Bio of WASHBURN, John (b.1858 d.1919), Hennepin Co., MN
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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 III, pg 257-258
JOHN WASHBURN
John Washburn, a man ever ready to respond to the call of duty, was an honored
representative of one of the old and distinguished American families. His
willingness to attempt any task that he felt was required of him eventually
caused his death. At the time of the World war he entered so heartily into its
activities that his health was undermined and death resulted. He had hitherto
been active in the control of gigantic business interests and, moreover, had
ever fully met his duties in the matter of citizenship and civic progress. His
entire career was one which reflected credit and honor upon a most honorable
family name, and constituted a source of power, growth and development in the
city of Minneapolis. For an extended period he was the president of the Washburn
Crosby Company, which was organized many years ago by his uncle, C. C. Washburn.
Descended from one of the old New England families. John Washburn was born at
Hallowell, Maine, August 1, 1858, his parents being Algernon Sidney and Anna
(Moore) Washburn. The Washburn family traced their descent from John Washburn,
who was secretary of the Plymouth colony in England and who afterward joined the
settlement on the shores of Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century. He
married Patience, daughter of Francis Cook, who had crossed the Atlantic on the
Mayflower.
Israel Washburn was born in 1784 and was the son of a Revolutionary soldier. In
1812 he married Martha Benjamin, whose father was also one of the patriotic
defenders of the cause of independence during the Revolutionary war. Israel
Wash-burn and his wife made their home on a farm at Livermore, Maine, where all
of their distinguished sons were born and reared-sons who by reason of the
variety of their attainments and the scope of their activities constituted one
of the most distinguished American families. Israel Washburn and his wife had
ten children and their seven sons all reached positions of prominence, most of
them gaining places of eminence in connection with public affairs. Israel
Washburn, Jr., was elected to congress in 1850 and served for five terms, while
in 1860 he was chosen governor of his native state. Elihu B. Washburn became one
of the notable men of Illinois, representing the state in congress from 1853
until 1869, after which he was a member of President Grant's cabinet, holding
the portfolio of secretary of state. During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 he
was ambassador to France. Another son, Cadwallader C. Washburn, became the
founder of the great Washburn milling interests in Minneapolis. He, too, was a
member of congress both prior to and after the Civil war, in which he won the
rank of general in the Union army, while in 1871 he was elected governor of
Wisconsin. Still another son, Charles A. Washburn, held the post of minister to
Paraguay, while Samuel B. Washburn was a distinguished officer in the United
States navy, and Senator W. D. Washburn, who came as a young man to Minneapolis,
was prominent as a railroad builder and as a statesman.
Algernon Sidney Washburn, the father of John Washburn, was a banker in Boston,
Massachusetts, while later he took up his abode in Hallowell, Maine, and entered
into the same business. Both he and his wife died in that city.
John Washburn prepared for college in the Hallowell Classical Academy and then
entered Bpwdoin College. During his second year of college he was called home on
account of the death of his father. In 1880 he came to Minneapolis and here
spent a year learning the business in connection with the Washburn mills founded
by his uncle. At the end of that time he was, given a position on the clerical
staff and later was entrusted with the responsibility of buying wheat for the
mills. This became a position of constantly increasing importance with the
steady growth of the business and he contributed in great measure to the success
of the company through the wise judgment and keen business insight which he
displayed as a wheat buyer. He spent years in mastering all the details of
markets, grades and qualities of grain, becoming recognized as an expert, while
the extent of his business affairs made him one of the best known figures not
only on the grain exchange of the northwest but throughout the country. In 1887
he acquired an interest in the milling firm of the C. C. Washburn Company. While
a member of the operating firm he was also a director and the vice president of
the C. C. Washburn Flouring Mill Company, which controlled the mills, water
rights and real estate that were the basis of the practical operations. He held
those offices with the C. C. Washburn Company until its property and business
were consolidated under the present corporate form of the Washburn-Crosby
Company. Of the latter Mr. Washburn became the vice president and following the
death of J. S. Bell was elected to the presidency of what is the greatest
milling company in the world today. Mr. Washburn was also president of the St.
Anthony Elevator Company and president of the St. Anthony & Dakota Elevator
Company, president of the Royal Milling Company of Great Falls, Montana, vice
president of the Imperial Elevator Company, president of the Kalispell Milling
Company of Kalispell, Montana, president of the Rocky Mountain Elevator Company
of Great Falls, Montana, vice president of the Huhn Elevator Company of
Minneapolis and a director of the Brown Grain Com­pany, the Barnum Grain Company
of Duluth and the First National Bank of Minneap­olis. He was also a trustee of
the Farmers & Mechanics Savings Bank of Minneapolis and a director of the
Minneapolis Trust Company. By reason of the magnitude of his interests and
activities he was long an outstanding figure in connection with the grain trade
and milling interests of the country. He had membership on the Chicago Board of
Trade, the New York Produce Exchange, the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the Duluth
Board of Trade and the Kansas City Board of Trade.
On the 29th of July, 1884, at Hallowell, Maine, Mr. Washburn was married to Miss
Elizabeth Pope Harding, a daughter of the Rev. H. F. and Mary Elizabeth
(O'Brien) Harding of Hallowell. Through the maternal line Mrs. Washburn is
connected with the O'Brien family which has long been distinguished in
connection with the civil and military history of Maine. Not long after the
battle of Lexington, in the Revolutionary war, the commander of a British
warship imprudently ordered the patriotic citizens of Machias to take down a
liberty pole that had been erected by them on the common of the town. The
patriots refused and in anticipation of sterner measures a party of volunteers
was formed and captured the British vessel, turning over its captain and crew as
prisoners of war. The commander of that volunteer party was the
great­grandfather of Mrs. Washburn. To Mr. and Mrs. Washburn were born three
daughters: Margaret, Elizabeth Pope and Sidney.
Mr. Washburn died September 25, 1919, of heart trouble brought on by overwork
during the war. He belonged to the Minneapolis Club, the Minikahda Club, the
Lafayette Club and the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association. He was in 1900
and 1901 president of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and held membership
therewith to the time of his death. Unlike many men with big business
connections, he did not feel that community affairs were beneath his notice. He
was interested in the welfare and benefit of Minneapolis and in the improvement
of conditions, study­ing all the important political, social and economic
relations which affect the welfare of society. He was great not only in what he
accomplished, but in the breadth of his vision, by which he rose to leadership.