History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 88

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

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rupted military existence since the war of 1812. It was in General Scott's army of occupation in the city of Mexico in 1847, and was one of the first five companies to volunteer for service in the Civil war under President Lincoln's first call, later receiving the thanks of congress for its prompt response to this exigent call. These five companies were in the city of Washington twen- ty-four hours in advance of all other troops. They passed through the city of Baltimore the day before the Sixth Massachusetts arrived there, and one of their men was seriously injured in a conflict with a mob of southern sympa- thizers, this being the first blood shed incidental to the great internecine conflict which followed. All five companies were from Pennsylvania, and served from Bull Run to Appomattox. The Washington Artillery was also with General Miles in Porto Rico during the late Spanish- American war. .

Mr. Lawson has ever given an uncompro- mising allegiance to the Republican party, and he is one of its leaders in the state. In 1893 he was speaker of the house of representatives, during the third general assembly of the new commonwealth, and since 1899 he has served continuously as the representative of the thirty- third senatorial district in the state senate, in which he has been an influential and valued worker, having been chairman of the judiciary committee during the sessions of 1899 and 1903, and chairman of the apportionment committee in 1901, while he has also held membership in other important circumstances of the senate. In 1899 he introduced and urged forward to enactment the bill establishing the Northern Normal and Indus- trial School at Aberdeen, and he has been con- sistently called the father of this excellent and valuable institution. In 1893 while a member of the house, he introduced the bill providing for the state geological survey. Senator Lawson's religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, in which he was reared, and fraternally. he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, being a mem- ber of Damascus Commandery, No. 10. Knights Templar, in Aberdeen. The Senator remains a

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bachelor. He has a distinctive predilection for out-door life and sports afield and afloat, while he has announced as his fad or special fancy that of tree culture.

FRANK B. GANNON, president of the First National Bank of Aberdeen, was born in Genoa, Ottawa county, Ohio, on the 21st of Oc- tober, 1851, being a son of William and Sarah A. (Compton) Gannon. The mother died in 1893. The father is a farmer by occupation, and still resides at Genoa, Ottawa county, Ohio. The subject secured his early educational training in the common schools, and when but fifteen years of age began to depend upon his own exertions 1

in defraying the expenses of his school work. He continued to attend the public schools two and one-half years and also was for a short time a student in the Lebanon Normal School at Leb- anon, Ohio. At the age of nineteen he began teaching in the district schools of Ohio, and through this means accumulated two hundred dollars, which practically served as the nucleus of his present fortune. In 1874 Mr. Gannon en- gaged in the meat-market business in Eaton Rapids, Michigan, continuing this enterprise five years, and being thereafter engaged in the boot and shoe business in the same town, for three years, at the expiration of which, in November, 1882, he came to Jamestown. Dakota territory, and shortly afterward located in Ellendale, both places being now in the state of North Dakota. In the latter village he engaged in the banking business under the title of Gannon, Smith & Company. In 1891 the institution was reorgan- ized as a state bank, and was thereafter con- ducted under the firm name of F. B. Gannon & Company, until November, 1902, when it was reorganized as the First National Bank of Ellen- dale, our subject being elected president at the time and still being incumbent of this position. On the 7th of March, 1899, he became associated with J. H. Stuttle in purchasing a controlling stock in the First National Bank of Aberdeen, and of its institution he has since been president, having been a resident of Aberdeen since 1899.

In 1902 Mr. Gannon was one of the organizers of the Aberdeen Wholesale Grocery Company, of which he is treasurer, and this has become one of the leading commercial enterprises of this thriving city. Mr. Gannon has also been for a number of years prominently interested in the cattle business in North Dakota, and in company with his brother, W. H., he is the owner of one of the finest herds of full-blooded Herefords to be found in this section of the northwest. In politics he has ever maintained an independent attitude, giving his support to the men and meas- sures meeting the approval of his judgment, but having no political ambition in a personal way. Mr. Gannon is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge, the chapter, commandery, consistory and the Shrine. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity, holding membership at Ellen- dale, South Dakota.

