History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 43

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 43

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Mr. LeCount was married on May 2, 1891, to Miss Emily M. Heimes, of Michigan, daugh- ter of August Heimes.

REV. ULYSSES GRANT LACEY, the able and popular pastor of the Presbyterian church of Miller, claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born near the city of Columbus, Franklin county, Ohio, on the 27th of May, 1867, and being a son of George W. and Mary J. ( Patterson) Lacey. the former of whom was born in the state of Ohio and the latter in Virginia. The father of the subject was a farmer by vocation, and both he

and his wife live a retired life in Maitland, Mis- souri. When the subject was but a child his parents removed to Holt county, Missouri, in which state he was reared to maturity. After duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools and after serving a five-years ap- prenticeship as teacher, he entered Highland Uni- versity, in 1893, in northeastern Kansas. After two years of college work he was recommended by Highland presbytery to the seminary. He had in the meanwhile determined to prepare himself for the work of the ministry, and his consecra- tion to this noble calling has been of the most insistent and objectively prolific nature. In 1895 Mr. Lacey was matriculated in the Omaha Theo- logical Seminary, a Presbyterian institution, and there he completed his ecclesiastical course of study and was graduated in 1898. His first charge was in South Dakota, his ordination to the ministry having been subsequent to his grad- uation by Central Dakota presbytery. Shortly after leaving the seminary in Omaha he became a member of the presbytery of Central Dakota and accepted the pastoral charge of the church organizations in Wentworth, Coleman and Bethel, this state. In this connection he labored zealously and effectively for nearly five years, within which time, with the devoted co-operation of his people, he effected the erection of a church edifice in each of the villages mentioned, and none of these buildings represented an expendi- ture of less than fifteen hundred dollars. The membership was doubled in the churches in Wentworth and Bethel, while in Coleman the roll of members was augmented by three times the original number represented. During his earn- est labors in this attractive but exacting field Mr. Lacey resided in the village of Wentworth, and there the church erected for his use a beautiful cottage parsonage. In September, 1902, Mr. Lacey resigned these pastoral charges to accept the call extended by the church in Miller, and his resignation was a cause of deep regret to his former parishioners, but they released him in or- der that he might continue his good work in a wider field. Since assuming the pastorate of the church in Miller he has succeeded in increasing

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its membership near one hundred per cent., while all departments of the church work have been vitalized, the progress in both a spiritual and temporal sense being most gratifying. At the time when he came to Miller Mr. Lacey also had a call to the pastorate of a church in northeast Minnesota, at a salary larger than that offered by the church in Miller. Learning of this status of affairs, the society called a meeting and vol- untarily agreed to offer the same compensation as that offered by the Minnesota church, while Mr. Lacey was also most earnestly and insistently urged to remain here, which he did. He is a man of rare pulpit ability, a forceful and logical speaker and one who is thoroughly fortified and grounded in the faith which he exemplifies in his daily walk and conversation as well as in his sacred ecclesiastical functions. He is untiring in his efforts, has unbounded zeal and enthusiasm and his personality is such as to win and to re- tain to him the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact. While a resident of Went- worth Mr. Lacey drove thirty miles each Sun- day in order to hold services in each of the three places assigned to his charge, and in all other portions of his work he has shown the same self- abnegation and the same solicitude for the up- lifting of his fellow men. In politics he gives his support to the party for which his father fought for four years and received an honorable dis- charge in 1865. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient and Accepted Order of Scottish Rite Masons.

On the 23d of December, 1801, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Lacey to Miss Minnie Noland, who was born and reared in Holt county. Missouri, and to them were born two children, Glenn D. and Helen F., born February 14, 1893. and May 23. 1896, respectively.

