USA > South Dakota > Who's who in South Dakota, Volume II > Part 9
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Masonic Veteran's Association South Dakota, June 1, 1901, elected secretary June 14, 1911.
Order Eastern Star, Beulah chapter No. 2, Flandreau, charter member February, 1885; worthy patron 1885-6.
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GEORGE A. PETTIGREW
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Grand chapter O. E. S., of South Dakota -The second grand patron, May, 1890; third grand patron, 1891; fourth grand patron, 1892.
Jasper chapter O. E. S. No. 4, Sioux Falls, admitted 1905.
General grand chapter O. E. S .- chair- man board trustees 1907-10; right worthy associate grand patron, November, 1910.
Most worthy Grand Patron 1913 to present time.
St. George's Conclave No. 6, Red Cross of Constantine at St. Paul, Minn., April 25, 1911.
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FRANK CRANE
EDUCATOR POLITICIAN
"He burned the books!"
"What books ?"
"The republican campaign books!"
"Who did?"
"A man named Frank whose surname is Crane."
"Who said so?"
"His enemies."
"Does that prove anything ?"
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"No! Most certainly it doesn't. A man who is in politics nowadays is liable to be accused of almost anything."
"Did he ever affirm it? or deny it?"
"No. You remember, don't you? how when Christ was wrongfully accused before Pilate, the apostle says, 'He opened not his mouth.' "
IN'S AND OUT'S OF POLITICS
Having disposed of our expected climax, perhaps we can now proceed to our anti- climax with some degree of satisfaction to all concerned.
Mr. Crane was born at Sparta, Wis., December 14, 1855. Providence intended him for a Christmas present to his parents, but the change of eleven days in the Julian calendar caused Santa to arrive with him prematurely. He was educated in the public schools at Sparta, and later secured his master's degree at Gale college, Galesville, Wis.
In 1878, at the age of 23, and while yet a mere stripling of a lad, he made his way to Watertown, S. D., and was immediately employed as superintendent of the Water- town city schools. The country was new; ' Watertown was not very large; a few coun- try schools were soon organized; and for a
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few years Mr. Crane acted both as city and as county superintendents. Then he relin- quished the city work for the county work exclusively, serving all told for ten years as superintendent of Codington county.
CRANE, THE POLITICIAN
However, in 1894, Mr. Crane got tangled up in politics on a wider scale and he became a candidate on the republican ticket for state superintendent of public instruction. This was logical. The modern philosopher would call it political induction-going from the known to the related unknown. Very well; Crane's horizon widened with his ex- perience and his ambitions kept pace with his horizon.
He won out, and he made one of the most practical, sensible superintendents of public instruction that the state has ever had. But he had made some local political enemies at Watertown in the early days, so that when he came up for renomination at the Aberdeen convention in 1896, he was denied the support of his home delegation. This would have killed the average political aspirant-but not Frank Crane. Oh, no; not yet !
The Lawrence county delegation, headed by Prof. E. O. Garrett, principal of schools
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at Spearfish (now resident agent in the north half of Nebraska for the American Book Co.) came to his rescue.
"Mr. Chairman!" shouted Garrett sev- eral times, while a fellow from Codington county was trying to "butt in" with an ex- planation as to why that county was with- holding its support from Mr. Crane.
"Mr. Chairman!" yelled Garrett in stentorian tones, as he jumped upon a chair.
The presiding officer recognized him as having the floor.
"I rise," said Garrett, shaking his fist at the political malefactor from Codington county, "on behalf of Lawrence county, to place in nomination for superintendent of public instruction as his own successor in office a most distinguished citizen of this commonwealth, one who is a man among men and a gentleman among the ladies."
Pandemonium broke loose. A fellow from Hughes county shrieked himself hoarse trying to gain recognition from the chair. Finally, he succeeded; and on behalf of Hughes county, he seconded the nomination of Mr. Crane. Other counties rapidly swung into line, and he received the nomination in spite of his home delegation. (The primary law has now superseded the old convention system, so that today we are all denied the
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exhilarating effect of these biennial political revivals) Crane went before the people, made a hand-shaking campaign, and despite the fact that the free silver craze was on and that the state at large went democratic, he was re-elected by something like a majority of 44 votes out of a total of 88,000. No man is ever whipped in politics until after the votes are counted. (Bryan isn't whipped then.)
