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 57
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LEWIS, MRS. CLARA, came to Sioux Falls in 1872, and taught a select school in the barracks during the winter of 1872-3, and also the following summer. In the fall of 1873, she taught the first term of the district school in the Libbey hall. During the fall the first school house was finished. It was located on the grounds where the Central school house now stands, and H. J. Whipple taught the first term. Mrs. Lewis was in the barracks with her scholars when the
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
great blizzard of the 7th of January. 1873, swept over this section of the country. She succeeded in getting home that night with great difficulty, although she had but a short distance to go, residing at the time where the Syndicate block now stands. The small children were cared for at the barracks for three days. Mrs. Lewis has re- sided in Sioux Falls since first coming here, and has always taken an active part in promoting the welfare of the city.
LEWIS, GEORGE W., is a native of Malone, Franklin county, N. Y., and was born on the 3d day of January, 1844. His father was a merchant. When the subject of this sketch was quite young he re- moved with his parents to Canada, where he remained until he was twenty-one years of age; then went to Worcester, Mass., where he was employed as clerk in a hardware store for five years; then went to Faribault, Minn., where he remained eight years, clerking in a store, working in an insurance office, and for two years was steward of the Institute for Deaf and Dumb located there. In the spring of 1878 he came to Sioux Falls. He took up a homestead in Hartford township upon which he resided for awhile and then came to Sioux Falls and went into the Sioux Falls Bank | Young & Hollister) and remained in its employ one year. In the fall of 1879 he engaged in the insurance business in which he has continued until the pres- ent writing. Mr. Lewis is a methodical, conservative business man, and is held in high esteem as a neighbor and citizen by all who know him.
LIEN, BURRE H., was born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, December 21. 1859. His parents were driven away by the Indians in 1863, and lived at Jackson, Minnesota. a short time, and then went to Decorah, Iowa, where they resided until 1873, at which time they removed to Faribault county, Minnesota. The subject of this sketch received his education in the Normal school at Mankato, Minnesota, and in 1879 moved to Brookings county, Dakota, where he taught school and farmed until 1883. From that time to 1885 he was deputy register of deeds in that county, and in November of that year was elected probate judge. At the next general election he was elected register of deeds, and re-elected two years later, and was a member of the city council of the city of Brookings three years. He removed to Sioux Falls in 1891; was one of the charter members of the Co-oper- ative Savings and Loan Association, and has been its treasurer since its organization; was elected alderman from the Third ward in 1894, and mayor of the city of Sioux Falls in 1898; in March, 1899, was appointed a member of the state board of charities and corrections, and was elected its chairman. Mr. Lien is a successful business man, an enterprising citizen, and his political influence is felt throughout the state.
LIEN, JONAS H., was born in Faribault county, Minnesota, De- cember 12, 1874. He was reared by his brother, B. H. Lien, their father having died while Jonas was quite young. He was a student in the Agricultural College at Brookings, S. D., and there fitted for a collegiate course. He entered the Nebraska University in 1894, but dropped out to take part in the presidential campaign in 1896.
USVA
JONAS H. LIEN.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
He was employed by the State Central Committee of the Populist party in South Dakota, and spoke during the campaign in almost every county in the state east of the Missouri river. He was at once recognized as a strong political speaker. Such was his success in this campaign that he soon became known as the "Boy Orator of the Sioux." At the next session of the legislature he was elected chief clerk of the assembly, and then for a short time was the city editor of the Sioux Falls Daily Press. During the spring of that year he resumed his studies at the Nebraska University, where he was grad- uated in the spring of 1898. Again for a short time he worked upon the Press, but when the war with Spain broke out he enlisted in Company I, First Regiment South Dakota Volunteers, and was mus- tered into service May 4, 1898, as First Lieutenant and Adjutant. His purpose had been to become a private and earn promotion if possible. His friends persuaded him to accept the commission, and he entered upon the discharge of his duties with the energy and ability which always characterized him. In the Philippines he was in the hottest of every fight, from Block House No. 4 where the first battle occurred between the Americans and Filipinos February 4 and 5, 1899, to Marilao where he was killed March 27, 1899.
Of him his colonel said: "He was the bravest man I ever knew, and one of the best officers." He had been promoted to the rank of captain, but had not received his commission when he met his death. No one of his age was better and more favorably known throughout the state, and his untimely death was most sincerely deplored by all who knew him.
