History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 128

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

USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume V > Part 128

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dr. Clark, the eldest of the family, attended school at Oriskany Falls, New York, after-

1102

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

wald became a pupil in the high school at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and still later attended college there, entering the freshman year in 1861. At the age of sixteen he joined the Methodist Episcopal church at Troy, New York, and from that time forward has been a most devoted adherent of the church. He worked with his father through the period of his minority and at the age of twenty-one years was still attending school. With the outbreak of the Civil war he put aside all other interests and considerations and enlisted as a mem- ber of Company B, Twenty-fifth Iowa Regiment. He served under Captain Smith, who had been principal of the high school which Dr. Clark attended. He joined the ranks as a private and was at the front for eleven months and ten days. He was injured at the battle of Arkansas Post, on which occasion a shell, passing over his head, cut off a large tree, which fell upon him, crushing him so that he lay unconscious for a number of hours. Finally he regained consciousness, however, and rejoined his regiment, but he has never fully recovered from the injuries he sustained on that occasion. He lost the hearing in his right ear at the battle of Vicksburg because of the concussion of the heavy artillery and by reason of disability he was mnstered out at Memphis, Tennessee. He returned home and again entered college at Mount Pleasant, but his health remained in such a condition that he was prevented from graduating. After a year spent in recuperation he entered the ministry as a member of the Iowa conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and for many years engaged in preaching in that state.

In the spring of 1883 he came to South Dakota, settling on a farm near Plankinton, which course he followed at the advice of his physician. He continued upon the farm, living the outdoor life of an agriculturist, for abont three years. He then once more entered into active relations with the ministry and was assigned to the church at Mitchell, South Dakota, where he remained for about ten years, serving as pastor for four years and as presiding elder for six years. He next went to Huron, where he continued for five years, after which he occupied the pulpit of the Methodist church at Deadwood for three years. Later he was superintendent of the Black Hills Mission for abont six years and was then appointed chaplain at the Battle Mountain Sanitarium, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and is now in the eighth year of his service in that connection. On the occasion of the fiftieth anni- versary of his connection with the ministry he indited a little poem which is indicative of his faith as well as of his literary ability and which we print herewith:

"Back on the long life-road I climb I know a land with skies more fair And see myself of other time, A boyish circuit-rider there. How near along the backward way, That time appears, And yet the record says today 'Tis fifty years.

"I cannot boast my road's long line For when my ways were dim with night A hand unseen was clasped in mine And led me forward to the light. Perplexed but never in dismay, Through hopes and fears, I've felt that handelasp all the way For fifty years.

"The shadows lengthen to the east, The latter miles are slowly scored, And ere the long day's work has ceased You ask of profits and reward. "The gift of God'-not wages owed- Is Heaven that nears. He's paid my wages on the road These fifty years."

1103

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

In speaking of his life work in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of his admission to the ministry he said: "I never doubted the divinity of my call. God called, the door opened and I entered for life. The ministerial life is peculiar to itself. It abounds in struggle and conquest, defeat or victory, in sacred scenes and joyous occasions, all of which I have experi- enced. During my ministry I have served thirteen pastorates and two districts. As I look hack over my appointments at Bellaire, Cincinnati, Unionville, Bellefontaine, Pella, New- ton, Oskaloosa, Burlington, Otimnwa and Albia in the lowa conference; at Mitchell, Mitchell district, Huron, Deadwood and the Black Hills Mission, in the Dakota conference, I am encom- passed by a throng of memories. I can see a host of real friends, for whom I am grateful to this day. I rejoice in the achievement of having built four churches. I see again the eager crowds at revival meetings and the long line of more than two thousand people whom it has been my privilege to receive into the church. I remember the sorrowing to whom 1 tried to bring the light of hope in the dark night of their grief. It was always my pleasure and the pleasure of my family to mingle socially with our church members and the people of the community. I have officially shared in the happiness of scores of christenings and hundreds of weddings, have broken bread at many boards-rich and poor, public and private- but all of them brightened by the same spirit of Christian good-fellowship. The church has honored me far beyond my deserts, twice sending me as a delegate to the general con- ference and by placing me in other positions of trust. In my association with my fellow- men, and particularly with my brother ministers of other denominations, I have held the open vision and followed the words of John Wesley: 'If thy heart is as my heart, give me thy hand.' Everywhere the welcoming hand has met mine."

