Jacob T. McCoy was an old-time typo and worked in all the St. Paul offices before and after the rebellion. Mr. McCoy was a fine singer and his voice was always heard at typographical gatherings. He enlisted as private in the Second Minnesota and served more than four years, returning as first lieutenant. He now resides in Meadeville, Pa.
Martin Williams was printer, editor, reporter and publisher, both before and after the war. He was quartermaster of the Second Minnesota cavalry.
Robert P. Slaughter and his brother, Thomas Slaughter, were both officers in the volunteer service and just previous to the rebellion were engaged in the real estate business.
Edward Richards was foreman of the Pioneer and Minnesotian before the war and foreman of the old St. Paul Press after the war. He enlisted during the darkest days of the rebellion in the Eighth regiment and served in the dual capacity of correspondent and soldier. No better soldier ever left the state. He was collector of customs of the port of St. Paul under the administration of Presidents Garfield and Arthur, and later was on the editorial staff of the Pioneer Press.
The most remarkable compositor ever in the Northwest, if not in the United States, was the late Charles R. Stuart. He claimed to be a lineal descendant of the royal house of Stuart. For two years in succession he won the silver cup in New York city for setting more type than any of his competitors. At an endurance test in New York he is reported to have set and distributed 26,000 ems solid brevier in twenty-four hours. He was originally from Detroit. In the spring of 1858 he wandered into the Minnesotian office and applied for work. The Minnesotian was city printer and was very much in need of some one that day to help them out. Mr. Stuart was put to work and soon distributed two cases of type, and the other comps wondered what he was going to do with it. After he had been at work a short time they discovered that he would be able to set up all the type he had distributed and probably more, too. When he pasted up the next morning the foreman measured his string and remeasured it, and then went over and took a survey of Mr. Stuart, and then went back and measured it again. He then called up the comps, and they looked it over, but no one could discover anything wrong with it. The string measured 23,000 ems, and was the most remarkable feat of composition ever heard of in this section of the country. It was no uncommon occurrence for Mr. Stuart to set 2,000 ems of solid bourgeois an hour, and keep it up for the entire day. Mr. Stuart's reputation as a rapid compositor spread all over the city in a short time and people used to come to the office to see him set type, with as much curiosity as they do now to see the typesetting machine. In 1862 Mr. Stuart enlisted in the Eighth regiment and served for three years, returning home a lieutenant. For a number of years he published a paper at Sault Ste Marie, in which place he died about five years ago. He was not only a good printer, but a very forceful writer, in fact he was an expert in everything connected with the printing business.
E.S. Lightbourn was one of the old-time printers. He served three years in the Seventh Minnesota and after the war was foreman of the Pioneer.
M.J. Clum is one of the oldest printers in St. Paul. He was born in Rensselar county, New York, in 1832, and came to St. Paul in 1853. He learned his trade in Troy, and worked with John M. Francis, late minister to Greece, and also with C.L. McArthur, editor of the Northern Budget. Mr. Clum was a member of Company D, Second Minnesota, and took part in several battles in the early part of the rebellion.
J.B. Chancy came to Minnesota before the state was admitted to the
Union. At one time he was foreman of a daily paper at St. Anthony
Falls. During the war he was a member of Berdan's sharpshooters, who
were attached to the First regiment.
S J. Albright worked on the Pioneer in territorial days. In 1859 he went to Yankton, Dak., and started the first paper in that territory. He was an officer in a Michigan regiment during the rebellion. For many years was a publisher of a paper in Michigan, and under the last administration of Grover Cleveland was governor of Alaska.
M.R. Prendergast, though not connected with the printing business for some time, yet he is an old time printer, and was in the Tenth Minnesota during the rebellion.