North Dakota History and People
S. J. Clarke Publishing Company Chicago, Ill. 1917

HIRAM A. LIBBY, attorney at law in Grand Forks, was born October 17, 1859, in Mantorville, Dodge county, Minnesota. His father, Thomas Libby, was a native of Maine and a descendant of one of the old families of that state of English lineage. The founder of the American branch of the family was Thomas Libby, a Methodist minister, who came to America when this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. Representatives of the family took part in the Revolutionary war. Rev. Thomas Libby, father of Hiram A. Libby, was for thirty years a minister of the Methodist church in central Minnesota. He became a pioneer of Dodge county and during his last days lived retired at Park River, North Dakota, making his home with his son Hiram until his death, which occurred in October 1890, when he was seventy-two years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Olive E. Simmons, was a native of Maine and a representative of one of the old families of that state. She, too, died at Park River while living with her son Hiram, passing away January 14, 1906. at the age of seventy-six years. Her family numbered eight children, of whom Hiram A. is the youngest.

In the schools of Atwater, Minnesota, Hiram A. Libby pursued his education until he had completed the high school course and spent four years as a student in the schools of Illinois. He took up the profession of teaching, which he followed at Carbon Cliff, Illinois, and in various cities in Minnesota, devoting four years to educational work, during which period he studied law under the direction of a tutor and also attended a night law school in Des Moines, Iowa, while teaching in Rock Island county, Illinois. In 1881 he was admitted to the bar at Beaver Falls, Minnesota, and in 1882 removed to Crookston, where he entered into a law partnership with Judge J. M. Brower, an association that was maintained for two years. He afterward opened a law office at St. Hilaire, Minnesota, where he remained in active practice until August 1884. Removing to Park River, North Dakota, he there successfully followed his profession until June 1913, when he sought a broader field and opened an office in Grand Forks, where he has since remained in general practice, although he devotes considerable time to corporation law. He is now accorded an extensive clientage of an important character and is accounted one of the foremost representatives of the bar in his adopted city. In the spring of 1913 he was appointed supreme court reporter, which position he still fills.

On the 7th of March. 1880, Mr. Libby was married in Atwater, Minnesota, to Miss Delia J. Towler, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Towler both now deceased, who were representatives of old Indiana and Minnesota families. Mr. and Mrs.  Libby have become parents of two sons and two daughters: Grace A., who was born June 27, 1883, and is the wife of Edward L. Egermayer, who is connected with the First National Bank and is also director of the Military Band of Grand Forks; Florence, who was born in 1885 and died April 20, 1900; Jay, born January 23, 1894; and Walter, born August 23, 1898.

The family possesses marked musical talent and love of the art. Mrs. Libby was choir leader in the Methodist church for fourteen years and all the children have received excellent training along musical lines and have become skilled musicians. The family are members of the Methodist church and Mrs. Libby takes a very active part in church and charitable work. Mr. Libby votes with the republican party and has long been an active worker in its ranks. While at Park River he Served as mayor for two terms, from 1893 until 1896, and was states attorney of Walsh county for a number of years. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge of Park River and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. His interest in community affairs is indicated in his membership in the Commercial Club, while along professional lines he is identified with the County, State and American Bar Associations, and his high standing in professional circles is indicated in the fact that he was for two terms honored with the presidency of the state organization. His career is one which should serve to inspire and encourage others. Even when teaching school in early manhood he furnished financial aid to his father, and from his youthful days has been dependent entirely upon his own resources.  Moreover, he chose as a life work a profession in which advancement results entirely from individual merit and ability and by reason of his strong purpose and character he has won recognition as one of the ablest lawyers of the North Dakota bar.

HON. PHILIP McLOUGHLIN, justice of the peace at Grand Forks, North Dakota, was born in the village of Bonmahon, County Waterford, Ireland, on the 16th day of January 1860, a son of Michael and Mary (O’Mahoney) McLoughlin. His father was compelled to leave Ireland in the year 1867 and come to America. This year was the year known as the year of the rising, as the Fenians of Ireland revolted against the cruel laws of England and against landlordism. He located in Michigan and after a few years went to Duluth and Brainerd, Minnesota, and followed the line of the Northern Pacific Railway, finally settling at what is now known as Valley City, then called the second crossing of the Sheyenne river.

