EDWIN CLARK:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For details, please see restrictions.

OVERVIEW


	Creator:	Clark, Edwin, 1834-1922, creator.
	Title:	Edwin Clark papers.
	Dates:	1855-1923.
	Abstract:	Correspondence, reports, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the life of a Minnesota pioneer who published the Falls Evening News, the first daily newspaper in St. Anthony (1857); was a clerk in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1865); served as an Indian agent for the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians in Minnesota and Dakota (1865-1867); was instrumental in the establishment and early development of the town of Melrose (Minn.); and helped found the Territorial Pioneers associations of Minnesota and Hennepin County.
	Quantity:	2.5 cubic feet (3 boxes and 1 partial box), 1 oversize folder in Reserve, and 5 microfilm reels.
	Location:	See Detailed Description section for shelf locations.

Edwin Clark was born on February 25, 1834 in Bridgewater, New Hampshire. In 1857 he moved to St. Anthony, Minnesota. With William A. Croffut as his partner, Clark purchased the weekly Minnesota Republican and also began publishing the Falls Evening News, the first daily newspaper in Minneapolis. In 1863 Clark accepted a clerkship in the United States House of Representatives. He served in this position from December 1863 to April 1865, when he was appointed agent for the Ojibwe Indians in Minnesota and Dakota. He was located at the Chippewa Agency, near Crow Wing, Minnesota and, while stationed there, built agency buildings at Leech Lake. Removed from office in 1867, he moved to Melrose, Minnesota where he and his cousin, William H. Clark, built or improved the first dam, erected the first grist mill, and established the first store. In 1872 they platted the site of the present town of Melrose, giving half of the town site to the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad as a bonus for running a branch line through Melrose.

After 1878 Edwin Clark conducted the Melrose business alone. In 1893 or 1894 he returned to Minneapolis to work as an insurance agent. He was a founding member of the Territorial Pioneers associations of Minnesota and Hennepin County. In 1905 the Hennepin County Territorial Pioneers Association purchased the Ard Godfrey House, the oldest frame dwelling-house in Minneapolis. In 1920 Clark became curator of the house and its collection of pioneer relics. He lived in the house until his death on April 27, 1922.

Edwin Clark married Ellen (Nellie) Rowe in 1860. The couple had five children: Everett, Herbert, Mabelle, John G. Rowe, and Walter.

Biographical information was taken from the collection and from the following published sources: Minneapolis Journal, April 28, 1922, pp. 21, 34; Hage, George S., Newspapers on the Minnesota Frontier 1849-1869 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1967), pp. 47, 73; Minnesota Territorial Pioneers, Proceedings and Report of Annual Meetings, 1899 and 1900 (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1901), pp. 101-103; History of the Upper Mississippi Valley (Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Society, 1881), p. 435; and Castle, Henry A., Minnesota: Its Story and Biography (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1915), pp. 798-800.

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ARRANGEMENT

These records are organized into the following three sections:


		Newspaper Publisher, Melrose Business Propietor, Territorial Pioneer Assoications Founder
		U.S. Indian Agent: Chippewa Indian Agency
		Closed Originals

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access Restrictions:

The original papers relating to Clark's tenure as U.S. Indian agent, which are available for use on microfilm, are closed to general use.

Use Restrictions:

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item, series, and, as applicable, microfilm reel and frame numbers here]. Edwin Clark Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 1778B; 2085A; 3257; 3274; 3279; 3771; 4723; 4786; 11,096; 15,530; 15,611

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank P. Hennessy, July 1998; Deborah Kahn, September 1998

Catalog ID number: 990017181100104294

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION

NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER, MELROSE BUSINESS PROPRIETOR, AND TERRITORIAL PIONEER ASSOCIATIONS FOUNDER, 1855-1865, 1867-1923

Includes documents pertaining to Clark's activities prior to and after his tenure as U.S. Indian agent at the Chippewa Agency. The series begins with a portion of Clark's autobiography (1853-1862). Topics covered in the autobiography include Clark's career as a newspaper publisher and the history of other early papers in St. Anthony, the organization of the first fire department in St. Anthony and Clark's membership in the Cataract Engine Company, descriptions of early buildings and businesses in St. Anthony and Minneapolis, a list of individuals included in the first city directory (1859), a history of early railroads in the area, and events during the Dakota uprising in 1862.

