History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 98

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 98

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the state never wavered, however, and he does not regret having cast in his lot with South Da- kota. Mr. Wise has ever been a stanchi advo- cate of the principles of the Republican party, and has done effective work in its cause. In 1900 lie was elected county treasurer, being cho- sen as his own successor in 1902, so that he is now serving his second term. He became treasurer of his school district at the time of its organiza- tion and retained this office for ten years, ever showing a deep interest in educational affairs and all else that makes for the well-being of the community. In 1886 he was a member of the ter- ritorial legislature, as a representative of the eighth district. He and his wife are, devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

In 1859 Mr. Wise was united in marriage to Miss Nancy H. Drake, and they have six children, all of whom have been afforded good educational advantages, and of them we enter a brief record, as follows : Samuel W. is a resident of Graceville, Minnesota; Laura M. is the wife of George C. Terwilliger, a hardware merchant of Wayne, Ne- braska; Flora A. is the wife of William Robin- son, a carpenter and contractor of Artesian, South Dakota; Flora A. is the widow of Angus McGilvery, who was a surveyor by profession, and who did much government work through the northwest, his death occurring in Helena, Mon- tana, while his widow now resides in Artesian, South Dakota: Charles E .. who married Miss Lena Denton, is a successful farmer of Sanborn county, South Dakota: Clarence remains at the parental home, as does also Sidney A.

JOHN S. FRAZEE. A. M., B. D., president of the State Normal School at Springfield. Bon Homme county, is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born in Neville, Clermont county, Ohio, and being a son of Richard and Docia (Boggess) Frazee, the former having been a jeweler and civil engineer by avocation. The subject of this review passed his boyhood days in Ohio, and secured his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools, while in 1871 he was matriculated in the State University of

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Iowa, where he completed the classical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1878, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, while later his alma mater conferred upon him the de- gree of Master of Arts. He also received from the same institution the degree of Bachelor of Didactics. Mr. Frazee began teaching in his youth and has been identified with educational work to a greater or less extent ever since. He was for several years professor of mathematics at the State University at Vermillion. He was called to his present position in 1897 and has accom- plished much for the advancement of the inter- ests of the school of which he is the executive head, amplifying and systematizing its work and showing himself to be imbued with a spirit of ut- most loyalty and enthusiasm, so that he natur- ally gains the earnest co-operation of those who labor under his direction, infuses vigor and effec- tiveness into all departments of the school work. He is honored by both teachers and students, has the faculty of gaining confidence and is a man of scholarly attainments and much initiative force, so that he is especially well qualified for the important office which he holds. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1882 Professor Frazee was united in mar- riage to Miss Margaret Emma Rankin, who is likewise a graduate of the Iowa State Univer- sity.

HON. LORING E. GAFFY, who is presid- ing with marked ability on the bench of the sixth judicial circuit, is a native of the old Empire state of the Union, having been born in Clinton county, New York, on the 12th of January, 1850, and being a son of James and Nancy (Dale) Gaffy, who removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, when he was five years of age. He there attend- ed the public schools, completing the curriculum of the high school and also taking a course in a local commercial college. In 1869, when nineteen years of age, he took up the study of the law un- der the direction of Judge Derry, a distinguished

legist and jurist of Fond du Lac, prosecuting his technical reading for two years under this able preceptor, and being admitted to the bar in 1871, in which year he located in Grand Island, Ne- braska, where he has successfully engaged in practice until 1877. He then came to the terri- tory of Dakota and became one of the carly law practitioners of the Black IIills district, having taken up his residence in Deadwood, where he continued to follow the work of his profession un- til 1884, when he came to Pierre, which has ever since been the scene of his professional endeav- ors, while he has gained prestige as one of the most able lawyers of this section of the state and as a jurist of great discrimination and unrivaled technical acumen. In 1888 he was elected state's attorney of Hughes county, and was re-elected in 1890, having thus been incumbent of this office at the time when South Dakota was admitted to the Union, and having made a most creditable record as a public prosecutor. In January, 1894, he was appointed to the bench of the sixth judi- cial circuit of the state, and at the expiration of his term, in 1898, was elected to succeed himself, while in 1902 he was again elected to the dignified office, so that he is now serving his third term on the bench. The Judge is one of the leaders of the Republican party in the state, being promi- nent in its councils. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order and Knights of Pythias.

