History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 103

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1138

USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. II > Part 103

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of the company. In addition to his professional interests Mr. Wood has extensive cattle proper- ties in Wyoming and considerable real estate of value in Rapid City, the latter comprising both business and residence property ; and he also has real estate in Seattle, Washington. He is an ac- tive member of the Masonic order and stands high in its councils, having served as worshipful master of his lodge at Rapid City and held other offices of importance.

AUGUST C. WITTE, president of the Witte Hardware Company, and one of Aber- deen's prominent citizens, was born in the city of Pein, Hanover, Germany, on July 6, 1857. His parents were August and Anna (Mueller) Witte, both natives of Germany, the former of whom died in 1875. The subject was educated in the public schools and in Hildesheim College, com- pleting the three-years course in the latter and be- ing graduated in 1874. He then became an ap- prentice in a wholesale hardware store with the purpose of preparing himself for a commercial career. He spent four years in the above es- tablishment, and then entered the German army as a one-year volunteer, being stationed in the city of Hanover. At the end of his term of one year he was commissioned a second lieutenant. In November, 1879, he arrived in America, and proceeding to Faribault, Minnesota, he entered a hardware store, where he was employed for one year. In 1880 he engaged in the same line of business in Faribault, associating himself as a partner with A. W. Mueller, under the firm name as Mueller & Witte. This firm continued in business at Faribault until 1883, when they closed out, in order to give all their attention to their hardware business in Aberdeen which they had previously established in 1881. This co- partnership continued until the death of Mr. Mueller, in 1893, and from that time on until 1902 the subject carried on the business by him- self. In the last named year the Witte Hardware Company was organized, the subject taking in his two stepsons as active partners. The company have one of the largest and best equipped hard-

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ware establishments in South Dakota, and do a large and increasing business.

Mr. Witte has been a Republican in politics since coming to America, and during his resi- dence in Aberdeen has been active and promi- nent in public affairs. In 1885 he was elected to the board of aldermen, and, with the exception of two years, has continued a member of the board, being at the present time a member from the fourth ward. His worth as a faithful city offi- cial was recognized by the people in 1902, when he was elected mayor of the city for a term of two years. His administration of the affairs of the office during the term was most satisfactory to all concerned.

Mr. Witte is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, in which he has attained the thirty-sec- ond degree of the Scottish Rite, and the honor of K. C. C. H., which was bestowed upon him by the supreme council; he is at the present time commander of Albert Pike Council. No. 4, Knights of Kadosh, in this division of the order. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he was grand patri- arch of South Dakota in 1893. having repre- sented the grand encampment of South Dakota in the sovereign grand lodge for two years.

On April 30, 1895. Mr. Witte married Mrs. Carole W. Mueller, widow of his late partner. Mrs. Witte, by her former marriage, became the mother of three children: Arthur L., Otto E.

1 and Alma. The sons are members of the Witte | that place. Helena, Fort Benton and other Hardware Company.

VEST P. SHOUN was born in Johnson county, Tennessee, on July 18, 1837. and re- ceived his early education in the place of his nativity, remaining at home until he reached the age of eighteen. In the spring of 1856 he crossed the Missouri into Kansas and Nebraska. a section of the country which was then in the throes of a border war over the question of slavery, and which was therefore an uninviting place to live. Accordingly. in 1857. he joined a party of mining men who were getting up an

outfit at Springfield, Missouri, wherewith to cross the plains to California. They were well equipped for the journey and had nine hundred cattle with them. The trip consumed nine months of weary travel, but was otherwise un- eventful until the party reached Humboldt river in what is now Nevada, where they had a skir- mish with the Indians in which they lost a few of their cattle, but escaped without loss of human life. On reaching California Mr. Shoun left the party and went into Jackson, Amadore county, California, and there passed a year work- ing in the mines. From there he went into Oregon prospecting until 1859. then proceeded to British Columbia where he prospected about five months in the Frazer river country, but with indifferent sticcess. The next year was passed at Salem, Oregon, and in the spring of 1861, hav- ing heard of the discovery of gold by a party of prospectors in the Boise Basin, now a part of Idaho, he went to that region among the first of the miners to arrive there, and was at Elk City when the territory was organized. He remained there until 1865 and took an active part in all the exciting incidents of the early history of the section, among them being with Jeff Stan- ford and other miners when they attacked and killed a number of hostile Indians on Owyhee river in 1862. In 1865 he went to Virginia City, Montana, then a new mining camp. There he secured an outfit and began freighting from

