History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 103

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 103

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In addition to his newspaper enterprise, Mr. Strass conducts a large and thoroughly equipped printing establishment in which all kinds of print- ing are done with neatness and dispatch, and he also deals quite extensively in Norwegian liter- ature, keeping in stock the leading books and periodicals published in that country, for all of which there is a large and constantly increasing demand. His plant is one of the most valuable of the kind in the state and its success speaks well for the ability, tact and excellent judgment dis- played by Mr. Strass in all of his undertakings. He not only stands high in the esteem of his fel- low countrymen, but is regarded by the general

7II

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

public as a safe, reliable and farseeing business man, also as a leader of thought and a moulder of opinion in political affairs. He is identified with the Scandinavian Working Men's Associa- tion of Sioux Falls, being a leading spirit in the society, and his name is always prominent in en- terprises having for their object the material wel- fare of the city of his residence and the good of the people. As a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive, and in every relation of life his character has been open and free and his integ- rity above reproach.

The domestic life of Mr. Strass dates from March 10, 1888, at which time he was united in the bonds of wedlock with Miss Lena Brown, of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, who has borne him children as follows: Clara E., Carl T., Olaf C., Lewis F., Harrold E., John F., Albert E. and Helen J.

GEORGE W. ABBOTT was born in Sand- wich, Carroll county, New Hampshire, October 10, 1858, being a son of Lyman and Shuah W. Abbott, who are now dead, the father having de- voted his life to agricultural pursuits. The sub- ject was reared under the vigorous discipline of the old homestead farm in New England, and after completing a course of study in the high school of his native place he continued his stud- ies in famous old Phillips Academy, at Exeter. New Hampshire. At the age of twenty years he set forth to seek his fortunes in the west, com- ing to Colorado as secretary for a mining expert. and he continued to reside in that state until 1882, when he took up his residence in the terri- tory of Dakota. He located in what is now McIn- tosh county, North Dakota, having assisted in the organization of the county and having been its first superintendent of schools, as was he also its first postmaster, the office being located in the frontier hamlet of Ashley, now a thriving town. He there conducted a general merchandise busi- ness and operated a cattle ranch. In 1887 Mr. Abbott disposed of his interests there and re- moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was engaged in the furniture and hardware business

until 1891, when he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and became the general manager of the Co-operative Loan and Savings Association of this city, retaining this incumbency until Septem- ber, 1894, when he resigned. He then effected the organization of the Union Savings Associa- tion, to the promotion of whose interests he has since devoted his attention, in the capacity of gen- eral manager, as well as secretary and treasurer. He has exceptional initiative and administrative ability, is sincere and straightforward, and his reputation as a business man has done much to further the building up of the magnificent enter- prise with which he is thus identified. In 1891, at Minneapolis, he was elected vice-president of the International Building & Loan League, which represents a paid-in capital of about six hun- dred million dollars, and of this office he remained in tenure until 1894. The deputy public exam- iner in the state department of banking and finance wrote of the corporation of which Mr. Abbott is manager in the following words of en- dorsement, in 1902: "The examination of the Union Savings Association, conducted by this de- partment, shows a most satisfactory condition of affairs. It is impossible for me to go into de- tails at this time, but you certainly have an insti- tution which you may well be proud of." A fur- ther and more personal endorsement is that given under date of April 15, 1903, by Ed. D. Lewis, cashier of the Farmers & Merchants' Bank of Worthing, this state, this being a sample of many other commendations received by the association : "I hereby certify that I became a member of the U'nion Savings Association of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in December, 1896, and paid as dues three hundred and sixty dollars, and received a draft for five hundred dollars, making me thirteen per- cent. per annum on the investment. I am well satisfied with the treatment given me by the asso- ciation." December 14, 1903, Samuel T. John- son, public examiner and superintendent of banks for the state of Minnesota, wrote as follows: "I believe the Union Savings Association of Sioux Falls to be solvent, and honorably conducted." In 1902 the Colton State Bank, at Colton, Minne- haha county, was organized, and of this institut-

712

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

tion MIr. Abbott has been president from its in- ception.

