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JOHN L. CABOT (1882), manager
of the Benson-Cabot company, proprietor of a gen
oral store al Heron Lake. was born August 11,
1857, at the town of Red Wing, Minnesota
territory, the son of J. L. and Mary (Partridge)
Cabot.
Two years after the birth of
our subject the family moved from the town onto a
farm two miles west of Red Wing, and there they
resided six years. In 1865 the family home was
made in Geneva, Freeborn county. There our subject
completed his education. In 1868 he located in
Murray county, where his father took a homestead,
and where he resided eight years. John Cabot went
to Goodhue county, in 1876 lived there one year,
spent the next year in Murray county, and then
located in Gentry county, Missouri, where he
resided four and one-half years.
It was during the month of
April, 1882, that Mr. Cabot located in Heron Lake
village. He was employed
by J. W. Benson for six years, and in 1888
returned to Goodhue county, where he farmed his
father’s land six years. He returned to Heron Lake
in 1894 and engaged in the mercantile business
with his brother Chester H. Cabot. This
partnership existed until 1902 when the firm of
Benson-Cabot company was organized, and since that
time Mr. Cabot has had the management of the
store. He owns town property, 160 acres in
Washington and an interest in 240 acres of
Cottonwood county land. He is a member of the Odd
Fellows and Modern Brotherhood of America
lodges.
Mr. Cabot was married in
Lakefield May 11, 1899, to Stella Wood. To them
was born one child, John M., born February 17,
1900. The second marriage of Mr. Cabot occurred at
Mankato May 12, 1907, when he wedded Nettie J.
Wood.
 JAMES
C. CALDWELL (1899) is the president of the First
National Bank of Lakefield and is interested in
several other lines of business in that village.
He is a native of Columbia county, Wisconsin, and
was born June 22, 1864 his parents, John and
Esther (Mackay) Caldwell, were born near the city
of Glasgow, Scotland. They came to the United
States and to Columbia county, Wisconsin, in 1854,
where they lived on a farm until their death. John
Caldwell died in May, 1878, aged 76 years; his
wife died in 1897, aged 76 years.
Our subject resided on the
farm with his parents until he was 28 years of age
he received a high school education and early in
life engaged in teaching, which he followed in his
native county eight years. At the age of 28, in
the spring of 1892, Mr. Caldwell married and moved
to Dane county, Wisconsin. Near the town
of Morrisonville he bought a farm, which he
conducted until his removal to Jackson county in
1899.
Upon his arrival Mr. Caldwell
bought a farm in Heron Lake township and engaged
in farming until 1903. That year he moved to
Lakefield and engaged in the real estate
business. In 1906 he was
chosen president of the First National Bank and
has since presided over that financial
institution, devoting his entire time to its
management.
Mr. Caldwell is a firm
believer in the principles of cooperation and has
put his ideas into successful practice in
Lakefield. Largely through his efforts the bank
stock was disposed of to farmers, so that now the
bank is practically a farmers bank. To his efforts
is also due the organization and success of the
Lakefield Farmers Cooperative Elevator company,
which was incorporated for $50,000 on November 4,
1905, and of which he is the secretary. Mr. Caldwell is
also president of, and was instrumental in
organizing, the Jackson Cooperative company, a
corporation organized for handling general
merchandise. This company has a paid up capital of
$20,000.
In Arlington township,
Columbia county, Wisconsin, on March 15, 1892,
occurred the marriage of Mr. Caldwell to Miss
Agnes M. Mair, a
daughter of Andrew Mair, a native of Scotland and
a large land owner of Columbia county, Wisconsin,
where he now resides. To Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell
have been born two children, Bessie R. and Esther
May. The family are members of the Presbyterian
church.
W. L. CALLISON (1896) is the
manager of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator
company of Heron Lake. He was born near the city
of Laporte, Indiana, June 9, 1842, the son of
James and Paulina (Phillips) Callison. The father
was born in Whiteside county West Virginia, and
moved to Laporte county, Indiana, when quite
young. After becoming of age he bought government
land there and engaged in farming until 1863. That
year he moved to Rock county, Wisconsin, where he
engaged in farming until his death, which occurred
in 1888. Our subject’s mother was a native of Erie
county, Pennsylvania. She was married to Mr.
Callison in Laporte county, Indiana, and died
October, 1906, at the age of 86 years. They were
the parents of ten children, six of whom are
living, our subject being the third oldest.
W. L. Callison resided on the
farm in Laporte county, Indiana, until his parents
moved to Rock county Wisconsin, in 1863. He
remained under the parental roof one year after
the family moved to Wisconsin; then he started out
in life for himself. He located in Winneshiek
county Iowa, and for one year was the foreman of
the Locus Lane farm. He then went to West Union,
Iowa, where he engaged in farming four years. He
then engaged in the grain business and that has
been his occupation ever since. He bought grain in
West Union, Iowa, in Hazelton, in Oelwein, and in
Boyden, being a resident of the last named town
from 1881 to 1889 and serving as postmaster four
years under appointment by Grover Cleveland.
