GEORGE H. KEYES, of Ellendale, is one of the foremost citizens of Dickey county, agent and manager of the Baldwin estate properties of North Dakota, comprising fifty-six thousand acres of valuable farm lands in Dickey county, while individually he is also a dealer in farm lands. His business interests are therefore very extensive and important and in their control he manifests notable energy, keen discrimination and sound judgment. He was born at Lake Mills, Jefferson county, Wisconsin, April 13, 1845, a son of Abel and Mary E.  (Cutler) Keyes, the former a native of Northfield, Vermont, and the latter of Connecticut, while both were representatives of old New England families. Ancestors in the paternal line served in the Revolutionary war. The grandfather, Joseph Keyes, was a millwright by trade and with his family removed to Wisconsin during the boyhood days of his son Abel, who afterward became his associate in the building of several mills, some of which they operated themselves for a number of years. In 1849 Abel Keyes removed to northern Wisconsin, settling at Menasha, where he engaged in manufacturing interests and in the real estate business. He wedded Mary E. Cutler, who in her girlhood days had accompanied her parents to Wisconsin, in which state the Keyes family ranked as one of the most prominent and influential.

George H. Keyes, after pursuing a course in the Menasha high school, attended the Lawrence University, now Lawrence College, at Appleton, Wisconsin, and in 1864, when a youth of nineteen, responded to the country’s call for troops, serving as a member of Company D, Forty-first Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he remained until after the close of the war. In 1866 he went to the west, settling in Central City, Colorado, where he engaged in prospecting and mining, there remaining for three years, after which he returned to Menasha, Wisconsin, where he was married on the 24th of March 1869, to Miss Emma M. Thatcher. They began their domestic life in Menasha, where Mr. Keyes spent the following fourteen years as a farmer and real estate dealer. In 1883 he brought his family to North Dakota and homesteaded a quarter section of land in Dickey county, also took up a tree claim and preempted another quarter section. He proved up on his three claims and resided on the homestead until 1889, when he was elected county register of deeds and removed to Ellendale but also maintained his home upon the farm, he and his family there spending a part of the time. He was re-elected to office and served for four years, making a most creditable record by the prompt and faithful manner in which he discharged his duties. Subsequently he opened an abstract and real estate office, concentrating his energies upon that business for three years, after which he was elected a member of the board of state railway and warehouse commissioners and was made its chairman, occupying that position for four years.

Resuming the pursuits of private life, Mr. Keyes continued in the real estate business in Ellendale and has become one of the most extensive operators in farm lands in this state.  He was instrumental in influencing Mr. George Baldwin, of Appleton, Wisconsin, to make his heavy investments in North Dakota farm lands, Mr. Baldwin consenting to this only on condition that Mr. Keyes should look after the property and manage his investments in this state. From time to time Mr. Baldwin bought land until he owned sixty-four thousand acres and of this vast property Mr. Keyes has since had the management. Fifty quarter sections have since been sold, while the present holdings embrace three hundred and fifty quarter sections or fifty-six thousand acres of valuable farm land in Dickey county. No resident of North Dakota is better informed concerning property values or knows better the possibilities of the soil of different sections of the state than Mr. Keyes and he has thus been able to wisely direct the interests of the Baldwin estate as well as his individual investments.

To Mr. and Mrs. Keyes have been born four children: Mary A., the wife of Walter De La Hunt, of Willmar, Minnesota; Abel, who is deceased; Norman, an agriculturist of Dickey county; and George H., Jr., cashier of the Bank of Winslow at Winslow, Arizona.

Mr. Keyes is locally prominent as a supporter of the republican party and has served for ten years as police magistrate of Ellendale and also as a member of the board of aldermen.  He is known throughout the state in Masonic circles, holding membership in Ellendale Lodge, No. 13, A. F. & A. M.; Oakes Chapter, No. 3 2, R. A. M.; Oshkosh Commandery, No.  11, K. T. ; and Dakota Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R., of Fargo. He is also identified with El Zagal Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., of Fargo, and it is a notable fact that his grandfather, his father and his eldest son were all members of Oshkosh Commandery. Mr. Keyes has been accorded high honors in the order, being a past grand master of the grand lodge of North Dakota, a past grand high priest of the grand chapter and past grand patron of the grand chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, while Mrs. Keyes is past grand matron. He has also been honored with the thirty-third degree, which comes only in recognition of valuable service rendered by the individual to the organization. He is likewise a member of Aberdeen Lodge, No. 1046, B. P. O. E., and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and his wife is a member of the Methodist church. By reason of his prominence in Masonic circles and his operations in farm lands Mr. Keyes has become widely known throughout North Dakota and the state is proud of him as a representative citizen.

HON. C. E. KNOX, member of the state legislature, farmer, grain buyer, and one of the foremost citizens of Dickey county, resides on a farm adjoining the town of Oakes. He was born in Hudson, Wisconsin, October 14, 1861, a son of Charles B. and Rhoda (Parker) Knox, the former a native of New York and the latter of Maine. They accompanied their respective parents to Wisconsin in childhood and were married in Hudson, that state, after which they removed to Dickinson county, Iowa, in 1867. and there spent their remaining days, the father being actively engaged in the livestock business.