In politics Mr. Abbott gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and fraternally he is a prominent and appreciative member of the Ma- sonic order, being affiliated with the following bodies of the same: Minnehaha Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Sioux Chap- ter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is king at the time of this writing; Cyrene Com- mandery, No. 2, Knights Templar, of which he is past eminent commander ; and El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mys- tic Shrine, of which he is potentate and represent- ative to the imperial council of the order. He and his wife are prominent and zealous members of the First Congregational church, in Sioux Falls, of whose board of trustees he is a member. having been chairman of the board for five years.

On the Ist of June, 1896, Mr. Abbott was united in marriage to Miss Mary G. Quinlan, of Cleveland, Ohio, and they have four children, George L., Gladys, Annie Josephine and John Wesley.

JAMES W. CONE claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Conesville, Coshocton county, Ohio, on the 4th of December, 1850, and being a son of Beebe S. and Lucinda D. (Davison) Cone, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts and the latter in Ohio, while the genealogy is of Scotch and English derivation. The ancestry in the agnatic line is traced in a direct way to Daniel Cone, who came from Edinburg, Scotland, and settled in Haddam, Connecticut, in 1660. Stu- art Beebe, the great-grandfather of our subject in the agnatic line, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and William Davison, the ma- ternal grandfather, was a major under General William Henry Harrison in the Indian wars in the west, taking part in the memorable battle of Tippecanoe, Indiana, on the 7th of November, 1811. while the sword which he carried is now in the possession of our subject and is treasured as a valuable and interesting heirloom. The

maternal ancestors came from England to America in an early day and settled in what is now West Virginia, while both families were numbered among the pioneers in Muskingum and Coshocton counties, Ohio, the town of Conesville being named in honor of the Cone family.

In 1854, when the subject was a child of about four years, his parents removed from Ohio to Muscatine county, Iowa, being num- bered among the pioneers of that section of the Hawkeye state, and there Mr. Cone was reared to maturity, receiving his preliminary educa- tional discipline in the public schools, after which he continued his studies in the Iowa State Uni- versity, at Iowa City, and being graduated in the law department of this excellent institution as a member of the class of 1873, receiving the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws. In the summer of 1872 and the winter of 1874 he devoted his at- tention to teaching in the public schools, and in March, 1874, having been duly admitted to the bar of the state, he engaged in the practice of his profession in Iowa City, where he remained until 1883, having gained marked prestige in his chosen vocation. In April of that year he came to Brule county, South Dakota, and settled upon a homestead claim which he had secured in May of the preceding year, and here instituted the reclamation and improvement of the prop- erty, while simultaneously he was engaged in practice before the United States land offices in Mitchell and Yankton, thus continuing until 1893, when he removed to Sioux Falls and here compiled a set of abstracts of titles of Minne- haha county, being still engaged in the abstract business and also identified with real estate operations to a considerable extent.

In politics Mr. Cone has ever accorded a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, in whose ranks he has been a zealous and valued worker since coming to what is now the state of South Dakota. He cast his first vote, in Iowa City, in 1872, for General U. S. Grant for presi- dent, and his first official identification with political affairs was made in 1875, when he was elected township clerk in Iowa City, by thirty-

