History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 40

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

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On the 7th of August, 1884, Mr. Person was united in marriage to Miss Ellen A. Persons, who was born in Forbeston, Butte county, Cali- fornia, on the 23d of February, 1857, being a daughter of Dr. Horace T. and Jane (Fenton) Persons. Mr. and Mrs. Person have had six children, of whom four are living, namely: El- len Bertha, who was born in 1885 : Ethel Marion. who was born in 1802: Horace Hamilton, who was born in 1893, and Mary Katharine, who was born in 1897. Helen Hamilton, who was born on the 6th of June. 1888, died on the 23d of Febru- ary, 1889, and Robert S., Jr., who was born De- cember 17, 1889, died March 29th, 1896.

PHILIP PFATLZGRAFF .- The name of the subject of this review indicates his foreign birth, also the part of the old world from which he came. Philip Pfatlzgraff was born November 28, 1852, in Alsace Loraine, at that time under the dominion of France, but now a part of the German empire, being the son of Frederick and Magdalena (Schnaberger) Pfatlzgraff, both par- ents natives of the same province. By occupa- tion the father was a farmer, which trade he fol- lowed the greater part of his life, both in Ger- many and the United States. When a young man he entered the French army and devoted sixteen years to the military service, spending a part of the time as a member of the band, having been an accomplished musician, especially on his fa- vorite instrument, the clarionet. Leaving the army, he resumed his trade and continued to work at the same in his native land until 1854. when he came to the United States and located in

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Rochester, New York. After spending two years at nursery work in that city, he removed to Cook county, Illinois, where he purchased land and devoted the ensuing fifteen years to agricul- tural pursuits, changing his abode at the expira- tion of that time to Butler county, Iowa, where he also developed a farm and continued to live the life of a contented and prosperous tiller of the soil for a period of eighteen years, dying in the town of Dumont on the 6th day of March, 1898. Mrs. Pfatlzgraff, who is still living at Du- mont, Iowa, bore her husband seven children, the subject of this sketch being the oldest of the number. The others are George, a farmer of Butler county, Iowa ; Fred, a hardware merchant in the town of Dumont : Jacob, who is engaged with his brother in the hardware business; Mrs. Elizabeth Schmitz, of Dumont; Lena, whose husband, Ernest Schmitz, is a general merchant in the above town, and Charlotte, who married William Ahrens, a grain dealer of the same place.

Philip Pfatlzgraff was but two years old when his parents came to this country, conse- quently he has no recollection of the land of his birth, being to all intents and purposes as much a citizen of the United States as if he had been born on American soil. During his youthful years he attended the district schools of Butler county and having been reared to agricultural pursuits he early became familiar with the rug- ged duties of the farm and grew up strong of body and with a well-defined purpose to make the most of his opportunities. Being the oldest of the family much of the labor of the homestead fell to him and he discharged the duty faithfully and well, working early and late in the fields and taking from his father's shoulders a great deal of the work and responsibility of running the farm. After remaining with his parents and looking after their interests until twenty-five years of age, he left home to make his own way in the world and in February, 1877, came to Bon Homme county, South Dakota, locating at the town of Loretta, where in due time he en- gaged in general merchandising.

Mr. Pfatlzgraff's business proved prosperous

from the beginning and at this time he is pro- prietor of one of the largest and most successful mercantile establishments in the town, carrying a full stock of all articles demanded by the gen- eral trade, in addition to which he also handles all kinds of produce, which he ships in large quantities to the leading markets of the country. He has an extensive patronage, which is becom- ing larger every year and at this time the mag- nitude of his trade will compare favorably with that of any other merchant in the county out- side the more populous centers.

