USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 119
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In his political adherency Mr. Wagner is found stanchly arrayed in support of the princi- ples and policies of the Democratic party, and while in no sense a politician he has taken at all times a loyal interest in the success of the party cause and has been an influential factor in further- ing the same in a local way. In the autumn of 1902 he was elected to his present office as county treasurer, and it needs not be said that the fiscal affairs of the county have been placed in most competent hands, his administration being typi- fied by strict business principles and a careful conservation of the interests of the county. Mr. Wagner is public-spirited and progressive and takes a deep concern in all that tends to promote the well-being of the state in which he has gained fortune. He is a communicant of the Roman Catholic church, in whose faith he was reared. and he holds membership in the Bohemian Catho- lic Central Union, being president of the lodge of the latter in Tabor.
On the 20th of October, 1877, Mr. Wagner was united in marriage to Miss Rosa Bumba,
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who, like himself, is a native of Bohemia, and of their seven children only three are living, namely : Joseph J., who is cashier of the Lesterville State Bank ; James A., who is deputy county treasurer ; and Thomas J., who is cashier of the Tabor State Bank, all being young men of excellent business ability and sterling character.
J. M. DUNMIRE, who is one of the promi- nent farmers and stock growers of Bon Homme county, and who is serving with marked ability as a member of the board of county commission- ers at the time of this writing, is a native of the fine old Buckeye state, having been born in Holmes county, Ohio, on the 19th of April, 1850. a son of Jacob and Rebecca ( Snediker ) Dunmire, of whose thirteen children eight are living at the present time. The father of the subject was born in Pennsylvania, where he was reared to matu- rity. He there learned the trade of shoemaker, and as a young man he removed to Ohio, locating in Steubenville, as one of the pioneers of that sec- tion. After his marriage he removed, in 1831, to Holmes county, where he entered claim to eighty acres of land in the midst of the virgin forest, where he cleared and improved a farm, there retaining his residence until 1853, when he removed to Knox county, that state, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in June, 1874, at which time he was seventy years of age. He was a stanch Democrat in politics, sincere and upright in all the relations of life, and he gained a position of independence through indefatigable labor as one of the sterling pioneers of a great commonwealth. His wife passed away in 1897 at the age of eighty years.
J. M. Dunmire, with whom this sketch has to do, grew to manhood amidst the environments and conditions of the pioneer days in Ohio, early beginning to contribute his quota to the arduous work of the home farm and having such educa- tional advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality. As he was the youngest of the living children the responsibility of caring
for and aiding his parents fell upon his shoulders and he thus remained on the old homestead until the death of his honored father, conducting the farm on shares after attaining his twentieth year. In 1875 he sold his interest in the estate to his brother Isaac and came west to Iowa, remaining one year in Mahaska county and then removing to Jasper county, where he became the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, upon which he 'continued to reside for sixteen years, developing the same into one of the most valuable properties in that section. In 1892 Mr. Dunmire disposed of this farm and removed to Dallas county, that state, where he acquired three hun- dred and twenty 'acres of land, to whose cultiva- tion he gave his attention until 1901, when he disposed of the property and came to Bon Homme county, South Dakota, where he is now the owner of a valuable and well improved landed estate of five hundred and seventy-five acres, the entire tract being available for cultivation and of the utmost fertility. He has, however, given his attention more particularly to shorthorn cattle and general live stock, being one of the successful and extensive stock growers of this section and having shown marked discrimination and execu- tive ability in his operations. He received only five hundred dollars from his father's estate, and the gratifying prosperity which he today enjoys, as one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of Bon Homme county, represents the results of his own efforts. While a resident of Jasper county, Iowa, Mr. Dunmire served three terms as county assessor, and for fourteen years he was a member of the directorate of the Farmers' Mu- tual Insurance Company, of that county, and for an equal period a prominent member of the agri- cultural society of the county. While a resident of Dallas county, that state, he served for six years as vice-president of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, later was one of the adjust- ers and served one year as president. In the au- tumn of 1902 Mr. Dunmire was elected a mem- ber of the board of county commissioners of Bon Homme county, in which capacity he is render- ing most excellent service to the people of the county, being an advocate of public improvements
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and of a progressive policy in directing the affairs of the county. In earlier years he was a Demo- crat in politics, but he has ever had the courage of his convictions and has recently changed his political views in quite a radical way. At the time of his nomination for his present office the question as to his political allegiance was brought up, and he refused to accept the nomination 1111- less it was accorded without restrictions and con- ditions, and his election testifies to the confidence reposed in him by the voters of the county, while his constant aim is to serve all the people. without regard to political affiliations. He has never been ambitious for office, and such preferment as he has received has come without solicitation on his part. He has served many years, at different times, as a member of the school board, and has ever shown himself to be a loyal and public-spir- ited citizen. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is at the present time a member of the board of trustees of the church in Scotland. Fraternally he is identi- fied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In November, 1873. Mr. Dunmire was united in marriage to Miss Hannah E. Ruby, of Knox county, Ohio, and of their six children all are living save one, Mary Alice, who died in infancy. George M. is a resident of Clark county, Iowa : Cora E. is the wife of J. E. Boot, of Hutchinson county, South Dakota; Rebecca is the wife of R. W. Anderson, of Des Moines, Iowa ; Marga- ret, who is the wife of Walter A. Wickham, of Des Moines, Iowa : and Kirby M., who remains at the parental home.