Dr. Clark has been married twice. In Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on the 20th of March, 1865, he wedded Mary E. Cleaver, who was born at Beallsville, Pennsylvania, September 20, 1844. They became parents of four children: Henry C., born at Pella, Iowa, September 5, 1868, and now engaged in the insurance business in Rapid City, South Dakota; Hattie, who was born at Pella, lowa, September 5, 1871; Fred H., who was born at Newton, Iowa, in March, 1873, and died at Mitchell, South Dakota, August 23, 1894; and Charles B., who was born at Albia, Iowa, January 1, 1883.

On the 20th of June, 1901, Dr. Clark was again married, his second union being with Miss R. Anna Morris, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a daughter of Zachariah and Mary (Weldon) Morris, the latter a native of Delaware. The father was born in Ohio and died during the early girlhood of Mrs. Clark, while the mother passed away in Hot Springs, South Dakota, in 1911. Mrs. Clark is the second in a family of three children, but her elder brother, John, died at the age of five years. Her sister Clara became the wife of Charles W. Greene, who was United States land commissioner at Rapid City when he died in 1903, his wife surviving until February 1, 1913. The father of these children served in the Civil war. Mrs. Clark was a tiny maiden when she was adopted into the Lacey family of Iowa, becoming the adopted sister of Congressman Lacey of Iowa. When about sixteen years of age she took up the profession of teaching, which she followed for many years. She taught in the schools of Oskaloosa, lowa, for seven years, in the schools of Des Moines seven years, in Cleveland, Ohio, for seven years and seven years in Deadwood, South Dakota. Much of this time was devoted to instruction along special lines. She is a graduate of the Anderson Normal School of Physical Training at New Haven, Connecticut, and was a student in the Boston and Chicago Conservatories of Elocution. She became a teacher of reading and physical training in the normal department and supervisor of physical training in the primary grades of the Cleveland (Ohio) public schools, and for two years was president of the physical education department of the National Teachers' Association. A volume entitled, "Physical Education," published by the American Book Company, contains the eclectic sys- tem by Mrs. Clark and is widely used in schools throughout the country. One well qualified to judge of her work said: "She may truly be called a pioneer in making physical educa- tion practical in the public-school system. Under her intelligent supervision in Des Moines, Iowa, this interest developed from experimental work in a single grade to systematic pro- vision for the entire school course. Of her work, at the close of four years, the Annual Report says: 'It promotes the physical well-being of the child, improves his manners, secures better conditions for his other studies and helps to build him into a more sym- metrical life. Under cautious, judicious management, prejudice has given way to a healthy state of thinking on the subject. Among the pupils many forms of nervous diseases have

1104

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

yielded to this training, while round shoulders and sunken chests have been remedied. The work has grown to be a part of the regular school management and has entered into the position, bearing, manners and expressions of the children, who understand its value in fitting them for a more useful life.'"

Mrs. Clark also became interested in the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union through the influence of Miss Frances Willard and has ever been ready to lend her aid along that line of effort for the moral betterment of the race.

In his political views Dr. Clark has ever been a stalwart republican since age con- ferred upon him the right of franchise. He early became allied with the Grand Army of the Republic and was made department commander for South Dakota in 1896. He has delivered many addresses on Memorial Day and has often been heard in public gatherings upon other questions of widespread interest and importance. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity but because of impaired hearing does not regularly attend the lodge meetings. He has become the owner of city property in Hot Springs, where he is now an honored and highly esteemed resident. His entire life work has been a potent influence for good, his work being along the lines of uplift and betterment, and many acknowledge the efficacy of his teachings as forces for righteousness in their lives.

CHARLES BADGER CLARK, JE.

