History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 144

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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In June, 1901, in Sioux City, Iowa, Mr. Norbeck was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Anderson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Anderson, both deceased. They were pioneers of South Dakota in 1879, in which year they settled in Yankton. Their burial place is in Bloomington, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Norbeck have four children: Nellie, Ruth and Harold, all attending school; and Selmer, at home.

Mr. Norbeck is not only a leader along business lines but also is a leader of public thought and action and for three terms has represented his district in the state senate and at the last primaries was nominated for the position of lientenant governor. He is a progressive republican in political belief. His brother Enoch was also a member of the general assembly during two terms, beginning 1909 and 1911, serving in the house, while his brother was a member of the senate. The Norbeck family has also taken an active part in the moral progress of the state. The father as one of the pioneer settlers tramped all over this country, meeting his own expenses and organizing the Norwegian Lutheran church. Ile founded a number of churches of that denomination during a period of thirty years of active labor that has been his real life work and he is still interested in the further development of the church, his efforts being of far-reaching effect. Peter Norbeck is likewise a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church and cooperates heartily in the movements to extend its influence and promote its growth. It would be impossible to disassociate the name of Norbeck with the history of South Dakota, so important, valuable and honorable a part have the members of the family horne in advancing the material, intellectual, political, social and moral welfare of the state.

LOUIS A. EADS.

Among those who came to the Dakotas with little and by years of hard work and endurance of privation won a competence in this new country is Louis A. Eads, a retired farmer and stoek dealer living at Tyndall, Bon Homme county. He was born in Livingston county, Missouri, October 31, 1853, a son of Milton and Eliza (Clark) Eads, both of whom were born in Indiana. The father went to Missouri in 1842 and was there married. His entire active life was devoted to agricultural pursuits and he won success in his work.

Louis A. Eads remained in his native state until he was a young man of about twenty- four years and then, in 1877. removed to Dakota territory, arriving in Yankton on the 28th of April, of that year. Not long afterward he went to Green Island, Nebraska, and there secured work. That summer he freighted to the Black Hills and in the fall came to Bon Homme county, where he secured a timber claim, John Slater, Fred Wells and Tom Ferguson and Mr. Eads securing claims on four cornering sections at that time. In the spring of 1879

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Mr. Eads, in connection with John Slater, rented the latter's father's farm near the town of Bon Homme, which was then the county seat. Mr. Eads owned a yoke of oxen and did the breaking and other heavy work, while Mr. Slater, who had a team of horses, cultivated the corn. They worked together to such good advantage that the crop was a profitable one the first year, which was rather unusual. Mr. Slater, who was unmarried, made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Eads. Mr. Eads later filed on a homestead cornering with his timber claim. His first residence was a sod house built on the latter, but as soon as he was ahle he erected a frame residence. He continued to farm until 1890, when he removed to Tyndall and opened an implement house and at the same time bought and shipped stock to the eastern markets. In 1901 he leased three thousand acres of Indian land eight miles north of Avon and for three years, or until the sale of the Indian lands, was a rancher, his family living during that time in town. In 1903 he leased Shadeland farms, a large estate east of Tyn- dall, which he devoted to the raising of fine horses and Hereford cattle. He was very successful in ranching and his herd of cattle was one of the best in the northwest. During this time his wife and three younger children lived during the school year in Sionx City in order that the children might have the educational advantages offered there. Mr. Eads is also an auctioneer of local note and has cried many sales in Bon Homme county. He and several of his family filed on land in Stanley county and now own eighteen hundred acres of land there.

Mr. Eads was married January 1, 1878, at Green Island, Nebraska, to Miss Lucy. A. Grimes, a native of Daviess county, Missouri. Her parents, Gainford and Mary B. (Nevielles! Grimes, removed west from Gainesville, Virginia. The father died when Mrs. Eads was a small child. Mrs. Grimes was living in Green Island at the time of the great flood in March, 1881, when the ice gorge formed and the town was inundated. She and others took refuge in a barn on higher ground and in the morning all escaped to the hills over a thin ernst of ice that had formed between the large cakes over night. During that night a nephew of Mrs. Eads, Franklin Mix, was born in the barn. To Mr. and Mrs. Eads have been born five children, Milton Frederick, Mary Ellen, Bertha May, Susan Alois and Caroline Frances. The two eldest attended Dakota Wesleyan University at Mitchell and the three younger. Morningside College at Sioux City, Iowa. Milton F. married Miss Alberta Griffith and they have three children, Leona May, Gerald Milton and Alois Frances. Mary Ellen bolds a position with the Mitchell National Bank, and the other daughters are teachers.

