel L. Edith E. Rice was married on August 9, 1888, to F. A. Vanderpoel, of Park Rapids. Leonard was married on August 16, 1890, to Miss Cora I. Rima.

ENOS MILO RICKER The frontier journalist is a product of circumstances.  An example of the evolution of one of the newspaper men of this class is found in the career of Enos M. Ricker, editor of the Hubbard County Enterprise, of Park Rapids, Minnesota.  Against many odds and through all sorts of difficulties Mr. Ricker has struggled to that most onerous but at the same time most independent position the editorship of a good country newspaper.

In Mr. Ricker’s case it was an instance of Yankee shrewdness united with Western enterprise and persistency. His father, Hazen Ricker, was a native of Vermont. He learned the shoemaker’s trade, and after working at it for several years, came West and settled on a farm in Howard County, Iowa. This was in 1856. Mr.  Ricker had, before leaving New England, united his fortunes with those of a New Hampshire girl Miss Elizabeth I. Cutting. They were used to the hard work of New England homesteads, and when they emigrated to the prairies of Iowa and commenced the new kind of life they brought with them, and instilled into the minds of their children the idea that success comes with persistent endeavor. Mrs. Ricker was a lineal descendant of Mary Townley, of England, a niece of the Duke of Wellington, who married a man beneath her in the social scale, and came to America in early days.

Young Enos was born on the farm in Iowa, four miles east of the village of Riceville. From childhood he was inured to work, passing through the various classes of farm work assigned to a lad, later finding a job in a meat market, carrying mail on a stage line, clerking in a store at Riceville and the post office at the same place. He served about three years’ apprenticeship in a harness shop at Riceville ; but he found that he was not destined to be a harnessmaker.  When about sixteen years of age he bought a small card printing press and a font of type, and at odd times printed cards and small jobs. This proved to his taste, and as time went on he added to his little office, gradually accumulating type and from time to time changing for a larger press, until he had a fair outfit and had gained a knowledge of the printing trade. All this time he was working at one or the other of the employments before referred to. In the meantime his father had removed to Park Rapids, Minnesota.

In 1885 Enos went to Minnesota and remained for two years, but in 1887 returned to Riceville and bought the Riceville Recorder.  He remained as editor and publisher of the paper until 1890, when he decided to become permanently a citizen of Minnesota, and moved to Park Rapids, where he took up land under the homestead law. A year later he leased the Hubbard Bulletin. published in the village of Hubbard, and published it for eleven months. On July 1, 1892, in company with A. W. Page, he bought the Hubbard County Enterprise. Later he became sole proprietor. But after a time took in W.  S. Eoster as partner. This partnership was dissolved in April, 1895, and shortly afterwards the firm of Davis & Taber became publishers of the paper, Mr. Ricker remaining as editor and business manager. In 1889 Mr. Ricker was married to Miss Cora M. Suavely, of Indiana. They have two children, Elsie and Bell. Mr. Ricker has been since boyhood a member of the Congregational church.

FLORANCE A. VANDERPOEL of Park Rapids, is a native of Wisconsin. He comes of old Revolutionary stock, as his great grandfather was one of the members of the celebrated Boston Tea Party.  Abraham Vanderpoel, son of the hero of Boston harbor, was born in the state of New York, and moved to Wisconsin in the early days, settling with his young wife in Jefferson County. He was a member of the convention held to form a constitution for the young state, which convened at Madison on December 15, 1847, and he took an active part in the construction of the important document. In 1861 he enlisted as captain of Company E, Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served with honor until compelled to leave the army on account of sickness. He died in 1870. His son, Clarence C. Vanderpoel, enlisted in the same company at the breaking out of the war, but was afterwards transferred to the commissary department, with headquarters at Natchez, Mississippi, where he remained until the close of the war. He then moved to West Mitchell, Iowa, where he still lives. He owns and operates the Paragon Woolen Mills at West Mitchell, and also has under cultivation about five hundred acres of land near Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. He was a member of the house in the Iowa legislature in 1884, and took part in securing the passage of the prohibition law, which remained in force until 1894. His wife, who was Miss Emily A. Squire, has been very active of late years in temperance and church work.

