History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 118

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

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Rapid City on September 29th. The following winter was an unusually severe one and he lost one-half of his stock. In the ensuing spring everybody in the neighborhood was discouraged and ready to sell out. But although he had lost heavily during the winter, he still had faith in the section and at once invested all he had in cattle. His confidence has been fully justified by subsequent experience, as he is now one of the largest and wealthiest stock men in the west- ern part of the state. He later bought land all over the region, at one time owning extensive tracts, but in 1900 he sold both land and stock, not, however, intending to retire from the busi- ness, for he went south and bought more cattle which he placed in the northwestern corner of the state near the North Dakota and Montana lines, where his sons are now managing the busi- ness. He has for a long time made his home at Rapid City, where he has a fine residence. Here he is living retired from active pursuits, having turned all his business over to the man- agement of his sons except his interest in the First National Bank of Rapid City, in which he is a leading stockholder and serves as vice-pres- ident.

On October 6, 1871, at Denver, Colorado, the subject was married to Miss Catherine Lap- pus, a native of Germany. They have eight chil- dren : Matilda (Mrs. Babue), Alexander, Mary (Mrs. Waldron), Josephine (Mrs. Horgan), Adeline (Mrs. Fallon), Joseph, Annie and Agnes.

HERBERT W. SOMERS is a native of Barnet, Vermont, where he was born on May 31, 1857, and is the son of parents belonging to families long resident in that state. In 1864 they moved to Marshall county, Iowa, where they prospered as farmers. The son grew to manhood in that county and received his early education in its public schools, afterward attend- ing Iowa College at Grinnell, from which he was graduated in 1882. In August of the same year he came to Rapid City to take the position of superintendent of the public schools, which he

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filled with credit for two years. In 1885 he was appointed bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Rapid, and since then he has been con- nected with that institution continuously, rising by merit to the post of cashier in 1898 and to that of director also in 1902. In addition to his work at the bank he has done a great deal to promote and build up the Rapid City Electric and Gas Light Company, acting as its secretary and treasurer since 1887, and as its manager since 1892.

Mr. Somers was married at Jacksonville, Il- linois, in June, 1888, to Miss Nellie M. Van Zandt, the home over which she presides with dignified grace being brightened by the presence of two sons and a daughter, namely: Leslie, Paul and Helen. The Ancient Order of United Workmen enrolls Mr. Somers among its mem- bers, while in religious matters he is an active member of the Congregational church, in which he is a trustee and the superintendent of the Sun- day school.

NOAH NEWBANKS, city auditor of Pierre, was born in Senecaville, Guernsey county, Ohio, on the 25th of December, 1841, and is a son of Strother McNeil Newbanks and Sarah Sophia (Larrick) Newbanks, both of whom were born in Virginia. The subject received his educational training to the common schools of Ohio and Mis- souri, to which latter state his parents removed when he was about eight years of age. In 1859 we find him engaged in mining in Colorado, where he remained until 1863, when he joined in the stampede to Montana, shortly after the dis- covery of gold in Alder gulch. He engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia City and there remained until the fall of 1865, having been one of the pioneers in that historic mining camp and having witnessed the work of the vigilantes, who had recourse to heroie measures in ridding the country of its outlaws and cut-throats, many of whom were executed by summary hanging. From Montana he preceeded to Salt Lake City and thence to San Francisco, making the trip across the plains to the Golden Gate and thence

