Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom
1842. In 1845 he came to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, remained at this
1794 words | Chapter 191
point and at Taylor's Falls until 1849, when he made his residence at
Marine Mills, Minnesota. In 1857 he changed his residence to
Stillwater, and in 1861 became a citizen of St. Paul, where he still
resides. He was a member of the second, third and fourth territorial
legislatures. From 1854 to the present time he has been engaged
chiefly in lumbering. He is a man of pleasing address, of good
business talent and thoroughly reliable.
ELIAS F. DRAKE is a native of Ohio, in which state he lived until
1861, when he came to St. Paul. His boyhood days were spent on a farm;
later he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and still later studied law
under the instruction of Justice Swayne of the United States supreme
court, and was admitted to practice in all the courts of Ohio and in
the United States court. After a short and successful term of
practice, he became cashier of the State Bank of Ohio, and in that
capacity spent ten years of his life. During that time he served three
terms in the legislature, being speaker one session, during which the
late Gov. Swift was clerk of the house.
In politics Mr. Drake was a Whig, and afterward a Republican. During
his residence in Ohio he was active in promoting the improvements of
the country, successfully building several leading turnpike roads and
a few railroads.
In 1861 he came to Minnesota, and, put in operation the first
railroad in the State, a road between St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls.
In 1863 he was president of the Winona & St. Peter railroad during the
construction of the first ten miles. Soon after, he, with some
associates, took hold of the Minnesota Valley railroad, and completed
it to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1872. He is president and land commissioner
of this company. Mr. Drake represented Ramsey county in the state
senate in 1874-75.
NORMAN W. KITTSON was born at Sorel, Lower Canada, March 5, 1814. In
May, 1830, he engaged as an employe of the American Fur Company, and
in that capacity came to the Northwest. From the summer of 1830 to
that of 1832 he occupied the trading post between the Fox river and
the Wisconsin. The following year he operated on the headwaters of the
Minnesota, after which he spent a year on Red Cedar river, in Iowa. In
1834 he came to Fort Snelling, where he was sutler's clerk till 1838.
The winter of 1838-39 he spent with his friends in Canada. On his
return in the spring he began business on his own account in the fur
trade, at Cold Springs in the vicinity of Fort Snelling, which he
continued till 1843, when he entered the American Fur Company as
special partner, having charge of all the business on the headwaters
of the Minnesota, and along the line of the British possessions, and
operating in that field till 1854. During that summer he entered into
partnership with Maj. Wm. H. Forbes, in the general Indian trade, at
St. Paul, and went there to reside in the fall of that year. The
partnership continued till 1858, and Mr. Kittson continued his
northern business till 1860, when he closed out. In 1863 he accepted
the position of agent for the Hudson Bay Company at St. Paul, and went
into the steamboat and transportation business on the Red River of the
North. From 1851 to 1855 Mr. Kittson was a member of the territorial
council, and was mayor of the city of St. Paul in 1858. He was the
oldest of the pioneers of Minnesota, except Joseph Dajenais, a French
Canadian, now residing at Faribault. Mr. Kittson died July 10, 1888,
on a railroad train near Chicago. His body was brought to St. Paul for
burial.
HASCAL RUSSELL BRILL was born in the county of Mississquoi, Canada,
Aug. 10, 1846. He was educated partly at Hamline University, then
located at Red Wing, and finished at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He studied
law and was admitted to practice at St. Paul in December, 1869, and
formed a partnership with Stanford Newel. Three years later he was
elected probate judge and served two years. In 1875 he was appointed
by Gov. Davis to fill the vacancy in the court of common pleas caused
by the death of Judge W. S. Hall, and a few months later was elected
by the people to fill the same position. In politics Judge Brill is
Republican. He was married Aug. 11, 1873, to Cora A. Gray, of
Suspension Bridge, Niagara county, New York.
WARD W. FOLSOM, brother of Simeon P. and W. H. C. Folsom, was born in
Tamworth, New Hampshire, Oct. 13, 1824, but in early life removed with
his parents to Skowhegan, Maine, and in 1846 came to Arcola,
Minnesota. In 1848 he removed to St. Croix Falls and in 1851 to
Taylor's Falls, where he kept the Chisago House and engaged in
lumbering until 1857, when he removed to St. Paul, which city has
since been his home. He was employed for three years during the Civil
War in the quartermaster's department at St. Louis, Missouri. In 1865,
with health greatly shattered, he returned to St. Paul. He was married
to Sydney Puget, of St. Louis, in 1852. They have two adopted sons.
