History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 143

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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Mr. Berkley was married in Wisconsin to Miss Nettie Hanson, a native of Richland county, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Nels and Carrie Hanson, both natives of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Berkley have become the parents of four children: Cora Lonisa, now the wife of Frank Van Osdell, of Mission Hill; Nina F., who was gradnated on the completion of the normal course at Yankton College and is now teaching in Seattle, Washington; Arthur J., who attended business college at Mankato, Minnesota, and now has a position with the Standard Oil Company; and Melvin C., who is attending college at Grinnell, Iowa, where he will graduate with the class of 1915.

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MIr. Berkley gives his political indorsement to the republican party and he and his family are members of the Congregational church. His life has been well spent and his labors have been attended with excellent results. His farm is unusually well improved and he has a fine old grove protecting all of the buildings from the northern storms. All of the buildings upon his place have been erected by him and include a large and commodious resi- dence, substantial barns and ample sheds for the shelter of the stock. He has sunk artesian wells and he has a three acre orchard upon the farm. He has also planted twenty acres of alfalfa and he raises good crops of the cereals best adapted to conditions here. In the winter of 1913-14 he took a trip through British Columbia and then on down through Washington, Oregon, California and Mexico, spending ten weeks in delightful travel. It was a period of rest and recreation well earned, for his has been a busy life in which there have been few idle hours.

PORTER PASCAL PECK.

One of the most venerated citizens of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is Porter Pascal Peck, who has resided here for over thirty-two years and has been connected with many interests that have contributed toward the growth and advancement of the state. Mr. Peck now lives practically retired, looking after his extensive investments. Not only was he con- nected with commercial and financial interests of Sioux Falls but he served for two terms as its mayor and gave to the city a businesslike and effective administration.

Mr. Peck was born in Caledonia Springs, Canada, on the 16th of April, 1843. His parents were Hersa and Susannah (Southworth) Peck, the former born in Massachusetts and the latter in Middlebury, Vermont. The father was one of the early instructors in the Middlebury Academy and was a well known educator in the Green Mountain state. The parents removed to Canada in 1838 but in 1853 again crossed the border, settling in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Mr. Peck was successfully engaged in the manufacture of brick through the remaining years of his life, passing to the Great Beyond in 1855. His widow survived him until 1897, in which year she died in Harvard, Illinois.

The educational opportunities of Porter P. Peck were not of the best, partly on account of the pioneer conditions prevailing in the districts in which the family resided and partly because of their various removals in his earlier youth. He began his education in the com- mon schools of Canada and, removing with his parents to the state of Wisconsin when he was about ten years of age, continued to attend the common schools there until he had attained the age of about eighteen. His education was intermittent as during those years he assisted his father and was also employed in farm work.

On the first call for troops to defend the Union he loyally responded and enlisted in April, 1861, at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, becoming a private in the Geneva Light Guards, which were attached as a company to the Fourth Wisconsin Infantry. He served with that com- mand for three months and, showing a preference for the mounted service, enlisted in November, 1861, for three years in Company K, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, at the end of which he veteranized, continuing in active service until the close of the war. He received his honorable discharge in the fall of 1865. His regiment was one of the best known cavalry troops in the service and was at various times commanded by all of the celebrated cavalry leaders with the exception of General Pleasanton. At the close of the great conflict it was under General Custer. It was first known as the Walworth Cavalry and was assigned to Washburn's Cavalry but later became incorporated in the Twenty- second Wisconsin Cavalry. In the spring of 1862 it was assigned to the Department of Missouri and soon thereafter attached to the Army of the Frontier, with which the First Battalion, of which Mr. Peck was a member, remained until the fall of 1864. It was then transferred to the Military Division of the Mississippi. During the nearly three years of active service on the frontier Mr. Peck participated in all of the engagements of his com- mand. the most notable being the battles at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and at Springfield, Missouri. He also took part in the engagements of the Mississippi Division after being transferred thereto under General B. H. Grierson. In the spring of 1865 the regiment accepted the surrender of General N. B. Forrest, the noted Confederate cavalryman, at

