R. H. Holden Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1434-1435 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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	R. H. HOLDEN, of White, Brookings county, is a native of the 
Badger state, having been born in Sparta, Monroe county, Wisconsin, on 
the 26th of November, 1874, and being a son of Nelson H. and Nettie H. 
(Stewart) Holden, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New 
York, where their marriage was solemnized. The father of the subject 
read law for some time and continued to make his home in the old Empire 
state until the latter part of 1860, when he removed to Sparta, 
Wisconsin, where he was for some time a popular teacher in the public 
schools, eventually becoming superintendent of schools in Monroe county. 
In the spring of 1879 he came with his family to South Dakota and 
located on a homestead claim, in Sherman township, Brookings county, 
being numbered among the first settlers in this section. He continued to 
reside on this farm for eight years, in the meanwhile accumulating other 
tracts of land and becoming one of the prosperous farmers of the county. 
In 1886 he established himself in the banking business in White, opening 
what was known as the Citizens' Exchange Bank, of whose stock he was the 
sole owner. In 1898 he reorganized the institution under the name. of 
the Bank of White, and in 1901 it was incorporated as the Farmers' State 
Bank of White, and converted into the Farmers' National Bank of White, 
in 1904, he being one of the largest stockholders. He is now a director 
of the bank and is one of the town's most influential and honored 
citizens. Of his eight children we enter the following brief record: - 
Almond N. is a teacher in the state school for the deaf and dumb in San 
Francisco, Mabel is the wife of Arthur H. Kenyon, a successful lawyer of 
Spokane, Washington; Nellie is the wife of Dr. Henry H. Clark, who is 
engaged in the practice of his profession in Watertown, South Dakota; 
Ralph H. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Florence is the wife 
of Delbert E. Wood, assistant postmaster at Pipestone, Minnesota; and 
Pearl, Patience and Netta still remain at the parental home. 

	The subject of this sketch was a lad of five years at the time of 
his parents' removal to South Dakota, and he was reared to the age of 
fourteen years on the homestead farm in Brookings county, in the 
meanwhile attending the district schools. After the family located in 
White he j entered the public schools, being graduated in the high 
school as a member of the class of 1892. In the following spring he 
entered the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business University, at 
Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was graduated in 1895, with the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. He then went to the city of Spokane, Washington, where 
he began reading law in the office of his brother-in-law, Mr. Kenyon. In 
October of the following year he returned to White and entered his 
father's bank, being made cashier at the time of the first 
reorganization, in 1898, while upon the second reorganization, under the 
present title, he became a stockholder in the institution, in which he 
acted as assistant cashier until April, 1902, when he was elected to his 
present office of cashier. He has shown marked discrimination and 
administrative ability and has handled executive duties to the full 
satisfaction of all concerned. He is the owner of a section of valuable 
land, located in Oaklake and Sherman townships and also of two or three 
residence properties in White, having accumulated about fifteen thousand 
dollars since leaving school and being one of the progressive and 
public-spirited young business men of the state which has been his home 
from his boyhood days. In politics Mr. Holden gives an uncompromising 
allegiance to the Republican party, in whose local ranks he has been an 
active and valued worker, having been a member of the county central 
committee since 1898 and having been a delegate to several of the state 
conventions of his party, as well as to the minor conventions. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with Washington Lodge, No. 111, Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is master at the time of this 
writing. 

	On the 3d of July, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holden 
to Miss Grace A. West, a daughter of Frank H. West, a prominent citizen 
of White, and she was summoned into eternal rest only a few months 
later, her death occurring on the 20th of the following November.