Welter, Leslie, Moorhead. Merchant. Born May 6, 1864 in St. Thomas Ont, son of David and Margaret (McLellan) Welter. Married Sept 10, 1889 to Ella G Gedney. Educated in St Thomas Collegiate Institute, graduating 1882. Sec Moorhead Brick Co; sec and treas Red River Telephone Co; propr of firm of Leslie Welter, whol potato shippers. (Little Sketches of Big Folks, Minnesota 1907, R. L. Polk & Co. Publishers, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth, Page 419)
Leslie Welter, one of the largest dealers in potatoes in Clay county, estimates the potato yield in that county at two-thirds of an average crop. Only about one-third of the usual amount will be available for shipment, which will be about 800,000 bushels. (Warren Sheaf, Wednesday, September 13, 1916, Volume XXXV, Number 37, Page 1)
Page 715. Leslie Welter, one of the prominent business men of Moorhead, Clay county, was born at St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, in 1864. He is the son of David and Margaret (McClellan) Welter, both of whom were natives of Ontario, where they both died. David Welter was a successful farmer and cattle man. Leslie Welter received his education in the schools of Ontario. When he was eighteen year old, after finishing his course in the Collegiate Institute of St. Thomas, he was employed by the government as a member of a surveying party in the Canadian northwest. In the fall of 1884 he left Canada and came to the United States and located at Moorhead, Minnesota. For the next two years of his residence in Moorhead he taught school. Afterwards he engaged in the mercantile business with F. G. Asselstine and later with H. G. Finkle. The latter partnership continued until the death of Mr. Finkle in 1890, when Mr. Welter continued the business alone. He gradually became more interested in the business of handling potatoes and in the year 1902 sold his store in order to be able to devote more time to his potato business. He is today one of the largest dealers of potatoes in this section and has warehouses at Moorhead, Glyndon, Hawley, Dale, Nielsville and other points in Minnesota. In addition to his extensive business in the handling of potatoes, Mr. Welter is interested in the mining and selling of sand and gravel and has been president of the Muskoda Sand Company since its organization in 1907. In 1889 Mr. Welter was married to Ella G. Gedney, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and to this union two children have been born, namely: Leslie, Jr., and Helen Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Welter have long been prominent in social and religious circles of Moorhead and vicinity. Mr. Welter
Page 716. is a member of the Royal Arcanum, Modern Brotherhood of America, Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Elks, the Moorhead Commercial Club and the Fargo Country Club. Mr. Welter has always taken an active interest in local affairs. In 1901 he was appointed by Governor Lind as a member of the board of managers of the St. Cloud Reformatory, in which capacity he served for several years. In 1914 he was appointed by Governor Hammond as a member of the State Normal School board, which position he now holds. He has also served as a member of the Moorhead board of education, a member of the city council, and has been president of the Moorhead Commercial Club. He has been a member of the Moorhead charter commission since its inception and has served as a member of the water and light commission. In 1909, Mr. Welter was one of the active organizers of the Clay County Potato Growers Association, which has had great success in making Clay county potatoes well known throughout the country and which has made Moorhead the central point for the marketing of Red River Valley potatoes. Mr. Welter has been president of the organization for several years. Mr. Welter is very much interested in the general upbuilding of the Red River Valley and for several years (served as) president of the Minnesota Red River Valley Development Association, a public organization which has this idea in view and which has done much to give favorable publicity to this section of Minnesota. (History of Clay and Norman Counties, Minnesota, Their People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II, John Turner and C. K. Semling, Editors, B. F. Bowen & Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1918)
Leslie Welter, one of Moorhead’s substantial business men and an officer of the (Red River Valley) Development association, presided and extended the welcome to the visitors. (Warren Sheaf, Wednesday, July 26, 1922, Volume XLII, Number 30, Page 1)
Leslie Welter died July 8, 1946, in Clay County, Minnesota.