Divide County North Dakota Biographies OSCAR LINDSTROM, Noonan. of the fortieth legislative district, was born at Evansville, Minn., July 24, 1872. Received his education in the common schools of his native state. Came to North Dakota in 1904 and is at present engaged in the lumber business. Has held minor local offices. He is married. He 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] GEORGE PAUL HOMNES George Paul Homnes, states attorney of Divide county, residing at Crosby, was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin, October 9, 1873, a son of Gunerius and Grethe (Vibe) Homnes, who were natives of Norway. When a young man the father went to sea and for twenty years was a sailor. He was therefore in middle age when he came to America, after which he established his home in Milwaukee and sailed on Lake Michigan. In 1881 he removed to Monfort township, Grant county, Wisconsin, settling near what was the town of Castle Rock, there purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he developed and improved from 1881 until 1912, when he retired from active life and soon after passed away. In young womanhood Grethe Vibe had come to the United States and they were married in Milwaukee in 1870. She is still living on the old homestead farm in Grant county, Wisconsin. George P. Homnes began his education in the city schools of Milwaukee but when seven years of age went with his parents to the farm, after which he attended district school and also pursued a business course in Valder's Business College at Decorah, Iowa. Later he returned to the old homestead in Wisconsin and afterward spent six months as a pupil in a private academy at Mount Horeb, that state. Still later he became a student in St, Olaf College at Northfield, Minnesota, spending two years in the preparatory department and four years in the college, winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts upon his graduation with the class of 1903. In that year he removed to Williams county, North Dakota, and filed on a homestead in what is now Divide county. Later in the same year he matriculated in the law department of the University of Minnesota and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1906. During vacation periods he lived upon his homestead and following his graduation, at which time he won the Bachelor of Laws degree, he returned to the homestead, securing the title thereto in the fall of 1907. At the latter date he took an examination at Fargo, North Dakota, and was admitted to the bar on the 7th of December of that year, at which time he located for practice in Crosby, where he has since remained. He is an able lawyer having displayed marked ability in coping with intricate legal problems. He is always very careful and thorough in the preparation of his cases and is devoted to the interests of his clients. On the 17th of June, 1909, at Northfield, Minnesota, Mr. Homnes wedded Miss Frida Magdalene Bue, who was born at Ostrander, Fillmore county, Minnesota, a daughter of the Rev. Ole A. and Caroline (Hjort) Bue, who were natives of Norway and were there married. Rev. Bue was educated for the ministry in his native country and on coming to America first settled in Fillmore county, Minnesota. He afterward was in charge of the church at Ostrander, Minnesota, for more than thirty years, but at length retired from the ministry and is now living upon a farm near Northfield, and upon that farm his wife passed away October 5, 1912. Mrs. Homnes attended the public schools of Ostrander, was graduated from the high school at Spring Valley, Minnesota, and from St. Olaf College at Northfield, where she won the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902. She was afterward a teacher of the German, Latin and Norwegian languages in that school for five years. In 1907 she returned home and there remained until her marriage. The young couple began their domestic life at Crosby, where Mr. Homnes had erected a substantial and pleasant residence. He has sold his old homestead but owns considerable farm land in Divide county, from which he derives a good rental. He is serving as a member of the park board of Crosby and he is interested in everything that pertains to the welfare and upbuilding of the town, taking an active and helpful part in promoting its civic improvement. He was largely instrumental in setting off Divide from Williams county and he became one of the organizers of the Divide County Publishing Company, which publishes the Divide County Journal. He is president of the corporation and he conducts the editorial department, for which the paper is noted. In 1916 he became one of the organizers of the Divide County Fair Association, of which he is the secretary, and he was instrumental in starting the movement to organize the Commercial Club of Crosby, of which he was the president for the first year. Before the division of the counties he was elected to represent the forty-first district, comprising Williams and McKenzie counties, in the state legislature in 1908 and was reelected in 1910, capably serving for two terms, during which he gave earnest consideration to the settlement of many important questions and used his legislative powers for the benefit and upbuilding of the commonwealth. He did much important committee work, being a member of the judiciary committee for both terms and its chairman during the second term, while on other committees he was also active and prominent. He was an earnest supporter of the corrupt practice act and was identified with much other progressive legislation which has had to do with bringing about cleaner and better conditions in the body politic, In 1912 he was elected states attorney for Divide county and was reelected in 1914. He is the present incumbent in the office. His religious faith is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church and its teachings have guided him in all of the relations of life, making him a man whom to know is to respect and honor. There are many opportunities for the citizens of a new district to build along progressive lines, and recognizing this fact, Mr. Homnes has ever labored for the welfare of the city and county in which he makes his home. