History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 116

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 116

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of the strongest and most popular local mutual companies in the state, and its affairs are man- aged with consummate skill and honor.

In politics Mr. Steiner has ever given an un- swerving allegiance to the Republican party, in whose cause he has shown a lively interest. He has held various local offices, and in the county convention of his party in 1902 he was nomi- nated by acclamation for representative in the state legislature, and in the ensuing election was elected by more than five hundred majority. He was a most logical and particularly eligible can- didate and has fully justified in his course the wis- dom shown by the voters of the county in accord- ing him this honorable preferment. He has been clerk of the school board of his district for six years and at all times has manifested a deep con- cern in all that touches the welfare and material progress of his county and state. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are prominent and zealous members of the Evangelical Association, and at the time of this writing he is class leader and trustee in the church of this denomination at Bigstone City.

On the 13th of November, 1890, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Steiner to Miss Amanda Korte, who was born and reared in Dodge county, Wisconsin, being a daughter of Fred M. and Mary ( Merten) Korte and of stanch German ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are the parents of five children, namely: John A., Edwin W., Roy J., Allen C. and Edna M., and all are being afforded the best available edu- cational advantages.

NEWTON EDMUNDS, second territorial governor of Dakota, was born at Hartland, New York, May 31, 1819, was educated in the com- mon schools and a private academy. Came to Dakota in 1861 to accept a clerkship in the sur- veyor general's office, but two years later was appointed governor by President Lincoln. Served three years. Obtained great influence over the hostile Indians and was upon many com- missions to effect treaties with them. Engaged in banking business and became wealthy. He still resides at Yankton.

ELLSWORTH E. DYE was born in Deca- tur county, Iowa, on the 14th of May, 1863, be- ing a son of Robert E. and Elizabeth (Trippett) Dye, of whose seven children all are living. The father was born in Monroe county, Ohio, and the mother at Long Reach, West Virginia, at which place they were married in 1851. They removed to lowa in 1856, becoming pioneers of Decatur county, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits, becoming one of the prominent and honored citizens of that section of the Hawkeye state. The father died at Leon, Iowa, on March 13, 1904, having retired from the farm a few years ago. The mother still resides at that place. The subject of this sketch passed his boyhood days on the homestead farm and after completing the curriculum of the public schools continued his studies in the Des Moines Uni- versity. After leaving this institution he was alternately engaged in farming and teaching in the public schools of his native state until 1887, when he came to Buffalo county, South Dakota, where he entered claim to one hundred and sixty acres of government land, in Arlington town - ship, and there engaged in farming for the en- suing five years, developing and improving his property, of which he disposed at an appreciable profit in 1891: He then located in Gann Valley, where he taught in the public schools for the en- suing three years, with marked success. He was then elected to the office of county treasurer, of which he remained incumbent for two terms. At the expiration of his effective service in this office Mr. Dye entered into partnership with Arthur G. Hill, concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work, and engaged in the real-estate business, in which they have ever since continued operations most success- fully, being one of the leading concerns of the sort in this section of the state and having the only set of title abstracts in the county. In 1898 the firm of Dye & Hill purchased the weekly newspaper known as the Dakota Chief, and they have since continued to be associated in its publi- cation, having a well equipped plant and issuing a most creditable paper, which is a welcome visitor in the majority of the homes of the

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county. In 1898 Messrs. Dye and Hill founded the Bank of Buffalo County, which is now one of the popular and solid financial institutions of this section of the state and one which controls a large and constantly increasing business. It would be a work of supererogation to state in the connection that the members of this firm are among the most enterprising and progressive young business men of the county, for the fact is patent from the data already given in this sketch.

In politics Mr. Dye is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and through personal effort and editorial utterances in his paper, he has done much to promote the party cause. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Gann Valley Lodge, No. 120, Ancient Order of United Workmen. It may be said in the con- nection that Mr. Dye is most loyal to the state and county of his adoption and has unqualified confidence in the still brighter future in store for the commonwealth. As an active real-estate mạn he is thoroughly familiar with property values, and thus full credence can be given his assertion to the effect that realty in Buffalo county has appreciated in value by more than two hundred per cent. within the last three years and that the farmers of this section are uniformly independent and prosperous.

