Daniel D. Jones Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1253-1254 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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	HON. DANIEL D. JONES, a native of Fox Lake, Wisconsin, was born 
March 15, 1862, and at the age of twenty years came to Brown county, 
South Dakota, with the growth and development of which he has since been 
very actively identified. Iimnediately following his arrival he bought a 
relinquishment near the site of Plana, later took up the quarter section 
on which the town stands and in 1886, when the Great Northern Railroad 
was being constructed through this part of the country, platted the 
village and offered the lots for sale. With an abiding faith in the 
growth and ultimate importance of the village as a trading point and 
favorable place of residence, he erected a store building which he 
stocked with a miscellaneous assortment of merchandise and at once 
embarked in the goods business. The venture proved highly satisfactory, 
for the rapid growth of the town and adjacent country assured him a 
large and continuously increasing patronage and within a comparatively 
brief period his trade had so grown in magnitude and importance that he 
found himself on the high road to prosperity. 

	Meanwhile Mr. Jones used his influence to attract a thrifty class 
of people to the community and he also became a power in public as well 
as business affairs. A Republican in all the term implies he manifested 
such zeal in political matters that in ~894 he was elected to represent 
Brown county in the state legislature; he served during the fourth 
session of that body and during his incumbency was placed on some of the 
most important of the house committees, including among others, the 
judiciary and the warehouse committees. Mr. Jones retired from the 
legislature with an honorable record and the good will of his 
constituents of all parties and from the expiration of his term until 
1899 devoted his attention closely to mercantile business in addition to 
which he also became largely interested in real estate. In the latter 
year he received the nomination for clerk of the Brown county courts and 
in the election which followed defeated the former incumbent, C. C. 
Fletcher, a popular man and formidable competitor, by a very decisive 
majority. 

	The better to discharge his official functions, Mr. Jones, shortly 
after the election, disposed of his mercantile establishment and, moving 
to the county seat, entered upon the duties of the clerkship. He proved 
an able and popular clerk, was courteous and obliging to all who had 
business to transact in the office, and his relations with the public 
were as pleasant and agreeable as his conduct was upright and exemplary. 
His term expiring in January, 1903, he at once turned his attention to 
his private affairs, not the least of which has been the improvement of 
Plana, where he has erected a number of buildings of different kinds, 
and in addition thereto he has aided very materially the growth and 
development of Aberdeen. 

	As indicated in a preceding paragraph, Mr. Jones has dealt 
considerably in real estate and at the present time he owns nine hundred 
and sixty acres of fine land in Brown county, the greater part being in 
the vicinity of Plana. He has improved much of his real estate, thus 
largely adding to its value and has extensive agricultural and live-
stock interests from which he receives a liberal share of his income. He 
is also associated in the grain business with E. G. Perry under the name 
of Perry & Jones, the firm thus constituted operating seven elevators in 
many places, the largest being in Aberdeen, from which city the business 
is conducted. 

	Mr. Jones has long been interested in the general growth and 
development of his adopted state, and has unbounded faith in its future. 
He has encouraged everything calculated to promote the welfare of Plana 
and its populace, stands for public improven1ents and has done as much 
perhaps as any one individual to advertise the advantages of Brown 
county to the world as a favorable locality for agriculture and stock 
raising and as a safe place for the investment of capital. Personally 
Mr. Jones is a gentleman of unblemished character, as well as his career 
in public places and as the custodian of important trusts, has always 
been above reproach. 

	Mr. Jones was married in Wisconsin, in 1884, to Miss Maggie Jones, 
who departed this life on the 8th day of February, 1901, leaving one 
daughter, Mabel, now pursuing her studies in the high school.