History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 139

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 139

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After the close of his faithful and valiant service as a soldier of the republic Mr. Hoffman returned to Dekalb county, Indiana, where he effected the purchase of the old homestead farm upon which his father had originally located and upon which he himself had been reared to manhood. Four years later he disposed of the farm and removed to Auburn, Indiana, where he engaged in the handling of agricultural imple- ments, building up an excellent business and there continuing operations in the line for a period of seven years. In September, 1883, he came to what is now the state of South Da- kota, and with his two eldest sons, William and Sigel, took up government land in Walworth county, and here they have improved a valuable estate, the same being the present home of our subject and his family. The home farm com- prises six hundred and forty acres of good land,

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as does the stock farm, and the improvements on the property are of the best order, while they are known as the most valuable agricultural and stock farms in this section, and Mr. Hoffman has attained a high degree of success in his opera- tions, in which he has been ably assisted by his sons.

When South Dakota was admitted to the Union, in 1889, Mr. Hoffman was nominated by the Republicans of the thirty-sixth senatorial dis- trict, composed of the counties of Walworth and Campbell, to represent the district in the upper house of the first general assembly of the new commonwealth. He was victorious at the polls and proved a valuable and popular member of the legislature, whose work was exacting, oner- ous and important in the formative period, when much was to be accomplished and planned for the well-being of the state. At the state Republican convention held in Mitchell in 1890 Mr. Hoff- man was made the nominee of his party for the office of lieutenant governor, being elected to this office and serving one term, while in 1892 he was a candidate for governor and in the state con- vention of his party, at Madison, received the second highest vote of the convention on the first ballot. Hon. Charles Sheldon being finally accorded the nomination. Mr. Hoffman cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860 and has ever since given an unfaltering al- legiance to the Republican party. He is a mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic and he and his wife are Free Methodists.

On the 27th of September, 1860, Mr. Hoff- man was united in marriage to Miss Sarah J. Crouse, who was born in Dayton, Ohio, in the year 1841, being a daughter of Charles F. and Barbra (Warbel) Crouse. In 1852 her parents removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there she was reared and educated, the family home hav- ing been there for many years. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have been born eleven children, concerning whom we offer the following brief record: William Elmer, who is now register of deeds of Walworth county ; Sigel F., barber and confectioner at Selby, Walworth county; Laura M., the wife of Caleb Smithers, editor of the

Bowdle Pioneer ; George Henry died in 1888, at the age of twenty-one years; Charles Franklin and William are photographers and put in the first photograph gallery at the county seat of Walworth county ; they both own farms of their own; Clara E. Clark is a resident of Selby ; Edward C. owns and controls a farm of his own; Benjamin H. and John J. are associated with their father in the stock farm, consisting of six hundred and forty acres; Jessie Estella is at home, while Ethel Mabel is associate editor of the Pioneer and lives with her sister, Mrs. Smithers, at Bowdle, Edwards county, South Dakota.

SAMUEL O. OVERBY, United States In- dian trader and dealer in general merchandise at the Cheyenne Agency, in Dewey county, is a native of Norway, where he was born on the 20th of October, 1865, being a son of Ole and Aaste Overby, the former of whom was a pros- perous farmer in Norway. The subject was reared in his native land and received his edu- cational discipline in the excellent national schools, being graduated in the high school in December, 1883. In 1884 he emigrated to the United States and came at once to South Da- kota, taking up his residence in Campbell county, engaging in the mercantile business in Mound City. He was for three years a member of the board of county commissioners and for two years served as postmaster of Mound City, while for one year he was incumbent of the office of county treasurer, by appointment, and by election served two years as register of deeds of the county. In 1900 he removed to Cheyenne Agency, where he has since been the United States Indian trader, having a well-equipped general merchandise es- tablishment and dealing in hats, caps, clothing, hardware, drugs, boots and shoes, saddlery and harness, buggies, etc. In politics he is a stanch adherent of the Republican party and takes a lively interest in the party cause, and his reli- gious faith is that of the Lutheran church, of which Mrs. Overby likewise is a devoted mem- ber.

