History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 96

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 96

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his efforts to improve the social, educational and moral condition of the community. While living at Big Stone City he served as the first mayor of the city and for some years as justice of the peace, and since coming to Milbank has been active in public affairs, being honored with im- portant official position, having been appointed in the spring of 1903 postmaster, the duties of which trust he has since discharged with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public. He also served on the board of educa- tion, and as president of that body labored so effectually to promote the interests of the schools that in point of efficiency they now compare favorably with those of the larger and much more pretentious cities.

In addition to his educational and official duties, Mr. Downie owns a fine farm, under a high state of cultivation. He is active in Masonic circles, being a Sir Knight, and is also identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having passed all the chairs in the latter fraternity.

Mr. Downie was married at Big Stone, August 15. 1882, to Miss Henrietta Molm, daughter of John W. Molm, a native of Germany and one of the early pioneers of Grant county. Mrs. Downie was born in Pennsylvania, but has spent the greater part of her life in South Dakota, having been quite young when her par- ents came to Big Stone. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Downie has been blessed with two children, the older of whom, Jessie, died at the age of seven years. The other is Bessie E. Both Mr. and Mrs. Downie are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Milbank.

J. C. HALL, one of the representative ag- riculturists of Brown county, also a merchant and grain dealer and a breeder of full-blooded Shropshire sheep, has been an honored resident of South Dakota since July, 1880, at which time he located on a homestead near the present town of Bath and lived on the same until converting it into one of the finest farms in that part of the country. His success during the interim has

been marked and all of his undertakings appear to have prospered even surpassing his most ardent expectations. After living where he originally settled until the year 1897, Mr. Hall moved to his present home on Elm river, eight miles north of Aberdeen, where he owns a beau- tiful place of one hundred and sixty acres, which he devotes chiefly to the raising of highly prized Shropshire breed of sheep, in connection with which he also carries on agriculture, buys and ships grain and runs a large, general store in the town of Ordway. As a sheep raiser he has a wide reputation, many of his animals having been exhibited at the different fairs throughout the state, with the result that they have in- variably been awarded the highest premiums wherever entered for competition. His flock at this time consists of one hundred and seventy- five head, all registered and of the highest grade of excellence, their unmixed blood and general supremity over the best animals of other breeds creating a great demand far in excess of the owner's inclination or ability to supply. Mr. Hall began breeding sheep in 1878 and since that time has given his attention exclusively to the Shropshire variety, which he finds superior in every respect to any other species, and which he hopes to see generally introduced among the farmers and stockmen of Dakota at no distant day. Through his instrumentality a number of people have been induced to improve their flock and he is certainly entitled to great credit for his interest in behalf of one of the large and rapidly growing industries of the west, which is destined to become more important with each recurring year.

As already stated, Mr. Hall's attention is by no means confined to one line of business, his mercantile interests at Ordway being large and steadily growing and his grain dealing at the same place has given him marked prestige in the business circles of South Dakota and other states. He manages a large elevator with capacity sufficient to handle all the grain in his part of the country and he buys and ships upon an average of fifty thousand bushels a year, much of which he grows, and all coming from farms in

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the vicinity of his place of business. Essentially a progressive man of affairs and as such rank- ing with the most enterprising and success- ful of his contemporaries, Mr. Hall has also been prominently before the public in other than business capacities, being a politician of much more than local repute and a leader of the Re- publican party in Brown county. He took an active and vigorous part in the first election ever held in the county, the one to decide upon the location of the seat of justice, and in 1893 was elected to a seat in the general assembly, this being the third session of the legislature after Dakota's admission to the Union as a state. Mr. Hall's record as a lawmaker was not only creditable to himself and satisfactory to the constituency he represented, but proved emi- nently honorable to the state, as he was instru- mental in bringing about legislation which had an important hearing on the commonwealth and proved greatly beneficial to the people. As a member of the committee on railroads he in- troduced the first bill relating to the railway in- terests of the state, but a strong opposition pre- vented its passage at that time, although the wis- dom of the measure was recognized by every member of the body and the people with few exceptions were decidedly of the opinion that it should become a law. Mr. Hall was chair- man of the county central committee in 1898, when the Populists sustained such a severe de- feat, the Republican victory of that year being directly attributed to the complete organization which he perfected and his skillful leadership in the campaign that followed.

