office in the Minnesota State Automobile Asso-
ciation. Col. Joyce gained his military title as a
member of Governor McKinley's staflF. an ap-
pointment received in i8q2. While at De Pauw
he was a Cadet Major in the military department
and organized and trained the then famous "As-
bury Cadets," a conipany which won many first
prizes in Interstate Competitive drills. While in
Cincinnati Col. Joyce was captain of the Cin-
cinnati Light Artillery and served during the
famous Court House riots. Col. Joyce is a mem-
ber of Hennepin Avenue Methodist Episcopal
Church and the secretary of the board of trustees.
In 188,^ he was married to Miss Jessie Birch of
Bloomington, Illinois, and they have four children
— .\rthur Reamy, Carolyn, Wilbur Birch and
Helen.
VAN NEST, Hiram, was one of the oldest
settlers in the vicinity of the Falls of St. Anthony,
where he came in 1850 when only nineteen years
of age. Mr. Van Nest was born in Sandusky,
Ohio, on January 27, 18.^1, the son of Addy and
.Margaret Van Nest. While he was yet quite
young, the family moved to Illinois where the
father engaged in farming. At nineteen the son
determined to make his own way and came to
Minnesota where he found employment in the
lumber camps, on the frontier farms and for a
time in the management of the stage line between
St. Paul and St. Anthony. It was related that
one of his early employments was that of plow-
ing on the site of the Syndicate Block in the
heart of the city. Of frugal habits and with a fat
seeing grasp of the conditions about the Falls
of St. Anthony. Mr. Van Nest commenced the
investment of his small savings in real estate
almost as soon as the present site of Minneap-
olis was opened for settlement. He bought with
judgment and rapidly became a man of substance.
One of his purchases was a farm on wliich he es-
tablished his home and which is now in the center
of the city. He became a skillful and progressive
farmer, took an active part in the promotion of
niR.VM V.VN NEST.
agriculture and horticulture in the new state,
raised fine cattle, but at the same time found op-
portunity to take part in puljlic affairs, filling the
position of school trustee, asssessor and other
offices in the township of Minneapolis. He was
active in the promotion of the temperance cause
and, in 1859, was one of the founders of the local
organizations of the order of Godd Templars. .\s
the city grew his property holdings made him in-
dependent and at the same lime failing health
made it necessary for him to spend his winters in
another climate. This led to the purchase of a
forty acre tract near Los Angeles, which he
stocked with fruit and with which lie occupied
himself during his seasons in California. Mr. Van
Nest was married on January i, i86r, to Miss
Blaisdell, daughter of Robert Blaisdell of Min-
neapolis. They had three sons, Robert .\ddy
Van Nest, a resident of Windoni, Minnesota. John
H. Van Nest, who has for some years represented
the Thirteenth Ward in the Minneapolis city
council, and Charles E. Van Nest. Mr. Van Nest
died on October 17, 1894.
284
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS
A
WILLIAM II Ml UrilV
LL'XI). Joliii I,, w.i^ li,.ni 111 Kushlnrcl,
Mllnii>rc ciiuntx, M iiiiK-M)l:i. in i.S()8. iif
Xr.ru 1^1:111 parciila^i-. His pariMits inovcd to
('aiili\, Miniu-sota. in 1X7(1. and there the son
Kiew li> iratihocul reieiving a common school
educaliiin and a traininj,' in bnsiness with his
father (), X, l.uiid, uhn was a successful business
mail. In 1XS7 Mr. Lund (jpeiied a collection, loan
and real estate oHice in Canliy, (loinj,^ business in
a small way locally. But he soon became con-
vinced that more ags''<'ssive iiK'thods were neces-
sary to success and conimeiiced I he development
of a system of auenis lliroiiL;lic iiil Ihe farming
di - lrict of many slates which li.i- built up a very
large bnsiness and inlluenced the immigration to
.Minnesota and the Dakotas of thousands of fam-
ilies. He also established local otTiccs at numer-
ous centers through tin- northwest and linally
moved to Minneapolis where he opened bis cen-
tral oflice, from which he directed the operations
of the local offices ami perhaps J. 500 local agents.