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann SIGURD BUE Sigurd Bue, cashier and director of the Citizens National Bank at Crosby, was born in Ostrander, Fillmore county, Minnesota, August 29, 1883, a son of the Rev. Ole A. and Caroline Bue. His youthful experiences were those of the farm bred boy who divides his time between the work of the fields and the acquirement of an education. After attending the district schools he became a high school pupil at Spring Valley, Minnesota, and later attended St. Olaf College at Northfield, Minnesota, being graduated on the completion of the academic and college courses, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905. Liberal education facilities thus qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties, developing his latent talents and powers and making him ready to meet any emergency that might arise in his business career. He has always been identified with banking, for following his graduation he accepted a clerical position in the First National Bank at Halsted, Minnesota. In 1906 he went to Berwick, McHenry county, North Dakota, and was employed in the Berwick State Bank as bookkeeper until the fall of 1908. He then became assistant cashier in the Farmers & Merchants State Bank at Bowdon, Wells county, and in the fall of 1911 removed to Kenmare, where he was cashier of the Citizens State Bank until he arrived in Crosby to become cashier of the Citizens State Bank, which has since become the Citizens National Bank. This is his present connection. Each step in his career has been a forward one, bringing him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. On the 3d of January, 1914, Mr. Bue was married to Miss Eleanor Rushfeldt, of Hawley, Minnesota, who spent her entire life there until, having completed the high school course, she entered the normal school at Moorhead, Minnesota. Later she became a music student in St. Olaf College at Northfield, Minnesota, and afterward was a teacher in the high school at Ada. She proved a most capable educator and was called to the position of county superintendent of schools in Clay county, which position she occupied for two terms of two years each. This was an elective office and her fitness for the position was thus demonstrated by the endorsement of the voters of that locality. Her father, Hans Rushfeldt, is a native of Norway and when a young man of eighteen years crossed the Atlantic to America, making his way to Minnesota, where he engaged in farming for a time. He also worked as a laborer on the railroad in western Minnesota and is now engaged in merchandising at Hawley, that state. In the early days he was a driver on the freight line from Mandan, North Dakota, to Deadwood, South Dakota, and thus in various ways has been closely identified with the development and upbuilding of the west. Mr. and Mrs. Bue have become parents of a daughter, Eleanor Marie, born at Crosby, October 27, 1914. Mr. Bue is a director of the Crosby Commercial Club and a director and treasurer of the Divide County of Fair Association. His political support is given to the republican party and both he and his wife are active and devoted members of the Norwegian Lutheran church in Crosby. While one of the newcomers of the town, he is much interested in its development and is willing to do everything in his power to aid in its upbuilding and promote its progress in the future. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann GEORGE WELLINGTON JONES George Wellington Jones, a partner in the hardware firm of Jones Brothers, at Crosby and one of the most progressive and enterprising citizens of the town, his labors at all times being resultant along the lines of progress and improvement, was born upon a farm in Rochester, Minnesota, March 11, 1877, his parents being James M. and Mary A. (McCumber) Jones, mentioned elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch of their son, O.M. Jones. George W. Jones was educated in the city schools of Rochester, Minnesota, and in a business college there and afterward traveled for two years. Later he became proprietor of a small confectionery store at Kenyon, Minnesota, where he remained for three years and in 1905 he removed to Flaxton, North Dakota, where he established a hotel which he conducted for a year. In June, 1906, he arrived in Crosby and opened the first hotel of the town, it being also the first two story building. After conducting the business for three months he was joined by his brother, O.M. Jones, and they opened a hardware business under the firm style of Jones Brothers. In the intervening years they have since built up a large trade and their commercial enterprise constitutes a very substantial force in the development of the business interests of this section. In 1906 George W. Jones was married to Miss Nellie Hunter, of Noonan, North Dakota, who was born and reared in Indiana and in 1904 came to this state with her parents who homesteaded near Noonan. She is a daughter of W.J. and Sarah Hunter, natives of Indiana, where they were identified with farming interests until they established their home upon a farm in North Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have become parents of six children, George V., Earl, Clinton, Ruth, Hazel, and Arda, all at home. Mr. Jones is a stalwart advocate of republican principles and served as a member of the first city council following the organization of the village. He was also clerk of the school board for two years and has been president of the school board for the past six years, in which connection he was largely instrumental in securing the erection of a new modern brick schoolhouse seventy-six by eighty-two feet. The citizens said that his project was impractical, that it could not be carried out, but he demonstrated that it could be done and Crosby is today justly proud of her school building. He is a director of the city park board, of the Crosby Commercial Club and of the Divide County Fair Association. Mr. Jones is rated as a man who has and is doing as much, if not more, for the new town of Crosby than any other citizen. He is always ready with time and money to further its projects and to promote any movement that will benefit the community. He is indeed a man of marked public spirit and is at the same time a progressive and enterprising business man who well deserves the success which has come to him. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann JUDGE BRICK M. PIERCE Judge Brick M. Pierce. a resident of Crosby and judge of Divide county. was born in Barry county, Michigan, March 30, 1878, a son of Joseph J. and Frances Harwood Pierce. The father, a native of Pennsylvania, acquired a common school education and as a young man took up the insurance business which he followed throughout his entire life. In the early days, or in 1883, he established his home at Pipestone, Minnesota, and there continued to reside until death called him in 1900. His wife, a native of Michigan, spent her girlhood days at Battle Creek, that state, and is now living in Pipestone, Minnesota. It was there that Judge Pierce was reared and in the public schools passed through consecutive grades until he became a high school pupil. In early manhood he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in Minnesota and in North Dakota. He took up the business of a traveling photographer, being thus engaged for a time, and later he entered the Leeds State Bank at Leeds, North Dakota, in the capacity of assistant cashier. After five years he removed to Noonan ,North Dakota, where he was assistant cashier in the First International Bank for six years or until the division of the county. He was then appointed county judge by the county commissioners of Divide county in 1910 and occupied that position until 1912, when he became a candidate for the office and was elected. Two years later he was reelected against strong opposition and in 1916 was again chosen for the office, which position he is now acceptably filling, his decisions being at all times fair and impartial, being based upon the law and the equity in the case. That his course is highly commended by public opinion is indicated in the fact that he has been three times chosen by popular suffrage. In politics he is a republican but is a man of very liberal views and will not sacrifice the public welfare to partisanship. On the 20th of December, 1911, Judge Pierce was united in marriage to Miss Winifred Daugherty at Noonan. She was born in Indiana and in her early girlhood came to North Dakota. For a time she taught school and was principal of the schools at Ambrose, Imperial and Noonan, being thus engaged up to the time of her marriage. She has become the mother of two children: Marion, born in Crosby, October 11, 1912; and Morris, born July 28, 1914. Judge Pierce has filled several minor offices in Crosby and at Noonan, and is now president of the Crosby park board. Fraternally he is connected with the Elks lodge at Minot, with the Masonic lodge at Crosby, of which he is senior deacon, and with the Royal Arch chapter at Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada. He is broad and liberal in his religious views and it is characteristic of him that he is always working for the interest of some plan or project for the benefit and good of the community in which he lives. He believes particularly that each city should establish parks and playgrounds for the children, recognizing the fact that healthful recreation is not only a source of physical strength but also an element in good citizenship. His position in regard to affairs of city and county is that there are many desirable things, not strictly speaking necessities, for which money may properly be spent but that discretion and care should be used in expenditure. For twenty-one years he has been a resident of North Dakota and in the early days he traveled extensively all over the state doing photographic work. He is enthusiastic concerning its agricultural advantages, especially in Divide county, and is doing effective work in making known the advantages offered in that district along the line of successful farming. He has erected a home in Crosby and he is now putting forth earnest effort to secure the erection of a courthouse in the town. A stalwart champion of education, he believes that no investment gives better value than the building of schoolhouses and the providing of educational facilities to train the young. He has a wide acquaintance and his friends, who are many, are numbered among all classes of people. Those who read between the lines of this review will readily see that Judge Pierce is a big, broad- minded man, looking at the vital questions of life from no narrow, selfish nor contracted standpoint, and appreciation of his worth on the part of his fellow townsmen is indicated in the fact that he was elected without opposition to the county bench in 1916. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann CHARLES J. CLARK Charles J. Clark, president of the First State Bank at Crosby, was the organizer and first president of the Crosby Milling Company, and is numbered with that class of men whose efforts in town building and development have brought about results that seem almost magical. He has always lived in the west and possesses that spirit of western enterprise which has been the dominant factor in the growth of this section of the country. He was born at Lake City, Wabasha county, Minnesota, May 18. 