History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 104

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 104

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WILLIAM H. H. BEADLE, A. M., LL. D. The honored subject of this sketch has lent dignity and distinction to his state as a scholar, an educator. a legislator, a soldier and a lawyer. He has continued since 1889 as president of the State Normal School, at Madison, Lake county, which has become a school of influence and power.

Dr. Beadle is a native of the state of Indiana and was named in honor of its most eminent men, General William Henry Harrison. He was born in Liberty township, Parke county, Indiana, on January 1, 1838, in a log house built by the hands of his father, and the date implies that he is a representative of one of the pioneer families of the Hoosier commonwealth. He is a son of James Ward and Elizabeth (Bright) Beadle, the

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former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter in Maryland. The ancestry in the agnatic line is traced back through the states of Ken- tucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York to an English origin, mingled somewhat with the Dutch and Scotch, while the name has been identified with the annals of American history since the colonial period. The maternal great- grandfather came from Scotland to St. Mary's, Maryland, in the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury and the family became one of prominence in that state.

Dr. Beadle was reared amid the scenes and trials of the pioneer era in Indiana, early con- tributing his quota to the work of the home- stead in the field and the forest, while his rudi- mentary education was secured in the primitive log schoolhouse in his native township. To one of the teachers there, Miss Lavinia Tucker, one of the earliest women teachers in western Indi- ana, he loyally attributes helpful incentives that remain with him yet. His father was elected sheriff and this gave him four years in the schools of Rockville, which he continued to at- tend from the farm near town that became his home. In 1857 he was matriculated in the liter- ary department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, which had attained a high stand- ing even in that early day. He was graduated as Bachelor of Arts with the class of 1861. In 1864 his alma mater conferred on him the de- gree of Master of Arts. The history of the class of '61 of the University of Michigan says of him: "It was only by the most persistent effort that he gained his father's consent to go away to college; but he finally prevailed, and with his brother, John Hanson Beadle, condi- tionally entered the class of 1861. As their preparation in Greek had been defective they were carried the first years as 'students in the partial course,' but studied with such diligence and success that before the end of the fresh- man year they were admitted to full and un- conditional standing in the classical section, and soon took high rank in the class. He was an active member of the Alpha Nu, and during his

senior year its president. He assisted in found- ing in the university the chapter of the Zeta Psi fraternity, and during his senior year was also a charter member of the 'Owls.' He was one of the speakers at the Junior Exhibition and like- wise one of the twenty-four members of the class who spoke at the commencement. It will be seen therefore that he was one of the most active members of the class. In a little more than one month after graduation, Classmate Beadle enlisted in the service of the United States and became first lieutenant of Company A, Thirty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Septem- ber 5, 1861, and was promoted captain of the same November 9, 1861, but resigned February 8, 1862, on account of ill health. He continued with the command by permission of the general com- manding and participated in the campaign in west Tennessee, until the surrender of Corinth, Mississippi. He then came to Michigan and aided in organizing and drilling the Twenty- sixth Michigan Infantry at Jackson. He was tendered the post of adjutant of this regiment, but in the autumn of 1862 was commissioned to recruit for the First Michigan Sharpshooters and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of that regi- ment."

He continued with that regiment until June 13, 1864, when, after a severe illness, he was ap- pointed major in the Veteran Reserve Corps. He served in northern Virginia, in the defenses south of the Potomac, where he commanded a brigade for a time; served in defense of Wash- ington against Early and received a brevet as lieutenant colonel; served in Washington City, where on President Lincoln's second inaugura- tion he was detailed by special orders from the war department to command the military guard in and about the capitol on that critical occasion. He was brevetted colonel United States volun- teers, and March 13. 1865, received the brevet of brigadier general United States volunteers "for gallant and meritorious services during the war." General Beadle was mustered out and honorably discharged March 26, 1866, while in command of the southern district of North Carolina, at

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Wilmington. He entered the law department of Michigan University and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.

