History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 126

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

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Robert I. Hall, the elder son, was born in

Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on the 9th of June, 1871. and he is one of the popular young men of South Dakota, where the major portion of his life has been passed. On the 26th of April, 1898, at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish- American war, he enlisted as a member of Com- pany A, First South Dakota Volunteer Infantry, and he proceeded with his command to San Francisco, whence they embarked on the trans- port "Morgan City" and sailed for the Philip- pines, where he took part in ten engagements with the insurgents. He arrived in San Fran- cisco one month earlier than his regiment, hav- ing been sent home on account of physical dis- ability entailed by severe illness, and he received his honorable discharge on the 3ist of August, 1899, while in the city hospital of San Fran- cisco. He is now engaged in the real-estate busi- ness at Evarts, South Dakota.

REV. C. E. O'FLAHERTY, of Kimball, Brule county, is one of the able and well-known young priests of the Catholic church in this dio- cese and is doing an admirable work in his holy calling as a missionary in a wide territory. He was born on the 24th of April, 1878, in the city of Galway, Ireland, where his parents still re- side. His earlier studies were made at Wilton College, Cork, and his theological education was begun at the Seminary of Foreign Missions, Lyons, France, and later completed in this country. He was ordained a priest by Bishop O'Gorman at Sioux Falls on the 15th of Sup- tember, 1901, and was assigned to his present charge on September 22. 1901, the same extend- ing over the greater part of Brule and Lyman counties. His ambition to advance the work and influence of his church in these frontier counties has brought him prominently before the public in his locality. Within his two years' in- cumbency of this position a beautiful rectory has been erected in Kimball, a church edifice com- pleted in Pukwana, and the St. James church in Chamberlain erected at a cost of five thousand dollars, the same being the most beautiful public building in that thriving town. In addition t )

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this a little church has been built at Iona, in , discriminating counsel, being especially well read Lyman county, and two more are soon to be : built in the same county and under the direction of Father O'Flaherty, who, as may readily be un- understood, has few idle moments.

ALBERT W. WILMARTH, who is actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Huron, the official center of Beadle county, is one of the able and influential members of the bar of the commonwealth, has served as a mem- ber of the state legislature and as a citizen com- mands unequivocal confidence and regard.

Mr. Wilmarth is a native of the old Key- stone state. having been born in Harford, Sus- quehanna county, Pennsylvania, on the 15th of February. 1856, and being a son of George P. and Martha (Payne) Wilmarth, who were like- wise born and reared in that county, the latter being a daughter of Oliver Payne, who was born in Massachusetts, while Walter Wilmarth, the paternal grandfather, was horn in Connecticut, both families having been identified with the annals of our national history from the early colonial epoch. Grandfather Wilmarth was num- bered among the pioneers of Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in farming. which vocation was also followed by the father of the subject, who became an in- fluential citizen of that locality.

Albert W. Wilmarth secured his early edu- cation in the town of Harford, where he com- pleted a course in the high school, and after leav- ing school he entered the office of Judge J. Brewster McCollum, of Montrose, Pennsylvania, who was afterward chief justice of the supreme court of that state, and under the able direction of this honored preceptor carried forward his study of the law for several years, being admitted to thic bar of his native state in 1879. He was thereafter engaged in the active work of his pro- fession in Montrose, Pennsylvania, until 1883. when he came to South Dakota and located in Huron, where he established himself in practice and where he has gained high prestige and ' marked precedence as a skilled trial lawyer and . The press reported the incident as follows :