C. E. Knox began his education in the district schools and continued his studies under his mother’s instruction, she having been a successful school teacher in her early life. On reaching young manhood he, too, took up the profession of teaching and for ten years was identified with educational work. He was one of eight children, all of whom became schoolteachers and held first grade certificates. As early as his twenty-second year he identified himself with the grain trade and with farming and stock raising and to these occupations has since given his attention. He was connected with grain buying in both Iowa and Minnesota and in 1903 came to North Dakota, settling at Oakes. Three years later he embarked in the grain trade on his own account and soon afterward purchased the elevator which he now owns and operates at Oakes, while subsequently he became the owner of an elevator in Ludden. Further extending his operations in the grain trade, he is today the owner of two elevators in Oakes, one in Ludden and one in Glover. He also owns and cultivates five hundred and sixty acres of land two and a half miles east of Oakes and resides upon that place. It is a well improved property, in the midst of which stands a comfortable and commodious residence, and the success which he has achieved in business affairs enables him to enjoy not only the necessities but some of the luxuries of life.

In 1897 Mr. Knox was united in marriage to Miss Zadie E. Clark, of Emmet county, Iowa, and they have become the parents of three children, Daisy Belle, Ethel and Doris.  Mr. and Mrs. Knox hold membership in the Methodist church and he belongs also to Oakes Lodge, No. 40, I. 0. 0. F., and to the Modern Brotherhood of America. His political indorsement is given to the republican party and his opinions carry weight in its councils, for he is one of its active and prominent representatives in Dickey county. For the past eight years he has represented his district in the state legislature, having four times been elected to that body, a fact which indicates that his record has been satisfactory to his constituents and has been characterized by a loyal regard for the best interests of the community and commonwealth.  He has also served for eight years as chairman of the town board and for ten years has been a member of the school board. He has a wide and favorable acquaintance throughout the state and is best liked where best known.

BERIAH MAGOFFIN, The life record of Beriah Magoffin is inseparably interwoven with the history of Monango, for he erected the first building in the town and was not only connected with the phases of its early pioneer development but with its later progress as well. He still makes his home there and is now living retired in the enjoyment of a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves. He was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, April 36, 1843, a son of Ebenezer and a nephew of Beriah Magoffin, who was governor of Kentucky at the outbreak of the Civil war, and when called upon by President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand troops answered that “Kentucky had no troops for such an unholy cause.” He was subsequently removed from office by Lincoln.

Ebenezer Magoffin wedded Mary Ann Hutchinson and both were natives of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, the former of Irish descent, while the latter was of Scotch extraction. In 1854 they removed to Sedalia, Missouri, where Mr.  Magoffin acquired twenty-two hundred acres of land, constituting a mammoth plantation, on which he had a large number of slaves. When the trouble between the north and south precipitated the country in civil war he raised a regiment on his farm for the Confederate army and he was taken prisoner at Georgetown, Missouri, after killing two of Milligan’s soldiers, who had deliberately fired upon him without provocation. His influence was so great that his captors did not dare to take his life, but confined him in prison at Lexington, Missouri, where he was later released when the city was captured by Confederate troops.  Subsequently he was rearrested, tried by a drumhead court-martial and sentenced to be shot, but after Colonel Brown, of Milligan’s Brigade, had testified in his behalf and interceded for him he was sent to the military prison at Alton, Illinois. Later his son, Beriah Magoffin, was incarcerated and placed in the same cell with his father. Being given free rein of the grounds, he planned a means of escape through the cellar of the building, whereupon Mr.  Magoffin and his brother tunneled their way out. The means of their escape has never been known to this day. The two guards, who were suspected of connivance, were shot.  Ebenezer Magoffin was afterward killed by an assassin at Rocky Comfort, Arkansas, the man stabbing him in the back. His brother followed the assassin for thirty days, captured him and singlehanded hung him from his horse.

Beriah Magoffin and his brother Elijah also served in the Confederate army, the latter holding the rank of colonel. While with the Confederate army Beriah Magoffin was captured in Missouri while lying ill of typhoid fever and was confined for a time in the prison at Alton, Illinois. Later he was transferred to Fort Delaware, at the mouth of Chesapeake bay, and subsequently he was again captured and once more confined at Alton. After the war he and his brother returned to Missouri and the home plantation being ravaged, they sold the place. Following his marriage Beriah Magoffin continued farming for ten years and later was employed by a New York house on the Star mail route. For two or three years he traveled for the house and later engaged in business on his own account. In 1884 he came to North Dakota, settling in Westport, from which point he ran a mail route.  In 1886 he came to Monango in advance of the Milwaukee Railroad and built a shack for himself with a room for his horses. That was the first building in the town. With the development and progress of which he has since been closely associated. Under President Cleveland he was appointed postmaster of Monango and he also began merchandising on a small scale but developed his interests into one of the leading business concerns of the kind in Dickey county, personally managing and superintending the business until 1901, when he turned it over to his son, Ebenezer Magoffin, since which time he has lived retired.  In 1865 Mr. Magoffin was united in marriage to Miss Manlius A. Thomson, a daughter of Colonel Manlius B. Thomson, commander of the Third Kentucky Cavalry in the Mexican war and at one time lieutenant governor of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Magoffin have become the parents of five children, the only survivor, however, being Ebenezer, mentioned elsewhere in this work.

