History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 140

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

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JOHN LONGSTAFF is the son of George and Mary (Bradbury) Longstaff and was born at Newport, New York, May 22, 1863. He re- ceived his education in the public schools and at twenty years of age landed in Huron, where for two years he was employed upon the Daily Times. He was then with the Davenport (Iowa) Gazette for a couple of years, but in 1887 re- turned to Huron and purchased an interest in the Huronite, and has since continued in that con-

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nection, since 1896 having been the sole owner of the establishment. Mr. Longstaff was ap- pointed postmaster at Huron by President Har- rison, and was appointed by Governor Lee mem- ber of the non-partisan committee to investigate all of the state institutions since statehood. He was chairman of the appropriation committee of the house of representatives in the legislature of 1903 and has since been reappointed postmaster of Huron by President Roosevelt. As a citizen and business man, Mr. Longstaff is public-spir- ited, clean, energetic, a leader in every movement for the advancement of his community. As a public official he has exemplified ideal, popular and economical government. As an editorial writer he has developed an individuality which has given to his newspaper, the Daily Huronite, a classification all its own; strong, trenchant, clean ; a fearless advocate of righteousness in pri- vate and political life, which has given to it a place of the first influence in state affairs.

Mr. Longstaff is a member of Syracuse Lodge, No. 16, Knights of Pythias, and of Huron Lodge, No. 444, Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks. He was married in 1887 to Miss Rose Schechtl, of Racine, Wisconsin, and they are the parents of three masterful boys, Ralph S., George Elbert and John Walter.

ARTHUR E. CLARK, cashier of the Bank of Hecla, is a native of the old Empire state, hav- ing been born in Onondaga county, New York, on the 2d of April, 1863, and being a son of Fayette and Priscilla (Spaulding) Clark, both of whom were likewise born and reared in that county, while Chester Clark, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Connecticut, whence he removed to New York state in an early day. The family is of English extraction and was founded in New England in the colonial epoch of our history, while it is interesting to note that our subject is in the sixth generation of direct descent from Joseph McCoy, who married Jerusha Sawyer, the latter being a member of one of the Puritan families that came over in the historic May- flower. In 1875 the parents of Mr. Clark re-

moved to Michigan and settled in Ionia county, where the father died in 1878, having been a farmer by vocation. His wife passed away in 1901, and of their three children all are living.

Arthur E. Clark, the second of the three chil- dren, secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native county, and continued his studies in the schools of Michigan, having been twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to the Wolverine state. In his youth he learned the art of telegraphing, which he followed for some time in Michigan, and in 1885 he came to the present state of South Dakota, first locating in Roscoe, Edmunds county, and being thereafter engaged in farm- ing for a short interval. In October, 1885, he became a telegraph operator in the office of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Aberdeen, working at several points as relief agent and op- erator, until September of the following year, when he located in Hecla, as station agent and operator on the same line of railroad. From an interesting brochure issued by the bank of which he is cashier, we make the following excerpts, as apropos in connection : "In September, 1886, our present cashier, Mr. A. E. Clark, came to this town and opened the station, taking charge as agent and operator. He participated in some of the luxuries of pioneering, to the extent, at least, of sleeping in a pile of straw with a few boards laid on to make it feel like bedding. On December 9. 1887, he opened the books of the State Bank of Dakota, but waited until January 21, 1888, for its first depositor, who was John Quickborner, the agent for Stokes Brothers. In the fall of 1888, when the First National Bank of Columbia, Dakota territory, surrendered its charter, Mr. Charles A. Baker, a man of wealth, induced us to associate our interests and organ- ize the Bank of Hecla, which was chartered De- cember 7. 1888, with an authorized capital of thirty-five thousand dollars. With Charles A. Baker as president and A. E. Clark as cashier, the Bank of Hecla opened its doors in its new building, in which it is still located, on the 28th of May, 1889, with a paid-up capital of fourteen thousand dollars. The Russian thistle and hot

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winds of the season caused Mr. Baker to long for a more congenial atmosphere and society, and on December 27th of the same year he sold his interests in the bank to James Holborn, who was elected president. At this time the paid-in capital was reduced to ten thousand dollars, and January 1, 1891, a further reduction was ef- fected, to the amount of five thousand dollars. On the 21st of October, 1892, Mr. Holborn re- signed the presidency of the bank and P. C. Wright was elected his successor.