In 1889 Mr. Callison went to
Rock Valley, Iowa, where he bought grain four
years; then he moved to Hartland, Wisconsin, where
he engaged in the grain and hardware business
until 1896. In August of the last named year he
moved to Heron Lake, where he has since been a
grain buyer. The Farmers Cooperative Elevator
company, of which he is the manager, is composed
of farmers living tributary to Heron Lake, most of
them living in Jackson county, a few in Cottonwood
county. The company was organized October 15,
1904, and bought the elevator of the Anchor Grain
company. The officers and directors of the company
are: Jerry Sullivan, president; Tollef Egge, vice
president; L. F. Lammers secretary; C. F. Morley,
treasurer; John Mathias, C. G. Buckley, F. J.
Stenzel and N. J. Henkles. Mr. Callison
served as assessor of Heron Lake village four
terms. He is a member of the Methodist church and
has been superintendent of the Sunday school for
the last nine years. He belongs to the Odd Fellows
lodge of Heron Lake, to the Encampment at Windom,
and to the Iowa Legions lodges.
At West Union, Iowa, on
December 22, 1868, Mr. Callison was married to
Elizabeth J. Knox, a native of Newark, New Jersey,
and a daughter of John and Jennie Knox, natives of
Ireland and later residents of New Jersey, and
early settlers of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Callison have
been the parents of four children, of whom the
following two daughters are living: Jennie (Mrs.
J. F. McKellar), of Windom; Mabel (Mrs. M. B.
Kellam), of St. Paul. Joseph C. Callison and
William E. Callison, sons of these parents, are
deceased.
WALTER CAPELLE (1903)
is the professor in charge of the Lutheran
parochial school of Rost township. He was born in
Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, March 13, 1884, the
son of Henry and Amelia (Heyse) Capelle, natives
of Wisconsin and Germany, respectively. His father
died in 1908; his mother lives in Sheboygan,
county, Wisconsin. Walter is the fourth child of a
family of seven children. Our
subject spent the first fourteen years of his life
on his father’s farm in Sheboygan county,
Wisconsin, attending the parochial school. He then
went to Addison, Illinois, and took a five years’
course in the Teachers’ Seminary of that place,
from which he was graduated in June, 1903.
Immediately after his graduation he came to
Jackson county to accept the principalship of the
school in Rost, where he has since resided,
engaged in the same
work.
Professor Capelle was married
in Luxemburg, Wisconsin, July 15, 1900, to Louisa
Goetsch, who was born in that town and who is the
daughter of William and Sophia Goetsch. They have
one child, Evelyn, born October 5, 1908. Professor
Capelle is the organist of the Lutheran church of
Rost township.
WILLIAM CARLESTROM (1871) is
the proprietor of a general merchandise store at
Wilder. He has spent his entire life in Jackson
county, having been born in Delafield township
October 21, 1871, the son of C. U. and Mariah
Christiana Carlestrom. His parents, who were both
natives of Sweden, came to Jackson county in 1871
and took a homestead on section 28, Delafield
township. There C. D. Carlestrom and a ten year
old son, Clarice, met death in a blizzard on
January 12, 1872. The mother of our subject
married August Linstrom and now resides in
Wilder.
William Carlestrom was
educated in the district schools of Delafield
township and in the Breck school at Wilder, in
which institution he was a student one year. In
1894 he left his mother’s home and for three years
worked out on the farm. He then rented a farm,
which he conducted three years. In 1899 Mr.
Carlestrom moved to the village of Wilder and has
since made his home there. He conducted a
dray line three years and then for three and
one-half years was manager of the D. L. Riley
lumber yard. In the spring of 1907 he engaged in
business on his own account, opening a general
merchandise store. In August of the same year he
was burned out, but immediately bought his present
place of business and put in a new stock.
Mr. Carlestrom was married in
Weimer township in 1897 to Anna A. Knudson, who
was born in Sweden and who came to the United
States when six years of age. At the age of seven
she was adopted into the family of Chris Knudson.
To Mr. and Mrs. Carlestrom have been born five
children: Clarence, George A., Ansel, Velma J. and
Myrtle. The family are members of the Swedish
Lutheran church. Mr. Carlestrom was a member of
the Wilder village council two years and served as
street commissioner the same length of
time.
ANDREW CARLSON (1899),
Petersburg township farmer, is a native of
Varbarge, Sweden, and was born February 3, 1858,
the son of Carl and Johanna (Anderson)
Carlson. In 1879 he left
his native land and located near Rochelle, Ogle
county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming
twenty years. On the twenty-fifth day of November,
1899, he arrived in Jackson county and he has ever
since made his home in Petersburg township, where
he owns a quarter section of land.
The subject of this biography
was married to Miss Annie Simonson, who died in
August, 1898, after having borne the following
named children: Agnes, born January 12, 1889;
Julia, born July 23, 1891; Charley, born September
8, 1893; Bertha, born January 1, 1895; Ella, born
June 13, 1897. Mr. Carlson is a member of the
Swedish Lutheran church.
