History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 26

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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At that time Mr. Dutcher was a justice of the peace and the postmaster, as well as a publisher in his home town. He enjoyed the friendship and intimate acquaintance of such men as John E. Bennett, afterward judge on the supreme bench; S. H. Elrod, governor from 1905 until 1907: and S. J. Conklin, pioneer and for a number of years adjutant general. A. C. Johnson, passenger and traffic manager for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Chicago, was Mr. Dutcher's neighbor at Raymond. Among the pioneers and men of promi- nence Mr. Dutcher enjoyed the acquaintance of such men as Gideon C. Moody, who was United States senator from 1889 until 1891; R. F. Pettigrew, who was senator from 1889 until 1901: Osear S. Gifford and John A. Pickler, members of congress from 1889 to 1896. He was intimately acquainted with the last territorial and the first state governor, Hon. A. C. Mellette, and for three years served as aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Charles H. Sheldon with the rank of colonel. He numbered among his personal friends C. N. Her - ried, A. O. Ringsrud. Thomas Thorson and W. H. Roddle, the last three being secretaries of state in successive order from 1889 until 1900. In 1895 Mr. Dutcher was assistant to the chief clerk of the house of representatives.

In June, 1890, Mr. Dutcher removed to Brookings, establishing the Brookings Register and afterward absorbing the Sentinel. In 1906 the Brookings Individual was taken over and consolidated with the Register, which is today one of the best weeklies published in the state. Mr. Dutcher enjoys the distinction of being one of less than a half dozen publishers in the state who have been continuously in the publishing business since 1884. He has been a member of the South Dakota Press Association since it was organized in 1884 and was its

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first treasurer. He was the first secretary of the present organization of the Brookings Com- mercial Club, which is one of the best and most active organizations of this kind in the state. He has always been an advocate of South Dakota and her opportunities, has been an in- defatigable worker for her upbuilding and as a promoter has done much to advance her interests. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being a past commander, a past high priest, a past master and a past patron. His life has been actnated by the spirit of advancement and the result of his labors has been farreaching and beneficial.

LOUIS F. MICHAEL.

Louis F. Michael, a retired farmer living in Lesterville, Yankton county, has been a resident of Dakota since 1867 and is therefore entitled to recognition as one of the real pioneers of the state. He was born near Coblenz, in the Rhine province of Prussia, on the 19th of August, 1839, a son of Henry and Charlotte (Otto) Michael. In 1845 they emigrated to America from Germany, landing in New Orleans on St. Patrick's day after a voyage of thirteen weeks on the sailing vessel First Monarch, which put out from Liverpool. Mr. Michael had friends at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, but did not stop there when the boat on which the family was journeying up the Ohio passed that town but continued to Cincinnati. Not long afterward, however, the family went to Lawrenceburg, where they lived for eighteen months, after which a removal was made to Rushville, Indiana, where the father ran a dray and also a stage line to Connersville. It took eighteen horses for the business, as Mr. Michael ran two stages each way per day. He died in Indiana in 1864, at the age of fifty years, and his wife passed away in Denver, Colorado, in 1890, at the advanced age of eighty-five. In their family were the following children: Louis F., of this review; Henry W., who has been engaged in business in Denver since 1862; Mrs. Elizabeth Maek, a widow; Anthony, who died in Denver; and Charlotte, the wife of Charles Burgess, of Denver.

Louis F. Michael was but a child of six years when he accompanied his parents on their journey to the new world and acquired bis education in the United States. He early began to assist his father and when fourteen years of age drove a four-horse stage daily. He learned the butcher's trade and worked at that until two years before the outbreak of the Civil war. He and a friend had begun dealing in horses and had bought a number which they were taking to Cincinnati to sell when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Mr. Michael immediately left for home and directed his partner to complete the business transaction. He was the seventh man to enroll in Company F, Sixteenth Volunteer Regiment and was appointed corporal. His command passed through Baltimore the night after the Baltimore massacre and the men were given strict orders not to create a disturbance nor reply to jeers. Mr. Michael went into a bakery owned by an Irishman to buy lunch for himself and his comrades, but the proprietor refused to sell to him, whereupon his men wrecked the place and took the entire stock. The first skirmish in which his command participated was at Darnestown, Maryland. They then crossed the mountains and passed down through Lees- burg and Manassas Junction but were afterward sent to Washington. The winter was spent in camp at Frederick, where Mr. Michael was made commissary sergeant.

