History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 115

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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On the 28th of December, 1911, Mr. McGilvray was united in marriage to Miss Alma Torkelson, a native of Split Rock township, Minnehaha county, by whom he has two chil- dren, Howard and Lester. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, while fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to Valley Springs Lodge, No. 143. A young man of energy, enterprise and ambition, he has already won recognition among the substantial and representative citizens of Minnehaha county and South Dakota.

ELISHA GURDON LEDYARD,

For forty-five years Elisha Gurdon Ledyard has been a resident of Sioux Falls, being today one of its oldest and most honored pioneers. He was born at Markesan, Wisconsin, January 31, 1849, and accompanied his parents on their removal to Sparta, Wisconsin, when four years of age. There he acquired a common-school education and on the 8th of Octo- ber, 1870, when a young man of twenty-one years, he arrived in Sionx Falls, where he has since resided. During the early period of the city's development he was engaged in mer- chandising and he also served as city auditor for two terms, after which he resigned. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party and his strong indorse- ment of its principles has been one of the elements in its success in this part of the state.

In 1881 Mr. Ledyard was married to Miss Ida M. Hoyt, a daughter of M. U. Hoyt. of Yankton, the Hoyt family being very early settlers of Dakota territory. Mr. and Mrs. Ledyard have become the parents of seven children: Inez, a teacher of languages at Pop- lar Bluffs, Missouri; Gurdon H., a resident of Sioux Falls; Lewis W., who is manager of the Teck-Hughes gold mine at Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada; Harold G., an attorney of Sioux Falls; Elisha Walter, deputy city auditor and clerk of the municipal court; Ruth, who is attending Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio; and Edith, a high-school pupil in Sioux Falls. The family has always maintained a porminent position in social and business circles of Sioux Falls.

Mr. Ledyard has long been an interested witness of the work of development and im- provement here, his memory forming a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. He is today one of the oldest citizens in years of continuous connee- tion with Sioux Falls and the part which he has played in forming its history is no unim- portant one.

BRUCE McVAY.

Bruce MeVay, superintendent of schools at Scotland, South Dakota, when this sketch was prepared, was born January 23, 1865, in Decatur county, Iowa, whither his parents had removed from Ohio prior to the Civil war.

His grandfather, William B. MeVay, was born January 10, 1810, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where the family had resided since the time of the Revolution. A number of the ancestors of Mr. MeVay shared in the colonial conflict for independence from England.

When William B. MeVay was a lad of eight or ten years the family home was established in Ohio. John C. McVay, the father of the subject of this review, was born in Wayne town- ship, Knox county, Ohio, October 18, 1834. In 1856 the family removed to southern Illinois and soon after to Decatur county Iowa, locating near Garden Grove. Here he married Harriet Coffing, who was born in western Pennsylvania but grew to maturity in Knox county, Ohio, the new home of her parents.

ELISHA G. LEDYARD

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The couple made their home on a little farm near the husband's people until the Civil war summoned him to the assistance of the Union. John C. MeVay enlisted in Company A, Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and served under Sherman in the first campaign around Vicksburg in 1862. After the repulse of Sherman's assault on the bluffs, Mr. MeVay's regiment was sent with MeClernand's Division to capture Arkansas Post on the White river. Mr. McVay was severely wounded in the attack on this position and in consequence was dis- charged from the army in the spring of 1863.

As soon as he recovered sufficiently from his wound, he left his farm and took up the insurance business at Quincy, Illinois, and, in 1868, at Marshalltown, Iowa. In August, 1882 he came to Dakota territory and entered land near St. Lawrence, Hand county, and later the family home was established on the claim. The wife and mother passed away July 15, 1899, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Des Moines, Iowa, where a daughter, Mrs. G. B. Lincoln, resided. The father's home has been for recent years with another daughter at Butlerville, Indiana, and, though in his eighty-first year he still comes to Dakota each summer to look after his farms and business interests.

Bruce McVay was reared from early boyhood at Marshalltown, Iowa, and graduated from the high school of that city. On March 10, 1885, he arrived on his father's land in Hand county, Dakota territory, and began the joh of breaking sod and making improvements necessary for a successful farm. He and his young brother, Ward, took entire charge of the ranch until 1900, as the father was away on his insurance business in northern Illinois. More land was purchased and stocked until the farm finally consisted of three quarters, and about one thousand acres more held in lease. When a new station was established on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, in the eastern side of Hand county, the name, Vayland, was selected for it on account of the prominence of the neighboring MeVay ranch.

