History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 110

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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JAMES M. MCCOLLUM.

James M. McCollum, a well-to-do farmer of Bon Homme county, has resided in South Dakota since 1872 and has thoroughly identified himself with its interests. He was born at Coon Rapids. Carroll county, Iowa, in 1864, a son of John J. and Lovina (Riggs) MeCollum, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The father, a blacksmith by trade, was employed along the line of railway construction through Iowa, repairing plows and scrapers, shoeing horses and doing other work of a similar nature in the railroad camps. He went to Iowa when it was still a territory and lived for a time at Carroll and Coon Rapids, but in Sep- tember, 1872, emigrated with his family to Bon Homme county, South Dakota, the journey being made in covered wagons. He opened a blacksmith shop at Old Bon Homme and soon after arriving there also filed on a preemption claim ten miles west of Springfield, upon which he resided until his death. He set up a forge upon his farm and for many years worked at his trade. Upon first coming to Dakota territory the family lived in a log house, but a frame house was erected after a few years. The demise of Mr. McCollum oeeurred December 26, 1909, and his wife died in September, 1912, when eighty-eight years old. They were the parents of five sons and six daughters and nine of their children are living, as follows: Cornelia, the widow of Zachariah Hampton: Margaret, the widow of John Dawson; William, who is living in California; Charles, a farmer of Bon Homme county, who is serving as county commissioner; Melvina, the wife of Aquilla MeLaughlin, of Sioux Falls; Mary, the wife of J. P. Cooley, of Bon Homme county; James M., of this review; Stanley. of Tyndall; and Ida, the wife of George Kellogg, who is living upon the homestead in Han- cock precinet; Sarah, the wife of Egbert Hamstra, and John are dead.

James M. McCollum was eight years of age when he accompanied his parents to Dakota territory and was reared upon his father's farm west of Springfield. He gave his father the benefit of his labor until he was twenty-one years of age. From June. 1887, to June, 1888. he drove a stagecoach between Springfield and White Swan, making three trips per week, and he was on his route on the 12th of January, 1888, when the great blizzard envel- oped the state. He was ten miles from Choteau creek and drove that distance through the storm in which hundreds perished, many of them while going from the house to the barn or well. After staging a year he turned his attention to farming and has since followed that occupation. Following his marriage he purchased a farm near his father's homestead and for many years cultivated that place. From 1902 until 1909 he also ran an elevator at Springfield and in March, 1914, he sold his first farm and removed to his present farm in Springfield precinct. As an agriculturist he is energetic and progressive and is always seek- ing to increase the efficiency of his work and to secure the maximum results with the least expenditure of time and energy.

Mr. McCollum was married in Niobrara, Nebraska, October 19, 1892, to Miss Kate Delaney, and they have eight children : Amer, . Ivan, Kate, Clifford, Morris, Florence, Lawrence and Elizabeth.

Mr. McCollum is a democrat politically and fraternally is identified with the Springfield

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lodge and the Scotland chapter of the Masonic order and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Springfield. As he was but a child when he accompanied his parents to Dakota territory, practically his entire life has been spent in this state, and he has not only wit- nessed its great development, but has contributed thereto, winning in so doing not only material prosperity but also the respect of those with whom he is associated.

OLE HANSON.

Ole Hanson, one of the respected citizens and pioneer agriculturists of Buffalo township, Minnehaha connty, has resided on his present farm for the past forty years and in its oper- ation has won a gratifying and well merited measure of prosperity. His birth occurred in Norway on the 6th of June, 1850, his parents being Hans and Mary Hanson, both of whom are deceased. He acquired his education in his native land and in 1867, when a youth of seventeen, crossed the Atlantic to the new world, locating in Iowa, where he attended school for a short time. Subsequently he was employed as a farm hand and later cultivated a tract of land on shares in Iowa for eight years. On the expiration of that period, in 1875, he removed to Minnehaha county, South Dakota, and preempted a timber claim in Buffalo township. There he has resided continuously throughont the intervening years and in the conduct of his agricultural interests has met with well deserved success. He was one of the pioneer settlers of the locality and experienced all the hardships and privations of life in a sparsely populated and undeveloped district. There were winters of such severe weather that it was impossible to leave the house, and with summer came the devastating grass- hoppers. As the years have gone by, however, Mr. Hanson has successfully overcome the difficulties and obstacles that have confronted him and is now recognized as one of the pros- perous .and representative citizens of his community. He keeps twenty head of hogs and twenty-five head of cattle and uses the latest improved machinery in the cultivation of his fields.

