Delbert T. Walker Biography


	This biography appears on pages 953-954 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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DELBERT T. WALKER, superintendent of schools for Codington 
county and proprietor of the Watertown Commercial College, is a 
native of the Hawkeye state, having been born in Mount Auburn, 
Benton county, Iowa, on the 25th of July, 1867 and being a son 
of George H. and Julia S. (Gillette) Walker, the former of whom 
was born in England and the latter in the state of Connecticut, 
while they were numbered among the pioneers of Benton county, 
Iowa, where they still maintain their home, the father of our 
subject having been formerly engaged in farming and in 
mercantile pursuits, while for nearly a decade and a half he has 
served as postmaster at Mount Auburn, being one of the honored 
and influential citizens of the county. He came to America in 
1843, and was a resident of Iowa at the time of the outbreak of 
the war of the Rebellion. He signalized his loyalty to the land 
of his adoption. since, in 1862, he enlisted as a private in 
Company G, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he was 
in active service until the close of the war, when he received 
his honorable discharge. He participated in many of the most 
notable battles of the great conflict, having been a member of 
General Grant's forces at Chattanooga and Vicksburg, while later 
he took part in the Atlanta campaign and accompanied Sherman on 
the ever memorable march to the sea.

The subject, who is the only child of his parents, completed the 
curriculum of the public schools of his native town, being 
graduated in the Mount Auburn high school as a member of the 
class of 1887, while later he completed courses in the 
commercial and normal departments of the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) 
Business College, being graduated in each. He also was for a 
time a student in the Iowa State University, at Iowa City, but 
did not complete a course. Mr. Walker began teaching at the age 
of eighteen years, and in 1890 came to Watertown, to accept the 
position of principal of the commercial college here, retaining 
the incumbency for a period of five years. after which he was 
for one year principal of the Curtis Business College, in St. 
Paul, Minnesota. He then returned to his native town, where he 
was principal of the public schools for one and one-half years, 
when he resigned and returned to Watertown, purchasing the 
Watertown Commercial College, which he has since conducted, 
having greatly amplified the functions and usefulness of the 
institution and brought it up to the highest standard of 
excellence in all its departments. He was elected county 
superintendent of schools in 1900, and that his course met with 
popular endorsement was shown in his re-election, in 1902, 
without opposition. He is enthusiastic in his work, a careful 
and conscientious executive, and has done much to further 
educational interests in the county. He is a member of the board 
of trustees of the public library of Watertown and took an 
active part in securing the donation for the new Carnegie 
library, which is to be erected in the near future. at a cost of 
fifteen thousand dollars.

Professor Walker is a stanch advocate of the principles and 
policies of the Republican party, and fraternally is prominently 
identified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. In 
the former he has completed the round of the York Rite bodies, 
including the commandery of Knights Templar, while he has served 
as worshipful master of the blue lodge and as recorder of 
Watertown Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, and keeper of 
records and seals of Trishocotyn Lodge, No. 17, Knights of 
Pythias, having held the latter office ever since he was 
constituted a Knight of Pythias with the exception of an 
interval of six months, while in 1893 he represented the local 
Masonic lodge in the grand lodge of the state, at Deadwood, and 
has thrice been a delegate to the grand lodge of the Knights of 
Pythias in South Dakota.

On the 25th of July, 1892, Professor Walker was united in 
marriage to Miss May A. Slattery, who was born in Ohio, being a 
daughter of David A. and Margaret (Jones) Slattery, the former 
now deceased and the latter is now a resident of Watertown, 
South Dakota. She had been a successful teacher in the public 
schools of South Dakota prior to her marriage. Professor and 
Mrs. Walker have two children, Blaine E. and Hazel M.

Watertown Commercial College was established in 1887. The 
school enrolls from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five 
pupils per year and is adding from fifteen to twenty per cent. 
increase each year. The courses are commercial, shorthand and 
typewriting, and normal.