George Williston Nash Biography


	This biography appears on pages 610-611 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	GEORGE WILLISTON NASH, state superintendent of public instruction, is 
almost a native product, for his parents brought him to the home in 
Lincoln county in his infancy. He, however, is a native of Janesville, 
Wisconsin, where he was born in 1868, and is the son of Newman C. and 
Jennie (Williston) Nash, and comes of good old Anglo-Saxon stock. The 
name, indeed, is a thoroughly characteristic Saxon product, primarily 
being "At the Ash," but, yielding to the penchant of the old English 
yeomen to abbreviate, became first "At'nash" and finally assumed its 
present form. 

        Something more of family history will appear in the sketch of 
Newman C. Nash in this volume.  The earlier years of George W. Nash 
were spent on the homestead claim of his parents, near Canton, but in 
1877 his father purchased the  Sioux Valley News, and thereafter the 
home was in Canton, where he attended school and assisted his father in 
the printing office, soon becoming an excellent printer. In 1885 he 
entered the preparatory course in Yankton College, from which 
institution he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 
1891. In the meantime, however, he had for a year, in 1888-9, 
associated with James F. Hall in the publication of tile Sioux Valley 
News, his father's newspaper at Canton, the latter being at the time 
engaged in the publication of another newspaper at Hot Springs. The 
next autumn, after his graduation, the subject accepted a position as 
an instructor in Augustana College at Canton, where he Continued until 
called to Yankton in January 1893, to become principal of Yankton 
College Academy. In 1894-5 he went abroad and studied in the University 
of Leipzig, Germany, and traveled extensively in Europe. In the autumn 
of 1895 he resumed his work in Yankton and his alma mater conferred 
upon him the degree of Master of Science. During the summer vacations 
of 1896 and 1897 he pursued his past graduate studies in the University 
of Minnesota, and the latter year was advanced to the professorship of 
mathematics ,and astronomy in Yankton College, a position he continued 
to hold until he resigned in 1902 to become state superintendent of 
public instruction.  

        Professor Nash's work in this department has demonstrated his 
ability, energy and untiring industry, as well as his fertility in 
devising methods for the advancement of education and arousing 
enthusiasm and co-operation among educators and boards of education. 
Upon his recommendation the legislature passed the uniform 
certification bill, by which teachers' certificates become uniform and 
valid in every county. The standard of requirements to secure 
certificates, by graduates of state institutions, was also raised. He 
at once adopted the plan of visiting the members of the school boards 
in annual convention in each county, a plan which has resulted in 
arousing the utmost enthusiasm, permeating into every school district. 
He is compelling the reciprocal recognition of South Dakota's state 
certificates in other states, by refusing to recognize any state's 
certificates unless that state reciprocates by according equal favors 
to those of this state. He proposes that our standards shall be as high 
as any and then shall receive the recognition to which they are 
entitled.  

	Professor Nash possesses all of the qualifications for successful 
leadership upon educational lines. He is deliberate in forming a 
judgment, but that judgment when once formed is unshakable, vet his 
manner is so agreeable and his methods so fair that new friends come to 
him with every accomplishment. Persistence and thoroughness are 
controlling characteristics in all of his undertakings and failure is 
unknown and unrecognized in him. It is difficult to characterize some 
men without clearing in the superlative and George Nash is one of this 
class. His conduct and success thus far in life are infallible 
prophecies of a further career of great usefulness in enlarged fields 
of activity.  

        Professor Nash was married on November 17, 1903, to Miss 
Adelaide Warburton. of Pierre, the daughter of Judge and Mrs. Fuller. 
The subject is a member of the Congregational church and of the Modern 
Woodmen and Home Guardians; He is also a member of the executive 
committee of the State Historical Society.