History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 82

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

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being sent at different times to represent it in the grand lodge.

The domestic life of Mr. Sherwood dates from 1888, in April of which year he entered the marriage relation with Miss Elgetha Masters, of DeSmet, daughter of Samuel O. and Margaret A. Masters, natives of New York. Mrs. Sher- wood was educated in Corning, New York, and after coming to South Dakota taught for four years in the public schools of DeSmet ; she is now the mother of three children, whose names are Vincent, Reginald and Aubrey. The subject and wife are zealous and influential members of the First Baptist church of DeSmet, the former hav- ing served the congregation as clerk and trustee, the latter holding the office of treasurer at the present time.

Mrs. Sherwood is also a member of the De- gree of Honor, in which she has large influence, having served the local lodge in various official capacities. During 1902 and 1903 she was grand chief of honor for the state of South Dakota and the latter year represented the order in the super- ior lodge.

J. F. ADAMS, editor and publisher of the Leader, in the village of White, Brookings county, is a native of Mankato, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where he was born on the oth of April, 1877. being a son of F. J. and Lena (Kohl) Adams, of whom specific mention is made on another page of this work, so that a re- capitulation of the family history is not demanded in this connection. The subject was a child of about two and one-half years at the time of his parents' removal from Minnesota to Brookings, South Dakota, in 1880, and there he was reared to maturity, having prosecuted his studies in the public schools until he was eighteen years of age, when he entered the office of the Brookings Press, where he served an apprenticeship at the "art preservative of all arts," gaining an intimate knowledge of the various details of the printing business. Prior to identifying himself with his present enterprise he worked at his trade in var- ions towns in South Dakota, Wisconsin and Min-

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nesota, and in 1900 established the White Leader, over whose destinies he has since presided, mak- ing the paper an effective exponent of local in- terests and also a local power in political and pub- lic affairs, the policy of the paper being uncom- promisingly Republican. The Leader is issued on Friday of each week and is an eight-column folio. The office is located in a two-story build- ing, which is owned by Mr. Adams, and its equipment is modern and complete, the job de- partment having the best of facilities for turning out all classes of work customarily handled in a country office.

In politics Mr, Adams is a stalwart Republi- can, and both in a personal way and through the columns of his paper does what he can for the promotion of the party cause. He is affiliated with White Lodge, No. 3691, Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the South Da- kota Press Association, in which he takes a lively interest. He and his wife are members of the Daughters of Rebekah, auxiliary to the Odd Fel- lows lodge, of which he is a member.

On the 25th of July, 1900, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss M. H. Halstead, who was born in Mankato, Minnesota, being a daughter of F. A. Halstead, now of Mankato. She is a lady of culture and gracious presence and has won a wide circle of friends in White, being prominent in social and church affairs and being a member of the Congregational church. She has excellent literary taste and materially assists her husband in his newspaper enterprise.

F. J. ADAMS, one of the successful business men and honored citizens of White, Brookings county, was born in Cologne, Germany, on the 2d of February, 1852, being a son of Joseph and Elizabeth Adams, who emigrated to America in 1864, taking up their residence in New York city, where he remained two years, the father of the subject being there engaged in the bakery business. In 1866 he removed with his family to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was employed in a manufacturing establishment until 1871, when he removed to Blue Earth county, Minne- 31-

sota, and took up a tract of government land, near Mankato, being one of the pioneers of that sec- tion of the state and devoting the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. His death oc- curred on his home place, in 1900, while his devoted wife passed away in 1886, both having been communicants of the Catholic church.

