Trails-to-the-Past-Minnesota-Washington-co-Biographies-Progressive-Men

Minneapolis Journal 1897

EDMUND GREGORY BUTTS is Judge of Probate of Washington County, and resides at Stillwater, he was born May 7, 1832, in Kortright, Delaware County, New York. His father, Luther Butts, was a farmer of some prominence in his neighborhood having held various town and county offices. In 1849 he was a member of the state legislature of New York. He was colonel of militia in the days of what was known as the “general muster or general training,” and was a conspicuous figure on the parade ground for his military bearing and fine horsemanship. His wife’s maiden name was Sarah Gregory. Her father, Nehemiah Gregory, was a Revolutionary soldier.

Edmund Gregory Butts spent his early youth on his father’s farm and began his education in the district school. Later he took several terms at the local academy, and then entered the State Normal School at Albany, where he graduated in 1854. With this professional preparation he taught school for several years. In connection with his work as a teacher he pursued the study of law. completing his professional preparation with the firm of Parker & Gleason, at Delhi, New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1861. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted with the Thirty-seventh New York as a private, and was engaged in several battles, the most important of which was the Battle of Gettysburg. While engaged as a teacher he held the position of associate principal of Delaware Academy. There he had charge of the class in sciences and mathematics. He was afterwards called to Roxbury, to principalship of that academy.

After his discharge from the army he received, without solicitation, an appointment to a clerkship in the third auditors office in the treasury department through the request of Gen. Garfield. His first intimation that he was appointed to this position was a request to report for duty. He remained in this government position until the winter of 1864, when, not being satisfied with the prospects there, and not fancying the idea of becoming a fixture in a government position, he came West, arriving at Stillwater January 25, 1865, and has resided there ever since. Soon after his arrival he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for two years. About this time he was appointed inspector of the Minnesota state prison by Governor Austin, and held the position for twenty years. While serving the state in that capacity he was sent as a delegate to the National Prison Congress at Baltimore. Thirty years ago Judge Butts was elected fudge of Probate of Washington County and held the office ten years, he was succeeded by Judge R. Lehmeke, who died in 1894, when Mr. Butts was re-appointed by Governor Nelson, and still holds the position.

He has been married twice. His first wife was Miss E. Augusta White, of Delaware County. New York to whom he was married in 1867. She came to Stillwater to be married. She had two children, one of whom. Miss Minnie Butts, is a teacher in the Stillwater public schools: the other, a son, Edmund L. is a lieutenant in the regular army, having graduated from West Point in 1890. Mr. Butts’ second wife was Miss Ida E. Ellsworth, of South Bend, Indiana, to whom he was married in 1878, who has borne him five children, Mollie, Dwight, Florence, Millicent and Adele. Judge Butts’ political relations have always been with the Republican party, and his church connections are with the Episcopal denomination.

THOMAS CHALMERS CLARK. No photo Dr. Clark, of Stillwater, Minnesota, traces his ancestry back to the landing of the ship Mary and John from England, at Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630. He was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, April 22, 1853. His father, Rev. Nelson Clark, was a native of Brookfield, Vermont, where he was born in 1813. For thirty five years he was pastor of Congregational churches in Vermont and Massachusetts. He removed to Minnesota in 1880, and soon afterwards died. His wife, Elizabeth Gilman, was grand-daughter of Rev. Samuel Hidden, who was for forty-five years pastor of the Congregational Church at Tamworth, New Hampshire. She is now living at Stillwater, Minnesota. As above stated, the family line is traced back to the early settlement of the country on the father’s side. The founder of the family in this country was one of the company led by Thomas Hooker, which settled on the Connecticut River, and his descendants living for several generations at North Hampton, Massachusetts. On the mother’s side the family line is traced directly to Anne, daughter of Thomas Dudley, one of the early colonial governors of Massachusetts. Anne Dudley married Silas Bradstreet, who was also a colonial governor of Massachusetts. The members of the family on both sides belong to the sturdy New England stock, whose impress has been so strongly stamped upon the social, intellectual and religious life of our country.