PORTER P. PECK

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Grenada, Mississippi, and after paroling the prisoners the regiment returned to Memphis, Tennessee, from which point it embarked for Alexandria, where it joined the command of General George A. Custer for the march across the country to Texas. Just prior to this Mr. Peck was ordered with a detail to escort some prisoners to the Dry Tortugas and did not go to Texas with General Custer, on whose staff he had served for a short time. Ile was never seriously wounded nor taken prisoner and received his honorable discharge at New Orleans, August 12, 1865. His promotions were as follows: Sergeant, July 13, 1863; reenlisted as a veteran, February 26, 1864; first sergeant, April 4, 1864; second lieutenant, July 21, 1864; first lieutenant, February 4, 1865.

Shortly after his discharge Mr. Peck made his way to Dakota county, Minnesota, where he farmed for a time, and in 1867 settled in West Union, Iowa, where for two years he was engaged in the livery business, also giving his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1872 he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and, being favorably impressed with its attractions and surroundings and wisely foreseeing its future growth although it was then but a small village, he decided to take up his residence here. He located definitely in the town early in the following year and established himself in the livery business, being one of the pioneers in that line. He continued active in that business until 1889 and met with a gratifying degree of success. He owned the first two-seated carriage in the state and also brought the first omnibus and the first landan to Sioux Falls. In 1878, in partnership with Colonel Melvin Grigsby, he erected a substantial building opposite the Cataract Hotel, on Phillips avenue, and in its construction were utilized the first pressed brick, metallic cornice work and plate glass in the city. Mr. Peck has done much building in Sioux Falls and by his activity along this line has materially contributed to its progress and attrac- tiveness.

A former biographer says of him: "He has also done his share in farming, having broken fourteen hundred acres of prairie land contiguous to the city. He is a man of great energy and force and has been identified with nearly all the public enterprises of the city. While in Iowa he was deputy sheriff for several years. The Dakota National Bank was organized through the efforts of Mr. Peck and his long-time friend and associate, Mr. Grigsby, and the former was its first cashier. He was a director and vice president of the Minnehaha National Bank at the time of the death of its president, J. M. Bailey, Jr., and was subsequently elected president, holding this office until June, 1898." He held this position for seven years, being elected in 1891. Mr. Peck's interests are wide and varied, not only covering the city but extending throughout the county and state. He now enjoys in retirement the fruits of a career rich in labor and also rich in gratifying results.

In Christiana, Minnesota, in March, 1866, Mr. Peck was united in marriage to Miss Alice G. Caskey, of Farmington, that state, who passed away on the 18th of November, 1875, being survived by three children: Ella M., who married B. F. Snook, of Mankato, Minnesota; Florence L., the wife of L. W. Wood; and Porter C. On the 2d of July, 1877, Mr. Peck married Miss Catherine W. Cornue, of Linn, Wisconsin, and they have two sons, Harold C. and Clifford H. The former is a resident of Moline, Illinois, and the latter received his college education in the famous Phillips-Exeter Academy of New Hampshire.

Mr. Peck is a stanch republican in politics, and he has always given his support to that party which upheld the Union during the dark days of civil warfare. He has interested himself in state, county and municipal politics and has been particularly prominent in the latter, serving as alderman and treasurer. In 1890 he was elected mayor and served by reelection for four years or two terms. Mr. Peck has always allied himself with interests that make for the public good and has on many occasions taken to the platform and expounded his views in convincing oratory. His administration as mayor was a path of . obstacles to be overcome and a man of less self-reliance and determination would have easily given in to the deterring influences in his way. He never deviated, however, from the road which he considered right and always stood for progress and advancement. While he was mayor a number of important improvements were completed and a number of widely beneficial measures became laws. Under his administration the pros and cons fought for or against the prohibitory law and he had to contend with both factions in trying to guide to snecess measures which he considered of value. The position Mayor Peck took was never an equivocal one and it was always perceptible to all on which side of the ques- tion he stood. It cannot be said of him, as can be of so many politicians, that he was Vol. V-52

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"straddling." After he came to the conclusion of what was right or wrong he stood by his convictions honestly and openly, and his sturdy spirit of independence nearly always won the day. In his first election for mayor Mr. Peck defeated Captain W. E. Willey and in his second Rev. E. B. Meredith, the prominence of his defeated rivals being alone proof of his popularity. He is still an important factor in public affairs.

