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.
CHARLES H. KINGSBURY (1878), a farmer of Osborne township, is an early settler of Pipestone county, and one of the very first residents of Osborne township, where he has resided thirty-three years. He is a progessive farmer and a man held in high esteem by his neighbors. Mr. Kingsbury has a fine family of grown-up sons and daughters.
FRANK E. DOUTY (1891) has for two years past been the highly esteemed president of the village council of Edgerton and is a banker of that thriving municipality. He is a native of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where he was born April 21, 1871. Both his parents, C. E. and Almeda H. (Adams) Douty, were natives of Maine. When a young man, the father, C. E. Douty, moved west and invested in land near Marshall, Minnesota. He settled there just at the time of the dread grasshopper scourge and after a few seasons replete with bitter experiences he sought a more favorable location and selected the country near New Hampton, Iowa, where he bought land and lived until 1896. That year he came back to Minnesota and farmed in Battle Plain township, Rock county, until his death, which occurred September 21, 1909, at the age of fifty-eight years. His wife died July 17, 1910. Two children besides our subject were born to these parents. They are Stanley D., of the home farm, and Cora (Mrs. Emery Lorenz), of Osborne township.
Frank E. Douty of this biography was three years of age when he left Wisconsin
and located with his parents on a farm near New Hampton, Iowa. There he passed his youth and received an education. At the age of twenty he moved to Rock county and farmed land owned by his father in Battle Plain township until 1896, when his residence in Edgerton began. That year he was chosen assistant cashier of the Bank of Edgerton, and five years later he was promoted to the cashiership, his present position. He served on the village council several years before becoming president of that body. He is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias.
On July 26, 1899, Mr. Douty was joined in marriage to Elizabeth Langmack, a native of Iowa, who was born October 27, 1880.
The State Bank of Edgerton is the successor to the old Bank of Edgerton, which was established in 1891 as a private institution with the following officers: President, H. J. Thode; vice president, B. Ross; cashier, C. G. Brady. In 1896 F. E. Douty was elected assistant cashier.
These same officers continued to serve until 1901, when a change resulted as follows: President, C. S. Howard; vice president, Ed. Yocom; cashier, F. E. Douty, which is the staff as it is today. On March 10, 1908, the original private financial house was reorganized into the State Bank of Edgerton, capitalized at $25,000. The institution does a general banking, real estate, loans, collection and insurance business. It is the oldest bank in Edgerton and has enjoyed a prosperous career.
The bank has had the following assistant cashiers since its organization: C. B. Mather, W. C. Lee, S. A. Christianson, Elizabeth Douty, Myrtle Jones, Mabel Rud, F. N. Saun.
FRANK HILLARD (1892) is one of the prominent agriculturists of Altona township -— a man who has reaped prosperity from Pipestone county's productive soil. His 360 acre farm, which comprises the northeast quarter of section 33 and the southwest quarter of section 28, is substantially and thoroughly improved. During the summer of 1910 Mr. Hillard erected an elegant farm residence, unexcelled in the precinct. He is an extensive breeder of the highest grades of stock.
Alsace-Lorraine was French territory at the time the birth of our subject occurred there October 10, 1868. Two years later, as a result of warfare between the French and German nations, the territory became a German province. Both parents, Frank Hillard, Sr., a farmer by occupation, and Susanna (Benarde) Hillard, lived and died in the land of the kaiser. The father died on New Year's day, 1901, while the mother died in 1890.
Frank Hillard of this biography passed the first twenty-two years of his life in the land of his birth. He attended the German common schools and until immigrating to America he was employed on the fruit and truck farm of his father. On February 24, 1890, Frank landed at New York, and from that port he journeyed to Dubuque, Iowa, arriving there with very limited capital. For two years he was employed at farm labor in the vicinity of Dubuque; then commenced the successful career he has since pursued in Pipestone county and Altona township. He worked out for two years, then rented the land he now farms, of which he became the owner after four years' occupancy. Mr. Hillard has been for several years a director of scohol district No. 31.
In Grange township, on August 12, 1896, Frank Hillard was wedded to Catherine Ackerman, the daughter of L. V. and Mary Ackerman, of Grange. Mrs. Hillard was born at Faribault, Minnesota, December 14, 1874. They are the parents of one living child, John, born April 26, 1899. Two sons, Peter and Henry, are deceased. Peter was born February 18, 1899. Henry, born May 24, 1898, died at the age of nine months.
ORVILLE P. NASON (1880). In the city of Pipestone there is not a citizen more highly esteemed, or a man more closely identified with every worthy movement that has meant for a bigger and better Pipestone —and that from the earliest days,—or one that has contributed more of his means and energy to the promotion of the public welfare than the gentleman whose name heads this review. A busier man there never was, but it seems to be an almost universal rule that it is just such individuals that always
are ready and willing to give of their spare time and talent to aid others and the common good.
At Osceola, Polk county, Wisconsin, on April 28, 1864, occurred the birth of this man of achievement, Orville P. Nason. He was sixteen years of age when, with his parents, he moved to Minnesota and Pipestone county, destined to be the field of his subsequent activities. The father, Crocker Nason, and his family lived on a farm in Gray township for two years, but in 1882 became permanent residents of Pipestone City.