Near the close of Mr. Crane's second term as state superintendent, he was made secretary of the republican state central committee. In 1900, largely as a result of his own organizing ability, the state swung back into the republican column by a ma- jority of 14,000. He was then made chair- man of the committee, and in 1904, he saw the republican majority climb up to nearly 25,000.
LAWYER
During these eventful years Mr. Crane had been busy every spare moment, reading law-first at Watertown, and then at Pierre. In 1899, he passed the bar examination and was admitted. Later, upon application of Senator Kittredge, he was admitted to prac- tice before the supreme court of the United States.
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In March, 1901, Mr. Crane was ap- pointed, or selected, chief clerk of the state supreme court of South Dakota. This po- sition he held for twelve consecutive years. However, on January 7, 1913 he voluntarily resigned, and hereafter he will devote him- self to a new line of out-of-door work.
Through all of his eventful career, he has been made happy by the companionship, since 1883, of Mrs. Crane-nee, Martha Crouch-a talented and estimable lady whose friends and personal acquaintances cover the entire state. Providence has left them childless ; yet their home life has always been one of exceptional congeniality and hospital- ity. Good citizens ! We love them.
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EMORY HOBSON OUR SUPERB MUSICIAN
Music, on earth, dates back to that eventful night in the Garden of Eden, when Eve, stepping softly and shyly amid the flowers, during the increasing twilight, hummed a little tune which mortal man had never before heard, to give herself courage, as she listened to the voice of God crying out to her companion, Adam, "Where art thou ?"
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From that day to this, the melodious strains of music, either vocal or instrumen- tal, echoing down through the ages, have "soothed the savage beast," staid the lion's paw, protected the snake-charmer, en- couraged the soldier, given hope to the penitent, comfort to the dying, cheer at the marriage altar, and rendered happy the toil- ing millions on the earth.
We are all influenced by it. "Let me make the ballads of a nation, and I care not, who makes its laws," said a wise sage long ago. When Napoleon's army faltered near the crest of the Alps, he ordered all of his bands to play. The result was that he con- quered the Alps and Italy, too. At Water- loo, the Highland piper playing
His Scottish airs In the English squares.
turned Marshall Ney's charge into defeat and sent Napoleon to St. Helena. The in- spiring strains of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sent Grant's determined veterans up the slope of Missionary Ridge, swept the rebel hosts from the field, and that night the camp fires of the American republic, on the heights about Chattanooga, launched their red flames heavenward as a burnt offering to God. The words of the revivalist exhorter frequently fall deaf on the ears of the
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hardened sinner, while the mellow accents of "Nearer, My God to Thee" rising softly from the throat of a sweet singer turn the same soul toward its God.
Instinctively our minds turn to the brave band on the ill-fated Titanic, remain- ing at their post of duty in the presence of certain death. Said the Washington Post: "There is sublimity about these men grouped around their leader in the shattered salon of the sinking liner, with all hope for them- selves abandoned, playing for the encourage- ment of passengers and crew the gay tunes to which lately women in silk and diamonds had been dancing, and at the end swinging into the strains of that comforting hymn which knows in universal appeal no distinc- tion of station, birth or nationality.
"And so the band of the Titanic was faithful according to tradition to the end, until, playing on and on, as the dark waters engulfed them, and the garish lights were snuffed out forever, their tired eyes beheld coming out of the darkness a celestial radi- ance, and their ears heard the first faint sound of that music which began where theirs left off."
MUSIC EVERYWHERE
This old world of ours abounds with music of various kinds everywhere for him
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or her whose heart is attuned to its strains. The hubs of a buggy rattling against the shoulders of the axles, mingled with the clatter of the horses' hoofs, make music in the lovers' ears. Little Katydid, sitting in the harvest field, filing together her saw- toothed legs, gives to us our rasping autumn lays. The rumblings of nearby thunders are but the deep-toned diapason of the storm clouds, that sing us to sleep.
But music does not reach us exclusively through the sense of hearing. Sight steps in and gives to us an appreciation of the music found in the blending of tints and shades and the harmony of colors which the artist spreads upon the canvas. The builder lifts our souls heavenward as we view with increasing delight the music found in the harmonization and symmetry of the numer- ous parts that make up his lofty domes which form pillars for the skies. We open our dreamy eyes on a sunlit morn and laugh at the music in nature as we behold the God of Day in the east chasing the Goddess of Night to rest in the west while he "ascends the sapphired stars of heaven. ... tops the hills with gold, paints the petals of every flower with gorgeous beauty and arrays nature in her shifting garment of loveliness."
