History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 92

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

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JOHN QUIGLEY .- The subject of this review was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, September 15. 1847, the son of Malachi and Mary (Hays) Quigley, both natives of the Emerald Isle, the father a farmer by occupation. In 1850 these parents disposed of their interests in the country of their birth and came to America, settling in McHenry county, Illinois, where Mr. Quigley bought land and engaged in agriculture, which pursuit he followed with good success until his death, in 1899, his wife dying two years previous to that date. Malachi Quig- ley was a thrifty man, an excellent citizen and a devout member of the Catholic church, in which faith his wife and children were also reared. Of the large family of ten children that formerly gathered around his hearthstone, but three are living at the present time, John, whose name introduces this sketch; Michael, who farms the old place in Illinois, and Ed D., a baggageman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.

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HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

John Quigley was only three years old when his parents brought him to the United States, consequently he retains only a very dim recollec- tion of the romantic land in which he first saw the light of day. Growing up in a new and sparsely settled country, his educational ad- vantages were quite limited, but he early became familiar with hard work and the varied duties of the farm, which gave him a practical training, such as is needed by a boy thrown upon his own resources at an early age. After assisting his father until about his eighteenth year, he left home and in 1865 went to Jones county, Iowa, where he farmed during the ensuing three years, returning at the end of that time to Illinois. Two years later he went to Sioux City, Iowa, where he remained until August, 1872, when he came to Lincoln county, South Dakota, and took up a quarter section of land in Lynn township, upon which he at once began a general system of im- provements. After working for some time on his place and reducing the greater part of it to cultivation, he entered the employ of a railroad company, running a line between Sioux City and Yankton, the first railroad in South Dakota, spending something like two years at this kind of work and making his headquarters the mean- time at the former place.

Severing his connection with the railroad construction, Mr. Quigley returned to his farm and until the year 1890 gave his attention closely to its cultivation and improvement, also devoted a number of years to stock raising in connection therewith, meeting with encouraging success in both enterprises. In the above year he turned his farm over to other hands and, changing his residence to the village of Worthing, engaged in the livery business, which he conducted with profitable results for a period of ten years. In 1900 he erected the large building in Worthing which he now occupies and since that date has been doing an extensive and flourishing business as a dealer in agricultural implements, handling all kinds of machinery, tools, etc., his trade being among the largest of the kind in Lincoln county.

Mr. Quigley served four terms as supervisor, being one of the influential public men of his

township and county, and a leader in a number of important enterprises. He affiliated with the Republican party up to the time of the holding of the national convention of that party in St. Louis in 1896, when, being an ardent supporter of the free-silver movement, he joined the reform party and did much effective work in insuring a large majority in his township for the latter party. As already indicated, he was born in the Catholic church, and has always remained loyal to its teachings ; he lives his religion and his in- fluence has always been for good, as is attested by the people, with whom he has so long min- gled. Mr. Quigley was married in 1877 to Miss Mary Horty, of Cork, Ireland, a happy union though without issue. Mrs. Quigley died two years after the marriage. The subject is much respected in the social circles in which he moves and is also alive to all enterprises having for their object the benefit of the poor and un- fortunate, or the general good of the community.

GEORGE R. SAGAR is one of the popular and representative young business men of the thriving town of Colman, Moody county, being engaged in the drug and jewelry business, under the firm name of Sagar & Stetzel, while he personally devotes his attention to the drug department of the enterprise.

George Raymond Sagar was born in Plain- ville. Onondaga county, New York, on the 22d of September, 1873, and is a son of William Henry and Catherine Sagar, who settled in that county about 1850, having driven overland from near the city of Albany and taken up their residence about eighteen miles west of Syra- cuse, where the father was for a number of years engaged in agricultural pursuits, while later he gave his attention to the trades of carpentry and painting. The lineage is traced back to the sturdy Dutch stock who settled in New Amster- dam, the nucleus of the present city of New York. The subject of this sketch secured his early education in the public schools of his native town, and at the age of fourteen years he entered Baldwinsville Academy, in which institution he

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continued his studies for two years. After leav- ing school he took a clerical position in the drug store of his brother, Charles H. Sagar, in Auburn, New York, and was thus employed for three years, gaining an excellent knowledge of the business in many of its details. In order to perfect himself in the profession of pharmacy he then entered, in the fall of 1892, the New York School of Pharmacy, in the national me- tropolis, where he completed a two-years course, being graduated in the spring of 1894. He re- mained in the city of New York until January, 1898, when he came west to the city of Duluth, Minnesota, and thereafter he traveled as sales- man for the C. H. Sagar Drug Company until May of that year, when he located in Castlewood, South Dakota. In October of the following year he removed to Winfred, where he remained until April, 1900, which continued to be his abiding place until the following September, when he established himself in the drug business in Col- man, where he has a select and comprehensive stock and where he has built up a flourishing business. In September, 1902, he admitted to partnership Roy. L. Stetzel, a jeweler, and they have since been associated in the dual enterprise, Mr. Stetzel devoting his attention to the jewelry department principally. In politics Mr. Sagar is a Republican, and fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, which he joined in January, 1899, and since January, 1901. he has served as clerk of Colman Camp of this popular order. He has been a member of the Presbyterian church since 1891, having been received into the same in the city of Auburn, New York.