On March 8, 1879, Judge Gaffy married Miss Fannie B. Price, who died October 8. 1897. On the 14th of February, 1900, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Adelaide Warwick, of Grand Island, Nebraska. They have an adopted son, Floyd W., who is nineteen years of age at the time of this writing and who is attending a com- mercial college in the city of Aberdeen, this state.

THOMAS P. LEMMON, one of the promi- nent and influential farmers and stock growers of Day county, was born in Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, on the Ist of March, 1853, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Hull) Lemmon, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania.

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and the latter in Connecticut. In 1857 the pa- rents of the subject removed from the old Buck- eye state to Iowa and located in Tama county, where the father devoted the remainder of his life to farming. The subject availed himself of the advantages afforded in the public schools of Iowa, and suplemented this discipline by a course of study in a commercial college at Davenport, that state. In February, 1883. he was married, and on the first of the following April he came to what is now the state of South Dakota, taking up a homestead claim in Day county and this be- coming one of the pioneers of this part of the state. He reclaimed his land and added to the area of his cstate from time to time, while it is pleasing to record that he still resides on the claim which he originally secured, the farm be- ing one of the best improved and most attractive in the county, while a full measure of success has attended Mr. Lemmon's efforts in connection with farming and stock growing. In politics he acords a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church, while he is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

On the 20th of February, 1883, Mr. Lemmon was united in marriage to Miss Mary Cushing. who was born in the state of New Hampshire, be- ing a daughter of Enoch and Sharlottie Cushing. Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon have seven living children, namely: Fredrick E., Nettie, Mahel, Elizabeth, Annie, May and Robert. Their son Fred E. is employed as cashier in the Bank of Pierpont, and their daughter Nettie for the past year has had charge of the primary department in the Pierpont public schools.

HOMER S. SMYTHE, one of the highly honored citizens of Sanborn county, where he is at present serving as deputy county treasurer. is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Center county, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of February, 1843, and being a son of William and Margaret ( Watson ) Smythe, the former of whom was born in Dauphin county,

Pennsylvania, in 1799, while the latter was born in Clinton county, that state, in 1804. The father of the subject received a collegiate education and was a man of marked ability, having been a surveyor by profession and having also been identified with agricultural pursuits. He re- moved with his family to Illinois in 1863, and there passed the remainder of his long and use- ful life, his death occurring in the city of Free- port, in 1880, while he had there lived retired for a number of years. His devoted wife passed away in 1856, and he remarried in 1858, his sec- ond wife dying in Freeport in 1887. Of their seven children four are living, the subject of this sketch being the only representative of the fam- ily in South Dakota. William Smythe was in early life a supporter of the Whig party, but transferred his allegiance to the Republican party at the time of its organization and ever af- terward was a stalwart advocate of its principles. He and his wife were devoted members of the Presbyterian church, in which he served as elder for a half century. Fraternally he was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Homer S. Smythe, the immediate subject of this sketch, received his preliminary educational discipline in the common schools of Pennsylva- nia. He enlisted as a private in Company E, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers, on August 14, 1861. and was discharged December 21. 1864, by reason of expiration of time of serv- ice. Was wounded at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 10, 1864. He was twenty years of age at the time of the family removal to Illi- nois, and there continued to maintain his home. devoting his attention to the machinist's trade, until 1883. when he came to Sanborn county, South Dakota, where he took up a half section of government land, which he still owns, having made good improvements on the place, of which fifty-seven acres are under cultivation, while the remainder is used in connection with the raising of live stock. Mr. Smythe has been a prominent figure in local affairs of a public nature since coming to this county, and has held official pre- ferment much of the time, having served four years as register of deeds, while for the past five

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years he has been deputy county treasurer. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, as is also Mrs. Smythe, and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order. In politics he gives an un- swerving support to the Republican party and its principles.

