William McGaan Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1452-1453 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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	WILLIAM McGAAN, who is serving most efficiently and acceptably on 
the bench of the county court of Clark county, was born in the historic 
old town of Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 1st of October, 1853, and 
his forbears have been identified with the annals of Scottish history 
from the time to which the "memory of man runneth not to the contrary." 
His parents, William and Agnes (Andrews) McGaan, came to America in 
1857, at which time he was a child of four years, and they settled in 
Knox county, Illinois, where the father engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, while he still resides on the old homestead, having attained 
the venerable age of eighty-six years at tine time of this writing, in 
1904. His devoted and cherished wife was summoned into eternal rest on 
the 2d of October, 1893, having been a lifelong member of the 
Presbyterian church, as has also her husband. 

	Judge McGaan was reared on the home farm, near Altoona, Illinois, 
and after completing the curriculum of tile public schools continued his 
studies in Lombard University, at Galesburg, that state, quitting in his 
junior year to take up the study of law in the office of the firm of 
Davis & Thompson, of Galesburg, prosecuting his technical reading with 
scrupulous care and fidelity and being admitted to the bar of the state 
in June, 1880, by the supreme court. In the same month he was admitted 
to partnership in the firm under whose preceptorship he had pursued his 
law studies, the title being changed to that of Davis, Thompson & 
McGaan, and he there continued in practice until March, 1883, when he 
came to South Dakota and located in Clark, as one of its pioneer 
lawyers. In 1887-8 he served as state's attorney of the county, and in 
1898 he was elected judge of the county court, and is now serving his 
fourth consecutive term in this important office. He has gained a high 
reputation for his fair and impartial rulings, which are invariably 
based on the law and evidence, and is known as a man thoroughly well 
informed in the minutiae of the great science of jurisprudence. For the 
past ten years the subject has been and is now associated in business 
with Hon. S. H. Elrod, Republican nominee for governor of South Dakota. 
He has ever given an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party 
and has been one of the leaders in its local ranks. In a fraternal way 
he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America, as is he also with the 
college fraternity, the Phi Delta Theta. 

	On the 5th of November, 1889, Judge McGaan was united in marriage 
to Mrs. Emma L. (Coats) Dice, who was born in White Pigeon, St. Joseph 
county, Michigan, on the 24th of October, 1859, being a daughter of 
James and Julia Ann Coats. The only child of this marriage, a son, died 
in infancy, but Mrs. McGaan has two daughters by her first marriage, 
Laverne B., now Mrs. W. L. Ware, of Lakota, North Dakota, and Vera M. 
Dice.