On July 2, 1873, Mr. Gannon married Sarah Cook, of Sandusky county, Ohio. They became the parents of two sons: Deak, who died aged four years and eight months; and Ralph, who died aged eight months.

WILLIAM HENRY RODDLE, one of the pioneer settlers of what is now the attractive city of Brookings, is a native of the Badger state, which has made many contributions to the per- sonnel of the best citizenship of South Dakota. He was born on a farm in Kenosha county. Wis- consin, on the 28th of December, 1850, being a son of William and Mary Roddle, the former of whom was born in England and the latter in New York city. For many generations the Roddle family has been identified with agricul- tural pursuits in the south of England, while the ancestors of the subject's mother were among the first to settle in what is now New York city, the lineage being of Holland Dutch extraction. The parents of the subject removed in 1860 from Wisconsin to Wilton, Waseca county, Minne- sota, residing there until the time of their deaths, and were numbered among the sterling pioneers of that state.

William H. Roddle received his rudimentary

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education in the district schools and passed his boyhood days on the homestead farm, later con- tinuing his studies in the public schools. In 1869, at the age of nineteen years, he secured a position as apprentice in a hardware establish- ment in Waseca, Minnesota, where he remained for the ensuing decade, during the last three years a member of the firm of J. M. Robertson & Company, at the expiration of which, in 1879, he came as a pioneer to the territory of Dakota and took up his residence in the little village of Medary, the then county seat of Brookings county. In October, 1879, he established himself in the hardware business in Brookings, South Dakota, meeting with success in the prosecution of the enterprise, with which he continued to be actively identified until 1896, when he disposed of his interests in this line. He took up the study of law a number of years ago and finally de- termined to complete a thorough course of tech- nical reading, the result being that he thoroughly informed himself in the science of jurisprudence and was admitted to the bar of the state in 1901. since which time he has been successfully en- gaged in the practice in the city in which he has for so many years maintained his home, being a member of the well-known and representative law firm of Hall, Lawrence & Roddle.

In politics Mr. Roddle has ever been found stanchly arrayed in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party, in whose ranks he has been an active and efficient worker in South Dakota, both under the territorial and state regimes. In 1892 he was elected treasurer of Brookings county and was chosen as his own successor in 1894, thus serving four consecutive years. In 1896 he was the candidate of his party for the office of secretary of state, being victo- rious at the polls, where he secured a gratifying majority, and giving a most able and discrimi- nating administration of the affairs of the im- portant office. The popular appreciation of his services in this capacity was significantly mani- fested in 1898, when he was elected to succeed himself. Mr. Roddle is one of the prominent and appreciative members of the ancient and honored Masonic fraternity, and has the distinc-

tion of being past grand master of Masons of the state. His affiliations are with Brookings Lodge, No. 24, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons ; Brookings Chapter, No. 18, Royal Arch Masons; Brookings Commandery, No. 14, Knights Templar; El Riad Temple of the An- cient Arabic Order of the_Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Sioux Falls, and Brookings Chapter, No. 15, Order of the Eastern Star, while he is also identified with Brookings Lodge, No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in his home city, being one of its charter members.

On the Ist of January, 1876, Mr. Roddle was united in marriage to Miss Fannie R. Stevens, who was born in Waushara county, Wisconsin, on the 21st of June, 1856, being a daughter of Royce F. and Lucinda M. Stevens. Of this union have been born two daughters, Mary E., wife of F. J. Alton, of Sioux Falls, South Da- kota, and Anna F., who died in infancy.