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As was said by Keats :
"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft piper, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but more endeared, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone."
Then again, smell comes to the fore and gives to us another joyous sense of music in nature's realm as we step into a Pyncheon garden and inhale the delicate perfume of the flowers.
Yes, there is music all about us. Even literature is filled with it. Our heart strings tingle with melody as we repeat-
"Blessings on thee, little man, Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan; With thy turned-up pantaloons, And thy merry whistled tunes."
while we turn from rhythmic verse only to find music again in Stoddard's elegant prose : "Where the keen Alpine air grows soft beneath the wooing of the Italian sun."
Think of it! There is music also in prayer. Man's soul is a "harp of a thousand strings." When the finger tips of God pick a few discordant notes on its sinful bass strings, man looks into that impassable gulf between the rich man and Lazarus but as the same Finger Tips trip off on the re- sponsive strings of the upper clef those divine melodies that articulate the soul with its Creator, man intuitively hears with unborn ears the rhythmic echoes of his own prayer, "Thy will be done."
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Music is, therefore, both vocal and in- strumental, both physical and spiritual. We hear it in the brooklet's stream and feel it in the soul's response. It heaves the chest, pul- sates the heart and mellows the soul. We listen to its merry peals in the bells that chime, to its lingering chord in the coronet's blast; to its soothing strains from the ban- jo's strings and to its dismal thump in the bass drums notes ; but, after all, the sweetest music on the harp of life, ever listened to by mortal man-that which lingers with us all alike-is those angelic notes-our mother's voice, when she sang to us as a child, while we lay listening to her diminishing refrains of "Bye, Baby, Bye," as the unwelcome sand man from "God's Acre" dropped sand into our eyes until they became so clouded that we closed their blinking lids in silent sleep, and were ushered, amid deep-drawn breaths, into dreamland's realm.
ONE WHO FEELS AND KNOWS
We have purposely indulged in this seemingly extravagant introduction, so as to get our readers' minds surcharged with thoughts of music before we introduce them to our superb musician-a man whose soul wells up with melodious response to music .
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in every form-instructor of vocal music at Dakota Wesleyan university-Professor Emory Hobson.
Hobson's soul is ever attuned to music in nature's realm; to the stirring notes from the human throat, the warblings of the lark, the reverberating echoes of the violin, the choppy chords of the piano, or to the melody on the "Harp of the Senses." He lives in music, feasts on it, delights in it, feels it, radiates it, and gives a potent charm to its enchanting powers.
He is not homely, with a crooked nose; long-haired, deaf, blind or a recluse. Rather he is simply a neat, trim, up-to-date, twen- tieth century musician; possessed of none of the oddities that personalized the masters of old. He did not sink the Merrimac or glad- den the hearts of 400 St. Louis belles with a press of his lips (although there may have been music even in that). Oh no; that was Lieutenant Richard P. Hobson.
PREPARATION AND EXPERIENCE
Professor Hobson was born at Paducah, Kentucky, in 1880. He came from a family of musicians. A musician must be born, not made. He must have the music germ in his blood before the musician can be de- vveloped, just as surely as the consumptive
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must have a tubercular bacillus in his blood before the disease can be developed. Hobson is a born musician.
When he graduated at the college of music, he was given first rank in his class and presented with a gold medal.
In 1906, he was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle Sticker of Cincinnati. That same year Dr. Thomas Nicholson, former president of Dakota Wesleyan university, was raking the whole United States with a fine-mesh drag-net, to secure for his insti- tution a man who could and would put the musical department on a basis that would command "respect at home" and give it "prestige abroad." His eagle eye caught Hobson; he was secured, and he and his young bride came directly to Mitchell where Professor Hobson for nine years strug- gled along with intelligent modesty, in a grand effort to make Mitchell one of the big music centers of the state.
MAY FESTIVALS
His first meritorious act was to organize the May festival. The first performance was given in connection with the famous Theo- dore Thomas orchestra, of Chicago. Hobson conducted the "Messiah" with a drilled
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chorus that did most excellent work. Prof. Thomas himself was unstinted in his praise of the young musician.