Although wonderfully successful in business Mr.
l.und found lime to take ;in active part in
public affairs. While living in I'aiihy, .Minn., he
was mayor of the town and in kjo.s was a nu'inber
of the stale legislature In .Minneapolis he was
identil'ird with the uork of the ("ommerci.al .and
Odin Clubs of which he was a member for some
years. .Mr. l.und died at .Minneapolis on .August
5. 1908.
MURPHY. Harry Gates, state agent of the
National Life Insurance Company of Vermont,
was born at Cincinnati, on November 9, 1870.
He was the son of William H. and Maria G.
.Murphy — the former a veteran of the War of the
Rebellion and a life insurance man of long stand-
ing. The son's early life was spent at Cincinnati
.ind l''\ansiiin. 111., where his father later moved.
He received a high school education and then
joined his father in the insurance business com-
ing with him to MiimesMta in 1889. The firm
.if \\ iiL H. .Murphy & .Son was subsequently
formed and for some years past has held the state
agency for the National Life. Upon Mr. William
H. Murphy's death in 1906 the work was assumed
entirely by his son who is carrying on the agency
with success. Mr. Murphy is unmarried. He
lakes an active part in the social life of the city
and is a member of the .Automobile, Commercial
and Minikahda clubs and of the highest degrees
of the Masonic order. He attends the First Con
gregational Church
llAltltV IL \ii Ki'in.
REAL ESTATE AND INSURA.XCE
285
.MURPHY, William H., for many years one
of the most prominent life insurance men of Min-
nesota, was born in Cincinnati, March 31, 1S42,
and died at Minneapolis. May 12, 1906. He grew
lip at Cincinnati, received his education in the pub-
lic schools and received his first military training
in the high school cadets. When the Civil War
broke out he w-as not yet of age but he entered
the army while still in his twentieth year. He
was enrolled a private in Battery H, First Ohio
Light Artillery, for three years, on October 28,
1 861: discharged on surgeon's certificate for dis-
ability, December 16, 1862; enrolled as a second
lieuionant in Company H, Second Ohio Heavy
.Artillery, on June 18, 186.3; appointed first lieu-
tenant, August 28, 1863; transferred to Company
D. May 24, 1864; promoted to captain,. May 3t,
1865. mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee,
.\ugust 23. 1865; and honorably discharged
at Columbus, Ohio, on August 28, 1865.
Mr. Murphy made insurance liis life work.
Me was eminently successful — an active, en-
ergetic and enthusiastic solicitnr and show-
ing much facility in handling the agents
workin.g under him. From 1889 until his
death he was associated with the National Life
Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vermont,
and for 18 years held the state agency
in connection witli hi^ son, Harry <i.
Muri)hy, the firm being Wm. H. .Murphy
& Son. .Mr. Murphy was much interested
in military and fraternal orders. He was
a member of the Loyal Legion ni the United
States, being elected on January 14, 1896, a com-
panion of the First Class Original, and for more
than eleven j'ears was an active member of the
John A. Rawlins Post. No. 126. Department of
Minnesota, G. .A. R. From early manhood he af-
filiated with Masonic orders, being a member of
Cataract Lodge No. 2, St. Anthony Falls Chapter
No. 23, Adoniram Council No. 5, Darius Com-
mandery No. 7, the Scottish Rite bodies and also
of Zuhrah Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine.
It was by order of Scottish Rite bodies that he
was finally laid to rest at Toledo, Ohio. Mr.
Murphy was married at Cincinnati on August 3,
1866, to Miss Maria G. McBride. They have had
two children.
McMillan. Putnam Dana, was born at Frye-
burg, Maine. .August 2^. 1832. "Blood tells," they
say, and Mr. McMillan certainly illustrates the
saying by the sturdj' way in which he has faced
the storm and stress of life and mastered difficul-
ties before which weaker spirits would have
quailed. His great-grandfather on his father's
side. Col. .Andrew McMillan, of Scotch-Irisli
nativity, fought in the War of the Revolution,
and his son John was a general in the war of
1812, the latter's son Andrew being the father of
P. D. -McMillan. The distinguished General
Israel Putnam was .Mr. ?ilcMillan's great-great-
ITTNAM 11.
