History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 120

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

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HON. ELLISON GRIFFITH SMITH .- Distinguished as lawyer, jurist, legislator and official, also enjoying marked precedence as a citizen, few men of South Dakota have been as prominently before the public as Hon. Ellison Griffith Smith, of Yankton, present judge of the first judicial circuit. Mr. Smith is a native of Noble county, Ohio, and the son of Amos and Mary (Ellison) Smith, the father born April 14, 1813, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the mother in the state of Ohio. When a child Amos Smith was taken by his parents, George and Elizabeth (Thornton) Smith, to Noble county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. His father was a native of Germany, but was brought to this country when quite young and spent his youth and early mar- ried life in Pennsylvania, subsequently, as stated above, becoming one of the pioneers of Ohio. The' Thorntons came originally from England and settled in one of the eastern colonies. During the war of the Revolution they remained loyal to the mother country, and being pronounced in their Tory sentiments, they suffered great hard- ships at the hands of their Whig neighbors, losing nearly all their property besides being subjected to many personal indignities.

Amos Smith, the subject's father, was mar- ried at the age of thirty-eight to Miss Mary Ellison and for some years followed merchandis- ing in Noble county. By reason of impaired health, he disposed of his interests and removed with his family to Delaware county where he ac- quired large landed property and engaged quite extensively in agricultural pursuits and stock raising. He still owns about five hundred acres in the richest farming districts of that state and is one of the wealthy men and prominent citizens of the county in which he lives. To Amos and Mary Smith have been born seven children,

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

namely : Ellison Griffith, whose name introduces this review ; Emma, widow of E. C. Brown, of Aberdeen; Amos, an architect, living at Hopkin- ton, Iowa; Abbie, wife of H. C. Jackson, also resides in that place; Jason T., attorney at law, Yankton; Carrie B., now Mrs. Dr. F. A. Wil- liams, of Chicago, Illinois, and Edith, who is still with her parents, all living and well settled in life.

Ellison Griffith Smith was born December 5, 1851, and when a child was taken to Delaware county, Iowa, where he spent his youth under the wholesome and invigorating discipline of the farm. After acquiring his preliminary education in the common schools, he took a course in Len- 110x College, and later entered the University of Iowa, from which institution he was graduated in 1871 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His literary education finished, he took up the study of law and in 1873 was graduated from the law department of the State University, after which he spent some time on the farm for the purpose of recuperating his health, which had become considerably impaired on account of the strenu- ous character of his legal studies. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Smith was elected principal of the Mechamesville high school and at the close of the term he entered the office of a prominent attorney with the object in view of reviewing his studies preparing to engage in the practice of his pro- fession. Later he drifted west and in 1876, dur- ing the gold excitement in the Black Hills, made his way to Yankton, South Dakota, where he affected a co-partnership in the law with Hon. G. C. Moody, at that time judge of the circuit court, but later federal judge and United States senator. Mr. Smith began the practice at Yankton under most favorable auspices and at once stepped into a large and lucrative business which his distinguished associate had previously acquired. After Mr.' Moody's election to the federal judgeship the entire business fell to the subject, including the office of register in bank- ruptcy, and right well did he look after the in- terests of his clientele, winning in a short time a conspicuous place among the representative mem- hers of the Yankton bar. After practicing for

some years with a large measure of success and gaining much more than local repute, he was elected reporter of the supreme court, which po- sition he held some eight or ten years, the mean- while looking after his private interests. While serving as reporter, Mr. Smith was made district court judge and in this capacity presided at the first court ever held in the city of Pierre. He was also associated for some time with Hon. Hugh J. Campbell as assistant United States district attorney, and later succeeded to that office and discharged his duties in an able and satisfactory manner for a period of about four years. Mr. Smith, in 1885, was elected judge of the first judicial circuit and has filled this high and re- sponsible position by continuous re-elections ever since, his career on the bench having been eminently satisfactory and honorable. He sel- dom commits errors of sufficient import to justify reversal at the hands of the supreme court, and to the lawyers and litigants he is universally courteous, thus winning the confidence and high regard of all having business to transact in his jurisdiction.