Thomas Chalmers began his education in the common schools of Massachusetts and was graduated from Bristol Academy, at Taunton, Massachusetts in 1870. He removed to Stillwater, Minnesota, in the fall of that year and engaged in teaching. He was thus employed until the spring of 1877. About this time he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. W. H. Pratt, of Stillwater, and also served as hospital steward in the state prison in the spring of 1877 and until the fall of 1879. He graduated from the Rush Medical College, in Chicago, in 1881, as the valedictorian of a class of one hundred and seventy two. He returned to Stillwater, where he began to practice medicine, and is so engaged at the present time.

Dr. Clark has always taken an active interest in military affairs. He enlisted in Company K. First Regiment M. N. G., in 1883 at the time of its organization. He went in as a private, was promoted to first lieutenant and assistant surgeon in 1886, was made captain and assistant surgeon in 1894, and major and surgeon in 1895. He was a member of the First Regiment and the State Rifle Teams from 1885 until 1896 he qualified as a sharp shooter at every encampment held since 1884, and was decorated as a distinguished rifleman in 1890. Mr. Clark is an ardent Republican. He was chairman of the Republican County Committee in 1890, and alternate to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in 1892. With exception of the office of coroner he has never held any political office, nor has he desired any. He is a member of the county, state and national medical societies; a member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States: is one of the board of managers of the Minnesota Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; is a Knights Templar and an active member of the Masonic order; is past master of St. John’s Lodge, No. 1. and past high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, No. 17. Dr. Clark is also active in Christian work. He is a member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Stillwater. He was married in June 1882, to Miss Sarah A. Stephens, of New York City, and has three children living.

WILLIAM EDWARDS EASTON is the senior editor and publisher of the Stillwater Gazette. He was born in Mesopotamia, Trumbull County, Ohio, December 27, 1850, the son of Augustus B. Easton and Julia Burke (Easton). On his father’s side he is descended from the early settlers of Massachusetts, dating back to the Pilgrim fathers. His grandfather, on the paternal side, made the journey on foot from Hawley, Massachusetts, his native place, to the Western Reserve, in northwestern Ohio, in 1820. Little is known of Mr. Easton’s ancestry on his mother’s side, she having been an adopted daughter of William Edwards of Youngstown, Ohio.

William Edwards attended the common schools while a lad, but began early to learn the printer’s trade. He was so small when he began in this business that he was obliged to stand on a chair in order to reach the boxes in the printer’s case. His parents came to Stillwater, August 7, 1857, when it was a small place, noted principally for logs, rough fare and men wearing red shirts and moccasins. His father was employed on the old Messenger and the son has followed this calling all his actual business life, with the exception of about six months’ experience in a grocery store. He soon graduated, however, from that business with the conviction that the handling of groceries was not to his liking.

On the sixth of August, 1870, he became associated with his father and began the publication of the Stillwater Weekly Gazette, an independent newspaper. In 1876 he was admitted to partnership, which continued until January 1, 1883, the senior Easton then disposing of his interest to S. A. Clewell. The business has since been conducted under the style of the Gazette Printing Company. On May 15, 1882, was issued the first number of the Daily Gazette. The daily edition was continued until December of the same year, when it was suspended because unprofitable. On August 25, 1883, the daily edition was resumed and has been continued successfully ever since. March 7, 1896, William Edwards Easton secured control of the paper. On March 14, 1896, Senator W. C. Masterman purchased the interest of S. A. Clewell in the job department, the business being consolidated, and is now conducted under the firm name of Easton & Masterman, who are sole owners of the Daily and Weekly Gazette. Mr. Easton is one of the editors and publishers of the paper, and thoroughly familiar with all the details and requirements of daily newspaper publication. His life has been one devoted to hard work, and such property interests as he has acquired have been secured solely by faithful attention to business and a successful management of his affairs. During the war times he was engaged as a carrier in delivering the old St. Paul Press and Pioneer in Stillwater, and became much interested in the progress of the conflict. As he puts it, he “Didn’t do much to put down the rebellion but was very patriotic.”