STEPHEN G. CASS (1907).
manager of and owner of a half interest in the
Jackson Tile and brick company, is a native of
Bellingham, Washington, where he was born August
21, 1880. In 1885 he accompanied his parents,
James F. and Matilda (McCrea) Cass, to Seattle,
and in that city he was brought up.
He received his primary
education in the Puget sound city, and in 1898
became a student at Grand Prairie seminary,
Onarga, Illinois, where he pursued his studies two
years.
Mr. Cass located in Chicago in 1900 and for
five years was engaged in the wholesale dry goods
trade. Early in 1906 he went to Denver, Colorado,
remained there six months, and in August of the
same year located in Cullom, Illinois. He took up
his residence in Jackson in August, 1907,
purchased a half interest in the Jackson Tile and
Brick company’s plant, E. S. Shearer being the
owner of the other half interest, and has since
been engaged as manager of the
plant.
At Denver, Colorado, February
1, 1906, Mr. Cass was married to Miss Florence E.
Shearer.
To them have been born two children:
Stephen Bruce, born February 6, 1907, and Jeanette
E., born November 15,
1908.
WILLIAM E. CARR (1891),
proprietor of the West hotel of Jackson, was born
in Lewis county New York, April 2, 1855, the son
of Thomas and Christie (Walker) Carr. When he
was young William Carr moved from his New York
state home to LaSalle county, Illinois, where he
lived with an uncle and where he was engaged in
tiling until 1881. That year
he moved to Greene county, Iowa, and for the next
ten years was engaged in the dray business. He
moved to Jackson in 1891 and for two years ran a
dray line in that village. Selling out, he
moved onto a farm in Wisconsin Township, and
conducted it four years. He then located in the
new village of Alpha, engaged in the dray business
there five years and in the hotel business three
years. He again took up his residence in Jackson
in May, 1907, rented the West hotel, and has since
been its landlord.
Mr. Carr was married in
Jackson January 29, 1893 to Mrs. Chloe S.
Vanduzee. who was born in Vernon county, Wisconsin
January 9, 1870. To them have been born two
children, Nellie and Ralph. By a former marriage
Mr.
Carr has one daughter, Flossie, now Mrs. J.
J. Klochok.
While residing in Wisconsin
Township Mr. Carr was a member of the school board
of district No. 104, and while living in Alpha
served two terms as a member of the village
council. He is a member of the M. W. A. and M. B.
A. lodges.
ELIAS CEDARBERG (1888), who
owns a quarter section farm in Heron Lake
township, has been engaged in farming there for
the last twenty-one years. He was born in Sweden
August 23, 1859, one of a family of fourteen
children born to O. T. Falk and Pharnella Falk.
The living children are Elias Cedarberg, Annie
Johnson, August Olson, Swan Olson, Adolph Olson,
Peter Olson, Otto Olson, Nellie Nelson and Hilda
Hoah. The parents of these children lived in
Jackson county for several years, but the father
now resides in his native land; the mother died in
1900 at the age of 59 years.
Elias lived with his parents
in Sweden until he was fourteen years of age. Then
he shipped as a sailor and for the next five years
was on the water, cruising in European waters, in
the West Indies and the Americas. He quit the sea
in June, 1879, when he landed in New York City,
where he was paid off’ and honorably discharged.
He went to Chesterton, Indiana, where for one year
he worked for Thomas Blackwell, who was engaged in
the flour mill and saw mill business. From Indiana
Mr. Cedarberg went to West Union, Iowa, where for
one summer he was employed as night miller in a
flour mill. He next went to Minneapolis and took
the position of miller in the Washburn a flour
mill, after it had been rebuilt following the
disastrous explosion of 1879. He was with the
milling company one year and then had to quit on
account of poor eyesight.
Mr. Cedarberg next engaged in
railroading. He went to
Fargo, North Dakota, as the foreman of a carpenter
crew for a railroad contractor. One year later
he took charge of a construction crew on the
Northern Pacific railroad, but soon gave up that
work and located in St. Paul. There he was made
emigration agent for the Union Depot company, a
position he held several years. In 1888 Mr.
Cedarberg came to Jackson county and located upon
his farm on sections 14 and 15, Heron Lake
township, which he had bought two years
before. He has made all
the improvements on the farm. With his own hands
he built the commodious home he occupies and set
out the trees of the grove.
The subject of this biography
was married in St. Paul January 11, 1884 to Alma
Olson, who was born at Kalmar, Sweden, March 13,
1864, and who came to America in 1880. To them
have been born two children: Allen, born June 11,
1885; Olga (Mrs. P. C. Brakke), of Delafield
township, born in 1886. Mr. Cedarberg is a member
of the Woodmen and Workmen lodges.
