EZRA B. EDDY, deceased, was numbered among the honored pioneers of Fargo and was the founder of the First National Bank, of which he was president many years. He was prominently identified with the development and up building of his adopted city and was one of its most public-spirited and progressive residents. As the years passed he faithfully performed his duties of citizenship and his interest in the welfare and progress of the community.   Becoming widely and favorably known he made many friends and his death was a great loss to the city.

Mr. Eddy was born in Ohio December 14, 1829, a son of Rev. Ira Eddy, a Methodist Episcopal minister, who was engaged in preaching in that state for half a century. He had two sons. Reared in Ohio ..Our subject was educated in its common schools and during his youth learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed tor a few years. In i8ss he removed to Wabasha County, Minnesota, and located on the present site of Plainview, where he took up government land. He erected the first building on what was called Greenwood prairie and there followed farming until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he enlisted as first lieutenant in Company G, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. After two years of arduous service he was forced to resign on account of failing health and return home. He continued his farming operations in Minnesota until 1865, when he met with misfortune in the loss of a hand in a threshing machine. He then engaged in the hardware business at Plainview and later in the insurance and banking business, founding the Plainview Bank, the first bank of Wabasha County. Disposing of his interests there in 1879, Mr. Eddy came to Fargo, North Dakota, where he had started the First National Bank the year previous. He served as its first president and continued to fill that position up to the time of his death in 1885. In company with his son, E. C. Eddy, he also founded the Fargo Loan Agency under the firm name of E. B. Eddy & Son, and was also interested in that organization until his death. In 1879 he platted an addition to the city, known as the Eddy  & Eddy  outlets and he assisted in starting nearly I every enterprise in Fargo. He lost a great deal of property in his endeavor to build up the city, but was instrumental in making it one of the most thriving cities of the Northwest. He took an active interest in political affairs, but never sought public office. His support was never withheld from any enterprise calculated to prove of public good : he was the founder of the Fargo Library Association, and I one of the organizers of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he gave its first organ. Socially he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a man of prominence and influence in his community.

In Ohio Mr. Eddy was married, in 1850. to Miss Jane B. Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania, and to them were born five children, three sons and two daughters, namely: William, who died in infancy; Ernest C, Inez L., Ira T. and Ethelda J., all living. The sons are both residents of Fargo.

Ernest C. Eddy, the older of the two sons now living, was born in Minnesota June 24. 1856, and was reared and educated in that state and at Racine. Wisconsin. During the residence of the family in Minnesota he was in the employ of his father and on the organization of the First National Bank, of Fargo, North Dakota, was chosen its first cashier, which position he filled until 1881, when he was made vice-president. He served in that capacity until January. 1886, when he was chosen president, but the following year disposed of his interest in the business and opened a private bank, known as the Banking House of E. C. Eddy & Company, with which he was connected until the bank was destroyed by fire in 1893. Since then he has given his attention principally to farming and stock raising, though he still continues to engage in the real estate and collection business. He is a man of excellent business ability, energetic and progressive, and in his undertakings has been remarkably successful. He commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact, either in business or social life, and is a prominent member of the Masonic order, being eminent commander of Auvergne Commandery, No. 2, K. T.

In 1877 Mr. Eddy was united in marriage with Miss Ida E. Hopson, who was born in Minnesota, and they have become the parents of the following children: Wayne G., Carrie J., Hattie Gean, Ray W., Ezra B., Paul H. and William Tubbs.

MAJOR ALANSON WILLIAM EDWARDS Colonel Cadle, adjutant-general of the Seventeenth Corps, commanded by the brave, popular and genial General Frank Blair, in the following letter to "The Forum," has some words for an old comrade and explains how he comes to write:

Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Recording Secretary's office, P. O. box 35, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 31, 1898.-To 'The Forum': The Society of the Army of the Tennessee desires to keep in its records memoranda showing the services of their members. Some time ago I wrote to Major Edwards and asked him to send me a sketch that would enable us, when he died, to print his obituary.  He sent me a very brief statement, but knowing as much, or more, of his record than he modestly stated to me, I have written the enclosed, and if you think it worth while it might be printed, because it shows a great deal of his experience in the Army of the Tennessee in the war of the Rebellion.  ''He was certainly a gallant soldier in our army, and credit should be given to living men as well as dead. Therefore, I send this to you with the hope that it may be used, and that, as an obituary of our society, it may be long before it will be required.  Major Edwards does not know of this communication.   Yours very truly, "Cornelius Cadle."