General Beadle practiced law in Evansville, Indiana, in 1867, and at Boscobel, Wisconsin, in 1868 and 1869. Early in the latter year President Grant appointed him surveyor general of the ter- ritory of Dakota and he continued in that ca- pacity until 1873, when he resigned. For many years he from time to time executed important and sometimes difficult surveys. In 1876, as secretary of the commission to revise the codes, he wrote nearly all the codes of Dakota, and Judges P. C. Shannon and Granville G. Bennett, with whom he worked, declared him "learned in the law." He has done other work in drafting statutes, in which he is highly skilled. In 1877 he was a member of the house of representatives of the territorial legislature and chairman of the judiciary committee, which had charge of the codes, and secured their complete adoption, a most valuable service to the new commonwealth.

General Beadle's great familiarity with the territory, its people and its laws enabled him to be of great service to Governor William A. Howard, who induced him to accept for some time the position as private secretary. From 1879 to 1885, over six years, General Beadle was superintendent of public instruction of Dakota and thoroughly laid the foundation for the sys- tem of public schools that is the highest pride of the state. To him has been due in a large measure the upbuilding and success of the State Normal School at Madison.

But all of General Beadle's honorable and useful services to his state otherwise are less than the successful labor he gave toward saving the school and endowment lands of the state. This must be regarded as his most enduring monument. He is one of those men who happily find their work. By every talent, experience and inclination he was fitted for it. In college he won position not only as a scholar, but as a writer and speaker. In his early life questions of vital moment concerning public education were subjects of popular and legislative concern. He has often said that Miss Tucker called attention

to the pride every pupil should have in banish- ing illiteracy from Indiana. The school lands of that state were important in the plans. In Michigan he met and heard the pioneers of edu- cation, like Pierce. In Wisconsin also he saw the reckless waste of school lands. Coming to Dakota and seeing its vast fertile area, he was from the first impressed with the importance and the possibilities of the future of this great gift by the nation. He began immediately to draw public attention to this matter and in private con- versation and public he sought to create a sen- timent which was slowly accomplished. To the intelligent and earnest people who settled the territory, who saw the reserved lands lying near them, a common interest soon appeared. Early in his service as superintendent of public in- struction he visited the capital of every one of the old northwestern states as well as of Iowa, Min- nesota and Nebraska, and consulted the older men of experience and records concerning the school lands. Thus every point in the history of such lands in these states was brought to the attention of Dakota to guide it in shaping the future.

When the movement for division and state- hood began, the vital opportunity came. Many leaders in that movement adopted the policy for which Dr. Beadle had long stood almost alone, and an organized party struggling for statehood made its own his appeal that no school lands should be sold for less than ten dollars an acre. It is said that he delivered not less than two hundred addresses throughout the territory (now North and South Dakota) in which this appeal was a leading if not the sole topic. When in 1885 the constitutional convention met at Sioux Falls, the issue was in a balance. The members were divided and in doubt. The committee on school and public lands was divided. Its chair- man, Rev. J. H. Moore, strongly favored the plan, as did Rev. Joseph Ward. Near the close of the session Dr. Beadle appeared before the committee, presented the draft of the article upon education and the school lands practically as it stands in the constitution. After an earnest ses- sion, a majority consented to report it favorably

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and on the last working day of the convention, when Dr. Beadle had personally urged most members, a majority adopted it. The sentiment then rapidly increased and this article became a center of interest. The people adopted the con- stitution. The crisis was passed. So prominent did the subject become that it was strongly urged before the committees of congress and when the enabling acts for South Dakota, Idaho and Wyoming were passed the provision limiting the price at which school lands might be sold for not less than ten dollars per acre was included in every one, and that policy is in force in all. "How far that little candle throws its beams."

Even prior to the convention of 1885 General Beadle had advanced the claim that no school or endowment lands should be sold, but that all should be permanently held and leased, using the rentals to support the schools instead of interest upon the invested funds. He has continued to urge this until now a constitutional amendment has been submitted substantially adopting this policy. Thus has his struggle gone on for over thirty years, while he has not sought political office or fortune. This great public service in and for the cause of education will endure to bless the commonwealth as long as any political service possible to anyone at any time. With it his name must be forever connected.

