USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. II > Part 35
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later years has given his support to the Prohi- bition party, being a zealous advocate of the temperance cause. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been active in good works and kindly deeds.
On the 12th of November, 1865, in Kent, Portage county, Ohio, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Harris to Miss Eliza Ferris, who was born in New York on the 3Ist of January, 1832. being a daughter of John and Hannah (Black) Ferris, the former a native of New York and the latter of Massachusetts. They removed to Ohio in 1834, and there passed the remainder of their lives, Mr. Ferris having been a shoemaker by trade and vocation. Mrs. Har- ris was the youngest in a family of ten children, of whom she is the only one yet living. The subject and his estimable wife, who has been to him a devoted companion and helpmeet, have three children : Emma is the wife of Albert Bull, who is engaged in the creamery business in Parkston; Grant, who married Miss Ora Page, deals in farm machinery in Clark, and Frank, who married Miss Sadie Keling, now deceased, is employed in the real-estate business in Clark.
HON. E. D. WHEELOCK is one of the pio- neers of South Dakota, and has been actively identified with the industrial and general busi- ness interests of Codington county since its or- ganization. He is now one of the oldest settlers in the eastern part of the state, and it is but jus- tice to say that few, if any, have been more prom- inent than he in public affairs or have exerted greater influence upon its material, political and business history.
E. D. Wheelock combines in his physical and mental make-up the best elements of New Eng- land manhood, coming of that good old colonial stock that figured so prominently in the struggle for independence and in the war of 1812. The Wheelock family is of English descent and was represented in this country at an early period. the American branch locating in Massachusetts, when the few scattered settlements were but niches in the almost impenetrable forests. Cyrus
Wheelock was a son of Henry Wheelock, a farmer and cooper, who spent all his life in Massachusetts. Cyrus Wheelock, also a native of that state, was reared to agriculture, which he al- ways followed. He married Lois Ober, whose father, Peter Ober, also a descendant of an old Massachusetts family, served in the war of 1812, as did also Henry Wheelock, brother of Cyrus. Cyrus and Lois Wheelock reared a family of five children, three sons and two daughters.
E. D. Wheelock, son of Cyrus, was born April 5, 1847, in Johnson, Lemoille county, Vermont, and in 1854 was taken to McHenry county, Illi- nois, where he grew to maturity on a farm. After attending the common schools he entered an acad- emy at Wauconda, but soon laid aside his studies and, though but a youth of sixteen, enlisted in September, 1863, in Company G, Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, and served until honorably dis- charged, in February. 1866, taking part in the campaigns in Missouri and the southwest, his command toward the latter part of the war being sent to quiet the hostile Indians in Kansas and Colorado.
In 1866 Mr. Wheelock went to Iowa, thence the year following, to Steele county, Minnesota, locating near Owatanna, where he engaged in farming, which, with teaching, occupied his atten- tion during the ensuing ten years. Meanwhile he learned the miller's trade, and followed the same at intervals, but his chief employment was agri- culture, which he prosecuted until 1878. In that year he came to Codington county and took up a homestead about three miles north of Water- town, but for the last fifteen years his principal business has been buying grain for the Atlas Elevator Company, of Minneapolis, in connection with which he carries on an extensive store at Kampeska, of which place he is also postmaster, having been appointed to the position in 1884. when the office was established.
Mr. Wheelock carries a full line of general merchandise and commands a lucrative trade. He took an active interest in the organization of the county, served for nine years as a member of the board of county commissioners, and in 1895 was elected to the upper house of the state legis-
E. D. WHEELOCK.
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lature, where he earned the reputation of an able, discreet and judicious member. Mr. Wheelock has been prominent in the Republican party, and his efforts have made him one of the party leaders in the county. He is a wide-awake, enterprising and progressive business man, and his public work has won him more than local repute. His loyalty is of that kind which subordinates other considerations to the public good. He has been successful in his business and has an ample com- petence.
