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

Minneapolis Journal 1897

CLARENDON DWIGHT BELDEN of Austin, Minnesota, was born at Fruit Hill, just north of Providence, Rhode Island, May 3, 1848. His father, Stanton Belden, was born and reared in Saudisfield, Massachusetts, and graduated at Yale college in the class of 1833, and his professional life of thirty-five years was spent as principal of the Fruit Hill Classical Institute. Stanton Belden’s mother was Prudence Sholes, of Groton, Connecticut, and her father, Nathan Sholes, a Revolutionary soldier, was killed while defending Fort Griswold.

The mother of Clarendon Dwight Belden was Antoinette Percival Manchester, of Fall River, Massachusetts, and on the Manchester side, the family lineage is traced back four or five generations directly to Benjamin Church, 1639 to 1718, who served in King Philip’s war, and commanded the party by which the chief was slain.

Clarendon Dwight Belden was reared on a small, ten-acre fruit farm, which surrounded his father’s academy grounds. He was educated in his father’s school, and at Lyons University grammar school, Providence. He entered Brown University in 1864 and took a full classical course, graduating with the class of 1868, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently received the degree of Master of Arts. He was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and also of the Phi Beta Kappa. For the next three years he was the principal of a New England graded village school. In 1871 he entered the Crozer Theological Seminary at Upland, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1874, and was ordained in May, 1874, by a council called by the Memorial Baptist church of Philadelphia.

In the fall of 1874 he came West, settling as pastor in Austin, Minnesota. He had a very successful pastorate of seven and a half years, and resigned to take the position of Superintendent of Schools of Mower County, to which he was elected in November, 1881. He held this position until January, 1891, and in that period brought the district schools of the county to a good graded system. One year he was president of the Minnesota County Superintendents’ Association. In October, 1891, he took charge of the Baptist church in Windom, Cottonwood County, Minnesota, remaining one year, during which time, their new meeting house was completed and dedicated, and a heavy debt raised.

Returning to Austin in October, 1892, he became associate editor of the Mower County Transcript, one of the leading Republican newspapers of Southern Minnesota, and in October, 1893, purchased a half interest in that paper, which he now owns, and to which he gives a large share of his time. Mr. Belden has always been greatly interested in educational work and has been clerk of the Austin Board of Education, and on the examining board for a number of years. He was one of the organizers of the Austin Co-operative Creamery Association in 1893, and continues as its general manager. During all these years he has regularly engaged in ministerial work as opportunity afforded, and has been in close relations with the Baptist denomination of Minnesota.

He was married on June 27, 1877, to Mrs. Francelia L. Crandall, of Austin, and has one daughter, Antoinette Griffith Belden, born June 24, 1882. Mr. Belden has been a frequent contributor to the religious and secular press for the past twenty years. He has taken especial interest in nonpartisan municipal reform and in the movement for good citizenship. Since devoting his time largely to newspaper work he has taken great interest in editorial associational work, and is at present, in 1896, the Minnesota member of the executive committe e of the National Editorial Association. He is an enthusiastic Royal Arch Mason and past chancellor commander in the Knights of Pythias.

JOHN J. FURLONG There are few happier and more comfortable conditions of life than those enjoyed by the prosperous Southern Minnesota farmer. That section of the state contains a great many men successful in agriculture, but probably none who have made a greater success and have more to show for their efforts in the way of a fruitful and well-appointed farm than John J. Furlong, of Mower County. His farm is three miles east of Austin, and one of the most attractive establishments of the kind in the whole state.

Mr. Furlong is the youngest son of William and Sarah Furlong, and was born February 2, 1849, in Tipperary, Ireland. He came to America with his parents when three years old. His father preempted a quarter section of the present farm in the fall of 1856, and in the following spring moved his family into the little log house which still stands on the farm as a monument of the past.

John’s education was begun in the district schools and continued in the high school of Austin. He grew up on the farm and adopted farming as his business; succeeded to the ancestral estate, which he greatly enlarged, and came to enjoy an enviable reputation among all his neighbors, both as a businessman and as a citizen. Naturally of an active and progressive temperament he became interested in politics in 1886, and was nominated by the Democrats as representative to the legislature. He was elected in a district that had always been largely Republican, and in his first term in the house caused his ability to be recognized and did good work on the floor of the house, and as a member of the committees on grain and warehouse, elections and towns and counties. In 1890 he was nominated by the Alliance party, endorsed by the Democrats and elected.

