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

by William H. C. Folsom

Hascal Russell Brill was born in the county of Mississquoi, Canada, Aug. 10, 1846. He was educated partly at Hamline University, then located at Red Wing, and finished at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He studied law and was admitted to practice at St. Paul in December, 1869, and formed a partnership with Stanford Newel. Three years later he was elected probate judge and served two years. In 1875 he was appointed by Gov. Davis to fill the vacancy in the court of common pleas caused by the death of Judge W. S. Hall, and a few months later was elected by the people to fill the same position. In politics Judge Brill is Republican. He was married Aug. 11, 1873, to Cora A. Gray, of Suspension Bridge, Niagara county, New York.

Ward W. Folsom, brother of Simeon P. and W. H. C. Folsom, was born in Tamworth, New Hampshire, Oct. 13, 1824, but in early life removed with his parents to Skowhegan, Maine, and in 1846 came to Arcola, Minnesota. In 1848 he removed to St. Croix Falls and in 1851 to Taylor's Falls, where he kept the Chisago House and engaged in lumbering until 1857, when he removed to St. Paul, which city has since been his home. He was employed for three years during the Civil War in the quartermaster's department at St. Louis, Missouri. In 1865, with health greatly shattered, he returned to St. Paul. He was married to Sydney Puget, of St. Louis, in 1852. They have two adopted sons.

Gordon E. Cole was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, June 18, 1833; received his education at Sheffield Academy, Massachusetts, and at the Dane law school of Harvard University, from which school he graduated in 1854. He practiced law two years in his native town, came to Minnesota, and located in Faribault in 1847. In 1859 he was elected attorney general and served three consecutive terms. He served one year as state senator, and a year in compiling state statutes. He has been a railroad attorney and has filled many honorable positions. He was married in August, 1855, to Stella C. Whipple, of Shaftsbury, Vermont, who died in June, 1872, leaving three children. Feb. 14, 1874, he was married to Kate D. Turner, of Cleveland, Ohio.

James Smith, Jr., was born in Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, Oct. 29, 1815. He obtained a good practical, common school education, and was besides largely self taught. He read law three years in Lancaster, Ohio, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and practiced law in his native town for seventeen years. In 1856 he came to St. Paul, where he has been associated in practice with Judge Lafayette Emmett, John M. Gilman and J. J. Egan. Since the building of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad he has been its attorney, general manager and president.

Mr. Smith was in the state senate in 1861-62-63 and 67, and proved a careful and able legislator. As a lawyer he stands deservedly high. He was married to Elisabeth Martin, Jan. 18, 1848. They have four children.

William Pitt Murray is of Irish descent. He was born in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, in 1827; came to Centreville, Indiana, in 1844; attended school there, graduated at the State Law School at Bloomington in 1849, and the same year came to St. Paul, where he has practiced law ever since. He has also taken an active part in the politics of the city and State. He has probably assisted in the passage of more laws than any other man in the State. He was a member of the territorial house of representatives in 1852-53 and 57, and of the territorial council of 1854-55, acting as president in the latter year. He was a member of the Democratic wing of the constitutional convention in 1857; was a representative in the state legislatures of 1863 and 1868, and a state senator in 1866-67, 1875-76, and has besides served sixteen years in the city council of St. Paul. He has been county and city attorney since 1876. He has been honored beyond most public servants and has a county named after him. He was married to Carolina S. Conwell, of Laurel, Indiana, April 7, 1853. They have three children living.

Henry Hale.—Judge Hale was born in Vermont in 1816; studied law and was admitted to practice in his native state. He came to St. Paul in 1856 and opened a law office on Bridge Square. He took an active part in the politics of the State and vehemently opposed the $5,000,000 loan bill. He has since retired from law practice, and is now a successful dealer in real estate.

James Gilfillan, son of James and Janet (Gilmor) Gilfillan, was born in Bannockburn, Scotland, March 9, 1829. His parents came to America in 1830 and located at New Hartford, New York. He was educated in the common schools, read law and was admitted to practice in 1850. He removed to Buffalo, New York, where he practiced law until 1857, when he removed to St. Paul and opened a law office. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, became its captain and before the close of the war was commissioned colonel of the Eleventh Minnesota Infantry. In 1869 he was appointed to a vacancy on the supreme bench of the State and again in 1875. The same year he was elected to the office for seven years, at the end of which time he was re-elected. He was married June 4, 1867, to Miss Martha McMasters, of St. Paul. They have six children.

Charles Duncan Gilfillan, a younger brother of James, was born in New Hartford, New York, July 4, 1831. He was educated in the common schools, Homer Academy and Hamilton College. After leaving college, in 1850, he located in Missouri, and a year later came to Stillwater, Minnesota, where he read law with Michael E. Ames, was admitted to the bar in 1853 and removed to St. Paul in 1854, where he engaged for about twelve years in the practice of his profession. Since that period he has been engaged in furthering various public enterprises, among them the St. Paul Water Works, of which he was the founder and for many years manager. He has occupied various public positions, always with credit to himself. He was the first recorder of Stillwater; was a member of the state legislatures of 1864-65, and 1876, and a member of the senate from 1878 to 1881, inclusive. At the session of 1878 he was chairman of the railroad committee and the committees on judiciary and education. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Gilfillan was married to Emma C. Waage, of Montgomery county, New York, who died in 1863, leaving no issue. In 1865 he married Fanny S. Waage, sister of his first wife. They have four children.

Alexander Wilkin was born in Orange county, New York, in December, 1820. He studied law with his father, Judge Samuel J. Wilkin, and practiced awhile at Goshen. In 1847 he enlisted in the Tenth New York Regulars for service in the Mexican War, and was commissioned captain. In the spring of 1849 he came to St. Paul; practiced law; was appointed United States marshal in 1851, and served until 1853. He visited Europe during the Crimean War, and studied the art of war before Sebastopol. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, he raised the first company for the first regiment, acted with conspicuous bravery at the battle of Bull Run, and was commissioned major of the Second Minnesota, lieutenant colonel in the same regiment, and colonel of the Ninth Minnesota, all in the same year, 1862. He took part in the Indian campaign, but at its close returned South, his regiment being attached to the Sixteenth Army Corps, under Gen. A. J. Smith. He was advanced to the position of brigade commander, and was killed at the battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, July 14, 1864. Wilkin county, Minnesota, bears his name.