History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 42

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

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In 1883 Mr. Pendar was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Flint, who was born and reared in his native town of Salem, Massachusetts, the date of the marriage having been November Ist of the year mentioned. She died in July of the following year (1884.)

ERWIN J. TRACY, son of Squire and Graty P. (Leonard) Tracy, is a native of New York, born in St. Lawrence county, that state, on the 21st day of July, 1846. When ten years 16-

old he was taken by his parents to Sterling, Illi- nois, where he entered the public schools, the training thus received being afterwards supple- mented by a classical course in the Mt. Morris Seminary. from which institution he was gradu- ated at the age of twenty-four. After finishing his education, Mr. Tracy, in 1871, went to Wis- consin, where he engaged in teaching, spending in all about two and a half years in that line of work, divided about equally between the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. Abandoning the school room, he next embarked in the mercantile business at Arcadia, Wisconsin, where he re- mained three and a half years and built up a lut- crative trade, but at the expiration of that time he disposed of his establishment and in the fall of 1877 came to South Dakota, locating on a quarter section of land near the city of Sioux Falls. During the ensuing twenty years Mr. Tracy devoted his attention exclusively to agri- culture, with a large measure of financial suc- cess, accumulating the meanwhile a sufficiency of this world's goods to place him in independent circumstances. In the fall of 1897 he quit the farm and, moving to Sioux Falls, engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, which he still carries on and in which he has built up a large, far-reaching and lucrative patronage.

Until 1888 Mr. Tracy was a Republican, but that year he cast his lot with the Populist party, and became one of its active and influential work- ers in Minnehaha county. He was chosen dele- gate to four state conventions, was prominent in local politics, but put forth no efforts to advance his own interests, never having been an aspirant for public office. Subsequently he became dis- satisfied with the principles and policies of Popu- lism and this disaffection continuing to grow in intensity, he finally withdrew from the move- ment and returned to the folds of the Republi- can party, of which he has since been a zealous and uncompromising supporter.

Mr. Tracy, in 1879, was one of the organizers of the town of Wayne; he served as township clerk for some years, also held the offices of township treasurer, justice of the peace and road overseer, and took a leading part in forwarding

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the various interests of his community, mate- rially and otherwise.

Mr. Tracy is in every respect a representative man, and his present commendable standing in business circles is the result of sound intelligence and clear judgment, directed and controlled by wise forethought. Fraternally he belongs to the Order of Home Guardians and the Improved Order of Red Men, in both of which organiza- tions he has been honored with important official positions. Mr. Tracy was married in 1871 to Miss Flora O. Kipp, the union resulting in the birth of two sons, Lloyd E., of Tacoma, Wash- ington, and Earle H., who makes his home at Hibbing, Minnesota.

WILLIS R. WOOD, who is engaged in the lumber business at Parker, Turner county, is a native of the Badger state, having been born on a farm in Columbia county, Wisconsin, on the 23d of October, 1859, a son of Norman I. and Julia A. (Welliver) Wood, who were pioneers of that state, where the former was a successful farmer. The parents are now living in Green Lake county, Wisconsin. After completing the curriculum of the public schools the subject sup- plemented this discipline by a course of study. in the Wisconsin State Normal School at Oshkosh, this being in the year 1880. He thereafter taught school for a short time in his native state, after which he removed to Winterset, Iowa, where he was identified with the lumber business until August, 1884, when he came to Parker, South Dakota, as manager of the local interests of the Oshkosh Lumber Company, of Oshkosh, Wis- consin, which then maintained a number of lum- ber yards along the line of the Chicago, Milwau- kee & St. Paul Railroad. He thus continued in the employ of this company about five years, at the expiration of which he became associated with Charles W. Davis, of Oshkosh, in the pur- chase of the interests of the afore mentioned company in Parker and Alexandria, South Da- kota, and since that time the enterprise has been continued under the firm name of W. R. Wood & Company, the business having become one

