History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 1

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1262

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GEN

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01066 7050

GENEALOGY 978.3 K61H V. 5

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY BY GEORGE W. KINGSBURY

SOUTH DAKOTA

ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

EDITED BY GEORGE MARTIN SMITH, B.A., A.M.

BIOGRAPHICAL

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME V

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1915

1151092

GOVERNOR FRANK M. BYRNE

BIOGRAPHICAL

HON. FRANK M. BYRNE.

Hon. Frank M. Byrne, serving for the second term as governor of South Dakota, is a statesman with a knowledge of the science of government and with a grasp of practical affairs that enables him to so perform the duties of his position as to render important service to the commonwealth. His entire life has been an expression of the spirit of western enterprise. He is of Trish ancestry and a native of Iowa, born October 23. 1858. His par- ents were both natives of Ireland.

He was reared in the usual manner of the farm lad and educated in the public schools. The studious habits of his early life have continued with him and he remains today an omniverous reader. From his earliest youth he has been a student of public affairs, intel- ligently interested in the leading questions and issues of the day. In 1879 a little while before he attained his majority, he came to Dakota territory and secured a homestead claim in MeCook county, upon which he took up his abode, meeting the usual experiences, privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. In 1883 he removed to Faulk county and engaged in the real-estate and loan business for two years. He spent the years 1885 and 1886 in North Dakota, where he gave his attention to the real-estate and insurance business and in 1888 he returned to Faulk county, where he took up the occupation of farming in con- nection with real-estate dealing, carrying on both lines extensively.

The year which witnessed the admission of South Dakota into the Union was the year in which Mr. Byrne was elected a member of the first state senate. Later he served four years as county treasurer of Faulk county. In 1906 he was again eleeted senator to repre- sent Faulk and Potter counties in the South Dakota general assembly. His legislative record is an enviable one. Through his efforts were secured the enactment of mueh progressive legislation that worked a complete revolution and much needed improvement on the old order. He introduced and seeured the passage of an anti-pass law, which at the time, was the most stringent and etfeetive ever enacted in the United States; he was also instrumental in securing the passage of the two cent fare law; the reciprocal demurrage law; the law requiring railroad companies to pay taxes on terminal property buildings, grounds, side and passing tracks, etc .; a law that has reduced express rates sixty-five per cent: and im- portant insurance legislation leading to the reorganization of the insurance department. He also was active in bringing about the enactment of the anti-lobby law, which is most effective. He was recognized as one of the most active forees in the upper house and the course which he pursued always indicated a comprehensive study of the question under consideration. He actively supported the passage of the primary election law, the corrupt practice act, the law relating to corporation contributions to campaign funds and other im- portant railroad legislation, beside that already mentioned. His course received strong indorsement in his district in his reelection to the senate in 1908.

In 1910 he was elected lieutenant governor of South Dakota for a two years' term and at the general election of 1912 was chosen chief executive of the state, in which office he so wisely directed the affairs of the commonwealth that he was reelected in 1914. His admin- istration is notable for his furtheranee of progressive legislation and much constructive work leading to the development of the state and to the adoption of higher eivie standards and ideals. Important features of his administration are the ereation of a tax commission, the passage of an inheritance tax law, the railroad rate legislation, the bank guarantee aet. etc. In polities he is a republican. While he holds to the old principles of the party, he is ever ready to take a forward step, knowing that legislation and political service must keep abreast with the advancement of the times and meet the changing conditions brought about by an expanding civilization. Since 1889 he has been a member of the republican state cen- tral committee and has been most active in the work and couneils of the party.

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

In April, 1888, Governor Byrne was married to Miss Emma Beaver, of Kenton, Ohio; they have five sons: Carroll Beaver, Francis J., Malcolm, Joseph D. and Emmons. The first named is a graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy of the class of 1912 and is now an ensign in the United States navy.

