Polk County, Wisconsin Biographies

Polk County, Wisconsin
Biographies

Fred Ayers
Source: Little Sketches of Big Folks in Minnesota. (Publ. 1907) Transcribed by Marilyn Clore

AYERS Fred H, Minneapolis. Res 4420 Thomas av S, office 560 Temple Court. Lawyer. Born Nov 20, 1869 in Osceola Wis, son of Seth and and Jane V (Creech) Ayers. Educated in common and high schools Osceola; La Crosse Wis Business College; graduating from U of M law dept LL B 1893. Practiced law in Minneapolis 1893 to date; member firm of Ayers & McDonald.

David F. Clark
Little Sketches of Big Folks in Minnesota (Publ. 1907) Transcribed by Liz Dellinger

CLARK David F. Minneapolis. Res 2110 Bryant av S. office 300 Lumber Exchange. Lumber. Born Oct 1, 1883 in Berlin Wis. Son of James and Elonor (Sloan) Clark. Married Dec 25, 1897 to Mary Sears. Educated in public schools Eureka Wis. Engaged in lumber business as member of firm of Osborne & Clark 1885 to date; pres Bank of Dallas Wis; stockholder State Bank of Ladysmith Wis; dir National Hardwood Lumber Assn 2 years; member executive committee 1 year; grading committee 9 ears. Member Wis Nat Guard 3 years. Member Minneapolis Commercial Club; Masonic order and Shrine.

Charles Elmquist
Little Sketches of Big Folks in Minnesota (Publ. 1907) Transcribed by Anna Parks

ELMQUIST Charles E, Rush City. Lawyer. Born Jan 1, 1873 in Osceola Wis, son of John and Martha Elmquist. Married June 28, 1899 to Charlotte C Gemmel. Educated in common school St Croix Falls Wis; graduated from law dept U of M 1898. Worked as a printer 1885-95 and became editor of the Rush City Post. Elected county atty Chicago county Minn 1900 and now serving 4th term. Member Republican State Central Committee.

Frederick English
Source: Little Sketches of Big Folks in Minnesota (Publ. 1907) Transcribed by Anna Parks

ENGLISH FREDERICK L, Minneapolis. 1907 14th av S, office 615 S Washington av. Mngr Northwest Thresher Co. Born Dec 31, 1860 in Sweden, son of Andrew and Martha (Burman) English. Married March 21, 1900 to Josephine Christie. Came to U S 1869; attended public schools St Croix Falls Wis; farmed until 1890; register of deeds Polk county Wis 1890-94; began employment with N W Thresher Co in 1896; manager of the company of Minneapolis 1901 to date.

William Rainey Marshall
Source: Progressive men of Minnesota. Published by The Minneapolis Journal (1897) submitted by Diana Heser Morse