On the 21st of December, 1880, Mr. Smythe was married to Mrs. Julia ( Rodman) Smythe. widow of W. R. Smythe, of Tiffin, Ohio, and a daughter of Samuel and Mary ( Madden) Rod- man, of Center county, Pennsylvania, in which state she was born January 1, 1843. No children have been born of this union, but Mrs. Smythe has two children by her first marriage : William R. who is a civil engineer at Canon City, Colo- rado, and Leon L .. who is a clergyman of the Presbyterian church and now pastor of the church at Volga, Brookings county, this state.

JAMES ERNEST PLATT, cashier of the Security Bank of Clark, was born in Decatur, New York, on the IIth of March, 1866, and is a son of Rev. James Nelson Platt and Laura (Sibley) Platt, both of whom were likewise born in the old Empire state. The father of the sub- ject, who is now president of the Security Bank of Clark, which was organized in 1888, came to South Dakota in 1884, having been for twenty years previously a member of the Upper Iowa Methodist Episcopal conference. The subject of this sketch was graduated in the high school at Manchester, Iowa, as a member of the class of 1881, under Superintendent C. D. Clark, now United States senator from Wyoming. There- after he continued his studies in Cornell College, at Mount Vernon, Iowa ; the Upper Iowa Uni- versity, at Fayette ; and in 1884 he was graduated in Epworth Seminary, at Epworth, Iowa, having taken a three-years classical course. During his vacations in his early youth he worked on various farms, but early manifested a desire to secure a position in a bank. After his graduation, when seventeen years of age, he came to Clark, South Dakota, in 1884, and secured a clerical position in the banking establishment of D. Wayne & Com- pany, who later disposed of their interests in the

line to G. C. Griffin, who organized the bank of Clark, Mr. Platt remaining with the new institu- tion about a year, at the expiration of which he engaged in the real-estate and loan business in partnership with his father, and in September, 1888, they organized the Security Bank of Clark, of which he has since been cashier, showing dis- tinctive ability in the handling of the affairs of the institution, which is one of the solid and pop- ular banking concerns of the state. He has large real-estate holdings in the town and county; is treasurer of the Fraternity Gold Mining and Milling Company, operating in the Black Hills, with headquarters at Hill City, and he has been treasurer of the Clark Co-Operative Creamery Company since its organization, in 1808. He was elected cashier of the Security Bank when but twenty years of age, and has been prominently concerned in banking in Clark for a full score of years. In politics Mr. Platt is a stalwart Re- publican, taking an active interest in forwarding the party cause and having been a delegate to nearly all the state conventions of his party since the admission of South Dakota to the Union. He was for five years incumbent of the dual office of clerk and treasurer of the city of Clark, and for two years gave effective service as its mayor, his administration being marked by a progressive and business-like policy. In 1902 he was ap- pointed major and paymaster of the South Da- kota National Guard, his commission to extend over a period of five years. In 1895 he was elected treasurer of the state board of agriculture, of which office he has since remained in tenure. Fraternally he is identified with Clark Lodge, No. 42, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past worshipful master and present secretary ; Olivet Chapter, No. 14, Royal Arch Masons : Watertown Commandery, No. 7. Knights Templar ; Aberdeen Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he attained to the thirty-second degree in January, 1902; El Riad Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the No- bles of the Mystic Shrine, at Sioux Falls : Huron Lodge, No. 144, Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks; El Kim Ran Temple, Dramatic Or- der of the Knights of Khorassan, at Watertown ;

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and Myrtle Lodge, No. 43, Knights of Pythias, at Clark. In 1899-1900 he was grand chancellor of the state grand lodge of the last mentioned order, and in 1903 he was elected supreme rep- resentative of the order for South Dakota, being a delegate to the general assembly of the same in Louisville, Kentucky, in August, 1904.

