Fifty Years In The Northwest / With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes

by William H. C. Folsom

Lyman Dayton was born Aug. 25, 1809, in Southington, Connecticut, and was early thrown upon his own resources. He commenced as a clerk in a store in Providence, Rhode Island, and by faithfulness and industry became in time a wholesale dry goods merchant. His health failing, he sought the West in 1849, and selected for his home a high bluff, to which his name has been affixed, near the city of St. Paul. He purchased over 5,000 acres of land in the vicinity. The bluff is now covered with palatial residences, business, church and school buildings.

Mr. Dayton lived much of his time at a village founded by himself at the junction of Crow river with the Mississippi. The village bears his name. He was one of the proprietors and first president of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railway Company, and gave much of his time and means to promote its interests. He died in 1865, leaving a widow (formerly Miss Maria Bates) and one son, Lyman C., a heavy dealer in real estate.

Henry L. Moss.—Mr. Moss is of English descent. His ancestors came over prior to the Revolution, in which later members of the family took a prominent part in behalf of the colonies. He was born in Augusta, New York, and graduated at Hamilton College, New York, in 1840; studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1842 at Sandusky, Ohio, where he practiced until 1845, when he removed to Platteville, Wisconsin, where he became an associate with Benj. C. Eastman until 1848, when he removed to Stillwater. He was the second lawyer in this place. In 1850 he moved to St. Paul. He served as the first United States district attorney for Minnesota Territory, holding the office from 1849 until 1853. He was reappointed to this office under the state government in 1862, and served four years. Mr. Moss is a worthy member of the Presbyterian church. His moral character and natural abilities have commended him for the positions he has so satisfactorily filled. Mr. Moss was married to Amanda Hosford, Sept. 20, 1849.

William Rainey Marshall is of Scotch-Irish descent, and of good fighting stock, both his grandfathers participating in the Revolutionary struggle. His father, Joseph Marshall, was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and his mother, Abigail (Shaw) Marshall, was born in Pennsylvania. William R. was born in Boone county, Missouri, Oct. 17, 1825. He was educated in the schools of Quincy, Illinois, and spent some of his early years mining and surveying amidst the lead regions of Wisconsin. In September, 1847, he came to St. Croix Falls, and made a land and timber claim near the Falls on the Wisconsin side (now included in the Phillip Jewell farm). While at St. Croix Falls he sold goods; dealt in lumber, was deputy receiver of the United States land office, and took an active part in the boundary meetings. He was elected representative in the Wisconsin assembly for the St. Croix valley in 1848, but his seat was successfully contested by Joseph Bowron on the ground of non-residence, he residing west of the line marking the western limit of the new state of Wisconsin. During the latter part of the year 1847 he had made a visit to St. Anthony Falls and staked out a claim and cut logs for a cabin, but partially abandoning the claim, he returned to St. Croix Falls. In 1849 he returned to St. Anthony Falls and perfected his claim. In the same year he was elected representative to the First Minnesota territorial legislature. In 1851 he removed to St. Paul and engaged in mercantile pursuits, becoming the pioneer iron merchant in that place. During this year he was also engaged in surveying public lands. In 1855, with other parties, he established a banking house, which did well till overwhelmed by the financial tornado of 1857. He then engaged in dairy farming and stock raising. In 1861 he purchased the St. Paul Daily Times and the Minnesotian and merged them in the Daily Press. In 1862 he enlisted in the Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and was made lieutenant colonel of the regiment. On the promotion of Col. Stephen Miller in 1863, he succeeded to the command of the regiment, and remained connected with it to the close of the war, participating in the battles of Tupelo and Nashville, and in the siege of Spanish Fort. Gen. Marshall won for himself an enviable record as a soldier, and was breveted brigadier general for meritorious services. In 1865 he was elected governor of Minnesota, and re-elected in 1867. On vacating the gubernatorial chair he resumed banking, and was made vice president of the Marine National Bank, and president of the Minnesota Savings Bank.

In 1874 he was appointed a member of the board of railway commissioners. In November, 1875, he was elected state railroad commissioner, and re-elected in 1877. In politics he is Republican, in his religious views he is a Swedenborgian, being one of the founders of that society in St. Paul. He is a liberal supporter of religious and benevolent enterprises, and a man universally esteemed for sterling qualities of mind and heart. He was married to Miss Abbey Langford, of Utica, New York, March 22, 1854. They have one son, George Langford.

David Cooper was born in Brooks Reserve, Frederic county, Maryland, July 2, 1821. He enjoyed good educational advantages, first in the common schools and later had as a tutor Rev. Brooks, a Methodist clergyman, an accomplished gentleman and scholar, who gave him thorough instruction in the sciences and classics. In 1839 he entered Penn College, where he became a ready writer and pleasant speaker. After leaving college he studied law with his brother, Senator Cooper, and in 1845 was admitted to practice. He practiced in several counties, showed rare ability, espoused with enthusiasm the politics of the Whig party, and on the accession of Gen. Taylor to the presidency, in 1849, was appointed by him first assistant judge of the supreme court for the territory of Minnesota. He arrived in Minnesota in June, 1849, and located in Stillwater; was assigned by Gov. Ramsey to the Second Judicial district, and held his first court at Mendota. He changed his residence to St. Paul in 1853, and, leaving the bench, devoted himself to law practice in St. Paul. He was a Republican candidate for Congress in 1858, at the first session of the state legislature.

He left Minnesota for Nevada in 1864, then went to Salt Lake City, where he died in a hospital in 1875. He was twice married but left no children.

Bushrod W. Lott was born in Pemberton, New Jersey, in 1826. He was educated at the St. Louis University, and studied law in Quincy, Illinois, being admitted to practice in 1847. A year later he accompanied Gen. Samuel Leech to St. Croix Falls, and was clerk during the first land sales in that region, while Gen. Leech was receiver. The same year he came to St. Paul, settling down to the legal profession. He was a Democrat in politics, and held the office of chief clerk of the house in the legislature of 1851, being elected in 1853 and re-elected in 1856 as a representative. In 1853 he was beaten for the speakership by Dr. David Day, after balloting for twenty-two days. About ten years after this he became president of the town council for two years, and was city clerk for a year and a half. President Lincoln appointed him consul to Tehuantepec, Mexico, in 1862, where he served until 1865. Mr. Lott was a charter member of the St. Paul Lodge, I. O. O. F. He died of apoplexy in 1886.