History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 123

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 123

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Mr. McGillivray has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party since attaining the right of franchise and has shown a proper interest in public affairs of a local nature. While a resident of Lake county he served four years as sheriff, giving a most able and satisfactory administra- tion. Fraternally he is identified with Hartford Lodge, U. D., Free and Accepted Masons. and the Knights of Pythias.

On the 31st of March, 1885. Mr. McGillivray was married to Miss Delphemia Seaton, of Lake county, and she entered into eternal rest on the 3Ist of May, 1893, being survived by one son and three daughters, namely : Jessie, John, Della

and May. On the 8th of October, 1804, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McGillivray to Miss Mabel Phelps, a sister of his partner, John .A. Phelps, and of this union has been born one son, Murdock J.

MYRON H. CALDWELL, owner of the Spring Creek farm, near Hartford, Minnehaha county, was born in Baraboo, Sank county, Wis- consin, on the 19th of December. 1853, being a son of Hiram B. and Pamelia ( Allen ) Caldwell. who were sterling pioneers of the Badger statt. The father is now dead, while the mother makes her home with the subject. Mr. Caldwell se- cured his early education in the public schools and in the institute of Baraboo, continuing to abide beneath the parental roof until he had at- tained the age of sixteen years, when he came to what is now the state of South Dakota, arriv- ing in June, 1870, and entering pre-emption and homestead claims near the present city of Sioux Falls. There he devoted his attention to the im- provement and cultivation of his farm until 1879. when he disposed of the property and moved to Hartford township, this county, where he eventu- ally became the owner of this present attractive and valuable farmstead of three hundred and twenty acres. There he was engaged in diversi- fied farming and stock raising until February 15. 1903, when he rented his farm and took up his residence in Hartford, establishing himself in business here, as previously noted. Mr. Cald- well has been an uncompromising Republican from the time of attaining his legal majority, and the esteem in which he is held in this community is shown in the fact that he has been called upon to serve in every township office in Hartford township with the exception of those of assessor and treasurer, while he has always manifested a distinctive public spirit and an abiding loyalty to the state in which he has gained a position of independence through well-directed effort. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

On the Ioth of October, 1870. Mr. Cald- well was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth

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A. Delaney, daughter of Sylvanus and Margaret ( Scott) Delaney, of Sioux Falls, where they lo- cated in 1866, being numbered among the hon- ored pioneers of that place, whither they came from Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell are the parents of six children, namely: Orrin S., Alice M., Ray H., Roy M .. James G. and John R.

NELS HAUGEN, postmaster of Hartford, Minnehaha county, was born in Valders, Nor- way, on the 29th of June, 1852, being a son of Nels and Christina (Anderson) Haugen, both of whom passed their entire lives in the fair land of their nativity. The subject received his edu- cation in the schools of his native place, where he was reared to maturity. In 1874, at the age of twenty-one years, he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He embarked at Bergen, Norway, in 1874 of that year and arrived in New York city in April. Thence he came westward to Iowa, where he re- mained about one year. In June, 1875, he took up his residence in Minnehaha county, South Dakota, where he entered a homestead claim three years later, and he worked previously at farming in different parts of the state. and also in steamboating on the Missouri river. He then turned his attention to the improvement and cultivation of his farm, where he continued to reside until 1887, when he came to Hartford, where he did effective work as a buyer of grain for different elevators, continuing to be thus em- ployed until 1902, when he received his appoint- ment as postmaster, of which office he is now in- cumbent, having given a satisfactory and able administration of its affairs. He has been a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republi- can party from the time of attaining the right of franchise, and he has taken an active interest in public affairs. He was for eight years township clerk of Grand Meadow township, and for six years held the same office in Hartford township. The village of Hartford was incorporated in 1806 and he was chosen as first village clerk, an office of which he continued in tenure for eight years. Fraternally he is identified with the local

lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are members of the Luth- eran church.

On the 3Ist of March, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Haugen to Miss Annie L. Tvedt, of Hartford, who has proved a devoted wife and helpmeet, and of this union have been born seven children, namely: Louis N., Cark A., William E., Thomas O., Martin B., Clarence R. and Roy O.