Mr. Pfatlzgraff possesses supreme financial ability and has seldom if ever made any but for- tunate investments. He owns fine town property, improved and well cared for, and in addition thereto has purchased from time to time valuable farm lands in different parts of the county, in- cluding the Henry Tjark place of eighty acres and a quarter section in Jefferson township, half of which is in cultivation. He leases the latter tract, but cultivates his eighty-acre farm, raising large crops of wheat, oats and corn, besides de- voting considerable attention to live stock, spe- cially to a fine grade of hogs, in the raising of which he has been quite successful and the pro- ceeds from which add very materially to his in- come. Mr. Pfatlzgraff has been postmaster at Loretta for over twelve years and manages the office with the same care and consideration mani- fested in his individual business affairs. He maintains an abiding interest in the growth and development of the town, encouraging all meas- ures for the general good of the community and welfare of the people.

Politically he wields a potent influence for the Republican party, the principles of which he has advocated ever since old enough to exercise the right of ballot, and fraternally holds member- ship with the Odd Fellows lodge in Dumont, Iowa. He has profound religious convictions and is a firm believer in the truths of the German Lutheran church, with which he has been iden- tified since childhood.

The married life of Mr. Pfatlzgraff dates from 1870, in September of which year he was wedded to Miss Anna Miller, of Dumont, Iowa, who has

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borne him two children, a daughter by the name of Dora M. and a son, George W., both of whom reside under the parental roof.

LAWRENCE H. WILLRODT, one of the most prominent and successful farmers and stock growers of Brule county, is a native of the prov- ince of Schleswig, Germany, where he was born on the 17th of May, 1845. He received a good education in his native land, where he prepared himself for the pedagogic profession, and after coming to the United States he completed a course in a commercial college at Davenport, Iowa. At the age of twenty-two years he emi- grated to America and took up his residence in the city of Davenport, Iowa, where he taught a German-American school about five years, being very successful in his efforts. He then opened a book and stationery store in that city, continuing in this line of enterprise nearly a decade, at the expiration of which, in 1880, he came to what is now Brule county, South Dakota, where he entered homestead and timber claims, while later he purchased one and one-half sections additional. having at the present time a fine estate of twelve hundred and eighty acres, of which about three hundred and twenty acres are maintained under a high state of cultivation, while the balance is devoted to the raising of hay and to grazing purposes, as our subject gives special attention 10 the raising of high-grade live stock, conduct- ing operations on a quite extensive scale. He has shown marked taste and discrimination in the improvement of his farm, and has one of the finest residences in this section. the house and incidental improvements about the same repre- senting an expenditure of about six thousand dollars.

On the Ist of April, 1871. Mr. Willrodt was united in marriage to Miss Mary P. Wagner, who was born and reared in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, she being a niece of Hon. John F. Darby, who was a member of congress from Missouri for a number of years and one of the most eminent members of the bar of St. Louis, while he was also one of the leading bank-

ers of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Willrodt are the parents of three children, namely: Clara L., who is the wife of John Q. Anderson, a prom- inent stock raiser of Lyman county, this state ; and L. Henry and Laura A., who remain at the parental home, the latter being a student in the high school at Chamberlain.

In his political adherency Mr. Willrodt is stanchly arraved in support of the principles of the Democratic party and he has long been known as one of its wheelhorses in this section of the state, attending the various conventions as a dele- gate and being an influential factor in the party councils. In 1901 he was elected a representa- tive of Brule county in the state senate, this be- ing the second general assembly of the state and one whose work tended to make history rapidly for the new commonwealth. He served with abil- ity and his course was such as to gain him un- qualified endorsement on the part of his con- stituents. He is identified with the Legion of Honor in Iowa, of which he became a member in 1879.