Mr. Hall has an abiding faith in South Dakota and believes that it is destined in the no distant future to become one of the greatest of western commonwealths and second to few states in the Union. He is laboring hard and using his influence to the end that this high ideal may be realized, few men in this part of the county being as enterprising and public-spirited and none are doing more to promote the general wel- fare. He is a western man in the full sense of the term, broad-minded, generous in thought and dced, inflexible in his honesty and integrity and

a symmetrically developed American whose ideas of citizenship transcend the narrow limits of community and self-interest, in larger bounds within which the good of the people as a whole is to be considered.

Mr. Hall was born October 18, 1857, in Hills- dale county, Michigan, and the first twenty-one years of his life were spent there, in Erie county, New York, and in Shelby county, Missouri, com- ing from the latter place to Dakota in March, 1879. Mr. Hall was married in Shelby county. Missouri, on March 8. 1881, to Miss Annie M. Cox, of that county, the union resulting in the birth of three children, Mono M., Moro O. and John B.

JAMES KIRK .- The honored subject of this review has traveled extensively and mingled much with men, and his long and varied ex- perience in different fields of endeavor has greatly strengthened and enriched his mind, giv- ing him a fund of useful and practical knowledge of far greater value than a collegiate or uni- versity training could have imparted. James Kirk, farmer, stock raiser and representative citizen, is a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and the son of John and Margaret (McKean) Kirk, both parents born and reared in Dumfries- shire, the father a farmer by occupation. John Kirk was a man of substantial worth, indus- trious, upright in his dealings, and he lived a God-fearing life, honored and respected bv all who knew him. He never left the land of his birth and now sleeps beneath the soil of his native heath, having died in the year 1896. His widow is still living in Dumfriesshire and of the family of six children three are citizens of the United States. Thomas, the oldest of the family, is a worker in iron, and at this time holds the position of foreman in a large blacksmith shop in Scotland. John. the second son, was gradu- ated from the University of Glasgow, came to America in 1888, and settled in Bon Homme county, South Dakota : later he moved to Sioux Falls, near which place he purchased farm prop- erty and for a number of years he has been

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actively identified with the civic and public in- terests of that part of the state. He has held various official positions, served in the legislature and is now in the assessor's office at Washing- ton, D. C. William, the third in order of birth, came to the United States a number of years ago and is now a prosperous farmer of Oregon. Robert, also a farmer and stock raiser, lives in Bon Homme county, South Dakota, and Mar- garet, the youngest of the number, now the wife of David Calvert, has never left the land of her nativity.

James Kirk, the fifth of the above family, was born November 9, 1846, and spent his early life in Dumfriesshire, receiving a good education in the schools of his native place. When eighteen years of age he went to England, where for a period of six years he was engaged in the dry goods business, but in 1869 he closed up affairs in that country and came to the United States. After spending some time in Chicago and other cities, he went to Colorado and engaged in sheep raising, to which he devoted his attention for about six years, and at the expiration of that time returned to Scotland and spent one year at his old home in Dumfriesshire. Yielding to the solicitation of certain friends as well as to his own inclinations, Mr. Kirk in 1874 went as a missionary to Sierra Leone, Sherboro, Africa, and spent the ensuing three and a half years in that colony, instructing the natives in the principles and truths of Christianity and teaching them in various other ways. At the expiration of the time noted he resigned his position and went back to England, but after spending one year there he was induced to resume missionary work in western Africa, being sent a second time by the Church of England. His second experience in the mission field covered a period of three and a half years, at the end of which time he returned to England, but after a six months' sojourn he again went to Africa and engaged in mer- chandising at Logos, as a member of the firm of Kirk, Fairley & Company. Disposing of his in- terest in the business at the end of three years, Mr. Kirk returned to Scotland and spent a short time at his old home in Dunfriesshire, after which