"Then followed the 'times that tried men's souls,' the whole country suffering from short crops and the effect of the panic of 1893, until we struck our low point on the 8th of June, 1895. Acknowledgment should be made of the true worth and work of B. S. Clark, who was elected vice-president on the 31st of August, 1893, and who has contributed no small share toward keeping and making the Bank of Hecla an institution of which to be proud."

The management of the bank has at all times been conservative and discriminating, and it is known as a solid and well conducted concern. From its statement rendered on March 2, 1904, we find that its capital is retained at five thou- sand dollars, while its individual deposits are in excess of seventeen thousand dollars; above thirteen thousand dollars are represented in cer- tificates of deposits, while the undivided profits show an aggregate of nine hundred and three dollars and twenty-three cents. The banking office is a modern and attractive one, with the best of appointments and facilities, and the funds are protected by a Hall fire and burglar-proof safe.

Mr. Clark continued to be more or less iden- tified with the management of the local railway station until 1893, since which time he has given his undivided attention to his banking and other interests. He has been for a number of years prominently concerned in the real-estate busi- ness, and has owned much valuable farming and grazing land, having at the present time three quarter sections under effective cultivation and supplied with fine artesian wells, while he also owns a large tract of grazing land. In politics

he allies himself with the Socialistic party and is one of its wheelhorses in the state, while his name has appeared on its ticket in connection with nomination for important offices. He is the party candidate for the office of state treas- urer at the time of this writing, the election to be held in November, 1904. He is in all senses a most eligible candidate, and his personal pop- ularity is such that he will certainly receive a good endorsement at the polls. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Or- der of United Workmen, as well as with the auxiliary branch of the latter, the Degree of Honor.

On the 22d of January, 1888, Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Wilmsen, who was born in Wisconsin. They have no children.

ORVIN J. ROE, editor and publisher of the Eureka Post, at Eureka, McPherson county, was born at Larabee's Point, in Shoreham town- ship, Addison county, Vermont, on the 13th of November, 1851, said village being twenty-five miles north of Whitehall, New York. His father, Ambrose Thomas Roe, was born July 2, 1817, at Williamstown, Massachusetts, and his death occurred in 1873, while his wife, whose maiden name was Helen Mar Payne, was born at Alden, New York, and died in 1870. The father was a carpenter by trade and vocation, and about 1860 removed from New York to Michigan, locating finally in the city of Battle Creek, Calhoun county, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. He was the tenth in order of birth of the eleven children of Elisha and Electa Roe, the maiden name of the latter having been Hill. So far as authentic data is accessible the first generation of the Roe family in America was headed by Hugh Roe, who was married in Wey- mouth, Massachusetts, in 1655, to Abigail her maiden name not being recorded. They later removed to Hartford and finally to Suffield, Connecticut. Their son, Peter, was married in 1689, to Sarah Remington, and

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they had ten children. He died February 4, 1739. The ninth of the children, and the one through whom the direct line is traced to the subject of this review, was Thomas Roe, who was born July 28, 1708, at Suffield, Connecticut, and was married, December 26, 1728, at Enfield, Connecticut, to Elizabeth Pur- chase. Their seventh child was Thomas, Jr., who was born in November, 1739, and who died in 1823, his wife dying about the same year. Her maiden name was Mary Welles. They re- moved to Williamstown, Berkshire county, Mas- sachusetts. Thomas Roc, Jr., the great-grand- father of our subject, was a private in Captain Jeremiah Pettibone's company at the time of the French and Indian wars in 1755, and also ren- dered valiant service as a Continental soldier in the war of the Revolution, having been a mem- ber of a Berkshire county regiment and having taken part in the battle of Bennington, on the 16th of August, 1777. His first child was Elisha. Roe, grandfather of the subject of this. sketch. Elisha Roe was born in Williamstown, Massa- chusetts, on the 5th of December, 1768, and on the 5th of March, 1798, married Electa Hill. He died on the 12th of January, 1830, at Medina, New York.