. As the time of enlistment bad expired, the men were sent home, but Mr. Michael veteranized, becoming a member of Company C, Sixteenth Indiana Regiment. He was sent to Cumberland Gap with his command and participated in the battle at Richmond, Kentucky, where the entire regiment was captured with the exception of Mr. Michael and nineteen other men. He was next sent to Memphis, thence up White river, where he aided in taking Arkansas Post. The regiment of which he was a member planted the first flag on the fort with a loss of but four killed and four wounded. Mr. Michael, who by this time held the rank of second sergeant, was put in command of his company, as all of the higher officers were killed or disabled, and after the capture of the fort was commissioned second lieutenant. Not long afterward Lieutenant Michael and fifty men were sent to capture some rebels in a house near Point Gibson, whose presence had been reported by a negro. The Union soldiers surrounded the house and captured all of the rebels and the captain found fifteen hundred dollars in gold in the attic. When negotiations were undertaken concerning the

LOUIS F. MICHAEL

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surrender of Vicksburg, General Pemberton first sent Bowen, a subaltern, as his representa- tive, but General Grant sent back word directing General l'emberton to come in person. This he did and Lieutenant Michael had the honor of escorting him to Grant's presence, taking eare that he was blindfolded until he was well within the Union lines. Lieutenant Michael heard General Grant make his terms, which were those of unconditional surrender and which gave him his nickname of Uneonditional Surrender Grant. At the close of the siege the regiment of which Mr. Michael was a member had but two hundred and twenty-five men left, so terrible had been the casualties. The command was next sent to Jackson, Mis- sissippi, where it assisted in driving Johnson from that section, and while in that campaign Lieutenant Michael's company saved a piano from a burning house for a northern lady who was teaching in the south and had been unable to return north. Not long after this ineident he was sent out with a squad of men to superintend the unloading of the steamer City of Memphis and he and his men were on the shore when the ship was blown up by the explosion resulting from a shell being dropped on the boat by a negro. Many of the deck hands were killed, but Mr. Michael and his squad were far enough away to escape injury. He was on the expedition up Red river under the command of General Banks, and the regi- ment captured thirty-five hundred steers and fifteen thousand dollars in Confederate money on Vermilion Bayou. The cattle were worth much more than the money and were taken to Franklin, Louisiana, from which point they were sent to New Orleans to supply beef to the army there. At Alexandria Lieutenant Michaels and his squad of men captured seventy- eight men and officers and the next engagement in which he participated was the battle of Sabine Crossroads. When the war elosed he was stationed at Tipteaux, Louisiana, and was mustered out at New Orleans, although he was not discharged until he reached Indianapolis.

Not long after the close of the war an unele of Mr. Michael's, who was living at New Orleans, died and his widow sent for our subject to help her settle the estate. He therefore returned to the Crescent eity and while there contracted yellow fever and for fifteen days was very ill. In the fall of 1866 he went up the river to St. Louis, where he remained until the spring of the following year, when he was employed as a buteher to go to Fort Benton, Montana, in the government service. Passage was taken on the steamer Ida Stockdale, but he was taken off at Leavenworth, Kansas, and sent with an expedition that was to try to get through to California. They encountered many Indians and after a great deal of fight- ing had to return and give up the trip. Seven hundred teams accompanied by two eom- panies of soldiers then started overland for Fort Benton, Montana, which they finally reached in safety.

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Michael made his way down the Missouri river as far as Sioux City, but, finding no work there, continued to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was employed in a paeking house throughout the winter. In the spring of 1868 he came to Dakota terri- tory and was associated with Harney, establishing reservations and placing the Indians thereon. He was in the employ of the government at the opening of the Grand river, the Cheyenne and the Lower Brule ageneies, furnished beef to the Indians, being located about fifteen miles from Fort Sully and ten miles above the site of Pierre. After being in the government employ for nine months he went to Sioux City but soon heard that J. R. San- burn of Yankton needed a man in his meat market and immediately applied for the position, which he secured. At the end of six months he, in connection with a partner, bought the business. In the meantime he had filed on a homestead near Lakeport. Yankton county, and by using his land rights as a soldier secured a patent thereto in 1872. Following his marriage he removed to his farm, to which he added from time to time until he was the owner of six hundred and forty acres of land. He resided upon his homestead and concen- trated his energies upon its improvement and cultivation until the death of his wife, when he retired from active life, disposing of part of his land, for which he received one hundred and twenty dollars per acre. For a number of years he has lived in Lesterville, enjoying at his ease the comforts of life, as his labor in former years enabled him to acquire more than a competenee.

