James H. Exon Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1084-1086 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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	JAMES H. EXON, one of the prominent and honored citizens of 
Charles Mix county; formerly incumbent of the office of county judge, as 
well as that of county auditor, and the principal figure in the County 
Seat State Bank, at Wheeler, is a native of the "right little, tight 
little isle" of England, having been born in Somersetshire, on the 11th 
of July, 1858, being a son of Henry and Sarah Exon, both of whom were 
likewise born in Somersetshire, of stanch old English stock. Both 
secured excellent educational advantages: and both received life 
certificates as teachers in England, where both gained distinction and 
prominence in educational circles, the father having devoted the major 
portion of his active career to the pedagogic profession, while his wife 
also devoted herself to teaching for several years. The former was for 
nine years superintendent of the Ripleyville British schools and for 
eighteen years was principal of the schools at Wookey, Somersetshire, 
where the subject of this sketch was born. The mother of the Judge was 
likewise a teacher in the schools at that place. In 1882 the parents 
left their native land and came to the United States, our subject having 
come to Canada in the preceding year, and from New York city they 
proceeded to Iowa, where they resided about six months, after which they 
came to South Dakota, and secured claims in Charles Mix county, the 
property being located in what is now Forbes township.  

	In the month of May 1881, Judge Exon bade adieu to home and native 
land and emigrated to America, landing in Quebec, and remaining in 
Canada about one year, at the expiration of which he joined his parents, 
who had located temporarily in Iowa, as has just been noted. In the 
autumn of 1882 he preceded them into what is now the state of South 
Dakota and selected the land for his father and for the four children 
who had attained years of maturity, the members of the family thus 
eventually being able to prove up on the five quarter sections which he 
had selected in Charles Mix county, of which they were pioneer settlers. 
Later three of these quarter sections were sold and the parents of the 
subject then removed to Gage county, Nebraska, where they now reside, 
the father having retired from active labors and being now sixty-eight 
years of age, while his devoted wife has- attained the age of seventy 
years. Both are members of the Episcopal church and are folk of sterling 
character and high intellectual attainments.  

	Judge Exon attended the Ripleyville schools for a period of five 
years, during which time he prepared himself for his collegiate course. 
He then entered Cullom College, near famed old Oxford, where he was 
graduated in 1879, after which he was for two years an assistant master 
in the schools at Ripleyville, Bradford and Yorkshire. It was the wish 
of his father that he should follow the profession of teaching, in which 
the former had attained so gratifying success, but the Judge early 
manifested a desire to turn his attention to agricultural pursuits and 
it was in harmony with this ambition that he was led to emigrate to 
America. After his location in South Dakota he taught in the district 
schools during the winter months, and during the balance of the year 
devoted his time to the improving and cultivation of his farming land. 
In the autumn of 1890 he was elected to the office of county auditor, 
and in the following January he removed from his farm to the village of 
Wheeler, the county seat, to enter upon the active discharge of his 
official duties. He gave a most capable and satisfactory administration, 
and at the expiration of his term of two years he engaged in the 
abstract business, while in July of the same year he was appointed 
state's attorney, to fill the unexpired term of the regular incumbent, 
A. L. Hoppaugh, who removed from the state. In the following October 
Judge Exon was one of the leading spirits in bringing about the 
organization of the People's party in this section of the state, and, in 
company with seven other prominent workers in the movement, he purchased 
the Wheeler Courier, the weekly newspaper published in the capital town 
of the county, and this was thereafter made an effective exponent of the 
cause of the party. Our subject's appointment to the office of state's 
attorney, for which he was well qualified in an abstract way, led him to 
make a careful study of the technical branches of the science of 
jurisprudence, and he was admitted to the bar of the state, upon 
examination before the supreme court, at Pierre, on the 3d of October, 
1893. From time to time he continued to acquire the interests of other 
stockholders in the Wheeler Courier, of which he became sole owner in 
1901, while the paper has been under his editorial charge and his 
general direction from the time it was purchased by him and others, as 
previously mentioned. In the autumn of 1898 he was elected to the office 
of county judge serving one term, and in January, 1902 he again received 
the appointment of state's attorney to fill a vacancy caused by the 
resignation of T. J. Remington, and he served in this capacity until the 
expiration of the term, in January, 1903. In March, 1903, was effected 
the organization of the County Seat State Bank, and Judge Exon was made 
president of the institution at that time and still continues as chief 
executive. He still continues in the active practice of the law and is 
also engaged in the real-estate and abstract business. He now gives his 
allegiance to the Democratic party, of whose principles he is a stanch 
advocate, and his religious faith is that of the Protestant Episcopal 
church, of which he is a communicant, but as there is no church 
organization in Wheeler he and his family attend the Congregational 
church services. Fraternally he is identified with Doric Lodge, Free and 
Accepted Masons, at Platte, this state.  

	On the 26th of June, 1881;, Judge Exon was united in marriage to 
Miss Emma Smith, of Mitchell, South Dakota, and they became the parents 
of three sons, Arthur R., Walter E. and John J. In 1896 Mrs. Exon's 
health had become so seriously impaired that he deemed it advisable to 
take her for an ocean voyage, in the hope that she might recuperate her 
energies, and they accordingly visited his old home in England, where 
she received treatment without avail, since her death there occurred 
four months later, on the 5th of August, 1896. On the 20th of April, 
1898, at Paris, Kentucky, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Exon to 
Miss Marian Smith, a native of England and a sister of his former wife, 
and they are the parents of one child, Dorothy J.