Governor Byrne is a Congregationalist and belongs to the various Masonic bodies, the Knights of Pythias and the Elks. Those hours which are usually termed leisure are devoted to reading as a means of recreation and such is his broad general information that associa- tion with him means expansion and elevation. His record as governor marks a most con- structive period in the history of South Dakota and along all lines he has been an advocate of progress and advancement.

Perhaps no man in public life has had so few enemies. Even his political opponents entertain for him the warmest personal regard and admiration, recognizing the honesty of his convictions and the loyalty of his course. One of his pleasing traits is that he never forgets a friend, among all those whom he has known, the playmates of his boyhood, the associates of his early manhood, those whom he has met in business connections and his later associates in legislative circles. His life record finds embodiment in the words of Pope :

"Statesman, yet friend to truth; of soul sincere, In action faithful and in honor clear; Who broke no promise, served no private end, Who gained no title and who lost no friend."

ANATOLE F. LABRIE.

Anatole F. Labrie is a member of the Spink County Abstract Company conducting busi- ness at Redfield. South Dakota has numbered him among her citizens since September, 1880, in which year he came from Kankakee county, Illinois. He was born in that county, June 8, 1857, a son of Joseph E. and Marie L. (Brosseau) Labrie. The family is of French lineage and was established in Canada during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Joseph E. Labrie went from Canada to Illinois in 1847 and for twenty-five years was postmaster of Manteno and also served as justice of the peace. He was a well known and popular citizen there, having located in Kankakee county during pioneer times and being an active and valued factor in its public affairs. He died at Momence, Illinois, in 1903, when he was eighty years of age. His wife died in 1900 at the age of seventy-five years and they were laid to rest in the cemetery at Manteno. They had come to Spink county, South Dakota, in 1882 and settled on a homestead, but in 1895 returned to Illinois.

Anatole F. Labrie acquired his education in the public schools of his native county and in St. Viateur's College at Kankakee, in which he pursued his studies to the age of fourteen years. He then became assistant postmaster at Manteno under his father, re- maining in that position for nine years. On removing to South Dakota in September, 1880, he filed upon a homestead and in 1882 he engaged in the land business in connection with his brother, A. C. Labrie, at Frankfort. After five years there spent he removel to Doland, South Dakota, where he engaged in business with his brother, Joseph E. Labrie, for two years. In 1889 he was appointed clerk of the court and occupied that position for five years. On his retirement from the office, in 1894, he purchased an abstract business, which he conducted for four years. He then returned to the real-estate business in partnership with S. E. Wightman and H. A. Babcock and was thus engaged until 1903, when lie removed to St. Paul and became interested in the piano trade in connection with J. Kalcheuer. There he remained until he again entered business circles in Redfield as pro- prietor of the Spink County Abstract Company. He has a splendid set of abstracts and is conducting a good business. He is also agent for various prominent fire insurance com- panies, writing many policies annually.

On the 7th of April, 1885, Mr. Labrie was married in Frankfort. South Dakota, to Miss Regina A. Blain, a daughter of Nazaire and Marie L. (Brosseau) Blain. Her father was one of the pioneer farmers of Spink county, South Dakota, and now resides in Los Angeles, California. His wife passed away in 1908 and was laid to rest in Kankakee, Illinois. Mr.

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

and Mrs. Labrie have four daughters and a son: Marie L., the wife of Leon A. Dunton, residing at St. Paul, Minnesota; Corinne, the wife of Paul R. Bohen, living at St. Paul, Minnesota; Irene, who is connected with St. Joseph's Hospital at St. Paul; Leila, at home; and Paul B., who is assisting his father.

The family are Catholics in religious faith and Mr. Labrie assisted materially in the building of St. Bernard's Catholic church. He also belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political indorsement is given the republican party and he has filled the office of deputy United States marshal. The various changes in his business career have usually meant a step in advance. He is now well established at the head of a growing business in Redfield and is numbered among the representative and worthy citizens of Spink county.

WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS.

