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 60
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PETERSON, JOSEPH BLAKE, was born in the village of Trenton, Ontario, Canada, on the 14th day of December, 1848, and removed with his parents to Wabasha county, Minnesota, in 1864. He at- tended school until sixteen years old, completing his education at Lake City, Minnesota. He then engaged in farming until 1875, when he opened a meat market in Lake City, and remained there until he removed to Sioux Falls in November, 1878, and formed a copartner- ship with his brother George R., under the firm name of Peterson Bros. This firm is still doing business as appears in the biograph- ical sketch of his brother. The firm is well and favorably known in business circles. Blake Peterson, as he is called, is a man of energy and enterprise, is a good citizen, and, like his brother, has no aspi- ration for office.
PETERSON, HENRY, is a native of Denmark, and was born Au- gust 1, 1858. His father was a captain in the army, and was killed in the war between Denmark and Germany in 1864. In 1870 he emi- grated with his mother to the United States, and located at Vermil- lion, Dakota, where he worked on a farm. In October, 1879, he came to Sioux Falls, where he has since resided. He worked on the Queen Bee mill during its construction, and then in the mill, in all about three years. Was foreman under H. M. Stearns during the con- struction of the polishing works. In 1889 was appointed guard at the penitentiary for six months, and then superintendent of the stone works until appointed deputy warden, which position he held seven years, ending June 1, 1899. Mr. Peterson is an energetic citi- zen, active in politics, and well liked by a large circle of acquain- tances.
PETTENGILL, CAPTAIN, ANDREW J., was born at Portland. Maine, May 6, 1829. In his early youth he attended the public schools, but at the age of twelve years went to sea, and for forty- four years was a sailor. In 1850, when only twenty-one years of age, he became master of a ship, and during the succeeding thirty- five years he was engaged in the European, South American, East India, and California trade. During all this time he was captain of the ship in which he sailed. In speaking of Manila where he has been several times he said, "it is a fine city, the climate is good; the Phillipine Islands have great possibilities; their development in the next ten years will be wonderful; if I was young I would go there." In 1885, he was half owner of a ship, but having acquired consider- able property, he concluded to spend the remainder of his life upon land, and sold his interest in the ship and settled down in Portland, which had always been his home. But it was impossible for him to lead a quiet life. In 1890, he was induced to come to Sioux Falls and take an interest in the stock vard project. He invested largely in
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the enterprise and became the superintendent of the construction of the buildings. After the company had become financially embar- rassed he reorganized it in order to push the enterprise to comple- tion. He is a man of great activity and energy, and an honest, up- right, public-spirited citizen.
PETTIGREW, RICHARD FRANKLIN, was born at Ludlow, Ver- mont, July 23, 1848; came to Dane county. Wisconsin, with his par- ents in 1854, where they remained a few months and then located on a farm in Union, Rock county. When sixteen years of age he en- tered Beloit college where he remained two years; in 1866 went to Iowa, studied law, and taught one term of school; in the spring of 1867 entered the law school at the state university at Madison, Wis- consin. His father died in December, 1867, and during the next vear-his elder brother having left home-he carried on the farm and cared for the family. The winter of 1868-9 he taught school, and during the spring of 1869 hired out as chainman to a party hav- ing a surveying contract in Dakota, and immediately came to Sioux Falls, and during the spring and summer was engaged in surveying in Minnehaha, Moody and Brookings counties. After acting in the capacity of chainman for about two weeks, he took the compass the remainder of the season. In November he returned to Madison and attended the law school. In March, 1870, he again came to Sioux Falls and engaged in surveying during that year, and since that time he has resided there. In 1871 he erected a frame building on the west side of Phillips avenue, just south of the barracks, drawing the lumber from Sioux City with a pair of bronchos, and frequently being obliged to unload and carry it across the sloughs himself. The timber for the frame of this building was sawed by John O. Langness with a whipsaw. He practiced law two years, but has de- voted a great portion of his time since 1871 in procuring immigration to Dakota and building up Sioux Falls. In the field of politics his career has been remarkable. In 1872 he was an independent can- didate for member of the territorial legislature, and received a cer- tificate of election and took his seat, which was contested, and at the end of about fifteen days his opponent was seated. The next day this action was rescinded by the assembly, and he took his seat again, only to be unseated soon after. At the election