USA > South Dakota > Minnehaha County > History of Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Containing an account of its settlements, growth, development and resources Synopsis of public records, biographical sketches > Part 55
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HUNTER, HENRY R., was born in Delaware county, N. Y., Nov- ember 19, 1840. He was reared on a farm, and attended the public schools until sixteen years old, when he was employed about the hotel business in which his father then engaged. During the last year of the civil war he was connected with the quartermaster's department of the Third Division of the Seventeenth Corps. After the war he engaged in the hotel business in Wisconsin and Iowa un- til he removed to this county, arriving in Sioux Falls on the 17th day of May, 1870. His father, who took up a quarter section in section twenty-eight in Sioux Falls township, died in 1881, and the subject of this sketch lived on this place until 1894, when he removed to Min- nesota. In March, 1899, he returned to Sioux Falls, where he now resides. During his first term of residence in Sioux Falls he en- gaged in farming, and in the livery and real estate business, was in the early seventies a newspaper correspondent, and held several township offices. He is a good citizen, and has a wide circle of friends.
HURST, SAMUEL H., was born in Rochester, New York, March 25, 1854. In 1862 he removed with his parents to Rochelle, Illinois, where he attended the public schools, and Mount Morris Seminary. When about twenty years of age, having become an expert baseball player, he was emploved by baseball companies for three seasons. In November, 1877, he came to this county and located in Sioux Falls, where he has since been employed in the lumber business. He is now serving his seventh year as alderman of the Fourth ward. He is a man with positive elements in his make-up, is a good official and a good citizen. He is prominent in the order of Odd Fellows, and has a host of friends.
HUTCHINSON, JOHN W., was born at Thorntown, Boone county, Indiana, on the 15th day of August, 1851. When three years of age he removed with his parents to Winneshiek county, Iowa. He was reared on a farm, and received his education in the common schools and in the high school at Decorah, Iowa. At seventeen years of age he commenced teaching school, and taught five terms in all. At twenty-one years of age he entered the employ of a firm of insurance
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
agents and dealers in agricultural implements, and remained there until he removed to Sioux Falls on the 22d day of May, 1873. He then entered the employ of C. K. Howard, having in charge his grain and machinery business until October, 1880. He has always been engaged in speculation, and his good judgment and business qualifi- cations have made him successful so that for the last few years he has been kept busy taking care of his accumulations. He has always taken a hand in local politics, but has never sought official promotion and has held no office except that of chief of the city fire department for three terms. Independent, energetic, possessed of rare good sense and a thorough knowledge of human nature, he has become a factor in the affairs of the city, and has a host of friends within his extensive circle of acquaintances.
HYDE, FRANK R., was born at Pittsfield, Pike county, Illinois, December 10, 1858; when six years old he removed with his parents to Lincoln, in the same state, where he attended the district schools and the Lincoln college; in 1878 became clerk in a drygoods store, and remained five years; in 1883 went to Potter county, Dakota, and took up a quarter section of land, and remained there and at Blunt three years; in 1886 went to Missouri and engaged in farming two years; came to Sioux Falls May 10, 1888, and bought Hills & Beebe's abstract books, and opened an abstract office. In 1888 the Sioux Falls Abstract and Title Insurance Company was incorporated, and his abstract business was consolidated with it, but he and H. M. Avery owned a controlling interest in the stock. In 1897 the com- pany was reorganized, and he still has an interest in it. In April, 1895, he was appointed superintendent of Bradstreet & Company's business in South Dakota, and holds this position at the present time. Mr. Hyde is an energetic, industrious business man, and a highly respected citizen.
JAMESON, JAMES, was born at Rochester, N. Y., September 27, 1846, but went with his parents when a child to Wisconsin, where he was reared on a farm and educated in the district and high schools at Janesville. When twenty-four years old he went to Winthrop, Iowa, and for seven years was engaged in farming in Iowa, but sold his farm and moved to this county and located at Sioux Falls, April 15, 1883, since which time he has been engaged in the real estate business. The Edmison-Jameson block was built by him and Mr. Edmison, and in other ways Mr. Jameson has shown himself to be an enterprising citizen. He is a conservative, honest man, and well liked by all who know him.