Mr. Wheelock was married April 10, 1869. to Miss Eliza McClelland, of Maine, but at that time a resident of Freeborn county, Minnesota. She is the daughter of William J. McClelland, one of the pioneers of that state, and has borne her hus- band eleven children, namely: Ruby L., wife of O. M. Brown, of Watertown ; Bertha S. married Robert Lewis and lives in North Dakota ; Edwin M., a traveling salesman ; Nellie G., now Mrs. Fred M. Ray, of North Dakota ; Emery F .; Cy- rus J. : Dickinson O .; Benjamin H. died Febru- ary 6, 1902, at the age of fourteen years ; Clif- ford R. and Warren W., the last two still mem- bers of the home circle.
Mr. Wheelock is an enthusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In this connec- tion it may be proper to state that his father also served from the beginning of the Civil war to its close as a member of Company F, Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry, and a brother, L. C. Wheelock, was also in the same command and distinguished himself.
CHARLES K. THOMPSON, whose finely improved farm is located one and a half miles -north of Northville, Spink county, was born in Burlington, Kane county, Illinois, on the 2d of February, 1860, and is a son of T. J. and Han- nah A. Thompson, both of whom were born in West Virginia, the former being of English and Trish ancestry and the latter of English and Welsh. When they were children they accom- panied their respective parents on their immigra- tion to Illinois, making the overland trip from West Virginia with wagons and becoming num-
bered among the early settlers of Kane county, Illinois, where both were reared to maturity and where their marriage was solemnized. There the father of the subject continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he came to South Dakota, where both he and his wife passed the residue of their long and useful lives, having been honored pioneers of Spink county. They were accompanied by their four sons and one daughter and all are still liv- ing in the state except the youngest son, who died in 1891 in Northville, to which he had been removed while sick.
Concerning the early experiences of the fam- ily in South Dakota we are gratified to be able to offer the following interesting little narrative, contributed by the subject of this sketch: "I came to the territory of Dakota in December, 1880, and first set my foot on the ice-fettered surface of the 'roaring Jim' river on Christmas day. I came through from Watertown by team, accompanied by my brother, J. R. Thompson, who is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Northville, and who had been in Spink county with our father during the preceding summer and broken a small portion on one of the claims which had been taken up, while they had erected a sod house and stable. Father desired to re- turn to the old home in Illinois for the winter, in the meanwhile making preparations for bringing the remainder of the family to the new home in the spring, together with the household effects and other requisite supplies. He thus re- quested me and my brother to come out and take care of the stock and keep the primitive little home cheerful during the intervening winter months. Well, I discovered forthwith that this was a big country and that the wind not only had a great sweep but also that it swept! The house had been roofed with boards covered with tarred paper, and to keep the latter in place stones had been placed on the corners. These were not, however, sufficient to hold the roof so closely to the sod as to prevent the gentle zephyrs from sifting the 'beautiful snow' under the edge of the roof and waking us from dreams of home and loved ones. This was the season known as
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the winter of the big snow, and the snow covered our stable so completely that we were often compelled to feed our stock through an opening in the roof. As it was quite impossible for horses to travel in the snow nearly all travel was done on foot, by means of snow shoes. The snowfall being unusual, the settlers had not pre- pared for it, and their supply of flour was con- sumed long before spring opened, and in many cases wheat was taken miles to a neighbor who was fortunate in possessing a coffee-mill in which the cereal could be partially ground and thus made available for food. As for my brother and myself, we had buried near our house a quantity of potatoes which were being reserved for seed, and when necessity came we unearthed these tubers and fared on the same very well for two or three weeks, having only salt to lend rel- ish. It is my opinion that at that time we were located farther to the west than any other settler in the county. At least we saw nothing to the west save occasionally a wolf or coyote. How- ever, on a certain day about a hundred antelope visited our ranch, and we succeeded in catching one of the number, being unable to shoot any of them as we had loaned our only gun to a neigh- bor. We attempted to domesticate the animal which we had captured, endeavoring to teach it to eat hay and adapt itself to the customs of civ- ilization. Its refusal to comply with our in- structions brought it to an untimely end, as we were soon compelled to kill it. Finally came the advent of spring : floods came ; folks came ; flow- ers came ; harvest came, and Dakota demon- strated that she was a land of glorious possibili- ties. All seemed to fall in love with their adopted homes and felt that this land of sun- shine had much to commend it to favor. While in the early days many stories went forth to frighten prospective settlers, the people of this vicinity have had but one genuine scare, which occurred in 1882. I remember that I had been to Watertown and having secured a ride back as far as the James river was proceeding thence on foot to my home, when I met a man and woman who were driving rapidly from the west with their team and wagon and who stopped long
