Herbert W. Somers Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1647-1648 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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	HERBERT W. SOMERS is a native of Barnet, Vermont, where he was 
born on May 31, 1857, and is the son of parents belonging to families 
long resident in that state. In 1864 they moved to Marshall county, 
Iowa, where they prospered as farmers. The son grew to manhood in that 
county and received his early education in its public schools, afterward 
attending Iowa College at Grinnell, from which he was graduated in 1882. 
In August of the. same year he came to Rapid City to take the position 
of superintendent of the public schools, which he filled with credit for 
two years. In 1885 he was appointed bookkeeper at the First National 
Bank of Rapid, and since then he has been connected with that 
institution continuously, rising by merit to the post of cashier in 1898 
and to that of director also in 1902. In addition to his work at the 
bank he has done a great deal to promote and build up the Rapid City 
Electric and Gas Light Company, acting as its secretary and treasurer 
since 1887, and as its manager since 1892. 

	Mr. Somers was married at Jacksonville, Illinois, in June, 1888, 
to Miss Nellie M. Van Zandt, the home over which she presides with 
dignified grace being brightened by the presence of two sons and a 
daughter, namely: Leslie, Paul and Helen. The Ancient Order of United 
Workmen enrolls Mr. Somers among its members, while in religious matters 
he is an active member of the Congregational church, in which he is a 
trustee and the superintendent of the Sunday school.