In February, 1874, Mr. Hanson was united in marriage to Miss Melvina Johnson, her father being Hirbin Johnson of Iowa, now deceased, who was also one of the early settlers of this state. Our subject and his wife have the following children: Henry; Ella, who gave her hand in marriage to Henry Herman; Clara, who is the wife of Mervin Alexander; Vina, at home; Ida, the wife of Dr. Allen Gage, of Iowa; and Clarence, Albert and Dolly, all at home.

Mr. Hanson gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has ably served in the capacity of road overseer and in other township offices. In religious faith he is a Lutheran. He is a man of domestic tastes who finds his greatest happiness at his own fire- side, and his first interest is the comfort and welfare of his family. His life has been up- right and honorable in every relation and he has won an extensive circle of friends in the community which has been his home for four decades.

FRANK GREGORY HOMAN.

Frank Gregory Homan is a scientific agriculturist who has won notable success in the production of potatoes upon the old Homan homestead. He now makes his home on a farm six miles south of. Sioux Falls, in which city he was born on the 11th of September, 1885. His father, Nicholas Homan, was one of the prominent pioneers of this state. When a young man he came from Germany, his native country, to the new world and settled in South Dakota, near Sioux Falls, becoming one of the progressive and wealthy farmers of Lincoln county. He was born at Luxemburg, Germany, April 11, 1841, and had attained the psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten when he passed away in Sioux Falls in 1911.

Frank Gregory Homan was educated in the grammer and high schools of Sioux Falls and after completing his studies worked for a time in his brother's store in that city. On attaining his majority he took up a homestead in what was then Custer but is now O'Fallon

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county and still owns that property. Returning to Sioux Falls, he engaged in farming on rented land and afterward took charge of his father's farm, still operating the original homestead, but now lives south of the city as previously stated. He specializes in potato growing and has demonstrated that South Dakota lands are well adapted to successful potato culture, for his crop amounted to four thousand bushels in 1913. His success is in a great measure due to the fact that he has made a scientific study of the best methods of cultivating the soil and also of the value of fertilizers and his efforts therefore produce substantial results. His business affairs are most carefully managed and the years chronicle his growing success.

Mr. Homan holds membership in the Catholic church and also with the Knights of Columbus. In polities he supports the democratic party where national issues are involved but casts an independent local ballot, considering only the capability of the candidate and the needs of the position. He is yet comparatively a young man but has achieved success which many a one of twice his years might well envy. As time has gone on. he has come into a more correct knowledge of the agricultural opportunities and possibilities of his section of the state and he stands today among the foremost representatives of potato culture, gaining well merited success as the years go on.

CHARLES E. MCEACHRON.

Charles E. MeEachron, of Hill City, Pennington county, has won unusual success in merchandising and has one of the largest general stores in his part of the state. A native of Oswego county, New York, his birth occurred on the 15th of February, 1856, and his parents were Peter and Fanny (Colvert) MeEachron, natives of Washington county, New York, and of Cayuga county, that state, respectively. They were lifelong residents of the Empire state and the father was a successful farmer.