Bruce MeVay always had a strong interest in education and led the way to college from the farm, first attending the State University at Vermillion parts of two years and then, from time to time, Dakota Wesleyan at Mitchell, where he graduated in the class of 1899, with the A. B. degree. His sister Winifred also graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University and the others attended for different periods.

After graduating he put in one year on the ranch and then went to Mitchell to work on the Mitchell Republican for the proprietor, Mr. Dean. Two weeks after taking up this work a vacancy arose in the principalship of the Mitchell high school and he applied for and secured this position. After a year in the Mitchell schools, he was one year principal of schools at Blunt, South Dakota, 1901-2; and three years in a similar position at Highmore, 1902-5; then seven years at Woonsocket, 1905-12; and since 1912 superintendent at Scotland. He has also spent two summer vacations in university studies at Chicago University, 1905 and 1906; and has been a faculty member of the Huron College Summer School in the summer terms of 1907, 8, 9, 10, where he assisted in the instruction of young teachers under the management of President C. H. French.

Those who are close to Mr. McVay in his teaching work know that he has his heart completely in the welfare of his scholars, and that he spares no energy to prepare them for successful futures. He has been a regular attendant at the state teachers' meetings and seeks the good results of the experience of his co-laborers, rather than posing as a prophet of any theory. His gleanings are sifted over carefully and, when suited to his locality, are used with success in his own school. His ideal of growth in educational affairs is to use a prudent conservatism with an open-minded, progressive spirit. The record of his career is the best evidence of his sound judgment in school matters.

Mr. McVay was married in Aberdeen, South Dakota, October 12, 1902, to Lillian Hamil- ton MeDonough, who graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1900, the year follow- ing Mr. MeVay's graduation. She is a native of Minneapolis but the family home was soon established at Osceola, Towa, whence in 1887 she came to Aberdeen with her parents, James C. and Electa Hamilton MeDonough. She hecame the mother of two children, Margaret Electa, 1903, and Ruth Lillian, 1905. Mrs. MeVay contracted tuberculosis while caring for a relative and departed this life June 16, 1907, while on the way home from California, where she had spent the winter to obtain the benefit of the climate. She was laid to rest in the Woonsocket Cemetery, South Dakota. Her name is commemorated by the dedication of room 10 in Graham Hall of Dakota Wesleyan's buildings to her as an alumna of the college.

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On July 28, 1909, Mr. McVay married at Aberdeen, Ruth Jessie Barnes, who has borne two children, John Barnes, 1910, Katharine Harriet, 1912. Her father, Ira Barnes was born in an unorganized connty of Illinois, moved to Wisconsin while it was yet a territory and then journeyed to the Dakota country by wagon, reaching his claim in Turner county, six miles from Parker, September 28, 1872. The family came in the following November, traveling from Sioux City to Elk Point in the first passenger coach over the Sioux City- Yankton Railroad, which at that time extended only a few miles beyond Elk Point. This coach was attached to the work and freight train to accommodate the settlers who had gathered in Sioux City on their way to the Dakota country. Mr. Barnes' house was the second built in his township and the lumber was hauled from Elk Point, a distance of seventy- five miles. Turner county suffered the grasshopper plague of 1874, and the next year Mr. Barnes moved to Yankton and engaged in the carpenter trade till 1883 when he removed to Aberdeen and, with his brothers, established a Inmber business, from which he retired in 1898. While residing at Yankton his daughter Ruth Jessie was born May 16, 1875.

Mr. McVay and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics the father puts confidence in reputable men and sound measures rather than in party organizations, and he believes that the needs of the people should have first consideration. He supports good government from whatever source it comes and is an earnest student of public affairs. He has faith in the common sense of the people, that they will not make serious mistakes when they have a fair chance to judge great questions.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH GIESLER.

