History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 46

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. Otis dates his residence in Dakota from the last of December, 1879, when he arrived from Mower county, Minnesota. He filed on a homestead claim in Moody county, eight miles from Flandreau and for seven years lived upon that claim, proving up under President Cleveland. In 1886 he removed to Kingsbury county, where he entered the employ of his brother-in-law, George H. Whiting, whom he assisted in establishing and conducting a nursery business. Many hardships were met. They endured losses through hail and drought and met with other discouraging conditions. Mr. Otis continued with Mr. Whiting in Kingsbury and Yankton counties and was connected with him in business until he became a representative of the Dakota Farmer, with which he has now long been associated. For twelve years he was in the subscription department and for five years in the live stock depart- ment, visiting sales, live stock shows in the big centers and reporting everything of interest to live stock breeders and dealers. He is now field man on the paper and his efforts have been a contributing factor to the success of that journal.

Mr. Otis is a stalwart republican in his political views and fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. As a pioneer settler of Dakota he relates many interesting incidents of the early days and the methods of living upon the frontier. The first winter which he passed in Moody county was spent in a sod house and for fuel he burned twisted straw, which he hauled on a hand sled. The neigh- hors asked him to go to Verdi on the railroad with his sled, a distance of twenty miles, to get meat which had been sent out from the east. The snow melted through the day so that the sled broke through, making a very hard return trip. For a short time Mr. Otis was out

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in the blizzard of January, 1888. He had turned his cattle out to water, but he got all safely back to the barn and reached his house in safety. Another storm in the same month was nearly as bad. He also aided in fighting prairie fires and on one occasion he and his brother-in-law, Mr. Whiting, had an exciting experience having started a back fire which threatened to get away from them, but finally they put it out by throwing the door of a freight car over the largest flames and succeeded in extinguishing the rest of it. The fiercest prairie fire which Mr. Otis ever witnessed started by sparks from the railroad and ran over twenty miles in almost as many minutes. The conditions of the early days have passed away, but the memory of many settlers yet connects that primitive period with the progressive present and to Mr. Otis, as to others, Yankton county and the state owes a debt of gratitude for what they accomplished in promoting the early work of development and improvement in this section of the country.

GEORGE E. ROBERTSON.

George E. Robertson is president of the Robertson Lumber Company of Fort Pierre, in which connection he occupies a creditable and enviable position in the business circles of the city and Stanley county. He was born in Albion, Michigan, in 1878, a son of Orris W. and Lura E. (Pearl) Robertson, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Albion, Michigan. Both parents are now deceased. The father followed the business of telegraph construction. At the usual age George E. Robertson became a pupil in the public schools, supplementing his educational training there by study in the Albion College. He has been a resident of South Dakota since 1900, in which year he began ranching on Dry creek in Lyman county. He filed on a claim and made the necessary arrangements and plans for securing the ownership of the property, but in 1903 he gave up ranching and went to Fort Pierre. There he occupied the position of law clerk in the office of Judge Hovey until the spring of 1904, when he embarked in the lumber business as junior partner in the firm of Keyser & Robertson, this connection being maintained until 1907, when Charles W. Robertson, brother of our subject, bought out Mr. Keyser's interests and the business was resumed under the firm name of the Robertson Lumber Company. Charles W. Robertson came to South Dakota in 1896 and was engaged in sheep raising until he turned his attention to the lumber busi- ness. The firm now handles lumber, all kinds of builders' supplies, cement, coal and farm machinery. They erected the buildings necessary in the conduct of their lumberyard and now have a well equipped plant, while their trade is constantly increasing.

In Fort Pierre, in 1906, Mr. Robertson was united in marriage to Miss Vera L. Young, a daughter of Isaac Young, who came to Fort Pierre before the building of the railroad through this section of the state and was engaged in transferring at an early date. Mr. and Mrs. Robertson are now the parents of four interesting children: Thurman, Marion, Billie and Helen.

