Litchfield enquirer., 1878-09-26
[From the St. Charles (Minn.) Times.1 Death of Col. Joseph Birge.
AN OLD SETTLER GONE.

Died, in this city, at 9 20 A. M Sunday,
 September Sth., Col. Joseph Birge aged 72
 years months and 21 days.
 Col. Birge was born in Milton, Litchfeld
 county, Connecticut, on the 18th day of No
 venber, 1905. At an early age he disclosed
 those qualities of mind and sound judgment
 which marked his pre-eminent fitness for the
 more active and responsible duties of official
 life, to which he was often selected at the home
 of his birth. On the 10th of December 1899
 he married Miss Sarah Maria Griswold. 5.
 Col. Birge was brother of the late Col.
 John Ward Birge of Missouri, who was Col
 Onel of the Regiment known as Birge's Sharp
 shooters, that did such effective service in the
 late war between the States. x
 We have only space to mention few of the
 responsible positions he filled, dating from the
 early years of his majority to the later years
 of his life in Minnesota In 1880 he was elec-
 ted Justice of the Peace in his native town in
 1042 he was elected Captain of the militia,
 which military position he held until 1844
 when he was chosen Colonel of the 16th, Reg
 iment of the Connecticut State Militia, which
 under the laws then in force were properly
 uniformed, and compelled to do drill duty two,
 or more times year. During the Mexican
 war his Regiment was rendered to the general government, by the Governor of Connecticut
 but the war closing soon after, it was never called into active service. In the Fall of 1S47 he resigned his Coloneps commission and re- moved with his family to the town of Tate de Mour, Iowa, where he held the office of Postmaster for two years. Iowa then having been admitted into the Union only the year before and having population of less than 1OO,OOO people against over a million and half now. At that place he held the office of Justice Of the Peace for three years. In 1854 was elected State Senator of Iowa, from the counties of Jackson and Jones, which position he held for the full term of two years, and became conspicuous as the author of measures, the passage of which he secured, looking to a better and more economical management of state and county affairs In the Spring of 1858 he removed to St. Charles, Minnesota and soon after built the residence in which he spent the remainder of his life. At this place he purchased largely, for these times, of real estate, adjoining the then village of St. Charles, portion of which he afterwards laid out in lots and.n comprise the south half of the city of St Charles. Through his earnest la- bors and iberality the depot of the Winona 6 St. Peters Railroad was located at this point which otherwise undoubtedly would have been at least one mile west of here in the county of Olmsted, thus through his enterprise and generosity, St. Charles largely owes it's present status as one of the best inland mar cts in the State, and it's ability to support one of the best schools to be found anywhere, and Winona county at large is indebted to him for a larger increase of taxable property to help defray the necessary county expenses than they would have had if the depot and the con- sequent town had been built one mile further west .s.
 Col. Birge held the office of Postmaster of St. Charles under the administration of James Buchanan, but after the election of Abraham | Lincold, he was removed to make place for an other whose political views would be in harmo- | ny with the new administration. Col. Birge | always having been, even up to the moment | of his death firm unwavering Jacksonian | Democrat. During the twenty years he has | resided in this place he always took lively | and active interest in public affairs |
 lie was man Of decided, open, and out | spoken convictions his opinions being emphat- | lcally his own, devoid of every attempt to re- fleet, as by a mirror, the opinions of others, simply because they might be, for the time, | popular. What he believed to be right, though | he were in a small minority, he advocated j. with the same earnestness and freedom as though he were expressing the most popular opinions of the times. In a word he was no hypocrite. Like an uncut diamond, which to | novice appears like common stone, it's in- ternal worth unnoticed, so Col Birge, to a stranger, or one only acquainted with the un- assuming, and sometimes abrupt appearance OI the man, might take him for his opposite, | not knowing the real man, He never turned worthy human away from his door hungry or cold, no matter what his nationality, creed, religious or political, color, or previous condi- ton of servitude. No better neighbor ever lived. Those five words are good enough epitaph for any man.
 In religion Col. Birge was Liberalst or Free Thinker. In his earlier life in his native State he was connected with the Episcopal church, and at enc time held the office of Yes tryman in that Church. The day before he died, and the last he ever said upon religious matters, was in substance that he had not changed the opinions which he had entertained for years that he came into this world without any knowledge of what the future would be and he went out of it with the same ignorance of the future, and with the same absence to fear the marked his advent into earthly life He was conscious of the near approach of death, yet he had no fear of the change and was perfectly resigned to the inevitable. He died without struggle, simply fell asleep like a child. He was buried, on Monday, Episco- pal services being conducted at the house and at the grave by Mir. R. R. Rhames, in the ab- sence of the rector, Mir. Cole, of Trinity church. He leaves wife, five sons one daughter, and numerous grandchildren, rela- tives and friends to mourn his departure.