Captain Joseph Giesler is president of the Yankton Bridge & Ferry Company and as such is widely, favorably and prominently known in his section of the state. He was born in Peoria, Illinois, March 22, 1860. His father, George Giesler, a native of Germany, came with his parents from that country to the new world when eight years of age, the family home being established at Madison, Indiana, where he learned the cooper's trade. He after- ward went to New Orleans and while in that city wedded Elizabeth Halpin, a native of Dublin, Ireland. They lived in New Orleans for a brief period and then returned to the north, making the journey by boat to Peoria, Illinois, where Mr. Giesler conducted a cooper- age shop for sixteen years. He then sold out and made a trip to Omaha, to Sioux City and to Yankton. He then returned to Peoria with a most favorable impression of the north- west. Thinking the matter over, he decided to remove to the west and drove across the country to Marshalltown, Iowa, where the family took a train for Sionx City, while the father and his son Joseph drove through to Sioux City, where they joined those who had made the jonrney by rail. From that place they continued to Elk Point, South Dakota, arriving in November, 1868, and there Mr. Giesler established his home. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land three miles sontheast of Elk Point, to which place the family removed, the children being reared upon that farm. Only five acres of the claim had been broken when it came into his possession, but with characteristic energy he began its cultivation, transformed the raw prairie into productive fields and soon had a large part of the farm under the plow, but a succession of disasters followed, including the grass- hopper plague, the drouth, etc., and there were genuine hardships to be endured by the family. Notwithstanding all this, Mr. Giesler persevered in his attempt to make a farm in the northwest and his labors were ultimately rewarded with better conditions. He con- tinued npon the old homestead until his life's labors were ended in death in 1908, his widow surviving him for but six months. Their children are as follows: John, who is engaged in the cattle business in Montana; Joseph, of this review; Elizabeth, the wife of Rufus King, of New York; Julia, the wife of Charles Murphy, of Elk Point, South Dakota; Mary, the wife of John Curry, of Elk Point; George, a merchant of Leeds, Iowa; and Henry, who is residing on the old homestead at Elk Point.

The usnal experiences of the farm boy upon the frontier fell to the lot of Captain Joseph Giesler during his boyhood and youth. He had opportunity to attend school for only abont three months each year, after the work of the farm was over in the fall. When

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bis textbooks were put aside he concentrated his entire efforts upon the farm work and was thus engaged until 1879, when he decided to go to Sioux City, lowa, for the purpose of starting from that point upon a trip to Montana. He secured a position as deek hand on a steamboat and was thus employed for three or four months, after which he was pro- moted to the position of fireman and so continued for eighteen months. He next secured a second engineer's license and was employed in that way for four years, when he obtained a chief engineer's license. His first runs were made from Sioux City to Fort Benton and later he ran from Fort Benton, Montana. to Bismarck, North Dakota, during which period he was chief engineer. He took one boat from Fort Benton to St. Louis and from St. Louis went to Hickman, Kentucky. In 1887 he returned to Sioux City and was engineer on a ferry boat there for two years. In 1889 he entered the employ of the United States gov- ernment as an engineer on the steamer Josephine on the upper river around Fort Benton. He continued in that position until 1892, after which he returned to Sioux City and pur- chased a half interest in a ferry and pontoon business at that point, becoming a partner of Captain Talbot. The partnership continued for four years, or until the combination bridge was built across the Missouri. Mr. Giesler then sold his interest and entered the employ of the United States government again as engineer and pilot on the steamers Josephine, McPherson and Mandan and on the towboat Pauline, all snag boats. During this time the dikes were built opposite Yankton. Mr. Giesler remained in the employ of the government until 1900 and in April of that year removed to Yankton and bought out the ferry line that was then in operation across to the Nebraska side of the Missouri river. He organized a corporation, of which he became president, known as the Yankton Bridge & Ferry Company, which put in the pontoon bridge and also operates the ferry during the high water. He devotes his entire time and attention to this business, which enjoys a liberal and profitable patronage, and he has also made successful investments in farm property near Elk Point.

Mr. Giesler was married in 1894 to Miss Grace Myers, a native of Dakota county, Nebraska, and they have four sons: Frank, born in 1895; George, in 1897; Paul, in 1899; and Joseph, in 1903. Captain Giesler is a member of the Roman Catholic church and holds membership in Council No. 3615, Knights of Columbus. He votes with the republican party and was a member of the city council of South Sioux City, Nebraska, during his residence there. At local elections, however, he is non-partisan. He has a beautiful residence at No. 416 Maple street and his possessions are the result of an indefatigable energy that has manifested itself in his continuous business activity, bringing him at last to the plane of affluence.