Mary (Welles) Roe, great-grandmother of the subject in the agnatic line, was born August 7, 1739, and was a daughter of William and Mary (Hume) Welles, the ancestry in the pa- ternal line being traced back to Thomas Welles, Sr., who canie to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1629. He was born in Rothwell, England, in 1598, and his first wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Hunt, and was a native of Rutland, England. Said Thomas Welles was the second governor of Connecticut, and also its first treasurer and secretary. He died January 14, 1660. His son, Captain Samuel, was killed by Indians, on the 15th of July, 1675, having commanded the Weathersbury, Connecticut, training bank in the great fight with King Phillip and having been killed in this historic engagement. He married Elizabeth Hollister, and their son, Captain Thomas Welles, who was born July 29, 1662, died December 7, 1711. For his second wife he

married Jerusha Treat, a daughter of Lieuten- ant Jamies Treat, a son of Richard Treat, who was one of the nineteen men to whom the charter of Connecticut was issued and who was a brother of Governor Robert Treat. Ambrose Hill, the great-grandfather of the subject in the maternal line, was born March 1, 1744, and was of the fifth generation of the family in America. He made an honorable record as a patriot sol- dier in the Revolutionary war. He became cap- tain and he served at Bunker Hill and Saratoga, under General Paterson.

Orvin J. Roe was about nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Michigan, and the circumstances of the family were such that he was soon thrown upon his own resources, while his early educational discipline was se- cured in the public schools of the city of Battle Creek. He early manifested a predilection for mechanical pursuits, and in 1864 secured a posi- tion in the woolen mills at Battle Creek. He re- moved with his parents from Shoreham, Ver- mont, to Lockport, New York, in 1858, and two years later to Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1868 he went to Kalamo, that state, and in 1877 re- moved to the city of Jackson, where he continued to reside until 1883, when he came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota, ar- riving in Leola, McPherson county, on the 28th of May, and there continuing to make his home until October, 1896, when he removed to Eu- reka, where he has since resided. He was en- gaged in mercantile pursuits from 1869 until 1883, when his health became much impaired and this was the primary cause of his coming to South Dakota, since he hoped that the change of climate might prove beneficial. At Leola he was engaged in the general merchandise busi- ness from the autumn of 1885 until 1888, being associated with L. H. Moulton, under the firm name of Moulton & Roe. He was clerk of the courts of McPherson county from November 2, 1889, until January 1, 1896, having been ap- pointed to this position upon the admission of the state to the Union, and having thereafter been three times elected to the office. In Octo- ber, 1896, he purchased the Eureka Post, which

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is published in both English and German edi- tions, and which was at the time enlisted in sup- port of the Populist party. He changed the po- litical policy of the papers, making them expo- nents of the cause of the Republican party, and they exercise important functions in a political way, and also in the furthering of local inter- ests, while he has succeeded in increasing the circulation from three hundred and fifty to eight- een hundred copies, showing the popular esti- mate placed upon the man and his efforts. He has ever been an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and is one of its leaders in McPherson county, where he is held in high regard as a cit- izen and business man. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church in their home town, and fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in each of which he has passed nearly all the official chairs in the local organizations.

On the 21st of August, 1872, Mr. Roe was united in marriage to Miss Dilla M. Sears, of Bennington, Vermont, a daughter of Benjamin F. Sears, who owned the property known as the State Arms, in that place, and tipon whose grounds now stands the Bennington monument. Mrs. Roe was summoned into eternal rest on the 13th of November, 1893, in the city of Chi- cago, and her remains were interred in the old family burying grounds, in Center village, Ben- nington, Vermont. On the 27th of November, 1895. Mr. Roe married Miss Pauline Ansmus, of Rockford, Illinois, and they have one child, Ramona, who was born August 23, 1898.

