History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 107

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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to Omaha, where he was for about three months employed in a men's furnishings store. He next obtained a position with the Bradstreet Commercial Agency and traveled in their interests for about a year. He then returned to Lead and entered the drug store belonging to his father and brother, which was conducted under the firm name of Ottmann & Sons. After about two years the firm started a branch store in Edgemont and Mr. Ottmann of this review assumed its management. Three years later he purchased the store, which he con- tinued to conduct until December, 1914. About a year previously, however, he had bought the Oxnard Hotel at Edgemont, which is operated upon the European plan and to the con- duct of which he now devotes his entire time. He understands thoroughly the needs of the traveling public and is always seeking to increase the comfort and convenience of his guests. The Oxnard Hotel is one of the best hostelries in the smaller towns of the state and receives a gratifying patronage.

Mr. Ottmann was married on the 26th of December, 1908, to Miss Blanch Gaughen, who was born in this state and is a daughter of R. T. Gaughen, a native of Ireland. For a number of years her father was engaged in the mercantile business but is now operating a large ranch near Nisland, South Dakota. He raises a great deal of stock annually and is one of the substantial residents of Lead, where he and his wife are living. Mr. and Mrs. Ottmann have a son, Arthur Rudolph, who was born on the 3d of March, 1911.

Mr. Ottmann is a democrat and is at present serving as assessor of Edgemont. discharg- ing his duties with strict impartiality. His religious faith is indicated by the fact that he is a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic church. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Columbus and the Elks. He is a worthy son of his father, who was one of the leading citizens of the Black Hills district, and the name of Ottmann is held in still higher esteem in Edgemont and its vicinity because of the life and accomplishments of Arthur F. Ottmann.

GEORGE LARSON.

George Larson, a substantial agriculturist now residing at 512 West 20th Street, Sioux Falls, owns three hundred and twenty acres of the finest farm land in Minnehaha county, on section 22, Split Rock township, where he made his home continuously for forty- three years. His birth occurred in Sweden on the 13th of May, 1860, his parents being Andrew S. and Maga Lisa (Anderson) Larson. The mother died when our subject was but three years of age, and the father married a second time. In 1870 he emigrated to the United States and after spending one year in Winneshiek county, Iowa, came to South Dakota, in June, 1871. In this state he took up a preemption where his son George now resides, but before proving up changed it to a homestead. Thereon he spent the remainder of his life, passing away on the 15th of November, 1891, after a residence of two decades in Minnehaha connty.

George Larson, who was ten years of age when he accompanied his father to the new world, attended the country schools for a time, the terms at that early day covering only three winter months. He was married when a young man of twenty-three and subsequently started out as an agriculturist on his own account, renting and operating his father's farm and also cultivating a place of his own comprising one hundred and sixty acres and adjoin- ing the home property, which he had purchased some time previously. At the present time he owns three hundred and twenty acres of the finest farm land in Minnehaha county and in connection with its cultivation makes a specialty of stock-raising, doing much to better the standard as a breeder of horses, cattle and hogs. .

On December 27, 1883, Mr. Larson was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Johnson, of Split Rock township, who was born in Sweden and emigrated to this country in 1881, settling in South Dakota. Nine children have been born to them but only three survive, as follows: William, who is an agriculturist of Split Rock township; and Albert and Larson, who are managing the home farm.

In politics Mr. Larson is a republican and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to public office. He held the office of township treasurer for nine years and has also served as school clerk and as road overseer for a number of years.

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His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Swedish Lutheran church, to which his wife and children also belong. He is well thought of by his neighbors, and being a man of thoroughly reliable principles, stands high in the estimation of all who know him.

JAMES T. SANDERS.

James T. Sanders, secretary and treasurer of the Sioux Falls Heating & Plumbing Com- pany, was born in Minnesota, July 30, 1869, a son of James and Mary (O'Brien) Sanders. The father, a farmer hy occupation, became one of the pioneer residents of Minnesota after emigrating from Ireland, his native land, to the new world. He was a veteran of the Civil war, having served with Company G, Eighth Minnesota Infantry, during the period of hostilities with the south. In 1885 he removed to MeCook county, Dakota territory, and remained thereafter a resident of the state until his death, which occurred in 1914. For three years he lived upon a farm but in 1888 removed to Sioux Falls. His widow survives.