The subject of this review was a lad of twelve years at the time of the family emigration to America, and his preliminary educational disci- pline had been secured in the excellent schools of the fatherland. He thereafter attended school as opportunity afforded, and after coming to Min- nesota he assisted in the reclamation and cultiva- tion of the homestead farm until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when he entered upon an apprenticeship at the harnessmaking trade, in Mankato, becoming in due time a skilled work- man. In 1872 he went to the city of St. Paul, where he was engaged in the work of his trade for two years, after which he returned to Man- kota, where he continued in the work of his trade until 1880, when he came to Brookings, South Dakota, where, in company with his brother Christ, he opened a harness shop, continuing to be associated with the enterprise until 1887, when he disposed of his interest to his brother and re- moved to the village of White, in the same county, where he has ever since maintained his home. Here he established a harness shop and in the intervening years has built up a good business.

In politics Mr. Adams has ever given an un- qualified allegiance to the Republican party, and he has been prominent as a worker in its ranks since coming to South Dakota, having been a del- egate to various party conventions and ever striv- ing to promote the cause. He served for three years as a member of the board of county com- missioners, was a member of the board of alder- men of Brookings for eight years, and has served one term on the school board of the village of White. He was reared in the faith of the Cath- olic church, but is not identified with any relig- ious body, being liberal and tolerant in his views. Mr. Adams is one of the prominent and popular members of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows in the state, and at the time of this writing

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is an officer in the grand lodge of the order. to which same he had previously been a delegate many times. Ile is a member of the encampment of the Odd Fellows and is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. While a resi- dent of Brookings he was for sixteen years presi- dent and manager of the First Regimental Band of that city, being an excellent musician. The band accompanied the South Dakota editors on their trip to the National Park, and also played two weeks at the Columbian Exposition at Chi- cago.

On the 30th of April, 1876, Mr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Lena Kohl, who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, being a daughter of John and Gertrude Kohl, both of whom were born in Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Adams have been born seven children, all of whom are living ex- cept one: J. F. is the subject of an individual sketch appearing on another page of this volume; F. C. died at the age of nineteen years : Gertrude is a teacher in the public schools of Brookings county : and Cornelius, Walter, Louise and An- thony remain at the parental home.

R. H. HOLDEN. of White, Brookings county, is a native of the Badger state, having been born in Sparta, Monroe county, Wisconsin, on the 26th of November, 1874, and being a son of Nelson H. and Nettie H. (Stewart) Holden, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, where their marriage was solem- nized. The father of the subject read law for some time and continued to make his home in the old Empire state until the latter part of 1860, when he removed to Sparta, Wisconsin, where he was for some time a popular teacher in the public schools, eventually becoming superintendent of schools in Monroe county. In the spring of 1879 he came with his family to South Dakota and lo- cated on a homestead claim, in Sherman township, Brookings county, being numbered among the first settlers in this section. He continued to re- side on this farm for eight years, in the mean- while accumulating other traets of land and be- coming one of the prosperous farmers of the

county. In 1886 he established himself in the banking business in White, opening what was known as the Citizens' Exchange Bank, of whose stock he was the sole owner. In 1898 he reor- ganized the institution under the name of the Bank of White, and in 1901 it was incorporated as the Farmers' State Bank of White, and con- verted into the Farmers' National Bank of White, in 1904, he being one of the largest stockholders. He is now a director of the bank and is one of the town's most influential and honored citizens. Of his eight children we enter the following brief record: Almond N. is a teacher in the state school for the deaf and dumh in San Francisco; Mabel is the wife of Arthur H. Kenyon, a suc- cessful lawyer of Spokane, Washington; Nellie is the wife of Dr. Henry H. Clark, who is en- gaged in the practice of his profession in Water- town, South Dakota ; Ralph H. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Florence is the wife of Delbert E. Wood, assistant postmaster at Pipe- stone, Minnesota ; and Pearl, Patience and Netta still remain at the parental home.