SALOMON ISAAK, one of the leading business men of Eureka, being the senior mem- ber of the well-known firm of Isaak & Keim Brothers, was born near Odessa, Russia, in the | year 1865, and is a son of Gottlieb Isaak, who was born one hundred miles west of the city mentioned, his father having there taken up his abode upon his immigration from Germany. In 1878 Gottlieb Isaak came with his family to

America and located in what is now South Da- kota. He took up government land ten miles east of the present town of Parkston, Hutchin- son county, becoming one of the first settlers in the county and there continuing his residence for a period of eight years. He then removed with his family to Mercer county, North Da- kota, where he continued to be engaged in farm- ing and stock growing during the ensuing seven years, at the expiration of which he and his fam- ily returned to South Dakota and located in Eu- reka, where the honored father and mother of our subject now maintain their home, the former being practically retired from business.

The subject of this sketch secured his ele- mentary education in his native land and sup- plemented this by attending school as oppor- tunity afforded after the family came to the ter- ritory of Dakota, while it should be said that he has broadened his education through the asso- ciations and experiences of a signally active and successful business career. In 1888 Mr. Isaak initiated his independent career by engaging in farming in Mercer county, North Dakota, where he remained 'seven years. His place was fifty miles from the railroad and he preferred not to be thus isolated from civilization for a longer period, and he accordingly disposed of his live stock, rented his farm and then came to South Dakota, once more and took up his abode in Eureka. Here he was for four years engaged in clerking in a mercantile establishment, and he then began buying and shipping live stock on his own account, continuing operations two years and meeting with success, while he also began buying grain. In 1900 he entered into partner- ship with John and Jacob Keim, under the firm name of Isaak & Keim Brothers, which has since continued, and at that time they pur- chased a grain elevator in Eureka, while they have since acquired two others, located at eligi- ble points, so that they control a large business in the buying and shipping of grain. In 1902 the firm also purchased the feed store of William Robb. in Eureka, and have since continued the enterprise, which has increased in scope and in profits, the store being fifty by seventy-five feet

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in dimensions, and cligibly located on Main street. Mr. Isaak exchanged his land in North Dakota for land in Franklin county, Washing- ton, where he now owns a half section. He is progressive in his methods and is held in high regard as a citizen and business man. His po- litical adherency is with the Republican party, but he has never aspired to public office.

On the 23d of December, 1889, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Isaak to Miss Mary Muller, who was likewise born in Russia, whence she came with her parents to America when a child. Of this union have been born eight children, all of whom are living except one: Paulina (deceased), Henry, Walter, Ed- win. Otto, Lydia, Matilda and Anna.

JOHN KEIM, one of the representative business men of Eureka, McPherson county, was horn at a point about one hundred miles west of the city of Odessa, Russia, on the 20th of November, 1864, and his father, Jacob Keim, was likewise born in the same district, where he passed his entire life, being a farmer by voca- tion. He came of stanch old German stock, his father having removed from Wurtemberg. Ger- many, to Russia and settled in a locality in which were found many of his countrymen.

The subject of this review secured his early education in the excellent schools of his native land and continued to there maintain his home until 1889, when, at the age of twenty-five years, he came to America and forthwith took up his abode in McPherson county, South Dakota, where he has ever since maintained his home and where he has gained success and popularity, being one of the progressive and able young business men of the town of Eureka. For the first six months after his arrival in the state he was employed in farm work, and he then took up a tract of land and engaged in farming and stock growing on his own responsibility, con- tinuing to be successfully identified with these lines of enterprise until 1900, while he still owns the farm, which is located two miles north of Eureka, and which now comprises six quarter

sections of land, arable and productive and de- voted principally to the raising of wheat, corn and live stock, while he has made excellent im- provements of a permanent nature.