In the years 1887-8 Judge Smith represented the first senatorial district in the state legislature and took an active part in the deliberations of the session. He has been a member of the Yankton school board for a number of years and as such has labored diligently and untiringly to advance the standard of education in the city. The Judge is a Mason of high degree, belonging to the blue lodge in Yankton, also to DeMolay Commandary No. I, of the same place. His name adorns the records of the local lodges of Odd Fellows, Ancient Order United Workmen and Modern Woodmen of America, in all of which he is a zealous member.

In 1877 Judge Smith was united in marriage with Miss Anna Kirkwood, of Hopkinton, Iowa, the union being blessed with three children : Agnes, Ellison G. and Amos C., who, with their parents, constitute a happy and agreeable home circle. In politics the Judge is a stanch Re- publican and his influence has had much to do in shaping the policy of the party in this state and promoting its success.

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HISTORY OF SOUTH. DAKOTA.

FRANK L. VAN TASSEL, secretary and manager of the Excelsior Mill Company, of Yankton, is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Conneautville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of January, 1851. He is a son of Elizar B. and Rachel (Litchfield) Van Tassel, of whose ten children seven are living at the present time, namely : Clarence, who is a resident of Artesian, South Dakota; Frank L., who is the immediate subject of this sketch ; Adella, who is the wife of Dr. W. H. H. Brown, of Denver, Colorado ; Mina, who is the wife of Dr. Alva Johnston, of Mead- ville, Pennsylvania; Dr. Willis, who is a prac- ticing dentist of Prescott, Arizona ; Nettie, who is the wife of James Van Sommer, of Liverpool, England ; and Harry, who is a resident of Wau- bay, South Dakota.

Elizar Van Tassel was born in Mayfield, New York, his parents having emigrated to America from Holland. He was reared and educated in the old Empire state, where he took up the study of law, being graduated in one of the leading law schools of the state. He finally removed to Mead- ville, Pennsylvania, where he was successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession for more than thirty years, becoming one of the representative members of the bar of the state. He died when about sixty years of age, honored by all who knew him. His wife was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, of stanch old New Eng- land stock, and she died at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, in 1900, at the age of seventy-five years, having been an active and devoted member of the Universalist church.

Frank L. Van Tassel, with whom this sketch has more specially to do, was reared in the paren- tal home until he had attained the age of fourteen years, his early educational discipline having been received in the common schools of his native state. That he had availed himself fully of the advant- ages afforded is certain when we revert to the fact that at the early age noted he engaged in teaching penmanship and bookkeeping, by means of which he succeeded in defraying the expenses of his course of study in the Meadville Commercial College, and though he was a mere boy at the

time he attained an enviable reputation as an in- structor in the lines mentioned. At the age of fifteen years he accepted a position as professor in penmanship and bookkeeping in the Humiston Cleveland Institute, at Cleveland, Ohio, where he did most effective work. In 1868, at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Van Tassel came to Yank- ton, which was then little more than a frontier village, and here he secured a position as book- keeper in the mercantile establishment of Bramble & Miner, one of the leading concerns of the town. About eight years later he became a member of the firm, having been previously the general man- ager of the enterprise, which had eventually de- veloped from a retail business of general mer- chandise into a wholesale grocery. Operations were conducted upon an extensive scale, and large amounts of goods were sent into the Black Hills district. The goods were brought to Yankton by railroad, thence transferred by boat to Pierre, from which point transportation to the Black Hills was had by means of wagons. How great the scope of the business became may be partially appreciated when it is stated that frequently three or four steamboats were loaded with the firm's goods in Yankton in one day. Mr. Bram- ble was located in the Black Hills, and Mr. Miner had charge of the Excelsior mill, which was es- tablished in Yankton in 1872, and thus the gen- eral supervision of the wholesale business de- volved upon the subject of this sketch. The firm retired from business in 1883 and in the following year Mr. Van Tassel assumed charge of the Ex- celsior mills, and he has since served consecutively in the capacity of secretary and general manager of the company, being known as a progressive business man and capable executive, while he has ever held the confidence and good will of the peo- ple with whom he has come in contact in the vari- ous relations of life. He was prominently con- cerned in the organization of the company which constructed the first telephone lines in South Da- kota and was also one of those to take the initia- tive in the construction of artesian wells in the state, the enterprise in this line having proved of inestimable value and benefit in a public way. He is president of the Business Men's Club of South

