Adolph Remmler

As printed in 1909

Adolph Remmler was one of those sturdy and substantial German pioneers whose sound common sense made his advice highly esteemed by all who knew him, and whose good fellowship endeared him to scores of faithful friends. He was born May 28, 1838, in Baden, Weiler, Schwartzwald, Germany, son of Landolin and Mary (Kramer) Remmler; received his education in Baden, and came to St. Louis, Mo., when a young man, obtaining a position in a wholesale house, where he remained from 1854 to 1858, when he became a traveling salesman for the same firm. He enlisted in Company A, Third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war, afterward resuming his former employment. He was married April 18, 1867, to Helena Lenshaner, who died October 20, 1871, aged thirty-seven years, one month and ten days, leaving one son. Otto, born February 10, 1869. In the middle seventies, Adolph Remmler came to Red Wing and January 15, 1877, married Mrs. Christine Heising. Mr. Remmler, ably assisted by his wife, took charge of the Heising Brewery, changed its name, and made many improvements, alterations and additions. He served as alderman of the city and in other ways participated in many public movements for the benefit of the community, the interests of which he had deeply at heart. He belonged to the I. O. O. F. and the B. P. O. E. His death, October 29, 1908, at the age of seventy years, five months and one day, was sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends. Mrs. Christine Remmler was born in Ritberg, Prussia, May 5, 1835, daughter of Christoph Batsher and his wife, Agnes Von Horst, her maiden name being Christine Batsher. She came to this country at the age of seventeen and one year later married "William Heising. at Cincinnati. To this union were born three children: Mrs. Frank M. Wilson, of Red Wing; Mrs. Henri DeAVitt, of Red Wing, and Dr. Albert Heising, of Menominee, Wis. After living in Cincinnati for a short time, Mr. and Mrs. Heising moved to Rochester, Minn., and shortly before the Civil War came to

Keel Wing. Here they purchased the old Minnesota House from John Friedrieh, and remodeled the hotel into a brewery. After Mr. Heising's death, December 12. 1874. at the age of fifty-four years, his widow conducted the place for several yearSj showing shrewd business ability. January 15, 1877, she was married to A. Remmler. Otto Remmler, son of A. Remmler, and now manager of the brewery, was born February L0, 1869, and on May 21. 1891, married Rosie Bremer, born May 27, 1873, by whom he has one daughter. Elsie, born November 2' 1892-.

Benjamin Briggs Herbert was born May 3, 1843, on a farm near Cuba. Fulton county, Ill. With his parents, he moved to Henry county, Jowa. and From there, in 1856, to Minnesota. He was educated at Hamline University, completing the classical course in 1sn; While attending school, he still lived upon a farm two and one-half miles Pr Red Wing, and walked that distance every morning and night and never missed a class. At the age of sixteen years, he joined the M. E. Church a1 Red Wing. For a year after graduation he was principal of the Rochester Seminary (M. B.);it Rochester, Minn.: then he entered the law department of Michigan University. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 at Kck\ Wing, and practiced law there For five years.

In 1871 Mr. Herbert was married al Red Wing to Mary E. Sweney of that city. She was enrolled as a student in Hamline University on the first day of the opening of that institution at Red "Wing.

In 1873 he organized the first Red WingJFlour Mills and became the first secretary; in the fall of the same year he entered the newspaper business. lie organized the Red Wine- Printing Company in 1877, and was president of the company until 1890, and editor of the papers published thereby until 1888. For five years he remained secretary of the Red Wing Building and Loan Association, which he organized in 1877. With the clay in a horse pail he solicited $25,000 with $10,000 cash paid in ten days to start the Red Wing Pottery.

In addition to the work in connection with the Minnesota Editorial Association. Mr. Herbert conceived the idea of a National Editorial Association, and in the winter of 1885. effected such an organization at New Orleans, where he was chosen as its first president.

In addition to his editorial work, Mr. Herbert was always greatly interested in educational affairs. He served for many years as a member of the Board of Education at Red "Wing, and was a member of the first Board of Trustees of the State Public School of Minnesota, at Owatonna. In his new home at Evanston he became president of the Board of Education, and, with his associates, carried to completion a new and one of the finest school

B. B. Herbert

-Ufty z&- buildings in the city. For many years he has served as a member of tlif Board of Directors of the Lincoln Memorial University

Mr. Herberi was one of the organizers of the Red Wing Mills, Red Wing Building Association, Red Wing Stoneware Company, Rod Wing Furniture Company and the Red Wing Printing- Company. Mr. Herbert resides in Ravenswood, Chicago, where he is actively engaged in the publishing business.