Mr. Eads is a republican and for two terms served his county as sheriff. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masons at Tyndall. On one of his return visits to Missouri he and a brother drove through in wagons and hronght back with them a string of horses, which they sold along the way. They also brought a large load of hickory nuts and walnuts, which were eagerly purchased in some places to eat and in others to plant. Many of the groves in the southern part of this state have grown from those nuts. When Tyndall was made the county seat Mr. Eads and a brother moved a house, which was placed on the corner where the First National Bank is now and which was used as a hotel. Mr. Eads also moved the records to the new court house in Tyndall four years later. During the blizzard of January 12, 1888, Mr. Eads' children were at school and his sister Ida was the teacher. She and the fifteen or sixteen children started for a neighbor's house nearby. They finally reached a stable, where they were compelled to remain over night. All reached home in safety. Mr. Eads has been a resident of the state for many years and his life has been a factor in the development of his section, a fact in which he takes just pride.

WILLIAM J. JACOBS.

William J. Jacobs, a resident of Faulkton and an active practitioner at the bar of Faulk county, was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, March 28, 1878, a son of John T. and Mary J. (King) Jacobs. The father was also a native of Mount Carroll, but the mother was born near Providence, Rhode Island. In early life John T. Jacobs turned his attention to the occupation of farming but afterward learned the weaver's trade, which he followed for many years. He is now living retired in Eureka, Kansas, where he is a well known and highly respected citizen. At different times he has held various public offices.

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William J. Jacobs is the eldest of a family of six children. He attended the public schools of Lanark, Illinois, and afterward was graduated from the Illinois College of Law as a member of the class of 1904. In the meantime, however, he had earned his own living. When bnt fifteen years of age he worked for others, being employed as a reporter on daily papers. He was also in the service of the Monon Railroad and the American Trust & Sav- ings Bank of Chicago for years and through his industry and economy he provided the means that enabled him to continue his education. He also engaged in clerking for a time and his youth was a period of unremitting industry. When he had completed his law course lie entered upon active practice in Illinois in 1904. The following year he came to South Dakota, settling at Bradley, where he remained for a year, when he was elected states attorney and removed to Clark. He then went to Faulkton in 1911 and has since followed his profession there, being accorded a good clientage that has connected him with much important litigation. While he devotes practically his entire attention to his practice he is · financially connected with other interests.

On Christmas Day of 1906 Mr. Jacobs was married to Miss Daisie I. Hendrickson, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a daughter of Henry and Walborg Hendrickson, the for- mer a well known lecturer and also the author of a number of widely read books, including "Success Without Sight" and others. He makes his home in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs have one child, Violet Olivine, at home.

Mr. Jacobs is well known in fraternal circles. He belongs to the blue lodge and chapter at Faulkton and has taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Aberdeen he has crossed the sands of the desert. He belongs also to the Knights of Pythias lodge at Clark, and to a number of fraternal insurance organiza- tions. In politics he is an earnest republican, but has never held office save when serving for four years as states attorney of Clark county. He is not remiss in the duties of citizen- ship, however, but cooperates in many important public movements looking to the benefit and betterment of city, county and state. He is now president of the Providence Hospital at Faulkton and is also secretary of the Commercial Club, taking a helpful interest in all those things which tend to bring about the business expansion and substantial development of his city. After all, however, the practice of law is his real life work and the thoroughness with which he prepares his eases, combined with his accuracy in applying the principles of jurisprudence to the points in litigation, are the strong elements of his success at the bar.

JOHN W. WALLACE.