The second year he gave the cantata "God's Own Time," by Bach, and "The Holy City" by Gaul, with the Minneapolis Sym- phony orchestra; and each year since then he has appeared in the May festival with this grand musical combination.
The third year he gave "Olaf Try- grasson," by Greig; the fourth year, "Hia- watha's Wedding Feast," the fifth year, he gave "Brahm's Requiem," the greatest choral work ever written; the sixth year, he repeated "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast," and gave with it the "Cantata of Gallia" by Gounod.
CHOIR WORK AND STUDENTS
In addition to this work Professor Hob- son is of great service to the churches throughout the city. One year he gave Hayden's "Imperial Mass" with a chorus of fifty voices at the Holy Family church in Mitchell. It is very doubtful if this per- formance has ever been equaled or sur- passed in the state.
He also gives four concerts yearly for the benefit of the local M. E. church's musical fund, and he keeps in training a male
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quartet that is simply superb. Professor Hobson also conducts the Methodist church choir each Sunday, and it is safe to say that the excellent work of this choir is no small factor in attracting the large congregation, ranging from 1,200 to 1,600 to that institu- tion twice each Sunday.
His training which he gives to his pupils is so thorough that several of them have already won distinction outside of the state. Among these are Miss Emma Remp- fer of Parkston; Miss Florence Morris of Mitchell, (recently married to Mr. Kings- bury at Hartford,) and Miss Jessie Mc- Donald of Highmore.
We speak advisedly and with reserva- tion when we say that he is beyond contra- diction, the best instructor in voice that has as yet taken up work in the state. Under his direction the musical department at Dakota Wesleyan has been thoroughly or- ganized and it has gained strength in num- bers until today it has become the largest special department in the school. Such a man lives to bless his community, and, as well, the world at large.
In 1915 he was elected Professor of Music in the Northern Normal and Industrial School, at Aberdeen, S. D.
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FRANK ANDERSON
HIS NAME IS "ANDERSON"
If your name were Anderson, just now, you would be in the lime light of politics. If your name were not Anderson, what would you wish it to be? (Perhaps, right now, Johnson; for Ed. Johnson is just going to the senate, Royal Johnson to congress, and one county reports four Johnsons on their ticket last fall with every single one of them
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elected). However, the Hon. H. B. Ander- son, retiring state auditor, has given the name of Anderson quite an impulse in this state.
"What's in a name?" asked a wise- acre years ago. Well, there must be some- thing when on a state board of only five members-the regents of education-the governor either found it necessary or wise- perhaps as wise as it was necessary-to appoint two Andersons-The Honorable A. M. (forenoon) Anderson of Sturgis, the fellow who gets up in the "a. m." and does things, and the right Honorable Frank Anderson, of Webster, the party with whom "Who's Who" is today concerned.
A. M. has been on the board of regents for many years. His official record is enviable. So when the lamented Marcus P. Beebe, of Ipswich, a member of the regents of education, died last year, Governor Byrne decided he would try another Anderson on the board ; and, therefore, without any equiv- ocation, he gave orders that a commission as regent of education should be filled out at once and mailed to Attorney Frank Ander- son of Webster. True, this made the board 40 per cent Andersons and 60 per cent law- yers, but it made a good board just the same.
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Frank Anderson, or Regent Anderson- which ever style of salutation you prefer- was born on a farm in Fillmore county, Minnesota, October 18, 1870. He spent his boyhood on the farm at hard labor and at- tended rural school a few months each win- ter. Later, he attended Windom institute for two terms and then was enrolled for a couple years in the Anamosa (Iowa) high school. This makes two members of the board (Frank Anderson and Hitchcock), who did their high school work in the little penitentiary city of Anamosa (not as con- victs, of course, but as real good boys.)
Like other boys who have had to help themselves, young Anderson's change became short-shorter than his trousers, for he was now a young man; so he entered the teach- ing profession for three years. From his earnings as a teacher he saved enough to help put himself through Valparaiso univers- ity law school, from which he was graduated in May 1899. (Hon. C. H. Lugg, superin- tendent of public instruction; his deputy, C. T. King; Superintendent W. O. Lamb of Hutchinson county, and a number of other · prominent people in this state are alumni of the same institution. It really has helped to shape the history of our state.)