taking passage on a vessel bound for New York, making the voyage by way of Cape Horn. From the national metropolis Mr. Newbanks returned to Missouri, where he was engaged in farming until 1868, when he removed to Junction City, Kansas, where he conducted a general store for one year, at the expiration of which he removed to Ellsworth, that state, where he' was engaged in the same line of enterprise for the ensuing two years. He then returned to Missouri and was there identified with agricultural pursuits until 1875, when he went to Denver, Colorado, where he remained until the following year, when he came to the Black Hills of South Dakota, reach- ing Custer City in April, 1876. From that point he went to Rapid City, assisting in the locating and staking out of the town. He also built a stockade corral and aided in the erection of a block house, both of these being necessary for protection from the hostile Indians, who were at that time constantly on the warpath, though mostly operating in small bands. Of this period Mr. Newbanks has written as follows: "The only instance where the Indians did any great damage was about August 1, 1876, when they attacked us in our stronghold, but they did not succeed in doing us any injury other than driv- ing our men to cover, but upon leaving the stockade they cireled around to the west of Rapid City and killed four men who were com- ing into town. Two of the party escaped and came in with the news. We then went out and recovered the four bodies, which we brought to the town, burying them in one grave. The next attack occurred early in September, when we had a running fight with the savages. They succeeded in taking our cattle, but I saved my horses, getting them to the eorral and thus pro- tecting them."

Mr. Newbanks conducted a general store and corral in Rapid City until 1878. when he en- gaged in freighting from Pierre to the Black Hills, continuing operations in this line suecess- fully until 1886, when he again located in Rapid City, and freighted between that point and Dead- wood for one year. The following spring he went to Whitewood and engaged in the com-

MR. AND MRS. NOAH NEWBANKS.

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mission business, forwarding goods from the end of the Elkhorn Railroad to Deadwood, Lead and other points in the Hills, and handling all of the freight for the famous Homestake Mining Company for one year. In the spring of 1889 he disposed of his commission business and en- gaged in the raising of cattle upon an extensive scale, locating in Custer county, where he re- mained until the autumn of 1892, when he re- moved to Lyman county, where he has since continued in the business, having a ranch of six hundred and forty acres. In 1896 he took up his residence in Pierre, where he and his wife have since maintained their home.

In politics Mr. Newbanks is a stanch sup- porter of the Democratic party, and while he has never been ambitious for office he has been a member of the state brand commission for the past eight years, during four of which he served as chairman, while he has been incumbent of the office of auditor of the city of Pierre since 1002. He is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Newbanks is an Episcopalian.

On the 29th of October. 1884. Mr. Newbanks was united in marriage to Miss Mary Josephine Anderson, who was born in Sparta, Illinois, on the 8th of May, 1859, being a daughter of Francis B. and Matilda T. Anderson. Mr. and Mrs. New banks have no children.

GEORGE MYRON BAILEY. who is es- tablished in the real-estate and abstract business in Redfield, Spink county, claims the old Empire state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Middlebury, Wyoming county, New York, on the 27th of November. 1874, and being a son of Myron C. and Rosetta M. Bailey, both of whom were born in New Hampshire. The genealogy in the agnatic line is of English and Scotch derivation, and the original ancestors in America settled in Massachusetts in the colo- nial epoch of our national history. Later repre- sentatives of the name removed to New Hamp- shire, and from that state came the branch of the family which early settled in western New York. The parents of the subject removed to Iowa

when he was about fourteen years of age and settled in Kossuth county, where the father turned his attention to mercantile business, and he and his wife are now residing in Lamberton, Minnesota. The subject completed the curricu- lum of the public schools, being graduated in the high school at Algona, Kossuth county, Iowa, and later taking a course of study in the Northern Iowa Normal School in that city. He was thereafter engaged in the real-estate and abstract business in the Hawkeye state until early in 1901, when he came to South Dakota and took up his residence in Redfield, where he is now in control of an excellent business in the handling of real estate, while he also has an ex- cellent set of abstracts of title for Spink county, his records being in large demand by the resi- dents and property owners of the county. He is enterprising and straightforward in his business methods, and is held in high esteem by all who know him. In politics Mr. Bailey is a stanch ad- vocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponser, and frater- nally is identified with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men.