CHARLES HILL merits consideration in this work for many reasons, being one of the honored pioneers of the state, a citizen of sterl- ing character and a successful and prominent business man of Springfield, Bon Homme county, where he has been identified with the banking business since the year 1890, while he early came to the territory of Dakota as an employe of the government in the maintaining of the Indian agencies. He is familiarly known as Major Hill and is a man whose popularity in his
section of the state is of the most unequivocal order. Mr. Hill was born in the city of To- ronto, Canada, on the 12th of September, 1849. being a son of George L. and Mary (McKinzie) Hill, who were cousins. Both were consistent ex- ponents of the faith of the Society of Friends, in which they had been reared, and their lives exemplified this faith in all ways.
Charles Hill was reared to manhood in his native city, having received his educational dis- cipline in the excellent schools of Toronto, while he had learned the trade of millwright and had also secured excellent training in the office of a local architect. He continued to reside in Toronto until 1873, when he came to the west in the employ of the United States government. The peace policy promulgated by President Grant in 1871 brought up the question of plac- ing the Indians of the west in charge of various religious bodies, and the Society of Friends, at their general yearly meeting, manifested some hesitancy in accepting the responsibility which would be placed upon them in this connection, and therefore asked that the government select a number of its employes from their members rather than ask them to assume more exacting responsibility, and it was in compliance with this request that Major Hill was chosen. Ac- cordingly, in 1873. he came to the territory of Dakota as an official at the Santee Indian agency, where he remained about seventeen years, during five years of which time he served as Indian agent, rendering most capable service. In 1890 he came to Springfield, where he as- sociated himself with Hon. George W. Snow and Hon. Reuben Groot in the establishing of a banking business, which has since been success- fully conducted under the title of the Bank of Springfield, the institution being ably managed upon the highest business principles, having an ample capitalistic support and proving a valuable addition to the business interests of the town and surrounding country, while the interested princi- pals command the unqualified confidence and es- teem of all who know them. In politics Mr. Hill gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and he clings to the religious faith in which he was
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reared, both he and his wife being members of the local organization of the Society of Friends at Monroe, Nebraska. He is an appreciative member of the time-honored fraternity of Free- masonry, in which he has passed the various degrees of the York Rite, ex- cept those of the commandery, and has attained also the degrees of the Scottish Rite, being a member of Yankton Consistory, No. I, being elected most worshipful grand master in 1901, while he also holds membership in the ad- junct Order of the Eastern Star, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Daughters of Rebekah.
On the IIth of June, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Major Hill to Miss Mary Webster, a daughter of Joseph Webster, of Philadelphia, who was at that time an Indian agent in South Dakota, and of this union have been born five children, namely: Emma, Howard J., Clarence, Helen and William Webster, all of whom remain at the parental home except Howard, who resides in Monroe, Nebraska.
JOSEPH W. WHITING, a member of the faculty of the Springfield Normal School, at Springfield, Bon Homme county, merits distinc- tive representation in this work as one of the able and popular educators of the state, where he has maintained his home for more than fifteen years past, the while gaining a high reputation in his chosen vocation.
Joseph Williams Whiting is a native of the state of Wisconsin, having been born in Spring- vale, Fond du Lac county, on the 4th of Sep- tember, 1864, and being a son of Amos C. and Valucia Violant (Williams) Whiting. The fa- ther of the subject was a farmer by vocation and died May 7, 1900, while his widow's death oc- curred on November 5, the same year. In the agnatic line Professor Whiting traces the direct ancestry back to Nathaniel Whiting, who settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1638, while on the maternal side the lineage is traced to that his- toric figure, Roger Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island colony. In Romeo Elton's history
of the life of Roger Williams, published in 1853, the ancestral record shows blood relationship of the Williams family and that of Oliver Cromwell.