Mr. Michael was married on the 16th of May, 1870, in Yankton, to Miss Annie Cap, a daughter of Daniel and Mary Cap, natives of Bohemia. To Mr. and Mrs. Michael were born one son and ten danghters, of whom five daughters have passed away. The surviving children are: Lizzie, the wife of Albert Tank, who is farming in Yankton county; Anna, now Mrs. George Bellamy, of Mitehell; Henry W., who is engaged in the insurance and real-

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estate business in Lesterville; Charlotte, the wife of George Kremer, of Lesterville; Mary, a gradnate nurse of Norfolk, Nebraska; and Margaret, still at home.

Mr. Michael is a democrat and cast his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas. As a member of Phil Kearney Post, G. A. R., of Yankton, he is associated with others who defended the Union in the Civil war and finds much pleasure in reviewing the occurrences of those stormy days. He has a fine voice and is a valued member of the German Singing Society of Lester- ville. While living in Indianapolis he was a member of a fire company and on one occasion rescued a lady by jumping a story and a half with her from a ladder, both escaping uninjured, as they were caught in a canvas. He experienced a number of the severe storms of the early days and during the blizzard in October, 1871, lost his way while endeavoring to find his father-in-law's house, to which he and his wife were going, as their's was unfinished. After wandering about for two hours they succeeded in finding a neighbor's house, where they were sheltered. Mr. Michael's faith in South Dakota has been justified and the hard- ships of the early days are forgotten in the prosperity of the present.

WARD BERTRAM DYER.

Ward Bertram Dyer, of the law firm of House & Dyer, of Chamberlain, was born in Ohio, on the 25th of July, 1880, a son of Alvin and Mary Dyer, both of whom are deceased. The father was by profession a physician. Ward B. Dyer received his elementary and second- ary education in the public schools and took his law course in the Ohio State University, from which he was graduated in 1906. For about a year he practiced in his native state and then came to South Dakota, locating successively at Gann Valley, Kimball and Cham- berlain. In 1912 he formed a partnership with Mr. House and they are now known as two of the best lawyers in Brule connty. They have a large practice and represent important interests.

Mr. Dyer was married on the 8th of July, 1906, to Miss Bessie L. Wagner, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of John and Margaret (Book) Wagner, of Canton, Ohio, They have one daughter, Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer attend the Congregational clurch. He is a republican and while living in Buffalo county, this state, served acceptably as states attor- ney. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, in which he has taken the chapter degrees in the York Rite, and he is also identified with the Woodmen and the Odd Fellows. He is a stockholder and director of the Kimball State Bank and has already made his pres- ence felt in Chamberlain, where he is recognized as one of the leading young professional men of the town and as an excellent citizen.

TIMOTHY COLE.

Timothy Cole, living retired at Tyndall, is well known throughout Bon Homme county and that section of the state. He and his three brothers and sister, Mrs. Bridget Cogan, were among the first settlers in Old Bon Homme and were among the most influential resi- dents of their county for many years. Timothy Cole was horn at Newark, New Jersey, October 22, 1845, and his parents, Bernard and Catherine Ann (McCormack) Cole, were born near Castlereagh, County Roscommon, Ireland. They emigrated to America in the early '40s, embarking at Liverpool on a sailing vessel bound for New York which required thirteen weeks and three days to make the trip. Mr. Cole found work at Newark, New Jersey, and passed away there about 1850. Five or six years later his widow brought ber family west and two of the boys went to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to make their home with a wealthy bachelor uncle, Colonel Bartholomew Cole, a veteran of the Mexican war. But the boys rebelled at the latter's strict discipline and the arrangement was soon terminated. The inother then came west and lived for a time in Milwaukee and then in Beaver Dam and Winnebago, Wisconsin, still later in Dubuque, and after that she established her home half way between Clarksville and Hannibal, Missouri, where the family was living at the open- ing of the Civil war. Bernard and Timothy served during the greater part of the conflict.