CHARLES F. HOLMES, one of the well- known business men of Aberdeen, is a native of the Badger state and a representative of one of its pioneer families, having been born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on the 5th of June, 1852, and being a son of Anson L. Holmes, who was born in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, coming of stanch old Scottish lineage. Anson 'L. Holmes removed with his family to Wisconsin in an early day and there passed the remainder of his life, which was devoted principally to agri- cultural pursuits and lumbering. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in Wis- consin, and in 1876, as a young man of twenty- four years, he removed to Nevada, becoming one of the pioneer gold miners in that section of the Union. He followed placer mining for a num- ber of years and was fairly successful in his ef- forts. In 1879 he returned to Wisconsin, where he passed the winter of that year, and in the spring of 1880 he came to the present state of South Dakota and located in Watertown, where he continued to reside until the spring of 1882, when he came to Aberdeen, taking up land in the vicinity and in due time perfecting his title

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to the same. He then engaged in the cigar busi- ness in the city, while he was also identified with the police department for eight years, during a portion of which he was chief of the same, prov- ing a most able executive. In 1897 he engaged in the drug business at the corner of Main and Third streets, where he continued operations until March, 1904. when he sold out. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and fraternally is af- filiated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

T. S. TEED, a successful farmer and stock raiser of Brown county, is a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and dates his birth from the 7th day of October. 1852. On coming to Brown county, in the spring of 1888. Mr. Teed settled on a tract of land west of the town of Westpoint, and engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising. He improved his farm, ren- dered it highly tillable and continued to live thereon until 1893. when he purchased the place, twelve miles north of Aberdeen, where he has since lived and prospered. As an agriculturist

! he has made a creditable record, being up-to-date in his methods of tilling the soil, progressive in all he undertakes and his well-directed labors and judicious management have resulted so greatly to his advantage that he is now recognized as one of the leading farmers of the community in which he resides. While devoting considerable attention to farming, hie relies chiefly upon stock raising, being largely interested in cattle, espe- cially cows, from which he derives every year a handsome income. He keeps nothing but first- class stock, selects or raises his animals with es- pecial reference to their value as milkers and for some time past has supplied several creameries with the larger part of the cream used in their business, besides selling considerable quantities to individual customers. Mr. Teed was raised in a country where great attention is given to the manufacture of butter and cheese, and he came west with the intention of engaging in the cheese business, but failed to secure enough cows to justify him in the attempt. Failing to carry into

effect his original object, he turned his attention to dairying and being thoroughly conversant with the business has made it quite profitable. The farm on which Mr. Teed now lives consists of one hundred and sixty acres, lying contiguous to Elm river, all of it bottom land with a soil of great depth and remarkable fertility. It is ad- mirably adapted to general agriculture, produc- ing abundantly all the crops of grains, fruits and vegetables grown in this latitude, the part de- voted to pasturage being thickly covered with grasses and herbage, noted for nutritious quali- ties.

Financially Mr. Teed has met with success commensurate with the energy and ability dis- played in the prosecution of his various inter- ests and he is now classed with the enterprising, well-to-do men of Brown county. Politically he is independent in all the term implies, adhering to men and measures best calculated to further the interests of the people. Mr. Teed has made a careful study of sociology and kindred sub- jects and entertains views relative to present so- cial and political conditions which some people would pronounce radical and heterodox. Con- vinced of the justness of his position, however, he expresses himself fearlessly and is able at all times to maintain the soundness of his opinions. He is identified with the Tacoma Park Associa- tion, an organization for the purpose of awaken- ing an interest in social questions and dissemi- nating knowledge pertaining thereto, being one of the leaders of this school of thought in his part of the country.

NELS H. PETERSON is a native of Den- mark, where he was born in 1854. He received his early education in his native land, where he was reared to the age of eighteen years, when he started forth to try his fortune in America, whither he came in the year 1872. He made his way westward to the city of Chicago and was for a time employed in railroad work and then turned his attention to farm work, in which he was en- gaged near Woodstock, Illinois, for two and one- half years, having in the meanwhile secured a

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small farm of his own in that section. At the ex- piration of the period noted he disposed of his in- terests there and came as a pioneer to what is now Moody county, South Dakota. Here he took up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres, and as the years have passed prosperity has attended his efforts and he has added to the area of his landed estate until he is now the owner of six hundred and forty acres of as fertile and valuable land as can be found in the state.