points in Montana to Salt Lake City. In 1868 he joined the workmen on the Union Pacific, which was then built to Green river, and during the next year he worked on that great highway of commerce and travel, at the end of that period taking an outfit into Nevada and from then until 1871 being engaged in freighting through all portions of that state and Arizona. Selling out then he made an extended trip through the West and Southwest to New Orleans, and from there north to Minnesota. Here he did contract work on the construction of the Northern Pacific until the fall of 1873. The love of travel and ad- venture was still strong with him, and at this time he determined to make another trip to Iowa

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and thence to New Orleans and Texas and back to Iowa. In March, 1875, he joined a large party comprising one hundred and seventy-six men and two women who outfitted at Sioux City to go into the Black Hills. This was known as the John B. Gordon expedition, Mr. Gordon being its captain. They crossed the Missouri at Sioux City on April 5th, and when they reached a point sixty miles from the Spotted Tail agency and twenty from the present town of Gordon they were taken prisoners by United States troops who burned all their wagons and supplies and conducted the entire party to Fort Randall on the Missouri. There, giving them three days' rations of flour, coffee, and beans, the commander at the fort started them east with orders to never come on the reservation again. Mr. Shoun and half a dozen others remained at the fort and he secured employment with the Platt & Ferriss Freighting Company, with which he remained until September. He then or- ganized an expedition into the Black Hills on his own account, which started from the Spotted Tail agency, and an account of which is given in the historical part of this work. He was one of the first men at Deadwood and helped to or- ganize that town, locating on claim No. HI there and No. I at Black Tail. He opened mines and got them running, then sold his interest. Being an expert marksman, he passed the winter of 1875-6 hunting deer, at which he was very suc- cessful, clearing one thousand dollars on the meat and having three hundred and twenty hides to sell in the spring. He then engaged in freighting between Pierre and Sidney at one end and Dead- wood and Rapid City at the other. continuing his operations in this line until the completion of the railroad through this region. In 1879 he located on his present ranch on Elk creek about thirty-five miles from Rapid City. on the old Pierre and Deadwood freight trail, taking up the land while he was yet engaged in freighting ; and from the time when he settled there until his freighting operations ceased he conducted a road ranch. Since then he has devoted his entire time to raising stock of high grade. He has a large body of land and his ranch is one of the finest on Elk creek.

SILAS E. MORRIS, one of the represent- ative bankers of the state and president of the city council of Redfield, Spink county, was born in Mount Carroll, Carroll county, Illinois, on the 27th of November, 1861, and is a son of Joseph P. and Jemima (Barrett ) Morris, both of whom were born in Ohio, whence they removed to Illi- nois in an early day, the lineage on the paternal side being of Welsh extraction and on the ma- ternal of English.

The subject of this sketch was reared in his native state, and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered the Northern Illinois College, at Fulton, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882. In 1884 he engaged in the clothing busi- ness at Darlington, Wisconsin, where he re- mained until 1886, when he came to South Da- kota and became cashier of the First National Bank of Doland, Spink county, of which he became president in 1888, since which time he has been incumbent of this executive office, while he is also president of the Merchants' Bank, of Redfield, and of banking houses at Faulkton, Faulk county, and Frankfort, Spink county. He took up his residence in Redfield in 1895 and has ever since been prominently identified with its business and civic affairs. In politics he is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and though he has never sought official prefer- ment he has been called upon to serve in various local positions of public trust, while he has been a delegate to state and other conventions of his party, in whose success he maintains a lively in- terest. He was a member of the board of edu- cation of Redfield for several years, and has been a valued member of the city council, of which he was elected president in 1902, since which time he has presided with ability and dis- crimination as the chief executive of the mu- nicipal government. In a fraternal way we find him identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his wife are influential and zealous members of the First Methodist Episco- pal church of Redfield, of which he has been steward for the past nine years, while in 1900 he