In politics Mr. Magoffin is a Democrat and has served as a member of the state central committee, being recognized as a prominent and influential leader in party politics. He served as postmaster of Monango for two years, after which he resigned, for he has little desire to hold public office, preferring that his public duties should be done as a private citizen, and in many ways he has contributed to the upbuilding and progress of his community.

EBENEZER MAGOFFIN, a leading merchant of Monango, Dickey county, and president of the Farmers & Merchants State Bank at that place, has throughout his business career been notably prompt, energetic and reliable and those qualities have constituted salient factors in his growing success.

His life record had its beginning in Saline county, Missouri, where he was born November 4, 1868, a son of Beriah Magoffin. His public school training was supplemented by a course of study in the Spencer Business College at Washington, D. C, and following the completion of his course he went to South Dakota in 1884 and for two years ran a mail route out of Westport. In the fall of 1886 he came to North Dakota, settling in Monango, where through the succeeding three years he was engaged in carpentering. At all points in his career he has been actuated by laudable ambition and when he had acquired sufficient capital he embarked in merchandising in 1889 and has since been prominently identified with the commercial interests of the town and with its upbuilding in many ways. He has developed the leading store of the place and in 1909 he became one of the organizers of the Farmers & Merchants State Bank, of which he was made vice president, while subsequently he was elected to the presidency, the interests and policy of which he has carefully directed, its growing success being attributable in large measure to his sound judgment and to his progressiveness, which is tempered by a safe conservatism. In addition to his mercantile interests he has bought and sold North Dakota farm lands very extensively in years past and now owns but two hundred and forty acres.

In June, 1897, Mr. Magoffin was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Helferty, of Monango, and to them was born a daughter, Fannie E., who is now attending Jamestown College at Jamestown, North Dakota. The wife and mother passed away in 1898 and in 1903 Mr.  Magoffin wedded Miss Amy Northrop, of Monango, by whom he has one child, Lois E., now attending school.

Mr. Magoffin is a democrat in his political views and has served his town as alderman and as mayor, easting the weight of his official influence on the side of municipal reform and progress. He has also been a member of the school board, served four years as a member of the board of the State Normal and Industrial School at Ellendale, for two years of which time he was president of the board, and he can be counted upon to further any plan for the general good. He belongs to Ellendale Lodge, No. 13, F. & A. M., to the Woodmen of the World, the Yeomen and the Knights of the Maccabees, nor does he neglect the higher, holier duties of life, for he holds membership in the Presbyterian church, to which his wife and two daughters also belong. He is now serving on its official board and is a generous contributor to its support.

CARL A. MALANDER, a real estate and insurance broker of Oakes, was born in Sweden, April 24, 1864, of the marriage of John and Christina Malander, who came to the United States when their son Carl was an infant of but eighteen months. The family home was established in Boone county, Iowa, where the mother passed away a year later. The father afterward married again and resided in Boone county to the time of his death.

When left motherless Carl A. Malander was taken to the home of John A. Johnson, of Webster county, Iowa, by whom he was reared to manhood, obtaining his education in the public schools. As early as his twelfth year, however, he became a wage earner, working at farm labor for four dollars per month. He was employed as a farm hand until his nineteenth year, when he entered the coal mines at Des Moines, being employed as a miner for seven years, at the end of which time he began farming on his own account in Pocahontas county, Iowa, wisely investing his hard earned savings in one hundred and sixty acres of land. After cultivating that farm for five years he sold and removed to Emmet county, Iowa, where he became owner of one hundred and sixty acres which he cultivated for several years. In 1900 he arrived in Oakes, North Dakota, where he established a real estate and insurance business in partnership with R. A. Middaugh which relation was maintained until 1910, when Mr. Malander purchased his partner’s interest in the business. In 1913 he was joined by W. R. Whitver, thus forming the present firm of Malander & Whitver, which is one of the leading real estate firms of the southeastern part of the state. They have secured a large clientage and their business has been a substantial element in the development of the town and surrounding country as well as the source of substantial personal success.

Mr. Malander has been married twice. ln 1889 he wedded Miss Elizabeth Peterson, of Des Moines, Iowa, by whom he had a daughter, Mabel, who resides at home. The wife and mother passed away in 1894 and eleven years later Mr. Malander was again married, his second union being with Miss Ethel Cockburn, of Estherville, Iowa.

