Biographies from An Illustrated History of the Counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, 1911. The date after each name denotes the year the subject came to Pipestone County.
JOHN HARVEY (1877) is one of Pipestone county's very earliest settlers and his home since 1877 has been continuously on the land he homesteaded at that date, the southeast quarter of section 24, Osborne township. He was born in Lee county, Illinois, October 26, 1854. His father, Edward Harvey, who died in Pipestone county in August, 1904, was a native of county Armagh, Ireland. His mother was Ann (Smith) Harvey, a native of New York state. She died in December, 1907, at Stewartville, Minnesota.
When John was in his third or fourth year the Harvey family moved from Illinois to Olmsted county, Minnesota, and there he lived until coming to Pipestone county in 1877. In the fall of that year he took as a pre-emption claim the Osborne township farm already described. The following spring Mr. Harvey broke twenty acres of the land and in the fall erected thereon a frame shanty, 10x14 feet. He spent the summer of 1878 working near Luverne. The only other settler within a large radius when our subject took his claim was A. D. Kings-bury, who had located on land upon which the town of Edgerton now stands. During the troublesome grasshopper days in 1879 Mr. Harvey was forced to seek other employment than farming to keep body and soul together. Since those days he has prospered and is now one of the substantial farmers of the precinct.
At Luverne, on February 15, 1881, John Harvey was married to Charlotte Madison, a native of Sweden. Mrs. Harvey died March 26, 1897. Three children were born to this union: Melvin, born August 18, 1893; Loretta, born December 6, 1894; and John, born September 3, 1896.
ISAAC L. HART (1879), the founder of the pioneer and most influential journal in Pipestone county, the Pipestone County Star, has for thirty-two years been connected with the paper as publisher. He was one of the very first business men to identify himself with the little prairie hamlet of Pipestone, and ever since the first year of its existence has made of the Star an agency that has labored without respite for the advancement of city and county along every worthy line of growth.
A native of New York city, the birth of Isaac L. Hart occurred on the ninth of August, 1843. He is the son of Elijah and Margaret (Stanton) Hart, both of whom came from old families of the Empire state. In 1850 the Harts departed from the American metropolis to seek a home in the young but vigorous city of Chicago. The journalistic spirit was first engendered within the youthful Isaac L. Hart in the office of the Chicago Times in 1853, where his first duties were those of office boy. He was in the course of several years-identified with several of the other well-known early papers of Chicago, and from his experience he recalls many interesting
and amusing anecdotes of Chicago's early-day newspapers, when they were printed on the old style presses and the mechanical departments were crudely equipped.
The great sectional struggle came on and the best blood of the nation was called upon for a sacrifice that the union, might be preserved. On August 7, 1862, Mr. Hart enlisted in company C, Seventy-second Illinois infantry, and served in that command until 1864. In the two years of army service he participated in a number of the memorable engagements of Grant's army in the southwest, up to and including the battles and siege of Vicksburg. After the siege of Vicksburg the Seventy-second Illinois was sent to Natchez, Mississippi, and in 1864 Mr. Hart was mustered from the military service to accept a clerkship in the government custom house at Natchez, which place he held .for a little over a year.
At the conclusion of his term of government service our subject returned to Chicago, where he continued to reside until 1870. In that year Mr. Hart moved to Eldora, Iowa, in which town he published the Herald, a paper he conducted until the commencement of his career in Pipestone county. The Star was established in June, 1879, and has since continued under the same management. During the blizzardy winter of 1880-81, when Pipestone was shut off from intercourse with the outside world for eighty days, the Star never missed an issue, but appeared sometimes on brown wrapping paper, at other times on wall paper—anything that was most convenient. For a number of years the Star published a daily issue, but now is a semi-weekly and is one of, the influential publications of southern Minnesota.
During his long residence in the county Mr. Hart has given unselfishly of his time and talent to the end of a greater and better Pipestone county. He was the first judge of probate, having been elected to the office in 1879 and having served one term. He is widely known in the Masonic circles of the state, and is a past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Hart is a charter member of Quarry Lodge No. 148, A. F. & A. M., Triune Chapter No. 51, R. A. M., and Hope Lodge No. 89, I. O. O. F., in all of which he has held the highest stations. Of Simon Mix Post No. 95, G. A. R., he is an ex-post commander.