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Dakota and is ever loyal to the interests of the city and state in which he has so long maintained his home, while he is recognized as one of the representative citizens and business men of the state. He is chairman of the building committee of the new Carnegie library in Yankton, is sec- 1etary of the Yankton Telephone Company, and a member of the directorate of the First National Bank. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and while lie has never sought official preferment he served three years as a member of the board of trustees of the state hospital for the insane. His religious faith is that of the Protestant Episcopal church, of which he is a communicant, and for the past four years he has been a member of the vestry of Christ church, taking a lively interest in pa- rochial affairs and in the general work of the church at large. Fraternally Mr. Van Tassel is an appreciative member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained high degrees, being af- filiated with St. John's Lodge, No. I, Free and Accepted Masons; Yankton Chapter, No. I, Royal Arch Masons : DeMolay Commandery, No. 3. Knights Templar : Oriental Consistory, No. I. Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, of which he is a charter member ; and of El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

On the 19th of October, 1875, Mr. Van Tassel was united in marriage to Mrs. Sarah (White) Bordeno, who was born and reared in the city of Detroit, Michigan. She had one child by her first marriage, William Bordeno, who is now a resident of Spokane, Washington, and by her marriage to Mr. Van Tassel one child has been born, Frances L., who remains at the parental home.

WILLIAM M. POWERS .- Back to that cradle of so much of our national history, the Old Dominion state, must we turn in designat- ing the place of nativity of Mr. Powers, who is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Yankton and a veteran of the war of the Rebellion. Mr. Powers was born in Culpeper county, Virginia,

in the year 1845, and is the only survivor of the three children of Thomas and Amelia Powers. Owing to the fact that both his par- ents died when he was a child he knows but little concerning the family history on either side. His father was born in Ireland, whence he came to the United States as a young man, and his marriage was solemnized in Virginia, where he lived for some time afterward. He then removed to Shellsburg, Lafayette county, Wisconsin. He was a miner by occupation, and his accumulations usually went back into the ground, as the subject of this sketch expressed it. In 1852 he made the long and perilous over- land trip to California, making the journey witlı an ox-team, and in the Golden state he died about four years later, having sent back to his family as much money as possible. The mother of the subject died of cholera while he was a mere child. He was thus left dependent upon his own exertions, and in addition to this untimely burden he also had a younger brother for whoni he felt it incumbent to provide. Under these unpromising conditions he secured a posi- tion in the New York hotel, in Shellsburg, where he blackened boots and shoes and did such other work as came to hand, sparing no pains to provide for the proper care of his in- fant brother, whom he placed in a private fam- ily, paying one dollar and a quarter a week for his maintenance, and in this way enabling the boy to attend school when of proper age. The task of making this provision often tasked his energies to the utmost and caused him to become most fertile in expedients, while there can be no manner of doubt that thus was fos- tered that spirit of self-reliance and independ- ence which has so signally conserved his success in the mature years of his life. After being em- ployed in the hotel for two years Mr. Powers se- cured a place to work on a farm in that locality and also found a position for his brother on the same farm, the latter becoming a general chore hoy, and while thus engaged both at- tended school during the winter terms and ap- plied themselves diligently to study at night. They passed about three years on the farm and

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our subject then secured a position as driver of a stage on the route between Shellsburg and Benton, receiving in recompense for his services the sum of ten dollars a month. After being thus engaged for one year he apprenticed him- self to learn the trade of harnessmaking, at Shellsburg, receiving thirty-five dollars a year for the first two years and fifty dollars the third. Of his brother, Richard, it may be said that he died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1894.