WELLINGTON J. MAYTUM, M. D., is engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Alexandria, Hanson county, and is known as an able and successful physician and surgeon. He is a native of the state of New York, having been born in Penn Yan, Cayuga county, on the IIth of December, 1864, and being a son of Charles and Emma Maytum. When he was five years of age his parents removed to Wayne county, Iowa, where his father engaged in mill- ing, and there the Doctor secured his early edu- cational discipline in the public schools, being graduated in the high school at Humeston, as a member of the class of 1885. In 1888 he was matriculated in the medical department of the state university of Iowa, at Iowa City, where he completed a thorough technical course and was graduated in 1801, receiving his degree of Doc- tor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation the Doctor came to South Dakota and took up his residence in Alexandria, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his

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profession, the marked success and prestige which have attended his efforts standing as the best voucher for his ability and earnest devotion to the exacting duties of his chosen vocation. In 1896 he took a post-graduate course in the Chi- cago Polyclinic, and in 1900 he again took a course of special study in this well-known insti- tution, from which it is evident that he at all times keeps in touch with the advances made in the sciences of medicine and surgery. The Doctor is a member of the South Dakota State Medical Society, and was for six years secretary and treasurer of the same. In 1894 he was elected to the office of superintendent of schools of Han- son county, and in the connection did much to systematize and vitalize the work of education in his jurisdiction, holding the position for two years and making an enviable record. He is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party and takes a lively interest in public affairs of a local nature. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Work- men, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Brotherhood of America and the Yeo- men. He is a skilled and successful physician, a loyal citizen and a man who commands unqual- ified confidence and esteem in the community in which he has lived and labored to so goodly ends.

On the 18th of November. 1895, Dr. May- timm was united in marriage to Miss Lillie May Syferd, who was born and reared in Wayne county, Iowa. being a daughter of John and Eliza Syferd, while she was a resident of Warsaw, Iowa, at the time of her marriage. Of this union have been born five children, namely : Charles K., Genevieve, Cecil, Thelma and Crystal.

HARRIS FRANKLIN. - The qualities which command the largest measure of material success in human affairs are a clearness of un- derstanding that brings into definite view from the beginning the end desired and the most available means of reaching it; a force of will tireless in its persistency : and a quickness of de- cision that instantly utilizes the commanding

points in any case. In the ratio in which they possess these qualities men are great according to their bent, and are the leaders of their fellows from the rightful sovereignty innate in their indi- vidual nature. There may be oratorical power- depth of thought and grace of diction-in the conjunction. Subtlety in dialectics and copious- ness of technical learning may not be wanting. Social culture and masterful grace in all the bland amenities of life may be present in abundant measure. If so they are only added powers- helpful, but not necessary. For it is the men of action who move the world forward in its destined course, especially in this intensely prac- tical age. Where such men hail from, and the circumstances of their birth and breeding, are usually matters of little moment. Nature has 110 favored spots for the creation of her choice products. According to her needs and occasions she is all Athens, all Stratford-on-Avon, all Wall street. When a man is required for any specific purpose, she produces him apparently without re- gard to circumstances and fearlessly flings him into the crisis. She knows her brood, and those she singles out for great events never disappoint her. Sometimes she even proves them in the alembic of stern adversity, and then they come forth from the trial only purified and strength- ened for the work before them.

Harris Franklin, of Deadwood, is essentially and notably a man of this character-clear in perception, resolute in pursuit, quick and firm in decision. These qualities have given him force and leadership among men, and wrought out for him a record in commercial and industrial life creditable alike to himself and to the people in whose service it has been made. He was born in Russian Poland on March 18, 1849. the son of Z. and Ellen Franklin, also natives of that country. His ancestors had resided there for countless generations. had flourished and thriven there with the flight of time, had borne their part in the honorable history of their native land in peace and war, and had been content to be numbered among its useful citizens who faithfully per- formed every public and private duty. It was reserved for him to carry the family name and

