History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 113

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

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In politics he has ever given an uncompro- mising allegiance to the Republican party and has long been known as one of its leaders in the state. Ile served as state's attorney of Adair county, Missouri, and while engaged in practice in Iowa was a Garfield elector from the second district of that state. He served as a member of the legislature of Iowa, and in 1885 was elected to the territorial legislature of South Dakota. By his old colonel of the Third Iowa Cavalry, Gen- eral John W. Noble, secretary of the interior under President Harrison, he was appointed an inspector in the public-land service, in which capacity he served until his election to congress in 1889. Upon the admission of South Dakota to the Union Major Pickler was elected at large as one of the first members of congress from the state, the fifty-first congress. He was re- elected at large to the fifty-second, fifty-third and fifty-fourth congresses, and thus was a represen- tative of his state in the lower house of the fed- eral legislature for four steressive congresses, within which he accomplished much for the furtherance of the best interests of South Dakota. He served as a member of the committees of public land, Indian affairs, invalid pensi ms, ir- rigation of arid lands, alcoholic-liquor traffic and that of claims. He was chairman of the com- mittee on invalid pensions in the fifty-fourth congress. He was not a candidate for re-election to the fifty-fifth congress, but was a candidate for nomination for the United States senate. He received the Republican legislative caucus nom- ination and the unanimous vote of the caucus for more than thirty days, but the Republicans were lacking five votes of a majority and as it was deemed improbable that a Republican could be elected, the representatives of the party, with one exception, voted for Hon. James H. Kyle to succeed himself as senator, and he was duly elected. The senate succeeding President Mc- Kinley's first election was known to be very equally divided between the Republicans and the opposition, and the national Republican commit- tee was very desirous, and so expressed itself to Major Pickler, that in case it became apparent that a Republican could not be elected, the Re- publican strength in South Dokota be thrown to a

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man who would, if necessary, vote for the tariff and financial policies of the Republican party. In accordance with this expressed desire of the national leaders, and after protracted support by the caucus, Major Pickler advised the change of vote from himself to Senator Kyle, who could be relied upon to support the measures de- sired. The Major is identified with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Work- men. He and his wife are prominent and valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church in their home city.

On the 16th of November, 1870, was solem- nized the marriage of Major Pickler to Miss Al- ice M. Alt, who was born in Johnson county, Iowa, in 1848, being a daughter of Joseph A. Alt, one of the sterling pioneers of that state. They have four children, Lulu A., Madge E., Al- fred A. and Dale Alice.

where they had their home together for fifty-six years. She died February 5, 1904, one week after the death of her husband. They were the last of the early Iowa pioneers in that vicinity.

The subject of this sketch lived with her par- ents upon the farm, attending the district school and engaging in the duties devolving upon a girl living in the country at that time. She at- tended the Iowa State University for a period of six years, commencing when at the age of four- teen. She was one of the early students of that institution and is a member of the Elder Daugh- ters of the University. She taught school a portion of the time during her attendance at the university, a part of the time in the model school of that institution. While attending the university she became acquainted with her fu- ture husband, J. A. Pickler, who was attending at the same time. They were married Novem- ber 16, 1870. She accompanied her husband during his law course at Ann Arbor, Michi- gan : afterwards they resided at Kirksville, Mis- souri, two years and at Muscatine, Iowa, seven years, from whence they came as pioneers to Faulkton, Faulk county, South Dakota, their present home. She was accompanied to Dakota by her two younger sisters, Kate E. and Nellie Alt, the wives respectively of W. G. Faulk- ner, county auditor, and D. H. Latham, state's attorney of Faulk county, both Mrs. Pickler's nearest neighbors.