On the 2d of April, 1901, at Lawler, Iowa, Mr. Sagar was united in marriage to Miss Delina E. Miller, daughter of William C. Miller, of that place.

HON. EDGAR KELLEY is a native of the Badger state, having been born on the paternal farmstead, in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on the 23d of November, 1851, and being a son of Stephen and Mary A. (Leddell) Kelley, who

were numbered among the early settlers of that section. The father of the subject was born and reared in Herkimer county, New York, and was of Scotch-Irish descent, the family having been established in America in the early colonial epoch, when the original progenitors in the new world took up their abode in New England, The mother of the subject was born in Vermont, of English lineage, the Leddell family likewise having been long identified with the annals of American history. Stephen Kelley continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in Wis- consin until 1866, when he removed to Freeborn county, Minnesota, where he followed the same great basic industry during the remainder of his active business career, and his death occurred in that county in 1898, at which time he was seventy-five years of age. He served with honor as a valiant defender of the integrity of the nation during the war of the Rebellion, having been a member of Company I, Forty-sixth Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry. He was a Republi- can in his political proclivities, having. identified himself with the "grand old party" at the time of its organization. His wife was summoned into eternal rest in 1895, at the age of seventy- one years, and of their three sons and three daughters all are living except Benjamin, who died at the age of twenty-six years.

Edgar Kelley, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and early became inured to the strenu- ous work involved in the tilling of the soil, while his educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, to which last mentioned state he re- moved when twenty years of age. ' After leaving school he was engaged in farm work in Frank- lin county, that state, for three years, when he returned to Minnesota, and assumed charge of his father's farm, being thus engaged for the ensuing four years, within which time he broke much new land and made it available for cultiva- tion. The work was arduous, as may be under- stood when we state that he utilized a breaking plow whose operation demanded the use of an ox-team of six yokes. Upon leaving the home-

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stead, in 1879, Mr. Kelley came to what is now the state of South Dakota, and located in Grant county, where he entered a homestead claim in Melrose township, the same constituting an in- tegral portion of his present fine landed estate of four hundred and eighty-six acres, nearly all of which is available for cultivation, while the farm is one of the model places of this section of the state, being improved with substantial build- ings, with modern facilities, good fences, etc., while the owner is progressive in his ideas and carries on his operations with discrimination and according to scientific methods, aiming to secure the maximum results from the time and labor expended. He raises the various cereals best adapted to the soil and climate, and also devotes special attention to the growing of high-grade live stock, while the dairying feature of his farm enterprise is one of no insignificant order, since he furnishes an average of two hundred pounds of milk each day to the co-operative creamery in Millbank, one of the successful and important industrial enterprises of the county, the equip- ment being the best of all creameries in the state. He was one of the' organizers and a director of the creamery, in 1895, and has been a member of its directorate ever since. The ex- tent of the operations of the creamery and its value to the community may be appreciated in a measure when we record the fact that in the month of June, 1903, the company paid out to the farmers of the county more than thirty-four hundred dollars, this being a fair average of the expenditure during the more active season of creamery work. Mr. Kelley is also one of the stockholders in the Farmers' Co-operative Elevator Company of Millbank, who own and control a fine elevator and who have proved the value of organization, since the enterprise ren- dered fifty per cent. of dividends in the year 1903.

Mr. Kelley is a progressive, liberal, and pub- lic-spirited citizen, ever ready to lend his aid and influence in the furtherance of all worthy en- terprises and undertakings for the general good, and while he is a stanch advocate of the prin- ciples and policies of the Republican party and

a worker in the party ranks, he has never sought or desired official preferment. In 1902, how- ever, in the face of his personal protest, he was made the nominee of his party for representative of Grant county in the general assembly, being elected to the office in November of that year by a gratifying majority, while his course as a legis- lator has amply justified the wisdom of his con- stituents in calling him to this important posi- tion. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Yeomen.

On the 26th of July, 1879, in Albert Lea, Minnesota, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kelley to Miss Eliza Bessenger, who was born and reared in Freeborn county, that state, being a daughter of Morris and Anna Mary Bessenger, natives of Germany. Her father was a marble dealer by vocation, was an early settler of Min- nesota, and he and his wife reside at Albert Lea, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have two children, Elmer D., a student in a commercial college at Mankato, Minnesota; and Elsie M., the wife of Henry Vandervoort.