Major Alanson William Edwards was born in Lorain county. Ohio, August 27, 1840.   His father removed to Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1848.  Major Edwards attended the county schools and was afterward, in 1856-57, a student at McKendree College, Illinois. he was a railroad express agent and telegraph operator at Gillespie, Illinois, when the war broke out.

He enlisted at once for the three months' service, but the quota of Illinois was then filled, as was the first call for three years' volunteers. He enlisted and was mustered in as a private of Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Infantry, at Camp Palmer, Carlinville, Illinois, August 4, 1862. He served in the Western army, beginning at Columbus, Kentucky. He was a clerk in the office of the adjutant-general, district of Jackson war department, General Grenville M. Dodge, of Corinth, Mississippi.

In April, 1863, by authority from the war department, General Grenville M. Dodge, at Corinth, Mississippi, organized the First Alabama Union Cavalry from loyal refugees, driven from their homes in the mountains in north Alabama by Confederate conscripting officers. Major Edwards was appointed first lieutenant and adjutant, with George L. Spencer as colonel, and was afterward promoted to captain L troop of this regiment.

He served with General Van Derveer as acting assistant adjutant-general, district of Rome and of Marietta, Georgia, and was near Kenesaw mountain with General Sherman when Sherman signaled Corse at Allatoona to "hold the fort," at the same time that Captain Flint, of Company E, First Alabama Cavalry, was aide to General Corse, and wrote at Corse's dictation the answer about "losing his cheek, but was able to whip all hell yet."

Major Edwards commanded Company M of his regiment on the "March to the sea" and in the close approach to Savannah he rode with the First Alabama Cavalry over the torpedoes planted in the road by the enemy. Lieutenant F. W. Tupper, his successor and adjutant of the regiment, having his leg blown off, and many of the regiment were severely wounded.

Colonel Cornelius Cadle, the adjutant-general of the Seventeenth Army Corps, being that moment in advance with the First Alabama Cavalry, directed the provost marshal of the corps, Major John C.  Marvin, to bring to the front all the prisoners of war, and they, upon their hands and knees, dug into the ground and took out the torpedoes-the unexploded ones-that several of these prisoners had assisted in planting a few days before. It happened that the Confederate sergeant who had supervision of the placing of these torpedoes was one of the prisoners, and he readily found them and carefully aided in clearing our way to Savannah, the city that was a Christmas present from Sherman to our president, Lincoln.

At Savannah Major Edwards was detached from his regiment by order of General Sherman, and assigned to duty as acting assistant adjutant-general, Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and served with General Corse, the division commander, until after the grand review of the armies at Washington, May 24 and 25, 1865, and was mustered out July 11, 1865. He was breveted major March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service in the field.

Major Edwards was present at the meeting of the officers of the Army of the Tennessee, called to organize our society at Raleigh, North Carolina, April 25, 1865.

The first post of the Grand Army of the Republic was organized by Dr. B. F. Stevenson, at Decatur, Illinois, and several members were sent over the state to institute other posts. A dozen or so were mustered at the same time. Major Edwards, after his war service, was mustered in Post No. 6, at Bunker Hill, Illinois, which was one of the earliest organized posts of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Returning to his home in 1865, he resuscitated the "Union Gazette," at Bunker Hill, Illinois, a paper he published before going to the war, and which was suspended during the war. In 1868 Major Edwards secured an interest in the "Carlinville Free Democrat," a Republican paper started by Senator John M. Palmer in 1856.

Major Edwards was warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet in 1871-1872. After the great Chicago fire he went into business in Chicago, and was a member of the board of trade in 1875-1878. He went to the Black Hills in 1876, located at Fargo in 1878, as editor of the "Fargo Republican."   He established the "Daily Argus" in 1879. Governor G. A. Pierce, of our society, appointed Major Edwards superintendent of the semi-decennial census of Dakota territory in 1885. Major Edwards was elected mayor of Fargo in 1886-7; was a member of the legislature 1895-6. He lost 'The Argus" in 1890, started the "Daily Forum" in 1891, purchased the "Republican," the first paper he started, and consolidated the two, and it is now issued by Edwards & Plumley.