of no inconsiderable scope and importance. In 1895 Mr. Wood purchased of Vale P. Thielman his abstract, land and loan business, at Parker. This enterprise was established by Mr. Thielman in 1870 and was conducted by him for a quarter of a century, thus having the prestige of being the oldest of the sort in the county, its foundation having been contemporaneous with the issuing of the patent of the first quarter section of land in the county, so that it figures as a distinctively pioneer institution. In politics Mr. Wood has ever been stanchly arrayed in support of the Republican party and its principles, and while he takes a deep interest in public affairs of a local nature he has never been a seeker of official pre- ferment. Fraternally he is identified with Parker Lodge, No. 30, Free and Accepted Masons ; Parker Lodge, No. 88, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Monitor Lodge, No. 57, Knights of Pythias, all of Parker. On January 19, 1904. Mr. Wood was united in marriage to Miss E. Belle Waterbury, of Nashua, Iowa.

JOSEPH P. GRABER, the able and popu- lar superintendent of schools of Turner county, was born in Waldheim, Wolinska Gubernia, Rus- sia, on the 18th of October, 1868, a son of Peter and Frances (Waltner) Graber, both of whom came of stanch German lineage. The parents of our subject emigrated to America in 1874, arriv- ing in the new world in September of that year. They came forthwith to the territory of Dakota and the father filed entry on government land one mile south of the present town of Freeman, Hutchinson county, South Dakota, becoming one of the pioneer farmers and stock growers of this section and still residing on his old homestead, one of the honored and influential citizens of the county. His devoted wife died in 1879, and of their six children two are still living.

Joseph P. Graber has passed practically his entire life in South Dakota, being reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and early beginning to assist in its work, in the meanwhile attending the public schools during the winter months and showing a distinctive predilection

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for study and a marked appreciation of the value of education, so that his ambition led him to carry forward his studies into the higher branches. He attended Yankton College and later was a student in the University of Dakota, at Mitchell, pursuing a normal course. He con- tinned to work on the home farm during the summer seasons and attended school winters un- til the autumn of 1887, when he began teaching in his home district, receiving twenty-five dol- lars a month, and from that time forward his interest in educational work has never waned but has been manifested in an insistent and help- ful way. He continued actively engaged in teach- ing for eight years, being employed in the coun- try schools except the last three years of this period. For two years he was principal of the public schools of Freeman and for one year was assistant principal of the schools at Menno, Hutchinson county. In 1893 Mr. Graber pur- chased a farm in the western part of Turner county and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 1806, when he was elected to the office of auditor of Turner county, serving two terms and with marked acceptability. On the 7th of January, 1901, he was appointed county superintendent of schools, and at the reg- ular election in the following year was chosen as his own successor in this responsible office, whose affairs he has administered with consum- mate discretion and ability, sparing no pains or effort in bringing the work of the schools up to the highest standard and having shown much executive tact in unifying and systematizing this work. Early in 1902 Mr. Graber became prom- inently identified with the organization of the First National Bank of Freeman, of which he was made the first president, retaining this in- cumbency until January. 1903, when he retired, finding that his official duties as superintendent of schools demanded his undivided attention. In politics he has ever been stanchly arrayed in sup- port of the principles of the Republican party.

On the 15th of November, 1893. Mr. Graher was united in marriage to Miss Anna Waltner. of Childstown, this county, and they have four children, whose names are here given, with re-

spective dates of birth : Edwin, October 31, 1894; Melvin Victor, June 4, 1897 ; Rex Edgar, April 4, 1899, and Max, December 29, 1901.