ROBERT L. MURDY, M. D., who is suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the attractive city of Aberdeen, Brown county. was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania. on the 31st of May, 1869, and is a son of Andrew and Eliza Murdy, the lineage being of Scotch-

Irish derivation. He received his early educa- tional discipline in the public schools of Iowa, having completed a course of study in the high school at Moulton, while later he attended a busi- ness college in the city of Keokuk. In 1889 he was matriculated in the Keokuk Medical College, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1892, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1806 he was graduated in the Missouri Medical College, at St. Louis, Missouri, from which in- stitution likewise he secured a degree. In 1901 he took a post-graduate course in a clinical school in the city of Chicago; in 1902-3 he took post- graduate work in surgery and gynecology in Vi- enna, Austria, and upon his return to America, in the spring of 1903. he took a post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic, so that he is most admirably equipped for the work of his ex- acting and noble profession. In 1892 the Doctor located in Bowdle. Edmunds county, South Da- kota, where he was engaged in practice until September of the following year, when he went to the city of St. Louis for further study. In January, 1898, he returned to South Dakota and located in Aberdeen, where he has since been most successfully engaged in practice save for the intervals given to post-graduate study in various . prominent institutions, as previously noted. He is a member of the American Medical Associa- tion, the State Medical Society of South Dakota and the Aberdeen District Medical Society, and is held in high esteem in professional circles as well as in the business and social circles of his home city. He has read several interesting and prac- tical papers before the local and state medical so- cieties. He is surgeon for the Chicago, Milwau- kee & St. Paul Railroad Company and visiting surgeon to St. Luke's Hospital at Aberdeen. In politics he is a conservative Democrat, believing firmly in the generic principles of the party, and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pyth- ias, Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is not for- mally a member of any religions body but is an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal church, with whose faith and impressive ritual he is in

ROBERT L. MURDY, M. D.

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sympathy, Mrs. Murdy being a communicant of the same.

On the 19th of April, 1896, Dr. Murdy was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Colliver, who was born in Davis county, Iowa, being a daugh- ter of John and Martha Colliver. Of this union have been born two children, Robert C. and Ber- nice, who lend cheer and brightness to the family home.

P. D. KRIBS was born in the city of Elgin, Illinois, on the 5th of July, 1846, being a son of Paul and Sarah A. Kribs, who removed thence to Trempealeau county, Wisconsin, in 1865, his father there engaging in farming, to which he continued to devote his attention until his death. The subject was thus reared to manhood in the county noted and there received his early edu- cational discipline in the public schools, after which he prosecuted a course of study in the Galesville University, at Galesville, that county, while it is interesting to recall in the connection that among his fellow students was Hon. Charles N. Herreid, the present governor of South Da- kota. After leaving school Mr. Kribs was en- gaged in teaching until March, 1886, when he came to South Dakota and located in the village of Leola, McPherson county, where he engaged in the drug business. He also became the pub- lisher of the Northwest Blade, which he con- tinued in Leola for three years, then removing the plant and business to Eureka, in the same county, where he continued the publication until April, 1894, when he sold out to his partner. In July, 1895, Mr. Kribs came to Columbia, and here established himself in the drug business, which he has since continued.

Mr. Kribs is a stalwart advocate of the prin- ciples and policies of the Republican party and has taken an active part in political affairs. In the autumn of 1902 he was elected to represent Brown county in the lower house of the state leg- islature. He was assigned to the committees on education, public health, libraries and printing. Mr. Kribs has ever been a stanch friend of the cause of popular education and has rendered most

effective service along this line since coming to South Dakota. Before a meeting of the board of directors of Brown county he read a timely and able article touching the matter of centralizing the work of rural schools in the interest of effect- ive service, advocating the establishing of cen- tral high schools in the various townships and thus bringing the higher school advantages ac- cessible to a greater number and materially im- proving the system as a whole. This article was published by the state department of education and largely circulated throughout the state.

In Leola. McPherson county, this state, on the 8th of November, 1887, Mr. Kribs was united in marriage to Miss Hattie M. Cavanagh, who was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, being a daughter of P. and Mary A. Cavanagh, who came to South Dakota in 1886. Mr. and . Mrs. Kribs have three daughters, Edith, Olive and Ruth, who remain at the parental home and who are to be afforded the best of educational advantages.