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At Mound City, Campbell county, on the 11th of June, 1894, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Overby to Miss Annie Amundson, and they have one child, Alfa, born July 2, 1899.

REV. HUGH H. JONES, whose untimely death, on October 2, 1895, at the age of fifty-five years, was universally lamented throughout the community, was a native of Wales, born on May 2, 1840. He remained in his native land until he was sixteen years of age, and was educated there. In 1856 he came to the United States, and having chosen the Christian ministry as his profession, entered college and pursued a thor- ough course of theological training, at the end of which he was ordained to preach in the Meth- odist church. After preaching in towns of cen- tral Wisconsin for a number of years, he moved to Boone county, Iowa, in 1870, and did minis- terial work there for three years. He then re- turned to Wisconsin and remained two years, after which he passed another year in Boone county, Iowa. In 1878 he brought his family to the Black Hills, arriving at Rapid City in July. Here he served as pastor of the Methodist church two years and also carried on a flourish- ing furniture business, continuing the latter un- til the spring of 1881, when he located a ranch on Rapid creek, about fifteen miles from the town. He settled on the land and devoted his energies to improving it and raising cattle and horses until his death. But while giving his at- tion to the promotion of his own business he never lost interest or withheld activity in mat- ters of public concern, working faithfully and intelligently for the general good in all lines of religious and public usefulness. In politics he was an earnest Republican and a devoted serv- ant of his party. His death was a great loss to the community in many ways, and his memory is cordially cherished by all classes of the people. Since the sad event his widow and children have continued to live on the ranch, together manag- ing its affairs and carrying forward the develop- ment and improvements he had planned and be- gun. The sons are bright and capable, and meet

every duty in a manly and courageous manner, devoting their energies to the farm work and their cattle interests, and taking their place in the community as forceful factors among the best of its people.

Mr. Jones was married on March 26, 1872, to Miss Maria M. Burkhart, a native of Penn- sylvania, the marriage being solemnized in Boone county, Iowa, where both were living at the time. Ten children blessed their union, of whom eight are living, May ( Mrs. Ehrler), Wil- liam H., Centennial A. (Mrs. Hart), Catherine M. (Mrs. Payne), Arthur, Minnie, Gladys, Her- bert. Ithel and Dio are deceased. The family has maintained the position in the esteem of the community won by their father, and by their course in life reflect credit upon him as well as upon themselves.

FRANK A. MORRIS was born on a farm near Nora, Illinois, on December 15, 1855, the son of Crowell E. and Nancy P. (Voris) Mor- ris, and the seventh child of ten children. He re- ceived his education in the common schools of Jo Daviess county, the high school of Warren, and the Northwestern Normal, of Galena, Illi- nois. After leaving school he became a tenant on his father's farm for a period of five years. From that time on until 1882 he taught school and farmed. In 1882 he entered a homestead in Hutchinson county, Dakota territory, where he remained until March, 1892, when he rented his farm and entered the real-estate and banking business at Tripp, South Dakota; continued in the banking business, of which he was president, until 1896, when he sold his bank to his cashier. He remained in the real-estate business until ap- pointed surveyor general for the district of South Dakota by President Mckinley in 1898, being reappointed by Roosevelt in 1902. In politics he is a Republican and served in the seventeenth and eighteenth sessions of the territorial legis- lature. He is a member of the Parkston lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Lodge No. 444. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Huron, South Dakota.

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Mr. Morris was married October 15, 1879, to Elizabeth A. Carpenter, and they have three children, Lulu B., Ada M. and Helen N., all liv- ing with the exception of the eldest daughter, who died September 26, 1902.

