History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 102

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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In polities Mr. Olsen is a democrat. He made a commendable record as chairman of the town board, in which capacity he served for one term, and also aeted as constable of his township for many years, while for fifteen years he served as a member of the school board. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, belonging to Unity Lodge. A. F. & A. M., of Sioux Falls; Cyrene Commandery, K. T., of Sioux Falls; the Consistory, A. & A. S. R., of Sioux Falls: and El Riad Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S. He is likewise a member of Sioux Falls Lodge, No. 262, B. P. O. E. Mr. Olsen is highly esteemed by all who know him and has made many friends since coming to this state. He combines the good qualities of the Swedish race with the aggressiveness and enterprise that seem peculiar to this country.

ROBERT S. JAMISON.

Robert S. Jamison is heavily interested financially in a number of important cor- porate concerns of Deadwood and the surrounding country and his time is taken up by the care of his interests and the executive control of some of the corporations. He is president of the Dakota Mining & Milling Company, of the Peoples Gas Company and of the Black Hills Trust & Savings Bank and his ability to secure the cooperation of the officials under him and to decide wisely far-reaching questions of policy is a determining factor in the growth and prosperity of the concerns of which he is the head. He was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on the 3d of May, 1870, a son of Robert S. and Caroline (Wible) Jamison, both natives of that locality. The family is of Scotch deseent and was first represented in America about 1730. The father was a pioneer coal operator and very prominent in mining circles in the early days. He passed away in 1902 at Redlands, California, and was survived by his widow until 1905.

Robert S. Jamison was the seventh in order of birth in a family of ten children, seven brothers of whom survive. He received his early education in Greensburg, Pennsyl- vania, and subsequently was a member of the class of 1892 of Princeton University, taking a special course in civil engineering. He followed that profession for a number of years in Greensburg, being employed by the coal operators there. He worked in connection with the firm of Jamison & Fogg, civil engineers, and gained much valuable experience in his profession. In 1895 he went to the Pacific coast, locating in Seattle, Washington, where he was engineer for a mining company, but in the spring of 1898 he removed to Deadwood

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and became interested in mines there. He was identified with the American Xpress on Sheep Tail Gulch, out of which grew the Imperial Mining Company, and his work as general manager of that concern gave full scope to his developing powers of administra- tion. His marked ability as an executive has been recognized, as he is now president of the Dakota Mining & Milling Company in the Bald mountain district, president of the Peoples Gas Company, which supplies light to Lead and Deadwood, and president of the Black Hills Trust & Savings Bank of Deadwood. He is the chief stockholder in the Peoples Gas Company and was one of the organizers of the bank mentioned. The responsi- bilities devolving upon him as head of these concerns and the care of his vested interests demand practically all of his time and attention. He attributes his success to his power of concentration, his definiteness of purpose and the energy and persistency with which he has worked toward the desired goal.

On the Sth of December, 1904, Mr. Jamison was united in marriage in Denver, Colorado. to Miss Emma Patrick, a native of Austin, Texas. They have an adopted daughter. Mr. Jamison is a republican but has confined his political activity to the exercise of his right of suffrage. Fraternally he is a member of Lodge No. 508, B. P. O. E., of Deadwood, and he also belongs to the Deadwood Business Men's Club, being heartily in sympathy with its efforts to promote the commercial expansion of the city. The industrial and financial life of Deadwood and the section of which it is the center has felt the impress of Mr. Jamison's personality and his influence has always made for steady and normal growth.

FREDERICK WILLIAM SCHWENK.

