History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 155

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 155

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Mr. Cunningham was united in marriage to Miss Slowey, and they became the parents of two children. Mr. Cunningham owns two hundred and eighty acres of excellent land. He is now extensively engaged in raising and shipping stock, which he sends to the Chicago markets, there finding a ready sale. In his political views he is a stalwart Democrat and he and his family are devoted communicants of the Roman Catholic church.

FRANK KOZAK was born in Bohemia, and there his boyhood and youth were passed and his education was also there acquired. He continued to reside in the old world until thirty-two years of age, when he crossed the Atlantic to Amer-

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ica and made his way to Decatur. Here he se- cured land and has since devoted his energies to its cultivation and improvement, making it a val- uable farm. He has placed excellent buildings upon his land and has carried on stock raising on an extensive scale. He is an excellent judge of stock and on the market has received very grati- fying prices for the stock which has been shipped from his farm.

Ere leaving his native land Mr. Kozak was united in marriage to Miss Josie Jinbor and unto them have been born three children. Mr. Kozak and his family are members of the Roman Cath- olic church.

SAMUEL KAUCHER was born in German- town, Ohio, and was reared under the parental roof and in the public schools of Ohio he ac- quired his education. On putting aside his text- books he started out in life on his own account, and, having learned the business of constructing mills under the direction of his father, he began work for himself as a builder of flour mills and distilleries. He followed that pursuit in Ohio and Indiana until he removed to Colorado, where he again took contracts in the same line, remain- ing in that state several years. He next located at Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he resided for two years and there he engaged in mill building. Subsequently he came to South Dakota, where he resumed his labors in the same line, following that pursuit continuously until about six years ago. A number of years before, however, he had purchased land pleasantly located two and a half miles from Yankton. Of this he sold part to a cement company, having accidentally discovered that this land contained splendid clay beds, the clay being well adapted for the manufacture of cement. On ceasing his building operations Mr. Kaucher located upon his farm. Fifteen or six- teen years ago he began planting cherry, apple and plum trees and he now has forty acres of his land in orchards. In addition to the fruits men- tioned he also raises peaches. He was one of the first men to try the experiment of raising fruit in Dakota. Success has attended his efforts and he

has realized handsome profits from the fruit trees in his orchards. All the fruit which he produces is of splendid quality, size and flavor and he is very hopeful for South Dakota's future as a fruit- producing state. His own work has demon- strated the possibilities in this direction and he certainly deserves recognition from the public for what he has accomplished.

Mr. Kaucher was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Rohrer, a member of the Lutheran church, in which faith she was reared.

1 THOMAS GARVEY, of Yankton county, South Dakota, was born in Ottawa, Canada, and came with his family to South Dakota in 1875 and has since been identified with the agricul- tural interests of Yankton county. He is now the owner of a good farm, on which he has lived for a number of years. He had the misfortune once to be burned out, but has since erected a modern substantial residence and good barn and other outbuildings. His crops were seriously af- fected by the grasshoppers at one time and the Missouri river floods ruined his crops at another time, but he has generally prospered and is now quite well-to-do.

Mr. Garvey led to the marriage altar Miss Mary Dinneen and they have seven children. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and Mr. Garvey is also a member of the Modern Woodmen camp at Gayville. He uses his right of franchise in support of the Demo- cratic party and for twelve years he has been an efficient member of the school board.

JANS P. PETERSON, one of the highly honored citizens of Vermillion, is a native of Denmark, and he secured his early education in the excellent schools of his fatherland. He finally left the parental home and set forth to seek his fortunes in America, relying upon his own labors to make his way in the world. He located in Wisconsin, where he was engaged in farm work, after which he went to Illinois, where he showed his loyalty to the land of his

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adoption by tendering his services in defense of the Union. He continued in active service until victory had crowned the Union arms, having made a record as a valiant and faithful soldier.

