Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/1135

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 985 1906. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Wermuth has been blessed with one daughter, Helen Maria, born March 11, 1904. Mr. Wermuth is a member of the German Lutheran and his wife of the Roman ( latholic church. Charles J. Whipple, a prosperous farmer of Zumbrota town- ship, was born in Madison county. New York, September 10, 1846, son of Michael and Mary (Eddy) "Whipple, natives and prominent farmers of New York state. The father died in 1870 and the mother in 1856. Charles J. received his education in New York state, after which he took up farming near Rochester, N. Y., until coming west in 1865. In Zumbrota township, February 18, 1886, he bought eighty acres of land and later eighty acres ad- joining this, which he has broken and improved. Besides this 160 acres, he has 160 acres in Wabasha county. Mr. Whipple was married in February, 1866. to Laura Nichols, daughter of Harsha Nichols, a prominent farmer of Zumbrota. The children by this wife were: Charles, Lewis and Mary, deceased; Clarence, who is engaged in farming at West Concord, Minn. ; and AYallace, who is at Zumbrota Falls. Minn. After the death of the mother of these children, the father was married in 1883 to Mary Colling, daugh- ter of Charles Colling, a furniture manufacturer at Mazeppa. She died March 7. 1897. By this union there were nine children: Marvin, who is at South Troy, Wabasha county: AYilliam, who is in Wabasha county ; Martha, who is at home ; Dolly, who is in Olmsted county; George, Nellie, John, Elsie and Edna are at home. Mr. Whipple is an independent Republican in politics and the family are worshipers at the Methodist Episcopal church. He has served on the school board in his district. Mr. AYhipple is a hard-working, conscientious man and well deserves the success he has gained. Charles Pierpont, proprietor of a tinning shop and well drill- ing works at 120 East Fifth street, is of eastern birth, having first seen the light of day in North Adams, Mass., September 5. 1841. His father, Levi Pierpont (married to Jane Wright, of New York state), was a machinist by trade and lived and died in Massachusetts. Charles received a grammar school education in North Adams, and after leaving school learned the trade of tin- ner. Apprenticeship in those days meant far different from what it does at the present time, and during the three years when Mr. Pierpont was learning the trade he received in all but $150, $25 the first year, $50 the second year and $75 the third. But he learned the work well, and after completing the three years was an expert tinner of a proficiency that more modern systems of apprenticeship do not produce. After working at his trade in Durand, Wis., from 1867 to 1874, he came to Red Wing, and en- tered the employ of Nelson and Peterson, with whom he remained