After acquiring his education in the public schools James T. Sanders followed various occupations that would yield him a living and in 1896 joined his brother, E. M. Sanders, in opening a plumbing establishment. Through the succeeding three years James T. Sanders had charge of the office work, but at the end of that time the partnership was dissolved and he organized the Sioux Falls Heating & Plumbing Company, a stock company, of which he was elected secretary and treasurer, with J. A. Jacobson as president and J. W. Sanders, vice president. From the beginning they have enjoyed a liberal share of public patronage, their trade being now of substantial proportions. They have installed the heating and plumbing systems of some of the principal buildings in the city and elsewhere and their work has given uniform satisfaction.

James T. Sanders is a Catholic in religious faith, has taken the fourth degree of the Knights of Columbus and is a member of Marquette Council, No. 815. In politics he is a socialist and studies closely the questions and issues of the day as bearing upon all the problems which affect state and national welfare.

HON. K. O. TEIGEN.

Hon. K. O. Teigen, a member of the legislative assembly of 1915, ranked with the representatives of that body who proved their loyalty to the state's best interests by sturdy support of measures and movements looking to the welfare and upbuilding of the common- wealth. He is also one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Day county, where he has resided since 1901. He was horn in Norway, May 30, 1872, a son of Ole M. and Sunev (Tekene) Teigen. The public schools of his native country afforded him his educational privileges and in 1892, when he was twenty years of age, he left Norway for the new world, believing that he might enjoy better business opportunities on this side the Atlantic. Imme- diately after his arrival in America he began an effort to secure an English education by attendance at the public schools and later he pursned a course in Concordia College at Moor- head, Minnesota. He had landed at New York city on the 14th of April, 1892, and from the eastern metropolis made his way to Douglas county, Minnesota, where he remained for a year. He then went to Kindred, North Dakota, where he resided at intervals until 1901. In that year he removed to Day county, South Dakota, where he entered a claim to which he has since added by purchase until he now has a farm of five hundred and twenty acres, which is highly improved and cultivated. He devotes his land to diversified farming and stock- raising, conducted according to the most approved moderp scientific methods. The well tilled soil brings forth good crops and the farm work results in the attainment of a substantial annual income.

On the 21st of July, 1901, Mr. Teigen was united in marriage to Miss Amalia Sellevold, a daughter of Christian and Bertha (Sethern) Sellevold, of Day county, South Dakota. To them have been horn seven children, namely: Beatrice Sophia; Olaf Clarence, who is deceased; Chester Leonard; Alice Clara. Martin Lewis; Myrtle Bertina; and Oscar Clarence.

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Mr. Teigen and his family are members of the Lutheran church and are actively inter- ested in the moral as well as the material development of the community. Politically he is a republican and since becoming a naturalized American citizen has taken an active interest in political affairs. He has served in various local offices and therein discharged his duties with such ability and fidelity that he was called upon to serve the state in a legislative capacity, being elected a member of the general assembly in 1914. He was on duty through- out the session of 1915 and earned the well deserved reputation of being an intelligent and hard working legislator, taking an active part in furthering the business of the house. He demonstrated couclusively that his decisions were reached only after a thorough study of the subjects under discussion. His deliberations brought out the strong or weak points of any measure and his belief in a bill called forth his strongest advocacy thereof. He did important committee work as a member of the committees on school and public lands, highways and bridges and warehouses and grain. As a member of the second named he was able to do important work, for he had long and carefully studied and advocated the good roads movement. Mr. Teigen is one of the sturdy type of self-made, substantial men who have contributed to the upbuilding of South Dakota. When he arrived in America he had no assets except perhaps the most valuable one that he could have possessed-a determina- tion to succeed. Making wise nse of every opportunity and advantage that has come his way, he has progressed to a position of prominence in the community and state.