William H. Williams, president of the Woonsocket State Bank at Woonsocket, South Dakota, was horn at Hazel Green, Wisconsin, February 1, 1859. His father, J. F. Williams, a native of England, came to the United States about 1844 and devoted his life to farming but is now deceased. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Susan Busanko, was also of English birth and has passed away.

William H. Williams was the sixth in order of birth in a family of eleven children. He acquired his education in the schools of his home town. When his school days were over he began farming with his father, being thus engaged until about twenty-six years of age. He arrived in Dakota territory in 1884, settling in Sanborn county, where for six years he followed the occupation of farming. In 1890 he was elected county treasurer and so ably filled the position during his first term that he was reelected. He was afterward connected with various lines of business until 1898, when he founded the Merchants Bank, of which he became cashier, acting in that capacity until 1912, when he was elected to the presidency. In 1915 the Merchants. Bank and the Woonsocket State Bank were consolidated under the name of the Woonsocket State Bank and Mr. Williams was chosen president of the new organization. He is thoroughly acquainted with the different phases of the banking business and his knowledge thereof, combined with habits of unfaltering industry and close application, are important features in his growing success. In addition to his banking interests he has considerable farm land, being now the owner of one of Sanboin county's finest and most modernly equipped and improved stock farms near Woonsocket.

On the 18th of February, 1885, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Sallie Price, a daughter of John Price, of Galena, Illinois. They have two children. namely : Elsie. the wife of Harry W. Harvey, who is engaged in the insurance business in Woon- socket; and Florence.

In his political views Mr. Williams is an earnest republican, and aside from filling the office of county treasurer for two terms he has served as mayor of Woonsocket for four years, giving to the city a businesslike and public-spirited administration. He is interested in the good roads movement and in all those plans and projects which have for their objeet the welfare and benefit of the community. His life has been purposeful and resultant and his activities have been of such a character that they have featured largely in the advance- ment of the community as well as constituting the source of his individual sueeess.

HON. ANDREW S. ANDERSON.

Andrew S. Anderson, of Alsen, the efficient state senator from his distriet, was born upon his father's farm in Clay county in 1877, a son of Solomon and Margaret (Erickson) Anderson, both of whom were born in Sweden. The father emigrated to the United States and settled in South Dakota in 1870, the mother arriving two years later. Her parents crossed the Atlantic in 1871 and her father proved up a homestead in Garfield township. The town of Alsen now stands upon his farm and is named after his home town in Sweden.

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

The parents of A. S. Anderson were married in Clay county and for a time resided upon a homestead in Glenwood township which Mr. Anderson had entered. Later the family home was established on section 13, Garfield township. The father carried on general farming and stock-raising until his retirement from active life. He has now turned his business affairs over to his son, who is operating the home farm on section 13. The father owns altogether eight hundred acres of well improved land in Clay and Union counties, all under a high state of cultivation. His home farm is the best equipped and best improved in the northern part of Clay county and the most progressive and up-to-date methods and machinery are used in the cultivation of the fields, insuring a large yield per acre. To Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Anderson three children have been horn, namely: Andrew S .; Emma, the wife of H. M. Holmquist, postmaster of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Edward, deceased.

Andrew S. Anderson was reared in the county which is still his home and as a boy learned practical lessons in agriculture under the instruction of his father, becoming by the time he attained maturity a capable and efficient farmer. Since assuming charge of the homestead he has amply demonstrated his progressive spirit and sound business judgment, managing the farm work so as to secure the greatest results with the least expenditure of time and energy. Mr. Anderson is secretary and manager of the Alsen, Beresford & Emmet Telephone Company and is president of the Alsen Creamery Company. He has taken an active part in political affairs since attaining his majority and has beld all of the township offices and has also served as justice of the peace. He is at present a member of the board of education in his township and does all in his power to further the advancement of the public schools. When but thirty-three years of age he was elected state senator and his record was so acceptable to his constituents that he was reelected in 1913 and at the expiration of his second term of service received his party's nomination for a third term, to which he was elected by a large majority. He has proved an able member of the state senate and has done valuable work as a member of important committees, while his speeches from the floor of the house have been effective and to the point.