JOHN A. CHALUPNIK
(1901) owns and farms the west half of the
southwest quarter of section 15, Hunter township,
four miles south of Lakefield. He is a native of
Marshall county, Iowa, and was born April 27,
1870, the son of Anton and Tina (Salasek)
Chalupnik. These parents were born in Austria and
emigrated to America before their marriage. They
are now residents of Traer, Iowa, and have a
family of ten children, the living ones named as
follows: Joseph, John, Mary, Rosa, Fannie, Julia,
Josie and
Emma.
John A. Chalupnik
accompanied his parents from his native county
when two and one-half years of age and located in
Tama county, Iowa, and that was his home until he
came to Jackson county in 1901. He made his home
with his parents on the farm until he was of age
and then he and his brother Joseph engaged in
farming on a rented farm. He was married in 1892
and then took up his residence in Traer, where for
a number of years he engaged in teaming and
threshing. In June, 1900, he bought his Jackson
county farm and the following March moved on to
the place, where he has since lived. Besides his
farming operations. Mr. Chalupnik has been engaged
in the threshing business for the last four
years.
Our subject was united in
marriage to Fannie Vlasak in Tama county, Iowa,
January 6, 1892. She was born in Linn county,
Iowa, October 16, 1870. One child has been born to
this union. Lucy A., born July 5, 1893. Mr. Chalupnik
has served as chairman of the township board of
supervisors for the past two years and he has been
a member of the school board of district No. 84
for the past six years. He is a
member of the Z. C. B. J.
lodge.
JOSEPH J. CHALUPNIK
(1904) is a Hunter township farmer who owns the
southeast quarter of section 26. He is a native of
Marshall county, Iowa, and was born October 15,
1868. His parents, Anton and Antonia (Salesek)
Chalupnik, were born in Austria, came to America
in the early sixties and settled in Marshall
county, Iowa, where they were married. They moved
to Tama county, Iowa, in 1873, bought land there
and now reside in Traer, Tama county. Joseph is
the oldest of a family of eight children born to
these parents.
Joseph accompanied the
family to Tama county, Iowa, when five years of
age, and spent the greater part of his life there.
Until he was twenty-two years old he lived with
his parents; then he rented land and engaged in
farming on his own account. Mr. Chalupnik came to
Jackson county in January, 1904, and located upon
his present farm, which he had purchased in
1902.
In Tama county, Iowa, October
10. 1893, Mr. Chalupnik
was married to Anna Uridel, who was born in Tama
county, Iowa, November 27, 1876. To these parents
have been born the following named children:
Adolph, born August 21, 1894; Olga, born December
31, 1895; Lottie, born August 19, 1897; Elsie,
born February 28, 1899; Emma, born November 24,
1900; Albina, born April 3, 1902. Mr. Chalupnik is
a member of the Z. C. B. J.
lodge.
GEORGE C. CHAMBERLIN (1866)
deceased. In many
respects George C. Chamberlin was one of the most
prominent men of Jackson county during the pioneer
days. He had a large acquaintanceship, was popular
and beloved by all who knew him. He played a
leading part in the county’s political and social
life.
Mr. Chamberlin was born in
Newbury, Vermont. February 25,
1837 the son of Abner and Mary (Hazelton)
Chamberlin. He was educated in Newbury seminary
and learned the printer’s trade, later engaging in
business at Bradford, Vermont. He enlisted in the
union army at the outbreak of the civil war and
served until its close.
In 1866, just as the little
town was being founded, Mr. Chamberlin located in
Jackson, and on February 26, 1870, he founded the
county’s first newspaper, the Jackson
Republic. Later he sold
out and bought a paper at Mankato, but because of
failing eyesight he was obliged to give up
newspaper work, and he retired from active
pursuits. He became entirely blind. He represented
Jackson county in the Minnesota senate, was county
auditor, prosecuting attorney, and held other
county offices. He lived in Jackson until 1893;
then he returned to his boyhood home, Bradford,
Vermont, where he died in November,
1898.
 ALTON B.
CHEADLE (1881) is the cashier of the First
National Bank of Jackson and has lived in that
village since he was a boy thirteen years of age.
He is the youngest of a family of four children
born to Rev. Henry Clay Cheadle and Emma K.
(Keyes) Cheadle, both natives of Ohio. The father
was a Presbyterian minister and came to Minnesota
in 1872. He occupied the
Presbyterian pulpits at Jackson and Lakefield from
1883 to 1894 and then returned to his former home
in Blue Earth, where he lived until his death in
February, 1906, at the age of 77 years. Our
subject’s mother died in Blue Earth in 1899 at the
age of 63 years.
To these parents, in
Amesville, Athens county, Ohio, Alton B. Cheadle
was born on the 12th day of February,
1870. In 1872 he accompanied his parents to Blue
Earth, Minnesota, and resided there from that time
until 1880. The next three years were passed in
Buffalo, Wright county, Minnesota, and then in
1883 he moved with his parents to Jackson. He was
educated in the public schools of Jackson and the
high school at Cannon Falls, completing his
schooling with a two years’ course at Macalester
college.
At the age of fifteen years
he began working, during the vacation periods, for
George R. Moore, the
present president of the First National Bank of
Jackson, but at the time clerk; of the district
court of Jackson county, and since taking
employment at that early age he has ever since
been employed by or associated with, Mr. Moore.
