Wilbur S. Glass Biography


	This biography appears on page 948 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	WILBUR S. GLASS, one of the prominent members of the bar of South 
Dakota, engaged in the practice of his profession in Watertown, 
Codington county, is a native of the state of new York, having been 
born in Genesee county, on the 27th of April, 1852, and being a son of 
Chester F. and Mary (Brown) Glass, the former of whom was born in the 
state of New York and the latter in Vermont. In 1857 they removed from 
New York to Marengo, Illinois, where the father of the subject was 
engaged in business for many years, having been one of the influential 
citizens of his community. He died at Marengo in 1872, while the widow 
died at Winfield, Kansas, in September, 1897. The subject of this 
review was but five years of age at the time of his parents' removal to 
Illinois, where he was reared to maturity, receiving his rudimentary 
education in the public schools, and thereafter entering the Illinois 
State University, at Champaign, where he continued his studies for two 
years. In 1874 he was matriculated in the law department of the famous 
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in the 
spring of 1876. Shortly afterward he entered a law office in Marengo, 
Illinois, and in June, 1878, he was admitted to the bar of the state, 
upon examination before its supreme court. He continued in the practice 
of his profession in Illinois until the spring of 1880, when he came to 
Watertown, South Dakota, and here established himself in a practice 
which has grown to large proportions and which is important in the 
nature of its clientele.  

	In politics Mr. Glass has given an unwavering allegiance to the 
Republican party, in whose cause he has put forth most effective 
personal efforts. In 1894 he was elected to represent his district in 
the state legislature, and so acceptable was his work in the connection 
that his constituents honored him with reelection in 1896 and again in 
1898, thus serving three consecutive terms, covering the fourth, fifth 
and sixth sessions of the legislature. In 1897 he received from 
President McKinley the appointment as United States consul at Kiehl, 
Germany, where he remained until May, 1898, when he resigned the office 
and returned to his home in Watertown. Fraternally, he is identified 
with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen.  

	On the 3d of October, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Glass to Miss Kathryn Gamer, of Anoka, Minnesota, in which state she 
was born and reared, and they are the parents of two children, Louise 
and Wilbur S., Jr.