713

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

seven majority, the regular Democratic majority in the township being at the time three hundred and fifty. He was a member of the board of commissioners of Brule county, Dakota, in 1884-5-6, and in the last year served as chairman of the board. Soon after taking up his residence here Mr. Cone became a zealous advocate of the division of the territory and of securing the ad- mission of the two states to the Union, while in 1885, under the constitution of that year, he was chosen a member of the lower house of the legislature and continued to take an active part in the work looking to statehood until the de- sideratum was an accomplished fact. He was a clerk in the house in the seventeenth and eigh- teenth general assemblies of the territorial legis- lature, and upon the organization of the state government, on the 15th of October, 1889, he was chosen chief clerk of the house, being re- elected to his position in the second and third sessions, while up to the present time he is the only person who has thus been honored with re- election to the office. In the second session the Democratic and Populist majority in the house was six, and yet he was elected by a majority of one, a fact indicating his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by the mem- bers of the body, irrespective of partisan affilia- tions. He served with satisfaction to all dur- ing tliat stormy and somewhat turbulent session, and in the third session he had the further dis- tinction of receiving the vote of every member of the house. He served one term as a mem- ber of the board of education in Sioux Falls, de- clining to become a candidate for a second term. He is prominently identified with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past grand, while he is also past master workman in the Ancient Order of United Workmen, which he has represented in the grand lodge of the state. He also holds membership in the Modern Brotherhood of America.

On the 23d of October, 1873, Mr. Cone was united in marriage to Miss Emily M. Staples, who was born in Vergennes, Vermont, on the 26th of October, 1852, being a daughter of Cyrus and Sarah M. (Sedgwick) Staples. Of the 46

children of this union we enter the following brief data: Arthur H. died in infancy ; Charles C., who was a private in Company B, Forty- ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish-American war, is now residing in Sioux Falls; Roscoe E., of Mitchell, South Dakota; Ralph J. remains at the parental home; William C. died in infancy ; Myrtle E. is at home, and Walter S.

GUSTAF A. ULINE is one of the represent- ative citizens of Dell Rapids, Minnehaha county, with whose business and civic advancement and material progress he has been prominently iden- tified, while he has gained a competence through his well directed efforts since coming to the state and is held in the highest popular confidence and esteem in his community. Mr. Uline is a native of Wermland, Sweden, where he was born on the 12th of October, 1849, being a son of Andrew and Charlotte (Biraths) Uline, who passed their entire lives in Sweden. The subject secured his educational training in the excellent schools of his native land, having taken a course of study in the Tecmcial College. As a young man of nearly eighteen years he severed the ties which bound him to home and fatherland and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He located in Michi- gan, where he remained a few months, thence go- ing to Wisconsin, where he was employed in dif- ferent vocations for a short interval, after which he moved to Minnesota and was employed in rail- road work. Later he moved to Lansing and Cherokee, Iowa, in the meanwhile gaining valu- able knowledge in regard to the country and its language and business methods. From Iowa he went to Jackson, Minnesota, where he was em- ployed in a clerical capacity in a mercantile es- tablishment for three years, at the expiration of which, in 1874, he came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota, locating in Dell Rapids, where he opened a general store, being one of the first merchants in the town. He con- tinued this enterprise for eighteen years, having initiated operations on a modest scale and having eventually built up a large and profitable busi-

714

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

ness, through the conduct of which he had accu- mulated a competency. He disposed of his inter- ests in this line in 1892, in which year he or- ganized the Dell Rapids State Bank, of which he was elected president, an incumbency which he has ever since retained, while the institution has become one of the solid and popular financial concerns of the state and controls a large busi- ness. He is also a stockholder in the First Na- tional Bank of Dell Rapids and has been a mem- ber of its directorate for a number of years past. Mr. Uline is a man of distinctive business and executive ability and impregnable integrity of character, and is known as a loyal and public- spirited citizen. He is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party and has been an active worker in the party cause and promi- nent in its councils, having been a delegate to va- rious state and county conventions, while Gov- ernor Mellette appointed him a member of the first state board of charities and corrections in which capacity he served six years, being a valued member of this important body. In 1880 he was elected mayor of Dell Rapids, serving two years and giving a most able and satisfactory adminis- tration of municipal affairs, while for the past decade he has been a member of the local hoard of education. He is an active and influential member of the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Uline is also a zealous member, and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has passed the Knight Templar degrees, and is also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

On the 15th of November, 1877, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Uline to Miss Minnie Friborg, who was likewise born in Sweden, and they have five children, Alma C., Mary D., Grace B .. Minnie and Augusta D.