The subject was reared under the sturdy disci- pline of the homestead farm, and after availing himself of the advantages afforded in the public schools he entered the Wisconsin State Normal School at Oshkosh, with a definite aim of pre- paring himself for the pedagogic profession. He completed a thorough course in this excellent institution, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1887. He began teaching im- mediately after his graduation, being thus en- gaged in the public schools at Oconto, Wisconsin, during the winter of 1887-8, while in the autumn of the latter year he came to Springfield, South Dakota, where he held the position of principal of the public schools for the ensuing two years, his efforts in the connection meeting with marked appreciation and approval. In 1891 he was elected principal of the high school at Scotland, Bon Homme county, and retained this incum- bency two years, after which he returned to Springfield and accepted a clerical position in a local mercantile establishment. His tastes and training, however, were in the line of his previous endeavors and he was thus naturally led to re- sume teaching. In 1897 he was elected a member of the faculty of the Springfield Normal School, and in this capacity he has since continued to serve with marked efficiency, being one of the popular and enthusiastic instructors of the insti- tution and having marked facility in begetting a similar spirt of enthusiasm and devotion in the students. So far as educational matters are in- volved Profsessor Whiting believes that they should be entirely segregated from politics if the best ends are to be conserved, but in local and national affairs of governmental order he ac- cepts the faith of the Republican party and is a stanch advocate of its principles. With a deep reverence for the spiritual verities, Professor Whiting is tolerant and liberal in his religious views, contributing to the support of all churches and being personally associated principally with the Protestant Episcopal church, though he is not a communicant of the same. Fraternally he is
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identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been affiliated with Springfield Lodge, No. 107, since 1890; and with the Modern Woodmen of America, holding membership in Seneca Camp, No. 3053, in which he is at the present time incumbent of the office of clerk, hav- ing been identified with the organization since 1900.
In Springfield, on the 29th of March, 1890, Professor Whiting was united in marriage to Miss Luna B. Monfore, a daughter of Peter and Diana (Howland) Monfore, who settled in Springfield in 1871, having come hither from Iowa. It is supposed that the ancestry of the Monfores may be traced to Simon de Monfort, the founder of the English parliament. Mrs. Peter Monfore is a lineal descendant from one of the Howland brothers who came to the new world in the Mayflower and were closely associ- ated with the history of Plymouth colony. The subject and his wife are the parents of a winsome little daughter, Madge Monfore Whiting, who was born in Springfield, on the 8th of February, 1894.
CHARLES L. LAWRENCE was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, in the town of Fort Jackson, on the 15th of July, 1866, being a son of James O. and Julia A. (Castle) Lawrence and the younger of their two children. His sister, Elizabeth M., is the wife of N. J. Johnson, of Wakonda, South Dakota. James O. Lawrence was likewise born in St. Lawrence county, New York, the date of his nativity having been 1843, and he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, continuing to follow agricultural pursuits after attaining manhood. In 1866 he came to the west in search of a location, leaving his family in the east until he had selected a permanent place of abode. He entered a homestead claim in Pope county, Minnesota, where he erected a primitive log cabin as a domicile for his family, and he then returned to the east and brought his wife and children to the pioneer home in Minnesota, where they continued to reside until 1876, when he came to Yankton. South Dakota, this city having then
been the capital of the undivided territory of Da- kota, and here he turned his attention to govern- ment contracting. In the spring of 1879 he took up a pre-emption claim of one hundred and sixty acres, in the northeastern part of Yankton county, and removed to this farm, which he improved and placed under effective cultivation, while he continued to add to the area of his landed estate until he became the owner of a fine farm of four hundred and forty acres. In 1894 he disposed of his property in this state and removed to Vir- ginia, purchasing a fruit farm about twenty-five miles southwest of the city of Washington, and there his devoted wife died, and in April, 1902, he returned to South Dakota, taking up his resi- dence in the attractive city of Sioux Falls, where he is now living retired from active business, be- ing well known as one of the honored pioneers of the state. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, having been an active worker in its cause, but never having been a seeker of public office.
Charles L. Lawrence, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm and secured his educational training in the public schools. At the age of seventeen years he put his scholastic acquirements to practical test by engaging in teaching in the district schools of Yankton county, having been thus successfuly employed for several winter terms, while during the inter- vening summers he engaged in farm work. In November, 1.892, he was elected county assessor, of which office he continued incumbent for four years, having been elected his own successor at the expiration of his first term. In the summer of 1895 he assigned the detail work of this office to a deputy and then went to the village of Volin. where he accepted the position of stock buyer for the mercantile concern of the J. T. Daugherty Company. His duties in this connection were of varied order, since he maintained the general supervision of the books of the company, attended to the buying of stock and assisted in shaping the business policy in many ways, thus contributing materially to the upbuilding of the extensive business. He con- tinued with this concern until March, 1900, when
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he resigned his position, and for several months thereafter he gave his attention to the supervision of his fine farm, of two hundred acres, in this county, and to his live stock interests. In the autumn of that year he was elected county audi- tor, and he served with so great acceptability that he was chosen as his own successor in the autumn of 1902, and is now serving his second term in this important office. He has ever accorded a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and has labored zealously to forward its cause in the local field, having been a delegate to various county and congressional conventions and being promi- nent in the local ranks of the "grand old party." Fraternally he is identified with Yankton Camp, No. 732, Modern Woodmen of America.