In 1901 Mr. Keim entered into partnership with Salomon Isaak, and they have been ever since associated in the ownership and operation of an excellently equipped and conducted grain elevator in Eureka. while they also have two other elevators in this section of the state and are the owners of a feed store in Eureka, and are en- gaged in the handling of all kinds of farming machinery and implements in the same town. The subject's brother, Jacob, is also an interest- ed principal in each of these enterprises and the same are conducted under the firm name of Isaak & Keim Brothers. The members of the firm are men of sterling integrity and indomi- table perseverance and energy, and they have naturally commended themselves to the confi- dence and good will of all with whom they have come in contact in either a business or social way, being numbered among the valued citizens of the village and county. In politics Mr. Keim gives his support to the Republican party, while he is most loyal to the land of his adoption and appreciative of the advantages here afforded.

In November, 1885, Mr. Keim was united in marriage to Miss Christiana Schanzenbach, who likewise was born and reared in Russia, and they have four children: Freda. Rosa, Gustave and Theodore.

HAMPTON RAY KENASTON, M. D., who is succesfully engaged in the work of his profession in Bonesteel, Gregory county, was born near Elmwood. Cass county, Nebraska, on the 24th of March, 1870, and is a son of Dr. James and Caroline Kenaston, the latter being now deceased. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom eight were sons, and of the number ten are yet living. The ancestors of the Doctor in the ag- natic line came from Scotland to America in the colonial epoch of our national his- tory, the original orthography of the name

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having been McKenaston, and the prefix hav- ing been dropped by the American branch. At the outbreak of the war of the Revolution the grandfather of the subject was but eight years of age, his parents being at the time residents of Vershire, New Hampshire. His eldest broth- er was a member of the famous Boston "tea party," and, with others of the older brothers, rendered valiant service in the cause of inde- pendence, as a soldier in the Continental line. The Kenaston family followed the march of civ- ilization westward through Ohio, Indiana, Illi- nois and Wisconsin, and the year 1855 found them in Warren county, Iowa, while the father of our subject served as a valiant soldier in the war of the Rebellion. He removed from Iowa into Nebraska, locating in Elmwood, Cass county, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, and where he passed the remainder of his life. The subject of this review secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his home town and there remained until the death of his mother, in 1889, after which he accompanied two of his brothers to the Pacific coast, passing a year in Washington and Oregon, and returning home through the Cana- dian northwest. The Doctor then located in Butte, Boyd county, Nebraska, where, in the spring of 1891, he began the study of medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr. A. S. Warner, of that place : In 1893 he was matric- ulated in the Sioux City (Iowa) College of Med- icine, where he continued his studies for one year, completing his technical course in the med- ical department of the U. S. Grant University, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was grad- uated with honors, receiving his degree of Doc- tor of Medicine on the 22d of March, 1898. In the following month he came to South Dakota, and located in Bonesteel, Gregory county, where he at once began the practice of his cho- sen profession. He has been most successful as a general practitioner and has built up a large and representative professional business, while he has the confidence and high regard of the people of the community. In 1902 he received a certificate as a registered pharmacist, after ex- amination before the state board of pharmacy, 13th of October, 1902.

and has since conducted a drug store as a com- plement to and base of supplies for his profes- sional work. When the Citizens' Bank of Bone- steel was incorporated in May, 1902, the Doctor was one of its incorporators and was chosen a member of its directorate, while in May of the following year he was elected vice-president of the institution. In 1902 he was appointed lo- cal surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. In the autumn of 1903 he took a post- graduate course in the New York Polyclinic medical school and hospital, in New York city. In 1900 Dr. Kenaston was appointed vice-pres- ident of the Gregory county board of health, and the following year was made superintend- ent of this board, which incumbency he still re- tains. He is a stanch advocate of the principles. of the Republican party, and upon the organiza- tion of Gregory county was elected coroner, in which office he has ever since continued to serve efficiently. He is a member of the South Dakota State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, while on February 20, 1904, he was appointed a member of the national auxiliary congressional and legislative commit- tee of the latter association. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 140

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