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

by William H. C. Folsom

He was married May 26, 1853, to Alice A. Parker, of Roscoe, Illinois, who survives him.

Mark H. Dunnell is of Scotch descent. He was born July 2, 1823, at Buxton, Maine. He was raised on a farm, but graduated at Waterville College, Maine, in 1849, and for three years following was engaged in teaching. In 1852 he was elected to the Maine house of representatives, and afterward served five years as state superintendent of schools. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1856, and in 1860 practiced his profession in Portland. In 1861 he was appointed United States consul to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Before going to Mexico he was appointed colonel of the Fifth Maine Volunteers, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. He resigned his consulship in 1862, and returned to Maine, where he aided the governor in recruiting and organizing regiments for the military service. In 1865 he came to Winona, Minnesota, was a member of the Minnesota house of representatives in 1867, and afterward served three years as state superintendent of instruction. He resigned this office to take a seat in Congress, and represented his district a period of ten years. He was married Nov. 20, 1850, to Sarah A. Parrington, of Goshen, Maine. They have three children living.

James Heaton Baker, son of Rev. Henry Baker, a Methodist preacher, and Hannah (Heaton) Baker, was born in Monroe, Ohio, May 6, 1829. He graduated at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1852. In 1853 he purchased the Sciota Gazette, at Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1855 he was elected secretary of state on the ticket headed by Salmon P. Chase as governor. In 1857 he removed to Minnesota, where, for two successive terms he was elected to the same office. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned, and accepted a colonel's commission in the Tenth Minnesota Volunteers. In 1863 his command was ordered to the South, and he was detached and made provost marshal of St. Louis, and subsequently of the department of Missouri, in which position he served until the close of the war, he being meanwhile promoted to a brevet brigadier generalship.

At the close of the war he was appointed register of the land office at Booneville, Missouri, but in two years resigned and returned to his farm in Blue Earth county, Minnesota.

In 1871 President Grant appointed him commissioner of pensions, a position for which he was singularly well fitted. He resigned in 1875, and was appointed by President Grant surveyor general of Minnesota. Gen. Baker has been prominent in Masonic circles, and has contributed much to the newspaper and periodical press. He was married Sept. 25, 1852, to Rose R., daughter of Reuben H. Thurston, then of Delaware, Ohio, now of Mankato, Minnesota. This estimable lady died at Washington City, March 21, 1873, leaving two sons, Arthur and Harry E. Gen. Baker, since his appointment as surveyor general, has resided at Mankato. He served in 1885 and 1886 as railroad commissioner for the State.

Horace Burton Strait is of Virginia Revolutionary stock. He was born in Potter county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 26, 1835. His educational advantages were such only as the common schools afforded, and he is largely self cultured. He came to Minnesota in 1855, and engaged in farming near Shakopee, but in 1860 moved to the county seat, and engaged in mercantile business. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, commanded by Col. Alexander Wilkin; was commissioned as captain, and in 1864 as major; was mustered out at the close of the war, since which time he has been engaged in milling, banking and farming. He was president of the First National Bank of Shakopee. He served as mayor of Shakopee in 1870-71-72, when he was elected to Congress, and served by continuous re-elections until 1888, when J. L. MaDonald became his successor. He was emphatically a working member. He has been twice married. His first wife died in 1872, leaving one child.

Judson Wade Bishop was born at Evansville, New York, June 24, 1831. He received an academic education at Fredonia Academy, and at Union Academy, Belleville, New York. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he was employed for several years as clerk and book-keeper and in teaching. Having a taste for civil engineering he fitted himself for usefulness in that department at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, and in 1853 secured a position as draughtsman on the Canadian Grand Trunk railway. At the completion of the road, in 1857, he obtained employment in railroad surveying, making his residence at Chatfield until 1861, where he purchased a newspaper, the Chatfield Democrat. At the first call for troops in 1861 he sold his office, volunteered as a soldier, and was mustered in as captain of a company in the Second Regiment, June 26, 1861. He was mustered out at the close of the war with the brevet rank of brigadier general, and resumed railroad work, in which he has since been active and conspicuous. For some years he was manager of the St. Paul & Sioux City. His connection with railroad enterprises necessitated his removal in 1864 to Le Sueur, in 1868 to Mankato and in 1873 to St. Paul, which has since been his home. He has also been a heavy dealer in real estate. He was married Jan. 11, 1866, to Nellie S. Husted, of Galena, Illinois, who died Sept. 19, 1878, leaving three sons, Charles Husted, Edwin Judson and Robert Haven.

John Louis McDonald.—The paternal ancestors of our subject were Highlanders, of the clan "McDonald of the Isle." John Louis was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Feb. 22, 1836; came with his parents to America in 1842, lived a few years in Nova Scotia, then removed to Pittsburgh where he received an academic education. He removed to Belle Plaine, Scott county, Minnesota, in 1855, read law with Judge Chatfield, and was admitted to practice at Shakopee in 1858, removing thither three years later, and continuing in practice, serving as probate judge from 1859 to 1864 and publishing and editing the Belle Plaine Enquirer, and later, the Shakopee Argus, serving two years as prosecuting attorney, four years as superintendent of schools, two years as state representative (1869-70) and three years as state senator (1874-75 and 1876). In 1877 he was elected district judge, and served seven years. In 1888 he took his seat as representative in Congress. As a judge he is thoroughly well informed, clear-sighted and impartial.

Thomas H. Armstrong was born in Milan, Ohio, Feb. 6, 1829. He graduated from Western Reserve College in 1854, commenced the practice of law at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1856, practiced at High Forest, Minnesota, until 1870, when he discontinued practice. Three years later he moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota, and established the Freeborn County Bank.

Mr. Armstrong has acted a prominent part in the legislation of the State, having been a representative in the legislatures of 1864 and 1865, and, as lieutenant governor, president of the senate for the four succeeding terms. He was elected speaker of the house in the legislature of 1865. As a presiding officer he was courteous, dignified, and fair in his rulings, and an excellent parliamentarian. April 1, 1868, he was married to Mrs. Elisabeth M. Butman, daughter of John Burgess, of Cleveland, Ohio.