History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 137

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

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In Evansville, Wisconsin, on the 28th of Sep- tember, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pritchard to Miss Blanche Lovejoy, who was born and reared in Wisconsin, being a daughter of Captain William C. and Harriet M. Lovejoy, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard have four children, Ethel E., who has an art studio in Watertown, and Lyle H., Wini- fred M. and Sybil L., who remain at the attractive family home, which is located on the corner of Oak street and Washington avenue.

WALTER D. MORRIS, president of the Citizens' National Bank of Watertown, is a na- tive of the old Empire state, having been born in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, on the 12th of April, 1856, and being a son of

Lorenzo and Fannie (Strong) Morris, who were likewise born and reared in New York. Lorenzo Morris died October 2, 1903, his wife in 1872, both honored and revered by all who knew them. The father of the subject was long one of the influential members of the bar of Chau- tanqua county, was a member of the state senate for several terms, and was a member of the state constitutional convention which framed the present constitution of that great common- wealth. He is a son of David Morris, who was one of the pioneer farmers of Chautauqua county, whither he came with an ox-team at á time when that beautiful section was still an un- trammeled wild. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent and was founded in America in the early colonial epoch, while representatives of the name were found enrolled as valiant soldiers in the continental cause during the war of the Revolu- tion.

The subject of this review attended the com- mon schools of Fredonia, New York, in his boy- hood and there prepared himself for entrance to the State Normal School in Fredonia, where he continued his studies for four years. In 1880, at the age of twenty-four years, he came to Min- nesota, locating in Rochester, where he was made. assistant cashier of the Union National Bank, retaining this incumbency five years and show- ing ability in the handling of the executive de- tails of the banking business. In 1885 he came to Watertown, where he became one of the or- ganizers and incorporators of the Citizens' Na- tional Bank, which institution opened its doors for the transaction of business on the 15th of June of that year, and with Mr. Morris in charge of its affairs in the capacity of cashier. This office he held until January, 1898, when he was elected to the presidency of the bank, which had prospered under his direction, and of which he has since continned at the head. The bank is capitalized for $50,000 and is known as one of the solid, popular and ably conducted financial institutions of the state. While Mr. Morris's political allegiance ·is given to the Democratic party, he has never desired public office. He is the owner of valuable real estate in Watertown,

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including his attractive residence, at 623 Cod- ington avenue. Fraternally, he is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Elks, and he is a member of the Congrega- tional church.

In Fredonia, New York, on the 11th of August, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morris to Miss Mary A. Archibald, a daugh- ter of William B. and Amanda (Buell) Archi- bald, her father being a prominent music dealer of Fredonia, while both he and his wife are rep- resentatives of pioneer families of the Empire state. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have four children, namely : Archibald J. and Lorenzo T., who are assistants in the bank of which their father is president ; Walter D., Jr., who is attending the military academy at Faribault, Minnesota, and Fannie, who is a student in the home schools.

HIRAM A. PARK, who is engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Watertown, is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of March, 1838, and being a son of Dr. Ezra S. and Mary A. (Warner) Park, both of whom were natives of Connecticut and members of old and honored New England families, the latter having been a direct descendant of Colonel Seth Warner, who was an officer in a regiment of sharpshooters during the war of the Revolution. The father of the subject was an able and successful physician and surgeon, and continued in the practice of his profession for many years, both he and his wife dying at Red Wing, Minnesota. They became the parents of six children, of whom four are living at the present time. The subject of this review received an academic education in his native state, and there continued to reside until 1858. when, as a young man of twenty years, he came west to seek his fortunes, locating in Minnesota, and being there engaged in clerking in mercantile establishments until the outbreak of the Civil war. In June. 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company L. First Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, with which he continued in service for