he came to the United States, arriving in South Dakota in the year 1887. Being pleased with the appearance of Bon Homme county, he pur- chased a half section of land in the same and a few months later returned to Scotland, where he remained until 1889, when he again came to America for the purpose of improving his land and preparing a habitation for his wife and children. Mr. Kirk brought his family west in 1889 and from that time to the present has lived on his original purchase, devoting his attention the meanwhile to agriculture and stock raising. He has developed his land from a wild state into one of the finest farms in the county, besides adding to his possessions at intervals, being at this time the owner of eight hundred acres of valuable real estate, four hundred of which are in cultivation and otherwise highly improved. By industry and good management he has not only brought his place to a successful state of till- age, but has accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to enable him to rent the greater portion of his land and live a life of compar- ative ease. Despite his independent circum- stances, however, he still gives personal atten- tion to his various business interests, making a specialty of live stock, in the breeding and rais- ing of which he has achieved an enviable repu- tation. His cattle, of which he keeps a large number, are of the noted Galloway breed and for several years past he has given considerable at- tention to the Poland-China breed of hogs and fine-wooled sheep, also blooded horses of a high grade, meeting with encouraging success in the raising and selling of his different kinds of domestic animals.

Mr. Kirk was married in his native county, in 1879, to Miss Mary Mair, of Galston, Ayr- shire, Scotland, the union being blessed with five children, whose names are as follows: John Robert, a student of the Tyndall high school ; Margaret, who is attending school in Yankton ; Mary, James and Louise, the last three at home.

Mr. Kirk is a Republican in politics and a stanch supporter of his party. He has been an earnest and devout member of the Congrega- tional church for many years and his zeal and

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activity in all lines of religious work were the means of his having been sent on the important missions alluded to in preceding paragraphs. He keeps in close touch with religious thought and action throughout the world, stands firm for Christian enlightenment and moral reform in his community, and is a leader in all move- ments for the intellectual and spiritual good of the people among whom he lives. As a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive, giving his influence and support to enterprises for the ma- terial advancement of his county and state and in the ordinary relations of life his conduct has ever been that of a whole-hearted, self-sacrificing philanthropist and true benefactor of his kind.

HUGH S. GAMBLE .- The family of which the subject of this review is an honorable repre- sentative is an old and respectable one, and the name is not only widely and familiarly known throughout South Dakota and other states, but has also become distinguished in the annals of the national government. Hugh S. Gamble, prom- inent citizen and representative business man of Yankton, is a native of Ireland, and inherits to a marked degree the intelligence, keen mental alertness, broad sympathies and optimistic tem- perament for which the best class of his national- ity has for centuries been noted. His father, Robert Gamble, was born in County Down, Ire- land, July 5, 1812, grew to maturity in his native isle and on reaching manhood's estate engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, which calling he fol- lowed in Ireland until 1846. In that year he brought his family to the United States and. set- tling in Genesee county, New York, resumed farming and made that part of the country his home until his removal, in 1862, to Dodge county, Wisconsin, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying there on June 1, 1893.

In many respects Robert Gamble was much more than an ordinary man ; intelligent far be- yond the average and possessed of excellent judg- ment and superior business ability, he not only managed his affairs well and accumulated a com- fortable fortune, but made his presence felt

among all with whom he associated. He was a zealous Congregationalist, exemplified his relig- ion in his relations with the world, and always stood for what was correct in manhood and hon- orable in citizenship. In politics his family pre- sented a striking anomaly in that he was an earnest and uncompromising Democrat, while all his sons became equally zealous and deter- mined in their allegiance to the Republican party. Some ten or twelve years prior to his death Mr. Gamble turned his farm and business affairs over to his son William and spent the remainder of his days in honorable retirement.

