History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 77

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 77

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Order of the Eastern Star, of which last his wife likewise is a member.

On the 29th of July, 1902, Judge Dricken was united in marriage to Miss Mabelle A. Brown, who was born in Chicago, and who is a daughter of Dexter G. Brown, a prominent cit- izen of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Mrs. Dricken is a communicant of the Episcopal church.

JOHN T. POTTER, of Keystone, is a na- tive of Boston, Massachusetts, where he was born on September 14, 1847. He is the son of William E. and Elizabeth (Lewis) Potter, the former also a native of Boston, and the latter of historic Ply- mouth, in the same state. They were descend- ants of old colonial families, active and promi- nent in the early history of New England, the members of which bore their parts creditably in the affairs of that section in peace and war. The father's American ancestors came to this coun- try and settled at Concord, Massachusetts, in 1635 and the mother's to Plymouth in 1630. The pa- ternal great-grandfather was a soldier in the Rev- olution, participating in the siege of Boston and many other important engagements, and in sub- sequent wars members of both families have served their country with efficiency and manly courage. Both families have maintained their homes in Massachusetts from the time of their first arrival on American soil. Mr. Potter's fa- ther was a bookkeeper and accountant in Boston, and there the son.grew to the age of twenty years and was educated for mercantile life. In 1877 he came west to Earlville, Iowa, and during the next two years was engaged in merchandising there. In 1879 he returned to Boston and en- tered the service of a large wholesale house, first in the establishment and later as traveling sales- man. In 1880 he came to Fort Meade to take a position in the post trader's store, and he re- mained there employed in the store until the post tradership was abolished in 1883, when he came to Sturgis and opened a dry-goods and gents' furnishing store of his own. The town had then only a village organization, and soon after his arrival there he was elected chairman

of the board of trustees. When the place was incorporated as a city he became its first mayor. In the fall of 1890 he was elected to the state sen- ate on the Republican ticket, thus becoming a member of the second state legislative assembly. In the ensuing sessions of the body he demon- strated that he had legislative capacity of a high order, shrewdness in the management of public business and a wide knowledge of the needs of the state and his section in particular. He has always been prominent in public and social af- fairs at Sturgis, and is recognized on all sides as one of the leading and most useful citizens of the community. He has long been active in Free- masonry, and while living at Fort Meade organ- ized a Masonic lodge at Sturgis, which he served four years and a half as its worshipful master. He was successful in trade at Sturgis and con- ducted a large business. In 1891 he sold out and went to Chicago, where he secured employment with Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company, wholesale dry-goods merchants, with whom he remained until 1901. He then returned to this state and locating at Keystone, taking charge of the Key- stone Trading Company as manager. This com- pany was formed by the consolidation of the Bee Hive, owned by J. C. Haines, and the Stone-Pin- ney Company's store, which had been doing busi- ness at Keystone for a number of years. By the consolidation and necessary enlargement of the stock the Keystone Trading Company became the largest general merchandising establishment in this part of the Hills. It is incorporated, with J. O. Haines, of Rapid City, as president and Mr. Potter as secretary, treasurer and manager, the latter being also one of the principal stockholders. He is enterprising and progressive, makes a study of the needs of his trade and is diligent in providing for them, and always enforces the up- most integrity and fair dealing on the part of his employes toward his patrons. In fraternal rela- tions he is an enthusiastic Freemason, belonging to lodge, chapter, council and commandery in the fraternity, and taking a leading part in the work of each.

On September 5, 1865, Mr. Potter was mar- ried at Boston, Massachusetts, to Miss Fannie F.

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Trott. a native of that city. By virtue of his an- cestry and through his own desire Mr. Potter is an honored member of the Sons of the Revolu- tion at Boston, Massachusetts.