JEFFERS, CHARLES T., was born in Danville, New York, Janu- ary 18, 1837. At eleven years of age he took a fancy that steamboat- ing was about the thing for him, and he was so anxious to lose no time in satisfying his desire that he left home in the night. He managed to obtain employment, and during the eight years follow- ing was on the Mississippi river, the lakes, and at sea. He then re- turned home and attended school for two years. On the 4th day of June, 1861, he enlisted in the Fourth Michigan Infantry. On the 12th day of October, following, he was seriously wounded while on
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
picket duty, and was discharged December 20, 1861. In December, 1862, he enlisted in the 27th Michigan Infantry, and was in active service until May 12, 1864, at which time he was again wounded in battle at Spotsylvania court house, and was sent to the hospital. After a partial recovery from his wounds he was made first sergeant, and performed hospital duties until February 10, 1865, when he was mustered into the 8th U. S. Artillery (colored) with a first lieuten- ant's commission. On the 10th day of February, 1866, he resigned his commission at Victoria, Texas, and was discharged. He then went to Michigan and engaged in farming until March, 1879, when he came to Sioux Falls. During his residence in Sioux Falls he had quite an official career. He was appointed special policeman on the East side, and was assistant marshal for two years, and when the city of Sioux Falls was incorporated he was appointed city marshal, which office he held for three years. During the next three years he was engaged in farming, and collecting. On the 1st day of June, 1889, he was appointed deputy warden of the penitentiary at Sioux Falls, which position he held for three years. Upon the resignation of N. B. Bailey as captain of Company B, of the Dakota National Guards; he was elected to fill the vacancy June 30, 1885. On the 12th day of October, 1892, he was promoted to major of the Second Bat- talion of the Second regiment of the D. N. G., and was inspector general of the state for three years, being much interested in and closely identified with military organizations. During his residence in Sioux Falls he took quite an active part in politics. He was an earnest worker and a good citizen, and when in 1894 he removed from the state he left a large circle of warm friends.
JENSEN, JOHN W., was born in Norway May 31, 1854. He spent his early youth on a farm and attended the public schools. When eighteen years old he came to the United States, and was engaged in farm work at Algona, Iowa, until he attained his majority; was then employed by a real estate firm in Chicago, Ill., and acted as its field agent at Algona and also at Jackson, Minn., for three years. On the 1st day of March, 1886, he opened a bank at Toronto, Minn., and was in the banking business there for six years. On the 1st day of June, 1893, he came to this county and located in Sioux Falls, where he has since resided, engaged in the lumber and fuel business. While in Toronto he was elected mayor, and was also city treasurer. In 1898 was nominated for the office of sheriff by the Republican par- ty of Minnehaha county, but was defeated with a large majority of his associates upon the ticket. Notwithstanding his short residence in the county he has become well and favorably known as a business man and citizen.
JEWETT, CHARLES A., was born in Newark, Licking county, Ohio, February 7, 1848. He attended school until seventeen years old and then commenced work in his father's grocery store, where he remained until 1870, at which time he removed to Kansas City and went into the wholesale grocery business by himself. At the end of two years he sold and went to Independence, Kan., where he engaged in the same business until 1875, when he disposed of it and during the succeeding seven years traveled for wholesale grocery houses in
CAPT. C. T. JEFFERS.
37
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
Chicago and New York. In July, 1882, he opened a grocery house in Aberdeen, S. D., in company with his brother, Harvey, who came there at that time. In March, 1883, he went to Aberdeen to reside, but in June, 1888, removed to Sioux Falls, where he has since resided. The firm of Jewett Brothers & Jewett at that time bought the Ward & Frick wholesale grocery business in Sioux Falls and commenced business on an enlarged scale. In March, 1893, established a branch house at Sheldon, Iowa. This firm was one of the first if not the first strictly wholesale house in Dakota. In 1884 it shipped the first carload of sugar into Aberdeen that was ever shipped into Dakota. In 1897 it shipped in two hundred and forty carloads of sugar and transacted business upward of $1,200,000 during the year.
Mr. Jewett is an active participant in political matters and was president of the Sioux Falls Daily Press Company for two years. He is noted for his energy and persistence in carrying out his pro- jects in whatever he undertakes, and is not only a good business man but a good citizen.