1874, a son of D.K.J. Clark mentioned in connection with the sketch of David Clark, Jr. on another page of this work. In the schools of Ortonville Charles J. Clark obtained his education, pursuing a high school course and later a course at the Curtis Business College in St Paul, Minnesota. He also attended Hamline University. In early manhood he went to Bigstone county, Minnesota, and later conducted business as a horse dealer in Ortonville, where he remained until 1901, when he came to North Dakota, settling on a homestead in Ward county, near Kenmare. He proved up his property and afterward took up his abode in the town, where he began buying and selling horses. He would make trips to Montana and Idaho, from which points he shipped range horses, selling them in North Dakota and in markets farther east. He also conducted a livery barn at Kenmare, until 1905 when he sold out and removed to the old town of Crosby, which was then in Williams county, forty miles from a railroad. There he organized the First State Bank and became its cashier. When the town was moved to the new town site in 1906 he took his bank there and has since conducted the business with gratifying success, continuing as the cashier until 1913, when he became president and has since been its chief officer and executive head. In 1915 the First State Bank erected a modern bank building handsomely equipped with high class fixtures, marble floors and other modern appointments. The different departments are well arranged for the conduct of the business and include a ladies’ rest room, a directors’ room and other private rooms for the transaction of business with the customers. This is regarded as the most thoroughly up to date banking house of any of its size in the state and would be a credit to a city of much greater population than Crosby. The town certainly has reason to be proud of this institution which owes its success to the enterprising and progressive methods of Mr. Clark. He also organized the Divide County Security Company at Crosby in 1910 for the conduct of a farm mortgage, land and loan business and is now its president and general manager. He also continues to deal in horses, which he ships from Idaho and Montana, and he likewise owns and farms land in Divide county and from some of it secures a good rental. In 1913 the world's record for raising oats was established on his farm adjoining Crosby, in Divide county, this land producing an average of a fraction over one hundred and fifty-five bushels to the acre by measure and an average of two hundred and twelve and a half bushels to the acre by weight. The yield of oats on this particular farm was certified to by the neighboring citizens, who formed a committee to examine the field and measure its production in weight and measure. The record is one of which Mr. Clark has every reason to be proud, and moreover, it indicates the great productiveness of North Dakota soil in this section of the state. He was the organizer and first president of the Crosby Milling Company. On the 25th of December, 1902, at McKinney, North Dakota, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Laura E. Stevens, a native of Detroit, Minnesota. Her parents died when she was a child and she was reared and educated by an uncle, who resided at Ortonville, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have four children: Janice, whose birth occurred in Kenmare, North Dakota; and Donald, Douglas, and Porter, all of whom were born in Crosby. In politics Mr. Clark is a republican. He filled the office of deputy sheriff of Ward county while living at Kenmare and he was the first president of the park board at Crosby. He aided in organizing the Divide County Fair Association, of which he is a director, and he assisted in organizing the Hospital Association of Crosby. He belongs to Crosby Lodge, F & AM, to the Elks lodge at Minot and to the Knights of the Maccabees, and his religious faith is that of the Methodist church. His life work is indeed the expression of intense and intelligently directed activity, crowned by substantial and well merited results. What he undertakes he accomplishes, his plans being well formulated and carefully executed. He has never feared to venture where favoring opportunity has led the way, and possessing the character and ability that inspire confidence in others, the simple weight of his character and ability has carried him into important business and public relations. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann JULIUS J. GITS Julius J. Gits, a retired merchant living at Noonan, was born at Iseghem, Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, October 13, 1865, his parents being Frances F. and Louisa (Cornette) Gits, who were likewise natives of that country. The father was a blacksmith by trade and also conducted a hardware store at Iseghem, where he married and reared his family. On the advice of his son Julius, who had previously come to America, he disposed of his business in his native country and made his way to the new world, settling at Ghent, Lyon county, Minnesota in 1883. There he engaged in farming and afterward became the proprietor of a blacksmith shop, while still later he carried on general merchandising in Ghent, where there was a large colony of Belgian settlers. Eventually he retired from active connection, with that business having obtained a substantial competence, and he and his wife are now living in Ghent in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil. Spending his youthful days under the parental roof in his native city, Julius J. Gits there attended the public schools until graduated with honors from the high school. He was eighteen years of age when he bade adieu to friends, family and native land and started for America to find a favorable location for the family. His father having read many advertisements and articles in the papers inviting settlement in Minnesota, he made his way to Ghent, that state, and feeling that conditions were such as he wished, he sent for his father and the family. For three years Julius J. Gits was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store at Faribault, Minnesota, and in 1887 he went to Yankton, Dakota where he established a dry goods store, conducting business there for three years. He then took his stock to Faribault, and also bought out his former employer there establishing himself in business, in which he actively continued until 1900. On disposing of his interests at that place he removed to Marshall, Minnesota, where he conducted a dry goods and general merchandise store on his own account until 1904. Once more he sold out and on account of his wife's impaired health removed to Roswell, New Mexico, where he opened a general store and also became an extensive stockholder in a bank, but the bank failed and by the time his affairs were settled up Mr Gits found that he had little left. In 1905 he established his homo in Portal, North Dakota, where he again embarked in general merchandising. The