The volume of business now controlled by the Schwenk-Barth Brewing Company makes it one of the leading commercial enterprises of Yankton, and. at its head stands Frederick William Schwenk, one of its founders and promoters-a man who has never feared that laborious attention to detail so necessary to the successful management of an important and growing industry. He was born in Dackenheim, Rheinpfalz, Germany, October 19, 1871. His father, Kasper Schwenk, was a native of the same locality and there owned extensive vineyards. He married Emma Hergetrath, who was born in Bein- desheim, in the Rheinpfalz. In the year 1853 the father, then a lad of fifteen years, came to the new world, settling first at Cleveland, Ohio, but in 1858 he returned to Germany and on account of the death of his father he remained at home for a number of years. It was during that period that he was married and in 1882 he returned to America, settling on a farm near Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained to the time of his death, which occurred in July, 1891. For a brief period he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1890. In their family were eleven children, two of whom died in infancy in Germany. Of the living eight were born in the fatherland and one in the United States.

Frederick William Schwenk, who was the sixth in order of birth, was about eleven years of age when he came to the United States with his parents. He had previously attended the common schools of his native country and he afterward continued his educa- tion in the district schools of Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Also through the period of his boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the work of the home farm until sixteen years of age, when he left home and went to Cleveland, where he was apprenticed to the car- penter's trade and also took up the study of architecture at a night school and further studied under various architects of that city. In 1890 he went to Chicago, being sent there by the Standard Oil Company to assist in the construction of their Chicago plant. In 1891 he went to Harvey, Illinois, where he aided in the erection of several buildings. In the same year he joined George H. Fuller, now at the head of the Fuller construction Company, which is the largest company of the kind in the United States, in erecting some buildings at Chicago Heights, Mr. Schwenk acting as foreman for Mr. Fuller for more than a year. He next secured employment with the Western Ice Machine Company, becoming their erecting engineer and installing many plants around Chicago, remaining in the employ of that company until April, 1893, when he returned to Cleveland, where for three years he was engaged in contracting and building. He met with substantial success in that work, in which he continued until 1896, when he became construction

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engineer for the Phoenix Brewing Company at Cleveland, having charge of all of their buildings and similar work for five years, or until the Cleveland breweries were con- solidated under the name of the Cleveland-Sandusky Breweries. In 1901 he was made engineer of the latter, having entire charge of all buildings, etc., in all of their seventeen plants and branches.

In October, 1901, in connection with Martin Barth, Mr. Schwenk purchased the plant of the Montz Brewing Company of Yankton, South Dakota, a very small brewery and in a mnch run down condition. They made necessary repairs, put their plant in operation and incorporated the business in 1903 under the name of the Schwenk-Barth Brewing Company, with Mr. Barth as vice president and brewmaster. He continued active in the business until 1907, when he sold out. In 1904 the firm made plans and began the erection of a modern brewing plant. They erected an entire new plant and equipped it with the most modern and thoroughly improved machinery in the west. This plant is complete and up-to-date in every detail, having splendid refrigeration and every facility to advance the business. The capacity is one hundred and forty barrels per day and the company now enjoys an extensive patronage, cach year marking an increase in their business over the preceding year. They manufacture the famous Rosebud bottled beer and are now well established in trade throughout South Dakota. This concern represents an invest- ment of a half million dollars and employs thirty-five men in their Yankton plant. Mr. Schwenk is the president and general manager of the company and devotes his entire attention to the control and development of the business.

On the 17th of October, 1893, Mr. Schwenk was united in marriage to Miss Anna K. Flick, a danghter of Jacob Flick, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Their children are: William Frederick, who was born in 1904 and is now attending school; and Edward William, born in 1910.

Mr. Schwenk has never been active politically, but through his ballot gives earnest support to the democratic party. He belongs to Concordia Lodge, No. 345, F. & A. M .; Helman Chapter, No. 166, R. A. M .; and Forest City Commandery, No. 40, K. T., at Cleveland, Ohio; and Omega Council, No. 2, R. & S. M., of Salem, South Dakota. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Oriental Consistory, No. 3, S. P. R. S., at Yankton, and he has crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of El Riad Temple at Sioux Falls. He likewise has membership in the Elks Lodge, No. 994; and the Eagles Aerie, No. 1486, at Yankton. Motoring is his principal source of recreation and he is an expert with his car. He has had a notable career, inasmuch as he left home when a youth of sixteen years with a capital of twenty- five cents. Steadily and persistently he has worked his way upward until he is today recognized as a man of prominence in manufacturing and commercial circles of South Dakota. Ambition, diligence and honesty and a wide-awake persistency of purpose have been the causes of his success, winning for him the proud American title of "a self- made man."