four years, taking part in many important battles and skirmishes and being once captured by the enemy, his command having been assigned to the Army of the West for two years and from that to the Army of the Potomac. He received his honorable discharge in June, 1865, being mustered out as first lieutenant of his company, and having served until victory crowned the Union arms. Having thus made the record of a valiant and loyal son of the republic, Mr. Park returned to Minnesota, locating in the city of Red Wing, where he engaged in the grocery business, to which line of enterprise he has ever since continued to give his attention. In 1886 he came to Watertown and established his present wholesale business, having disposed of his interests in Minnesota. In 1893, in company with F. F. Grant and E. L. Morris, Mr. Park started a similar establishment at Fargo, North Dakota, under the name of Park, Grant & Mor- ris, and the growth of this house has been such that its annual business now surpasses that of the Watertown house. He has never been troubled with political ambition, though he is a stanch advocate of the old and recognized prin- ciples of the Democratic party. His religious faith is that of the Protestant Episcopal church, being a communicant of the church in Water- town. Fraternally, he has advanced through the chivalric degree of the Masonic order, still hold- ing relation to the lodge, chapter and command- ery at Red Wing, Minnesota.

On the Ist of June, 1863, Mr. Park was united in marriage to Miss Theodosia C. War- ner, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized. She was summoned into the life eternal on the 2d of De- cember, 1884, at the age of forty-two years, having been a devoted wife and mother and a woman of noble and gracious character. She was survived by tour sons, namely: Robert E., a tutor in Harvard University, having gradu- ated at the famous University of Strassburg. Germany: Asa E. died in 1885, at the age of fifteen years ; Herbert A. assists his father in the management of his grocery business; and Augustine H. died in 1899, at the age of eighteen

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years. Mr. Park was married a second time, June 1, 1887, to Miss Anna H. Oleson, of Red Wing, Minnesota, a lady who is active in all church and social life in Watertown.

REV. JOSHUA VAUGHN HIMES, Epis- copal missionary, born Wickford, Rhode Island, 1805. Spent his life in religions work, for many years as an ardent follower of Millerism or Sec- ond Adventism, in support of which he published many papers, books and phamphlets. In his life he organized more than three hundred churches. Was for many years near the close of his life rector at Elk Point and Vermillion. Died about 1894.

ROBERT M. HUTCHINSON, of Delmont, Douglas county, one of the able and popular mem- bers of the legislature of the state, is a native of the state of Illinois, having been born in Hender- son county, on the 8th of September, 1858, a son of Benjamin and Anna B. (Moore) Hutchin- son, to whom were born six children, namely : John M., who resides in Charles Mix county, South Dakota : James G., who is a resident of Delmont, this state; Robert M., who is the im- mediate subject of this review ; Sarah E., who is the wife of Elmer F. Whitney, of Delmont ; George W., who died at the age of nineteen years ; and Thomas H., of Delmont. The father of the subject was born in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1821, and his death occurred on the 26th of June, 1896. As a boy of twelve years he removed with his parents to the military tract in Henderson county, Illinois, where he was reared and edu- cated, eventually becoming the owner of the old homestead farm, where he resided for the long period of sixty-three years,-to the hour of his death. It was his wish that some of the heirs should purchase the homestead so that it might remain permanently in the possession of the fam- ily, and his second wife now resides on the farm. The mother of the subject died in 1869, and his father later married Mrs. Anna (Evans) Grant, and they became the parents of two children, Ben-

jamin Ralph, who has charge of the old home farm, and Anna M., who is the wife of Charles Smith, of Benton county, Iowa.