Other papers include several pieces of poetry written by Martha P. Sly; mailing lists and financial records related to Croffut and Clark's publication of the Minnesota News and the Falls Evening News; a list of clerks and other persons employed in the office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives during 1865; circulars and letters reflecting Clark's interest in county Republican politics (1867-1868); and papers related to his role in the development of the town of Melrose, Minnesota including the construction and operation of the E.&W.H. Clark milling firm (1867-1890s) and the extension of a St. Paul and Pacific Railroad branch through Melrose (1871-1874). There is also a group of photocopied newspaper clippings (1860s) related primarily to the Estey family of Massachussetts and to Lydia D. Estey Ferguson Holtz and her husband, William Frederick Holtz, of Lake Minnetonka.

A group of letters (1902) from Enmegahbowh (John Johnson), an Ottawa Indian who served as an Ojibwe missionary, to Nathan Richardson contain Enmegahbowh's reminiscences of the lynching of three Indian boys in 1857 for the murder of a white man; his role in preventing Chief Hole-in-the-Day from attacking the Chippewa Agency in 1862; and the removal of the Ojibwe to the White Earth Reservation in 1868. The letters were apparently given to Clark by Richardson in 1902 and were published in 1904 under the title, En-me-gah-bowh's Story.

The remaining papers relate primarily to the Minnesota and Hennepin County Territorial Pioneers associations. There is a scrapbook and folder containing newspaper clippings related to the associations' activities including management of the Ard Godfrey House, celebrations of the semi-centennial of St. Anthony and the centennial of the purchase of the Fort Snelling reservation (1905), the marking of historic sites in Minnesota, and anecdotes of early Minnesota and Minneapolis. Another scrapbook contains poetry and articles related to Frank G., Lizzie, and Henry D. O'Brien in addition to clippings concerning the pioneers associations. The third and final scrapbook (1865-1904) contains a number of newspaper clippings and magazine articles, mostly related to the end of the U.S. Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Location

Box

P790

Autobiography, pp. 12-70.

Correspondence and miscellaneous related papers, undated and 1855-1895, 1902-1921. 3 folders.

Newspaper clippings, 1860s, 1900-1923.

Location

Box

P790

Unidentified index. 1 volume.

Mail Book of Croffut and Clark: Minnesota News and Falls Evening News, [circa 1859]-1861. 1 volume.

Cash book: Croffut and Clark, September 1, 1857-October 31, 1859. 1 volume.

Scrapbook: Poetry and Territorial Pioneers associations, 1888-1904. 1 volume.

Scrapbook: Territorial Pioneers associations, 1898-1916. 1 volume.

Scrapbook: Civil War and Lincoln's assassination, 1865-1904. 1 volume.

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U.S. INDIAN AGENT: CHIPPEWA INDIAN AGENCY, 1865-1868

Includes microfilmed papers related to Clark's tenure as a U.S. Indian Agent at the Chippewa Agency near Crow Wing, Minnesota (1865-1867). The series is divided into three subseries: correspondence files, administrative and financial records, and closed originals.

Location

Reel

M598

Correspondence Files:

Topics addressed in Clark's official correspondence with the Office of Indian Affairs include the resettlement of the Minnesota Ojibwe and Clark's belief that the Indians should be moved to a location where they could continue to subsist on hunting and gathering rather than being forced to relocate to an area where they could farm, the construction of a new agency at Leech Lake, the licensing of traders at the agency, and the salaries of agency employees. Other topics include reporting procedures required by the Office of Indian Affairs and its regular review of Clark's management of funds, complaints that he was allowing a monopoly to be held by the traders he licensed (January 1866), charges of misuse of funds brought against him (March 1866), the payment of annuities to the Indians (November 1865 and November 1866), and his removal from office in 1867.

Clark's other correspondence includes communications with officers of the U.S. Army at Fort Ripley, agency employees at Red Lake and Leech Lake, Ojibwe Indians, and politicians. Topics include Clark's requests for troops in response to reports of possible acts of hostility by the Indians and to enforce the prohibition of liquor sales to the Indians, particularly at the time of annuity payments; reports from agency employees on services to the Indians which were stipulated by treaty; the construction of a steamboat to provide transportation to the new agency buildings at Leech lake; and requests by a number of Indians for Clark's assistance in securing provisions and various payments they claimed were owed them by the government.

The personal letters primarily discuss matters related to Clark's duties as an Indian agent including preparations for the annuity payments, the granting of trader licenses, the investigation of his management of funds, and efforts in Washington, D.C. to remove him from office. Among the personal letters is a group written by Ignatius Donnelly and a few by Governor Alexander Ramsey regarding the personalities and politics influencing the continuation of Clark's commission as an agent.