ESTEN E. CHRISTENSEN.

Esten E. Christensen is a native son of Minnehaha county who has been so impressed with the opportunities offered by the county that he has continued to make it his home. He is a successful agriculturist and is also connected with the commercial circles as manager of the Crooks Lumber Company. He was born in Benton township, Minnehaha county, July 17, 1876, a son of Chris and Ingeborg (Estenson) Christensen, the former a native of Denmark and the latter of Norway. Both parents came to the United States in 1869 and located in Michigan, where they were married. The father worked in the Calumet copper mines for two years but not long after his marriage removed to South Dakota with his wife, arriving in Minnehaha county on the 22d of August, 1871. He immediately filed a preemption claim for eighty acres of land in the Sioux river bottoms in Mapleton township and six months later he held the deed to the place. He then filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, constituting the southeast quarter of section 1, Benton township, to which he removed. At about the same time he purchased

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a quarter section adjoining the homestead. He soon sold his preemption, but subse- quently purchased a quarter seetion in Mapleton township and a quarter section in Hamlin county, South Dakota, the cultivation of which he directed until about nine years ago, when he gave the greater portion of his land to his seven children. He is still living but has returned to his native land, the past nine years having been spent in Denmark. His wife passed away in 1898.

Esten E. Christensen was reared at home and received the advantages of parental instruction and care. His education was acquired in the common schools of the neighbor- hood and in the Sioux Falls Business College. Following his marriage, which occurred in 1898, he began farming for himself, taking charge of the operation of the home farm of three hundred and twenty acres. After renting it for seven years he became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of the homestead, as his father at that time gave most of his land to his children and as the subject of this review purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters in the said quarter section. He has manifested his faith in the agricultural future of South Dakota by purchasing other land, being now the owner of three hundred and twenty-two aeres in Brookings county which is as fine land as any in the state. In the fall of 1905 he was made manager of the Farmers Elevator Company and also of the Farmers Lumber Company at Crooks, having the direction of the two business enterprises for a short time. He continued in the management of the elevator company until August 9, 1908, when he resigned that position, and he has since devoted his entire time to the affairs of the Crooks Lumber Company, of which he is manager. He has proved an able executive, his knowledge of business procedure and his sound judgment enabling him to wisely direct the business. He is a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of hoth the New Hope Grain Company and the Crooks Lumber Company and is ranked among the financiers of the county.

On the 11th of December, 1898, Mr. Christensen married Miss Gertrude Nelson, of Mapleton township, Minnehaha county, and to their union have been born two children: Inez Mabel and Clara Ovidia. Th parents are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church, in whose work they are very much interested. They are also members of the Modern Brotherhood of America, the father being conductor of the lodge. He is independent in politics, his sympathies, however, tending toward the republican party. He has no aspiration for official preferment, as his business interests demand his entire attention. His many friends hold him in high esteem because of his ability, his sterling character and his agreeable personality.

BERGER LARSON.

Berger Larson, a progressive and prosperous agriculturist of Benton township, Minne- haha county, is the owner of a highly improved and valuable farm comprising two hundred and sixty acres. His birth occurred in Sweden on the 13th of May, 1868, his parents being Lars and Annie Nelson. The father, who followed farming throughout his active business career, has passed away, but the mother still survives.