houses with which he had previously traded and who recognized his irreproachable honesty gave him credit and for a year he conducted a profitable business at Portal. He was again getting on his feet financially when the store was destroyed by fire, all of the stock going up in the flames. His insurance enabled him to cover his debts and once more he started out to find a new location. He made his way to Noonan, at which time there was nothing there except the town site. Mr. Gits purchased the first lot in the new town site November 14, 1906, and erected the first building in the town, hauling the lumber and his new stock of goods from Portal, a distance of thirty miles in wagons, through a snow storm while four feet of snow lay upon the ground. When he returned from Portal to his new location he could not find the lot he bought because it was covered with snow. He started over again in a small way, a lone merchant on the snow covered prairie. He saw hard times, for it was a very severe winter, but he persevered and success ultimately crowned his efforts. In the spring of 1907 others arrived in Noonan and the town grew, but Mr. Gits was its first resident and first merchant and he deserves much credit for promoting the upbuilding and progress of the locality. In 1913 he incorporated his business interests under the name of the Noonan Supply Company and admitted a partner but retained half of the stock. For six months he continued in the business after the incorporation and then sold out in 1914, being now retired from active connection with mercantile interests. He is the proprietor of the Gits Land Company of Noonan, which handles city lots and farm lands that he is selling largely to Belgian families. He has brought one hundred people here from Lyon county, Minnesota, all Belgian farmers, and in 1914 he made a trip to Belgium to bring French and Belgian agriculturists to this district, thereby contributing in large and substantial measure to its rapid upbuilding and development. He owns the remainder of the town site of Noonan, comprising over one hundred lots and he built the hotel in Noonan, which he still owns and from which he receives a good rental. He has splendidly devised plans for colonizing and settling the district and his work is meeting with excellent results. He deserves his financial success, but more than that he deserves the respect and high regard of his fellow townsmen because of what he has accomplished for the public benefit. He was largely instrumental in bringing about the division of Williams county, thus creating Divide county, and he was untiring in his efforts to make Noonan the county seat. On the 14th of August, 1887, Mr. Gits was married to Miss Lettie E. Tripp at Yankton, South Dakota. She was born in the town of Shirley, Erie county, New York, a daughter of Hiram C. and Minerva Ann (Ray) Tripp, who were also natives of Erie county, where they were reared, educated and married. The father was a wagon maker at Shirley but because of failing health he sold out his business and removed to Minnesota, after which he engaged in farming near Cannon City, becoming one of the pioneers of that district. He died upon his farm at the venerable age of eighty-six years, while his wife spent her last days at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Gits, in Noonan, passing away in 1909. Mrs. Gits was reared upon the home farm near Cannon City and after attending the public schools became a student in St. Mary's school at Faribault, Minnesota, while prior to her marriage she engaged for a time in teaching. She comes from a prominent old New York family and has every reason to be proud of her ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Gits have one child, Louis Francis, who was born in Yankton, South Dakota, in June, 1889, and is now successfully engaged in general merchandising at Taunton, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Gits hold membership in the Roman Catholic church and it was he who accomplished the removal of the church building from Kermit to Noonan. In politics he is a republican but would never consent to accept public office. Mr. Gits is a forceful and resourceful business man who recognizes and utilizes opportunities which others pass heedlessly by and by the capable control of his business affairs he has won substantial and well merited success. Obstacles, difficulties and hardships have barred his path at various times, but these he has overcome by determined and persistent effort and he is now one of the substantial and prosperous citizens of Divide county. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann ED A. SMITH Ed A. Smith, of Ellendale, serving for the third term as clerk of the courts of his district, was born at Chatfield, Minnesota, October 5, 1857, a son of Allen and Ruth A. Smith. His father was a member of Company B, Fifth Minnesota Volunteers, and saw service at Fort Ridgeley, fighting against the Indians. At the close of the Civil war the family moved onto a farm where the subject of this sketch attended a crude country school for a few months each year. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to Captain McKenny, of the Chatfield Democrat, where he served an apprenticeship of five years, learning the trade of printer. In 1879 he emigrated with three brothers to Flandreau, Dakota territory, and worked as a journeyman printer until 1882, when he came to Ellendale. Here he worked a short time as a printer on the Dickey County Leader, and the fall of 1882 entered the real estate business, locating settlers on government lands and making filings and final proofs in the government land office. He was a clerk in the legislature in 1885, the first session held in the new capitol at Bismarck, and also in 1887. It was during this latter session he was instrumental in establishing the line between North and South Dakota when the territory was admitted as two states. A bill was pending in congress to divide the territory into two states, the line being described as the “forty-sixth parallel of north latitude.” Surveyors for the government who had been at Ellendale had stated that the town was located directly