WILLIAM HENRY HOLT was born in Willington, Tolland county, Connecticut, on the 13th of July, 1846, and is a son of William Holt, who was likewise a native of the Nutmeg state and a scion of a family long identified with the annals of New England, whither the original progenitors in America came from England in the colonial days. When he was ten years of age his parents came to the west and were num- bered among the pioneers of Delaware county, Iowa, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father having been in the hotel busi- ness. In 1863 he moved to Lama county, Iowa, where he was in the drug business. Later he moved to Cherokee county, Iowa, where he died in 1883. The subject's mother died in 1861. The subject completed the curriculum of the public schools and then continued his studies for some time in the Bowen Collegiate Institute, now known as Lenox College, in Hopkinton, that state. He initiated his independent career in 1865 and continued to be engaged in the drug business in Iowa until 1869. In that year he located at Cherokee, Iowa, and was employed in the merchandise business. Two days after his twenty-fifth birthday anniversary he came to Sioux Falls, where he has ever since maintained his home and where he has been successfully en- gaged in the real-estate business, handling both farm and town property and being the owner of valuable realty in a personal way. He is a liberal and progressive citizen and has ever done his part in furthering enterprises tending to en- hance the general welfare and advancement. In politics he gave his allegiance to the Republican party until 1896, when he exercised his franchise in support of Hon. William J. Bryan for the presidency. He is a prominent and appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has not only completed the circle of the York-rite bodies but has also attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, being

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affiliated with the consistory at Yankton, while he is also identified with the auxiliary organiza- tions, the Order of the Eastern Star and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mys- tic Shrine. For a number of years he was the recorder and secretary of all the subordinate Masonic orders in Sioux Falls, and in 1884 was grand recorder of the grand commandery.

In politics Mr. Holt is a Republican and was deputy register of deeds for about two years. In 1873 he was appointed sheriff of Minnehaha county to fill an unexpired term, filling the posi- tion for two years, while at the same time he was deputy United States marshal. In 1881 he was elected city auditor of Sioux Falls and held the office for thirteen years.

In 1886 Mr. Holt commenced the collection of Masonic publications in the United States and over the entire world, having now one of the best collections in the Union. He also com- menced, in 1894, a collection of the literature and publications of the Dakotas, intending to make of it a historical library for the state.

On the 15th of July, 1873. Mr. Holt was united in marriage to Miss Martha Helen Ray- mond, who was born in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 26th of November. 1847, be- ing a daughter of Frank and Martha Raymond. who were early settlers in the "Cream City." Mr. and Mrs. Holt have two children, Martha Etta, wife of Lieutenant E. E. Hawkins, of Seattle; and Edmund R.

GEORGE H. FULFORD, M. D., one of the distinctively representative physicians and surgeons of the state, being actively engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Sioux Falls, is a native of the state of New York, hav- ing been born in Chittenango, Madison county, on the 18th of July, 1854. and being a son of Rev. Daniel and Clara A. Fulford. His father was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and a member of the northern New York conference. He was born in England and ac- companied his parents to America when a lad of fourteen years, his wife having been born in

the state of New York. He was a man of ripe scholarship and noble character and accomplished a goodly work in his high calling. Dr. Fulford received his early education in the public schools of the various towns to which his father's voca- tion called him, through the itinerant system of the church of which he was a clergyman, and our subject was thus reared in a dozen or more towns in his native state. In 1872 he was grad- uated in the Ogdensburg Commercial College, and in 1876 was graduated in Ives Seminary, a literary and collegiate institution at Antwerp, New York, winning the gold medal offered for the best development in scholarship and deport- ment in that year. During the session of 1876-7 the Doctor attended the Syracuse University, and then entered the school of medicine of Boston University, where he completed the prescribed three years' course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1880, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He always took delight in his studies, which he never found irksome, even as a boy, and his early desire was to become a locomotive engineer, but before his graduation in Ives Seminary he had determined to prepare himself for the profession in which he has met with so notable success. During the winter term of 1874-5 he taught in the public schools of Pa- melia. New York. In 1888-9 he took a full post- graduate course in the New York Polyclinic. and in 1893 farther fortified himself for the work of his profession by a clinical course in Chicago. He began the practice of his profession in New Haven, New York, in 1880, and two years later removed to Henderson, that state, where he con- tinued in practice until December. 1885, when he came to Sioux Falls, arriving here the day before Christmas. He has here built up a very large and lucrative practice and is held in high regard in professional, business and social cir- cles. He has been very successful in a financial way since casting in his lot with the state. In politics the Doctor is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and was nom- inated for the office of county coroner in 1898. but met defeat with the balance of the ticket. He and his wife are valued members of the First

