Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/352

 292 HISTOEY OF GOODHUE COUNTY Dakota county, and purchased 240 acres of land. The father at once set to work with vigor and soon the land was under cultiva- tion, while a comfortable home sheltered the family. Here the roof tree was established, and happiness and prosperity was the lot of the family until December 14, 1884, when the stricken home mourned the loss of the mother. A few years later, in 1891, the father took up his residence with a daughter in Farmington, this state, where he died, August 23, 1904. Frank A. was brought up on a farm, and attended the district schools in Empire town- ship. Later he graduated from the Hastings High School, in which institution he made so good a record that he had no diffi- culty in securing a clerical position in the bank there. A year later he returned home, and remained on the farm until 1888. From that date until 1893 he ran an establishment for the retail handling of dairy products in St. Paul, this business later being disposed of to the Crescent Creamery Company. His next em- ployment was with the municipal engineering department of the city of Minneapolis, and in 1895 he was appointed state agent for the state prison and reformatory, in which position he remained until he came to -Red Wing as superintendent of the Minneapolis State Training School, an office which he has retained to the present day. It is interesting to note that while on the farm for the benefit of his health, after leaving the bank at Hastings, Mr. "WMttier taught in the rural school districts for several years. In politics he is a Republican, in fraternal affiliation a member of the Masonic order and of the Independent Order of Foresters. In religious belief he favors the Universalist church. Mr. Whit- tier was married, April 2, 1884, at Empire, Minn., to Margaret Cameron, by whom he has five children. Albert A., a graduate of the University of Chicago, is a civil engineer in the state of Utah, while Walter F., Grace, Horace B. and Myra' live with their parents. Villa Maria Convent, a school for girls, under the direction of the Ursuline nuns of the Roman Catholic church, is situated on Lake Pepin, near the village of old Frontenac, the well-known summer resort. A more beautiful site for a school could not well be found; on a rise of ground, commanding a wide view of lake, valley, hill and plain, surrounded by park-like forests, and arched by the full sweep of the heavens, all the natural influences combine to elevate and instruct the mind. Nor are historical associations lacking, for on this very spot there stood, more than a century and a half ago, St. Michael's, one of the old French missionary for«ts of the upper Mississippi. The grounds, consisting of 120 acres, are the gift of General