In 1861, at the age of sixteen years, Mr. Powers tendered his services in defense of the Union, whose integrity was in jeopardy through armed rebellion. He enlisted in Company C, Seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in active service for three years, gain- ing the record of a loyal and valiant son of the Republic, and participating in many im- portant battles. In the battle of Gainesville, Virginia, he was engaged with Jackson's division of Bragg's brigade, known as the "Iron brigade," which lost eight hundred and seventy- five men in that memorable conflict. He also took part in the second battle of Bull Run, and in the battle of Antietam he was wounded so severely as to render it necessary for him to re- main for two months in the hospital at Wash- ington. He then rejoined his regiment, with which he proceeded into Virginia, and he was at the front in the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the three days' battle of the Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania, etc. His command was a part of the Army of the Potomac and was en- gaged in conflict with the Confederate forces all the way to Petersburg. He was mustered out in 1864, receiving his honorable discharge in September of that year, and he then returned to Lancaster, Wisconsin, where he had enlisted. He was ill for a period of six months after his re-

turn and then entered into partnership with a Mr. Collins, under whom he had served his apprenticeship at the harness trade. Three months later he purchased his partner's interest in the harness shop, where he gave employment to nine workmen, and he worked assiduously, secured good prices for his products and accumulated money. Finally his

health became so impaired that he found it necessary to seek other occupation. He ac- cordingly purchased a livery business in Lan- caster, and one month later disposed of his har- ness business. He continued the livery enter- prise about three years and was successful in the same. In 1873 he came to the territory of Dakota, arriving in Yankton, which was then the capital, on the 10th of April of that year, and shortly afterward he purchased, for a consider- ation of ten thousand dollars, a livery and trans- fer business in this city, and he built up an extensive and important enterprise, operating an omnibus and transfer line and general livery and also engaging in the buying and selling of horses, which he shipped in from Iowa and Wisconsin. He showed much discrimination and good judgment in this branch of his business and his success was cumulative from the start. In 1897 Mr. Powers retired from active busi- ness, since which time he has given his attention to the buying and handling of farm and city realty, in which he has dealt upon an extensive scale, being the owner of much valuable real estate in Yankton and in other portions of the state. He is a Republican in his political pro- clivities, his first presidential vote having been cast for Lincoln while he was with his regi- ment at the front, and he has ever maintained his allegiance to the grand old party which stood exponent of the government policy dur- ing that most crucial epoch in our nation's his- tory. He served four terms as a member of the board of aldermen of Yankton, while the strong hold which he has upon the confidence and esteem of the people of the city is manifest when we revert to the fact that he was mayor of the city for four terms, giving an adminis- tration which redounded to his credit and to the best interests of the municipality. He was for two terms a member of the board of county commissioners and for four years served as a member of the board of trustees of the state hospital for the insane, having been president of the board during his last year of service. In the spring of 1903 a further appreciative distinc- tion was given Mr. Powers, in his appointment

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

as a member of the state board of charities and corrections, comprising five members, the board having control of seven state institutions. Fra- ternally, he is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, the Masonic order and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows.

In July, 1896, Mr. Powers was united in mar- riage to Miss Hattie Ury, of Wisconsin, one child having been born of this union, Ida Powers, now living in Chicago. The subject was again married, in Yankton, to Mrs. L. M. Purdy, who was born in Yankton, there being no issue from this marriage. Mr. Powers was on the World's Fair Commission from Dakota, at Chi- cago. Religiously he supports the Congrega- tional church. He is one of the well-known pioneers of the state and it is a matter of satis- faction to be able to enter this brief outline of his career in this history.