Jennie Abernethy, who became the wife of Robert Gamble, was born in County Down. Ire- land, July 21, 1809, and departed this life at her home in Wisconsin, on the 16th of November. 1880. She bore her husband seven children, of whom the following survive: James, a resident of Fox Lake, Wisconsin ; Hugh S., the subject of this sketch ; Isabella, who married L. B. Bridge- man and lives in Vermillion, South Dakota ; Hon. Robert J., United States senator from South Da- kota and one of the state's distinguished public men, whose biography will be found on another page of this volume ; and Margaret, wife of S. C. McDowell, whose home is at Fox Lake. Wis- consin. Hon. John Gamble, one of the deceased members of the family, became prominent in the public affairs of South Dakota, and at the time of his death, August 14, 1891, was representing the Yankton district in the United States con- gress. He was a leading Republican politician, a statesman of acknowledged ability and bore a distinguished part in shaping the policy of his party and in contributing to its success. He was recognized as an influential factor in his adopted state, made an eminently creditable record in the honorable legislative body to which he was chosen and in the private walks of life acquitted himself as an upright, conscientious man, who consecrated his gifts to the benefit of his kind and made the world better for his presence. The mother of these children, Jennie (Abernethy ) Gamble, was a woman of sterling qualities, generous and self- sacrificing under all conditions and circumstances. Her education was superior to that of most of

HUGH S. GAMBLE.

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those who had superior advantages to hers. She was from childhood a Christian of pronounced character. She was an active member of the Presbyterian church in her native land, but not finding a church of that denomination in the locality where they located in the United States, she placed her membership in the Congregationa! church, with which she remained affiliated until her death. Though true to her membership in this church, she was a broad-minded Christian, whose noble actions sprang from a pure and un- selfish heart and extended for beyond the limits of dogmas. The impress left by her on her im- mediate family was notably marked. The lead- ing characteristics of her offspring have ever been marked by the true nobility of character, intellectuality and Christian lives they have ever led.

Hugh S. Gamble was born June 26, 1843, in County Down, Ireland, and spent his childhood in close touch with nature, amid the quiet scenes and wholesome discipline of the home farm in New York state, the family having removed to this country when he was about three years old. Industry and thrift appear to have been the char- acteristics of the family, and the subject's early training was such as to foster correct habits and lead him while still young to lay his plans for his future. At the proper age he entered the public schools near his New York home, where he received the major part of his educational training, but owing to serious impairment of his eyesight he was obliged, greatly to his regret, to discontinue his studies when about ready to enter upon a college course. This affliction, which came upon him in early life, proved not only a source of much suffering and bodily distress, but also interfered very materially with his future course of action as it prevented him carrying to success- ful issue many cherished plans, and served to blast hopes as dear almost as life itself. Not- withstanding his ailment and the many sacrifices he was compelled to make in consequence thereof, he did not become misanthropic, but continued ever to look on the bright side of things and make the most of his opportunities. Actuated by a spirit of beautiful and lofty optimism, he

bent all his energies in the direction of self-im- provement, prepared himself for life's practical duties and, coming to Wisconsin when a lad of nineteen years, found in that state opportunities for advancement such as could not have been ob- tained in the land of his nativity.

In 1872 Mr. Gamble associated himself in the lumber business with his brother James and dur- ing the ensuing eleven years the firm thus con- stituted operated quite extensively in Monroe county, Wisconsin, also in various other parts of the state, and met with encouraging financial success from their undertaking. Dissolving the partnership in 1883, the subject came to Yankton, South Dakota, with the interests of which grow- ing city he has since been quite actively identified and to the material growth and prosperity of which he has greatly contributed. Since locating at Yankton Mr. Gamble has devoted his attention to real estate, insurance and loaning money, in all of which lines he has built up a large and lu- crative business and won a prominent standing among the city's enterprising and successful men of affairs. In addition to extensive and steadily growing interests, he has extended his operations over a large part of the state and now numbers among his patrons men in nearly every well-set- tled county of the commonwealth.