On the 14th of January, 1894, Mr. Dye was united in marriage to Mrs. Anna E. Lockwood, who was born and bred in the state of Indiana. being a daughter of Levi A. Creager, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, who died at his home at Burlington, Iowa, on June I, 1903. Of this union have been born two chil- dren, Wayne and Warren.

GEORGE L. GILMAN .- Among the land- owners of Yankton county is George L. Gilman, a gentleman of ability and discernment. From 1902 down to the present he has been identified with the county and has aided materially in claim- ing the wild land for the purposes of civilization. There are in his life record many elements worthy of emulation and which should inspire and en-

courage others, for he started out in McCook county with limited means and throughout his career has been dependent upon his own efforts, his prosperity being attributable to his diligence and perseverance.

A native of Connecticut, Mr. Gilman was born in West Hartland, his parents being Sam- tel B. and Harriet T. (Newton) Gilman, who were also natives of that state and representatives of old colonial families, prominent in the Revo- lutionary war. The father was a farmer, a wag- onmaker and carpenter. Both he and his wife always lived in Connecticut and there he died at the age of forty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Gil- man held membership in the Congregational church and he served as deacon for many years. being deeply interested in everything pertaining to the growth of his church and the extension of its influence. In his political views he was a Re- publican and was honored with various township offices. In the family were four children, of whom George L. is the eldest. Sarah E. is the wife of W. H. Williams, a prominent banker and business man of Winsted, Connecticut. Addie T. is the wife of Henry Ward Beecher, an under- taker of New Haven, Connecticut. Ida died in infancy. The living children were provided with good educational privileges, and the daughters successfully taught city schools. They were also proficient in music.

Upon his father's death George L. Gilman, who was then fifteen years of age, took charge of his father's farm and when seventeen years of age he began teaching a country school in the winter months, while in the summer seasons he continued in agricultural work. He taught alto- gether for six winters in the district schools and afterward for two years in an intermediate grade in Winsted, Connecticut. His farm labors were continued through the summer months and in 188I he sold the old homestead and for one sum- mer he worked for his uncle on a farm. In the fall of that year he went to Illinois, where he visited for a short time and through the succeed- ing winter was employed as a teacher in Illinois. In the spring of 1882 he removed to McCook county, South Dakota, where he secured one hun-

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dred and sixty acres of government land and on the 25th of April of that year, which was his birthday, he built his first house, a little shanty cight by ten feet. Mr. Gilman dug a well with a spade and broke seventy-five acres of land ; the first crop of sod corn was planted with a hatchet. He remained in South Dakota for one year and then returned to Illinois, teaching this former school through the succeeding winter at Western. In the spring of 1883 he brought horses and machinery to his new home, employed a hired man and began in earnest the work of cultivating and developing his farm. He had in addition to his first tract taken up three hundred and twenty acres, making in all four hundred and eighty acres, and subsequently he added one hundred and sixty acres, so that he had an entire section. He has erected a good residence and barns and he placed two hundred and sixty acres of his land under cultivation. Upon that farm he resided until December, 1892, when he sold one-half of his land and rented the remainder. He then pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres in Yankton county, where he has since lived. In 1898 he erected a fine residence upon his home farm and has placed his land under a very high state of cultivation.

