Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1858. The Marine flour mill was built in 1856 by Gaskell & Co. The
1759 words | Chapter 134
first flour was manufactured in 1857. The mill is four stories high
and is furnished with a turbine wheel. The water is brought a distance
of 1,000 feet by an elevated race. The Arcola saw mills were built in
the winter of 1846-7, by Martin Mower, David B. Loomis, Joseph
Brewster and W. H. C. Folsom. They were located on the river shore
three miles below Marine Mills. The motive power is an overshot wheel,
propelled by water from two large springs. The mill is now the
property of Martin Mower. The losses by fire in Marine have been:
The Marine saw mill, Sept. 16, 1863, loss $6,000; Judd &
Gaskell's store, Jan. 9, 1864, loss $4,000; Samuel B. Judd's
dwelling, April, 1884, loss $12,000;
W. H. Veazie's dwelling, April, 1885, loss $6,000.
A heavy financial failure occurred in the winter of 1885-6. The firm
of Walker, Judd & Veazio were compelled to make an assignment;
indebtedness, $250,000. In the ensuing May, by order of the court, the
mill property with its assets passed into the hands of a newly
constituted organization, styled the Marine Lumber Company. This
company was composed of the creditors of Judd, Walker & Veazie; B. C.
Keater, president; Ed. St. John, superintendent; capital stock,
$750,000. In 1888 the property passed into the hands of Anderson &
O'Brien.
VASA VILLAGE
Was platted in 1856, in section 30, township 32, range 19, by B. F.
and Mary Jane Otis and John Columbus; W. P. Payte, surveyor. James
Russell, James Cilley and Frank Register in 1857 built a steam saw
mill. James Russell built a three story hotel. A saloon and other
buildings were erected, but the village did not prosper, and the site
is now abandoned. There are several ancient mounds in the town site
which have been utilized to some extent as burial mounds. One in the
rear of the school house contains the remains of Caroline Reid, a
sister of Mrs. B. F. Otis, and Hiram Otis, a son of the latter. A
mound on the farm of John Copas contains the remains of John Columbus,
buried there at his own request with the body of his favorite dog. A
post office was established at Scandia, in the northern part of
Marine, in 1878; John M. Johnson, postmaster. The upper part of the
town of Marine was at one time organized as a town called Vasa, but
has since been merged in Marine.
ORANGE WALKER was born at St. Albans, Vermont, Sept. 1, 1801. His
ancestors were of English stock and Revolutionary fame. He received a
good common school education, and at the age of sixteen entered as an
apprentice in a tanner and currier's establishment in St. Albans.
After learning the trade he worked at it some time in Milton, Vermont.
In 1834 he came West, and located at Jacksonville, Illinois, where he
worked at his trade and also engaged in farming until 1839, when he
became a member of the Marine Lumber Company, and came with them to
Marine, where he resided a period of forty-eight years. During that
time he has been the most active and influential man in the company,
having been in almost constant service as its president or principal
agent. Mr. Walker was well known to the earlier dwellers in the St.
Croix valley as a hale, hearty, well informed man, prompt in
fulfilling his engagements, and liberal in everything that pertains to
the general good. Mr. Walker filled many public positions. He was
county commissioner ten years, postmaster twenty-five years, and
represented his district in the house of the Second Minnesota
legislature in 1859-60. He was married Sept. 16, 1848, to Mrs.
Georgiana Lockwood, of Prescott, formerly Miss Barton, a native of
Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Walker died Oct. 9, 1885. Mr. Walker
died Aug. 17, 1897.
LEWIS WALKER, brother of Orange Walker, was born in St. Albans,
Vermont, in 1811; in early life removed to Marine, Illinois, and in
1853 came to Marine Mills, Minnesota. He spent many years at the St.
Croix upper boom, and the last fifteen years of his life he lived in
Osceola. He was a quiet, peaceable citizen, exemplary in his habits
and respected by all his acquaintances. He died in Osceola in 1882.
Mr. Walker was married in 1853 to Calphrunia White, who, with two
daughters, survives him. The oldest daughter, Ella, has been for many
years a teacher in the Minneapolis and St. Paul and other schools.
Emma is the wife of Henry Fifield, a printer and journalist of
Northern Michigan.
SAMUEL BURKELO was born in Kent county, Delaware, March 31, 1800. He
came to Marine in 1839, being one of the thirteen constituting the
Marine Lumber Company. He remained with the company ten years, removed
to Stillwater and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1858 he
removed to a farm in Lakeland, where he died in 1874. He was one of
the commissioners appointed in 1840 to organize St. Croix county, and
represented his district in the council of the first and second
territorial legislatures. He was married Dec. 7, 1844, to Susan
McCauslin, at Point Douglas. Four children survive him.