The subject of this sketch was a lad of five years at the time of his parents' removal to South Dakota, and he was reared to the age of fourteen years on the homestead farm in Brookings county, in the meanwhile attending the district schools. After the family located in White he entered the public schools, being graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1892. In the following spring he entered the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business University, at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was graduated in 1895. with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then went to the city of Spokane, Washing- ton, where he began reading law in the office of his brother-in-law, Mr. Kenyon. In October of the following year he returned to White and en- tered his father's bank, being made cashier at the time of the first reorganization, in 1898, while upon the second reorganization, under the pres- ent title, he became a stockholder in the institu- tion, in which he acted as assistant cashier until April. 1902, when he was elected to his present of- fice of cashier. He has shown marked discrimin- ation and administrative ability and has handled

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executive duties to the full satisfaction of all concerned. He is the owner of a section of val- uable land, located in Oaklake and Sherman townships and also of two or three residence prop- erties in White, having accumulated about fifteen thousand dollars since leaving school and being one of the progressive and public-spirited young business men of the state which has been his home from his boyhood days. In politics Mr. Holden gives an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, in whose local ranks he has been an active and valued worker, having been a member of the county central committee since 1898 and having been a delegate to several of the state conventions of his party, as well as to the minor conventions. Fraternally he is af- filiated with Washington Lodge, No. III, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is master at the time of this writing.

On the 3d of July, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holden to Miss Grace A. West, a daughter of Frank H. West, a prominent citi- zen of White, and she was summoned into eternal rest only a few months later, her death occurring on the 20th of the following November.

AUBREY LAWRENCE, a member of the well-known law firm of Hall, Lawrence & Rod- dle, of Brookings, was born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, on the 13th of June, 1870, and is a son of Philip and Matilda H. (Wilkinson ) Law- rence, the former of whoni was born in Corn- wall, England, while the latter was born in York- shire. The father of the subject came to Amer- ica in 1845 and settled in the town of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where he served for a number of years as postmaster, while he also conducted a book and stationery store. becoming one of the prominent citizens of the town. He finally re- moved to Elkader, Iowa, where he became man- ager of the Clayton County Journal, and later he removed to the city of Milwaukee, where he maintained his home until 1879, when he came as a pioneer to South Dakota, locating in Arling- ton, Kingsbury county, where he established him- self in the general merchandise business, in which

he there continued until 1887, when he removed to DeSmet, the capital of that county, where he held the position of cashier of the First National Bank for a number of years. He was clerk of the courts of that county for two terms and also served two terms as judge of probate, while later he was deputy state auditor for four years and as- sistant secretary of state for an equal length of time. In 1901 he took up his residence in Huron, Beadle county, where he and his wife have since maintained their home and where he is promin- ently engaged in the real-estate business. Of his two children the subject is the younger, the other, Lulu, having died at the age of eight years. The father of the subject tendered his service in de- fense of the Union at the outbreak of the Re- bellion, enlisting, in 1861, as a member of the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He was severely wounded in the first battle of Bull Run, but re-enlisted in 1863, and continued in service until the close of the war, having been mustered out as first lieutenant of his company. He is one of the prominent and popular members of the Grand Army of the Republic in South Dakota, and served one term as commander of the order for the state.

Aubrey Lawrence secured his initial educa- tional training in the public schools of Elkader, Iowa, which he attended one year, after which he passed a similar period in the schools of Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, whither the family had re- moved. He was nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Arlington, South Dakota, and there he prosecuted the work of the public schools until 1884. when he was matriculated in the State Agricultural College, at Brookings, where he completed a four-years course, being graduated as a member of the class of 1888, with honors, and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. During the time he was in college he also devoted considerable attention to the reading of law, having as his preceptor J. O. Andrews, of Brookings, and after leaving college he went to DeSmet and there entered the office of James F. Watson, with whom he continued his technical reading until 1889, when he was admitted to the bar, at Brookings. Thereafter he was for a short