Mr. Easton is a Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and Past Chancellor of the order with which he has been connected over twenty years. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum serving one term as vice regent. He is a member of the Stillwater Lodge of Elks. He was a charter member of the old volunteer fire department of Stillwater, organized in 1871, and serving continuously until 1884. He was an original member of the famous Blue Cart Company. He was secretary and treasurer for several years of the organization. He was one of the original members of Company K, First Regiment National Guards, organized April 5, 1883, was elected captain in 1893, but was obliged to decline the honor owing to business engagements. He is a member and director of The Stillwater Club, and vice president of the St. Croix Savings & Loan Association. Mr. Easton was married December 19, 1878, to Josephine A. McGowan, at Stillwater. They have two children, Ned, a lad of thirteen, and Florence L., five years of age.

CHARLES W. MERRY The subject of this sketch is a dentist practicing his profession at Stillwater, Minnesota. His father, B. G. Merry, served in the civil war in a Maine regiment, and was a major when mustered out of service. He removed to Minnesota in 1869 with his family, settling at Stillwater, where he was engaged in the profession of dentistry until his death, March 27, 1895. He was a prominent member of the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Loyal Legion and the G. A. R. His wife’s maiden name was Charlotte F. Coburn.

Charles W. was born at Bath, Maine, June 7, 1864. He attended the public schools of Stillwater until he was seventeen years of age. He then took a course at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, graduating with the class of 1883. After graduating he worked in the office with his father on a salary for four years. He then purchased a half interest in the business, the partnership lasting until 1892, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, each going into business for himself. March 30, 1885, Dr. Merry was appointed a member of the state board of dental examiners by Governor Hubbard for a four years’ term. He was secretary of the board for two years and president for one year.

He has always taken an active interest in state militia affairs, and was a charter member of Company K, First regiment, of which company he was a member for six years. He is a member of the Masons and is a Mystic Shriner. and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias Royal Arcanum, the Elks and Sons of Veterans. He has never united with any church. He was married May 17, 1887, to Miss Ella McKusick daughter of Hon. John McKusick, and has two children. Charles Raymond and Ora McKusick. Mrs. Merry died January 31, 1891.

FREDERICK CARL NEUMEIER of Stillwater, is a native of Langenberg, near Duesseldorf, on the Rhine, Germany, where he was born February 20, 1857. His father, Christian Neumeier, was by occupation a mechanic. Up to 1866 he was in good financial circumstances. He discovered and operated a copper mine for which he had an offer from an English Company of sixty-eight thousand marks, but before the sale had been completed the war of 1866 broke out and he lost his mine and everything he possessed. His wife’s maiden name was Henriette Haut a native of Wiesbaden, on the Rhine, whose father was a hotel keeper in 1824. In 1864 he came to America, and his family never heard of him afterward. The Neumeier ancestry was of noble rank. The original name was Von Sande, but later they adopted the name of Neumeier. A brother of Christian Neumeier held high rank in the Prussian army, and was the commanding officer of the Fifth Infantry Corps at Odessa, on the Black Sea, where he received the title of “Ritter p. p.”

When Frederick Carl was four years of age he was sent to the kindergarten, and two years later to the public schools, which he attended until the age of nine. He then went to the high school. At that time war broke out between the French and Prussians, and his parents removed to Duesseldorf and were employed in a paper mill. In 1880 Frederick came to America, his first stopping place being Nora Springs, Iowa, where he was employed on a farm. In the winter of 1880 and 1881 he attended the public school in order to learn the English language. In the spring of 1881 he was employed as a clerk in the mercantile business, and in May of the same year, went to Chicago to work at his trade as a machinist. In 1882 he went west as far as Denver, but returned to St. Paul, and finally obtained employment at Stillwater with the Seymour-Sabin Thresher Company as a skilled mechanic.