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Methodist Episcopal church, of whose board of trustees he has been a member for the past seven- teen years, while in 1886-7 he was treasurer of the church, as was he also from 1899 to 1001. and in 1902-3 he was treasurer of the building fund of the church. He has been identified with the American Institute of Homeopathy since 1893. with the South Dakota State Homeopathic Med- ical Society since 1892, and was president of the same in that and the following year, while fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order. the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Mutual Benefit Association, the Yeo- men, the Court of Honor and the Home Guar- dians. He is at the present time president of the board of directors of the City Rescue Mis- sion (now called Union City Mission.)

On the 15th of November, 1881, in Hender- son, New York, Dr. Fulford was united in mar- riage to Miss Katie E. Thompson, her parents having been natives of Vermont. while her fa- ther was for many years a prominent merchant and influential citizen of Henderson. Dr. and Mrs. Fulford have two children, Allen Thomp- son, who was born January 4, 1895, and Sydney, who was born February 10, 1896. On Deceni- ber 15. 1903, they adopted a girl twelve vears of age, named Ida Florence Fulford.

LEWIS VICTOR PEEK, of Wilmot, was born near Portage City, Columbia county, Wis- consin. September 26, 1862, being one of a fam- ily of four children, whose father, William H. Peek, a native of New York, was an early set- ler of Wisconsin, and by occupation a tiller of the soil. Lewis V. was reared to agricultural pursuits, acquired a strong physique under the rugged but wholesome discipline of the farm and grew to young manhood in Minnesota, to which state his parents removed when he was but a child. Later, in 1882, he accompanied the fam- ily to South Dakota and subsequently began clerking in a store at Milbank, but after spend- ing a short time in that town he accepted a sim-

ilar position in Wilmot, where he sold goods for one year.

In 1887 Mr. Peek was appointed deputy county treasurer and two years later succeeded to the office of treasurer to fill out the unex- pired terni of William McKissick, discharging the duties of the position until 1893, having been elected for a full term in 1891. Retiring from the office at the expiration of his period of serv- ice, he took a claim in the northern part of the county, where the name Victor was given to a township in compliment to him, and a little later he secured the postoffice at Vernon, to accommo- date people of that locality. After residing on his claim until the fall of 1894 Mr. Peek was elected cashier of the First State Bank of Wilmot, ac- cordingly he returned to the town and entered upon his duties, discharging the same to the satisfaction of all concerned until January, 1902, when he resigned. He is still interested in the bank, however, being a stockholder and a mem- ber of the board of directors, in addition to which he is secretary and treasurer of the Wilmot Land and Loan Company, the organization of which was brought about mainly through his agency and influence. He is also interested in agricul- ture and stock raising, and owns considerable valuable farm land in Roberts county, which he personally manages, also a fine residence in Wilmot and other city property, his various en- terprises having succeeded so well that he is now numbered with the financially strong and re- liable men of the community honored by his citi- zenship.

Mr. Peek has been and is still one of the leading men of Wilmot and since locating in the city he has been very closely identified with its history and development. He served several terms as trustee and mayor under the original municipal government and after a city charter was secured he was also honored with official station, being mayor at the present time. Like the majority of enterprising men, Mr. Peek is a Mason and stands high in the order, belong- ing to the blue lodge at Wilmot, the chapter at Milbank, the commandery at Watertown, the Scottish Rite at Aberdeen and the Mystic Shrine,

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which holds its session in the city of Sioux Falls. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and their several auxiliaries, and an active worker in the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America, with which he is connected.

Mr. Peek, on February 17, 1887, was mar- ried to Miss Ida C. Bailly, daughter of Alexan- der P. Bailly, of Minnesota, and is the father of one child, Stewart Irving Peek, whose birth oc- curred on April 18, 1896. As already indicated, Mr. Peek is one of Wilmot's valued and highly esteemed citizens. He has borne well his part in life and is now conducting a flourishing busi- ness and meeting with the success that is justly deserved.