quite a num- ber of railroaders voted in Deuel county, and without the vote of this county he was defeated. This entire vote was thrown out by the as- sembly. It is only fair to Mr. Pettigrew to state that he was in no way responsible for this vote, and also that the legal votes cast were not counted. In 1876, 1878 and 1884 he was elected to the territorial council, and in 1880 was elected delegate to Congress from the Ter- ritory of Dakota. He enjoys the distinction of being the first United States Senator of the State of South Dakota, and in drawing lots for the term he should serve with the newly elected senators from the states of Montana and North and South Dakota he drew the long term. In 1895 he was re-elected by the Republican party. In 1896 was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis. but upon the adoption of the platform ignoring the free coinage of silver left the convention and joined the Free Silver Republican
R. F. PETTIGREW,
UNITED STATES SENATOR.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
party and supported Bryan for president in the presidential cam- paign of 1896. Mr. Pettigrew has been a tireless worker in his sen- atorial capacity, not only in the interest of his constituency but upon all national issues. Well informed, resourceful, with a splendid memory, without a trace of timidity in his make-up, he has forced himself well up in the front rank of the ablest debators in the senate. If the State of South Dakota elects a Republican legislature in 1900 he will not be re-elected, otherwise his senatorial career will un- doubtedly be extended six years.
To go into a detailed statement of what he has done toward the growth and development of the county, and especially the city of Sioux Falls, would to a certain extent be a duplication of what al- ready appears, for he has been connected with and taken a promi- nent part in securing the educational institutions, the manufacturing industries, and especially the railroads, which have contributed largely in making Sioux Falls what she is to-day. In all these mat- ters he has spent his time and money, not begrudgingly but volun- tarily, and as the acknowledged leader, taking upon himself personal responsibilities which a less courageous man would have declined to assume. The foregoing is only a brief outline of his career thus far, and what the future will add to his history no one would dare to pre- dict. He is in the prime of life, his energy undiminished, his spirit of enterprise unabated, and in the field of public affairs no one in the state is so fully equipped for aggressive work as Sioux Falls most distinguished citizen, R. F. Pettigrew.
PHILLIPS, DR. JOSIAH LAKE, was born in Farmington, Maine, June 8, 1835, and was educated at Bowdoin college. He studied med- icine with his father, Dr. Allen Phillips, and then went to Chicago where he graduated from Rush Medical college at the early age of twenty-one years; spent one year at Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin; was one of the party sent out by the Western Town company to start a town at the falls of the Big Sioux. He arrived at Sioux Falls on the 27th day of August, 1857, and was among those who spent the following winter at the falls. Upon the organization of Big Sioux county he was appointed justice of the peace by the governor of Min- nesota. In 1861, having returned to Dubuque, lowa, he enlisted in the 16th Iowa regiment, and was appointed assistant surgeon and soon after promoted surgeon of that regiment, and remained in the service until the close of the war. In the fall of 1869 he returned to Sioux Falls and perfected his title to the quarter section of land on which the original village of Sioux Falls was located. The first vil- lage plat within the present limits of the city of Sioux Falls was made by him, and comprised nine blocks, 1 to 3 and 10 to 15 inclu- sive, including the territory between Sixth and Ninth streets and Phillips and Minnesota avenues. This plat was called "J. L. Phil- lips Sioux Falls" and was recorded August 10, 1871, in book 1, page 1. In June, 1870, he removed his family to Sioux Falls and resided for three years in the building formerly used as the officers quarters; from there they removed to the corner of Phillips avenue and Eleventh street, where he resided until his death, June 12, 1882.
Upon the incorporation of the village of Sioux Falls in 1877, he
HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
was elected one of its trustees, and was re-elected in 1878 and 1879. Although a good physician and surgeon he practiced but little after coming to Sioux Falls. While in the army, and during his march to the sea under General Sherman, his eyes became greatly inflamed, and he never fully recovered from this disability. Owing to this fact, and the time he necessarily had to devote in caring for his large business interests, he refused to answer professional calls when the services of other physicians could be procured. He was an out- spoken, upright man, and always manifested a lively interest in pub- lic affairs. He was taken sick on Saturday the 10th day of June, 1882, and, as stated above, died on the following Monday. His loss as a husband, father, neighbor and citizen was keenly felt, for in all these relations, he was a kind and honorable man.
