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

by William H. C. Folsom

Rensselaer R. Nelson, United States district judge since Minnesota became a state, was born in Cooperstown, Otsego county, New York, May 12, 1826. His paternal great-grandfather came from Ireland in 1764. His grandfather was born in Ireland, but came to this country in his childhood. His father, Samuel Nelson, was associate justice of the United States supreme court. His father served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and the son located the land warrant given for his services in Minnesota. The mother of Rensselaer was Catharine Ann (Russell), a descendant of Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, Massachusetts, in whose house the regicides Goffe and Whalley were concealed for years, and where they finally died.

Rensselaer R. Nelson graduated at Yale in 1846. In 1849 he was admitted to practice law. He came to St. Paul in 1850. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him territorial judge, and in 1858, United States district judge, which office he still holds. He was married to Mrs. Emma F. Wright, a daughter of Washington Beebe, of New York State, Nov. 3, 1858.

George Loomis Becker was born Feb. 14, 1829, in Locke, Cayuga county, New York. His father, Hiram Becker, was a descendant of the early Dutch settlers of the Mohawk valley. In 1841 his father removed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the son entered the State University as a freshman, and graduated in 1846. He studied law with George Sedgewick until 1849, when he emigrated to St. Paul, arriving late in October. Here he commenced the practice of law, being associated with Edmund Rice and E. J. Whitall. Subsequently, on the withdrawal of Mr. Whitall, Wm. Hollinshead became a member of the firm. The partnership continued until 1856, when Mr. Becker withdrew to engage in other pursuits, since which time he has been engaged in forwarding the railroad interests of the State and serving in various positions of honor and trust. He served as a member of the constitutional convention in 1857. In 1862 he was chosen land commissioner of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad, and in 1864 was elected president of that corporation. In 1872 he was the unsuccessful candidate of his party for Congress.

He is a member of the Old Settlers Association, of which he was president in 1873, and of the Minnesota Historical Society, over which he presided as president in 1874. He was one of the original members of the Presbyterian church in St. Paul in 1850. He has served in the council of St. Paul, and as mayor. He has figured most creditably in the business, political, social and religious life of his adopted city, and is an admirable type of a public spirited citizen. Since 1885 he has served as railroad commissioner. In 1885, at Keesville, New York, he was married to Susannah M. Ismon, an estimable lady, who has made his home attractive. Their family consists of four sons.

Aaron Goodrich.—Hon. Aaron Goodrich, first chief justice of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, was born in Sempronius, Cayuga county, New York, July 6, 1807. His parents were Levi H. and Eunice (Spinner) Goodrich. He traces his ancestry back through the Connecticut branch of the Goodrich family to a period in English history prior to the advent of William the Conqueror. His mother was a sister of Dr. John Skinner, who married a daughter of Roger Sherman. In 1815 his father removed to Western New York, where the son was raised on a farm and educated chiefly by his father, who was a fine scholar and teacher. He then studied law and commenced practice in Stewart county, Tennessee. In 1847 to 1848 he was a member of the Tennessee legislature.

In 1849 he was appointed to the supreme bench of Minnesota Territory. He filled the position for three years. In 1858, at the state organization, he was appointed a member of a commission to revise the laws and prepare a system of pleading for state courts. In 1860 he was made chairman of a similar commission. In March, 1861, President Lincoln appointed him secretary of the legation at Brussels, where he served eight years. While abroad, by his habits of study and opportunities for research, he laid the foundation of his critical and somewhat sensational work, "A History of the Character and Achievements of the So-called Christopher Columbus."

In politics Judge Goodrich was originally a Whig, and was a presidential elector in 1848. He was next a Republican, and served as delegate to the convention of 1860. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Liberal Republican convention which nominated Horace Greeley for president. In later years he voted with the Democratic party.

Mr. Goodrich was Deputy Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in the State, was one of the corporate members of the State Historical Society and of the Old Settlers Association, of which he was for many years the secretary. In 1870 he was married to Miss Alice Paris, of Bogota, New Grenada, a descendant of the old Castilian family de Paris, an accomplished lady, who, with a daughter, survives him. Judge Goodrich died in St. Paul in 1886.

Nathan Myrick was born in Westford, Essex county, New York, July 7, 1822. He came to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1840. The writer first met him at Prairie du Chien in 1841. He was one of the principal founders of the city of La Crosse, managing a trading house in company with Scoots Miller. He also engaged in lumbering on Black river. He came to St. Paul in 1848, and has since made that city his home. He has been an enterprising and successful trader with the Indians, principally with the Sioux. Much of his trading stock was destroyed by the Sioux Indians in the insurrection of 1862, but he has been recompensed in part by the government. In 1843 he was married to Rebecca Ismon. They have three children.

John Melvin Gilman, son of John and Ruth (Curtis) Gilman, was born in Calais, Vermont, Sept. 7, 1824. His father died in 1825. The son received a good common school and academic education, graduating from the Montpelier Academy in 1843. He read law with Heaton & Reed, of Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar in 1844. During the same year he removed to New Lisbon, Ohio, where he practiced law eleven years and served one term (1849-50) in the state legislature.