In the acquirement of an education Berger Larson attended the public schools of his native land and subsequently assisted his father in the work of the home farm until he had attained his majority. In 1889, desiring to test the truth of the favorable reports which had reached him concerning the advantages of the new world, he erossed the Atlantic to the United States and made his way to Wisconsin, whence he later came to South Dakota. In this state he was employed as a farm hand for seven years and on the expiration of that period had accumulated sufficient capital to purchase land of his own, coming into possession of his present place of two hundred and sixty acres in Benton township, Minnehaha county. He has equipped the property with all modern improvements, has installed a lighting plant throughout and utilizes the latest farm machinery in the cultivation of the fields. In con- nection with the production of cereals he also devotes considerable attention to stock, feed- ing forty-five head of cattle, fourteen head of horses and one hundred head of hogs. He is likewise a stockholder in the Crooks Lumber Company. From comparatively humble begin- nings he has worked his way steadily upward in the business world until he is now numbered

MR. AND MRS. BERGER LARSON

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among the substantial and representative agriculturists of his community, owning an excel- lent farm and attractive home.

On the 21st of October, 1902, Mr. Larson was united in marriage to Mrs. Matilda John- son, a daughter of Samuel and Nettie Johnson of Benton township. She first married August Johnson, who died in Benton township in 1902. By that union she had six children : Clayth, a farmer of Benton township; David, who is also engaged in farming; May, the wife of Carl Holmberg, of Benton township; and Helma, Roderick and Max, all at home. Mr. and Mrs. Larson now have two children: Mildred, who is attending school; and Fern.

Mr. Larson gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has served in the capacity of school director. In religious faith he is a Lutheran, while fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. His life has been active, useful and upright and his many excellent qualities of mind and character have gained him a wide circle of friends.

HIRAM CAMPBELL.

The demise of Hiram Campbell occurred at Aberdeen on the 14th of December, 1914. From 1887 to 1910, when he retired, be was prominently connected with business interests of Aberdeen as the founder of a first class grocery and he was therefore numbered among the men who had been active in shaping the course of business development in the city. He was, moreover, an honored veteran of the Civil war. Mr. Campbell was born in New York, June 23, 1833, and was a son of William and Betsey (Mudge) Campbell, the former a native of New York and the latter of England, both of Scotch descent. The family moved to Ohio in 1834 and in 1841 to Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where the father died.

After completing a public-school education Hiram Campbell removed to Monroe county, Wisconsin, where for a number of years he engaged in farming. From that locality he enlisted for service in the Civil war in 1864, joining Company I, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and serving as a private. until the close of hostilities. He removed to Aberdeen in 1887 and remained an honored and respected resident of the city from that time until his death. On the 3d of July, in the year of his arrival here, he opened a grocery store and this he conducted for twenty-three years thereafter, gaining a large and important patronage. In 1910 he sold his business to his son and retired from active life.

In 1854 Mr. Campbell married Miss Emeline L. Wyatt, a native of Ohio, who died in 1886, leaving six children: Frank E., an attorney at Groton, South Dakota; Judge A. W., of Aberdeen; Carrie M., who married S. C. Daniels, of Montana; Jessie D., the wife of C. N. Harris, an attorney in Aberdeen; F. H., a railroad conductor residing in Minne- sota; and E. V., who has charge of the grocery business so long conducted by his father. Mr. Campbell was a member of the Christian church and gave his political allegiance to the republican party. He joined the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks in 1912 and was long affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. On the 14th of December, 1914, when he passed away, an active, busy and useful career was brought to a close.

HOLLACE LINCOLN HOPKINS.

Hollace Lincoln Hopkins, owner of the Security Bank at Clark, has been identified with financial interests in the state since 1888. He was born in Orion township, Olmsted county, Minnesota, January 3, 1864, and comes of English ancestry, being only three generations removed from England in the paternal line. His parents are George' Edwin and Caroline (Cudney) Hopkins, aged respectively seventy-eight and seventy-four years.

In the country schools of his native county Hollace L. Hopkins began his education, which he continued in the village school of Estellinc, South Dakota, in the high school of Brookings and in the State College at Brookings, but he did not graduate therefrom. In his early manhood he became connected with newspaper publication and in May, 1888,

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established the Independent at Henry, which he published for about twelve years. He then turned his attention to the real-estate, farm loans and banking business, conducting activities along those lines at Henry, at Watertown, at Brookings and at Clark. He is now owner of the Security Bank at Clark, to which he gives the major part of his atten- tion. He also has extensive holdings of farm lands. He conducts the bank along safe, conservative lines, carrying on a general banking business, and the thorough reliability of his methods is one of the strong elements in the growing success of this institution.