JACOB RATHGEBER.

Jacob Rathgeber is now serving his fifth term as sheriff of Yankton county and has also been successfully engaged in business as a retail hardware merehant of Yankton for more than two decades. His birth occurred in Germany on the 6th of June, 1863, his parents being Christian and Barbara (Stier) Rathgeber, who emigrated to the United States in 1873 and established their home on a farm in Yankton county, Dakota territory. Here he was reared to manhood and in the acquirement of an education attended the country schools. When about twenty-two years of age he started out as an agriculturist on his own account and in the fall of 1885 was appointed deputy sheriff of Yankton county, serving in that position for about four and a half years. On the expiration of that period he went to Washington territory and embarked in the retail hardware business. He returned to Yank- ton, however, in December, 1891, and in the spring of the following year became associated with his brother-in-law, Bruno Strube, in the conduct of a retail hardware establishment which he has carried on continuously and successfully to the present time. An extensive and well merited patronage is accorded him and he enjoys an enviable reputation as a mer- chant of enterprise, integrity and ability. Since his return to this state Mr. Rathgeber has been five times elected to the position of sheriff of Yankton county-a fact which stands in incontrovertible evidence of his faithfulness and fitness. He enjoys the confidence and support of all law-abiding citizens and in the able discharge of his duties has promoted the peace and prosperity of the district.

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On the 8th of October, 1899, at Scotland, South Dakota, Mr. Rathgeber was united in marriage to Miss Emelia Neiland, her parents heing Henry and Henrietta Neiland of Yank- ton county, the former an agriculturist by occupation. She was born in Yankton, this state, and is of German parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Rathgeber have two children: Harold, who is thirteen years of age; and Odin, five years old. Mr. Rathgeber gives his political allegiance to the republican party and fraternally is identified with Phoenix Lodge, No. 37, K. P., and Yankton Lodge, No. 994, B. P. O. E. The period of his residence in this state covers about four decades and he is well entitled to representation among its substantial, esteemed and valned citizens.

ISAAC W. LEIGHTON, M. D.

Dr. Isaac W. Leighton is one of the most successful and highly respected physicians and surgeons of Scotland, South Dakota, his skill in treating disease gaining bim a large and lucrative practice. He was born July 16, 1885, in Wellman, Iowa, a son of Stephen T. and Jane (Wellman) Leighton. The latter was born in Indiana in 1853 and accompanied the family upon their removal to Washington county, Iowa. Her father was an early set- tler of that state and the town of Wellman was named in his honor.

Stephen T. Leighton was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1839, a son of Isaac and Permelia Leighton, who migrated to Iowa in 1843. He enlisted in Company F, Eleventh Iowa Volun- teer Infantry, September 24, 1861, and served throughout the Civil war, having veteranized after the Vicksburg campaign. His regiment was sent to Camp MeClellan near Davenport soon after his enlistment and then to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, where they were given instruction and drilled. but they were soon ordered into the interior of Missouri for active service. In the spring they embarked at St. Louis for the Tennessee river en route to Pitts- burg Landing, where they participated in the two days' battle of Shiloh. They subsequently took part in the siege of Vicksburg and in the various expeditions around Corinth, Iuka and Jackson, Mississippi, under Generals Sherman and Grant. After reenlisting Mr. Leigh- ton was given a furlough to visit his home and then rejoined his regiment then engaged in an active campaign in the vicinity of Atlanta, Georgia. Their first engagement was around Kenesaw Mountain, in which the enemy was soon dislodged. After a number of almost daily battles or skirmishes around the Georgia metropolis, the army started on the memorable march with Sherman to the sea. It was during an engagement near Lovejoy station that Mr. Leighton sustained a severe wound in the temple while in bivonac with a comrade. The ball was extracted in the hospital and as soon as possible he rejoined his regiment on the march to the sea. Reaching Savannah, the army, after replenishing the commisary, turned north to the Carolinas and were north of Raleigh when the news of Lee's surrender reached them and a few days later the sad tidings of Lincoln's death. After participating in the grand review at Washington-one of the greatest military pageants in history-the Eleventh Iowa returned home and were paid off and discharged on the 22d of July, 1865, at Camp MeClellan, where they had been sworn into the military service of the United States nearly four years before. Mr. Leighton made his home at Wellman the remainder of his life, with the exception of two years spent in South Dakota. In 1878 he brought bis family to this state and settled near Milltown, Hutchinson county, filing on a homestead claim under the soldier's warrant. He intended to make his home permanently in this state, but the ill- ness and subsequent death of his father called the family back to the old home in Wellman, Iowa. He and his wife never again left it, although he retained his land in South Dakota until the early '90s. He wrote the memoirs of his army career, a document that will be treasured by his children's children. He died on the 15th of April, 1914.