.\Ir.\llI.l..\.\.
grandfather on the motlier's side, her father Col.
Israel Putnam Dana, bein.g a son of the Winches-
ter Dana who married Hannah Putnam, daughter
of the fighting general and hero of Horseneck
Precipice and Pomfret Cave. .Mr. McMillan's
father was a graduate of West Point, a
civil engineer and prominent in Vermont dem-
ocratic politics, and a mem1)er of tlie legis-
lature. The son received a common school and
academy educational training and, for a few
years, was a clerk in a country store, after which
he went to California on a sailing vessel around
Cape Horn and engaged in mercantile business
and mining for several years, returning to Ver-
mont and engaging in farming. Upon the break-
ing out of the Civil War he enlisted in the Fif-
teenth Regiment of Vermont Volunteers and
served as quartermaster during its term of ser-
vice, afterward going to Buenos .-Vyres, South
.America, where he settled as a sheep farmer on the
Parana River, near Rosario. .After several years of
success, civil war broke out and played havoc with
all peaceful vocations, bringing financial ruin to
Mr. McMillan, aggravated by an epidemic of
cholera which carried ofT his wife and four other
members of his household. Crushed with grief,
he return to the United States and located in
.Minneapolis, engaging in the real estate business
in 1872, and making himself a public benefactor
by his enterprise and public spirit.
286
A HALF CENTURY OF iMINNEAPOLlS
Mr. McMillan is a member of the Rawlins
I'cist, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the
Loyal Legion and a member of the Congrega-
tional Church. In politics lu- i-^ a life-long repub-
lican. His first wife, who died in South .\merica,
was Helen E. Davis, daughter of Hon. Bliss N.
Davis, a prominent lawyer of Vermont. One
child iif tliis marriage, Emily Dana, survived the
â– grievous catastrophe in South America. Mr. Mc-
Millan was married again to Kate Kittredge,
(laughter of Hon. Moses Kittredge, of St. Johns-
liury, Vermont, and of the three children of this
marriage two remain. Margaret and Putnam
Dana.
PENNEY, Truman E., of the general insur-
ance firm of Hood cS: Penney, was born in .\dams,
Jefferson county, New York, on November 28,
1857. He was the son of Simon E. and Clarissa
M. Penney. His early education was obtained
in the public schools of Newark and Columbus,
Ohio, followed later by a course at Otterbein
L"ni\er>ity. Westerville, Ohio. After leaving the
nlll\er^it.\ lie studied law in Kenton, . Ohio, and
wa- admitted to the bar before the supreme
court at Columbu> in 1S7H. .Mr. Penney was
court commissioner and deputy clerk of court of
Cochise county, -•\rizona, for about three years.
He then came to Minneapolis, early in 1883. and
was engaged in the business of mortgage loans
and real estate until 1893 when he entered in-
>ur,ince. In i8g8 he became a member of the
firm of Hiiod & Penney, who act as general
agenlN for the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Cor-
pnration and the Title Guarantee and Surety
Company. They have lieen very successful and
do a large business in these special lines of in-
surance. In politics Mr. Penney is a republican.
He is an active member of the principal social
organizations of the city including the .Minne-
apolis Club and the Lafayette Club and is presi-
dent of the Long Meadow Gun Club. He was
niurricd at Springfield, Ohio, in 1886, to Miss
Kale E. Downs. They have two children, Tru-
niiin C. and Robert .S.
l'K,\\ , .Mlnrt I'enderson, for years a iiinno'iKiil
insurance ni.aii of iMinne.apcjIis, was Imhii i.n
September 2.|, 1863, ;il St. Cloud, Minnesota, lie
w.as the son of ()lis .\. I'r.iy .and Frances A.