Mr. Malander is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge; Oakes Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M.; and the Order of the Eastern Star, of which his wife is also a member. He is also identified with the Knights of the Maccabees.  Mrs. Malander is an Episcopalian in religious faith, taking an active interest in the work of the church. Mr. Malander is a recognized leader in republican circles and has served for two terms as mayor of Oakes, from 1911 to 1914 inclusive. He has also been a member of the board of aldermen. On the 15th of April 1915, at the expiration of his second term of office as mayor, Mr. Malander was presented with a Howard gold watch, suitably inscribed, as an appreciation on the part of his fellow townsmen of his valuable service to the city, his administration being characterized by many civic improvements.  He brought to bear in the conduct of municipal affairs the same sound judgment and honorable purpose which have ever characterized his business activities, and the consensus of public opinion places him in the ranks of the foremost residents of Oakes.

HON. THOMAS FRANK MARSHALL, possessing initiative and marked ability as an organizer, has contributed much to the business development of Oakes, Dickey county. He Is president of the First National Bank of Oakes, president of the First State Bank of Verona, of the Fullerton State Bank, the Guelph State Bank, the Dakota National Bank of Aberdeen, South Dakota, and president of the Marshall-McCartney Company, one of the big holding companies of the state. His entire business career has been characterized by constructive methods which have recognized and taken advantage of the opportunities offered for the upbuilding of interests which have meant much to the communities in which they are located. His plans have always been well defined and carefully executed and his success has never been won at the cost of the failure of others.

Mr. Marshall is a native of Missouri, his birth having occurred in Hannibal on the 7^th of March 1854, his parents being George W. and Sarah K. (Hettlebauer) Marshall. The father was a native of Kentucky and of Scotch-lrish descent, while the mother was born in Virginia and came of German parentage. They were married in the Old Dominion and for a few years afterward drifted over the country looking for a permanent location. They finally settled near Platteville, Grant county, Wisconsin, in 1856, and the father, who was a miller by trade, there operated a grist mill for many years, becoming one of the leading and substantial business men of that locality. In 1873 he removed to South Dakota, to which state his son, Thomas F. Marshall, had preceded him. He secured a homestead in Turner county and later removed to Parker, that county, where his death occurred in April, 1916, when he had reached the venerable age of ninety-one years.

Thomas F. Marshall was educated in the State Normal School at Platteville, Wisconsin, where he pursued special courses in mathematics and surveying. Three months prior to the time of his graduation, however, his health failed and having also exhausted his funds, he left school, but forty years later the board of regents conferred upon him his diploma, calling him to the school on the event of the graduation of the class of 1913. After putting aside his textbooks Mr. Marshall went to Yankton, South Dakota, in April 1873, and entered upon the work of surveying, while at the same time he took contracts from the government for survey work, in which he was engaged for fifteen years. Within that period he also established a grocery business in Yankton and conducted it in connection with his other interests. In 1883 he removed to Columbia, South Dakota, his government survey work taking him to that locality, and while there he also engaged in the banking business, purchasing an interest in the private bank of William Davidson and thus organizing the firm of Davidson & Marshall. Later he became one of the organizers of the first National Bank of Columbia and was made a director of that institution. In 1885 he returned to Yankton, closed out his business interests and in the spring of 1887 removed to Oakes, North Dakota, bought an interest in the Bank of Oakes, and became its cashier and active manager.  Later he bought the interest of the other stockholders, becoming sole owner, and in October 1902, he nationalized the institution, making it the First National Bank of Oakes.  Throughout the entire period of his residence here his business activities have been of a most important and far-reaching character, resulting to the benefit of the community as well as constituting a source of individual success.

He organized the Marshall-McCartney Company, which is one of the big holding companies of the state and which acquired the various banking institutions of which Mr. Marshall is president. It took over as well various elevators and has extensive holdings in addition. This company was at one time interested in banks at Cogswell, Gwinner and Forbes, North Dakota, and for five years owned the controlling interest in the Citizens National Bank and Citizens Loan Company at Williston, North Dakota, as well as the controlling interest in the Springbrook State Bank and the Springbrook Trading Company and the Trenton State Bank and the Trenton Trading Company, but at a recent date the Marshall-McCartney holdings in the last named have been sold, in 1908 the Marshall-McCartney Company organized the Dakota Western Telephone Company and developed the business until their interests were among the most extensive of that character in the west, or in other words the second largest telephone company in the state, their holdings reaching a valuation of more than a quarter of a million dollars. On the 1^st of March 1916, they sold to the Northwestern Telephone Company. At one time Mr.  Marshall owned the large department store at Aberdeen, known as the Golden Rule, but disposed of that business when elected to congress. The foregoing indicates clearly that he has always been alert and enterprising, ready to meet any emergency and at all times utilizing opportunities that have led to constructive work along business lines.  In his political views Mr. Marshall is an earnest republican. He served as surveyor of Turner county, South Dakota, and was the first mayor of Oakes after the incorporation of the city, continuing as its chief executive for four years.