enough to inform me that the Indians were southwest of Northville and moving toward the town, on the warpath. This was somewhat dis- quieting news and I hurried along to Mellette, where I found the populace gathered at the postoffice, listening to the many rumors which were afloat concerning the Indian depredations. I then hastened on to my parents' home and found some of the neighbors assembled there and provided with divers sorts of firearms, good, bad and indifferent, while complete arrange- ments were being made for defense, so far as possible, against an attack. Northville sent out scouts and it was soon found that the alarm was without foundation, and peace and quiet soon reigned again. All these scares are things of the past and our section of the state is settled in the main by good, substantial citizens, who are in comfortable circumstances."
Mr. Thompson received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Kane county, Illinois, having attended the high school in Geneva, and having supplemented this dis- cipline by effective study in Pingree Seminary and the Elgin Academy. He was associated with his father in the management of the home farm until he had attained his legal majority, since which time he has been engaged in the same vocation for himself, having been prospered in his efforts and now having one of the attract- ive and well-improved farms of Spink county. He gave his support to the Republican party from the time of attaining his majority until the close of the first administration of President Mc- Kinley, since which time he has exercised his franchise and lent his influence in support of the Prohibition party. As a Republican, he was elected to represent his county in the state legis- lature in 1897, and in the session of the general assembly had the honor of assisting in the elec- tion of Hon. James H. Kyle to the United States senate. He was reared in the faith of the Wes- leyan Methodist church, of which both he and his wife are members.
On the 2d of July, 1885, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Flora B. Torrence, who was born in Noble county, Ohio, on the 21st
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of May, 1869, being a daughter of James and Sarah Jane Torrence, who were early settlers in Spink county. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have five children, namely : Theos J., J. Gail, Lois H., Cita M. and John R.
JOHN W. SCHULTZ, one of the leading merchants and representative citizens of Wes- sington, Beadle county, is a native of Germany, where he was born on the 23d of February, 1835. After his father's death the widow came with her two sons and two daughters to America, the family locating in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she passed the remainder of her life, while of the children our subject is now the only sur- vivor. The early educational discipline of Mr. Schultz was secured in the excellent schools of his fatherland, and he was about fourteen years of age at the time of the family emigration to America. He thereafter attended the common schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, and effectively sup- plemented the training he had previously re- ceived. After attaining years of maturity he devoted his attention to farming in the old Buck- eye state until 1855, when he came west as a pioneer of the state of Iowa, locating in Du- buque, Dubuque county, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until 1882, in which year he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and became one of the early settlers of Wessington, where he was engaged in the gen- eral merchandise business until 1885. when he removed to Hand county, which lies contigu- ous on the west of Beadle county, and there suc- cessfully continued farming until 1897, when he returned to Wessington, where he now controls the most extensive mercantile business in this section, drawing his trade from a wide radius of country and having the confidence and esteem of the people of this locality, where he has made his home for so many years. He is a straight- forward and reliable business man, urbane and courteous at all times and his name is a synonym of honor and integrity wherever he is known. He has ever been a stalwart advocate of the prin- ciples and policies for which the Republican
party stands sponsor, and has been an active worker in its cause. In 1894 he represented Hand county in the state senate, where he made a most creditable record. Though he was can- didate on the Republican ticket in the preceding election his personal popularity was such as to enable him to overcome the large Populist ma- jority which was normally given in Hand county at that period, and his election was a merited tribute of popular esteem and good will. He also served one term as a member of the board of commissioners of Hand county. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
DUNCAN EARL, one of the successful farmers and honored citizens of Davison county, is a native of the dominion of Canada, having been born in the province of Ontario, on the 20th of August, 1848, and being a son of Hiram and Ann (Thompson) Earl. both of whom were likewise native of Canada, the former being of English lineage and the latter of Scotch. They became the parents of twelve children, eight of whom are living, while the subject of this sketch is the only representative of the family in South Dakota.