Badger Clark, otherwise Charles Badger Clark, Jr., was born in the Methodist parsonage at Albia, Iowa, on the 1st day of January, 1883. His parents emigrated to what was then the raw prairie of Dakota when he was three months old, however, and he has always regarded South Dakota as his home state. He grew up in Deadwood and there, wandering among the canyons of the Black Hills, he developed a love of dim trails and a certain impatience regarding starch which have stayed with him ever since. At the age of nineteen he went to Cuba seeking adventure and, after enjoying the shadowy rivers, green jungles and phosphorescent seas of the island for a few months, adventure met him in the form of a native policeman, who arrested him as a witness and an alleged principal of a shooting affray. Two weeks of prison and six months of leisurely legal procedure, which brought him his acquittal, kept up his interest in Cuba, but, at the same time, increased his love of his own country, to which he returned at the end of two years. He had scarcely settled himself in newspaper work in the Black Hills, however, when the after effects of a jungle fever compelled him to once more seek a southern location and the open. He located on an Arizona ranch near the Mexican horder, having the ranch and several hundred square miles of desert range to himself, which he found so agreeable that he remained there for four years, most of the time alone. In one of his letters home he sent his mother a few verses written in cowboy vernacular, which she submitted to the Pacific Monthly, and their imme- diate acceptance surprised nobody more than their author. As long as the Pacific Monthly was published Mr. Clark was a regular contributor and his cowboy lyrics soon became well known in the territory covered by that magazine. Some of the better known of these verses have recently been published under the title of "Sun and Saddle Leather" (Richard G. Badger, Boston). Mr. Clark's original inspiration has remained with him.

DANIEL SCOTT.

With the history of development and progress in the northwest from pioneer times to the present Daniel Scott, of Sioux Falls, is closely connected, his memory forming a con- necting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. Ask him any question concerning early events and the chances are that he can give the desired information, for as a pioneer journalist and real-estate dealer he gained an intimate knowledge of and broad experience in all the phases and features of frontier life. He is a native of Montgomery county, New York, and a son of Peter and Catherine Scott.

Reared in the east, Daniel Scott acquired his education in the public schools of Utica,

DANIEL SCOTT

1107

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

New York, and made his initial step in the business world in the field of journalism. In 1860 he purchased the Ogle County Press, a weekly, published at Polo, Illinois, which he owned and edited until the first call for seventy-five thousand troops was issued by President Lincoln. He joined the army for a three months' term and afterward enlisted for three years. He became a member of Company H, Fifteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Missouri campaign. He was honorably discharged at Jefferson Barracks on account of physical disability. As soon as possible, however, he reenlisted, joining the Ninety-second Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but failed to pass muster. The spirit of loyalty and patriotism, however, was there and it was a bitter disappointment to him that he could not do further active work for his country at the front. After the war be conducted a paper at Union Mills, Pennsylvania, and also at Corry, Pennsylvania, being there located at the time of the oil boom. At length he sold out there and made his way to Sioux City, Iowa, where he arrived in 1869, securing a situation on a weekly paper published by George D. Perkins. On the 19th of April, 1870, the Perkins brothers began the publica- tion of the Sioux City Daily Journal, of which he was city editor for six years. During the summer seasons Mr. Scott took trips on the steamers into the interior, trading with the Indians. He went with General Stanley in 1873 on an expedition against Sitting Bull and during bis residence in South Dakota in pioneer days he had many exciting experiences with hostile Indians. He traveled on the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers from 1871 until 1876, having the trading privilege on the steamboats plying those streams, and carrying thousands of dollars worth of goods, which he sold at the trading posts of the northwest. Years afterward Mr. Scott wrote of the district through which he traveled as "wholly aban- doned to lawlessness at that time. The only feeling of safety law-abiding sojourners enjoyed was in the immediate vieinage of the military posts, widely scattered upon the banks of those streams. Yet these white outlaws were the real pioneers and civilizers of those Indian infested regions and contributed as much, if not more, than did the soldiers in taming Sitting Bull and his hostile followers, as well as the other recalcitrant savages. These pioneers were not there by choice, but chose it as a refuge of safety from the minions of the law. They certainly were a tough bunch, yet a prominent factor in the extension of civilization into that howling wilderness. Not a few of them were bright, affable, interest- ing and friendly to those refusing to tote shooting irons and minded their own business. Their friendship was an encouraging and a profitable asset to me. Whenever some drunken bulldozer attempted to bluff me they would step in and the bum took a walk instantly. Therefore I still, and always will, retain a sympathetic and kindly regard for those old plains highrollers. It requires all kinds of people to reduce a lawless frontier region to a civilized basis and those old fugitives did their part for that country."