Robert M. Hutchinson was reared on the homestead farm in Illinois, while he received his educational training in the public schools. In 1880 he rented land and began farming on his own responsibility, and in the following year his father came to South Dakota to look up locations for his sons, finally entering three claims in the bottom lands near Delmont, Douglas county, the same being the most arable and valuable land in this section of the state. In the spring of 1882 our subject, in company with his two brothers and their sister, came to South Dakota and each of the brothers located on the claim selected for him by his father. Robert M. devoted himself with characteristic energy and judgment to the improvement and cultivation of his fine farm, which he has developed into one of the most valu- able in the county, and there he continued to re- side until the autumn of 1891, when he removed to Delmont, where he became associated with Henry S. Wilson in the handling of grain and live stock, as well as coal, flour and agricultural ma- chinery. This partnership continued about one year, and Mr. Hutchinson then entered into a partnership association with James M. Doyle, in the buying and shipping of stock. and they now control an extensive and profitable business in this line, being numbered among the enterprising and representative business men of this locality and having the highest reputation for reliability and honorable methods in all transactions.

In politics Mr. Hutchinson is a stalwart advo- cate of the principles and policies of the Demo- cratic party, in whose canse he has been an active and effective worker. In the autumn of 1898 he was elected to serve his district as representa- tive in the state legislature, in which his course fully justified the choice of the voters of the dis- trict, and in the autumn election of 1902 he again appeared as the candidate of his party for the same office, in which he is serving at the present time. He has been signally prospered in his busi- ness affairs and is now the owner of five quarter sections of as fine bottom land as the state affords,

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seven hundred acres of the same being under cul- tivation and the balance utilized for pasturage. He is a member of the village council of Delmont and for several years also served as a member of the board of education. He and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in the community they enjoy the high regard of all who know them. It is the intention of Mr. Hutchinson to remove in the near future to Pierson, Iowa, but he will still retain his landed interests in South Dakota, to whose development and splendid progress he has so materially con- tributed.

On the 23d of February, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hutchinson to Miss Etta M. Culler, of Delmont, and they are the parents of two children, Earl C. and Ray H.

BARTLETT TRIPP, born in Harmony, Maine, July 15, 1842, is of Revolutionary stock. Mr. Tripp is a graduate of Waterbury College, and of the Albany Law School, where he was a classmate of William McKinley's. He has always taken a deep interest in education, was a teacher in his younger days; was an incorpo- rator of the South Dakota University, and has from the foundation been a trustee of Yankton College. He was a member of the commissions that revised the laws in 1877 and again in 1903. He was chairman of the constitutional conven- tion of 1873 and was chief justice of Dakota dur- ing Cleveland's first administration. During the second Cleveland administration he was United States minister to the court of Austria- Hungary and in 1899 served by appointment of President Mckinley as a member of the inter- national high joint commission to settle the Samoan difficulties. Mrs. Tripp is a sister of the late Senator Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota. Mr. Tripp's home is at Yankton.

GARRETT DROPPERS, B. A., president of the South Dakota State University, at Ver- million, is a native of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was born on the 12th of

April, 1860, being a son of John Dirk and Ger- trude (Boyink) Droppers. He was graduated in the high school of his native city and was there- after assistant instructor in Latin and history in the same school for a period of five years, at the expiration of which he entered Harvard Col- lege, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1886, receiving his Bachelor's de- gree the following year. While at Harvard he devoted his attention principally to the subject of economics, also taking courses in German and philosophy. Of his work at this time President Droppers spoke as follows to the representative of this publication: "I have always taken as much interest in the men who taught certain sub- jects as I have in the subjects themselves, and I remember with especial pleasure at Harvard Professor Dunbar, now deceased, who was for that time the most learned of American econo- mists ; Professor William James, who is unques- tionably the most original of American psychol- ogists ; and Professor Royce, one of the most lucid philosophical writers in the country." After his graduation Professor Droppers was engaged in teaching for one year in the public schools of Orange, New Jersey, and Westchester, New York. Then was presented an opportunity for him to go to Germany, where he passed a year in the University of Berlin, under the well- known economists, Wagner and Schooller. He was urged by Harvard professors to thus prose- cute his study of economics in Germany, because it was thought expedient and the part of wisdom for him to secure a different economic point of view from the one existing in America. Of the admonition thus followed out he has spoken as follows: "I think this advice was sound. I am indebted to the German economists for what I consider to be many original economic con- ceptions, especially their doctrine that there are utilities belonging to society as a whole as well as to the individual. This point of view as taken by the German economists is reinforced in Ger- man universities with wonderful vigor and pene- tration."