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served as delegate to the general conference of the church held in the city of Chicago, being one of the lay representatives of the state of South Dakota. He is also a member of the board of trustees of Dakota University, at Mitchell, this institution being conducted under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church, and for the past eight years he has rendered most effective service as superintendent of the Sunday school of his home church.

On the 22d of May. 1884. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morris to Miss Estella May Hall, who was born in the city of Dixon, Illinois. in the year 1863, being a daughter of Warren and Catherine Hall, well-known residents of that place. The names of the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Morris are here entered, with respect- ive ages at the time of this writing, in 1904: Florence, eighteen years : LeRoy, sixteen years ; Stanley, twelve years, and Whitney, nine years.

HAVILAH C. JUDSON is a native of Port Washington, Wisconsin, born on September 23, 1853. While he was yet a child his parents moved to Winnehago county in that state, and there he remained until he was about twelve years old and received his early education. The family at this time moved to Houston county, Minnesota, where the son Havilah continued his schooling, assisting between terms on the farm. He remained at home until the fall of 1870, then in company with his brother Lucius came to Ver- million, in this state, where his brother took up land, but he not being of age and therefore not qualified to do so, found employment in various sawmill, being so occupied for a period of four years. In the spring of 1878 he went to Pierre and engaged in freighting between that town and Rapid City and Deadwood in the employ of a large firm. Later he secured outfits of his own and followed this business on his own account, continuing his operations until 1886, when he took up a ranch on Elk creek twenty-seven miles from Rapid City, and settling on the place began a stock industry which he has continued ever since. In 1901 his dwelling was destroyed by 39-

fire, and since then he has been living on a ranch which he manages for an eastern company and which is located about eight miles from his own. Mr. Judson has been very successful in the stock business and is regarded as one of the progress- ive and representative men of this section of the state. He is well known and universally es- tecmed.

On January 19, 1886, Mr. Judson was mar- ried to Miss Lois Oliver at Sturgis. She is a na- tive of Wisconsin. They have two children, Al- cena and Mahel. Mr. Judson is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. belonging to the lodge of the order at Sturgis.

BENJAMIN N. OLIVER, postmaster of Viewfield, in Meade county, was born at Berk- shire. Franklin county, Vermont, on June 16, 1840. When he was ten years old his parents moved the family to Winnebago county, Wiscon- sin, where he grew to manhood and was edu- cated. After lumbering in that region a few years, in the fall of 1870 he came to Dakota and settled in Clay county where he took up land and began farming. During the first five years of his residence in that county grasshoppers destroyed all the fruits of his labors ; but with characteristic courage and determination he faced the adversity and continued his work, and in time was victori- ous over every pest and won a substantial suc- cess, remaining there twelve years. During the next two years he conducted a hotel at Lodi, but in 1884 he disposed of his interests in that part of the state and moved across the country to the Black Hills, taking with him horses and cattle. He took up a ranch on Elk creek, about twenty- six miles from Rapid City and twenty-eight from the mouth of the creek, on which he settled and again engaged in raising stock. The freight road between Pierre and Rapid City passed his ranch and the traffic over it was enormous. During the first few years after he located on the property he frequently saw as many as two hundred teams pass in a day, and could hear the snap of the bull-whacker's whip at all times of the night. In 1892 he took up a tree claim on the Divide.

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one mile north of his ranch, and before the year was ended built a dwelling on it which has since then been his home. The next year he erected a storehouse and opened a general store on the ranch which he has carried on ever since; and when a postoffice was established near by he was appointed postmaster, a position he is still hold- ing. In politics he is an ardent Democrat, and was elected a member of the legislature in 1895 and was re-elected in 1897.