On the 19th of June, in the First Methodist Episcopal church of the city of Chicago, was sol- emnized the marriage of Mr. Platt to Miss Kath- arine A. Boyle, formerly of Jamestown, North Dakota, but a teacher in the public schools of Clark for a few years prior to her marriage.

FRANK D. GOODRICH, one of the repre- sentative citizens and merchants of Cavour, Beadle county, is a native of the old Keystone state of the Union, having been born in Dundaff, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of April. 1850. He is a son of Dr. Ira and Margaret Goodrich, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, of stanch English lineage, his parents having been native of Connecticut and representatives of old and honored colonial families. The mother of the subject was born in Kinderhook, New York, and was of Holland Dutch ancestry. Dr. Goodrich was graduated in Geneva Medical College, in the state of New York, and was a man of high professional at- tainments. He was engaged in practice in Penn- sylvania for a number of years and finally re- moved thence to Delavan, Wisconsin, in which state both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.

The subject of this review secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of Delavan, Wisconsin. and at the age of sixteen years began clerking in a local mercantile estab- lishment. At the age of nineteen he entered upon an apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, to which he devoted his attention for a long term of years, having owned and operated a shop of his own in Delavan, Wisconsin, for seven years prior to coming to the present state of South Dakota as a pioneer. He came to Beadle county in 1883 and took up government land.

being successfully engaged in farming and stock growing for the ensuing fourteen years, while for six years he purchased wheat for a local elevator company. For two years he was stationed on the Yankton Indian reservation, be- ing industrial teacher in the school at that agency and also directing the farming operations of the Indians. In 1901 he located in Cavour and estab- lished his present flourishing business, his store having a large and complete stock of general merchandise, while his trade extends throughout the territory tributary to the thriving town. In politics he is an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and his in- terest in the promotion of its cause has been un- flagging.

On the 22d of October, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Goodrich to Miss Kate A. Hewes, who was born near Racine, Wisconsin, in 1854, being a daughter of George and Mary Hewes. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich have three chil- dren, Florence H., Ella M. and Mary.

JAMES MONTGOMERY JOHNSTON, one of the representative citizens of Clark county, was born at High Point, Moniteau county, Missouri, on the 14th of June, 1867, be- ing a son of Francis and Sarah A. (Montgom- ery) Johnston, the ancestery in both lines traced back to stanch old Scotch Presbyterian stock, though the subject has no authentic genealogical record of either family. The father of the sub- ject was engaged in farming in Missouri and there died when the latter was a child of but six years, being survived by his widow and six children, while his financial circumstances were stich that his family were left in somewhat straitened circumstances. The parents were very strict Presbyterians and reared their chil- dren under the most careful and punctilious dis- cipline, the home environment being of the best in this regard. Mr. Johnston carly began to assume his share of responsibility, being taught by his devoted mother to be honest and in- dustrious, and assisting as he could in the work of the home farm. The father died in 1873 and

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Mr. Johnston thereafter continued to reside on the old homestead with his mother until he had attained the age of fifteen years, and in the meanwhile he attended the local schools. His mother then sold the Missouri farm and in the spring of 1883 immigrated with her children to South Dakota and located in Maydell township, Clark county, where she and her son and daugh- ter elder than our subject filed entry on gov- ernment land. Here Mr. Johnston continued to assist in the farm work and to attend the public schools as opportunity afforded, while he was later able to supplement this discipline by one year's course of study in the college at Redfield, Spink county. In the intervening years he has acquired a good farm of six hundred and forty acres in Maydell township, this county, and he has been duly prosperous in connection with the development of the agricultural and stock-grow- ing resources of this section of the state. He has made excellent improvements on his place, and his landed estate may be approximately valued at twelve thousand dollars.

