William Wallace Girton Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1578-1580 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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	WILLIAM WALLACE GIRTON, secretary of the State Normal School, at 
Madison, was born in Lincolnshire, England, on the 10th of April, 1850, 
being a son of John and Mary (Hubbard) Girton, both of whom were 
likewise born in England, of staunch old English lineage. The father of 
the subject there devoted his attention to farming until 1850 when he 
came with his family to America, locating in Florence, Michigan, where 
he engaged in farming, and in that state he passed the remainder of his 
life, his death occurring in 1851, while his wife moved to Wisconsin 
with her two orphan boys, both of whom are living, the subject of this 
sketch being the younger in order of birth. The mother died at the home 
of her eldest son in Winchester, Tennessee, November 3, 1893, at the age 
of seventy-one years. 

	William W. Girton received his rudimentary education in the public 
schools of Wisconsin, attending the district schools of Sauk county 
during the winter terms until he had attained the age of eighteen years, 
when, in 1868, he entered an academy at Spring Green, that state, where 
he continued his studies for two terms, while during the winter of 1869 
he was a student in the academy at Sextonville, Wisconsin. That he had 
duly profited by the advantages thus afforded him is evident when we 
revert to the fact that in the fall of 1870 he initiated his career as a 
teacher having charge of a district school near Reedsburg Sauk county, 
and being thus employed during the winter of 1870-71. In April, 1871, he 
entered the State Normal School at Plattcville Wisconsin, where he 
completed a thorough course. being there graduated in June, 1874. In 
1875-6 he was incumbent of the position of principal of the graded 
schools at Muscoda, Wisconsin, and then went to Vinton, Iowa. where he 
held the office of assistant superintendent of the State School for the 
Blind for one year, at the expiration of which he became principal of 
the public schools at Harlan, that state, where he rendered most 
effective service until November, 1880, when he entered upon his duties 
as superintendent of the schools of Shelby county, Iowa, to which office 
he had been elected to fill a vacancy, while he remained incumbent of 
the same for four years proving a most able and discriminating executive 
and showing great facility in organization and systemization. In 1883 he 
founded the Shelby County Republican at Harlan, Iowa. and continued as 
editor and publisher of the same until 1886, in September of which year 
he came to South Dakota. having disposed of his newspaper property. In 
December, 1886, Mr. Girton organized the Vilas Banking Company, at 
Vilas, Miner county, South Dakota, and was president of the same for the 
ensuing three years, while he also established the Miner County Farmer, 
which he conducted simultaneously during the period mentioned. In 1892 
he was elected county superintendent of schools for Miner county, in 
which capacity he served two terms, doing much to forward educational 
interests in that section of the state. In 1889 he served as deputy 
territorial auditor, and in the same year was chief clerk of the joint 
commission which had in charge the settlement of accounts between the 
new states of North and South Dakota. In 1896 he was elected to the 
chair of geography and civics in the State Normal School, at Madison, of 
which office he has since remained incumbent, while he has served as 
secretary of the institution for the regents of education, during the 
same time, enjoying the respect and esteem of his confreres and also of 
the students of the school, while he has here added materially to his 
prestige as a capable and enthusiastic worker in the field of education. 
He has been particularly successful and prominent in normal institute 
work in the state during the past fifteen years, and it may be said 
without fear of contradiction that he has conducted more teachers' 
institutes in that period than has any other man in the state, while in 
the connection he has accomplished a work of unequivocal value and one 
of which he may justly be proud. In the year 1901-2, in the absence of 
the president, Mr. Girton was appointed acting president of the State 
Normal School, which position he filled to the entire satisfaction of 
the regents. It may be farther noted that he served as chief engrossing 
clerk of the last territorial legislature, in 1889, and while clerk of 
the joint commission of North and South Dakota shipped the territorial 
library, records and other property, having an aggregate weight of 
nearly sixty tons, down the Missouri river from Bismarck to Pierre, the 
new capital of South Dakota, while he also made copies of the 
territorial records for this commonwealth, a work of no little magnitude 
and difficulty. 

	In politics Mr. Girton has ever given a staunch allegiance to the 
Republican party in the promotion of whose cause he has taken an active 
interest, while as candidate on its ticket he was elected to the office 
of county superintendent of schools in Shelby county, Iowa, and later in 
Miner county, South Dakota. In 1878 he became a member of the First 
Baptist church at Harlan, Iowa, and holds a letter from the same at the 
present time. He has advanced to high degree in the Masonic fraternity, 
of which noble order he is an appreciative member, having reached the 
Royal Arch degree of the York-rite bodies, while he is now serving his 
fifth consecutive year as master of Evergreen Lodge, No. 17, Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons, at Madison, South Dakota, and he has attained 
the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, being 
affiliated with Yankton Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, 
in the city of Yankton. He also holds membership in Madison Lodge, No. 
20, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Howard Lodge No. 62, Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. 

	On the 1st of August, 1877, Mr. Girton was united in marriage to 
Miss Frances Richmond, who was born in Belturbel, County Cavan, Ireland, 
on the 10th of May, 1851, being a daughter of Francis and Susan (Moore) 
Richmond, who came to America in 1860 and located in Green county, 
Wisconsin, where Mrs. Girton was reared and educated. The subject and 
his wife have six children, whose names are here entered, with 
respective dates of birth: Lee Richmond, August 13, 1878; Daisy M., 
April 8, 1880; Susan M., May 17, 1882 : Edith A., January 27, 1884; 
William T., July 6, 1886, and John F., September 21, 1891. 

	The State Normal School at Madison was established by act of the 
territorial legislature in March, 1881, and commenced its work in 
December, 1883. It is situated on elevated ground in the north part of 
the city of Madison on a nearly level campus of twenty acres, which has 
been artistically laid out and set with trees. 

	The main school building was erected in 1886. It is constructed of 
red quartzite, obtained at Dell Rapids, South Dakota, and trimmed with 
white cut stone from La Crosse and with Milwaukee pressed brick. This 
building is seventy-six by eighty-four feet, four stories in height, the 
lower one being half basement. It is finished throughout with oak and 
Georgia pine. It cost thirty-five thousand dollars. It is situated near 
the center of the campus. The oldest dormitory, called West Hall, 
situated near the southwest corner of the campus, is a frame brick-
veneered building, thirty-six by eighty-six feet, four stories in height 
and contains rooms for the accommodation of sixty-five students. It is 
occupied by the young men. This building cost eleven thousand dollars. 

	East Hall is a four-story, massive structure, built of Sioux Falls 
stone and trimmed with the same. It is ninety by one hundred and ten 
feet and was erected in 1900, at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. 
Eighty young women make their home in this building and more than one 
hundred assemble in the spacious dining room in the basement for meals. 
The faculty is at present composed of twelve members as follows: W. W. 
Girton, acting president, psychology, bookkeeping; J. W. Goff, English, 
rhetoric literature; W. H. Dempster, mathen1atics, physical geography; 
Cora M. Rawlins, Latin, English grammar; Mirza French, drawing, 
arithmetic, librarian; Louise A. Wilkinson, elocution, physical culture; 
Olga B. Forsyth, history, vocal music, elementary algebra; Isabel 
Larsen, zoology, botany, physiology, general history; Winifred K. Buck, 
elementary English, geography, civil government; Anna B. Herrig, 
principal training department, methods; Susan W. Norton, grammar critic; 
Nellie Collins, primary critic.