Pray, lIiâ– ^ f.itlirr, who ilird in iSgo, was one
of ilu' jii..iUTr cili/cus of Minnr,-i|)olis and was
for many years engaged in .Minnesota as a mill
contractor and in the foundry business; and at
tile time of his son's birtli, was a resident of
Si. Cloud .-11111 engaged in constructional work
there. .MIkiI 1'. I'r.iy received the usual jiri-para-
lory education ami then went east for his college
training. He entered the Pennsylvania .Milittiry
College with the class of 1884, taking a course
in civil engineerin,g, completing his studies with
liis class and graduating on June 12, 1884. While
in college Mr. Pray was prominent in tin- cadet
service and during his last year wa.-, the senior
cadet officer. Following his graduation he re-
turned to Minneapolis. He did not follow up his
profession of engineering, but soon after his re-
turn entereil his father's machine works and
foundry, and learned the machinist's trade. .Mr.
Pray later entered into a partnership with his
father to establish and operate the Minneapolis
Foundry Company with a plant at Woodland near
Minneapolis. They did a general iron working
and founding business, which was continued until
after Mr. O. \. Pray's death, when his son dis-
posed of the plant and business to enter insur
ance. In 1896 he accepted the position of special
agent and adjuster of the Royal Exchange As-
surance, of London, England. Early in 1908 he
was elected secretary of the Milwaukee German
Fire Insurance Company and moved to Milwau-
kee. For many years Mr. Pray has been promin-
ently identified with the affairs of the Minnesota
National Guard. He became associated with the
local infantry organization in 1887 and was rapid-
ly iironioted through the various ranks, holding
the successive offices in his company. On Janu-
ary 8th, 1893, he was commissioned inspector
general with the rank of brigadier general. On
March 13th, 1903, he was appointed ordinance
officer. First Artillery, M. N. G., with t!ie rank
of first lieutenant. When the battery was re-
organized in 1905 with the idea of making it a
crack artillery company, Mr. Pray was elected
captain and filled that position very acceptably
until his removal from the state. On January 7,
1908 his name was honorably entered upon the
list of retired officers. .M the same time it was
officially recorded by the adjutant general that:
"To Captain Pray belongs the distinction of being
the only member of the Minntsota National Guard,
who qualified in the liighest grades of markman-
ship with the service rifle, revolver and 3.2 field
gun in one target season, same being made during
season of 1905." To this it may be added that
Captain Pray is the only one in the United States
who has this record. In political faith .Mr. Pray
is .a republican, but has never cared to hold
puldic office. He is a uieinber of Minneapolis
Lodge No. 19, \. V. and ,\. M,. .md is a past
master of that lodge; of all the Scottish Rite
bodies; and of St. John's Chapter and Zuhrah
Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S. On June 17, 1890
Mr. Pray was married to Frances ,\. Faraway,
and they have two children, twins, born on Janu-
ary 28, 1905, Frances and i'lorenee
S.\WYFi\, Charles 1 incolii. was born on
March 28, i860, at Lee, N'c'W Ilainpsliirc. llu- son
of Jefferson and Elizabeth J. Sawxir Mis father
was a farmer and his boyhood was spent on the
farm, where he began his education in the district
schools of tile \iciiiily. He afterwards attended
the high school at .\'ew Market, New Hampshire,
New Hampton inslilution, a b'newill Baptist
academy, from which lie graduated in 1884, deliv-
ering the latin or.alion. and Dartmouth college,
from which he graduated in 1888, standing fourth
REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE
287
CHARLES t., SAWVlOli.
in a class of sixty-live. His graduation degree of
A. B. was followed by the degree of A. JV'I., con-
ferred by' Dartmouth in 1891 for three years' lit-
erary work. During his college life, Mr. Sawyer
made his own way, engaging in various kinds of
employment and when he left college, he turned
to school teaching and during twelve years in this
profession, spent four years as superintendent of
the schools at Waukegan, Illinois, one year in
New Hampshire and seven years as principal of
the South High school, Minneapolis. While in
the latter position, he attended the law depart-
ment of the University of Minnesota, graduating
with the class of 1897, but he has never devoted
himself to the practice of law. In 1899, he re-
signed his position and entered the real estate
business as a member of the firm of Moore Bros.