In 1892 he was elected to the state senate, serving for four years, and was a candidate for the United States senate in 1896 but met defeat by one vote in the caucus that elected McCumber. In 1900 he was elected to the United States congress and remained a member of the national halls of legislation for eight years. In 1908 he was a candidate for the nomination for United States senator on the progressive ticket at the first primary ever held in the state, his competitors at that time being M. N. Johnson, H. C. Hansbrough and C. B. Little. Mr. Marshall received a plurality of over four thousand votes, or thirty-three percent of the entire republican vote, but the law required a forty percent vote to make the nomination effective.  In the event of no candidate receiving this vote the two candidates receiving the highest vote were to run in the primary held in the regular November election. On that occasion Mr. Marshall ran against Mr. Johnson, who had received the second highest vote, and the former was defeated. Two years later in the June primaries he was again a candidate for the same office with P. J. McCumber as his opponent but was defeated by eleven hundred votes. In 1912 he was a candidate for national committeeman and was elected by a majority of twenty thousand votes at the first primary ever held in the United States to elect a national committeeman. Mr. Marshall exercises a great; influence and naturally has strong opposition, as does every one who wins a place of leadership, for it has been well said that “It is only the head above the line that gets hit.” There is perhaps no one in North Dakota that has more stanch allies and it is a recognized fact that no one holds more loyally to his honest convictions nor fights more earnestly in their defense than does Thomas F, Marshall.

In 1878 Mr. Marshall was united in marriage to Miss Eva E. Grigsby, of Missouri Valley, Iowa, a former schoolmate, and a sister of Colonel Melvin Grigsby, a veteran of the Civil war and the author of the amendment which provided for the three Rough Rider Regiments in the Spanish-American war. Colonel Grigsby is still living and resides in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have had no children of their own but have reared Elmer B. McCartney, the brother of his partner, who became a member of their household upon the death of his mother when he was a little lad of three and a half years. He is a graduate of Columbia University, in which he completed a course in civil engineering, and is now in charge of a big irrigation project at Winchester, Grant county, Washington, which is being built by the Marshall-McCartney Company.

Fraternally Mr. Marshall is a thirty-second degree Mason, having attained high rank in both the York and Scottish Rite bodies, while of El Zagal Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fargo he is also a member. He likewise belongs to Fargo Lodge, No. 260, B. P. 0. E., and he is most loyal to the teachings and purposes of these organizations.  In the extensive business organizations which Mr. Marshall has built up he has always had the interests of his employees at heart and as the various branches with which they have been connected have developed and grown they have been given an interest in the business and thus have profited by the success of the enterprises, some of his employees having been associated with him for more than a quarter of a century. The efficiency of his organization and the ability of his corps of lieutenants are such that the wheels of business run almost as smoothly in his absence as when he is at the steering wheel. Whatever he undertakes he accomplishes, not by the sacrifice of another’s interests but because of his constructive methods, which are based upon a recognition and utilization of opportunities that many others pass heedlessly by. He is a strong man, strong in his ability to plan and perform, strong in his citizenship and strong in his honor and good name.

CHARLES C. MISFELDT, of Ellendale, holding the office of county auditor of Dickey county, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, March 15, 1861, a son of Carl F. and Wilhelmina (Haas) Misfeldt, both of whom were natives of Germany, where they were reared and married.  It was in the ‘40s that they bade adieu to the fatherland and sailed for the United States, establishing their home in Mobile, Alabama, while subsequently they removed northward to St. Louis and afterward became residents of Chicago, where they continued until called to the home beyond. The father was a stonemason by trade but after becoming a resident of Chicago was engaged in commercial lines as a boot and shoo merchant for some time and later in the wholesale tobacco business.

Charles C. Misfeldt was educated in the public schools of Chicago and in the German parochial schools of that city and after completing his studies was employed in various ways in Chicago until 1883, when a recognition of the opportunities of the northwest brought him to this state. He established his home in Ellendale, where he opened a barber shop which he conducted for thirty-one years, gaining a wide and favorable acquaintance during that period. He also invested in farm land and is now the owner of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land four miles from Ellendale.  For a considerable period Mr. Misfeldt has been actively interested in politics and in 1903 was elected county auditor of Dickey county, receiving a majority of eighty-seven votes in a county that normally gives a strong republican majority, while he was the candidate of the democratic party. He made so excellent a record in office that he was reelected in 1912 and again for a third term in 1914, his duties being discharged most systematically and accurately.

In November, 1887, Mr. Misfeldt was united in marriage to Miss Cora E. Mock, of Elgin, Illinois, and to them have been born five children: Carl R., who is inspector of motors for the Paige Automobile Company of Detroit; George William C, a stenographer for the Imperial Rice Milling Company of Vancouver, British Columbia ; Douglas E., who is with the Paine Automobile Agency in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Clara Elizabeth B., attending the State Normal and Industrial School in Ellendale; and Charles Clayton, who is now a high school pupil. The mother and daughter are members of the Baptist church.