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Six weeks after taking his law degree, young Anderson struck west and settled at Webster, S. D., where he promptly entered upon the practice of his chosen profession. His practice was large right from the start; so much so, that in a few months he ven- tured upon a still greater venture-matri- mony. In the fall of 1899, he slipped back to Davis, Ill., a small town near Freeport, and was united in marriage to Miss Sophie Knudson.
The year after his marriage, Mr. Ander- son formed a law partnership at Webster with Josephus Alley. This partnership con- tinued for five years. Upon its dissolution, Mr. Anderson formed a new partnership with Attorney W. G. Waddel, which con- tinues to this day.
Frank Anderson, like the Honorable H. B., has been in politics more or less all his life. In 1902 he was elected state's attorney for Day county ; in 1908 he was elected again and re-elected in 1910.
Mr. Anderson was appointed Assistant U. S. District Attorney in the spring of 1911, but inasmuch as the position would have necessitated his removal to Sioux Falls, he declined the appointment.
He has a large following in his own county-so much so that Governor Byrne
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contemplated appointing him circuit judge when Judge McNulty resigned to enter the congressional arena two years ago; but Mr. Anderson gave his own endorsement to Hon. Thomas L. Bouck who was tendered the position. However, we'll predict that he'll be a "judge" some day : he has that "judicial temperament" which Senator Beveridge told us so much about in the campaign of 1912.
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W. G. SEAMAN
PRESIDENT DAKOTA WESLEYAN
Said the Reverend Dr. Jenkins in his introductory address to the students of Dakota Wesleyan at Mitchell, at the opening of school a year ago: "The committee to whom was assigned the responsibility of se- curing a new president for you, established their headquarters at a hotel in St. Louis; and oh ! my, but it was hot. I never suffered
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so with heat in all my life, etc., etc., etc., etc., but out of it we brought the right man, your new president, Dr. William Grant Seaman, of De Pauw university, who will now ad- dress you."
Jumping to his feet to acknowledge with polite bows the hailstorm of applause which he was receiving, Dr. Seaman, with a broad grin on his face, said, as soon as the excite- ment had died down : "Yes; I remember now, the story of a man who used to live in St. Louis. He died and went to hell. As soon as he got there he sent back to St. Louis for his overcoat."
(Prolonged applause.)
This was a superb hit. Right then and there the students of Dakota Wesleyan saw that they were not to be presidentialized by a "dead head;" but rather that a mixer-a give and take fellow-a real live wire, if you please-had been selected to lead them on. In other words, as Dr. Jenkins had said, they had gotten the "right man" for the place.
Dr. Seaman is a man of strong demo- cratic tendencies-a common everyday fel- low whose position does not swell his head but merely enlarges his heart. He is jovial, keen and witty; yet, pious, deep, reverent, grand and good. He's a companionable fel-
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low-one that you like to snuggle up to as your personal friend-one who makes you feel at home in his presence; in fact, just the kind of a man by temperament and training that is needed for such a job as he now holds.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM GRANT SEAMAN
Nicholson came to Dakota Wesleyan as president when he was forty-four years of age. Kerfoot followed him at forty-three. Dr. Seaman took hold of the reins, four years ago, at the age of forty-six. The little vil- lage of Wakarusa, in northern Indiana, was honored with his birth on a calm November morning in 1866. Dr. Seaman, therefore, entered life with the advent of a new age. The civil war had closed. Lincoln had passed from the stage of action to a marble tomb in Illinois. The South was to be re- constructed. Men who had won distinction on the field of battle in extinguishing the Confederacy, were shrewdly seeking political recognition. Grant, Garfield, Hayes and others had to be "cared for." As yet a Southerner sat in the presidential chair. The recognized writers of the nineteenth century were all getting old and leaving their literary works behind them as a lasting heri- tage for future generations. Science, art and invention were daily revealing new things. If the boy should catch the progres-
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sive spirit of his age, make suitable prepara- tion for life and plunge in, he had every chance to win. He did it; the result is upon us. Dakota Wesleyan never had a more vigorous president nor a better organizer than she has today in Dr. Seaman.
DEVELOPED YOUNG
As a boy he was abnormally bright. He passed a creditable teachers' examination at the age of fourteen and taught his first school at fifteen. Most boys at that age are just entering the high school. He therefore developed young. In actual experience it will be seen that he is at least ten years in advance of his age.
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