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time associated in practice with his former pre- ceptor. Mr. Watson, after which he removed to Sumas City, Washington, in 1890, and there con- tinued the practice of his profession until 1894. In 1891 he was appointed United States court commissioner for the northern district of Wash- ington, and at the age of twenty-one years was elected mayor of Sumas City, serving three terms. In 1894 he removed to New Whatcom, Washing- ton, where he was engaged in practice until 1896, becoming one of the leading lawyers of that sec- tion of the state, and also being secretary of the Republican county central committee for two years. In May, 1896, Mr. Lawrence returned to South Dakota and located in Castlewood, Hamlin county, where he engaged in practice, while from 1898 until 1900 he was acting state's attorney of the county, being elected to the office in the latter vear. without opposition, while he was re-elected in 1902. May I, 1903, he resigned the office and came to Brookings, where he entered into a professional partnership with Messrs. Philo Hall and W. H. Roddle, with whom he has since been associated in practice, under the firm name noted in the opening paragraph of this article. In poli- tics he lias ever accorded a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and has been active in pro- moting its cause. He was secretary of the Re- publican central committee of Hamlin county in 1896 and 1898, and was also president of the Mckinley Club of Castlewood during the cam- paign of 1896. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

On the 12th of November, 1890, Mr. Law- rence was united in marriage to Miss Laura Rem- ington, who was born in Manston, Wisconsin, be- ing a daughter of Captain William N. Reming- ton, who served throughout the war of the Re- bellion, having been captain of his company in the Sixth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry. In 1880 the Captain came with his fam- ily to DeSmet, South Dakota, where his wife still resides, Mr. Remington having died in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have one child, Raymond Aubrey, who was born on the 20th of March, 1892.

NIELS EBBESEN HANSEN, professor of horticulture in the South Dakota Agricultural College, at Brookings, and horticulturist at the government experiment station, was born near Ribe, Denmark, on the 4th of January, 1866, be- ing the youngest child and only son of Andrew and Bodil (Midtgaardt) Hansen. The family came to America in the autumn of 1873, and the first three years were passed in the states of New York and New Jersey. The father was a fresco artist, of sturdy Danish farmer ancestry. In 1876 they removed to Des Moines, Iowa, in whose public schools the subject prosecuted his educa- tional work, having entered the high school in East Des Moines in 1879 and having there been a student for two years. Something over two and one-half years were spent as assistant in the office of the secretary of state under appointment of Hon. J. A. T. Hull, of Des Moines, while sec- retary, beginning in the fall of 1881, which helped in preparations for college. In 1887 he was grad- uated in the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, and during his collegiate course he made a spec- ialty of study and investigation and experimenta- tion in horticulture, under Professor J. L. Budd, who attained national distinction and reputation through his effective efforts in introducing Rus- sian fruits, trees and shrubs and in originating new varieties of fruit. The four years immedi- ately succeeding his graduation Professor Han- sen spent in practical work in two of the leading commercial nurseries of Iowa, at Atlantic and Des Moines, respectively, and he resigned his po- sition in this connection in the autumn of 1891, when he returned to his alma mater, the Iowa Agricultural College, where he became assistant professor of horticulture under Professor Budd, remaining thus engaged for four years and then resigning to accept his present position, in Sep- tember, 1895. Four months of the summer and autumn of 1894 were devoted to a study of hor- ticulture in eight countries of Europe, including Germany, Russia, England, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France and Belgium, while for four years he served as assistant secretary of the lowa State Horticultural Society. Under commission from Hon. James Wilson, secretary of agricul-

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ture of the United States, Professor Hansen was absent from June, 1897, to March, 1898, on a ten-months tour of exploration, securing new seeds and plants for the said department, and in this connection he visited Russia, Siberia, the Crimea, Transcaucasia, Turcomania and other parts of Russian Turkestan and western China. About five carloads of products were obtained, and some of the new seeds thus introduced by . the subject have proved so valuable that larger lots have since been imported to meet the de- mands, notably the Turkestan alfalfa. The two- thousand-mile overland journey made in Asia by the Professor included a trip of thirteen hundred miles in a wagon and seven hundred in a sleigh, and in the connection he encountered several tus- sels with the strenuous and turbulent Siberian blizzards, in his endeavor to return home by way of Omsk, on the Siberian Railway. At one time he was fully one thousand miles from the nearest railroad, while Kuldja, in western China, was the most eastern point reached. This adventure- some journey showed the remarkable powers of endurance of the young explorer, while the dan- ger involved was the last thing considered by him.