OLE H. SMITH is another of the citizens of foreign birth who have attained success in con- nection with the commercial and industrial de- velopment of South Dakota, of which state he is a pioneer, having come here as a young man and without capitalistic resources and being today

numbered among the representative and influen- tial citizens of Dell Rapids, Minnehaha county, where he is president of the Granite City Bank and prominently identified with the live-stock industry.

Mr. Smith was born near the city of Chris- tiania, Norway, on the IIth of May, 1846, and is a son of Ove R. M. and Sophie Smith, both of whom passed their entire lives in Norway. Our subject received his early educational training in the schools of his native land, where he remained until he had attained the age of twenty-three years, when he came to America, in 1869, believ- ing that in our great republic were to be had greater opportunities for attaining success through individual effort, while it is needless to say that he has found his faith amply justified. He first located in Rushford, Fillmore county, Minnesota, where he was for three years em- ployed as clerk in a general store, and he then es- tablished himself in the same line of business in that town, where he continued operations for four years, at the expiration of which, in 1876, he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and became one of the pioneer merchants of Dell Rap- ids, where he conducted a general store until 1889, having built up a large and prosperous business. In the year mentioned he disposed of his store and business and effected the organiza- tion of the Granite City Bank, of which he has been the president during the entire period of its existence, directing its executive policy with marked ability and discrimination and making it one of the solid financial institutions of this part of the state. For the past five years he has also been prominently interested in the live-stock in- dustry and is one of the leading stock growers of this part of the state, giving special attention to the raising of registered Hereford cattle and Poland-China hogs and having a finely improved stock farm of nine hundred acres, one mile north of Dell Rapids. He came to the state as a poor man and is today one of its substantial capitalists, having attained success through his own efforts and by properly availing himself of the opportuni- ties presented. Mr. Smith has ever shown a deep appreciation of the state and nation of his adop-

715

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

tion and has been loyal to their government and institutions, while he has manifested much pub- lic spirit and civic pride. He is a stanch Republi- can in politics and in 1896 was elected mayor of Dell Rapids, giving a most creditable administra- tion and being chosen as his own successor in 1898, so that his regime as chief executive ex- tended over a period of four years. He has shown a lively interest in the party cause and has been a delegate to numerous territorial and state conventions, besides those of minor order. He and his wife are valued members of the Luth- eran church, and fraternally he is identified with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1873 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Albertha Olson, who died in the following vear. In 1876 he wedded her sister, Miss Ja- cobina Wilson, whose death occurred in 1892. Of the children of this union we record that Rammel M. is a resident of New York city : Gina A. is at the present time taking a course of mu- sical instruction in Berlin, Germany ; Henrietta J. is a student in the University of Chicago and, is also a student in the Chicago Musical College ; Valborg S. is attending Smith College, at North- ampton, Massachusetts ; and Henry M. is a stu- dent in the high school of his home town. On the 29th of April, 1896, Mr. Smith consum- mated a third marriage, being then united to Miss Anna Strom, of Dell Rapids, and they have one child, Bergliot M.

AMBROSE B. ROBINSON, the able and popular mayor of Frankfort, Spink county, is a native of the old Empire state, having been born in Broome county, New York, on the 18th of July. 1857, and being a son of Edward and Eu- nice Robinson, who were born and reared in that state, being of Scotch ancestry. There the fa- ther of the subject was engaged in lumbering until the early 'sixties, when he removed with his family to Iowa, locating in Scott county, where he followed farming until 1868, when he located in Jackson county, Wisconsin, and continued in the same line of enterprise, both he and his wife

being now in the state of Washington. The sub- ject of this review was reared to the sturdy disci- pline of the farm and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the public schools of Iowa and Wisconsin. In the latter state he was engaged in lumbering until 1885, when he came to South Dakota and took up his residence in Frankfort, Spink county, where he has ever since made his home and where he has been most suc- cessful in his business enterprises, which liave been carried forward with energy, discrimination and good judgment, while his reputation as a reli- able, sincere and straightforward business man and public-spirited citizen is unassailable. He is well known in the county and commands the con- fidence and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact in a business or social way. He is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Re- publican party and has been called upon to serve in various offices of local trust and responsibility, including that of mayor of his home city, to which position he was elected in 1902 and in which he is giving a progressive and able admin- istration. He is identified with the Masonic fra- ternity and also the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

