Lester H. Clow Biography


	This biography appears on pages 824-825 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here 
	Inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door 
	is at

	http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm


	LESTER H. CLOW, who is a member of the city council of Pierre and 
the local manager for the extensive interests of the Rust-Owen Lumber 
Company, was born at Highgate, Franklin county, Vermont, on the 2d of 
November, 843, and is a son of John H. and Catherine D. (Smith) Clow, 
the former of whom died in the old Green Mountain state, in 1853, while 
the latter now resides in Evanston, Illinois, having attained the 
venerable age of ninety-seven years. The subject attended the common 
schools of his native town until he had attained the age of fifteen 
years, when, in 1857, he accompanied his mother on her removal to 
Chicago, Illinois, where he continued his studies in the public 
schools, finally entering the Bryant & Stratton Business College in 
that city, in which he was graduated in 1862. In 1858 he had entered 
the employ of a lumber concern in Chicago, and he there remained until 
1875, when he went to Hamburg, Wisconsin, where he conducted a lumber 
yard for the ensuing two years, thereafter being identified with the 
same line of enterprise in Sparta, that state, for three years; at 
Merrillan for two years, and at Eau Claire for four years, at the 
expiration of which, in 1885, he located in Blair, Nebraska, where he 
was in the lumber business for seven years. In 1892 he went to Hinkley, 
Minnesota, where he was concerned in the same line of business until 
January, 1895, when he came to Pierre, as manager of the interests of 
the Rust-Owen Lumber Company, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in which 
connection he has built up a large and important trade and gained the 
confidence and esteem of all with whom he has had dealings, while he 
has also been interested in the cattle business to a considerable 
extent. While a resident of Chicago Mr. Clow was a member of the 
Ellsworth Zouaves, who made so enviable a record during the Civil war, 
but on account of his age he was not accepted for service when his 
command volunteered for enlistment. He cast his first presidential vote 
for Lincoln and has ever since been a stalwart supporter of the 
Republican party. He is now serving his third term as a member of the 
city council of Pierre, as a representative of the second ward. He is 
one of the oldest Freemasons in the state, being identified with the 
lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine, and also with correlated 
Order of the Eastern Star and the Veterans. He was secretary of the 
blue lodge in Chicago for eight years, and for a number of years was 
secretary of Washington Lodge No. 21, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 
at Blair, having been a member of the order since 1864. He is also 
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and his religious faith is that 
of the Congregational church, in whose work he takes an active part, 
contributing liberally to its support. He is essentially progressive 
and public-spirited and is one of Pierre's most loyal citizens, being 
one of those who did efficient work in securing the location of the 
capital here and doing all in his power to advance the welfare of the 
city along normal lines of progress.  

	On the 3d of September, 1868, Mr. Clow married Miss Adella J. 
Taft, of Paxton, Illinois, and she died January 5, 1878, leaving two 
children, Irma, who is now the wife of Charles A. Raver, of Tekamah, 
Nebraska, and Byron L., who is engaged in business in Sioux Falls. On. 
the 8th of August, 1880, Mr. Clow was united in marriage to Miss Delia 
Franck, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and they have five children, Franck 
Alice, Dorothy Iris, Dudley Sebastian, Louise Markham and Ruth Delia.