ASA S. PARKER was born in Windsor county, Vermont, July 11, 1812. His
youth was spent in Vermont, New York and Illinois. He was by trade a
brickmaker. He joined the Marine Company and came to Marine in 1839.
He continued a member of the company until 1858, since which time he
has been engaged in farming and selling goods at Marine. Mr. Parker is
a quiet, unobtrusive gentleman, well posted in general matters. He was
a very useful member of the company. He was eight years county
commissioner, and has filled responsible town and county positions. He
was married in 1859 to Isabella Thompson. Archie I., an only son,
living with his parents, was married to Lena Smith in 1883.
HIRAM BERKEY was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, Oct. 22, 1813.
He came to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1819, but made Collinsville,
Illinois, his home, and engaged in farming. He came to Marine Mills in
1839, and was one of the original company that founded Marine. He sold
his interest in 1860, since which time he has been engaged in hotel
keeping and farming. He served as county commissioner four years, and
filled local offices. He was married to Jennie McCarty, of
Pennsylvania, Oct. 23, 1860. They have one son, John R.
GEO. B. JUDD was born in Farmington, Connecticut, Oct. 19, 1799. In
1832 he came to Illinois and engaged in farming and merchandising. In
1839 he became a member of the Marine Company, and came up on the
Fayette, but did not make his residence there until 1862. He retained
his interest in the company until about 1863. He removed to St. Louis
in 1844, and became a member of the enterprising commission firm of
Judd & Hammond. After his removal to Marine he engaged in the
mercantile and lumbering business. Mr. Judd died at his home in Marine
in 1872.
JAMES HALE was born in 1822, in Putnam county, Indiana; lived five
years in Illinois, and came to Marine Mills in 1844, where he engaged
in farming. He was married to Mary Finnegan in 1855. Mr. Hale died
Feb. 9, 1888.
JOHN HOLT was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, in 1818. He came to
Marine in 1846. In 1852 he was married to Mary Jane Ward, and removed
to Stillwater, where for two years he kept the Minnesota House, at the
southwest corner of Main and Chestnut streets. Returning to Marine in
1853 he followed lumbering and farming many years. During the latter
portion of his life he was afflicted with partial blindness. He died
Jan. 12, 1874, leaving two children.
GEORGE HOLT, brother to John Holt, was born in Kentucky in 1822, where
he spent his early life. After spending a year at Prairie du Chien, in
1846 he came to Marine and obtained employment with the Marine
Company. In 1850 he removed to Stillwater, and engaged in the livery
stable and hotel business until 1853, when he returned with his
brother to Marine. He claims to have carried, in 1851, the first
leathern mail pouch from Stillwater to Taylor's Falls. During the
Rebellion he served one year in Company G, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer
Infantry. While residing in Marine he has been engaged chiefly in
farming, rafting and lumbering. In 1851 he was married to Melinda
Ward. They have five children.
WILLIAM TOWN was born in Rome, N. Y., 1814. In 1836 he removed to
Warren county, Illinois, and in 1838 he was married to Louisa
Robinson. He came to Marine in 1846; removed to St. Croix Falls in
1847; to Osceola Prairie in 1852, and to Taylor's Falls in 1860, where
he died in 1870. His first wife died at Osceola in 1855, leaving three
daughters, one the wife of W. J. Seavey, of Taylor's Falls, one the
first wife of Henry Mallen, of Farmington, Wisconsin, and one the wife
of E. Hines Bates, of Taylor's Falls. Mr. Town was married in 1857 to
Mrs. Mary Collins, formerly Mary Talboys. A daughter of Mrs. Town, by
her first husband, is the wife of N. P. Bailey, of Taylor's Falls. Mr.
Town's aged mother came to Osceola Prairie in 1856, and died in June,
1886, aged ninety-seven years. Mrs. Abbott, of Moorhead, and Mrs.
Richmond, of Farmington, are her daughters.
MATTHIAS WELSHANCE was born in 1818, in Pennsylvania, where he lived
during his minority and learned the carpenter's trade. In 1843 he
removed to Galena, Illinois, in 1847 to St. Croix Falls and in 1848 to
Marine Mills, where he worked at his trade until 1856. From that time
until his death, May 19, 1886, he was engaged in hotel keeping. He was
for nine years keeper of the Marine Hotel and has since been
proprietor of the St. Croix House. He was married Nov. 12, 1848, to
Mary J. Hooper. They have five children living. One daughter, Mrs.
Tolan, met a tragic death at the hands of an insane husband, in 1881.
Mr. Welshance died in 1886.
BENJAMIN T. OTIS was born in Fairfield, Maine, in 1816. He came to St.
Croix Falls in 1841, and engaged in lumbering. In 1846 he located on
what is known as Colby Flat, on the site of Taylor's Falls, and
improved a farm. In 1849 he removed to Marine. His first wife died
suddenly at Marine. He was married to Mrs. Church, of Stillwater, in
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