Mr. Scott first visited the territory to report a prize fight for the Sioux City Journal. Learning of the existence of gold in the Black Hills from old fur traders, he made the first public announcement of the fact through the columns of the Journal. His paper has also given to the public many other items of interest and value concerning the natural resources of the northwest. What he has done for Sioux Falls can scarcely be overestimated.

It was in February, 1877, that Mr. Scott left Sioux City for Deadwood, where he arrived in March, and in connection with Charles Collins he hegan the publication of the Deadwood Daily Champion. Soon afterward, however, he hecame connected with the Dead- wood Times, with which he was associated until 1882. During that and the succeeding year he was with the Bismarck Daily Tribune, after which he returned to Deadwood, and in 1883 came to Sioux Falls, driving across what was then the desert from Deadwood with his wife and son-a strenuous and hazardous trip. He became city editor of the Daily Press and continued with that publication until his frontier journalistic career covered more than fifty years. He developed the first real-estate boom in Sioux Falls in 1887, selling out Scott's first addition to Sioux Falls at Sioux City, Iowa, in a single day. He owned and held a controlling interest in eight different additions to Sioux Falls and his efforts have been a potent force in advancing its growth, progress and improvement. He had the pre- science to discern something of what the future held in store for this great and growing western country and, acting according to the dictates of his faith and judgment, advanced its interests far toward the point of prosperity through inducing many settlers to locate there. Speaking of the period of his early life in Dakota territory, he said: "My fron- tier experience was unlike the homesteaders in that it was transient. diversified and very

1108

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

checkered, extending hundreds of miles beyond the boundaries of civilization into regions inhabited by wild Indians and white outlaws, where the bark of the revolver was recognized as the final decision in all personal controversies."

On the 14th of March, 1866, in Freeport, Illinois, Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Augusta H. Hunter, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hunter, who were pioneer resi- dents of South Dakota. They settled on a homestead adjoining Sioux Falls in 1870 and occupied it until their deaths. It has been platted into city lots and is now one of the attractive residential districts of Sioux Falls. Mr. Hunter was the first justice of the peace in Sioux Falls and in many ways was closely associated with its development and upbuilding. To Mr. and Mrs. Scott has been born a son, Mark D., who married Miss Eva Kuhn.

From early manhood to the present time Mr. Scott has been an earnest supporter of the republican party, finding in its platform, as he believes, the best elements of good govern- ment. He is a member of Joe Hooker Post of the Grand Army of the Republic of Sioux Falls and his military record is one of the many creditable chapters in his life history. All his life he has been actuated by a spirit of devotion to the general welfare, and gave evidence of his substantial and sincere interest in the public good during his two years' service, 1885-6, in Sioux Falls as alderman and again as alderman of Sioux Falls from 1895 until 1899 and again in 1909. His official acts were fraught with good results, and thus in public life as well as in business affairs he has promoted the welfare of the city in which he makes his home. There is perhaps no man in the state who can give a more inti- mate and accurate account of the history of pioneering in Dakota than Mr. Scott. As a trader and newspaper man he was brought in contact with every phase of life here. When he entered the territory to trade with the soldiers, Indians and settlers in 1871 not a foot of railroad had been laid in the territory. Yankton was the only town of any importance west of Sioux City for a distance of about two thousand miles. He had to meet men who, having fled from justice, had taken refuge in the then unsettled district; he had to meet men who thought no more of taking the life of a fellowman than of the wild game around; he had also to mix and mingle with the convivial sporting element and on more than one occasion his life was in danger. But he seemed to know just how to meet each situation and to handle the man involved, and thus it is that he came through such experiences, adding each one to a fund of interesting reminiscences of pioneer times.