HALVOR C. SOLBERG, one of the repre- sentative educators of the state, being a mem- ber of the faculty of the State Agricultural Col- lege, at Brookings, was born in Norway, on the 5th of March, 1861. a son of Christian and Anna Solberg. both of whom were born and reared in Norway, where the latter died when the subject of this sketch was a child of but five years. About the year 1867 Christian Solberg bade adieu to the fair land of his birth and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He pro- ceeded to Minnesota and settled in the town of Spring Grove, where he followed the trade of carpenter for some time, while he is at the- pres- ent time a prosperous farmer in Minnesota, hav- ing consummated a second marriage a few years after his emigration to the United States.

After the death of his mother the subject of this review was reared to the age of seventeen

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years in the same home of his aunt, Mrs. Arne Sortaasen, who was a resident of Brottum, Nor- way. There he received his early educational training under excellent auspices, and at the age noted he came to America and joined his father in Minnesota. There he worked on the farm during the summer months, availing him- self of the advantages afforded by the district schools during the winter terms, thus continu- ing his studies for a period of three years and sparing no effort in augmenting his fund of knowledge. In 1881 he came westward to Far- go, North Dakota, where he remained about two years, devoting his attention principally to the work of carpentry and cabinetmaking. He then came to what is now South Dakota and entered claim to a half section of land in what is now Marshall county, the tract being at the time thirty miles distant from any settlement. He held the land for a time, in the meanwhile find- ing employment in a furniture store at Columbia. At the expiration of three years Professor Sol- berg disposed of his land and shortly afterward was matriculated as a student in the State Agri- cultural College, where he continued his studies for four years, completing the prescribed course and in the meanwhile being employed in the in- stitution as a teacher of carpentry, wood turning, etc., having marked skill in these lines. He was graduated in the college as a member of the class of 1891, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science, and thereafter continued to devote his entire attention to teaching the practical art mentioned, while in 1892 he was chosen full professor of the mechanical engineering depart- ment of the college, having simultaneously been called to a similar position in the North Dakota Agricultural College, a preferment which he re- signed soon after his appointment and before assuming the duties of the office. He has since continued at the head of the mechanical depart- ment of his alma mater and has brought the same up to a high standard, making it one of the most popular and valuable departments in the institution. Owing to the specific nature of the course of study in the agricultural college and the practical work exemplified, the sessions are

held during the summer months, while the stu- dents have their longest vacation during the winter. This fact enabled Profesor Solberg to attend during such vacation periods Purdue University, at Lafayette, Indiana, and he was there graduated as a member of the class of 1895, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, and the following year he received the degree of Mechanical Engineer.

At the time when Professor Solberg entered upon his executive duties in the agricultural col- lege the mechanical department was maintained on a very modest basis, its functions comprising only an elemental form of shop work, while the facilities were meagre. Under his enthusiastic and able direction a steady growth was had and the department rapidly increased in popularity, so that it became necessary to provide new and ad- equate quarters and modern mechanical acces- sories. The advance that has been made under his direction is best indicated in the statement that during the present year, 1903, more than two hundred and fifty students are availing them- selves of the advantages of the department, of which Professor Solberg has just reason to be proud, not alone on the score noted, but also by reason of the fact that the equipment throughout is one of the best to be found in any similar in- stitution in the northwest. So far as can be learned he was the first to introduce the short course in practical steam engineering, and the value of the same has been appreciated not only by the students, but also by other institutions which have followed his initiative, the course having proved a distinctive drawing card for the college.

In politics the Professor gives his support to the Republican party and fraternally he is iden- tified with the lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic order, as well as with the auxil- iary organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Solberg also is a member. He is likewise chief of engineering and ordnance of the National Guard, holding the rank of colonel. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the National Society for the Pro- motion of Engineering Education. He and his

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wife are members of the Lutheran church, in whose work they take an active interest, while their pleasant home is a center of gracious and refined hospitality.