Mr. Misfeldt is well known in fraternal circles, having become a member of Ellendale Lodge of Perfection, A. F. & A. M., the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Brotherhood of America and the Court of Honor. For a third of a century he has been numbered among Ellendale’s residents, arriving here at an early period in the development and upbuilding of the town, throughout the intervening period the circle of his friends has increased as the circle of his acquaintance has broadened and his fellow townsmen regard him as a valued and representative citizen of his community.

BENJAMIN PORTER, of Ellendale, agent for the Baldwin estate and practicing at the bar of Dickey county, was born in Livingston county, New York, October 15, 1851, a son of Samuel and Belinda (Stewart) Porter, both of whom were natives of the Empire state, where the mother died, after which the father came to North Dakota in 1883 and made his home with his son Benjamin to the time of his demise.

Benjamin Porter supplemented his public school education by study in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York, in the Dansville Academy at Dansville, New York, and in the Haverling Union School at Bath, New York, thus being liberally trained for life’s practical and responsible duties. After completing his education he devoted his attention to farming until he reached his twenty-fifth year, when he turned from agriculture to a professional career, entering upon the study of law in the office of Daniel Holliday at Canaseraga, New York, who directed his reading for three years, after which he was admitted to the New York bar. In 1879 he came to the west and, settling in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was for two and one-half years identified with the law film of Stewart & Sweet, the junior partner being now assistant secretary of commerce. In 1882 Mr. Porter arrived in North Dakota and settled on un-surveyed government land on the section which constitutes the present site of Fullerton. He subsequently entered as a homestead the southwest quarter of that section and thus came into possession of some of the rich farming land of the district. From the beginning of his residence in Dickey county he has been prominently connected with its public affairs and for four years filled the office of clerk of the courts, while for two years he was states attorney. He now makes his home in Ellendale for the purpose of educating his children. Aside from the time he devotes to law practice he has been for the past fourteen years agent for the Baldwin estate in North Dakota. In his law practice he specializes to a large extent in probate work and has administered many estates, his well-known fairness and probity well qualifying him for the business. He has made judicious investment in farm lands in Dickey county, where he owns between five and six hundred acres of land.  In 1890 Mr. Porter was married to Miss Mary Herbert, of Lowell, Michigan, who at that time was a teacher in the schools of Dickey county. They have become parents of six children: Edward F., who received the Rhodes scholarship in December 1912, and is now attending Oxford University; Amyas Leigh, a student in the State University at Grand Forks; Herbert Preston, who is a teacher in the Grafton State Institute for Feeble Minded; Hector, a graduate of the State Normal and Industrial School at Ellendale; Jacob Benjamin, attending the State Normal and Industrial School; and John Ruskin, a pupil in the Ellendale high school.

Politically Mr. Porter is a democrat but has had no ambition to hold office outside the strict path of his profession. His religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Presbyterian church, while his wife is a member of the Episcopal church. From pioneer times he has been a resident of Dickey county, his connection with its interests covering more than a third of a century, and throughout the entire period, while carefully managing his individual interests, he has at the same time cooperated in all the movements planned for the upbuilding and betterment of the district and thus contributed to the progress of the state.

HON. M. E. RANDALL, president of The Randall Company, general merchants, controlling the leading house of that character in Ellendale, and also vice president of the Ellendale National Bank, displays in his business affairs a keen discrimination and judgment that is seldom, if ever, at fault. His plans have ever been carefully devised and promptly executed and his identification with the interests of the city covers a period of thirty-four years.  He was born in Niagara county, New York, November 4, 1847, a son of Elias and Cynthia (Dean) Randall. The father, who was a farmer by occupation, made several removals, going from the Empire state to Illinois, then to Wisconsin and afterward to Minnesota, his death occurring in Ortonville, in the last named state, in 1883. His widow afterward became a member of the household of her son, L. I. Randall, and there passed away June 14, 1912.

M. E. Randall supplemented his public school training by a course in the State University of Minnesota and then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for several years most successfully, early displaying the ability to impart readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired. He subsequently turned to commercial pursuits and for a period of six years was employed as a clerk in a store in Appleton, Minnesota.  He afterward engaged in the drug and grocery business in connection with P. M. Scott in Appleton and a year later, or in 1882, came to North Dakota, joining his brother, L. I.  Randall, who had preceded him to Ellendale, having located there in the spring of 1882, while M. E. Randall arrived in the fall of the year. The brothers erected a frame building twenty-five by one hundred and ten feet and engaged in general merchandising under the style of Randall Brothers. From the beginning their trade grew and the business prospered as the country became more thickly settled. In time they were enjoying a very extensive patronage and their partnership was continued with mutual pleasure and profit until 1910, when M. E. Randall purchased his brother’s interest in the business, the latter then removing to Idaho, where he is now engaged in banking. In 1911 M. E. Randall incorporated his commercial interests, admitting his son and three daughters as stockholders under the style of The Randall Company. Theirs is the leading mercantile house in Ellendale. Their store is large, well stocked and tastefully arranged, and throughout his entire business career here Mr. Randall has ever recognized the fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement. He has likewise become an active representative of financial circles in his town as vice president of the Ellendale National Bank.