In the session of 1891 he was the leading candidate of his party for speaker, and would probably have been chosen had he forced the issue; but to secure harmony between the Alliance and the Democracy he withdrew his name. He was, however, elected speaker pro tem and filled the chair for a considerable portion of the session during the illness of Speaker Champlin. He was at this session chairman of the most important committee of the house, the judiciary, also chairman of the committee on flax fiber and twine. In 1892 Mr. Furlong was again nominated by the Democrats to the legislature, and elected. He was re-elected in 1894, although only by the narrow margin of three votes. His Republican opponent contested the election, but Mr. Furlong retained his seat after a protracted contest.

He has long been an active member of the Farmers’ Alliance; has held official positions in the local and national organizations, and is now treasurer of the national body. He has been active in securing cheap and reliable insurance for farmers, being one of the organizers of the Mower County Mutual Fire and Hail Insurance Company, and was for many years its president. He is also president for the state of the Alliance Hail and Cyclone Mutual Insurance Company. He was president of the Mower County Agricultural Society for five years, and placed that society on a substantial financial basis. In 1891 he was elected a director of the State Agricultural Society; was superintendent of the dairy department, and later superintendent of agriculture. He was one of the board of World’s Fair managers for the state, and treasurer of the board. These facts go to show that Mr. Furlong has led an active life, and that his ability has been such sought after and employed in the public interest.

He was married May 25, 1881 to Miss Agnes Ryan. They have four children: William, May, Charles and Loretta. Mr. and Mrs. Furlong are noted for their generous hospitality, and take great pleasure in entertaining their friends at their beautiful home.

CHARLES HARCOURT JOHNSON of Austin, Minnesota, is a Canadian by birth. He was born in the county of Leeds, Ontario, on January 16, 1858. His early education was obtained at Almonte, Ontario, and he later took a course in the Collegiate Institute of that place under the direction of the principal, P. C. McGregor, one of the best masters in eastern Ontario. After leaving school Dr. Johnson entered McGill University at Montreal for the medical course and graduated in 1884.

In June of that year he came to Austin, Minnesota, and at once stepped into a good practice. Since then he has made rapid advances and is said to have the most extensive and lucrative practice in southern Minnesota. Though still a young man he has already attained a rank in the profession which insures him frequent calls for important consultations. For the past three years he has been chief surgeon for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Austin, which is the end of five divisions of the line. In the spring of 1895 Dr. Johnson was appointed president of the Pension Examining board at Austin. He has, however, been obliged to resign this position on account of press of other work. Though so much absorbed in the practice of his profession.

Dr. Johnson has found some time for attention to politics, and has long been prominent in the counsels of his party—the Democratic—at Austin and in that vicinity. For the past four years he has been mayor of Austin, receiving the office by a heavy vote at each election. During his term of service the sewer system of the city, the electric light plant, the overhead bridge, the extension of the water works system, new fire apparatus, high and other public school buildings, cement sidewalks and a new reservoir supplying artesian water are some of the things which Austin has acquired. The term of his service has been marked by continued progress and prosperity for the city. Besides the municipal works referred to, the city has acquired new brick works, cement works and a flax mill.

Dr. Johnson comes of a family of physicians. Two of his brothers are in the medical profession. In personal character Dr. Johnson is companionable and generous, and his charities are well known. He has his offices in a fine suite of rooms in the center of the town. They are equipped with everything needful for the practice of his profession. including a large library and plenty of apparatus. In religion Dr. Johnson is an Episcopalian. He belongs to the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, A. O. U. W. and Modern Woodmen of America.

NATHAN CURTIS KINGSLEY is a resident of Austin, Minn., where he is engaged in the practice of law. His father, Alonzo Kingsley, is a carpenter by trade, who enlisted in August, 1862, as a private soldier in the War of the Rebellion and served until the close of the war in the Fifteenth and Tenth Illinois Cavalry. Alonzo Kingsley was a lineal descendant of one of three brothers who emigrated from England in the early Colonial days and settled in Vermont, and his grandfather, Wareham Kingsley, was a private soldier in the Revolutionary War. Alonzo Kinsley’s wife was Marilla Cecelia Pierson, a direct descendant of Stephen Pierson, who emigrated from England in 1656 and settled at New Haven, Conn.

The subject of this sketch was born at Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn., September 10, 1850. His family removed to Illinois not long afterward, and Nathan received his early education in the country district schools. His first money was earned as a farm laborer in La Salle County, 111. In March, 1869, he came to Minnesota and was employed as a farm laborer near Chatfield. In 1870 he learned the miller’s trade and worked at that business in Olmsted County until 1874, when he went to Rushford, Minn., continuing his trade there until February, 1877. While working as a miller he began the study of law, and in November, 1876, was admitted to the bar, though he did not give up his trade until sometime afterward.