On the 27th of May, 1887, was solemnized the marriage of Professor Solberg to Miss Bol- letta Egeberg, who was born in Norway, being a daughter of Halvor and Olena Egeberg, who emigrated to the United States in 1867, re- siding for a few years in Minnesota and thence removing to Brookings county, South Dakota, where Mr. Egeberg took up a large tract of land, being now one of the prominent and in- fluential farmers of the county. His wife passed away in 1893. Mrs. Solberg secured her early educational training in the district schools and then entered the State Agricultural College, where she formed the acquaintance of her fu- ture husband, who was a student in the institu- tion at the time. They are the parents of three children, Harry, Ada Elizabeth and Ruby.

SAMUEL PRENTISS WATKINS, who stands as one of the leading members of the bar of Spink county, comes of stanch old New Eng- land stock, the genealogy in the paternal line being of English and Scotch derivation and in the maternal of English, while both families were founded in New England in the colonial epoch. Mr. Watkins was born in Cambridge, Lamoille county, Vermont, on the 22d of July, 1855, and is a son of David H. and Harriet A. ( Holmes) Watkins. The father was born in Walpole, New Hampshire, whither his paternal ancestors came from Connecticut, while on his mother's side the ancestors were from England. The mother of the subject was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, with the annals of which state the family name was identified for many generations, the original progenitors in the new world having come from England.

The subject received his early education in the common schools of the old Green Moun- tain state and later continued his studies in the public schools of Massachusetts and in Grafton Academy, at Grafton, that state, and the Wes-

leyan Academy, at Wilbraham, prosecuting his educational work in these two institutions in the four years intervening between 1871 and 1876. Thereafter he was successfully engaged in teach- ing in Massachusetts and Vermont until 1877, when he came west and engaged in the same vo- cation in Minnesota, where he remained until 1879, when he came to the territory of Dakota and located in Bigstone City, in what is now Grant county, South Dakota. Two years later he removed to Ashton, Spink county, being one of the early settlers of the town and county, and here engaged in the real-estate and loan busi- ness, in which he met with success, since the sec- tion soon began to feel the beneficent effects of the strong incoming tide of immigration and ad- vancing civilization. In the meanwhile he had for a number of years devoted much attention to the reading of law, and on the 14th of Decem- ber, 1888, he was admitted to the bar of the ter- ritory, forthwith beginning the active practice of his profession in Ashton, where he has ever since maintained his home, and where he has gained distinctive precedence and success in his profession. He at the present time maintains an independent attitude in politics, but he was a member of the first three Republican conven- tions after the admission of South Dakota to the Union. He has been called to the incumbency of various offices of local trust and responsibil- ity, where he gave his best efforts in the advanc- ing of the general welfare and material prog- ress, and for several years he was mayor of Ash- ton, in which connection his administration met with uniform approval and popular endorsement. He is affiliated with Ashton Lodge, No. 33, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, and of Red- field Chapter, No. 20, Royal Arch Masons, at Redfield, while from 1888 to 1891 he was grand chief templar of the Independent Order of Good Templars in South Dakota. He and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church of Ashton.

On the 17th of October, 1882, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Watkins to Miss Lilla B. Lee, who was born in Cresco, Howard county, Iowa, on the 2d of April, 1866, being a daughter

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of Timothy W. P. and Myra N. Lee. They have five children, Howard Lee, Myrtle May, Samuel Prentiss, Gardner H. and Elmer Le- land. Timothy W. P. Lee was a native of Stanstead, Canada, and came to the territory of Dakota in 1879. He was a lawyer by profession, taking an active part in polities, and was a mem- ber of the Sioux Falls constitutional conven- tion, and was one of the framers of the present constitution of the state of South Dakota.

JAMES CURTIN, one of the representative citizens and leading business men of Northville, Spink county, is a native son of the west, hav- ing been born in Winneshiek county, Iowa, on the 27th of November, 1856, and being a son of James and Catherine ( Murphy) Curtin, the former of whom was born in Ireland, of Scotch- Irish lineage, while the latter was born in Ire- land. The father of the subject came to Amer- ica as a young man, and early located in Du- buque, Iowa, later engaging in farming in Win- neshiek county, that state, where he remained until 1865, when he removed with his family to Pawnee county. Nebraska, where he devoted the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits, his death there occurring in 1867. His widow still lives in Pawnee county, Nebraska. She later married Silas Huff.