Judge McLoughlin left the Emerald isle August 25, 1873, on the steamship Java, when only thirteen years old and arrived at St. Paul, Minnesota, September 10th of the same year. He then went to Fargo after a few weeks stay at St. Paul, and then to Valley City, where he met his father for the first time since he left Ireland. After a few weeks in Valley City he went to Jamestown, North Dakota, then Fort Seward, and entered the employ of Hon. D. Kelligher, then in charge of the Northern Pacific at Jamestown. Fort Seward was commanded by Captain Paterson, Company A, Twentieth Infantry. Judge McLoughlin spent the winter of 1874-75 at Jamestown. The Northern Pacific shut down all traffic in the winter months and all transportation was by teams and government mules. Jamestown at that time was inhabited by Indians. While at Jamestown Judge McLoughlin became intimately acquainted with the army officers of the west, among his friends being General Custer, Colonel Tom Custer, Colonel Kehoe and other notable men that went down to death on the 25th and 26th of June 1876, at the battle of the Little Big Horn with Sitting Bull and his thirsty followers. He was personally acquainted with all the Seventh Cavalry that were in that fight, having bid good-by to them at Fort Lincoln in May that year as they went west on the ill-fated expedition. While on the frontier he also became acquainted with Major McLaughlin now Indian inspector, and his family and many of the old Catholic missionaries, notably Rev. J. B. M. Genin. and many prominent territorial officers of that period.

In the spring of 1875 William Fitzpatrick, roadmaster of the Dakota division of the Northern Pacific, induced Judge McLoughlin to go out on the work train as water boy for the large crew of men then employed, and on May 23d he left Jamestown, where he had resided from the 15th of October 1874, and then entered the employ of the Northern Pacific Railway Company. He worked all that summer as water boy and saw many wonderful things during that time. Game of all kinds was abundant, deer, antelope, wolves, foxes, badgers and in fact all the animal kingdom was to be seen on the western prairie of Dakota territory. In the fall of 1875 his sister, Miss Bridget McLoughlin, arrived in Valley City, and that winter was spent in a log house about three miles south of where the city now stands. He spent a large part of his time at the section house west of the railroad bridge with Patrick Flood and wife, attending to the mail horses that were kept there for a change as the mail arrived. It was during that winter that he met Billy Budge, of Grand Forks, Mr. Eslelman, David Holmes, James A. Jenks, Al Kenny, Bill Merick and others on their way to the gold fields of the Black Hills. In that winter Colonel Lounsberry came through on the mail team from Bismarck. The only passengers on that trip were the colonel and a lady named Miss Bridget Downey on her way to Fargo, while the colonel continued his trip to St. Paul, and there issued one million copies of the Bismarck Tribune to advertise the Black Hills gold. Miss Downey afterward married Peter Malloy, of Bismarck, and both are now dead.

During the summer of 1875 while a water boy on the Northern Pacific west of James town, an incident occurred that Judge McLoughlin remembers well. On the 15th day of June 1875, the gravel train crew was at breakfast when the conductor, Jim Fitzpatrick, requested him to take a look at the water tank car and see what water was there. He jumped on the car and reported not enough for that day, and the brakeman was ordered to get the car on the main track and run to Crystal Springs, east of where the gravel train was, and fill the car tank with water and return. The brakeman said that if the car was jacked up on a screw jack that water enough for the day could be obtained, and in that way the engine could make the trip after supper for fresh water. “Well, all right,” said the conductor. Now, mark the irony of fate! This was on June 15, 1875. The pay car was attached to the regular train that day and on its way west with Superintendent J. H.  Sullivan and Roadmaster Fitzpatrick riding on the pilot of engine 46, Engineer Clint Rany, Fireman Charles Foster, Conductor Beety, Brakeman Clem Probert, Expressman Swift and J. Rogers, operator. The trains carried an operator with a box relay on the mixed trains as there were no stations between Fargo and Bismarck except Jamestown and in case of accident the operator would cut in and call help. The train was going a fair gait and when west of the 13th siding the engine gave a jerk and tipped over on its side. Fitzpatrick was killed, Sullivan was badly hurt, the engineer and the fireman escaped with slight bruises, and Charles Saunders, an ex-engineer who was riding on the engine, was also killed. The gravel train that was to go east for water that morning was saved the fate of the regular train. About 5 P. M. that day the gravel train was at the 15^th siding waiting the passenger to pass by and of course to pay the men. No smoke appeared and no signs of a train and the men began to show signs of uneasiness and kicked for supper. Then at 6 P. M. the conductor gave the signal to back up and the train and crew started for the boarding car on the 14th siding. The conductor and Mr. McLoughlin were on the top of the caboose on the back up to the siding, and Mr. McLoughlin noticed an object far down the track, and called the conductor’s attention. He could not see any sign then, but as they came nearer he could see. He at once signaled Engineer Al Kimbal, engine 31, Mike McDonough, fireman, to back up quick and as they approached they soon found Charles Calmer, the boarding boss, on his way to the train to get help. Conductor Fitzpatrick was told that his brother was dead. Judge McLoughlin washed two dead men that night. Saunders was shipped to Bismarck for burial and Fitzpatrick to Kansas. On the 10th of the following month the Brainerd bridge went down carrying death and destruction with it. James Paterkin, engineer, and Dick Grandin, fireman, were both killed. Mr. McLoughlin left Valley City in the fall of 1876 and came to Fargo. His father died at Fargo in September 1876, and was buried at Holy Cross.

