missioners to compile the statutes of the state of Minnesota. In 1859, he was elected United States senator; in 1868, was elected representative in Congress; and in the years 1874 to 1877, was state senator from Blue Earth county. He died at Wells, in this state, February 4th, 1894. Mr. Wilkinson as a lawyer was an earnest and forcible advocate. During the war of the Rebellion he was in the United States Senate, and won a national reputation in his eloquent appeals to the people to maintain the unity and integrity of the government.

JEREMIAH RUSSELL

was born in Madison county, New York, February 2nd, 1809. He came to Fort Snelling in 1837, and for more than ten years was engaged in various capacities as clerk and manager of business enterprises; and in 1848 he located at Crow Wing, to take charge of the trading establishment of Borup and Oakes. It was in November of this year that I first made his acquaintance, on the occasion of the annual payment to the Chippewa Indians at Crow Wing. He was elected a member of the House of the first Territorial Legislature. In the fall of 1849 he located at Sauk Rapids, and started the first farm in that part of the state northwest of Rum river. In whatever position he occupied, he was a courteous and genial man, and by his integrity and Christian character he won the respect and love of those who were fortunate to know him. He died June 13th, 1885.

SYLVANUS TRASK

was born in Otsego county, New York, November 16th, 1811. He spent his boyhood and youthful days in his native county, and received there an academic education and devoted several years to teaching. He came to Stillwater in 1848, and was elected from the Stillwater district in 1849 to the House of the first Territorial Legislature. All "Old Settlers" will remember him as a regular attendant of our annual meetings, and a worthy representative from the St. Croix valley. He died at Stillwater in April, 1897.

JOSEPH W. FURBER

was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, in 1813. His ancestors were among those sterling and rugged settlers of the Granite State in the last century. His father was a soldier

of the war of 1812. In 1840 he came to the St. Croix valley and located at St. Croix Falls. In 1844 he removed to Cottage Grove, and opened a farm, where he made his future residence till his death. In 1846 he was elected a member of the Wisconsin territorial legislature. The district he represented was the entire country north and west of a line from a point on lake Pepin to lake Superior. As an evidence of his energy, I refer to the fact that for his attendance in the Legislature at Madison in the session of 1847 he traveled on foot from his home in Cottage Grove as far as Prairie du Chien.

He was a member of the first Territorial Legislature of Minnesota and was elected speaker of the House at its session in September, 1849. He was appointed marshal of the Territory by President Fillmore in 1851. It was at this time that I came to know him intimately, because our positions as officers of the the federal government brought us together very frequently. I knew him as a faithful officer, of strong intellect, persistence in his convictions, and a pure character. He died at his family residence in Cottage Grove on the 10th day of July, 1884.

JAMES S. NORRIS

was born in Kennebec county, Maine, in 1810. He came to the St. Croix valley in 1839, and located at St. Croix Falls; and subsequently, like Mr. Furber, started a farm at Cottage Grove. He represented that district in the first Legislature in 1849, and afterward represented Washington county in 1855 and 1856. He was elected speaker of the House at the session of 1855, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1857.

He was a man of a strong will and purpose in his convictions and action. He was an active partisan of the Democratic party in our Territorial days, a real "wheel horse" of the Democratic chariot. He died at his home in Cottage Grove, March 5th, 1874.

LORENZO A. BABCOCK

was born in Sheldon, Vermont. He came into the Territory June 25th, 1848, from Maquoketa, Iowa, and located at Sauk Rapids as attorney at law, and was elected from that district to the first Legislature. Upon the organization of the Territory, he was appointed Attorney General by Governor Ramsey,

which office he held till his successor was appointed May 15th, 1853, by Governor Gorman. He was secretary of the Constitutional Convention in 1857.

GIDEON H. POND

was born in Washington, Connecticut. He came as a missionary among the Indians in 1834, and located at lake Calhoun in Hennepin county. He represented the district west of the Mississippi river in the first Territorial Legislature. His life in Minnesota is a part of its history and of the Christian Church with which he was associated. His labors for the welfare of the Indians for whom he was devoting his life were self-sacrificing. He had a strong intellectual mind, a kind and tender heart.

In speaking of his death, The Pioneer of January 21st, 1876, said: "If ever there was a true man and a faithful and earnest Christian on the face of the earth, that man was Gideon H. Pond."

