Fifty Years In The Northwest by William H. C. Folsom

acted as deputy state treasurer. In 1868 he was elected state treasurer and held the office until 1872. Mr. Munch lost most of his property in a long litigation, in consequence of some unfortunate ventures in buying pine lands. Subsequent to his term of office as state treasurer he removed to Lakeland and engaged in the lumber business. In 1875 he removed to Afton where he took charge of a flouring mill. He was married in 1865 to Bertha Segar. He died Aug. 30, 1887. ALVIN MASON WILMARTH.--Mr. Wilmarth came from Massachusetts to the valley of the St. Croix in 1849, and to Taylor's Falls in 1852. He has followed lumbering and farming. Mr. Wilmarth is a steady, temperate man. LUCIUS KINGSBURY STANNARD was born in Franklin county, Vermont, July 6, 1825. He had good educational advantages and improved them. He completed his literary course at Barkersfield Academic Institute, Vermont, afterward studied law at St. Albans, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. In 1852 he came West and located at Taylor's Falls, where for some years he had charge of the business of Taylor & Fox. In 1857 he was a member of the territorial legislature, representing in the house the counties of Washington, Itasca, Chisago, Superior, and Doty. He was a member of the Republican wing of the constitutional convention of 1857. He represented Chisago, Pine and Isanti counties in the state senate of 1859-60. He was a member of the house of the thirteenth legislature, 1871, representing Washington, Chisago, Pine and Kanabec counties. He held the position of receiver in the United States land office at Taylor's Falls from 1861 to 1870. He was the first lawyer admitted to practice in the courts of Chisago county. He was associated in his law practice for several years with H. N. Setzer. He has served as prosecuting attorney and probate judge. He served several years as county surveyor. He has, in later years, been engaged in the lumbering and mercantile business, in the firm of Ellison & Stannard. In October, 1884, he was appointed register in the land office, which position he now holds. Mr. Stannard has a very pleasant home within the village limits, but some distance beyond the settled portion. He is a man of sound judgment, of grave and almost severe demeanor, outspoken and positive in his views, but withal a reliable citizen and kind neighbor. He was married in 1858 to Harriet Stevenson, in St. Louis. They have one son, Luke. JAMES W. MULLEN was born in Nova Scotia in 1830. He came to Davenport, Iowa, in 1843. He commenced life on a steamboat at the age of fourteen years. He was employed on the steamer Boreas, plying between St. Louis and Keokuk, and followed river life most of the time until 1878. In 1885 he built the Vincent House, St. Croix. Taylor's Falls has been his home at different times since his marriage in 1854. He was married to Margaret Riley, of Davenport, Iowa. Their children are William, Edward and Elsa. DAVID CANEDAY was born in Vermont in 1830, and settled in Taylor's Falls in 1853. Mr. Caneday has devoted much of his time to prospecting as a mineralogist. During the years 1861-62 he edited the _St. Croix Monitor_, and from 1881-84 the _St. Croix Dalles_. In 1862 he enlisted in Company C., Seventh Minnesota Infantry, and served till the close of the war. His record as a soldier was good. After the battle of Tupelo he volunteered to remain with the wounded, of whom there were about sixty, in the hands of the enemy. Two of these wounded were comrades and friends in Company C., Andrew J. Colby and John S. Swenson. The former died. Mr. Caneday remained at great personal risk, and saw the inside of several prisons before being exchanged. After his return Mr. Caneday engaged in mining and prospecting, except such time as he edited the _St. Croix Dalles_. He is now mining on Kettle river, in Pine county, Minnesota, and in Burnett county, Wisconsin. He was married in 1865 to Laura, daughter of Judge N. M. Humphrey. GEORGE B. FOLSOM was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, April 9, 1815. He was married to Deborah Sawyer, October, 1842, and came to Taylor's Falls in 1853, where he engaged in lumbering. In 1855 he removed to Rush Seba, locating in section 14. He was the first settler in the town and raised the first crops; built the first log and the first frame house, and was prominent in advancing the educational and other interests of the town. He was appointed postmaster in 1856, and held the office fourteen years. He held the office of county commissioner ten years. In 1875 he was appointed receiver of the land office at Taylor's Falls, which office he held for ten years, since which time he has resided in the village. AARON M. CHASE was born in Machias, Maine, April 7, 1813. He received a home and common school education. In the fall of 1848 he came to St. Anthony and engaged in lumbering. He and Sumner Farnham ran the first logs down the Mississippi from Rabbit river to Fort Ripley and St. Anthony, in 1849. In the spring of 1849, in company with Pat Morin, he built a tow boat, clearing for that purpose a tow path on the eastern side of the river a distance of eighty miles. He carried freight for the American Fur Company, but the introduction of steamboats put an end to this enterprise. In the fall of 1849 he went to St. Louis and remained there till August, 1850, when he returned North, locating at the outlet of Balsam lake, Polk county, Wisconsin, where he built a saw mill. He built a dam and mill, bringing the materials together without other team than himself and five men. After completing the mill he engaged for some years in lumbering. He located at Taylor's Falls in 1853. In 1869 he supervised the building of a series of dams on streams tributary to the Upper St. Croix, the water collected by them to be used at low stages to float logs to the St. Croix and down that stream to Stillwater. These dams are operated under a charter from the state of Wisconsin, and have proved a great benefit to the lumbermen. Mr. Chase is president of the company. He is a man of strong, clear mind, deliberate in action, positive in his opinions and pointed in his expressions, and withal