John W. Wallace is a surveyor residing in Springfield and he has surveyed many town sites throughout the west. He was born in Columbus, Wisconsin, a son of George W. and Emily (Thompson) Wallace, both natives of England. Mr. Wallace of this review first came to Dakota territory in 1879 as a member of a railway engineering corps under Chief Engineer F. W. Kimble. He began the work with practically no knowledge of engineering and rose from axeman to rodman and finally to engineer. Max Bridgeman, an engineer, took a great interest in him and taught him the intricate mathematics of railroad engineer- ing. Mr. Wallace worked on many divisions of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- road in South Dakota and Jowa, including the lines at Running Water and Chamberlain, this state, and Emmetsburg, Iowa. For two years he was on the topographieal survey and drain- age project in the lake region around Okoboji, Iowa, under Moses Burpee and later laid out the town sites on that line of the railroad. He was also in the party running the line to the Black Hills and reached a point thirty miles east of Cheyenne river, when the party was turned back by hostile Indians. Near Fort Hale sixty Indians were secured as guides and the line was run through to the Hills. He was later employed on the line from Aberdeen to Seattle and located and laid out most of the towns along almost the entire length of the line. He was then for two years employed in the company's offices in Milwaukee, working in the drafting rooms much of the time. He has laid out the town sites on the Lewiston, Great Falls, Cannon Ball, Armour, Jim River and Faith lines of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, as well as at Emmetsburg, Estherville and other points in Iowa. For a number of years he has been in the constant employ of the Milwaukee Land Company, plat- ting and surveying town sites along that railroad system. He also served as county sur- veyor for twelve or fourteen years, part of the time while he was residing upon his farm.

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He first purchased a quarter seetion situated eight miles west of Springfield and later bought an additional forty aeres. After his marriage he lived upon the farm for fifteen years, removing to Springfield in the fall of 1898 in order that his sons might attend normal school.

Mr. Wallace was married at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, February 13, 1884, to Miss Sarab C. Hunter, a daughter of Joel and Parmelia (Northup) Hunter, both natives of New York. Mrs. Wallace was born near Reedsburg. By her marriage she has become the mother of four children, two sons and two daughters: George W., who owns a ranch in Meade county; Joel H., who holds a lease on the Springfield ferry; and Carl H. and Clara H., who are both taking a full course in the Springfield Normal School. The parents are communicants of the Episcopal church. Mr. Wallace is a past master of the Masonic lodge and past patron of the chapter of the Eastern Star and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America.

At the time of the great flood of the spring of 1881 Mr. Wallace was at Chamberlain, where he saw the waters rise and fall almost daily during the time that the flood condi- tions lasted. At the time of the fearful blizzard of January 12, 1888, he was on the farm and was fortunate enough to get his cattle all in before any perished. He lost nothing by prai- rie fires because of his foresight in keeping his place always surrounded by ample fire guards. He has led a busy life which has not only brought him material success hut has contributed to the development of South Dakota, and all who know him respect him for his sterling character.

ALBERT LAMPE.

Albert Lampe is senior partner of the Lampe Market Company, of Huron, conducting an extensive business as butchers and packers, having established an industry which is of the utmost importance as a factor in the business activity and development of the town. He was born in Alfeld, in the province of Hanover, Germany, January 18, 1848, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Strobele) Lampe, both of whom spent their entire lives in the fatherland.

In the schools of his native country Albert Lampe was educated and in 1868 he entered into active connection with the butchering business, working for others until 1874, when he opened a shop of his own at Wernigerode, which he conducted for eight years. He then sold out and came to the United States, where he arrived on the 4th of December, 1882. He made his way direct to Huron, South Dakota, where he entered the employ of Jacob Schaller as butcher, buyer and packer. For seven years he was employed in that way and in 1889 opened a shop of his own. It was his ambition to engage in business on his own account and he carefully saved his earnings until his economy and industry had brought him sufficient capital to take this initial step. From that time forward he bent every energy toward the upbuilding of the business and the extension of his trade until he had developed one of the most important productive industries of the city.