on the forty sixth parallel. To divide the territory on this line would mean to put part of the town into one state and part in the other. Ellendale people had petitioned Washington to have the line changed to the seventh standard parallel, a surveyed line and county boundary, four miles south of the town, but had been advised they were too late to have the bill amended. While at Bismarck as a clerk in the legislature in 1887, Mr. Smith succeeded in having the legislature pass a memorial to congress to have the proposed division line changed to the seventh standard parallel, and this line was finally adopted when the states were admitted to the Union. At the close of the legislative session of 1887, Mr. Smith moved to St. Paul, where he was employed on the Pioneer Press for nearly five years, returning to Ellendale in the fall of 1891, where he purchased a half interest in the Dickey County Leader with the late F.S. Goddard. This partnership continued until 1898, when he bought the Oakes Republican and moved to Oakes. He published this paper until 1902, when he bought the Free Press at Devils Lake and continued its publication until 1905, when he sold the paper. For two years he was employed at Grand Forks and other places as journeyman printer and returned to Oakes in 1908, where he was employed as bookkeeper until 1912, when he was elected clerk of the district court, and reelected in 1914 and 1916. Mr. Smith was married at Ellendale, July 1, 1883, to Katie M. Clark and has a family of eight children, one dying in infancy. In politics he has always been a republican and while he has been inclined to the progressive rather than the conservative faction of the party, his newspaper has always supported the ticket as nominated, firmly advocating that whatever reforming the party needed must come from within and not from the outside. However, he does everything in his power to advance the public welfare and support those forces which he believes are best calculated to advance the general good. That his official record is most creditable is indicated by the fact that he has three times been elected to the office which he is now filling. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann M.C. ANDERSON M.C. Anderson, manager of the Osborne-McMillan Elevator at Voltaire, was born in Hutchinson, Minnesota, on the 17th of April, 1886, a son of Andrew and Anna (Christenson) Anderson, who are natives of Denmark but who in childhood came with their respective parents to the United States, the two families locating in Minnesota. Both were reared in McCloud county, Minnesota, and there they were married and still make their home, being now residents of Hutchinson. After long connection with agricultural pursuits Mr. Anderson is enjoying well earned rest in honorable retirement from business. M.C. Anderson attended the public schools, the Hutchinson high school and the Metropolitan Commercial College at Minneapolis and was graduated from the last named institution in the spring of 1906. Immediately afterward he came to North Dakota, settling at Flaxton, Burke county, which was then a part of Ward county. There he secured a position in a general store, working as clerk and bookkeeper. In the fall of 1907 he filed on a homestead in what was then Williams county but is now Divide county. He lived upon and improved that place for eight months, when, having complied with all the laws relative thereto, he was given title to the property. He then returned to his Flaxton position, which he held until 1910, when he removed to the farm and for three years was engaged in its cultivation. In the spring of 1914 he went to Voltaire as manager for the Osborne-McMillan Elevator Company, controlling its business at this point to the present time. The interests under his management here constitute an important feature in the community, as they furnish a market for the grain producers. Personally Mr. Anderson owns three hundred and twenty acres of farm land in Divide county and secures from the property a gratifying annual income. In the spring of 1910 Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Louise Amundson, of Northwood, Iowa, and they have become the parents of three children, Merton, Arthur and Lucille. Mr. Anderson votes independently casting his ballot not according to party ties but according to the dictates of his political wisdom and judgment. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann JOSEPH ALLEN SMITH M. D. Dr. Joseph Allen Smith, practicing at Noonan, Divide county, was born at Ellendale, Dickey county, March 27, 1884. His father Ed A, Smith is a native of Chatficld, Minnesota, and after attaining his majority there engaged in the newspaper and printing business. In 1882 he became a resident of Ellendale, where he was made cashier of a bank, and in connection with Fred S, Goddard he purchased the Dickey County Leader, a newspaper which he edited and published at Ellendale for many years. It had a large circulation, being the leading paper of Dickey county. He afterward became proprietor of the Oakes Republican at Oakes, North Dakota, now the Oakes Times. He became quite interested and active in politics and his opinions have carried weight in the local councils of the republican party, while his fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability as a citizen and business man, have elected him to the position of county clerk of Dickey county, which position he is now filling. In early manhood he married Katie M. Clark, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, but was reared and educated in South Dakota, where she arrived at the age of seven years, spending her girlhood on a farm near Brookings. She afterward taught school in South Dakota, and was married in Ellendale, where she and her husband are now living. Mr. Smith is one of the pioneer journalists of the state and a man whose efforts have been an effective force in promoting the public welfare and advancing the interests of the republican party. He has long been acquainted with the state in its various stages of development and improvement and his infiuence has ever been on the side of progress. Dr. Smith, after