GORDON E. COLE was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, June 18,
1833; received his education at Sheffield Academy, Massachusetts, and
at the Dane law school of Harvard University, from which school he
graduated in 1854. He practiced law two years in his native town, came
to Minnesota, and located in Faribault in 1847. In 1859 he was elected
attorney general and served three consecutive terms. He served one
year as state senator, and a year in compiling state statutes. He has
been a railroad attorney and has filled many honorable positions. He
was married in August, 1855, to Stella C. Whipple, of Shaftsbury,
Vermont, who died in June, 1872, leaving three children. Feb. 14,
1874, he was married to Kate D. Turner, of Cleveland, Ohio.
JAMES SMITH, JR., was born in Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, Oct.
29, 1815. He obtained a good practical, common school education, and
was besides largely self taught. He read law three years in Lancaster,
Ohio, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and practiced law in his native
town for seventeen years. In 1856 he came to St. Paul, where he has
been associated in practice with Judge Lafayette Emmett, John M.
Gilman and J. J. Egan. Since the building of the St. Paul & Duluth
railroad he has been its attorney, general manager and president.
Mr. Smith was in the state senate in 1861-62-63 and 67, and proved a
careful and able legislator. As a lawyer he stands deservedly high. He
was married to Elisabeth Martin, Jan. 18, 1848. They have four
children.
WILLIAM PITT MURRAY is of Irish descent. He was born in Hamilton,
Butler county, Ohio, in 1827; came to Centreville, Indiana, in 1844;
attended school there, graduated at the State Law School at
Bloomington in 1849, and the same year came to St. Paul, where he has
practiced law ever since. He has also taken an active part in the
politics of the city and State. He has probably assisted in the
passage of more laws than any other man in the State. He was a member
of the territorial house of representatives in 1852-53 and 57, and of
the territorial council of 1854-55, acting as president in the latter
year. He was a member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional
convention in 1857; was a representative in the state legislatures of
1863 and 1868, and a state senator in 1866-67, 1875-76, and has
besides served sixteen years in the city council of St. Paul. He has
been county and city attorney since 1876. He has been honored beyond
most public servants and has a county named after him. He was married
to Carolina S. Conwell, of Laurel, Indiana, April 7, 1853. They have
three children living.
HENRY HALE.--Judge Hale was born in Vermont in 1816; studied law and
was admitted to practice in his native state. He came to St. Paul in
1856 and opened a law office on Bridge Square. He took an active part
in the politics of the State and vehemently opposed the $5,000,000
loan bill. He has since retired from law practice, and is now a
successful dealer in real estate.
JAMES GILFILLAN, son of James and Janet (Gilmor) Gilfillan, was born
in Bannockburn, Scotland, March 9, 1829. His parents came to America
in 1830 and located at New Hartford, New York. He was educated in the
common schools, read law and was admitted to practice in 1850. He
removed to Buffalo, New York, where he practiced law until 1857, when
he removed to St. Paul and opened a law office. In 1862 he enlisted in
Company H, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, became its captain
and before the close of the war was commissioned colonel of the
Eleventh Minnesota Infantry. In 1869 he was appointed to a vacancy on
the supreme bench of the State and again in 1875. The same year he
was elected to the office for seven years, at the end of which time he
was re-elected. He was married June 4, 1867, to Miss Martha McMasters,
of St. Paul. They have six children.
CHARLES DUNCAN GILFILLAN, a younger brother of James, was born in New
Hartford, New York, July 4, 1831. He was educated in the common
schools, Homer Academy and Hamilton College. After leaving college, in
1850, he located in Missouri, and a year later came to Stillwater,
Minnesota, where he read law with Michael E. Ames, was admitted to the
bar in 1853 and removed to St. Paul in 1854, where he engaged for
about twelve years in the practice of his profession. Since that
period he has been engaged in furthering various public enterprises,
among them the St. Paul Water Works, of which he was the founder and
for many years manager. He has occupied various public positions,
always with credit to himself. He was the first recorder of
Stillwater; was a member of the state legislatures of 1864-65, and
1876, and a member of the senate from 1878 to 1881, inclusive. At the
session of 1878 he was chairman of the railroad committee and the
committees on judiciary and education. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Gilfillan was married to Emma C. Waage, of Montgomery county, New
York, who died in 1863, leaving no issue. In 1865 he married Fanny S.
Waage, sister of his first wife. They have four children.
ALEXANDER WILKIN was born in Orange county, New York, in December,
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