History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 133

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 133

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The ways of God are strange to men, but he Makes known his wishes through his priests.

This moral beauty in Hagar's character lends added pathos to the situation. The poet, however, does not leave his heroine a mere helpless victim of the priest's command. Ethical justice steps in, and the final scene shows Abraham kneeling at the feet of the banished Hagar, who is now the happy wife of Athuriel. The poem is characterized by simplicity, strength and beauty, and with slight modification could easily be adapted to the needs of the stage. The fitting illustrations are by William L. Hudson. (Broadway Publishing Company, New York. )

Of the work the South Dakotan, a monthly magazine, gave the following estimate:

South Dakota may take proper pride in its booked

literature, and no single piece of it is more pride- engendering than the last contribution to it-Mr. Rollin J. Wells' dramatic poem, "Hagar." It is a rare proposition for a busy and successful lawyer to give up his leisure to refined literature, but Mr. Wells has found his most congenial recreation in producing verses of graceful measure and exquisite diction, and in "Hagar," his most ambitious produc- tion, he has reached a high plane. It is the Biblical story elaborated into one hundred and twenty-five pages of heroic verse, introducing many dramatic situations and lines of extraordinary strength, stamp- ing Mr. Wells a poet of high order.

As showing the stately measure employed we quote a few lines from the third act of this re- markable work, the action being carried into the field of battle, as Athuriel has sworn to avenge Hagar's wrongs :

Most gloriously to battle goes the King of Kings,

The heavens are rent asunder, while the earth in tremor swings;

The mountains smoke before Him and the moon grows dark with blood;

And the angry seas are lifted in a great and swelling flood.

In concluding this brief sketch we enter the following data in regard to the domestic chapter in the life of Mr. Wells: On the 20th of Decem- ber, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan L. Little, of Geneseo, Illinois, and they have five children, Robert L., who is in the em- ploy of the great wholesale grocery house of Sprague. Warner & Company, of Chicago; Ber- tha, who remains at the parental home ; Helen W .. who is the wife of Frederick E. Phillips, of Sioux Falls ; Ruth, who is a popular teacher in the high school of this city, and Mary L., who is at home.

WOLLERT HILDAHL .- As the name in- dicates, the subject of this sketch is of Scandi- navian birth, being a native of Norway, born at Odda. Hardanger, on the 26th of August, 1875. When two years old he was taken by his parents to the city of Bergen, where he spent his childhood and youth, receiving his educational training at "Hans Tank of Hastrus og Ham- bro's" schools of that place. In 1893 Mr. Hil- dahl came to the United States and ,proceeding

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direct to South Dakota, has since been a resident of the city of Sioux Falls. He is a gentleman of scholarly attainments and refined tastes, a clean, forcible and fluent writer and since becom- ing a resident of the United States has made rapid progress in acquiring a knowledge of this country and its institutions, being widely in- formed upon the leading questions and issues of the times and keeping himself in close touch with the trend of modern thought throughout the world. He has, since his naturalization, given evidence of his full sympathy with our govern- ment and, with an abiding faith in its per- petuity, he upholds its principles, standing at all times for good order and strict enforcement of the law. He is interested in secret fraternal and benevolent work, belonging to the Masonic fraternity at Sioux Falls and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at the same place, being an active participant in the deliberations of both organizations. Mr. Hildahl, on March 14, 1902, was united in marriage with Miss Emma Julia Lien, of Sioux Falls, the union resulting in the birth of one child, a son to whom has been given the name of Jonas Lien.

Mr. Hildahl has for many years been affiliated with the leading Scandinavian musical organization of the state, the Minnehaha Mand- skor, and has served it in various capacities, as well as the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers' Association, of which the Mandskor is a member. The Mandskor was organized December II, 1890, and became a member of the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers' Association at the time of its organization at Sioux Falls in 1891.

Mr. Hildahl has served as treasurer of the Minnehaha Mandskor, twice as its president and upon two occasions was sent as a delegate to the national convention of the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers' Association. By the latter body he was elected vice-president of the conven- tion at Duluth in 1898 and in 1890, at St. Paul. he was honored by being chosen president.

In the year 1902 Mr. Hildahl took charge of the Syd Dakota Ekko, a paper devoted to the interests of his nationality in Dakota and the northwest and which for many years has also

served the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers' Association as its official organ, having published what is known to the singers as "Sangernes Spalte," this department being the especial work of the present editor. Through the medium of his paper and otherwise, Mr. Hildahl exercises a wide and powerful influence among his fellow countrymen and is held in high esteem not only by the Scandinavian populace of the Dakotas, but by the general public as well.