On May 4, 1865, Isaac L. Hart was married to Mary E. Gardner, of Chicago, the daughter of Charles and Ellen Gardner. To this union have been born the following six children: Gardner E., a newspaper man of San Diego, California; Lillian G. (Mrs. L. H. Dibble), of Faribault, Minnesota; Mabel G. (Mrs. George W. Smith), of Coffeyville, Kansas; Charles G., Ralph G., the editor of the Star; and Kittie G.
ED. MILAR (1879) was one of the very first settlers of eastern Altona township, where he has dwelt and labored continuously for more than thirty years. He was born in Henry county, Illinois, on October 30, 1862, the son of Michael and Mary (Lupher) Milar. The father was a native of Ohio, and of English and Irish parentage, while the mother came from Germany.
Four years after the birth of our subject Michael Milar sold his holdings in Henry county and with his family moved to Cass county, Missouri, where he engaged in farming and lumbering until called by death in 1876. Immediately after that family bereavement Mrs. Milar disposed of the Missouri property and with her children became a resident of Minnesota. After a three years' residence in Goodhue county, the Milars, nothing daunted by the hardships and dangers of a new country, in 1879 established a home in Pipestone county. The valiant mother homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 12, Altona. In 1883 Ed. bought his mother's homestead right to the quarter, proved up on the same and has since developed it into one of the banner farms of the precinct. Mr. Milar is also the owner of a quarter of section 13.
Mrs. Milar passed away from this life in 1902. She was the mother of a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, six of whom died from diphtheria. Our subject was the second youngest child. He is unmarried.
SEVERT B. DUEA (1887), of Ruthton, was the able representative of the sixteenth district, comprising the counties of Rock and
Pipestone, in the lower house of the state legislature during the years 1909-10 and in the state senate 1910-1914. He is a prominent man of affairs in his home community and in the county at large. He is a Ruthton banker and at present is serving as the treasurer of that village.
Severt B. Duea is one in a family of nine children, one of whom is deceased, and the son of Sam C. and Betsy (Wierson) Duea, both of whom came to this country from their native land of Norway early in life. They were married in Story county, Iowa, where for many years Mr. Duea served as the superintendent of the county poor farm. The family moved to Pipestone county and Eden township in 1887, in which precinct Sam C. Duea owned and farmed a half section of land until his death in November, 1902. Betsy (Wierson) Duea died at the home of her son, W. C. Duea, in Ihlen in the spring of 1911.
In the town of Roland, Story county, Iowa, on February 13, 1876, occurred the nativity of our subject. Severt was eleven years of age when the family departed from Iowa and became residents of Pipestone county. He was educated in the district schools of Eden township and in the public schools of Jasper, and early in life became the molder of his own fortune. He secured his first employment at the little village of Ihlen as driver of the wagon for the village grocer. For a number of years thereafter he was located in Pipestone, where he clerked in the stores of Sommerville Bros, and the Minneapolis store. For four years he managed the business of the Northwestern Elevator company at that point.
In 1901 Mr. Duea established his residence in Ruthton. He entered the employ of the Bank of Ruthton as bookkeeper, and when that institution was later reorganized into the First National Bank of Ruthton he bought an interest and was elected to the cashiership of the bank, a position he still holds. Mr. Duea is also president of the State Bank of Ihlen. He owns farm property in Pipestone and Murray counties and is a stockholder in the Farmers Co-operative association of Ruthton, which he serves as treasurer. He is prominent in fraternal circles and holds membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masons, in the Knights of Pythias order and the Modern Woodmen lodge.
Severt B. Duea has been twice married. His first wife was Jennie Stuart, the daughter of Duncan Stuart, upon whose farm west of Pipestone the marriage ceremony was solemnized March 15, 1901. Mrs. Duea died October 6, 1902, five days after the birth of a son, Duncan Stuart Duea. Our subject was united in marriage the second time on February 6, 1907, in Ruthton, to Frances Alien. A son was born to these parents at the Willard hotel in St. Paul on February 27, 1909, Mr. Duea being a member of the legislature at the time. The baby boy was named Willard, after the hostelry in which his birth occurred.
HORACE H. GILMORE (1878), one of the pioneers of Sweet township, lived continuously for thirty-two years on the farm, the southeast quarter of section 34, which he homesteaded in 1878. He has now retired from active pursuits after an industrious and fruitful career and lives in the city of Pipestone, where he bought property and moved in the fall of 1910. His well improved farm is now conducted by his son, Charles C. Gilmore.