The final file includes two letters (March 9 and March 25, 1865), written prior to Clark's appointment, from Charles E. Garden to the agency physician, Dr. Townsend, and an account describing a canoe trip taken from the agency to Red Lake and down the Red Lake River (July 17-30, 1866), which is accompanied by a list enumerating the distance between various destinations on the trip.

Correspondence: Edwin Clark and U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, 1865-1868:

Folder 1. 1865. Frames 1-24.

Folder 2. January-March 1866. Frames 212-426.

Folder 3. April-June 1866. Frames 427-547.

Folder 4. July-December 1866. Frames 548-752.

Location

Reel

M598

Folder 5. 1867-1868. Frames 1-119.

Letterbook: Copies of letters received by Edwin Clark as agent for Chippewa Indians, 1865-1866. Frames 120-219.

Correspondence: Edwin Clark and officers of the U.S. Army, 1865-1866. Frames 220-320.

Correspondence and miscellaneous papers related to the prosecution of parties selling liquor to Chippewa Indians, 1866. Frames 321-394.

Letters to Edwin Clark from agency employees, 1865-1867. Frames 395-586.

Letters to Edwin Clark from Red Lake employees, 1865-1867. Frames 587-679.

Location

Reel

M598

Letters to Edwin Clark from Leech Lake employees, 1865-1866. Frames 1-167.

Letters to Edwin Clark from Chippewa Indians, 1865-1867. Frames 168-312.

Personal letters to Edwin Clark:

Folder 1. 1865. Frames 313-438.

Folder 2. 1866. Frames 439-573.

Personal letters to Edwin Clark from Donnelly-Ramsey-Norton, 1865-1867. Frames 574-703.

Charles Garden letters and Red Lake canoe trip, 1865-1866. Frames 704-726.

Location

Reel

M598

Administrative and Financial Records:

The data furnished in these records document the purchase of goods and services necessary to meet treaty stipulations, the payment of annuities to the Indians, the salaries of agency employees, and various property and finances associated with the management of the agency itself. Much of this material relates directly to the major topics addressed throughout the correspondence and letters.

Some of the more notable records include the commission for Clark's appointment by President Lincoln as agent for the Chippewa of the Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winnebagoshish bands and the Indians of Red Lake and Pembina (April 12, 1865); property returns which itemize the goods distributed byClark in October 1865; and annuity rolls which include the names, number of family members, distributive share, and amount paid to the chiefs, warriors, heads of families, and individuals without families within the Chippewa agency.

There are also abstracts of disbursements and certificates documenting the salaries of agency employees and amounts paid to individuals who provided services to the agency, a scrapbook of newspaper clippings containing journal entries describing the annuity expeditions of 1865 and 1866, and three architectural drawings for new agency buildings at Leech Lake.

Clark's commission as agent, 1865. Frames 1-2.

Treaties, 1864-1866. Frames 3-77.

Also includes treaties, 1854-1855, 1863

Complaints and claims against Chippewa Indians and applications of traders, 1865-1867. Frames 78-267.

Proposals and contracts, 1866. Frames 268-299.

Reports and receipts, 1865-1867. Frames 300-464.

Scrapbook: Newspaper clippings, 1866. Frames 465-526.

Statements of funds remitted, 1865-1866. Frames 527-549.

Appropriations for the fulfillment of treaties, 1865-1866. Frames 550-551.

Property returns, October-November 1865. Frames 552-566.

Annuity Rolls: Red Lake, Pembina:

Folder 1. 1865. Frames 567-589.

Folder 2. 1866. Frames 590-656.

Location

Reel

M598

Abstracts of disbursements, 1866-1867. Frames 1-20.

Chippewa Agency account current, 1866. Frames 21-28.

Certificates of money paid as salary to officers or payment to persons in employment or service of the U.S., 1865-1866. Frames 29-32.

Inventory of government property turned over by Edwin Clark, May 10, 1867. Frames 33-47.

Leech Lake Agency: Plans and drawings. Frames 48-96.

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CLOSED ORIGINALS

Location

Box

143.J.17.6F

Correspondence: Edwin Clark and U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, 1865-1868. 5 folders.

Letterbook: Copies of letters received by Edwin Clark as agent for Chippewa Indians, 1865-1866.

Correspondence: Edwin Clark and officers of the U.S. Army, 1865-1866.

Correspondence and miscellaneous papers related to the prosecution of parties selling liquor to Chippewa Indians, 1866.

Letters to Edwin Clark from agency employees, 1865-1867.