After the close of his military service Mr. Peterson returned to Wisconsin, while the next year he went into Illinois, where he was employed about a year, at the expiration of which he lo- cated in Muskegon, Michigan, where he found employment in lumber yards for the ensuing two years. He then went to Illinois, where his marriage was solemnized, and shortly afterward he removed with his bride to Iowa, where he re- mained six months. In the spring of 1869 he came to what is now Clay county, South Da- kota, making the trip with team and wagon, and thus transporting his small stock of household goods as well as his family, and upon his arrival in the county his cash capital was represented in the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents. He took up government land and the original residence was a dugout, which he constructed as soon as possible after his arrival, and he then began the work of bringing the wild land under cultivation. He was energetic, persevering and endowed with good judgment, so that prosperity finally smiled upon him in no uncertain way. He has gained a competence and still owns his original farm, which is now improved with high- grade buildings and under a high state of culti- vation, the place being managed by his son, who rents the same. A few years ago Mr. Peterson purchased a choice lot in Vermillion, and upon the same erected an attractive and commodious modern residence, and here he and his devoted wife have since lived retired. They are zeal- ous and valued members of the Congregational church and have long taken an active part in religious work. In politics Mr. Peterson votes according to the dictates of his judgment, not being constrained by partisan dictates. He served as a member of the territorial legislature in 1872-3, and has held the entire number of township offices, having been clerk of the town- ship for many years, while he served for several years as justice of the peace, and as a member of the school board of his township. At the

present time he is a valned and loyal member of the board of aldermen of his home city. He retains a lively interest in his old comrades of the Civil war by his affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic.

Mr. Peterson was married to Miss Christine Hanson, and they became the parents of eight children.

EDWIN M. RADWAY, who is now living retired in Springfield, Bon Homme county, is a native of the old Empire state, born in Cortland county, New York. He received his educational training in the schools of his native state, and was twenty years of age at the time of his par- ents' removal to Wisconsin, where he assisted in the development of the pioneer farm, remain- ing at the parental home until he had attained the age of thirty years, though in the meanwhile he had been absent two years or more, since in 1852 he joined the throng of argonauts making their way to the gold fields of California. He remained in the Golden state about two years, and then returned to his home in Wisconsin, making the trip by way of the Nicarauga route. In 1864 he again went to California, and after remaining a short time he returned by way of the isthmus of Panama. After his second return to Wisconsin Mr. Radway was engaged in farm- ing, but he disposed of his interests there and came to South Dakota and took up government land in Bon Homme county, where he has thus made his home for thirty years. There were but few settlers in the county at the time and the land was practically all in its primitive condition. He began the development of his claim, and to his original claim Mr. Radway added from time to time until he had accumulated three hundred and twenty acres, while he made the best of improvements on the place, including the erec- tion of a fine residence, good barns, etc., while he set out an orchard and planted many trees, so that the place is now one of the best in the county. Mr. Radway rented the farm and re- moved to Springfield, in order to afford his chil- dren better educational advantages, and in 1901

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he disposed of the home ranch and purchased a large and handsome residence in Springfield, where he is now living retired, also owning other town property. In politics he maintains an inde- pendent attitude, and has ever been a liberal and public-spirited citizen.

Mr. Radway was united in marriage to Miss Christine I. Fellows, and they have two children.

ROBERT B. FISK merits recognition in this history as one of the representative mem- bers of the bar of the state and as one of the honored and influential citizens of Gettysburg, Potter county, in which county he has main- tained his residence since 1886.