On the 6th of December, 1891, Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage to Miss Evangeline B. Case, of Yankton, and they are tlie parents of three children, Genevieve, Marjorie and Bernie.
EDWARD PARKER WILCOX is a native of the old Empire state of the Union, having been born in Victor, New York, on the 17th of December, 1837, a son of Jairus and Mary E. Wilcox, of whose nine children five are yet living, namely : Albert B., who is a resident of San Francisco, California ; Dr. Robert J., who resides in Wisconsin ; Henry M., deceased ; Ann A., who is the wife of Benjamin W. Thomas, of Chicago, and Edward P., the immediate subject of this sketch. Jarius Wilcox was born in Mid- dletown, Connecticut, about the opening year of the nineteenth century, and he died in the city of Chicago, Illinois, in 1851, having been one of the honored pioneers of the western metropolis, which was a mere village at the time when he there took up his abode. His death resulted from an attack of cholera, during the memorable epidemic of the dread disease in the year men- tioned. He was a man of high scholastic at- tainments, having been graduated in Yale Col- lege and having been ordained as a clergyman of the Presbyterian church. His first pastoral charge was in the state of New York, and in 1837 he removed to Genesee, Illinois, being called to
Chicago in 1845, and being one of the early min- isters of the Presbyterian church in that city. His loved and devoted wife survived him many years, her death occurring in 1885. The paternal grandfather of the subject was a valiant soldier in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, having served as captain of a Con- necticut company.
Edward P. Wilcox remained at the parental home until the death of his father, having been fourteen years of age at the time, and he forth- with initiated his independent career, bravely fac- ing the exigencies and showing that self-reliance which has been the conservator of his pronounced success in later years. His early education was secured in the common schools and he had also the advantages implied in the environments of a cultured and refined home. From the age of fourteen until 1861 he was employed in the lum- ber business in Chicago, and he then withdrew from the vocations of peace to take up arms in defense of the republic. During about seven months of the year 1861 he was employed in the quartermaster's department at General Grant's headquarters, and in August, 1862, he enlisted in Battery B, First Illinois Light Artillery. He entered as a private and was later promoted ser- geant, orderly sergeant and finally lieutenant, and in 1864, when his battery was consolidated with Battery A, same regiment, he was made captain of his company and commanded the same during many spirited engagements. He participated in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, and many other of the important engagements in- cident to the progress of the great civil conflict, and he received his honorable discharge in July, 1865, having served practically during the entire course of the war. After the crown of victory rested on the Union arms he returned to Chicago, where he became associated with his brother-in- law, Benjamin W. Thomas, in the lumber busi- ness, under the firm name of Thomas, Wilcox & Company. The business of the firm was rapidly expanded in scope and importance and the con- cern became one of the leading ones of the sort
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in Chicago, controlling large tracts of timber land in Michigan and manufacturing lumber upon an extensive scale. In 1870 Mr. Wilcox disposed of his interests in Chicago and came to the ter- ritory of Dakota, locating in Yankton, which was then the capital of the territory, and here establishing lumber yards, under the title of the Wilcox Lumber Company, while later branch yards were established in other places in the southern part of the territory. Finally the con- cern also began dealing in grain and the business in both departments grew to be one of extensive proportions, while the firm gained the confidence of all with whom it had dealings, the policy fol- lowed being one of the highest business honor and integrity. In 1887 Mr. Wilcox withdrew from the firm and organized the American Mort- gage Company, which was incorporated, and of the same he has since continued president, the corporation being one which controls a large business and which provides facilities in the ex- tension of financial loans upon reasonable terms and in such a way as to justify the confidence of the people who have recourse to the same. In 1890 Mr. Wilcox gave distinctive evidence of his public spirit and his interest in the upbuilding and progress of his home city, since he then erected one of the finest business blocks in the city, the same bearing his name, and in this fine structure the offices of the American Mortgage Company are now located. In politics he accords an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party, and while he has never sought official po- sition of any sort he consented to serve as a member of the board of aldermen, having held this office for one term. He is at the present time a member of the board of trustees of Yank- ton College, having been in tenure of this office from the time of the organization of the college, save for the interval of five years between 1886 and 1891. He and his wife are prominent and valued members of the Congregational church, in which he held the office of deacon for about a quarter of a century, taking a zealous interest in all departments of church work and contributing liberally to its support.
On the 19th of November, 1867, Mr. Wilcox
was united in marriage to Miss Fannie S. Hurl- but, of Chicago, Illinois, and they are the parents of two children, Jessie H., who is the wife of Frederick W. Gurney, of Jamestown, New York, and Dudley B., who is a resident of Los Angeles, California.
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