FRANCIS M. CROSBY:

Francis M. Crosby was born November 13, 1830 in Wilmington, Vermont. He was the son of Eliel and Thankful (Allen) Crosby. He was a school teacher and later a lawyer. Crosby was admitted to the Bar in Bennington, Vermont in 1855 and practiced law in Wilmington until 1858. From 1855-1856 he was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives. Crosby came to Hastings, Minnesota in 1858, where he lived for the remainder of his life. In 1860-1861 he was a probate judge and from 1872 until his death in 1910 was a judge of Minnesota's first judicial district comprising the counties of Goodhue, Dakota, Washington, Pine, Chisago, and Kanabec.

Crosby married Helen Mar Sprague of Cooperstown, New York, in May of 1866. The couple had one son named Frank Noble Crosby (1867- ). Helen Mar [Sprague} Crosby died November 16, 1869.

On October 23, 1872, Crosby married Helen Sophia Bates of Cherry Valley, New York. Howard Walworth Crosby (1874-1907), Marion Emma Crosby (born 1875), and Helen B. Crosby (born 1876) were the children born of Crosby's second marriage. Helen Sophia [Bates] Crosby died in Hastings on October 2, 1909. Francis M. Crosby died in Hastings on November 15, 1910.

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The collection offers information on Francis M. Crosby's legal and judicial career; crops, livestock, machinery, and management of his farms in several Minnesota counties, especially Castle Rock Stock Farm near Farmington, Dakota County; his correspondence with the University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station; the Marcus Gold Mining Company in Yavapai County, Arizona (1886-1888); state and local politics in Minnesota; social life in Wilmington (1850s) and Hastings; and his interest in Vermont Revolutionary War History.

Some papers concern his son Howard's historical and antiquarian interests, especially Pierre Charles Le Sueur's trading post at Prairie Island in the Mississippi near its junction with the Vermillion River, and a fifteenth-century Italian "Rimini medal" found at Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1904. Also included are diaries and short stories of his daughter Marion Emma Crosby.

Correspondents include Crosby's second wife Helen S. Crosby, DeWitt C. Bates, Willet M. Hays, Warren Upham, and Crosby's farm managers John Ehlers, Jacob Peter, and Louis Stolle.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Francis M. Crosby and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 8276; 9451; 9488; 13,752

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017181480104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Agriculture -- Minnesota.

Indians of North America -- Antiquities.

Mines and mineral resources -- Arizona.

Rimini Medal.

Short stories, American -- Minnesota.

Spanish-American War, 1898.

Persons:

Alden family.

Allen family.

Bates, DeWitt C.

Bixby, Tams, 1855-1922.

Brower, J. V. (Jacob Vradenberg), 1844-1905.

Burt family.

Butts, Edmund Gregory, 1832-

Christensen, Sneedorf, 1837-1895.

Clagett, John R.

Crosby family.

Crosby, Eliel, 1799-1886.

Crosby, Frank Noble, 1867-

Crosby, Helen S.

Crosby, Howard W., 1874-

Crosby, Marion Emma.

Dean, John, 1831-1888.

Ehlers, John.

Greeley, Elam, 1818-1882.

Hays, W. M. (Willet Martin), 1859-1916.

Holbrook, Frederick, 1813-1909.

Hoyt, Frederick William, 1841-1892.

Le Sueur, Meridel.

McGrath, James E., 1861-1940.

Molander, S. B. (Swan B.), 1855-

Nord, John P., 1843-

Parmelee, Philander.

Peter, Jacob.

Pillsbury, J. S. (John Sargent), 1827-1901.

Pope, John Collamer, 1850-1934?

Prescott, Helen S. Crosby.

Rutherford, M. E.

Rutherford, M. S.

Sabin, George F., 1844-

Sanford, Maria Louise, 1836-1920.

Scofield, W. H., 1840-

Shaleen, John, 1835-1901.

Sprague, Jenks S., 1800-1879.

Stannard, L. K. (Lucas Kingsbury), 1824-1914.

Stolle, Louis.

Swift, Henry A., 1823-1869.

Thacher, Joseph A., 1825-1885.

Upham, Warren, 1850-1934.

Wakoza, John.

Westcott family.

Woolworth family.

Organizations:

C.H. Martin Company (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Castle Rock Stock Farm (Farmington, Minn.).

Duluth & Iron Range Railroad Company.

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Vermillion Lodge No. 8 (Hastings, Minn.).

Kanabec County Immigration Society (Mora, Minn.) -- Letterhead, -- 29 Jan. 1907.

Kanabec County Republican Committee (Mora, Minn.) -- Letterhead, -- 29 Jan. 1901.

Marcus Gold Mining Company (N.Y.).

Minnesota Historical Society.

Minnesota Masonic Relief Association.

Nathan Ford Music Company (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Republican Party (Minn.)

Sons of the American Revolution. Minnesota Society.

Meetings:

Minnesota Conservation and Agricultural Development Congress (1st : 1910 : Saint Paul, Minn.).

Minnesota Farmers' Institute -- Letterhead, -- 28 April 1904.

Places:

Dakota County (Minn.)

Hastings (Minn.) -- Social life and customs.

Minnesota -- Politics and government.

New York (State)

Pine City (Minn.)

Prairie Island (Minn.).

Saint Croix River (Wis. and Minn.) -- Maps.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.

Vermont -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.

Wilmington (Vt.) -- Social life and customs.

Document Types:

Diaries.

Genealogies.

Letterheads.

Occupations:

Judges -- Minnesota.

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