JOSEPH J. URQUHART.

Joseph J. Urquhart was a farmer for many years but is now living in Valley Springs, where he is engaged in the insurance business. His birth occurred in Cornwall, Canada, on the 27th of November, 1856, his parents being George and Catherine Urquhart, who removed to New York when their son Joseph was but eleven years of age. The family home remained there until he was a young man of twenty-nine years, at which time they removed to South Dakota, locating at Valley Springs. Mr. Urquhart was in the employ of others as a drayman for a year and then rented a farm, which he cultivated. After four years of farming he clerked in the store of L. S. Hetland for four years. He then purchased eighty acres of school land on section 16, Valley Springs township. He subse- quently traded that property for one hundred and eighty-one acres on section 4 and devoted his time and energies to the cultivation of the land until 1914, when he returned to Valley Springs. He has since engaged in the insurance business, which he finds very profitable. He has also other business interests, as he is connected with the building of silos. He has disposed of his farm in Valley Springs township, selling it for one hundred and thirty-seven dollars per acre.

Mr. Urquhart was married November 10, 1886, to Miss Cenie Hetland, a daughter of S. S. and Margaret Hetland, pioneers of this state. By this marriage the following children have been born: Joseph Dean, a graduate of Yankton College and now principal of the Sherman school: Estella Irene, the wife of Nels Rogness; and Margie, at home. The family belong to the Congregational church and are active in the furtherance of its work.

Mr. Urquhart gives his political allegiance to the republican party, being one of its

1109

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA

stalwart supporters, and he has served as deputy sheriff of the county for eight years, serving under three different sheriff's. He was himself a candidate for sheriff at two elections. He also served on the township board and at all times discharged the duties devolving upon him as an official with ability and conscientiousness. He belongs to the Elks and to Crystal Lodge, No. 29, K. P. He is at present grand master at arms of the Grand Lodge of South Dakota of the latter organization. He was a successful farmer and has prospered since taking up his present business, his intelligently directed labor insuring him of a competence. He and his family derive much pleasure from motoring and use this method of travel as a means of visiting the points of interest in their section of the state. They are thoroughly identified with the interests of South Dakota, as the parents came here before the state was admitted to the Union and all of the children were born here. The many friends of Mr. and Mrs. Urquhart find their hospitable home an agreeable place to meet and hold them in the highest esteem and regard.

HOSMER H. KEITH.

Hosmer H. Keith, lawyer, judge and legislator, engraved his name high on the key- stone of the legal areh of South Dakota. He made his home in Sioux Falls and was one of its most valued citizens. Born in the state of New York, July 12, 1846, he came of Scotch aneestry, his parents being David and Fanny (Wilbur) Keith, the former a farmer near North Brookfield, New York. Upon the home farm Hosmer H. Keith spent his youthful days and his early education, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by a thorough academic course, after which he took up the profession of teaching. He finally entered a law school at Albany, New York, from which he was graduated with the class of 1870. He was then admitted to practice at the bar of the state and remained a representative of the legal profession of New York for about thirteen years, gaining broad and valuable experience during his practice there.

In the spring of 1883 Judge Keith came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. where he con- tinued to make his home until ealled to his final rest. He was elassed, not only among the leading lawyers of the city and county, but of the state as well. His ability in the line of his profession was pronounced and was manifest in the care and precision with which he prepared his cases and the clear and cogent reasoning which he displayed in the presentation of his cause before the court. His understanding and interpretation of the law naturally led to his selection for the office of lawmaker. At the election of officers for the proposed state of South Dakota under the first Sioux Falls constitution he was elected judge of the second circuit and in the fall of 1888 he was elected to the legislature of the territory from the district comprising the counties of Minnehaha, Hanson and MeCook. He was elected speaker of the house and presided with distinction and honor over its deliberations, proving himself an excellent parliamentarian and one who frustrated plans of filibustering in favor of wise and just legislation. In 1900 his son, Alhert, became associated with him in the practice of law, in which he continued active to the time of his death. For a period he served as city attorney and in private practice he figured in many important cases.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 128

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