What David Marston (D.M.) Clough lacked in education and polish
he made up for in common sense and drive, serving as Minnesota's
thirteenth governor during his rise from lumberman to lumber
baron. D.M. Clough was born on December 27, 1846, in Lyme, New
Hampshire. He was the fourth of fourteen children. His parents
were Welsh farmers who resettled in 1857 in Spencer Brook,
Minnesota, near the Rum River. Clough helped his family earn a
living from the land by raising crops and cutting timber. His
education was limited because he worked almost year-round from
an early age. Clough started a logging business, Clough
Brothers, with his brother, Gilbert, in 1870. He married
schoolteacher Adelaide (Addie) Barton in Spencer Brook in 1867,
and they moved to Minneapolis in 1872 to expand the logging
business. In Minneapolis, Clough built a sawmill for the logs he
and his brother were harvesting. A lifelong Republican, Clough
was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 1883 and then to
the state senate in 1886. From t