Major Edwards was married to Elizabeth Robertson at Carlinville, Illinois, in 1870. They have six sons and one daughter, all living in Fargo, North Dakota. The sons are Harry Goodell, twenty-six years; William Robertson, twenty-three years; Alanson Charles, nineteen years; John Palmer, seventeen years; George Washington, thirteen years; Richford Roberts, nine years; and Marie R., twenty-four years.

"Cincinnati, Ohio, March 31, 1898."

SAMUEL M. EDWARDS. Good judgment based on close observation of natural phenomena is essential to success as a farmer, while in its social aspect this calling develops the virtue of hospitality, charity and brotherly kindness in a degree scarcely equaled by any other. The subject of this review is a man of broad mind, good education, and energetic character, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends in the business and social world. He has actively interested himself in all public matters in Cass county, and has aided in every way in elevating and improving the administration of local government. He occupies a fine estate in Berlin township, and his home on section 17 is one of refinement and social contentment.

Our subject was born near Woodstown, Salem county. New Jersey, April 5, 1846. He was reared on his father's farm and educated in the public schools of that county and Bacon Academy, a Friends' Institution, and then taught school. Having met an accident by which his leg was crushed, which unfitted him for farming, he completed a commercial course and then went to Philadelphia, where he was engaged in clerking some two or three years. Close confinement not agreeing with him he returned to New Jersey and taught school several years. Having read of the successful wheat raising in the Red river valley of the North, he caught the fever and went to Dakota Territory in August. 1881, and soon afterward purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 17, now Berlin township, Cass county, where he began farming, and has since made his home. He now has a farm of six hundred and thirty-five acres, and his land is made to yield abundantly, while the improvements which he has placed upon the farm are of substantial construction and furnish a comfortable home in every particular.

Our subject was married in Salem, New Jersey, February 14, 1884, to Miss Carolene Senat Hewes. Mrs. Edwards was born in Salem, New Jersey, September 22. 1853, and was educated at the Friends Silent School, from which institution she was graduated, and then completed a course in the high school at Salem, and afterward received private instructions in the arts. She is a lady of rare attainments and taught in the Friends school at Salem, and also in the public schools of that vicinity for several years. Since residing in North Dakota she has devoted considerable time to giving private instructions, at her home, and also teaching painting and music. She presides over the household with true dignity and grace, and the home affords many pleasures of social life. Mr. Edwards was one of the organizers of the township of Berlin, and takes an active interest in public matters. He has held the office of township clerk for eleven years, and is now a member of the board of supervisors of Berlin township, being chairman. He has met with eminent success, and is deservedly popular with the people among whom he has labored for so many years.

Both are members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, of their native towns and they still retain their right of membership in their home church.

EDWARD ENGERUD, junior member of the firm of Morrill & Engerud, is one of the prominent young attorneys practicing at the bar of Fargo and has already achieved an enviable reputation in his chosen calling. He was born in the city of Racine, Racine county, Wisconsin, February 13, 1868, and is a son of Lars and Christine (Bakke) Engerud, natives of Norway, who came to America in 1852 and first settled in Chicago. Two years later they removed to Wisconsin and in 1877 became residents of Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where the father died in 1897. By trade he was a blacksmith. He had three sons, one of whom entered the United states navy, rose to the rank of lieutenant and died in the service.

Reared in Minnesota, our subject obtained his early education in the public schools of that state. In 1881 he came to Grand Forks. North Dakota, and entered the high school, from which he was graduated in 1882 with the first class sent out from that institution. The following year he became a student at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and remained there until 1887. He then commenced the study of law at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and was admitted to the bar at that place in 1889. For two years he was engaged in practice with Judge C. L. Lewis, now of the supreme bench of Minnesota, and he continued at Fergus Falls until the spring of 1893, when he removed to Sheldon, North Dakota, and entered the employ of Edward Pierce as an attorney. A year later he went to Lisbon and was engaged in practice there until coming to Fargo in 1897. He served as state's attorney for Ransom county for one year. On taking up his residence in Fargo he formed a partnership with Mr. Morrill, which still exists and they now enjoy a large and lucrative practice, both being able and prominent lawyers. Mr. Engerud is now serving as assistant states attorney of Cass county. He is a stanch Republican in politics and has stumped the state in the interest of that party.

In 1890 Mr. Engerud was united in marriage with Miss Clara J. Jacobsen, also a native of Wisconsin, and three children bless this union: Louis, Harold and Karl, all living.