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At the beginning of the war Timothy was too young for service on the battle line and there- fore enlisted in the Third Missouri State Cavalry, a militia organization, but later became a member of the Forty-ninth Missouri Infantry, under Colonel D. P. Dyer, now a well known member of the St. Louis bar. Bernard and Timothy Cole saw active service in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and participated in one of the last engagements of the war, the siege of Spanish Fort. Following the war the family removed to Dakota territory, where Bernard Cole had previously established himself as a blacksmith in the old town of Bon Homme. Upon his arrival in the territory in 1868, Timothy Cole established a wood yard four or five miles east of Bon Homme. At the end of a year he returned to Missouri and remained two or three years when he again came to South Dakota and filed on a homestead claim on section 26, Cleveland precinct, which remained his home until March, 1909, when he removed to Tyndall, where he has since lived retired. While actively engaged in agri- cultural pursuits he was known as a progressive, alert and energetic farmer and he accumu- lated more than a competence, which enables him to spend his remaining days in ease and leisure.

Mr. Cole was married in the fall of 1866, in Millwood, Lincoln county, Missouri, to Miss Elizabeth Blake, a native of Virginia, whose birth occurred in March, 1849. Her parents, Shelton and Fannie (Fortune) Blake, emigrated to Jefferson county, Missouri, in 1852 with their family and there the father farmed during the remainder of his life. Mrs. Cole attended the high school of St. Louis and Guardian Angel Academy, where she became a convert to the Catholic faith. Of the ten children born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Cole nine survive, four sons and five daughters, who reside in Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Gregory, Tripp, Meade and Yankton counties, this state.

Mr. Cole is a democrat and stanchly supports the candidates of that party at the polls. He and his family all belong to the Catholic church and he is a comrade of Springfield Post, G. A. R. He experienced all of the hardships and privations that fell to the lot of the carly settlers in this state, the blizzards in winter, the prairie fires in the late summer and autumn, the grasshopper plagnes and the isolation common to frontier life everywhere. He is held in the highest esteem in his community and the honor that is his is richly deserved.

WILLIAM E. RYAN.

William E. Ryan, an energetic and enterprising business man, now president of the First National Bank of Letcher, was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, May 16, 1865. His father, John Ryan, was a native of the Badger state and was a son of John Ryan, Sr., who was born in Ireland and on coming to America made his way into the interior of the country, settling in Wisconsin among the pioneers of 1834. His son and namesake married Cath- erine Lewis and to them were born nine children.

Willianı E. Ryan, the second in order of birth, acquired his education in the country schools of Wisconsin and has been identified with the business interests of South Dakota since 1893, when he established a lumber yard at Letcher, building up one of the leading enterprises of the kind in the county. This he conducted with growing success until 1910, when he sold his plant to the J. F. Anderson Lumber Company. In the meantime his trade had steadily grown and his enterprise had become one of the leading business concerns of the district. In 1900 Mr. Ryan assisted in organizing the Letcher State Bank at Letcher, of which he was chosen president, and when that institution was changed to the First Na- tional Bank he continued as its chief officer. He has been largely responsible for making it one of the strong financial institutions of the state. It has been developed along a substan- tial basis and in keeping with modern business ethics and its snecess is attributable largely to his executive force, his keen insight and his well defined plans. He also has important farm and ranch interests, owning two thousand acres of improved land upon which he is successfully engaged in breeding cattle. Indeed he has been for many years one of the largest breeders and dealers in live stock in his part of the state and as he is familiar with every phase of the business and knows the market he is thus able to direct his interests and his investments in live stock so as to secure a good return therefrom.

In 1889 Mr. Ryan was united in marriage to Miss Mahel Smith, a daughter of J. P. and

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Cora (Derby) Smith, who were among the early settlers of Sanhorn county, coming from Vermont in 1885. To Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have been born four children, namely: Cora Blanche; Kathryn, the wife of Laurence Smith, of St. Louis, Missouri; Myrtle G .; and Helen A.