Their son Florance, was born at Newport, Sauk County, Wisconsin, on August 13, 1856. He attended the public schools at Newport and West Mitchell until January, 1875, when he entered the preparatory department of the State University of Iowa, from which institution he graduated with honor in 1880. From his class of forty-five he was chosen as one of the fifteen speakers on commencement day. While at college Mr. Vanderpoel was the plaintiff in the famous election case which was carried to the supreme court of Iowa to test the right of students to vote at elections while attending college. The case was entitled F. A. Vanderpoel vs. James O’Hanlon, et al.  Judgment was awarded the plaintiff in the district court against the judges of election for refusing to receive his vote, but on an appeal the judgment was overruled, it being decided that a student at college, without any intentions as to his residence after graduation, was not a legal voter at the place where he was studying. This decision was rendered in 1880.

In June, 1883, Mr. Vanderpoel graduated from the law department of the Iowa University, receiving the degree of LL. B. During the following winter he was clerk of the judiciary committee of the house of representatives of the Iowa legislature. In the fall of 1883 he formed a law partnership with the Hon. J. F. Clyde, as Clyde & Vanderpoel, and commenced practice at Osage, Iowa.

In January, 1885, he came to Minnesota and located at Park Rapids, then fifty miles from the nearest railroad. Since he took up his residence at Park Rapids he has served as deputy county treasurer and deputy county auditor, and in 1887 and 1888 was county attorney. In the fall of the latter year he was elected county auditor. After serving one term he resumed practice, and has since devoted his time exclusively to the law. Mr. Vanderpoel has always been a Republican in politics. He owns membership in three secret societies—the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen.

In 1891 he joined the Baptist church and was the first person ever baptized in Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi river.  On the ninth day of August, 1888, Mr. Vanderpoel and Miss Edith E. Rice, daughter of Gilbert H  Rice, were married at Park Rapids. They have had two daughters, one of whom. Lucille F., born September 10, 1889, is now living.

PLYMPTON AYERS WALLING is a prominent physician of Hubbard County, and one of many examples of the self-made, successful Western man. His early life was surrounded by conditions which would have discouraged a boy not possessed of an unusual amount of pluck and determination.  Born on a Pennsylvania farm—Columbus, Warren County—his father, Asaph Walling, always a poor man, young Plympton found his boyhood anything but easy. Even the school facilities of the region were scarcely up to the frontier grade, until he was nine years old Plympton had not sat at a school desk. His school seat was on a bass wood puncheon set against the wall of a log school house. Later on he attended better schools, but necessarily in an intermittent way which interfered with complete courses of study.  Much of his education was obtained at home.  He was determined to have an education and he secured it; but by force of circumstances was unable to graduate from any institution which he attended.

After a term or so at the Northwestern Normal School of Edinburgh, Pennsylvania, he entered the medical department of the University of Buffalo, from which he graduated on February 23, 1876. Thus, at the age of twenty-six, Mr. Walling found himself equipped for the practice of his chosen profession. It had been a hard struggle, but it had fitted him for the exacting and trying life of a physician. He had taught school and “boarded ‘round,” worked at anything and everything which would support life and furnish funds for his education. But, though he stepped out of the medical college without a dollar, he had learned the lessons of self-reliance, independence, industry and confidence which lie at the foundations of success. 

When Dr. Walling came to Minnesota and settled in Park Rapids, in May, 1882, there were not fifty people in that village. All the discouragements of pioneer life confronted him. Roads, business, houses, railroads, mails and even people were wanting. But Dr. Walling had cast his lot with the young village and he stayed—stayed to see a thriving town grow up surrounded by fine farms, with good railroad facilities and excellent prospects for the future.  It has been his fortune to see public opinion regarding the northern part of the state change from an attitude of skepticism regarding its value to one of open interest and appreciation. The few pioneers who had courage to stake their success on the excellence of the soil of northern Minnesota are now reaping their reward.

Dr.  Walling went in for a country practice and has secured it—and the best of its kind. He has built a pleasant home in Park Rapids, been honored by two elections to the position of coroner, and has held since 1883 the office of secretary of the United States Board of Examining surgeons.  He is a member of the Minnesota State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, and is an occasional contributor to medical magazines and to the literature of the societies. On August 11, 1875, Dr. Walling and Mrs. Rosaline E. Knowles were married at Corry, Pennsylvania. They have three children.  The eldest, Jason Marion, is now eighteen, and is studying at Pillsbury Academy. He intends to practice medicine. Iva Ellen, aged fifteen, and Ivan Elmer, aged eleven, are at home with their parents.

 

 

 

 

 

The information on Trails to the Past © Copyright    may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted.  Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!