On This Date in Minnesota History: January 2

January 2, 1903 – James N. Castle, one of the leading attorneys of Minnesota, was found dead shortly after noon today in the chicken yard at his home in Stillwater. The condition of the body indicated that death had occurred several hours earlier. He had not been in the best of health for some time. This morning he started out to feed his chickens, Castle having devoted much of his leisure time lately to the raising of high-grade poultry. From that time on no one saw him until his nephew, Jay Castle, found Castle lying cold in death. Dr. Clark was summoned, and pronounced him dead and said that death was unquestionably due to heart failure.

Born in Shefford, Canada, Castle was 65 years of age. He received a common school education, and after reading law for a few years came to Minnesota in 1882. He taught school in Afton, Washington County, and later studied law with Smith & Gilman in St. Paul. He was elected Washington County Attorney in 1865 and in 1868 he was elected to the state senate, serving two years. He was again elected to the state senate in 1878 and served four years. He was elected a member of congress to succeed the late Edmund Rice, and was nominated for a second term, but was defeated by S. P. Snider, of Minneapolis. Deceased was always an ardent Democrat, and was his party’s nominee for county attorney in the last campaign, being defeated by J. C. Nethway of Stillwater.

He was president of the Washington Bar Association, and was held in high esteem. He was an able lawyer, and at the time of his death had important law cases pending in the district and supreme courts. He was a widower, his wife having died some years ago, and is survived by a half-brother, Luke Castle, of Stillwater. He was a member of St. John’s Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and was also a Knight Templar. The deceased had a very wide acquaintance in Minnesota and also had a large number of intimate personal friends in Washington, D. C.

The Saint Paul Globe; “Ex-Congressman Castle Dead. Body Found Cold and Rigid in Chicken Yard at Stillwater.”; Jan. 3, 1903; p. 6.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain March 19, 2017, as long as acknowledgement included. 

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