ALPHA F. ORR, attorney at law, Sioux Falls, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, April 28, 1860, the son of James and Susan (Royle) Orr. When two years old he was taken by his parents to Florence, New York, where he spent his childhood and youth and received his prelim- inary education. After finishing the public-school course, he attended Whitestown Seminary, and from that institution became a student of Hamil- ton College, where he pursued his literary studies for a period of two years. On quitting college he took up the study of law and in 1882 was admit- ted to the bar in the city of Rochester, New York, after which he opened an office in Rome, New York, where he practiced for one year. From the latter place Mr. Orr went to Camden, New York. where he soon built up a lucrative professional business and achieved marked prestige in legal circles. He continued in that city until the fall of 1889 when he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he has since been actively engaged in professional work, achieving the meanwhile distinctive precedence as an able lawyer and suc- cessful practitioner.

Mr. Orr is an untiring worker, a close student with a profound knowledge of jurisprudence and occupies a prominent place among the leading lawyers of his adopted state. While devoted to his profession, he is also deeply interested in pol- itics and ever since locating in his present field of labor he has been active in upholding the princi- ples of the Republican party and zealous in his efforts for its success.

Mr. Orr has never been an office seeker nor an aspirant for any kind of public distinction,

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notwithstanding which he is always an active and influential participant in political campaigns, tak- ing the field in the interest of his party's candidate and rendering valuable service on the hustings. He is an able and logical speaker, a clear, concise reasoner, and by his eloquence has contributed much to the success of the ticket, not only in local affairs, but throughout the state. He has served one term as city attorney of Sioux Falls, aside from which he has held no office, preferring the duties of his profession and the simple title of citizen to any honors within the power of the peo- ple to bestow. Mr. Orr has a pleasing personality, enjoys high professional and social standing and is one of the popular men of the city in which he resides. He is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and at the present time holds the title of past chancellor in the latter organization. He is a married man and has a pleasant and attractive home in Sioux Falls, his wife having formerly been Miss Eva E. Green, of Knoxboro, New York.

EDWARD W. SCHMIDT is one of the in- fluential citizens and honored business men of Valley Springs, Minnehaha county, and has passed the major portion of his life in South Da- kota, being a representative of one of its pioneer families. He was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 28th of October, 1862, and is a son of Frederick W. and Augusta (Barr) Schmidt, both of whom were born in Germany, whence they came to America when young. The subject secured his rudimentary education in the public schools of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and was but eight years of age when, in 1872, he came with his parents to South Dakota, his father becoming one of the pioneers of Lincoln county, where he took up homestead and timber claims and eventu- ally developed a good farm. He and his wife are now both dead. As no public schools were estab- lished in the section at the time of the family re- moval to this state, our subject was denied farther educational advantages in a specific way, but by personal application and by active association with

men and affairs he has become a man of broad information and one well equipped for coping with the world, as is evident from the position he has attained as a successful business man, having accumulated every dollar through his own exer- tions and good management. He continued to assist in the improvement and cultivation of the home ranch until he had attained the age of nine- teen years, when he returned to Oshkosh, Wis- consin, where he devoted two years to learning the tinners' trade, becoming a skilled workman. He then returned to South Dakota and was em- ployed at his trade for one year in Sioux Falls. In April, 1885, he came to Valley Springs, where he followed his trade for the ensuing two years, at the expiration of which he associated himself with E. J. Whaley and engaged in the hardware and harness business under the firm name of E. W. Schmidt & Company. Five years later he pur- chased Mr. Whaley's interest in the business and has since conducted the enterprise individually, having built up a large and representative trade and having the high regard and unqualified confi- dence of all who know him and being one of the pioneer merchants of the town. He has a finely equipped and stocked establishment and his annual business transactions now reach an average an- nual aggregate of about ten thousand dollars. He is progressive and imbued with distinctive public spirit and civic loyalty. In politics he is a stal- wart adherent of the Republican party, and he served two years as president of the village, while she has also been incumbent of the office of vil- lage treasurer and a member of the local board of education. He and his wife are prominent and valued members of the Congregational church in their home town and he is a member of its board of trustees, while fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Schmidt has been twice married. On the 17th of September, 1886, was solemnized his union to Miss Emma Zick, of Oshkosh, Wiscon- sin, who was summoned into eternal rest on the 13th of June, 1898, leaving three children, Albert R., Walter H. and Edward R. The eldest son is a member of the United States navy and at the

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time of this writing is serving on the cruiser "Hartford." On the 17th of October, 1900, Mr. Schmidt married Miss Mabel Cassidy, of Valley Springs, and they have two children, Margaret A. and Mabel S.

JEFFERSON PARRISH KIDDER, born Braintree, Orange county, Vermont, June 4, 1814. Lieutenant governor Vermont, 1851. Delegate to congress from provisional territorial government at Sioux Falls, 1859. Associate justice supreme court of Dakota from 1865 to death in 1883, ex- cept four years, from 1875 to 1879, when he was delegate to congress. Chief promoter of in- corporation of State University, at Vermillion.

