Robert S. Person Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1180-1181 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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	ROBERT S. PERSON is one of the honored citizens of the state, of 
which he has been a resident since 1884. He has been identified with 
public, educational and civic affairs, and at the present time occupies 
the responsible position of auditor of the United States treasury for 
the interior department. He is a resident of Howard, Miner county. 

	Mr. Person was born in Sheldon, Wyoming county, New York, on the 
14th of May, 1857, and is a son of Solomon H. ( 1820-1861 ) and Mary 
(Hamilton) Person (1825-1881), the former of English and the latter of 
Scotch lineage. while both families became established in America in the 
colonial epoch. The father of the subject was a farmer by vocation, and 
both he and his wife died in the state of New York. Robert S. Person 
received his rudimentary discipline in the district schools of his 
native county, and later continued his studies in turn in the East 
Aurora Academy and Chesbrough Seminary, in the Empire state, and in 
Beloit College, Wisconsin, he is also a graduate in law, having taken 
the degree of Bachelor of Laws at Columbian University, in the city of 
Washington. 

	Mr. Person's father died when the son was but four years old. At 
the age of fourteen years Robert severed home ties and after that he was 
thrown largely upon his own resources and became the architect of his 
own fortunes. For the next six years such education as he acquired was 
with the proceeds of his own earnings, either as a hired farm hand in 
summer or as a teacher of country schools in winter. For several years 
he was successfully engaged in teaching, having been thus employed in 
New York, Wisconsin and Dakota territory. In 1884 he organized the first 
public schools in Woonsocket, Sanborn county, in the then territory of 
Dakota, and was the principal of the high school at that place for two 
years. He was also a member of the board of trustees of the State Normal 
School at Madison for several years. 

	While he was a student at Beloit College, Mr. Person earned his 
way by tutoring and by reportorial work for the local press. The latter 
opened a new and congenial vocation, which afforded him pleasure as well 
as a source of needed revenue. In 1886 he engaged in newspaper work at 
Woonsocket, and in 1888 he again located at Howard, Miner county, where 
he was editor and publisher of the Howard Press until September, 1897, 
when he disposed of the plant and business to enter upon official duties 
at Washington, D. C., in connection with the federal government. From 
1895 to 1897, inclusive, Mr. Person held the position of secretary of 
the state senate, and from 1896 to 1898 he was secretary of the 
Republican state central committee. He has rendered efficient service in 
the promotion of the interests of the party in South Dakota, and has 
been an influential factor in the party ranks ever since taking up his 
residence in the state. In June, 1897, President McKinley appointed him 
deputy auditor of the United States treasury for the department of the 
interior, and after having filled that office for a term of four years 
the late lamented President appointed him auditor for the same 
department. This appointment was made in May, 19O1, and in December of 
the same year President Roosevelt renewed the appointment, and Mr. 
Person is still incumbent of the office, in the administration of which 
it is acknowledged he has demonstrated exceptional efficiency as a 
public officer. His duties involve great responsibilities, as about two 
hundred million dollars of public funds annually are advanced through 
him to agents, whose disbursements in turn must be accounted for to him. 

	Among the cherished memories of Mr. Person's associations with 
public men is the fact that for seven years he enjoyed the personal 
friendship of the late Marcus A. Hanna, United States senator from the 
state of Ohio and chairman of the Republican national committee. 

	Mr. Person is a man of public spirit and progressive ideas, and 
has ever shown a lively interest in all that makes for the advancement 
and material prosperity of South Dakota, of which he may consistently be 
termed a pioneer. In politics he is a Republican. His family are 
communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. 

	On the 7th of August, 1884, Mr. Person was united in marriage to 
Miss Ellen A. Persons, who was born in Forbeston, Butte county, 
California, on the 23d of February,. 1857, being a daughter of Dr. 
Horace T. and Jane (Fenton) Persons. Mr. and Mrs. Person have had six 
children, of whom four are living, namely: Ellen Bertha, who was born in 
1885; Ethel Marion, who was born in 1892; Horace Hamilton, who was born 
in 1893, and Mary Katharine, who was born in 1897. Helen Hamilton, who 
was born on the 6th of June, 1888, died on the 23d of February, 1889, 
and Robert S., Jr., who was born on December 17, 1889, died March 28th, 
1896.