Dr. Leighton attended the schools of Wellman and subsequently took a three years' course at the State University of Iowa at Iowa City, and then, in the fall of 1907, matricu- lated in the medical department of the Northwestern University at Chicago, being gradu- ated from that institution in the class of 1909. A year's experience as interne in St. Luke's Hospital in that city further fitted him for the practice of medicine and in June, 1910, he located in Scotland, this state. his thorough training constituting the basis of his success-

DR. ISAAC W. LEIGHTON

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ful career. He keeps informed as to the newest methods and discoveries in the field of medieine and surgery, and his patients know that he will treat their eases in the light of the fullest knowledge of the medieal profession. He has a large pereentage of cures to his credit and in eases where complete cure is impossible he has generally checked the disease. In the few years in which he has been a resident of the town he has built up a lucrative practice which is constantly growing as his skill becomes better known.

Dr. Leighton was married in Chicago on the 1st of November, 1909, to Miss Cordelle Greigg, a native of Wellman, Iowa, and a daughter of Palmer J. and Alice (Nicholls) Greigg. They have a little daughter, Alice Jana, born May 19, 1915. The Doctor is quite a fancier of good dogs and always has one around. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Professionally he is a member of the Yankton Distriet Medical Association and the Sonth Dakota Medieal Association. He is not only favorably known as a physician and surgeon but he is popular in social and fraternal cireles, and all who know him hold him in high regard.

CARL P. PEARSON.

Carl P. Pearson, who operates a splendidly improved farm of four hundred acres on section 15, Benton township, is widely recognized as one of the enterprising agriculturists and worthy native sons of Minnehaha county. His birth occurred in Sioux Falls on the 2d of June, 1880, his parents heing Nils and Netta (Knudson) Pearson, of whom more extended mention is made on another page of this work in connection with the sketch of the Hon. John E. Pearson, an agriculturist of Benton township, who is a brother of our subjeet.

Carl P. Pearson acquired his education in the public schools and also pursued a course in agriculture at the South Dakota State College of Brookings. After returning home he assisted in the operation of his father's farm in Benton township, whereon he has remained continuously sinee. Five years ago, when his father retired, he assumed the management of the property and has since operated the same successfully. The place comprises four hundred acres of rich and productive land on seetion 15, Benton township, and is well im- proved in every partieular, lacking none of the equipments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. There are also fifty head of cattle and a number of horses and hogs.

In polities Mr. Pearson is a stanch republican, while his religious faith is that of the Lutheran church. In the community where his entire life has been spent he enjoys an enviable reputation as a progressive young agrieulturist and representative and esteemed citizen.

CHARLES A. CHAMBERLIN.

Charles A. Chamberlin, one of the most extensive landowners, farmers and prominent citizens of Moody county, was born in McHenry county, Illinois, August 27, 1855, a son of Warner E. and Elizabeth J. (Reed) Chamberlin. The father, who was a native of Williams- town, Massachusetts, born October 28, 1829, removed to Illinois in 1847 and joined the Cali- fornia gold seekers in 1849. He spent two years on the Pacific coast, returning to the east in 1851, after which he married Elizabeth J. Reed, who was a native of northeastern Ohio. In 1857 the family removed to Dodge county, Minnesota, and on the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Chamberlin tendered his serviees but his physical condition rendered him ineligible for service at the front. However, he was in the government employ during most of the Civil war and remained a most loyal advocate of the Union eause. His death occurred in Dodge county, Minnesota, March 14, 1913, while his widow now lives in Portland, Oregon.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 115

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