Marwood R. Baskerville Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1120-1121 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	A photo of Marwood R. Baskerville appears opposite page 1120.


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	MARWOOD R. BASKERVILLE, who has been engaged in the agricultural 
implement business in Watertown for the past fifteen years, is known as 
one of the able and progressive business men of the state, having built 
up one of the most extensive retail enterprises in the line that is to 
be found in the commonwealth, while his intrinsic public spirit has been 
manifested at all seasons. He is at the present time incumbent of the 
office of mayor of Watertown, and is one of its most influential and 
honored citizens. Mr. Baskerville is a native of the state of Iowa, 
having been born on a farm in Delaware county, on the 16th of July, 
1859, and being a son of Rev. Job and Grace (Caldwell) Baskerville, both 
of whom were born in England. The father of the subject was a clergyman 
of the United Brethren church, while after taking up his residence in 
Iowa, as a pioneer, he became there identified with agricultural 
pursuits in connection with his ministerial work. He died in Iowa in 
October, 1892. aged eighty-four years. 

	The present mayor of Watertown passed his boyhood days on the 
parental farmstead in Iowa, and after duly availing himself of the 
advantages of the common schools he continued his studies in Western 
College, an institution of the United Brethren church, then located at 
Western, Iowa, but now in Toledo, that state. He later attended Epworth 
College, at Epworth, Iowa, for one year, after which he completed a 
course in the Baylies Business College, in Dubuque, Iowa. After leaving 
that institution he secured a position as bookkeeper in the office of a 
manufacturing concern in Dubuque, retaining this incumbency three years 
and then becoming business manager for the Winona Plow Companv, at 
Winona, Minnesota. He resigned this position three years later, in 1888, 
and came to Watertown, South Dakota, where he established himself in the 
agricultural implement business, beginning operations upon a somewhat 
modest scale, while his business has kept pace with the growth and 
development of the state and is one of the most extensive of the sort in 
this section, an annual business of two hundred thousand dollars being 
done, of which about seventy-five thousand dollars is sold at a branch 
establishment at Elkton, South Dakota: Mr. Baskerville has been signally 
prospered in his efforts since coming to South Dakota and is known as a 
straightforward, sincere and upright business man, thus commanding the 
unequivocal confidence and esteem of those with whom he comes in contact 
in the various relations of life. He is now the owner of four entire 
sections of valuable farming land, in Codington county, and the major 
portion of the same is given over to the raising of the cereals best 
adapted to the soil and climate of this prolific agricultural section. 
He is president of the Watertown & Lake Kampeska Transportation Company, 
which is preparing to construct an electric railway between the city and 
the attractive lake mentioned, and is a promoter of a line to connect 
Watertown and Webster. In politics the subject is found staunchly 
arrayed in support of the Republican party, and in 1903 he was elected 
to the office of mayor of Watertown, of which he is now incumbent, while 
his administration is admirably justifying the confidence and trust 
reposed in him by the municipal electors. That this confidence is of no 
uncertain order is manifest when we revert to the fact that he was 
elected by the largest majority of all candidates for the office ever 
chosen in the city, receiving, a plurality of two hundred and ninety-six 
votes above his two opponents. Mr. Baskerville is identified with the 
Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, having been 
the first exalted ruler of Watertown Lodge, No. 838, of the last 
mentioned organization. 

	On the 28th of November, 1894, Mr. Baskerville was united in 
marriage to Miss Harriet L. Fahnestock, a daughter of Henry J. 
Fahnestock, one of the representative citizens of Watertown, and of this 
union have been born two children, Henry .M. and Walter G. 

	Mr. and Mrs. Baskerville are members of the Episcopalian church, 
and in all social matters Mrs. Baskerville is active and popular, her 
home entertainments being leading functions.