On the 2d of July, 1889, at Chatfield, Minnesota, Mr. Hopkins was united in marriage to Miss Eucie Plank, by whom he had four children, as follows: Leah J., who is twenty years of age; Caroline, a maiden of thirteen; Glenn Hollace, who passed away at the age of fifteen years; and Gail, who died when a youth of thirteen.

Mr. Hopkins has never had military experience, although he received military train- ing while attending the State College at Brookings. In politics he has always been an earnest republican, has frequently been a delegate to the state conventions of his party and on several occasions has served as secretary. He was also secretary of the famous prohibition convention at Huron, South Dakota in 1889. In 1896 he received appointment to the office of postmaster at Henry and filled that position for eight years or until 1904. He was also chief clerk of the house of representatives at Pierre in 1895, and in every possible way he promotes the legitimate success of his party because of his firm belief in its principles. A Mason of high rank, he is a past master of the lodge, a high priest of the chapter, a grand high priest of the grand chapter, a past commander of the Knight Templar commandery and is also a thirty-second degree Mason of the Scottish Rite and a member of the Mystic Shrine. His religious belief is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and to its teachings he is consistently loyal. In a word, he is interested in the material, political, social and moral progress of the community in which he lives and his aid and influence are always on the side of right and advancement.

HENRY . W. HAHN.

Prominent among the forcefnl, resourceful and successful business men of the south- eastern section of the state is Henry W. Hahn, president of the Farmers Bank of Hnm- boldt. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 24th of May, 1870, and is a son of Ferdinand and Amelia (Hening) Hahn, both of whom were natives of Prussia, Germany, where they were reared and married. Soon afterward they crossed the Atlantic to the United States and made their way into the interior of the country, settling at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There the father worked at the trade of carpenter and cabinetmaker, living in that vicinity until 1878, when he removed with his family to South Dakota. He then took up his abode at Sioux Falls and the same year filed on a homestead in Minnehaha county two miles south of Humboldt. Upon that place he built a dwelling and there located his family and while his sons looked after the farm he continued to work at his trade in Sioux Falls for about ten years, making occasional visits to his farm. Eventually he located permanently upon his claim. concentrating his energies upon its further develop- ment and improvement and bringing it to a high state of cultivation. There he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in 1896. About five years after his death his widow removed to Humboldt, where she has since made her home.

Henry W. Hahn was but a young lad when the family came to South Dakota and npon the home farm he spent his youthful days. He acquired his education in the public schools of Sioux Falls to the time when he entered the Nebraska State Normal College at Lincoln, there pursuing the teacher's course, which he completed by gradnation in the elass of 1891. He had been teaching, however, for about three years prior to his gradna- tion and he continued actively in that profession until 1897. He then engaged in merchan- dising in Humboldt in partnership with H. N. Duncan, forming the firm of Hahn & Duncan. They made a very modest start, having a small store room twenty-two by forty feet. They met with success from the beginning, however, and from time to time kept adding to their space until they occupied a building fifty by one hundred feet, handling a general line of merchandise, including dry goods, hardware, implements and furniture. On the

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5th of November, 1913, the business was destroyed by fire, which swept away the entire block and extended for a half block across the street. The firm immediately began plans for rebuilding on a larger scale and upon the old site are now erecting a modern two- story brick structure, having a frontage of one hundred and five feet and a depth of eighty feet. This will accommodate four complete stores-general merchandise, hardware and furniture, drugs and farm implements. They carry an extensive and well selected line, adequate to meet the varied requirements of the public, and their enterprising business methods, reliable dealing and progressive spirit have brought to them a constantly grow- ing patronage.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 102

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