Robert Brown Fisk is a native of the beau . tiful old Bluegrass state, having been born in Covington, Kentucky, on the 2d of March, 1852, and being a son of John F. and Elizabeth S. (Johnson) Fisk. His father was one of the influential citizens and prominent public men of Kentucky, having been a leading member of the bar of the state and having been lieutenant gov- ernor of Kentucky in 1862. He was loyal to the federal government during the great Civil war and was known during that climacteric per- iod as the "war governor," while his was the distinction and honor of having introduced in the Kentucky legislature the resolution under which the state remained in the Union. He was born in Genesee county, New York, on the 14th of December, 1815, and his death occurred at Covington, Kentucky, on the 21st of February, 1902, in the fullness of years and well earned honors. Elizabeth S. (Johnson) Fisk, the mother of the subject, was born in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Ist of January, 1822, and died in Washington City, D. C., while on a visit to her daughter, Belle Fisk Andrews, wife of Byron Andrews, on April 18, 1904. It may be noted in this connection that the Fisk geneal- ogy is traced back to Fisk, lord of the manor of Stradhaugh, Wales, while in America have been many distinguished representatives in the line. among the number having been James Fisk, the well-known financier and railroad man, usually

designated as "Jim Fisk;" also Professor John Fiske, the well-known historian; Clinton B. Fisk and others, Honorable Stephen A. Douglaa hav- ing been a representative of the line on the ma- ternal side.

Robert B. Fisk passed his youth in his native city and had the advantages of a cultured and refined home and the fostering care of kind and indulgent parents. He early manifested a dis- tinctive predilection for study and also a fond- ness for mechanics, in which latter connection it may be stated that while absent from school by reason of impaired health he devoted about a year to learning, as far as possible, the carpen- ter's trade, this action being taken without the knowledge of his parents, and he became eligible for the rank of journeyman, but never followed his trade as a vocation. His early educational discipline was secured in the public schools of his native city, where he completed the full high- school course and also, by special arrangement, the first three years of a Yale collegiate course. He was thus graduated in the Covington high school as a member of the class of 1870, and forthwith began the reading of law in the office of the firm of J. F. and C. H. Fisk, the princi- pals in the same being his father and his elder brother. Thereafter he completed the full course in the law school of the Cincinnati Col- lege, in the city of Cincinnati, and in 1872 he was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state of Kentucky, when less than twenty years of age. It has been claimed by other members of the bar that he was the first minor ever thus admitted to full professional practice in Ken- tucky. He spared no pains to thoroughly fortify himself for the work of his profession, and in this connection devoted no little attention to the study of medicine and surgery, as necessary ad- juncts to a proper legal education. He was en- gaged in the practice of his profession in Ken- tucky until the spring of 1884, in April of which year he made his advent in what is now the state of South Dakota, taking up his residence in Pierre on the Ist of May, and there remain ing until 1886, when he removed to Potter county and located on a homestead near Gettysburg, re-

ROBERT B. FISK.

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siding on the place until 1890, since which time he has made his home in the attractive capital city of the county, while he has been from the start actively and prominently engaged in the practice of his profession in this county. He has been concerned in much important litigation, and amongst the most notable cases in which he has appeared as counsel and advocate may be men- tioned the Forest City ferry case, the mandamus cases of Potter and Sully counties, the Patterson bastardy case and the Glover murder case. He is recognized as an able trial lawyer and is a close student, giving careful preparation to all causes and never failing to show the utmost loy- alty to the interests of his clients. Mr. Fisk has mining interests in Colorado, Idaho and Mon- tana, is the owner of a half-interest in the town- site of Gettysburg, and has a well-improved and valuable farm and stock ranch of one thousand acres, near that town.

In politics the subject has ever been a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and has shown a deep interest in the forwarding of the party cause. He was supervisor of the census of the territory, taken in 1885, under United States laws, for that por- tion of Dakota territory now comprising the state of South Dakota. This census of the ter- ritory is the only one ever taken by a state or territory that has been recognized by the federal government as correct, and for that reason paid for by the government. Hon. A. W. Edwards, of Fargo, North Dakota, was the supervisor for the northern half of the territory. This census proved a powerful leverage in securing the di- vision of the territory and the admission of the states of North and South Dakota to the Union.

