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

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 927
upright life, unsmirched by wrongdoing, and his life is a credit to the
community. . . tt-i i tt i
Dennis F Haley is the oldest hvmg settler of Hibbmg. He was born
at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 14, 1856. Dennis Haley, his father,
was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and came to the United States when
he was eight years old, and located at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 1846.
The family was engaged in farming in the early days, and later helped to
build the streets of ^lilwaukee. Dennis F. Haley is one of nine children,
and received but a limited education. When he was thirteen years old he
started out for himself as a farm hand. His early years were spent at
iiard labor, and he had little time or money for pleasure. When he was
nineteen years old he went to Oconto, Wisconsin, and worked in the woods
and mills of that place, but in 1877 went from there to Ouinnesec, the
Menominee Iron Range of Michigan, and there helped whi'p-saw the lumber
used to build the first house in Ouinnesec. For eleven years he was
in the employ of George M. Wakefield, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a big
real estate operator in the northern country, and as such was very closely
associated with much constructive work in pioneer regions. In December,
1892, Mr. Flaley came to Hibbing. At that date not a tree had been
felled from the present site of the little city. For a few months after liis
arrival he lived in a camp on the Seller's Mine, and he did the first testing
work on this property, having come to the region for this purpose, b'or ;i
time he was engaged in mine work, and then was put on the police force,
and remained on it for twenty months.
The discovery of gold in Alaska attracted him to that far northern
country, and he was in its wilds for about three years prospecting for gold,
but he then returned to Hibbing in the fall of 1900 and worked for the
Consolidated Mining Company, leaving it to go with W. C. Agnew^ at the
Mahoning Mine. For nine years he worked for E. J. Longyear, and then
began farming. In 1914 he was appointed street commissioner of Hibbing,
and has continued to hold that office. He is a Democrat, and very
active in his party. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic. In 1888
I\Ir. Haley was united in marriage with Julia Tobin, of Kaakauna, Wis-
consin. They have had four children born to them, namely, David D.,
Margaret Irene, Mary H. and Howard J., the last named being deceased.
Mr. Haley has held a number of local offices, and could have had others
had he desired to run for them, for there are few men as universally
popular as he. He served in the City Council for a year, and was village
treasurer for four years, being the first man to hold that office. Such
men as Mr. Haley arc rare, and his type is passing. Utterly unpretentious,
he has done more in his own way for his community than any other
man, no matter what his advantages might be, simply because of his
earnest, straightforward honesty and earnest sincerity. Men know he is
honest and they trust him, and when he says a thing ought to be done
there is no (|uestion about the matter. He has few enemies, his friends
are numbered by legions, and his influence, which is strong and farreaching,
is always exerted in behalf of clean living and decent morality,
and naturally is beneficial to the rising generation.
.\rciiii5.\i.I) James McLexnan. who came to Duluth twenty years
ago in the role of an educator, has given nuich of his time to the real
estate business and particularly the exi^loration and development of lands
on the iron ranges of northern Minnesota.
Mr. McLennan, whose home and offices arc in Duluth, was born on a
farm in Campbellville, Ontario, Canada, a .son of Alexander and Catherine
(Campbell) McLennan and is of Scotch ancestry on both sides, lie
was well educated in Cana