Since 1900 George E. Robertson has been a resident of this state and for a decade has been connected with the lumber trade, in which he has built up a business of gratifying proportions. Fraternally he is a member of Hiram Lodge, No. 123, A. F. & A. M., of Fort Pierre; Pierre Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M., of Pierre; Capital City Commandery, No. 21, K. T .; and Naja Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Deadwood. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the democratic party at national elections.

DENZEL P. FARGO.

Denzel P. Fargo is living retired in Doland, where he has made his home since 1883. Thirty-two years have come and gone since he arrived in Dakota territory in the spring of that year, removing from Belding, Michigan. He was born in Ionia county, that state, Feb- ruary 26, 1844, and is a son of John D. and Lucy C. (Borden) Fargo. The father was a farmer and cleared a tract of timber land in Michigan, converting the place into productive fields. Thinking to enjoy the opportunities of the growing west, he came to South Dakota in 1883,

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filing on land near Groton, Brown county. This he also improved and made his home thereon for almost twenty years, passing away on that farm in 1902 at the ripe old age of eighty- three years. His wife died in 1889, at the age of sixty-eight years, and they rest side by side in the Groton cemetery. The family comes of English ancestry and was founded in America prior to the Revolutionary war.

Reared npon the home farm, Denzel P. Fargo obtained his education by walking two and a half miles to school through the winter months. In the summer seasons he worked in the fields until he attained bis majority and when eighteen years of age became a student in a commercial college, whereby he was equipped for the practical duties of the business world combined with the training which he had received upon the home farm. He then purchased some land from his father and cultivated it until he came to South Dakota in the spring of 1883. He built the Fargo House in Doland and also filed upon a homestead, which he improved by the erection of buildings and by the development of the fields. He con- ducted the hotel for nine years and in the meantime increased his holdings until his landed possessions aggregated about one thousand acres. He is a man of excellent business ability, of sound judgment and keen discrimination and has contributed in large measure to the material upbuilding and improvement of Spink county. He assisted in organizing the Elec- tric Light Company, of which he is a director. He erected the first hotel in Doland, also built the Fargo office and store building and has greatly improved his farm properties, thus adding materially to their valne and the development of the locality.

On the 27th of December, 1865, near Belding, Michigan, Mr. Fargo was united in mar- riage to Miss Sarah C. Divine, her parents being Westbrook and Elizabeth Divine, both of whom are deceased and lie buried at Belding, Michigan. To our subject and his wife have been born four children, as follows: John D., who is an agriculturist by ocenpation and holds the office of postmaster at Redfield, South Dakota; Ella B., who gave her hand in mar- riage to Charles Q. Hartshorn, of Longmont, Colorado; Charles M., a resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Ralph, who died on the 12th of December, 1913, when thirty-seven years of age, and lies buried in the Doland cemetery.

Politically Mr. Fargo is a republican and filled the office of register of deeds for four years but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs. He is a blue lodge Mason and exemplifies in his life the spirit of that organization, which is based upon the principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness. He is a resourceful man, ready to meet any emergency, and the wise use which he has made of his time and talents has brought him to a position among the prosperous citizens of Spink county. Moreover, he has an extensive acquaintance and the great majority of his acquaintances are his friends.

JEAN F. SARGENT.

Jean F. Sargent is an able and successful representative of the legal fraternity in South Dakota, being actively engaged in the general practice of law at Gettysburg. His birth occurred in Turner county, this state, on the 23d of December, 1879, his parents being Junia and Ida M. (Dack) Sargent, the former a native of Union City, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Rock Island, Illinois. Junia Sargent came to South Dakota in 1872, was married in this state and for a period of nineteen years was successfully engaged in the mercantile business at Hurley. He then devoted his attention to farming for six or seven years but in October, 1908, retired and took up his abode in Los Angeles, California. At the end of four years he removed to a fruit ranch near Riverside, California, on which he and his wife have since made their home. He still owns land near Hurley, this state, and always took an active interest in politics, ably serving as county commissioner for thirteen consecutive years and also acting as a member of the school board and as justice of the peace.