Just at the close of his first year in Ger- many, Professor Droppers received through

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Harvard University the offer of the chair of political economy and finance in the University of Tokyo, Japan. He accepted this offer and prepared at once to enter upon his new work, leaving Germany in September, 1889, and re- turning to the United States. At Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 11th of September, of that year, he was united in marriage to Miss Cora Augusta Rand, of Cambridge, and immediately afterward departed, in company with his bride, for Tokyo, reaching his destination the last of October, 1889, and that he profited by the ex- perience in the Orient is manifest from the fol- lowing statements made by him apropos of his sojourn and work in that section of the world : "I am very glad that I had an opportunity of liv- ing in Japan and thus gaining a comprehension of a life essentially different from our own. It taught me to sympathize with the sensibilities of a weaker nation. If Americans were not so bound up in their own interests they would, I think, prove a much greater power for good in the world than they are." During the last five years of his stay in Japan Professor Droppers was secretary of the Asiatic Society of Japan, a well-known organization dating its inception back more than a quarter of a century. While there he was also an irregular correspondent for the New York Nation ; contributed several valu- able articles to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, and also wrote articles on the economic phases of Japan for various periodicals. In 1896 he wrote a report on the currency of Japan for the United States government, this contribution being published in the consular reports for that year. The subject is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; of the American Academy of Science, in Philadel- phia : and of the American Economic Association. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Masonic order, of which noble and time-honored organiza- tion he is most appreciative, having attained the chivalric degree in Vermillion Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, in Vermillion, and being also a member of El Riad Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Sioux Falls.

In December, 1898, Professor Droppers. re- ceived an offer from the regents of South Da- kota to accept the presidency of the State Uni- versity and he forthwith left Japan and came to Vermillion to canvass the situation, accepting the position a few days after his arrival, and of his work as chief executive of the institution, its advancement and high standing offers the best testimony.

Mr. Droppers lost his first wife in Japan August 17, 1896. He married again, a sister of his former wife. Jean Tewkesbery Rand, in Cambridge, September 3, 1897, returning to Japan for an additional year immediately after his marriage. There were no children by the first marriage. Since his second marriage there have been three children born, Seton Rand, August 12, 1898; Cora Rand, August 3, 1900, and Elizabeth Rand, January 22, 1904. Prof. Droppers tries to be independent in politics, but holds most emphatically to the program that the cure for many of our present economic evils is the government ownership of public utilities. He affiliates with the Unitarian church.

NILS B. NILSON, a representative farmer of Lincoln county, was born in Norway, on the IIth of October, 1837, and is a son of Nels and Margaret Nilson, who passed their entire lives in that far distant land of the north. The sub- ject was reared and educated in his native coun- try, whence he emigrated to the United States in 1867, locating in Fayette county, Iowa, where he remained until 1869, when he drove from Fay- ette county through Iowa, with ox-teams, taking up government land in Canton township, where he has developed and improved a valuable farm. His first dwelling was a log house, but when he first came to the county his financial resources were represented in the sum of fifty cents after paying necessary expenses ; flour was selling for six dollars per hundred pounds ; he had neither sugar nor coffee and no stove, being compelled for some time to do his cooking over the camp fire. while the first few months he lived in his wagon. At the time when the grasshoppers swept the

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country and destroyed the crops Mr. Nilson man- aged to provide for himself by burning lime from rock secured on his place, the product being sold all over this section. He now has two hundred and ten acres, well improved and yielding good returns, so that he can look back with no regret on the trials and labors of the early years. He gives his attention to diversified farming and has on his place a good orchard and an attractive grove. He is a Republican in his political pro- clivities and he and his family are members of the Lutheran church.