BURTIS T. GREEN, M. D.

Dr. Burtis T. Green, one of the foremost physicians and surgeons of eastern South Dakota, practicing in Brookings, was born in Clinton county, Iowa, April 6, 1867, a son of William H. and Margaret (Argo) Green, hoth of whom were natives of Ohio. They were married, however, in Iowa, to which state they had removed with their parents in childhood. William H. Green engaged in farming in Clinton county and subsequently removed to Lyon county, taking up his abode there about 1872. He is now living retired in Little Rock, lowa.

Dr. Burtis T. Green spent liis youthful days under the parental root and, having mastered the elementary branches of learning, continued his education in the Sibley (Ia.) high school and in the Iowa State College at Ames, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in the class of 1889. The following year he returned to that institution for post-graduate work. In 1887 he began teaching in the country schools and in 1891 he was engaged as a teacher in the Morningside College at Sioux City. In 1892-3 he was principal of the Normal School at Fort Dodge and was superintendent of the public schools of Sibley from 1894 until 1897, inclusive. Through the two suc- ceeding years he was superintendent of the public schools of Hampton, Iowa. His educa- tional work was largely along scientific lines. He specialized in the studies of physiology, anatomy, chemistry and biology and in the course of his work as a teacher he began reading medicine until ultimately he determined to devote his life to its practice. Accordingly, in the fall of 1899 he entered the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago and during the course of his studies in that institution he served as instructor in certain branches. He was graduated with the class of 1903 and then located for practice in Goldfield, Iowa, where he remained, however, for only a few months. In January, 1904, he came to Brook. ings, South Dakota, and in the intervening period of eleven years has built up an extensive practice. His ability is widely recognized not only by his patients but by the profession as well and he is spoken of in terms of high regard by fellow practitioners.

In 1893 Dr. Green was united in marriage to Miss Anna J. Gardner, of Storm Lake, Iowa, a daughter of the Rev. J. J. Gardner, a well known Methodist divine of that state Dr. and Mrs. Green have beeome parents of a daughter, Carol.

Dr. Green is a member of Brookings Lodge, No. 40, I. O. O. F., and also of the Brook- ings Commercial Club. His other affiliations are directly in the path of his profession. In addition to his private practice he is serving as United States pension examiner and in the summer of 1914 he took a clinical tour of Europe and was in London at the time of the outbreak of the war, having previously visited leading clinics on the continent.

DR. BURTIS T. GREEN

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He is a member of the Third District Medical Society, the Sioux Valley Medical Society, the South Dakota State Medical Society, is a fellow of the American Medical Association and a member of the Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America. He is constantly reaching out along the lines of advancement, following in those paths where scientific investigation has pointed out the way. His professional knowledge is comprehensive and exact and his opinions are largely accepted as authority not only by the laity but also by members of the profession in his section of the state.

HUGH KELLY.

Hugh Kelly, who resides in Running Water precinct. Bon Homme county, dates his resi- dence in Dakota from the 15th of May, 1877, covering a period of almost four decades. He filed on a preemption claim on section 8 and it is still his place of residence. Money was scarce in those days and as he did not have the cash to make the final payment he changed this to a homestead right which be proved up on in due time, securing the deed thereto in 1886.

Mr. Kelly is a native of Ireland, his birth having occurred in County Monaghan, near the town of Monaghan, on Easter Sunday of 1842. His father, Patrick Kelly, married a Miss Scallon. The mother died in 1846 and the father passed away in Nova Scotia in 1849, leaving Hugh Kelly an orphan when a lad of but seven years. He has brothers and sisters in Ireland but has seen none of them since the death of the father, for at that time the family hecame separated. He was reared by James Mansfield, of Nova Scotia, an old friend of his parents, to whom the father paid board for the boy while he lived. The Mansfield home was at Wolfstown, in the county of Wolf, sixty miles from Quebec. When fourteen years of age Hugh Kelly left Canada and went to Vermont, where he obtained work in the sawmill of Enos Woodward at Higgins' Woods. He remained with Mr. Woodward for seven years and then removed westward to Wisconsin. He worked at Grand Rapids, Wood county, and in Ripon, Wisconsin, and while in that city was married to Miss Anna Cassady, a daugh- ter of Patrick and Mary A. (Scallon) Cassady.

Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kelly removed to Franklin county, lowa, where he purchased a farm and lived for five years, after which he came to Dakota in 1877. The first year he broke the sod but planted no crops and thereby he escaped the scourge of grasshoppers. He made a living in the early days of his residence here by freighting from Yankton to Fort Randall and he was out in the blizzard of January 12, 1888, until eleven o'clock at night. He was down on the river cutting wood and tried to return with the team but could not make them go against the storm. He found a sheltered gulch in which he left them and on foot made his way to shelter, returning for his team the next day. One of his greatest disasters when times were the hardest came as the result of a prairie fire which burned his stable and his team. He had intended soon to go into the Elkhorn valley of Nebraska and work on the railroad which was being built there. By the time that he had secured. another team it was too late to secure railroad work. It was very hard in those days with no money and little credit to secure a team and farm work could not be carried on without one. George Meade bought a condemned mule at Fort Randall which he sold to Mr. Kelly on easy terms and an old horse was secured elsewhere, thus giving him a start again. As the years advanced the privations and hardships of pioncer life gave way before an advancing civilization and farming came to be a profitable undertaking, good crops being harvested and bringing a substantial income when placed on the market.

In 1895 Mr. Kelly was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on Christmas Eve of that year. They were the parents of six children, all of whom survive: Mary, the wife of Albert Stevens, a farmer of Mitchell, South Dakota, by whom she has one child; Elizabeth, the wife of George Torrance, of Burke, this state; Patrick Emmett, who is employed away from home; Anetta, the wife of George Thomas, of Redfield, South Dakota, by whom she has four children; Fred, who is living at Redfield; and Pearl, the wife of Frank Kirchman, of Stanley county, South Dakota, by whom she has two children.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church and Mr. Kelly gives his political allegiance to the democratic party. He is truly a self-made man, having been

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dependent entirely upon his own efforts from the age of fourteen years. He has worked per- sistently and energetically and whatever success he has achieved is the direct and merited reward of his industry, perseverance and determination.

GILBERT GEOFFREY COTTAM, M. D., F. A. C. S.

Dr. Gilbert Geoffrey Cottam, a prominent surgeon of Sioux Falls, was born in Manchester, England, August 2, 1873. He is a son of Rev. Henry and Eliza Mary (Warburton) Cottam, the former of whom held the degree of M. A. from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Dr. Gilbert G. Cottam acquired his early education in the public schools of Manchester, England, and in 1890 came to the United States, entering the medieal department of St. Louis University. After his graduation in 1893 he served as interne in the St. Louis City Hospital for one year and then located at Rock Rapids, Iowa, engaging in the general practice of his profession but centering his attention largely on surgery. In 1909 he removed to Sioux Falls and has since devoted his attention entirely to surgery. He possesses all the requisites for success in this field and has gained an enviable reputation, having performed many difficult operations most successfully and made a number of notable contributions to medical literature. Dr. Cottam has taken a prominent part in the work of various medical associations and his activities have been powerful factors in the advancement of medical science in his part of the state. In 1899 he was president of the Iowa State Association of Railway Surgeons and in 1901 held the same office in the Sioux Valley Medical Association. From 1905 to 1908 be was a member of the board of trustees of the lowa State Medical Society, is a life member of the lowa Clinical Surgical Society and is affiliated with the Western Surgical Association and the American Medical Association. In 1913 he was elected to fellowship in the American College of Surgeons and in 1914 was made president of the Sioux Falls District Medical Society.