On the first day of April, 1885, at the age of twenty-one, Orville P. Nason commenced his business career in Pipestone. From the small beginnings of that date has developed a business, organization of unusual magnitude, another monumental success to be attributed to a self-made man, who has accomplished great things through peserverance, attention to minute details, and a fortitude acquired only in the school of "hard knocks." On the date mentioned Mr. Nason established a dray line of limited proportions. A year later he assumed the management of the Interests of the Standard Oil company, in Pipestone, and today is the oldest agent, in point of continuous service, of that corporation in the Mankato district, which comprises the whole of southwestern Minnesota. Mr. Nason's business interests commenced to expand about twenty years ago, when he became a dealer in wood and coal. Following that movement, he bought an elevator and now is also a grain merchant. Several years ago he became the operator of the Pipestone Granite quarry. In the conduct of these manifold interests of Mr. Nason's twenty men find employment.
To E. W. Davies, the pioneer banker of Pipestone, more than to any other man, Mr. Nason attributes his success. At the commencement of his business career a quarter of a century ago, Mr. Davies freely gave financial and moral support and offered valuable instruction in the most approved methods of bookkeeping suitable to his business. That first set of books Mr. Nason still retains and prizes. He is now one of the stockholders of the Pipestone County Bank, of which Mr. Davies is the president.
The parents of our subject, Crocker and Evaline (Penlason) Nason, are natives of Maine. They were married in Wisconsin in 1860 and resided in Osceola county, or that state, until establishing their present residence in Pipestone county thirty-one years ago. For two years the family resided in Gray township, but have lived in Pipestone since 1882. Crocker Nason is still hale and hearty and for the past twenty years has piloted the train bus of his transfer line. Besides Orville P., of this sketch, there are three other sons in the Nason family, namely: Ralph W., of Pipestone; Ross A., of Antlers, Colorado; and Mrs. Crocker Nason celebrated their schools at Vigan, Philippine Islands. Mr. and Mrs. Crocker Nason celebrated their golden wedding November 4, 1910, the event having been planned as a surprise by the Grand Army and Relief Corps of Pipestone.
On September 18, 1886, in Pipestone, occured the marriage of Orville P. Nason to Isabella B. Wilson, who was born in Will county, Illinois. Mrs. Nason is a sister of Andrew Wilson, of the firm of Wilson & Evans Bros., and a daughter of Andrew and Isabella Wilson, of Scotch birth, and residents of Pipestone county since 1885. One son, Forrest P., was born to these parents on July 13, 1900.
Among the organizations and enterprises in which Mr. Nason has been a guiding spirit must be mentioned the Pipestone Commercial club, of which he is a charter member, and its first and only president, an office he acceptably fills at the present writing. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. lodge and the Sons of Veterans. His father, Crocker Nason, served with distinction throughout the whole civil war as a member of company A, Forty-fourth Wisconsin regiment.
HARRY M. GRIFFIN (1884), who owns and farms a half section of land in Murray county, just over the line from Osborne township, lived in Pipestone county from the time he was a boy twelve years of age until the spring of 1911. He is the son of J. A. Griffin, of Trosky, a native of New Hampshire. The Griffins are of English descent, the father of J. A. Griffin
having been the first of the family to settle in America. His mother came of old Pilgrim stock. The mother of our subject was Isabelle (Gray) Griffin, who was born in Scotland and died July 5, 1908.
Harry M. Griffin's birth occurred in Delaware county, Iowa, May 4, 1872. Twelve years later he moved with his parents to Pipestone county, the family locating on a farm where the village of Trosky now stands. He was educated in the district schools and later attended the Trosky school. Mr. Griffin was married in 1895 and the same year commenced farming for himself on section 17, Osborne township. Three years later he moved to section 30 and in 1904 located on section 24, where he resided until March 6, 1911. At that time he moved to his own farm, the south half of section 18, township 105, range 43, Murray county, which he bought from William Lockwood October 10, 1910. Mr. Griffin is a large stock raiser. He is the clerk of school district No. 44 and has served in that capacity since 1905. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. lodge of Trosky and the M. W. A. lodge of Edgerton.
On January 12, 1888, Harry and two of his brothers met with an unpleasant experience in the never-to-be-forgotten blizzard of that year. The boys were caught in the storm while homeward bound from Trosky. The snow was so heavy and blinding that it was impossible for them to discern one another and it was only by tightly holding to each other's coats that they were able to keep from being separated and lost. They walked eighty rods through the storm before finally reaching home and shelter.
Mr. Griffin was married in Osborne township on September 25, 1895, to Hattie Butts, the daughter of R. J. and Catherine J. Butts, now of Bellingham, Washington. She was born in Rushford, Fillmore county, Minnesota, February 1, 1871, and moved eight years later with her parents to Pipestone county. The following six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Griffin: James A., born August 4, 1896; Richard H., born February 21, 1898; Thelma I., born August 31, 1899; Catherine I., born August 12, 1901; and Hattie M. and Harry M. (twins), born January 3, 1905.