HON. LEONARD RENNER .- Prominent in the progress of every enterprising community is its agricultural interest, and the men devoting their energies and power of mind to the develop- ment and prosecution of this useful and time- honored vocation contribute more perhaps than any other class to the development and sub- stantial prosperity of a new and rapidly growing state. Among the leading agriculturists of Min- nehaha county, South Dakota, Leonard Renner, of Mapleton township, occupies a conspicuous place. He has been prominently identified with this part of the state for a number of years, has taken an active part in promoting its material welfare and in addition to the noble calling to which he so successfully devotes his attention, he has also made his influence felt in the public and political affairs of the commonwealth.

Mr. Renner is a native of Germany and a creditable representative of this strong, virile nationality, a nationality which, perhaps more than any other, has made for the material wel- fare, intellectual advancement and general pros- perity of the great American republic. He was born June 9, 1840, in the kingdom of Baden, and is the sixth of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters, whose parents were Casper and Elizabeth Renner. He spent the first eight years of his life in his native

land, and in 1840 was brought by his parents to the United States, the family settling in Racine county, Wisconsin, where he grew to maturity on a farm. Coming to America when quite young, he soon became habituated to the man- ners and customs of his environment, secured a good practical education in the public schools, and as he advanced in years and knowledge his love and admiration for his adopted country and its institutions increased in like ratio. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-three years of age. On the 8th day of July, 1863. he enlisted in Battery B, First Illi- nois Light Artillery, with which he served two years to a day, being discharged July 8, 1865, with an honorable record as a brave and fearless defender of the national union. He accom- panied his command through all the varied vicis- situdes of warfare, and his two years at the front were marked by almost continued activity. Among the many battles in which he participated, the following were the most noted: Chicka- mauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face Gap, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Franklin, Nashville, besides numer- ous skirmishes and minor engagements, to say nothing of the long marches and other thrilling experiences encountered by the soldier in con- stant and active service. Mr. Renner retired from the army with the rank of corporal and. returning home, resumed his usual vocation. which he carried on with success and financial profit in Wisconsin until 1878, when he disposed of his interests in that state and removed to Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Purchasing a valuable tract of land in Mapleton township. he at once addressed himself to the task of its improvement and in due time he not only erected a number of substantial buildings on his place, but took leading rank as an enterprising farmer and successful raiser. Mr. Renner's farm, situ- ated in one of the finest agricultural districts of South Dakota, embraces an area of nine hundred and sixty acres, the greater part under a high state of cultivation, the rest being devoted to live stock, which, as stated above, he has car- ried on with most gratifying financial results.

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His home, beautiful for situation and surrounded by natural and artificial features which enhance its attractions, is supplied with all the comforts and conveniences calculated to make rural life pleasant and agreeable, and without prevarica- tion it can be called one of the finest and on the whole one of the most desirable country homes in the county of Minnehaha.

Mr. Renner, on March 19, 1873, was married in Racine county, Wisconsin, to Miss Catherine Kaiser, whose birth occurred November 22, 1845, in Lafayette, that state, being the daughter of George L. and Margaret (Taupert) Kaiser, both natives of Germany. Of the seven children born of this union, three died in infancy, those surviving being Charles H., George L., Frank T. and Nellie A.

Mr. Renner, as already indicated, has been influential in the affairs of his township and county, and for several years served on the town board of Mapleton, of which body he was chair- man during the greater part of his incumbency. In 1901 he was elected, on the Republican ticket, to represent Minnehaha county in the legislature of South Dakota, and his course as a lawmaker meeting the endorsement of his constituency, he was re-elected in the fall of 1902, his record throughout being eminently creditable to him- self and an honor to the county. During the session of 1901 he was a member of the com- mittee on education, one of the most important committees of the house, and he also served dur- ing that time and the ensuing two years on the committee of public health, besides taking an active part in the general deliberations of that body. For the last twenty years he has been school treasurer of Mapleton township, and as such has labored zealously for the cause of edu- cation, sparing no pains to raise the system within his jurisdiction to the highest standard of excellence attainable. He is a zealous member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Joe Hooker Post, which at various times has honored him with important official positions. Mr. Renner is a broad-minded, intelligent man of generous impulses, enterprising. progressive. and a typical representative of that large and

eminently respectable class of citizens that have done so much for the development of the young and growing commonwealth of South Dakota. He is highly esteemed by his neighbors and by the public, and his private and official life de- monstrates that the large measure of confidence reposed in him has not been misplaced.