On the 17th of December, 1913, the business was incorporated under the firm name of the Lampe Market Company, with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars. This is a close corporation, all of the stock being owned by the father and his five sons, with Albert Lampe, Sr., as president; Fred Lampe, vice president; Henry Lampe, secretary and treas- urer; and Albert, Gustave and Carl are also partners in the undertaking. The business was started from a small beginning, Mr. Lampe having only about five hundred dollars with which to finance the enterprise. The trade has gradually increased as the years have gone by and in 1914 reached the sum of one hundred and seven thousand dollars, an increase of twelve thousand dollars over 1913. The growth has been along steady, healthful lines, being based upon sound business principles and thoroughly reliable methods. Their main building covers seventy-two hundred square feet used as salesrooms and warerooms. They have a most up-to-date equipment. with a refrigerating plant covering eleven thousand cubic feet of storage capacity operated by an eight-ton Remington compressor driven by a fifteen horse power electric motor, with forced air circulation. They also have complete equipment for making sausage and they also cure and smoke all their own pork and beef. In fact, their plant is equipped with the most modern and up-to-date appliances, including six computing scales, four slicing machines and other modern machinery, including all that

HENRY LAMPE

CARL LAMPE

ALBERT LAMPE, JR.

ALBERT LAMPE, SR.

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goes with a first-class market and packing house. They also own their own slaughtering house, which stands on a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of land. Like the market, it is most modern, unsurpassed in its equipment in South Dakota. It is thirty-three by seventy-eight feet and in addition there is a large feed barn containing room for two hun- dred head of cattle, three hundred sheep and two hundred hogs. Upon the place is a large silo, feed mills and other modern accessories. They raise the feed for the stock and all work is conducted on a strictly business basis. In addition to their other equipment they have many horses, two automobiles, a traction engine and several gasoline engines. They are firm believers in alfalfa as a feed product for stock and now have twenty acres planted to that crop and expect to increase it until one hundred acres shall be devoted to the growing of alfalfa.

Mr. Lampe was married in Germany, April 6, 1875, to Miss Maria Nehrkorn, also a native of Alfeld, Hanover, born February 7, 1849, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christof Nehrkorn, both of whom died in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Lampe have nine children: Fred, who married Bertha Jaehn, and has three children, Clara M., Gertrude and Frederick; Annie, the wife of Frank Meyer, by whom she has four children, Charles, Alice, Edward and Maria; Albert, Henry, Gustav, Mary, Emma, Carl and Elsie, all at home. They also lost two children in infancy.

Such in brief is the history of Albert Lampe, who, attracted by the opportunities of the new world, came to try his fortune on this side the Atlantic. He found that in America the accident of birth does not determine one's possibilities nor establish his success, but that the chance for advancement is open to all and that in this country "labor is king." It has been through his indefatigable energy, bis unfaltering industry and his well defined plan that he has gained his advancement until he stands among the prominent representa- tives of business activity in Huron.

PERRY F. LOUCKS.

Perry F. Loucks, admitted to the bar in 1902, is now actively and independently engaged in law practice in Watertown, where he is accorded a good clientage. He was born in Jef- ferson City, Missouri, September 20, 1878. a son of H. L. and Florence I. Loneks. The family removed to South Dakota in 1881, settling near Clear Lake, where the father engaged in farm- ing for many years. At the present writing, however, he is living retired in Watertown. He was at one time president of the Farmers Alliance when that organization was at the zenith of its power and influence. His wife also survives and the family circle, including two sons and two daughters, yet remains unbroken by the hand of death.

Perry F. Loucks was less than three years of age when brought by his parents to the Dakota territory and in the public schools he acquired his early education, after which he entered Brookings College. therein continuing his studies from 1896 until 1900. As a law student he entered the office of Philo Hall, of Brookings, remaining there for a year, and later continued his reading in the office of John Hanten, a well known attorney of Watertown. In 1902 he was admitted to the bar and became a member of the law firm of Hanten & Loucks in 1904. That relation was continued until 1908, when Perry F. Loucks became the senior partner in the firm of Loucks & Mather, which was afterward Loucks, Mather & Storr. In April, 1914. that connection was dissolved and Mr. Loucks has since been alone in practice. He has had a goodly share of the public patronage and his clientage has connected him with much important litigation tried in the courts of the district. He studies every case with a thoroughness that gives him keen insight into its possibilities and the law applicable thereto.