JOHN F. MURPHY, of Rapid City, one of the most enterprising and progressive of South Dakota's citizens, is a native of Ireland, born on June 20, 1835, and remained in his native land until he reached the age of eighteen years. In 1853 he came to the United States and settled at Cincinnati, where he served an apprenticeship in a foundry. After completing this he worked at his trade there and at St. Louis for a number of years. In 1858 he started for Pike's Peak over- land, in company with one other man, they hav- ing a wagon and two yoke of oxen. When they reached Denver they found hard times and the people suffering great hardships. There was no work and food was extremely scarce, many per- sons being almost in a starving condition. They sold their wagon and oxen and Mr. Murphy tried to go down the Platte river. in a boat, but was wrecked near where Columbus now stands. He then took the stage for Omaha, and from there he went to St. Joseph, where he secured work at his trade. When Mr. McGregory, the discoverer of gold in Colorado, ordered ma- chinery for a stamp mill Mr. Murphy cast it. This was the first stamp mill that went into the state, and it is much to his credit that it was well made and did its work in a satisfactory manner. He worked at his trade in St. Joseph until the begin- ning of the Civil war, when he went to Cincinnati and after working at his trade for awhile opened a foundry of his own there. This he continued to operate for four years. The plant was then de- stroyed by fire, and soon after that Mr. Murphy returned to St. Joseph and began an enterprise in the lumber business, which continued for a year, after which he dealt in grain and produce up and down the Missouri for a time. following this with pork packing at Brownville for four years. The winter of 1874-5 he passed on the board of trade in Chicago, dealing in pork. Be- ing stricken with the gold fever in the spring of

1875, he started with seven others for the Black Hills. They proceeded as far as the Red Cloud agency, hidden in freight wagons so as to escape the vigilance of the soldiers who were ordered to prevent everybody from entering the Hills. When the agency was reached Mr. Murphy took a con- tract to furnish wood for it and enrolled his com- panions as choppers. They spent a week there cutting down trees when observers were looking, and at other times were busy making pack sad- dles. When everything was ready they started north over an unknown country ; but they reached Hot Springs in safety and then went on to Custer City. Claims were located on French Creek and later on Spring Creek, but before the end of the year General Crook ordered them out of the coun- try. Mr. Murphy went to Sidney and bought the Calamity Jane mine, which was named after the renowned woman cowboy and Indian fighter, and was located two miles and a half from Custer. After wintering at Brownville, Nebraska, he started again for the Hills, arriving at Custer City in February. He brought a sawmill, which had been brought to Custer, the first ever set up in that section, and when the stampede to Dead- wood started he closed the mill down. He had then a number of oxen, and buying others and some wagons, he engaged in freighting between Cheyenne and Deadwood, continuing this work until 1880, when he moved the mill to Rawhide Buttes, Wyoming. During the next two years he ran his sawmill and selling it in 1883, he went to Laramie, Wyoming, where he bought a large flock of sheep which he brought into the Hills, placing them on Battle creek near the site of the present town of Hermosa. In the spring of 1884 he took up a ranch on the creek about four miles from Hermosa, and since then this has been his home ranch. It comprises four thousand acres, for all of which he has deeds. Since the death of his wife, in 1891, he has lived much of the time at Rapid City, with his daughter, Mrs. Robert Boyd. Since starting with sheep in 1863 he has devoted his attention almost exclusively to this branch of the stock industry, and is now the oldest and most extensive sheep grower in the state. The Mills brothers ran sheep in this country before he

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came, but they are gone and he is now the patri- arch of the business in this part of the world. His flocks cover one hundred and fifty miles of terri- tory, north and west, many large bands being leased out on shares ; and in addition to his home ranch he has extensive tracts of land elsewhere in various places. Although never taking an ac- tive part in partisan politics, he is public-spirited and enterprising for the welfare of the communi- ty, and is highly respected by all who know him.

On January 14. 1868, Mr. Murphy was mar- ried, at St. Joseph, Missouri, to Miss Mary Ryan, a native of Ireland, who came to this country with her parents in childhood. She died on April 11, 1892, leaving four children, Mary E., now Mrs. Robert Boyd. Paul C., Catherine C. and Dolly Agnes. Paul is associated with his father in business, the firm name being John F. Mur- phy & Son.