ALICE M. A. PICKLER is the daughter of Joseph and Eliza .Alt. She was born in Johnson county, Iowa, near Iowa City, in 1848. She comes of a family very old in America. A pa- ternal ancestor, Michel Drew by name, left the service of the king a few years prior to the out- break of the Revolution, came to America, and enlisted and served in the Continental army. An ancestor on her mother's side, Frederick Kep- ford, was with Washington at Valley Forge. A Mrs. Pickler's parents were quiet, but ag- gressive and positive, people, who loved good principles as their own lives, and in this atmos- phere their oldest daughter, Alice, grew to womanhood. The church and the temperance reform found in her parents warm friends. Dur- ing the great Civil war eight of their immediate relatives had a part, serving with fidelity and distinction. Mr. Alt was a Whig and cast his vote for John C. Fremont for President. So in- tense was their loyalty that it was deeply im- pressed on the minds of the children who were old enough to understand the editorials in the New York Tribune, which was the standard pa- per in the family. The enthusiasm that sent family tradition has it that upon one occasion, as he slept one winter night at his accustomed place under a baggage wagon, his cue froze fast to the ground. The names of these ancestors still survive among the Christian names of the family. Mrs. Pickler's father was born near Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and when a few weeks old was taken by his family to Springfield, Ohio, where he lived until 1840. He then came to Johnson county, Iowa, and resided on land which he obtained from the government, until his death, in January, 1904, a period of sixty-four years. Iler mother, Eliza Kepford, removed with her people from Pennsylvania to the same county in the 'forties, where she married Mr. Alt and | hospital supplies to the army at the front was

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shared by the children and young people. When the war ended a number of the younger soldiers attended school at the Iowa State University, among them Major J. A. Pickler, then twenty- ty-two years old. A four-years acquaintance in this pleasant college ended in the marriage of Alice M. Alt to him.

Up to the time of their removal to Dakota, Mrs. Pickler's field of work was most and first of all, her family of three children, the Methodist church and a membership in the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union. When she, with others in that great territory of Dakota, began to make homes and "plant the roots of states," a desire for the same happy environments in the new state that had been left in the old, led her into more active work along broader lines. Her husband was a member of the territorial legisla- ture of 1885, which gave her a wide acquaint- ance with many of the best and most active men and women of the two Dakotas. This friendship she cherishes at the present time. Her sphere of opportunity was still more widened upon the ac- cession of statehood and during the eight years following she became acquainted with a number of representatives of the western states, who made their home for a time at the national capi- tal.

Mrs. Pickler has been a member of the ex- ecutive board of the Woman's Christian Tem- perance Union in her state for many years. Also was honored as the unanimous choice for president of the State Relief Corps. She was also national chaplain of that body in 1900. She was one of the first trustees of the Method- ist Episcopal church at Faulkton. She is at present president of the State Suffrage Associa- tion. She is also a grand officer of the Order of the Eastern Star. In all of these organizations . she is an earnest member, but to her family she is most devoted. The children, Lultt A., wife of W. J. Frad, late editor of the Mitchell (South Dakota) Gazette: Madge E., Alfred A. and Dale A., have all done honor to themselves and parents in their college work and in assuming other responsibilities.

In their pioneer home a large lamp always

hung in the window to guide the lost traveller on the great prairies to a place of shelter. The home has grown to one of ample size, of the colonial type. The light still shines and friend or caller there finds the same open-handed hospi- tality which helped in the early 'eighties to weave the ties that bind in unbroken friendship those pioneers who have made the history of the state of South Dakota.

`CAREY W. SMITH, who is cashier of the First National Bank of Volga, Brookings county, was born in Parkersburg, Butler county, Iowa, on the 21st of March, 1869, and is a son of Henry and Emily (Marston) Smith, both of whom were born and reared in Cattaraugus county, New York, being representatives of old and honored families of the Empire state. Soon after their marriage they came to the west and located in Clayton county, Iowa, where Mr. Smith took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, to whose cultivation he gave his attention for a few years and then removed to Butler county and purchased land near Parkersburg, where he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits for a score of years. In 1881 he came to South Dakota and purchased a farm in Lake county, near Madison, in which attractive little city he is now living retired, having sold his farm a num- ber of years ago. Of their four children one died at the age of nine years and of the other three we enter the following data: Eugene L. is a grain buyer at Bryant, Hamlin county; Ida M. is the wife of Henry J. Hopley, of Bryant ; and Carey WV. is the immediate subject of this sketch.

