Rick-- None of your Northup family names are familar to me. My research shows Anson first settling in Stillwater, Minn in 1838. He built the first hotel in St. Anthony in 1849. In 1848 he built the American House in St. Paul. He drove the first herd of cattle through wilderness countery from the Wisconson River to St. Croix. His son Charles was the first white child born in Croix falls. He served in the Minnesota legislature from 1857 to 1858 representing the counties of Morrison, Crow Wing and Mille Lacs in the Senate. His father Nicholas died in 1859. I seems likely that families with the same name and settling in a territory with few people would have some connection. Maybe we can find a link. Dick