Part 67 (1/2)
His father was a Scotchman by birth, and was a member of the Hudson Bay Company as early as 1785 Maj Forbes was educated at Montreal, where he also served an apprenticeshi+p at the hardware business, and afterward became junior partner in the same establishment At that time Montreal was the chief depot of supplies for the Indian trade of the Northwest, and the reports which continually caht of the Indians and voyageurs returning with their furs, so excited his love of adventure that he resigned his position as partner in the hardware business and accepted a clerkshi+p with the American Fur Company John Jacob Astor was then president The conditions were that the clerk should speak and write the French language, which Mr Forbes could do with facility Having engaged as clerk, his outfit was conveyed in bark canoes froe of fifty men enlisted for a three years' cruise
Their route lay by way of the lakes to La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and up the Brule river, froe were carried across to the waters of the St Croix, and descended thence to the Mississippi From the Sault Ste Marie to La Pointe they were transported on one of the company's schooners They arrived at Mendota in 1837 Gen Sibley was then in charge at Mendota Mr Forbes clerked for hie of an establish to the company (called the St Paul Outfit), and becaht years later Mr
Forbes was a member from St Paul of the first territorial council, and served four terms In March, 1853, he was appointed postmaster at St Paul by President Pierce, and held the office three years In 1853 he also formed a business partnershi+p with Nor of the Indian trade In 1858 Mr Kittson retired from the firm, but the business was continued by Maj Forbes until 1862, when the Indian outbreak put an end to the trade During the can he served as a member of Gen Sibley's staff, and acted as provost marshal at the trial of the three hundred Indians conden he was commissioned by President Lincoln commissary of subsistence in the volunteer service with the rank of captain He was elected auditor of Rah sometimes absent on military duty In 1864 he was ordered to the district of Northern Missouri as chief commissary, remained two years and was breveted ent at Devil's Lake reservation, which position he held at the time of his death, July 20, 1875
Maj Forbes ice hter of Alexander Faribault, by whohter, the wife of Capt
J H Patterson, United States Arain in 1854, to Miss A B
Cory, of Cooperstown, New York, by who
HENRY M RICE--The faland, to Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638 Mele for American independence His parents were Edrandfather Durkee was in the French war of 1755 Mr Rice was born in Waitsfield, Vermont, Nov 29, 1816; attended common school three ton He went to Detroit, Michigan Territory, in 1835; was engaged inthe first survey of the Sault Ste Marie canal, an in 1837, and went to Fort Snelling in 1839 He was post sutler in 1840, United States Army, Fort Atkinson, Iowa Territory, and was connected with the old fur coress in 1853 for Minnesota Territory and re-elected in 1855 He was elected first United States senator for Minnesota, in 1857, admitted to his seat May 11, 1858, and served until March 3, 1863 In 1860 he was a member of the senate special co his ter committees: Indian affairs, post office and post roads, public lands, military, finance He was on the last four named committees at the expiration of the term of March 3, 1863
[Illustration: Henry M Rice]
In 1865 he was noovernor but was defeated by Gen W R
Marshall In 1866 he was delegate to the Philadelphia Union convention He also served in the following various capacities: United States co several Indian treaties; as a ents of the University of Minnesota; as president of the Minnesota State Historical Society; as president of the St Paul Board of Public Works; and as treasurer of Ramsey county, Minnesota
He is the author of the law extending the right of pre-emption over unsurveyed lands in Minnesota He has obtained land grants for numerous railroads in Minnesota, and, with the assistance of Senator Douglas, fra Minnesota to for boundary, etc
As a public man Mr Rice has pursued a policy at once independent and outspoken, not hesitating to express his convictions on the great national questions of the day, and to place hi the war he upheld the adorous prosecution of the war, as the speediest andpeace His letter to the St
Paul _Press_ of Nov 1, 1864, contains sentiments that must commend themselves to every true lover of his country We quote a few extracts:
”I believe Gen McClellan and Mr Lincoln both desire peace--both the restoration of the Union The one favors the return of the Southern States with slavery; the other wishes these states to return without that institution I believe that the revolted citizens forfeited all rights they had under the constitution when they turned traitors; that the Ehtfully set every slave free I a that institution in the South as I would be to its introduction in the Northern States”
”I am in favor of the return of the Southern States, and think the day is not far distant when the sa will float over us all, and when that happy day shall arrive, I hope that the rights we enjoy will be freely accorded to them, and no more”
”When the Southern States return I shall be in favor of their voting population being equally represented with our own, and no further”
”I think that in the long future, when all other of Mr
Lincoln's acts shall be forgotten, his Ee I am opposed to slavery for the reason that _I aest human liberty_, and I can not understand why soht be free can deny freedom to others”
”I think it illy becomes those who took up arms to defend their homes, their country, yea, liberty! to orous prosecution of the war peace will soon come, our liberties will be secured forever, and that prosperity will follow Union with slavery will be only a te ruin, anarchy and an endless effusion of blood and money”
He has been a liberal contributor to the various public enterprises of the city, to churches, public institutions and private parties He has built warehouses, business blocks and hotels The park in front of the city hall was donated by him His name is inseparably interwoven with the history of St Paul and the State Rice county bears his nainia, in 1849
EDMUND RICE, brother of Hon Henry M Rice, was born in Waitsfield, Vermont, Feb 14, 1819 His father died in 1829 He received a somewhat limited com In 1838 he caan, where he read laith Stuart & Miller, and was adress in his profession While a resident of Michigan he was ister of court of chancery and clerk of the suprean Volunteers, of which coh the Mexican War until its close
In July, 1849, he ca in St Paul, where he became one of the firm of Rice, Hollinshead & Becker until 1855, when he embarked in railroad enterprises In 1857 he was elected president of the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, and afterward of its successors, the St Paul & Pacific and the St Paul & Chicago Railroad coetic and coely in the politics of the State, having served several terislatures He was a representative in the territorial legislature of 1851, a senator in the state legislatures of 1864, 1865, 1873, 1874, and a representative in the sessions of 1872, 1877 and 1878
[Illustration: Edmund Rice]
In 1885 he was elected mayor of St Paul, and in 1886 was chosen representative in Congress Mr Rice is an unconized by his party, which he served as chairn of 1872, and elector at large in the can of 1876 He was hter of Hon Henry Acker, of Kalaan Of eleven children, the fruit of this union, all are living but the second daughter, Jessie, who married Frank H
Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1870, and died in October, 1874 The eldest daughter, Ellen, is the wife of Henry A Boardman, of St Paul
LOUIS ROBERT--Capt Louis Robert was a descendant of the French settlers who occupied Kaskaskia and St Louis when they were in the territory of Louisiana, then a French province He was born at Carondelet, Missouri, Jan 21, 1811, and his early life was spent in that region and on the Upper Missouri river In 1838 he went to Prairie du Chien, and in the fall of 1843 visited St Paul and re hi city
To say the least, he was a remarkable character He possessed all the politeness and suavity of his nationality, was ienerous and yet, as a business lish added a peculiar char remembered for his odd expressions and his keen but ho any worthy object, and, as a devoted Catholic, gave liberally to the support of his church He donated valuable property to church building and gave the bells to the French Catholic church and the cathedral in St Paul His private charities were also liberal
In 1847 Capt Robert was one of the original proprietors of St Paul