A. H. HENNEOUS is one of the honored and represetative business men of White Lake, while he has also served as state's attorney of Aurora county and as county judge, being held in the highest esteem in the community. in which he has maintained his home for more than a score of years, while he is now engaged success- fully in the lumber business here. Mr. Hen- neous is a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 13th of November. 1859, being a son of Frederick and Carrie (Sanders) Henneous, the former of whom has long been one of the prominent farmers and honored citizens of Erie county, where he still resides, being eighty-three years of age. His de- voted wife passed away in 1900, at the age of seventy years, having been a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, with which he also has been prominently identified for many years, while he is a stanch Republican in politics.

Judge A. H. Henneous was reared on the homestead farm and after completing the curric- ulum of the public schools became a student in Allegheny College, where he remained five years, thereafter taking a course in the Pennsylvania State Normal School, at Edinboro, Pennsylvania. He thereafter devoted his attention for a full decade to teaching in the public schools of Penn- sylvania and Iowa, to which latter state he re- moved in 1880. In the spring of 1882 he came to White Lake, where he has ever since resided. For a short time after his arrival he was en- gaged in the sale of agricultural implements. In 1890 he was elected state's attorney for this county, and after the expiration of his term

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served three successive terms as county judge. He was not then permitted to retire from public office, since he was again elected to the position of state's attorney, in which he served one term. He had given considerable attention to the study of law and was eminently qualified for the duties devolving upon him in each of these responsible offices. He was admitted to the bar January 5. 1891. In 1898 Judge Henneous opened a lum- ber yard in White Lake, and in this line of enter- prise he has built up a large and successful busi- ness. He has ever given a stanch allegiance to the Republican party and has wielded no little influence in promoting its cause. He is a mem- ber of White Lake Lodge, No. 85, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and both he and his wife are val- ued members of the Presbyterian church in White Lake, our subject being a member of its board of trustees.

On the 27th of August, 1887, Judge Hen- neous was united in marriage to Miss Minnie MI. Ponto, of Floyd county, Iowa, and they have three children. Agnes, Ralph and Fern.

W. B. WOLCOTT, who is one of the lead- ing merchants and honored citizens of White Lake, Aurora county, is a native of the Empire state of the Union, having been born in Batavia, Orleans county, New York, on the 28th of Jan- uary, 1863, and being a son of J. Warren and Susan (Hayward) Wolcott, of whose six chil- dren four are living, namely : Kate M., wife of E. M. Chamberlain, of Findlay, Ohio : Nellie .A., wife of E. F. Janes, of Erie county, Pennsyl- vania : Margaret H., a resident of Alden, New York ; and W. B., the subject of this sketch. J. Warren Wolcott was born in Orleans county. New York, in 1828, his parents having emigrated thither from Connecticut, where the family was founded in the colonial epoch, the ancestry being of French Huguenot derivation. Oliver Wol- cott, Jr., a great-uncle of the subject, was the first comptroller of the United States treasury and upon the death of Alexander Hamilton was appointed secretary of the treasury. The father of our subject devoted his active life to agri-

cultural pursuits in western New York and is now living retired in the town of Alden, that state. He is a Democrat in politics and while never an office seeker he served for one or more terms as sheriff of Orleans county. His wife, who was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, of English ancestry, died in 1871, at the age of forty-one years, having been a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, with which her husband likewise has been identified for many years.