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the qualities that gave it distinction into a dis- tant country and the service of another people. And for this duty his preparation, while neither extensive nor showy, was consistent and sufficient. His mother died in his infancy and he was reared to the age of fifteen by his father, a busy exporter of seeds, principally flax. He received a slender education in the common schools, and was thrown much on his own resources from boyhood. In 1864 his father came to the United States and located at Syracuse, New York. Four years later he died at Des Moines, Iowa. In the mean- time the son, in 1866, came to this country alone, and also settled at Syracuse. He began his career in his new home by carrying for two years through western New York a peddler's pack, weighing 100 pounds, and conducting the small traffic it made possible. In 1868 he located at Burlington, Iowa, and opened a small store which he kept with profit until 1876. He then sold out and moved to Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he engaged in a wholesale and retail liq- uor business, and became one of its traveling representatives and salesmen. He built up an ex- tensive trade, but owing to extraordinary condi- tions in 1873 he lost all he had. He then went on the road in the interest of a Council Bluffs (Iowa) cigar company, in whose employ he re- mained two years. At the end of that period he gave up the job and going to Laramie, Wyo- ming, he again embarked in the wholesale liquor trade. His success in this venture was such that in 1877 he opened a branch store at Cheyenne. The year before this he spent a month in the Black Hills inspecting the business conditions and outlook, with the result that in 1878 he started another branch at Deadwood. The next year he sold all his interests in Wyoming and took up his residence at Deadwood permanently, having passed the greater portion of the time in the Hills after his first visit in 1876. The big fire of September 26, 1879, swept away all his pos- sessions and left him twenty thousand dollars in debt. In this disaster he even lost all his extra clothing except one shirt that happened to be at a Chinese laundry in a portion of the town not visited by the fire. In the following November

he again started his liquor business, which he carried on with increasing magnitude until 1890 when the prohibitory law went into effect. Be- fore this, however, in 1881, having been taught by experience that it was unwise to have all his eggs in one basket, he started a cattle industry on a small scale which he gradually enlarged and promoted. In this he was on the highway to big success when the severe winter of 1886-7 caused him considerable loss. But he did not abandon the industry and is still extensively engaged in it. In 1886 he became interested in mining and the next year organized the Golden Reward Mining Company, of which he served as president until 1806. He then sold the greater part of his in- terest in the company to New York capitalists. gave up the presidency to E. H. Harriman, and became vice-president, a position he still holds. In 1895. turning his attention to finance, for which he has peculiar fitness, he organized the American National Bank of Deadwood, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. That this bank has flourished vigorously under his manage- ment is shown by the fact that it now has a sur- plus and undivided profits amounting to two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. He was its president until 1902, when he bought a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Deadwood, and since then he has been president of that institution. It has a capital of one hun- dred thousand dollars, with a surplus of ninety thousand dollars. But he is still one of the direc- tors and the active manager of the American National. When Mr. Franklin organized the Golden Reward Mining Company the Ruby basin district was almost valueless because there was no way of extracting the precious metals from the ore at a profit. He then passed four years in efforts to overcome this difficulty, and was finally rewarded with the discovery of a chlorination process which greatly cheapened the work and made it pay. In 1800 his process was put in op- eration with complete machinery, and his became the first successful chlorination plant in the world in practical use. Previous to this some such pro- cess had been used in Grass Valley, California, but it was never able to bring the cost of treating

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ores below twenty-five dollars a ton, whereas, during the last two years his plant worked it treated them at a cost of but three dollars and fif- ty-one cents a ton. This enterprise was the mak- ing of the Black Hills as a permanently profit- able mining center, but the plant was destroyed by fire in 1899. Since then the company has owned and operated an extensive smelter, and also built a well equipped cyanide plant on the site of the burnt property. In addition to his interest in this company Mr. Franklin has extensive hold- ings in other mining properties, among them the Deadwood & Delaware smelter, of which he is the head and controlling spirit, and which has recently largely increased its capacity. He is de- voted to his various business interests, and has no time or taste for public life. He is therefore in- dependent of party control in politics, and has never sought or desired public office. He is, how- ever, earnestly and intelligently interested in the advancement and general welfare of his city, county and state, and withholds no effort needed on his part to promote them.

On January 1, 1870, Mr. Franklin was mar- ried to Miss Anna Steiner, a native of Hanover. Germany, who came to the United States with her parents when she was one year old, and was reared and educated in New York state. She died on January 10, 1902, leaving one child, a son. Nathan E. Franklin, who received his scho- lastic education in the public schools of Deadwood and was afterward graduated from the depart- ment of pharmacy in the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana. He is now cashier of the American National Bank, of Deadwood.

