Bottineau County, North Dakota Biographies BRUNO CHARBONNEAU, a familiar figure on the streets of Willow City, Bottineau County, was born near Montreal in 1856. He belongs to a family that has kept its French blood unstained, and though he is in the sixth generation in America, he is proud of his unspotted lineage. His mother was French and his father, Oliver Charbonneau, born in Canada, has spent his entire life in agriculture. The old Canadian homestead where the first Charbonneaus settled is still owned by members of the family. The subject of this article is the third in a family of eight children born to his parents, and was reared on the farm. He had an excellent education, completed the common school, and spent three years in the higher studies. He became proficient in French and English. When he was fourteen he entered a store in Montreal as a clerk, and was engaged in this manner until he was twenty-one. At that time he opened a general store in his native village eleven miles from Montreal, and spent the next five years with a younger brother in this business, but he was not satisfied with the outlook for a young man in that small place. He traveled for some time in Canada and in the New England states, but did not think the older East was the proper country for a young man of energy. He turned his eyes toward the northwest, and came to St. John, North Dakota, in 1883. The nearest railroad station at that time was Grafton. He drove overland from Winnipeg, and very shortly located himself on government land in Rolette County. He was married, in 1882, in New England, to Miss Philomene Paquette. She was born in Canada, and is of pure French blood. Her progenitors have also been in Canada for many generations. They have no children of their own, and are rearing one adopted child, Susie, born in St. John October 13, 1887. On his settlement in North Dakota Mr. Charbonneau immediately put up a log shanty, 13x13 feet, and began his farming operations with a yoke of oxen which had been brought in, in 1883. He contented himself with them for three years. With them he hauled all supplies from Devil's Lake, and in the course of these journeys had many trying experiences. One night he was caught by one of the worst storms known in the country. It was in 1885. He had camped on a hillside, and the rain became a torrent. He had two of his brothers with him, and they had all the experiences that go with pioneering in the Northwest. He remained on the Rolette County farm until the fall of 1890. He is the owner of a hundred and sixty acres on the boundary line in North Dakota, and has made it a very complete farm. While there he taught school for a time. He was elected a county commissioner in the fall of 1888, and served three years. In the spring of 1891 he established a lumber yard at Rolla, and was in business there two years. In 1893 he put his brother in charge of the yard. This brother has become the probate judge of that county, and is one of the leading members of the North Dakota judiciary. Mr. Charbonneau came to Willow City and opened a second yard for the handling of lumber. The lumber business has had many attractions for him and at one time he was the proprietor of four different yards. He still holds his farm, and would not imperil it under any consideration. In all his experiences he has never signed a mortgage. He is largely interested in real estate and loans in Bottineau County. He is a Democrat but has never been willing to accept a nomination to any office. He is the present chairman of the Democratic county committee and is an active worker for the party. History Biography of North Dakota. Transcribed by Laurel Durham JOHN H. COOK, in part the proprietor of the largest livery barn in Willow City, Bottineau county, has achieved a decided success in Dakota agriculture, and presents in his own career a good illustration of its opportunities for poor men not afraid of labor and willing to work and wait. Mr. Cook was born on a farm in Connecticut, June 5, 1862. His father, Nicholas Cook, was German born and bred, and in the old country had followed the shoemaker's trade all his life. He married in Germany and brought his family to this country in 1861. John H. was the oldest in a family of twelve children, and grew to early manhood in West Goshen, Connecticut. At the age of seventeen he left his home, and made a bold strike for Dakota, landing in Cass county in 1881. He was engaged by the Amenie-Scharon Land Company, and employed in farm labor for the next six years. In 1887 he left the company and came to Willow City, and was the first man in charge of the Anthony & Dakota Elevator Company's elevator in this village. He and another agent were the first two grain men in town. He bought the first load of wheat shipped from this market. This was bought on September 3. 1887, and from that day he has been continuously in the employment of the same company. Their first elevator had a capacity of sixteen hundred bushels of wheat. Their present plant can take in fifty-five thousand bushels, and is provided with a gasoline engine, and every requirement for handling an immense business expeditiously and economically. It is the largest elevator in town, and handles the most business. Without doubt its success must be attributed to the energy and careful management of the hustling agent of the company in this city. In 1889 Mr. Cook tiled a claim on a section of government land, put up a claim shanty, and lived there four years. He was married, November 30, 1888, to Miss Lizzie Taylor. She is of Scotch descent, and was born in Canada. Her father, John Taylor, is an old settler. He was born in Canada, and has made his way successfully in this country. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are the parents of four children : Clifford, Lillian, Margaretta and Melvin -all natives of Willow City. He was quite extensively engaged in farming during the first four years of his residence in Dakota, but in 1892 he left the farm and moved into Willow City. He now owns four hundred acres, and has one hundred under active cultivation. He still retains his livery interest. He is a Republican, and has served two terms on the town board, and at present is one of the school directors. He takes an active interest in political affairs, and is often seen at county and state conventions of his party. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being one of the charter members of the local lodge. He is also a Mason. He stands high, and an enumeration of the more prominent business of Bottineau county could not be made without mentioning him among the very first. Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota, Publ. 1900. Transcribed by Dena Whitesell EDWARD LORENZO GARDEN, of the twenty-eighth legislative district. Souris, Bottineau county, was born at Decorah, Iowa, on November 30, 1873. and is married. He came to North Dakota from Decorah, Iowa, in 1899, and is a hardware and furniture merchant, with stores at Souris. Lansford and Landa. Was educated at Decorah institute, Decorah, Iowa. He was a member of the house in 1907 and in 1909, and was elected to the state senate in 1910, as a republican. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.] EVAN BENSON GOSS, associate Justice, was born December 8, 1872, near Rockford, Michigan. He is a graduate of the Michigan state university at Ann Arbor and also a postgraduate of that institution. He began the practice of law at Grand Rapids, Michigan, from which place he moved to Bottineau, N. D., in December, 1895. He was elected state's attorney for Bottineau county for two terms. in June, 1905, qualified as district Judge of the Eighth Judicial District and was reelected in 1908. He is married and has one daughter. In November, 1910, he was elected associate Justice. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.]   J. J. EUGENE GUERTIN is a well-known and public-spirited citizen of Omemee, Bottineau county, and has had a varied and eventful experience. He has passed through adversity and is now reaping the rich reward of thrift and industry. Mr. Guertin was born on a farm near Montreal, Canada, February i. 1850, where his father, Julien Guertin, was the proprietor of a considerable agricultural establishment. The family is of French extraction and its forefathers came to Canada before 1763. The paternal grandfather of our subject fought in the British army during the war of 1812, and his maternal uncles and grandfather were engaged in the Canadian rebellion of 1837-38. His mother was Sophie L. Lanctot and she was also of Canadian birth and French descent. Her people have been in Canada many generations and have been always prominent in local politics. They are members of the Liberal party. Mr. Guertin is the third child in a family of eleven children and part of the domestic burdens necessarily fell on his shoulders. He was a student in the common schools, but finished his school days before he was fifteen. When he was eighteen the family removed to the state of Connecticut and young Eugene thought it was time for him to shift for himself. When he was twenty-two he was married to Miss Virginia Lizotte, a native of the province of Quebec and of French descent. Her family has long been residents in Canada. They are the parents of nine living children : J. Albert, Earnest H., Anna M., Ernestine, Joseph, George, Delia, Clodia and Oscar. After his marriage Mr. Guertin clerked and kept books first in a Connecticut store and then in Rhode Island. In 1878 he emigrated to Manitoba, where he fancied he might do well. The actual results transcended his dreams. He settled on wild land, improved it, held it four years and then sold out for six thousand dollars. He began with next to nothing and in these few years had created this very large estate. With it he went back to Canada and engaged in farming and real estate in Quebec. For three years he remained there, but the wild west had laid hold of him and he could not escape. In 1885 he came to Bottineau county. North Dakota, settled on government land and in due time received titles to three farms. His first location in this county was northeast of Omemee, where he farmed for a year and a half with oxen. He put up a claim shanty, 14x18 feet, and in this spent the first year "baching," with his brother for company. He has thoroughly explored all this country, has slept out nights under the wagon and in a tent and knows every possible phase of Dakota climate. In 1886 his first crop proved light, but his family came on that year and began housekeeping in a log shanty, 18x22 feet. The crop of 1887 was good, those of 1889 and 1890 were failures and that of 1891 was the most abundant ever garnered in the state. At the present time Mr. Guertin owns seven hundred acres in four different farms. About one-half the land is under cultivation and is under substantial improvements of every kind. In the fall of 1893 he left the country and moved into Willow City and there entered into business life as cashier of the Farmers and Merchants' Bank. He held this position four years and was president of the hank one year. In 1807 he established an agricultural implement business at Willow City and Omemee, and the next year disposed of all his banking interests. In the spring of 1900 he moved his family to Omemee, where he has gathered his commercial interests and now makes his home in that thrifty village. He is a Democrat and was elected county treasurer in 1890 and was re-elected in 1892. He attends county conventions and other party gatherings and is an influential member of his party. He belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Yeomen of America and stands high in local esteem. Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota, Publ. 1900. Transcribed by Dena Whitesell WILLIAM HALLS. This gentleman, the popular and efficient sheriff of Bottineau county, now a resident of Bottineau, presents in his own interesting and remarkably successful career, a striking illustration of the fertile field a new country oilers to ability and ambition. Coming here a few years ago with no friends but his own strength and character, he holds a leading position in the community today, is a man of influence far beyond his own county, and if not wealthy, is certainly possessed of ample resources. And all this has been accomplished before a man in the older sections of the country would be considered old enough to assume any serious responsibilities. Mr. Hall is a native of Ontario, Canada, where he was born in 1866. His father, John Halls, was a mechanic who came to Canada from his native England in 1827. His mother was Anna Kettlewell, and was of mixed Irish and English blood. Her father was born in Ireland and her mother in England. William was the third child in their family, and was reared on a farm. They had eight children, and the older members of the family had to do their full share of the common house and farm work. When Mr. Halls was seventeen years of age he had finished his schooling at the common school, and was ready to shift for himself. He worked two years at the trade of bricklaying, but did not think it best to remain in Canada. Accordingly in 1885 he came into North Dakota, and settled on a farm in Bottineau county, which he had selected even before it was ready for entry. He put up a sod shanty, 10x12 feet, and as he had brought nothing with him he could only occupy it enough to keep his claim good. For the next two years he put in the most of his time working for others, and in 1S87 bought his first team, which consisted of a yoke of oxen. The next summer he began farming on his account, and that year harvested his first crop. It was killed by the frost, and he did not get his seed off of one hundred acres. In 1891 he had his first good crop, his wheat going twenty bushels to the acre, and amounting to over three thousand two hundred bushels. He continued on his farm until 1893, and during that time traveled extensively through Dakota, Minnesotan and Montana. He did considerable work on the railroad and on the cattle ranges, but found no better location than the one he had selected. In July, 1894, another chapter in the history of Mr. Halls was opened, and that consisted in his appointment as sheriff of Bottineau county. He proved a capable official, and was regularly elected to that position in 1896, and again in 1898. He has always taken an active interest in politics, attends numerous county and state conventions, and is a wide-awake and pushing character. He owns a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, and has furnished it with buildings amply sufficient to all its needs. He has also provided it with good machinery, and has three hundred and fifty acres under cultivation. He was married in the spring of 1895, to Miss Maggie Miles. She was born in Canada. Her father, John Miles, is an old settler in North Dakota. He came from Ireland at an early day, and has done well in the new world. Mrs. Halls is the mother of one child, Alva J. Her husband is classed among the oldest settlers of this portion of the state. He drove overland from Devils Lake, and has hauled supplies from that distant mart on many occasions. He has endured every kind of privation, and well deserves the abundant success that has come to him. Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota, Publ. 1900. Transcribed by B.Z. GUNNAR G. HAMMARS, an exceedingly successful lumber dealer of Willow City, is one of the most popular business men in Bottineau County. He knows his business thoroughly, is alert and accommodating and always ready to do a friend a kindness. Mr. Hammars was born on a farm near Moland, Norway, July 14, 1855, where his father lived and died. Our subject went through the common school and the local seminary and was sent to Switzerland to attend a polytechnical school. When he was twenty-seven he left home and coming directly to the United States located at Fargo. He was at first a clerk in a store and then was employed on the government survey from Red River to Minot and from the Northern Pacific Railroad north to the Canadian line. He was with the surveying party four years and his work carried him over the greater part of the state. He came to Willow City May 16, 1887, on the first passenger train and immediately opened a lumber yard for Warner Stoltz, of St. Paul. He has continued in the employment of that firm to the present time and is regarded as one of their most capable and trusted representatives in the northwest. He improved the opportunity and acquired land in Griggs County and has also had real estate in other counties, but has disposed of it all and is devoted to his Willow City work. He has sold much of the lumber that has been used in the building of the city and the improvement of the surrounding farms. He was married, in 1898, to Miss Eliza Cleveland. She is a native of Wisconsin, though her parents were born in Norway. She is a lady of much character and has rapidly taken a recognized position of influence in social affairs in Willow City. Mr. Hammars is a Republican and has served on the township board several years. He is among the earliest settlers of this community and has watched its growth from the beginning. He is generally regarded as one of the leading men of this part of the county and his words command the respect of all. History Biography of North Dakota. Transcribed by Laurel Durham E. O. HARALDSON, Lansford, of the twenty-eighth legislative district, was born in Northwood, Ia., March 17, 1877. Came to North Dakota with his parents in 1882. Received his education in the public schools of this state. Attended Bruflat Academy, New Rockford, the Grand Forks College and graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1903 with the degree of L. L. B. After his graduation he began the practice of his profession at Lansford where he has held the position of city attorney for two years, and mayor for four years. He is married and has one child. Was elected representative as a republican. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.] H. C. HARTY, of the twenty-eighth legislative district, was born at Elysian, Minn., February 9, 1874, was educated in the schools of that neighborhood and graduated from the state normal school at Mankato, in 1896. In 1899 he came to North Dakota, locating in Bottineau county, and engaged in farming and is at present engaged in the banking business. He has been elected treasurer of his county for two years. He is unmarried. He was elected representative in 1910 and re-elected in 1912, as a republican. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.] JAMES HILL. Newburg. representative from the twenty-eighth district, was born in Rockwood. Ontario. October 26, 1848. He was educated in the common schools and Rockwood academy. Came to Dakota in 1897 and to Bottineau county in 1900. He is a widower, his wife dying in 1904. His family consists of one son and one daughter. Mr. Hill is a cousin of J. J. Hill of the Great Northern, and was raised and educated with him. In politics he is a progressive republican. He is serving his third term as representative. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.] C. C. JACOBSON, Landa, of the twenty-eighth legislative district was born in Sandsver, Norway, Feb. 5, 1871, and came to the United States with his parents the year of his birth. Received his education in the common and high schools of Wisconsin and graduated from the commercial department of the Valpariso University, Ind. Came to North Dakota in 1904, locating at Bottineau and moved later to Landa where he was cashier of the bank until Sept. 1913, since which time he has gone into the mercantile business. Has had various minor local offices. He is married and has two children. Was elected representative as a progressive republican. [Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.] WILLIAM T. MUNN. William T. Munn, engaged in the banking business at Westhope, is numbered among the native sons of New York, his birth having occurred at Walton,  Delaware county, on the 12th of November, 1879. His parents, Hugh C. and Mary (Thomson) Munn, were also natives of the Empire state. His father was a farmer by occupation and in Delaware, county, New York, he established a little town called Munndale, where he engaged in general merchandising for a time. Later, however, he retired to a farm, upon which he lived until 1907, when he became a resident of Westhope, North Dakota. Afterward he removed to Williams county, this state, and filed on land which he occupied and cultivated for three years. At the present time he is making his home in Waterloo, Iowa, while his wife passed away September 12, 1903. William T. Munn was reared and educated in New York, completing a course in the high school at Walton, that state, by graduation with the class of 1897, after which he entered Monmouth College at Monmouth, Illinois, and was there graduated in 1901. He next went to Eagle Grove, Iowa, where he secured the position of assistant cashier in the State Bank, serving in that capacity for a year. In 1902 he became a resident of Cooperstown, North Dakota, where he engaged in the real estate business for three years, and in 1905 he established his home at Westhope, Bottineau county, where he engaged in the land business. The following year he and others organized the Peoples State Bank at Westhope, which they have since conducted, Mr. Munn being the president, with K. M. Trimble ad vice president, G. H. Kalbfleisch cashier and Don E. Trimble assistant cashier. The bank is capitalized for thirty thousand dollars and has a surplus of twenty thousand dollars, while the deposits amount to one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The business of the bank is carefully and successfully conducted and energy, enterprise, sound judgment and keen discrimination constitute the underlying principles in the prosperity which Mr. Munn has attained for that institution. He is also a large landowner, his realty possessions embracing about sixteen hundred acres. In June, 1906, Mr. Munn was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude M. McConnell and they have one son, William Thomson, born in March, 1911. Mr. Munn is a republican in his political views. He has served as a member of the city council of Westhope and whether in office or out of it is always loyal to the best public interests and is willing to give of his time and efforts for the benefit of his community. He was appointed a member of the game and fish board but declined to serve. He was committeeman for Bottineau county for the Belgian relief fund and Westhope sent a carload of flour, being the only town of its size in the United States to give so much. Business activity and public spirit are in him evenly balanced qualities and his efforts along both public and private lines are resultant. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2. By Clement Augustus Lounsberry (Transcribed by Lisa S.)R. H. WATSON, whose home is in Willow City, Bottineau county, belongs to that large contingent that Canada has sent over to the making of Dakota. It is little enough to say that he sustains all the best traditions of his lineage. His father, John Watson, was a farmer, a native of Ireland, and came to America in 1847. His wife, Mary Dowd, was born and reared in Ireland. R. H. Watson was the fifth in a family of eight children, and was reared on the Canadian farm. He had a common-school education, and when he attained manhood left home and took up the burden of life for himself. He was born in 1861, and in 1884 he bought land near Orangeville. and began a farming career. He was there nine years and had a farm of one hundred acres, with about ninety under cultivation and good buildings. It compared well with the neighboring places, and he was certainly successful while there. But it was too contracted. He wanted room. He sold out and in the fall of 1893 made his appearance in Willow City, where he established a drug store. Two years later he moved it to his present location on Main street, and put up a handsome and commodious building 24x60 feet, having drugs in front and a general store in the rear. He owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres east of the city, and engages in farming to a limited extent, and perhaps more for pleasure than for profit. He was married to Miss Adeline Hutchinson, in Canada, December 31, 1894. She was born in Peel comity, Ontario, and her father, Hugh Hutchinson, was a farmer. His people were born in Ireland. She is the mother of three children, Mildred, Eva and Wilbur. Mr. Watson is an independent voter and seeks the best interests of the country rather than the promotion of party bigotry. He is a Mason and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota, Publ. 1900. Transcribed by Dena Whitesell JUDGE WALTER H. WINCHESTER, judge of the sixth district court of North Dakota, holds and merits a place among the representative legal Practitioners and citizens of Bismarck, and the story of his life, while not dramatic in action, is such a one as offers a typical example of that alert American spirit which has enabled many an individual to rise from obscurity to a position of influence and renown solely through native talent, indomitable perseverance and singleness of purpose. His portrait in this work indicates the possession of these qualities. The Judge was born in Malone, Franklin county, New York, March 21, 1844, and is a son of David and Elvira (Blanchard) Winchester, natives of New York and Vermont, respectively. The father, who was a farmer and carpenter by occupation, died in 1845, during the infancy of our subject. Besides the Judge there were two daughters in the family. The paternal grandfather was Henry Winchester, a native of Massachusetts. Judge Winchester passed his boyhood and youth in New York, and his early education, acquired by the common schools of that state, was. supplemented by a course at the Franklin County Academy, from which he was graduated in 1866. In 1864 he enlisted in Company G, Eighth New York Cavalry, but was afterward transferred to Company C of the same regiment, with which he served until the close of the war. He participated in the battles of Cedar Creek and Waynesboro, Virginia; Five Forks. April 1, 1865, and was in all of the engagements in which his command took part up to and including Lee's surrender at Appomattox. At the close of the war Judge Winchester returned to his home in New York and completed his education. In 1867 he entered Amherst College, Massachusetts, where he spent two years in study, and in 1870 went to Davenport, Iowa, where he was employed as a reporter on the daily and weekly "Democrat" for six months. He then accepted the position of principal of the Cordova Academy at Cordova, Illinois, which he filled for one year and then returned to New York, where he commenced the study of law in his native town under John I. Gilbert, a well-known attorney of northern New York.  Subsequently he served as principal of tire Fort Covington Academy, New York, for three years, at the end of which time he entered the law department of Albany University, graduating from that institution in 1873. After his admission to the bar, in 1873, he began practice in his native county, and remained there until coming to Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1883. Here he has since successfully engaged in practice and is recognized as one of the ablest attorneys of the state. On the 16th of September, 1873, Judge Winchester married Miss Ella S. Kimball, also a native of New York, and to them have been born three children : Edith, now the wife of Lieutenant Conklin. of First North Dakota Volunteer Infantry ; Edna May and Harold E. Since attaining his majority the Judge has been identified with the Republican party, and has taken an active part in campaign work in Burleigh county. For six years he has most ably and satisfactorily served as county superintendent of schools, and in 1889 was elected judge of the sixth judicial district, in which capacity he is still serving. On May 14, 1900, he was unanimously renominated for the fourth term. Mr and impartial in his rulings, he has gained the respect and confidence of his professional brethren, and is held in high regard by all who know him. Fraternally he is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has served as senior vice-commander ; is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and has been master of the home lodge for two  years, and a member of the I. O, O. F. Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota, Publ. 1900. Transcribed by Dena Whitesell Back to Bottineau County Home Page   Copyright © Genealogy Trails