Politically Mr. Ryan is an earnest republican and he has been a member of the school board for many years. Fraternally he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and an Elk and is loyal to the teachings of those organizations, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit upon which they are based. He believes in giving to each individual the opportunity which should be his and he has never won his success at the price of another's failure. On the contrary, his prosperity has been largely due to his faith in the future of the state and the excellence of his judgment in making investments which have justified the soundness of his opinions.

JAMES E. PLATT.

James E. Platt is a man of prominence not only in the city of Clark and the county of that name but also in banking circles of South Dakota and the nation, as he is secretary of the State Bankers Association and is a member of the executive council of the American Bankers Association. He is mayor of his city, secretary of the Commercial Club and presi- dent of the Security Bank. His influence is felt in almost all aspects of public and civic life, and his energy and clearness of vision enable him to accomplish much for the general good.

Mr. Platt was born in New York state on the 11th of March, 1866, a son of James N. and Laura (Sibley) Platt, both likewise natives of the Empire state, their births occurring in Otsego county. They were there reared and married. The father, who was a Methodist minister, went west to Iowa about 1870 and subsequently filled pulpits at Eddyville, Park- ersburg, Earlville, Epworth, Manchester, Marion, Fayette and Nashua. In 1884 he brought his family to this state and settled in Clark. He later became one of the organizers of the Security Bank and was subsequently made president of the institution, in which capacity he served until his death, in April, 1906, when he was sixty-eight years of age. His widow survives and makes her home in Clark.

James E. Platt was reared at home and acquired his education in the common schools and at the Manchester (Ia.) high school, graduating from the latter institution with the class of 1881, being its youngest member as he was only fifteen years of age. Subsequently he attended Cornell College at Mount Vernon, lowa, the Upper Iowa University at Fayette and Epworth Seminary at Epworth. He completed a classical course in the last mentioned school in 1884 and immediately afterward came to Clark, South Dakota, where he found employment in the D. Wayne & Sons Banking House for four years. In 1888 he assisted in organizing the Security Bank of Clark and on September 1st of that year the institution opened its doors for business with Mr. Platt as its first cashier. In 1890 his father was made president of the bank and served in that capacity until his death, which occurred in 1906. James E. Platt held the position of cashier until 1913, when he was elected president of the institution, in which capacity he is now serving. His long banking experience has made him thoroughly familiar with the daily routine and his years of service in an adminis- trative position have developed his natural executive ability, while his constant study of the monetary and commercial problems that affect banking has made him unusually compe- tent to erect larger policies of the bank with which he is connected. The same qualities have gained him a position of leadership in the State Bankers Association, in which he holds the office of secretary.

On June 19, 1900, Mr. Platt was united in marriage with Miss Katherine A. Boyle, who for a number of years taught in the Clark city schools. Two children have been born to this marriage, Lois and Robert. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Platt has sung in the choir for some twenty-five years.

Mr. Platt gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is the present mayor of the city. Fraternally he is very prominent in Masonry, being a member of Clark Lodge, No. 42, A. F. & A. M .; Olivet Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M .; Watertown Commandery, K. T .; South Dakota Consistory, No. 4, A. & A. S. R., of Aberdeen; El Riad Temple of the Mystic

JAMES E. PLATT

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Shrine of Sioux Falls; and the Masonie Veterans Association. He also belongs to Watertown Lodge, No. 838, B. P. O. E .; Myrtle Lodge, No. 43, K. P .; Clark Lodge, No. 60, I. O. O. F., and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has served as state grand chancellor and supreme representative in the Knights of Pythias and for the past eight years has been grand receiver of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He likewise holds membership in the Watertown Country Club and the Minneapolis Athletic Club. For twenty years he has been treasurer of the State Fair Association and is major paymaster of the South Dakota State Militia. He is secretary of the Commercial Club of Clark and much of the achieve- ment of that organization is due to his fidelity and initiative. He is connected in important capacities with many and varied associations and movements and it is only his great energy, power of quick decision and efficiency that enable him to successfully discharge all of the duties devolving upon him. There is no man in Clark county who has done more notable public service, and his integrity is as generally conceded as his ability.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 26

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