In November, 1886, he became interested in the St. Croix Post, a German newspaper, of which J. Duel was proprietor. Mr. Neunieier was given the management of the establishment, and shortly afterward, upon the death of Mr. Duel, R. Lehmicke and Mr. Neumeier bought the Post, and in 1890 Mr. Lehmicke sold his interest to Mr. Neumeier, who has conducted the paper alone ever since. The same year he started a new German paper in the interest of the German order, the Hermanns Son of the West, which is today the official organ of that order in this state and Washington. In 1893 he also started an English paper in partnership with N. A. Nelson, called the Washington County Journal. In this way Mr. Neumeier became the proprietor of two German papers, and had a partnership with an English publication. His papers are independent in politics, with a leaning toward Democracy. Mr. Neumeier is a member of the Sons of Hermann, the Royal Arcanum, the Turnverein and the Stillwater Maennerchor. He is grand president of the Sons of Hermann, and is now serving his second term in that office. He was also for four years grand vice president of the order. Mr. Neumeier is a member of the German Lutheran Church, and was married February 20, 1884, to Catharina Anna Glade, daughter of John Glade, of Stillwater, of which place Mrs. Neumeier is a native. They have three children Mabel Gay, Karl Glade and Fritz George.

NICHOLAS A. NELSON is an editor and publisher at Stillwater, Minnesota. His father, Nels Nelson, is a farmer residing near Cyrus, Pope County, Minnesota. Nels was for many years a sailor on the Atlantic, and later on the great lakes, but was forced to give up his chosen vocation because of an injury which affected his health. He came to Minnesota and engaged in agriculture.

Nicholas A. was born in Skien, Norway, November 4, 1868, and came to America with his parents when little more than a year old. They located at Milwaukee, and soon afterward his mother died. The only school education Nicholas received was confined to the public schools of Milwaukee, and he was obliged to give up attending school at the early age of thirteen, when his father moved to Minnesota. Since that time such education as he has had has been acquired solely through his own efforts. He came to Minnesota early in the summer of 1881, his father having purchased a farm near Cyrus. Nicholas worked with his father on the farm, and while yet a young lad hired out with a threshing crew, in which capacity he earned the first money he ever possessed.

The following spring, 1883, he went to the Black Hills, where he led a rough life among freighters and cattle men until the fall. He then obtained a position in the telephone office in Rapid City. Subsequently he secured employment in a printing office, learning the business of typesetting and commenced the career which he has followed ever since. In 1888 he went to Stillwater and was engaged as a reporter on the Democrat. Later he became city editor of the Messenger, which position he filled acceptably until the fall of 1892. The following March he formed a partnership with F. C. Neumeier and began the publication of the Washington County Journal, of which paper he is now the editor and part owner. He began business with practically no capital, but by industry and careful management he has made a success of his venture.

He has never been affiliated closely with any political party. In national affairs he has generally been an advocate of Democratic principles, but in state and local politics has usually supported those candidates which he considered best qualified for office, regardless of their political relations. He takes an active interest in military matters. He is a member of Company K, First Regiment National Guard, and is third sergeant of the company. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Elks and of the Stillwater Club, and. also, of the First Presbyterian Church of that city. He has not married.

JOHN CLINTON NETHAWAY was born at Albany, New York, November 12, 1857. After receiving a common school education at Albany he entered the Cobleskill, New York, academy, graduating from that institution in June, 1874. He immediately began the study of law in the office of Lamont & Baker, a leading law firm at Cobleskill.

When Judge Lamont was elected to the state senate, Mr. Nethaway was appointed his private secretary, the duties of which office brought him back to his birthplace. During his spare hours he availed himself of an opportunity of a course of lectures at the Albany Law School, in the meantime continuing his studies in the law office of Smith, Bancroft & Moak, one of the leading firms at Albany. In February, 1878, having completed his course at the law school, Mr. Nethaway applied for admission to the bar before the general term of the supreme court at Albany.