JUSTIN LEVI SPAULDING was born in Mooretown, Vermont, June 17, 1841. He was educated at the state normal school at Bloom- ington, Illinois, entering this institution at the age of sixteen. He pursued his studies here un- til the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, when he enlisted in the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Oglesby. He served in the army until his health became broken, when he was discharged, and returning to Bloomington, he re-entered the normal school, from which he soon graduated with high honors. After leaving the normal school he was elected city surveyor of Bloomington and county surveyor of McLean county, Illinois. Following this he was elected city clerk of Bloomington, which position he re- tained until 1865. In May, 1863, he was mar- ried to Miss Adra A. Stiles, also a graduate from the State Normal, in Rochelle, Illinois. Soon after his marriage he removed to Chicago where for two years or more Mr. Spaulding did court reporting in the criminal courts and gained a wide reputation as an expert stenographer, being second in speed in the United States. In 1882 Mr. Spaulding came to Huron, South Dakota, and took a position in the United States land office ; this he filled for seven years or more, during which time he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, serving as its chair- man for two years. Meanwhile he was admitted to the South Dakota bar. In 1889 he was elected county clerk of Beadle county, and two years la- ter he was re-elected to the same office. The fol- lowing spring he was taken seriously sick, and on May 22, 1891, he passed away. He was survived by his wife and one daughter, Rose Blanche, who still reside in Huron. His daugh- ter in later years has become quite prominent in the work of several of the state lodges and has been honored with the position of department

secretary of the state Woman's Relief Corps, and with various offices in the Rebekah state assem- bly, and is at present the warden of that body. She is also a member of the local Order of the Eastern Star. At the time of his death, Mr. Spaulding was a prominent Odd Fellow, an in- fluential Mason, and a leading member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Spaulding was prominent in the political affairs of both Illinois and South Dakota during his life time, and was universally esteemed by all who were privileged to know him.

HARVEY J. RICE, receiver of the United States land office at Huron, and grand secretary of the Odd Fellows in South Dakota, was born at Freeport, Illinois, April 23, 1849, the son of John and Milvira (Williams) Rice. In his childhood his parents removed to Nauvoo, where Harvey attended the common schools, and later graduated from the University of Carlinsville, in 1865. It was at this time his intention to be- come a lawyer and to that end he became a stu- dent in the law office of George Scoville, in Chi- cago, but developing taste along commercial lines he took the business course in the Bryant & Stratton College of Chicago and in 1869, in com- pany with his brother John, engaged in the dry- goods business in Chicago, in which he contin- ued until the fire in 1871. Soon after they en- gaged in general merchandise at Austin, Illinois, disposing of the same in 1875 to enter the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. When the Dakota divisions were under construction he was made storekeeper in charge of all material and in that capacity came to Dakota and estab- lished company headquarters in Huron in 1880. He continued with the railway company until 1887, when he resigned to become teller in the Huron National Bank and continued in this posi- tion until appointed railway commissioner for Dakota territory by Governor Mellette in the spring of 1889. This position he held through two terms, until March, 1893. when he engaged in the mercantile business in Huron, which he still conducts. In 1884 he was elected mayor

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of Huron and re-elected for five terms. In 1902 he was appointed receiver of the land office and continues in the position. He is an ardent Re- publican and is one of the party's safest coun- cilors.

Mr. Rice is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a Knight Templar, and is a past grand master of the order in the state. He is also a prominent Odd Fellow and for four years represented the state in the sovereign grand lodge. He has been the grand secretary of the order for the past ten years.

Mr. Rice was married, December 25, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Kimes. Two sons have been born to them, John A., who was drowned in the James river at Huron, and George H., who is engaged in business in Huron. South Dakota has no more competent, reliable, and useful citi- zen than Harvey J. Rice.

ROBERT HILL, M. D., a leading physician of Ipswich, South Dakota, was born in the north of Ireland (County Antrim), April 10, 1865, and is the son of Joseph and Harriett (Collins) Hill. The father was also a native of North Ireland, is a farmer by occupation, and still re- sides in Ireland, being now in his seventy-sixth year. The mother died in 1892.