advancing through consecutive grades to the high school in Ellendale, there completing his more specifically literary education, became a medical student in George Washington University at Washington, D.C., and was graduated therefrom in 1907 with the M.D. degree. He became interne in Columbia Hospital at the national capital and also spent a year in the Children's Hospital at Washington, thus gaining the broad and valuable practical experience which is acquired in no other way as readily as in the varied duties of hospital work. He located for the private practice of medicine at York, North Dakota, where he remained for three years, when in March, 1912 he removed to Noonan, where he has since resided. On the 16th of October, 1912, Dr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Lora Aird, of Minot, who was born in Lansing, Iowa, a daughter of Charles and Belle (Williams) Aird, now residents of Wecota, South Dakota. Mrs. Smith attended the public schools of Lansing and pursued a university course at Hopkinton, Iowa. She afterward began teaching in that state and for four years was a teacher at York, North Dakota. Dr. and Mrs. Smith have become the parents of a son, Larry Allen, born at Noonan, August 28, 1913. In politics Dr. Smith is an earnest republican whose mature judgment has sanctioned the political belief which was instilled into him in his boyhood days. In March, 1916, he was elected mayor of Noonan, which position he is now filling, and his administration is characterized by public-spirited devotion to the general good. He is also city health officer and a member of the school board. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge at Crosby, has taken the Scottish Rite degrees at Grand Forks and is a member of Kem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Grand Forks. He is also identified with the Elks lodge at Minot, while along strictly professional lines he has connection with the Medical Society of the District of Columbia and the American Medical Association. His professional training was thorough and his ability has been further advanced through wide reading and study as well as by the valuable lessons that one continually learns in the school of experience. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann CLAYTON E. BRACE Clayton E. Brace, who is a well known member of the bar at Crosby and was elected states attorney of Divide county in 1916. was born in Houston county, Minnesota, near the present town of Mabel, Fillmore county, July 21, 1878, a son of Silas C. and Ella (Dibble) Brace. The father was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, August 25, 1851, and in 1859 accompanied his parents to northeastern Iowa, where he was reared and acquired his preliminary education. He afterward attended a private academy at Decorah, Iowa, and later taught school in that state and in southeastern Minnesota. In 1873 he removed to Minnesota and engaged in the lumber business in Mabel from the time of the establishment of the town until 1912. He then retired and removed to his farm near Backus, Minnesota, where he now makes his home. His wife was born in New York, December 17, 1853, and in pioneer times accompanied her parents to Brownsville, Minnesota, where her father conducted a hotel at a period when all travel was principally by boat on the Mississippi river. Clayton E. Brace was but eight years of age when his mother passed away. He had been born upon the farm and was only two years of age when the family removed to Mabel, where he attended the common schools. He was also a high school pupil in Preston, Minnesota, and following his graduation with the class of 1897 he took up the profession of teaching, but regarded it merely as an initial step to other professional labor, as it was his desire to become a member of the bar. With that end in view he studied law in the office of H.S. Bassett at Preston for two and one-half years and then entered the University of Minnesota, being graduated from the law department with the class of 1901, at which time the Bachelor of Laws degree was conferred upon him. He was then admitted to practice and followed his profession in Mabel, Minnesota, for a year. Later he removed to Woods county, Oklahoma, where he practiced law for a year and then returned to Mabel. In August, 1905, he went to Westhope, North Dakota and in 1909 opened an office at Ambrose, Williams county. The following year he took active part in bringing about the division of the county, whereby Divide county was created, and in that year he was appointed states attorney and removed to Crosby, the county seat. He filled the office for one term and then resumed the private practice of law in Crosby. In 1916 he was nominated and elected to the office of states attorney and previously he served as city attorney of Westhope and of Crosby. He is also vice president of the park board of Crosby and there is no phase of the city's development in which he is not deeply interested, giving his aid and support to many plans and measures for the public good. The park board with which he is identified has through hard work secured several plots of ground and has laid out a number of parks according to a “city beautiful” plan. This work has been conducted along the line of modern thought in this connection, includes playgrounds for the children and embodies all the other ideas that are built upon the need of mankind for recreation and outdoor life. On the 24th of January, 1906, in Mabel, Minnesota, Mr. Brace was married to Miss Minnie Redo, who was born at Lansing, Iowa, a daughter of Nels and Antoinette (Farrisen) Redo. The father was born and educated in Sweden and in young manhood came to America, following the stone mason's trade in Iowa until his death, which occurred when his daughter, Mrs. Brace, was but a little girl. The mother was born in Iowa and died prior to her husband's death, thus leaving orphaned a family of seven children. After completing a high school course Mrs. Brace taught school in Iowa, in and near Lansing, up to two years before her marriage. She has become the mother of four children: Ella Antoinette, born in Westhope: Clayton E., born in