After passing an exceptionally creditable examination he was admitted. About the same time he started for the extreme West and landed at Heron Lake, Jackson County, Minnesota. After remaining there about six weeks, he decided that Stillwater, Minnesota, afforded flattering inducements, and he located there, arriving June 18, 1878. He immediately associated himself with the late Levi E. Thompson, a prominent attorney of this state. This firm continued for two years, after which he became connected with the firm of McClure & Marsh at Stillwater. In 1881, when Judge McClure was appointed district judge of the First judicial district, a new firm was organized, composed of Fayette Marsh of Stillwater; Jasper N. Searles, of Hastings, and the subject of this sketch, under the firm name of Marsh, Searles & Nethaway, which continued until April, 1884.

Mr. Nethaway was then elected to the municipal bench of Stillwater, which office he continued to fill until April, 1894, when he refused a re-election. After his first term, the term of office was lengthened from two to four years. He was elected three times, receiving at each election the nomination and votes without opposition. Although a strong Democrat, he was indorsed each time by the Republicans. In a list of twenty-six cases appealed from his decision, only two were reversed by the supreme court. At the expiration of his term of office he returned to the practice of law and opened an office in Stillwater, making criminal law a specialty. He has defended five persons accused of murder, and received a verdict of acquittal for four, and for the other one a verdict of murder in the second degree. In the campaign of 1890, when James N. Castle was the Democratic candidate for congress and was elected, Mr. Nethaway acted as secretary to the congressional committee. He has always taken an active part in politics, and served the state central committee liberally as campaign speaker.

In 1892, Mr. Nethaway was chosen as Democratic candidate for attorney general. Mr. Nethaway is a tariff reform Democrat, and has always supported those principles. With a change of administration in national affairs, he was a candidate for the office of district attorney, but though a bitter strife between the rival candidates the nomination finally went to a party who had not been a candidate. Mr. Nethaway took part in the campaign of Congressman Baldwin in 1894, and increased his vote, although Mr. Baldwin was defeated.

The subject of this sketch was the son of Clinton Nethaway, of Scotch and Irish descent, a merchant for many years at Albany, New York. The family is of good old Colonial stock, and the ancestors of the Colonial period took an active part in the wars with the Indians and the British. At the close of the Revolutionary war the progenitor of this family located at Schoharie Hill, which has been the ancestral home ever since. Mr. Nethaway’s mother was Maria Catherine Hawn. She was of Dutch descent. Her grandfather, Peter Hawn, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and was also engaged in the wars against the Indians. He took part in the battle of Ticonderoga.

Mr. Nethaway was married June 18, 1884, at Stillwater, to Miss Cora M. Hall. They have had two children, Jay A., now deceased, and Clinton H.

GEORGE PARKER The name which stands at the head of this sketch is that of the mayor of Hastings, a broadminded, public-spirited man, jealous of the reputation of the city which he represents, and deserving of credit for the efficient and able manner in which he has conducted its affairs. George Parker was born in the village of Pakenham, Ontario, in 1849. He lived with his parents until twenty-six years of age, in the meantime acquiring a good, liberal education, and also spending considerable of his time in work on the farm.

In 1875 he engaged in the mercantile business in the province of Manitoba, but removed to St. Vincent, Minnesota, in 1878, where he established himself in the livery business. In 1882 Mr. Parker again engaged in farming in Pembina, North Dakota, but the following year he entered upon the business of railroad contracting and building. The first contract was on the Canadian Pacific westward from Winnipeg. After the completion of that line he obtained a contract in Iowa on the extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul from Cedar Rapids to Ottumwa. In the fall of 1884 he built a small portion of the then Minnesota Northwestern, now the Chicago- Great Western railroad. It was about this time that he located in Hastings, where he has since resided.

Mr. Parker is a Republican in politics, and has always taken an active interest in public affairs. In the spring of 1895 he was elected mayor of Hastings on the Republican ticket, and re-elected in 1896. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the A. O. U. W. He is a member of the Baptist church, and was married April 20, 1875, at Pakenham, Ontario, to Miss Mary M. Hemenway. Two children have been born to them, Mary Maud and Dora May, of whom the former is deceased.