Carey W. Smith received his eary educational training near Parkersburg, Iowa, where he at- tended the public schools until he had attained the age of thirteen years, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to South Dakota, com- pleting his studies in the public schools of Madi- son, Lake county, and then, in 1883, entering the State Normal School, in that place, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888, hav- ing in the meanwhile been a successful teacher in the country schools of Lake county. After

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his graduation he was in turn principal of the schools at Hudson, Wentworth and Bryant, con- tinuing to follow the pedagogic profession for four years, and proving a valuable factor in the educational field. In 1892 he was matriculated in Cornell College, at Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he completed the scientific course, being graduated as a member of the class of 1895 and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. In the spring of the following year Mr. Smith came to Volga and became bookkeeper in the Bank of Volga, of which he was soon afterward chosen cashier, and was also elected secretary of the Equitable Loan and Trust Company, retaining these positions for the ensuing six years. When the First National Bank was organized. in the spring of 1902, he was elected cashier of the new institution, and has thus presided over its count- ing room from the start, while he has gained a high reputation for his executive and administra- tive abiltiy and has done much to further the in- terests of the bank, which is capitalized for twenty-five thousand dollars and which is one of the solid financial institutions of Brookings county. In January, 1904, the Equitable Loan and Trust Company was reorganized with Mr. Smith as president. Mr. Smith is the owner of five hundred and eighty acres of land in Brook- ings county, three hundred and twenty acres in McPherson county, one hundred and sixty acres in Clark county, one hundred and sixty acres in Grove county, three hundred and twenty acres in Nebraska, and one hundred and sixty acres in McLean county, North Dakota, and is making the best of improvements on the property, whose value is constantly increasing. For the past three years he has given no little attention to dealing in real estate. and his investments have invaria- bly been judicious, while he has unbounded confi- dence in the still more splendid future in store for South Dakota. He was two hundred dollars in debt when he came to Volga, and it stands to his credit that he has gained so distinctive suc- cess. He is the owner of one of the finest homes in Volga, his attractive and modern residence having been erected at a cost of over two thou- sand dollars. In politics he gives his allegiance to

the Prohibition party, so far as national isues are involved, and fraternally he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife are accomplished musicians, and as vocalists they are much in demand in connec- tion with social and public entertainments, as well as in connection with church work. Mrs. Smith was engaged as a vocalist in connection with evangelical work in various states prior to her marriage, and is the possessor of a soprano voice of excellent timbre and range and also of thor- ough cultivation. Mr. Smith is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife of the Baptist church, but as neither of these denomina- tions have organizations in Volga they attend the Presbyterian church and take an active part in various departments of its work. He is a teacher in the Sunday school, of which he is superintend- ent at the time of this writing, while he is also president of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. Both he and his wife are members of the choir.

On the ioth of April, 1899, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Caroline ( Porter) Runk, of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, where she was born and reared, being a daughter of Ed- ward Winfield and Margaret ( Gillmen ) Runk, Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a winsome little dangh- ter, Dorothy, who was born on the 24th of March, 1900.

ROBERT F. KERR, the able and popular librarian of the State Agricultural College of South Dakota, at Brookings, is a native of the state of Indiana, having been born at Sugar Grove. Tippecanoe county, on the 12th of April, 1850, a son of Andrew J. and Nancy (Sayers) Kerr. His father was born in Franklin county, Ohio, and was a son of Samuel Kerr, who was a native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, being the sixth son of John Kerr, who was born in northern Ireland, whence he emigrated to the United States in the colonial epoch of our national history, while he was a valiant soldier in the Continental line during the