William R. Marshall, the fifth governor of Minnesota, was one of the founders of the Republican party in this state. He was chairman of the first Republican meeting held in territorial days, and was the first candidate of the new party for a territorial office. He was the fifth son of Joseph and Abigal (Shaw) Marshall, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania, and both of his grandfathers were revolutionary soldiers. His father was of Scotch Irish descent, and many of the study traits of character common to that mixture of blood were prominent in the son. Mr. Marshall was born in Boone County, Missouri, October 17, 1825, and got the major portion of his education in the common schools at Quincy, Illinois. School days over he went to the lead mining region of Wisconsin, where he was a miner and surveyor until 1847, when he went to St. Croix Falls to enter a land and tree claim. In this latter place he opened a general store and secured appointment as deputy receiver of the United States land office. In 1848 he was elected to represent the St. Croix Valley in the Wisconsin legislature, but his seat was unsuccessfully contested by Joseph Bowron, because his home in St. Croix Falls was on the west side of the state line. Late in 1847 he located a claim in St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota, but did not perfect the title to it until two years later, 1849, in the fall of which year he was elected a member of the first territorial legislature of the state. He lived on his claim at St. Anthony until 1851, when he removed to St. Paul, which city was ever afterwards his home. He opened the first iron store in that place, and when trade was dull, added to his income by surveying public lands. This business promised so well that he gave up his store and applied himself exclusively to it for several years. In 1855 he became one of a company of business men who opened a banking house in St. Paul. The venture was prosperous until 1857 when it went down before the financial storm of that year. Mr. Marshall next operated a dairy farm near St. Paul and sold milk from his wagons. This business, while prosperous enough, did not suit his tastes, and in 1861 he purchased the Times and the Minnesota Republican daily newspapers published in St. Paul, and consolidated them, calling the consolidated paper the Press. He was editing this paper, when, in 1862, he enlisted in the Seventh Minnesota Regiment of volunteer infantry. He soon became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and in a year was made its colonel, in the place of Stephen Miller, who had been elected governor. He was a brave officer and displayed a high order of executive ability in the handling of his command. In 1862 he was with General Sibley in the Indian campaign in this state, and commanded the battalion that went to the relief of Birch Coolie. In 1863, still being lieutenant-colonel, he commanded his regiment in Sibley's expedition to the Upper Missouri, taking part in the battle of Big Mound. In October, 1863, he went south in command of the regiment, and was commissioned as colonel on November 6, of that year. In June, 1864, he joined the right wing of the Sixteenth Army Corps, at Memphis, Tennessee, and was assigned to the first brigade of the first division. With his regiment he took part in the battles of Tupelo. Mississippi, in July, and was in the expedition to Oxford in August. He was in the skirmishes at Tallahatchie river in the fall of that year. and went from there to Arkansas and Missouri in pursuit of General Price. December 15 and 16, he was at the battle of Nashville, and on the fifteenth succeeded to the command of the third brigade, on the death of Colonel Hill. He was at the siege of Mobile in March and April, 1865, and was wounded in the advance on Spanish Fort. In May, June and July, 1865, he was in command of the post at Salem, Alabama. He was breveted brigadier general in March, 1865, for gallant services at Nashville, and mustered out with his regiment at Fort Snelling, in August, 1865. In the fall of that year he was elected governor of the state, and was re-elected in 1867, serving until January, 1870. At the expiration of his second term he was chosen vice-president of the Marine National Bank of St. Paul, and president of the St. Paul Savings Bank. In 1874 he was appointed a member of the board of railroad commissioners, and continued to serve until 1883. From 1883 to 1893 he engaged in a number of enterprises, among them farming, stock raising and the buying and selling of real estate. These ten years marked the least successful period of his life. In the fall of 1893 he was elected secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, and in 1894 was stricken with paralysis. In January, 1895, he resigned as secretary because he could no longer discharge the duties of the office. In March of that year the resignation was reluctantly accepted, and Mr. Marshall on the advice of friends, went to Pasadena, California, in the hope that the change of climate might help him. After his arrival in California he had another stroke of paralysis, and died January 8, 1896. The remains were brought to St. Paul where the funeral was held, one of the most imposing in the history of that city, January 16, at Christ church. The sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. C. Mitchell, of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) church, of which the dead man was one of the founders. March 22, 1854, Mr. Marshall was married to Miss Abby Langford, of Utica, New York. A son, who was born of this union, died in 1892, leaving a widow and one child. These two were with Mr. Marshall during his last illness in St. Paul and California.

CAPT. MAURICE M. SAMUEL
An Old Time Resident at St. Croix Falls, Well Known to Old Settlers at St. Paul, Gone to England to Receive a Fortune
[From the Polk County (Wis.) Press.]
In the early days of the upper St. Croix valley, long before the white settlers became numerous here, there lived in these frontier wilds, alternately at Balsam Lake and St. Croix Falls, a brave and generous man, whose personal history is a part of the records of Polk county. In those days trading with the Indians and lumbering constituted the business of this section. Captain M. M. Samuel, the subject of this item, was one of those traders, honest, generous and universally respected by his numerous Indian customers. In the conflicts of the Indians with the whites, which were frequent in those days, one Baptiste, an Indian of the Balsam Lake band, had murdered a white man. The civil authorities were unable to arrest him, and in fact the civil officers who governed this territory, lived hundreds of miles south of this point. United States troops from Fort Snelling came to make the arrest, but could not find the murderer, and were defied by the Indians. Captain Samuel said: "I can arrest the Indian, and will do so." Into the forest, miles away from the white settlement, he went, alone and unarmed. In two days he returned with the Indian murderer, and delivered him to the troops.
Captain Samuel entered the army from this county, and served until the close of the rebellion. Since the war he has been located in New Orleans, doing business as a banker and broker, where he has accumulated considerable wealth.
Recently, on the death of his mother, in England, he came into the possession of a large fortune, and is about to go there and take possession of it. All his friends here wish him a pleasant journey, and a long life, in which to enjoy his wealth.
On his return it is probable that he may visit Polk county, and look over the scenes where he spent a portion of his life twenty-five years ago. [Daily Globe. (St. Paul, Minn.), April 10, 1878 - Sub. by K.T.]

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