Judge McLoughlin was employed by the firm of Harwood & Hummell, who organized the Bank of Fargo, and in the spring of 1878 he was employed by Harry O’Neil on the water wagon. Leaving Fargo in June 1878, he went to Barnesville, Minnesota, and entered the employ of the St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company, now the Great Northern, as wiper, and that fall he fired a locomotive for John Kilbane, engine 6, a Norris make. In the winter of that year he went to St. Paul, and returned in the spring of 1879 and went to work for the railway company again as fireman, and continued in the service of the company.

Judge McLoughlin was married at Crookston, August 7, 1879, to Johanna Mulchina, and as a result of said union they have the following children: Michael Maurice, was born in Crookston, is now a conductor on the Great Northern and resides at Crookston; Philip John, of Duluth, is foreman of a telephone crew; Robert Emmet is conductor on the Great Northern at Everett, Washington: Walter James is at Crosby, Minnesota, and is a machinist; Leo Edward is at home attending school; Mary E. Mathers is at Crosby, Minnesota; Josephine Kroll resides at Red Lake, Minnesota; Katherine Wilson lives at Billings, Montana, and Genevieve Verchota at Arvilla, North Dakota. Francis and Rose Anna are at home. The Judge boasts of his large family and seven grandchildren, and, as he puts it, has no real estate in the cemetery to date, November 4, 1916, and all are healthy.

Judge McLoughlin moved to Grand Forks May 1, 1883, and was still with the railway company in charge of their pumping station at Grand Forks. Like all Irishmen, he took a look at politics and was elected a county constable in 1884. On December 18, 1891, he was appointed a justice of the peace in and for Grand Forks county and has held the office to the present day, and is on the ballot for reelection without opposition. Judge Mc-Loughlin is a member of the Roman Catholic faith and boldly asserts it, and is a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus. He is a strong republican. Always when talking to friends he insists on getting a word in for Ireland, and is in favor of Germany in the present war. The Judge likes to speak with the old timers and of old times, and his memory is a storehouse of events of the early days. He is a member of the Old Settlers Society and a member of the Historical Society of North Dakota. He is now fifty-six years old.

DON V. MOORE, of Grand Forks, secretary of the North Dakota State Fair Association, has in this connection done much to articulate local pride in the achievement of the commonwealth, making the annual fairs a matter of inspiration to activity along various lines.  Ohio claims Mr. Moore as a native son his birth having occurred at Edgerton, that state, on the 2d of May 1871, He is a son of Samuel T. and Nancy (Lewis) Moore, who were also natives of Ohio, The latter was a descendant of an old Kentucky family connected with Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The Moore family, of Scotch descent, was early established in Ohio and for several generations before that time had been represented in America by ancestors who came to the new world prior to the Revolutionary war, Dr. Moore was a dental surgeon and became in pioneer settler of South Dakota, taking up his abode in Mitchell, then in the territory of Dakota, in 1881. There he opened an office and continued to follow his profession to the time of his death, which occurred May 19, 1906, when he was sixty-seven years of age. He exercised his right of franchise in support of the principles and candidates of the republican party and his religious faith was that of the Presbyterian church. At the time of the Civil war he put aside all business and personal consideration and joined the army as a member of the Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served throughout the entire period of hostilities. He was in all the Confederate states save Florida and Texas and was on active duty under Generals Grant and Sherman, taking part in many hotly contested engagements, including the battles of Shiloh, Fort Donelson and Vicksburg. While he was often in the thickest of the fight he was never wounded or taken prisoner. He afterward became a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic and was adjutant general of South Dakota. His widow survives and is now a resident of Flandreau, South Dakota. In the family were two children, the younger being Georgia, the wife of J. D. Anderson, of Flandreau.