W. B. Wolcott was reared on the home farm and his early educational advantages were those afforded by the public schools of the city of Buf- falo, New York. At the early age of fifteen years he secured employment as clerk in a gro- cery in that city, and to this line of effort he there continued to devote his attention until 1883, when he came to the territory of Dakota, work- ing on a farm in Aurora county for the first two years and then securing a position in the lum- ber yard of Warren Dyc, of White Lake, with whom he remained two years. He then returned to the state of New York, where he remained about seventeen months, at the expiration of which, in February, 1888, he again took up his residence in White Lake, securing a clerkship in the general store of H. Hofmeister, in whose employ he continued about eleven years. In the spring of 1900 Mr. Wolcott engaged in the same line of enterprise on his own responsibility, and he has now a well-equipped store and controls a large business, the same being the result of his correct methods and marked personal popularity in the community. He is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and fraternally is prom- inently identified with the Masonic order, being a member of White Lake Lodge, No. 85, Free and Accepted Masons ; Pilgrim Chapter, No. 32, Royal Arch Masons ; St. Bernard Commandery. No. II, Knights Templar, at Mitchell ; Oriental Consistory, No. I, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Yankton ; and El Riad Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mys- tic Shrine, in Sioux Falls, while he also holds membership in White Lake Lodge, No. 84, In- clependent Order of Odd Fellows.

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On the 25th of August, 1808. Mr. Wolcott was united in marriage to Miss Ida Ponto, of Charles City, Iowa, she being a daughter of the late Martin Ponto, a prominent farmer of that locality.

work. Later he became interested in the mines at Hill City, and going there to live made the place his home until 1879, the meanwhile suffer- ing severe reverses as a miner, the result being the loss of nearly all his earthly possessions.

After this discouraging experience Mr. Trim- mer decided to abandon mining and turn his at- tention to a more certain means of obtaining a livelihood : accordingly with two friends, L. B. Reno and Frank Holton, he came to what is now Hot Springs, where the three took up adjoining homesteads, the subject locating on the place which has since heen his place of residence. This being done, the parties returned to Hill City, but in the spring of 1880 Mr. Turner moved his family to his claim, and at once began improving the same, also engaging in the cattle business. which he carried on quite successfully during the first few years, and then turned his attention to horticulture, finding his land particularly adapted to fruit growing. While improving his ranch, he also traded considerably with the Indian trihes in the vicinity, but this was of short duration and only reasonably profitable. In 1884 Mr. Trim- mer set out his first orchard, and since that time has gradually increased the area of the same, until he is now the largest and most successful fruit grower in his section of the state. He has selected his trees with the greatest care and from the choicest varieties, and hy judicious culture has so developed them that they seldom fail to return him large profits every year. a shortage in his crop being a rare occurrence. During the early settlement of Hot Springs he did quite an extensive business in gardening and dairying : having supplied the town for a number of years with butter, milk and all kinds of vegetables and small fruits, but as population increased he found horticulture more remunerative and, as already indicated, gradually worked into the latter and now follows it with success, such as few men in this part of the state have achieved.

GEORGE M. TRIMMER .- Among the men who have been active in promoting the various interests of South Dakota, George M. Trimmer, of Hot Springs, is deserving of especial mention. Honored and respected by the peo- ple of his community, he enjoys a large measure of public esteem, not alone on account of his activity in business circles, but also by reason of the creditable course he has ever pursued and the worthy standing attained in the domain of citi- zenship. A native of McLean county, Illinois, where his birth occurred on the 8th of Novem- ber. 1844. he spent his childhood and youth on a farm. grew up to habits of industry and en- joyed the advantages of a common-school edu- cation. He remained in his native state until reaching the years of manhond, and then started out to make his own way, going in 1865 to Fort Sully, on the upper Missouri, where he engaged in the wood business. During the ensuing ten years he handled a great deal of wood at various places along the river, shipping to different points, and met with encouraging success in the business. In 1876, when the country became excited by reason of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, he wound up his affairs on the Missouri and, organizing a party of friends and furnish- ing an outfit for the same, started for the Hills, leaving the river a little below Fort Thompson, and going through Dakota via Pierre to Bear Butte, thence up Elk creek along the Custer trail to Box Elder, where the party spent about one month prospecting. From that locality they pro- ceeded to Rapid creek, but after prospecting for two months at the latter place with indifferent success, the party finally dishanded. When Rapid Mr. Trimmer owns a beautiful home adjoin- ing the town and is well situated to enjoy the many comforts and conveniences of life which he has accumulated. His residence, situated in City sprang into existence Mr. Trimmer went there and engaged in freighting, driving from that place to Pierre and other points and devot- ing about one and a half years to this kind of , a fine grove of maples and cottonwoods, with