J. GEORGE LAMPERT .- Having come to the Black Hills region in his childhood and passed the greater part of his life in this section, J. George Lampert, of Keystone, one of the rising and prominent young business men of that por- tion of the state, is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the west and in full sympathy with the enterprise and aspirations of its people. He was born on March 13. 1871, at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and is the son of Jacob and Lena ( Kresse) Lam- pert. the former a native of Switzerland and the latter of Germany. In 1875 the family moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and in 1881 came to South Dakota, arriving at Rapid City in June. Mr. Lampert was ten years old at that time, and had been without much opportunity for schooling in his previous residences, so he received his scholastic training mainly in the schools of that town, also taking a course of special instruction in the State School of Mines, located there. Thereafter he was employed in a merchandising establishment at Rapid City until 1892, when he moved to Hill City and secured work in mills for three years, coming to Keystone in the fall of 1895. He at once secured an engagement with the Holy Terror Mining Company to work in

its mill and in that and the Keystone mill was em- ployed as an amalgamator until February II. 1902. At that time he bought stock in the Hayes- Hopkins Supply Company, and took a position in the store as assistant secretary and treasurer of the company. He is an active and zealous member of the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, in lodges at Key- stone. On June 25, 1902, at Keystone, he was married to Miss Edna M. Clifford, a native of Nebraska.

GEORGE A. CLARKE, of Keystone, Penn- ington county, was born April 3, 1849, at the bustling little city of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and he is the son of Frederick J. and Maria L. (Sayward) Clarke, descendants of old New England families, the former being a native of Connecticut and the latter of Massachusetts. In 1856 the family moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where George grew to manhood and was ed- 11cated. After leaving school he engaged in the grain business at that place until 1874. He then went to Atchison, Kansas, and after a residence of two years there, came to the Black Hills, ar- riving at Custer on May 4, 1876. He was in business at various places in the Black Hills until 1878. then moved to Rapid City, where for awhile he was occupied in the lumber industry and later followed merchandising, remaining there until 1893. In that year he closed out his interests at Custer and located at Keystone, which was a new camp at that time. Here he opened an assay of- fice, and being an experienced and well-qualified assayer, he soon built up a lucrative business, which he is still conducting. He is well known throughout the Hills as one of the progressive and representative men of Keystone, and having been studious and observant in his profession, has made valuable contributions to the scientific and technical knowledge of his section. He has a rare and valuable collections of fossils taken from the Bad Lands, which show the sort of animal life prevalent in that part of the country during the prehistoric ages. In addition to his work as an assayer he is extensively interested in mining, be-

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ing president of the Red Canyon Stucco Com- pany, which he helped to organize and which has one of the largest and most valuable deposits of gypsum in the United States. He is also secre- tary of the Mt. Aetna Mining and Milling Com- pany.

On October 4, 1874, Mr. Clarke was mar- ried, at Washington, Kansas, to Miss Susan Seidenbender, a native of Iowa. They have two children, Charles A. and Grace C. The son is an engineer by occupation and resides most of the time at Keystone. The daughter is the wife of a Mr. Graham.

WILLIAM BIRD, a representative farmer and stock grower of Spink county, is a native of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where he was born on the 23d of October, 1843, being the sev- enth in order of birth of the nine children of Wil- liam and Elizabeth Bird. The father of the sub- ject was born in England, whence he came to America in 1842, becoming one of the pioneer farmers of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where he passed the residue of his long and useful life, his wife likewise dying in that state, while of their children five are still living. The subject was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and early began to assist in its reclamation and cultivation, remaining at home until the out- break of the Civil war, when he gave prompt ev- idence of his loyalty and patriotic ardor, by re- sponding to President Lincoln's first call for vol- unteers. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company K, First Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry-Colonel Starkweather and Captain Fair- child-and was mustered into service in the fol- lowing month. He proceeded with his command to the front, and, crossing the Potomac with Pat- terson at Williamsport, took part in the battle of Falling Water, continuing on active duty until the expiration of his three-months term of enlist- ment. In August, 1862, he re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company E, Twenty-third Wiscon- sin Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Guppy, and with his regiment he marched from Covington, Kentucky, to the city of Louisville,