It gives me pleasure, on this occasion of the meeting of the "Old Settlers" to bear this tribute to his memory; and I doubt not that our associate, Governor Ramsey, who knew him well, will heartily unite with me in this expression of commendadation and remembrance.

DAVID B. LOOMIS

was born in Willington, Connecticut, April 17th, 1817. He came to the St. Croix valley in 1843, and for many years resided at Marine Mills in Washington county. He was the member of the Council from that district in the first Territorial Legislature in 1849, and also of the second session in 1851.

Mr. Loomis had a genial and generous nature. No one knew him but to respect him. No worthy appeal made to him for aid was turned away empty-handed. He enlisted as a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and was commissioned lieutenant of Company F of the Second Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers in July, 1861; and in March, 1863, he was commissioned captain of the same company.

He died February 24th, 1897, at the Soldiers' Home near Fort Snelling, having passed the last few years of his life an invalid and a worthy subject of that institution. His remains have their final resting place, where many of his old friends

and associates have been laid before him, in the beautiful Fairview cemetery at Stillwater.

Time will not permit me to extend this notice to speak particularly of other members of the First Legislature who are numbered among the departed, of whom indeed I could speak in words of commendation, and with whom I was acquainted. I will name them:

Samuel Burkleo, of Stillwater and Marine Mills;

John Rollins, of St. Anthony Falls;

William R. Sturges, of Sauk Rapids and Little Falls; and Martin McLeod, of Traverse des Sioux;

who were members of the Council.

James Wells, of Lake Pepin and vicinity;

William Dugas, of Little Canada, Ramsey county;

Allan Morrison, of Crow Wing;

Thomas A. Holmes, of Long Prairie; and

Alexis Bailey, of Mendota and Wabasha;

who were members of the House of Representatives.

I cannot omit to mention the living. There are only four "Old Settlers" living who were members of the First Legislature. Two of them were residents of St. Paul in 1847.

PARSONS K. JOHNSON

still lives, an honor to his name as one of the original legislators that gave political life to our state and city. At an earlier day, on Sunday, July 25th, 1847, he made his name memorable and became historical by being an assistant in organizing the first Sunday School in St. Paul. On that occasion he was associated with our esteemed "Old Settler,"

BENJAMIN W. BRUNSON

who also is still a living witness of the sterling qualities that possessed the souls of our worthy pioneers. These two gallant young men, with kindly feelings and worthy motives, tendered their services to Miss Harriet E. Bishop (who a few days previous had arrived in St. Paul) to assist her in starting a Sunday School, to give religious instruction to the children of this embryonic city. On this occasion, there were seven children gathered in a small log cabin that Miss Bishop had secured.

There was a mixture of races among these seven children; some of them could only understand English, while others could only talk or understand French, and still others were limited to the Sioux language. As Miss Bishop needed no assistance in giving instruction in English, it fell to the lot of our two friends to act as interpreters and to give instruction and read the catechism to the French and Sioux children.

The name of Benjamin W. Brunson is historic of what St. Paul was in 1847. The records of our county and city bear witness that he at that time lived in the wilderness, but without a change of residence now lives in a city of over 150,000 inhabitants.

The other two living members are

HENRY N. SETZER,

who was elected from the district composed of Marine Mills and other precincts on the St. Croix river; and

MAHLON BLACK,

from the Stillwater district. Both came to the St. Croix valley in 1842. I have no intention of writing an ante-obituary of their lives, and I will leave it for each of them to tell their own experiences as lawmakers of this commonwealth, and as defenders of the flag of our country. They still survive as specimens of the men who laid the foundations of our prosperous State. May their future days be extended through many years, joyful and happy with their friends, as the past fifty years have been to each of them.

An incident in the life of Mr. Setzer is worthy of special notice, for which the citizens of St. Paul will always hold him in remembrance, with feelings of gratitude on account of his unswerving integrity and stability of character as the friend of this city. I refer to the closing scenes of the eighth and last Territorial Legislature, in which Mr. Setzer was a member of the Council.

A bill for the removal of the capital from St. Paul to St. Peter had passed both houses of the Legislature, and was returned to the Council, where it had originated, for enrollment and signature of the president. On the 27th day of February, 1857, the original bill and the enrolled copy were placed in the hands of Joseph Rolette, councilor from Pembina county and