5 M Timer

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orchards in close proximity, also attractive shrub- bery, tastefully arranged flower beds and well- kept lawns on every hand, is an almost ideal dwelling place and he spares no pains nor ex- pense in adding to its attractiveness, being a man of refined tastes and progressive ideas. Politically Mr. Trimmer is a staunch and unswerving Democrat. While zealous in maintaining his principles, he has persistently declined office at the hands of his fellow citizens, manifesting little interest in active party work and none for public position. Mr. Trimmer has met with much more than ordinary success financially, which fact speaks well for his ability to recover from busi- ness reverses, such as would have discouraged a man of less tact and determination. The ample competence in his possession is the result of his own industry and excellent management, and the enviable position which he occupies in business and social circles has been honorably earned by a course of conduct singularly free from adverse criticism.

Mr. Trimmer was married in June, 1871, to Miss Mary Byua, and to this union were born three children, as follows: Maggie, the wife of Elwood Williams; Fannie, the wife of J. W. Finnegan, a conductor on the Chicago & North- western Railway, and Elizabeth. The subject's second marriage occurred February 16, 1891, to Mrs. Mary A. (Wood) Roberts, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who came to the Black Hills in 1877.

REV. FRANZ JOSEPH FEINLER, pas- for of St. Peter's church, at White Lake, Aurora county, was born in Gissigheim, Granduchy of Baden, Germany, on the 28th of March, 1871, be- ing a son of Franz Carl and Maria Magdalena (Schmitt ) Feinler, who were likewise born and reared in that section of the great German em- pire, where they remained until 1900, when they came with their son John A. to America, joining the subject in Parker, this state, and remaining as inmates of his home until 1903, since which time they have made their home with the son previously mentioned, on his farm, which is lo-

cated one and one-half miles distant from White Lake. The son John A. was united in marriage, on the 19th of May, 1903, to Miss Mary Ma- jerus, of Robey, this county. The parents have ever been devoted communicants of the Catholic church and are folk of sterling character, while they are passing the evening of their lives far from the scenes of their loved fatherland but sustained and made content through the filial de- votion of their children.

Father Feinler secured his early educational discipline in the admirable schools of his native land, and in 1892 was graduated in the gym- nasium at Tauberbischofsheim, Baden. He then began the work of preparing himself for the priesthood, studying theology for two semesters at Freiburg, Baden, after which he continued for four years his ecclesiastical and philosophical studies in the Collegio Urbano di Propaganda Fide, in Rome, being ordained to the priesthood in St. John's Lateran, on the 12th of June, 1897. In the same year he came to America and began his pastoral duties in the diocese of South Da- kota, having been for a time secretary to Bishop O'Gorman, in Sioux Falls. after which he was assigned to the pastorate of the church at Parker, Turner county, where he remained until No- vember, 1901, when he entered upon his present pastorate, having here accomplished a most suc- cessful work and having infused vitality into the spiritual and temporal life of the parish. He is a man of high intellectuality. a forceful and convincing speaker, sincere and earnest in his devotion to his noble calling, and has gained the affectionate regard of those among who he is laboring for the establishment of a kingdom of Christ on earth.

EVERETT H. DAY, the treasurer of Day township, Clark county, is a native of the old Pine Tree state, having been born in Lovel. Maine, on the 17th of January, 1850, and being a son of Thomas and Abigail A. ( Phipps) Day, the former of who was a shoemaker by trade. while he was also identified with the lumbering industry in Maine. In 1853 he removed with his

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family to Berlin, Wisconsin, and there he fol- lowed his trade during the winter months, while in the intervening summer seasons he was en- gaged in the manufacturing of brick. In 1862 he removed to Mankato, Minnesota, becoming one of the early settlers of that now attractive city. He was there residing during the disas- trous outbreak of the Sioux Indians, and assisted in the building of the stockade in Winnebago City, while he remained on the frontier until the Indian troubles had subsided. In the following autumn he returned to Wisconsin for his family, who accompanied him on his return to Mankato, where they were residing at the time of the exe- cution of thirty-eight Sioux Indian prisoners, on the 26th of December, 1862. In the summer of the following year they took up their residence on a homestead near Winnebago City, where they remained until 1876, when they removed to Nemaha county, Kansas. The father died in 1898 at Seneca, Kansas, aged eighty-four years, while the mother died in 1871 on the farm near Winnebago City, Minnesota.