Charles E. MeEachron, who is the second in a family of four children, received his education in the district schools in the neighborhood of his boyhood home. He remained upon the homestead and gave his parents the benefit of his labor until he was twenty-four years of age and then started out upon his independent business career, removing to the Black Hills, this state. In 1880 he located at Custer, Custer county, where he was employed in a sawmill for a time, after which he went to the vicinity of Rockerville, where he was employed for about two years. He then returned to the state of New York and remained there for about a year, after which he again came west, settling at Newell, Iowa. After spending the winter there he went to Anaconda. Montana, where he was employed in a smelting works for about a year. He then again returned to the Empire state and conducted a hotel and also a livery barn in Fair Haven for a year. On disposing of those interests he returned to the Black Hills and located at Hermosa, Custer county, where he operated a hotel for a year. He then removed to Hill City and had charge of the headquarters of the Harney Peak Tin Company for a year. At the end of that time he built his present store building and engaged in the general mercantile business in connection with D. B. Ingram. That partnership was maintained with mutual pleasure and profit for seven or eight years, at the end of which time Mr. MeEachron became sole owner of the business, which he has since conducted. He carries a complete line of general merchandise, including hardware and men's furnishings, and is also a funeral director. His business occupies six thousand. two hundred and forty feet of floor space in the store building proper and also a wareroom twenty by forty feet in dimensions Mr. MeEachron carries one of the largest stoeks in Pennington county and his building, which has two stories and basement has a frontage of one hundred and four feet on the principal street of the city. The postoffice is situated in a part of the building not occupied by the store and the structure is one of the best business properties in Hill City. Mr. MeEachron also owns a hardware and implement busi- ness in Sundance, Wyoming, and is now erecting there a two-story building, fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions. He is president of the Hill City Bank and is interested finan- cially in the Keystone Town Site Company. His activities also extend to other fields. as he has invested in a number of mining properties in his vicinity, owns residence property in Hlll City and is engaged in the stock business as well.

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Mr. MeEachron was married in 1884 to Miss Alice Cartwright, who was born in Port Byron, New York, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Moses Cartwright, both likewise natives of that state. They continued to reside there until they retired from active life and then made their home with Mr. and Mrs. McEachron, both dying in Hill City. Mr. and Mrs. McEachron have two children: Doris, who attended the South Dakota State Normal School at Spearfish; and Newell E., who is in school.

Mr. MeEachron is a republican and is serving his third term as mayor of Hill City, his continuance in that office heing the best proof of his fitness for the place. For two years he was a member of the board of education, but then resigned. In building up his own business Mr. McEachron has also contributed to the commercial expansion of Hill City and he is justly held in high esteem because of his ability, sound judgment and enterprise.

WESLEY M. WALTERS.

Wesley M. Walters, serving as postmaster of Fairfax under appointment of President Wilson, was born in Ohio, near Marietta, on the 20th of July, 1869, a son of Alfred and Drusilla Walters, the former a farmer by occupation. The son attended the public schools and after his education was completed continued to assist his father in the work of the home farm until he reached the age of nineteen years. He afterward taught school through three winter terms and for fifteen years worked in a drug store, becoming a registered pharmacist of West Virginia. In 1900 he turned his attention to newspaper publication in that state and was thus occupied until 1906, when he arrived in South Dakota, making his way to Fairfax. For two years he was associated with Judge Starcher in a bank and later was in the courthouse as deputy auditor and deputy treasurer for two years. When in 1910 the office of county treasurer was left vacant by the death of the incumbent Mr. Walters was chosen to serve out the term and continued in the treasurer's office in the capacity of deputy for two years longer. In 1913 he was appointed postmaster by President Wilson for a term of four years and is now serving in that capacity. He is ever prompt, accurate and faithful in the discharge of his duties and is making a creditable official record.

On the 25th of October, 1891, Mr. Walters was married to Miss Emma McCoy, a daughter of Joseph McCoy, who died in March, 1915, in West Virginia, in his one hundredth year. Mr. and Mrs. Walters are the parents of the following children: Edwin, who married Miss Carrie Schultz and is in the postal service as mail carrier at Fairfax; Marcel M., who passed away when four and a half years old; Mabel; Emma; Virginia L .; George B .; Ethel McCoy; and Dorothy. The eldest daughter is now acting as assistant postmaster.