In 1877 occurred the marriage of Mr. Randall and Miss Minnie E. Lord, of Mazeppa, Minnesota, and they have become the parents of eight children, of whom seven are yet living, namely: Myrtle M., the wife of Frank Glides, a merchant of Osage, Iowa; Edna, the wife of Harry Whitney, a banker of Dodge Center, Minnesota; Ina E., who is a member of The Randall Company and is the wife of Fred Graham, an attorney of Ellendale; Ava and M. Pearl, members of The Randall Company; Floyd E., vice president of The Randall Company; and Hazel, who is also one of the stockholders in the business. The wife and mother passed away July 2, 1913, her death being deeply regretted by many friends, who had learned to esteem her for her many excellent traits of heart and mind.

In democratic circles Mr. Randall is recognized as a local leader and in fact his inherence and activities have aided in shaping the political history of the state, for he was a member of the state senate during its second session and gave thoughtful consideration to all the vital and significant problems which came up for settlement at that time. He has also been city treasurer of Ellendale and as its mayor gave to the city a businesslike and progressive administration during which several reforms were brought about and various municipal improvements introduced. He was likewise a member of the school board for several years and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart friend. He belongs to Ellendale Lodge, No. 13, F. & A. M., and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft. Mr.  Randall is today one of the oldest business men of Ellendale in years of continuous connection with its trade interests and is one of the most widely known citizens of Dickey county. His entire commercial record will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, measuring up to high business standards.

ED A. SMITH, of Ellendale, serving for the third term as clerk of the courts of his district, was born at Chatfield, Minnesota, October 5, 1857, a son of Allen and Ruth A. Smith.  His father was a member of Company B, Fifth Minnesota Volunteers, and saw service at Fort Ridgeley, fighting against the Indians. At the close of the Civil war the family moved onto a farm where the subject of this sketch attended a crude country school for a few months each year.

At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to Captain McKenny, of the Chatfield Democrat, where he served an apprenticeship of five years, learning the trade of printer. In 1879 he emigrated with three brothers to Flandreau, Dakota territory, and worked as a journeyman printer until 1882, when he came to Ellendale. Here he worked a short time as a printer on the Dickey County Leader, and the fall of 1883 entered the real estate business, locating settlers on government lands and making filings and final proofs in the government land office. He was a clerk in the legislature in 1885, the first session held in the new capitol at Bismarck, and also in 1887. It was during this latter session he was instrumental in establishing the line between North and South Dakota when the territory was admitted as two states. A bill was pending in congress to divide the territory into two states, the line being described as the “forty-sixth parallel of north latitude.” Surveyors for the government who had been at Ellendale had stated that the town was located directly on the forty-sixth parallel. To divide the territory on this line would mean to put part of the town into one state and part in the other. Ellendale people had petitioned Washington to have the line changed to the seventh standard parallel, a surveyed line and county boundary, four miles south of the town, but had been advised they were too late to have the bill amended. While at Bismarck as a clerk in the legislature in 1887, Mr. Smith succeeded in having the legislature pass a memorial to congress to have the proposed division line changed to the seventh standard parallel, and this line was finally adopted when the states were admitted to the Union.  At the close of the legislative session of 1887, Mr. Smith moved to St. Paul, where he was employed on the Pioneer Press for nearly five years, returning to Ellendale in the fall of 1891, where he purchased a half interest in the Dickey County Leader with the late F. S. Goddard. This partnership continued until 1898, when he bought the Oakes Republican and moved to Oakes. He published this paper until 1902, when he bought the Free Press at Devils Lake and continued its publication until 1905, when he sold the paper. For two years he was employed at Grand Forks and other places as journeyman printer and returned to Oakes in 1908, where he was employed as bookkeeper until 1913, when he was elected clerk of the district court, and re-elected in 1914 and 1916.  Mr. Smith was married at Ellendale, July 1, 1883, to Katie M. Clark and has a family of eight children, one dying in infancy.

In politics he has always been a republican, and while he has been inclined to the progressive rather than the conservative faction of the party, his newspaper has always supported the ticket as nominated, firmly advocating that whatever reforming the party needed must come from within and not from the outside. However, he does everything in his power to advance the public welfare and support those forces which he believes are best calculated to advance the general good. That his official record is most creditable is indicated by the fact that he has three times been elected to the office which he is now filling.

JUDGE W. S WICKERSHAM, occupying the bench of the county court of Dickey county, was born in Montgomery county, Illinois, on the 25th of November 1866, and is a son of Jonah R. and Sarah C. Wickersham, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Indiana.  In young manhood and womanhood they removed to Montgomery county, Illinois, where they began their domestic life but in 1878 they removed to Shelby county, Iowa, where the Judge was reared on a farm and laid a foundation for his future success, and where his father still lives at the advanced age of eighty-five years, his mother having died in 1894.