where they embarked on a transport packet boat for Memphis, Tennessee, and thence continued onward, under General Sherman, to Haines Bluff, in rear of Vicksburg, taking part in the engage- ments at that point and then returning and par- ticipating in the conflict at Arkansas Post. In this engagement Mr. Bird received a severe wound and was sent to the hospital in the city of St. Louis, where he received his honorable dis- charge, in August, 1863. He then returned to Wisconsin, where he devoted his attention to grain buying, in Iowa county, until 1881, when he came to South Dakota and took up a home- stead claim of government land, six miles south- east of the present town of Mellette, where he has ever since devoted his attention to general farm- ing and stock growing, in which he has met with distinctive success, making a specialty of rais- ing of the shorthorn type of cattle. He has since added an entire section to his ranch, so that he now has a well-improved and valuable landed es- tate of eight hundred acres. In politics he has ever given his allegiance to the Republican party, with which he identified himself at the time of its organization and in 1891 he was elected to rep- resent his district in the state senate, proving a valuable working member of the deliberative body of the legislature and being honored with a re- election in 1893, thus serving two consecutive terms. He is at the present time treasurer of the school board of his district and is loyal to all du- ties of citizenship. Religiously he is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church.

On the 21st of December, 1892, Mr. Bird was united in marriage to Miss Annie Meigs, who was born and reared in Wisconsin, being a daugh- ter of Gardner Meigs, a well-known resident of the Badger state. They have three children, La- visa E., Mary R. and Geneva A., all at the pa- rental home.

BENJAMIN M. MITCHELL, an enterpris- ing and prosperous pioneer of the Black Hills and other portions of the northwest, is a native of Portsmouth, Ohio, born on March 19, 1843, and is the son of Walter and Matilda (Masters)

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Mitchell, natives of Maryland. Benjamin's pa- ternal grandfather came to America in company with the great-grandfather of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Mr. Lee securing land in Virginia and Mr. Mitchell in Maryland. The father of Benjamin was a farmer and moved to Kentucky and later to Ohio in the early days, and in the latter state he was occupied in farming until his death. The son grew to the age of twenty and was educated in his native state. In February, 1863, he en- listed in defense of the Union in the Twelfth Mis- souri Cavalry, in which he served to the end of the Civil war, being most of the time in the Army of the Mississippi. He was mustered out of the service at Fort Leavenworth on March 9, 1866, and after a short visit to his Ohio home, settled in Linn county, Missouri, where he re- mained busily engaged in farming until 1874. He then went to Denver, Colorado, and after pass- ing two years there, came to the Black Hills in the spring of 1876, arriving at Deadwood on May 9th, having prospected all the way up from Cus- ter. He continued his activity in this line on his own account in and around Deadwood until the spring of 1880, when he moved to what is now Keystone. That year he and others located the "Bullion" claims, which promise to be the best paying property in the Hills, and also the "Co- lumbia," which is full of promise. Mr. Mitchell has put in twenty-three years prospecting and mining in this section of the country and is one of its oldest settlers. He is known and esteemed throughout the whole mining country of the northwest, is an active Republican in politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a highly estimable and universally admired citi- zen.

CAPTAIN NATHANIEL POPE, of Key- stone, Pennington county, was born on March 27, 1839, at St. Louis, Missouri, and is the son of William and Eliza (Douglas) Pope, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri. His forefathers came to America in colonial days and several members of the family were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. His maternal grand-