ALFRED GOLDIN is one of the popular and successful representatives of the agricultural contingent in Spink county, where he has accu- mulated a fine property through his own well directed efforts in connection with the develop- ment of the fine resources of this section. He is a native of Surrey county, North Carolina, where he was born on the 6th of August, 1866, being one of twins and the eighth in order of birth of the twelve children of Thomas Golden, who was likewise born and reared in Surrey county, where he passed practically his entire life. His father came from England to America and was one of the early settlers in North Carolina, where he became a successful and in- fluential planter, the father of the subject coming into possession of the property and having there remained until his death, which occurred on the 13th of March, 1883. During the Civil war he served as provost marshal in the Confederate army, and one of his brothers sacrificed his life

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in behalf of the "lost cause," as did also two brothers of his wife.

The subject of this sketch remained on the ancestral plantation until after the death of his honored father, the family having met with serious reverses owing to the ravages inflicted during the war, and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the common schools. In 1885, at the age of nineteen years, he set forth to fight the battle of life on his own responsibility, removing to Missouri, where he remained about one year, at the expiration of which, in April, 1886, he came to South Dakota, having no capitalistic resources and coming here an entire stranger. He was endowed with energy and determination and took such work as he could secure in providing for his neces- sities and looking ever to the mark of attaining a position of independence. For two years he was engaged in railroad construction work and then was employed about eighteen months by M. B. Gallup, a farmer of Spink county. At the expiration of this period he rented land in this county and became successful as a farmer on his own responsibility. In 1895 he purchased the J. P. Day farm of eight hundred acres, eligibly located three miles south of Mellette, and here his prosperity has continued to increase with the passing years, so that he is now numbered among the substantial men of the county, his place being well improved and under a high state of cultiva- tion, yielding large crops of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and corn, while he has also been par- ticularly successful in the raising of hogs, con- ducting operations in this line upon an extensive scale. He has personally made high-grade im- provements on his ranch, equipping the same with excellent buildings in addition to those on the place at the time when he came into pos- session of the property, while he has put down an artesian well to a depth of nine hundred and eighty-one feet, the same affording an abundant supply of pure and sparkling water. On April 2, 1904, Mr. Goldin purchased the McCall quota of land, paying twenty dollars per acre for the same. He has labored unremittingly, has made every day count and is known as a practical and

progressive business man, while he enjoys the confidence and good will of all who know him. In politics he is a stalwart Republican but has never sought or desired the honors or emolu- ments of public office of any description.

On the 30th of March, 1890, Mr. Golden was united in marriage to Miss .Annie Day, daughter of J. P. Day, one of the early pioneers of this county and the original owner of the property now owned by the subject. Mr. Day is one of the sterling old-timers of this section of the state and is now located on the Gulf coast in Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. Goldin have four children, Olive, James, Esther A. and Alfred, Jr.

GEORGE D. STELLE, one of the promi- nent and popular farmers and pioneers of Spink county, is one of the brave "boys in blue" who went forth in defense of the Union when its in- tegrity was in jeopardy through the armed re- bellion of the Confederacy, while his is the dis- tinction of being a native of the national metrop- olis. He was born in New York city, on the 8th of April, 1843, and is a son of Jeremiah D. Stelle, who was likewise born in that city, where he was reared and educated and where he re- mained until the latter part of 1843. when he removed to Middlesex county, New Jersey, . where he followed agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. Our subject was an infant of about six months at the time of his parents' removal to New Jersey, and there he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, receiving his educational training in the common schools of the locality. In August, 1862, at the age of nineteen years he enlisted as a private in Company C. Twenty-eighth New Jersey Volun- teer Infantry, commanded by Colonel M. N. Wisewell. He proceeded with his regiment to the city of Washington and for three months the command was assigned to duty in the guarding of bridges which afforded access to the national capital. They then proceeded into Virginia and took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, where Mr. Stelle was wounded. He was sent back to Washington and placed in the hospital, while he

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was assigned to the invalid corps. He began to recuperate his energies and made a strenuous protest against being kept away from his regi- ment, the result being that he was permitted to return to the front, joining his command in time to take part in the memorable battle of Chancel- lorsville, and thence following in pursuit of Lee and participating in the battle of Gettysburg. Thereafter the regiment remained for some time at Harper's Ferry, and then returned to Wash- ington, where Mr. Stelle was taken ill, receiving his honorable discharge in July, 1864. He then returned to his home in New Jersey, where he remained a short time and then removed to Illinois, where he was engaged in farming for the ensuing three years, at the expiration of which he became interested in lumbering in Michigan, where he passed four years. He then passed one year in Illinois, from which state he removed to Benton county, Indiana, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he came to South Dakota and took up govern- ment land six miles southeast of Mellette, Spink county, adjoining that of William Bird, who is mentioned on other pages of this work, and here' he now cultivates a farm of two hundred and forty acres, devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock. He is a Republican in his political proclivities and fra- ternally is identified with the Grand Army of the Republic.

