Thomas J. Grier Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1248-1249 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (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.

	An engraving and signature of T. J. Grier appear opposite page 
1248.


	THOMAS J. GRIER.—The vast mineral wealth in the Black Hills of 
South Dakota has made that region noted far and wide, and the great 
mining industry which has here been prosecuted with such signal success 
has given the locality a representation second to that of no other 
mining district in the world. The foundation of this reputation is due 
to the extensive and successful operations of the celebrated Homestake 
Mining Company, which for many years has poured forth its stream of 
riches with the regularity of a never-failing spring, the supply of gold 
at this time being apparently as inexhaustible as when the vast treasure 
was first discovered. The business management of the Homestake, which 
has for more than a generation never failed to declare a liberal 
dividend, creates admiration among miners and mining experts everywhere 
and leads to the belief that those having the undertaking in hand 
possess not only wide experience in their special lines of endeavor, but 
are also men of intelligence and mature practical judgment. The man who 
has been responsible for the uniform advancement and to whom more than 
to any other is due the high reputation and wide prestige the mine 
enjoys is Thomas J. Grier, the present efficient superintendent a man 
not only thoroughly familiar with every detail of the mining industry, 
but the possessor of business tact and executive ability of a high 
order, as his nearly twenty-eight years of successful management 
abundantly attest. 

	Thomas Johnston Grier is a native of Canada and dates his birth 
from May 18, 1850, having first seen the light of day at Pakenham, in 
the province of Ontario. His father, James Grier, born and reared in 
Ireland, and for many vears a successful mechanic and manufacturer of 
carriages in the town of Iroquois, Ontario, was a man of much more than 
ordinary natural and acquired intelligence and was to a large degree a 
moulder of opinion in his community and a leader in its public affairs. 
He possessed a strong character and spotless integrity, and for a period 
of twenty-six years served as postmaster of Iroquois, during which time 
he earned the reputation of an able, faithful and obliging official. His 
wife, who before her marriage bore the name of Eliza Patterson, was of 
Canadian birth and, like him, spent nearly all her life in the province 
of Ontario. Thomas Johnston Grier spent his childhood and youthful years 
in Iroquois and after completing the lower branches of study in the 
schools of that town, finished his education by taking a high-school 
course. His first practical experience was as a clerk under his father 
in the postoffice, and while holding this position he devoted his 
leisure time to the study of telegraphy subsequently resigning his place 
to enter the employ of a telegraph company in the city of Montreal. 
After remaining some time in that place, and becoming an experienced 
operator, he took employment in the Western Union Company's office at 
Corrine, Utah, and later rose to the position of chief operator with 
that company at Salt Lake City. Severing his connection with the 
telegraph service, Mr. Grier, in 1878, entered the employ of the 
Homestake Mining Company, at Lead, Dakota territory, as head bookkeeper, 
the duties of which position he discharged in an eminently satisfactory 
manner until 1884, when he was promoted to the superintendency of the 
company's mines in the Black Hills, which responsible position he has 
since held. The career of Mr. Grier, since taking charge of the position 
he now so ably fills has been a distinguished one, as the marked ability 
displayed in the management of such a large and important enterprise 
sufficiently attests. His superior judgment is apparent in the manner in 
which he has conducted the affairs of the company, from the selection of 
the heads of the various departments down to the most minute detail of 
the business. He has been exceedingly critical in choosing men for the 
various posts, selecting and installing only those capable of performing 
successfully the duties assigned to them, being quick to recognize 
ability, prompt to reward the same, and making merit alone the stepping 
stone to advancement. At times he has had charge of as high as twenty-
five hundred workmen, between whom and himself the most amiable 
relations always existed, and this too at a period when the industrial 
world was in a state of almost constant agitation, growing out of a 
failure of employer and employe to understand and appreciate the mutual 
relations of their respective interests. 

	In addition to his official connection with the Homestake Mining 
Company, Mr. Grier is identified with various other business 
enterprises, being president of the First National Bank of Lead City and 
vice-president of the First National at Deadwood. He is an able and far-
seeing financier, with a practical and comprehensive knowledge of all 
questions relating to banking, and to his correct business methods and 
safe, conservative management the monetary institutions with which he is 
connected are indebted for a large measure of their prosperity and for 
the high reputation they now sustain among the leading banks of South 
Dakota. Mr. Grier is greatly interested in the growth and development of 
his adopted state, and to the extent of his ability encourages every 
means to these ends. He is a man of strong intellectuality, broad human 
sympathies, and imbued with fine sensibilities and clearly defined 
principles, has made his presence felt wherever his lot has been cast 
and in whatever capacity his abilities have been exercised. 

	Mr. Grier is an active member of the Masonic order and the 
Episcopal church represents his religious creed. He was married on 
August 8, 1896, to Miss Mary Jane Palethorpe, of Glasgow, Scotland, and 
the fruits of which union are four children, Thomas Johnston, Jr., 
Evangeline Victoria, Lisgar Patterson and Ormonde Palethorpe.