Mr. Peck affiliates with the Congregational church. Fraternally he stands high in the Masonie order, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite and he is also a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He is a member of Oriental Consistory, No. 1, and is identified with the Minnesota Commandery of St. Paul, Order of the Loyal Legion, which he joined in 1889. He keeps in touch with his comrades of the battlefields of yore through his membership in Joe Hooker Post, No. 10, G. A. R., of which for three years he was commander. Mr. Peck comes of an old American ancestry, although born in Canada. His paternal forbears were early settlers of Massachusetts and the maternal of Vermont. Like his ancestors he has shown himself to be a patriot in times of war and peace. He implanted the spirit of loyalty in the far west, to which land of promise he has contributed so much by his activities, and his name is worthy of being inscribed upon the honor roll of the builders of this state.

CHARLES STICKNEY.

Charles Stickney, an attorney practicing at the bar of Elk Point, where he is now accorded a large and distinctively representative clientage, was born on the 14th of May, 1866, abont a mile east of the city in which he now makes his home. His parents were George and Mary F. Stickney, well known in this section of the state. The mother came to Uniou county in April, 1860, and is believed to be the first white woman who located in South Dakota. The father was a contractor on the South Dakota Central Railroad, having the first grading contract and constructing the first grade for the line. It was he who turned the first spade of dirt in the state for the first railroad built here, and in many other ways he was closely associated with the work of early development and of later progress and improvement. He saw the possibilities of the northwest and sought to realize them by eooperating in every movement tending toward the upbuilding of the state. He not only became well known as a contractor but also as an attorney, for he had been admitted to the bar. He was county treasurer of Union county for fourteen years, or from 1875 until 1889, and he was elected to represent his district in both the house of representatives and the senate, serving as presiding officer in both branches of the general assembly. He was likewise receiver in the land office at Vermillion from 1867 until 1869 and he filled the office of district attorney. His life was one of varied activities, all of which resulted for the benefit of the community in which he lived and in which he remained a valued and honored citizen up to the time of his death in 1894.

No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of life for Charles Stickney in his boyhood and youth, which was largely devoted to the acquirement of a public-school education. Ambitious to enjoy further advantages, he afterward spent four years as a student in the State University at Vermillion and then went east, entering Brown University, from which he was graduated in 1892. Following his course he taught school for one year and later he began reading law under the direction of E. C. Erickson. He was admitted to the bar at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1899 and was admitted to practice in the courts of South Dakota in 1900. He then opened his present office and has since continued in the practice of his profession. From the beginning he has been very successful. He is strong in argument, careful in the preparation of his cases, logical in the presentation of his cause. He has been states attorney and as such has carefully safeguarded the legal interests of the public. He studies closely and his mental powers, naturally analytical and deductive, enable him to readily apply the principles of law to the points in litigation.

On the 4th of October, 1899, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Stickney and Miss Harriett B. Salisbury, a daughter of Daniel S. and Mary Salisbury, of Rhode Island. Three children have been born unto them, Mildred, Frank S. and Marjorie Louise. The family have an attractive home in Elk Point and in addition Mr. Stickney is the owner of seven

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hundred acres of farm land in this state. His political support is given the democratic party and he and his family attend the Congregational eburch. He is also a member of the Masonic lodge and for twelve years has now been a member of the school board. He prefers, however, to spend his leisure hours outside of his profession with his family, yet he fully recognizes and meets the duties and obligations of citizenship and shirks no task which is rightfully his. The years have brought him substantial success and his ability has estab- lished him as one of the foremost members of the bar of Union county.