Jean F. Sargent, the second in order of birth in a family of nine children, acquired his early education in country schools and at Hurley and subsequently spent three years in the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, while his professional training was received dur- ing three years' study in the Northwestern University Law School, which institution con- ferred upon him the degree of LL. B. in 1905. He spent the period of his minority under the

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parental roof and then engaged in farming near Hurley for two years. It was on the expira- tion of that period that he pursued his law course, being admitted to the bar in October, 1905. For two and one-half years he practiced his profession in Parker, South Dakota, and then removed to Gettysburg, where he has remained continuously to the present time, having built up an extensive and lucrative clientage. He is felicitons and clear in argument, thor- oughly in earnest, a foe worthy of the steel of the most able opponent, and yet is never abusive of his adversaries but is imbned with highest conrtesy. He still owns farm lands in the state which he leases and is widely recognized as one of the substantial citizens and successful attorneys of Potter county and South Dakota.

On the 24th of June, 1908, Mr. Sargent was united in marriage to Miss Matie Spotts, a native of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and a daughter of A. L. and Emma (Heinselman) Spotts, both of whom were born in Ohio. The father has devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits throughout his active business career and he and his wife still reside in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Sargent have three sons, namely: Carroll V., who was born April 15, 1909; Wil- liam Boyd, whose natal day was May 24, 1911; and Robert Lynn, whose birth occurred on the 13th of February, 1913.

Politically Mr. Sargent is a stanch republican who has done able public service in the line of his profession. He served as state's attorney for Potter county for four years and likewise held the office of city attorney for three years, making a most commendable and creditable record in both connections. He was also made the first chief of the volunteer fire company, serving in that capacity for two years, while during the year 1912 he acted as president of the Commercial Club. His religions faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is identified with the Masons, belonging to Ionic Lodge, No. 83, A. F. & A. M., at Gettysburg. He has many friends in his part of the state and is always seen in those social circles where the intelligent men of the community are to be found discussing questions of vital importance.

JOHN EGAN.

John Egan, who has been actively and successfully identified with agricultural interests in South Dakota throughout his entire business career, is now the owner of a valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres comprising the south half of section 32, Taopi township, Minnehaha county. His birth occurred in Wisconsin on the 15th of April, 1869, his parents being Thomas and Mary Egan, who took np a homestead and also a timber claim in this state in 1876. The conntry was still comparatively wild and but sparsely settled. and they underwent all the hardships and dangers of the pioneers, experiencing the grasshopper plague and other trials of early times. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Egan are deceased.

John Egan, who was a little lad of seven years when he came to South Dakota with his parents, attended the country schools of this state in the acquirement of an education and subsequently assisted his father in the work of the home farm. As above stated. he has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits here throughout his entire business career and is now the owner of a farm comprising three hundred and twenty acres on section 32, Taopi township, Minnehaha county. His implements are modern and he has brought his fields to a high state of cultivation and improvement by progressive methods of agriculture. He keeps seventy-five head of cattle, most of which are full blooded shorthorns, one hundred head of Duroe hogs and is a breeder of Percheron horses, owning nine registered full blooded Perch- erons at the present time. In both his farming and live-stock interests he has won merited success. He may justly lay claim to the proud American title of a self-made man, for his prosperity is attributable entirely to his own well directed efforts and able management.

On the 29th of October, 1891. Mr. Egan was united in marriage to Miss Aleelie Gage, her father being L. S. Gage, an early pioneer of this state, who is now living retired at Hartford, Minnehaha county. They have the following children: Eleanor and Luther, both of whom follow the profession of teaching: and Clive, Clifford. Joyce May and Elsworth, all of whom are attending school.

In his political views Mr. Egan is a stanch republican, loyally supporting the men and measures of that party. He has acted in the capacity of school officer and also held the

MR. AND MRS. JOHN EGAN

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position of road supervisor for one year. Anything pertaining to the growth and develop- ment of his community and state is of interest to him, and he does all in his power to pro- mote the general welfare. Flis religious faith is that of the Baptist church, while fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen, the Modern Brotherhood of America and the Masons. Motoring affords him much pleasure and recreation. He is well regarded in the community where he has spent the greater part of his life and where the comrades of his boyhood are the friends of his manhood.