in the learning of the law and having a judicial and analytical mind which enables him to grasp the cases presented to him for consideration and to readily apply the legal principles relevant thereto. In 1892 he was elected to the office of city attorney, in which he served six consecutive year, retiring in 1898. In the following year he was chosen to represent his county in the state legislature, where he made a most enviable record as an active and able working member of the house, being assigned to various important com- mittees and championing many measures which have proved of inestimable benefit to the state since enactment. He was re-elected in 1901 and during the next general assembly was equally prominent in the legislative body. He was the chief promoter of the referendum bill, which was presented by him and ably upheld on the floor of the house, being finally enacted as a law of the state and standing in evidence of the progressive policy of the members of the assembly. In politics Mr. Wilmarth is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, having heen an active worker in its cause and being prominent in its councils in the state. He is identified with various fra- ternal organizations and is distinctively popular in professional, business and social circles. Dur- ing Mr. Wilmarth's first term in the legislature he entered into a wise coalition with John Pusey, of Hand county, and Wilbur S. Glass, of Cod- ington county, and they effectively combined their efforts in the support of worthy measures, being thus practically invincible in securing the passage of bills which they undertook to put through in the house. During both terms Mr. Wilmarth was a recognized leader in the house, and during the second term he had the distinc- tion of being chairman of the judiciary com- mittee, one of the most important of all com- mittces, as is well known. In the Republican state convention of 1904 Mr. Wilmarth was chosen to make the speech nominating Coc I. Crawford for the governorship, and made an eloquent appeal for his candidate, winning for himself additional laurels as a public speaker.

ALBERT W. WILMARTH.

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The chairman called for nominations for gover- nor.

A. W. Wilmarth, of Huron, and Carl Sherwood, of Clark, were on their feet instantly. The chair rec- ognized Sherwood who in a flowery speech placed in nomination the name of his favorite, Sam Elrod. A number of chairmen of delegations seconded the nomination, several of them raising a hubhub and calling for "question" in a vain attempt to bluff Wil- marth. That gentleman quietly waited till they were all done and then in a voice penetrating every corner of the convention hall and the ringing eloquence of which held every ear in that vast turbulent audience attentive and seemingly spellbound, placed in nom- ination the name of Coe I. Crawford, whom he termed "the plumed knight" of South Dakota poli- ties and coupled his name with that of Theodore Roosevelt in a striking comparison. After paying a high trihute to Crawford, characterizing him as one of the ahlest, cleanest and most courageous of all South Dakota Republicans, he said:

"He takes his platform. He has unfurled his ban- ner like the 'plumed knight' that he is and he will carry it through the camps of enemies until in tri- umph he places it upon the platform of a Republican convention hall. Triumph he must and shall. He has added to the Republican platform the primary elec- tion plank which guarantees the right of every man -he of the rank and file-to express his will. The demand is almost universal for Coe I. Crawford." Several times he was interrupted by applause and at the close the whole convention hall thundered forth its cheers from friend and foe alike until the great auditorium rang with round after round of admiring approbation.

WILLIAM H. EVERHARD, M. D., one of the representative members of the medical fraternity in Volga, Brookings county, was born in Ripon. Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, on the 4th of May. 1857, and is a son of Dr. Aaron and Ann V. (Venett) Everhard, the former of whom was born in Doylestown, Wayne county. Ohio, and the latter in the state of Massachusetts. The father of our subject was graduated in the medical department of the Western Reserve University, one of the oldest educational institu- tions in the Buckeye state, and was a thoroughly skilled physician and surgeon, having been en- gaged in the active practice of his profession for full half a century. He located in Ripon, Wis- consin, in 1856, being one of the pioneer physi-

cians of that section, and there continued in practice until his death. in 1892, at which tim' he was sixty-nine years of age. Hi, widow is still living and makes her home with her chil- dren, who accord her the utmost filial care and solicitude. The father of our subject was mayo- of Ripon for fourteen years and was one of the most honored citizens of the community in which he so long lived and labored. Of his seven chil- dren six are living, namely: Andrew T .. who is a resident of Bryant, South Dakota ; Kendrick M., who is engaged in Bryant, Hamlin county, South Dakota; Frank A., who is a practicing physician in Ripon, Wisconsin ; Ella S., who is likewise a medical practitioner. engaged in the work of her profession in Dayton, Ohio ; Mary, who is a resident of the city of Boston, and Wil- liam H., who is the immediate subject of this review.