LOOK, AUGUST, is a native of Germany, and was born November 24, 1842. He emigrated to the United States in 1871, and resided in Wisconsin and Iowa until 1883, at which time he removed to Sioux Falls. He purchased the southwest quarter of section thirty, and the northwest quarter of section thirty-one, in Split Rock, and re- sided there a few years. He then rented his farm and removed to the city of Sioux Falls and engaged in the meat market business, in which he has been very successful. Mr. Look is up to the standard of good citizenship, and is well liked by his neighbors.
LOOK, CARL, was born in Germany, August 25, 1861; was edu- cated in the public schools. In 1883 came to the United States, and arrived at Sioux Falls, September 25, and immediately went to work for his brother, August Look, in his meat market. He re- mained in his employ until 1891. when he commenced business for himself, in which he has since continued. No man in the meat busi- ness in the city has furnished better meats to his customers than Carl Look, and as he is a pleasant, honest man to do business with, he is prospering.
LUDLOW, GEORGE A., was born at Ithaca, New York, August 31, 1840. He attended the common and high schools, and worked on a farm until he became of age. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. E, First Penn. Rifles Bucktails, and served six years, seven months and four- teen days. After having completed his military service he engaged in manufacturing lumber in Steuben county, New York, for two
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years, and then kept a hotel at Sabinsville, Penn., for one year. His next employment was in the U. S. Mint at Philadelphia, where he remained five years; then for four years was a commercial traveler, and deputy sheriff of Tioga county, Penn., the same number of years. In 1892 he came to Fort Pierre, S. D., and removed from there to Sioux Falls in June, 1895, where he has since resided; was for a number of years proprietor of the Central House; is deputy U. S. Marshal, and department Commander of the U. V. Union of South Dakota. Captain Ludlow is a very energetic, enterprising man, a respected citizen, and has a large circle of acquaintances.
LYON, WILLIAM HOYT, was born at Carrol, Carrol county, Iowa, November 26, 1858. His father, Samuel Lyon, was a physician, and removed from Iowa to Vermillion during the summer of 1860. The subject of this sketch attended the district school during his boy- hood, and in 1874-5 attended the academy at Newton, Iowa. In 1876 taught school at Vermillion, and the following year entered the United Presbyterian college at Monmouth, Iowa, where he was grad- uated in 1881; then entered the law office of Gamble Bros. at Yank- ton, South Dakota, where he remained one year, and then attended a law school at St. Louis, Mo., one year; was admitted to the bar at Yankton in 1882; in the fall of 1883 came to Sioux Falls and entered the law office of M. Grigsby, and in 1885 the law firm of Grigsby & Lyon was established. On the 7th day of January, 1888, the firm of Grigsby & Lyon having been dissolved, Mr. Lyon entered the law firm of Bailey & Davis, and is now a member of the firm of Davis. Lyon & Gates. Soon after coming to Sioux Falls he published a book which caused some comment. It was entitled The People's Problem, and took advanced ground in favor of the ownership of rail- roads by the government, and other kindred topics. In 1892 he was an independent candidate for the lower house of the legislature upon the issue of the sale of intoxicating liquors by municipal corpora- tions, and the large vote he received was a surprise even to himself. He is a man of positive convictions, and when he emphasizes his re- marks by an occasional "by himmel" the hearer is convinced that he should never be employed to drive an ox-team. He is a good law- yer, and socially he is in the front rank, and is one of those persons who know more at the end than at the beginning of the year.
MAGNER, SAMUEL H., was born in Peoria, Indiana, August 27. 1844. At the age of six years he removed with his parents to Paris, Illinois, and received his early education in the common schools at that place. In 1861, he enlisted in Company E, 12th Illinois for three months, and at the expiration of the term of his enlistment, re-enlisted, but was transferred to the U. S. Signal Service corps, and remained in the service until October, 1865. He then engaged in the dry goods trade at Paris, until 1870, when he removed to In- dianapolis and engaged in the same business until 1885. He then went to Pierre, in this state, and removed from there to Sioux Falls in November, 1886, where he has since resided. Mr. Magner is an active, enterprising citizen, and takes a prominent part in public matters, He is greatly interested in the welfare of the public
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schools, and has been on the school board for the last seven years, and its president since 1897. He is also quite a factor in politics, and is regarded as one of the prominent men of the city and county.