ROBERT CUTTS.

Robert Cutts, who has the distinction of owning the finest farm and buildings in the state, is one of the honored pioneers of South Dakota, now living retired at Emery. He was one of the first settlers of Hanson county and turned the first sod in that locality. His birth occurred in Maine on the 6th of September, 1853, his parents being Samuel and Lydia Cutts, who came to this state in 1878 and here spent the remainder of their lives.

Robert Cutts acquired his education in the district schools and after putting aside his textbooks turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. On leaving his native state in 1867 he removed with his parents to Wisconsin, where he spent seven years and in the mean- time was married. At the end of that period he removed to Minnesota, where he spent about two years and then came to Dakota, being at that time a young man of twenty-five years. He took np a homestead claim in Hanson county and while his father was here on a visit the latter also took up a claim on section 11, township 101, range 57. All was virgin prairie when Robert Cutts began the development of his farm and he was obliged to haul his lumber, feed and groceries from Sioux Falls and Yankton. He used oxen almost exclusively in his farm work. By dint of arduous labor and steady application, however, he eventually devel- oped an excellent farm and as prosperity attended his efforts he augmented his landed hold- ings by additional purchase. When he had acquired a comfortable competence that obviated the necessity of further toil, he turned the active work of the fields over to his sons and has since lived in honorable retirement at Emery.

On the 21st of July, 1872, Mr. Cutts was united in marriage to Miss Flora Rameshatham, a daughter of Thomas and Ann (Eccles) Ramesbatham, who were natives of England but came to the United States soon after their marriage and settled in Fall River, Massachusetts. Later, however, they removed to Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Cutts were born three chil- dren, Alton I., Edith H. and Roy R., and they now have nine grandchildren.

In polities Mr. Cutts is a stanch republican and has ably served in township offices, while at the present time he is a member of the Emery town board. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, the teachings of which he exemplifies in his daily life. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has resided in this state for the past thirty-seven years, or from the period of its early settlement, and has ever been an active worker for its advancement, progress and upbuilding.

EDMUND PURDY NEILL.

The business activity of Edmund Purdy Neill has been put forth along two distinct lines. In early manhood he was connected with the wholesale furniture trade; later he entered into active connection with the newspaper business. In the last named connection he is not only well known in Aberdeen, where he makes his home, and in South Dakota, but also throughout the state of Montana, where he gained his early training.

He was born July 26, 1877, at Portage, Wisconsin, a son of David Middleton and Alice (Purdy) Neill. On his mother's side he is descended from English and Mohawk Dutch ancestry and the line can be traced back to the Mayflower. The ancestral estates formerly covered a large area in Pennsylvania, including the spot whereon Major Andre was captured at the time of the Revolutionary war. The family has a most interesting coat-of-arms. In the paternal line Mr. Neill is descended from the MeNeal elan of Scottish Highlanders, a small

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clan characterized for their warlike proclivities in the Scotch mountains. Representatives of the clan afterward settled near Edinburgh, Scotland. The parents of Mr. Neill are now residents of the northwest, making their home at Red Wing, Minnesota.

It was in the graded and high schools of that place that Edmund P. Neill pursued his education, being graduated in 1892 from the high school when hut fifteen years of age, the youngest graduate ever receiving a diploma from the Red Wing school. Moreover, he had completed a four years' course in three years. Immediately after his graduation he entered into business life with his father and received no further educational training save for one term at a business college. The father was a wholesale furniture manufacturer and it was along that line that Edmund P. Neill received his initial commercial training. Five years were devoted to the furniture business in its various departments. During that time he worked through the lumberyard, the finishing room, the packing room and the machine shop and during the last two years was actively engaged at the woodcarver's trade.