In 1894 Mr. Fisk was elected county judge of Potter county, serving on the bench for one term and declining a renomination. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is a member of the Christian church. It may be stated that in 1862 he enlisted as a drummer boy in the Union army, but was rejected because of his youth.

Just after attaining his majority, he became

engaged to a schoolmate during his last years at school, Miss Julia C. Green. An estrangement took place between the two, however, and Miss Green was married to another. She became a widow with one child, a boy. On October 30, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Fisk to his schoolmate sweetheart, at Greenwood, the country place of her mother, near Logans- port, Indiana. Mrs. Fisk is a great-grand- daughter of Samuel Meredith, the first treasurer of the United States, who contributed one hun- dred and forty thousand dollars of his private fortune to the infant republic, that contribution being practically the nucleus of the fund in the national treasury. Mrs. Fisk was born at Day- ton, Ohio, on June 16, 1854, and is a daughter of Richard and Margaret J. Green, the former having been a merchant by vocation, and, for several terms, a member of the Ohio legisla- ture.

Upon the marriage of his mother to Judge Fisk, the boy, of his own choice, although then but eight years of age, took the name of Fisk, retaining his given names, Olin Meredith. The warmest cordiality and love have always pre- vailed between Judge Fisk and the boy, the rela- tions between the two being fully those of father and son.

Upon the breaking out of hostilities between the United States and Spain, Olin M. Fisk en- listed in the First South Dakota Regiment, and was made first lieutenant of Company G. He served the full term of his enlistment, going to the Philippine islands, where, with his regiment, he served upon the firing line for one hundred and twenty-two consecutive days, a length of ac- tual firing-line service said to have never been equaled in the annals of war. Judge Fisk is very proud of his son, and the two are now partners, under the name of Fisk & Son, in the poultry business, at Gettysburg, where they are erecting a poultry plant which they intend shall be the best equipped and largest plant of the sort in the state. Judge Fisk is still enjoying a large and lucrative practice at his home town and in the surrounding country.

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JOSEPH HACESKY was born in Bohemia and was a youth of seventeen years at the time of the arrival of the family in this state and was about six years of age when they came to the new world. His educational privileges were ob- tained in the schools of Cleveland and he gained a good knowledge of the English language and of the branches of learning taught in our public institutions. He was united in marriage to Miss Rosy R. Lenger, who was also born in Bohemia, and their union has been blessed with five chil- dren.

In 1877 Mr. Hacesky took up his abode upon the farm where he is yet living and subsequently he purchased an additional tract of land, which he also operates. He is a successful farmer, having gained a very comfortable competence because of his continued labors, which are di- rected by sound judgment and good business ability. He was treasurer of the school board for several years and has always been deeply in- terested in the cause of education. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic church and socially he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and also with the Y. C. B. J., a Bohemian society.

M. C. FELKER, M. D., residing in Cham- berlain, Brule county, is a native of Maine. His parents removed thence to Chicago, Illinois, and there the Doctor received his early educational training in the common schools, after which he entered Wheaton College, in the village of Wheaton, Illinois, where he continued his studies for a period of three years, later becoming a stu- dent in a private school. Having determined to prepare himself for the medical profession, Dr. Felker bent himself diligently and earnestly to the work of technical preparation. He not only completed the prescribed course in Rush Medical College, of Chicago, but he was likewise gradu- ated in the Chicago Medical College, holding diplomas from each of these institutions. Dr. Felker was sent as.a volunteer assistant surgeon to Dr. Daniel Brainard, who occupied the chair of surgery in Rush College, and served in this

capacity during the major portion of the war of the Rebellion. After the close of the war the subject was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Chicago for three years, at the expiration of which he removed to Iowa, where he was engaged in practice about four years, at the expiration of which he came to Kimball, Brule county, South Dakota, and es- tablished himself in practice, being one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons in the county. He is now a resident of Lyman county, where he is the owner of a large and valuable stock ranch, and he has to a large extent retired from the active practice of his profession.