& Sawyer, and in recent years has been in busi-
ness by himself. He has never lost his interest
in educational matters, and during a term of ser-
vice in the Minnesota legislature, in 1907, was
chairman of the educational committee of the
House and introduced and carried through, the
high school anti fraternity bill and other educa-
tional measures. Mr. Sawyer also introduced
and secured the passage of the mortgage registra-
tion bill and the pure paint bill and also took
active part in general legislation of the session.
He was renominated and re-elected for the thir
ty-sixth session of the legislature in the fall of
1908. Mr. Sawyer is a prominent Mason, is Past
Master of Minneapolis Lodge, No. 19. A. F. and
.\. M., Past commander of Zion Commandery of
Knights Templar, Past Thrice Illustrious Master
of Minneapolis Council No. 2, a thirty-second de-
gree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Zurah
Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He be-
longs to a number of Minneapolis organizations,
including the Conmu-rcial club and the Six
I )'Clock club and is a nienilier of the Park Ave-
nue Congregational church, of which he was a
deacon for four years. Mr. Sawyer was married
m 1892 to Miss Olive M. Bennett of Gilford, New
Hampshire. They have four children, Esmond
IJennett, Russell Jefferson. Cliarles .Arthur and
.Miriam Louisa.
SNYDER, Simon Peter, one of the pioneer
settlers of St. Anthony, is of German descent, his
grandfather coming from the vicinity of Ham-
1 urg iM this country where he settled in Mary-
land, later moving to Pennsylvania where lie ob-
tained a title to about half of the land on which
tile town of Somerset was established. Part of
this land was afterward donated by the ovner
toward the erection of a public school, court
liciiise ;in(l Lutheran church. Simon Peter Sny-
der, son of John A. Snyder and Elizabeth Shaf-
fer, was horn at Somerset, on .\pril 14, 1826. He
received a common school education and when
fiurteen began to clerk in his uncle's general
store, later taking sole charge of the establish-
iiieiit which he bought at the end of two years
and conducted in his own interest. In 1850 he
sold out, and came by team as far west as Peoria.
Illinois. Receiving there a communication from
an uncle interested in general merchandise in
Springfield, Ohio, Mr. Snyder returned and pur-
chased the store, operating it until 1855, when
he came to this city. Here he immediately formed
a partnership with W. K. MacFarlane for the pur-
pose of locating lands, having offices with O,
Curtis on Main street, St. Anthony, about where
the Pillsbury A mill now stands. In the fall of
1S55 the firm built an office on Bridge Square
where they continued their land business and
opened the first banking house in Minneapolis.
Mr. Lcvic L. Cook joined the firm in 1855, which
was then known as Snyder, MacFarlane & Cook.
Soon after his arrival in Minneapolis, Mr. Snyder
bought eighty acres of land near Nicollet avenue
and Tenth at $100 per acre and platted, as Sny-
der's First .Addition to Minneapolis, land now
worth several millions of dollars. In the years
1856, 1857 and 1858 he was treasurer of the Min-
nesota State Agricultural Society, during which
time the first fair was held on the ground where
the public library now stands. !\Ir. Snyder es-
tablished in 1862 the first auction store in the
city and in 1876 built the first warehouse for the
storage of overtime railroad freight. During the
outbreak of the Indians in 1862, a volunteer com-
liany was formed with Anson Northrup as cap-
tain and Mr. Snyder as first lieutenant, which
joined the regiment under General Sibley to go
288
A HALF CENTURY OF MINNEAPOLIS
s. Ai.iiKiiT siiH-KW i:r.i,.