General Beadle's life has been one. of in- tense activity and hard work. For thirty-five years he has been engaged in the work of a state builder on the frontier. He retains the same erect carriage and dignified bearing that marked him as a young man and during his army life. He has found time in his busy and strenuous life for much literary work, mostly connected with his professional life. He col- laborated, with his brother, John Hanson Beadle, in writing "Life in Utah," and is the author of "Geography, History and Resources of Dakota," 1888, of "The Natural Method of Teaching Geography," 1899, and of many pam- phlets, reports and addresses, mostly upon edu- cational subjects. His articles in the "Michi- gan Alumnus" have attracted attention.

General Beadle is a companion of the Loyal

Legion and a member of the Masonic fraternity, having attained the thirty-third degree in the Scottish Rite. A lifelong Republican, he has preferred educational work to the possibilities of ordinary political office. He was married May 18, 1863, to Ellen S. Chapman, who died in 1897. She was descended from Moses Rich, a Massachusetts soldier in the Revolutionary army. They have one child, Mrs. Mae Beadle Frink, the wife of Fred A. Frink, A. M., an instructor in the engineering department of Michigan Uni- versity.

On the 19th of June, 1902, in recognition of his college record and of his able services in the field of educational work and in his profes- sion, his alma mater most consistently conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

JOHN P. WOLF, one of the pioneers of Spink county, where he is the owner of a well improved landed estate of one hundred and sixty acres, is a native of the historic and beautiful old city of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 9th of December, 1854, being a son of Henry G. and Margaret F. Wolf. The mother is living, but the father died in Gettys- burg, where he passed his entire life, having served for many years as justice of the peace and clerk of the courts. His father, George Wolf, was governor of Pennsylvania in 1829 and was one of the influential and distinguished citi- zens of the old Keystone state, where the family was founded in the colonial epoch of our his- tory.

John P. Wolf was reared in his native city, in whose public schools he secured his early educational discipline, and he there continued to reside until 1871, when he engaged in the manu- facturing of paper at Mount Holly Springs, that state, severing his relations with this enterprise in April, 1876, when he removed to Minnesota, in which state he was engaged in farming until 1881, in which year he came to what is now the state of South Dakota, arriving in Water- town on the Ioth of May. A week later he came

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to Spink county and cast in his lot with its pioneer settlers, taking up a homestead and a pre-emption claim fourteen miles north of Red- field, near the present village of Athol, and at once initiating the improvement and cultivation of his land, which is now one of the valuable farms of this section. He continued to reside on his ranch until December 1, 1897, when he was appointed deputy county auditor and took up his residence in Redfield. He retained this office two years and was then appointed deputy county treasurer. Upon retiring from this posi- tion he became manager of the real estate busi- ness of the firm of Bloom & Martin, with head- quarters in Redfield, and was thus engaged until January, 1903, when he was again appointed deputy county treasurer, of which position he still remains incumbent. In politics he is a stanch Republican and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past grand; the Knights of Pythias, in which he is past chan- cellor; the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is clerk in his camp; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Improved Order of Red Men, in which he is past sachem; and the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan.

MICHAEL GERIN comes of stanch old Irish lineage and is a native of County Limerick, Ireland, where he was born on the 19th of Sep- tember, 1848, being a son of Michael and Julia (Fitzgerald) Gerin, who emigrated from the Emerald Isle to America when he was a child of three years, settling in the province of Ontario, Canada, where our subject was reared and edu- cated. In 1877 he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and passed the first year in look- ing about the state for a location. He arrived in Sioux Falls in August, 1878, on the first train run over the line of the recently completed St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad. In the following December he established himself in business here, opening a grocery and crockery store of modest order and thoroughly identifying