Letters to Edwin Clark from Red Lake employees, 1865-1867.

Letters to Edwin Clark from Leech Lake employees, 1865-1866.

Letters to Edwin Clark from Chippewa Indians, 1865-1867.

Personal letters to Edwin Clark, 1865-1866. 2 folders.

Personal letters to Edwin Clark from Donnelly-Ramsey-Norton, 1865-1867.

Charles Garden letters and Red Lake canoe trip, 1865-1866.

Clark's commission as agent, 1865.

Treaties, 1864-1866.

Complaints and claims against Chippewa Indians and applications of traders, 1865-1867.

Proposals and contracts, 1866.

Reports and receipts, 1865-1867.

Scrapbook: Newspaper clippings,, 1866. 1 volume.

Location

Box

142.E.9.1

Indian agent papers. 1 folder:

Statistical Return of Farming, &c., at the Chippewa Agency, 1866.

Statistics of Education, &c., at the Chippewa Agency, 1866.

Statement of Difference arising on Settlement of the accounts of Edwin Clark - Late Indian Agent - for fractional 2nd & 3rd & 4th quarters 1865 & 1st & 2nd quarters 1866.

Statement differences on settlement a/s of Edwin Clark, late In. Ag. - 3rd & 4th qs. 1866 & 1st & part 2nd qs. 1867. 2 pages.

Tabular Statement of Agricultural productions &c. of Red Lake band of Chippewa Indians.

Mille Lac Band. [List: Ojibwa names, drawings, English names.]

List of Chiefs of Pillager Chippewas; List of Chiefs of Mississippi Chippewas. 2 pages.

Edwin Clark United States Indian Agent, to the United States, Dr. For the following amount..., viz: For fulfilling Treaty Stipulations with the Chippewas of the Mississippi.

Edwin Clark United States Indian Agent, to the United States, Dr. For the following amount..., viz: For fulfilling Treaty Stipulations with the Chippewas of Red Lake & Pembina.

The Indian Payments. An Interesting Account. [newspaper clipping]

Statements of funds remitted, 1865-1866.

Appropriations for the fulfillment of treaties, 1865-1866.

Property returns, October-November 1865.

Annuity Rolls: Red Lake, Pembina, 1865-1866. 2 folders.

Abstracts of disbursements, 1866-1867.

Chippewa Agency account current, 1866.

Certificates of money paid as salary to officers or payment to persons in employment or service of the U.S., 1865-1866.

Inventory of government property turned over by Edwin Clark, May 10, 1867.

Leech Lake Agency: Plans and drawings.

Location

+Reserve 1

Appointment of Edwin Clark as agent for the Chippewa Indians, April 12, 1865.

Signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

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RELATED MATERIALS

Letters received, 1824-1880; Letters sent, 1824-1882; and Chippewa annuity rolls, 1841-1907 from the United States Office of Indian Affairs are in the Minnesota Historical Society microfilmed manuscript collections.

A scrapbook compiled by Clark containing obituaries of Minnesota pioneers has been microfilmed and is separately cataloged in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections.

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CATALOG HEADINGS

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:: Dakota Indians -- Wars, 1862-1865.; Flour mills -- Melrose (Minn.).; Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota.; Fur trade -- Minnesota.; Ojibwa Indians -- Minnesota -- Annuities.; Ojibwa Indians -- Minnesota -- Claims (against the Indians).; Ojibwa Indians -- Minnesota -- Government relations.; Ojibwa Indians -- Minnesota -- Treaties.

Places:: Melrose (Minn.).; Saint Anthony (Hennepin County, Minn. : 1855-1872).

Persons:: Clark, William H.; Donnelly, Ignatius, 1831-1901.; Enmegahbowh, J. J. (John Johnson), 1812?-1902.; Norton, Daniel Sheldon, 1829-1870.; O'Brien, Frank G. (Frank George), 1843-1920.; Ramsey, Alexander, 1815-1903.

Organizations:: Ard Godfrey House (Minneapolis, Minn.).; Hennepin County Territorial Pioneers' Association.; Minnesota Territorial Pioneers (Organization).; Republican Party (Minn.); St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company.; United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Leech Lake Agency.; United States. Office of Indian Affairs. Red Lake Agency.

Types of Documents:: Architectural drawings (visual works).; Microforms.

Occupations:: Indian agents -- Minnesota.

Titles:: Fall Evening News.; Minnesota Republican (Saint Anthony, Hennepin County, Minn. : 1855-1872).

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