Bio of ROCKWOOD, Chelsea Joseph (b.1855), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
========================================================

Vol II, pg 262-265
CHELSEA JOSEPH ROCKWOOD
Chelsea Joseph Rockwood, who for forty years has been a member of the
Minneapolis bar and who has rendered signal service to the city in connection
with civic affairs, is a native of Vermont, his birth having occurred in
Bennington, that state, on the 13th of September, 1855. He was fourteen years of
age when in December, 1869, his parents, Joseph and Rhoda (Hurd) Rockwood,
established their home in Garden City, Minnesota, where in the public schools he
continued his education, begun in New England. He afterward became a student in
Carleton College and then matriculated in the University of Minnesota, from
which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1879.
Soon afterward Chelsea Joseph Rockwood entered upon the study of law under the
preceptorship of Judge Shaw, of the law firm of Shaw, Levi & Cray, and in 1882
was admitted to the Minnesota bar. For a period he was in active practice as a
member of the firm of Rockwood & Collom and later of Fletcher, Rockwood &
Daw-son. He then practiced independently from 1897 until 1917, when he was
appointed a judge of the district court. At the close of the judicial term,
failing of election, he reentered the private practice of law in 1919 and in
1920 entered into partnership with Morris B. Mitchell under the firm style of
Rockwood & Mitchell, with offices in the Andrus building. He has been engaged in
much important litigation in connection with the international waterways along
the northern boundary and is today an outstanding figure in the ranks of the
legal profession in the upper Mississippi valley.
Judge Rockwood has also been a close student of vital public problems,
especially those connected with the welfare and progress of Minneapolis, and has
rendered most valuable service as a member of the board of park commissioners
and as attorney for the board. He occupied the former position in 1893 and 1894
and served as attorney from 1889 until 1892 and then again from 1895 until 1917.
He has also acted as special counsel for the board of regents of the University
of Minnesota.
On the 30th of October, 1883, Mr. Rockwood was married to Miss Carrie D.
Fletcher, whose demise occurred in 1915. They were parents of four children:
Paul, who died in 1900; Ethel, now the wife of T. F. Phillips of Duluth; Edith;
and Fletcher. The two daughters and the surviving son are graduates of the
University of Minnesota. The daughter Edith received a Master's degree in civics
and economics from Columbia University of New York and since that time has
devoted her attention to civic work in Minneapolis, in New York and Chicago,
while for one year she was connected with the Bureau of Labor at Washington, D.
C. For two years she was civic director of the Woman's City Club in Chicago and
is now secretary of the Illinois League of Women Voters, in which connection she
is active in organizing the women of the state to take concerted political
action. The son Fletcher, while a student in the University of Minnesota, was
lieutenant of the artillery. After a year's service on the Mexican border he
became an instructor in the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Snelling, with the
rank of Captain of Reserve Corps. He was commissioned major, F. A., in the fall
of 1918. Subsequently he was transferred to Camp Dodge at Des Moines, Iowa, and
later became assistant director of the School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Soon after the signing of the armistice he returned to Harvard University, where
he was graduated on the completion of a law course in 1920, and is now connected
in his professional capacity with the Great Northern Railway Company.
Mr. Rockwood has always given his political allegiance to the republican party.
He is a member of the Baptist church. He also belongs to the Minneapolis and Six
O'clock clubs, and Psi Upsilon fraternity. All social activities and interests,
However, have been subservient to the demands and duties of his profession. To
an understanding of uncommon acuteness and vigor he added a thorough and
conscientious preparatory training, while he has exemplified in his practice all
the higher elements of the truly great lawyer, being constantly inspired by an
innate, inflexible love of justice. His diligence and energy in the preparation
of his cases, as well as the earnestness, tenacity and courage with which he
defends the right as he understands it, challenges the highest admiration of his
associates. He invariably seeks to present his argument in the strong, clear
light of common reason and sound logical principle.