CARL G. WALLBAUM.

Business enterprise in Yankton finds a worthy representative in Carl G. Wallbaum, pro- prietor of one of the leading drug stores of the city. He was born in Yankton in 1885, a son of Gerhard and Kathrine (Becker) Wallbaum, in whose family were two children, the daughter being Mrs. Mae Sundheimer, of Omaha, Nebraska. The family name indicates their German origin. The father was born June 9, 1840, in Leer, Hanover, and was a young man of twenty-nine years when, in 1869, he arrived in Yankton. South Dakota, coming to this city from Niobrara, Nebraska. He had made his way up the south bank of the Missouri river and afterward went down stream to Yankton, where he lived for forty years, or until the time of his death, on the 29th of May, 1909. He was long an active factor in business circles. In 1871 he entered into partnership with John Becker in the conduct of the Germania House, under the well known firm name of Wallhaum & Becker. They made this a popular hostelry, well patronized, and became widely known throughout their section of the state. Mr. Wallbaum possessed the social genial qualities that rendered him popu- lar with those with whom he came in contact and his business ability and his devotion to the public welfare made him a valued and worthy citizen. In 1874 he married Kathrine Becker, a sister of his partner, and surviving her husband for several years, she passed away in Yankton, June 6, 1914. Mr. Wallbaum was a member of Dakota Lodge, No. 1, I. O. O. F .. and was ever loyal to the teachings and purposes of that organization.

Reared in his native city, Carl G. Wallhaum attended the public schools of Yankton and also the School of Pharmacy of the Northwestern University of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1905. The following year he purchased the drug store of Dr. V. S. Ross, of Yankton, and has built up the largest trade in the city. His establishment would be a credit to a city of much larger size, for it is well appointed and tastefully arranged and he carries a complete line of drugs and druggists' sundries, fills prescriptions and handles a large amount of kodaks and photographie supplies. The business is growing rapidly and is assuming gratifying and profitable proportions.

In Yankton, on the 8th of January, 1909, Mr. Wallhaum was united in marriage to Miss Elsie Binder, a daughter of Peter B. Binder, a pioneer of Yankton, and to them have been born two sons, Lawrence and Robert. Mr. Wallbaum belongs to the Elks Lodge, No. 994, Dakota Lodge, No. 1, I. O. O. F., the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is also a communicant of the Episcopal church and these relations indicate much of the rules that govern his conduct. Regarding the pursuits of private life as in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts, he is now concentrating his energies upon his business affairs and while a young man has attained a most creditable position in business circles, having won a measure of success that many an older man might well envy.

HON. JACOB J. HAUCK.

Hon. Jacob J. Hauck, a prominent Yankton county farmer and stockman living at Lesterville and now serving for the second term as representative in the general assembly, was born in southern Russia, of German parentage. September 18, 1870, being a son of Jolin and Elizabeth (Brunmeier) Hauck. The father was a farmer hy occupation and in 1874 brought his family to the new world, settling on a homestead claim in Yankton county,

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Dakota territory, where in time he became one of the prosperous farmers and highly respected citizens of his community. He is deceased but his widow survives.

Jacob J. Hauck attended the distriet schools until he reached his sixteenth year. He was not yet four years of age at the time of the emigration to the new world and thus it is that he was largely reared upon the Dakota frontier. He had ample training in farm work and continued to assist his father in the further development and improvement of the fields upon the old home place until he reached his twenty-fifth year, when he purchased land and started out in business life independently. From that time forward success has attended his labors, for he has worked diligently and persistently and has overcome obstacles and difficulties with determination and energy. As his financial resources have increased he has added to his holdings and now has a valuable tract of five hundred and eighty acres improved with all modern conveniences. He has also extended his business connections through invest- ment in various other undertakings and enterprises. He was one of the organizers and for some time served as the president of the Farmers Central Telephone Company of Utica and he is still one of its largest stockholders.