JEWETT, D. CLINTON, was born in Newark, Ohio, December 9, 1854; attended the public schools until February, 1869, when he en- tered his father's wholesale grocery store as shipping clerk. In 1870 he entered the employment of the Adams Express Co. and remained with the company twelve years. In September, 1882, was elected secretary of the Newark Building Association and during the next six vears paid out $750,000 for the construction of five hundred houses. On the 25th day of May, 1889, came to Sioux Falls, where he has since resided, and is one of the firm of Jewett Bros. & Jewett. He was never a candidate for a political office, and has refused to permit his name to be used in that connection, but he is an enthusiastic Re- publican and endeavors to neutralize as far as he can the labor of his brother, C. A. Jewett, in the interest of the opposite parties. He is a thorough business man and an enterprising, esteemed citizen.
JOHNSON, NELS S., better known as N. S. Johnson, was born near the city of Risoer in Norway, August 5, 1833. In early life he was a sailor, and came to New York for the first time when he was twenty years of age. During the eighteen years he was a sailor he filled about all the positions there were, from cabin-boy to captain. He has sailed pretty nearly everywhere, and there are few European ports he has not visited. At one time he was a gold-digger in Aus- tralia. He came to the United States the second time in 1865, and during the next few years was at work upon the rivers and lakes in this country. In 1868 he took up some land in Iowa, but left there for Dakota in the fall of 1872, when he secured land in Lincoln county, which he afterwards disposed of and came to Sioux Falls and opened a paint shop, and when that did not pay him enough, he went to work in a lumber yard. He was industrious and economical, and whenever he could save a dollar he put it into real estate, and is today "well fixed " as the saying goes. He is a man of positive con- victions, and always ready to stand by them. He has written sev- eral books in the Norwegian language, which have been published in this country. They are upon religious subjects, and his views, as
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
set forth in his publications, are of the liberal order. He is a thor- oughly honest man and a good citizen, and although he never held any political office, still, he is quite a factor in Minnehaha county politics.
JOHNSON, ORRIS, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, August 10, 1853. He received a common school education, and worked on a farm until the spring of 1880, when he removed to Lincoln county, Dakota, and took up a farm. He remained there engaged in farming until 1893, when he removed to Sioux Falls and opened up a livery, feed and sale stable, in which business he still continues. He also has a farm in the township of Hartford, this county, but resides in Sioux Falls. While in Lincoln county, he held township offices. He is a good citizen, and liked by all who know him.
JOHNSON, WATSON W., is a native of Williams county, Ohio, and was born October 5, 1846. When five years of age he removed with his parents to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he attended the pub- lic schools and worked on a farm until a few months before the close of the civil war, when he enlisted in Co. I, 22d Wis. Inf. After the close of the war he returned to his home and engaged in farming until 1873, when he removed to Dakota, and arrived at Sioux Falls on the 5th day of February of that year. The first two years he worked for Skinner & Austin in the machinery business, and then farmed the northeast quarter of section eight in Split Rock for seven years. In 1882 he again moved into Sioux Falls, and has since resided there. For several years he engaged in the feed business, but for the last few years the hack business has received his undivided attention. He is a good neighbor and a good citizen.
JONES, EDWARD H., is a native of Wisconsin, and was born in December, 1852. He received a high school education. In 1873, he came to Minnehaha county, and took up the northwest quarter of sec- tion twenty-four in Benton township as a pre-emption. Besides at- tending to his claim he worked as collector for C. J. Skinner, who at that time kept an agricultural warehouse in Sioux Falls. He also engaged in breaking and freighting, hauling lumber from Sibley, Iowa, and other places, before the railroad reached this section of the country, and slept about five nights of the week on the ground under his lumber wagon. He lived with R. W. Talcott, kept a cow, and received compliments of the housewives in the village for his skill in buttermaking. A few years later he took up as a homestead the southwest quarter of section twenty-six in Grand Meadow township, where he resided with his family for about ten years. He was the first assessor of Grand Meadow, and was a member of the town board for several years. He sold his farm to Mr. Hirsch, the pres- ent owner, and bought a relinquishment comprising a tree claim in the northwest quarter of section four in Hartford township, where he resided until the fall of 1893, when he rented his farm and re- moved to Sioux Falls and for three years was engaged as clerk in the grocery department of the Bee Hive. Mr. Jones is a good citizen, and has a large circle of acquaintances.