to the relief of New Uhii ami I'cirl I\i(l>;le\
Inipatienr at the delay of the movement tins coni-
liaiiy, led by .Mr. Nortlirup and Mr. Snyder, ad-
\anced on tlieir own responsibility and were first
to brinK relief to b'ort Riduley. Mr. Snyder
l;ai li\e(l in .\1 irnieapi ills continue in^ly since 1855
and has three eliildren — b'rank (".. bred B. and
Mary C. Snyder. Mr. Snyder lias been promi-
nently connected with the advance of public and
|)rivate enterprises in this city and Colonel Stev-
ens, in his "I'ersonal Recollections of Minne-
sota" says: "rrobalily, to .Messrs. Snyder and Mac-
b'arland. air the citizens of .Minneapolis nmre in-
ch bled than to .-[uy one else for the rapid prog-
ress in tile early industries on the west side of
the Falls."
STOCKWb. I.I.. Silv.anus .\lbcrt. son of Sil
vanus and Charlotte B. Stockwell, was born jinu-
8. J857. at .\noUa. Minnesota. ITis ancestors on
his father's side canu- from l'".Mnland ami sritKil
in Massachusetts in lOjS, and on bis mother's
side, they came from llolland in 1700 and set-
tled in New York. Silvamis .Mliert was Iirougltt
up i>n his father's farm .nid attended the com-
mon schools, fjradnaling at the ,\nok.i High
.School, after which he taught school ibvee years
in .Anoka and adjoining counties and then was
employed by the American F'xpress Company
for twelve years, removing in 1880 to Minne-
apolis, where he has since resided. He was special
agent for the Provident Life and Trust Com-
])any for four years and in i8g6 he became general
agent of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Com-
pany of Philadelphia, which position he now
holds. He was elected to the lower house of the
Minnesota Legislature and served in the sessions
of 1891 and 1897, and was elected to the senate
and served in the sessions 1899-1901, and in the
e.xtra session of 1902. He was the democratic
candidate for congress in the Fifth District in
1900, .Mr. Stockwell is a democrat and an active
member of the Commercial Club and president of
the Municipal Ownership League, and is a mem-
ber of the First Unitarian Society. On October
4, 18S7, .Mr, Stockwell was married to Maud
Conkey and they have had three children, of
whoni two. Charlotte and Elizabeth, are living
lllO.MPSON, Leonard Kellogg, named for
his grandfathers. General Leonard Thompson, of
the War of i8t2, and Reverend Robert R. Kel-
logg, a Presbyterian clergyman, was born at l,e-
Roy, New York, January loth, 1S61. .V few
months later the f.amily removed to Brooklyn,
now a part of New York City, where he received
his education, going through the public and high
schools, and a preparatory college course. Being
compelled to shift for himself at si.xteen, he be-
gan his business career with the Merchants Ex-
change National Bank, opposite the old city hall,
in New Y'ork, and was subsequently employed in
the freight tral'Hc department by Railroad Com-
missioner Fink. In 1S81, when but twenty-one
ye.'irs of age. he married .Miss Eva H. Geraghty.
of Brooklyn, and removed to Ringhamton. New
York, where he became linancial manager for
Charle. A. Weed & Company. A few years later
be interestc-d himself with the senior mend)er
of the firm in eMcnsive lumber operations in
western I'cmisyhania. which occupied him until
18S7, when he formed a iiartnership with 11. B.
Osgood, of the Binghamton Scale Works Messrs.
Osgood i'<: Thomi)son continued business until
1892, (lonbbn.L; their output each jear, when Mr.
Thom]ison, on his physiciati's recommendation.
Sold his interest in the business and removed to
Minneapolis. While in Bin.ghamton Mr. Thomp-
son served as a trustee of the Board of Tr,-ide, a
director in its prosperous Building & Loan As-
sociation, w;is president of its Y. M. C. A., and a
member of the .\ew \'<n-]< State Committee. He
w.is also .1 trustee of the West Presbyterian
Church of Hinghamlon. .'ind very active in all
the cil\''s afTairs. although never holding politi-
cal office. ,\fter comini.; to Minneapolis, Mr.
Thomi)Son was for thirteen \c.irs manager of the