PHILLIPS, MRS. HATTIE C., the only daughter of Dr. Daggett, of Lockport, Illinois, married Dr. Josiah L. Phillips at Houston, Texas, on the 1st day of July, 1867, and has been a resident of Sioux Falls since June, 1870. She came there from Dubuque, Iowa, with her husband, with a view of making it their home. Upon their ar- rival in Sioux Falls there were only six white women in the little village, Mrs. Franklyn, later the wife of C. K. Howard, Mrs. Samuel Huckins, Mrs. Jephta Duling, Mrs. Delaney, and the two Mrs. Har- thorn. Dr. Phillips had secured the building known as the officers quarters for a residence. It was in this building Mrs. Phillips com- menced keeping house in Sioux Falls, and it remained her home for three years. In 1873, Melvin Grigsby commenced the erection of a residence on the corner of Phillips avenue and Eleventh street, and Dr. Phillips purchased this building and moved his family into it the same year.
After the death of her husband in June, 1882, Mrs. Phillips has had the care of a large family of children, and the management of a large amount of property. Mrs. Phillips has, without question, done more benevolent work in Sioux Falls than any other woman who ever resided here. She has seen the little hamlet without schools or churches, and at times almost debarred from communication with the outside world, gradually become a city with all the advantages the term implies. Her interest in its welfare has grown with its growth, and as new fields for benevolent work have developed she has entered them as a laborer and benefactress. This work so con- scientiously engaged in has greatly endeared her to the people of Sioux Falls. But not this alone has made her the foremost woman in the city, for she has contributed liberally to the support of all such institutions and enterprises as had for their object the im provement and elevation of society.
PHILLIPS, NYRUM E., is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, and was born May 5, 1842. He worked on a farm and attended school until 1861, receiving an academic education. In May of that year he enlisted for three months in the 19th Ohio regiment, and re-enlisted in 1862 as a private in Co. C, 125th Ohio, and remained in the military service until the close of the war. When the regiment was organized he was elected 1st Sergeant and afterward promoted to 2d Lieuten-
NYRUM E. PHILLIPS.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY,
ant, Ist Lieutenant and Captain; was Adjutant and Quartermaster of the regiment, and was on General Updyke's staff, filling the posi- tions of Aid-de-camp and Brigade Inspector. He was in the western army during the entire war. After having been mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., he went to Ohio and from there to Pit Hole, Pa., where he engaged in the mercantile business in the fall of 1865, but in the great fire at that city in March, 1866, lost everything except a pair of horses and a wagon. He then returned to Ohio and remained there until late in the fall of 1867 when he went to Omaha, Neb., and spent the winter. The spring following, in company with Ed. Brough- ton, with whom he became acquainted while in Pit Hole, hewent down the river to St. Joseph and from there to Selina and Fort Ellsworth, concluding his tour of inspection at Fort Haves in Kansas. From there he and Mr. Broughton returned to Fort Ellsworth with a mule train and then went to Omaha and from there to Sioux City, where Mr. Broughton secured employment with C. K. Howard. Early in the spring of 1868 he again went to Omaha, having just ten dollars when he arrived there. He was seeking employment and accepted the first job offered him, which was that of going out to North Platte with a gang of men for a contractor on the Union Pacific rail- road. He worked at the carpenter trade for awhile and finally brought up at Julesberg, where he worked at the same busi- ness, except during the last thirty days of his stay at this place, when he worked on the grade of the railroad. From Julesberg he went to Cheyenne on foot, and again worked as carpenter. At this time Cheyenne had only five or six wooden buildings, the greater portion of the population living in tents. He had been at this place only a short time when he learned that the quartermaster at Fort D. A. Russell needed a clerk and he immediately put his worldly goods into a satchel and "footed it" to that point, where hesecured employ- ment until May, 1869. At this place he cast his first vote in the fall of 1868, and it was the vote at the fort that elected Spink, the Repub- lican nominee, as delegate to Congress. Mr. Phillips took an active part in this campaign, and was greatly pleased with the result of the election. In May, 1869, he went to Ohio on a visit, and when return- ing to the West he concluded to stop at Sioux Falls and see Mr. Broughton, who was then running the sutler's store for C. K. How- ard. Arriving at Sioux Falls on the 30th day of May, 1869, he learn- ed that the troops had received orders to vacate, and thinking the military reservation would soon be opened for settlement he remain- ed and took up the northeast one-fourth of section 20, in Sioux Falls township. After the reservation had been opened in 1870 he offered to take $125 for his claim, but could only get an offer of $75; so he concluded to stay awhile longer -and is still a resident of Sioux Falls. In June, 1869, the troops were ordered away, and then the barracks were taken possession of by the people who had come to Sioux Falls to reside. At this time there were no buildings in Sioux Falls except the government buildings, and Mr. Phillips, of course, lived in the barracks. He has been personally cognizant of and par- ticipated in all the events and enterprises of public interest which have taken place in Sioux Falls since the soldiers marched out of the
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
barracks and left her future to be cared for by the civilians who came after them.