On the 15th of January, 1879, Mr. Steele was united in marriage to Miss Adelaide Calhoon, who was born and reared in Will county, Illinois, being a daughter of Stephen Calhoon, one of the early settlers in Michigan and later a pio- neer of South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Stelle be- came the parents of eight children, namely : Florence Lillian (deceased), William Earl, Jen- nie Weltha, Ruth Elizabeth, Agnes Opal, Vena E., Blanche and Margaret E.

HARRY A. HOLMES .- Identified with the city of Oacoma from its earliest history to the present time and an influential actor in the ma- terial growth and development of Lyman county,

South Dakota, Harry A. Holmes, mechanic, official and representative citizen, enjoys marked precedence in the place of his residence and is entitled to specific mention with the leading men of his adopted state. The subject's father, George W. Holmes, a native of New York, was in early life a miner, subsequently turned his at- tention to agricultural pursuits and in connection therewith spent about fifty years as a blacksmith. He married Miss Elizabeth Webb, who bore him five children, and moved to Wisconsin a number of years ago where he became quite successful, accumulating a handsome property in that state besides large landed interests in Kansas. A Democrat in politics, he took an active part in the public affairs of his community, lived a long and useful life and was highly esteemed by all with whom he came in contact.

Harry A. Holmes was born in Iowa county, Wisconsin, on March 19, 1860. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, attended of winter sea- sons until his eighteenth year the public schools of Mineral Point and grew up strong of body and independent of mind, becoming a skillful worker at blacksmithing. In 1883 young Holmes started out to make his own way in the world and carve out his own destiny. Thanks to his efficience as a worker in iron, he had some- thing upon which to rely of much greater value than ready capital, and when he came to Dakota in the above year and located in Plankinton, Aurora county, he found ample opportunity to ply his trade. After working in a shop at that place for two years he changed his location to White Lake, where he followed his chosen call- ing until 1890, when he moved to the present site of Oacoma, in the county of Lyman, at that time a frontier military post, occupied by a company of soldiers whose duty it was to guard the rights of the Indians in the vicinity.

Shortly after his arrival at camp in Oacoma Mr. Holmes entered the employ of the govern- ment as a blacksmith and after continuing as such for a period of three years, started a shop of his own, settlers having arrived the mean- while until the place took the appearance of a thrifty and promising western town. Having

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the first and, up to the present time, the only blacksmith shop in the place, Mr. Holmes soon had more work than he could accomplish and in order to meet the demands of his steadily grow- ing patronage was in due season obliged to se- cure the help of assistants. His business grew so rapidly that he was compelled after a while to enlarge the capacity of his establishment, and without interruption it has continued to increase in magnitude and importance to the present day. Being one of the first settlers, he very naturally became interested in the growth of the town and to him more perhaps than to any other man is due the prosperity which has made it one of the flourishing little cities and important business centers in the southern part of the state.

Mr. Holmes not only took an active and lead- ing interest in the growth of Oacoma, but also became a prominent factor in the general de- velopment of the county and an influential par- ticipant in the public affairs of the same. He served for eight consecutive years as deputy sheriff and discharged the duties of that exact- ing and trying position in such a way that his name became a terror to evil doers, the adminis- tration with which he was identified becoming noted for the enforcement of law and respect for order throughout the entire jurisdiction. In politics Mr. Holmes has been a staunch Re- publican from the time of exercising the fran- chise and his activity and influence in party cir- cles led to his being chosen the first delegate from Lyman county to the state convention which convened at Yankton in 1894. He has also been much interested in the course of edu- cation and for a number of years has served on the school board of Oacoma, at one time being chairman of that body and at this writing he is treasurer of the same for the second term. In business matters he has by no means been sloth- ful, but on the contrary has so managed his varied interests that he is now in independent circumstances, owning, in addition to much valu- able city and personal property, a fine tract of farming and grazing land in Lyman county, also a beautiful island of one hundred acres in the Missouri river, the latter covered with a dense

growth of fine timber, which ere long will doubt- less prove a source of considerable wealth.

Mr. Holines is a leading spirit in several secret and benevolent organizations, notably among which are the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. having as a charter member assisted to establish the first named society at Chamberlain, beside holding important official stations in the different brotherhoods. Personally the subject enjoys a large measure of popularity, being the soul of genial companionship, a favorite in social gather- ings and his kindly disposition and proverbial hospitality have gained for him hosts of friends whose loyalty and devotion strengthen as the years go by.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 92

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