Mr. Anderson was married in 1898 to Miss Olga Berg, who was born at Dalesburg, Clay county, a daughter of Andrew Berg. She met a tragic death two months after her mar- riage, being killed in an accident. Mr. Anderson was married June 2, 1915, to Anna Marie Martenson, daughter of Lars Martenson of Vermillion, South Dakota. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonie order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and has held all of the chairs in the last named organization. He is justly con- sidered one of the leading men of his locality and has taken an important part in all movements inaugurated for the welfare and progress of his part of the state.

HON. WINFRED E. WHITTEMORE.

Among those who by popular suffrage have been called to direct the affairs of a common- wealth is numbered Hon. Winfred E. Whittemore, now a member of the state legislature, from the district comprising Hamlin and Deuel counties. In business connections he is well known as a real-estate and insurance broker of Estelline. New York numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Saratoga county, February 22, 1868, his parents being Josephus W. and Lucy A. (Hoyt) Whittemore, both of whom were also natives of New York, where they were reared and married, subsequently locating on a farm in Saratoga county. They lived in the east until the spring of 1882 and then came to the west with Dakota territory as their destination. The father homesteaded a quarter section in Deuel county, two and a half miles northeast of Estelline, and there resided to the time of his death. He was killed in a storm in June, 1889, and after being thus widowed Mrs. Whitte- more removed to Estelline.

Prior to his father's death Winfred E. Whittemore had been a student in the city schools of Estelline and had thus prepared for entrance into the State Agricultural College at Brook- ings, but owing to his father's death, he was obliged to change his plans and did not receive his college course. When eighteen years of age he began teaching and followed that profes- sion through the winter months and a part of the summer seasons for about ten years. In 1891 he went to Minneapolis, where he pursued a business course in the Curtis Commercial

HON. WINFRED E. WHITTEMORE

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

College. He continued his work as an educator at intervals until the spring of 1895 but prior to that date had embarked in the real-estate husiness in partnership with H. H. Reeves, then cashier of the Bank of Estelline. Because of this partnership Mr. Whittemore at times worked in a clerical capacity in the bank but continued his activities in the real-estate field and in 1901 purchased his partner's interest and incorporated the business as the Whitte- more Land & Investment Company, handling farm lands, loans and insurance. He now has a large clientage and is doing a good business in each department. He has brought many settlers to the county in his sale of farm lands, and also writes a large amount of insurance annually. In addition to his business in the town he owns five farms in Hamlin, Deuel and Brookings counties, having made judicious investment in real estate. In addition to his other interests he is a stockholder and a director of the Bank of Estelline.

In 1895 Mr. Whittemore was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Rice, of Brookings county, and to them have been born four children, Walton H., Myrton R., Elwin C. and Dorothy M. Politically a republican, Mr. Whittemore has for many years been an active factor in shaping the policy of his party in this portion of the state and has several times been called to public office. He served for one term as a member of the Estelline town board, has filled the office of township assessor and town clerk and in the fall of 1906 he was elected to the state legislature, serving through the tenth general assembly. In 1912 he was again chosen a member of that honorable body and in 1914 he was elected to represent his district in the state senate. His record at Pierre has repaid the support of his constituents. for he has given careful consideration to each question which came up for settlement and the weight of his influence has been cast on the side of the state's best interests. He had a very large part to do with the removal from the statute books in 1907 of the then notorious and rather infamous divorce law. He has ever placed the good of the commonwealth before personal aggrandizement and the benefit of the majority before partisanship.

JOSEPH WEST.

Joseph West, a retired farmer, living near Volin, is one of the worthy pioneers of Yankton connty, the period of his residence here covering forty-six years, his arrival in what was then Dakota territory dating from 1869. During his early residence here he endured all the hardships and privations that came to the pioneers but through determination and unfaltering perseverance he worked his way upward to success and is now classed among the substantial citizens of Volin and Yankton county. He was born near Londonderry, Ireland and comes of Scotch and English ancestry, although the family has lived in Ireland through many generations and there is still in possession of the family an old stone house built in 1610, which has been occupied by its members since that time.