Professor Hansen is an honorary life mem- ber of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and of many other associations in the line of his profession, and he frequently attends their ses- sions. He is secretary of the plant section of the American Breeders' Association and secretary of the South Dakota State Horticultural Society. He has written many bulletins and papers and contrib- utes much to the agricultural press. In 1890 he wrote and published a "Handbook of Fruit Culture and Tree Planting for the Northwestern States," the same being published in the Danish- Norwegian language. In 1902-3 he assisted Pro- fessor Budd in preparing the "American Horti- cultural Manual," published by John Wiley & Sons, of New York.

The present collection of trees and shrubs at the South Dakota Agricultural College grounds is very extensive and is constantly being enlarged by importations and exchanges. Many novelties are propagated and sent out for trial. The chief

feature of the experimental work is the originat- ing of new varieties of fruit, especially from the native Dakota species by hybridizing and by se- lection from large numbers. At present the one- quarter of a million fruit seedlings on the station grounds is second in number only to that grown by Luther Burbank, of California, who has the largest fruit-breeding establishment in the world. The object of Professor Hansen's work in this di- rection is to obtain hardy and choice fruits for the northwest, better adapted to this region than any now in cultivation. Already many valuable va- rieties have been bred up from the native species. In short, the work means the creation of a new pomology.

At La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the 16th of No- vember, 1898. was solemnized the marriage of Professor Hansen to Miss Emma Elise Pammel, who is likewise a graduate of the Iowa Agricul- tural College. Two children, Eva and Carl, have come to bless their home. Mrs. Hansen was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Louis and Sophia (Freise) Pammel. Professor Hansen is a Lutheran in his religious faith, and fraternally is a Royal Arch Mason, while both he and his wife are affiliated with the adjunct or- ganization, the Order of the Eastern Star. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party.

GEORGE N. BREED, one of the editors and publishers of the Brookings Register, was born in Little Grant. Grant county, Wisconsin, on the 16th of October, 1857, being a son of Samuel S. and Maria J. (Thurston) Breed, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in Pennsylvania. The Breed family is of stanch English lineage and the name is one which has been identified with the annals of American history from the early colonial epoch, while it should be noted in the connection that the paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was the owner of Breed's hill, on which was fought the battle of Bunker Hill, the latter name having been applied at a later period. Samuel S. Breed was reared and educated in the

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old Empire state, where he continued to be iden- tified with agricultural pursuits until late in the 'forties, when he removed with his family to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, having in the meanwhile been married to Miss Thurston, who came of English and German descent. To the pioneer state of Illinois he was also accompanied by his father and brothers, and all began improving farms in the county mentioned, being numbered among its earliest settlers. There the father of the subject remained until the early 'fifties, when he removed to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he continued to devote his attention to agricul- ture until his death, which occurred in 1866, while his wife long survived him, her death occurring in the year 1900, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Breed was a man of sterling character and ever held the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He served as county commissioner of Grant county about eight years and was also chairman of the board of education of his district during that time. Of his seven children four died in early childhood. Byron W., who served with honor and loyalty as a soldier in the Union army in the war of the Rebellion, is now a successful farmer and stock grower of Moody county, South Dakota. Sarah J., who became the wife of William M. Leighton, of Denver, Colorado, is dead. George N., the subject of this sketch, is the youngest of the three children who lived to attain years of maturity. William M. Leighton, Jr., son of the subject's sister, has been reared in the home of Mr. Breed, while he also received the care and guidance of his maternal grandmother until the time of her demise.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 82

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