In religious faith the family are Protestants, while in political belief Mr. Walters is a democrat, as is indicated by his recent appointment to office. He has served as town clerk and while in West Virginia filled the position of mayor of Ripley. In masonry he holds membership with the blue, lodge and the chapter at Bonesteel, being past high priest of the latter, and he has the degree of Knight Templar, belonging to the commandery at Chamber- lain. He is also a member of the Woodmen and of the Knights of Pythias. Those who know him esteem him highly and he has gained a large circle of warm friends during his residence in Gregory county.

MARTIN T. LEE.

Martin T. Lee. one of the foremost citizens and prosperous agricultorists of Split Rock township, residing on section 2, is the owner of four hundred and forty acres of valuable land in Split Rock and Brandon townships. His birth occurred in Christiania, Norway, on the 16th of January, 1861, his parents being Thoston and Anna (Okre) Lee, who emigrated to the United States in 1867 and took up their abode at Waterville, Iowa. The father, a blacksmith by trade, there conducted a shop for three years. In the spring of 1870 he came to South Dakota, crossing the plains with three yoke of cattle. Arne Lee, brother of our subject, had come to this state in the previous year and April 4, 1869, had homesteaded the

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quarter section on which Martin T. Lee now lives. He also homesteaded the northeast quarter of section 2 for his father, who, however, located on the quarter where his son Martin now makes his home, and Arne subsequently took up his ahode near Harrisburg, in Lincoln county. Thoston Lee resided upon the old homestead until his death in 1896, when he had attained the age of more than eighty years. The wife and mother died some years later. During the first four years that the family resided in this state they lived in a dugout in the side of a bank and later they lived in a log house. It was twenty-two miles to their nearest neighbor on the east. The closest town at which they could obtain flour and other necessities was Sioux City and it required three weeks to make the trip there and back. Indians were numerous and in all respects the conditions encountered were those of the frontier.

Martin T. Lee, a little lad of six years when he accompanied his father and mother on their emigration to this country, was reared under the parental roof and acquired a limited education in the pioneer schools of this state, there being no institutions of learning here until four years after the family's arrival. When fifteen or sixteen years of age he took charge of the home farm, as his father never adapted himself to the work of the fields but conducted a blacksmith shop on the place for some years. Eventually hie acquired title to the property and as the years have passed he has from time to time augmented his landed holdings until they now embrace four hundred and forty acres in Split Rock and Brandon townships. His agricultural interests are capably conducted and yield him a most gratifying annual income. He is likewise a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of Brandon.

In 1895 Mr. Lee was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Lomen, her father being Peter Lomen, one of the pioneer settlers of Lincoln county, South Dakota, who in 1870 made the journey to this state on foot from Decorah, Iowa, where he had spent about two years fol- lowing his emigration from Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have six children, namely: Peter Telmar, Harold Clifton, Elvin Alexander, Claudina Melvina, Viola Harriett and Gladys Irene.

Mr. Lee is a republican in politics and made a creditable record during about ten years' service as a member of the town board. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church, of which he serves as treasurer and to which his wife also belongs. The period of his residence in Minnehaha county covers forty-five years and his memory therefore forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. The circle of his acquaintance is a wide one and his friends are many.

SAMUEL FANTLE.

Business enterprise in Sioux Falls finds an exponent in Samuel Fantle, a merchant who is a partner in the firm of Fantle Brothers and who, conducting his interests according to the most modern and progressive ideas of commercialism, is meeting with success. He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 12, 1865, his parents being Charles and Regina (Gregor) Fantle. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native city, passing through consecutive grades until he was graduated from the high school, and was thus well equipped for the responsibilities and duties which have come in later life. He received his business training in his father's store and under his father's direction at Ann Arbor, remaining with the house after the removal of the business to St. Paul, Minnesota. In fact he continued to assist his father until the latter's retirement, after which the business was continued by the sons.

