1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 883
1893, the railroad line was completed and the first locomotive whistle
was heard, which event furnished an excuse for a jolification.
Mr. Geary erected a building at 132 Pine street, and filled in the
crevices with sawdust closely packed, and in spite of the intense cold
passed the winter in it very comfortably. He had erected it with the
intention of opening a jewelry store and general repair establishment,
but was forced to wait until spring, as there was no way to get in his
goods except by packing them from Iron Mountain, and that was too
expensive. For twenty-four years he has been in his present location and
has the leading jewelry establishment of Hibbing.
Richard Geary was born at Concord, Jefferson County, Wisconsin,
November 26, 1860. He is one of a family of five children, four of
whom survive, born to the marriage of Morris and Rose (Mulligan)
Geary, both of whom were natives of Ireland, and there married. They
immigrated to the United States and settled on a farm in Jefferson
County, Wisconsin, where they passed the remainder of their lives.
Possessing but limited educational opportunities, Richard Geary made
the most of his advantages and went four miles to school and back
whenever he was able to do so. When he was only eleven years old he
began working for a neighboring farmer, for w'hich he received four
dollars a month for the first summer, and make himself so useful that the
next summer his wages were increased to eight dollars. Later he worked
for a cousin, who was also a farmer, and he paid him ten dollars a month
for two seasons. Mr. Geary then lived at home for a time. Going into
northern Michigan, he became assistant cook in a lumber camp at Norway,
and followed cooking for twelve years. Going to Chicago, Illinois, in the
early part of 1893. he acquired a working knowledge of the jewelry
business, and has carried it on at Hibbing with gratifying success. For
nine years he served on the School Board, and as such rendered the community
a valuable service in seeing that the educational advantages offered
the children of this region are second to none, for like many who have
had to struggle along in life without proper schooling he is doubly
anxious to give others the opportunities which never came his way.
In August, 1891. Mr. Geary was married to Miss Mary Vetter, of
Marathon City. Wisconsin, a daughter of George Vetter. The following
Ethel ; Emma. Mrs. W'al-
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Geary :
ter Crawford ; Edna, deceased ; Stella, deceased ; and Dorothy, who married
Joseph Gerzine. Mr. Geary is a man who has understood the
fundamentals of commercial life, and has realized that business is the
very life blood of national and community health and prosperity. Possessing
that broader sense of responsibility, the will and resourcefulness and
the power to stimulate others to the same whole-hearted endeavor which
has always actuated him, he has long been recognized as one of the useful
and competent men of St. Louis County.
Steve Kovai.i. is one of the enterprising young business men of Ely,
and has spent nearly all his life in this section of northern Minnesota.
He is the active manager of the general merchandise firm of Kovall and
Sons, the members of which are John Kovall, Sr., Steve and John, Jr.
John Kovall, Sr.. and his wife, Elizabeth, brought their family to the
United States in the eighties from Austria. At the opening of the
Chandler Mine in northern Minnesota and before there was a single railroad
in this part of the Range country the Kovall family made their
way by the difficult process of walking to Ely. John Kovall. Sr.. was
employed in the i'ionecr Mine until 1911.