Mr. Abram Elfelt originated the first Board of Trade, in 1864, and when that body was merged into the Chamber of Commerce became one of its directors. The brothers were public spirited and enterprising, and always took a great interest in the welfare of the city. Abram S. Elfelt died in St. Paul in February, 1888.
D. A. J. Baker was born in Farmington, Maine, in 1825; attended school at New Hampton, New Hampshire; studied law and was admitted to the bar in Kennebec county, Maine, in 1847; came to St. Paul in 1848, and in 1851 made his home in the locality now known as Merriam Park. It is on record that Judge Baker taught one of the first public schools in the territory of Minnesota. He, with others, pre-empted the land and located what is now Superior City, Wisconsin, but sold his interests in that city. He was appointed to a judgeship in Douglas county, Wisconsin, in 1854, and served three years; was county superintendent of schools in Ramsey county for twelve years, and was a member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional convention in 1857. He has been a dealer in real estate. He was married to Miss Cornelia C. Kneeland, a sister of Mrs. Dr. T. T. Mann, and late widow of James M. Goodhue, in 1853. Mrs. Baker died in 1875. Maj. Newson, in his "Pen Portraits," says of her: "She was an affectionate wife and a devoted mother, and amid all the trials and vicissitudes incident to the ups and downs of an old settler's career, she never murmured, never complained, never fretted, never chided; always cheerful, always hopeful, casting sunshine into the home and weaving about all those she loved golden chains of unbroken affection."
B. F. Hoyt.—Rev. B. F. Hoyt, a local minister of the Methodist church, and a prominent pioneer of 1848, was born at Norwalk, Connecticut, Jan. 8, 1800. He removed to New York State, and later to Ohio, where he married and resided until 1834, when he removed to Illinois, and in 1848 to St. Paul. He purchased the property bounded now by Jackson, Broadway, Eighth and the bluff for three hundred dollars. The following spring he laid it out as "Hoyt's addition." He dealt largely in real estate and at various times held property, now worth millions. He was instrumental in the erection of the Jackson Street Methodist church, and aided in, the endowment of Hamline University. He died Sept. 3, 1875.
John Fletcher Williams, secretary of the Minnesota State Historical Society, is of Welsh descent, John Williams, a paternal ancestor of the seventh remove, having come to this country from Glamorganshire, Wales. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 25, 1834. He was educated at Woodward College and Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating from the latter institution in 1852. He came to St. Paul in 1855 and engaged in journalism and reporting for about twelve years, during which time he acquired a thorough knowledge of city and state affairs and an acquaintance with the pioneers of the State, which knowledge he utilized in writing biographical and historical, sketches, his principal work in this line being the "History of St. Paul," published in 1876.
In 1867 he was elected secretary of the State Historical Society. Upon him devolved the duty of arranging its volumes and collections and editing its publications. Most of the memoirs, and historical sketches are from his pen. He has gathered manuscripts and material for a history of the State which will ultimately be of great value. He is the honorary corresponding secretary of the Old Settlers Association, not being eligible to active membership in that body, which requires a residence dating back to 1850. Various diplomas have been conferred upon him by the historical societies of other cities and states.
In 1871 he was appointed by President Grant a member of the United States Centennial commission from Minnesota, and served as such to the close of the International Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
John Henry Murphy was the first medical practitioner in St. Anthony Falls, he having made that city his home in 1849. Mr. Murphy was born Jan. 22, 1826, at New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father, James Murphy, a shipbuilder, was a native of Ireland; his mother, Sarah (Allen), belonged to an old New Jersey family. His parents removed to Quincy, Illinois, in 1834, where John Henry obtained a good high school education. He studied medicine and graduated from the Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1850, and returned to St. Anthony Falls, which he had made his home the year before. In this place he lived and practiced his profession till near the close of the war, when he removed to St. Paul.
In the summer of 1861, when Dr. Stewart, surgeon of the First Minnesota Infantry, was captured at Bull Run, Dr. Murphy took his place and served for six months, and afterward as surgeon of the Fourth and Eighth Minnesota Infantry. Dr. Murphy was a representative in the territorial legislature of 1852, and a member of the constitutional convention, Republican wing, in 1857. As a man and a physician Dr. Murphy has an enviable reputation. He was married to Mary A. Hoyt, of Fulton county, Illinois, June 28, 1848. They have five children.
W. H. Tinker was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1813; was married to Elisabeth Barnum, at Rockford, Illinois, in 1840; came to Prairie du Chien in 1843, and to St. Paul in 1849. He engaged for awhile in tailoring, then in selling groceries, then clerked for S. P. Folsom & Co., and also in the recorder's and marshal's offices. At one time he owned eight acres in the heart of St. Paul, for which he paid two hundred and eighty-four dollars, which is now worth a quarter of a million.
George P. Jacobs was born in Virginia in 1832; was educated at the Virginia Military Institute; came to Pierce county, Wisconsin, and engaged in lumbering, afterward in farming and lumbering. He has resided in St. Paul since 1870.