CHARLES WESTBROOK WALDRON is a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 22d of January, 1853. being a son of George P. and Lydia E. Waldron, both mem- bers of old and honored New England families. He received his early educational training in the schools of Yankton, where he passed his boy- hood days. In the fall of 1876, at the age of twenty-three years, he started for the Black Hills, proceeding by boat to Fort Pierre and thence proceeding with mule teams to his destination. In the following year he engaged in freighting, with ox-teams, between Fort Pierre and the Black Hills, and continued to be identified with this enterprise until 1882, in the meanwhile enduring many hardships and encountering great perils from the attacks of the hostile Indians. In 1882, when the Cheyenne Indians came back to their former hunting grounds, Mr. Waldron was near at the time of the massacre of the freighters at Cheyenne river crossing. After arriving at Rapid City one of the Reed Brothers' freighting trains was corralled by the Indians, on Box Elder creek. After night had fallen one of the brothers suc- ceeding in making has way to town and there asked assistance, having traversed a distance of nine miles. Mr. Waldron and five other freight- ers responded to his call and returned with him and succeeded in bringing the train into town. The subject also had several other encounters with the aborigines, but escaped injury. He was successful in his freighting business, which he finally sold to the Northwestern Stage and Trans- portation Company in 1882. He then engaged in

operating a ferry across the Missouri river be- tween Pierre and Fort Pierre, conducting the same for two years, and then turning his atten- tion to the raising of cattle and horses, in which he was engaged for the ensuing five years, since which time he has given his attention exclusively to the raising of high-grade horses, breeding fine roadsters of the Hambletonian type and also Percheron draft horses. He has at the present time about two thousand head of horses on his fine stock ranch, and this indicates how exten- sive is the scale upon which he conducts his operations, giving him the distinctive priority over all other horse breeders in the state. His ranch comprises several thousand acres and is equipped with substantial buildings for the proper housing and care of his stock, while the facilities are of the best modern type in all par- ticulars. His ranch is located on Mule creek, in Stanley county, four miles from the Black Hills road and sixty-five miles west of Fort Pierre. Mr. Waldron has a fine modern residence in the city of Pierre and gives a general supervision to his ranch and his other capitalistic enterprises, while he is known as one of the progressive and reliable citizens of the state in which he has passed practically all his life. In politics he has been a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, except in 1896, when he identified himself with Bryan as a Populist, though when the Democracy and Populists amalgamated he forsook them and returned to tlie Republican ranks. Fraternally he is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Degree of Honor, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America.

On the 30th of June. 1885. Mr. Waldron was united in marriage with Miss Jane E. Van Metre. of Fort Pierre, who was born on the 21st of September, 1861. She is a daughter of Arthur C. and Mary (Aungie) Van Metre, and passed her girlhood days in Vermillion, where she re- ceived her early education, and at the age of seventeen years she accompanied her parents upon their removal to Brule county. She attended the public schools of Vermillion until she had at-

b. W. waldron.

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tained the age of fourteen years, and thereafter served an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, becoming an expert compositor. In 1879 she rejoined her parents in Brule, where she re- mained until the fall of the following year, when she went to Ripon, Wisconsin, where she at- tended college for two years, returning in time to join her father and other members of the family in the buffalo hunt in Montana. She much prizes the heirloom which is in her pos- session, the rifle carried for many years by her honored father, who had killed more than three hundred buffaloes with the same. In the spring of 1883 Mrs. Waldron engaged in teaching in the Indian school at DuPree's camp, on the Chey- enne river, while she also was an instructor in music for some time, being a skilled musician, and she continued her earnest endeavors in this line until the time of her marriage. She and her husband, in 1886, located on Bad river, sixty-five miles from Fort Pierre, where they established a trading store and she also entered claim to three hundred and twenty acres of land adjoining Fort Pierre on the north, in 1889, taking it under the provisions of the treaty made with the Indians in 1868. Title to this property cannot be trans- ferred by sale or exchange, the holding depending upon the retention by those of Indian blood, be it much or little. As Mrs. Waldron's father was not of Indian extraction she is not a citizen of the United States, but through her Indian lineage she feels that she will be able to hold her claim, as all treaties have recognized Indian blood, even if represented in remote scions of the stock. Gov- ernor Lee appointed Mrs. Waldron an honorary member of the woman's board of managers for South Dakota at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, and while she took an active part in promoting the work she did not attend the ex- position in person. In the same year the Gov- ernor also appointed her a member of the woman's board of investigation of penal and charitable institutions of the state, and she proved an active and efficient worker in the position, her term having expired in 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Waldron have had six children, all of whom are living except Carl Prentiss, who died at the

