Compendium of history and biography of North Dakota: containing a history of North Dakota . also a compendium of biography of North Dakota

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
• Subjects: Bates; Goodman; Homestead; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Pacific; lotte
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/51423

290 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY icksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Anlietam, Wilderness, thirty days" siege of Petersburg, Wel-don" s Road, and in the latter engagement he was captured and held a prisoner six months in Libby, Salsbury, North Carolina, and Danville, Virginia. He was wounded at Gettysburg and Weldon's Road and in front of Petersburg, and soon after his release from prison was mustered out of the service, after a brave and loyal service. He was promoted three times while in active service, first to be sergeant, second, orderly or first sergeant, third, first lieutenant, and was commissioned cap-tain, but did not muster in. He then returned to New York and lived there until taking up his resi-dence in North Dakota, in 1878. He settled on the farm where he now resides in that year, taking one quarter-section of land as a homestead. He now owns an entire section, and is among the sub-stantial men of his calling. Our subject was married, in New York, in 1868, (to Julia Drum, a native of that state. Eleven chil-dren, si.x sons and five daughters, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McGurren, all of whom are liv-ing, yir. McGurren has served as school and town treasurer, and is active in local public affairs. He is a member of the Catholic chunch. In political sentiment he is a Democrat, and is strong in his convictions. HON. NATHAN UPHAM, of Grafton, ex-register of deeds of Walsh county, and the first man to serve in that capacity in the county, deserves es-pecial mention as being one of the leading men who helped to organize and execute many enterprises and to assist in the work of bringing order out of chaos in the early days of Walsh county and North Dakota. He is well known throughout the state and the Northwest. Nathan Upham was born in Nova Scotia, No-vember 24, 1857. His parents, Henry and Char-lotte (Peppard) Upham, were natives of Nova Scotia, where the father was superintendent of pub-lic instruction for fifteen consecutive years. He was a graduate of a Boston college and his parents were among the pilgrims. Our subject"'s grandfather was a sea captain and secured a large grant of land in Nova Scotia. In 1881 Henrv C. Upham, the father of our present subject, came to Dakota and located at Acton on the Red river, then the only town in this region. He soon after went to Grafton and in the same year, 1881, starteil the "Walsh County Times." The next year he purchased the "News" and consolidated the "News" and the "Times," which he continued to publish until 1889. The paper was Reiniblican in politics and the or-gan of the party. That year he sold the paper to Mr. Bates and retired from active business. He died in 1889. Of his six sons and three daughters, four sons are now living. On son died in Manila, hav-mg gone there as a member of Company C, First North Dakota \'olunteers. Nathan Upham was reared and educated in his native land and in 1878 came to Dakota and first located on land near Drayton. He then spent some time in travel through the Northwest and British Columbia. In 1880 he came to Grafton and opened a lumber yard and also engaged in buying and ship-ping wheat. In 1880 he was appointed register to deeds of Walsh county, being the first person to fill that office in the county. He served in this ca-pacity six years, having been twice elected to the same position. In 1886 he served as a member of the lower house of the territorial legislature. He was also elected probata judge of Pembina county, prior to the division of the two counties, but resigned to accept the office to which he was elected in \\'alsh county. He afterward engaged in farming on the Red river and his farming operat-tions included in all sixteen hundred acres of land. He engaged largely in raising and handling of high-grade stock, especially Aberdeen Angus cattle. In 1897 he purchased the hardware business of J. Tombs & Sons, of Grafton, and has since conducted that business. He is one of the directors of the Grafton National Bank. ^Ir. Upham was married, in 1886, to Miss Agnes McDugal, also a native of Nova Scotia. They are the parents of four children, one son and three daughters. Air. Upham is one of the pioneer Re-publicans of North Dakota and assisted in organ-izing the party forces in the state. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar and a "Shriner." PETER P. GOODMAN, a well-to-do and en-terprising farmer of Shenford township, Ransom county, is a man of much force of character and business ability. For many years he was one of the leading business men of Fargo, and since retiring from a commercial life has purchased an extensive farm and operates twelve hundred acres of land. He makes his home in the village of Anselm, and is one of the pioneers of that locality. A portrait of Mr. Goodman appears on another page. Our subject was born in Star county, Ohio, June 29, 1846, and was the eldest son and fifth in order of birth in a family of ten children, born to Theobald and Catherine (Gulling) Goodman. The father came to this country from France in 1823 and engaged in farming in Ohio, where he cleared a farm, and was one of the earliest settlers of that state. At the age of twenty years our subject left his home, in 1866, and joined his brother-in-law, who was stationed on the Red river of the North at Georgetown, as agent of the Hudson Bay Com-pany. The following fall our subject took a con-tract from the Hudson Bay Company to cut cord wood on the banks of the Red river, and in 1868 be-gan flat-boating between Fort Abercrombie and \\'innipeg, and his life during those days was full of adventures. He later went to Fargo, in 1871, when the Northern Pacific Railroad was built to. Internet Archive