Dr. William H. Everhard was reared to ma- turity in his native town, and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered Ripon College for two years, being twenty-one years of age at the time. He was matriculated in Rush Medical College, in the city of Chicago. in 1878, and there completed the prescribed course, being graduated in this celebrated in- stitution in February, 1880, and receiving his de- gree of Doctor of Medicine. It should be stated that he had previously taken up the study of medicine under the effective direction of his honored father. Almost immediately after his graduation the Doctor started for South Da- kota, having determined to follow the advice of Horace Greeley by coming west and growing up with the country. He arrived in Volga on the 9th of April, 1880, the line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad having been completed to this point only a few months previously. The Doctor at once displayed his professional "shingle" in the new town, and that it was es- sential for him to find somcone to "practice" upon may be well understood when we state that his cash capital was reduced to the sum of fifty cents the day succeeding his arrival. It was his good fortune, however, to find his services in demand that same morning, twenty-one patients

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coming to him for treatment. He is distinctively the pioneer physician of the town, and for many years labored with unabating zeal and self- abnegation in the relieving of suffering and dis- tress in the community, driving to great dis- tances, often through blinding snowstorms over the trackless prairies, and ever responding to the call of duty, no matter how great the per- sonal discomfort or even hazard. He was very successful in his professional work and con- tinued in active practice until 1901, when he sold out his professional business to Dr. D. L. Seanlan, in order that he might have more time to devote to his various capitalistic interests, while he gives special attention to dealing in real estate, being the owner of much valuable property in the county and elsewhere in the state. He is a member of the National Association of Railroad Surgeons.

Dr. Everhard is the owner of two thousand aeres of land in the state, and the greater por- tion of this is in Brookings county, and he has shown marked discrimination in the handling of realty since coming here. He is associated with Messrs. John L. Hall and Robert Henry in the ownership of the First State Bank of Volga, which was organized and incorporated in 1900. He was the first single individual to raise a carload of hogs west of the Sioux river in Brookings county, and since 18:3 he has had under effective cultivation in the county about fifteen hundred acres of land. He has paid out more than any other one man in the section of the county west of the Sioux river in the way of farm improvements, including labor, and has thus materially aided in the development of the resources of this section.

Dr. Everhard was aligned with the Demo- pratic party until 1806, when he felt convineed that the platform of the party did not represent the organie principles which the name should im- ply, and he therefore transferred his allegiance to the Republican party, to which he has since given his support, having been a delegate to one of its state conventions. He was the first treas- urer of the village of Volga, was county coroner for a number of years and also a valued mem-

ber of the board of health. He served as sur- geon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company from the time of coming here until he retired from practice, and he is now frequently called in consultation and emergency work. Fra- ternally the Doctor is identified with the lodge, chapter and council of the Masonie order, hav- ing passed the official chairs in the lodge, and is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Work- men.

On the 19th of March, 1882, Dr. Everhard was united in marriage to Miss T. Ella Tag- gart, who was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, being a daughter of George and Elizabeth Tag- gart, who settled in Brookings, in 1881, being numbered among the pioneers of this section of the state. Mr. Taggart served with distinction during the war of the Rebellion and he and his wife are now dead. Dr. and Mrs. Everhard have three children, namely : Frank T., who was graduated in Ripon high school, Wisconsin, in IGOT, and who thereafter continued his studies for one year in the Wisconsin State University, at Madison, and is now in the University of Min- nesota : Bertha M., who completed the course in the Volga graded school, later attended the col- lege at Yankton for two years, and is now at the parental home ; and Raymond is a student in the East high school at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

THOMAS H. NULL, who is actively en- gaged in the practice of law in Huron, Beadle county, is a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Warren county, Ohio, on the Ioth of February, 1862, and being a son of Benjamin and Mary ( Stevens) Null, both of whom were likewise born and reared in that state, where their respective parents were numbered among the early pioneers. Henry Null, the grandfather of the subject, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, and the great-grandfather, Charles Null, was likewise born in that state. His father, Christopher Null, was born in Germany, whence he came to America prior to the war of