N. S. JOHNSON.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
JONES, JOSEPH W., who has resided in the city of Sioux Falls since April, 1883, is a native of Indiana and was born December 10, 1845. His early life was spent on a farm and in attending the com- mon schools. Afterwards he attended De Paunt University at Green Castle, Indiana, where he was graduated in 1870. Immediately there- after he went to Danville, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1870, and commenced the practice of law at that place; was elected state's attorney of Vermillion county, Illinois, and at the ex- piration of his term of office was re-elected and held the office four years. In April, 1883, immediately after his arrival in Sioux Falls he opened a law office and practiced law until he assumed the duties of circuit judge of the second judicial circuit of South Dakota, on the 2d day of January, 1894, to which office he had been elected in No- vember, 1893. He was re-elected in November, 1897. He has the reputation of being a very careful, painstaking lawyer, and has been employed in some of the most important cases tried in Minnehaha county. As a judge he is industrious, and disposes of matters that come before him as soon as he has time to properly consider the questions involved, which meets with the hearty approbation of the bar. It is not too much to say that he brings to his work a thorough knowledge of the principles upon which all law is founded, and en- deavors to the best of his ability to perform the duties of his high office without fear or favor to any one. Judge Jones is not only a good lawyer and judge, but a good neighbor, a genial companion and an upright citizen.
JORDAN, CHARLES E., was born at Cantebury, England, Janu- ary 2, 1856, and when two months old came with his parents to this country, and located in Carlinville, Ill., where he attended district schools until sixteen years old; then served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade three years; came to Sioux Falls on the 15th day of May, 1878, and for six years worked for T. C. Marson, and on the Queen Bee mill; in 1883, entered into copartnership with his brother, E. F. Jordan, under the firm name of Jordan Bros., and since then they have been engaged as contractors and builders, and are doing an extensive business. Mr. Jordan is an esteemed citizen.
JORDAN, E. F., brother of Charles E., was born at Carlinville, Illinois, in 1859. He served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, and came to Sioux Falls in 1883, and is one of the firm of Jordan Bros. He is a good citizen.
REV. W. H. JORDAN, D. D., was born October 16, 1857, in Cherry Valley, a suburb of Worcester, Mass. His father was a Methodist minister. In 1869 moved with his parents to northern Illinois; in 1874 entered the preparatory department of the North- western university, and in 1876, the university proper, where he re- mained until his senior year. During this year he accepted the position of instructor of Simpson college, Indianola, Iowa, where he completed his course and was graduated in 1882. Upon his gradua- tion was elected to the chair of Natural History in his Alma Mater, which position he held until 1885, when he entered the ministry. He received the M. A. degree from the Northwestern university. He
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
joined the Des Moines conference and entered upon the work as a missionary in Dakota. His first pastoral appointment was at Mil- bank, where he remained four years, and advanced his charge from a low grade to one of the first in the conference, On the 17th day of October, 1889, was appointed presiding elder by Bishop Vincent, and assigned to the charge of the Sioux Falls district, which position he held until October, 1895. During this time he not only succeeded in advancing his district from the smallest to the first in the confer- ence, but made it the leading district in the two Dakotas in the mat- ter of pastoral support In October, 1895, became the pastor of the First M. E. church in Sioux Falls, and still retains this charge. In 1896 he headed the Dakota delegation to the general conference of the M. E. church, which is one of the largest legislative bodies in the world, and was made a member by that body of the National Board of Control of the Epworth League. During the same year the degree of D. D., was conferred upon him by Cornell college, Iowa. He was for three years a member of the State Board of Regents of South Dakota. He represents the ninth general conference district, which includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Sweden and Norway, and Burmah, and is the Fourth upon the Advisory Literary committee, composed of ten members.