NELSON LEE FINCH, president of the Citizens' State Bank of Andover, Andover. Day county, is a native of the Empire state of the Union, having been born in Broadalbin, Fulton county, New York, on the 12th of January, 1873. a son of William W. and Carrie (Lee) Finch, both of whom were likewise born in the state of New York, being of English and English-French lineage respectively. The subject of this sketch attended the public schools of his native town until he had attained the age of ten years, when, in 1883, he accompanied his parents on their re- moval to South Dakota, the family locating in Andover, Day county, where the father engaged in the mercantile business. Here Nelson con- tinued to attend the public schools until 1889, during which year and that following he was a student in the South Dakota State Agricultural College, at Brookings, as a member of the class of 1893. In 1890 he continued his educational discipline in the Curtiss Commercial College, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, being graduated in July of that year. He then returned to his home in

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Andover and was thereafter associated with his father in the management of his business affairs until 1895. In January of that year his par- ents removed to New York state, our subject pur- chasing at that time his father's general mer- chandise business in Andover. This enterprise he successfully conducted until June, 1897, when he sold the same to E. C. Toy and soon after- ward effected the organization of the Citizens' Bank, of which he continued proprietor and manager until July, 1902, when the institution was reorganized and incorporated as the Citizens' State Bank, and Mr. Finch has been its president from its inception, while Wallace Finch, of Glo- versville, New York, is vice-president, and J. W. Krueger, cashier. The bank has a capital and surplus of twenty-five thousand dollars and is one of the solid and well-managed financial con- cerns of the state. The bank building is a sub- stantial and attractive brick structure and the counting rooms are modern in their equipments and facilities, a portion of the building being utilized for the offices of the Day County Land Company. Of this latter corporation Mr. Finch was one of the organizers, in 1898, and when it was incorporated, in 1902, he was elected sec- retary and treasurer, which dual office he held until November 1, 1903. In December of the same year Mr. Finch disposed of his stock and retired from the institution.

Mr. Finch was the first president of the Andover Hotel Company, owners of the mag- nificent Hotel Waldorf. recently erected in Andover, and for several years was a director and executive officer in two other corporations there. He is president of the board of education, and has ever taken a deep and helpful interest in educational affairs and in all else that makes for the well-being of his home town, county and state. Mr. Finch is a member of the Baptist church, and fraternally is a Knight Templar, a thirty-second-degree Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a stanch Re- publican, and while he has taken an active part in the promotion of the party cause he has never sought or held official preferment, except that of city treasurer, of which he has been continuously

incumbent since 1897. He enjoys the highest popularity in business and social circles and is one of the progressive and able young business men of South Dakota. Mr. Finch is a bachelor.

WILLIAM H. BAYNE was born near Me- dina, Orleans county, New York, on December 30, 1840. His father was a farmer and William H. devoted his early life to the rugged outdoor labor so conducive to health, physical development and the formation of industrious habits. His educa- tion embraced the common-school course and he grew to young manhood well prepared for the duties that awaited him as an industrious and intelligent American citizen. He was a young man in his twenty-first year when the country became alarmed by the threat of civil war and when the rebellion broke out he tendered his services to the government, enlisting in November, 1861, in Company D, Twenty-eighth New York Infantry. He accompanied his command to the front and saw considerable active duty in Mary- land and along the Potomac river, but after a few months a severe attack of typhoid fever caused him to be sent to the hospital at Winches- ter, where he remained under treatment until his discharge, just six months and ten days after entering the army.

In the spring of 1864 Mr. Bayne went to Toledo, Ohio, for the purpose of helping his uncle run a boat on the Miami canal, but soon reaching that city he changed his mind and again entered the military service, joining Company C, of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio National Guards, with which he continued for a period of four months and twenty days. During a part of that time his command was stationed at John- son's Island, and from there was sent to Vir- ginia, where it did guard duty principally until the expiration of the subject's period of enlist- ment. On leaving the army Mr. Bayne went to Michigan and, purchasing a small tract of land near the city of Coldwater, engaged in the pur- suit of agriculture. After spending fifteen years in that state, he disposed of his land and other interests and in 1880 came to South Dakota and

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located a claim near Rondel, Brown county. Im- mediately following this he went to Chicago and began working at carpentry, which trade he had previously learned, and for a considerable length of time he was employed in the town of Pullman, at various kinds of mechanical labor.