While zealous in the prosecution of his busi- ness affairs, and financially successful far beyond the majority of his contemporaries, Mr. Gamble has not been unmindful of his duties to the pub- lic as a citizen. As indicated above, he has en- couraged all legitimate agencies for the develop- ment of the city's commercial, industrial and gen- eral material interests, lends his influence to enter- prises for the intellectual and moral welfare of the community and heartily co-operates in any undertaking which promises good to his fellow man. He is a friend of education and is now serving on the board of trustees of Yankton Col- lege. Mr. Gamble is a communicant of the Con- gregational church and for the past twelve years has been one of the trustees of the congregation worshiping in Yankton. As indicated in a pre- ceding paragraph, he is a zealous Republican, and as such has rendered his party yeoman serv-

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ice, not from personal motives or an ambition for public or official honors, but from a desire to see the triumph of the principles in which he has such great faith.

Considering the great disadvantages under which he formerly labored and the inconvenience to which he was subject by reason of impaired vision, the success of Mr. Gamble in business and other capacities has been, to say the least, re- markable. From 1861 to 1872 his eyes were so painful as to prevent him from going where there was more than a very subdued light, conse- quently during that long period of eleven years he was obliged to remain closely indoors, where, denied the blessed privilege of reading, it appears more than ever strange, but certainly greatly to his credit, that he did not pine on account of con- dition and become pessimistic. Like the apostle Paul, however, he was enabled to bear his afflic- tion and, notwithstanding the suffering and in- convenience resulting therefrom, it doubtless proved an effective, though painful, discipline in teaching him the sweet lesson of patience, and how to accept with true philosophy and becoming grace the mysterious dispensations of providence over which mortals have no control.

The married life of Mr. Gamble dates from 1880, in September of which year he was united in marriage with Miss Eva Weed, of Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Gamble have a beauti- ful home and a charming family circle, composed at this time of themselves and four children, one of their offspring, a daughter hy the name of Margaret, being deceased ; those living are Jen- nie, Hugh S., Jr .. Edith and James W., all stu- dents, the older ones pursuing their studies in Yankton College, the younger attending the puh- lic schools of the city. Mrs. Gamble was born April 2. 1852, at Ticonderoga, western New York, and accompanied her parents upon their re- moval to Fox Lake, Wisconsin, when she was hut three years old. She attended the public schools at this place and after graduation attended and graduated from the female seminary in the same town. Since early life she has been a mem- ber of the Congregational church, and since ar- riving at maturity has taken an active part in all

church work. She is a woman of high character and is greatly loved and honored by all good people within the circle of her acquaintance.

WILLIAM A. KRIESEL, M. D., one of the able and popular members of the medical pro- fession, is successfully established in practice at Milbank. He was born in Holmesville, Laporte county, Indiana, on the 4th of September, 1870, and is a son of August G. and Julia (Glander) Kriesel, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, whence they emigrated to Indiana, in 1862, where they remained until 1874, when they removed to Stillwater, Minnesota, where the fa- ther has since been engaged as a successful con- tractor and builder. His wife died in 1893, at the age of forty-two years, and of her three sons and four daughters the subject and three of the daughters are living. Dr. Kriesel received his early educational training in Stillwater, hav- ing been graduated from the high school with the class of 1891. He took up the study of medi- cine in the city hospital of Stillwater under Drs. Turner, Clark and Merrill. In 1893 he was ma- triculated in the medical department of Hamline University, in the city of Minneapolis, and was graduated as a Doctor of Medicine on the 10th of June, 1897. On the 21st of January, 1898, he was united in marriage at Minneapolis to Miss Genevieve A. Loft. Dr. Kriesel located at Big Stone City, Grant county, South Dakota, in 1898. and was there engaged in practice for the ensuing eighteen months, when he removed to Milbank, where he has attained an excellent practice of representative order. He is a member of the State Medical Society and the Aberdeen District Medical Society, as well as the American Medical Association and the National Association of Pen- sion Examining Surgeons, having served as a member of the board of pension examiners for Grant county since 1899. He is president of the county and city boards of health and is known as an able and discriminating physician and sur- geon and as one earnestly devoted to the work of his chosen profession. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 96

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