John R. Bean was born at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, April 25, 1831; came to St. Anthony in 1849 and to Ramsey, Anoka county, in 1850, where he made a farm in section 33. He says this was the first farming done in Anoka county. From 1850 to 1859 he lived alternately at his home in St. Anthony and his farm in Ramsey. In 1870 he removed to Anoka city, where he is engaged in lumbering.
William Staples was born in 1815, in York county, Maine, where he was married in 1840. He came to St. Anthony in 1850. He has lived in the town of Grow, of which he was one of the founders, for many years. He is a farmer and brickmason.
Abraham McCormack Fridley was born May 21, 1818, at Corning, Steuben county, New York. His parents were Pennsylvanians, of German descent. He received a common school education. At the age of twenty-one years he was appointed deputy sheriff of Steuben county, and was afterward collector of canal tolls at Corning. In April, 1851, he was appointed by President Fillmore agent for the Winnebago Indians then at Long Prairie, Todd county. In that year he was also admitted to practice law. In 1853 he removed to St. Paul and was elected sheriff of Ramsey county. The next year he removed to St. Anthony Falls and was elected to the house of the territorial legislature. A little later he removed to Manomin, now Fridley. He was elected a representative in the legislatures of 1869-70-71 and 79. For many years he cultivated a large farm at Becker. For ten years he has been in the employ of the Manitoba railroad as land agent. He is a Democrat, and in 1860 was delegate to the conventions at Charleston and Baltimore. Mr. Fridley died March 26, 1888, leaving a widow and three sons, Henry C., Frank and David H.
Capt. James Starkey was born in England in 1818. He came to America in 1849 and located in St. Paul in 1850. He removed to the town of Columbus, Anoka county, in 1855, and was active in promoting its interests. His first enterprise, the building up of the village of Columbus, was not successful. In 1857, by order of Gov. Medary, he commanded a military expedition against the Chippewas at Sunrise Prairie, the object being to compel them to return to their reservation, an expedition attended with some tragical results, as elsewhere narrated. Capt. Starkey took part in the Civil War as captain of a cavalry company. He was the first to survey a road through the country lying between St. Paul and Lake Superior. He was a representative of the first state legislature. Since 1865 Capt. Starkey has resided at St. Paul, and is at present prominent as a citizen and as an official in West St. Paul.
SHERBURNE COUNTY.
Prior to its organization, Sherburne was part of Benton county. It was named in honor of Judge Moses Sherburne, an appointee to the bench of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory. The county is bounded on the north by Benton, on the east by Anoka and Isanti counties, and on the south by the Mississippi river. It is somewhat irregularly timbered with pine and hardwood, interspersed with oak openings, rolling prairie lands and natural meadows. The surface is generally undulating. A prominent ridge of high land, from three to five miles wide, extends from Elk river in a northeasterly direction into Anoka county. The county is well watered by tributaries of the Mississippi, Elk and St. Louis rivers, and has besides many clear and sparkling lakes. The soil is mostly sandy loam with clay subsoil, and valuable granite quarries are found in the northern tier of towns.
David Faribault was the first settler or trader, he having established a post on the Elk river in 1846, where he made a garden and raised potatoes. In September, 1848, H. M. Rice and S. P. Folsom bought Faribault's improvements, and Folsom moved his family to the place and built a log cabin on what is now Auditor's addition to Elk River village. He was succeeded in the ownership by Pierre Bottineau.
The county was organized in 1856, under territorial law. The governor, Willis A. Gorman, appointed J. H. Stevenson, Ephriam Nickerson and Eli J. Cutter commissioners (Stevenson being chairman); Eli Houghton, treasurer; H. J. Putnam, register of deeds; Andrew Boyington, judge of probate; John G. Jamieson, county attorney; Orlando Bailey, sheriff. The first commissioners' meeting was held at the house of Joseph Brown, at the village of Humboldt, which was made the county seat and so remained until 1867, when it was removed to Elk River village. The county was attached to Benton for judicial purposes until 1862. Prior to this Mr. Brown's house was used for county commissioners' meetings and for courtrooms until burned down some years later, when the commissioners met at the house of John E. Putnam.
A court house was built at Elk River on lots donated by J. Q. A. Nickerson, the village donating $1,000 and the county the remainder necessary for the building.
Prior to the formation of the state government, the county was divided into election precincts. The first term of district court was held at Humboldt in December, 1862; Judge C. E. Vanderburgh, presiding; J. E. Putnam acting as clerk. The first commissioners who held their meeting at Elk River were H. Houlton, chairman; A. Boyington and O. Bailey. The first meetings were held at the house of J. Q. A. Nickerson.