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the Revolution, taking up his abode in the Old Dominion. He came to the new world about 1750 and continued to reside in Virginia until 1796, when, after the Wayne treaty with the Indians, he removed with his family to a point about thirty miles north of the Ohio river. in what is now the state of Ohio, taking up land on a trail which had been established by "Mad Anthony" Wayne's army, in what is now War- ren county, so that the Null family became represented among the earliest settlers within the confines of the present Buckeye state. Christo- pher Null died yeoman service in the cause of independence, having served as a colonel in the Continental line during the war of the Revolu- tion and having previously been an active figure in various wars and conflicts with the Indians. In Warren county he and his sons took up large tracts of land and reclaimed farms in the midst of the primeval forests, while their products were shipped down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, on flatboats, to New Orleans. Christopher Null lived to attain a venerable age, and his death oc- curred in Warren county, as did also that of his son Charles, who there devoted the major portion of his life to agricultural pursuits, while in the early days he also owned and operated a distil- ery, the output of which was shipped to New Or- leans. He also took part in the early Indian wars in Ohio and was of the advance guard of civilization in that great commonwealth. Henry Null, the grandfather, was four years of age at the time of the family removal to the wilds of what was then the Northwest Territory, and he passed the remainder of his life on a portion of the ancestral homestead in Warren county. He passed to his reward in 1880, in the fullness of years and well-earned honors. His fourth son was Benjamin Null, the father of our subject. Benjamin was reared on the old homestead and received a common-school education. At the age of twenty-one years he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Stevens, who died a few years later, leaving three children, of whom Thomas H. was the second in order of birth.

Thomas H. Null secured his early educa- tional training in the district schools. At the age

of fifteen years he entered upon an apprentice- ship to the trade of carriage making, and during the four years he was thus engaged he was a dil- igent student, passing all his leisure moments in close application to his studies and carly show- ing a predilection for the law, so that he finally began the technical study of the same under an able preceptor, George W. Moyer, in Farmers- ville. At the age of eighteen the subject entered the office of the firm of Bolton & Shanck, prom- inent members of the bar, engaged in active practice at Dayton, Ohio, and under their et- fective direction carefully continued his study of the science of jurisprudence until he had attained his legal majority. Immediately afterward Mr. Null came to what is now the state of South Da- kota, and in his profession and as a citizen he has thus literally "grown up with the country." He located in Jerauld county and was admitted to the bar of the territory at the first term of court held in AAurora county by Judge Edgerton, who was one of the prominent members of the early bar of the territory. In April, 1883, Mr. Null took up one hundred and sixty acres of gov- ernment land in Jerauld county and opened a law office in Waterbury, that county, where he entered upon the active practice of his profes- sion. In the fall of 1886 he was elected state's attorney of the county, and in the following spring located in Wessington Springs, the county seat. He resigned his office and removed to Huron, Beadle county, in January. 1889. be- lieving this a wider and more attractive field for professional labor, and here he has built up a large and representative practice. Mr. Null was candidate on the People's ticket for the office of attorney general of the state, butt was defeated with the balance of the party ticket. While a resident of Jerauld county he was retained in the defense of B. L. Solomon, charged with mur- der. Solomon and the deceased were alone on the ranch of their employer and during a quarrel Solomon shot his companion, resulting in the death of the latter. The case came to trial be- fore Judge Tripp, the district judge, and the jury disagreed. a change of venue being then taken to Sanborn county. The subject made an