When the latter organized his private bank in 1887
Alton Cheadle became an employee a year and a half
later, and has ever since been connected with the
bank. When that pioneer financial institution was
reorganized into a state bank Mr. Cheadle was not
yet of age, but the next year he reached his
majority and was at once made cashier of the bank.
When the reorganization into a national bank was
brought about Mr. Cheadle was
made cashier, a position which he still holds.
Mr. Cheadle has been a member
of the Jackson board of education for several
years and is at present treasurer of the board. He
is interested in the Jackson Building & Loan
association and has held the office of treasurer
of that popular institution for eighteen
years. Mr. Cheadle is
a member of the Presbyterian church and of the
Masonic line lodge and chapter and the M. W. A.
and A. O. U. W. orders.
In Jackson on July 19, 1892,
Mr. Cheadle was married to Miss Jessie Fiddes, a
native of Jackson and a daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Alexander
Fiddes. One daughter and one son have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Cheadle, Agnes M. and Alexander
H.
GEORGE CHRISTIANSEN
(1885) is a Heron Lake township farmer, owning the
north half of the northeast quarter of section
12.
He has lived in Nobles and Jackson counties
all his life, having been born in the former
January 7, 1878, the son of John and Mollie
(Halverson)
Christiansen.
George was educated in
the district schools and brought up on the farm.
His father died in Nobles County when he was a
child and in 1883 he accompanied his mother to
Jackson County, where he has ever since lived. He
lived on the farm with his mother in Belmont
township seven years and later made his home with
her on the farm on section 22, Heron Lake. In 1908
he located upon his own farm, which he had bought
three years before, and has since been engaged in
farming the
place.
The parents of Mr.
Christiansen were born in Norway and came from the
old country to Nobles county. Mrs. Christiansen
lives on her Heron Lake township
farm.
GUSTAVE J. CHRISTLE (1899).
deputy sheriff of Jackson county and proprietor of
the Lakefield House was born in Germany February
2, 1861. His father, Joseph Christle, died in
Germany when Gustave was a boy of thirteen years
of age. His mother, Amelia (Wurst) Christle, still
makes her home in the fatherland and is 73 years
of age. Of the six children of the family Gustave
is the only one in America.
At the age of thirteen years
our subject came to the United States with his
grandfather. After spending
one year in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he moved to
Chelsea, Tama county, Iowa, and for three years
made his home on the farm of an uncle, Mathias
Michael. The next eighteen months were spent on
the plains of southwestern Nebraska. Mr. Christle
then located in Mills county, Iowa, where he
worked as a farm laborer three or four years and
where he was married in 1883.
After his marriage Mr.
Christle moved to Charles Mix county, South
Dakota, and located on government land. One year
later he went to Brule county, of the same
territory, and engaged in farming six years. We
find our subject next in Lyon county, Iowa, where
for two years he farmed rented land. Moving to
Nobles county, Minnesota, from that place, he
bought a farm in Lorain township, upon which he
lived six years. Mr. Christle sold out in 1898 and
moved to Worthington. He bought a
restaurant in that village, conducted it a year,
and then moved to Lakefield in 1899 and bought the
Lakefield house. He has been the Boniface of that
hotel for the past ten years. Besides his duties
in the hotel Mr. Christle devotes part of his time
to looking after his farm in Ransom county, North
Dakota, and attending to his duties as deputy
sheriff, to which office he was appointed in
1906.
Mr. Christle was married in
Glenwood, Mills county, Iowa, June 16, 1883, to
Miss Emma V. Goff, a native of Illinois and a
daughter of George Goff. Two sons and three
daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Christle. The eldest
daughter, Amelia, is the wife of Charles Persons
and resides on the Isthmus of Panama, her husband
being a bookkeeper in the government employ. The
other children are Edward, Maud E., Cora Dell and
Merritt G.
THOMAS J. CONNER
(1905), of Jackson, is a native of Clayton county,
Iowa, where he was born April 30, 1858, the son of
Thomas and Marie (Taylor) Conner. In 1864, when
six years of age, he moved with the family to
Delaware county, Iowa, where he lived the next
sixteen years of his life. He was educated in the
town of Manchester and was graduated from the high
school of that town in 1877.
In 1879 Mr. Conner
started learning the barber trade in Manchester
and two years later moved to Osage, Iowa, where he
conducted a shop eight years. He then disposed of
his business and in 1889 moved to Lyle, Minnesota,
where for six years he conducted a saloon. The next
four years were spent in Austin. He spent six
months of the year 1899 in Deadwood, South Dakota,
and again took up his abode in Austin. A short
time later he moved to Sheldon, Iowa, and in that
town and in Sanborn he lived three years. He lived
in St.
James one year, and on the first day of
July, 1905, moved to Jackson and engaged in the
saloon
business.