Don V. Moore was educated in the common schools and from the age of fourteen years has been dependent upon his own resources for a living. He was apprenticed to the printer’s trade and after completing his term of indenture served as a journeyman printer for five years. He also spent five years as confidential clerk and bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Mitchell and afterward was for five years connected with mercantile lines. In 1898 he came to Grand Forks, where he engaged in the grain and stock business as a representative of C. E. Lewis & Company, of Minneapolis. He was thus engaged until 1906 and in the meantime he served as secretary of the Commercial Club in 1904 and 1905, being the first working secretary of that organization. In the latter year he was made the first secretary of the North Dakota State Fair Association at Grand Forks. In 1906 he returned to South Dakota, settling at Crow Creek, where for six years he was engaged in merchandising. He sold his interest at that place February 1, 1913, and returned to Grand Forks to again assume the duties of secretary of the North Dakota State Fair Association, which position he has since capably filled, making his work of much worth in that connection.

On the 12th of December 1804, Mr. Moore was married at Mitchell, South Dakota, to Miss Minnie Anderson, a native of Missouri. They have become the parents of two children: Lewis A., born in Mitchell, April 18, 1898; and Mary D., born in Grand Forks, November 10, 1901.

Mr. Moore has a military chapter in his life history, having at one time been a member of the old Dakota National Guard. In politics he has ever been a republican, active and stalwart in support of the party. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church, while fraternally he is a Mason. He was initiated into the order in Mitchell and is now a member of lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the Commercial Club of Grand Forks, and there is no plan or project put forth for the benefit and upbuilding of city and state which does not arouse his keen interest and in most cases receive his support. In fact he stands at all times for advancement and improvement and his work in that direction has been far-reaching and beneficial.

JOHN NELSON, proprietor of the Grand Forks Marble and Monument Works and thus actively and prominently connected with industrial interests of his city, was born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, March 27, 1869. His father, Andrew Nelson, a native of Norway, came to America in 1847 and was a pioneer settler of Winneshiek county, Iowa, where in early days he successfully carried on general agricultural pursuits. In 1883 he removed to Crookston, Minnesota, where he engaged in farming for three years. He afterward spent two years in the livery business and then entered the monument business, becoming the pioneer in that line in Crookston. He carried on business at that point for two years and then removed to Grand Forks, where he established a monument business that he successfully managed and conducted up to the time of his death, which occurred April 20, 1904, when he was fifty-nine years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Bertha Lein, is also a native of Norway, and in 1848 came to the new world with her parents, who also settled in Winneshiek county, Iowa. There she met and married Andrew Nelson, whom she still survives. She is now seventy-two years of age and she makes her home in Grand Forks and in Walla Walla, Washington, dividing her time between her children.

John Nelson, whose name introduces this review, was the fifth in order of birth in the family of twelve children and in the common schools of his native county and of Crookston, Minnesota, acquired his education. His youthful days were passed upon the homestead farm with the usual training and experiences that fall to the lot of the farm bred boy. When twenty years of age he began learning the marble cutting trade and monument business as assistant to his father and never had another employer. At the death of his father he succeeded to the business, which he has since carefully and wisely managed, winning a substantial competence through his well directed efforts. He now has an extensive patronage and his is one of the leading enterprises of that character in his section of the state. He employs two skilled workmen and the output of his factory is sent not only to other cities of North Dakota but also into neighboring states. He is the owner of the block which he occupies with his business at No. 520 De Mers street.

Mr. Nelson’s political allegiance is given the republican party and fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the Lutheran church and his has been a well spent life. Throughout his entire career he has held to principles of honorable manhood and in business affairs has been thoroughly straightforward, never taking advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in any trade transaction. He has based his success upon excellent workmanship, fair prices and honorable dealing and he has won a creditable place among the business men of Grand Forks.