On the 29th of October, 1893, Mr. Hauck was united in marriage to Miss Rosalia Schenk, her parents being Henry and Louisa (Dino) Schenk, who emigrated to the United States and settled in Yankton county, South Dakota, in 1873. Both are now deceased. To our subject and his wife have been born eight children, as follows: Lillian, who gave her hand in marriage to Herbert Herman; Otto J .; William H .; Alma; Herbert J .; Jacob A .; Henry R .: and Alice L. The religious faith of the family is that of the Reformed church and the politieal belief of Mr. Hauck is that of the republican party. He is very prominent in connection with the political activities of his district and has done important public work. For fourteen consecutive years he served on the school board. In 1910 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature and served during the session of 1911. In 1914 he was again chosen for that office and was an active working member of the house during the session of 1915. During his two terms of legislative activity he enjoyed a repu- tation for level-headed consideration of proposed laws and a keen regard for the best interests of his constituents. He served on various important committees: drainage and artesian wells; fish and game: manufactures; and privileges and elections. He recognizes the responsibility that devolves upon him in this connection and fully meets the obligations of citizenship in his devotion to the public welfare.

PETER NORBECK.

Peter Norbeck has since 1901 been president of the Norbeck-Nicholson Company of Redfield, which controls a process for the sinking of artesian wells, and that he is in this connection an important representative of industrial activity in the state is indicated in the fact that the firm is employing three hundred workmen. He also has other business connections and his spirit of enterprise and initiative is an element in the growing prosperity of the state.

Mr. Norbeck is a native of South Dakota, his birth having occurred in Clay county on the 27th of August, 1870, his parents being Rev. George and Kern (Kongsvig) Norbeek, who came to this state in 1868 from Norway, at which time they took up their abode in Clay county upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. There they resided until 1885 and the father was diligent, active and successfully engaged in the cultivation and improvement of his property. He was not only a wide-awake and alert farmer and business man but also left the impress of his individuality upon the public records of the county, which he repre- sented in the territorial legislature in 1872-3. He afterward removed to Charles Mix county and was honored with election to the first general assembly of South Dakota after the admission of the state into the Union, serving in 1889 and 1890. He still makes his home in Charles Mix county, but his wife passed away in April, 1894, and was laid to rest in the Bloomington cemetery.

For forty-seven years the name of Norbeck has figured in connection with events which have shaped the history of this portion of the northwest and the same spirit of enterprise manifested by the father is also possessed in a large measure by his son, Peter Norbeck,

PETER NORBECK

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who started in business well equipped for responsible duties by a liberal education, having supplemented his public-school course by three terms' study in the State University. He was early trained to the work of the fields and remained upon his father's farm until he reached the age of twenty-five years. He then introduced small deep artesian wells into the state hy developing a process for putting down such wells. He continued the business alone for two or three years and then entered into partnership with Charles L. Nicholson, with whom he is still associated. The process which he has developed makes it possible for almost everyone to have an artesian well, for he has brought the price within reach of the great majority. The undertaking has been very successful and is one of the most beneficial that has been introduced into the state. The business has grown steadily and something of the volume of their patronage is indicated in the fact that the firm is today employing three hundred men, who represent them in various parts of the northwest. The work has been organized and developed under various branch concerns, one of which is known as the North Dakota Artesian Well Company, and another The Anchor Development Company, of both of which Mr. Norbeek is the president, as he is of the parent company, which is today one of the most important business concerns not only in Spink county but in South Dakota. In a land where the rainfall is somewhat light the water problem has always been a serious one, but through the efforts of Mr. Norbeck this has largely been solved for South Dakota and the reasonable prices which he receives for putting down wells makes it possible for almost every farmer to have upon his own place an artesian well affording him an unlimited supply of good pure water.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 143

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