Returning to Dakota in 1880, Mr. Bayne se- cured a tree claim and homestead, which he has since improved and on which he now lives, de- voting his original homestead to the raising of live stock. He carries on farming and the live- stock business quite extensively and has made a success of both, owning at this time one of the best improved places in the township of his resi- dence. in addition to which he rents considerable land for the prosecution of his agricultural inter- ests. He pays considerable attention to live stock, making a specialty of cattle and hogs, and from this source derives a liberal share of his income.

Mr. Bayne is an enterprising man and a cred- itable representative of that large and respectable class of yeomen that in a quiet, unostentatious way have done so much to improve the great west and develop its resources. A gentleman of pleasant manner and mien, courteous in his rela- tions with others, he makes friends of all he meets and exercises a wholesome influence among his neighbors and fellow citizens. His sound judgment, practical common sense and correct ideas of right led to his election to the office of justice of the peace. which position he held for a period of ten years, proving an able and dis- creet dispenser of justice, as is attested by the fairness of his rulings and the impartial manner in which he rendered his decisions. Mr. Bayne is a Republican in politics and remained true to the principles of his party when it was threat- ened with disruption by the Populist movement of a few years ago. He has never been a seeker after public position, but labors earnestly for the success of the party's candidate, preferring to work for others rather than claim official hon- ors for himself.

Mr. Bayne was married while living in Michi- gan, but his wife died in California a few years ago. Her maiden name was C. A. Kingsley and she bore him children as follows: Alice

S., who lives in Sioux City, Iowa; Georgia M., wife of John Humphrey, also of that place; Pearl, now Mrs. John Meesh, of California, and Mrs. Ella E. Gay, whose home is in California. In 1884 Mr. Bayne was married to Jennie F. Cool, of Grand Detour, Illinois. Fraternally Mr. Bayne belongs to the Grand Army of the Re- public and at different times has filled official position in the local post with which he holds membership.

JOHN H. BOCKLER is a native of Wash- ington county, Wisconsin, where his birth oc- curred on the 27th day of November, 1861. Born in the country and reared on a farm, he grew up with well-defined ideas of life and its responsibil- ities, and while still young he laid plans for the future and has lived to carry out the same. He attended school in Winona county, Minnesota, and on attaining his majority came to South Da- kota, arriving in Brown county in the year 1882. Shortly after reaching his destination Mr. Bock- ler pre-empted a claim in Rondel township, seven miles southeast of Warner, and, addressing him- self to its improvement, in due time had a good farmı under cultivation, from the proceeds of which he has since been enabled to add to his realty until he now owns land to the amount of four hundred and eighty acres, all well situ- ated and valuable. He has devoted his attention to general farming and stock raising and is to- day classed with the enterprising and successful men of the community in which he lives, being well situated financially and an influential factor in the affairs of his township and county.

Mr. Bockler has achieved an enviable reputa- tion by reason of his success as a raiser of fine stock, his horses, cattle and sheep being of su- perior breeds and among the best to be found in this part of the state. He pays especial atten- tion to the Percheron horse, in the breeding and raising of which he has gained more than local repute ; his cattle are of the finest blood and he has also been fortunate in the raising of the famed Cotswold breed of sheep, having been among the first to introduce those valuable ani-

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mals among the farmers of Brown county. Mr. Bockler's various business enterprises have suc- ceeded according to his expectations and his ca- reer since coming west presents a succession of advancements such as few would have achieved under similar circumstances. He has taken an active interest in public affairs, served two terms as county commissioner and was a member of the board that planned and contracted for the new court house. In politics Mr. Bockler is what may be termed an independent, reserving the right to exercise his own judgment as to candi- dates and principles instead of obeying the dic- tates of party leaders.