parents were among the first settlers in Missouri and aided in bringing that great state into being. He grew to the age of twenty in his native city and received his education in its public schools. In 1859 the family moved to Springfield, Illinois, where they were living at the beginning of the Civil war. Volunteering in defense of the Union in that memorable contest, he received a staff ap- pointment as captain, and when his uncle, Gen. John Pope, applied to President Lincoln, who was a friend of the family, to have his nephew as- signed to duty on his staff while he was in com- mand of the Army of Virginia, the request was granted and the captain served on his uncle's staff during the whole time of his command of that part of the Federal forces. In the spring of 1864 General Sully applied to have the captain go with him on an expedition up the Missouri to quiet the Indians, and he was attached to this ex- pedition and its works are matters of history. It fitted out at Sioux City with three thousand men and proceeded up the river to the site of old Fort Rice, which General Sully then built. Captain Pope was in command of the Prairie Battery, and on the trip he met Father De Smet who gave him his first information of the prevalence of gold in the Black Hills. They had a number of engage- ments with the Indians, one of which, in the Bad Lands at the headwaters of the Little Missouri, was disastrous to the savages, but the whites es- caped with small losses. Captain Pope was mus- tered out of service at Fort Leavenworth in Feb- ruary, 1866, and in the spring of that year he went to Montana. Locating at Fort Benton, he followed merchandising for a year and was then appointed agent for the Indians on the upper Mis- souri. After four years' service in that capacity, he was appointed by President Grant, in the fall of 1870, superintendent of Indian affairs in New Mexico. He held this position three years, after which he remained in the territory two more, en- gaged mostly in mining. In 1875 he went to Cal- ifornia, where he passed four years mining, then went to Fort Keogh on the Yellowstone in Mon- tana. There he was manager of a large post trader and general store until the fall of 1880, when he came to Deadwood in this state. A year

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later he moved to Harney, a mile and a half from Keystone, where he conducted a store two years and afterward engaged in prospecting and min- ing. Since 1884 he has lived at what is now Key- stone, which he helped to found, there being no town at the point when he settled there, and has been continuously connected with the mining industry in this section. For three years he was bookkeeper for the old Keystone Mining Company, and in 1902 accepted a position in the office of the Holy Terror Mining Company, which he still holds. He has a number of mining claims of his own which are full of promise. Fraternally, he belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic.

ANDREW G. WILLIAMS, who has been a resident of Gettysburg. Potter county, for the past score of years, is a native of the Badger state, having been born in Portage, Columbia county. Wisconsin, on the 12th of February, 1861. and being a son of O. P. and Mary A. Williams, his father a real-estate and insurance agent. He secured his educational training in his native town, where he duly availed himself of the ad- vantages afforded by the public schools, and con- tinned his residence in Wisconsin until 1880, when he came to what is now the state of South Dakota and took up his residence in Gettys- burg in 1884, where he now controls a large and flourishing real-estate business, his books show- ing at all times most desirable investments in town property and farming and grazing lands. He is one of the popular and public-spirited cit- izens of Gettysburg and a man of much force and initiative ability. Fraternally he has attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry, belonging to Aberdeen Consistory.

ARTHUR C. VAN METRE .- It is with feelings of respect and admiration that the writer essays the task of entering a brief memoir of one of the earliest pioneers of the great territory of Dakota, a man of distinct individuality, intrepid courage, exalted integrity and noble generosity,

-Arthur C. Van Metre, who lived up to the full tension of the early life on the great western frontier, whose life was one of adventure and many vicissitudes and who left his impress on the history of the territory and state. We can not do better than to quote somewhat fully from an article concerning him which appeared in the Stock Journal of Fort Pierre at the time of his death: "Arthur C. Van Metre, familiarly known as 'Van,' is no more. Sunday morning (January 18. 1903), while walking along the road on Bad river, he fell into the arms of Carl Mathews, who was with him, and died almost instantly, aged sixty-four years, nine months and sixteen days. He was born at Winchester, Virginia, on the 2d of April, 1837, and there attended school until he had attained the age of eleven years, when he went to Missouri, where he remained with relatives until he was sixteen, when he joined the General Harney expedition as teamster and went to Fort Leavenworth, being with him on the Platte and coming to Dakota in 1855. when only seventeen years old. In the following year he assisted in building the old fort, which stood about four miles north of the present site of the city of Fort Pierre. He married Mary Aungie, a five-eighths Sioux Indian girl, in Sioux City, Iowa. on November 28, 1858, and located on the Vermillion river, Dakota, where the town of Vermillion now stands. It was then but an Indian village and it was there that his eldest daughter was born. She was the first white child born within the limits of the territory of Dakota, but history has not hitherto recorded the fact, because of the Indian blood in her veins. He built the first ferry on the Vermillion and transferred all the government troops as well as the Indians. He coveted for his children what circumstances had denied to him personally, and saw that they were all well educated. His son John T. was admitted to the bar in 1890 and was the first man of Sioux extraction ever given that distinction.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 77

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