In 1900 Samuel Fantle came to Sioux Falls, where he joined his brother in the conduet and management of a store which the latter had founded in 1895. The partnership resulted in the utilization of the present firm name of Fantle Brothers. The business, hegun in 1895, was comparatively a modest one but has been steadily developed until it is probably the largest enterprise of its kind in the state. It has been necessary to constantly increase the stock in order to meet the growing demands of the trade, and the establishment shows all that is most attractive in goods of domestic and foreign manufacture. The store is splendidly appointed and attractive and pleasing in its arrangement, and the firm holds to the highest

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standards in the personnel of the house and in the treatment accorded patrons, courtesy and consideration being demanded of the salespeople at all times, while thoroughly reliable busi- ness methods constitute the underlying principle of the house. In addition to his large mer- cantile interests Samuel Fantle is identified largely with the city's financial activities as a stockholder and director in several local banks and he has large investments in land in Colo- rado and elsewhere.

On the Sth of July, 1912, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Fantle and Miss Helen Cohen, a native of Selma, Alabama, and they have one son, Samuel, Jr. Their city resi- dence, recently completed. is one of the finest in the state. It is beautifully and tastefully furnished, comfort being its primary feature with elegance simply as an accessory. Here the true spirit of hospitality reigns supreme and their home is the center of many a brilliant society function.

In politics Mr. Fantle maintains an independent comse, voting for men and measures rather than party. In Masonry he has attained high rank, having taken the thirty-second degree of the Consistory. He also has membership with the Elks and with the Dacotah and Minnehaha County Country Clubs. He is also a member of the Commercial Club and is in thorough sympathy with all its projects for the upbuilding of the city, the extension of its commercial relations and the upholding of its eivic standards. Mr. Fantle is a devotee of outdoor sports and enjoys all phases of life in the country or the woods. He is justly accounted one of the most energetic business men of Sioux Falls and his success is attributable in no small degree to the fact that he always continued in the line in which he embarked as a young tradesman, never dissipating his energies over a diversified field. He has ever followed constructive measures and to build up rather than to destroy has been his hroad policy. In the management of his affairs his has not been the command of the tyrant to go but the call of the leader to come, and his business at all times balances up with the prin- ciples of truth and honor.

JOHN F. D. MUNDT.

The name of John F. D. Mundt is well known in business and official circles of Sioux Falls, where for many years his influence has been a tangible force for good in the com- munity and where he is serving in a capable and discriminating manner as city commissioner of waterworks and sewerage. His business affairs are capably and carefully conducted and have brought him a success which places him among the substantial and representative men of the city. He was born in Hjorring, Denmark. August 16, 1853, and is a son of August F. and Christina (Bendt) Mundt. the former a native of Germany. The parents came to America in 1862 and settled first in Meriden, Connecticut, whence one year afterward they moved to Brownsville, Minnesota. In 1880 they took up their residence in Sioux Falls and later in Hartford, South Dakota. The father died in 1895, at the age of seventy-eight, and the mother in the following year.

John F. D. Mundt acquired his early education in the public schools of Brownsville, Minnesota, and later attended business college at La Crosse, Wisconsin. In 1878 he located in Sioux Falls and with his brother-in-law, Frank Kunerth. as partner established a general store there, which they conducted successfully until 1880 when Mr. Mundt disposed of his interest to his partner. He then removed with his parents to Hartford, South Dakota, and there engaged in the general merchandise business and later added grain and live stock, retaining his connection with those lines until 1899. He then disposed of his interests there and returned to Sioux Falls, where he has now important commercial and financial relations. He is a director in the Security National Bank of Sioux Falls.

Mr. Mundt has been twice married. In 1877 he wedded Miss Louisa Glucks, who died leaving two children, Charles F. and Herman D. Mr. Mundt's second wife was in her maidenhood Miss Fannie B. Oaks, and they have become the parents of seven children: John W .; Irene C., who married Roy Donahoe, of Sioux Falls; Fred A .; Rosalie A .; Fannie Lnella; Thelma L .; and Theodore Roosevelt.

Mr. Mundt is a member of the Lutheran church. He belongs to the Elks Club. is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and holds membership in the Independent Order

JOHN F. D. MUNDT

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 110

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