MARSON, THOMAS C., is a native of Nottingham, England, and was born January 4, 1834. In 1846 he emigrated with his parents to the United States and settled in Rochester, New York. In 1855 he went to Rochelle, Ill., where he worked at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in early life. He remained there until he re- moved to Sioux Falls in August, 1876, where he has since resided, engaged in contracting and building. He was a member of the Ma- sonic order before coming to Dakota, and is one of the oldest Masons in Sioux Falls. He is a good citizen.
MARTY, RT. REV. MARTIN, first bishop of the Catholic diocese of South Dakota, was born in Schwytz, Switzerland, January, 12, 1834. There was a Jesuit college at that place, where he began the study of Latin when nine years of age. He took a philosophical and theological course in the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln, becoming a member in 1854, and was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic church in 1856. After teaching for some time in the college he came to the colony which the Abbey had started in St. Meinard, Spencer county, Indiana. When this colony was made an Abbey by Pius IX in 1870, he was by him appointed its first Abbot, and remained there until 1876, when he came to Standing Rock Agency, Dakota, to con- tinue among the Sioux Indians the work begun by Father DeSmet, S. J. In 1879 Dakota Territory became a Vicariate Apostolic, of which he was put in charge as Bishop of Tiberias, and when Leo XIII erected the Diocese of South Dakota in 1889, he becameits first Bishop. His field of labor was a large one, extending over more than 150,000 square miles, with a population of less than one white person to the square mile, and his labor was greatly enhanced by the difficulties in reaching the people he had in charge. Until the 27th of December, 1889, when the Rt. Rev. John Shanley was conse- crated bishop for North Dakota, Bishop Marty had performed the duties of his office with great energy and fidelity in the whole of the Territory of Dakota, suffering many wants and privations with true apostolic spirit. He remained Bishop of South Dakota until about the first of January, 1895, when he was transferred to St. Cloud, Minnesota. He left behind him the evidence of having per- formed a great work, for under his administration over one hundred churches had been built, and sixty stations, seven academies, eigh- teen parochial schools and six Indian Missions had been established. It is no wonder that the health of the good bishop had been impared, and he had richly earned a transfer to a diocese more compact, whose care would require less physical exertion, where he could spent the declining years of a busy life surrounded with such comforts as a frontier diocese had denied him. Bishop Marty was well and favor- ably known . throughout the Dakotas, and during the few years he made his residence in Sioux Falls he greatly endeared himself to his people, who deeply regretted his departure.
Since writing the foregoing biographical sketch, the devout
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bishop has gone to receive the reward awaiting those who have labored faithfully in the Master's vineyard. He died at St. Cloud, Minnesota, on the morning of September 19, 1896, where, during his short residence he became greatly beloved not only by the people of his church but by all with whom he came in contact. The funeral was held from the cathedral in St. Cloud, September 23, and was the largest that had ever taken place in that city. Bishop Ireland preached the funeral sermon and about 100 priests were in attendance. The remains were escorted to Calvary cemetery by the four local Catholic societies, followed by a procession which called into requisi- tion every vehicle in the city.
MAY, EDWARD, was born near New Orleans, La., November 6, 1855; was educated at the public schools and at the University of Vir- ginia and then engaged in the cotton trade with his father at his native city. When twenty-two years old he became a member of the Board of Trade in Chicago and also of the Union League Club, which mem- bership he retained until 1895. In 1883 he established the Turner County Bank at Hurley, Turner county, this state, where heremain- ed until July, 1889, when he removed to Sioux Falls, where he has since resided engaged in the real estate business. He is very popu- lar in social circles, is a good business man and highly esteemed as a citizen.
MCGARRAUGH, JOHN T., was born in Ohio July 13, 1842, and moved with his parents to Iowa when seven years of age. In 1861 he enlisted for three years in the 14th Iowa Infantry, and served as a non-commissioned officer three years and three months. In 1869 he went to Clay county, Dakota, and in the fall of 1870 came to Sioux Falls and pre-empted the southeast one-fourth of section 28, in the town- ship of Sioux Falls, where he has since resided. He has a valuable quartzite stone quarry on his farm and is the owner of 480 acres of land in Lincoln county. During his long residence in Sioux Falls he has been highly respected as a neighbor and a citizen.