In 1906 Mr. Loucks was united in marriage to Miss Della M. Fassette, a daughter of C. M. and Jennie Fassette, of Brookings. Mrs. Loucks is a graduate of Brookings College and by her marriage has become the mother of two daughters, Elberta and Gladys.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church and Mr. Loucks is promi- nently known in connection with the work of several fraternal organizations. He is a grand vice chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of South Dakota; in Masonry has taken the degrees of lodge and chapter and is a member of the building committee of the Masonic fraternity and is serving as its secretary. He is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

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His political allegiance is given the republican party and from 1908 until 1913 he filled the office of city attorney by appointment. He has been and is a delegate to the American Bar Association and was appointed as a delegate to the conference to discuss making uniform state laws. He is interested in the science of government and the many legal problems which arise through interstate and national relations. He is a elose student and deep thinker and in his home town is always found in those circles where able men are gathered for the discussion of important questions.

GEORGE H. WHITING.

George H. Whiting, living on section 8, Yankton precinct, in Yankton county, first came to Dakota territory on the 4th of June, 1879, crossing from Nebraska to Yankton with a party of three friends. He had been seeking a location in the west and with his com- panions started out from Minnesota with a two-horse wagon. They crossed the Missouri river at Sioux City and traveled through Nebraska as far as Antelope county. The farther they went into the sand hill country the worse it looked to the prospectors. Someone sug- gested South Dakota and they at once turned back, crossing the river at Yankton and proceeding north and east from Sioux Falls to Flandrean. Since that time Mr. Whiting has been continuously a resident of this state.

He was born in Winnebago county, Illinois, half way between Freeport and Rockford, on the 24th of June, 1856, a son of Ralph B. and Emma (Kling) Whiting, natives of Con- necticut and Germany respectively. They were married in New York about 1854 and soon afterward settled in New York, where they remained for some time, and, as previously stated, George H. Whiting was born in Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1856 and in 1862 the family removed to Fayette county, lowa. In 1868 a further removal was made to Mower county, Minnesota, where George H. Whiting continued until the spring of 1876, when he returned to lowa and worked upon a farm and at carpentering until the fall. He then traveled westward to California and for two and a half years was employed on fruit ranches on the Mokalomee river in Alameda county and in the Napa valley north of San Francisco. At the end of that time he returned to his home in Minnesota and soon afterward started on the overland journey to Nebraska, as previously stated. Eventu- ally they reached South Dakota and Mr. Whiting filed on a tract ten miles north of the county seat in Moody county. His cash capital at that time consisted of but fourteen dol- lars, the amount of the government fee. The thirty dollars paid for the relinquishment and the two dollar fee to the deputy land agent at Flandreau had been borrowed and that without security. The first work which he did was on the Northwestern Railroad, then being built into Brookings. An old bachelor in the neighborhood took a fancy to Mr. Whit- ing, who had helped him without asking pay. This man allowed Mr. Whiting to take a yoke of oxen and a plow to break his own land and then break for others, paying for the team and plow at a later date. He also loaned him money to buy a team of horses to cultivate his first crop. Mr. Whiting broke forty acres the first year and upon it raised forty acres of good wheat. Two years later he went to Kingsbury county, where he filed on a timber claim and when he proved up on the homestead he sold that property and removed to the timber claim and also filed on a preemption near Esmond.

His experience on the fruit ranches in California eaused Mr. Whiting to early turn to the nursery business as a profitable undertaking. In this he was associated with his brother-in-law. They started with four hundred seedling apples, which, however, were ruined the next season by the hail. They began again with forest trees, which were in demand for timber claims, and gradually began handling fruit trees, while still furnishing forest trees when in demand. In the nursery business Mr. Whiting prospered and in 1891 he removed to Yankton and established the Whiting Nurseries. He now has two hundred acres, one-half of which is usually kept in trees, while the remainder is devoted to crops, which are rotated, and thus the soil is again prepared for the trees. His business extends over most of the states west of the Mississippi and east of the mountains. Recently he has established a fruit farm of ten hundred and forty acres near Bayfield, Wisconsin, within a mile and a half of the shore of Lake Michigan in the finest fruit belt in the United States.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 144

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