The parents of our subject were Edward and Sarah (Doty) Gilmore, both natives of Vermont. They were married in their native state and moved to Wisconsin in an early day. Eight children were born to this revered couple, the following four of whom are still living: Wilson, of Lyndon, Wisconsin; Allen, of Lyndon; Sophronia (Mrs. Charles Bentley), of Pipestone; and Horace H., of this review. William B., a twin brother of Wilson, died in Pipestone in 1906. Another son, Lafayette, died after having served his country in the civil war. An older son and a daughter also died many years ago.
Horace H. Gilmore was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, April 25, 1846. He left the home farm at the age of eighteen years and went to Juneau county, in the same state, and there entered the employ of the T. W. Weston Lumber company. In the summer seasons he worked with a lumber crew on the Wisconsin river, and during the winter months the work took him to the pineries. Men were wanted to preserve the union, and in 1864 Mr. Gilmore forsook personal interest and enlisted in company E, Forty-first Wisconsin regiment, and served until the cessation of hostilities.
The new county of Pipestone was most desolate in appearance when our subject determined to establish a home within its borders. He drove the entire distance from Lyndon, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1878 and homesteaded the land which was to be the scene of his activities for so many years. He hauled lumber from Luverne with which to build his first dwelling. The hardships of pioneer life fell in due portion to the lot of Mr. Gilmore, and he admits that had it not been for the courage and optimism of his wife he would have deserted the country, as did so many of the early settlers who experienced no counteraction to the discouragements. During the memorable blizzardy winter of 1880-81 Mrs. Gilmore was absent from her husband for nine weeks. She was visiting at Luverne, and it was utterly impossible for her to return home by any means whatsoever before the end of that period. That winter hay was synonymous with fuel and the settlers considered themselves lucky to have a supply on hand. Mr. Gilmore has never aspired to office. He was elected to the chairmanship of the township board in the early days but refused to qualify. He served as school director for more than twenty years.
At Kilbourn City, Wisconsin, on November 17, 1874, Horace H. Gilmore was wedded to Eliza Donaldson. She was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, but in 1854, at the age of five years, moved with her parents to Lyndon, Juneau county, of the same state. She was engaged in teaching school in Juneau county from 1866 until 1874. Mrs. Gilmore is a sister of Mrs. P. J. Kniss, the wife of one of the founders of Luverne. She is a member of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have been born two sons, Robert E. and Charles C., both of Sweet township.
DAVID WILLIAMS (1879), proprietor df the Pioneer Stock Farm, located on section 18, Elmer township, has passed all except the first eight years of his life as a resident of Pipestone county. He is one of the largest stock raisers in the precinct and devotes special attention to the breeding of Poland China hogs and Shropshire sheep.
David Williams was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on August 25, 1871, the son of Cadwallder and Jane (Jones) Williams, now of Trosky. Both parents are natives of Wales. Our subject was three years of age when the family moved from Wisconsin and made settlement in Minnesota. They were located in Fillmore county until June, 1879; then they journeyed overland to Pipestone county, then just opening for settlement. The father home-steaded the southeast quarter of section
17. Elmer, but for a few years the Williams family lived with a family named Jones. The first year's crop became food for the grasshoppers.
Cadwallder Williams traded a team of horses for the northeast quarter of section
18. Elmer, and in an old sod shanty that had been moved from near Luverne the family made their first home. David was employed by his father until 1895, when he rented the home farm and has since conducted it. He later bought eighty acres on section 18 and now farms 240 acres. Mr. Williams was one of the organizers of the Elmer Rural Telephone company in 1908 and is now its president. He has been a supervisor of Elmer township since 1908 and for six years has been the treasurer of school district No. 65.
At Pipestone, on November 27, 1900, the subject of this review was joined in marriage to Lilly May Langei, the daughter of Lars J. and Mary Langei, of Flandreau, South Dakota. Mrs. Williams was born in Lone Rock township, Moody county, South Dakota, August 22, 1879. To this union have been born four children: Milton Leroy, born September 7, 1901; Helen Myrtle, born May 16, 1903; Hazel Harriet, born May 12, 1905; and Harry Ellery, born December 19, 1908.
WILLIAM J. DODD (1878) is a Pipestone county pioneer of 1878, one who has lived continuously since then on land he home-steaded in Osborne township. That town is indebted, to Mr. Dodd for the name it bears. He suggested the name Osborne in
honor of a cousin, J. C. Osborne, of Newark, New Jersey.