FRANK R. AIKENS was born in the city of New York, on the 14th of December, 1855, and in the public schools of Rome secured his preliminary educational discipline, though he be- came a student in a law office at so early an age that he may practically be said to have been educated under the benign panoply of the great profession of which he is a devotee. After five years of careful and discriminating study he was admitted to the bar of the Empire state, on the 5th of January, 1877, and he initiated the prac- tice of his profession in Rome, that state, where he remained until August, 1880, when he came to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, whence he pro- ceeded to Canton, Lincoln county, where he opened an office on the Ist of the following Sep- tember. Of his subsequent career the following succinct outline has been given in a previous publication : "From the first he had a good practice, took an active part in politics, and in 1885 was elected to the provisional state senate. He was also elected to and served in the ter- ritorial assemblies of 1887 and 1889, being chair- man of the judiciary committee in the former year, and serving as a member of the same com- mittee, and as practically its chairman, in 1889. He was a prominent and influential member of the legislature during both sessions, and was recognized as one of its ablest debaters. He is always clear, concise and forcible in presenting his views, and has enough of the attributes of the orator in his composition to command the at- tention of any audience he may address. On the 19th of March, 1889, he was appointed as- sociate justice of the territorial supreme court, and the following October was elected to the bench of the second judicial circuit for the first term thereof. At the expiration of his term

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of office he resumed the practice of law at Can- ton, where he remained until July, 1895, at which time he removed to Sioux Falls and entered into a co-partnership with the established firm of Bailey & Voorhees, under the new title of Aikens, Bailey & Voorhees, being the trial lawyer of the firm during the period of its existence, which ter- minated in October, 1897. On the 22d of that month he entered into partnership with Harold E. Judge, under the firm name of Aikens & Judge, and this effective alliance has since con- tinned, the firm controlling a large and import- ant business."

Judge Aikens is a man of high attainments, of profound erudition and practical ability as a lawyer, and has won prestige because he has worked for it. He is endowed with a keen, analytical mind, and his powers as a trial lawyer are admirable, while his course on the bench shows that he is not lacking in those qualities which make for the best exercise of the judicial functions.

He stands high in professional, business and social circles and his whole-souled, generous na- ture has won to him a host of friends in South Dakota.

EDWARD G. KENNEDY is a representative and highly esteemed citizen of Sioux Falls, and is incumbent of the responsible office of United States marshal for the district of South Dakota, in which capacity he has rendered most able serv- ice. His is the distinction of being a veteran of the great war of the Rebellion, in which he made . an honorable record as a loyal and-valiant son of the republic, while in the "piping times of peace" he has shown the same integrity of purpose and devotion to the right as he manifested when fol- lowing. the stars and stripes on the sanguinary battlefields of the south.

Mr. Kennedy is a native of the Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Hollidays- burg. Blair county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of December, 1844. a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Hayes) Kennedy, both of whom were born and reared in that state, where they passed their

entire lives, the father having been a school teacher by vocation during the major portion of his active career. He passed to his reward in 1884 and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned into eternal rest in 1898. They be- came the parents of five children, of whom three are living at the present time. Both were mem- bers of the Presbyterian church, and in politics Samuel Kennedy was a supporter of the princi- ples of the Republican party from the time of its organization until his death.

The subject of this review secured his early education in the common schools of the various localities in Pennsylvania in which his parents resided during his youthful days, and he supple- mented this discipline by a course of study in Eldersridge Academy, in Indiana county, that state. After leaving school, at the age of seven- teen years, he gave distinctive evidence of his in- trinsic patriotism by tendering his services in de- fense of the Union, then in jeopardy through armed rebellion. In August. 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which he continued to serve until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in July, 1865. He was an active participant in the battle of An- tietam and in all the engagements in which the First Brigade of the Second Division, Sixth Army Corps, took part, his regiment having been at- tached to this brigade during the greater part of its term. At the close of the war he secured a clerical position in Pittsburg, and was thus em- ployed in that city and Allegheny until 1889, when he determined to cast in his lot with the new territory of Dakota. He first located in Potter county, where he engaged in the cattle business, in partnership with his brother, F. H. Kennedy, later removing to Walworth county, where he continued in the same line of enterprise until 1898, when he located in Eureka. McPherson county, where he established himself in the grain and agricultural implement business, and con- tinned operations in the line until 1902, when he closed out his interests in order to devote his undivided attention to his official duties. In 1897

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President Mckinley appointed Mr. Kennedy to the office of United States marshal for the dis- trict of South Dakota, and he has served in this capacity continuously since, being on the 12th day of January, 1902, reappointed to the office, by President Roosevelt. He is a man of resource- fulness and mature judgment and has given a most creditable and satisfactory administration of his official duties, while he is recognized as one of the stalwart and uncompromising representa- tives of the Republican party in the state, having been an active worker in its cause and having been identified with the party from the time of attaining his legal majority and the concomitant right of franchise.

On the 15th of December, 1891, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Kennedy to Miss Mary B. Brundage, of Bismarck, North Dakota, and they became the parents of two children, Ruth and Donald B. Mrs. Kennedy died on the 5th of April. 1900.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 133

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