Mr. Conner was married July
8, 1881. To Miss Margaret Coonfair and to them
have been born the following children: Verda, born
September 10, 1886; Ruthford, born September 10,
1890 died at the age of seventeen months; Vera,
born December 30,
1904.
ALFRED H. COOK (1901),
buyer for the Benson Grain company of Heron Lake,
although a resident of Jackson county only a few
years, was born in the neighboring county of
Nobles and all his life has lived only a short
distance from Jackson county. He is the son of
Edward V, and Eliza (Gage) Cook, who now live at
Fulda, Edward Cook is a native of New York
state.
He enlisted in that state and served three
years in the union army during the war of the
rebellion. After the war be moved to Iowa, where
he was married. Locating in Nobles county in an
early day, he homesteaded in Seward township, he
lived there until 1877, and since that date has
resided in Fulda. To these parents were born nine
children, of whom eight are living.
Alfred is the fourth in
age of this family and was born on the Seward
township farm December 29, 1877. When an
infant he was taken with his parents to Fulda and
in that town grew to manhood and was educated. He
was in the grain business in Fulda two years and
taught school in Murray county two years. He was
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, during the year
1891.
Mr. Cook moved to Heron Lake in July, 1901,
and since that date has been employed as grain
buyer for the Benson Grain company. This
company was incorporated in 1901 and is one of the
big financial institutions of the county, owning
and operating twenty elevators in Minnesota and
Nebraska.
Mr. Cook was married at Fulda
January 1, 1901 to Martha E. Suthers, a native of
Wisconsin.
One child, Clifford H., has blessed this
union, having been born April 10, 1902. Mr. Cook is a
member of the M. W. A.
lodge.
 FREDERICK
A. COOLEY (1888), who conducts a barber shop in
Heron Lake, has lived in that village twenty-one
years. He is a native Minnesotan, having been born
in Fillmore county September 14, 1877, the son of
George R. and Evaline (Houck) Cooley. The Cooley
family is one of the oldest in America, settlement
dating back to the Mayflower. Our subject has
in his possession relics from that famous vessel
which have been handed down from one generation to
another.
George R. Cooley was born in
St. Lawrence county New York. He moved to Fillmore
county, Minnesota, in an early day and there he
resided until 1888, engaged in farming and acting
as superintendent of the county poor farm. Moving
to Heron Lake in 1888, he made his home with a
son, George C. Cooley, for several years, and then
moved to Washington county Kansas. He made his
home with another son Sherman G., for several
years, and then in 1904 moved to California, where
he now lives at the age of 86 years. The mother of
our subject was of German descent, her ancestors
having come to America several generations ago.
She was born in Pennsylvania and died in Fillmore
county, Minnesota, in 1881.
Frederick lived on his
father’s farm in Fillmore county until he was ten
years of age. Six months were
spent in the village of Mabel, of the same county,
and then, in 1888, he accompanied his father to
Heron Lake. There he completed his education,
which had been begun in Fillmore county. During
his boyhood days he worked on a farm, clerked in
his brother’s drug store, and then learned the
barber’s trade. In February, 1895, he engaged in
business on his own account, starting a barber
shop, which he has ever since conducted. He now
has a three-chair shop. Besides this business he
now owns and conducts a billiard and pool
hall.
Mr. Cooley is now serving his
third term as village recorder. He is a member of
the A. F. & A. M.,
having passed the chairs of senior warden and
twice as junior warden, and he is now serving his
second term as worshipful master. He also holds
membership in the Eastern Star, Modern Brotherhood
of America and Yeomen lodges.
The marriage of our subject
occurred October 8, 1895, when he wedded Pauline
Miller, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. William Miller,
of Okabena. Four children have been born to this
union, Evaline W., Frederick A., Wilbur and a baby
boy.
ANTON CORDES (1892), one of
the successful farmer of Ewington township, was
born in Germany April 15, 1842, the second of a
family of five children born to Gerhard and Martha
Cordes, both of whom died in Germany. Anton received
his schooling in the old country and until he was
thirty years of age lived with his parents,
working on the farm. He came to America in 1872,
worked on a farm several months in Jefferson
county, Missouri, and then located in Livingston
county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming
rented property until 1892. That year he arrived
in Jackson county, bought his present farm, the
north half of section 20, Ewington. and has ever
since made his home on the place. When he bought
the farm the only improvements on it were a little
shanty and a shed. He now has a well improved farm
and is installing a complete system of tiling.
Mr. Cordes was married in
Livingston county, Illinois, in January, 1875 to
Annie Mason, who was born in Ohio. To this union
have been born the following named five children:
Henry, Andrew, John, Lizzie, Martha. The family
are members of the German Lutheran church of
Ewington township. Mr. Cordes has been treasurer
of school district No. 110 for the past seven
years.
 JOHN
W. COWING (1868). In the early days of its history
the village of Jackson was fortunate in the class
of businessmen who were attracted to the little
town on the banks of the Des Moines. It was due to
the enterprise of these men that Jackson continued
to hold its place on the map in the early days and
became the prosperous and flourishing city it did
in after years. Among the first to come and the
oldest to remain of these men is the subject of
this biography. John W. Cowing
was born in Hingham, England, on July 21, 1843.
