The most remarkable man, in many respects, who ever appeared in the Northwest, was Joseph R. Brown. Coming as he did, at the age of fourteen, a drummer-boy in the United States Army, he remained in this section for nearly sixty years. He was engaged principally in the Indian trade. I think he was a clerk in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature for one term. Certain it was that as Secretary of the Minnesota Council during its first and second sessions, as clerk of the Minnesota House at its fourth session, in 1853, during the next two years as a member of the Council, and in 1857 as a member of the House, he was one of the most influential men in the Legislature. He drew up most of the bills, and often told the presiding officer how to rule. This he did in no dictatorial manner, but because nearly all of the members knew nothing about legislation. He usually attended party conventions, and, although often weak in the number of his followers, he would gather in a good portion of the fruits of the convention. He had a most infectious laugh, and a keen sense of humor, and was always the center of a crowd. Those people who had been prejudiced against him, having no knowledge of him except that derived from newspaper accounts, and from his political enemies, after being a few moments in his presence, were satisfied that "Jo, the Juggler," was not so bad a man after all. For many years after I came to Minnesota, knowing but little of him through personal contact, and a good deal of him from newspaper accounts, I thought him the very incarnation of deviltry. During the years of 1863 and 1864, I had a good deal of business with him, and was much in his society, and I soon learned to admire him. He, no doubt, had been the best abused man in the country. He would often laugh in late years over the bad things that had been said of him. He possessed one very noble attribute: he entertained no hard feeling towards those who had reviled him. He had a good heart, and would put himself to a great deal of trouble to do a kindness, even to those who had traduced him. He was a well-read man, and wrote and spoke the French language with ease. At one time he was the editor of the Pioneer, the organ of the Democratic party, and filled the position with credit. He would dash off rapidly pages of editorial matter, ready for the type, without an

erasure. How he, as well as some other of the earlier traders acquired their learning, is a mystery to me.

The most prominent and influential men in the earlier politics, who overshadowed all others, were Ramsey, Sibley, and Rice, and I think they stood in the order in which I have named them. There were several other leading men who afterwards gained political distinction, but the limit of this paper prevents my describing them.

Mr. Rice had to make his way against the business power of his enemies, and he succeeded in getting to the top. He was a man of fascinating address and great energy, and his labor, while in Congress, was unflagging. He worked for the people at large, as well as for individuals, for political foes, as well as friends, and no official from Minnesota has been his equal in getting work done for his constituents. Many Whigs went over to the Democratic party and remained there, owing to their attachment for Mr. Rice.

Nearly all the actors in the events I have described are now dead. Before their departure, all bitterness accruing from political strife had ceased and they took their leave in peace, with feelings of good will towards all. Full-grown men upon the stage of life, like boys in their school days, say bad things at times about each other, call each other liars and other opprobrious names, and have their fights occasionally. Yet, when these days are past, such matters are only touched upon as subjects of merriment and joke.

There was one thing about the early pioneers that their descendants should be proud of, namely, that no disloyal voice was ever raised against the Federal Union. Among all the factions in the parties at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, the number of disloyal persons could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The contrast in this respect with some of the neighboring states east and south of us should be remembered by us and those who come after us with great pride. It would perhaps be a good thing for us to become worshipers of the patriotic manes of our ancestors and of the founders of this state.

BEGINNINGS OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MINNESOTA, AND THE EARLY MISSIONS OF PARK PLACE, ST. PAUL.*

BY BISHOP M. N. GILBERT.

Three blocks away from where we are now sitting, on the first rise of the bluff, is situated Park Place, a square or more in extent, with a pleasant little park in the center. Summit avenue bounds it on the north, St. Peter street on the east, College avenue on the south, and Rice street on the west.

Entering this park from St. Peter street, you will discover on the south side, in the midst of a row of neat cottages, a medium-sized frame building, rather antique in its style of architecture, with its gable end toward the street, like the old Albany houses in Knickerbocker days. This modest structure, now neglected and uninviting, has a history, and that history is connected with early days of St. Paul. This little house was builded by the founders of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, and was occupied by the first missionaries of that church for some years. This was in 1850, when St. Paul was a small village of one thousand inhabitants, confined to the plateaus below the site of Park Place, and grouped about the upper landing, at the foot of what is now Chestnut street. Park Place then was in a very real way the edge of the wilderness, which, almost unbroken, extended northward into the frozen land of the unknown.

It may be of interest to many, and will serve the intent of this paper, if I briefly sketch the history connected with the

*Read before the Society, March 28, 1898.

purchase and occupancy of this tract of land at that early day. It is so closely linked with the history of St. Paul and Minnesota, that it should not be overlooked by the one who, in the future, may write the history of this city and commonwealth.

This early history is closely linked with the life and experiences of a very remarkable man, the Rev. James Lloyd Breck. Let us take a condensed restrospect of his career. It has within it a combination of remarkable qualities, illustrative of the character of the men who, in all ages, have been the pioneers of institutional life, both in the affairs of Church and State. Man is always the central fact around which, and from which, springs the crystallization of all organism in the growth and development of the race. In studying man we study the meaning and motive of every organism, and become cognizant of the substantial purpose which underlies all. The more mature development of the institution may, and doubtless will, depart widely from the form involved in the personality of its founder, but the energizing force generated by that founder is never wholly exhausted. This law and principle are wonderfully illustrated in the work of this early missionary and founder of ecclesiastical institutions, James Lloyd Breck. He was born in Philadelphia in 1818, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838, and from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York in 1841.

It was during his seminary course that the project of going into the wilderness of Wisconsin, and founding there an associate mission, almost monastic in its character, first entered his mind and crystallized into a purpose. The first missionary bishop of the Northwest, Jackson Kemper, visited the seminary and in glowing language, and with high enthusiasm, told the story of the new land and its vast possibilities for devoted missionary endeavor. His words sank deep into the impressionable heart of the young theological student, and he, unhesitatingly, offered himself to Bishop Kemper for this work. Two others, classmates, Hobart and Adams, threw in

their lot with him. On their graduation and ordination in the early summer of 1841 they started on the then long and fatiguing journey to the Northwest. Wisconsin then was almost a wilderness, but the tide of immigration was swelling and flowing over its prairies and into its forests. Breck, and his co-laborers, planted their standard on the outward edge of this outflow by a cluster of beautiful lakes in the very heart of the virgin forest, and began their singularly courageous and self-denying work, which lives to-day in the flourishing Theological Seminary of Nashotah.

Their life was one of extreme simplicity, and their missionary labors most primitive in their character. For their daily bread they relied upon the continued interest of eastern friends; their lives were full of privation, but the record, as read in their letters, was one of enthusiastic, unconquerable zeal. The institution grew; it was the Iona of the west. Missionaries trained therein went forth with the advancing population, preaching the gospel and founding churches.

Years went on; this school of the prophets became a permanent fact. Breck grew impatient of this circumscribed life. His soul longed for the freedom of a new missionary field, where the seed could again be sown in virgin soil. Others now could carry forward the work he had founded and nurtured. His eyes turned longingly toward the west, to the border of the upper Mississippi, to the Territory of Minnesota, just organized. It was practically an unknown land. The white man had founded a few small settlements upon its extreme eastern border, but its vast interior was the home of the Ojibway and the Sioux. The voice of God called him to go in and possess this land for the gospel and his church. Like St. Paul, he was "not disobedient unto the heavenly vision," but, hearing, obeyed.

With two kindred spirits, Timothy Wilcoxson and John A. Merrick, he left the comfortable environs of Nashotah and started westward. They reached the Mississippi, where now stands the thriving city of La Crosse. The Rev. Mr. Wilcox