PROFESSOR H. C. PIEHL, superintendent of schools at Inkster, was born in Seymour, Wisconsin, June 2, 1886, a son of William and Wilhelmina (Parman) Piehl, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Wisconsin. In his boyhood days the father came to the new world, settling in Wisconsin, where he was afterward married. Later he engaged in farming and he is still living in that state at the age of seventy years, while his wife has reached the age of fifty-nine years. They had a family of six children.

Professor Piehl, who was the fourth in order of birth, attended public schools and later continued his education in Ripon College of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated in 1911. The following year he removed to North Dakota, settling in Jamestown, where he became assistant principal in the high school, remaining in that connection for three years.  In 1914 he accepted the position of superintendent of the schools of Inkster and is regarded as one of the best qualified superintendents that the town has ever had. He is most enthusiastic in his work and has the faculty of inspiring teachers and pupils with much of his own zeal and interest.

In August 1914, in Martinsville, Indiana, Professor Piehl was married to Miss Barbara Finney, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Finney, and they now have one child, Alice Finney, who was born in Inkster in December 1915. Mrs. Piehl is a graduate in piano of the College of Musical Art at Indianapolis, Indiana, and was for several years supervisor of music in the Jamestown, North Dakota, public schools.  In his political views Mr. Piehl has been an earnest democrat since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, to which he loyally adheres. He is actuated in life by high principles and worthy motives and his efforts have been an element for the betterment of mankind in the communities where he has lived.

HARRY HORTON TUTTLE, general secretary of Grand Forks for the Young Men’s Christian Association, was born at Painesville, Ohio, August 5, 1869, a son of Myron William and Emily (Race) Tuttle, who were also natives of the Buckeye state. The Tuttles were an old Ohio family of English lineage, tracing their ancestry back to John Tuttle, a professional man who in 1635 crossed the Atlantic to America. Representatives of the name participated in the war for independence and were stanch American patriots. During his early years Myron W. Tuttle became a successful hardware merchant of Ohio, and later carried on farming in an equally successful manner in Grand Forks county, North Dakota. He arrived in this state in 1879 and during the first two years lived in Fargo, after which he removed to Grand Forks county and took up government land. With characteristic energy he began to develop and improve the property and thereon continued to engage in farming until 1900, after which he retired, enjoying the fruits of a well spent life. From 1907 until 1914 he was a resident of southern Oregon, but passed away at Grand Forks, April 1, 1914, at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife was of Dutch descent, her father having been a native of Holland. She died in Grand Forks in 1901, at the age of fifty-six years.

Harry H. Tuttle, the second in order of birth in a family of five children, was educated in the public schools of Painesville, Ohio, and Fargo, North Dakota, and in the district schools of Grand Forks county, before entering the Arvilla Academy at Arvilla, North Dakota He also spent one year as a student in the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and had two years’ instruction in the Young Men’s Christian Association school in Chicago, where he qualified for his present line of work, being graduated there with the class of 1897. His early training and experiences were those of the farm boy, and on attaining his majority he started out in life on his own account. After leaving the farm he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for several terms in the district schools of Grand Forks county. Later he engaged in clerking for the Holmes & Schlaberg Drug Company of Grand Forks for two years, but did not find that occupation congenial and turned to Young Men’s Christian Association work. It was after leaving the drug store that he started out to organize the present Young Men’s Christian Association of Grand Forks and became the first assistant general secretary. In the fall of 1898 he was made general secretary and so continued until 1907, when he removed to the west and began orcharding in Medford, Oregon, where he also engaged in the real estate business. He spent seven years in the Pacific coast country, but on the Ist of March 1914, returned to Grand Forks and was again made general secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association, in which position he has since continued.

On the 6th of July 1899, Mr. Tuttle was married to Miss Jennie Milne, a native of Canada and a daughter of John and Rachel (Ferguson) Milne. They have become parents of a daughter, Catherine Emily, born in Grand Forks, June 18, 1903. In politics Mr. Tuttle is a prohibitionist and he and his wife hold membership in the First Baptist church, in which he is serving as a deacon. He is also a member of the Commercial Club. His work in Grand Forks in behalf of the Young Men’s Christian Association has been far-reaching and resultant. The first Association building there was erected in 1904 at a cost of forty-eight thousand dollars, and on his return from the west he became instrumental in securing the erection of an addition at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. Both the original project and the addition were largely financed through his efforts and his work for the organization has been a most potent element in upholding a high moral standard among the youths of Grand Forks. The Association is thoroughly organized and in its various departments good work is being done for the physical, mental and moral uplift of the members.

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