Mr. Phillips was elected register of deeds in 1872, and held the office until April, 1876, when he resigned and John Bippus was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy. During the time he held this office he was also ex officio county clerk. In 1878 he was elected one of the trus- tees of the village of Sioux Falls, and when the city wasincorporat- ed he was elected alderman from the First ward and re-elected in 1884. He has also been quite active in school matters. He was one of the building committee at the time of the erection of the Central school house in 1878, and was a member of the first Board of Ed- ucation after the corporate limits of Sioux Falls had been made an independent school district and a board established. He held this position for two years and was the first secretary of the board. From April 7, 1882, until January, 1883, he was one of the county commissioners. In 1884 he was again elected register of deeds, and by re-elections held this office eight years, and until April, 1888. When the office of auditor was created he was ex officio clerk of the board of county commissioners.
In 1872 he was elected a delegate to the Republican national con- vention from the Territory of Dakota, and was also elected a dele- gate from South Dakota to the national convention in 1892. He was one of the Republican executive committe for Dakota for several vears during its territorial existence. On the 3d day of April. 1893, he was elected Warden of the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls, which position he held until May, 1899. But it is in the field of politics that he is best known, and as a politician he is recognized as one of the most capable managers of a campaign that has ever resided in Dakota. He is of a quiet, unassuming demeanor, a man of few words, but vigilant and tireless in his efforts to succeed. True to his friends and possessed of a remarkable faculty for making com- binations, it is seldom he fails in accomplishing whatever he under- takes. As a neighbor and citizen he is generous and enterpris- ing, and no person in Sioux Falls has a longer list of friends.
PILCHER, ALBERT F., was born at Plainfield, Illinois, March 12, 1857; attended the district schools and graduated from a high school. When nineteen years old entered a railroad telegraph office, where he remained until twenty-two years old, when he took charge of a station at Maynard, Iowa, and since then has been station agent at Dows, Clarion. Emmetsburg, West Union and Independence, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, S. D., where he arrived January 12, 1890, and took charge of the B., C. R. & N. railroad station, which position he still holds. He is an obliging official and well liked by the traveling pub- lic; belongs to the Masonic order, has been Eminent Commander of the Knights Templar of Sioux Falls, and is at the present time Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Commandery of South Dakota. He is a royal good fellow, and a highly respected citizen.
PLACE, CHARLES EDWIN, was born at South Berwick, Maine, October 26, 1839, but the following year removed with his parents to Lowell, Mass., where they lived until 1847. At that time they re- moved to Milwaukee, where the subject of this sketch received his
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
education, and later was employed on the C. & N. W. railroad. where he remained until August 1, 1861, when he enlisted in the 24th Wisconsin Volunteers, and served nine months. He then became sta- tion agent at New Libson, Wis., where he married Miss Susie Emery, and remained ten years. In 1880, removed to South Dakota and engaged in the fuel business at Sioux Falls for several years; then became interested in the La Belle Ranch Horse Importing Company, and removed to Madison, S. D., but a few months later the company failed, and Mr. Place again located at Sioux Falls. He then engaged in the insurance business with W. H. Holt for two vears, but his health commenced failing, and he went to California. After a short stay at that place he returned to Sioux Falls, but finally died at Hot Springs, S. D., on the 20th day of July, 1896. Mr. Place was a kind neighbor, an upright business man, and a highly re- spected citizen.