In 1893 a movement was started by the busi- ness men of Deadwood to build a first-class mod- ern hotel in the city. Mr. Franklin took a great interest and a leading part in the project, and the result is the splendid hostelry known as the Hotel Franklin, which was named in his honor. The sum of forty thousand dollars was expended in purchasing the site and laying the foundation. then on account of the general depression of busi- ness the enterprise lay dormant for about nine years. But two or three years ago, mainly through Mr. Franklin's influence, it was revived

and the building was completed. In addition to the expense already incurred, the sum of one hundred and ten thousand dollars more was in- vested in it. and of this Mr. Franklin put in fif- ty thousand dollars. The hotel was opened for business in July, 1903, and is one of the most ele- gant and complete in the Northwest. Mr. Frank- lin has contributed liberally to other enterprises for the improvement of the town and the advan- tage of its people, and has probably done more than any other person for the development and progress of the whole Black Hills region. In 1881 he was the promoter and carried to success- fu! completion the first flour mill of Deadwood, with a capacity of two hundred barrels of flour per day. The mill burned, however, in 1897 and vas not rebuilt. An electric light plant had been installed and operated a couple of years, when it was abandoned as an unsuccessful enterprise. In 1887 Mr. Franklin came forward with others and bought the plant and put it upon a permanent and successful basis with modern methods. In all the relations of life and in every field of labor in which he has engaged he has exemplified in a signal degree the best attributes of American citizenship, and he has the satisfaction of not only seeing the results of his energy and public spirit blooming and fructifying around him, but of being securely established in the lasting regard and good will of his fellow men wherever he is known.

WILLIAM H. MARTIN .- The city of Sioux Falls is signally favored in having at the head of its police department so able an execu- tive as Chief Martin, who has shown the nit- most discrimination and force in the discharge of the executive duties of this important branch of the municipal government. Mr. Martin is a native of the state of Wisconsin, having been born in the town of Ashippun, Dodge county, on the 17th of February. 1850, and being a son of John Duncan Martin and Caroline (Wilks) Martin, both of whom were born and reared in Dundee, Scotland. The future chief received his early educational training in the public schools

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of his native town, and was reared to the sturdy discipline of the homestead farm. When but fifteen years of age he gave significant evidence of his patriotism and youthful valor by going forth in defense of the Union, whose integrity was then jeopardized by armed rebellion. He enlisted as a private in Company I, Forty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, where he proved him- self a faithful young soldier, being mustered out on the 24th of June, 1865, and receiving his hon- orable discharge. He then returned home and soon afterward entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, becoming a skilled artisan in the line and continuing to follow his trade as a vocation for several years. When twenty- one years of age he was elected constable of his native town, in which capacity he gained his first experience in the handling of malefactors, proving himself a capable officer and remaining incum- bent of the position for a period of six years. In 1876 he removed to Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in contracting and build- ing until 1882, when he was appointed deputy sheriff of the county, being inducted into this of- fice on the Ist of January and serving until 1888, making an excellent record. He then came to South Dakota and located in Sioux Falls, where he was engaged in building until May 7. 1890, when he was appointed a member of the police force of the city, serving two years as pa- trolman and being then, on the Ist of May, 1892, appointed to the position of chief of the police department, giving a most able administration of the office and being reappointed on the 3d of November, 1895, for a term of two years. In 1897-8 he was a guard at the state penitentiary, in this city, and on the 2d of May, 1900, there came a distinctive hark of the popular apprecia- tion of his ability and former services, in his reappointment to the position of chief of the police department, of which he has since re- mained in tenure. In politics the chief is a stanch Republican, and fraternally is identified with Unity Lodge, No. 130, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Sioux Falls Lodge, No. 262, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Joe

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 40

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