On the Ioth of June, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gilman and Miss Emma O. Gaines, a daughter of Nelson and Clarisa (Hin- man) Gaines, the former of Granville, Massachu- setts, and the latter of Bristol, Connecticut. They were married in Cambridge, Illinois, and her fa- ther was the first postmaster there and also a pioneer merchant. In public affairs he was ever prominent and influential, supporting the Repub- lican party ; he was a member of the Congre- gational church. By his first wife he had three children: George, who died at the age of four years ; Clarissa, the wife of E. G. Comstock, of Missouri ; and Julia, who became the wife of J. WV. Stewart, but both are now deceased. By his second wife Mr. Gaines had the following chil- dren : Hattie, the wife of Charles Genung, of Menlo, Iowa; Emma, now Mrs. Gilman; Lucy, the wife of Dr. Miller, a resident of Los An- geles, California ; Frank N., who is in business in

Chicago; and Harvey S., who is a business man of California. For his third wife Mr. Gaines chose Amy H. Wilson, but they had no children. Mr. Gaines died in 1892 at Geneseo, Illinois, aged seventy-five years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman has been blessed with five children : George Gaines, who was graduated in Yankton Academy in June, 1903; Arthur, who died at the age of fourteen months; Howard E. and Ray- mond N., who are attending school; and Alice T., who is now a little maiden of nine years.

Politically, Mr. Gilman is a Republican with strong Prohibition tendencies, for he is an ardent advocate of the cause of temperance. He and his wife are active and devoted members of the Con- gregational church, in which he serves as a dea- con and trustee. He has a very wide acquaint- ance and an honorable career well entitles him to representation in this volume among the pioneers of the state. His life history shows that success is not a matter of genius, but the outcome of judgment, experience and diligence. Integrity has been one of the crowning features in his life work, and capability with unflagging diligence gives Mr. Gilman a place among the prosperous residents of Yankton county.

HENRY H. FARRINGTON is a native of the good old Hoosier state, having been born in Lake county, Indiana, on the 10th of February, 1841, and being a son of Dr. John and Emily (Bushwell) Farrington. His father was for many years engaged in the practice of medicine in Indiana, and both he and his wife died in that state. Of their eleven children three are living at the present time. Owing to the exigencies of time and place the subject of this sketch was ac- corded only limited educational advantages in his youth, attending the common schools of Indi- ana, in a somewhat irregular way, until he had attained the age of fifteen years, while during his adolescent years he gave his attention to work on a farm. Through personal reading and study and through active association with men and affairs during the course of his active and honorable business career he has effectively supplemented

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the meager scholastic discipline of his boyhood and is a mian of strong intellectuality and ex- tended knowledge. When the dark cloud of the Civil war spread its gruesome pall over the na- tional firmament, Mr. Farrington laid aside all personal considerations and placed them in sub- ordination to his country's call. In 1862 he en- listed as a private in Company A, Seventy-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was com- manded by Colonel Hathaway. The regiment proceeded to the front and became a part of the forces commanded by General Rosecrans. In this connection our subject participated in the bat- tle of Stone River, while later he took part in many others of the sanguinary and important battles attending the progress of the great inter- necine conflict which determined the perpetua- tion of the Union. At Rome, Georgia, he was captured, and was held as a prisoner of war about one month, at the expiration of which his exchange was effected and he rejoined his regi- ment, which was then a part of the Army of the Cumberland. He continued in active service until the close of the war, receiving his honorable dis- charge on the Ist of July, at Nashville,. Tennes- see. He perpetuates the more gracious memories of his long and faithful service in the ranks by retaining membership in John B. Wyman Post, No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic, in Wes- sington, South Dakota.

After the close of the war Mr. Farrington returned to the North and located in Kankakee county, Illinois, where he followed the advice given to the "boys in blue" by General Grant, and turned his hand to the plow. He there con- tinued to be engaged in farming until 1870, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Grant Park, that state, where he thus continued opera- tions until 1883, in April of which year he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and cast in his lot with the early settlers of Hand county, where he took up three quarter sections of government land, entering homestead, pre- emption and tree claims. He forthwith began the reclamation and improvement of the land and in due time perfected his title to the same. He there continued actively engaged in farming and

stock raising until 1892, when he disposed of his fine property and took up his residence in Wes- sington, in the adjoining county of Beadle, where he has since maintained his home. Here he was engaged in the buying and shipping of grain and live stock until 1899, when he engaged in the hardware business, to which he has ever since given his attention, having a large and well equipped establishment, in which he handles all kinds of heavy and shelf hardware, besides agri- cultural implements, while the confidence reposed in him by the people of this section is definitely indicated in the substantial and representative trade which he controls. He is a stalwart Re- publican in his political proclivities, and served for three years as a member of the board of com- missioners of Hand county, though he has never sought public office of any description. He has been identified with the Masonic fraternity for the past thirty-five years, being now affiliated with Wessington Lodge, No. 107, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in Wessington.