In February, 1877, he formed a partnership for the practice of law with C. N. Enos, under the firm name of Enos & Kingsley, and opened an office at Rushford, where he remained until December, 1878. He then dissolved the partnership with Mr. Enos and removed to Chatfield, where he formed a partnership with R. A. Case. He continued the practice of law at Chatfield until April, 1887, when he removed to Austin, where he now resides. While a resident of Fillmore County, in 1880 he was elected county attorney, and in 1882 was re-elected. Although solicited to accept a re-nomination in 1884 he declined to be a candidate. After dissolving partnership with Mr. Case he formed a partnership with R. E. Shepherd, which association still continues. From June, 1879, until his removal from Chatfield, he was president of the board of education of that town. Mr. Kingsley has been identified with considerable very important litigation and has been instrumental in establishing some important principles of law.

Among other things the fact that a bank certificate of deposit in the ordinary form is, in substance and legal effect, a promissory note, and that no demand is necessary in order to set the statute of limitations running against it (Mitchell vs. Easton, 37 Minn. 335”): also that the legislature may provide for constructive service of process in actions to doctrine adverse claims to real estate where personal service is impracticable, and may clothe the district court with power to adjudicate the title and ownership of real property upon such constructive service (Shepard vs. Ware, 46 Minn., 174): also that Chapter 196, of the Laws of 1887, relating to the sale of foreign-grown nursery stock in Minnesota, is in violation of the constitution of the United States, as being an attempt to regulate commerce among the states and depriving citizens of other states of the privileges and immunities of citizens of this state.

Mr. Kingsley is a Republican in politics, and has taken an active part in public affairs for the last fifteen years. For four years he was a member-at-large of the State Republican Central Committee, and of the executive committee of that body. He has been a delegate to nearly all the state conventions for the last ten years, and to nearly all other conventions in which his county has been interested. He has been a Free Mason for nearly twenty four years, and is a member of a number of lodges of that order; also of the A. O. U. W., the K. of P., the Elks and the Masonic Veterans’ Association. He has also laid important offices in the order of Masonry, and in 1886 was Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Minnesota. He is at present General Grand Royal Arch Captain of the G. G. R. A. C of the United States. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Mr. Kingsley was married January 14, 1873, to Miss Clara Smith, a native of New York. They have one child, Cora Marilla.

SAMUEL SWENINGSEN The people of Mower County have shown their esteem for Samuel Sweningsen by retaining him in office longer probably than has ever been done before in the case of any county officer in the state. Mr. Sweningsen is of Norwegian descent, his father, Mogens Sweningsen, and his mother, Mary Halversen (Sweningsen), both natives of Norway, came to this country in 1846. Mogens settled in the town of Howard, Illinois, now Durand, where he has continued to reside ever since. His occupation in Norway had been that of a carpenter and builder, but he engaged in farming when he came to this country, and that has been his occupation until compelled by old age to retire from active work. He then settled in the neighboring village of Durand, Illinois.

His son, Samuel, was born June 29, 1849, at Lanona, Winnebago County Illinois. He received an education in the common schools, Durand Seminary and Decorah, Iowa, Lutheran College. In 1871 he located in Minnesota. He was first employed on a farm near Zumbrota for two years, when he moved to Mower County. In 1878 he formed a partnership with Oscar N. Olberg, now of Albert Lea, and engaged in the general mercantile business. This firm operated at one time three stores, located at Rose Creek, Adams and Taopi on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Mower County. In 1880 this partnership was dissolved, and the following year Mr. Sweningsen located at Austin, He formed a partnership here with C. I. Johnson, in 1882, and engaged in the boot and shoe business. This partnership was dissolved in 1887, and disposing of his interest to Mr. Johnson, who still continued the business. Mr. Sweningsen engaged in the jewelry trade. Subsequently he took a partner by the name of Frederick E. Gleason. They are still conducting the business, under the firm name of Sweningsen & Gleason.

Mr. Sweningsen is a Republican. He was appointed postmaster of Adams, Minnesota, by President Hayes in 1876. In 1881 he was elected clerk of the district court in Mower County, and re-elected in 1886 and 1890. He occupied the position continuously for thirteen years, and this is believed to be the only instance on record in Mower County where a county officer held a position continuously for that number of years. In 1890 he was nominated by the Republican party for representative, but he declined on account of being a candidate for clerk of court at the same time. In 1894, while still a clerk of the district court Mr. Sweningsen was nominated by the Republicans for state senator, was elected and served in the twenty—ninth session of the Minnesota legislature. His present term expires January 1, 1899. With the expiration of that term Mr. Sweningsen will have completed as county officer and representative seventeen years in the service of Mower County.

He was married November 16, 1876, to Miss Margaret Carr. She was born in Dundee, Illinois, January 15, 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Sweningsen have three children, Stella May, Oliver and William.

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