Duncan Earl received his educational disci- pline in the schools of his native province, where he was reared to manhood and where he con- tinued to follow various pursuits until August 13, 1882. when he came to the territory of Dakota and took up government land in Davison county and also purchased deeded lands, now having a farm of six hundred and forty acres of most ara- ble and valuable land, and having three hundred and fifteen acres under effective cultivation, while the permanent improvements are of substantial nature, indicating the progressive spirit and good management of the owner, who has ever been known as a man of indefatigable industry and sterling character. He is a stanch Repub- lican in politics, and both he and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in whose work he takes a very active interest, being a member of the board of trus-
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tees of the church of this denomination at Mount Vernon, which is his postoffice address.
On the 18th of February, 1885, Mr. Earl was united in marriage to Miss Abigail Higgin- son, who was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, being a daughter of William and Can- dace (Atcheson) Higginson, her father having been a prominent farmer and miller and having accumulated a fortune through his own efforts, his estate being valued at twenty thousand dol- lars at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Earl have one son, Lorne Talmage, who was born on the 27th day of February, 1891, and who has been afforded excellent educational advantages. Mr. Earl is publie-spirited and progressive, his name is a synonym of honor and integrity and he commands the implicit confidence of the com- munity in which he has resided for more than a score of years.
OLAUS L. HANSON, a successful farmer of Yankton county, is a native son of the state and a representative of one of its honored pioneer families. He was born in Yankton county, territory of Dakota, on the 12th of Oc- tober, 1867, and is a son of Lars and Anne Han- son, both of whom were born in Norway. Lars Hanson was born September 22, 1836, and in 1865 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anne Olson, who was born February 10, 1839. In 1866 they emigrated to America and came forth- with to the territory of Dakota, locating on the farm which has ever since remained their home, the same being on section 19. range 54, township 94. Yankton county, about two miles northeast of the village of Mission Hill. They were among the early settlers in the county and Mr. Hanson secured his land by government entry, while by well-directed industry he has attained success and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of the county.
The subject of this review received his early education in the public schools of Yankton county and continued to assist in the work and management of the home farm until he had at- tained the age of twenty-one years, when he en-
gaged in drilling artesian wells, to which line of enterprise he devoted his attention for three years, after which he farmed on rented land until 1898, when he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in township 94, range 54, where he continued in agricultural pursuits for the en- suing three years, at the expiration of which he sold the property and purchased another farm of equal area, in township 94, range 55, about one and one-half miles distant from Mission Hill, where he is now successfully engaged in general farming and stock growing.
In politics Mr. Hanson is a Republican and from his youth up he has been a member of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church at Mis- sion Hill, of which his wife likewise is a devoted member.
On the 14th of October, 1896, Mr. Hanson married Miss Hulda Matilda Hanson, who was born in Yankton county, July 1, 1878, being a daughter of Nicholas and Ingeborg Hanson, and of this union have been born three children, whose names with respective dates of birth are here entered : Norman Leroy, July 19, 1897; Agnes Isabel, June 17, 1899; and Hannah Olivia, September 22, 1901.