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able defense for his client and Solomon was con- victed of manslaughter only, and received a sentence of but two years in the penitentiary. Solomon was a son of a prominent lawyer in Council Bluffs, Iowa. and the case attracted wide attention, while in this connection the service rendered by Mr. Null gained him a reputation throughout the state. In 1897 Mr. Null repre- sented the railroad commissioners of the state in the litigation in the United States courts as to the rights invested in the railroad commission to fix the maximum rates for transportation of freight and passengers on the lines traversing South Dakota. The case was strenuously fought through the circuit courts of the United States and then carried to the federal supreme court. and after a period of four years of conflict a com- promise was effected, just as the matter was to be taken into the United States supreme court a second time. The railway companies submitted to the jurisdiction and control of the state rail- road commissioners, and while the expense of the litigation to the state had been more than forty thousand dollars the benefits received were twofold. in that the railways had incidentally placed a high valuation on their properties, thus enabling the assessment to be materially in- creased by the state assessors, while a reduction for passengers was secured from four to three cents a mile. As indicating the increase in the amount derived by the state from the tax placed in the roads it may be noted that the assessed val- utation of the rolling stock on one system alone was raised from two hundred and fifty thousand to one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A reduction in freight rates of about ten per cent. was also secured. The subject was most conspicuously identified with this prolonged and important litigation. Fraternally he has at- tained the thirty-second degree in Scottish-rite Masonry, being identified with the consistory, at Yankton, South Dakota. while he is also affil- iated with El Riad Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux Falls, and with Huron Lodge, No. 444. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in his home city.

On the 25th of May, 1887, Mr. Null was unitedd in marriage to Miss Innis Burton, of Jef- ferson, Iowa. She was born in Indiana and is a daughter of J. O. Burton. Mr. and Mrs. Null have three daughters, Gertrude, Veda and Fern.

ROBERT O. ROBINSON, superintendent of the timber, sawmilling and other similar in- terests of the Homestake Mining Company, with headquarters in Nemo, Lawrence county, is a native of the Dominion of Canada, having been born in Omemee, province of Ontario, on the ioth of October, 1851, and being a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Humphreys) Robinson, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in England. The father of the subject came to America as a young man and first lo- cated in New York city, where he became the owner of two lots, at 63 and 65 Pearl street. These he exchanged for fifty acres of land which is now within the city limits of Toronto, Canada. He shortly afterward disposed of this property and removed to Omemee, eighty miles northeast of Toronto, on the Milland division of the Grand Trunk Railroad, where he engaged in farming and stock raising and became one of the honored and influential citizens of that lo- cality, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death there occurring in 1892, while his wife ‹lied July 31, 1894. They became the parents of three sons and four daughters, of whom two of the sons and four of the daughters are living.

The subject was reared to the sturdy dis- cipline of the home farm and secured his edu- cational training in the excellent schools of his native province. At the age of twenty-one years he engaged in farming on his own responsibility, on a place not far distant from the homestead, and thus continued operations until the fall of 1876. In the following spring he started for the Black Hills, coming to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and thence with mule-team to the Hills. He devoted the first two years to placer mining, meeting with varying success, and then entered the em- ploy of the Homestake Mining Company, in con- nection with the lumbering department of their

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enterprise. Shortly afterward he built for the company a sawmill on Elk creek, and after its completion was employed in the mill about a year. In 1882 Mr. Robinson purchased teams and engaged in the wood and lumber business on his own responsibility, continuing operations in this line about nine years, within which period all of his contracts were with the Homestake Com- pany, which he supplied with timber of all kinds. In 1892 he entered into a specific contract with the company to assume charge of all their wood, timber, lumber, sawmills, timber lands, etc., and has since been incumbent of this important pi- sition, having control of the operation of two sawmills and utilizing at times as many as forty teams and three hundred men. He makes his home in Nemo, one of the most picturesque spots, and the headquarters of the timber inter- ests of the company. In politics Mr. Robinson is a stanch Republican.

On the 26th of March, 1874. Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Lamb, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and whose death occurred in 1876. The only child, Janet, is now Mrs. A. C. McCready, of Hanna, South Dakota. On the 16th of March, 1892, Mr. Rob- inson wedded Miss Irene Karr. who was born and reared in lowa, and they have two children, Helen and James.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 126

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