Judge Wickersham mastered the elementary branches of learning in the public schools of Shelby county and afterward attended Western College at Toledo, Iowa. When his more specifically literary education was completed he took up the study of law and completed that course and was admitted to practice at the Nebraska state bar in 1894, and at once entered upon the active work of his profession. In 1896 he returned to Iowa where he remained in active practice until 1900 when he came to North Dakota, settling at Oakes, Dickey county, where he was actively in practice until January, 1910, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of county judge and in the November election of that year he was regularly chosen to the office, to which he was returned in 1912 and again in 1914, and at the primary election in June 1916, he was again re-nominated to succeed himself without opposition. He has already served upon the bench for more than six years, making an excellent record by the fairness and impartiality of his decisions, his capability being attested by the vote that has been given him at his re-elections and by the further fact that there has never been an appeal from the county court since he has presided over it. He is a member of the State Bar Association of North Dakota, and secretary of the North Dakota Association of County Judges.

In 1896 Judge Wickersham was married to Miss Emma Durkee, of Defiance, Iowa, by whom he has one son, J. Lee, who is in the sophomore year at the North Dakota State Normal and Industrial School at Ellendale. Judge and Mrs. Wickersham occupy an enviable social position. Fraternally he is identified with Oakes Lodge, No. 40, I. 0. 0. F., and with the Rebekah Lodge, No. 26, at Oakes. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he is a firm believer in its principles, but never allows political opinion or allegiance to interfere in the slightest degree with the performance of his judicial duties and the fairness and equity of his decisions make his public career one highly beneficial to the county which he represents.

ALEXANDER R. WRIGHT, is the publisher of The Oakes Times and has the best equipped newspaper plant in the state outside of the larger cities, a fact of which Oakes as well as the proprietor may well be proud. He was born on a farm near Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, February 27, 1873, and in 1888 came to the United States with the family. The mother, Elizabeth (Harkness) Wright was of the strong family of Gastons and Alexander Wright, the father, was a stanch Covenanter of Scotch descent.

The son, Alexander R.  Wright, was a youth of fifteen at the time he crossed the Atlantic and in the winter of 1888 he became a resident of Dickey county, North Dakota. His education had been largely acquired in the common schools of Ireland but he afterward attended the Union school in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and later was a student in a district school west of Ellendale following his arrival in Dickey county. He next became a pupil in the high school of Ellendale and when he was graduated therefrom won the valedictorian honors. He remained upon his father’s farm until 1890, which year witnessed his initial step in connection with the printing business, for at that date he entered the office of the Ellendale Commercial in the capacity of devil. He worked in printing offices at Ellendale most of the time for seven years but spent a year and a half at Aberdeen, South Dakota, in the job department of the News. In November 1897 he returned to Ellendale and on the 2d of December purchased a half interest in the Ellendale Leader, becoming a partner of F. S. Goddard. For six years he continued as editor and publisher of that paper and during that time Mr. Goddard acted as postmaster of the town. On the 1^st of November 1903, Mr. Wright removed to Oakes and became sole proprietor of the Oakes Republican, the plant having been purchased the previous year by Goddard & Wright, who were then running the Leader. Mr.  Wright has since been publisher of The Oakes Times, having changed the name of the paper in 1905. His partner, Mr. Goddard, who became sole owner of the Leader, died over a year ago and was succeeded by his son, Herbert J. Goddard. The Times has an investment of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars in the business block and plant, making it the best equipped country weekly in the state. In addition to this property Mr. Wright owns an attractive residence in Oakes and also a quarter section of land, and his business and property holdings are the visible evidence of his well directed activity and enterprise. His standing in journalistic circles is indicated by the fact that he was elected president of the North Dakota Press Association for the year 1909-10, although he was not a candidate for the office nor did he desire it. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party and he became a supporter of the progressive republican organization in this state.  On the 20^th of June 1900, at Ellendale, Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Ruth Hodges, whose birth occurred at Cochituate, now a part of Boston, February 26, 1877, her parents being Mr. and Mrs., B. S. Hodges. She lost her mother when but seven years of age and was reared by her grandparents. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children Edward S. and Ruth Elizabeth who are fifteen and four years of age respectively.

Mr. Wright’s military experience covers three years’ service as a member of the National Guard of North Dakota, when he was connected with Company M of Ellendale. He attends the Presbyterian church and he belongs to various fraternal organizations, including Hope Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Oakes, of which he was master in 1914, working from the bottom up; Oakes Chapter, R. A. M., of which he is now scribe; the Eastern Star; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Knights of Pythias; and the Yeomen. Mr. Wright attacks everything with a contagions enthusiasm and at the same time his activities are characterized by a thoroughness which permits of the omission of no detail that will add to the successful accomplishment of his purpose.

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