Carroll F. Easton Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1344-1346 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	An engraving and the signature of C. F. Easton faces page 1344.


	CARROLL F. EASTON, an honored resident of Aberdeen and for many 
years very closely identified with the material interests of South 
Dakota, was born in Lewis county, New York, August 31, 1857. His father, 
Francis M. Easton, a general merchant of Lowville, died when Carroll F. 
was about ten years old, after which the latter worked on a farm for his 
board, in this way spending the greater part of his time until a youth 
of fourteen, when he went to Philadelphia, where he earned a livelihood 
for some time by selling small articles on the streets of the city, 
subsequently discontinuing that line of business with the object in view 
of learning the hatter's trade. After a short experience in that 
capacity, he quit the shop and entered a store, accepting a very 
responsible position for one so young, but he discharged his duties 
faithfully and well and gained the confidence of his employers, who 
insisted that the young clerk remain with them and become permanently 
attached to the establishment. Not being pleased with the idea of 
devoting his life to mercantile pursuits, young Easton resigned his 
place, after less than a year's service, and in 1874 went to Lanesboro, 
Minnesota, where his uncle, J. C. Easton, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, had 
some time previously established a bank. Entering the institution in a 
clerical capacity, he soon demonstrated unusual efficiency, and on the 
death of the cashier, which occurred a little later, he was promoted to 
the latter position, at the same time becoming practically the manager 
of the bank, his uncle being absent the greater part of the time. Few 
young men of the age of eighteen have such a burden of responsibility 
resting upon them, and yet as cashier and acting president Mr. Easton 
managed the bank qt1ite successfully, and the five years during which he 
was in charge were the most flourishing of its history. 

	J. C. Easton was a man of large wealth and wide influence, and in 
addition to owning the Southern Minnesota Railroad, established a number 
of banks at different places in Minnesota and Wisconsin, one of these 
being the establishment referred to. At the end of five years noted 
above, the subject became interested in a bank at Tracy, Minnesota, 
starting the business with a limited capital of perhaps six hundred 
dollars, which he had saved, but from this small beginning the 
institution steadily grew in the confidence of the community until 
within a comparatively short time its deposits amounted to over fifty 
thousand dollars. Mr. Easton's previous experience in banking enabled 
him to manage the institution in which he was interested in an able and 
businesslike way, but the title under which it was conducted being the 
same as the bank owned by his uncle, the latter objected by reason of 
prior right to the name. Refusing to yield to his uncle's importunities 
to close out the bank, he continued the business with constantly 
increasing success, and shortly afterwards, in partnership with two 
other parties, started another bank at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which 
under the name of Easton, McKinney & Scougle, soon became the leading 
monetary institution of that city. About the same time, 1880, these 
parties established several branches at various points in South Dakota, 
the more noted of which were those at Yankton and Dell Rapids, all 
beginning with small capital, but gradually growing and extending their 
influence until becoming permanent fixtures in the respective 
localities. Subsequently Mr. Easton disposed of his interests in several 
of the Dakota banks, but kept the one at Tracy, Minnesota, which he 
continued to manage with success and financial profit for a period of 
fifteen years. In 1881 he moved to Aberdeen, organizing a banking 
business at Wolsey under the style of Easton, Vance & Company, and later 
the Bank of Davies & Easton at Bowdle. Through these institutions he 
handled, in addition to the general local business, a great deal of 
eastern capital, which was loaned at good rates of interest. Mr. Easton 
served five or six years as president of the First National Bank of 
Aberdeen; but some years after retiring from that position he disposed 
of all of his banking interests and turned his attention to various 
other lines of business. For a number of years he dealt very largely in 
real estate, making a specialty of farm property, which he bought and 
sold quite extensively, not only in South Dakota, but throughout several 
other western states and territories. At one time he was engaged in 
raising fine blooded cattle of the Hereford breed, and owned a ranch of 
three thousand six hundred and eighty acres of valuable grazing lands in 
Brown county. He bought and shipped live stock on an extensive scale, 
while operating this ranch, and in addition thereto was also interested 
in the cattle business in old Mexico, where he and C. E. Reid, also of 
Aberdeen, owned a ranch of fourteen thousand acres, which they managed 
with encouraging success for a period of ten years, selling it at the 
end of that time. 

	In his various business transactions Mr. Easton has not been 
actuated solely by a desire for gain, much of his endeavor being in the 
way of inducing a substantial and thrifty class of people to purchase 
homes and become permanent residents of South Dakota. He has done a 
great deal to advertise the advantages of the state, not in a loud, 
sensational manner, but in a more quiet way, based -upon truthful 
representation with which none of the many who came here through his 
influence have ever found fault, but on the contrary have always found 
his statements verified by fact. He improved a great deal of his 
property before selling and in this way provided a large number of 
comfortable homes, which he sold to settlers on the installment plan. 
This plan he has found most judicious in every respect, as it redounds 
not only to his own financial advantage, but places the opportunity of 
securing a home within easy reach of the man of moderate means. He still 
devotes his attention to improving and selling property, also handles a 
great deal of farm and grazing land, and does an extensive business, 
second in volume to that of no other man in the city of Aberdeen 
similarly engaged. He is one of the wide awake, progressive men of his 
city, county and state, is deeply interested in public affairs, and in 
different official capacities, as well as in his private dealings, has 
always advanced public improvements and championed every laudable 
enterprise for the general welfare of the community. Politically he is a 
straight-out Republican and an untiring worker for the success of his 
party. He was a member of the city council and of the school board, and 
president of the Masonic Temple, being a thirty-second-degree Mason.  

	Mr. Easton was married, in 1884, to Miss Eva Burns, of Caledonia, 
Minnesota, and is the father of three children, Russell B., a student of 
Rensselaer Institute, Troy, New York; Violet, still a member of the home 
circle, as is also Hazel, the youngest of the family. In closing this 
brief review of Mr. Easton's active and eminently honorable and useful 
career, it is but just to observe that his life is one deserving of the 
greatest praise, for to him, perhaps, as much as to any one man is due 
the remarkable growth and prosperity of the section of South Dakota in 
which he resides. His name will always be conspicuous on the roll of 
eminent men who have conferred honor on Aberdeen and the northeastern 
part of the state, and the distinction accorded him of being a leader in 
all that concerns the material wellbeing of the commonwealth has been 
fairly and honorably earned. His prominent position in business circles 
he owes to his own exertions, his years of energetic labor and his 
untiring perseverance, combined with sound judgment, clear insight and 
the exercise of that executive ability which never falls short of the 
accomplishment of high and noble purposes. He is respected and esteemed 
for his many manly qualities, as well as for his remarkable influence in 
building up and strengthening the body politic along material and other 
lines, and his personal friends throughout his adopted state are 
numberless.