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war of the Revolution, and he was num- bered among the sterling pioneers of the old Keystone state, the family having been principally engaged in agricultural pursuits during the various generations. Andrew J. Kerr removed from Ohio to Tippecanoe county, Indi- ana, in company with an elder brother, being a lad of eleven years at the time, and he forthwith initiated his independent career and began to de- pend upon his own resources. He continued to work by the month until his marriage to Miss Eliza Ward, two children being born of this union,-Jesse, who is a resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota ; and Josephine, who became the wife of John Sprague, her death occurring in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. After the death of his first wife Andrew J. Kerr married Miss Nan- cy Sayers, whose father was Robert Sayers, while the maiden name of her mother was McMillan. Robert Sayers was a native of Virginia, and the family name has been identified with the history of Indiana from the early pioneer days. The McMillan family is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and representatives of the same were patriot sol- diers in the war of the Revolution. The mother of the subject died in 1864, and his father subse- quently consummated a third marriage, having devoted his active life to agricultural pursuits in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, while he is now liv- ing retired in New Richmond, that state, having attained the venerable age of eighty-four years, while he still retains possession of his old home- stead farm, which he purchased in 1848. Of his second marriage were born six children, concern- ing whom we incorporate brief record, as fol- lows: Robert F. is the immediate subject of this review : Clara is the wife of James D. Thomas, who resides near Wingate, Indiana; Martha is the wife of William Bennett, who resides near New Richmond, that state; Susan H., who is a maiden, resides in Wingate, Indiana: Mary E. is the wife of J. L. Hayes, of Newtown, Indiana ; and Emma died in early childhood. Of the third marriage were born three children, namely : Thomas L., who resides near Otterbein, Indiana ; Hattie F., who is the wife of Daniel E. Storms, now secretary of state of Indiana; and Nettie,

who is the wife of John Rust, residing near Ot- terbein, that state.

Robert F. Kerr received his preliminary edu- cational discipline in the public schools in the vi- cinity of his home, continuing his studies in this way until he had attained the age of nineteen years, while during the summer vacations he gave his attention to farm work. At the age noted he began teaching school in Warren county, Indi- ana, being thus engaged during one winter term and then entering Wabash College, at Crawfords- ville, Indiana, where he continued his studies one term, after which he again taught a term in the same school as before. In the spring of 1872 he was matriculated in Asbury College, now known as Del'auw University, at Greencastle, Indiana. while he thereafter continued to teach and attend college at intervening periods, depending upon his pedagogic efforts for the securing of the funds to defray his college expenses. He was a student in the college mentioned during the entire sessions of the years 1876-7, completing the classical course and being graduated as a member of the class of 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then secured a position as a teacher in the public schools at Kentland, Indiana, and in the spring of 1878 was chosen county superin- tendent of the schools of Newton county, that state. In April. 1878, he went to Japan, where he was for eighteen months employed as a teacher in the provincial school at Hir Osaki, returning to the United States in October. 1880, and during the year 1881 and a part of 1882 he was an as- sistant in the surveying of the route of the Clover Leaf Railroad through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, knowing nothing of the details of the business at the time he joined the surveying party, but so rapidly accumulating technical knowledge that within nine months he was placed in charge of a corps of men. Thereafter he was assistant principal in schools at Blair, Nebraska, until 1885, when he came to Brookings, South Dakota, as principal of the preparatory department and teacher of history in the State Agricultural Col- lege. The school had been organized but one year previously, and he has thus been intimately identified with the work and history of this now

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flourishing and important institution, having known in a personal way every student who has been graduated in the college. In 1892 he went out of the institution, which was placed under different executive control at the time, but in Jan- uary, 1899, he was recalled, assuming the princi- palship of the preparatory department and also being placed in charge of the library of the col- lege, while for the past year he has had the super- vision of the library and the college extension work. After leaving the college in 1892 Profes- sor Kerr was for one year traveling representa- tive of a leading book-publishing concern, while in 1894 he was elected county superintendent of schools for Brookings county, of which position he continued incumbent until he was again called to official duty in the college as noted. He re- ceived the degree of Master of Arts from De- Pauw University in 1880. In politics he has al- ways given an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, in whose cause he has taken a lively interest. He is a member of the director- ate of the State Historical Society of South Da- kota, and has made valuable contributions to the literature pertaining to the annals of the state. Professor Kerr is an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, with which he has been iden- tified since 1874, being identified with the lodge, chapter and commandery in Brookings and also with the El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Sioux Falls. He also holds membership in the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, of which he is the past grand patron of the grand chapter of the state, while at the present time he is worshipful master of Brookings Lodge, No. 24, Free and Accepted Masons. He is now pre- paring to follow through the circle of the Scot- fish-rite degrees of Masonry. He is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and ('is also a member of the Knights of Pythias un- vi the lapse of the lodge organization in Brook- ings, while he is affiliated with the Beta Theta Pi college fraternity. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a steward of the local congregation and also a member of the board of trustees, taking an active interest in the various departments of the church work.