Ambrose, North Dakota; and Leona Redo and William Silas, born in Crosby. The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Brace is a prominent member of Crosby Lodge No. 108, F. & A.M., of which he is now master, while both he and his wife are connected with the Order of the Eastern Star, in which Mrs. Brace is holding office. Mr. Brace was a prime mover in the organization of the Commercial Club, of which he is now president, and is also president of the Divide County Fair Association, of which he was one of the organizers. There is no feature of progressive public life in his community that does not elicit his support and his work in behalf of the city has been far-reaching and resultant. He is a broad-minded man of liberal education and his love of learning is indicated in the fact that he possesses the largest library in Crosby. In a word, he keeps in touch with the best thinking men of the age on all sociological, political and economic questions and at the same time he finds opportunity for mental culture and because of the innate refinement of his nature is opposed to anything common. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann BLAKE LANCASTER M. D. Dr. Blake Lancaster, the founder and proprietor of a splendidly equipped modern hospital and actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Crosby, was born in Culloden, Ontario, Canada, May 25, 1881. His father, Dr. David Henry Lancaster, was also a native of Ontario and was educated in London, Ontario, where for some time he was tutored by his father, Dr. Joseph Lancaster, who was one of the leading physicians of that city and a man of marked distinction and fame in the profession. Dr. David H. Lancaster further qualified for the practice of medicine as a student in the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, subsequent to which time he opened an office in London, Ontario, and afterward removed to Culloden, where he continued successfully in practice for many years, retiring after long and honorable service in the field of medicine and surgery during, which time fame and distinction came to him. He passed away in Culloden in April, 1916, at the age of seventy-nine years, having for a considerable period survived his wife, who bore the maiden name of Aveline McArthur and was born at Thorald, Ontario in 1848, while her education was acquired in the village schools of Culloden. It was there that Dr. Blake Lancaster began his education, which he continued in the high school at Woodstock, Ontario, and at Tillsonburg. He took up the study of medicine in Trinity Medical College at Toronto, thus following in the professional footsteps of his father and grandfather, and was graduated with the class of 1904. His high scholarship and ability led to his appointment to the position of house surgeon at Fosston Hospital under Dr. McKinnon at Fosston, Minnesota. A year later, or on the 29th of August, 1905, he removed to Crosby, North Dakota, and became the first practicing physician of Divide county, where he has since remained. In fact, he was the first medical practitioner west of Portal, North Dakota, and throughout the intervening period he has been accorded a very liberal practice, while his work attests his right to be ranked with the leading physicians of the state. In 1906 he built a hospital in Crosby which is supplied with all modern equipment and the accessories of surgical work. Finding the first building inadequate for his increased patronage, he is now erecting a three story hospital building which will be completed in the fall of 1916 and will meet every demand of scientific surgery at the present day. The institution has a capacity of thirty beds and receives patients from Montana, Saskatchewan and south to the Great Northern line. The hospital has been built with the utmost regard to sanitary conditions and the most improved surgical instruments are found as a part of its equipment. Miss Emma Thompson, a graduate nurse of Fargo, North Dakota, is now matron. In 1913 Dr. Lancaster went abroad, studying surgery in the hospitals of London, Paris and Berlin, having at different times attended the clinics and studied under the most expert surgeons in America and Europe. While he specializes in surgery, he also engages in the general practice of medicine to some extent. In May, 1908, Dr. Lancaster was married at West Lorne, Ontario, to Miss Maud Carson, who was there born, a daughter of S.W. and Mary (Sinclair) Carson, who were likewise natives of Ontario. He has long been identified with farming interests in the vicinity of West Lorne, where Mrs. Lancaster acquired her early education, completing a high school course. She afterward attended the Toronto Conservatory and is an accomplished musician. Eleanor May, born February 27, 1916, is an only daughter. Dr. and Mrs. Lancaster hold membership in the Presbyterian church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He is now serving on the board of commissioners of insanity for Divide county but otherwise has not sought nor held public office. He is, however, a progressive citizen and has been president of the Crosby Commercial Club. He organized the Divide County Rural Telephone Company, which was the first farmer's line in Divide county, and he takes a helpful interest in everything pertaining to the advancement of his part of the state. Fraternally he is connected with the Elks at Minot and along strictly professional lines is connected with the Northwestern District Medical Society of North Dakota, the North Dakota Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is surgeon for the Soo Railroad and the Great Northern Railroad Company and he concentrates his efforts upon his professional interests. There are few towns of the size which have as splendidly equipped a hospital as that which Dr. Lancaster has established at Crosby and the town is proud to number this among its institutions. North Dakota History and People: Outlines of American History, Volume 2 (Google eBook); By: Clement Augustus Lounsberry; The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1917 Transcribed and Contributed to Genealogy Trails by Jenn Zimmermann HOME © Genealogy Trails