a kind hearted, generous and true man. Mr. Chase is unmarried. PETER ABEAR was born in Canada East in 1830; came to Stillwater in 1850, but subsequently removed to Taylor's Falls where, in 1855, he was married to Kitty Wickland, who died in 1860, leaving a son, Franklin E., merchant at Anoka. Mr. Abear married again. His second wife died in 1868, leaving a daughter, Mary. Mr. Abear married a third wife, who died in 1874, leaving no children. Mr. Abear is a machinist but has given much of his attention to farming. LEVI W. FOLSOM was born in Tamworth, Carroll county, New Hampshire, Sept. 25, 1821. He was fitted for college at Gilmanton, entered Penn College at Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1848. Returning to New England, he studied law at Cornish, Maine, with Caleb R. Ayer, and was admitted to practice in the county of Carroll, New Hampshire. He came to Taylor's Falls in 1854, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Minnesota, and practiced law for a period of fifteen years, when he engaged in real estate and other business. He is a pleasant and agreeable speaker, stands high in the masonic fraternity, is an ardent and uncompromising Democrat, a positive man with strong home and social feelings. He has been vice president of the Taylor's Falls branch of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad since its organization. He was married in 1859 to Abbie Shaw, in St. Paul. EDDINGTON KNOWLES was born in Kentucky in 1821; came to St. Croix Falls in 1844, and followed lumbering. He was married to Ann Carroll at Taylor's Falls in 1854, and made his residence at Taylor's Falls. He enlisted for service during the Rebellion in the Third Minnesota Volunteers, but was discharged for disability before the close of the war. He died at Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1883, leaving a widow and three children. His oldest daughter is the wife of Douglas Greely, of Stillwater. His body was brought to the Taylor's Falls cemetery for interment. DR. LUCIUS B. SMITH.--Dr. Smith was the first regular physician in Taylor's Falls, having located here in 1854. He was born in Berlin, Erie county, Ohio, in the year 1824. He was married in 1849, and after some years' practice of medicine in his native town he came West and located in Taylor's Falls, where he resided until 1862, when he was appointed surgeon of the Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, in which regiment were many of his friends and associates. He performed well his duties in that position, but was killed on the day preceding the battle of Tupelo, the division to which he belonged having been ambuscaded by Forrest's troops. His remains were carried to the field of Tupelo and there buried, but have since been removed to Kahbakong cemetery, at Taylor's Falls. Dr. Smith was a tall man, of fine presence, with the air of an officer, for which reason, doubtless, some sharpshooter singled him out for destruction. Dr. Smith left a widow, one son, Charles, and one daughter, Mary, the wife of J. W. Passmore. His widow was married to E. D. Whiting. Both are deceased. WILLIAM COMER was born in Cheshire county, England, in 1812; was married to Elisabeth Davis; came to America in 1846 and located in St. Louis, where he remained until 1852, when he removed to Pike county, Illinois. In 1854 he removed to St. Croix Falls and in 1855 to Taylor's Falls, where he has since resided. He has been treasurer of Chisago county two terms, and four years register of the United States land office. For a number of years he has held the position of town and bridge treasurer. He and his two sons, George and William, are engaged in the mercantile business. His daughter, Eleanor, is the wife of Benj. Thaxter, of Minneapolis. DR. ERASTUS D. WHITING.--The Whiting family, consisting of three brothers, Erastus D., Selah and Charles B., came to Taylor's Falls in 1855, and for many years were prominent merchants and business men in the village. Erastus D. Whiting was born in Vernon Centre, Massachusetts, in 1811. He was educated in the common schools and at Westfield Academy. At the age of sixteen he commenced reading medicine and graduated at the Ohio Medical College in 1832. He practiced three years in Ashtabula, Ohio, and twenty years in Pike county, Illinois. When he came to Taylor's Falls he retired from practice and engaged in the mercantile and lumbering business until 1867. During this time he served in two sessions of the Minnesota legislature as representative, 1860-61. In 1869 he visited Europe. He died in Taylor's Falls in 1880. He was twice married; first in 1837, to Emily Bradley, who died in 1866; and second in ----, to Mrs. Smith (widow of Dr. L. B. Smith), who died in 1872. SELAH WHITING was born in Connecticut; came West to Pike county, Illinois, in 1836, and to Taylor's Falls in 1855. He engaged in the mercantile business. His wife died in 1867. He died in 1868. CHARLES B. WHITING was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut; came to Pike county, Illinois, in 1836, and to Taylor's Falls in 1855. He was associated with his brothers in the mercantile business. He was register of the land office four years and served as United States marshal during the war. His first wife died in Taylor's Falls. He was married to Flavilla Blanding in 18--. Mr. Whiting died in 1873. FREDERIC TANG was born in Prussia in 1819. He learned the trade of house carpenter and served in the Prussian Army one year. He was married in Germany, in 1850; came to America in 1852 and to Taylor's Falls in 1856. He served three years in Company C, Seventh Minnesota, during the Rebellion. One son, Frederic, resides at Taylor's Falls, engaged in lumbering. His oldest daughter, Pena, is the wife of Ernest Leske, of Taylor's Falls. His second daughter, Bertha, is the wife of David Bowsher, of Dakota. Mr. Tang died in November, 1887. WARD W. FOLSOM was born in 1822, in Tamworth, New Hampshire; was married to Matilda Stedman in 1844; came to Taylor's Falls in 1856, where he kept a boarding house for several years. He died at his home, Sept. 28, 1884. His eldest son, Charles W., was editor of the Taylor's Falls _Reporter_ for several years. He was married to Luella Gray in