age of sixteen months. The others are Arthur Westbrook, Alice Island. Allan Bryan, George P'. and John Charles.

DANIEL HOWARD SMITH, who is in- cumbent of the office of railroad commissioner for the northern district of South Dakota, is a native of the state of Wisconsin, having been born in Marquette county, on the 18th of De- cember, 1864, and being a son of Rev. William and Elizabeth H. (Chambers) Smith, both na- tives of the state of Pennsylvania. The father of the subject was a clergyman of the United Presbyterian church, in whose work he contin- ued to be zealously engaged until his death, which occurred in July, 1873. His devoted wife sur- vived him many years, being summoned into eter- nal rest in April, 1898. They became the par- ents of eight children, of whom four are living.

The subject of this review received his early education in the public schools of his native county, and continued to reside in Wisconsin un- til he had attained the age of eighteen years, hav- ing been there engaged in farming until 1883, when, in company with his mother, he came to South Dakota and located in the village of Blunt. In the following year he entered the employ of the Van Dusen Grain Company, and in 1885 was made agent of this concern at Harrold, Hughes county, where he remained until December, 1886, when he went to southern California, where he passed one year. Upon his return to South Da- kota, in 1888, Mr. Smith located in the village of Miller, where he re-entered the employ of the Van Dusen Grain Company, to whose interests he continued to devote his attention until 1890, when he established himself in the retail gro- cery business in Miller, under the firm name of D. H. Smith & Company. In December, 1894, he disposed of his interests in this line and on the Ist of the following January he accepted a posi- tion in the office of the state commissioner of schools and public lands, taking up his residence in the capital city of the state at that time and continuing to serve in the capacity noted until January 1, 1903, when he returned to Miller.

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On the 4th of November, 1902, he was elected to his present office as railroad commissioner of the northern district of the state, and in this posi- tion he has given most able and efficient service, justifying the confidence reposed in him and in- dicated in his unanimous election. Mr. Smith has served as township treasurer, as a member of the board of education and as city assessor of Miller. He is an active and earnest worker in the upbuilding of his city. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. When a young man he became a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church and is an active and zealous church worker.

On Christmas day, 1888, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Eva R. Dunn, of Mill- ersburg, Illinois, and she entered into the life eternal on the 19th of March, 1890, being sur- vived by her only child, C. Everett. On the 28th of November. 1892, Mr. Smith wedded Miss Georgiana Clayton, of Ludington, Michigan, and they have two children, Harry A. and Fred C.

JOHN H. JACKSON, president of the Jackson Hardware Company, of Aberdeen, is known as one of the representative business men of the city. In 1888 Mr. Jackson established himself in the retail hardware business in Aber- deen, and soon gained a wide reputation as a progressive and able business man. The location of Aberdeen is such that from the start there came a demand for the accommodations afforded by a wholesale establishment in the line, and within three years after the inception of the en- terprise fully seventy-five per cent. of his busi- ness was of the wholesale nature. In 1900 lie found it expedient to turn his entire attention to the jobbing trade, and the business has been that of a distinctively jobbing house since the year mentioned. The business has doubled in extent within three years. the annual sales having reached an average aggregate of a quarter of a million dollars. In 1903 the fine modern build- ing now used was completed, which has an ag- gregate floor space of twenty-six thousand square feet. The Jackson Hardware Company was in-

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 88

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