His parents, John and Elizabeth (Davidson) Cowing,
came 1o Jackson in the seventies and both died in
that city. The family moved from England to the
United States in 1852 and settled on a farm in
Dane county Wisconsin. Three years later they
moved to Adams county, of the same state, and
there they lived until 1868. Our subject
received a common school education in Wisconsin
and completed it with a commercial course in the
Worthington business college of Madison. In
February 1865 Mr. Cowing enlisted
in company A. of the 19th Wisconsin volunteer
infantry, and served in the army until his
discharge in October of the same year.
It was as a young man.
twenty-five years of age, that John W. Cowing came
to Jackson in 1868 and engaged in the mercantile
business, a business in which he was destined to
be engaged thirty-eight years, excepting a
temporary withdrawal of two years. When the Brown
National Bank was organized in 1905 (succeeding
the Bank of Jackson) Mr. Cowing was made
vice president, and in October, 1906 he became
president of the bank, which position he still
retains, and disposed, of his mercantile business.
He owns his home and a business block in Jackson
city property in Minneapolis and farm lands in
Cottonwood county, Minnesota, and in North
Dakota. On numerous
occasions Mr. Cowing has been called upon to serve
in an official capacity. For several
terms he was chairman of the board of county
commissioners, has been president of the village
council and president of the board of education of
the village. He is a member of the Presbyterian
Church and of the A. F. & A. .M. lodge.
Mr. Cowing was married at
Preston, Minnesota, August 1, 1870, to Alice 0.
McMurtrie, a native of Racine, Wisconsin. Mr. and
Mrs. Cowing are the
parents of the following named children: Mrs. A.
R. Albertus, of Worthington; Mrs. J. C. Durfee of
Fergus Falls, Minnesota; Mrs. Malcolm Weikle, of
Pelican Rapids, Minnesota; Nell M. Cowing and
Lillian J. Cowing.
The following concerning Mr.
Cowing’s, early business career in Jackson is of
interest. In 1868 he embarked in the mercantile
business alone and two years later took as a
partner Harrison White, who remained in the firm
but one year. His first store was located in a
building on the site now occupied by a millinery
store north of the Richardson block. After Mr.
Cowing vacated the building M. K. Hay the present
governor of Washington, carried on a general
merchandize business there for several years. Mr.
Cowing erected, in 1872, the building on the
corner north of the Robertson implement house,
which is now in decay, and in which he conducted a
general store for about fifteen years. In 1889 he
built the north half of the business block
opposite the Ashley house, and here he ended his
long mercantile career prior to embarking in the
banking business.
DAVID CRAWFORD (1886) is the
member of the hoard of county commissioners from
the third district and resides at Lakefield. During a
residence of over twenty years in the county he
has taken an active part in its political and
general history. He was born at Woodside West
Kilbride, Ayrshire Scot land August 6, 1860, the
son of David and Jennie (Hannah) Crawford.
David Crawford received his
education and spent his early years in his native
country. He came to
America in 1880 and located in Canada, where he
lived six years, engaged in different lines of
business. In October, 1880, he became a resident
of Jackson county, locating in Heron Lake and
buying a half interest in a meat market there. One
year later he sold out and moved to Lakefield,
started the first livery barn in the village and
that has been his home ever since. He continued in
the livery business seven years, then sold out and
has since been engaged in several different lines
of endeavor, for several years being engaged in
the grain business. Mr. Crawford was
elected county commissioner in 1896, was reelected
in 1900 and again in 1904 and 1908, having a
continuous service of over twelve years to his
credit. His present term expires January 1, 1913.
Besides the county office, he served four years as
president of the Lakefield village council.
June 1, 1898, Mr. Crawford
was united in marriage to Miss Ella Thompson. To
them have been born three children: Elsie, Maurice
and Clarence.
JOHN S. CRAWLEY (1901),
cashier of the State Bank of Alpha, was born in
Tuscola, Douglas county, Illinois, February 3,
1865, and in that town spent his boyhood days and
grew to manhood. He was educated in the public
schools of Tuscola and just before reaching his
majority he took a position with the Diamond
Prospecting company, of Chicago, a firm handling
mining machinery and engaging in general
prospecting. He remained with this firm five years
and then engaged in the loan and real estate
business at Tuscola. Two years
later Mr. Crawley moved to Martin county,
Minnesota, bought a farm and engaged in
agricultural pursuits two years. He then located
in Sherburn and for the next three years was
employed by a real estate firm. The next year he
spent working in the Bank of Sherburn, and in 1901
located in the village of Alpha. For a few
years he was employed as cashier of George R.
Moore’s private bank, and when the bank was
incorporated as a state bank in 1904 he became a
stockholder and has since served as
cashier.
The bank of which Mr.