A native of Ulster county, New York, William J. Dodd was born September 23, 1856, the son of Jared and Eliza (Coral) Dodd. The father was born in New Jersey of English descent, and the mother was a New Yorker, the daughter of Dutch and German parents. The family moved to Sauk county, Wisconsin, in 1861. On a farm which his father bought in that county William was reared and was educated in the primitive schools of those days. In 1878, with his brother, George D. Dodd, he came to Pipestone county, then just opening for settlement. The two brothers filed claims to adjoining homesteads, George taking as his allotment the southwest quarter of section 2, Osborne township, and our subject filing on the northwest quarter of the same section. The former later disposed of his holdings to William J. Dodd, who is now the owner of a half section of Pipestone county's choicest soil.
The Dodds came to this locality in ample time to undergo the bitter experiences of the grasshopper scourge. They did not, however, lose more than one crop. Mr. Dodd has been unusually successful in his stock raising ventures. He maintains a large herd of choice breeds, making a specialty of the Polled Angus and Durham cattle and the Duroc-Jersey hog. He has served five years on the township board and for four years was a school director. Fraternally he is a Modern Woodman.
The marriage of our subject to Flora J. Bacon occurred in Sauk county, Wisconsin, February 20, 1884. Mrs. Dodd was born in Baraboo, the county seat, on April 2, 1857. For ten years she was a teacher in the public schools of that place. She is the daughter of Ira Bacon, who was born in Michigan of Scotch and English parentage, and Helen (Nethaway) Bacon, a native of New York and of English and German ancestry. One daughter, Nellie E. N., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, on June 23, 1890.
CHARLES H. SMITH (1878), of Pipestone, is a homesteader and one of the pioneer settlers of Pipestone county. He was born in Hesia, Germany, April 4, 1843. His father, Jacob Smith, died in the old country, and his mother, Maria (Wirth) Smith, died in Wisconsin.
Mr. Smith came alone to the United States in 1857 and located at Lancaster, Grant county, Wisconsin, where he worked in a flouring mill and engaged in farming until 1862. On February 12 of that year he enlisted at McGregor, Iowa, in company H, first battalion, Sixteenth United States infantry, and served in the army until his muster out in June, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. For a time he served in the army of Ohio, under General Buell, and later he was in the army of the Cumberland, in the Fourteenth army corps. He took part in the battles of Shiloh, on April 7, 1862; Perryville, Kentucky; Stone's River, Tennessee; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee; Chickamauga, Georgia; Missionary Ridge, Georgia; Buzzard's Roost, Georgia; Resaca, Georgia; Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta; Jonesboro, Georgia; and the engagements in the Atlantic campaign. At the battle of Chickamauga he received a scalp wound but continued in the service.
After his muster out Mr. Smith returned to Grant county, but in September, 1865, located in Winona, Minnesota. After spending six months there, he went to Minneapolis, where he remained one year. Our subject then returned to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he resided until 1875, engaged in the grocery and meat business. Mr. Smith engaged in the same business at New Albion, Iowa, two years and in 1877 became a resident of Vernon county, Wisconsin. On the seventeenth day of April, 1878, Mr. Smith arrived in Pipestone county, where he has ever since resided. He took as a homestead, claim the northwest quarter of section 26, Gray township, and resided there until 1893, since which time he has lived in Pipestone. He conducted a grocery and meat store in the county capital until 1898.
Mr. Smith was elected clerk of the district court in 1898 and held the office during the next eight years. He served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Lake one year and now holds the position by appointment by Sheriff Shepherd. Mr. Smith has held other local offices. He was clerk of Gray township from the date of organization until he moved from the precinct, and he was treasurer of school district No. 13 for many years. For two years he was justice of the peace in Pipestone. Mr. Smith is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a charter member of Hope Lodge No. 89, I. O. O. F., is a member of Quarry Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is secretary of the local order of the Royal Arch Masons. He also holds membership in Simon Mix Post No. 98, G. A. R., and is aid de camp of the national encampment.
At West Prairie, Vernon county, Wisconsin, on August 30, 1878, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Kate L. Schoenberger, who was born in Germany June 22, 1845, and who came to the United States ten years later. Three children have been born to this union as follows: Nettie May (Mrs. Ross M. Nason), of Antlers, Colorado; Fred C. O., who died in Minneapolis in October, 1898, while a member of company M, of the Fifteenth Minnesota infantry; and Edith Estella, of Pipestone.