Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1806. He received a thorough classical and medical education. In 1828
1207 words | Chapter 188
he emigrated to America, and, having abandoned his original intention
of becoming a physician, entered into business, at first in the employ
of John Jacob Astor. He became chief agent of the fur company on Lake
Superior, with residence at La Pointe. In 1848 he removed to St. Paul
and entered into a partnership with Pierre Chouteau. In 1854 the
banking house of Borup & Oakes, of which he was senior partner, was
established. Dr. Borup died of heart disease, July 6, 1859, but the
banking business was continued under the firm name many years later.
He was married July 17, 1832, to Elizabeth Beaulieu, a daughter of
Basil Beaulieu, a French trader of Mackinaw. His widow died in St.
Paul several years ago. Of a family of eleven children, nine survive.
CAPT. RUSSELL BLAKELEY, one of the best known of the early steamboat
men, was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, April 19, 1815. He spent
a part of his early life in Genesee county, New York, where he
received a common school education; emigrated to Peoria, Illinois, in
1836, where he engaged in the real estate business; in 1839 he removed
to Galena, where he engaged in mining and smelting; in 1844 to
Southwest Virginia, returning to Galena in 1847, where he became one
of a steamboat transportation company. He was clerk upon the first
boat on the line, the Argo. This boat sank and he was transferred to
the Dr. Franklin, of which he became captain. He was captain of the
Nominee in 1853, and of the Galena in 1854. This last named boat was
burned at Red Wing, July 1, 1858. In 1855 he was appointed agent at
Dunleith of the Packet Company, and soon afterward bought a leading
interest in the Northwestern Express Company. The next year he removed
to St. Paul. In 1867 he retired from the company. Of late years he has
interested himself in railroad enterprises, and has contributed
greatly to the prosperity of the city and State.
RENSSELAER R. NELSON, United States district judge since Minnesota
became a state, was born in Cooperstown, Otsego county, New York, May
12, 1826. His paternal great-grandfather came from Ireland in 1764.
His grandfather was born in Ireland, but came to this country in his
childhood. His father, Samuel Nelson, was associate justice of the
United States supreme court. His father served as a soldier in the war
of 1812, and the son located the land warrant given for his services
in Minnesota. The mother of Rensselaer was Catharine Ann (Russell), a
descendant of Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, Massachusetts, in whose
house the regicides Goffe and Whalley were concealed for years, and
where they finally died.
Rensselaer R. Nelson graduated at Yale in 1846. In 1849 he was
admitted to practice law. He came to St. Paul in 1850. In 1857
President Buchanan appointed him territorial judge, and in 1858,
United States district judge, which office he still holds. He was
married to Mrs. Emma F. Wright, a daughter of Washington Beebe, of New
York State, Nov. 3, 1858.
GEORGE LOOMIS BECKER was born Feb. 14, 1829, in Locke, Cayuga county,
New York. His father, Hiram Becker, was a descendant of the early
Dutch settlers of the Mohawk valley. In 1841 his father removed to Ann
Arbor, Michigan, where the son entered the State University as a
freshman, and graduated in 1846. He studied law with George Sedgewick
until 1849, when he emigrated to St. Paul, arriving late in October.
Here he commenced the practice of law, being associated with Edmund
Rice and E. J. Whitall. Subsequently, on the withdrawal of Mr.
Whitall, Wm. Hollinshead became a member of the firm. The partnership
continued until 1856, when Mr. Becker withdrew to engage in other
pursuits, since which time he has been engaged in forwarding the
railroad interests of the State and serving in various positions of
honor and trust. He served as a member of the constitutional
convention in 1857. In 1862 he was chosen land commissioner of the St.
Paul & Pacific railroad, and in 1864 was elected president of that
corporation. In 1872 he was the unsuccessful candidate of his party
for Congress.
He is a member of the Old Settlers Association, of which he was
president in 1873, and of the Minnesota Historical Society, over which
he presided as president in 1874. He was one of the original members
of the Presbyterian church in St. Paul in 1850. He has served in the
council of St. Paul, and as mayor. He has figured most creditably in
the business, political, social and religious life of his adopted
city, and is an admirable type of a public spirited citizen. Since
1885 he has served as railroad commissioner. In 1885, at Keesville,
New York, he was married to Susannah M. Ismon, an estimable lady, who
has made his home attractive. Their family consists of four sons.
AARON GOODRICH.--Hon. Aaron Goodrich, first chief justice of the
supreme court of Minnesota Territory, was born in Sempronius, Cayuga
county, New York, July 6, 1807. His parents were Levi H. and Eunice
(Spinner) Goodrich. He traces his ancestry back through the
Connecticut branch of the Goodrich family to a period in English
history prior to the advent of William the Conqueror. His mother was a
sister of Dr. John Skinner, who married a daughter of Roger Sherman.
In 1815 his father removed to Western New York, where the son was
raised on a farm and educated chiefly by his father, who was a fine
scholar and teacher. He then studied law and commenced practice in
Stewart county, Tennessee. In 1847 to 1848 he was a member of the
Tennessee legislature.
In 1849 he was appointed to the supreme bench of Minnesota Territory.
He filled the position for three years. In 1858, at the state
organization, he was appointed a member of a commission to revise the
laws and prepare a system of pleading for state courts. In 1860 he was
made chairman of a similar commission. In March, 1861, President
Lincoln appointed him secretary of the legation at Brussels, where he
served eight years. While abroad, by his habits of study and
opportunities for research, he laid the foundation of his critical and
somewhat sensational work, "A History of the Character and
Achievements of the So-called Christopher Columbus."
In politics Judge Goodrich was originally a Whig, and was a
presidential elector in 1848. He was next a Republican, and served as
delegate to the convention of 1860. In 1872 he was a delegate to the
Liberal Republican convention which nominated Horace Greeley for
president. In later years he voted with the Democratic party.
Mr. Goodrich was Deputy Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Freemasons in the State, was one of the corporate members of the State
Historical Society and of the Old Settlers Association, of which he
was for many years the secretary. In 1870 he was married to Miss Alice
Paris, of Bogota, New Grenada, a descendant of the old Castilian
family de Paris, an accomplished lady, who, with a daughter, survives
him. Judge Goodrich died in St. Paul in 1886.
NATHAN MYRICK was born in Westford, Essex county, New York, July 7,
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