Doctor Hill was reared in County Antrim, and during the period of his youth, between the age of eleven and fourteen years, he attended the Lesburn Academy. From this institution he matriculated into the Queen's University, Bel- fast, where he partially completed the medical course, spending about three years at the uni- versity. In 1885 he came to the United States and joined his brother in McPherson county, South Dakota, with whom he remained a few years, and then went to Keokuk, Iowa, and en- tered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in that city, where he was graduated in 1894. He began the practice of medicine at Leola, McPher- son county, South Dakota, during the summer of 1894, following which he visited his old home in Ireland, where he spent most of that winter. In the spring of 1895 he returned to the United

States and, stopping in New York and Chicago, spent some time in hospital work. He then lo- cated at Ipswich. The Doctor is a member of the Aberdeen District Medical Society, the South Dakota Medical Society and the American Medi- cal Association. He is a thirty-second-degree Mason, and also belongs to the Modern Wood- men of America, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, being medical examiner for the three orders. He has served as coroner of McPherson county for the past eight years. He is a Republican in politics and in religion is a member of the Con- gregational church.

Dr. Hill was married, September 18, 1895, to Bird R. Roe, who was born in Michigan, and to them have been born three children, Helen Harriett, Ruth Elizabeth and Robert Roe.

FRED ANDREW SEAMAN, secretary of the Big Four Land and Cattle Company, incor- porated, of Faulkton, was born at Arcade, Wyo- ming county, New York, on March II, 1857. His parents were Andrew and Mary A. (Jack- man) Seaman, the former a native of Holland, who came to America when he was seventeen years old with his people. The mother was born in Sardinia, Erie county, New York. The fa- ther died in 1882, and the mother has made her home in Faulkton, being now in her seventieth year. Her mother resides at Oshkosh, Wiscon- sin, and is in her ninety-first year.

Fred A. Seaman resided in Arcade, New York, until he was twenty-five years of age. He received a common-school and academic educa- tion. He then took a four-years course at read- ing law in the office of the district attorney's office of Wyoming county, and was admitted to prac- tice both in New York and South Dakota. He came to South Dakota in 1883, and located at La Foon, which afterwards became the first county seat of Faulk county. He organized the Faulk County Bank in La Foon in 1885, of which he became cashier. He removed to Faulkton in the fall of 1886, moving the bank from La Foon. The bank was closed in 1890. He was on a

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ranch for five years, which ranch he still owns, it being seven miles southeast of Faulkton, and containing six hundred and forty acres.

Mr. Seaman was married December 2, 1886, to Miss Julia E. Smith, of La Foon, the daugh- ter of Hon. D. S. Smith, who served in the South Dakota state senate. To the union two sons and five daughters have been born, of whom only the sons are living, Leonard A. and Paul S.

Mr. Seaman is a Mason, being a member of the blue lodge and chapter, Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Congregational church, and is superin- tendent of the Sunday school for the past three years. For the last three years he has been sec- retary of the Big Four Land and Cattle Com- pany. For seven years he was district collector for the Deering and McCormick Harvester Com- panies.

CHARLES A. BLAKE, register of the United States land office at Huron, is a native of Port Washington, Wisconsin, where he was born August 20, 1854. He is the son of Barnum and Christine Blake. He was educated in the Port Washington common schools, attended the Ra- cine College and graduated from the academy at Winnetka, Illinois, and from Drew's Business College. He was a partner in the People's Bank of Chicago and also engaged in the coal busi- ness until 1878, when he became the Chicago correspondent of the New York Commercial Re- view, continuing in this position until he came to Dakota in 1882 and located at Wessington in the real-estate and insurance business. In 1890 he purchased the Wessington Times, which he still conducts. In 1898 he was appointed by Presi- dent Mckinley to his present position. Mr. Blake was always a Republican and has been prominent in party affairs during his long resi- dence in South Dakota. He is a prominent Ma- son, belonging to the commandery and the Shrine, and is also. a member of the Huron lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Blake was married, December 16, 1884,

to Miss Minnie M. Barnes. They have four children, all excellent students in the Huron schools, George B., Ambrose B., Elma B. and Nellie M. The prominence which Mr. Blake has attained in the community is but a recogni- tion of his integrity, ability and public spirit.