ELI M. MOREHOUSE, M. D., who is en- gaged in the practice of his chosen profession in the city of Yankton, is a native of the state of Minnesota, having been born in Owatonna, Steele county, on the 30th of August, 1869. He is a son of Dr. Eli M. and Lorinda (Mc- Rostie) Morehouse, to whom were born four children, the subject of this sketch being the oldest, while the others are as follows : Effie, who is the wife of John W. Adsit, of Owatonna, Minnesota ; Timothy N., who is the proprietor of the Owatonna hotel, in that place; and Dr. Guel G., who is a physician of Chicago, Illinois. The father of the subject was born in Warren, Ohio, in the year 1833, his parents being rep- resentatives of stanch old families of New Eng- land stock, while the original ancestors in Ohio emigrated thither from the state of Connecti- cut. Eli M. Morehouse was reared to manhood in Ohio and as a youth determined to devote his attention to the medical profession as a vocation. In harmony with this idea he finally entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati. Ohio, where he continued his studies for a time, after which he was a student in the medical de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania, in

Philadelphia, and in a homeopathic medical college in Cleveland, Ohio. After securing his degree of Doctor of Medicine he located in In- dependence, Iowa, where he was successfully en- gaged in practice for two years, at the expiration of which he removed to Owatonna, Minnesota, where he continued his professional work until his death, which occurred on the 23d of May, 1891. He was a man of spotless character and one of marked ability in the line of his profes- sion. In politics he was an ardent advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and was a power in its councils in the state where he resided. He served as a member of the state senate of Minnesota and at the time of his death was mayor of the city of Owatonna, while he had been incumbent of various other offices of public trust and responsibility, ever command- ing unqualified confidence and esteem in the state where he so long maintained his home, while he was prominently identified with both the Masonic and Odd Fellows' fraternities. His widow still retains her home in Owatonna, where her friends are in number as her acquaint- ances.

Eli M. Morehouse, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared to maturity in his native town, acquiring his early educational discipline in the public schools, while he early manifested a predilection for the profession in which his father had won so marked distinction and suc- cess, and under the direction of the latter he began the study of medicine while he was still a boy. In 1887, together with five other young men who had been prosecuting their medical studies under the preceptorship of his father. went to Des Moines, Iowa, where they were matriculated in the medical department of Drake University, and he there continued his technical studies two years, while in 1897 he entered the Bennett Medical College, of Chicago, and was graduated in this well known institution of eclectic medicine in the spring of 1901. He thereafter passed a short interval in Minnesota, after which he came to Yankton, where he opened an office and engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery, bringing to bear

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the most thorough preparation and the personal attributes which always make for success in this most exacting of all professions. He has suc- ceeded in building up a practice of represent- ative character, and his reputation is one which would be creditable to one who had been for many years established in practice, for com- parative youth is no longer held as inimical to professional precedence in cases where absolute ability and skill are in evidence. In politics the Doctor accords a stanch allegiance to the Demo- cratic party, and while a resident of Owatonna, Minnesota, he served as a member of the board of aldermen and also as a member of the board of education. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias and he is popular in both professional and social circles, being a member of the Minnesota State Eclectic Medical Society and keeping· in close touch with all advances made in the sciences of medicine and surgery.

On the 28th of January, 1897, Dr. More- house was united in marriage to Miss Winifred L. Hanna, of St. Lawrence county, New York, where she was born and reared, being a daughter of James and Sarah Hanna.

HENRY GREBE, who has long served witlı signal efficiency as register of deeds of Yank- ton county, is a native of Germany, where he was born on the 16th of October, 1843, being a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Dillon) Grebe, of whose two children the other passed away in childhood. The father of the subject was an officer in the Revolutionary army in Germany in 1848, and his death occurred while he was in service. In 1853 his widowed mother came with the subject, who was then a lad of ten vears, to America, taking up her residence in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, where she later became the wife of Jacob Petri, one child being born of this union, George, who resides on the old homestead farm in that county. The mother entered into eternal rest in 1877.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 120

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