himself with the business and civic affairs of the little town. With the growth of the city his busi- ness expanded rapidly in scope and importance and at the time when he disposed of the same, in September, 1902, the enterprise was one of the leading ones of the sort in the city. For the past twelve years .Mr. Gerin has given much atten- tion to the raising of live stock, having the high- est type of blooded shorthorn cattle and having gained a wide reputation as a breeder of this stock, while he conducts his operations upon an extensive scale, owning three and one-quarter sec- tions of the finest land in the county and devoting practically his entire time and his ample capital- istic resources to the carrying forward of his stock and agricultural enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the Minnehaha County Agri- cultural Society, of which he has been president consecutively from the time of its inception to the present and having done much to further its prog- ress and its value to the farmers and stockgrow- ers of the state. He is a communicant of the Catholic church and a prominent member of the Catholic Knights of Columbus, in which he is a grand knight. Mr. Gerin is a bachelor.

HON. JASON E. PAYNE .- Among the na- tive sons of the state who have attained prestige and success in one of the most exacting and im- portant of professions, that of the law, is Mr. Payne, who is engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in the city of Vermillion, where he is also a member of the faculty of the College of Law at the University of South Dakota.

Jason Elihu Payne was born on the homestead farm in Clay county, this state, on the 22d of January, 1874, and is a scion of one of the early pioneer families of the county. His parents were Byron S. and Charlotte E. (Woodworth) Payne, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Wisconsin, though both living in Clay county, this state, at the time of their marriage, while they still remain on their valuable farm in this county. The subject received his early educa- tion in the district school near his home, and after completing the curriculum of the public

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schools entered the State University of South Dakota, at Vermillion, where he was graduated in 1894, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the following year he began reading law un- der the direction of ex-Governor A. C. Mellette, of this state, who was at that time residing in Pittsburg, Kansas, and thereafter continued his technical reading under the preceptorship of E. M. Kelsey, of Vermillion, during the year 1896, while in 1897-8 he was a student in the College of Law of the University of Minnesota, in the city of Minneapolis, being admitted to the bar of his native state in October of the latter year. He began the practice of his profession in Vermillion on the Ist of January, 1901, and has already built up an excellent business, retaining a representa- tive clientage. He is specially well grounded in the science of jurisprudence, so that his prefer- ment as assistant professor of law in the College of Law of the State University was consistently accorded. his appointment to the position having been made in September, 1903. In politics Mr. Payne gives an unqualified allegiance to the Re- publican party, and is one of the most prominent of the younger workers in its ranks in the state, while in 1902 he was elected to represent his dis- trict in the state senate, serving with marked abil- ity as a member of this body during the eighth general assembly, while his term will expire in the present year, 1904. Mr. Payne is popular in professional, business and social circles and is well known throughout his native county. He has not yet assumed connubial ties.

Mr. Payne met with serious misfortune on the 29th of August, 1893, when, as the result of a runaway, he was thrown against a wire fence, his injuries being of such a serious nature as to necessitate the amputation of one arm.

CHARLES F. LOTZE claims the splendid old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, hav- ing been born in Vienna, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1857, and being a son of George and Catherine Lotze, the former of whom was born in Germany, while the latter was born in the United States, the father having set-

tled in Ohio soon after his coming to America and having there passed the remainder of his life. He was a merchant by vocation and was a man of distinctive integrity and honor in all the rela- tions of life. When our subject was a child of four years his parents removed to Girard, Trum- bull county, Ohio, where he was reared and where he completed the curriculum of the public schools. In 1875, at the age of eighteen years, he went to Berrien Springs, Berrien county, Michigan, where he established himself in the jewelry busi- ness and where he continued to reside until 1879, when he came as a pioner to what is now the state of South Dakota, locating in Vermillion, Clay county, where, in December of that year, he established himself in the jewelry, book and music business, in which line of enterprise he has ever since continued. He began operations on a modest scale and with the rapid settling of the surrounding country and the steady growth and progress of Vermillion his business increased in scope and importance and is now one of the lead- ing enterprises of the sort in this section of the state. He has a large and well appointed store and carries a select stock in each of the three de- partments, controlling a representative trade and being one of the popular and influential business men of the city. In politics Mr. Lotze is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, but he has never sought or desired public office. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, being a member of Vermillion Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, in his home city.