Mr. Parker’s parents were of Irish extraction, born in the North of Ireland. His father, George Parker, came to Ontario when but a boy, locating at Perth, where he learned the cooper’s trade. He subsequently conducted a large coopering establishment at Pakenham with satisfactory financial results. He was a strong supporter of the Reform party and an active participant in public affairs. His wife, the mother of George Parker, was Miss Abalinda Eliza Toughey, who emigrated with her parents from Ireland to Quebec in her childhood. Later she became a resident of Perth, where she was married.

Major Parker, of Hastings, is an ardent advocate of temperance principles and a total abstainer himself, and has not only done much to encourage the virtue of temperance in the city over which he presides, but he has also done much to attract capital and build up the commercial interests of that community.

DWIGHT MAY SABIN ex-United States Senator of Minnesota, was born at Manlius, Illinois, April 25, 1843. Mr. Sabin was the eldest son of Horace Carver Sabin and Maria Elizabeth Webster (Sabin).

The Sabin family were of Scotch descent and came to America in 1740. They settled in New Hampshire and Connecticut, and Horace Carver Sabin was born in Windham County, Connecticut, on a beautiful farm owned by his father, Jedediah Sabin. In early manhood, Horace Carver Sabin moved to the Western Reserve, Ohio, and later came farther West to Ottawa, Illinois, then a thriving trading village at the head of navigation on the Illinois river. Here he engaged in farming and became an extensive breeder of blooded cattle, having the first business of this kind established in the state. He was one of the original abolitionists, and his protection and services were often accorded to fugitive slaves passing through that section on their perilous way towards safety and liberty. The Sabin residence was in fact, one of the important stations on what was known as the underground railroad to which escaped negroes were directed for assistance and where they invariably received help and a hearty “God speed.” Horace Carver Sabin was a friend and co-laborer with Owen Lovejoy and John F. Farnsworth, and was an acquaintance and great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. All of these gentlemen were frequently guests at his house when on professional and political trips made in those days generally on horse back, railroads being as yet unknown in that new country. Mr. Sabin, although evincing a deep interest in the affairs of the state and the nation, declined strictly political offices. He held, however, for many years positions of trust and responsibility on county and state boards, and was at one time member of the state canal and land commission. He was also a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. On account of his failing health Mr. Sabin, with his wife and two sons, Dwight May and Jay H., returned to the old home in Connecticut at the urgent request of his father, Jedediah, who in his declining years wished for the presence of his only son. Jedediah died in 1864.

While living on the Connecticut farm, Dwight May attended a little district school for three years, when, his own father’s health becoming seriously impaired, the care of the farm and the somewhat extended lumber business devolved largely upon the young man. He continued in this work until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Phillips Academy for one year in order to pursue a course of study in higher mathematics and civil engineering, after which he returned to the management of his father’s business. His life remained thus uneventful until Lincoln’s call for volunteers in 1862, when his patriotism prompted him to offer his services to Gov. Buckingham, of Connecticut, who sent him to Washington to join a Connecticut regiment. He was unable to pass the medical examination, however, and was rejected for active service on account of pulmonary weakness and his youth. He was then assigned to the quartermaster’s department, and was afterwards given a first class clerkship in the third auditor’s office in Washington, which position he retained until June, 1863. At that time he was transferred to the commissary department of Beaufort’s Cavalry Brigade, and reached the scene of action immediately prior to the battle of Gettysburg. He remained with this brigade during many subsequent engagements, following Lee’s retreating army.

The following year he was called home by the death of his father, and was appointed executor of the family estate, together with his mother. He was occupied with these affairs and other business enterprises until 1867. In the autumn of that year the delicacy of his constitution becoming more apparent, physicians advised a change of location, and Minnesota was chosen for climatic reasons. He first located in Minneapolis, where, during the ensuing winter, he busied himself investigating the lumber outlook. In the spring of 1868 an opportunity to enter this business in Stillwater presented itself and he settled there, where he has since continued to reside.

