thirteen his family removed to Penobscot county, and later to the
province of New Brunswick, but returned to Maine in 1840. In 1848 he
came to Stillwater, and has since been continuously engaged in milling
and lumbering operations, and, latterly, in steamboating. He was
married to Lydia McGlaughlin in 1853. His children are six sons and
one daughter.
JOEL M. DARLING was born in Madison county, New York, in 1842. He came
to Galena, Illinois, in 1840, and to Stillwater in 1848, where he
engaged in farming. He served three years during the Civil War in
Company F, Seventh Minnesota, and has since been pensioned for
disabilities incurred in the service. He is unmarried. He lives in
South Stillwater.
EARLY RIVER PILOTS.
JOE PERRO.--"Big Joe" as he was familiarly called, was large of frame
and big-hearted as well, honest, manly, of good report for courage and
honesty. He was fearless and prompt in taking the part of the weak and
oppressed. We were once passing together up Broadway, St. Louis, when
we passed a peanut stand. A small negro boy was crying piteously and
begging the peanut vender to give him back his money, to which appeal
the peanut vender was obdurate. We halted. Joe Perro organized a
court, heard the testimony of man and boy, and satisfied himself that
in making change the man had wrongfully withheld a dime due the boy.
Joe decided in favor of the boy and ordered the vender of peanuts to
pay him the ten cents. He replied insolently: "It is none of your
d----d business." That was enough to kindle the magazine of Joe's
wrath. A sudden blow of his fist, and the man was prostrate on the
sidewalk and his peanuts and apples scattered. The last seen of the
discomfited street merchant he was on his hands and knees scrambling
with the boys for the possession of his scattered fruits, and casting
an occasional vengeful glance at the towering form of "Big Joe"
departing slowly from the scene of conflict. Mr. Perro is of French
parentage, and a native of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He has been a resident
of Stillwater since 1844.
JAMES MCPHAIL.--Mr. McPhail, as his name indicates, is of Scotch
parentage. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1824, and came to
America in early life. He was one of the first log pilots on the
waters of the Mississippi and St. Croix. He settled in Stillwater in
1848, was married to Eliza Purinton in 1849, and died in St. Louis in