On October 29, 1861, Mr. Oliver was married at Fremont, Wisconsin, to Miss Deborah Hick- man, a native of Ohio. They have eight chil- dren, John B., Lois ( Mrs. Judson), Albert, Harlo, Willis, Arthur, Bert and Clarence.

WILLIAM F. BRUELL, of Redfield, one of the representative members of the bar of Spink county, was born in Earlville, La Salle county, Illinois, on the Ist of January, 1872, and is a son of Gustav and Martha (Myers) Bruell, the for- mer of whom was born in Prussia, the family hav- ing been members of the German nobility several generations back, but the estates having been confiscated during one of the German wars. He came to America as a young man and in Illinois married his wife, who was born in that state, and it was his to render valiant service to his adopted country as a soldier in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion. He is now one of the extensive farmers and landowners of Spink county, whither he came from Illinois in 1880. He came to what is now South Dakota with very little means, and he and his family endured many hardships and privations in the early years, but they plodded on and finally their industry and in- tegrity were rewarded.

The subject of this review was a lad of eight years at the time of his parents' removal from Illinois to South Dakota, and it was his to ex- perience all the bitter and grinding poverty of the early pioneer life here. The greatest ambition of the subject was to secure an education, but the hot winds blighted the crops and his hopes were deferred for many years, but in time were at least partially realized. From early youth he had

an ambition to enter the legal profession, and after a desperate struggle with poverty and the burning of much midnight oil, he finally finished his college course. From the age of twelve to that of sixteen years, he attended school only three months each year, and yet managed to keep pace with the members of his class who at- tended nine months. While attending college he had the care of fourteen horses, then walked two miles to his school and seldom arrived late, and he found the discipline of value, for it is ever true that adversity has its beneficent uses. After at- tending the public schools of Redfield Mr. Bruell entered Redfield College, in which he completed a thorough course, being graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1895 and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He has also taken special post-graduate college work in higher Eng- lish and sociology. He has distinctive and appre- ciative literary tastes, has accumulated a fine pri- vate library and enjoys nothing better than a few quiet hours among his books or in digging among the flowers of his garden. In 1896-7 Mr. Bruell read law in the office of Howard & Walsh, of Redfield, and was admitted to practice before the supreme court in 1897, and a short time after- ward to the federal courts. His professional life has been a busy one and one of signal devotion to its work, and today he enjoys one of the best pay- ing practices in his section of the state. He has just completed the erection of a new residence in Redfield, which is one of the most modern and attractive in this section. He is a member of the directorate of one of the leading banks of the town, and has other capitalistic and real-estate interests. He has never held any important po- litical offices. in fact has been too busy to accept candidacy. He has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party from the time of attaining his majority, and he has rendered effective serv- ice in the cause, having had charge of several local campaigns, while in the various conventions he is always on hand to further the interests of his friends. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity and several other orders, is a member of the board of trustees of Redfield College and also of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which

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both he and his wife are valued members. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Bruell had charge of the primary department of the Redfield graded schools and she has always been prominently iden- tified with social, religious and educational affairs in the city.

On the 20th of September, 1900, Mr. Bruell was united in marriage to Miss Carol Riggs, a daughter of Samuel H. and Eliza Riggs, who still reside in this county. Mr. Riggs was one of the early pioneers of this section and was one of the first to advocate irrigation by means of arte- sian wells.

HARLAN P. PACKARD, executive head of the Merchants' Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, and a representative citizen of Redfield, Spink county, was born in Madrid, St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 2d of June, 1845, and is a son of Hiram and Caroline (Dimmick) Pack- ard. the former of whom was born in Massa- chusetts and the latter in Vermont, while both were representative of stanch old Puritan stock. Hiram Packard was a son of Abisha Packard, who was a valiant soldier in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution, and who was a great-grandson of Zaccheus Packard, who landed in North Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1638. Zaccheus Packard married Mercy Alden, a granddaughter of Priscilla Alden, whose gentle fame has been so beautifully perpetuated by the great New England bard, Longfellow, in his poem of "Miles Standish."

