Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1814. He was the oldest son of Billy and Phebe (Baker) Ames, whose
1385 words | Chapter 175
ancestors were early colonists from England. Alfred E. commenced the
study of medicine in 1832. He occasionally taught school and worked at
his trade of brickmason. He also varied his labors by publishing an
arithmetic. He came West in 1838, locating first at Springfield,
Illinois; concluded his medical studies at Rush Medical College,
Chicago, in 1845. Before leaving Illinois he was elected to the state
senate. In 1851 he came to St. Anthony Falls, made a claim, and
entered into partnership with Dr. J. H. Murphy. In 1852 he served as
surgeon at Fort Snelling, and in 1853 was elected to the territorial
legislature as a member of the house. In 1854 he was elected probate
judge; in 1857 member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional
convention, and in 1860 became a member of the state normal board.
During the remainder of his life he devoted himself to the practice of
medicine, but also served the public in many positions of trust. He
died Dec. 24, 1874. His wife and five children survive him.
ALBERT ALONZO AMES, son of Dr. A. E. and Martha (Pratt) Ames, was born
at Garden Prairie, Illinois, Jan. 18, 1842. He received a high school
education at Minneapolis, studied medicine at Rush Medical College,
Chicago, and graduated February, 1862. In August, 1863, he enlisted in
the Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, but shortly after was commissioned
assistant surgeon of the Seventh Minnesota Volunteers. He served for
awhile in the Indian campaigns. In the fall of 1863 the regiment was
ordered South. In July, 1864, he was commissioned as surgeon of the
Seventh regiment in place of Dr. L. B. Smith, killed at Tupelo. He was
mustered out of service at the close of the war with an excellent
record as a physician and surgeon. After the war he devoted himself to
the practice of his profession and to public services in Minneapolis,
excepting a period of six years spent in editorial life in California,
first on the staff of the _Daily Times_, and later as managing editor
of the _Alta Californian_. At the death of his father, in 1874, he
returned to Minneapolis and resumed practice. He has filled the
following positions of trust: 1867, member of the Minnesota
legislature (house); 1875, member of the city council; 1876, mayor of
Minneapolis; 1877, Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor (not
elected); 1886, Democratic candidate for governor (not elected);
1886-87-88, again mayor of Minneapolis. Dr. Ames is a member of such
prominent fraternities as the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Druids, Knights of
Pythias, and Order of Elks.
Dr. Ames was married April 21, 1862, to Sarah, daughter of Capt.
Richard Strout, of Minneapolis.
JESSE AMES was born in Vinalhaven, Maine, Feb. 4, 1808. From the age
of fourteen till his retirement in 1861, Mr. Ames devoted himself to a
seafaring life. At the age of twenty-three he was captain of a
schooner, and afterward of different ships, brigs, barks or schooners,
all of them in the mercantile trade. He made between twenty and thirty
voyages to Europe, circumnavigated Cape Horn several times, and sailed
twice round the globe. Few men have seen more of the world. His last
voyage was from New Zealand to London, where he sold his ship, and,
coming to America, found him a beautiful home in the North Star State.
He is a resident of Northfield, and is, with his son John T., the
owner of the well known flouring mills at that place. He was married
Oct. 27, 1832, to Margaret Tolman, of Rockland, Maine. They have two
sons, one of whom, John T., is a resident of Northfield. The other
son, Adelbert A., won distinction during the Civil War, leaving the
service with the brevet rank of major general. Since the war he has
served as senator from Mississippi, and as governor of that state.
CADWALLADER C. WASHBURN.--Hon. C. C. Washburn was a man of rare
nobility of character and possessed of an acute and powerful mind. He
used his great talents for the good of the country. He was a man of
philanthropic impulses and great generosity, as the following
munificent gifts to the public will attest:
_First_--To the state of Wisconsin, in 1876, an astronomical
observatory, located on the university lands at Madison, in style of
architecture and apparatus to carry into execution the design of the
institution, equal, if not superior, to that of any like institution
in the world.
_Second_--The donation of his "Edgewood Home," near Madison,
Wisconsin, for educational purposes.
_Third_--The generously established school located on the shores of
Lake Harriet, near Minneapolis, "The Washburn Home for Orphans," for
the poor and unfortunate children of Minnesota.
Mr. Washburn was born in Livermore, Maine, April 22, 1818; lived at
home until 1838, and devoted some time to obtaining a classical
education. In 1838 and 1839 he taught school and clerked in Hallowell
and Wiscassett, Maine. In the spring of 1839 he came West to
Davenport, Iowa, and was employed a few months with David Dale Owen,
on geological work. In 1840 and 1841 he studied law at Rock Island.
Illinois. In 1842 he settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and was
admitted to practice law at Lancaster, Grant county, in Judge Dunn's
court. He continued in practice at Mineral Point; also engaged in real
estate and dealing in land warrants, and in 1852 established the Bank
of Mineral Point. Mr. Washburn was elected representative to the
thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and fortieth congresses. In
February, 1861, the house appointed a special committee of
thirty-three members on the state of the Union. A majority of the
committee reported an amendment to the constitution of the United
States, making slavery perpetual. Mr. Washburn and others made a
minority report against making slavery perpetual. On this report we
subjoin his remarks: "If this Union must be dissolved, whether by
peaceable process or through fire and blood or civil war, we shall
have the consolation of knowing that when the conflict is over those
who survive will be what they never have been--inhabitants of a free
country." Mr. Washburn changed his residence to La Crosse in 1861. He
received a colonel's commission to recruit a cavalry regiment that
year, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
He was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1872. In 1876 he erected a
large flour mill at Minneapolis, which burned in 1878. It was soon
after rebuilt. In this mill he introduced the first Hungarian patent
process for making flour used in America. Mr. Washburn died at Eureka
Springs, Arkansas, May 14, 1882. His body was brought to Wisconsin and
buried at La Crosse.
[Illustration: W. D. Washburn]
WILLIAM DREW WASHBURN, the youngest of the Washburn brothers, was born
at Livermore, Maine, Jan. 14, 1831. He worked upon his father's farm
until twenty years of age; prepared himself for college by his own
unaided efforts, entered Bowdoin College, and graduated in 1854. He
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857, and in the same year
came to Minneapolis as agent of the Minneapolis Mill Company, of which
he became a partner. In 1861 President Lincoln appointed him surveyor
general of Minnesota. During his term of office, which continued four
years, he lived in St. Paul. On his return to Minneapolis he built a
large saw mill and engaged extensively in the lumber trade. He was the
chief mover in the Minneapolis & St. Louis and Minneapolis & Pacific
railways. He has a large lumber and flour mill at Anoka, and with
others erected the Palisade flour mill at Minneapolis. In 1878 he was
elected representative to Congress from the Third district and
re-elected in 1880. He has also served in the state legislature. He
was a principal proprietor of the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie &
Atlantic railway, and was elected president of the company in 1883.
Mr. Washburn has been successful in his business ventures, has
accumulated a handsome property, and been liberal in using his means
in the interests of Minneapolis and the State. He is eminently
practical in his business ideas and methods, and affable and
prepossessing in his manners. He married Lizzie Muzzy, of Bangor,
Maine, in 1850, and has two sons and two daughters living.
JOSEPH CLINTON WHITNEY was born in Springfield, Vermont, April 14,
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