Other prominent citizens of Winona are: Dr. James Monroe Cole, the oldest physician in the city; Royal Day Cone, one of the first merchants; Judge Wm. Mitchell; —— Norton, a lumberman and county treasurer several years; W. W. Phelps, first president of the State Normal School; —— Hough, builder of the first large hotel; Hodgins, Yeomans & Laird, lumbermen.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIES.
Pierre Bottineau was born in the Red River settlement, now Dakota, in 1817. His early life was passed amongst the Ojibways in the employ of various fur companies. He has lived an eventful life and endured many hardships as a hunter, trapper and guide. He was early noted as a pilot to and from the Selkirk settlement. In 1843 he removed his family from Selkirk to St. Paul. In 1845 he removed to St. Anthony Falls, east side, where he laid out an addition to the new village. He was also, in 1851, the first settler at Maple Grove, or "Bottineau's Prairie," in Hennepin county. When he came to Fort Snelling he was employed by Gen. Sibley as a guide. In 1856 he assisted in selecting locations for forts. In 1858, after the establishment of Fort Abercrombie, he located the village of Breckenridge, now in Wilkin county, Minnesota. In 1859 he accompanied Geologist Skinner in his exploring expedition, having for its object the survey and location of salt mines, and was guide to Col. W. H. Noble's wagon road expedition to Frazer river. In 1860 he accompanied a military expedition with Gov. Ramsey to conclude treaties with the Northern Minnesota Chippewas. In 1862 he accompanied Capt. Fisk's Idaho expedition, and, in 1863, Gen. Sibley's expedition to the Missouri. Mr. Bottineau now resides at Red Lake Falls, Polk county, Minnesota.
Andrew G. Chatfield, a member of the Minnesota district bench at the time of his death, was born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego county, New York, Jan. 27, 1810. In 1838 he was a member of the New York assembly; in 1848 he removed to Racine, Wisconsin, where he was elected county judge. In 1853 he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota Territory, and he made his home on a beautiful prairie in Scott county, on which he laid out the town of Belle Plaine. He acted as judge four years and then resumed the practice of law. In January, 1871, he was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial district, which he held until his death, which occurred Oct. 3, 1875. Judge Chatfield was married in 1836. His widow and an only daughter, Mrs. Cecilia Irwin, reside at Belle Plaine.
Hazen Mooers.—Biographical details of Mr. Mooers are scant and unreliable. He was probably born about the year 1796. It is said that he was in the battle of Plattsburgh, September, 1814, when he was a youth of eighteen years of age, and that he acted as a guard in protecting government and private property. We find by the Minnesota historical collections that he came to Gray Cloud island in 1835 and remained till 1843. It is probable that he remained there till 1848. He was commissioner of St. Croix county, Wisconsin, in 1840-41 and 1842. When he came to Gray Cloud island he was accompanied by a Mr. Robinson, and located in section 23. While at Gray Cloud he was married to a daughter of Dickson, the trader, and sister of Mrs. Joseph R. Brown. We have been unable to find mention of him later than 1848.
John McDonough Berry was born at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, Sept. 18, 1827. Mr. Berry received an excellent education at the Pittsfield Academy, Phillips Academy and at Yale College, from which he graduated in 1847. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was in the law office of Ira Paley, later chief justice of New Hampshire. In 1850 he was admitted to the bar at Concord, New Hampshire. He commenced practice at Alton Corners, Belknap county, New Hampshire. Three years later he came West and located at Janesville, Wisconsin. In 1855 he moved to Faribault, this State, and at once came into prominence. In 1856 he was a member of the territorial house of representatives and chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1862 he was sent to the state senate from Rice county, and in 1864 he was elected associate justice of the state supreme court, a position he has filled with honor to himself and the bar. He removed to Minneapolis in 1879 and died there, greatly lamented, Nov. 15, 1887. An obituary notice from the daily press gives a fair estimate of his character:
"He was not a man that mingled much in society or put himself forward on any occasion, yet he had a very social, genial disposition, and every one that knew him valued the acquaintance highly. As a judge he was universally esteemed. His decisions were always marked by a peculiarly vigorous grasp of bottom facts. His mind was a naturally judicial one. His own ideas were fresh and original, and his way of expressing them unusually vigorous. He devoted himself wholly to his judicial duties and to his family. He was a great reader and student and a great home man. His affections were wholly centred in his wife and children. His distaste for ostentation and publicity is evidenced in his expressed wish for a private funeral."