In Lake county, Indiana, on the Ioth of Sep- tember, 1860, Mr. Farrington was united in mar- riage to Miss Lodema Pulver, who was born and reared in that state, being a daughter of David and Mercy Pulver, the former of whom was a farmer by vocation. Of this union have been born five children, namely: Azetta, married to J. D. McNair, of Wessington : Mercy, who mar- ried A. B. Safford, of Wessington; Minnie, the wife of C. S. Richardson, of Chicago Heights ; John lives at Wessington Springs, South Da- kota, and is engaged in the hardware and imple- ment business.

LOUIS CHLADEK is a native of Bohemia, Germany, where he was born on the 22d of Feb- ruary. 1852, a son of Joseph and Anna Chladek. He secured his early educational discipline in the schools of his native place and remained at the parental home until he had attained the age of fourteen years, when he set forth to face the stern battles of life on his own responsibility. He emigrated to the United States, whither he came as a stranger in a strange land, while

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he was the further handicapped from the fact that he was unfamiliar with the language of the country, but his determination, energy and self- reliance stood him well in hand, as the story of his future career well indicates. After his ar- rival in the United States he proceeded to the city of Chicago, where he joined his older brother, Frank, who had come to the new world some time previously. He arrived in the west- ern metropolis with but fifteen dollars in cash, and he soon secured employment in a furniture factory, where he learned the trade of cabinet making, to which he continued to devote his at- tention about five years, continuing his residence in Chicago until the Ist of May, 1869, when he started for the west. He finally arrived in Nio- brara. Nebraska, where he remained about two months, leaving that point on the 3d of July and continuing his westward journey to the territory of Dakota, having crossed the river and made his advent in Yankton on the evening of July 4th. There he was employed in a furniture store about a fortnight, at the expiration of which he proceeded to a point ten miles west of Yankton and there took pre-emption claim for himself and also one for his brother Frank. In preparation for establishing himself as a western farmer in the new country he purchased a team of oxen. for one hundred and seventy-five dollars; a wagon, for one hundred and ten dollars; a break- ing plow, for thirty-five dollars; and a cow, for sixty-five dollars. It may be noted in the con- nection that his cow proved somewhat wayward and independent, since the second day after she came into his possession she took the liberty of starting forth on a predatory excursion of her own, and Mr. Chladek was compelled to make a journey to a point sixteen miles distant before he could recover his property. On his ranch he built a small shanty of cottonwood lumber, and also a small enclosure in which to keep his live stock. He then set himself to the task of breaking his land and making ready for future cultivation, and it is needless to say that these initial experiences were novel ones to him, since he had never before seen a breaking plow or milked a cow. He broke about five acres on his 51

claim and the same amount for his brother, and in September he began securing his crop of hay, utilizing a scythe to cut the same, this likewise being an implement which he had never before handled, and from the long grass he built the winter shelter for his cattle. With financial as- sistance from his brother he weathered the winter storms without great discomfort, and in the spring he constructed a harrow and seeded the ten acres with wheat. The season proved a dry one and the crop proved a failure. In the autumn Mr. Chladek returned to Chicago, where he passed the winter, returning to his claim in the spring. The summer of 1871 brought disaster to the crops, owing to a visita- tion from the grasshoppers, and our subject thus passed the ensuing winter in Chicago, where he worked at his trade, as he had done the winter before, utilizing the money thus earned in carry- ing him through the summers on his farm. The grasshoppers again devastated the country in the summer of 1873, and though the outlook was none too encouraging Mr. Chladek was not dis- heartened, and he passed the winter of that year in Dakota, and he had duly profited by his ex- periences and gained valuable knowledge in re- gard to the best methods to be employed in connection with the improvement and cultivation of his land. The following summer he harvested a good crop, and from that time forward his efforts were attended with definite success. In 1879 Mr. Chladek was employed by the firm of Bramble & Miner in setting up harvesters through this section of South Dakota, and in the following year he entered into partnership with his brother Frank, who had taken up his resi- dence here, and engaged in the sale of farming implements and machinery, with headquarters in the city of Yankton. Two years later, after the railroad had been completed through the town of Scotland, Bon Homme county, they removed their business headquarters to that point and there they built up a large and prosperous enter- prise. Four years later they established a branch house in Tyndall, the county seat of the same county, and the partnership thereafter con- tinued until 1900, when it was dissolved by mu-