PETER ERB, deceased, was for many years identified with the farming interests of Dows township, Cass county, and was a pioneer settler of that locality. He was born in Pennsylvania, April 6, 1815, and passed away in July, 1887. His parents, Peter and Elizabeth Erb, were also natives of Pennsylvania, and the father was a farmer and died there. The grandparents came from Germany.

Our subject was one of a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and was reared and educated in his native state. He went to Oregon in 1848, across the plains by ox team, and was six months making the trip. He went to the gold fields of California the following year and spent some time and then returned to Ohio, and later located in Winona county, Minnesota, and there took land, but later moved to Waseca county, and in 1881 went to Cass county. North Dakota. He entered a homestead claim in Dows township, and remained there engaged in farming until his death. He owned three quarter-sections of land, which is now operated by his son.

Our subject was married in Ohio, to Catherine Tericot, a native of New York. Eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Erb, as follows: George W., John A. Martin V., William M., Elizabeth, now Mrs. Carl Crumb; Edna M., now Mrs. A. Pratt; Enoch J., Peter P., Elias C, Jacob E. and Emma L.

GEORGE Q. ERSKINE. one of the founders of the First National Bank of Fargo, and an honored pioneer of that city has a wide reputation as a most capable financier, and occupies a position of no little prominence in connection with the financial affairs of the state. His life demonstrates what can be accomplished through energy, careful management, keen foresight and the utilization of the powers with which nature has endowed one. and the opportunities with which the times surround him.

Mr. Erskine claims New Hampshire as his native state, his birth having occurred in Winchester, December 13, 1827. His parents, John and Achsah (Jewell) Erskine, were also natives of New Hampshire, where they continued to make their home until 1833, when they removed to central New York and there spent their remaining years. In early life the father was a dry goods merchant, but later engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. He was a son of John and Phoebe (Robinson) Erskine, also natives of the old Granite state and farming people, the former of whom died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, his wife at the age of ninety-six.

Our subject is one of a family of nine children, having three brothers and five sisters. Reared in New York. his education was obtained in the public schools of that state and the academy at Mexico, New York. It was his intention to enter college, but he had a severe attack of the "gold fever" during the excitement in California over the first discovery of the precious metal, and in April, 1850, sailed from New York bound for the Pacific slope. He crossed the Isthmus and finally landed in San Francisco in June of that year. He went direct to the American river, where he engaged in placer mining, and during the two years spent there he saved about $5,000.

On his return to New York, in 1852. he commenced the study of law at Mexico, and also taught a select school. In the early part of the following year he went to Racine, Wisconsin, and entered the law office of Doolittle & Gary. The same year he was admitted to the bar at that place, and when Mr. Doolittle was elected to the bench in the fall of 1854. he formed a partnership with J. W. Gary, which existed for two years. He then retired from practice in order to look after outside interests, with which in the meantime he had been connected, owning two vessels on Lake Michigan beside a large amount of timber land in Wisconsin. In 1865 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature and served in that position for one term. He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Milwaukee district in 1867 and held that office for nine years, after which, in 1876, he formed a partnership with J. I. Case in the manufacture of plows at Racine, Wisconsin, starting the J. I. Case Plow Works, which have since become so widely known through the plows manufactured there. He was interested in that business for seven years, and in the meantime purchased a half interest with E. B. Eddy in the bank at Plainview, Wisconsin, in November, 1877. On January 1, 1878, they founded the First National Bank of Fargo, of which Mr. Erskine was made first vice-president, and in the same year the building was erected in which the bank is still conducted. At the death of Mr. Eddy our subject was made vice-president and afterwards president and filled that position until 1897, when he resigned, but is still one of the directors and stockholders. For the past ten years he has been president of the First National Bank of Crookston, Minnesota, and was a director of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Racine, Wisconsin, for twenty years. He is an energetic, far-sighted and capable business man who has attained success through his own well-directed efforts, and the prosperity that has come to him is certainly well deserved.

In 1856 Mr. Erskine married Miss Helen Hinnod, a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and they have two daughters: Helen R., now the wife of A. O. Coddington, now residing in Chicago; Ethel A., the wife of Sheldon W. Vance, who are residents of Crookston, Minnesota. Since 1885 he has made his home in Fargo, and as a public-spirited and progressive citizen Mr. Erskine gives his support to every enterprise for the public good and has unbounded confidence in the future of his adopted city and state. Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln he has been an ardent Republican, and socially he is a member of the Masonic order.