CHARLES W. McDONALD, who is the honored judge of Jerauld county and a dis- tinguished member of the bar of the state, was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, on the 25th of July. 1845. being a son of Jeremiah and Elea- nor (Almeda) MeDonald, to whom were born three sons and one daughter. The father of the subject was a master ship carpenter, and was born and reared in the state of Vermont, whence he removed to Indiana prior to the advent of rail- roads in the middle states. He died at Abilene, Kansas, while his wife died in the Hoosier state. The subject of this review completed the cur- riculum of the common schools of his native state and then entered the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he continued his studies for two years. He studied law under an able preceptor in Mishawaka, Indiana, and has ever been a close reader in a technical line,
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so that he is thoroughly well informed in the science of jurisprudence, having not only gained precedence as a strong trial lawyer and con- servative counsel, but having also been signally fair and impartial in his rulings on the bench, his decisions being based upon the proper ap- plication of the law and equity involved. He came to what is now the state of South Da- kota in 1873 and in the year 1877 was admitted to the bar of the territory of Dakota. He lo- cated in the city of Sioux Falls, where he con- tinued in the practice of his profession until 1882, and in that place he was also the editor and publisher of the Sioux Falls Independent, which was subsequently merged into the Daily Press, which remains one of the important papers of the state. In March, 1882, Judge McDonald came to Wessington Springs, where he has since maintained his home and where he has been in the active practice of his profession save for the period which has represented his service on the bench. Upon the organization of Jerauld county, in 1884, he was appointed clerk of the district court, and continuously held this office until the admission of South Dakota to the Union. He was elected state's attorney for Jerauld county in 1890, again in 1896 and re- elected in 1898. During two years, 1877-8, he was probate judge of Minnehaha county. He was elected county judge of Jerauld county in 1900 and in 1902 he was again elected to this dignified and responsible office, of which he is in tenure at the time of this writing. The Judge is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and has been a prominent figure in its councils in the territory and state. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, his wife of the Free Methodist church, and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order. It may be noted at this juncture that Jerauld county was organized and settled by temperance people, and there had never been a saloon within its borders from the time of its erection until 1903. The subject is an uncom- promising advocate of temperance and of the prohibition of the liquor traffic through legal measures.
In 1866 Judge McDonald was united in mar- riage to Miss Clara P. Burr, of Mansfield, Ohio, who died in 1879, being survived by one son, Willis B., who is now a resident of California. On the 17th of August, 1882, the Judge wedded Miss Fanny M. Tofflemire, of Wessington Springs, South Dakota, and they are the parents of five children, namely : Robert F., Charles E., Walter H., Leigh L. and Almeda.
GEORGE AMASA PERLEY is a native of the state of Wisconsin, having been born near the village of Marquette, in what is now known as Green Lake county, on the 18th of Novem- ber, 1849. His father, Stephen Bartlett Perley, was born in North Sanbornton. Merrimac county, New Hampshire, and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah E. Wells, was born in Bradford, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, both being of Puritan ancestry. The father of the subject began his independent career as a farmer on his own land, on which now stands the village of Clinton Junction, Rock county, Wisconsin, of which state he was a pioneer settler, The subject relates appreciatively the following incidents in regard to his honored father : "When I was a child my father was often spoken of as 'Old Ironsides,' by reason of his physical prowess and agility. We had a large horse, weighing sixteen hundred pounds, and so great was its height that a young man employed by my father found it impossible to spring on the back of the animal from the ground. Father was a man of about six feet in height and at that time was fifty-five years of age. He stepped to the side of the horse, gave a spring and passed clear over the steed, with perfect ease, landing squarely on his feet on the opposite side. Near Schoolcraft, Michi- gan, in 1845, he mowed with a scythe forty acres of timothy hay in thirteen straight days,- an average of more than three acres a day. He was an accomplished vocalist, possessing a fine tenor voice, and he was for some time a member of a church choir in the city of Albany, New York, where he was at the time employed in a
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