POLK, ALBERT A., was born in Indiana, February 17, 1853, and came to Iowa with his parents in 1856, where he resided until he came to Sioux Falls in 1880. He soon after became a partner of the late Major T. S. Free, in the practice of law, under the firm name of Free & Polk, which copartnership existed until the death of Major Free in December, 1886. After this Mr. Polk continued in the prac- tice of law by himself. He held the office of district attorney of Minne- haha county for two years, 1887-9. Mr. Polk is an honest, upright man, and an industrious lawyer. He does not seek to make much display, but does his work thoroughly and to the satisfaction of his clients. In April, 1899, he removed with his family to Kansas.
POTTER. WESLEY S., was born at Burlington, Otsego county, New York, on the 5th day of July, 1836. He attended the public and high schools and worked in a tannery until twenty years old. At that time he removed to Rock county, Wisconsin, and worked as a carpen- ter and joiner. At the commencement of the war he was in Mis- souri, and during the month of April, 1861, enlisted in a Missouri regi- ment, which, however, was soon disbanded. In 1863, he enlisted in the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, but before seeing any service he was made 1st lieutenant of Company D, 36th Iowa Infantry, and served through the war. He was wounded in his right shoulder on the 18th day of May, 1864, by a cannister shot. After the war he was en- gaged in buying grain in Iowa and Minnesota until he removed to Sioux Falls, where he arrived on the 11th day of May, 1881. For two years and six months he was the assistant adjutant general of the G. A. R., for the department of Dakota; and has been for several years and is now engaged in the collection business. He is an active and respected citizen.
POWERS, DAVID EDWARD, was born in Annsville, Oneida county, New York, November 25, 1857. He spent his boyhood days on a farm, attended the common schools and during the balance of his minority taught school and attended the Niagara University. At the age of twenty-one he entered the law office of Walter Ballou at Boonville and read law until 1880, when he was admitted to the bar at Roches- ter, N. Y. After his admission to the bar he practiced his profes-
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
sion for two years at Boonville and during this time was associated with L. W. Fisk. He then went to Rome, New York, and there formed a copartnership with J. P. Olney and for two years was engaged in active professional work. After the expiration of this copartner- ship he practiced alone until the summer of 1889, and then formed a copartnership with H. S. Wilson of Rome, and was associated with him until he came to Sioux Falls, where he arrived on the 11th day of December, 1890. Immediately thereafter he opened a law office in Madison, S. D., but remained only two months and then returned to Sioux Falls, where he resided until March, 1899, when he removed to New York. While a resident of Sioux Falls he was associated with U. S. G. Cherry one year, and with D. J. Conway two years. He was appointed city attorney in May, 1892, and held the office until September 20, 1893, and in May, 1896, was again appointed to the same office. Mr. Powers is a good lawyer, and while practicing in Sioux Falls was connected with several important cases, one of them being the defense of Plenty Horses in the federal court, in which he won considerable fame. He was one of the most courteous and ac- commodating lawyers in Sioux Falls, and was held in high estimation as a successful trial lawyer before a jury.
POWERS, FRED A., was born in Oneida county, New York, No- vember 17, 1853. He resided in his native state until he moved to Dakota, where he arrived January 4, 1882. He located on the James river, near Milltown, in Hutchinson county, where he bought consid- erable land, and engaged in farming until the fall of 1893. On No- vember 8, of that year, he came to Sioux Falls. He bought and now owns block thirteen in Riverside addition, where he resides and has a commodious residence. He is the proprietor of the Riverside Nut- butter Factory, is an enterprising, upright citizen, and is one of the Elders of the Seventh Day Adventist church of Sioux Falls.
PRUNER, THOMAS H., one of the early settlers in this county, was born in Knox county, Ohio, May 10, 1855; was reared on a farm, and received a common school education; on the 14th day of October, 1871, came to Sioux Falls, and took up three hundred and twenty acres of land in Wayne township, where he lived one year; then came to Sioux Falls and worked for True Dennis in a blacksmith shop for three years, and then, until 1884, was in the blacksmith business for himself; during the next few years was in the employ of the Sioux Falls Brewing Co., and in the livery business; in 1889 opened a store on Ninth street, but sold out in 1891, and became the bookkeeper and cashier of the Singer Manufacturing Co., which position he now holds. He is a good neighbor and a respected citizen.
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