On the 27th of March, 1881, occurred the mar- riage of Mr. Robinson to Miss Alma Jane Ellis, who was born in the city of LaCrosse, Wiscon- sin, on the IIth of December, 1861, being a daughter of William and Amanda Ellis. They have five children, namely : Bessie M., Grace D., Clark A., Clare and Zedna.

REV. EDWARD ASHLEY, one of the prominent and honored members of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal church in South Da- kota, is a native of England and comes of stanch old English stock. He was born at Road Hill, Wiltshire, on the 12th of December, 1854, and is a son of Jacob William and Charlotte (Watts) Ashley, both of whom passed a large part of their lives in England, coming to this country and set- tling in Michigan in 1872. While in England they were communicants of the established church, in whose faith they reared their children, the

716

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

father having been a sawyer by vocation. The subject of this review secured his preliminary educational discipline in the common schools of his native land, and thereafter learned the trade of carpenter. He came to the United States in 1873, at the age of nineteen years, landing in New York city on the Ist of September, reaching Muskegon, Michigan, where he secured work at his trade, while simultaneously he pursued in a private way the studies of a college course, in- cluding the classics. On the 9th of May, 1874, he began his services as a missionary teacher among the Sioux Indians in the territory of Da- kota, in the meanwhile taking up the study of theology and being ordained a deacon in the Prot- estant Episcopal church on the 27th of Novem- ber, 1877, by Rt. Rev. William Hobart Hare, bishop of the missionary district of Niobrara. In 1879 he entered the Seabury Divinity School, at Faribault, Minnesota, where he was graduated in June, 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, while on the 3d of the following month he was ordained to the priesthood, receiving holy orders at the hands of Rt. Rev. William H. Hare, now bishop of the diocese of South Dakota. He was a missionary on the Crow Creek reservation from 1874 to 1879, thereafter was similarly en- gaged in service on the Sisseton reservation from 1881 to 1889, in which latter year he assumed his labors in his present important field. He has been successful in his work among the Indians. and his life has been one of consecrated zeal and self-abnegation, while in the early days he en- dured manifold vicissitudes, hardships and dan- gers in his earnest efforts to bring within the fold the unfortunate ward of the government. He has been at all times mindful of those "in any way afflicted in mind, body or estate," and has worked unceasingly, while he finds that his tem- poral reward has not been denied, in that he has brought spiritual enlightenment and grace to many of those to whom he has ministered in his divine calling. Since 1885 he has held the office of rural dean and examining chaplain of the mis- sionary district of the state, as previously noted.

On the 6th of October, 1877, at Frome, Som- ersetshire, England, was solemnized the marriage

of Mr. Ashley to Miss Elizabeth Ann Martin, who was born in that county, on the 26th of Au- gust, 1854, and who has proved a gracious and helpful coadjutor to him in his labors as a mis- sionary. They have five children, Charlotte Jes- sie, Winona, who is the wife of Gervais Coulter, of Culbertson, Montana; and Edward Athelstan, Martin Anselm, William Cuthbert and Robert Laud. The respective dates of birth are as fol- lows: December 21, 1878; December 9, 1881 ; April 22, 1884; February 18, 1886, and July 28, 1891.

In politics Mr. Ashley maintains an independ- ent attitude, giving his support to those men and measures of whom and which his judgment ap- proves. Fraternally he has attained the degrees of ancient-craft, capitular and chivalric Masonry, in the York Rite, while in 1903 he passed the thirty-third degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, being identified with South Dakota Consistory, No. 4, at Aberdeen, while he is also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Modern Wood- men of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America. He is a man of genial and gracious presence and makes and retains friends in all classes, while among the Indians of the state he is well known, respected and admired.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 103

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998