In connection with the lumber business he carried on other enterprises, building up the manufacture of threshing machines, engines and railway cars. This business gradually assumed immense proportions, giving employment at one time to over thirty—five hundred men. He also became a promoter and partner in lumber operations at Cloquet, Minnesota, on the St. Louis river. Mr. Sabin, as his ancestry would indicate, has always been a Republican and in 1870 he was elected to the state senate, where he served until 1883, when he was sent to the United States senate to succeed the late William Windom. While a member of the senate, Mr. Sabin was the chairman of the railway committee, member of the Indian and pension committees, and secured pensions for over eight hundred old soldiers. He made no pretense to oratory, and was not known as a speech-making senator, but rather a hard working member in the interest of his state, especially in the line of transportation. Through his efforts, aided by Senator Palmer, of Michigan, he was able to secure large appropriations for the speedy completion of the new canal at Sault Ste. Marie. He was also instrumental in securing large appropriations from congress for the improvement of the Mississippi and other rivers. Mr. Sabin was prominent in the councils of his party, and for several years previous to his election as United States senator he was Minnesota’s member of the Republican National Committee, and at the death of Gov. Jewell, in December, 1883, was elected his successor to the chairmanship, and in this capacity presided over the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1884. Mr. Sabin is married and has three adopted daughters. Since his retirement from the senate he has been actively interested in business, especially in the lines of lumber and iron.

IRVING TODD of The Hastings Gazette, is one of the oldest newspaper men of the state. He came to the Northwest in 1857, and since 1860 has been continuously identified with country journalism in this vicinity. Through both parents Mr. Todd is descended from old Colonial stock of the sturdy type which made New England and the Middle States the bulwark of the Revolution. The family in America dates from Abraham Todd, who was born in Scotland in 1710, and as a Presbyterian minister settled at Horse Neck, Connecticut. He died just before the war, in 1772. Some of his descendants moved to Westchester County, New York and have for generations been identified with that portion of the Empire State. Joseph N. Todd, father of Irving, was a miller in good circumstances, living at Cross River. He married Miss Sarah A. Reynolds, granddaughter of Lieutenant Nathaniel Reynolds, a Revolutionary soldier. Her family was prominent in Westchester and like that of her husband, thrifty and well-to-do. In 1856 Mr. Todd, in company with a brother and brother-in-law, was induced to invest quite largely in a saw mill at Prescott, Wisconsin, but in the following season—the panic year of 1857 —went down in the general financial crash. However, the investment was the means of shifting the life of his son from the civilization of New York to the then new West.

Irving was born at Lewisboro, New York, July 23, 1841, receiving a good common school education. In the spring of 1857 he came out to Prescott with his father to look after their business interests, and during that summer worked in the saw mill, running engine and sawing lath. He spent the following winter at the old home in New York, and in the spring the family moved West and settled permanently at Prescott. For a year or so Irving divided his time between farm work and school, in 1859 making his first acquaintance with what he has aptly called “the best school he ever attended.” the printing office. June 18, 1860, he entered into a years contract with C. E. Young, of The Prescott Transcript, at a salary of one dollar per week and board. Previous to this the young man had been fired with the desire to enter the life of a printer and newspaper man. He had read with enthusiasm Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography—the first influence toward journalism. He was an apt student at the new employment. Within three months he was acting as foreman of the office, besides doing most of the editorial work and all of the proof reading. At the end of the year he was considered more than an average journeyman. The Transcript, however, had been undermined by political rivalry, and Mr. Todd secured employment as a compositor on The Hastings Conserver, then being run as a daily to supply the demand for war news. In a few months the daily edition was discontinued, Mr. Todd going back to Prescott and assuming editorial charge of The Journal, which Lute A. Taylor had moved in from River Falls. After some further experience on The Hudson Star, Mr. Todd bought the plant of The Conserver, then defunct. November 17, 1862. issuing his first paper the following Thursday. He has since been identified with Hastings. Four years later the paper was consolidated with The Independent as The Hastings Gazette Todd & Stebbins, editors and proprietors. March 4, 1878, Mr. Todd bought out Mr. Stebbins’ half interest. The present daily issue was commenced September 18, 1882, and August 27, 1887, Irving Todd, Jr., was given an interest in the business, the date being his twenty-first birthday. The firm has since been Irving Todd & Son. They have been financially successful.