On the 21st of October, 1885, Mr. Lotze was united in marriage to Miss Martha C. Hurd, daughter of Jabez and Elizabeth Hurd, of Lan- caster, Wisconsin, in which state she was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Lotze have three daughters, all of whom remain at the parental home, Hazel C., Marie L. and Laura B.

JAMES ALFRED COPELAND was born at Fountaindale, Winnebago county, Illinois, on the 21st of September, 1852, being a son of Alfred Williams Copeland, who was born in Bridge-

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water, Massachusetts, June 18, 1809, and who' died, in Fountaindale, Illinois, June 23. 1875. He was born and reared in Massachusetts, and was at one time forenian in a cotton mill at Lowell, that state. He came to Illinois as a pioneer and there devoted the remainder of his life to farming. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Brew- ster, was born in Pennsylvania and died at Byron, Illinois, in 1884. She was a descendant of EI- der Brewster, of Mayflower fame. From an old family Bible still in the possession of our subject is taken the following record, starting with his father, Alfred W., son of Alfred Copeland, who was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, October 7. 1782, and who was a drummer in the war of 1812. He married Mary Williams, daughter of Nathaniel Williams, a minute-man of the Revolu- tionary war. Alfred was a son of Daniel Cope- land, who was born in 1741 and who married Susannah Ames, daughter of Joseph Ames. The next in direct line was Jonathan Copeland, who was born in 1701, and who married Betty Snell. daughter of Thomas Snell, Jr. The next in the direct ancestral line was William Copeland, born in 1656, at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Mary Bass, daughter of John Bass, who married Ruth Alden, a daughter of John Alden, the Pilgrim whose name is so prominent in New England history and story and of whom it is said he was the last male survivor of those who signed the compact on board the "Mayflower." The next in line was Laurence Copeland, who was born in 1589, probably in England, and who came to America about 1620. He married Lydia Townsend in 1651 and he died in 1699, at the patriarchal age of one hundred and ten years.

Judge James A. Copeland, the immediate sub- ject of this sketch, received his early educational training in the common schools of his native state, and for a time was a student in Wheaton College, at Wheaton, Illinois. In 1879 he took up the study of law in the office of George W. Fifield, of Fairmont, Nebraska, and in 1883 he entered the employ of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, with which he remained until 1890, in the meanwhile continuing to devote as much attention as possible to his legal studies,

making such advancement that he was enabled to secure admission to the bar of South Dakota in April of the year last mentioned. After leaving school our subject had returned to the homestead farm, and there he remained until 1877, when he engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock at Oregon, Illinois, being thus engaged about two years, having shipped horses to Fairmont, Ne- braska, where he remained two years, devoting his attention to farming and to the law and loan business. He then removed to Storm Lake, Iowa, where he was engaged in the cattle business until December, 1881, when he came to South Dakota and took up his residence in Vermillion, where he has ever since main- tained his home. He served as clerk of the courts of Clay county from 1891 to 1894, while he also held the office of justice of the peace for a period of ten years. In 1896 he was elected to the office of county judge, serving until January 1, 1899. and in 1900 he was again elected to this office for a term of two years. Judge Copeland is an uncompromising Republican in his political pro- clivities, and it may consistently be said that he has held to the ancestral faith, since he comes of a long line of Republican and Whig forbears. Judge Copeland is identified with Incense Lodge, No. 2, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Vermillion Chapter, No. 21, Royal Arch Masons; Juno Chapter, No. 44, Order of the Eastern Star ; and Dakota Pine Camp, No. 450, Modern Woodmen of America. He is secretary of the last men- tioned, as is he also of his Masonic lodge and chapter. He is a charter member of the Repub- lican Club, No. 103. of Vermillion, this being subordinate to the Republican League of South Dakota, and he has held various offices in each of the above mentioned organizations, being at the present time secretary of the Republican Club. In 1870 Judge Copeland became a member of the Presbyterian church at Middle Creek, Illinois, and in 1901 he joined the First Baptist church of Vermillion.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 104

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