Tarns Bixby, while no1 at the present time an actual resident of this county, nevertheless retains his interests here and is decidedly a Red Wing man. He was born December 12, 1856. at Staunton, Va., son of Bradford W. and Susan J. Bixby, who, being in moderate circumstances, were able to supply their son with none of those advantages which money can give. The family settled in Stillwater in 1S.)7. coming to Red Wing in the fall of 1862. Here Tarns spent his boyhood and early manhood, receiving his early education in the parish schools which he attended until reaching the age of thirteen years. Beyond that his educational advantages have been such as an active mind can derive through reading, experience and observation. Possessed of a remarkable degree of energy and enterprise, he was not slow to employ his talents in whatever offered a field for his abilities, whether in the field of intellectual, moral or industrial endeavor, and more particularly the first two. The result in a business and official way has been that he has been engaged as news agent, hotel keeper, baker, editor and publisher and in high state and governmental positions, while in those lines that are purely in the real of altruism he has taken ho less an active part, his Y. M. C. A. endeavors being well known. He was still scarcely more than a youth when he made his first venture into newspaper work, and it is humorously told that at one time when he edited the "Argus" for several weeks in the absence of the real editor, he conducted it in so up-to-date a manner that the editor upon his return found two live libel suits pending against the paper. Mr. Bixby established the Red AVing "Sun" January 17, 1884, and conducted that paper until its consolidation with the "Advance" and the "Republican" since when he has been connected with the "Republican," although for many years past his duties have been of an official rather than of an active capacity. Since early youth he has taken an active interest in politics, and his public career was started as chairman of the Republican county committee of Goodhue county. His excellent work in that capacity attracted the attention of Republicans in other parts of the state and when the Republican League of Minnesota was organized he was made its secretary. Subsequently he filled the office of secretary to the Republican State Central Committee, from which position he was promoted to that of chairman. In this capacity he managed some of the hardest fought political battles in the annals of Minnesota and never failed to lead the party to victory. He has been secretary of the railroad and warehouse commission of Minnesota. From 1888 to 1889 be was private secretary for Gov. W. R. Merriam; from 1880 to 1892 for Knute Nelson; from 1892 to 1896 for David M. Clough. At the election of United States senator in 1901 he was urged by many friends to become a candidate and had he accepted their offers at the proper time it was freely asserted that his chances of success would have been of the best. As it Avas he received a handsome complimentary vote. Mr. Bixby had charge of the senatorial campaign of Knute Nelson which he conducted in his usual vigorous, honorable and effective manner. Mr. Bixby was at one time prominently mentioned in connection with a cabinet position as secretary of the interior, an appointment which, according to the newspapers, was practically within his grasp had he cared to lake it. Probably Mr. Bixby's most distinguished work, however, has I n done in connection with the Five Civilized Tribes, so called, in the Indian Territory. These tribes are the richest people in the world, and when conditions 1) came such that immediate supervision and adjustment of their affairs by the United States government was necessary. Mr. Bixby was named as a member of the so-called Dawes Indian Commission, of which he was either acting or actual chairman from May 2, 1897, when he was appointed by President William McKinley, until July 1, 1905. when that commission was abolished and President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Mr. Bixby as commissioner, a position he retained until July, 1!>07. when the affairs of the Five Tribes, having been reorganized and placed on a satisfactory basis, their supervision was vested in the Department of the Interior. The stupendous task which-Mr. Bixby performed only those who Avere with him in the work can fully realize. Opposed by all kinds of clever men and powerful interests who, without sanction of law. had secured control of mineral and other valuable rights belonging to the Indians, he adjusted matters where several millions of dollars were concerned, with an honesty and fearlessness that was as unswerving as it was intelligent. During this period. Mr. Bixby came back to Minnesota for a couple of months, gathered up the tangled threads of a Republican political campaign, which, nearly over, seemed almost hopeless, and carried it to a successful conclusion. Upon his return from the South in 1907. Mr. Bixby and a number of friends purchased a controlling interest in the "Pioneer Press" of St. Paul, and Mr. Bixby became the general manager. He at once devoted his energy and ability as a newspaper man and organizer to making the "Pioneer Press" the best paper in the Northwest, and this effort bore fruit in the ''Pioneer Press" as it is today. The "Evening Pioneer Press" is one of the children of Mr. Bixby's thoughts. A few mouths ago the "Pioneer Press" was purchased by the St. Paul "Dispatch," but Mr. Bixby remains as general manager. In Red Wing he is president of the Red Wing Printing Co., and his business interests include all the leading industries of this city, in most of which he is either an officer, stockholder or director. At the present time he is a member of the Minnesota Club, of St. Paul; the St. Paul Town and Country Club; the Red Wing Commercial Club and the Muskogee (Indian Territory) Town and Country Club. He is a Knight Templar, as well as a member of other Masonic bodies; also of the Elks, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. April 27, 1886, he was married to Clara Mues, and has three sons, Edson K., born April 9, 1887; Joel H., born November 30, 1888; and Tarns, Jr., born September 12, 1891. Mr. Bixby's record bespeaks his merit. He is a man of untiring energy and unswerving patriotism and loyalty, always ready to give his best effort and his money to the upbuilding of the community at large and particularly his home town of Red Wing.

As printed in History of Goodhue County, Minnesota (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.