Frederick D. Wicks Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1075-1076 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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	FREDERICK D. WICKS, who is presiding, on the bench of the county 
court of Bon Homme; county, an incumbency which he has retained for 
nearly a decade, is a native of the old Empire state of the Union, 
having been born in Fort Edward, Washington county, New York, on the 
31st of July, 1866, and being the youngest of the seven children of 
Walter W. and Ellen (Kennedy) Wicks, all of whom survive except one a 
brief record concerning them being as follows: William E. died at the 
age of forty-five years, Mary remains at the parental home; Walter J. is 
superintendent of the Indian school at Springfield. South Dakota; Sarah 
is the wife of James D. Keeting, a printer and publisher in Fort Edward, 
New York; Fannie is the wife of Frank B. Hall, a successful merchant of 
Hartford, New York: Albert H. is a cigar manufacturer and tobacconist at 
Fort Edward, that state; and Frederick D. is the immediate subject of 
this sketch. The parents are still living at the old home in Fort 
Edward, where the father of the subject has long been engaged in 
building and contracting. He is a Republican in his political 
proclivities and both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal 
church.  

	Judge Wicks secured his early educational training in the public 
schools of his native town and later supplemented this discipline by a 
course of study in the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. In 1886 he 
began the reading of law in the office of R. C. Bascom a prominent 
member of the bar of Fort Edward and under his able preceptorship he 
continued his technical studies until he became eligible for admission 
to the bar, gaining this distinction in 1890. Soon afterward he came to 
South Dakota and located in Scotland, where he established himself in 
the practice of his chosen profession. His ability so manifested itself 
that his novitiate in his new field of endeavor was of short duration 
and he soon took a prominent place at the bar of the county, while a 
gratifying recognition of his personal popularity and his professional 
talent came only two years after he took up his abode in the town since 
in 1892 he was elected county judge, of which important office he has 
since remained consecutively incumbent save for an interim of two years. 
He has a distinctively judicial mind, is well poised and impartial in 
his rulings, which are based on a thorough knowledge of the science of 
jurisprudence in its various branches and he has dignified the bench by 
his able and discriminating services He is also city attorney of 
Scotland, a position which he has held for four terms. and he is known 
as a skillful advocate and a conservative and able counsellor. In 
politics the Judge gives an unwavering allegiance to the Republican 
party in whose cause he has rendered timely and efficient service, and 
both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal 
church. while fraternally he is identified with Scotland Lodge, No. 52, 
Free and Accented Masons; Scotland Chapter, No. 31, Royal Arch Masons, 
and Oriental Consistory, No. 1, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in 
Yankton.  

	On the 12th of November, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of 
Judge Wicks to Miss Mary L. Wood, of Springfield, this county. She was 
born in Springfield, Bon Homme county, in 1874. Judge and Mrs. Wicks 
have three children, Emma, Walter and Ellen.