Levi D. Wait Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1081-1083 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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	LEVI D. WAIT .—Douglas county is favored in having so able a 
representative of its interests as the Armour Herald, which is 
recognized as one of the best county newspapers to be found in the 
state. Of the corporation of Wait & Dana, editors and publishers of the 
Herald, the subject. of this sketch is the senior member and president 
of the company. He is a native of the state of Wisconsin, having been 
born in Sylvan Corners, Richland county, on the 26th of June, 1867, a 
son of Lorenzo and Rachel (Townsend) Wait. In the family were ten 
children, and of the number the following seven survive: Helen, who is 
the wife of J. M. Cross, of Richland county, Wisconsin; Nora, who is the 
wife of A. P. Monnell, of Selby, Iowa; Iona, who is the widow of William 
Jones, and resides in Oacoma South Dakota; Nellie, who is the wife of E. 
S. Wallace, of Richland county, Wisconsin; Dighton C. resides in 
Richland county, Wisconsin; Charles A., who is likewise a resident of 
that county; and Levi D., who is the immediate subject of this sketch. 
Lorenzo Wait was born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1829, and there 
he was a boyhood friend of the late President Garfield, being reared to 
maturity in that city As a young man he became identified with the lake 
marine industry, sailing on various vessels on the Great Lakes for a 
number of years. after which he removed to Wisconsin and located in 
Richland county, where he has since maintained his home, save for a 
period of twelve years passed in Kimball South Dakota, whence he and his 
wife returned to their old home in Wisconsin in 1894. Both are devoted 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics Mr. Wait is a 
stanch adherent of the Democratic party.  

	The subject of this sketch was reared to maturity in his native 
county and his educational discipline was secured in the public schools. 
At the age of twenty years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the 
printers' trade, in the office of the Flandreau Herald, at Flandreau, 
South Dakota, his parents having been residents of this state at the 
time. He continued to be identified with the publication of this paper 
for three years and was thereafter employed in the office of the 
Pipestone Star, at Pipestone, Minnesota until 1892. when he removed to 
Howard. Miner county, South Dakota, where he became editor of the Howard 
Advance, retaining this position one year, at the expiration of which he 
entered into partnership with his present associate, Mr. Dana, and 
purchased the plant and business of the Miner County Democrat, of 
Howard, continuing the publication of the paper until 1898, when Mr. 
Dana became the sole owner of the enterprise, having purchased our 
subject's interest. Mr. Wait was thereafter employed for one year as a 
traveling commercial salesman, and he then returned to Howard and 
purchased the paper and business of his former partner, the publication 
being continued under his control for the ensuing year. In May, 1901, he 
came to Armour, Douglas county, and purchased the plant of the Armour 
Herald, and the first edition after the property came into his hands was 
issued under his name, as editor and publisher. A week later; however, 
Mr. Dana became his associate in the enterprise, and they have since 
successfully carried the same forward under the firm name of Wait & Dana 
(recently merged into a stock company). Mr. Wait is inflexible in his 
allegiance to the Democratic party and takes a deep interest in the 
questions and issues of the hour, as well as in local affairs of a 
public nature. He has just completed a term as alderman for the city of 
Armour. In 1900 he was chosen permanent secretary of the Democratic 
state convention at Yankton, and since that time has been identified 
more or less with the organization of the party in the state. Mr. Wait 
has devoted a great deal of time and energy the past winter to 
furthering the ambitions of Hon. E. S. Johnson to become national 
Democratic committeeman for South Dakota, and at the state convention in 
Sioux Falls March 30, 1904, saw his efforts rewarded by the unanimous 
election of Mr. Johnson to the head of the party within the state. By 
reason of his activity in party councils Mr. Wait is probably one of the 
best known Democrats in South Dakota today, and has the respect and 
esteem of his party and business associates at all times. During the 
summer of 1903 Mr. Wait was one of the prime movers in the organization 
of the Publishers' Mutual Insurance Association, of Huron, now the 
strongest mutual insurance company in the state. Mr. Wait was elected 
its first president and was unanimously re-elected by the board of 
directors at their annual 1904 meeting. He is also serving his second 
term as treasurer of the South Dakota Press Association, one of the 
strongest bodies of newspaper men in the United States. He is a thorough 
churchman of the Protestant Episcopal church, of which he was made a 
communicant in 1900, and he is now warden of the parish in Armour. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America.  

	On the 25th of February, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Wait to Miss Lulu A. Wallace, of Kimball, this state, and they are the 
parents of one son, Harry W., who was born on the 8th of September, 
1895. Mrs. Wait also is a communicant of the Episcopal church and is an 
active worker in the same.