Mr. Bockler, on December 10, 1891, entered the marriage relation with Miss Ida Pansegrau, of Aberdeen, and his family at this time consists of four children, namely : Nora, Herbert, Edna and Ethel. Mr. and Mrs. Bockler are among the highly esteemed people of their community, re- spected by a large number of friends for their many sterling qualities.

WILLIAM EGELAND, the present auditor of Day county and one of the popular young men of Webster, the county seat, was born in the city of Fargo, North Dakota, on the 7th of May, 1876, and is a son of Bertinius H. and Martha Ege- land, the former of whom was born in Wiscon- sin and the latter in Norway, while their mar- riage was solemnized in the state of Wisconsin. In 1880 they came to Day county, South Dakota, locating in what is now Egeland township, in the southwestern part of the county, said township being named in honor of Mr. Egeland, who died January 19, 1898. He was elected county auditor in 1894 and at the expiration of his first term was chosen as his own successor, serving one year of his second term.

The subject of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of North and South Dakota, and supplemented this by taking a five-years course in the Augsburg Seminary, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. In March, 1895, he became deputy county auditor under his father's administration and served continuously as such

until March, 1901, when he entered upon the cluties of the office as auditor, having been elected in the fall of the preceding year. His experience as deputy had well fitted him for the work as- signed to him and he has proved a most able executive, gaining unqualified commendation throughout the county. He was elected first on the Populist ticket, and in November, 1902, was elected, received the nomination on both the Re- publican and Populist tickets, being elected prac- tically without opposition. He is now a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party. His religious faith is that of the Lutheran church and fraternally he is identified with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen.

HENRY A. PEIRCE, of Wessington. Beadle county, is a native of Chautauqua county, New York, where he was born on the 11th of October, 1844, being a son of Austin and Mary Ann Peirce, representatives of old and honored families of that section of the Empire common- wealth. The subject passed his boyhood on the homestead farm and after attending the common schools continued his studies in the academy at Fredonia, while later he took a course in the Buffalo Commercial College, being there gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1863, after which he served in the Union army and was a witness of the battle of Gettysburg. After the close of the war he followed mercantile business and farm- ing.

In 1883 Mr. Peirce came to what is now the state of South Dakota, and located in Jerauld county, where he engaged in stock raising, to which line of industry he devoted his attention about five years, being successful in his efforts. He then disposed of his interests in this line and in 1889 came to Wessington and established the Bank of Wessington, which is known as one of the solid financial institutions of the state and which has met with representative popular sup- port and appreciation from the time of its in- ception. Mr. Peirce is president of the bank and

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as executive head of the same has directed its affairs with marked ability and discrimination. In politics he gives an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party but has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of public office. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Ancient Or- der of United Workmen and the Royal Arcanum.

Mr. Peirce has one daughter, Julia L., who is now a successful and popular teacher in the pub- lic schools of the state of Washington.

JACOB H. COLE, a successful and honored member of the bar of Hand county, is a native of the Hawkeye state, having been born on a farm near the town of Pella, Marion county, Iowa, on the 3d of February, 1859, and being a son of Aart and Hendrika (DeBooy) Cole, of whose ten children seven are living at the pres- ent time. The father of the subject was one of a colony of fourteen hundred persons who left Holland, their native land, as a protest against the attempt of the Holland government to estab- lish a state church whose tenets were antago- nistic to their faith, and of the number seven hun- dred settled in Michigan, where they founded the now flourishing city of Holland and settled up a large section of Ottawa county. The re- maining seven hundred colonists, among whom was the father of the subject-the only one of his family-proceeded farther west and located in Marion county, Iowa, establishing a sturdy col- ony and founding the town of Pella, the name being a biblical term, meaning a city of refuge. Aart Cole there engaged in farming, becoming one of the prominent and influential men of the community, and there he married his wife, who was likewise a native of Holland, coming over with her parents, all members of said colony ; she is also now deceased.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 43

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