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tual consent, the brother of our subject finding it expedient to give his undivided attention to his large real-estate interests in Yankton county. Our subject then removed the Scotland stock to Tyndall, where he continued the enterprise suc- cessfully until 1902, when he disposed of the same and has since lived retired, though his real-estate and capitalistic interests are such as to afford him ample scope for his energies. He is the owner of three thousand acres of land in Bon Homme county, three hundred and twenty acres in Atchi- son county, three hundred and twenty in Camp- bell county, four hundred and eighty in Mc- Pherson county, and three hundred and twenty in Nebraska, and thus it may be seen that he is one of the extensive landholders of the state, having attained a high degree of success through his own efforts, while he has so ordered his life as to commend himself to the unqualified con- fidence and regard of all who know him, being one of the honored pioneers of the territory and state. His land in South Dakota is as fine agri- cultural land as to be found in the confines of the state, and the major portion of the same is under a high state of cultivation and well im- proved. He still retains his home in Tyndall, where, in 1897, he erected one of the most attract- ive residences in the town, and he has on the premises a private artesian well, which proves a most valuable accessory. In his beautiful home he may look back upon the labors and difficulties of the pioneer days and congratulate himself upon the steadfastness of purpose which caused him to remain in this section and to profit in the development of a great commonwealth, of which he may be consistently termed one of the founders and builders. He is signally loyal to the state in which he has so long made his home and is public-spirited and zealous in promoting its welfare. In politics he renders allegiance to the Democratic party, and while he has never been ambitious for public office he was the nomi- nee of his party for state treasurer in 1902, meet- ing defeat with the remainder of the ticket. He is one of the influential citizens of the state and is quoted as one of the most substantial capital- ists of the section in which he maintains his

home. Mr. Chladek is an appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity and is one of its prominent figures in South Dakota. He is affiliated with Bon Homme Lodge, No. IOI. Free and Accepted Masons, and the various other bodies of the York Rite, while he has also taken the Scottish Rite degrees, being identified with Yankton Consistory, No. I, while he is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux Falls. He is one of the trustees of the Yankton Masonic temple, and was one of the leading spirits in the promotion of its erection, having been a member of the building committee, in which connection his name appears with others on the corner-stone of the fine structure.

In 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chladek to Miss Louisa Vyborny, of Bon Homme county, and of their four children we incorporate the following data: Emma is a student in Rockford College, at Rockford. Illinois; Louis is attending a business college in Sioux Falls ; and Bessie and an infant remain at the parental home. The family is held in the highest esteem in Tyndall and the attractive home is a center of unalloyed hospitality and good cheer.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH LEACH, president and general manager of the Missouri River Transpor- tation Company, with headquarters in the village of Running Water, Bon Homme county, has had a varied and eventful career and has passed prac- tically his entire life in the great west, being fa- miliar with the vicissitudes, trials and dangers incidental to life on the frontier, while he has gained success through his own efforts, having been dependent upon his own resources from early boyhood, and being one of the best known citizens of South Dakota, where his friends are in number as his acquaintances. He is a true type of the stalwart, straightforward. honest, bluff and generous westerner, and is also an astute and able business man and executive, so that there are many points which render most compatible a re- view of his career in this history.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 116

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