Reared and educated in the land of his nativity, Joseph West subsequently decided to try his fortunes in the new world and accordingly, on the 4th of July, 1866, set sail from Liverpool for the United States, securing passage on the steamer City of Edinburg. Land- ing in New York on the 19th of that month, he soon afterward found work in the stone quarries of Connecticut just across the border line from New York. He carefully saved his earnings in the hope of some day establishing a home of his own and on the 19th day of April. 1869, in New York, he was united in marriage to Miss Kate Inch, a native of County Derry. Ireland. On the date of their marriage they started for the west, with Yankton county, South Dakota, as their destination, Mrs. West having a brother, Thomas Inch, living in this section. Near his home Mr. West preempted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, which he sold a year or two later for six hundred dollars, this sum being considered an exceptionally high price for that time. In November, 1872, Mr. West preempted his present acreage, located on section 14, Volin township, but as times were hard and money scarce he changed to a homestead claim, to which he eventually secured a deed. To this he has since added from time to time until he now owns five hundred and twenty acres conveniently located near Volin. His first home was a log cabin but this gave way to a comfortable frame honse, which is surrounded with substantial outbuildings, all having been crected by Mr. West. He has also planted trees and now has a grove of fifteen acres which has supplied him with fuel for the past ten years in addition to selling some timber.

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

In fact much of the lumber with which he erected his buildings was cut and sawed from his own timber. The land is so located that the drainage is sufficient for the cultivation of crops and his place is one of the finest farms in this section of the county. In establish- ing his home here, however, Mr. West has endured many hardships and had to overcome many obstacles. In 1873 and 1874 the grasshoppers almost entirely destroyed his crops and he has had periods of great trial in times of severe storms and blizzards to prevent the loss of stock, but, withal, he has gained success and has many pleasant memories of his early life in this section of the country, for the neighbors gave to each other needed assistance and in many ways helped to brighten what would otherwise have been dark days.

To Mr. and Mrs. West have been born three sons and one daughter, Mary, Ernest, Albert and Edwin. Albert makes his home in Albert Lea, Minnesota, where he follows his trade as a painter. The others are still under the parental roof and the sons manage the farm, while the father is now enjoying a well earned rest. The children have all been reared in Dakota and Mr. West gives to them credit for much of the material success that has come to the household. The family is an old and prominent one of Yankton county and fully merit the high regard and esteem in which they are uniformly held.

GUY W. CRAWFORD.

Guy W. Crawford, of Letcher, has been engaged in the grain business for twenty years. He was horn in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1864, a son of Henry A. and Sarah Crawford. The family removed to Iowa in 1864 and Guy W. Crawford, who acquired his preliminary education in the public schools, afterward spent two years as a student in the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames. After leaving school he went to South Dakota and has been a resident of Letcher since 1885. For twenty years he has been a grain buyer, conducting a growing and profitable business. He is thoroughly acquainted with every phase of the grain trade in this section of the country and has met with growing success in his undertakings.

In his political views Mr. Crawford is a republican, having supported the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. His interests and activity therein led ulti- mately to his election to the state legislature in 1912 and his reelection in 1914, and during the session of 1915 he was an active worker in the general assembly, taking part in many of the debates on the floor of the house and doing important service in committee rooms.

JOHN STEDRONSKY.

John Stedronsky, of Wagner, is a member of the Stedronsky Brothers Company, engaged . in the hardware and implement business both at Wagner and at Lake Andes. He is a representative of those progressive young business men who by their activity and enterprise are laying the foundation for South Dakota's substantial progress and prosperity. He was born at Lakeport, Yankton county, this state, May 4, 1872, his parents being John and Marie Stedronsky, who in the year 1868 left their native country, Bohemia, Austria, and located in Cleveland, Ohio. Later in the same year they came to Dakota territory and have since resided within its borders.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 1

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1262