Although Mr. Jordan is an ideal pastor and an eloquent preacher, it is not alone in this field that he has attained distinction. As a lecturer upon topics requiring scholarly attainments, keen dis- cernment, wit, logic, and a high order of oratorical ability, he stands in the front rank of platform lecturers. His great influence is also felt upon all matters affecting the welfare of the community in which he lives, in his earnest, courageous and fearless efforts to elevate the moral standing of the public. Thus far Mr. Jordan has refused flat- tering invitations to high positions of honor in the scholastic field, and it is to be hoped that he will remain a citizen of South Dakota, where he has by his great natural ability, aided by his industry and devoted work, built up for himself an enviable reputation, and se- cured the friendship and love of all good citizens.
JUDGE, HAROLD E., was born at Floyd, Floyd county, Iowa, February 7, 1873; attended the public schools, and completed his academic education in the Collegiate institute at Fort Dodge, Iowa; studied law, and was graduated from the law department of the State University of Iowa; came to Sioux Falls, July 24, 1894, and entered the law office of Bailey & Voorhees; July 15, 1895, became a partner of the firm of Aikens, Bailey, Voorhees & Judge; October 22, 1897, retired from the firm, and formed a copartnership for the practice of law with Judge Aikens, under the firm name of Aikens & Judge. Mr. Judge stands well with the legal profession, is a close student, and will make a good lawyer.
KAUFMANN, MOSES, has been too busy whenever interviewed in regard to his biography to give any information, but notwithstanding his early life is a sealed book to the writer, enough is known of his recent history to make a short sketch possible.
He has lived in Sioux Falls since the early eighties, and is a well-
REV. W. H. JORDAN, D. D.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY,
known citizen. When the Sioux Falls brewery passed from the con- trol of its original owners he purchased a large block of its stock, and since then, in connection with Moriz Levinger, has had the man- agement of its affairs. He travels about the state, and is acquainted with the people, especially with all those who have been members of the legislature or are likely to become such in the future. He at- tends the sessions of the legislature, arrives there early, secures rooms at the principal hotel. and then quietly, but in a systematic way, goes about his work of preventing legislation hostile to his busi- ness. In this he has been remarkably successful, and at no time more so than during the session in 1899. He is always quiet, cool and self-possessed, but he is "sawing wood" as the saying goes, all the time, night and day. At his rooms, in the corridors of the hotel, in the committee rooms, and sometimes in the legislative halls he is untiringly pushing his scheme to the front. What seem to be insur- mountable obstacles at twilight are frequently overcome before the dawn of the following day. As a lobbyist he is the smoothest man in the state. He is an enterprising citizen, and responds liberally to all calls for help in public affairs; is a good business man, social and companionable, and has a host of friends who delight in helping him to accomplish whatever he may desire.
KEITH, HOSMER H., was born in New York, July 12. 1846. His father was a farmer of Scotch ancestry. Mr. Keith received a thor- ough academic education, and has not only worked on a farm, but has, like most of the energetic young men of his time, taught school. He studied law for a time and then entered the law school at Albany, N. Y., graduating in 1870. He was admitted to the bar at a general term of the supreme court of New York, in June, 1870, and has since then, first in New York and then South Dakota, been in the active practice of his profession. He came to Sioux Falls in the spring of 1883. At the election of officers for the proposed State of South Dakota under the Sioux Falls constitution, he was elected judge of the circuit court of the second district. At the election in the fall of 1888, he was elected a member of the territorial legisla- ture, from the counties of Hanson, McCook and Minnehaha. receiv- ing a majority of 498 over his competitor J. T. Gilbert, who had been elected the term previous by a majority of 165. He was elected speaker of the house of representatives, and had the honor of presid- ing over that body during its last territorial session. He is at the present time a trustee of Colgate University, N. Y., and for several years was president of the board of trustees of the Sioux Falls Uni- versity. For three years, after coming to Sioux Falls, he was in practice by himself, but during the year 1886 he was associated with S. E. Young, under the firm name of Keith & Young. In January, 1889, he formed a copartnership with C. P. Bates, under the firm name of Keith & Bates, which continued until January, 1893, when it was dissolved. As speaker of the house of representatives the writer can say from personal knowledge that he filled the position with marked ability. But as a lawyer Mr. Keith is best known. Where he is employed in a case, his opponents know that there is to be a contest from the beginning to the end. He is a sagacious trier
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