On the 16th of June, 1896, at Sioux Falls, Dr. Cottam was united in marriage to Miss F. May Isham Ruddick, a daughter of Robert Louden Ruddick, and they have become the parents of a son, Geoffrey Isham Warburton, born April 21, 1897. Dr. Cottam belongs to the vestry of Calvary Episcopal Cathedral and is a member of the Country Club and the Dacotah and Elks Clubs. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and holds membership in the Knights Templar commandery and in the Shrine. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but his attention is centered chiefly upon his profession, in which he has made rapid and steady advancement, standing today among the foremost surgeons in the state.

CLARENCE I. HOUGEN.

Clarence 1. Hongen, owner and editor of the Wilmot Republican, was born May 24, 1885, in the town of Wilmot, in which he still makes his home. His father, L. S. Hougen, was horn in Norway in 1855 and at the age of sixteen years came to the United States with an older brother. He first went to Minnesota, where he was employed at farm work for about seven years. In 1879 he became a resident of Dakota territory, where he seenred a home- stead and proved up on it. His ability led to his selection for public office, his fellow citi- zens placing him in the position of county treasurer, in which connection he made a most creditable record. Upon his retirement from office he established a hardware business, which he conducted for some time, but is now eashier of the Farmers State Bank of Wilmot and is accounted one of the substantial, valued and prosperous citizens of the town. In addition to his banking interests he is the owner of a half seetion of land and is also interested with others in other landed possessions. He has been long recognized as an influeneing factor in public affairs and has always given his political allegiance to the republican party. In the early days of his residence in South Dakota he served as county commissioner and in addi- tion to the local offices which he has filled he has twice represented his district in the state senate, where he has given earnest and thoughtful consideration to all significant and vital questions which have come up for settlement, working untiringly to promote the best

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interests of the state. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Emma Leiquam, was born in Wisconsin and died in 1901.

Clarence I. Hougen is the second in order of birth in a family of nine children, of whom seven are yet living. He pursued his early education in the graded schools of Wilmot and for one year was a student at Brookings. He has also learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. Starting out in the business world, he was employed in various com- mercial establishments in the town and then, entering the newspaper field, devoted a year and a half to service for others, at the end of which time he purchased a paper, becoming proprietor of the Wilmot Republican in June, 1907. This has a circulation of nine hundred and in addition he does a good job printing business. His paper is liberally patronized by advertisers and he is winning well merited success.

In December, 1907, Mr. Hougen was married to Miss Elsie Kloster, a native of Wilmot and a daughter of John Kloster. one of the early farmers of Roberts county. They have one child, Mavis. Mrs. Hougen is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Hougen is well known in fraternal circles, belonging to the Masonic, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias lodges. In the last named order he has been a past chancellor of the local lodge and attended the grand lodge at Aberdeen as a delegate in 1915. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is unfaltering in his advocacy of its principles, but the major part of his time is devoted to newspaper publication, the secret of his success being found in his close application and enterprising spirit, for he studies modern methods of news- paper work and keeps in close touch therewith.

O. S. BASFORD.

O. S. Basford, who has been a resident of South Dakota nearly continuously for a period of thirty-five years, is at the present president of the Provident Insurance Company, of Bismarck, North Dakota. When he left to take his present position he resigned the office of secretary and manager of the Interstate Surety Company, of Redfield, South Dakota, in January, 1915, after having served that company from the date of his resignation as commissioner of insurance, on September 1, 1913. Since starting out in life on his own account he has made immediate and wise use of the opportunities which have come to him and thus has continuously advanced not only in a business way but in public connections until he was regarded as one of the political leaders and public-spirited citizens of South Dakota. New England numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred at Shelburne, Vermont. on the 29th of August, 1848, his parents being Samuel and Henrietta (Kingsbury) Basford. The ancestry is traced back to Wales, from which country the first representatives of the Basfords came in the beginning of the eighteenth century. These were four brothers, who made the long voyage across the Atlantic in a sailing ship arriving in New York. Samuel Basford, the father of O. S. Basford, was a ship carpenter, who, living for many years at Shelburne, Vermont, there passed away in 1878 at the age of sixty years and was laid to rest at that place. His wife survived him until she reached the age of seventy-nine and her grave was made in the cemetery at Crandon, South Dakota.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 107

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