Charles S. Whiting Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1595-1596 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (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.


	CHARLES S. WHITING, judge of the circuit court of the ninth 
judicial circuit of the state, maintaining his residence and 
professional headquarters in DeSmet, the capital of Kingsbury county, is 
a native of the state of Minnesota, having been born on a farm in 
Olmsted county, on the 25th of May, 1863, and being a son of Ammi N. and 
Mariette (Rice) Whiting, both of whom were born in the state of New 
York, while their marriage was solemnized in Wisconsin. The father of 
our subject accompanied his parents on their removal to Wisconsin, about 
1850, being a young man at the time, and they settled on a farm in Green 
county, while later he became identified with mercantile pursuits, in,, 
St. Marie, that state. In 1858 he removed to Olmsted county, Minnesota, 
where he became the owner of a farm upon which he continued to reside 
until 1902, when he came to DeSmet, South Dakota, where he has since 
lived practically retired, being seventy-one years of age at the time of 
this writing, in 1904. His wife died at the time of the birth of the 
subject of this sketch. After the death of his mother Judge Whiting was 
taken to the home of his paternal grandparents, Ellis F. and Laura 
(Rice) Whiting, with whom he remained until he had attained the age of 
sixteen years, in Rochester, Minnesota, where he completed the 
curriculum of the public schools, being graduated in the high school as 
a member of the class of 1879. He then spent three years with his father 
on the farm, and at the expiration of this period began teaching, to 
which vocation he continued to devote his attention for the ensuing five 
years, passing the vacations on the home farm. For three years he was 
principal of the village school at Elgin and Eyota, Minnesota, and he 
proved a successful and popular teacher. In 1887 Judge Whiting was 
matriculated in the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann 
Arbor, where he continued his studies until 1888, when he entered the 
law department of the State University in the city of Minneapolis, where 
he completed his professional course and was graduated as a member of 
the first class to thus go forth from this now prominent institution, in 
1889, there having been but three members in the class8He was admitted 
to the bar of Minnesota at the time of his graduation, and in July of 
the same year came to DeSmet, being duly admitted to the bar of South 
Dakota. When the Judge came to this state his financial resources were 
at the lowest possible ebb, but he was fortified by a thorough knowledge 
of the law, by a determination and courage which recognized no such 
thing as failure, with the logical consequence that he now stands at the 
present time in the front rank of the members of his profession in this 
section of the state. In 1892 he was elected state's attorney of 
Kingsbury county, in which office he served four terms, and an 
indication of the esteem in which he is held in the county was afforded 
in the first two elections, for he was the candidate on the Republican 
ticket and overcame the very considerable majority represented in the 
combined forces of the Democracy and Populists in the county. In 1897 he 
was the candidate of his party for the office of circuit judge of the 
third circuit, but was unable to overcome the large opposing majority in 
the district, though he carried his own county, being the first 
Republican candidate to do this in connection with any office aside from 
those of purely a county order. In March, 1903, he was appointed to the 
bench of the ninth circuit upon the creation of said circuit, and his 
term wii1 expire in December, 1904. His circuit comprises the counties 
of Spink, Beadle, Miner, and Kingsbury, and he is making a most enviable 
record in his judicial capacity, while there is little doubt he will be 
chosen as his own successor at the next election, having at the time of 
this article been unanimously nominated by his party as his own 
successor. The Judge is a staunch and uncompromising advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party and has been an active and effective 
worker in the party cause since coming to the state. Fraternally the 
subject is affiliated with DeSmet Lodge, No. 58. Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, and with the encampment of the order at DeSmet, while he is 
also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. 

	On the 4th of November, 1891, Judge Whiting was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary G. Mitchell, of Dover, Minnesota, she being a daughter of 
William Mitchell, a prominent citizen of that place. Mrs. Whiting was 
summoned into eternal rest on the 28th of October, 1897, and was not 
long survived by her only child, Ruth, who died on the 7th of April, 
1899. On the 21st of July, 1900, Judge Whiting consummated a second 
marriage, being then united to Miss Eleanor Hilton, who was born in 
Detroit, Michigan, being a daughter of Thomas and Julia A. Hilton, the 
former of whom died in 1889, while the latter now resides in the home of 
the subject. Judge and Mrs. Whiting have onc daughter, Mariette, who was 
born on the 11th of April, 1901, and one son, Fred N., born March 1, 
1904.