Crawley is cashier was organized as a private bank
in 1899 by George R. Moore and C. F. Albertus, the
former being president and the latter cashier. On
July 1, 1904 it was incorporated as a state bank,
capital stock $10,000, and the name was changed to
State Bank of Alpha. The present officers are
George R. Moore, president; J. A. Krause, vice
president; J. S. Crawley, cashier. At the present
time the bank has a surplus of $2,500. It does a
general banking business, makes collections, loans
and writes insurance. The bank building was
erected in
1899.
The father of our
subject was E. S. Crawley, who was born in
Tazewell, Tennessee, August 23, 1830. His maternal
ancestors were colonial stock, having come from
England and settled in Virginia. E. S. Crawley
moved to Indiana when thirteen years of age and to
Tuscola, Illinois, in 1855. He spent the rest of
his life in Illinois, and died in Champaign county
at the age of 79 years. The mother of our subject
was Almetta J. (Lester) Crawley, a native of
Illinois and a descendant of old Kentucky stock.
Her maternal ancestors came from Scotland and her
paternal ancestors from England. Her father took
part in the Blackhawk war and the old rifle that
he carried in now in the possession of our
subject. E. S. Crawley
and Almetta J. Lester were married in Illinois
February 4, 1858. She died in Tuscola, Illinois,
at the age of 56 years. There were seven children
in the family.
Our subject was married at
Indianapolis, Indiana, in April, 1894, to Nora
Smith, a native of Douglas county Illinois, having
been born January 10, 1863. She is the daughter of
David and Ann Smith. For eight years she served as
superintendent of schools of Douglas county,
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Crawley have six living
children. They are named Keith, Gene, Rose, Lloyd,
Gail and Max. The first born, Wayne, died when
five or six years of age. Mr.
Crawley is treasurer of Alpha village, treasurer
of the creamery association and is a member of the
local school board. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church and of the Knights of Pythias
and M. W. A. lodges.
H. S. CULBERTSON (1891).
manager of the Jackson branch of the Laird-Norton
Yards, lumber and fuel dealers, is a native of the
Keystone state, having been born in Warren county
Pennsylvania April 10, 1861, the son of John H.
and Jane (Morritt) Culbertson. The father died in
1876; the mother in August, 1907, at the age of 79
years.
When our subject was seven
years of age the family moved from Pennsylvania to
Clayton county Iowa, and on a farm in that county
Mr. Culbertson lived until 1885. After his
father’s death in 1876 he took the management of
the farm. In 1885 he went to Dakota and other
western states and for several years was unsettled
as to location. During one year he lived in
Estherville, Iowa. Mr. Culbertson moved to Jackson
in 1891 and took a position with the John Paul
Lumber company, this firm being succeeded by the
Lamb Lumber company and later by the Laird-Norton
Yards. He has held the
position of local manager of this yard ever since
locating in the village. The
Laird-Norton Yards purchased the Jackson branch in
1905. This company was established in 1855 at
Winona, which is still the headquarters. Messrs.
Laird and Norton, who established the company, are
still living and active in the management of the
company. The Laird-Norton Yards was incorporated
in 1900.
Mr. Culbertson was married in
Jackson county November 4, 1894, to Miss Anna C.
Lewis, a daughter of Ex-Treasurer Christian
Lewis. Mrs. Culbertson
was born in Jackson county in 1872. To them have
been born two children: Gerald H. and Milton
Lewis. Mr. Culbertson is a member of the A. F.
& A. M.
GEORGE B. CUNNINGHAM (1896)
is the rural mail carrier for route No. 4 out of
Heron Lake. He is a native of Green county,
Wisconsin, and was born July 18, 1869. His
parents, William and Mary (Land) Cunningham, now
deceased, were natives of Indiana and Illinois,
respectively.
The subject of this biography
has resided in many different parts of the country
and been engaged in various occupations. Until he
was seventeen years of age he made his home with
his parents, during this time living seven years
in Green county, Wisconsin, nine years in Franklin
county, Iowa, and then locating in Hamilton
county, Nebraska. After starting in life for
himself Mr. Cunningham engaged in clerking, in the
sewing machine business and in the dray business,
living five years in Hamilton County, Nebraska,
three years in Chase county and one year in
Sheridan County, of the same state.
In 1893 Mr. Cunningham went
to Alberta, Canada, making the trip overland in
three weeks’ time, and there he homesteaded and
engaged in farming two years. Owing to the lack of
markets at that time Mr. Cunningham met with
financial reverses. Returning from the north in
1895 he lived in Cherokee county, Iowa, one year
and then, having married, he came to Jackson
county in October, 1896. He located in Heron Lake
and for several years engaged in various
occupations. In January 1903 he was appointed mail
carrier and has been so employed since.
Mr. Cunningham was married in
Plymouth county, Iowa October 20, 1896, to
Christina Herman, who was born in Germany March
20, 1876. Her parents reside at Rushmore,
Minnesota. Seven children
have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Cunningham, as follows: Dudley, Lloyd, Orville,
Raymond, Blanch, Frederick and Bertha. Mr.
Cunningham is a member of the M. W. A. and Yeomen
lodges.
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