Upon the organization of Lyman county Dr. Felker was chosen as its first assessor, and there- after he served for two years as county treas- urer. In politics he is an uncompromising Democrat, and he has long been an active and zealous worker in the party ranks.

CHRISTIAN BAADE, of Yankton county, was born in Germany and remained there until twenty-four years of age and in the meantime he acquired a fair common-school education. He came to the United States, determined to work his way upward if it could be done through en- ergy and perseverance. He was a young man of twenty-four when he reached America and took up his abode in Minnesota. There he worked until he came to Yankton county, South Dakota. He secured a homestead claim, but found that wealth was not to be won for the ask- ing even in this favored section of the country. On one occasion the grasshoppers descended upon his crops, destroying every particle of vege- tation on his farm. He persevered, however, in his work and all of the excellent improvements seen upon his place stand as monuments of his enterprise and thrift. He has planted an apple orchard, has erected good buildings and now has a well-developed property. In connection with general farming he raises hogs and cattle and his annual sales of stock add continually to his income.

Mr. Baade was united in marriage to Miss

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Clara Havell, and they have three interesting children. The parents hold membership in the Lutheran church and Mr. Baade gives his polit- ical support to the Republican party.

FRANK CHAP, of Yankton county, was born in Bohemia, his parents being also natives of Bohemia. When they came to America they es- tablished their home in Yankton county, South Dakota, where the father purchased land, and in the course of years made it a very productive property. Frank Chap was twelve years of age when he came with his parents to South Dakota and he here began work in the fields. Subse- quently he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land and began agricultural work on his own account.

Mr. Chap wedded Miss Mary Bahensky, of Yankton county, who was born in Bohemia, and they have become the parents of five children. The farm of Mr. Chap is well improved and by the careful conduct of his business affairs he is providing a comfortable living for ·his family. He is a member of the Catholic church and his family also attend its services.

EDGAR B. PETTERSON was born in Swe- den on the 26th of September, 1829. He spent his childhood and youth in Sweden and received only a limited education, his time being required at home as soon as he was old enough to labor to advantage. At the age of seventeen he went to sea, but after sailing for two years with his fa- ther he left the vessel and came to the United States, where he followed the same kind of life from 1850 to 1853 inclusive, plying on the waters between the cities of New York and Philadelphia. In the latter year he went to California and dur- ing the ten years following devoted his attention to mining in various parts of the west, finally making his way to Nevada, where he mined for a period of seven years.

At the expiration of the time noted Mr. Pet- terson revisited his native land, but after spend- ing six months there returned to California and

until the year 1871 lived in the city of San Fran- cisco. From there he came to Lincoln county, South Dakota, and taking up a claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres in Dayton township settled down to a life of agriculture, which calling he has since pursued with encouraging success, the meanwhile adding to his real estate and making many substantial improvements on his farm. Po- litically he votes the People's ticket, manifests an abiding interest in public affairs and has filled various local offices, having served for a number of years as a member of the school board.

In the year 1873 Mr. Petterson took to himself a wife and helpmeet in the person of Miss Mar- garet Boynstad, of Norway, the daughter of Ole and Sarah Boynstad. Mr. and Mrs. Petterson have a family of eight children, namely: Phoebe, one of the successful and popular teachers of Lincoln county ; George B., Hilda S., Olive, Ed- win, Enma E. and Clara May, all at home.

HENRY FREIDEL was born in Yankton county and in the public schools of this county obtained his education. He spent his boyhood days in the usual manner of farmer lads of the period, assisting in the labors of field and meadow and as the years went by gaining valuable ex- perience as a preparation for his own business career. He is now engaged in general farming on his own account and has one hundred and sixty acres of land under cultivation. He is also engaged in the raising of hogs and cattle and is a farmer of enterprise, following progressive methods and carrying on his work along prac- tical lines so that his efforts are bringing to him desirable returns.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 155

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