Between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-three years Mr. Neill was in the army and then went upon the road as a traveling salesman, devoting four years to that occupa- tion. Since then he has been identified with the newspaper business, in which connection he has worked his way steadily upward from the position of proofreader through the inter- mediate positions of reporter, city editor, telegraph editor, editorial writer and advertising solicitor to that of newspaper manager. He is now secretary, treasurer and manager of the Aberdeen American Company, publishers of the Aberdeen Daily American, the Aberdeen Weekly American and the Aberdeen Sunday American. These are among the foremost newspaper publications of the state with large subscription lists and a liberal advertising patronage. The papers are published in accordance with modern ideas of journalism, showing the spirit of progressiveness that has found expression in the newspaper of the day.

Mr. Neill is familiar with military life through service in the state militia and active duty in the Philippines, serving eleven years in all. He enlisted in the First Regiment of the Minnesota National Guard at the age of seventeen years and served in the ranks for two years as a private and one year as corporal. He then reenlisted in the same regiment with the rank of sergeant when the regiment was changed to the Thirteenth Minnesota Volunteers and was sent to the Philippines for active duty in the Spanish-American war. With his com- mand he participated in the task of subdning the Philippine rebellion, serving for seventeen months in the islands. He was especially mentioned in dispatches for bravery in leading a squad of ten men against a considerable number of concealed enemy to protect the flank of his battalion until a machine gun could be brought into action. He was honorably dis- charged at San Francisco in 1899 with the rank of sergeant.

Three years later he was commissioned first lieutenant of the Second Montana Infantry of the National Guard and later was commissioned captain of Company K at Billings, Mon- tana. He resigned on leaving the state after four and a half years' service in Montana. He was equally prominent with the military organization of South Dakota, having been commissioned second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain of the Fourth South Dakota Infantry of the National Guard. He resigned in April, 1915, after two years' service, and his connection with the National Guard of the country covers in all eleven years. In Minne- sota he won the second prize in regimental shoot and in Montana won place on the state rifle team for three successive years and as a member participated in three national shoots at Camp Perry, Ohio. In 1911 he was detailed from Montana for special service and instruc- tion on the Mexican horder, near San Diego, California.

On the 17th of September, 1901, Mr. Neill was married at Belle Creek, Goodhue county, Minnesota, to Miss Matilda B. Casey, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Patrick Casey, of Belle Creek. The family is of Irish lineage, the mother having come from County Tyrone and the father from County Mayo. In early life they crossed the Atlantic to America and were married in this country and all of their children were born here. Mr. and Mrs. Neill had the misfortune to lose their first-born, a baby girl, who died at Red Wing, Minnesota, July 7, 1903. Their third child, a son, horn January 4, 1913, at Aberdeen, South Dakota, has also passed away. Their second child, a daughter, Lila Marguerite, was born at Red Wing, Min- nesota, October 10, 1905, and is now ten years of age.

In his political views Mr. Neill is a progressive republican and at Billings, Montana, he served as a member of the republican city and county central committees. He has never been ambitious in the line of office holding, however, and among other honors refused the nomina-

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tion offered him by the republican party as candidate for the office of city treasurer of Billings.

He is prominently known in Masonic fraternal connections. Mr. Neill became a member of Red Wing Lodge, No. 8, F. & A. M., at Red Wing, Minnesota, December 20, 1902; joined Aberdeen Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M., on the 30th of April, 1914; and Damascus Commandery, No. 10, K. T., on the 12th of November of the same year completing the York Rite. In the meantime he had advanced through the degrees of the Scottish Rite, joining James C. Batchelor Lodge of Perfection, No. 6, April 9, 1912; Aberdeen Chapter of the Rose Croix, No. 4, April 10, 1912; Albert Pike Preceptory, No. 4, January 23, 1913; and South Dakota Consistory, No. 4, S. P. R. S., January 24, 1913. He is likewise a Shriner, member of Yelduz Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Aberdeen and captain of its Arab Patrol. He also is an Elk, belonging to Aberdeen Lodge, No. 1046.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume V, Part 46

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