The subject of this review secured his edu- cational training in the public schools of Iowa and Nebraska, having attended the high school in Pawnee City, Nebraska, in the completion of his scholastic work, and in the meanwhile he had assisted in the work of the homestead farm. At the age of twenty-one years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of harnessmaking in Pawnee City, becoming a skilled artisan in the line. He was for a short time a successful teach- er in the district schools of Pawnee county, Ne- braska, and there continued to make his home until 1881, when, as a young man of twenty-five years, he came to the present state of South Da- kota, arriving in Spink county in May of that year, and forthwith taking up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, in Mellette

township. While "holding down" his claim he was employed in the James river valley at farm work for one year, and later engaged in the work of his trade in Fargo, North Dakota, after which he held a clerical position in a mercantile estab- lishment in Northville for a period of five years. at the expiration of which, in 1888, he was elected to the office of county recorder, being chosen as his own successor in 1890, and thus serving four consecutive years. Within this time he purchased other land, in different sections of the county, having secured a considerable amount for speculative purposes, and after re- tiring from office he engaged in the buying and shipping of grain at Northville. In 1893 Mr. Curtin exchanged some of his real estate for a stock of merchandise and two lumber yards, the store and one lumber yard being located at Bath, Brown county, and the other lumber yard at Andover, Day county. He continued to suc- cessfully conduct these enterprises for three years, in the meanwhile maintaining his home in Bath, and he then, in 1896, disposed of the lumber business, as well as his store, and re- turned to Northville, where he opened his pres- ent establishment, in which he handles a com- prehensive and select stock of general merchan- dise, as well as hardware and agricultural im- plements, and here he is also engaged in the buy- ing and shipping of live stock, while retaining a number of valuable farm properties. He has a large and well-appointed store, and is popular in the business and social circles of the town and county, while in politics he gives an un- swerving allegiance to the Republican party. He was appointed postmaster at Bath, under the administration of President Cleveland, and continued to serve in this capacity until the time of his removal to Northville. Religiously he is a member of the Wesleyan Methodist church.

On the 30th of September, 1884, Mr. Curtin was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Martin, who was born in Michigan, being a daughter of W. P. and E. A. (Disbro) Martin, while she was a resident of Northville at the time of her marriage. She is a sister of Ezra Martin, of whom individual mention is made on another

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page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Curtin have three daughters, Zella, Elma and Faye, the cld- est daughter being a successful and popular teacher in the public school at Clearview, this county, at the time of this writing.

FRANK C. MARINER, representative member of the bar of Spink county, is a native of the state of Illinois, having been born in Bushnell, McDonough county, on the 21st of November, 1854, and being a son of Orrin and Hannah ( York) Mariner, the former of whom was born in Connecticut and the latter in the state of New York, both being representatives of stanch old colonial stock. The progenitor of the Mariner family in America was William Mariner, a Frenchman, who came to this country with General Lafayette, as nearly as can be de- termined from the records extant, taking part in the war of the Revolution under his noble commander and remaining to enjoy the advan- tages of the country whose independence he had thus aided in securing. The maternal grand- father of the subject was an active participant in the war of 1812. In 1840 Orrin Mariner re- moved to Illinois, becoming one of the sterling pioneer settlers of that state. He first located in Peoria county, whence he later removed to Marshall county, while finally he took up his residence in McDonough county, where both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, his vocation having been that of farming. Of the six children of this union four are living, the subject of this review having heen the fifth in order of birth.

Frank C. Mariner received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his native county, and supplemented this by a course of study in Lombard University, at Gales- burg, Illinois. He then began reading law in the office of the firm of Barnes & Doughty, of Bushnell, Illinois, thus prosecuting his technical studies for some time, after which he went to Denver, Colorado, where he remained about one year. He then took up his residence in Shen- andoah, Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 118

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