The subject of this review secured his rudi- mentary educational discipline in Berlin, Wiscon- sin, and thereafter continued his educational work in the common schools of the various points which constituted the family home for certain intervals. When he left school, in 1873, he was well advanced in the high school at Winnebago City, but was not graduated. He engaged in teaching school during the winter of 1873-4, but his natural tastes and inclinations led him to adopt farming and stock growing as a permanent vocation. Upon his removal to Kansas, as stated, he opened up a new farm on the prairies of Ne- maha county, and was there engaged in farming and stock raising until 1884, when he disposed of his stock and came to what is now the state of South Dakota. His brother Edward W., who was born in Berlin, Wisconsin, in 1857, was the first treasurer of Clark county, South Dakota, and here his death occurred in 1883. which cir- cumstance was the cause of our subject's com- ing to the state, and he settled on one of the tracts of land owned by the brother at the time of his death. He at once initiated the work of

improving the property and has resided on this farm ever since, while he has since added to his landed estate until he now has a well-improved and valuable farm of four hundred and eighty acres, and is here successfully engaged in di- versified agriculture and stock growing, while he is also giving special attention to the dairy- ing business, which he finds a profitable adjunct to his farming enterprise.

Mr. Day has held public office of some de- scription almost continuously since taking up his residence in the county, the township of which he is a resident having been named in honor of his brother, previously mentioned, who was one of its first settlers. In 1886, the subject was elected township clerk and justice of the peace, serving in these offices consecutively thereafter until 1900, while for about a decade he was in- cumbent of the offices of school clerk, treasurer and director. He is at the present time township treasurer and also treasurer of his school dis- trict, while he has ever stood prominently for- ward as a progressive and public-spirited cit- izen and able business man. The most important semi-public enterprise which has secured his valued support and co-operation is that of the Clark Co-operative Creamery Association, of which he was one of the organizers, in 1896. The disbursements of the corporation in 1897 aggregated two thousand and seven dollars and eighty-seven cents, and the business has steadily and gradually increased in scope and importance until its disbursements in 1903 reached the not- able aggregate of forty-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty-seven dollars and fifty-two cents. At the first meeting of the stockholders of the association Mr. Day was elected its president, and has ever since remained its chief executive, through annual re-election, while he has been designated as the father of the association, whose plant is now the largest in the state exclusive of three which operate skimming stations. In 1904 Mr. Day took an active part in organizing the Clark County Farmers' Electric Company, incor- porated with a capital of twenty thousand dollars and at its first meeting of the board of directors he was elected president of the company. In

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politics he has ever given an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, and he was a delegate to its first state convention in South Dakota, the same having been held in Chamber- lain, while he is usually active in the various local campaigns, while for the past ten years he has held the position of superintendent, judge, and clerk of elections in the county, and he was a delegate to the state convention of his party, in Sioux Falls, in 1900. For several years he was a member of the secret society known as the Brotherhood of Purpose, and was a member of the directorate of the order. In March, 1900, he became affiliated with the Modern Brotherhood of America, a fraternal insurance order. In 1887 he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Seneca, Kansas, and has ever since been a zealous and valued member of this denomination, being at the present time a member of the board of directors of the church at Clark.

On the 5th of September, 1885, at Nashville, Minnesota, Mr. Day was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bottomley, a daughter of James and Mary Bottomley, both of whom were born and reared in England, while they were numbered among the pioneers of Minnesota, where Mr. Bottomley served in various positions of public trust, including that of probate judge of Martin county. Mr. and Mrs. Day have two children, Lula C., who was born June 22, 1886, and Mark M., who was born January 9, 1893.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 123

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