Mr. Todd has been an active Republican since the organization of the party. In 1867-8 he was assistant doorkeeper of the house of representatives at Washington, and was collector of internal revenue at St. Paul from January 1, 1872, to April 1, 1876. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Todd is past master of Dakota Lodge, No. 7; past high priest of Vermillion Chapter, No. 2: past district deputy grand master, past deputy grand high priest, and a charter member of Minnesota Consistory, No. 1. He has written the reports on foreign correspondence for the Grand Lodge of Minnesota since 1889. Todd’s Digest, now in its fourth edition, is standard authority in this jurisdiction. July 13, 1865, Mr. Todd was married to Miss Helen Lucas. Their children, Irving and Louise, are now grown. Mrs. Todd died April 15, 1896.

HENRY WOLFER Minnesota is fortunate in having at the head of its chief penal institution a man who has achieved a national reputation as a penologist. Henry Wolfer is of German descent. His father, John Wolfer, was a farmer who came from Germany when eighteen years of age, and settled near Munith, Michigan. He soon owned a good farm and was considered a thrifty, well-to-do man. He reared a family of thirteen children, nine of whom are now living. His wife, Sarah Wolfer, was of German parentage, coming from the old Dutch stock of Pennsylvania. John Wolfer was the youngest of seven children, none of whom, except one sister, accompanied him to America. All his brothers became well-to-do farmers in the old country.

Henry Wolfer was born on the farm at Munith, Michigan, March 23, 1853. He received a common school education in the district country school, such as could be obtained by attending during the winter months and working on the farm during the summer. This continued until he was eighteen years of age. He then made a bargain with his father for the purchase of the remaining three years’ time before he became of age, and gave him a note fur two hundred dollars. Henry immediately started out West and arrived at Joliet, Illinois, June 16, 1871. There he applied to Major Elmer Washburn, then warden of the Illinois state penitentiary, for a position in that institution. After two persevering interviews he was finally appointed wall guard, and discharged the duties so satisfactorily that he was very shortly afterwards, although yet a mere youth, appointed overseer of one of the largest shops in the prison. When about nineteen years of age he sent his father the two hundred dollars with interest and took up his note. He then began an evening course in a commercial college at Joliet and continued until he had graduated in bookkeeping and commercial law. At the age of twenty-four Henry Wolfer had saved up and placed at interest two thousand two hundred dollars. He continued in the service of the Illinois state penitentiary in various official capacities under five different wardens, filling nearly every office in that institution, covering a period of about fourteen years, the last four years acting as steward under the well known prison manager and penal reformer Major R. W. McLaughry. In September, 1885, through the influence of Major McLaughry, and other friends, Mr. Wolfer was appointed deputy superintendent of the Detroit House of Correction, under Captain Joseph Nicholson. Captain Nicholson enjoys the enviable reputation of knowing not only how to conduct a prison on broad humane principles, but how to make it a success financially as well. That institution has been more than self-sustaining for a period of sixteen years. Mr. Wolfer’s services continued as deputy superintendent for nearly seven years, when he was called to the state of Minnesota to take the position of warden of the state prison at Stillwater. Mr. Wolfer ranks among the most scientific and progressive of the penal officials of the country. He is always in demand at national prison congresses and the conferences of the charities and corrections, and administers the office which has been entrusted to him with great ability.

Mr. Wolfer has always been a Republican. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for sixteen years, and is a member of the Order of Elks. He was married April 27, 1S76, to Miss Alice A. Suylant, of Munith, Michigan. They have four children, Harold J., Frank C., Charles R. and Gertrude M.

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