T. J. HARRIS, postmaster of Wilmot, and one of the early settlers of Roberts county, was born in Illinois, July 28, 1848. His father, Thomas Harris, a native of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, emigrated to Illinois in 1830, became prominently identified with the community in which he lived and spent the remainder of his life in that state, dying some years ago at the advanced age of ninety-three. T. J. Harris is the youngest of nine children that grew to maturity, six of whom are still living. He was reared in his native state, enjoyed the advantages of a common-school education and after beginning life for himself followed different occupations in Illinois and Minnesota until the year 1880, when he came to South Dakota, locating in Roberts county, where he engaged in buying and ship- ping wheat for several firms, continuing the business until the fall of 1889, at which time he took charge of a large elevator at Wilmot. After managing the latter enterprise for a period of eight years, he resigned his position for the pur- pose of entering upon his duties as postmaster of Wilmot, to which office he was appointed in 1897 and which he has since held, proving an efficient and popular official and performing his func- tions creditably to himself and satisfactorily to the public.

In addition to his official relations, Mr. Har-

ris has large agricultural interests in Roberts county, owning two finely improved farms six miles south of Wilmot. He devotes consid- erable attention to these places, has reduced the greater part of his land to cultivation and real- izes from it no small share of his income. Ener- getic and public-spirited he manifests a lively re- gard in the affairs of his city and county and be- ing one of the leading Republicans of the same, has achieved much more than local repute as a politician, being widely and favorably known as a judicious party organizer and successful campaigner.

Mr. Harris is a member of the Pythian fra- ternity, but his acts of charity and benevolence are by no means confined to this order, being a liberal donor to all worthy objects and free to assist those who have met with misfortune or dis- couragements. Mr. Harris has a fine home in Wilmot and, with his wife, moves in the best social circles of the city. He was married in September, 1900, to Miss Emma A. Stowell, of Massachusetts, whose father, J. T. Stowell, was one of the pioneers of South Dakota, moving his family to the territory in 1880 and taking a prom- inent part in its subsequent history.

WALLACE S. LECOUNT, like many of the best citizens of this country, traces his ances- try to early French Huguenots, who, leaving their native home to escape religious prosecution, found a refuge in New England. His paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary veteran and also served in the war of 1812. On the mother's side, Mr. LeCount is also of colonial stock, being descended from the old Stark family of Glasgow, Scotland, representatives of which became closely identified with the history of New England, es- pecially of Vermont, where the name of Gen. John Stark, who added luster to the American arms during the Revolution by his signal victory at Bennington, is still held in reverence and re- spect. W. J. LeCount is a resident of Wisconsin, and for a number of years has been revenue collector for the first district of that state. Nellie Fowler, who became his wife, bore him six chil-

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dren, two sons and four daughters, five of the number still living, Wallace L. being the eldest of the family.

Wallace S. LeCount was born January 9, 1869, in Hartford, Wisconsin. After finishing the high-school course he engaged in newspaper work in Wisconsin, came to South Dakota, and in 1884 established, at Wilmot, the Roberts County Republican. He has a well-equipped office, and issues one of the best and most popu- lar local sheets in the state, it being Republican in politics and an able and fearless party organ. Typographically it is a creditable example of the art preservative, neat in its mechanical makeup, and is devoted to local and state happenings, and is a clean and exceedingly interesting family paper. The circulation is constantly increasing, the advertising patronage is liberal, and with a valuable plant its future influence and prosperity appear fully assured.

Through the medium of his paper, as well as by personal influence, Mr. LeCount has become known as a politician, and has been a member of the Republican state executive committee since 1899.

Mr. LeCount lives in the thriving town of Wilmot and is active in the interests of the mu- nicipality and the general welfare. He is a mem- ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of the last named.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 42

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