MCKEE, JOHN, is a native of Belfast, Antrim county, Ireland, and was born June 5, 1847. He worked on a farmand attended school until sixteen years of age when he commenced work in a harness shop and continued at this work until he was twenty-one years old, at which time he emigrated to the United States. He came first to New York city, where he worked for awhile at his trade, but conclud- ed that he would not settle down until he had seen something of the country. He then went to Pennsylvania, Illinois and Iowa, working at his trade, and arrived in Sioux Falls in September, 1871. Soon after he pre-empted the south half of the northwest one-fourth and the east half of the southwest one-fourth of section 31, in Benton township, lived in a dugout for about six months and then went to Sioux Falls and opened a harness shop in the barracks. From that time until the fall of 1892 he continued in this business. He has been successful in business and owns some fine city property as well as large tracts of farm land in this county, which he manages himself. In the fall of 1883 he was elected county commissioner from the city and by re-elections continued in office until January, 1893, having been
RT. REV. MARTIN MARTY.
39
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY. .
chairman of the board since January 1, 1886. During the time of his chairmanship the court house was built, and while it was being con- structed he could be found more frequently at the court house site than at his own place of business, and was universally acknowledged to be a careful, painstaking official. The writer has been a near neighbor of his for several years and can testify that no one could be more accommodating than Mr. McKee, and all who know him will ad- mit that he is a good citizen.
MCKEEVER, PATRICK W., was born in Dixon, Illinois, January 11, 1868. When four years of age removed with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., received a common school education, worked ashort time for a tobacco house and then learned the tailor's trade. On the 12th day of August, 1888, came to Sioux Falls with E. R. Barnes, the tailor, and worked with him at his trade for nearly two years; then with Forseth for a short time and then with Jacob Becher for sever- al years. He has been a member of the fire department for several years, two years as chief of the department and two years as assist- ant chief. He was for some time joint proprietor of the Oxford Ho- tel with Roger Marson, under the name of Marson & Mckeever, and then conducted the Central House for a few months. In 1897 he was elected alderman from the First ward. He is one of the most active and enterprising political workers in the city.
MCKINNEY, CHARLES E., is a native of Ulster, Pennsylvania, and was born March 16, 1858. He worked on a farm and attended the district schools during his youth; attended school at Hamilton, N. Y., one year, and the Cook Academy at Havana, N. Y., three years, where he graduated; studied law one year at Detroit, Michigan, and one year at Ann Arbor, Michigan; then went to Lanesboro, Min- nesota, where he remained one vear, and came to Sioux Falls in No- vember, 1880. After his coming to Sioux Falls he entered into a copartnership for the purpose of doing a banking business. The name of the firm was Easton, McKinney & Scougel, and it established banks at Sioux Falls, Yankton and Dell Rapids. In December, 1882, Mr. Mckinney organized the Sioux Falls National Bank, and from then to the present time he has been its president. He was admitted to the bar in 1889; has been a member of the city school board, and was a member of the commission appointed to adjust the financial matters between North and South Dakota when they assumed state- hood. In 1891 and 1892 he was one of the railroad commissioners of South Dakota. He has always been an enterprising, active, energetic citizen, occasionally taking a hand in local and state politics, but has devoted his time principally to financial matters, in which he has the reputation of being cool-headed and successful.
MCKINNEY, DENNIS L., was born in Ulster, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1855. During his youth he worked on a farm, and knows what it is to bind grain by hand with a sprinkling of Canada thistle intermixed. He received a common schooland academic education and graduated from the Lewisberg University in 1872. He then took a course in medicine, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, in
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1878; after which he practiced medicine in Oneida county, New York, until he removed to Sioux Falls, where he arrived on the 6th day of May, 1881, and has remained there since then. He became connected with the bank of Easton, McKinney & Scougal, and manager of the McKinney Loan & Investment Company, which position he still holds. He has also been connected with the Sioux Falls National Bank since its organization, of which he is a director, and has been its vice president since 1890. He was the first president of the Sioux Falls Business Men's League, and was alderman from the Sixth ward for three years, but is best known as one of our prominent business men, taking great interest in promoting the prosperity of South Da- kota. Positive, energetic, and enterprising, he is widely and favor- ably known in business circles.
MCKINNON, THOMAS, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1860, and came to this country with his parents when nine years of age, and located at Evanston, Ill., where he received his education. In 1876, he went to Wisconsin, where he resided until he removed to Sioux Falls in 1879, which place has since been his home. He was employed in carpenter work until 1886, and since that time has been a contractor and builder. In 1889, he was elected alderman from the Fourth ward, and through re-elections served as such until May, 1896. He was a representative from this county in the legislature in 1895, and was elected county commissioner in November, 1898, for the term of three years. He is a conservative, careful official, a good citizen, and is a hard man to beat at the polls.