Mr. Packard completed his educational dis- cipline in the Potsdam Academy, at Potsdam. New York, and in the early part of the year 1864 tendered his services in defense of the Union by enlisting as a member of the Fiftieth New York Engineers, with which he served until the close of the war. He then came to the west and located in Janesville, Minnesota, in 1871. being there engaged in the mercantile business for the ensuing decade. at the expiration of which, in 1881. he came to Redfield, Spink county, South Dakota, where he has ever since maintained his home and where he was for a

number of years prominently identified with general merchandising, while since 1895 he has been at the head of the well-known and excep- tionally popular and prosperous insurance com- pany mentioned in the initial paragraph of this sketch. He is a stalwart Republican in his po- litical proclivities and has served his county as representative in the state legislature for three terms. He is identified with the Masonic fra- ternity, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Knights of Pythias, while both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church.

In 1872 Mr. Packard was united in marriage to Miss Hattic B. Lee, who died within the same year, and in 1874 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary E. Wentworth, who was born in Michigan, being a daughter of Virginia Went- worth. Mr. and Mrs. Packard have five chil- dren, namely : Harlan C., Frank H., Lillian G., M. Hazel and Clayton W.

MRS. DELIA (HEALY) OWENS was born in Ireland and came to United States when she was a young girl in company with an aunt. After a residence of a few years in Brooklyn, New York, she came west to Denver, Colorado, and there made her home with a cousin until her marriage, on May 16, 1869. to Michael Owens, also a native of Ireland who came to this coun- try in his childhood. They were married at Cheyenne, Wyoming. but lived at Denver until the spring of 1877. While yet a boy Mr. Owens was a mail carrier on the overland route, and after his marriage he engaged in the stock industry. In the spring of 1877 he disposed of his interests in Colorado and moved to the Black Hills, stop- ping for a short time at Deadwood and settling later at Central City, where he remained about a year prospecting and mining. In 1878 they moved to Sturgis where he conducted a profit- able livery business for more than two years, and in 1881 they came to Elk creek and located the ranch on which Mrs. Owens now lives, which is twenty-five miles from Rapid City. The land was unsurveyed at the time, and after remaining

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on it long enough to make the necessary improve- ments they returned to Sturgis, and early in 1882 Mr. Owens was taken ill, and on February 15th he died, his remains being buried in the Catholic cemetery at Rapid City. In June of that year Mrs. Owens moved back to the ranch with her children, and here she has since made her home. She has four children, Margaretta, Thomas, Fran- ces and Mamie (Mrs. Duhamel. ) When they moved to the ranch after the death of the father Thomas was but eight years old, and the mother and oldest daughter managed the farming opera- tions. Mrs. Owens bought a small herd of cat- tle to start with and hired men to do her work while she superintended the business. The place soon showed the vigor and capacity of her man- agement, rising steadily in improvement and value, and her cattle kept increasing in numbers and improving in quality. In the course of time she replaced her first rude dwelling with a com- fortable and commodious residence, and in all other respects made her place more homelike and attractive. When her son Thomas reached a proper age he took charge of the property for her, and since then he has remained at home working with her and for their common welfare. The family all belong to the Catholic church and are prominent among its members.

FRANK B. LOCKWOOD, who for more than a decade past has held the office of postmas- ter at Humboldt, Minnehaha county, is a native of the Empire state of the Union, having been born in the village of Cross River, Westchester county, New York, on the 15th of March, 1839, and being a son of John P. and Jane A. ( Barn- hart ) Lockwood, who passed the closing years of. their lives in Huron county, Ohio, the father having been a school teacher by vocation. When the subject was a child of three years his parents removed to Huron county, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity, securing a conmon-school education and being there engaged in farming at the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, when he promptly manifested his intrinsic loyalty by tendering his services in the defense of the Union.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 103

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1138

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1138