Silas E. Morris Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1560-1561 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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	SILAS E. MORRIS, one of the representative bankers of the state 
and president of the city council of Redfield, Spink county, was born in 
Mount Carroll, Carroll county, Illinois, on the 27th of November, 1861, 
and is a son of Joseph P. and Jemima (Barrett) Morris, both of whom were 
born in Ohio, whence they removed to Illinois in an early day, the 
lineage on the paternal side being of Welsh extraction and on the 
maternal of English. 

	The subject of this sketch was reared in his native state, and 
after completing the curriculum of the public schools he entered the 
Northern Illinois College, at Fulton, in which institution he was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1882. In 1884 he engaged in the 
clothing business at Darlington, Wisconsin, where he remained until 
1886, when he came to South Dakota and became cashier of the First 
National Bank of Doland, Spink county, of which he became president in 
1888, since which time he has been incumbent of this executive office, 
while he is also president of the Merchants' Bank, of Redfield, and of 
banking houses at Faulkton, Faulk county, and Frankfort, Spink county. 
He took up his residence in Redfield in 1895 and has ever since been 
prominently identified with its business and civic affairs. In politics 
he is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the 
Republican party stands sponsor, and though he has never sought official 
preferment he has been called upon to serve in various local positions 
of public trust, while he has been a delegate to state and other 
conventions of his party, in whose success he maintains a lively 
interest. He was a member of the board of education of Redfield for 
several years, and has been a valued member of the city council, of 
which he was elected president in 1902, since which time he has presided 
with ability and discrimination as the chief executive of the municipal 
government. In a fraternal way we find him identified with the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his 
wife are influential and zealous members of the First Methodist 
Episcopal church of Redfield, of which he has been steward for the past 
nine years, while in 1900 he served as delegate to the general 
conference of the church held in the city of Chicago, being one of the 
lay representatives of the state of South Dakota. He is also a member of 
the board of trustees of Dakota University, at Mitchell, this 
institution being conducted under the auspices of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and for the past eight years he has rendered most 
effective service as superintendent of the Sunday school of his home 
church. 

	On the 22d of May, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morris 
to Miss Estella May Hall, who was born in the city of Dixon, Illinois, 
in the year 1863, being a daughter of Warren and Catherine Hall, well-
known residents of that place. The names of the four children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Morris are here entered, with respective ages at the time of this 
writing, in 1904;: Florence, eighteen years; LeRoy, sixteen years; 
Stanley, twelve years, and Whitney, nine years.