In politics Mr. Johnston has ever been a stanch adherent of the Republican party, having cast his first presidential vote in support of Benjamin Harrison after the admission of South Dakota to the Union. He has always taken an active part in the supporting of such reform measures as have promised to result in the moral and social good of the community, and has been specially active in the temperance cause. In the autumn of 1890 he was elected to the state legis- lature, and was chosen as his own successor in November, 1902, thus serving as a member of the seventh and eighth general assemblies, while in the latter he was chairman of the house com- mittee on engrossed and enrolled bills. On the 23d of June, 1894, Mr. Jolinston became a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America, and in the same has held the office of camp clerk and deputy head consul, while in the latter capacity he had charge of the establishment of twenty-five local camps in the state, and was a delegate from South Dakota to the meeting of the head camp, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in June, 1901. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and

has held several positions of trust in connection with church affairs, having been twice a lay del- egate to the conference and being a member of the board of trustees of the local church. He is not married.

ORATOR HENRY LACRAFT, the honored and popular postmaster of Clark, was born in Farmington, Washington county, Wisconsin, on the 13th of August, 1850, and is a son of John and Mary E. (Klice) LaCraft, both of whom were born and reared in Ashtabula county, Ohio, being representatives of pioneer families of the old Buckeye state and of French and Puri- tan lincage respectively. The maiden name of the maternal grandmother of the subject was Emily Kendall, and she was a direct descendant of the progenitors of that name who came to America in the Mayflower, while she was a niece of Amos Kendall, who was at one time post- master general of the United States. The sub- ject of this review secured his educational dis- cipline in the public schools of Wisconsin, com- pleting a course in the high school. From 1871 to 1873 he was engaged in farming in the vicinity of Scott, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, in the meanwhile teaching school during the winter months. In 1883 he came to Clark, South Da- kota, where he engaged in the general merchan- dise business, having been one of the first set- tlers in the town, and he continued to be suc- cessfully identified with his line of enterprise until 1891, since which time he has been con- nected with the executive affairs of the local postoffice, while he also gives his attention to his farming interests, having a well-improved ranch of three hundred and twenty acres ten miles southeast of his home city. In politics he is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he has served in nearly a consecutive way as justice of the peace since 1875, while he has been a member of the board of education since 1892 and its president for the past four years. He served as postmaster from 1893 to 1896, and was thereafter deputy, while later he was again appointed postmaster

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and is still incumbent of the office. He served as a member of the state senate in 1900 and is also a member of that body at the time of this writing. 1904. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Degree of Honor, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Brotherhood of America.

On the 16th of April, 1873. Mr. LaCraft was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte R. Havi- land. who was born in Scott, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, on the 20th of July, 1852, and whose death occurred on the 17th of July, 1883. She was a daughter of Edgar and Susan Haviland. and of her two sons one is living-William C., who was born March 1. 1876, and who is now en- gaged in the lumber business in Clark. O. Merton, who was born on the 4th of January, 1878, died on the 21st of March, 1898. On the 25th of February. 1885, Mr. LaCraft consum- mated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Clara M. Smith, who was born on the 30th of July, 1864, being a daughter of Charles and Margaret Smith. Of the children of this union we enter the following data : Walter S. was born August 12, 1886 ; Delmar B. was born September 19, 1889, and died on the 3d of December. 1892: Osmer H. was born May 16, 1893: Lynn K .. October 3. 1895: and Irma R., September 17. 1897.

ALTON E. STEERE, one of the prominent business men and honored citizens of Goodwin, Denel county, was born in Orland, Steuben county, Indiana, on the 19th of April. 1857. and is a son of Dr. Warren B. and Ellen ( Emens) Steere, the former of whom was born in Hart- wick, New York, and the latter in Lockport, that state, whence they removed to Indiana in an early day, the father having been an able physician and surgeon, while for a time he was professor of materia medica in a college at Des Moines, Iowa,. he having died in the state of Iowa, March I, 1900. When the subject was about five years of age his parents removed to Iowa and located in

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History of South Dakota, Vol. II, Part 98

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