MCMARTIN, THOMAS BELL, was born in Fairfield, Iowa, Octo- ber 30, 1857; removed with his parents to Dixon, Illinois, in 1865, where he received his education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar March 18, 1879; practiced law at Dixon for about one year, and in April, 1880, came to Sioux Falls, where he has since resided, devot- ing his time to his profession. He was clerk in the law office of Ker- shaw & Flagg for about nine months, and then formed a copartner- ship with Eugene Coughran, which continued until October, 1889. During this time he had a constantly growing practice, and was em- ployed in some very important cases which he conducted with a good deal of ability. During the year 1889, he formed a copartnership with Judge Carland under the name of McMartin & Carland, which firm existed until the 23d day of September, 1893, when it was dis- solved, and Mr. McMartin has since been in practice by himself. He has had considerable experience as attorney for receivers of insol- vent institutions, having been employed by the receivers of the First National Bank of Sioux Falls, the Chamberlain National Bank, the Madison National Bank, the Bank of South Dakota at Madison, Lake county, the Dakota National Bank, and the Insurance Company of Dakota. In the case of the Sioux Falls National Bank vs the First National Bank of Sioux Falls, which grew out of the attachment of the assets of the First National by the Sioux Falls National, Mr. MeMartin won the admiration of the bar by his persistent and suc- cessful prosecution of the case on the part of the defendant bank. He was defeated in the circuit and supreme courts of the state, but took
CHARLES E. MCKINNEY.
B.B.
DENNIS L. MCKINNEY.
T. B. McMARTIN.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY
the case to the United States supreme court and there prevailed. He did this against the advice of the comptroller of the currency and the opinions of distinguished lawyers. Since his residence in Sioux Falls, he has been United States Commissioner several years. He is well liked by the legal profession, is genial and companionable and has a host of friends.
MCNULTY, OWEN T., was born at Delavan, Wis., February 20, 1864, was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools, and at the college of the Sacred Heart at Prairie De Chien, Wis., where he was graduated in June, 1887. On the 13th of October, following, he arrived in Sioux Falls; taught school in Benton during the fall and winter, and then came back to Sioux Falls, and when W. W. Cooke was appointed county auditor went into his office as chief clerk, and remained there six months. In December, 1888, he went to Wiscon- sin, but returned the following spring and taught school at Rowena. During the fall of that year he became proprietor of the hotel at South Sioux Falls, but left it soon after and taught school in the Oaks dis- trict in Wayne. During the spring of 1890, he went into the restau- rant business in Sioux Falls, and has been engaged in this and the hotel business since then. He is an enterprising, good business man, well informed, and is a respected citizen.
MEREDITH, REV. EVAN BRADLEY, was born April 19, 1853, in Ken- osha county, Wisconsin. His father was a Baptist minister, and moved to Columbia county in the same state, in 1855, where he continued to preach, and conducted the affairs of his farm with the aid of hired help. The subject of this sketch worked on the farm, attended school, and taught district and singing schools until he was nineteen years of age, at which time he became a student in Wayland Acad- emy at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, graduating in 1875. Immediately thereafter, he entered the University of Chicago, where he gradu- ated in 1879, and then entered the Baptist Union Theological Semi- nary at Morgan Park, Chicago, where he graduated in the spring of 1882. During the seven years he was pursuing his studies at Chi- cago, he was also actively engaged in a variety of enterprises, with a view of defraying his expenses, which he successfully accomplished. During the vacations he sold goods in no less than thirty-three states and territories, and was quite extensively engaged in the publishing business. The Chicago Grocer and Mercantile Review was estab- lished by a stock company, having 200 shares of stock, of which he owned 196 shares. He was connected with and had an interest in the Western Druggist and Medical Review, and also in the Biblical World. In the fall of 1882 he sold out his Chicago interests and ac- cepted a call to become the pastor of the First Baptist church at Sioux Falls. He arrived in this city on the 23d day of December of that year and immediately entered upon the duties of his pastorate. Soon after this he was elected one of the directors of the Sioux Falls College and was made chairman of the executive committee. At the expiration of two years and a half he resigned his charge over the Baptist church, and accepted the presidency of the college.
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