Wilson Blain Fuller Biography This biography appears on pages 950-951 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) 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 WILSON BLAIN FULLER. Wilson Blain Fuller has served continuously since 1908 as secretary of the board of education of Sioux Falls and the cause of public instruction finds in him a stalwart champion earnestly supporting every measure which he believes will advance the interests of the schools along lines that will make public education a thorough and adequate preparation for life's responsibilities and duties. Ohio claims Mr. Fuller as one of her native sons, his birth having occurred at Ridgeville on the 16th of July, 1854, his parents being Warren and Sally Ann (Blain) Fuller, who, in the year 1861 removed with their family from Ohio to Van Buren county, Michigan. The father died in 1892 and the mother, surviving him for about eighteen years, passed away in 1910. They had a family of five children but Wilson Blain Fuller is the only one who reached years of maturity. Following the removal of the family to Michigan Wilson B. Fuller attended the public schools of Bloomingdale and supplemented his early course by study in the university at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he completed the work to the junior year. Leaving college, he went to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and there entered upon the study of law, his careful preparation being followed by his admission to the bar in 1879. He never practiced, however, but his knowledge of the law has been an important asset in his business and professional career. In 1883 he arrived in Sioux Falls and entered the employ of a loan and trust company which he represented in various places in South Dakota and in Iowa, according to the wishes of the company. He spent six years in that way and in 1890 he went to Chicago, where for two years he occupied a position as clerk in the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank. He afterward spent a similar period in Michigan, settling up his father's estate and at the end of that time removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he re-entered the employ of the New England Loan & Trust Company. There he remained until 1899, when he returned to Sioux Falls, where he engaged in the real-estate and farm loan business, devoting his time and efforts to activity along those lines until 1908, since which time he has been secretary of the board of education, being continued in the position to the great pleasure of his fellow members. For seven years he was a member of the board of education prior to his appointment to his present position as secretary. In this connection he does important work in the interest of the schools, being practically business manager of all the city schools, the first to serve in that capacity, and his influence is ever on the side of progress and improvement For three years he was president of the public library board and is now president of the City Temple Association which is a non-sectarian adjunct to the First Baptist church, organized for the care, protection and benefit of young people. He believes that opportunity should be given to each individual and that under proper environment nature may be developed so that the best is brought out with the result that strength of character is assured. On the 19th of June, 1886, Mr. Fuller was married at Sioux Falls to Miss Emily Leavitt. a daughter of Thomas J. Leavitt, now deceased. They have two children: Mary L., the wife of Howard D. Bowen of Honolulu, Hawaii, by whom she has one son, Robert D.; and Robert Leavitt Fuller, who was born at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1898 and is living in Sioux Falls. Mr. Fuller gives his political allegiance to the republican party and few men who are not active as office seekers have more thorough and well grounded information concerning the issues and questions of the day. He is ever appreciative of the duties and obligations as well as of the privileges of citizenship and his loyalty in public office none questions, while his capability is attested by the fact that for thirteen years he has been retained as a member of the board of education, more than six years of that time being spent as its secretary. .