Rev. Ulysses Grant Lacey Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1199-1200 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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	REV. ULYSSES GRANT LACEY, the able and popular pastor of the 
Presbyterian church of Miller, claims the fine old Buckeye state as the 
place of his nativity, having been born near the city of Columbus, 
Franklin county, Ohio, on the 27th of May, 1867, and being a son of 
George W. and Mary J. (Patterson) Lacey. the former of whom was born in 
the state of Ohio and the latter in Virginia. The father of the subject 
was a farmer by vocation, and both he and his wife live a retired life 
in Maitland, Missouri. When the subject was but a child his parents 
removed to Holt county, Missouri, in which state he was reared to 
maturity. After duly availing himself of the advantages of the public 
schools and after serving a five-years apprenticeship as teacher, he 
entered Highland University, in 1893, in northeastern Kansas. After two 
years of college work he was recommended by Highland presbytery to the 
seminary. He had in the n1eanwhile determined to prepare himself for the 
work of the ministry, and his consecration to this noble calling has 
been of the most insistent and objectively prolific nature. In 1895 Mr. 
Lacey was matriculated in the Omaha Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian 
institution, and there he completed his ecclesiastical course of study 
and was graduated in 1898. His first charge was in South Dakota, his 
ordination to the ministry having been subsequent to his graduation by 
Central Dakota presbytery. Shortly after leaving the seminary in Omaha 
he became a member of the presbytery of Central Dakota and accepted the 
pastoral charge of the church organizations in Wentworth, Coleman and 
Bethel, this state. In this connection he labored zealously and 
effectively for nearly five years, within which time, with the devoted 
co-operation of his people, he effected the erection of a church edifice 
in each of the villages mentioned, and none of these buildings 
represented an expenditure of less than fifteen hundred dollars. The 
membership was doubled in the churches in Wentworth and Bethel, while in 
Coleman the roll of members was augmented by three times the original 
number represented. During his earnest labors in this attractive but 
exacting field Mr. Lacey resided in the village of Wentworth, and there 
the church erected for his use a beautiful cottage parsonage. In 
September, 1902, Mr. Lacey resigned these pastoral charges to accept the 
call extended by the church in Miller, and his resignation was a cause 
of deep regret to his former parishioners, but they released him in 
order that he might continue his good work in a wider field. Since 
assuming the pastorate of the church in Miller he has succeeded in 
increasing its membership near one hundred per cent., while all 
departments of the church work have been vitalized, the progress in both 
a spiritual and temporal sense being most gratifying. At the time when 
he came to Miller Mr. Lacey also had a call to the pastorate of a church 
in northeast Minnesota, at a salary larger than that offered by the 
church in Miller. Learning of this status of affairs, the society called 
a meeting and voluntarily agreed to offer the same compensation as that 
offered by the Minnesota church, while Mr. Lacey was also most earnestly 
and insistently urged to remain here, which he did. He is a man of rare 
pulpit ability, a forceful and logical speaker and one who is thoroughly 
fortified and grounded in the faith which he exemplifies in his daily 
walk and conversation as well as in his sacred ecclesiastical functions. 
He is untiring in his efforts, has unbounded zeal and enthusiasm and his 
personality is such as to win and to retain to him the high regard of 
all with whom he comes in contact. While a resident of Wentworth Mr. 
Lacey drove thirty miles each Sunday in order to hold services in each 
of the three places assigned to his charge, and in all other portions of 
his work he has shown the same self-abnegation and the same solicitude 
for the uplifting of his fellow men. In politics he gives his support to 
the party for which his father fought for four years and received an 
honorable discharge in 1865. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient 
and Accepted Order of Scottish Rite Masons. 

	On the 23d of December, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Lacey to Miss Minnie Noland, who was born and reared in Holt county. 
Missouri, and to them were born two children, Glenn D. and Helen F., 
born February 14, 1893, and May 23, 1896, respectively.