John Carlyle Southwick Biography


	This biography appears on pages 951-952 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here 
	Inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door 
	is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


	JOHN CARLYLE SOUTHWICK is one of the representative business men 
of Watertown, where for fifteen years he has been engaged in the 
abstract business, being the owner of a complete set of abstracts of 
title for Codington county, compiled by him personally, under a system 
of his origination, the excellence of which is attested by the fact 
that it has been adopted by many abstracters in the Northwest. Mr. 
Southwick is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of 
this section of the state, and is a native of the city of Waukegan, 
Lake county, Illinois, where he was born on the 28th of June, 1866, 
being a son of John C. and Helen M. (Gates) Southwick, both of whom 
were born and reared in Chautauqua county, New York, whence they 
removed to Illinois about the year 1852. There the father engaged in 
general mercantile business and in 1878 removed to Dakota territory and 
took up a tract of government land in Kingsbury county, where he became 
one of the prominent and influential citizens of this section, having 
taken up his residence at Arlington in 1880, and having been engaged in 
the real-estate and loan business there until his death, which occurred 
on the 4th of July, 1901.  

	He represented Kingsbury county in the territorial legislature in 
1885, and was an active factor in public affairs during his residence 
here, having been a staunch Republican in politics. The death of Helen 
M. Southwick occurred June 6, 1888, at Waukegan, Illinois, where she 
was visiting her former home.  

	The subject of this sketch secured his early education in the 
public schools of his native city, having been graduated in the 
Waukegan high school in 1883, on the seventeenth anniversary of his 
birth. In the following August he joined his parents in what is now 
South Dakota, and in the next few years familiarized himself with the 
business of abstracting titles to real estate, having been employed in 
the office of the register of deeds of Kingsbury county, and later by 
the Kingsbury County Abstract Company. In December, 1889, he located in 
Watertown, and began the compilation of a complete set of abstracts 
from the records of Codington county, and in 1893 was elected register 
of deeds for the county, serving two years in this capacity, and 
afterward being called upon to serve in other municipal and county 
offices. He takes a prominent part in public affairs of a local nature, 
being a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities. He has 
continued in the abstract business and his records are in constant and 
popular use, the same being admirably systematized.  

	Mr. Southwick is one of the most prominent members of the Knights 
of Pythias in the state, being affiliated with Trishocotyn Lodge, No. 
17, in Watertown, in which he passed the various official chairs, 
attaining the honor of past chancellor on the 6th of July, 1893. In 
1894 he represented his lodge in the grand lodge of the state, and has 
since attended every session of the grand lodge. In 1895 he was elected 
grand prelate of this body, and in 1897 was chosen grand tribune, while 
in the following year he was elected chief tribune of the grand tribune 
of the order, retaining this office until the meeting of the grand 
lodge in 1899, when he resigned to accept the position of grand keeper 
of records and seal, in which capacity he served the order until 1903, 
when he was elected grand chancellor. He is also a leading member and 
officer of Watertown Lodge No. 838, of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. Mr. Southwick has been successful in his business 
affairs and is one of the popular young men of his city and county. He 
is the owner of a considerable amount of city property, including the 
two-story brick block on the corner of Codington avenue and Oak street, 
where his offices are located.