REV. S. H. STEVENS, an honored resident of Gregory county, is a native of the Empire state of the Union and a scion of stanch old New England stock. He was born on a farm in Cat- taraugus county, New York, on the 18th of April, 1837, being a son of Levi and Nancy ( Van Tassel) Stevens, the latter of whom was born in the state of New York, being of the sturdy Holland Dutch lineage. The father of the subject was born in Vermont, where he was reared to the age of twelve years, when he ac- companied his parents on their removal to the state of New York, where he passed the re- mainder of his life, engaged in agricultural pur- suits. His father was for many years engaged in the nursery business in the old Green Moun- tain state, his property in this line being de- stroyed during the war of 1812. He located in Niagara county, New York, where his death oc- curred, while his son Levi died in Cattaraugus county, where he was engaged in farming for many years. He was a Democrat in politics and was a devoted member of the Baptist church, having been identified with one church organi- zation for the long period of sixty-one years, and having been eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, while his wife also passed away at the age of eighty-four years. They be- came the parents of five sons, all of whom are living.

Rev. S. H. Stevens was reared on the home farm and secured his elementary education in the common schools of his native county, supple- menting this by a course of study in Adrian, Michigan, and early determining to prepare him- self for the ministry of the Baptist church. He was ordained in 1866, at New Haven, Macomb county, Michigan, and in 1868 removed to Oak- land county, Michigan, where he was engaged

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in the work of his noble calling for the ensuing four years, and thereafter he held for two years the pastorate of the Baptist church at Lenox, Ashtabula county, Ohio. At the expiration of this period he removed to Correctionville, Wood- bury county, Iowa, and there continued his ef- fective labors in the vineyard of the divine Mas- ter until 1895, when he came to South Dakota and became a pioneer of what is now Gregory county. Here he took up a homestead claim of govern- ment land, and on a portion of the same the thriving little village of Bonesteel is located. He was the first regular pastor of the first Free Baptist church organized in the county, and the Baptist church of Bonesteel was the first edifice of the sort erected in the county by the English- speaking people. The subject retired from the active work of the ministry in 1897, but still con- tintes to exercise the functions of his ecclesias- tical offices at intervals.

When the dark cloud of civil war obscured the national horizon, Mr. Stevens was among the first to tender service in defense of the Union. In July, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Com- pany F, Sixty-fourth New York Volunteer In- fantry, the command being stationed at Elmira until the following October, for the purpose of tactical discipline. The regiment then pro- ceeded to the national capital, remaining in its defensive force until December, when it crossed the Potomac and camped near Alexandria, Vir- ginia, during the winter. It took part in the en- gagement at Manassas Junction, in the follow- ing spring, and then moved onward to old Fort- ress Monroe and took part in the Peninsular campaign. The subject was an active partici- pant, under General McClellan, in the engage- ment at Fair Oaks, where he received a wound in the neck, but joined his regiment in time to participate in the battles of Antietam and Chan- cellorsville, where before crossing the river he was taken ill with fever. He, however, recov- ered to start forward with his command on tlie way to Gettysburg, but while enroute suffered a sunstroke, which compelled him to enter the hospital, where he remained until about twenty days before his three-years term of enlistment

expired, and received his honorable discharge at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June, 1864. He retains a deep interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by retaining mem- bership in the Grand Army of the Republic, while he is also identified with the Independent Order of Good Templars. In politics Mr. Ste- vens has ever given his allegiance to the Repub- lican party.

The subject has attained marked temporal success, and that through consecutive and inde- fatigable work. He is now the owner of seven hundred and twenty-three acres of valuable land, about three miles distant from Bonesteel, near which village he also owns an additional one hundred and twenty acres.

On the 5th of March, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stevens to Miss Angeline Bassett, who was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, being a daughter of Daniel and Abi- gail (Libbey) Bassett. Daniel Bassett was born in Washington county, New York, on the 17th of September, 1806, and became a tanner and currier by vocation, while he eventually re- moved to Cattaraugus county, where he followed this line of enterprise until his retirement, his death there occurring in 1873, while his wife passed away in 1877. Of their nine children all are living except one. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have two children, Howard, who is now fore- man in the painting department of the Great Northern Railroad Company, in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mabel A., who is the wife of William Redmon, a successful farmer of Plymouth county, Iowa.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 139

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