In 1863 Mr. Nilson was married to Miss Car- rie Anderson, this being before his emigration to America, and they have nine children, namely : Andrew, who is a successful farmer in Lyon county, Iowa, married Anna Rynes and they have six children ; Anders, who resides in Canton, mar- ried Nettie Hanseth and they have three chil- dren ; Nicholine is the wife of Ludvig Danielson, a farmer of Iowa, and they have four children ; Marie is the wife of Hans Graning, of Canton, and they have four children; Lena, who was formerly a successful school teacher, is now the wife of Jesse Feay, a farmer in Iowa, and they have three children : Olephine is the wife of Al- bert Runsvold, of North Dakota ; Emma remains at the parental home; Nels is in North Dakota : and Ludvig is still beneath the home roof.

THOMAS CAWOOD, one of the honored representatives of the agricultural industry in Hand county, is a native of the state of Indiana, having been born in Daviess county, on the Ist of March, 1838, and being a son of John and Lucinda (Wells) Cawood, who were numbered among the pioneers of that section of the Hoosier commonwealth. They became the parents of four children, all of whom are living at the time of this writing. The subject was born on the pioneer farm of his father, and his early educa- tional training was secured in a subscription school of the primitive sort common to the local- ity and period. He was but two years of age at the time of his father's death, and when he had attained the age of eight years his mother

removed with her family to Putnam county, Missouri, where he was reared to manhood, still being identified with farming.

When the dark cloud of civil war obscured the national horizon, Mr. Cawood was among the first to indicate his fealty and loyalty to the union by tendering his services to its defense. On the Ist of September, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company G, Eighteenth Missouri Vol- unteer Infantry, and continued in active service until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, at St. Louis, on the 25th of July, 1865. His command was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee and he took part in many of the most notable battles of the greatest civil war known to history, beginning with the battle of Shiloh and continuing the course of contest until the en- gagement at Bentonville, North Carolina.

After the close of the war Mr. Cawood re- turned to his farm in Putnam county, Missouri, where he continued to follow agricultural pur- suits until 1883, when he disposed of his interests there and came to Hand county, South Dakota, where he took up three claims of government land, to which he has since added two other quarter sections, so that he is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of eight hundred acres, the property being admirably improved and con- stituting one of the most atractive places in this section of the state. Mr. Cawood has been actively identified with the management of town- ship affairs from the time of the organization of his township, while in 1894 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature, in which he served one term, ably upholding the interests of his county and state. In politics he has ever been stanchly arrayed in support of the principles of the Republican party, having cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He and his wife are valued and zealous mem- bers of the Congregational church at Pleasant Valley, and fraternally he is affiliated with Canby Post, No. 12, Grand Army of the Re- public, at Miller.

In 1857 Mr. Cawood was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Starr, of Putnam county, Missouri, and they became the parents of three children,

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namely : John A., who died in 1864; Lucinda, who is the wife of John Millan, of Wessington, South Dakota, and Seigle B., of whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Cawood was summoned into eternal rest in 1865, and on the 23d of February, 1868, the subject wedded Miss Elmira McAtee, who was born and reared in Missouri. Of their seven children four are living, namely : Emma, Sarah, Minnie and Mollie. Sarah married T. V. Wallace, of Hu- ron, South Dakota; Minnie is married to W. W. Johnson, of Ames, this state, and Mollie mar- ried E. C. Johnson, also of Ames.

OREN STREVEL, one of the successful and highly esteemed farmers and stock raisers of Faulk county, is a native of the Wolverine state, having been born near the city of Port Huron, Michigan, on the 9th of October, 1858, and being a son of Wesley and Sarah A. Strevel, the former of whom was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, of German lineage, and the latter in the state of Maine. The father of the subject removed with his parents to Michigan in his youth and the family became numbered among the pioneers of St. Clair county, where he and his wife still maintain their home and where he was long en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. Of the eleven children in the family eight are living at the pres- ent time.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 137

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