James Hall Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1694-1695 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 HALL, the popular proprietor of Hotel Hall at Ft. Pierre, 
Stanley county, is a native of the old Green Mountain state, having been 
born in Hardwick, Caledonia county, Vermont, on the 10th of May, 1841, 
and being a son of Don C. and Mary L. (Bell) Hall, both of whom were 
likewise born in Vermont, the former being of Spanish descent in the 
paternal line and Scotch in the maternal, while the latter was of Irish 
and English genealogy. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Don 
Carlos Barrett, and the name Hall was taken by his son and namesake, who 
was reared in the home of his maternal relatives, who bore that name. 
Don Carlos Barrett was a sea captain and as nearly as can be ascertained 
he lost his life on a voyage made in 1818. Don Carlos Hall, father of 
the subject of this review, was taken by his mother's people when he was 
but four years of age the Hall family being of Scotch extraction and 
having long been identified with the ship-chandlery business in New 
England. James D. Bell, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was 
brought from Ireland to America when a child, his father having been 
compelled to leave the Emerald Isle by reason of his prominence in 
connection with political disturbances, as he was an Orangeman. This 
exiled patriot became an eminent criminal lawyer in Vermont and was a 
man of exalted character and distinguished ability. James D. Bell 
married Lucy Dean, who was a direct descendant of Governor Thomas 
Dudley, who landed in America in 1630, and of Walter Dean, who arrived 
in the new world in 1638. 

	James Hall, the immediate subject of this article, was a child of 
fourteen years at the time of his parents' removal from Vermont to the 
wilds of Wisconsin, and they became pioneers of Portage county, that 
state. He was reared in the midst of the great forests of northern 
Wisconsin, and his educational advantages were such as were afforded in 
the common schools of the locality and period, while he early became 
inured to the strenuous and somewhat venturesome labors connected with 
the great lumbering industry. He was engaged in the lumber business in 
that state for some time, as was he later in Illinois, Missouri and 
Iowa, and in 1883 he came to South Dakota and located in Blunt, Hughes 
county, where he continued in the same line of enterprise until 1890, 
when he engaged in the hotel business. with which he has ever since been 
identified. In politics Mr. Hall is staunchly arrayed as a supporter of 
the principles and policies of the Democratic party. 

	On the 3d of July, 1868, at Hanover, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, 
Mr. Hall was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Truax, who was born in 
Rome, New York, on the 20th of October, 1854, being a daughter of Isaac 
and Sarah (Ford) Truax, who were numbered among the pioneers of 
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Hall became the parents of five children, namely: 
Alice, Robert I., Harry, Bella and Norma, and all are living with the 
exception of Bella, who died at the age of six years. 

	Robert I. Hall, the elder son, was born in Stevens Point, 
Wisconsin, on the 9th of June, 1871, and he is one of the popular young 
men of South Dakota, where the major portion of his life has been 
passed. On the 26th of April, 1898, at the time of the outbreak of the 
Spanish-American war, he enlisted as a member of Company A, First South 
Dakota Volunteer Infantry, and he proceeded with his command to San 
Francisco, whence they embarked on the transport "Morgan City" and 
sailed for the Philippines, where he took part in ten engagements with 
the insurgents. He arrived in San Francisco one month earlier than his 
regiment, having been sent home on account of physical disability 
entailed by severe illness, and he received his honorable discharge on 
the 31st of August, 1899, while in the city hospital of San Francisco. 
He is now engaged in the real-estate business at Evarts, South Dakota.