E. E. HEMINGWAY .- Some wise man hias well said that "A country is largely measured by the kind of men it turns out"; another has said that "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and that some have greatness thrust upon them". The subject of this sketch, Hon. E. E. Hemingway, has come to his present eminence by worthy achievement and the no- bility of hard and persistent labor. He was born in the township of Marathon, in Lapeer county, Michigan, on the 16th day of December, 1861. His father was Hon. H. L. Hemingway, who was a son of Needham Hemingway, a native of Canandaigua, New York. The Hemingway family came to this county originally from Wales. The grandfather, Needham Heming- way, was a contractor of mills, and at the same time was also engaged to a considerable extent in farming. He came to the state of Michigan in an early day, braving the rigors of a new country, and there spent the remainder of his sturdy life in the above occupation.

Hon. H. L. Hemingway first saw the light of day on a farm where he was afterward reared, having received by nature and hard manual la- bor a strong constitution. He early in life be- came engaged in the lumber business and the fruitful occupation of farming. While thus gaining an honorable livelihood, he was chosen by the people of Lapeer county, Michigan, to fill many important offices in the township and county.

He was united in marriage to Lydia E. Tower, whose family came from the state of New York, from the same vicinity that the Hem- ingway family had previously emigrated. Mrs. Lydia Hemingway departed this life March 31, 1876. In the course of time H. L. Hemingway was again united in marriage, this time to Susan (. Tower. He was the father of nine children, four of whom still survive him. Sarah (de- ceased) was the wife of William Larkin, of Ot- ter Lake, Michigan. Ernest is a resident of Ot- ter Lake, Michigan. Laura (deceased) was the wife of James A. Tompkins, of Oxford, Michi- gan. Ella J. is the wife of W. S. Cook, of Pontiac, Michigan. Eugene died in young man- hood. Ida, the sixth child of the family, died

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in infancy. E. E., the subject, was the seventh child of this excellent family. 'The eighth child, Ada. died at the tender age of thirteen years. The ninth child, Bruce W., now resides at Otter Lake, Michigan, on the old Hemingway home- stead. Hon. H. L. Hemingway passed away upon the IIth day of April, 1903.

While the subject of this interesting sketch applied himself industriously in the mill and on the farm, he managed to receive his primary schooling in Marathon township, Lapeer county, Michigan, until he was fifteen years of age, at which time he entered college at Oxford, Michi- gan, and there spent three years, from which in- stitution he graduated. He afterward took a commercial course in the Pontiac International Business College, which is situated in the same state. Thus amply fitted, he was called to take a position in the bank of William Peter, of Co- lumbiaville, Michigan, which position he ably filled for five years. Upon August 17, 1887, he removed to Watertown, South Dakota, where he at once engaged with the Dakota Loan and Trust Company, and at the same time he assisted the Watertown National Bank, filled the office of city clerk of Watertown for three years and for two years was the manager of the electric light plant. Mr. Hemingway continued actively in business in Watertown for five years. During the last half of 1892 he was employed by the W. H. Stokes Milling Company, of Watertown, as col- lector and salesman, making extensive trips into South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. In October, 1892, he removed to Brookings, South Dakota, and engaged in the retail boot and shoe trade, and continued suc- cessfully in this business until December, 1894. In 1895 he was appointed public examiner of South Dakota, by Governor Sheldon, in which position he ably and efficiently served his term of two years, which expired March 6, 1897, He then engaged with the Minneapolis Journal until May, 1898. After the expiration of this work he engaged with the George D. Barnard Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, as traveling salesman for the space of two years. On May 1, 1900, he engaged with the C. Ross Coal Company, of She-

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 113

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